welcome back to "morning joe." >> i learned that we owe a big apology to way too early viewers. we were knocked off the air by a

technical problem. >> he told us we had two minutes. we're already over. >> i learned that i have the script to the lost episode of way too early. i see that as a tuition bill. >> we are 20 over. wrap it up. >> if it's way too early, what time is it? >> it's "morning joe." have a great weekend. well, positive job report out this hour. the unemployment rate ticks down slightly to 8.8%, ready for this. that's the lowest in two years. 216,000 new jobs. in libya, as the u.s. ends its air combat role, gadhafi's regime continues to fracture another high level defection. signed the libyan leader may be looking for a deal. in congress, we're one week away before a possible government shutdown. still no deal, but is it just

hype? time is running out and a lot of work is ahead. it's friday, april 1st, 2011. we're not going to do any idiotic april fool's stuff. because twitter has officially ruined april fools. >> we have to say good morning. we will start with breaking news on the economy. the unemployment rate dropping again. it's inched down to 8.8%. that's the lowest in two years. in march, the economy saw a gain of 216,000 jobs, but 13.5 million americans are still unempl unemployed. >> the labor force participation rate. that's holding at 64.2% with 921,000 discouraged workers leaving the workforce last month, giving up on their job search. john sylvia is a chief economist for wells fargo securities.

john, is this -- is there any hidden bad news in here? is this a straight up good jobs report? >> i think it's pretty much a straight up good jobs report. take it for what it is. i think it's a fair representation of the u.s. economy. i think when you highlighted a couple of really key points, to me, i say it's structural unemployment. there are people unemployed for long periods of time. they probably have the wrong skills. they're in the wrong location and as you suggested earlier, the participation rate has fallen, so we're not getting a lot of people involved in the unemployment market, but generally, it's fair to characterize this as a good employment report. lot of job gains in manufacturing and services, but job losses in the government sector, again, not a surprise. >> a lot of people were wondering if this jobs report would reflect some of the world events we've seen that could

effect the economy, whether it's the middle east, gas prices. do you see any evidence of this in this jobs report? >> no, i don't, savannah. i would say what we want to see over the next two or three months is the le sure and hospitality sector. if people are getting squeezed on gas prices, they're going to be going out to dinner less, traveling less to hotels. that is probably going to be reflective of that kind of concern on gas prices and a pinch on the personal budget. but basically, no, not in this report. this report looks pretty solid. >> and what about this issue you brought up, the issue of rising gas prices. that's going to continue to creep up because we're hitting bay, it always does in the run up to spring. will that slow down private sector investment and job gains? >> i don't think it will slow down the investment and actually, as you might suspect,

it doesn't slow down overall consumer spending, but it certainly changes the distribution of that spending. people spending more at the gas pump unlikely to go into the convenience store and buy candy and a coke. so, the distribution of spending will change over time. now, the problem on the investment side is when trucking companies for example, are spending more on diesel fuel, airlines are spending more on jet fuel, there's less money left over for that investment spending going forward. ea earlier this week, we got the factory orders report and that did show some slowdown. >> final question, this issue of wages have only increased 1. 7% this year with the price of food and gas. how much of an issue is this to watch? >> i think it's a major issue for those people whose primarily income is in fact wages and salaries. who are in i would say the

middle income of america, 40 to 70,000, so when i look at that, they are getting squeezed because their prices they're paying are going up faster than they're wages. they're getting squeezed. >> thanks for joining us this morning to break this down. well, speaking of april fool's, this must seem like a bad joke. folks in the northeast are waking up to several inches of spring snow. jim cantore's live for us in concord, new hampshire. jim, come on, man. >> it's april. >> dude -- you know what's really bad? when it happens in may, okay? just saying. from new england. >> just saying. >> that's the april fool's joke. trust me. beautiful shot though. looks like a postcard around here. >> sure. >> here lies the problem, it's a heavy, wet snow. it's got a ton of water in it.

that means it's going to cause trees and powerlines to come down. talk about high water content snow, oh, yeah. that's a lot of water. the good news is that the snow hasn't come down that intense, so the roads are going pretty good. even though it's april and it's snowing out, that sun is strong enough to be absorbed, if you will, by the darker surface features. this is the scientist in me. as a result, it's helping to melt the snow. so the fact it's not coming down that intensely or the fact we've got this april sun, which is getting strong now, that's helping to keep the roads clear. 30,000 without power. >> one serious meteorological question r for you. flooding. all this accumulation of snow over the last four or five months, is there any concern about that because it's going to

melt so fast? >> they've had a nice, gradual melting across much of the champlain valley. i was just reading the report -- >> of course you were. >> what else am i going to do on a friday morning? as the rivers and streams come up in spring, that's what they're worried about, but there has been a nice, gradual melting before today, but this three to six inches in the valley isn't going to do too much damage. >> i dare say he enjoys the snow. you're practically dancing. enjoy. we know this is your bread and butter. thank you. coming up next, we'll shift gears to libya and whether the rebels there are losing ground. should the u.s. arm the opposition? can it be done without u.s. boots on the ground. >> and define u.s. boots.

plus, still to come, what is the american deem? does it still exist? tom brokaw will be here with a look at the new study of what americans want and what new poll data shows about america's promise. but first, a look ahead at the president's schedule. if it's friday, a jobs report, it must be some industrial town in maryland. >> i believe it's landover, maryland, today. 12:20 p.m. today. . but sometimes i wonder... what's left behind? [ female announcer ] introducing purifying facial cleanser from neutrogena® naturals. developed with dermatologists... it's clinically proven to remove 99% of dirt and toxins and purify pores. and with natural willowbark it contains no dyes, parabens or harsh sulfates. dirt and toxins do a vanishing act and my skin feels pure and healthy. [ female announcer ] new purifying facial cleanser from the new line of neutrogena naturals.

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what the opposition needs as much as anything right now is some training, some command and control and some organization. in terms of providing that training, in terms of providing

assistance to them, frankly, there are many countries that can do that. >> well, that was defense secretary robert gates on capitol hill yesterday rejecting the idea that the u.s. would be doing all of that training and arming the libyan rebels. >> he more or less said over my dead body will u.s. troops do it. he took pains to explain how the u.s. was cutting back on u.s. air strikes. that was the move senator john mccain called quote a profound mistake. brian is a senior fellow at the center for american progress, an expert on america's national security policy there. let's start with that. this issue of arming the rebels. it seemed early in the week, hillary clinton was floating the idea out there saying that in her view, the u.n. security counsel resolution permitted it. gates has not left much gray area as to his view that in order to arm the rebels, you can't air drop these weapons on

to rebels and expect them to know how to use them. it means training, a staging area, boots on the ground and the president's red line. >> gates said others could do it. by others, meaning france. there's a dispute about the resolution. the head of nato has said he doesn't read the resolution as allowing the rebels, but the u.s. army is saying, yes, it does. >> brian, there's another aspect to this. it's obviously a two track. i think the united states is hoping all of these defections in gadhafi's circle, the big one, but another over the last 24 hours, then the arming of rebels conversation becomes a moot point. how serious is this? is it really a possibility they could find an exit strategy for gadhafi that didn't involve

killing him? >> look, there's multiple enjv s envoys. he was known as the envoy of death because he actually killed a lot of previous defectors before. other intel chiefs closer to n gadhafi's inner core, they're standing strong and others who are under guard because they want to prevent other defections. there's some hope there are going to be more defections. >> one of the striking things to come out of the defense secretary and admiral mullins today yesterday, even afrite ka. >> it's a battle that looks in some part like gang warfare. they're trying to understand who is this opposition.

we're having a representative in washington to talk about what are you. you could very well have a stalemate on the ground with fighting between the rebels and gadhafi forces and then if people are talking about a political negotiation and a deal, that's a very interesting scenario and does gadhafi then stand down. >> should we assume libya stays as one country? isn't it possible this was a coalition of tribes and we've seen other countries break up? who's to say, should we expect libya to stay as one country in five years? >> i think that's an open question now. what we've seen over the last month, what is the libyan national identity. when you look at the national opposition leaders in benghazi, they want it to stay together. most of the national community don't want to see it break off because it could create problems. the best thing to figure out is what is an end game that leads to the least amount of civilian

casualties. >> and back to the defections, u.s. officials are very pleased about moussa koussa, have we heard him denounce the regime? have you seen the pressure they would hope to get out of a defection like that? >> he came out wednesday night, le by land to tunisia and arrived in london. i think they're trying to get so much live intelligence on where is the inner circle. >> i'm still just stunned. how does a guy just walk out, get on a private plane -- were you shocked he was able -- was -- gadhafi trusted him that much that he was able to pull this off, plan a private plane exit? >> i was shocked, but i think gadhafi was shocked and that's

why they're guarding a lot of their senior officials right now. >> i think -- i believe he claimed that he needed medical leave, which would be permitted, but ended up in london. so the plot thickens. thank you. all right. the other big story on the other continent. nuclear fallout. radiation is now seeping into the ground water in japan. is the country's drinking water at risk? plus, surprising good news about the safety of the roads in this country. but first, today's washington speak. >> limited in duration and spoke. >> for us to take this limited action, limited both in time and scope. >> limited in duration. the mission itself will be limited in duration. >> was limited in scope and scale. >> did you catch that? will it be limited -- >> i thought that was like a bad clothing store. >> i didn't think it was that bad. >> '80s clothing store.

>> it was. wasn't bad. in my day, that was the place to go. limited in this context is the obama administration buzz word, they almost don't say the word, libya, without limited. to show that u.s. involvement in libya will go so far. >> it's not a sponsorship. >> i don't believe that store exists anymore. you have some washington speak you'd like us to clarify, send us an e-mail. it's friday. can you tell? we'll be right back. i'm sam chernin, owner of sammy's fish box. i opened the first sammy's back in 1966. my employees are like family, and i want people that work for me to feel that they're sharing in my success. we purchase as much as we can on the american express open gold card so we can accumulate as many points as possible. i pass on these points to my employees to go on trips with their families. when my employees are happy,

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are helping in one last effort to look for survivors. lee cowen is in tokyo with more on that story. good morning. >> reporter: yeah, this is a massi massive search effort. some 18,000 personnel involved, about 100 helicopters, 60 ships. actually more people involved in this search than people still missing, but what they're trying to do is get to some of the coastal areas they haven't been able to get to so far. obviously, most of these missing people they think at this point, most of them they think probably washed out to sea. they want to do this today, tomorrow and sunday and at that point, they'll call off the search and start really the rebuilding process. they just wanted to give this one more shot especially now that the weather's improved. >> couple of headlines caught my eye from andy, our producer in

europe who's been doing these great compilations of what's happening every second and all the little stories going on in japan. one is this worry about radiation leaking into the ground water and the second, this idea that the u.s. may send in some marines to help with the nuclear plant. >> reporter: well, on the ground water issue, yes. this is the first time we've talked a lot about the radiation levels spiking in the sea water. we've talked about it being in soil samples along the surface. today, they announced there was some radio activity in the ground water for the first time. exactly how much is still a little bit unclear. they originally said it was about 10,000 times the normal level, then backed off saying the calculations might be wrong. they say it's not affecting drinking water. it's not near any wells, streams that would feed water treatment facilities. they say it's not that big an issue. i think the point to remember in

all this that sometimes gets lost, what we're talking about is radio active iodine. over the course of eight or nine days, this is going to decay any way and the longer we get way from this disaster themselves, the reactors are starting to cool down, so the chance of a major release is getting less and less. you can talk about how the sea wall should have been higher, how the evacuation plan should have been better, the emergency plan, but at the end of the day, experts say given where we are three weeks on and how much damage has been done to the plant, we're probably in as good a place as we could be at this point. >> lee cowen on the ground in tokyo again for us this morning. thank you. coming up next, deal or no deal. with just one week to go until the lights go out on capitol hill, john boehner accuses democrats of rooting for a

shutdown while tea party activists hit the capitol to chant, cut it or shut it. plus, labor pains. ohio's governor signs a law limiting collective bargaining rights while wisconsin's governor agrees to stop empmenting a similar law. but first, today's trivia question -- the answer and more coming up on "the daily rundown." my vet thinks my insides are in mint condition. [ female announcer ] vets agree, a healthy checkup starts inside. our breakthrough iams premium protection formula is developed with vets with cutting edge ingredients for the lifelong health of your pet. [ dog ] healthy inside and out. come on, up high! [ female announcer ] iams premium protection. our most advanced iams nutrition. ever. [ dog ] i am an iams dog.

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good news. bottom of the hour and it's friday. >> it's friday. i know. >> drive it home. >> let's do it. we're going to start in libya. the key rebel leader in libya has suggested the opposition is open to a cease fire if moammar

gadhafi would allow them to express views without retaliation. president obama will react to the latest jobs figures when he speaks at a ups shipping center today. the president wants to highlight that facility's use of fuel efficient trucks. world autism day is tomorrow, and so the founder of autism speaks and former chairman of nbc universal rang the bell on wall street today. dow futures were up ahead of the bell thanks to a solid jobs report. other stories, a new report shows a sharp decrease in highway traffic deaths in 2010. the total of just under 33,000 deaths is the lowest since 1949. the biggest reason for the decline is more people wearing their seat belts. >> how about that. >> good news. >> and wild weather may be spring, but tell that to

residents of vermont, new hampshire, massachusetts and maine. they could see several inches to a foot of heavy, wet snow today. it is also expected to leave behind lower snowfall totals in upstate new york, connecticut and rhode island. and days of heavy fighting in the ivory coast continued. the president has refused to step down. forces loyal to the newly elected president began fighting to install the new leader and have now reached the presidential palace where the fighting is intensifying. in wisconsin, ohio, the budget battles are not over. voters may eventually decide the fate in ohio. >> nbc's john yang has been follows all of these stories. bring us up to date. >> well, right now in wisconsin, a court hearing is scheduled to begin. that battle is over the process by which that law was passed, not the law itself.

it's whether or not the lawmakers violated the open meeting law. now, the republicans could simply vote again giving the necessary notice of the meeting, but the republican leadership doesn't want to do that. number one, they think it would be an admission they did something wrong and secondly, they don't want to stir things up politically. you've got recall movementes going on against eight republicans and eight democrats in the wisconsin senate as well and that could change the makeup of the senate this fall. ohio is more interesting. the governor signed the bill there into law last night. it won't go into effect for 90 days and during that 90-day period, the unions are going to have a petition drive to try to collect enough petitions to get a repeal referendum on the ballot this fall, this november. if that happens in this off, off year with no other really sort

of compelling races going on, that's going to be, could be the big political race to watch. it will become sort of the proxy fight for the right on the left. the national organizations will be pouring money into that fight. also, as it sort of begins the 2012 presidential cycle, republican candidates are going to be flocking to ohio early on. make that a must stop, so they can support governor casic. and so this is really going to be something we're going to be talking ability a lot in the fall. >> absolutely. it is going to be huge, big, it will be the driver of the political discussion for the entire fall of 2011 and it absolutely will infect the presidential race. it's going to be a big one. >> we'll have a lot to talk about. in new york for us, thanks very much. all right. now to the other budget fights. this one, you know, the big one.

the one on capitol hill. federal government has operated without a budget for 183 days now and if it doesn't pass one in a week, government will shut down and nonessential workers would be locked out of their offices. >> they are haggling over where to cut, but democrats and republicans actually can't even agree on whether or not they have an agreement on that baseline number. next week, paul ryan is expected to roll out the budget for next year. the president has wroled out his. maryland congressman chris van hollen joins me now. let's start with the issue of whether there is or not an agreement on the baseline figure of how much to cut. the vice president suggested that at least the two sides had come together on how much to cut if not how to get there. where do you stand on this issue? >> well, we thought there was some agreement on an overall number to cut, but of course, we

had the tea party movement here on capitol hill yesterday and they were telling speaker boehner and the republicans to stand firm, get 100% of what you've asked for. it's your way or the highway or shut down government. and so that is what has thrown things back up in the air a bit. that's why the speaker says he can't even agree to a number yet. i think in light of the positive jobs numbers we're seeing this month and the somewhat downward trend in unemployment rate, now is not the time to be doing anything that would hurt the fragile economy and put people out of work, so we've got to get this done and we've got to you know, send a signal that you can't take the position that unless we get everything that we want including trying to impose a social agenda, that we're going to shut down the government. >> it seems as if the white house has backed up veto threat of anything that includes any

so-called riders, the defending of planned parenthood, npr and some other things, that they will accept some, just not the most politically charged ones. are you going to be able to support a compromise with some in it? >> i'm certainly not going to support a proposal that says we're going to defund family planning programs and funds that go to provide for cervical cancer screening for women. that's unacceptable. that's part of what i was saying. >> you didn't rule them all out. that was the democratic position three weeks ago. >> there are a whole lot of ryders in there. whether or not there are some in there people could live with, if they were modified. you can change the language, amend it, so i'm sure they're looking at things like that, but again, those ryders that

essentially are efforts the impose a right wing social agenda through the budget are going to be nonstarters. >> let me ask you this. most who look at the situation unfolding on capitol hill conclude that speaker boehner's going to have to lose some of his more conservative members and pick up some democrat support if he's going to reach this compromise to get a budget through. my question to you is what is the support among democrats if the number is around $33 billion? that's a number paul ryan initially suggested for his budget cuts. that's a pretty big chunk of cuts. can your caucus stomach it? >> there are two issues. one is the overall number and then the issue of what is being cut. what the house republicans and paul ryan's budget included was did things like cut education,

cut cancer research at nih, they cut food safety inspectors. instead of saying, okay, let's cut some of the big subsidies, tax subsidies for the oil industry or other pork that's in the tax code. i mean, there's all sorts of special interest pork there. so, the question now will be if there's agreement on the number and i'm not saying there is, then how do you go about it? and republicans are going to have to be willing to take on what has been some of their sacred cow, all these special interest tax provisions that help very few people. only the folks at the very top, at the expense of everybody else like education and research and investment in the economy. >> congressman, what incentive have you given speaker boehner to cut a deal with you guys when it seems as if every couple of days, democrats give a little bit more. now, the number is 33 billion.

i remember when it was 6. then 10. haven't you given speaker boehner the incentive to say, i'm going to stand firm because apparently, they keep moving closer to me. >> well, chuck, this is where the big question becomes what's represented in those cuts. because i will agree with you. i thought we came a long way when we did $51 billion out of the original $100 billion. after all, you know, during the last campaign, republican candidates picked a number out of the hat. we're already halfway there. 51 billion. so i share some of the concerns you just expressed and that's why those of us who were watching these discussions between the senate and the republicans in the house are going to be very wary about how

they go about reaching that number and as you probably know, there are lots of different ways you can do these cuts. some of these investments pay out over a longer period of time, so they don't necessarily hurt the economy in the short-term, but the position republicans seem to be taking is you've got cut from our menu. in other words, we're not going to consider tax breaks for the oil companies or some of the other pork. you've got to look at our menu only and that's not going to be acceptable. >> well, the stage is set for negotiation. thank you for being with us. >> thanks. a programming note. sunday on "meet the press," dick durbin will be david gregory's exclusive guest to talk about the budget battle as the government shutdown looms. david's also going to talk to congressman mike rogers about u.s. involvement in libya.

>> get to the smithsonian this weekend because it may not be there next week. trivia time. we asked which member of congress lost his pennsylvania home at the age of 6 when it was swept down the river. the answer is bill young. he represents district down in the tampa area. coming up, according to a new poll, the american dream is live and well. up next, we'll speak to tom brokaw on why the american dream is so resilient. plus, we play the trump card. if you missed the donald yesterday, don't worry. we're bringing him back in the shallow end, hint, hint. but first, the white house soup of the day and there is one. it's gumbo. >> come on. i'm told that somebody is editing these names.

it's raging cajun gumbo and the white house is embarrassed that the white house mess gives it these names. i say just go for it. you've got to embrace the crazy. >> you're watching -- is it the senior soup official who told you that? >> a very high level that said -- >> you're watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc chblt.

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okinawa. it would become one of the longest and bloodiest battles and to this day, the u.s. has more than 20,000 troops stationed on okinawa, most of which have been involved in humanitarian relief. it's been a tough few years for america, but the new survey this week shows americans are still optimistic at least when it comes to their own ability to attain the american dream. >> 63% are confident they can reach their personal goals. 75% say in some ways, they're already there, but when it comes to wall street and washington, a different number. 83% have less trust in general and big business, the government did not fair much better. tom brokaw joins us now to talk about some of these results. in some ways, it's heartening after everything this country has been through that people

still believe they can reach the american dream. i want to put a result up that 63% said they were still fairly confident, extremely confident, they can reach the american dream. i guess part of it is how they define that phrase. >> i think that's always the issue with the american dream. it's a phrase that did not come into play in this country until 1931 in a book called "the epic of america." he described it as not only wishing for a motor car or higher wages, but the social order, that everyone should fulfill their capabilities as to their innate strengths and bb judged for who they are, not the circumstances of their birth. that's an appropriate description of the american dream. i suppose now that my children will have a better life than i do. if we were to add that to this question, there may be some greater reservation in america. it is i think testimony to

however the continuing appeal of this country. we are after all still a nation of immigrants. that number at this stage, with the economy in a sharp downturn, we're in two wars. i think it's a pretty heartening number. >> it was the resiliency factor. you brought up the world aspect to this and sort of america's place. two poll numbers i want to put up that were surprising to me, they asked about the u.s. standing in the world last year. did the u.s. represent the future or was the world looking to others. that fell from 45% saying the u.s. represents the future down to 39%. 57% saying the world. and who has the strongest claim to the future sounds familiar. the whole obama administration winning the feature. the strongest claim to the future, china.

>> yeah. china gets a lot of play, but china has a world of problems as well that probably don't get enough attention in this coun y country. when i first went there in 1974, was living in the 19th century. in the city of beijing, they had primitive huts really where everybody had a communal stand pipe. now, it's a 22nd century city. at the same time, they've got hundreds of millions of people moving from the country side into the city. they've got to provide jobs and power and all the toys of a consumer society. we're already beginning to see the underbubbling of some resistance, especially among the new generation when it comes to the use of the internet and having freedom of expression. so while they're getting attention and for good reason because they've gone from the china in 1974 to the second most

powerful economy in the world, they still have their work cut out for them. we've got big competitors. india, china, korea, other places. >> and views of immigration. this is people were coming here to take advantage of government handouts. does that show that -- i mean, i guess it's another way to show that people still believe in this american dream. >> i think that's absolutely true. if you go out across the country, as i have a lot in the last couple of years, savannah, you find people who are working side by side with both legal and undocumented workers, and they're very impressed by their work ethic and by their hope that they'll have a realization of the american dream. and in many areas in the country, even as far north as the great plains and into montana, if those illegal

immigrants return to their native countries, a lot of the parts of the american economy would come to a halt because they're doing the jobs that a lot of other people just don't want to do. >> that's right. the growth, the census numbers are unbelievable. there's growth of the hispanics in places we weren't talking about even ten years ago. tom brokaw, we've got to leave it there. always a pleasure to have you on, sir. >> my pleasure. nice to see you both. up next, it's shallow end, it's donald trump. what more do we have to say? >> don't forget, you can follow us any time on twitter at chuck todd, at savannah guthrie, and at daily rundown. we'll be right back.

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before we go, let's take a dip in the shallow end with the government shutdown looming, stephen colbert has found a way to count down the days. take a look.

>> there's only eight days left until congress' temporary budget agreement expires. that means it's time to get out my congressal budget menorrah. it's just like a regular menorrah but in reverse. you extinguish one candle on every magical night as we march towards the collapse of the republic. hey! >> i have to say, i'm fired up. the budget agreement expires on my birthday. what a great present. i'm very excited about that. >> what's the present, a shutdown? >> sure, it's good politics. >> oh, a good story. >> it really isn't. >> before you start leading us astray. >> please, it's ridiculous if there is. in case you missed it, the donald was on yesterday fiercely defending his conspiracy theory that the president may not have been born in the united states. >> we all agree he was born. okay. we're all so happy that he was

born. okay. now, the ad was put in -- >> it's not an ad. >> i want to see the birth certificates. it's very simple. not a certificate of birth, which means almost nothing, which people can get very easily. >> that's all i have for my two kids. >> on monday, we're going to talk to bill adair from political fact, and we're going to check the things that donald trump used in his story. >> it's the easiest fact check that bill adair has ever done, and it's not good enough. coming up on msnbc, it's chris jansing and company. >> we'll see you tonight at 5:00 and 7:00. here's a look at your weekend forecast.

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