i'm richard lui. president obama to speak in just over an hour. for the fourth straight month, unemployment dropped, down a small but symbolically large tick to 8.8%. the private sector grew in a very big way, gaining 230,000 jobs. nbc's mike viqueira is live at the white house this morning. the president will probably put this as a feather in his cap here. >> reporter: you know, the weather may not say it, but spring is here, and certainly the economy, the green shoots are really starting to sprout. this is unmitigated, unadult rated good news on the jobless front. you talk about symbolism, it's more than that. these are concrete facts. the unemployment rate has dropped a full point in the last four months, and the last two months, it's crossed a 200,000 jobs added threshold, and the reason that number is important economists say, when you get above 200,000, you really start to bring down the unemployment rate. in fact, that's what we have

seen in the last quarter, as a matter of fact. let's look at the numbers. down to 8.8%. as you reported the net job gains, 216,000 jobs when you take away losses in the public sector. professional business services added 78,000 jobs. health care was up 37,000 jobs. ditto for leisure and hospitality up 37,000. manufacturing jobs up 17,000. the trend is your friend when you're talking about the white house and the economy and the jobless number going down as it has. not only for some 14 million americans who are out of work but politically here at the white house, good news for democrats, a lot riding on the jobless number come 2012 in the election year. richard? >> the trend is your friend. you got all the mottos there too at the white house evidently. >> reporter: i borrowed that one from wall street. >> another number you touched on, and that's the public sector. we saw that go a little bit down in terms of numbers. also related to that is the budget and trying to cut the amount of expenditures. 33 billion being the number out there right now. is that what everybody is

accepting right now at the white house? >> reporter: first of all, there's a little bit of dispute. of course, we're talking about funding the government through the rest of this fiscal year that expires. we've agreed to cut the budget number through now and the rest of the year by $33 billion. speaker john boehner came out yesterday and said we haven't agreed on anything unless everything is agreed to. there's a little dispute, political gamesmanship putting each other in a box. democrats trying to show dissension within the republican ranks. tea party unhappy with inaction by the republicans in the senate, and the people they sent to the house of representatives ha have not delivered on the cuts they promised. against this back drop, the clock ticking. the government would run out of money next friday, a week from today, richard, unless they can come to an agreement. we expect the negotiations to continue throughout the weekend. nobody wants a government shutdown. there's too many political variables to start with, not to

to mention the uncertainty it creates in the economy as people try to plan ahead. the government, of course, $4 trillion in spending per queira house, thank you. a good jobs report for the obama administration, but there's one number that kind of stings here, continues to sting. that's the 13.5 million u.s. citizens that are still out of work. that's a lot of people that cannot enjoy the good news we're reporting today. laksman is the co-founder and chief operations officer for the cycle research institute. thanks for joining us. the number is good. some will say positive. some are saying, why aren't we feeling the good news? >> the 13.5 million that have been out of work for a long time. in today's report, as good as it was, the long duration unemployed, there are more of them than there were last month. >> six months without a job and still on the unemployment roles. >> for one year or two years, the ones getting left behind by the revival. the second half of last years

with a slowdown. everybody was freaking out. it was a double dip recession and all the things that were being thought about. here you see in sharp contrast, a nice revival in the pace of growth, and that's lifting jobs growth as well. very importantly, service sector, private sector service jobs. that's where we all work. 5 out of 8 americans work in nonfinancial services. that's the backbone of employment. >> so that 230,000, you're looking at it saying that's good news, really good news. >> absolutely good news. when you see the reporter was just mentioning you dropped a percentage point from 9.8 four months ago to 8.8, that's very fast. that's blistering fast. >> how big a deal is this down tick of 0.1%? big deal to you? >> i think it's confirming what the leading indicators have said. the critical thing is what the forward looking indicators are saying. on the economy, this revival, which has been going on since the beginning of the year resilient. people were worried about the middle east, $100 oil. they were worried about japan,

what does it all mean to this economy? it doesn't mean that much. we're resilient at this phase in the business cycle. for the time being, the next few months, maybe into the fall or so, things are still going to continue to improve. beyond that, we don't know. there is a fly in the ointment. the problem is inflation. when we look at people -- when they go to the pump or they go to the store or you listen to walmart, they're saying, we've got inflation across the board. when you look at forward looking inflation indicators like the future inflation gauge is something you put out, it's at a 31-month high. that means policy makers aren't going to catch much of a break here. >> but lakshman, some inflation can be good. you're saying it's a 31-month high, way above the average, way above what you want to see right now? >> more importantly, the forward looking indicators, which tell you when inflation is going to move up sharper than you would think, those are starting to move. we've seen it happen in europe, where they're really moving fast now, even though that economy isn't anywhere near as strong as

the u.s. you're getting inflation. the central bank there is going to raise some rates. i'm concerned about the timing of fed policy here. >> i've got to ask you this. we're still looking at the real estate market. that's the big main drag on the economy right now. chicken or egg? >> i'd say neutral. the good news is there's no new leg down in the real estate market. you already had the pain on real estate. you're not going to get a hit like that again. >> but we need that as an absolute necessity. >> no. what's really important is jobs. if we get these jobs, incomes firm, people go to the store and buy, production rises, and you get another job. >> exactly how it works. >> that's the virtuous cycle. we're in that phase. when we're in that phase, even if you get a sucker punch from some event, you don't get knocked out. that's what people underestimate here. >> parting number from you, give me one. what do we need to see for it to affect the real estate market in a positive way when we look at the unemployment numbers? do we need 7? do we need 7.5? >> what's critical is the inventory out there.

you just keep getting numbers like this. if you do what we just did the last four months and drop it another percentage point, the unemployment rate in the next four months, i think you'll see everybody change their tune. the problem is, while that's possible, the continuation of this trend, that's possible. i think it's likely. you're not going to be able to extrapolate that into the out years. and so to your original question, i think you've got to get used to unemployment cycling around, 7, 8, 9, 7, 8, 9, and that's kind of a drag. >> thank you so much. the situation on the ground has been grim for rebel forces feeling the strength of moammar gadhafi's military and battles along major libyan roadways. we're, of course, watching this story. after days of falling back, rebel forces are saying they would accept a u.n. demanded cease fire here if gadhafi pulls his troops from all cities and allows peaceful protests. richard engel has the latest from benghazi for us. >> reporter: even as members of gadhafi's inner circle continue

to defect, the libyan leader remains defiant. in a statement read on libyan television, he accused the west of starting a crusader war between christians and muslims. here in benghazi, the rebels are doing a little bit better than they have in recent days. they are trying to hold a defensive line about 120 miles outside of the city of benghazi. they are refusing to give up further territory and are not just retreating, as we've seen them do over the last several days. instead, we've watched the rebels firing mortars and rockets directly onto gadhafi's troops. even when the rebels are attacked, some of them are scattering, but others are holding the line. that is the first time we've seen them do that since this conflict began. richard engel, nbc news, benghazi. >> we know the cia is on the ground in libya. they're helping to target gadhafi's forces and making contact with a largely unknown rebel leadership. jamie smith is a former cia officer who served in the middle east and also the founder and owner of scg international, a

private security firm. thanks for joining us. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel was with a rebel group yesterday. he was telling me the rebels could hold up for months, even years without arms. so are arms needed at this moment to turn the tides? >> well, i would respectfully disagree that. you've got to have the munitions in order to provide defense, and gadhafi definitely has the munitions. he has the armor and the small arms to come in and take this back. we've seen this over the last couple of weeks where there's a pattern, where the rebel forces will come in. they will gain some ground. but because they're a somewhat disorganized group with a lack of training, they cannot hold the ground they take. and then gadhafi comes in and takes it back. we see this back and forth, back and forth. unless they are better armed and better trained in carrying out these actions, you're not going to see anything but a long

stalemate here. and as soon as the aerial assets are removed, i believe then we're going to see about what we saw two weeks ago when gadhafi was on the outside and benghazi about to take that place. in war fare, aerial assets are key. but you've also got to have guys on the groupd that know what they're doing and can actually come and take and hold the territory. >> jamie, back on the ground then. let's put out a hypothetical that arms do make it to the rebels. long term, what might be some of the considerations? >> there's an old saying that says the enemy of my enemy is my friend. and the united states has had a history of giving arms and supplying munitions to smaller groups that oppose larger groups that we didn't necessarily care for. the afghanistan campaign back in the '80s where we're working against the soviets is a good example of that. what we find later is those munitions last longer and the weapons last longer than the conflict did, and we wind up seeing those things turned around and used on us.

what we've got to do is find out exactly who is who in the zoo, if you will, before you start giving out weapons that can come back to harm united states interests. we need to find out who's receiving -- who's going to be on the receiving end of these things and look long term and say, do we really -- what can we expect? it might be a good idea if we maybe hold off on that and allow some other group to maybe -- some other country to step in. united states has put up -- >> jamie, you're alluding to what secretary gates had said yesterday. based on your experience in the middle east as a cia officer, what do you believe post-conflict libya will look like? what is the end game here from your experience? >> well, they've got the eastern side. if they could hold the eastern side, you're going to look at a split down the center of tripoli, maybe on the left, the western side of the map. and then a new libya on the right-hand side. and that's where all the petroleum resources are, so

that's where the money is going to be. if they wind up with this back and forth and the air cover is removed, now you've got a stalemate, and we very well could see this split into two parts. but with the continuing fracture of the gadhafi regime, the leaving of moussa koussa and al treki so far, someone is going to come along and get rid of gadhafi on the other side. gadhafi is going to go away one way or the other, and there's going to be a reconciliation between the east and the west, and they'll bring the country back to one place. we'll see a new libya, but gadhafi's going to have to go away for that to take place. >> jamie, this as other members of the coalition are discussing exile plans and where gadhafi might go possibly. jamie smith, thank you so much. >> thank you. the april fool's day storms is no laughing matter for folks throughout the northeast. forecast calling for up to a foot of snow in some areas. winter storm warnings are in effect for vermont, maine, massachusetts, and new hampshire.

up in concord, new hampshire, workers hit the ground running this morning doing what they could do to clear streets and sidewalks of the snow that's already fallen. that is where we find the weather channel's jim cantore. jim, i was looking at your report earlier. there's a lot of snow coming down. what's it look like right now? >> reporter: yeah, richard, we kind of got a little leftover snow now. so it's taking a bit of a break. we're kind of making this a monthly occurrence. we did this in december, january, you and i, february, march, and now april. as long as we don't do it in may, that's a pretty good thing. you've got to love the strong april sun. look at this. here's a car obviously which is dark, so it's going to absorb the radiation. we haven't brushed off this snow. just kind of did it on its own because of the melting. here's a silver car, and the snow is sticking on this car. both cars have been here since early this morning. one of the great things about this time of year is cool temperatures for new england. this is, believe it or not, maple syrup somebody brought

down to me. you can see how nice and thick it is. they've had a great run with the sap, and it takes about 40 gallons of that sap to make one gallon of maple syrup. now all i need, richard, is the pancakes. unfortunately, this heavy wet snow has caused a few power outages. we've had 27,000 customers that have lost power. that number has come down to about 17,000. these aren't crippling power outages. these aren't huge poles down, huge trees on top of homes and things like that. this is more of branches and sitting on top of lines that they have to clear and things like that. the fact that they dwindled it down to already 17,000 is a great thing. and because it's april, we're talking about temperatures tonight that are going to stay at freezing or above. so instead of getting down to 15 where we have power losses in january, that would be crucial, we'll obviously be able to help people out, at least for a couple of nights here with these temperatures that are going to stay right around 32 degrees. >> cantore, with all the work you've done, you should have more than pancakes, waffles and

maple syrup. >> reporter: don't think i couldn't put it all away, brother. >> i believe you could. a government agency orders harsher safety reviews at three nuclear plants. how serious these concerns are.

the head of the nuclear regulatory commission says there are three nuclear power plants that we are, quote, most concerned about, end quote. they each need increased oversight by federal regulators. those three are reportedly the h.b. robinson nuclear plant in hartsville, south carolina, the ft. calhoun nuclear generating station near omaha, nebraska, and the wolf creek nuclear operating organization in new

strawn, kansas. all three of these are just part of nuclear plants with 104 reactors across the united states. when you take a look at this report, why the concern? should we be worried baseded on what you've seen? >> good morning, richard. the nuclear regulatory commission has a very rigorous and continuous inspection program at all the plants, and there are two inspectors that live at the plants at each of the sites so that they're constantly inspecting the plants. they do inspections continuously. other teams come in to inspect, and they have findings from those inspections. and also the plants file performance indicators, which measure the performance in many different areas of the plant. they rank plants in five categories. most plants are in the number one category. i think there are eight or nine currently in the number two category. and then the three plants we're discussing here are in the third category. there are none in the fourth and

the fifth. so these plants have accumulated probably a number of small infractions or violations, and perhaps one or two that are very significant, but they all of these plants are considered safe by the nuclear regulatory commission and by the industry. so they're in the process of doing corrective actions for these deficiencies. the nrc will increase their inspections at these plants for the time being until they are corrected. >> tom, does this concern you, though? because they're now in this level three. when you hit level three, is it sort of a slippery slope? you quickly go to four? the risk of going to level four is higher? >> no. there are typically a few plants in that category three all the time that are -- have some need to improve, and the nrc is very tough on the plants in terms of keeping them tuned up and

operating very well. of course, the industry and the owners of these plants are equally concerned about making sure they keep all of their processes and procedures functioning properly, all their operators performing to the standards. so it's not a crisis. if you got into a four or five category, that would be of significant concern. in fact, plants that get into a five category would probably be shut down by the nuclear regulatory commission. but this is -- i wouldn't say it's routine, but there are plants that are constantly trying to tune up their performance as measured by the nrc. >> and this brings to light, tom, the use and the future potential of building more nuclear plants as we look at the energy challenges facing us. president obama not really touching on the future of nuclear power. how have designs changed? based on what we're seeing in these three plants, how have they improved since three mile island that might say to people across the country nuclear power is still good? >> well, in fact, president obama has, in fact, endorsed

nuclear. and in the future, he constantly mentions that. of course, there are some provisions in the law now to assist in providing loan guarantees for existing power plants. the existing fleet of 104 has been remarkably improved since tmi. there were a number of lessons learned there, and frankly there are lessons learned continuously about the operation of nuclear plants, and the industry is dedicated to making those improvements, and the nrc is dedicated to it as well. for instance, right now under the leadership of the nuclear operations and the nuclear regulatory commission, each of the plants is doing a complete review of its capability to withstand events similar to the japanese event that is beyond the design basis where things don't go as well as you might have thought in terms of the design of safety systems, and so you have to improvise and come up with other things. and frankly, the american nuclear power plants have been

improved substantially over the last decade in being able to have equipment like they've had to bring in available on site to accommodate situations that are as severe as the japanese one. >> 32 years after tmi, three mile island, still that debate goes on. tom crimmins, thank you, the former director of the american nuclear society. traffic deaths at an all time low. the reasons for those dropping numbers. and another week gone in the fight to keep the government running. how this morning could be a whole lot different than it was yesterday. maybe. make a wish! oh. ooh. happy birthday todd. it's for a cough... from allergies... [ male announcer ] halls relieves coughs and sore throats due to allergies too. now you know. due to allergies too. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. introducing "better car replacement."

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more u.s. troops are now actively helping with the recovery in japan as radiation fears grow there. and the deadline looms for the government shutdown if congress cannot resolve the

budget battle. tea party leaders on capitol hill weigh in, and we'll hear what they have to say. in betwee. no other medicine, not even advil pm, is more effective for pain and sleeplessness. motrin pm.

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richard lui. here's what's topping the news now. after weeks of protests, today is being the friday with the march forward in yemen with thousands marching and demanding that president saleh step down. private diplomatic efforts are under way to persuade to him to agree to a transfer of power as they're met with rival and pro-government protesters. al qaeda has made inroads in some southern yemen cities. gladys and candace scott are hoping a rally at today's capitol will persuade governor haley barbour to pardon them for a 1989 robbery. they're 16 years into a life sentence and were release ds on the condition that one donate a kidney to the other. that surgery is on hold until they both lose weight. barbour's office telling the ap he's unlikely to grant the

pardon. we're just one week away from a government shutdown. we've watched that countdown. we're hearing conflicting reports from the hill. democrats have floated the possibility of a deal with a magic number of $33 billion in cuts. but speaker boehner has repeatedly said it is not over till it is over. the speaker is trying to legislate and appease tea party freshmen trying to take a hatchet to this debt. nbc capitol correspondent luke is with us now. you were saying thaboner was like a groom trying to get married to this deal. how is the feud going on today? >> reporter: the tea party republicans and a lot of conservative members of congress here on the hill are very much opposed to any type of compromise that would be worked out with senate democrats in the white house. there was a large tea party rally here yesterday, and one of the main chants, richard, was "cut it or shut it." that wing of the republican

caucus here to some degree believes they could weather a government shutdown as it would look, in their view, honest to their constituents because they were fighting to the bitter end to get as much budget cuts as they could for the rest of this fiscal year. the white house and senate democrats have offered that $33 billion number. their logic is this. look, republicans wanted $61 billion. we wanted zero. we're meeting them in the middle at the $33 billion, which is ironically what they requested to be cut from the federal budget this year, the first time they unveiled their budget cutting plans. speaker boehner said the house position has been $61 billion. they're continuing to hold that line today. the negotiations are going to be going on over the weekend. but the one interesting thing, richard, with this jobs report number coming up here, which is showing signs of an economic recovery, albeit fragile, it really must put in the minds of both republicans and democrats, look, if there is a government shutdown and that's a huge drain on the economy, which side would be blamed for it? and which side would look like they're hurting the economic

recovery and hurting job creation? that would be a huge political liability moving forward. also, one other interesting caveat here. a $33 billion reduction for the rest of this federal budget would be the largest one-time reduction in u.s. history. that's a talking point we're hearing a lot of democrats saying to us privately today. we are really trying our best to make a compromise. >> with that said there, luke, shouldn't the gop feel like they've got a lot done. with they quietly celebrating given the fact they did get $33 billion, and this is the largest number you said? >> reporter: i know republican aides will tell you this privately, because they've told me, and democrats have also told me this. the gop in terms of, if you want to talk about where this started, has definitely won the bunlette cuts issue. they got what they originally asked for, which is the $33 billion in cuts, which when that was unveiled, we were told by democrats this was never going to occur. they've done that of the the message has been about the number. what the real worry is, look, the storm that brought the gop

in in 2010, this was very much tea party backed. it was grass roots activist backed. they do not want any compromise. they don't want to hem to the white house or anything. they want all or nothing, and they're willing to go to the bitter end to do it. john boehner has to deal with it if he wants to continue to be an effective leader of the republican conference. he's going to go to the bitter end to put forward that viewpoint. i do believe you'll possibly see more of a compromise later in the next week. after the news of this economic recovery, people do not want to be seen as the side that really hurt the economy moving forward. >> budget march madness comes to an end. >> we're going into the final four. seven more days. yeah, it's getting close. it will be a final four days, trust me. >> luke russert, have a good weekend, my friend. thank you. >> always a pleasure. there is some surprisingly good news today about safety on the nation's roads. the department of transportation reports that this morning traffic fatalities are at their lowest level in 60 years. there's been a huge drop in just the last five years as well. nbc's tom costello has more. >> reporter: good day from

potomac, maryland. the numbers are really amazing. the fewest number of deaths on america's highways since 1949. and the experts say you can credit everything from better, safer built cars. also tougher dui enforcement, and the roads are much safer. it was the kind of car accident that medics with denver's flight for life know could have a tragic ending. on a mountain highway, pat riordan lost control of her subaru, flipped it four times, and went off the road. once at the hospital, they found she'd had just a concussion, cuts, and bruises thanks to air bags and seat belts. >> this is the trooper that came to interview me after the accident said i was undoubtedly alive because of being in that particular car with that kind of protection. >> reporter: she's not alone. the government says in 2010 traffic fatalities dropped 3% in just one year and an impressive 25% in five years. from more than 43,000 fatalities in 2005 to under 33,000 last

year. at denver health medical center, chief surgeon ernest moore says he sees far fewer head and chest injuries now than at any time in his career. >> thoracic damage, the most common form of death at the scene, has been reduced with air bags. >> reporter: experts believe cars have never been safer, now built to cocoon occupants and absorb the energy of the crash with air bags that protect everyone inside. >> it's packaging 101. if the box doesn't collapse, then the cargo inside is better protected. >> reporter: now required electronic stability control systems help keep cars on the road while collision avoidance systems keep spacing between cars. >> sir, have you been drinking tonight? >> reporter: meanwhile dui enforcement has never been tougher with a .08 blood alcohol level, the law nationwide. >> police now do not allow drunk drivers to walk away from their

car, drive away from their car. they arrest them. people lose their driving privileges. >> reporter: and two more factors. 85% of drivers now wear their seat belts while ems response times and techniques have also improved. distracted driving, especially texting while driving, remains a very big and growing concern. listen to the statistic. in 1972, 54,000 people died on the nation's roads. since then, the population has grown by 100 million, and yet 20,000 fewer people have lost their lives. i'm tom costello in potomac, maryland. back to you. >> thank you, tom, for that. now to a family murder myste mystery, one that's taken years to try to resolve here. it took some 60 years, we understand. it's actually been the case that has affected at least one family in a very bad way. three people gunned down in a quiet georgia town in a dateline investigation that will be airing tonight. dennis murphy examines what

happened that took the lives of a husband and son, leaving a mother devastated and a family torn apart. >> the time we received the call was around 3:00 a.m. >> 911? >> help. >> what's wrong? >> gunshot. >> you're shot? >> yes. >> where you at? >> the sheriff's office 911 operator could barely understand the voice on the other end of the call. >> how did you get shot, ma'am? >> i don't know. >> you don't know? >> no. >> an explosion of horror. three people gunned down, two fatally, on a quiet road in a quiet georgia town. bill pike, a prominent real estate developer, shot dead in his bed. his son and business partner cary, also shot to death while sleeping. philip's wife linda shot in the face. >> we did not believe she was going to survive those injuries. they were that agrievous.

>> reporter: what had happened in the dark hours of a monday morning in that modest house? unraveling the layers of the mystery would take years and would leave the family torn apart. philip and linda heidt's son craig was arrested for the murders. in his trial, the prosecutor called the motive as old as the bible. >> state your name for the record, please. >> robin wraft heidt. >> the defendant's sister-in-law would testify. >> did you and craig have an intimate relationship that night? >> we did. >> where was that? >> that was in philip and linda's living room. >> she testified about an affair she said she'd had with craig that the state said was the reason why craig had killed. because he wanted his brother's wife and his brother's life. but some in his family say it's not true. >> craig is not a murder ir. >> what will the jurors believe? >> dennis murphy joins me right now. dennis, not a typical crime story here. lots of twists and turns here as

well. >> not at all, richard. i think in the world of criminal investigation, you'd call this victimology, why were these people the victims at this thing? you have a father-son, the wife and mother, who don't fit easily into any patterns of violent crime. you have an upper middle class family. they're all about church, work, togetherness. and the father was a patriarch of this family going back in that county of southeast georgia for generations. so on dateline tonight, we're not so much concerned about the grisly crime, and it is very grisly, but it's trying to uncover the back story. how did this family, what were the stresses and fact toracture brought them to this grievous act. i was struck by them saying how old testament it was, a son's lust for his brother's wife. >> the details are very in depth. and also the forensic evidence.

>> there wasn't a great deal there. despite this very violent scene, you have a close-up shotgun attack on the father, the son, and the mother, the wife. yet the investigators went through the place inch by inch, as you can imagine, and didn't come up with much. so when he went to trial, the accused was not faced by forensic evidence. it was going to be a story told about a life, about a family. >> dennis murphy, thank you so much. again, that's going to be on tonight. you can catch the two-hour special on "dateline" tonight, the mystery in effingham county tonight on nbc. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] if you think "heroes" are only in movies, consider this: over 70% of firefighters are local volunteers... these are our neighbors putting their lives on the line. and when they rely on a battery, there are firefighters everywhere who trust duracell. and now you can join with duracell to help. just buy specially-marked packs & duracell will make a battery donation to local volunteers. these days don't we all need someone to trust...? duracell. trusted everywhere.

now to japan where the cleanup and recovery continues in the wake of a devastating earthquake in japan. as fears of leaking radiation continue to mount, an american company is trying to help the japanese by sending the world's largest concrete pump. officials plan to use it to help stabilize the badly damaged nuclear reactors. the number of u.s. troops are also assisting in a ramped up

search and recovery effort in the area. nbc's lee cowan is keeping an eye on all the latest developments. he has the latest now from tokyo. lee? >> reporter: hi, richard. a couple of things going on here today. they have news that now for the first time they think they have found radioactive elements in the ground water underneath the nuclear power plant, and what that means to some people is they fear that could end up getting back into the drinking water. officials say that doesn't teem seem to be the case. the levels aren't as high as they thought early on today. it spiked to 10,000 times what it should be. they're backing off a little bit, saying the calculations might be wrong. they emphasized this is not near a well. it's not nearly streams or rivers that would feed water purification plants for drinking water. at this point, they say no worry there. the other front is a massive search and recovery effort that is under way today. it involves the u.s. military, involves the japanese military, and it is huge. some 65 different ships. more than 100 helicopters.

thousands and thousands of personnel. in fact, there's actually more personnel looking for the missing than are actually missing. but it's really the first day of a three-day effort to try to find more than 17,000 people who are still missing. most of those people, they believe were washed out to sea after the tsunami. that's where the search is focusing on right now in coastal areas that up until now haven't been accessible. they want to, again, do this for the next three days and then call it a day. at least in terms of the recovery mission and then start the massive rebuilding effort, which is going to take months and years to come. richard, that's the latest here. back to you. >> lee cowan there in tokyo. the people who run the united states' largest companies had a very good year in 2010. an analysis by "usa today" found that median ceo pay jumped 27%. by comparison, the average u.s. worker saw their paycheck grow by just over 2%. don't hate the people who are living the high life. it's not easy evidently, having

an eight figure balance in your bank account. at least that's what a new study looking at people who make $25 million or more has found. graham wood wrote about that study in the current issue of the "atlantic" magazine. graham, thanks for joining us today. i read your piece, and i learned, i guess, speaking with these researchers, the wealthy are not necessarily happier. i got to say, really? >> yeah, really. they complain just as much about things as the rest of us. they complain about some different things. and concerns that are familiar to us. they are really anxious, it turns out, about their family, their kids in particular. they're worried about having spoiled brats for kids. and everything from their love life to their working life. they don't have to work anymore, and that turns out to be a real impediment when they try to get jobs. >> part of the questionnaire, as we look through it, one of the questions that stood out to me is this one. it reads, "how does your wealth get in the way?" tell me about the interesting

answers you got from that. >> well, first of all, the kids. they worry that the kids, even if they have trust funds that are distributed in ways that really require the kids to work, like at the age of 20, you might get $1 million. but you're not going to get the rest until you get a job. they still find their kids, they can't trust them to go off and to live meaningful, fulfilling, moral lives. so they worry about that. they find that money can't buy them trust in their own families. beyond that, there's really no aspect to their life that gets a whole lot more comfortable. other than the fact that they never really have to worry about being poor. >> graham, it sounds like it's family family. also, we have to ask you this because you made a distinction. there's a difference between how you get your money. what did you find in terms of difference between what warren buffett calls the money sperm club, the instant millionaires like the dot com boomers, and

those who earn their money over time, over decades. what did you find? >> people who earn their money, they don't have to worry quite so much about their self-worth, because they know they can do t the inheritors, they always have to wonder. they don't have to go out and be entrepreneurs like their parents did, and they always have to worry that maybe it was their parents who were the really the ones with merit in the family. and they're just eating the leftovers. so to be the inheritor -- go ahead. >> no. go ahead. >> to be the one who has the money just given to you means that you're not sure if your life is going to be one that will be remembered as one with merit or if you're just lucky, as warren buffett said. >> folks will read your article. they'll see the study when it comes out. they just won't be able to associate with it. there's some sort of i don't like them because they have so much money. are they good people, from what you found out? from the responses that you got online. >> yeah, they do seem to be good

people in that they're worried about things that the rest of us would be worried about too if we had that kind of money and some of the burdens that are associated with it. they're worried also that they sound like spoiled brats themselves. some of them, they really do. they said, among other things, that things that even if they have $25 million or in some cases $100 million in the bank they really don't feel financially secure. so you find that people -- they say some things that are very unsympathetic but many of the concerns are really things that people who work for a living can understand very well too. >> very human, i guess is what you're saying. graeme wood. very interesting. contributor editor with the "atlantic" magazine. >> thanks for having me. energy efficiency something we all strive for. yet for many that monthly energy bill keeps on going up. can it all be blamed on rising oil prices? the surprising answer makes up "the flip side." u've been stuck, while my sneezing and my itchy eyes took refuge from the dust in here

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now it's time for the "flip side." a look behind the head ryans, the smartphone. kind of all the time it seems like we can't do without it. but this little gadget coupled with how we keep comfortable at home and give us a less than combined energy bill unfortunately. here with the facts on that back to 197 to start. two-thirds of the total energy use at home was for space heating. reasonable at the time. but things are changing. here's the same chart for 2005. you can go ahead and double the energy for appliances and electronics and there's a big bump for your ac as you can see on that chart. your washing machine and refrigerator are more efficient but this is a big part of the problem as well. more than 37 million households have two televisions. 10 million more have a computer. look at this. we're nearing 60 million homes with a rechargeable electronic

device. we can count them right now. 8 in 10 homes have a dvd player, more than 40% with a dvr. all that fun new stuff costs money but ain't nothing without good old electricity and the bill we get every month. that does it for me. thomas roberts back on monday same place same time 11:00 a.m. eastern. contessa brewer picks up things next. 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, my customers are happy. how can the gold card help serve your business? booming is taking care of your business by taking care of your employees. even though i'm a great driver, and he's... not so much.

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good day, everybody. i'm contessa brewer covering the big news coast to coast. the big story we're watching unemployment dips to a two-year low. positive signs for a continued recovery. unemployment falls to 8.8% as 216,000 more americans are reported to work in march, the second straight month for big gains. >> once we have around 200,000 jobs a month we're in takeoff speed.

>> and the jobs seem to be everywhere. factories, retailers, education, health care and others are putting out help wanted signs. >> obviously, from a political point of view if you start seeing the number drop from 8.8, that becomes very significant for this president. >> reporter: more than half of large companies reportedly plan to add jobs this year. small businesses are driving growth as well. consultant lonnie grayson has more than trimmed his staff. >> we're trending 30% above this year. >> reporter: david simms' catering business is sizzling. but 13.5 million americans are still out of work, some for more than two years. the jobless rate for blacks is twice the national average. >> we are saying jobs, jobs, jobs. >> reporter: the weak housing market can keep some job seekers from relocating, unable to sell their homes. also of co