can?" get ready for "we can't wait." president obama is rolling out a new economic offensive as he begins a three-day trip out west. he aims to jump start the troubled housing market, starting in las vegas, ground zero for the housing bust. cnbc's chief washington correspondent john harwood joins me now. john, good morning. fill us in on the details of this plan. >> chris, for the president of the united states when the economy is so weak and people are so upset, there is an impulse on the part of the american people to say don't just stand there, do something. the president has got to take whatever actions he can using his executive authority to make a difference. so he's going to try, first of all, with new rules on refinancing to try to help people who are under water on their mortgages, make it easier for them to get refinancing. you've got to get federal authorities to go along with that. he's going to try to ease the repayment terms for student loans. he's already taken some steps to speed payments to small businesses. help returning veterans get

jobs. but, of course, these are all things that only have an impact on the margins. if they would make a big difference on the economy, he wouldn't have gone to congress in the first place, trying to get an economic plan. but this is better than nothing. and by the way, he is doing both of these things in swing states, nevada and colorado, while he's out raising money for his campaign. >> all right. john harwood in washington for us. thanks, john. beyond the economy, president obama can point to several key victories in the fight against terrorism. >> president obama has passed with flying colors every leadership challenge. i mean, look at what he has done. i mean, just to name a few things. i mean, you know, we were looking for bin laden for, you know, ten years. it was under president obama's leadership that he was finally eliminated. >> and joining me now, jim van deheim, matt lewis. gentlemen, good morning. >> morning. >> let me start with you. hillary is talking about that

3:00 a.m. phone call. bin laden is gone, gadhafiy, anwar al akey. is he going to get any credit for it? >> it's not just libya, bin laden, it's following through on the promise to get troops out of iraq. and also continuing a lot of the bush era policies as far as fighting terror. and that's why a lot of republicans are pretty happy, at least privately and some publicly with how he has administered foreign policy. the problem for him is, it doesn't matter in the polls right now. all anybody cares about is jobs and the economy. and i don't think that changes at all over the next year. and we saw this with bin laden when he was assassinated in that there was a short, very small blip in the polls for the president. but then it went away quickly as people focused again on the economy. so it's going to be very difficult for him to point to those foreign policy achievements and then accrue real political value from that. >> let me ask you this. republicans, of course,

generally, don't see him as a strong foreign policy president. and i just want to play one example of that. >> in the last year, he has made some very poor, dangerous foreign policy decisions at the strategic level. israel has been thrown under the bus by this president. his standing in the state is low. iranians don't fear us at all. they're trying to attack us here at home. i would argue that iraq and afghanistan is being run out of chicago. >> and if you just take, for example, the gadhafi example, there are a number of republicans who had a lot of difficulty giving the president any credit, and he had to -- they sort of had to backtrack and then say, oh, but we support our troops there. do they risk coming off with independent voters as just too extreme anti obama? >> i don't think so. i mean, i think that, you know -- first of all, i think senator graham does make a point if you look at israel and iran, those are still important countries and problematic issues in both cases. i do think that republicans, a lot of republicans, haven't

really given president obama the due credit that i think he deserves and the example of, say, gadhafi. there are other issues. iraq, by the way, who knows what's going to happen there. i mean, if things go well, obama very well may get credit ultimately. if they don't, if it sort of descends into sectarian violence it could hurt him. since 1968, democrats have been sort of plagued as this image of being a weak party, dove, sort of weak on crime, weak on foreign policy. i think it's possible that president obama in the long run, is starting to change that narrative. and in the future, republicans will no longer possibly be able to just check off that box. they might have to fight democrats over who is the party, the strong international foreign policy party. so that could be a long-term issue to keep an eye on. >> in the short-term, looking at 2012, jim, let's talk about what the president is starting today with his new plan. he's going to go out there and

say, look, the republicans won't allow us to do what we need to do to help the economy. the republican congress is blocking it. so i'm going to move forward with some other things. smart strategy? >> it's probably the only strategy that he can employ right now. john harwood hit it on the head when he said, listen, in times like, this people want to see action or people in the white house think people want to see action so that's what today is all about. it's not going to have that much of a appreciable effect on the economy in the short-term or long-term. but he can't just throw up his hands and say there is nothing i can do, because he lacks the strength, power and support in congress now to get anything through that institution. so he has to resort to using things where you can go around congress to get it done. the problem is, he knows he's just captive to numbers. as long as unemployment is at 9%, as long as growth is anemic, and as long as people -- consumers have a lack of self-confidence and lack of willingness to spend, he's going to be trapped in this soond. sand. and i think the white house

anticipates he'll be there until it's a binary choice. president obama versus somebody else. and that's when all these other factors come into play. that's where being strong on foreign policy or having some success as you can point to, he could have a political advantage from that. because people want to know, are you competent, are you strong? on the economy, the judgment to date seems to be, no, it hasn't been as except as we like. on foreign policy, competent, but we don't care. so where are things six months from now when it's him versus somebody else specifically. >> you know what i find fascinating on the other side, herman cain seems to have pushed the republicans into having their mantra be a flat tax. i mean, suddenly, that's what everybody is talking about. is there danger in that? >> no, i think it's a great thing. but you're right. look, i was very critical of the 9-9-9 plan from a conservative perspective, that -- because it sort of introduces this new national sales tax, which i think is a bad idea. but look, give herman cain credit for an innovative idea.

and i think, you know, rick perry now is coming out with a flat tax this week. i hear mitt romney is starting to talk more favorably about flat tax. it could be that ultimately in the future we have a flatter tax, and even if herman cain does not become president, he might actually sort of get to claim some credit for bringing this idea to the forefront. so that's another argument for running presidential campaigns, by the way. sometimes you can lose the election, but win the argument. >> but jim, isn't part of the problem that already this 9-9-9 plan is getting revised, because there are problems with it? >> sure. 9-9-9 has big structural problems, big political problems. but the debate is right. it's a good place for republicans to be. and listen, if you step back in politics and think about momentum, momentum takes a while to build to the point where it actually produces change in policy. there is clear momentum in the republican party and inside the democratic party, at least a big section of it, for tax reform

that includes a flatter code, one for rates, with a lowering of the corporate tax rates. that's where momentum is headed. it's not going to happen in the next 18 months. but these things take time to build. so that fits nicely into the arc of where politics is flowing any ways. >> guys, great to see you this morning. >> thank you. retailers are ratcheting up the details to get you into the stores this holiday season. where to go to save. cnbc's mandy drury will join me at half past the hour. the dramatic rescues in turkey. ter men and women pulled from wreckage after the country's strongest earthquake in a decade. this rescue took place in the eastern part of the country. turkey's state-run tv station says four people were rescued alive today after one man managed to make a cell phone call from beneath the rubble. turkish officials say 270 people are dead, 1,000 more injured. there could still be 100 more trapped alive.

developing now, the u.s. is pulling its ambassador out of syria, because of threats against his personal safety. the ambassador left damascus this weekend. it's not clear when he'll return. ambassador robert ford angered syrian authorities when he defended peaceful protesters. a government crackdown in syria has killed nearly 3,000 people. meantime, australia has announced it will begin aerial patrols in the wake of that shark attack that left a texas diver dead. thomas wainwright was killed over the weekend, the third victim of a fatal shark attack in just a few weeks off the west coast of australia. local fishermen have been ordered to actively hunt a rogue great white. they're under orders to kill the shark if they come across it. but actually we do -- and my kids would be like, "awesome, mom!" oh! i did not see that. [ male announcer ] layaway's back for christmas in our toys, electronics, and jewelry departments. flavored with real honey. powerful cold medicine

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just minutes ago, mitt romney filed the paperwork, making his run in new hampshire official. romney is being endorsed by former governor john . and there you see him in new hampshire. also this morning, rick perry getting an endorsement from steve forbes. not a huge surprise since he has been developing a flat tax idea for perry's campaign. and republicans fell back in line on saturday, moving the gop caucus back to february 4th. so nominating order for now looks like iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, florida and nevada. and joe biden in 2016? he's not ruling it out. >> i'll make up my mind on that later. i'm probably in the best shape of my life. i'm doing pretty well, enjoying

what i'm doing and as long as i do, i'm going to continue to do it. and we'll find out -- let's get the president re-elected. >> okay. but possibility. you're not closing that door. >> i'm not closing anything. in iowa, the candidates tried to track crack a few jokes. first rick perry and then rick santorum. >> we are not called to be perfect. many of you that watch my debate performances over the last three or four times, you know i am far from perfect. >> i went through my -- i caught my 0-0-0 plan. because zero is better than nine. >> well, no laughing matter for republicans. social issues, they pale to economic issues. but among core republicans, they can swing votes. abortion a big topic at the iowa faith and freedom dinner this weekend. rick perry took a shot at herman cain, who said he's against abortion, but then said that's not a decision for the

government to make. >> being pro life is not a matter of campaign convenience. it's a core conviction. it is a liberal canard to say, i am personally pro life, but government should stay out of that decision. if that is your view, you are not pro life. you are pro having your cake and eating it too. >> i'm joined now by robert train, washington bureau chief, and david corn, washington bureau chief for mother jones and msnbc political analyst. gentlemen, good morning. >> robert, give us the lay of the land. how important is the abortion issue to 2012, and for whom? >> i'm not sure it's important for 2012 in general but very important to the republican primary, probably one and the same. the reason why is because, look, at the end of the day what you're talking to are very conservative primary voters in three battleground states from a primary perspective. south carolina, new hampshire and iowa. and so when you're speaking to that specific constituency, you

have to speak to certain things that are important to them. abortion is the number one issue. very strong. number two is the gay marriage issue. so, you know, it's speaking that language and talking to people that they want to hear about. >> well, i'm wondering, david, as he said, it's not just abortion. it's gay marriage. and i'm wondering, do you think republicans risk -- run the risk of sort of muddling the waters when they're focusing a lot of attention on these things and not the economy? >> short answer is yes. the republican party -- not just the presidential candidates, have been obsessed with abortion when they came in, the new house republicans, the tea party republicans who ran on the campaign of where are the jobs, we've got to cut government spending, first thing they focused on was redefining the definition of rape to limit abortions under medicaid. and then when we had had the big budget battle in the spring of 2011 government spending and we almost had a government shutdown, what did that hinge on? the republican attempt to defund

planned parenthood. not from doing abortions, but from doing cervical screenings and other woman health care services. so they have been not just on the campaign trail, but here in washington, obsessed with this issue. and the more they talk about it, even -- i agree with robert, to win the republican primary, the more it frames the republican party as being wed in these cultural issues that a lot of people put in the past. and not really looking ahead at how to get our anemic economy moving faster and better for more americans. >> the con undrum robert for republicans, they swing so far to the right that it's more difficult for them to win over the middle of the road republicans and democrats and certainly the independents and the general election. >> well, yes and no. and the reason i answer that question is because that's what every primary fight is about. remember, we had this same conversation four years ago on the democratic side. remember, barack obama was 30 points behind hillary clinton. and the issue back then was the

iraq war. in 2004. hard-core left. john kerry eventually became the democratic nominee. but a lot of people did not think he was liberal enough for the democratic party. so, you know, with all due respect, this is the primary process that happens on both sides, every republican nominee runs to the right. and every democratic nominee runs to the left in the primary field. >> it doesn't always work out that way, though. john mccain won the nomination last time, even though he wasn't as socially conservative as mike huckabee. and as you noted, john kerry was not as liberal as howard dean. so we'll see what happens when mitt romney this time. but if you run too far to either side, whether it's to the left or to the right, you run the risk of defining yourself. and we see now mitt romney, who ran in massachusetts, and now is running in the republican -- is all tied into a pretzel on all these issues, because he's gone back and forth. and then to placate whoever he is running for at that point in time. you know, he's trying to be more

kfb active now. he runs the risk of not just being too extreme, but being pegged as a flip-flopper yet again. >> this is what we know. we know that every presidential election since 1968 has always been about the economy. we know that the independent voter in this pennsylvania, ohio, michigan and florida and probably missouri are going to decide this race. what we also know is that the economy has always driven the national narrative, regardless of whether you're running on the hard left or hard right. barack obama is going to be running again, the republican nominee. and i guarantee you, this time in 2012, it's going to be about the economy. >> well, speaking of the economy, david, you bought the web name, 9-9-9plan.com? you still trying to sell that? >> herman cain, if you're watching, i am willing to be very reasonable. i believe in market-based policies. and we can sit down and have a conversation. i'm surprised that your campaign, as organized as it may be, overlooked this obvious

action. you know, i bought it, you know, after one of the debates in september. 999plan.com. right now, we have a great video up of a dog eating pizza with human hands. if you would rather use that address for something else, herman cain, give me a call. >> hey, david, will you sell that domain for $9.99? >> no, no. got to add a few zeros there. but i'll also say this. mitt romney, rick santorum, if you want to use that domain name, for whatever purposes it may have, you can call me as well. >> all right. david corn, salesman extraordinary, robert, thanks to you, as well. appreciate it. >> thank you, chris. the transitional leader of libya is ordering an official investigation into moammar gadhafi's death. the u.s. and other nations have been pushing libya to take that closer look since gadhafi was clearly captured alive. a coroner says gadhafi died from a gunshot wound to the head. meantime, a human rights group says it's found a mass grave filled with bodies of apparent

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check out this political doubletake. two presidential contenders, rick perry, rick santorum, strapping on the hunting gear in search of unsuspecting pheasants. governor perry took aim at second amendment enthusiasts and outdoorsmen. >> as long as i've got memory, i had something to go hunting with. so it was a long love affair with a boy and his gun that turned into a man and his gun. and then it turned into a man and a son and his daughter and their guns. it's -- i think one of the great american traditions is taking your family hunting. >> ah, so rick perry and his love affair. according to gun lobby, considerable influence. let's bring in national investigative correspondent, michael isikoff. good morning, michael.

>> good morning. >> was that a signal, you think, that rick perry is going for gun lobby support? >> o absolutely. that was a piece of touching by gravy, perhaps, but also very this shrewd politics. this could be a sleeper issue in a lot of very key gop primary states. if there's any constituency in -- among republican primary voters, that is passionate, that is committed and publicly involved, it's the gun lobby. rick perry has a longstanding relationship with the gun lobby, support from the nra. he got over half a million dollars from the nra. he sent a video in which he said that in his view gun control is hitting what you're aiming at and then showed him firing at the firing range. and why that's so smart? this is, again, one issue that mitt romney is vulnerable on in massachusetts. he supported an assault weapons ban, something the gun lobby is

fiercely opposed to. he supported the brady bill waiting period for gun buying. so there's -- and there's also, remember, the whole issue that came up the last time romney ran, he said he was a hunter. then it turned out when he was pressed on the issue, what did he actually hunt, the answer was varmints. he got a lot of ridicule for that. so watch this one. it could be a big issue in a lot of republican primary states. >> yeah, that really is it, though. could hurt him -- exactly what we were just talking about with david corn and jim. could hurt him in the primary, po but potentially help him in a general election, more moderated stance. >> possibly, although the battle on these issues has shifted so far toward the gun lobby. we had that supreme court amendment ruling that affirmed that the second amendment is an individual right. and look at the congress. even when the democrats

controlled congress a few years ago, the obama administration didn't want to touch the gun issue for fear of endangering those blue dogs in rural states. so i think that overall, this is an issue that plays for the gun lobby. it's going to play for perry. and like i said, watch it. i think this could be a sleeper issue. we're not talking about it on the national level right now. but as we get closer to voting day in primary states, we're going to hear a lot more about it. >> michael isikoff, thank you. walmart is doing something that should make shoppers very happy. and they're not the only ones. details, next. ♪ [ female announcer ] mini™ meets berries. kellogg's® frosted mini-wheats cereal with a touch of fruit in the middle. helloooooo fruit in the middle. [ jim ] i need to push out a software upgrade. build a new app for the sales team in beijing.

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today and a storm in the westishers ushers in major changes. severe weather in the south. look at that, snow in the rockies, a huge drop in temperatures for denver. we'll talk about that in a moment. right now again pretty quiet across most of the country. there are some showers around erie, pennsylvania coming into western new york today. we'll find that in harrisburg, pittsburgh through the afternoon making its way toward new york and philly later today. qui quiet day across t south. warm in the southern plains. no rain in texas. that's well above average in dallas. and in the west, a beautiful day for the most part. some morning snow across the morning plains and 85 for the high today, chris, in las vegas. >> where the president is headed. a perfect segue carl. there is air force one, the president running a few minutes behind schedule, but going to vegas to unveil his economic offensive. you're going to hear him say we can't wait, trying to jump start the troubled housing market. and huh, of course, las vegas ground zero for many of the

housing problems that have had a broughter effect on our economy. and he wants people who are you said water in their mortgages to be able to refinance and not lose their homes. we're keeping our eye on that developing story for you. let's take a check of some other stories people are talking about right now. what should be the last week of prosecution witnesses at the trial of dr. ron cad murray in the death of michael jackson starts today. an as thesologist will be back on the stand. the defense cross examination of steven shafer grew so heated friday, the judge ordered lawyers to, quote, cut it out. new surveillance video in the baby lisa disappearance case appears to sour the parents' claim the 11-month-old was abducted by a stranger. this grainy video seems to show a man leaving a wooded area at 2:30 a.m. with what witnesses say was a baby wearing only a diaper. last night, friends and family gathered for an emotional prayer vigil for baby lisa who has been missing since october 4th.

we are hearing now from steve jobs in his own words, courtesy of tapes made by author walter isaacson. isaacs isaacson's by gravy on jobs is out today. he says jobs saw himself as chosen, going back to when jobs found out he was adopted. >> i was -- remember right here on the lawn, telling lisa mcmoreland that i was adopted. and she said, so, does that mean your real parents didn't want you? ooh, lightning bolt. i remember running into the house. i was crying, asking my parents. and they sat me down and said no, no you don't understand. they said, we specifically picked you out. >> meantime, apple has now posted a link on its home page to the private memorial the company held for him last sunday night. controversial new study out today on the chemical bpa found in some plastic bottles and metal cans. preschool girls who were exposed to high levels of bpa before

birth scored worse than other girls on behavior measures like anxiety and hyperactivity. boys did not appear to be affected. the study appears today in the official journal of the american academy of pediatrics. but researchers not involved in the study say factors other than bpa may explain those results. don't get used to the low gas prices just yet. the average price jumped a nickel a gallon in the last two weeks. thelund berg survey puts the price of a gallon at $3.47. and how can you live like the "jersey shore" cast? that's coming up when we go down to the wire in 20. it's beginning to look a lot like a cut-throat christmas. in a new effort to crush the competition this holiday season, walmart has just announced an aggressive price-matching policy. cnbc's mandy drury is here with what's moving your money. how does this work? >> the new strategy is aim to go pull in people like me, those who wait until the last minute to buy their presents.

it gives them a big incentive to buy early. a guarantee from walmart you will get the lowest price no matter when you buy. it's on all walmart's products, even after the purchases are made, whether in store or online. and it's going to start on november 1st up until christmas, december the 25th. this is how it works, chris. if you buy something at walmart and find an identical item for less later, you will receive a gift card for the price difference. but as you can imagine, it really raises the competitive stakes. obviously, the holiday season accounts for about 40% or as much as 40% of retailers' annual revenue. so it's really important. for example, you've got other retailers like bed, bath and beyond also matching prices. nordstrom offering free shipping on most of their orders, no matter how small, even no though it could wind up paying $3 to ship you a $7 pair of socks. and also got online jeweler offering a $249 amethyst necklace for free, provided that you pay the $24.95 it costs to

ship. so obviously they're going to lose money but it really does show how desperate some retailers are to reel in customers who hopefully might buy some things from them later on. >> all right. let's talk about this other story that is probably going to fire up the occupy wall street crowd. it's about ceo pay and when you make comparisons, shareholders are not getting bang for their buck. >> absolutely not. it's that time of year again, many business publications are running lists of high yefd paid ceo there was. and if you just look at calendar 2010, there are a few startling facts here. a few companies whose ceos were among the highest paid and yet stocks performed the worst and had the largest price drops over the course of the year. so, for example, you've got on the list, miles white at abbott labs, total compensation, over $25 million. the stock price, however, down 11%. larry fink from blackrock, $24 million. stock price down 18%.

and then also in the list, john chambers from cisco systems, total compensation nearly $90 million. and when i say total compensation, that includes everything in terms of his package. the change in the stock price, down 31%. so it was a shareholder of those companies, you would probably, i don't know, think twice. >> no kidding. mandy drury, as always, thank you. believe it or not, the birthers are bachblth they have moved on from president obama. now setting their sights on republicans, including senator marco rubio and governor bobby jindal. dana millbank joins me now from washington. dana, good morning. so why marco rubio and bobby jindal? >> well, there are a lot of unanswered whys here. but, you know, it comes down to this little provision in the constitution said to be eligible to be president, you have to be a natural-born american citizen. we had, of course, the birther controversy with obama, because they were suggesting, well, he didn't have his birth

certificate. that seems to be taken care of, although not entirely. but now they're saying, well, since marco rubio's parents weren't american citizens, even though he was born in america, and since the same thing with bobby jindal, well, they weren't natural-born citizens. the problem is, nobody has ever defined natural-born. so, if you carry this to its logical extreme, i guess if you were born by cesarean section, you might also be ineligible to be president of the united states. >> that's an interesting thought. >> if your mom had an epidural, technically that's not natural childbirth so i think you're probably all out. >> all right. let's talk about the fact that there are some people who say that, look, republicans seem to suggest they now weren't going after president obama specifically, or him for police politics, but because of race. will this do you think lead any of the republicans to disavow birthers what's going to happen here? >> it probably should. the main instinct of the

republicans is to wish this to go away. the good news, it does suggest that the birthers, as they are called, were not being partisan, not going after obama because he's a democrat. the problem, because they're going after an indian-american and cuban-american, that obviously opens up questions of, you know, are they particularly targeting people of certain races and ethnicity. i think the mainstream republicans would like to sort of sweep this under the rug. but it's not all that easy to do, because now we see the likes of rick perry, a very visible republican again flirting with the birther movement. >> yeah, i want to talk about that. because if we go back to obama, we can see -- i'm looking at my monitor, marine one landed and president obama will be making that west coast trip to talk about the economy. first going, obviously, to nevada and then california and colorado. so as we wait for him, i have to read what rick perry -- there's the president -- said to "parade" magazine.

it's a little long but instructive. do you believe that barack obama was born in the united states. perry, i have no reason to think otherwise. parade, that's not a definitive, yes, i believe. perry, well, i don't have a definitive answer, because he has never seen my birth certificate. parade, but you've seen his. perry, i don't know, have i? >> parade, you don't believe what's been released? perry. i don't know, i had dinner with donald trump the other night and he said he doesn't think it's real. what is going on? >> see, that's news, chris, because when the long-form birth certificate came out, it seemed like donald trump was satisfied, he declared victory, settled down saying glad we've got this resolved. soon after made clear he wasn't running for president. i don't know. is rick perry making up this conversation or is, in fact donald trump had a change of heart? but trump is no longer the story, but rick perrier man in

the running, although he has fallen back, but running for presidency is reviving the whole birth certificate controversy that we thought was long past us. >> the whole conversation is just so bizarre. isn't it? >> it goes in circles. >> yeah. >> maybe we can start the rumor about joe biden leaving the ticket, as well. >> let's do that. why not? dana millbanks -- just for fun. always good to see you, dana. thank you. getting in the mood for halloween this past weekend. "paranormal activity 3" took in $54 million, a new record for the highest-fall opening ever. what else in the top five. "real steel" dropped to second. "footloose" third. "the tree musketeers" and "ize of march." use... or a can of paint...

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rate? and the search for missing lisa, an inside look at the house where she was allegedly abducted. and much more coming your way in the next hour. chris? >> thank you so much, thomas. the government is tossing a lifeline to underwater homeowners, people living in a home worth less than their mortgage. diana olick is here with the new details. we just saw the president heading out west there. we see air force one taxiing, getting ready to go to las vegas. let's talk about the sheer numbers here. how many people are in this situation? >> well, chris, about 11 million borrowers are currently under water on their mortgages. as you said, that means they owe more than their homes are worth. now, what this program is, it tweaks to an existing government program and it's true fannie mae and freddie mac. so your home has to be owned or guaranteed by fannie or freddie. the original program said you could owe up to 25% more on your loan than your home is worth and be eligible for the government refinance. now what they're doing is taking off the limits.

they know home prices have fallen so far that people are far more under water. that is, they may have up to negative 50% equity in their homes in some places like california, arizona and florida. so that's the big move, is they're taking off that cap, and allowing those borrowers to refinance. however, this is not for people in trouble on their loans. this is not if you're behind on your payments. this is for current borrowers. and you have to prove that to be eligible. you have to show you have income or a flow of income coming in, that you have a job. and then you have to show that you've been current for the last six months, you've made all your payments. so, again, not for people in danger of foreclosure. the hope, though, is that it will keep more people from defaulting on their loans in the future by giving them those lower interest rates, lowering their monthly payments. >> kind of putting you on the spot here, but do we have any good sense of the number of people who have deliberately gone into foreclosure? i know when we were really getting heated newspaper the middle of this crisis, in places like nevada, arizona, and florida and california, there

were people who were saying, look, i'm just never going to get my money back. i can rent more cheaply, and they were walking away. do you know if those numbers are significant, or do we know? >> we do not have a number on that. we talked about a walk-aways, a lot of those were investors and they didn't have a stake in the home, weren't living in it. not that many people who actually live in the home, have their families there, going to school, et cetera, are walking away from their mortgages, walking away from their homes. so it's not a hugely significant number. but we do know, from studies over the last couple of years, that the more under water you are on your mortgage, the more like you are to strategically default. that is, walk away from your mortgage, as you said. >> and there are other implications, aren't there, bigger picture implications. let me give one example. if you live in a neighborhood and there are houses, multiple houses with foreclosure signs, that's not good for your home value. so it's beneficial for more than the person in that house to be

able to stay in that home. >> absolutely. we know that foreclosures lower the value of homes all around them, for -- and we've known that for a long time. that's why we have such depressed home values. not just because of foreclosures, but because of what that does to appraisals in the neighborhood. again, this program is not designed to help people who are in trouble on their loans, who are delinquent, facing foreclosure. this is not a modification program. and that's what a lot of the criticisms are, they're saying the housing market needs more than just a re-fi program to help current borrowers, because the current borrowers are paying. now, the administration will argue, okay, we're putting more money back into borrowers' pockets and that in a sense is going to fuel the economy, give people more spending power and keep people from defaulting on their loans. but again, we're looking at estimates of how many people this will help. the current program, current government re-fi program helped just about 850,000 borrowers. this could help maybe twice that. in the greater scheme of things, when you're looking at 6 million

borrowers who are either late on their payments or in the foreclosure process, 200,000 doesn't sound like an awful lot. >> cnbc's diana olick, helping us to figure this out. we appreciate that. and, again, we are awaiting for air force one to take off at andrews air force base heading for nevada. and then there will be three western states where he is stopping. and this mortgage plan, a big part of what the president will be pushing as he is going to have this mantra, "we can't wait." in the meantime, on the republican side, we have mitt romney, who is in concord, new hampshire. there are some pictures with former governor, hitting the campaign trail after he filed election papers earlier today, making official what we have long known, that he will be running for president and running there in new hampshire. twitter buzzing with numerous stories surrounding the rescue and recovery efforts going on right now in turkey as more and more crews rush to reach people who are trapped after that 7.2 devastating earthquake.

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going it alone. president obama's big plans to bypass congress with a new round of executive orders aimed at helping struggling americans, including under water homeowners. but will it work? rick perry is getting awf awfully close to calling president obama a birther. the surprising interview that could oh revive what some thought was a long-dead issue. and steve jobs unplugged. a new biography papers a more unflattering picture of the ceo, one that may surprise his big yeftd fans. welcome to msnbc, i'm thomas roberts. president obama is ready to take matters into his own hands when it comes to getting struggling americans back to work. after months of trying to work with republicans to pass jobs legislation, the president is