house! [ applause ] my home boy from illinois and an outstanding republican endorsee. there you go. now, unless you've managed to hide your television somewhere for the last year, you may be aware that it is now campaign season. and here in iowa, it seems like it's always campaign season. you guys can't get away from it. and i know that it is not always pretty to watch. there is more money flooding the system than ever before. there's more negative ads. there's more cynicism.

most of what you hear in terms of the news is who's up or who's down in the polls instead of how any of this relates to your lives and the country that you love. so i know that sometimes it can be tempting to lose interest and to lose heart and to get a little cynical. frankly, that's what a lot of people are betting that you do. but i'm betting that you won't. i'm betting that you are going to be as fired up as you were in 2008 because you understand the stakes for america. most of you are here because you know that even though sometimes our politics seems real small and petty. the stakes in this election could not be bigger. what's at stake is bigger than two candidates. it's bigger than two political

parties. what's at stake is two very different visions for our country. cedar rapids, the choice that we make, it will help determine our direction for years to come. that choice is going to be up to you. >> obama! >> that's a good choice. [ applause ] this will be my last political campaign no matter what. i got nothing else to run for. because of that you start feeling a little nostalgic and start thinking about some of your first campaigns. i think about all the places i used to travel in illinois. the first race i ran as a state senator, michelle and i had to

xerox or go to kinkos and copy our flyers. we didn't have a tv budget back then. we rode around in my car, and i filled it up with my gas and i'm the one who got lost if i took a wrong turn. what's amazing, though, when i think about it was how many people you'd meet from every walk of life all across illinois in big cities, small towns, up state, down state, quads, you name it. and you'd always hear similar stories from people about their parents, their grandparents, the struggles they had gone through and how they had been able to find a job that paid a living age and to look after their families and their kids had done a little better than they did. those stories would resonate with me and michelle because that was our story. that was our lives.

and then when i came to iowa for the presidential campaign, first stop, cedar rapids, first stop. [ cheers and applause ] first stop. >> we love you! >> i love you, back. the first stop was cedar rapids. then we went on to waterloo, and that was the first time i had campaigned as president and i was kind of nervous. we had this huge town hall, and i don't remember what i said. most of the time i was just worrying about screwing up. but the same thing that i saw in illinois i was seeing in iowa. this was a state that gave me a chance when nobody else would. and no matter --

[ applause ] -- no matter what the national media was saying, no matter how far we were down in the polls, michelle and i would come here and feel hopeful because we had the same conversation we had in my first race as a state senator, as u.s. senator, going to state fairs, visiting vfw halls and diners and meeting people whose lives on the surface might have looked different from mine. when you heard their stories, they were a common story. i thought about my grandparents whose service in world war ii was rewarded when my grandfather came back from the war, my grandmother worked on a bomber assembly line, and they were able to go to college on the gi bill, buy their first house with an fha loan. i had a single mom who, with the

help of my grandparents was able to send my sister and me to a great school even though she didn't make a lot of money. she was struggling to put herself through school and working at the same time. and michelle would think about her father who had worked as a stationary engineer at the water filtration plant, blue collar job all his life, and her mom who was a stay-at-home mom and worked as a secretary for most of her life. we thought about how far we had come and the fact that our lives were a testament to that fundamental american idea, that no matter who you are, no matter what you look like, no matter where you come from, america is a place where you can make it if you try. america is a place where you can make it if you try.

that same story, my family's story, michelle's family's story, i heard it from you guys. it was your story. we'd sit and talk and agree that america has never been a country of people looking for handouts. we're a nation of workers and dreamers and doers. and we understand that we've got to work for everything that we've got. all we ask for is that hard work pays off, that responsibility is rewarded so that, if you put in enough effort, if you're willing to put in some sweat, tears and overcome some difficulties in your life, then you can find a job that pays the bills and afford a home that you can call your own and count on health care when you get sick and put

it -- [ cheers and applause ] -- put away enough to retire on, maybe take a vacation once in a while. i was telling folks in ohio the other day, i remember my favorite vacation when i was 11 years owed, traveling the country with my grandmother and my mom and my sister. once in a while we'd rent a car. a bunch of times we'd just take greyhound buss. sometimes we'd take the train and stay at howard johnson's. as long as there was a little puddle of a pool, i would be happy. you'd go to the ice machine and the vending machine and buy a soda and get the ice and you were really excited about it. and what was important was just the time you had to spend with your family. there wasn't anything fancy, but

you understood that you could spend time with your family, they were cared for, you had a sense of security. you could provide for your children an education that would allow them to do even better than you did. that was the basic bargain that built america's middle class, the largest middle class on earth. that's what built our prosperity, the greatest economy the world has ever known. so those shared memories, those shared stories, that was the basis of our campaign when i ran for president. that's what i talked about the first time i came to cedar rapids. because we can't together as democrats and independents and republicans because for too long that basic bargain, that vision of what it means to make it in america had been slipping away for too many folks. people were working harder for less. it was more difficult to save,

more difficult to retire, cost of health care and college was going through the roof. we understood that turning that around was not going to be easy. we knew it would take more than one year or one term or maybe even one president. what we didn't know was that we were about to get hit with the worst economic crisis in our lifetimes. that crisis has put us through some really tough times here in iowa and all across the country. it robbed millions of our fellow americans their jobs and their homes and their savings and it made the american dream seem even further out of reach for too many hard-working people. the basic idea of why i ran in 2008, the reason you're here today is because that crisis did not change who we are. it did not change our character. it did not change our values. we still know what makes us great. we still know that what makes us great is the fact that, if you

work hard in this country, you can still make it. that vision we still believe in, the vision of a strong middle class is what we're fighting for. we are listening to a fiery speech from president obama in cedar rapids, iowa, right now, important battleground state. we want to bring in congresswoman jackie spear, democrat. congresswoman, thank you for your time. we want to get you in on this conversation as we listen to the president. you hear the president making a case from the middle class, personal stories from the president we've heard in the past regarding the first lady. the heart of his message today is tax cuts for the middle class, a message he picked up strong on monday. today he got republicans saying that all democrats are not united behind this president in his effort to lower taxes for the middle class. >> i would disagree with that, first of all. i think it's important to make it clear that every american is

going to get a tax cut up to $250,000, and for those who make more than $250,000, they lose the benefit of that tax cut at that point. but 98% of the american people, they're going to have a full tax cut continue. as the president was talking today, i was remembering my childhood and the middle class life that i led growing up. we only took four vacations my entire childhood, but they were big in terms of my remembrance. hearing him speak today, he's at his best when he's telling these stories about what life is like for the middle class. >> those supporters very responsive. you say you disagree with the fact that democrats are not united with the president. you claire mccaskill, john tester, bill nelson, three democrats in tight races this year who made the case, at least nelson did, to limit the tax

cuts to people who make over $1 million as opposed to the $250,000 mark as noted by the president. >> well, that is in the senate, i was thinking more specifically about the house. but you're right. nonetheless, it's a tax cut for everybody. i think we have to remember that. everyone gets a tax cut up to $250,000. when corporate america received $2 trillion in profits last year, the highest percentage of profits as a percentage of gdp in the history of this country, no one is hurting in corporate america, and that's the 2% we're talking about, at the very tippy top. >> let me play what john is a knew knew said in the last hour. i'd like to get your response to it, please. >> the president, again, chooses to demonstrate why he has ruined this xhu. he doesn't understand why he's behind the eight ball with 8.2% unemployment.

he's behind the eight ball because those people who invest in jobs, that want to put money into create jobs look at this administration and are scared to death of things like this tax and like overregulation. all he's done with what he put out yesterday is convince them that, if obama is elected, they're taking their investment money out of the country. >> the president noted yesterday, congresswoman, that 98% of the businesses, the folks that republicans like to refer to as jobs creators would not be affected by the tax cuts here, among these businesses the president and outside sources noted as well make under $250,000. as noted, the president is in iowa. we know the importance of this state and the importance of the so-called independent voters right now. is this the message or part of the message you believe will be effective in getting the president re-elected here, the message of middle income people,

middle america being hit hard. it's not because the president is not making an effort to help in this climate that we're in? >> i think it's really clear that the american people like barack obama. they believe that he is trying to do the right thing. let's not forget that the bush tax cuts were in effect for over 10 years. >> 11 years, yes. >> how many jobs were created during that time frame? actually much fewer jobs created during that time frame than during the last three years of the obama administration. we are not going to be losing jobs by getting rid of the tax cut that was supposed to be just a tax holiday for a period of eight years. it was not supposed to be a permanent tax cut. and i am not willing to have my children have to pick up the tab for a $15 trillion debt that continues to grow. it is our responsibility as adults in america to turn over this country to our kids in a

situation where they're not going to be saddled with interest and debt that is going to choke them. so i think we've got to be grownups here and recognize there's no free lunch. we cannot continue to have a strong military, to be able to provide social security and medicare and not pay for those. that's part of being an american. >> congresswoman speier, thank you for your time. i greatly appreciate it. governor romney not too long ago wrapped up his remarks at a campaign event in colorado where he dismissed the president's tax proposal as what he referred to as nothing more than a jobs killer. >> this week the president added insult to injury with another kick in the gut by announcing that he has a plan he said to lower taxes for job creators and small businesses he announced a massive tax increase. so at the very time the american people are seeing fewer jobs created than we need, the president announces he's going

to make it harder for jobs to be created. >> let me bring in news nation political member ann kornbluth, hogan gibly, republican strategist, former communications director, karen finney, former communications director for the dnc. ann let me start with you, what is fact from fiction here? the president says 98% of the small businesses don't make over $250,000 so thus they would not be knocked out as some republicans have certainly implied or flat out said. what's the truth here? >> i knew you'd start with me on the hard stuff. i believe that that is accurate and i also believe what the congresswoman said in the previous segment, too, is true, which is we're talking about faxing the first $250,000. but one point that she didn't address was the dissent among the democratic ranks. i think it's true you're seeing especially in the senate, but

even prominent democrats outside of elected office say they'd like to see it go up to $1 million. >> to that point, let me bring in hogan. hogan, yesterday we heard this line and we're also hearing it today from romney surrogates, that you have democrats not standing strong, at least three that i've named already, bill nelson, john tester, claire mccaskill in tough races. set that aside, if the benchmark was people who made over $1 million, hogan, would republicans compromise and agree to that? >> i'm not sure. i do want to address one thing that ann mentioned, and that's bill clinton. he's a democrat's democrat. he came out and said you shouldn't raise taxes on anybody. there are deep divisions within the democratic ranks and those holding office currently and those who don't. >> i'm not sure that's what bill

clinton said. that's not quite -- >> we'll get to that. i want to stick to whether or not you believe, hogan -- not sure is i don't think the satisfactory answer because i think you know the answer is no. i'll be honest with you. i think you know the republicans have offered up the $1 million benchmark, the answer would still be no compromise. >> i would probably say that's correct. i don't think that's necessarily right, by the way, for them to do politically or professionally for them to move forward to get this ball rolling forward, to get the american people on our side on this issue. but look, this thing the president did, everybody on this panel and on this show knows it's not going anywhere. it's not even going to come up. it's not going to pass. everybody knows that. it's purely political, it's not economics. >> we know the health care repeal vote from the house republicans tomorrow won't go beyond the house, it will not pass in the senate. but that has not stopped speaker boehner and republicans from talking about it? that is, too, quote, unquote,

political. >> no question. let the message wars begin. if the president is going to try into crease taxes on everyone making $250,000 or more, he's only going to raise about $81.5 billion a year. the federal government spends $81.5 billion every eight days. it's just a drop in the bucket. >> is it a drop in the bucket -- if the numbers are accurate and $2200 would be saved for an individual family, is that a drop in the bucket, $2200? >> absolutely not. this is the message war. how do you look at it? do you look at it as $81.5 billion every eight days which doesn't do anything or do you look at it in terms of $2,000 per family which is a lot when the average income is $49,000 a year. >> karen, you wanted to get in on the whole notion that bill clinton isn't standing with the president. we've been hearing that from republicans as part of the argument that the president -- by the way, senator chuck schumer came out strongly yesterday and said for those who

believe he's not standing with the president on the $250,000 or more mark are wrong. he does. >> here is what i would say on that. while there's disagreement whether it's $250,000 or $1 million on the democratic side, every democrat is consistent on the fact that they need to focus on the middle class, a, and b, let's move forward in an area that we should be able to agree on. that is a very consistent message from democrats. i get why people want to make hay out of the difference between 250 and 1 million. but let's not lose sight of the fact that you have republicans who have to go home and explain why they are opposed to a tax cut for middle class families. that's the shift in this dynamic here. the president has actually been very consistent. putting this out now says, look, we can do something right now. fine, republicans aren't going to do it. let's not say it can't be done. it should be an area where there should be and there is on the democratic side consistent agreement. with regard to president clinton, what i would say is -- he made the point and he was

talking in terms of a strategic arrangement with the republicans. my recollection of his quote was more to the effect of maybe you let it go another year if that would mean that the republicans would cut a deal with the president. i don't think he was specifically disagreeing with the president or the idea that the bush tax cuts were meant to be a temporary fax, not a long-term solution. >> karen, we know -- >> karen, even the video of the president himself saying -- just a couple years ago to say to raise taxes during a time like this is a bad idea and wouldn't be smart economic policy. it's just -- again, it's the mishmash of politics and the evolution of politics. >> hogan, the brainwashing from the outside forces that the notion of letting a tax lapse is an increase is semantics. let's be honest. we're not talking about raising taxes. >> i agree. >> ann, we're out of time.

hogan, happy to know we share a birthday. i can be pleasant with anyone. karen, thank you. up next, big breaking news out of newark liberty airport. an air traffic control tower was evacuated after smoke was spotted. it led to a temporary ground stop at the airport. we have more on this breaking news and the situation happening at this major airport right outside the new york area. we'll be back with more. follow the wings. this is new york state. we built the first railway

and the first trade route to the west. we built the tallest skyscrapers, the greatest empires. we pushed the country forward. then, some said, we lost our edge. we couldn't match the pace of the new business world. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. build energy highways and high-tech centers. nurture start-ups and small businesses. reduce tax burdens and provide the lowest middle class tax rate in 58 years. once again, new york state is a place where innovation meets determination and where businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com.

without freshly-made pasta. you could also cut corners by making it without 100% real cheddar cheese. but then...it wouldn't be stouffer's mac & cheese. just one of over 70 satisfying recipes for one from stouffer's. welcome back. we're following breaking news right now. flights are now taking off again at newark liberty airport. they were grounded earlier after an evacuation. nbc's tom costello covers the aviation industry. tom, what's the latest on what happened there? >> good afternoon to you. apparently they had smoke in the tower there where air traffic controllers are working. it was from an elevator shaft. as a result they moved those controllers out of the tower to an alternate location. they put a ground stop in effect

at the nation's 14th busiest airport. clearly, as you know, one of the most important airports in the new york area, part of the linchpin along with newark and jfk -- rather laguardia and jfk. we're now told they seem to be addressing the problem. the controllers are controlling traffic from an alternate location and the browned stop has been lifted. we're talking about delays of at least 35 minutes or so at newark. because the new york city area is such an important part of the overall air traffic control grid in the country, you might expect delays rippling across the country by anywhere from half an hour to an hour in certain cases because of this ground stop at newark. again, it's been lifted now. we are told the air traffic controllers are working at an alternate location and are safe. tamron, back to you. >> thank you for the update. up next, call for cash. president obama sends out a blunt e-mail to supporters warning, quote, we're getting

outraised. plus brad pitt's mother reportedly receiving death threats after a letter she wrote bashing president obama was sent to a local paper. it's one of the things we thought you should know. be sure to check out our news nation tumbler page. you'll find behind the scenes pictures and that picture of me celebrating my five-year anniversary with msnbc, the place for politics. [ male announcer ] away... is as much about getting there... ♪ ...as it is being there. ♪ [ birds chirping ] away is where the days are packed with wonder... ♪ [ wind whistles ] ...and the evenings are filled with familiar comforts.

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hey. hey eddie. i brought your stuff. you don't have to do this.

yes i do. i want you to keep this. it'd be weird. take care. you too. [ sighs ] so how did it go? he's upset. [ male announcer ] spend less time at gas stations. with best in class fuel economy. it's our most innovative altima ever. ♪ president obama's re-election campaign is sending out urgent pleas for cash for a second day in a row now that numbers show mitt romney outraised him last month by $35 million. romney can't spend some of that money. as msnbc's first read points out, romney can't spend any campaign contribution earmarked for the general election until after his party's convention in late august. if one donor gives romney the massive contribution to the

campaign, $2500 for the primary and $2500 for the general, he can't spend the second until september. joining me now, mark murray, nbc news senior political editor. we know money matters. help clarify why that is so important to note regarding when romney can spend. >> tamron, there are a couple of things going on. romney is raising a tremendous amount of money, a lot coming in large checks, part to the romney campaign, a big chunk to the republican national committee and another going to the romney victory fund. how romney can be outraising president obama and his campaign and his surrogates and not being able to spend as much money as obama is right now is simply because of this thing that you just pointed out, you cannot use general election funds until after the republican convention. so all the money that mitt romney is able to spend right

now for his campaign are primary funds. a lot of that money was already spent when he was battling newt gingrich and rick santorum. it does explain a little bit of a disadvantage when you're a challenger running against an incumbent president who didn't face a primary field of his own. >> we talked about some of the e-mails from the obama team. today one went out saying we can win a race in which the other side spends more than we do, but not that much more. yesterday it said if we lose this election it's because we didn't close the gap enough when we had the chance. you and your team point out the different financial strategies of these campaigns right now. >> right. those e-mails actually speak to a strategy the obama campaign is trying to deploy for the last several months now. and that is fear. republicans and mitt romney have anger on their side as a big motivating force. the democrats in the obama campaign want to square their base and say, look, we are going to be outspent. we could end up losing this election. you guys really need to get

fired up and ready to go this time around. so they're trying to inject that. at the end of the day, tamron, i think the obama campaign, because of its big head start, because it didn't have a primary race on its hands is going to outspend romney's campaign by itself. where they're really scared is with the outside money. by sending these e-mails to their ten million, 12 million e-mail base, they're trying to be able to outraise a lot of those outside republican groups, republican-leaning groups like american crossroads, americans for prosperity, because they know those are the entities that pose a bigger challenge to him at the end of the day. >> mark murray, we'll see you tomorrow, true. by the way, right now the house is debating the latest republican effort to repeal president obama's health care law. it is the 33rd attempt by republicans to either repeal or defund the law. the debate has been raging now for about an hour and a half with the vote expected tomorrow.

>> there is something this body can do to reverse the course and prevent the job-destroying aspects of this bill from taking effect, a complete repeal of the bill. >> we're not trying to make law here. we're making political points and that is a shame. >> obama care eliminates millions of american jobs. it cuts hundreds of billions of dollars from medicare, and it puts in place 21 tax hikes. >> we should be working together to help create an environment where businesses can create jobs for the american people, not voting for the 31st time on essentially a political argument. nbc news capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell joins me. we had hogan didly on. he argued that the argument is a political argument. you have the same one being made about this health care vote by house republicans, both not going anywhere. >> these are political arguments, and they are rooted

in policy differences. certainly for house republicans this is about getting a vote on the record after the supreme court linked the constitutionality of the health care law with taxes. they want to be able to press democrats on that point and they want to be able to demonstrate to their own constituents that they again voted against this law and making the tax issue front and center. so why is it more than 30 times we've been through this? repetition is a part of it, and now that sort of game-changer is we are after that supreme court decision, and a bit of the landscape has changed. certainly democrats, the president today in iowa is defending the law. speaker john boehner has been asked why they are going at this again when, as you point out, it won't go anywhere in the democrat-controlled senate. he explained why they have this on their agenda. >> we are resolved to get rid of a law that will ruin the best health care delivery system the world has ever seen. it will bankrupt our country and

it will make it impossible to grow our economy. that's why we're doing it. >> so you have democrats who are focused on a lot of the more popular provisions that are beginning to take effect, have been in effect for some people, and republicans are also making this about a jobs issue. as you heard, the speaker, he talks about that in terms of what would happen to some of the small businesses. a lot of what is so complicated about the health care law is it does roll in over a period of years. some of these things are really crystal ball time, trying to know how it will have an impact on businesses and how it will have an impact on individuals. a lot of that isn't known. the political points are carrying the day. >> kelly o'donnell, thank you very much. now to a controversial bill in california dubbed by supporters at the anti arizona law. the measure is designed to prevent racial profiling by police. it would allow local authorities to ignore federal requests to detain nonviolent illegal immigrants for deportation. that, by the way, conflicts with

federal policy. the measure is awaiting final approval by the assembly. it passed the state senate last week. the big question, will governor gary brown veto it? joining me is the author of the bill, tom ammiano. i've read reports from law enforcement personnel who feel this proposal by you puts them at odds with do they follow state law or do they follow the rules of the federal government in place? >> we're not really violating the federal law. i understand. i have sympathy for law enforcement. we or working very well with them. >> you've heard that feedback, right? >> yes. the more we converse with law enforcement, the more they are convinced, you know, we have quite a few police chiefs, et cetera, who are supportive of the trust act. they don't want to waste resources detaining people with no serious criminal records at all. they would prefer to be taken out of this process rather than

be the tool of the i.c.e. program which unfortunately has gotten a little cavalier, a little cowboy. we had 75,000 people deported in california last year, and only about seven out of ten of them -- rather only 30% of them had anything seriously wrong. it cost the cities a lot of money, caused families to be broken up. that's not how we want to do it in california. we'd like to take the lead on this and exercise some standards and some -- >> what would be those standards then? if a law enforcement person pulls over someone -- it was only two weeks ago the supreme court did strike down certain portions of the as adds law, but they did let stand that "show your papers" provision, allowing police to check someone's immigration status. >> yes, only if there's a questioning of the seriousness of their charges. so remember the i.c.e. program is a program, not a law.

it's simply requesting we detain anyone that they feel should be detained. we're going to say, no, we want community standards. we'd like to re-establish the trust that a community has to community policing programs, et cetera. and also not expend resources, law enforcement resources. if we do detain people, it's at our expense. there used to be an mou that tailored this law or program more specifically to communities. they did away with that. we're trying to reinstate that. we feel it's the right thing to do. we feel it's humanitarian. again, we do need comprehensive immigration policy here in the nation. so the trust act is really part of that movement. >> what kind of feedback are you getting from the governor there? >> he doesn't usually remark on potential legislation. i know historically he's been on

the side of social justice issues such as this. we also know that he's been hearing from many of the -- of our allies, whether it's the faith community or labor. and we feel that any education or any conversation that's needed we're here to do this. you've got to remember this is more than california. this is really national. >> obviously that's why it hit home when we saw it happening in arizona. thank you mr. ammiano. it's the american dream, going from rags to riches. how often does that really happen? we'll get the details on the new study that compares how we live now to the way our parents lived. first, there's a lot going on today. here are some things we just thought you should know. texas governor rick perry says his state will not participate in two key elements of the health care reform law. governor perry wrote a letter to the federal government saying he'll reject the insurance exchanges and medicaid provision in the law.

he explained his thoughts on fox news. >> the bottom line here is that medicaid is a failed program. to expand this program is not unlike adding a thousand people to the titanic. >> governor perry's move means as many as 1.3 million people who could have gained coverage under the medicaid expansion won't get it. that's according to figures from the urban institute. brad pitt's mother is allegedly receiving death threats in response to a letter jane pitt recently wrote in which she openly criticized president obama. on the "today" show yesterday brad pitt's brother doug defended his mother. >> i think moms and dads and kids agree to disagree all over the world. why would our family be any different? no, there can be healthy discussion when people disagree with you.

i think there should be. the bad thing is when it turns to venom and negativity. >> in the letter written by jane pit, it referred to barack hussein obama as well as the reverend jeremiah wright's church. that was one of the things that drew eyre of some people. obviously death threats hard on anyone. a snat state senator authored by glen grothman, it will chaz ties women who have babies and are unmarried. those are the things we just thought you should know. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 let's talk about fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 there are atm fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 account service fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and the most dreaded fees of all, hidden fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, you won't pay fees on top of fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no monthly account service fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no hidden fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and we rebate every atm fee.

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parents, but it is not enough to move them to a higher economic class. joining me now, "washington post" social issues reporter annie gowan. thank you for your time. >> thank you for having me. >> your article grabbed my attention for so many reason, but especially when you look at the numbers. you write 84% of americans earn more than their parents, but earning does not mean a better, quote, unquote, life. >> so what the study found was that the good news of the study is that 84% of americans are earning more than their parents did and 50% of them are accumulating more wealth than their parents. however, it's more difficult for people to move up on the economic ladder. a third of americans do have upward mobility, but many are stuck at the bottom and some are -- not stuck, but remain at the top as well. >> are you seeing this trend in all races and people from pretty much across the country?

>> so the study was from a data sample from the university of michigan that tracked about 2,200 families, the parents and children from 196 to today. what they found was that there were striking differences between whites and blacks, of course, with african-americans more likely to fall out of the middle class and into the lower class and to experience downward mobility as opposed to upward mobility. >> who are we seeing -- when you look at the demographics, and i guess even regionally or if you want to break it down to gender or race, who are we seeing most likely, if you will, to succeed not only economically, but have the quality of life that their parents certainly wish they have? >> one of the things the study showed is if you're in the highest income brackets, you're about -- about 40% of those folks remain there, especially the sons. if you're in the lowest quinn

tile, the lowest section, 40% of those folks remained in the low section as well. >> doesn't that seem logical? you hear people -- oprah calls it an a-ha moment. is that really something that is reveal? does that sound logical to what we've seen? >> we've seen a lot of data that supports this same idea. there's 46 million people, record number of people in poverty today, and the top 1% of earners are gathering more and more a share of the income and the wealth. so it does support the statistics that are part of the political discourse right now. but it's interesting because it's one of the first study that is really showed the families, it tracked real parents and real children, to see how are people really doing? are we really doing better than our parents. >> fantastic report. thank you so much, annie. great pleasure having you on. >> thank you.

coming up, socialite denise rich denounces her u.s. citizenship, likely saving her millions of dollars. she doesn't have to pay it in taxes. do you agree with the proposed legislation that would ban people from ever returning to the u.s. if they don't want to pay their taxes? it's our news nation gut check. ♪ [ acoustic guitar: slow ] [ barks ] ♪ [ upbeat ] [ barks ] beneful playful life is made with energy-packed wholesome grains... and real beef and egg. to help you put more play in your day. like, keep one of these over your head. well, i wasn't "supposed" to need flood insurance, but i have it. fred over here chose not to have it. ♪ me, i've got a plan. fred he uh... fred what is your plan? do i look like i have a plan? not really. [ female announcer ] only flood insurance covers floods. for a free brochure, call the number on your screen.

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you can join the newsnation on our twitter page. @newsnation. time for the newsnation gut check. another wealthy american renouncing her citizenship with speculation it's all to avoid taxes. denise rich, a pretty wealthy socialite whose billionaire ex-husband was pardoned by president clinton on tax evasion fraud charges renounced her passport. she has australian citizenship through her father. her lawyer says she wants to move to london where her children live. tax lawyers say giving up her

citizenship will save denise rich tens of millions of dollars in u.s. taxes. back in may facebook co-founder eduardo zef wren renounced his citizenship days before the company went public. that prompted chuck schumer and bob casey to impose a bill of a 30% tax on americans who give up their passports and would also bar them from re-entering the country. the irs would have to decide if they gave up their citizenship to avoid taxes. would you support legislation that would require people to pay up if they try to come back into this country, if they attempted to skirt around paying taxes? go to facebook.com/newsnation to cast your vote. that does it for this edition of "newsnation." tomorrow, mitt romney addresses the naacp. we'll bring you the completed

wrap-up of his speech in front of the historic rights organization. "the cycle" is up next.

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i'm s.e. cupp at 3:00 in charlotte. on "the cycle" today kitchen table politics. the president pays a house call to iowa voters. we're serving up straight talk about what this election should really be about. >> i'm toure. black people are 12% of the population and half of all aids cases. some think we could end the epidemic now. >> i'm krystal ball. we're going i crazy. is it too late to dial back our online addictions. >> i'm steve kornacki. we have the predictions for the elections. take 31 votes to repeal obama care and call me in the morning. i'm playing truth teller when it comes to honesty in america. it's tuesday, july 10th. you're in "the cycle."

the gang is here at our kitchen table. i hope you all like the redecorating. we want to started with real issues americans not in the 1% are facing at their own kitchen tables. here is president obama's version earlier today from iowa. >> we thought about how far we had come and the fact that our lives were a testament to the fundamental american idea that no matter who you are, no matter what you look like, no matter where you come from, america is a place where you can make it if you try. america is a place where you can make it if you try. >> so being new yorkers, i know that our kitchen tables might not look like those of most of america. in fact, i don't have a kitchen table. but all four of us grew up middle class, yet we had opportunities to move up, do better than our parents. do we still have that sense of hope for our