tavis: we have mentioned t-bone burnett. those who did not know the name or trying to figure out why you know the name, it is because you saw t-bone when the academy award for best song from "crazy heart," the jeff bridges film -- so glad that jeff bridges pull that off. what is it like working with t- bone burnett? >> i have a lot of shorthand with him. i have known him a long time. we first went on to war in 1975, because he was -- we first went on to war in 1975, because he was touring as a member of my dad's group. i worked with him in 1995 with, and we have always stayed close. -- i worked with him in 1995 with the wallflowers, and we have always stayed close, looking for the right time. tavis: i want to go back to your songwriting process, because i know as you get older, there are more comparisons made. it is impossible for people to not raise the name of the father you just reference a moment ago, although not by name. this is bob dylan's boy, jakob dylan. i want to phrase this differently. compare and contrast for m

i called up t-bone burnett and said you got time to do this? i can work this into my schedule.made up as we went along. busy and everyone wants to work with him. what is the relationship? why does everyone want to work with him? >> i cannot speak for anyone else. t-bone and i met and kind of became brothers. you know how that works. you meet somebody and it is like you have known them your entire life. i had been knowing him for, casually, socially, for about 10 or 15 years or so. i had seen him around. when we got in the studio, it was like we were connected. it worked. it is nice to be able to meet a guy that you can say, you got it. take it from here. that is what i am able to do with him. i trust him more than i trust myself. my nature is to decorate the christmas tree too much. put to many ornaments on the tree. t-bone's nature is to address the trade. tavis: 2 strip it down. >> it is the first time someone said john, shut up. tavis: how did you handle that? >> the same way you did. i started laughing. it was just funny. we have been friends ever since. socially and profes

with me today, john heilemann, erin burnett, kelly o'donnell and howard fineman. democrats say they will take up the bush tax cuts right after labet. but that gay marriage ruling this week could be a wild card. will it distract? >> we don't take more from the private sec and grow government with it and that's exactly what obama has in mind. it's idiotic t othink about increasing taxes at a time like this. chris: for his part president ob a ishitting the familiar democratic line, that republicans cater to the rich. >> they want to extend the bush tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. i don't understand. how do you get up here and talk about how you care so deeply about the deficit and yet you want to perpetuate a tax cut that cost $700 billion. chris: is the president right? is it good policy to raise taxes on the rich to fight the deficit? >> i don't know that they're going to use it to fight the deficit. last year the number of m ears and billionaire in america up 13%, average wages were flat. it's not an insignificant thing to do. we're talking about 35% t

merger expert tom burnett says buying other companies makes perfect sense in a weak economy. >> in our view, in this type of a difficult climate, where revenue growth is hard to achieve, buying a company, integrating it, taking out the cost savings and the synergies, is a better way to boost profits than waiting for sales growth >> reporter: that's great for corporations, but not always for american workers, at least in the short term. when firms merge, they consolidate operations, which often leads to layoffs. but americans may take some comfort in knowing that a flurry of deal-making is often a positive sign about the outlook for the economy. >> there's a lot of activity amongst big companies who aren't active in the merger space. this is telling us that corporate boardrooms must be sensing a little bit more optimism-- light at the end of the tunnel-- in terms of global economic growth. >> reporter: few think we'll see positive signs in friday's employment report. economists are expecting a loss of 100,00 jobs for august-- on wells fargo strategist scott wren says it will be a long t

cnbc's erin burnett is at the stock exchange. lots of news about housing. >> reporter: that's right. we just got the numbers that the average rate on a new mortgage is about 4.6%. the problem is even those near record low rates are not getting americans to buy new homes. as a conference hosted by tim geithner yesterday one of the biggest investors in the country said everybody who has a mortgage in good standing should be allowed to get a flat 4% fixed rate mortgage. he thinks that could cause housing prices to go up by as much as 10%. bottom line, natalie, housing is all that matters for wall street and main street. back to you. >> erin burnett at the new york stock exchange. thank you. >>> famed home run hitter bobby thompson has died at the age of 86. it was thompson has died. it was the shot heard round the world that won the pennant for the giants in 1951. many consider it to be the most dramatic play in baseball history. >>> some amazing rescues in china where flood waters swept people away as others tried to save them. the

. >>> overseas markets higher this morning, cnbc's erin burnett is at the new york stock exchange usg today? >> not only the big story but the second biggest offering of new stock in history an ipo, general motors filed 734 pages to get some of taxpayers' money back. keep in mind they bailed out gm with more than $50 billion. at this time, no independent analysis shows gm will ever pay all of that back but gm is highlighting a return to profitability and strength in the world's biggest car market, china, not the u.s. and may be possible for taxpayers to get in on the ipo. gm will be a big big ipo, the big story of the day. back to you. >> all right. thank you. >>> american airlines now charging a new fee for coach travelers who want to be the first this line to board and leave domestic flights, express seats for the bulkhead seats in the first two rows can be reserved for a price ranging from 19 to $39. those passengers also get first shot at the overhead bins. what is left for them to charge us probably going to the bathroom? back to matt and meredith. >> i was saying people were ca

. >> erin burnett at the new york stock exchange, thank you. >>> martin kaymer is celebrating a big win in the pga championship beating bubba wats championship sunday in a playoff. it was what happened before the playoff. dustin johnson was penalized two strokes on the 18th hole for illegally touching his club to the ground in a waste bunker and that kept him out of the playoff. he said he no idea he was in a bunker but said he thought he was just on ground that had been trarveled trarvel trampled by spectators. >> my husband is aghast that that would happen. >> no question about it. >>> al's off today, we have got stephanie with us. how are you doing? >> good. >>> let's talk about our low pressure around the gulf of mexico. this could become a depression yet again. regardless if it does or not, we will see heavy rain here for the next three days. there's a threat for severe weather here throughout a big chunk of the northeast. now here's a look at what's >>> good morning to you. i'm craig herrera. fog to start out the morning. one of those days when it will clear out earlier. today wil

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