christine romans is here. what else did bernanke have to say?behr bernanke to say i got some new, shiny object that's going to help keep global growth going. bernanke says, no. i need to make sure that congress doesn't make anies by mistakes here. ben bernanke talking about a frustrating slow recovery in the jobs market. i've heard him say this many, many times. he also talked about the fiscal cliff, so-called fiscal cliff. that's when we have huge spending cuts and huge tax increases all at the same time that slam the economy early next year. congress really has to get its act together on that. this is what he said. >> the most effective way that the congress could help to support the economy right now would be to work to address the nation's fiscal challenges in a way that takes into account both the need for long run sustainability and the fragility of the recovery. doing so earlier rather than later would help reduce uncertainty and boost household and business confidence. >> that's about as fiery as you're going to get from a fed chief. the

christine romans is here. what else did bernanke have to say?behr bernanke to say i got some new, shiny object that's going to help keep global growth going. bernanke says, no. i need to make sure that congress doesn't make anies by mistakes here. ben bernanke talking about a frustrating slow recovery in the jobs market. i've heard him say this many, many times. he also talked about the fiscal cliff, so-called fiscal cliff. that's when we have huge spending cuts and huge tax increases all at the same time that slam the economy early next year. congress really has to get its act together on that. this is what he said. >> the most effective way that the congress could help to support the economy right now would be to work to address the nation's fiscal challenges in a way that takes into account both the need for long run sustainability and the fragility of the recovery. doing so earlier rather than later would help reduce uncertainty and boost household and business confidence. >> that's about as fiery as you're going to get from a fed chief. the

christine romans is also with us this morning busy collecting those. >> a scathing report by the formerrector rock penn state to its core this morning. it says top university officials and late coach joe paterno failed to protect young boys from the sexual predator jerry sandusky in order to protect their football program. critics are calling for paterno's stadium outside of beaver stadium to be torn now. >>> a government opposition group in syria says 287 people were killed across the country yesterday including 220 in the homa province. >> federal drug agents discovered a drug smuggling tunnel under the mexico/u.s. border. the tunnel was used to move billions of dollars of drugs into arizona for sale in the u.s.. three drug suspects are in custody. >>> this was quite a sight. a car crashing on to a docked boat yesterday morning in spring lake, michigan. wow. witnesses say the car backed into machinery in a nearby park lot before driving forward between trees, going air borne on the dock and landing on top of the boat. the driver told police she was feeling dizzy before the crash. alco

christine romans has been talking all about this.on it for us. >>> plus, david beckham and brangelina. we go live to london for that and more pre-olympic buzz a little later in this hour. >> i can't wait for that. sounds awesome. >>> first we're talking about politics and polling. the latest presidential poll numbers out this morning. they show that president obama has a slight lead over mitt romney. six points. that's from the brand-new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll. it shows the president at 49% to mitt president with 49% and mitt romney's 43%, a 3-point difference from the poll last month. mark preston joins us now from washington. this poll shows the race close, which i'm sure both campaigns wish they were hoping up a lead. but both sides can see something in here that gives them some hope. >> they certainly can. we're still 100 plus days away from election day and we expect this race to be this close heading into november. but both campaigns are watching this poll and both have good things and bad things to say about it. m

christine romans are here. tock futures down after this big rally on friday? >> this often happens when you have a big move up. also, there's a lot ahead of this us this week. fed chairman ben bernanke will be testifying on capitol hill. we're going get another gauge of the health of banks. on friday, everyone was talking about jp morgan chase. they weren't talking about the health of the banks. also going to be looking for comments from these banks about libor and this big scandal on a very important interest rate. i don't know if a lot of you have been following this, but this is something that shakes the banking industry to its core. starts with barclay's. barclay's is, of course, settled with regulators over a huge rate ratings scandal. and out this week with an ad in newspapers saying, we're sorry. and the company is really trying to figure out how it's going to go about, you know, getting its brand and its brand back to something that's good and not necessarily bad. reuters, bbc, reporting that barclay's p

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hold that thought for a second, christine romans. a reminder, president obama is scheduled to make those remarks about the tax cut proposal that he is putting forward. scheduled to be 11:50 eastern time. so, we are going to make sure we bring those to you. earlier this morning we told you they would be in the rose garden. apparently, inclement weather has forced that news conference inside to the east room so we have our live cameras shifting gears and moving inside but you're certainly going to get the news no matter what time it ha happe happens. and we are back right after this. aio, every note sounds amazingly clear. ...making it easy to get lost in the music... and, well... rio vista?!! [ male announcer ] ...lost. introducing the musically enhanced htc one x from at&t. rethink possible. ...more talk on social security... ...but washington isn't talking to the american people. [ female announcer ] when it comes to the future of medicare and social security, you've earned the right to know. ♪ ...so what does it mean for you and yo

>>> let's bring christine romans back, plus our resident conservative and cnn contributor, will cain,well as norm onstein, resident scholar at the american enterprise institute, though he described himself as a centrist. i love your point that we systematically leach the compromisers out of the system in favor of partisans. will cain, you are taking issue with my premise that partisanship is bad. >> right. that's the assumption at the beginning of this bad. >> can i say hyperpartisanship is bad? >> you're changing the game a little bit. i say we have two issues going on here. one, voters want something for nothing and two, partisanship. the culprit behind those of these conditions is the same, it is you, the voter, it is the viewer. that being said, what has enabled the wanting something for nothing is bipartisanship, not barpartisanship. if you want to correct that, you want bipartisanship to dlaekcor that. >> the bipartisanship is what got us here and that's to blame. >> i agree with will on a lot of things. in the book i did, "it's even worse than it looks," strategic obstructionis

christine romans has been following them all morning. >> house republicans planning a mostly symbolic vote this afternoon to repeal the president's health care reforms. the measure has virtually no chance of getting through the senate or past the president. the white house is criticizing republican leaders for wasting time, they say, by refighting old political battles. >>> a public warning, but no suspension for u.s. olympic soccer star hope solo after she tested positive for a banned substance. the 30-year-old goalkeeper says she had no idea a prescription drug she took for a premenstrual condition contained a diuretic on the prohibited list. solo says she made an honest mistake. she looks forward to representing the u.s. later this month at the london games. >>> millions of directv customers are waking up this morning saying i want my mtv. directv and viacom were unable to settle a dispute by the midnight deadline. more than two dozen viacom channels are now blacked out. the two companies have been at odds for months over carriage fee

first though, we want to get to christine romans with an update on the top stories. good morning. >> good morning, soledad, also developing this morning, investigators trying to find out what caused a mystery odor that made a flight crew sick and forced an emergency landing last night. the u.s. airways flight from charlotte to rome was diverted to philadelphia. attendants told the captain they were feeling sick and smelled something strange. an airline spokesperson says five crew members were taken to the hospital and released. passengers were eye vak waited and put on another flight. none of the passengers got sick. >>> a woman who abandoned her 19-year-old special needs daughter outside a bar will not be charged. police say eva cameron left her daughter lynn outside a bar in tennessee then drove home to illinois. our affiliate wvlt spoke to eva who says she has the best intention. >> i didn't get the help i needed from illinois, somebody at the church said why don't you go down to tennessee. they have a good health care system. then her i.d. card got lost and she b

jessica yellin, da na basna bas christine romans. me bring you in, christine, because a lot of the economists say that the economic recovery is fragile and it would be a mistake to raise taxes in a period of economic weakness right now, because it could further undermine the economic recovery and that is not just coming from republican economists, but independent and democratic economists as well. >> yes, and look, this is why you are supposed to handle things like this when the times are better to run the books and the budgets that are sustainable. you know, we have got this not only the tax part of this equation, but you have talked about the fiscal cliff and the huge spending cuts that are triggered as well, and the two things at the same time that the congressional budget office says will push the economy into another recession at the beginning of next year, so we know that, you know, we know that -- you can pick the metaphor and the mac truck or the fiscal cliff or whatever you want to use, but the economy is growing too slowly r

. >>> first "your bottom line" with christine romans starts right now. >>> good morning, everyone. i'm christine romans. welcome to this special independence day weekend edition of your bottom line. when america went to war, they took the judge. now they are looking for their next mission and we don't have anything for them. they are veterans facing an economic crisis. 2 million men and women served in afghanistan. we'll take you from the battlefield to the office. >> this suit right here could be camouflage. >> coming home. >> blood brothers through and through. we've seen a lot. >> and healing. >> we find therapy in different things. it's just amazing where you can find it at. >> from the line of fire to the unemployment line. last year nearly one in three veterans in the 18 to 24 age group were out of room according to u.s. congress joint economic committee. that is only going to get worse as thousands of soldiers return from the war in afghanistan over the next few years. are companies doing all they can to hire veterans? is something else at play. we spent barbara starr to det

christine romans is with us as well. i want it pick up where we left off. ine, surprising amount of agreement. this is actually not that surprising. i think everybody in america -- with maybe a very few exceptions -- understand we need tax reform, we need debt reform, we need to solve the jobs problem. i don't think anyone would like us to go over the fiscal cliff. why is this problem not getting solved? >> the honest part of this is everyone's got to give something up. when you have tax reform. some people give up some of their retirement benefits -- i don't even know what's all on the table to give up but no one wants to give anything up. in a way it is like america is living the me more now bubble era. no one wants to pay for what we've already spent. >> i reject your premise. fiscal cliff will be avoided. calvin coolidge said if you see ten problems coming at you, chances are if you stand still, nine will fall in the ditch. in the meantime, while we're putting it off until december, will it havegativeconomic ef eep playing asteroids, we'll never focus on

that works. >>> welcome back to "starting point," let's get right to christine romans.ood morning. >> good morning, soledad. authorities in iowa are now draining a lake in the search for two missing young girls. 8-year-old elizabeth collins and 10-year-old lyric cook disappeared last friday. the two are cousins and their bikes were found at the edge of meyers lake in evansdale, fbi scent tracking dogs were brought into the area. the mom of one of the girls says the dogs stopped right at the lake's edge. jim spellman has the latest. jim? >> reporter: hey, christine, there are two tracks to this investigation, the search and rescue piece, that's draining this lake right here. the bikes were found and purse was found right along the edge. they've already been searching this lake but they want to be positive so they are draining it. by later today or tomorrow that should be done. the other is the law enforcement track where the fbi scent dogs come in, they've been questioning people, including family members increasingly the families think something bad has happened to thei

christine romans reporting live for us from iowa.at. >>> still ahead on "starting point," a woman who turned a small idea into a huge success. the founder of angie's list. >>> and new york city's mayor at it again, saying he knows what's best, this time for brand-new moms. we'll discuss what he is proposing. you're watching "starting point." we're back in a moment. [ male announcer ] at scottrade, we believe the more you know, the better you trade. so we have ongoing webinars and interactive learning, plus, in-branch seminars at over 500 locations, where our dedicated support teams help you know more so your money can do more. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. our teams have the information you want when you need it. it's another reason more investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade. >>> welcome back, everybody. first there was that ban on big sodas. now new york city's mayor, mike bloomberg, is taking on baby formula. starting in september, he is going to implement his latch on new york city i

the rest of the day's top stories, let's get right to christine romans. good morning. >> good morning, soledad, syrian forces stepping up attacks to regain control of aleppo, targeting rebel strong holds in syria's largest city overnight. there are reports thousands of troops are being sent in as reinforcements. violent clashes killing 123, 21 in aleppo. there are concerns in u.s. and iraq about al qaeda's growing influence in syria and video warns the group is forming suicide cells to make jihad in the region. >>> apple stock is down 5% this morning after earnings missed estimates yesterday, a rare earnings missed for apple. and iphone rumor mill is churning once again. the latest, the iphone 5 will come out in september instead of october. iphone sales were a disappoint in the second quarter, people have been holding out buying their phones, waiting for the new version this fall. >>> ontario's special investigation unit looking into the death of a man who went over the wall and fell into niagara falls. a police officer was chasing a man when both fell 1

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christine romans doing that job for us. >> good morning, you two.president biden will represent the white house today at the naacp convention in houston. the administration insist scheduling conflicts prevented the president from being there even though his calendar appears open. mitt romney was roundly booed at the convention yesterday when he told the crowd he'd eliminate obama care if he wins the presidency. >>> the car can see what you can't. new crash warning equipment installed in cars showing some promise. a new study by the insurance industry says that accident reports were down 14% in cars that were equipped with the technology that automatically brakes when a rear end crash is imminent and also in cars with headlights that can swivel, that are on a swivel, that can see around curves. the systems were installed on new ak cure ra, mercedes benz and volvo cars. pluto's new moon. the hubble space telescope have shown a fifth moon. it's being called p-5. it appears as small white dots. last year they discovered pluto's fourth moon. a nasa space

let's get to christine romans.top stories. >> news flash, soledad didn't make any mistakes today. hillary clinton is in israel this morning. protesters throwing shoes and tomatoes at the secretary of state's motorcade yesterday after she spoke in alexandria. and egyptian official was hit in the face with a tomato and shoes and water bought many landed near the cars carrying clinton's delegation. short time ago mrs. clinton met with shimon peres. she called this a time of opportunity. the entire middle east. increased security in egypt's sinai region is two americans and that your egyptian translator remain hostages in the desert. the state department is working with the egyptian government to free them as soon as possible. this as we are hearing new reports that the reverend lewis offered himself as a hostage to spare his parishioners when a man ambushed their tour bus friday. the kidnapper demanding his uncle be released from prison in exchange for the hostages. earlier on "starting point," we heard from receiver

here is christine romans. >>> good morning. a lot going on.bama weighing in on the gun control debate making perhaps some of the strongest comments yet as president on this issue. five days after the massacre in aurora, colorado, the president telling the national urban league in new orleans he backs the second amendment but not when it comes to assault weapons. >> we recognize the traditions of gun ownership that passed on from generation to generation. but hunting and shooting are part of a cherished national heritage. but i also believe that a lot of gun owners agree that ak-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not criminals. >>> the president emphasizing the need for more background checks to stop mentally imbalanced people from obtaining guns. he is blaming congress for the lack of progress made in reducing gun violence. >>> new video emerged believed to show two young girls two weeks after they went missing. the sheriff believes the 10-year-old lyric cook and her 8-year-old cousin elizabeth collins are seen on this grainy surveillance ta

"starting point" with christine romans starts right now. >>> good friday morning, i'm christine romanshrough the northeast, thousands without power after suspected tornadoes, high winds and heavy rain turned deadly overnight. this morning, more is on the way. >>> mitt romney's diplomatic blunder, this morning it's damage contr mode after offending the british on the eve of the olympics. >> i hear there's a guy called mitt romney who wants to know whether we're ready. he wants to know whether we're ready. are we ready? are we ready?

"starting point" with christine romans starts right now. >>> good friday morning, i'm christine romanshrough the northeast, thousands without power after suspected tornadoes, high winds and heavy rain turned deadly overnight. this morning, more is on the way. >>> mitt romney's diplomatic blunder, this morning it's damage control mode after offending the british on the eve of the olympics. >> i hear there's a guy called mitt romney who wants to know whether we're ready. he wants to know whether we're ready. are we ready? are we ready? yes, we are. >> let the games begin. a packed show ahead, piers morgan will join us and soledad's day two interview with chris paul. professional wrestler, eric young. "starting point" begins right now. >>> our "starting point" this morning, the threat of dangerous storms this morning across almost a third of the country. at least two people are dead after one storm plowed through the midwest and northeast yesterday. fay a look at the lightning show over fork cinew york city. trying to determine whether a lightning strike caused aid fire that injured 40 pe

i'm christine romans. u.s. stock futures are trading slightly lower right now.eas sftocks suffered losse overnight. moody's cut the u.s. to the negative. >>> pressure for jailtime for people involved in the rape scandal. investigators in the u.s. and uk are close to making arrests, and the "wall street journal" is reporting that the investigation has expanded to traders from at least nine banks around the world. of course, libor is used to set rates on trillions of billions worth of loans. so this has very wide implications. a lot of pressure for prosecutors to bring some people tochristine, thank you. >>> the makers of the muppets cutting their ties with chick fill a. the president recently announced that the company was guilty as charged for opposing gay marriage. jim henson had been working with the chain to create toys for the kids meal. after the announcement, they ended that partnership. i don't think it's a tough call for the muppets. they say they embrace diversity and inclusion and have done so for 50 years. the values don't match their values so they a

our christine romans is in davenport, iowa, for us, her home state, actually. sent her there on many stories, politics and now the drought. what do you think, christine? have you ever seen it this bad in your home state? >> well, you know, a lot of the farmers around here tell me that '88 was the last time they saw it like this. my parents say that. '88 and other say it is maybe going to rival 1956, that is a time that most farmers don't remember, but a really tough year, nonetheless. this is a what a good, this is not a perfect ear of corn, kyra, and this, kyra, is what is coming out of the fields now. you're getting a lot of this. so, we've been walking through these fields and trying to figure out how bad this crop is going to be and what farmers are going to do about it. listen. what are the two things that farmers talk about when they sit around with a cup of coffee? >> will it rain? did you get any rain? who got rain? >> three versions of rain. >> every farmer in iowa feels they have a moral responsibility to do everything they can for this crop to grow a

nearly 30 states in disaster mode including iowa where christine romans is talking to a n in the midstisis. christine. >> reporter: brooke, the drought in the midwest is getting worse. all 99 counties here in iowa have been declared a disaster. this is a crop a real d disappointment for a lot of corn farmers who haven't seen something like this since 1988. neil has been farming for 12 years. this is your corn, neil, what happened to this plant? >> this whole field here ran out of moisture. the plant wanted to reproduce and start its pollination process to produce an ear of corn where we get our kernels of corn, and it never produced an ear because it ran out of moisture. so the plant decided i don't have enough water, i'm not going to make an ear. >> this is a shame because this is some of the richest farmland in the world. this is good black iowa dirt. three feet deep. and look at the cracks here. i mean, you just have not had enough rain. >> some of these cracks you can almost stick your arm down into. i've never seen that before. we expected a real good crop this year. the u.s. plan

she is now retired officially. >> i was rooting for her. >>> but first, christine romans.'m glad to say. >> good morning. a 14-year cover-up. shock, sadness, rage, and happy valley this morning after a report by former fbi director louis freeh said joe paterno and officials at penn state failed jerry sandusky's victims and hid critical facts. coming up, we ask the lawyer for victim number five what the report means. >> my client is dramatic evidence. he was assaulted in august of 2001. my word. in february of 2001, we now know that the president of the university, the athletic director, vice president, and, yes, a coach of the team, all knew about mr. sandusky. not in 2001. this wasn't a wake-up call. this was a re-wake-up call for them. >> many now calling for the school to take down paterno's statue outside of the stadium. >>> the president's claim that the biggest mistake of his first term putting policy over story telling. he believes that criticism is valid. >> the mistake of my first couple of years was thinking that this job was just about getting the policy right.

christine romans, let's get to the top stories this morning. good morning. >>> good morning.nts in the aurora movie theater massacre. families getting ready to lay their loved ones to rest this hour. this afternoon, a memorial service will take place for 51-year-old gordon cowden who took his two teenagers to see the midnight movie. both children survived. >>> also today, a visitation is scheduled for 23-year-old micayla medek. she was working towards her college degree. the star of "the dark knight rises" paid a visit to aurora to pay his respects and thank the heroes. and bittersweet news to report. a woman named katie medley gave birth to a boy as her husband, caleb, a victim of the shooting, lay in the same hospital with a gunshot wound to the head. hugo jackson medley was born at 7:11 a.m. yesterday at university of colorado hospital, and we wish them well. and we hope that his daddy gets better. >>> syrian forces escalating their attacks overnight to regain control of the country's largest city aleppo. government helicopters and fighter jets targeting rebel strongholds

let's bring in christine romans. christine, housing looks like it's back. am i wrong?ove your case, they make the call that the bottom is in. why? one piece of evidence, home values are up for the first time in five years. look at that after losing a quarter vam u. a little uptick in home values here. that's one of the reasons why they're saying a bottom is reached. here's what the country looks like. green, ali. these are the markets that they say hit bottom. look in parlts of california, arizona, phoenix. phoenix prices up 10%. parts of colorado, even over here in florida, you know, kind of ground zero to the real estate speculative boom and then bust. you're seeing some recovery there. red on this map, anywhere you see red, ali, this means there is no bottom. not even in the next 12 months. homes now are more affordable than they've ever been in 20 years measured against median income. if you have a job and savings, it's a good time to buy. and that housing affordability number is pretty good for you overall. one last thing here. mortgage rates. mortgage rates have

christine romans has that. >> 386,000 new unemployment claims filed.re than expected. 386,000 people that means going and applying for unemployment benefits for the first time last week. and the last week was revised higher. not a big surprise, because that showed claims at a four-year low. those numbers were affected by seasonal distortions. it was theourth of july week. >>> more than 60% of the u.s. now suffering from heavy drought conditions that are showing no signs of letting up. 1/3 of the count ohies in the united states are now listed as disaster areas, threatening to drive up food and fuel prices. rob marciano is live in indianapolis, right there in the heart of the drought. >> you mentioned food prices. of course, corn and beans that goes on your table. but that also goes to feed livestock. cattle, pigs, dairy farms, and that's where we are right now. huge dairy farm, 500 heads of cattle here. just south of indianapolis. a couple of them down there feeding. this is the pen that they are in before they go to milk. might see some of that video

christine romans host of your bottom line joins me. why is the debate about personal income tax rates have anything to do with small business? >> it does. the irs allows small businesses to report business income on their personal returns and those businesses can be structured in different ways. for example, limited liability companies, partnerships, and s corporations. it is all very technical and each as their advantages and disadvantages. you don't have to be a tax accountant to understand what the debate is all about. all of these are flow-through entities because the business profits flow through the company back to the owners. those folks pay taxes on those profits at the individual rate. millions of american business owners do this, ali. >> how many of those millions of small businesses that use this flow through would be affected by letting the bush tax cuts expire for top earners. >> very few. most of them don't make enough money to be taxed at the highest income levels. in fact, congress's joint committee on taxation, the bip