he is headed to detroit, michigan. we are expecting the president to celebrate the american workforce while actually talking about the u.s. economy. all of this just days before that major speech on jobs and the economy. nbc's kristen welker joinings us live from the white house this afternoon. kristen? >> reporter: hi there, craig. that's right we expect the president to speak momentarily. white house officials tell me he'll be talking about the importance to have middle class in terms of strengthening the middle class as part of this recovery. we expect him to put pressure on democrats and republicans to get behind that big jobs plan that he's going to unveil on thursday. we don't know exactly what's going to be in that plan. i can tell you that some of the things have have been considered are investing in infrastructure, extending the payroll tax cuts as well as giving tax breaks to companies who hire new workers. as you mentioned he's going to be spooking before a crowd of thousands today. union workers this is of

happy labor day, detroit. and applause] >> it's great to be back in the motor city and especially with my good friend, president rich trumpka and all of our union leaders and my former congressional colleagues that are also here. give them all a round of applause, please. [applause] >> and of course it's so exciting to be here with you in detroit. the auto industry, as you know, is roaring back. and president obama is in the house! >> here, here. >> are you fired up? fired up? [cheers and applause] >> fired up? [cheers and applause] >> ready to go? [cheers and applause] >> i know i am. the president could have chosen any city in america to spend labor day, but he wanted to be here with you all. [cheers and applause] >> a city, a beautiful city that gave birth to america's middle class. a city that is full of talent, a city that never gives up. and has, as we say in my language -- [speaking a foreign language] >> that's the power to say yes we can. yes we can. detroit, you're proof that when america innovates a

detroit, god bless you.tes of america. [ applause ] >>> the president of the united states finishing up his annual labor day address in detroit. he talked about his plan a little bit that he plans to unvam on thursday, saying that his ideas, proposals will contain things that both parties can agree to. then he went on to say, we're not going to wait for them. he talked about construction jobs, roads and bridges need to be rebuilt. he also said the time for washington games is over. he wants the middle class tax cut extended and he was very pro-union during this speech. multiple times talking about strength of unions, talked about the crowds that came out in madison, wisconsin protesting the collective bargaining law there that restricted collective bargaining rights in wisconsin. he said at one point as long as i'm in the white house i'll stand up for collective bargaining. we'll get more on thursday and get specifics. when he unveils the plan in front of a joint session of congress. stay with cnn for our fr

i think the detroit will rebound i think it will rise again ah detroit is who is a very zillion people haha people came here with great expectations i believe that many people can look back over their lives and and really honestly say you know detroit was very good to me and i feel abhi obligation to be committed to help detroit to get back to where it needs to be. in the outing of detroit now. that enjoy. this. long way before. this. her her. and . it's a city that has so much character and so much potential. that you know i really felt like ok you know this city it has to change you know in four years the city's going to be great but you know the longer then here and as what was the auto industry has now collapsed it's really only gotten worse. and you have look. since we started the land bank since i started this whole approach i've had people who like it and people who don't like us or reaction that i felt that i've heard more recently is a reaction to this idea of shrinking the city of intentionally trying to redesign the city to make it a smaller and i think better place this is

at the center of design in detroit with the college that i it's and. just on the whole is the clay studio computer labs everything is kind of right in these halls where so many infamous and. iconic designs were presented writings very room. i guess what makes me different from many of my other colleagues and students is that i focus mainly on sustainable transportation and solutions for. the environmental problems that we have today. coming from car design in a more sustainable way and looking for solutions to the problems it's just it's just crazy that now we're in the space where some of those problems were helped to create. think general motors at one time represented kind of the pinnacle of the industrial era. how company could become so dominant in the market just through sheer brute force. general motors simply became too large for their own good and so many brands that they couldn't even keep up with and they just basically became a dinosaur i guess it's just almost fitting that the solutions are going to come from the same place but generally t

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it got some cheers here from the crowd in detroit. megyn: i just want to make sure we understand, who exactly said that and it was, basically, in connection with opening remarks to the president? >> reporter: this is jimmy hoffa jr., the teamsters' president. he spoke maybe five or ten minutes ago warming up before the president. the president arrived in detroit already but was not here on site when jimmy hoffa jr. made those comments. nonetheless, he's part of the official program here trying to fire up the crowd. pretty tough rhetoric, obviously. megyn: speaking about the tea party, the quote was. >> reporter: well, the sentence before that was he was talking about republicans and the tea party and saying that, he said something like we'll remember in november who's with working people. but then specifically said, quote, let's take these sons of bitches out. megyn: ed henry, thank you, sir. we'll see if the president addresses that. obviously, there was a call on his part a few months ago in the wake of the gabrielle giffords shooti

but today detroit is the third most violent city in the u.s. with unemployment estimated at up to fifty percent according to officials but once glamorous motor city now has more people living in poverty than cars on the streets home foreclosures continue flights in the suburbs which takes the tax base away from the city and there's more and more of that the decline in the school system. is making people leave the city and so there's no money really in and there are no jobs here and as the u.s. census points out a quarter of a million people have left detroit in the past ten years the economic scars of this once vibrant city are impossible to escape roughly sixty thousand vacant buildings and thirty five thousand abandoned homes lined the streets of detroit hollow shells of america's former middle class which have ignited an industry of scrappers people who stir these properties of copper wire and steel pipes as a means of income. scrap or swap ruins for profit yards like this just five miles out of detroit scrap yard owner albert talat says he

host in cambridge we cross to george joffe he's a research fellow at king's college london and in detroit we go to me he is a journalist and political analyst all right folks crosstalk rules in effect that means that you can jump in anytime you want and i really encourage it but first let's see how the world has been reacting to events in syria. as protests in syria continue unabated up to three thousand people most of whom are civilians are already thought to have died in the government's crackdown despite the international community has in effect ignored the bloodshed opting instead for sanctions and rhetorical orations i think that increasingly are saying president assad. lose legitimacy in the eyes of his people and that's why we've been working and international make sure that. we keep the pressure up to see if we can bring some real change in syria but i like made us aerial campaign in libya syrian protesters have been largely left to fend for themselves and that despite syrian protesters calls on the international community to interfere the syrian people cool on the united nations

i've never seen these times before detroit. and southeast michigan of michigan as a whole which was once viewed probably in the top five. of making a person financially independent now you know it's almost gone full circle and now it is you know ranking in the top five. he. says. we're fortunate because they built to fly in some ways english the last. you know like when i hired in the one nine hundred seventy eight we had fourteen thousand members at level six fifty two right now we've got a hundred thousand in g.m. right now that are probably people. thirty thousand people that somebody may have actually jobs that last. were there were they able to go a week of the schedule too many cars. and they don't really need a car so it's a have a layoff you take weeks of your schedule should the plant know. i'm not on the corner nothing more bailout money g.m. i don't think the government should put any more money there until general motors shows that they can be a viable company for the long term and that there's a reasonable chance t

how would you describe the events playing out in detroit in syria right now would you call it a civil war. an armed insurrection i think it is the beginning i believe it is the beginning of a civil war there are elements there that aren't the syrian government has pointed out that the opposition certain elements within the opposition have been armed by outside forces particularly the united states as well as israel they claim that they have a confession from a former general from syria who defected and he's going to be featured on syrian television are very soon to talk about the involvement of the united states and israel and this overall unrest that's been taking place in syria now for the last several months we have to keep in mind that syria is one of the countries that has been targeted for several years now by the u.s. and by other western powers for regime change and the people who are calling for the imposition of a no fly zone and for international intervention have to keep in mind that this is not help the situation at all in libya we just need to take libya as a playbook we

terroristas podrían utilizar pequeños aviones para ataques >>> el presidente barack obama viaja a detroithablar de trabajos, el mandatario habla de un plan que presentará a la nación esta semana [♪] . >>> muy buenas noches, feliz día del trabajo, los incendios no dan tregua, los bomberos en texas, en la capital ha destruido más de 300 mil viviendas y continua fuera de control miles de personas están evacuadas, es la peor temporada de incendios en la historia de texas, juan nos muestra cómo está el panorama >>> es una de las peores catástrofes en la historia de texas, unas 4 millas de ancho, tienen en vilo a las autoridades. el más afectado >>> tenemos más de 400 casas en este momento >>> el gobernador de texas, canceló su agenda de campaña presidencial y llegó a la zona con autoridades locales, para supervisar que la ayuda se ponga a disposición de los damnificados, como esta familia que tuvo que escapar ,como en oklahoma y otras partes del estado en esta otra casey casa se oye el sonido de balas >>> largos años de esfuerzos y trabajo convertidos en cenizas en solo minutos >>> cuántos año

i came to detroit and tried to see you. the powers that be did not make it easy for me to even try to visit you while you were incarcerated. as hard as i tried to get not g. i wondered whether or not kwame kilpatrick wanted to see people while incarcerated or whether he was too embarrassed to face people behind those bars. as >> there was a time when i was first sent to state prison when i did not want to see anybody. i did not want to face people, not just because of embarrassment, but because i felt it was a time i needed to be by myself. i have never been by myself in my life. i found a sense of comfort in the fact the was by myself, and i knew i had to make the most out of that opportunity. that was not the most of what was going on when you were visiting. there were a lot of people not allowed to see me. the michigan department of corrections shut that down. they figured out ways to get people not to come. they told me i was not going to be treated special, so i was treated a specially bad, so i did not get the same tr

in terms of commerce crossing the bridge particularly at detroit.ill you take a look at that, madam secretary? then issue a letter or not -- find out for us why the city of detroit is not listed. it makes a difference in terms of allocation and resources as to whether running international waterway. >> yes, i'll chill down on that, senator. finally, a thank you. yesterday remembered 9/11 -- i guess today's now. been following 9/11, there is a small group of people in detroit representing the arab-american community and law enforcement. they came together and formed a group called bridges. there is but a really strong connection between the law-enforcement community under the leadership of the u.s. attorney in detroit and including also elements of the homeland security department. so the communication is far better. the trust is far better. they work shoulder to shoulder now against violence and hatred. it is an important group because if you have the support of the community, whatever community working with law-enforcement, it is a great source of

dearborn and southfield are suburbs of detroit.earborn has the largest concentration of arabs outside the middle east. and southfield has a significant concentration of jewish people. and now that we're at war with each other, relations between the two communities at times reflect the tensions of the middle east. some of these tensions are covered in the local newspapers. >> last year we had an editorial that was published. it was published right on super bowl day in detroit. >> we are a right of center conservative page. >> and the editorial is on sunday, he says that -- that palestinians have lust for jewish blood. >> it was very critical of palestinians, but that's not the problem of being critical. it was dehumannizing them. >> and describing palestinians as terrorists. >> same thing, they have a unique nature against self-interest >> and they're waiting for a moment, for the right moment to kill the jew. what type of a statement is this made by an editorial. what are you trying to say to the jewish community in here that watch

detroit. let's talk now about politics and power and about one candidate who's running for president who says money talks unless you take its voice away his name is buddy roemer and if you're not familiar with him that could be because the mainstream media doesn't send a camera crew every time he makes a statement or releases a report it could be because his fund raising efforts are coming along a little slower than others or it could be because he's one candidate some of the most powerful entities in this country hope you never hear of. other roemer is a fourth term congressman the former governor of louisiana and joined me earlier from our new york studio he told me why campaign finance reform is at the center of his campaign. well i'm the only person running for president of the united states who's been both a congressman and the governor so i've seen politics at the bottom and at the top and there's one thing that ties it together in this country in the twenty first century and that's the