it is historic, erin. after two wrenching years that wiped out $13 trillion of net worth, americans saw the value of what they own, minus their debts, their net worth, rise for the first time since 2007. that means they're richer. how did they get there? 1.1 trillion came from equities. that was the best since the second quarter. first turnaround since the second quarter of '07. mutual funds added 468 billion and even real estate helped the party here, up 324 billion. that's the first time since the last quarter of 2006. and americans they continue to lay off the plastic. household debt falling 1.75% annualized rate. that's the fourth straight quarterly decline. they reduced mortgage debt and credit card debt. it doesn't mean that national debt isn't rising. household debt down 1.7%. corporations tightened their belt and didn't borrow, minus 1.8%. the federal government, well, they went to town, plus 8%. the total for the u.s., we're still up 4.9%, though a lot less than in normal times. one more piece of

how are you, erin. >> thank you for not doing my desk. >> this would be erin's desk which she keeps so clean. this also proves laura's premise that the dirtiest -- highest concentration of germs in the workplace would be on a woman's desk. there you go. neat and clean as a pin. that would be erin burnett. >> the reason i love him is he didn't use ni desk. >> that would be right. that's it for "power lunch." thanks for joining us. "street signs" is next with the ever-clean erin burr thnett com up. >> see you tomorrow. >>> welcome to "street signs," i guess. this is "street signs" on cnbc. you're looking at a live picture of the new york stock exchange. hello, everyone. i'm erin burnett. i did brush my teeth before the show. here is what wall street is talking about at this hour. whether you're buying in the rally or not, you might want to buy into the next big thing. move over brazil, russia, india, china, there's a fifth bric. >>> and then howard schultz sent me a letter this morning. he wrote me his new instant brew is nothing like sanka. we're going to put your claim to the test toda

>> interesting, erin. as we look out later this year you see a lot of heed lines talking about this is the worse year in dividend growth in history. arguably, it will be looking back at 1950s and the financials have taken it on the chin. but there are other areas in the markets, more staply in the consumer staply area that have strong balance sheets of resilience and have gotten hit just because the market has gotten hit over the last 12 months. that's creating opportunities. they're not exactly sexy areas of the market an they're not as si cycle lly sorroriented. >> thank you very much, bryan. >>> we have a final countdown to the opening coming up on the other side of the break. and slightly lower open. but that means nothing in terms of the close. >> now, come on, we're almost at 10,000. give back a few points no, biggie. you're watching cnbc's "squawk on the street." we are live at the new york stock exchange. >>> all right. we're back. and you are watching cnbc's "squawk on the street." we are live at

thanks for coming on. >> thanks, erin. >> you, too, erin. >>> would you spend more than 5 hurnds for a jeans that weep when you walk? jane wells coming up. >>> if you wait long enough, you always get to see that one windshield wiper go across the screen. it's a foul day here. the big winner on the east coast, at least in terms of the markets, is motorola. the best performer in the market. it seems so far investors like the company's new smartphone. what is the old one called that everyone liked? flip? no, it was the razr. the new one is called the cliq. now they are betting their future on the cliq. pamela anderson, air traffic control, $500 jeans that wink back at people that happen to be looking at the behind of a person. that's just a tip of today's funny business with jane wells. i must say, jane, if i do not see you in a pair of wink jeans in this piece, you are a woos. >> reporter: well, i'll let you look at the video and you can guess if it's me. and please say no. on the funny business blog, we are all about how sex sells up to a point. but first, if you're selling sex, it sh

>> that's right, erin. the government is out with this latest state unemployment report and when you look at the map, it's those states where you saw the big housing boom where you see things continuing to get worse. unemployment increases in the west contributed to last month's spike in the national unemployment rate. real estate booms like california and nevada both logged new post war record high unemployment in august. california is now above 12% with over 1 million jobs lost in the last year. in august payrolls fell another 12,000. and the majority of that job loss continues to be related to construction and real estate. construction jobs fell 7,000 last month. that was the majority of the losses bringing the year-over-year losses in california construction jobs to more than 140,000. that represents an 18.5% year-over-year decline. nevada had the second highest unemployment after michigan at a record 13.2%. a full six points below last year. 31,000 construction jobs lost over the last year. let's look

>> yeah, erin. you know a lot of people are wondering where the pull back today is going to be the start of something more meaningful. next guest michael brown says, no, it's not. recovery in the market is going to see some things. there's nothing more that we've done wrong. the reason, he's talking about the multiplier effect. find out why, as you see investment from michael's point of view when we come back here on "squawk on the street." >>> leading indicators for august. the conference board reports, the index rose 0.6% last month. that is slightly shy of expectations for an increase of 0.8% but it does follow a revision in july of 0.9%. now, perhaps equally as important is that this is now the 50th consecutive monthly increase of indicator which is widely seen as, well, a leading indicator of where other economic numbers are going. largest posive contributions to the index this time around came from stock prices, perhaps no surprise there. also supplier deliveries. part of that continuing story

erin? >> erin: joe cox said i'm tired of they being that close, your choechd told us, i just want to see him get better, wanted you to get better. what area do you think you improved in the most? >> game management. it's a totally different world when you're the starter, manage the whole game. and be prepared for any situation and i felt like i've gotten better from week one to week two and week two to week three just feeling more comfortable managing the game, that's the biggest thing. >> erin: you tie a school record, throw for five touchdowns, what was it like being in a game, shootout back and forth? >> it's nerve-wracking, you never see the s.e.c. and two weeks in a row we had to do this. i think it's good for our team. we're battle tested and we're going to fight for 60 minutes and we had to do that pst two games and if we have to do it next game we'll do it. >> erin: you had to deal with drama every week,

erin told you at the top of the show, microsoft up. tivo up 7%. it was a loss for dish and echo star but dish says they will be appealing it. also of note, tivo didn't get what it was asking the court for. that was $1 billion. also a lot of focus today on the semi space. the midquarter update looking good. also a lot of analysts commentary feed back, up almost 2%. then you have samsung. not only walking away from sand disk and a deal there that is up 2.2% but also coming out and saying no we are not interested in ram bus. still the rhamnus bus shares are up 8.7%. >> leave it to my friend steve liesman. he found a silver lining in today's jobs report but i want to give you credit, steve, you have found silver linings even when -- >> in the darkest hour is when the clouds were hovering and storms were brewing, we found silver linings. not the main point but we wanted everybody to know there was another side. there is a big debate in the market about how good or bad this jobs report is, and sundth focusing on the unemployment rate, they see this repo

i'm i'mer i'm erin burnett. wall street is talking about one thing, the president's visit to wall street. how many more banks will fail, a crucial question. then the president says we're putting people to work in building wind turbines and solar panels. we've lost nearly 7 million jobs. is the green dream a pipe dream. >>> plus america's most famous real estate investor timed the crisis perfectly. he got out in time. he's betting big on housing, but not in america. >>> the president did visit, across the street, to federal hall where george washington was sworn in as president. this president didn't minutes words. . >> i have always been a strong believer in the power of the free market.t. i believe that jobs are best created not by government but by businesses and entrepreneurs willing to take a risk on a good idea. i believe that the role of the government is not to disparage wealth, but to expand its reach. to provide the ground rules and level playing fields to help make the markets more vibrant. >> the pres

i'm erin burnett. let's look at the market may jor averages as we await the president's speech right here. you can see stocks are lower. although, what i think we should emphasize is that they are not as low as futures had indicated. they are not as low as europe was. and take from that what you will. but it appears some of that early worry about old trade wars and concerns not feeding through here. >> there's probably also a wait and see attitude as we are expecting the president to unveil some sort of financial regulatory reform proposal, which, of course, has wall street a little bit on edge this morning. let's find out how the news is playing out in the second hour of trading. we kick it off with bob pisani at the big board. time really flies when you're having fun, huh, fwob? >> one year. it's not the regulatory reform speech the president that has people talking, it's the tariffs on chinese tires and potential retaliatory action that is getting much bigger play down here. let's talk about what st

erin is downstairs. erin? >> thank you, mark. mr. pisani, quadruple whipping. >> we had an exciting open at a quadruple witching. while the indices are not moving around much. don't kid yourself. you're winning by inch every single day. one or two down days the first two days of september and inching up, 9 out of 11 days. essentially a point away from a new high for the year on the s&p. let's not quibble. we're at new highs essentially. so, yeah, it may not look terribly exciting but bulls are winning every single day. a little bit, a little bit. then we had a great week with individual names. we keep talking about ge, ibm, caterpillar has had a fabulous week. car max, macy's, stocks that have lagged behind have had interesting weeks overall. i think that's important. homebuilders are doing better. number op analysts come out this week talking agent homebuilders. i know it doesn't seem like things are -- what's missing is volatility. we're not getting any big move in the indices. >> sometimes in the middle of the day you have had tha

also, people carrying signs, erin burnett, saying "you lie."here is some grassroots organization in rallying behind, not only congressman wilson, but this opposition as well. the republicans are united on this one. >> it certainly seems that way. i would say from the business perspective, though, newtgingrich said to focus on the economy and getting jobs, but health care is central to that and getting it done is crucial. 58% of small businesses said they didn't give raises last year because health care costs were going up so much. you look at some of the numbers for big companies and they are saying 30% of them are going to lay people off because of health care. this comes when incomes are back to levels that they were in 1977. getting something done is crucial and maybe the step you are talking about that the republicans are starting to see there's going to get something done moves us in the direction of getting something. >> did wilson galvannize republicans? >> i think he did. it is hard to imagine his apology was real when you look at the w

>> thanks, erin. glad you're in d.c. listen, president obama was never in quite as much trouble as conventional wisdom suggested on health care because of the size of the majorities that we has in the congress. and it's also true that no presidenti presidential's speech changes the world overnight. however, this speech on wednesday night was effective for many reasons. what's in the speech? the president in addressing not just the members of congress in the capitol but average voters around the country reassured independents. he did that by reaching out to republicans, trying to make the case that he included conservative ideas, he rejected the left wing of his party. so that had the effect of helping him to yunify the democratic party so they felt a lot better than they did going in. the third thing it did was settle the the financing argument. how are they going to principally reyes raise money to pay for coverage expansion. not the sur tax the house was looking at. rather, the insurance excise fee that the senate is l

>> hi, erin. if you look from a supply /demad perspective, on the supply side japan has the second largest debt to gdp ratio only second to zimbabwe. japan has a lot of debt. i think over 170%. on the other side of it, it has the oldest population in the world. in the developed world. if the savings rate has been declining from midteens and 1990s to lower single digits today. so over 90% of the japanese debt historically was consumed internally by japanese consumers. so now as the savings rate declines, they have less appetite -- as savings rate declines, the demand for debt is going to fall. therefore, the rates in japan are likely going to rise. it was the -- now it's going to be a more formidable competitor because rates are going to be higher. basically it will attract some investments that were made in the u.s. >> so sort of a double issue. one, people in japan are getting older, so they're going to be starting to sell some of the debt they held which could be japanese or american. that obvio

erin? >> interesting. hmm.> next we're going to tell you what else julian robertson is doing with his money. this one unexpected. >>> last time i spoke to julian robertson, he was spending a lot of time on his philanthropic activities. he was mostly raising awareness about groebl warming, now he's focused on a new issue. >> i think stem cells are just a terrific thing. it's a pretty wild, wonderful area which i don't understand at all, but which i'm realizing the value of it. so i'm a stem cell nut now from a global warming nut. >> that means advertising campaigns, or things to encourage more stem cell research? >> yeah, more and more of it. i think it's terrific. >> very interesting personal story on that front. julian also, of course, is a loyal new zealander. looking forward to hosting the kiwi challenge, a government tournament in new zealand played november 14th and 15th with the best under-30 golfers. yes, it will be broadcast on the best network in the world, and that, of course, is nbc. we're down about

. >>> "street signs," erin burnett begins in 30 second. dennis, see you tomorrow. >>> stocks have erased earlier losses and moved higher at wall street finishes september in the third quarter. averages had dropped earlier following a weak chicago purchasing managers report. >>> annual business traveler's survey by american express says airfares will go up around the globe next year but average hotel rates should fall in most places. >>> in a major scoop, the "wall street journal" says chili's is bringing back its famous baby back ribs jingle as a three-year absence. that's cnbc.com news now. >>> good afternoon, everyone. hello, i'm erin burnett, live from washington. wild ride day for investors. stocks taking a big turnaround. maybe it was that last headline you had. fears about the economy still front and center for the consumer. we'll talk to two ceos and get their read of what's really going on on the front line. >>> plus here in washington, a hot debate over how to fix the financial system. we have the man in charge, chairman of the se

check in with erin.final decision for ryan mallett to come to arkansas may not have happened unless mrs. mallett had that conversation with brian brohm's mom. the family not sure if they wanted their son to commit to coming here because talk of the falcons and him leaving louisvilles, the malletts got on the phone with the brohm family and said if i would do it again i would stick with bobby petrino. >> brad: now, ryan mallett is looking like a taller version of brian brohm in this game. big third down right here, although it's two downs all of the way i'm sure for the arkansas raeshgs. mallett in trouble, got away will slide. short of the first down by about three. so it's fourth down and the first down would come at the 2 yard line. so they bring in michael smith, d.j. williams comes back in. >> todd: the end of the play, after the slide, he was complaining helmet to helmet hit. i think that was a good no call. i think the defender tried to pull off at the end. >> brad: knowing they need two scores, th

i'm erin burnett. we're just moments away from the beige book look at the economy. we'll talk to house financial services chairman barney frank and talk about the president's key speech on health care tonight. all of that today on "street signs." >>> first breaking news. >> reports from the 12 fed districts say economic activity stabilized in july and august. majority of districts report flat retail sales. most regions report some improvement in residential real estate market. chicago, richmond, boston, san francisco had an uptick in home sales in the last six weeks. commercial real estate demand for space remained weak and nonresidential construction activity continued to decline. loan demand, weak. credit standards tight in many districts. labor market conditions weak in all districts. wage pressures minimal in all districts. consumer spending remains soft. cash for clunkers program, however, did help boost traffic and sales in the majority of districts. the same ability, however, of that pace of new car sales is questioned by industry contacts in richmond, atlant

that should have been filled in, i guess, erin. more on housing because it con continues one op most important areas in the economy and the key to many recovery that many people are mapping for the u.s. economy. some positive signs. no doubt. of course, the federal reserve telling us yesterday it will continue at least for some time its purchases and mortgage backed securities in part to help keep interest rates quite low. the tax credit is available in home buying and positive sign in the home buying arena. no doubt. first amongst them, affordability has been restored for many americans in terms of where house prices have fallen to equivalent income. of course, remember that went way out of whack during the bust or boom, i should say, years. a report out yesterday from our friends at amherst securities who usually have the best data on housing you can see and great analys analysis, points to the continued overhang caused by shadow inventory and what that will ultimately mean for the market. take a look. when we talk about housing

erin? oh, aaron. aaron, not erin. that's like calling bevo a dairy cow for -- hey, you know, that's like elsie. >> caller: summer solstice boo-yah to you, jim. >> well, boo-yah to you, partner. >> caller: i kept my eyes open for that coveted oversubscribed ipo you talked about and i called my broker to get in on avgo, avigo technologies. my question is since this company plays both into the china and next great bull market internet theme of yours should i hold on to those shares or ring the "mad money" registers on the ipo gift scene? >> i was looking at this company the other day. i think you do have a winner here. i have to go back over avgo. i also have to go over winn solar. i i this you've got a good situation brewing there and you're absolutely right you want to look at the end markets. they're all great. even the automotive electronics. i don't want you to get rid of that. i want you to keep it. let's go all the way out west. let's go to david in california. david. >> jim, big sunny boo-yah from santa barbara,

this is, in our opinion, erin, a new normal. the operative word is "new," which basically means that the u.s. and global economy will perhaps grow at half the pace of what we've been used to over the past 25 years with profits and asset prices and therefore expected portfolio returns mimicking that trend. that's the key. there are debates here in these minutes in terms of how quick gaps versus quantitative easing and the effect it will have on deflation. there are concerns the actual a growth the economy will experience in the second half and of course in 2010 and there are debates in terms of its impact in terms of bank capital and losses in that regard. lot of unanswered questions. but the main thing to us is to look for a new normal with lower growth and lower expected returns. >> bill, some say that the easiest way out of this -- i guess there is no easy way but one of the easiest ways for the u.s. would be to try to inflate our way out of in particular the huge debt burdens we've now incurred. that's got to be one of your b

erin? >> okay. well, mark, here in washington and across the nation, health care reform still front and center. the president made his reform pitch last night here to a joint session of congress. but the big controversy from the speech last night came when he promised his plan would not cover illegal immigrants. now, this was a moment. it drew a shout from republican congressman jill wilson. >> there are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. this, too, is false. the reform -- the reforms i am proposing would not apply to those who are here illegal. >> well, you can see the look of shock on everyone's face there. congressman wilson has since apologized for yelling out that word. once again, he will be making comments on the health care reform from the white house. we will bring that to you live as soon as he begins speaking, mark. >>> on the home front, u.s. foreclosures rose 18% from august from the same month last year. we're still near record levels. the num

erin?> the institute along with 27 well-known leaders in the business world is calling for the government to focus on overcoming short-termism. that's a new word. with more on this today, we're joined by samuelson, the director of the business and society program. good to have you with us, judith. we appreciate it. you know, short termism, obviously something we've seen on the margin, a push to get rid of it. retailers not offering same-store sales every month. some companies are saying, hey, we're not going to give you a forecast of where our earnings are going, now it's compensation. let's link it to longer term things. have all those things together, have we made progress, or no? >> well, we're working to make progress. i don't think we've gotten as far as we need to get so far. >> and what specifically do you recommend we do from here? >> let's step back and figure out why we're even talking about this. it's an obvious statement today that businesses are an incredible force for all leve

erin burnett, start me off. where do you wish to take secretary geithner? were to do that right now, larry, is tap my watch and he would know. we are going the talk about the deficit, taxes. we're going to talk about china, t.a.r.p. and taxpayer money and compensation. >> we're going to talk about the anxieties of regular american people over these issues. bailouts. how long, how much involvement is the government going to have in the banking system. taxes and deficits, these are not just financial issues. these are major issues, larry, that strike at the core of who we are. >> and are we also going to acknowledge how far we've come? the s.e.c. today saying they're not going to back any more debt, which was a huge, huge program. the fact they can walk away is a wonderful sign for the credit mark. >> steve and i put a couple of screens together. one was sort of a report card, where we are, t.a.r.p. to steve's point, a lot of them don't know where we are. we've put into the banks $365 billion. the return is 18%. so there are some ways. >> i would submit to yo

i think erin talked to mark richt. >> erin: iside him about the resiliency of this team and he said we've fire the last two weeks. we fought our way out of it last week, said that's the way it is with this team. keep fighting. i asked him what is the biggest key for your offense here in the second half? i'll quote coach richt, we better not turn the doggone thing over. >> brad: that was "doggone" spell ee eed d-a-w-g. cox, the throw and nice catch but sort of the first down. >> todd: nice job of making the tackle in the open field. good job by broadway. number 26, forced the punt. tried to just get it to the big receiver and if he breaks one tackle, it's a first down. broadway does a nice job wrapping him up with help from jerico nelson. >> brad: so willie robinson's defense forces the punt. just what they needed on the opening drive for georgia. drew butler to punt. with his first one over 50 yards. own 5 yard line. long punt again. but returnable back at the 26 yard line. trying to get down and cover, jerrell norton. a.j. green getting worked on, that would be a huge blow if he could no

here's the thing i'm worried about, erin.ok at high yield spreads in particular, these things are v. tightened almost to pre-lehman levels. if you look at where spreads were in march of '09, 1600, 1700 basis points over the treasuries, they have contracted to about 800 which tom mentioned. you go back to late 2007, these spreads were around 600. so the danger in this now is how much more do you think that these spreads can tighten before we hit a real danger zone in high yield? the same thing is happening in investment grade but primarily in the high yield market, great run. my concern is about defaults as well because unlike -- i really don't agree with tom on defaults. it lagged the economy. if we haven't seen an economic rebound, we haven't seen a lot of defaults yet. >> you're thinking, when you're saying, what were you saying, matt, mid single digit ge default rate, you're thinking how much higher is real list is? >> i think we can see more in the upper double digits of default rates. even more importantly than just the

erin burnett, let's face it.hs, there have been some economically some, i would say, pretty liberal bills out there. it's not just people on main street. it's economists on wall street that are concerned about these huge government plans. >> i think that's true. you add it up, you've got $1.5 trillion in commitments out there between the t.a.r.p. and the stimulus money. this administration would say on the auto bailout, that was done before. that's actually true. but neither administration had any chance of not doing that. so it was t.a.r.p. 21 banks have paid t.a.r.p. back. some of it, i think to be fair, will improve over time. there's real skepticism on wall street as to whether the economy can grow its way to pay the deficit down completely. that's a huge concern. you've got to admit that some of this money has been paid back. from t.a.r.p., we made 20% on it. it's not an unmitigated disaster at this point. >> i just found out that ron brownstein is still floating somewhere in the ether. let's go back to him.

>> well, actually, erin, i think that it would. from an options trading standpoint, we operate really on such razor thin margins on the opss floor. and at high volume. when you're talking about even a 0.1% tax can cuts into our bottom line and the ability to make markets down here. especially during this period in time where i think the exchanges over the last year really functioned and did the job they were supposed to do. the otc and some of the unregulated market its is wheree problems really came to a head. as far as what we're trying to accomplish down here and trying to get, you know, people more active in options, i think really over the last year people have become more knowledgeable throw the shows like "options action" and your network that people are getting aggressive with how to use options at a time they should be used that way. >> all right. bernie, top story of the day, we were talking about still remains this citi story. do you buy that this singapore decision was really just sort of a technical one and not a state

>> i don't think so, erin. that's a nuance, and perhaps you're moving in the right direction because that's the way pimco feels. we feel that deflation is becoming -- it's not a higher probability, but it's becoming a higher possibility relative to the fears that the market has in terms of inflation, and that's because, yes, what they mentioned, the asset gap, tremendous amounts of employment that has to come back into the marketplace. unemployment levels at 10%-plus, compassivity levels below 70%. all of that leads to inflation over the next 12 months close to zero in terms of a core inflation rate. the fed has to be concerned about inflation moving not only down to zero but in a negative direction in that type of context, treasuries do make sure at 4.25% and 3.5% for the ten-year. >> let me get ken's response to what you were saying as the decision came across. vanguard announced a policy change to exclude some of these agency mortgages that the fed owns. from your index fund. you thought that would add a lot

but it's almost like a new drug, erin.ou have a new drug introduced and you don't know the side effects until it's tested for a while. you can't do the same here, but we've had such a bad record of creating derivative stuff with all these formulas. the test is you get paid the same stuff. if i had to review the bidding on the stuff i just put together to sell the clients because i'm going to own it, i might do it differently. >> this tells a bigger story, doesn't it? it shows that one way or another, wall street willge

erin touched on credit suisse. on the flip side -- we've got to go back to erin for breaking news? excuse me. i just want to finish up with ebay. jeffries raised the price target from from 28 to 24. let's go down to bertha at the nymex. >> thanks very much, brian. as erin mentioned at the top, we are seeing a rebound in oil and commodity prices this morning. this day the story is as the dollar goes so go commodities. with the dollar peek peaking and the euro spiking, that's also positive as far as the upside for oil. we have the expiration today of the october contract. so that could add a bit of volatilit volatility. the saudi minister does not see a need for opec to raise production or cut production. one of the other things folks watch is whether they are adhering to their quote to. looking at gold it is bouncing back. closed again yesterday by 1,000. this marx the third session trading above the 1 k mark. rick santelli onto you. >> it isn't a lucky seven. ing-the-unless you're long on sevens. i'm talking about the major currencies and futures. the yen, aussie, pound, you'eurd s

>> i watched that interview, erin. way around the fact that that's a tax increase. some people claim it's necessary, some not. it's a tax increase. if you go to the mer yim webster's dictionary, it's defined as a tax increase. for goldby to saying go to the dictionary to make a point somehow invalidates the point is complete hogwash. >> art? >> it depends on the what the meaning of "is" is. >> not only are we getting ex oh extension -- >> of course, it's a pseudotax increase. what you're going to see is a lot more of these things. we're running up enormous deficits. they've got to be funded somehow. so you're going to see surcharges here, and imposition of other rates there. and they will be basically tax increases by many other names. >> by any other name, a rose, by any other name, right? so final hour of trade, what do you each see? >> final hour of trade, we've been under water all day, mildly so, but definitely under water. light volume straight through to the end of the session. nothing really outstanding to the

hear more of our interview with erin arvedlund on-line and why she leaves madoff played a key role in the fraud. >> and automatic machines make up $35 billion in the industry and sending machine sales have been hit hard by the recession but many are hoping new technology will help the business get back on track when the economy recovers. the numbers may surprise you. there are over seven million sending machines across america today. it is an industry that employs over 7 million workers. because of the recession, the industry has seen better days as employees cut back on costs. >> if i'm an employee and i'm fearful for my job, i'm going to brown bag it, i may not choose to buy that snack or soda from the machine. >> the recession has really impacted the vending machine business. operators who run these machines have seen sales drop up to 35% and that has forced hundreds of operators out 6 the business. >> the margins are very slim and there is a big capital investment, the machines cost a lot of money, so we have lost a number of companies that have gone out of business, they couldn't

i'll sue you monday, erin will be back. >> i'll be back. right now it's time for "the call." >>> consumer sentiment improved earlier this month. the index hits a three-month high. wholesale inventories falls in july, combined with the largest one-month sales gain in a year. stocks are slightly higher. a gain today would be a sixth straight win. that's cnbc news now, first in business worldwide. i'm rebecca jarvis. >>> welcome to "the call." i'm melissa francis. trish is off today. we're going to talk stocks with five-star fund manager donald yakman who has shown returns of nearly 50% in the past year, larry. >> i'm larry kudlow. erin burnett asked tim geithner point-blank 23 taxes were going higher. he didn't give a point-blank ants, but in "the call of the wild "we'll debate if higher taxes are inevitable. this is the call, we are cnbc point-blank. >>> all right. the mark seesawing so far. fedex reporting better than expected earnings. consumer sentiment rising to the strongest level this three months. more on both of those stories in a fe

good morning, i'm erin burnett. >> i'm scott wapner. that does reflect the man behind the case-shiller report um in three minute, but first the markets. >> has been a bit of a flat morning. we're awaiting confidence numbers as you well. >> big morning for data. let's get more on the markets as well. starting with bob pisani at the big board. >> a quiet morning down here, but very interesting stocks that are moving. walgreens up. pharmacy margins helped them out. big winner this morning though appears to be gwinnett, up 23% preopen. their third quarter earnings, bottom line is their guidance is terrific, well above analysts expectation. the consensus is 28 cents here. so cautious commentary from the company, nonetheless, the stock is moving on that. jpmorgan's jamie dimon announce management changes and jess stacy is in line to be the next ceo of jpmorgan. there's a report in "the new york post" that john paulson is considering merging cit with indymac. just a report in "the new york post." mr. shactman, how are we looking at the nasdaq?

wellpoint ceo and erin, not sure if you have questions -- >> can she hear me? >> yes, she can. >> okay. i believe you just said very cleverly worded, 87 cents goes to the delivery of health care. in fact, why don't we look at the amount of payments you make per dollar you take in. it's more like 80 cents, is it not? 80 cents in benefits? >> you put 87 cents per dollar -- >> according to to your 10k. >> it's more like 80 or 81 cents. >> i'm studying a study for the industry overall. 87 cents on the dollar is going to health care costs. >> there again, that's too cleverly worded. maria -- would you please -- >> our margin last year was 4%. >> go ahead. >> will you please ask her -- >> relative to other margins, by 18, pharma's at 16. really, we're a low-cost, low-margin provider in the health care equation. >> i am looking now at the federal aviation administration's aircraft registry database. it shows 44% registered to wellpoint. why do they need 44% to help deliver those health benefits? >> four corporate jets. he's looking at the federal reserve register. why

heath >> host: our guest is erin arvedlund. good morning. >> caller: good morning. have a couple questions. the s.e.c., what congress administration actually assisted with setting up the s.e.c.? and if a ponzi scheme, correct me if i'm wrong, is basically where you collect money and you don't really have dividends, so you are not making money, but you take future investments and that is how you pay your dividend off f. that is correct, then that would be, he started in the '60s, then that would be the same time security was taken off lockdown and social security would be the largest ponzi schemer of them all. >> host: first on creation of the s.e.c. in the 1930s. >> guest: my understanding was it was set up to correct some of the obabuses of the great crashf 1929 and among others ferinand sokura had had a federation which helped question the big wall street bankers and he was one of of the ones i quoted in the book talking about how to correct some of the abuses on wall street. as far as your second question, i've read this in many other places comparing madoff's po

erin's birthday was in february and she was just turning 40 and i couldn't afford anything.the blue, i load the boys up in the car, i said, "grab a hammer. we're going to go get the door jamb." this is where it was. this door jamb will go-- whatever rental or if we ever buy another house, this will stay with us. - it was the best birthday present ever. - all right. ready, buddy? it's been a tough road, but i could not imagine having to do this with anyone else than my two kids and erin. - it really has brought us closer together. it really has. and those are the plusses of this. - i get to see my dad more than usual. - the cars, the house. the toys--can't take with me. but everything i put here, all the memories, they come with me. - i know it's wrenching selling a home. i mean, watching you in that room that you spent so many memories in, and it's hard for you. what's the update now on the house? what did you do with it? - we just had signed all the paperwork recently, and we have short-sold it. i mean, it's done. - for folks who don't know, jean, what's a short sale? - a s

where business is down 10%, erin rose is up 33%. this is due in fact to the ten years in business as well as our diversified sales strategy which includes e-com on our own erinrose.com as well as national catalogs, specialty swim stores and on television at qvc. we are requesting a million dollars to fund the launch of erin rose as a fit and figure conscious brand for apparel and lingerie. this money will go towards the marketing pushes, merchandising and, of course, manufacturing costs that will entail in this endeavor. in return, you'll receive 8% on your money. at the end of which three years we will then give you 10% stock in the company as well as the million dollars back. hope you're interested. >> okay. i had to bring my prop. i'm completely overdressed for the beach as are you guys, by the way. that was great. thank you for being the model for this. as someone that buys bathing suits, i start with you, jen. >> you gave me impressive metrics and made me want to listen more but the description of the business, tell me when's u

erin burnett is live at the new york stock exchange. erin, what's going on? the straw. sometimes you know we put a hole in it. to see if -- why it doesn't blow as far. all right. sorry. that was the flying object. the jobless claims are 530,000. that's down, the survey was expecting them to be up so that's better than expected. continuing to show marginal improvement though those are still painful, we're not going to be adding jobs soon. the market is reacting, futures are going to be higher. i said that is the most important number for the economy right now. because the other headlines out there are three, they come from what the fed said yesterday. when they -- you know, a lot of people are concerned because in this statement the feds sort of said some of these programs out there where we're supporting the mortgage market is one example, we are going to stop supporting it at some points. in other words, we're not going to sit there, we're going to take the training wheels off. some were worried. i would say the three headlines are actually all, well, pretty

. >> i'm joined now live from washington by erin billings, dispute editor for "roll call." good morning, erin. >> good morning, alex. >> the president says everyone should recognize the danger of losing their health insurance. do you think this message will work or might it be dismissed asscare tactic? >> well, i think certainly there will be some on the right and some conservative critics who will despise it as a scare tactic, but this white house and president obama in particular needs to try to move this debate forward, and he's trying to seize on the momentum that he got on wednesday night when he addressed a joint session of congress. he's trying to broaden the appeal of this health care reform effort. he's trying to say this is not just about the uninsured, this is about those of you who have insurance, that there are risks for you as well. and so, this is all part of him being salesman in chief and trying to rescue his number one domestic priority. >> what more can the president say today that we haven't heard already? >> well, you mentioned these figures from the tr

>> thanks, erin.but one of the more optimistic comments on the economy from the federal reserve in years. the fed said at its mid-august meeting the economy was "leveling out." some economists at the fed think the economy's set to grow in the third and fourth quarters and the fed statement must take note, upgrading the economy while remaining conscious on the outlook. ben bernanke said last week the recession is over from a technical point of view but warned about gradual recovery where unemployment remains high. the statement could also have new commentary on the outlook for the fed's $1.5 trillion plan to purchase mortgages. in august the fedex tended the plan to buy treasuries but kept the amount of same. they could do the same here, extending the end date to end by the end of the year. some economists think the fed will take an "f" on that and instead make any changes in november. look for the discussion of exit strategies in general. more likely showing up in the meeting of the minutes that comes

espn erin andrews. >> i'm sure have you heard oprah winfrey -- winfrey previewed a new season of hernterview with espn erin andrews. >> i'm sure have you heard people say it could have been a publicity stunt because you apparently look so good in it that who looks that good walking around, you know, naked. that? >> disappointed. >> yeah. >> especially when it came from females as well. i would never do this to myself. bill: ok, now, how many years has oprah been on the air? bill: the answer is d, doocy wins. right? bill: paul in north carolina gets more stuff. don't worry you get two chances, right? bill: paul in north carolina gets more stuff. thanks to martha maccallum. see you guys next week. pinheads and patriots tonight, taylor swift responding to kanye west. orld. bill: time for pinheads and patriots as you may know tyler swift was embarrassed by hip hop guy kanye west at the awards. here is what miss swift said about it on the view. >> i think my overall thought process went something like wow, i didn't believe i won. this is awesome. don't trip and fall, i'm going to get to t

erin, 100% right. >> that depends.he talks about, cutting costs and he talked about cutting costs. then he could get somebody like me, he could get judd gregg, he could get somebody like john to say okay, well, we know medicare and medicaid go bankrupt in a decade. we know the united states economy is going to be crippled if we don't tame these health care costs. he put as plan out that helps us sustain it in the long run. he will find moderate republicans sporting him. this bill does not do that. it does not come close. >> i would submit that your republican party that you're talking about right now is different from the republican party that sat in the house of representatives last night. >> we need a leader. >> guys, thanks. erin, thanks. >> thank you so much. >> thank you, guys. thanks for having me stay around. ♪ well i was shopping for a new car, ♪ ♪ which one's me - a cool convertible or an suv? ♪ ♪ too bad i didn't know my credit was whack ♪ ♪ 'cause now i'm driving off the lot in a used sub-compact. ♪ ♪ f-r-e-