economy right now, that would have been a huge, huge burden. >> and erin burnett, let me turn to you, because just as an impartial observer watching this slightly aghast might think that the tea party did well politically, but in terms of the behavior and when they shoved the president into the corner and made a crisis out of something that should not have been a crisis in terms of the debt ceiling being raised and pretty much stabbed the speaker john boehner flat in the back, didn't they? >> well, that is a good way to put it. you could say, piers, in a sense, they were playing chicken with the whole situation. if they ended up getting out of it massive cuts that moved the needle which the cuts on the table now do not, and they don't address the major entitlement programs, well, if they had accomplished that, then you could say, well, yes, it was worth it, but all of that storm for, well, frankly not much. so i would say, yes, not very much was accomplished that was positive from this and now you have great uncertainty about the economy as wolf indicated by far the top story. you saw

erin burnett. so is senior political analyst david gergen. erin, is there really much the u.s.can do about this? isn't a lot of what happened today also involved in what's going on in europe and in japan? >> it is. it has become completely global. all the economies linked together and the debt problem as well. there is something that can be done by lawmaker in washington and the fed. the fed meets tomorrow on interest rates. that will be really crucial. ben bernanke, the most important player right now. what he decides to do, what he says about economic growth in this country, if he says there is something further they can do, those will be very crucial things tomorrow. he has to get the nuance just right or he could scare the markets. lawmakers, we know there are thing they can do. show some leadership and that they can work together. they're on recess and we won't get anything out of them now. >> and president obama spoke today. a, how do you think he did in terms of what he said? and what more needs to be done or can be done? >> anderson, president obama did his best today t

erin burnett, thanks for coming on. i know you have a busy night ahead of you, watching the asia markets open up in a matter of hours. we'll be watching you. we're going to continue conch of this story. also with our kol colleague richard quest. probably seeing a lot of long faces leaving the no stock exchange as he is sitting there perched right across the street in new york. back in just a moment. [ jon ] we don't just come up here for the view up in alaska. it's the cleanest, clearest water. we find the best, sweetest crab for red lobster we can find. yeah! [ male announcer ] hurry in to crabfest at red lobster. the only time you can savor three sweet alaskan crab entrees all under $20, like our hearty crab and roasted garlic seafood bake or snow crab and crab butter shrimp. [ jon ] i wouldn't put it on my table at home, i wouldn't bring it in. my name's jon forsythe, and i sea food differently. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement, available only from liberty mutual insurance, if yo

economy right now, that would have been a huge, huge burden. >> and erin burnett, let me turn to you,se just as an impartial observer watching this slightly aghast might think that the tea party did well politically, but in terms of the behavior and when they shoved the president into the corner and made a crisis out of something that should not have been a crisis in terms of the debt ceiling being raised and pretty much stabbed the speaker john boehner flat in the back, didn't they? >> well, that is a good way to put it. you could say, piers, in a sense, they were playing chicken with the whole situation. if they ended up getting out of it massive cuts that moved the needle which the cuts on the table now do not, and they don't address the major entitlement programs, well, if they had accomplished that, then you could say, well, yes, it was worth it, but all of that storm for, well, frankly not much. so i would say, yes, not very much was accomplished that was positive from this and now you have great uncertainty about the economy as wolf indicated by far the top story. you saw the m

and erin burnett and kate bolduan as well through the dramatic night.et for you, the house of representatives have passed the debt ceiling compromise and now it goes to the united states senate, and that vote at noon tomorrow, and a lot of the pieces to analyze and discuss. we will see you tomorrow night after that dramatic vote. our coverage continues "in the our coverage continues "in the arena" which starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com aanr and welcop and an. moments ago the house of representativrepresentative re historhistoric budget bill that nobody pit was a clebr leaders, the president of the united states barack obama and the speaker of the house john boehner, and two men who have staked their political careers and their future on the separate visions of how much this country should spend and on what. it has been a fierce battle of wills and tonight, it is very difficult to say who won if indeed anyone did. all day both of the parties have been venting their anger over an unhappy compromise, but during the vote, a rare momen

means for the country, erin burnett and what about your job and 401(k)? also, the dead i thiliest day f americans in afghanistan. i'll ask one man who nose better than most why the aftermath could be a nightmare for the pentagon and the white house. this is "piers morgan tonight." $1 trillion, a stunning loss on paper anyway in this country's stock market. the dow suffering a big loss, down 634 points, on the verge of a bear market territory. meanwhile, the asian markets are sliding tonight, the nisei dropping 4%, sinking below 9,000 for the first time since mid-march. here to explain what this means for your job and your money, ali velshi and erin burnett, kim lar in tokyo and wolf blitzer. what is the latest over there? >> let's start with the tokyo stock exchange. tokyo is the largest stock exchange in asia pacific. we look at this as a marker of how the rest of asia pacific will do, down 4%. it is falling below the 9,000 levels. psychologically, that's an important level here. and something we should put -- point out for some context is we haven't see

fareeda kariya, he's really smart on these issues, erin burnett, she spent a lot of time watching wall street, she's going to be joining us. we also have a lot of news on the other breaking news that we're following, an apparent deal on the faa work stoppage, if you will. ray lahood will be here in the situation room. but this 500-plus point drop in the stock market, that's a huge story. it affects so 78 people out there. remember, this is not just today. it's been going on for 8 of the last 9 sessions on wall street, dropped more than 1,000 points, 10%, that's huge. >> wolf blitzer, we'll see you in a couple minutes. >>> in the meantime i've got two more people i want to talk to, we've got to get a break in. don't move. we'll be right back. what if we turned trash into surfboards? whatever your what if is, the new sprint biz 360 has custom solutions to make it happen, including mobile payment processing, instant hot spots, and 4g devices like the motorola photon. so let's all keep asking the big what ifs. sprint business specialists can help you find the answers. sprint. america's fav

erin burnett here to get us started. so on the basic question, a lot of people focus on the town grade, but this started well before that.town grade, but this started well before that. >> if you look at what we've seen over the past few days, actually 13% lower, make sure i get my numbers right here, in the past five trading sessions. so it's been a pretty incredible selloff. yes, in large part due to concern that the u.s. government would not deal with the debt problem, due to the dysfunction of washington. that's a big issue. s&p actually following through on it word which had been advertised for months to go ahead with this downgrade. that certainly part of the problem. but we've got a lot of issues. we is an economy that's weak, investors are focusing on that. you add all of it together and you get panic selling days. >> and you also have a cycle when there's know room for a time-out. the asian markets will be opening. what should we look for there? >> actually i was just looking because the asian markets will start

>>> anderson, when i was interviewing erin burnett there was a lightning strike, did you see that? >> wow, that's amazing, i didn't average american joe. what should they be doing with their money right now? >> well, that's the funny thing about it. the average american joe actually is the economy. it doesn't come from the top down out of washington. it does come from the bottom-up. so if enough people start doing smart things with their money it will heal the economy. smart things are outlined as having savings for emergency. living on less than they make and getting out of debt which would all be good rules for washington, as well. >> we're getting a lot of reaction on twitter tonight. abnormally high volumes. if you want to get ahold of me, piers morgan, give me your opinion. they are saying that they've had enough of these politicians squabbling, literally, fiddling while rome burns. >> well, there is a lot of that but they've also had enough with this, people with their heads stuck so far up the politics all they can speak in is sound bytes. people stuck on ideology and where

here to explain what all this means for your money, ali velshi and erin burnett. kim, what is the latest over there? >> let's start with the tokyo stock exchange. we will get this as a marker of how the rest of asia pacific will do. down 4%. it is falling below the 9,000 level. psychologically that is an important level here. and some of we should put, point out for some context. we haven't seen this level in japan since the march 11th quaig. shortly after the earthquake the stock exchange dropped to that level. this is the equivalent of a seismic shock for this country. the economic equivalent. we're seeing big losses among exporters. the companies that sell to america. panasonic, sony and toyota among some of the biggest losers. and it going to be in the words of one trade here spoke to me this morning, piers, in he can to yoex he said brace yourself. it will be a tough day. >> and obviously intriguing that japan went through a credit rating downgrade. it didn't seem to be too badly perturbed by it. describe what happened. >> reporter: what happened here with th

we'll talk to erin burnett. we'll talk about the politics of all of this because instantly after this happened friday night when we were live on the air after the downgrade occurred, politicians starting to point the fingers one at another. the s&p in the downgrade said that's part of the problem. that's part of the reason they downgraded. did the downgrade change any of that? keeping it honor report on that coming up. >>> i want to turn to what's happening in the horn of africa neemplly 12 million people. in somalia, 3.2 million people according to relief workers are in immediate need of assistance. immediate need of assistance. food assistance, in some cases, medical assistance. malnutrition in the number for the kids moo are reaching this camp which is now the largest refugee camp in the world. just outside somalia, inside kenya. about 50% of the chides are reaching here are malnourished. severely malnourished. they are the most vulnerable. that statistic we told but at the top of the hour a few moments ago.

. ♪ >>> anderson, when i was interviewing erin burnett there was a lightning strike, did you see that>> wow, that's amazing, i didn't see that. >> amazing. >> thunder bolts all around. >> exactly. well we obviously have all the latest in breaking news in washington. we'll get full coverage from our correspondent, the last-minute maneuvering. we'll also talk with senator rand paul who plans to vote "no" on the bill tomorrow in the senate and the democratic congressman that voted "no" today calling it a sugar-coated sat satan sandwich. >>> and congressman debbie wasserman schultz was there. we'll talk to her. >>> and the latest from the murderous crackdown in syria. a lot to cover, piers. >>> i'll bring in a man who knowless a lot about this debt deal, dave ramsey, host of "the dave ramsey show." let's forget the washington rhetoric. what does all this mean for the average american joe. what should they be doing with their money right now? >> well, that's the funny thing about it. the average american joe actually is the economy. it doesn't come from the top down out of washington. it d

. >> erin burnett is back with us at cnbc. were the others wrong? >> it's interesting. i think s&p saw this as a political moment and $4 trillion in cuts or else and they were put in a position where they had to go through with it. as john is pointing out, this error is an embarrassment for them. but i have to say, the biggest investors in the world that i have been seeing in the last couple of weeks have been adamant that the u.s. should be downgraded and in fact that was already priced in. in a sense, it would seem talking to them that the error -- the $2 trillion error that you were referring to doesn't seem to matter. the downgrading credit agencies, china has already downgraded. but i would note that i know ali has pointed out before. three-quarters of the top debt is linked to the united states government. so there really isn't in just a pure technicality for the money to go. and they have more debt and lower rating and lower borrowing rate than we do. and they might consider it as well. i think this is a wakeup call that we needed and it's not necessarily armaged

let's go to erin burnett who is working the story for you. why did this happen?e best analysis. they had manufacturing orders slipping into the territory and weaker than expected growth and you had a lot of companies starting to come out and warn that things were not that great. the market was so focused on the debt that they didn't look at all of those numbers. a bit of today was catch up. when we are looking at the weakness in the economy, fear is the right word. panic not the right word. it was pretty calm. the sell off puts us back to levels in terms of how cheap the market is that we haven't seen since the market bottomed. cheap does not mean a good buy. it is not panicked. >> as much fear here in the united states and here in washington, a lot of fear gripping wall street about italy, spain, and europe in the spill over here in the united states. >> this is a global problem right now. in terms of countries that have spent more money than they have in tax dollars, america is one of many. greece, portugal, italy and spain. germany. it is a worldwide problem a

i'll speak with erin burnett. how much worse could it get? and the spiral of violence and death in syria. a surprising new condemnation of the government in damascus. we'll tell you what's going on. [ male announcer ] members of the american postal workers union handle more than 165 billion letters and packages a year. that's about 34 million pounds of mail every day. ever wonder what this costs you as a taxpayer? millions? tens of millions? hundreds of millions? not a single cent. the united states postal service doesn't run on your tax dollars. it's funded solely by stamps and postage. brought to you by the men and women of the american postal workers union. ♪ >>> today from the arab world, the blocky crackdown in syria. saudi arabia, kuwait, and bahrain all say they are recalling their ambassadors from damascus. this is something even the united states government has not yet done. this is as we get word from inside of syria on yet more deadly violence. the regime is restricting journalist access as you know to the country. let's bring in a

erin burnett on what to expect next. then the most outspoken woman in the country is live and unleashed. >> my goal is to keep anderson cooper fired. i'm going to be on piers morgan next thursday. cnn, i like you, but you're no nancy grace. >> i see. kathy griffin on success. >> awards are more important than people or family. oh. >> her thoughs on casey anthony. >> the casey anthony watch with the mask and is she going to get plastic surgery? i can give you a couple of phone number, frankly. >> and her life on the d-list. that's kathy griffin on "piers morgan tonight." >>> good evening. a live interview with the explosive kathy griffin. but first, breaking news tonight >>> good evening. a live interview with the explosive kathy griffin. but first, breaking news tonight on the economy. the dow plunging 512 points to the worst single day since the financial crisises in 2008. all fallen 10% in the last ten days. what should you do with your money? ali velshi, what the hell is going on? >> we all have to take our turns in c

let's bring in erin burnett. she's working this part of the story for us. this debt deal, assuming it passes doesn't necessarily guarantee america's aaa credit rating will remain aaa. >> that's right, wolf. what's amazing, we were talking about this. these numbers we're hearing in tu terms of the deal aren't anywhere what they said needed for a downgraded. they needed $4 trillion in cuts. even at the highest level here, the $2.4 trillion on the table won't get us there. so this puts the rating agencies in a very tough spot. they've put us on watch for a downgrade. so it would seem that the right thing for them to do would be to go ahead and do the downgrade. the real question is, have the financial markets already assumed there's going to be a downgrade and priced it in? >> what would it mean practically speaking if the u.s. went from a aaa let's say to a aa? >> practically speaking, and bill gross from pimco, one of the biggest bond investors in the nation, very influential. before the fed does anything, they talk to bill gross. he thinks the increase in i

>> erin burnett has said a downgrade has been followed by actual growth and prosperity within six ton't think it's permanent. it's an albatross for him. i think if he can get the economy moving and creating jobs, that's the number one concern for most americans. and i think it was a mistake to put him out there on 2:00 to stabilize things and the market goes down significantly. he has to be seen being a leader. he has to be in a situation where he is not presidential candidate 2012, he is president of all the people trying to find answers, coming up with an action program. >> how does he do that? how much is the economic recovery out of his hands and out of his control? >> well, the way washington has been acting, it's out of his control and the market is running things. the question of leadership is trying to reassert control and insert authority where where it goes. it's the president's job to help bring hope, and to help bring more confidence back. franklin roosevelt could not solve the depression. he could not get us out of the valley rapidly, but he did build a bridge of hope ac