so she is still finding great stocks. >> jeff: gregg, do you own any of these funds? >> i do not own any of these funds. >> jeff: you can read more about gregg's article on thestreet.com. >> absolutely. >> suzanne: here's what we're watching for tomorrow. quarterly results from bankatlantic, c.v.s. caremark, news corp, pulte group and time warner. and, a.d.p. releases its national employment report for july. also, we'll see if money manager michael farr is still bearish and get an update on his ten stock picks. he's our "street critique" guest, and author of "a million is not enough." >> suzanne: the posterchild for the subprime mortgage meltdown is settling up with some shareholders. countrywide financial will pay $600 million to end several class-action suits. shareholders accused the former mortgage giant of hiding mounting risks and loose lending standards during the housing boom. but, countrywide's problems aren't over. the firm and former c.e.o. angelo mozilo are still being investigated by the s.e.c. and the justice department. bank of america bought countrywid

the man driving the car is gregg bergersen. he's a civilian analyst at the pentagon with one of the nation's highest security clearances. his companion is tai shen kuo, a spy for the people's republic of china. bergersen knew a secret that the chinese desperately wanted to know. and neither man knows that what they're about to do is being recorded by two cameras the f.b.i. has concealed in their car. >> whoa! oh, are you sure that that's okay? >> yeah, it's fine. >> stahl: what could this power? >> this could power a u.s. home, average united states house. >> stahl: the entire house? >> entire home. >> stahl: it's the heart of an invention called the bloom box. all right, are you going to let me look inside? >> absolutely. >> stahl: its inventor and investors say it will change the way we power our homes, bypassing the traditional electric grid. is the bloom box intended to get rid of the grid? >> the bloom box is intended to replace the grid... >> stahl: replace the grid. >> ... for its customers. >> three, two, one. one to ba

we're going to hear from senator gregg first. just shut me off. >> i would never try to shut you off. >> honestly, i am so eager to hear from the witnesses. and then i was going to turn to you after the hearing concluded. >> it would have been perfect timing. >> senator gregg. >> i appreciate the chairman holding this hearing and i appreciate this exceptional panel that has been put together and i look for to hearing from them, also. i also want to commend the chairman for putting forth some stark numbers that are accurate, as he always does, and once again pointing out that the path we are on is simply not sustainable as a nation. i asked my staff because i did not know the answer what the greek debt to gdp ratio was, of course greek having basically defaulted and then saved, and they said the zero was about 100%. i am not sure there is their public debt or their gross debt. but the chairman's number of 40% for a debt to gdp ratio is a staggering number. we know that our public debt is already approaching one under%. let me take

nbc's leanne gregg has the story. >> governor, are you concerned about what's to come, governor? >> reporter: rod blagojevich, back home and greeted with celebrity fanfare after a jury's decision on his alleged political corruption crime spree. after two weeks of deliberations on 24 charges, a mistrial on all but one count. >> this jury just shows you that notwithstanding the fact that the government threw everything but the kitchen sink at me, that on every count except for one, on every charge except for one, they could not prove that i did anything wrong. >> reporter: the jury did find blagojevich guilty of lying to the fbi. >> i did not lie to the fbi. i've told the truth from the very beginning. this is a persecution. >> reporter: among the charges the jury failed to agree on, that blagojevich tried to sell the senate seat vacated by obama. u.s. attorney patrick fitzgerald says there will be another trial. >> we are in the mode of being close to jury selection for a retrial. >> reporter: blagojevich didn't testify as promised at the beginning of the trial, but the jury did h

as leanne gregg reports, a high-profile nasa official was also on board. >> reporter: 86-year-old ted stevens was on a fishing trip with eight others when their small plane crashed in a remote area in alaska. stephens and four others died. >> it's with deep sadness that i acknowledge the loss of senator ted stevens. >>. >> also on board, former nasa murder trial, shawn o'keefe. he and his son are reportedly among four survivors now being treated. a team from the national transportation safety board is en route to investigate the cause of the crash. >> >> and the weather is less than a 100 foot ceiling. >> there's high terrain to the north of ain't and that's a concern. >> stephens was o'keefe's bong-time mentor on capitol hill where stevens was powerful senate appropriation's committee. he survived a plane crash that killed his first wife and his career was ended when he was convicted on corruption speech. >> my motto has been, to hell with politics." just do what's right for alaska. >> is charges were dropped six months later by misconduct by the prosecution. and now, a tragic end fo

nbc's leanne gregg has more. >> reporter: john mccain one step closer to his fifth term in the u.s. senate after winning tuesday's primary. mccain spent more than $20 million to successfully fend off former congressman j.d. hayworth. >> i promise you, i take nothing for granted, i'll fight with every ounce of strength and conviction i possess to make the case for my continued service in the senate. >> reporter: critics arguing the senator has lost his conservative roots with his stand on immigration, a key issue, but mccain still able to win heading into the november election. in florida, four-term congressman kendrick meek showing his gratitude after elected as the democratic senate nominee. meek, the establishment candidate, beat self-funded real estate mogul jeff greene, who made millions betting against the subprime mortgage market. >> there are those that counted us out, but you counted us in, and i want to thank florida for doing that. >> reporter: in november, meek will face republican marco rubio and florida's governor, republican-turned-independent charlie crist. the vote p

nbc's leanne gregg has more. >> reporter: this morning, the search for what caused this plane to crash, killing former u.s. senator ted stevens, the longest serving republican in history. >> for he built alaska and he stood for alaska, and he fought for alaskans. >> reporter: stevens and four others were killed traveling to and from fishing lodges when their small plane crashed in a remote area near dillingham, alaska. four survived the crash, including former nasa administrator sean o'keefe and his teenage son kevin. the cause of the crash is under investigation. >> we're looking to see whether or not there were any pilot reports, distress signals, whether there was any signals from an emergency locater. >> reporter: in a twist of fate, stevens survived a plane crash in 1978 that killed five people, including his first wife. and now more than 30 years later, another crash would take his life along with the lives of four others. leanne gregg, nbc news. >>> well, predictions of doom for establishment candidates this november are being put to the test. in colorado yesterday, incumbent se

we will hear from senator gregg first. >> you are trying to shut me off again.hter] >> i would never try to shut off. i am so eager to hear from these witnesses, i was going to go to them and maybe turn to you after the hearing was concluded. [laughter] >> that would have been perfect timing. i appreciate the chairman holding this hearing and i appreciate the exceptional panel that it has been put together. i look for to hearing from them all. i also want to commend the chairman for putting forth from -- some stark numbers that are accurate, as he always does. once again, pointing out that the path that we are on is simply not sustainable as a nation. i asked my staff -- i did not know the answer to this -- i asked what the greek gdp is to their desperate they said it was about 100%. 400% for gross debt is a staggering number. let me take a more global view of the issue. our witnesses will take a macro view or rather a micro of view. let me take a macro view. if we look at what is happening here, we are seeing a new normal, as is the term used by many people in

leanne gregg shows us what you need to know the next time you hit the mall. >> reporter: if you plan to buy a gift card you may want to wait until sunday. a new law slides into the scene governing the gift card industry. >> under these new rules, gift cards will last longer, and some credit card fees won't be quite as brutal. >> reporter: the cards will no longer be allowed to expire before at least five years. each time you reload the card, the five-year clock starts again on the amount you add. consumers will also be shielded from annoying hidden fees like service or non-use charges. >> that's good news. >> there is one big exception. a fee can be charged if you don't use your card in 12 months. >> we hear complaints from consumers who give gift cards but find throughout is a lot less money on them when they go to use them. >> reporter: which is why the consumers union applauds the changes. the rules apply to store cards along with mastercard, visa, american express and discover branded gift cards. and soon more user friendly than ever. leanne gregg, nbc news. >>> coming up on the

just point me in the direction. >> it's gregg i'm back on. how are you all today. >> reporter: the emotional toll of long-term unemployment is the topic of an on-line support group rosen is a part of. >> it's kind of a numbing, mind-killing exercise in futileity for all these jobs and going nowhere. >> yourself esteem is just so shot that you don't want to face people in every day life. >> you sit and look for a job, and nothing comes up. now i guess it's just sit in your house until you die. >> for some record long-term unemployment is simply proved too much. >> there was a gentleman in philadelphia just yesterday who was a 99er. had a family. has no benefits. since the end of march. was refused entrance to a homeless shelter. put a gun to his head and tried to take his life. there is another gentleman that i deal with very closely whose fair was 61. felt like he was a disgrace to his family. walked into a men's room. in california. wrote a note. shot himself. >> we're dying emotionally. spiritually. and literally. >> the man in pennsylvania

senator gregg alluded to energy policy earlier. i think that is an important policy -- aspect of what we are talking about here. for years, the idea was we should have higher prices for energy, higher prices that reflected what they were in the rest of the world, so we subsidized relative to other economies with energy. as a result, we import a lot of our energy and that has added to our imbalance, dependence on overseas sources of energy. we have the power to correct that report. policy, energy policy, the tax treatment of energy is something that we can deal with. if some people pay more, we have to deal with that, but that is an important ingredient in thinking about where we go to the productive uses of those resources. >> i also agree with the broad outlines, but i would to just put in in in a longer framework, talking about the repeated cycles that the bank of england now calls doom loops. prices, expansion in 1982. another emerging crisis in 1990. then a crisis based on u.s. housing. all the specific pieces have pushed us to

leanne gregg, nbc news. >>> well, running with humans. the show we're going to show you amazing video of a bull jumping out of the ring and right to where the people are. >>> and back-to-school blues. the bay area teacher who lost her car and all the supplies she had bought in the span of a few seconds. >>> and a wild chase right onto the runway. >>> and good evening, i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. plenty of 70s right now across the bay area, especially in the south bay, with 77 from sunnyvale to san jose. tonight in the east bay we'll look at temperatures dropping into the 50s. more on your cooling weekend forecast coming up. os >>> go to nbcbayarea.com and search the tillman story to read a review on thetomoow about the who went from football star to u.s. patriot. to >>> well, more aid is being promised to help pakistan recover from disastrous flooding. nbc's stephanie gosk reports from islamabad. >> reporter: amazingly the numbers of people affected in this country continue to grow. the united nations today announced that eight

five republicans, collins, graham, gregg, lugar, and snowe, joined the majority democrats. the only democrat voting no was nelson of nebraska. kagan takes the place of the now-retired john paul stevens on the liberal wing of the court which includes justices breyer, ginsburg, and sotomayor. the conservatives are scalia, thomas, and alito with kennedy often the swing vote. in missouri today, mothers and fathers got the kind of phone call ever parent dreads-- their children were involved in a terrible accident. they were aboard two buses carrying high school students from st. james to an amusement park outside st. louis. just 10 miles from their destination the buses slammed into the wreckage of an earlier accident. one of the children on the buses was killed, dozens more injured. cynthia bowers has more. >> reporter: it's an annual trip the band members look forward to all summer. >> it was going to be a good day and it turned into such a terrible day. >> reporter: two buses, the first one filled with girls, the second with boys, were headed for six flags amusement park when

it did you see senator judd gregg's comments? caller: senator judd gregg used to be governor of new hampshire. i find it interesting because it is unfortunate for us regular workers that so many wealthy people get elected because the sense of reality is different. the government used to send state money back until ron reagan because under reagan, he decided states should start raising money to cover the services that they wanted to provide. but the judd gregg, he put $40 million of medicaid money a year into the general fund. he did not use it for the proper person -- purposes when he was governor. this time around we also hear everybody, politicians and i would not have voted for those bailouts or the tarp, judd gregg was the author of the tarp bell, so did not mean -- tarp bill, so did that mean republicans are running away from that? host: you think it is a good idea that this money comes with strings attached, that the states have to use it for specific purposes? caller: unfortunately they end up using it for what they want a

establishment economists are sounding the alarm here to talk about it is gregory white of the business insider gregg now as you point out we now have the st louis fed president saying the u.s. may be headed to a deflationary period now prior to this others have warned about it but we haven't really heard this from you know an official at the fed so whose fault is this and why are people just now getting it. it's not really the fault of anyone i mean this is what happens when you have home prices decline to the degree that they have and that carries over to the rest of the economy that's that's what happens in deflation and you have to think of it this way it's just a bubble deflating it's as simple as that and the major bubble that deflated was in the home prices and now that spreading to the rest of the economy and the fed has done a great deal to try to prevent this from happening to the degree that it's now threatening including you know buying assets off of banks' balance sheets and bringing them on to their own as well as increasing the money supply and trying to get people to go out and spend

he also introduced another bill with senator gregg which is dealing with tax reform and simplifying the tax codes. and in that legislation is also the provisions to regulate online gambling. clearly for this to be done it needs to go through the house and senate. i think as the house continues to move forward it's going to put pressure on the smat to bring up this issue. host: and remind us, what has the white house said on this issue? guest: well, the white house has not been involved. they have not publicly commented on it. host: let's hear from south carolina now. it's been. good morning, ben. caller: oh, yes. how you doing? host: fine. caller: earlier a caller came and talked about gambling and drugs and said it's totally different. it's not totally different. it's a very thin line between drugs and gambling. drugs is addictive and alcohol is addictive. and what we are doing -- one other caller said we're knocking over moral pillars and our ethics clean out of america. and if we keep this up we're going to destroy this country. this man sits there like he's so authoritative and hone

to get into c-span for three months and the very first caller -- mike from birmingham, republican, gregg and independent, hank as a democrat, a union president, walter as an independent. it is just not right. now to the point -- this is george bush's victory. you have the secretary of state, the vice president and this president all vote against the surge. and now he is going to take -- tried to take credit for george bush's victory. i love c-span. thanks so much. try to do something about that pathological liar that calls and all the time. i mean, he has called in -- about the last three weeks, he has been in, like, eight times. host: ok, paul, we got it. nick. democratic line. croft and, maryland. caller: what prompted me to call was your question right back to the first caller or second caller, i don't know exactly who, yes does george bush, should he get any credit for iraq. host: what i was asking is the president's press secretary was asked repeatedly yesterday in a press briefing about whether or not president obama was going to give credit to president bush -- just posing the que

are you certain tommy gregg told you clemens had an abscess? -- tommy craig showed you clemens had an abscess? >> yes, sir. >> he and dr. taylor told us the mri was ordered because they thought the bruise might have been caused by a [unintelligible] it was ordered because the star pitcher was injured. tommy gregg, scott chairman, and craig,tors -- commtommy scott, and the doctors say it was not an abscess. >> this is not an allegation. he was being treated by the head trainer for ultrasound right over the area where i injected roger clemens with winstrol. >> dr. taylor says he gave two be 12 shots, and one was to roger clemens at the time of the injury. the records also say clemens started complaining of sore buttocks after receiving this injection. how can you be so sure this injury was not the result of the b-12 shot? tempo was going to be in june or september. how do you reconcile that? >> i am not sure i follow your question. >> the only time the were in tampa, where you testified this took place, was in june and september. this injury took

gregg on the independent line. savannah, georgia. caller: general come on and so proud of you all over there. -- general, i am so proud of you all over there. what more can the american you and get you what you need? thank you for your expression of support. deeply how proud our own countrymen are. we see that through the care packages that we see, and as programs like this. i do not know if there is much done. everyone needs to recognize that get the afghans to where they need to be. it may not be 2011, 2012. we need to have an extended where we can see that treasures, sacrifice that we are paying here are going to be worth it some day. host: we are speaking this morning about training of afghan police. st. petersburg. jim on the republican line. hello, major general. republican for more than 20 years. this seems like another vietnam. believe as soon as you leave, people lined up with you will be in big trouble. trouble" what do you mean? caller: i do not think they will be alive. most people in that part of the know who the enemy i

host: and gregg on the democratic line. new york. cried go -- caller: yes, i am willing to pay higher taxes. the question, are we all like to pay higher taxes? the question has to do with pushed tax cut coming to an end. america needs to understand the motives of two parties. the republicans did not want to repeal the tax cuts, and john boehner repeat -- refuses to answer any questions. however, the solution is not to raise taxes on middle america. they are having the top one, bridget 1%, 2% -- 1%, 2% of incomes should have higher taxes. host: what about the idea that everyone will eventually have to pay higher taxes in order to tackle the deficit. caller: every time i crossed the george washington bridge, i have to pay. people who work for the transit system have to -- do not have to pay. i believe everybody needs to pay for the bridge. money does not grow on trees. you go to work and you pay your share. that should apply to everybody. i am and every day, first thing in the morning c-span watcher. the motives of politicians on both

host: republican in hampshire senator judd gregg also on the floor talking about why republicans are opposed to the idea. >> why should the federal government be saying to the states, we are going to give you some money, but we are going to attach to this money a whole lot of strings, and a basic strings are these, unless you spend a heck of a lot more money, you are not going to get this money. and it does appear that it is focused on a special interest group, does it not, the teachers' unions. it appears that this is more or less a commitment to take care of this constituency out there at the expense, ironically, a lot of people who are employed in those states. we used the term multinational corporation around here like that is some sort of evil empire. i've got a few multinational corporations in new hampshire. i suspect you do in tennessee. and they employ people. and if you raise their taxes by $10 billion, they are going to employ a lot less and the ongoing to send them overseas. we used to hear around here constantly about outsourcing jobs. this is a job outsource sir, this b

guest: certainly, senators wieden and gregg have been pushing for this tech expenditures we have been talking about. in terms of the expenditure, you are right, it is a provision that favors middle and upper income people and excludes lower income people, mainly because they do not itemize their returns. i do not want to say that they do not get the benefit from the tax code, but not from this. we encourage not only home ownership but ownership of large homes through the tax code, but only if you have higher incomes. peter was exactly right, the cost is about $150 billion a year for the exclusions and deductions for housing. the question is whether we can reallocate this money a little bit more evenly across the income distribution. there are some that would argue that, yes, we could. particularly for second homes or very large rooms beyond what one needs to have a decent house. host: danny on the republican line. good morning. caller: i am a republican but i am for the terror attacks, 100%. am for the terror attacks, 100%. i am pretty well schooled on this, and you aren't planning on

national sales tax of some type, all kinds of major changes to entitlement programs, and republican judd gregg democrat kent conrad of north dakota, have said that they should take up the september 1st recommendations and vote on them by christmas. we're looking at a replay of health care, where they're going to legislate right up until christmas. i have good news. we're going to stop a lame duck, and i will tell you how. we are going to stop the lame duck a couple of ways. first of all, we are going to let every moderate and liberal republican know that they better not help any democrats by going against them in a lame duck session. i have big news to report on that front. we have just heard confirmation from susan collins office that she is against any lame duck policy changes. she will not help achieve a national election. that is a great sign. we have to -- she will not help a national election. that is a great sign. we have to convince all republicans to get on board. there are some special elections in delaware, illinois and west virginia. if you have been following these races, you migh

senator gregg alluded to energy policy earlier. i think that is an important policy -- aspect of what we are talking about here. for years, the idea was we should have higher prices for energy, higher prices that reflected what they were in the rest of the world, so we subsidized relative to other economies with energy. as a result, we import a lot of our energy and that has added to our imbalance, dependence on overseas sources of energy. we have the power to correct that report. policy, energy policy, the tax treatment of energy is something that we can deal with. if some people pay more, we have to deal with that, but that is an important ingredient in thinking about where we go to the productive uses of those resources. >> i also agree with the broad outlines, but i would to just put in in in a longer framework, talking about the repeated cycles that the bank of england now calls doom loops. prices, expansion in 1982. another emerging crisis in 1990. then a crisis based on u.s. housing. all the specific pieces have pushed us to

the other point is judd gregg is not the only retiring republican that may go with this. george voinovich has been strong on cap and trade but not the other things we might see and we have at least two republicans who are involuntarily retiring this year. robert bennett from utah and probably lisa murkowski from alaska. and lisa co-sponsored a version of cap and trade. so there is the potential that outgoing republicans who want to get the adulation of the left wing media for being reasonable and grown up and going along may have nothing to lose and will never face voters again, that is a risk. that is why it is important we appeal to as many republicans as possible, to as many moderate democrats and make sure the voters understand the stakes because you can't take for granted that there won't be a group of the outgoing republicans that will get on board some of this. that is why we have to execute all of these different strategies to try to stop it. >> [inaudible] >> i didn't mention those two as risks. i think they will be solid. so i would agree with that. we have time