he is editor and publisher of the left business observer and howard gold he's a columnist for market watch and founder of the political blog the independent agenda all right gentlemen this is across time that means you can jump in anytime you want but first let's have a look at the debate unraveling on capitol hill. just under two weeks this is how much time washington has left to raise the federal debt ceiling set at fourteen point three trillion dollars and as the u.s. that steadily creep story that's legal limit democrats and republicans agree that if they were to avert a default would trigger an economic catastrophe a catastrophe that would not only hit the u.s. but would also under.

he is editor and publisher of the left business observer and howard gold he's a columnist for market watch and founder of the political blog the independent agenda all right gentlemen this is across time that means you can jump in anytime you want but first let's have a look at the debate unraveling on capitol hill. just under two weeks this is how much time washington has left to raise the federal debt ceiling set at fourteen point three trillion dollars and as the u.s. that steadily creep story that's legal limit democrats and republicans agree that a failure to avert a default would trigger an economic catastrophe a catastrophe that would not only hit the u.s. but would also undermine an already fragile global economy clearly if we gotz went so far as to default on the debt it would be a major. crisis because the treasury securities viewed as the safest most liquid security in the world it's the foundation for most of our financials for much of our financial system. and the notion that it would become suddenly unreliable and illiquid would throw shockwave.

. >>> it is only monday morning in asia where financial markets are watching the unfolding u.s. debt showdown, and fears of a negative overseas reaction has touched off a flurry of activity in washington to get the framework of a deal done by as soon as tonight, including a white house powwow this evening between president obama and democratic congressional leaders. nbc's kelly o'donnell is on capitol hill to bring us up to speed. kelly? >> reporter: well, lester, no deal. speaker boehner told that to his house republicans today in a conference call. and while both parties have raised the concern about how markets might react negatively without a proposal in place, one aide told me that speaker boehner does not believe he is responsible for asian markets. boehner is setting a new target deadline now, hoping to have something ready by 2:00 tomorrow. no new photo ops to show the country both sides actually working together. instead, negotiators stayed behind closed doors today while the speaker and the president's top men staked out turf in duel interviews. >> i would prefer to ha

that's because, markets watching carefully to see what happens next. a two-tiered deal.plan may go through. but still waiting. >> on top of that, we have earnings. report cards for companies in america. >> what they're reporting many of the companies, their profits are going up. their rev news are going up. they held cost down to the bone for a very long time. they're concerned about the economy. we'll be watching today for, let's see glaxo, ford, radio shack, some 41 different companies. amazon also on here. we'll be hearing from those different kinds. different pulse on different parts of the economy later on today. >> going back to your distinction about markets, stock markets seem to be doing okay. dollar and treasury, however, are sinking. >> that's right. i think that's where you're going see the whole reaction. a ten-year note yield hovering around 3%. 3% for ten-year money. can you imagine -- you would have thought in all of these months of concerns about our fiscal problems those yields would have moved higher. one of the reason, this is a fascinating discussion

markets are watching closely to see if leaders can come up with a plan that can solve the crisis rather than postponing difficult measures until a ter date. on to wednesday's market actions, european stocks posted gains for a second day as spulation grew that u.s. lawmakers will vote to increase the debt ceiling. banks rallied before the eu summit on the debt crisis. we got this summary from frankfurt. >> a record order for eads from american airline companies. this is a huge gain. also the gain over boeing in their own backyard. the order also says that the industry is what one investor, did and it speaks for a robust economy. the fact that the trading day here in frankfurt is a good one, people are feeding off of a record quarter from apple. suppliers are doing very well. the market is losing steam as apprehension mounted over the outcome of the eu summit on the debt crisis. >> we can stay for a closer look at wednesday's numbers. the dax closed higher at 7221. the euro stoxx 50 posting nice gains, up by 1.8%. across the atlantic, the dow trading slightly higher at this hour. the euro

markets shaping up this morning? >> futures down in the u.s., watching asian markets. it closed all lower as you reported so far. 're be watching how european markets continue, the greece downgrade, but it's all about a debt stalemate in the u.s. and what that's going to mean for international investors and u.s. investors here. this is something that has been a crisis in the making for months, if not years, and now the markets will have to weigh in because the united states is deadlocked on this and we still don't know how markets will react, but the betting is it won't be good, ali. >> all right. the credit worthiness of the united states is at stake. since the united states had its credit rated in 1917, it has never been anything but the highest, the absolute highest. how big a deal is this? >> we pay our bills on time all the time every time. when someone wants to invest in something that's the safest thing they can invest in in the world they invest in u.s. debt and u.s. bonds because the u.s. always pays its bills. it is the largest economy in the world. it is, you know, even when you talk about all of the u

the markets are watching carefully. >>the import of soybeans is around 50 million tons. the global market has already accepted this. so,i think it's impossible to have too much price fluctuation. and, china imports over a million tons of corn - and the global market has already factored this in. >>reporter: but increased demand - notably from china's pig and poultry industries - could well drive prices up. >>china must also import other crops to supplement domestic harvests. in 2010, rice imports were up over 10 percent, year-on-year, at almost 340,000 tons; while shipments of wheat rose 36 percent to over a million tons. >>to feed the population, however, china is almost self-sufficient in most basics - for now. it holds over 150 million tons in grain reserves - a third of the county's annual grain consumption. but the nation - which has to feed a fifth of the world's population on a tenth of its arable land - is ata watershed. china is expected to be more and more reliant on supplies from abroad - as the optionsfor increasing domestic production are limited. >>reporter:

>>> i'm veronica dell ra cruz with your market watch. the dow jones industrial falling 62 points.s&p 500 giving up 4, the nasdaq tacked on a point 1/and half. and upbeat economic reports not enough to affect the debt ceiling. and exxon/mobil fell. the stock fell short of estimates. dupont tech cam finished plat despite better than expected earnings and an improved outlook. and sprint nextel, pror subscriber defections than predicted. starbucks stock is soaring based on bottom line results. >>> and weekly jobless claims fell below the key 400,000 level fir the first time since early april. i'm veronica de la cruz and now, back to "hardball." >>> back to "hardball." what a night it is. the house of representatives is expected to vote on jane baohn boehner's deal. the vote is delayed. no word when it will take place and the best guess, no, he doesn't have the votes he needs to pass the bill and send it to the senate. msnbc will, of course, bring you the vote when it happens or bring you the speeches before the vote. in his debt ceiling vote, president obama angered republicans being

we're watching the markets tonight. u.s.tures dropping 100 points and american markets doan even open for another 13 hours. what's ahead for the markets in the morning is what we're watching. and still await a debt deal in washington. is this a reaction to that? well, we don't know about a deal on that, we are hearing about a deal that may be closer to happen for the football season. pre-season, pre-season, could it happen? fox sports coming up. [ male announcer ] it's simple physics... a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis sympms. but if you have arthris, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier. and celebrex is not a narcotic. when it comes to r

minister of culture and terms but one thing that we see a lot of is a lot of the beat and the markets are watching that would be making decisions before the decisions are made by the european union and that's always a disaster when you're dealing with markets that are moving so fast you need to be very first in the decisions you make sure you have a very tough situation with the greek economy within the european framework cannot be. made. to meet them in order for the growth. today's edition of cross talk people of elena's guests discuss why the e.u.'s leadership is so adamant about saving the euro at any cost it's a tool to use of what's coming up next now. let's go bankrupt it would be good for greece it would be good for the europe it'd be good for the world if greece went bankrupt and rose just pay their bills or stop a lie then you would have everybody would know it's a strong sound currency based on a strong sound economy why not let him go bankrupt listen in our euro in america we've had states go away grow here in cities go bankrupt we've had counties go bankrupt it didn't in the united st

neil, look on monday a lot of people are going to be watching the markets and global markets are watching the united states very closely. how does what happens here affect the world and might we see something take place in the asian markets and the european markets, as early as monday? >> well, i think we'll get the first evidence of that, kelly, tomorrow, we'll be here in this exact same spot, as they begin to open up and monitoring it closely for you. but, the markets, as we mention, how our own markets have been doing, i hate to tell you, why the debt thing is certainly a prominent concern, i think the big e-concern now is the pronounced slowdown in the economy. we've got a lot of really bad economic numbers out this past week, grosse pointe woo week, gdp, not doing too well. 1.had%. and revised, close to not growing at all. we've seen more layoffs announced, merck, the pharmaceutical giants, it's going to layoff 13,000 people and we had better than 20,000 layoffs announced last week and concerns about china dipping into another recession, but we have concerns about germany slowing its

there is awareness of the markets are watching last weekend for example you heard john boehner say they wanted to have a plan by the time the asian markets opened they didn't get a plan and would there's no question that especially the leadership is looking at the markets and you know what i'm certain the white house and the treasury or looking at the markets so there's awareness of it whether they really get what the markets are looking for i don't really know and i would say that outside the leadership the rank and file especially of the tea party republicans there's a probably a pretty big ignorance of how the markets work i think can be geithner usually has a pretty good eye on what wall street and what the market i think is always pretty concerned about what they're thinking but what about what economists are you thinking that say that the bigger threat to the u.s. is not you know the debt ceiling is not this debate right now that the bigger threat is the u.s. debt problem that fourteen trillion dollars that that's so high and that reining it in is really what global investors want

watching. global markets are watching and they're wobbling.stine lagarde is nervous. >> i am worried because this debt ceiling issue has not been cracked. >> by the way, you can hear more of christine lagarde's very important interview with fareed zakaria this sunday at 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. >>> school kids in memphis may be heading back to class on august 8th as scheduled. the start date had been in limbo because of a money spat. basically the school board threatened to delay the academic year until it got $55 million from the city. overnight board members decided to let schools start if the city meets a few conditions, including a $12 million payment which is due on august 5th. >>> sports reporter slash stalking victim erin andrews is taking her convicted stalker to court. andrews accuses the hotels of negligence, invasion of privacy and emotional distress by giving michael barrett access to rooms right next to her. he pled guilty to stalking the reporter. >>> wells fargo lending practices are under the microscope of the justice report. t

i'm watching this every minute. when asian markets open i watch it all around. basically, stock markets are betting that washington will come to its sense and there will be a deal. that means if we get a deal you might see some run off in your 401(k) or i.r.a. if we don't get a deal you'll get a sharp reaction? stock markets and effect your stock investments and 401(k). it will affect those companies that need to borrow money. i want you to think back to 2008 during the credit crisis. the companies affected the most were those who had to borrow money when lending shut down. internationally. you know what happens when companies can't borrow money? they dot first thing that they can think of. they do the most effective way of cutting costs and that is to cut jobs. the danger here is a few-fold. one, it will cost you in your stocks and, two, interest rates could go up and that would bring home prices down so it's an opportunity if you're a buyer but if you're a seller, that's bad. most importantly above all of that if companies pay more to borrow money you know they

in the meantime, they are watching the markets as much as the american people are watching the markets. they do not want to see further problems in the markets come monday and that is one thing that i can assure you is adding to the pressure of them reaching an agreement. but while we continue to say they're very serious and very dedicated to beating this deadline, reaching some sort of agreement to raise the debt ceiling and reduce the deficits in some manner, it still seems that both sides are waiting for the other to brink and i'm hopeful that we'll see some kind of movement towards a compromise today, but it is a fluid situation and we're tracking it by the minute, really. >> kate bolduan, thanks so much. >>> let's go to the white house where we find brianna keeler and we also understand, brianna, both nancy pelosi and harry reid, maybe they're at the who is by now, they were called to go to the white house shortly after making appearances on capitol hill. are they there yet? and if so, what kind of discussions are taking place. >> reporter: we don't know fredericka if they're here

is to have a good balance it's not about being focused on one market together but having a good balance and all this me you know i'm watching markets like india china and asia such continue to be called areas for us globally. and carrier isn't alone according to the u.s. department of commerce the same number of jobs that have been cut from the united states in the last decade have been added to these companies overseas operations it's a phenomenon that angers many americans who are struggling to make ends meet i think it's despicable disgusting and we have people here that have worked here all of their lives in a losing jobs left and right because somebody on top wants to make a buck and pay the cheapest possible deal or more line dollars to go to stimulate the economy here in america i think the american companies should hire american workers. because of the shrinking middle class and the fact that middle class wages are decreasing over the last thirty years so many people here they don't have jobs due to me and i do think that is the wrong thing to do is. and it's not just manufacturing work american i t. companies and i

. >> we have been watching the stock market, some reaction, nervousness to the whole debt crisis. is it reaching down to the consumer yet, is the nervousness beginning to spread? >> i don't know that the consumer is not buying something based on the debates in washington. but i will tell you that ceos that make decisions about investing and hiring, while demand is the key for them, if they see it coming, they will make those investments. nonetheless, what is going on in washington, it does add that word uncertainty that we hear so often. and it does delay those decisions. >> david faber from cnbc, thanks for being with us tonight. appreciate it. >>> all the anxiety and uncertainty in washington is taking a toll on wall street and on main street as well. nbc's ron allen joins me now from detroit with more on that. ron? >> reporter: good evening, lester. so many people we talked to said they are concerned about interest rates rising on home mortgages, on credit cards. worried about their 401(k) plans taking yet another hit. especially here in the midwest, cities like chicago and her

asian markets are watching, too.ly before nancy pelosi and harry reid emerged from boehner office. a representative from the house rules committee went n that appears that they are getting close to staging votes. first step to do that is go through the rule's committee. senator reid went in with a press release aif i wering his opposition for a short-term fix . the interview with laura ingram for the o'reilly factor speaker boehner whose gop allies favor a short-term approach sought to have calm. >> you expect it by wednesday? >> i believe so. we don't know. i think these conversations have gone on. president doesn't want to do anything. >> is that a game of chicken that willented badly for the american public. >> it is only friday. >> gang of six. group of democratic and republican senators has been trying to fashion a compromise plan. mike crapo of iowa chastised president obama that they had tax hike. but senator conrad of north dakota said history will treat obama well. >> perhaps they are. but it would be unfort

and to continue to put that pressure on, lawrence, he discussed the fact that look, the markets are watching this. earlier this week we saw the markets respond favorably when there was news of a possible deal, so there's concern of what's going to happen on monday. president obama addressed the issue, they need to get something done, they need to get something done soon. again, you heard the president talk about this grand bargain all along. tonight it seems there's little hope for a grand bargain. the president, himself, saying he'll increase the debt limit through 2013. >> i've been saying for a couple of weeks there was no hope for a grand bargain. this was all a mirage. each side had a specific thing they wanted to do, the other side wouldn't do it, so they were going to be stuck on taxes from the start. to my eye, it was very easy for president obama to appear, pretend even, if you will, that he was willing to negotiate all of these things that would be difficult for democrats as long as he was demanding this one thing that he absolutely knew from the start was impossible for republican

watching. all eyes are on washington. true, the markets are watching.ts, republicans are watching, to see who's up, who's down, who's the speaker next time, who wins the election. we're saying, god is watching this, too. god is watching this debate, and what god is looking for is how we're treating the poorest and most vulnerable. >> reverend jim wallace, i wish we had more time. thank you so much for joining us, and we'll be right back. and. take advil now and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. way to go, coach. ♪ >>> it's time now to "clear the air." it's a we've been discussing throughout the hour, this is a remarkable moment in the political history of this remarkable nation. so allow plea to quote the words of one esteemed politician. it is a solemn moment for the american democracy. for with primacy of power is also joined an accountability f. those words we not spoken on the floor of the senate today nor did they come from president obama. but they were delivered at college in missouri in 1946 by wins

we watched the markets in-to sell off. but then we saw the recovery.nt drop in the dow, now the dow is up 20%. so you know what, those who stayed in the market, they would have made back what they lost. so just sit back, relax, and i guess watch the world go on around you until something really hits the fan. >> all right, thanks. >>> still ahead, millions of texans keeping the approach of tropical storm don. really? 25 grams of protein. what do we have? all four of us, together? 24. he's low fat, too, and has 5 grams of sugars. i'll believe it when i--- [ both ] oooooh... what's shakin'? [ female announcer ] as you get older, protein is an important part of staying active and strong. new ensure high protein... fifty percent of your daily value of protein. low fat and five grams of sugars. see? he's a good egg. [ major nutrition ] new ensure high protein. ensure! nutrition in charge! so i want to major in biology. miss gopie is the best teacher i ever had. she's amazing, i love her. [ jade ] i'm teaching jasmine ap biology. i knew she had the talent...

. >> clearly the markets are watching. we're well awir of that. we're approaching it very softly. >> nbc's kelly o'donnell on capitol hill and mike is at the white house. mike, president obama made his case today at a town hall meeting in maryland. what's his next move? >> reporter: it's interesting the president continues to put the onus on house republicans calling them out for what he regards as intransigence not willing to compromise and shared political pain. to listen to this president at the university of maryland you would almost think that all the events of the last week have really not taken place. the on again, off again nature of the so-called $4 trillion grand bargain. the fading star, if you will of the mcconnell reid plan in the senate is sort of the scaled back option seems is very much up in the air. one of the thing it's curious why the president continues to hit house republicans it's house and especially senate democrats who are fuming over what has been put forward at least that has they understand it what is on the table now

will he walk away or will he jun the world and the markets are watching. just four days left until the debt limit deadline. >>> plus -- >> any bottlehead can stand up here, you know, and say the right words. as a republican candidate. >> well, we've been distracted here in washington things are getting hot out on the campaign trail. and tim pawlenty is not the only one starting to aim fire internally. good morning from washington. it's friday. july 29th, 2011. i'm chuck todd. what a 24 hours. right to my first read of the morning. it's as fluid as it can get. many house republicans were ready and willing last night but weren't able to bring speaker boehner's bill to the floor for a vote. rules committee chairman david dryor sized up the situation late last night. >> as we all know, we were expecting a vote this evening, and the votes obviously were not there. we don't have the votes for a number of reasons. >> because why? >> for a number of reasons. >> i take it -- >> the short answer to your question is, no, i can't tell you exactly why. i think because

capital hello to you thank you for joining us oh i'm watching markets facing now it's a lot more currency appreciation prevents overheating but makes domestic products less competitive that could be a balanced approach here. i think the balanced approach is a pretty much the approach that the especially brazil is taking at the moment in that it's made comments to to highlight the problems that have been will within the economy growth is likely to suffer this year last year it was around a seven officers were supposed to run about four percent this year and this is down to a very expensive or a real so they're making tweaks to the system brazil is going into the markets and buying dollars in options is not buying a huge amount but is buying enough to reduce his car was your to hold back its currency from appreciating further there's also increasing taxes on short term investments as well and this is designed to. the flow of money coming in to brazil's road to weaken the system seems to be the right approach at the moment. all interest of the global currency wars which showing no signs of e

one of the reporters brought up the point that markets are watching this so closely. so even when you're talking about the how the markets are respond weg saw the market go up. earlier this week. when it looked like the possibility for deal. so you can i math inwhat could happen on monday. so president obama made it very clear -- >> i think the president clearly said that they need to send a signal to wall street over the weekend. >> that's right. >> that's exactly right. he said he has it send a signal to wall street. >> to congressman will say something. >> forget what people are saying, watch what they're doing. the senate is in session and they are going to work a deal. the bipartisan group in the senate. you know, senator, the senators who come out republicans for the deal, i saw lamar alexander come out for the gang of six. you saw the president the other night say the game of six deal -- >> so you predict the senate will make a deal. >> you get a 70-vote package. it will be as it was in healthcare. when this is what we can get the votes for, that was it in terms

. >> it is maddening to a lot of people, particularly when they watch markets go into a period of volatility driven by what is happening in washington. that affects their pocketbooks on a day to day basis. >> reporter: late night comics are at their wits end too. >> both parties have been acting like children. >> in washington, d.c. our fearless leaders are fighting like a hoard of brides in filene's basement. >> reporter: even china's state run news is describing our debt battles a dangerously irresponsible. bill weissman runs a furniture business in massachusetts and is feeling the firsthand uncertainty of the political gridlock. >> the employees that we've been able to hire have been temporary because we have no idea where the economy is g gng to hit. >> reporter: diane, more and more people i talked to on wall street tell me deal or no deal, at this point america runs a good chance of havininits credit downgraded by at least one major agency. that would be a big hit to investments, 401(k)s and even jobs. >> as you said, bianna, the clock is racing toward the deadline. little more than fo

my only point, charlie, i'm not sure it's enough for the short termecause i think the markets are watching carefully which you read what standard and poors and moody and rich and not just that we need to avoid a default which we certainly do and extend the debt lim and fix the underlng problem and congress needs to provideore short-term spending restraint in order to extendhe debt limit to next year which would be consistent with not jus the gang ofix plan today because it has again six months for the committees to do their work and the idea that senator mcconnel and reid are setting up a select committee over six months to look at the longer terms problems. >> charlie: does it go far enough on the kinds of issues republicans have focussed on, entitlement in >> no it doesn't and i think they would acknowledge that but it's a start and prior to this time there was a hesitancy to even touch the programs and now there's an acknowledgement they're unsustainable in their current form as important that's programs are theare simply not sustainable. it's a start down the path and also an acknowled

marketing. you're watching all-american marketing magic. their gastric capabilities, nathan's has soared. >> one of the greatest marketing stunts ever put forth in the united states. >> reporter: it's a natural for nathan's, which first opened at the fun-filled amusement park 96 years ago. in the late 1970s, contest was just another coney island side show, thought up by pr stunt man max rosie. max's protege and his brother have brought it no a phenomena, the mustard yellow championship belt, using espn to promote it. >> these dpies are athletes for sure. >> this year's stunt, building a new rivalry between u.s. and china, flying chinese to coney island. >> if they take the belt, they'll be eating our lunch, literally. >> reporter: the media eats it up. not just in coney island. shea's have competition across the country and spopsers for other eating events. chicken wings, oysters, hamburgers, all of what they call major league eating. and what does a competitor eater eat after that? you better believe it. pepto bismol. lots of this stuff ri

>> european stock market investors are watching italy's debt crisis very closely. gains in asia are moderate today. after yesterday's blood letting, i don't think we'll complain. the nikkei closed up about .4%. credit suisse gave the sector an out dleeft performed rating. the bank of japan said it would buy about $275 million of japanese exchange-traded funds. here in hong kong the hang seng closed up about 1.1%, off its worst two-day decline in 17 months. the catalyst here was a better-than-expected gdp number out of the chinese main land. back to you, ali. >> better-than-expected number, still an order that eades for the second quarter in a row. what's the feeling on that? >> chinese gdp showed the economy grew 9.5% in the second quarter. 9.4% is what was expected. china's growth cooled a little bit for the second quarter in a row. again, gdp showed the economy grew 9.5%. first quarter growth is 9.7%. what had been expected was 9.4%. a lot of numbers there. bottom line is this, china's economic engine is slowing down. in the face of weaker global demand for chine

really the market is watching this and starting to get nervous. >> at this point, is it -- for instance, the s&p threat that interest rates are going to rise for everybody because the credit rating for the united states would be downgraded for the first time in history. is the downgrade the more immediate threat than the default. >> the the downgrade is a huge concern. i mean the bottom line concern is that all of a sudden the world is going to start dumping bonds. and not wanting to hold them because all of a sudden we've become a credit threat. that's the sort of thing that happens very rapidly. bondholders are confident until the moment that they're not. and all of a sudden they start dumping bonds. yields go up and the cost of borrowing money for the government and for you and i all of a sudden becomes very high. that's really the --. so far we're not seeing that. you look at the ten-year and 30-year and those yields are staying where they have been. so far that's not a concern. but that's what people are watching. >> could a downgrade happen even if a deal gets done. >> absolutely.

the market is watching us, moment by moment. we have an opportunity to do that. there is nobody on this side of the aisle that wants to raise the debt ceiling. we are trying to do in a responsible, bipartisan way. if somebody has another plan, introduced a bill to do it. >> i know you talked about this, but moody's, in regards to their crystal ball say that if we do nothing that are going to reduce our bond rating. it was mentioned before if we do and just do cuts but do not have a long-term solution, the same is going to happen. my understanding of this is that our bond rating is reduced, the government's bond rating. then no other bond rating can be higher than the government's. so if we do not do something drastic, something important to show the rating companies that we are serious about getting our spending under control, not just talk about it, and that is for the balanced budget amendment comes into it, to show that congress is not going to just raise the caps like in the past and three or four years later override it -- if we do not do something, they are

european markets will be keenly watching not only the interest rate decision, but the very important speech from jean- claude trichet post announcement. we will be talking about this live at about 12:45. >> thank you. iran's president, ahmadinejad, is engaged in a public fight with the supreme leader. the supreme leader has overruled the president's decision to fire a cabinet minister. james reynolds reports the ayatollah has gone after ahmadinejad. >> the supreme leader may rule iran, but he now faces a fight with the man he approved as president, ahmadinejad. the two have argued public. note the president's slight grimace in a ceremony in june. the arguments may have been inevitable. look what happens after ahmadinejad is sworn into office in 2005. the ayatollah leaves the stage. ahmadinejad states to enjoy the crowd. ahmadinejad now wants to try to take power away from the country's ruling clerics. >> ahmadinejad is someone who has profound illusions of grandeur. he's not content playing second fiddle to the supreme leader. he sees himself as a revolutionary and a visionary leader