our economics correspondent paul solman went on a quest for answers. it's part of his ongoing reporting, "making sense of financial news." >> reporter: want to know who's going to win the presidential election? >> did the presidential debate make you more likely to vote for barack obama, less likely, or did it have no effect on your vote choice? >> reporter: well, so do we. but who to ask? the pollsters? doug schwartz runs quinnipiac universitys polling institute. >> right now, pew has romney up by three points. gallup has obama up by five points in their seven-day track, but since the debate they have obama up by just three points. >> reporter: or how about old friend ray fair, an economist we've been visiting every four years since the george h.w. bush administration. he's got an economic model. >> so right at this moment, its 49.5% of the two-party vote for obama. >> reporter: so the polls and models call it a toss-up. but curiously, the betting public tells a very different story. online betting prediction markets, like ireland's intrade, which tak

our economics correspondent, paul solman, has been taking a look. it's part of his ongoing reporting, "making sense" of financial news. >> reporter: you've heard the numbers before: federal budget, $3.6 trillion, deficit $1 trillion, debt $16 trillion. but where do all the trillions actually go? anything we can do about them? the "wall street journal's" david wesz has written a primer red ink-- to itemize and explain. so we asked him to take us on a d.c. budget tour to give us the hard truths and hard answers, starting on capitol hill. okay, this may be hokey but we're in the house budget committee room. i'm sitting in the chairman seat and since i ask questions on behalf of the american public i ask you, the expert on the budget, what do we need to know about it? >> one of the reasons i did the book was because of the times i've sat in this room and heard democrats and republicans argue about the budget and you would never know if you were an outsider listening what were they talking about because it would be impossible for all the things they say

. >> ifill: paul solman talks with authors donald barlett and james steele. their book blames free trade for the demise of the american middle class. >> do we want a society built on the principle that the only thing that matters is the lowest possible price or a society built on the principle that everyone should have a living wage? >> woodruff: and ray suarez looks at cuba's move to give its citizens the freedom to travel abroad starting in january. that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: i was worried the health care system was all its own. with united health care i got help that fits my life, information on my phone, connection to doctors who get where i'm from and tools to estimate my care may cost. never missed a beat. >> we're more than 78,000 people looking out for more than 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. united health care. bnsf railway. the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. and with the ongoin

paul solman spent a day with a pollster to learn his methods. you can find his "q" and "a" on the business page. all that and more is on our website: newshour.pbs.org. margaret? >> warner: and this's the newshour for tonight. i'm susan wornick susan wornick. >> woodruff: and i'm judy wood rough. we'll see you online with mark shields and david brooks among others. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> this is "bbc world news america." funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers use their expertise in global finance to guide you through the busi

on "making sense," economics correspondent paul solman revisits presidential prediction methods. one economist who has a pretty good track record picking winners. and on "art beat," jeff talks to writer louis erdrich about her latest novel, "the round house," which was recently nominated for a national book award. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. jeff. >> warner: and that's the newshour for tonight. on monday, we'll talk to voters in florida about what they want to hear in the third and final debate between president obama and mitt romney. i'm margaret warner. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. "washington week" can be seen later this evening on most pbs stations. we'll see you online, and again here mondayning. have a nice weekend. thank you and good night. >> major fundi bnsf >> and by the bill and melinda gates foundation. dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chance to live a healthy, productive life. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public br

and on making sense, paul solman asked two colleagues on opposite ends of the politcal spectrum for their takes on the myth of american ideology. all that and more is on our web site: newshour.pbs.org. gwen? >> ifill: and that's the "newshour" for tonight. on thursday, we'll be joined by mark shields and david brooks for our preview of the first and only vice presidential debate. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. we'll see you online and tomorrow night for our live coverage of that debate. you can join gwen and me for our special, beginning at 9:00 p.m. eastern time. thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> this is "bbc world new

economics correspondent paul solman asked him about his bets and his winnings.read his interview on our making sense page. and npr's debbie elliott talks to independent voters in florida about the deluge of political ads there. that's part of our partnership with npr and cmag to examine spending on campaign ads this year. watch the video report on the rundown. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. judy? >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. on thursday, we'll look at battleground new hampshire, where women candidates are on the ballot in three separate races. i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. we'll see u online, and again here tomorrow evening. thank you, and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> united healthcare. viking river cruises. the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for

today in making sense, with millions of americans still outr of work, economics correspondent paul solmaner prize winning journalist hedrick smith took your questions about his latest book "who stole the american dream?" read his answers in the rundown. and you can be a part of our debate live-blog. tweet your photos from your watch party using the hashtag pbs debates. all that and more is on our website: newshour.pbs.org. judy? >> woodruff: and that's the "newshour" for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. we'll see you online. plus, here at 9:00 p.m. eastern time for full coverage and analysis of tonight's debate and again tomorrow evening with reaction from voters in florida. thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪Ñi moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sp

that's the question one reader posed to economics correspondent paul solman.d his reply in making sense. and we recently reported on human trafficking in the philippines and asked for your questions. the answers are in the rundown. finally celebrate halloween by make ago spooky political ad. you can star alongside america's latest menace, zombies. all that and more is on our website: newshour.pbs.org. gwen? >> ifill: and that's the "newshour" for tonight. on thursday, we'll look at the nation's most expensive and competitive senate races. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. we'll see you online and again here tomorrow evening. thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and by the bill and melinda gates foundation. dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chance to live a healthy productive life. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewe

coping with educational debt burden and watch past reports by "newshour" economic correspondent paul solman. all that is on our making sense page. >> warner: still >> come on the "newshour": hackers disrupt bank websites; women candidates on the ballot in new hampshire; how sociaonmedia saw the debates and john kennedy's secret tapes. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreecvasan. >> sreenivasan: decades worth of documentation became public today on sexual abuse of boy scouts by adult leaders. the so-called "perversion files" run to more than 14,000 pages of information collected between 1959 and 1991. for more i'm joined by nigel duara of the associated press. nigel, you and your fellow reporters studied these cases for months. give us an example of one that leapt out. >> you know, the case that leapt out to us is the one we ended up leading with. it was the case of three kids whose mom walked into a louisiana sheriff's office and said "three of my kids have been abused by their scout masters." so the sheriff'sffice deputies interviewed the scout master, brought him into the

on "making sense," paul solman offers a look at the work of a winning economist, raj chetty. on our science page, you can watch videos of geologist terry plank and astronomer olivier guyon talking about their research. and we have a link to the macarthur foundation's web site on our home page. >> ifill: again, the major developments of the day. a pennsylvania judge blocked a new law that would have required voters to show photo i.d. at the polls next month. president obama and mitt romney spent the day preparing for their first debate tomorrow night. and republican leaders of the house oversight committee charged that the state department ignored pleas for greater security in benghazi, libya, before the u.s. ambassador was killed there. what can middle, high school and college students learn from watching the upcoming presidential debates? kwame holman introduces some special debate teaching tools. >> holman: working with educators around the country, newshour extra, our site for students and teachers, has put together resources to help young viewers learn about the history a