presidency. washington democrats are piling on the president's chief of staff, executing the famous democratic sick lcircular firin squad. and james carville, as we were mentioning, is instrucking the president to hit the panic button. it is very unclear what happens after the panic button that makes things clearer. while everyone loves a good white house intrigue story it's very important to remember what's behind this criticism. as carville himself, famously said, it's the economy, stupid. the economy is terrible. that's the core driving truth of this presidency at the moment. we've got a whole bunch of new economic numbers this week. the takeaway is clear. things are not good and they're not getting better. i want to take a moment to walk through those numbers because if you're like me, they sort of float past you during the week but they tell a story about just how not good things are. unemployment, you probably know, is 9.1%. unchanged from last month. in order to bring unemployment

down even 1% to 8.1%, the economy would have to add, this is important, it would have to add 316,000 jobs per month. last month we added zero jobs. mean incomes, this is a crazy, crazy statistic. median incomes fell below $50,000 for the first time since 1996. 1996, the year cuba gooding jr. won the oscar for this money. >> show me the money! >> yes! louder! >> show me the money! >> that's it, brother. you've got to yell it. show me the money! i need to feel you, jerry. >> show me the money! >> you better yell. >> show me the money! >> we cannot show you the money, al alas, because right now there isn't much of it. new figures out from the census bureau show there are 46.2 million americans living in poverty. equivalent to the population of all of these states.

and those numbers may underestimate the problem. in october the census bureau will release new numbers that will almost certainly be higher. it's already the highest poverty rate since 1959. five years before lyndon johnson introduced his war on poverty, a war people forget was one point largely won. it's hard to see also how things will get better absent some large government intervention. consumer confidence has plunged in the last month. now i'm really bumming you out but i'm going to keep going. we're a consumer-driven economy, partly in the short term no spending means no recovery 37 in case you were thinking salvation might come from across the seas the situation is no better in japan and even more perilous in europe. robert zoellick warned the world has entered a new economic danger zone. bottom line, according to a recent poll of economists, the probability we'll enter another recession in the next 12 months, now 31%. almost 1 in 3.

up from 25% last month. to want get back to my guest this morning, bob, michael, american conservative, john fugelsang. i feel bad having depressed everyone about this, but i will say this. i mean, i think the president -- the white house deserves a lot of credit for this reason. when they were doing the whole debt ceiling dance, they said, look, we need to get this off the table so we can pivot to jobs. i will give them this, the conversation has really changed. it really has changed. it was crazy that no one was talking about jobs. no one was talking about jobs in washington for six or seven months while these numbers, they weren't in our mind but they were unspooling on the ground. people are talking about jobs now. they have -- look, the $450 billion package they proes popo it big enough? i don't know. but i think it's a step in the right direction. >> i so disagree. people are talking about jobs now. no one is doing anything about jobs. >> but the bill --

>> if passed whole it would not create too many jobs. absolutely would not. too many tax cuts in there. it's an extension of tax policy we have now. >> but that's important. >> no, but it's not going to create a lot of jobs. it's not a jobs bill. they're not going to do anything about jobs. they haven't done anything about jobs. it's bizarre. >> i really do disagree with that, really. i do. because look, i think this was -- look, is it the jobs bill that i would craft? no. but -- >> chris, his first jobs speech now? i mean, it's 2011. i got to say -- i mean, i think the american -- there's been a sense of frustration with this white house that pivot to jobs is a phrase that they have used countless times. someone counted 17. and they succeeded this time -- >> they have. >> they got all the other stuff out of the way. >> but this -- >> they also didn't frame it. the american people forget we were losing 700,000 jobs a month when he took over.

he's created more jobs than bush did, but if you try to fight for the bottom 9 8% it's clags warfare. at this point the only safe growth industries in our country are medical cannibus and tattoo. >> i want to play a clip of the president doing that on the road, do we have the clip of the president talking about if you love me, jonathan? do we have that clip? >> we don't, no. >> i'm getting we don't -- oh, we do. let's play that. >> if you love me, if you love me, you got to help me pass this bill! >> this is him. i mean, is he doing the thing -- he is doing a bunch of things that people have wanted him to do. i'm saying, progressives have

been saying for a long time, the president needs to do the following things. he needs to challenge congress by actually not outsourcing legislation construction to them, right? everyone was ticked off that he -- the republicans hated the fact that nancy pelosi wrote the stimulus and democrats hated the fact that max baucus and his gang of six with the health care bill. i'm going to continue making the case. people have wanted him to go out on the road and sell his plan. he's doing that. i feel like -- >> they wanted to see him campaign. >> right. >> this is all procedural. where is the substance? where is the plan that's actually going to create jobs, even if it passes? we need 11 or 12 million jobs just to get back to the hey day of the george w. bush administration, which means we're in serious trouble. this bill is not going to create anything approaching that. >> it's 60% tax cuts. >> 60% tax cuts. >> those have only created -- >> tax cuts don't create jobs. they create deficits. >> the white house doesn't have any faith they can get anything

of substance done after the election that they had in 2010. >> right. >> so, i do think it's shifting into campaign mode. i think it's energized people on the left. i think we're overestimating how much the president controls the jobs in this country. if the federal government wanted to hire people directly, that would be much better than just saying that the welfare of the 98% of the people, the lower 98%, is dependent on the 2% getting giant bailouts for their mistake. >> i think we need to do that. the federal government needs to hire people directly, if only to alleviate some pain out there. >> i will note there's a few things -- the best parts of the jobs bill are not surprisingly of the ones john boehner does not like in his memo here. there's money for federal school construction. i think about $35 billion. am i right on that? $35 billion for school construction. and that is the kind of, sort of wpa style direct, you know, direct hiring that you want to see. there's also -- this is

something that keeps getting lost. money for state and local governments. the best, by far, the best -- the most obvious stimulus, aside from food stamp and unemployment insurance. >> why didn't he -- if we're talking, this is all -- if this is just -- if this is all -- not smoke and mirrors but for campaign and political purposes, then go big? if you know it's not going to get passed -- think, there's general consensus half of this won't get through congress, then -- >> play out that thought experiment. go big. how big? $1 trillion? i'm serious, tell me in which political universe coming in and being mr. spending mr mr. spendersson is -- >> don't say you're going to create all these jobs. state and local spending is really important. i'm in favor of it. but that prevents job loss. which is essential. that's not -- >> that's the low hanging fruit. my only point about state and local, this is one of the things

that boehner highlights in his memo, right? the things we cannot abide is -- >> the job creation -- >> let's remember, none other than rick perry, how much did he -- he was like $9 billion of stimulus money that rick perry used to close the budgetary gap in the texas state budget. the easiest thing, the most low hanging fruit thing to do is stop people from losing jobs. it's like before you -- you know, that's the easiest thing to do. that is where the most resistance is. >> how much of this is creating jobs, how much is saving state jobs? i'm calling this the agoraphobia plan because it's never getting out of the house. >> nice! >> good. >> can we get a rim shot on that? >> this thing is going to be so watered down that dick cheney can pour it on a guy's face. >> wow. >> but, again, it is investing money back in the states. i agree he should have gone about big. it's like we ordered fdr and we're getting clinton. as long as we know the republicans are going to kill it, why isn't he going for a

giant national public works program? >> fundamentally he wants to vn argument about american compact, right? >> he sort of does and sort of doesn't. he wants to have -- he wants to have -- he does not -- i don't think he wants to have that first principle conversation because he's afraid he's going to lose it. what he wants to have a conversation on -- i'm sorry. i'm interrupting. you go. what were you saying? i'm sorry. no, no, no, you go. >> i do think -- look, it's the same talk -- it's just what we talked about before. people think government is bad but when you distill it to its elements and say you want to give up on entitlement programs and all the other things that are basically keeping the american public afloat, people choose government. i think there is a vision for this country that the white house is trying to push forward and another one, alternate one, the rick perrys and the base of the republican party have -- and i think it behooufs the president to have a stark conversation in no uncertain terms about where the country is going and -- yes. >> yes, please. >> the other thing is, though, i

still think we're overestimating -- you talk about consumer spending and consumer confidence being really low. the problem is when tons of people are out of work they're going into more debt personally. people that have jobs are still deleveraging from years -- from the housing crisis and from, frankly, overspending. i mean, americans complain about the government overspending. many americans overspent and overleveraged. so, individual americans are digging out of a giant hole first before they go out and they buy a new house. sometimes the government is encouraging them to go into more debt with more housing stimulus, et cetera. >> yes. i will say this, you're right about private sector deleveraging, private sector debt. a lot is encouraged by the tax code. we give huge deductions to take out a big mortgage. in the short term we need to aid that deleveraging process. there's not much done on the mortgage side of this. before we go to the break i want to give an assignment that popped in my head. if anyone out there wants to

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we are back. i want to play you guys a little sound from mike bloomberg, who said something i thought was extremely striking about exactly this sort of dire economic situation we find ourselves in. >> you have a lot of kids graduating college who can't find jobs. that's what happened in cairo. that's what happened in madrid. you don't want those kind of riots here. >> what do you think -- >> shariah law is coming, chris. >> do you think that's plausible? >> i think joblessness destabilizes societies but i don't think you can make a

one-to-one connection between riots and poverty or riots and unemployment because if that was the case we would have riots all the time. >> we're not a rioting folk, americans. >> this is decades of oppression we're talking about, and say what you will about george w. bush -- >> madrid is not, and the london riots, obviously. i mean, those are different societies. >> very different. >> the other thing about those is that what you've seen there, and i think the terrifying thing for us, is you look at everybody -- everybody got into the austerity boat together. you got -- everyone in europe got in the austerity boat, cameron, and america is being pushed and prodded into austerity. the austerity boat is sinking while everyone in the world watches and people are scrambling to get off of it. >> the upper 2% gets the good life boats. >> exactly. it is a titanic situation because when that boat starts to go under water, the first places that take water are the lowest decks. steerage. rushing in and rushing in.

when you start -- this is fascinating. only when folks at the top start to feel the water rush in we saw this turn in the economic conversation. it would be like, oh, maybe we should have stimulus. you saw wall street analysts say, bill gross at pimco, a republican bond trader saying, we could use a little boost to consumer demand because it's like, whoa, there aren't enough life boats. >> the fact is the upper crust benefits from some recessions in the fact that they can -- >> of course. >> -- they can bias sets at a discount so your home you can't afford anymore suddenly it goes into foreclosure, someone becomes the landlord of that house instead of a single owner occupancy. the thing s it's notable some people at the top are asking for stimulus anyway. i mean, it reflects actually quite a frightening lack of things. but i don't think it's in their economic interest. i think they're picking it up from the culture because everyone in the intellectual class is saying austerity is not working. >> you're citing andrew carnegie, the famous -- well, not famous, but treasury

secretary during hoover had this famous quote about the recession basically saying, bring it on. he said, liquidate labor, liquidate farms. he said the industrious -- he said the industrious will pick up the wreckages from the slothful, essentially. there's a sort of purifying -- yeah, there's a sense and i think this is insinuating itself into our politics. the sense this sort of purifying virtue of it all. that's why you aren't seeing the same kind of immediacy. if you look at that boehner jobs speech, it was not like he's super, like, focused on getting stuff going now in terms of short-term job growth. >> you can have both, though, right? we don't talk about the depression of 1921 because it ended instantly bays we had that market-clearing exercise where the rich bought everything up. the fact is -- >> market-clearing. >> yeah. >> if my income can't support a $750,000 home and i'm telling you, it can't, but -- and more rich -- >> i thought you were set occupy your side of the aisle? >> no, not at all. >> oh, man.

>> but, someone rich does buy the house, but when there are more people in the rental market, the rents go down. there are ways the markets interact to create a balance. so, maybe i can't own that home. maybe i was overextended. maybe i was too hopeful in 2005. >> the overextension is the problem. that's what's so frustrating about the situation we're in. that's the -- the core problem, which is this problem of overextension deleveraging, right -- >> that's part of the racket. the derivative scam was about getting people to buy mortgages they couldn't afford. rich people pay fox people to make middle class people blame poor people and it works. people in the tea party who think the only way to save the economy is to give the upper 2% another tax cut because millionaires have had it pretty bad for a long time. >> the other thought is giving them a giant bailout so they could hire -- >> no, no. >> let me just say, as a progressive, i vote against -- >> geithner thought that. >> but i think -- >> fine, democrats. >> well, yeah, and republicans.

let's remember -- let us remember, this is the thing that drivers me bonkers every time paul ryan is talking, two things. one, paul ryan voted for medicare part d, the biggest budget buster ever. it was completely indefensible. a totally capitalist giveaway. b, the guy wrote it for the t.a.r.p. now the same folks -- rick perry and getting bashed for t.a.r.p., too. let's see what happens during the next bailout. there's going to be 70 votes again in that senate, i guarantee you. still ahead after this break, we have nancy pelosi coming on set. [ male announcer ] it's simple physics...

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in our very next segment right after the next commercial, i'm going to politely and gently kick you off the set. it will be very kind. so that i can clear space for house democratic minority leader nancy pelosi, first female speaker of the house ever. and i have a lot 6 questions i

want to ask her. i'm curious what you would like to ask her. >> i would ask her as someone who has occupied -- held the gavel as speaker of house -- >> not yourself as someone -- >> no, no. >> from one former speaker to another. >> yeah. didn't get a lot of of coverage in the media. i would ask her what she shinth john boehner is doing right. >> very good. rachel ma ddow has this theory that john boehner is bad at his job, that he doesn't do a good job, he gets pushed around. also a case to be made he's been effective. >> i think he's been brilliant, actually. i want to ask her the same thing, so during the health care debate you were able to whip the democrats together and keep the bill on track and pass something. john boehner was able it get the coalition together on the debt ceiling. he's reaping political rewards from it, why? also, he mentioned -- he managed to turn eric cantor into the wild dog no one wanted to step

up during that debate, too. he used him as a bad cop and disqualified him from challenging boehner. >> very true. >> i would ask her if politics weren't a consideration what her jobs proposal would be. >> sort of blue sky situation. >> yeah. >> one of the things that -- one of the difficulties, i think, maybe even encountered this, you've been writing about politic force a while s how to balance it even as a journalist, this sort of blue sky versus plausible writing, you know, because you can say, well,there should be a $90 trillion jobs package in which we build lots of houses on mars. >> yes, yes! >> thank you. >> that's a good point. because direct job creation i'm in favor of, i didn't spend a lot of time writing about in the column because it just wasn't going to happen. >> right. >> well, i'd probably ask trivial question how they're going to reframe losing the weiner seat and take power back on that. more importantly, i'm going to be playing her home direct of

san francisco with the sexy liberal comedy tour, and when we bring it to the orpheum theater, would she be my date? >> maybe in the green room you can do that in person. my mom asked me what part italy her family is from, so shout out to mom there, i might do that pu. up next, nancy pelosi. why do we have aflac... aflac... and major medical? major medical, boyyyy! [ beatboxing ] ♪ i help pay the doctor ♪ ain't that enough for you? ♪ there are things major medical doesn't do. aflac! pays cash so we don't have to fret. [ together ] ♪ something families should get ♪ ♪ like a safety net ♪ even helps pay deductibles, so cover your back, get... ♪

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in here, pets never get lost. ♪ in here, every continent fits in one room. it was fun, we played football outside. why are you sitting in the dark? ♪ [ male announcer ] in here, you're never away from home. it's the at&t network. and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. joining me is congresswoman nancy pelosi, democratic leader in the house of representatives. it's a real, real pleasure to have you here. >> pleasure to be here, chris. thank you. >> i want to start out by playing you what a -- a clip of what the man who currently has your old job had to say on thursday about the economy and the jobs bill. >> if we want to create a better environment for job creation, politicians can -- of all stripes can leave the, you know, my way or highway philosophy behind. you know, the all or nothing

workable -- or the all or nothing approach is just not a workable mindset. if we're serious about getting our economy on its feet again. >> so, my question to is you, will you fight for the all or nothing approach on this jobs bill? >> no, absolutely not. i think that it was interesting to see the clip because it was followed by the fact that the speaker is saying, we're not going to have any revenue. >> yes. and he said also passed a balanced budget amendment. >> or my way and the highway. it was interesting from that standpoint. the fact is the first sentence i agree with, we must create an atmosphere for job creation in our country. the republicans did not, when president bush was president for those eight years with those tax policies, we lost jobs. in fact, more jobs were created in the second year, that would be last year, in the private sector in the obama administration than in the eight years of the bush administration. and they want us to repeat those

tax cuts at the high end which, again, did not create jobs but they did deepen the deficit. >> in terms of the sort of legislative approach i hear you saying you agree with him that they can break up this -- the american jobs act into parts. >> no, i new englanever said th >> you don't believe that? >> no. i'm saying we shouldn't have any -- i thought you were talking about the table of 12, do we have it may way or the highway attitude there. >> i see. >> oh, no. the beauty of what the president has put forth is that it has a one, comprehensiveness, integrity that talks about, a, make it in america. american made. strength our industrial and manufacturing base. b, build the infrastructure of america. c, have community recovery in it with neighborhoods, et cetera. and you can't do that without a strong public sector, which he has in the bill. and a strong private sector, which he focuses on small businesses. that, i think, is a very

important emphasis. if we're going to have women, minorities, veterans and others, get jobs, create jobs, have equity, have ownership, we have to focus on small business. so, i think to take one piece or another, it doesn't create the dynamism we need. >> you think get the package passed as a whole and fight for that? >> doesn't mean if you don't like one piece of it, but to just say, we're going to take out the stuff we like, which is the tax cut side of it, without doing the investment side, i think that that's not right. >> in terms of thinking about how something might get out of the house intact, there was a story this week that just really, to me, summarized everything about the house of representatives right now. and it was a republican's blocking bill that would allow the presentation of american flags at the funerals of federal workers killed in the line of duty. this is a bipartisan bill. and then some right wing bloggers called it the flags for

bureaucrats act and got stopped in its tracks. is it possible to find common ground in the house when you are dealing with an opposition like this? >> the fact is you have to find common ground at a higher level, find common ground with the american people. are they about job creation? about ed indicating our children? dignified retirement for our seniors? job creation? public safety? they're not partisan issues. i think we all share those values. if you do, you can't possibly vote for the budget that the republicans are putting forth. but to the specific criticism that is there, you have to understand that this fits very comfortably in their attitude of destroy the public space. destroy government. if it were just about reducing the deficit. we could do it. we had to do it after bush one, now after bush ii. if it's about using the deficit as an excuse, hijacking that real concern we all have and using that as an excuse to

destroy the public space, medicare, medicaid, social security, food safety, clean air, clean water, you name it, public safety, public education, flags honoring people who work in public service, it fits very comfortably in their anti-public space attitude. >> and here's -- you touched on to me what is the course issue. when you think about super committee, deficit reduction, i totally agree if we could -- a bunch of fair-minded, good faith individuals got in a room, even from across the aisle, could come up with something that really does good work on long-term deficits projected out. but i think liberals are scared that's not the conditions we have right now. i mean, they manifestly are not. what's going to happen is this super committee is going to be used as an opportunity to do exactly the things you say. >> well, then it won't succeed. i think that the people at the table bring a sense of responsibility to what they're doing. we shall see.

we have not drawn any lines in the sand from our side. we have said, we want a large package -- >> no lines in the sand from your side? >> the only sack red cow we have is job creation. job creation. >> that sounds like social security and medicare are not sacred cows. >> well, if containing cost of medicare is what we did, cut half a trillion -- >> and got pounded for it. >> and got pounded for it. we didn't touch benefits. we talked about the fiscal integrity of medicare. but let me say this, if -- hopefully they don't touch social security, but if they were to go there because they say it needs to be -- its longevity needs to be strengthened, then every dollar they would save by any change there should go right into the social security trust and recognizes this has nothing to do with deficit reduction. deficit reduction is on this table.

strengthening social security on -- has its own trust fund, its savings should be poured back into it. >> that's the condition. when you're looking at what the super committee produces, that is what -- that is a line, right? if they're confusing those two. >> super committee, in my view, has to begin with job creation. and we have pushed to say we want a report on job creation as part of their -- >> but do you think that's how they understand their portfolio is job creation or they understand about it as long-term austerity agenda? >> you cannot reduce the deficit unless you create jobs. you cannot reduce the deficit unless you bring revenue into the treasury and reduce public support for those who are out of work. but the president's jobs bill is a good place for them to start, if it can't make it through the congress for one reason or another. the public cannot wait. that table is center of attention. people are watching. job creation, revenue,

containing costs, however you want to say, spending cuts we need to make, we have to be very careful about not doing them too much, too soon, so we impede economic growth. but there's a job to be done there but, again, if it's big enough and takes us to deficit reduction that is big in the long term, but immediate economic growth, i think the people there have the resources, intellectually and all the rest, to get the job done. will their leadership allow them to do it? it's not a question of allow. we send independent people with knowledge on the issues with a commitment to working families in our country. >> in terms of impeding short-term job growth, which i think is a worry, right? the worry is -- >> yes. >> -- it's already stalled. you know, during the debt ceiling debate you said something that kind of broke my heart a little.

you were one of the most powerful liberals in america, no question. >> i don't know about that but i like the identification. >> you are. and i admire so much of you what you've done. but you said during that debt ceiling debate. you said, it is clear we must enter an era of austerity to reduce deficit through shared sacrifice. given the stalling recovery, do you regret that statement? >> no, no. it's not a question -- i'm not talking about -- as i said, we're talking about timing. everything's about time when you do things, but the fact is that for 30 years i have been for pay as you go. george miller started this in the 1982, i guess it was, midterm convention in philadelphia, pay as you go. we knew these deficits that were -- the reagan deficits at the time were an obstacle to our having access to resources to invest. in the initiatives that help people. debt service, interest on the loan, is one of the biggest

wastes of taxpayer dollars and obstacles when you see the hundreds of billions of dollars that we have to pay in debt service over the ten-year period. so, it's a -- we're saying, let us take matters into our -- let us make the investments we are to do to honor the values of our country to create jobs. and to do so in a way that is fiscally sound. let us -- let us take the lead on that. why should we let them decide that it's only going to be -- we're underwriting tax cuts for the rich every step of the way. >> that's interesting because what has happened in this debate is that deficit reduction and austerity has been coded as conservative and sort of -- and deficits in the short run have been coded as liberal. it seems like you're saying that you don't buy into that. there's a progressive way to have short-term -- >> that's right. that's why we supported long ago, many of us progressives, pay as you go. let us understand what our -- you have on the other side, you

had unlimited defense spending, tax cuts for the high end, and who paid the price? the people who could least afford to do it in our country. if we're going to be fiscally responsible, let's understand, and i think this is really important for this table, do these cuts they are suggesting really save money? >> right. >> do they really save money? >> i want to get your reaction before i let you go to a moment in the republican debate because it was a moment that involved one of your colleagues, ron paul, and we'll play this little bit of sound. i want to see what you thought of it. >> my advice to him would have a majodi he doe't have it. and he needs -- he needs intensive care for six months. who pays? >> that's what freedom is all about. taking your own risks. this whole idea you have to take care of everybody -- >> congressman, are you saying society should just let him die? >> no. >> yes.

>> what did you make of that moment? >> well, i think that it calls out for a real explanation to the country that the fact is, if you want people to be enintraneural and risk-takers you have to have access to quality health care for all americans. >> that's a good point. >> that was so innovative about what we did in our health care for all americans as a right, not a privilege. >> were you surprised by that moment when you heard people saying, yeah, let him die? >> well, even to me as someone who's rarely surprised what the other side will do, that demonstration was heartbreaking in many respects but i think it speaks to the sense of community that is lacking in certain quarters in our country. suppose that was their son, their brother, the father of their young grandchild or something, would they want him to die? i've just really never even -- in all of the opposition we've had to some of their policies, i didn't think they had that in

their hearts. >> finally, i want to ask you, the house passed a tremendous amount of legislation while you were speaker. it was remarkable. we would do the rest of the show if i listed them all. what is the one you are most upset about or regret didn't get passed by the senate that got passed out of the house and didn't become law? >> there's so many, but -- there's so many -- >> if you had to pick one. >> i would have liked a public option in the health care bill. no question about that. but one of the last bills we passed, the dream act, would have been such an important initiative to, say, build a bridge to comprehensive immigration reform, more importantly, immediately addressed. that is one of the last bills we passed so that's why it's more immediate in my mind. re going to have to address the immigration issue, education is central to our country. these young people are our future. but, again, i'd have to think

hard because there's such a long list. but i do -- i do give credit to my colleagues for the courage they demonstrated as we build consensus to pass bills and thrilled with the president. >> house democratic leader, first female speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, a great pleasure. >> chris. congratulations. good luck to you. >> thanks a lot. up next, what we now know that we didn't know i week ago. there's only one bottle left ! i've got to tell susie ! the vending machine on elm is almost empty. i'm on it, boss. new pony ? sorry ! we are open for business. let's reroute greg to fresno. growing businesses use machine-to-machine technology from verizon wireless. susie ! the vending machine... already filled. cool bike. because the business with the best technology rules.

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just a second, i want to find out what my guests know they didn't know when the week began. right now time for a preview of weekend with alex witt? what's coming up. >> we'll hear startling eyewitness accounts of the crash in reno, nevada, and the aftermath. we're hearing questions, how could something like this happen? we'll talk with an expert. and then when our weekend recall segment, an incident that shook one indiana town. all of it caught on tape. it begins with a woman running into a store, screaming for her

life. we'll tell you how that ended. in politics, my talk with reverend al sharpton. who do you think he wants president obama to face in the 2012 election? a very special guest, that being you, to talk about that new "new york times" poll. nothing extra in your paycheck. this is just a favor to me. >> my distinct pleasure. thank you. i'm looking forward to it. all right, panel, i want to know what you -- we're very close to each other. i want to know what you now know you did not know at the beginning of the week. john? >> rick perry, i know, thinks jesus said forgive us our trespasses as we thooet lethally trespass each other. >> eagles joke for you playing bingo at home. michael, what do you now know? >> sometimes freedom is just drunkenly ranting about the instituti constitution. >> even if you're benjamin

franklin -- >> a beautiful moment. >> bob, what do you now know? >> like dick cheney said deficits don't matter, politicians in washington have decided policy does not matter. it's all politics all the time. i learned that from the jobs dance that's going on. >> this week that's what you learned? >> this week, because they're not serious on either side about actually creating jobs. >> alex wagner -- >> i'm going on a bummer route. i think it's an important thing i learned that 15.1% of americans are living at or below the poverty line which is 1 in 6 people. that's something everybody in congress and in the white house should have written on a card in their pocket. >> the census bureau in october is going to release new poverty numbers. they've actually changed the methodology how it's created. that rate was created in the 1960s. the new poverty figures are going to come out in october is going to show that rate is higher. >> right. that rate i'm talking about is a family of four living on $22,000. >> that's why the rich need another tax cut. >> this guy, he's on our side on

that one, i think. >> we're bringing him around. >> john is a comedian/actor -- >> sexy liberal tour asheville next weekend. >> michael, where can people find your writing? >> america conservative and pbs need to know. i can say that? >> yeah. totally fine. a great twitter handle we will throw up. michael -- bob herbert, now at demose. >> yes. >> appreciate your time. great to have you here. i will alex wagner, who you cannot get off your television skree, msnbc political analyst and from "the huffington post." guys, a total pleasure. thank you so much. >> congratulations. >> thanks, chris. great job. >> congratulations. coming up, i want to tell you what i now know. stay with us. [ venus ] what are they doing to stufy?

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so, what do we know now that we didn't when the week started? we know the republican party and base has a local and proud let him die caucus but we don't know

its size. we need the leader of the democrats in the house find the sound bite from tea party debate heartbreaking. we know despite the shouts of the "let him die" caucus the affordable care act is starting to work. we know the percentage of those 19 to 25 uninsured has declined considerably in the last year. we know john boehner's grasp of recent economic history is shockingly poor because he gave an entire speech about the state of the economy without once mentioning the financial crisis that got us here. we know unnamed sources in the white house are talking smack about chief of staff bill daley which means i guess we now know for sure, he's no rahm emanuel. i still don't know if that's a good thing or know. thanks to tuesday's special election in new york's ninth congressional district we know orthodox jews don't much care for obama's israel policy but let's be honest, we knew that before. we don't know if that election has national implications for president obama's re-election next year. we know tea party congressman joe walsh's attorney thinks the

congressman is too important to show up for a pesky court hearing with his ex-wife in over $10,000 in unpaid child support. we know from two psychologists that reading fiction, even the trashy kind, increases a person empbthyic abilities. we know joe walsh and the let them dyers could use that. we know louie gommert thinks he's funny for repealing the tax and we know how childish simplistic his views are. even if rick perry could sleep well even though he oversees unjust justice system, the supreme court could not so they stopped an execution in texas even though the governor refused to do so himself. thanks to a studstudy, we know privatizing government jobs is expensive.

on average contractors make 83% more than their civil servant counterparts. 83%. finally, we know just how intense the rights contempt for government workers is. bipartisan proposal to present a flag at the funeral of federal workers killed in the line of duty was stopped dead in its tracks after red state blogger eric erickson denounced the bill as the flags for bureaucrats act. these workers, all federal workers, all killed in the line of duty on 9/11, aren't heroes. they're just bureaucrats unsdooefshg of a symbolic gesture of gratitude. as the son of two civil servants without much in the way of recognition, it's a cheap lie. i know the people who do it ought to be ashamed, eric erickson. now you know. thank you for joining us today for the first edition of "up." coming up next is "week entsendh

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it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities, so we're helping them with advice from local business experts and extending $18 billion in credit last year. that's how we're helping set opportunity in motion. oh, my god -- >> breaking news this hour, witnesses describe it as a bomb going off, the deadly reno air show crash and this morning more questions than answers. hello, and welcome toll "weekends with alex witt" at 9 a.m. on the east coast. we start with knee details from the deadly plane crash in nevada. it happened during the national championship air races friday afternoon just before