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American Morning: Wake Up Call
The Dow's Wild Ride; British Parliament to Meet; Super Committee Almost Set; Crude Bomb On Oklahoma Gas Line
Aired August 11, 2011 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. It is Thursday, August 11th. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL.
I'm Carol Costello. I'm joining you live this morning from New York, from this weird, dark studio. But we're going to improve, we promise.
Our big story right now are the world markets. The U.S. markets tanked again yesterday. The Dow, the NASDAQ and S&P were all down more than 4 percent.
But good news for stocks futures, premarket trading is all up this morning, across the board. But remember, futures really doesn't mean much until 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time.
Now, let's see how the world's money is doing this morning.
Andrew Stevens is joining us live from Hong Kong.
So, tell us something good.
ANDREW STEVENS, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: I was going to tell you something good yesterday and think I failed you there, Carol. So, I'll make amends today and say there is something good at the moment because Wall Street may have tanked but Europe particularly is up and up pretty healthily at this your hour -- between 2 percent and 3 percent actually, around Germany, and France and London.
And that's pretty surprising if you see what happened on Wall Street overnight. But as you pointed out, U.S. futures are higher. So, therefore, so we do seem to be taking a lead on what the U.S. investors is doing -- investors in the U.S. market, I should say.
Here in Asia, just very quickly, the markets finished between sort of flat and 1 percent down. So, again, not at a big sell off-off here. But both of the two regions amassing huge swings, there's huge volatilities swings.
And, of course, this isn't help by the high frequently trading we're seeing at the moment, Carol. There's a lot of computer-driven trade.
And quite I heard from the chairman of the Australian Stock Exchange. He said today that the average amount of time that the shareholder is in the stock at the moment is 20 minutes.
So, that gives you an idea of what sort of volatility is going on. Extraordinary stuff, isn't it?
COSTELLO: Extraordinary. That's the least of it. So, the roller coaster continues to rise.
Thank you very much. But you did give us a bit of bright news and we love that. Thank you, Andrew.
Talk about a roller coaster rides, one day, the Dow takes 420 steps forward, the next day, it takes 520 steps back. The ups and downs over the last few trading sessions will challenge even the most iron constitutions.
So, why does the chart look like a really nauseating amusement park ride? Some investors are bullish because of strong, second quarter earnings and last Friday's OK jobs report. But bearish investors believe the European financial crisis could be the next Lehman Brothers and that the U.S. could be slipping into -- oh, I have to mention the R-word -- slipping into another recession.
So, Wall Street is torn.
CNN senior political analyst David Gergen told Anderson Cooper there is something else at worked here, too.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: There is a growing sense that there is no one in charge. Not normally in a crisis, there is someone who steps forward -- usually the president steps forward -- and you have a sense of somebody's got their hands on the wheel, knows where we're going, can help guide this ship.
There's a sense right now in our politics that no one's in charge, not the president, not Ben Bernanke, there's no Walter Cronkite. There's no one here to give us that sense of reassurance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The Dow flies around like a bat trapped in an airplane.
Standard & Poor's downgrades the U.S. 14 million Americans are out of work. It sounds like a great time for a vacation because as you know, Congress is still in recess and the president heads to Martha's Vineyard next week for a 10-day vacation.
Four conservatives House Democrats say lawmakers should come back to D.C. and get busy fixing the economy, and the president is catching flack for taking time off. But if Congress is gone, the president can't do much anyway.
CNN's chief White House correspondent Jessica Yellin talked about that on "A.C. 360."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That you need Congress to control -- they control the purse strings. So, with Congress out of town, the president is limited. He is not going out and making a call for some new sweeping boulder action.
But Washington right now is not in the mood for some sort of big compromised. You don't feel it in the air. There's not a vibe of deal-making town. And with Congress gone, there isn't going to be a deal.
So, the bottom line is: no, no message from the White House that they're calling them back. And so, no bold moves right now on the horizon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So, when Congressman Jeb Hensarling of Texas says the time to act is now about the debt crisis, he must mean now-ish, when they finally come back from recess.
Hensarling is one the six Republicans named to the bipartisan supercommittee to trim the deficit. Congressman Dave Camp and Fred Upton of Michigan, along with Senators Jon Kyl of Arizona, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Rob Portman of Ohio round out the Republicans. They are all fiscal conservatives.
Harry Reid has already named Senate Democrats. House Minority Nancy Pelosi has not yet named the House Democrats yet.
Maybe that supercommittee can win back the faith of Americans. A "Washington Post" poll found about 70 percent of respondents are not confident in the government's ability to repair the economy. And a majority thought Standard & Poor's downgrade was a fair assessment of the country's financial situation.
Recess is over, at least interrupted for British lawmakers. Parliament will meet next hour to address the riots that have been tearing up the country. Prime Minister David Cameron called them back from holiday for an emergency session. Thursday morning hasn't seen as much chaos.
One analyst figures the four nights of looting and violence cost British businesses more than $160 million. And it's believed three men in Birmingham who were run over by a car and killed were protecting businesses from looters.
The father of one of them pleaded for the end to the violence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TARIK JAHAN, VICTIM'S FATHER: I lost my son. Blacks, Asians, whites, we all live in the same community. Why do we have to kill one another? What started these riots and what's escalated?
Why are we doing this? I lost my son. Step forward if you watt to lose your sons. Otherwise, calm down and go home. Please.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Police have arrested a suspect but they have not linked the men's deaths to riots. They've arrested more than 1,300 people in that area.
And while we're talking about the U.K., the phone-hacking there might have torpedoed James Murdoch's chances to succeed his father as head of News Corp. Rupert Murdoch suggested that Chase Kerry, the man with the interesting moustache, would take over if anything happened to him. James Murdoch has been accused of being less than truthful about the scandal.
Still, the company beat analysts' expectations for the fourth quarter revenue and net earnings.
OK. Let's talk about something fun or talk about somebody who is making fun of something. Comedian Jay Leno wants to explain America's economic situation to all of you. So, you be the judge.
Here's your punch line this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
JAY LENO, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": We've come up with a simple metaphor. I think this helps explain to people exactly what's going on. Here, take a look.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And now, a video metaphor for this week's financial crisis.
The red-hot air balloon represents Republicans in Congress. The blue one represents Democrats. The guy on the wire is the American taxpayer caught in the middle of the warring parties and trying to stay alive. The plane comes at them represents S&P, and this is them cutting the U.S. debt.
This has been this week's metaphor for the U.S. financial crisis.
(END VIDEOI CLIPS)
COSTELLO: Explains it as much as anything else, huh?
The search is on to find aliens. We'll tell you why.
But, first, here's the quote of the day. "We needed a fightback and a fightback is underway." Find out which newsmaker said this and why. And let me give you a hint. It doesn't have anything to do with global markets.
It's eight minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It's nine minutes past the hour. Good morning. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL.
And now, back to the quote of the day. "We needed a fightback and a fightback is under way." Who said that? Well, Prime Minister David Cameron, the British prime minister. He was talking about the riots in London and the surrounding areas.
So, that mystery is solved. Let's go to Reynolds Wolf in Atlanta.
Any flight delays out there this morning?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Not yet. But I'm telling you, they're going to come. We've got a chance for thunderstorms across parts of the nation, whether you're going to have those delays -- especially in places like Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, some thunderstorms. Also, thunder boomers in places like Orlando, Tampa.
Do you see a little bit of a trend here? A lot of these in Florida.
In San Francisco, it's going to be the fog -- frog, fog, easy for me to say -- and some low clouds that might give you a delay for an hour. Los Angeles, low clouds also. A little bit of marine layer, but that pesky stuff should be gone by mid-morning. So, not much of an issue.
One of the reasons for the thunder boomers, we might see a little bit further to the north of Florida, it's going to be kind of simple. We might have a few pop-up storms, plain and simple, due to that boundary that you see. It may be bringing a shower to parts of the Carolinas, back into portions of central Texas, hopefully back in parts of near Dallas. They could definitely use a bit of rain.
Plenty of sunshine for the West Coast and stormy conditions also possible for the Northern Plains.
But in terms of the heat, heat is going to be just relentless once again for Texas. Here we go -- 105 in Dallas, 100 in Houston, 98 degrees in El Paso, 93 in Albuquerque, 69 in San Francisco, 84 in New York and 82 in Boston.
You know, we were talking about travel. If you happen to be traveling, maybe not just from one part of the country to another but, you know, out in space. Well, we got a little bit of information for you.
Have you heard anything called SETI? You haven't? That's why I'm here. I'm going to tell you about it.
It's called the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. They're an institute that announced this week that they are going to raising enough money to bring the Allen Telescope that you see right here in the corner of the screen back on line.
And plain and simple what these do, these incredible telescopes, radio telescope, they do deep space searches for alien life. So there you go.
COSTELLO: Wow. Wow.
WOLF: The more you know. They're back on.
COSTELLO: Yes. I hope they see something. That would be exciting.
WOLF: Space is a pretty big place. They've got a lot of searching to do. So, hopefully, they'll let us know if they find out something pretty quickly. We'll see.
COSTELLO: Oh, I'm sure they will.
WOLF: I'm sure they will. Shouting it from the rooftops. It's going to be fantastic.
COSTELLO: Thanks, Reynolds.
WOLF: All right. See you in a little bit.
COSTELLO: OK.
The Statue of Liberty is closing for a year of renovation. Officials say the $27 million renovation will make the interior safer and more accessible. The National Parks Service says the monument will be open through October 28th. The Liberty Island will remain open through that renovation project, though.
Stephen Colbert is endorsing Rick Perry for president, not the Rick Perry but that's Parry with an A. His new TV ad that's hitting the airways in Iowa, just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Good morning.
Presidential hopefuls trying to raise cash, meet and greet snappy slogans.
But comedian Stephen Colbert super PAC is getting dough, too. And he's got a message about the others.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN COLBERT, COMEDIAN: These campaigns, they send urgent e- mails with emotional triggers that make you feel part of something bigger like Bachmann's "join the fight," Pawlenty's "I can't do it alone" and Herman Cain's "Give me $5 and I'll punch a Muslim."
This is shameless manipulation and I am disgusted that I am not doing it. So, if you'll excuse me, I need to draft a quick e-mail to my super PAC members, subject line: spiders in your hair.
Dear future victims, they're doing it again and we have only have seconds to stop them before you, your pets, and everyone you love could experience whatever it is you are most afraid of. And don't forget, earlier, I used the phrase "spiders in your hair." Send me $25 right now to make a difference, or send me $100 to make four differences.
Or just let the bad guys win. Your choice.
Quick, look behind you. Stephen Colbert.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: I hope he raises a lot of money.
What better way to start our Political Ticker with Tim Farley. He's host of "The Morning Briefing" on Sirius POTUS, live from Washington.
TIM FARLEY, "MORNING BRIEFING," SIRIUS XM POTUS: Oh, that Stephen Colbert.
COSTELLO: I know. He's so clever.
FARLEY: I know. He's a funny man.
Well, he's got his big new super PAC now and it's running television advertising. Americans for a better tomorrow tomorrow. And as you mentioned, Carol, and he's endorsing Rick Parry, now with an "E," with an "A" for America and for Iowa, although I don't quite get that, although it's in Iowa somewhere. It's not exactly A for Iowa. But that's Stephen Colbert.
I just get the sense that, you know, even ads like this, it's not going to put the ad business out of business for political ads. It's kind of like the Onion never put news business out of business, but it is kind of funny to see him poking fun at things.
COSTELLO: Well, he's trying to make a point that apparently our political system is a bit messed up.
FARLEY: Exactly.
COSTELLO: Yes, exactly.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELO: Yes, exactly.
It is shaping up to be a big day in Iowa. Another GOP presidential debate is set for tonight and, of course, the Iowa state fair begins today -- and guess who's going to be there? Sarah Palin.
FARLEY: Yes, Sarah Palin. Isn't that amazing? The debate tonight and also on Saturday and the two biggest names that won't be in the room tonight or on the ballot Saturday are Rick Perry and Sarah Palin. Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, that Stephen Colbert is endorsing, whichever way you want to look at it.
And a recent poll -- this is a FOX News poll. They're handling the debate. But this poll shows Mitt Romney is the front-runner and Rick Perry is second and Sarah Palin is third in this poll.
And it's interesting to see that she just seems to show up whenever Republicans are having an event. A lot of her supporters say and Peter Hamby has been writing about this on CNN.com, that she has until maybe Labor Day to make up her mind about this and we'll see what she's going to do, or she's just trying to shake things up.
COSTELLO: You don't think she's going to the Iowa state fair to get a deep fried butter stick?
FARLEY: Well, who wouldn't? Of course, it is, you know? Fried zucchini, the elephant ears. It's so delicious and so bad for you.
COSTELLO: I know. But, really, that is a true specialty. They're going to have a deep pride butter stick that you can eat. Hmm.
Thank you very much, Tim Farley, host of "The Morning Briefing" on Sirius XM POTUS.
Researchers at MIT believe they have developed a drug that may some day cure the common cold and other viral infections. Researchers say the drug identifies cells that have been infected and then kills those sells to terminate the infection. Most of the tests were done in human and animal cells cultured in the lab. Researchers hope to license the drug for eventual human clinical trials.
Thousands of British police flood the street to show a force at least to tense the quiet night. The prime minister gets tough with rioters saying nothing is off the table. Parliament is set to meet in the next hour. We'll take you live to London.
But before we go, today is National Day of Presidential Jokes. And I'm going to tell you why. August 11th, 1984, President Ronald Reagan made a joke while getting set up for a radio address. Guess where that came from?
It's 18 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It is 21 minutes after the hour. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL.
Here are three things to put on your radar today:
Prime Minister David Cameron will talk about the riots before parliament. That will come your way 6:30 this morning. That's Eastern Time.
Plus the weekly initial jobs claims come out at 8:30 Eastern this morning.
And President Obama will speak around 2:40 p.m. Eastern Time from Michigan today. He's expected to highlight the role innovation plays and fuel economy standards.
British riot police out in force overnight after British Prime Minister David Cameron said he would restore order by any means possible. He said nothing is off the table, including water cannons.
Let's go around the world with Max Foster. He's live in London.
So, Max, a bit of news. It was a quiet night last night.
MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was. But more than 1,300 people have been arrested over this process. And what you had overnight, which is interesting, was court holding special sessions and fast-tracking all of these cases through the system. Some chaos there, but certainly dealing with the process here.
And later on, you've about got David Cameron speaking in the building behind me, talking about this special session of parliament that's been organized in the middle of the summer. It's normally recessed -- a very fundamental debate will be taking place here, Carol, not just for Britain but for Europe.
It's about austerity. It's about making police cuts. They're making budget cuts to something 2 billion pounds, billions of dollars -- at the same time as when policing has never been needed as much before. So, a tough test for David Cameron today.
COSTELLO: Oh, boy, you're not kidding.
People are actually taking the matters into their own hands. They're saying these are not police officers. We'll just do it ourselves.
FOSTER: Yes. You've about had stories about people going out with (INAUDIBLE) and beating rioters away. It's been extraordinary. A real debate developing here on the left and the right. Both sides are blaming each other. It's going to come together a bit today.
Lots of talk on social media about this. Initially, the police went across that because it was organized, initially, the rioting on social media. But interesting to see the police fighting back and talking about arresting people for incitement on Twitter. So, that's been a new development on this as well.
COSTELLO: Interesting. Max Foster, live in London, thanks so much.
The situation in Somalia is getting more desperate each day. Somali's transitional government is offering amnesty to rebels, fighting in the capital of Mogadishu, in exchange for famine relief. The insurgents have been causing problems for aid workers.
Tens of thousands of women and children have already died and we've heard heartbreaking stories about families having to pick the strongest child they have to take with them to get help and leaving their sickest child, children behind.
U2 front man Bono is pleading for help in this humanitarian crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BONO, CO-FOUNDER, ONE CAMPAIGN: People seems to prefer watching in the high streets of London fight policemen, rather than watching children of Somalia fighting for their lives. People watch the values, stock values crumble while, you know, I think about our own sense of values tumbling.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: You can help the victims if you wish. And they need so much help.
This is how you can help. You head to CNN.com/impact. It will tell you all the ways that you can make a difference.
Retribution in Afghanistan. U.S. military officials say they've killed the insurgents responsible for shooting down the helicopter over the weekend. Coalition forces launched a precision airstrike against the Taliban leader and its associates on Monday. Thirty American troops and eight Afghans died in that original attack.
An accident in China left a woman buried under near like 20 tons of garlic and onions. Watch as a fully loaded truck skidded and flipped over spilling its cargo onto the streets. Rescuers managed to dig out the woman. Amazingly, she walked away with only bruises.
Police say the driver slipped out of the truck and fled the scene. It's unclear exactly what caused the accident.
It's like a scene straight out of a Wild West movie. Police teamed up with cowboys hoping to catch an out-of-control bull. How it ended -- just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Good morning to you. It is Thursday, August 11th. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL.
I'm Carol Costello. Thank you for joining us this morning. I'm here in New York.
It's 29 minutes past the hour.
Stocks tumbling on Wall Street. And the world markets react. The Nikkei and Hang Seng were both down this morning. But the shanghai composite was up slightly. The Dow plummeting 520 points or about 4.5 percent yesterday -- you know that. The S&P and NASDAQ also seeing steep declines.
In the meantime, fears that a double-dip recession may be looming. Some predict a worse recession could be worse than the last.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT REICH, FORMER U.S. LABOR SECRETARY: I think the chances of double-dip, Wolf, have actually at least moved to 50/50 right now. It's not just the stock market. You know, consumers are 70 percent of the economy. And as consumers continue to be laden with debt, they can't borrow, their jobs are disappearing, their wages are declining, their housing values are dropping. They're just enough aggregate demand to keep the economy going.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: We'll take a closer look at the risk of a double-dip recession. Christine Romans will join live in just a few minutes.
The Congressional super committee is almost set. We're just waiting on House minority, Nancy Pelosi's pick. Harry Reid already chosen the Senate Democrats. On the Republican side, here is who has been tapped. Representatives Jeb Hensarling of Texas, Dave Camp of Michigan, and Fred Upton also of Michigan. Also, Senators Jon Kyl of Arizona, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, and Rob Portman of Ohio. All six are known for being fiscally conservative.
In other news this morning, tragedy in a Tennessee classroom. Suzette York, the principal of the Memphis Junior Academy was found dead in her own school. She was discovered lying in a pool of blood, but no word yet on how she died. A 17-year-old student is being questioned. He is in police custody. So far, no charges have been file filed.
In Oklahoma, the FBI is looking into who attached the crude bomb to a natural gas line. It sparked evacuations at a town near Oklahoma City. Officials doused the device with a water can, and then, they managed to disable of that way. Now, it's being checked out at an FBI lab. A law enforcement official tells us the device was made up of black powder and propane.
A wild police chase in Washington. This is something you need to see to believe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO (voice-over): Isn't that strange? This was captured of dash cam video. That was a raging bull running in auburn covering about four miles in a half hour. It was fast. Police on its tail, but they could not seem to catch him. So, they called in some backup.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO The backup was cowboys. The cowboys sitting on the front of patrol cars were finally able to lasso the bull. No one was hurt, and as far as we know, the bull is OK too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO (on-camera): Comedian, Jay Leno, slammed into our country's leaders. Come on, Leno. Tell us what you really think. Here's your punch line.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO: And in the lowest number in two decades of Gallup Polling, only 24 percent of Americans want to see members of Congress serve another two-year term. The other 76 percent want to see them serve a 20 years to life-term.
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
LENO: And President Obama said this week that the downgrading of our credit rating should give America a renewed sense of urgency. When was this not urgent? OK? You know, the only people who don't think it's urgent are the congressmen that just went on a five-week vacation. Can we get their ass back here? Can we go back and fix it?
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Oh, a lot of people saying amen, brother.
We keep talking about Wall Streets ups and downs, but let's talk about your money, your bottom line. If you got sick right now, could you afford the medical bills? A lot of Americans say they cannot. We'll talk about that.
But first, today's businessman special, are iPad covers made from the pants of Bernie Madoff? That's coming up in 60 seconds. It's 33 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Thirty-four minutes past the hour. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. Now, back to our businessman's special. IPad covers made from the pants of Ponzi scheme mastermind, Bernie Madoff. The company bought the pants from an auction held by the U.S. marshal's service. They then took the pants, chopped them up, and stitched them into covers for the electronics. These are, of course, in very limited supply, in case, you want one. For instance, only four iPad covers were made from one pair of Bernie's britches. Now, you know.
And for our morning money news, let's go to Christine Romans live here in New York. Do you have one of those iPad covers made from Bernie Madoff's pants?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I don't, and my personal finance adviser would be to put that money in a 529 for your kids college education, you know?
COSTELLO: Oh, you're so responsible.
ROMANS: I'm a little irritated by the whole Bernie Madoff story, and we haven't covered it. You know, I mean is just like why would you want to carry around a piece of him (ph), but that's beside the point, Carol.
COSTELLO: It is beside the point, and I have to say, I agree with that part of the argument, but let's talk about the economy because things are so bright and fabulous, and people have like oodles of money in their savings accounts, not.
ROMANS: Some people have oodles of money, but it is not most people. I mean, that's what we're kind of finding out, and that's the real sad truth about this. We're looking at risks of a double dip recession. That's what the market is so concerned about. That's what people think the fed is concerned about. And that's what -- some people think that all of this market turmoil could actually help cost.
A new CNNMoney.com survey finds that there's a 25 percent chance now of a double-dip recession. Twenty-five percent. That's up from 15 percent just a month ago. And I want to read you what Mark Zandi said. He's an economist who you often hear us quoting from Moody's Analytics. He says going back into a recession would be scary because we don't have the resources or the will this time to respond, and the initial starting point is so weak.
He says a recession this time would feel less like a recession and more like a depression from the starting point. So, this sounds (INAUDIBLE) were drowned. I'm just saying it just shows you how weak the situation is. If you want to take that on its head though, a 25 percent chance of a double dip, that means that you have a three and four chance that we don't go at a double-dip, Carol. Chew on that.
COSTELLO: OK. I'm going to chew on that, because it's much tastier.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Tell us about this new survey. This is really what -- this is so depressing. Most Americans --
ROMANS: I know.
COSTELLO: Can't afford $1,000 medical emergency. That's -- I'm just sad.
ROMANS: I'm not really surprised by it either. It's National Foundation for Credit Counseling. They surveyed 2,700 people. Gail Cunningham over there called alarming. She's somebody who talks to people about their finance and their credit situation all the time. And, this is not just a medical emergency. It's you know, for example, a plumbing emergency, a dental emergency, your car breaks down. Two thirds of people don't have the rainy day fund to raid if something happens that they have to pay for right away.
They're more likely to have to borrow the money from friends or family or try to get a cash advance on their credit card. It shows you -- you know, we've always -- you know, you always preach about you have to have three to six months of expenses in the bank, you know, for a rainy day. Well, we know that this recession has proved you have to have far more than that. People don't have that kind of money laying around, and it shows you just how many people in this country are living paycheck to paycheck. The top one percent is doing marvelously. Most people can't afford to pay for a dental emergency -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Congress stays on vacation, and the president is like going to go on -- I don't know. I don't understand it. Christine Romans, thank you.
ROMANS: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: The Iowa State fair kicks off today, a popular place for GOP presideential candidates to reach voters, but someone is planning to crash their party? Who's rolling into town? I bet you can guess. That's coming up.
But first, here's today's "Get Smart" question. How much in sales have retailers in the UK lost because of those riots? A. 129 million pound -- oh, I'm sorry. These are dollars. $129 million, B. $161 billion, or C. $242 million. We'll have your answer coming up in two minutes. It's 38 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It is 40 minutes past the hour. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. Now, back to today's "Get Smart" question. How much in sales have retailers in the UK lost because of the riots? A. $129 million, B. $161 million, or C. $242 million. The answer is A, $129 million. Sorry, you don't win a thing, but you can feel very proud of yourself.
Now, for your our "Political Ticker," let's bring in CNN political reporter, Shannon Travis, live on the phone from Des Moines, Iowa. Is anyone up yet there, Shannon?
VOICE OF SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Hey, there, Carol. I'm up. We're up. It's going to be a big political day here in Iowa. It is not just because you can get that fried stick of butter here at the state fair, but for political reasons also. Tonight will be the next Republican presidential candidate debate. The very first one since our debate broadcast on CNN back in June.
All the big names will be there, Carol. Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty. That's going to be in Ames. They'll be there on stage debating. Fireworks could spark. Also, today, the Iowa State Fair will be kicking. A lot of candidates will be there as well, giving stump speeches trying to attract support. And next week, President Obama, President Obama not to leave Iowa out. He has a bus tour. He's going to make a stop here in Iowa -- Carol.
COSTELLO: So, I was just wondering, is Mitt Romney going to participate in the debate?
TRAVIS: Mitt Romney will participate in the debate. I was tracking him last night. It's in appearances (ph). This has only been his second time coming to Iowa this political season. He hasn't really been competing here that much. He's been focusing most of his attention in New Hampshire, but he will be at that debate tonight, Carol.
COSTELLO: And I ask that question because there are many political analysts out there saying Mitt Romney sort of has been missing in action.
TRAVIS: Yes. He has been missing in action again in Iowa. He is opting out of participating in the all-important Ames Straw Poll that happens on Saturday. It's kind of a test of the candidates' organization and popularity. He says that he's going to focus on the caucuses that are coming up next year and has been putting a lot of energy and attention in South Carolina, but particularly, in New Hampshire, Carol.
COSTELLO: I know I should have asked you about Sarah Palin because she's going to show up on her big bus at the Iowa State Fair, but, you know, at this point, I think many feel she's just torturing us because she won't make a decision one way or the other. It's like get on with it already.
TRAVIS: Get on with it, get on with it, but she will be getting on with a bus tour yet another, out Peter Hamby is reporting that if she's going to basically be crashing the party a little bit, maybe here. She's going to be coming to the Iowa State Fair, launching her bus tour, and Peter reports that she's also going to be visiting Missouri and Illinois, Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Shannon Travis, fascinating discuss as always. Thanks so much.
Let's talk sports for a minute, shall we?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO (voice-over): The PGA Championship is about to begin outside of Atlanta. The first golfer tees off in less than two hours. It is the final major of the year. Tiger Woods is there. Of course, the major drama between Tiger and his ex-caddie, Steve Williams is the big talker, but it seems to be colling down. U.S. Open champion, Rory McIlroy is there, too.
Now, watch this highlight from the Arena Football League. A player for the Georgia Force is deep in the end zone. There he is. Fielding a kick-off when a home team fan fields him and keeps him from making a return. Talk about fan in appearance. The Jacksonville Sharks showed some fan appreciation and gave their ninth man some high fives. They also got a fan an appearance a penalty, and, it was well deserved.
And these are some old pictures of freshly humiliated rookies for the Jacksonville Jaguars. These days are over. Head coach, Jack Del Rio, has banned hazing at the training camp. No more forced mullets, Mohawks, or ball (ph) hair cuts and no more taping rookies to goalposts. The coach says the players need to respect each other more. (END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO (on-camera): Chicago mobster, Al Capone, George "Machine Gun" Kelly, Bird Man Robert Stroud, all famous inmates of Alcatraz. This day in history, back in 1934, the first set of civilian prisoners were taken to the rock. They housed only military prisoners up until then. It was closed back in the 1960s. Today, more than a million people visit Alcatraz Island every year. It's 44 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Good morning to you. It's Thursday, August 11th. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you for joining us this morning.
Big swings on Wall Street and across the Atlantic. Let's go around the world with Nina Dos Santos. She's live in London. Tell us something good.
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol. Well, I can tell you that European stock markets for once seem to be rallying at the moment. Not taking that keys (ph) on Asia which follow the light for the most part. What we're seeing at the moment is a rally in the first two or three hours of trading, but then, again, you know, Carol, I must stress things are very volatile these days.
We've had no fear (ph) the nine sessions when stocks in Europe (INAUDIBLE). On an upbeat note, tried to end he day on an upbeat note, but we're thwarted from doing so while the open in the United States. So, it really is anybody's guess as to where end it at the end of the day. What I can tell you is that euro-zone crisis and the debt fear surrounding countries like Italy and Spain seem now to have moved a little bit further west toward France, a much larger economy.
That hangs in the balance. That is what people are worried about on the bond markets. And as volatility, still remains high. People are clawing (ph) into gold, the ultimate safe haven. Now surpassing yet another record, $1,880 an ounce. Some people are now telling, Carol, that $200 an ounce, even $250,000 an ounce for gold could be a distinct possibility with this kind of volatility in the markets. Gold is up no less than 26 percent, so far, this year.
COSTELLO: That is crazy, just crazy. I wish I had enough money to buy some, but I don't. Nina Dos Santos live from London. Thanks so much.
One day, the Dow takes 430 steps forward, the next takes 520 steps back. Strap yourself. Who knows where at heading today? The markets have lost $2.8 trillion since the stock markets began on July 22nd, so why are things so volatile? Some investors are bullish because of strong second quarters earnings and last Friday's OK jobs report, but bearish investors believe the European financial crisis could be the next Lehman Brothers and that the U.S. could be slipping into another recession, so Wall Street is torn. The markets act like a roller coaster. Standard & Poor's downgrades the U.S. credit crating. Fourteen million Americans are out of work. It does sound like a great time for a vacation. As you know, Congress is in recess on vacation, and the president heads to Martha's Vineyard next week for a ten-day vacation.
Four conservative House Democrats say lawmakers should come back to D.C. and get busy fixing the economy, and the president is catching some criticism for taking time off. But if Congress is gone, the president can't do much anyway. CNN chief White House correspondent, Jessica Yellin talked about that on "AC 360."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YELLIN: You need Congress to -- they control the purse strings. So, with Congress out of town, the president is limited. He is not going out and making a call for some new sweeping bolder action, but Washington right now is not in the mood for some sort of being compromised. You don't feel it in the air.
There's not a vibe of deal making in town, and with Congress gone, there isn't going to be a deal. So, bottom line is no, no message from the White House that they're calling them back, and so, no bold moves right now on the horizon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: No bold moves. OK. Let's talk about the British parliament, because they will meet next hour to address the riots that have been tearing up the country. Prime Minister David Cameron called them back from holiday, yes, back from vacation for an emergency session. Thursday morning has not seen as much chaos. That's a good thing.
And one analyst figures the four nights of looting and violence caused British businesses more than $160 million, and it's believed three men in Birmingham who were run over by a car and killed were protecting businesses from looters. The father of one of the victims pleaded for the -- for an end to the violence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TARIK JAHAN, VICTIM'S FATHER: I lost my son. Blacks, Asians, whites, we all live in the same community. Why do we have to kill one another? What's started these riots? What's escalated? Why are we doing this? I lost my son. Step forward if you want to lose your sons. Otherwise, calm down and go home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Police have arrested a suspect, but they have not linked the men's deaths to the riots. They've arrested more than 1,300 people in that area.
Let's head to Atlanta now to check in with meteorologist, Reynolds Wolf. Any flight delays out there this morning? WOLF: Not yet, but I'm going to guarantee that we're going to see some pop up later on the day, especially in the sunshine state of Florida where we have a chance of scaterred showers and storms, and with that, the delays will soon follow. You can expect possibly delay up to an hour or so in places like Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, even in Orlando and Tampa, pretty much the same situation.
Out west, it's going to be the issue with some fog and some low clouds in both San Francisco, and even in Los Angeles, they might keep you a little bit on the tarmac longer than you'd like, but you know what, things should clear up my midday. We are going to see the possibility of some storms develop across parts of the nation's midsection, perhaps, even into the southeast also. And one of the big reasons why we're going to see that possibly take place is simply due to a frontal boundary that we see right across parts of the nation's midsection as we put into motion for you.
What we can expect also with that is possibility some flash flooding and maybe into parts of the Ohio Valley. So, we'll keep a sharp eye on that for you. All right. Well, a delay's a delay. We'll have more updates on your forecast coming throughout the morning. It happens. We've woken up, but apparently, the computers have not.
COSTELLO: I hate when that happens.
WOLF: I know. There's a little bit of that going around this morning. It happens from time to time, don't you know.
COSTELLO: We feel your pain. Thank you, Reynolds.
Before we go, let's take a look at the word of the day. It's iftar. Find out what it means and why you need to know right after the break. It's 53 minutes past the hour.
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COSTELLO: It is 56 minutes past the hour. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. The word of the day iftar. What does it mean? Well, it said daily dinner held throughout the Muslim holy month of Ramadan to break each day's past. President Obama hosted an iftar dinner last night, praising American-Muslims for their contributions. It's a White House tradition that started under President Clinton and has continued under Presidents George W. Bush and President Obama. This is your morning WAKE-UP CALL.
Here are three things to put on your radar today.
British Prime Minister David Cameron will talk about the riots before parliament at 6:30 eastern this morning.
Plus, the weekly initial jobless claims come out this morning at 8:30 eastern.
And President Obama will speak around 2:40 p.m. eastern time for Michigan. He's expected to highlight the roll innovation place and feel economy standers.
Now, something to get you laughing this morning because, believe me, we all need to laugh this morning. Jon Stewart taking on the Tea Party. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JON STEWART, THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART: You remember the 2010 midterm elections when America was rocked by a tea-soaked populous uprising. Just regular Joe Earl Grays and Jane Zinger (ph) in Middle America, taking back their country from the out-of-touch elites.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want our country back.
(CHANTING) Obama must go. Obama must go.
(CHANTING) Kill the bill. Kill the bill.
(CHANTING) Change.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want our country back, and we want it back now!
(LAUGHTER)
STEWART: I'm sorry. This is your country? I'm sorry. This is a terrible misunderstanding. We were told it was a time share.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Oh, now let's go to Carter Evans for a look at your money this morning. He joins us live at the NASDAQ market site here in New York. So, Carter, how are thinks looking in the market this morning?
CARTER EVANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's looking like it could be another bumpy day, Carol. I want to show you this week as if you needed confirmation of the roller coaster we've been on. This is just the last couple of days before the Dow. Let's take a look at futures. They're up today, but, you know, futures were down 100 points yesterday, and we closed down 500 points. So, Dow futures up 150 points today, NASDAQ futures up 34, S&P up 16.
Gold is still rising, but not as much. This is something to keep an eye on. Gold is up 17.89. A lot of analysts are saying once we see gold start to slip back in prices, we might see people heading back into equities. And finally, what looks like some good news but may not be on Cnn.Money.com, they're talking about foreclosures falling for the 10th straight month in a row, down 35 percent in July from the same time last year.
Here's the problem. It's because banks are flowing down -- slowing down foreclosure proceedings. They've got so many foreclosures already. Also, in the wake of that robo-signing scandal, that's the reason, not because there are fewer of them. So, Carol, I don't normally give stock tips, but I'm thinking Procter & Gamble, the maker of Pepto-Bismol --
(LAUGHTER)
EVANS: -- might be a good advice.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: I like that. I'm glad you ended on a humorous note because you were really depressing me there, Carter.
EVANS: Sorry.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Thanks. Catch you later. "AMERICAN MORNING" continues right now.
