>> alison kosik, thanks so much. reporting live from the new york stock exchange. >>> what politician doesn't want the youth vote? it's hip and it's cool and it could help you win. obama overwhelmingly won younger voters in 2008. but this year, it's not clear if those voters will bother to vote. ♪ [ acoustic guitar: upbeat ] [ dog ] we found it together. on a walk, walk, walk. love to walk. yeah, we found that wonderful thing. and you smiled. and threw it. and i decided i would never, ever leave it anywhere. because that wonderful, bouncy, roll-around thing... had made you play. and that... had made you smile. [ announcer ] beneful. play. it's good for you. like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air. can >>> daily vitamins can be helpful but they can also be harmful. i tell people you should get most of your vitamins and nutrients from whole foods. h

here's alison kosik. hi, alison. >> hi there. today we're hemg you prepare for retirement and with me this hour, liz miller and greg mcbride. greg, this question is for you. >> i'm five to ten years from retirement. i have maybe 10% to 20% of my net worth slabl in cash. i'd like to invest and put it to better use but given the political and economic uncertainties, what would you suggest i do with the cash resources? >> and this is actually one of the questions this most of us ask but this gentleman is five to ten years from retirement. what to do? >> the money withdrawing from retirement, it's cash invest ms or high quality bonds. yes, the returns are low but doesn't have the ability to take a whole lot of risk because he needs the money so soon. money this he's going to earmark for withdrawal beyond that ten-year timeframe that can and should be invested for aggressively. >> do you agree with that? should be some risk. >> i think for the longer term and support the retirement, absolutely. there's very high quality stocks with ni

alison kosik joins us from the new york stock exchange. getting close to the close. >> yes. >> alison, a big day. >> the federal reserve gets all the credit for the rally you're seeing. the dow up 186 points. we're a couple minutes before the closing bell. look at the dow and s&p 500? they're at their highest levels, don, since december of 2007. the nasdaq trading at its highest level in 12 years. we are watching financials up anywhere from 2% to 4%. home builders up 3% to 5%. a little irony, we are coming up on the four-year anniversary of the worst week of the recession. the lehman collapse, that anniversary coming up on saturday. that's when the dow -- on that monday when lehman collapsed, the nasdaq plunged, what a difference for years makes. >> yeah. >> glad it's in the positive territory. lehman is doubled now it's asking price for its stock? >> lehman is no longer with us. >> i thought you said -- wait, someone just mentioned about stocks being doubled. what are you talking about? okay. i heard double, yeah, that doesn't sound right

>> here's the other but, though, alison kosik. i can hear people scratching their heads and saying, fishy? this is suspicious. recalculating the numbers with 40 days to go. is there anything suspect here? >> that's a good question because everybody wants the know that. the timing is suspect. but from what we can tell there's no conspiracy here. this is really how the bureau of labor statistics operates. it goes ahead and revised the figures very frequently as it gets more and more information. in fact, these numbers could still be revised again in january. and you know this because when we come out with the jobs report every month there are often revisions to the previous month's so revisions are just sort of a name of the game coming to calculating how many jobs created in this country. >> alison kosik, thank you. if you want to read more, cnnmoney.com with a write on that. don't forget to catch the first presidential debate. denver, colorado. romney v. obama. right here on cnn. >>> overhauling health care coverage, two big compa

alison kosik joins me. will we see a drop any time? >> relief should be on its way soon. the reason we've been seeing gas prices go up is we've had a lot of these short term problems. the biggie is hurricane isaac last week. most of the refineries had to shut down or cut back on production. the down time kept the process of making gasoline happening. it was more of a supply and demand issue. other factors pushed prices higher as well. one oil analyst says that prices could wind up dropping 20 cents over the next month. that coming from tom clossa. the faster these refineries can get up and running, the better. one other thing by september 15th, refineries should be switched to the less expensive winter blend. we could see gas at $3.25 a gallon by december. >> how about jobs? we've been adding jobs for two straight years but what kind of jobs? >> the problems with the jobs being added is most are low wage positions. these are hard to live on and pay your bill. do you pay the medical bill or the electricity bill? there's a study that says 58% of jobs created over the past t

alison kosik at the new york stock exchange. and this number, 382,000, what's the story behind the number? >> exactly. you said it. there's a story behind the number. it's inflated because of hurricane katrina isaac. remember that? >> yep. >> louisiana and puerto rico with an increase of 8,000 claims and that's because businesses had to close because of the storm. mississippi also reported another 1,000 claims. but here's the thing with this. even if you discount the numbers, guess what, that level 382,000 level, still too high. we want to see it -- these total filings closer to 350,000 or under mark to show there's a real solid rebound in the labor market. you know what? we are not seeing it right now, brooke. >> what about the layoffs? we were reporting on the multiple thousand, what, 16,000 people to be laid off by bank of america by the end of the year. but that is not a new number per se. correct? >> right. the good thing is that these workers who are finding out right now kind of takes the guessing game out of this because

alison kosik is live at the new york stock exchange. talk about the hidden unemployed. how big is that group? >> the group is very big. that's why there's not this big celebration about the rate dropping. 368,000 people just gave up looking for jobs. they said forget it. i'm not going to keep looking for work. they're not counted in that number. that's not the reason you want to see the unemployment rate fall. then there's that big group. that underemployment rate. some say it's the real unemployment rate and includes people in part-time jobs that want full-time work. it dropped but it's 14.7%. that's huge. that's an eye popping percentage of people. >> with the hiring slowing. we all look ahead when the federal reserves meets. the fed is meeting next week. obviously they can't lower the interest rates any lower than what they are. might we see some stimulus stimulating the economy? >> you may. many believe that this weak report could force the feds hand. when the fed meets next week it may introduce a bond buying program to try to jump start job creation. it's benefits

alison kosik joins me on the phone. isaac is gone at least as a major threat as a hurricane. why are we still seeing the high gas prices? >> you know you can blame hurricane isaac for the gas prices. the good news is you can pretty much blame isaac only for the short term. you expect to see gas prices stay higher in the short term and then go lower in the longer term. the reason isaac is because it hit the gulf coast. 40% of the petroleum is located along the gulf coast. the good news is the refineries were not damaged. the reason isaac is having the huge impact is because the refineries had to shut down to cut back during the storm. that knocked out hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil production a day. that down time sent prices higher. also there has been a refinery fire that happened two weeks ago. there were also refinery fires in california that shut down production, as well. all of that drives up oil prices and driving gas prices higher. it is the law of supply and demand. the less gas on the market you are seeing gasoline prices go higher. >> what kind of relief mi

alison kosik is live at the new york stock exchange to do that for us. >> hi, carol. first of all, romney, believe it or not, is right. 46.4% of americans don't pay federal income taxes at all. that's according to the tax policy center. who are these people? mostly low and lower middle income earners and about half don't pay income taxes because they don't make enough money. the other half, they don't pay taxes because they can take advantage of enough tax credits, to bring their tax liability down to nothing. that group mainly consists of senior citizens and lower income families. it's just the way the tax code is designed. romney is also accurate for using a wide umbrella to include any checks that comes from the government. i'm talking about medicaid, food stamps, social security, medicare and unemployment benefits. by that measure, almost half the country lives in a household that received government benefits in 2010. carol, that amounts to more than 148 million americans. >> but when you say that 47% of americans don't pay income taxes, it makes it sound like tho

let's bring in business correspondent alison kosik in new york. alison, thanks for joining us. you know, here in atlanta i see a lot of stations that are $3.99 a gallon. they don't want to scare motorist it's by putting it at $4 and over. it's at $4 in lots of states. why are the prices so high? >> talk about sticker shock, we're certainly getting it this weekend. gas prices are higher than they've ever been on record for a labor day weekend but they're not as high as they were back in april. guess what? we could all blame hurricane isaac for this recent spike in gas prices. this is because hurricane isaac hit the gulf coast. that's really a key oil production area in this country. you look at 40% of the nation's petroleum refining capacity is right there located along the gulf coast. and that's why you're seeing gas prices really spike, and there you're looking at the difference there between the previous labor day record and we're certainly beating that. but what happened with hurricane isaac was that these refineries weren't damaged, but they had to shut down or cut back pro

alison kosik, thank you so much. >>> now i want to talk about a story, we talked about this yesterday, i heard you, read all your tweets, tweet during my two hours here. talking about the morning after pill in some new york schools it is being given to students. but today, we're talking to one parent who is pretty upset over this whole thing. find out what she is doing to take on city leaders. there's a health company that can help you stay that way. what's healthier than that? i i had pain in my abdomen...g. it just wouldn't go away. i was spotting, but i had already gone through menopause. these symptoms may be nothing... but they could be early warning signs of a gynecologic cancer, such as cervical, ovarian, or uterine cancer. feeling bloated for no reason. that's what i remember. seeing my doctor probably saved my life. warning signs are not the same for everyone. if you think something's wrong... see your doctor. ask about gynecologic cancer. and get the inside knowledge. >>> you know how we talk about there is no republican who has ever gone on to win the race for the white hou

alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange. okay. we are excited to hear this. >> you know, more and more good news in the housing market. the price of a typical home went up again in july. this report coming from case-schiller saying home values in 2070s across the country rose 1.6%. this happens to be the third month in a row of gains. this is good news in the housing sector. it was the housing sector that got us into the financial mess so it is nice to see a recovery really taking hold. also, there is a -- positive side effect of this these rising home prices falling foreclosures. becau more quit. this may push potential home buyers off the fence. see the prices going higher and think i better buy a house soon before the prices go even higher. >> okay. also some good news for discover card holders. they are going to get some money. >> some money, exactly. what happened here is discover's telemarketers made people think that they were getting certain products for prewhen they weren't. these are known add-ones. you can buy the

alison kosik, thank you my friend. i appreciate it. >>> a quick note. if you're heading out the door, you can take us with you. continue watching cnn from your mobile phone. it's very cool. watch us from your live desk stop. go to cnn.com/tv and all the instructions are there. i've been a superintendent for 30 some years at many different park service units across the united states. the only time i've ever had a break is when i was on maternity leave. i have retired from doing this one thing that i loved. now, i'm going to be able to have the time to explore something different. it's like another chapter. how did the nba become the hottest league on the planet? by building on the cisco intelligent network they're able to serve up live video, and instant replays, creating fans from berlin to beijing. what can we help you build? nice shot kid. the nba around the world built by the only company that could. cisco. we believe small things can make a big difference.e, like how a little oil from here can be such a big thing in an old friend's life. we discover

that's something that gets lost because we like to talk about apple so much. >> alison kosik, alison, thank you. >>> maybe you're watching football last night, pretty much up unheard of, a coach grabbing a referee in protest of a call, that's the latest headache here involving these temporary referees in the nfl. well, get this, i'm about to speak live with a former nfl ref about whether this is ruining the integrity of a multibillion dollar industry. don't miss it. hey, i love your cereal there -- it's got that sweet honey taste. but no way it's 80 calories, right? no way, right? lady, i just drive the truck. right, there's no way right, right? have a nice day. [ male announcer ] 80 delicious calories. fiber one. ...and we inspected his brakes for free. -free is good. -free is very good. [ male announcer ] now get 50% off brake pads and shoes at meineke. >>> fist it was just football fans talking. now it seems like everyone is abuzz over these replacement referees instead of the regular officials. the two sides are locked in this labor dispute and last night it came to a head in the

alison kosik joins me live from the new york stock exchange. i had a research department pull the ipo price on apple back in 1980. $22 a share. split three times which means $2.75 if you bought it back then. >> incredible, isn't it? it is incredible to see the rise of the share price. trading below that $700 mark. but it did cross that $700 mark. hitting $701. and guess what? here what happe what's driving the shares higher announcement of the iphone 5, pro broke reports on preorders, 2 million put in. the phone hits store shelves friday. it is hard to believe, ashley, six months ago that apple crossed the $600 mark for the first time. you know analysts are saying, wait a minute, caution here, the stock is rising too quickly. it could become overvalued. if you look at it this way, apple stock is trading 16 times its fiscal 2013 estimates and it's not expensive compared to amazon and facebook. they trade at higher multiples than that. it means apple shares still, believe it or not have room to run. >> could go higher. let's talk about something

ashley. >> all right, alison kosik, thank you very much. do appreciate that mplgts a quick note for anybody heading out the door, no fear. you can continue watching cnn from your mobile phone and then when you get to work if that's where you're headed you can also pop us up on your desktop. it is easy to do. go to cnn.com/tv. by making it without 100% real cheddar cheese. but then...it wouldn't be stouffer's mac & cheese. just one of over 70 satisfying recipes for one from stouffer's. starts with ground beef, unions, and peppers baked in a ketchup glaze with savory gravy and mashed russet potatoes. what makes stouffer's meatloaf best of all? that moment you enjoy it at home. stouffer's. let's fix dinner. the wheels of progress. seems they haven't been moving much lately. but things are starting to turn around because of business people like you. and regions is here to help. with the experience and service to keep things rolling. from business loans to cash management, we want to be your partner moving forward. so switch to regions. and let'

alison kosik has more from the help desk. >> hi there. here on the help desk we're talking about saving for your retirement and with me this hour are liz miller and greg mcbride. liz, this is the question for you. >> other than a 401(k), how else can i save for retirement? >> it just seems luke a good fallback, doesn't it, the 401(k) and most people only invest in their 401(k), don't they? >> they do. but if someone is in a position that they can put more in their 401(k) allows, then there are options. if a couple makes a bit less than $175,000, you can additionally put money into a roth i.r.a. that will grow tax deferred and be tax free at retirement. and you can always put about $5,000 right now after tax into just a traditional i.r.a., even when you already have a 401(k). >> okay. anything beyond those that she just mentioned? >> i love the i.r.a. and too many people think it is an either/or proposition. you can do the 401(k) and the i.r.a. and even for higher income households there is a back doorway to get money into that roth i.r.a.

there she is, alison kosik, at the new york stock exchange for us. alison, put this in perspective. what's happening here? >> reporter: it's just another sign that the housing market, brooke, is really turning a corner at this point. the national association of realtors says part of the reason is what they're seeing is more buyers are taking advantage of lower prices for houses right now. even though prices have been slowly climbing, they're still pretty cheap because of the big hit we took during the recession. plus the mortgage rates are still near record lows. the current 30-year fixed is just at 3.5%. and guess what? they're expected to go even lower. that's because of the federal reserve's announcement last week that it would buy up $40 billion a month in mortgage backed securities. so that makes buying very attractive. there's also a lot of this pent-up demand that's been accumulating since the recession started. a lot of people have been waiting to get out of their homes and now they feel pretty confident or a little more confident about doing it. brooke. >> here's the questi

i want to bring in alison kosik from new york to talk about this a little bit. alison, talk about the reaction to this question that people are saying are we better off than we were four years ago. >> yes, and when you hear the question, suzanne, a lot of ways to look at it and the real answer really depends upon a lot of individualtors and in the end, it may be how people feel about their own individual situation compared to the last election. so we had producers go out across the country and ask that very question and here are some of the answers they heard. >> reporter: are you making more money now than you were four years ago? >> yes. >> i make about one-third of what i made four years ago. >> no. >> no. >> i'm making less money and the sad part is that i have a master's degree. and a rp corporate job does noty what it did four or five years ago. >> and making the same money and able to save a little bit, but same as before. >> four years ago struggle and today, even more struggle. >> so there you go. a lot of no's suzanne if people are better off today tha

alison kosik, thank you. >>> speaking of investments, many of you are asking us questions. we have the help desk to answer them. here is poppy harlow. >> today on the help desk, we're focusing on investing in mutual funds. it affects a lot of folks. joining me to talk about it, donna rosatto and ryan mack. listen to this. >> what kind of mutual fund should i invest in? >> it is a broad question, but she's got a good point. there are so many out there. >> there are a lot of different mutual funds. the first thing is make sure you have a no load mutual funds, no commission mutual fund. >> fees. >> for every commission driven mutual fund, i can find you five that give you just as good of a return. make sure the performance measurement standards, that portfolio manager has been there for five years, has a good steady rate of return that -- >> they usually have a morning star rating on them or something. >> four or five stars. and last is the expense ratio. 1.5% or less. >> i can't emphasize that enough. expense is more important than anything else. studies by vanguard are that

alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange. so break these numbers down for us, alison. >> one analyst said this is a shocker to him. it's a big miss and a big disappointment. as you said, only 96,000 jobs were added in august. that is way below what was expected. and when you think about it, what was expected was at least 120,000 would have been added. and that was even lower. so it really winds up being a bigger miss. the unemployment rate fell to 8.1%. the headline, when you see that, you think, wow, that's great. but then you look deeper into the number and you see why. it's because the labor force shrank. it's because more people dropped out looking for work. they got frustrated and just gave up altogether. that's really not what you want to see. that's not the way you want to see the unemployment rate go down. more bad news, the june job additions, those numbers were both revised lower. 41,000 fewer jobs it turns out were added over the summer than previously thought. so let's try to look at the glass half full here. wher

alison kosik, appreciate it. and thou joining us is one of the most influential people this the obama administration, and she is here at the grill to talk to us up next. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] at&t. the nation's largest 4g network. covering 2,000 more 4g cities and towns than verizon. at&t. rethink possible. exclusive to the military, and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. with our award winning apps that allow you to transfer funds, pay bills or manage your finances anywhere, anytime. so that wherever your duty takes you, usaa bank goes with you. visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different. >>> besides michelle obama, the chair is the most influential woman that the white house is listen listening to and "the new york times" article calls her the other power. good to see you valerie. >> well, it is so good to see you on the third and the final day of of the convention. >> at love oent

alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange. this project has been in the work for six years now? >> there has been. there's even been a two-year delay for more safety testing because of the bp disaster that happened in the gulf of mexico. i want to give you an idea just what this project looks like. this is the animation from shell oil of the site we're talking about. what's happened here is the obama administration, it gave the go ahead to start what it calls limited preparatory activities. that includes installing a blowout preventer. we all learned that term two years ago when pb's blowout preventer failed in the gulf of mexico and launched the biggest oil disaster. that prompted a moratorium on all offshore drilling on new projects. the u.s. geological survey estimates we may be able to get more than 90 billion barrels of oil, carol, from this part of the world. that's about a 13-year supply based on how much crude americans use every day. carol? >> shell says it could handle a big oil spill. environmentalists are not so su

alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange. alison, a lot of banks involved there. how did this happen? >> well, first of all, i want to point out no customer information was hacked into. there was no money taken. what instead happened here was more of these denial of service attacks. what these essentially do, they make it really difficult to get on to these banks' websites. there is no actual hacking going on. so no data was stolen and the banks' actual transaction networks were not affected. but these attacks can be annoying if you want to get on your bank's website and check your balance or pay your bills. it slows them down and many customers couldn't access them at all. >> do we know who is behind these attacks? >> we don't. and investigators are trying to track down who is responsible. one islamist group claimed responsibility but too soon to say whether they really did this. these attacks suggest there is a lot of preplanning involved, months in fact, which is very different from what we have seen in the past. bank of america, jpmorgan chase, wells fargo, u.

. >> alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange. he got a little specific. what does it mean? >> if you are an average american you will be paying more out of pocket costs. nothing would change currently efor seniors or anyone who is 55 years of age or older. it winds up being a big change for those who are 54 years old or younger. they would get a fixed amount from the government to buy insurance. how much depends on mean. lower income seniors would get more. people would use those payments to buy private insurance plan. the big criticism with this is that this plan doesn't protect seniors from rising health care costs. the benefit amount will be adjusted for inflation. look how much health care costs have been rising. they have been rising much faster. even though gains for lowered inflation has been rising. romney says giving seniors a choice would create more competition and keep costs down. the congressionalal budget office found that government spending would be $2,200 less than under current law. you sort of step back and say if the government is spending less but healt

alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange to tell us what people are saying. good morning. >> good morning, carol. so do you want to give your two cents? who doesn't, right? today cnn money is asking all americans how do you feel your financial situation is compared to four years ago? so if you want to take part in this, go to cnnmoney.com and take the poll yourself. what this does, it asks the same questions that we presented to people in los angeles and atlanta and in dallas. we asked them, are you making more money compared to four years ago? do you have more in savings than you did four years ago? and has your housing situation improved in the last four years? so when we sent these out, producers across the country to ask the questions, listen to how people answered the first question when making more money. >> are you making more money now than you were four years ago? >> yes. >> i make about 1/3 of what i made four years ago. >> no. >> no. i'm making less money. and the sad part is, i actually have a masters degree. >> even like a caorporate job doesn't

alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange to explain it for us. and, so what was the company doing that got them in trouble? >> well, deb, investigators found that discover's telemarketers made people think that they were getting certain products for free, when they weren't. these are -- for these add-ones, you can buy when you open a credit card like identity theft protection, credit card score tracking. the consumer financial protection bureau and fdic did this investigation and what they did was listened to a bunch of recorded sales calls and what they said was they discovered that the reps there spoke unusually fast when they were explaining the cost and the product terms to these customers. they also say that the telemarketing scripts implied consumers wouldn't be charged when there was a fee attached. the reps even processed these add-ones and charged customers money when they didn't agree to them in the first place. what discover says it will do, they say they will stop the deceptive sales tactics, they'll pay regulators on top of the custo

i asked cnn business correspondent alison kosik if this is a sign that the bottom of the market is now holding. >> victor, it's funny, you're asking that $64,000 question and it's what many buyers and sellers are wondering at this point. the good news is that more and more analysts are coming out and saying the bottom has actually passed and as this point we're actually on the way up and numbers came out this week that support that. home prices across 20 major u.s. cities rose 1.6% in july and then a separate report from the commerce department and what it showed was that the median price of a newly constructed home is at $257,000. that's a jump up 11% from july to august. now, a few reasons for these higher prices. less of a supply of homes on the market and that means more people are going after fewer properties. plus, mortgage rates are at record lows. that's a real good incentive to get people out there to buy. also, an increasing number of buyers. they just haven't been able to find previously owned homes that they like, they are opting to go brand-new and those are traditionally

. >> alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange. is romney's definition different from obama's and if so how? >> the thing with this is there is no textbook definition of the middle class. you know what it is, it is more of a feeling and that's why there is so much debate over this question. come on, it is tough to make the case that $200,000 or $250,000 is a middle class income, especially when you point out the median household income is about $50,000. look how this breaks down. just 4% of the households here in the u.s. make more than 200,000. that means 96% of us make less than $200,000. it is kind of hard to argue you're middle income if you're in the top 4% of earners. critics are am coming out of the wood work and using this to paint mitt romney as a rich guy out of touch with the average american family. look, romney isn't that far off from what president obama has been saying himself. president obama says he wants to keep tax cuts for the middle class and he has been using this same cut off,individualing makes $200,000 and

alison kosik live at the new york stock exchange. allison, why? what's behind the drop? >> well, you know what, it shows you the power of the media. over the weekend there was an article in the publication "barons" that said facebook stock price is over priced and should be closer to $15 a share. right now facebook shares are at $20.96. so what happened, well, trades on the nasdaq, it started tumbling. it tumbled at least 10% today. it tripped circuit breakers at the nasdaq and those circuit breakers are tripped to keep the stock from falling any more. the stock's come back a bit, it is now down about 8.3%. some traders are surprised by the tumble because the article didn't say anything new that they already didn't know that facebook, you know, has already faced a lot of criticism about not having a clear growth strategy. most of us access facebook on our tablets and on mobile devices and should facebook going to monetize this, how is facebook going to make money off its mobile users with advertising. that's nothing new. for some reason, this article over the weekend cer

alison kosik is live at the new york stock exchange and so, spill it! >> okay. so you know with the jobs market may look like stuck in the mud, but the housing sector is certainly showing the signs of life with this report that came out a few minutes ago. existing home sales jumped 7.8% in august and this number is coming in well above the expectations, because the economists had been expecting a 2% gain. and another good thing about this report when you look at it is that the sales are not happening in the pockets of the united states, but you are seeing a rise of the sales in every region of the united states, and the sales moved at fastest pace in two years. this is a keenum by number, and existing sales, because they account fort 90% of all housing acti activity and wall street watches this number, as well. and it is not just sales, but the prices went up, too. and the median sales price rose to $190,000, and that means that we have now found a bottom and you are now seeing a recovery happ happening in the housing sector. prices are rising and the national a

alison kosik joins us from the new york stock exchange to tell us more. >> hi, carol. this is a transmission issue that winds up affecting some of the more popular gm vehicles. apparently these cars start to roll even when they're shifted in park. the cars affected are all sedans from the chevy, pontiac and saturn lines. they include 2007 to 2010 model years for the chevrolet malibu, the saturn aura and the pontiac g6s. all have four speed automatic transmission. so far gm knows of four crashes related to the problem but no serious injuries. gm does say what it's going to do is notify owners with letters, if their vehicles are included in this. now, if you get a notice you'll be able to bring your car in to a dealership and have the fix done for free. and if you're one of the people who've already paid for the repair, you can get reimbursed. this recall, carol, comes just a few months after gm's last one, it was a big one, when it had to recall a similar amount of chevy cruzes for an engine issue. >> we'll take you back to pittsburgh where there's a hostage situation g

alison kosik, this is good news. >> yeah, the market skyrocketing. the dow up. the numbers you mention show there's a bit of improvement where jobs is concerned. there are fewer layoffs. now we want to see a trend-lower. we're getting a preview to the monthly unemployment picture. adp says private employers added 201,000 jobs in august. that came in much better than expected. brooke. >> we're of course getting the big august jobs numbers tomorrow. so we'll talk about that tomorrow. it's a huge political ramifications there. but let's talk about this magic number perhaps. 316,000, what does that number signify? >> that number is really where we need to get to 316,000 jobs before the election. that means we need to average 105,000 jobs added in each of the next three months. now, this year we're averaging around 150,000. so believe it or not it is doable. but both campaigns are going to spin it the way they want it. if we get a great number tomorrow, if we get a bad number, they're going to spin it in whatever favor they want. but it is possible for us to sort of

alison kosik thanks so much. we're going to take a short break. i was spotting, but i had already gone through menopause. these symptoms may be nothing... but they could be early warning signs of a gynecologic cancer, such as cervical, ovarian, or uterine cancer. feeling bloated for no reason. that's what i remember. seeing my doctor probably saved my life. warning signs are not the same for everyone. if you think something's wrong... see your doctor. ask about gynecologic cancer. and get the inside knowledge. his morning starts with arthritis pain. and two pills. afternoon's overhaul starts with more pain. more pills. triple checking hydraulics. the evening brings more pain. so, back to more pills. almost done, when... hang on. stan's doctor recommended aleve. it can keep pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is rudy. who switched to aleve. and two pills for a day free of pain. ♪ and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels. but with advair, i'm breathing better. so now i can be in the scene. advair is clinically prov

alison kosik, turning to you as always to sort through the god and the bad. what's the story behind the jobless benefits? >> we learned that first-time claims for unemployment claims, brooke, dipped by 3,000 to 382,000 and sure, you know, any decline in the number of people laid off is a good thing but we want to see the level of filings closer to the 350,000 or under mark to really signaling we have a solid rebound in the labor market. it's frustrating is that there had been that sign back in july but the problem is those claims numbers have slowly been going back up lately and we find out every month that employers not hiring on a large scale but i want to give you a caveat in the reading and that's partly the number that you saw of claims. it was partly inflated with hurricane isaac. several states impacted by the hurricane had to close their businesses and 8,000 claims but the problem is if you discount the number of claims filed because of the businesses closing and the storm the level, yeah, the level is still too high, brooke. >> and then you wake up.

. >> let's fwauk thtalk about thi alison kosik. the median income in the u.s. is just over $50,000. back to mitt romney, is he technically correct? >> okay, here's the thing with this, brooke. there is no textbook definition of what the middle class is. you know what it is, it is more of a feeling. that's why there is so much wiggle room with this. if you look at households sitting in the middle of income distribution, those in the 40th to 50th percentile, they'at's o way to define the middle class. only 5% of households make $186,000 or more. but however you define the middle class, brooke, it is getting smaller. there is a recent study that found that just one third of americans now consider themselves part of the lower class. of the middle class, rather. four years ago, it was bigger, a quarter of the population. >> it needs to be pointed out, though, this number, $250,000, we heard it before, because president obama is calling for extending the current tax cuts, so-called bush tax cut for income below that $250,000 mark for families. and $200,000 for individuals. by making those

alison kosik is here with tips to help you make your application stand out if you happen to be one of them. allison? >> so 12.5 million people unemployed and 3.7 million jobs open across the u.s. you can bet that the competition is fierce. if you are having trouble getting your future employer's attention here are great suggestions. we spoke with career coach and she said solid research really makes the biggest difference. she says most job seekers don't review the company website before the interview and you want to know about issues affecting the industry and the company. when it comes to your resume she said there is no magic bullet. we know recruiters only spend a few seconds skimming each one but says a referal makes the difference. that can come from an acquaintance or a friend of the friend. hr departments will prioritize those resumes. because some of the best candidates come from referals and it is not enough to network. you will need to build your own personal brand and recommends commenting on trade association blogs and writing an article for your trade association newslet

alison kosik is live at the new york stock exchange and talk about what this means, alison, when you look at this number, $16 trillion debt, and what is that meaning to the average person? can you break it down? >> besides your eyes popping out of your head when you see that number, let me tell you what it does not mean. i duds not mean that each of us is on the hook for thousands of dollars of debt, but hitting the $16 trillion mark is yet one more reminder that we are close to hitting the debt ceiling again and right now the debt ceiling is 16.394 trilli$16.394 that means fasten the seat belt for another fight over spending and taxes, and this fight over all of this happening after the election, because the politicians doesn't want to touch the issues. so why is this debt rising fast? because we are spending more money than taking in, and two ways to fix it, raise taxes or cut spending, and neither is an easy solution. higher taxes will hurt many americans who are struggling as it is, and when the government cuts what it spends, that hits the economy as well, because it cuts into t

alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange for me. what is going on? >> reporter: okay, we talk about housing, it is not stuck in the mud like the jobs market is. when we talk about the housing sector, there are a couple of things going on here. we see bright spots, the national association of realtors is saying more buyers are taking advantage of lower prices for houses right now. even though prices have been slowly climbing, they're still pretty darn cheap because of the big hit we took during the recession. mortgage rates are still near record lows as well. the current 30-year fixed is sitting at 3.5%. and those mortgage rates are expected to go even lower. that's because of the federal reserve's announcement last week that it would buy up $40 billion a month in mortgage-backed securities. what all this stuff does, it makes buying a house very attractive. and, you know, national association of realtors says, you know what, there is a lot of pent up demand accumulating since the recession started, a lot of people have been holding out about moving an

alison kosik is live for us. here's the big question. is it over, are we back from the crash of 2008? >> so let's take it easy for a minute. when it comes to the stock market, yeah, i mean, stocks are pretty much back to where they were before the market really began tanking. but still stocks still have a long way to go from the record highs that we saw in late 2007. now, one of the reasons we he are kind of back is some individual stocks. they're on a major roll. did you know almost a fifth of the stocks in the s&p 500, they're close to an all-time high and they include names you'll recognize. of course apple, we talk about that one almost every day. at least i know on twitter. amazon.com's another. disney. craft foods and chevron. now, something a lot of these companies have in martin is that they manage their way through the recession successfully, whether it's disney, which offered theme park discounts for the first time ever when times got tough, or kraft which cut back on costs or apple and amazon rolling out revolution their new p

alison kosik, my thanks to you there at the new york stock exchange. again, we are just a little bit away from the closing bell on the dow huge jump 233 points up. i'm brooke baldwin here in atlanta. take you to charlotte, north carolina, "the situation room" begins right now. >>> the president servant of the state true constituency of the future. >> america is a future that each generation must enlarge. >> because this election is not about ideology, it's about confidence. >> i still believe in a place called hope. >> and i stand here tonight as my own man. and i want you to know me for who i truly am. >> i'm john kerry, and i'm reporting for duty. >> america, we cannot turn back. not with so much work to be done. >> announcer: this is cnn. >>> in minutes this the final night of the democratic national convention kicks off right here in charlotte. what happens tonight could change the battle for the white house as we know it. and you're going to see it all unfold live. i'm wolf blitzer on the floor of the convention here in charlotte. and you're in "t

earlier today i asked our alison kosik why. >> the good news is you can pretty much blame isaac for the short term. you can expect to see gas prices stay higher in the short term and go lower in the longer term. the reason isaac is the brains of this is because isaac hit the gulf coast where the oil production is. 40% of the nation's petroleum is located along the gulf coast. the refineries weren't damaged. the reason isaac is having an impact is because the refineries had to shut down during the storm. that knocked out hundreds of thousands of barrel production during the day. it is not just isaac. also there has been a deadly refinery fire in venezuela. there are fires happening in california. that shut down production, as well. that is sinking supply and driving up oil prices and driving gas prices higher. if less gas is on the market you are seeing gasoline prices go higher. >> we will keep you posted on when the prices might potentially get lower. >>> u.s. special operations forces have stopped training afghan police recruits. they are double checking their background information f

alison kosik is at our help desk. >> here on the help desk, we're talking about paying down debt before retirement. with me this hour, liz miller and greg mcbride. greg, listen to this question. >> when you retire, should you get rid of credit card debt or is it okay to have some? >> we all carry credit card debt. come on. >> get rid of the credit card debt regardless of your age. it is very high cost debt. now, don't fall for the misperception that you have to carry debt in order to maintain a credit score. i think it is important that you get rid of that debt, but continue to use the credit card for a token purchase every month or so, pay the balance in full, just so you can maintain a high credit score. don't carry any credit card debt. >> that's a great idea, right? >> i agree completely. has nothing to do with age. the fact that you're retiring isn't going to change that. spending habits shouldn't change that dramatically and if you used a credit card responsely before, keep doing it. your credit score can come from a lot of different sources. i talk to people about one of the best

alison kosik joins me now from the new york stock smang. exchange. so tell us more. >> nothing concrete that this has anything to do with the cyber attack or anti-muslim film. that aside, what happened here is after the bank of america site went down and then chase bank, these groups have said this is us. that's their m.o. both later revealed to be technical issues. both chase and b of a have been making updates on their sites so it is possible that a simple glitch caused the problem. bank of america came out saying it continuously takes proactive measures. chase didn't go into any details on what may have caused the issues. we did our own sort of unscientific test this morning. both sites seem to be running back to normal. but if you're still having trouble, you can always go to your atm or a physical bank to do your business. if that's too big of a pain, you can do what most of us would probably do and just wait it out. just want to check on stock, lower open. dow will open at about 50 points lower. some disappointing economic reports from around t

alison kosik at the new york stock exchange to talk about it. apple makes a big deal about everything they roll out here. but there was an economist at jpmorgan who said it's a bigger deal it could boost the u.s. economy. is that true? >> no, no, he's crunched the numbers. analysts at jpmorgan says the bump that the iphone sales could do could amount to a quarter or a half percent of economic growth. say, for example, in the second quarter of the year, we saw gdp grow by 1.7%, so sales of iphone 5 would wind up moving gdp over that 2% mark. you know what that's equal to? pumping $3.2 billion right into the u.s. economy. all right. here's how we get to that number, though. look at this, say this is sticker price of an iphone $600. that's a guess. at this point we don't know how much it's going to cost. take off $200 off the top, for the cost of imported components of the phone, because it's not included in the gdp and come up with 3.2 billion number based on 8 million iphones sold in the u.s. suzanne? >> apple typically sells more than 8 million

alison kosik reporting live from the new york stock exchange. >>> both presidential candidates battling it out in ohio today. a new poll shows president obama with a double digit lead. only question, with 41 days until the election, can he keep it? people making stuff. companies have to invest in making things. infrastructure, construction, production. we need it now more than ever. chevron's putting more than $8 billion dollars back in the u.s. economy this year. in pipes, cement, steel, jobs, energy. we need to get the wheels turning. i'm p. making real things... for real. ...that make a real difference. ♪ like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air. >>> one of the most contentious issues dividing mitt romney and barack obama in this election is immigration. what should america do with millions of undocumented immigrants living, studying, and working here. casey buy and has a look at their competing plans. >> reporter:

. >> alison kosik reporting live from the new york stock exchange. programming note, the first presidential debate starts wednesday night. watch it live 7 p.m. eastern on cnn. >>> karm get on the sequel, a major freeway stretch in los angeles closing again this weekend. the big question, will drivers stay home like last year or flood the highways? we'll be back. [ male announcer ] if you stash tissues like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air. it's got that sweet honey taste. but no way it's 80 calories, right? no way, right? lady, i just drive the truck. right, there's no way right, right? have a nice day. [ male announcer ] 80 delicious calories. fiber one. ♪ [ male announcer ] how do you engineer a true automotive breakthrough? ♪ you give it bold new styling, unsurpassed luxury and nearly 1,000 improvements. introducing the redesigned 2013 glk. see your authorized mercedes-benz

. >> alison kosik, thank you very much. >>> vice president joe biden is spending this labor day campaigning in detroit. a u-haul truckloaded with equipment for a vp event was stolen this weekend right outside a detroit hotel. biden speaks at a labor day rally after marching in a parade. he had scheduled to speak in charlotte. that is scheduled for thursday. >>> from wall street to north carolina. occupy protesters take to the streets ahead of the democratic national convention. we'll tell you why coming up. [ female announcer ] want to spend less and retire with more? then don't get nickle and dimed by high cost investments and annoying account fees. at e-trade, our free easy-to-use online tools and experienced retirement specialists can help you build a personalized plan. and with our no annual fee iras and a wide range of low cost investments, you can execute the plan you want at a low cost. so meet with us, or go to etrade.com for a great retirement plan with low cost investments. ♪ [ male announcer ] how could a luminous protein in jellyfish, impact life expectancy in the u.s., real e

alison kosik, thank you very much. see you tomorrow, alison. now it's time for wolf blitzer and "the situation room." wolf. >>> don, thanks very much. happening now, violent protests spreading across the muslim world. more u.s. diplomatic posts are undersiege right now after the killing of the united states ambassador in libya. so how dangerous is it now for americans abroad? also, as the u.s. moves to hunt down the killers, libyan authorities make at least one arrest. but was it a mob attack or something much more ominous? >>> and mitt romney's taking heat even from some republicans for his harsh criticism of president obama's foreign policy. is he ready to dial back or double down again? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >>> u.s. warships are moving toward libya today as president obama vows that no act of terror will go unpunished. his words. but in the grim aftermath of the u.s. consulate attack in libya which left the u.s. ambassador and three other americans dead, there are still serious questions as to which group was res

alison kosik, thank you so much. huge thank you to all of you for watching each and every day here. if you want to see a story or interview that you missed, go to cnn.com/brooke. now to wolf blitzer, "the situation room" begins now. >>> brooke, thanks very much. happening now, mitt romney goes all-in instead of backing away remarks from democrats and even some republicans feel was a major mistake. accusing president obama of making americans dependent on government. also, giving a chance to hit back. president obama holds his fire. we're digging into what his strategy might be. and just off the assembly line our brand new poll from one of the states that potentially could decide the presidential election. john king is on the ground in michigan with the latest numbers. i'm wolf blitzer, you're in "the situation room." >>> we begin with the brand new counteroffensive mitt romney's launching only 48 days before the presidential election. instead of trying to explain away his secretly videotaped complaint that the 47% of u.s. voters who support president obama are dependent on governmen