but, on the other hand, who cares as long as it doesn't have a bad effect on our economy? this downgrade does make us look bad, but it should bother us only to the extent that it raises our interest rates. costs are extremely high in interest in the united states. this -- somebody estimated that this downgrade is going to cost the united states as much money as the entire war in southwest as asia. that's bad news. we should be worried about how we look only to the extent that it costs us lots of money. >> there are internal down grades. it will cost consumers billions of dollars more for their loans. >> wow. it sounds awful, doesn't it in. >> we'll be back with better news, right? >> we'll have to make it up in this environment. >> thank you very much, jack and vera. with a week of tough economic news, what is the impact on mirpts and what can be done to help them? we'll speak with mario solis-marich this hour. police in louisiana say they've broken up a school shooting plot that was supposed to take place