0 ride a few miles outside of amsterdam. >> you can see it going down the lake. definitely not the plan. 11 people in the basket at the time. two went to the hospital with minor injuries. it's not known what caused that balloon to come down into the water like that. >> you're driving on the road and a balloon drapes itself out. that's a good excuse for being late to work. that will do it for me but not you. thanks for watching "around the world." "cnn newsroom" starts rite now. >> you're watching cnn. i'm suzanne malveaux. president obama tries to turn the country's attention back to the economy. we'll hear from the president shortly from the campus of knox college. we'll bring you his remarks live. you're looking at live pictures there. this is a first of a series of speeches on the economy. i want to bring in our team following this. jessica, we don't expect any new policy initiatives here. what do we expect to hear from the president today? >> you can expect the president to talk about first briefly what he's accomplished since he came into office bringing the united states out of the financial crisis. you can think of this as a legacy defining speech. a legacy setting speech with the president trying to pitch forward and prod congress into action in part by taking a two by four to republicans and saying if there's no action it's because congress is gridlocked and he's taking his case to the american people. i think you'll hear a very strong defense of obama care with the expectation that he knows house republicans will try to repeal obama care as part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling and the president drawing a bright line saying that's a no go. >> we'll talk about that in just a minute. i want to bring kristin into the conversation. we're in a recovery. there are still people who are not feeling this. how does the president reach them and tell them, make them understand he gets this? >> that's a really fine line the president has to walk. you want to have confidence and tell people records again and again in the stock market. the stock market is putting 401(k)'s into the homes of we wealthy americans. 200,000 jobs created so far this year. the middle class knows that those jobs are being created. not all of them are the same quality of job that we lost especially when talking about right there where maytag used to be an important employer there. those jobs went other seas and many of those workers are making much less money when fully employed a decade ago. he has to be so careful about that. some people are still under water. first time home buyers are only 30% of the market. first time home buyers are not able to get in at the price they want or can't get a mortgage. he's got to be confidence but not overly confident because republicans will hammer him on that. >> gloria, let's talk about the president's agenda. he's going to be talking about obama care but also been pushing for immigration reform really trying to get that through congress. do you think he'll try to tie that into the economy saying legalize 11 million folk, allow them to become citizens. perhaps that will be a boost to the economy. >> he'll say it will make your health care cheaper because you'll have more people buying into these insurance pools. i think he's going to relate everything back to the economy. most of all reminding people that a lot of progress has been made because right now he's confronting an american public where only a third believe we're on the right economic path. he has to sort of remind people things are getting better. if you stick with me on my expect plan heading into the fights in the fall over the budget, raising the debt ceiling, if you stick with me things will continue to get beater for you. >> wolf, break it down for us. obviously he's going to be fighting again the issue of the debt ceiling. the budget, they're fill far apart. he's looking to his economic legacy as well. what does he need to say or do in the next couple of years to make that happen? >> he's got to remind the american people. we'll see that today in his speech. he's got to remind them where the country was during the great recession back in 2008, 2009 right when he took office. he's going to remind people of the progress but say there's still a long, long way to go. a lot of these jobs, these jobs that have been created pay so much less than the folks used to make. somebody making 85 or $90,000 a year may accept a job for 45 or $50,000 because they have to put food on the table and pay the bills. they're not where they were but it's better than being unemployed. there's a lot of people in that category. he's going to try to give a balanced assessment. there's an enormous amount of work. he's going to go after those republicans especially in the house of representatives who he says are going to block him every step of the way. >> jessica, you talked about implemented obama care. also he deals with this argument, the debt and the debt ceiling debate. the last go around that happened in 2011 it was a disaster. you had the credit rating downgraded. he's likely to face that same debate in october or november. is he going to address anything here that sets him up in a position where he's stronger to face the republicans over that critical issue? >> the broad themes of the speech are designed to create discussion that will do exactly that. he will be speaking at various locations to audiences about what he thinks the priorities on the economy should be. that's all about him laying out the priorities, laying out what his vision is for america's future. for example, should the american public be -- should congress be investing in infrastructure or jobs program or hot jobs with high wages as opposed to a fight over debt and spending. he's trying to reorient the discussion over economic priorities before everybody starts focusing on the debt ceiling fight. he has a little more wind in his sails this time than in the 2011 summer because the deficits have improved. >> let's talk about the spending cuts because a big deal is made about the automatic spending cuts that went into effect this year. that's going to happen next year as well. we're talking about some $19 billion more needed to be cut. how will we feel that? who is going to be impacted by that? >> they have to fix this. they have to find a better way for making spending priorities. this is no way for the biggest business in the world, the united states economy to be run. we don't have a budget. we're lurching from fiscal crisis to fiscal crisis. they can't keep doing it like this. the question is how is the president going to change that game plan in washington. he's probably going to be need it wi ling house republicans in this speech. how is he going to change that conversation and get it so that we're not doing this over and over again. we're not fighting about the debt ceiling again and again. the fed chief in his testimony last week said the economy is slowly healing. it's moving add a moderate space despite washington, despite it's in a mess. the fed chief saying we could be doing better. something has to change. it can't be like it was last year and the year before. >> wolf, i want to bring you back into the conversation. we're keeping a close eye on the pictures there. clearly the president wants to focus on the economy. how does the white house deal with that in how do they balance that with the other issues that people want to talk about. you have the zimmerman trial, trayvon martin, the issue with race. the irs controversy. how do they get back on message? >> there's so many foreign policy national security crisises out there. the whole middle east seems to be in turmoil right now. he's got the edward snowden issue as well. this president has a full agenerajegenda of problems out there. i think he'll address some of them. i think they feel at the white house not enough has been focused on the economy especially the middle class. how the middle class is doing. what the government can do to help the middle class. i think the president is going to say some things he needs congress to help with and others i'll do with executive order. >> very familiar call. let's listen in as the president arrives.