to hit this weekend. it may not be as powerful as a hurricane, but it's moving as a crawl which means new orleans canals and levees will be tested by a prolonged rain, up to 15 inches or more are expected, plus a storm surge. we'll get a live update. but first today's stunner from the labor department. the country saw a net gain of no jobs in august. plus no change in the unemployment rate, still 9.1%. it is the worst jobs report in a year. wall street cratered, the dow industrials, s&p and nasdaq all lost more than 2% today. president obama didn't even try to put a positive spin on the news. no on camera statement, not even a written one. we did catch one glimpse of him today as he left for cam david without even turning to wave good-bye. with us now, the president's former economic adviser, christina romer, she's now an economics professor at the university of california. proofgs or, thank you for being here. let me ask you first off whether you saw any good news inside this report. >> reporter: you knon >> it was pretty hard to find anything. the basic view is this is a pretty wretched jobs report. and i think if you look deeper, it becomes even worse. when we learn for example that hours went down a little bit, so not only did we not add any jobs, but we were cutting back on hours. so that the total labor input went down. or we discovered that another 400,000 people are working part-time for economic reasons. that's another sign of distress in the labor market. so i think it is very hard to put any kind of a positive spin on this report. >> and in fact americans don't even try. we have a new cnn poll out today, we asked is the economy in a recession. 82% of americans believe the economy is in a recession right now. only 18% believe the economy is not in a recession. convince them that this is not a recession. >> i think maybe we're too caught up in what the right term for this is. there is a technical definition of a recession that means the economy is literally falling and right now it seems to be happening that we're growing at a snail's pace. but this is an incredibly distressed economy, i think that's what the poll respondents are saying. and of course they're right. this a terribly distressed company. the unemployment rate is 9.1%. whatever you you call it, it is a tragedy and it's a situation that demands very bold action. >> i want to talk to you about that bold action, but do you think it's possible technically, because i know you're an economist, technically speaking, is it possible we could fall back into recession? >> when growth gets as low as it has been, when job creation is as weak as it is, zero new jobs created in the month of august, of course the chances that you fall into a technical recession go up. it's not a very big line between no growth and actually losing jobs or seeing gdp fall again. so that's not my best guess of what's going to happen. i think like most forecasters, i think that growth is probably going to continue at sort of the snails pace that it's been going. but of course the risks of a recession have gone up. >> what does the president need to do? he's giving a big jobs speech coming up to talk to us about what he wants to do to help create more jobs. how does he do that? >> i think there's a lot riding on this speech next thursday. the president i think not only the whole country, but i think the whole world is looking for leadership on how do we get out of the mess that we're in. i think what the president needs to give is what i would describe as a very bold two part strategy. it obviously has to have some very big, very significant measures, fiscal measures to try to create more jobs. and then it has to reassure everybody that we'll get our fiscal house in order and so it will have to talk about how we'll deal with a long run deficit. it's a hard message, but it's the right one. >> so he needs to convince people that in the short term to kind jump-start the economy, we need to spend money and cut taxes. in the long term, we need to stop spending money and raise taxes. is that what you're saying? >> that's exactly right. and, you know, it's easy to say that that sounds silly, but it's right. we have an immediate jobs problem to deal with that, certainly the federal reserve could be helping. but the other main tool we have is some kind of fiscal support. so more tax cuts, infrastructure spending, tax incentives for firms to do hiring, all of those things are what we know will create jobs in the short run. and then it's completely sensible to say you take the emergency measures you need to take now, but we're also fiscally responsible. we put on the table what revenues are we going to raise over time, what spending are we willing to cut back, what are we going to do to entitlements. you spell that all out, but that can wait for five years, ten years before that has a big impact on the economy. >> try to put some meat on the idea that we need to spend more money here. where do we need to spend to make a dent in that jobless rate and how much do we need to spend? >> i think that's exactly the right question. so i think the big picture is we're not going to do this with $1 billion or $2 billion programs, that with 14 million americans unemployed, what we're talking about is something substantial. so we've heard coming out of the white house that they want to, for example, extend the payroll tax cut that they did last december. so that's about $110 billion for a year. but you certainly need something i think substantially bigger than that, something -- a new jobs tax credit that might be another $50 billion or even more, a big infrastructure program. so yyou really are having to tak about some significant amounts of money if we're actually going to move the dial. there can be wonderful small programs that could be helpful, but they're not going to put millions of people back to work. >> so if i add that up, you're kind of in the range of $300 billion in new spending. is that about right? >> of new spending and tax cuts, maybe somewhat above that. i'll give you an example. i've been talking about a bold two part plan. one of the deficit commissions, the owoone that had a $600 bill payroll tax cut in the first year and then $5 trillion of deficit reduction over the next ten. now, i don't think even i would go that far, but that's the kind of idea of a big bold plan. and we've seen very responsible fiscal conservatives put out that kind of a plan as what you do about jobs now and what you do about deficit over time. >> i want to ask you one last question. when you were in the government, you were part the proreport, th forecast in january of 2009. and we looked at it and right now according to that forecast with the stimulus plan that was put into place, unemployment should be at about 6.5. we clearly know it's not. what went wrong and what do we learn from that so that the president can do something different next wednesday? >> i think the moths important thing is what went right. in that report, we certainly made a prediction about what the recovery act would do. it would save or create some 3 million to 3.5 million jobs. something i dearly wish the president would say that recovery act worked. it absolutely -- >> but not in the way you wanted it to work since you thought the unemployment rate would be at 6.5. i don't want to relitigate what you wrote. i'm just saying is there something that therewhere you said we should have dumped a lot more money in? >> absolutely it should have been bigger. if you ask how did that forecast go wrong, it was all in the baseline. it was predicting where we were going to to to go without stimulus and we absolutely got that wrong. the economy -- and it wasn't just us. it was basically every forecaster didn't recognize how severe this recession would be. and so certainly had we recognized that, as it was, i was pushing for a laernrger stimulus, but i'd have laid down for much bigger because i think we know that fiscal stimulus does work and study after study is confirming that. it's just that given where the economy was headed, what we did wasn't enough to turn it around as much as it needed to be. it was helpful, it helped to stop the leading. but we definitely needed more. and i think that's what the president has a chance to enunciate on thursday, of, okay, we've now seen this play out, here is the more i'm going to do now to put people back to work. >> our thanks to christina roamer. thank you so much for joining us tonight. >> great to be with you. our next stop is new orleans where they're proposing for a slow moving tropical storm and localized flooding. we'll see just how bad it could get. p [ hayden ] what if there was a makeup that didn't just hide your breakouts... but actually made them go away. neutrogena skin clearing makeup has our proven blemish fighting formula so it clears your breakouts. now that's beautiful. neutrogena®. a network of possibilities... ♪ in here, pets never get lost. ♪ in here, every continent fits in one room. it was fun, we played football outside. why are you sitting in the dark? ♪ [ male announcer ] in here, you're never away from home. it's the at&t network. and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. whether it can be done safely and responsibly. at exxonmobil we know the answer is yes. when we design any well, the groundwater's protected by multiple layers of steel and cement. most wells are over a mile and a half deep so there's a tremendous amount of protective rock between the fracking operation and the groundwater. natural gas is critical to our future. at exxonmobil we recognize the challenges and how important it is to do this right. people along the coast of louisiana, mississippi and alabama are preparing to deal with a foot or more of rain. people have been praying for rain to put out a swamp fire, but those prayers are being answered by a tropical storm forecast to come ashore this weekend and just hover. ed, how bad is it supposed to get there? already looks like it's there. so how much worse is it going to get and what are they doing to prepare? >> reporter: well, it's interesting, this is a really large storm, a tropical storm lee. but from everything we're hearing hear is that people really expect this to be a rainmaker and a very constant rain maccer throughout much of the weekend. this is a massive storm that is not only large, but moving incredibly slow, about two miles per hour. most people walk faster than that, so this will take its time me an derg ovandering over the coast .but the concern will be flooding. this is the beginnings of this. the heaviest and strongest winds are supposed to hit tomorrow afternoon. but they are expecting a lot of flooding. in some places, expecting perhaps as 20 inches. so that flash flooding could be very much a big concern as you obviously saw with hurricane irene along the northeast. that a big concern and this will be bringing a great deal of rain. >> obviously, ed, the holding of those levees is vital it to the city of new orleans. we know that if we know nothing else after hurricane katrina. how confident are city officials that those levees will hold? >> reporter: they were talking about that today and one they think they're doing is making sure that all of the pumping stationstheythink they're doing making sure that all of the pumping stations and the mayor says all those pumping stations are working properly, that the backup generators are working properly. i don't hear a lot of people talking about any kind of dangers to the levee system in terms of breaching levees. it would take a great deal of rainfall for that to happen. but obviously pumping this water out and getting it out of here is a big concern and that's why those pumping stations are so crucial. but as far as we know right now, all of that is working properly. >> ed lavendera for us tonight. thank, ed. once it gets beyond the louisiana and mississippi coast, it may wash out labor day for much of the southeast. karen maginnis now with me. where is the storm headed? obviously right for new orleans and then where? >> well, this is forming so close to land, and it does not have typical characteristics of a tropical storm. meaning we don't see kind of that concentric look, we don't have a clearly defined eye. but the computer models are still in very much disagreement as to where this is going to be headed. take a look at this. some have it just kind of swirling around the coast, some have it going off towards the southeast. there were even a few that had it going over towards texas. i see in our latest run that it looks a little bit more defined as to where we anticipate making landfall. perhaps sometime on sunday, maybe the middle part of the day, but somewhere along the louisiana coast. but i say that, but just to be a care, that this is a system that is not moving very far. not moving very fast. still at tropical storm intensity. and yet some of these areas are going to get drenched. they need the rainfall. they don't need it all in 24 hours. we'll see for tonight a couple inches of rain for new orleans extending over towards lake charles, violet. all of this coastal communities because this moisture keeps getting pumped in and pumped in. all along the coast. and some areas as i mentioned could see up to 20 inches of rainfall. the computer model is suggesting that. take a look at this. where you see the white shaded area, that's where we're looking at the heaviest amounts. but all across the southeast, this is where we're anticipating some much needed rainfall. three, four, five inches of rain even in northern sections of georgia. maybe as ever as ten inches. but a lot much these areas have experienced severe drought. over here in texas, needed rain. desperately. we were hoping this would be a benevolent weather system for texas. it looks like the bulk of that precipitation more towards the northern gulf of mexico. but we'll could thkeep you upda. >> thank you so much. new jersey governor chris christie has been dealing with his own hurricane disaster. irene caused chronic flooding throughout the state, but this weekend, the governor will be personally helping the new jersey coast economic recovery. >> i'm heeding my own call. we're at the beach for the weekend. mary pat and i and the kids will be down here. we'll be going to different spots and hoping that everybody follows the lead. coming up, will this be a jobless labor day and are there more fears of another recession? 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[ engine revs, tires screech ] mom? ♪ but not in my neighborhood. ♪ [ female announcer ] we're throwing away misperceptions about natural gas vehicles. more of the vehicles that fuel our lives use clean american natural gas today. it costs about 40 percent less than gasoline, so why aren't we using it even more? start a conversation about using more natural gas vehicles in your community. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement available only with liberty mutual auto insurance, if your car's totaled, we give you the money for a car one model year newer. to learn more, visit us today. responsibility. what's your policy? as we head into labor day weekend, at least 14 million of our fellow country men and women don't have jobs. nearly 9 million more have only part-time jobs. either because of cut backs or because they can't find full-time work. today's jobs report raises fears of a second recession and even more people being thrown out of work. is there any end in sight to this? with us now, mark zandi from moodies analytics. christian, thank you both for being here. what allo lousy august this has been for the markets. i realize we're into september, but now they have the jobs report on top of it. how are the markets doing? >> well, august has been a rot ton month for the markets. just as it has been for most americans.rotton month for the . just as it has been for most americans.ern month for the mar. just as it has been for most americans.n month for the marke. just as it has been for most americans. i think there had been a hope that the recovery had started and i think august really, you know, solidified the fear that a lot of people had that actually the economy was very weak even if not going into a double dip recession, the recovery was extremely weak. and that made people worry about the value of their companies and, therefore, the value of holding shares. >> on which times we get bad news and the market goes up. now the market seems to be apgting like aand the market go. now the market seems to be apgting like a normal human being. >> i don't thinkdcount discounting a recession just yet. american companies' balance sheets are strong. so i think that's the key reason why the stock market hasn't fallen more and odds are still that the broader economy will avoid a recession. >> and since you brought it up, these companies are sitting on a lot of money. what is it that's going to induce them to hire? >> they just have to feel more confident. and i think what has happened over the last month or two is that we've lost faith, that the spectacle in washington over the debt ceiling, the s&p 500 downgrade, some of the problems in europe have eviscerated confidence. businesses are shell shocked as are everyone else and they've stopped hiring and expanding. so they need to get back that faith, that confidence. and i think the only way that will happen is if policymakers, the federal reserve board, congress, the administration, european policymakers do the right thing because this they don't, we will be in recession. >> i want to ask you what you believe the right thing to do is, but i want to talk about the jobs report. we all know zero job growth in the month of august is how what we're seeing. is there anything else -- that's bad enough. anything else in there that just sets your hair on fire? >> i'll give you some good news an bad news. the good news is those newspapers are actually a little bit better than they look because the verizon strike is reflected in those numbers and those people have gone back to work. so it's not quite as bad as it looks. the bad news is wages also also went down just a little bit. so that's what happens when there is a lot of unemployed people. it's hard to ask for a raise. what it says is it's not just the people who run employed who are suffering although they're suffering the most, but there are a lot of people who are very insecure about hanging on to their job. and that insecurity is real. it's not just some neurosis. and think it's weighing on the economy overall. if you're worried about whether you're going to keep your job, you're unlikely to go out and spend. and as mark was saying, if you're the ceo of a company, that means that maybe you're going to hold back making big investments because you're not sure that the consumer demand is going to be there to support them. >> there's a bit of a feel of a chicken and an egg thing going on here because consumers aren't buying things because they're worried they're going to lose their jobs and companies aren't hiring people because they're worried consumers won't buy. >> good point. but this is the same chicken and egg problem we always have in the business cycle and it's broken by business people deciding, hey, i can't continue to grow my earning, maintain my stock price if i don't look for revenue opportunity, if i don't take that leap of faith, if i don't let those animal spirits run a little bit and take a chance and invest and hire people. so we've gotten pretty close to that happening at different points in the last year, year and a half. of course recent events have been a real problem for