A burning man mess, thousands of festival goers, theyre not going anywhere after rain turned the Nevada Desert into miles of impassable sludge. But organizers say there could be movement soon. And in a labor day speech, President Biden touting his handling of the economy with low unemployment and inflation trending down. He says bidenomics trumps his predecessors records, but new polls show most americans arent buying it. And welcome back to earth, nasa astronauts splashing down after six months in space. New details about their 79 million mile journey. Were following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to cnn news central. Weve got brand new video in to cnn, it shows a huge caravan of vehicles trying to leave the desert. You see how large that lineup actually is. Thats in nevada at the burning man festival. The good news today is the sun is shining. The road to get out of the festival is drying. Officials have said that next hour they expect more people to begin to head out. Tens of thousands, though, have been stranded in the mud for days after two to three months of rain swamped the area in just 24 hours. I talked to one attendee last hour, and heres what she said about the situation on the ground there. Theres a really, really long line trying to get out. Some people are leaving. I think mostly the fourwheel drives, the subaru type vehicles. Not the Passenger Cars yet. There are a few of those stuck. As you drive youre going to accumulate mud on those tires and those feet, it makes everything harder. And you dont want to get stuck in this and prevent other people from leaving. Everybodys being really cool about it. Were just biding our time. Reporter cnn National Correspondent nick watt is covering this story for us. What is the latest that officials are saying about when these roads could reopen in a safe way to get people out . Reporter latest we heard omar is about an hour from now. They say that for the moment the roads are still too wet and muddy for most vehicles, but not all. We have seen some fourwheel drive vehicles getting out late last night and also this morning. You know, 70 plus thousand people stuck in there, and cnn has spoken to some of those who have managed to get out so far, and they described, you know, a scene on saturday. Everyone waiting for that man to be burned, the kind of climax of this festival, the rain started, and initially people were dancing in the mud, having a good time, and then gradually there was a realization. Hang on a second, were not going to be able to get out of this. You mentioned that the sun is right now key. What happens is that is clay. Its a dried up ancient lake bed. The rain comes, makes it totally slick, the water just sticks on top, which makes it hugely problematic to get out b, but ao if the rain, the water is still on top, that means the sun can dry it, and thats what were seeing right now. There is an ethos of selfreliance around this festival, and a lot of people did bring in everything they needed to survive for a few days they were planning to be there and extra. Some people were not so well prepared, and it got pretty terrible for people. The camps were washed away, its the desert, it gets cold at night. There were some people who walked out, including a little clique of celebrities including chris rock. Ill let dj diplo take up that story. Just got up with us and started walking. We walked about three hours in the mud, and he was happy, it was me, i think Cindy Crawford walked with us. Au austin butler, randy gerber, a writer, a couple of producers from tv, a couple of people who wanted to get home to their children, they didnt take no for an answer. Reporter so those walkers managed to get to an actual road out of the mud after a few hours, and a guy in a Passing Pickup Truck apparently recognized dj diplo and gave them a ride. Eventually they all made it to reno. During the day today, were going to try and hopefully see the mass exodus, the 70,000 plus people coming out. But some people are going to stick it out a little bit longer because they plan to burn the man tonight. So there are people who want to stay there until the end, and you know, theyll just be praying for no more rain. And there is no more rain in the forecast. So fingers crossed, omar. Starstudded walk from diplo. Hopefully for the folks left behind, they get some relief very soon. Nick watt, thank you very much. Lets get you a picture now of the situation on the ground at burning man with a festival g goer, Cutter Palacios is on the ground for us now. Thank you so much for being with us. Organizers said departures are officially set to begin in about an hour. Im wondering what your plan is. Are you planning to leave or stick around . Were going to see the burn. I think its great because theyre doing all three burns tonight. The mans at 9 00. The chapel of babble is at midnight, and then the temples at 1 00 a. M. , so this is awesome. We were hoping to leave by tuesday or wednesday, and the fact that were doing it all in one night is going to be a huge celebration, and then were going to join the mass exodus of people to stand in line maybe for hours and hours tomorrow, and then maybe get home the middle of the night between tuesday and wednesday. Nice. So for folks that are not initiated in the rituals and the ethos, the spirit of burning man, what is it that drives so many people out there to the desert . Because it kind of surprises me that youre saying this is awesome. While it looks from the outside like a mess. Its messy, yeah. I think thats sort of the thrill of it. I mean, certainly people come out here and theyre wanting the festival experience, but the majority of us are wanting to create a city from essentially nothing. We bring in our selfreliance, our radical selfreliance, and a big spirit is gifting. Last night we had a neighboring camp. Were not part of a camp, but we had a neighboring camp giving out pizza, and they had vegan pizza. We all sat around the fire eating pizza. I have a friend down at the French Quarter who was like serving up lobster, you know, which is a real treat. And for those who are in need, we all help each other out, and thats just thats not something that you get to see every day, and you get to experience for an entire week, especially through these hardships. We really took care of one another. I think thats incredible. That is incredible, especially lobster and vegan pizza. It sounds like you have basic necessities covered. Food, shelter, water, you know. Thats really what you need to be out here. I did not plan for rain. I didnt bring a raincoat, but we were improvising. We used trash bags. There was definitely some footwear that was being improvised. Some people were going bare fat, and then there was like the plastic bag over the sock, no, no, no, its a plastic bag and then the sock. Eventually the radio came out and told us it was a shoe and the sock over the shoe. I dont know about all that. I just went with the tried and true sock and shoe over sock and that seemed to work for me so. Im glad you were able to find a system to get through the mud. There were reports, though, cutter, i want to ask you about this, there were reports that misinformation was spreading around festival goers, rumors, false rumors i should point out about ebola spreading, a s. W. A. T. Team at one point was called in because a shooting was reported. Did you come across any of that . I dont know about ebola. I will say and i dont know about the s. W. A. T. Team, but we did get Police Vehicles coming through the walkin. Were out at 230 and walkin, which is where theres no cars allowed. Police did respond very quickly to wherever that report was. I think its important to note, like in terms of communication, theres not a lot of communication out here. You have a radio and they are doing the best they can to communicate Accurate Information from officials and from outside sources, but just listening to the cnn stuff going on, thats more news than ive heard since ive been out here for a week. Congrats to the astronauts landing. Yeah, its word of mouth, and thats really cool too. And you do the best you can and one of the principles out here is immediacy, you know. It generally means that you see something cool and youre called to it, go and participate in it and help out and explore and live life out hear, and it also means news and word of mouth. Its moment to moment as well. That makes sense, were really glad that youre doing well. I hope you enjoy that lobster and the vegan pizza and i hope you get to enjoy the burnings tonight and a smooth ride back home to you. Cutter palacios, thanks so much for being with us. Thank you for having me. Of course. In the meantime, omar, we did confirm that President Biden was briefed on the situation at burning man. He is keeping busy this labor day. Oh, yeah, yeah. I have a feeling theyre having two hvery different labor days. Even for those people, theyre going to be back next year despite this experience. On this labor day, President Biden wished to push his bidenomics message. It was during a speech in philadelphia today, he got in some digs on donald trump. In fact, the guy who held this job before me was just one of two president s in history, he was oh, but theres an important point, one of two president s in history who left office with fewer jobs in america than when he got elected office. By the way, you know who the other one was . Herbert hoover. Maybe a preview of what we might see on the campaign trail. Trump left office in 2021 during the height of the pandemic. When it comes to biden, despite low unemployment and rising real wages, most americans are still unhappy with how hes handled the economy according to polling. This Wall Street Journal Polling shows that only 37 of approve, while 59 disapprove. Now, when you look at the gop field, president trump, former president trump, no surprise, way out ahead of everyone else. 58 , the closest ron desantis at 16 . Thats according to a cnn poll of polls. When you put trump against biden, theyre both in a dead heat when it comes to a faceoff potentially in a general election, but the key block right there, that undecided 8 , and then a key issue between the two. President biden in his 80s, trump in his late 70s. Age is a big issue. The new polling shows 73 think biden is too old for the job, while only 47 think trump has too many numbers under his belt. 36 say biden is up for the job, 46 say former president trump. Now the white house continues to push back on the age and economy questions with one adviser saying most americans approve of the components inside bidenomics underscoring the challenges that they may have with messaging, especially as we get into the campaign trail. A challenge with messaging is one way to put it. Lets dig deeper on this with economics and Public Policy professor from the university of michigan. Thanks so much for sharing part of your labor day with us. Lets break down the details of the economy because there is this difference between perception and what is actually happening. Youve got historically low unemployment, inflation that appears to be cooling, wages are going up, and yet polling indicates that the majority of americans do not believe President Biden is properly handling the economy. Its a puzzle for sure. So i will tell you as an economist, i believe the hard numbers. The hard numbers tell us that the economys growing and its growing at a healthy rate. If youd fallen asleep in 2019 and you woke up in 2023, you would discover pretty much the sort of economy you would have expected, and you wouldnt think to sask, hey, was there a globa recession is and a Global Pandemic in between, and i think thats really the president s great claim that things are as good or better than they would have been without a pandemic. It really is fascinating in part because we have been talking about the potential for a looming recession for the better part of nearly two years now. Do you think these numbers indicate that weve reached that soft landing that weve been talking about too . Well, never hang up the Mission Accomplished banner too soon. I will remind you ive been happily coming on cnn telling you theres no recession and there hasnt been. What there has been, though, is a lot of dpepressed people. This is where theres this disjunction between reality and perception. The poll you were just describing asked people do you think the economy has gotten better or worse over the past two years, and theres no question on this by the way. Unemployment is down, inflation is down. Economic growth is up. Real wages are up. Everything has gotten bet every o better over the past two years. Yet only 28 of people say things have gotten better over the past two years. A big part of that is this enormous partisan gap. Its gotten to the point where its almost pointless asking republicans how they feel about the economy, only 7 of them were willing to admit the economy had gotten better over the past two years. I think when we ask these questions, people are no longer telling us how they feel about the economy. Really theyre telling us how they feel about the president. Fascinating. Its like a rorschach test. Absolutely. I want to ask you about the fed because their strategy with Interest Rates has contributed to the cooling of inflation. We should note it is still higher than the 2 goal that they have for it. Would you say that the fed has been effective . The feds been remarkably effective, and this again is where you get one of these disjunctions. Let me tell you the fact. The fact is over the the past year inflation has fallen from 9 , arguably a crisis level, down to 3 , not quite down to 2 yet. In Public Opinion the same Public Opinion when they asked people has Inflation Moved in the right direction or the wrong direction over the past year, its fallen from 9 to 3, only 20 of people say its moved in the right direction. Reality has gone the right way, but for some reason Public Opinion has yet to catch up. So professor, would you predict then a potential easing of Interest Rates in the near future . So i think seeing Inflation Move from 9 down to 3 is a tremendous relief, and your viewers, im sure, are feeling it and seeing it in their everyday lives. There the fed is looking to get inflation down to 2 , and you can think about this as the last mile of the inflation problem, and i think the fed remains very worried about how to knock that last little bit of inflation out of the system, and so it looks like things are slowing. If youve drowawn a picture of what the soft landing looks like, it looks like the data weve been getting. Its always hard to see exactly whats going on, and so theres still a chance that the fed may feel the need to raise Interest Rates maybe one more time. We will be keeping a close eye on that, Professor Swrus tin wolfers, please come back when those numbers come out and interpret them for us. Thanks so much. Omar. Im going to have to be there too, its good insight. Weve got a lot coming up in this show. Russia is accused of releasing a drone attack targeting civilian infrastructure. Also ahead, at a Critical Point in the counteroffensive, president zelenskyy fires his Defense Minister and nominates a new one. Well explain the shakeup. And later, home again, several astronauts splash down in the atlantic after spending six months aboard the International Space station. Youre watching cnn news central. Well be r right back. being middle class right now, its tough making ends meet for sure. Republicans in congress say if we just cut taxes even more for the biggest corporations the money will eventually someday trickle trickle down to you. Right. Joe biden would rather just stop those corporations from charging so damn much. Capping the cost of drugs like insulin. Cracking down on Surprise Medical Bills and all those crazy junk fees. Theres more work to do. Tell the president to keep lowering costs for middle class families. My brain. So i choose new neuriva ultra. Unlike some others, it supports 7 brain health indicators, including Mental Alertness from one serving. To help keep me sharp. Try new neuriva ultra. Think bigger. At pnc bank, you can find us in big cities and small towns across the us, where our focus is to always support the people who live and work there. Because you call these communities home, and we do too. Pnc bank. More shopping . You should watch your spending honey. Im saving with liberty mutual, mom. They customize your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. Check it out, you could save 700 dollars just by switching. Ooooh, ill look into that. Let me put a reminder on my phone. Save 700 dollars. Pick up dad from airport . Ohhhhhh. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Dupixent helps you du more with less asthma. And can help you breathe better in as little as 2 weeks. Dupixent is an addon treatment for specific types of moderatetosevere asthma thats not or sudden breathing problems. Dupixent can cause allergic reactions that can be severe. Get help right away if you have rash, chest pain, worsening shortness of breath, tingling or numbness in your limbs. Tell your doctor about new or worsening joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. Dont change or stop asthma medicines, including steroids, without talking to your doctor. Ask your specialist about dupixent. I was told my Small Business wouldnt qualify for an erc tax refund. You should get a Second Opinion from Innovation Refunds at no upfront cost. Sometimes you need a Second Opinion. [coughs] good to go. Yeah, i think ill get a Second Opinion. All these walls gotta go ah ah ah id love a