isn't this august, not supposed to be a lot going on. >> don't you wish one day we'd say there's nothing going on, go home. >> change the channel. a lot has to do with the economy, up first president obama talking jobs in the heartland of america. the president is in iowa this morning. no straw polls. no campaigns -- it's a campaign stop. it's a campaign-style trip through three mid western states. he'll meet with a group of farmers and small business owners today. he's been making his pitch for job growth and sounding a familiar theme that republicans are playing politics with the economy. >> the problem we have is not with our country. the problem is, that our politics is broken. [ applause ] the problem is, is that we've got the kind of partisan brinkmanship that is willing to put party ahead of country. that's more interested in seeing their political opponents lose than seeing the country win. >> well, the president was glad handing after a town hall meeting in iowa, he was confronted by tea party activists about vice president biden's terrorist comment during the debt ceiling debate. here's how this went down. >> sir, look -- >> i would like to understand that. >> i will explain it right now. he did not call you guys terrorists. >> he said we were acting like terrorists. >> no. what he said was -- for us to be willing to take the economy to the brink was irresponsible and it was. now, the truth of the matter is, considering what's said about me consistently -- >> the second person in your administration to call the right wing terrorists. janet napolitano did it first. >> no, that's -- watched out for first. >> that's true. balanced budget is reasonable. >> i didn't appreciate when this started. >> no. all he was saying was -- >> i didn't appreciate him making fun of me. >> got to win the next election. >> he wasn't objecting to the balanced budget amendment. he was objecting to almost detailsing. >> why didn't someone pass the balanced budget amendment. >> wow. >> he stayed in that for an awful long time. >> certainly did. >> sometimes on those rope lines people keep going. >> usually they move along. >> do you think the people were interested? what the president had to say? >> that's the thing about the confrontations at events like this. it used to be that it was almost all people who wanted to hear somebody they supported or learn more about somebody from their own party. now there is a lot of confrontation across party lines. >> we saw it with mitt romney's campaign the other day. a little different with the president. it's interesting. it was an ongoing discussion. it wasn't -- didn't devul v into a shout fest. no. >> but i would say the president's handlers so to speak would say he probably stuck with that too long. there's no winning. >> there wasn't. >> there isn't any winning. even if these people had a legitimate point, which i'm sure many people think they do -- >> sure. >> that wasn't going to end up with anything. >> no one was going to say you're right, i'm going to change the way it's done. >> and shake hands and kiss and make up. i don't think so. the republican candidates are returning the president's fire calling his heartland bus tour nothing more than a political campaign trip at taxpayer expense. the gop's newest entry, texas governor rick perry, he's getting plenty of face time with iowans and attacking the president at every turn. >> he's saying -- i'm saying he's got a lot of explaining to do about the economy if that's what he's out talking about. i don't think the folks of iowa are going to be real excited about unemployment rate where it is and the number of americans out of work and, you know, this president's been an abject failure when it comes to the economy. >> perry took another swipe at president obama saying soldiers would prefer someone with military experience as commander in chief and he has that. a programming note for you, wolf blitzer has an exclusive one-on-one interview with president obama. you can see it on "the situation room" at 5:00 p.m. eastern on cnn. with all the talk ability michele bachmann's -- about michele bachmann's win in iowa, tim pawlenty's exit and rick perry's entry, ron paul who finished a close second in the iowa straw poll has become sort of a forgotten man. on cnn's piers morgan last night the texas congressman addressed his absence from much of the weekend media coverage. >> my supporters are convinced they're afraid of me, they don't want my views out there, they're too dangerous, we want freedom, challenging the status quo, we want to win the war, and they're views people can't handle. they can't handle all this freedom. they want dependency and socialism and well farism. i think they don't like to hear our views. i think we'll make the best of it and do very well. i think the internet still is alive and well and programs like yours will still have me on. >> dependency, socialism and welfarism. paul's campaign team calls the lack of coverage for their candidate disappointing but not surprising. vice president joe biden about to embark on a week-long trip to asia. the vice president leaves today. he will spend most of his time in china meeting with his chinese counter part, vice president xi jinping. a man considered the likely successor to chinese president hu jintao. america's financial relationship with china is the largest foreign holder of american debt. that's expected to dominate the four days of meetings and photo ops. the chinese recently slammed the united states for its debt ceiling debacle. as the fears in the stock market subsides, stocks have started to rise. the dow, nasdaq and s&p 500 have recovered all of last week's losses and then some. the three-day winning streak, the first one in a month, has been pro beld by a flurry of mergers and investors snatching up beaten down shares. the dow up more than 213 points yesterday, nearly 2%. the nasdaq and s&p 500 were also up about 2%. dramatic new video just released by police capturing the stunning violence of last week's london riots. the video shows looters running out of a clothing store. this happened last monday. you can see police chasing them down the street and then a car aiming straight for the officers, strikes two of them at high speed. one is slumped over in the street, the other collapsed near a street pillar. incredibly, though, both survived. >> go ahead. >> it's kind of remarkable to see that. we did that story a couple weeks ago about the police officer hit by a speeding car trying to get away and he gets up and runs after them. i don't know what they feed the cops in britain. >> but thank god. switching here. the hockey world mourning the loss of winnipeg jets player rick rypien. is that how you say his name? >> yeah. >> for fans and supporters of this team, they're shocked this morning. the 27-year-old forward found dead in his home in alberta, canada, early this morning. he took a leave of absence from the nhl for undisclosed personal reasons. his death is not considered, according to officials, suspicious. >> big loss. the suspect in the case of a missing woman in aruba is going to remain in police custody. a judge ordering gary giordano held for another 16 days, ruling in is enough evidence linking him to robyn gardener. gardener vanished this month. turns out clothing found in a mine during a search does not belong to her. bart is back up and running. protesters targeting san francisco's subway system. they're angry about several shootings involving bart police officers and the decision by transit officials to turn off cell phone service last week to stop demonstrators from organizing. officials were forced to close and reopen stations during the last -- during the evening rush hour last night. latino groups planning protesting in atlanta, houston, charlotte, boston and miami, upset about president obama's decision to use local police officers to enforce immigration laws. more on that as the morning continues. now your chance to talk back on one of the biggest stories of the day. the question this morning, is warren buffett's tax compromise good or just plain old politics? now that we've had a day to die gust buffet's plea to tax me more, please, it's time to ask that question. buffet is largely a twitter hero, but as far as republicans are concerned, he's a shill for president obama. buffet begs to differ. he's offering an alternative. instead of raising taxes on americans making $250,000 and up, he told charlie rose, raise taxes on the very, very rich. >> we're also in the process under taxing the very rich. what i propose incidentally would not touch the taxes of 99.7%. i'm talking about .03% of the american public. but the people from a million dollars on up, i think should be asked to share in a little bit of the sacrifice we're all being asked to share in. >> president obama embraced the idea. republicans did not. senator john cornyn tweeted for tax raising advocates like warren buffett i am sure treasury would take a voluntary payment for deficit reduction. hey mr. buffet, send the u.s. treasury a check. blogs fired back. the red dog said -- >> never mind that polls show most americans favor taxing the rich and many economists say spending cuts alone will not solve our debt woes. the talk back question today, is warren buffett's tax compromise a good idea or just politics? facebook.com/americanmorning. i'll read your comments later this hour. mega rich people watching us, we would love to hear from you too. >> have your people send us an e-mail. >> have your people send us. coming up ahead on "american morning," the battle for libya is escalating with gadhafi forces reportedly using a weapon they have never used before. we're live in tripoli with the latest on that. then a flash mob in action. an attack on a 7-eleven, 30 robbers working in sync. the stunning surveillance video just ahead. some unexpected thrills at the fair. 60 feet in the air. how this situation turned out ahead on thing this "american morning." releases armiesol technoloy of snowmen masseuse, who cuddle up with your soreness and give out polar bear hugs. technology. 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[♪...] >> male announcer: now, for a limited time, your companion flies free, plus save up to 65%. call 1-800-sandals. conditions apply.. this flash mob thing is really becoming intriguing. a flash mob in action in maryland caught on the surveillance tape. take a look. police say about 30 people walked into a german town 7-eleven early saturday morning, raiding the aisles, grabbing drinks and snacks, lasted about a minute before the thieves left as a group. police say they've been able to identify some of the suspects because you can see them, not wearing hoodies or anything. >> duh. >> and it was -- they say it was organized as a flash mob where people texted and arranged to be at this place. grabbing stuff walking out of the store. >> no one said criminals were smart. lots of extraordinary video to look at. home security video of a car smashing through a miami home. it happened last night. the homeowner said the out-of-control car drove straight through his son's bedroom wall as he was getting ready to go to sleep. amazingly enough, no one was hurt, but plenty of damage there. three men in the car got out of the car and ran away on foot. police were able to catch two of them. >> you don't think of that as a dangerous thing to do, getting ready to get into bed. >> running away from the car, wonder if it wasn't maybe their car. >> one wonders. christine speaking the unspoken. >> if it's not your car, don't run it into somebody's house and you is a better chance. a ride at the iowa state fair malfunctioning stranding two riders for about two hours. it happened on the ejection seat yesterday. the brother and sister were rescued by the fire department. they were a little sun burned but okay. apparently a big crowd around them and the first crowd around the ejection seat, not the election seat. >> there you go. >> at the iowa state fair. until then all the crowds have been around politics. >> i wouldn't be on that ride in the first place. i don't like to be high up unless i come down fast in a roller coaster. but that would freak me out. >> me too. >> i wonder. i can't imagine i'd enjoy it. oh well. >> let's try it some time. >> suspend me 60 feet in the air and keep me there for hours. >> just have a little fried twinkie. >> give me a little fried food and i can get through most things. >> send these kids to school. they're sitting in the ejection seat, pull the ejection handle. >> parachutes would come out, that would be fun. >> isn't that what the ride is about. >> it's just an expression. >> just a name. heavy rainfall across parts of the northeast yesterday. take a look at the video and we'll run through some of the numbers. derby, connecticut where the water at times was waist high and knee high and flooded the post road and some homes and businesses around that area. and same deal across the sound, hemp sted, long island, where they saw tremendous amount of rain after the record-setting foot of rainfalled a lido beach the day before. saturated soil on more rain that came down yesterday and we'll see more of that today unfortunately. some of the numbers, willow, new york, seeing almost 6 1/2 inches of rale and then go further up into new england, concord, new hampshire, seeing a record for 24 hours, 2.19, and then month peel yar, vermont, two inches of rainfall. here it is, swirl rotating on the backside is rainfall. this is generally light but it will keep things on the dreary and cool side. and wet, of course. and now we'll call some delays because of the low clouds and visibility across new york and boston. severe weather across the northern plains again. bismarck, north dakota, nice across the southeast and fairly comfortable temperatures compared to what we have seen with the exception of northern texas which continues to see the heat there. gert did not become a hurricane. it continues to move off to sea and into the northern shipping lanes. we are watching this next item of concern moving into the eastern caribbean. won't develop any time too soon but will drift into the western caribbean and then we've got something to worry about. we'll keep an eye on it. back up to you. >> thank you. we'll check in with you later. two powerful intellectual forces came together on cable television last night, in case you policed it ali a guest on "the daily show" with jon stewart breaking down the economy, congress, a pair of enlightened mind to find a cure of what ales america. >> barometer of how investors around the world feel about the way things are going and that's the stuff you've seen over the last few weeks. >> it's more of a mood ring. >> yeah. >> your job and the idea that you will earn and continue to earn is the most important. so the stock market is not the most important thing, the debt ceiling is not the most important thing, employment or unemployment we have now is the most important thing. that's what you feel good or bad about. >> people have continue -- this government can't influence anything because nobody trusts government right now. >> it's very interesting, ali velshi. you know -- >> [ applause ] >> if we were to do these things, it is as though we would have a functioning infrastructure in the country again. >> yep. >> very interesting. i will pass your words on. ali velshi. >> i want to know what happened, like take us through it, like what was it like back stage and when you came out? >> you know, he came to visit me in the green room which i believe he visits everybody. >> is it green, the room? >> that's where you go before you wait. >> i don't know that it's green. >> you were nervous? >> you know, you never know where these things are going to go with jon stewart. you think it's going to go a certain way. he's very friendly. he's legitimately curious about these things and his audience is. it was a good conversation. >> he knows more about the economy and stocks than he lets on. he's very smart about this stuff. >> whatever. i want to know dirt. when you looked out on to the audience could you see faces? >> you could see faces. there was lots of food and drink in the green room. halloween candies, chocolates. i must have had nine or ten of those and a lot of diet coke. they did actually have -- they had red bull but i thought that might be -- >> a little much. ali velshi on red bull. >> not something you want to do at night. very friendly crowd, audience. it was a great conversation. >> how much of the interview aired on "the jon stewart show" and how much did they cut out? >> everything we did. there was more to it than what you saw but it all got on tv. he has good tight questions. everybody is concerned, what does the stock market mean and what's going to happen. the questions he asks are the ones, that's the beauty of jon stewart -- >> he asks the questions on everybody's mind. >> here's the thing, it's reasonable people don't have control over the debate right now and -- or in control of the stock market or economy right now. >> yeah. >> still to come on "american morning," gunmen storm the home of an american in pakistan. he disappears along with his captors. who is he and do investigators have any leads? we're live in islamabad. 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[ male announcer ] find your program at phoenix.edu. 25 minutes after the hour. minding your business this morning, u.s. stock futures indicate stocks could trade lower at today's open. that after merger monday. a rally that recovered most of last week's losses and some. european markets are trading much lower this morning. losses of 2% or more in germany and france and the culprit there is germany, europe's largest economy stalled in the second quarter according to new estimates out today. germany's gdp, the broadest measure of all goods and services produced in any one economy grew by 0.1% for that period. that's cause for concern in both europe and the united states. in the meantime household debt here in the united states is trending lower. the federal reserve ba