[Christine Romans, Cnn:] Hiring slowed in August, the smallest jobs gains of the year. Is this economy cooling down, or is this part of our low and slow recovery? I'm Christine Romans. This is CNN MONEY. Your personal information under attack, a possible security breach at Home Depot, and celebrities' private moments exposed. We're going to take you to the dark corners of the Internet where all this is happening. Fast food workers walk off the job again, protests in 150 cities. Are they winning the minimum wage fight? And later, come for a ride in the most affordable Lamborghini on the market. It's still going to cost you six figures, but you'll look really good driving it. But we start with the labor market 142,000 jobs added in August. That number was below expectations which were above 200,000. The unemployment rate now 6.1 percent. That's down slightly, but this report broke that streak of big job gains. You can see the big hiring numbers earlier this year slowing in August. Our CNN MONEY panel is here, Jose Pagliery, Cristina Alesci, and Paul La Monica join me today. Paul, you call it the barbecue economy, low and slow. Is the jobs report just more evidence of that?
[Paul R. La Monica, Cnn Money Digital Correspondent:] Sadly I think that's the case, and I've been saying it since 2010 for crying out loud. We've had this subpar growth. Even above 200,000 isn't fantastic. The one thing I wouldn't be that worried about, though, is that August is historically this strange month for the jobs market. Three years ago the first report about the August 2011 number showed no, zero, no new jobs added and it eventually got revised higher. So people I spoke to said this number will be revised higher, the economy isn't that bad. So that's one thing to be a little bit
[Romans:] One month does not make a trend, but it is a pause in another trend that had been very, very good, six months in a row of 200,000 plus. You wanted to see that continue into the fall.
[Cristina Alesci, Cnn Money Business Correspondent:] Yes. And one thing that investors will potentially be paying attention to is the Fed and what it's going to, right. Kind of boring here in the U.S., but as far as the European Central Bank goes, investors are looking to see what it is going to do to help that region's struggle and economy get back. And just this week the ECB announced $1 trillion package which is being described as an aid package. But investors are still trying to figure out whether it's going to work or whether the European economy is going to need more at this point.
[Romans:] When you look at the dashboard of instruments that Janet Yellen is looking at, right, the jobs number, the 6.1 percent unemployment rate and the 142,000 net new jobs created, those are the two numbers she's really looking at. She's looking deep inside these numbers. A labor force participation rate that is way too low, back to the 1970s, an underemployment rate still in double digits, a third of the American workforce is working in freelance jobs. We still have some structural weakness here.
[Jose Pagliery, Cnn Money Staff Writer:] Let's talk about the quality of these jobs. This recovery has been a lot about the quantity and not the quality of the jobs. The jobs that we're creating are not in STEM, which is science, technology, engineering, math. These are the jobs we want. They're high-tech jobs, they pay well. Instead a lot of these jobs are being created in fast food, restaurants, bars, as well as the health care sector. It's not doctors and nurses. We're talking about home health aides.
[Romans:] But I think we're seeing that change. We're seeing it broaden out the next few months. The professional services, I loved the number.
[La Monica:] The wage growth, again, it's not gangbusters, but 2.1 percent year over year is an improvement. And it's now a slightly higher than the inflation rate. So, again, nothing to get that excited about, but nothing to be depressed about.
[Romans:] Until now a low wage recovery. We want to see it broaden out in terms of different kinds of jobs. Thanks, guys. You know, the solid middle-class jobs are coming back, but more than 40 percent of the jobs created during the recovery have been low wage. This week fast food workers walked off the job in 150 cities across the country. They want $15 an hour and they want the right to unionize. Cristina, the protests have been going on for two years. Is it making a difference?
[Alesci:] Well, that's a really difficult question to answer, but on a broad basis I think you have to make a distinction what's going on at the city and state level in Democratic areas
[Romans:] And there's a lot of movement. There's a lot of movement.
[Alesci:] There's a lot of movement there, and this specific movement on the broader scale, low-wage workers are winning some of those battles. If you look at a city like Seattle they were successful in getting that $15 minimum wage hike. So there you have progress. But when you're looking at these protesters, they want companies like McDonald's and Wendy's to pay more, and on that front, we really haven't seen that much movement. However, McDonald's is acknowledging that these kinds of protests and these kind of headlines could have an adverse impact on their business. So that is progress. Also, these protesters are making some headway in court.
[La Monica:] I think they might get some help. The National Labor Relations Board, a very important ruling, saying that McDonald's may have to treat employees of franchisees as if they with their own. And that's one thing that I think a lot of these companies in fast food have been saying, well, it's not really our problem, it's our franchisees' . They may not be able to make that claim anymore.
[Romans:] You're seeing some of the executives of these companies start to acknowledge that there is this real shift in sentiment and public opinion in America about paying somebody more than $7.25 to do these jobs. The national restaurant association, the lobbyists, they point out in 2007 when the minimum wage was raised you had hours cut back and many prices go up. So they're still fighting the same old battle here.
[Pagliery:] Let's note that these protests are unlike any in history, and here's why 20 or 30 years ago, we protest for higher wages, they get them, fine. But we're at the dawn of the age of automation. And so we have to ask ourselves, even if they get those higher wages, are they just going to get cut in 10 years by robots that bread chicken
[Romans:] In 10 years? Next year. At what price does McDonald's say we'll automate two-thirds of the kitchen. What price does that become? And that's something that all the restaurant owners are looking at.
[La Monica:] Mc-Watson.
[Romans:] There you go. There you go. I don't know if I'm blush on that yet. No more smokes this week at CVS. The pharmacy chain made good on its promise to stop selling tobacco products. The company has a new name, CVS Health. Could sugary drinks and fattening snacks be the next to go?
[Larry Merlo, President And Ceo, Cvs Health:] If you talk to a nutritionist, a dietician, they will take you that those products taken in moderation or the occasional use have not been proven to cause medical harm. The same can't be said about tobacco. There's no amount of tobacco use that can be considered safe.
[Romans:] So, Cristina, you talked to the CEO. Is this about health or is this about positioning in a more health conscious society and profits?
[Alesci:] Well, look, it was not a difficult decision for CVS to make. First off, it's a very small part of their overall business, $2 billion and $126 billion of revenue. Not that big of a deal. Low margin business. Cigarettes are a very low margin business. And not that many people are smoking, at least it's not a growth area. Bottom line, the value of this kind of PR campaign outstrips anything they could have lost in terms of profit. And, look, CVS wants to focus on the growing part of the health care sector, right? That is growing. And, do you know what, we happen to have a shortage in primary care physicians which CVS is looking to fill in their clinics in their stores.
[Romans:] So give the Nicorette gum, don't give the cigarette. Focus on the other end of the business, the growing end of the business, not the stagnant end.
[La Monica:] Yes. Even though they changed the name to CVS Health and getting rid of the Caremark name, it's Caremark that is still driving that business, more than half of their revenue coming from the pharmacy benefits company. And for a company like CVS it probably would seem odd to have signs where it's, like, go in and get your flu shot here instead of going to a doctor. And, oh, by the way, get a pack of Camels on the way out. You know, it's a little bit strange for them to probably be faced with that.
[Pagliery:] And like Christina said, this is a huge growth area. With Obamacare suddenly they are a lot more insured people, 8 million more that will be pushed into this. And so as the number of smokers is declining, the number of insured is increasing, and so they are pivoting, and they are being smart about it.
[Romans:] You look at any of the numbers, any of the forecasts, it's all wellness and health that are the big drivers for jobs and a lot of things over the next decade.
[Alesci:] They got to take the fattening stuff off the shelf.
[Romans:] All right, all right. We'll see, we'll see. Former House majority leader Eric Cantor has a new gig on Wall Street. Cantor joining boutique investment bank Moelis and Company as a vice chairman and board member. He's going to get a $400,000 base salary and millions more in cash and stock bonuses and a Manhattan apartment to live in. Jose, you've seen the Washington-Wall Street revolving door plenty of times. What does it say about Eric Cantor?
[Pagliery:] The Tea Party was right about him. That's what it's proving, right? So the big criticism was that this guy has deep connections with Wall Street and there's a revolving door between Washington, D.C., and Wall Street. Well, look at what he did. He just proved that point. And the reason he was brought on board was to exercise the relationships he has on the Hill, and he's going to do that, right? And so this really shows that the Tea Party is right about mainstream Republicans, and it doesn't help them at all.
[Alesci:] It could actually make it more difficult for Eric Cantor to come back to Washington, to your point. But I think the cooler move for a lot of former civil servants going forward is going to be breaking into Silicon Valley, right? We saw Uber, which is having some issues with regulators around the world, not just in the
[U.s. Romans:] Yes.
[Alesci:] He goes David Plouffe goes to Uber, and that is a transition I think we'll see more of for civil servants, not only because of the pay, but because of the high-profile nature of those positions.
[Romans:] I think you're absolutely right.
[La Monica:] To be honest, it's a nice consolation prize, particularly financially, but I don't think Cantor woke up the day after he lost his primary saying, yea, I'm going to Wall Street and cashing in. So long Capitol Hill.
[Romans:] The revolving door. I love the idea that Silicon Valley is the other stop in the revolving door. That's going to be interesting to watch. Thanks guys. All right, coming up, the underbelly of the Internet, criminals trading nude pics of Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton, trading them like baseball cards. But they want your data, and it is more valuable than you think. We go inside the dark web next.