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Lou Dobbs Tonight
Flooding Costs Rises; University of Iowa Campus Flooded; Taliban Attacks on the Rise; Your Food Safety; Border Security Crisis
Aired June 16, 2008 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LOU DOBBS, HOST: Tonight tens of thousands in Iowa still unable to return to their homes. Floodwaters in some cities are beginning to recede tonight, but there are new concerns now for towns along the Mississippi River, as those waters are rising.
The shocking results tonight of a Congressional investigation into our broken borders after years of promises and billions of dollars, it's as easy as ever to cross into this country, especially from Mexico.
And working men and women in this country working harder and working longer for less. I'll be joined by three of the best economic minds to talk about why these presidential candidates aren't talking about real solutions and apparently don't have a clue, all of that, all the day's news and much more from an independent perspective straight ahead here tonight.
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT: news, debate, and opinion for Monday, June 16th. Live from New York, Lou Dobbs.
DOBBS: Good evening, everybody.
Tonight emergency workers along the Mississippi River are bracing for more flooding. Almost 40,000 people have been evacuated from their homes, the death toll is rising. Five people have died in this flooding and the economic toll is expected to rise to the billions of dollars.
Almost 16 percent of Iowa's cropland is now under water. Experts have no idea yet just how much of that land will be salvageable. Prices are already climbing. The futures price of corn, for example, is now near $8 a bushel.
Our coverage tonight begins with Ed Lavandera in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Ed?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lou, as the floodwaters have begun to recede here in Cedar Rapids. We're on the southern edge of downtown. Just a few days ago we would have been under about 10 feet of water where we are now.
These floodwaters are going down, but the tensions and frustrations are mounting for the residents here who in these communities waiting desperately to get back into their neighborhoods to begin surveying the damage. They thought they would be able to do that today as many -- much of the floodwater has left some of the neighborhoods that residents hope to get back into today but they aren't being allowed back in because of uncertainty of just what exactly is left behind in these floodwaters.
We heard one story today about a gentleman who thought he was about to step into a puddle of water essentially and fell into six feet of water. Foundations of these homes have been left very uneasy because of these floodwaters and the current through which these waters have been moving through these neighborhoods, so that is why many of these residents aren't being allowed back in. They are essentially being turn away at checkpoints and that has created a lot of frustration today. Lou?
DOBBS: Ed, thank you very much -- Ed Lavandera reporting.
Rivers in Iowa City are now at record levels. They're expected to remain high through Friday. Thousands of people are being told they simply can't return yet to their homes. The University of Iowa remains under water. Officials there aren't certain when the campus will be reopened.
Sean Callebs is in Iowa City and has our report. Sean?
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lou, behind me you see the Iowa River, one of nine rivers in the state at or above historic highs. This river encroached on the campus of University of Iowa. Something different in the equation here, it's not homes and businesses that have been flooded. People evacuated.
But the campus has taken a significant hit. Sixteen buildings have been inundated by floodwater. I want to point you to this building here. The School of Art here, the architecture inspired by a work from Picasso, very heartbreaking for the faculty and university students here.
And the Museum of Art, it housed an art collection valued between three and $400 million and that collection had to be whisked away even as volunteers were sandbagging all around the campus. They had to use as much secrecy as possible. Here's how the university president explains it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SALLY MASON, PRES., UNIVERSITY OF IOWA: They're safe in Chicago. They got moved in semi trucks. We did it very quietly because of course we had to do it quickly and they had to be crated up properly and then they had to be taken out of here in semi trucks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLEBS: It took a while for this river to crest and it's going to take about a week for it to completely recede and the cleanup is going to be costly and difficult. Classes have been suspended here until at least Sunday and a lot of people around Iowa have a special affinity to this campus.
About 50 percent of the state's doctors, 75 percent of the state's nurses and 80 percent of the educators of public schools all graduated from this campus, so a lot of people are watching what's going on here. Lou?
DOBBS: Sean, thank you -- Sean Callebs reporting.
The damage to Iowa's agriculture economy could run into the billions of dollars. About 16 percent of Iowa's crop land, as I said, is estimated to be or was under water. That according to a farm economist at Iowa State University. Normally Iowa plants about 13 million acres of corn, 10 million acres of soybeans.
Corn prices are now soaring at just about $8 a bushel, that's up more than 10 percent over the past week alone. Economists say it is much too early to assess the overall damage to the agriculture economy. It is certain, however, that food prices will continue to rise nationwide partly as a result of these lost crops.
Floodwaters are rapidly flowing into the Mississippi River now and they're raising the level and creating a major disruption to shipping. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has now closed about 300 miles of the river to shipping from Fulton, Illinois, all of the way to Winfield, Missouri. Those river locks will be closed for at least two weeks. About 20,000 tons of cargo a day would normally pass through those locks.
There are new concerns for the cities and the towns along the Mississippi Rivers as the waters continue to rise. The river is expected to crest perhaps tomorrow. So far the river's levees have held those rising waters.
Chad Myers joins me now from the CNN Weather Center. Chad, this is about as bad as it gets, right?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Really. For the people of Iowa and also for the people of Wisconsin, parts of Illinois and Indiana because we're only talking about a couple areas here, but I don't want to you know tell people that that's the only area. There were more areas flooded than just that, but the water now still coming in, still coming up in some cities as that bubble of water runs downhill and eventually into the Mississippi River.
Here's the Google Earth Map and I'll show you every little dot that you see is either in major or severe or record flood stage. Hundred and sixty little dots on there all over flood stage and there are many right at flood stage as well. But you will notice most of the purple, which is the major flooding, is either Wisconsin or Iowa.
So let's take you right into Iowa City. What has happened in Iowa City the past couple days? Well the water has actually come down, some good news. This is a hydrograph. Where did the water go, 31 feet. Where was the old record? That old record was 28 and a half feet.
Three feet over the biggest record flood they've ever seen, so let's zoom you out a little bit, let's come back out and see what else is going on. Where is it going from here? Well this all has to move down river. Obviously down into the locks, down into Quincy, down into Hannibal, and so far it appears that Hannibal and Quincy, these levees will hold and the water will not over top them, but Lou we thought that back in 1993 as well and a lot of those levees broke.
Let's hope these levees are fixed this time and fixed right and fixed for the last time we don't have to not worry about this flooding going on again. There's a lot more water to go all the way down. This has to go all the way down to New Orleans for crying out loud.
DOBBS: All right, Chad, thank you very much, very interesting. Chad Myers from the CNN Weather Center.
Up next here, coalition casualties in Afghanistan are on the rise now as Taliban attacks are increasing. Can the United States now rely on its allies for help? We'll have that report.
And the number of people sickened by contaminated tomatoes is more widespread than previously reported. We'll have that story.
And we'll be talking about the public's lack of trust in the federal government's ability to protect American consumers from contaminated food. Stay with us. We're coming right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Former vice president and presidential candidate and Nobel laureate Al Gore has endorsed Senator Barack Obama for president. Al Gore will appear with Obama now in a little more than an hour. They'll appear together in Detroit. The former vice president says Obama is the best candidate to bring change to America. Gore is also asking members of algore.com to contribute to Obama's campaign, this coming as the Democratic Party announces its $15 million short in its fund-raising to hold its convention in August in Denver.
Well in what appears to be a complete reversal tonight, Senator Obama says he is considering a trip now to Iraq. The senator has faced sharp criticism from McCain's campaign and other Republicans for making only one trip to visit our troops.
The RNC Web site featuring a live streamer listing the days, hours and minutes and seconds since Senator Obama's only visit and Obama foreign policy adviser now says the Republicans are just trying to distract attention from the failures of the Iraq war and meanwhile apparently the Republican ploy has worked. Senator Obama saying he will go to Iraq sometime before the election.
Meanwhile, the violence in Afghanistan is worsening. Coalition deaths in Afghanistan exceeded those in Iraq for the month of May and so far this month. Britain is sending more troops but they're not expected to help where the fighting is the most intense. Barbara Starr has our report from the Pentagon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Kandahar up to 900 Taliban fighters and criminals who made a dramatic prison break are reported to be taking over several villages, U.S. and Canadian troops now moving into the region.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We really have seen that there are insufficient troop levels in the south to deal with this to stabilize this situation.
STARR: Across Afghanistan fighting is on the rise. For the first time, last month more coalition troops died in Afghanistan than in Iraq. Four Marines killed in Farah province. The worst single day loss for the U.S. this year, in Tarin Kowt 100 militants attacked coalition forces. The largest enemy concentration in months as the British sent more dead home Prime Minister Gordon Brown promised to send a few hundred more troops.
GORDON BROWN, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Today Britain will announce additional troops for Afghanistan, bringing our numbers in Afghanistan to the highest level.
STARR: But it won't help the major flash point, the border with Pakistan. The U.S. wants Pakistan to crack down, but Washington says it's just not happening.
ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: There is no question that the area along the Afghan/Pakistan border is a real problem. Al Qaeda is there. The Taliban is there.
STARR: Afghan President Hamid Karzai now threatening to send his forces into Pakistan.
PRES. HAMID KARZAI, AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan has the right of self-defense when they cross the territory from Pakistan to come and kill Afghans and kill coalition troops, it exactly gives us the right to go back and do the same.
STARR: On his farewell European tour, President Bush one more time called for cooperation.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is in one no one's interest that extremists have a safe haven from which to operate.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: Now President Bush has promised to send thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan next year. And that will be a commitment in waiting for the next president. Lou?
DOBBS: Barbara, thank you very much -- Barbara Starr reporting from the Pentagon.
Two more of our troops have been killed in Iraq. A Marine killed by insurgents during combat operations in al Anbar province and a soldier killed by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad; 16 of our troops have been killed so far this month; 4,100 of our troops killed since the war began; 30,209 of our troops wounded; 13,434 of our troops wounded seriously.
Up next, almost 300 people have sickened across 28 states and the District of Columbia in the salmonella outbreak caused by contaminated tomatoes. Does the Food and Drug Administration have anything new to report? Where is their investigation and just exactly why can't this agency function in the interests of American consumers? We'll have that report.
And middle class wages stagnant, but CEO pay is on the rise. We'll have those stories and more as we continue. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Coming up next, we'll tell you about an alarming new Congressional report that you won't believe about this country's national security and the lies that have been told. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: The Centers for Disease Control tonight have updated the spread of those contaminated tomatoes, contaminated with salmonella. The CDC now reporting that 277 people in 28 states and the District of Columbia have been sickened by those contaminated tomatoes, 43 people have been hospitalized. At least one person has died.
A new study finds Americans have now very little confidence in the federal government's ability to protect American consumers against contaminated foods especially if those foods are imported. Louise Schiavone has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOUISE SCHIAVONE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With the tainted tomato outbreak still ongoing but no federal inspectors on any farms anywhere yet, consumers are anxious in general.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm very concerned because like I remember years ago there was a Tylenol scare and this is like kind of the same thing. We're like you don't know if this could be the last vegetable you eat.
SCHIAVONE: And worried in particular about imports even though in this case we just don't know whether the source was foreign or domestic.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would like to know where my fruits and vegetables come from.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I check the labels at the market to see if it's domestic produce.
SCHIAVONE: In a study that preceded the latest tomato scare, the Harvard School of Public Health found more than half of those surveyed only barely trust the food inspection process. More than half do not trust food imports from communist China and almost half don't trust foods from Mexico.
The FDA reports the overwhelming majority of tomatoes consumed in the U.S. at the time of the salmonella outbreak were from inside the U.S., Central Florida and outside the U.S., Mexico.
DR. ROBERT BLENDON, HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: I just think we will see growing pressure to have more labeling so people can make some choices in the global marketplace of what and where their food comes from and which ones they choose to give to their families.
SCHIAVONE: The Harvard study also found the vast majority of Americans surveyed were well aware of the food recalls of recent years including the e. Coli tainted spinach from California that sickened more than 200 and left three dead. The tainted peanut butter that made almost 200 people sick and the green onions traced back to a farm in Mexico that triggered a hepatitis outbreak and killed three people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHIAVONE: As for the source of the latest salmonella outbreak, Lou, the FDA is pursuing the case of nine illnesses among customers at a restaurant chain, the best source of record so far on the outbreak. The government though won't identify the chain or even the location and the Centers for Disease Control insists that no one chain of stores or restaurants is at the heart of this outbreak.
DOBBS: Now is this the CDC or the FDA talking about the chain of stores?
SCHIAVONE: The FDA is investigating the chain. It's investigating this cluster of nine people.
DOBBS: So what...
SCHIAVONE: The CDC is saying they are sure that this is -- the source of this is not a restaurant chain or a chain of stores.
DOBBS: And how is it that they can be certain of anything at this point since they cannot determine the source they say of this outbreak? That makes no sense. It is one thing the Centers for Disease Control, a highly respected professional organization, the FDA led by complete moronic unengaged, incompetence.
The idea that they would sit there and say they're not going to reveal where a cluster of this outbreak occurred, this is arrogant beyond belief. Who in the world do these idiots think they are? Who do they think they're working for?
SCHIAVONE: Not only will they not reveal what the chain is, which wouldn't all of us like to know what the chain is. They won't even say what the region of the country was that this chain was located in, but they know they have this cluster of nine people that they feel they can now do a more disciplined trace back.
DOBBS: I've got to say Congress should be removing everyone at the top of the FDA right now. They should just be simply removed and get out of the way because they're not public servants. They're not acting responsibly or intelligently or effectively.
What in the world are they doing? Secondly, the idea that there is no inspector in the field either in Central Florida or Mexico, more than a week after this outbreak, a week and a half, what...
(CROSSTALK)
DOBBS: How do they rationalize that?
SCHIAVONE: They don't have anybody in any farm anywhere because they say they just don't know where to go.
DOBBS: Unbelievable, we will continue to report this story, ladies and gentlemen I assure you as diligently as we can. But there is one conclusion that in my opinion is inescapable. The FDA is led by complete moronic incompetence. It's just unbelievable.
Louise, thank you very much -- Louise Schiavone. I don't understand how Congress can accept this level of performance. As for this administration had a responsible president at the helm of this country, I would wonder why he is not taking action but then again this is of course his FDA and his legacy. Thank you very much.
Well food imports into this country have nearly doubled over the past 10 years. Imports now make up about 15 percent of the American diet. According to FDA reports, imported foods pose a higher risk than domestic food to consumers. Traces of salmonella are the disinter (ph) bacteria have been reported in four percent of imported produce compared with one percent of domestic produce.
And pesticide violations reported in six percent. Again, we stress reported in imported foods compared with over two percent in domestic food. Again, this is from the FDA, so make of it what you may.
Time now for tonight's poll; the question is straightforward. Are you personally making more of an effort to buy local or American grown produce when you go food shopping? Yes or no. Cast your vote at loudobbs.com. We'll have the results coming up here later.
And a reminder that we do have a country of origin labeling law. It's just that the mega foods and agriculture interests have overwhelmed your elected officials and that legislation still hasn't been funded.
Let's take a look at some of your thoughts now. Kreig in New Mexico wrote to say, "Note to the head of the FDA. Yes, I would know where I bought the tomato that made me sick. I could even find the bin I picked it from, thanks to you now even American tomato growers are losing money because of your agency. Keep them honest, Lou." Well we're going to do our very best. Honest is probably too strong a word for what we can do, but we're going to continue to pull them into the daylight.
Ben in Oklahoma, "Keep up the pressure, Lou, it is apparent our government agency, the FDA, does not want to disclose where those tomatoes came from. They play to wait long enough until we forget." I think you probably have that exactly right.
And Tamera in Utah, "Lou, you're the only one out there telling us the truth and fighting for the people. Keep hitting them hard for answers." We will sure continue to try.
We'll have more of your thoughts here later in the broadcast.
Up next, a new GAO report shows what we've been reporting here for years. Our border with Mexico remains dangerously wide open to illegal aliens, drug smugglers and anyone who wants to cross that border. Is anyone in Washington listening? Does anyone care? Do either of the two major presidential candidates have a clue?
The Supreme Court makes it easier for people who want to overstay their visas here illegally and to stay here longer. We'll have that story. I'll be joined by our senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.
And while America's middle class struggles to pay its bills, corporate executives are doing quite nicely, thank you. We'll have their story. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT: news, debate, and opinion. Here again, "Mr. Independent", Lou Dobbs.
DOBBS: Welcome back.
A new Congressional investigation tonight shows what we've been reporting on this broadcast literally for years. That our borders remain virtually wide open, that our border with Mexico is wide open, and as Casey Wian now reports, undercover investigators had a more than 90 percent, 90 percent success rate as they tried to enter this country illegally.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is an undercover tester for the Government Accountability Office packing phony radioactive material and then smuggling it across unguarded sections of the U.S./Mexico border. The same GAO study of border security over the past five years found that even at legal crossing points testers were able to use fake ID to enter illegally 93 percent of the time.
GAO concluded that terrorists or other criminals could use counterfeit identification to pass freely through most of the tested ports of entry with little chance of being detected. The Customs and Border Protection Agency has spent tens of billions of dollars since 2001 adding thousands of agents and new technology, but officials say more resources are needed.
JAYSON AHERN, U.S. CUSTOMS & BORDER PROTECTION: What we really need is to make sure we have the infrastructure at our points of entry to make sure we can move that cross border legitimate travel and trade but also have the capabilities to really focus in on the critical criminal trade that's coming in as well.
WIAN: Another study by the University of California at San Diego estimates the chance of an illegal border crosser being caught have doubled to nearly 50 percent since 2005. But because most try repeatedly, the ultimate success rate remains above 90 percent yet there's a shift in focus away from border security.
REP. BRIAN BILBRAY (R), CALIFORNIA: We are looking now at interior enforcement and less at the border being a problem as much as illegal employment is.
WIAN: Customs and border protection responded to the GOA study with this letter saying it has conducted its own more recent tests which successfully intercepted radioactive material. CBP also says it continues to add agents, update training, improve technology and build more border fence.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIAN: Yet the gaps in border security produce cases like that of Julio Cesar Mata-Sosa, an illegal alien gang member who will be sentenced in federal court here in Los Angeles tomorrow. Mata-Sosa's prior convictions include robbery, vehicle theft and drug dealing. But this time he pled guilty to illegal re-entry to the United States after being deported. Not once, Lou, but seven times.
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: My gosh. You know, this is a serious problem. I mean I have to laugh because this government is made up of complete idiots. The customs and border protection service segment of their recent study of their own performance and study of their own performance turned out to be somewhat more glowing than the General Accountability Office. There's a shock, isn't it? Now they not only can't secure the border, they can conduct studies and very effectively ones on how well they're doing. Do these incompetents expect anyone to believe their nonsense? I guess so or they wouldn't go through the trouble.
WIAN: Absolutely. You know one of the most stunning things about this GAO report was for a period of time some of these undercover investigators got through legitimate points of entry without even being asked -- they didn't have to show phony I.D. They weren't asked to prove their citizenship. Just a verbal declaration was all that needed to happen.
DOBBS: Wouldn't you take their word for it? I mean, if you're not going take people's word for it, what kind of American are you? This is a welcoming nation. We're welcoming 93 percent of the people who try to cross our border illegally. For some reason all I can think about is why didn't customs and border patrol people put up with that study the headline could be we catch 7 percent of the people who try to enter this country illegally. I mean, that's something to rally behind.
WIAN: We spoke to the border patrol today and they admit that they are far from securing the border. The battle is not done. They say they are making incremental improvements in border security and heading in the right direction
DOBBS: Is there anyone in this country who's a little tired of the silly nonsense that we're getting back from government leaders who are in charge of these departments? Do they think public relations, that's supposed to be an adequate substitute for performance of duty? I mean it's crazy.
WIAN: It sure is. I want to make one thing clear, Lou. Those verbal declarations at least customs and border protection says that policy has ended. You're no longer allowed into the United States without at least showing some form of I.D.
DOBBS: That is -- you know, I somehow feel that the nation is more secure tonight having learned that. Casey, thank you for that. It's just amazing.
If that General Accountability Office report is not enough to spur the elected officials to take some action, guess what, it won't be. Then perhaps the latest poll numbers might help. Those won't be enough either. They should be. Here we go.
A Rasmussen Poll shows now 63 percent of all voters surveyed believe it is more important to secure our border than to pass a comprehensive immigration reform or resolve the status of people illegally here. Imagine that. 83 percent of the people who said they're angry about illegal immigration -- this is going to upset a lot of people -- say they're not angry at illegal aliens. They're angry at the federal government for not securing the borders. I think that's 100 percent. I don't know of anybody who is angry with illegal aliens on the issue but they are a little angry with illegal employers and all of the people in congress for corporate America and for ethnocentric activist organizations and their nonsense that they spew about Americans hating immigrants or hating illegal aliens when they hate illegal immigration and the employers who make it possible and a government who turns a blind eye and a deaf ear to it all. Well, that's just my opinion.
The Supreme Court today made it easier for people to overstay their visas illegally to remain in this country illegally while they apply for legal residency. You've got to love it. Now the judiciary has joined the executive and the legislative branches of our government. The high court's 5-4 decision focusing on a Nigerian citizen who overstayed his tourist's visa that expired in 1998. The immigrant agreed to leave voluntarily but then he married an American citizen and because the situation changed he withdrew that agreement to depart and the high court ruled that he's allowed to stay here while he applies for citizenship. I'm joined now by our senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin.
You got to love the high court joining up with President Bush, the democratic leadership of congress and just saying the heck with the law. Let's all have a party.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: They said another bite at the apple is OK.
DOBBS: Unbelievable.
TOOBIN: What this case is about when the government wants to deport someone, they say, well, we won't deport you if you agree to leave.
DOBBS: Wait a minute. Repeat that because I think people after having heard Casey Wian's report where the government has now decided to ask people if they should be coming into this country legally, the high court said what?
TOOBIN: The law says that if you are going to be deported and you agree to leave voluntarily, they'll give you 60 days to leave. What this case is about is during that 60 days, this fellow said, wait a second, I got married. I get to reopen my case even though we gave you the privilege of leaving voluntarily rather than being deported and the Supreme Court said, well, that's okay. You get that other bite at the apple.
DOBBS: Do the liberal darlings on the court understand that the immigration officials determine that the fellow who had been ordered to leave and who agreed to do so had entered into a sham marriage for precisely this purpose?
TOOBIN: That came out later. That came out later. The sham marriage came out later.
DOBBS: Not in time for the high court to deal with it?
TOOBIN: No.
DOBBS: Jeffrey, you know - Jeffrey Toobin, by the way, has written many important books and none more important than the nine about this high court. You tell me how these little darlings could actually sit there with a straight face and write this opinion knowing that it was even though had had gotten there late pony express bringing the news that this guy had conducted a sham marriage, which is a violation of law as I recall, you're the expert on this.
TOOBIN: Yes, it is.
DOBBS: The Supreme Court should take into account these little things when trying to deliberate and come to an intelligent conclusion. What are they doing?
TOOBIN: In fairness to them --
DOBBS: I don't want to be fair to them.
TOOBIN: I don't.
DOBBS: I want to be fair to the American people and fair to the values that make it a fair country. And those darlings on the high court can kiss off.
TOOBIN: We don't necessarily agree that this is the right policy but this is what the law requires. Now, that's what they said. Yet again it's up to congress to fix it if the congress ever decides to revisit the immigration laws, which haven't worked out so well.
DOBBS: So we're caught. I think it's worked out very well because these idiots had it worked out we would have seen a so called comprehensive immigration reform which would have been devastating according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Do we have something like -- do we have a review group for this high court? You have the General Accountability Office watching morons that we send to congress. Do we have someone as a watchdog -- besides yourself? Yours is high quality but I would like to see more whole agency devoted to watching these people.
TOOBIN: Well you know Justice Robert Jackson, one of the great justices of the 1950s had a great line. He said we are not final because we're in infallible. We are infallible because we are final. There's no review. There's no discussion. I mean there's plenty of discussion but there is no way to overturn a Supreme Court precedent but congress could change this law to make it clear that once you agree to leave you don't get to
DOBBS: -- detainee tribunal and laws and regulations.
TOOBIN: They're trying to get that one right also.
DOBBS: How is the gun law deal going?
TOOBIN: That's the last big case due out. The court will --
DOBBS: I can't wait to see that.
TOOBIN: Me either. Probably next Monday or the Monday after.
DOBBS: I think the republic is trembling. All right. Thank you very much, Jeffrey Toobin, as always.
TOOBIN: OK, Lou.
DOBBS: Up next, why aren't the presidential candidates talking about real answers for real solutions, talking about hard working men and women and what they're going to do about it? Independent voters want to know and they're not buying much of the blather that's emanating from the campaign trail and both parties.
What does this administration, speaking of blather and congress, want to do about those higher food prices? Well, I'm sure they have a plan. We'll find out what it might be.
Stay with us. We're coming right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Well, CEO salaries continue to rise to outrageous heights despite a sluggish economy and certainly a tepid if not outright stagnant wage increases for working people. An Associated Press survey of the top 500 companies in the country revealing the median pay package for a CEO is just about $8.4 million. That's up almost $300,000 from the previous year. Collectively the ten highest paid CEOs made more than half a billion dollars last year. Not a bad year. Half of those CEOs led companies with profits that were plunging. While America's CEO pay is no problem, our middle class is working harder and longer for less.
I'm joined now by three of the country's brightest economics minds. Bruce Bartlett is the former deputy assistant secretary for economic policy for Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush, Steven Greenhouse, believer and workplace correspondent for the "New York Times" and author of the important new book, "The Big Squeeze Tough Times for the American Worker" and Peter Morici, professor at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School for Business.
Good to have you all here.
Let's start here, Steven, with you. 5.5 percent unemployment, the biggest move in unemployment in over a decade and a half in one month, the unemployment rate. We've got gas prices as everybody knows skyrocketing. We've got food prices skyrocketing. Basic commodities skyrocketing. Don't you feel much, much comfort to know that CEO pay is moving up smartly?
STEVEN GREENHOUSE, AUTHOR, "THE BIG SQUEEZE": I often wonder how CEOs have the gall to continue doing this at a time when they are laying off people, profits are going down, we're seeing the market take a beating in many ways. I guess they want to keep up with their peers and then they see all the other CEO as making ten million and they want to make ten million.
DOBBS: Working people, where do they turn here? Because neither of these politicians seeking highest office in the land is offering a single real solution.
GREENHOUSE: I think American voters are really looking for change. They are seeing the economy not doing very well. They're tired of wages being flat. They're seeing health benefits get worse. They're seeing pension benefits get worse. They're working harder. They want change. They hope that either Obama or McCain will deliver for them and looking hard to see that something happens.
DOBBS: Bruce, do you think that they should put much stock in either of these candidates for change?
BRUCE BARTLETT, FMR. TREASURY DEPT. ECONOMIST: Well, by definition we're going to get some kind of change next year because finally we'll have a new president but based on what the two candidates have said so far about the economy, I don't see any meaningful change. I mean it's sort of around the edges.
DOBBS: We hear this stuff about change. I can't figure out where the change will be. I really cannot.
BARTLETT: Based on what they said so far, I don't see.
DOBBS: By the way, I'm referring to both candidates which I think are just about as perfectly matched as two candidates could possibly be. I don't mean that in a flattering way either, Bruce.
BARTLETT: Well, I agree with you. I mean because the problem is in my opinion the biggest problem we have facing this country is our fiscal situation is just completely out of control. I think it's actually responsible for a lot of the problems that you're worried about such as the trade deficit. The democrats don't want to talk about cutting entitlement programs and the republicans don't want to talk about raising taxes and they're both just absolutely scared that if they say anything that would hurt anybody in the tiniest little way they'll be just destroyed at the polls.
DOBBS: They're lying through their teeth is what you're saying both parties?
BARTLETT: Implicitly.
DOBBS: Absolutely.
Professor, sort it out for us.
PROF. PETER MORICI, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: Well, choosing between McCain and Obama is like MasterCard and Visa. To me the big problems are trade and oil, and on oil neither one of them will do much you know oil imports. On trade, Obama is basically campaigning on the Clinton platform of his first term. He's going to do something about NAFTA. Once he gets elected he won't. He says he's going to do something about China but he's very vague. I don't see much hope for real change with Obama and McCain has already promised to give us the sixth term of the Reagan administration. So I don't see much here going on.
DOBBS: This idea of free trade, I mean McCain talking about he's going to be a free trader bragging about it. 32 consecutive years of trade deficits, he's talking as if he's scathing off the dragons of protectionism when what he's really doing is resisting empirical data, absolute physical evidence of a wrong headed policy that's costing millions of jobs and doing absolutely nothing to drive this economy.
MORICI: By my math the manufacturing sector during the time of George Bush has lost two million jobs because of the trade deficit with China and the rest of Asia. I would like to know how either of these two candidates are going to get that back or what they're going to do to assist our ailing automobile sector and what they're going to do by our $425 billion trade deficit on oil, which is not coming back in the former purchased goods but rather it comes back in the form of the Gulf States hauling off the Chrysler Building and CSX. The whole situation is absurd.
DOBBS: Steven, your thoughts?
GREENHOUSE: I agree with a lot of what Peter is saying. I think it's a disaster that we have lost so many manufacturing jobs since 2000. We've lost one in five manufacturing jobs, 3.5 million jobs. And as you know, Lou, they are very good middle class jobs with good wages.
DOBBS: This doesn't include three million jobs lost to outsourcing to cheap overseas labor markets.
GREENHOUSE: Yes. We're just talking blue collar factory jobs. It's predicted we'll lose 3.4 million white collar jobs, accounting jobs, engineering jobs, overseas over a decade as well. I often think that there's been benign neglect of the manufacturing sector in recent years. The administration has worked very hard on helping the oil industry but not paying much attention to the manufacturing industries of the Midwest.
DOBBS: This administration -- I could be a little more direct. This administration has sold this country out on every level and will continue to do so on any basis that it possibly could. We have $53 trillion in unfunded liabilities. We have $6.5 trillion trade debt that's rising faster than our $9.5 trillion national debt. We have neither candidate speaking responsibly about entitlements, as you suggested Bruce. We have neither candidate talking intelligently about health care, about energy, or what kind of atmosphere they're going to create for our working men and women in this country that is for the middle class. It's insane that we're taking these two preposterous pretenders seriously. Don't you think?
We'll test your partisanship here, Steven.
MORICI: I think both candidates are trying within the limits of the parties to try to move things forward.
DOBBS: The limits of the parties. When are we going to push back against these partisan buffoons in both parties and get rid of -- We don't know who this guy is. Mike Duncan is it, head of the republicans and this Howard Dean, the head of the democrats, these are absolutely branding fund-raising sops. That's all they perform. What are we doing?
BARTLETT: We're moving around the pieces on the chessboard I guess. But I think that to get back to the point, I think that all these problems you talk about are inter related. I think we make a mistake by viewing the China problem and trade problem and immigration problem as separate issues. I think they're all part of a fundamental problem which is that we don't save enough. We have got a huge budget deficit as draining out of the economy so that we have to import the saving and when we import that saving it shows up as a trade deficit and as foreign direct investment with foreigners buying our assets.
DOBBS: Peter, both of these candidates are talking about preserving the status quo which is a population growth driven growth economy. That's the only thing they understand or comprehend. They are talking about denying the rule of the majority in Washington, D.C. through the collapse of this two-party system which is violation of the fundamental tenant of democracy. I think there, as Bruce suggests, there is one issue here and that is we're not following our values or ideals nor are we in any way providing representation to the ruling majority in Washington D.C.
MORICI: Well, I agree with you there. I think that Bruce has it right. It's all inter connected. He has it upside down. If we would fix the currency problem with China and there are ways we could do that if they won't move, then the jobs would come back. GDP would go up. The government would have more tax revenue. Savings would go up. We wouldn't have the kinds of budget deficits we have if congress could abstain. So my feeling is that you know it's easy to say Americans don't save enough. That's going back to blaming the very victims, the middle class. How can they possibly save when their jobs are being destroyed? Fix the trade problem. Get a good energy policy that's based on rejuvenating the automobile industry, based on hybrid vehicles and plug ins and the problems with trade, the problems with savings, they'll get solved.
DOBBS: Peter, thank you very much. Bruce, thank you very much. Steven, thank you for being here and come back soon.
Up next, the Bush administration's latest push for a North American union. Isn't it wonderful?
We'll be right back. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Campbell Brown. We've got big news in the Election Center tonight. Al Gore will be endorsing Barack Obama. It's happening during our hour. We'll have it live for you.
Also tonight, a look at one of the most interesting U.S. senate races in the country. I'll be talking exclusively with comedian turned Senate candidate Al Franken. We'll see you in a few minutes. Lou Dobbs will be right back.
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DOBBS: Fun news to share with you now. The dollar fell again today and now it cost $1.54 to buy a euro. The decline in the dollar coming just two days after Henry Paulson called for a stronger dollar during a meeting of the group of eight finance ministers, the Bush administration stepping up rhetoric recently in support of our slumping dollar.
Well, the weak dollar helping push crude oil prices to a new intra day record high of almost $140 a barrel. It finally settled at $137 a barrel. The government of Saudi Arabia now says that it will produce more oil trying to bring down crude oil prices. Saudi Arabia will produce just about a half million barrels extra. Saudi Arabia is the second largest oil supplier to the United States behind Canada and wants, by the way, Europeans to reduce their taxes. Those taxes make up about 60 percent of the price of a gallon of gasoline in Europe.
The Bush administration for its part is continuing rather overtly now its push for a North American union. Robert Gates today spoke before a group of Canadian, Mexican and American elites, Gates calling for stronger ties between those three nations. Imagine that. Lisa Sylvester has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In April Robert Gates visited Mexico City, the first U.S. defense secretary to set foot there in 12 years. Gates wants to tighten defense ties between the United States and Mexico, working closer on emergency disasters, fighting drug traffic and expanding the security partnership.
ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Providing a safe environment for the entire hemisphere is a collective responsibility. We must find ways to capitalize on security, defense interests shared by Canada and the United States while respecting and honoring the sovereignty of each country.
SYLVESTER: Just how deep should those ties run? Should Mexico, for example, have an official role with the North American aerospace defense command, NORAD, a joint U.S. Canadian military organization charged with protecting the north American aerospace. Gates took the cautious approach when asked, saying he prefers one step at a time. Linking the defense of the three countries even on a limited basis has some alarmed. Jim Edwards with the Hudson Institute says Mexico's military has a culture of corruption and worries this is a step towards integration like the European Union.
EDWARDS: The more you gave away sovereignty on one front, then increasingly more likely you are to give it away on other fronts, economic and other things. And this is just one more step in that direction. And once you give it away, sovereignty is hard to catch back.
SYLVESTER: Secretary Gates supports the security prosperity partnership, an initiative of the U.S., Canadian and Mexican governments to help ease the flow of commerce and promote security across the borders.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SYLVESTER: Secretary Gates spoke before a group called the North American Forum. This group was formed in 2005 and is chaired by former high-level government leaders from the United States, Canada and Mexico. And their goal, much like the security and prosperity partnership, is to quote, "envisage a regional approach to security, prosperity and improved quality of life." Lou.
DOBBS: And I love the way they keep putting out that blather, as if it meant something. What it really means is integration. What it really means is creating a foundation through it and the security and prosperity partnership for a North American union. They're getting a little more overt, aren't they, Lisa?
SYLVESTER: Yes, they certainly have these building blocks in place. And you know, I should mention that there is another group, which the Chamber of Commerce is very involved in, the North American Competitiveness Council. So you actually have three groups working on this collective goal, Lou.
DOBBS: All right. Lisa, thanks very much. Lisa Sylvester.
And our poll results tonight -- 94 percent of you say you're personally making more of an effort now to buy local or American grown produce when you go food shopping.
And a reminder to join me on the radio Monday through Friday for the "LOU DOBBS SHOW" tomorrow. Robert Wright, author of "One Nation Under Debt," and Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies join me. They'll be among our guests. Go to loudobbsradio.com for local listings for the "LOU DOBBS SHOW" on the radio.
And thanks for being with us tonight. Please join us here tomorrow when my guests will include China experts Gordon Chang, Richard Fisher on tomorrow's U.S.-China economic talks. For all of us here, thanks for watching. Good night from New York. "THE ELECTION CENTER" with Campbell Brown begins right now -- Campbell.
