Return to Transcripts main page
Issue Number One
Senator Obama's Energy Plan; John McCain's Nuclear Plan; Tropical Storm Edouard Makes Landfall off of Texas' Gulf Coast; Skycaps Losing Tips
Aired August 05, 2008 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, ROMANS: Energy on the campaign trail: Obama and McCain talk up the future from very different angles.
Think Congress went home and forgot about energy? Think again.
Gas prices are down, but what airline is going to charge you for yet another once free item on board?
And why it's absolutely unethical for you not to take a vacation.
Issue #1 is your economy. ISSUE #1 starts right now.
From the ISSUE #1 headquarters to the CNNMoney.com news room, we are all over the stories that matter to you.
Hello, everyone. I'm Christine Romans. Ali and Gerri are both off today.
We begin with a topic that most Americans confront every day, and the candidates are listening. Both Senators Barack Obama and John McCain are hitting the energy issue hard today on the campaign trail. Obama took the stage this morning in Youngstown, Ohio.
CNN's Jessica Yellin, part of the best political team on television, is live now in Washington with more.
Jessica, what's new in Senator Obama's energy plan?
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, Barack Obama is proposing to end the U.S. use of foreign oil within 10 years. He says if he's going to become president, he wouldn't try to taper off our dependence or try to move away from it, end our use of Venezuelan and Middle Eastern oil. He has an extensive plan to do this. And he says it will bring new jobs and reinvigorate the economy in key states like Ohio, where he said this, this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The payoff from these investments in renewable energy will be renewable energy jobs right here in Ohio. I know over the last eight years, Ohio's lost 236,000 manufacturing jobs. That's a lot of jobs.
We're not going to bring them all back over night. But I also know that Ohio has the second highest potential of all 50 states to create new wind energy manufacturing jobs, and investing in wind power could increase workers' wages in Ohio by more than $3.5 billion through the year 2020.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YELLIN: Obama was in Michigan yesterday, and he outlined more of this plan, telling auto workers and folks affected by the hard-hit auto industry how this new green energy, green jobs plan would reinvigorate Michigan's economy, as well.
Christine, among the components of his plan, he would try to get a million plug-in hybrids on the roads within six years, he would try to reduce America's use of electricity by 15 percent within a decade, and move the nation toward using more renewables, he says. This is an aggressive, ambitious plan, but he insists it's feasible -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Jessica Yellin.
Thanks, Jessica.
In less than two hours, John McCain will be in Michigan talking up nuclear power. It's an issue where McCain and Obama completely disagree.
CNN's Ed Henry is live right now in Washington with that part of the story.
Hi, Ed.
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine, good afternoon.
You're absolutely right, this is one issue where there's a real sharp substantive policy difference between these two candidates. Barack Obama basically says he's open to the idea of more nuclear power, but wants to go cautiously.
Obviously, safety is a major issue. That's the major reason, frankly, why there has not been a new nuclear power plant built in the United States in a few decades. So he says he wants to go cautiously, Obama does, he wants to know where this nuclear waste would be stored, for example.
But John McCain wants to be more aggressive about it. Basically, he wants to open up a few dozen more nuclear power plants in the United States by 2050. And he laid out last night at a very raucous biker rally in Sturgis, South Dakota, what a McCain administration would do on nuclear and other energy issues.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And we're going to drill now. And we're going to drill here. And we're going to drill now.
(APPLAUSE) My opponent doesn't want to drill. He doesn't want nuclear power. He wants you to inflate your tires.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: And this is what McCain keeps hammering away at, what he calls an all-of-the-above approach: more nuclear power, more drilling, as you heard there, more offshore oil and gas exploration. Also more alternative fuels, electric cars, et cetera, which Obama has also talked about.
But nuclear power and the offshore oil and gas drilling, real sharp differences, because while Obama in recent days has said he's open to the idea of offshore oil drilling, he hasn't fully supported it, whereas McCain is fully on board. So there's a difference there. But on nuclear power, it's even more sharp of a difference -- Christine.
ROMANS: So I suspect that's what's behind those tire gauges that the McCain camp passed out yesterday.
HENRY: That's right.
ROMANS: A little fun, I guess, or mocking in the campaign?
HENRY: A little bit of mocking, you're right. I mean, it's the silly season in the campaigns. Both sides throw around charges and have a little fun with each other, perhaps. But the tire gauges were handed out yesterday by McCain folks during this Obama energy speech, in part because Barack Obama last week told someone in a town hall meeting that one way to save gas mileage is to inflate your tires.
Well, Republicans are mocking that, but the problem for Republicans is that some very senior Republicans like Arnold Schwarzenegger in California -- you can see a tire gauge there where they wrote Obama's energy plan on it, as if that's all he wants to talk about. But in fact, some very prominent Republicans Arnold Schwarzenegger, as well as Governor Charlie Crist in Florida, they've also talked about inflating tires, about having the right tire pressure, helping to save on gas mileage. So, for John McCain, a little bit of a joke there, but maybe Obama's getting the last laugh, because, in fact, some Republicans have also talked like Obama has about how that while only a little bit, it can still help -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Ed Henry.
And that's right, we should point out to everyone, politics aside, properly-inflated tires does shave a little bit of the price of a mile off your car.
Thanks so much.
HENRY: Thanks.
ROMANS: We've been following the energy debate on Capitol Hill, which seemed to fizzle out when lawmakers left for a five-week recess on Friday. But not so fast, as a few members of Congress are still determined to keep the debate going.
CNN's Kate Bolduan is live on Capitol Hill.
Kate, what's going on?
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, there.
Well, as you said, it's another full day of the House Republican protest here on Capitol Hill. They are demanding action on energy legislation.
Meanwhile, as you mentioned, the rest of Congress has already gone for their annual five-week recess. So what the House Republicans are trying to accomplish here is make a very public statement, a call on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to bring the House back into session in order to have votes on legislation that includes -- that includes votes on oil drilling.
Now, prior to going on break, neither the House nor the Senate were able to pass any significant legislation, energy legislation. And that's because leaders of both parties remain divided over whether to allow for new domestic drilling.
Now, here's a little bit from the House Republicans as they arrived this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now we have no energy plan. It's time for us to not go home and take a rest. I flew in last night and arrived here in Washington, D.C. , at 3:00 in the morning to be here because this is important to each and every American.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Now, Democrats, they're really calling this protest a little more than a political stunt, saying that drilling for oil is not going to offer the immediate relief at the pump that so many people need.
Now, over the weekend, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, she repeated the Democratic position of where they think the energy debate should be focused. Listen here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: Drill where you're allowed to drill, release the oil from the stockpile that we have, which would reduce the price at the pump in 10 days. We have to invest in renewable energy resources and we have to set standards.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: So yesterday, about 20 House Republicans took to the floor for their protest. And today, Christine, they're expecting about the same numbers to be here.
ROMANS: All right. Kate Bolduan in Washington.
Thanks, Kate.
One of the most hotly-contested components of this energy debate, offshore drilling. Black gold hiding in the Gulf of Mexico, but would drilling there actually do anything to ease your pain at the pump?
CNN's John Zarrella went drilling for answers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Ian McIntyre doesn't use a drop of gasoline. He drives a bicycle taxi, but he's still concerned about the prospects of offshore drilling.
IAN MCINTYRE, DRIVES BICYCLE TAXI: You've got these beautiful shorelines and this is a tourist state. And if we mess up the shorelines, you know it's going to take a lot of money from the economy.
ZARRELLA: Environmental impacts drove Congress more than 25 years ago to place a moratorium on the drilling in the eastern gulf. That's still the biggest concern. But some energy experts say advances in technology have greatly reduced the chance of a catastrophic spill. They point to hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
JORGE PINON, ENERGY ANALYST: Over 300 platforms were totally destroyed, and we did not have one single catastrophic oil spill.
ZARRELLA: Environmental groups insist it doesn't take a big spill to make a mess, or worse.
JACQUIE WEISBLUM, AUDUBON OF FLORIDA: There's a day-to-day chronic impact of toxic drilling muds, the infrastructure that needs to be installed to accommodate rigs. All of those impacts can have terrible pollutant -- pollution impacts on our coast.
ZARRELLA: Experts say it will take three to five years to get the first barrel of new gulf oil. And until test wells are drilled, no one knows for sure how much is out there. Even a major find, some oil experts say, won't reduce your pain at the pump.
PINON: It's going to slow down the rise in crude oil prices over the long-term. Short-term impact is going to be zero.
ZARRELLA: No quick fix for America's energy crisis or its addiction to oil.
(on camera): The cost of leasing a deep water oil drilling platform is more than, get this, $300,000 a day. That's just the rig. At those prices, energy experts say oil companies aren't going to waste their time or their money if there isn't plenty of oil out there.
John Zarrella, CNN, Fort Lauderdale.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: And the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico appear to be safe as a tropical storm moved through there. We're watching Tropical Storm Edouard as it moves onshore, drenching the coasts of Texas and Louisiana.
CNN Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf is live right now in Galveston, Texas.
Hi, Reynolds.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi.
Well, in Galveston, we certainly dodged a bullet. We did have the heavy rainfall, the stronger winds, earlier. At this time, we're still getting some winds that are coming in maybe around, I don't know, say, 35 miles an hour tops. But even then, it kind of comes and goes.
Now, the storm passed well toward north. We're talking miles away. It is well onshore.
We still anticipate some sporadic rainfall in this area, and there's always the potential for tornadoes when these systems come onshore. However, one thing you've got to remember is, as this storm is onshore, it's going to be away from its primary power source, that water out there. So the storm is going to continue to weaken, but still, it could provide quite a bit of rainfall for parts of north Texas.
There's always the chance that in central Texas, you could see some widespread flooding. So that's going to be a big problem that we're going to have to watch out for.
The next thing that we have to watch out for is going to be, well, again, just the issue with the flooding. Here, though, we haven't had that problem at all.
We did have some water across the roadways. Traffic, though, has never been hindered, we never lost any power here, there were no evacuations. Even some of the windows you see back here weren't even boarded up.
Even though there was a chance this could have strengthened, even though there was the chance it could have become a hurricane, it just never intensified. And they're very happy of that from Galveston.
Let's send it back to you in the studio.
ROMANS: All right. Reynolds Wolf in Galveston.
Thank you, Reynolds.
Gas prices are down. Why they may fall even more in the days to come.
We'll take you to the airport to show you why a familiar sight might be disappearing and why you might have to pay just to stay warm on one airline.
And why you don't have to feel guilty about taking a vacation.
We're all over issue #1 one right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BUSINESS REPORT)
ROMANS: You know, it's been a really rough year for the airlines. Sky-high gas prices have led them to all sorts of changes, from charging for your baggage, to some massive job cuts. But in the end, how well are the airlines now serving their customers?
There's a new Department of Transportation report out, just out in the last hour. CNN Senior Correspondent Allan Chernoff has been sifting through this material.
Who is doing well and who is not?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: Well, the airline industry is actually doing a little bit better than last year. We always have this monthly report card coming out. And right now we can report to you that for the month of June -- that's right, this data is for June -- airlines on average arrived on time 71 percent of the time. These were the best airlines: US Airways and Southwest, at 76 percent.
Keep in mind, on-time arrivals, that means within 15 minutes of the scheduled time. And also note, I left out Hawaiian Airlines because, come on, what excuse could there possibly be to arrive late in Molokai or Lanai? I mean, come on.
So let's move on and look at the worst airlines over here.
We're talking about United, 59 percent. American also. Now for United, that was not nearly as good as the year-ago number. For American, believe it or not, that was actually an improvement. They were at 57 percent during the year-earlier month.
And also, let's have a look at the worst airports to fly into. Well, New York, LaGuardia, Newark. Oh, boy. You don't want to fly into New York. Try JFK.
ROMANS: Right.
CHERNOFF: Chicago, O'Hare, pretty bad as well.
And then, of course, there are a number of flights that, forget it, you will never get there on time. These are the two flights, at least for this month, that did not have one day -- not one.
ROMANS: You're kidding? Not one?
CHERNOFF: Not one, 100 percent late.
ROMANS: What about baggage? How are they handling my baggage? And you know, who is best or worst at that?
CHERNOFF: We're actually seeing a real improvement in terms of baggage handling. And this is great.
ROMANS: Really?
CHERNOFF: Yes. I mean, here, look, American Eagle...
ROMANS: Because they have more time since they're not making it on time. They have more time to work with your baggage, maybe.
CHERNOFF: American Eagle, that's pretty bad, still 10. And keep in mind, that's one passenger per 100. You have a one percent chance of losing your baggage if you're on American Eagle. Pretty bad, but last year the number was 16 for American Eagle.
This is the better news. Airtran, JetBlue, Northwest, all doing quite well. And those are all improvements from the year-ago period.
ROMANS: All right. Allan Chernoff.
Thank you so much, Allan.
A familiar sight at U.S. airports may soon be history, the latest victim of America's fuel crisis.
Plus, why you might need some cash to get a pillow on one airline.
And disturbing new information on the growing problems of Americans without health insurance.
You're watching ISSUE #1.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: First they charged more for tickets, then came the extra bag fee and no more free coffee. But passengers aren't the only ones feeling the pain. Skycaps say their tips have decreased dramatically, and they blame the airlines.
Our Dan Simon reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From curbside, it appears business as usual.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you just want to check how many bags?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three, please. SIMON: Passengers here in San Francisco check their luggage and give some money to the skycap, and not just the tip. Many airlines are charging big fees to offset rising fuel prices. That's in addition to that already costly ticket.
(on camera): The new fees have triggered a massive backlash, not from the passengers, but from those collecting the money here outside -- the skycaps. They say many passengers are cutting back on their tips. The fee is making it tougher for people to shell out more money, even if it's just a few dollars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't blame them feeling that way. I would probably feel the same way if I were a passenger. I know how frustrating it must be.
SIMON: This skycap of 33 years is afraid he may lose his job for speaking out. So he asked that we cover his face and alter his voice. He says his take-home pay has been slashed by at least 30 percent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not easy watching a good job economically disintegrate, day by day, month after month, you know, with every change of policy.
SIMON (voice-over): One complaint we heard often, the $2 per bag that several airlines are charging, just at the curb. The airlines pocket the money. Skycaps say many passengers mistakenly believe it goes to them.
SHANNON LISS-RIORDAN, ATTORNEY: A few years ago, the airlines started looking at that cash that was handed over from the passengers to the skycaps, and decided that was another income stream that the airlines could use to help their bottom line.
SIMON: Boston attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan was so dismayed that she filed lawsuits against several airlines on behalf of skycaps all over the country.
LISS-RIORDAN: They don't need these $2 per bag charges in order to survive, but the skycaps need that money because that's what they've lived on.
SIMON: In a suit against American Airlines, a jury earlier this year awarded nine skycaps $325,000 for lost tips. But due to legal technicalities, a judge has ordered a new trial. American says it will continue to fight the matter in court. It argues that the skycaps don't work for the airline but for contractors. So, it's not obligated to give or share those $2 fees.
United, US Airways and JetBlue have also been sued in federal court over the fees. None of them gave us a comment, citing the pending litigation. But the Air Transport Association, which represents the airline industry, says while it is not involved in the lawsuits, the curbside fees are a legitimate way to recoup soaring costs. Passengers we talked to sympathize with the skycaps.
ADRIENNE HOYER, AIRLINE PASSENGER: I always tip them. It's $2 a bag no matter what. That's just courtesy. It's not their fault. They're doing their job.
SIMON: A job that now pays substantially less in this tough economy.
Dan Simon, CNN, San Francisco.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Now, it's one thing to pay a fuel surcharge or even to pay for on board food and drink, but paying for a pillow? JetBlue will start charging customers for pillows and blankets. The cost is $7, and here's the good news. JetBlue says the blanket and pillow are ecofriendly, will be allergy and dust mite-free, and according to JetBlue, will be clean.
Shouldn't they be anyway?
That leads us perfectly to the CNNMoney.com "Quick Vote."
Which airline fee do you dislike the most, the fuel surcharges, the baggage fee, the charging for clean pillows, or charging for food and drinks?
You can log on right now to CNNMoney.com. Results will come in, in just a bit.
There's a growing problem in this country, and that's millions of Americans who are without health insurance. New information that being uninsured could be hazardous to your health.
Plus, we're going to make sure you can go on vacation. We've got a foolproof plan to get your boss to sign off on it happily.
Stick around to find out how.
You're watching ISSUE #1, the economy, on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: A first-of-its-kind study out today looks at the specific health effects of being uninsured.
CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now with more.
Elizabeth, we know that we have millions of Americans who lack basic health insurance in this country. What is new in this data?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, what's new in this study is that Harvard researchers detailed precisely what health problems uninsured folks have. So let's take a look.
What they found is that nearly one out of three uninsured Americans has some kind of a chronic health problem. Now, you might expect elderly people to have chronic health problems, but these were people under age 65 who had all of these chronic conditions. What conditions do they have? Well, we're talking 11 million Americans with chronic conditions who are uninsured. They had cardiovascular disease, hypertension and diabetes.
Sick and uninsured, it is not a combination. And Christine, some people expect that this could get even worse as the economy suffers -- Christine. as the economy suffers. Christine.
ROMANS: And this is big policy issue. I mean, what are the candidates saying about this because the more people who are uninsured with chronic diseases, these are people who are using the E.R. as their first point of contact with the health care system. A health care system that is, some say, already dysfunctional.
COHEN: Oh, absolutely. I mean, using the E.R. for basic health care is bad for the person themselves and is bad for the rest of it who drives up all of our health care costs. So, let's take a look. The two candidates have very different approaches for how to solve this problem.
For example, let's look at Barack Obama. He wants to expand Medicaid coverage. He wants to mandate insurance for all children. And he wants to require most companies to offer health insurance. Now, Senator McCain looks more to the private sector. He wants, for example, to give tax breaks so that people presumably would have more money to buy insurance on their own. And also to help savings accounts so that you can pay for medical costs in tax-free dollars. Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Elizabeth Cohen. Thank you so much, Elizabeth.
COHEN: Thanks.
ROMANS: Up next, the candidates' energy plans "In their own words" but first tropical storm Edouard has made landfall, is drenching the coast and inland. CNN's meteorologist Chad Myers is in the Severe Weather Center. Hi, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Christine. Yes, right now, right around Houston and points around Bay Town, and that's where the center of the storm basically is. It's still a 50 or 60-mile-per-hour storm, but it is now onshore, which means it doesn't have the energy - it doesn't have the humidity, the warmth of the Gulf of Mexico to now keep it going. It is going to slow down and eventually just turn into a low pressure center. It will be a drought-buster for some people. Because this area of the country has been in a huge drought the past couple of months. Things aren't even growing around here across parts of south Texas. Here's what the drought looks like here.
Right around in east of Houston, San Antonio, the hill country, extreme drought conditions there. That deep, deep red means that basically we're even having crop failure with that. And so we watch that get a little bit better as we at least get some rain showers. Let's just hope it's not too little too late. And hope it's not too much that runs off for other people. Because. you know, it's never always a happy family. You always get one too much or not enough of another. Sometimes you get too much rain and too little time and gets big flooding. Christine.
ROMANS: That's right, a very fine line. Chad Myers, thanks so much.
Each day, we're bringing you the candidates, talking about how they've handled the issues that affect your wallet. Today, let's listen to the candidates on energy. First up, Senator Barack Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now, last week, Washington finally made some progress on this. The group of democrat and republican senators came down and came up with a compromise on energy that includes many of the proposals that I've worked on as a senator and many of the steps I've been calling on during the course of this campaign. It's a plan that would invest in renewable fuels and batteries for fuel efficient cars. Help automakers retool and make a real investment in renewable sources of energy. And like all - like all compromises, this one has its drawbacks.
It does include a limited amount of new offshore drilling. And while I still don't believe that's a particular meaningful short-term or long-term solution, what I've said I'm willing to consider it if it's necessary to actually pass a comprehensive plan. I'm not interested in making the perfect the enemy of the good. Particularly since there's so much good in this compromise, it would actually reduce our dependence on foreign oil. And yet while the compromise is a good first step in a good faith effort, I believe that we have to go even further. And here's why.
Breaking our oil addiction is one of the greatest challenges our generation will ever face. It is going to take nothing less than the complete transformation of our economy. The transformation is going to be costly and given the fiscal disaster, we will inherit from the last administration. It will likely require us to defer some other priorities. It's also a transformation that will require more than just a few government programs. Energy independence will require an all hands on deck effort from America. Efforts from scientists and entrepreneurs, from businesses, and from every American citizen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: OK. So now let's hear the other side of the energy issue. Here's Senator John McCain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We need an all-of- the-above approach. We need to aggressively develop alternative energies like wind, solar, tide, biofuels, and geothermal. But we also need to expand our use of existing energy resources here at home. That means we need more nuclear power. It means we need clean coal technology, and that means we need to offshore drill for oil and natural gas. We need to drill here and we need to drill now.
And anybody who says that we can achieve energy independence without using and increasing these existing energy resources either doesn't have the experience to understand the challenge we face or isn't giving the American people some straight talk. Unfortunately, Senator Obama continues to oppose offshore drilling. He continues to oppose the use of nuclear power. These misguided policies would result in higher energy costs to American families and businesses and increased dependence on foreign oil.
We're not going to achieve energy independence by inflating our tires. I'm going to lead our nation to energy independence and I'm going to do it with a realistic and comprehensive all of the above approach that uses every resource available to finally solve this crisis. As a lot of Americans know, the Congress doing nothing decided to go on a five-week recess without addressing the energy challenge that's affecting Americans every single day in their ability to go to work and their ability to do their jobs and their ability to keep inflation down as they're trying to do here at the National Label Company. And they need a Congress that will act.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: And remember, you can always watch the candidates "In their own words" live and uninterrupted on the campaign trail at CNN.com/live.
Energy definitely the hot topic of the week, but can candidates win votes with their competing policies? Joe Kline is a columnist at the "Time" and he joins us from Washington. Joe, welcome to the program. Can they win, either of them with these policies?
JOE KLINE, COLUMNIST, "TIME": Well, there's good news and bad news in what we just heard. The really great news and it's been so rare this year in this campaign is that it looks like both of these senators would vote for that compromise. They would vote to expand, you know, alternative energy funding and also to allow for drilling. The bad news is that John McCain was mischaracterizing Obama's position. You heard Obama say that he was reluctantly in favor of drilling. And he has said in the past that he would be open to new nuclear power plants. Now, the problem with nuclear power plants is that nobody wants them in their backyard.
ROMANS: Right.
KLINE: And so I think that in this case we have another case of McCain trying to be aggressive in an area where he isn't quite being very accurate.
ROMANS: So you say in your column the recession election that McCain's plans are more traditional. And that Senator Obama's plan carries more risk.
KLINE; Well, I think that McCain's plans are traditional. He also says that he's in favor of alternative energy, but there's another plan that he has, which is to cut, you know, to freeze discretionary spending, which would mean that we couldn't invest in alternative energy in the, you know, the hybrid cars, the plug-ins that Obama was talking about. And that indeed McCain has talked about in the past. Obama's plan is risky because it involves a lot of government action. And any time government tries to pick winners and losers in a new technology like alternative energy, it doesn't do it nearly as efficiently as the market does.
I think, though, that in the long-term right now or maybe in the short-term, the public is ready for greater government activism. People are scared about where the economy is going and they want us to try new things. Which is why Obama's position here probably pulls a little bit better than McCain's.
ROMANS: You call your title, your piece is "The Recession Election." You know this is really important heading into the polls. And my question is, how are we going to pay for it? Are we going to talk about the bigger issues of how we're going to pay for it? And can we believe both of these gentlemen that they're going to be able to get a solution and it's not going to disappear after November?
KLINE: Well, you know, how are we going to pay for it has been the question of American politics for the last 30 years and only Bill Clinton was, you know, figured out a solution to that, which was higher taxes. And the economy boomed despite Clinton's higher taxes. I think that what Obama is doing here is saying that we've reached a point where our infrastructure is falling apart, our energy infrastructure is out of date, and we need to invest in the future. And that if we spend money now, we will get greater returns in the future. I think that, you know, that that is a very plausible position, but we have to make the wise investments, which is why it's risky.
As for McCain, he is saying that he will demand a balanced budget, but he doesn't say how he's going to do it. He talks about, you know, limiting, limiting pork barrel spending, but that doesn't get you all that much. And he wants to increase the Bush era tax cuts and impose or grant a 10 percent cut in the corporate tax.
ROMANS: All right. Joe Kline, thank you so much for joining us. "Time" magazine. Listen up everyone, it's not only OK to go on vacation. Get these, it would be unethical not to. We're going to give you all the information you need to convince your boss, are you listening? To give you that time off.
And oil is falling, so are gas prices. But is this the real deal? Or just a brief break? "Issue number One" rolls on next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Six Flags has been on a roller coaster of a ride financially, but its cost saving measures and debt restructuring deal maybe be gaining traction. The troubled theme park company posted a profit of nearly $95 million in the second quarter yesterday. The company says it's focusing on creating more of a family-friendly atmosphere. Company officials say while the visitors are down slightly, the number of visitors, those who do come are spending more cash.
Ever felt guilty for going on vacation? Add in the high cost of gas, food, airfare, you know, the guilt starts to build up. And so many folks feel like they could hurt their position at work by taking time off. But our next guest says it's down right unethical of you not to take a vacation. Bruce Weinstein is the ethics guy and columnist for "Business week.com." Welcome to the program.
BRUCE WEINSTEIN, COLUMNIST, "BUSINESS WEEK.COM": Good to see you, Christine.
ROMANS: So how is taking a vacation, an ethical issue at all?
WEINSTEIN: There are two reasons why we have an ethical responsibility to take time off every year. First of all, we have a responsibility to serve the people that we're responsible for serving to the best of our ability. And we can't do that if we're running on empty. Secondly, we have an obligation to ourselves to treat ourselves with loving kindness. That's right, you heard the word love in the context of business ethics and personal finance. Ethics doesn't apply just how to we treat other people, but it also applies on how we treat ourselves.
ROMANS: But it's difficult in this time when you're watching companies cut hours, cut jobs, and you want to go to your boss and say you know, I need a couple of weeks off. I'm going to be a better employee, and I need the R&R. And it's the right thing to do. It's difficult to get yourself in the mind set to do that.
WEINSTEIN: You know what's strange is in the United States, the average, according to a CNN Money report, the average amount of vacation that workers take every year is 15 days. But in France and Finland they get up to 30 days off, a paid vacation every year. Can you imagine that? Taking up to six weeks of vacation and not feeling one bit of guilt for doing it? That's not a fantasy. This happens in other countries. Why shouldn't it happen here? Well, there are financial pressures. But so we have to find creative ways of doing this. Because --
ROMANS: What about the working vacation? I want to take a vacation, take my Blackberry. I'm going to check in every couple days or so. I'm going to be there for the meetings, maybe telecommute a little bit.
WEINSTEIN: A working vacation makes as much sense as showing up to work in tank top with cutoffs and a margarita in your hand. I mean, a real vacation means no Blackberry, turning the cell phone off, not checking e-mails, not surfing the net, just being in the moment. I mean, imagine that just relaxing at the beach or just at your home. Sleeping late, watching TV, eating comfort food.
ROMANS: I think everyone feels a little guilty going on vacation. I know it takes a couple of days to sort of completely unplug and feel like it's OK for me to maximize this time I'm away. How do you sell it to the boss or to the company that you need to take the full vacation? Maybe if you're in the budget season or maybe if times are tough for your business because what could be a recession here.
WEINSTEIN: It's in the company's own interest for its employees to be well-rested and up to par. And the only way to do that is to have people - take time off. This shouldn't be seen as a perk of or a benefit. This should be considered a right.
Now, in the United States, there's no federally mandated paid vacation. So that is something that should be perhaps our next president can look into.
ROMANS: I guess the devil's advocate, when you say when you stack up the GDP and the productivity of the country, to give 30 days of paid vacation and the countries that don't, you can sort of see that, you know, different economic -- we're working hard.
WEINSTEIN: I'm not sure because in the United States, we've always worn as a badge of honor or the fact that we haven't taken vacation in months or years. But that shouldn't be a badge of honor. It should be shameful to say I haven't taken time off because there's every reason to care for ourselves and for the people we serve. It's a win-win. It truly is a win-win for employees to take vacations from time to time.
ROMANS: All right. Well, you sold me. I just took some time off. So, I'm refreshed and I'm feeling ethical. Bruce Weinstein, thank you so much.
Wi-fi in the sky, how you soon might be able to surf while you fly. We'll explain.
And gas prices, nuclear energy, the fed decision, all issues that could make a difference to your bottom line. We'll take them on next. We're all over "Issue number one" right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: The hot topics today, nuclear energy, gas prices and a Federal Reserve meeting that could affect your money. Let's break it all down. Lynette Khalfani-Cox is the author of your "First Home," Bob O'Brien is the stocks editor for Barron's, and Allan Chernoff is CNN's senior correspondent.
I want to talk about the Fed quickly. We think the fed are going to keep this interest rates, the key rate at two percent. Can I translate this to my wallet what they do today?
BOB O'BRIEN, STOCKS EDITOR, BARRON'S: Well, it means that the credit situation isn't going to deteriorate any further. I don't think it's going to get any better if that leaves things right here but it's not going to get any worse. If the Fed continues to try and improve the financial services industry. Long-term, that's good for your wallet.
LYNETTE KHALFANI-COX, AUTHOR, "YOUR FIRST HOME": They've got a balancing act to perform here. You know, they're almost in a damned if you do, damned if you don't kind of position. ROMANS: Right.
KHALFANI-COX: The prospect of them raising rates, would be untenable, I think, for a lot of consumers who think, you know, higher borrowing costs now when we're already struggling with a load of debt and then lowering rates, not on the table really right now at all. So, we expect they'll pretty much stay pat right now.
ROMANS: Everything people buy in the store, their plane tickets, their gas, their milk, everything's going up. That's another reason why the Fed kind of has this tough position.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Yes. They'd love to be able to stimulate the economy, but they can't because of what you're talking about. The risk of more inflation. And on the other side, it's very hard for them to make a step because the economy is so weak right now.
ROMANS: We're talking about airlines and air travel situation. I wanted to bring you some live pictures that we have right now from L.A.X. International Airport. We have some pictures for you of an American Airlines flight that is sitting there, looks like on the runway. You can see emergency vehicles, you can see some vans and buses to take people out. These passengers are coming out down the emergency chutes from the American Airlines flight. I don't know where this flight was headed to.
But this is L.A.X. and these are pictures courtesy of KTLA. We're going to see some firefighters there. So we're assuming there's some sort of smoke situation in the plane. CNN's making calls, we're going to tell you more about this. I want to talk to Allan a little bit about this. Because I'm sure that's causing quite a backup at L.A.X. right now. We hope that no one is hurt. And we hope that there is nothing really serious there.
CHERNOFF: "Issue number one" in the airline industry has to be safety. So -
ROMANS: Absolutely.
CHERNOFF: They obviously want to take care of that.
ROMANS: We've been talking a lot today about new transportation monthly report that shows on time arrivals and departures. We know that they're paying an awful lot for gas. This is kind of a piece of the economy that is really getting, getting hit.
CHERNOFF: Oh, the airlines, they are just so dependent on the price of fuel. It is devastating them. The Air Transport Association is estimating this year that losses in the industry could be between $7 billion and $13 billion. Now, obviously that very much depends on the price of fuel. So, if it keeps oncoming down, things are looking brighter.
And of course, Bob can tell us those airline stocks have been soaring recently. O'BRIEN: Yes, all of a sudden off that very low bottom, they were very, very depressed, very badly beaten down sector. It's more than double since the low's back in July.
ROMANS: The gas prices have been coming down for consumers. And that's been some, I think, 17 or 18 days, maybe. I mean, unheard of over the past couple of years.
KHALFANI-COX: But from a consumer standpoint, especially when you look at the airlines, fuel prices have led to surcharges.
ROMANS: Right.
KHALFANI-COX: OK. But people are also saying what the heck is going on? Because all these extra charges they feel like they're being nickled and dimed with. You know, Jetblue talking about pay extra for your pillow and a blanket.
ROMANS: But it'll be clean.
KHALFANI-COX: Yes, and you can keep it after all. So I think, you know, people are really looking at these issues and saying do I want to pay extra for a second bag? Do I want to pay extra to use my frequent flier miles? Do I want to pay extra for a pillow, for God's sake? And the answer in a lot of cases is no. And so that's why, you know, all of these issues are really top of mind for people who would be considering travel but are saying, not right now.
We're going to keep you updated on these pictures. These tapes, I'm told, from KTLA in L.A. of this American Airlines' problem on a plane. But we'll talk more about all of these issues when we come back with our panel. And we'll get to the very latest on CNN, making calls on this issue at L.A.X.. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back. We want to show you pictures of something happening right now at L.A.X., an American Airlines. Some sort of problem in a plane there. Flight at L.A.X. being evacuated. According to the "A.P.," smoke was detected in the passenger cabin. That according to sources of L.A.X. via A.P.. Two inflatable chutes were dropped down and the passengers are leaving that aircraft as we speak. You can see on the runway emergency personnel, firefighters, you could see some vans, you can see the tape rewinding there, as well. That's our tape, obviously.
I want to talk to Allan just a little bit about sort of the struggles that we're seeing in the airline industry as we continue to follow this story. Of course, CNN is making calls on this. But it has been tough to be a passenger of an airline this summer. And safety issues are always first and foremost as you pointed out in the calculus. You know, it's an expensive business.
CHERNOFF: Right. Well, what's going on right now at L.A.X. is, I think not -- we can't expect this is related to the normal problems.
ROMANS: No. Of course not.
CHERNOFF: This sort of thing happens once in a while. And that's why you have to have pilots getting enough rest between flights and enough flight attendants as much as the airlines want to slash their staff, they can't. I mean they have to have -
ROMANS: In a business like this you can't.
CHERNOFF: Right, for safety sake, you have to have enough flight attendants there because they're trained in exactly how to operate this and how to make sure the plane is evacuated safely and make sure that everything's under control. So clearly that is what is going on right now at L.A.X. obviously this is not the sort of thing that the airline or the airports want to have because this sort of thing, of course, does create delays. But number one issue, of course, has to be the safety of the person passengers.
ROMANS: This is a tape from just a short time ago, you can see those two inflatable emergency chutes were deployed and people were coming out, looks like in a pretty orderly fashion. You can't see any fire or anything. But it's not you - I mean all of us have been on delayed flights, all of us had been on flights with some sort of mechanical problem. It's not really that routine to see people leaving the plane.
CHERNOFF: We should also point out that in spite of all of the problems that the airlines have financially and in terms of paying so much for jet fuel right now, their safety record is actually very, very good.
ROMANS: And that's a very important point to make. Because this is where they have to walk the line between trying to keep the revenue up, keep going to, you know, pay the bills, the high energy cost. And in some cases if you don't fill a plane, it's amazing what the jet fuel is costing going coast to coast, for example. But you have to keep a safety record perfect. It's the kind of business where there's no margin for error.
CHERNOFF: Absolutely. And you know, a lot of people say they worry a little bit about air travel, but the fact is that the majority of the accidents are with smaller, private planes. That's where you generally will see the crashes, the fatalities, the major airlines, that's one thing, you know, at least, we do have a good safety record over there. And the airlines are struggling, but they're doing everything they possibly can to move out of this very tough period.
ROMANS: Just to bring you up to speed. This is an American Airlines flight. We don't know the flight number is or where it was coming from, but there was an emergency landing at L.A.X.. A.P. is reporting that L.A.X. officials are saying there was smoke detected in the passenger cabin.
Breaking news continues right now with Don Lemon and Randi Kaye. They are taking over in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi there, guys.
