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CNN Saturday Morning News
The Bailout Has Been Passed, But Economic Problems Aren't Fixed Yet; Verdict in O.J. Simpson's Robbery and Kidnapping Trial: Guilty; Finding a New President in this Troubled Economy; Europe and Their Financial Woes
Aired October 04, 2008 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, there. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING on this October 4th. I'm T.J. Holmes.
ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
HOLMES: Hey, there.
CHO: Good morning, everybody. I'm Alina Cho. Betty Nguyen has the morning off.
Thanks so much for starting your day with us. And we begin with breaking news. A verdict in the O.J. Simpson robbery and kidnapping trial. You may recall that this is related to that confrontation last year in Las Vegas in the hotel room over stolen sports memorabilia. The verdict came in late last night. Thirteen years to the day after he was acquitted of double murder. We're going to tell you what happened in just a minute.
HOLMES: It's amazing it happened on the anniversary, 13 years of that last verdict.
CHO: It's incredible, right.
HOLMES: We'll start with this bailout we've been talking about for the past couple of weeks now. It's done. They finally voted, got it passed, it's even been signed by the president.
So, our problems are fixed? Well, not so fast, everybody. We'll be talking a lot about this this morning, including some advice from the editor from "Smart Money" magazine.
So, you want to stay tuned for that.
CHO: Yes, including the ripple effects. How soon could we see it, less than year out or 18 months out? We're going to talk to that "Smart Money" magazine editor in just a couple of minutes.
And also this -- road rage in Illinois. Yes, I mean, it's like somebody backs right up on to the police cruiser there. Nearly hits the officer's head. We're going to tell you why it happened. But, just some incredible video.
HOLMES: You have to really be upset to do that. (INAUDIBLE) my goodness, but yes, got to hear about that one.
But we will turn, yes, that breaking story, really, just a matter of hours ago out of Las Vegas. Really, it was 13 years ago to the day after former football great, O.J. Simpson, was acquitted of two murders, well, on that anniversary day, just yesterday, another verdict for him.
Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We the jury, in the above-entitled case, find the defendant Orenthal James Simpson as follows: Count one, conspiracy to commit a crime, guilty. Count two, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, guilty. Count three, conspiracy to commit robbery, guilty. Count four, burglary while in position of a deadly weapon, guilty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Well, Simpson was pretty emotionless throughout the reading of that verdict. Our Ted Rowlands has been following this story for us from Las Vegas.
Ted, that verdict came in pretty late last night, didn't it?
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, jurors worked well into the night, Alina. They told the judge that they just wanted to keep on going. And the assumption was they were getting close to a verdict but that it kept on going and kept on going. Thirteen hours in all they deliberated. And in the end, they found O.J. Simpson guilty on all 12 counts.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We the jury, in the above-entitled case, find the defendant Orenthal James Simpson guilty.
ROWLANDS (voice-over): With friends and family crying in the courtroom seats behind him, O.J. Simpson listened as 12 guilty verdicts against him were read in court.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guilty.
ROWLANDS: Jury of nine women and three men worked well into the night deliberating, arriving at a verdict after 13 hours.
JACKIE GLASS, CLARK COUNTY DISTRICT COURT: Remanded to custody right now.
ROWLANDS: Following the verdict, Simpson was handcuffed and taken into custody. Simpson, who is 61-years-old, could spend the rest of his life in jail. The most serious guilty verdict was for first degree kidnapping which carries a possible life sentence -- a charge his attorneys say doesn't fit the crime. GABE GASSO, SIMPSON ATTORNEY: If O.J. walked into the Bank of America with an AK-47 and duct taped -- and duct taped all the tellers and stuck them in the safe, OK, and stole $1 million, he'd be charged with the same exact thing he's charged with here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guilty.
ROWLANDS: Also guilty on all 12 charges were Simpson's co- defendant, Clarence Stewart.
BRENT BRYSON, STEWART ATTORNEY: The fact that Mr. Simpson was sitting across the table, there's no doubt in my mind, was extremely prejudicial.
ROWLANDS: Jurors left the courthouse without talking to reporters. Simpson's sister, who is overwhelmed with grief, was taken out in a wheelchair. The verdicts came exactly 13 years to the day that Simpson was found not guilty of double murder in California.
YALE GALANTER, SIMPSON ATTORNEY: Thirteen years ago, 13 hours of deliberation, and, you know, it's eerie. It really is. It's eerie. I don't know what to think of it. It's that. But it's a very strange coincidence or somebody is sending a very powerful message.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROWLANDS: And this morning, O.J. Simpson is in Clark County detention center. He will remain there until December 5th. That will be his sentencing day. And, Alina and T.J., even if this judge comes in with all of the minimum sentences, it's likely that Simpson will spend at least 20 years in prison and the D.A. just six to one, it's a good bet it could be the rest of his life.
CHO: That's absolutely right. It could be the rest of his life. I'm not sure if you know this, Ted, but I'm just curious. It's so incredible that this verdict came on the 13-year anniversary of his acquittal of a double murder. Do you have any sense that the jurors had any idea that that was the anniversary?
ROWLANDS: Well, they weren't supposed to. They weren't supposed to be following any of this. And -- so one would hope that they didn't know about it. But, boy, what a coincidence. And the fact that they kept going and kept going and got this verdict on that anniversary, eerie, quite frankly. And whether or not the jury knew about it, we just don't know. But they weren't supposed to.
CHO: CNN's Ted Rowlands for us live in Las Vegas. Thanks for staying up late and getting up early. Ted, thank you -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. We'll now turn to matters of your money and your credit, specifically -- the $700 billion bailout bill or rescue bill, depending on who you ask. It was passed by the House yesterday and later signed into law by President Bush. So, it is now on the books.
Our CNN Money Team following this story. Allan Chernoff in New York for us, Brianna Keilar on Capitol Hill. Allan, we'll chat with you in just a second. Brianna, we'll chat with you as well.
But first, we want everybody to take a listen here to get a little background of what happened yesterday from this report filed by our Brianna Keilar.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Passed. And without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A $700 billion bailout plan signed into law. Now what? First up, the hard sell. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle trying to win over constituents who think they're being played for fools in the rescue of Wall Street.
REP. ROY BLUNT, (R) MINORITY WHIP: I'm looking for the next couple of weeks where we all get a chance to talk to the people we work for and the people of this country about what the final product really did, how it really protects the taxpayers.
KEILAR: Lawmakers want to convince voters that taking toxic mortgage-backed securities off the hands of financial institutions will undo the credit crunch and stop home loans, car loans, and student loans from drying up. It's an election year. In the Senate, one in three seats faced re-election. In the House, every seat is on the ballot next month. And some admit, their support for the bailout could be the political kiss of death.
REP. HOWARD COBLE, (R) NORTH CAROLINA: This vote for me, I'm voting aye today. And it may be politically damaging and the sky may fall tomorrow but it will fall upon my head. It won't fall upon anyone else's and no one else will be adversely affected.
KEILAR: President Bush pointed out Friday what many analysts are saying about the plan.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Americans should also expect that it will take some time for this legislation to have its full impact on our economy.
KEILAR: And so, members of Congress will be watching and waiting to see if the bailout eventually buoys the American economy, but sinks them in the process.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right. We will turn to our Brianna Keilar who's on Capitol Hill now.
Brianna, good morning. We know this thing is in place now, but there was a lot of work to get it signed, get it passed, but the work may just be getting started. The treasury now has a big issue on their hands and a big job. When can they actually start buying up all these bad assets, these bad mortgage-backed securities from these companies and start clearing those books? KEILAR: You know, I wish I could pick a day next week and tell you they're going to start doing it right then. What day exactly are they going to start doing it, we don't know at this point. We do believe it's going to be quickly. We're expecting some details in the coming days coming from the Treasury Department on that.
But what we are going to see right away, T.J., is hearings, hearings asking, how did the economy get in such dire economic straits. We're going to begin with hearings on Monday, at least a couple this coming week. They're going to be looking at the collapse of Lehman Brothers as well as the government rescue of insurance giant, AIG. So -- I mean, I think it's going kind of be some must watch TV next week.
HOLMES: Some must watch TV on Capitol Hill. We're having a lot of that lately, it seems, Brianna. Also, tell us -- I mean, you're at the Capitol, you know everything involved in a little politics out there. So, some members still voted against it even though some say it was desperately needed. So, what's the sense up there that really a lot of these members still voted against it, not really because of their convictions, but because they have an election to compete in here in about a month?
KEILAR: Well, no doubt. I mean, this is Washington. Politics, of course, a big motivator here. But 171 members of the House voted against this bill yesterday and they did it for various reasons. Some people just didn't think it was going to work. Some people are ideologically-opposed to the government getting this involved in the economy.
And then still, you even have some Democrats who said, you know, I don't think that little homeowners being looked out after enough in this plan. We saw some members of the Congressional Black Caucus who still voted "no" yesterday as they did on Monday because they wanted to see bankruptcy judges rewriting individual mortgage terms for homeowners, and that wasn't in the bill.
HOLMES: All right. Well, you probably summed it up with the first sentence with an answer, "This is Washington, T.J."
All right. Brianna Keilar for us on Capitol Hill. Thank you. We'll be talking to you again this morning.
CHO: Well, we want to see how the bailout is playing in the nation's money capital. So we head to New York now and senior correspondent, Allan Chernoff.
Hey, Allan. Good morning. So, what's the reaction been in New York to the bailout on Wall Street, particularly?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alina.
Well, there is some relief that at least Washington has finally taken action, but along with that relief comes recognition that we got still a huge, huge problem. One stock trader made the analogy to the ambulance finally arriving but now we see we've, of course, got a huge medical issue here, and this is really going to take some time to resolve itself, Alina.
CHO: Yes, so the ambulance has arrived but the triage now begins, so to speak. Let's talk a little bit about the ripple effects on the economy. I'm curious, Allan. I know you talk to a lot of people on Wall Street. You've been doing that for years. What is the sense of how this is going to -- how this is going to affect the economy long term, and when might we see the ripple effects, because a lot of people are saying, particularly in New York, you know, we're not really feeling it quite yet?
CHERNOFF: Well, in terms of feeling the ripple effects, it's a very good question because the economists up here and around the country see major danger signs. And a lot of people out there in the country feel, well, I don't feel it just yet, right?
CHO: Right.
CHERNOFF: And businesses are not exactly collapsing left and right. But this is likely to ripple down in the coming weeks, even with the bailout package, because it is going to take time for the bailout to be put into effect. And companies certainly are getting a real problem -- they're having a real problem now getting access to cash.
CHO: Yes. And I want to...
CHERNOFF: Interest rates have been shooting up and banks do not want to lend.
CHO: Right.
CHERNOFF: And the bailout plan is not going to solve that instantly. It's going to take a number of weeks for this to be put into place.
CHO: OK.
CHERNOFF: Plus, the bailout plan actually has to work. In fact, bankers themselves have a lot of questions about this whole plan. Number one, what exactly is the Treasury Department going to be paying for these toxic securities, these bad investments that the bankers made? So, they're certainly wondering about that.
Also, they're wondering: will this plan actually work? Is it going to get enough bankers to participate? Will those prices being paid for the bad securities be low enough that bankers will say, you know what, we'll sell to the treasury? Enough bankers are participating.
And if enough bankers do participate get these bad investments off their books, then, maybe the bankers can get enough confidence back to lend to each other. And that's the beginning of getting lending going again, getting the wheels turning once again that are critical to our economy, critical to economic growth.
CHO: Well, the president will say in his radio address in just about three hours that taxpayers could recoup all, if not most, of the original expenditures. So, we shall see.
Allan Chernoff, thank you so much for joining us from New York. That, of course, is the view from big business, Wall Street. In just about 21 minutes, we're going to show you how the financial crisis is impacting three small businesses.
Well, the big bailout, how will it impact you and me? A lot of people are wondering, a lot of people are wondering what to do with their money. Should you hold on to it, put it under the mattress, switch it around? We're going to talk to an editor from "Smart Money" magazine with a look ahead.
HOLMES: I went with the mattress option, actually (ph).
Also, O.J. Simpson -- a lot of people in this country still think he got away with murder 13 years ago. Well, he didn't get away with robbery in Las Vegas. Simpson is now facing the possibility of life in prison.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Time for us now to check in with our buddy, Reynolds Wolf.
Reynolds, good morning to you over in the weather center. And, you know, I felt stupid just a second ago. Every weekend, it seems like we're talking about hurricanes and major events. And you just say we're about to talk about rain in the northeast. And I'm thinking, oh, that's it?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I know. I mean, it's usually those mornings, T.J., you come in to work and you look around, and you try to, you know, hey, this thing glaring at you on the weather map.
HOLMES: Yes.
WOLF: And you talk about a huge story. Today, not so much.
HOLMES: That's OK.
WOLF: It kind of quiet. And I think we've earned it.
Right now, we see some scattered showers along parts of I-80 in Pittsburgh back over to Philadelphia. It's kind of a hodgepodge. You got cloudy skies all across the region but rain right along parts of I-80.
Now, we are getting some heavier storms, not severe storms but heavier rainmakers. In Fort Smith, Arkansas back along I-40, just south of Tulsa, down here in Bartlesville, you had the rain earlier. That's going to continue its march to eastward then back out west and drier as it moved in. That should be fantastic for you.
But back out and farther to the west, very quickly, let me show you something else. We're talking some scattered showers in places like Salt Lake City, where temperatures, say, in Salt Lake, it's going to be around 60 degrees.
But high in the higher elevations, we're talking about, along the Wasatch Range into the Rockies, we could see some heavy snowfall above 8,500 feet. We're looking at the potential of one to two feet of heavy snowfall.
If you're a skier, that's good news. If you got to shovel off your walk, that isn't.
Let's send it back out to you guys.
HOLMES: All right. The good and bad news for folks in there (ph).
WOLF: Everything is relative.
HOLMES: Everything is relative. And nice that you don't have a big something on the map there like you said to be dealing with.
Reynolds, thank you, sir. We'll talk to you again here soon.
WOLF: You got it, man.
HOLMES: This big bailout. It's actually a done deal.
CHO: House is pretty fast yesterday, you know. Senate and then right to the president...
HOLMES: Signed it.
CHO: ... and he signed it. And we are seeing photos within an hour and he was off to Crawford. But the devil, you know, maybe in the details. That's always the case.
So, what exactly does a racetrack or rum have to do with the bailout bill? CNN's Josh Levs will join us to explain.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know what? Actually, yesterday, Alina, T.J. came over to me. He said, "We have to talk about this tomorrow." I mean, it's incredible. We're taking a look at it here. We're having answer to that.
And also, we're going to have your chance to weigh in on all this they're calling it "sweet-and-sour pork" the Congress has just served up to you and me as taxpayers.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAS KIMBALL, TAXPAYER: Although I'm an Obama supporter, I think McCain is right in terms of the pork programs that go on. Just too much of that goes on. And this is just another example. It becomes so partisan, you know, they just can't get anything done without all these favors back and forth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: A lot of people are echoing that sentiment.
HOLMES: Yes.
CHO: Favors like a $2 million tax break for a toy company?
HOLMES: And that's certainly not all that's breaking there for some moviemakers who want to keep their movies in the U.S.
CHO: Rum makers.
HOLMES: Rum makers as well. We all love rum, but, hey, we just can't relate it to the bailout here necessarily.
CHO: Well, yes, we can.
HOLMES: Well, yes. Well, taxpayers right now just bought a bailout bill that is padded with pork.
CHO: Yes. Some people are calling it sweet-and-sour pork.
HOLMES: Yes.
CHO: It's either sweetener or pork or sweet-and-sour pork. So, some time for a reality check. Josh Levs has been checking the fine print on all of this.
Josh, as I mentioned, they're calling them sweeteners.
LEVS: Both ways.
CHO: So, taxpayers have a different name or some different names for these add-ons.
LEVS: Yes, they've got some names and some choice words, and that's one of the things that we're hearing big time. Did you guys notice this week there was all this back-and-forth about whether to call something a sweetener or whether to call it-- sweetener sounds a lot gentler than, you know, serving up a whole bunch of pork.
But basically, what we're doing for you right now, we're going to breakdown some of these examples to folks to CNN Money, on the screen behind me had done a good job. Just easing through some of what's there (ph).
Let's go to first graphic. I want to show you one of the ones we keep talking about here. Sweetener or pork, you decide, all right? Alina is referring to a toy. This is a tax break that's built into this massive package -- $2 million for the creators of certain arrows that are used by child archers.
Let's go to the next one. For film and TV producers, $478 million tax break for basically keeping movies shot inside the United States. Next one now. Racetrack owners get $100 million. That's for car racing. And finally, we're going to show this one here. Returning rum export fees to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, $192 million in tax breaks tucked into this bill. And that's not all, folks.
Let's go (ph) for the board behind me this for a second. I want to show you just a couple more that's got up at CNN Money. This one here is for makers of fabric that include a certain kind of wool. And this over here is for programs encouraging people to bicycle to work, which, hey, is a great idea, but does that mean there needs to be a tax break built inside the rescue package or bailout bill that the nation needs so much?
Well, we've been asking people where you stand on all this. Let's take a look at what some people told us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DALE CAUGHEY, TAXPAYER: A lot of pork put in it. We love congressmen, and some of them have to retire. I pay taxes and I pay them for the last 50 years and I am sick of it, of being robbed.
CHERIE KURLAND, TAXPAYER: I don't understand why there would be these extra earmarks for individual businesses or individual industries. How that can or should somehow get mingled into a package that's meant to help out with the mortgage mess.
CHRIS FRASER, TAXPAYER: $478 million to movie producers who, they probably haven't felt one bit of it. And I'm tightening my belt every day and, you know, their belts are probably the same size. And it's frustrating. It's really frustrating.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Belts are probably the same size, a good way to look at it.
All right. Well, T.J. and Alina, you know a lot of people have a lot to say about this, people are sounding off.
So, we are giving you all a chance to sound off to us. A bailout bill: What does it mean to you? We're inviting you to send us e-mails this morning, Weekends@CNN.com, and use your name, include your name and the city that you live in.
And keep in mind, be relatively brief and, guys, what we're going to do is throughout the morning, we're going to pop back in and share some of the responses that we're getting, different perspectives from across the country, about this bailout bill and all that "sweet-and- sour pork" that's tucked into it.
CHO: Keep those e-mails G-rated, would you, Josh or PG-rated.
HOLMES: I want the nasty ones. Bring them on.
LEVS: I'll let you guys read the nasty ones behind the scene.
HOLMES: All right. Josh, we'll see you again here soon, buddy.
LEVS: Thanks, guys.
CHO: Josh, thanks.
Well, that $700 billion bailout pretty much says it all. It's been a week of sobering headlines. The Dow tanked, 160,000 jobs went away just last month. And, of course, everyone is looking for some good advice on what to do about all of this.
So we turn to Russell Pearlman. He's the senior markets editor for the "Wall Street Journal" "Smart Money" magazine. And he joins us from New York.
Russell, good morning. You know, my colleague, Ali Velshi, had a great analogy. He said, when the roof is burning on your house, it really doesn't matter if your three-year-old set the fire with a match or a lighter, just put the fire out. So, is this bailout bill the best way to put the fire out, so to speak?
RUSSELL PEARLMAN, SMART MONEY MAGAZINE: Well, it's not going to cure all the ills of the economy. I like Ali's analogy. Mine is, this is the -- the economy is a flu patient that has contracted really bad pneumonia that can kill him. And this bailout bill hopefully should take care of the pneumonia.
But you still have the fact that you have the flu and we have to work through the economic problem that are separate from the crisis point of mortgage and credit crisis issues that kind of precipitated the need for a bailout.
CHO: And, Russell, just practically speaking, in easy to understand terms, tell me what this is going to do to help the financial institutions and what does it mean to me, to me, "Joe Taxpayer," how is it going to affect me?
PEARLMAN: Well, let's start with the financial institutions first. Right now, banks are unwilling to loan any money to anyone because they're scared that whoever they're going to loan the money to is going to go bankrupt and they're going to go bankrupt on the other way around because they're not going to get their money back. So, hopefully, when this $700 billion will take all this bad debt off the banks' hands and will give them more confidence to lend. So, that's kind of the financial institution aspect of it.
For us, that means it will be a little bit easier than it has been over the past month to get a car loan, to get a cheaper mortgage, to get credit card with not an interest rate out the wazoo.
CHO: Well, how soon do you think it will get easier?
PEARLMAN: I think, over the next few weeks. We will see things...
CHO: Really? That soon. PEARLMAN: Yes, get improved in that regard. At least to get through like the worse of the credit crisis which is what we're in right now.
CHO: Yes.
PEARLMAN: But over the long term, it's not like we have like a huge tax increase here to pay off this bill. It's not like the government is instantly charging every man, woman, and child $2,000 to pay off this $700 billion bill. We're going to see the effects of this through higher inflation over the next two to three years because we're going to be printing all these bills, all these new $700 billion worth of bills.
So that's going to just lower the value of all the American dollars out there and that's generally what inflation is. So things are going to be a little more expensive here over the next two or three years as we kind of pay off the $700 billion worth of new debt that we're going to be issuing.
CHO: Yes, we've been saying tightening the belt a lot. That's what we've been hearing. The president will be speaking to this in a radio address in just about two hours or so, 2 1/2 hours.
So, Russell Pearlman with "Smart Money" magazine, thank you for joining us.
PEARLMAN: Thank you.
HOLMES: And we may have missed this overnight but it was a late night verdict for O.J. Simpson. His robbery and kidnapping trial comes to an end now. It came to an end 13 years to the day after a Los Angeles jury acquitted him of two murders.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Well, welcome back, everybody. Good morning, on the CNN SATURDAY MORNING. I'm T.J. Holmes.
CHO: Thanks for starting your day with us. Good morning, everybody. I'm Alina Cho.
HOLMES: And breaking story overnight. The jury comes back with a verdict on O.J. Simpson's robbery and kidnapping trial in Las Vegas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, LAS VEGAS, FRIDAY)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We the jury, in the above-entitled case, find the defendant Orenthal James Simpson as follows: Count one, conspiracy to commit a crime, guilty. Count two, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, guilty. Count three, conspiracy to commit robbery, guilty. Count four, burglary while in position of a deadly weapon, guilty.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: Not much of a reaction there from O.J. Simpson, but certainly, different from the reaction we saw 13 years ago in his double murder trial in Los Angeles. This case, however, involved in the hotel room confrontation in Las Vegas over sports memorabilia. Simpson claimed those items were stolen from him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GALANTER: The facts of this case are the facts. I mean, there are no smoking guns or hidden agendas. I think that the jurors just saw it a lot differently than Gabe and I saw it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, O.J. Simpson was tried along with mortgage broker and his golfing buddy, Clarence C.J. Stewart. Both were found guilty on 12 felony counts. Those counts include kidnapping, arm robbery, conspiracy, assault with a deadly weapon, coercion. Both could face now a life in prison. The judge set sentencing for December 5th. Simpson was taken into custody. Simpson's attorney says he will appeal.
Now, the judge in Simpson's kidnapping and robbery trial, this most recent one, ban any mention of his 1995 murder trial, and recognize those pictures we just put up on the screen. Simpson was accused of killing his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Round one, we the jury, in the above- entitled action find the defendant, Orenthal James Simpson not guilty of the crime of murder and violation of penal code section 187...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: There from 13 years ago. That trial was dubbed the "trial of the century." And again, that came, that verdict you're seeing there, you see the date, October 3rd, 1995, that came 13 years ago from the date of the verdict in this latest trial.
CHO: That $700 billion bailout bill of the nation's financial sector everybody is talking about it. Everybody has an opinion on it. And it's now the law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Eleven and the nays are zero. Two-thirds being in the affirmative. The rules are suspended. The bill is passed. And without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: And the question being asked this morning is: Will it work? Well, it's a question being asked by many small businesses. They didn't create this financial mess but they're certainly feeling the effects.
CNN's Mary Snow has the impact on three small businesses.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL CHIANETTA, OWNER, SAL ELECTRIC: That's our generator.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Phil Chianetta is keeping one eye on his electric business in Jersey City and the other glued to his TV set. With credit markets tight, he's worried about what happens if banks freeze up and stop lending.
CHIANETTA: My sole existence as a company, Sal Electric, 45 years sole existence is dependent on banks. I need a bank and the line of credit that I have with the bank in order to operate.
SNOW: To keep operating, he needs to pay 110 employees each week. In a worst case scenario, what would happen if banks stop lending all together?
CHIANETTA: I can operate for 60 days without any revenue coming in.
SNOW: Beyond that?
CHIANETTA: Beyond that, I'd have to depend on my bank for a line of credit and the amount of money that I have on my line of credit will allow me to go on another three months.
SNOW: Don Manthey has already felt the effect of his bank's tightening on lending. He had to take out a second mortgage on his home, sell a building, and lay off workers to keep his commercial interior business running in Alexandria after being turned down for a business loan earlier this year.
DON MANTHEY, PROSUM SERVICE CORPORATION: It makes no sense. And the only explanation I got was that we were headed to a recession and that they were more concerned about their loans and tightening up their loan standards.
SNOW: In Middletown, New York, the squeeze on car loans has dried up business at A Plus Auto.
ROBERT CHISAFI, A PLUS AUTO: We used to do three a day, you know. Now we're down to three a month.
SNOW: And the organization representing small businesses say they are not the ones that need the bailouts.
TODD MCCRACKEN, NAT'L. SMALL BUSINESS ASSN.: They are not the ones that created this problem. Unfortunately, they may be the ones that have to pay the piper at the end of the day.
SNOW (on camera): Small business owners we spoke would say while they're not in line for any handouts from this bailout, they do hope it will inject confidence into the markets. They say, without that confidence, people and companies aren't spending. And that is putting their livelihoods in jeopardy.
Mary Snow, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, finding a new president in a troubled economy. Barack Obama and John McCain both say they are focused on fixing this mess. But the bailout bill is just the beginning.
Our buddy, Paul Steinhauser, is part of the best political team on television with the Election Express in Nashville, home of country music, and, also, home of this week's presidential debate.
Paul, good morning to you. We'll stick with the economy. Polls have shown that Barack Obama has seen a bit of a bump and it's been to his advantage really after the economy really started having so many problems. Is this still the focus? Is the economy going to dominate this campaign right now, at least for the foreseeable future which is only, I guess, we got a month left until it's time to vote?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, we've got a month left. And you're right. Unless there's some big October surprise that we don't know about, it is going to be the economy straight through November 4th.
Both candidates had a lot on the line with this bailout, T.J. Both were twisting arms and making calls and make sure members of their party voted for it. They both are saying similar things, too, that this is the beginning, and not the end. That this is not a great plan, not a perfect plan, but it had to get done.
Take a listen to what both candidates said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe that the taxpayer protections that have been added have significantly improved the bill. This rescue bill isn't perfect. It's an outrage that it's even necessary. But we have to stop the damage to our economy done by corrupt and incompetent practices on Wall Street and in Washington.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The fundamentals of the economy aren't sound and we're going to have to do a lot of work moving forward. So, if we can stop the bleeding with this package, implement it effectively, and then move forward to deal with the broader problems on Main Street, then hopefully, we can start getting our economy back on track.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: Barack Obama is going to be in Virginia today, at Newport News, campaigning there. That's a red state he wants to turn blue. And John McCain today, he's back at the ranch in Sedona. He's hunkered down, getting ready for this big debate here on Tuesday night. This is going to be interesting, it's going to be a town hall- style debate, questions from the audience, as well as the moderator, T.J.
HOLMES: All right. We're talking about this debate coming up, but a lot of people still talking about the debate we saw on Thursday. That was a big -- I believe we've got the numbers that more people actually watched the V.P. debate than watched the first presidential debate. Now, everybody -- depend on who you ask -- whether somebody won or lost that V.P. debate.
But, was this still a plus, an upside? Do we see any signs of that that Sarah Palin, as long as she -- you know, somebody told me the bar wasn't set very high, the bar was actually on the floor, and all she had to do was show up at that debate and show that she can handle herself well and it was going to be a plus for her. So, what are we seeing in the polls and just in general, the buzz about how she did that night?
STEINHAUSER: Well, you're absolutely right about that. And our polls do show that, that she beat expectations. We at CNN and the Opinion Research Corporation, we polled the debate watchers, not all Americans, and people who actually watched the debate. We asked them, of course, who do you think did better. And by a 51 to 36 margin, 15 points, they think Joe Biden did better than Sarah Palin.
We also asked this, T.J., who is better able to serve as president, because remember, the number one job as a V.P. is to fill in as the president in case something happens to the president. And take look at these numbers. 87 percent say Joe Biden is qualified to be president. This is of debate watchers.
Only 46 percent, even after watching the debate, only 46 percent say Sarah Palin is qualified. That is still a big question mark for her. And with a month left, may not be enough time to prove that she can serve as president, T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Paul Steinhauser for us there in Nashville, "Music City, USA." I know you're right at home there with all the country music. Paul, we appreciate it. Talk to you again soon, buddy.
Well, on CNN Tuesday night, be right here with us. Nashville, the battleground right there, for the presidential candidates facing off in their second debate. Don't miss a minute of that action. You want to catch it right here with us, CNN: Your home for politics.
And also, with the Election Day, just a month away now, have you made up your mind? You can learn about the candidates' plans from the contenders, directly from them in their own words. You can watch "BALLOT BOWL" this afternoon, 2:00 o'clock Eastern, right here on CNN -- Alina.
CHO: We'll be watching that.
Over the top, an angry driver reacts to a speeding ticket.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHO: Well, it's video so amazing you'll want to see it twice, maybe even three times. To see what -- take a look at that. Look at what happened here after an elderly driver is pulled over for speeding.
HOLMES: Well, you know.
CHO: Got a little upset.
HOLMES: Maybe, this is had to be an accident. Police say it wasn't however. This is 70-year-old man who they say got upset and he deliberately put his car in reverse and floored it. One of the tires actually went through, as you see there, that windshield and nearly hit the officer's head.
WOLF: He's making a statement, you know. I mean...
CHO: Yes, he is.
HOLMES: What is that statement, Reynolds?
WOLF: Well, you know, maybe the statement is, hey, I'm trying to put my car into -- sometimes you look down and that the "P" and the "D," you know, on the transmission automatic.
CHO: He got confused.
WOLF: Right. And maybe he put it in "R" and then reversed it, and the rest is this one (ph).
CHO: OK. All right, then. You really get the full view from the dash camera.
WOLF: I would think so. And I think they are pretty much ruined all chances of talking your way out of it. You know, what do you do if you're the officer? It's not like you can just, you know, go and wax out that.
(LAUGHTER)
WOLF: I don't think they have wax on the market that can get rid of this kind of scratches on the car.
CHO: The driver, by the way, charged with reckless driving.
WOLF: Oh, you want to see something freaky when you're talking about driving. Take a look, you know, when you drive and have to get gas. Take a look at this video that we got for you from a gas station; this was up in New York.
HOLMES: Oh, wow.
WOLF: This is lightning flash.
CHO: Oh, my gosh. WOLF: A lightning strike hits part of the gas station. Just one big blast. It wasn't any major damage. But you could see this vantage point from inside. Just, hey, going to buy a coke. Maybe I'm not. It's just one of those scary kind of things. Maybe this is a statement. Maybe someone from up above is complaining about those gas prices.
CHO: What are the odds?
WOLF: What are the odds.
All right, let's show you something. The odds today of getting some thunderstorms across the central plains are actually pretty good. We're going to show you something on the weather maps right south of Wichita and in moving into parts of Arkansas. We see some rain drops that are falling. Some rain has been fairly heavy in that area. There is the potential of some flash flooding.
But I'll tell you, in terms of any major severity, any tornadoes, any widespread severe weather, I don't think that's going to be an issue with these storms.
If you happened to be in Fort Smith, you had really two clusters, one area of rain came through this morning, and a secondary batch just along parts of I-40, that's going to come through in the next 10 to 15 minutes. But then things should dry it out, as you have drier air over Oklahoma City. That's all going to head back up to the east. So, you've got a nice day for you in Fort Smith, you can just deal with the rain early this morning.
Now, in Salt Lake City, we're expecting a high today into the 60s, a little bit of light rain falling along parts of I-15. But in higher elevations in places like Snowbird, Utah, take this out, as we make your way to the rest of the day today and in through Sunday, at the highest elevations, we're talking above 8,500 feet, we could have anywhere from one to two feet of snowfall. So, if you happen to be a ski enthusiast, today will be a special day for you.
Meanwhile, temperatures, take a look what you got. Across the nation, pretty nice for you in New York. In Boston, were high temperatures will be mainly in the 60s. Kansas City with 79 degrees. Dallas with 91; 87 in Houston. San Francisco, a rainy day for you. Same story in L.A. High temperatures mainly into the mid-60s.
OK. Well, that's all we've got for you in terms of weather. You've seen the kooky videos, now let's send it back to you, our kooky partners at the set.
CHO: I saw the 82 high in Atlanta, though. It's pretty nice.
WOLF: It's nice. The thing you got to love this time of year.
HOLMES: Welcome. Thanks for having you here.
CHO: Thank you very much.
You know, it was a cool night when I arrived last night. I thought maybe fall has arrived to hot (ph) Atlanta. But...
HOLMES: Not quite.
CHO: Not quite yet.
HOLMES: We're holding on to the hot here for a little while.
CHO: Reynolds, thanks.
HOLMES: And stay here. Coming up next, you know, maybe these folks took their cue from Priceline.com. You know, how they name your own price kind of a thing.
CHO: That's correct. Well, what a hockey team in St. Louis is doing to score big with fans?
HOLMES: Yes. Rick Horrow, let's just show his picture. Please don't put his mike up. We don't want to hear anything he has to say. We just want to see his face.
RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: Right.
HOLMES: Take his mike away. Take his mike away.
HORROW: Sorry. I'm sorry. Good morning. Welcome. Good morning.
HOLMES: Rick, we'll talk to you here in just a second. Actually, some serious topic about the economy and the ripple effect of the bad economy. Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Let's see here. People have been betting on sports events since the chariot races really. That's nothing new. But given recent events, you have to wonder if the economy rather was better back then, it's in pretty bad shape right now. What impact does that all have on the sports betting?
Well, our sports business analyst, Rick Horrow, in West Palm Beach, Florida, with us this morning.
Rick, good morning to you, sir. Always good to see you. Seriously, I mean that. It is good to see you. I mean it.
HORROW: No, you don't. That's OK. Hey, nice game last week, OK?
HOLMES: It's good to see you.
HORROW: I know we're not supposed to talk about it on the air.
HOLMES: Let's go into let's go, turn to the -- can we keep you focused here, Rick? Stay focused.
HORROW: Yes, go ahead. HOLMES: All right. The economy, the betting, people are betting all the time. They've been doing it. They won't stop doing it. But still, in tough times like this, do people turn to betting, trying to make a quick buck? I guess, is their motivation for betting a little different these days?
HORROW: Well, me personally, I found this under my mattress, and I think we're going to need that. And the bottom line of all of this is that people look for distractions. And so, you expect at times like this, historically, betting, alcoholism, honestly, increase. Watch for that in the next few months, and hopefully, no longer than that.
But the interesting part about this, by the way, is we talk about a $700 billion bailout, that's a large number, we understand. But the gambling industry worldwide, $3 trillion. So, it is significant.
HOLMES: Wow. Oh, well, all right. Well, the economy, tough times. Everybody's getting touched by these tough times. We assume sports teams as well. It's hard for us to get our heads around it sometimes. We think they're flush with money and certainly hear about these exorbitant salaries sometimes that a lot of the athletes are making.
So, are teams, are we seeing evidence that some of these big franchises are being hurt?
HORROW: Yes, flush with money maybe, but flush with lot less now and in a lot of different levels. On the corporate level, you know, the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, it may become Wells Fargo. They've got deals with Atlanta and the Marlins and the Texas Rangers in baseball.
We've got teams like the Charlotte Bobcats in the NBA laying 35 workers off, ad sales in sports is down about 4 percent. We've got delays of sales like the Cubs who may not be sold now for a little while, especially, as to the way they're playing now.
HOLMES: Yes.
HORROW: And most important from your perspective as well, we've got beat writers (ph), the "L.A. Times," the "Palm Beach Post," laying off people. And if the newspapers are laying off people, can television be far behind, my friend?
HOLMES: Oh, wow. Good to have you on with that happy note this morning.
HORROW: Speechless.
HOLMES: Yes, a little bit. Let me watch my words here.
Let's move on now to a part of the problem with the teams. Is the problem ticket sales? I mean, people don't have as much money these days. So, are they having problems getting people in the seats and that's hurting their revenue and -- so, how do they fix that? HORROW: Well, they fix it by praying a little bit but also by trying to be a little creative. You know, the New Jersey Nets are selling 1,300 season tickets. It looks a used car, buy them now, the first invoice doesn't come until January 5. I can hear the people on the megaphone saying that.
And in St. Louis, the hockey team has selective seat night, you name your own price for this week. And if the price is accepted, that locks it in for at least a month in a certain section. The idea of buying a seat for that dollar, I don't know if they'll accept it, but I'm going to bid on that. That's the creative kind of idea they're thinking about.
HOLMES: And we're certainly going to see more and more follow along. I think this is the first. Have we heard of anybody else doing this?
HORROW: Well, you know, gas refunds, the New Jersey deal, the St. Louis deal, look for -- every week we may talk about one new creative idea, but believe me, the sports and entertainment industry needs to take creative steps like everybody else does to deal with this economy.
HOLMES: All right. Rick Horrow -- Rick, really, always good to see you, kind sir. We'll see you again next week, all right?
HORROW: Yes, sir.
CHO: Stick around because coming up at the top of the hour, there's been some breaking news overnight, a verdict in the O.J. Simpson robbery and kidnapping trial.
At the top of the hour we're going to talk to senior analyst Jeffrey Toobin live for some analysis.
And also this, we asked and you answered.
HOLMES: Yes. Nothing is sweet about how the bailout bail is sitting with a lot of you this morning. We're checking in with some of your viewer e-mail when CNN SATURDAY MORNING continues. Don't you move.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, as we know for a lot of people, the word "bailout" just doesn't sit well with them.
CHO: Especially when you hear the numbers $700 billion before it.
HOLMES: I'm still trying to figure out how many zeros that is.
CHO: I think 11.
HOLMES: Our Josh Levs, we were asking for viewer e-mails, how many isn't -- we'll figure that out. We'll get back to you, Josh. But tell us about these e-mails, these answers. Are we hearing anybody that's in favor of this bailout?
LEVS: Well, actually, I haven't heard from anybody yet who's in favor of the bailout or I should say who has positive things to say overall about the bailout.
Let's show what you the question is, again, because we want to encourage to weigh in if you want to this morning. It's -- your thoughts about the bailout. And one part of it that we're talking about is, the $150 billion and what some groups out there are calling "pork."
And I'll just tell you, while we're taking a look at these e- mails, we're hearing from people -- someone says "I feel totally abandoned by the two-party system." They can't believe someone would even dream of adding pork to a bailout bill. Someone else saying it's like Congress crashing and burning our economy.
And others say it's just a big gift for the wealthy. Now, this doesn't mean that overall they don't want the bill to have been passed but people are just not happy with what's in it or with the fact that the government even got in the position of having to do it.
Send us your e-mails this morning. We're going to keep popping in throughout the morning and we'll show you some of the best e-mails that we get up next hour.
HOLMES: So, please, everybody, keep them coming. What's that address? Weekends@CNN.com, right?
LEVS: Weekends@CNN.com. Yes, we're going to them right now.
HOLMES: All right.
CHO: And it's 11 zeros, Josh.
HOLMES: Yes, in 700 billion.
(LAUGHTER)
LEVS: Thanks. I didn't count that yet.
CHO: Yes, I was right the first time.
LEVS: All right. Good job.
CHO: Europe is having similar financial problems as many of you know. The leaders of Europe's four largest economies are meeting today in Paris in just about 10 minutes. We're going to get some reaction across the pond to the U.S. bailout.
We'll also look at how Europe is handling its problems.
And from the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. I'm Alina Cho. Betty has the morning off.
Good morning, everybody. Thanks for joining us. HOLMES: So good. And I thank you for joining us here in Atlanta.
CHO: I always like sitting next to you.
HOLMES: Thank you for being here.
Well, hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. Glad you could be with us this morning.
CHO: And if you're just waking up, there were some breaking news overnight. A verdict in the O.J. Simpson case in Las Vegas. We're talking about that robbery and kidnapping trial. That's his reaction there to the verdict. We're going to tell what you that is. Will he go to jail? For how long? We'll tell you all about that.
We'll also talk to senior analyst Jeffrey Toobin by phone in just a couple of minutes.
HOLMES: Also, they've been fighting over it for the past couple of weeks in Washington, and there it is, the president right there putting his signature on that $700 billion bailout or rescue package.
So, all's well that ends well, right? Well, the work may just be beginning. We will talk to you this morning about how long it will take before you actually see this thing make a difference and do what they say it's supposed to do. Our CNN Money Team is all over the story.
CHO: Maybe sooner than you think according to some people.
Meanwhile, in Las Vegas overnight, a guilty verdict in the robbery and kidnapping trial of O.J. Simpson.
HOLMES: And just six hours ago that we got this verdict, but it was actually 13 years ago to the day since Simpson was acquitted of the two murders in Los Angeles.
CNN's Ted Rowlands is following the story for us from Las Vegas. He joins us there live.
Now, Ted, I guess that one fact is just remarkable in itself, that this came on the 13th anniversary of him being acquitted for those two murders.
ROWLANDS: Absolutely, T.J., just unbelievable, the coincidence, and the jurors, you know, there's not -- they're not sequestered in this case but they are told not to read anything about the case. So, the odds of them knowing that this was the 13th anniversary would be slim to none.
When we'd hope that they didn't know but they kept deliberating for 13 hours last night until they finally reached a verdict and when they did, they found O.J. Simpson guilty on all counts.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We, the jury in the above entitled case find the defendant, Orenthal James Simpson, guilty.
ROWLANDS: With friends and family crying in the courtroom seats behind him, O.J. Simpson listened as the 12 guilty verdicts against him were read in court.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guilty.
ROWLANDS: Jury of nine women and three men worked well into the night deliberating, arriving at a verdict after 13 hours.
GLASS: Remanded to custody right now.
ROWLANDS: Following the verdict, Simpson was handcuffed and taken into custody. Simpson, who's 61 years old, could spend the rest of his life in jail, the most serious guilty verdict was for first degree kidnapping which carries a possible life sentence; a charge his attorneys say doesn't fit the crime.
GASSO: Had O.J. walked into the Bank of America with an AK-47 and duct-taped all the tellers and stuck them in the safe and stolen $1 million, he would be charged with the same exact thing he's charged with here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guilty.
ROWLANDS: Also guilty on all 12 charges was Simpson's co- defendant, Clarence Stewart.
BRYSON: The fact that Mr. Simpson was sitting across the table, there's no doubt in my mind was extremely prejudicial.
ROWLANDS: Jurors left the courthouse without talking to reporters. Simpson's sister, who was overwhelmed with grief, was taken out in a wheelchair. The verdicts came exactly 13 years to the day that Simpson was found not guilty of double murder in California.
GALANTER: Thirteen years ago, 13 hours of deliberation, and you know, it's eerie. It really is eerie. I don't know what to think of it just yet, but it's either a very strange coincidence or somebody is sending a very powerful message.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROWLANDS: O.J. Simpson this morning is in the Clark County Detention Center. He will stay there until he is sentenced on December 5th. Prosecutors did not comment after the case, issuing a statement basically saying we're not going to comment until after sentencing.
Outside the courthouse, though, the gentleman you saw in the courtroom weeping with O.J.'s sister did comment for the media. He said he was outraged about the verdict.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TOM SCOTTO, O.J. SIMPSON'S FRIEND: I mean this is -- what kind of justice is this? This isn't justice. This is ridiculous. This is -- you know, this here is an embarrassment in America, for the justice system. As far as I'm concerned, this judge embarrassed the country, embarrassed the whole justice system.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROWLANDS: A reference to Judge Jackie Glass. She will determine O.J. Simpson's fate, even though -- even if she comes in with minimum guidelines, though, it is very possible and probable that Simpson, who's 61-years-old, will spend the rest of his life behind bars. T.J., Alina?
HOLMES: Well, all right, Ted Rowlands for us for the story in Las Vegas, hey we appreciate you this morning.
CHO: Well, Simpson's lawyer says he will appeal this latest verdict.
CNN's senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin joining us by phone from New York. Jeffrey, as many people know, you covered the first O.J. Simpson murder trial. You wrote a book on it called "The Run of his Life." Tell me first, are you surprised by this guilty verdict?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: I have to say I am a little surprised. This case always seemed like a closed case for the prosecution.
This was a -- a fight over some dubious property involving dubious people, and the one really bad fact for O.J. Simpson in this case was that at least some of the people in that room with him had guns, and the question was, did O.J. authorize or ask them to bring guns? The jury said yes, but this did not seem like a slam dunk case for the prosecution.
CHO: And is that because Simpson had claimed all along that those items, those sports memorabilia was rightfully his, he was just taking back what he owned in the first place?
TOOBIN: Well, that's part of it, is that he had, he thought, a legitimate claim to own the merchandise, but just the nature of the confrontation. This was a bunch of jerks fighting over junk in a hotel room. That is not a classic kidnapping scenario.
CHO: So, given OK --
TOOBIN: I'm sorry. That's just not something that usually gives rise to these serious criminal charges.
CHO: So given that, what are the chances that this could be reversed on appeal?
TOOBIN: Well, I think you have to start with the premise that most cases are not reversed on appeal. They are affirmed on appeal. But I would say given the strange facts of this case, there are somewhat better chances for O.J. on appeal, at least on the kidnapping charge, than in most circumstances.
But I think the overwhelming likelihood now is that he will spend a substantial number of years in jail.
CHO: Yes, and let's talk about that. Because he'll be sentenced presumably on December 5th is what we're hearing, and they're saying he could get life in prison or at least 20 years, which at 61 could mean the rest of his life.
Is that likely, Jeff, 20 years?
TOOBIN: I think 20 years is certainly a possibility. Kidnapping, armed robbery, these are very serious crimes.
Again, the facts of this case don't fit a classic kidnapping or armed robbery situation, but the law is designed to treat similarly convicted prisoners similarly, so he may well get a very long sentence.
CHO: As you know, the jurors in this case were not allowed to factor in or consider anything from the 1995 double murder case. Now, having said that, this verdict came 13 hours, 13 years to the day that that acquittal on double murder happened in October of 1995.
So given that, take us inside the jury room if you could. Do you think that these jurors actually had a sense that that anniversary was impending?
TOOBIN: Well, I doubt that they knew it was the anniversary. Frankly, I was in the courtroom 13 years ago today, and I didn't even realize it was the anniversary.
But certainly they were very much aware of the prior case, and I think that's the overwhelming question surrounding this case. Would this case even have been brought if O.J. Simpson had not been the guy acquitted in that notorious trial?
Jury selection, that was something the lawyers and the judge tried to screen out, bias, because of the last trial. But that is something that there will be a lot of speculation about. The jurors will be asked about it. And I suspect we'll never know for sure, but you certainly put your finger on the big issue in the case.
CHO: Jeffrey Toobin, senior analyst, always great to talk to you. Jeffrey, thanks for waking up early for us.
TOOBIN: OK, Alina.
CHO: OK, talk to you later.
HOLMES: All right. We'll turn now to that $700 billion bailout package. We were all told that the country needed it and needed it desperately. Well, it has been passed. It has been signed. So now what? Is it going to work?
CNN senior correspondent Allan Chernoff is in New York has a live report for us. Our Jim Boulden also standing by in Paris with reaction from Europe. But we're going to start with the immediate reaction on Wall Street and our Mary Snow has that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: Wall Street's reaction to the bailout bill was telling. As soon as the House passed it, a market rally faded.
ART HOGAN, JEFFRIES AND COMPANY: Almost like celebrating when the ambulance finally gets there. It's hard to sell the ambulance is here. Oh, that's right, that's fantastic. And that's why we really need an ambulance.
SNOW: And the patient has a host of ailments, for one, frozen credit markets causing banks to tighten lending on immediate problem. The hope for the bailout package is to thaw that frozen market, but economists say borrowers won't feel it right away.
DIANE SWONK, MESIROW FINANCIAL: Some could be starting to see money as soon as next week but that's going to be the larger companies first. It's going to be taking longer to get to those really in Main Street borrowers.
SNOW: Economist Diane Swonk says borrowing for things like car loans and mortgages may not resume to normal levels until the end of the year or early next year if we're lucky. She says the first challenge is to undo the damage done just in the past two weeks while the bailout was delayed.
SWONK: The U.S. economy was clearly already slipping and deteriorating before we hit this credit market crisis. This credit market crisis just added insult to injury.
SNOW: Compounding problems, September saw the biggest drop in jobs in five years -- 159,000. And economists only expect those numbers to get worse before getting better.
LAKSHMAN ACHUTHAN, ECONOMIC CYCLE RESEARCH INSTITUTE: It's a real perfect storm on the economy in the sense that you have a credit crunch, then you have a U.S. business cycle recession, and then you have a global recession.
SNOW: So how long will it be before things start to turn around? Some economists we spoke with say they don't expect to see the economy improving until the second half of 2009.
Mary Snow, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Well, President Bush wasted no time signing the bill into law. He said the $700 billion measure is urgently needed, but he also warned the nation's economy, quoting here, "Continues to face serious challenges."
He'll have more comments on the bailout during his weekly radio address later this morning just after 10:00 a.m. Eastern.
HOLMES: So, are we all supposed to feel better about things now? Allan Chernoff live in New York for us.
Allan, one of the questions a lot of people have been having, well, where do I put my money? What's safe? Everybody is going out of business, everybody is going under and all the stocks going off. Where is money safe right now?
CHERNOFF: Yes, boy, it's a question that everybody is wondering right now and certainly it's a tough time to be investing, no doubt about that.
First of all, let's talk about the safest place of all that you could put your money, which is with the Treasury. Now, Treasury notes right now, one-year treasury notes, you get about 1.4 percent on that, but you know your money is definitely safe.
Now, if we're talking here about money market funds, keep in mind that now the government has said it will back money market funds if there are some losses, they've put up $50 billion behind that. The average yield right now, as you see, 2.44 percent.
I would say if you want to put your money into a money market fund, make sure you're doing this with a major investment firm, not some firm you've just heard about recently.
Another idea is to go with a municipal money market fund. The yield may be a little lower, but there are tax advantages, especially for people in higher tax brackets. So that's certainly one approach.
Now, then you can turn to the banks as well, and you know you've got that FDIC insurance and now it's being increased from $100,000 to $250,000. And remember, that's for each account. There's no limit to the number of accounts that you can have.
So, high-yield savings are where you'll get your best returns because most bank accounts, they really don't give you very much. So, here we have a few examples from bankrate.com. We're showing the CDs now, right now, but let me show you the high-yield savings, a little -- about 3.5 percent. CDs also, as you see, 2.47 percent, five years, 3.1 percent.
And that's not all that bad, T.J., if we're talking about just putting your money away. You know it's secure. You've got that FDIC insurance.
If you want to try to get a little higher return, another pretty safe place to put your money, municipal bonds. These bonds are pretty good; triple-AAA is what you want right now, without question.
And there you can get an average return of about 4.3 percent. And that's on a ten-year bond. If you go a little further out, you can even top out over 5 percent. And remember, these are triple tax- free. If you are buying a Muni-bond from within your state and you get tax advantages there as well. So, there are certainly places to put your money, T.J.
The other issue, though, do you bail out of the stock market now? Stash your cash way? Well, I don't know. The market's taken a bad hit and I'm not saying it can't go down more, but it's late in the ball game to just bail out and say, I can't take it anymore.
HOLMES: Wow. All right.
Well, a lot of people would say the best place to put the money, the safest place, in the shoe box under the bed. And we all need to go back to that for a little while. Allan, we appreciate and we're going to be in with you again here later, thanks buddy.
And we certainly we want to know what you out there think about this bill. What does it mean to you? Will it help? Tell us whatever you want to tell us about it. And yes, you have a right to sound off and be a little upset. E-mail us, at weekends@cnn.com. We'll read some of your responses here on the air.
CHO: Well, Europe has its own financial woes. Of course, the leaders of Europe's four largest economic powers are meeting in Paris today.
We want to go live now to our Jim Boulden in Paris. Jim, the old adage is when America sneezes the world catches a cold. So what's the reaction there been to the U.S. bailout?
JIM BOULDEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the taxpayers here don't have to pay for this, do they Alina? So they're quite happy about it here. The U.K. Government, the French government very pleased. It was, of course, on the front page of all the English language newspapers here in Europe because they want to see this bailout. Because they want to see the confidence restored.
But that's why we have the EU leaders meeting here in Paris later today to see what they can do. No big bailout of banks here, certainly not. They want to talk about other things they can do to help shore up confidence. But France is in recession and the U.K. is in recession. They're a bit worried and maybe that the U.S. Congress came a little bit too late and with maybe a little bit too little money because of the recessions here.
So, we'll see what the EU Leaders do today later. It's not going to be any kind of bailout or any kind of big pull of money as we've seen from the Congress.
CHO: So there could be some fireworks in that meeting in Paris today. Jim Boulden live for us in Paris. Jim, thank you.
Well, some owners are desperate to sell their homes, of course, but a lot of people are having trouble getting a loan. And in turn, these people are having trouble selling their properties.
HOLMES: So what we're seeing now is a trend that sites are popping up on the Internet, helping with this situation.
Josh here, taking a look at all things Internet-related for us again. Hey there, Josh.
LEVS: Yes, hey good morning to you. You know what, it is pretty amazing what people are doing now to try and get rid of the foreclosed properties, which is at the core of the crisis. We'll tell you about that. And sprouting tent cities all over America.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Welcome back, everybody. All kinds of finger-pointing going on over the bailout plan. Our colleague Ali Velshi says if your roof is on fire it doesn't matter if your 3-year-old used a match or a lighter, just put the fire out.
HOLMES: A lot of finger-pointing, nobody pointing back at themselves necessarily for this mess. A lot of people do, though, agree at least that all these financial problems started with the mortgage mess.
CHO: Yet there's definitely a market for home buyers and we're seeing signs of that everywhere, online. Our own Josh Levs here with something that just rolled out a couple days ago. What's this all about, Josh?
LEVS: I just wanted to pop in here and show you guys this. It's pretty fascinating. One of our producers here spotted this. This is from one of the blogs, this comes from the journalrecord.com in Oklahoma. And they talk about now -- you know how we're always seeing these ads for overstocked.com, the big O.
They're now entering into this whole new realm which is getting rid of foreclosed property. What I did was I pulled up over here what they have among foreclosed properties. Look at this, they're listing all these foreclosed properties that they have in all these different cities. I was looking at the prices on them. They have some in here that are worth up into the millions.
This chart here shows how much they're worth. This shows one that's close to $2 million, close to $2.5 million.
That's not the only place that's doing it. I'm just going to scroll through some of these. I looked at foreclosed properties on eBay. One of the first ones I saw is this, a home trying to sell for $600,000.
It's not new to sell real estate on line, but what we are seeing all over the place is more and more efforts to get rid of foreclosed properties. And as you recall, foreclosures are huge these days.
Let me show you some of the numbers. We have a story on cnn.com over here in which we talked to Senator Christopher Dodd. He tells us he's seeing 10,000 a day. Keep in mind, when we talk about the economic crisis and the bailout of the banks; these foreclosures are at the core of everything.
One more thing I want to show you guys, this is again from cnn.com; growing tent cities. Let's close in for just a second. Growing tent cities, blamed on foreclosure crisis. This is about so many American cities seeing more and more people now become homeless, and their situations being blamed on foreclosures.
That, in turn, puts more and more pressure on each city and ultimately on the entire government and our entire economy. So, you got that stretching going on and you have the people who are in a position to buy up properties now more and more looking online to grab some of the foreclosed properties which are, in turn, leaving people in tents in some places.
Really happy news to start off the morning, right?
HOLMES: That's horrible. That's just the reality of this whole mess we are seeing.
Josh, we appreciate it. Talk to you again soon.
The government projects up to three million homes will fall into foreclosure by the end of next year. If you are dancing anywhere close to those dangerous waters or you think maybe this is time for you to buy up a property, join us at 10:00 a.m. We're going to ask a "Wall Street Journal" columnist to sort all of that out for us.
CHO: Some rain in the northeast that Reynolds Wolf is tracking. Hey, Reynolds, I'm glad I'm down here, not in New York today. What's going on?
WOLF: Exactly. Yes, we got some rain in the Northeast, also got some rain in parts of the Central and Southern Plains, especially through parts of Oklahoma, back into Texas, Fort Smith, Arkansas, getting the rain this morning, also Texarkana. A few thunderstorms near Hugo at this time and also.
We're going to see that activity in the super plains, but out to the west in the Rockies, we're talking about heavy snow. Let you know how much we're talking about, coming up in a few moments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: OK. I don't know if this is a surprise to you, but I don't get to really watch Oprah a lot.
CHO: I'm surprised.
HOLMES: Are you really? Why?
CHO: A lot of people watch it every day.
HOLMES: Everybody loves Oprah. I have to admit I love her but I don't get to watch her show. But I don't think that you should talk about --
CHO: I don't get to watch her as often as I'd like.
HOLMES: They don't usually talk about government bailouts on Oprah, do they? CHO: Yesterday they did. Senior business correspondent Ali Velshi, my office mate, by the way, showed up to give Oprah and her audience a quick lesson.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: We thought that things will be better for us financially year after year. So, we --
OPRAH, HOST: We believed.
VELSHI: We believed, we wanted. The dream was if it's going to get better, I can spend more, and the banks encouraged that because if we spent more, they made more money. And so we all lived a little beyond our means and then a lot beyond our means.
And now our country, our people, our banks, and our government are all heavily, heavily indebted and money is running tight.
OPRAH: OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: That's some good lighting.
HOLMES: That is.
CHO: He looks good, Ali.
HOLMES: Oh, to be bald and beautiful. He's wearing his Easter suit and everything. He actually told Oprah the country might not like it but, yes, bailing out Wall Street should get money flowing again on Main Street.
So, like you said, that's your office mate. We all love Ali.
CHO: Ali's great. He said he spends lots of his days just thinking of analogies and metaphors to help people understand what's going on because often it is complicated and difficult to understand. He does a great job of it. Congratulations.
HOLMES: Yes. And Reynolds Wolf does a great job as well, taking very complex meteorologist weather situations --
WOLF: But I'm not wearing my Easter suit today. I'm not wearing the Easter or the Easter bunny ears or anything.
CHO: You look great, Reynolds.
WOLF: Thank you so much. Doing the Steve McQueen look today. Doing the black turtle neck.
We are talking about some -- kind of a wet morning in parts of Arkansas, back into Texas and Oklahoma where the best thing to wear today will be a slicker. It's going to be a rainy time for you.
I'll tell you though, when you get into the late morning hours, though, a lot of this is going to drift its way to the east so places like Fort Smith, its going to be a nice day for you. You're just going to deal with scattered showers this morning.
A few imbedded thunderstorms in Texarkana, right along parts of say, Little Rock. If you happen to be in Little Rock, it's OK but you can see the clouds out to the west. I would say within the next hour or so you'll be getting some rain in Little Rock, maybe even in Conway before all is said and done.
Out to the west it's going to be the possibility of some snow. Snow's not falling right now, but when that moisture gets up into the higher elevations where you have that cool air aloft, we're going to have some winter storm warnings in effect. Some of the first we've had of the season.
You'll notice at about 8,500 feet and higher is where you're going to have your heavy snowfall, not just in parts of Utah but even in Colorado, anywhere from 1 to maybe even 2 feet before all is said and done.
Meanwhile, for the West Coast, going to be a rainy day for you. Top to bottom, from San Francisco all the way to the L.A. Basin. Inland, you can expect conditions to be pretty rainy in Sacramento. High temperatures for much of the West Coast you're going to be mainly into the 60s on and 70s in many locations.
In Dallas, it's going to be a warm day for you with a high of 91. Nashville with 83, Washington, D.C., beautiful.
And D.C. take a look at the shot, 73 degrees the expected high; can't get any better than that. We're talking about cobalt blue skies by the afternoon. This morning, though, bright and beautiful; a great way to start a morning.
OK. Let's send it back to the news desk with your Easter suits.
HOLMES: You know what I'm talking about, everybody, when they're coming up, you wore your best suit on Easter.
CHO: Do you know what he just called me? My little pumpkin. Isn't that sweet?
HOLMES: Well, you got the orange and the black working. It was a good Halloween look.
WOLF: T.J., you already covered Easter, we have got Halloween covered. What are the next ones?
HOLMES: I'll get around to Christmas here.
CHO: But we digress.
HOLMES: Thanks, Reynolds. WOLF: Ho, ho, ho.
HOLMES: Well, we will turn to the Great White Way and a nice remembrance here for a legend.
CHO: That's right. How Broadway is honoring the late Paul Newman.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We want to tell you here about a tribute that Broadway paid to the late Paul Newman. As we know, he died last week at the age of 83. Last night, all the Broadway theater marquees dimmed for one minute before show time in honor of Newman. Again, he passed away last week at the age of 83; a nice tribute.
CHO: A nice tribute for "old blue eyes."
A couple of blocks to the east at 30 Rockefeller Center, a real treat for me has last night. I had the opportunity to sit down with the cast members of "Saturday Night Live."
We talked about this crazy political season. Tina Fey's take on Sarah Palin and what kind of impact the show will have on voters.
Listen to Darryl Hammond who's played Clinton, Gore and now John McCain talk about what it's like for him right now on the streets of New York.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DARYL HAMMOND, SNL CAST MEMBER: A little bit unnerving the passion with which people speak to me in the strangest places. I've always been a guy who likes to hang out in diners and stuff like that. I mean, I like to eat there and read the paper. It's not possible anymore, really.
CHO: Wow.
HAMMOND: I mean, people -- people come up and they're like hey, excuse me. That thing the other night, can we just talk about the subprime mortgage thing? What was that about?
CHO: And people are riled, they get mad?
HAMMOND: Well, sometimes -- oh, they get mad or they get happy. You know, sometimes people stop you. They'll walk by you in the street and they'll go hey! And then the other day, I was at the newsstand and a guy walks by and he goes tsk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Everybody has an opinion. The full story, by the way, will be on Monday between 6:00 and 9:00 a.m. on "AMERICAN MORNING." That by the way, next to Daryl Hammond was Fred Armisen, who plays Barack Obama. HOLMES: Whoa.
CHO: But it's a show you won't want to miss.
HOLMES: Yes, "SNL," looking forward to everything they do this political season.
Well, right now, looking forward to Dr. Sanjay Gupta and "HOUSE CALL." It starts right now.
