Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
New Mexico Governor Tapped as Commerce Secretary; GOP Wins Key Senate Race; Dealers Struggle to Close Deal; Media Deemed Bad for Kids
Aired December 03, 2008 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: It's coming up now on two minutes to the top of the hour. And here are this morning's top stories.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in New Delhi, India, to try to keep the peace between India and Pakistan in the wake of last week's attacks in Mumbai. 179 people were killed including six Americans. Rice is urging both countries to share information in the Mumbai investigation.
India claims the Mumbai attacks originated inside Pakistan and has demanded the Pakistani government hand over a group of militant leaders taking refuge there. Pakistan's president promising to follow leads in the Mumbai investigations saying "where ever they go." He spoke exclusively last night with CNN's Larry King.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY KING, CNN HOST: Pakistan, you called on India to produce evidence of the complicity of any Pakistani group in the attacks. If it's produced, what would you do?
PRES. ADIF ALI ZARDARI, PAKISTAN: I would - my government would take action, our government would take action. The democratic government of Pakistan will take action against the - all the actors. And anybody who's involved.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Commercial flights have resumed at Bangkok's International Airport. The airport shut down for a week by anti- government protesters who forced Thailand's prime minister to resign. The takeover left more than 250,000 tourists stranded devastating Thailand's vital tourism industry.
And military marriages becoming a casualty of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Statistics obtained by the Associated Press show that divorces rate among active duty soldiers and marines rose in 2008 from the year before more than 13,000 military marriages failed this year.
New this morning and only on CNN. Former president, Bill Clinton, his first interview since Barack Obama named his wife to the secretary of state position. Anjali Rao from our sister network CNN International caught up with him in Hong Kong and asked the former president about his wife's reaction and how involved he will be in her job.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLINTON: I think she was shocked. She first read about it in the newspaper, the speculation.
ANJALI RAO, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Really?
CLINTON: Yes. And she - it was, I think, a very wise decision by the president-elect, and I think she made the right decision. But for her it was hard. She adored being in the senate. I think my involvement will be what our involvement with each other's work has always been, that is, all the years I was a governor and president, I talked to her about everything. And I, you know, found her advice invaluable. And I'm sure that we'll talk about all these. I really care about a lot of these profound challenges that our country and the world are facing.
But the decisions will have to be ultimately the President-elect Obama's decision. I'll just try to be a helpful sounding board to her. But I don't think I will do any more than that. Unless, he asks me to do something specific, which I'm neither looking for nor close to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: We'll have more of our exclusive interview with President Clinton coming up at the bottom of the hour here on the "Most News in the Morning."
First, though, CNN's Suzanne Malveaux joins us from Washington.
So, he gave assurances there, Suzanne, that he is not planning on getting his fingers too far into the Barack Obama administration pie. You've been talking with your sources there on the transition team. Do they really believe that he can resist the urge?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: In one word, John, no. In a formal way, they've been given all the assurances they possibly can that he's not going to interfere. He's got to submit his speeches, his business activities to the State Department, Ethics Board, White House Counsel's office. He has to release the names of all his donors of his foundation. No longer accept contributions from foreign governments for his global aids initiatives and so on. The list goes on.
But they know they can't entirely control Bill Clinton. He speaks his mind. He works the world stage with charm and intellect. And the trick is they believe they've got to harness that in some ways, as this husband and madam secretary, they have to collaborate and they believe that that could be possible, John.
ROBERTS: So, when we take a look, there's going to be another announcement this morning. Barack Obama will be announcing New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson to be his commerce secretary. He was the Energy secretary in the Clinton administration, as well as the American ambassador to the United Nations.
So, you got Richardson there, you got Eric Holder who was his deputy attorney general, his wife is going to be there, his former chief of staff, John Podesta is leading the transition team, his former deputy national security adviser Jim Steinberg could be number two at state. I mean, you got to wonder, how -- will he be able to resist the urge to call up his old friends and say, hey, you know, I would probably do this if I were in your position?
MALVEAUX: Yes, you know -- and, John, I don't doubt that he's still going to be talking to these people. There's no question about that. But the one thing that I learn covering the campaign and covering Bill Clinton, you know this as well, is that the Clintons operate within two worlds here. They've got their official staff who carry out much of what they do, but there's also a very powerful, informal network of people that they turn to, who are not on the payroll.
They're not even talking to the official staff. And these are people they seek advice from. They also court them at times. I don't think that that is going to change, and the Obama folks are aware of that. They just have to make sure that they harness this in a way that works for them.
John?
ROBERTS: And FOB cuts both ways, friend of Bill and friend of Barack this year. We'll see how that goes. Suzanne Malveaux for us this morning. Suzanne, great to see you. Thanks.
And again, President-elect Barack Obama expected to nominate New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson to be his commerce secretary. That will be this morning in a news conference live at 11:40 Eastern right here on CNN. And if you can't be near a television set, you can also catch it live streaming on cnn.com.
CHETRY: Also developing this morning, major political news affecting the balance of power in the Senate and Barack Obama's agenda. The Democrats now saying goodbye to their chances of a filibuster-proof super majority after losing the runoff in Georgia. So, what a difference four weeks made.
CNN's Dana Bash was there as the results came in. She has the latest from Atlanta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): It has been a wrenching month long runoff campaign here in the State of Georgia, but in the end, the Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss won with a pretty healthy margin over the Democratic challenger here, that's Jim Martin.
Now what this means on a national level is that Democrats in the United States Senate now will not have the 60-vote majority, a filibuster-proof majority, that they were hoping to get, and that was a major part of Senator Chambliss' campaign here. He said elect me because I will be a fire wall against Barack Obama's agenda in Washington and he made clear he intends to keep that promise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. SAXBY CHAMBLISS (R), GEORGIA: I look forward to working with him, but when he wants to raise your taxes, when he wants to tanker with the Second Amendment, when he wants to make proposals with respect to health care that were or going to take your choice of choosing your doctor away from you, then I'm going to be the 41st senator to stand up and say no.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Because of the national implications for this Senate race, in part because of the fact that this was the last time voters were going to go to the polls in the 2008 cycle, there really has been a big spotlight on the state of Georgia. Millions of dollars have poured in, and that has fueled television ads that voters here have been bombarded with throughout the last month, while other voters around the country have been able to get a respite from that.
It was also seen political celebrities, Democrats and Republicans, from Bill Clinton to John McCain and Sarah Palin, parading through the State of Georgia. But in the end, the Republicans did pull it off. And certainly they are celebrating here, not just because of this particular race, but because of the fact that Republicans have not had a lot to celebrate about lately. And this certainly gives them at least a mental boost to a party that has been demoralized. They said here tonight that this may be the beginning of their abilities to get beyond their big problems and start rebuilding.
Dana Bash, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Dana, thanks.
Vice President-elect Joe Biden meeting up with his former rival, Sarah Palin, for the first time since the election. The two met at the National Governors Association conference in Philadelphia, where Biden said it's a sign the election is over and also joked about the lack of attention he now receives compared to Palin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT: Governor Palin and I want to thank you particularly. I might point out, as I told you, we walked in. Since the race is over, no one pays attention to me at all. So, maybe walk outside with me or something later and say hello to me. It's great to see you, governor. And thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Biden's remarks, just his third public comments since Election Day.
ROBERTS: The United States is officially in a recession now, and apparently it's been going on for a year. But how much longer will it last? We'll ask Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman just ahead. It's coming up on seven minutes now after the hour.
CHETRY: Desperate to make a deal --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first thing people think when they come in is that, you know, it's a fake ad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Buy one, get one free at a car dealership? A look at some of the crazy things that they'll do to get you to drive it away today. You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Ten minutes after the hour. This morning, Washington looking over the new blueprints for a $34 billion bailout of U.S. automakers. Yes, you heard it right, $34 billion, up from $25 billion. Yesterday, the Big 3 spelled out what they want from your tax dollars, what they're willing to sacrifice, including massive layoffs, possibly eliminating some entire brands, brands you know like Saturn, maybe even Pontiac.
But it's not just the automakers that are hurting. Hundreds of car dealers have had to shutter their doors. Others are literally giving away cars. Our Alina Cho has been looking into this one.
Buy one, get one free? I mean, socks maybe, but cars?
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Food, maybe. Yes, I mean, it's incredible. I was saying earlier that I was in Florida, I saw this ad, I said it's too good to be true. So, I had to check it out. Good morning, everybody.
You know, you may be surprised to hear just how far dealers are going these days to make a deal. The truth is they have to. Car dealers actually employ more people in this country than car manufacturers. In other words, more people selling cars than there are people making them. So, with everyone talking about how the Big 3 are hurting, we wanted to know how are dealers effective?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALI AHMED, ROB LAMBDIN'S UNIVERSITY DODGE: The first thing people think when they come in is that, you know, it's a fake ad. It's a normal car dealer ad. It's a gimmick. But it's not.
CHO (voice-over): Buy one, get one free. The type of ads you normally see at a grocery store. But at a Dodge dealership in Miami?
AHMED: We've been fielding phone calls and e-mail increase from every state in the country looking to get this buy one, get one deal.
CHO: Desperate times, desperate measures. This year, 700 car dealers shut their doors. That number is expected to top 900 by the end of the year. And the majority of those dealers sell American cars.
AHMED: It's definitely a tough climate right now. A lot of people are saying it's a perfect storm of, you know, gas prices and financing and consumer confidence.
CHO: The biggest problem? The trickle-down effect of the credit crunch. Can't get a loan, can't buy a car.
This Chrysler dealership in New York used to sell 150 cars a month. Today, they say it's half that.
(on camera): A year ago, you might have had 15 to 20 salesmen on the floor. Today it's what?
MATT LEE, MAJOR WORLD AUTO: Eight to 10. Salesmen actually just walk out because they're not making enough money to support their family.
CHO (voice-over): They've even stopped bringing in new models because the cars they have aren't moving.
JAMIE KRINSKY, SALESMAN, MAJOR WORLD AUTO: Just, in a way, you would see five people a day coming in to at least look at a car. Per salesman, you're getting maybe one person a day or two people a day.
CHO (on camera): So, they're offering deals, too. Tire package included.
(voice-over): Zero percent financing for 72 months. $7,500 rebates. Even that is not enough. In the two hours we spent combing the lot, only one customer, who was just browsing. So, could a buy one, get one free offer help this dealership?
(on camera): You have to admit, it's pretty catchy.
LEE: If it worked for them, hey, what can we do? Maybe we'll try it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Maybe they'll need to. You know, in the interest of full disclosure, we should tell you that buy one get one free, means buy the first Dodge truck at full retail price, get the second one, after you pay tax, tags, and dealer fees. I sound like a salesman. That will cost you about $3,000. It's still a good deal, guys. But as always, there is a catch. We should mention, you buy a quad cab truck at full retail price, you get a regular cab truck free.
CHETRY: Which Alina just found out what it meant?
CHO: I'm learning all kinds of stuff about trucks, but anyway... (CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: And they both park out in front of your apartment building, right?
CHO: They certainly are. That cost more than the truck here in Manhattan.
ROBERTS: (INAUDIBLE) vehicle here in New York City.
CHO: That's right.
CHETRY: Right. The quad cab, exactly, can fit a lot of people in it.
CHO: The whole family as you said.
CHETRY: Well, she would need a pickup truck for her Christmas shopping.
(CROSSTALK)
CHO: You know, it always comes back to that, doesn't it?
CHETRY: Thank you. We love you.
Well, the most Google in 2008, the top searches of the year -- an election, an economic crisis and a few trendy brand names, all making for an interesting list this year. One of the people who makes googling a reality will be here to break it down for us. It's 14 minutes after the hour.
ROBERTS: New TV guidelines for kids.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those have public health and health consequences for children, in terms of obesity, beginning to smoke, beginning sexual activity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: What's OK to watch? What's too much? A new health report about children, television and, get this, smoking. You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: The preceding program contains scenes of extreme violence and should not have been viewed by young children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: That's a scene from "The Simpsons" and it may not be just TV that can impact your kids. There's a new study finding that video games, iPods, even some magazines can do a great deal of harm to your child's health and psyche. Here's CNN's Brooke Anderson.
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: John and Kiran, does media exposure have the capability to destroy kids' lives? A new study answers with a resounding -- yes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON (voice-over): Kids watching TV, playing video games, surfing the internet. Harmless pastimes? Or dangerous distractions?
DR. EZEKIEL J. EMANUEL, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH: Those have public health and health consequences for children in terms of obesity, beginning to smoke, beginning sexual activity, academic achievement, drug and alcohol use.
ANDERSON: Bioethicist Ezekiel Emanuel, a brother of President- elect Barack Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is a lead researcher on a study by the National Institute of Health and other groups detailing media's effects on children.
EMANUEL: As little as eight hours a week begins to give you these negative health outcomes. The average kid in the United States spends about 45 hours a week in media.
ANDERSON: The findings were culled from nearly 200 studies conducted over 30 years, with more than 80 percent revealing negative outcomes.
EMANUEL: A large number of these associations were simply the number of hours watched, separate from the content and what's actually on the television, or in the internet, just simply time.
ANDERSON: Psychiatrist Charles Sophy contends media is OK for kids in moderation.
DR. CHARLES SOPHY, LA DEPT. OF CHILD & FAMILY SVCS.: We need the media. There is a good point to it. So, limit it and watch what your child is watching.
ANDERSON: Dr. Emanuel and the nonprofit group Common Sense Media, which backed the study, agree parents should take a more active role in limiting their kids' exposure, but insist the government also needs to intervene.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no research on new digital media, cell phones, iPods, the internet, and it's real impact on kids' health. So, there needs to be a whole new set of research on that. Second, there ought to be media education and media literacy in every school in the United States.
ANDERSON: Until that happens, the president-elect has a word of advice for parents.
BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT: Now, we're going to have to turn off our TV sets and we're going to have to put away our video games.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Dr. Emanuel did find research showing educational media seem to do no harm, but he did tell me that positive associations between media and children were a rare occurrence.
John?
Kiran?
ROBERTS: Brooke Anderson reporting for us this morning. Brooke, thanks so much.
America, officially in a recession for a year now. Most Americans don't need to be told that. But what we do want to know is how much longer will it last and just how bad will things get? We're going to put that question to "New York Times" columnist and Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman.
A CNN exclusive, one-on-one with former President Bill Clinton, his first interview since his wife joined team Obama and the first time that he's talking about opening the books. 20 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID SEAMAN, PRO-OBAMA BLOGGER AND CNN IREPORTER: I think someone really has to step up to the plate and fix this. And not only that, I think people need to be held accountable. There are people who became extraordinarily rich off of the -- these mortgage scams, giving people mortgages when they knew they weren't going to be able to make the payments. And the same for a lot of these credit card companies. I think someone should be held accountable. And I think we as citizens deserve an answer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Well, most Americans knew it already, but it took us a year to officially say that the country is in a recession. It's already longer than many recessions of the past have lasted, so how much longer is this one going to go on? Nobel prize-winning economist and "New York Times" columnist Paul Krugman has published an updated of his book "The Return of Depression Economics" and he joins us now.
Good to see you. Congratulations again on the Nobel Prize. You should go to Oslo next week to receive it.
PAUL KRUGMAN, NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING ECONOMIST: Indeed. I better start thinking about my speech.
ROBERTS: I'm sure you got a lot of other things on your mind, though, such as, you know, how long is this recession going to last? Some noted economists like Nouriel Roubini think it will be 18 to 24 months, which would mean that we're either two-thirds or half the way through it already. Some people think it will be longer. What do you say?
KRUGMAN: Well, you know, I don't know when they'll call in the recession. But, you know, last time was only eight months officially, but the unemployment rate kept rising for 2-1/2 years, and this is a lot worse than that one. So I think we're going to be feeling this into 2010, probably into 2011.
ROBERTS: Now, again, we said the book is "The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008." In the book, Paul, you say, quote, "Much of the world, very much including the United States is grappling with the financial and economic crisis that bears even more resemblance to the Great Depression than the Asian troubles of the 1990s," which is where the book starts. You say that you don't think we're going to go into a depression, but then you also add, well, I don't know that for sure.
KRUGMAN: Sure. I mean, if you asked me even three months ago what's the chance of double-digit unemployment, I would have said very, very small. Given the latest data, not so small. In fact, if we don't have a strong policy response, you look at some of the underlying stresses on the system, we would be headed for double-digit unemployment, maybe not 1930s level, but really, really bad. This is the scariest economic crisis I've ever seen in my lifetime.
ROBERTS: So how bad do you think it's going to get in terms of job loss reduction and wages, that sort of thing? And some people predicting maybe 8.5 percent, 9 percent unemployment.
KRUGMAN: You know, left to itself, I would say 11 percent unemployment. Now, the next president is going to come in with a stimulus plan and it's big enough that we can hold that down to maybe eight. But if this was really -- we could be looking at something really terrible. You know, we're losing jobs probably at the rate of 350,000 or 450,000 a month right now. And every month that goes by, it's getting a lot worse.
ROBERTS: Now, President Bush in an interview with ABC News the other day said, hey, don't blame us for all of this, because conditions were set long before we took office. Let's listen to a little bit of what he told Charlie Gibson.
KRUGMAN: Sure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I mean, the president during this period of time, but I think when the history of this period is written, people will realize a lot of the decisions that were made on Wall Street took place over, you know, a decade or so, before I arrived as president, during I arrived as president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: You point out at the beginning of chapter 9 that in July of 2007, when the Dow hit 14,000, the Bush administration was quick to claim credit. So, what do you think when you see something like that?
KRUGMAN: I'm not a big fan of President Bush, as you may know. I think, you know, in some ways, this economy that we've got was a long time in building, but there were a lot of key mistakes made during the Bush administration. We just learned a couple of days ago that there were many warnings about the state of the financial system three years ago that came to the Bush administration and were rejected. They said, we don't want to hear about it. We don't believe it. We're not going to do anything to rein in these bad loans. So, you know, no one person is to blame for this, not even President Bush, but he certainly, you know, some share of the blame falls on him.
ROBERTS: Now in terms of what the administration is doing to respond to this, do you have full confidence in their plans? Some people say they don't have a plan.
KRUGMAN: You mean the current administration?
ROBERTS: Yes.
KRUGMAN: No, they've been -- they've been thrashing. They've done some things. It's better to rescue the banks than not, although the rescue has not been well handled. Better to, you know -- they're not doing -- they're not doing a full Herbert Hoover.
They're not responding with the same kind of total misunderstanding and obliviousness that he had, but it has not been good. And they are standing in the way of anything to rescue Main Street. They've been doing a lot of stuff for Wall Street, but Main Street as of now, they're still saying, we don't think anything needs to happen and that's wrong.
ROBERTS: So if you were the president's chief economic adviser or the Treasury secretary or the head of the Fed or whatever, what would Paul Krugman be suggesting to be done to get us out of this mess?
KRUGMAN: First of all, big job creation. I mean, the private sector is pulling back. Financial system is a mess, consumer is trying to save again. You've got to fill that hole. Lots of public spending. We have a big backlog of roads that need repairing, bridges that need fixing, new things that need to be constructed that are ready to go, spend a lot on that.
Aid to state and local governments because they're cutting back at exactly the worst moment, because their own budget crawled. Aid to the unemployed. All of that helps to keep the economy -- the real economy -- the economy of manufacturing production and jobs from going into a tailspin. And then on much bigger, better designed plan for the financial system, including, you know, if we're going to bail these banks out. We also have to have temporary public control. You can't just say here's the money. By the way, keep on doing business as usual. You have to do more of here. ROBERTS: And if you were controlling the purse strings in Congress, would you give $34 billion to the auto industry?
KRUGMAN: You know, they're closer to a plan that can be accepted. You don't want the big three going under, at least not now. In the middle of this is a terrible thing, but you really have to -- I think it's going to have to be something that's a de facto to a bankruptcy, whether or not it's officially called one, because essentially you have to be taking these guys into receivership.
ROBERTS: So, you agree a little bit with Mitt Romney on that?
KRUGMAN: Yes, except that it needs much more government support than he's talking about. So, yes, we need to clean out current management but keep them in existence.
ROBERTS: Paul Krugman, it's great to see you. The book is called "The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008." Look forward to seeing you in Oslo and hearing that speech.
KRUGMAN: Yet to be written. Yes, maybe I'll make it up on the flight.
ROBERTS: Paul, thanks so much.
KRUGMAN: Thanks so much.
ROBERTS: Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Well, it's just about half past the hour now. We have breaking news in the investigation into last week's Mumbai massacre. The police chief leading the investigation says that the Mumbai attacker spent the last three months in Pakistan training and planning the coordinated strike on India's financial capital.
The information comes from a lone suspect still in custody. Police identify him as 21-year-old Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, from Pakistan's Punjab Province. Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari told CNN yesterday that India have provided no, quote, "tangible proof" the suspect is a Pakistani national.
Well, out of 50 states, there's one, just one, that has affordable higher education and that's California according to a new report by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. It flunked the other 49 states. California, by the way, only getting "Cs," though, thanks to affordable community college.
And the GOP wins a key Senate race in Georgia. The Democrats lose their hope for a filibuster-proof 60-seat majority in the Senate. Georgia Republican Saxby Chambliss won a second term by holding off Democrat Jim Martin in last night's runoff election, winning 57 percent to 43 percent.
And is Barack Obama the billion dollar candidate? The president- elect shattering fund-raising records during the campaign, and then all the cash was tallied and he'll come just shy or perhaps even cross the billion dollar mark. Now, while it sounds impressive, many critics say that presidential politics has just gotten a bit too pricey.
Brand new this morning and only on CNN, former President Bill Clinton reacting to his wife secretary of state nomination. Anjali Rao from our sister station CNN International caught up with him in Hong Kong. The former president talked about what he had to reveal and also set aside in order to clear the way for Hillary's nomination.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She's going to be secretary of state, and I operate globally, and I have people who contribute to these efforts globally. I think that it's important to make it totally transparent. Let who the donors are and let people know that there's no connection to the decisions made by America's national security team, including the secretary of state. So, everything else that's a part of this, I have no problem with. I think it's a good idea.
I think my involvement will be what our involvement with each other's work has always been, that is -- all the years I was a governor and president, I talked to her about everything. And I, you know, found her advice invaluable. And I'm sure that we'll talk about all this. I mean, I really care about a lot of these profound challenges that our country and the world is facing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, the former president also said that Hillary was shocked by the news and first found out that she was in the running actually from a newspaper.
Well, today another former Clintonite joins the Obama team. The president-elect expected to nominate Bill Richardson as commerce secretary. You can see it live on CNN and CNN.com at 11:40 Eastern time. John.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN, ANCHOR: Barack Obama's inaugural could be the biggest bash that Washington has ever seen. Estimates that as many as four million people may crowd the mall between the Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol Building. CNN's Jim Acosta has been trying to get some details on the top secret inauguration plans. He's live at our D.C. bureau this morning.
First of all, Jim, with the economic crisis the way it is, and you probably heard a lot of what Paul Krugman was saying just a couple minutes ago, there's a real fine line here for the incoming administration to walk. They want to have a grand celebration but at the same time they don't want to appear ostentatious in doing it.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Therein lies the rub, John, that's right. That is a problem for them. And organizers are saying this will be the most open and accessible inauguration in history, but even when it comes to planning this event, Barack Obama's political operation is as tight-lipped as ever. But Obama insiders will say this - despite all these tough times, the party will go on.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (voice-over): Talk about pressure. Less than 50 days to go, some three million people expected, and the stage is still being set.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a very challenging -
AOOSTA: So, Obama inauguration spokesman, Linda Douglass, says they'll have to get creative.
LINDA DOUGLASS, SPOKESWOMAN, PRES. INAUGURAL COMMITTEE: One of the things we're looking at is opening up the national mall for the first time with the big-screen TVs and an audio system.
ACOSTA: Another challenge? Striking the right tone. Past presidents have learned that glitzy inaugural balls can be a distraction in tough times.
LARRY SABATO, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: It's not going to look particularly good for the president-elect and his team if Americans see limousine after limousine, fur coat after fur coat at a time when just about everybody else is suffering.
ACOSTA: These are tough times.
DOUGLASS: These are tough times, and certainly we are mindful of the struggles that Americans are going through in their own lives right now.
ACOSTA: Douglass says that's why they set new limits on donations to the inaugural fund.
DOUGLASS: No corporations, no unions, no money from lobbyists. A limit of $50,000 for an individual, but there have been past inaugurations where that limit was $250,000.
ACOSTA: Obama supporters dismiss the idea of dialing it down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not sure that you do tone it down, based upon the way this campaign was run, I think the president-elect wants to open the inaugural event up to as many people as possible.
ACOSTA: A tone that will likely be set when the president-elect selects his inaugural theme.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT: The time has come for a new beginning, a new dawn of American leadership.
ACOSTA:: A new dawn? Sounds like FDR's new deal. Are we seeing a theme emerge perhaps?
DOUGLASS: We're not going to be talking about themes. You'll be hearing about the theme as we roll it out.
ACOSTA: And it sounds like a theme -
DOUGLASS: Good try, though.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: Yes, I had to try. And, yes, there are rollouts even when it come to themes. Anyway, President Bush's inaugural in 2005 ran between $40 million and $50 million. For now, Mr. Obama's inaugural planners won't talk about a price tag, except to say that private money should cover most of the costs, and, John, Jimmy Carter served peanuts at some of his inaugural balls, I don't think we'll be seeing any of that here in Washington.
One thing that we might see, we're understanding that the bars may be open 24 hours a day during this inaugural period, so I think the Obama inaugural planners have heard he's kind of popular with the young folk.
ROBERTS: All right. Well, you know, our old friend James Carville once said, ifs and buts were beers and nuts, we could have ourselves a heck of a party. Sounds like we'll get the bars and maybe not the nuts. We'll see.
ACOSTA: Maybe not the nuts.
ROBERTS: Jim, thanks so much for that.
ACOSTA: You bet.
CHETRY: Some breaking news this morning on job cuts hitting record levels. Our Christine Romans is tracking the story. It's unfortunate, it is usually the time of year that companies have to do these layoffs to try to help their bottom line, it also falls right around the holidays.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's right and we know that it started in November and is expected to really ramp up next month. The out placement firm Challenger Gray (ph) says in November, that job cut announcement were the highest since 2002 and that was the highest on record. That was in the wake of September 11th.
So, the second highest job cuts announcements on record for the month of November. And they're expecting that to continue. This is how it works. I mean, I just got done with an interview with a CEO of another outplacement firm who was saying, look, the first thing that happens is that the companies keep the empty positions open.
Then you have them, you know, ending their temporary workforce, the temporary labor. They get rid of their temps. And then after that, you see them starting to pull back on the hours of the overtime of other workers and then you see them start to lay off their full- time staff. It's the last thing that they try to do. CEOs and corporate managers want to keep their workforce and keep their valued employees as long as they possibly can. Now we're into the very last stage of that and you're seeing people actually cutting jobs and cutting lots of them. Financial services a big one there. You saw Citigroup cutting 50,000 jobs and we heard yesterday that GM is going to have to cut 30,000 jobs between now and the next few years. So we're seeing big, huge, mass layoffs as well as small layoffs. And, you know, Citi and Atlantic cutting 220,000 jobs. You know you're seeing the dribs and drabs.
CHETRY: The mergers or the rescues, if you will, like Washington Mutual.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: 200,000 jobs. Right, I mean, all the way down the line you're seeing it. So we're going to continue to see it. Just a little bright piece in all this, I guess, some of the sources I've been talking to and my sources are telling me, everything related to health care there is job growth.
The first thing you do when you lose your job or you find out that you're probably going to lose your job, take a look at your skills and figure out how that can translate into health care because that is the biggest, growing industry right now and that demand won't go away. Aging baby boomers. A lot of new technology, there are a lot of jobs in education specifically and also in health care. So, that's just my little, tiny glimmer of - sliver of hope for you there.
CHETRY: All right. Christine, thanks.
ROMANS: Sure.
ROBERTS: Well the most googled of 2008. Did Barack Obama beat Britney Spears? Did Sarah Palin beat them both? We'll find out. 37 and a half minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, google has released the most searched terms for 2008. Some you may expect and some may actually surprise you, and it can all provide some interesting insight into the American psyche. Joining us now from San Francisco is google's vice president of search products and user experience, Marissa Mayer. Thanks for being with us this morning, Marissa.
MARISSA MAYER, GOOGLE'S VICE PRESIDENT SEARCH PRODUCTS & USER EXPERIENCE: Good morning. Thanks for having me.
CHETRY: Let's run down the list here, the fastest-rising search terms for 2008, how they break down. Obama number one, followed by Facebook, AT&T and iPhone. I guess those were interconnected there, because they have an exclusivity agreement between AT&T and iPhone and then YouTube rounding out the top five. Barack Obama, no surprise. But explain the interest in things like iPhone and AT&T.
MAYER: Well, I think that one thing that we see is that people are really interested in new technology. So, if you look at two through five, they're all about new technologies. Iphone and YouTube were actually among our fastest-rising searches in 2007 and they've continued that meteoric rise, and I think it will be interesting to see how people want to figure out how to use new technology to make their lives easier.
CHETRY: I hear you. And it's interesting the social networking Facebook and also YouTube with the user-generated content. Both of them have their own web sites. So why do they need to google Facebook or google YouTube?
MAYER: Well, we see this a lot. People tend to search for places to go, places to navigate to. And it has also given us some insight into how we build some of our products. So for example we rolled out google chrome in September, which is our browser, it's like Internet Explorer or Firefox and we tried to make it really easy to navigate to different web sites. So, for example, there's just one box on the top of your browser where you can type either URLs or searches.
CHETRY: I got you. That's interesting. And we also got official word unfortunately on Monday, a lot of people probably already knew this anecdotally, but officially we've been in a recession since 2007, people search for depression, bailout, mortgage crisis, Wall Street. It seems that people are trying to understand this complex problem and what the government's trying to do. Why do you think that people are googling those terms?
MAYER: Well, one thing we see is that people will search for what they're thinking about. And another important thing to note is that people can go and develop these trends themselves.
So, we present end-of-year compendiums of lists and you can actually go and develop trends at google trends, where you can get there by searching on google trends and clicking on the first link, it's a www.google.com/trends and you can see how searches have changed. We have a chief economist at google, Hall Berrian, and he likes to look at these trends and what he saw as early as January or February, the query shifted from a lot of luxury goods to things like jobs.
CHETRY: You're right. And also -
MAYER: Mortgages, lots of things that people are thinking about.
CHETRY: Right along that theme there, lay-away was one of the top searches under shopping trends, right? You also had free shipping, which I mean, that makes sense. You try to google for free shipping, for coupon codes, buy one, get one free, incidentally, I guess you can get cars like that now. So, it seems like the tough economic times have people looking and shopping in a different way as well. How does that affect business online?
MAYER: Well, people are definitely looking for deals. They're definitely looking for ways to save money. But one thing that we saw that I think is really promising is over the weekend, and with cyber Monday, there was a big surge in queries related to shopping. So, lay-away, buy one, get one free, they were up 70 percent just week- over-week and they were up significantly year-over-year.
So, it's clear that people are interested in shopping. And they are interested in finding ways to save money, when shopping online.
CHETRY: We also understand, according to "The Wall Street Journal" report today that even mighty google is not immune to the tough times you are ratcheting back spending, cutting maybe some new products and new research. How is this recession impacting google?
MAYER: Well, we definitely want to be prudent and frugal. And be thinking about how to best run the company in the strategic times. But that said, the core of our business, search, ads, our application, product lines, are all really healthy, and we're really focused on innovating. I think that the theme at google has been that scarcity brings clarity and it really makes it clear what our strategy is and how we need to work to meet our users' needs.
CHETRY: All right. Marissa Mayer, great to see you. Thanks for being with us this morning.
MAYER: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Well, could the music that you listen to help you shed extra weight? Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to join us with a look at some, let's call them skinny songs. It's coming up on 45 minutes after the hour.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS (voice-over) Facing the music -
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We get used to looking at a three-fourths full house. But, you know, I'm grateful for that.
ROBERTS: Is 100 bucks for a concert ticket fair these days? Would the music industry want a bailout next? Why video games and cell phones are making the music industry change their tune. You're watching "the most news in the morning."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Well, for the first time ever Grammy nominations will be announced tonight in a live, prime-time special but is there really a record industry anymore? CD sales slump, iPods and iTunes and mobile phones and the internet are changing the way that musicians get their music out. Our Kareen Wynter is looking into that for us this morning and she's here now. Kareen.
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: John and Kiran, nominations for the 51st annual Grammy awards will be announced tonight, but some question if the music industry has much to celebrate. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WYNTER (voice-over): While the auto and banking industries have been lining up for federal bailout, the music industry has been busy bailing itself out.
MOSES AVALON, AUTHOR: We've seen CD sales drop, mostly due to peer to peer file sharing, but that revenue has been made up in other areas.
WYNTER: From 2000 to 2007 CD sales plunged 36 percent. There were lots of mergers and layoffs, while battered record labels, agents and artists scrambled to find a new business model.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: record companies now are looking more toward digital services, mobile services, to make sure that the big pot of money is shared more broadly.
WYNTER: During the same period, concert sales soared, from $1.7 billion to $3.9 billion. But now artists are finding it's much harder to pack stadiums, since many fans are struggling to afford the 75 bucks or more on a ticket.
SHERYL CROW, SINGER/SONGWRITER: Unlike everybody else out there with the exception of maybe Madonna and Prince, who we get used to looking at a three-fourths full house, but, you know, I'm grateful for that.
WYNTER: While brick and mortar record shops are closing down, Borders, Best Buy, Target and Wal-Mart are among stores that have signed distribution deals with such superstar acts as Aretha Franklin, AC/DC and the Eagles. Interestingly there's more music in the marketplace than ever before, in movies, TV shows, video games and ad campaigns.
AVALON: Every six months some new wave to sell or license music is being invented right down to opening a magazine and seeing an ad and hearing a piece of music embedded in a microchip the size of a hair. There's a license for that.
WYNTER: Novel ways for record companies and publishers to make money, in this new, ultra competitive marketing era.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WYNTER: The publishing rights organization, BMI, said its songwriters have earned record revenue this year. So maybe the industry is in fact turning itself around. John, Kiran.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can sing songs about lowering your cholesterol, but that wouldn't be very motivating, but talking about fitting into your skinny jeans, that's motivating.
CHETRY: Turn it up and bring your weight down. Dr. Sanjay Gupta with songs that can help you shed the pounds. You're watching "the most news in the morning."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
CHETRY: Every girl I know has that on her iPod. Well, welcome back to "the most news in the morning." If you're looking to get a jump-start on a new year's resolution, it turns out that you could get some help losing weight by finding the right song. We're "Paging Dr. Gupta" for today's "Fit Nation" update and it's so funny that you're talking about this. Because my girlfriend and I do talk about that, her other song the one that goes, "keep on running, running." Do you know what I'm talking about?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
CHETRY: It keeps you motivated on the treadmill.
GUPTA: I mean could you find inspiration to lose weight, you know, people talk about skinny jeans, for example, getting those skinny jeans. Good music helps. We talk so much about the quick fixes you know trying to use a pill or something else to lose weight, but sometimes you just need to find the inspiration, which is why we brought you this next story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): For Silicon Valley entrepreneur Heidi Roizen, the days were long, and nutrition was the last thing on her mind. But when she stepped on the scale on her 50th birthday.
HEIDI ROIZEN, CREATOR, SKINNY SONGS: I hit this number, and it was a real wake-up call for me. And I realized that all those years of being in the fast lane, working hard, not taking care of myself had taken its toll.
GUPTA: So, she did what she does best, she started a company. A music company of all things.
ROIZEN: I wanted, you know, chick empowerment music, upbeat stuff about you go, girl, you're going to get in your jeans. You're going to wear leopard print someday, but I couldn't find anything like that. So, one of the things I did to change my life I decided that music like that needed to exist and I started writing music.
GUPTA: Along with the help of music producers George Daly and David Milloy, Heidi created "Skinny songs."
ROIZEN: The song I get the most fan mail about is one called "you the boss."
(MUSIC PLAYING)
GUPTA: And the song has been a success. ROIZEN: As somebody said to me, you could sing songs about lowering your cholesterol, but that wouldn't be very motivating, but talking about fitting into your skinny jeans, that's motivating.
GUPTA: Roizen is practicing what her songs preach. She's lost more than 40 pounds and is very much in charge of how she looks and how she feels.
ROIZEN: It was really about permanent changes that I could live with day in and day out.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: So she sold about 10,000 of these CDs. You know, again, part of why we do this "Fit Nation" stories, Kiran, is because we want to give people on-air partners. If you see someone else who has actually accomplished something, may inspire you to do the same. Music can be a huge part of that. Having certain goals, skinny jeans, for example, something that a lot of women, some men as well, think about. But little goals like that certainly do seem to help.
CHETRY: Good for her. You can swap the CDs with your friends. You know, you get their workout mix and you give them yours.
GUPTA: That's right.
CHETRY: Added motivation.
GUPTA: I'd like to see yours. Absolutely.
CHETRY: American girls on a two-song set. Don't worry. Sanjay, thanks.
GUPTA: All right. Kiran, thanks.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY (voice-over): Water, water, everywhere. Why must it always come to this?
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now the story heats up.
CHETRY: Caught on tape, the best of the liquid splash. You're watching "the most news in the morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's a couple of minutes now to the top of the hour. What would happen if I got upset with Kiran here and instead of just talking and working it out like adults, I simply grabbed my mug of water and threw it at her --
CHETRY: Oh! You can't scare me like that!
ROBERTS: Yes. Not professional. Not cool at all, but it certainly would make for funny TV, as you just witnessed. Our Jeanne Moos has the proof of that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MOOS (voice-over): At least these two knew to drink their water, not douse each other with it. But during a political debate in Romania the other day, the female candidate apparently called the male senator a bidet and he replied that her face looked like a bidet. Watch her knock the glass his way.
But why stop at water when there's wine? Remember when Joran van der Sloot, in a cap, the suspect in the Natalie Holloway case got angry over questions from a crime reporter on Dutch TV, and tossed a glass of wine at her. And then there was Paul McCartney's ex-wife, Heather Mills, she dumped water on Paul's attorney, inside the courtroom. The press watched the attorney walk in, dry, and walk out wet. The incident even became a computer game. Players throw water on Paul and his lawyer for a bigger settlement. Tom Cruise got squirted a few years back by British TV pranksters yielding a fake mic.
TOM CRUISE, ACTOR: Come here. Come here. Why would you do that? No, no, don't run away. You're a jerk.
MOOS: Whether acting like a jerk on YouTube - or joking around on the "Colbert Report"
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I only talked about is his airline.
MOOS: At least no one melts like the wicked witch.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm melting! Melting!
MOOS: Now, all these water throwing incidents have involved cold water. Now the story heats up. A guy wearing a bra and panties and exposing himself kept going through the drive-through at this Java Girl joint in Washington state.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has underwear over his face and there's a little peepy hole like so he can see.
MOOS: But the third go-around of bikini baristas poured boiling hot water on him. Police recently arrested the flasher.
Sometimes it's not whether the glass is half empty or half full, but where it lands.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On his face and his chest and he said, "ooh, yes."
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Do you like that? That's a little trick I learned from the big apple circus.
CHETRY: You got me.
ROBERTS: Thanks so much for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING. We'll see you again tomorrow.
CHETRY: Right now, here's "CNN NEWSROOM" with Don Lemon.
