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American Morning

Obama Increases Jobs Goal to 3 Million; Slashing Your 401 (K) Match; Bristol Palin's Future In-Law Busted on Drug Charges

Aired December 22, 2008 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: They'll continue to chat. We'll go ahead with the top stories. Federal investigators are resuming their search now for clues to explain how a Continental Airlines jet crashed and burned after veering off the runway in Denver. The NTSB hopes that the flight data and cockpit voice recorders could shed some light on what happened. We're also hearing from the passengers, the 115 passengers and crew escaped through emergency exit. 38 people suffered injuries.
Well there are some more bad news from the auto front. Toyota is forecasting its first ever operating loss this year. Japan's leading automaker, posting a loss of, expected at least of nearly $1.7 billion this financial year. Toyota recently cut 3,000 jobs in Japan. The company says it would postpone the launching of a new U.S. factory in Mississippi.

Also, bitter cold temperatures and heavy snow slamming a large section of the country over the weekend, stranding holiday travelers. Planes, trains and automobiles, nobody was spared.

Right now, we're going to check in with our own Rob Marciano. He's tracking extreme weather for us.

We got a good six to ten inches, a little bit north of the city.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Pretty good.

CHETRY: Boy, it was beautiful, but couldn't be out on those roads.

MARCIANO: No. And then, when it turns to rain and it gets dirty, it gets to be a little bit more miserable. It is staying. It's sticking around on much of the northern, really, three quarters of the country. Everybody chilling. Even New Orleans down to 33 degrees this morning. So everybody getting the act as far as the cold weather goes and as far as this weekend goes. It was nasty in coast to coast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARCIANO (voice-over): Washington State to Oregon, to Michigan, to Massachusetts. Millions of people spent the first day of winter beaten by snow and winter cold.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like I'm in the Arctic somewhere. MARCIANO: In many states, white out conditions made a mess of the highways. So bad in Minnesota that they pulled the plows off the road. On Michigan's Interstate 94, a massive pileup involving dozens of vehicles, at least one person was killed. More deadly wrecks in Indiana. And in Wisconsin, another chain reaction accident. More than 20 vehicles involved and about a dozen people injured there. In Oregon, travel pretty much out of the question. Busses, trains and even the Portland Airport were all but shut down. People spent hours and in some cases days camped out waiting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was supposed to take three hours, and here I am 13 hours later.

MARCIANO: Sometimes there was a wait just to wait.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was told I had to wait in a line, just get on standing by.

MARCIANO: Similar problems in the Midwest caused ripple effects as far south as Houston, which posted five-hour delays. But what about the folks who delayed their holiday shopping? The rough roads didn't scare off this bargain hunters in Connecticut.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's bad, you know. It's trouble getting here, but I made it.

MARCIANO: Or get these people to trade their tickets for a warm couch and a TV in Kansas City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARCIANO: A lot of people do that. Packers, bearers tonight in Chicago. Temps will be in the single numbers so there will probably be some knuckle heads with their shirts off, I'm sure. But the rest of them will be bundled up. Another system coming in to the northwest and California.

All right travel delays. We've already got one at the LaGuardia. Not a big deal with precipitation. But the winds are blowing across much of the northeast today, so that's typically enough to get some delays going on and we'll see those increase. Blizzard warnings still remain in effect for parts of northern Maine, where in some spots they've picked up four feet of snow.

Today's high is 25 degrees in Kansas City, 11 in Chicago. Only up to 44 in Houston. As a matter of fact, a little bit of light freezing rain possible from Houston over to Austin later this morning. It will be 35 degrees in Portland, where their epic cold and snow event continues. In the mountain west, more now today. Winter storm watches already posted for the western great lakes for tomorrow and into Wednesday, with the next storm rolling in.

CHETRY: All right. So some advice, Rob. My in-laws are in town today, they were thinking about, you know, going home today or staying. Should they go home and brave the roads or stay?

MARCIANO: Is the answer that you want to hear from me is that they should go home?

CHETRY: No. I welcome them to stay as long as they want. I'm just saying should they go -- I mean, are the roads going to be OK?

MARCIANO: Yes, they should be all right. I mean, the precipitation will be nonexistent today, but tell them to dress warmly.

CHETRY: All right. I sure will. Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: See you.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Kiran really loves her in-laws. She really does.

President-elect Barack Obama expanding his plan to turn around the economy and meltdown. Advisers say he's now focusing on creating an additional 500,000 jobs in the next two years. That's on top of the 2.5 million he promised last month. Here's Ed Henry who's traveling with the president-elect who's on vacation in Hawaii.

ED HENRY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Aloha, Kiran and Carol. Call this a working vacation for the president-elect. He set a new goal of creating three millions jobs after his advisers privately warned him this recession may be even worse than expected.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HENRY (voice-over): Home to Hawaii for President-elect Barack Obama and his family. 12 days of relaxation to ring in the New Year. But there's no rest for his economic team, which has been ordered to think bolder after the president elect received dire private forecasts suggesting the nation could lose four million jobs next year without drastic action.

JOE BIDEN (D), VICE-PRESIDENT ELECT: What have we learned is the economy is in much worse shape than we thought it has been. And this is a spiralling effect. There is no short run other than keeping the economy from absolutely tanking.

HENRY: So transition aides are now huddling with Democratic leaders in Congress to craft a stimulus plan of up to $775 billion to try and jolt the economy. Republicans are wary about the price tag on top of Friday's rescue of automakers, the latest in a string of taxpayer bailouts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What I'm concerned about when we hear these staggering numbers, close to a trillion dollars right now in spending, where is that going to take us over the long run?

HENRY: Team Obama argues the short-term spending will reap dividends long term. The emerging plan includes billions for backlogged transportation projects, to beef up construction jobs and improve the nation's infrastructure. Modernizing crumbling private schools to create jobs while also investing in education, and weatherizing one million homes, money to upgrade furnaces, fix windows and seal leaky air ducts to boost the industry while also cutting energy usage.

REP. BARNEY FRANK, FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE CHMN.: If we don't do this, it will cost us even more. This economy is now in the worse shape since the Great Depression. And if we don't respond in a very firm way, it gets worse and worse, and feeds on itself.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HENRY: There will be other business during this working vacation. The president-elect is getting daily intelligence briefings, and this week, the transition team will release its internal investigation into contacts with the Illinois governor. A sensitive political matter -- Kiran, Carol.

CHETRY: Ed Henry for us. Thanks.

Well, the outgoing and incoming vice president is doing a little verbal sparring on the Sunday talk shows. Dick Cheney mocked Joe Biden for citing the wrong part of the constitution during a campaign debate, and also for his plans to diminish the role of vice president. Biden for his part said Cheney was dead wrong in his views about unchecked president powers during war time. Biden says he intends to restore the balance in power between the president and vice president.

Well, Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol is about to give birth, and that newborn now has two grandmothers in the news. One, who ran for vice president and the other who's been arrested on drug charges.

And is your company's 401(k) match on the rocks? Our Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business." She's going to tell us why more and more companies are doing away with the matching funds and what you can do about it. It's seven minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: You seem a little hyper.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: I had a couple of Red Bulls. Did you ever had a red bull? I never had a Red Bull before, but I had a Red Bull last night. I really like Red Bull.

I got a new necklace. It glows in the dark, but you can't really see it right now. I should do this.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: That's really something. Does the Red Bull make you crash for the yard?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: No, no, no. No, no. I don't think so. No. No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: That's from Jim Carrey's "Yes Man," that opened at number one. Taking an $18 million over the weekend. I had Red Bull, too. Just to look at the others that rounded up the top five. Coming in at number two was "Seven Pounds" at $16 million. The animated "Tale of Despereaux" came in third at $10.5 million. Fourth was "The Day the Earth Stood Still," and fifth, "Four Christmases."

Christine Romans is here "Minding Your Business," and --

CHETRY: Ever had a Red Bull? I had a Red Bull.

(CROSSTALK)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I have never had a Red Bull.

CHETRY: Christine, you don't need one.

ROMANS: Oh, good. Thank you.

CHETRY: You're peppy without it.

ROMANS: Well, listen, I have news that's not so peppy, and that is your 401(k). There are more and more companies frankly because of the economic crisis are doing away with their company match. You know, we get a company match here. And it's one of the things that I tell people more often than anything about personal finance is -- you know, max out your own contribution to your 401(k) because you're getting free money from your company.

Well, more companies now are saying they just can't do it anymore. And among the companies who have cut the company match, FedEx, East Man, Kodak, General Motors, Motorola. We heard recently also from Ford, Cushman & Wakefield, Frontier Airlines. There's a lot more folks than just these companies.

And the human resources research firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide recently polled company executives and found that seven percent of companies are planning on reducing their match next year. That's up from four percent just a couple of months before.

COSTELLO: So, should you keep your money in the 401(k) then?

ROMANS: You should. I mean, I really think you should. And I think that just because your company is not giving you a free money match doesn't mean you should say, OK, I'm pulling back, too. It's just one of those company perks. Most companies give them. Most companies give a match for what you put in, up to a certain percent. I just think that even if you're not getting the free money, it's important to still be in there, especially now.

Another thing that this survey has sort of showed was that -- that people, how employees are reacting. Well, they're starting to get more concerned about the stock part of their 401(k). They're pulling money out of their stock, and putting them into -- they're changing the mix a little bit. They're also -- you know, they know that next year they're facing maybe a 2.5 percent raise at best. You know, that's changing their behavior.

I just don't think now is the time to be pulling back. I mean, I look at our 529 plan that, you know, that we put together for our kids. And I just -- you know, it makes you want to throw up. But it doesn't mean I'm not putting money into it. I think stocks are cheap now so we know that --

CHETRY: I have hope it's 16 long years before you would be taking that money out.

ROMANS: Exactly. Exactly.

CHETRY: A lot can change, hopefully for the better.

ROMANS: And it's cheap now. But if you look at the behavior of people, people always take their money out at the wrong time. You know, they take their money out after the damage has been done. But it's hard. It's hard to rewire your own psychology. When you're talking about something as important as money. You know, money -- you know, the love of money is the root of all evil. But you got to have money to survive, right?

CHETRY: Confucius say --

COSTELLO: Confucius say -- Confucius say money makes things lots easier.

CHETRY: Exactly.

ROMANS: Money can't buy happiness, but boy it can survived a college education if you invest it properly.

COSTELLO: Amen, Christine.

ROMANS: To mix all the metaphors and cliches at once.

CHETRY: Well, just days before Sarah Palin's teenaged daughter is expected to give birth, Bristol Palin's future mother-in-law gets arrested on drug charges. We're going to find out what authorities were saying she was involved.

Also, Barack Obama planning to create three million jobs in the next two years. And Capitol Hill estimates that putting the cost for his stimulus plan right now is in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Can he make it happen? It's 12 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol is about to give birth any day now. And now Bristol's future mother-in-law this morning is out on bail facing six drug charges. CNN's Alina Cho is following the story for us this morning.

Not the news that you want to hear, certainly.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, it's not. Kiran, good morning. Good morning, everybody.

Governor Sarah Palin's future son-in-law, Levi Johnston, back in the spotlight. This time, not because of something he did, it is his mother who is in trouble. Sherry Johnston is her name. She was arrested on felony drug charges. Alaska state troopers charged the 42-year-old with six felony drug counts, and it's all related to the highly addictive prescription drug known as Oxycontin. In some circles known as Hillbilly Heroin. And if it sounds familiar, it's the same drug that popular radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh admitted that he was addicted to.

Now Johnston was arrested on Thursday at her Wasilla home at the conclusion of an undercover narcotics investigation. That's how the "Anchorage Daily News" is putting it. She was released apparently just a couple of hours later on $5,000 bond. Her first court appearance, which is an arraignment hearing will be held on January 6th.

Now Governor Palin's spokesman released a statement saying, this is not a state government matter. So the governor has no comment. Her Daughter, Bristol, as you heard is due any day now. She and Levi Johnston are engaged to be married, but so far, Kiran, they have not set a date.

CHETRY: You hear a lot about just how addictive this drug can be. People that are given it for various reasons and then end up, I mean, you know, doing illegal things to continue to obtain it.

CHO: Manufacturing and delivering drugs possession, those are among the six counts. But, yes it is. I mean, you'll remember just a couple of years ago that Rush Limbaugh was out in the news because of Oxycontin, and that's how people really became known. But yes it is highly addictive. And we'll have to see what happens. Her first court appearance is January 6.

CHETRY: All right. Thanks, Alina.

CHO: You bet.

CHETRY: Well, Barack Obama mounting a full court press to put Americans back to work. But just how much will this plan cost and where are we getting the money to do it? 16 minutes after the hour.

COSTELLO: Out of work? Go to church.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As long as you have your faith, as long as you have hope, you can get another house, you can get another car.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: They hope to praise their way to a paycheck. Why bad times have some churches booming. You're watching the Most News in the Morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

The economy is bad, but these tough times are actually helping some churches spread the good word and grow their congregations. CNN's Susan Candiotti has the story.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kiran and Carol, good morning. In churches big and small, tough times mean boom times for Evangelicals.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): When the economy is sagging, so is the collection basket. But pews are packed at Evangelical churches, and membership is growing despite an economy on the brink. Preachers say it's easy to explain.

REV. A.R. BERNARD, CHRISTIAN CULTURAL CENTER: We focus on encouraging them, trusting, having faith in spite of the circumstances.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I promise to meet all of your needs according to my riches in glory, not the economy.

CANDIOTTI: At Brooklyn's Megawatt Christian Cultural Center, attendance is up about 20 percent, and Reverend A.R. Bernard's message tailored to tough times.

BERNARD: You lose your job, you lose your home, you lose your car because it's repossessed, but don't lose your faith.

CANDIOTTI: So you're saying trust in God?

BERNARD: As long as you have your faith, as long as you have hope, you can get another house. You can get another car.

CANDIOTTI: At the Life Christian Church and others, Evangelical growth also may be a matter of style, more contemporary than mainline Protestant churches.

REV. TERRY SMITH, LIFE CHRISTIAN CHURCH: It's about a denomination. It's about a building. It's about history and tradition. All those things are good and fine, but that's not what meets people's needs.

CANDIOTTI: According to a Texas State University study, during every recession cycle between 1968 and 2004, Evangelicals have mushroomed.

PROF. DAVID BECKWORTH, TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY: If I'm someone who has lost my job, and I'm looking to feed my family, and I have a choice between a church that sells me that message or one that is more intellectual, more abstract about God, I'm going to go for the one with certainty.

CANDIOTTI: Debra Mills lost her accounting job this week after 34 years. An Evangelical, her trust is in God.

DEBRA MILLS, EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN: You never put your trust in man, you always put your trust in God. Even though God, per se is not going to literally put a meal on your table but God will provide.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: And with no economic salvation apparent in the near future, for many, spiritual salvation maybe the only path to better times -- Kiran and Carol.

CHETRY: All right. Susan, thanks so much.

And the U.S. military planning to double the number of boots on the ground in Afghanistan. We're going to find out just how many Americans may be headed into the war zone.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

President-elect Barack Obama says in two years he wants to create 3 million new jobs. New estimates on Capitol Hill put the price tag on his stimulus plan as high as $775 billion. Is it smart spending?

Joining me now is Chrystia Freeland, U.S. managing editor of the "Financial Times" and noted economist.

Thanks for being with us this morning.

We talk about creating jobs here or investing in infrastructure projects. Both of them requires spending money, and spending money almost into a trillion dollars -- is that smart?

CHRYSTIA FREELAND, U.S. MANAGING EDITOR, FINANCIAL TIMES: I think it's not only smart, but probably necessary. The American economy, and indeed, the whole world economy is going into a situation that economists call the paradox of thrift, which is it makes sense for us as individual consumers, and for individual companies not to spend because we know we're in a recession.

But if no one is spending, the economy can grind to a halt. That's what happened in the Great Depression. So what economists believe is that you need the government to really step up and provide the spending to keep the economy going.

CHETRY: When we talk about spending, when we talk about creating jobs, how does that work? I mean, where do we materialize this money and where do we put it, and then how do we reap rewards from it?

FREELAND: Well, the government ultimately he get money two ways, right? The government controls the printing press. And if you're the United States, and you have one of the world's reserve currencies, you're in particularly good shape. That's why this economic downturn is particularly painful for countries that have weaker, less powerful currencies, the emerging markets. And the United States can borrow money.

One of the paradoxes of the current situation is it's cheaper for America to borrow money from the rest of the world right now than it has been since the second world war.

CHETRY: So what happens when we use some of this money to create jobs?

FREELAND: It creates jobs. I mean, you know, what Barack Obama is talking about is really a couple of things -- really significant infrastructure spending. That will create real palpable jobs and hopefully also leave a lasting legacy. And also all sorts of ways of getting more money directly in the pockets of people. Probably targeted specifically at the people with the greatest marginal propensity to consume. The poorest people who are most likely to spend the money rather than save it.

CHETRY: You know, this is interesting. But some say that investing is another word for spending. An editorial in the "L.A. Times" yesterday said the economic crisis has given Barack Obama an unexpected gift, spending money. The president-elect is drafting a stimulus plan that will reach $775 billion or more, all across the nation. Politicians and policy wonks are happily making lists of what they hope to find under a post Christmas stimulus tree. So what is the flipside, the downside, if you will, to this type of spending?

FREELAND: Well, I think the point of that editorial in a way is that actually although Barack Obama inherits the worst economic situation since the Great Depression, politically, it's not going to be that hard for him. Because how hard is it for any politician to spend money. And his job right now, at the beginning of the year -- maybe even for the first half of 2009 is going to be to spend money.

I think the real challenges for him are going to be, first of all, to spend that money as wisely as possible. To leave as useful a legacy as possible from that spending. And then the second thing is in some ways, I think the biggest economic challenge will be as the economy picks up, maybe in 2010, when the government will have this massive deficit, and will have to tighten things up. Probably be facing huge inflation. And of course reining in spending is politically the toughest thing to do.

CHETRY: It's also interesting because at the same time this is happening state governments like California, even here in New York are ceasing public works projects because of budget constraints. So, you have a federal government that's getting ready to spend and a lot of states making this wish list. They say they have these projects that are ready to go. They just don't have the money to do it.

FREELAND: Right. I think that's absolutely right. And the difference between the state governments and the federal governments is the state governments don't control the printing presses. So they can't simply spend it well. But I do think that one of the big political battles we're going to see in January after President-elect Obama takes office is precisely this jockeying for a share of the money. $700 billion, a trillion dollars -- that's a lot of money, and everyone who has a pet project is going to be lining up.

CHETRY: One of the things we haven't heard as much about of late is really the root of the crisis. I mean, the mortgage and the foreclosure crisis, and the problems that are going on with that. How will any of the stimulus effect in anyway, positively or negatively, what we're going through right now with the mortgage crisis and the banking crisis.

FREELAND: Well, the stimulus isn't specifically targeted at the mortgage crisis. But there are separate measures. I mean, you know, there are a couple of things going on, on the credit side, and I think we should expect President-elect Obama when he takes office to continue action there. I think you're right to focus on the mortgages. That's the one area where we haven't seen really comprehensive federal government action. And as you say, it's probably the center of the entire financial problem, so I think we probably should expect the government to do something there.

CHETRY: Chrystia Freeland, you always put it in perspective for us. Thanks so much for joining us.

FREELAND: My pleasure.

CHETRY: Carol?

COSTELLO: Just about half past the hour now. Here are this morning's top stories. If you're just waking up, there is a chill in the air temperatures for much of the nation below normal. And the nationwide chill is adding insult to injury to many holiday travelers, who had their flights delayed or canceled because of snow, ice and freezing rain.

The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush is expected to stand trial next week. That's according to the man's brother. If convicted, he could face prison time. Last week, a spokesman for Iraqi's prime minister said the shoe thrower apologized in a letter and pleaded for leniency. But the journalist reportedly told his family he would never apologize.

Pakistan saying a missile strike in Lulus (ph) region near the Afghan border killed seven people. Witnesses report hearing a drone circling before the attack. So far, no word from the U.S. military. The U.S. has carried out more than 30 strikes in the region since August.

And the U.S. military is planning to double its manpower in Afghanistan. Official say up to 30,000 additional troops could be send to the warzone by next year. The additional troops are needed to fight a rising Taliban insurgency. CNN's Barbara Starr live in Washington to tell us more.

Hello, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning again to you, Carol. Well, you know, when Barack Obama said he would send more troops to Afghanistan, it's not clear that he knew that Pentagon was talking about maybe doubling the size of the U.S. force there, but that is exactly what Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the top U.S. military officer talked about in Afghanistan over the weekend. Have a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADMIRAL MIKE MULLEN, U.S. CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEF OF STAFF: Some 20,000 to 30,000 is the window of overall increase from where we are right now. I actually don't have an exact number.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: But 30,000 is the key number in fact to watch, Carol, because there's 30,000 U.S. troops there now, sending another 30,000, obviously doubling the size of the force. But it is a solution fraught with problems. The Pentagon has long said that it will be very tough to get more troops there, that they want more troops from NATO, but NATO's not contributing them. That they don't want too big a U.S. footprint there that the Afghans would resent it and the troops at the end of the day, won't solve the problems in Afghanistan.

That will require billions of dollars in aide and that's going to be very tough finding the money in the current economic times. Carol.

COSTELLO: Just insurmountable problems it seems. I know they're sending in helicopter units right after the new year. So what's the strategy with that.

STARR: Well, we're all about to get a lesson I think, a refresher course in military operations 101 if you will. This helicopter unit signed out to be the -- the order was signed on Thursday by Defense Secretary Gates. If it's going because how are you going to move 30,000 troops around in that rough mountain terrain that we've now seen for years. Helicopters.

They need more helicopters there to move troops around and not a pleasant thought but they are getting ready for the possibility of more casualties, more dead, more wounded and they are going to need those helicopters for Medevac, and other emergency operations to help the troops out.

So getting the helicopters in is actually the first step down the road to this very significant plus up of troops in Afghanistan.

COSTELLO: Understand. Barbara Starr, live in Washington for us this morning. Thanks.

STARR: Sure.

CHETRY: Well, as federal investigators search for the cause of a runway accident in Denver's airport this week. And we're learning more about what happened inside the plan. The Continental Airlines jet spun off the runway during take-off landing in a 44 deep ravine. As it caught fire, all 115 people on board managed to escape. 38 people were injured. Firefighters say it's a miracle no one died in that accident.

Maria and Gabriel Trejos were on board the Continental flight to Houston. They were traveling with their one-year-old son, Elijah. Maria is also four months pregnant. She described to us earlier on "AMERICAN MORNING" what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA TREJOS, PASSENGER: We felt the plane veer to the left and my husband was holding my son and we felt some bumpiness and I thought it was just turbulence and I looked to the side and all of a sudden there was this giant fireball behind my husband's head and I still have that image of him just grabbing my son's head and just you know pulling him towards himself and all of a sudden we felt this heat.

You know it was heat on our right side and there was a smell and it was like a mechanical smell. That's when I knew something was wrong and we felt a bump and then I felt like we were airborne for a couple of seconds and then we hit a really big, I guess it was when we hit the ravine and then it just stopped. I mean everything was really quiet. I told him it was eerily quiet, you know, because people weren't chaotic until

CHETRY: It must have been terrifying, Gabriel explain what was going through your mind, Gabriel, at that time when you were trying to make sure you got your son out and that you guys all got out safely?

GABRIEL TREJOS, PASSENGER: Oh, man, there's so many things going on, through my mind. I mean so many thoughts when something like that's going on. I was just trying to hold my son as hard as I could and making sure he wasn't going to get crushed by the seats, I braced myself up against a chair in front of me because the chairs were kind of getting squished towards my direction and I thought any moment now I could get squashed with my son inside the seat.

CHETRY: How did you guys get out of the plane? What was that like?

G. TREJOS: Well, that was -- it was pretty hard because everybody was trying to scramble from our section, everybody was going towards the rear of the plane and there was luggage in the way because it had fallen and there was still some luggage falling when we were trying to get out and I just told them, I gave the baby to my wife and I thought she was going to get out before I was.

And I ended up looking over towards the center of the plane and there was less people trying to get out that direction so I yell at my wife, hey, this way's a lot clearer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: And again, Maria, four months pregnant, she said she was hit with some falling luggage at some point. She got checked out at the hospital so she's OK but it was terrifying. When you look at the plane, just cracked in half like an egg shell.

COSTELLO: I just can't believe people were actually taking time to remove their luggage from the overhead bin before going down the emergency slide. That's crazy.

CHETRY: I know. And she also said a lot of people fell, you saw how icy and snowy it was outside when they were actually trying to get out and run away from the plane. So thank goodness again, 38 people were injured but no one was killed in that.

COSTELLO: That's amazing. Really amazing.

CHETRY: Well in our special series Baby Quest we're going to show you just how far some couples are willing to go to bring home a baby. Today, we're going to meet a couple who go to the other side of the globe on vacation, in vitro fertilization. It's 35 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Top videos right now on cnn.com, most popular, famous Broadway shows hit hard by the bad economy are getting set for their final curtain calls, "Hair spray," "Money Python," and "Spam-A-Lot" and "Young Frankenstein" are all stopping production. On the bright side though, these shows are going for deep discounts, up to 45 percent off in some cases.

Also, everyone loves a good implosion, right? And with that the RCA dome where the Colts played football came down to make way for the Indiana Convention Center expansion. Go Lions.

COSTELLO: That was so cruel. They're 0 and 15 now. You know, the lions. Detroit Lions. And Mr. Ford says he's going to keep the two general managers. Go figure. Anyway, I digress.

Right now, Democrats are under pressure to pull off what could be the biggest bash Washington has ever seen. Millions of tourists are expected for the swearing in. And bright spot for businesses during this tough economic times but bad news for a cash strapped host city. Here's CNN's Kate Bolduan.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, Carol, Washington, D.C. is a city that knows inaugurations. The district officials say past experience will likely pale in comparison to the historic swearing in one month from now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN (voice-over): Washington is preparing for 2.5 million people to descend upon the nation's capital to witness the start of the Obama presidency. Great news for local restaurants and retail. Hotels are already near capacity.

MAYOR ADRIAN FENTY (D), DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: In some ways, this is somewhat of a stimulus package for the city if you will. BOLDUAN: But with the good comes the bad. The price tag. Officials are complaining Congress allotted only $15 million to help the city pay for all major events for the entire year. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes-Norton says they'll need double that amount.

REP. ELEANOR HOLMES-NORTON (D), DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Witness what the Congress did for the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. $50 million to each of the jurisdictions to handle what were approximately 50,000 people each.

BOLDUAN: While city officials are coordinating with federal agencies, much of the on the ground security and traffic control will fall on the district, a city that's financially strapped, just recently announcing $130 million in budget cuts.

FENTY: Our police force is about 4,100, which is a lot and we're going to double that police force and most of them are going to be working huge overtime shifts.

BOLDUAN: No matter the price, D.C.'s mayor says they'll be ready.

FENTY: Whatever steps have to be taken to make sure that the police resources, fire resources, transportation resources, et cetera are available, we will make sure it happens.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: Unlike in past inaugurations, the entire National Mall running about two miles will be open to accommodate the huge crowd. But that demands extra help from first responders to cleanup. Further proof that hosting history comes at a price. Kiran, Carol.

CHETRY: Vacation, baby quest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELLEN LAVESQUE, MOTHER: When we found out that I was pregnant with twins -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: How far would you go to get pregnant? How about halfway around the world? The tour package that includes a priceless souvenir or two.

You're watching the Most News in the Morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back, we have some breaking news this morning. The biggest automaker on the planet Toyota warning that it will likely lose almost $1.7 billion in this financial year. It is the first lost like this for Toyota ever. Our Kyung Lah is tracking the developments for us in Tokyo -- Kyung. KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Toyota Motor Corporation slashed it's fiscal year earnings forecast saying for the first time in its modern history it would post an operating loss.

Toyota Motor Corporation announcement this afternoon in Tokyo that it would be at an operating loss to $1.5 billion $1.7 billion. That is an operating loss. Analysts call this a stunning figure. Again, the first time in its modern history that Toyota Motor Corporation has posted such gloomy statistics for it's earnings forecast. It was only a year ago that the auto maker had posted record profits.

There was more bad news economically for Japan. Japan's government did post another trade deficit, the second month in a row that it's trade balance would be in the red. Japan's government saying last month that it's exports globally fell some 26 percent and as far as those all important exports heading to the United States, those exports fell by some 33 percent.

This is very bad news for this export-driven economy. Japan's government wondering exactly when the light is going to shine at the end of the tunnel and we heard a lot of talk today about how if those exports do not pick up, it would be very difficult for this economy to recover.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: CNN NEWSROOM just minutes away. Heidi Collins at the CNN Center in Atlanta with what's up coming up.

Hi, Heidi.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, Carol.

That's right. Here's a check of what we're working on in the NEWSROOM today. An airliner veers off a runway and bursts into flames. What went wrong and maybe more importantly, what went right? We'll talk about that.

And no cages, no boundaries, no kidding. A house becomes a home to more than 100 abandoned pets. Tell you that story too when we get started at the top of the hour right here on CNN -- Carol

COSTELLO: One house, 100 pets?

COLLINS: Yes.

COSTELLO: OK.

COLLINS: Yes, unbelievable and lots of doggie bowls and kitty bowls.

COSTELLO: You're not kidding. Thank you, Heidi.

COLLINS: You bet.

COSTELLO: You know, autumn official wrapped up yesterday. Well then old man winter is already giving us a wallop on its very first day. Today expect more freezing temperatures and treacherous conditions. Rob Marciano will have a live look for you just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is 48 minutes past the hour, time to fast forward to see what stories will be making the news later today. The Minnesota Senate race between incumbent Norm Coleman and challenger Al Franken heading into another week of overtime. A few thousand ballots still need to be processed but election officials say that race will most likely not be decided until the end of the month. Al Franken has taken a slim, unofficial lead.

At 10:00 a.m. this morning, disgraced former commissioner of the New York Police Department Bernard Carrick will be arraigned. He faces charges that he got free renovations from a would-be city contractor and filed false income tax returns. The indictment also links Carrick to the mob.

And how low can it go? Well, gas hasn't been this cheap in nearly five years. AAA puts the price for a gallon of regular unleaded down to $1.66. That is about 60 percent lower from the record high of $4.11 a gallon back in July. And that's what we're following this morning.

CHETRY: All right. We're coming up on about 10 minutes before 9:00 here in New York, our Rob Marciano is letting us know what we can expect for the week ahead.

The first official day of winter was yesterday and, boy, did many, many places around the country certainly feel it.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, mother nature not wasting any time. That's for sure. Today the first full day of winter. Check them out, minus three in Chicago. Right now, it's it's 12 below zero in Minneapolis. And the cold air goes all the way to the Gulf Coast. 34 in New Orleans and Houston.

And these numbers are without the wind. You couple the wind chill and it feels like well below zero in a lot of spots. So the precipitation is tapering off a little bit across parts of the northeast, ahead of all the snow yesterday but already we have delays at LaGuardia. And expect this to be on the increase. All you need is a little crosswind there and they start to slow things down quite a bit.

There it is, northwesterly winds blowing today. Blizzard warnings remain in effect from parts of northern Maine where some spots got up to four feet or more of snow. Some snow across parts of Michigan and western parts of New York. Had a lot of snow in Michigan yesterday and big-time pileups on the interstates. Travel a headache, you better believe it. 30-car pileup there on I-94, and there was another, several other pileups totaling like 100 cars in spots. It was just nasty. Today, slightly better, at least on the roadways across the Midwest.

Out West, in the intermountain west, the west coast, the next batch of moisture is coming in and that will bring storminess from places like Seattle all the way down to San Diego. Here it is in the intermountain west tomorrow, with ejections of the plain and already we have winter storm watches posted for Chicago and much of the western Great Lakes for the next bout of snow and potentially freezing rain tomorrow into Wednesday morning. And then there's Christmas.

CHETRY: Thanks, Rob. Thanks.

I'm looking ahead. Now I'm praying for you know 35, 40 degrees, it's going to feel like summer.

MARCIANO: You might need that Christmas. I think it's going to warm up quite a bit. And it might rain. Then you're going to be complaining about having no snow on Christmas.

CHETRY: Yes, you know, you're right, I can't win. I'm just going to zip it.

Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: Say hello to the in-laws, too.

CHETRY: You're already on your way home, Rob.

Need money for Christmas?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People, I mean, literally are flooding my e- mail box wanting to get into this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Lease your house to Hollywood. Why some people are rolling out the red carpet for the stars and making big money.

You're watching the Most News in the Morning.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Well for many couples having a little one in the house is a dream that will never come true. Infertility affects more than seven million women and their partners in the U.S., about 12 percent of reproductive age women. So all this week, we're looking at how far people will go to have a child and new cutting edge technology that is making that possible, as well as adoption and even traveling to the other side of the world. We call it Baby Quest.

And today in part one of our series, a look at the so-called IVF vacation, as they call it. Infertile couples are now heading overseas for IVF treatments. Alina Cho joins me now.

A bunch of questions Carol and I had when we heard this was why is this making a difference going somewhere else if you're still dealing with fertility.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well the cost. I mean that's the big thing, guys. Good morning, everybody. You know, you've heard about going overseas for plastic surgery, cheap Botox, tummy tucks but going to a foreign country to get pregnant? It is happening more and more American women are heading overseas for in vitro fertilization. It is a money thing. IVF outside the U.S. is generally cheaper. That's the big draw. The bonus, couples who are seeking this treatment are also mixing in a little fun.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVESQUE: This is from the top of Prague Castle in Prague.

CHO (voice-over): It's a vacation that literally changed Ellen and Bob Lavesque lives forever.

LAVESQUE: We didn't even have passports.

CHO: Their first time abroad. The Lavesque traveled halfway around the globe to the Czech Republic, but sightseeing wasn't their ultimate goal. This was their dream trip for a different reason. They came home with a special souvenir.

LAVESQUE: Then we found out that I was pregnant with twins.

CHO: They went to the Czech Republic specifically for in vitro fertilization. Ellen and Bob had been trying to get pregnant for years. She was in her early 40s. Doctors told her IVF was the best option. But the cost was huge. And Ellen said her insurance wouldn't cover it.

LAVESQUE: I literally left the office in tears when I heard what the number was and of course you know just doing in vitro once doesn't necessarily take.

CHO: And what was that number?

LAVESQUE: That was about $28,000 per attempt.

CHO: Enter IVFvacation.com, one of several Web sites for women seeking in vitro fertilization overseas. Here for a fee, almost everything except air fare is booked for you and included in the cost. Lodging, medication, IVF and spa treatments. One stop shopping.

LAVESQUE: I remember being amazed.

CHO: Ellen had to go twice because the first try didn't take. Each trip cost about $12,000. Still less than one attempt in the U.S. the Lavesque were lucky, but there are some risks.

DR. SLAN COPPERMAN, DIRECTOR OF INFERTILITY, MT. SINAI MEDICAL CENTER: We have local and state rules that help govern us, that help make sure that it's that patient's egg, her husband's sperm, their embryos that are put in place. We're not as sure in many other parts of the world.

CHO: Marcella and Craig Fite (ph), founders of ivfvacation.com disagree. They insist the Czech clinic is safe. Reassuring clients that they did it themselves. Marcella is from the Czech Republic and went to her home country for IVF. The Fites now have twins.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's nothing quite like getting that phone call from a woman who's been trying for five years to get pregnant and she says, I'm pregnant, I'm pregnant! And she just, you can feel the tears through the phone.

CHO: Ellen Lavesque gave birth to her twins a year and a half ago. The family she's always wanted with a little overseas help.

LAVESQUE: This is our dream. A little tiring on occasion, but joyful.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHO: Now it is important to point out that if you are considering this as an option do your home work. There is no international body that regulates fertility clinics overseas and some doctors, no surprise, say that is a risk. Medical standards are harder to judge from far away and so are success rates.

Now having that said, the people who run ivfvacation.com they have had no problems and of the 200 women who have signed up, 80 babies had been born so far. Another 50 are on the way.

Kiran, that's a 65 percent success rate. Not bad. But again, the big draw is the cost. Again, the woman we profiled, she went twice, still cost less than one attempt in the U.S.

CHETRY: Even with the hotels and the air fares and all of that combined. Wow.

Well, Alina, check this out as well. There's a lot of people as we said turning to science to have babies, but more than 1,000, or actually a million children are in foster care in the United States. 100,000 children available for adoption right now and some of these agencies are actually going high-tech, they're posting videos and they're posting videos of the kids looking for families and today we wanted to show you 14-year-old Kietrich. He's from Michigan and he tells his own story better than anyone else could.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEITRICH, AGE 14: Hello, my name is Keitrich. I like to do a lot of things, play football, watch football, play basketball and watch basketball. I would like to live with a family that has lots of discipline and a family that likes to have fun and that is really, really strong about school. And not to be so busy that they can't come to my school to check up on me. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Isn't he just adorable? I mean -

COSTELLO: He's a very handsome young man.

CHETRY: He sure is.

COSTELLO: And he's well spoken and he's smart and he's playful.

CHO: So I have a feeling he's going to find a home.

CHETRY: And also if you're interested in adopting Keitrich, you need to go to this Web site, MARE. It's the Michigan Adoption Resource Exchange. The agency says Keitrich needs a patient and loving family, someone who can make a firm commitment as he learns to earn their trust.

Also, a two-parent family is preferred with an active, supportive father who can help him develop his interests and natural leadership abilities. Again, you can go to MARE.org to learn more about Keitrich. And we're going to be bringing you videos like this one all week as we continue our baby quest series.

CHO: And that's something that's really important for foster kids to be able to trust because it's so hard for them to trust.

CHETRY: And you actually, you have been -

CHO: Involved with a New York charity that helps foster children and I'm going to start mentoring a child, not a child a 17-year-old high school student. I can't wait after the first of the year. So it would be great.

CHETRY: Alina, thank you so much for being with us today.

COSTELLO: A word of advice for you and the foster child. Borrow her clothes.

CHO: I can fit into them.

CHETRY: She's mentoring a 17-year-old --

COSTELLO: No, I mean, the 17-year-old girl.

CHETRY: We're the same shoe size.

(CROSSTALK)

CHO: OK. I'm like, borrow her clothes?

COSTELLO: Hey, thanks for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING. We'll see you back here tomorrow.

CHETRY: Yes, have a great, great week, and right now here is "CNN NEWSROOM" with Heidi Collins.