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American Morning

Rod Blagojevich Booted Out of Office; Obama Blasts Wall Street Bonuses; Authorities Crack Down on Counterfeiters; Japan Announces Black Friday; The GOP Fights for Their Future; New York City May Cut 23,000 Jobs; Endangered Zoos and Aquariums; What You Get From Stimulus

Aired January 30, 2009 - 06:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Breaking news. President Obama cracking down on corporate greed.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That is the height of irresponsibility.

ROBERTS: His plan to go after bigwigs who gambled with your retirement, lost, and still walked away with billions.

OBAMA: It is shameful.

ROBERTS: And bye-bye Blago.

KWAME RAOUL, ILLINOIS STATE SENATE: It's not complicated, folks.

DAN CRONIN, ILLINOIS STATE SENATE: Without a doubt, unfit to govern.

ROBERTS: Every single state senator votes the Illinois governor out of office. Today, what the White House is saying about the latest guy to hit the unemployment line on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: And good morning. Thanks very much for being with us on this Friday, the 30th of January. Just one more day left before it's February. And Rod Blagojevich waking up this morning with a completely different life than he had yesterday.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. But still talking and still -- you know, yesterday when he spoke, he just kept saying all the wonderful things he did for the state of Illinois, despite the fact that he was unanimously impeached.

ROBERTS: Yes. One of the last things he said before going back inside his house was "Si se puede (ph)," which I can't quite figure out but we'll talk about that throughout the morning.

CHETRY: Yes. This morning, Illinois has a new governor after the state Senate booted Rod Blagojevich from office and also barred him from ever holding public office again. Blagojevich was arrested on December 9th on federal corruption charges including trying to sell President Obama's former Senate seat. Well, last night after being ousted, Blagojevich said he's going to keep fighting to clear his name.

This morning concerns of hypothermia and carbon monoxide as states from the southern plains to the northeast struggle to recover after this week's deadly ice storm. Right now, more than a million homes and businesses are in the dark and officials warn it could be days, even weeks, before the power is back on. Since Monday, the storm has been blamed for at least 27 deaths.

And when those octuplets born in California go home, it's going to be a really full house. There are reports that the mother who lives with her parents has six other children ranging in age from 7 years old to 2 years old. So far, the mother's identity has not been released. She did release a statement, though, through the hospital.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The babies continue to grow strong every day and make good progress. My family and I are ecstatic about all of their arrivals. Needless to say, the eighth was a surprise to us all, but a blessing as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: I'm sure there's many more surprises that lay ahead. Wow! Talk about a full house. Fourteen kids.

Doctors say that all of the babies are breathing on their own, and they're going to need to stay in the hospital for a couple more weeks but, again, amazingly, all of them are expected to survive.

ROBERTS: Wow.

Topping the news this morning, President Obama ripping a shameful Wall Street over its huge bonuses. A new report shows employees of financial companies in New York City collected more than $18 billion in bonuses last year. At the same time, the very same time, they were drowning in debt and asking the government for relief with your tax dollars.

CNN's Christine Romans joins us now. So $18 billion of our tax dollars went into the pockets of them their employees as bonuses.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know -- listen.

ROBERTS: Somehow, it just doesn't seem right.

ROMANS: Frankly, I'm not surprised. I want to be quite honest with you because we have watched Wall Street bonuses get bigger and bigger and bigger almost no matter what. And at $18.4 billion bonus pool, it's an awful lot of money. Even as they needed $200 billion of taxpayer rescue low income loans, they had to be rescued.

But the United States government had to go in and absolutely keep some of these banks alive and then at the end of the year, they pay off these humongous bonuses. Andrew Cuomo, the New York attorney general, is investigating this, of course, has been since September. This is what he said.

"It's become apparent that while Wall Street melted down, top executives believed that, unlike the rest of the country, they still deserved huge bonuses." He says he looks forward to working with the administration to make sure that Wall Street wakes up to its new responsibilities and abides by a new code of corporate responsibility.

Now listen, over and over again, Wall Street has spent a lot of money on lobbyists who go to Washington to make sure that they don't get new rules, they don't get new regulations. They want to be, you know, a free market. They want to be allowed to make their own -- their own rules.

Well, guess what? That day is over. Make your own rules and you pay out $18.4 billion in bonuses. The other side of this too is that a lot of people don't understand about the bonus structure is that people all the way down to secretaries get bonuses. I mean, this is how Wall Street works.

You know, you get a salary and then you get a bonus. The bonus structure, in some cases, an awful lot of the compensation. But these bonuses, $18.4 billion in bonuses, is just about what they got in 2004.

ROBERTS: When times were really good.

ROMANS: Times were really good. They didn't have to go, you know, with their hand out to the United States government and what the decisions made from 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, the decisions that these executives made have brought the world economy to the brink. There is no reason for some of those executives to have any bonuses at all, in my opinion. And I think a lot of people would agree with that.

I've talked to a couple of lawyers about this who say there are some contractual bonuses. If it's not -- and then it's not a bonus in my opinion, if it's a guaranteed bonus, that's not a bonus, that's compensation. But some of these, they might have contractually had to -- had to pay out. But, indeed, it's down 44 percent from the year before.

CHETRY: Right.

ROMANS: You know.

CHETRY: That just shows you what it was like the year before when things weren't rosy then either. $33 billion.

ROMANS: Yes, a lot of money. A lot of money. And we'll see. I mean, there might be people who'll be calling to claw (ph) some of it back. So if you're a big Wall Street banker, I wouldn't spend it quite yet.

CHETRY: Thanks, Christine. Well, while President Obama called the Wall Street bonuses "shameful," Vice President Biden went a step further. Here is what he said yesterday on CNBC yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I promise you, there aren't going to be any $40 million jets being bought. There's not going to be expenditures of bonuses going. I mean, it's been outrageous. I mean it's just offensive --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Factor (ph) of rehabilitation?

BIDEN: Oh, I mean, yes. I mean, it just offends the sensibilities. I mean, I'd like to throw these guys in the brig!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Suzanne Malveaux is live outside of the White House. So, I mean, brig, he's basically saying they should be in jail. So, you know, and we also got a rare glimpse about Barack Obama himself yesterday getting really steamed about these bonuses.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And Kiran, you know, covering Barack Obama for 12 months, I had not even seen the kind of emotion that we actually saw yesterday from him, at least publicly even when he's really irritated with reporters. You saw this flash of anger and frustration from now President Obama.

During the campaign, as a candidate, he was calling for these executives to rein in their bonuses. He came back as a senator to sign legislation. Both of these things have failed. And so what can a president do now?

Well, obviously, it shows that he gets it, show the American people some emotion here and then followed up with some action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: At a time when most of these institutions were teetering on collapse and they are asking for taxpayers to help sustain them, and when taxpayers find themselves in the difficult position that if they don't provide help, that the entire system could come down on top of our heads, that is the height of irresponsibility. It is shameful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So Kiran, you know, some tough words there from President Obama, even some emotion there. You know, they like to say that they've got this three-legged stool, that one leg of this problem is the economic stimulus package that they are going to solve this economic crisis with that. But, you know, Americans are starting to ask where -- you know, show us some leg when it comes to accountability and these other things that are really going to follow and track these dollars. One thing that the White House is going to do next week is unveil some comprehensive plan to hold executives accountable when it comes to their bonuses. We'll see if it's even enforceable, Kiran.

CHETRY: Yes. That's the big question as it looks like they prepare to ask for even more money from the federal government to continue operating in the future.

Suzanne Malveaux, thank you.

And President Obama's outrage over Wall Street's bonuses comes just a day after he met with business leaders in the White House. He says the execs that he brought in were on the front lines with the problem facing our economy that they still got paid pretty handsomely as well.

Here's more in an "AM Extra." Xerox CEO Ann Mulcahy, seen here on the left, earned $11.05 million in 2007, according to Forbes, and that figure includes salary, bonus, stock gains, and other earnings. Also Honeywell CEO David Cote made over $6 million that year. IBM CEO Sam Palmisano brought in $24.4 million in 2007. That outs him in the top 100 paid executives in the United States that year.

ROBERTS: Well, Rod Blagojevich is waking up this morning as a private citizen after Illinois lawmakers booted him from the governor's office. President Barack Obama says it is the end of a painful episode for his home state.

And the changing of the guard was immediate. Rod Blagojevich's picture was removed from a display at the entrance to the state capital in Springfield and replaced by a photo of Illinois' newly sworn-in governor, Pat Quinn.

Susan Roesgen is following it all from Springfield this morning. And they certainly didn't waste any time yesterday, Susan.

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not a second, John. And think about this. This is the guy who left two months ago, had serious aspirations of becoming president of the United States. And now he's not only been kicked out of the governor's chair, he is also barred from ever holding public office in this state again.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are 59 senators voting yes and 0 senators not -- zero senators voting no.

ROESGEN (voice-over): In the end, every single Illinois state senator voted to kick Governor Rod Blagojevich out of office.

KWAME RAOUL, ILLINOIS STATE SENATE: It's not complicated, folks. All the evidence was overwhelming.

DAN CRONIN, ILLINOIS STATE SENATE: This man is without -- without a doubt, unfit to govern. I vote without hesitation for conviction and removal.

ROESGEN: The man they were ousting did not stick around to see them do it. But the ex-governor could not seem to let go of the limelight.

ROD BLAGOJEVICH, FORMER ILLINOIS GOVERNOR: So I -- if I guess you guys come and cover me if I want to say something, will you do it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor, what are you going to do?

ROESGEN: He says he's in the private sector now. Just like thousands of other people, he says, he is just a man without a job.

BLAGOJEVICH: The people of Illinois, God bless all of you. Thank you for giving me a chance to represent you. I want you to know I haven't let you down. We've done real things for you, real tangible, meaningful things that improved your lives.

ROESGEN: But in this story, the last word goes to the new man in charge, Governor Pat Quinn. Former Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn started as a county tax commissioner in the 1980s, worked his way up to state treasurer in the '90s and now he has the top job.

GOV. PAT QUINN (D), ILLINOIS: I want to say to the people of Illinois, the ordeal is over. I think the people of the land of Lincoln are very, very proud of our elected representatives who reflected the will of the people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROESGEN: Now, actually, John, the ordeal, as you know, not quite over, not by a long shot because there is still the criminal investigation and governor -- ex-governor, it's hard to say now, John. Ex-governor Rod Blagojevich could find himself in a criminal courtroom facing years in prison.

ROBERTS: It's like writing the new year on checks. It takes you a few days to get used to it.

ROESGEN: Yes.

ROBERTS: But, you know, the fact that he still faces criminal charges after being impeached doesn't seem to change some people's opinion of him. I saw yesterday after the impeachment proceedings were complete, he was kicked out of office, he had like a little press availability outside the mansion and some of his neighbors were shouting, hey, are you coming over for the Super Bowl on Sunday? And one young fellow said are you going to shoot hoops with me this summer? So, some people willing to sort of treat him nicely.

ROESGEN: A few, John. A few.

ROBERTS: Few and far between, I think, is the way to put it.

ROESGEN: I think so.

ROBERTS: Susan -- yes.

ROESGEN: Yes.

ROBERTS: Susan Roesgen this morning. Susan, thanks so much.

CHETRY: The economic crisis spreading around the world. We're taking you live to Tokyo, Japan, where they're announcing massive job cuts. How what goes on a world away can affect your bottom line here at home.

It's 11 minutes after the hour.

ROBERTS: Fighting the fakes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID THOMPSON, DIRECTOR, ICE IRD CENTER: It's strictly greed motivation. Basically, these individuals see a large profit margin and they'll counterfeit basically anything that's popular.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: From super expensive Super Bowl knockoffs...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The shade of yellow is very different.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: ... to dangerous fake prescription pills.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID THOMPSON, DIRECTOR, ICE IRD CENTER: These items have actually been made with drywall dust and painted with road paint.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: We're tackling the billion dollar black market ahead on the "Most News in the Morning."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: It seems fitting somehow that "The Boss" will be in the house for this year's biggest sporting event. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will perform Sunday during halftime at the Super Bowl, Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa. They're expected to play three or four songs Springsteen says. The halftime show will be "a 12-minute party."

So who does President Obama like in the Super Bowl? Well, despite his best effort to play Switzerland, the president admitting to reporters that, well, he is partial to Pittsburgh.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I wish the best to the Cardinals. They've been long suffering. It's a great Cinderella story, but other than the Bears, the Steelers are probably the team that's closest to my heart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Mr. Obama says he is a longtime Steelers fan. Vice President Joe Biden, by the way, is also rooting for Pittsburgh.

CHETRY: Wow! All right. The owner of the Steelers, by the way, Dan Rooney, and also the head coach, Mike Tomlin, big supporters of Barack Obama during his presidential campaign.

ROBERTS: Might have something to do with it.

CHETRY: Yes. He is the one. Well, when it comes to Super Bowl merchandise it's buyer beware. Fans spend millions of dollars on t- shirts, hats and other Super Bowl souvenirs, but the big game is also big for counterfeiters. CNN's Jeanne Meserve tells us how authorities are cracking down on the criminal enterprise.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: John, Kiran, it's the start of Super Bowl weekend. That means a lot of football, flashy ads, food, and counterfeits.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (voice-over): T-shirts and other Super Bowl memorabilia all inscribed with the logos of the NFL or its teams and all fake.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The shade of yellow is very different. It's much more bold and bright than the actual team color.

MESERVE: Just since Sunday, in Tampa, Immigration and Customs Enforcement have seized pirated goods with a street value of more than a million dollars. But the problem is much bigger than that with implications for health and safety. There are counterfeit electrical items like circuit breakers.

DAVID THOMPSON, DIRECTOR, ICE IRD CENTER: They do cause fires.

MESERVE: And toiletries.

THOMPSON: Some of these items have actually been found to contain chemicals such as antifreeze.

MESERVE: And even pharmaceuticals.

THOMPSON: Oftentimes, these items have actually been made with drywall dust and painted with road paint.

MESERVE: Imitations like these are often cheaper than the original, but they have caused injuries, reportedly, even deaths.

THOMPSON: Money. It's strictly a greed motivation. Basically, these individuals see a large profit margin and they'll counterfeit basically anything that's popular.

MESERVE: The value of counterfeit products seized last year was up 38 percent, and there's no way to know how much wasn't caught. The estimated cost to U.S. business, $250 billion in lost revenue. The estimated cost to U.S. workers, 750,000 jobs.

MARK ESPER, U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: China accounts for over 80 percent of the goods that were seized last year coming to the country with India a distant second.

MESERVE: Customs and border protection inspectors routinely find counterfeit goods, but this intellectual property coordination center opened last summer is trying a new approach fusing the enforcement efforts of many federal agencies. There have been 140 investigations since July.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: Who's making money off of this? Criminals. Authorities suggest you think about that before you stop at the street vendors to pick up a Gucci bag, Rolex watch, or Steelers or Cardinals jerseys.

John, Kiran, back to you.

CHETRY: Jeanne Meserve, thanks.

Well, still ahead, pile on the pork. Not the kind some say is in the stimulus bill. It's the bacon sensation that will make your Super Bowl party sizzle. We'll show you the dish that has barbecue addicts in heaven.

It is 18 minutes after the hour.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Americans throw away more than two million plastic bottles every hour. That's according to the Clean Air Council. Plus an estimated 17 million barrels of oil are used each year to make plastic bottles. But, now, there's a way to change the statistics.

CARLOS GUTIERREZ, UNITED RESOURCE RECOVERY CORP.: So far, it's the ultimate dream.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Carlos Gutierrez, founder of the United Resource Recovery Corporation, is teaming up with Coca-Cola to open the world's largest bottle-to-bottle recycling plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

GUTIERREZ: It is sustainable, economical, and at the same time, produces the first quality product.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Plastic bottles are made from a material known as PET. Recycled PET has only been used to make products like carpets and t-shirts. But this new plant uses technology to recycle PET into new plastic bottles. The goal is to produce 100 million pounds of recycled food grade plastic every year, enough to make two billion, 20-ounce plastic bottles. SCOTT A. VITTERS, THE COCA-COLA COMPANY: This plant over the next ten years will save one million metric tons in terms of carbon dioxide, which is the equivalent of taking 215,000 cars off the road.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gutierrez is planning to hire a hundred employees by the end of the year, making recycling good for the environment and the economy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN. Breaking news.

ROBERTS: And breaking news overseas to tell you about this morning. The economic crisis deepening. Massive losses and job cuts right now being announced in Japan. CNN's Kyung Lah is live for us in Tokyo this morning.

Kyung, this is not looking good for the Japanese.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not looking good, no matter where you look, John. The bad news coming in almost every single sector of the world -- second biggest economy whether we're talking about corporations, job losses or the big picture.

Let's start with the big picture. Industrial production. This number tells you about all of stuff that Japan makes. Electronics and cars.

Well, for the month of December, that number fell 9.6 percent. That is the biggest percentage drop in Japan's history. If you look at the corporate news, there were a number of corporations that announced job cuts. As far as any "C" corporation in the face of weakening global demand, NEC says it will be flashing 20,000 jobs worldwide.

Hitachi also announced job cuts, 7,000 job cuts. Those job cuts not happening just within Japan. Those job cuts to be happening worldwide.

And the bad news spilled over to Japan's once lucrative auto sector. Honda says for the third quarter, as far as its net profit, it won't be making money. It will be a net loss and that loss is going to be steep, 90 percent. So what all of these figures add up to is that this economy, the world's second largest economy is not just facing recession. This recession is going to be deep and certainly protracted, John.

ROBERTS: And, of course, Japan's economy deeply intertwined with ours here in the United States. What are the ripple effects expected to be? What kind of impact could it have on people here in America?

LAH: Certainly very deep impact, especially if you're employed by one of these companies. A lot of these companies, Toyota, Honda, Nintendo, Sony, these are all names that are headquartered here, but these companies employ Americans. They have offices in the U.S. so when they talk about these job losses, about these -- the income losses that they're looking at, this directly translates into a job in the U.S. ROBERTS: Yes. A huge building here in midtown Manhattan has got the name Sony on it. So it could be a wide range of impact here.

Kyung Lah for us in Tokyo this morning. Kyung, thanks so much.

CHETRY: The economic stimulus fight overshadowing another tough fight for Republicans, the future of their party. The RNC is set to pick a new leader. We're going to take a look at where the GOP goes from here.

And President Obama tackling a full plate of issues from the economy to diplomacy. In a moment, in-depth look at the president's ambitious efforts and analysis on whether or not they may pay off.

It's 25 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO")

JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": It's getting nasty now between President Obama and Rush Limbaugh. In fact, Limbaugh told his radio audience, he's not going to bend over and grab his ankles just because Barack Obama is black.

But you know, let's take race out of this for a minute. No, honestly. Regardless of who's president, do you think there's any chance in hell Rush Limbaugh could bend over and grab his ankles?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: All right. Got to hand it to Leno on that one. Everyone is laughing around here.

All right. Well, on the heels of Rush Limbaugh's comments that he hopes President Obama will fail, a liberal group wants to drive a wedge between the conservative radio host and Republicans in Congress. The group Americans United for Change will launch radio ads today in Ohio, in Pennsylvania and Nevada asking GOP senators there, will you side with Obama or Rush Limbaugh?

The president is desperately seeking Republican support in the Senate for his economic stimulus plan after it was rejected by the Republicans in the House.

And while Republicans are at odds with President Obama over the stimulus, there's also an internal fight for the future of the GOP. The Republican National Committee will elect a new leader today. CNN's Candy Crowley looks at the party's struggle to get its political footing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Republican Party activists are meeting inside this hotel ballroom in Washington, D.C. There will be no dancing. SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MINORITY LEADER: We need to recognize where we are. Over the past two elections, we've lost 13 Senate seats and 51 House seats. Our most reliable voters are in decline as a percentage of the overall vote. And Democratic voter registration is on the rise.

CROWLEY: It's a mess as Republicans grapple with how to expand the party's appeal without abandoning the party's principles. How to attract new Republicans without alienating the faithful.

PHIL MUSSER, REBUILDTHEPARTY.COM: Clearly the Republican brand needs work, and I think that's a widespread recognition here that we lost our way.

CROWLEY: For starters, eight years of massive spending and jaw dropping deficits have shaken the party's core economic values beyond recognition.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're the party of less government, less taxes.

CROWLEY: More difficult than a course correction on economics is reputation. Republicans say they are wrongly viewed as "the anti's" -- anti-immigrant, anti-union, anti-environment, the party of no. Which is why as Republicans line up to oppose a stimulus plan they think cost too much and won't work, they sound so defensive.

SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), ALABAMA: It has nothing to do with the idea that we might get some political advantage if Obama stumbles. As an American, I want to see the right thing done regardless of who gets the political credit.

CROWLEY: There are Republican alternatives, but it's risky business, opposing the stimulus plan without being seen as opposing a very popular president, whose courtship of Republicans have been frequent and well photographed.

The party's myriad problems on and off the hill are exacerbated by the absence of a clear leader. Democrats are happy to fill the void with the notion that sharp-edged talk show host Rush Limbaugh is the true voice of Republicans, and he's not applauding the president's outreach program.

RUSH LIMBAUGH, CONSERVATIVE TALK SHOW HOST: But when he got Republican input, he rejected it. Remember, he said he won the election, meaning he is going to do whatever he wants to do. This entire sham of a bill and the sham of this great uniter and unifier has now been exposed.

CROWLEY: Inside the ballroom, they're still not dancing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My concern is that unless we do something to adapt our status as a minority party may become too pronounced for an easy recovery.

CROWLEY: The clock is ticking. Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And we're crossing the bottom of the hour now. This morning, concerns about hypothermia and carbon monoxide as states from the Southern Plains to the Northeast struggle to recover after this week's deadly ice storm. Right now, more than a million homes and businesses are in the dark and officials -- emergency officials -- fear that if people stay in their homes without power for too long and improperly use generators, there could be carbon monoxide poisoning. Officials warn that it could be days even weeks before the power is back on. Since Monday, the storm has been blamed for at least 27 deaths.

New York City may be forced to slash its workforce by about 23,000 as it faces a $4 billion deficit. Among the jobs that could be on the chopping block -- teachers, police, firefighters, sanitation workers. The proposed cuts will be detailed later today when Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveils next year's budget.

And take a look at this. It's a dramatic video of a small plane flipping as it comes in for a landing at an airport in Colombia. Local reports said that there was a gust of wind that may have just lifted the back of the plane up moments before touching down. Amazingly, only one of the three passengers was injured.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Not the way you want your trip to end.

Well, this morning, President Obama has a lot on his agenda. Huge economic crisis here at home. National security issues are making U.S. diplomacy more aggressive. For more on all of this, we're joined this morning by Richard Haass. He's the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, and this morning, we find him live in Davos, Switzerland.

Richard, let's get to all of that in just a second. But I want to ask you about Davos because there are some noticeable no-shows this year -- Bono, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Richard Gere, Governor David Paterson of New York, the CEOs of Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Barclays. BBC described it as something of a gloom fest. What do you think the mood is there?

RICHARD HAASS, PRESIDENT, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS.: Well, it is pretty gloomy, John, less because of who is not here than because of the world economy. Everybody is feeling it. That's the first, second and third topic of every conversation. The only other issue you sometimes hear a bit about is the Middle East, and that's hardly reason for cheer. So, your take on things is exactly on.

ROBERTS: Yes. On the subject of the Middle East, there's a number of moves that are going on. George Mitchell is there, conducting a listening tour. Talk about that in a second. But earlier this week, the president sent a message to the Arab world and the broader Muslim world in that interview with Al Arabiya. Some people took his statements to be an indication that the war on terror, as we know it, is over.

Roger Cohen in the "New York Times" wrote, quote, "The new president's abandonment of post-9/11 Bush doctrine is a critical breakthrough. It resolves nothing but opens the way for a rapprochement with a Muslim world long cast into the 'against us' camp."

How do you think that this new approach could serve U.S. interests?

HAASS: Well, you've got to really focus on people who haven't yet made the career choice to become a terrorist. You got to stop the recruitment chain. And that's why we're moving away from language like war on terror helps. And you start trying to affect the quality of education, what's said in the mosque and so forth. And I think there, President Obama is on to something. That said, we still have to basically fight a war with those people who have made the career choice to be terrorists. We either have to stop them one way or another or they will inflict great harm on us. So that part of reality continues.

ROBERTS: In the Middle East do you think George Mitchell has got much of a chance of laying the groundwork for a lasting peace agreement as he did in Northern Ireland?

HAASS: I think we have to slow town. He walks into an extraordinarily difficult situation, John. It's hard to exaggerate the difference in narratives between what the Israelis see as what's going on. They feel like to some extent they are the victim, and obviously, the feeling, not just among Palestinians but throughout the Arab world and moderates in the Arab and Muslim world, are clearly on the defensive.

So, right now, I think George Mitchell needs to start slowly. He needs to hear what people have to say, try to stabilize the cease- fire. And only then can you begin to get on to slightly more ambitious peacemaking. But you really cannot exaggerate how tough the situation is, he and this administration is walking into in that part of the world. The greater Middle East will be, by far, the most trying arena for the Obama administration.

ROBERTS: And one of the most trying issues is going to be what to do about Iran. The Obama administration expected to name Dennis Ross as his special point person dealing with Iran. Hillary Clinton, the new secretary of state, talked about Iran yesterday in this new approach toward it. I mean, this really seems to be moving ahead, this idea of engagement. Do you think that we can expect to see President Obama sitting down with the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei at some point?

HAASS: That's way, ways off. Just getting a dialogue underway is not going to be easy. The Iranians keep asking for American apologies. They seem to be setting various preconditions. They've got a big election this June. So, launching this dialogue will be tough enough. Having it reach a point where you could even conceive of a secretary of state or a president meeting an office in number, I think there's long ways off.

And the problem is, John, the nuclear problem is growing and it's moving fast. So, whether diplomacy can move fast enough to deal with the growth in Iranian nuclear capabilities, I think, is going to be the critical question when it comes to the possibility of any sort of engagement between these two countries.

ROBERTS: A whole lot in this new president's plate. Richard Haass from the Council on Foreign Relations joining us from snowy Davos, Switzerland this morning. Richard, good to see you. Thanks for being with us.

HAASS: Thank you, John.

CHETRY: And another sign of the tough economic times, zoos and aquariums nationwide are facing major budget shortfalls and cuts. We're going to tell you how it could affect your next trip to see your favorite animal.

And if you're looking to pig out, your super bowl party, we've got just the dish for you with the meat missile, if you will. It's called the bacon explosion. There it is. Lola is going to show us how to make it. 37 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: That's what it's like around here on Fridays and that's just our crew. Yes. Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning."

As we mentioned a moment ago, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is set to unveil a budget that some say really create a doomsday scenario. The state facing its own financial crisis and it means big cuts for dozens of zoos, botanical gardens as well as aquariums. Christine Romans joins us now today.

It's this little things that you don't think about...

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's right.

CHETRY: ...and then you turn around and say, wait a minute, what happened to the zoo?

ROMANS: That's right. You know, it's the recession hitting a zoo or aquarium near you. And John, Kiran, the stimulus bill is very clear. None of the $819 billion in that stimulus will go to zoos and aquariums or casinos, golf courses or swimming pools. It's very clear there. Taxpayer watchdogs say there are more important uses for your money. No pork -- for porcupines.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS (voice over): There's just no job security anywhere, even for sea lions. Here at the Bronx Zoo, a state budget crisis means cuts are coming. More than $3 million of state funding will disappear here. $9 million altogether for the state's 76 zoos, botanical gardens and aquariums.

STEVEN SANDERSON, CEO, WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY: We're faced with this very difficult problem of firing the animals, as it were.

ROMANS: Firing the animals? They've made a little video to illustrate and maybe rally support. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's disastrous. So, there's no easy way to say this, even though you bring record numbers of people to New York and help the economy, we're going to have to let you go.

ROMANS: So just who's next are on the line?

SANDERSON: Two-thirds of our budget is people and so two-thirds of the cuts will come in cutting positions. And we'll also cut back what we provide in the way of education and entertainment and nature experiences for people. So it affects everything.

ROMANS: It might mean no new animals, sending some away, and some collections will not be replaced when they die. Sanderson questions New York state's priorities, but Jeffrey Gordon, a spokesman for the New York State Budget Office, tells CNN the cuts are regrettable but necessary. Quote, "Given the dramatic reduction in revenue we're seeing at the state level, every entity that receives state funds must do what the state has done, which is to review its operations and identify ways to operate at lower costs."

It's happening everywhere. The Los Angeles Zoo stopped work on its $42 million elephant exhibit last year. Big budget cuts, too, for zoos in North Carolina, Missouri, Maryland and Florida. Hard realities of a tough economy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Oh, firing little froggy. The Bronx Zoo and the New York Aquarium only get about 3 percent of their funding from the budget, but, you know, they tell us, every penny counts because there are the state budget cuts then there's a loss of the value of their endowment, and they say that fewer people are renewing their membership. It all hurts so much they say they're going to have to lay off about 130 people, too.

CHETRY: But only 3 percent of their budget is coming out of the state, so...

ROMANS: Three percent. And that's what the state points out.

CHETRY: Private donations could make up for it.

ROMANS: Private donations. Also, their endowment and also -- well, there's a lot of things that are going down all at the same time. And they say that people are not renewing their membership. I think if you're strapped, maybe that's one of things that people are pulling back on -- it's the family zoo membership.

ROBERTS: So, we've got zoos having hard time making end's meet and then we have that one mayor that wanted some of the stimulus package to build a new polar bear zoo?

ROMANS: Yes. Right. Well, that's not going to be in there. I mean, they're very clear in the bill. ROBERTS: More mouths to feed, just what we need.

ROMANS: Very clear in the stimulus that they're not going to have -- the money will not go to things like that, that there are more -- higher priorities, frankly, than paying for the animals.

ROBERTS: That was a wise choice. Christine, thanks.

President Obama right now pushing that stimulus package. So, what might you get out of the plan? We've got the information that you need to know.

And Uncle Sam, the used car salesman? Would this guy lie to you? The government's plan to get you in a new ride. It's 44 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Each and every day brings new headlines of an economy in crisis. But if you are out of work, you may have just one question about the president's stimulus plan that's moving through Congress. And that question is, how will this plan benefit you? Well, CNN's Jessica Yellin has got some of the answers that you're looking for.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: John, Kiran, with unemployment so high, I took a look at how the stimulus package would specifically help Americans who have just lost their jobs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

YELLIN (voice over): At Kodak, Starbucks, Home Depot and Target, thousands of people getting pink slips. House Democrats say help is on the way. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What this bill does is it meets human needs. It does what a just society does. It feeds the hungry, it shelters the homeless, and it heals the sick.

YELLIN: That's a tall order. So, how would this bill help? For anyone who's lost their job, the bill almost doubles the amount of time you can collect an unemployment check, and it adds $25 to that check every week. That's cash in your pocket.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take your blood pressure.

YELLIN: If you lose your job, you lose your health care. Now, some people are allowed to buy into their old company health insurance, but it's incredibly expensive. With this bill, the government would pick up 65 percent of your health insurance premium, making it affordable to more people.

There's another more controversial option in the bill. Through next year, it would let states accept anyone who collects unemployment insurance into Medicaid. That's the government health care program usually open only to the very poor. Now, some conservatives are howling about the idea of letting more people into Medicaid and the Senate is against it. SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MINORITY LEADER: If we don't rein this spending in, soon we'll have only a fraction left for things like defense, roads, bridges and education.

YELLIN: And the crucial piece of a rescue -- getting you a job. One approach? This bill gives grants to build more broadband internet. If your area gets a grant, you could get a job laying fiber or taking orders for new broadband at a call center. And with more Internet, more people in your area might shop online or open home businesses, helping the economy even more.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YELLIN: Now the bill does have its limitations. On this internet portion alone, it does not provide for job training. It takes time for that money to get from the federal government to a company in your community. And there's no guarantee that the company would hire new workers instead of keeping the workers it already has. But supporters of this internet portion say that piece alone could create more than a hundred thousand new jobs.

John?

Kiran?

ROBERTS: The bacon explosion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A couple of slices of pork on pork on pork is OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: The 5,000 calorie dish that's sweeping the Internet and clogging arteries across the nation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some of my colleagues have called it a heart attack in a roll. What do you think?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that they're probably right on on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Why the bacon belly bomb is a big hit, ahead on the "Most News in the Morning."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: Turn your unwanted, broken, or mismatch jewelry into cold hard cash. Because of your selling, cash4gold.com is buying.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I sold my old jewelry and took a vacation of a lifetime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Well, if you've watched any television at all in the last few months, you've surely seen those cash4gold advertisements. Well, it turns out that the company has paid the big bucks necessary for a spot to air on Super Bowl, Sunday. And guess who they've hired as their celebrity spokesman? That's right. None other than M.C. Hammer and Ed McMahon. A couple of celebrities who you might think would need to hock some old gold rings. Commercials here enjoying the Super Bowl reportedly going for as much as $3 million this time around, and that's just for a 30-second spot.

CHETRY: How about it? Well, whether you watch the Super Bowl for the games or for the commercials, you want to eat, right? Well, barbecue addicts are toasting a new recipe that features bacon, bacon, and more bacon. And our Lola Ogunnaike shows us what goes into the 5,000 calorie bacon belly bomb.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (on camera): What do you make of this dish? I mean, you're the expert.

KEN CALLAGHAN, CHEF, "BLUE SMOKE": It's probably not something I would have on the menu here, but I think it's real really, really cool. You know, a couple of slices of pork on pork on pork is OK.

OGUNNAIKE: OK, so let's try and make it.

CALLAGHAN: All right.

OGUNNAIKE: Oh, so, it's like basket weaving?

CALLAGHAN: Exactly.

OGUNNAIKE: Like camp -- sixth grade camp. I can do that.

CALLAGHAN: That's weaving for pork.

OGUNNAIKE: Pull back and lay down. Pull back and lay down.

CALLAGHAN: Like pull back and lay down, exactly.

We take a little of the blue smoke magic dust. This is our famous barbecue rub here at blue smoke.

OGUNNAIKE: Looks like bacon art.

CALLAGHAN: It's fun with pork.

OGUNNAIKE: We all like a little rub down, don't we? Yes!

CALLAGHAN: We're going to evenly distribute the bacon. Just a little bit of barbecue sauce, just keep it nice and moist and give it a little bit of that, added barbecue flavor. We're just going to take it and roll it like this. Wow!

OGUNNAIKE: Whoa!

CALLAGHAN: How cool is that?

OGUNNAIKE: Like meat heaven!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's chewy. Not too salty. Probably wouldn't order it, to be honest, but I mean I'm not, you know, spitting up into my napkin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to leave here and work out for like four hours, and it will be OK. It kind of even the tough out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When something is called an explosion, you might want to change the name.

OGUNNAIKE: Some of my colleagues have called it a heart attack in a roll. What do you think?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that they're probably right on on that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Totally fat. Over 600,000, just to that the bacon explosion post to our site. So it went a little while.

OGUNNAIKE: Again, come on, let's eat!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really good.

OGUNNAIKE: It's really good?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really good.

OGUNNAIKE: They did a good job?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They did a fantastic job.

OGUNNAIKE: Ken Callaghan and Lola Ogunnaike at "Blue Smoke" did a good job? You approved?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Blue smoke barbecue gets our seal of approval. Bacon is fantastic. The only thing better is more bacon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: We have an old adage on the show, right?

ROBERTS: It's actually an adage that was pass along to me by an old colleague of mine, Lane Bernardo (ph), who is the guy who produces the "Survivor" finales at the end of every "Survivor" season. He once said to me "Everything tastes better wrapped in bacon, including bacon."

CHETRY: Including bacon. And that is a perfect example of that.

ROBERTS: Lane, you had it right. CHETRY: How about it? Well, they should wrap those up and send them to everybody in Washington, saying this is the only pork you're going to get this year.

ROBERTS: That's a ton of pork, though. 500 grams of fat.

CHETRY: That's right. But technically, Michael Phelps could eat 2- 1/2 of those for his daily intake -- caloric intake.

ROBERTS: I don't know that he want that much fat, though. You can just sort of feel it slowing down, the blood flowing into those coronary arteries.

CHETRY: Well, still looks good. 55 minutes after the hour.

ROBERTS: He wants you to get a new ride. The government's plan to get you back in the driver's seat on the "Most News in the Morning."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning." Well, after failing to get a single House Republican on board with his stimulus bill, President Obama turned to lobbying with libation in the form of a White House cocktail party for ranking Republicans and Democrats. It's just one story that had people buzzing inside the beltway this week. So we turn to "Washington Post" reporter and CNN contributor Dana Milbank.

Dana, great to see you this morning.

DANA MILBANK, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning.

CHETRY: It was interesting timing. First of all, people say what a turn around from the Bush years, where there wasn't a lot of that type of after hours entertaining, but it also came on the day that he got no votes, no Republican votes on the stimulus bill.

MILBANK: Well, at least they'll have a good time about it, you know? But it's true. The president went up to talk to, first, the House Republicans and the Senate Republicans, was rewarded without a single vote in the Republican vote in the House of Representatives, but still had them all over for a cocktail. You know, it may not be good politics, but it's definitely a loosening up the culture in the White House after the (INAUDIBLE) president. And now he's going to get to have a drink on Saturday night with Sarah Palin.

CHETRY: Wow, yes. We'll talk about that in one second. But I just want to ask you, what goes on? So, I mean, you know, if you're invited -- the president invites you to the White House for a cocktail, of course, you're going to go. I mean, even John Boehner, the House Minority leader joked I'm the skunk at the garden party but I got invited so I'm going to go. But what takes place there, especially after, you know, something as contentious is not being able to agree on a huge, huge bill?

MILBANK: Well, a lot of small talk. But I think they are able to -- you know, these guys basically spend all of their lives fighting with each other during the day and pretending like they are just ordinary people socializing at night. So that part of politics isn't unfamiliar. The whole idea is beat each other's brains out and then decide it's nothing personal. What Obama said earlier this week was old habits die hard, and if he just keeps doing this, just keeps reaching out, eventually, it will be one big happy town here. Probably going to take more than a week or so, though.

CHETRY: That's right. And maybe a different town. But tell us about the Alfalfa dinner. Sarah Palin as you said is going to be at this. What is that?

MILBANK: Well, this has been going on almost a hundred years. The Alfalfa Club is a mixture of all the business and political elite. It got its name because apparently the alfalfa plant will dig its roots just about anywhere to get a drink, and that's what these guys are all about.

So -- but Sarah Palin is coming to town. She used to say she didn't want to hobnob with the Washington elites and, you know, mix with the right people at the right parties, but it's going to be a black tie affair and she'll get to see the president. She says she's only coming to lobby about strictly about Alaska issues, so we'll see if that's the case.

CHETRY: All right. Also, the war of words this week. You couldn't have missed it with President Obama and Rush Limbaugh. It was interesting. Conservative columnist Kathleen Parker wrote an op-ed in the "Washington Post" saying, wait a minute. He was baited by Limbaugh. He took the bait. Should he have responded to Rush?

MILBANK: I've been a bit surprised by the way the president has been doing that. I think he sometimes still thinks that he is a senator and can mix it up the way he was talking with reporters in the hallway there. In his session with the House Republicans, he started teasing them about FOX News as well.

The president is probably going to realize that it may be better to just step back. He doesn't realize quite how loud his megaphone is, and he's only sort of glorifying the people that he mentions by mentioning them. But, you know, maybe if we criticize him real bad, Kiran, we can get a mention at today's briefing.

CHETRY: You never know. Dana Milbank, CNN political contributor, great to have you. Thanks.

MILBANK: Thanks.