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American Morning
President Obama Slams GOP Critics Over Stimulus; Jobs Report Numbers Expected to be Dismal; Cockpit Tapes of US Airways Flight 1549 Released; Michael Phelps Suspended and Loses Kellogg's Sponsorship; Why the Economy Needs Decisive Action Now
Aired February 06, 2009 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up on top of the hour now, a look at the top stories this morning. The Senate ending debate last night -- late last night without a vote or compromise on the stimulus bill. As the president slammed his GOP critics, he gave some harsh warnings about what would happen if this bill is not passed. The side of the president that has not been seen since the campaign trail. He told his GOP critics, it's time for new strategies.
CHETRY: As the president slammed his GOP critics, he gave some harsh warnings about what would happen if this bill is not passed. It's a side of the president that has not been seen since the campaign trail. He told his GOP critics it's time for new strategies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But what I have also said is don't come to the table with the same old tired arguments and worn ideas that helped to create this crisis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And for the first time in more than half a century, Toyota forecasting a loss for the fiscal year. The world's number one carmaker says profits will drop by $5 billion. In just the third quarter alone, Toyota's earnings fell 28 percent from last year. This is just a day after the company temporarily stopped production because of decreased demand worldwide.
And Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg recovering in a New York hospital after she had surgery for pancreatic cancer. This was discovered by doctors last month during a routine screening. It's Ginsburg second battle with cancer. She was treated back in 1999 for colon cancer. Ginsburg is 75 years old and the only female on the high court.
CHETRY: Breaking news this morning, the economy expected to hit another new low this morning. The government's key employment report is out. It's coming out in just about 90 minutes, and it could send the unemployment rate to a 7.5 percent, to a rate of 7.5 percent. That would be a 16-year high.
Last night on "LARRY KING LIVE," money expert Suze Orman put our current situation in depressing terms, saying that it's starting to look like an old newsreel out there. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUZE ORMAN, FINANCIAL EXPERT: There are some people, they can't find a job. They're trying to do anything and everything in their power to get by. They've lost their home. They've lost their car.
They don't have any money in retirement. They don't have a penny and what are they doing? They're doing food stamps. They're in bread lines.
Go by the bread lines, Larry. Look at the people that are standing in soup lines, so to speak, bread lines, where they just want food. They're white collar workers in some of those lines. It's absolutely to them like a depression.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, we bring in now Christine Romans as well as Ali Velshi. Both of them are weighing in this morning on this unfortunate news that we're getting once again for January.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suze Orman, it's interesting, she points that out. I keep saying that we went from flat screens to food lines in just a year and that's exactly what happened.
The unemployment situation has really turned quickly. The last few months have been really bad. Three or four months in a row, 400 plus job loss. We're going to see maybe 550,000 jobs lost in the month of January. Even as Ali knows, it's very, very rare to see numbers like that. That's a whole lot of jobs and one really troubling thing about the labor market right now is that you're not seeing hiring elsewhere.
ROBERTS: Yes.
ROMANS: It's scattered places, the government and in health care, engineering, you're seeing some hiring, but for the most part, you're not seeing hiring someplace else, and that's really got people concerned. That's why we have so many people continuing to get jobless claims because they can't get jobs someplace else.
ROBERTS: So I guess the big question that everybody has, Ali, and Nouriel Roubini, the noted economist for the Stern --
ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: The Doom label (ph).
ROBERTS: Dr. Doom.
ROMANS: Yes. And he said right.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: He talks about a very deep U-shaped depression.
VELSHI: Right.
ROBERTS: It's just how wide is that "U" at the bottom going to be.
VELSHI: Right. Right. If the "U" is a couple of months that we hit the bottom and then we start moving up, the other side of a recession is actually the good side. When it's starting to go up, jobs start getting created hopefully.
The issue here as Christine says we're losing more than 500,000 jobs a month for the last few months. Every month a number of people retire and a number of new people come into the workforce and to keep up with that, many economists say you need to create between 100 and 150,000 jobs a year -- we've lost --
ROMANS: A month.
VELSHI: A month. I'm sorry, a month. We went through 2008 losing 2.6 million jobs. Now take a look at this map.
The whole country is being affected. There are some parts of the country, those green states, that's where the unemployment rate is a few points lower than the national average, but even the lowest unemployment rates in the country have moved from the twos into the threes.
There's not a lot of job change in a lot of those states from the Canadian border down to Oklahoma and Texas. Oklahoma and Texas have a different benefit. They've got energy production. Texas, in particular, is a growing economy but around the coast and the southeast, very, very serious problems with respect to jobs. It's all across the country. Every state has lost jobs.
CHETRY: So, what is the answer as we continue to debate the stimulus in the Senate?
ROMANS: Well, this is almost like a punctuation mark for the president and anybody who's trying to push the stimulus because this is telling us exactly what he's been saying for some weeks now, which is at this point a really tough situation.
He says, the president says that we could see double-digit unemployment if we don't do what they would like us to do. We know that in the stimulus there are provisions for $25 more for your unemployment check to expand your unemployment benefits. We know that there's provisions to subsidize your COBRA. You know, a lot of people are going to be out of work. This is something that will affect on awful lot of people.
ROBERTS: But here's the big debate, tax cuts versus spending...
VELSHI: Yes.
ROBERTS: ... short term spending versus long-term spending. You're the guru, you wrote the book. Tax cuts, which is best? VELSHI: I like tax cuts. They're a neat idea but in this recession it's so serious and because we don't know how it ends, what happens is individuals and companies who get money may not spend. If the traditional ideas that you get a tax cut the money you save, you spend, you create demand and you create jobs.
ROMANS: Right.
VELSHI: Right now, people might be too scared to spend.
ROBERTS: Yes. People are afraid to spend.
VELSHI: And so are companies.
ROMANS: And some of them should be, quite frankly. I mean, we had negative savings for so long, people have to build up the cushion again before they can feel confident and the economy doesn't turn around until confidence returns.
ROBERTS: An hour and a half now from that big number, we'll be watching before you all morning here.
It's the number one story right now on CNN.com, though, this one. The alleged bong hit seen around the world getting lots of hits online. Gold medalist Michael Phelps has now been slapped with a suspension and he's losing a big endorsement.
Our Jason Carroll is following the story for us this morning.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a lot of interest in this one, John. Phelps is learning a valuable lesson on what happens when a sports hero does not live up to that image. The gold medal winner was dropped by Kellogg's, one of his sponsors, and he's been temporarily suspended from swimming.
Phelps has yet to publicly respond to the suspension or the lost sponsorship. For the first time, he did speak out on camera yesterday, talking to a local TV station from his hometown in Baltimore.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Michael Phelps, what were you thinking?
MICHAEL PHELPS, OLYMPIC CHAMPION: Obviously not much. And, you know, like I said, a bad judgment and, you know, I can learn from it and try to make my life better than it has been in at best (ph). Like I said, I made mistakes and, you know, I have to live with every mistake that I've learned.
I think it's hard to really, you know, to be ready for any of this. You know, to understand anything that's going to happen, I think, it's impossible for anybody to really know the definite answer. But you know, I've actually, I've been able to talk to a lot of people and you know, a lot of people that have been in my shoes in other sports and I've been able to get their perspective and just talk to them a little bit. And I think that's been helpful over the last few days.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Has this made you rethink Rome this summer and maybe London in 2012?
PHELPS: You know, like I said, swimming makes me happy. It's been a part of my life for so many years now, and, you know, I just feel it's good to be -- it's good to get back in the water. I'm not going to make any decisions yet, but you know, we'll see what happens.
I'm going to do everything I can, you know, in the pool and I'm already back in the water training. Still deciding on a lot of things, but I'm happy to be back in the water, and that's a place where I feel at home and feel comfortable.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: And John, as you know, this all started over the weekend, when that infamous photo surfaced. It shows Phelps appears to be smoking a bong. USA Swimming has now suspended Phelps from competition for three months and cut his financial support. In a statement they said, "This is not a situation where any anti-doping rule was violated, but we decided to send a strong message to Michael because he disappointed so many people, particularly the hundreds of thousands of USA Swimming member kids who look up to him as a role model and a hero."
Kellogg's also very disappointed about this, saying it will not renew its sponsorship deal with Phelps. A spokeswoman saying his behavior was not consistent with the image of the cereal giant. Phelps' three-month suspension would expire in time for him to participate in the next big competition, the world championships in Rome, that's in July. But as you heard there in the interview, not sure if he's going to participate -- John.
ROBERTS: I mean, this wasn't about a performance-enhancing issue at all, because obviously marijuana is not a performance enhancer, that was proven back in the 1998 Nagano Olympics when Ross Rebagliati, the snowboarder from Canada, was stripped of his gold medal then it was given back. But it's all about this idea of ethics and morals and, you know, what's right and what's wrong in terms of --
CARROLL: It really is and it's also about that image that he puts out there. If you're going to put yourself out there with the image, you know, on a cereal box or whatever the case may be that you're this upstanding, good guy and then you do something that flies in the face of that image, you got to pay the price.
CHETRY: Yes. It's also interesting, you don't realize how much the kids look up to him. There's a little 9-year-old in my neighborhood and he said, "I'm going to go to the pool, you know, this winter, the indoor pool, because I want to be like Michael Phelps." He didn't know at the time that this happened.
ROBERTS: You know, let's hope (ph) he says, "I want to be like Michael Phelps and before I go to the pool I'm going to blow his (INAUDIBLE). CHETRY: Yes, exactly.
ROBERTS: You don't want that.
CHETRY: No, not that.
Well, thanks, Jason.
And we're following breaking news this morning as well. President Obama taking on GOP senators over his stimulus bill. The president pulling no punches. We're going to have more on what he said, coming up.
Also, a locker room atmosphere at the White House? One of President Bush's former top hands says that President Obama's casual dress code is disrespectful. Why he's weighing in on that right now at ten minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. How could you forget that image? We're learning more about what happened in the seconds before US Airways Flight 1549 crash landed in the Hudson last month. The cockpit voice recorders are out, and the hero pilot is also speaking publicly for the first time talking about the horrible feeling he had the moment he realized that birds took out both engines.
CNN's Mary Snow takes us inside the cockpit for the first time. We have newly released audiotape.
Good morning, Mary. And it's interesting because when you hear it, it doesn't portray the type of turmoil he felt inside, or as he puts it just how terrifying it was at the soundlessness of the two engines going out.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Truly amazing. Keep in mind this whole ordeal is roughly two minutes and as you're about to hear these audiotapes released by the FAA are dramatic not because of emotion but as Kiran said, rather the lack of emotion.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW (voice-over): Facing a potential disaster over the skies of New York, Captain Sully Sullenberger kept calm. Roughly 90 seconds after takeoff, there's a problem.
CACTUS: This is Cactus 1539. Hit birds. We lost thrust in both engines. We're turning back towards LaGuardia.
SNOW: Cactus is the sign for US Airways but the flight number is actually 1549. An air traffic controller at LaGuardia has an open runway.
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: If we can get it for you, do you want to try to land runway 1-3? CACTUS: We're unable. We may end up in the Hudson.
SNOW: About 40 seconds later, Captain Sullenberger looks for another option in New Jersey.
CACTUS: I'm not sure we can make any runway. What's over to our right? Anything in New Jersey, maybe Teterboro?
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Cactus 1529 turn right 2-8-0, you can land runway 1 at Teterboro.
CACTUS: We can't do it.
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: OK, which runway would you like at Teterboro?
CACTUS: We're going to be in the Hudson.
SNOW: His voice is strikingly calm, but now Captain Sully Sullenberger describes in his first TV interview with CBS's Katie Couric what those moments were like for him?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. CHESLEY SULLENBERGER, PILOT, US AIRWAYS FLIGHT 1549: It was the worst sickening pit of your stomach falling to the floor feeling I've ever felt in my life. I knew immediately it was very bad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: The now famous miracle is that all 155 people on board made it safely from the Hudson's frigid waters. Survivors say hearing the tapes made them relive the ordeal.
ALBERTO PANERO, US AIRWAYS FLIGHT 1549 PASSENGER: The one point that I did get a little bit of chills on my back was he says "unable" and that's all he said. And that was exactly the tone of voice and demeanor that he used when he said "brace for impact."
BRAD WENTZELL, US AIRWAYS FLIGHT 1549 PASSENGER: I think I'm doing the same thing that a lot of people were doing is, you try to listen to how cool and calculating this pilot was.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: And Brad Wentzell you just heard, his new nickname for the pilot, cool-hand Luke. He and some of the other passengers we spoke with finally got a chance this week to meet with Captain Sullenberger and his crew. They described the meeting as emotional but say they were not surprised by the captain's cool demeanor in that cockpit.
CHETRY: They gave him credit even when they were walking off the plane and being interviewed in their still wet clothing but now, I mean, after they've had a chance to digest it all, they must realize just how lucky they were that he was the one in charge that day. SNOW: That's why a number of them told us they really did relive the moment yesterday when they heard these tapes.
CHETRY: Mary Snow, thanks so much.
Also a programming note, Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and his crew will be making their first prime time appearance. It will be live on "LARRY KING" next Tuesday, and Captain Sullenberger will also be our guest on AMERICAN MORNING coming up on Wednesday -- John.
ROBERTS: We are looking forward to that.
Time is money. The economy shedding hundreds of thousands of jobs, as the Senate haggles over the recovery plan. We'll talk to a Nobel Prize winner who says we need decisive action and we need it now.
It's 15 1/2 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I don't care whether you're driving a hybrid or an SUV. If you're headed for a cliff, you've got to change direction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Mr. Obama mincing no words last night talking to House Democrats. The president's sharp rhetoric aimed at Republicans in the Senate and the president showing a side of himself not seen since he was a candidate.
The harsh words came just after the Senate broke without a vote on a compromise on a bill last night. And president Obama reminding lawmakers that everyone will have to make sacrifices.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OBAMA: This package is not going to be absolutely perfect, and you can nit and you can pick and, you know, that's the game that we all play here. We know how to play that game. What I'm saying is now we can't afford to play that game.
We've got to pull together. There are going to be some things that don't get included that each of us would like to see included. All of us are going to have to make some sacrifices. And we have to accommodate the interests of a range of people, and the House is going to have to work with the Senate. But let's think big right now. Let's not think small. Let's not think narrowly.
Just as past generations of Americans have done in prime times, we can and must turn this moment of challenge into one of opportunity. The plan that you've passed has at its core a simple idea. Let's put Americans to work doing the work that America needs done. So this plan -- this plan will save or create over three million jobs, almost all of them in the private sector.
This plan will put people to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, our dangerously deficient dams and levees. This plan will put people to work, modernizing our health care system. That doesn't just save us billions of dollars. It saves countless lives because we'll reduce medical errors. This plan will put people to work renovating more than 10,000 schools, giving millions of children the chance to learn in 21st century classrooms and libraries and labs, creating new sciences for a new future.
This plan will provide sensible tax relief for the struggling middle class, and unemployment insurance and continued health care coverage for those who lost their jobs and it will help prevent our states and local communities. It will help Governor Ritter and Governor Strickland not have to lay off firefighters and teachers and police, because when they get laid off, not only do we leave services, but maybe they can't make the payments on their home, maybe they get foreclosed on and this economy goes down further.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Fired up, no question about that. Our Suzanne Malveaux live at the White House this morning.
Suzanne, listening to his speech last night, you almost thought that you're back on the campaign trail again.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, John. It really resembles the guy that we got to know over the last 18 months and not the president over the last 18 days. But clearly, he's gone from a candidate who campaigned on change to a president very frustrated that he's having trouble actually making that change happen.
And you saw him, he was really throwing red meat at the Democrats. They're trying to rally his base, to get some support, put some pressure on them as well. And this audience not just for the Democrats, John, because they opened up this event. Initially it was closed then it was open to cameras. He is really trying to talk to the American people, to deliver this populist message that he's got the right fix for the economy. And you heard him also say he said he found this mess, this economic crisis on his watch, that it was dropped in his lap on his desk.
Now, he is very adamant, very passionate about getting that economic stimulus package plan, that program passed, but also it does give him some political cover, John, if this whole thing blows up -- John.
ROBERTS: Got to twist some arms in his own party even though, in addition to getting Republicans on board.
Hey, we should point out, Suzanne, that you're pretty much the first one in the door there in terms of the White House press corps and being there early, nets you some benefits as well. You broke some news this morning regarding a new team that the president is putting together to try to work on these economic problems?
MALVEAUX: He's going to lay out this team. It's the economic recovery advisory group, essentially a group of independent advisers and academics that will be meeting with the president on a regular basis for the next two years. Ahead is the former fed chair, Paul Volcker. These are the folks who he rolled out, it was about December or so during the campaign time, and a lot of familiar names. You're talking about the CEOs of Caterpillar, GE, Oracle, also leaders from Yale, Harvard and UC Berkeley coming together. But the bottom line here, John, it's no accident that he's rolling this out today. He wants the American people to know I've got some heavy hitters that are backing me on this plan. I'm not alone, so therefore support me -- John.
ROBERTS: What time is the official announcement of that?
MALVEAUX: About the 11:00 hour.
ROBERTS: All right. We'll look forward to that.
Suzanne Malveaux at the White House this morning. Suzanne, thanks so much.
And a reminder for you, a programming note here. The White House announcing that President Obama will hold his first formal news conference since taking office. That will be Monday night during prime time. He's going to make remarks and take reporters' questions, Monday, 8:00 p.m. Eastern. And, of course, you can get all the best coverage in the nation right here on CNN -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Well, still ahead, the he mother of the octuplets speaking out for the first time. A lot of people just fascinated with this case. We're going to explain why she says she felt compelled to more than double the size of her already large family.
And Cuba off limits to American tourists. President Obama could change all of that, but is the tiny nation even ready for the potential flood of visitors? We'll find out when the "Most News in the Morning" comes right back.
It's 24 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. The Senate is scrambling to get a recovery package to the president's desk. My next guest says the time for economic shock and awe is now.
Paul Krugman is a professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School. He's also the author of "The Return of Depression Economics." Also the most recent winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics. Paul Krugman joins us now from Washington.
Paul, it's great to see you this morning. You know, when talking about the stimulus package that's before the Senate now, you say that you agree with "Financial Times" columnist Martin Wolf who called it too small, too wasteful and too ill-focused. Can you sort of explain that a little more? What do you think needs to change?
PAUL KRUGMAN, ECON. PROF., WOODROW WILSON SCHOOL, PRINCETON UNIV.: OK, I mean, we're almost certainly going to be back for a second installment, this is not big enough. We're looking at it probably $2.5 trillion shortfall in spending in this economy and even a $900 billion package is not going to be enough to, you know, it will mitigate but it isn't really enough to deal with it. So it's too small.
It's too wasteful. There seems in there especially the business tax cuts are just basically zero bang for the buck. There's a substantial part of it that was there to win some more senators over, but doesn't do much. And it's, you know, I'm not so much on the ill focused. I think it's 70, 80 percent of the stuff is exactly what we should be doing and then there are some other stuff that isn't very good. But you know, -- but look, it's a whole lot better than nothing. That's a whole lot better than the Republican plan which was more of Bush.
ROBERTS: Although, of course, in recent days John McCain said better no bill than this bill. What do you think about that statement?
KRUGMAN: That's totally -- these are scary times. We are in, if you look at the basic structure, what's been happening, it does look like the beginning of the Great Depression. Twenty-first century version of it, but it's got enough parallels that you got to act and you got to act strongly because if we don't, this downturn could not only be very severe but it can get entrenched. We can get caught in a trap. So, hit it hard with a big plan now.
ROBERTS: Yes. I mean, you're talking a recent editorial about the attitude in Washington. Let me just pull a quote from that.
KRUGMAN: Yes.
ROBERTS: You say, "Somehow Washington has lost any sense of what's at stake -- over (ph) the reality that we may be falling into an economic abyss and that if we do, it will be very hard to get out again."
I mean, if you could be up there on Capitol Hill talking to all of these people, what would you say to them?
KRUGMAN: I'd say look, you know, you're playing games. You're picking out small items in this bill and saying oh, isn't that silly when the conversation particularly in the Senate, the last few days has been as if this was an ordinary year where it was all theater, you could just play politics. And, you know, this is really, really frightening.
The economy, this is the most frightening thing I've seen in my lifetime in the economy, and you cannot - we have to act. We have to do something. Doing nothing is really not an option right now.
ROBERTS: Let me just back up and get you to elaborate on that. You just said, "It's the most frightening thing that you have ever seen in the economy." Can you elaborate a bit?
KRUGMAN: Sure. We've had severe recessions before but those recessions were more or less understandable. They were more or less created. We had a severe recession in the early '80s, because the Federal Reserve wanted a recession to curve inflation.
This is a situation that's out of control. The Federal Reserve, which is our normal guardian against recessions, has put its pedal to the metal. The interest rate is zero and the economy is still in a freefall. So this is something that is just sliding. It's the whole world that's caught up in it, and it's the kind of slump that we know both from Japan ten years ago and from the 1930s, the kind of slump that can dig itself in, that can become something that just doesn't go away.
ROBERTS: Wow. Strong language this morning from Paul Krugman.
Paul, it's good to see you this morning. Thanks for coming in.
KRUGMAN: Thank you.
CHETRY: 7:30 right now here in New York, and perhaps an illustration of what Paul Krugman was just talking about. We're getting the latest government jobs report in about an hour from now. And economists that have been surveyed by briefing.com are predicting right now around 540,000 jobs will be lost, and this is January alone. Unemployment right now already at a 15-year high from retail, banking, manufacturing. Companies across the board are shedding jobs and putting a freeze on new hires.
Russia agreeing to help the United States deliver nonmilitary cargo to Afghanistan. Russia's foreign -- Moscow's foreign minister saying that his country will cooperate with the United States getting much needed goods to NATO troops on the ground.
Washington was facing a possible setback after a U.S. base closed in Kyrgyzstan after Russia agreed -- until Russia agreed to step in and help.
And Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps has been suspended now for three months by USA Swimming. He also got his training stipend revoked during that time. It comes after the infamous picture of him allegedly smoking pot made the rounds in tabloids across the world. Kellogg's Cereal also pulling its endorsement deal with the Olympic champion.
The mother of octuplets under fire this morning for more than doubling the size of her already large family and she's speaking out in an exclusive with NBC's Ann Curry. Nadya Suleman talked about her childhood and what led her to have the decision to have so many more children. Alina Cho has been following this story for us. You know, a lot of people not only wondering why she would do it but why the doctors involved would say it was OK.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a lot of questions about whether laws should be changed regarding fertility treatment now, Kiran. Good morning. Good morning, everybody.
You know, after 11 days of silence, the 33-year-old mother is finally speaking out, telling NBC that she suffered from a certain emptiness as a child and tried to overcompensate by having children, saying, quote, "It was always a dream of mine to have a large family, a huge family, and I just longed for certain connections and attachments with another person that I really lacked, I believe, growing up."
Now at first the birth of Suleman's eight babies was met with great fan fare. It was just the second set of octuplets born in U.S. history. But soon it was revealed that she had six other children, and that all 14 were born through in vitro fertilization. That got a lot of people mad.
She also spoke about the process in that interview with NBC saying, quote, "I went through about seven years of trying, through artificial insemination, through medication, and all of which was unsuccessful." And then the first IVF procedure from that facility, it was successful and then I just kept going in."
Of course, it's the birth of Suleman's octuplets that gotten the most attention and, at times, criticism. Even her mother told the Associated Press she was against her daughter's latest pregnancy. Nadya says she suffered from years of depression and that her marriage fell apart after she was injured during a riot at the mental hospital where she worked.
Now the birth of the octuplets has also raised, of course, a lot of ethical questions. Why would a doctor allow fertility treatment to a woman who already has six children?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFF GARDERE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: This is a woman who has a very unique way of thinking, which may not be rooted in reality.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Suleman's six baby boys and two girls are still in the hospital. They are said to be in good condition. Their mother's hired two publicists and is apparently considering a deluge of book deals, TV shows and other business proposals. As you can imagine, Suleman, though, guys, has not yet revealed what she's going to do other than take care of those children and she's going to need a lot of help.
CHETRY: Yes, and she's going to need a lot of money as well. I mean, you know, the -- care of just keeping these eight children in the neonatal intensive care unit that wracks up hundreds of thousands of dollars and, you know, she's -- she needs money.
CHO: And there is a -- there is a report out of the Associated Press that CNN is trying to confirm right now that she received $165,000 in disability payments over the years when she worked at that mental hospital. Apparently, during those years where she was employed -- when she was employed there, she didn't spend much time at work, instead received those disability payments and, of course, CNN is trying to confirm that and we'll get back to you the next hour with more details.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: This is a story that I don't think we've seen the end of just yet.
CHO: Not yet.
ROBERTS: All right, Alina.
CHO: I don't think by a long shot.
ROBERTS: Thanks.
CHO: You bet.
ROBERTS: Well, the psychic business is booming in otherwise tough times. Why so many desperate people are trusting fortune tellers over their financial planners.
Cuba has been off-limits to American tourists for years. President Obama could change all that. But is the tiny nation even ready for a potential flood of visitors? We'll find out. It's 35 minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Former Cuban president Fidel Castro lashing out at President Obama. The 82- year-old Castro wrote an essay entitled, "Contradictions between Obama's Politics and Ethics."
Castro says he questions the fairness of the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba and also takes aim at Obama's commitment to energy independence which he says could negatively affect countries whose economies depend on oil exports, re: Castro's very favorite friend, Hugo Chavez, of Venezuela.
However, Castro made it clear that he does not blame the president for U.S. policies put in place when Obama was a child or before he was even born which would seem reasonable -- Kiran?
CHETRY: Well, yes, and of course there are some who think that President Obama could actually lift those travel restrictions against Cuba during the course of his administration but is Cuba ready for the flood of with would-be American visitors waiting in the wings?
Morgan Neill has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MORGAN NEILL, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): On Havana's Malecon, you'll see tourists from Latin America, Canada, Europe, even Asia. But even though it's just 90 miles away, it's rare to find Americans here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Canadians flock in here and I'm sure Americans would come here more if they could.
NEILL: Jim and Denise (INAUDIBLE) have come all the way from New Zealand. They say they don't understand why Americans aren't allowed to visit Cuba.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are free to travel everywhere and we would like to think that other people are, too.
NEILL: The American government first restricted travel to Cuba in 1963, under president John F. Kennedy. The restrictions were allowed to lapse under President Carter, then were reinstated under President Reagan.
Since then, Americans traveling here without a special license have faced the threat of steep fines. Some believe that might change under President Barack Obama.
LUCY DAVIES, DIRECTOR, CUBANIA TRAVEL: We are interestingly getting a lot of interest from the U.S. over the past couple of weeks, suddenly has people calling me.
NEILL: Tour operator Lucy Davies says if the U.S. does let its people visit they'll have to be ready to rough it a bit.
DAVIES: What I tell old people who come to Cuba that they have to expect a completely different reality. Perhaps some of the comforts we're accustomed to in the western world simply don't exist here.
NEILL: And Cuba may not be ready for a flood of U.S. tourists. Hotels can be rundown. Many are already running near capacity, and something as simple as renting a car can be a bureaucratic nightmare.
(on camera): On the other hand, it's pretty easy to get a drink at one of Earnest Hemingway's favorite watering holes. Chances are you won't bump into any Americans at the bar. You're not likely to see many Cubans either. The drinks are too extensive.
Morgan Neill, CNN, Havana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Well, some of the sharpest minds on Wall Street now throwing all logic out the window and putting their fortunes in the hands of fortune tellers. Could they do any worse? A look at how the psychic business is booming in very tough times.
And why one of President Bush's former top aides says President Obama is creating a locker room atmosphere in the White House. We'll tell you what Andy Card had to say.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. Their nest eggs and retirement accounts were decimated in 2008 so now some people are trying something new and slightly unusual and perhaps more successful in 2009.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business" now. It's all about prediction anyways. So why not put your fortune in the hands of a fortune teller?
ROMANS: That's right. Have you ever been to a psychic? Have you ever gone to a psychic?
CHETRY: No, I...
ROMANS: I had...
CHETRY: ... had my palm read once at a party.
ROMANS: I have never gone to a psychic. But now more people on Wall Street, more people who have been just killed in the economy are going to see a psychic so you don't need a crystal ball to see that times are tough, so tough, in fact, a lot of people now are taking unconventional approach to improve their fortunes. They're seeing a psychic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS (voice-over): You don't need a crystal ball to see that times are tough, so tough, in fact, some people are taking an unconventional approach to improve their fortunes, they're seeing a psychic.
BRUCE LEVY, PRESIDENT, BRUCE LEVY ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL LTD.: What I expected was something like ouija boards or someone looking at my palm and seeing my lifeline.
ROMANS: What Bruce Levy found when he began seeing psychic Roxanne Usleman...
ROXANNE USLEMAN, PSYCHIC: Now we see that the economies are going to merge.
ROMANS: ... was something completely different.
LEVY: She's able to make me see things that I wouldn't otherwise see and I just think she has this intuition that gets through to my subconscious in a way that I can't.
USLEMAN: You can have it work out the way that you want it to.
ROMANS: (INAUDIBLE) says what bad for the economy is good for her business.
USLEMAN: Now it's more types of people I've never seen before, men in the business world, high-powered jobs, stock market, Wall Street.
LEVY: Absolutely delicate but...
ROMANS: And the questions have changed, too.
USLEMAN: Should I merge with this company? Should I bring in a partner to my company?
ROMANS: But can psychics really see what economists can't?
RYAN MACK, PRESIDENT, OPTIMUM CAPITAL MANAGEMENT: Absolutely not. Regardless of what the stars say, regardless of what the map says and different things of that sort in terms of if Pluto is lined up with Mars and things of that nature, you have the ability within yourself to save, to plan, to be diligent.
ROMANS: But in tough economic times that's easier said than done, according to Professor Gita Johar, who has studied consumer behavior.
GITA JOHAR, PROFESSOR OF BUSINESS, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: The biggest reason people are going to see psychics is probably that they want to feel in control and then they see that their financials aren't looking so good and they really can't turn to their financial adviser, they haven't been getting, you know, completely good advice and so they have to turn to someone else.
ROMANS: So are psychics the comfort food of this financial famine? One Web site we checked says they're doing well even though some psychics charge up to $20 per minute.
LEVY: I've just reconciled myself to not being able to understand why it works, but in (INAUDIBLE) evidence, my own experience tells me it does work so.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Well, let's be honest, no one knows where the economy is going. I guess it couldn't hurt to ask a psychic, right?
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: Exactly.
ROMANS: Psychic Roxanne also gave us our own reading on the economy. She says the housing sector will get worse. That crisis will get worse. It could be the perfect time to start a business if you've lost your job, try to find what you love, and do it, and she also says the country will fall into a depression. I said, "A depression?" And she said yes, but ultimately it will be good for the country because it's going to bring us together and get back to basics and people are going to learn to do the right things again and it's just a painful...
CHETRY: Ron (INAUDIBLE) told us all that.
ROMANS: I know.
CHETRY: And he's not a psychic.
ROMANS: I know. And one of my, one of my sources said, well, that sounds like warned over conventional wisdom from Davos, actually, you know?
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: Which is the big (INAUDIBLE).
ROBERTS: You know when the moon is in the seventh house and Jupiter aligns with Mars.
ROMANS: Listen, she charges about $135 a pop. She sees six people a day.
ROBERTS: Peace will guide the planets.
ROMANS: Yes.
ROBERTS: And love will (INAUDIBLE) the stars.
ROMANS: People want some direction.
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: Christine, thank you.
Well, President Obama last night called on Republicans to abandon what he called failed policy, so what does former Republican presidential candidate and successful businessman, Mitt Romney, think? What's his take on the stimulus package? He's joining us live in just a couple of minutes.
Also you heard the calm cockpit recordings. Now we're going to meet the man in charge of the plane that splash-landed in the Hudson. After weeks of silence, we're finally hearing more from the heroic pilot.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's day 18 for President Obama. It's the second time he's taking hits from senior members of the Bush administration. Earlier in the week we heard from former Vice President Dick Cheney, who blasted the president over policy issues.
Well, now former White House chief of staff Andy Card is hitting for how he's dressing?
ROBERTS: Yes. CHETRY: Jason Carroll joins us now with more on the story. At least he's not wearing a Snuggie like you were last...
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's true. I wonder if Card has his subscription or something to "GQ" magazine we hope to see.
President Bush's former chief of staff says there's a dress code of respect, and he says President Obama is not honoring that code that President Bush made a point of keeping in place.
Take a look at this. It's photos like this of Obama that caused Andrew Card to speak out and gave the president a fashion lashing. It shows Obama in the Oval Office not wearing a coat but he is wearing a tie there.
Card says, in contrast, President Bush respected the symbolism of the presidency by wearing a coat and tie in the Oval Office. Under the Bush administration, it was apparently known that anyone entering the Oval Office needed to be dressed appropriately.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW CARD, FORMER BUSH WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Ronald Reagan and both President Bushes treated the oval office with tremendous respect. They treated the Office of the President with tremendous respect. And some of that respect was reflected in how they expected people to behave.
How they expected them to dress when they walk into the symbol of freedom for the world, the oval office, and yes, I'm disappointed to see the casual laissez faire, short sleeves, no shirt and tie, no jacket, kind of locker room experience that seems to be taking place in this White House and the oval office."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Whoa.
CARROLL: Well, perhaps Card did not see this picture.
ROBERTS: Oh man.
CARROLL: Oh, yes -- of President Bush taken two days after his inauguration. You can look it there. It clearly shows Bush in the oval office there, but not wearing a coat. Perhaps Card is also unaware Presidents Ford, Carter and Clinton were photographed in the oval office without wearing a jacket. In fact, Clinton was photographed wearing a short-sleeved shirt and a flannel shirt in another shot.
CHETRY: They're not necessarily...
ROBERTS: Yes, and that wasn't part of the problem.
(CROSSTALK) ROBERTS: Card thought that that was just disrespectful.
CARROLL: So let me just say one thing.
CHETRY: Moving up what happened in the Oval Office and Clinton as...
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: George Stephanopoulos used to get on his jeans and put his feet up...
CARROLL: But let me just say one thing about this.
ROBERTS: ... on the coffee table.
CARROLL: Right? Look, we've got a country in an economic crisis. We're facing two wars. I don't care if the man shows up in Bermuda shorts, just, you know, fix the economy and keep the country safe. Who cares what he's wearing?
CHETRY: Right. You better get a tie on before Andy Card sees you. You're in deep trouble.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: I'm never going in. You know, I once went in the Oval Office during the swearing-in ceremony, and everybody was wearing a jacket and tie, and then there was a one young lady who was wearing the shortest miniskirt I had seen in my life. And I thought, how does that conform with the dress code? You'll never know.
CHETRY: You know? (INAUDIBLE)
ROBERTS: President Obama last night called on Republicans to abandon what he called failed policies. So what does former presidential candidate and successful businessman Mitt Romney think, and what's his take on the stimulus package?
I'm telling you this, though, he's wearing a suit and tie this morning. He joins us live right after the break. It's 53 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: We are not going to get relief by turning back to the very same policies that, for the last eight years, doubled the national debt and threw our economy into a tailspin. We can't...
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: We can't embrace, we can't embrace the losing formula that says only tax cuts will work for every problem we face, that ignores critical challenges like our addiction to foreign oil or the soaring costs of health care or falling schools and crumbling bridges and roads and levees.
I don't care whether you're driving a hybrid or an SUV. If you're headed for a cliff, you've got to change direction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, that was President Obama last night drawing a line in the sand for Senate Democrats on his stimulus bill saying it's time to pass it and the time is now.
And any time this hour, we're actually expecting a major jobs report. The news is not expected to be good. So we talk this morning about whether a compromise on the stimulus will help get the nation back on track.
And joining me now is former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
Great to see you this morning. Thanks for being with us.
MITT ROMNEY, FMR. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thanks, Kiran. Good to be with you.
CHETRY: You know, there's still this fundamental difference between what President Obama and Democratic leaders believe and what Republicans believe on how to fix this. President Obama, as we just heard, rejected the calls for more tax cuts saying that it needs to be spending, smart spending.
You argue, though, that tax cuts really should be the centerpiece of a stimulus package. Can you explain your argument?
ROMNEY: Well, pretty simply, and that is that we've been through downturns before and the analysis has been done, including the analysis by the president's designee to be head of the Council of Economic Advisers, Christina Brendan. She said, look -- or Romer, rather, Christina Romer.
She said look, if you look at prior downturns, the most effective way to stimulate the economy is through tax cuts, not through spending and infrastructures. As a matter of fact, it's twice as effective to use tax cuts. But the key thing here is that we are going to have tax cuts, we should have tax cuts as the centerpiece of the bill. We should also have spending but the spending should be done on the most urgent priorities of the nation.
And I've really been disappointed that the president, instead of leading on this and saying these are the items we ought to spend on, has really turned over to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. He's really abrogated the responsibility of leadership that the president has to folks who do it the same old way. They load up the Christmas tree with all the special projects that they have in mind and that's really not the way to get this economy going.
CHETRY: It's interesting, because there -- it looks like right now, some of this, and whether or not it gets passed, is really in the hands of a group of moderates. I believe there's about five Republicans and 12 Democrat senators that are trying to get together and figure out how to get about $90 billion out of it.
A lot of it -- a lot of their plan looks like they want to cut from education and some of the education programs that Barack Obama and, as you said, the Democratic leadership, are trying to get in that bill. He's arguing that these are things that we need to tackle as a nation anyway, so why not put them in there now to help spur jobs.
ROMNEY: Well, because they don't get dollars into the economy any time soon. They're really a stimulative effort to stimulate government but not to stimulate the economy. And this bill ought to be about creating jobs. There's an urgent priority to get the economy going again and to create jobs. And to put in all sorts of bells and whistles and special programs that Barack Obama thinks is a good idea or Nancy Pelosi loves, that -- that's something that should go to the normal legislative process and be considered and reviewed with hearings.
But this is a stimulus bill. Let's focus on stimulating the economy and creating jobs, not passing measures that won't get dollars into the economy for years and the Congressional Budget Office, which is nonpartisan, as you know, looking at this bill, says it will hurt the economy long term.
That's the last thing that the Americans want to hear. Let's get a bill that focuses on what we really need right now and hopefully let's see the folks in the Senate cut back the excessive spending that's been put in by their colleagues.
CHETRY: How do tax cuts create jobs, in your opinion?
ROMNEY: Well, pretty simply. You've got two ways that the government can give money back to the economy and can put money into the economy. One is to spend it themselves and the other is to give it to taxpayers and let them spend it. And what research has shown and evidence over history has shown is that if you give money back to the taxpayers and let them spend it, it creates jobs.
How is that? Well, they go to the store, they buy more, businesses seeing the uptick in sales, hire more people, they expand their enterprise but, if, instead, you're waiting for years for government contracts to come through, that doesn't get the economy going on the urgent basis that we need. That's why tax cuts have been more effective historically and that's why they make the most sense right now.
CHETRY: All right. Well, people can read more about your point of view. You wrote, you wrote an op-ed for us on CNN.com and we want to thank you for being with us this morning. Always great to talk to you.
Thanks, Mitt Romney.
ROMNEY: Thank you. Appreciate it.
