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Obama Meets with British Prime Minister; Federal Government Still Hiring; Better to Be Underemployed Than Unemployed?; Economic Adviser to the VP Answers Viewer Questions About the Recession

Aired March 03, 2009 - 13:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, HOST: Pushing forward on the global economy. Recessions don't stop at the water's edge. And neither do recoveries. This hour, a transatlantic effort to save a sinking ship.

A shrunken paycheck is better than no paycheck at all, but it's still a jolt. Find out how to push forward when recession sets you back.

Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN headquarters in Atlanta. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Your money and your mortgage. Wall Street and your own four walls. While the stock market is falling to the subbasement, one big lender is offering to cut for mortgages to $500 a month. We're going to tell you what some means in just a moment.

You want to pay off your mortgage? Well, some people are by failing on blue chips. We're pushing forward when the economic crisis hits home.

But the home front is just one front, and Americans aren't suffering alone. At the White House today, they're thinking globally and acting urgently with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux joins us now with an update.

What do you think this visit is set to accomplish, Suzanne?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, we actually both just saw these two leaders together. If you look at the body language, they were polite, courteous, but not particularly warm towards each other. Obviously, they're just really beginning to feel each other out in this relationship.

But it was important what President Obama said: reasserting the -- reaffirming the relationship, the close relationship, saying this is the closest, strongest of allies. It's a bond that will not break. There will be continuity here, obviously, from the last administration.

We heard from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown also backing up, saying that this was a partnership of purpose, at one point referring to President Obama, turning to him and saying, "Barack and I."

But Kyra, the really important thing coming out of this meeting is for both of these leaders, who are looking at their economies and this global economic crisis, really putting on a unified front here, saying to the rest of the industrialized countries around the world that their plans are set to work. They believe they can turn this around. And that's what you heard from the president, trying to give the American people and financial institutions a sense of confidence that this is, in fact, going to turn around.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm absolutely confident that credit is going to be flowing again, that businesses are going to start seeing opportunities for investment. They're going to start hiring again. People are going to be put back to work.

What I'm looking at is not the day-to-day gyrations of the stock market but the long-term ability for the United States and the entire world's economy to regain its footing. And you know, the stock market is sort of like a tracking poll in politics. It bobs up and down day to day, and if you spend all your time worrying about that, then you're probably going to get the long-term strategy wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So, Kyra, obviously the president trying to tell the American people, "Look, don't worry about the Dow Jones. Don't worry about the stocks dipping from day to day, time to time, announcement to announcement. Look at the long-term strategy and believe and have confidence in that."

Both of these men turned to each other, acknowledged that they both have a huge economic mess on their hands. At one point President Obama calling it a big mess, Gordon Brown backing him up, saying that a bad bank anywhere can affect a good bank everywhere.

Now, both of them going to meet in London -- this is April 2 -- at a global economic summit forum. And that is why this meeting really is very important, Kyra, to turn to each other and to simply acknowledge, these are the problems that we face. Let's get on the same page and then let's present that to the rest of the world come April.

PHILLIPS: All right. Suzanne, thanks so much.

And here's what we mean by a global crisis. All those stimulus dollars and bailout dollars flowing out of Washington won't mean much if American banks can't do deals overseas or if nobody wants American exports.

Now, earlier today, I had a chance to talk more about the big picture with our own Richard Quest out of London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Is this about Obama helping Brown or Brown the economist helping Obama in the U.S.?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's a very good question. In other words, bluntly put, Kyra, who needs who more?

There is no doubt at the moment Gordon Brown needs Barack Obama. He needs to be able to show that he's a world statesman playing in the biggest park of all.

And when you put that into perspective, Gordon Brown's economy in Britain is in a truly dreadful state. Unemployment is rising. The INS believes the UK may be one of the worst performing. So he's going to Washington and he's in Washington to try and engage the administration so that the U.S. plays its part at the G-20 next month.

For Barack Obama, there is very little advantage necessarily to being, if you like, accommodating on this point. His domestic electorate doesn't necessarily see the global picture, so where's the gain, if you like? It's all -- it's all for Gordon Brown.

PHILLIPS: Well, we keep hearing about this push for global regulation. Isn't that an advantage to the U.S.?

QUEST: Yes, but hang on. Just remember one other thing. Gordon Brown is the prime minister whose government has de facto, has denationalized a couple of the banks, and may have to nationalize a couple more. So he's hardly going there with free market credentials that Obama's critics won't wave in his face.

No. There is this idea of a global regulation, some super national regulation at the G-20. Can you see that going down well in the American heartland? Hand over a bit more of the U.S. economy to some global regulator in some other part of the world? Nah.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Now back to those $500 mortgage payments. Citigroup is making that offer to unemployed borrowers who are behind on their payments but receiving state benefits and able to make the lower payment. It's only good for three months and only for loans from the Citigroup subsidary [SIC] -- subsidiary, rather, Citimortgage.

Now, mortgage delinquencies overall shot up at the end of last year, no surprise there, and the credit reporting firm Transunion says that more than 4.5 percent of U.S. homeowners are at least two months behind on their payments.

Now Nevada and Florida lead the pack, delinquency rates there top 9 percent. In the Dakotas and Alaska, the rate is under 2 percent. And next hour in the NEWSROOM, our Gerri Willis will push ahead with home loan solutions from Citigroup and beyond.

Well, the White House budget director pushing forward to fiscal 2010. Peter Orszag testified about the budget today before a House committee. He borrowed a line from a country song to describe how to cut the federal deficit in half within four years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER ORSZAG, WHITE HOUSE BUDGET DIRECTOR: None of this is going to be easy, whether it's from in education, in energy, in health care, responsibly reducing the deficit in an honest way over the medium term.

But as the country music singer Toby Keith once put it, there ain't no right way to do the wrong thing. And this budget reflects that notion. In being honest, in reducing our medium-term deficit by $2 trillion and investing in energy and education and then moving toward a more efficient health-care system with lower costs and higher quality, I hope you will all work with us to do the right thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, Orszag says that winding down the Iraq war, balancing the tax code, and streamlining government will help them hit their goals, along with an economic recovery.

Well, how about the money that's more within your control, your 401(k), brokerage or savings account? Are you better off cashing out now and putting those dollars somewhere else? Well, experts will talk about that next hour. We're going to throw your questions to a couple of them. So email us right now, CNNnewsroom@CNN.com.

When you bounce a check, it's nice to know the bank's got your back, right? If it isn't, doesn't this place might make your life miserable. It's a private firm that makes money doing the law's dirty work. Bouncing checks doesn't pay, but it pays them really well. We'll have that story coming pup.

Now we're following a developing story in Germany right now, nine people missing, possibly trapped in the rubble of a collapsed billion in Cologne. A reporter at the scene for RTO (ph) Television tells us that the six-story building fell, as it fell, it actually brought down parts of two other buildings. Firefighters using dogs are now searching the rubble for the missing.

Work was being carried out on a new subway line under the street on which that building stood. But officials don't know if that work is what caused the collapse. That building houses the city's archives, by the way.

Well, in the east, a really cold start to this day after the big snowstorm. Most people woke up to temperatures well below freezing. Up to 15 inches of snow fell on parts of New England as the storm churned up the eastern seaboard. And earlier, it dumped heavy snow on parts of the snow.

Out west, another winter storm blowing in from the Pacific. High winds, heavy rain and snow are all part of the mix now. Mountain areas could get up to four feet of snow.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Uncle Sam wants you. The federal government has thousands of job openings. Our personal finance editor, Gerri Willis, will be along to tell you what they are and where they are.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: An agonizing account of what happened in the Gulf.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STUART SCHUYLER, FATHER OF NICK SCHUYLER: They were all clinging together, helping each other the whole time. And, you know, of course it's hard to keep track of time out there.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Sure.

SCHUYLER: They were in the water roughly 40 hours. And he said to us four or five hours he was alone. He said they drifted apart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The rescued boater's dad talks to CNN about his son's condition and the three men still missing at sea.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: On Wall Street, the losses have been piling up and the numbers are staggering. The Dow has lost 2,000 points so far this year. Susan Lisovicz on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange with the latest on the markets and how they're reacting.

Hey, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra.

Well, you know, unfortunately in these white-knuckle days that you and I have had, where we've seen the stock market drop actually 500, 600, even 700 points in one day, 2,000 points this year may not seem like a lot, but it is because the market has come down so far. So 2,000 points so far this year translates into a 22 percent loss for the Dow Industrials.

The worst news of all: even after a 300-point drop yesterday after the Dow closed below 7,000 for the first time since 1997, a lot of market pros say we are going to go lower still. Some are calling this a bloodbath pure and simple.

And frankly, what most people say is that the real fear stems from the fact that we have so many problems; it's so complex. It's going to take a while, to say the least, for us to see any sort of real progress. And that is just one of the things bogging down stocks.

And here we are, even after a big drop yesterday. The Dow, the three major averages, opens higher, really could not hold onto it. Right now the blue chips are down 18 points, the NASDAQ is down 1.

Remember, stocks are cheap. I mean, we're at 1997 levels here. We've got a fire sale going on on Wall Street, and people still aren't buying. And I'll give you an example: Citigroup shares are up 2.5 percent. Kyra, 2.5 percent move on Citigroup translates into 3 cents. Its shares are trading under $1.25 -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Susan, we keep saying our ATM fees are more than some of these stocks. We've got to keep putting it in perspective.

LISOVICZ: We're looking for a floor here.

PHILLIPS: Yes, amen. Thanks, Susan.

Well, despite the recession and massive layoffs, there is one employer seeking to fill thousands of jobs: Uncle Sam. In New York with the info you need, our personal finance editor, Gerri Willis.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Hi, Kyra.

The government is the nation's largest employer, and they are hiring right now. Over 41,000 job openings are posted at the government's employment Web site. It's called USAjobs.gov.

Now, you may think these jobs are only in Washington, D.C., but they're not. Federal jobs are located all over the country. There are even 2,000 jobs in Europe. So check this out. Of course, Washington, D.C., 6,500 openings right now.

But also, San Antonio, Texas, with 2,100 job openings; Colorado; Maryland; Charleston, South Carolina; even see New Mexico; Florida; Arizona. These jobs are all over the country.

And the good news here is that just about any job you find in the private sector can also be found in the federal government. In fact, the Web site has something they call a public/private crosswalk, where you can find out what your federal government job title would be.

OK. Let's take a look at the top occupations that were hiring in February. As you can see here, office clerks in big demand, 15,000 job openings. But you can also find jobs that will pay a little bit more: program analyst, 14,000; budget analyst -- need a lot of those -- 10,000, really in demand.

All right. You might be wondering, what does an actual job description look like? So let's take a look at one of those. Here you can see this is a posting, as you can see here, for an I.T. specialist. The pay goes all the way up, the possible top pay here over six figures.

And of course, as you can see, it's the same kind of job you would find in the private sector, as well.

Now, where would you be working? You may be wondering what agencies would actually be hiring. Well, let's take a look at those. Air Force personnel center hiring 39,000 people. Navy field offices, 10,000. Veteran affairs, big employer. Veterans Health Administration, Army Corps of Engineers. The good news here is that there's all kinds of jobs available all over the country. You can find out loads of details at this Web site. You can even learn how to apply for these jobs on the Web site, because the process is a little different from applying in the private sector.

USAjobs.gov, a great first start -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Gerri Willis, thanks so much.

And what if you don't want to work for Uncle Sam? You could try this. Climb into the cab of an 18-wheeler and hit the road. That's just hat a lot of folks are doing, actually. Two good reason why: well, starting pay is around 30 grand a year, and it only requires three weeks of training.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've never seen anything of this scale where we've had so much demand for the jobs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A tremendous amount of college graduates are coming back to this. Airline pilots, people that had big union jobs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's hard, but when you look at what you have to do in life, sometimes you have to stop and just think, hey, what are we going to do? And that's where I'm at.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, the flip side, because so many people are applying for trucking jobs, employers can be picky and take more time on background checks.

Students typically fill temporary summer jobs at the zoo, but things are different this year. More than 800 people lined up at the Nashville Zoo yesterday for a chance at just 60 summer jobs in retail and concessions.

More long lines. This is a job fair for computer company Hewlett-Packard in New Mexico. Thirteen hundred jobs available, most of them in sales and customer service. The applicants? Well, some of them have decades of experience.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN MOLLOY, LOOKING FOR WORK: I kind of took jobs on the side. And I've been doing that. But these days it's harder to make a living just doing that. So I'm looking for the full-time position and the benefits and everything else that I really don't have right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, he hopes to get a job in sales. He'll find out next week. The job starts in April. How do you turn 14 bucks into nearly 300? Or 92 into 360? Just bounce a check and watch the law's private collection posse come on after you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: The search area has narrowed, but sadly so have the chances for three boaters missing in the Gulf of Mexico.

NFL players Corey Smith and Marquis Cooper and friends William Bleakley and Nick Schuyler disappeared during a fishing trip on Saturday. Well, Schuyler was found on top of their overturned boat yesterday, and the Coast Guard's used that location to update its computer modules.

Schuyler's dad briefed CNN's Heidi Collins this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCHUYLER: My son is doing fine. He will recuperate. He's beat up and bruised, dehydrated but in good spirits.

COLLINS: Tell us about what conversation was like as we look at this video right now. We are seeing him being loaded into the Coast Guard, I believe. They have just landed in this video so they're taking him in for treatment. When you first saw him, what did he have to say to you?

SCHUYLER: Well, he was so dehydrated he was semiconscious. He did not really talk. He just nodded. The only thing he did say was, "Hi, Pops."

COLLINS: Aww.

SCHUYLER: We were actually on the way to the hospital. I got a call from my old hometown, Cleveland, Ohio, from a good friend, saying that they were watching him being lifted to the chopper and saying that he looked like he was all right.

COLLINS: Has he been able to tell you anything at all about what happened out there?

SCHUYLER: He kept breaking down crying, because he was losing consciousness. Hypothermia was setting in, I guess. They were all clinging together, helping each other the whole time. And you know, of course, it's hard to keep track of time out there.

COLLINS: Sure.

SCHUYLER: He was in the water roughly 40 hours. He said the last four or five hours he was alone. He said they drifted apart. It was still dark. They couldn't see each other. And he just kept crying.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, just a few hours ago, Nick Schuyler was upgraded to fair condition.

The North Carolina mom who reported for duty with her two young children will be discharged from the Army. Lisa Pagan says no one could watch her two kids, so she reported for duty at Ft. Benning with them in tow. The reserves had called her back four years after she left active duty.

Her attorney says the Army OK'ed her request yesterday and started the process of discharging her. And this time it's for good.

What if the recession pushes you backward into a job that you could have done 25 years ago? Some former executives are having to leave their six figures behind, swallow their resumes, and downsize their pride.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, if you can't bear to look at the big board, well, look anyway. The Dow is still under 7,000, less than half of its all-time high. But so far today it hasn't plunged, just struggled. Dow Industrials down 17 points now.

President Obama compares the stock market to a tracking poll in politics. Watching the market gyrations, he says, is no way to plot long-term strategy. The president was talking economics with the visiting British prime minister, Gordon Brown.

Well, if you bounce a check and don't have bank overdraft protection, get ready. In some cities you're going to get letters and calls that seem like they're from the law, but they're not. In a favor to local prosecutors, Congress changed the law, and now private firms may be hired to do the dirty work. We have this exclusive report.

CNN's special investigations unit, in collaboration with the online investigative organization Republic.org, has this exclusive report. Here's Drew Griffin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It happened to Michelle O'Neil and her husband Mike. Both say they wrote checks with insufficient funds as they were moving from Florida to Michigan. It was a mistake. Letters and phone calls soon followed.

MICHELLE O'NEIL, DETROIT TEACHER: They told me that they were part of the attorney general's office.

GRIFFIN: In California, 21-year-old Jennifer Osborn wrote a check to her college bookstore. Her math, she says, was wrong.

JENNIFER OSBORN, COLLEGE STUDENT: I called them and I said, "What's going on?" And they basically told me that I had to pay all the money and go to a class or I would be arrested.

GRIFFIN: She got this letter with the district attorney's official seal on the letterhead. Michael O'Neil thought this phone call was from the state's attorney's office in Florida.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 20th Judicial State's Attorney Bad Check Restitution Program. Our office has an official matter requiring your immediate attention.

GRIFFIN: But none of the letters or calls were from local prosecutors. They came from a private debt-collection agency named ACCS, a southern California firm hired by about 150 district attorneys' offices across the nation to collect bad checks.

DEEPAK GUPTA, PUBLIC CITIZEN: They're renting the prosecutor's seal, and they're using that name and authority to collect bad check debt.

GRIFFIN: The fees are large. Michael O'Neil says he wrote a $14 bad check to a CVS drugstore in Florida. That cost him $285.

MICHAEL O'NEIL, DETROIT CONSTRUCTION WORKER: They make you feel like a criminal. They try to scare you. They, you know, they use, again, scare tactics, harassment, everything, and you know, you really take a look at it and are like, is seriously the attorney general of Florida after me for a $14 returned check?

GRIFFIN: The company splits the collection fees with prosecutors. Then, as part of its contract with local D.A.s, requires even more. Mike O'Neil and Jennifer Osbourne (ph) had to take the company's money management class. The fee, $160, all of it going to ACCS.

(on camera): What was that like?

JENNIFER OSBORN, COLLEGE STUDENT: It was boring. It was, I mean, it was pointless.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): The watchdog group Public Citizen filed class-action lawsuits against ACCS for deceptive debt-collection practices, claiming that you really only need to pay the fee to those classes. You don't even have to show up.

GUPTA: ACCS doesn't really care about these classes that teach people about how to balance their checkbooks. It's really about collecting the fees.

GRIFFIN: And those classes are required under some state laws. In court filings, ACCS says the classes are successful in preventing repeat offenders, and the company denied deceptive practices. But the firm would not talk to CNN on camera, suggesting we talk to local prosecutors instead. So, we did.

SHARON MATSUMOTO, ASST. DISTRICT ATTY., LOS ANGELES CO.: This particular function is something that we can legally outsource to another company who's experienced in doing this.

GRIFFIN: Sharon Matsumoto runs the program for the Los Angeles district attorney's office. Last year, she says, ACCS collected $2 million on 80,000 bad checks. She says without the private contract, the D.A.'s office could have never gotten that money back to merchants. She hasn't heard any complaints. And neither has Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank.

REP. BARNEY FRANK (D), MASSACHUSETTS: This is the first anybody has called it to my attention.

GRIFFIN: It was Frank who helped change the law, allowing private debt collectors to work for local prosecutors, something the prosecutors wanted.

FRANK: The way this had been represented to us, this was as an alternative to criminal prosecution, so I would be surprised if someone's going to be criminally prosecuted for one check of just a few dollars.

GRIFFIN: That is why Jennifer Osbourne was so surprised and scared when she was threatened with jail if she didn't pay up. Pay up the $360 ACCS was asking for that $92 check she bounced at the campus bookstore. An honest mistake, she says, that she tried to immediately fix.

OSBORN: I'm disappointed in the system. It shouldn't happen.

GRIFFIN (on camera): The government shouldn't be in business with a private collection agency.

OSBORN: No way. Not at all. It just should not happen that way.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Drew Griffin, CNN, Santa Barbara, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, if the recession is a book, here's another of its many chapters. Higher-ups losing their jobs and taking work that they're overqualified for. Better to be underemployed than unemployed, right? Well, let's find out. John Eller is a former executive now working for an hourly wage. He's also a father of eight.

Gerri Willis is our personal finance editor. He wanted to get her input on what he should do next. Gerri, we'll get to you in a second, but John, I would like to start with you. First of all, tell me what happened to where you had to make the switch? How did it all go down?

JOHN ELLER, FORMER EXECUTIVE: Well, I had, since the economic impact of 9/11 I've been laid off basically three or four different times from three or four different companies, and I, you know, I'm just, I keep trying to work my way back up to, you know, where I was post-9/11, and it's just, you know, it's an uphill battle every day.

PHILLIPS: So, I'm assuming that once our economy took an even bigger hit, it got even worse, and it was tougher for you to hold on to a job. Is that right? ELLER: Yes, because, you know, the jobs just are not as abundant anymore as they used to be.

PHILLIPS: Wow, and here's what amazes me. You have eight beautiful children, including a smashing wife as well. I know she's working as an inner-city school eductor. Is that right?

ELLER: Yes. She's a teacher in an inner-city school.

PHILLIPS: OK. So, when you wake up in the morning, you know, just being a father of eight, supporting this family, what is your primary concern when you get up out of bed every morning?

ELLER: Well, my primary concern is that I'm able to keep a roof over their head right now, and, you know, for the past five or six months, I mean, that's been awfully hard. But you know, luckily, the things that the president has put into place, you know, I was just recently able to get a loan modification restructure on my house, so that helps out. But I mean, what's most important is what I can do for my family, you know, to keep ourselves afloat.

PHILLIPS: All right, tell you what? Let's get down to business. Gerri Willis, I want to bring you in. John, I know you had a number of questions for Gerri. Let me try and guide you through these. What was your question to her specifically? And bless your heart, here you are struggling to take care of your family, yet you still want to save for retirement. What is it you want to know exactly from Gerri?

ELLER: Gerri, how can you actually save for retirement when you're basically working a job with limited income?

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: John, you know, my heart really goes out to you. And I saw the numbers that you sent in about your wages, what they used to be, where they are now. And I have to tell you, the first thing you need to think about is not saving for retirement. It's not putting your kids through college. It's really fixing the main problem that you've got here, which is that your income isn't matching your fixed costs.

You know, your costs are high. They're set at a time when you made four times more than you do right now, and you've either got to find a way to get more income, or you have to reduce your standard of living. And I know that's not something you want to hear right now.

I do want to add, you know, kudos to you for keeping working. You're still working. You're working full-time. Your wife works. Some of the kids are working. Everybody's employed here. Everybody's trying to do something, but there's a fundamental problem here. It's a mismatch between your house, your lifestyle and what's going on with your income. My understanding is, you've got some credit-card debt you're dealing with.

Let me suggest something here. You should call the National Foundation for Credit Counselors. NFCC.com is their Web site. They're going to help guide you through this, help you figure out what you can pay and what you can't. Maybe at some point, you need to think about filing bankruptcy. I know that's not your first choice. You have a lot of pride, and I respect that.

But you know, what's going on right now isn't the fault of individuals. It's the economy. So, you have to let yourself off the hook here just a little bit and, you know, realize that not everything is in your power.

PHILLIPS: You know, John, let me ask you that. I noticed a number of your kids are teenagers. Have you asked them to take on part-time jobs? How do you feel about that? And are they pretty cool with wanting to help pitch in right now?

ELLER: Yes, they -- you know, I have my two oldest daughters are working, but my oldest daughter now is working to really pay for her college education. And my next-oldest daughter, Brianna (ph), is actually working to try and, you know, put clothes on her back and, you know, to save for her college, because she starts college next year.

PHILLIPS: Wow. Well, I'll tell you what. Gerri made a magnificent point, and that is that you are working. You're doing whatever you need to do. It sounds like your family's pitching in. Gosh, they're such a gorgeous family.

We'd love to track you, John, if you don't mind, and just update our viewers on how you're doing, and maybe sort of learn through your experiences and what your family is doing. Do you mind if we do that?

ELLER: No, I'd be honored.

PHILLIPS: All right. Gerri, anything else you want to finalize?

WILLIS: Yes, yes, definitely. Listen, keep on keepin' on. You know, you're doing all the right things. Your family is fantastic. You may need to rethink, though, a few fundamental things, and a debt counselor or credit counselor can help you do that, walk through those numbers point by point. And I have a lot of confidence that somebody with your stick-to-it-ness and work ethic will make it through.

ELLER: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Gerri, thanks. John, thank you so much.

ELLER: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well, just remember, you can send us your questions about your 401(k), your brokerage or your savings account. Email us at CNNnewsroom@cnn.com. Experts will join us next hour, hopefully with some answers, some information that you could use. One big question that we have, is it best to just cash out now? That's one thing we'll address with these financial experts.

And we're getting tons of emails about the recession and how you're coping with it. If you could ask President Obama a question about it, what would it be? We're going to check in with an economic expert at the White House who will answer some of your emails. That's straight ahead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Guess what, that's our team's ticket. Yeah, baby! And see Katie (ph) right there, my producer? She's pregnant, and she actually took the ticket, rubbed it on her belly, so guess what folks, we're going to win. That's right. See? That baby is going to have a full ride to college.

Now, in this nightmare economy, it is a real dream ticket, right? The jackpot for tonight's Mega Millions lottery drawing, it's about 212 million bucks. A paltry 138 million if you take the cash option. Lotto machines are cranking out tons of tickets in the 12 states that participate. Georgia's one of them. Of course, our team decided to get a littl pool thing going. Hope you didn't take our numbers there. You'll know, if we all don't show up tomorrow, what happened. We're going to name Katie's (ph) baby Lotto.

All right, guess what? Bernie Madoff wants more. Oh, yes, let me repeat: He wants more. Get this. Mr. and Mrs. Bernie Madoff orking the ultimate his and hers to hold on to their swanky New York apartment. The couple's lawyers have asked a judge to let Ruth Madoff keep the $7 million penthouse, plus another $62 million in assets.

Well, they say that all that stuff actually belongs to Ruth, not Bernie. And it's unrelated to Bernie's alleged fraud. Hubby, of course, is under house arrest, accused of taking investors for about $50 billion. Ruth Madoff hasn't been accused of any wrongdoing, by the way.

Well, as book deals go, this may not be bleeping golden, but it's a talker. Rod Blagojevich, the impeached former governor of Illinois, landing a six-figure payday for a memoir exposing, quote, "the dark side of politics." Talk about writing what you know. The publisher is Phoenix Books, whose previous authors include, oh, the disgraced "New York Times" plagiarist Jayson Blair, four Hollywood call girls, oh, and a German cannibal.

The Blagojevich book is due to be released this fall.

Well, from one arse to another, and this one's a real bummer for people of refined TP taste. Turns out that soft ultra-toilet paper a lot of people buy, not so eco-friendly. Can't be made from recycled paper, only from cut trees. It also takes more water to produce and produces more waste. So, if you want to spare some squares, check out greenpeace.org. Last week, they put out a guide that rates how green different brands are.

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JIM MORRISON, IREPORTER: Americans are having to give up an awful lot in this economy. Thirty-four percent of New Yorkers are having to choose between rent and food. Well, this Sunday in "The New York Times," we found out what corporate America is giving up on: its hold on reality. Macy's is asking us to buy $1,125 trench coats and $230 T-shirts. What planet are these people living on?

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PHILLIPS: One of our iReporters, Jim Morrison. Jim, thanks. He's weighing in on the recession and its impact on his hometown there in New York City.

Well, you flooded us with emails about your concerns on the recession. Now, a White House official to answer your questions. Jared Bernstein, Vice President Joe Biden's economic policy adviser. Good to see you, Jared.

JARED BERNSTEIN, VICE PRES. BIDEN'S ECONOMIC POLICY ADVISER: Nice to see you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, let's get right to the emails, shall we? Renee has this question for you, Jared. "For the past four years, I've never been late on my payments. I'm doing my part to stimulate the economy. I bought a car in July 2008. However, because I took on additional debt, my credit cards have more than doubled my APR. Can you do something to change how credit card companies do business?"

BERNSTEIN: Well, the one thing we're doing in this area has to do with the fact that many consumers, maybe like Renee, are really having undo difficulty getting consumer loans. I'm talking student loans, car loans, the kind of loans you go to consumer agencies or banks to get. And because credit markets have been so frozen, credit- worthy consumers have had trouble getting these loans. And it's a real problem in the economy.

Once we stimuluate the demand side of the economy with the recovery package, which we're very excited about how quickly that's getting into the system, you also have to have the credit side working. And so, the Treasury, the Fed are doing a great deal to try to stimuluate consumer markets as well.

This TALF (ph) facility, by the way, that you're going to hear Tim Geithner talk about, that's one way we think we can help loosen up the consumer side of the credit market.

PHILLIPS: All right, this one coming from Taylor in Los Angeles. "I'm 64. I'm a female. I'm educated. I'm willing and able to work. Even before this economic mess, I could not find a good job. What's up with good jobs for responsible, reliable, loyal and skilled seniors?"

What are the options out there now, Jared, within Obama's plan for seniors?

BERNSTEIN: Well, I think it's important to recognize, first of all, there is a hint of potential age discrimination in the story that our writer is telling us about. And that is of course illegal. And if anyone suspects that's going on, they need to seek legal counsel to address that. It's illegal to discriminate against an employee on the basis of their age. Now, if you think about the kinds of jobs that we are creating in the recovery package, we're hoping to save or create 3.5 million jobs between now and the end of next year. Now, some of those jobs are going to be in sectors where older people work: in offices, in retail outlets, and by the way, in the public sector, especially state fiscal relief.

We're talking about serious fiscal relief to the tune of around $150 billion to the states, which should help them stave off some of the kinds of layoffs that would affect some public-sector workers, some of whom are older. Teachers, firefighters, we're talking about some of those folks. Administrative folks as well, who do tend to be a little older in these jobs.

PHILLIPS: Got it. And this one coming from Candyce in Wisconsin. You know, we've been talking a lot about international relations, of course, Obama being quite a rock star overseas in many places. This one: "If you want to unfreeze Wall Street, open trade with Cuba. For far too long, Cuba has been the commie whipping boy while we trade in a big way with China. All Wall Street needs is a little hot salsa music to get it dancing to a New-Cuban-beat market."

It's interesting to think about what could happen with a number of countries, Jared, including Cuba, one that the Bush administration didn't have such a good relationship with.

BERNSTEIN: Well, look, I totally agree with the part about Wall Street could use a little bit of salsa music right now. A little uplift wouldn't hurt at all. I'm not going to go out of my economics lane and talk about trade relations with Cuba, though, in the interest of not straying from stuff I can be helpful with.

PHILLIPS: Well, what do you think about the issue of, OK, look, the writer is making the point about trading with China, trading with Cuba.

BERNSTEIN: It's a great point.

PHILLIPS: Yes, I mean...

BERNSTEIN: So, here's what I would say about that. Listen, one of the things that we have recognized -- and it's not just our administration. Prior administrations have seen this as well -- is the importance of export markets in a global economy. Clearly, we import from trading partners like China. And that helps us in terms of the increased supply. Good lower prices.

But the export markets are very important as well. That's going to be a key component of growth over this recovery. And the problem is right now that many different countries are experiencing the same kind of recessionary pressures that we are. And that hurts us in terms of our exports, because if they're hurting economically, they're less likely to buy stuff from us. So, one of the things we need to do -- you're going to hear more about this as we get closer to the G-20 -- is talk about coordinating -- coordination, coordinating some of our recovery activities with our country, along with our trading partners.

PHILLIPS: Jared Bernstein, always appreciate your time and your insight, truly.

BERNSTEIN: My pleasure.

PHILLIPS: Well, some worry it could result in socialized medicine. Others worry it might change nothing at all. We're going to look at the roadblocks to the president's goal of making health care affordable for all.

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PHILLIPS: Bringing health care to the uninsured is something politicians have been trying to do for decades. Now the new health and human services nominee, Kathleen Sebelius, will champion the task of reforming the system, but it won't be easy. Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here talking about the roadblocks that President Obama faces. Hi, Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi. President Obama and Kathleen Sebelius will have plenty of roadblocks on the road to health care reform. Let's talk about the three big ones.

First of all, health care reform, insuring millions of people who aren't insured, is very expensive -- $634 billion. Also, some people right now are profiting from the system the way it is: pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies. Will they really want to be a part of a reformed system?

And also, politics. I mean, Kyra, we all rember the hit that Hillary Clinton took when she tried to do health care reform in the early '90s. So this definitely will not be an easy task.

PHILLIPS: Well, clearly President Obama thinks that he's going to be able to get this done. So, how does he plan to actually find a way around these issues?

COHEN: OK, let's take a look at each of these three issues and talk about what he plans to do. First of all, for expense, he's going to make the case that he will get rid of waste. There's a lot of waste in medicine these days. He says let's get rid of the waste, and also, let's tax the rich.

But those two things are not going to do the entire deal. Some worry that even middle-class people will have to pay for this health care reform. Also, he's going to get business onboard, and he's going to say this is part of economic recovery and that businesses pay too much money for the health care that they have now. He's going to say, let's make it less expensive.

Also for politics, he's going to say, I made a campaign promise to have universal health care, and, well, obviously, I won the election. So, thereby using his political clout to try to get it done. PHILLIPS: All right, Elizabeth Cohen, appreciate it.

COHEN: Thanks.