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Obama's Health Care Reform Goals; California State Supreme Court to Hear Arguments For, Against Proposition 8; From Wall Street to Main Street: The Effects of the Economy; Profile of Melody Barnes
Aired March 05, 2009 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Doctors in the White House, patients and insurers, too. President Obama inviting them to the table. Health care reform brainstorm.
The recession from two corners. How Wall Street and Main Street lives have changed. It's today's snapshot across America.
And check this out. Dump truck stuck with the driver hanging in the air. We have the conclusion of this cliff hanger.
It's Thursday, March 5th, I'm Heidi Collins. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
We begin this morning with the nation's health care system and a president's prescription for change. Today, he formally launches his efforts with a summit on overhauling the system. About 150 people taking part. They include lawmakers, doctors and executives from drug and insurance companies.
Now, the goal of the reforms, cutting healthcare cost and insuring coverage for all Americans. The cost, a downpayment of $634 billion. A lot of stake in this issue and we are rolling out lots of resources and break it all down for you the best that we can.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is at the White House for us this morning and senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is right here in Atlanta. So let's begin with a big picture if we could. CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux once again.
We know there will be doctors there, any every day people that will be able to sort of offer their thoughts and their worries, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Sure, we know that there is going to be a small group of folks that they have actually recruited from across the country to talk about their own situations and hand how health care is such an important issue for them. There will be doctors, nurses, hospitals, even folks who are vehemently against trying to overhaul the system back in the 1990s when this failed under the Clinton administration, but as you mentioned, there are a couple of things that they're going to be talking about, obviously, the cost of health care, and the $634 billion reserve fund to try to give everybody universal or comprehensive health care.
The other thing that they're trying to do is to address the $46 million Americans who don't have health care coverage. Now, how is this any different, Heidi? You might imagine, 15 years ago when Hillary Clinton tried to tackle the issue, it did not go anywhere. It was really quite a failure. Well, I spoke with the domestic policy director, Melody Barnes, and I asked her that very question. Are there some lessons learned from that experience, and how will this be any different? Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELODY BARNES, DIR., WHITE HOUSE DOMESTIC POLICY DIRECTOR: Everyone who has a stake in this to have a conversation with the president put their cards on the table and talk about how we're going to move forward. We also know it has to be transparent. The American people have to see what we're doing, so they understand where we're going. Those are two of the most important things. That's what's going to happen inside the White House today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: And Heidi, another thing I asked her about, the $634 billion. Is that a flexible number? We've heard from lawmakers who are saying, look, wait a minute, here, that's an awfully big number. We don't know if we're going to support that. She said, the bottom line, they are flexible here. They're not sending legislation to members of Congress. They're going to be working with members of Congress. So you will have some lawmakers here who are looking very critically at this saying we don't necessarily buy this right now.
The other thing, Heidi, as you know, part of this is about selling it. Selling it to the American people. Part of the sales job that gave us a CD here, a very highly-produced CD, and what you'll see is a firefighter from a small town in Indiana, and he tells this story about how he was complaining, a lot of people don't have health care coverage, they can't afford to even take a trip in the ambulance to the hospital and his mother said, quit complaining, do something about it.
So he is one of many Americans who have had these kind of health care discussions in their own small towns, and that the White House has actually compiled information about those discussions. They say they're using that information to sit down with folks today and figure out what's the best way forward, Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, but important to point out, something that you mentioned. Melody Barnes said flexible as far as that figure of $634 billion. Could go up, potentially, as well.
MALVEAUX: Absolutely. I mean, they're not saying that it's not going to go up. But she did say that I thought was pretty interesting was that the president is pragmatic about this, and there are a lot of people who are thinking, look, you know, we want to take a look at that number. We don't think that that's a reasonable amount. And so pragmatic - we have seen the president already give and take and negotiate with members of Congress.
COLLINS: All right. We'll be watching. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux at the White House. Thank you.
Reforming health care does come in the middle of all of this. A crumbling economy, rising tides of unemployed and uninsured. You heard Suzanne mention that number, 46 million uninsured Americans and hospitals and emergency rooms that are literally shutting their doors.
Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here now to tell us a little more about the ER all across the country, and how they're really faring these difficult times. Because you don't have insurance. If you don't, you go to the emergency room.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SNEIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Actually, two things happen if you don't have insurance. If you don't have insurance, you often stop taking your medication. So what happens to an asthmatic who stops using their inhaler, they get sick. They don't have insurance, where do they go? As you said, they go to the emergency room. So let's take a look at some numbers that are actually pretty frightening.
COLLINS: Yes.
COHEN: These are the numbers of people who lost their jobs in January and February alone, 1.25 million jobs lost. It's estimated that half of those people also lost their health insurance when they lost their jobs. And it is very difficult for some people with any preexisting conditions to get health insurance on their own after they lose their jobs.
So one emergency room doctor put it to me as a slow disaster.
COLLINS: Yes, the chicken before the egg...
COHEN: Right.
COLLINS: In a domino sort of effect. What about hospitals then? I mean, clearly, they're in a pinch.
COHEN: They are in a pinch, and actually, this is a sign of the times. Two hospitals in Queens, in New York City, have closed this week. And then you were talking about sort of a domino effect here. What happens? Here's a hospital where those patients are going to go. This hospital is open to nearby close, they're going to have even more patients. The wait of the hospitality emergency room at this hospital can be six to ten hours long. So, that's the ripple effect.
COLLINS: So there's two we're talking about getting good care once you end up having to go is obviously another effect...
COHEN: Right.
COLLINS: ... of what happens with people not having insurance.
COHEN: Exactly. So it's tough anyhow even before all this economic stuff happens. It was tough sometimes to get good care in the emergency room because they were so overloaded. So now what do you do when you're looking at a six to ten-hour wait? So let's take a look at some tips for people.
COLLINS: Right.
COHEN: We don't want to be just doom and gloom. We want to give people some skills here. If you call your doctor on your way to the emergency room, that can help. Your doctor can help...
COLLINS: Really?
COHEN: ... sort of run interference. Yes, if you call to say Dr. Smith, I'm on my way. Can you help me?
COLLINS: I think that's really interesting. I don't think most people do that.
COHEN: Definitely. People don't think about that.
COLLINS: Also, don't be quiet. If you really feel they're not paying attention to you and that you're in a really urgent situation, don't be quiet. Step up and tell somebody. Be nice about it, but step up and tell somebody. Also, here's another trick people forget. Don't forget the house phone. There are house phones.
In other words, phones within the hospital, in the emergency room. Pick it up and ask for the administrator on call. Administrators don't want to hear the next day that somebody died waiting for help in their emergency room. So say to them, I'm in a terrible situation in your emergency room, can you help me. Obviously, you don't want to do that for a hang nail. But if you really feel that someone you love is in serious, serious trouble in an emergency room, pick up and call them. And you can get more hints, cnn.com/empoweredpatient.
COLLINS: OK. Wow. Those are really good. Elizabeth, thank you. Appreciate it
And you know, another medical story that we are following, former first lady Barbara Bush in a Houston hospital recovering this morning. She had heart surgery last night. Surgeons replaced her aortic valve. Barbara Bush is 83 years old. So Elizabeth, heart disease is a jumping off point here, affects men and women in this country. It's the number killer.
COHEN: That's right. It is the number-one killer, and sometimes there is nothing you can do to avoid a heart problem, but oftentimes there is, and we're going to talk about that later in the show.
COLLINS: All right. Very good. Especially people who are at risk. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks. We'll see you in just a few minutes.
Your money, their decisions. There is a lot happening right now involving your wallet. In this hour, lawmakers look at the growing taxpayer bill for that insurance giant, AIG. They want to know what went wrong and why $162 billion of your money has been funneled into it.
Also, on Capitol Hill, follow the money is the title of this senate committee hearing. The focus, making sure all of the economic recovery plan spending is transparent and accountable.
And looking ahead to next year's budget, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will be facing questions from the House budget committee. Certainly a lot going on right now.
And there's this, too. Those numbers keep running all over the place. Dow Jones industrial average is now down by about 93 points, right out of the gate though. We saw it go down at least 120, I think is the biggest number. So watching those numbers closely today.
The bank bailout, and a new investigation over jaw-dropping bonuses. New York's attorney general has issued subpoenas to seven former Merrill Lynch executives. A source close to the investigation tells CNN, the focus is on more than $3.5 billion in bonuses. Get this. Now get this, those bonuses were paid out as Merrill was asking for more, yes, taxpayer money. Merrill Lynch was later bought by Bank of America which had also received bailout money.
This just in out of the CNN NEWSROOM. We want to tell you about it. A crash involving tour buses carrying U.S. marines. Our affiliate WITN providing the pictures. The accident happened near Maysville, North Carolina this morning. Closed down a seven-mile stretch of the highway there. Details still a little sketchy at this point, but by looking at the pictures, obviously a lot of responders there, lots of concern.
Our affiliate WRAL is reporting at least one person was injured. As soon as we get more information on this story, we're going to bring it right to you.
Targeting Proposition 8, the California Supreme Court set to hear arguments a later this morning on the state's controversial same-sex marriage ban. CNN's Dan Simons joining us now on the phone this morning from San Francisco to tell us a little bit more. So Dan, the voters approved Prop 8. Why is the court even looking at this law now?
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are several legal challenges to this issue, Heidi, and the court - Supreme Court here in California has been vocal on same-sex marriages in the past, and they're certainly not going to shy away from this issue. But certainly, this is an important day for people on both sides. And let's be clear about what we're talking about.
The California Supreme Court is going to be hearing arguments on whether to uphold the ban on same-sex marriage. And that ban was resolved of California proposition. We're talking about Prop 8 here. And that was narrowly passed by voters here in the November election, 52-48 margin, Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, close. SIMON: Yes, and as you may recall, that really set off a wave of protests throughout the country. Gay rights groups obviously very vocal on this issue, and, of course, the same-sex marriage is ground zero here in San Francisco.
COLLINS: Any idea how many people are going to be there today, Dan?
SIMON: There are going to be a lot of people. We know it's going to be in the thousands. I would suspect mainly people who are against Proposition 8. As a matter of fact, they are putting up a big jumbotron outside of the courthouse so people can watch, Heidi.
COLLINS: So who specifically are we talking about? Who is arguing the case for the two different sides?
SIMON: Well, it's interesting. Arguing for Proposition 8 and against same-sex marriage is none other than Kenneth Star who, of course, is best known for investigating President Clinton.
COLLINS: Yes. We've heard of him.
SIMON: Yes, we've all heard of him. What is Kenneth Star doing now? Well, he is the dean of Pepperdine University's law school, and he has re-dedicated himself to a lot of conservative causes. So he's going to be arguing on the pro Prop 8 side. And on the other side, for same-sex marriage, interesting story here. It's going to be handled by Shannon Mentor.
COLLINS: OK.
SIMON: And Shannon is the legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights and Gay Rights here in San Francisco. And Shannon is a transsexual who has spent his first 35 years as a woman. So it's going to be an interesting day in court. And we should point out, the Supreme Court is not expected to rule today. They're going to rule in about 90 days. Instead they're just taking arguments.
COLLINS: OK. Just the beginning of the process here. And clearly, a lot of emotion in this one. Dan Simon, great job. Thanks so much. We'll keep our eye on this through you. Proposition 8 today.
The family of an NFL player missing at sea is holding out hope he is still alive. And the lone survivor tells a chilling story of four friends stranded in the water.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Reynolds Wolf standing by in the weather center with a look at today's forecast. We're going to get to that in just a minute but first you've got to watch this video with me. In case you missed it the first time. I want to show it again.
In the wrong place at the wrong time. Boy, that is for sure. Amazing video caught by security cameras. The spotlight on a man directing a truck across some railroad tracks, but neither of them obviously saw the train coming, because you just saw what happened that train plowed into the truck sending it right over the guy.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You have got to be kidding me.
COLLINS: Amazingly, and here is why we're showing it or at least we feel comfortable showing it. He suffered only minor injuries. He called the day after the accident, his new birthday.
WOLF: I can see why he would go that way. Yes, definitely.
COLLINS: Absolutely. He also said something about how he wanted to get married. He's had an epiphany. He said he wants to get married.
WOLF: You know when you're a kid and you have this little magic rabbits feet, you know, they can do a key chain -
COLLINS: Yes.
WOLF: I'm going to give a mock-up of that dude. A small version 00
COLLINS: Forget the rabbit's foot and carry around the guy. I like it.
WOLF: Yes, he's definitely a good luck charm.
Let's go and check what we have right now. We're hoping for warmer conditions along parts of the central plains, that is your good luck for the day. You're going to have highs going up into the 80s in places like Dallas and Fort Worth, the trademark is going to be fantastic for you today. Also warm conditions for you into the Central Plains, but at the same time, there will be a price, that price is going to be a fire danger. This is going to be affecting over a thousand square miles in the central plains. Not sure exactly who is going to be affected.
The reason why we're seeing this fire danger, there are a couple of reasons. One, this area of low pressure that is pulling over parts of the central plains, high pressure off to the east. It's going to create a pressure gradient where the wind is going to come in, not from the Gulf of Mexico, which will provide a great deal of humidity but the interior of Mexico. So very dry air is going t be coming through. So you have the strong winds, that is really going to be one part of the issue and at the same time, you're going to have some gusts that will be topping 45 miles an hour.
That coupled with the warm air and that low humidity is going to give you that red flag warning. So if there were any fires that happened to be set in this part of the world, they can be spread rather quickly. We're talking about those temperatures, let's examine those a little bit more. In Dallas, 82 degrees, the expected high.
Record high in Dallas on this date, it was well into the 90s. We shouldn't give that quite warm, but still nevertheless going to be warm for you. Kansas City with 79 degrees, 58 in Chicago. New York and Boston, I know you've been in the big chill since earlier this week, you're waiting for a warm up. That warm up is going to be on the way as we get into Friday and Saturday. So considering it's getting into the weekend, timing is everything. Couldn't be better. Certainly not better than a guy who almost gets hit by a truck and by a train, Heidi. Let's send it back to you.
COLLINS: I know.
WOLF: Still an amazing story. Hard to believe.
COLLINS: It is amazing. Good for him. Thank god that he is OK.
WOLF: You better believe it.
COLLINS: Reynolds, thanks so much. We'll check back in with you a little later.
WOLF: You bet guys.
Meanwhile, two NFL players and a former South Florida college football player still missing at sea. But some of their family members still holding out hope for a miracle. Marquis Cooper, Corey Smith, and William Bleakley disappeared last Saturday after their fishing boat capsized off the Florida coast. Another former South Florida college player Nick Schuyler was rescued on Monday. And Coast Guard cruise found him clinging to the overturned boat. "The St. Petersburg's Times" says Schuyler shared with Bleakley's father what happened as they waited for help.
They spoke of dying, the paper wrote. They made promises. Bleakley told Schuyler to apologize to his parents for getting into this situation. But the father of NFL player Marquis Cooper says he doesn't believe his son gave up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRUCE COOPER, MARQUIS COOPER'S FATHER: I can tell you, without a doubt, that that is not the absolute truth. Because it's not what happened. It is what Nick remembers happening in his own mind. My son, Marquis Cooper, I know his personality. I know his character. I grew up with him, I raised him. He is a fighter to the end. He would not give up.
NIKKI SHAW, COREY SMITH'S GIRLFRIEND: I just know that Corey is a very strong and determined person. And I just know that he wouldn't give up. And so I feel that we can't give up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The Coast Guard has ended its search for the missing men, but Cooper's family is continuing a private search.
And a wake-up call now especially for women after Barbara Bush has heart surgery. A look at the symptoms, the risks of heart disease. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Updating you now on the condition of former First Lady Barbara Bush. She is said to be doing well. Still in intensive care, of course, after having open heart surgery last night at a Houston hospital. The operation to replace her aortic valve took two-and-a- half hours. Her surgeon says it went, "extremely well, and he expects Mrs. Bush to make a full recovery." A family spokesman says she has already been up and talking.
Mrs. Bush, who is 83, had complained of being short of breath last week. Want to get back to our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen now and talk a little bit more about one of the bigger issues, if I could. Because her condition is a result of something else. I want to talk to you as sort of a jumping off point about heart disease, because as we mentioned before, the leading killer of men and women in this country.
COHEN: Right. So what Mrs. Bush had is really just aging. I mean, as we get older, our parts wear out, and there is really not much you can do about that. But let's talk about heart disease in general. As you said, affects women and men. And I think sometimes a lot of people forget that.
COLLINS: Absolutely.
COHEN: They think that it's the man who at age, you know, 60 falls down with the heart attack.
COLLINS: Yes.
COHEN: But it affects women, as well, and for the women the signs are a little different. Sometimes nausea accompanies heart disease, when a woman is about to have a heart attack, sometimes she feels nauseous and doesn't necessarily feel the chest pain but feels the nausea.
COLLINS: And men don't? No nausea.
COHEN: They're not as likely to.
COLLINS: All right. Got it.
COHEN: So, what can't you control in all of this? I mean we're talking about heart disease, and the risk, and who, you know, really is affected by all of this. What part?
COLLINS: It's genetics, right?
COHEN: Some of it is genetics. There are some things that you can't control who your mother and father are. That already happened. So let's talk about some things you can not control.
First of all, you can't control your age. Obviously you're more likely to get heart disease as you get older.
COLLINS: Yes.
COHEN: You also can't control your family history. We were talking about mom and dad. You can't control that. You can't control your gender. Men are more likely to get certain kinds of heart problems than women. Women are more likely to get certain kind of things like stroke. Also, you can't control your own history, I mean some people are born with congenital heart problems.
There's nothing you can do about that.
COLLINS: All right. So I like this one better, what you can control?
COHEN: Me, too. Yes. OK. Let's talk about what you can control. First of all, you can control your smoking. I mean if you're smoking, stop. That's very, very simple. Also, keep your blood pressure low. Some people, they naturally have low blood pressure. Other people have to change their diet. Other people have to take drugs. The same thing for cholesterol. Some people are just lucky to have naturally low cholesterol. Some people have to diet or take drugs.
Control your weight. Lose weight if you need to. If you have diabetes, control that and also, exercise more. I mean these are really simple, simple things to help avoid the number one killer of Americans.
COLLINS: Yes, very important just the same. All right. Our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, thank you for that.
Snapshot across America. From small banks on Main Street to the trading floor on Wall Street, people are dealing with the effects of a struggling economy. We'll talk to some folks on the front line.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Heidi Collins.
COLLINS: Dissecting a disaster. On Capitol Hill, lawmakers are looking at the growing taxpayer bill for insurance giant AIG. They want to know what went wrong, and why $162 billion of your money has been funneled into it.
On another note, Congress wants Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke to reveal AIG's trading partners, specifically lawmakers want to know who has benefited from the taxpayer bailout. And Bernanke has said AIG's behavior has made him angrier than anything else in the financial crisis. The Fed has not had any comment on Congress's demand.
To Wall Street now. Yesterday's big rally seems to have been a one-hit wonder. That's for sure. At least at this point in the market. About an hour into the trading day now, Dow Jones industrial averages down by 136 points. Several times we've seen triple-digit losses so far resting well below the 7,000 mark we have been talking about at 6739. We'll be watching all of these numbers today. And tomorrow night, a reminder, "ANDERSON COOPER 360" special, Ali Velshi, and some of the sharpest minds in money take on the February jobs report. Who is hiring, who is firing, and what is means to you. Get all of the answers on "CNN's MONEY SUMMIT" happens Friday Night at 11:00 p.m. Eastern.
I want to take a moment now to get back over to Susan Lisovicz standing by in the New York Stock Exchange. Yes, we are down now, bigger than I've seen so far this morning. I might have missed it but almost 140 points here, Susan.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you for a second.
COLLINS: Go ahead. Just looking at the numbers once again, Susan.
LISOVICZ: OK. Somebody was talking in my ear, and I couldn't hear you. Yes, well, you know, and the fact is, that's right, we have erased almost all of the gains that we saw yesterday, Heidi. And it comes despite some encouraging news from the jobs front. The Labor Department reported that unemployment -- initial unemployment claims fell last week.
Now, the level is still very high -- 639,000 is, in one week, is terrible. But the fact is, it declined. And continuing claims, which hit a record high for five weeks in a row, came off that record, so they also declined slightly. Still, exceedingly high. But that's the trend that the market would like to see. We all would like to see it on a continuing basis.
Also, we got retail numbers for February. A tough month. No surprise there. Not as bad as expected. And case -- some examples. Target, Limited Brands, Gap, American Eagle. The standout for retailers, Wal-Mart. Its sales went up more than 5 percent, Heidi.
And what people are buying are the basics, like food and health care. So, Wal-Mart shares are doing really well, not enough to offset what we're seeing with the Dow 30, but Wal-Mart's feeling so good about it, it's raising its annual dividend by 15 percent. Fifteen percent, at a time when companies are slashing their dividends back and forth.
COLLINS: Yes. Wow. All right. Well, they're doing something right. That's for sure. Susan Lisovicz, we sure do appreciate that again. We are continuing to watch the market, and as Susan already mentioned, all those gains from yesterday almost completely wiped out because Dow Jones closed up by about 150 points yesterday. We're already down 133. So we'll watch all the way through the entire day of trading.
A "Snapshot across America." Today, we are taking a look at the effects of the economy from Wall Street to Main Street, talking to people in the trenches of the financial industries. From New York, we have market analyst Art Hogan. Hi there, Art. In Houston, we are joined by Julie Cripe, CEO of Omnibank. Interesting story here. And also joining us is former federal regulator Samuel Golden. Sam, we appreciate -- actually, we are still waiting for Samuel.
Want to go ahead, though, and begin with you, Art. I guess the first question for you is, we just want to know, has the mood changed? I mean, what is happening inside your office?
ART HOGAN, CHIEF MARKET ANALYST, JEFFERIES & CO.: Well, you know, I think you'll see a lot of things, not the least of which, people are working harder and feeling like they're getting less traction. Meaning it's very difficult to come in and get anybody really to do anything.
COLLINS: Really?
HOGAN: In the financial markets right now, we're not getting deals, and we're certainly not getting, you know, a lot of interest in investment banking deals right now. And that's -- really, you know, points to what's going on in, you know, financial markets and the economy.
But I think one of the larger things is, you know, people -- you're actually seeing people pare back on a lot of things they would normally do. You know, taking driving vacations instead of flying vacations. The trade-down in shopping, you know, as pointed out by Susan Lisovicz just a couple of minutes ago.
Look at the fact that Wal-Mart's just doing very, very well, as well as Target and all the sort of low-cost providers. They're outpacing everyone else in retail right now, and there's a reason for that. There's a trade-down, and people are actually, you know, living that trade-down on a day-to-day basis.
COLLINS: Sure. And they're buying necessities, as she said, as well, as opposed to luxuries, certainly. What are you able to do, though, for your clients? I mean, I imagine there's a lot of tough questions out there. And, from what you're saying, you know, it's hard to get anybody to do their jobs. And how do you give advice and really get people feeling better, if that is even, you know, your job?
HOGAN: Well, you know, our job is to do a lot of that. A lot of hand-holding is extremely necessary right now. You want to, you know, stay with your clients, because they're just as panicked as anyone else on Main Street right now about what the future holds. And you really want to try to find those points of interest that, you know, that address where we might be getting to the bottoms of things. And, again, pointing out something Susan Lisovicz just brought up, as you look at the weekly jobless numbers, it does look horrific, but it's better than last week. So, you know, the last week number may be the crescendo, low for that. What we need to see is a trend of that gradually improving and normalizing.
COLLINS: The monthly number coming out tomorrow, so we might have a better indication.
HOGAN: Right, and that's very important, yes. Right. If that number actually comes in and is not the new low print, I think that's a positive sign. Because what happens is, you get sort of a decrease in the magnitude of the negative news as the economy starts to get better.
COLLINS: OK. All right. Well, art, we sure do appreciate your perspective in all of this. Thanks.
You know, we have seen 16 bank failures so far this year. Small banks across the country are certainly feeling the pinch of that. Julie Cripe leads Omnibank in Houston, Texas. So, Julie, I want to get right to it. This is a smaller bank, an independent bank. What are you doing right? I mean, this is kind of a success story. You must be lending money.
JULIE CRIPE, CEO, OMNIBANK, N.A.: We are lending money. And on behalf of my colleagues around the country, they're lending money, as well. We have 8,400 banks in this country, and 16 is a small number. Eighty-three hundred-plus are lending money across the country on Main Streets everywhere.
COLLINS: OK, so wait. Do we have it wrong then? I mean, the credit market has loosened up?
CRIPE: I'm telling you what I know from my colleagues, and I see small businesses every day. I see what they're manufacturing. I see their job growth. And it's a fact that small businesses have provided most of that job growth in the last 10 to 15 years, and they're still doing it. So it's a positive story. Not just in Houston, Texas, but in Kansas and all around.
COLLINS: What about the future for small businesses, though?
CRIPE: I think it's great.
COLLINS: Really?
CRIPE: They are flexible, they can adapt to changes. And that's the same with small banks. We can ride the tide, so to speak, come in every day and figure out how to make our business successful today.
COLLINS: What exactly are you able to do for that small business owner?
CRIPE: We look at the business. They have an opportunity, for example, to buy a building. And we are able to help them purchase and finance that building. We're able to look at equipment purchases for them and help them finance equipment, lines of credit for accounts receivable. About anything that a small business would need, banks around the country are able to help. If it's an agricultural area, helping people buy livestock or with their crop financing.
COLLINS: All right. Julie Cripe, we sure do appreciate that side of things.
I want to get to Sam Golden, now, because Sam, I know you've had experience on the federal level with the government office overseeing all national banks. And specifically pretty interesting here, the firm you've been working with, the co-founder of that firm is actually now the de facto CEO of Lehman Brothers. Give us your unique perspective, because we really want to be talking about this potential divide, because some people would argue they are absolutely intertwined, and that's Wall Street and Main Street.
SAMUEL P. GOLDEN, FORMER TREASURY DEPT. OFFICIAL: Yes, it's an incredible perch. We at Alvarez & Marsal really have a front seat to financial history. And you couple that with my 34-year history with the Comptroller of the Currency, the last 14 as ombudsman literally involved in many of these significant issues that confronted particularly the national banking industry.
As we step back today, and take a look at what has transpired, there are many who have asked, how did this happen? Essentially, what transpired over the last ten years that has posture that is in a position that is so difficult. And I think it serves very little purpose to focus just exclusively on ultimately trying to find and parlay blame on that. Because there is enough blame to go around for everyone, from unsupervised mortgage brokers to an insatiable appetite that existed.
COLLINS: Yes, and I mean, to be fair, some people would say, you know, you have to look back in order to fix it. But here's the question for you. I have trouble sometimes understanding, you know, people who say, well, you know, I don't want this money to go to Wall Street, because I'm an average guy.
GOLDEN: That's right.
COLLINS: But explain to me how anybody does anything on Main Street without reacting from what is going on on Wall Street? Are they not completely intertwined?
GOLDEN: I think there is an inseparable interconnectivity, not just in Main Street and here in the U.S., but what has transpired is a global connectivity that exists. But I'll go back to my longtime friend Julie Cripe.
There are many, many banks. In fact, a preponderance of banks, commercial banks in this country are very healthy, well-capitalized, earning money. That's not to say that there are not issues that they have to deal with, but they are satisfying and fulfilling the needs of their respective communities.
COLLINS: Yes.
GOLDEN: But even they are impacted, because we have at Alvarez & Marsal, we even have clients whose loan portfolios are healthy, but because they purchased many of these sophisticated mortgage-backed types of securities, they, too, are having difficulty. But for the most part, the industry has been broad-brushed with one brush and painted as if they're all having difficulty and are not lending money. And that simply is not true.
COLLINS: All right. Well, we've got a little bit of that picture, at least today. One of the issues we are not going to have time to discuss, however, unfortunately, is that whole issue of trust between, you know, Main Street -- everybody living on it -- and Wall Street. So maybe we can get to that next time.
We sure do appreciate your time, everybody. Sam Golden, thanks so much. Also thanks to our other guest, Omnibank CEO Julie Cripe and Wall Street analyst Art Hogan. "Snapshot across America."
Out of work with jobs few and far between. No wonder hundreds of people are turning up to sell themselves. CNN, right in line with them.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Lining up in Times Square, not for discounted theater tickets, but for a job. Call it a sign of the times. Our senior correspondent Allan Chernoff is in the middle of this job fair, standing right in line with everybody. So, we know monster.com is sponsoring this one, right?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Heidi. And this is a real sign of the times. Thousands of people, 3,500 preregistered, perhaps several thousand more going to arrive today. And you see plenty of them behind me, just lined up.
I mean, you see, these are people who are well-dressed. We've been talking with a lot of them. They are professionals. They are from finance, from information technology, accountants, attorneys, all walks of life, all looking for a job. That's what the situation is right now within this economy.
I've been talking also with a lot of the employment professionals here, the people hiring, and they're saying, look, this is one piece of the puzzle. It's not that you walk in the door and suddenly you have a job.
But this is an opportunity to connect your face with your resume, to make that personal connection, which is absolutely critical in job hunting, particularly right now. And we have a guest here, and she has got some very interesting things to say about job hunting in this environment.
This is Robin Cohen. Welcome. And Robin Cohen is an account executive with Atlanta's Health Plan. Robin, you were telling me, you don't need to be a person who has sales experience, who has health care experience to work for your company. Tell me, what are you looking for?
ROBIN COHEN, ACCOUNT EXEC., ATLANTA'S HEALTH PLAN: We're just looking for friendly, outgoing people who are able to create and foster business relationships, and just go out there and sell our health plan in the community. So we don't necessarily need someone with a sales background to do that.
CHERNOFF: Now, it's very interesting, because we all know that health care is an area where there is a lot of growth. That's continuing, whether or not this recession deepens. People need medical care. But you're saying you don't have to have experience in health. I mean, say somebody from finance. So many jobs have been lost in finance.
COHEN: Yes. Those are people that we would be more than welcome to bring on to our sales team. We're looking to build and expand our sales team. We're growing. We're in the five boroughs now and looking to -- we're rapidly expanding, so we're really needing to create a sales team that's going to expand with us.
CHERNOFF: The five boroughs of New York. And I'm sure what applies here applies across the country. The whole message is, Heidi, people in this economy can reinvent themselves. There are opportunities out there to get gainful employment.
COLLINS: Yes. Scary, but some people just really -- looks like they've got to do it. All right, Allen Chernoff, we sure do appreciate that. Thank you.
He's back. Michael Jackson moonwalking his way back on to the concert stage. Live pictures for you there. I think that's the bus. Announcement planned next hour in London.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: We've got an update on that Marine bus crash we told you about at the top of the hour. The Marines say a bus driver was crtically injured and airlifted to a hospital after this morning's crash. Nine Marines were hurt, none of them seriously. The accident happened 20 miles north of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Rescuers think the third of three Marine buses failed to stop for traffic and ran into the bus it was following. The troops were on their way to Norfolk, Virginia for training exercises.
The self-proclaimed "King of Pop" is beating his way back to the stage. Michael Jackson set to announce his first series of concert dates in more than a decade. Live pictures for you. That announcement coming up a little bit later today. We're looking at, I believe this is his hotel where he is staying there. According to London's O2 arena Web site, Jackson will hold dozens of performances at the 20,000-seat arena.
The site also says the 50-year-old singer has lined up a multimillion-dollar summer residency in the London area. Jackson recorded his last album in 2001. Josh Levs is our expert on this story. Joining us now. Getting a lot of e-mails, pending Jackson's comeback.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, when I was a kid, "Thriller" was in. I mean, that -- it did. It took over everything.
COLLINS: Come on, do the dance.
LEVS: You know what? Someone is going to do that for you next hour, I think. I think Tony's promised he's going -- no, oh, I got that wrong? Shoot. OK.
COLLINS: Are they screaming at you? No!
LEVS: I know -- no! Let me just tell you the basics here. You know, Heidi, each day you and I have been doing a bunch of questions for the viewers about the economy.
Well, today, we know iconography is huge, too. Michael Jackson's a huge icon. We're inviting you to weigh in about Michael Jackson. The video you were just seeing is one of the live feeds on cnn.com Live right now. And his news conference is coming up next hour. We're going to be seeing it there.
And we are curious, him being such a huge icon, what your thoughts are about this. Let's go to this graphic really quickly, too. I can show you. We're just saying, send us your thoughts on Michael Jackson. You can e-mail us there, cnnnewsroom@CNN.com or right on my Facebook page this morning, Josh Levs CNN. Your thoughts about this maybe after the news conference. Weigh in with what you've got.
You can see right behind me, it's right here, Josh Levs CNN page, brand-new this morning. You can also weigh in on Facebook. Making some changes all of a sudden. I woke up, and the whole page is different. So, we'll hear from you, and then I'll be reading some of your responses next hour -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Brand-new and with Michael Jackson.
LEVS: I know. What a morning for us, huh?
COLLINS: Josh Levs, thank you. Appreciate that.
LEVS: You got it.
COLLINS: Fighting for health care reform tooth and nail. We'll introduce you to the woman behind the White House health care summit.
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COLLINS: President Obama officially launching his efforts to reform health care today. He's holding a summit on how to overhaul a system and insure coverage for all Americans. So, what do you think about reforming health care? Senior political analyst William Schneider, Bill Schneider, as we call him here, has a sampling of public opinion now and is here with some of those results. Yes, curious what everybody said, Bill.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: What everyone says is health care has taken on new importance with the deterioration of the nation's economy, more people becoming jobless or worried about losing their jobs and their health care, and with health care costs escalating. We asked, how important is it for the president and Congress to deal with the health care issue?
Well, health care, as you see, is the -- right at the top of that list, just under the economy and terrorism. It's just about tied with terrorism. Education, Social Security, those are all of the issues at the top of the list. Women are slightly more concerned than men, 53 percent of women, 42 percent of men. It's a particular issue of interest to women. But a lot of men, as well. It has really taken on a new importance.
Now, the Obama administration is planning to unveil a new program that will increase the federal government's involvement in the health care system in an attempt to lower costs and increase coverage. Now, the last time they tried that, you remember, was in 1994. It didn't work. The health care industry put up fierce resistance.
And now, well, we're finding that 72 percent of Americans think that a new government health care program with more of a government role in health care would be just fine. That is a very high number, indeed -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes. A lot of specifics to talk about, certainly. Bill Schneider, sure do appreciate that. Thank you.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
COLLINS: When it comes to health care, one person the president turns to in pushing his agenda is Melody Barnes. We've seen some of her already on the program today. She's one of the most powerful people you probably never heard of. CNN Jessica Yellin has more now on her. Hi there, Jessica.
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi. Well, today's White House summit is really designed to launch a national conversation about health care reform. When the president wanted that taken care of, he tapped White House domestic policy chief Melody Barnes to do it.
You might be surprised to learn that's not all she is doing. In between running the show, she's also planning a wedding.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
YELLIN (voice-over): Melody Barnes may be one of the most powerful inside players you haven't heard of. Her job this week? Get the country so excited about health care reform, Congress is forced to act.
MELODY BARNES, WHITE HOUSE DOMESTIC POLICY DIRECTOR: This has to happen. If we are going to fix our economic circumstances, health care reform has to be addressed.
YELLIN: It's a tall order. Anti-reform forces are gathering for a fight. But Barnes, the White House domestic policy director, is adamant.
BARNES: Our top priority is to get it done and to make sure that it happens this year.
YELLIN: A lot of that pressure will rest on her shoulders, which means lots of West Wing meetings plotting strategy.
BARNES: You notice it goes through Saturday and Sunday.
YELLIN: Barnes starts her day doing what she says the White House chief of staff does, yoga.
BARNES: Yoga is very, very important. It keeps me centered. I know yoga is also something that Rahm practices.
YELLIN: She's not your average policy wonk. She jumped into politics in an unusual way.
BARNES: Selling cupcakes when I was eight for George McGovern.
YELLIN: "Washingtonian" magazine named her one of the city's best dressed, and last year, she was the voice of a liberal satellite radio show.
BARNES: Join me to discuss those issues and more on "The Progressive Beat."
YELLIN: Barnes has also been a senior aide to two liberal powerhouses, Senator Ted Kennedy and Obama transition chief John Podesta.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think you'll see her out on Capitol Hill, speaking to the public, traveling the country.
YELLIN: As an african-American woman working in a White House where male aides hold a great deal of power, so far, she says she and her colleagues have not had a problem being heard.
BARNES: The president sends the signal.
YELLIN: She has one other challenge to navigate. In the middle of it all, she's planning a June wedding. So, when does she find the time?
BARNES: Very, very late at night.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
YELLIN: And now, when it comes to health care reform, Heidi, one of the reasons Barnes is so optimistic is because many of the same interests that fought health care during the Clinton years will be at the table in the White House today. The big question is, though, can they agree on any details? There's a big desire for reform, but the potential for huge clashes is significant -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, in the middle of it all, too, the economy. Of course, we saw that poll. People think it's incredibly important. Seventy percent over health care. So, she's got to fight there to get the attention and the support in order to do this massive, massive job. Jessica Yellin, we sure do appreciate it. Thank you.
And this reminder, too, President Obama going to talk in a couple hours now about today's launch of his health care reforms, scheduled for 1 p.m. Eastern, 10 a.m. Pacific. You can see it live right here on CNN.
I'm Heidi Collins. Join me again tomorrow morning beginning at 9 a.m. Eastern. For now, CNN NEWSROOM continues with Tony Harris.
