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President Obama Scolds Wall Street; Tackling Two Wars; Mixed Review on Bank Bailout
Aired October 21, 2009 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: It is Wednesday, October 21st, and here are the top stories for you in the CNN NEWSROOM.
President Obama scolds Wall Street for resisting reform. His challenge to financial execs join us in making new rules to level the playing field.
From Wall Street to your street, we will look at what you did with your 401(k) when the markets crashed and what you should do now.
And meet an extraordinary doctor helping the homeless free of charge. Dr. Joe Greer's commitment, part of our focus on "Latino in America" you don't want to miss.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. And you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
President Obama says the billions in taxpayer bailout dollars shouldn't just go to big banks. Today, the president unveils a plan to help get money to community banks and small businesses.
The president is also putting Wall Street and financial firms on notice. At a fund-raiser last night, he says it is time for them to stop fighting new regulations designed to prevent another meltdown.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There are members of the financial industry in the audience today. I would ask that you join us in passing what are necessary reforms.
(APPLAUSE)
Don't fight them. Join us on them.
This is important for our country. And in the long run, it will be good for the financial industry, to have a level playing field in which everyone knows the rules and everybody knows that the rules will be enforced.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: So, let's go straight to the place that the White House wants to reform. Can't wait for this visit with Susan Lisovicz on Wall Street.
All right, Susan. I'm going to tell you ahead of time here, I'm going to ask you as loaded a question as I can here. So, here we go.
How is Wall Street reacting to the call from the president for greater responsibility and reform, keeping in mind these are the very people who acknowledge they were playing a high-risk game with our financial system, a high-risk game that led to a near collapse of our financial system?
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, nobody likes the government in your face.
HARRIS: OK.
LISOVICZ: It doesn't matter whether you're an entrepreneur and you have five employees, or you're a big corporation, a publicly traded corporation and you have 5,000 employees. It doesn't get more in your face than when the government is telling you what you have to pay your people.
So, this is where you get the most pushback on Wall Street. But what you are starting to see, just starting to see, is some companies being proactive, especially on compensation.
This week, just yesterday, Credit Suisse, a giant Swiss company, said it is radically changing its compensation structure, and that it can take back bonuses. "Clawback," this is a word we're going to hear more and more. It can take back bonuses in the event that the company's fortunes take a fall. Because, you know, Tony, bonuses are typically based on what a bank makes, and the argument has been that it has encouraged excessive risk taking for short-term profit.
Credit Suisse, so far an exception. Of course, there are many critics, including former New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer, who spoke on today's "AMERICAN MORNING."
Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELIOT SPITZER, FMR. NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL: The moment to impose the reform was when we gave the industry trillions of dollars, trillions with a "T." In other words, we gave them all the money and, yet, have not imposed upon the industry anything close to the necessary reforms that were appropriate.
Paul Volcker, you can read it in today's papers, is saying this administration is not going anywhere far enough. I've been saying, many others, even Alan Greenspan, that we have to restructure banking because they're making millions and millions of dollars, billions of dollars, using our taxpayers to play with it in the marketplace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LISOVICZ: And Paul Volcker, by the way is a former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Tony. As you know, he is a top Obama economic adviser, and he's arguing, by the way, that regulation alone won't work. He says these banks are so big, that they eventually will get into trouble and that they should simply be broken up.
HARRIS: Wow. What a good discussion. All right, Susan. See you next hour. Thank you.
LISOVICZ: You got it.
HARRIS: Taking no chances, three schools in Illinois are closed due to flu-like illnesses. Among them, St. Charles East High School in suburban Chicago, where more than 900 students stayed home sick. Its superintendent tells CNN there are concerns about swine flu.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD SCHLOMANN, SUPERINTENDENT, ST. CHARLES SCHOOL DISTRICT: We expect that that's contributing to it. We also suspect that there's regular flu symptoms, as well as the items like bronchitis, et cetera.
But it was clear to us that, operationally, it was very difficult to continue to operate with our school district with 45 percent of our students gone. And also for the safety of all of our students, we wanted to go ahead and close for the remainder of the week.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: It makes sense.
A Chicago teen arrested in the vicious beating death of an honor student, Derrion Albert, is now free. Police say he was misidentified in this video.
Eugene Bailey spent three weeks in custody. The 18-year-old expressed remorse yesterday for missing Albert's funeral. Albert was a friend, and he offered a possible remedy to the youth violence that's plaguing his community.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EUGENE BAILEY, RELEASED IN CHICAGO BEATING DEATH: Come together with peace and not be everybody wake up mad at what happened in the household and come out sad to the school with their frustration and trying to take it out on somebody else. We shouldn't be trying to do all of that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Three other teens are facing charges in the deadly fight. They are due in court on Friday.
All schools and universities are shut down now across Pakistan following yesterday's twin suicide bombings at an Islamic university. The attack left six dead and 29 wounded. Taliban militants claim responsibility and vow more violence unless Pakistan's army ends its offensive in South Waziristan. The military is pushing on with the operation despite several suicide attacks in recent weeks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJ. GEN. ATHAR ABBAS, PAKISTANI MILITARY SPOKESMAN: We are taking all measures to block all the routes, but there's always a possibility they are sneaking from the neighboring agencies or from outside that cannot be ruled out. However, we are really confident that with a huge presence of security forces not only in the area, inside this territory (INAUDIBLE), but also around it. So, therefore, we are very confident that we'll be able to block any bulk of movement, bulk terrorists in bulk moving out from the area or moving into the area.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: OK. Another U.S. soldier died in a roadside bombing in neighboring Afghanistan. That makes 30 American troops killed there this month.
It comes amid new security concerns as plans get under way for a runoff presidential election to be held in just over two weeks. Former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah agreed this morning to take part in that runoff. Some 200 officials from the original balloting will be replaced after being implicated in vote fraud.
Senator John Kerry is just back from Afghanistan. He heads to the White House this hour. Kerry will brief President Obama about the trip.
Our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux explains why the runoff is so important to the president.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Obama is trying to wrap up one war while stepping up another. In Iraq, it's about getting out. A pledge he reiterated to Iraq's prime minister.
OBAMA: That we will have our combat troops out of Iraq by August of next year and all of our troops out of Iraq by 2011.
MALVEAUX: President Obama needs those troops for the war in Afghanistan, anywhere from 10,000 to 40,000, depending on who he's talking to from inside his war council. But Mr. Obama is first trying to assess whether he has a legitimate partner in the Afghan government after international monitors concluded the election was a fraud.
OBAMA: This has been a very difficult time in Afghanistan.
MALVEAUX: Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, has agreed to a do-over on November 7th after urging from a high level U.S. delegation including Senator John Kerry. President Obama called and congratulated Karzai for his cooperation, but it's still uncertain who, if anyone, will provide a stable government for the U.S. and NATO allies to partner with, to take on the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
OBAMA: We will continue to work with our ISAF partners, as well as the Afghan government, however this election turns out.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: CNN White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joining us live now from the White House.
And Suzanne, look, you really can't, it seems to me, underestimate how hard the United States and other nations were pushing President Karzai to accept this runoff, with Senator Kerry really as chief negotiator here.
MALVEAUX: Really, you can't understate this -- overstate this, rather, because, really, what happened was is that Senator Kerry, he was over there, he was visiting with U.S. troops on an assignment already. You had the ambassador over there. You had Secretary Clinton.
All of them saying, look, we think you should weigh in. He has a relationship with Karzai, and that's exactly what he did.
He spent about 20 hours over the span of five days or so, sometimes just walking in the presidential gardens, trying to convince Karzai that, look, he understands the difficulty when it comes to ballot recount and votes and his own frustration for the presidential bid. He even told a story about 2004 in Ohio when he was frustrated.
Did he really lose against George W. Bush? That was Kerry's concern. He said he had to let that go. He had to move on. And for the sake of legitimacy here for the Afghan government, that Hamid Karzai had to do the same, that he has to accept this runoff election.
I want you to know, Tony, one thing that we thought was interesting that happened here at the White House earlier, Robert Gibbs saying that it is quite possible that the president would make a decision on U.S. troop levels before this runoff election, before that actually happens. It's highly unlikely, but why would the White House say that? Because they are trying to underscore the whole idea that this administration is going to work with an Afghan government no matter who it is, as long as it's considered a legitimate government that the Afghan people believe in, the international community can believe in as well.
HARRIS: Yes. All right.
At the White House -- that's interesting, a nice little tidbit there -- Suzanne Malveaux for us.
Suzanne, appreciate it. Thank you.
MALVEAUX: Sure.
HARRIS: Chief Business Correspondent Ali Velshi is tracking home sales and why this may be the best time to buy. We will check in with him. He's on CNN Radio right now.
But first, the latest numbers, Wall Street, a look at the Dow now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: The $700 billion bailout program for the nation's banks helped prevent a financial collapse, but it also hurt by fueling anger and mistrust among taxpayers. That's the assessment for the watchdog for the so-called TARP program. Neil Barofsky says executive pay and big bonuses undermine the public trust.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEIL BAROFSKY, SPECIAL INSPECTOR GENERAL, TARP PROGRAM: The TARP had some restrictions on money that went to institutions and their executives on pay. A lot of the other government support programs by the Federal Reserve, by the FDIC have no such conditions, so you see some of these institutions, even though they paid back their TARP funds, they're still relying on government programs, they're still reaping these profits based on cheap money and support that's given to them by the federal government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Boy. All right.
So, let's talk about this new report card on the bank bailout program. Our Chief Business Correspondent Ali Velshi on the air with his radio show right now, and he joins us live from New York.
Ali, good to talk to you, as always, Doctor.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Always my pleasure.
HARRIS: First of all, before we get started here, what is the phone number? Let's get that going, first of all.
VELSHI: Absolutely -- 877-266-4189. We're welcoming everybody's calls on anything to do with money, and particularly about real estate, which you and I are going to talk about in a moment.
HARRIS: Yes. Yes. Yes. OK. The number's out there.
So, Neil Barofsky says TARP helped and hurt. What's your bottom line on TARP? Does he have it about right?
VELSHI: Yes, I really think he does.
HARRIS: Would we feel better about this program if we had done a better job of tracking the dollars?
VELSHI: Well, look, he's the special inspector general for the Treasury dealing with TARP; right? Dealing with this bailout. The TARP is the big bailout program, the $700 billion program, and he's looked at the whole thing.
He seems to arrived at the conclusion that I've arrived at and many have arrived at, that it was necessary to save the system. It was there.
It will end up costing taxpayers money, according to him, so it won't be the $700 billion. We always knew that. But it might be about $150 billion because some of these banks won't pay back -- there's a cost of that money that the government provided.
But here's what he said that I think hits home with many, many Americans. There was not enough transparency.
HARRIS: There you go.
VELSHI: There was not enough transparency about where that money went, how it was spent. And then there was a sense that the government said we're only giving it to responsible companies that are in good health, but we saw extra money going to Bank of America, we saw extra money going to Citigroup, companies that were on the brink of failure.
So, there's that sense that it cost not just the money, but it cost the government so much good will and trust amongst Americans, that that's going to make it harder to do other things in the future. And he cites health care as a perfect example. That there's so much fatigue and anger and frustration and mistrust out there that the government doesn't achieve what it wants to with health care, because everybody is saying, you know what? I don't trust you're going to do the right thing with my money.
HARRIS: Yes.
Hey, let's turn this corner here to housing, because I know you are devoting a lot of time on the radio program to housing.
The big picture here as you see it on the housing market, is now, for example, a good time to buy a home?
VELSHI: You know, listen, you need to take advice from people smarter than me. But in my opinion, this is becoming a very good time to buy.
A report just came out yesterday that says nationwide, prices are set to drop another 11 percent between now and the middle of next year. Now, I'm not sure I fully buy that, but let's say it's true.
The interest rates that people are getting right now on a 30-year fixed mortgage, if you have good credit and if you can put at least 20 percent down on your House, is in the neighborhood of five percent. That is historically very low.
I don't know whether house prices are going lower or higher in the next year. Could go either way.
I do know that interest rates are not likely to go much lower. They are most likely going to be higher. So, if your interest rate goes from five percent to seven percent by the end of next year -- entirely plausible, because we have seen that big a drop in the last year and a half -- even if the house price goes down by 10 percent or 11 percent, it's not a wash.
You actually end up paying more for that house over time. So, interest rates over 15 or 30 years, if you're taking a mortgage, are much more important to you than just the price of the house.
And I want people to think about that. That if they're waiting for the price to drop, it may well drop further, but if you end up paying a higher interest rate, the combination of relatively low home prices and very low interest rates right now may make this time in history one of the best to buy a house -- Tony.
HARRIS: You're a good man. Good analysis, as always.
The phone number one more time, Ali?
VELSHI: 877-266-4189. And listen, big disclaimer, Tony. This doesn't mean anywhere you are in the country. This still means you have to do your homework and get a house at a good price.
HARRIS: Well said. Thanks, Ali. Appreciate it. See you next week, if not before.
And speaking of homes and mortgages, Wells Fargo reports record earnings. Check it out at CNNMoney.com.
We've been talking about open enrollment for employee health plans. One thing you're hearing about is a health assessment test. What is it and should you take it?
Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis has your "Top Tips" next in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: All right. Let's get you caught up on our top stories right now.
Some movement on the Iranian nuclear dispute. After talks in Vienna, delegations from Iran, France, Russia and the U.S. have a draft agreement. Under the proposal, Iran would send nuclear material out of the country for enrichment and it would be returned to Iran for medical research. Parties have until Friday to sign on.
Hundreds have joined the search for a missing 7-year-old Florida girl who failed to come home from school Monday. Police say they expect foul play in Somer Thompson's disappearance. Deputies were out all night using infrared cameras and dog teams to search wooded areas.
And talk about luck, check out this video. A man in Russia barely escapes a huge wreck.
We're going to show it to you about 10 times here, so you'll get to see the -- look at this. The bus, as you can see here, strikes a car, dragging it 30 feet and hitting 14 more cars while the pedestrian managed -- we're going to show it again? -- managed to high-step it out of the way. Wait
for it, Tony. Wait for it. Wait for it. Wait for it. Oh!
And he's OK.
All right. To help stem the rising cost of health care, more companies are pushing you to take health assessment tests. Should you share this personal information?
Gerri Willis is here to help you figure that out.
Gerri, first of all, a health assessment test? What on earth is a health assessment test?
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Well, you may have seen one, especially this time of year. And it's just an online questionnaire. It has 25, up to 80 questions.
Over half of companies are giving these out to employees, and the info is collected by a third party. The idea here, workers' health issues can be identified earlier and the company would be able to develop wellness plans that lower insurance costs.
HARRIS: It sounds innocuous enough, but what kinds of questions are on the survey?
WILLIS: Well, OK. Here's some things you could expect, Tony.
You might be asked questions about diet, exercise habits, blood pressure, cholesterol, whether you smoke. And this year, you're not going to be asked about family history of these kinds of things since a new law takes in effect in December. It's a federal law; it prevents this information from being shared. But, some very specific questions about your own health practices.
HARRIS: You know, I'm a little wary of this because I've got concerns about the privacy aspects of all of this. Can you help us there?
WILLIS: Right. I think a lot of people out there think, wow, could this hurt me in some way? Might my insurer drop me, or am I giving away something I shouldn't?
The reality is, neither your manager nor your insurer will have this information. In fact, they won't see your personal information at all. The data is compiled into an aggregate report.
The only thing your employer sees is the percentage of employees that are overweight, overstressed or smoke. So, while it's unlikely you'll be caught in a lie on your assessment, it's in your best interest to answer honestly. HIPAA law -- that stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act -- prevents information from being released to your insurer or your employer. So, you don't have to worry about that.
HARRIS: Yes. I wasn't stressed out and my cholesterol numbers were fine until I took this job.
So, what's the payoff here, Gerri? What kinds of incentives are being offered for filling out one of these assessments?
WILLIS: Well, they used to hand out trinkets, T-shirts, maybe a few bucks, but more employers are upping the ante, offering lowered insurance premiums and co-pays if you take advantage of wellness programs. Other employers may implement different policies based on the assessment results, like making company grounds smoke-free, or increasing the price of high-fat cafeteria fare.
A few companies have even denied health insurance to workers who don't fill out the form. So, you're going to want to watch out for that.
The devil's in the details. Of course, we're watching all of this for you.
And if you have any questions, send them to me at Gerri@CNN.com. We love to hear from you.
HARRIS: Awesome, Gerri. Thank you.
WILLIS: My pleasure.
HARRIS: Making dreams come true, it's what all of us want, and we're willing to work really hard to get it. We're focusing on Latinos in America.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ISABEL GARCIA, MEXICO AND USA: Most people in the public, I believe, are very ignorant, do not know the fact surrounding the whole immigration phenomenon. Most people say, well, you knkow, what don't you get about illegal? Why do they cross the border?
Not acknowledging at all that our government for over 100 years has done everything in its power to attract undocumented immigrants, especially from Mexico, to build this country. Without the immigrant labor force, we would not have been the economic powerhouse that we've been. It's immigrants that have given, really, the lifeblood of this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: That is Isabel Garcia, an activist and fourth-generation Mexican American. Her thoughts on the immigration debate. You know, more Americans say they know someone who is Latino today, compared to two decades ago. But a new CNN/Opinion Research poll finds we still have a long way to go to dispel the stereotypes. While the government estimates the majority of Latinos in the United States were born here, almost half of all Americans say they are most likely to assume Latinos they do not know are immigrants, with 19 percent assuming they're illegal.
Soledad O'Brien hosts "LATINO IN AMERICA" tonight right here on CNN. One of the people she highlights, Florida doctor Joe Greer, who was recently honored by the White House for the work he does for his community.
Soledad, boy, it's good to see you again. You have traveled all over this country meeting people who are giving back to their communities. Introduce us, if you would, to Dr. Greer and some of the people he is helping.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: I sure will. First, though, I'll just make a correction in that graphic. I think those numbers are -- what we actually have seen in our research is that overwhelmingly, the Latino population in the United States is native- born. So, I think that things like that are opportunities to show people the ranges of faces of Latinos.
And Dr. Greer, whose name is Pedro Jose Greer, is one of those opportunities. This is a man who is a doctor who's really spent his life focusing on the patients, not necessarily the business.
He calls himself Cubish, for Cuban-Irish, which is what I am as well. The man is never without a joke. He's an absolute laugh a minute, but his work is actually very, very serious, saving lives and helping his community. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Elena Espinosa came to the Mercy Hospital in Miami with abdominal pain.
DR. JOE GREER, GASTROENTEROLOGIST, MERCY HOSPITAL: Ready?
O'BRIEN: Using his endoscope, Dr. Joe Greer is looking for a possible malignancy, cancer. Perhaps the real medical breakthrough is that Elena is here without any insurance.
GREER: I don't know when it became socially acceptable in our country to refuse a patient because they have no funds.
O'BRIEN (on camera): That's reality now.
GREER: It's a reality, but it goes against all the ethics and morals that we know.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Joe Greer sees many patients who can't pay. His life was changed forever as an intern, after a homeless, nameless patient died alone. He searched for the man's family in shelters and under Miami's highways.
O'BRIEN (on camera): You weren't afraid?
GREER: No. GREER: Did you dress like a civilian? Did you have a doctor's coat on?
GREER: No, I got a doctor coat on later, because actually right over there across the street one time, a guy pulled a gun on me because he thought I was a cop, a narc.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Joe Greer went on to help start the John Bosco Clinic for low-income immigrants and the Camillus Health Concern, a free clinic which has treated over 5,000 homeless and low- income patients a year for 25 years.
He's also trying to improve tomorrow. He's part of a new medical school with a new curriculum at Florida International University. He says he's teaching students that health care is more than medicine, it's about people.
GREER: You can use your position for a lot more things than you think you can to reform and help people. And you'll also have very nice cars. And the ones that have the fastest cars can help the poor the quickest.
O'BRIEN: This summer, Dr. Pedro Jose "Joe" Greer was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama. It's the nation's highest civilian honor. Then it was back to work far from the White House.
GREER: So, I mean, your esophagus looks pretty normal.
O'BRIEN: On this day, he and his team were simply trying to make Elena Espinosa feel better, free of charge. He thinks it's gastritis, an inflammation, not cancer. He'll do further testing, but for now, the news is good.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Dr. Joe Greer sees many kinds of patients. Some of his patients he tells me fly in on their private jets and wait in the same waiting room as some of his homeless patients. He sees the range. Many patients, of course, are insured. But what they all admire in him is really his humanity, and of course, that is really at the end of the day what he was awarded for with that incredible honor from President Obama.
HARRIS: That's terrific. I want to ask about that in a second. But Soledad, for the people who are homeless that he is treating, we know that this is a fee-for-service health care system. How is he paying for the care that he is providing for the homeless?
O'BRIEN: Like many charitable hospitals that will take anybody, he has a sign up in his clinic that says, you know, we will give care if you cannot pay. You will get care. He has federal grants that help underwrite the costs, and also they get donations as well.
HARRIS: Yes. What was his reaction to receiving the Medal of Freedom from the president? O'BRIEN: You know, he is a jokester, right? So, this is a man who is always cracking a joke. And so, he was telling many, many jokes about the experience. But clearly, he was very moved, and in some ways I think he was overwhelmed by it.
It is such a tremendous honor when you consider that this is a man who has dedicated his life in many ways to taking care of people who often people don't care about at all. I think that what a wonderful embrace of his work and his vision and his ability, all in one. So, he was very moved, and then he turned to make a joke about the whole entire ceremony because that's the kind of guy Dr. Joe Greer is.
HARRIS: He's terrific. I love that line: How did it become OK in this country to turn away folks who have health conditions because they can't pay? I love that line.
O'BRIEN: Yes. Serious guy for a jokester. Absolutely.
HARRIS: Yes. And come on back next hour, will you, Soledad?
O'BRIEN: You bet. Absolutely. Thanks, Tony.
HARRIS: We are just hours away from "LATINO IN AMERICA," a comprehensive look at how Latinos are changing America. That's tonight and tomorrow night 9:00 Eastern. It will also be simulcast in Spanish on CNN en Espanol.
We are watching the stock market gain ground. Let's see the numbers. OK, good news there. If you haven't looked at your 401(k) lately, maybe it's time to take a peek.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: All right, let's get you caught up on our top stories now. Heavy metal group Metallica says it is deeply concerned about a missing fan, 21-year-old Morgan Harrington. The Virginia Tech student was last seen at a Metallica concert Saturday night. Police are investigating but say they have found no evidence of a crime.
Swine flu fears prompting several schools in Wisconsin and Illinois to shut down. Officials report more than 40 percent of their students have stayed out sick with flulike symptoms.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PEDRO GARCIA, PUERTO RICO: The whole idea of loving God above all things and loving your brothers and sisters as yourself, there's no exemption clause. You love one another, no matter where they're from. Look at it from the founding documents of the nation -- all men are created equal. Are some more equal than others because they were born here and others that were not?
And it's kind of interesting to see that some of these founding documents were signed by people who were not born here, maybe some people who didn't have the proper documentation to be here. I think that's kind of interesting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: That is Pedro Garcia. He is working to bridge the gap between English and Spanish speakers in the United States. Discrimination, a dirty word many people say still exists. In fact, the latest CNN/Opinion Research poll finds 57 percent of Americans today say Latinos face at least some sort of job discrimination. You can see how that compares to other significant minority groups. Of those who feel Latinos are treated unfairly, 24 percent say it happens a lot.
The CNN special brings up some eye-opening discussions about how Latinos are changing America. Our Josh Levs is here and tells us about that and how you can weigh in -- Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Tony, you know, I've been keeping an eye on the Web site throughout all of this, see what people are talking about, what they're -- trying to share the stories that they're sharing. This is one of the most interesting features, and I'll tell you a little bit more in a moment.
But basically, people through the Web site, cnn.com/latinamerica -- or latinoinamerica, are able to share their stories. And one thing they're linking you to is these iReports right here. I have a quote for you from one of our frequent iReporters. Let's go to this graphic.
It's interesting, she talks about her identity, being Latina in America. And she says, "I did not choose to be an Humana/Americana/Mexicana/Tejana/Veterana/Chicana/Latina/Hispana nor any other label. The choice I had was in how these labels would affect and impact my life."
And Tony, that's a lot of what people are discussing on ireport.com right now, how does being Latino affect you in various ways. We're also seeing people share stories about their experience as Americans and as Latinos.
This is an interesting one. This comes to us from Alexis Fernandez (ph), a picture of her quinceanera that took place in Alaska. And she shares her story there, too. One of the coolest features we have is what I was showing you here before, and this is called "Meet the Garcias." We're actually just hearing from one of the Garcias.
The reason, so everyone understands, is Garcia is now one of the most popular last names in America. It's now in the top ten. Now, what this section does is, you can click on any of them, and you can learn more about their stories. Well, I've got a couple quotes for you from some of these Garcias. Let's go to this first one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CINDY GARCIA, CNN.COM/LATINOINAMERICA: My mom does need a lot of the time for me to translate for her because she's not from here. She wasn't born here. You know, there's just a certain amount of things she can help me with, and then it's me.
So, that's more on me, you know. It's hard. It's hard. It's like I feel like I don't have time to deal with my own things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: So interesting. And I'll tell you, since we have time, really quickly, we've got time for one more video here. This is Jesse Garcia, a man who you've probably seen in a bunch of movies and TV shows. Here's what he talks about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSE GARCIA, ACTOR: I think they need to use imagination more, I feel like. I mean, yes, Mexican gardeners do exist and Latino gardeners and general laborers, sure. But if you do that, find another way to do it. Find something interesting about it. Make them the lead, you know what I mean? Do something -- do a powerful story about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: And, Tony, iReport will be one of the ways that people weigh in on whether they -- what they get out of the special. If you like it, if you have problems with it, if there's something that you find really fascinating and really wonderful about it, people at iReport.com and all the features are going to be able to weigh in and share thoughts about it, and we'll be reporting those right here.
HARRIS: That is terrific. All right, Josh, thank you.
LEVS: You got it, man.
HARRIS: And again, we are just hours away from "LATINO IN AMERICA," a comprehensive look at how Latinos are changing America. That is tonight and tomorrow night at 9:00 Eastern. It will also be simulcast in Spanish on CNN en Espanol.
A new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll on health care reform suggests growing support for a public option. So, what do you think? Should the final bill after the Senate finance melds with the health committee bill, after the house gets a bill and after the two bills come together, should that final bill include a public option?
Go to our blog at cnn.com/tony. Leave us a comment. And we will share some of them on the air in the next hour right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: You watched helplessly as your 401(k) plummeted when the markets took a dive. Now, stocks are up, your 401(k) is rising and you want to know what to do, right?
Our Christine Romans, part of the CNN Money Team, joining me now from New York with answers for you. And one thing you don't want to do, it seems to me, Christine, is to yank your money out now while things are getting a little better. You don't want that penalty.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, some people frankly yanked their money out along the way, and those people were mostly people who were really close to retirement, who over the past couple years they knew they didn't have a long time horizon. They had to protect what they had.
So, look, we kind of went through to try to do a 401(k) gut check for you. Because you're going to get these things in the mail. And, Tony, you're going to notice that you might be up this year. You might be up 7, 8,9, 10 percent this year because of this big rally we've had. You are not restoring your 401(k) to its precrisis levels, but you are repairing it, and I think that's key.
First off, OK, before we can tell you what to do next, Tony, we have to find out what kind of person you are and what you did when the market crashed.
HARRIS: OK.
ROMANS: This is what -- Vanguard did a great breakdown of what people did. You know, about 57 percent made no changes at all. They just sat tight. Is that you, Tony? Did you just sit tight?
HARRIS: Yes, yes, yes, yes. I didn't look at it.
ROMANS: Yes. You just said, OK, I'm not going to do anything here.
HARRIS: Got to ride it out.
ROMANS: Got to ride it out. That's 57 percent. They made no changes. Five percent sold all their stocks, just got out of their stocks, they were so afraid. Those people were -- their prime identifying characteristic were they were close to retirement.
Seventeen percent increased their stock investment. Tony, those people, appears that those people were mostly men. They were mostly highly educated with a graduate degree or higher and had a million dollars or more in investable assets.
So, those lucky, smart, rich people, they...
HARRIS: Get in while prices and down, and then, yes, yes.
ROMANS: Yes, they were buying stocks. And 21 percent of us cut our investment. So, we called Gary Ambrose from Personal Capital Management. He gets hundreds of dollars an hour to give this advice. And we asked him this: What should you do now, after the rout and now the rally.
If you bailed out during the past couple years, he says, if you have 10 years or more until retirement, get back in. If you did nothing, like you, Tony, he says good for you. Good for you, Tony Harris. Just hang in there. Maybe there's a dip. It's OK. Keep investing. You've got a 10-year or longer time horizon, fine. If you bought along the way and you're one of the rich, savvy, smart, you know, brave people, he said recheck your allocation, adjust periodically, make sure that you're taking your winnings off the table and invest -- you know, you've got to know what your asset allocation is. You know, that's stocks, bonds, cash, other things.
Go to CNNmoney.com. They have calculators. They can tell you what asset allocation means, what yours should be. Are you a conservative? Are you risky? Are you right down the middle? Are you afraid? It will help you figure out what your asset allocation should be.
This is the time right now to do it. This is the time right now.
HARRIS: That is so smart, so smart. All right, CNNmoney.com for that information?
ROMANS: It's all on CNNmoney.com. Look at all these calculators. Spend some time. When you're doing your open enrollment for your health care stuff at work, do this, too, right now.
HARRIS: Christine, appreciate it. Thank you.
While the rebound on Wall Street is good for your 401(k), there's a bit of a backlash -- have you noticed? -- over big bonuses and executive salaries paid out by some financial firms, especially firms that took taxpayer bailout money. On CNN's "ANDERSON COOPER," the discussion focused on finding solutions to the problem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID WALKER, PRESIDENT AND CEO, PETER G. PETERSON FOUNDATION: I think the solution is, the government ought to do its job. It ought to do a better job with regard to regulation, with regard to oversight. It should not regulate executive compensation. I mean, frankly, if the government was on a pay-for-performance system, it would owe money.
The fact of the matter is that we need to strengthen shareholder rights. We need to also have tougher capital requirements. We have to have risk-related premiums for a number of these institutions. We ought to not give them access to the Fed, the borrowing from the Fed. There's a number of things that we ought to do, and Washington is still waiting.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": Representative Kaptur, you introduced a bill, as you mentioned, that would recoup 100 percent of bonuses paid out by any company that received TARP money. But why should those rules be forced to abide by rules that weren't place last year when they were offered the money?
REP. MARCY KAPTUR (D), OHIO: Well, because America needs it right now. And I think they should be leaders. They should be leaders for the country. They should try to make up to the country some of the -- for some of the damage that they have done. And I agree with David that, in fact, we need an entire new financial architecture for our country. We should be taking some of these institutions into receivership. We should not be rewarding them. We should be working out the loans on their books and dealing with the people losing their homes across this country, and resolving this in the normal way.
We are absorbing -- we are trying to deal with this in a very abnormal way, and it's getting worse all across this country -- more unemployment, more foreclosures, fewer bank loans being made, more money poured into the top, but we're not getting the economy to unfreeze.
COOPER: Let me play devil's advocate with you, though. There are plenty of folks who say, look, we need to give these top executives these perks, or bonus in some case, in order to retain good executives, in order to get these companies back on track.
KAPTUR: Well, you know, what if that's what it takes, they certainly made a mess of it. I think we need a whole new set of people. In fact, I would support legislation to not allow any of these executives who have been involved in these terrible, terrible schemes to have any relationship with the federal government or do business with the federal government again.
COOPER: Let me ask, David, what do you think about that?
WALKER: Look, the fact is, is for any system to be successful and sustainable, you've got to have properly assigned and integrated incentives, adequate transparency and appropriate accountability. With regard to pay, that doesn't exist right now, and we need to do something about it. But it needs to be done through the governance system, not through legislation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: All right. Here's a look at what we're working on for the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM. Public opinion about the public option and health care reform. New poll numbers out today. We will tell you whether support is going up or down.
One third of Catholics in the United States are now Latinos. We will take you to one parish where the growing population is causing a rift, and you will meet the man trying to bridge the divide. Our special coverage, "LATINO IN AMERICA."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: The Federal Communications Commission is looking at rules that would put net neutrality on the books, basically keeping the Internet free and equal the way it is now. But telecom companies are fighting for more control of the way we pay for and use the Internet.
Nicole Lapin looks at how the little guy has a really big stake in what's being discussed right now in Washington. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICOLE LAPIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New Mexico Chile is the brainchild of Gary Maricle. He sells red chile, green chile, fresh, frozen, all varieties. He's mad about the stuff. And so are his customers who find his online business from all over the world.
GARY MARICLE, NEW MEXICO CHILI: Ninety-five percent to 99 percent of our customer base are out of the state of New Mexico. And what we offer wouldn't be unique in New Mexico because there's chile all around me. So, yes, the Internet's the only economical way to do it.
LAPIN: Maricle actually runs different Web sites, with lots of pictures to promote his business. And that takes up a lot of cyberspace, but it doesn't matter how much he uses now, because he pays $200 a month for unlimited usage. He says because that's all he can afford, he's an outspoken supporter of net neutrality. It's the system we have now, where you pay a flat fee, no matter what you look at or how much you use.
NICK THOMPSON, "WIRED" MAGAZINE: For people who are in favor of net neutrality, it means there's going to be much more freedom to invent. That means much more consumer choice. If you talk to the telcos, they say, oh, it means everything's going to be slower and more confused because we're not going to be able to charge people, and we're not going to be able to optimize things.
LAPIN: The telecoms are against FCC proposals that make all sites equal on the information superhighway. Imagine a real highway for a second, with the fast lane being premium content, video, audio and photos. Well, now Gary can go into that fast lane with his big- business competitors. But without net neutrality, online small businesses fear that that lane would be dominated by the big guys.
MARICLE: We make money primarily because of new customers. Every day we're marketing on the Internet. If we couldn't market on the Internet any longer, that would really hurt us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAPIN: And some like Gary fear that those big business Internet providers, we're talking the Comcasts, the Verizons, the AT&Ts of the world would want to charge us more for using sites like YouTube, sites like Amazon along with the mom and pops for faster connections. So, some say it's actually towards a step toward making them act more like your cable company, charging you for the premium channels for better high-def viewing capabilities.
So we reached out, Tony, to the some of these major telecoms, and they seem to be on this wait-and-see approach for the FCC ruling that should happen tomorrow. But they're basically saying, you use more, you have to pay more. It costs us billions and billions of dollars to lay down this infrastructure. And if you're going to soak up more, we want you to pay for it.
HARRIS: Yes, but we've got to protect the chile guy. We've got to protect the chile guy.
LAPIN: Well, the chile guy, there's going to be a vote in Washington tomorrow. The FCC's going to look at it. With the Dems in control, they should probably put this on the books, keeping the net neutral, the way it is right now.
HARRIS: Look out for the chile guy.
Nicole, appreciate it. Thank you.
LAPIN: You're welcome.
HARRIS: I'm all for the chile guy.
