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Jobs Brainstorming Session; Where Will the Jobs Be?; Avoiding Banks
Aired December 03, 2009 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And time now for our top-of-the-hour reset.
I'm Tony Harris in the CNN NEWSROOM.
It is noon at the White House, where the president opens a jobs creation summit in just 90 minutes.
It is partly sunny and near 70 degrees in Boston, where an unusual December day brings warm but fierce winds this Thursday.
And to CENTCOM headquarters in Florida, where General David Petraeus defends a withdrawal timeline for Afghanistan as conditional.
Let's get started.
Let's begin with the economy, on a slow road to recovery. That means American companies are firing fewer workers each week.
The Labor Department says new first-time unemployment claims fell last week to 457,000. This marks the fifth straight decline and the best overall showing since September of 2008. To move from net loss to net gain in jobs, economists say jobless claims need to fall below 400,000.
President Obama is looking for ways to jump-start hiring and improve the sluggish job market. High unemployment is raising questions about the president's economic recovery effort, so he is holding a brainstorming session on jobs next hour.
White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joins us with a bit of a preview here.
And Suzanne, what can we expect from today's forum? It sounds like the president is looking for ideas.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He's looking for ideas and perhaps some confirmation that the ideas his own economic team has that could be working, that could actually work and produce some jobs.
I should tell you, Tony, that Robert Gibbs, the press secretary, was taking a look at some figures, and we know that unemployment now at 10.2 percent. He said based on some numbers he's seen, it seems to suggest that we could see a slight uptick. So that is not good news when you take a look at November numbers. That's not to be released, of course, until tomorrow, but the White House is bracing itself for potentially bad news tomorrow.
What the president is doing today is he's sitting down with the vice president, cabinet secretaries, his economic team inside the White House, with those who are outside of the White House. So, for instance, the head of Google, FedEx, academics, union members, to ask them, essentially, do you think some of the ideas that we've been mulling around, do you think they're actually growing to work in the real world? Do you think that -- you are the guys who actually hire people. Do you think that what we're suggesting will actually produce new jobs?
And so some of the things they're talking about is increasing spending on infrastructure projects, building roads and bridges. We've seen that before.
Increasing weatherization projects, get people to work on their homes. Is that going to produce more jobs? If there are tax credits for small businesses, how is that actually going to actually trickle down, if you will, to folks who have been out of work?
Those are the kinds of conversations the White House officials say that they are going to have with these leaders, with the president today. We also understand that there's going to be a forum, he'll possibly be able to take some questions from people. And, you know, we'll get a sense of what they really think about all of this.
One thing, Tony, you should know is that there's fierce, fierce criticism coming to this administration...
HARRIS: Oh, yes.
MALVEAUX: ... on both sides. Democrats who say, look, the jobs aren't coming fast enough, we need a second economic stimulus package. The Republicans who say you've wasted our money already to $787 billion.
I want you to listen. This is coming from the head of the RNC. This is Michael Steele, and he says in this one sentence, he says, "This White House jobs summit is just another example of President Obama's PR presidency where he stages photo-ops and events to distracts citizens and the media from his administration's failures."
Now, the White House takes issue with that. They say, you know, despite the fact they're not going to have any major announcements today, it's good to listen, it's good to take in the opinions from other folks and see where they go from here. But clearly a lot of frustration because people are out of work -- Tony.
BLITZER: And Suzanne, the president hits the road tomorrow, correct?
MALVEAUX: He heads to a Allentown, Pennsylvania, and that's where he's going to be at a community college. It is really the jump- start, if you will, of what they say the president is going to be doing for the next couple of months, which is going out and talking to regular folks and asking them, how are you feeling, what's your situation in your own communities? What do you think needs to be done?
It essentially is a kind of "I feel your pain" time of tour, that they are paying attention to this, because a lot of people are still not feeling this economy despite the recovery, because they don't -- they're out of work.
HARRIS: Yes, exactly.
Suzanne Malveaux at the White House.
Because they're out of work.
Suzanne, appreciate it. Thank you.
Republicans are focusing in on the unemployment problem today. House Minority Leader John Boehner convened a roundtable just last hour to focus on jobs. He says the Obama administration's economic policies are not working.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), MINORITY LEADER: I doubt that some of the things we'll talk about today will be talked about at President Obama's summit.
The unemployment rate is still over 10 percent. Over three million Americans have lost their jobs since the stimulus bill was signed into law.
You know, as a former small businessman myself, I know what it takes to meet a payroll. And I can tell you that the policies being proposed by this administration and their Democrat allies here in Congress are causing employers to sit on their hands.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Aiming for the allies. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leaves for NATO headquarters in Brussels today. She is going to brief ministers about the U.S. battle plan for Afghanistan. Clinton speaks to CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING" tomorrow in her first exclusive interview since President Obama announced the war strategy.
The Obama administration is pushing NATO to contribute more troops to the war. The alliance currently has 42,000 forces in Afghanistan. NATO's chief tells our Christiane Amanpour how many more he expects to deploy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, HOST, "AMANPOUR": Secretary-General Rasmussen, do you agree and can you assure that there will be support from the allies? He said, "I'm confident there will be strong support."
ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN, NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL: Yes. I agree with the president, and I share his wish and his hope. And I'm pleased to inform you that, according to our latest figures, at least 20 allies and partners will contribute additional troops to Afghanistan, and I expect more to come in the coming weeks.
AMANPOUR: How many troops are we talking about?
RASMUSSEN: Well, at least 5,000 here and now. And I would expect a few thousand more to be announced in the coming weeks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Our Christiane Amanpour also gets answers from Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Don't miss her exclusive interview Sunday at 2:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN.
The Afghan leader reportedly says he is willing to talk to the Taliban in a bid for president. President Karzai tells The Associated Press the talks would only happen with support from the United States and other international partners.
Meantime, U.S. lawmakers are trying to get answers about the war plan. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is talking to top administration officials.
Our Heidi Collins heard concerns earlier from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who have served in the military.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOSEPH SESTAK (D), PENNSYLVANIA: I'm more interested in -- and even more so since yesterday -- what's our measure of progress towards the real threat to America, al Qaeda and Pakistan?
REP. DUNCAN HUNTER (R), CALIFORNIA: I actually think that the president's speech was nuanced enough to where that July, 2011, timeline is really a July, 2011, transition to, like, a status-of- forces agreement in Afghanistan like we have in Iraq now. So, I think it's nuanced enough to where we're not going to stick to it. I'm going to ask about that, to where if it is flexible and it's really a transition timeline, not a withdrawal timeline.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: New violence in one of the world's other hot spots. A suicide bomber detonated explosives in Somalia, killing at least 16 people, including three government ministers. Dozens more people were wounded in the attack.
It happened at a graduation ceremony in the capital, Mogadishu. Islamist insurgents with links to al Qaeda are blames. Officials say the bomber was a man disguised as a veiled woman.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: As President Obama gets ready to kick off his jobs forum, we are asking the question, will where the jobs of the future come from and how will we get there? First, though, our "Random Moment" in 90 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: All right. Time for our "Random Moment." Just be sure to duck.
Take a look. Chairs and insults flying back and forth across the room. Love this -- ooh, have some!
This is in one of Argentina's northern provinces. Lawmakers are trying to choose a president of the Lower Parliamentary House. Obviously, someone didn't like the way things were going.
Have some! You too!
At least 10 were slightly hurt during the raucous.
And you thought American politics was rough and -- oh, have that!
We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: President Obama convenes a White House jobs summit next hour, but some question whether it will have any real effect on the nation's unemployment crisis.
So, where will the jobs be in the future and how do we get there?
Joining us to talk about that, Alfred Edmond, editor-in-chief of BlackEnterprise.com.
Good to see you.
And Evan Newmark, "Mean Street" columnist for The Wall Street Journal's Deal Journal.
And gentlemen, it's great to talk to you both.
And Alfred, let me -- let's start this way -- I'm curious, do either of you believe -- and Alfred, let me start with you -- anything good, positive will come out of the jobs summit next hour?
ALFRED EDMOND, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, BLACKENTERPRISE.COM: I think something good can come out of it. But the measure of how good it is will be how fast it comes.
We're serving our audience at BlackEnterprise.com today to find out what they think about the jobs summit. But the bottom line is, jobs are coming back, but they cannot come back fast enough. The only thing they can do to make people happy today, right now, is to literally be handing out job applications at the summit and saying, fill out this application, you're hired.
HARRIS: Evan, what do you think? You know, I'm a little skeptical to me. It feels to me like more talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk.
What do you think? Can anything good come of this summit today?
EVAN NEWMARK, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": I think it's a political stunt, frankly. And I think it's not a coincidence that it's timed the day before an unemployment rate is going to come out that's going to show it at 10.3 or 10.4 percent, and a day before the president kicks off his big Main Street tour in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
That's not a coincidence. That's political theater.
HARRIS: All right.
And Alfred, who speaks truth to power today and says to the president, you know what, job creation is fundamentally a private sector function, and you can spend and spend, and spend all you want, but the jobs come from the private sector? And the private sector got fat and happy on credit-driven spending, and now we are retreating big-time and we are not hiring in the kinds of numbers you need politically, and the American people would like for a long time to come.
Who says that today?
EDMOND: Well, politics aside, businesses can only hire at the rate that they feel comfortable hiring, and that's the challenge that the country faces. That's the challenge that the Obama administration faces.
And that's why I do agree that there is a certain bit of political theater going on with the summit today. But the test of whether that stunt "works" will be what happens afterwards.
If he hadn't done anything with these unemployment numbers coming out, then he would have been accused of not paying attention to a really significant problem that's facing our economy and our nation. So, it's really what happens after the summit is going to dictate whether the political stunt, if you will, worked or did not work. And businesses are going to do what they think they have to do.
HARRIS: Yes. Got you.
Evan, who speaks truth to power today?
NEWMARK: Do you know what the reality is? You should have had the jobs summit 11 months ago. That's when we should have had the jobs summit.
We should have had the jobs summit when businessmen were still trying to feel their way through what the administration's policies were going to be. But now the president has kind of lost the trust of a lot of American businesses, particularly small businesses. And once you lose that trust and the businessmen become suspicious of what's going on in Washington, they're going to be very, very, very slow to hire. And that's where we're going to right now.
HARRIS: Let's move forward here.
EDMOND: Eleven...
HARRIS: Yes, go ahead, Alfred.
EDMOND: Eleven months ago, he was just getting inaugurated. I mean, that's not realistic. It's not like there hasn't been a lot of -- a number of other things on the agenda. And it's not like having a jobs summit 11 months ago would have made jobs come back any faster.
Everybody knows employment is a lagging indicator. That is the last thing that really feels recovery when there is a recovery. So, to say that he should have done it sooner I don't think really adds anything to it.
I do believe that to the degree that nothing happens in the five to six months to come -- and there's some strong initiatives by the National Urban League, for example, of what should be done immediately to at least speed up the process -- if nothing happens, then I think it's political theater totally. If something happens, then it is what it is.
HARRIS: I've got one more quick one I want to get in here.
Guys -- and Evan, let me start with you. You've got to have something positive to say to the president today, so let's look forward here.
What is the new economy? I'm looking at numbers from the Department of Labor, and manufacturing jobs, in this jobs report, first-time claims, are still disappearing at an alarming rate. So, manufacturing is dead or dying. All right?
What's next? And how do we expedite getting there?
NEWMARK: Right. Well, I think, you know, the reason why we are where we are is there is a fundamentally different philosophy that the president has about the economy than, say, Republican administrations. And that is, the Obama White House believes in a stakeholder society, that labor unions working with the government, working with private businesses, can create jobs.
So, it's a philosophical problem that I have with the Obama administration. It's not, do we target, you know, whether we weatherize houses or we don't weatherize houses, how many jobs can we get from the wind power industry. The entire wind power industry in the United States creates -- has a total of 75,000 jobs. There is no way alternative energy is going to produce the 200,000 to 300,000 jobs a month that the Obama administration needs just to get unemployment back to around eight or nine percent next year.
HARRIS: And Alfred, let me let you have the last word on this. What's -- how do we get there?
EDMOND: Well, I happen to agree with that statement. I mean, the burgeoning green economy is not a solution that's going to help us through the first quarter and the second quarter of 2010. So, you have some long-term economic restructuring that I think the Obama administration is right on point. But I think you've got to understand the short-term jobs stimulation is not going to come from the green economy.
We're going to have to do something to stimulate manufacturing. We're going to have to do something to stimulate retail jobs and service jobs for the short run.
HARRIS: Got you. All right.
Alfred Edmond and Evan Newmark.
Gentlemen, thank you both. Good discussion. Appreciate it.
NEWMARK: Thank you.
EDMOND: Thank you.
HARRIS: Let's get a quick check of our top stories right now.
This morning, in Cleveland, Ohio, Anthony Sowell has pled not guilty by reason of insanity to 11 murder charges. The convicted sex offender is accused of killing 11 women and stashing their bodies at his Cleveland home.
A close call for two maintenance workers at the new Cowboys stadium. Police in Arlington say they slipped and fell from an upper roof of a lower section of the stadium. A spokesperson said their injuries didn't appear to be life-threatening.
Another check of your top stories in 20 minutes.
A significant number of Americans don't use banks. Some say that number is expected to grow.
What options are out there for these people?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Let's try to spend some time with Gerri Willis.
You know, an FDIC survey shows a troubling number of U.S. households rarely or never use banks. That means they're turning to expensive check cashers, pawnbrokers and payday lenders. Trouble there.
CNN Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis is in New York for us.
And Gerri, tell us more about what's in this report.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Well, Tony, the report shows that an estimated nine million U.S. households have no bank account at all, and another 21 million are underbanked, and that means they have a checking and savings account but often use check- cashing outlets, pawn shops, other non-bank money services. Now, more troubling, some analysts believe this number will go up in the next year because of new legislation and more stringent policies at individual banks. Some of that is the unintended consequence of the landmark Credit Card Act passed to much fanfare last spring, and that law was designed to protect consumers against unfair rate hikes and high fees. Some analysts, though, now are saying it could result in bank raising fees for bounced checks and credit card balances, forcing out some of their lowest-income customers -- Tony.
HARRIS: Yes. But Gerri, you know, using check-cashing services and other non-bank facilities just feels like bad business.
WILLIS: Yes. Well, you think banks have high fees, Tony? Take a look at your local pawnbroker.
Most check-cashing services, for example, they charge a fee on a percentage basis, maybe one percent to cash a small check, up to four percent to cash a larger payroll check. Fees can get out of control if you use their payday loan services where people borrow against their paychecks and pay rolling interest.
This can get really expensive, especially if you borrow more than once, as most people who use these services do. To start, most payday loans charge between 15 and 25 percent interest for a two-week advance. And the interest compounds each time you re-up the loan.
This is how many underbanked people get into trouble. Unbanked are OK (ph) since you have to have a bank account to take out a payday loan -- Tony.
HARRIS: OK. Interesting terminology here.
What options are out there for -- you mentioned the unbanked or the underbanked.
WILLIS: I have some surprises here. One of them is Wal-Mart.
HARRIS: Wal-Mart?
WILLIS: Wal-Mart offers check-cashing -- yes. They offer check- cashing services for a flat rate of three bucks for a check up to $1,000, and $6 for a check over a grand. Now, that's a better rate as long as your check is for more than 300 bucks.
One person we spoke to suggests trying to get your paycheck cashed by the bank that it's written on. So, if your check comes from Bank of America, go to Bank of America, try to cash it. It's possible that the bank that issued the check will cash your check even if you don't have an account.
Finally, if you don't have a bank account, consider getting one. The FDIC says it plans to use the data in its study in an effort to get the banks to offer starter accounts. That's low-cost, no-minimum checking accounts without high overdraft fees. Essentially, it's working to offset the unintended consequences of the Credit Card Act and reduce the number of unbanked Americans.
One other unintended problem with some of these services we're describing is that people carry around a lot of cash...
HARRIS: Oh yes.
WILLIS: ... which makes them susceptible to being robbed, violence. So, at the end of the day, I know a lot of people are frustrated with their bank out there. It's better than the alternative.
HARRIS: It sure is.
Gerri, appreciate it. Great advice, great tips. Boy, interesting findings in that study.
Gerri Willis for us.
Gerri, thanks.
You know, they got an invitation to the party, but Tareq and Michaele Salahi are no-shows on Capitol Hill today. A House committee is looking into the White House State Dinner security breach. The committee chairman says he will subpoena the Salahis, if necessary, to ask them about crashing the gala.
The director of the Secret Service admits the Salahis got in because the agency screwed up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK SULLIVAN, DIRECTOR, U.S. SECRET SERVICE: I directed the Office of Professional Responsibility to contact the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General in order to advise them of our investigation.
While the investigation remains ongoing, preliminary findings have determined that established procedures related to entering the White House were not followed at initial checkpoint. An err in judgment, a mistake was made. In our line of work, we cannot afford even one mistake. Although these individuated went through magnetometers and other levels of screening, their entry into the White House is unacceptable and indefensible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: OK. The House committee also wanted to hear from the White House social secretary at today's hearing, but she didn't show up either.
Here's White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX (voice-over): The White House and Secret Service both say they weren't supposed to be there, but dressed to the nines, there they were, meeting the vice president and even the president himself.
So, how did Tareq and Michaele Salahi get into President Obama's first State Dinner? The White House is still trying to figure it out.
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Obviously there's an ongoing assessment and investigation by the Secret Service into what happened I guess a little more than a week ago.
MALVEAUX: Monday, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs deflected questions asking if staffers should be at the gates with the Secret Service. But just 48 hours later, changes. Gibbs says staff will start watching the doors.
GIBBS: Last night was the first of many holiday parties that will happen in this complex over the next several weeks. We had staff at the security checkpoint to ensure that if there was any confusion about lists, those would be double-checked with somebody representing the Social Office.
MALVEAUX: Lawmakers on Capitol Hill want answers, too. The House Homeland Security Committee will have a hearing today, but they may not have many witnesses. Social Secretary Desiree Rogers has been under fire since the security breach. But the White House says don't expect her to testify.
GIBBS: You know that based on separation of powers, staff here don't go to testify in front of Congress. She won't -- she will not be testifying in front of Congress.
MALVEAUX: And even though the Salahis are invited, they won't be coming either. In a statement obtained by the Associated Press, their publicist says the Salahis believe "there is nothing further that they can do to assist Congress in its inquiry regarding White House protocol and certain security procedures. They, therefore, respectfully decline to testify."
But that's not sitting well with the chairman of the Homeland Secretary Committee. Congressman Bennie Thompson says if the Salahis are a no-show, he's ready to start handing out subpoenas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: That's our White House correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux, reporting.
What are those without jobs saying about the president's handling of the economy? Our CNN Money team is getting some feedback.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Thirty-four minutes after the hour. And welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.
I've got to tell you, the lead story at cnnmoney.com, the headline reads, "class of '09, they got jobs." Apparently we've been able to track down some graduates who have been able to get some jobs in the class of '09. The class of '08, not so much. Making that part up. If you want the latest financial news and analysis, just go to cnnmoney.com. Our Money team doing a terrific job.
To the New York Stock Exchange now. Just past three hours into the trading day, as you can see. We're selling a bit. Let's call it flat for now. The Dow, as you can see, is down six points. The Nasdaq -- OK, so kind of a mixed day. The Nasdaq is up five. And we're following these numbers throughout the day for you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
With nearly 16 million Americans out of work, there is no question the jobs picture is grim. Let's talk more about the White House summit today. CNNMoney.com's Poppy Harlow is in New York.
Good to see you, Poppy.
You know, Americans, look, they -- I'm a little frustrated here. Americans want to see action. Not just talk.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: That's exactly right. I mean, in just about an hour's time, Tony, the White House is going to kick off this huge jobs summit we've been hearing about all week. One hundred and thirty business leaders and economists from across the country. But they're all talking about how to spur job growth, but not exactly doing anything is what the critics say.
Let's talk about why we're in this position and why the White House is holding this summit. Tomorrow we're going to get that big monthly jobs report and it's expected that we're going to see 114,000 more job losses that came respectively last month. And also it's expected the unemployment rate will remain at a 26-year high of 10.2 percent.
Now critics say you've got a lot of questions, therefore, about the effectiveness of the stimulus plan in terms of job growth and saving jobs. Earlier in the week, the Congressional Budget Office came out and said, listen, the stimulus has saved or created between 600,000 and 1.6 million jobs in this country. But, Tony, that is a very wide range. And what this underscores is just how difficult it is to get an accurate count on what is happening with the job picture in this country.
What a lot of Americans believe is that they don't see much hope out there. We went up to gauge the situation here in New York at least, to an employment office in Harlem. Here's what they told us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been looking -- I've been to like 23, 25 places. And whatever Obama and the administration is saying, it's not -- it's not showing up here in New York City.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've sent so many resumes and applications out. I'm not getting a single call. Not a single response.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We hear of jobs, yes, but there's so many people applying for the same positions that, you know, very few get selected.
SANDY TODER, EMPLOYMENT OFFICE WORKER: I'm seeing people get jobs. I mean, they're here. They've been looking for work for one or two months and then all of a sudden I don't see them anymore. They're gone because they got the job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: All right. Well, overall consensus there, Tony, as you can see, even if there are jobs, the competition is stiff. A little fact to end with you here. For every open job, Tony, there are six American workers competing for that spot.
More on the White House summit. We'll be updating it through the day, of course. It's our top story right here on cnnmoney.com.
Tony.
HARRIS: Awesome. All right, Poppy, appreciate it. Good to see you. Thank you.
Hey, you remember the movie "Charlie Wilson's War"? Some are saying President Obama could learn some lessons about Afghanistan from that movie. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And checking our top stories now.
President Obama convenes a White House forum on jobs next hour. He will huddle with business leaders, academics and other experts looking for ways to jump-start hiring. The nation's unemployment rate is at 10.2 percent, the highest in 26 years.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is in the spotlight on Capitol Hill today. It is his confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee as he seeks a second term. Committee Chairman Chris Dodd praised Bernanke for the Fed's handling of the nation's financial crisis.
Roman Polanski is being released from jail in Switzerland and will be put under house arrest. A Swiss court had set his bail at $4.5 million. The noted film direction is fighting extradition to the United States. He pleaded guilty in 1977 to having sex with a 13- year-old girl, but left the country before sentencing.
Trying to avoid past mistakes in Afghanistan. U.S. lawmakers are invoking a colleague from the 1980s as they debate the nation's new war policy. Our Jill Dougherty explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Charlie Wilson's War," a movie based on reality. Now, a warning of what could happen if President Obama doesn't get his Afghan strategy right. TOM HANKS, ACTOR, "CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR": What is U.S. strategy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, ACTOR, "CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR": Well, strictly speaking, we don't have one, but we're working hard on that.
DOUGHERTY: In the film starring Tom Hanks, Congressman Charlie Wilson helps funnel U.S. aid to Mujahadin fighters battling Soviet troops in 1989, only for Washington to abandon Afghanistan when Russia withdraws.
SEN. BILL NELSON (D), FLORIDA: I had the privilege of serving with Congressman Charlie Wilson in the House of Representatives.
DOUGHERTY: Twenty years later, Congress is holding hearings on President Obama's policy. And the analogy is only too real.
NELSON: Mr. Secretary, I am so happy to see in your statement, and I quote you, "we will not repeat the mistakes of 1989 when we abandoned the country, only to see it descend into civil war and then into Taliban hands."
DOUGHERTY: President Obama says he'll begin withdrawing U.S. troops in 2011, but his secretary of defense claims that does not mean America is abandoning Afghanistan.
ROBERT GIBBS, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We must not repeat the mistake of 1989 and turn our backs on these folks. And when we've got the security situation with them under control, then the civilian and the development part must be the preponderant part of our relationship far into the future.
DOUGHERTY: American civilian specialists in agriculture, law, government, health care and economics are training for Afghanistan. Their mission, reverse the momentum of the Taliban by rebuilding the economy and helping the Afghan government provide services for its citizens.
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: As we put additional troops in, we want to have more civilian embedded with them. We want to have them right there on the ground when combat is over to begin the building process and partnering with their civilian counterparts.
DOUGHERTY: The hope? No reruns for "Charlie Wilson's War."
DOUGHERTY, (on camera): Clinton says all of this depends on Afghan President Hamid Karzai. He's promised to fight corruption and deliver for the Afghan people. She says his words were long in coming, but welcome. Now they must be matched with action.
Jill Dougherty, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: You know, many are criticizing President Obama for announcing a withdrawal date for U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The fear is it could allow the Taliban to wait out the troop surge and reassert themselves later. Our Anderson Cooper discussed it with General David Petraeus, head of U.S. Central Command. They began by listening to concerns from Senator John McCain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: When conditions on the ground have decisively begun to change for the better, that is when our troops should start to return home with honor. Not one minute longer, not one minute sooner, and certainly not on some arbitrary date in July 2011.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN: General David Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, joins us now.
General, your take on what Senator McCain said? I mean what -- is this just an arbitrary date?
GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, CHIEF OF U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: That date is when you start the transition of tasks to Afghan security forces. And the pace of that transition, the pace of the draw down, is conditions based. Those were words in the speech last night. And, frankly, I think very realistic and quite reassuring.
COOPER: Why that date? I mean Defense Secretary Gates indicated today the date was at least in part a response to U.S. domestic politics?
PETRAEUS: Well, I think there are a number of audiences, actually, for that kind of date. One probably is a U.S. public, after eight years of war. Also, the Afghan people. They also want their forces to take over. Perhaps even some of us. You know, get on with it. We have to get going with this effort. And having that mark on the wall out there, I think, is -- has that purpose, if you will.
COOPER: But, you know, I mean every village I went to with the Marines in Helmand in September, the local elder would say to the Marine in charge, when -- you know, how long are you guys going to be here? Because the Taliban is going to be here an awfully long time. They're going to wait you out. What assurances can you give me that you're going to be here for a long time? And the Marines could basically say, well, look, we know when we're being redeployed. We know who's replacing us. Beyond that, we can't tell you. Now are we going to say, well, July 2011?
PETRAEUS: Oh, I don't think so at all, Anderson, actually. I think, again, if you go back to the words of the speech, what that said is, that's when you start to transition. And I think that's a realistic goal to have out there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Well, we asked you to weigh in on President Obama's speech and the new strategy in Afghanistan. Here's what some of you are saying on the blog.
Robert says, "we need to finish what we started over there, unless Americans want a repeat of 9/11."
Mel says, "when are we going to take action to improve the American way of life instead of putting other countries first? $30 billion would sure help our unemployed, hungry and uninsured citizens."
And from David, "memo to Barack Obama, there's never been a war, ever, where the winner announced beforehand when they would stop fighting."
Keep those blog comments coming. Go to cnn.com/tony. Or send us an iReport at cnn.com/ireport.
Comcast Cable is buying NBC. How will this giant deal impact what you see on TV?
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HARRIS: Some industry insiders are calling it a really good fit, but others say it gives a single TV cable operator too much power over what viewers see. CNN's Maggie Lake has more on the mega deal announced today between Comcast and General Electric.
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MAGGIE LAKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Big news at 30 Rock. After nearly a quarter of a century in the media business, General Electric is selling a majority stake in NBC Universal to cable giant Comcast. It's a merger that brings together a venerable creator of content with a powerhouse distributor of content. At a recent media conference in New York City, attendees called the deal historic.
MICHAEL BURGI, "MEDIAWEEK": This is the end of an era in that now NBC is going to be majority owned by a cable company. And I think to a lot of people in the media business, that would have been considered anathema as recently as five years ago.
LAKE: But not so outlandish now.
BURGI: I think Comcast makes a great fit with NBC. It's got the cable systems. It, you know, it reaches I believe more homes than any other single multichannel operator.
LAKE: A better fit, many say, than GE, which will still hold a minority stake in the new firm for some time.
NELLIE ANDREEVA, "THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER": Comcast is very good at knowing how to distribute cable channels and they also know how to think video on demand. I think we're going to see a lot of interesting, new media-related developments that they're going to be able to parlay once they own all the amazing assets.
LAKE: Assets like MSNBC, CNBC and USA. Experts say these properties have become NBC's crown jewels as its network TV ratings suffer. CHRISTOPHER VOLLMER, BOOZ & COMPANY: And the cable networks within NBC Universal really provide the bulk of the profit and have provided the vast majority of growth over the last few years. And if you look at a lot of the rationale for the deal, it comes down to the fact the cable networks themselves have been the most recession-proof part of the media business. The cable network piece of this is really probably the most important part of the deal.
LAKE (on camera): This deal has its detractors. They say the size of the new entity will hurt competition and force new media mergers. Still, the companies remain confident the hookup will be approved after what's likely to be a lengthy anti-trust review.
Maggie Lake, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: The unemployment figures are bad. We know that. But for one group they are double the national average. Younger workers are struggling and they're calling for change from Washington. Josh is following that.
What's specifically, Josh?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Tony, I'm going to show you some striking numbers here. Here's the deal. I heard this morning from a young man who is part of the summit going on today. He's actually one of the people joining the summit at the White House. And I want to show you the organization here before we do the stats. This is it. It's called SAVE, Student Association for Voter Empowerment. And we talked to you -- they talk to you about jobs and young people looking for jobs.
Let's go straight to these graphics. I want you to see -- oh there's our interview with him. Check that out. Here's the graphics, which has the numbers on it. Look at this, 19 percent of workers aged 16 to 24 are unemployed and that is nearly double the national average because, as we know, the national average is at 10 percent. So when we're looking at the youngest workers in America, those available for full time work, close to 20. Young African-American unemployment, Tony, 29 percent. Young Latinos 21 percent.
These really big numbers. And check this out, on top of that, they're graduating from college with all this debt. $27,000 is the average just for undergraduate debt. Then on top of that, most of them have credit card debt. An average of $2,000 in credit card debt by the age of 24.
And one more thing that we should mention. We've looked at this before. They point to this as well. Thirty percent of young people are uninsured. That's from a Kaiser Foundation study. So you've got uninsured, no job, hard to get a job. A lot of struggles going on.
As you saw there from the clip just now. I've spoken with this man. His name is Matthew Segal. He is a part of this organization. He's also started this, which is called, 80millionstrong.org. It's designed to help these people who are part of the millennial generation, born after 1980, get jobs. And this is what he told me he wants to see from the government.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEW SEGAL, 80MILLIONSTRONG.ORG: A, freeing the flow of credit for young entrepreneurs, providing tax breaks and lower interest rates on the loans they take out to start young companies. I mean, ultimately, if we're going to pull ourselves out of this recession, we need to invest in young companies and young ideas, and we need to have a legislative environment that's receptive to freeing credit and giving young people some incentives to innovate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Absolutely. Absolutely. Book him for this program next week, will you, please?
LEVS: OK -- he's probably watching. We'll bring him back, definitely, because the truth is, you know, you're seeing -- the way he puts it, there have been all these bailouts, what about us? A lot of people say that.
Quickly, we want to hear your story. Show the graphic. You can send us your stories at the blog, cnn.com/josh. Also Facebook and Twitter, JoshLevsCNN. And we'll do that, Tony, we'll bring him back.
HARRIS: Bring him back.
LEVS: And we'll share people's (ph) stories too.
HARRIS: Absolutely. Entrepreneurs are banging on the door.
LEVS: And they need support.
HARRIS: Give us a little feed -- starter cash, so that we can get going and create the jobs of the future in this country. Bring him back, Josh, next week.
LEVS: All right. You got it.
HARRIS: All right, appreciate it. Thank you.
Just ahead of the president's jobs forum, what can shirt makers in China tell us about the U.S. economy?
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HARRIS: How do the Chinese know when Americans are having financial troubles? Answer, when they're buying white shirts. Huh? Our Eunice Yoon explains.
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EUNICE YOON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You've probably never heard of Roger Lee (ph), but chances are you've worn one of his shirts.
ROGER LEE, TAL APPAREL: Brooks Brothers. L.L. Bean. Nordstrom. Dillard's. JCPenney. We also make for J. Crew, Banana Republic.
YOON: Lee's company, TAL Apparel, makes clothes for a dizzying number of brands. In fact, one out of every six dress shirts sold to Americans comes off one of these assembly lines. So, when Americans change their buying habits, this Hong Kong businessman feels the pain.
YOON (on camera): How did you know that U.S. consumers were starting to tighten their belts?
LEE: My customer buying more basic shirts. We find that typically during downturn, our basic items, like plain white shirts, people continue to buy that because it's what they need to wear to interviews and looking for new jobs.
YOON (voice-over): And it's not just shirts. This past year has been unprecedented. The slump in demand for everything, from shoes, to toys, to DVD players, forced thousands of factories here in southern China to shut down. Millions lost their jobs. Lee says his workers went from making over 200 shirts a minute, to 160, but few people were laid off.
YOON (on camera): Close to 5,000 people worked in this factory alone. They sit on these assembly lines for about 10 hours a day, to fit together shirts for American shoppers.
YOON (voice-over): Lee fears recent trade disputes between Washington and Beijing could escalate and possibly lead to higher prices at U.S. stores.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This nice label (ph) in before.
LEE: Oh, pretty smashing.
YOON: But with Christmas coming, Lee's encouraged by the increase in orders. Manufacturers here are hiring rather than firing. A sign he hopes that the U.S. consumer can make a comeback in 2010.
LEE: We'll see a great Christmas season. And if we see that, then I think it will be good for everyone. For us as manufacturers, for the retailers, for the whole economy.
YOON: After all, U.S. shoppers may not be as invincible as they once were, but they still make the global economy go round.
Eunice Yoon, CNN, Dongguan, China.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And we are pushing forward with the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM with Kyra Phillips.
