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American Morning
Obama Visits the Gulf; Mosque Debate Goes National; Heartbreak at PGA Championship; "They Don't Represent Us"; Women in the Workplace; Medical Waste: Insane Hospital Charges; Pop-Tarts World
Aired August 16, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good Monday morning to you. It's the 16th of August. Thanks for joining us on the Most News in the Morning. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. We have a lot to talk about this morning, this Monday morning, so let's get right to it.
President Obama wading into choppy political waters during his vacation in the gulf stoking the debate over plans to build an Islamic center and mosque near Ground Zero. Is the president changing his position? And could his latest comments hurt Democrats come November? We have a live report from the White House ahead.
ROBERTS: A bizarre ending to the PGA Championship in Wisconsin. Thanks to an epic blunder by golfer Dustin Johnson. We'll tell you how a small patch of sand cost him a shot at the season's final major.
CHETRY: And a thousand bucks for a toothbrush? Ever wonder why health care costs are out of control? Well, we're taking a look at some of the extreme hospital charges, how they're getting away with it, and why in the end it's costing you.
ROBERTS: And, of course, the amFIX blog is up and running this Monday morning. Join the live conversation going on. Just go to CNN.com/amFIX.
CHETRY: First though, the president making the case that the Gulf Coast beaches are clean and that the water is safe. He spent the weekend in the Florida panhandle with his family.
ROBERTS: And before heading home yesterday, the first family took a boat ride. Actually got to see a porpoise. The president and his daughter also spent part of the weekend swimming in the calm bay waters.
CHETRY: Overshadowing that though, the trip to the gulf, were some comments that the president made on Friday night at a dinner, where he plans to comment about plans to build an Islamic community center and mosque near Ground Zero.
ROBERTS: It's an issue that the White House had called a, quote, "local matter," but after the president's remarks on Friday night, it has now become a national conversation. Our Suzanne Malveaux live at the White House this morning. And, Suzanne, looks like the president, shall we say, elevated the debate?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He certainly waded into the debate here, John and Kiran. I have to tell that, you know, for weeks I've been asking Robert Gibbs pushing him on this matter whether or not the White House had an opinion on it. They said it was a local matter. Well, now White House aides are telling us that it is an issue of timing here. That the president initially did want to weigh in on the controversy but they wanted to clear it first with the local zoning board and that secondly, they were looking for the right moment.
There was that dinner recognizing the holy month of Ramadan, the beginning of the holy month on Friday. That's when the president did make it clear that he believed that it was appropriate that Muslims had every right to build this mosque near Ground Zero. Then there was a lot of criticism that came from those comments after he made them. And it was less than 24 hours he told our own Ed Henry a different story. Take a listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Muslims have the right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. That includes -- that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan.
I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making a decision to put a mosque there. I was commenting very specifically on the right that people have that dates back to our founding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So if you listen closely, that's what the White House is saying, that there is a distinction here that he is talking about the right of Muslims to build that mosque near Ground Zero. He is now talking about the efficacy or the wisdom of doing so.
This strikes me, really, as classic Obama. On the one hand this, on the one hand that. Well, they say that they're trying to recognize both positions here. It really does make it much muddier and much murkier. White House officials are calling it, you know, a recalibration or a clarification of his remarks. Some inconsistency here. A lot of people are looking at this and thinking, what did the president really mean?
CHETRY: And that is ultimately the question. I'm talking about the right versus the wisdom. I mean, the bottom line is the president -- those were prepared remarks where he said at that dinner that he supported the building of that mosque. And obviously people are already --
MALVEAUX: Absolutely. CHETRY: And obviously people are already starting to pile on. The GOP seeing this as a potential opportunity. Is this going to be a big issue come the mid-term elections in November?
MALVEAUX: Yes, that's a very good question. I mean, I think when you take a look at this, I mean, yes, it's playing out over the last -- it's played over the weekend. It's going to play out for another couple of days. Already the Republicans are using this as a fund-raiser. There are a lot of people weighing in. Our own opinion research polls, CNN/Opinion Research poll showing it's not a popular idea to build this mosque near Ground Zero.
Quietly, and even not so quietly, there are some Democratic lawmakers I spoke with who said look, you know, this does not make it easy for us during the recess to talk to voters and constituents who they want to talk about the economy getting better are now having to talk about this. It's getting off message. I don't necessarily think that that's going to last into November and that people are still going to be talking about this but we just don't know yet. There is a frustration in the White House and among Democrats that they are discussing this, that this is so controversial and they're not discussing the kinds of things that they actually want to address -- Kiran.
ROBERTS: Suzanne Malveaux at the White House this morning. Suzanne, thanks.
The president's comments sparked strong reaction from both sides of the aisle. Here's what Democratic Congressman Jerry Nadler and Republican Peter King told our Candy Crowley on "STATE OF THE UNION."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: If the president is going to get into this, he should have been much more clear, much more precise. And you can't be changing your position from day to day on an issue which does go to our Constitution and also it goes to extreme sensitivity. So, that's what I'm critical with the president on, for not being clear.
JERRY NADLER (D), NEW YORK: The government has no right and no business to comment one way or the other on whether a church or synagogue or mosque should be anywhere so long as they meet the legal requirements.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: And coming up in our next hour, we're going to break down whether President Obama's comments will hurt Democrats in November when we talk with Ben Smith. He's the senior political reporter for "Politico," and Michael Scherer, who's "Time" magazine's White House correspondent.
CHETRY: Also new this morning, an off-road race in southern California ends in tragedy over the weekend. One of the trucks in the race crashed into a crowd of spectators before flipping upside down. You can see the spectators are standing right along the course. The driver identified as 28-year-old Brett Sloppy. He wasn't hurt. On his Facebook page, he says he's devastated about what happened. Police say he is not facing any charges. The race's governing body (INAUDIBLE) says it urges crowds to keep at least 100 feet away from the course. One racing experts telling CNN ultimately it is very, very difficult to control the spectators. But again, just to let people know, eight people died in this crash and many more were wounded.
ROBERTS: An autopsy is scheduled for today on the accused Craigslist killer. Boston officials say former med student Philip Markoff was found dead in his jail cell on Saturday. He was reportedly discovered with a plastic bag over his head and slashed artery. An apparent suicide. Markoff was suspected of killing a masseuse who advertised on Craigslist.
CHETRY: Well, the U.S. and South Korea kicking off their annual joint military exercise earlier this morning. It's part of an 11-day drill designed to ensure that the two nations are ready to respond to any potential provocations. On Sunday, North Korea promised, quote, "a merciless counterblow" to the U.S. imperialist and South Korea traitors.
ROBERTS: A 13-year-old boy who survived the Alaska plane crash that killed former Senator Ted Stevens has been released from the hospital. Willy Phillips is heading back home to Maryland along with his mom. The young man's father, Bill Phillips, was a former Stevens staffer. He was killed in the crash.
CHETRY: Two escaped zebras are off the streets in California. They broke out of their owner's home. City officials corralled one of them in an apartment complex Saturday night after it took a dip in the pool. A witness says the other zebra actually was injured by a car and had to be taken to a vet. Then it was returned to the professional trainer who owns the animals.
ROBERTS: Well, if you think zebras in a suburb are exciting, wait until you hear what's on tap for today's weather forecast. Rob Marciano in Atlanta this morning. And we've got a weather forecast of a different color this morning.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. You know, I'm not sure I can live up to that lead-in, John, when you talk about zebras and suburban pools.
CHETRY: Yes. One goes for a dip in a pool, the other gets hit by a car. Who had more fun?
MARCIANO: I think the pool party is always a little bit more fun. Good morning, guys. Hope you had a good weekend.
Folks were dipping in the pools across the deep south again with record-breaking heat in some cases. Actually in the northwest, too. We're starting to see a little bit of a break in that relief and some thunderstorms firing along that frontal boundary that was pushing across the upper Midwest. Check out some of these video coming in to us from Hayfield, Minnesota. This twister touch down about an hour or so south of Minneapolis. And it was an EF-1 tornado, so winds just over 100 miles an hour. Just a little bit of damage. No injuries to report but certainly some dramatic video for you on this Monday morning.
We don't expect a ton of severe weather today but where it does fire along the front, we could possibly see something like that. But the heat advisories have been posted and pushed down into Texas, Louisiana, and pretty much the extreme southern plains and the deep south. Eighty-two in Chicago. Temperatures the next couple of days will, in some cases, be 20 degrees cooler this week than they were during the week last week in places like Kansas City that were up and over 100 degrees at points.
We'll talk about bout that and, remember Danielle? TD (ph) number five. It's back.
ROBERTS: Oh, oh.
CHETRY: Wow.
MARCIANO: Yes. It's kind of meandering around the Gulf Coast. So we'll talk about the potential what that may do here in the next few days in 30 minutes.
CHETRY: We had two of them that fizzled out. So hopefully this will be a third time is a charm with that.
MARCIANO: Try to put them to bed for good. We'll see if that happens.
CHETRY: All right, Rob. Thanks.
MARCIANO: OK.
CHETRY: Well, it's nine minutes past the hour right now. The White House party crashers, you may remember them, Tariq and Michaele Salahi, grabbing headlines yet again. The couple is part of the cast of the "Real Housewives of D.C." and the most recent episode appeared to show them getting an escort from the district's police department while heading to a party back in October.
ROBERTS: Yes. But the reality show's production company though says that, well, the editing was just a little bit misleading, led to the mix-up. It was park police who provided the escort. Park police it should be noted are the ones who escort the president around. CNN has asked for and received no comment so far from the park police.
Well, coming up, golf's final major tournament marred by controversy. Tiger Woods, not involved in this one. We'll tell you about a not-so-funny thing that happened to golfer Dustin Johnson on his way to almost winning the PGA Championship.
It's 10 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Thirteen minutes after the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
A dramatic end to gulf's final major tournament to 2010. Germany's Martin Kaymer won the PGA Championship in a playoff with Bubba Watson.
CHETRY: It was Kaymer's first major title, but no doubt this year's PGA will be remembered for an epic blunder that caused another golfer a chance at victory. Patrick Snell has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PATRICK SNELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: The closing holes of this year's PGA Championship produced the most dramatic and exhilarating of finishes with the lead changing hands on several occasions before. After 72 holes of competition, it finally all came down to a two-man playoff with Germany's Martin Kaymer securing a first major title at the expense of Bubba Watson.
MARTIN KAYMER, GOLFER: Sometimes you can hear some of the spectators, you know, freaking out here and there. And then you think, oh, what happened there? But I just told myself I cannot really -- I don't have any influence over the game of the other guys. I can just take care of my own game. There was I think the most important thought that I was carrying all day.
BUBBA WATSON, GOLFER: I just tried not to throw up on myself. I get nervous. The game's fun but I want to win every week. I'm like Tiger. I try -- I come to a golf tournament to win. I just don't win as much as he does.
SNELL (voice-over): At first, it looked as though it was a three-man playoff, but Dustin Johnson who had a one-shot lead standing on 18 was handed a two-stroke penalty after grounding his club in what the PGA ruled was a bunker, leaving Johnson stunned and out.
DUSTIN JOHNSON, GOLFER: It never once crossed my mind that I was in a sand trap. So, you know, I guess it's very unfortunate. I guess the only worse thing that could happen is if I'd have made that putt on the last hole but, you know, but still I never once thought that I was in a sand trap.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will certainly say that he was a gentleman. He handled himself very well.
KAYMER: I was a little bit shocked about Dustin Johnson. Can you imagine if he would have made that putt on 18, he would have thought he won the golf tournament.
SNELL (on camera): Amid all the controversy, someone no strange to controversy this year, Tiger Woods, suffered more disappointment and frustrations. He finished way off the pace and outside an automatic spot for the U.S. Ryder Cup team, meaning he is now reliant on a captain's pick from Corey Pavin. Patrick Snell, CNN, Kohler, Wisconsin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: But he does qualify, though, for the Barclays at Ridgewood, coming up and, you know, he could be a captain's pick. Pavin would probably go with him.
CHETRY: So there you go.
ROBERTS: And how about that for a learning experience with Dustin Johnson? Oh, (INAUDIBLE).
CHETRY: Yes. Yikes. But the -- the guy that won, Kaymer, he's just thrilled about it.
ROBERTS: Oh, yes. Who -- who wouldn't be? My goodness.
CHETRY: Well, there you go.
All right. Well, women in the workplace. There's a new study that finds that we can face more obstacles than men when it comes to climbing the corporate ladder, but it's not why you may think. There's a theory out there that says it may be about missed opportunities. We'll explain.
Sixteen minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Nineteen minutes after the hour.
The proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero has now become a lightning rod for politicians from New York City all the way to Alaska. But just a couple of blocks away from that site, Muslims have been quietly worshipping for decades at a small mosque that even predates construction of the Twin Towers.
Our Susan Candiotti went down to Lower Manhattan to try to bring a little perspective to the debate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Here we are on the corner of Church and Warren Streets in Lower Manhattan, and about four blocks in that direction is Ground Zero. You could see where that crane is? That's where construction is going on right now. And about half-way between there and here is the proposed site of that controversial Islamic center.
What most people don't know is about a half block from where I'm standing is the site of another very small mosque that has been here for about 40 years in the neighborhood without one whiff of controversy. I went over there to kind of check things out.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): This man worships at Masjid Manhattan, and he thinks the new mosque should be built.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people got a bad idea of us because of what happened between the 9/11 and all that. They don't represent our religion. They don't represent the Muslim.
We want to show to all the people that our religion can be like all other people. We can mix with all those, like, Christian or Jew. Every religion's got its problem, but I think more eyes are on us right now because of these things.
CANDIOTTI: His mosque has not taken a formal stand on the controversy, but says it opposes terrorism and promotes peace.
LUCAS GONZALES, LIVES NEXT DOOR TO MASJID MANHATTAN: It's never been a problem. The people at the mosque have always been very respectful.
CANDIOTTI: Lucas Gonzalez has lived next to the mosque since before 9/11. Unlike nearly 70 percent of Americans and more than half of New Yorkers in recent polling, he approves of the proposed cultural center.
GONZALES: It's been hard for us to rebuild, and as -- as it goes up slowly, I think there -- there's some hope there that -- that we can sort of rebuild and -- and come to terms with -- with what's happened to us and the differences that have set us apart.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): As time goes on, will both sides simply harden their positions, or is there -- can there be a compromise?
Susan Candiotti, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: And coming up at 7:40 Eastern, we're going to take a closer look at how President Obama has jumped right into the middle of the Islamic center controversy with Politico's Ben Smith and "Time" White House correspondent Michael Scherer.
CHETRY: Well, extreme medical waste and how all of us end up paying for it. Elizabeth Cohen takes a look at how a hospital can get away with charging you $1,000 for a toothbrush.
It's 22 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-four minutes after the hour now. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
When it comes to landing your dream job, it's often a combination of what you know and more importantly, who you know. But a new study finds women who make and maintain contacts are not moving up like their male counterparts are. Why is that?
Joining me now is, Gail McGuire. She chairs the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Indiana University and she's studied all of this. Gail, great to see you this morning. You studied a financial institution, where nearly 60 percent of the people who work there were women, but they weren't getting ahead, they weren't getting promotions like the men were. Why?
GAIL MCGUIRE, CHAIR, DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY, INDIANA UNIVERSITY, SOUTH BEND: Well, the main reason why is it seems that when women are connecting to these high-status insiders within the organization, that these insiders seem to be reserving those resources, those top resources like help in getting a promotion, for men rather than for women.
ROBERTS: So --
MCGUIRE: -- there seems to be some loyalty built up among those people within the high status positions within organizations to reserve those resources for some people more than others.
ROBERTS: Interesting. So -- so we're talking about social networking here. It's not necessarily, you know, that the structure within the organization but almost a parallel one where you make connections, you network with people. What's the difference between the networks that the women were forging at that financial institution versus the ones that the men were forging?
MCGUIRE: Well, this is a good question because many people are under the illusion that, well, women just don't know how to network. And, in fact, my research suggests that they do know how to network. Women have about the same number of people that they're informally connected to than men, but they're less likely to be connected to people high up in the organization.
ROBERTS: Right.
MCGUIRE: And, you know, as a result, they have less access to that advocacy and information that people high up in the organization contain.
ROBERTS: So -- so what you're saying is they're making connections, they're just not connecting with the right people to get them ahead.
MCGUIRE: Well, there's two things. They're not connecting with the right people, but even when they do connect with the right people, those people are more likely to favor men over the women.
ROBERTS: And why is that?
MCGUIRE: That's a good question. I think it has a lot to do with what happens when people rise to the top of organizations and there is this attitude that we want to keep the top -- we want to be surrounded by people like ourselves.
And this isn't just something that happens in corporations. That happens all over the place. But I think that's what's interfering with women's ability to break in to those upper echelons. ROBERTS: And -- and you also found out though that even when women do make it to the upper echelon, they're not necessarily inclined to promote other women. Why is that?
MCGUIRE: Exactly. This is fairly disturbing. Well, we think -- we think what's going on is that, you know, for the few women who do make it to the top, in order for them to remain successful they really have to adopt the same attitudes and world views as the men on the top. So as a result, they're acting like the men.
ROBERTS: Wow. And -- and what can you possibly do in the corporate culture to change this? Is this -- is this something that a company can actually address? Or do the employees have to address -- do the individuals have to address this themselves?
MCGUIRE: I think it has to be both. I mean, I think corporations are fairly aware that informal networks are an important part of the -- their workings, that they know employees need these informal networks to get work done quickly. I mean, if I relied on all the formal rules (INAUDIBLE) to get my job done, you know, I'd never get my work done.
So I think corporations realize that there's lots of positives associated with informal networks. I think they just need to be made aware that there are these negative consequences for women, because I'm sure they'll be quite surprised and I'm sure most corporations, especially large ones, would -- would want to hear this information and strategize with their upper level management on how they could change this.
ROBERTS: An eye opening look into the inner workings of corporate America. Gail, it's great to see you this morning. Thanks for dropping by.
MCGUIRE: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Coming up on the half-hour now, here are this morning's top stories.
President Obama putting himself and his party right in the middle of the debate over the building of an Islamic center near Ground Zero saying Muslims have the right to do it. He's now putting Democrats across the country on the spot just three months before the mid-term elections.
CHETRY: Worse than the tsunami and the Pakistan earthquake combined, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon says nothing he's seen ever compares to the devastation from the flooding going on right now in Pakistan. Close to 1,500 people are dead. Another 900,000 homeless and one-fifth of the entire country is under water.
ROBERTS: Zsa Zsa Gabor said to be in very serious condition this morning. Her publicist says a priest administered last rites to the 93-year-old actress yesterday. Gabor underwent surgery to remove a blood clot on Friday after falling and breaking her hip a month ago. CHETRY: Now, to an "A.M. Original." We got a huge response when we first brought you this story back in March. A mind boggling look at what hospitals charge and what might show up on your bill. How about $400 for a dinner? Well, today we're looking at something that hospitals have been getting away with literally for years. Elizabeth Cohen has our special report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): When you or I go shopping for a toothbrush, how much do we pay? $2, $3, maybe $4? Well guess what one hospital once charged a patient for a toothbrush? $1,000! Can you believe it? A thousand dollars for a toothbrush?
And you know who ends up paying for that? You and I, we end up paying for it. It comes out of our pocket in one way or another. And that's not the only crazy hospital cost I've run into. Come on, come with me.
And at the store, how much does a bottle of Tylenol cost? Ten dollars for a 100-pill. Well, we know of someone who at the hospital was charged $140 for one Tylenol! Can you believe it? A hundred and forty dollars for this.
Now, here's a box of disposable gloves. When you buy 'em here at this store, they come out to 24 cents a pair. But I know of a hospital that charged $53 for a pair of gloves. That's right, $53 for a pair of disposable gloves! What the heck is going on here?
So, I'm here in the home office of a medical billing advocate. This is Cindy Holtzman. And she helps people go through all of these crazy charges. And she has all sorts of examples.
I got to tell you, Cindy, this is one of my favorite ones. This is just like a little alcohol, prep swab. We've all had these. How much did a hospital charge for these one?
CINDY HOLTZMAN, MEDICAL BILLING ADVOCATE: Twenty-three dollars apiece.
COHEN: Twenty-three dollars for this little tiny piece of cotton.
HOLTZMAN: And on one bill, there were 44 of 'em. It becomes very expensive.
COHEN: Oh, my goodness. But this isn't even the craziest things you've ever seen. Tell me about one of your crazier charges.
HOLTZMAN: Well, recently, I had somebody who was charged for 41 I.V. bags when she went to the E.R. for a two-hour visit.
COHEN: Oh, yes, you heard that right. A woman went to the emergency room with a migraine headache and they gave her one bag of saline, and then they charged her for 41 bags of saline, to the tune of $4,182.
Now, the really crazy thing about this is that her insurance company actually paid this bill. They didn't even question it.
So, why did her insurance company pay for this when it was obviously wrong?
HOLTZMAN: There's not many people working at these companies anymore. They're very busy and usually, any kind of bill that's under $100,000, they don't look at the details.
COHEN: So, they just write a check?
HOLTZMAN: They just write a check.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COHEN: Now, the hospital that made that $4,000 mistake with those saline bags, they did correct it when the patient brought it to their attention. Now nationwide, PricewaterhouseCoopers says that we waste about $1 trillion a year on unnecessary medical spending.
Back to you.
CHETRY: Unbelievable. So, Elizabeth, are these wild charges just mistakes or -- I mean, is this sort of I guess loaded into the price or the cost of your stay?
COHEN: No, Kiran, actually it's both of those things. Sometimes, it's a mistake, as with those saline bags. But also, hospitals, they mark-up their costs quite a bit. Now, it's important to note they often don't get what they're asking for. Insurance companies won't pay those huge mark-ups.
But if you don't have insurance and you go to the hospital, they're going to ask you for their full marked-up price and it's up to you to say, hey, wait a second, I don't want to pay that much.
CHETRY: Well, you know, you have to do -- you have to be vigilant, as you showed with those 43 bags of saline. I mean, if you're not looking, you could end up paying big time.
COHEN: That's right. Absolutely.
CHETRY: Great stuff, Elizabeth. Thanks so much.
COHEN: Thanks.
CHETRY: Still ahead: we're going to bring you an interesting report about only children. There's more and more only children actually according to the latest studies being born. Many families deciding that they're only going to have one child.
And there are some concerns about raising only children -- how do you make sure they're well adjusted, not lonely, not selfish. We're going to be joined by a child psychologist and author of "The Future of Your Only Child" -- when we come back.
Thirty-three minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Thirty- seven minutes past the hour now.
They're sometimes described as the "lonely onlies." But these days, the only child is becoming more and more common in American families. A CDC survey of 50-year-old women found 20 years ago only 11.4 percent of them had just one child. By 2006, that number had jumped to 18.3 percent.
So, if you're a parent with just one child, do you need to take any special steps to make sure your child is well-adjusted?
Well, here for you're A.M. House Call this morning, Carl Pickhardt. He's a child psychologist and author of "The Future of Your Only Child."
Thanks for being with us this morning.
CARL PICKHARDT, AUTHOR, "THE FUTURE OF YOUR ONLY CHILD": Yes, good to be with you.
CHETRY: So, full disclosure, you have four children, I'm an only child myself, and I have two kids. Just to get that out there.
What exactly -- you know, when you hear about worries about an only child, I mean, some of things come to mind -- selfish or having difficulty being well adjusted, perhaps lonely.
PICKHARDT: Right.
CHETRY: What did you find? Because you said the reason you started studying this is that you had a huge number of only children in your practice.
PICKHARDT: Well, yes. What puzzled me was why I was getting so many only children. And what it -- the way it turned out was, there was nothing the matter with the only children situations. The issue was: you had very conscientious, very vigilant parents who really wanted to do the best by their only child and so, when they had questions or concerns, they simply wanted to get somebody who check those questions and concerns out with.
So, that was -- that was what initially caught my attention.
CHETRY: And so, what did you find out in your practice about only children that is perhaps unique to children in single-child households that you might not see in families that have more siblings?
PICKHARDT: Well, that's the issue. An only child means that you are the only child and you get all the parental attention and you have unrivaled access to parents. And I think the two major variables that I see at work -- one is that the only child has a very strong sense of self, and the other is that parents make a very high investment in the child. And both of these variables have both positive and vulnerable dimensions.
And so, I think the challenge for the parent of the only child is to play to the strengths and to moderate the vulnerabilities.
CHETRY: That's a good way to put it. You also -- there's been some research that shows the concerns about the socialization of only children. I mean, is that something that sort of just takes care of itself as children enter, you know, schools, they learn what it's like to share, they're with other children? Or is it very -- is it something that is unique to learning in your home that you don't get unless you have a sibling?
PICKHARDT: Well, I think what you don't get if you don't have siblings is you don't get the push-and-shove and the rough-and-tumble and the getting used to having hard time, and then having a good time and going back and forth that way and kind of normalizing conflicts in your life. So, that's something that a lot of only children wrestle with, I think.
The other part of that is that their parents really have to socialize their only children with same-age kids. A lot of only children, because they're adultized -- that is they peer with their parents, they're very good with adults, they work well with older people, and they also work well with younger kids because they are in a controlled position.
A lot of times -- unless they're adequately socialized -- it can be kind of feel uncomfortable or out of step with their peers so they have to be -- parents need to be really conscientious about getting kids with other kids so they can learn that quality of relationship.
CHETRY: There was a fascinating "Wall Street Journal" article this week, last week, that was out about that very thing -- parents who all have only children getting them together, weekly sleepovers.
PICKHARDT: Right.
CHETRY: I mean, does that really make a difference? I mean, is there anything that can actually mimic siblings?
PICKHARDT: Well, you can't -- you can't mimic it because the reality is that you are still the only child in your family and in your home.
But what you can do is that you can get more play and more social experience with your peers and learn how to take care of yourself in that more confusing situation where you are no longer the only -- no longer the center of attention. You have to share that along with many other dimensions of being with people. And that's very helpful.
And particularly, the issues around conflict, because only children tend not to be very comfortable with conflict because they haven't had a lot of it with their parents or their -- and they haven't had anybody -- any peers to play that out with. So, I think it's really important to have that going on.
The other part is socialization which is one of the great advantages that only children have, is that because they peer with adults and their parents' friends, they're very, very comfortable with adult authorities. And this has a huge payoff as they make their way in the world.
CHETRY: That's very interesting thing about it as well. And as we're seeing, this trend is on the rise. You see a jump at least 7 percent in these stats when we've talked about more and more people choosing to have one child -- either for, you know, their own reasons or economic reasons, but it is interesting.
PICKHARDT: Right.
CHETRY: Carl, thanks for illuminating this subject for us this morning. We appreciate it. Carl Pickhardt, child psychiatrist and author of "The Future of Your Only Child" -- thanks.
ROBERTS: Very interesting -- particularly as you say with, you know, more people having single children, maybe they wait until later in life, and they only have one.
CHETRY: Yes. The part that made me laugh the most about this is talking about only children feeling that they occupy more space. I was talking about with one of our producer who's an only child, too. You might not know -- you might not notice the only children in the newsroom because we're so quiet.
ROBERTS: Yes, never do.
CHETRY: But, like, just sleeping in a king-sized bed -- he sleeps in a king-sized bed your whole life. You have room to spread out. If you have to share that bed with four people, you know, you take up less space.
ROBERTS: That's true. You know, sometimes you can get your own bed even if it's a twin.
Well, coming up, the new toast of the town in New York is a toaster pastry. We'll tell you to Kellogg's Pop-Tart store now open -- where else -- Times Square.
And he's back to work this morning. Parts of the south and northeast are going to see a little bit of rain in the next few hours, while other parts of the country bake under the sun. Rob's got this morning's travel forecast right after the break.
It's 43 minutes after the hour.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll take the four on the left.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why don't you take the two on the right and leave the rest alone?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You should take the two on the right. You're not fast enough.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only thing faster is light.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll see.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Mercenaries. Sylvester Stallone and his team of mercenaries proving again people love an action flick regardless how bad it is, doing some damage in the box office this weekend. The action flick, "The Expendables" which Stallone directed, debuted at number one, taking with $35 million. "Eat, Pray, Love" starting Julia Roberts opened the second place with $23.7 million, and last week's champ and still making noise, last week's champ, "The Other Guys" was third with $18 million.
CHETRY: I didn't know if that whole scene was a joke at first, if it was a parody.
ROBERTS: I don't know where it was (ph). I saw "Eat, Pray, Love" which was OK. Not as good as the book.
CHETRY: I got that review, too.
ROBERTS: Yes, not as good as the book.
CHETRY: Julia Roberts still looks incredible.
ROBERTS: Amazing.
CHETRY: She's great. Forty-seven minutes after the hour. Let's get a check of the morning's weather headlines. Rob Marciano is in the Extreme Weather Center. Which one did you see, Rob?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Neither, but I thought it was a joke, too. I'm like, what's going on here? Only light is faster. Thanks, sly. Anyway, it was a nice weekend to see the movies if you lived in the plains where it was really hot. Hot across the northeast as well and some showers and thunderstorms are firing across Long Island sound right now, but severe weather at least, severe weather threat across upstate New York.
Syracuse getting hammered with some thunderstorms right now, mostly some gusty winds and a little bit of hail in some of these cells as they roll across the Finger Lakes region there. This is in effect until 2:00 this afternoon. Sliding down to the south we saw thunderstorms kind of rotating in a familiar fashion here. Believe it or not, this is cause for concern. Number five which kind of dissipated and did a little bit of loop.
The loop is heading back into the Gulf of Mexico, and the National Hurricane Center is watching this for the potential of coming back to be a tropical depression. And they got a plane that's going to fly into this thing later on today. Regardless, more thunderstorms will fire and in some spots flood the area. So, coastal flood warnings are in effect. Heat indexes for 100 to 105 degrees across really the Deep South and the southern plains today.
Most of the extreme heat across parts of the plains has been squeezed out to the south and also the northwest which saw temperatures yesterday getting up and over 100 degrees. Might see a couple flight delays if you're heading out of New York City today, but generally speaking, if folk in the plains are enjoying much more comfortable weather today as opposed to the last two weeks, as a matter of fact. John and Kiran, back up to you.
ROBERTS: That's a good thing. Rob, thanks so much. We'll see you again soon.
MARCIANO: OK
CHETRY: This morning's top stories just minutes away, including President Obama putting himself in the middle of the debate over the build of an Islamic center and mosque near ground zero. We're going to talk about whether that will cost his party come to midterm elections.
ROBERTS: And five minutes after, extreme sport, extreme crash. Eight people dead as an off-road race in the desert goes terribly wrong. We'll show you the heart-stopping video.
And at 50 after, birth control gets a plan C. It's not the morning-after pill. Some have described it as a five-day-after pill. We're going to talk to a fertility specialist about whether or not it's safe, what it does and much more. Coming up. Forty-nine minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Fifty-two minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Time for an "A.M. Original." It's something you'll see and taste, perhaps, only on AMERICAN MORNING. From Battle Creek to the crossroads of the world, Kellogg's is showcasing its famous toaster pastry in New York's Times Square.
ROBERTS: First, it was M&Ms and now Pop-Tarts. The first Pop- Tarts store has just opened. Alina Cho got a firsthand look at the new world of toaster treats, and she joins us this morning. Hey.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, there. Good morning, guys. You know, this isn't a story we normally do, but Pop-Tarts, after all, are iconic, right? Honestly, who doesn't -- who doesn't love Pop- Tarts. It is a food that instantly takes you back to your childhood. So iconic, in fact, we decided we needed to see for ourselves what this Pop-Tart store is all about. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's exciting. It's swirly. It's sweet. It's chewy.
CHO: Are you going to eat one?
UNIDENTIFIED KID: Yes.
CHO: Which one?
UNIDENTIFIED KID: Cookies and cream. That's good.
CHO (voice-over): This is what it's like to take a walk inside the world of Pop-Tarts.
CAROLINE RHEA, PO-TARTS BRAND AMBASSADOR: Hi, welcome to Pop- Tarts world. Do you like what I've done with the place?
CHO: Comedian and actress, Caroline Rhea is the brand ambassador of Pop-Tarts, the simple breakfast snack that's ballooned into half billion dollar business. We're here for a tour.
RHEA: Pretend you've never eaten any of these before because you're going to --
CHO: Do you like frosted or unfrosted? I happen to like frosted.
RHEA: You know, it's all about your mood.
Alina, why do you feel like that's your entire calorie content for the entire day? Oh my God, (INAUDIBLE) done for the whole day.
CHO: That's right. Sushi Pop-Tarts. No fish, just crumbled Pop-Tarts in a fruit roll-up, one of many treat selling here.
CHO (on-camera): So, why a store devoted entirely to Pop-Tarts? This is New York's Times Square, the crossroads of the world, one of the biggest tourist attractions in America. It's why over here, there's a Hershey's store, and across the street, this one for M&Ms.
CHO (voice-over): A far cry from 1964 when Pop-Tarts launched.
(SINGING)
DANA COWN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, FOOD AND WINE: A Pop-Tart is a childhood memory in a rectangle.
CHO: A breakfast food you could coast and eat, at the time and innovation. An ode to pop art, all the rage in the 1960s, the gimmick worth.
ANDREW SHRIPKA, SENIOR BRAND MANAGER, POP-TARTS: There's really nothing else like it. We ask consumers all the time. If they didn't exist, what would you replace it with, and really, they have a hard time coming up with anything.
CHO: Today, Kellogg's sells 2 billion Pop-Tarts a year. The food has a Facebook page with nearly 2 million followers.
MARION NESTLE, NYU PROFESSOR OF NUTRITION: they're an iconic junk food.
CHO: So, should we be eating them? Marion Nestle is a professor of nutrition at New York University and author of the book, "What to Eat."
NESTLE: First of all, it violates my rule of healthy eating which is you never buy anything with more than five ingredients. This one has dozens of ingredients.
CHO: Kellogg's says it's all about balance and food that's made for fun.
I'm seriously going to pass out from too much sugar. It's so good.
Six-year-old Mychael Stella is going home with a variety pack.
MYCHAEL STELLA, POP-TARTS FAN: One thing I like about Pop-Tarts is because their flavors.
CHO: Did you know there were so many flavors?
STELLA: No, I did not.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: No, she did not. In fact, what started at four flavors back in 1964 has grown to more than 30 different varieties. The best- selling flavors, guys, two of the originals actually, strawberry and brown sugar. There's also a big debate over do you frost them, you know, I mean, do you like them frosted, do you like them unfrosted.
CHETRY: There is a big debate over that?
CHO: There is a big debate. I had no idea until I started doing this story and researching it. Yes, there is a big debate.
CHETRY: This is S'Mores that must be --
CHO: One of the best sellers. You know what's interesting because I hate to report and run, I'm going to give you guys a little --
ROBERTS: Can you eat them cold?
CHO: Yes, you can eat them cold. They're quite good, actually. You know what's intereting, guys, you know, post Kellogg's rival actually introduced their version of a Pop-Tart a year earlier in 1963. They called them Country Squares, and they never took off. It was all about the marketing. Kellogg's came out with their version, they called them Pop-Tarts because pop art was so popular. They took off. What do you think?
CHETRY: That's my first bite of Pop-Tart, very good. I like it. Congratulations, Alina.
CHO: You're welcome.
CHETRY: I thought there was like Elvis Pop-Tarts, sushi pop starts.
CHO: There are.
ROBERTS: There's one in the shape of the Virgin Mary.
CHO: That's on eBay, I believe.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Alina. Top stories coming your way right after the break. Stay with us.
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