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American Morning
Qantas Airbus Makes Emergency Landing After Engine Explodes; Comedian Lewis Black on the Midterm Elections; Nancy Pelosi: The Next Minority Leader?; Mangoes for Motorcycles; Suspicious Package at JFK; The Fed's New Stimulus Plan
Aired November 04, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good Thursday morning to you. Thank you so much for joining us on AMERICAN MORNING. It's very good to have you with us today. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. We want to get you caught up on what's going on.
First of all, some scary moments in the skies over Singapore for passengers on board a Qantas Airbus A-380, saying one of the plane's engines exploded and fell apart shortly after taking off. The pilot made an emergency landing. Everyone, OK. Qantas, though, is grounding its entire fleet of A-380s until they can figure out what caused this.
ROBERTS: What's next for Nancy Pelosi now that the Democrats have been dismantled in the House? The nation's first female speaker has to decide if she wants to be the next minority leader. And if she does, will fellow Democrats even throw their support behind her? A live report from Capitol Hill is just ahead.
CHETRY: And we are keeping a close eye on Tropical Storm Tomas as it makes its way toward Haiti right now, with hurricane warnings in effect for that island nation. We're going to check in with Rob Marciano and find out more about the storm's path.
ROBERTS: A midair emergency to tell you about this morning in the skies over Singapore. Qantas Airbus 380, that's the world's largest passenger plane, the double-decker, forced to make an emergency landing in Singapore after one of its engines ripped apart just six minutes after takeoff.
CHETRY: Yes, it was a double-decker super jumbo, 459 passengers and crew, headed from Singapore to Sidney, Australia, when witnesses said they heard what sounded like an explosion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ULF WASHBUSCH, PASSENGER (via telephone): As you can see on the pictures, there was engine damage that happened about five minutes or so after takeoff from Singapore on Qantas QF-32 to Sydney. We heard a loud bang. And I was on the side where the engine is. A loud bang. A little bit of flares for a short time and the engine shut off pretty much immediately from the flight deck. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Let's bring Zane Verjee right now. She is at the Singapore airport.
Do we have any more information on what may have happened to the engine, Zane?
ZANE VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the investigation has now started, Kiran. But I want you to take a look at the picture of the engine here. If you can -- if you look at it, you can see that the main engine is still pretty much intact but if you look a little bit further back, you see that parts of the engine is missing. That's called the cowling. It's something that closes off the engine and just fell off.
I spoke to an aviation expert who said that there could be two causes here. There could be an engine malfunction or a foreign object could have gone inside the engine. And we don't know what really happened. It is not clear. But that's what some of the experts are saying.
The CEO of Qantas had this to say about the engine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALAN JOYCE, QANTAS CEO: I'm not sure of what's actually happened with the debris and the authorities is looking at exactly what did occur on this and why parts of the engine cowl which it looks like left the aircraft and fell into -- on to the ground. We are still looking at what exactly was the cause of that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VERJEE: Qantas is saying safety is number one for their passengers and, you know, some of the passengers that are speaking said that they were really lucky -- Kiran.
ROBERTS: Yes. Zane, when you look at that picture, too, you can see a little bit of smoke or fire damage behind the forward part of the engine cell, as well, which may be a suggestion that maybe it was the main fan that had some sort of a problem. But the passengers that you talked to coming off of that plane, obviously, they're shaken up by what happened. Anybody would be.
What did they tell you?
VERJEE: Well, they were. They were escorted out by security after being here for such a long time and being briefed. Some of them didn't want to talk, most of them actually.
The only thing to say was, John, the staff was great. The staff was excellent. Everyone handled it really well. There were a couple of people that came out and said that they heard a couple of bangs.
I spoke to one person a short while ago who said this -- there was one loud bang, a jolt and then a flash. He said it was like lightning have struck us. There were four holes in the wing. He said that there was one big hole and three smaller ones. They're all at hotel now and they're hoping to fly out to Australia tomorrow -- John, Kiran.
CHETRY: All right, Zane Verjee for us at the Singapore airport.
Good on the pilot, though, to be able to land that huge jet.
ROBERTS: And very lucky, too, that when, you know, parts of that engine blew through and took off the cowling and into the wing they didn't hit the fuel tank or cut any fuel lines, because that could have been catastrophic if that happened.
CHETRY: Very lucky this morning.
Well, things change quickly when it comes to politics as we saw the results of the midterms yesterday. Democrats and Republicans are now talking about getting together over a couple of Slurpees.
Yesterday, President Obama said that he and the Democrats took a shellacking this week and he's ready to sit down with Republicans to find a better way forward.
ROBERTS: And remember the mantra that he repeated over and over again on the campaign trail, how Republicans sipping Slurpees on the sidelines while Democrats were trying to push the car out of the ditch? Well, that line came back to haunt him yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to ask if you're going to have John Boehner over far Slurpees.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I might serve -- they're delicious drinks.
(LAUGHTER)
REPORTER: Since --
OBAMA: The Slurpee summit. That's good, Chuck, I like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Our Brianna Keilar live on Capitol Hill this morning. She herself a fan of the Slurpee.
CHETRY: The Coke Slurpee.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Coke Slurpee.
ROBERTS: The president and speaker in waiting, John Boehner, got a lot to discuss. Both of them do seem willing to get started what's on the surface at least looks like a positive development. KEILAR: Yes, on the surface, at least, John and Kiran, a spokesman for John Boehner saying, let's hope the president will work with us to cut spending, stop the tax hikes and get our economy working again -- and then the humor here -- and then we can all go get Slurpees together. The new wicked apple flavor sounds awesome.
So, this is funny. But is it really going to happen? Is there going to be bipartisanship?
And one of the reasons the people are skeptical is because you just look at the make-up of what the new Congress will be, Republicans have picked up -- some Republicans very far to the right so you think that they shift over to the right, and Democrats have lost some of their more moderate members. So, you would think that they might become a little more entrenched to the left.
And then, of course, Democrats are still in control of the Senate.
So, where might they find some area of agreement? Well, it's certainly not health care reform because Republican leaders have made it very clear that that may be on the chopping block although they're downplaying necessarily completely taking that off the table or repealing health care reform as it is -- perhaps spending cuts. And the best I can tell you about this, guys, as I talked to Democrats and Republicans, and they say this may be an area where we can find agreement, but specifically, what are the spending cuts going to be and, at this point, they can't tell us, guys.
CHETRY: Nobody wants to get specific about that.
It's also interesting when you talk about Nancy Pelosi, the first female speaker of the House, what her future may be. Any indication?
KEILAR: Yes, what is she going to do? This was the question even before election night. Is she going to stay at the helm of Democrats as minority leader or will she do what some other speakers have done? Is she going to step aside or is she going to get out of Congress altogether?
She had an interview last night with Diane Sawyer and here's what she said:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIANE SAWYER, ABC NEWS: Are the odds you'll stay?
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), CALIFORNIA: I'm -- as I said to you, in our caucus, we do things by consensus and when we have that consensus, we'll have some announcement to make.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: So, she's trying to gauge support. And what she is doing, and this is standard after any election, she's calling every single Democrat in the House, mostly either to say congratulations or just to touch base with them if they did lose. And so, she'd be gauging support in that way. But at this point, we don't know what the support is there.
What I can tell you is that Republicans jockeying and throwing their hats in the ring for leadership positions, Democrats are in a holding pattern. They're waiting to see what Speaker Pelosi does, if stays or goes.
The majority leader, Steny Hoyer, saying he's not going to run for anything -- he's not going to run to be the leader if she is running. So, everyone is just kind of waiting.
ROBERTS: Licking their wounds this morning.
Hey, I have one question. Is the flavor wicked apple or was that his description of it?
KEILAR: No. I think the flavor is wicked apple.
ROBERTS: OK.
CHETRY: It's probably so sour, you know. It makes you start to wink funny.
KEILAR: Yes, I agree.
CHETRY: I can't get it with the Slurpees. I'm sorry. But I know what to get you now if you ever come up to New York.
KEILAR: Yes, please. Thirty-six ounces.
ROBERTS: Every one of those in your stocking for Christmas.
Brianna Keilar this morning -- Brianna, thanks.
Coming up on eight minutes after the hour:, also new this morning: Mexican police say two students from the University of Texas in El Paso were gunned down in Juarez, Mexico, this week. One of the students was a U.S. citizen. The other was Mexican.
The border city is one of the world's deadliest. Last month alone, gunmen killed more than 350 people in Juarez.
CHETRY: Well, U.S. authorities seized 30 tons of marijuana after an elaborate underground tunnel was discovered connecting a drug warehouse in Tijuana to San Diego. A 600-yard border tunnel equipped with lighting, ventilation and a crude railroad system to move the drugs. As one official put it: "Not a good day for the cartels."
ROBERTS: More than million homeless people in Haiti are bracing for a hurricane this morning. There are hurricane warnings right now with Tomas intensifying again. It could be a category 1 storm again by the time it hits tonight or tomorrow morning.
CHETRY: Nine minutes past the hour. Let's get a check of the morning's weather headlines. Rob Marciano in the extreme weather for us.
Hey, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys.
Yes, Tomas is getting a little bit of strength overnight after being downgraded to a tropical depression. Here it is, about 150 miles south of Kingston, Jamaica, about 300 miles south of Port-au- Prince, Haiti. As of the last advisory which just came in minutes ago, they haven't increased the strength of this thing, but it looks like it's getting a little bit more organized. And the forecast is for it to intensify to hurricane status once again.
If not that, it will be a strong tropical storm and it doesn't really matter talking about Haiti and Port-au-Prince. We'll follow those tent cities. There's no place for these people to evacuate. You don't need much in the way of wind.
So, even a tropical storm force winds here is going to be a problem and there's going to be some heavy rain, as well. We continue to track this situation as we go through the afternoon.
Meanwhile, a lot of rain from New York down to Miami. Look at this mess. This is kind of affecting Tomas a little bit as far as pulling it to the north, but away from the U.S. Heavy rainfall across New York, Philly, D.C.; problems with travel both on the ground and in the air this morning, it's kind of a mess.
But the weekend, or at least tomorrow afternoon and through Sunday, looks better but cool. A lot of cool air driving down, all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. Still warm and relatively dry out west across southern California. They got up to 100 degrees yesterday -- record-breaking temperatures there.
And I tell you what. There might be some flakes of snow flying on the backside of this. Don't expect any sort of accumulation but it will be a reminder that winter is right around the corner.
John and Kiran, back up to you.
CHETRY: Triple-digits in California.
ROBERTS: California, here I come.
MARCIANO: Exactly.
ROBERTS: Thanks, rob.
MARCIANO: All right, guys.
CHETRY: So, can they all get along? A look at what the next two years could look like with Speaker John Boehner.
Ten minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHETRY: Thirteen minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
Republicans earned a historic victory in the House of Representatives on election night. You have heard that a lot over the past day and a half, but it also likely means that John Boehner of Ohio will be the next speaker of the House.
So, what can we expect from a Speaker Boehner?
We are joined by Michael Grunwald. He is the senior national correspondent for "TIME" magazine and wrote the cover story on today's edition that features Congressman Boehner.
Michael, great to talk to you this morning.
MICHAEL GRUNWALD, SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, TIME MAGAZINE: Thanks for having me.
CHETRY: A lot people out there have never heard of John Boehner before we talked about this whole change-over with the shifting of the House to the Republicans. So, just in a nutshell, who is he?
GRUNWALD: Well, his staff complains that all people know about him is all these media stories about GTL. You know, on "The Jersey Shore," that's gym, tan and laundry. For Boehner, it's been golf, tan and lobbyists. He does play a lot of golf. He does have a very deep tan and he does hang out with a lot of corporate lobbyists.
But there's really a lot more to him than that. He's a very weepy guy as we have seen in the last few days. But he also -- he really -- he's a true, committed conservative.
CHETRY: On a personal side, you also wrote Boehner is a, quote, "down to earth, amiable guy from southwest Ohio, 6-year-old consensus builder" --that may be a key as we talk about this divided Congress -- "who learned from the people skills growing up with 11 siblings and one bathroom."
Does that give you a sense of how he may reach across the aisle?
GRUNWALD: Well, I think that maybe gives you more of a sense of how he'll work to unite his own party, and he's done a pretty good job of that the last couple of years. You know, he grew up -- you know, he was mopping the floors and waiting tables in his dad's bar near Cincinnati. And like he'll tell you, you know, bars do take all kinds, and you do kind of learn to get along with a lot of different people.
That said, you know, now, he's sort of a natural consensus builder and he did work across party lines on things like No Child Left Behind, where he worked with his friend Ted Kennedy to try to do some education reform. But as one Democrat said, that was a long, long time ago and a galaxy far, far away. And right now, he's really -- even if he wanted to reach out and compromise, when he has to ride the Tea Party tiger, I think it's going to be very pretty difficult. CHETRY: Right. And you bring up a good point. So, to many, on both sides of the aisle, he does represent the establishment entrenched in Washington, comfortable with the way Washington operates, comfortable in lobbyist circles as some have said. So, what happens to these insurgent candidates or what happens when he's leading them who came in with the kick the bums out attitude in how own party?
GRUNWALD: Well, it's funny. He's been showing up at tea party rallies, and he's been kind of signaling to the tea party that's he's one of them. And there's a certain truth to that. Certainly, an ideology, he's never taken an earmark. He says that if that's what his constituents want, they just want him to go to Washington to raid the treasury, they should hire somebody else. He got into politics because he was small business men.
He felt he was overtaxed. He felt like he was overregulated, and he's been a very consistent voice for less taxes, smaller government. That said, he's, you know, at this point, he's really got to do pretty much what his base wants. And even though, he's sort of temperamentally suited to compromise, and he's not a kind of screamer and yeller.
He's very eager not to repeat the mistakes of Newt Gingrich. It doesn't really matter because, at this point, in his party, there's just not a lot of appetite to do what, you know, a president that the base considers a socialist usurper wants to do.
CHETRY: It's interesting that you mention Newt Gingrich. He has a contract with America and the GOP put forth what they called their pledge to America which was put together by John Boehner's staff. In it, it's vague, but it does talk about tax cuts, less regulation, cutting spending. Are there specifics about what this new leader may be trying to do in terms of getting our debt and deficit under control?
GRUNWALD: No. You know, it sounds very familiar. They want massive tax cuts, sort of unspecified spending cuts that are not going to touch the military or seniors or so far, you know, kind of anything that anybody likes. This is always the kind of needle that Republicans have tried to thread in recent years. In fact, when Boehner rolled out the pledge, he said, you know, we're not going to be any different than what we've been in the past, which he took a lot of flock (ph) for.
I think it's not clear. He is a true committed conservative who would like to see a smaller government, but in the past, when Republicans have controlled even all the government, there hasn't been a lot of appetite for spending cuts. So, that's something that's still up in the air. Even when President Obama came up with some pretty mild --
CHETRY: Right.
GRUNWALD: Cuts to Medicare, you immediately heard Republicans saying that these were death panels, and they're trying to shaft seniors. So, you know, less government and less spending so far has been something that people want maybe in theory but not necessarily when it gets down to the specifics.
CHETRY: Right. Well, it's an interesting article. People should read it. Get to know the new central (ph) speaker a little better. Michael Grunwald with the "Time" magazine senior national correspondent. Thanks so much.
GRUNWALD: Thanks for having me.
ROBERTS: Citrus for CCs. Mangoes for motorcycles. A new trade deal between the United States and India. We get the mangos, they get the Harleys. A live report from New Delhi coming right up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Mangoes for motorcycles. That's what some people calling a trade deal between the U.S. and India. India gets to sell their mangoes to the United States and Harley-Davidson gets to sell its motorcycles to people in India.
CHETRY: Sara Sidner joins us live from New Delhi, India, this morning where an iconic American brand is now on sale. Hi, Sara.
SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Kiran. Yes, Harley-Davidson, first opened its doors in July of this year here in India, and now, guys, they are building an assembly plant here.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER (voice-over): Vikram Bhalla is fulfilling a childhood dream sitting atop his prized possession, his Harley Davidson motorcycle.
VIKRAM BHALLA, HARLEY-DAVIDSON RIDER: I remember seeing it and the Marlboro man. Remember that old movie? And just made people look so cool. So, I thought why not?
SIDNER: But Vikram is not riding the open road in the US of A where the iconic American brand has a cult-like following. Instead, he's on the congested roads of Gurgaon, India and loving every minute of it. The high-end brand went on sale in India for the first time this year.
BHALLA: Riding a Harley, it's sort of like meditation. Almost.
SIDNER (on-camera): India's Harley-Davidson story started in 2007 with the U.S./India trade agreement we like to call mangoes for motorcycles.
SIDNER (voice-over): The U.S. agreed to allow India to export mangoes to the American market. In exchange, India allowed the U.S. export Harley-Davidson to the Indian market.
ANOOP PRAKASH, HARLEY-DAVIDSON INDIA MANAGING DIR.: I think it's the best part of free trade. Win-Win for everyone. Indians get Harleys, the U.S. gets the mangoes. It's a great exchange.
SIDNER: Sweet.
PRAKASH: Very sweet.
SIDNER: Harley-Davidson is now building a plant in Northern India, only the second one outside the USA. Right now, buying a Harley in India means paying double the price of those in America due to India's sky-high import duties on fully-assembled vehicles. Bringing in just the bike parts to be assembled in India means an 80 percent reduction in import duty tariffs.
Do you feel there might be any pushback from the American population seeing this brand as the American dream realized? That you're building a plant now in India.
PRAKASH: What we're doing is made in the USA, assembled in India which will have a positive job effect back home and that's really why we're driving this investment.
SIDNER: India is second only to China as the largest two-wheeler market in the world. As President Barack Obama is set to arrive in India, Harley-Davidson says its deal is an example of how to increase U.S. bilateral trade and investments with India, as well as create jobs in both countries, something the Obama administration is keen on doing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER (on-camera): As you already know, President Obama will be in India in just two days, and one of the big things on the agenda -- better business ties with India -- John, Kiran.
ROBERTS: Maybe he'll get a ride on one of those, as well. Sara Sidner for us. Sara, thanks so much.
CHETRY: Washington, D.C. area on alert. A fifth shots fired incident in a military facility in just the past two weeks. We're live in Washington with some new details on a search for a suspect.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-seven minutes now after the hour. All clear has been issued at John F. Kennedy International Airport here in New York after a suspicious package caused the DHL cargo facility to be evacuated. Police say the package containing a cell phone and paperwork was shipped from Yemen. That's the same place where two explosives devices were shipped from last week.
CHETRY: Investigators in Washington have a serious problem on their hands. As we told you yesterday, shots were fired at coast guard recruiting station in Virginia Monday. Well, now, that shooting has been linked to the four other shootings at military buildings including the Pentagon. Jeanne Meserve now with the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): FBI ballistics tests have now linked the shooting at a coast guard recruiting station in Woodbridge, Virginia, earlier this week to bullets fired at other military facilities in Northern Virginia. Since October 17th, bullets have been fired at the marine corps museum near Quantico, Virginia, the Pentagon, a marine recruiting facility in Chantilly, Virginia, the marine museum again, and then the coast guard recruiting station in Woodbridge.
A former FBI profiler says investigators should not concentrate on one type of suspect because a narrow focus might exclude other possibilities.
GREGG MCCRARY, FORMER FBI AGENT: Could be a former military guy, could be active, could be someone who didn't get in the military who wanted to, someone that was phased out, they feel unfairly, could be a family member of a military person, could be a would be terrorist who has no association with the military.
MESERVE: The FBI believes the shooter has likely suffered a personal crisis in the recent past.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This event may have been a loss of a job or status, divorce, financial hardship, death of a loved one.
MESERVE: All the shootings have taken place overnight. Nobody has been injured, but security around last Sunday's marine corps marathon was increased as a precaution.
MCCRARY: Certainly would be easy enough to shoot people if he cared to do so, but he seems to be making a concerted effort not to do that.\
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE (on-camera): The FBI isn't releasing any information about the type of weapon involved, but Gregg McCrary, the former FBI profiler, says by using the same weapon each time, the shooter appears to want authorities to link the crimes to one another. But who he is and why he's doing it are for now a mystery. John and Kiran, back to you.
ROBERTS: It really sounds, Jeanne, at this point, like they have no clue who this guy is.
MESERVE: Well, you know, we don't really know. In a press conference the other day, the FBI put out an appeal to people saying, hey, do you know somebody who may have some military association who's been through some stress, who may be disappearing in the middle of the night? And we don't know what kind of response they've gotten from the public to that.\
In addition, we don't know everything they've gotten forensically from the scene. We do know that there may be some geographical clues here. The profiler who we talked to said the fact that he picked two fairly obscure locations in Virginia, the two recruiting stations, indicates he, at least, has a very good familiarity with the geography in that part of the state.
ROBERTS: Maybe at least some place to start. Jeanne Meserve for us this morning, thanks.
We're crossing the half hour now. It's time for this morning top stories.
A major scare onboard the world's largest passenger plane, a midair engine failure forcing a Qantas airbus A-380 to make an emergency landing in Singapore. Passengers say it sounded like an explosion just after takeoff, and by looking at the engine there, it looks like they may have been right.
Qantas has not grounded the entire fleet of double-decker super- jumbos as a precaution.
CHETRY: Tropical storm Tomas gaining strength with the eye on Haiti. Forecasters expect it to make landfall on Haiti late tonight or early tomorrow and could be a hurricane when it gets there. Haitians are still recovering from the devastating earthquake and were just hit by a cholera outbreak.
ROBERTS: Well, used cars, new jobs -- Car Max, the nation's largest used car chain, said it's hiring people to fill more than 1,200 jobs across the country most of them in sales and service. Company says they need to meet seasonal staffing needs. Apparently people buying cars for Christmas but it's also part of a broader expansion.
CHETRY: Finally, we are getting a break from the midterm election madness. No more town halls or attack ads, robo-calls or Tea Party upstarts that dabbled in witchcraft. It is a strange, long trip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tonight, there's going to be a Tea Party tidal wave.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can almost feel the ground shaking.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is a political earthquake.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've come to take our government back!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, god bless you. So let's party. Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: You can tell just how crazy the campaign season has been by the number veins bulging out of our next guest's neck. Comedian Lewis Black is with us this morning, and he's just written a new book titled "I'm Dreaming of a Black Christmas -- Musings about Christmas from an Unmarried, Childless, Jewish Man."
CHETRY: You make it sound so appealing.
ROBERTS: Sounds nice.
So before we get into the book, your reactions to what we saw Tuesday?
LEWIS BLACK, COMEDIAN: Oh, it was just -- it's over. So we don't have to talk about it anymore. We can move on to a better life. What's amazing is the people woke up the next morning thinking that it changes. The amount of discussion that you guys had to do is beyond -- I mean, who cares?
CHETRY: Nine hours.
BLACK: Who cares?
CHETRY: That was just yesterday.
BLACK: It won't change. You reach an age and you realize -- oh! And you came -- oh, the greatest thing ever! And then, oh no. It wasn't the greatest thing ever. Now it's going to be the greatest thing ever. It's not.
CHETRY: So did you vote on Tuesday?
BLACK: Of course you vote ahead of time. Because the reason you vote is so that you can -- that's the day you feel most ineffectual. And then you wake up and a lousy day and at least I didn't have to vote today. It's unbelievable to me.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: One of the big issues, of course, in Congress at this new Republican house is going to tackle is wasteful spending. Michele Bachmann on with our Anderson Cooper last night had an idea on how to cut down on presidential travel expenses.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELE BACHMANN: The issue here is really government excess -- and government excess in spending. If it's that difficult and that expensive, maybe we should use video conferencing for these meetings to have meetings between our two government leaders.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Her idea was instead of going to places like India, to meet with world leaders you have video conferencing instead, which would be good for you because instead of traveling the country and doing your act, you could be in your living room.
BLACK: I'd do it from my bathroom. I would never even leave the bathroom. Just sit there on my throne and we would discuss things. What is the matter with them? What's really amazing to watch the people, hour upon hour upon hour of debates and this and that and the other and no one saying what they'll do. At what point don't we hold these people accountable to the fact to cut this -- what?
CHETRY: Are you talking --
BLACK: What are you going to do?
CHETRY: -- about the GOP?
BLACK: Both sides!
CHETRY: Everything?
BLACK: Nonsense! Business is going to do this. What is business going to do? Government's going to do. What?
To me, it's simple math. You have one party that represents the government. You got one party that kind of represents business. They kind of represent these things.
We have to create a balance between business and government. We've been trying to do it for hundreds of years. Just stop. Stop it. Sit down. Figure it out. It wasn't tough for the founding fathers, you go in a room and you make them sweat like pigs.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: We have specifics on what to cut -- waste and fraud.
BLACK: Waste and fraud, yes.
CHETRY: And the abuse.
BLACK: And abuse, all sorts of abuse.
ROBERTS: Let's talk about the book because this is a really fun book. And it's written by a childless, unmarried Jewish man. What does a childless, unmarried Jewish man know about Christmas?
BLACK: It's really -- I wrote it because it's that one time of the year where family is like the center of everything. And --
CHETRY: For better or for worse.
BLACK: Exactly. And so for me, it's the one time of year it hits me just that I am, you know, childless. I have no family. I have done nothing with my life. You know, family is risen to this position. Single people are pariahs, like tiny rats running around in the dark. The family grows huger, huger every day getting to Christmas.
But what's really great is that kind of that six to seven days before and turn to your Christian friends and how's the Christmas season going? And they I'm going to kill my family. I'm going to kill them. You can see that long stare, that dark stare in their eyes, that they're not going to make it through.
I just thought it was a good -- it was a good way to talk about family and being single and what it means.
CHETRY: So Hanukkah's not nearly as stressful?
BLACK: Hanukkah barely exists. We are a blip. We look so sad compared to you guys. Even when they put -- I was a kid and put a Christmas tree in front of the school. I'd go what's wrong with the picture? Menorahs don't grow, schmuck.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: You were very descriptive in the book about Christmas and the whole run-up to Christmas and the momentum and everything. You liken it to the running of the bulls at Pamplona. The Christians are there running down the streets trying to stay away from the ghost of Christmas chasing them, and the Jews are the people on the other side of the fence watching all of this craziness.
BLACK: Watching it happen. We watch it happen and just amazed at you guys. It is just spectacular to watch. You go out. You do all of that shopping before the 25th.
CHETRY: You have to buy eight presents.
BLACK: Socks and maybe some notebooks, a pencil set. It's a back to school holiday.
(LAUGHTER)
Second semester's coming. Get to work.
CHETRY: Yep. On the fourth day I got a trapper keeper. So it is funny. You also talk about, you spend time with your friends who have --
BLACK: Oh, yes.
CHETRY: What is Christmas like?
BLACK: It's phenomenal. I it's an eat-a-on this. Willie and Jenny have a big family, and the brothers and the sisters come. I'm like this crazed uncle who shows up every year, and then we eat a ton of feed and drive across town and Neil and Chico's house and Eat through. I start at like 12:00 and eat until midnight. It is really disgusting.
ROBERTS: I want to pull another quote from the book because this is very telling, as well. It probably points to a childhood trauma you might have had. Quote, "I have never thought much about Santa Claus. Jewish pants make absolutely sure their children will never believe in him during their formative years." Tell us about the department store episode.
BLACK: I played Santa Claus. CHETRY: You played Scrooge, as well, didn't you?
BLACK: No because we couldn't find enough of a supporting cast to sell tickets.
ROBERTS: Wasn't there also a time walking through a department store at Christmas time and saw Santa?
BLACK: And it panicked me, as it always does. It's a little creepy that, you know, that whole thing. It's just a little odd. I actually don't remember it because the interesting thing about book publishing, folks, you write this book like a year ago. And then a year later they go, OK, let's talk about it. and I forgot what I wrote. At my age, I'm lucky I remembered to show up this morning.
CHETRY: Right on time.
ROBERTS: Glad you did, too.
BLACK: The other thing to point out yet again, if CNN wants to improve their ratings, take this crap off the screen. Dreaming of a Black Christmas. We've been talking about it.
CHETRY: Your book.
BLACK: Yes, but are they deaf? They're not deaf. They know they're watching -- they know it's live.
ROBERTS: It's gone.
BLACK: "Little Wayne ready to party." Who cares?
(LAUGHTER)
I'm sitting here. We are sitting here. Get rid of it. We know it's live.
CHETRY: You want the live bug gone, too?
BLACK: Get rid of all of it. Every time I'm on. You got rid of all of it. Things would be better. Better tomorrow.
CHETRY: I hear you. Older people don't like that as much.
BLACK: Nobody does. Kids don't like it. They don't know what's on there. I'm surprised you don't have the Dow Jones thing. Somebody's getting rich.
ROBERTS: We could put it on.
BLACK: It's coming when I leave. Thank you.
CHETRY: Thank you so much. You made us happy this morning.
BLACK: Thanks, guys.
ROBERTS: That is the spirit of Christmas.
BLACK: Merry Christmas.
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: Happy Hanukkah, happy back to school. Thanks, Lewis Black. We'll take a quick break. It's 40 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Well, it's time for some of the stories had us talking in the newsroom this morning. Is Lewis Black funny or what?
CHETRY: He's hysterical.
ROBERTS: This confirmed -- Ozzy Osbourne is a mutant. Scientists mapped Ozzy's entire genetic code to find out how he's still alive at 61 years old after a booze soaked life of hard partying and heavy metal. They say they found several gene variants that we have never seen before and that also he's part Neanderthal.
You want to sound smart this morning? Tell everybody out there four percent of their genetic history can be traced back to Neanderthals.
CHETRY: Love it. But they found interesting things.
ROBERTS: Me, I think it's 75 percent.
CHETRY: How are your knuckles? Dragging on the ground?
ROBERTS: Just dragging on the ground.
CHETRY: They said that some of the gene variants made him not as susceptible to large amounts of cocaine, which he said he did, large amounts of alcohol, at times other drugs. But the funniest thing is they showed he was susceptible to getting a caffeine buzz. So it might be caffeine and coffee that fell Ozzy Osbourne.
ROBERTS: The cumulative effects of everything are having a bit of an effect on him, don't you think?
CHETRY: Yes, I do.
Well, you heard you are what you eat. What about you are what you watch. This is interesting. A research group analyzed the personalities of TV viewers and they came up with some broad generalizations that if you watch "Mad Men" you tend to liberal, intellectually curious, and a dreamer.
ROBERTS,: There you go. If you like "Family Guy" you're a rebel and more likely to take risks and break the rules. And people who watch "Dancing with the Stars" are -- more traditional and tend to play it safe.
CHETRY: Yes, the fans of "The Office" tend to believe that they're superior to others. I forgot "The Office." U.S. favorite show, I love this. I'm sad that it's done now. They like bragging about their accomplishments.
ROBERTS: Yes, it's a good show. What -- what about "Modern Family"?
CHETRY: "Modern Family."
ROBERTS: If you like "Modern Family" are you just like sick beyond belief?
CHETRY: "Modern Family" and "Family Guy." Everybody loves this too. "30 Rock."
ROBERTS: Last week's episode with box of baby cheeses.
CHETRY: I know; you were quoting that all last week.
ROBERTS: It's the funniest thing I've ever seen.
CHETRY: Well, it's a rainy Thursday on tap for some of the East Coast.
Our Rob Marciano is tracking all of it for us. He's going to have the travel forecast after the break. Forty-five minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Let's get a quick check of this morning's weather headlines.
Rob Marciano is in the Weather Center for us in Atlanta. And a really wet one in the Northeast today -- Rob.
MARCIANO: Yes, it is. And this is the nasty look at what November can do for you when you're talking about rain on top of temperatures that are in the upper 30s. It's a slow go of it. And not only across the Northeast but all the way down -- all the way down towards the south from D.C. back through Raleigh and Tampa and Miami.
This is actually going to have a little bit of an impact of what's going on with Tomas. Take a look at the satellite it is not looking all that impressive right now. But it does have winds of about 50 miles an hour.
And the forecast track is to bring it toward Haiti but we're looking at maybe being just offshore but it's going to be on the right side of the system so we're going to see some winds. And even if it's not a hurricane, we're going to get tropical storm force winds and those tent cities that is not a good combination. Not to mention the potential for seeing heavy rains that could see -- that could let some hillsides go.
Rainfall: moderate to heavy across parts of the northeast, a little bit of snow trying to mix in but at least right now, it's just a cold, cold rain. There might be some flakes of snow behind this system and some rain across Florida. They're not launching the shuttle today and I think they're going to have a hard time doing it tomorrow, as well.
If you're traveling by air, an hour and 40 minutes delays right now in Philly and the LaGuardia, 55 minutes delays there. Unusually strong trough, you need a jet stream taking a big dip and that's going to allow a lot of cold air to release as far south really as the Gulf of Mexico. And we might see some flakes of snow off falling behind this system especially near the Great Lakes come Saturday and Saturday night.
Fifty-one in Chile, New York and a wet 92 degrees in Los Angeles; so it continues to sizzle in SoCal in November. John and Kiran -- back up to you.
CHETRY: So strange, 90s, triple digits over there.
MARCIANO: I love this time of the year, yes. It's good stuff.
CHETRY: We know where to vacation. Thanks Rob.
MARCIANO: Exactly, see you guys.
ROBERTS: Well, the Fed's big plan to revive the economy is here but what's that going to mean for you and how will it impact your finances? Our Christine Romans breaks it down for us this morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, the Fed is announcing a plan to boost the economy by pumping billions of dollars into it. So what does it mean for you?
ROBERTS: Our Christine Romans, author of the new book "Smart is the New Rich" joins us now. Obviously it's going to mean that we're borrowing money to try to boost the American economy.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right. And what we're doing is the Fed essentially printing $600 billion and putting that money at work in the economy with the hope of -- of getting money out to the banks to lend, to lower and keep interest rates very low and to allow the economy some breathing room to actually start creating jobs.
Of course, when you create money, that means the money that's already in your pocket, the dollar that's already in your pocket is a little bit worth less. So this weakens the dollar but it should lower interest rates; that's the goal at least and it should allow banks to increase lending.
The ways you're going to see this --
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: Wait -- interest rates -- we don't even have -- do we have interest rates anymore? ROMANS: They are so low. Look, it should be good for you. Mortgage rates are already very low and they will continue to be low. If you're out there borrowing money and can, you have good credit rating, and can borrow money, this is good for you. For stocks, it's good for you. Because the low rates on bonds mean people keep putting money in the stocks.
If you live on a fixed income, this is not good for you because if you are trying to live on the interest from a CD or a savings account or a money market fund, you are not getting very much. And the weaker dollar, of course, means that if you're traveling overseas or you're buying imported things, all of those things, they get more expensive.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: So this -- so this is really going to work really well then.
CHETRY: I just have a couple of questions about it. First of all, people who still have enormous interest rates on their credit cards say why isn't any of this trickling to me? And then those who do try to invest the little bit of money that they have don't make any real return off that money.
ROMANS: If you're living on a fixed income, this is a really rotten time to be trying to live off of savings or safe investments --
ROBERTS: Yes.
ROMANS: -- and that's -- that's the bottom line here.
So -- but look, the Fed and the Fed chairman and "The Washington Post" today did op-ed illustrating exactly what they're trying to do and he wrote very clearly, this is about getting jobs created and many people say if the Fed does this properly and has the right kind of stimulus targeted the right way then it could help get the jobs market going next year.
Now, speaking of borrowing money, because this is -- the whole idea here is getting funds ready for borrowing money, we also have a new report from the Department of Higher Education there are now 100 universities that charge $50,000 or more a year.
ROBERTS: Wow.
ROMANS: At the time when you need to be borrowing money and have the right education and the right skills, these are just some of them. Not all of them but some of them Sarah Lawrence College, Columbia University, University of Chicago and Berkeley -- the public school that is the most expensive. And it brings me to some advice for all of you out there who are looking at this economy and in this job market with the Fed is doing, a reliance on borrowing money from overseas to keep our -- our whole system going and you want to make the smart choices for yourselves. Remember, if you're going to college, it is better to save than to borrow. If you are a young parent, you need to be putting as much away as you can because you don't want to get stuck. Always borrow federal money first; the private student loans have much higher interest rates.
And here's a little rule of thumb from the student loan experts. Your total loans should not exceed your expected first year earnings. I've got a lot more of this kind of stuff in the book but if you are choosing a career that's not going to pay well, you don't want to take a super humongous amount of loans. If you're going to have a career to pay very, very well then you can afford to take on more loans.
It is good debt/bad debt calculus you have to do. I lay it all out in the book. But something to remember as we're looking at the uncertainty of the economy, better make some smart choices here about planning for the future.
ROBERTS: Thank you for that. Christine Romans, author of "Smart is the New Rich."
It's four minutes to the top of the hour. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It was great to have Lewis Black on this morning.
CHETRY: He is a hoot.
ROBERTS: He's a funny guy.
CHETRY: And he is very caffeinated in the morning. I was afraid I was going to get --
ROBERTS: He is full of energy, no question. His new book is called "I'm Dreaming of a Black Christmas." Dreaming of a Lewis Christmas, an unmarried, childless Jewish man's musings on our favorite Christian holiday.
CHETRY: There you go.
All right. Well, that's going to do it for us, by the way. Hope you have a wonderful weekend. We'll see you back here bright and early on Monday.
ROBERTS: Oh, it's Thursday. Getting ahead of yourself there.
CHETRY: Doesn't yesterday's nine-hour show? We can't dance over those hours.
ROBERTS: That's for three days actually.
The news continues here at CNN with Kyra Phillips in the "CNN NEWSROOM." Good morning, Kyra.
CHETRY: Help me, Kyra. Doesn't it feel like Friday? KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. It does feel like Friday. You poor thing. After nine hours. Kiran needs another little nap. I'll see you guys tomorrow morning, I hope.
It's not Saturday, it's Friday.
