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American Morning
Landmark Terror Verdict; Eva Longoria Files For Divorce; Pastor: Thou Shalt Not 'Friend'; "Miracle Win"; General Motors Has First IPO Since Bailout; New Poll Shows Many Young Americans Feel Marriage Is Obsolete; The Secrets of Sushi
Aired November 18, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Glad you're with us on this AMERICAN MORNING. It's Thursday, November 18th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm John Roberts. Thanks so much for being with us. A lot to talk about this morning. Let's get you right to it.
Guantanamo Bay detainee Ahmed Ghailani, a suspect in the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, not guilty on 284 -- what is it -- 284 counts. He was convicted of a single conspiracy charge. The Obama administration is saying that they do have a bit of a victory here because he wasn't acquitted on all counts. They're under fire, though, this morning for trying this in a civilian court.
CHETRY: Yes, that's right. He could face 28 years to life, though. We'll have more on that in a second.
Meanwhile, two weeks after the Election Day where no one really knew who the senator from Alaska was going to be. Well, Lisa Murkowski now declaring victory in this Alaskan Senate race after many in her party left her for dead. We're going to hear what she told us about whether she'll stay loyal to the GOP.
ROBERTS: Right.
The FDA with a stern warning for the makers of Four Loko and other beverages like it: get out of the caffeinated alcohol business or we'll start seizing your products. This morning, one of the men behind those beverages talks to us about his company's next move.
CHETRY: Well, we want to start, though, with a story that you'll see only on CNN. It is about the 33 Chilean miners and five of their rescuers. There's video of them from just about a couple of hours ago when they arrived in Chile. A layover stop in Atlanta Hartsfield Airport and they're on their way to Hollywood this morning.
ROBERTS: Yes. They've been invited to attend Saturday night's taping of CNN Heroes, an All-Star Tribute.
New pictures of the miners and the guests arriving just in the past hour at Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport. They left Santiago, Chile, late last night. On their U.S. trip, everyone's going to get a whirlwind tour of southern California.
Our Gary Tuchman is accompanying them on that flight. He's going to be staying with them through the weekend and he'll be reporting on all of that all day long today.
CHETRY: Yes. So, the update, the miners are on their connecting flight now to Los Angeles, about a four-hour trip from Atlanta. And as we said, we'll be covering their special journey throughout the day.
ROBERTS: Yes. And, of course, you catch "CNN HEROES" on Thanksgiving night. Nearly two million of you voted. Soon, we're going to find out who the next CNN hero is.
Tune in Thanksgiving night at 8:00 Eastern as Anderson Cooper hosts "CNN HEROES: AN ALL-STAR TRIBUTE."
CHETRY: Now to our top story.
He was the first Guantanamo detainee to be tried in civilian court and this morning, critics of the Obama administration say that he ought to be the last.
ROBERTS: Yes. A federal jury in New York finding Ahmed Ghailani not guilty on 284 terror-related charges, including murder, convicting him instead on a single count of conspiracy to damage or destroy U.S. property for his role in the deadly 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
Deb Feyerick --
CHETRY: Deb Feyerick joins us this morning with more on this.
And, obviously, the White House -- I mean, they put out a statement saying we thank the jury but they could not have been happy with this verdict.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They were not. As a matter of fact, I was in the courtroom. You could hear an audible gasp from some of the people there, and it was packed with people from the U.S. Attorney's Office trying to see what the verdict was going to be.
Remember, they tried a similar case back in 2001. This is before anybody knew what al Qaeda was. This time, on some levels, it worked against them.
Defense for Ghailani saying, look, just because we hear the word "al Qaeda" doesn't mean that this guy is a terrorist. They said he was a dupe. That he was not the sort of person who was setting out to build this bomb, that he was just being used by al Qaeda because he knew his way around Tanzania.
But this really was in many respects a defeat for the Obama administration. Yes, they won on a single count. But there were 285 others.
Was this case just overreaching? Did they charge too many things? Should they have limited it to the U.S. embassy bombing in Tanzania?
That is something that they're going to be looking at to see whether they could have brought a more concise, more efficient kind of case against him. Remember, this was not about war crimes. This was about his role in embassy bombing back in 1998.
Now, Ghailani was -- the judge initially said that, you know, look, he is never going to get out. He's an enemy combatant. So, until we cease hostilities with al Qaeda, he's going to be held regardless, but, again, civilian/military. A lot of question right now that are really up in the air.
But that is very, very important case, the way it was tried, and both sides did a really fine job trying this case. But certain pieces of evidence were simply not allowed in and that, many people believe, hurt.
ROBERTS: Yes, the prosecution had a key witness, but the judge wouldn't allow testify. How damaging was that to them?
FEYERICK: Well, that was really damaging in many respects because part of the problem, again, Ghailani was kept in one of these secret prisons. He was interrogated, these enhanced interrogations, which defense say was akin to torture.
The witness came out during those interrogations, prosecutors want to say let us question him. He's the one who sold Ghailani the TNT -- meaning Ghailani must have known what the plot was about. The judge said, I'm sorry, I can't do that because of the way it was obtained.
Interestingly, prosecutors didn't want to bring in other evidence that was obtained during those enhanced interrogations, just that one witness, and they couldn't.
ROBERTS: All right. Deb Feyerick this morning -- Deb, thanks.
FEYERICK: Of course.
ROBERTS: Well, to politics now, and the people have written -- Senator Lisa Murkowski says she's going to go back to Washington. Last night, she declared victory in the Alaska Senate race over fellow Republican Joe Miller.
CHETRY: A lot of people in Murkowski's own party wanted her to quit, but she had enough write-in votes to win.
We got a chance to speak to her just a short time ago. We asked whether she'll challenge the party line when she goes back to work.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Will that affect how you vote and what issues you choose to bring to the forefront if you can as a -- as a committee chair?
SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R), ALASKA: You know, I am -- I am still a Republican. In Alaska, the way that our election laws work, I did not choose to be an independent, say, for instance, as Joe Lieberman did when he made his run. I am still a Republican. I am still conferencing with the Republicans. I retain my seniority that I have built as a Republican.
But my mandate, if you will, from the people of Alaska, from all Alaskans, urban and rural, and again, all different political stripes and flavors is one represent all of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Joe Miller, who beat Murkowski in the GOP primary is not giving up, saying, "After all, the absentee ballots are in and we further review the procedures and the results, we may ask for a recount. Less than 1 percent of the vote now separates my and Lisa Murkowski's total. If there is a recount and a consistent standard is applied to all the ballots, who knows what the difference will be."
Well, Murkowski also said that fellow Alaskan, Sarah Palin, wouldn't be her candidate in 2012.
But in an interview with Barbara Walters, Palin said she's already looking at a run for the White House and believes that she can beat President Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: I'm looking at the lay of the land now and trying to figure that out, if it's a good thing for the country, for the discourse, for my family, if it's a good thing.
BARBARA WALTERS, ABC NEWS: If you ran for president, could you beat Barack Obama?
PALIN: I believe so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll doesn't seem to agree with her. This was taken before Election Day. It says President Obama would beat Palin in a hypothetical matchup, 52 percent to 44 percent.
ROBERTS: Trump for president in 2012? Don't rule him out. The Donald tells ABC News that he is considering a run for the White House and he'll make up his mind by June. Trump says he's disturbed by the world's lack of respect for America. He calls the United States a whipping post right now and says China is laughing at us because they think we're fools.
The Donald claims that would end quickly in a Trump administration.
CHETRY: Well, new this morning, the head of the Transportation Security Administration is defending enhanced pat downs and full body scans at airports despite the recent backlash. John Pistole telling a Senate committee, yes, they're more invasive but they're necessary to stay ahead of the terrorist threat. He says he went through the procedure himself before ordering it nationwide. The TSA also amending a ruling, saying that they're going to not do these enhanced pat downs for kids.
ROBERTS: Qantas Airlines says as many as 40 engines on Airbus superjumbo jets need to be replaced. The engines may have faulty parts at risk of oil leaks like the one that caused an engine on a Qantas flight to explode in midair this month. The airline's fleet of superjumbos has been grounded for the past two weeks.
CHETRY: Well, you won't hear a bell ringing on Wall Street. You'll hear the beep of a horn, of a Camaro to be exact. GM is on track to make history when it once again offers its stock for sale on Wall Street. The initial offering is set to raise more than $20 billion. Almost $12 billion of that will go to U.S. taxpayers who, of course, bailed out GM last July.
ROBERTS: Now to a guy who gets honked at a lot, not because he's a bad driver, our Rob Marciano in the extreme weather center for us this morning.
Hey, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, guys. Well, at times, I can be a very bad driver and deserve to be honked at. Good morning, guys.
Certain cities in the country have more aggressive drivers than others. I won't mention them right now. It's a bit breezy in Boston, that's for sure.
Temperatures will be about where they should be for this time of year across the Northeast because of the winds kept up overnight and those will be dying down, I think, as we go throughout the day today. Pretty aggressive drivers, of course, in New York City, as well.
Down South, it's a different kind of driving, but just as frustrating. We have rainfall light stuff that's moving across the Tennessee and Ohio valleys. Not going to amount to a whole lot. It' running into some fairly dry air and some very wet weather across the Pacific Northwest with heavy snow in the mountains there, and that's going to be the ongoing theme, I think, as we go to the weekend.
The trend for next week is going to be quite stormy and quite cold for the West. But, right now, we're looking for 64 in San Francisco, not too shabby; 64 as well in Atlanta for high; and 57 in New York City, it could be worse; 44 degrees, a bit chilly in Chicago.
John and Kiran, back to you.
ROBERTS: Sure, it could be worse. We could have snow here. So, at least we don't have that. And hopefully, the wind will be down a little.
Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: All right, guys.
CHETRY: Well, the FDA has a sobering message for the companies that make those high caffeine/ alcohol drinks: change the formula or stop selling it. Coming up, we're going to be talking live to one of the CEOs targeted in the crackdown.
ROBERTS: And making a marriage work -- why wealthy couples may have a better chance to go the distance. That's coming up in just a little while.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twelve minutes past the hour right now.
These drinks -- these are the caffeinated alcoholic beverages. They're getting a lot of attention lately. The makers of these drinks have been warned you have to take the caffeine out or else.
College kids have called them "blackout in a can." You may remember the cases from Washington state to New Jersey. And we heard of students rushed to emergency rooms with alcohol poisoning after downing these drinks.
Well, now, the FDA is telling companies behind seven different brands that if they don't act, the government will.
Michael Michail is the CEO of United Brands, makers of this one I have in my hand right now, Joose. He's in San Diego this morning.
Thanks for getting up early with us.
MICHAEL MICHAIL, CEO OF UNITED BRANDS, MAKER OF JOOSE: You're welcome.
CHETRY: So, we have the letter that the FDA sent you. They basically say you got about 15 or 30 days to remove the caffeine from the drinks and I understand that you're already working on that. Give us a status update this morning.
MICHAIL: Well, we're very glad that a ruling had come down and it set some clarity. We are in full compliance with the FDA. We are currently going through reformulation, taking caffeine, taurine and ginseng out of our current formula. We will be reintroducing the new formula in the near future.
CHETRY: Right. And the letter outlines why they're doing this. They saying these drinks can be dangerous in the hands of young drinkers, causing behavioral affects, is what they say, that the caffeine can perhaps masks of effects of being drunk. And also they stay up longer, so can drink -- they can drink more.
Do you disagree with any of that?
MICHAIL: Well, when it comes to Joose, we do -- Kiran, as you know, Joose has been out since 2006. We've been the market leader in this category. We have been marketing our product extremely responsibly. The fact of that is none of what we hear and see in the media today is linked to the Joose product.
CHETRY: Right. So, you're saying --
MICHAIL: So, we do feel we have a very good -- sorry.
CHETRY: No. You -- it's interesting because you said that you think one bad apple, and you're referring to Four Loko drinks, is spoiling the bunch. But the formulation is pretty much the same. I mean, this one I have in my hand, this is 12 percent alcohol. And it also combines the other things that the Four Loko does, which is the caffeine, as well as the ginseng and the taurine.
Why do you think that they're the bad apple?
MICHAIL: Well, what this all comes down to is a product and brand positioning. You're dealing with alcoholic product directed toward adult over the age of 21 consumers. There's got to a -- a more responsible way of marketing product.
As you can see in the media, Joose has been not linked to any of these incidents.
CHETRY: But it's the same formulation. Why --
MICHAIL: As a father of two teenagers.
CHETRY: So, you think it's a marketing issue, not a formulation issue with your drink versus Four Loko?
MICHAIL: To start with, our product is made with all natural flavors. We use less of the amount of caffeine that is mandated by the FDA and TTB. As you're well aware, they recommend 200 parts to a million. We've always been under that. We've been 180 parts per million. That puts us at about 54 milligrams per serving.
So, we have less caffeine. Our approach and the way we market our product is completely different. And the greater indication is since 2006, that Joose has been on the market hasn't been always at 12 percent.
We launched at 9.9. We went down a point to 9.0, and we felt that that was a safe approach, and the fact of that, again, we have not been linked any health or risk issues ever since. You might have a 12 percent in front of you, but we also make 6 percent. We make 9 percent, 9.9, and we've also made 11 percent, as well.
CHETRY: So, if you believe in the product, then why aren't you fighting the ruling from the FDA?
MICHAIL: That's a great question. We would like to comply. We would like to comply. We have a great relationship with regulators on the federal and the state levels. We would like to work very closely with them to make sure that the current inventory, the current product out on the market and the transitioning into the new formula takes place smoothly. So, we are in full compliance.
I would like to say that. I would like to say that we are in full compliant with the FDA, and we will be reformulating. Going against the grain is not going to help us in the long run. As a responsible marketer, with an alcoholic beverage, we have to be very careful and obey the law of the land.
CHETRY: All right. So, some changes, certainly, coming to these caffeinated alcoholic drinks like yours. Michael Michail, CEO of United Brands, the maker of Joose and Max. Thanks for joining us this morning.
MICHAIL: You're welcome, Kiran. Thank you.
CHETRY: John.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Kiran.
Coming up now at 17 minutes after the hour, want to put some more horsepower in your car? We'll show you how to do it. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty minutes now after the hour. And time for some of the stories that got us talking in the newsroom this morning. A horse is a horse of course, of course, and this one's become an internet force. Check it out. We're talking the horsepower not only under the hood, but there in the backseat.
CHETRY: Look at the little pony.
ROBERTS: It's a horse. It's a horse. It's a full-grown horse. It's captured by a family on their way to a Kansas Wal-Mart. The horse apparently named Rascal, and according to its owner, performs tricks across the state including getting into the backseat of the car.
CHETRY: The hair blowing in the breeze. The mane just flying around with the wind. So cute. It's a pony. Come on!
ROBERTS: It's a horse. A race horse.
CHETRY: We're going to take a look at this viral video clip now. This is quite a slick go-kart track. A tight turn and one driver loses it and that's all. There you see it. All of them banging into each other. I'm surprised no one actually flipped over, but they ran pretty fast.
ROBERTS: Difficult to flip a go-kart. CHETRY: Well, they look like they were come close. Thirty-plus in this pile-up and we're counting almost 100,000 web views.
ROBERTS: Those are go fast go-karts, too.
A housewife no more. Eva Longoria filed for divorce from her husband of three years, NBA star, Tony Parker. The actress telling "Extra" host and friend, Mario Lopez, she found, quote, "hundreds of text messages" from another woman on Parker's phone and -- the way that these things go these days, I guess. Longoria tweeted yesterday that the two love each other and they pray for each other's happiness.
CHETRY: All right. Well, tough times and some pastors say that because of all the social networking, relationships are suffering, and they're saying, you know what, forget it. Don't friend your old flames on Facebook. One New Jersey pastor, in fact, is giving his married church leaders until Sunday to delete their Facebook accounts. And those who refuse will be asked to resign. Pastor Cedric Miller says that the social networking site is breaking up marriages because people are reconnecting with old heartthrobs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOICE OF PASTOR CEDIC MILLER, LIVING WORD CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP: Most times, it's that Facebook creates the vehicle for people to reunite with their past. If it's a pre-Jesus past, it's something that needs to stay dead and buried.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Pastor Miller has been married to the same woman for nearly 30 years, and he admits that he did have a Facebook page of his own. He also got rid of it. Sunday, he says, he'll be urging his entire congregation to stay away from Facebook.
ROBERTS: Interesting. We should get him on and talk to him about it more.
Well, coming up, they ride the train together every day and the talk often turns to politics. Six months after we first spoke to them, we're getting some post-election commuter reaction. It's all aboard with our Jim Acosta just ahead. Coming up now in 23 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: It's 25 minutes past the hour. American certainly have a lot to say when it comes to politics, and as we know, they spoke rather loudly earlier in the month at the midterm elections.
ROBERTS: They did. This morning, a group of New York commuters who we first spoke to several months ago are sharing their thoughts of what happened in the midterm election and why it happened. Our Jim Acosta caught up with them and he joins us now to report back.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, we enjoyed these guys the time around because it was such a spirited exchange, and it doesn't hurt when you're on the evening commute home to crack open a couple of cold ones which is what they always do, and it sort of loosens things up.
And what better way to talk about the election that just happened which, you know, of course, was an earthquake across the country and the election that's coming up in just a couple of years now than hopping on a train with a bunch of guys who will just give it to you straight all in the time it takes to get from Manhattan to the suburbs in Long Island.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (voice-over): It's been six months since we caught up with them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We go to the middle?
ACOSTA: Evening commute home hasn't changed.
And you know, they do make beer in 12-ounce cans, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not in Penn Station, apparently.
ACOSTA: Times have.
A lot has happened. In the last, what is it, six months?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Six months or so, yes. A lot has happened.
ACOSTA: So, we reunited with Tom McGinley (ph), John Lori, Jim Marron, Steve Cowie, Kevin Sullivan, and Andy Garger, for their lively mix of political views on how to get the country back on track.
Does anybody have a good one liner on what happened?
First up, the 2010 election.
Obama called ate shellacking. Did he deserve it?
JOHN LORI, LIRR COMMUTER: Partially, yes. I think, you know, there was a lot of focus on a health care bill which I'm not sure America -- I don't fully understand.
ACOSTA: You were one of the lone Obama voters --
LORI: There were a few others.
ACOSTA: Stealth ones, I think.
LORI: Some stealth voters, yes.
ACOSTA: To them, the election was about who's driving the train in Washington.
ANDY GARGER, LIRR COMMUTER: Gridlock can be a good thing depending on where things are going and, you know --
ACOSTA: If we kind of like the idea of tying things up?
GARGER: Tying things up for a couple of years --
ACOSTA: Until 2012 when the president is up for re-election.
STEVE COWIE, LIRR COMMUTER: I didn't vote for him, but I don't underestimate his chances for re-election at all.
ACOSTA: But what about the alternatives?
Have any of you, guys, watched the new Sarah Palin reality show?
JIM MARRON, LIRR COMMUTER: Well, Sarah Palin and reality together or, like -- oxymoron? I don't know.
(LAUGHTER)
LORI: She could easily win those primaries.
ACOSTA: But you don't think so?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I disagree.
TOM MCGINLEY (ph), LIRR COMMUTER: Governor of Minnesota. What's his name?
ACOSTA: Pawlenty.
MCGINLEY: I think he's got the best shot.
ACOSTA: You like him?
MCGINLEY: Michael Bloomberg is a viable candidate, you know?
KEVIN SULLIVAN, LIRR COMMUTER: I would support a wealthy third party person to fund his own campaign. That's fine.
ACOSTA: Or they could go with Kevin's choice in the New York governor's race.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rent, it's too damn high!
SULLIVAN: I went with the guy from the rent is too high.
ACOSTA: You voted for the rent is too high?
SULLIVAN: I cast a protest vote. I did. I'll admit it.
ACOSTA: Maybe the rent is too damn high guy will run for president and then --
SULLIVAN: There you go.
ACOSTA: All our problems will be solved. (END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: That would make for a great race.
CHETRY: That's Jimmy McMillan. He's an action figure.
ROBERTS: He'd ad some excitement.
ACOSTA: He would. He would now. These guys have more than just one liners about the politicians in Washington who maybe running for president. They also talk about their ideas for getting the economy back on track, the deficit, taxes. We talk all about this tomorrow. They also have a unique idea for the next beer summit or slurpee summit, whatever they want to call it. Two words. Man cave.
ROBERTS: Yes, because we remember you went into the man cave with them arriving when they arrive back home.
ACOSTA: That's right. That's right. And the last time around we did this, we didn't do the man cave. And it was one of my greatest regrets as a reporter. So, you know, I thought, you know, let's make a resolution to go and do that this time around, and it was a lot of fun (INAUDIBLE)
ROBERTS: All right. Jimmy, thanks so much.
ACOSTA: You bet.
CHETRY: Well, we're crossing the half hour right now. Look at our top stories. They call it the miracle win. Lisa Murkowski declared victory in the long Alaska Senate race last night saying that she has enough write-in votes to win. Murkowski kept going after she lost the GOP primary to Joe Miller who was backed by Sarah Palin and the tea party. But she told us earlier that she is still a Republican. Miller is not giving up yet either. He says he may request a recount.
ROBERTS: Pacific Gas and Electric plans to buy more homes in Hinckley, California that have been affected by spreading toxic plume of chromium. The town of Hinckley was made famous by the film Erin Brockovich. The teal-life Brockovich helped win a $333 million settlement against PG&E because of chromium contamination in the ground water.
CHETRY: And there it goes. That was Seneca Bridge over the Illinois River. Near perfect implosion and down it goes. They blew it up in just seconds. The center span of the bridge imploded fell 50 feet into the water below. Someone who won on a $2 raffle ticket got to push the boom button. $24 million replacement bridge opened to traffic about two weeks ago.
ROBERTS: Wonder how the fish felt about that.
CHETRY: Hmm.
ROBERTS: What a comeback for General Motors. In nearly two years, it's gone from bankruptcy to this morning going public with its first stock offering since being bailed out.
CHETRY: CNNmoney.com's Poppy Harlow is live at New York Stock Exchange. We'll hear a beeping of a horn instead of the bell. You also had a chance to speak to the CEO Dan Ackerson. What did he tell you?
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: That's right. This is the fourth CEO that GM had in less than two years. This is the first time he spoken publicly to the press also the IPO of GM, the new GM. They first listed it here at New York stock exchange back in 1925 as a new company.
We had a chance to talk to him. My first question and what is on the top of everyone's mind is will this company be able to pay back the $50 billion that came from U.S. taxpayers to bail it out not long ago? Take a listen to his answer to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN AKERSON, CEO, GENERAL MOTORS: The good news is we paid all of our debt back, all the bonds we were issued, and we paid back all the preferred with dividends and interest. And we're reducing the government's ownership from roughly 60-plus percent to 33 percent.
HARLOW: That's the big question, shares priced at this IPO at $33. They have to rise 65 percent for American taxpayers to be paid back in full, and you're saying there's no guarantee that's going to happen. Are you hopeful?
AKERSON: Sure, I'm hopeful. And I'm not saying it can't happen. I just don't know what the markets will do. But I do think that the company is well positioned, producing the best cars in the world. And we have got a strong sheet and good operating model. Things look good for General Motors.
HARLOW: Any plans to hire more employees?
AKERSON: We have hired 7,300 employees this year in North America alone simply because demand for the vehicles has increased. And as demand increases and hopefully there will be a macro recovery within the United States, sure, we are hiring more people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: That is very good news for anyone out there looking for a job for former auto workers at GM hiring more, but the question is will the economy turn around enough to hire in this country in a meaningful way? One important thing to note from what he told us about GM will pay taxpayers back, and he said I cannot guarantee that.
But we spoke to his predecessor less than a year ago, he guaranteed us that U.S. taxpayers would be paid back and this is something to pay close attention to. Shares are at $33. We'll see where they open. Need to be above $50 for the treasury and taxpayers to get paid back in full.
But good news, $22 billion after the IPO going to U.S. taxpayers, 28 billion left to be paid back, guys.
ROBERTS: The volt just got named car of the year and they have to be feeling pretty good about where they are right now. What about the Chinese stake in GM, though?
HARLOW: That's a great question, John. There's a company that's gm's partner in China and what they did this morning is they took a one percent stake in General Motors. The question is, how do American taxpayers feel about a Chinese company taking a stake in the new GM bailed out by taxpayers.
The CEO said they're a good partner. They sold more cars there this year than in the United States. The question is, I couldn't get a number from him, I tried, but how big would he let that stake get? That's the big question here. We want to keep an eye on that.
But China becomes more and more involved with U.S. companies, this is just another example of that, that Chinese company taking a one percent stake in the new General Motors and their IPO. And as you say, Kiran, going to rev the engine of one of the cars instead of ringing an opening bell in less than an hour. Guys?
CHETRY: All right. Poppy Harlow for us, great job. Thanks so much. She has an interview, full interview with the CEO of General Motors at CNNmoney.com.
ROBERTS: Coming up next, marriage -- is it an obsolete institution? Are we better off without it? A lot of people think we are.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Coming up on 38 minutes after the hour. So how's your marriage? Think you'd be better off alone?
CHETRY: These days the answer to that question is for a growing number of Americans at least, yes. Three decades ago, 72 percent of Americans were married, and now that number closer to 50 percent. And according to a "TIME" Magazine/ Pew Research Center survey, many people interviewed believe marriage is obsolete.
Belinda Luscombe is the editor at large at "TIME" magazine and she wrote the article and she's here with us this morning. Good to see you.
BELINDA LUSCOMBE, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, TIME MAGAZINE: Thank you for having me.
ROBERTS: In this Pew Research Foundation poll, you surveyed 2,600 people, 44 percent of them, that's close to half the country, believe that marriage is ABC lees obsolete. Does it face extinction?
LUSCOMBE: A lot of people have been predicting the extinction of marriage for a long time. We're not close to that yet. Actually, it was 44 percent of young people who predicted it to be obsolete, and interestingly, the same young people, only five percent of them didn't want to be married.
CHETRY: So while they think that for other people may not be the case, I still want to do it?
LUSCOMBE: I still want to do it, or I'm not sure, but I don't think I'm not going to be married.
CHETRY: When I read your article, you said that you wanted to look into this because of the fact that marriage is still something we -- that is front and center. It is the social fabric. It is actually one of the most contested issues going on right now in politics, who can marry, the discussions over same-sex marriage. Yet, at the same time, it's under attack in a way.
LUSCOMBE: I think the reasons we used to have to get married, we need financial security or needed to have sex or we wanted to have sex or, you know, we wanted to raise children or it was -- there was a society pressure to do that, those have all disappeared.
Now people just get married because they want to, because they're in love. Those are the number one reasons people get married. It's not really a societal thing. It is a voluntary thing. But that changes so much of what marriage does.
ROBERTS: Even though 44 percent of young people think that the institution may be obsolete, when it comes to raising children, the numbers flip, and I think you found 77 percent of people think it's easier for married couple to raise children than for an unmarried couple. And easier for single people, two percent.
LUSCOMBE: Exactly. We asked a whole laundry list of what's easier to do married and single? People said it's pretty much the same, to be happy as married and single. Be just as well off, single and married. You don't need it for professional success or accepted in society. If you want to have children and raise them, you need to be married, which, of course, is totally not the way society is going.
CHETRY: It is not going that way. One thing that you seem to highlight that's seems to be a huge factor in this is the change of the role of women both in the earning power and also in terms of education. Explain that.
LUSCOMBE: Well, because women have been graduating from college now more than men for about three decades, men are marrying more college-educated women. So usually people like to marry people with their same education.
So it used to be that the doctor marries the nurse. Now the doctor marries the other doctor. Cancer specialist marries the liver specialist. And the business executive might marry the secretary back in the day, and then the next secretary, and the next secretary. Now they're part of a power couple so he's marrying an executive.
What that means is those two people are very high earners. So you have the people -- the richer people, well-educated people marrying each other and the people without an education marrying each other and bringing income inequality into the society.
ROBERTS: You cite the statistics, back in 1960, people married had an income 12 percent higher than people unmarried. In 2008, that figure jumped to 41 percent. That's a huge growth.
LUSCOMBE: That's huge. That's mostly because of what we call -- it's a fancy name for it -- educational homogamy. We marry people who have a similar education to us. That's who we're drawn to and who we meet and who we fall in love with.
And actually if you think about it, the biggest beneficiaries of the women's movement have been guys because they have been marrying richer women.
ROBERTS: We've been marrying up. We finally got it right.
CHETRY: You also talk about some of the other things, saying because women are not as dependent on that income of the spouse they're more likely to leave if they're unhappy, so talking about the divorce rate being higher.
But the other interesting aspect is a change in the way and you write that you have to be a good -- you have to figure out how to deal and bargain well to make things work because the household responsibilities have to be shared in greater number since both people are working.
LUSCOMBE: Exactly. And if the women feel they're not -- they're doing the bulk of the work, they're happy to walk. In fact, it's very hard to do it statistically, but they believe that two-thirds of all divorces are initiated by women.
And that's largely because I think a lot because of this household responsibility, that women and men have to renegotiate. We're both bringing home the bacon. So who's going to cook it?
ROBERTS: There's a shift in attitude about when people get married. People used to get married very young. If you were not married by 22 or 23 years old, you were starting to get up there.
LUSCOMBE: An old maid.
ROBERTS: It used to be the demarcation of adulthood. Becoming an adult, you got married. And now a finishing touch on adulthood. When everything else is said and done and in place, then you get married.
LUSCOMBE: Yes. One of the sociologists we talked to said it's like the ultimate merit badge. You have everything sorted. Your career is in place. You've done your education, worked it out. You've probably lived with the person for a couple of years and worked out the kinks, you know, done a little bit of house training, figured out what you like and don't like and then finally you get married.
And it's a big step. It's not the beginning of the adulthood but the last little brick in it, the last little finishing touch. CHETRY: So John pointed to that statistic, 77 percent of people asked believe it's easier to raise children for married couples, but that's not the reality in terms of children born out of wedlock, that number is growing and continued to grow. What affect does that have on society?
LUSCOMBE: That's an enormous affect. I think something like 41 percent of children in America are born to out of wedlock to single mothers. They're not always single. Sometimes -- I mean, they're not married, but they have a live-in lover or they have a partner, a boyfriend that lives with them.
ROBERTS: They're a couple.
LUSCOMBE: Sometimes they're not legally married, sometimes they live together and sometimes they don't. And 50 percent expect they will get married but often with a kid that puts incredible stress on the relationship and it ends up they split up, and, of course, then that mother is left in worse poverty and raising a child on her own. She has much less chance of getting educated and getting herself out of that situation, and it becomes a horrible negative feedback cycle further and further.
And so married people end up further away, richer, and people who are not married and have kids end up further down the economic ladder.
ROBERTS: It's an intriguing article and a look at the way things are going. "TIME" magazine's new cover, "Who needs Marriage?" Belinda Luscombe, thank you for being with us.
LUSCOMBE: Thank you for having me.
CHETRY: Thank you.
It's a chilly start to you day for many in the northeast. Some cities are seeing strong winds still hanging around after yesterday. Rob Marciano is joining us with the full forecast right after the break. It's 45 minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Going to Rob Marciano right now for a look at the weather headlines this morning. We had some crazy winds yesterday. You say it's continuing for some people.
MARCIANO: Just for a little bit longer, yes. It's breezy across parts of New England. But the winds in New York and made their up the Hudson Valley, Orange County and then further up the way, the winds gusting 50, 60 miles an hour. It will still be breezy across the northeast today but it'll begin to wind down somewhat.
Here are the latest numbers as far as what the winds are blowing; about 10 to 15 miles an hour in New York City. Portland, Maine, which had a wind advisory out earlier, still blowing over 20 miles an hour sustained. So it's still pretty chilly day and a breezy day, as well. We do have a system that's rolling across the south, the Tennessee Valley, Ohio River Valley. This brought snow to the -- to the heartland but it's weakening heading into some fairly dry air so what we see on the radar scope here will probably be disappearing as we go on throughout the day today. Maybe light showers or sprinkles about all these things will amount to.
Meanwhile, more substantial storm coming in to Seattle and Portland, more so in western Oregon; heavy rain here and heavy mountain snow as this one of several storms that are lining up for the Pacific northwest. We're getting into a pretty stormy weather pattern. Already several inches of snow, and in some cases up to a foot of snow in places like well, Snoqualmie Pass.
Let's take a look at some video coming in to us from Washington State. Yes. Western Washington in the higher elevations is getting -- getting some of that snow. Ski resorts will be opening. This is probably Crystal Lake. There we go. And the snow cats are out there so winter storm warnings up. Ski area closed at least for now but will likely be reopening nonetheless. You can hike up the hill and slide down on your own accord.
Boston and New York Metros, 30 to 60 minutes delays today because of winds. San Francisco, some low clouds and visibility, you'll be getting some of that storm later on tonight and tomorrow and then Seattle still getting the rain and the wind, 30 to 60 minute delays there. Daytime highs will be in the 40s in Seattle, 48 degrees in Kansas City, 70 in New Orleans, 64 degrees in Atlanta and 57 -- not too shabby up there in New York.
Now that we're heading into fall, 84 degrees expected for a high temperature in Miami. That sounds pretty good considering the weather we've seen the past couple of days.
John and Kiran, back up to you.
ROBERTS: Let's all head to South Beach. Rob, thanks so much.
MARCIANO: All right.
ROBERTS: Hey, a quick programming note for you. Vice President Joe Biden is going to be Larry King's guest tonight "LARRY KING LIVE" tonight 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.
CHETRY: Well, the Japanese may know something we don't. The secrets of sushi: how sushi can hold the key to a longer life. I just ate some yesterday. So -- I wonder how many years I added.
Fifty minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Fifty-three minutes past the hour.
Something that puzzled doctors for decades; why is the rate of heart disease in Japan less than half of what it is here in the U.S.? ROBERTS: Well, it turns out the secret just might be sushi. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta now with the raw facts from Kobe.
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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): There are some cities around the world that have extraordinarily high life expectancy rates and health officials trying to figure out exactly what it is about those places that are somehow different.
They place they started looking is Japan. One thing I can tell you right off the bat, it has less to do with genetics and a lot more to do with the environment and specifically, the types of food that they eat.
This is one of the most popular places you'll find in cities like Japan. You have octopus, over here you have squid, fresh fish markets. This is a place that a lot of people come and they buy fish every single day and this is particularly fresh fish as well as you can tell.
Just looking around here, you can see how fresh this is but there are some fish you really should pay attention to. You have crabs over here, you have big clams and small clams but there are certain fish, for example that are really high in Omega-3 fatty acids. Mackerel over here, if you ever had this, it's a great fish, very high on Omega-3 fatty acids. Salmon is another one.
And if you look at the blood of Japanese people versus people in other parts of the world, often those levels of Omega-3 fatty acids are twice as high. I find not surprising that heart disease, is such a big killer in the United States, they have rates here of about half of that here in Japan.
So -- and this is a big reason why, specifically, Omega-3 fatty acids, terrific at lowering your blood pressure, decreasing the clots and the clogging in your arteries and lowering your triglyceride levels.
Tuna, another great fish, for example, great pieces of tuna here. Again, all of it very fresh, people come here every single day. On average, people in Japan eat about one to two servings of this type of fish per day. As compared to the United States, for example, where they eat one to two servings a week.
Just really quickly, as well. Seaweed, you may be hard pressed to find this at many store in the United States. But that's another great source of anti-oxidants and it's also often eaten with fish. Now if you hate fish, there's other ways to get the anti-oxidants, soybeans, for example, tofu, flax seed, walnuts. Those are all great sources, as well.
But again, really trying to figure out why people live longer in big cities around the world, a lot of them has to do with the type of diet they eat. And in Japan where they do it better than anywhere else, fish specifically Omega-3 fatty acids make a difference. You know, there's something else they taught me here, as well. And it's this idea that you should push your plate away before you're ever full. They call it "horahachibu" it's a really good phrase. Never stuff yourself. That's advice you can use no matter where you live anywhere in the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: It is interesting because here we hem and haw about eating too much fish because of concerns with mercury.
ROBERTS: Yes.
CHETRY: There they eat one to two times a day.
ROBERTS: Yes and particularly with large fish like --
CHETRY: Tuna.
ROBERTS: -- like tuna, swordfish other fish like that, the mercury accumulates as well. So I wonder if there's a trade-off one for the other.
CHETRY: Yes and the other fascinating thing is they talk about heart disease and being so healthy. They eat a lot of white rice which we've also been told to avoid --
ROBERTS: Yes.
CHETRY: -- because it does spike your blood sugar.
ROBERTS: I think the way that they live longer is they totally ignore the American reporter who's walking around the fish market. It's funny; just like he wasn't even there.
CHETRY: I know. That was cute.
ROBERTS: Good report.
CHETRY: Sanjay reporting this morning. For more on that and other expert insight from our chief medical correspondent, go to cnn.com/health.
Fifty-seven minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Well, some feared the worse that they might be trapped right now but, of course, we watched the dramatic rescue and this morning the 33 rescued Chilean miners are on their way to Hollywood. We've been showing you pictures all morning. The miners and five of the men who saved their lives landed in Atlanta earlier. Now they're on their way to L.A.
ROBERTS: Yes. Some of them remarkably have never been outside Chile before. They've been asked to be a part of Saturday night's taping of "CNN HEROES: AN ALL STAR TRIBUTE" hosted by our Anderson Cooper. And of course you can catch "CNN HEROES" on Thanksgiving night. Nearly 2 million of you voted. And soon we'll find out who the next CNN hero will be. Tune in Thanksgiving night 8:00 p.m. Eastern as Anderson Cooper hosts "CNN HEROES: AN ALL STAR TRIBUTE" together with the Chilean miners.
CHETRY: That will be great for them. Not only that, they're going to get a tour of L.A. They're going to experience some of the cool restaurants, shopping and all the fun.
ROBERTS: what a difference from being trapped underground.
CHETRY: That's right.
ROBERTS: That's going to wrap it up for us. Thanks so much for joining us. I'll see you on "360" tonight; Anderson's got the day off. And we'll see you back here again bright and early tomorrow morning.
CHETRY: Get a nap. You're going to need one.
ROBERTS: More than a nap. A little more than a nap.
CHETRY: "CNN NEWSROOM" with Kyra Phillips starts right now. Hi, Kyra.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": Hi guys. Good morning.
