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American Morning
Tax Cuts for All: Obama Reaches Compromise Deal with GOP; Elizabeth Edwards Stops Cancer Treatment; WikiLeaks Founder Arrested in London; Runway Close Call; Fed Stuck with Bad $100 Bills; Launching Into the Future
Aired December 07, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning on this Tuesday, the 7th of December. Thanks so much for joining us on AMERICAN MORNING. I'm John Roberts.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: And I'm Carol Costello in for Kiran Chetry this morning.
ROBERTS: And breaking news to tell you about this morning. One of the world's wanted men, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been arrested in London. And he is expected to appear in court within hours. We'll have a live report from London coming your way in just a moment.
COSTELLO: Here's what else we're talking about this morning. No new tax hikes in 2011, not for the poor, the middle class, or the richest Americans. The president and Republicans striking a compromise deal to extend the Bush-era tax cuts. But not everyone is happy about it, not even the president himself. We'll have a live report from the White House just ahead.
ROBERTS: It has taken a sharp turn for the worst and word this morning that Elizabeth Edwards has stopped cancer treatment at the advice of her doctors. And she is resting at home now with her family. Dr. Sanjay Gupta here to talk about her long and courageous fight and what she is up against now.
COSTELLO: Oh, and stop the presses. There's a problem with the new high-tech $100 bill. More than one billion of the new Benjamin's have been locked up. We'll tell you why.
But first, looks like a done deal, and the president and congressional Republicans announcing an agreement to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for two more years.
ROBERTS: If the plan passes, everyone gets the extension. Everyone -- the poor, the middle class, even the richest two percent of Americans. And a lot of Democrats don't like that. But the president insists this deal had to get done.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know there's some people in my own party and in the other party who would rather prolong this battle, even if we can't reach a compromise. But I'm not willing to let working families across this country become collateral damage for political warfare here in Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Ed Henry is up early for us. He's live at the White House this morning. So how does the president sell this to members of his own party, Ed?
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's going to be uphill, John. I'm told that this meeting last night the president had here at the White House with Democratic congressional leaders was very tense. A lot of these Democratic leaders just saying that they're mystified as to how the president could drop what was a bedrock principle dating to 2008 campaign where he basically said that he would only extend tax cuts for the middle class, people making $250,000 or less and ran on the idea that he would repeal the Bush tax cuts for the rich, use that to pay for health care, pay down the debt, et cetera. Instead, what the president tried to tell these leaders behind closed doors I'm told is, look, this is the political reality of the situation. He just does not have the votes in the Senate to pass only the middle class tax cuts. And so he later came out to the public and said I'm not happy with this deal either.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Ever since I started running for this office, I've said that we should only extend the tax cuts for the middle class. It would be a grave injustice to let taxes increase for these Americans right now. And it would deal a serious blow to our economic recovery. I have no doubt that everyone will find something in this compromise that they don't like. In fact, there are things in here that I don't like. Namely, the extension of the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and the wealthiest estates.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: Now, another factor here is that the president's got a whole bunch of other things he wants to get done in this lame duck session. The clock is ticking. He wants the new START treaty, the arms reduction treaty with Russia. He also wants to try to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." But time is running out quickly, and that's why the president today is sending Vice President Biden up to the Hill, meet with Senate Democrats behind closed doors. I was told by one senior Democratic source last night, this might be a very lively caucus, John and Carol.
COSTELLO: Lively caucus. I think there'll be a few expletives mentioned in those caucuses today.
HENRY: Maybe.
COSTELLO: Ed, besides the fact that the president didn't have the votes to get this -- to get this tax cut thing done, what else might be driving his decision? HENRY: Well, look at Friday's unemployment numbers. I'm told by senior aides here, they were pretty spooked by that. Surprisingly bad where the unemployment rate actually went up to 9.8 percent, dangerously close to double digits. And so they had competing interests here. Dealing with the long-term debt issue, because none of these tax cuts -- this 13-month unemployment insurance extension, none of it is paid for. So you're going to add to the debt at least in the short and medium-term. But they realize they've got to deal with that unemployment. And if they had done nothing, everybody's taxes were going to go up, poor, middle class and rich. You would have a pretty bad headline coming out of that. Instead I was just looking at the Columbus dispatch online. It says Obama/GOP deal means everyone's taxes get cut. So bottom line there is that this might not have been the best deal the president could have gotten, but it's the best deal he can get right now. And he's just asking Democrats, deal with it -- John, Carol.
COSTELLO: Ed Henry live in Washington. Thanks.
We have followed her fight against cancer, every painful step of the way. And now sad word this morning that Elizabeth Edwards, the estranged wife of former presidential candidate John Edwards, has stopped treatment for the disease.
ROBERTS: Her family says the doctors have advised her further treatment would be, quote, "unproductive." She talked about her long, painful fight with Larry King back in July.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Is resilience something you learn you have when misfortune occurs?
ELIZABETH EDWARDS, JOHN EDWARDS' WIFE: I think that's probably true of a lot of people, you know, who --
KING: And how do we know how we'll handle something until we have to handle it?
EDWARDS: You don't. And you know, and I think most people -- I don't think that I'm special in any way. I think most people do pull themselves together, do what it is they need to be done. Sometimes you're thrown through a loop for a little while, and then you start to reclaim. I think it's that getting back on the right path. That's the hard part.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now. He is in Atlanta. And, Sanjay, I guess this is a decision a lot of people in her position have to make. If the medicine is not working, you know, for whatever time you have left, do you just choose to have a better quality of life.
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, it goes at some point to thinking about whether or not we can effectively treat, possibly even cure this disease versus possibly just trying to treat the symptoms. I think that's what they're sort of alluding to here. And it's a tough decision.
You know, her story has been well-documented. She was diagnosed back in 2004. It was in 2007, you'll remember, that there was -- it had spread to her bones. She talked about this openly. And now this cancer has spread to her liver, as well. And each time something like this happens, it is one of those decision points, John, how much treatment do you continue to offer? Might the treatment be more harmful or toxic than the possibility of benefit from that treatment? And that is a tough decision.
We know that for most women who develop breast cancer, the five-year survival is around 88 percent. Ten-year survival is around 80 percent. So the numbers are often very, very good for most women today. But, you know, when it has spread to -- in this case, more than one place outside the body, the bones and now the liver, the prognosis does start to worsen.
COSTELLO: It's just so sad. So, Sanjay, you know, when doctors can no longer treat a patient, what's likely happening from a medical standpoint?
GUPTA: Well, it's a good question. And you know, we don't know exactly what sort of state she's in right now, but you can probably bet that most of the focus is on treating potential symptoms. You've read the statements as have I that she's not in any pain. Some of that may be due to good pain therapies, good pain medications. She may be receiving with this type of spread of her cancer, nausea, vomiting, they could be concerns, fluid building up in the lungs. So a lot of those things being treated symptomatically.
One thing that she said in her statement and you heard is that she's at home as opposed to being in a hospital. And there's been a lot of studies on this showing that both for the family members as well as the patient, anxiety levels are much lower at home and the quality of life for the remaining life can be higher, can be better when at home. So that's a decision, sounds like she's made with her family. And at least some studies show the benefit of that.
ROBERTS: So, Sanjay, just back to the family statement that she's been advised by her doctors that further treatment of her cancer would be, quote, "unproductive." What exactly does unproductive mean in this context?
GUPTA: Yes, and I don't want to sound too clinical here but basically it's a risk benefit analysis that's often, you know, done in medicine. At some point, you have to sort of determine are there more risks of actually administering the treatment than the benefit of receiving it? And in this case, you know, she (ph) has spread to her liver. For example, might the chemotherapy, these types of medications which are often metabolized in the liver, might they just prove too toxic and not offer much benefit?
There is no absolute answer here. And, you know, breast cancer is a disease -- cancer is a disease that's very individualized from patient to patient. But at some point, you make the decision in conjunction with your doctors, your health care team that, look, you know, there just doesn't seem to be much more benefit of going through these additional treatments, let's focus on treating symptoms and being comfortable instead.
ROBERTS: Well, she has fought this courageously for years. And her decision is her decision. Sanjay Gupta for us this morning. Doc, good to see you, thanks.
GUPTA: You got it. Take care.
COSTELLO: Back to that breaking news out of London this morning. WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, has been arrested. He is expected to appear in court later today.
ROBERTS: Let's go live to London. That's where our Atika Shubert is standing by. And she's got the latest developments for us. What do we know? It's not exactly shocking that he was arrested but a little surprising, the timing.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, it's the timing is certainly surprising because for a long time, Julian Assange said that he'd been willing to talk to the Swedish prosecutors, but that he hadn't heard from them and back and forth it was going until final the British police basically delivered this arrest warrant early this morning. He has now been officially arrested. And we are expecting him to show up at the Westminster's magistrate court today.
Now, his lawyers have consistently said that he would fight to be extradited to Sweden because they said they are afraid that once he is extradited to Sweden, he could then be vulnerable to being extradited to the United States, where they fear he will then face different charges regarding the release of those classified documents from the U.S. government. This at the moment, however, this arrest warrant is strictly about the Swedish case about -- and he's not been charged in that case, I should point out. He is only wanted for questioning for suspicion of alleged sex crimes. So that's what he has been arrested for, and we'll have to see what he says when he shows up in court later on today.
COSTELLO: So Swedish authorities won't deal with the WikiLeaks scuff at all unless, of course, the United States wants to extradite him to the U.S.?
SHUBERT: That's right. It's a much more complicated process. Sweden, at this point, only wants him for those alleged sex crimes. Something that Julian Assange has always denied. If, however, Sweden or another country then wants to charge him for other crimes, that's another much more long and involved process and we'll have to wait and see if it actually gets to that point.
ROBERTS: All right. We'll keep watching this. The story breaking now. Atika Shubert for us in London this morning. Atika, thanks.
Well, the calendar says the 7th of December, but the thermometer reads more like mid-January for a good part of the nation. Bitter cold and sometimes snow stretching from the Great Lakes on down to Florida this morning. In the Midwest, the highs are in the teens, the 20s if you're lucky.
COSTELLO: Drifting and blowing snow high in the highways in parts of Ohio, the northeast section of the state under a lake-effect snow warning. They're looking at more than 15 inches near Cleveland. And even where the snow is light, the roads are slick.
ROBERTS: In southwest Florida, farmers are trying to protect citrus from the frost, covering some crops with cloth to ward off the cold. Citrus farmers there still reeling from record losses last year.
COSTELLO: Oh, so, 10 minutes at the hour. I guess we should check in with Rob Marciano to see how long this extremely cold weather will last for much of the country.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: A lot longer, actually. I don't see any real warm-up, guys, for the next couple of weeks. This winter or this December starting off strikingly similar to last year. And then you remember, we kind of ended the December with a couple of big snowstorms. So hopefully that won't be the case, but nonetheless, we're dealing with the cold right now. And they're dealing with it in Florida.
Check out some of these numbers. Thirty-eight degrees right now in West Palm Beach. It's 39 in Naples, 38 degrees in Tampa, and in between these spots, including Jacksonville, it's below freezing. A little bit further to the north, 24 in Atlanta, 21 in Nashville, below freezing in New Orleans. So everybody in the eastern two-thirds in the country really seeing bitterly cold temperatures. It's 15 right now in Chicago, 23 in Cleveland, and currently 31, 32 degrees in New York.
Some of the snow showers from the lake effect is trying to get down to the New York City area. Just some light showers and flurries. That is about it. The heaviest amounts of snows obviously are going to be a little bit closer to the Great Lakes, namely in places like Cleveland, up to Buffalo, Erie, Syracuse. Some of these spots have already piled up a couple of feet. One to two more feet of snow potentially here in the next 24 to 36 hours. Then we'll start to see this lake effect snow event begin to wind down as we get towards Wednesday and Thursday.
Cold is here to stay, guys. As a matter of fact, this time next week, we may be even colder across the southeast. We'll talk more about the extended forecast in about 30 minutes.
COSTELLO: Oh, yes.
MARCIANO: Yes, hey.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: All right, guys.
COSTELLO: Still to come this morning, we're just now learning about a frightening close call at Boston's Logan airport on the day before Thanksgiving. We'll tell you how a runway collision between two JetBlue flights was narrowly averted.
ROBERTS: And banking on a profit, the United States sells its stake in Citigroup. And you the taxpayer are getting a nice return on your investment.
COSTELLO: And a routine traffic stop takes a most unusual turn for police officers in Kansas City. They found a live alligator in the back of the car.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Sixteen minutes after the hour.
And new this morning, taxpayers set to make a profit on the Citigroup bailout. There you go.
COSTELLO: Yes.
ROBERTS: The Treasury Department announcing it's reached an agreement to sell its remaining 2.4 billion shares, the deal producing more than a $10 billion profit for taxpayers. May be a little something in your packet at the end of the week. And that brings the country's third largest bank one step closer to independence after the government's $45 billion bailout in 2008.
COSTELLO: An aspirin a day may keep cancer at bay. British researchers say they found adults who took a daily dose of baby aspirin reduced their risk of dying from common cancers by a whapping 21 percent. But - and there's always a but to these stories, right?
ROBERTS: Of course.
COSTELLO: Experts warned more research is needed before they recommend healthy people start taking the pill because that can cause bleeding and other problems.
ROBERTS: New snapshot of the United States this morning. And its population according to the estimate from the Census Bureau, the U.S. population is somewhere between 305 million and 312 million. That's up from 281 million back in 2000. The official total is going to be released later this month, and hopefully they'll get it down into less than a range. They've got like 7 million people, could be or maybe not.
COSTELLO: Maybe not. Let's talk sports.
ROBERTS: So hopefully they'll narrow it down.
COSTELLO: Something - well, it's not happy if you're a Jets fan. But let's talk sports anyway, because it was supposed to be this classic Monday night match-up - not.
ROBERTS: Not so much. COSTELLO: No. The New England Patriots - Tom Brady versus Mark Sanchez? Come on, it was a given, wasn't it? The Pats actually rolled over the New York Jets last night, 45 to 3. They did that in Foxborough. Tom Brady threw four touchdowns. Patriots have now won 26 straight games in the regular season.
New England ran its record to 10 and 2, home games that is. New England ran its record to 10 and 2 best in the AFC. What - Mark Sanchez has been in the - the big-time leagues for what - for two minutes? He was no match for Tom Brady.
ROBERTS: Tom Brady's got the long hair working for him. No question about that.
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had surgery to repair a broken nose. It was hurt on Sunday while being sacked by the Ravens. Haloti Ngata who - whose head slammed against Roethlisberger's face mask, Ngata wasn't penalized for the hit, but yesterday he was fined $15,000 by the league. The Steelers say they do expect Big Ben to play this weekend.
Where he smashed his face in the -
COSTELLO: Unbelievable.
ROBERTS: -- motorcycle accident. Now, it's a broken nose.
COSTELLO: Oh, but during the game, Ben Roethlisberger kept touching his nose, and you knew it was broken and every time he did that, I said, oh, it just gave you shivers throughout your body.
ROBERTS: Could you imagine how much that would hurt?
COSTELLO: Yes. And he was playing with - what a - a broken foot? So -
ROBERTS: He's a tough guy, though.
COSTELLO: He is a tough guy. Maybe this will make Steelers fans like him a little more because they're pretty mad at him.
'Dandy' Don Meredith, remember him? Of course you do. He's died. He was the star quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys before becoming a household name on Monday night football. Meredith was famous for his home sponge charm and his ability to tweak broadcast partner Howard Cossell. Doesn't that make you feel old? Look how good he looks there.
Last night's Jets/Pats game would've called for her signature serenade. I wouldn't sing it. Turn out the lights, the party's over. Meredith died Sunday after suffering a brain hemorrhage. He was only 72.
ROBERTS: Well, still ahead, Sarah Palin superfans. Ted Nugent's got nothing on these gals and one of them has the ink to prove it. COSTELLO: And the next time you fly, imagine if you didn't have to pay for those annoying airline fees. It is possible to avoid them. We'll let you know how.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Plenty of people legally change their names and then there's Douglas Alan Smith, Jr. from Oregon, who changed his name to Captain Awesome.
COSTELLO: Come on.
ROBERTS: Yes. Captain Awesome.
COSTELLO: I'm going to change my name to Captain Awesome. I kind of like that.
ROBERTS: We are - we are not kidding you on this one. The unemployed cabinet installer says it was inspired by the nickname of a character on the T.V. show "Chuck." A judge approved the name change in Mr. Awesome's request, for an unusual signature that we have - we created here. But that part didn't fly with the Captain Awesome's banker, who said the signature is just too easy to forge.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Mr. Awesome.
ROBERTS: Some people have too much time on their hands.
COSTELLO: That's really bizarre.
License, registration, whoa. What's that in your car? Yes, that is an alligator. Police in Kansas City made the unusual discovery over the weekend after pulling a car over in a McDonald's parking lot. The officials say the gator - you can see it there was about three feet long. No word on whether the driver was cited for having a gator onboard.
ROBERTS: Well, you don't have to be an expert in sport fishing to know that this here, what we're about to show you, is one -
COSTELLO: Oh, my God.
ROBERTS: -- big tuna beside two little kids. Look how big it is even besides these big men. A guy named Mike Livingston made this catch off the San Diego. It's a 405.2 pound yellow-finned tuna. That's a lot of sushi.
COSTELLO: Oh, my God.
ROBERTS: International Game Fish Association still has to certify Livingston's prized catch. It would shatter a 33-year-old record.
COSTELLO: What do you do with that? Hang it on your wall?
ROBERTS: I can imagine a lot of things to do with it.
COSTELLO: Yes. Well, besides eat it, I mean. But maybe they'll - never mind. It would look strange on the wall, wouldn't it?
We may have found Sarah Palin's biggest fan. Check this out. iReporter Carol Rocker (ph) sent in this shot from a Palin book signing in Cincinnati. A proud mama grizzly with one of Sarah Palin's famous tweets tattooed on her side. You see it there. "Don't retreat, just reload."
We're told the lady with the tattoo and her friend drove all night and slept in an SUV just to meet the former Alaskan governor. And the good news, John, is they got in and got a hug from Sarah Palin and a - and a signed book.
ROBERTS: Did she show them the tattoo? Do we know?
COSTELLO: I don't know, but I'm kind of sure they did.
ROBERTS: I would expect.
And down goes Rudolph. Yes, down goes Rudolph. The ninth reindeer couldn't quite clear the traffic light at a Christmas parade in Richmond, Virginia. Seemed to happen in slow motion here. Oh, just kind of prolonged the pain. Look at that. Big tear in Rudolph's head and slowly -
COSTELLO: Oh.
ROBERTS: -- the air comes out of poor Rudolph.
COSTELLO: And he can't play any more reindeer games.
ROBERTS: No, that's it.
COSTELLO: Oh, that's so pathetic.
ROBERTS: You can imagine the ribbing he's going to take from the other eight reindeer.
COSTELLO: I know. The red nose and now this.
Coming up, a runway disaster narrowly averted in Boston on one of the busiest travel days of the year. We'll tell you what happened and what JetBlue is now saying about it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-eight minutes after the hour now.
Chaotic moments in the sky, all because of a 12-pound dog. U.S. Airways said a Manchester terrier named Mandy got loose aboard a flight out of Newark, New Jersey, yesterday. Mandy bit one passenger and bit a flight attendant who tried to capture her. The pilot diverted to Pittsburgh to make sure that everyone was OK. The plane continued on to Phoenix minus Mandy and her 89-year-old owner.
COSTELLO: Yes. That'll teach Mandy.
ROBERTS: Oh, my gosh. And then some frightening moments on the ground at Boston's Logan Airport. None of it involving a dog, though.
COSTELLO: No, no. There was no Mandy onboard this one. This was even scarier, though. Involved two JetBlue flights packed with Thanksgiving travelers. And we're just now learning about the incident and how disaster was averted.
Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve is live in Washington to tell us what happened. Jeanne?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Carol, John, talk about a close call. This was one of the busiest travel days of the year when two JetBlue flights narrowly averted a runway collision.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE (voice-over): JetBlue Flight 1264 had just arrived from Austin, Texas, and was holding on a taxi way. The ground controller tells the pilot to taxi to the terminal via Runway 22 right and Taxi Way C. But instead of taking a left onto 22 right, the pilot took a right and headed for Runway 33 left.
But barreling down 33 left, JetBlue flight 417 taking off for Palm Beach. The ground controller realizes what's about to happen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: JetBlue hold, JetBlue 1264 hold, hold right there. JetBlue 1264 hold, hold.
MESERVE: Flight 1264 hears him, stops, crisis averted.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE: JetBlue tells CNN that because Flight 1264 never entered an active runway, this does not fit the definition of a near miss or near collision. In a statement, the airline said the process is put in place by the airline, the pilots, and ATC, that's Air Traffic Control are designed to prevent and mitigate inadvertent errors, the system worked.
And thank goodness there were 91 people onboard Flight 1264, the airline has not been able to tell us how many passengers were on the other aircraft, but this was one of the busiest travel days of the year - Carol, John.
COSTELLO: Looked pretty -- well, are there any consequences for the pilot?
MESERVE: Well, not apparently from the airline. They call this a non-issue. The FAA says it is not investigating. The president of the union representing air traffic controllers at Logan says the air traffic controller was a veteran with 33 years of experience. He gives him credit for seeing the pilot made a wrong turn and taking action to prevent a collision.
But interestingly, he doesn't fault the pilot who he says was on top of his game for hearing his call sign in the midst of busy radio traffic. He says, in other instances, a controller can make a mistake and a pilot picks it up. It is, he says, a team concept.
ROBERTS: Sure looks frightening, though, when you see it in the graphic representation. Jeanne Meserve, thanks.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: Jeanne, thanks.
Top stories this morning as we cross the half hour.
Elizabeth Edwards said to be resting at home with her family this morning after her decision to stop treatment for her cancer. Her estranged husband John Edwards is also reportedly there with her. Elizabeth was first diagnosed with breast cancer in the final days of her husband's 2004 campaign. The cancer went into remission, but it came back three years later.
COSTELLO: Today marks 69 years since the attack on Pearl Harbor, the event that propelled the United States into World War II. In Washington, a wreath will be laid at the World War II memorial. Flags will fly at half mass at federal buildings across the country. More than 2,400 people died when Japan attacked on December 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy.
ROBERTS: And a deal appears to be on the Bush-era tax cuts, President Obama and congressional Republicans agreeing to extend the cuts two more years for everyone, even the richest 2 percent of Americans. If the plan passes, it will also extend unemployment benefits for 13 months and reduce workers' Social Security taxes by 2 percent for one year.
COSTELLO: This morning, we're learning that more than 1 billion brand spanking new $100 bills may never see the light of day. So, what's the problem?
Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business" this morning.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In a town of expensive mistakes, this one really takes the cake. This is $100 bills, a whole brand new batch supposed to be released in February that have some kind of a mistake, a crease on them. They're very high-tech. They're meant to foil counterfeiters.
Multi-layers of security efforts, and during a routine perusal of these bills after they were manufactured, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing found a problem -- problem that means they have to stay under lock and key in Fort Worth and Washington, D.C., while the treasury decides what to do.
Here's what it looks like -- $1.1 billion bills now in storage. There's creasing problem in the papers. It's unclear if this is a paper problem or a printing problem. Do you know the Crane Company has produced all the paper for the U.S. bills since -- for more than 100 years? Interesting.
ROBERTS: The stationery company? Really? ROMANS: Yes, the stationery company. Interesting. February of 2011 release date now in jeopardy. The Fed has ordered printers to make more of the old bills so that you can have as many Benjamin's you want in your pocket.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: I don't carry a lot of $100 bills around with me, but this is the most circulated U.S. bill in the world. This is the one that counterfeiters love to try to tackle.
ROBERTS: But what's the creasing problem that they're talking about?
ROMANS: Some kind of a creasing problem, where you can see the paper creased and one of the security ribbons is not intact properly. And now -- so, look, there are so many of these bills in storage, now they have to go through manually. They try to figure out how to sort all of these bills to figure out which ones are good, which ones are bad because some of them are OK. In the meantime, we'll just have to use our old $100 bills.
ROBERTS: Perhaps you could offer your services for the sorting. At least then you get a chance to see what it was like.
ROMANS: know a lot of people who could use a job. But I think they're probably going to figure in a computer. That's an awful lot of bills trying to be going through. So, this is $110 billion in U.S. currency. This will cost taxpayers maybe in the end $100 million, $120 million. Every single one of these costs 11.8 cents and we don't know how many of them are bad. That is -- Timothy Geithner's signature is right on there. I'm sure he would like to get one of those messed ones for his wall. They'll be worth something someday.
COSTELLO: Yes. That's for sure.
ROBERTS: Christine, thanks.
ROMANS: Sure.
ROBERTS: A dot-com millionaire tried to prove to NASA that his rocket is ready for the job. The first privately-owned space capsule getting ready for its first test flight live and we're live at Cape Canaveral this morning.
COSTELLO: And flying without all those fees, there is a way to avoid them. The tricks airlines don't want you to know, but we do -- next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Are you planning to fly for the holidays? Whether you're changing the reservation, choosing a seat, or checking your bag, it seems there is a fee for that. But it turns out, there are ways to avoid those annoying extra charges if you know what you're doing.
Our next guest knows she's doing. Genevieve Shaw Brown is the senior editor at Travelocity. Thanks for joining us this morning, Genevieve.
GENEVIEVE SHAW BROWN, TRAVELOCITY.COM: Thank you for having me.
COSTELLO: I'm excited to know these tips because I do want to avoid those fees.
BROWN: Everybody does.
COSTELLO: You know, for a checked bag, it's flat. It's between, what, $15 and $35 for each checked bag on some airlines?
BROWN: Yes, it's actually between $25 and $35 generally across the board. But JetBlue, for example, allows you to check one bag for free. There's no full proof way to get around these fees.
But there are a couple tips to use. So, first of all, check your credit card policy. If you're carrying an airline brand credit card, check to see if one of the perks may be the checked bags for free. If it's not, you may want to consider a different credit card. For example, American Express has a blue sky preferred card that allows you $100 to cover annually the cover the cost of airline fees, like checked bags.
Travelocity has a rewards card that gives you cash back as opposed to points when you book a vacation. So, you can use that to offset some of those extra costs.
COSTELLO: OK. If you don't have the credit card that allows you to waive those fees, you should check with your hotel?
BROWN: Exactly. So, certain hotels -- in particular, IHG, InterContinental Hotel Group, is offering $50 in baggage reimbursements on weekend stays through December 30th when you book using your visa card. And they have brands like InterContinental, Holiday Inn, Crown Plaza. So, in a lot of different price points, something for everybody.
COSTELLO: OK. Become an elite member of?
BROWN: Of a frequent flier program. So, while it is more and more difficult to use frequent flier miles to get a free flight, it still might be worth being loyal to one particular airline, particularly if someone in your household, maybe mom or dad, travels a lot on business. If you can get elite status, you're going to be exempt from checked bag fees and you can then use that perk when you're traveling with the family and everybody on the reservation gets to check their bags for free.
COSTELLO: Isn't that sad, though, you have to use your frequent flier miles for that and not to get a free flight that's convenient, remotely convenient for you?
BROWN: You don't have to use the miles, it's just an extra perk, if you have accrued all of those extra miles.
COSTELLO: Got it. And of course, try to check the bag at the gate.
BROWN: That really amounts to carrying on. Every ticketed passenger, even the smallest child, is allotted one carry-on bag and one personal item for free on every airline, except for Spirit Airlines. That's the big exception.
So, you want to make sure your carry-on bag is under 45 linear inches, and you can take that to the plane with you and ask to gate-check it. And the flight attendants might even thank you, there's a lot of crowding in that overhead.
COSTELLO: That's sneaky, though, isn't it?
BROWN: Well, you know, it's -- you're taking up less space in the overhead for them. And you could carry on that bag anyway, so you're kind of just getting around it.
COSTELLO: That sounds a lot better, doesn't it?
So, let's talk about overweight bags, because some airlines charge a pretty hefty fee for a bag that's, what, 50 to 70 pounds?
BROWN: Exactly. Try to keep it under 50 pounds. If you don't, the charges start getting very, very hefty.
Now, 50 pounds of luggage is quite a lot of luggage. So, you know, you should really be able to keep it under that limit. Try to avoid packing very heavy items in your checked bags, things like, you know, tons of shoes or boots or books. You know, that will really eat up that 50 pounds.
And when you're traveling with a traveling companion, you want to try spreading the luggage out between you. So, for example, when I travel with my husband, I tend to over-pack. He tends to be more of a normal packer. So, I put some of my items in his bag, that way, neither of us are going over 50 pounds.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: You say buy a new bag because some suitcases are quite heavy even when they're empty.
BROWN: Exactly. So, you might want to consider investing in one of these new ultra-lightweight bags. But they can be pricey. So, you really have to do the math, know exactly how many times a year you fly, know how many times you check bags. See if it's really worth it, too. If you fly once or twice a year, might not be.
COSTELLO: Let's talk about premium seats, because a lot of people like to sit in exit rows, but you have to pay extra for that for some airlines.
BROWN: Right. Right, between $10 and $40 on most airlines. It depends on the length of the flight generally. So, remember the good old days when you could be nice and ask for an upgrade to first or business class if they had empty seats. OK, we really can't do that anymore, but you can employ those same tactics to try to get a premium seat in economy class, maybe a bulk head row, maybe an exit row.
So, get to the airport early, at least three hours before your flight, and ask nicely. It's generally up to the gate personnel whether or not they're going to release those seats to someone who hasn't paid for it. And if they haven't been purchased, it will make it certainly easier to get yourself into one of those seats. So, fly at off-peak times when there are generally more available seats. So, that would be the first flight of the day, flights in the mid-afternoon. You'll give yourself a better chance that way.
COSTELLO: OK. But the biggest thing is nice, which is really hard when you're tired and cranky.
Flying standby -- so if you change your ticket at the last minute, that could cost you big bucks now.
BROWN: Generally, about $50 to fly on confirmed standby. So, the nuance is in the word there, "confirmed standby." You're generally -- you're actually changing your flight time to an earlier flight, but you're guaranteeing yourself a seat by paying that fee.
What you can do instead is arrive at the airport early, check in for your flight that you're scheduled to take, look at the departures board, find out if there are earlier flights to your destination on that same airline. If there are, go straight to that gate, talk to the gate agent. If there are seats, they'll generally let you get in them for free and change your ticket right at the gate for no cost. But you are rolling the dice a bit.
COSTELLO: Have you -- have you done -- do you do this flight?
BROWN: I do the confirmed standby one all the time.
COSTELLO: All the time?
BROWN: I never pay for it. Just get there early. Again, be nice. Remember that flight attendants, gate personnel, airline employees, they're under a lot of stress especially around the holidays like the rest of us. So, they're working hard. Be as nice as you can and, you know, it might pay off.
COSTELLO: I know. Sometimes, it only takes one smile and that's it --
BROWN: That's right. And it's contagious.
COSTELLO: Exactly. So, let's smile this morning.
Genevieve, thank you so much for coming in so early. We appreciate it.
BROWN: Thank you.
COSTELLO: John?
ROBERTS: Thanks, Carol. Still to come this morning: cold and snow for basically the entire eastern half of the United States. Rob's got this morning's travel forecast right after the break.
The future of space travel in our hands -- a private company hoping to pick up where the space shuttle leaves off next year. The Falcon 9 rocket getting ready for liftoff. We are live at Cape Canaveral this morning.
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COSTELLO: Didn't that look beautiful? The shot of the Capitol. That looks gorgeous.
ROBERTS: Doesn't it, though? Thirty degrees right now.
COSTELLO: It's contentious inside that building.
ROBERTS: Well, it's going to be cool there today even if it gets hot inside. Thirty degrees right now, later on today, 36 degrees in the nation's capital. That's a really nice picture, though, this morning, isn't it?
COSTELLO: It is. I wish we could just gaze upon that. Actually, we're going to gaze upon Rob Marciano, which is -- which is nicer, Rob.
MARCIANO: Oh, I was waiting for a transition there.
COSTELLO: I know.
MARCIANO: I'll take that. I'll take that. Good morning, guys. Yes, a chilly day across parts of the northeast.
COSTELLO: I know.
MARCIANO: And we're going to see snow showers continue across parts of the Great Lakes. Those warm Great Lakes water temperatures this time of year really make for an unstable situation when you have these bitterly cold air masses rolling over top of that warm water. So, from superior to Michigan back through Ontario and Erie, we're looking at significant snows piling up. This guy, this red owl, which continues to pour this northwest flow doesn't want to move.
As a matter of fact, it's kind of backing up. So, the overall pattern does not want to shift today, tomorrow, or really even until next week. Another 12 to 24 inches on top of what these folks have already seen. And in some cases, it's been pretty impressive. We'll take you to Bradford, Pennsylvania, one of the places that I've seen a tremendous amount of snow. I-reporters sending in this stuff. So, you know, if it doesn't get you in the mood for the holidays, I really don't know what does.
BUT when you get a foot or two that you have to shovel out of your driveway, that gets a little bit depressing, I suppose. Thirty-one degrees right now in New York. It's 27 in Baltimore. Some of those lake effect snow showers are trying to get down to the major metropolitan areas. They did yesterday, nothing really going to pile up, but you may see some flurries or showers. Meanwhile, cold down across parts of Florida.
We've got hard freeze warnings here, some of the citrus crops in danger today and again tomorrow morning. These are some of the low temperatures yesterday that broke records. Greenwood, Mississippi, 20 degrees, Bluefield, West Virginia 22, Orlando, Florida got down to 38 yesterday. They're even colder right now. And even Hilo, Hawaii, 60 degrees, record low temperature there.
Here your 24-hour totals for snow, in Randolph, New York, this is not including what they've already seen. So, they've already seen 3 feet, just yesterday, 2 feet. Syracuse saw a record of a foot of snow, Edinboro, Pennsylvania gets off, Fulton, New York 10 inches, and a record set in Birmingham, -- no that's Binghamton. It should be Binghamton, New York with 9.12 inches there.
The overall trend is going to be for below average temperatures to continue to sink down to the south and east. Again, we're going to see this pattern kind of reinforce itself, guys, as we get towards the beginning part of next week. And in between, we'll see a decent storm over the weekend. Whether or not the big cities and across the northeast get rain or snow, right now, we're not going to -- we're not going to firm that forecast up.
But it looks promising that you may be on the wet side of that situation. But then, more cold air coming into town. Back to you guys.
COSTELLO: I know. After looking at what's happened in Randolph, I don't even care if we get like a dusting of snow.
MARCIANO: Exactly. You'll take that, right?
COSTELLO: Yes.
ROBERTS: And if Birmingham can get 9 inches of snow --
MARCIANO: Exactly.
ROBERTS: Look out Tampa. Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: All right, guys.
ROBERTS: Top stories just minutes away now, including breaking news this morning. They got him. WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, is arrested as a new leak is being called the to-do list for terrorists.
COSTELLO: Also, if you see something, say something to the Wal-Mart greeter. How the world's biggest retail chain is cooperating with the feds.
ROBERTS: And the little dog with a very big bite that diverted an entire aircraft. Those stories and more beginning at the top of the hour. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Fifty-three minutes now after the wall -- after the wall, after the hour. They're getting right -- this is the wall. They're getting ready to take the next giant leap in space travel at Cape Canaveral this morning. The first privately-owned space capsule is on the launch pad, and if everything is a success, it could pick up with a space shuttle leaps on next year.
Our John Zarrella is live for us this morning at Cape Canaveral. So, you've got Richard Branson doing this out in New Mexico and you got these guys doing it in Florida. Looks like the future is bright for private space travel.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. This is Elon Musk, you know, former PayPal co-founder involved here. And you know, John, for more than 50 years, places like Cape Canaveral, Coco Beach, Tidus Ville, defined by NASA, mercury, Apollo, a space shuttle program. In the future, these places may be defined by companies like SpaceX.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA (voice-over): When a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral earlier this year.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The falcon has cleared the tower.
ZARRELLA: The successful test flight was huge for the lean 1,200- employee upstart company called SpaceX. In the control room, Elon Musk, billionaire, former PayPal co-founder, and now the intense hands-on man at the top. He sees Space Ex as his David versus Goliath, those big aerospace companies.
ELON MUSK, SPACEX CEO: They're just waiting for one misstep to say I told you so. And, you know, it's to be expected.
ZARRELLA: Expected because SpaceX and other new commercial companies are promising safer, more reliable space flight for less, a lot less money. SpaceX says it could fly an astronaut to the international space station for $30 million less than the Russians. But is this new industry mature enough yet to deliver?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we'll get there. I just don't know how long it's going to take, what it's going to cost, and not just dollars, but possibly, in lives and in aspirations.
ZARRELLA: NASA's banking on SpaceX and other companies to replace the retiring shuttle for flights to the space station.
ZARRELLA (on-camera): That would free up NASA to develop new technologies to get humans to Mars and the asteroids, but it's a risky plan.
ZARRELLA (voice-over): An accident could set the fledgling commercial industry back for years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It would be a bad day to have, you know, a major problem within and these companies (ph).
ZARRELLA: Because its southern front, much of the pressure is on SpaceX. The company has signed a $1.6 billion contract to fly a dozen cargo flights to the station starting late next year. Musk is confident he'll be carrying astronauts soon after.
MUSK: We believe firmly (ph) we can send astronauts to the space station within three years of receiving a NASA contract.
ZARRELLA: Whether you believe him or not, Musk says while he wants his company to be profitable, he's not in this for the money.
MUSK: We want to make space accessible to everyone.
ZARRELLA: How soon that happens depends in no small part on companies like SpaceX living up to their promise.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA (on-camera): Now, SpaceX was supposed to try another test launch today, this morning of their falcon rocket with their dragon space capsule. It would have been a first reentering that vehicle into the atmosphere, plunging it down into the Pacific Ocean. They've delayed for 24 to 48 hours, John. And they had a little bit of a glitch. But that's to be expected in this business.
And you know, it's funny when I talked to Elon Musk and that exclusive interview we had with him. And, John, he said to me he's not in it for the money. He said this would be the last business he would choose if he were in it for the money -- John.
ROBERTS: Yes, looking at the way that NASA went through money over the years, you can see that. But, obviously, he wouldn't get involved with this if he didn't think it was going to be profitable in some way.
ZARRELLA: Yes, absolutely. He does see the up side. They all see the up side if they're getting into this. They're down the road, space motels, brands (INAUDIBLE) like brands taking tourists up into lower orbit and back. They're down the road. These people are laying the ground work for what literally will be the future, and possibly, in our lifetime -- John.
ROBERTS: All very exciting. John Zarrella for us this morning at Cape Canaveral. John, thanks so much.
COSTELLO: I can't believe he found those pair of gloves, wearing them in Florida. But he had them somewhere.
ROBERTS: Cold down there.
COSTELLO: Yes. Top stories coming your way right after the break.
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