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American Morning

Snowstorms Threaten Midwest and Northeast; Student Protestors Damage Royal Limousine In London; Secret Credit Scores: What the Banks Don't Want You to Know; Democrats Divided Over Tax Cut Deal; Obama Sells Tax Plan; Controversial App Revised; Nobel Peace Prize; Battle Over Tax Cut Plan

Aired December 10, 2010 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. It is Friday. It is December 10th. Glad you're with us on this "AMERICAN MORNING." I'm Kiran Chetry.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Thanks so much for joining us. Here are this morning's top stories.

Bands of snow burying small towns and big cities alike -- three, four, even five feet of snow in some spots along the Great Lakes. And now what might be a monster storm is closing in on the east coast just in time for the weekend. Who's going to get hit and how much they're going to get hit with -- wow, look at that picture -- just ahead.

CHETRY: All right, well, a day of rage -- violent protests on the streets of London, students irate, clashing with policy, angry over tuition hikes. Prince Charles' car attacked with him and Camilla inside. We're going to get a live report on Britain's worst political violence in years.

ROBERTS: And officials in Beijing angry about the Nobel peace prize going to a jailed Chinese dissident. The ceremony getting underway this hour in Oslo, Norway. There's a live picture inside. The seat where the recipient, the honoree normally sits will be empty in honor of Liu Xiaobo. And we have a live report coming up just ahead.

CHETRY: First this hour, the snow event of the season could be headed your way.

ROBERTS: Yes, take a look at Cleveland, Ohio. They've got about a foot of snow on the ground from Wednesday's storm, the snow coming down, temperatures in the 20s today.

CHETRY: And a huge swath of bitter cold air rolling in from the north, with it lake-effect snow from the Midwest to western New York, and by Monday, freezing temperatures as far south as Florida.

Reynolds Wolf in the Extreme Weather Center with the latest forecast for us. Looks like a big one.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it really does look bad. In some of the places you mentioned earlier, spots like Cleveland, places like Buffalo where having a snow blower isn't a luxury, it's a necessity. Many people using those in other parts of the country including Ohio, Kentucky, perhaps even into parts of Tennessee before all is said and done.

Let's go right to the maps the real big weather maker, the real catalyst to set this in motion. We've got a storm system out to the west. As it rolls east, it's only going to intensify. And as part of that drops down into the Ohio valley, it's going to bring in combination of moisture from the Atlantic and the Great Lakes and a shot of powerful cold air all the way into parts of Florida.

And with that cold air coming through, heavy snow along the Great Lakes and lake effect snowfall in spots like Erie, Pennsylvania, back into Cleveland, spots like Detroit, northern Michigan, certainly up in parts of Wisconsin.

But at the same time, possibly some icing into parts of the Ohio valley, even into Kentucky, maybe as far south as Tennessee and into the smoky mountains.

Another big issue we have this morning, we're just beginning to see one batch, one area of snowfall moving into parts of the eastern Great Lakes. This is not the key system yet. That's going to come later on into Saturday, Sunday, and parts of Monday, as well.

But we are seeing the beginning. And we have that cold air locked in place. New York in the 20s, 28 degrees in Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C., 27. Get ready, folks, again, as I mentioned, although the snow is going to be a big concern. It certainly is. It is the ice that's going to cause a lot of problems for people as I mentioned in the Ohio valley, a big concern, especially into Monday and Tuesday of next week.

CHETRY: That sounds bad.

WOLF: It is. No question about it, guys.

ROBERTS: And four inches of fresh ice on the slopes of West Virginia too, that'll be great.

WOLF: You bet.

ROBERTS: Thanks, Reynolds.

CHETRY: Dozens of cruise ship passengers are safely back on land this morning after dealing with a very rough stretch at sea. The Antarctic cruise out of Argentina was cut short Tuesday when a monster wave slammed the ship. Windows on the bridge were shattered, electrical systems short circuited, and the engines damaged. The crew declared emergency and radioed for help, but was able to make it back to port in Argentina under its own power. And there you just see the waves they were dealing with as they try to make it back. None of the 88 American passengers was hurt.

ROBERTS: A developing story out of London this morning and the outrage it's provoking. We're hearing more about Prince Charles' and Camilla's Parker Bowles brush with danger last night. The royal couple was on their way to the theater when their Rolls Royce was attacked and splattered with paint. One of the car's windows was smashed out.

Charles had to take Camilla Parker Bowles and put her on the floor of the back of the limousine. He was waving all the way. He said he was trying to make it look like it wasn't effecting him too much, but that stuff is pretty serious, because people shouldn't be allowed to get that close to the royal couple.

CHETRY: Yes, a little bit of a security breach.

ROBERTS: Huge security breach.

CHETRY: Well, this angry mob was protesting a plan to triple tuition for British universities. Supporters want the hike to help pay off the government's debt. And the students say they simply can't afford it.

ROBERTS: Yes. Our senior national correspondent Dan Rivers is live in London this morning. And it really took a nasty turn yesterday.

DAN RIVERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think it did. And this is going to put further pressure on the commissioner of the metropolitan police, basically the most senior policeman in the U.K. He'd already come under criticism because there weren't enough police at a previous rally when the few police there were totally overwhelmed.

Yesterday, again, there were theater clashes with the police. He's saying he's very proud of the actions of his officers. And he felt they controlled the crowd well. But there will be clearly big questions about how on earth a mob was allowed to get so close to the heir to the throne, Prince Charles.

Sir Paul Stevenson said the route up regent street was thoroughly reconnoitered before, just a few minutes before the royal convoy went up there, but I think there will be big questions.

I actually ran into Sir Paul Stephenson last night amid the aftermath of this big rally, and he was commending his officers and saying that they had shown remarkable restraint. Another policeman I spoke to said, you know, it was pretty lucky that the officers with the prince didn't draw their weapons. They are armed and it would have been a very scary situation if they'd drawn their weapons as a result of this mob attacking the car.

I think we've got a photo of the close-up damage of the prince's limousine, a Rolls Royce. I think one of the windows was smashed on that car. So that gives you an idea of just how close the mob got. And pictures across all of the papers here in the U.K. today show a very startled Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles inside that car as the mob surrounded them.

CHETRY: Do they think this violence is over, or are they expecting more clashes with police?

RIVERS: I think it's over for now. The reason it was -- it reached such a fever pitch yesterday because this vote in the Commons was taking place to raise the cap on university tuition fees. That provided a real flash point for these protesters.

This is just one of a number of austerity cuts that are being introduced in the U.K. And I would imagine we will see similar scenes when other harsh measures come in, or people think are harsh, because we've got a long way to run on this story in terms of cuts and addressing the deficit here in the U.K.

ROBERTS: And of course, we'll watch that and watch the security estimate. Dan Rivers in London this morning, thanks.

A major setback this morning for opponents of "don't ask, don't tell." It looks like Democrats will not be able to repeal the military's ban on openly gay soldiers during this Congressional session.

CHETRY: Gay rights groups will hold a rally in Washington today on the issue, but what does it mean, and where does it go from here? Barbara Starr is live at the Pentagon with answers this morning. And they were not able to cut off debate and vote on that in the Senate. Is it done now for 2010?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Pentagon hopes not. You're right, Kiran, it was a 57-40 vote, three short of what the Senate needed to proceed. Everyone agrees it might have resulted in repeal of the ban on open service by gays in the military.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates now wants the Senate to reconsider all of this in the one week or so it has left in the lame duck session. He says there's a big problem looming if the Senate does not reconsider it. Have a listen to what he had to say.

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ROBERT GATES: If they are unable to do that, then as I've indicated in testimony and talking with you all, my greatest worry will be that then we are at the mercy of the courts and all of the lack of predictability that that entails.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Gates speaking on an airplane on the way back to the United States from a trip overseas. He's pointing out that the federal courts are beginning to rule in several cases that the ban is unconstitutional. There are oral arguments to be had, a final decision to be rendered by the federal court. If they rule it's unconstitutional, the ban is lifted and the military would have to very quickly cope with that. That's what worries Gates. John? ROBERTS: Now, the president has said all along that he wants this to be decided legislatively, doesn't want it to be decided in the courts. What are the chances the Senate taking it up again?

STARR: Well, you know, around the Pentagon here is they're hopeful. They're making calls, doing that backdoor lobbying right now. But will the Senate -- we've been reporting it. The Senate has quite an agenda. The START treaty, the entire tax issue. A lot of people think it's going to be very problematic. John, Kiran?

CHETRY: Barbara Starr for us this morning. Thank you.

Also new this morning, Virginia Tech facing federal fines or even the suspension of its financial aid. The Department of Education found that the universities failed to quickly warn the campus about a gunman on the loose in the hours before the mass shooting that took place back in April of 2007. Virginia Tech officials are arguing that administrators did act appropriately based on the information they had at the time.

ROBERTS: Recall to tell you about this morning. This one involving Rolaids. Complaints about particles of metal and wood being inside. The company is warning customers who purchased the recalled products to using them. And here are the products affected for you. We'll also put these on our website -- Rolaids extra strength soft chews, extra strength plus gas soft chews, and Rolaids multi-symptom plus anti-gas soft chews. And again, will put this up at our website, CNN.com/AMfix.

CHETRY: The FAA is reportedly requiring all private aircraft owners to re-register their airplanes. According to the Associated Press, the agency somehow lost key information on about 119,000 planes. The FAA fears that gap could be exploited either by terrorists or drug traffickers.

And what do you do with a house that's packed full of explosives? How do you get rid of it? Your burn it down. That's what they did in southern California. This house was jam-packed with explosives. It's single-story home, engulfed in flames there. Small explosions could be heard from miles around.

And we're told the controlled burn did not threaten nearby houses. The man behind it all is still in jail. His motive for having a house full of explosives is still unclear at this point.

CHETRY: Hundreds of new jobs coming to Kentucky. Ford will spend $600 million to convert a Louisville assembly plant to start building its revamped Escape SUV. And 11,000 workers are employed there now, and they'll need 700 more when production begins in 2011. So a bright spot there for manufacturers.

ROBERTS: Isn't that nice?

Well, you probably know your credit score can affect your ability to get a credit card, mortgage, even a job. But did you know there are secret scores out there that the banks don't want you to know about?

Ryan Mack is here this morning pitching in for Christine Romans, who is a little under the weather today. Thanks for being here.

RYAN MACK, PRESIDENT, OPTIMUM CAPITAL MANAGMENT: Thank you for having me.

ROBERTS: What's this all about?

MACK: Essentially these are scores that the banks are using to evaluate your viability. How good you are as a consumer. How much money can they make off of you?

And there are different scores out there like the response score. When we're getting these offers in the mail, it's no accident. These pre-approved offers, these things, they're looking at how much you actually respond to different new offers in the mail and how much you use your credit on a regular basis.

So essentially, whenever you fill out a new credit card, which individuals aren't doing that, essentially what they're doing is looking at to see, you know what? This guy's probably going to be a good responder, good customer, so we're going to see if we can send him more offers.

CHETRY: Was this the one they don't want you to know about?

MACK: Yes, they don't want you to know about this information. Again, actually, we're doing a lot better using credit. Last year 2009 was the first year that debit card uses outweighed our credit card uses. So our response scores are probably a little lower this year.

ROBERTS: What about the revenue score?

MACK: That is essentially how much money can they make off of you? How good are you at filling your pockets with your dollars?

ROBERTS: Overdraft fees and carrying a balance on your credit card?

MACK: Yes, and how much -- if you're one of the responsible customers saying I'm going to pay my bill off every month, then you're not a good revenue score. Your score's pretty bad because you're not doing very good at being -- giving them your money.

CHETRY: Then you also talk about the application score. What is this one?

MACK: That's essentially the information, the personal information. Every time you fill out a credit card, you get about five to six points, a 10 percent is the additional inquiries is five to six points off your fico score, but that information is not really used on your credit information.

But the banks do take that information and put them into a database and use that to figure out what type of a creditor you'll be or borrower you'll be in order to put in their pockets, as well.

And then we have the transaction score, essentially looking at, you know, individuals have gone overseas and spend a lot of money. And they might have got their credit card turned off because they're monitoring your pattern for fraud. It's actually a pretty good one because somebody steals your card, they're looking at your pattern, they start racking up a whole lot of different fees somewhere else.

CHETRY: Right, it sets off an alarm.

MACK: Yes.

CHETRY: So the bottom line is there's all of this information about you that the credit card companies know that you may not know is out there.

MACK: Again, the credit cards, they're out there to make money just like any other business. So essentially they look at individuals, borrowers who -- that's why they like individuals who declare bankruptcy, because they say we can make more money off of these individuals. So essentially, the more -- they look at individuals, let borrowers who -- that's why they like individuals who declare bankruptcy because they say you know what, we can make more money off these individuals (INAUDIBLE) they have a tendency for credit. So we have to be real careful how we use our credit score. We're doing a better job on that as well. I urge the public to keep it up.

ROBERTS: Ryan Mack, Optimum Capital Management, thanks for being with us.

MACK: Thank you for having me.

ROBERTS: Still to come this morning, a stinging setback for the president. House Democrats say they won't even consider the tax compromise that he hammered out with Republicans. So is the deal dead? We're live in Washington.

CHETRY: And a daredevil's cold call, nearly two miles high on a mountain in Antarctica and then he does the unthinkable, leaps off of it. We'll tell you how long he free fell before finally pulling the chute. Thank goodness it worked.

Fifteen minutes after the hour.

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ROBERTS: Eighteen minutes after the hour. President Obama's tax cut deals got members of his own party livid. To give you an idea of just how high frustrations have boiled over here, multiple reports this morning that one Democrat uttered the "f" word and the president in the same sentence during a heated debate.

Our Brianna Keilar live for us in Washington this morning. What happened to decorum, Brianna? BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think it may have gone out the window. There are some pretty angry Democrats certainly when it comes to this tax compromise that President Obama has struck with Republicans. A couple lawmakers who were in this meeting yesterday of House Democrats told us that some of them were actually chanting "just say no." They have issues with the fact that the tax cut rates, the lower tax cut rates have been extended for wealthy Americans and also that exemption for inheritance is up to $5 million. They feel like these are giveaways to the rich. I mean, these are Democrats in revolt against their own president. Just listen to what a couple of them said.

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REP. LLOYD DOGGETT (D), TEXAS: We were told yesterday by the vice president this was a take-it-or-leave-it deal. We're saying leave it.

REP. JAY INSLEE (D), WASHINGTON: Our caucus will not submit to hostage-taking and we will not submit to this deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: So it seemed like in the Senate, Democrats were softening on this opposition to this plan. Clearly they aren't in the House. And by and large, it appears that Republicans will be onboard in both the House and the Senate. But with so many House Democrats saying no, we're not on board with this, it's really throwing a question out there about whether there will be enough Democratic support to push this through the House, John and Kiran.

CHETRY: Well, I mean, there was a lot of posturing going on. A lot of people angry right now. But really, what are the odds that anyone would allow these middle class tax cuts to expire and that people's taxes will go up January 1st?

KEILAR: Yes, I think it's hard for people to imagine that you would get to that point where these tax rates would be allowed to expire, but not just that, you have those unemployment benefits for millions of Americans that are also set to expire at the end of the year. That's part of this compromise deal. But what it looks like now is certainly, there's an open question about this and it's going to go down to the wire. This is a staring contest and we're waiting to see who blinks. The Senate, of course, going first here. We could see a vote on Monday.

CHETRY: Brianna, thanks.

Well, President Obama now hitting the airwaves to pitch the plan publicly. He got -- he had a big interview airing on NPR this morning. And Suzanne Malveaux is live at the White House with more on what the president said in today's interview.

Hey, Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kiran. You know, obviously in talking with several White House aides say they were quite surprised at the vitriol, the real anger, their frustration coming from Democrats, coming from their own party. It has caused some sense of alarm but this White House is really, particularly the president not necessarily going to give in and change this deal. They say that the main framework of it is still in place, and they believe ultimately that it is the best deal that this president could come up with.

He makes his case this morning on NPR, an interview. Now, this was taped yesterday after the big Democratic revolt on the House side. It is clear that the president is trying to convey resolve, confidence and calm in light of this kind of political storm that is happening because he believes ultimately that they are going to push this through. I want you to take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What I suspect is that there are going to be some discussions both between the House and the Senate. My understanding is that the Senate is going to vote on the package over the next several days. And that at the end of the day, people are going to conclude we don't want two million people suddenly without unemployment insurance and not able to pay their rent, not able to pay their mortgage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So, Kiran, the question is, why is the president so confident? Why are White House aides optimistic about this despite the kind of political turmoil around them? It is because they have more support from Democrats on the Senate side. That is, as Brianna had mentioned, that's where the bill is going to go first. And they'll make some minor adjustments, they think, and then it will go over to the House side. There'll be so much political pressure on the Democrats at that point. They believe that they will be able to get this thing passed and get it through.

Another thing that the president's doing is that he is enlisting the help of former President Bill Clinton. He's going to be here at 3:00 meeting with the president. Obviously a lot of parallels being drawn -- being made there. It was Bill Clinton that got his own shellacking back in '94 when they lost control of the Democrats in Congress, but ultimately Clinton came to the middle, came to the center, was able to push through some things, work with Republicans push through some legislation. That is what President Obama is certainly hoping to learn from him. They also hope too that President Clinton having so much influence and popularity now may be able to push some of those Democrats, those lawmakers over to see the side, to see the benefit of this controversial tax cut plan -- Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. They'll need a lot of convincing based on what we heard yesterday. Suzanne, thank you.

Also, not all Republicans are onboard either. In 30 minutes, we'll be joined by Congressman Michele Bachmann, Minnesota Republican who opposes this tax cut deal. She is breaking with fellow Republicans saying she'll vote against it.

ROBERTS: Well, Republicans are blocking a proposal to fund medical benefits and compensation for 9/11 first responders. They say the $7.4 billion cost is just too pricey. Supporters say they're going to try to bring the measure again. The James Zadroga 9/11 health bill is named after an NYPD detective who died after working in the toxic plume at Ground Zero. The proposal seeks to provide free medical coverage to those exposed to toxins after the attacks. And another New York City police detective, Kevin Czartoryski, died on Sunday from cancer. He'd been suffering from pulmonary fibrosis and the NYPD medical board says a direct result of breathing in that toxic air.

CHETRY: Yes. He worked down there for months trying to find victims' remains. He actually is the one that set up the temporary morgue. He was exposed to those toxins on a daily basis.

ROBERTS: Earlier this year, he was fine and then suddenly came on, he was dead within months.

CHETRY: Very sad. And friends and family are going to be remembering him at the funeral and for a long time to come.

Well, still ahead, Sarah Palin, she'll be a long way from Alaska this weekend. Why she's heading to Haiti.

Twenty-four minutes past the hour.

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CHETRY: Twenty-seven minutes past the hour right now. A look at the stories that got us talking in the newsroom this morning. You know, hole's big enough, the baby can crawl right in. We're talking about the --

ROBERTS: This happens more often than you would ever think possible.

CHETRY: Look at this girl, the poor thing. She is looking at us from the inside of the claw machine.

This happened in Robinson Township, Pennsylvania. It's a 2-year- old girl who crawled right in and it actually took firefighters a while to get her back out again. Well, 15 minutes, but still, if you're the parent, you're probably freaking out. She was able somehow to crawl through the hole where you reach in to get the prize. And there she is.

ROBERTS: Now you say to yourself, how often does this happen? Well, there's this story a couple of months ago. Right?

CHETRY: Back in October.

ROBERTS: Yes, a little boy did it. And in 2008, another little boy did it. So you've got boys, two, girls, one, on that. So, who's more the daredevil, right? Well, speaking of daredevils, Russian daredevil taking base jumping to new extremes. Check this video out. A 45-year-old braved temperatures of 22 degrees below zero when he jumped off a nearly two- mile high peak in Antarctica. He glided for about 45 seconds with his flying suit there before opening the parachute and landing safely. You know, you want to make sure you triple check all of your gear, too, because it's so cold, you don't want anything to freeze up in the parachute.

CHETRY: I still don't understand how they're able to just sort of keep their surroundings, know where they're headed, you know, know how to -- because they do actually steer that thing in a way as they're going down.

ROBERTS: And they're going more than 100 miles an hour as well.

CHETRY: And in a place like that it's all white. I don't know how they can see anything. But as we saw he landed safely. So congratulations. The true meaning of daredevil.

Well, if you wanted to check out David Hasselhoff's new reality show on A&E, you're actually a little bit late because it's already off the air after two episodes.

ROBERTS: Wow, that didn't last long.

CHETRY: No, it was canceled. It only got like 700,000 viewers for the first show and then half a million the second one. So they say the ratings were too weak and it's now off their schedule.

ROBERTS: Wow. You don't think it had anything to do with being with us and the morning?

CHETRY: No, we tried to help them out.

ROBERTS: Yes.

CHETRY: But --

ROBERTS: But not enough, I guess. Maybe we should have had him on for three segments. That would have done it. Pushed it over the top.

Top stories just two minutes away now, including a massive storm, possibly the worst of the season. Bearing down now on the east coast, it might just wreck your weekend depending on where you live.

CHETRY: And cutting through the president's tax cut deal, a gut check with Carol Costello coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. We are crossing the bottom of the hour now on this Friday, December 10th.

CHETRY: Pretty shot. ROBERTS: A look from inside the Time-Warner Center here at Columbus Circle, getting ready for the holidays. You see it every day -

CHETRY: The stars.

ROBERTS: Yes, inside our lobby. This is the shopping area at the Time Warner Center. Inside our lobby are beautiful lighted trees that are just incredible.

CHETRY: Yes, they're gorgeous too. But these stars right here also light up and they change color. It's gorgeous at night. And they actually set it to music. So I remember when my daughter was little, that was the only thing that would quiet her down. We'd bring her here and she'd stare at those lights and listen to the holiday music. It's beautiful.

ROBERTS: Lovely piece of real estate here.

CHETRY: Sure is.

Well, top stories now. A major winter storm brewing in places like Cleveland, Detroit, Rochester, right in its path. You might see some of the worst conditions of the winter starting tomorrow.

Reynolds Wolf will have the full forecast in 15 minutes.

ROBERTS: A conservative Christian group is back with a toned down version of its controversial app that was pulled from the iTunes store last month. The group is also pushing a petition on its web site to get Apple to reinstate the "Manhattan Declaration." It's a quiz that featured questions about same-sex marriage and abortion. It's been dropped from the app. No word yet, though, from Apple.

CHETRY: And a rare trip for Sarah Palin overseas. She's heading to Haiti this weekend to visit relief sites set up to treat cholera patients and earthquake survivors. Her husband, Todd, and daughter, Bristol, could be joining her there as well.

ROBERTS: Well, he's leaving the White House in the next few weeks, but President Obama's top economic adviser Larry Summers is stirring things up before heading out the door. He's talking about the risk of a double-dip recession if the president's tax cut bill doesn't pass.

CHETRY: So what's behind his dire warning? Is it really the economic reality? Or is some of it politics? Carol Costello is separating fact from fiction fro us this morning, she joins us from Washington. Hey, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Isn't everything always about politics? It's hard to separate, you know, politics from reality, right? And that's what we're talking about this morning.

Larry Summers, is he a scare monger or is he Mr. Right? The president's soon to be ex-director of the White House National Economic Council says if the Bush tax cuts expire, it might just "increase the risk that the economy would stall out and we would have a double dip," as in a double-dip recession. It is a scary possibility but could it happen or is Summers just playing politics?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE SUMMERS, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: It's an economic analysis, it's an economic analysis that tracks the judgments of many other economists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Even if he says the tax deal would add $900 billion to the deficit, which is interesting because just last year, the president said adding to the national debt could lead to a double-dip recession.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is important, though, to recognize that if we keep on adding to the debt, even in the midst of this recovery that at some point, people could lose confidence in the U.S. economy in a way that could actually lead to a double-dip recession.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So what is true? If the president's deal falls through, the tax cuts expire, might it lead to a double-dip recession? Are we in for more deeper economic doom? We asked some economists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAKSHMAN ACHUTHAN, ECONOMIC CYCLE RESEARCH INSTITUTE: There's not going to be a double-dip, practically if anything happens. Whether - regardless if there's a tax cut, not a tax cut, more spending, less spending, more unemployment insurance, less unemployment insurance, you're still going to have a revival.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Because he says all the economic indicators are pointed in the right direction. People with jobs are now more confident they'll keep their jobs. They're spending more money, and companies are reporting record profits. So all of that points up, not down, it's not the economy's great by any stretch of the imagination, but Lakshman says we're not in for a double-dip recession no matter what happens.

ROBERTS: Well, you know, Harry Truman knew a few economists who said, well on the one hand, but on the other hand, which is why he always wanted a one-handed economist. But some economists are not in agreement with Lakshman and in fact, Larry Summers was quoting people from Moody's when he said risk of a double dip.

COSTELLO: He was quoting people from Moody's but remember many economists also have like a political angle in their analysis. So it's difficult to sort out who's like truly nonpartisan. But you are right, John. I asked (INAUDIBLE) about the possibility of slipping into a double-dip recession. He said it's more likely - maybe a one in four chance, he said, but he also said it's the wrong way to think about it.

What passing the deal would do, he says, is make the economy recover quicker. So is Mr. Summers a scare monger? Or is he Mr. Right? The sad thing about this is the economy, writing the economy has a lot to do with psychology, right? Making people feel good about things. And to throw this double-dip recession word around doesn't make people feel great about the economy. Because you don't know what's true and what's not true.

CHETRY: Yes, absolutely. All right. Carol Costello for us with a "Gut Check" this morning. Thanks.

COSTELLO: Sure.

CHETRY: We're following some breaking news right now, as well. Firefighters are battling a huge blaze this morning at a charter school in northwest Atlanta. They say that the flames actually are breaking through the roof at the Kipp Way Academy. Here's a shot right now of the firefighters trying to put it out. Firefighters said to be in a defensive mode.

The school is also located directly across the street from a subway station. The fire started about an hour ago. We are tracking it. We need to try to find out whether or not school was actually in session. Most likely not. But whether or not people were there still remains to be seen. But we're going to bring you more information as soon as those details come into the AMERICAN MORNING newsroom.

ROBERTS: The Nobel Peace Prize ceremony is underway in Oslo this morning. Coming up, why this year's winner and representatives from some of the world's most influential countries are not at the ceremony.

It's 38 minutes after the hour.

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ROBERTS: 20 minutes now to the top of the hour. This year's Nobel Peace Prize ceremony is underway in Oslo and it has become a magnet for controversy.

CHETRY: Here's a live look right now of the ceremony that's underway in Norway. That beautiful violin being playing, you wouldn't know that there's controversy behind it. But the winner is in a Chinese prison and he's being represented by an empty chair at the ceremony. Liu Xiaobo is serving an 11-year sentence in China for inciting subversion. Some analysts believe the peace prize could lead the Chinese government to shorten his sentence. Chinese leaders are angry at the committee's decision to award the prize to Liu. China is boycotting the ceremony and is blocking international coverage of the event within its borders. ROBERTS: As the ceremony continues in Norway, there is reaction in China this morning, including protests, and as we said just a second ago, media restrictions. Stan Grant live in Beijing this morning. And how loudly is the Chinese government protesting this, Stan?

STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, it has been an ongoing campaign of criticism and denunciation of the award. And any countries who have been supporting Liu Xiaobo ever since this award was conferred back in October, in the eyes of the Chinese government, the Nobel Prize Committee are in their words "clowns." They are supporting a criminal. They are supporting criminality and within China not showing respect for Chinese law.

Now why? Because Liu Xiaobo is serving 11 years in prison for being effectively an enemy of the state. In 2008, he was part of (INAUDIBLE) charter '08, a document pushing for more reform, recognition of human rights, more democracy in China. That led to a crackdown. He was arrested amongst others and, of course, is now serving that jail sentence.

His wife has been under house arrest ever since the award was announced in October. She was unable to travel to Oslo and collect the award for him. You mentioned there the empty chair. Well, the empty chair is now becoming a symbol. A symbol both of the award and China's efforts to shut it down. They've convinced 18 other countries, including Russia, Uzbekistan, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Vietnam, amongst others to not go.

At the same time, criticism coming from the United States. President Barack Obama saying that Liu Xiaobo, of course, a more deserving winner than he was last year. Saying that he represents the struggle for dignity and for human rights and calling on China to release him. China is not going to react well to that. John?

CHETRY: All right. Well, thanks so much for that. We're going to continue to follow the ceremony and see what happens today. As again, the empty chair not Liu Xiaobo, who of course is still in a Chinese jail.

ROBERTS: Well, still to come, making America healthier. One city at a time. The man who is transforming the way cities are designed and helping us improve our lifestyle is coming up in our next hour here this morning.

CHETRY: Also, a massive storm has been churning in the upper midwest this morning, promising to pound the east this weekend.

Reynolds Wolf is going to have a look at what areas could be hardest hit.

Forty-three minutes past the hour.

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CHETRY: It's 45 minutes past the hour right now. We know we're getting some bad weather, but where is it going to hit? Let's check in with Reynolds Wolf this morning. He's in the Extreme Weather Center for us. Hey, Reynolds.

WOLF: Hey, guys. It looks like the place that is really going to have the bulls-eye on its back is going to be basically the eastern third of the country. But this morning, if you happen to be traveling around the country, there are three places to watch out for in terms of potential delays.

One will be in San Diego due to the low clouds and fog working our way up, San Francisco will be the next one, also low clouds. It could be half hour to full hour delay. But then you get to Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Detroit where the wind and snow might cause a few issues.

And as we speak, we have actually some snowfall in those places. In Pittsburgh, some light to moderate snowfall. Also in spots like Cleveland, we've got the snow coming down. Not only do we have that in parts of the great lakes into the northeast, we also have temperatures that are well below the freezing point.

Especially in Boston where your temperatures this hour mainly the teens, New York, mainly some low to mid 20s, 24 to 25 in Boston and mid 20s to upper 20s in spots like Pittsburgh. Believe it or not, the snowfall we're seeing in that part of the country is not the big winter storm we're talking about.

That's one taste of what we're going to be seeing into the weekend, but already got towards the western great lakes, same watches and warnings in effect. Same deal in the upper Midwest, in Minneapolis, St. Paul. Winter storm warnings are now in effect.

And the reason why, plain and simple, is because of this system that is now leaving the Rocky Mountains and is going to gain some momentum, gain some strength and move eventually into the northeast as we round out the weekend.

Now it's not the low that's going to be the big issue, it's what it's going to bring. It's going to pull in a lot of cold air. It's going to interact with that moisture in the great lakes, bringing possibly some heavy snowfall to the great lakes into the northeast.

But one of the big issues, of course, is going to be the ice possibility in parts of the Ohio valley and maybe even into portions of say, Kentucky, back into Tennessee, maybe even the smoky mountains in the western Carolinas before all said and done.

The issue you have with ice, of course, widespread power outages. You might have some issues on a lot of the roadways. It is something that may be an issue for us into next week. Long-term effects, of course, could be a problem for millions of Americans.

Again, eastern third of the country, out west, not an issue. More on the story as it unfolds, not just for the rest of the day, but also through the weekend and early into early next week. Back to you guys. ROBERTS: Not a good forecast for us, but thanks anyway, Reynolds.

Snow birds are proven to be a good send for businesses along the Gulf Coast. Officials say some of the areas that were hardest hit by the BP oil spill are enjoying an above average winter tourism booking season. Tourism officials in Alabama and northwest Florida now the season could top last season based on hotel and condo reservations.

CHETRY: Which is wonderful news because they are very worried about it, but ironically it's just as cold down in Florida right now as it is --

ROBERTS: Winter in Florida, you know. Winter everywhere these days.

CHETRY: Hopefully it won't last. We have a cold snap, but the snow birds will get away from the snow after all at some point this winter. Fingers crossed.

Still to come, Democrats are not the only ones up in arms about the president's tax cut plans, Republicans not onboard, as well. We're going to be speaking with Michelle Bachmann to find out why she's against it.

ROBERTS: And later on in the show, he told the White House we got screwed, we'll talk to Democratic Congressman Gary Ackerman about what he the president can do to get his own party onboard with the plan. It's 49 minutes after the hour.

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CHETRY: It's 52 minutes past the hour right now. Democrats this morning are not the only ones turning their back on President Obama's tax cut deal. He's also coming under fire from some on the right, as well.

ROBERTS: Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann is a Republican from Minnesota. She's also the founder of the Tea Party caucus and now finds herself in New York this morning so we just had to have her in. It's great to see you this morning.

REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), MINNESOTA: Thank you, John.

ROBERTS: So we got to point out, this puts you on rare common ground with many Democrats that you don't like this deal. Why?

BACHMANN: It really is. It's strange bedfellows, but we have people coming together. It's interesting, the Democrats don't like the bill because it doesn't increase taxes enough and Republicans are concerned because it does increase taxes in certain segments and it also adds to the deficit.

That is not good. Investors are reacting to the increases in the deficit and so we're concerned about that. We want to get on a sound financial footing. ROBERTS: Increases taxes?

BACHMANN: Yes. It does. On the debt tax, the debt tax will go up under this measure, significantly.

ROBERTS: But still there's an exemption for first 5 million so --

BACHMANN: Well, it's influx right now as to what it's going to be. We don't know.

ROBERTS: But the president's proposal is that there is an --

BACHMANN: That's the president's proposal. Now the Democrats have rejected that and they want to increase the taxes even more on the debt tax. That's kind of their sticking point.

ROBERTS: But the president said this morning in an interview with NPR, he is pretty sure that his framework of this deal is what's going to be the bill.

BACHMANN: Well, the Democrats rejected it yesterday so I don't know how that will go through. I think we need a simple, up or down vote. Are we going to increase taxes or not? I think if we put that before the Congress, I don't think we'll end up increasing taxes. I think we'll keep it where it is and that will put the economy on the best footing.

That's the positive about what President Obama was putting forward, the fact that he wanted to continue all of the current marginal tax rates and what that means is what you pay in income tax, he wanted to keep those current and that would be good. We would like to see them extended permanently. He wanted them for two years. I think we could compromise on a two-year extension, but not if it means other tax increases and unfortunately we have that and some increases to the deficit.

CHETRY: So it's the biggest problem with this the fact that there's not enough tax breaks or is it the fact it extends unemployment insurance longer and that it in some ways it is a stimulus that's going to add another $900 billion to the deficit?

BACHMANN: Both of those are concerns because -- I'm a federal tax lawyer and a business owner. My main concern really is the increase in taxes because this has been my life. This is what I observed.

When you increase taxes on people, you get less productivity. What we need right now are jobs. We need to expand our employment birth so that we have more job creation. We won't if we increase taxes on the job creators.

CHETRY: This is a major compromise, I guess you could call it, on the part of the administration who, I mean, the president ran on eliminating those Bush-Era tax cuts for the highest income earners and now he's willing to let that go for two more years. I mean, isn't this in some ways something the Republicans should go for because it includes a lot of sweeteners, things that Republicans wanted?

BACHMANN: It's a good question, but there are two things that go with this. Again, it ramps up spending in a big way and it also ramps up deficits and we are seeing a real difficulty with selling the treasury bonds.

And so when you have that kind of a problem that's not good in the financial markets so we need certainty. Here's the real problem. We've known this was going to come for a long, long time and we're literally just weeks away from January 1st and there's no tax tables. There's no tax tables.

Congress hasn't passed a budget. We haven't passed spending bills and we haven't done a tax bill. That's not a good record for the Congress right now. We have to get the work done.

ROBERTS: But just to be clear, the president's plan as he outlined it, is that something you could sign on to?

BACHMANN: No, it isn't because - because it increases the deficit too much, increases spending too much and --

ROBERTS: But part of the reason why it increases the deficit is because you're maintaining the marginal tax rates through all income levels.

BACHMANN: That's right, but remember the definition --

ROBERTS: That's about $350 billion of the projected $900 billion.

BACHMANN: And remember it's a deficit to government, but it's not a deficit to people who get to keep their money so it's how you frame it. I don't think letting people keep their own money should be considered a deficit.

CHETRY: I understand.

ROBERTS: But it is, though, because it adds to the federal deficit.

BACHMANN: You are right about that, John. That it is to the government, but remember what we could also be doing right now, cutting back on spending. We have had the biggest increase in spending in the last two years that anyone can remember in modern times. We can also cut back spending to that level and that's not on the table right now.

CHETRY: Are you to oppose to extending unemployment benefits?

BACHMANN: It is not the idea of extending them. It's the idea of are we going to pay for them or not. It is not paid for, the employment benefits. That is a problem.

It's also at historic level. We now have unemployment for two years. That isn't adding to job creation. What we need to do is focus on a pro-growth job-creating economy. That is not necessarily what we're saying.

CHETRY: The congressional budget office though is saying that dollar for dollar the extension of the unemployment benefits is probably the most stimulative element of this for the current economy right now. But you're saying that you are not going to support it if it's not paid for. What could be cut so that people who really -- that's their final lifeline still continue to get a pay check until they can find a job?

BACHMANN: Well, the most stimulative thing that we could do would be to cut taxes on investment and on people who want to create jobs. That's the most stimulative thing we could do because then we would enhance private spending and private job creation and private job growth.

That's where we need to have our focus rather than enhancing more government programs. We need to enhance people being able to retain their money. That's what the stimulus showed us, the trillion dollars spending bill.

Government can't spend us into prosperity. We took money out of the private sector and put into a more inefficient realm, which is government and we should have kept it in the private sector. We would have been out of the recovery right now if we would have gone that route.

CHETRY: All right, well, we're going to have to -

BACHMANN: We would have been in the recovery right now, sorry. Out of the recession, into the recovery.

CHETRY: Do you buy this double-dip recession? Do you think we'll go into a double-dip recession right now if this isn't passed?

BACHMANN: No, I don't think so. I think what we need to do is get serious, be adults and make sure that we extend all the current tax levels. Don't raise anyone's taxes right now. That will hurt all people at all income levels.

ROBERTS: Michelle Bachmann, it's great to see you this morning.

BACHMANN: John Roberts, thank you.

CHETRY: Thanks.

Well, Democratic Congressman Gary Ackerman of New York putting it bluntly saying Democrats and the American people got screwed by the president's tax cut deal.

He's going to be joining us at 8:25 Eastern with his point of view on this. We're going to take a quick break. Your top stories coming up in a moment.

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