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American Morning
House Passes Tax Cuts; Senate Omnibus Spending Bill Abandoned; Hero Security Officer Speaks; Farewell to the King; Soldiers Return Home; Bieber Gives Back; A Soldier's Story
Aired December 17, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, and good morning, everybody. Welcome to this AMERICAN MORNING on this Friday, December 17th. I'm T.J. Holmes sitting in today for John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Nice to see you.
HOLMES: Good to be back with you.
CHETRY: I laughed. The crew said all right, everybody, smile -- big smiles. It's Christmas party Friday.
HOLMES: Oh, yes, there's a big one here. I'm going to miss it, but looking forward to the drunk e-mails and texts from you guys later.
CHETRY: Yes, exactly. Leave your cell phones at the door.
I'm Kiran Chetry. Thanks for being with us this morning. We want to get you caught up on what happened. It's all about Washington.
A done deal, a tax cut extension on its way to the Oval Office this morning. It was a deal hammered out between the White House and Republicans. In the end, more Democrats actually ended up voting for the bill. We're going to have more on a wild day on Capitol Hill.
HOLMES: And, oh -- excuse me, there, but some folks just cannot catch a break from the weather we talked about. Mid-Atlantic states digging out right now, trying to stay warm after, of course, they got that blast of cold weather. But there's another big storm rolling in that's going to cause some problems for a lot of you folks if you're trying to travel this weekend. Yes, it's coming just in time for this busy weekend.
CHETRY: Well, we're paying tribute to the king this morning. Larry King, final show in his familiar 9:00 p.m. CNN slot. You will not believe how many newsmakers and stars showed up to say goodbye. And we have the highlights ahead.
HOLMES: I wasn't able to stay up. That's a good shot right there. But I wasn't able to stay up and see it last night. But I saw some of the highlights this morning. Hard to believe, 25 years.
CHETRY: I know. What a career.
HOLMES: What a career. All right. But we're going to get started now.
This is the important thing you need to know. Your taxes are not going to go up at the beginning of the year. There was a threat that they might, but they are not. So that's what you need to know. We've called these the Bush-era tax cuts. A lot of people now can call them the Obama tax cuts. That bill extending them for another two years now on its way to the Oval Office. This morning, avoiding an income tax hike for millions on New Year's Day. Also this bill renews some benefits for the unemployed.
CHETRY: Many say it was a Christmas miracle, a show of bipartisanship, something we haven't seen in a while. One hundred and thirty-nine Democrats voted for it as well as 138 Republicans.
Jim Acosta is live for us in Washington this morning. And more stunning and notable, this was hammered out by the president and the Senate.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right.
CHETRY: And yet there were just as many Democrats who did not support it.
ACOSTA: That's right. All we were missing on the House floor was Tiny Tim saying and God bless us everyone. Yes, no, this was sort of a Christmas miracle. And you do get the sense that the members of Congress want to get home for the holidays. While everybody was sleeping last night or most everybody was sleeping last night, the tax cut package passed the House last night by a pretty whopping margin -- 277 to 148. But as you know, as we were all following the news yesterday, this thing almost got derailed. There was some quarreling up on Capitol Hill over some of the rules governing the debate over these tax cuts, but they ended up passing in the end and now they're on their way to President Obama's desk.
What does it all mean? Well, as T.J. mentioned, the Bush tax cuts stay the same. So everybody's income tax rates stay the same. Unemployment benefits will continue for another 13 months.
There is a break for middle class -- a lot of middle class taxpayers out there because the payroll tax, that's the tax you pay into social security, there's going to be a two percentage point cut there. That could add up to hundreds of dollars in tax savings for Americans all over the country over the next year. So that's a big boom to taxpayers. And at this point, they've got basically one of their big logjams out of the way. There's no timetable at this point yet as to when it's going to pass. But as we saw last night, it passed on the House floor.
HOLMES: All right. This was supposed to be the big thing that had to get done before the end of the year.
ACOSTA: Yes. HOLMES: So that now that they've passed these tax cuts, does that mean they're going to wash their hands, hop on a flight and go back home? Are they still going to get work?
ACOSTA: I don't think so. Not exactly. You know, there's one other big thing, and that's keeping the lights on in Washington. This big spending bill which we talked about yesterday, they call it the omnibus spending bill here in Washington. Everybody outside of the beltway has no idea what that means. But basically it's the spending bill that keeps all the federal agencies or most of the federal agencies of the government operating. Had they not passed that by the 18th, as in tomorrow, we would have been in serious trouble here. Technically the government would have run out of money.
So here's what happened. As we talked about yesterday and as everybody's been talking about the last 24 hours, that $1.1 trillion spending bill was larded up with like 6,000 earmarks totaling $8 billion, all of this pork in there. Tea Partiers were calling their Republican members of Congress going crazy. And essentially what happened yesterday is a lot of the Republicans who were backing this deal in the end told Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, that they could no longer support it. Even though as we pointed out, many of those Republicans had earmarks in the bill they put in there themselves, but they were planning to vote against it. And so, Senator Reid did not have the votes. And here's what he had to say last night announcing the news that he was pulling this bill off the table.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: In the last 24 hours, they've walked away from the ability for us to complete this legislation. I was told within the last 24 hours that we had bipartisan support to pass this bill. Many told -- I shouldn't say that. "Many" is a word that's too large, but a number of Republican senators told me that they'd like to see it pass. And they couldn't vote for it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: So now they're talking about passing what they call a continuing resolution that's more Washington jargon for basically a bill that will keep the government functioning for another couple of months, and then they can have this fight all over again in the new year. How does that sound, guys?
CHETRY: Yes. And the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" issue, they have to tackle that, as well.
ACOSTA: That's right. And that's what is so significant about what happened in the last 24 hours because this really clears the field for something that a lot of people did not think was going to happen. The repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" as we know it passed the House. Now Harry Reid is saying that he's going to start having some votes on this over the weekend. And let's put this up on screen because this is very significant. Four Republican senators have now come out and said they're going to support the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in the military. Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Scott Brown and Lisa Murkowski. This is essentially, as we all know, once this passes, if it passes, will allow gays and lesbians who are currently serving in the Armed Services to serve openly. This would be a historic, historic bill signing if this happened.
CHETRY: All right. Looks like we lost Jim there for a second, but thank you. Good thing he was winding down.
HOLMES: Yes. You got the bulk of it.
CHETRY: That was an abrupt ending, though. Sorry, Jim.
HOLMES: We got the bulk of it. I'm not saying, Jim, you were taking too long. But that's all right. We appreciate Jim this morning. We'll check in with him again. A lot happening in D.C.
Also some weather in D.C. Take a look at this picture.
Extreme weather all over the place. You know how this goes when the roads get icy, gets snowy, and some people don't slow down like they should.
CHETRY: Right.
HOLMES: A lot of fender benders that took place. That was kind of the order of the day yesterday. Dozens of accidents were reported in a four-hour period in parts of Maryland.
CHETRY: Yes, we used to have a saying, one inch of snow in the D.C. metropolitan area is like a foot in other places because it's -- I don't know -- people go crazy. Hard to drive in.
HOLMES: Just not used to it, a lot of folks aren't.
CHETRY: Well, more dangerous driving down south. Slush made for sloppy roads in Tennessee. Ice-caked power lines buckling under the weight causing tens of thousands of outages. The ice was very devastating in this latest storm, especially for the south.
HOLMES: Yes. We also appreciate, as well, helping us tell these stories, these weather stories, one of our iReporters sent this in to us, spotted hundreds of manatees huddled together trying to get warm. They like the warm water. This is apparently the warm water coming out of the Apollo Beach power plant, doing all they could, as well. Everybody trying to stay warm. Manatees doing the same. Thanks as always to one of our I-reporters.
CHETRY: So cute.
Well, it's seven minutes past the hour. We'll get a check of the morning headlines right now, see if it's getting any better out there. Karen Maginnis is in the extreme weather center. Good morning, Karen.
KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And good morning, Kiran and T.J. We've still got bitterly cold air all across the northeast. A little bit of snowfall. But this is primarily confined into the eastern Great Lakes and most of that is going to be on the light side. However, let's take a look our long range forecast for New York. It does look like all the way through Christmas your temperatures aren't going to budge out of the 30s. On top of that, there's going to be a weather system that is going to wind its way off the coast of the Carolinas and we'll watch for the development of that.
Take a look at some of these temperatures now still only holding into the 20s all across the northeast. Buffalo is 26. New York is 23. Portland, Maine, reporting 14 degrees right now. And in Washington, D.C., 26. Well, those temperatures wrapped around the Great Lakes only into the teens. And Nashville reporting 30 degrees. Yesterday, Nashville had cancellations at the airport because it was so icy there. Icy all the way down into Atlanta and into Birmingham as well as into Huntsville, Alabama. But right now, temperatures are reasonably mild.
I'll be back in just about 30 to 40 minutes and let you know how the rest of the weekend is shaping up elsewhere. Back to you, Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Karen Maginnis for us, thank you.
Some emotional words this morning coming from the security officer hailed a hero for stopping a gunman at a Florida school board meeting. And again, the video is disturbing. We just want to let you know we are going to show it again, though.
Earlier this week, a man named Clay Duke did this. He opened fire on school board members in Panama City, missed all of them. As board members dove for cover, Mike Jones, the school district's chief of security and a retired police officer is the one who shot the gunman, wounded him, and then the gunman later turned the gun on himself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE JONES, DIR., SAFETY & SECURITY, BAY COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD: And honestly, I shot the man in the back the first time and I was thinking I was going to jail. There's just so many things that go through your mind, but it was the instinct and the training and -- I'm just glad that they're all here and alive. And I'm not a hero, folks. I just done my job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Jones says he wasn't even supposed to be at the school board meeting, but because of the bitterly cold weather right now in Florida, his boss asked if he could stop by just to make sure there were no problems with the building.
HOLMES: Wow. Well, did you see this last night? Hope you did, a lot of people did. I wasn't able to. Did you watch this live show last night?
CHETRY: At 9:00? No.
HOLMES: No. OK. Kind of passed bedtime.
CHETRY: Go to sleep.
HOLMES: But this is what you missed. You missed two presidents, four network anchors, and just an endless cast of stars all paying tribute, of course, to the star of the night, really the star of the past 25 years here at this network. Larry King, it was his last show, final show on CNN. He has had some 6,000 of them over the past 25 years. In case you missed it, here are some of the highlights from last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": And instead of goodbye, how about so long?
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you, Larry. And best of luck.
KING: Thank you, Barbara.
BARBARA WALTERS, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": You'll be so missed. So missed.
BILL CLINTON, 42ND PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you, Larry, and thank you for all the years. You were great.
TONY BENNETT, SINGER: You ain't seen nothing yet. The best is yet to come and babe won't that be fine.
KING: Tony Bennett.
BENNETT: A standing ovation tonight. Come on, everybody. We love you.
KING: How about them apples (ph)?
BENNETT: Thanks for all the great interviews you've given us, Larry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: That was, of course, kind of the most, maybe one of the most emotional, poignant visuals we saw last night --
CHETRY: Yes.
HOLMES: -- was just seeing that microphone there last night. He is -- yes, he said so long last night. He's not going away necessarily from CNN. He's going to be part of our family here for a while hosting several specials throughout the year. But a special night to wrap that thing up last night after 25 years.
CHETRY: So cute too, he was sitting with his two sons.
HOLMES: Yes.
CHETRY: His two youngest sons.
HOLMES: We're going to be showing some more of that today throughout the morning.
CHETRY: Yes. I think they pulled out a Larry King imitation of their dad as well. We'll show you that a little later.
Also, there's a new show coming to CNN in the new year airing at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. It's "Piers Morgan Tonight." It premiers next month right here on CNN. An event definitely you don't want to miss.
HOLMES: We moved right on, didn't we? Sorry, Larry.
All right. Well, coming up. It's that time of year. A lot of fathers, mothers, sons, daughters coming home after serving in the war zone. Yes, you're going to see a lot of scenes like this playing out in airports and bases really around the country. We're live along one stop on their journey home for the holiday. Stick around for that.
CHETRY: And he's not even out of school, but he's already helping other kids get the education they deserve. Our "Big Stars, Big Giving" series continues one-on-one with "the Biebs," Justin Bieber.
HOLMES: Is that really what they call him?
CHETRY: Yes, "the Bieb."
HOLMES: I didn't realize. OK.
Also, a video you have to see. I was told about it this morning then I saw it, and yes, it lives up to the hype. We'll explain what you're seeing on the screen here. But this is the viral video of the day. And it might be the greatest accomplishment in marching band history.
It's 12 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Fifteen minutes past the hour.
New this morning, it's the end of a long journey for some U.S. soldiers. Three hundred thousand or actually 300 troops -- I'm getting ahead of myself of here -- return home to cheers from family and friends in Burlington, Vermont. This is yesterday and we got video of this poignant moments getting reunited with family after being deployed for so long. Soldiers from the Vermont National Guard, they just finished up a nine-month deployment in Afghanistan.
HOLMES: We are going to see a lot of scenes like this over the holidays. A lot of families are waiting for their loved ones to get home just in time for the holidays. Let's turn to Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta. Our Reynolds Wolf is standing by there for us right now.
Reynolds, good morning to you. And that airport, we fly through all the time. And even on a down time, no matter what time of year, you always see those scenes play out in Atlanta, but especially right now.
REYNOLD WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. It's always a touching scene. It's always a beautiful thing. And it's a chance for these servicemen and women to actually come back and get a sense of normalcy.
Many of these people just days ago were out on the combat lines. And now, they're coming back and returning to, in many sense, at the real world.
Now, the men and women there in the USO at this point, most of these had just come from Fort Jackson and they're just been going through basic training. They got to have a little bit of a Christmas break and then they head back to return their training and then they might be deployed at certain places around the globe, possibly even, of course, the Middle East, of course, maybe even Afghanistan.
But when they come through the airport, they're going to head to the USO. Let's walk on through there and show you what they expect when they walk in. You know, it's just the small things, some of them will get a big of candy, some of them get a thing like -- we've got Rudolph over here, you got candy canes, just little things that make them feel like they're at home. They get a chance to sign in. And then, thankfully, they get a chance to get a bite, to eat something different from the military grub they're normally used to.
And they get a chance to relax a bit. Just calm down, just grab a chair, nice recliner, and enjoy a meal.
Let's step over here and meet some of the troops we've got. We've got one great lady that we were speaking to a while ago.
Jonathan Sheers (ph), our photo journalist, has been weaving through here.
Good morning. What's your name?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SOLDIER: Good morning. My name is Anna. My rank is -- I'm specialist and my rank is E4. And I'm coming for Jackson for my Christmas exodus and I'm heading to San Francisco, California.
WOLF: How many weeks of basic that you had so far?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SOLDIER: We had about more than three weeks of basic.
WOLF: Now, let's be honest. I mean, when you've been in basic and you've been away from friends and away from family, there are things you have to miss, I'm sure. What is the first thing you're going to do when you get back to San Francisco?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SOLDIER: Well, I'm going to have enough of rest and sleep, first thing to do. And all in our battalion got really sick because of the weather. It was like about 24 degrees outside and we have to stand just in one t-shirt and one shirt all the time. So, I'll make sure I will get some time to rejuvenate.
WOLF: Well, thanks so much for your service. Welcome back. So glad you're going to get a chance to go back to California.
She mentioned, of course, the idea of not having enough rest and good food sounds sometimes like the news industry, doesn't it, T.J.?
Coming up in a little bit, I'd say around 9:00, 9:30, we're actually going to have some troops that are coming in from Kuwait, people that have been on the combat line, they're going to be coming through, reunited with families, something you won't want to miss.
Let's send it back to you in New York.
HOLMES: All right. Reynolds, we appreciate that. Always enjoy seeing those scenes at the airport. We'll chat with you here in a little bit.
CHETRY: The USO is invaluable for the troops and their families as well. They're doing amazing things. So, congratulations.
Meanwhile, he's on the shelf. He has a shoulder injury. Well, now, he's also off the market. You were sad about this this morning, you know?
HOLMES: I'm not sad about Tony Romo.
CHETRY: I don't know. Why were all you guys talking about it, because you can't believe he's settling down? Cowboys' quarterback Tony Romo pops the question to his girlfriend. We have details coming up.
HOLMES: All right. And you often hear -- let's talk about viral video that you've got to see. OK. We're going to deliver, no doubt this morning -- you have got to see this and I'm going on record calling this the greatest accomplishment in the history of marching band. You do not want to miss it.
It's 19 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Twenty-two minutes past the hour now. This is one a lot of people are talking about. It's always interesting people getting married, celebrities -- including this guy, Tony Romo, has proposed to that woman.
Now, you need to look a little closer, that is not Jessica Simpson, even though it might look like her. This is a television reporter. Candice Crawford is her name. He apparently proposed to her last night. She was celebrating her 24th birthday. He popped the question, and they're getting married.
And this comes just how long after Jessica Simpson announced she was engaged to a former player.
CHETRY: Right. She got engaged. And then her ex-husband, Nick Lachey, also announced his engagement.
But, by the way, look at Chase Crawford here. That is the brother, the famous brother from "Gossip Girl" of the newly betrothed. So, congratulations.
HOLMES: I had to -- I had to be schooled on gossip girl this morning. I wasn't familiar.
CHETRY: That's all right.
HOLMES: All right.
CHETRY: All right. This is going viral this morning. You love this.
HOLMES: Love this.
CHETRY: This is University of Hawaii's marching band. They formed a giant stick figure. Can you imagine how hard this is to pull off? And they did it beautifully. They formed a stick figure football player on the field. There he is. And he is a field goal kicker.
They actually run down the field in formation, and let's check it out. There he goes -- there he goes, it's up, it's up --
HOLMES: Did we deliver or not? I told you you were going to love it.
CHETRY: And it's -- it's good!
HOLMES: That is phenomenal.
CHETRY: That is amazing.
HOLMES: We've been told about it all morning. I didn't believe it was as great as everyone was saying, but no doubt it is.
CHETRY: Congratulations to Hawaii.
HOLMES: Yes, congratulations. I don't know how they did in the game, but at least the marching band won.
Let's show this picture. Can we show this, first of all, and then try to get people to figure out exactly what it is? Where is -- can you make out what that is? You see this folks? Does that look like anything to you? The image on there, Kiran?
CHETRY: No, it doesn't.
HOLMES: Well, some people are saying that is an image on the piece of candy of the Virgin Mary. You know, we say all the time people see what they want to see in these sometimes. But this is in west Toledo, Ohio. He thinks that's the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus on a piece of holiday candy. He's a Vietnam vet. He's not sure if he's going to try to sell it.
CHETRY: This is why these stories annoy me --
HOLMES: Because they put it on eBay.
CHETRY: Yes. The grilled cheese, you know? I don't know. There was a grilled cheese. There were a couple of other things. And then they sell it on eBay.
Come on. If, you know, the Lord wanted to come to you in an edible food item, would he then want you to sell it for your own profit? I don't know. Call me crazy.
HOLMES: The Lord speaks to people in different ways.
CHETRY: Yes. You're right.
Coming up: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, he's out on bail today -- but not completely free. We have an update, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty-seven minutes past the hour now.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange staying in a mansion outside of London this morning, a condition of his bail. He's also been ordered to wear an electronic monitor. The man who exposed thousands of sensitive U.S. diplomatic cables remains defiant after nine days behind bars.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIAN ASSANGE, WIKILEAKS EDITOR: Being in a situation of physical isolation in solitary confinement has allowed me to consider the philosophy that I have espoused in this project and actions. And has not altered my position, rather it has confirmed to me personally that we are on the right path and has given me enough anger about the situation to last me 100 years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Assange is fighting extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning about alleged sex crimes.
HOLMES: Meanwhile, he does have supporters. And some of those supporters showed up for a snowy anti-war protest in front of the White House. Got pretty noisy, but peaceful demonstration.
Police had to move in to clear the crowds. Those who refused were hauled away in handcuffs. A hundred thirty-one people were arrested. Among those arrested, Daniel Ellsberg. He's a former military analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers to "The New York Times" back in 1971.
CHETRY: Well, it's a done deal. A tax cut extension is on its way to the Oval Office for the president's signature this morning. It's a deal hammered out between the White House and Republicans that will extend the Bush-era tax cuts for two years and extend jobless benefits for the unemployed for at least another year.
HOLMES: All right. You heard all the back and forth, the fighting, debate in Washington, but this is a big bill, $858 billion.
Jim, people want to know what's in there for them.
ACOSTA: Exactly. Yes. I mean, people think those guys in Washington, they don't do anything for me. Well, if they had allowed these tax cuts to expire and everybody's taxes had gone up, I think people would've noticed what was going on in Washington, D.C.
So, let's break it down. What does this mean for you? If you're sitting at home wondering what is -- I hear a lot about these tax cuts. What does it all mean? Well, your income taxes are going to stay the same. That's the good news for those of you who like paying income taxes, which is none of us. But at least they don't go up.
And then here's something interesting that folks are not probably, you know, totally aware of. And that's there's going to be a 2 percentage point cut in the payroll tax. And now, the payroll tax is what you pay into the Social Security system.
And if we flip to the next screen, we can show what that means, essentially, workers now pay 6.2 percent on the first $106,800 that make every year. This deal reduces that to 4.2 percent. So, this is going to potentially, T.J. and Kiran, put hundreds of dollars into the pockets of millions of Americans.
CHETRY: And so, you know, the interesting thing is, I mean, part of it is that you wouldn't realize you were missing something unless this didn't go through.
ACOSTA: Right.
CHETRY: Because right now, most people have gotten used to seeing, you know, their paychecks the way that they are because of tax cut extension.
ACOSTA: Exactly.
CHETRY: So, I mean, who would you say the biggest winners and biggest losers are in all of this?
ACOSTA: Well, Democrats, the reason they were howling over this is because they felt like the poor -- poorest of Americans were getting the shaft on this. And let me tell you what I mean by that, the making work pay tax credit. This is sounding kind of jargony. But this was in the stimulus. People might not be aware of this.
But for individuals who were making less than $75,000, that tax credit put $400 in their pockets. As a result of that, this new tax cut deal does away with that tax credit. So, $400 being lost for income earners up to $75,000, $800 for couples making up to $150,000.
Who were the winners? Well, this is why a lot of Republicans were very much onboard with this deal. The estate tax cut. Had that expired, estate taxes would've gone up big time.
The first -- basically, up to $1 million would have been exempt from the tax, but after $1 million, you would have been taxed at 55 percent. Now, it's estates up to $5 million are going to taxed at 35 percent. So, that's a pretty significant change, which is why some people feel like that estate tax cut is going to be a boon to a lot of wealthy Americans out there. So, that's why the Republicans were feeling pretty good about this.
Who are the losers? Perhaps in the end of all of this -- remember, all of this, guys, goes on to the credit card, $850 billion -- essentially children who are being born now, they're going to have to be paying off this public debt when they're adults because it's very unlikely that this -- any of this is going to get paid off by the time they become adults
So, it is a mixed bag. But, you know, the reason why they -- the president was so eager to have this passed was because a lot of economists out there are saying this is going to inject money into the economy, get the economy going. And, Kiran, and, T.J., you've talked to Mark Zandi before, the noted economist, he has said that this could potentially reduce the unemployment rate in this country to 8.5 percent by the end of next year, which tells you why the White House is so interested in this.
CHETRY: Right. I mean, it's, in some ways, a gamble. But we'll have to see how it works out. Jim Acosta for us -- thanks so much.
HOLMES: Thanks, Jim.
ACOSTA: You bet.
CHETRY: Well, an A.M. original for you now. The hottest music star on the planet and he's only 16 years old.
HOLMES: You know who we're talking about. At least you know the hair if you don't know anything else, Justin Bieber. He's a huge star who is now taking that stardom and doing something with it, trying to make a good impression, trying to do some good out there, with a charity, a priority.
Alina Cho here. The Bieb?
CHETRY: The Biebs.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bieber Fever.
HOLMES: Bieber Fever, do you have it?
CHO: Not aware.
CHETRY: She does now.
CHO: I most certainly do. Good morning.
You know, Justin Bieber, listen to this, he is up for two Grammys, he recently swept the American Music Awards, no question. He is a huge star.
But what was most surprising to us is even at the ripe old age of 16, backstage, he's already building a history of giving back.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO (voice-over): Justin Bieber --
(MUSIC)
CHO: -- he's hot, hot, hot -- so hot the hysteria surrounding him has a name, Bieber Fever. The hair, the music, the moves.
(MUSIC)
CHO: And he's all of 16, with a passion for giving back.
(on camera): You know, you think to yourself, he's 16 years old.
JUSTIN BIEBER, POP ARTIST: Yes.
CHO: How does he know what charity is?
BIEBER: For me, I grew up -- I didn't have a lot of money. And for me, it's about helping people out that haven't had opportunity.
CHO (voice-over): In fact, it wasn't just that Bieber didn't have a lot of money. Four years ago, he and his mother -- a single mom -- were broke, living in poverty.
Then his mom uploaded videos of him singing on YouTube. Little did she know, they'd go viral and catch the eye of a record producer.
The rest is now Bieber Fever history.
BIEBER: For me, I'm inspired by -- you know, by children and other kids. And I think that charities that are involved, involve kids -- it's just important to me.
CHO: So Bieber is giving back, one C.D. at a time. A portion of his new C.D. sales benefit the Children's Miracle Network, money for children's hospitals. And $1 from every concert ticket sold goes to Pencils of Promise, which builds schools in the third world.
(on camera): That's a lot of money.
BIEBER: Yes.
CHO: Why?
BIEBER: I just think that for me it just goes past, you know, money.
CHO (voice-over): Perhaps most touching, at concerts, Bieber meets personally with a child from the Make a Wish Foundation.
BIEBER: It's definitely hard on me. Definitely it gets me a little teary-eyed. And it's -- it's just crazy to know that, you know, that I'm the wish.
(MUSIC)
CHO (on camera): What inspired you to write those words?
BIEBER: There's so many people in this world that go without? And there are so many people that just need someone to just help them.
CHO: It was nice to talk about something other than your hair and the girls, right, for a change?
BIEBER: Yes. I do love talking about girls, though.
CHO (voice-over): And that's when you remember all this giving back from a star who's just a kid.
BIEBER: I have such a big platform. And it would be silly if I didn't do something with it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: What a kid, and what a talent doing great things in the world. For behind the scene photos of our shot with Justin Bieber, you can go to our Web site at CNN.com/amFIX. And for more on how you can make a difference in the world, CNN.com/Impact, our partners in this project this year.
You know, the interesting thing is Justin Bieber says he was inspired by Michael Jackson, in terms of giving back. He also, of course, is inspired by his music. But he said, if I could just give 1/10 of what Michael Jackson did, I would be happy, and, you know, it's really heart-warming to see someone that young already sort of have that social conscience and that feeling of responsibility. And he wants to inspire his fans. And we certainly hope he is.
CHETRY: Well, I can't just believe that it all started with his mom uploading videos on YouTube.
CHO: Incredible.
CHETRY: I mean, what a change -- their life changed forever because of that.
CHO: Their life did change forever. And just imagine, they didn't do it hoping for stardom. They did it only because they wanted their extended family to be able to see those videos. And can you imagine getting that phone call and then having Usher and Justin Timberlake fighting over signing you? And it's -- just anyway, like I said, the rest is Bieber Fever history.
HOLMES: Well, we appreciate it. I'm going to get onboard Bieber Fever history now --
CHO: I think you should.
HOLMES: No, no, it's good -- it really is good to see somebody that young actually making a difference like that.
CHO: T.J., his music's legitimately good. I think you ought to put it on your iPod.
HOLMES: Clearly it is.
CHETRY: You're looking for a new do in 2011.
HOLMES: I don't think I can pull that off.
CHO: You can pull anything off.
HOLMES: Oh, Alina. I miss you, too, sweetie.
Alina's one-hour special "Big Stars, Big Giving" airs Christmas Eve 7:00 Eastern on Christmas Day as well at 8:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.
Alina, good to see you as always.
Well, coming up -- a lot of people worry they might be losing their job. You're worried about your boss firing you? Well, how about this? Fire your boss first.
Coming up, the secrets to building your own business with just a few bucks? Really?
It's 38 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. A lot of people out there are looking for a job right now. Other people are worried about their own job right now. You thought about maybe ditching the job hunt, maybe ditching the boss?
How about starting your own business? It sounds easy sometimes when you hear from somebody who's done it. But it's certainly not easy, but still, it can be done.
Scott Gerber did it. He's the founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council -- started his first successful business with just $700. The book is "Never Get a Real Job: How to Dump Your Boss, Build a Business, and Not Go Broke."
Sounds impossible, Scott. Now, first of all, you talk about ditching your boss. This isn't for everybody, though. Entrepreneurship, is it?
SCOTT GERBER, AUTHOR, "NEVER GET A REAL JOB": I think it has to be.
HOLMES: It has to be?
GERBER: I mean, for young people especially, now more than ever, we have over 81 million young people unemployed worldwide. Forty percent of us have been unemployed or underemployed since the end of 2007. So, we need an alternative. Jobs are not coming back. Automation, globalization, all of these things are working against us. So, we need to have a "create a job to keep a job" mentality.
HOLMES: Now, that's one thing if you are out of a job and you need to come up with something. And you do come up with an idea. But would you be an advocate for if you have a job right now try to get out of that job or even quit that job to start your own thing?
GERBER: One hundred percent. I think that when --
HOLMES: Come on, that sounds crazy to some people.
GERBER: But when you are working for someone else, you are actively not -- in most cases again, especially in Gen Y, you're working in a scenario where every hour you put into something is not for you. It is not for your growth, especially now with recession, with layoffs that we've had, there is no job security anymore. It is not a safe environment to have a 9:00 to 5:00 social norm-oriented job.
HOLMES: But isn't that a little scary for folks in these economic times with 15 million already out of a job. We know -- if you have a job, a lot of people want to hold on to it. I can't give this up. That sounds like a heck of a risk for some people.
Well, again, you have to look at what risk is now. Risk to me is something very different than what risk used to be. Again, going back to job seekers, you have folks out there that are passively trying to send resumes, where in some cases, for each open position, you have 75 to 1,000-plus resumes being sent. That's less than a 1 percent change actually getting that opportunity.
For folks that are in jobs, you know, there are studies out there right now that show people are afraid of doing anything wrong because they're afraid they're going to get canned at any time. So, again, I think it's time we start to move towards a more entrepreneurial mindset, because then as we move forward, we'll be able to take control of our own lives.
HOLMES: All right. Let's take a look here -- excuse me on the cough here. Let's take a look. We've got some screen. A screen we can put up here to show some of these things people need to do. Again, dump the boss, sounds crazy, but you say build something simple and unoriginal. People think they need to have some great idea nobody's thought of.
GERBER: I always say this is not the time to start trying to build Facebook. You need to build something that is unoriginal, something hat that is not reinventing the wheel, because if you try to reinvent the wheel, you're doomed to be run over by it. So, keep it simple. Keep it practical. Keep it nuts and bolts. And most importantly, make sure it's capable of generating immediate revenue now.
HOLMES: OK. How are people supposed to finance these ideas? It's tough to get loans right now.
GERBER: Absolutely. I mean, I always advocate that you are not going to get financing. You know, every business I've ever started has been as boot strapped as it possibly could have been. I always like to say, shoe strapping because the boot is too expensive.
So, with me, you know, you don't need office space. I'm living proof of that. I had a Madison Avenue address for less than $500 a year by having a virtual office. You know, I had virtual systems -- things that got me in the market immediately to allow me to be productive and faked it until I make it, so to speak.
HOLMES: OK. But there is a stress, there is risk certainly involved with entrepreneurship. And that's kind of the beginning. Is it not for everybody? Isn't it? I mean, I know people, good friends who are stressed out, who sometimes have to live month-to-month when they're doing it on their own like that. Is it not for everybody? There's a stress involved here.
GERBER: I mean, there's no question there's a stress involved. But we are headed towards a major paradigm shift that we're starting to see. The effects of globalization, automation, and the recession have changed the way our reality is going to be in the U.S. job force and internationally.
So, frankly, if we don't start to move to that next generational thinking, if we don't start to become entrepreneurial, especially in Gen Y, we frankly could become a lost generation.
HOLMES: Last thing here, do colleges maybe need to shift and maybe get some curriculum in there to teach people entrepreneurship versus getting that B.A. and whatever it may be, a viable option needs to be -- and college kids need to be thinking about entrepreneurship.
GERBER: I think we need to start at the grammar school level, frankly. I think that right now in this country, we don't teach entrepreneurship. We don't teach people how to be self-efficiency experts. And that is a big problem on the new economy.
So, frankly, I think, on the college level, the high school level, we need to have people understand what it takes to build a real solid business with a real foundation that is not built on a mind set of being a billionaire. Because that's the way we will move forward as a society.
HOLMES: All right. Scott, we appreciate you. So, you're telling me, I need to put my two weeks in here today.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: And get out of here. I need to quit is what you're telling me.
GERBER: I think it's time you take control, man.
HOLMES: Take control. All right.
GERBER: There you go.
HOLMES: Scott Gerber, you heard it here, folks. Let me drop my two-week notice, Kiran, and I'm out of here.
CHETRY: Good luck with that.
HOLMES: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: Keep in touch.
Still to come this morning, Karen Maginnis is in for Rob Marciano. She's going to be along with the morning's travel forecast right after the break. It's going to be a tough weekend because of the ice, the snow, and the cold in many parts of the country. Forty- six minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Forty-eight minutes past the hour right now. Time to get a check of the weather. This morning, Karen Maginnis is keeping eye on things. She's putting it into (ph) prospective for us. Syracuse got more snow than Justin Bieber is tall?
MAGINNIS: Yes.
CHETRY: I love that. That's something everyone can understand.
(LAUGHTER)
MAGINNIS: Yes, you wouldn't even see the sweep of the hair.
(LAUGHTER) MAGINNIS: Already Syracuse has picked up close to 70 inches of snowfall for the season already, and they're looking at another snow event in the next couple of days. But, yes, their all-time snowfall record 70.3 inches. They've seen 69.3 inches. So, yes, more than Justin Bieber is tall. All right. How about some of the delays at the airports? For the most part, a storm system is going to slam into the West Coast. So, San Francisco starts to pick up the rain and the low clouds, so those delays are going to add up to maybe an hour later on in the day.
We could see some minor delays across the northeast as the weather system begins to pull away. However, we did see some snowfall records. Cincinnati, nothing dramatic as far as Cincinnati is concerned, but just under 4 inches recorded there, and that was a record snowfall total that we were looking at. Yesterday, Charlottesville, Fairfax, Washington, D.C., we were anticipating between 1 and 3 inches of snow.
Generally, 1 to 2 inches for some of the common amounts that we did see, but what a slick morning. There were cars just kind of spread out all over some of the interstates and highways because the roads were so incredibly slippery. All the way from Atlanta, Georgia, all the way into the northeast and New England, we did see a weather system that moved through, but now it is dramatically warmer across the southeast.
As we head towards the weekend, this area of low pressure is actually going to develop off the Mid-Atlantic Coast. Will it be a big nor'easter over the next several days? Right now, the National Weather Service is telling us, we don't know how much is going to develop, but it could impact, perhaps, some sections of New England as we head into Sunday, but more so into Monday. Temperatures only into the 30s in Denver, lots of rain expected for this weekend for the West Coast, and we'll keep you updated. T.J., Kiran, back to you.
CHETRY: Karen Maginnis for us, thanks.
HOLMES: Thanks, Karen.
CHETRY: This morning's top stories just minutes away, including pay now or pay for it later. Taxes will stand -- be the same in the New Year, but it's another trillion dollars on the tab. We're going to debate whether it's worth it for you and your kids and grand kids down the line.
HOLMES: Also this morning, actor, Morgan Freeman is alive. And yes, that's actually a viable news story this morning. We'll explain. It's 10 until the top of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: OK. Seven minutes until of the top of the hour.
CHETRY: We're getting fired up over this "A.M. Original."
HOLMES: Yes, it is an "A.M. Original." Something you're only going to see right here for the past year. We have been bringing you series of reports tracking the lines of military recruits, literally, from the basic training to the battlefield.
CHETRY: Yes. And their stories and their struggles have sort of become ours over this past year. And this morning, we're focusing on three soldiers, all of them answering the president's call for service at great personal sacrifice. Jason Carroll this morning with a soldier's story. Hi, Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I know both of you have been following along. I know Kiran has a particular favorite out of one of those, and I know you do, as well. We really appreciate that, but in order to tell a soldier's story, we wanted to focus on people from different backgrounds to give a better perspective of what it's like to be in the army during the time of war. We've turned their stories and the series into a one-hour documentary. Here's a brief look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL (voice-over): In the fading light of a cold December evening barely one full year ago, the president of the United States forged marine one, and then air force one for a trip to West Point, New York.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States.
CARROLL: The 33-minute speech he is about to deliver will affect the lives of every cadet in Eisenhower Hall.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And as commander in chief, I have determined to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan.
CARROLL: Along with every man and woman serving or about to serve in the United States military.
For more than a year, CNN has followed three of these soldiers. Together, they tell a story of how the president's decision, to expand the war in Afghanistan, affects the people most directly in harm's way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One, two, three -- come on, you got it. Come on. You got it.
CARROLL: Latrisha Rose (ph) joins the army, leaving behind a 2- year-old daughter with a husband wondering how he can do it alone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we go. Almost done.
CARROLL: Sergeant Randy Shorter is a husband and father of two. Just 32 years old, he's already a veteran of two combat tours. Now, he's about to return to Afghanistan to an area the military calls hell on earth. And then, there's 18-year-old Will McLean who, weeks from tonight, may find himself carrying out the President's mission into the very heart of Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL (on-camera): Randy Shorter, Latrisha Rose and Will McLean, their stories represent the thousands of soldiers who have been making sacrifices for years and continue to do so every day. Again, their stories are outlined in this one-hour documentary put together for you.
HOLMES: Will is my guy. I remember him from the very beginning, his family, and then all the weight he lost, the struggles he went through.
CARROLL: So, I can't wait for you to see how things turned out for Will. And I know Latrisha Rose was one of those that --
CHETRY: You just had to feel for her. I mean, first of all, just the emotion of having to say goodbye to her 2-year-old who didn't understand where's mom going for, however, many weeks. And then, you know, she sort of had the husband who was supposed to, you know, pull his own weight, and he had some struggles.
CARROLL: And we got the most mail, actually, about Latrisha Rose about the three of them. But again, all of their stories outlines in this documentary that we hope (INAUDIBLE).
CHETRY: Yes. We want to know how it all ends. Jason, thank you. And again, CNN's going to be airing this one-hour documentary. It is called "A Soldier's Story. It airs Saturday, December 18th, which is tomorrow night, 8:00, and again, Sunday, December 19th, 8:00 p.m. eastern.
Top stories coming your way. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. Fifty-seven minutes after the hour.
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