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American Morning
Awaiting New Jobs Report; It's the Economy; "Tech" It Out; Luck Of The Cardinal; Budget Slashed, Lives Lost
Aired January 07, 2011 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hey there, everybody. Top of the hour here on this AMERICAN MORNING. Glad you could be here with us. It's Friday, January the 7th. I'm T.J. Holmes.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. Thanks for joining us.
A lot to talk about this morning, we'll get right to it.
If you're headed to work right now or maybe just hoping for some work, we have the latest jobs report out this morning. What will the numbers be like? Hopefully, moving in the right direction. And also, what does it tell us about the economy moving forward? We're standing by to break it down for you.
HOLMES: Also standing by to see two sisters walk out of a Mississippi prison. This could happen within the hour. The release is conditional, however. The condition is that one sister must donate a kidney to the other. The governor has let them out on humanitarian reasons; also, for some financial reasons.
We'll get into that and why some say they shouldn't have been in prison for 16 years in the first place.
CHETRY: Also, Mother Nature piling on. Another snowstorm is bearing down on the northeast. Up to six inches could fall by this afternoon. There's the tower camera of New York City. A look outside right now, where you can se there's still some snow on the roofs from last time.
In Philadelphia, as well, is already starting to come down. And after a big Christmas weekend blizzard debacle, everyone's wondering this morning: is New York ready to handle, albeit smaller, but another snowstorm?
HOLMES: All right. But it's one of the big things we're talking about today because we will know more about our economy here shortly. Economic recovery -- is it happening? Jobs, are they being created?
CHETRY: Yes, it's a big question. And right now, in about 30 minutes, we're getting this latest jobs report.
Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business" and she joins us now.
And the news you that brought us, I think it was a day or two ago about the company that analyzes the payroll, saying they've seen month-to-month, a big jump.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUISNESS CORRESPONDENT: A big jump. So, now, people are wondering today if we're going to see some blockbuster hiring in the month of December. How much of it is seasonal, how much is companies hiring permanent workers? We don't know yet. We'll know in 28 minutes.
This is what the year look like though. 2010 is a year that did see some job creation. Those green bars are months when you saw thousands, hundreds of thousands of jobs created in some cases. Red, though, when we slipped back. In November, only 39,000 jobs created. That was a disappointment.
Now, on the right there, that hash mark bar, that's maybe 140,000, 150,000 jobs created. We just don't know. I'm going to be really honest with you.
The labor market is big. It's dynamic. It's under incredible stress.
And we're just trying to get a good read of what's happening there. We know that other signs of stability in the labor market have been coming in, you guys. We want to see if the jobs are created. We'll know in about -- in about 28 minutes.
I do know you still have 6 million people who have been jobless for six months or longer. Very closely watching to see what the number is in this report.
HOLMES: All right. Christine, thank you.
CHETRY: Thanks, Christine. We'll check in with you again.
Also, stay with AMERICAN MORNING this morning and, of course, CNN throughout the day. At 11:35 Eastern, President Obama is expected to speak about the new job numbers and broader economy and we'll bring it to you live when it happens.
HOLMES: Well, getting the economy back on track -- that is a big deal, big task for the president, top priority right now. Then moving into the second half of his first term now, he'll be counting on Gene Sperling, his newly-minted economic team trying to make this happen.
Joining us from Washington to talk about all of that and other political news there: our chief political correspondent, Candy Crowley.
Candy, good to se you.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Good to see you.
HOLMES: This morning, we're going to hear the president talk about this in a bit. But, are we starting to get into re-election mode? And everything that happens, every number that comes out and almost every move that's made, people are thinking ahead, like the president, that was going to happen in November of next year.
CROWLEY: You know, even if you -- we can't know what people's motivations are, but the fact of the matter is, there's political impact to everything that happens, even if you argue there's no political intent. And when you look at the arrival of Chief of Staff Daley who is now going to come on, he is a centrist. And what has been the chief problem that President Obama has had? He's lost the middle.
So, when he brings on a centrist chief of staff and one from the business world as well as the political world, it tells you that: "A," he thinks he needs to make reparations with the business world, and "B," he's tacking to the center. So, there is that.
As far as a new economic team is concerned -- certainly, an economic team can help guide economic policy. But as Christine just sort of talked about, the economy has this beat all to its own. In some ways, it's immune to the machinations of people trying to stare it one way or another, just because it's so big and so hard for one policy or even a broad policy to really affect major change in the economy that's been in turmoil.
So, to me, in a lot of ways, what's most important here about the new economic team that the president is bringing in is the fact that it is new. That people look up and say, oh, he's switched his economic team and he's doing something. He understands that the economy still needs some input from the federal government, either in terms of making it more business-friendly or in terms of giving it more stimulus money, whichever way you want to go.
This is a president who is looking at the new economic team and saying, hey, we understand your problems. We understand it's gotten as the economy isn't as good as we want it to be and here are my new guys.
CHETRY: Speaking of new guys and speaking of making amends with the business world, you have Bill Daley taking over as chief of staff and we've heard some complaints already from liberal groups like MoveOn.org, complaining that he's so close to big business, a former exec at JPMorgan Chase. Will we see a lot of changes in the White House with Daley as the chief of staff?
CROWLEY: I think you will see more of an operational change than you're going to see -- again, it's symbolic.
Look, I think the White House probably quite pleased that some of the more liberal parts of the Democratic Party are going after the Daley selection because, again, this is the president that wants to send a signal with the Daley selection -- and what's the signal? The signal is, I'm not hostile to business -- which many in the business community think that he is, that his policies have been anti-business.
So, he brings in a guy who spent the last seven years in a major bank. He also brings in a man who has been critical of the Democratic Party for going too far to the left, who is an unabashed moderate Democrat.
So, the fact that the left is attacking him and the Chamber of Commerce is, in fact, praising the Daley selection, tells you something about the way the president wants to go. But I don't think in terms of a big picture economic course, you will look for a big change just because Bill Daley is coming in. I think, operationally, he may run a tighter ship than Rahm Emanuel did.
HOLMES: All right. Candy, good to see you this morning.
CROWLEY: Thanks.
HOLMES: And we will see you again on Sunday. "STATE OF THE UNION" with our Candy Crowley. Sunday morning, 9:00 a.m. Eastern and then again at noon Eastern, right here on CNN.
CHETRY: Thanks, Candy. We'll be watching.
Meantime, other news this morning. Helen Thomas is back after a seven-month retirement or perhaps just a little hiatus there. The 90-year-old journalist has a new job. She's writing a column for "Falls Church News-Press" in northern Virginia.
Last summer, Thomas lost her job after making some disparaging remarks about Jews. The founder of "News-Press" says she gave Thomas the job because she doesn't have believe that she harbors any ill will toward Jewish people.
HOLMES: Well, they haven't got rid all of that other snow from that Christmas Day blizzard. Now, New Yorkers are getting some more.
A live weather map here. You can see what's happening here in the Northeast. Some places got a lot of snow coming down on them already, but it's making its way -- already coming down a bit here in the Big Apple, expecting up to six inches of snow in some places.
CHETRY: And New York City is still recovering from the weekend's -- Christmas weekend blizzard that dropped two feet of snow and basically shut down the city. New York's badly flawed cleanup effort an embarrassment for Mayor Bloomberg, but he says things will be different this time.
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MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK: For nine years, we have insisted on accountability from all agencies and from all city employees from top to bottom. And when something goes wrong, we stop everything, we find out what went wrong and we fix it. And we can spend a lot of time should have, would have and could have. My focus has always been: how can we do it better tomorrow? And that's what New Yorkers expect from us and that's what we have an obligation to deliver and that's what we're going to do.
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CHETRY: Well, after last week's debacle, the mayor replaced the city's ambulance chief and two sanitation executives were reassigned, as well.
HOLMES: Well, they're getting another chance to prove themselves here in the city. They can handle it.
But Rob Marciano is joining us now.
Rob, you said earlier they should get a chance here to really get A-plus because it's not going to be nearly as bad as it was before.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, this one is going to be a softball, I think, compared to the day after Christmas blizzard, that's for sure.
But, nonetheless, there'll be some accumulation and it's coming during some peak rush hours. So, decent storm as far as the size goes, but certainly, a complex one and it doesn't have the strength of that blizzard did last week. That's good.
But all -- stretching all the way back through parts of the Midwest and the Ohio River Valley, back to the Tennessee Valleys and then the most intense snowfall in central and southern Jersey, including Philadelphia and northern parts of Delaware, but already beginning to back of in Wilmington, at least the first band. There may be additional bands develop as it taps into Atlantic moisture. But we'll have to see how certain weather parameters set up.
Right now, though, the snow is beginning to intensify across the New York City and the tri-state area there. And some of the suburbs will start to see some accumulations on the roadways as well as we go through the late morning hours and that will make for a messy commute on the way home.
We think two to five inches in spots across the tri-state area. Winter weather advisories are up. Winter storm warnings further north in the Brookshire and the Catskills and the Adirondacks could see five to 10 inches of snow in those spots. Again, a fraction of what we saw just a week and a half ago.
But delays now at Newark and Philadelphia. Ground stops there for the next 45 minutes or so. We'll probably see some further delays across the other metropolitan airports as we go through the afternoon.
Cold air will be driving down behind the system. So, this is affecting much, much more than just the northeastern third of the country. The cold air will get all the way down to the Deep South. So that will make for another chilly weekend and, unfortunately, set the stage for potentially a winter storm here in Dixie, across parts of Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia as we get through Sunday and Monday. So, a couple of other things to watch, as well.
And as you know, not nearly as prepared resource-wise for snow removal here down South. So, that could be a troublemaker come Monday morning.
CHETRY: Yes, here up North, just the in case the mayor forgot, one our local papers, "The New York Post," wanted to make sure, "Memo to Mayor Mike, it's going to snow today! Post alerts city hall." So, they're having fun with it, as well. So, they're having a little bit of fun with as well.
But, you know, it was a lot of the dailies that, you know, sort of brought to attention as well as our iReporters what was not happening that should have been happening in the city.
MARCIANO: In very creative way sometimes.
CHETRY: Yes, they sure do.
MARCIANO: Thank you for those headlines.
CHETRY: Thanks, Rob.
HOLMES: Thanks, Rob.
Well, coming up, two sisters are expected to walk out of prison here within the next hour and they spent 16 years in prison for an armed robbery. They're walking out, though, early. They had a life sentence. But they're getting out on one condition: one of them must donate a kidney to the other. We'll tell you and a look back to give you at the actual crime itself and also the ethical issues this is bringing up.
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HOLMES: What?
CHETRY: What?
HOLMES: Gaga, everywhere. She's showing up somewhere else this time around. Would you believe she's showing at a consumer electronics show?
CHETRY: Maybe she's looking for a new hat.
HOLMES: In Las Vegas. You know what? They probably have it. Do we have this video? Gaga, there she is. She's promoting some new high-tech gadgets of her own.
CHETRY: Pretty cool. Look at that, she's a wearing a veil. It's a new line of Polaroid cameras and photo printers. It includes sunglasses with the camera embedded and that's why she likes it. And also, a portable printer so small that Gaga could take it to bars in her purse.
HOLMES: Did that just happen?
All right. Consumer electronic show is happening in town. Some of the big guys, what are you looking forward to out there? Are you one of these consumer geeks or you just like toys?
CHETRY: No, I like seeing new gadgets out. I like seeing the 3D TV where you don't have to wear the glasses and you can just watch it. And also, I love when they get super small. You know, storage devices, little tiny devices that are so small.
HOLMES: All right. Well, this is right up your alley.
CHETRY: Yes. Well, I mean, these are for a lot of gadget geeks. They call it high-tech heaven. That's our Dan Simon, as well. He has a view from the product floor. Take a look.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kiran and T.J., the consumer electronics show is the largest gadget show in the world. Here, companies show of what they hope will be the next big thing, but big doesn't necessarily mean big.
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SIMON (voice-over): A television as thin as a quarter. 3D no less. People looking at this LG screen, the world's thinnest, as if it was the Mona Lisa. Mitsubishi, though, is going big, 92 inches.
Did you ever think having a high definition, 3D, 92-inch television would be possible?
DAVID NARANJO, MITSUBISHI: No, I did not. Technology is really advanced to a point we can do this at a very affordable price point.
SIMON: That is if you consider just under $6,000 affordable. As the consumer electronic show kicked off to what organizers (ph) believe is one of the largest CES shows ever in Las Vegas. Company executives seem convinced that consumers are ready to start buying. Hollywood executive, Jeffrey Katzenberg, of DreamWorks Spain dismissed those who say 3D television is not going to catch on.
JEFFREY KATZENBERG, DREAMWORKS ANIMATION: If you look at the introduction of the colors 70 years ago, started in the movie theaters, moved to television, moved to print, moved throughout the world in which today, everything is in color. You know? And so, I think 3D, it's how we see.
SIMON: The 3D universe is extending the consumer camcorders. This attachment turns regular video images into 3D.
SIMON: This is a normal HD camera, but if you take this accessory, suddenly, you have a 3D camera, right?
PAUL REYNOLDS, "CONSUMER REPORTS": Right. I mean, I think these are camcorders that are designed to work with this 3D converter. This is Panasonic's approach, credibly easy to read. SIMON: Nike making headlines with a watch for serious runners. It uses GPS technology to monitor runner's location and help map routes. It connects directly to your computer.
STEFAN OLANDER, NIKE: In the wristband is built in the USB connector. So, as supposed to any other watch, you need to have a separate cable to plug it in. This thing goes straight into your Mac or PC.
SIMON: But some of the most impressive products here don't even have a display. Take this memory chip that hold 64 gigabytes or more than 14,000 songs, and it's only the size of a dime. As expected, though, tablets are dominating the show with some 50 different versions taking the floor.
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SIMON (on-camera): Every technology company in the world is here except one. Apple. It does not attend trade shows, but as one analyst said, they're here anyway because everyone is trying to chase them -- Kiran, T.J.
CHETRY: Dan Simon for us this morning, thanks.
HOLMES: All right. This morning, folks are $190 million richer. Why? Because they happen to be born on the right days. We'll explain their trick to -- their trick to winning for this megamillion dollar jackpot.
CHETRY: Also, Republicans and Democrats have found something they agree on. It's the new --
HOLMES: Something -- really?
CHETRY: Power tie color. D.C. elites new color of choice? We're going to see it. "Morning Talkers" coming up.
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CHETRY: Twenty-one minutes past the hour right now. Democrats and Republicans may be ready to do battle in Congress on things like repealing health care, but there is, at least, one thing they can all agree on. What is that? The new color of the Washington power tie. It is a beautiful pale blue. Accessorizing everyone's lovely jackets from Charlie Rangel there to Robert Gibbs. You saw John Boehner, even Vice President Biden. Now, this was also former President's George W. Bush -- I think that was his favorite tie. He wore it a lot.
HOLMES: Maybe, he's still having an impact in Washington.
CHETRY: There you go.
HOLMES: This is a story this morning that had a lot of people scratching their heads, but God bless the young man. Andrew Luck is who we're talking about. He was expected to be the number one pick in this year's NFL draft. He would rather forego that opportunity to make tens and tens of millions of dollars right now, at least, and go back to school, at Stanford. He's a quarterback there.
He just led them to a big victory in the bowl game. They were 12-1, so it's not a whole lot more if he come back and accomplish athletically, but academically, he's going to go back, get his degree, he'll still be a good quarterback. A lot of people say this is a risk of sorts, but you have to commend the young man for doing it because I sure would not.
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CHETRY: $40 million, $50 million on the table. It's tempting to go, you know, but his dad said he's old school. You know, some people are saying because the potential work stoppage is because you would have gotten drafted by the Panthers.
HOLMES: Who are very good.
CHETRY: So, maybe, he's going to wait until next year, see if things get better, but you're right. Taking a gamble. Good for him. Good luck.
HOLMES: Other work or job (ph) for him.
CHETRY: Well, he has six children, he and his lovely wife, 23 grandchildren. Now, Jim McCullar is even richer, $190 million richer. Jim and Carolyne of Washington State, they came forward to claim their half of $380 million mega millions jackpot. He's a Vietnam vet, a retired bowling employee. This is how he reacted at the moment he realized he was rich.
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JIM MCCULLAR, MEGA MILLIONS JACKPOT WINNER: Look at this and look at that. She looked and she studied it, she looked and she studied it and she looked at me and screamed!
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MCCULLAR: Tears started flowing down, and I looked at her and I started crying, and all she could say was is this real? Is this real? And just -- I pinched myself already. We're awake, and this is real and what are we going to do? What are we going to do? And I say, I have no idea, but we better hide.
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CHETRY: Maybe his first instinct was right. We better hide.
HOLMES: And they didn't, though.
CHETRY: Oh, no. I mean, the lottery officials, they love when they come out and tell their story. I mean, look, I mean, that's about as good story as you can get. These two worked hard. They say there were times when they thought they had nothing. They had to peel bark off the trees, let it dry for -- what did you say? (INAUDIBLE). I mean, and didn't have it easy, but now, things are great.
Jim and Carolyn played their birthdays. Has a good bet in there, I know. 8, 15, 42 and 4, 25, 47 to hit the jackpot. They've used the system before. They won 18 grand with those numbers in the Oregon State Lottery. Yes. They have just upped the ante this time, and the holder of the other winning mega million ticket, by the way, in Idaho would challenge you to come up with a better story than these two. They haven't come forward yet.
HOLMES: Or just hide. All right. I'm going to start playing their birthdays in the lottery. It clearly works.
They can apparently hang out with P. Diddy now if they would like to. P. Diddy is hanging out right now, we're told, on this thing. This is the high-tech super yacht that is pretty much completely controlled by, you guessed it, an iPad. It controls the temperature inside, the cabin, lights, the blinds, entertainment, you name it. P. Diddy is on it apparently with his family right now.
Everybody gets a complimentary iPad when they get on board to control things. Here's how much it costs. You probably couldn't even guess, but now that I tell you, you're going to say that doesn't make any sense. $850,000 for one week.
CHETRY: Oh.
HOLMES: One week. On the thing. $690,000 for I think just the rent and then the extra money comes to staff, food, all this other stuff. That's a lot of money for a week.
CHETRY: Like complimentary iPad. And Jim and Carolyn could just buy it outright.
HOLMES: They could.
CHETRY: They got 190 million bucks.
HOLMES: Buy me right now.
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HOLMES: Twenty-five minutes past the hour. We've been telling you about this story. People have been following this literally for almost 16 years where it's about to turn a chapter here in a positive one, at least, for the family. Talking about two sisters here who are about to get out of prison after 16 years.
We're expecting them to walk out at any moment. The story behind this of getting out on one condition. One of the sisters has to give a kidney to the other. We're going to be talking to the attorney in the case and standing by for them to walk out of prison.
CHETRY: Also, are you looking for a job? We are just minutes away from the big job report, this monthly job reports coming up in about five minutes. And there are very big hopes that we're going to hear some good news, finally things turning around. We're going to have a live report coming up.
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HOLMES: All right. Getting close to the bottom of the hour here. We're also getting close to the release of two sisters who have been waiting some 16 years to walk out of prison. They could be doing that. We're expecting here in the next 30 minutes. We're talking about Gladys and Jamie Scott who went to prison for a crime they say they didn't commit.
But even if they were guilty, some people say they should have never gotten life sentences for it. They were played apart accessories in an armed robbery that netted $11 and no one was hurt, but a condition of their release now in Mississippi is that one sister has to donate a kidney to the other. I want to bring in their attorney here, Chokwe Lumumba. He's a lawyer for the two sisters, joins us now from Pearl, Mississippi.
Sir, thank you for being with us, and I know you're standing by there. Do I have that right, in the next 30 minutes, we could see these two ladies walk out of prison?
CHOKWE LUMUMBA, ATTORNEY FOR GLADYS AND JAMIE SCOTT: Brother Holmes, you're absolutely right, and we're all just delighted, we're excited. We know they're excited because we've talked to them over the last several hours, and so, we're ready to get it on and get them on out of there.
HOLMES: Well, give us an idea of the medical condition right now. One sister has to donate a kidney to the other. Just how bad of is she?
LUMUMBA: Well, first of all, the sister that needs the kidney is Jamie Scott. She is in bad shape as far as kidneys are concerned. She's level five, which is the highest level of renal failure. So, she needs the kidney. There's no question. Her sister who's going to donate the kidney is Gladys.
Now, she's going to donate it if her kidneys are compatible. Those studies have not been done yet. The way that that came about is that Gladys offered a kidney to her sister long ago even before release was even a question. The prison, unfortunately, didn't do anything in order to test her or to make that possible or to make a transplant period, possible. But at this point in time, I think the governor has picked up on Gladys' willingness to donate the kidney to make that a condition of her release.
HOLMES: I'm sorry there. How quickly will that work take place once she gets out? How quickly will you get her to some medical facility to see if she can, they are compatible?
LUMUMBA: We're going to get them to medical facilities where treatment for Jamie's going to take place immediately. And then the doctors are going to have to tell us how long it takes to test. We're not absolutely sure. But we don't expect it to take a long time, Brother Holmes, not a long time at all. HOLMES: Have you got indications from the governor there? This was a condition of her release. So what if they're not compatible or if Gladys changed the mind, not saying she would, but what if the kidney transplant doesn't take place, can the governor say they should be put back in prison?
LUMUMBA: Let me say two things. Number one is I don't think that the governor's -- the governor's office told me it's not a problem if the kidney transplant is not possible. Number two, we would rather talk about this once they're out. When you're in, the governor can put any condition on you because you have no right to come out.
Once you're out, there's considerable concern about whether you can make somebody go back in because they failed to give a body part. So we feel confident that that won't be a problem if you get my drift.
HOLMES: Yes.
LUMUMBA: But at the same time, you know, and then I think the governor had his own political reasons for attaching that. He may be trying to convince people in the state that this is an economic benefit to the state and so that's why he did it. We know why it should have happened because they shouldn't be there in the first place.
HOLMES: And to wrap up on the last couple points here, you talked about the $200,000 the governor said costing the state. That was a condition of their release or a reason for the release. He also said this is a humanitarian case here in letting them out.
But he didn't make a judgment or give his opinion on the actual merits of their conviction or the merits of the sentence that they got. And this is a conditional release, not a pardon. Are you going to seek a pardon for these young ladies at some point?
LUMUMBA: Oh, yes, we will. We're not going to lay down the guns. We are going to keep fighting in order to get them totally exonerated. We expect it to come by pardon but it could come by court action if necessary.
HOLMES: All right, again, attorney for the two sisters, Gladys and Jamie, expected to walk out of prison maybe in 30 minutes or time. Thank you for your time. I know it's a big day for you. Thank you so much for spending some time with us.
LUMUMBA: Thank you, we appreciate it. Thank you to your listening and viewing audience. Thank you very much.
HOLMES: Thanks so much. Following the release, the two sisters are scheduled to hold a press conference around 3:00 Eastern time. After that, our Soledad O'Brien is going down and sitting down with these two sisters so you can look for that here on our network.
CHETRY: And just in to CNN now, the December jobs report just released. We have unemployment falling to 9.4 percent and 103,000 jobs created.
So what do those numbers mean? Joining us to break it down, our Christine Romans as well as Lakshman Achuthan, the economic analyst and director of the Economic Cycle Research Institute. Thanks to both of you. Is this what you were expecting or did you think it would be a little higher?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Some people were saying a lot more jobs created. The surprise is unemployment rate that fell to 9.4 percent. That's the best unemployment rate since May of 2009.
Where were the jobs created? There were created in leisure and hospitality, end of the year, hotels, restaurants and the like up 47,000 jobs there. Health care created jobs, temporary staffing agencies added jobs, as well. For 2010, you saw strong growth from the temporary agencies, almost 500,000 jobs created in the year of temporary agencies.
A couple of things also to note for November and October, we picked up another 70,000 jobs we didn't know about because of revisions and a little bit better than we thought. But you are right, overall job creation of 103,000. We need more than that. We need more than that.
It's not as much as people thought earlier this week but the drop in the unemployment rate, triple digit job gains again, we'll agree we're going in the right direction in jobs.
LAKSHMAN ACHUTHAN, ECONOMIC ANALYST: The first takeaway is no recession. Right? Just a couple of months ago everybody's double-dip recession. You don't add these kinds of jobs and slip into recession. That's incompatible. If you average out, because these are jumpy numbers, November, December, 80,000-plus is not enough to heal. We still need to regain another seven million jobs to make up what we've lost.
ROMANS: That's going to take years.
ACHUTHAN: That's going to take a very long time. Even if -- look. Our outlook is a revival in growth that's going to begin by the springtime, that will include a firming jobs market. It is not in this report. It's not here yet. It is still in front of us.
And 90 percent of us work in the sector and that's where nine out of ten Americans work. And aside from temp jobs and retail stuff, it's not kicked in yet. That is going to I think happen around this spring. So slow and steady right now, no new recession, no new leg down, but we still have to wait a little bit to get some jobs creation.
ROMANS: Do you agree people who are in the top of the career or the science, technology, engineering, math seeing a different labor market?
ACHUTHAN: Totally. ROMANS: They're seeing action, job offers and raises and job offers. And there is this big chunk of millions of people who have been left behind.
ACHUTHAN: Absolutely.
ROMANS: That's the political story for the year, I think. Can the president if we keep adding jobs every month, can the president hit on that heading into a reelection if you have so many people who are out of work and have been for six months or longer?
ACHUTHAN: It's going to make a lot of people feel better the unemployment number not go up, first of all.
HOLMES: We get into the numbers, the average person hears 9.8 percent and hear it is going down. People start to feel a little better. It's high, sure.
ACHUTHAN: It's a critical point you're making because most people have a job, actually. We focus on the people who don't with the dire straits they're in but people with a job. But the psychology of seeing the expansion continue, the jobs coming back slowly, eases -- it gives you license to actually go out and, you know, get that thing you've been looking at for two years and now you finally buy it.
CHETRY: You say a lack of demand, if we're not buying -- tightening the belts and not buying things and no demand, some of it feeds on itself.
ACHUTHAN: We call it frugality fatigue. That's wearing on us.
ROMANS: I'm tired of being frugal. I don't know about you.
CHETRY: Christine and Lakshman Achuthan, thank you so much.
ACHUTHAN: Thank you.
CHETRY: Coming up at 11:35, we're going to hear from the president about the jobs numbers and the economy, so stay with CNN. We'll bring it to you live when it happens.
HOLMES: Also, extra police officers across London this morning. Fears of a possible new terror attack. We'll give you the latest developments next. It's 37 minutes past the hour.
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HOLMES: Big story this morning out of London. Police stepping up security there at airports, subway stations following reports of a possible terror attack.
CNN has learned security officials are concerned about an attack like the coordinated attacks back in 2008 in Mumbai. Terrorists rocked the Indian capital there you may remember killing 175 people, injuring dozens more. The British threat level is now at severe. CHETRY: Following a developing story out of central Michigan, cleaning up hydrochloric acid that leaked after 11 cars went off the tracks in the derailment last night. Dozens of people forced to leave the homes. No one was injured. It's not clear how much hydrochloric acid is leaking and what impact that might have on the environment and people living in that area.
HOLMES: Also, pictures here to show you. This is out of Texas. Look at this. Police say the driver of this vehicle. You can't make the vehicle out hit a hog. Look at the child there. The car spun out, burst into flames. Another driver saw it happen and then stopped, got out, cut the one-year-old from the car seat. Police say everybody is going to be OK.
CHETRY: Amazing. Very brave. Happy ending. Thank goodness.
The northeast is ready for more snow and the south under an icy threat, as well. Rob Marciano with the weekend forecast coming up.
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CHETRY: New York city, light snow, 30 degrees right now. But it's going to be getting heavier. It's 34 degrees and snow today, could pick up half a foot in some areas around here.
HOLMES: But our Rob Marciano tells us even though six inches nothing like what we saw, Rob, a few weeks ago here with the big blizzard and has it in the back of people's minds right now.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The thing is, this thing is bigger than that but it's not as organized, so it's not as concentrated. We're not going to see the wind and the snow measured in feet, measuring it in a few inches.
Here's a center of it. Obviously, it is pretty wide circulation affecting a lot of people back from the Midwest to the Tennessee valley and swinging up through the northeast and that where we're seeing the heavier precipes right now.
Philadelphia, you're starting to see it taper off already heading into central Jersey and southern Jersey; Atlantic City about to get some of the snow, as well. And it's kind of pivoting up into the Big Apple, where you're starting to see snow accumulate at least on the sides of the roads but it's -- it doesn't look to be terribly organized at this moment.
This is what's happened in the past hour or two. Let's go forward and show you what our computer models think is going to happen as far as where the snow is moving over the next several hours. It pivots through New York City, and gets up into New England and notice there's not a whole lot of redevelopment behind it. Something a little of the back end of the disturbance (INAUDIBLE) that come through later on in the weekend but that's not really going to amount to a whole lot.
So this thing is not going to measure up certainly into feet. It might get a few inches out of it. That's about it.
Winter weather advisories are -- are posted for the purple area or for the blue areas and the pinkish purplish hue winter storm warning, five to ten inches there.
But down to the south, that could get a couple of inches of snow in places like Knoxville, Tennessee; certainly higher amounts in the smoky mountains with this system. It is slowing down air travel.
Travel today on the roadways is going to be a little bit dicey. On the airways out of the bigger airports it's going to be a pain. We got ground stop now at LaGuardia until 9:15; Newark, still a ground stop extended at Philadelphia, as well.
And cold air behind this system, temperatures definitely not above average and as the system begins to move its way to the east, the cold air will drive its way down to the south and that will make for a whole another slew of problems by the times we get towards Sunday night into Monday with the potential of seeing accumulating ice across parts of Dixie.
So enough to make maybe a snowman -- small one. You'll get home ok though, just take it slow guys. Back up to you in New York.
HOLMES: All right, Rob we appreciate you, kind sir.
CHETRY: You can always dig up snow but, you know, it has to be the right type of snow to make a good snowman.
HOLMES: What type is that?
CHETRY: It has to be nice and fluffy and you can just roll it and make it bigger and bigger and bigger.
HOLMES: I'll take your word for it.
CHETRY: You know I've been busy making a lot of snow.
HOLMES: I'm from the south. We don't do well with snow.
CHETRY: You're right.
HOLMES: Yes.
CHETRY: Well, speaking of the south, Arizona. A very controversial new budget cutting measure which basically says we don't have the money to keep people on the organ transplant list and so we're just going to have to take them off.
Well, a second person in Arizona has now died waiting after being booted from that list and they couldn't find a donor. Well, now, we're talking about a personal face on this story.
Up next, we're going to meet one man who's been waiting for a heart transplant who received word, that he too, is dropped from this list -- coming up. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Fifty minutes past the hour right now.
Controversial budget cuts by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and the state legislators there are saving the state about $1.5 million but many are asking at what human price.
Two people have now died because those cuts denied them potentially life-saving organ transplants. Well now, some state politicians are talking about passing perhaps an emergency legislation to restore the funding before anyone else dies.
Randall Shepherd is one of the victims of those cuts, he's been waiting for a heart transplant; 36 years old and he has been dropped from the waiting list.
Joining us from Phoenix, Arizona this morning is Randall Shepherd. Thanks so much for joining us this morning.
RANDALL SHEPHERD, DROPPED FROM AZ HEART TRANSPLANT LIST: Good morning. Thank you for having me.
CHETRY: Tell -- tell us a little bit about your story. You -- you I know you have a condition called cardiomyopathy. You need a heart transplant, you were on the list. And then you were notified was it last -- this past summer that you were being dropped. What happened?
SHEPHERD: That's correct. Yes, I got the phone call, as you mentioned, cardiomyopathy, the official name for it, from what I have is non-ischemic cardiomyopathy. And from what I was told, the majority of people who have this condition is due to some form of substance abuse. And, you know, people have pretty much done it to themselves and the state's decided you know, what -- we don't -- we don't think that we should be paying for somebody else's poor decisions.
And in my case, it's -- it's a result of childhood illness but it's left me in a position where I can't work, I can't do a lot of things that I -- that I used to be able to do. And until I get a new heart, I'm kind of -- my life is kind of in a holding pattern.
CHETRY: And your wife, of course, she works. You have three children.
SHEPHERD: Yes.
CHETRY: She does not have health insurance and so you relying -- were relying on Medicaid. And what did you hear from Medicaid or -- or from your -- the people who are helping you there about why you're now removed from this waiting list to get a new heart?
SHEPHERD: Yes. Well, I received word -- about a year after I was placed on the transplant list -- I received word that these cuts were on the horizon. There was a chance that this was going to happen from my nurse coordinator and she said contact your state legislators, contact everybody you can. We're working on our end to get the word out.
And then as of October 1st I got the official call that, you know, I'm officially on the -- on the inactive list. And until -- until either funding becomes -- made available or I'm able to raised the funding myself, there's -- it's not going to -- I'm not going to get my heart until then.
CHETRY: I mean, how do you feel hearing that and also knowing as we said that -- that two other people who were waiting for donated organs and were dropped from the list have now passed away?
SHEPHERD: I mean it's a shock to me. You know, I know -- I know this -- this last case, I haven't been able to find out who it was but I've met a number of people, a number of these people who were in the same boat I am, become familiar with them. We've interacted through a different -- different media events, several press conferences and -- and just interviews and so I don't know who it is, who -- who just passed away. It might be somebody that I was actually -- that I've actually become familiar with.
So thinking of that, you know, there's -- there's a bit of a personal loss and there's also the realization that you know this -- this could very well be me in time if -- if something's not changed here.
CHETRY: And it must be a tough conversation. I know you have two young girls, 13 and 9. You have a 4-year-old son, as well. I mean, did they -- how -- how much do they know about how, you know, potentially deadly your condition is?
SHEPHERD: Well, they know dad's sick and dad needs a heart. They don't -- I -- I mean, my wife and I want them to have as normal a childhood as they can. We don't want them involved in the politics of it or we don't them thinking at any moment we could come home and dad won't be there.
So as far as they know, yes, dad's sick and dad can't work but, you know, we -- we assure them every day that we're doing everything that we can to -- to get better and get over this, and get life back to normal as soon as possible.
CHETRY: You know, I mean, the argument from the other side, is look this is a state that's facing a $1 billion budget shortfall. They don't have -- the ability to pay for things anymore and they are trying to figure out where to cut.
I mean, what do you -- what do you say when you hear we just don't have the money in the state to continue these programs?
SHEPHERD: Well it's -- it's obvious if -- if the state's broke, it's broke. And -- and you know, I -- I can -- excuse me, I can kick and scream all I want and if there's no money for a transplant, then it's just not going to happen. You know, I think there's a lot of areas where cutbacks could be made before they get to the transplant cuts, before things that are actually affecting people's -- in a life and death situation.
You know, and I -- I really feel bad for the governor and for the legislators, those who had to make this decision and I certainly wouldn't want to be in their shoes and I wouldn't want to be the one making the call that results in somebody else living or dying.
CHETRY: Absolutely. Well, there is some hope on the horizon. I understand that they are looking to perhaps pass some emergency legislation that would fund that program again, and get you and others waiting back on the list.
Also, as you talked about, if that doesn't happen, you have to raise the money yourself to at least cover the gap between what Medicaid pays and not, $120,000. You say that somebody started a Facebook page and you've raised about half of that right now.
Shepherd: That's correct. We've -- a lot of what we have raised has been through media attention and we've -- I've got a Web site on -- it's called ntafund.org. And it's the National Transplant Assistance. They're active in raising money for transplants across the country, different people who need any kind of whether it's bone marrow or organ transplants or even somebody, catastrophic injury.
People can go there, look up my name or any name of somebody who might be in the same boat and donate to me or to anybody and it is tax deductible. And like you said, we're about halfway there to what we need to raise.
CHETRY: Well, hopefully you'll get it. We're also putting up that information for people. Randall Shepherd thanks so much for sharing your story. We wish you the best and we hope that all of this can be rectified in time for you to get better.
Thanks so much for joining us this morning.
SHEPHERD: Thank you very much.
CHETRY: By the way, again, the Web site that we were talking about ntafund.org and you can type in Randall's name. It's Randall Shepherd. Again, you'll be directed to a page where if you'd like to you can help him out.
We're going to take a quick break. Fifty-six minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Say "Hi" Kate. We're going to miss Kate. She is -- she's going to greener pastures. She's going to Piers Morgan. But she's still going to be in the building.
HOLMES: Is she really?
CHETRY: Yes. Different shift; she'll get a little bit more sleep but we'll still see her.
HOLMES: Wow. I show up, she takes off.
CHETRY: Yes, well, she heard you were coming to town --
HOLMES: Anymore defections? Any of you want (INAUDIBLE).
CHETRY: Well, this is for the guys out there. You didn't need a scientific study to tell you, you did not like to see girls cry.
HOLMES: Oh, this is great. No guy needs this. No guy needs this.
CHETRY: Well now, the scientists say that they can figure out why. Researchers in Israel found that a woman's tears of sadness are actually a turnoff. They send a chemical signal that temporarily lowers a man's testosterone. Read between the lines.
Researchers don't know if the same is true with a man's tears because they say hey, it's harder to find a guy to cry in the lab for us.
HOLMES: But they say the guy has to be in close proximity to the tears they're talking about here. We don't care. She can be across the room, she could be on TV. If a woman's crying, a man is not going to -- he's not going to enjoy it.
CHETRY: My daughter has figured that out pretty early. Gets whatever she wants from daddy.
HOLMES: We certainly don't want to be the ones, Kyra Phillips, to make the woman cry either, even though sometimes we fail at that.
Here's Kyra down in Atlanta.
