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New Delta Deal for Virgin Atlantic; Virgin Group Founder Talks Pot, Politics, Climate Change; Fed Extends QE3; Remembering Ravi Shankar

Aired December 12, 2012 - 12:30   ET

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

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SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Billionaire businessman Richard Branson is thrilled. He's got a new partner in the skies. Delta Airlines, buying a 49 percent stake in Branson's Virgin Atlantic Airline. Singapore Airlines owned the stake before. Now the $360 million deal will give Delta a bigger share to the New York-to-London flights. That's an extremely busy and profitable route.

Well, Branson tweeted the partnership will allow Virgin Atlantic to give British Airways and American Airlines a real run for their money. Branson is not afraid to take on the competition or a controversial issue, including the legalization of drugs, which he supports.

In my sit-down with him, I asked him about the recent votes in Colorado and Washington state that legalize marijuana use. Here's how he weighed in.

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MALVEAUX: You made some news about two states that are legalizing marijuana. You believe that this eventually is inevitable, that it's going to happen. Tell me why.

RICHARD BRANSON, FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN, VIRGIN GROUP: Well, I'm part of a global commission of drugs. We spent two years examining the war on drugs. It's absolutely apparent to us that, in the 50 years since the United Nations got together to try to create this war, that it's failed.

And so what the commission is saying is please try different approaches. And on an immediate basis, please stop locking up our children, our brothers and sisters. That's not the way to help them if they have a drug problem. Put them through drug rehabilitation, get them well again. And countries that are doing that are having tremendous success in reducing the problem.

MALVEAUX: You have a new president in Mexico now who is saying he's willing to look at different solutions here. And there's a lot of bloodshed, the cartels. It's a very bloody business. Legalization, you believe, is the answer? That that's going to turn the violence into something that's not as chaotic, not as violent?

BRANSON: Well, let's switch the clock back to the prohibition of alcohol. When alcohol was prohibited in America, Al Capone and the gangsters existed and all that money went into the underworld. People were being arrested for drinking alcohol. They were being put in prison.

And the United States realized that that was not a sensible option and the moment they legalized it, the taxes went into health, into education. You know, people stopped getting arrested and put in prison. The underworld went away.

And, you know, I think the global drug commission believes that, if you take the same approach to, say, something like marijuana, it's likely to work. And what they're saying is that let certain states experiment with it and let's see what happens.

But we don't believe that, you know, the health issues of the public will be any worse than they currently are because people can readily get marijuana any way, almost anywhere.

MALVEAUX: Let's talk about your expertise in space. What is your next big adventure? Are you still intent on going to space and leading space tourism? When is that happening?

BRANSON: I said I wanted to get high, didn't I?

MALVEAUX: You want to get high. Real high.

BRANSON: I want to get real high. Yeah, I mean, we're very, very close now, so ...

MALVEAUX: How close? What do you by real close?

BRANSON: I would be disappointed if we don't go to space next year, so we're that close and we're in the -- the spaceships are finished now. The motherships are finished. The spaceport in New Mexico, it's beautiful, all finished, ready to go. So we're just finishing our rocket tests and, you know, obviously, we're going to do lots of rocket tests before we send people up here. But I would say by the end of next year we should be ready to go.

MALVEAUX: And where is the goal? Where is the mission? Will it take you to the moon? Is that the idea?

BRANSON: Well, there's no limit to the sky and we're going to start with suborbital flights, then we'll go to orbital flights, then we'll go to deep exploration flights. I'm sure we'll drop by the moon on the way. And ...

MALVEAUX: You're very optimistic.

BRANSON: Well, look, if you don't dream, you don't achieve anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: We've been waiting for a decision from the Federal Reserve about whether or not it's going to provide more stimulus for the U.S. economy. The decision is now in. I want to go to Ali Velshi, joining us live. What do we know?

ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Suzanne. All right, so, the Fed is basically extending its quantitative easing plan, what was known as QE3. There was a part of that plan that was supposed to end at the end of this month.

The Fed has now said that, starting in January when that other plan ends, the Operation Twist, they are going to invest $45 billion a month in buying bonds, longer-term bonds. The effect of that is going to be to keep longer-term rates low.

You already know that you can get a mortgage for an historically low level. The Fed is going to do things to continue that for the foreseeable future. They're tying it to unemployment, to the unemployment rate, saying that until the unemployment rate drops below 6.5 percent, they will keep investing in the economy, creating liquidity so that banks can lend money to people, people can get mortgages at low rates.

And what they said about the economy, Suzanne, is that things are generally looking good. They continue to see good economic activity, but they have seen a slowdown in fixed business investment. So that may have something to do with the fiscal cliff. But they're saying there's a bit of a slowdown there. Otherwise, the economy is moving along, not as robustly as they'd like it to be, which is why they're extending this quantitative easing to make money cheaper.

MALVEAUX: And what do we think that's going to mean for businesses in terms of confidence?

VELSHI: Well, the first gauge we get is to see how markets are doing. And there's a bit of a rally on the stock market as a result. You can never trust what happens immediately after these announcements because it could just be traders doing things. The Dow is up about a quarter there. You can see 27 basis points right now.

What it means is the same thing it meant until now. We have long-term low interest rates. It's cheap to borrow money in America. It's not necessarily easy it to borrow money. Lending standards are still high and many businesses, as we have seen, that either have cash or access to credit are still not making decisions until they have some certainty about what government is going to do.

We may get that certainty as soon as we get a fiscal cliff deal, maybe January or February by the time we know what's going to happen. And that could work. That could mean, if everybody knows money is cheap to get, they'll start to invest it.

MALVEAUX: And that was my next question, real quick here. Looking at this move by the Fed, does this help either side with their argument, the case of whether or not to go off the fiscal cliff?

VELSHI: Not really. I think those sides are dug in and the thing that's going to make them decide one way or the other is going to entirely political as opposed to economic. We know that going over the fiscal cliff would do economic damage, but I'm not sure that's motivating anybody's decisions right now, Suzanne. I wish it were.

MALVEAUX: All right, Ali Velshi. Thank you, Ali.

Just ahead, I continue my conversation with Richard Branson. He's got a bit of advice for the Republican Party on how to appeal to more people.

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MALVEAUX: He's a billionaire entrepreneur who started a hugely successful record company and airline, but Richard Branson has other big challenges on his mind, as well, including political gridlock and climate change.

Here's more.

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MALVEAUX: When you look at our -- the way we deal with things in Washington, Congress and you talk about the president getting things done, do you scratch your head and look at the fact that no one's really negotiating anything? You've got the fiscal cliff. You've got all kinds of gridlock in Washington. What do you make of what you see?

BRANSON: It is very strange. I mean, it could be that somebody should sit down and rewrite the way America runs things because, you know, whilst America did this, China moves forward rapidly and other countries who are more decisive move forward rapidly.

So -- but I think on the fiscal cliff, it will get sorted. But, you know, it would be nice if there could be a bit more decisive leadership.

I mean, if you run a company, you don't have this -- you know, this horrible problem where you can't just make decisions. You can just get on and say, if I want to get into space, I'll go into space. Let's just get on and invest in it. Or, you know, if I want to go down to the bottom of the oceans, let's build a submarine that goes to the bottom of oceans. And it's a hell of a lot easier than running a country.

MALVEAUX: Yeah. Do you blame any particular side, Republican, Democrat? Does it matter? Is it all the same to you?

BRANSON: Look, I think -- I mean, I'm slightly biased one way more than the other, but I'm not going to push out 50 percent of the people watching your program right now.

But, all right, I mean, I think that as far as things like climate change, which I happen to believe is an issue, and, as far as social issues, which I feel passionately about, I do think that Obama in his second term has a chance of really making a difference. And I'm sure on some of those issues that if the Republicans had got into power, these kinds of issues are not as high a priority for them as perhaps they should be. MALVEAUX: Last question, climate change, there's still people who believe that's not really -- that doesn't really exist, that this is not man-made, that this is something that is a fiction. How do you convince people that that's real?

BRANSON: Well, I mean, I'm not a scientist, but 95 percent of scientists, 98 percent of scientists in the world believe it is a man- made problem and you simply you've just got this fragile world and you've got this build-up of carbon around the world which is creating this blanket. And every year, we pump more carbon in which makes the blanket a little bit thicker all the time and, therefore, the world is heating up a little bit all the time. Simplistically, you know, it seems logical.

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MALVEAUX: We're going to look at life of a musician who taught The Beatles a thing or two about music. Ravi Shankar died yesterday. We're going to take a look at the cultural impact his music had on the world.

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MALVEAUX: Former South African President Nelson Mandela, he is now getting better. He's on the mend. The 94-year-old is recovering from a lung infection. A statement from South African President Jacob Zuma's office says the doctors are now satisfied with the way Mandela has made progress during the past 24 hours. He was hospitalized in Pretoria over the weekend. And Mandela is regarded, of course, as the hero of democracy in South Africa for his fight against Apartheid. He has not made a public appearance since 2010.

Doctors in Cuba have finished a six hour cancer surgery on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. He arrived in Havana on Monday for treatment. Here you can see the Cuban president, Raul Castro, greeting Chavez there. Venezuela's vice president, Nicolas Maduro said that Mr. Chavez faces a complex and difficult recovery. It's his fourth cancer-related surgery. Well, the socialist leader is expected to spend several days recovering in Cuba.

The legend who helped bridge the gap between eastern and western music is dead. Ahead, we're going to take a look at the life and the music of Ravi Shankar.

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MALVEAUX: Ravi Shankar is being remembered today as one of India's most effective cultural ambassadors.

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MALVEAUX: It is beautiful. The legendary sitar player became famous for his association with the Beatles. Shankar died yesterday in southern California after undergoing heart valve replacement surgery last week. Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr had this to say about Shankar's passing. "Ravi was a great loss musically, spiritually and physically. God bless to Ravi's family."

Shankar brought Indian classical music to the west, appearing at '60s rock festivals, Woodstock, Monterey pop, teaming up with his friend, George Harrison, to help stage the Concert for Bangladesh. That was back in 1971. Shankar was also the father of jazz singer Norah Jones. He was 92.

For more insight on Shankar's impact on music and culture, we want to bring in Anthony DeCurtis. He's a contributing editor at "Rolling Stone."

Anything, thank you so much. He really did bring kind of an unfamiliar musical sound to the west. How did he manage to do that so successfully, because it really was beautiful.

ANTHONY DECURTIS, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "ROLLING STONE": Well, you know, he -- I think those were his instincts to try to spread this music. He was a deep believer in it and, in many ways, very much a purist and a devotee it.

On the other hand, he was very willing to experiment, very open on working with other musicians and very much desirous of bringing this music to the west. He had lived in the west and loved the west and wanted them to share in this music that he believed in so deeply.

MALVEAUX: He once told "Rolling Stone" back in 1997 that it really was George Harrison who helped bring his music to a much younger audience. Tell us about that relationship with the Beatles and artists back in the '60s.

DECURTIS: Well, Harrison really once told me in an interview that he had turned to Ravi Shankar because he had really kind of begun to get confused by the kind of popularity that the Beatles were undergoing. It just seemed ridiculous to him in a sense. And so when he met Ravi Shankar, he said, you know, I found somebody who was both a musical leader and a kind of spiritual leader. And so he began to explore that music.

And then at that point in the, you know, mid to late '60s, anything the Beatles did had a profound impact on every aspect of popular culture. And, you know, suddenly Ravi Shankar went from being, you know, a favorite of particular devotees to being a much bigger phenomenon.

MALVEAUX: And tell us about some of the concerts that you attended in Carnegie Hall. What was it -- what was it like to be there in his midst?

DECURTIS: I must say, they were extraordinary. I mean Ravi Shankar is among the handful of greatest performers I have ever seen in my life. And his shows were just electrifying. Very much -- I mean it was amazing to be in his presence and hear him play music that was meant to really reach you spiritually, as well as simply, you know, entertain you. There was a tremendous virtuosity, but an amazing vision that informed it all. And so both of those experiences were among my most profound in any musical environment. MALVEAUX: And, Anthony, how do you think he'll be remembered?

DECURTIS: Well, I think he'll be remembered for the shear quality of what he did. I mean it's often overlooked. I mean it as an absolute virtuoso. But also for being a great ambassador for this music. And when we think about things about -- like world music or, you know, the west fascination with eastern culture, a lot of that started with Ravi Shankar.

MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you. We appreciate it.

DECURTIS: Thanks, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: The pope already has more than 700,000 Twitter followers. I'm not kidding. He only sent his first tweet today. We're going to tell you actually what he wrote.

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MALVEAUX: All right, the wait is over. The pope has tweeted. Yes, the pope has tweeted. Pope Benedict XVI's first tweet reads, "Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart." The Pope plans to tweet in several languages, including Spanish and Arabic. Now his handle is @pontifex, which means "bridge builder" in Latin. An hour after the first tweet, the pope had about 700,000 followers. Not bad.

Also embracing modern technology is the Queen. Here are several reports -- her royal highness, Queen Elizabeth, is going to deliver her annual Christmas message in 3D. Yes, 3D. So her speech was recorded last Friday at Buckingham Palace. It's going to air Christmas Day on three U.K. networks. Viewers may need special glasses or 3D TV to actually see these special effects.

I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Among the stories we have for you this hour, aviation pioneer, music mogul and more, now billionaire businessman Richard Branson is getting political. We talked with him about legalizing marijuana, the fiscal cliff and partisan gridlock.

And a senator who worked across the political divide says so long. Joe Lieberman gives his farewell speech from the Senate floor. That is live this hour. The Democrat turned Independent look back on almost 24 years in the Senate.