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Markets React to Jobs Report; House Set to Vote on Sandy Aid Today; Interview with Congressman Trey Radel of Florida; 113th Congress Now in Session; Fighting the Flu; Super Bowl Ad Price at Record $4 Million

Aired January 04, 2013 - 09:30   ET

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

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: There was a time when one of those jobs, you could support your family, send a kid off to college, and now some of those jobs are coming back. Whether they'll support an entire family anymore, we'll see if that happens.

Are there any portions of this report that stick out as the biggest losers?

PROF. JEFFREY ROSENSWEIG, GOIZUETA BUSINESS SCHOOL, EMORY UNIV.: Yes, I'm going to turn to what the biggest loser is, which is there's still a lot of pain out there. Let me summarize a few things.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

ROSENSWEIG: One is the unemployment rate for teenagers is still close to one-quarter of teenagers, a little over 23 percent. It's not as bad as Spain and Greece, but that's a high rate and you're only counted as unemployed if you're actively looking for work. Some of the teenagers are so discouraged they're not even looking for work.

The other thing is the unemployment rate for African-Americans is twice what it is for whites. So many of them were in jobs and it's much higher for Hispanics as well. Maybe the industries they were in are ones that have been hit or maybe in an urban setting where there are no jobs, astronomic unemployment rates for the black and Hispanic teenagers.

So, there's a lot of pain still.

BLACKWELL: That trend unfortunately continues.

Jeffrey Rosensweig from Emory University -- thank you very much for that.

ROSENSWEIG: My pleasure.

BLACKWELL: Let's go to New York Stock Exchange now. We are about a minute into the trading day, and we've got just six points up.

Alison Kosik is there with us to kind of go into the numbers and the reaction thus far from Wall Street -- Alison.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It's more of an "eh" reaction, not much of a reaction. You see stocks flat, but on the positive side.

You know what, Victor? Investors are really not hanging their hats on this number, on this final employment number of 2012, because December is a really tough month to track jobs for several reasons. Temporary retail jobs, they surge at the beginning of December and then they go away at the end of the month. But that may be offset by superstorm Sandy, because construction jobs jumped by 30,000, because of all the rebuilding.

Another one time factor in this December jobs report: the fiscal cliff -- you know, many businesses cut back on spending and hiring because of the uncertainty about what was going to happen with the 2012 tax roles. And then you add to that all the revisions for the December report. You know, this jobs report includes revisions that go all the way back five years.

So this is really why there are so many reasons why you may just want to take this jobs report with a grain of salt. And also, you know, the December jobs report, it also shows that the jobs market is barely keeping one population growth. Did you know for the last two years, Victor, the average number of jobs created per month is about 153,000? So this is really more of just a flat line, not really enough momentum. I mean, what you se is a jobs market that's treading water -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: Yes, plus five, minus five for the first couple of minutes of the trading day. Considering what we saw on Wednesday and Thursday, yes, that looks like an "eh" response from Wall Street.

Alison Kosik, thank you very much.

Some people are being slapped with a huge bill, all because of mold resulting from superstorm Sandy. But help could be on the way when the House votes later today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: The latest threat for victims of superstorm Sandy is mold. Just in the Rockaway neighborhood of New York, 65 percent -- 65 percent of the homes still have mold problems and that's according to a community group there. And some homeowners are worried the government won't offer any help to remove it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEREK CASEY, MOLD IS GROWING IN HIS HOME: The mold is here, and we're, what, eight weeks later and it's still growing. We should have had it removed by now. I'm very concerned about what we cannot see more so than what we can see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Another family says mold removal may cost them as much as $10,000.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JAVIER TORRES, SANDY STORM VICTIMS: There's a good 40 percent of the exterior walls that are covered in mold.

LESLY ESCOBAR, SANDY STORM VICTIM: We don't have anyone to remove it and we don't --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't have the funds.

ESCOBAR: Yes, we don't have the finances to be able to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Those families may soon get help. The House is set to vote today on a Sandy aid bill for $9.7 billion. But another $51 billion is being put on the back burner until the middle of the month.

Our national political correspondent Jim Acosta is in Washington.

Jim, some are blaming this delay on what's being called pork in the bill. Sixty billion dollars, big price tag, but there's $150 million in here that could go to fisheries in Alaska. No storm damage in Alaska.

Where is that going?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, I will tell you that those were some of the concerns expressed by some members of the House before all of this got started.

Let's rewind a little bit and go back to what happened when the House took up the fiscal cliff legislation, passed it and then left without passing aid to the victims of superstorm Sandy. Then, the lawmakers from New York and New Jersey went ballistic. You remember Chris Christie held that news conference, said, "Shame on you, shame on Congress."

I think you can say Congress has gotten the message, the House as you mentioned a few moments ago and I did confirm this with a House leadership aide, they do expect this bill to pass at around 11:00 this morning, it provides that $9.7 billion that's going to pay out claims to people who enrolled in the flood insurance program.

And so, the next battle to come will be on January 15th, when the rest of that $51 billion is going to come up for a vote. It is expected to pass. I did talk to a House leadership aide who believes that that pork that was an issue earlier in this process will not be an issue when it comes up for that final vote on January 15th.

There were also some House conservatives who were calling for some offsets, that is -- I guess voting for some cuts to pay for what was in that relief package, but I will tell you that there is some opposition coming from conservative quarters this morning. The conservative group the Club for Growth put out an e-mail earlier this morning urging House Republicans to vote no on the legislation this morning, on the $9.7 billion out this morning. And I'll show you what they're saying in this statement. They're saying, "Congress should not allow the federal government to be involved in the flood insurance industry in the first place, let alone expand the national flood insurance program's authority." And they are saying that however House Republicans vote on this, that that will go on their congressional scorecard which, of course, means when they come up for a vote the next time around, that may be an issue for groups like the conservative Club for Growth.

Now, at the same time, later on today, there's going to be some constitutional business coming on. Vice President Joe Biden will be presiding over a joint session of Congress to officially count the electoral votes that will make President Obama president of the United States for a second term.

So, a somewhat busy day here on Capitol Hill, but it's going to wrap up pretty quickly after the vice president takes care of business, counting those electoral votes, Victor. And then they're going to be off for a while. They're taking off next week. They'll be back on the 15th to approve the rest of that Sandy aid. At least that's what's expected at this point, Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right. Jim Acosta for us in Washington -- thanks.

There are a lot of unfamiliar faces walking around Capitol Hill right now. The House is welcoming 84 new representatives to its ranks. And they have a lot of work ahead of them. So how do they plan to get anything accomplished?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Checking top stories:

Two teenagers in Arizona had to cling to a tree for four hours. Look at this. The frozen lake they tried to walk across started cracking around them and the boys had decided to walk across the lake to pick up one of their brothers.

Rescue crews were called and used a boat to free those teenagers. Four hours they held on to this tree. Except for being cold and below freezing temperatures, the boys are fine.

Vice President Joe Biden seemed to have a really good time at yesterday's swearing in of the new Congress. When he held Republican Senator Ted Cruz's daughter, she started to fuss here. He says, "Oh it's a Democrat, I know, but it's OK."

And there was this buzz-worthy moment when a photographer told Senator Heidi Heitkamp's husband to drop his hands. Biden compared the photographer to a TSA agent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Spread your legs, you're going to be frisked! Drop your hands and -- you say that to somebody in North Dakota and they think it's a frisk. Drop your hands to the side -- they think they're in trouble, right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: I'm not going to follow that one up.

Let's talk about Congress now. They talked the talk and now they're going to walk the walk, the 113th Congress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Congratulations, you're now members of the 113th Congress.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All 433 members of the House of Representatives took the oath of office. Now, when we say 433, I know it's 435 but Jesse Jackson Jr., Tim Scott, their seats are still open. Includes 84 new members, including freshman Congressman Trey Radel, a Republican from Florida.

Good morning, Congressman.

REP. TREY RADEL (R), FLORIDA: Good morning, Victor. It's great to be with you.

You say congressman I'm still looking over my shoulder for a congressman. Please call me Trey.

BLACKWELL: All right. I will do that. You were congressman-elect for so many weeks and now you've got the full title.

So, you've got some important votes coming up and your campaign was all about cutting spending, reducing the debt, cutting spending, reducing the debt. So we're starting with those two.

Will you vote in favor of the $61 billion Sandy aid bill today?

RADEL: Yes, I will. We do need, this is the national flood insurance program. It is something promised by the federal government. And we need to release those funds to the people that are suffering in the Northeast.

Like you, Victor, you've lived in Florida, you've been a journalist in Florida and I have, too. I have walked into the homes that have been destroyed by hurricanes.

I have seen the floods that have devastated homes of people just trying to get help. and I think that this is a role for the federal government for right now to be able to release these funds, help those people but ultimately what we need to be doing at the federal level is weaning people off of the federal government and allow this to not just be left up to the states but ultimately the private sector. BLACKWELL: So you want to pass FEMA off to the private sector. You don't think the government should be involved in federal relief at all?

RADEL: It should in some areas, but this is a case of insurance just like in Florida, where you even have state-run programs that are out of control such as citizens where -- where again I'm sure that you've covered many times it ends up where middle class families end up paying for insurance for multimillionaires to have their homes on the beaches. It's just not fair. We need to allow it to be in the private sector.

When it comes to health, safety and welfare, though, of course there's a role for federal government to play. And in this case, today with Hurricane Sandy, I think that there is an area right now that we can do that. But again, we need to return it back to the people, not the federal government.

BLACKWELL: All right, so the Sandy aid bill will be the first big spending vote. Let's talk about debt. The debt ceiling comes up at the end of February I believe it is and will you vote to increase the debt ceiling?

RADEL: Well, I have to see what is presented, but I would be hard- pressed to vote for that. You know, at what point do we stop this? The most tangible example that I could give to someone watching right now, maybe a mom, a dad, a hard-working American, if you had a financial adviser that put you $2 million in debt, ripped through your savings, ripped through your college savings for your kids, and then told you that you need more money, they need more money to solve the problem, would you give the financial adviser more money to solve the problem? And the answer is no.

We need to stop the spending and it's not just about cutting, Victor. It's about saving. It's about saving Medicare. It's about saving Social Security and until we have true reform, tax reform and reform on Medicare and Social Security, only then will we begin to save it for today's generation, and people like my kids.

BLACKWELL: Congressman Trey Radel, I'm still going to call you Congressman, you worked for the title and you deserve it. Congressman Trey Radel, thank you for speaking with us today.

RADEL: Thank you so much. I appreciate your time.

BLACKWELL: Sure.

BLACKWELL: Flu cases are spiking across the country. We'll show you the hardest hit states and tell you what you can do to protect yourself.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: You know it, the flu season is having an early spike across the country. You probably know someone who is hacking behind you now. Just check out the red in this map. More than half of the states already have widespread flu activity. The states in orange have regional flu activity. The yellow states have local activity.

Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now. And this has been a bad season. I call it the woof, when I hear that cough.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The woof I love it.

BLACKWELL: I'm like you got the woof.

COHEN: Right and then you get away as quickly as possible right?

BLACKWELL: Yes you back away and you smile and back out of the room.

COHEN: Right, right.

BLACKWELL: How bad has the season been?

COHEN: You know so far this flu season, this has been one of the worst flu seasons in the past decade, there have only have been two or maybe three that has been as bad as this year. So flu can hit early, like in November, December, which is what happened this year, or it can hit later, like January, February, or even later like March and so this has been a really early flu season. Not a terrible flu season, but an early flu season.

BLACKWELL: Now, because it's so early, does that give us any indication of how bad it will get?

COHEN: Yes I was talking to folks from the CDC last night, and they said, look, we think it's going to be a moderate to severe season overall. So, worse than last year but not as bad as some other years.

BLACKWELL: So when I hear that woof somewhere in this building and I heard it a few times --

COHEN: I heard it many times in this building.

BLACKWELL: Yes I think I didn't get a flu shot. Is it too late?

COHEN: Why didn't you get a flu shot?

BLACKWELL: I just didn't. Things happen. It's off the schedule.

COHEN: They give them upstairs for a week.

BLACKWELL: I know, I know.

COHEN: You know right, you're right you got to get a flu shot.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

COHEN: It is not too late, because there's still flu around. We haven't necessarily seen the worst of it yet. Still ok, still will help to get -- to get it right now. It's not going to make you sick which is what a lot of people think, and also it's not going to -- it's not going to give you the flu, that's what a lot of people think.

BLACKWELL: Yes a lot of people think as soon as you get it, then here come symptoms.

COHEN: Right exactly.

BLACKWELL: All right, Elizabeth Cohen, I will go and get the flu shot because it's not too late.

COHEN: Good there you go.

BLACKWELL: Thank you.

And for more on how to avoid the flu go to CNN.com/empoweredpatient.

All right, cue the supermodels for the Super Bowl ads, but the story lines may be a little different this year. We'll talk about that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: The road to the Super Bowl goes through four first-round sites this weekend. Here's your wild card matchups: the Bengals take on the Texans in tomorrow's early game, then a regular season finale rematch between the Vikings and the Packers. You can check out the three top rookie quarterbacks Sunday, Andrew Luck and the Colts play the Ravens. Robert Griffin III RG3 and the Redskins host Russell Wilson and the Seahawks.

Now a Super Bowl trophy lies at the end of the road for one team and a pot of gold for the broadcasters. CBS says 30-second ad spots are going for at least $4 million blowing last year's mark out of the water. Of course, you can expect attractive women in the new ads.

"USA Today" reports that Go Daddy has Bar Refaeli, Mercedez Mercedes- Benz previously announced it would have Kate Upton in its spot. We have Brian Steinberg, he's a television editor at Advertising Aids. Brian it's good to have you with us.

Listen, we've seen models dress provocatively in previous Super Bowl ads, but this has been really racy so far, maybe not so racy this year?

BRIAN STEINBERG, ADVERTISING AGE: You know, I think we might see them kind of class it up this year. Bar Refaeli and Kate Upton aren't really known like Kim Kardashian or Betthany from Bravo or that reality show stars, these are people who actually star in high -- high fashion expensive ad campaigns.

I suspect they won't be doing a Go Daddy kind of thing. I know Go Daddy is one of the advertisers, they have -- even they have hired a pretty big-name ad agency to handle their stuff for the first time in a long while. This kind of signals they might be up for a high-class ad.

BLACKWELL: And you mentioned Go Daddy right off the top and I was thinking when we were talking with the producers today, which company really put themselves on the map with a Super Bowl ad and Go Daddy to me was at the top of that list.

STEINBERG: I have to agree with you. These guys really came out of nowhere selling a pretty hard to understand service, hard to comprehend, you know Web hosting and they used scantily clad c-list celebrities to kind of get them there but now I guess they may see that, gee, we've been around eight, ten years, maybe we need to grow up a little bit.

STEINBERG: Yes we'll see if they grow up. I don't know if Danica Patrick would appreciate being called c-list. But you said it, I didn't.

STEINBERG: Well.

STEINBERG: You know we've seen a lot of car ads in the last two Super Bowls. You know that imported from Detroit, we had Clint Eastwood voice an Ad. Will we see more in February of that?

STEINBERG: We're going to see a lot more. This has become a parking lot for car advertising. The car guys you know came out of the recession seeing they need to get their name back out there, there's an overseas competitor like Hyundai getting market share and now they're kind of moving in full force. GM will be there but Lincoln Mercury is going to be in and we may even see Chrysler, they haven't announced yet, but who knows.

BLACKWELL: You know we've seen -- we just actually said that $4 million for 30 seconds, that is a lot of money for just 30 seconds but some of these ads are going to go longer.

STEINBERG: Yes. We're going to see some minute-long ads. I know Chrysler has now had two-minute-long ads. As part of a trend we're seeing for about the last year or so where some advertisers who are in the game want to make a big statement, it kind of hearkens back to the old Apple Macintosh 1984 advertisement that makes a big splash. And you know dynamic advertising it really kind of catches the eye.

BLACKWELL: This is one of my favorites that's on now, and maybe you can't see it, but the Betty White snickers ad.

STEINBERG: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Where she's tackled. I mean, that really rejuvenated her career.

STEINBERG: Yes these -- these commercials really kind of catch on with popular culture and they have on -- who knows where they can go. They can offend, they can excite, they can revive careers. These are really kind of big-play commercials.

BLACKWELL: And it didn't do much for Abe Vigoda's career, just Betty White's.

So, you know, I've always wondered that some of these companies like a Go-Daddy. They need it, they put all their money in it to get some recognition, but M&M and Budweiser, do they really need to spend this much money or is this kind of just, you know, par for the course at that level?

STEINBERG: I'd argue Budweiser does need to spend the money. This is an event they've been in for decades and to not be in it might signal there's something wrong with the company, so I do think they need to be there and these guys have a reason. They have a strategy.

M&M is going for the perfect-type candy and Budweiser I think it's part of their brand to be part of the Super Bowl.

BLACKWELL: All right, Brian Steinberg "Ad Age". Thank you so much for talking with us. We'll look forward to February 3rd and the commercials.

STEINBERG: For sure. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: The next hour of "CNN NEWSROOM" begins right now.

Stories we're watching right now --

Victims from Superstorm Sandy could soon be getting $9.7 billion in aid. The House is set to vote on that today, but hear why some people are telling lawmakers to vote no.

Malala is out of the hospital, the teen shot by the Taliban gets to stay with her family, but her treatment is far from over.

A controversial new question could be popping up on census forms. "Is being Hispanic a race?" Why that question has a Latino community up in arms.