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Stock Market on the Rise; Jodi Arias Trial Continues; Smearing a Senator?

Aired March 05, 2013 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here we go at the top of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

The stock market on a tear today in this final hour of trading. Dow Jones industrial average smashed through an old record to reach a new high, topping records that were set back in 2007.

Sounds like great news for all of us, right? Well, not so fast. Why this disconnect between what is going on in the markets and Wall Street and I know what a lot of you are feeling on Main Street.

Our chief business correspondent, Ali Velshi, here to explain.

Ali, should we celebrate or not so much?

ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. See, last time the Dow hit a record, people were talking about it all the time. It felt good. The economy felt pretty strong too. Let me show you what it looks like right now.

We have got -- that's the weirdest thing in the world. I'm looking at myself and you and me in a million different ways. Let's put the Dow up on the screen, so you can take a look at it. The high until this morning was 14198. It's now 14261. The Dow is up 1 full percent today. And a lot of people are saying the economy doesn't feel that way.

So, let me just show you about the Dow, why it is, why it is, and a lot of this has to do with interest rates. The Dow back on March 9, 2009, that's where I started this chart, was at 6500. That was the low after the recession, after the financial crisis. The recession actually formally ended in June of 2009. But you see from there markets are going up.

In October of 2009, unemployment actually hit 10 percent. But markets really kept on going largely higher. Some time in the middle of 2010 it fell down again. But you see it was working its way up. This was the Fed second stimulus round. That was QE2 as you remember it. Then the markets kept going up in 2011, dropped again, this was the debt downgrade over here. You will remember that. That's what it did to the markets over here.

Then you see it goes up again into 2012, and this was QE3 when the Fed put more stimulus in. And we get ourselves up above 14000 now. Now, take a look at this. This is what most people think of as the economy, job creation. You feel good when jobs are created. Back in the beginning of 2009, we're losing 800,000 jobs first few months, 800,000, 700,000 and change and 800,000 again.

This started to look really good. These jobs here are from the census. That's why we saw this peak. But then once the census hiring was done, we saw unemployment drop again. And this is the problem. Jobs have been doing this while the market has been doing that. And that's where the disconnect comes in.

The reason the markets are doing better than the economy is doing is because of interest rates. They have been so low, that there aren't a lot of different ways to make money. So people put their money into the stock market, Brooke. You can make money in a house possibly, but that's long-term money, you have to have a big down payment. There's no money in the bank. Bond funds are suffering. So everybody is going to the stock market.

BALDWIN: We know the Dow is an average of two dozen-plus companies. Of course, that's different from where we were at that last closing high, five-and-a-half years ago. But, as for now, which companies have done the best?

VELSHI: Yes. And there have been some big gainers, by the way. If you invested at the bottom of the market, and Christine and I used to say it was in the beginning of 2009, and it will be rocky, but the bottom is somewhere, and it ended up being March.

Look what you would have done if you had American Express stock, 491 percent higher. Home Depot, 286 percent. Caterpillar, 275 percent. Walt Disney, 257 percent. General Electric, 214 percent. In fact, in all of 2009, you would have done well, 2010, 2012. So far, we were expecting it to gain maybe six, maybe more. We have already seen so much of that gain just in the first two months of this year.

So just tells you need to understand how to diversify your money and put it into the stock market to get it working for you. There are some people who think the stock market has just been terrible for all of these years. The bottom line is the Dow was 6500 in March of 2009, 14263 now, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Just makes you think, gosh, had I gotten in on some of the companies a couple of years go. Ali Velshi, thank you.

And now a story I know has a lot of you talking, asking questions. A lot of have elder ones, ones we love here in homes in America. Just a short time ago, we learned police may be pursuing charges in the case of that nurse who refused to give CPR to a dying woman.

Let me back up. Here is the story. Woman stops breathing and this is at a retirement home in California and it's called Glenwood Gardens. None of the staff, at least none of those in the loop here, was willing to save her. Why? It is against the rules. You heard me right. No CPR at Glenwood Gardens in Bakersfield. This woman was lying there, unconscious, in the dining room. She was still breathing. And despite the valiant efforts from this 911 dispatcher, she died. Take a listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

911 OPERATOR: I understand if your facility is not willing to do that, give the phone to that passerby or that stranger to have it done. I need -- need this woman is not breathing enough. She's going to die if we don't get this started. Do you understand?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I understand.

911 OPERATOR: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am a nurse. But I cannot have our other senior citizens who don't know CPR...

(CROSSTALK)

911 OPERATOR: I will instruct them. I will instruct them. Is there anyone there who is...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I cannot do that.

911 OPERATOR: OK. I don't understand why you're not willing to help this patient.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am.

911 OPERATOR: OK. Great, then I will walk you through it all.

(CROSSTALK)

911 OPERATOR: EMS takes the liability for this (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I'm happy to help you. OK? This is EMS protocol. OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you (OFF-MIKE) right away. I don't know where he is, but she's yelling at come and saying that we have to have one of our other residents perform CPR and she will instruct. And I'm not going to do that and make that call.

911 OPERATOR: Is there anybody that works there that is willing to do it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can't...

(CROSSTALK)

911 OPERATOR: Or are we just going to wait -- we're going to let this lady die?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, that's why we're calling 911.

911 OPERATOR: We can't wait. She can't wait right now. She is stopping breathing. She can't wait for them to get there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's saying we don't. So you can talk to my boss, and I don't know...

(CROSSTALK)

911 OPERATOR: OK. They're refusing CPR. They're going to let her die.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I know. I can hear you. It is infuriating listening to this phone call.

Miguel Marquez live for me.

Tell me about possible charges. What could this nurse face?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is not clear who would face the charges, whether it would be the nurse or whether it would be somebody with the home itself, the independent living facility itself.

Bakersfield police only saying they're talking to everybody involved in the case and in the coming days they may be able to make a decision as to whether or not charges would be brought. What they are looking at is the possibility of elderly abuse charges.

Now, Glenwood Gardens does say that that nurse followed protocol, and, by the way, she was not hired to be a nurse at the facility. She was hired to be a director there. So she wasn't fulfilling a nurse's capacity.

But it would seem logical that anybody would step in and help out, obviously, which is why everybody seemed so frustrated with this. They do say she followed protocol, that is to call 911 if any residents have a problem. They did that. They stayed with her. And 911 came and it's unfortunate she died. They passed on their condolences to the family, but they say that is the protocol that people sign up for when they come into this place.

I spoke to a firefighter yesterday; 21 years he served there, went to many calls at this particular facility, said it wasn't just CPR or things. It was things like guys falling out of a bed. He talked about a World War II veteran that fell out of his bed and they wouldn't even pick him up and put him in his bed. The guy was so frustrated and angry that here he served in the Great War and couldn't get a lift up.

So it is that policy that they will be looking at. It may cause -- force changes across the board at some point, but at this point, Glenwood Gardens says they're conducting an internal review and police are saying they are looking at possible charges.

BALDWIN: Makes you wonder how many other homes in this country have these kinds of policies for any of us who have loved ones in homes like this. Miguel Marquez, thank you so much.

And if you go by the calendar, spring hits two weeks from tomorrow, but don't tell that to Chicago. And don't tell that to Ted Rowlands, who is standing by in the snow in Chicago.

Ted, we're hearing this could be the biggest snow of the year. We checked in last hour with our colleague Jennifer Delgado. How is it looking?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as Jennifer Delgado had predicted, the wind has started to pick up. You can see the flags are now moving pretty quickly.

So, it is getting even more and more miserable. Brooke, I hope you're right that real spring is coming in the next couple of weeks. It has been snowing all day long here. People are fairly miserable, walking around Chicago. That lady looks happy. Most people we talked to, though, are very, very ready for spring to happen.

This is not only in Chicago, of course. It is hitting the Midwest, Minneapolis, North Dakota getting in excess of a foot of snow and this system is heading east. They're expecting more snow here throughout the evening. The evening commute is going to be horrible. We just were out at O'Hare Airport, over 800 flights canceled there. They're packing people in there and hoping to get them out in the days to come.

But this has been a reoccurring story over the last few weeks. that Midwesterners are over. Hopefully, this will be over soon.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Hopefully. They say spring is in two weeks, allegedly. We have a good hearty crew and hearty folks in Chicago who can cover this one. Ted Rowlands, thank you so much.

And we have a certain someone on our team, our veteran copy editor, Walt Smith. I know he remembers this, campaign '92. Do you remember this? George H.W. Bush talking about his opponents, Bill Clinton and Al Gore. Bozos.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They criticized our country and say we're less than Germany and slightly better than Sri Lanka. My dog Millie knows more about foreign affairs than these two bozos.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And then he says we are bozos. Let me tell you something, folks. At least Bozo makes people laugh. Bush makes people cry. We're going to laugh.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: So Bush 41 and Bill Clinton, not a whole lot of lost love there. But now, some 20 years later, look at them. They have worked together so much, they have become so close that a friend of the Bush family says the Bush kids are practically jealous.

Here is Bush I on Bill Clinton. This is a letter he wrote to his kids in 2005. This is what he wrote -- quote -- "You cannot get mad at the guy. I admit to wondering why he can't stay on time, but he has opinions on everything, no matter what. He seems to have a great grasp of history's events and people."

That letter is taken from Bush I's new book, "All the Best: George Bush, My Life and Letters and Other Writings."

Gloria Borger, our chief political analyst, you like the videos from the vault here at CNN.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I do. I do.

BALDWIN: These days, the Clintons and the Bushes they are about as close to royalty really as we have here in this country. Is there a lesson perhaps in the respect that these former rivals have developed for each other?

BORGER: Sure.

Well, you know, they're kind of members of a pretty exclusive club. And Mike Duffy and Nancy Gibbs of "TIME" have written a book on it called "The Presidents Club." And what I think you're seeing in these letters from former President Bush is a real respect for another member of that club, Bill Clinton, with whom he's done a lot of great work. And it just shows you that these folks can be really archrivals, but when they look back in history, they kind of decide that there are certain things that are bigger than their own personal political rivalries of the past.

And that's what these two gentlemen have done. But I have to say, this tells you an awful lot about former President Bush himself, because he couldn't be more different from Bill Clinton. One other thing I loved in these letters was that he said, you know, in grade school there used to be a place in our old report cards that said claims more than his fair share of time and attention in the classroom, and he said, well, you know, that would be Bill Clinton. But you got to love him.

BALDWIN: Here is the funny thing, though, because come 2016, we very well might, might, might, might see Bush vs. Clinton two.

BORGER: I know.

BALDWIN: I'm talking Jeb Bush, Hillary Clinton. As it happens, Jake Tapper talked today with Jeb Bush and he says he has to answer some questions before he will actually commit to running. Here's one of the questions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JEB BUSH (R), FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: Do I think that somehow I have a unique perspective that, you know, might be different, you know, that the skills I have might be useful going forward in terms of leadership? I don't know. I haven't thought about that. There are a lot of other really good people that I admire a lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Gloria, Jeb Bush vs. Hillary Clinton, would that be a good thing?

BORGER: Oh, my God.

BALDWIN: An awful lot of Bushes and Clintons these days.

BORGER: Aren't there any other families in American politics?

BALDWIN: Apparently not.

BORGER: Apparently not. When Hillary Clinton ran, there was a lot of what was called Bush fatigue if you will recall in the country. One of the reasons that I think Jeb Bush decided not to run this last time was that he thought there was still Bush fatigue in this country.

So the question is, if you skip ahead, four more years, will there be still Bush fatigue and Clinton fatigue? We just don't know. But I think it is actually a real possibility that you could see these two people going head to head.

BALDWIN: Makes for a fun story line.

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: We will be there.

BALDWIN: In a matter of years. See you there, 2016. Gloria Borger, thank you.

BORGER: OK.

BALDWIN: And we talked about Jake Tapper and his interview with Jeb Bush. Don't miss it, "SITUATION ROOM" today 4:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

Coming up next, we have news on everything and everyone, including why the life expectancy of women is down.

Plus, Hugo Chavez fighting for his life and his number two making accusations today against the U.S.

And the White House weighs in on the battle over your cell phone.

And the most powerful gun group in America is going NASCAR. The power block is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: Technology, sports, business, health, science and showbiz news. We're hitting it all in the power block, beginning with this.

File that in the song that is going to be stuck in your head the rest of the day. Carly Rae Jepsen, she tells the Boy Scouts of America, don't call me at all. The singer is pulling out of performing at the Boy Scouts' annual jamboree because of the group's ban on gay Scouts and Scout leaders. Train scheduled -- I should say canceled its scheduled appearance at the jamboree last week. No reaction yet from the Boy Scouts themselves.

Steven Spielberg spokesman Marvin Levy confirms to CNN entertainment that the director is developing the late Stanley Kubrick's unproduced Napoleon screenplay as a television miniseries. He discussed this in an interview on Sunday saying -- quote -- "This is going to be more about the motion picture, the life of Napoleon here," and we will check in to see what happens with Napoleon.

Ikea now bringing its style and budget approach to the hotel business. The furniture store is teaming up with Marriott to build a hotel chain across Europe. Hotels will be named Moxy. They're designed to appeal to a younger crowd who want style at a budget price. Top price, right around $110 per night. The first Moxy is set to open in Milan, Italy, early next year.

And there was a new player in the fight to take your cell phone with you when you contract with your carrier when that whole thing runs out. This is the White House here.

(FINANCIAL UPDATE)

BALDWIN: And you will never guess who dominated an impromptu doubles tennis match last night in Madison Square Garden. Grand Slam champ Rafael Nadal pulled actor Ben Stiller out of the stands during an exhibition match here, opening up for the opponent, Juan Martin del Potro, a 9-year-old girl -- her name is Rebecca Suarez and she returned every shot from Nadal to Stiller.

Look at her go. Back and forth. Little sports advice for Ben Stiller, yes, go back to dodgeball. Go back to dodgeball.

Pistols and victory lane no strangers to the Texas Motor Speedway, so maybe it is fitting that the NRA is sponsoring a NASCAR race next month. The National Rifle Association has bought the naming rights to a NASCAR race before. But this is the first top-level Sprint Cup race to carry the organization's name. This announcement comes as the Rifle Association is ramping up its campaign against gun control proposals in Washington.

It is a cease-fire that ended the Korean War, a war considered one of the deadliest in U.S. history. It has held for 60 years. But North Korea is at it again. It's vowing to cancel the truce and as their anger grows towards the United States and the push for U.N. sanctions over recent nuclear tests.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We need to use all our power and destroy the U.S. and other enemy forces and unite our country. In this way, we can follow our Dear Leader's wish. We should use this opportunity to really break U.S. confidence and unite our country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We are the peacekeeping people's army. If the U.S. tries to light any small fire in our territory, we will use this as an opportunity to unite the country. We will do our best to achieve what our supreme commander, Kim Jong- un, wants. No matter what the U.S. says, victory is ours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Adding to the situation here, ongoing joint military drills between the U.S. and close ally South Korea. The South and the North still technically in a state of war. More than 28,000 U.S. soldiers are currently stationed in South Korea.

To Venezuela now, allegations of U.S. involvement in a conspiracy. So in this lengthy address to the nation, earlier today, Venezuela's vice president, Nicolas Maduro, says he has clues that the U.S. is plotting against Venezuela. This theory leading to the ejection of a U.S. diplomat from the country supposedly within 24 hours.

By the way, the U.S. denying that claim.

Let's go to Shasta Darlington live in Caracas, Venezuela.

On what grounds, Shasta, is Venezuela basing this conspiracy that the U.S. and other so-called enemies are trying to destabilize Venezuela?

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, I mean, he didn't give a whole lot of concrete clues.

It was really a very bizarre press conference. I think you have to look at the context more than anything. This is coming right on the heels of an announcement here on national television that Hugo Chavez's health has taken a turn for the worse. So the government announced that the man currently in charge, Vice President Nicolas Maduro, was meeting with top military leaders and naturally most Venezuelans expected them to come out and talk a bit more about what was going on with President Hugo Chavez.

Instead, they came out with this story. And you definitely get the sensation that they're trying to drum up support, circle the wagons, get all of these very fervent Chavez supporters behind them at a time in which they have already announced that his health is in a very delicate situation. So again light on the details of exactly the plot that this attache was allegedly involved in and a lot more sort of firebrand speech, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Shasta Darlington in Caracas. Shasta, Thank you. To Tehran, Iran. War is being plagued against giant rats. I saw this picture, I thought it was Photoshopped. Apparently, it is not. A team of snipers mind you has been called in to hunt the cat-sized rodents at night. So far, more than 2,000 rats have been caught and Tehran is hoping to have 40 teams of sharpshooters on the hunt by the end of the year. Rats in Iran.

A disturbing trend uncovered by researchers. A growing number of women are dying at younger ages. The death rate here for women, 75 and younger, is up in nearly half the country's -- counties in the United States. Experts don't know why. But the study released today in the journal "Health Affairs" found that women most affected by declining life expectancy are disadvantaged, they're white, they live in rural areas, both in the South and the West. Overall, a baby girl born today can expect to live to be 81. The average life span for a boy is 76.

A series of incidents at Oberlin College in Ohio have the student body and faculty there really on alert, fearful, angry, after someone reported spotting a person wearing an outfit resembling the Ku Klux Klan near the college's African heritage house. We're going to talk live to the president of Oberlin College next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Getting some news I want to pass along to you from the TSA, when it comes to what you can and cannot take on board a plane. Here is the news from the TSA.

After 9/11, you couldn't take this on, now you can. You can now take on small pen knives and items, sporting equipment items, i.e. golf clubs. Those now will be allowed back in U.S. planes according to the head of the TSA. So the U.S. now more or less getting in line with international rules in the air.

And now this, a Dominican woman who says she is one of the women in a video who claimed Senator Bob Menendez paid her for sex now she says she made this whole thing up. She has never even met the senator. He has always vehemently denied the allegations, today, called them false smears.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ROBERT MENENDEZ (D), NEW JERSEY: I don't know more than what I have read. But I do know that from the very beginning I said that nameless, faceless, anonymous sources took the names -- from right-wing blogs, took this story, which were just false smears, right before an election cycle, attempted to do it then, and ultimately drove it into the mainstream press. But they were never anything other than false smears.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Senator Bob Menendez again denying, calling the accusations smears. Coming up, we will take you back live as recess will be ending in this trial. And we can watch. Here she is, Jodi Arias accused of murdering her ex-boyfriend, stabbing him 27 times, slashing his throat, putting two bullets in his head. The redirect continues here in this Phoenix courtroom. We have all the analysis. We're back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)