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American Morning: Wake Up Call
Interview with the Crew of Space Shuttle Atlantis; Cameron Faces Parliament in Scandal; Obama Praise "Gang Of Six" Plan; Debt Impasse Could Hurt Five States; Cameron Faces Parliament In Scandal
Aired July 20, 2011 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. It is Wednesday, July the 20th. This is your A.M.: WAKE-UP CALL.
I'm Ali Velshi, joining you this morning from New York.
Well, it's not a done deal, but a debt reduction plan put forward by a bipartisan group of senators -- you see them there. They're known as the "gang of six," shows some promise finally of breaking the stalemate in the debt ceiling negotiations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And so, I want to congratulate the "gang of six" for coming up with a plan that I think is balanced.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Now, the plan does not address the debt ceiling. You see the debt clock there. It ticks down to August 2nd. That's when the U.S. could start defaulting on some of its bills.
But it could be a jumping-off point for a bigger deal. Here are some of the highlights of the plan, according to CNN Senate sources:
It shaves about $4 trillion off the debt load. It re-jiggers the tax code. Something that is crucial. It cuts short-term spending by about $500 billion. It changes the entire budgeting process and it reforms Social Security.
Now, this plan is not to be confused with something you heard about yesterday, "cut, cap and balance." That's a House plan that passed last night. It would impose strict limits on future federal spending. But that measure is likely DOA. Probably won't pass the Senate. The president is promising to veto it if it did.
Now, in just about 90 minutes, the spotlight in the News Corp. phone hacking scandal turns to British Prime Minister David Cameron. He'll be front and center at the House of Commons, talking about his links to the Murdoch media empire -- this just a day after Rupert Murdoch insisted to lawmakers he didn't know much.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUPERT MURDOCH, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, NEWS CORPORATION: I don't know. I don't know. I was not aware at the time. I don't have any memory. I don't know anything about that. I'm not sure what I said. I cannot square to the accuracy of it. I just don't remember.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Well, a lack of memories. And check this out, a pie attack. You see it there, bottom left of your screen -- the most memorable moments of the intense two-hour hearing.
The pie man, by the way, is a comedian who sent a tweet before the attack comparing Murdoch to Mr. Burns -- yes. That Mr. Burns on the left, the sinister but powerful "Simpsons" character. Now, the attacker is facing criminal charges this morning.
But will Rupert Murdoch face any? Here's CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin on "A.C. 360."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: A lot of people have talked about the possibility of criminal charges in the United States, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or something connected with hacking or 9/11 -- in 9/11 victims. There is really no credible evidence at all of any sort of American criminal violations by anyone in connection with News Corp. So, I mean, I really think the question is really a business one over here -- as well as in England -- is: can the Murdochs stay in control? And I think probably yes is the answer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Another hacking headline, 14 accused hacktivists have been picked up by FBI. They are wanted for their suspected involvement in a cyber attack on PayPal. Now, the FBI sweeps span the country targeting suspects with nicknames like "Toxic" and "Ripper."
This video you're looking is from a raid on Long Island. Now, the hacktivists were said to be from the hacking group Anonymous, which claims it also attacked Visa and MasterCard after the companies refused to process donations that were being made to WikiLeaks.
The crew of the shuttle Atlantis waking up to the last full day in space and the last full day of a NASA space shuttle mission ever.
Waking up to the song "Fanfare for the Common Man," a fitting title for the one final trip home. The shuttle is set to land tomorrow morning at 5:56 a.m., Eastern Time, ending the shuttle program. But the voyage isn't finished yet. In about five minutes, I'll be talking to the crew of Atlantis live in space about their historic flight and where space exploration goes from here. You'll want to stay tuned for that.
An air traffic controller in Colorado has been pulled from his post. He's in trouble for allegedly being drunk at the switch. The FAA says the controller was about six hours into an eight-hour shift at the Denver air route traffic control center when he failed a routine alcohol test earlier this month.
The FAA says there was no indication of any problems during the shift.
Heads up for gay couples looking to tie the knot in New York City. They will have to hit the lotto. That's how Mayor Michael Bloomberg is handling the high demand.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK: The last thing we want to have happen is for couples to wait online for hours and hours only to walk away upset on what was supposed to be the biggest day of their lives. So, we believe the fairest way to determine who gets the chance to wed on Sunday is through a lottery system.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: City officials are capping the number of nuptials at 764. The winners will be announced on Friday.
Time now for a quick check on the world's markets, both the Nikkei and the Hang Seng closed higher. The DAX in Frankfurt and the FTSE also both up at this hour, after a strong day on U.S. markets last night.
Let's go to Nina Dos Santos live from London.
Nina, this is coming in spite of a strong warning from the International Monetary Fund about the debt crisis in Europe?
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the IMF issuing some strong words for E.U. leaders, just ahead of tomorrow's summit, Ali, because E.U. leaders will be trying to hammer out a second bailout for Greece tomorrow when they meet.
And let's also take a look at why this should be concerning some of our viewers. Well, a lot of economists have been saying that they're worried about this Greece issue because it undermines the stability of the euro, which is a major trade in currency around the world. Of course, economists are telling me that's not a good time to have worries about the euro when, of course, you've got worries about the U.S. dollar when it comes to the endless debt debacle when it comes to raising that debt ceiling ahead of August the 2nd, Ali.
VELSHI: All right. So, we got a lot of things investors have to digest today. The strong markets yesterday largely had to do with earnings reports in the United States. But one stock that we've seen do nothing but lose value for the last couple weeks did quite well yesterday, and that was the stock of Rupert Murdoch's company.
DOS SANTOS: That's right, Ali. This stock is down by about 12 percent since July the 5th. That was when the phone hacking scandal started gaining more momentum here in Britain. That means it's wiped off about $5 billion off his market capitalization.
Nevertheless, the stock did rally about 5.5 percent yesterday as Rupert Murdoch and his son James gave testimony to the parliamentary select committee here in the United Kingdom. It spiked significantly higher when James Murdoch himself made a number of comments about transparency at the company.
But this has affected the value of the shares that the Murdoch family own. They've lost about $750 million on their own stake. I wouldn't feel too sorry for them, though, Ali, because they still own shares that are worth more than $5 billion in total.
VELSHI: Nobody ever wants to lose money though, do they?
Nina, good to see you this morning. Thanks so much. I'll check in with you later on -- Nina Dos Santos joining us from London.
Let's go to Jacqui Jeras now live in Atlanta in the weather center.
Jacqui, there's activity in the Tropics that might be of concern to us? Good morning.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Good morning.
We've been watching tropical storm Bret. It's a pretty weak tropical storm, about winds of 50 miles per hour. It is going to stay offshore.
So, the good news is we're not expecting this to bring showers and thunderstorms to the U.S., but we've got a lot of beach goers this time of year. And this could bring in rough surf and also the threat of rip currents along the Carolina coast, as well as Georgia and parts of Florida -- so, something to keep in mind over the next couple days.
The heat continues to be a huge story across the nation. We've got good news for folks across the nation's midsection. We're looking for some relief by tomorrow. However, that heat has got to go somewhere, right? So, watch out for folks along the Eastern Seaboard.
We've got excessive heat warnings and watches already in place as that heat starts to make a little bit of a shift of towards the east.
If you're traveling today, looking for problems in San Francisco due to the wind. Chicago, we've got thunderstorms moving in as we speak. Atlanta and Miami will have problems later on today because of thunderstorms. And that will be the same case in the Houston area as thunderstorms pop up there.
All right. Ali, pay attention to this next story. I'm not normally a potty mouth. However, we've got a story to tell you about today. Bill Gates says it's time to reinvent, yes, the toilet. It's serious business, however.
The foundation is offering up about $41 million for anybody who can reinvent this. Basically it's been the same deal for about the last 200 years. And they say it's important because people in other parts of the world who can't really afford the porcelain --
VELSHI: The thinking here is it has actually done more for health and hygiene, the toilet, than anything else.
JERAS: Right.
VELSHI: Let's find a new one that even goes further and becomes more affordable.
Good story. You're usually not a potty mouth. But that was a good occasion to be on.
Jacqui Jeras, in the weather center, we'll check in with you later on.
Hey, the astronauts aboard the space shuttle Atlantis are orbiting hundreds of miles above earth right now. And coming up, in three minutes, we're going to talk to them live right here on CNN. There they are standing by.
But, first, the quote of the day is from one of our congressman. Can you guess which said this? "You are the most vile, unprofessional and despicable member of the U.S. House of Representatives. If you have something to say to me, stop being a coward and say it to my face. Otherwise, shut the heck up."
See who was talking about that right after this break.
It's nine minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Thirty years ago, the first space shuttle launched into space. This year, the shuttle era ends.
Let's take a look at the world's first reusable space vehicle. The space shuttle system has got three main parts. The orbiter -- that one there -- holds the crew and payload. The huge orange external tank holds fuel. And the two solid rocket boosters, those things on the side, provide most of the shuttle's lift during the first two minutes of flight. Now, all the components are usable -- reusable except the big orange tank. It burns up in the atmosphere after each launch.
Now, fully loaded, the shuttle system weighs about 4.5 million pounds. For those of you who are counting, that's about 300 elephants. Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavor have taken 130 flights in total into the final frontier. It carried more than 350 people into space. The shuttles have traveled more than half a billion miles, more than enough to get to the planet Jupiter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Two, one, zero -- and lift off! The final liftoff of Atlantis -- on the shoulders of the space shuttle, America will continue the dream.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: That was the stirring moment on July 8th at the Kennedy Space Center, the final shuttle mission that took off that day is wrapping up now. It began on July 8th with the incredible launch of the space shuttle Atlantis. There you see it heading towards the clouds, just about to go through. It was a cloudy day. There were some questions as to whether it was going to take off, but it did -- an historic takeoff that was watched by over a million people in person, never mind those watching it on TV.
Commander Chris Ferguson, pilot Doug Hurley, mission specialists Rex Walheim and Sandy Magnus have begun or have been in space ever since that day. They're still there. There they are. Right now, the shuttle is flying above the Atlantic Ocean.
Those astronauts join us live from space where they're prepping for tomorrow morning's landing, 24 hours from now.
Thanks to all of you so much for joining us. This is the last time the shuttle astronauts will ever be interviewed live on CNN.
Let's start with Chris Ferguson, the commander.
Chris, this is the last space shuttle mission. When you think of all that's been done in space and all that is being planned from here on, it almost feels like you are going to be a veteran of the golden age of space travel.
CHRIS FERGUSON, NASA SHUTTLE COMMANDER: First off, hello, Ali. It's great to speak with you here. And welcome aboard the flight deck of the space shuttle Atlantis on her final day in space.
You know, I don't -- I wouldn't say that this is the end of the golden age. It's certainly the end of, perhaps, a very specific age where just a select few can go into space. I think what we're going to see in the next few years is a very broadening horizon, an opportunity for people who have never had an opportunity to go into space, to at least get to lower earth orbit.
And what we'll do is we'll turn over the reins of that business to our commercial partners and that will enable NASA to take the resources we put into the shuttle and hopefully go beyond lower earth orbit again in a not-too-distant future.
VELSHI: Sandy Magnus, mission specialist, you enjoy cooking, amongst other things that you do in space, you enjoy cooking. You've been known to cook up some special treats. I know you made Christmas cookies once and you made salsa for the Super Bowl.
You got anything planned for the final meal up in space?
SANDY MAGNUS, NASA SHUTTLE MISSION SPECIALIST: I don't have anything planned. But I may end up surprising the guys. You know, the problems with the shuttle missions are they're so busy. And this one has been incredibly busy. I haven't had time to do much space cooking.
But I gave some tips to the space station guys. So, if they have sometime, they could try a few of my recipes.
VELSHI: Chris Ferguson, you're going to be watching you closely. One of the cities I spend time in is Philadelphia. You're a local from that area. What do you got to say to the folks down on earth who are going to be watching you bring that thing in beautifully tomorrow morning?
FERGUSON: Well, I guess what I said to the folks when we left mission control, one of our orbit ships we spoke to them for the last time from orbit yesterday, and I said to them as they walked out of the room to look up and make a memory. And I'll say to everybody who has an opportunity to perhaps see the landing real time or see the shuttle on the runway, is take a good look at it and make a memory because you're going to never see anything like this again. It's been an incredible ride.
VELSHI: Rex, how are you feeling about this? You guys are going to land. I mean, normally, there's a sort of camaraderie. There's a club of people who have flown on the space shuttle. That sort of club closes tomorrow.
What's your feeling about this final landing?
REX WALHEIM, NASA SHUTTLE MISSION SPECIALIST: I think it is historic in that nature, but I think it's going to open up a new era of space flight, because right now, there have been a tremendous amount of people who have flown to space in the shuttle, the vast majority that have ever flown in space. But we want to take that next step, get access to lower earth orbit cheaper and more frequent. And we can do that by partnering with our commercial partners.
And then that can allow NASA to really focus on the exploration, going beyond lower earth orbit, going to harder destinations, asteroids, the moon, or Mars. And I think it's going to be an extremely enjoyable and exciting time for NASA.
And it's just we have to get through this transition. Transitions are always hard. But we'll get through it and we (INAUDIBLE) tomorrow.
VELSHI: The whole world is going to be watching when you land tomorrow as you approach for the final time the landing of the space shuttle Atlantis.
Good luck to all of you. Godspeed and have a save next 24 hours.
Rex Walheim, mission specialist, Sandy Magnus, mission specialist, Chris Ferguson, the commander, and Doug Hurley, the pilot -- thanks to all of you. And we look forward to watching this. Of course, CNN will cover it live tomorrow morning.
Coming up on "AMERICAN MORNING" at 8:10 Eastern, the head of NASA, Dr. Charles Bolden, will be live to talk about the space program's next big frontier -- as Rex just talked about -- whether it's an asteroid or whether it's Mars, and how commercial space travel plays into the equation. That's NASA's Charles Bolden, 8:10 a.m. Eastern Time.
It is now 19 minutes after the hour.
Back to the quote of the day from one of America's distinguished congressmen. He said, quote, "You are the most vile, unprofessional and despicable member of the U.S. House of Representatives. If you have something to say to me, stop being a coward and say it to my face. Otherwise, shut the heck up."
That was freshman Republican Congressman Allen West of Florida ripping into fellow Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, also from Florida, via e-mail. West sent the email after Wasserman Schultz directly disparaged his support of the "cut, cap, and balance" bill which passed the House last night.
Here is what Wasserman Schultz said that provoked West's response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D), FLORIDA: The gentleman from Florida who represents thousands of Medicare beneficiaries, as do I, is supportive of this plan that would increase costs for Medicare beneficiaries, unbelievable from a member from south Florida. It slashes Medicaid and critical investments --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: All right. By the way, we always have a national day for you. This is an interesting one. Today is National Day of the Ugly Truck Contest. Basically, you need to be on the lookout for the ugliest truck on the road. Tell me if you find one.
Twenty minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Time now for your Political Ticker with Tim Farley. He's the host of "Morning Briefing" on Sirius XM POTUS live from Washington.
Good morning, Tim.
That stalemate over the debt ceiling, it feels like there might be cracks in it, feels like this new deal -- I don't know what you're going to call this "gang of six," but looks like they might be making some progress.
TIM FARLEY, HOST, "MORNING BRIEFING"/SIRIUS XM POTUS: Yes, the "gang of six" was down to the five guys, then I think it was the four seasons, and, maybe, the three amigos, and the dynamic duo, and army of one. But now, it's back to the "gang of six."
I think what we're looking at, though, is there's going to have to be a short term measure because they can't -- Senate and House can't agree on this "gang of six" proposal, even though the president gave it a little bear hug yesterday during his appearance in the briefing room. So, we're going to have to see how it turns out, but there seems to be some progress.
And, obviously, polls are showing people want it desperately, "Washington Post" --
VELSHI: Yes. In fact, let me bring up this brand new ABC News/"Washington Post" poll which again reflects stuff that you and I have been talking about in the last week or so with other polls. It shows more than six in 10 Americans say that any agreement on the deficit needs to include a combination of spending cuts and some tax increases.
FARLEY: And both polls seem to indicate that the president and Republicans are not doing enough -- more so Republicans. And even independent voters feel that way.
And I was thinking about this as you were talking to the shuttle astronauts, Ali, tomorrow is the anniversary of man walking on the moon and I remember that night in 1969 and that sense of can-do spirit. And I think that's what people are looking for right now in these debt ceiling talks. We'll see if they get it at least by Friday of this week, which a lot of people think is the deadline for getting some sort of a general agreement.
VELSHI: Yes. You're absolutely right about that, by the way. That can-do spirit has resulted in a lot of success. But it's hard to garner that around budgets and deficits.
Tim, good to see you. Have a great show this morning -- Tim Farley, the host of "Morning Briefing" on Sirius XM POTUS.
Let's go around the world. Zain Verjee standing by in London.
Good morning, Zain.
David Cameron, British prime minister, himself going to speak to parliament this morning about his role in the phone hacking scandal. This thing has just been more and more information every day. What are we expecting from him?
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: We are expecting that he's going to get a real grilling by people in parliament today. He cut short his trip to Africa to deal with this crisis. There are new and damaging revelations, Ali, that show more links to an editor at "News of the World," who was there formerly, Neil Wallis, who was eventually arrested, though he's out on bail.
Also, what's being reported, too, is that there are senior members within his own party that are refusing to come out and openly back him. So, the question is how isolated is he becoming? He's got to do a good job defending himself and the whole situation in parliament.
What they're going to want is information and answers from him about a guy called Andy Coulson, who is the former editor of "News of the World," who David Cameron hired as his chief communications guy, his main spin doctor. So, he's going to answer some pretty tough questions.
A quick look at the papers here -- you can see "The Independent" has this headline, "Hacking crisis edges closer to Cameron." That's where the story is focused today.
Then, check out "The Telegraph," "Murdoch eats humble pie."
And, finally, one of Murdoch's own papers, "The Most Humble Day of My Life" -- Ali.
VELSHI: And, of course, the humble pie was a reference to that guy who walked in and pied him right before Murdoch's wife, Wendi Deng, cut him off. Some say she gave a pretty big shot to him. He's facing charges this morning.
Zain, we'll check in with you later. Good to see you, Zain Verjee.
There you go. There's that -- you can see Wendi Deng in the bottom left corner, she moves in and smacks the guy.
All right. Today's "Businessman's Special," $37 billion worth of airplanes, because we know you all travel a lot. We're going to tell you all about it after this quick break. The plane you get on soon might be newer than you expect.
Twenty-six minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Good morning. It is Wednesday, July 20th. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. I'm Ali Velshi. Joining you live this morning from New York. It is 30 minutes after the hour. It's not a done deal, but a debt reduction plan put forward by the bipartisan group of senators known as the Gang of Six shows some promise finally of breaking the stalemate in the debt ceiling negotiations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. SAXBY CHAMBLISS, (R) GEORGIA: There's an awful lot of support for this void that's out there from the standpoint of a bipartisan agreement on something.
SEN. MARK WARNER, (D) VIRGINIA: Today, consensus seemed to be that this was a balanced, comprehensive, and bipartisan. Those are three words you haven't heard a lot of in this town recently.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: President Obama congratulated the group on the plan which does not specifically address the debt ceiling, but it could be a jumping-off point for a bigger budget deal as the clock that you're looking at, the debt clock in New York, ticks down to the August 2nd deadline.
Here are some the highlights of the plan. According to CNN Senate sources, it shaves about $4 trillion off the debt load. It re- jiggers the tax code. It cuts short-term spending by about $500 billion. It changes the budget process, and it reforms Social Security. The plan overshadowed a House vote, by the way, yesterday on the cut, cap, and balance plan that would impose strict limits on future federal spending.
It passed the house last night. It's not going to make it through the Senate, and it's likely to be DOA because President Obama has promised to veto it if it got through the Senate.
OK. If there's no deal to raise the federal debt ceiling, states could also suffer collateral damage. In fact, Moody's has put five states on notice that their credit ratings could be downgraded. Those states are Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee and New Mexico. Moody's points to things like the number of federal workers and federal contracts in those states.
Memphis is delaying the start of the school year indefinitely, unless, the city pays them $55 million. The school board says the city is dragging its feet in paying the debt it owes. It has been for years. The bottom line, board members say the school district needs the money to pay its bills. Caught in the middle, of course, the kids.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Someone has to assume responsibility for the collective education of the children in the city of Memphis, and I don't think the city council can be exempt from that responsibility.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm all in support of us having assurances and money in the bank, but I think that 55 was just an unreasonable amount to expect at this particular time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: The school board says it's already cut 1,500 jobs.
In just about an hour, the spotlight in the News Corp phone hacking scandal turns to British Prime Minister, David Cameron. He'll be front and center at the House of Commons talking about his links to the Murdoch media empire. This just a day after Rupert Murdoch insisted to lawmakers he didn't know much. He said it was the most humble day of his life, and he said he was ashamed of what happened at "News of the World."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you close the paper down because of the criminality? RUPERT MURDOCH, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, NEWS CORPORATION: Yes, we felt ashamed of what had happened and felt to bring it to a close.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People lied to you and lied to their readers.
RUPERT MURDOCH: We had broken our trust with our readers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it was a man with a pie. Look at the bottom left of your screen who stole the show shouting "you greedy billionaire" as he hurled it at Rupert Murdoch. Take a look now. You see the guy lifting the pie, and then, you see in the pink, you'll see in a second, that's Wendi Deng, Rupert Murdoch's wife, who comes in and watch what she does with her hand. She takes a swing at the guy. No harm done. He got some foam on his face. And police arrested the fellow and charged him criminally.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: In Montgomery, Alabama, all the talk is about Daisy the wonder dog. Daisy is police drug dog. Earlier this week, she was sniffing a tractor-trailer during a traffic stop and discovered more than a million in cold hard cash. It's the biggest cash seizure ever in Montgomery.
The market set to open in just a few hours. We'll see what we saw yesterday -- or will we see what we saw yesterday? The market posted its strongest day of the year. Let's go to Carter Evans. He's live in New York from the NASDAQ market site. What a day it was yesterday, Carter.
CARTER EVANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, and investors, Ali, yesterday were focusing primarily on earnings. More on that in a second. But we also had President Obama, basically, saying that it looks like they're getting closer to a deal. That really encouraged the market. That's when things turned around. The Dow closed up almost 200 points yesterday. Our futures are looking good this morning as well.
Dow futures right now up 104 points. We had some great news after the closing bell yesterday. Lots of companies just blew doors with their quarterly earnings. Apple up almost four percent in the pre-market revenue for the quarter, came in at 28.6 billion, profit doubled. Harley-Davidson was roaring yesterday, up nine percent at the close, increasing bike sales. Good news for Harley. IBM beat expectations, as usual, closed almost seven percent higher.
Coca-Cola, up about 3.25 percent. It met, but they did have some concerns there, but nevertheless, it was looking pretty good. Yahoo! yesterday, net income rose, but still disappointed investors down two percent in the pre-market. Bank of America lost $8.8 billion in the quarter. But believe it or not, that was in line with expectations. Analysts were expecting that, basically, Bank of America paid that to clear up all the problem mortgages related with the countrywide scandal.
A couple more, Goldman Sachs, a big investment bank, missed expectations down slightly. Johnson & Johnson yesterday also disappointed.
VELSHI: All right. But you got Apple. What do you need? You got Apple. You got a Coke and a Harley. What more do you need, Carter?
EVANS: Exactly. Exactly. Life is good.
VELSHI: Check with you later. Carter Evans at the NASDAQ market site.
Now, back to our businessman's special of the day. I told you about this. You travelers out there, $37 billion worth of commercial airplanes are up for grabs this morning. According to Bloomberg News, American Airlines will make a big announcement today about a record breaking order of 400 narrow body passenger jets. According to their sources, the order will be split between Boeing and Airbus.
That order of 400 planes, by the way, may come with an option to buy another 500 planes. American, Boeing and Airbus, all declining to comment this morning. American Airlines, as I said, does have a news conference planned for today. We will let you know what news comes out of that.
Before we go, earlier in the show, we spoke to the last space shuttle astronauts live from space. Right now, we want to talk about the future. Here's today's "Get Smart" question, what is the name of the first commercial spaceship operator, A, Virgin Supersonic, B, Virgin Galactic, or C, Virgin Enterprise? It's all that virgin in it. Thirty-seven minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Forty minutes after the hour. Let's get back to our smart question -- or "Get Smart" question. What is the name of the first commercial spaceship operator? Is it Virgin Supersonic, Virgin Galactic, or Virgin Enterprise? The answer is B, Virgin Galactic. The company hopes to get the main (ph) public hop into space. They've even built a space port which is an airport for spacecraft in Mexico.
Now, for our "Political Ticket," let's bring in our deputy political director, Paul Steinhauser, on the phone from Washington. Paul, my mouth isn't working fully yet, so why don't you take over? Tell us about your polling about the debt ceiling increase.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR (on the phone): Yes, you know, Ali, we heard the president yesterday talked about that combined approach to -- on an agreement that would include tax increases plus spending cuts. He said most Americans can't afford that. Well, you know what, five polls out over the last week say, yes, Americans pretty much do support it including two that came out last night. Let's take a look at this real quickly.
An ABC-"Washington Post" poll released last night indicates more than six in ten Americans say any agreement on the debt ceiling needs to include a combination of spending cuts and new taxes. And when you break that poll down, you know what, large majority of Democrats, independent voters, and even nearly half of Republicans say so.
NBC-"Wall Street Journal" also came out last night with a new poll, pretty much the same story, 58 percent of the people in their survey support the president's proposal, that combined approach. Only 36 percent question (ph) if they support the Congressional or the House Republican's approach which would only have spending cuts and no new tax increase for the wealthy or corporations.
You know, one other thing, Ali, on that that's interesting, the top two Democrats in the house that say they have a problem with that approach which is from -- coming from the Gang of Six senators. They say it may not be enough time to get it done before August 2nd -- Ali.
VELSHI: All right. The president wants some framework in place by Friday. Paul, I know you and your team will be on it. Thanks for joining me, Paul Steinhauser.
Hey, here are three things that you need to have on your radar today.
Boeing is expected to announce it's made a decision on the future of its famous 737s. According to Bloomberg, the news is expected to coincide with another announcement by American Airlines that it's ordering a record-number of jets from Boeing and from Airbus.
At 2:15 Eastern, the first lady is expected to make a major announcement regarding access to healthy and affordable food.
And at 3:00 p.m. eastern, the teaparty.net will host a presidential Twitter debate. The group says several GOP candidates will participate.
And on sports, Yao Ming is calling it quits. The NBA star from China announced his retirement overnight during a news conference in Shanghai.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YAO MING, NBA PLAYER (through translator): I want to make the announcement that as a basketball player, my basketball playing career has come to an end.
VELSHI (voice-over): The 7'6" pro baller was the tallest NBA player when he left. He was voted an all-star player eight times while playing for the Houston Rockets.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI (on-camera): Texas Rangers are making railing at the ball park higher this after a 39-year-old man fell over the railing and died while trying to catch a foul ball. The Rangers were also posting signs for fans to stay clear of the rails.
And a Houston businessman with link (ph) student basketball world is found dead with a bullet in his head. We're learning that David Salinas may have been covering up a massive Ponzi scheme. Big name coaches reportedly invested millions. Pablo Torre with "Sports Illustrated" first broke the story. He's in the airport right now. Normally, he's with us on camera, but he's on his way to Houston to cover the story as we speak. Pablo, tell us which coaches we're talking about here.
PABLO TORRE, REPORTER, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED: Yes. These are some prominent basketball names, Ali. We've learned the Billy Gillispie now with Texas Tech had an investment valued at $2.3 million with David Salinas. That Arizona's Lute Olson had $1.17 million. That Baylor's Scott Drew had over $600,000. That Mark Few had over 350,000 (ph) and on and on down the list of more than a dozen names.
And we're not talking just basketball coaches either. We're talking football coaches, and at least, one former college athletic director as well. And the coaches I spoke to told me they're shocked and disturbed at the fact that all this money may now be gone and that this man, David Salinas, had killed himself seemingly out of shear guilt in the middle of an SEC investigation.
VELSHI: All right. You're heading to Houston to figure this out. Pablo Torre, thanks for joining us. We'll look forward to finding out what you learn.
All right. Before we take a break, we have a space theme going on in the show today. This day in history, as Tim Farley actually mentioned a little earlier, July 20th, 1969, man took his first steps on the moon. We haven't been back to the surface of the moon since the 1970. Who knows where we're going next. Forty-five minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Forty-seven minutes after the hour. Good morning. It's Wednesday, July 20th. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL, and I'm Ali Velshi joining you live from New York this morning. Let's go around the world with Zain Verjee who is in London. Zain, David Cameron, the prime minister is about to speak to parliament about the phone hacking scandal. It's expected in about 45 minutes. What are we likely to get out of him?
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He is likely to get a really tough time by lawmakers. They want to continue to question him about this guy called Andy Coulson, who was the former editor of "News of the World," and he hired him as his chief spin doctor at ten Downing Street. Coulson has since resigned, been arrested, and is now out on bail. There've also been new revelations, Ali, about the conservative party's links, allegedly, to another former "News of the World" editor.
The newspapers here, that's their lead story, "Hacking Crisis Edges Closer to Cameron." Check out couple of the other here. This is the "Daily Telegraph," "Murdoch Eats Humble Pie," a reference to the plate of shaving foam that a comedian, Johnny Marbles, came in and tried to whack on Rupert Murdoch. And they're talking about his wife, Wendy, here a lot, calling her in another paper "Crouching Wendy, Hidden Dragon." And finally, Ali, take a look at "The Sun" here, Murdoch Paper "The Most Humble Day of My Life." That's the headline. But today, really, is going to be a focus on the politics, on David Cameron. A lot of people are asking can he weather the storm? Can he survive? He's saying he's handling it.
He's calling for a public inquiry led by a judge and insists that he'll get to the bottom of this, but he's also reminding people, hey, we've got to talk about the economy, fix the immigration system. He's trying to change the subject. I don't think they'll let him -- Ali.
VELSHI: It's a very popular move, talking about the economy. Everybody knows that's a big concern. And, of course, for a viewer, it will be a tough choice watching that or watching what's going on here with the debt ceiling talks. Zain, thanks very much. We'll talk to you a little bit later on. Zain Verjee in London.
Hey, speaking about the economy, it's not a done deal, but a debt reduction plan put forward by a bipartisan group of senators known as the Gang of Six, you see them there, shows some promise, finally of breaking the stalemate in the debt ceiling negotiations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And so, I want to congratulate the Gang of Six for coming up with a plan that I think is balanced.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: The plan shaves off about $4 trillion from the debt load. It re-jiggers the tax code, and it cuts short-term spending by about half a billion dollars. It doesn't specifically talk about the debt ceiling, but that could be the jumping-off point. This plan could be the jumping off point for a bigger budget deal. The president wants a deal done by the end of the week.
Meanwhile, the House passed the cut, cap, and balance plan which would impose strict limits on future spending. The measure is likely to be DOA. It's not going to get through the Senate. And even if it did, the president said he would veto it.
We're learning this morning about a hacking incident involving the Taliban. A spokesman for the group says messages were sent out saying that reclusive Afghan-Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar was dead. The Taliban denies it's true saying its phones and Web sites were hacked. NATO says it has no operational knowledge of Omar's condition or his whereabouts.
Well, the crew of the shuttle "Atlantis" waking up to the last full day in space and the last full day of a NASA space shuttle mission ever.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC PLAYING) VELSHI (voice-over): The song "Fanfare for the Common Man" is a fitting title for one final trip home. I spoke to the crew just a few minutes ago about the future of space exploration.
CHRIS FERGUSON, NASA SHUTTLE COMMANDER: I wouldn't say this is the end of the golden age. It's certainly the end of, perhaps, a very specific age where just a select few can go into space. I think that what we're going to see in the next few years is very broadening horizon and opportunity for people who have never had an opportunity to go into space, to at least get to lower earth orbit.
And what we'll do is we'll turn over the reins of that business to our commercial partners and that will enable NASA to take the resources we put into the shuttle and, hopefully, go beyond lower earth orbit again in the not-too-distant future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: BY the way, you're looking pictures from the space shuttle. The shuttle is set to land tomorrow morning at 5:56 a.m. eastern time. That ends the shuttle program, and we'll bring that to you live. Let's go to Jacqui Jeras. She's live in Atlanta.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI (on-camera): Watching some things developing in the tropics that might be of concern to us. Good morning, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Good morning, Ali. There's a tropical storm out there off the coast of the Carolinas. It's packing winds around 50 miles per hour. The biggest impact that this thing is going to have on the U.S. is that it's going to bring up some rough surf and bring the threat of rip currents. So, something to keep in mind for all you beach goers out there. Now, travelers today have a couple of areas to watch out for, windy conditions out west.
So, delays possible for San Francisco. Chicago, we had a line of thunderstorms that moved through already this morning. That could be enough to keep things a little slow out of the gate, especially for the first half of your day. Atlanta, Miami, looking for delays under an hour with afternoon thunderstorms, and we'll also see a lot of thunderstorms all along the gulf coast.
So, Houston, maybe even into New Orleans, you could have some minor delays for today. That's about it across the country other than that heat, Ali. And, of course, we'll talk a lot more about that coming up in "American Morning."
VELSHI: Once again, I felt it as I walked out this morning. Jacqui, we'll check in with you a little later on. Jacqui Jeras in the weather center.
Before we go, let's take a look at the word of the day. It's actually three words today, tall poppy syndrome. Find out what it means and why an Australian op-ed columnist says it applies to Rupert Murdoch. Fifty-three minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Fifty-six minutes after the hour. The word of the day or the words of the day, tall poppy syndrome. It's a phrase meaning a tendency to disparage any person who has achieved great prominence or wealth.
An op-ed columnist in Australia writes that it's the reason that country now wants to have Rupert Murdoch, a native Australian answer questions at home. The term is common throughout the former British colonies, cutting down people of merit because their talents elevate them above their peers. Tall poppy syndrome.
All right. Here are three things to put on your radar today.
At 2:15 Eastern, the first lady is expected to make a major announcement regarding access to healthy and affordable food.
And today, we're watching for new developments on the NFL lockout. NFL.com reports the players' side could vote on agreement as early as today.
At 3:00 p.m., the teaparty.net host a presidential Twitter debate. The group confirms several GOP candidates will participate.
The markets are set to open in just a few hours. Will we see what we saw yesterday with the day posting its strongest gains of the year? Let's go to Carter Evans. He's live in New York from the NASDAQ market site. Carter, how are markets shaping up today?
EVANS: Yes. The futures are looking really good. We had some big gains yesterday, the Dow up 200 points. Today, our futures are up another 100 points. We've got no big economic reports today. So, the focus is on earnings and the debt crisis, of course.
But as for earnings, coming out this morning before the opening bell, we're going to hear from tobacco company, Altria, this is the owner of the biggest U.S. cigarette maker, Philip Morris, is expected to show rising profit even though Americans are still buying fewer cigarettes in the face of tax increases and health concerns.
Intel is also reporting before the bell. Investors are looking for positives and negatives in the company to balance each other out. Those would be continued strength in desktops and servers for businesses, and that could likely offset the weak consumer computer sales numbers. We'll also be looking to the smaller chip segment for mobile devices which Intel is finally diving into.
Blackrock is also reporting before the opening bell today. We're expecting to see solid results from Blackrock. It's attracting lots of new assets from investors, and it's got strong returns in many of its funds.
Then, after the closing bell today, a couple of big ones, Am Ex is poised to report very strong second quarter earnings. We're also going to hear from Qualcomm today. That is expected to be strong as well. And eBay is expected to report growth compared with this time last year -- Ali.
VELSHI: All right. Carter Evans, thanks very much. Carter Evans is at the NASDAQ market site for us.
Amid the UK phone hacking scandal, a member of the British parliament accuses CNNs own Piers Morgan of hacking, too.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOUISE MENCH, BRITISH PARLIAMENT MEMBER: Piers Morgan, now a celebrity anchor on CNN, said openly in his book clearly which is published before this whole controversy broke that he had hacked phones --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: So, on CNN's "SITUATION ROOM" yesterday, our own Wolf Blitzer brought on Louis Mench and Piers Morgan. Piers disputed the accusations saying they weren't true. The problem is Mench wouldn't discuss it with Piers because of so-called parliamentary privilege, and that's when things got heated.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PIERS MORGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Show some balls, repeat what you said about me.
MENCH: As I've just said, I made the claims in the select committee and people will look at them.
MORGAN: Are you going to publicly apologize to me and to CNN right now for such an outrageous lie?
MENCH: I refer to you, Mr. Morgan --
MORGAN: Wait a minute. Let me finish. I put it to you now. I put it to you now.
MENCH: You've been putting it to me for the last five minutes. Now, I'm responding. What I said was cloaked by parliamentary privilege. I'm quite sure, your colleagues in the American news media will be looking into that very carefully.
MORGAN: Yes. And I think I'll be quite sure that they're looking into you (INAUDIBLE) privilege and telling lies at the committee meeting about me. You have no evidence of that. It's not in the book. I have never boasted about it for a simple reason it never happened.
MENCH: I feel no need to apologize.
MORGAN: I'm asking you to publicly apologize.
MENCH: I feel no need whatsoever to apologize. (END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: OK. Clearly no agreement on that. We'll continue to keep you posted on that story. That's it for WAKE-UP CALL. "AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now.
