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American Morning: Wake Up Call
FAA Funding Dispute; Happy 50th Birthday, Mr. President!; Struggle for Food as Famine Spreads; Child Porn Ring Busted; Warren Jeffs Trial; A Zuckerberg Quits Facebook
Aired August 04, 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 Thursday, August 4th. This is your A.M.: WAKE-UP CALL.
I'm Ali Velshi, joining you live this morning from New York.
The bad news is about 4,000 FAA workers could be out of work for several more weeks, including the back-to-school weeks. The bonus bad news is that the federal government is losing about $30 million per day in aviation taxes. The good news is members of Congress get to sleep in, chill all day and still get paid until September.
We told you how Washington left furloughed FAA workers in a lurch, thanks to some complicated partisan bickering. Then the Senate went on recess without giving the agency a short-term funding extension.
President Obama believes the issue will be resolved by the end of the week. The transportation secretary says you have nothing to worry about when you fly. I'll be speaking to him later on AMERICAN MORNING.
President Obama turns 50 tonight, at 6:24 p.m. Honolulu Time. Right now, it's still yesterday in Honolulu. But he already qualifies for a free scoop at Baskin-Robbins. And he got an early birthday party in Chicago.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
VELSHI: Jennifer Hudson is much better singer than Rahm Emanuel. This is one of two birthday fundraisers in the president's honor that he attended in Chicago. He wants to be president, by the way, until he's about 55 1/5.
Now, 26 seconds of the president's comedic stylings.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's true, that I turn 50 tomorrow, which means by the time I wake up, I'll have an e-mail from AARP, asking me to call President Obama and tell him to protect Medicare.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Funny, yet topical. Some supporters paid nearly $36,000 for dinner. I hope they got a lot of free refills.
Republicans ding the president for partying with rich people and raising money while there's a 9.2 percent national unemployment rate.
You need to know this if you're planning a trip to the Caribbean this week. There is some trouble in paradise, trouble named tropical storm Emily. It's slamming Haiti with dangerous rains right now. Warnings are in effect for the Dominican Republic, parts of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Southeast Florida could get a visit by Saturday. We'll talk with CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano about Emily in a few minutes.
Let's talk about an epic judicial moment in Egypt. Remember yesterday morning, we showed you dramatic pictures of deposed President Hosni Mubarak, on a stretcher, in a cage, facing murder and corruption charges. His trial has been adjourned until the 15th of August. Mubarak has denied any wrongdoing. He faces the death penalty if he's convicted.
Here's what CNN's Fareed Zakaria had to say about the trial.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST, FAREED ZAKARIA GPS: He's almost certainly guilty of the charges that have been laid against him. But it still has the feeling of -- I don't what to say a show trial, but a trial that is not fair. I wish the Egyptian government realized that this is really a very important moment for them. They need to get this right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Right now, Mubarak's former interior minister is in court. He's accused of ordering the killings of protesters earlier this year. Habib el-Adly, already, has been convicted of money laundering and sentenced to prison. But in a trial, in this trial, a conviction could get him a death sentence.
Now, let's talk turkey, ground turkey. Cargill Meats has recalled nearly 36 million pounds of it. It might be contaminated with a salmonella strain that's hard to treat. One person has died in California. People in 26 different states have become sick.
Now, to see how the world's money is doing this morning. Nina dos Santos is going to talk about Europe's debt crisis in just a moment. But, first, let's stop in and visit with Anna Coren in Hong Kong.
Good morning, Anna.
The Dow finished higher yesterday after an eight-day losing streak. And, boy, it kept us waiting right until the end. How did world markets do overnight?
ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Good morning, Ali.
It certainly has a knock on effect -- as markets in Europe begin the first few hours of trading, it would seem the main indices have been void by Wall Street's positive finish. Here in the Asia Pacific, it was a different story, with most markets finishing down on concerns the U.S. economic recovery is actually faltering.
Well, the Hong Kong Hang Seng closed down 0.5 percent.
Australia's S&P ASX 200 down 1 1/3 percent. Certainly a tough day for investors.
More so in Korea, Seoul's Kospi finished down 2 1/3 percent.
The Nikkei, on the other hand, advanced for the first time in three days, closing up slightly. And Japanese exporters got a boost from the government's intervention in the currency markets to rein in the appreciation of the yen.
In China, the Shanghai composite was up on speculation the Federal Reserve may introduce Q.E.3 to stimulate the world's largest economy.
Ali, I have no doubt you will enjoy that story.
VELSHI: Anna, thank you so much. And we're going to pick up on what you said about the yen in just a moment with Nina, who's in London right now.
But before we get there, Nina, let's talk about what is going on in Italy. A long speech by the prime minister yesterday warning that things are not as bad as markets seemed to be treating them in Italy -- but some serious problems.
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, Ali.
Well, Silvio Berlusconi made a rare appearance to the Italian parliament during this crisis. What he said was that the banks were solvent, that the country's economy was solid.
But if you take a look at the bond yields on the Italian 10-year debt, well, the markets, especially the bond markets, really not believing that. They're near 6 percent yet again. I should remind you that the danger point is 7 percent -- beyond which point, it just becomes too expensive for these economies to service their debt on the open market. So, that really gives you an indication of how the markets bought Silvio Berlusconi speech.
Another thing we should mention, Ali, is that I've got a report in my mind. Here it is, a think tank saying that Italy is likely to default if you look at its economics here, saying that Spain on the other hand may just about get away without defaulting. But Italy may well default. This is because its debt-to-GDP is likely to be 1.5 times its economy. So, 150 percent debt for its 100 percent GDP.
VELSHI: Wow.
DOS SANTOS: And the issue is really that it's going to be unsustainable if that's the case, come seven years from now, if they're still paying 6 percent on their interest, Ali. VELSHI: I wonder if we could get by three days without using the world default having to do with some major economy in the world. Nina, thanks very much for that -- Nina dos Santos in London.
We'll follow the Italy story closely with her.
Here's our quote of the day spoken by a presidential candidate who obviously has no problem laughing a typo. Quote, "Well, I come from a long line of illiterates. They forgot the 'H' in my name and sometimes that comes back to haunt me." I'll have the answer for you in 90 seconds.
It is seven minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Almost nine minutes after the hour. This is your A.M.: WAKE- UP CALL. Happy Thursday morning to you.
Let's get back to the quote of the day. Quote, "Well, I come from a long line of illiterates. They forgot the 'H' in my name and sometimes that comes back to haunt me."
Who said it? Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman. That's J-O-N, Jon, not J-O-H-N. Talk about some misprinted campaign flyers.
Maybe he should just go by (INAUDIBLE). Listen to him breeze through the Charlie Brown theme, hunched over a keyboard in New Hampshire. This guy has skills. I think he's ready for the White House.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
VELSHI: All right. Do you know this word, haboob? We've talked about it a lot on this show -- more some say than necessary. I'll let Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert finish this one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
STEPHEN COLBERT, "THE COLBERT REPORT": There is a whole new kind of subversive weather blowing into Arizona.
VELSHI: Today's word of the day that you must know is haboob.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Official term is haboob.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Haboob.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Haboob.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Meanwhile, a haboob --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Haboob.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: H-A-B-O-O-B. It's an Arabic name for an intense sandstorm.
COLBERT: Haboob. This is America, forecast in English.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
VELSHI: I've talked a lot about haboobs with Rob Marciano who is live in Atlanta.
I believe it was you who introduced me to the word, Rob. It was unfamiliar to me at the time. But Emily is more familiar.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is. And, you know, we try to -- we try to give you descriptions of what's going on weather-wise. Sometimes, we have to use technical terms. And haboob is one of them.
All right. Tropical storm Emily, as you mentioned, this thing has been on our radar screen for quite some time. You're looking at the satellite right now. And it is just off the coast of the Dominican Republic and about 100 miles south of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
It's been dousing Hispaniola with heavy, heavy rains for about 10 to 12 hours. In the mountainous areas, it probably already received eight or nine inches. So, this is a dangerous situation for them. And it could be a dangerous situation for the folks in the Bahamas and potentially Florida.
Let's get to the forecast track now from the National Hurricane Center. This is as of 5:00 this morning, so freshly updated. Our models are all over the place once this thing gets over Hispaniola.
So, Florida still in play, the southeast coast of the Carolinas still in play as well. And we'll just give you another update at 11:00 when the new models come out. But just know that folks in the east coast of Florida, it is still a distinct possibility this comes your way.
You know, it's a definite that the heat is going to continue across the Southern Plains. We saw a slew of all-time record-breaking high temperatures of over 110, not including the heat index yesterday -- not including the humidity. But if you include that today, we're looking at a whole bunch of states that are under the gun, thunderstorms across the south today will cause travel delays.
Hey, nothing like a mariachi band serenading --
VELSHI: Serenading a while?
MARCIANO: A beluga whale. Well, they're cute little guys, you know? I guess the band was there to play a wedding, which they'll do in an aquarium from time to time. The blue whale took extreme interest to the Mexican culture.
And, look at that, look how it's reacting.
VELSHI: It does seem like the whale is reacting, right?
MARCIANO: Yes, very much so.
(CROSSTALK) MARCIANO: This was at the Georgia aquarium. They seem to want to interact with people. Maybe it's the sombrero. I mean, I'm going to interact with that sombrero if I have that in my door --
VELSHI: Definitely something going on there. Good to see you, my friend.
MARCIANO: All right, pal.
VELSHI: I'll check in with you later. Rob Marciano.
Hey, the Alaska hair salon that's made Sarah Palin's up-do pretty popular is now about to wash, cut and curl its way into America's homes. We're going to tell you all about it all after this quick break.
It's 12 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Fourteen minutes after the hour.
Comedian Jon Stewart breaks down the debt deal and one of its biggest creations, the super-committee. Here's your punch line.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
JON STEWART, "THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART": The important thing is we got the deal. This country has finally got its spending and its debt under control.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is how much our debt was going to rise before the compromise deal, nearly $29 trillion in 10 years. This is how it looks afterwards.
STEWART: That's what this whole -- that's what this whole (EXPLETIVE DELETED) thing was about? Remove one paper thin chocolate shaving from our dairy queen gut-buster sundae of debt? Who will save us now?
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": They're calling it the super-committee.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We have the super- committee. It has awesome powers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A dozen members of Congress.
STEWART: Our prayers are answered. America's own legion of doofs.
But which have of our leaders has powers far above those of mortal legislators?
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, aka, The Senator Drone. He'll talk to you about things for a long time.
Senator Jon Kyl, The Trickler. His golden stream of protection shields the rich.
Senator John McCain or Old-Man Man.
Together with some other people, they are the super-committee.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
VELSHI: All right. Time now for your Political Ticker with Tim Farley, host of "Morning Briefing" on Sirius XM POTUS, live from Washington.
Good morning, Tim.
President Obama turned 50. He turns 50. He celebrated in Chicago last night. Not one but two big parties.
TIM FARLEY, "MORNING BRIEFING," SIRIUS XM POTUS: Big, big, big time for him. A little bit hot in the room last night, Ali Velshi. Jennifer Hudson belted out happy birthday, Mr. President. In no way was it reminiscent of Marilyn Monroe or something for President Kennedy.
But there was no air conditioning evidently in the Aragon. And Rahm Emanuel introduced the president. You played that pretty funny clip of the president saying that the AARP is going to get him with an email saying protect -- I would like to know that e-mail address, by the way, because if I want to send one directly to the president, I'd like to see if I could get it to him.
VELSHI: Hey, Tim. What's going on with Tim Pawlenty's campaign? He's got an adviser leaving. We understand he's pulling some ads. Is it a money issue or is it just that his campaign is not picking up steam?
FARLEY: I think the fact that you're asking a question is important because that is not a good thing whenever anyone is asking a question about a campaign. Al Hubbard who used to work with Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush and was a key adviser to Mitch Daniels when there was a thought that Mitch Daniels might run for president, he's the governor of Indiana, has left and supposedly has done what he needed to do.
But the fact that he's leaving alone is not enough to make you raise your eyebrows. But the fact that they are pulling money, supposedly redirecting it just before the Ames straw poll on the 13th, which is a week from this Saturday, indicates that there may be a money stream issue or there may be other problems with the campaign.
And when you were at numbers where he is right now, this cannot be a good thing, Ali.
VELSHI: No kidding.
All right. The same network that brought us Sarah Palin's reality show is now turning its focus to her favorite hair salon?
FARLEY: You're doing a hair salon story, Ali?
(LAUGHTER)
FARLEY: Oh, you got to love.
VELSHI: It's an excuse to use some music.
FARLEY: The frozen (INAUDIBLE) of Fairbanks, "Big Hair Alaska." He's going to be on the Learning Channel, TLC.
I don't know where they come up with the idea for these shows. At some point, they're dipping too deep into the barrel. Yes, we're looking at a hair salon that's famous for the do that she sports.
VELSHI: All right. It might become famous again all over America as a result of the TV show.
Tim, good to see you. Have a good morning. Enjoy the show.
FARLEY: Thanks.
VELSHI: Tim Farley, host of "Morning Briefing" on Sirius XM POTUS.
OK. Here's something to think about as you're headed to work this morning. British researchers say children born this year are eight times more likely to reach their 100th birthday than those born 80 years. By 2026, by the way, they predict more than half a million people will live to 100 years old.
They say a girl born today has a one in three chance of reaching that age. A boy has a one in four chance.
Here's the only hijacking by the way that the FBI hasn't solved -- the man who jumped out of a plane with $200,000 in cash and out of sight. Now, 40 years later, a woman says she knows who D.B. Cooper really is.
But, first, have a mimosa or at least a glass when you get home from work. Today is National Day of Champagne.
Twenty minutes after the hour. Probably a little late to pop -- a little early to pop this, but I'll hang on to it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Twenty-one minutes after the hour.
Here are three things to put on your radar today:
Keep an eye on that FAA budget story out of D.C. today. Right now, Congress is on recess while thousands of workers are furloughed, waiting on their budget to be approved.
Also, this week's jobless numbers are coming up on Friday. But we'll get a bit of a preview this morning with the unemployment claims. The numbers aren't expected to be very good. And L.A. Dodger's owner Frank McCourt will go before a judge with his wife Jamie to determine if the title of the team is in Frank's name or if the team should be considered community property in their divorce.
Let's go around the world now with Nima Elbagir. She is live in Mogadishu, Somalia, where famine and death are spreading.
Nima, I want to warn the people watching that some of these images are truly heartbreaking. It's hard to watch. But give us a sense, Nima, of what is going on there and just how bad it is.
NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Ali, last time we were speaking, we were talking about the impact of the edict banning aid foreign groups working in the areas controlled by the Somali insurgency ,which is an al Qaeda affiliated group called al Shabaab.
But yesterday, the United Nations announced that even here in Mogadishu where aid groups have been able to work, there is a famine. They are calling the Somali capital a famine zone.
And so, really, not now puts the responsibility for the deepening of his crisis but on the international community. It's just incredibly heartbreaking here, Ali.
You know, the U.N. have told us that they put out an appeal for $1 billion. They say that's what they need to try and make a difference to people here. Only over 40 percent, just over 40 percent of that, sorry, I should say, has been received.
And when you look at the figures here, there are 2.8 million people that no aid is reaching whatsoever in this country -- 1.25 million of those are children. And it just -- what makes it worse is it's difficult to assess how many people are even dying here, Ali.
VELSHI: Yes. And, Nima, just give us some sense, it almost seems like history is repeating itself. We watched this in the past, particularly in Ethiopia and sometimes in Somalia. What is -- how do relief workers go about dealing with the famine, how do they go about trying to feed, as you described it, millions of hungry people?
ELBAGIR: Well, what complicates this situation is that militant, the al-Shabaab militant group. The U.S. Treasury had put them on their sanctions list, which meant if aid workers in the areas of where they were operating, any aid that went into al Shabaab hands would actually result in them being penalized. And, of course, al Shabaab were demanding taxes, they're demanding cuts from the aid, to allow any of that to even reach the communities in need.
The U.S. has just suspended that ban. But many worry that that's coming too late because a lot of aid organizations aren't even present in those areas.
And here in Mogadishu, the sense is that that concern over militants being able to use the aid has slowed the aid response, even in areas where they could have reached. So, here in Mogadishu, there's an airport. People are able to come in. There is an African U.N. Security Force trying to secure the areas to deliver the aid.
But the issue really is that the aid is not being sent in from the outside world, Ali.
VELSHI: All right. Nima, thank you for staying on top of the story and letting our viewers understand how serious and devastating the problem is in Somalia. Nima Elbagir is live for us in Mogadishu, Somalia.
All right. Former football star turned actor Bubba Smith has died. Police found Smith unresponsive at his L.A. home yesterday. He was 66 years old.
Now, Smith is considered one of the NFL's most fearsome pass rushers of his day. He once jokingly described his strategy as tackling the whole backfield and throwing out people one by one until he found the guy with the ball.
Now, after leaving football, Smith as you will recognize, appeared in six of the "Police Academy" movies as Lieutenant Moses Hightower. No word on how he died.
Well, he jumped out of a plane with $200,000 in cash and into popular legend. The man we come to know as D.B. Cooper hijacked a jet and bailed out over the Pacific Northwest 40 years ago. Investigators found some of the money but never Cooper. Now, a woman claims that Cooper is at her uncle. She says he showed up at her house one night, looking like he'd been in a car accident, telling her father, "We're rich."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARLA COOPER, CLAIMS HIJACKER WAS HER UNCLE: My father was crying. He was yelling. He was cussing out my uncle for both of them for what they had done. And he said you realize you've ruined your life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: She says her father's dead and believes her uncle is also dead. She's writing a book. The FBI is investigating her story.
Well, her last name is Zuckerberg and she's leaving Facebook. Why Randi Zuckerberg is saying goodbye to her sibling's business, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Good morning. Thursday, August 4th. 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.
President Obama is urging Congress to resolve an FAA funding dispute. Congress failed to pass a short term extension of the FAA budget before going on recess. And that has led to thousands of workers being furloughed. Construction workers are also left in limbo as projects are stalled. Airport ticket taxes go uncollected, about $30 million a day.
Well, what about safety?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAY LAHOOD, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: The safety will never be compromised. Thousands of people got on planes today, hundreds of controllers went to work today. Planes are being guided in and out of airports safely. Actually, our safety inspectors are on the ground. They are using their own credit cards. They're on their own dime, so to speak, because they're dedicated FAA employees. Flying is safe. Safety will not be compromised, never has been, and never will be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: I'll be talking to Ray LaHood a little bit later on AMERICAN MORNING, but if this dispute continues until Congress returns in September, the federal government will be out more than a billion dollars in revenue. The Pentagon is warning against cutting too much from its budget. Defense secretary, Leon Panetta, says those automatic cuts that may kick in if Congress can't agree are, quote, "completely unacceptable." By the way, Panetta holds his first news conference as defense secretary today at 2:30 eastern time.
Seventy-two people have been charged in a global child porn ring. It was based in the U.S. but reached across five continents. Some of the children victimized were only infants. Attorney general, Eric Holder, says the bust should send a message, abuse children, and we will find you, stop you, and bring you to justice.
In the trial of polygamous leader, Warren Jeffs, it's the defense's turn. In this case, the defense is Warren Jeffs, himself, questioning witnesses. Remember, he fired his legal team a while back. The prosecution rested yesterday but not before it played an audio tape of a man said to be Jeffs sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What happened in this audiotape, we heard Warren Jeffs say that feel goods, how do you feel, and this little girl voice said very good. It was so sad, because we've seen pictures of her in court. She's small for her age. She has red hair. She was described by a witness as having red hair and freckles, and she looks like Pippi Longstocking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: If convicted, Jeffs faces a possible life sentence.
OK. Dangerous triple digit temperatures are on tap again today for parts of the country. Little Rock, Arkansas hit a record high of 114 degrees yesterday. These children found some temporary relief, but that's about it. Temperatures are expected to soar to 107 degrees today. Dallas-Ft. Worth also baking. It hit 109 degrees. It's a record high for the third straight day. A record for power demand was also set there.
The sister of Facebook CEO and co-founder, Mark Zuckerberg, is leaving Facebook to start her own company. Randi Zuckerberg has been the director of marketing of Facebook for six years. The company tells CNNMoney that among other things, she helped him launched Facebook live with the company's live video streaming channel. Randi Zuckerberg says her new venture involves launching her own innovative programming and working with media companies to develop their programming in new and more social media savvy ways.
Now, something to get you laughing this morning. Jay Leno isn't done making fun of the last-minute debt deal that had the nation on edge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, HOST, THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO: Are you happy we didn't default?
(CHEERING) Yes.
LENO: See, see, people cheer. That's how low our standards are now in this country.
(LAUGHTER)
LENO: Avoiding a disaster is now an accomplishment. We used to go to the moon. Remember that? Now, we're like, oh, we crashed the car, but it didn't explode, yes, high five, yes!
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
LENO: And I tell you something, you can tell this bill that President Obama signed was not popular with the Democrats either, because he signed it in private. Ever notice? It wasn't one of these big photo- ops in the Rose Garden everybody trying to get the picture. In fact, this time there was no photographer at all. Obama had to press the timer and then run back to his desk.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: All right. But first, today's "Get Smart" question, how many Americans check Facebook every day? Think carefully about this one. It's probably not what you think. What percentage of American check Facebook every day, 32 percent, 52 percent, or 72 percent? The answer after this quick break. It's 34 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Thirty-five minutes after the hour. This is you're A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. Now, back to our "Get Smart" question, how many Americans, what percentage of Americans check their Facebook every day? 32 percent, 52 percent, or 72 percent? The answer is B, according to Pew Research. It also asked what percentage of your Facebook friends are people that you actually know? The average Facebook user has met 89 percent of their Facebook friends more than once. Seven percent have only met their Facebook friends once. Three percent of people say they've never met in person.
A big story right now is the warning of another recession. Let's go to Christine Romans live here in New York. Christine, there are definitely signs out there, mixed signs about the economy and mixed signs make people think about another recession. What do you think?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, you know, you have Larry Summers, we told you on this program yesterday morning, he was saying we have a one in three chance of falling back into a recession. He said the economy has stalled. It was in a stall. We know that first quarter GDP was rotten, barely grew, but we know that second quarter GDP grew a little bit.
Look, I'm on the record saying, Ali, that things are going to be really difficult here until we get the jobs report on Friday and until we get the more data that show whether, indeed, the economy has stalled or whether it is slipping backward again. Housing is a terrible overhang --
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: You got an economy that's not growing enough. You got Martin Feldstein yesterday morning who also raised some concerns. So, a lot of people are talking about today. He basically gave an outlook that was pretty similar to what he gave back in January of 2008 when he was one of the very -- he's the very well-known economist from the opposite side of the political spectrum of Larry Summers.
But, basically, our ideological spectrum, I should say, basically giving the same kind of forecast he gave in 2008 and that was right before. It was one of those early warning bells that things were going to be bad. So, there are some concerns out there about just how robust or not robust this economy is, Ali.
VELSHI: You're a nerd, but you sure are smart.
ROMANS: It takes one to know one, Ali. And it's good to be a nerd.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: Nerds rule the world. And another nerd, we're going to tell you about nerd, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, I want to tell you about this story, New York story, but it's pretty important here, donating $30 million of his own money to help the city's minority youth. Michael Bloomberg and others like him, very rich people who are smart in business but also very interested in public policy concerned about things like the dichotomy and the wealth gap between different races, what recession means for education and opportunity.
So, putting his own money up there, 30 million bucks right out of his own pocket for New York City. So, we'll be hearing more about that, I think, later today, but I'm quite interested in what kinds of initiatives he'll be pushing. So, we look for that. Futures are -- they're kind of mixed right now. But again, I want to say, Ali, this could be a difficult week. Jobs reports tomorrow --
VELSHI: Yes. It's a week that's very difficult to look at futures and make sense of what's going to happen. Not a single day this week have the futures indicated what happens at the end of the day. They're not supposed to, but tough week. All right. Christine, I'll see you on AMERICAN MORNING in about 20 minutes.
ROMANS: OK, bye.
VELSHI: Alex Rodriguez has been called into the commissioner's office about a couple of card games, and they were not solitaire. The details are on the other side of the break. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: It is 40 minutes after the hour. Now, time for our "Political Ticker." Let's bring in a host on POTUS Sirius XM, Pete Dominick. Good Lord, Pete. This is early for you. Good morning.
PETE DOMINICK, HOST, POTUS SIRIUS XM: I want to say hi everybody watching the WAKE UP CALL with Ali Velshi that is at the gym. That should be tomorrow's "Get Smart" question. How many of you are actually exercising right now? I would say the majority of our viewers right now, and congratulations to all of them. Good for you.
VELSHI: That's why I'm so popular, because I'm so buff and fit with this crowd. Hey, Pete, talk to me about David Wu, the congressman out of Oregon. He resigns over these allegations that he made unwanted sexual advances toward the daughter of one of his donors who was 18 at the time.
DOMINICK: I call this Wunergate, Ali Velshi. Last night. His resignation became effective at 11:59. Perfect time for a scandal during this debt ceiling situation, this debt ceiling crisis. If only Anthony Weiner had something to distract all of us in the media and all of Americans from his situation. Remember, Mark Sanford, the governor of South Carolina, he was in deep trouble, and then, Michael Jackson sadly and tragically died, and he got off the hook. So, I would just suggest to any congressman that's thinking about having a sexual scandal, the best time would be around the holidays when this super committee is really, really, deadlocked.
VELSHI: Right, because we'll be pretty busy with them. By the way, good thing the debt scandal ended when it did, because President Obama could not delay or default on his 50th birthday today.
DOMINICK: Yes. That's the big news. President Obama turns 50 today. Last night, he was in Chicago doing a couple of fundraisers. One of them, Ali Velshi, $50. The other fund-raiser, apparently, $38,000. I'm not sure which one had Jennifer Hudson --
(LAUGHTER)
DOMINICK: But we've got Jennifer Hudson singing to the president of the United States. Can we throw up the picture on the front page of today's "Chicago Tribune"? VELSHI: Yes. There you go.
DOMINICK: There you go. Look at that reaction. I'm not sure what he possibly could have said to Jennifer Hudson to get that reaction, Ali Velshi, but your guess is as good as mine.
VELSHI: Everybody's face in that picture is funny. Jennifer Hudson's got a funny look. Rahm Emanuel's got this weird look off from the side. I wonder if they didn't take two pictures, and they could have found a better one.
DOMINICK: $35,000 for this fundraiser? Only -- who exactly is going to this, Ali Velshi?
VELSHI: I'm totally inviting you to my 50th birthday for a whole lot less money than that, Pete Dominick.
DOMINICK: How many years away?
VELSHI: 50? For me?
DOMINICK: Yes
VELSHI: Fifteen years away or something like that. Pete, tell me about slow cap for Congress.com.
DOMINICK: Yes. Apparently, somebody came up with another great idea. The slow clap, I think, is the best way to show someone how little you appreciate them, in this case. Usually, it could be something very dramatic, but in this case, it's very sarcastic. And you can watch these people slow clapping. This is how happy Americans are about how Congress is behaving. It's just one this.
VELSHI: Really is excellent.
DOMINICK: I love the site. Love it. Perfect.
VELSHI: Pete, good to see you, my friend. Whenever you're overly caffeinated and up at this hour, please feel free to join us.
DOMINICK: Oh, I'm fired up. I'm ready to join you any morning, Ali Velshi. I'll see you at the hair salon sure this afternoon.
VELSHI: Very good. I'll see you at the gym later on as well. Pete Dominick, host on Sirius XM POTUS radio.
All right, Yankee star, Alex Rodriguez, has gotten called into the commissioner's office again. Major league baseball brass want to find out if he was a player in a couple of high stakes poker games back in 2009. Radaronline.com first reported the allegations. No comment yet from the A-Rod camp.
I'm going to try and channel my best dick Clark. This day in history, back in 1984, Prince's album "Purple Rain" hit number one on the chart and stayed there for 24 straight weeks. Oh, man. Heartbreaker for me. Forty-four minutes after the hour. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Good morning. It's Thursday, August 4th. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. I'm Ali Velshi joining you live this morning from New York. It is 47 minutes after the hour.
Let's go around the world with Monita Rajpal. She is live in London. Good morning, Monita. So far, no suspect in this Australian bomb hoax which a couple mornings ago was looking very, very serious. Remind us about the story and what's developed.
MONITA RAJPAL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I guess, the only way to describe the story is just increasingly bizarre. To give you the back story on this, about Wednesday afternoon Sydney time, police were called to the wealthy Sydney suburb where they found a teenage girl strapped to what was deemed a suspicious device. Madeline Pulver is this 18-year-old teenager told police that a man wearing disguise broke into their home and attached this device to her.
It took bomb experts from ten hours to free her from this device only to find that it was just a very, very -- that's how they're describing it -- a very elaborate hoax. Well, Pulver's parents -- Pulver was taken to hospital. This is Pulver's parents, and they addressed a news conference, and this is what they have to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM PULVER, TEEN'S FATHER: We, as parents, are extraordinarily proud of Maddy. I think she is waking up this morning in pretty good spirits. She's little tired, a little sore from holding this device in place for about ten hours. She's now, as we are, eager for her to get on with her life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJPAL: Police are saying right now it's too early in the investigation to have any more information or even any links to any suspects at this point. But again, it's very difficult to say, I mean, it's really bizarre story. One would think that in the area because it is such a wealthy neighborhood that there would be some CCTV cameras. Hopefully, someone saw something -- Ali.
VELSHI: It really is a weird story. Monita, good to see you as always, my friend. Monita Rajpal in London for us.
President Obama is urging Congress to resolve an FAA funding dispute. Lawmakers failed to pass a short-term extension of the FAA funding authorization before going on their recess. That's led to thousands of workers being furloughed. Construction workers are also left in limbo as projects stall, and airplane ticket taxes go uncollected. So, what about safety?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAHOOD: The safety will never be compromised. Thousands of people got on planes today, hundreds of controllers went to work today. Planes are being guided in and out of airports safely. Actually, our safety inspectors are on the ground. They are using their own credit cards. They're on their own dime, so to speak, because they're dedicated FAA employees. Flying is safe. Safety will not be compromised, never has been, and never will be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: I'll be chatting more with Ray LaHood a little later on AMERICAN MORNING. If the dispute continues until Congress returns in September, the federal government will be out more than a billion dollars in revenue. A billion dollars in revenue.
Mortgage rates keep falling, the 30-year fixed fell to 4.45 percent from 4.57 percent last week. That's if you got good credit and a good down payment, and it's a fixed loan. That's the lowest they've been since last November. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, the 15-year fell to a new record low, 3.52 percent, down from 3.67 percent. Mortgage applications for purchases and refinances have increased by about seven percent. That is still below last year's level, however.
OK. Let's talk turkey, ground turkey. Cargill Meats has recalled nearly 36 million pounds of it. It might be contaminated with a salmonella strain that's hard to treat. One person has died in California. People in 26 states have gotten sick.
When the Senate met to pass the debt deal on Tuesday, senators made their speeches, and Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, had quite an interesting one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON STEWART, HOST, THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART: The protracted nature of this debate has been especially hard on our senior citizens. Well, on one senior citizen in particular.
SEN. HARRY REID, (D) NEVADA: For me, personally, I've been here for a long time. I have a home in Nevada that I haven't seen in months. My pomegranate trees, I'm told, have pomegranates on them. I have some fig trees and roses and stuff that I just haven't seen.
STEWART: Your pomegranate and fig trees are blooming? What are you, the sultan of Reno?
(LAUGHTER)
STEWART: Sometimes, the mist of eucalyptus would settle over my fields of pistachios.
(LAUGHTER)
STEWART: My harem (ph) would prepare me a (INAUDIBLE) candidates and polish my bottomless cup of slot machine tokens.
(LAUGHTER) (END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Let's go live to Rob Marciano in Atlanta. Rob, you're following a number of things, but right behind you, I see that tropical storm, Emily. What's going on and by the way, what's the chance of it hitting Florida?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Decent chance. It's on the western edge of the forecast column. We'll show you that in just a second, but the questions will be answered more so once it gets over his Hispaniola, which is approaching right now, and we've got a ton of rain that's been dropped over this area. Of course, Haiti, just 100 miles south to Port-au-Prince, that mountainous area, they're going to see some mudslides.
Obviously, not a good deal there. Still recovering from the tragic earthquake. All right. Here's the National Hurricane Center forecast from 5:00 a.m., and Eastern Florida still in the cone here. If our models in the next run shifted back to the way -- they've been going back and forth. It's such a complex and uncertain forecast once we get this thing over the (INAUDIBLE). So, we just got to watch it carefully.
And folks in the east coast of Florida, you should already be prepared, because it's hurricane season, and you guys are -- so, we'll keep you posted in the next few hours. The heat, the other big story, 114, all-time record in Little Rock, Tulsa, 113. My goodness. These numbers don't include humidity. It's just unbelievably dangerously hot. And fatalities have been occurring because of this. So, just be careful.
And the heat is going to keep on keeping on across the southern plains over the next couple of days. You'll some delays in Atlanta. We have some thunderstorms rolled through earlier. And San Francisco, some morning fog and some wind.
Hey, a new science report coming out that speculates, Ali, that at one point, we may have had two moons that collided to make one moon. And they're saying this because, actually, the part of the moon that we see all the time, the light side, is actually smooth and there's a couple craters, but the other side is rugged with lot of mountains and it's kind of oblong. So, they're speculating there was some sort of impact, you know, a few billion years ago that created this, potentially two moons for the price of one.
VELSHI: Can you imagine the extra love songs that we'd had. If everybody knew we had two moons?
MARCIANO: Right. I never thought -- that's an excellent point.
VELSHI: Yes.
MARCIANO: Anyway --
VELSHI: I'm a business guy. I'm always thinking about how you make money on these things. MARCIANO: And you're a romantic as well.
VELSHI: And I'm a romantic. The collision as it were of the business and the romance is sort of like the collision of the two moons. Rob, I'll see you in a little bit. Good to see you, my friend, as always.
Before we go, let's take a look at the word of the day. It's coccinellidae. Find out what it means and why you need to know it right after the short break. It's 54 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Fifty-seven minutes after the hour. This is you're A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. The word of the day, coccinellidae. It's a fancy way of saying lady bugs which aren't really bugs at all. By the way, they're beetles. Why we're talking about lady bugs before 6:00 a.m., because three northern American species are way down in numbers. Cornell Researchers say breeds like the nine spot lady bug are losing ground to foreign species. So, if you spot a lady bug, you can actually help. Take a picture and upload it to lostladybug.org, and they'll catalog it.
Let's go to Carter Evans for a look at your money this morning. he joins us live from the NASDAQ market site in New York. Good morning, Carter.
CARTER EVANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Ali. So, yesterday, we finally broke that losing streak. It's a good thing, too, because we haven't had a nine-day losing streak since 1978. Our futures this morning on CNNMoney.com's premarket page, S&P futures down about 3, NASDAQ down about 3, the DOW up about 8. So, just about anything can happen. We're going to get those weekly unemployment numbers at 8:30 eastern time this morning.
They're expected to rise back above that 400,000. They fell slightly below that last week. All right. Hey, let's take a look at news out of Capitol Hill. And Ali, there is none, because everybody's on vacation right now.
Meanwhile, the FAA shutdown, I know you've been talking about this all morning. I did some math. Their vacation, our lawmakers' vacation, is going to cost taxpayers more than a billion dollars if they don't solve this FAA thing, because it's costing us about $30 million a day in lost taxes, and it's all over a couple of million dollars in funding disputes as well as a couple of unionizing issues.
VELSHI: Yes. And we're going to be talking to Ray LaHood, the transport secretary a little later on about that story. I mean, quite remarkable that it might be over a smaller issue and that's how much it's costing, and there are a whole lot of people out of work, including support staff. So, it's 4,000 people not getting paid. Some of them are working even without getting paid. They're paying it out of their own pocket.
Carter, good to see you, my friend. We'll check in with you. Good way to save, by the way. Anybody knows -- it's anybody's guess what's going to happen on the markets today. That's how it's been all week.
Well, you may, one day, soon be able to buy Lipitor without a prescription. Pfizer, which makes the cholesterol fighting drug plans to seek the FDA's approval. That's what a source familiar with the situation tells "The New York Times." Pfizer will lose its patent protection in November, and with it, some of the $11 billion in annual revenue that Lipitor generates.
Tiger Woods is ready to tee off again. He makes his return to competitive golf later today at the Bridgestone Invitational Tournament in Akron, Ohio. Tiger has been sidelined for the last three months with knee and heel injuries. One person who won't be by his side, his longtime caddie, Steve Williams. Tiger said it was time for change, and he has no regrets about firing him. Cold.
That's it for WAKE-UP CALL. We'll be back tomorrow morning at 5:00 a.m. eastern. AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
