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American Morning: Wake Up Call
GOP Candidates Debate in Iowa; Short Sale Ban; Final Three Named To Super Committee; Five Americans Killed In Afghanistan; No Security Screening For Pilots
Aired August 12, 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 Friday, August 12th. This is A.M. WAKE-UP CALL.
I'm Ali Velshi, joining you live this morning from New York.
The Republican presidential debate in Iowa made one thing perfectly clear, Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty are not best friends. The Minnesota congresswoman and former Minnesota governor slammed each other liberally over presidential qualifications.
He called her ineffective and her record in the House nonexistent.
She said he abandoned his conservative principles. Did not! Did too!
Now, hear -- let's hear a little bit from all eight candidates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We should not have increased the debt ceiling.
REP. RON PAUL (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A better tax structure, lower taxes, invite capital back into this country, get a lot less regulations.
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Take the corporate rate and cut it to zero for manufacturers. Cut that tax to zero, our jobs will come back.
NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Going to the American people with clarity, creating a sense of urgency, and building a bipartisan majority.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Seven things come to mind. One is to -- and number seven is to have a government that doesn't spend more money than it takes in.
TIM PAWLENTY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The United States of America needs a growth target, and it needs to be an aggressive and bold growth target.
HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I represent growth, and it starts with the business sector putting fuel in the engine.
JON HUNTSMAN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's called leadership. It's called looking at how the free market systems work. It's creating a competitive environment that speaks to growth.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
VELSHI: Take a look at this wordle. It highlights the most used words in the debate. More they were used, the bigger they are.
You see, they talk a lot about President Obama, people, government, country, and states. The words jobs, debt, trade, business and taxes are not nearly as prominent.
Texas Governor Rick Perry enters the race tomorrow in South Carolina. You can expect him to be confident and talk a lot about jobs. Here's what he told WMUR-TV in Manchester, New Hampshire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: I happen to think that I'm as qualified or better qualified than anyone in the field to not only make that claim, but to lay out that vision, and then lay out those principles that have worked truly well in Texas. We've created more jobs than any other state in the nation. As a matter of fact, in the last two years, we've created almost half of all the jobs created in America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Perry will jump in as a contender right off the bat. Take a look at a recent CNN/ORC International poll of Republicans and independents who lean toward the GOP. Perry is just two points behind Mitt Romney.
President Obama says he is frustrated with the political fighting in Congress. He says all the bickering is hurting the job situation. Here's a blurb from his speech at a hybrid car battery plant in Michigan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Start making things here in America that are sold all around the world, and that's why I'm here today. I've said it before, I will say it again, you cannot bet against the American worker.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: The battery plant got some help from government stimulus funds. The president urged Americans to tell their senators and representatives to pass bills that will create jobs.
All right, let's talk about our favorite pogo stick, the Dow. You saw it jump 423 points yesterday. News that U.S. jobless claims fell to a four-month low gave the Dow a boost.
You know, the market has its ups and downs, but this is kind of ridiculous. Down 512 points last Thursday, up a little bit Friday. Then wild swings this week.
Get this -- the Dow scored the two biggest gains of the year Tuesday and Thursday. But the average is still lower for the week.
So, how bad off is the United States Post Office right now? So bad, that it wants congressional approval to lay off 120,000 workers by 2015. It also wants to overhaul the benefits of those who keep their jobs. The post office has lost billions of dollars over the past few years -- thanks, in part, to the recession and the digital age.
Don't you hate it when you lose telemetry during glide phase maneuvers? I know I do.
Military researchers say that happened to the unmanned Falcon Hypesonic test vehicle during a test flight yesterday. They lost contact with it over the Pacific Ocean. This is the fastest aircraft ever launched -- 13,000 miles per hour. How fast is that? It can get you from L.A. to New York in under 12 minutes.
But, apparently, they can't really keep control of it. So, they're going to get back to the drawing board on that one.
OK. Now, to see how the world's money is doing let's go to Nina dos Santos live from London.
Nina, last night our time we got word a number of countries in Europe are banning the short sale of financial stocks. I imagine that helped European markets this morning?
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For the moment, yes. Although I should point out that European markets actually, for the most part, did start out in negative territory, Ali. It didn't take them long to recover the kind of losses that we saw earlier on in trading, and to trade into green now.
Broadly speaking, all of these indices up. Even France, in fact, really, has been the weak spot of late, as many an investor has expressed concern about the credit rating, the AAA credit rating that France currently enjoys. Also about its banks and whether France were to lose that AAA credit rating, which I should say at the moment, we have no indications that that is the case from the ratings agencies.
But, obviously, if France were to be downgraded, that would have a huge impact on its banks. But also have significant amounts of Greek, Italian and Spanish debt on their books, as well.
Let's talk about this short-selling and exactly what it means. Short-selling, we should remind our viewers, is actually the preserve of hedge funds. It's when you borrow a stock, you sell it, and then you buy it back, hopefully, at a cheaper price and pocket the difference.
Now, we have seen a ban on short selling before, most notably after the 2008 credit crunch, and the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Authorities did ban short-selling for a short period of time. Straight after that we did see a rally. But then in the long-term stocks did fall. Both stocks that saw a short-selling ban in 2008 actually fell about 26 percent the year after.
So, hedge funds are telling me this morning, Ali, that in the long run, this is perhaps a sign of weakness.
VELSHI: All right. And give me some information, Nina, on something we're just hearing this morning, and that is that Italy is going to make some budget moves a little later today.
DOS SANTOS: Yes. This comes on top of the much-publicized austerity measures that Italy had to pass at record speed just a month or so ago -- austerity measures that amounted to about $75 billion.
Well, the point is that the markets want more. Italy has already agreed to rein in and balance to zero its budget deficit by the year 2014 -- some people saying that was ambitious for a country that has high debt-to-GDP. But really, the markets, as we've also noticed over the last couple of weeks, have been demanding Italy does more.
Now, they want to balance the budget by a year earlier, by 2013. And that's what they're going to be discussing today, Ali.
VELSHI: Nina dos Santos, busy days for you, as always. Good to see you. Thank you so much -- Nina dos Santos for us in London.
It's a big week for GOP candidates here in the United States. Comedian Stephen Colbert gives us his rundown and a deep-fried candidate. Here's your punch line.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN COLBERT, COMEDIAN: This is a very big week for Republican presidential candidates. There's the debate in Iowa that will feature all the major players, and Tim Pawlenty.
Then, Saturday, of course, is the straw poll in Ames, a crucial test to see if a candidate can get Midwesterners to put down a food plate long enough to mark a ballot.
But, the big news today came from the Iowa state fair in Des Moines, where, in an attempt to appeal to more voters, Ron Paul had himself batter dipped and deep fat fried. Sounds good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: All right. It is a brand-new technology that could revolutionize the way we drive. When we come back I'm going to tell you about self-inflating tires.
But first, check out the quote of the day. Quote, "Corporations are people, my friend." Find out which political candidate said this and why -- coming up in two minutes.
Eight minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: It is 10 minutes after the hour. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL.
I'm Ali Velshi here in New York.
Now, back to the quote of the day. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney made the comments that corporations are people, my friend.
Let's put this into context. Romney was heckled about Social Security while speaking in Iowa yesterday. Listen for yourself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: There are various ways of doing that. One is we could raise taxes on people.
CROWD: Corporations! Corporations! Corporations!
ROMNEY: We could raise taxes -- of course they are. Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to people.
Where do you think it goes?
CROWD: It goes in their pocket!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Now we learned later that one of the hecklers identified himself as Joe Fagan, a 71-year-old former Catholic priest who founded the liberal community activist group for -- group called Citizens for Community Improvement. He has heckled Republican candidates before.
Let's go to Reynolds Wolf live from Atlanta.
Reynolds, good morning. Any flight delays out there?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, we're going to see some, Ali. It's going to happen -- especially in Chicago.
Let's go right to it and show you. Chicago, the Windy City, dealing with some thunderstorms.
Could be some strong ones, especially by the afternoon in Miami, also in Orlando. In Florida, you occasionally have thunderstorms. Today is going to be one of those days. Delays just under an hour, but those could expand in the afternoon.
Kansas City, thunder boomers could be a problem.
Chicago, again, we talk about the rain. But in San Francisco, an entirely different animal altogether -- some fog and some low clouds. In Los Angeles, low clouds may keep you on the tarmac a little bit longer than you want. Not only at LAX, but maybe at John Wayne also.
Hey, keep in mind that if you happen to go to Texas, some good news for you. It looks like the heat wave has relented a bit., has popped back a little bit. We've got of course the longest days of consecutive 100-degree temperatures. And, thankfully, we're expecting things to be a little bit cooler for today.
Also, scattered showers across the Carolinas and also across the northern tier states. Sunshine for the Northeast and out to the West.
Hey, now for some news that is out of this world. You've heard of meteorites. You know, those tiny particles that fall through the atmosphere. Well, NASA researchers have found building blocks of DNA on these little, tiny things -- hard to believe.
The meteorites, again the discovery suggests that meteorites may have impacted earth and actually assisted in life formation on this planet. Now, with minimal contamination of the meteorite samples, some scientists have found that these meteorites specimens were formed in space.
Now, some people think that a lot of these were contaminated in outer space, maybe from some type of extraterrestrial life. Others think there may have been some contamination here on earth.
If you can make any sense of that, if you can go to the water cooler this morning at work, you're going to amaze others with your expanded knowledge. Pretty amazing stuff.
VELSHI: Also, if this were a Mitt Romney campaign stop, you could say meteorites are people, too.
WOLF: Why not? You know, I'm all for it. I mean, of course -- I'm sure they have feelings. I'm sure they care. I'm sure they can possibly vote.
VELSHI: Yes, I didn't know that. I thought they were little bits of rock. That is very interesting Reynolds.
WOLF: And if they're registered, what a difference maker they could all be.
VELSHI: No kidding. Exactly. The whole meteorite segment.
All right. Reynolds, good to see you, buddy. I'll check in with you a little later on today -- Reynolds Wolf in Atlanta.
Here's an invention that every driver is going to want -- tires that inflate by themselves. Goodyear has designed tires equipped with a special device that keeps track of inflation, adds more air when necessary. Don't get too excited yet. Goodyear has not said when these tires will hit the market but I bet all of us lazy folks will scoop them up as soon as they do.
All right. Take a look at this little device. It looks like something that should be inside a computer, right? It's electronic skin. Basically, you put it on your skin. It's used to monitor vital signs in heart disease patients. The device sticks to skin like a temporary tattoo, lasts for about two weeks. I don't think your forehead is the best place for it.
Scientists are hoping that these tiny little gadgets might one day replace those clunky hospital monitoring devices. Excellent little development.
All right. The "Barefoot Bandit" cuts a movie deal, but a plea deal will not allow him to make a dime. Off with the profit. We'll tell you about.
It's 14 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Fifteen minutes after the hour.
Comedian Jay Leno has some news on the supercommittee. Here's your punch line.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, COMEDIAN: They're putting together a so-called supercommittee to deal with this debt problem. But, you know, look, I'm no expert on the topic. But really? These are the best financial minds you could come up with? Take a look.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's office has announced his pick for a bipartisan congressional supercommittee. NBC's Tracie Potts is in Washington for us with more on that.
Tracie, good morning.
TRCIE POTTS: Lynn, hi. Good morning, everyone. He gets to pick three, and he's done it, and here they are, all three are experts in taxes and finance, Wesley Snipes of New York, Nicolas Cage of California, and Willie Nelson of Texas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: All right. Time now for your Political Ticker with Tim Farley host of "Morning Briefing" on Sirius XM POTUS live from Washington.
You're in Washington?
TIM FARLEY, SIRIUS XM POTUS: Yes, indeed, I am, sir.
VELSHI: Were you at the debate?
FARLEY: No, I was covering it here. I was anchoring coverage from the studios. The Megaplex here in Washington, D.C.
VELSHI: What do you think?
FARLEY: You know, you go into this, it's like a football game, Ali. You're watching during the night and you're seeing all the different plays and you're seeing the guard pulled on this play. And you look at how he avoided that interception. At the end of the game, all anyone cared about is the score.
And going into it Mitt Romney was in first place and coming out of it, I think Mitt Romney was in first place. He didn't get damaged too much. He got a couple of questions thrown at him.
There was a fight between Tim Pawlenty and -- well, not a literal fight, but back and forth between Tim Pawlenty and Michele Bachmann.
And there was also a bit of scrap between Rick Santorum and Ron Paul over whether or not the United States is imperial or not.
But Mitt Romney was sitting in the back and just watching the whole thing take place and probably just enjoying the whole spectacle, because he came out of it pretty much unscathed as the front-runner.
VELSHI: Although I saw an editorial, the winners of the debate were Rick Perry and President Obama just by virtue of the fact that they weren't on that stage.
FARLEY: That's a good point, is that people who weren't on the field yesterday. Rick Perry making an announcement tomorrow, as the straw poll is under way, that he is going to be running. And, of course, President Obama, who was nowhere to be seen yesterday with the Republicans. Although, his name was -- he was pretty forceful in speeches he was making yesterday.
And, hey, keep the football analogy alive. The president is going to meet with the Green Bay Packers today at the White House.
VELSHI: Hey, this Iowa straw -- straw poll is tomorrow. What do you think is going to happen?
FARLEY: Oh, butter on a stick, Ali, come on. I mean, it's the biggest treat in town. You know, we're going to see 15-minute speeches by each of the candidates who decide to participate. Mitt Romney is not one of those. There will be a list of candidates, then at the bottom there's an open space where people can write in.
It's really a make or break -- well, maybe not make or break. But Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty both want to be at least 1-2. And she really wants a win. She needs to show up well.
The question is whether or not the other candidates, the second and third tier candidates will get enough to sustain their campaigns to continue right until the caucus, which will be in January.
So that's the question that will come out and maybe get answered tomorrow.
VELSHI: And now that Perry is getting to the race, it's going to be that much more important for Bachmann.
By the way, I think that butter on a stick sounds fantastic because the butter all melts. So it's basically this fried, doughy thing with a stick of butter enmeshed into it.
FARLEY: Butter on a stick is people, too, Ali. Remember that.
VELSHI: That's right. That's right. Tim, good to see you. Have a great show this morning -- Tim Farley, host of "Morning Briefing" on Sirius XM POTUS.
FARLEY: You, too, Ali.
VELSHI: The Barefoot Bandit has sold the movie rights to his life story. Colton Harris-Moore was a teenager when he went on a two- year crime spree, stealing planes, cars and breaking into homes. It's unclear how much 20th Century Fox paid. But any profits from a book or movie deal will go to Harris-Moore's victims.
Rejection can be tough, especially if you're an unknown Hollywood writer and the bomb squad is called out. That's the backdrop for what happened to one aspiring writer. He left his briefcase at a Hollywood agent's office, after she refused to meet with him, or read his script.
The bomb squad was called. They blew up the briefcase. The agent claims the writer was stalking her. No charges have been filed.
All right. First, long live the middle child. Today is the National Day of the Middle Child. Here are some famous middle kids, JFK, Princess Diana, Richard Nixon, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Good on you, middle kids.
Twenty minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Twenty-two minutes after the hour.
Let's go around the world. Monita Rajpal standing by for us in London.
Good morning, Monita.
As -- you know, an outcome of these riots that we've been watching in Britain. The British government has said that free flow of information can be a problem and they're talking about blocking social media for some people. What is this about?
MONITA RAJPAL, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Yes, it's really interesting, Ali. You know, we've seen the use of social media, which is Twitter and Facebook and messaging services in various revolutions in the Middle East as a means of getting the message out, to get people together to protest against governments and things like that.
So, that -- some people could say that could be a means of good. However, in this case, in this country, what we're seeing now is that there have been questions of, well, the use of BlackBerry messaging, Twitter, and Facebook sites for spreading the message of violence.
And that's what has got a lot of people concerned that yesterday, the special session of parliament, the British prime minister was asked about the potential of banning certain sites that would, or even potentially blocking the use of the Blackberry messenger service, if it was inciting violence. This is what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Free flow of information can be used for good, but it can also be used for ill. So, we are working with the police, the intelligence services, and industry to look at whether it will be right to stop people communicating via these Web sites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJPAL: Now, the prime minister has called to meet with the makers of Blackberry, as the Research in Motion, as well as the founders of Facebook, as well as Twitter, to see if they can talk about what they can do about this. Now, Twitter has said that it has no intention to block the account, or delete any posts. While Facebook has said publicly that it already has shut down pages that explicitly incited violence.
But we should say, Ali, that in the course of all of this that had happened over the week here in the U.K., the Blackberry messenger service, as well as Twitter, has been used for good, where people have been trying to get the message out to come out to the community an help clean up the aftermath of the looting -- Ali.
VELSHI: All right. And, Monita, very interesting, further development on another site, "Grand Theft Auto's" director, the next game, they're going to explore the 1979 Iran revolution, I understand.
RAJPAL: Yes. You know if you're a video game fan, you'll know the whole "Grand Theft Auto" franchise. Now, the cinematic director of what's being called 1979 is saying this will -- it's an interesting game where they look at 1979, the year, it's when the U.S. hostage crisis, in the U.S. embassy in Tehran, happened. And there was also the year of the overthrow of the shah and what brought in the fundamentalist Islamic state into the country.
So, what they're looking at right now is a scenario where a player would be an American Iranian translator looking to get in to Tehran to try and free the hostages. And once they're in there, it's kind of like a game of diplomacy and political science, and the cinematic director said this is going to be one in a series of franchises in which CIA operations had in various countries such as in Panama with Manuel Noriega, even in Libya in the '70s and '80s with Moammar Gadhafi. Although, some could say, Ali, they could potentially do something about that in Libya right now.
VELSHI: All right, Monita, thanks so much for joining us this morning -- Monita Rajpal live for us in London. Good to see you, Monita.
The security lines at the airport is about to get shorter. The new program that's taking off across the nation, it's already being rolled out in one city. We'll fill you in about it after the break.
It's 26 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Good morning. It is Friday, August the 12th. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL.
I'm Ali Velshi, joining you live this morning from New York. Thirty minutes after the hour.
The gloves came off at last night's Republican presidential debate in Iowa. The eight candidates pummeled each other with harsh zingers and biting one-liners. One highlight of the night was a heated exchange between former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann over each other's leadership abilities. Despite the onstage sparring, however, the candidates saved their best jabs for President Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: Look, I'm not going to eat Barack Obama's dog food, all right? What he served up was not what I would have done if I had been president of the United States.
TIM PAWLENTY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't want the United States growth target to be anemic or laggard like Barack Obama's.
JON HUNTSMAN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: President Obama has had two-and-a-half years to get it right on the most important issue we face, expanding the economy and creating jobs. He's fundamentally failed us.
REP. MICHELLE BACHMANN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We get to send a message to Barack Obama, and the message is this, you are finished in 2012. And you will be a one-term president.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Noticeably, absent from the stage, Texas governor, Rick Perry. He is expected to officially announce his candidacy tomorrow.
The last three members of the so-called super committee are now set. Democratic representatives, James Clyburn, Javier Baccera, and Chris Van Hollen were appointed Thursday to the bipartisan panel. The 12-member committee was created last week under the debt ceiling deal. They've got to find a way to reduce the national deficit by $1.5 trillion.
Five more U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan. Officials say they were victims of an IED attack. The improvised device went off in Southern Afghanistan yesterday. This just days after insurgents shot down a helicopter, killing 30 American service members. That incident was the biggest loss of American life in a single incident in the decade-long war.
Aruban officials say the prime suspect in the case of a missing American woman is no longer cooperating with investors. The suspect, 50-year-old, Gary Giordano, has been detained by police. Thirty-five- year-old Robyn Gardner has been missing since August 2nd. She vanished while on vacation with Giordano whom she met online. The FBI is assisting Aruban authorities.
And to speed up lines at airport security checkpoints, some pilots can now skip right past them. A new pilot program started this week at Chicago's O'Hare, soon introduced at other airports. Pilots just have to flash their credentials and that's it. No body scanners. No metal detectors. The TSA says pilots have already gone through an extensive background check before they're hired.
And even more people have been sickened by a salmonella outbreak. It's now 107 people in 31 states, up from 78 people last week. That's according to the Centers for Disease Control. The outbreak led Cargill meats to recall more than 35 million pounds of ground turkey.
Now, before the debate, Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, did some campaigning at the Iowa State Fair. Is he just a regular old average Joe? Here's your punch line.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEPHEN COLBERT, THE COLBERT REPORT: Romney was at the state fair in his everyman dungarees. Romney proved he didn't just dress like the average Joe, he understands the average Joe.
ROMNEY: Corporations are people, my friend.
COLBERT: Yes. Corporations are people, my friend. They're like members of your family, your brother, fax machine.
(LAUGHTER)
COLBERT: Your Uncle Ben, your Aunt Ann, your Mama Celeste, your go daddy.
(LAUGHTER)
COLBERT: Folks, I have been fighting this good fight for years.
Corporations are legally people in the United States. Corporations are people.
Corporations are people.
Corporations are people, too.
Would you let your daughter date a corporation, sir?
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I would not.
COLBERT: Wow. In this day and age, that kind of bigotry, it is time to remake "guess who's coming to dinner," this time, with an oil rig.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: All right. First, today's businessman's special is a ridiculously low mortgage rates. Find out how much more money you'll save today compared to getting a mortgage a week ago. We're talking about thousands of dollars. I'll tell you about that on the other side. It's 34 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Thirty-five minutes after the hour. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. I'm Ali Velshi in New York.
Now, back to today's businessman's special on mortgage rates. So, blah, blah, blah. Mortgage rates are down again this week. I know you know that, but check this out. Let me just give you some perspective on mortgage rates. A home purchased last week had an average rate of 4.39 percent. That's for a 30-year fixed loan, according -- if you have good credit and you have 20 percent down. This week, it drops to 4.32 percent.
So, basically, if you got a $200,000, 30-year fixed home loan last week, you paid $2,900 more than someone who got the same loan this week. Yes, it's real money.
Let's go to Christine Romans live here in New York for a check on your money this morning. Christine, it is Friday. But, to us, I think it feels like next Friday. This has been one of the busiest, craziest market weeks you and I have seen in years.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I'm going to be honest with you, I don't even know what day it is. I just know the market opens at 9:30 eastern time.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: And I'm telling you, futures are down right now. But, I don't really put much stock into how it means for the rest of the day, and I don't think you do either. It's still volatility. It's still fear. It's still data driven, as they say in the pits, in the offices now. Every headline, Ali, is what's driving a very skittish market. Fragile world economy, fragile world psyche, earnings reports. You know, the fed meeting behind us, thank goodness.
We had a lot of volatility for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday behind us, but I just don't think you can, with a straight face, make any kind of prediction. People will. People will put money behind their predictions, but it could be another very rocky day.
VELSHI: I would not ask you to make a market prediction, however, you do know a lot about commodities and food.
ROMANS: Yes.
VELSHI: This is where you got your start as a reporter, and there are signs that the price of food could be going up again.
ROMANS: That's right. You know, USDA had a crop report, you know, actually lowered its expectations for the corn harvest, and a couple of reasons why, drought, right? We've been talking about that a lot in Texas, especially, but in parts of the Midwest, there's drought. So, they've lowered their forecast. And when you start to lower your corn forecast, that means, you know, you're going to see higher corn prices, soybeans, as well.
These are something that a lot of people have been choosing between corn and soybeans earlier this year because of already high food prices. What was going to be the best thing that they could plant? And then wheat. So, we're going to be watching to see what those commodity futures do here today. Sometimes, you see a USDA report like this, and people in the market sites already suspected or already knew.
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: So, I'm not going to say which way that's going to go, but I will tell you that there are expectations that food prices will go higher later in the fall. We've already seen it in meat prices. We've been talking about the price of pork, bacon, corn, bread, pasta. Just about everything you can think of, comes from these big commodities.
Not only do you have supply and demand, the whole world is eating more of this stuff, growing middle classes, et cetera, et cetera. So, watch this space for higher commodity prices, higher food prices at your grocery store, Ali.
VELSHI: One-word answer, if you hit the salad bar, what's the best value for your money?
ROMANS: Sun dried tomatoes -- bacon! Bacon bits.
VELSHI: Bacon bits or sun dried tomatoes. You actually got both of them. Christine Romans --
ROMANS: There you go.
VELSHI: Food expert, business expert, I'll see you on "American Morning" in about 22 minutes.
ROMANS: Bye, Ali.
VELSHI: Hey, soccer goalie, Hope Solo, is taking off her cleats, and her uniform, and pretty much everything else for ESPN, the magazine. Details on that after the break.
But first, here's today's "Get Smart" question. The father of which 2012 presidential candidate worked for President Richard Nixon? A. Jon Huntsman. B. Mitt Romney. C. Michele Bachmann? The answer coming up in two minutes. Thirty-eight minutes after the hour.
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VELSHI: Forty-one minutes after the hour. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. I'm Ali Velshi in New York. Now, back to the "Get Smart" question. The father of which presidential candidate worked for President Richard Nixon? A. Jon Huntsman. B. Mitt Romney. C. Michele Bachmann. The answer, Jon Huntsman. His father, Jon Huntsman Sr., packed up the family when his son was just 10 years old, left the company that he ran behind, to head east to Washington.
Now for our "Political Ticker," let's bring in our deputy political director, Paul Steinhauser, who is live with the CNN Express, that beautiful bus in beautiful Des Moines, Iowa. You know, if I had to make a choice between presidential debates and corn dogs at the Iowa State Fair, you know where I would come down, but I know you were at the debate. So, give us some analysis.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, that's OK, Ali. I got a fried twinkie from my back there in that stand.
VELSHI: Nice.
STEINHAUSER: I'm going to be sending it your way so you can be enjoying it soon enough. Listen, remember our debate which was the last presidential debate, the one in New Hampshire in two months ago? Michele Bachmann was the real star at that debate? Since then, a real back and forth between Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor, who's been getting pretty nasty on the campaign trail.
Well, it kind of boiled over last night at this debate between those two candidates, and it was definitely pretty contentious. Bachmann criticizing Pawlenty when he was governor of Minnesota, almost at one time, comparing him to Barack Obama. And Pawlenty, basically, questioning her credentials and what she's done. I think you have a little sound of that back and forth. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAWLENTY: She's done wonderful things in her life, absolutely wonderful things, but it's an undisputable fact that, in Congress, her record of accomplishment and results is nonexistent. BACHMANN: When you were governor in Minnesota, you implemented cap and trade in our state. And, you praised the unconstitutional individual mandates. And, you called for requiring all people in our state to purchase health insurance that government would mandate. Third, you said the era of small government was over. That sounds a lot more like Barack Obama, if you ask me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: Boy! And they went at it throughout the debate, Ali. A lot of storylines last night, but that was probably the biggest one. And listen, we're just now a day away from a crucial straw poll out here in Ames, back in Ames, Iowa, and there's a lot of, hey, you say, wait a minute, the primaries and caucuses aren't until next year, but I tell you, there's a lot on the line, especially for Tim Pawlenty. It's probably one of the reasons you saw him pretty forceful last night, Ali.
VELSHI: This issue, though, is going to take a little bit of a back seat to the fact That Rick Perry is getting into the race. We're expecting this to happen tomorrow. Michele Bachmann asking why he didn't participate in last night's debate. He couldn't if he wasn't a declared candidate, but what's your sense of it? Should he have been in that debate?
STEINHAUSER: She brought that up after the debate. Asked the question, why wasn't he here? Listen, he's not a candidate yet, so he doesn't have to be here. Bachmann was at our debate. Huntsman wasn't at our debate in June. He was here at this first debate. You're allowed to enter the presidential race when you want. There's no law that says you have to go to all the debates, but Perry and his announcement, which, as you said, will come tomorrow in South Carolina has kind of been the hovering above all this as well as Sarah Palin, Ali.
We expect her to be right here. Just a couple hundred yards away from our CNN Express bus today. She's going to be here in Iowa, maybe trying to grab some of that spotlight, as well. We'll keep an eye on all this today. It is going to be one crazy weekend in the race for the White House, Ali.
VELSHI: And, of course, enjoy some fried stuff at the state fair. Paul, always a pleasure to see you, my friend. Great to see you in real life, too. Paul Steinhauser in Des Moines, Iowa, with the CNN Election Express.
Let's take a quick look at sports right now. Day two of the PGA Championship tees off later this morning near Atlanta. Yesterday, Tiger Woods, the man in the red shirt, had his worst round ever in a major tournament on a U.S. course. He shot a 77. Steve Stricker leads, and he shot a 63.
And Hope Solo, I was telling you about this, she will appear naked in ESPN, the magazine. You know, she's the U.S. women's goalie -- soccer goalie. Apparently, she'll appear in an issue that showcases a bunch of naked athletes. Posed so that you can't see their privates. yes, the media exposure from the World Cup last month wasn't enough for her.
On this day back in history, in 1981, IBM released the first personal computer. It came with the computer, a keyboard and a color monitor. The price tag was $1,565. Look at that thing. You remember those? Today, with inflation, by the way, that computer would be the equivalent of $3,700. Forty-five minutes after the hour. I'll be right back.
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VELSHI: Good morning. It is Friday, August the 12th. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. I'm Ali Velshi joining you live this morning from New York. Forty-eight minutes after the hour.
Let's go around the world. Max Foster is live for us in London. Good morning, Max. These riots that you've been covering so closely in Britain, the government says that the free flow of information might be a bit of a problem, and they're talking about blocking social media. Tell us about this.
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, I guess it is blocking. I mean, basically, David Cameron was talking yesterday about interrupting, somehow, social media services when criminals are using them, because the riots were largely organized across social media, particularly, Twitter, Facebook and Blackberry messenger. He was talking yesterday about how he wants the police to have greater powers in stopping that.
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DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Free flow of information can be used for good, but it can also be used for ill. So, we are working with the police, the intelligence services, and industry to look at whether it will be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder, and criminality.
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FOSTER: And they are speaking to companies, at least, they've invited them to meetings, Twitter, Facebook and Blackberry. Blackberry said they would cooperate with the home office, for example, but there are human rights groups now saying this is a basic infringement of freedom of speech. And we saw how when Egyptian government departments closed down social media services in Egypt. So, they came under a lot of pressure. So, it's going to be a big debate, I think, Ali.
VELSHI: All right, Max, we'll continue to cover that. That one has implications around the world. Thanks very much, Max Foster in London for us.
Well, the Republican presidential debate in Iowa made one thing perfectly clear, Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty are not best friends. The Minnesota congresswoman and former Minnesota governor slammed each other liberally over presidential qualifications. He called her ineffective and said her record in the House is, quote, "nonexistent." She said he abandoned his conservative principles. Did not! Did too! Let's hear from all eight candidates.
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BACHMANN: We should not have increased the debt ceiling.
REP. RON PAUL, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A better tax structure, lower taxes, invite capital back into this country. Get a lot less regulations.
RICK SANTORUM, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Take the corporate rate and cut it to zero for manufacturers. Cut that tax to zero, our jobs will come back.
NEWT GINGRICH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Going to the American people with clarity, creating a sense of urgency, and building a bipartisan majority.
ROMNEY: Seven things come to mind, one is (INAUDIBLE) and number seven is to have a government that doesn't spend more money than it takes in.
PAWLENTY: The United States of America needs a growth target, and it needs to be an aggressive and bold growth target.
HERMAN CAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I represent growth. And it starts with the business sector putting fuel in the engine.
HUNTSMAN: It's called leadership. It's called looking at how the free market system works. It's creating a competitive environment that speaks to growth.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: OK. I want you to take a look at this. It's called a Wordle, a word cloud. It highlights the most used words in the debate. They're big. Least-used words are small. You can see that the candidates talked a lot about President Obama, people, government, country, states, think. The words jobs, debt, trade, business,s and taxes are not nearly as prominent.
Sarah Palin, as Paul just told us, is in Iowa today. Hmm. Does she have something she wants to tell us? We might find out today.
And Texas governor, Rick Perry, has something to tell us tomorrow. He's going to enter the presidential race in South Carolina.
And how badly off is the United States post office right now? So bad that it wants Congressional approval to lay off 120,000 workers by 2015. It also wants to overhaul the benefits of those who keep their jobs. The post office has lost billions over the past few years, thanks, in part, to the recession and to the digital age.
The U.S. marshal service is getting into the jewelry business. Really. The agency is auctioning off one of the most sought after diamonds in the world. Look at this thing. It is a flawless 43-carat yellow diamond. I guess, it's part of a ring, but you'd have to have a big hand for that. It was confiscated back in 2006 during an undercover bust for money laundering. The minimum bid for the online auction set for next month, $900,000. Get your bids in.
All right. Have you seen "Newsweek's" cover? It shows this picture. You probably heard about this. Michele Bachmann. Some people think makes her look a little wild-eyed. Well, comedian, Conan O'Brien, shows us other pictures from the photo shoot, or at least, that's what he says.
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CONAN O'BRIEN, CONAN: "Newsweek" published some outtakes from the photo shoot. Yes, they published some of the other photos, because they wanted to demonstrate that Michele Bachmann always looks kind of intense and crazy in her photos. And after looking at some of the outtakes, I agree. Check out some of these. Her first one is her praying right there. This one is her intensely greeting a voter, and very -- yes.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: Here, she is putting on lipstick.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: Here she is - here, she is handing out campaign literature.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: And finally, this is ear heating roadkill, which we found, particularly -- yes. I didn't like it. I was against it.
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VELSHI: Let's go to Reynolds Wolf in Atlanta. Reynolds, you're looking at flight delays, and it looks like there's some on your board.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Indeed. We're going to be seeing some into the afternoon. Right now, things are pretty good, but, this afternoon, everything is going to change. Chicago, Miami, Orlando, even into Kansas City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, we're going to have some backups. Probably the worst of them in Chicago with that possibility of thunderstorms.
Something else to consider today. It should be a little bit of an easier day in terms of these warm temperatures. Yesterday, we had some record highs in Houston, Saint Simon's Island, Georgia. 101 was the higher there. Savannah, 100 all-time record there. Jacksonville and Apalachicola, also very warm. And the heat wave in Dallas, thankfully, the days of consecutive 100-degree temperatures came to a screeching halt. Thankfully, things are going to be a little bit cooler there today. Chance of rain in the Carolinas, the northern plains, and possibly, some thunderstorms in Texas. They need them terribly there.
Hey, something else, Ali. Time to check out the lost and found because we are missing a big, big, and fast, fast aircraft. In fact, what we're talking about is the Falcon hypersonic test vehicle. It is missing. Yesterday, military researchers conducted the flight of the fastest aircraft ever launched. They lost contact with the vehicle. How does that happen? How does that happen? The unmanned craft had successfully launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, was actually performing it's called - it's glide phase when contact with the air craft was launched.
This is the second one for the aircraft in April 2010 and ended with the aircraft crashing into the pacific. This triangular wedge of an aircraft expected to reach mach 20, possibly, let's see, 13,000 miles per hour, going from one point on the planet to the other in less than an hour. Hard to believe. You know, they probably need to work on the communications. I mean, it looks -- they got that one down, but again, communication, a little bit shaky on that one.
VELSHI: Let us know if we find it. Reynolds, thanks very much. I'll catch you later.
All right. Before we take a break, let's take a look at the word of the day. It's perseid. Think that's how you say it. Find out what it means and why you need to know it right after the short break. Fifty-five minutes after the hour.
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VELSHI: Fifty-eight minutes after the hour. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. Your word of the day is perseid. It's one meteor in a group of them that appears every year in mid-August. That's when the earth passes through a cloud of comet debris which burns up in the atmosphere. It puts an amazing meteor shower on the peaks tonight. A bit of bad timing, though, there's a full moon, and that's going to make the light show harder to see.
Let's go to Carter Evans for a look at your money this morning. He joins us live from the NASDAQ market site here in New York. Carter, how's it looking this morning?
CARTER EVANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's start with the good news, Ali. It's Friday. So, finally, we can take a little bit of a rest, you know? It's nice. Hey, here's a sight for sore eyes. Soak it in. You never know how long it's going to last. These numbers were a lot nicer yesterday than the day before. Four days in a row with swings of more than 400 points. I don't think that's ever happened before for the Dow.
Check out futures this morning on the CNNMoney.com, premarket page, the Dow futures up 23, NASDAQ down 1, S&P down 4. Futures have been kind of off lately. So, anything kind of goes when the market opens. Also, I find this very interesting, Ali. You and I have been talking about this all week long. When everybody is running from the market, what should you be doing? Buying. That's what Warren Buffett's doing.
There's a story about that on CNNMoney.com today. And I heard you talking about this earlier, Ali, mortgage rates. They just keep falling. Contrary to popular belief that they would rise when our debt rating was downgraded. They're falling. They're near a record low for a $200,000 mortgage for 30 years, at 4.32 percent. What the mortgage rate is right now versus five percent, you would save 30 years -- $30,000 over the life of the loan.
VELSHI: Yes. People keep on saying, what can I do? What can I do on this market? That is one thing you can actually do? You can deal with your mortgage. Carter, you're actually right. How the market starts has nothing to do with how it ends these day, but I am living on that website. I'm living on CNNMoney.com. Everything you need to know about money.
Thanks so much, Carter. We'll catch up with you later on. Carter Evans at the NASDAQ market site. I'll be back with -- oh, gosh, it's Friday. I'm not going to be anywhere tomorrow. "AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now.
