Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
DHL Cutting Jobs & Ending Deliveries in U.S.; Rite of Passage: Obama, Bush Meet at White House; Wired White House; Monitoring the Afghan/Pakistan Border
Aired November 10, 2008 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And first up this hour, you know sometimes $85 billion just won't cut it. And one company's Washington bailout just got a whole lot bigger and better, some would tell you.
The initial rescue of insurance giant AIG apparently was not enough. Here are the key points of a now revised package.
The government will directly invest in AIG, buying $40 billion of company stock. The stock buy allows the government to cut an existing loan from that $85 billion to $60 billion. It also slashes the interest rate from as much as 14 percent.
Now, this new deal also extends the loan repayment window from two years to five years. It also removes troubled assets from AIG's book.
If you didn't get all that, it just means that the initial $85 billion federal loan in September, it actually ballooned to $143 billion. The new package now going to be over $150 billion. So a little more.
Now, one official makes the deal makes it more realistic that taxpayers may be getting their money back. We shall see.
Well, German-owned DHL Express cutting 900 jobs and ending deliveries within the U.S. We just keep getting more and more crippling news from the financial sector. This is a crippling blow for the town of Wilmington, Ohio.
Christine Romans following this news for us from New York.
This town needs this company.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and this company is cutting an awful lot of American jobs, 9,500 of them. This is on top of some 5,400 job cuts earlier in the year, T.J., and by the end of January its U.S. express domestic cargo business, air and ground freight business, will be shuttered, and the company will focus on transportation logistics and also on its international business.
You will be able to send a package DHL from here overseas, and receive one from overseas, but you will not be able to send one within the 50 United States. And that's because of a challenging economic environment. The company says that means it's just going to have to focus on what it does best, and that is international freight operations, not here in the United States. It's going to mean an awful lot of people are going to lose their jobs. In some of these towns where they have hubs, it's an incredibly important part of the town's lifeblood. And those people are going to be looking for new jobs in a very challenging environment.
Don't forget, we have had 1.2 million jobs lost overall, just so far this year. The last three months, half of those job losses have come. We've seen an acceleration of jobs lost over the past three months. So this is news that really is kind of telling for what's happening in the overall economy -- T.J.
HOLMES: And Christine, do we know exactly when these jobs will be out of there? You talked about some things shutting down in January. Will they kind of be staggered over time, or just kind of all at one time these jobs are going to go?
ROMANS: That's what we're waiting to find out at this point. We know that there's this January 30th end date for its U.S. operations. We don't know if they're going to be ramping down until then or if that's the date they're going to start ramping down. We just don't know yet. But as we've said, we've already seen 5,400 job cut announcements already from this company this year, so they have been unwinding to date.
These are people who drive trucks. These are people who staff the warehouses. These are people who are in these hubs.
They're getting rid of all their hubs, and they have something called stations. They're cutting their stations by, like, I think 75 percent. So this is a lot of jobs lost here.
I think they're keeping about 25,000 jobs in the company. DHL, the parent company, keeping about 25,000 jobs in this country. But that U.S. express business will be shuttered.
HOLMES: All right.
Our Christine Romans.
Just when we think things can't get any bleaker, the news just keeps coming. Thank you so much.
Our Allan Chernoff and our entire financial team really on this story right now. We hope to check in with more of them here in a little bit.
But Christine, thank you so much.
Well, let's talk corporate tax law. All right? Don't change the channel. No, you need to hear this one actually.
Listen to this. During the early days of the whole financial crisis, the Treasury Department issued a rule that kind of slipped under the radar. This was at a time when, you know, all the back and forth was going on in the Congress about that $700 billion bailout.
Now, this new rule here essentially changes the law dealing with a certain type of tax shelter. "The Washington Post" now reporting that it gives banks a potential tax break of more than $140 billion.
Well, a dozen tax experts who were interviewed by the newspaper called this move illegal by the Treasury Department. The Post says no one at Treasury told Congress about the move. And when lawmakers finally found out about it several days later, the newspaper says they essentially went ballistic. More to come on that one.
Well, it seems like we've seen a lot of bailouts lately. And more are lining up for possible bailouts, including the automakers. Should they get them?
Well, on Friday, two of the big three posted third-quarter losses in the billions. Over the weekend, top Democrats called for a quick cash infusion for that industry, potentially using some of the money from that $700 billion bank bailout package.
A controversial idea here. You've been weighing in with your thoughts. Our Josh Levs has been piecing through your comments.
Josh, what are they saying?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: T.J., I've got to tell you, we've been getting tons of e-mails sent to the NEWSROOM about this. I read about 100, and this is striking. They're split about 50/50. In fact, literally, because I read about 100.
Viewer reactions are always interesting, but folks, especially today, because we're told President-elect Obama will be discussing the industry with President Bush. And Obama's initial actions on the economy, as we know, will set the tone for his administration.
Let's go straight to these. I want you to see some of these e- mails we're getting.
We're going to take a look at this first one here that comes to us from Arthur Goldbieski (ph). "No, the industry must be allowed to die out, and the efficient European and Japanese automakers will buy the assets for pennies on the dollar, negotiate new competitive wages and benefit with the workers, not the unions. Only then can Detroit be reborn."
But on the flip side, we've got Darius Miller here, Rockford, Illinois. "Without a doubt, but that would be just the beginning. Reform of NAFTA is essential because automakers cannot compete with the overabundance of foreign cards sold for less."
Let's go to the next one. "No, the industry needs to realize the huge CEO pay and union pay of workers are parts of the reason for its downfall. Better, more efficient cars are built by foreign companies. Taxpayer money needs to be spent on the people."
Let's do two more here. This is Marilyn, a proud retiree from GM.
"Of course we should help the auto industry. I'm so tired of ill-informed people saying the big three were just not managed well or that America could do well without that domestic industry. We need to keep manufacturing in this country."
And finally this one, not exactly a yes or no, but an interesting point. "If the industry is, as it professes to be, forward-thinking and cutting-edge, there's no way it should be in this position. If you're not aware of your environment, how can you possibly produce a product that's compatible with it?"
Really interesting.
I'll tell you, folks, we've gotten way more e-mails than we can piece through. But I was just talking to the folks at ireport.com. They're inviting people to weigh in there. Send us your photos, your videos, your stories about this whole idea of bailing out the auto industry.
We're going to keep an eye on that as well, T.J., and I'll see you next hour.
HOLMES: All right. We'll see you here soon, Josh. Thank you so much.
We will continue now with our bailout portion of this show.
Let's turn to China now, where a bailout seems to be in the works. They're revealing plans to pump the equivalent of $586 billion into its economy. This announcement led to a rally on the Asian financial markets. This plan includes tax cuts, loosening of credit restrictions, also a massive spending on roads, bridges, low-income housing and other infrastructure programs.
Well, a right of passage in the transition of power is playing out today. President-elect Barack Obama meets with President Bush at the White House. This is coming our way in about three hours now.
Well, earlier today, take a look at this. Obama took his daughters Malia and Sasha to school, while he can. He's a busy man, and he will get busier in the coming days.
They are not going to be along for the trip to the White House today. So he dropped them off at school before he heads to handle his business. Obama's plane expected to leave Chicago within about an hour or so and head for Washington. This will be Obama's first visit to the Oval Office, which will, of course, become his office.
Let's get a preview of what we can expect when the incoming and the outgoing presidents meet face to face today.
Kathleen Koch live from Washington.
Kathleen, hello to you. How is this thing going to go? You think the Obamas will stick around for a movie night and popcorn tonight?
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly it's up to the two couples, the current first couple and the incoming first couple. Right now let's look at what's definitely on the schedule.
The president-elect and the future first lady should be arriving, as you said, at the White House about three hours from now. They'll be greeted by the President and Laura Bush at the north portico.
Then Mr. Bush and President-elect Obama will take the traditional walk down the colony before beginning their meeting in the Oval Office. It's scheduled to last an hour, but there's no hard stop time.
Eight years ago, for example, when President Clinton welcomed then President-elect George Bush to the White House, those men talked for over two hours. So, T.J., considering the number of issues these men have to talk about, I'm betting the meeting today goes a bit longer than planned.
HOLMES: Well, if it doesn't, I wonder what we should take from that, if they're in and out of there in about 15 minutes. Well, hopefully that won't be the case.
Well, really a lot on the plate. I know this is supposed to be kind of a friendlier thing, to come check out your new digs. But still, there's going to be something substantive I'm sure these two are going to talk about. Are we expected to hear what these two discuss?
KOCH: Well, not likely, because only the two of them are in the meeting, T.J. Now, as far as what they'll accomplish, this meeting is largely -- is often seen as being largely symbolic. But, you know, this is, of course, post the 9/11 transition, the nation's economy is in turmoil. So the head of Obama's transition team, John Podesta, said yesterday the president-elect has a broad range of specific issues he wants to discuss -- national security; there's homeland security; certainly the economy, with a focus on an economic stimulus package; help for the auto industry. Podesta says Obama also wants to talk about the need to extend unemployment insurance and to deal with the Medicaid crisis that so many states are wrestling with it.
So it's certainly looking like the president-elect does expect this to be a meeting of substance.
HOLMES: All right. And we know these two haven't spent an extensive amount of time around each other, but they sure have, or at least one of them, has spent a lot of time talking about the other in the past two years. And not too kindly really.
What about the dynamic between these two? I mean, I'm sure you all are kind of talking about it and buzzing about it. I mean, just these two personalities, two clashes of political ideas coming head to head.
KOCH: Well, certainly all of us would love to be a fly on the wall in this meeting. I will tell you that the president's chief of staff, Josh Bolten, says that Mr. Bush, he understands politics is a rough and tumble game. He rises above that sort of thing, so he doesn't really expect you'll see any hard feelings between the two men today.
As a matter of fact, the last meeting between them back in late September was quite cordial. That was when Barack Obama attended the emergency meeting on the economy in the cabinet room with the president and other congressional leaders.
As for the president-elect, he said in his first press conference that he's going into this meeting with a real spirit of bipartisanship. He's reached out to other former presidents, he's gotten their advice about their years in the presidency. So Podesta says that he expects the president-elect will do the same thing today with Mr. Bush.
HOLMES: All right. Kathleen Koch, if you happen to become a fly on the wall in that office, we will be talking to you a whole lot this afternoon.
KOCH: I'll do my best.
HOLMES: Kathleen, good to see you. Thank you so much.
KOCH: You bet.
HOLMES: Well, a big change coming to the White House in '09. No, I'm not talking the obvious one, that a black man is going to be the president. I'm talking about there will be a chief technology officer.
A wired White House, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Taking a look at the markets, taking a look at the Big Board, up about 53 points right now at the Dow after the major indices lost about 4 percent last week. But we start a new week here. We're starting off in positive territory right about now, at least.
Also, Asian markets -- well, it's a good sign. They were up after that big bailout we told you about in that first block of this show. China's $586 billion plan for their economy kind of helping out. Some of the Asian markets up a bit today as well.
Of course we're keeping an eye on all things having to do with the economy.
We'll turn now to the Internet. Of course the Internet, as many of you know, played a major role in Barack Obama's campaign. It will also play a major part of the Obama White House and his communication with the public.
My dear friend Alina Cho, who I like to stay in constant communication with, live today from New York.
All right. He's going to change things up a bit. Hello to you.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, T.J. Good to see you, as always.
You know, as one columnist said, Obama won't be heading to Washington with just a political base. He's going to be going there with a database, too.
This new Web site that you referred to is called change.gov, and it's the official Web site of the Obama transition team. And get this -- it was up and running within 24 hours of the election.
Now, right now, remember, this is a new Web site. It's a little thin on content. But there is a form that you can fill out if you want to share your story about what the election meant to you. You can even share your vision for an Obama presidency.
And if you're looking for work, you can even apply for a job on this Web site. You can do just about anything.
So how might this help Obama? Well, we went to the experts behind techpresidents.com. That's a Web site that tracks the online operations of the campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW RASEIJ, TECHPRESIDENT.COM FOUNDER: He now has his own special interest. He has a group of people that he can go to and ask them to participate in helping him pass his legislative agenda.
I think the days of just a Saturday morning radio address and an occasional press conference as the way the president speaks to the American people are over. And I wouldn't be surprised if Barack Obama starts doing a weekly YouTube video and also fireside chats for the 21st century by allowing people to filter up questions to him that he might answer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Well, that certainly would be an extension of what he's already doing. He posted some 2,000 videos on barackobama.com alone. And President-elect Obama, well, he says he's going to have a five-day online comment period before he signs any non-emergency legislation so you can be part of the process. He's also planning to appoint a chief technology officer.
So why is he doing this? Well, he's got a vast online network. That's why Obama had four times as many friends as John McCain on MySpace, nearly three million supporters on Facebook, and he also put together a massive database of e-mail address, some 10 million people.
The reason why he was so successful, well, simply put, more people are using the Web. It certainly makes sense. You know, a Pew poll found that 46 percent of Americans use the Internet, e-mail, or text to get information or share news about the election. Now, compare that to 39 percent who watch cable news, 34 percent who read newspapers, and just 29 percent who watch network news on a daily basis.
And finally, T.J., go to change.gov, look under "Upcoming Events." There's only one listed so far. That would be the inauguration on January 20th.
Now, if you need some help getting to change.gov, I can help you, although I know you have four cell phones and BlackBerrys. And so you should be able to work that out yourself.
HOLMES: Alina, I knew you wouldn't pass up an opportunity to get that in there since we were talking about communication today. You should call one of them sometime. You should say hi. I haven't talked to you in a while, Alina.
CHO: I will.
HOLMES: All right. Good to see you, Alina. Talk to you again soon.
CHO: Good to see you too.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. You may have misplaced a few bucks here or there and not even realized it.
Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis is here for us.
Gerri, has it come to this?
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Hello.
HOLMES: We're looking under pillow cushions and things like that, trying to find...
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIS: Hey, you know, are you going to turn away free money?
HOLMES: I'm not going to turn away free money. So I'm listening.
WILLIS: All right.
Well, the place to start, maybe you have forgotten to cash a paycheck, lost track of a bank or CD account. Perhaps you have stocks or mutual funds you haven't touched. Or maybe grandma gave you some money and you have no idea where it is. Check out a national database -- yes, there is a national database -- that can help you track this. The Web site is called missingmoney.com. This is the official day today base for the National Association of Unclaimed Property.
Now, keep in mind, T.J., that property is considered abandon after three to five years in most cases, although you have one year to cash a payroll check before they consider it abandoned. And abandoned property is turned over to the state of your last address.
But it's definitely worth doing. I found my name scores of times. So you're definitely going to find something.
HOLMES: Wait, you found your name? So you found some loose cash of yours out there, or some lost cash?
WILLIS: I didn't chase it all down. What they have are names, addresses, and then you can follow up to find out if it's actually your money. But I thought my name was unusual and I wouldn't find it very many times, but I actually did.
HOLMES: All right.
And something else to look into, savings bonds, a lot of people might not keep in mind. Explain this to us.
WILLIS: Well, you know, holding on to a savings bond for 30 years, that's hard enough. But if you have a savings bond that you think is still earning interest, get in touch with the Treasury Department. And as long as you know when the bond was issued, or you know the Social Security number of the person to whom the bond was issues, the Treasury Department will reissue a bond. Of course, you have to have proper identification.
Now, if you have a savings bond you think has stopped earning interest, go to treasurydirect.gov, and you type in "Treasury Hunt" -- I did this today too. This search tool will help you if there are any unclaimed bonds in your name.
HOLMES: All right. And there's a lot of money tied up out there as well -- I shouldn't say tied up, but unclaimed, if you will, in pension plans.
WILLIS: Yes, believe it or not, amazing, $133 million in unclaimed pension funds. Unbelievable. That's according to the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation. That's the Federal Pension Insurance Program.
It takes over pension plans if a company goes out of business. If the employer can't locate people that have left the company, the PBGC then tries to track them down.
Now, if you think you may have left a pension plan somewhere, you can check with the PBGC at their Web site, pbgc.gov. Click on "Pension Search Directory," noodle around. It's a little difficult to navigate, but you can find a tool that will help you search by your name or the company's name.
HOLMES: All right. I am going to Missing Money right now. I will get back to you to see if it worked out for me.
WILLIS: Good luck.
HOLMES: All right.
Gerri Willis.
WILLIS: Good luck with that.
HOLMES: All right. Always good to see you. Thank you so much.
WILLIS: Good to see you.
HOLMES: And the most serious credit crisis in decades rocking your finances? Well, CNNMoney.com has some advice, has the answers for you. Check it out, a special report, "America's Money Crisis." That again is at CNNMoney.com.
Well, in 1983, Dora Torres was preparing for her first Olympics. Twenty-five years and five Olympic games later, could she be preparing for yet another Olympics? The gold medalist in the NEWSROOM right here next to me this hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, huge losses for troubled mortgage giant Fannie Mae and a bigger bailout for insurance giant AIG. Fannie Mae reporting today it lost $29 billion in the most recent quarter. Part of that was a massive tax related charge. But even without that, hey, they lost a lot of money. Leave it at that.
Meanwhile, AIG getting a newly restructured $150 billion deal from the federal government. That includes a $40 billion purchase of preferred AIG stock by the federal government.
Meanwhile, more job cuts to tell you about. This time, DHL Express. Also, a major electronics retailer is short circuited.
Stephanie Elam at the New York Stock Exchange with the details.
Again, just when you think things can't get any bleaker, this stuff just doesn't stop coming.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It keeps rolling in, T.J. That is so right.
And now analysts have been saying that the writing has been on the wall for Circuit City for a while now. Last week, they nation's second largest electronics retailer said it was closing more than 150 stores and laying off thousands of workers. And today, Circuit City filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Of course the company got hit by the economic slow down. But Circuit City also blames increasing competition from Best Buy and Wal-Mart. And one retailer analyst says Circuit City made a huge mistake last year when it fired its highest paid but most knowledgeable salespeople, T.J.
So all of those factoring in. And you know a lot of people are going for that one-stop shop. Going to a discount retailer like Wal- Mart, where they can get everything done at one time.
HOLMES: All right. Well, a lot of people might hear this and say, all right, stores are closing. They are in tough times. Am I going to be able to get a deal? The holidays are coming. What can we expect from the stores?
ELAM: Well Circuit City says it still has more than 500 stores that are open for business. And they will still that way through the bankruptcy proceedings. And those stores will be priced competitively. But as to the 155 stores that are closing, Circuit City will be running big liquidation sales.
And -- if you're going to buy something and then ship it off to grandma, they are going to have fewer options for shipping holiday packages this year. DHL Express is closing all of its service centers in the United States. That also means 9,500 people will lose their jobs.
This does not mean all of DHL. There are still international operations. But domestically, that's what they're shutting down.
So taking a look at Wall Street right now. We are losing steam. The Dow on the upside by 85 at 9028. Nasdaq better by 2 now at 1649 -- T.J..
HOLMES: Well, some more brutal economic news. I would say come back when you got good news, but I might never see you. So --
ELAM: Yes, we might not ever chat.
HOLMES: All right. Stephanie, good to see you as always.
ELAM: Good to see you too.
HOLMES: All right, see you.
Well this story out of Arizona to pass along to you now. A third grader due in court today on two counts of premeditated murder. You heard me right. An 8-year-old charged with premeditated murder.
The 8-year-old boy accused of killing his father and another man. They were found shot to death inside the father's home in St. Johns, Arizona. Police are now trying to figure out a motive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF ROY MELNICK, ST. JOHNS, ARIZONA POLICE: We don't really know what caused it, so we have to look at possibilities.
AMBER SMITH, FAMILY FRIEND: (INAUDIBLE) he's a good boy, mom, why did he do that to his dad? He was a good boy. And there's no answers. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, the funeral mass for the father is today. Police want the boy tried as an adult, but they say it may be unlikely.
We'll turn now to an issue online. Teenage prostitution. In a CNN special investigation, our very own Veronica De La Cruz spoke to girls as young as 14 who had used the online classified Web site, Craigslist, to sell themselves for sex. Veronica joins us now.
Veronica, we have seen things in the past coming from Craigslist to try to police it a little bit. Is Craigslist trying to police this issue as well?
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, take a listen to this. They do say that they are going to make changes to the site. But I want to get you up to speed here, T.J.
About four months ago, I paid a visit to the Sacramento Police Department. And they said that they had seen a growing problem involving young girls using Craigslist to sell themselves for sex. T.J., we met with a 14-year-old girl. She had started prostituting herself at the age of 11. And I wanted you to listen to a small part of her story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DE LA CRUZ: Why did you do it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I wanted to feel loved. I wanted to feel important. I normally use Craigslist because it's free. And in your ad you would state your name, kind of get into erotic things like what you would do to catch their attention, to make them want you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DE LA CRUZ: So Craigslist is now announcing it is partnering up with more than 40 states and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to fix the problem. Craigslist says that they will now start charging $5 to $10 for the erotic services that you do see on the site -- the ads that you do see there. Also, a credit card, T.J., will be needed to post the ads, and that is going to allow them to confirm the user's identity.
Craigslist also says 100 percent of profits made from the postings will be going to charities, including organizations that deal with the exploitation of minors and human trafficking.
And we've been watching the web for reaction. We found this blog. It's called craigscrimelist.org. Trench Reynolds says, "I keep hearing this theory that if Craigslist did away with erotic services that the ads would appear in other parts of the site. Well, if erotic services ads appear in other parts of the site, won't the users then be able to flag them?" And then on our Facebook group, T.J., Jake Bell in Colorado had this to say: "Any type of criminal behavior can be likened to a lion on the African plain. The lion will not go after the fastest, strongest gazelle. it will take down the weak link in the herd. Craigslist, in this instance, was the weak link ... and will be replaced by another channel that will offer the next path of least resistance."
So we are asking your thoughts on this. Please log on to our Facebook group. Weigh in with your thoughts. You can search Veronica De La Cruz in the CNN NEWSROOM with Tony Harris. T.J., you can also find me on Twitter at Veronicadlcruz.
HOLMES: All right. Veronica, we appreciate you bringing that little disturbing trend to light. Thank you so much.
We have a warning here for parents. Another one. This one has to do with child identity theft. A growing problem here. Joining me now from Freeport, Louisiana is attorney David Szwak. He's with us. He is chairman of the Consumer Protection Section of the Louisiana State Bar Association.
Sir, thank you for being with us. It's kind of confusing and disturbing for a lot of people to hear. Why in the world would you want to steal a child's identity? Explain that part first.
DAVID SZWAK, ATTORNEY: Well, a child's identity can be stolen just like an adult's identity. And the ultimate purpose is to obtain credit and other benefits while using the child's good standing that can be developed in a credit file and credit history can be developed and then later destroyed by the impostor. And so it's the same problem that we're seeing with adult identity theft. But we're also seeing theft of deceased childrens' identities as well.
HOLMES: Well tell us -- and part of -- well I guess one of the first things that comes to mind, well shouldn't there be something that flags, some kind of red flag that pops up when a creditor looks at this and says, well wait a minute, this kid is 8 years old, or whatever it may be?
So there is nothing really out there that lets any creditor, or potential creditor, know that, hey, this is a child?
SZWAK: No. So much of what is going on is through automated application processing and the retrieval of a credit score. And as long as the inquiry by the potential creditor hits a credit file, it will return a credit score. And if that child's credit file has been created, and some transactions occurred in order to build the credit history, and then the impostor comes in behind it and basically makes applications in the child's identity.
HOLMES: Wow. Is it just as easy, easier --
SZWAK: It's that simple.
HOLMES: -- it is just as easy, or easier, to get a child's information as opposed to an adult who also -- who already has a credit history established?
SZWAK: Well if you're going to steal a child's identity, you can always go to your low end retailer credit operations that will give out credit to people in middle school, or high school. And you can begin to -- the impostor can either steal that credit, misuse it, and then ultimately not pay for it and ruin the child's credit history. Or, they can pay on it, and begin to develop a credit history for the child, and then go in for a bigger hit, which is what we normally see happen.
HOLMES: And the most important thing here we're going to get to is -- how do you -- how do parents police this? How do you make sure that your child's, it sounds crazy, but your child's identity hasn't been stolen?
SZWAK: Well one of the best things to do might be if you receive some indication that your child's personal identification information has been compromised is to contact the credit reporting agencies. Notify them, tell them who your child is, name, address, Social Security number, date of birth. Offer some proof of identification and the existence of the child. And then perceive to asset a credit file being established for the child so that you can then monitor it.
And you should ask them to take that credit file, once it is created, put it into an offline status so that that file cannot be automatedly accessed, that it has to be manually prepared. And you want to put other alerts and alert mechanisms in place so that if anyone does manually review that file, they see a notification that they should contact that child's parents at their true home address and phone numbers, which are then embedded in the file.
And that's information that can't be swapped in and out as inquiries and application information hit that file.
HOLMES: That is some scary stuff. So many parents out there, anyway adults, having to look after their own identities, they need to look after their child's as well. Important story to bring to light. This is a growing problem.
Sir, again -- Mr. David Szwak, Chairman of the Consumer Protection section of the Louisiana State Bar Association, we appreciate your time in talking to us about this today.
SZWAK: Great, thanks for having me on.
HOLMES: All right. We're going to turn back to the transition now. And we are keeping an eye here -- live picture, WGN. This is what we believe to be the motorcade for Senator Barack Obama which will take him -- excuse me, pardon me, sir, President-elect Barack Obama -- right now taking him to the airport there in Chicago where he will hop on a plane. And he has a date in Washington, D.C. with President Bush. Going to be visiting the White House today.
We do believe this is the plane. Now I know what you're thinking. Didn't we see a different plane? Is he flying commercial these days? Well, we believe they have chartered this flight, yes an American Airlines flight. But we believe this is the one that they have charted that will take him over to the White House. I don't think he's going to be sitting in coach or anything, folks. But this is the plane taking we believe is going to be taking him over to the White House.
We are keeping an eye on his movements today and of course that meeting at the White House expected to take place around 2:00 Eastern time. We will be covering that story here for you.
Our Barbara Starr, as well, covering another story. She's going to be offering some insight through her exclusive look inside a U.S. Army base in Afghanistan. Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Iraqi officials reporting at least 30 killed, dozens more wounded, on in a tripe bombing in Baghdad today. Police say the first two explosions were car bombs, then a suicide bomber detonated an explosive belt in the middle of a crowd that had gathered on that scene. This is the deadliest attack in the Iraqi capital in the past four months.
Of course Iraq, just one of the wars for the next commander in chief. Barack Obama also inherits escalating violence in Afghanistan. The country's rugged and bulbous border with Pakistan, ground zero in the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, takes us there in a CNN exclusive.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: This is one of the most dangerous areas in the Afghanistan war, the border with Pakistan. We are in a heavily armed helicopter with Major General Jeffrey Schloesser landing on top of a 7,000 foot mountain peak. This is combat outpost Malakashy.
Just a few dozen of Schloesser 101st Airborne Division troops defend this tiny plot of land. CNN is the first news crew Schloesser has brought here.
MAJ. GEN. JEFFREY SCHLOESSER, U.S. ARMY: That is Pakistan right there, that ridge line right there. That ridge line all along right over there.
STARR: All along these mountain passes are insurgent rat lines, Taliban and foreign fighters in Pakistan take these routes into Afghanistan. The soldiers try to stop them. Schloesser's men have been in firefights with shockingly bold insurgents.
SCHLOESSER: They came up here and they attacked this outpost.
STARR: We are sitting on sandbags on top of the guard tower. Underneath us, more soldiers with their eyes and weapons trained on the border. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You see that one leaning to the left.
STARR: Attacks are up 30 percent in this region since last year.
SCHLOESSER: Still it's far more than I'm willing to accept.
STARR: Schloesser says foreign fighters crossing the border are better trained and better equipped than ever before. He's identified six areas in eastern Afghanistan where insurgents gather and train. Schloesser's message to President-elect Barack Obama, send more troops and deal with the problem on both sides of these violent mountains.
SCHLOESSER: The potential solution here is going to have to be a regional solution.
You all know that you are far out here at the edge --
STARR: Schloesser is one of the few generals who has already briefed Obama when he came to Afghanistan earlier this year. There's one thing he wants the president-elect to know about the men of combat outpost Malakashy.
SCHLOESSER: Well I would want him to know that at 7,500 feet with 40 pounds of gear on at literally at the edge of the frontier, that there are young Americans out here doing incredible things.
Thanks for an awful lot of work.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, sir.
STARR: Commanders here agreed this war will not be won by more U.S. troops alone. It will take more Afghan troops and billions of dollars in humanitarian assistance.
Barbara Starr, CNN, Malakashy Combat Outpost, Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And fresh from Afghanistan, our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, joins us from the phone from Kuwait.
Barbara, glad to have you with us. We were listening to the piece there, commander talking more troops. That's also something that Barack Obama has talked about on the campaign trail.
So is that going to be certainly a part of any new policy? And is that being discussed during this transition period?
STARR: Absolutely, T.J. The plans are in the works to add additional troops to Afghanistan, but -- additional U.S. troops -- but all of the commanders we spoke to, from General Petraeus on down, are sending the message that it will require more Afghan troops. And, they're talking a lot about trying to get the Afghan government to reconcile, if you will, with some of the Taliban and insurgent groups. That this fighting simply can't go on. But let me give you a little behind the scenes. On that day, when we went to the mountain top, that wasn't our original destination. General Schloesser was going to take us to another combat outpost. And as we were flying it came under fire. So we had to divert to this one. And that (INAUDIBLE) really all of that right now.
Insurgent activity is very widespread. It doesn't really change the face of the war, but it makes the whole environment very uncertain and very violent -- T.J.
HOLMES: Just one of many things on the plate for President-elect Barack Obama.
Now, Barbara, thank you.
Want to let our viewers know what they're looking at live on the screen. On the left side -- full screen now -- we see the motorcade for President-elect Barack Obama pulling up to the airport in Chicago right now. He of course has a date in Washington, D.C. that he needs to make around 2:00 Eastern time. That date is at the White House, his soon to be new home.
President Bush meeting and greeting Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, along with Laura Bush will be there as well. A little business to discuss. What do I mean -- a little business? Big business to discuss. But today the two leaders expected to pretty much just exchange pleasantries and have a bit of a substantive discussion if you will. And also Michelle Obama getting a tour of the private residence at the White House.
We're keeping an eye on that plane. Yes, we believe that's the one. It doesn't have that change you can believe in, all the Obama stuff flashing on the side that we saw his campaign plane actually had. But you see the motorcade that we believe is carrying the president-elect. Those big, black SUVs pulling up to that airplane right now.
Again, we believe this one was charted. It looked a little funny to us after seeing his campaign plane for the past year or so out on the campaign trail to see what appeared to be a commercial flight if you will. But they have chartered this plane. Barack Obama not sitting in coach, if you will, today.
This is a closer view. A little grainy there. Well try to make it out the best we can. You're looking at this live as we're looking at this live to see if the president-elect actually hops out of that motorcade.
This is pretty much a right of passage. This is what happens at the White House when there's a transition of power, a new president. The old one, or excuse me, the sitting president, always welcomes in the president-elect and they exchange pleasantries, get shown around his new digs a bit, if you will. That meeting happening at 2:00. A lot of eyes will be trained on that meeting between the two leaders. And certainly a lot of people curious about what the dynamic will be between these two men, who, you know, Barack Obama said a lot of things about President Bush.
He was essentially running against President Bush and his record, if you will, during the campaign season and said not exactly the most pleasant things about the Bush policies over the past couple of years that he thought put the country in the position that it's in right now -- certainly dire financial straits, a couple of wars, at least one that Barack Obama opposed in the first place, over in Iraq. But to see these two today going into it both sides saying with a sense of bipartisanship, if you will, as the two meet.
We don't know how long they will be meeting at the White House today. These things tend to -- they could go as long as they want to. The president has the right to free his schedule and Barack Obama can free his as well. If they want to hang out there all day and night at the White House and have a sleepover, if you will, they can do that.
Again, for those of you joining us, this is a live look at Chicago, at the airport, and at the plane that will take Barack Obama to D.C. to -- so he can greet President Bush.
We will take a quick commercial break here. Keep an eye on this scene, we're keeping an eye on this transition of power. Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: And here once again, taking another live look. It looks like he should be on board now. This is the live look out of Chicago, the airplane, the chartered flight, American Airlines, yes, it appears to be a commercial flight. No, it's chartered for Barack Obama, the president-elect.
He is heading over to Washington today for a meeting with the president at the White House. Michelle Obama will be there with him as well. We just saw him being dropped off there by his motorcade heading to a 2:00 meeting in Washington, D.C. We're keeping an eye on this transition of power. I don't know what they're going to talk about for the couple of hours that he's in the air. We won't have anything to talk about around here, will we? But when he lands, we'll have an eye, a camera fixed on his landing there as well. We bring you that meeting coming up 2:00 Eastern time.
We'll move on now to -- some of you folks think you're a little over the hill maybe? Think you are? We need to talk to Dara Torres, this a 41-year-old woman. Amazing experience. You saw it all play out over the summer. But she's actually been in five Olympic games. I'll ask her about a sixth here coming up.
But right now, CNN's Ray D'Alessio has her profile.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAY D'ALESSIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At 41 years old, Dara Torres has proven that with hard work and dedication, you can follow your dreams and that age is just a number. Torres was 17 when she made her Olympic debut in 1984, little did she know at the time that her Olympic career would span over the next two decades. After winning gold in Los Angeles, Torres would go on to win eight more medals, including five at the 2000 Sydney games. Torres was 33 at the time, the oldest swimmer on the U.S. Olympic team.
She thought she was done. In fact, Torres opted for a third retirement.
DARA TORRES, OLYMPIC CAREER SPANS 24 YEARS: This reporter stops me and says excuse me, Miss Torres, can we ask you a question. And I said, sure. And he puts the camera on and sticks the microphone in my face. And he says, I just want to know in eight years are you going to be back in another Olympics at 41? And I looked at him and I said, that's the stupid question I ever heard. And I walked off.
There's no way I ever thought I would be in this position, especially with a kid and trying to balance all this.
D'ALESSIO: But Torres did return. And not only that, she competed at a high level. 15 months after giving birth she earned a trip to Beijing by winning both the 100 and 50 meter freestyle at the U.S. Olympic trials.
Once in Beijing, Torres won silver in all three of her races. And although she fell short of winning gold, she upped her career medal count to 12, which ties Torres with Jennie Thompson for the most by a U.S. female Olympian.
Ray D'Alessio, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right. And here she is, the lady we've been talking about for quite some time, for years, many, many years and many, many Olympics. Here with us, Dara Torres.
Good to have you in the studio. Go ahead, it's the obvious. People have been wondering, what happened?
TORRES: It actually looks worse than it is. I -- you know how I loss by a hundredth of a second in the 50?
HOLMES: Yes.
TORRES: And my coach told me I probably didn't hit the pad hard enough. So my next race was 30 minutes later in the relay. And I didn't feel it because I think there was so much adrenaline going. But, when I touched the wall -- I
HOLMES: You touched it?
TORRES: -- I tore a ligament. Yes, I was mad.
I tore a ligament in my thumb. And so I just had surgery about three days ago. And it is just healing now.
HOLMES: OK. How are you feeling these days? You've been through a lot. That body of your's has been through a lot. You keep it good shape. But still, after you go through everything you went through, and that experience of the Olympics, did it take you a while for your body to recover? Are you feeling great again?
TORRES: You know, I feel pretty good. I was -- I got home like on Tuesday night, 11:30. Next morning I was off taking my daughter to school, buying school supplies and grocery shopping, so it was sort of back to reality really quick.
I am tired from all the traveling and the appearances, but it's been a whirlwind but a great whirlwind. It's been a lot of fun.
HOLMES: How are people receiving you now? Your story was so huge because of this 41-year-old woman -- I hate saying a woman's age. I'm sorry.
TORRES: Why do you keep saying my age?
HOLMES: You look great.
TORRES: Thank you.
HOLMES: But, defying those odds, and it was such an inspirational story. What do people come up to you and talk about now, as opposed to what a lot of people might have come up and talked to you about before they saw your experience in the Olympics?
TORRES: I think the biggest thing is they say how my story has inspired them to do something that they probably put off because of age or they didn't have time, they didn't know how to balance being a parent and doing their work. So, that's the biggest thing. And that's probably the most rewarding thing that comes out of this experience.
The Olympic medals are great, but when you hear stories like that, it really hits home.
HOLMES: The Olympic medals are great. You got 12 of them over five Olympics. Will there be a sixth Olympics? You will be 45 years old at the time. Besides just hearing the age, do you feel like you could still do it? If you feel like you can do it, you'll just do it? Or, just when you say 45, that can't be right?
TORRES: Well, when I grow up and become more mature -- I don't know.
I don't even know what 41 feels like. I have my aches and pain, my shoulder surgery and stuff. But, you know, I feel great. And I've said this before, that water doesn't know your age so it doesn't really matter. I just don't want to be one of those athletes that goes downhill really quick. So if I'm still improving, I'm still going to swim. We have world championships this summer I'm going to go for in Rome. And we'll see what happens after that.
HOLMES: But the desire is still there. Just to wrap up -- the desire is there. The body appears to still be there. But the girl that came in after you in the Olympics was 16. The girl that won was -- what -- I think --
TORRES: 21 or 22.
HOLMES: 23. All the people you beat are younger. The one that barely got you by, a hundredth -- I mean it shows, obviously, that you can still compete with these young ladies. Why wouldn't you?
TORRES: I know, exactly. Why not, right?
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: We're going to see you in 2012.
TORRES: I can't say that, because I don't know how my body is going to hold up.
HOLMES: It will be fine.
TORRES: It will be fine. I'm going to see how Rome goes and then we'll go from there.
HOLMES: All right. We'll go from there.
Dara Torres, take care of that --
TORRES: Thank you. It was very nice to meet you.
HOLMES: Pleasure being in here with you and good luck on the growing up.
TORRES: Thank you.
HOLMES: Well, we will turn here -- we will go back to this -- a small Ohio town we were talking about. Here is really a main source of jobs closing. We'll have more on that in the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM. Don't go anywhere.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
