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Pacific Coast Inferno; Economic Crisis Zones; Obama-Clinton Meeting Causes Secretary of State Position Speculation

Aired November 14, 2008 - 11:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: It is Friday, November 14th. And here are the top stories we're following for you this hour in the CNN NEWSROOM.
When G-8 is not enough. The wealthy and developing nations of the G-20 gathering in Washington. Leaders scrambling for an antidote for the financial poison infecting markets.

A spectacular wildfire burning on California's Celebrity Riviera this morning. Hundreds of homes in the line of fire, thousands of people on the run.

Good morning everyone. I'm Tony Harris.

And you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Take a look at these live pictures now from southern California. Hundreds of multimillion-dollar mansions in danger this morning from wildfire. At least 100 homes have already burned in the hills above Montecito.

CNN's Chris Lawrence live now from Santa Barbara, California.

Chris, good to see you.

How many people have been injured so far? What is the latest on the number of homes burned and evacuated?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, I've seen fires that burned for days that did not do the damage that this one did in just in a matter of hours. Right now we or being told that over 100 homes have been burned down by this fire, and it's forced about 5,000 people to evacuate their homes in and around this area.

You know, when you take a look at some of these pictures, it is almost hard to believe just how quickly and how strong this fire burned through. At times we felt these wind gusts gusting up to 70 miles per hour, just pushing this incredible amount of wall of fire from house to house.

So far, what's happened is there have been a few burns, about two or three burn victims taken to the hospital, as well as 10 people for smoke inhalation. And again, when you look at these pictures, you've got to think that could have been so much worse.

This fire broke out just after sundown, and it didn't take long. The firefighters said there was almost no chance to stop it. The evacuations had to be done very quickly, and they did what they could. But this fire was just too strong, too fast, and it just claimed one home after another -- Tony.

HARRIS: And Chris, if you could give us maybe a prognosis on the day, how much work do firefighters believe they can get done on this? Because my understanding is that we don't even have a containment figure at this point.

LAWRENCE: No, you're absolutely right. There is no containment at this point.

The thing about these fires that you really learn living out here is there is a certain ebb and flow to the fire. And right now it's slightly cooler weather. The wind has died down to almost nothing. But that's going to change.

It's going to be about 85 degrees later today. The wind is going to pick up again. You know, high winds, hot air, that's a bad combination.

HARRIS: Yes.

LAWRENCE: So there are still a lot of homes in danger here.

HARRIS: All right.

Chris Lawrence for us keeping on top of all of the developments with this fire.

Chris, appreciate it. Thank you.

On the phone with us right now is Jackie Jenkins with the Montecito Fire Protection District.

And Jackie, good to talk to you.

If you would, help us get a handle on how you're attacking the fire on the ground now, how many firefighters. And how sizable an evacuation area are we talking about right now?

JACKIE JENKINS, MONTECITO FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT: Well, right at this time there's approximately 1,150 firefighters on the line. And the area involved, it involves Montecito, Santa Barbara City, and parts of Santa Barbara County, approximately two-to-five-mile radius.

HARRIS: Boy. And Jackie, if you would, take us back a little bit. When did this fire start? And talk about these sundowner winds for folks who are not familiar with that term. What does that mean?

JENKINS: The fire started approximately 5:45 p.m. last night. And sundowner winds are different from Santa Ana winds.

Sundowner winds are winds generated from an on-shore breeze that comes from the ocean during the day. It's a light breeze. It goes up the canyons, and then when the sun goes down, the wind literally gets pushed right back through the canyon at a high rate of speed.

HARRIS: Wow. Jackie, if you would, what are you up against today? Talk to us about the conditions that your firefighters are going to be encountering.

JENKINS: The conditions today are basically the same as yesterday. The temperature will be approximately 80 to 90 degrees. The humidity will be very low, probably in the teens to the 20s. And the wind gusts will be approximately 30 to 40 miles per hour. So that's what we're up against today.

HARRIS: Are you going to be able to get helicopters in the air, maybe some air tankers in the air?

JENKINS: They are on order, and they are currently working on the fire.

HARRIS: All right. Jackie Jenkins is with us. She's with the Montecito Fire Protection District.

Jackie, thank you.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: All right. Take a look at some of the iReports we're getting in.

Sixteen-year-old Tynan Daniels took these amazing photos of the wildfire blazing near Santa Barbara, California, last night. And this is from Goleta, California, which is about, oh, 10 minutes or so away.

If you get an opportunity to shoot an iReport for us, we'd love for you to send it in. Here's the address: ireport.com. And as always, we remind you in these cases to be safe.

Amazing.

In this economic crisis zone, the White House now preparing to host a summit of world leaders to tackle the global financial meltdown. Capitol Hill holding heated hearings on whether bailout funds are being used to stop foreclosures as Congress intended.

And Motor City, USA, the big three automakers in big financial trouble, hoping against hope really for a share of the bailout billions.

President Bush moving ahead with oversight of the $700 billion bailout plan. The White House says the president will nominate Neil Barofsky to be special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Barofsky is an assistant U.S. attorney for New York and chief of the Mortgage Fraud Group.

The international community coming together in the United States to try to fix the financial mess.

Our State Department Correspondent Zain Verjee joins us now from Washington.

Zain, great to see you. Good Friday to you.

What are the real expectations for this summit?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN STATE DEPT. CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, you know, this is a really big deal, that the leaders of this group of 20 countries will be meeting here for the first time.

Now, expectations, well, I mean, it really is considered a small step, but a critical one in starting a major process that's going to change a lot of things. The U.S. has to work now with the rest of the world to clean up this global financial mess. And it may mean giving up some of its power to a whole new gang.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE (voice-over): BRIC, the new buzzword for a new crowd coming to town: Brazil, Russia, India, China. Their economies are exploding. They're using deep pockets to demand more power in the world's financial system.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: This weekend, leaders will establish principles for adapting our financial systems to the realities of the 21st century marketplace.

VERJEE: BRIC countries, along with other developing nations, like South Africa, Turkey, Indonesia, Mexico, want a say in how to fix the financial mess.

ARVIND SUBRAMANIAN, PETERSON INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS: Until recently, the system has been dominated by the United States and Europe. Now I think the new powers, the rising powers, Brazil, Russia, India, and especially China, are going to say we have to run this way differently now.

VERJEE: The BRIC countries stretch across the world, with a combined population of about 2.8 billion. They're demanding membership in the elite club of industrialized nations. They say more developing countries should be at the table, not the traditional eight.

They want to revamp the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, both created in 1944 for a smaller world economy. Some, like India, want a permanent seat on the exclusive United Nations Security Council, a privilege only Cold War powers have now.

President-elect Obama won't personally be at the financial summit, but he will have to navigate this new landscape.

SUBRAMANIAN: This is going to be a long period of adjustment for the United States, that, you know, it no longer calls the shots exclusively. I mean, therefore, it has to work -- it's still the world's greatest power. Nothing can be done without the United States. But it will have to cooperate with the others for whatever it wants in the future. (END VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE: The developing countries, Tony, are also here to send another message, because they don't want the U.S. to cut off or reduce its foreign aid because of this financial crisis.

HARRIS: Well, Zain, a couple questions. One on this point, and then another on another point.

Realistically what's the best that could come out of this summit? Is this -- and here is my cynical hat here. Is this anything more than a photo-op intended to show the world our heads aren't in the sand on this, we get it?

VERJEE: Well, they're taking it pretty seriously. I mean, it may be part photo-op. A lot of the world leaders here know that President Bush is a lame duck, and they expect a real, hard, meaty work on fiscal stimulus, on reform and regulation, to be done when the Obama administration takes over. But, you know, the BRIC countries, Brazil, Russia, India and China, are all in a very powerful position, especially China. And they can start demanding from now, here is what we want.

HARRIS: And let me turn -- pivot here just a moment here.

Zain, what are you hearing about Senator Hillary Clinton possibly coming to the State Department, to head up the State Department, in the Obama administration?

VERJEE: Well, there's a lot of speculation, Tony, that she could be the secretary of state. But the fact of the matter is that it's really just a guessing game right now. Nobody really knows.

What we do know is that she's very popular around the world. She's considered a big celebrity. There's also a huge amount of good will around the world because of the Clinton Foundation, the kind of work it's done and the projects it's initiated.

She's traveled so much around the world. She knows it. She's very strong on foreign policy. But there's another really key thing here for the State Department to consider.

She would really be a force to be reckoned with in the U.S. government's bureaucracy. She's not someone that's going to take any nonsense from anyone, not let anybody walk all over her.

HARRIS: I like that. Yes.

VERJEE: It matters though, Tony, because it would put the State Department in a really strong position domestically. The question, though, is does she want the job, or would she rather stay in the Senate? It's a guessing game, like I said, but it sure has generated the most buzz.

HARRIS: Well, we're going to drill down on that just a little bit more here. Zain, appreciate it. Thank you. So clearly, there is a lot of buzz right now about Hillary Clinton as a possible candidate for secretary of state, especially after her face-to-face meeting with the president-elect yesterday. Oh, yes.

CNN's Suzanne Malveaux live from Chicago with more on that.

And Suzanne, my understanding is the president-elect requested yesterday's meeting. Do we know why?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's one thing that happened in the past that I think could really help kind of flesh this out. And there was a lot of buzz before about whether or not Hillary Clinton would be considered for the running mate of Barack Obama, the number two vice president pick. And nobody ever approached Hillary Clinton in any official capacity. There was a real kind of bad feelings, hard feelings, if you will, that kind of came out of that for all the discussion that happened here.

So Hillary Clinton, I am told by one source, she's been hearing these rumors about possibly secretary of state. And she believes it's kind of silly that she's hearing all this stuff. And she didn't know either way whether or not this was really anything serious.

Well, when Barack Obama invited her to come and discuss all of these things, she took him up on it because, essentially, she wanted to know whether or not this is a serious situation. What we know out of the meeting is that it was a discussion about whether or not she had any interest or if there was any kind of role, if any, in an Obama administration. I think that that was really kind of a courtesy to Hillary Clinton.

We don't get the sense whether or not there was any kind of offer or deal or anything like that. We know that there are other strong candidates that they have been considering -- the New Mexico governor, Bill Richardson, also Senator John Kerry as other possibilities. So I really think that there was a chance for these two to sit down and to do what they didn't do the last time. And that is, even if it was a matter of squelching the rumors, to at least hear it directly from Barack Obama and not to be in this world swirl of rumor land here.

So I do think it was out of respect and courtesy that that meeting actually happened. We don't know the particulars of what came out of that meeting, but it is clear that he is trying to reach out and say, do you want potentially to be a part of something in this administration?

HARRIS: Has she ever indicated that she would be interested in participating in a meaningful way beyond her work in the Senate in an Obama administration?

MALVEAUX: Well, she's talked about it, and Barack Obama has talked about whether or not she would have any kind of role in establishing health care, something dealing with that. Obviously that is something that she feels very strong about. Barack Obama says, at the very least, reaching out to come to some agreement. They had some disagreements in their plans, but for the most part they were very similar in nature, both of them wanting to provide health care for everyone. So that's something that has been discussed in kind of an informal way.

But she's got a lot of decisions to make. She's got a lot to think over. And what's interesting here, Tony, is that Monday, Barack Obama is actually going to be meeting with John McCain.

They're going to sit down and talk about some things as well, energy policy, climate change. There are some things that they believe that they have in common. And it will be good to have John McCain in his corner for some of those things that they need to push through the Senate.

HARRIS: Wow. This is good. This is interesting. This transition is not boring, to say the least.

All right. Suzanne, good to see you. Thank you.

Good stuff.

All right. Check out our Political Ticker for all the latest news on the transition. Just log on to CNNPolitics.com, your source for all things political.

And we are keeping you up to date on the transition, and you're showing us how important this election is to you. Look at what this iReporter did with newspapers from November 5th.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY SHAW, STILL WORKING AT 100: If you ain't got it, don't get it. Never mind a credit card.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Listen, this is sound advice, it really is, from a man who has lived a good, long life. Jimmy Shaw says stay away from credit cards. Just stay away.

Amen, brother.

The Rhode Island man turned 100 this week. He is still on the job running his garage, as he has for the past 80 years. Shaw does mostly paperwork now, but he does get his hands dirty from time to time on a brake rotor or two.

You know you've got questions in this uncertain economy. Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis is here with answers to your emails.

Gerri, good to see you. It was great to see you here in Atlanta this week as well, too. Good Friday to you. GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Good to see you. Lots of fun.

HARRIS: We have got someone looking for a car.

Chris's e-mail, are you ready?

WILLIS: Go.

HARRIS: All right. "My wife and I have saved up cash to purchase a good low-mile used car. With these difficult economic problems, should we expect to get a better deal since we don't have to finance anything?"

Gerri?

WILLIS: Somebody has got a lot of cash.

Well, Chris, now is a great time to buy a car. You should have maximum leverage with dealerships right now. Sales are in the tank, and dealers are eager to unload inventory.

Check out the value of the car you want to buy at Kelley Blue Book. They have an online -- they have a Web site, Kbb.com, or at Edmunds.com.

And consider buying a used car that's still under warranty, certified by the dealership. You pay an extra $1,500 or so, but it's worth it.

Depending on the make and model you're looking for, though, I have to tell you, in this market there are going to be people out there who were going to buy new who were going to buy used, so you may have a little competition there. But the fact that you're paying cash, they are going to love you.

Wheel and deal. Bid low. You're in the driver's seat.

HARRIS: Awesome.

OK. Austin in Omaha has a question for you, Gerri.

"I just started making money and I don't plan on retirement for over 20 years. I have a few thousand dollars in a savings account. With the market as low as it is right now, is this a good time for investing?"

WILLIS: Lucky you, Austin. You know, stocks are cheap right now. And, you know, if you want to invest, an easy way to get into the market is to buy index funds, buy all the stocks in a single index, like the S&P 500, the Wilshire 5000. That gives you lots of diversity.

The fees are much lower than actively managed funds. Plus, if you want to set up a regular monthly investment program, you can do it easy. Just month by month put a little bit more in. Now, one word of caution here. Don't invest any money you might need in the next three to five years. So if that savings account was actually your emergency fund, you may not want to do that.

Go to vanguard.com, troweprice.com to get info, data on those index funds. They're easy to buy. Done them myself. Yes.

HARRIS: OK. You got time for one more, Gerri?

WILLIS: Sure. Sure.

HARRIS: From Stephanie, who writes, "I got laid off with an option for COBRA for my health care. What are the pros and cons for keeping it?"

WILLIS: All right. OK. So, COBRA, you know, that's the federal law that sets up that you can buy group health insurance on your own if you get laid off. And you'll find that it's cheaper than what you'll find on your own if you're buying by yourself.

Now, having said that, the downside of COBRA is that it's not inexpensive on its own. You have to pay the entire premium for your plan because your employer is not paying a red cent, obviously, since you're not working for them anymore.

So, here's my advice. If you have some sort of serious pre- existing condition or maybe you've got a great, big old family, it makes sense to get COBRA if you can afford it because you need coverage. One of the number one things that drives folks into bankruptcy is getting sick, having some kind of medical emergency.

HARRIS: That's right.

WILLIS: It's really expensive. So, you need the coverage. I feel for folks in the situation because it's expensive to do.

HARRIS: Well, Gerri, I know you're getting inundated with e- mails, particularly these days, but we want to keep them coming for you.

What's the address there?

WILLIS: That's right. It's toptips@CNN.com. And Tony, let me tell you. There's a new program out today from the FDIC, they're talking a brand new program, this is the agency of the federal government.

They're talking about, hey, can we come up with a new program for people who are having trouble with their homes

HARRIS: Awesome.

WILLIS: -- and their mortgages. Now, you may have read about this. We're going to be talking about it a little later in the day. If you have questions, send them to us, toptips@CNN.com. That's toptips@CNN.com. We love to hear from you. HARRIS: And the FDIC, that's being run by Sheila Bair?

WILLIS: Sheila Bair --

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: And you love her, don't you? You think she's really smart in this area?

WILLIS: She's smart. She's way smart.

HARRIS: All right, Gerri. Appreciate it. Have a great weekend.

WILLIS: My pleasure. You, too.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

HARRIS: And again, as the most serious credit crisis in decades rocks your finances, CNNMoney.com has some advice, some answers. Just check out our special report, America's Money Crisis. That's at CNNMoney.com.

President Bush welcomes 20 world leaders. Will they solve the global financial crisis or just get what they want and go home?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Fed Chief Ben Bernanke, giving a grim global financial assessment. He spoke just about three hours ago at a banking conference in Germany.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN BERNANKE, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: The efforts by central banks around the world to increase the availability of liquidity, along with other steps taken by central banks and governments have contributed to tentative improvements in credit market functioning.

However, the continuing volatility of markets and recent indicators of economic performance confirm that challenges remain. For this reason, policymakers will remain in close contact, monitor developments closely and stand ready to take additional steps as conditions warrant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: You know, there is speculation the Federal Reserve could announce another interest rate cut next month. Lots of passion on the Hill, as Congress holds a hearing about the bailout bill. Members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform are questioning whether the Treasury is using the funds as they should be.

Lawmakers say the original reason for the bailout bill was to prevent future foreclosures through the acquisition of mortgage- related assets. During the hearing, Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings had especially harsh words for insurance giant, AIG. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D), MARYLAND: I don't think AIG gets it. I really don't think they get it. They don't get that Americans are suffering. They don't get that City Corp laid off 10,000 people. U.S. Steel, 675. Morgan Stanley, 10 percent of its workers, approximately 44,000 are employed so, that's quite a number. GM, 3,500. DHL, 12,000. Circuit City, 6,800. National City, 4,000.

And I could go on and on and on. We have an AIG that will go on these lavish junkets. And as you probably know, they -- because of this Congress they canceled 160 junkets. And let's say that they average 200,000 to 250 a piece. That's a lot of money. For corporations that are dying, that it's supposed to be dying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Congressmen Dennis Kucinich, you saw him in the shot there just a moment ago, says he will try to talk to me about this in more detail in the next hour, in the noon hour right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

You know, chances for an auto industry bailout look dim. Some GOP leaders say the companies have to take the hit since they failed to stay competitive. So, should taxpayers bail them out. Joining me now is auto industry expert Lauren Fix.

Lauren, it's great to see you.

LAUREN FIX, AUTOMOTIVE EXPERT: Hi.

HARRIS: Will you please -- and honestly, will you please because you've been on this program with me enough so that you know that I want to get to the bottom line on this. So --

FIX: Get to the meat, yes.

HARRIS: Yes, yes. Exactly. There is another report today showing another huge drop in car sales in October. If you would, listen to University of Maryland economist Peter Morici, expressing his opinion on the idea of the government helping out the auto industry. And then I have a question for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROF. PETER MORICI, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: General Motors, Ford and Chrysler have been some of the worst run companies in America. That's why they're in the fix that they're in. That you can pay your workers too much, you can have sloppy management and you can be slow to the market with new products and the government will bail you out. It simply makes no sense to send that kind of message to the private sector in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HARRIS: You report on this industry.

FIX: Yes, I do.

HARRIS: I'm hearing a lot of that sentiment.

What's your reaction to it?

FIX: Well, I agree with that he's saying that they are slow to market. There is some really good product out there. I know there is money to be lent out to consumers. However, I also know that the leases are up in certain manufacturers. And I just got some numbers here today that some of these leases -- leasing companies like Subaru, Nissan, Toyota, their leasing numbers are up. SO that says that the sales are out there, but they happen to be Japanese auto manufacturing.

And the U.S. auto manufacturers, to bail them out is not the answer. My suggestion is to do a bridge loan. They've got to pay the money back. Because if there's no consequences, it's going to be just like AIG. You have to control where the money goes, you have to control that it's being used for the right reasons. And the manufacturers are hurting.

This has happened before, back in the late '70s into the '80s. And then in 1986 things turned around. We had a little slump in the '90s. And things started to turn around. They're not going to turn around on their own this time. They're going to have to really start cutting out some of the fat.

And they're going to have to sit down with the unions and there's going to have to be some serious changes done there. Because, in actuality, it's 53 percent more per hour for a domestic manufacturer to produce a car than an Asian manufacturer. And that's like 132 percent higher than the whole manufacturing industry.

HARRIS: Why is more expensive? Are we talking about pension costs? Are we talking about health costs? What are we talking about? Why is it that much more expensive?

FIX: You're right, it's pensions, it's unions, it's health care costs. All those have gone up. And someone has to pay for those. They made deals when things were great. And they said, oh, yes, we're going to definitely fund you. Now, they're in a position where, we're going to need most of our operating costs just to fill those funds that we made agreements to.

And I know that the UAW chief has been sitting down with them. But the deal is going to be either they're going to have to sit down and make a deal and do something with the unions, that's the only way it's going to work because the Asian manufacturers are coming.

HARRIS: What does that mean? What does that mean honestly?

FIX: What does that mean -- do something?

HARRIS: What does it mean when you say do something with the unions?

FIX: It's not going to be pretty. And no one is going to like to hear this, but it looks like either --

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: OK. What's the ugly side? What's ugly?

FIX: The ugly side is if we do nothing, we're going to have a serious issue, it's going to be catastrophic to the economy. And what they're really going to need to do is they're going to have to renegotiate those contracts and the union is going to have to give in a lot.

Now many -- now the Asian manufacturers come in, they build plants down south and there's no union. So that may be an answer as well. So it's going to be very rough for those people that work there. And there may have to be complete change. But if you let GM fail -- because Ford is actually pretty liquid -- or you let Chrysler fail, companies like Lear and Johnson Controls that supply all those companies, including Toyota and Honda and other Japanese manufacturers could create a serious problem.

(CROSSTALK)

FIX: If those companies go out of business, it affects everybody.

HARRIS: They trickle-down, yes.

So how do you explain to me, because I believe that everyone gets that, what you just said, that if you let GM fail, here is the trickle-down.

FIX: Right.

HARRIS: So I get it. You get it. But there doesn't even seem to be the appetite for a bridge loan at this point. So -- explain that --

FIX: It's going to have to come from other places.

HARRIS: Does Congress not get it? Or do they get it and they're saying, well, tough?

FIX: Well let's say they do say it's tough. You're on your own. We're not going to help you at all.

HARRIS: Yes.

FIX: They're going to have to sell off portions of their company. There's just absolutely no choice.

Ford owns 100 percent of Ford Motor credit. GM only owns 49 percent of GMAC. Chrysler is mostly owned by Cerberus, and only 19 percent owned by Daimler. So they're going to have to sell off portions, whether it be their financial arm, different manufacturers like Viper. They're going to have to start breaking it down and getting rid of some of that dead wood that they've been carrying for so many years. And the results have been higher costs.

And it may actually force them to restructure some of these companies. And it could cause unions to actually fail.

HARRIS: Well maybe that's what Congress -- what Congress is waiting for. Maybe that's the signal that you're willing to do that.

If you are willing to do it, maybe then, at that point, we will give you this --

FIX: It's going to be interesting. We'll all going to suffer from it along the way. But In the end it may be that these car manufacturers come around strong and actually do make it. And there may be some consolidation. And that may have to be the only answer.

Unfortunately the smaller companies and little teeny companies are going to have problems.

HARRIS: And very quickly, would Chapter 11 be the worst thing that happens to GM? We would certainly know what the company is worth and what's on the books.

FIX: Oh yes.

HARRIS: Would that be the worst thing?

FIX: No, I think it's kind of interesting to know where they're spending their money. As someone who -- I own a small manufacturing company, but I will tell you that if you're not watching every dollar and where it's going, there's going to be problems. You have people out there spending money for the wrong things, and advertising and promoting in the wrong areas, and building product that's not selling, then you've got a problem. And you have to get rid of that product.

When Chrysler and GM were going to merge, they were talking about only taking seven product lines that Chrysler owns. Those seven product lines are sellers. Get rid of the dead dogs, throw it out, keep the good stuff. Start over again. It may be the only answer.

HARRIS: Awesome. Lauren, as always, awesome.

FIX: Thank you, Tony.

HARRIS: Thank you. Great weekend.

A lot of speculation about whether Senator Hillary Clinton will be the next secretary of state in an Obama administration. She may actually be asked that question. We suspect that she will at this event. We're going to take you there live if she's asked the question and bring you her response. That's all happening in the next couple of minutes right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARRIS: All right. Right now we want to take you to New York just to show you this picture and tell you what we're standing by for. Hillary Clinton is scheduled to give remarks in just a couple of minutes before the New York Public Transit Industry Conference that's being held in Albany. We're getting some guidance that she may, in fact, address the speculation that is building now, particularly after her meeting yesterday with President-elect Obama, that she may be in line to be the next secretary of state in the Obama administration.

We are going to monitor this and try to work out the timing so that if she does address the speculation, we can bring that to you live right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

You are only -- what -- six days away -- six days left really to cast your vote for your CNN hero of the year. So be sure to do so at cnn.com/heroes. One of the top 10 contenders is community crusader Liz McCartney. Here is what makes her a hero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Katrina destroyed families, homes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were a normal, red-blooded American family, and one day it took to wipe us out. I was so beaten down that I was going to blow myself away.

LIZ MCCARTNEY, COMMUNITY CRUSADER: When Katrina hit I was living in Washington, D.C. I couldn't believe the pictures that I was looking at. I wanted to come down to New Orleans and volunteer. I naively thought that six months later you'd see all kinds of progress. But Saint Bernard Parish looked like the storm had just rolled through. We realized very quickly that we were going to move to New Orleans. It was just something that we felt like we had to do.

I'm Liz McCartney and I'm helping families rebuild in St. Bernard Parish.

The St. Bernard Project can take a house that was gutted down to the studies, hang sheet rock, put in the floors. We do all of that work in about 12 weeks for about $12,000.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The St. Bernard Project, Liz and her group, they saved my life.

MCCARTNEY: Once you get one family back, other families are more confident and they're willing to come back as well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Little by little, one house at a time, we'll be back. I feel it. I know it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vote now, cnn.com/heroes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: All right. Let's take you back to Albany now and show you this live picture, again. As you can see, Senator Clinton is on the stage right now about to begin her remarks.

Secretary of State Clinton? Sources close to the Obama campaign say Hillary Clinton has been mentioned as possible candidate for the post. Let's listen in.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: Thank you very, very much.

And I have to start by saying I'm very happy there is so much press attention and interest in transit, especially guesses about my own. But in the off chance that you're not here for this important issue, and are here for some other reason, let me just say that I'm not going to speculate or address anything about the president-elect's incoming administration, and I'm going to respect his process. And any inquiries should are directed to his transition team.

Because I am here for what I think is one of the key issues that will have to be addressed by the incoming administration, and it's one that means a great deal to New York. And I want to thank Ray, who heads up the capital district transportation authority, and the newly elected president of the NEPTA.

Congratulations, Ray and thank you for assuming this volunteer leadership role on behalf of your members.

And I want to recognize and thank Larry --

HARRIS: OK. It's about what you expected, isn't it? When you think about it, really. Hillary Clinton suggesting that if we have any questions whether she will be joining the Obama administration, we should direct those questions to the Obama transition team. We'll do that. We'll talk about the Obama transition, and Hillary Clinton possibly as secretary of state.

John McCain, visiting the president-elect. We are bringing it all to you in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Six days left to vote for your favorite CNN hero. Go to cnn.com/heroes to see their stories. Will you vote? There you go. Then join Anderson Cooper Thanksgiving night to find out who will be CNN's hero of the year. Vote now at cnn.com/heroes. Only six days left.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Hello everyone. I'm Tony Harris. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.