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Will the Economy Thwart Obama's Plans?; Attorney General Released from Hospital After Collapse; L.A. Auto Show Pared Down Due to Economy

Aired November 21, 2008 - 13:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): They're desperate in Detroit and less than welcome in Washington. Can U.S. car makers strut their stuff in L.A.? We'll take a spin around the L.A. Auto Show.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was some design of an aircraft by some space alien.

PHILLIPS: Forget about cars. Alien spacecraft have visited earth for decades. Or so many earthlings believe. Our Miles O'Brien goes in search of the facts.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't think about my real life, when I have 25 of these guys running around, needing my attention.

PHILLIPS: A teacher with cancer, surrounded by kids with compassion. Teachable moments for all. They're live in the NEWSROOM this hour.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And hello everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Let's get right to it this hour.

Help for the holidays. Millions of Americans who haven't worked in months will at least get through the year before the money runs out. President Bush signed a Bill this morning that extends unemployment benefits for seven weeks, 13 in states with jobless rates of 6 percent or higher. And separately Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are putting foreclosures on hold between next Wednesday and January 9, and that applies only to mortgages held or controlled by Fannie and Freddie.

Now, the big three automakers are drawing up business plans right now that could be the key to bailout loans from Congress. Democratic leaders want to see proof by December 2 that they won't be throwing good money after bad.

And whether we're working or not, defaulting or not, we're all paying less to fill up. For the first time since March of 2005, the nationwide average price of regular unleaded gas is under $2 a gallon. One expert tells CNN, this is absolutely the most amazing year he's ever seen.

Now, politically, too, there has been a year like none other. Well, but what about next year? Will the economic troubles bring down the lofty plans and promises of the Obama administration? CNN special correspondent Frank Sesno takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENT-ELECT: I promise you, we as a people will get there.

FRANK SESNO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Promises, promises, but as the economy stumbles and markets slide, Barack Obama's job is getting tougher by the day, and his promises are in danger of being overtaken by events. There's energy.

OBAMA: We'll create five million new energy jobs over the next decade.

SESNO: Price tag, $150 billion over ten years. There's health care reform.

OBAMA: We are going to let you get the same kind of health care that members of Congress give themselves.

SESNO: Estimated cost, a trillion dollars or more over the next decade.

There's education.

OBAMA: We're going to recruit an army of new teachers. We will pay our teachers higher salaries, give them more support.

SESNO: Another $18 billion a year, but all of this is getting overshadowed by this, which has led to another promise.

OBAMA: We have to do whatever it takes to get this economy moving again.

SESNO: Some of the ideas to get the economy moving are breathtaking in their scope and desperation. A huge new stimulus package, maybe $300 billion or more. Billions more to bail out the auto industry or help states with big building projects.

Some want to suspend the Social Security payroll tax to put money in the pockets of workers and businesses. Estimated cost there, nearly $700 billion.

Who would have imagined the promises and the price tag would collide like this?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, Frank joins me now live from Washington. Frank, what's the reality of what Obama can accomplish? He made lots of promises on the campaign trail. But there's only so much money that we have right now.

SESNO: And you can't take it back. You make those promises, and you're stuck with them.

The reality is, that at a minimum, the priorities change. It goes from reforming health care and getting this big energy package, you know, off the ground, frankly, to financial survival and economic recovery. So that's the first thing.

And there's a very substantial price tag, as we saw. We don't know what it would cost if Obama is determined to pursue, for example, a bailout of the auto industry. What will that price tag be some months from now? If they'll even make it that far?

There are other related costs. You were talking earlier about the extension of jobless benefits that was just announced today by the White House. That might have to be approached yet again as all these jobless claims come online and more people are losing their jobs. So this is going to be a work in progress to say the very, very least.

PHILLIPS: Well, and we can remember a lot of things that presidents have said in years past. I mean, remember those infamous words by Bush Senior. I mean, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know my position. Read my lips. That says it all. No new taxes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: OK. Well, we know that we did get new taxes, because we are going through economic hard times. What are some other historical examples of other presidents?

SESNO: Let me stay on that one, with George Bush for a minute.

PHILLIPS: OK. All right.

SESNO: Because it's very interesting. He did two things. He said, "Read my lips, no new taxes," and he raised taxes. It's one of the reasons Bill Clinton ended up with a balanced budget and a surplus in the end, because Bush adapted to a changing, first Bush, adapted to changing circumstances and then went in that direction.

He also said something else at his inaugural. In his inaugural speech the first President Bush made a reference to the following. He said there is more will than wallet. One of the reasons he raised those taxes was to get the deficit down. And that shows how fundamental priorities can change, Kyra. He abandoned "read my lips, no new taxes" to deal with the deficit.

We have no idea what Barack Obama's going to do as president to deal with the deficit that we're already hearing could be pushing a trillion dollars next year. PHILLIPS: And then we can look at FDR. I mean, he had to make a lot of promises. He was put in a very bad position, and he had to do it, you know, in 100 days or less. But he was able to pull it off because times were so bad, it couldn't get any worse.

SESNO: But it took a long time. And this is the interesting parallel. You know, when you heard Obama in that piece say, "We're going to have to figure it out." I mean, his next promise is we're going to have to figure it out, which suggests we're going to, you know, deal with this as we go. That's very much what FDR did. He got some of his -- some of the elements he was trying to do got thrown out. They were declared unconstitutional.

And in fact, it took a decade before the economy really turned around. Circumstances were very different then, because there was virtually no federal social safety net. So people were really on their own. When they lost things, they could have lost everything. Many did.

But that sense of improvisation. That sense of, you know, we're going to have to figure this out. And the promises, whatever they are, get overtaken by necessity. It's going to be fascinating to see if that's what actually happens to Barack Obama. Let's hope not, because let's hope it's not that desperate.

PHILLIPS: Yes. Well, all eyes are on Barack Obama and what he can do for us.

SESNO: For sure.

PHILLIPS: Frank Sesno, thanks so much.

SESNO: Thanks, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, Obama's doing his part to boost hiring. Nothing new has been announced, but sources do tell CNN that retired Marine Corps General James Jones is the president-elect's choice for national security adviser. Jones is a decorated combat vet with more than 40 years of active service. He retired from the Corps in February of 2007.

Now, as for Hillary Clinton's nomination for secretary of state, well, CNN has learned it's not official yet, but it's getting there. Transition team aides tell us Obama's on track to make an announcement just after Thanksgiving.

And if you've ever seen the president-elect on his cell phone and wondered who's on the other end, well, you're not alone. Verizon says it's put a number of employees on leave over the improper snooping of candidate Obama's account information. The phone in question was used before the election and did not contain e-mail.

The company says that all employees who have accessed the account, whether authorized or not, have been put on immediate leave with pay. Employees who have accessed the account improperly without legitimate business justification will face appropriate disciplinary action.

Issue No. 1 for the president-elect and the rest of us is the struggling economy. We're keeping a close eye on Wall Street today after two days of big plunges.

Ali Velshi, any relief in sight?

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you were a big cheery face at the beginning of the hour. I couldn't believe you found four things in a row that were actually good right now for people. They were...

PHILLIPS: We always try to find the silver lining. You know that.

VELSHI: Good. And those four were important. First of all, extending the unemployment benefits. Right now there are more than four million people who are on unemployment benefits in this country. And there are a lot more than four million people unemployed, but that's because some of them have fallen off their benefit period. That's the highest we've had in more than 25 years. That's concern No. 1. So those unemployment benefits have been extended.

Secondly, you mentioned gas prices under $2 as a national average. Just like increasing gas prices at $4, were a tax on people, this is a bit like a stimulus. That gives you a little more money, hopefully, to pay for credit, or whatever the case is.

And then we talked about the auto bailout. It's not dead, and maybe there's a lifeline for the auto industry.

But fundamentally, this little gift that everybody got from Fannie and Freddie, that amounts to 16,000 homeowners who would have had homes foreclosed upon, or they would have been evicted from their homes between now and January 9. They're getting a little bit of a break.

But again, we've talk about these foreclosure numbers in the past. This is a little sliver of people who were in trouble. Again, good news, that a little sliver of people who are in trouble are going to stay in their homes over the holidays. Not sure what that means for them and what goes on beyond that.

There's some discussion in this proposal about how some more people can renegotiate their mortgages. But, yes, you found the four pieces of positive news that are out there in and amongst the destruction -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Ali Velshi, we'll be talking, hopefully, again more about issue No. 1.

VELSHI: Yes.

PHILLIPS: All right.

And looking at him today, well, you wouldn't have thought anything was wrong with the nation's top law enforcer. Attorney General Michael Mukasey left a Washington hospital just last hour after collapsing last night during a speech. Mukasey is back on the job, and his aides say that he's gotten a clean bill of health.

But let's bring in Dr. Sanjay Gupta for bit of a deeper diagnosis.

All right, Sanjay. You're a neurosurgeon. I've been watching you all morning. You've been looking at this video. What did it look like to you and how would you have treated him?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, I think he did exactly the right thing. He went to the hospital. He got a lot of tests, and he got a lot of those tests early. That was the critical component of this. But to watch some of that video, I think, was concerning for anybody who saw it, and certainly, the doctors who are going to treat him probably were trying to get some clues from that video, as well.

We've shown it a couple of times. It is a little tough to watch. We want to show it to you just so you can see how we saw a little bit of this video and the clues that we garnered if you watch this. Listen to him and watch him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL MUKASEY, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I'd like -- then -- country is -- as a -- as a -- as result.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: Some word finding difficulties, slurring of words. He falls to his right a little bit and then slumps over, and he passes out. And the reason that's important, I think doctors are concerned, was there a lack of blood flow to the brain for some time? Was something happening in the brain? For example, there's lots of blood vessels that are on top of the brain. Was there a clot that was developing in there? Was there bleeding that happened in here? Was there something that happened in some of the blood vessels that go to the brain?

And the way to sort of figure that out is with a lot of tests. They get a CAT scan. They look at the heart to make sure there's no blood clots coming from the heart. They look at the arteries that are going to the brain. They probably take the blood pressure, check his blood. All that's done.

And as you hear now, Kyra, that all came back normal. He's walking out of the hospital. That was the best image of all, to see him walking out normally, talking to people. This was a temporary event, whatever caused this.

PHILLIPS: Well, what's next for him? And, also, too, we should probably point out, some people think fainting is no big deal. But it is. GUPTA: Yes, that's a very good point. Fainting is sort of a throwaway term, a waste basket term, if you will. There are dangerous causes of fainting and less dangerous causes of fainting. If you get sick, you have the flu, you're somewhat dehydrated, that could cause you to faint.

But it could also be something that's more serious. Could be the first sign of a -- what's known as a TIA, mini stroke, of transient ischemic attack. And the reason that's important is, because about a third of people that have those temporary sort of symptoms go on to have a full-blown stroke at some point. So you've got to get it checked out, just like the attorney general did. And I think for people at home, if you ever had those sort of symptoms: you know, slurring.

PHILLIPS: And what do you do, if you see that with a spouse or a loved one?

GUPTA: Yes, if you see that in someone, that's probably the best thing that could happen, because you need to get that person to the hospital and get them checked out, because time really is of the essence when it comes to these sorts of things, making sure that you can -- if a stroke is developing, you get that stroke stopped so they don't have any long-lasting symptoms.

PHILLIPS: Besides calling for help, is there anything we can do immediately? Anything with regard to oxygen or any type of aspirin? When someone's having a heart attack, you know, I mean...?

GUPTA: You brought up a very good point. And one of the things that probably comes up in situations like this, is actually giving some sort of low dose blood thinner, be it aspirin or some sort of blood thinner, to try and make the blood a little bit thin so you don't develop clots that can stop the blood supply to the brain.

Again, no one is suggesting that that is what happened to the attorney general. But as a teaching moment that we have on television every now and then...

PHILLIPS: Right.

GUPTA: ... if you see those symptoms in somebody, get them to the hospital. That may be what they do for them.

PHILLIPS: Sanjay, thanks.

GUPTA: Thanks, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, Nebraska's safe-haven law won't be one of a kind anymore. But that's just fine with state lawmakers, because they voted overwhelmingly today to add a 30-day age limit to the law which allows parents or others to abandon children at hospitals without prosecution.

Other states have safe haven laws aimed at protecting babies, but Nebraska's was the only one without an age limit. And since it took effect, many of the kids dropped off at Nebraska hospitals have been teens.

Los Angeles Auto Show goes green. We're going to hit the road to L.A. to check out what the latest hybrid vehicles they've been helping you getting the best bang for your fuel buck.

And in the vastness of space, is anyone else out there? Miles O'Brien is, and lots of other think other types are out there, too. Our space correspondent, Miles O'Brien, will be looking at this burning question about alien life. He joins us live.

But first, in these tough financial times, a lot of you are asking how you can stay afloat. Well, Jenny writes, "My husband and I are on a pretty tight budget. Christmas will have to be on credit cards this year for my children. It's worth it, though, to draw from our very small emergency savings to pay for a modest Christmas for our children."

Straight ahead, personal finance analyst Suze Orman has the answer for Jenny.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Fourth graders learn lessons you can't get from a textbook. Find out what their amazing teacher is showing them as her will to live perseveres in some of the toughest times. She and the classroom, joining us live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, tough times all around as Americans get ready for the holidays. And earlier, one of our CNN viewers, Jenny, had the question for personal financial analyst Suze Orman on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE": "My husband and I are on a tight budget. Christmas will have to be on credit cards this year for my children. Is it worth it to draw from our very small emergency savings to pay for a modest Christmas for our children?"

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUZE ORMAN, PERSONAL FINANCIAL ANALYST: When is everybody going to get how serious this economy really is? And one of the greatest gifts, in my opinion, that you can give your children for the holiday season is happiness. Happiness that maybe they're going to get to stay in their home. Happiness that maybe they're going to get to eat.

And if you have credit card debt, I am so sorry to say, now is not the time to be buying something. Now is the time to be talking to your kids, take a walk. Make something. Make cookies. I don't care what it is.

But, no, you should not use your emergency money. You should not be putting things on credit cards, because you never know when unemployment will strike your household, and you will wish very much that you had hadn't used that money to do something.

(END VIDEOTAPE) PHILLIPS: More viewer questions and advice from Suze Orman straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Well, with the big three nearly out of gas and the economy driving off a cliff, it's an interesting time to be holding a car slow. Wouldn't you say? Still, it's full speed ahead today in Los Angeles, California.

CNN's Ted Rowlands, joins us from the -- from the L.A. Auto Show. Maybe one of his new rides?

What's happening, Ted?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra, look at this baby. 2010 Mustang unveiled here at the car show. Now normally, we'd be talking about it, but the bottom line is, the economy has put a huge black cloud over this car show, as you mentioned. And it really is a bizarre celebration, if you will.

This is the time when the manufacturers come out and they throw parties. They unveil the new cars like this one. And everybody "oohs" and "ahs" about it, and people dream about buying one. When are they going to be available?

Well, there's this strange undercurrent of doom with the big three looking for cash on Capitol Hill, and yet the show sort of is still going on. So there's this enthusiasm, but it is definitely tapered down.

GM not participating at the same level as normal. Ford does have a very large display. You talk to Ford representatives, they say, "Yes, we know. We get it. But if we don't put out new products, when things do turn around, we're going to be in trouble, and we're not going to be selling those products."

Bottom line is the industry's very well aware that last year was horrible, and next year might be just as bad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAT OLSEN, CARS.COM: I think that the automakers want to put on their best face. They want to show off their stuff as best as possible. But they're completely cognizant that people are worried about their jobs. People want better gas mileage, and in L.A., they tend to throw out the hybrids and more fuel-efficient cars.

But there's also this bit of undercurrent. That is, we don't want to make too much noise. We're not handing out trinkets. We're not doing things we used to do, because we're trying to rein in the costs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: Now, Kyra, one of the cars that has made a big splash here is the electric Mini Cooper. People have been gravitating towards that one. And all of the hybrids have been getting the attention that you might anticipate, especially here at the L.A. Car Show.

This is the first of the big round of car shows. Detroit is still the big daddy. But this one is the first one, and this is really setting the temperature.

There are still some fun and games here for us. Got this little display where you can drive their car around. And people who, I guess, are auto -- come here and enjoy themselves.

But the bottom line is, very different sense at the car show. Not so much celebration, but they're going through with it anyway.

PHILLIPS: All right, Ted. For full disclosure, our little driver there behind the simulator, we know that guy very well.

ROWLANDS: Yes. He's working very hard!

PHILLIPS: Our favorite photog there. Taking a little extra time.

ROWLANDS: Damir (ph), yes.

PHILLIPS: How it all works. All right. So did you get a special deal on the...

ROWLANDS: The public...

PHILLIPS: Yes?

ROWLANDS: We're using Damir as a prop, because the public isn't allowed in for another half an hour or so.

PHILLIPS: Yes, I know Damir. He likes to take any chance to drive fast cars, right?

ROWLANDS: Yes. So the crew vehicle. Yes. Get it out of his system.

PHILLIPS: All right. Ted Rowlands from L.A. Auto Show there, thanks so much.

Well, it's kind of tough living without a heart. It's called a vital organ for a reason. So how on earth did this girl live without one for nearly four months? Her amazing story, straight ahead.

And inspiration, perseverance and a whole lot of compassion. That's what a fourth-grade teacher with cancer is teaching her class. You're looking live at Jewely Del Duca's classroom. You're going to meet her and her students and see why this story inspired us beyond words. .

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Hey, Miles O'Brien, if you're listening, we need you on the set, pal, because we're tossing to your piece now. Science might be trying to prove that there's life beyond earth. But some believers claim they've got all the little green facts that they need. Yes? Paling around with aliens. Miles O'Brien, that's his department. He's CNN's resident space junkie and, hopefully, he'll join us live after his piece.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We met Milton Torres in Miami, who 50 years ago spotted a huge, fast-moving object in the crosshairs of his fighter jet. No doubt, in his mind...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was some design of an aircraft by some space alien.

O'BRIEN: We talked to the sixth man to walk on the moon, Edgar Mitchell. He is sure aliens have visited us and the government knows.

EDGAR MITCHELL, FORMER ASTRONAUT: The real reason it's still a secret is power and control.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: W.W. Brazell was the man who discovered the saucer.

O'BRIEN: We went to the scene of the granddaddy of all UFO sightings, Roswell, New Mexico, and met Frankie Rowe, who says she played with some remarkable metal from an alien craft.

FRANKIE ROWE, ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO, RESIDENT: And when you would wad it up and put it in your hand, it would disappear.

O'BRIEN: In New York city we met Mark -- just Mark -- who claims he was abducted by aliens.

(on camera) Do you have any idea what they wanted?

MARK, CLAIMS HE WAS ABDUCTED: No.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): We traveled to the earth's listening post in northern California, also known as the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence, where they're listening for alien signals. Yes, I said alien signals.

We spoke with Jill Tarter.

JILL TARTER, SETI DIRECTOR: Are we alone, how might we find out? What does that tell us about ourselves and our place in the universe?

O'BRIEN: We spoke to an intrepid astro-biologist, Chris McKay, who is helping to hunt for life on Mars.

CHRIS MCKAY, NASA SCIENTIST: Everything I know about the universe suggests that, yes, life should become.

O'BRIEN: And we talked to a spacecraft designer who wonders if this picture from Mars may be the Holy Grail. STEVE GOREVAN, HONEYBEE ROBOTICS: It's not a 100 percent, no doubt in my mind, that it's not life. It's going to rock the world when life is found off of the earth.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Miles O'Brien, oh, he didn't get abducted by aliens.

O'BRIEN: I'm so sorry. So sorry. I got to talk about this picture a little bit, because it's fascinating to me.

PHILLIPS: OK.

O'BRIEN: Did you take a close look? We have a graphic here.

PHILLIPS: As a matter of fact, I did. It looks like an itty- bitty little insect or worm or something beneath the rock.

O'BRIEN: I've been saying rigatoni. Let's zoom in.

PHILLIPS: OK.

O'BRIEN: And take a look at the rigatoni. This was shot by the Opportunity. You see it there, Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Yes. I've got it.

O'BRIEN: OK. This was shot by the Opportunity rover. This happened on the 23rd of February, 2004. Now, it dug this thing up, and the problem is, Opportunity was not rigged up with anything to do further study on fossils. So if that is a fossil, we don't know. It could be the Holy Grail. I think hey need to send another mission to this spot. Don't you?

PHILLIPS: That's a great idea.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

PHILLIPS: You've got connections there. Well, so what do you think? I mean, as were you working on this special series that's going to air next week, anything -- I mean, face it, you know everything about space. That's just your thing. So did anything surprise you? Did you -- at any moment, think, hmm?

O'BRIEN: I walked into this very much a skeptic, because there's something that's hard to get around. Space is a big place, Kyra. Our little Milky Way is only -- is a teeny little part of the universe, and it's a 130,000 light years across. That's big distance.

So if, in fact, there is life out there, which most people believe seems likely, there's so much distance to travel to come visit. But maybe, just maybe, in our 500 years of understanding physics, we've missed something, like worm holes or black holes or time travel or something.

But all I can say is, you -- if you're going to take -- accept the notion that we are not alone in universe, it's logical to say, it is not impossible that they have come to visit. Right?

PHILLIPS: OK. I'm with you. I believe -- hey, I can't wait for next week. I got to be honest with you. Miles O'Brien. I appreciate it.

O'BRIEN: Well, you know, it's interesting, because I did it with you in mind.

PHILLIPS: Yes. Why? Because I'm so spacey?

O'BRIEN: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Or because you're always -- you're always somewhere hanging out with the aliens? Not quite sure what you're doing?

O'BRIEN: Yes.

PHILLIPS: All right, Miles. Thanks for showing up.

O'BRIEN: I'm sorry.

PHILLIPS: Miles O'Brien.

O'BRIEN: I'll be on time.

PHILLIPS: Never on time, but one of the smartest guys I know. He goes in search of aliens. So set the alarm. Maybe the TiVo, too. It's kind of early. His series runs all next week on CNN's AMERICAN MORNING.

Well just one more day in this church's great sexperiment. So how is the congregation doing? And what about the clergy? Well, we're going to ask Pastor Ed Young, and guess what? His wife, next hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: 1:33 Eastern time. Here are some of the stories we're working on in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Laid off workers will be getting some extra checks. President Bush has signed a bill extending unemployment benefits for at least seven weeks, 13 in some hard-hit states. The Labor Department says that jobless claims are at a 16-year high.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey is back on the job after last night's scary collapse. After a battery of tests, a spokesperson says that it was an apparent fainting spell with no indication that Mukasey had a stroke.

And Nebraska lawmakers vote to limit safe haven to newborns up to 30 days old. The governor called a special session to change the law after dozens of older kids and teens were legally abandoned by their parents.

The financial turmoil on Wall Street has reached new lows. The S&P 500 began the day at its lowest level in more than 11 years. But today we are seeing green arrows, at least for now. Susan Lisovicz on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange with more.

Hey, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra.

Well this is not exactly an overwhelming rally. It's hanging on by a thread. The best thing I can say is it's the end of the week and investors will need to think about what's happened over the past week. The Dow has lost over 900 points just since last Friday.

And the other thing is that, really, it's not all bad news. Ali was talking to you a little bit earlier about the extension of jobless benefits, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the temporarily moratorium on foreclosures. There's actually some good corporate earnings. Gap is beating estimates. Heinz doing very well as more people eat at home. And right now, the Dow is up 17 points.

But the underlying sentiment is negative. There are more stocks on the down side here at the NYSE than the upside and the Nasdaq is down. The S&P 500 is hanging in there.

Where's the money been going, Kyra? It's been going into treasuries. The safest of all bets. Basically, what we saw yesterday, the yield on the three month T bill was .3 percent. What that's telling you is investors will accept nothing in return for just safety. They just want their money back, and that's how scary it's become of late.

A number of people have been calling this a slow motion crash, what's been happening. It's certainly one of the worst bear markets in history -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And the $700 billion question: What's it going to take to turn this market around?

LISOVICZ: It's going to take a lot of things coming together. One of them certainly is improvement in the job market, Kyra. We had more -- a parade of new names announcing cutbacks. WaMu cutting 1,600 jobs, Bank of New York Mellon cutting 1,800 jobs, AP cutting 10 percent of its staff over the next year, and Goldman Sachs has a dire forecast for next year, saying the unemployment rate will be up from 6.5 percent to 9 percent by next year around this time.

So we will need some improvement there. We're also going to need to get some direction on this T.A.R.P. program. A lot of investors were thrown with Treasury Secretary Paulson switching course. And Washington was thrown as well. You consider the contentious kind of reaction he got on Wall Street this week. The reaction -- what's going to happen with the Big Three automakers? We still don't know. That will certainly affect the jobs market.

Bloomberg has a very interesting story. The president, outgoing president has been quiet; the ingoing president is quiet. Bloomberg has a story that says President-elect Barack Obama's transition team exploring a swift pre-bankruptcy for automakers as a possible solution to the industry's woes. So that is something we're looking at, and that's something all of this would factor into some improvement in the stock market. It's all about psychology, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Susan, we'll cycle analyze it for many, many days to come together.

LISOVICZ: The patient is on the couch and has been for some time now.

PHILLIPS: Amen. And the bottle is in the fridge.

All right. See you in a little bit.

Well there are some lessons that you just can't learn from a textbook. Just ask these fourth graders at Normandy School in Littleton, Colorado. Their teacher has stage four colon cancer. So these students are not only learning math, science and reading, they're also learning about life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You've just got to keep on going in life instead of just stopping when you have wall that you have to climb, pretty much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Keep going. Well how about taking the lead? These students are doing everything in their power to keep their favorite teacher, Jewely Del Duca, coming to class every morning. She and all of her amazing students join us live from their classroom. Jewely was even teaching during the break.

You're always keeping them going. Aren't you, Julie?

JEWELY DEL DUCA, TEACHER WITH CANCER: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Well, you know, most people, when they find out they have stage four colon cancer, Jewely, they stay home, they rest, they go through a very -- you know, difficult time, many times on their own. But you're getting up every morning and you're coming to school and you've got your chemo bag on your side. Why are you doing it?

DEL DUCA: I do it for different reasons. The kids take my mind off of cancer. Cancer infiltrates my life in so many different ways, and it's part of my life every second, and when I come here, it goes away, because these kids need my attention and I don't have time to think about cancer. So it's kind of a getaway from my real life.

PHILLIPS: And as I look at them, I know how much they love you, and they are just enthralled by you.

How did you explain to all these young girls and boys, you know, what you had and how you found out about it?

DEL DUCA: You know, I tell them what they need to know that affects them. I told them that I have a disease that is very serious -- and I just really tell them how it affects them. Sometimes I can't be here, so they have a substitute.

When I do come to work, sometimes I have my chemo bag and I'll tell them -- they ask questions about the chemo bag, and if it hurts me, or what it feels like. So I'll answer those questions. They just really know that I have a serious disease, and -- and how it affects them.

PHILLIPS: Well let's talk to some of your students. I know Jocie and Abby are right there next to you.

Abby, why don't we go ahead and start with you? Tell me what you've learned from Mrs. Del Duca since her life has changed?

ABBY SWALLEY, 4TH GRADER: Well, she's taught us a lot about China and the dynasties that she's learned about. And we have these books that she tells us what page and how to do it and so, yes --

PHILLIPS: Does she inspire you, Abby? When you listen to her, when you look at her, when you watch what she's going through, how does that make you feel?

SWALLEY: It makes me feel sad and worried.

PHILLIPS: Yes? Why do you worry about her?

SWALLEY: I worry about her because I've heard about some stuff about it on the news, that some stuff is going wrong.

PHILLIPS: But you can see how strong she, right?

SWALLEY: Yes.

PHILLIPS: And does that give you hope?

SWALLEY: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Now, Jocie, you're doing something pretty special for your teacher. You have decided to forgo all your Christmas presents this year.

Tell me why you're doing that, and what you've decided to do instead.

JOCIE BRADFORD, 4TH GRADER: Well, my family, we thought that it would be a very good idea to help with Mrs. Del Duca's surgery, and so we started the True Gift Fund.

PHILLIPS: And tell me what the true gift fund is.

BRADFORD: The True Gift Fund is a fund where we ask every kid in the school to give up at least one of their presents to Ms. Del Duca.

PHILLIPS: Wow.

And so what do you hope to gain from that? Are you hoping to raise money for her treatment? Tell me what the goal is. BRADFORD: The goal is to get all the way -- and we have gotten about a quarter already --

PHILLIPS: Wow.

BRADFORD: Of, all the way.

PHILLIPS: So Jocie, as you sit next to your teacher there and you look at her and as you learn from her, describe her to me. Tell me why she's so special to you and so special to all your other classmates.

BRADFORD: Well Ms. Del Duca is special because she is amazing, how she comes to school with the cancer. And she's special that she has made my sister happy and me, and there's just -- I feel really good that I'm in her class.

PHILLIPS: Jewely, when you just listen to these kids and you look at them, and -- tell me how that makes you feel and just inspires you to keep fighting.

DEL DUCA: You know, there are a lot of days that I wake up in the morning, and I'm tired and I'm sick. And I just say to myself, I can do this. And -- I'm sorry. By the time I get to work, I look at them, and they'll just come up to me and give me a hug. They'll say, I love you. They'll say, I hope you feel better. They'll come in with cards that they made the night before.

They do it all the time. And it's -- it makes me feel better. It makes me say, I can do this. They are a huge part of my recovery and my getting better.

PHILLIPS: Well, let me ask Abby and Jocie, if you don't mind, Abby and Jocie, as you sit next to your teacher, why don't you scoot a little closer to Ms. Jewely there.

And Jocie, why don't you start by saying something to Jewely, just to kind of help her wipe away those tears. Tell her something that will make her feel real good right now.

BRADFORD: Ms. Del Duca you're the best teacher I ever had and I hope you get through your cancer.

DEL DUCA: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: There we go.

Abby, can you make Ms. Jewely feel better, too.

SWALLEY: Yes, I hope you get that surgery and you are feeling better.

DEL DUCA: Thank you very much.

PHILLIPS: Jocie and Abby --

DEL DUCA: They're amazing.

PHILLIPS: Well, you are one amazing woman yourself, Jewely.

And what I'd love to do --

DEL DUCA: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: -- as we wrap up with the class, I want to plug the Jewely Del Duca Fund. It's through the Bellco Credit Union. Here is the phone number.

And you know, Jocie and the kids are donating their Christmas presents. They are helping raise money. They've raised thousands of dollars to help Jewely were her treatment. We ask all of you as well to call this number, to join in to help this teacher.

Because I'll tell you what, Jewely, you are teaching these kids more than they could ever, ever learn. And you are a true blessing to them and I know they are a blessing to you. Thank you so much.

DEL DUCA: Thank you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll be following your progress.

DEL DUCA: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well she couldn't believe it when doctors told her, but breathing is actually believing. Now listen to this story as well, it is also inspiring. A girl lives nearly four months without a heart.

So how did modern medicine pull that off? We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Man, does this girl have a story for the grandkids. Let me tell you about the time I lived without a heart. The 14-year- old in Miami survived nearly four months without the most vital of vital organs. Doctors kept her alive with an artificial ticker while she waited for a transplant.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

D'ZHANA SIMMONS, LIVED WITHOUT HEART: It was like I was a fake person, like I didn't really exist. I was just here. But now I know that I really was here, and I did live without it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well let's talk this over with medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen.

We've heard about artificial hearts before, oh my gosh, this was just remarkable.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is remarkable because she didn't get any old artificial heart. They wanted to give her just a regular artificial heart, but they couldn't because she was too petite. So these doctors in Florida basically had to kind of MacGyver their own artificial heart from spare parts. And the fact that it worked in her body for four months was really incredible.

And you can see in that video we showed earlier, here you see it now, how she had to live for four months. It was very hard for her to walk around. She had to walk around with this big, huge machine. You see it right there. So that was how she lived, basically, for four months.

PHILLIPS: How risky was it?

COHEN: Very risky. Any kind of artificial heart, never mind one that they kind of made up, there is a 40 percent risk of the patient dying. You can still see how now, and now she has a human heart, she does have a human heart in her, and you could hear how weak she was when she spoke. She actually ended up needing a new kidney. So this was extremely risky.

PHILLIPS: Oh my gosh.

So what is next for her? And how did it even get to this point? There's so much you want to know about her.

COHEN: Right, exactly. It got to this point because she had an enlarged heart, which she developed as a teenager. And so they said, OK, you need a transplant. They gave her a transplant from a donor heart, but it didn't work. And that was when they had to go to the artificial heart.

Now what is next for her is that she see may need another heart in the next 15 years. That is not uncommon with children. And she will be on drugs for the rest of her life.

But Kyra, what is next for her in the immediate sense is she turns 15 tomorrow. And she is going to spend the day on a boat in Florida.

PHILLIPS: And she is alive.

COHEN: And she is alive. Exactly.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Elizabeth.

COHEN: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well tomorrow is the 45th anniversary of the JFK assassination. And next hour I'm going to talk with the doctor who was at Parkland Hospital on one of the 20th century's darkest days.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Chaos in Colombia as the government shuts down illegal investment schemes. Police use tear gas on angry investors who gathered in Bogota to protest the shutdown of largest such scheme. Its founder was deported from Panama yesterday on money laundering and bribery charges. He says his company represented an economic revolution against Colombia's banking system and its high interest loans.

Pyramid schemes offer spectacular returns by paying off early investors with money from later investors, who then become victims when the money dries up.

Well at first, it seems like lifestyles of the rich and recession proof. Amid the global economic crunch, a mind blowing display of wealth and opulence.

CNN's Tim Lister checks out the new mega hotel in Dubai.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TIM LISTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The numbers tell the story. A $20-million launch party for a $1.5 billion project. One of the most luxurious resorts the world has ever seen. Featuring a breathtaking sound and light show and a fireworks display seven times more extravagant than the opening ceremony to the Beijing Olympics; 100,000 specially designed fireworks up in smoke illuminating 40 kilometers of coastline and an archipelago of reclaimed land stretching into the Gulf.

Quite a debut for Atlantis, the Palm, in Dubai, where the facilities and 1,500 rooms marks the ultimate in opulence and where the top suite will set you back $35,000 a night. And 65,000 fish swim in an aquarium of 11 million liters of water. It's the latest luxury destination developed by Sol Kerzner, whose company owns resorts and casinos around the world. But he admits the party could have been better timed and says his one and only group of resorts is hurting.

SOL KERZNER, FOUNDER & CEO, KERZNER INTL HOLDINGS: One negative, the Mirage, here in Dubai is operating pretty well, but it's under pressure. There's no question. I think it's certainly part of the global downturn. And I think Dubai is one of the last places to begin to feel it.

LISTER: And the other numbers tell a different story. Just last week, Kerzner's company fired 800 staff at his Bahamas Atlantis flagship and put others developments around the world on hold.

Opening his new property, Kerzner is confident in the long run the Atlantis in Dubai will be a great investment. But right now, the horizon isn't too bright. Worldwide hotel demand is falling, occupancy in Dubai in recent months has hovered around 50 percent. After years of heady growth fed by wild speculation, Dubai is feeling the pressure.

Too much property, a banking crisis, high debt loads. Not the most auspicious time for Kerzner and his Dubai partners to throw such a lavish party, but for one night, at least, his guests can forget the world's larger troubles.

Tim Lister, CNN, Atlanta. (END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, hard rock, soft drink. Guns N'Roses brings the new album , and that means Dr. Pepper brings the drinks for you, me and everyone else in America. Oh, yes, cue the music.

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