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More Stimulus Discussion; Obama Addresses World's Muslims
Aired January 27, 2009 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: A snapshot of the economy. Just developed this hour. New consumer confidence numbers. How are we feeling? And what do they mean?
Also, listening to the other side. The Democratic president engages congressional Republicans on the stimulus package. It is Tuesday, January 27th, I'm Heidi Collins. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
The economy. It is the talk of the town in Washington. This hour, the House Budget Committee will hear a non-partisan analysis of the Obama stimulus bill. Its conclusion, two-thirds of the spending will funnel into the economy by October of next year.
And later this hour, we'll keep an eye on the Senate finance committee, will any Republicans break ranks and support the Obama recovery plan. We of course keep our finger on top of these stories because they involve your money and your wallet. And we've got it for you.
Meanwhile, I want to get directly over to CNN congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar standing by now. I know you have been listening to all the talk on Capitol Hill, Brianna. So what are lawmakers saying at this point?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi there, Heidi. Yes, President Obama coming to Capitol Hill today. The question, though, is he going to be cutting a deal in the sense coming from Republicans, who will be meeting with him, as well as Democrats who say that's not necessarily going to happen today in advance of this vote in the House tomorrow.
This is, though, another chance for Republicans to be heard, one that they say they are happy to take, to talk about the concerns they have with this economic stimulus package. This $825 billion plan, one- third of it tax cuts, two-thirds of it spending, and Republicans say that's not enough tax cuts, especially for businesses, and they disagree with not only how much spending there is, but what kind of spending it is.
They're specifically zeroing in on certain projects, for instance, money that goes towards expanding broadband internet access in rural areas, millions of dollars to improve the National Mall here in the nation's capitol. And a senior House Democratic aide tells me that the sense ultimately is that Republicans will get some of the things they want in an attempt to try to bring over some of their support.
But the sense coming from that aide, as well as a Republican aide that I spoke with, is that it may not be coming today. It may not be coming in advance of this vote tomorrow. So then where does it come? Well, after the House takes this up, it goes over to the Senate. They make some changes. The House and the Senate, they're going to pow wow, basically, afterwards, make some changes, come to agreement on a final bill on which they will both vote.
And the sense, Heidi, is that if Republicans get some of the things they want, that's when they're going to get them.
COLLINS: OK. Well, we are watching, and watching very closely. Brianna Keilar, thanks so much, live from Capitol Hill this morning. So winning over GOP lawmakers. That's the president's mission today as he heads to Capitol Hill later this morning.
But Republicans have their own demands, add tax cuts and cut the price tag. CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is joining us now with a look ahead at the political side of things. Hi there, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi. You'll actually see a familiar face that's traveling with President Barack Obama, that is Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood. He is a former congressman from Illinois, but the key thing is he is also a Republican and he is a veteran on Capitol Hill. And he is going to be traveling with the president essentially to try to pitch forward, to move forward this economic stimulus package and convince fellow Republicans that this is the way to go.
Lahood is seen as very much of a moderate. He is a very close friend of Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. They have bipartisan dinners together, for members of congress. So this is someone who is going to be helping him actually push forward and make sure that they can at least peel off a few of the Republicans. There is a lot of resistance to this economic stimulus package.
Another point I should make, Heidi, as well, is that the president is reaching out directly to the Democrats, to the House leadership on the Democratic side to say, look, these are what the Republicans are looking for, this is what they're asking for. That $200 million provision for contraceptives, for family planning, for poor families, so it was a hot-button issue among Republicans. They said it doesn't create jobs, and it doesn't belong in the economic stimulus package.
Well, aides saying that the president got directly involved in that issue, essentially reaching out to the Democrats and saying, look, this is not necessarily something that is necessary in the provision, and in this bill. It is not going to create jobs quickly. It's a hot-button issue. Let's give this one to the Republicans.
So clearly, Heidi, we've got the president himself involved in kind of the minutia, the workings of this legislation. That's how important this is to him. Heidi.
COLLINS: All right. Again, a developing story, obviously with a whole lot of money surrounding it. Suzanne Malveaux, live from the White House this morning. Thanks, Suzanne. The bailout, the handouts and the stimulus packages. CNN's Lou Dobbs pulling them apart line by line to separate the pork from what can really fix the economy. So don't miss Lou's "Line Item Veto," a special segment starting tonight on Lou Dobbs at 7:00 Eastern.
Day eight now of the Obama administration, and the new president is stressing urgency to halt the economy's tailspin. Just after his noon arrival, President Obama will meet with Republican leaders in the House. Then the next hour, he meets with their counterparts in the Senate. Questions and answers. The White House holds its daily briefing with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.
The Obama administration has a new cabinet member today. Timothy Geithner took his oath last night as Secretary of the Treasury. The Senate confirmed him, despite concerns that he initially failed to pay his payroll taxes. Sometime today, Geithner is expected to unveil new lobbying rules. The goal, limiting the effect of special interest groups on the government's financial rescue plans, specifically, officials will be limited in their contact with lobbyists. And decision makers must show that each investment decision was based on objective criteria.
We've been all over the map a little bit today with the big board. The Dow Jones industrial average is now to the negative, by single digits, you see there down about three points or so. We'll keep our eye on that for you, of course. But this story, as well. Very upsetting.
More than 71,000 jobs cut yesterday alone, and thousands more today. American families are reeling and consumer confidence is plunging. So here to give us some specifics now, CNN's Christine Romans. Every time I read that number, Christine -
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I know.
COLLINS: It is just phenomenal.
ROMANS: It's honestly shocking. And frankly, it's why the consumer confidence numbers are so weak. Another historic low for consumer confidence, just in the last six minutes we learned that the consumer confidence index, this is a household survey of some 5,000 different households, and a pretty good gauge of where the consumer stands and how they feel.
It's the lowest on record since these numbers were taken back in 1967. It's a release, frankly, that is full of words like continues to be pessimistic, we can't say the worst is behind us, the job outlook remains somewhat mixed. I guess that's good news if you can say something is mixed, right? But again and again, we're looking at pessimism in the final months of 2008, that continued into the first months of 2009.
And really no sign as the - as the people who have put this together say that the worst is behind us. Part of the reason why consumers are so pessimistic, you know, is because of all of these jobs cuts. And this survey was taken, actually, before yesterday as they're calling it bloody Monday. I mean, 71,000 job cuts, even more than 71,000 job cuts and they continue here again today.
We had some big ones yesterday with Caterpillar, as you know. This morning we heard from Corning, 3,500 job cuts there. Another 1,400 temporary workers at Corning, Weyerhaeuser, 220, the bottom of the list there. The most recent that we can tell you about, Weyerhaeuser closing a couple of mills. It's a forest products and paper company, you know, when people, when consumers aren't buying as much or certainly not building as much, you don't need as much forest products, that's for sure.
And we also have another piece of data to tell you that maybe a lot of people have noticed on their own, the value of their biggest asset, their home, down pretty substantially. Home prices followed a record pace for the 12 months, as of November 30th, down 18.6 percent. This is according to the S&P Case-Shiller home price index.
But Heidi, here is something that's interesting about these home price declines that I keep pointing out. This index now is the lowest since February 2004. In February of 2004, there were a lot of hard- warning families who couldn't afford a home because home prices have gotten so high. Remember?
COLLINS: Right. Yes.
ROMANS: So now we're back to 2004 levels. So in a way, I guess, that makes things more affordable. But it's certainly by any stretch of the imagination, you know, back to 2004 levels, some people still have an awful lot of money in their home here, if you have owned your home for a long time, you know?
COLLINS: Yes, the buying is great if you're a first time home buyer.
ROMANS: People have been nibbling around the edges. They really have. In December, they saw those really low mortgage rates, record- low mortgage rates. People who can - the solvent and the bold, as I like to say, have been nibbling around the edges in the housing market. And so that's something that we're watching very closely.
COLLINS: All right. Thanks so much. Christina Romans, appreciate that.
ROMANS: Sure.
COLLINS: Well maybe you're a part of the growing legion of people out of work right now. Later this hour, we're going to give you some ideas about where to begin on your job hunt. Some good information for you.
Top Securities and Exchange Commission officials being interviewed by a Senate committee on how they missed Bernard Madoff's alleged ponzi scheme. You're looking at live pictures now of those hearings. The SEC has been widely criticized for apparently its lack of vigilance while Madoff was running that $50 million alleged ponzi scheme.
Roads caked in ice from Oklahoma eastward. People are urged to stay put, if possible. There have been dozens of accidents already, and at least five deaths. Schools are closed, hundreds of thousands of homes have lost power and Oklahoma is in a state of emergency. Storm warnings also out from Arkansas, all the way to Maryland. Rob Marciano is joining us now to talk a little bit more about this. Because we've been saying all morning long, how far and wide this storm stretches.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: And slow. And it's kind of put the breaks on. So they have extended the winter storm warnings and in some cases the ice storm warnings for parts of the southern plains and the mid south. So that's exactly not the news those folks want to hear. And we're getting reports in now of people losing power, at least 25,000 folks are without power, and that number certainly will grow as the ice continues to build up.
And we got moderate rainfall, a pretty decent storm system that's now beginning to slowly eject into the mid south, and as it does so it's interacting the cold air that's been in place. A pretty stubborn area of cold air under the very lower layer of the atmosphere. It's sub freezing. The problem is, you go above you know half mile or so above the atmosphere up, and you've got temperatures that are 35, 40 degrees.
So that's a recipe for frozen precipitation, to say the least. Oklahoma City to Memphis, to Louisville, this is all where the action is going to be today and has been for the past 24 hours. It will likely continue for well at least another 12. Oklahoma City, you're in the winter storm warning until at least 6:00 tonight.
But look at the numbers here. 19, 30 degrees or so in Fort Worth. Austin and Houston, well into the 50s and lower 60s. So that's where your warm air is. They're not going to see the ice, but Dallas and northeastward will. Ice storm warnings for the blue area. Winter storm warnings for the red area. And where it will snow, three to five, to six inches of snow possible, but the real big story is going to be the ice for sure.
All right. Let's talk northeast. Cold enough to snow at least to start. Most of the heaviest precip will be away from the i-95 corridor, north and west of the major metropolitan areas. But D.C. could easily see two to three to four in some cases five inches of snow. Certainly starting to snow today. 30 for a high in D.C., 29 degrees in New York City.
Obviously, the southeast is where all that warm areas, and it's been fairly foggy. That's beginning to lift. The problem is the track of this storm as we look to tomorrow, a kind of head hugs a spine of the Appalachians, Heidi. And as that will be the case, that means the folks who live along the eastern seaboard will see snow changing over to freezing rain, and that nasty kind of mix.
So that's the only good news here that I can see with this storm, is that it won't be a full-on ice and snowstorm for the major metropolitan areas. But the next 24 hours for folks in Oklahoma City east toward say Louisville and up towards Cleveland, it's going to be nasty winteriness, for sure. COLLINS: Yes. All right. They got to be careful now. It doesn't matter what kind of car you have, either, SUV or not. You have to drive very, very carefully. Thank you, Rob. Thank you. We now you're watching that.
Meanwhile, the two crew members on a Fedex cargo plane were taken to the hospital after their plane crash landing at the airport in Lubbock, Texas. Officials say both men have minor injuries. The FAA said there was a small fire on the plane, but did not disclose the extent of the damage. Fedex says the plane skidded off the runway because of some light freezing rain. You can see the poor weather conditions there as well.
And Jacqui Jeras joining us now. Hey there, Jacqui, you have more info on travel conditions across the country with this storm that is just kind of blanketing the whole place.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it really is. It's going to be really troublesome for you air travelers, and it's really going to be crippling for some people on the highways. Let's start out by the airways, and show you we've got a new ground stop just issued at Washington Reagan National Airport here. That's until 11:00 Eastern time. Newark is looking at delays over an hour.
We have delays because of the low clouds and the fog in Atlanta, about 30 minutes. Those delays are on the increase, and also looking at delays in Philadelphia of about 30 minutes. In addition to these delays, we do think we'll see more across parts of the Ohio River Valley, and also into New England throughout the day.
So watch out, Baltimore, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Little Rock and Memphis, as well as Tampa and Jacksonville. We can expect to see some more delays there. All right. Let's check out what's going on some of the roadways, because it only takes a quarter of an inch of ice to cause any trouble out there. And we're starting to see a lot of it. How we zoomed into the Louisville, Kentucky area, where they are reporting 26 degrees and some light, freezing rain.
This is along the Martin Luther King Jr. Highway, or the parkway rather, and we're going to click on one of these red dots here, and show you traffic, where you see the red, that's basically at a standstill there. Looking at about maybe 20, yes, 19 miles per hour. That's northbound on MLK right now.
We take you into Washington, D.C., where the snow has been starting to come down here. Several inches of accumulation is expected. Things are doing OK right now on the beltway, but you get over to 395, and we're starting to see a lot of red on this area, as well. So try and click in on one of the red dots and see how slow some of these are going. Shawn Morris working behind the scenes for me in clicking those.
And you can see Henry Shirley Memorial Highway northbound, only 25 miles per hour, so it's slow-going. If you don't have to travel in some of these areas today, that is your best bet. Heidi, I'm going to be back in a little bit. We want to do some i-reports today. COLLINS: Yes.
JERAS: So please send us your i-reports of travel, of the ice, of the snow. We want everything you got. We want to see those today. And we're also going to be checking in with the latest on power outages. Thousands of people already without power -
COLLINS: I know.
JERAS: We expect those numbers to just go up, up.
COLLINS: They probably will with all that ice. All right. Jacqui Jeras, thank you.
JERAS: Sure.
COLLINS: We will check back later. Appreciate that.
Meanwhile, I want to let you know a couple of the stories that we have been following today, of course, regarding the economy and your money. As we have been telling you, President Obama is meeting with GOP lawmakers on both the house and the Senate side of things, discussing his plan.
Obviously, regarding the economy. And I believe we have a little bit of sound, because some of them came to the microphones before going into that meeting. So let's go ahead and listen now to John Boehner.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), MINORITY LEADER: Coming today, and having a dialogue with us about how we can have economic recovery package that works for America. It's - I've applauded the president for dealing with this issue early on. Because America needs a plan that will work.
As you have heard, we have concerns. That the plan that House Democrats are going to bring to the floor will not work. And, again today, I think what our big move today will be to ask the president to help us. Help us make this plan better so that it will put Americans back to work. And the goal has been to preserve jobs and to create new jobs.
And if that is the laser focus that we want to have, a lot of the spending in this bill does not achieve that. All it does is burden our kids and their kids with more and more debt. And so we need the president's help to make this plan better so it will work for the American people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: All right. Quick reminder, that was John Boehner, of course, the minority leader, part of the House Republicans. And, of course, the president will be meeting with House Republicans at 12:15 and then he'll go over and meet with Senate Republicans coming up at about 1:30 or so today. Meanwhile, delivering a new message. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Capitol Hill right now. A live look for you there. Discussing the Obama administration's new strategies for Iraq and Afghanistan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Covering the angles, uncovering the details, see for yourself in the CNN NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: Talking strategy on Capitol Hill. Defense Secretary Robert Gates making the rounds of the Armed Services Committees today. You can see one of his arms in his jacket and the other one not. You may remember that little accident he had at home with the snowplow and he ended up having surgery on his bicep there. So just letting you know why that looks a little odd. He is answering questions from the Senate right now, talking about plans for Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as a decision to close down a detention center at Guantanamo Bay.
And this afternoon, Gates is expected to face similar questions from House lawmakers. Live pictures there.
President Obama's special Middle East envoy is on his way. Former Senator George Mitchell has been dispatched to the region to jump- start negotiations on peace in Israel and Gaza. The president talked about the need for a change and for greater Palestinian freedom during an interview with Al Arabia television.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES: I think it is possible for us to see a Palestinian state. I'm not going to put a time frame on it. That is contiguous, that allows freedom of movement for its people, that allows for trade with other countries, that allows the creation of businesses and commerce. So that people have a better life.
And look, I think anybody who has studied the region recognizes that the situation for the ordinary Palestinian in many cases has not improved. And the bottom line in all these talks and all these conversations is, is a child in the Palestinian territories going to be better off? Do they have a future for themselves? And is the child in Israel going to feel confident about his or her safety and security
And if we can keep our focus on making their lives better, and look forward and not simply think about all of the conflicts and tragedies of the past, then I think that we have an opportunity to make real progress. But it is not going to be easy. And that's why we've got George Mitchell going there. This is somebody with extraordinary patience, as well as extraordinary skill, and that's what's going to be necessary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: We'll have more of the interview with President Obama coming up later this hour. New York's new senator being sworn in on the Senate floor today. Kirsten Gillibrand takes over for Hillary Clinton who became Secretary of State as you know. Gillibrand first came to Washington two years ago as a congresswoman for upstate New York. Governor David Paterson appointed her to the Senate after Caroline Kennedy dropped out of the running.
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich all over the airways, doing several TV interviews in New York, while his impeachment trial goes on in Illinois. Blagojevich is boycotting the trial in his home state, instead taking his message to a national audience. He talked with our Larry King.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ROD BLAGOJEVICH (D), ILLINOIS: Will dignify it in an impeachment process that is completely wrong and contrary to every fundamental civil liberty that we as Americans enjoy.
It will set a dangerous precedent, Larry, if they can remove a governor, elected twice by the people, and a legislative branch could do it without being required to prove any wrongdoing, and conversely, not allowing the governor to prove he didn't do anything wrong. If they can do it to me, they can do it to you and any other citizen. They can do it to other governors in other states.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Blagojevich also told Larry King he thinks members of the Illinois State Senate have already made up their minds to impeach him. Day two of the trial begins in about 45 minutes.
If seven wasn't already enough, doctors tell a woman giving birth, wait, there's one more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A Southern California family gets a surprise delivery. Not septulets as they were told but octuplets. Doctors pulled an eighth baby out, yesterday morning, in what is believed to be the second ever live birth of octuplets in the world. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. KAREN MAPLES, CHIEF OF SERVICE, BELLFLOWER MEDICAL CENTER: We made sure that we were prepared by doing some drills, some preliminary dry runs to make sure that we had everything in place for these seven babies. But lo and behold, after we got to baby G which is what we expected, we were surprised by the discovery of a baby H. And that was the eighth baby that we delivered.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: That is Karen Maples. She is one of the doctors who helped deliver the little ones in Bellflower, California. CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is joining us now to talk a little more about this. Because we couldn't shut up about it this morning.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Of course, it is really amazing.
COLLINS: It is truly amazing. First off, how is the mother and how are the babies doing? Because obviously when you have this many babies, you worry about how much they weigh.
COHEN: Right. We both recovered from delivering from just one baby, and you can imagine what it's like to recover from delivering eight babies.
COLLINS: No, I actually can't.
COHEN: OK. Well, that's what you went through times eight. So we are told that she is doing fine and that the babies are doing fine. Three of the babies are on breathing assistance, and the other ones aren't, which is really pretty notable that five out of the eight are not on breathing assistance. All of them, however, are in the neonatal intensive care unit.
But let's take a look. We have a list of their birth weights. The list is long, as you can imagine.
COLLINS: I know.
COHEN: But let's start with the boys. The boys ranged in age from 1 pound, 8 ounces to 3 pounds 4 ounces. That one last one, boy he must have been sucking a lot of nutrition from his siblings. And then you see that long list of weights there. And then the girls, one of them was 2 pounds 12 ounces and one of them was 2 pounds 8 ounces.
And Heidi, we were told that there were 46 people in that delivery room to assist in getting the babies out via C-section, as one might assume and also getting them to the NICU and these babies were born ten weeks early.
COLLINS: Yes but wow, which is pretty good. I mean to carry all the way through.
COHEN: It is. To get to weeks 29, 30, 31, that is pretty good.
COLLINS: Yes. So how does - I feel like a fourth grader. How does something like this happen? I mean, how do you end up with eight babies?
COHEN: Well, you're probably not surprised to hear that you don't end up with them just the natural way. This is not a mommy and a daddy love each other very much kind of thing. This is - there is assisted technology that has come in and assisted this family. We have to assume, with eight babies. Now, the doctors -- this family wants its privacy, so that they're not saying exactly what they did in order to get eight babies.
But I know that there is a lot of concern in the fertility field that when you get this many babies, as many doctors have said to us, someone did something wrong. Something went wrong here. Doctors take great pains to make sure that when they do any kind of artificial fertility, that they don't get eight babies.
COLLINS: Right.
COHEN: They really don't even want more than two. I mean, anything more than three really is particularly risky. So sometimes parents pressure doctors to be really aggressive. Other times -
COLLINS: They just want to make sure they have success with one.
COHEN: Exactly. And other times it's the doctors themselves who are getting too aggressive. But the fertility community, of course the births of babies is a wonderful thing, but they're not so happy to hear this.
COLLINS: Yes. Well, I mean there is risks to having this many babies -
COHEN: Oh, absolutely. There's risk to the babies. There's risk to the mother. The mother has an increased chance of all sorts of things, like hemorrhaging, pre-eclampsia, diabetes and these babies, I mean, especially you're talking about like a 1 -1/2 pound baby, increased risks of all sorts of health problems and cognitive problems as they get older.
COLLINS: Of course, we wish her and her family the best.
COHEN: Yes, absolutely.
COLLINS: And we'll follow the story, too. Elizabeth, we sure do appreciate that. Thanks.
Money talks in Washington. The economy is the focus of the hour on Capitol Hill. And right now, the House Budget Committee is hearing a nonpartisan analysis of the Obama stimulus bill. Its conclusion, two- thirds of the spending will funnel into the economy by October of next year. And, about to begin now, a hearing with the Senate Finance Committee. We'll keep an eye on those proceedings. The question, will any Republicans break ranks and support the Obama recovery plan?
2008, as you know, a terrible year for retailers in the U.S., and 2009 isn't really shaping up to be much better. CNN's Susan Lisovicz is on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange now with more on some of the worrisome forecasts that people are hearing. Hi there, Susan.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi. Well, you know, this is the kind of thing that the National Retail Federation really hates to say. And after all, it is something that wants to talk about all the great things that are happening in retail. But it says it's going to be very tough for the year.
In fact, the federation is predicting a decline of half a percent this year, which would be the first time it's predicted an annual decline since it, well, since it began keeping track of these things 15 years ago. And, of course, we're coming off a very, very tough holiday quarter for consumer spending.
And, well, we have a case in point today. You know, we're in the thick of earning season. American Express, the big credit card, charge card company, it's reporting that its profit, its quarterly profit, dropped nearly 80 percent from a year earlier. Now, it still made money, mind you, which is something lots of its rivals and a lot of other financial companies haven't been able to do.
But AmEx is talking about rising delinquencies and write-offs. It says it remains cautious for the year, and it's set aside nearly $1.5 billion to cover credit losses. American Express caters to a more upscale consumer, so American Express is something that you're really starting to see this in all demographics of the population. And no one's spared from it, unfortunately. American Express shares, though, however, are up 5 percent right now.
COLLINS: Yes. That's what I was going to ask. How is that playing out on Wall Street?
LISOVICZ: Well, you know, we started with a nice rally, as you well know. We were together for the opening bell. But it faded, Heidi. And one of the reasons why is that at the top of the hour, we got a report on consumer confidence. Obviously, consumer spending, consumer confidence, they are linked.
And consumer confidence dropped to an all-time low in January. I guess it's not surprising, given some of the news that we're talking about. And that's put investor confidence, as well, in jeopardy. Right now, the blue chips, which had been in positive territory down 15 points. The Nasdaq, however, up by 3 points right now -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right. Susan Lisovitz, appreciate that. And it couldn't have come at a better time. During these days of unprecedented global economic crisis, the World Economic Forum begins in Switzerland tomorrow. Thousands of key economic figures from different countries will come together to discuss ways to stabilize the sagging global economy. That summit ends on Sunday.
How long can you get by without a paycheck? Thousands of American families are facing that grim question, and thousands more will do the same. So what do we need to know before the pink slips start flying? CNN's Christine Romans has some answers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Microsoft, Intel, United Airlines, Home Depot, Sprint Nextel and Caterpillar are each cutting thousands of jobs.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's raining job cuts. Economists say don't expect the deluge to stop anytime soon.
SOPHIA KOROPECKYJ, MOODY'SECONOMY.COM: The year will undoubtedly start on just as poor of a note as the last year ended. ROMANS: And it ended very poorly. Companies are reporting their fourth-quarter numbers, and with it, looking into their crystal balls for this year.
PAUL LAMONICA, CNNMONEY.COM: If it you actually had a firm idea of how bad things could be, you could probably then just calculate exactly how many jobs need to be cut and just call it a day. I think right now the problem is that no one knows how much worse it's going to get.
ROMANS: Meantime, companies must show their shareholders they're doing something to weather the storm.
JOHN CHALLENGER, CHALLENGER, GRAY & CHRISTMAS, INC.: As companies report these earnings poorer than expected, they're almost pushed into the position of having to take actions like layoffs to show the markets that they're trying to control their costs or bring their costs down.
ROMANS: Translation. Those costs are your jobs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think they're trying to save themselves -- save their companies. But it's just tragic that the individuals have to lose their jobs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it is a very difficult situation, because something obviously needs to happen.
ROMANS: So what to do if you've lost your job?
CHALLENGER: It's so important to get a fast start, be into the job market, be open to changing industries, to moving to a new location, taking a part-time job. Maybe that will turn into a full-time, once they see how you work.
ROMANS: And if you have your job but know layoffs are coming to your company...
CHALLENGER: Take on roles that nobody else can do so that if they have to lay you off, they know there's going to be a big gap. Work long hours, early and late. Make them see that you're just indispensable.
ROMANS: Christine Romans, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: So where are all of the jobs in this economy? That's what your e-mails are asking us this morning. We've got the answers to help you find work again.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Jobs are disappearing fast, and so is the optimism for those who are out of work. So, where do you find that new job? Here to get us motivated and moving, Chester Elton. He's the author of "The Carrot Principle." He's joing us now from New York with some ideas, really good ones -- no pressure -- about where to begin.
And that's just it, Chester. You know, today we've been putting this number out there: 71,000 people have lost their jobs. It's going to be more -- just in the space of about 24 hours. There's going to be thousands more before this day is through, as well. Where do you start? How do you keep a good attitude? What is your first step if you have lost your job?
CHESTER ELTON, MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER, AUTHOR: Well, that's the key. The first step is, really, keep a great attitude. You know, a lot of people have lost their jobs, so don't be embarrassed. Don't feel bad about it. Take a look at your skill set, and say, OK, look, I can do this. I always have -- am of the opinion that when something really bad like this happens, and all this transition, it creates huge opportunity. So, don't look at it as being a bad thing. Look at it as an opportunistic thing. I think that's where you've got to start. That's the first thing.
COLLINS: OK. I mean, that would be great. And we don't want to belabor the point, because we want to get to the e-mail questions, but it's hard, it's scary, I mean, when this happens. Especially if you've never lost a job before, I mean, you are terrified. Let's talk specifically to some of these e-mails that we're getting, because we were trying to get people to let us know what their concerns are.
ELTON: Right.
COLLINS: And we directly wanted to hear from Candy Moore, this one that says, "Please speak about people who are over 50 and still need to work ten more years. Where are the jobs for us? We've had long careers in one profession" -- usually that's the case -- "and cannot afford to go back to college and wait for a degree."
It's a really good point.
ELTON: It's a great point. In fact, I just turned 50, so it speaks very well to me. But here's the thing. If you've had a good, long career, you've developed some great skills that are really of value out there. So, don't worry that you maybe don't know exactly that industry.
Take a look at your resume, with your skill set and say, OK, I'm going to go for this now. You know, you've got experience that really puts you ahead of the pack. People are looking for people that can start their jobs and be effective today. So, the fact that you've got a lot of experience, I think, is a huge positive. So be very confident about that experience when you're applying for those jobs.
COLLINS: Right. And you've got to know how to sell yourself in that regard, too, definitely.
ELTON: You better believe it.
COLLINS: This one now, Steve, Fort Wayne, Indiana, says, "Is it best to keep your search down to a few specific jobs you want, or should you consider and apply for pretty much everything that you might have just a remote interest in?"
ELTON: Well, I don't know about remote interest. Find things that you can be passionate about, things that you believe in, because that will come across in the interview. And that's where your experience is. So I don't think that you throw this big wide net initially. Go for the places where you know you can add value, and so that in the interview, they can say, wow, this person is really passionate about that job. That's going to put you ahead of the pack again.
COLLINS: I think we're having a little bit of trouble hearing you. I'm going to keep on trying, though, anyway, Chester, because some of these e-mails are really, really good. So, this one, Charlene in Oxnard, California, wants to know, "I was laid off as of December 31st." So obviously very new for her. "How do I handle this on my resume?"
ELTON: Listen, a lot of people have been laid off. I wouldn't worry about it one bit. I'd just go in and say, hey, job transition. I'm available to the market. You're lucky to have me. This is going to be a great opportunity.
COLLINS: All right. Also, this one from Andrew: "How long should a resume be?" This is a great question because this has kind of changed over the years. "How do you know what to highlight?"
ELTON: Well, I would keep the resume really short. The idea for the resume, I think, is to get to the interview. Get in front of them. And by the way, one of the big mistakes people make when they're going out for jobs is they don't leverage their friends. Leverage your inner circle.
You know, we think, oh, we're going to go to Monster, we're going to splash or we can start handing out business cards to strangers. Don't do that. Start with the people that care about you the most. It is traumatic. You mentioned if it's the first time you've lost your job.
Go to people that really care about you, that believe in you, that can really promote you. Use your inner network. Somehow we think we can't do this, you know, we have to do it by ourselves. Don't. Give your good friends the opportunity to help you. If your best friend asked you for help, Heidi, would you help them?
COLLINS: Yes!
ELTON: Absolutely.
COLLINS: If I could.
ELTON: Absolutely, so -- yes, if you could, exactly. And if you couldn't, you've got a circle of friends that can help them. So, start where you can get your resume to the point to get the interview.
Do the research. Find a friend who knows a friend that can get you in and leverage that. This blast e-mail stuff, monster stuff, Yes, I guess you can, but it would be so much better that if I was applying for a job at CNN, to have you and say, hey, I know Heidi. She's going to introduce me. That's a huge advantage...
COLLINS: She'ss my neighbor.
ELTON: ... to leverage you friends -- yes, she lives in Summit, New Jersey. I love that.
COLLINS: All right. Chester, sure do appreciate it. Love your energy. Chester Elton, and the book is "The Carrot Principle." Sure do appreciate it, and I'm sure our viewers do with all those e-mails today. Thanks so much.
ELTON: Thanks so much. You bet.
COLLINS: Despite the struggling economy, fast-food chain McDonald's says it will open 1,000 new restaurants this year. McDonald's reported a better than expected quarterly profit yesterday but fell short of Wall Street's expectations.
Day eight now of the Obama administration, and the new president is stressing urgency to halt the economy's tailspin. Just after his noon arrival, President Obama will meet with Republican leaders in the House. The next hour, he meets with their counterparts in the Senate. Then, questions and answers. The White House holds its daily briefing with press secretary Robert Gibbs.
The need for negotiations. President Obama wants to get right to work on peace in the Middle East, highlighting his commitment with the choice for his first TV interview. Talking with Al Arabiya, where he discussed the need for immediate engagement.
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OBAMA: It's time to return to the negotiating table. It's going to be difficult. It's going to take time. I don't want to prejudge many of these issues, and I want to make sure that expectations are not raised so that we think that this is going to be resolved in a few months. But if we start steady progress on these issues, I'm absolutely confident that the United States, working in tandem with the European Union, with Russia, with all the Arab states in the region, I'm absolutely certain that we can make significant progress.
The bottom line in all these talks and all these conversations is, is a child in the Palestinian territories going to be better off? Do they have a future for themselves? And is the child in Israel going to feel confident about his or her safety and security? And if we can keep our focus on making their lives better, and look forward and not simply think about all of the conflicts and tragedies of the past, then I think that we have an opportunity to make real progress.
But it is not going to be easy. And that's why we've got George Mitchell going there. This is somebody with extraordinary patience, as well as extraordinary skill, and that's what's going to be necessary.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COLLINS: President Barack Obama has already sent his newly appointed envoy to the Middle East on his first peace mission. George Mitchell has arrived at his first stop, which is Cairo, Egypt, today. During his eight-day trip, Mitchell will talk with leaders in Israel, the West Bank, Jordan and Saudi Arabia before returning to the United States next Tuesday.
A storm that's pretty much blanketing the country. We'll tell you all about, coming up in just a moment.
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COLLINS: Severe weather a nightmare for drivers and cleanup crews all over the Midwest. Two people in Missouri were killed in accidents on slippery roads, and several crashes were reported all along the highways throughout the night.
Arkansas wasn't spared, either. Several accidents logged there. One person reportedly died. About 5,000 people are now without electricity after the storms took out power lines. Schools and colleges have cancelled classes.
Meteorologist Rob Marciano is standing by now in the weather center to talk a little bit more about this. Boy, it is tough out there.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, and the number of power outages is really on the climb, Heidi, and that's going to accelerate I think through the afternoon. The cold air's in place. It's really dense cold air and shallow across the South and southern Plains and mid- South to where the warm moisture that's coming in from the Gulf of Mexico is just dropping right into that sub-freezing air and freezing instantly on contact.
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COLLINS: It always could be worse, couldn't it?
MARCIANO: Could be worse. Could be a full-on blizzard for the big cities. And that shouldn't happen, but it's not going to be good.
COLLINS: Yes. OK.
MARCIANO: All right?
COLLINS: Thanks, Rob. Thanks for the perspective.
MARCIANO: OK.
COLLINS: We'll check back later on.
Auto emissions, the Obama administration putting change in high gear, allowing some states to make their own rules.
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COLLINS: President Obama moved aggressively yesterday to put his green action plan into motion. He ordered the EPA to reconsider whether individual states can set their own vehicle-emissions standards. Would that lead to higher car prices, though, or big savings at gas pumps? Cnnmoney.com's Poppy Harlow has our "Energy Fix" now from New York. Hi there, Poppy.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Hey there, Heidi. It's not a done deal, but a big announcement from President Obama yesterday. And if he gets his way, California and more than a dozen other states will adopt their own emission guidelines. They'll be tougher than the federal standard is right now, but the Competitive Enterprise Institution -- that's a free-enterprise advocacy group -- well, it says the president is just coming up with new ways to sink the auto industry.
One problem, Heidi, there could be a patchwork of regulations, and meeting each state's individual requirements, that will take money. A lot of it, some say. Some even say, Heidi, it could cost billions. That could also -- another problem some say -- lead to fewer choices on the showroom floor. That's one thing people bring up, Heidi.
COLLINS: Well, yes, and obviously, someone's going to have to pay for it all, too. Will we be paying more for car prices then?
The opponents say the added costs are going to get passed on to you and I like we talked about yesterday. Just how much, though, that's anyone's guess, Heidi. A lot of estimates. Some range from $1,000 to $10,000 passed on to the price of vehicles, at least as they are now, Heidi.
COLLINS: But then you save money buying gas. Too, of course it depends on how much you're paying for gas, obviously. But somewhere it might start to equal out, right?
HARLOW: That's what some environmentalists say. We spoke to one yesterday. They say, listen, the upfront car costs will be at least partially offset, especially if we see gas prices spike again like they did this summer. Take a listen to what one person told us.
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DAVID YARNOLD, ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND: The automakers have consistently highballed their estimates of what innovation costs, and they're capable, just as the rest of the economy is capable, of producing fabulous new innovations, creating new jobs and putting money in Americans' pockets. They will ultimately cause American taxpayers to save hundreds of dollars at the pump. This is a win-win.
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HARLOW: And you know, of course, not everyone agrees. Even more important than the gas savings, President Obama says this will help the automakers, Heidi, prepare for the future. And we'll be following what happens on cnnmoney.com -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right. Terrific. Poppy Harlow, thank you.
A married priest? How one man made it a reality with the church's blessing.
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COLLINS: A Catholic church in Washington State now has a married priest. Father Tom McMichael was a married father of two for more than two decades before taking a leap of faith and applying to become the first married priest in the Seattle Archdiocese.
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REV. TOM MCMICHAEL, CATHOLIC PRIEST, MARRIED FATHER OF TWO: I was so convinced that this is what I needed to do that I believed that either God would open that path and allow me to continue to pursue ministry or give me the grace and the direction to find something else I would be happy with.
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COLLINS: Father McMichael says there was a three-year process of tests and interviews before the Vatican approved his order nation.
I'm Heidi Collins. Join us again tomorrow morning, beginning at 9 Eastern. For now, CNN NEWSROOM continues with Tony Harris.
