Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Latest on Flight 3407; Examining the Stimulus Plan

Aired February 14, 2009 - 16:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: But before we get to all of that, we're also going to be letting you know about the latest information concerning the Continental Airlines jet tragedy out of Buffalo. The NTSB, the National Transportation Safety Board, in Amhearst, New York will be holding a press conference somewhere in this hour. We'll be able to bring that to you live.

50 people were killed Thursday night when that plane simply made a nose dive. There have been some analysts who have already said and some clues revealing that ice may have been the problem. In fact, we understand that the press conference is actually under way. Let's go to it right now.

STEVE CHEALANDER, NTSB: Again, I'm trying to report to you facts that we find, and in no way am trying to speculate or analyze the accident. So I would appreciate again once we get to the question and answer if we would keep it into facts only and no analysis.

Whoops, I knew your big mike was going to get in the way there. One of the things I just got through talking with the families at 3:00. And one of the things i told them, I know I said it seems as though this is going painstakingly slow, but unfortunately we're not like somebody pointed out to me a little bit ago like a CSI show on television where we can solve it all in one hour. This is a long process.

And it's being hampered by a couple of things, which I'll point out to you. I spent a couple of hours out at the scene today. And a couple of my observations and things that they are reporting to me from the scene, I would like to report to you today. Things were slowed down a little bit this morning in particular because of the ice that had formed out there because of the temperatures. Obviously, when the fire department was there yesterday trying to put out that hot fire, a lot of water went on the site, and of course that all formed into ice 69 it hampered a lot of recovery efforts.

They brought in a lot of heaters, torpedo type heaters blowing warm air on the site. Things are starting to thaw out, and they are able to get things moving in. So things are moving at a great rate. There's about 100 to 150 people out there working from the FBI, from local law enforcement, from the medical examiner's office and volunteer fire department. I would like to at this time say how much we appreciate from the NTSB's perspective the cooperation that we've got from the local authorities and officials here in Buffalo and in New York.

These firemen amaze me. I was watching them work while I was out there for the couple hours that I was out there. And these are volunteer people that have other jobs, and they're out there working very hard. They're recovering the house. They're recovering the airplane as instructed. They're doing a great job. And my hats off to them. And I just want to applaud them. Thank you very much for letting me do that.

I - we'd also like to point out we've described this process that's going on at the scene as an excavation. And that's truly what it is. Because, keep in mind, there's an airplane that fell on top of a house. And they are now intermingled. The house and the airplane are together. There's a basement to the house, and so some of the stuff went in the basement. The fire department is anxious to get into the basement so they can shore it up for the safety of the workers out there. So that's slowing the process down.

The medical examiner believes that three to four days are going to be required to recover the victims of this crash, and they're in the process of doing that. They've already pulled some of the folks out of there, but they've got a long way to go. So it's a slow process, but we are making progress.

I owe you an answer in particular NBC from yesterday. We talked about deicing systems. You asked if the tail was deiced. And on this airplane the answer is yes. It did have the boot system on the horizontal stabilizer. It had a boot system on the vertical stabilizer or the vertical tail. It had boot systems on the leading edges of the wings, around the inlet cowling. And it had electrically heated propellers. So it's a very sophisticated deicing system on this Dash-8.

So I wanted to bring that answer back to you. That was one that I didn't have yesterday. And I learned a lot more about the deicing system. I can tell you more about that as we go on. Another part of the deicing system we talked about yesterday, and I got a lot of questions on, was you said that from the FVR(ph) data that the deicing system was activated.

How do you know it was working properly? And on this Dash-8 there are indicator lights for each of the boots on this system. The green light comes on to tell them when it cycles through. It's also an automatic system. That was another question I think that NBC asked me. That was, was this a pulsating system, automatic system? And the answer is yes.

So when they go to the automatic fast mode on the switch it cycles through all of the boots and then comes back and does it again. It cycles, cycles, cycles, cycles for six seconds. Then off. Then waits about 24 seconds. Then goes through another - a whole different process until you turn it off. So it's a constant pulsating of the boots. So I wanted to answer that one as well.

The process of moving the airplane, the NTSB will pull all of that airplance out of there. Once we get the house and the airplane separated, the airplance will be moved to another location where we can conduct further investigation and analysis. That location has not been named yet. And we're still in the process of doing that. The propulsion investigators have looked at both engines. We see both engines and found them both from a purely cursory visual look at these engines, it appears as though they were both working normally. Our flight data recorder confirms that. It was seen thus far that there was torque being applied to the engine. So both engines were operating. And again that's a cursory examination.

The weather group is still feverishly pulling together all the data that they can pull together. They're looking at deicing conditions and all of the sensors and weather sensor data that we can get for the time of the accident here in Buffalo. So that's still ongoing. I don't have anything further to report to you than what I told you yesterday that the weather was at the time of the accident.

One thing that I would like to bring up is the delay on the airplane out of Newark. We've heard that it was for a maintenance-mechanical issue. And we confirmed today that it was delayed at Newark by air traffic control. It was for high winds at the Newark Airport. That's why they were delayed before they were departed. It was not a mechanical issues.

Another thing I would like to describe to you is from the scene, there's been a lot of reports of the airplane coming nose down into the house and the accident. Eyewitness reports and so forth. And what we found all four corners of the airplane. We have found the cockpit, the tail section, both wings, and engines and they are where they should be if an airplane was laying flat. The airplane is oriented in a flat ssituation. It is not oriented as a nose down accident would take place. It's also oriented in the opposite direction that it was landing. So it was trying to land on Runway 23, which means it should have been heading southwest. The airplane is laying on the ground flat, as I said, and it is oriented northeast.

A couple other things that we've ascertained from the cockpit voice and the flight data recorder. We gave you information yesterday that said that the crew was experiencing icing on the windshield and on the leading edge of the wings. They reported that as they talked on the CBR. And we have some further information from the CVR. And that is that the - and I will explain what these systems are for you. The stick shaker and the stick pusher activated on this aircraft.

What those are stall protection, aerodynamic stall is if you like. it doesn't mean the engine stalled, it means the air flow over the wings was not sufficient to maintain lift, and these systems for stall protection are there to warn the pilot of impending aerodynamic stall.

Stick shaker is a vibrating in the yoll when the pilot holding the yolk and flying the airplane if a stall is impending, he - the airplane will warn him as it gets close to the critical line of angle of attack and it will start to shake to warn him that a stall is approaching. Shortly after that if the pilot hasn't taken any actions, to eliminate the possibility of a stall, the stick pusher will start.

The stick pusher will actually pushes the stick forward, the yolk forward and starts to push the nose of the airplane down. What it's doing is that the airplane is telling the pilot, you can't keep this nose attitude, this angle of attack, because if you do, we're going to stall. So I'm going to take action to push the nose forward to try to recover the airplane from an impending stall.

So the stick shaker and the stick pusher activated on this airplane. And that's from CVR and flight data recorder. I believe that's all I wanted to get out that is new information. And we can and I've answered some questions of things that we asked yesterday. So what I would ask now is do you have any questions? Lisa, you can start.

LISA: Thank you. Two questions, can you give us the (inaudible)

CHEALANDER: It was all in that sequence of events that I laid out yesterday where we put the landing gear down one minute before the end of the tape of the recording. And then 20 seconds later they commanded flaps to 15. And then seconds after that were the severe pitch and roll moments that happened. It was right in there that all that was taking place.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was it after the flaps were down?

CHEALANDER: It was as the flaps were going down. Because (inaudible) We didn't see the flaps get to full 15. They got to flaps 10. So it means that something was happening as the flaps were coming down. And they didn't actually get the flap handle to 15 because they didn't get all the way to 15 degrees.

(INAUDIBLE) was the plane on autopilot?

CHEALANDER: That's correct.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you know that the plane was on autopilot (inaudible)

CHEALANDER: Yes, it was.

(INAUDIBLE)

CHEALANDER: Yes they were.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did they take control of the plane?

CHEALANDER: When the stick pusher activates, it kicks the autopilot off. And so you're now manual flying. And that did take place.

Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you say that it was (inaudible) working?

CHEALANDER: I'm saying that the deicing equipment will indicate if it's not working. And we hear no indication thus far in what we've heard on the CVR of any kind of a warning that or discussion that the lights were yellow and not green.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could you speak to the difficulty in removing the bodies from the scene? It must be pretty bad. CHEALANDER: I don't want to really go there. The he medical examiner - we can get the medical examiner and those types of folks to talk to you about that. Suffice it to say they're showing a great deal of respect for the victims as they take them out of there. And they're sensitive to the families' needs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you able to do both? Remove the bodies and do the investigation?

CHEALANDER: They're doing that in conjunction with each other. The medical examiner and the removal of the remains has priority, but works alongside with our investigators. So as areas are cleared, they can take the parts of the airplane. But the removal of the victims has the priority. Keep in mind. It's a tough scene because you got a house and an airplane and people all together in this one wreckage. So it's a very painstaking process. And they're working sometimes with just small little instruments just to knock pieces of dirt off and get pieces of airplane and so forth. But the priority are the people.

Yes, sir. Back behind Tom. I'll get to you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (inaudible) contribute DNA?

CHEALANDER: That's a part of the identification process. DNA will be used. I don't know whether the families have been asked. I'm not into the medical examiner's protocol. I'm having trouble with this. I'm not involved with the protocol of the medical examiner but I have been told that DNA is going to be the primary purpose for identification. They will use some dental records. Yes, Tom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A few questions. First of all, you said that the deicing appears to be on. But did the flight data recorder tell you when they were engaged?

CHEALANDER: It may. But that's another thing I was going to tell you. We're convening tomorrow at 9:00 in Washington, the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder review team. They're (inaudible) tomorrow at 9:00 and they're going to start a very thorough analysis of both of those recorders. And we may or may not get that information as they do their job.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Second question, based on the orientation of the plane on the ground, if it's facing opposite the runway - does that suggest that the plane - I don't want to draw conclusions, but we have been led to believe that the plane did a nose dive. Would this suggest the plane did not do a nose dive and fell straight, almost like a pancake, or could have done a nose dive (inaudible)?

CHEALANDER: With the risk of doing an analysis, I would say yes, it does suggest that it landed flat instead of nose down.

WHITFIELD: All right. You're listening to the Steve Chealander there, the NTSB, just in a nutshell some of the highlights coming out of this press conference briefing as a result of the Continental Airline flight disaster near Buffalo. He said that it did not appear as earlier reported that this plane took a nose dive, but instead, somehow landed flat, but in the opposite direction of the runway in which it was to land.

Also he mentioned that they've seen no indication that the deicer on this plane was malfunctioning. Yes, it had deicing, a sophisticated system on the tail, as well as the wings, and even heated propellers. And they will be removing the remnants of this crash site as they also try to respect the remains of the 50 people who were killed, including one person who was in the house where this plane actually impacted.

They will be moving the remnants to another location. Still to be determined where that location will be as they continue their investigation. Then tomorrow as early as 9:00 a.m. in Washington, they will be examining the flight data as well as the cockpit voice recorders, all of whichhave already been recovered. That's the latest information on that crash site investigation.

Meantime, after a break, we're going to delve into your money woes. We've got a panel that has been assembled. Our Josh Levs as well as Dave Kansas and Jordan Goodman. The last two I just mentioned, authors of money and they are also experts on finances. Here to answer a lot of your e-mail questions about how to navigate tough economic times. All this straight ahead right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. We've been receiving a lot of e-mails from you wanting to know how to stretch the dollar and also wanting to know when in the world some relief might be coming. Especially now that Congress has hatched out a stimulus bill. We got a great panel organized for you. Let's begin with Dave Kansas. He's the author of several books, including "The Wall Street Journal Guide to the End of Wall Street as we know it." He's in New York.

All right. Here's what we want to know. The $787 stimulus bill, how will it work? How quickly will people start feeling some benefits form this stimulus bill?

DAVE KANSAS, EDITOR, FILIFE: Well, I think psychologically people will start to you know feel some impact right away. You know the bill got passed. In Washington, the backers of the bill are very enthusiastic about it. But if you look at the congressional budget office, a lot of the spending is out a couple of years and probably won't have a huge immediate impact this year.

There are going to be some small tax relief. And some benefits to folks who have been out of work. But it's going to take some time for the actual dollars and cents to start to get to people, the way this bill was written.

WHITFIELD: OK. Jordan Goodman was on the editorial staff of "Money" magazine for 18 years. His latest book is "Fast Profits in Hard Times, 10 Secret Strategies to make you rich in an up or down economy." Joining us from New York. All right, some basic things that people can do to perhaps reduce their monthly expenses. How? JORDAN GOODMAN, AUTHOR: Lots of things. First of all, they can potentially buy things at wholesale clubs. If you buy things in bulk, you'll buy them cheaper than buying them individually would be one thing people to do. The second is get control of your credit card debt.

You know, Fredricka, people are just really getting hit pretty hard right now with credit card debt and very high interest rates. Just this last week, Chase for example added a $10 per month fee and raised people's interest rates that have been promotional rates up to 0.9 up to 7.99 percent. So that's hurting an awful lot of people.

So if you possibly can consolidate allyour credit card debt at a good national nonprofit credit counseling firm to get you much lower interest rates -

WHITFIELD: But that costs you money, though, doesn't?

GOODMAN: Well, there's a minimum fee but technically up to $50, you're going to pay a lot less that way than what you're going to save on the interest cost. If you're in the 25 to 30 percent or whatever banks are charging these days, it will save you a lot of money. There's a lot of them. My favorite one is a place called Cambridge Credit Counselling based in Masachussetts but they're a national firm at Cambridgecredit.org and they'll consolidate all your credit card debts at one payment at a much lower rate than you could ever get on your own.

WHITFIELD: OK.

GOODMAN: You make one payment to them and that could save an awful lot of money.

WHITFIELD: `OK. We got lots more questions coming your way, Dave and Jordan but Josh Levs has also been fielding a lot of your e-mails. Some people have been telling us, sharing with us how they're trying to stretch the dollar. At the same time they got questions. Help!

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Questions galore. We'll get right to it. I'm not going to waste your time with me yapping. Because we're getting so many questions. Gentlemen, thanks for doing this.

Here's what I'm going to do. I'm choosing the ones that represent what lots of people have written us. Let's zoom in on the board. I want to start off a lot of people asking what they should do? Do you contribute, do you not contribute to your 401(k) this year?

Vladnia wrote us. She says she's been contributing the maximum, and at this point every year pretty much is taking a loss. So in the last few years I've been giving the 15 percent. So what should she do? Keep contributing to the 401(k) or stop or cut back and put that into something else, like a home equity loan. I'll tell you what, Jordan, let's start with you on this. Do you keep contributing to the 401(K) now or do you just stop and pay off debt?

GOODMAN: I think you should contribute to your 401(k), particularly if you're getting a match from your company. Now a lot of companies have been cutting back. But if you get that, that's free money. And I always say never refuse free money if it's given to you.

Now where you invest is different. I think you should invest it inside the 401(k) in the conservative options, in what they call the stable value fund, money market funds, bond funds. I think the stock market is going to go down further with what's going on here. So I don't want people to lose their principal but they should continue to invest on a regular basis. Because it has tax benefits. And it's what I call savings that happens as opposed to wishful savings, which is I'll get around to it someday that's not to happen.

LEVS: So short version there basically give only the amount that's being matched. And be smart where you put it. Be conservative with that.

GOODMAN: That's right.

LEVS: Dave, this one is for you. And again this one represents what a lot of people are saying. I really like this e-mail from Megan because she spelled out for us what her costs are. The short version here. She gets some child support. She has paid off about half the cost of her home. She gets income about $3250 a month and her question, $5,000 in savings. What should she do with it? She has about $6500 in credit card debt. But here's what most people in America are asking is the same thing she is asking.

If you have a little bit of savings, do you put it away to debt right now or do hyou put it in a savings account in case your lose your job?

KANSAS: That's a great question. I think you know, the credit card debt is invariably much more expensive than the interest she's earning on the savings. So you want to take some fo that savings to reduce that credit card debt substantially if you can. Now, the risk there is that some credit card companies are getting very stern. If you reduce the credit card balance to zero or very low level and you don't use it anymore, they will cut that card off, which can close off the avenue of potentially expensive, but emergency funds if you need it.

So if you use that savings to pay down the credit card debt, which is a good strategy because it reduces expensive debt. Use that credit card every now and then to make a nominal purchase so you remain active on that card. So you still have that safety valve and the bank won't shut down that credit card prematurely.

LEVS: You know what, let me follow up with you on that one because we have another one here that I find very interesting. This is someone who had paid off her credit card pretty much every single month for 10 years. Check it out. The rate was not quite 9.9 percent. And Fred, you and I have seen stories like this. She just got this letter. They're raising her rate to 17 percent. Even though she didn't owe money. That's just what they're doing in this market. She wants to know, having one credit card for a long time is good for your credit rating? Should she get rid of that card or keep using it? Because she could get a different card with a lower rate. KANSAS: I think she should look at getting a different card with a lower rate. Especially if she's paying off that credit card every month. She might want to even transfer to a charge card where every month you have to pay it off, because that can help your credit rating as well. What you can do is keep that card. Again use it for a nominal purchase so it is still active. And you still have that duration period that you've held the card. But migrate toward a cheaper card for the bulk of purchases so that you can save some money.

LEVS: OK. Let me get back to Jordan, with one more for you and then over to Fred. So many Americans have different types of debt at this point. And a lot of people are writing us today saying they want advice on how to reconsolidate. And I pulled up this one example from Brad in Georgia who says look he has this student loan, more than $60,000 in student loans. If you just looked at the interest alone, last year he paid more than $3,000 in interest. In this economy, people don't want to be spending their money on - in any economy. So what kind of options are there legitimately right now to reconsolidate in this economy?

GOODMAN: OK. Student loans you can only consolidate once. So if you consolidate it once, unfortunately that's all you can really do with student loans.

LEVS: Is that private student loans as well?

GOODMAN: Private as well.

LEVS: OK.

GOODMAN: Like Sally Mae and that kind of thing. Basically, unfortunately and I get this question all the the time. People would love to take advantage of lower interest rates. But once you've done it once, that's all you can do on something like that. But as far as the credit cards and other kinds of unsecured debt, the place I just mentioned before. cambridgecredit.org. They will take all the unsecured debt and combine it to a much lower rate on yoru own.

Typically, five percent, six percent, seven percent. If you're in what's called the hardship situation, as low as two percent or three percent. You can call the credit card company yourself. They'll never get you a rate like that. And by the way, I want to ask if there's really a question, there are places to get a good list of lower interest credit cards to switch. So you don't have to pay the 17 percent. There's a website credit card perks.

LEVS: I'll show that later in the show. I'll toss it over to Fred. Keep those questions coming. Weekends@cnn.com.

WHITFIELD: That's right. Jordan, Dave and Joseh, we're going to talk a lot more amongst ourselves here. And you know, Jordan, you were talking about changing the way you shop. Well that applies in this category as well. Taking care of your skin on a budget. That too is important to many of us. Medical correspondent Judy Fortin finds it is possible, but think safety first. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JUDY FORTIN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These dire economic times are being felt in some surprising places. From scheduling doctors appointments to maintaining skin routines.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've had a little bit of slow down. The phone doesn't ring as frequently nad we do find that sometimes people cancel when they had an appointment. And we part of it is high copays.

FORTIN: But dermatologists recommend that while there are ways to cut costs there are certain areas where you shouldn't cut back.

What I try to urge people to do is not let go of maintenance when times are tough. We can look at creative ways of trying to keep maintenance going. For instance, sunscreen, get a generic sunscreen, you can wear a hat. There are things you can do instead of buying the most expensive sunscreen on the shelf. In terms of Retin-a, I urge people not to let go of their Retin-A. If you need a generic, we'll try to help them go to a generic and use a moisturizer so they don't dry out.

FORTIN: To save your skin and also some money, over the counter might be the way to go. But there's are some things to look for.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Over the counter, the retinols are very important. If you can't afford your retin-A look for the strongest retinol you can find. It helps to read your label. If you can't afford a prescription acne medication - benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid again come in different percentages. Go for the strongest one that you can.

And sometimes you may have to use a little bit of a moisturizer if these things dry you out. Because some of the over counter may be less kind to your skin. But you can compensate for that.

FORTIN: And finally don't take any chances if you notice any suspicious looking moles or growths. Experts says see a doctor. If that's too expensive, you might try looking for free skin screenings because in the end you and your skin can afford some cost cutting measures. But make sure those cuts don't come at too high a cost.

Judy Fortin, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, we're dedicating a good part of this hour in the NEWSROOM to your money. We know the stimulus bill is promising particularly if you have lost your job and relying on COBRA health insurance, the stimulus bill promises to help. We've been receiving a lot of e-mails from you as it pertains to health and staying healthy in this tight economy. Our panelists include Jordan Goodman and Dave Kansas, both authors and experts on money matters, as well as our Josh Levs here, who's been fielding a lot of the e-mails. So Josh, what are folks asking? What are they most curious about to try to stay healthy in tough times like this?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean you hit the nail on the head there. It's COBRA. So many people expressing frustrations with COBRA. Let's zoom in on the board. You're going to see just one of the many examples we've got today. Keith wrote us this. I'll just show you the figures here. He was laid off. His pays for health insurance now, via COBRA, for himself, his wife and his daughter, $2,600 a month, which he says is twice what he pays in his 30-year mortgage payment each month.

Jordan, I'm going to start off with this one for you. Where can someone find the best available health plan in a situation like that?

JORDAN GOODMAN, AUTHOR: The coverage is mostly unaffordable. They just lost their job. How can they possibly afford something like that? In the stimulus plan is a subsidy of the COBRA for the next nine months. It will help a little bit, but not really solve the long-term problem. What he wants to do is join what's called a PPO, a preferred provider organization and he can get much lower costs that way. If you're part of some association or something like that, it's a way of getting your health costs down, not have those very high COBRA premiums.

LEVS: If you can, if you can get on one of those. Let me go over to Dave because there's something similar here. People saying if they're not eligible for unemployment in the first place, maybe they can't even get COBRA. This is what Cheryl writes. She says, "what is available to help the small, small business owner?" She doesn't qualify for unemployment and she pays her own health insurance, which is astronomical. In a situation like that, which you are pretty much being an independent contractor, what do you do to have health insurance and to get by in this economy?

DAVE KANSAS, EDITOR: Well, it's pretty challenging. There are some associations that try to bring together independent contractors, organizations that try to pull resources, especially among small business owners? Usually within communities there are small business associations that are trying to put in touch people who can pull together to get more affordable insurance as a group of small business owners as opposed to someone who is just individually juts doing it on their own, which is incredibly expensive.

WHITFIELD: And Dave, I know that you have mentioned and really kind of encouraged people to try to manage some of the small things as opposed to managing the big things. But health kind of falls into the big thing category. What's your best advice?

KANSAS: Well, you do everything you can to stay healthy. And you try to find strategies to access health care. There are a number of academic associations. There's ways to participate in athletics that require some form of insurance. When I was uninsured as a youngster, I was a bicycle racer and was insured at the start of each race for my health. So I always joked that I would just get to the start of the race and fall off if I got really sick. So there are ways to get some kind of health insurance by these associations or participatory groups that are cheaper than what's on offer at some of these other organizations.

WHITFIELD: All right, we're going to get to a lot more questions that are coming our way at weekends@CNN.com. Your questions answered. Also you'll be getting some tips on saving money. E-mail us at weekends@CNN.com. Much more straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back, I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Incentives now for first time home buyers as a result of this stimulus plan. But given the way the economy is shaping up, does it make it harder for anyone to actually buy a home? We've got a great panel here. I feel like we're on the "Brady Bunch" here. We have our six boxes here. Jordan Goodman and Dave Kansas, both money experts and our Josh Levs, also fielding a lot of your questions out there and comments. Josh, what do we have on tap first?

LEVS: You know, it's interesting. Earlier this afternoon, you and I were talking about the stimulus bill and how there are incentives in there as you said, for first time home buyers. Let's zoom in on the board. I just want to show you one example. A lot of people writing us and they don't know whether they're ready to buy a house because they hear the housing market is so scary.

And this one is from Rachel who says she and her husband are living rent free in her parent's spare apartment to save money. $4,200 in savings, they have about $8,600 in debt and she wants to know if they have enough, if that's a good situation to be on track to buy a house. And Fred, this is what they're seeing. People don't know what it takes to be ready.

WHITFIELD: All right Jordan, how about an explainer?

GOODMAN: Well, that's not an awful lot of money for a down payment. You want at least 10 percent, ideally it would be 20 percent for a down payment on a house. Now affordability has gone up because the prices have come down and mortgage rates are much lower than they were before. So that's a good thing.

Let me give her a suggestion that she might not have heard about before. There's something called a mortgage equity accelerator and what that does is it allows you to pay your mortgage off typically in five to seven years, instead of 30 years with basically the same payment.

There's a Web site, people can find out about that, which is truthinequity.com. And basically the way it works is this, instead of having a traditional 30-year mortgage where you're paying basically all interest for the first 10 or 15 years, you use a home equity line of credit. You put your income into it, you put your expenses out of it and as a result, you're paying principal from day one. That allows you to pay your mortgage off much, much faster than you ever would otherwise. Again there's a little test, you can do everything at truthinequity.com.

WHITFIELD: And Dave, the first time buyers traditionally used to be that maybe you only needed somewhere between 5 and 10 percent just as a break for first time buyers. Is that still the case?

KANSAS: No, I don't think that's the case probably anywhere in the United States right now. Banks have gotten incredibly tough in terms of providing mortgages, 20 percent down. Jordan said 10. I think 10 at least, 20 is smart. You should think about your home as shelter, not as an investment. Over the last hundred years, houses have returned about inflation, about 3 percent a year. And people need to think conservatively about that. Put enough money down so that you can afford to live in it and use it as shelter as you'd like to enjoy it.

WHITFIELD: All right Josh, what else?

LEVS: Yes, you know, it's interesting. We also have one that's looking ahead. I find this is an interesting question. This comes to us from Tom in Stillman Valley, Illinois, who says should he be nervous at this point about how much gas is going to cost this summer? Will we see a repeat of what happened last summer? I know some of this involves things that we can't predict, but should people be saving up now for potentially very high costs of gasoline this coming summer?

I'll tell you what, let's start off with Dave on this.

KANSAS: You know, oil prices have come down quite a lot from $1.47 a barrel to the 30s. I do not think gasoline prices are going to take off this summer. They would only take off if the economy really just suddenly started to grow really, really, rapidly, which we would call a high-class problem. So I don't think that worrying about high gas prices is what someone should be focused on right now for this summer.

WHITFIELD: And you know, Jordan, people always want to put something aside if they have it for that rainy day. This sounds like that rainy day kind of category that you were talking about.

KANSAS: Well, it is. I think oil prices have come down sharply because demand has come down a lot. But it's been interesting, oil has been going down to like $35 a barrel but gasoline actually has been going up the last few weeks or so. It's because the refiners were losing a lot of money. They're raising their prices now to make some money where they weren't in the past. But I don't think you're going to get gasoline back up over $4 a gallon or something like that from what we had last summer. But I think they'll go up a little bit from where we were maybe in the $2 to $2.50 per gallon range.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jordan, Dave, Josh, thanks so much. We're going to hear much more from you because we want to know what people out there, what are you doing to save money? What do you want to ask the experts here? Send us an e-mail at weekends@CNN.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Hubble Space telescope showed us galaxies, planets, even exploding stars, things we've never seen before. In 2013, its successor will take you to infinity and beyond. PAUL GEITHNER, JAMES WEBB SPACE PROGRAM: Going to see that part of space in time when the very first galaxies and very first stars formed, more than 13 billion years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Named after the man who pioneered the first moon landing, it's called the James Webb Telescope or the JWT. It consists of 18 foldable mirrors, each two stories high. To protect those mirrors for the son, the JWT is equipped with a shield the size of a tennis court. All these giant parts will neatly fold up into the nose court of a rocket, which will blast it a million miles into space. And since the JWT is too far away for repairs, scientists have designed options on board JWT, so problems like the Hubble's blurry lens are less likely to happen again.

GEITHNER: We've designed enough adjustability that we can get it all aligned on orbit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So experts expect the JWT to keep us tuned in, perhaps delivering as many surprises as Hubble, maybe more.

GEITHNER: whenever we look at nature with a new tool, with new capabilities, we always discover amazing things. And that's the promise of the James Webb Telescope.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. We're talking about your money. There is a car buying incentive in the new stimulus plan. But there's some of you who are still pretty bent on wanting to lease. Which is the best for you this year? Jordan Goodman and Dave Kansas, both authors are with me now, as well as Josh Levs, fielding a lot of your e-mails, your comments and your questions. Josh, what's the first one?

LEVS: You know what Fred, again, you hit the nail on the head. It boils on to three words, lease or buy? I'm going to show you just one example of an e-mail we got from Jonathan Piller, who talks about if you lease a car, will that sales tax be deductible under the stimulus plan, or is it only for purchasing?

Jordan, let me bring this to you. In this economy, lease or buy and how does the stimulus affect that decision?

GOODMAN: The stimulus will give you a deduction for that whether you lease or buy. Sales tax however you pay it and typically you will pay that upfront with a lease.

So yes, it would be a good idea to get that. As far as why you lease versus buy, if you're going to get a new car every three or five years or so anyway, then leasing can make sense because you're not putting money, into an asset that's depreciating in value. The way I like to put it is buy things that appreciate, lease things that depreciate.

You know a car is going to depreciate, you just don't know how fast. Here's a Web site that can help people get the best deal on a car. There's an independent car buying service called carq.com. They can help you buy the best car or lease, whatever is best for you.

LEVS: You're giving us a lot of good Web sites. You know, I'll tell you what, next block before the end of the show, I'm going to pull up these Web sites on the screen so you all can jot them down at home and we'll be able to get it there. Sound like a plan? And I appreciate that.

Let me get in one more here for Dave because a lot of people also asking how to make money on the little that you have at this point. How do I actually start earning compound interest on the money I have saved? What do I need to do? That comes from Jie. Dave, any ideas there?

KANSAS: Well, I think one of the things you want to think about is you want to think about is first, you want to keep the money that you have saved. And that means don't take too many huge risks. I think in the current environment, a really smart investment would be tips or inflation protected securities. These are treasuries, so they're very safe. They also have inflation protection built in. And if we do get inflation, which some people expect because of the deficits, it's a particularly safe investment. So that's one way to start earning interest and have less fear about potential inflation eroding the gains you make by saving.

WHITFIELD: And gentlemen, let me ask you a bit more about lending. People have said that they can't buy a car, they can't buy a house, because they can't get a loan. However, Dave, we just heard within the past 24 hours that some of the big banks say, yes, indeed we are lending more. So what's the reality? If I want to buy a car and I want to take advantage of that stimulus plan incentive, am I going to be able to find someone who is going to make a loan for me?

GOODMAN: Depends on your credit score in many cases. If you have decent credit, yes, you can get loans today. If you don't, it's going to be very difficult or very expensive. That's the problem.

WHITFIELD: But that's been the complaint by a lot of people who even have great credit. Not even they can secure a loan in these dire times.

KANSAS: I think Fredricka it's true. I think there are challenges to getting credit. Jordan is correct that if you have good credit, you can get a loan. But it may be that you need to dial back your expectations about what size loan you're going to be able to get. It's a very difficult lending environment even though the banks are under pressure to lend, they don't want to go back to a period where they were lending without great rigor, which led to a lot of problems we had. So it is going to be a tough borrowing market going forward even if you do have good credit.

GOODMAN: If I can, a way to get good credit is to make sure you get any derogatories off your credit report. A lot of people have things on there that shouldn't be on there that makes their credit score.

WHITFIELD: Like what, what are the red flags? GOODMAN: There's all kinds of things. You paid something late when you didn't. You defaulted on your student loans, you're bankrupt. All kinds of things that are in many cases incorrect. Here's a Web site to take care of that, creditreportabc.com.

WHITFIELD: You jotting this down, Josh?

LEVS: I'll get it at the break.

GOODMAN: But the idea is at creditreportabc.com, they'll take care of all of the derogatories that are on there. In many cases get these things off in a way it's difficult for you to do. The way it works is they will go back to the original creditor and say, did, in fact they paid late? If they don't respond within 30 days to the credit bureau, it that has to be taken off.

WHITFIELD: All right, gentlemen. We're going to have much more straight ahead. You know, your last chance e-mail, your questions, your suggestions, weekends@CNN.com. And we'll read them right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, some final thoughts and comments from our panel, from our viewers. Josh, what are people saying?

LEVS: you know, it's interesting. First of all, I want to say thank you for answering so incredibly many questions today. We also asked people of ways of saving money. And I just want to share one quick story. If we can, let's zoom in on the board and then we'll get to this question. It's really nice.

It's a Valentine's story that we received. Let me see if I can get it up. She says she has received the most wonderful Valentine from her husband, a card saying how much he loves me. We worked together, played together, and gardened together this year for fun and to save money. Instead of roses, I got a bowl of vegetables. I loved it. It brought tears to my eyes. That's from Melissa Stanfield. So keep in mind, we've been getting your stories too. We're going to share them. We're also hearing from you on how to save money. We'll keep showing you.

WHITFIELD: I love that. And Jordan, how about your final thoughts on maybe two things that you think people need to be doing no matter what your financial situation, two things you need to commit to this year?

GOODMAN: Well getting your credit debt under control is certainly a major thing. I mentioned cambridgecredit.org for example. That is the kind of thing that can really make a big difference. And also, saving and investing. The rainy day has come. You've got to have some savings and investments put aside because it's going to be a rough economy this year for sure.

WHITFIELD: All right Dave, from you, two things to commit to this year. KANSAS: Thrift is the new black, Fredricka. People need to embrace thrift. They need to be prudent in how they live their life. So the two things to embrace would be budgeting -- people need to really budget so they can figure out what they're spending and save money. And they also need to think about planning for their retirement. They can't forget that. Everyone hates the stock market. But they cannot forget the discipline of planning for the long term. So don't lose sight of that while we're in the center of the storm.

WHITFIELD: I like that. I like that. Everyone needs to budget and appreciate what you have right now, right? As opposed to trying to figure out how to acquire more. Josh Levs, Dave Kansas, Jordan Goodman, thanks so much. Appreciate it. Thanks for you viewers as well contributing your thoughts and ideas. How much time do we have left?

LEVS: Do we have 30 seconds to show a few Web pages?

WHITFIELD: Thirty seconds, one more e-mail?

LEVS: Three Web pages. I just want to show you the Web pages really quickly, could we?

WHITFIELD: Yes, yes, yes, those e-mails.

LEVS: Yes, I just feel bad if we don't get to them because a few came up. Here's cambridgecredit.org that you were just talking about. Obviously people can see it for themselves. Feel free to visit.

Let me go back to this one as well. We talked about carq.com. But it's not coming in beautifully. But this is another one of the Web pages that came up to me. Then I think you remember this, the ABCs of credit repair. I think Jordan, you mentioned this one, right?

GOODMAN: Creditreportabc.com.

LEVS: This is creditrepairabc.com

GOODMAN: I don't know what that one is, but creditreportabc.com.

LEVS: Creditreportabc.com, we'll visit that one, too. I thought I got it. But we know that these are out there and we'll continue to report on these kinds of resources that you have as options obviously for yourselves to find a good rate that is out there. And Fred, if we're not disappearing fast, I can share one more story with you.

WHITFIELD: OK, let's see that because clearly, this is top of mind for everybody. We've been flooded with e-mails. As soon as we invited people to send in their e-mails about how they're being inventive, creative, or what kind of advice we're looking for, we have been inundated and we really appreciate it.

LEVS: Yes, it's beautiful and I love these stories and people are very clever. There's a lot of unique stories in here. We've got this one, I'll say quickly from Anna who wrote us, she's in Petaluma, California. Instead of going out every night with friends, drinking and eating food that's unhealthy, my friends and I are taking that time to go to the gym, go for walks, or go home and spend more times with loved ones. We're getting a lot of sweet stories.

WHITFIELD: I love this Valentine's weekend. Can't get enough of that.

LEVS: Maybe that's it. Maybe love is in the air.

WHITFIELD: I think it is, even though the economy is in the toilet for everybody. All right, thanks so much, Josh Levs. Appreciate it. Dave Kansas, Jordan Goodman, thank you so much, gentlemen, for playing this hour. And thanks to you, again, viewers, for sending your e- mails and inspiring some great conversations here, appreciate it.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield, see you again here tomorrow. Next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM begins right now with Don Lemon.