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A Homeowner's Lifeline or Nightmare; More Troops to Afghanistan; Muslim TV Exec Charged with Murder; Theme Park Teaches Kids About Money; Facebook's About Face
Aired February 18, 2009 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Keeping people in their homes. President Obama tells us about his program to prevent foreclosure. This hour, what you could find in the plan
Going home. Two former Border Patrol agents are freed from prison. Sentences for shooting an illegal immigrant commuted.
And Facebook's saving face? Online users unite to force a switch back for the social networking site.
It is Wednesday, February 18th, I'm Heidi Collins. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Well, the ink is barely dry on the stimulus bill, and the president is about to unveil yet another rescue plan just a few hours from now. The crisis this time? Record foreclosures. Millions of Americans may be on the edge of disaster.
And we are covering all of the angles for you. White house correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is traveling with the president. Gerri Willis and Stephanie Elam are looking at the details of this plan.
So let's go ahead and run through some of the expected details on the rescue plan. CNN personal finance editor, Gerri Willis, actually has a copy of it now and is looking at it.
Gerri, I've been watching you on the monitor here kind of go through this. What do you have?
(LAUGHTER)
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: All right. Well, this is a wide-ranging plan, a complicated plan, that I just got in my hand a few moments ago. We're trying to get a total price tag on it. Total numbers I see right now, $85 billion, it could be more. Again, this is wide ranging. It really goes to help seven to nine million families restructure or refinance their mortgages to avoid foreclosure.
Now what's interesting here is it just doesn't go to people who have missed payments. It also goes to help current homeowners who are suffering from falling prices and can't get a new loan with a lower rate. It helps people struggling to make payments and facing foreclosure who might have lost some income. And it also helps neighborhoods with high foreclosure rates. So let's drill down now here and really look at what this means and who's going to get help and precisely how. What this does for responsible homeowners, people who are actually making their payments, they will get a low-cost refinance, which will help four to five million people.
Heidi, you know how this works. You can't afford a refi because the value of your home has dropped so much, the government is going to step in and help there.
COLLINS: Right.
WILLIS: Point number two, people with reduced income because of lost jobs, they're going to get loan modifications. This is the Sheila Bair model and it means that it would bring payment levels down to 31 percent of income. Most controversial part of that plan, of course, was the government standing behind those loans in case they defaulted.
COLLINS: Yes.
WILLIS: Number three, this is how the industry is being incentive to help solve the problem. And this is an interesting part of this plan. Something new we really haven't seen. Servicers -- now, you remember, servicers are the people who stand in the middle, the people between those who own the mortgage and those who pay it.
They will get a fee of $1,000 for each loan modification. The administration is calling this "Pay for Success." Also, they will be setting up a $10 billion insurance fund, which the Treasury Department will run, designed to discourage lenders from foreclosing on mortgages because of declining prices.
Now, as you can see, there are a lot of different people whose interest are being looked after here. Both -- the industry, servicers, lenders, but also homeowners. Homeowners in a variety of different states. People who are simply suffering with declining home prices, but still making payments and those people facing foreclosure.
Now, as I said, we only got this moments ago. My big question here is, what does it do for people who are already in default.
COLLINS: Yes.
WILLIS: Maybe already seeing foreclosure. Not clear yet, but we will continue reading this plan for more details. But interesting to see that this plan is so thorough going and interesting and, of course, any -- any solution here is going to be expensive -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Yes, absolutely. It's going to take a while to absorb all of this as well and to get to a clear understanding. We'll continue to do that here in the CNN NEWSROOM today.
Gerri Willis, thanks for that.
WILLIS: My pleasure. COLLINS: Want to take you now to -- live to Arizona, Mesa, Arizona, and White House correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux, where all of this will be taking place today.
Suzanne, good morning to you.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. Obviously, people are going to be paying very close attention to what the president says about trying to save their homes. It really is quite a dismal situation here. We're looking at -- when you look at the national numbers, 80 percent increase in home foreclosures to 2.3 million people who lost their homes last year.
If you look at Arizona, it has the third highest home foreclosure rate. That's 117,000 people who lost their homes last year. And in the Phoenix area, where he's going to be speaking, you've got new home sales down 60 percent. Resales, down 72 percent. The median home prices down 35 percent from last year.
Obviously, a lot of people suffering here. And we had a chance to talk to a lot of folks and find out what are their greatest concerns. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm hoping that he can have some impact. But the banking system is a big tangled web at this point and I'm not sure that he's going to be able to have an impact without really going into some pretty deep regulation and that takes time. So I'm not sure he's going to be able to have an immediate impact.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It will take a long time to do it, because it took the banks a long time to get us where we are now and Wall Street. And the greed still is running rampant, and until that comes to a screeching halt, I don't see any really good, positive outlook for the future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So, Heidi, what you're hearing is people here really a little bit hesitant, perhaps doubtful that the government and President Obama's going to be able to do a lot to help them save their homes as well as their jobs. But certainly, he's going to be in front of a group of about 400 people here at this high school and part of the strategy is, obviously, to help folks stay in their homes, but also to get them outside of Washington, here in front of real people to try to convince them, that, yes, he's got the right solution and the right plan -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, CNN's Suzanne Malveaux traveling with the president today.
All right, thank you, Suzanne.
And you know, one goal of the rescue plan, stopping the skid of housing construction. Just a few minutes ago, a new snapshot on housing starts and the numbers unfortunately are worse than expected.
CNN business correspondent Stephanie Elam is joining us now with details on that.
So, Stephanie, yes, we're talking about keeping people in the homes they already have. I mean who's talking about actually building new ones?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: There's not a lot of people, Heidi. So I don't think this is too much of a surprise when you see that the numbers are worse.
Let's take a look at the numbers here. For the housing starts which construction of new homes, apartments, that kind of thing, we're looking at a drop of 16.8 percent, almost 17 percent drop to 466,000. That is down from the 550,000 that from the prior month there. That's the slowest pace in half a century, and it's also the seventh month in a row of declines. The last time we saw a rise here was June of last year.
Now I want to take also a look at building permits. That gives us an indication of future building activity. Well, for the month of January, 521,000 was the number. That is down about 5 percent from December. That number being about 547,000. So, this is slightly weaker than what the street was -- or what everyone was expecting it to be. That's also a record low.
Both of these numbers coming in weaker than expected. And just to give some perspective here, Heidi, on why we care so much about this and why this is happening.
COLLINS: Yes.
ELAM: You've got a situation where you've got builders have -- they've no incentive to go ahead and build anything. There's already too many unsold homes on the market right now. That is undercutting prices and if you look at that, that leads people to the overall recession which means companies are cutting jobs because of that.
People are concerned about layoffs, so they're hoarding the money that they do have and they're not spending it especially on big things like homes. That all feeds back in. On top of it, people who do want to buy homes are probably having a hard time getting credit, getting a mortgage to do so.
COLLINS: Absolutely.
ELAM: Because credit has been so frozen. So it's an ongoing cycle, that's why we care so much about it, because, let's just face it, the economy is not healthy right now.
COLLINS: Yes.
ELAM: And a lot of people believe it started in the housing sector. And if we can get that back on its feet, then perhaps we can get the economy rolling again. COLLINS: Yes, absolutely. And you say there's no incentive for builders, I mean, the incentive, of course, is making money but...
ELAM: Right.
COLLINS: ... it's difficult to do when nobody's...
ELAM: If there's too many homes.
COLLINS: ... to build a new home.
ELAM: Yes.
COLLINS: All right, Stephanie Elam, sure do appreciate that. Thank you.
ELAM: Sure.
COLLINS: A top policymaker takes questions this afternoon. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke will talk at a National Press Club luncheon in Washington and then he faces questions from the audience.
Under Bernanke, the Fed has taken unprecedented action to loosen credit markets and stabilize financial institutions.
Bad news, though, for more than 1,000 American workers -- thousands, I should say. The tire maker, Goodyear, announced this morning it will cut 5,000 jobs this year. That's on top of the 4,000 jobs that were eliminated in the second half of last year. For those who are still with the company, salaries will be frozen.
A budget deal in Kansas may clear the way for state workers to get paid this week. Governor Kathleen Sebelius signed a bill calling for new cuts in this year's budget. Now, Republican leaders wanted the bill signed before they would support moving money around to pay the state's bills.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. KATHLEEN SEBELIUS (D), KANSAS: I'm just sorry that we had to have high drama and worry a lot of Kansans about our ability to pay our obligations in order to get to the end of this process. I think a lot of people in this state are worried unnecessarily, and Kansas is being advertised around the country as in the same shape as California. I would suggest that's hardly the case. This was self- created drama.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: California may be even farther from reaching a budget deal, though, this morning. Late last night, state Republicans fired their Senate leader. Unhappy with his backing of Governor Schwarzenegger's budget plan, they replaced him with someone opposed to the plan. Another 10,000 layoff notices could go out to state employees today. We're going to be talking live with the Democratic head of the state Senate, coming up next hour.
Up to 10 feet of snow. That is what a week of storms brought to the Sierra Nevada. It also meant hassles for motorists, of course, who needed chains or snow tires just to make it over all the mountain passes. But, it is sheer bliss for skiers and ski resort owners who've been coping with a snow pack well below normal.
Today, the worry is not so much snow as the wind and rain and lightning. Our Rob Marciano keeping tabs on all of it from the CNN Weather Center.
Yes, bliss, though, for the skiers. Yes?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
COLLINS: No more worries about the snow pack.
MARCIANO: And for a time there the only problem was getting to the hills.
COLLINS: Yes.
MARCIANO: It was coming down so hard as often the case. A four- wheel drive, a chain, whatever it takes to get up there and hit it.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: All right, great. We'll be watching that with you. Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: You got it.
COLLINS: Well, they say they were thrown in prison just for doing their jobs. But after more than two years, patience pays off.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MONICA RAMOS, WIFE OF IGNACIO RAMOS: He was a free man. He wasn't being escorted by six, seven guards at one time. Seeing that bright orange outfit. It was just great to see him and to see his smile.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: How an order straight from the top changed the fate of two former border guards.
ANNOUNCER: CNN NEWSROOM brought to you by...
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COLLINS: Their case became a lightning rod in the argument over border security. And now, after more than two years in prison, two ex-Border Patrol agents are enjoying their first full day out from behind bars.
CNN's Casey Wian has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): After 25 months behind bars, former Border Patrol agent Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos walked out of prison Tuesday nearly a freeman.
"LOU DOBBS "TONIGHT was on the flight carrying Nacho, his wife, Monica, and his attorney from Phoenix where he spent most of his time in solitary protective custody, to El Paso where supporters welcomed Ramos home.
Last month outgoing President Bush granted Ramos and fellow former agent Jose Compean commutations of their 11- and 12-year prison sentences for shooting and wounding a drug smuggler in 2005.
RAMOS: He was a free man. He wasn't being escorted by six, seven guards at one time. Seeing that bright orange outfit, it was just great to see him and to see his smile.
WIAN: Ramos and Compean are under orders from the Federal Bureau of Prisons not to speak with reporters until their commutations are effective March 20th. They will serve in home confinement until then.
Their convictions outraged more than 100 members of Congress and hundreds of thousands of supporters who bombarded the White House with demands for the agents' release.
JOE LOYA, FATHER-IN-LAW OF IGNACIO RAMOS: I never gave up. I have a lot of faith. And I -- and every time I saw Nacho, everything I went to visit him, I just told him you take care of yourself. We're going to get you out, and it happened finally.
WIAN: The agents were convicted largely on the testimony of Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, an illegal alien from Mexico who has since pleaded guilty to drug smuggling charges. Some of those trafficking offenses occurred while he was under immunity from prosecution to testify against the agents.
Ramos and Compean are continuing to pursue with the U.S. Supreme Court an effort to overturn their convictions. For now, Ramos will spend time getting reacquainted with his wife, three sons and scores of family and friends.
(On camera): One of the agents' chief congressional advocates, California congressman Dana Rohrabacher, said at last Ramos and Compean have been rightfully reunited with their families. This day is long overdue.
Casey Wian, CNN, El Paso, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Eleven people received commuted sentences from former President Bush. Among them, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who used to be Dick Cheney's chief of staff. But Cheney wanted a full pardon, apparently pushing hard in his last days as vice president. And we're now hearing reports it caused a serious rift in the White House.
The "New York Daily News" says Cheney was left fuming hen his efforts to get President Bush to pardon Libby were rebuffed. Libby was convicted in 2007 of perjury and obstruction of justice in the Valerie Plame identify leak case.
Facebook hearing from its users loud and clear and then backing down on a controversial policy. Josh Levs is on the case now for us this morning.
Josh, what's the story here?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's about who owns the content you post online. You'll be hearing from Facebook's top executives right here.
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COLLINS: Disturbing images from a high school basketball game. Game breaking down into a street fight. The fans spilling out onto the court to take their swings.
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COLLINS: Score one for the users. Facebook backs down. The popular social networking site is returning to its old terms of use policy after a stinging backlash from its members.
CNN's Josh Levs is joining us now with more.
Backing down we rarely see that with the big companies backing down to the little guy, right?
LEVS: A lot of people are really celebrating this this morning, Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes.
LEVS: You know, it's really interesting. I mean let's remind everybody the basics here. The concern was whether Facebook could legally lay claim to ownership of something that you try to share with your friends over the Web site. And the company was adamant it does not do that.
Here's the announcement, so if you sign into Facebook this morning, this is what you saw. "Terms of Use Update." It says they decided to return to their previous terms of use. Now here's what happened. Let me show you another Web site called The Consumerist right here.
The Consumerist pretty much started all these things. They picked up on a change that Facebook had made in their terms of use. The company had basically said that if you close your account, Facebook cannot claim rights to original content that you upload which makes sense, but they had taken out that line. They've since put it back.
I have a full screen for you here. Let's take a look at this. This is what Facebook's Terms of Use is saying today, a few key quotes fro it. "If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however, you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies.
"Facebook does not assert any ownership over your User Content, rather subject to the rights granted to us in these terms. You retain full ownership," this is the key here, "of all of your User Content and any intellectual property rights or other proprietary rights associated with your User Content."
You know, that's a lot of legalese. I usually skip over some of it but people are pointing to every word here. And today on "AMERICAN MORNING," Facebook's chief privacy officer Chris Kelly said the company actually hadn't tried to change its policy. They're trying to clarify. Here's what he told us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS KELLY, CHIEF PRIVACY OFFICER, FACEBOOK: Because of the lack of clarity and the confusion that had resulted, we wanted to be very, very clear with users about how important -- how important their trust is to us and roll back to the old version of the Terms of Service, which we did last night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: There you go. And the company CEO Mark Zuckerberg also blogged about this on Facebook's blog. He wrote about the feedback his company has been getting. We have an example for you here. He said, "Based on the feedback, we've decided to return to our previous terms of use while we resolve the issues that people have raised."
And Heidi, the company says it's going to be making more revisions, so we here at CNN are going to keep an eye on what kind of changes they make and what it could mean for you.
COLLINS: Yes. Well, it might be a little bit too early to know this, but do Facebook users now seem happy with the changes? Will it be enough?
LEVS: They do. Yes, there's a bunch of groups on Facebook and -- that were (INAUDIBLE), are saying yay, the Consumerist is blogging about it as well. I have a quote for you here, actually. Let's go to that. It's just a funny one. But I think it summarizes what a lot of people are feeling this morning.
It said, "Phew, now we can all go back to sending each other digital cupcakes without Big Brother watching us." That's a reference to one of the many things you can do on Facebook, where you can send each other these little pictures. And I will tell you this, thanks to our brilliant digital producers here, I'm now on Facebook, Josh Levs CNN, and actually we're asking you this morning what do you think about these changes. What's your feeling about the return of the Terms of Use. Just search Josh Levs CNN. You can weigh in there and we'll be sharing some of those with you right here.
COLLINS: Yes, just really quickly...
LEVS: Yes.
COLLINS: ... to get through the legalese, basically they're saying you now can put stuff on Facebook.
LEVS: Right.
COLLINS: And then get it back if you don't want it on there anymore. It is not the property of Facebook for them to keep on there for all of eternity.
LEVS: Right. They are saying that if you close your account, it's yours and you take with you. They may retain copies but they are emphasizing that does not mean in any way that they feel that they have any kind of ownership.
COLLINS: OK. Understood.
LEVS: Yes.
COLLINS: Josh Levs, thank you.
LEVS: Thanks, Heidi.
COLLINS: Programs that promise to help those on the brink of foreclosure. They sound good, but are they too good to be true? CNN's special investigations unit looks into it.
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ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins.
COLLINS: Well, as you know by now, opening bell just about to ring. It will happen in about a minute or so on Wall Street and stocks are poised for a higher start following yesterday's close that came within a hair of a very dangerous level for the Dow.
Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange now with a look at what investors will be watching today.
Hi there, Susan.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi. How do we define a hair? Well, within a third of a point.
COLLINS: Wow. LISOVICZ: The Dow closed within a third of a point of the current bear market low hit back in November. That's how low it got. Analysts worried that if we do break below that level, stocks could fall much further before they find a new support level.
Meanwhile, we're looking at Detroit again. GM and Chrysler asking for a combined $21.6 billion in additional aid to stay afloat. GM also said it would cut 47,000 jobs over the course of 2009.
Anxiety over the fate of GM and Chrysler, of course, a big factor weighing on markets. Sentiment yesterday, the pair turned in their viability plans to the Treasury Department after the market closed and the market is now open for business and we have more job cuts to tell you about.
Tire giant, Goodyear, slashing 5,000 more jobs this year as well on top of the 4,000 it announced last year. The manufacturer blaming lower industry demand for the cuts, which come on the heels of a worse-than-expected quarterly loss.
Deere & Company, clocking in with a 45 percent tumble in quarterly profits. Thanks to tight credit and a drought that hurt Latin American sales, the world's largest maker of farm equipment also lowered its full-year forecast. Obviously, the housing recession also hurting Deere and housing starts fell nearly 17 percent in January to a record low. Now down more than 56 percent from this time a year ago. Building permits, a good indicator of future activity fell nearly five percent.
This afternoon, President Obama announces his $50 billion home loan modification plan in Arizona. We'll be watching that. And we're watching the averages in the first minute of trading. We see some signs of life. There is a pulse, Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Excellent.
LISOVICZ: Yes, it's up 22 points or a quarter of a percent. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 are up half a percent. Ringing the opening bell today, Hedge Fund Cares.
COLLINS: Really?
LISOVICZ: It almost sounds like an oxymoron.
COLLINS: It does.
LISOVICZ: But it is a charity set up by hedge funds to support efforts to prevent and treat child abuse.
COLLINS: All right. Susan --
LISOVICZ: There is some good work coming from them.
COLLINS: Yes, definitely. All right, Susan, appreciate it. Thank you.
LISOVICZ: You're welcome.
COLLINS: You know, auto sales have gone from bad to worse, and now the automakers with hat in hand are asking for more federal bailout loans. You just heard Susan refer to it. GM and Chrysler say they could need almost an extra $22 billion in loans, bringing their overall total -- for now -- to a staggering $39 billion. The two automakers also outlined plans to cut 50,000 jobs worldwide by the end of the year. And slash certain models and brands. GM said it plans to close five more plants in the next few years. And the automakers presented their government-required restructuring plans yesterday.
We've seen it time and again. Homeowners struggling to make mortgage payments grab at any lifeline they can find. Take a program called The Way Forward. For some, it's just that. But others find themselves falling farther behind. Drew Griffin with CNN's special investigations unit has a case in point.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATION'S UNIT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Kathy Lovelace, it sure seemed like a way out of a three-year nightmare.
KATHY LOVELACE: I was calling in reference to your way forward. The program that you have available.
GRIFFIN: Chase mortgage, at least on paper, throwing a lifeline to hundreds of thousands of people like Kathy on the brink of foreclosure. Charlie Sharp Chase's own vice president of retail financing pictured in this "New York Times" photo even posted a podcast promising help. Sharp says the company's duty? To help customers stay in their homes.
Chase knows something about lifelines. Receiving $25 billion in taxpayer money. Money from you and people like Kathy Lovelace with the government bailout program.
PODCAST WITH CHARLES SCHARF: Our goal is to do whatever we can to help them. We believe we have an obligation to make sure our customers get every chance to keep their home.
GRIFFIN: It all sounded great to Lovelace, who divorced, lost her job and had to refinance to settle credit card debt. But her five percent interest mortgage jumped to 12 percent with refinancing. Her mortgage was then sold to a Chase company, EMC. Her troubles accelerated when the new mortgage company, EMC said property taxes were not withheld in the new mortgage. The county sent a bill and the mortgage company used an entire payment to pay it. Putting her a month behind.
Despite making additional payments of $300 a month to make up the difference, EMC, she said, threw her in default, refusing to accept the final payment that would have caught her up. So, when she called Chase yet again, to try to participate in The Way Forward program to modify the terms of her loan, she was told EMC/Chase customers weren't eligible, despite Chase's advertising saying they were. LOVELACE: EMC's not participating?
CHRIS HOVER, ATTORNEY: The Way Forward right now is nowhere. They're just continuing to run people around, hiding behind the complexity of this whole mess.
GRIFFIN: Chris Hover a plaintiffs' attorney whose firm has sued several banks including EMC says programs like The Way Forward are asking people to pay to solve problems the banks themselves created.
HOVER: There are no regulators. They created their own banking system. And laid waste to an entire country.
GRIFFIN: He said now that the banks are getting billions of your taxpayer dollars. They are more focused on public relations than customer relations. Lovelace says EMC told her she would have to put up $17,000 before any modification could be considered to her loan. Chase may have a big PR push from their Park Avenue, New York, office, but they didn't want to go on camera to answer our questions.
Instead, we got a statement from their Media Relations Department saying "Chase wants to keep families in their homes, whenever possible. In the last two years, Chase has worked to help avert foreclosure 330,000 times. Unfortunately, the statement reads, some borrowers are not able to stay in their homes because they simply can't afford the payments."
LOVELACE: I've been trying to re-modify my loan for over two years now, haven't gotten anywhere.
GRIFFIN: Back in Florida, with our camera rolling, Kathy Lovelace tried again to work with Chase only to be twice disconnected after 45 minutes of conversation.
LOVELACE: Every time we get to that point, we get cut off.
GRIFFIN: After two years of trying, a surprise for Kathy Lovelace. A Chase mortgage counselor actually called her and offered her a way forward. That call came on the same day Chase told CNN it couldn't talk about her case.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, the change that people go through when they go through this process with us really is a wonderful thing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: All right, Drew Griffin joining us now. So, Drew, what about the people Chase says can actually not stay in their homes because they can't afford the payments? I mean, is there help for them in all of this?
GRIFFIN: You know, I think that's where -- there is a lot of false hope out there coming from politicians, quite frankly. There are a lot of people in loans that can't afford it. They -- the bank put them in houses.
COLLINS: Right.
GRIFFIN: They, themselves, put them in houses that they simply can't afford to live with. I'll give you one example. A guy in Maryland was making $7,900 a year -- $7,900 a year, he refinanced for $347,000.
COLLINS: How do you do that?
GRIFFIN: There is no way to do the math that that makes sense. No, he shouldn't have done it. The mortgage lender shouldn't have done it.
COLLINS: Right.
GRIFFIN: Chase should never have bought that loan. So, they're all in this same boat. But I don't see, unless the government buys this guy's house and lets him live there, rent free, how he gets out of this.
COLLINS: Yes. And how often are we going to see that happening?
GRIFFIN: Right. You have to have -- to modify a loan, you have to have income. A lot of people don't have income right now. That's why they're in the problem they're in. So, you know, where do these programs, these programs from the White House or the programs from Chase end in the balance? They're still working that out, and there's going to be a lot of pain ahead.
COLLINS: Yes, absolutely. All right. Great story, Drew Griffin, thanks so much.
A stormy day expected in the southeast. Rob Marciano joining us now. This is a bit of a change from we've been talking about the west so much and all that snow out there. Nasty weather in the southeast.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Rob, thanks.
I'm not sure if you saw this yesterday with A-Rod, the apologies? Look at this now. He has more to say about his use of performance- enhancing drugs. He told reporters at the Yankees' training camp, he used an over-the-counter drugs from the Dominican Republic. He said his cousin bought it and gave him the shots, but he also said he wasn't sure he was doing anything wrong.
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ALEX RODRIGUEZ, NEW YORK YANKEES: I didn't think they were steroids. I mean, that's -- that's again part of being young and stupid. It was over-the-counter. It was pretty basic. And, you know, it was really amateur hour. I mean, it was two guys. We couldn't go outside. We couldn't ask anyone. We didn't want to ask anyone. We went outside team doctors, team trainers.
QUESTION: Do you consider what you did cheating? RODRIGUEZ: That's not for me to determine. I'm here to say that I'm sorry. I'm here to say that in some ways I wish I went to college and got an opportunity to grow up, at my own pace. You know, I guess when you're young and stupid, you're young and stupid.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Rodriguez says he stopped taking the substance when Major League Baseball implemented a stronger drug policy.
The on-court action got dangerously out of hand at Tuesday's Alabama state high school basketball tournament. That is the disturbing scene. It started as a shoving match between players on the court. But as coaches broke it up, fans poured out of the stands to join in the fight. Police detained 11 teenagers for questioning. But no charges have been filed. Those could actually come later today. Officials say there were no serious injuries. Wow.
A campaign promise realized. President Obama dispatching more troops to Afghanistan. The reactions from Kabul in the NEWSROOM.
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COLLINS: Four weeks in to office, Barack Obama has ordered his first combat deployments of his presidency. 17,000 more U.S. troops heading to Afghanistan.
CNN's Atia Abawi was embedded with American forces and is joining us now from Kabul, Afghanistan.
Atia, what kind of reaction are you getting now to this news about more troops headed that way?
ATIA ABAWI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, the government has been open to new troops coming in to Afghanistan, particularly in regions that they say it's needed the most, and that's the southern- most volatile regions bordering Pakistan. Although the 10th Mountain Division from Ft. Drum, New York, is the first of this new influx. And they are strategically located in the provinces border in Kabul. They're not in the south, but they are strategically positions. And we actually went on a patrol with these -- a few of these troops just a few days ago.
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ABAWI (voice-over): A unit of the U.S. army's 10th Mountain Division prepares to go on patrol. They've only been here for a couple of weeks.
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIERS: As we were walking to the streets make sure that we're kind of looking at the rooftops and things like that, that way, you know, we're good situational aware around the area.
ABAWI: They are part of task force Spartan, a big increase in the U.S. presence in the region. And they are the first of tens of thousands to arrive. As Washington shifts its focus to Afghanistan and dealing with the resurgent Taliban.
CAPT. STAN POLK, U.S. ARMY: This has been kind of neglected, if you will. They've had free reign. Been very unopposed here.
ABAWI: Adapting to their new mission isn't easy. The men and women here have been training for a deployment to Baghdad. Three months before they were due to go, their destination changed, to this remote and unforgiving terrain.
POLK: Yes, there's a lot of intricacies and culture training that we focus specifically one for Iraq, but a day-to-day insurgent fight even in the cities of Pul-e-Alam, the mountains of Logar and Arrai (ph), or wherever, you're still sticking with the same basics.
ABAWI: Logar and Wardak Provinces are close to the capital of Kabul, which has seen an alarming increase of Taliban attacks. Some 3,000 U.S. troops will be based here trying to prevent Taliban infiltration and getting the cooperation of local people.
(on camera): We just had a walk through the Pul-e-Alam district center where the Afghans were staring at the U.S. troops but not necessarily because they were not happy that they were here, but because they were curious. This is the largest presence that the U.S. troops have had in Logar Province since the war began.
(voice-over): The locals appeared to have mixed feelings about the new presence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We are happy if they bring us security. We just have a request that they not go into homes, bombard our homes at their own will or air strike innocent people.
ABAWI: And that's what these troops say they will bring, making this forgotten war today's priority.
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: I don't want to block up traffic too much more.
ABAWI: It's a far-away place for soldiers from Ft. Drum in New York to find themselves. And it won't be long before the Taliban's expected spring offensive tests them. Task force Spartan may provide early clues about whether a new influx of troops can work.
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ABAWI: Heidi, as you said, that President Obama -- President Obama has reaffirmed his commitment to send 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in a phone conversation he had with President Karzai of Afghanistan. It is expected that the majority of those troops will be sent to those southern volatile regions, particularly in the Helmand and Kandahar Provinces.
Heidi?
COLLINS: All right, understood. Atia Abawi, thanks so much. Coming to us live from Kabul, Afghanistan, today.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton making the second stop of her Asian tour this morning. Clinton landed in Indonesia just a few hours ago. And she's meeting with the country's leaders today to discuss partnerships in Southeast Asia. Clinton was in Japan yesterday, and China and South Korea are next on the agenda.
New pictures of Fidel Castro showing up in Cuban newspapers, and in a new jogging suit. These pictures are from last week's meeting between Castro and the president of Chile. They are first pictures of Castro in official Cuban media since June of last year.
A wife beheaded. A husband, charged. Their Muslim TV network thrown into the spotlight. Details coming up in the NEWSROOM.
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COLLINS: New details now on a horrific murder we told you about yesterday. A woman is beheaded, her husband charged. And the Muslim TV network they founded now a crime scene. CNN national correspondent Gary Tuchman has the details.
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GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He sounded so self- deprecating when he talked about his wife.
MUZZAMMIL HASSAN, ACCUSED OF MURDERING WIFE: Unfortunately, she has probably made the biggest sacrifice, because she doesn't get much of my time.
TUCHMAN: Muzzammil Hassan, introducing his wife, Aasiya Zubair Hassan to dignitaries in the news media. As they talk about the TV cable channel in Buffalo they started from Muslim Americans.
HASSAN: She came up with the idea and then turned to me and said, you know, why don't you do it? And I was like, I have no clue about television. I'm a banker.
TUCHMAN: But Bridges TV was born. What sounded like a professional and personal success story for the seemingly happy couple.
AASIYA HASSAN, BEHEADED: I would appreciate it if he get a lot of patience and understanding and people actually sat down and watched the channel to figure out exactly what the lifestyle -- what Muslims are about.
TUCHMAN: The talk of patience and understanding now tragically and outlandishly ironic. Aasiya Hassan is now dead, killed savagely. Found inside the television station, allegedly beheaded by her husband. Even police are shocked.
CHIEF ANDREW BENZ, ORCHARD PARK POLICE: She was decapitated, yes.
TUCHMAN: The Orchard Park New York police department says there have been several domestic violence calls to the family home.
BENZ: There has been some history, I believe, Mrs. Hassan, the victim, had just recently filed for divorce and had served the papers on Mr. Hassan.
TUCHMAN: A South African newspaper reports the victim's sister who lives in Cape Town was on the phone with Aasiya Zubair during what she believes was the attack. Asma Firfirey telling the paper, "I can only imagine how scared and emotional she must have been before she died."
BENZ: We had been down there on Friday the 6th to survey on their house, to serve an order protection.
TUCHMAN: Bridges TV had evolved into programming focusing on other minorities, too. Muslims and non-Muslims both worked there.
HASSAN: I was just thrilled to see a tremendous amount of talent that is out there among the American-Muslim community, as well as the level of goodwill in mainstream America to urge Muslims.
TUCHMAN: The man who praised goodwill is charged with his wife's murder. A buffalo attorney who expects to represent Hassan has declined to comment about the case. The children of the Hassans, ages 4 and 6, are being cared for by colleagues of the couple. How the children deal with this is unimaginable.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Atlanta.
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COLLINS: The value of money. One lesson mom doesn't have to teach by herself.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's like a city, but a small city, and you have to earn your own money, you have to work, you have to would be like the others.
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COLLINS: We'll take you to a theme park where kids have to work before they can play.
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COLLINS: Teaching kids about money, not in the classroom, but at a theme park. CNN's Al Goodman reports on a giant fun house where kids have to pay to play.
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AL GOODMAN, CNN MADRID BUREAU CHIEF CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A little city for little people. And all of them want to drive these electric cars. But there's a catch. They have to work for it first. Sixth grader Beatriz Saz agreed to show us the system. First stop, the bank. Get some start-up cash, provided by the theme park. But they'll have to earn more. Call it kiddy capitalism, debuting during the global financial crisis. The CEO says they consulted educators to create micropolis.
MANUEL LAGARES, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, NEINVER MICROPOLIS: Basically, what they learn is that they need to work in order to get money and they need to work in order to understand how the society functions. So at the end of the day, what they do is what their parents will do in normal life, but with a very important thing, they need to play.
GOODMAN (on camera): There are long lines for a lot of activities like in any theme park. The difference here is the play money the kids are working with. They quickly learn the real value of how to spend it and what it takes to earn more. Beatriz' first job, a messenger, going to pick up a package at the employment office. This one, unusual. It still has a job for everyone. Package financially delivered. And payday. To help pay for the driver's license course. Then, the driving test. Not mere child's play. Beatriz passed, but her girlfriend's didn't.
Was it very difficult?
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Yes. (INAUDIBLE).
GOODMAN: The driver's license itself is an additional fee. It's a market economy in miniature. Kids spend hard-earned cash for an activity, but earn some more at others. Maybe as a model, maybe as a cameraman or presenter for kiddy TV.
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Hasta manana.
MARISA NIETA, MOTHER: Because it's like a city, but a small city, and you have to earn your own money and you have to work. You have to be like an adult.
GOODMAN: Like an adult, Beatriz has to buy auto insurance.
BEATRIZ SAZ, SIXTH GRADER (through translator): I've learned that to have things, you have to make an effort to get them. And that money is very important.
GOODMAN: Finally, she is behind the wheel. A quick stop for gas, which she also pays for, yet a chance to reap the rewards of her hard work. Just one complaint, Beatriz says. They don't let the kids drive for very long.
Al Goodman, CNN, Madrid.
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COLLINS: The Spanish company that runs the theme park plans to expand into other cities, too. There is a similar park in Sunrise, Florida called Wanna Do City. Kids can go there and test drive different jobs. If you want to learn more about this, check out their Web site www.wannadocity.com.
Help for homeowners on the brink. President Obama reveals his foreclosure prevention plan.
Ugly spill at a scenic site. What's behind the big mess in San Francisco Bay?
And you've heard about the chimp that went on the attack. Now hear the pet owner's frantic 911 call. It's Wednesday, February 18th, I'm Heidi Collins. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
