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Why AIG matters; "Pandemonium" in Pakistan; Uncle Sam's Open Arms; The Big Rig Boom
Aired March 03, 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: Your jobs our focus this hour. Is the bloodletting letting up on Wall Street?
And that jaw-dropping AIG loss. What could 62 billion bucks buy you?
Where is the work and who's hiring? Your Uncle Sam. We'll tell you how to get in touch.
And sports team attacked. Six people killed and eight wounded in a Pakistan ambush.
It is Tuesday, March 3rd. Hi, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Want to get to this breaking news that we have right now for you. We've been telling you since yesterday now about this horrible story that happened on the waters. We know that two NFL players are still missing along with one other man. We do have, however -- I believe that we have the father, is that correct, on the line with us of the gentleman who was found clinging to a boat that had capsized in the water.
Stuart Schuyler is joining me now with some reaction to all of this and it's, obviously, an ongoing story, Mr. Schuyler. Tell us your reaction this morning now and have you seen your son?
STUART SCHUYLER, BOATING SURVIVOR'S FATHER: Good morning. Yes, I have. Obviously, we're all elated, but we're so very concerned about the other three missing men. My son is doing fine. He will recuperate. He's beat up and bruised, dehydrated but in good spirits.
COLLINS: Tell us of that conversation was like as we look at this video right now. We are seeing him being loaded into the Coast Guard. I believe they have just landed here in this video, so they are taking him in for treatment now.
When you first saw him, what did he have to say to you?
SCHUYLER: Well, he was so dehydrated. He was semiconscious. He did not really talk. He just nodded. The only thing he did say was, "Hi, pops." We were actually on the way to the hospital. I got a call from my old hometown, Cleveland, Ohio, from good friend saying that they were watching him being lifted to the chopper and saying that he looked like he was all right.
COLLINS: Has he been able to tell you anything at all about what happened out there?
SCHUYLER: He kept breaking down crying because he was leaving consciousness, hypothermia was setting in, I guess. They were all clinging together helping each other the whole time. And, you know, of course, it's hard to keep track of time out there.
COLLINS: Sure.
SCHUYLER: He was in the water roughly 40 hours and he said to us four or five hours he was alone. He said they drifted apart. It was still dark. They couldn't see each other. And he just kept crying.
COLLINS: Well, I can imagine he is going through some very emotional times right now. I have a couple of other questions for you. But update us on his condition this morning.
SCHUYLER: Well, he -- you know, they kept him in overnight and said when they were going to release him. There doesn't appear to be any broken bones and vital signs were all normal or post-normal given the circumstances.
COLLINS: Sure.
SCHUYLER: So his body temperature really didn't drop that much. He did have a couple of sweatshirts on and because they kept going in and out of the water, I believe that helped them -- helped all of them, you know, for a while.
COLLINS: And just to remind everyone, the circumstance here that we're talking about really bad storm. This was a fishing excursion that Nick went on with three other people and just want to give those names to everyone because, obviously, it's still a developing story and we are waiting to hear more about Marquis Cooper, Corey Smith, and also William Bleakley.
Bleakley was a former University of Florida football player, Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper, and free agent Corey Smith for Detroit Lions, who we are talking about.
Can you give us an update, Mr. Schuyler, on what is happening today off the coast of Florida? I know this is such a vast area for them to still be searching.
SCHUYLER: Well, I can only tell you what I've heard from the captain of the Coast Guard.
COLLINS: Right.
SCHUYLER: Since they found the boat, they are able to narrow their search. It's still an ongoing search. They're still hoping we're going to come up with good news here. And I can only tell you that because I've heard it on the TV down here myself. So that's all I know at this time.
COLLINS: All right. Well, we can certainly hear the concern, obviously, in your voice, and a bit of relief as well. Any idea when Nick will be able to get out of the hospital and when he'll be able to come home?
SCHUYLER: No. We'll find it out more today.
COLLINS: All right. Well, we certainly appreciate your time.
Stuart Schuyler is the father of South Florida former football player Nick Schuyler, who was found just clinging to this 21-foot boat and in those seas that they were fighting that day beyond 48 hours ago now. Very small vessel because of how bad that storm was.
We see his pictures there being taken indoors for treatment. Off the coast of Florida, three people still missing. We, of course, will stay on top of this story for you as the news develops.
And now looking for a bounce on Wall Street. Early signs point to a positive start at the bottom of the hour. That is welcome news after yesterday's tail spin. Today's open, the lowest in nearly a dozen years. The Dow plunged almost 300 points and closed well below 7000.
Overnight, international trading has been mixed. Asia continues its slump and trading in Europe has been a little bit higher.
We have a lot of ground to cover on this front so let's go ahead and get right to it now. CNN's Christine Romans is in New York for us this morning.
Hi there, Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Heidi.
Well, the bear of 2008 is still biting well into 2009, that's for sure. This bear market just really keeps on hitting and the Dow closing below 7000 yesterday. In fact, just a pretty horrific performance all the way around.
Now, today, they are looking, as you pointed out, maybe for some stability here at the open after the tough time. But look at this. The Dow has plunged from its market high in October of 2007 some 52 percent.
Ben Stein is the economist and columnist and humorist. He was on "LARRY KING LIVE" last night. He said I think what a lot of people feel about this market, Heidi.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN STEIN, COLUMNIST, COMMENTATOR, ECONOMIST: It's a terrifying situation. The hopes in retirement dreams of an entire generation are being wiped out. I have never seen a more scary situation for savers and investors in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Because savers and investors have really been hurt here. You're looking at your 401(k), it probably doesn't -- it shouldn't match the plunge in the Dow because, of course, you should be a little more diversified than that.
But it is probably down significantly and if you are close to retirement, if you are close to retirement, you probably have seen the value of your home decline and you've also seen the value of your retirement savings decline and you don't have the 30 years to make up for that.
If you've been investing for 10 or 15 years you've pretty much back where you started here at this point so there are some -- some grief and some anger among the younger set of investors who are still, of course, hopeful that over the next 30 years before they retire they'll be able to see some recovery.
So how are we doing in terms of fixing this? We have got a stimulus, we've got a bank bailout, we've got a big budget coming through. Well, since the financial bailout, that TARP, the federal banking bailout, was signed into law last fall. The Dow was down 34 percent. Since President Obama was inaugurated, the Dow is down 9 percent and since the stimulus package was signed into law, the Dow is down 10 percent.
Heidi, what this is telling us is that the market, investors are still concerned about the health of the financial system and they are still concerned that we are underestimating the pain of the economy.
COLLINS: Yes.
ROMANS: Still slogging through an awful lot of economic data that continues to point to weakness here. So we are still right in the middle of a painful experience here and the Dow and the NASDAQ and the S&P, the stock market is telling us times are going to be rough for the foreseeable future -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, no question. All right. CNN's Christine Romans, thanks so much for that. We appreciate it.
Homeowners in distress may get a break if their homes are financed by Citi Mortgage. The company says newly unemployed homeowners could have their monthly payments reduced to as little as $500 a month. Citi Mortgage says those who qualify will get the relief for 90 days and some may be able to get extensions beyond that.
The company is part of Citigroup which has received $45 billion in federal bailout money.
Your money, our focus this morning on Capitol Hill. Once again, the nation's top number crunchers will be facing lawmakers. And next hour, White House budget director Peter Orszag will discuss President Obama's spending plans for next year.
And then Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will testify about today's challenges to the budget and the economy. And later today, Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner expected to face lawmakers' questions about the bank bailout and the possibility that much more money will be needed in the future. Day 43 of the Obama administration. Here's a look at the president's day ahead now. Later this hour, he is due to deliver remarks at the Department of Transportation. His focus how the economic recovery package will fund new roads and bridges.
Also this morning, the president is scheduled to meet with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. They will discuss the global economic crisis. And this afternoon, President Obama will visit the Department of Interior to mark the agency's 160th birthday.
Let's get the very latest now from CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux.
Always seems ridiculous to say but another busy day for the president, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Always a busy day for the president, Heidi. Obviously, we're waiting for him to go to the Department of Transportation. And as you mentioned, he is going to talk about how he believes that building the infrastructure, the roads, the bridges, the streets in our country will create jobs for millions of Americans.
That's certainly an optimistic point of view but he's going to be talking about that later this morning and then later he's going to be meeting with the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. It is not the first time that these two leaders have met.
You may recall it was candidate Obama when he went to Europe, sat down face-to-face with him. But, obviously, when these two leaders meet later this morning, the stakes are going to be a lot higher.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX (voice-over): President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown are determined to change the game. Turning from partners in war to partners in peace. On the eve of this historic visit, Brown had this to say.
GORDON BROWN, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I knew that past prime ministers have gone in times of war, to talk about war. What I'm going to do is to talk about how we can work together at climate change, the economy and security for the future.
MALVEAUX: Their new focus, the economic crisis that plagues both nations. Brown comes armed with a so-called global new deal. Ideas on how to reform the crumbling financial institution in London and New York.
BROWN: If America and Britain did the same or similar things to deal with the economy, then the effect of that will be magnified by all of us doing it together.
MALVEAUX: Mr. Obama is listening. After all, it was Britain that took the lead in recapitalizing its own failing banks. The U.S. followed suit. BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The impact of this recession is real. And it is everywhere.
MALVEAUX: But both countries are in trouble and Obama is eager to set a common agenda with Brown before he visits London in April for a global economic summit. The two leaders will also try to find common ground on climate change, fighting poverty and the war in Afghanistan.
"The Times of London" says Gordon comes bearing a gift for Mr. Obama. A wooden ornament carved from a British ship that was used in the 19th century to suppress the slave trade. It replaces the last gift from Britain that sat in the oval office, a bronze bust of the war leader Winston Churchill who President Bush adored. President Obama had that removed.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: So, Heidi, Obviously, we'll all be looking at the body languages -- both the language of these two leaders and whether or not they can come up with anything that is innovative and they can agree on when it comes to addressing the global financial crisis. Heidi?
COLLINS: All right, Suzanne Malveaux for us in front of the White House, thank you, Suzanne.
And we will have coverage of President Obama's remarks on building new roads and bridges. That is now scheduled for later this hour. 9:45 Eastern, 6:45 Pacific. Of course, you can see it live right here on CNN.
A brazen daytime attack in Lahore, Pakistan today. Heavily armed gunmen take aim at a visiting sports team and now six people are dead. The attackers can be seen on security cameras. The target was the Sri Lankan cricket team. Their bus was riddled with bullets. The six people killed were security guards.
At least eight players were wounded. All 12 known attackers escaped. The Sri Lankan team was there replacing India. India's team canceled its appearance after November's Mumbai attacks.
We will have much more on this developing story, as well, a little bit later on in the hour.
Cease-fire in the verbal volleys. The head of the party apologize to the mouth of conservatives.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Well, for the most part the snow is over, but it's still bitterly cold from Atlanta to Boston. Roadways are an icy mess. Tens of thousands of people still without power. Some areas are actually buried under 15 inches of snow. The northwest getting pounded again by gusty winds and pouring rain. In Milwaukee, looks like one of the greatest lake-effect snow events in recent memory.
Wow! Rob Marciano is joining us now with more on all of this cold, cold weather.
What a perfect day to wear a sleeveless shirt, right?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, you know...
COLLINS: I got my days mixed up. I know it's supposed to be down here in the South, anyway, much, much warmer, but I think it doesn't start until tomorrow?
MARCIANO: No.
COLLINS: Is that right?
MARCIANO: Or better yet, I'm sorry. I forgot to send out my daily what-to-wear e-mail.
COLLINS: Exactly. You know, we rely on that.
MARCIANO: We'll get on that. But you're on the mindset. We're almost to spring. The problem is March can often be a stormy one as we saw yesterday.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: All right. Very good. Bring on the spring.
Rob Marciano, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
MARCIANO: OK. See you later.
COLLINS: A Republican reversal. Two days after calling Rush Limbaugh's rhetoric incendiary and ugly, GOP chairman Michael Steele has stepped back from that criticism.
CNN's Jim Acosta joining us now live from New York with this story.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
Continuing with the weather theme.
COLLINS: Yes.
ACOSTA: It is a bit frosty inside the GOP right now. This is quickly becoming a fight over who controls the Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh or new RNC chairman Michael Steele.
Over the weekend Steele challenged Limbaugh over some of the talk radio host's recent controversial comments including the conservative broadcaster's remark that he hopes President Obama fails. Steele called out Limbaugh on CNN talking to D.L. Hughley.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
D.L. HUGHLEY, HOST, "D.L. HUGHLEY BREAK THE NEWS": We don't need incendiary rhetoric. MICHAEL STEELE, CHMN., REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Exactly.
HUGHLEY: Like Rush Limbaugh, who is the de facto leader of the Republican Party.
STEELE: No, he's not.
HUGHLEY: Well, I'll tell you what, I've never heard...
STEELE: I'm the de facto leader of the Republican Party. Let's put it in the context here. Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh, his whole thing is entertainment.
HUGHLEY: He influences the Republican Party.
STEELE: Yes, it's incendiary. Yes, it's ugly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: But it got uglier. If you take on a man with a microphone and a few hours of airtime to kill, speaking of Limbaugh. What happens? You got it. The talk radio host didn't waste a minute tearing into Michael Steele.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK-SHOW HOST: It's time, Mr. Steele, for you to go behind the scenes and start doing the work that you were elected to do instead of trying to be some talking head media star.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: And that brings us to where we are now. The leader of the Republican Party backing away and issuing this public apology. Here it is.
"I respect Rush Limbaugh. He is a national conservative leader, and in no way do I want to diminish his voice. I'm sure that he and I will agree most of the time, but will probably disagree some as well, which is fine."
And Democrats, by the way, are enjoying this smack-down from the sidelines. The new head of the DNC, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, released a statement of his own saying Steele's apology proves the unfortunate point that Limbaugh is the leading force behind the Republican Party.
That mirrors what White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said over the weekend when he called Rush Limbaugh the head of the Republican Party, noting that some Republicans who had challenged Limbaugh had to go back and apologize making note of the fact that Georgia Congressman Phil Gingrey did just that. He accused Limbaugh of throwing bricks earlier this year and then went on Limbaugh's show and apologized -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Hey, Jim, I just wonder from everything that you have learned in this piece in particular, and we are actually going to have a couple of guests to talk about it later on in our 10:00 a.m. hour, how much of this is media frenzy, for lack of a better word? Because we are talking about a media person up against...
ACOSTA: Yes.
COLLINS: ... the head of the RNC.
ACOSTA: Well, it's interesting. Because, you know, Rush refers to all of us as the drive-by media. But he makes an interesting point, and it may be something to bring up with your guests. And that is Michael Steele has a pretty big task on his hands. The Republicans just got destroyed in the last election in November, and he made a good point in his comments yesterday, saying that Michael Steele should be out rebuilding the Republican Party...
COLLINS: Yes.
ACOSTA: ... getting ready for the mid-terms in 2010, and getting out and making comments in the media may not be the most productive thing to do right now. So, you know, Limbaugh does have a point there, Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, in context, it was all in response to Rush Limbaugh and being, you know, at CPAC and some of the things that were said there. So I think Steele was asked the question, you know, he is sort of the de facto leader of the Republican Party.
ACOSTA: Yes.
COLLINS: And when you're talking to the head of the RNC, he's got to disagree with that, right?
ACOSTA: Yes, make no mistake. Republicans are very uncomfortable with Rush Limbaugh's comments that he hopes the president fails. You know, the man who won the straw poll.
COLLINS: Hopes his policies fail.
ACOSTA: Exactly. Well, I mean, he said that I hope he fails. That's what Rush Limbaugh has said. And there are Republicans who are very nervous about this. Mitt Romney, the man who won the straw poll at that conference over the weekend, said that we want the president to succeed no matter who's in power. So there is a divide inside the Republican Party and Republicans have been nervous about some of Limbaugh's statements in the past and this is just another one of those examples.
But Michael Steele has a big task on his hands. Not only does he have to rebuild the Republican Party, he's got to keep Rush happy as well.
COLLINS: Yes, he said he wants him to fail if his mission is to restructure and reform the country so that capitalism and individual liberty are not in its foundation.
We could go on and on, right, Jim?
ACOSTA: We could go on and on.
(LAUGHTER)
ACOSTA: But let's not.
COLLINS: Let's not. All right, thanks so much, Jim Acosta. Appreciate it. We're going to talk more about this in our 10:00 a.m. hour.
ACOSTA: You bet.
COLLINS: Doctor goes halfway around the world to discover a surgery he calls remarkable. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta reporting back on his medical tourism.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: He's back from being on tour. Not from music but medicine. CNN chief medical correspondent and our own rock star in the field.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Wow.
COLLINS: Did you write that?
GUPTA: No. That was good, though.
COLLINS: Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here now to talk about his trip to India, and, truly, I know you haven't been back for five or six years or so.
GUPTA: Right.
COLLINS: So this was a remarkable trip for you.
GUPTA: It really was. And one of the things that we've always talked about is what is medical care like in India, among other countries. Something I was certainly curious about to visit some of the hospitals that people talk so much about.
When you talk about people getting their care in India, whether they are tourists or whether they're people who live there, exactly what can they expect? We decided to find out. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA (on camera): So I got a chance to scrub into this operation with the chief of neurosurgery Dr. Ajaya Jah (ph). We're looking at a brain tumor operation. This patient has a pituitary tumor. It's a tumor of one of the hormone glands in her brain. Unclear exactly why she got that tumor.
But what's really remarkable is the way that they are removing this tumor. They have what is called an endoscope. It's going through her nose and that's how they're removing this particular brain tumor. You can all of their eyes, not focused on the patient, but focused on the screen. That's where all the action is. They are just now getting down to the tumor and starting to remove it.
This is a remarkable operation in a pretty remarkable room. You have an intraoperative (ph) MRI scanner in here. You have an endoscope. You have a navigation system and millions of millions of dollars to put this room together all for the benefit of operations like this.
So he's about to drill some bone right around the sinus. Pretty remarkable to look at this on the screen. Keep in mind he's doing this entire operation right through the nose. And it's worth remembering all of this is happening at this hospital here in New Delhi. They do hundreds of these brain tumor operations every year just like we do them back in the United States using all the sophisticated equipment to try and get this tumor out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: You know, in many ways, we didn't know exactly what to expect when it came to these types of operations in India but that's one of the more technological sophisticated rooms that they have. They are this MRI scanner in the operating room. That's something that a lot of hospitals in the United States still don't have. Some people say that they don't need it, but that's an expensive thing. They put it in there for the benefit of these patients.
COLLINS: Wow. This is just one small part of your trip, because you were gone for like forever. Is there more to come? Are we going to get to see more?
GUPTA: Yes. You know the main gist of what we are trying to explore out there is something known as medical tourism.
COLLINS: Yes.
GUPTA: Some of the numbers may surprise you. If you Google "medical tourism" you'll get more than five million hits. 750,000 Americans leave the United States every year to get treatment somewhere else.
COLLINS: Because?
GUPTA: Because of the cost it's so much cheaper, because they believe they can get as good if not better care. And that's what we really wanted to explore. So we followed some of these patients from all over the world, have them congregate at these hospitals, saw what their experience is like, and that's really what we're going to report. And I host this show called "VITAL SIGNS" on CNN International this March 26th. That was sort of the focus of it but a lot of pieces we're going to sort of have for you as well.
COLLINS: Yes. Very interesting.
GUPTA: Yes. COLLINS: All right. I've heard a little bit about it but it's nice that you're going to be doing more on it. Appreciate that.
Our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, welcome back.
GUPTA: Thanks, Heidi.
COLLINS: Thanks.
GUPTA: Thank you.
COLLINS: On Wall Street, stocks are coming off a particularly brutal session. The Dow plunged below the 7,000 mark yesterday for the first time since 1997. Quite a ways below that 7,000 mark, in fact.
For a look at what to expect today, let's go to Susan Lisovicz now at New York Stock Exchange.
Hi, Susan.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi. Well, you can certainly make the case at the opening bell that stocks are cheap. How cheap? Well, we're talking about 1997 prices but you really have to do a lot of convincing here, because we're expecting a little bit of some buying at the open but that's really not the kind of response you'd want to see after the 300-point drop on the Dow yesterday.
The blue chip average now down more than 2,000 points. This year alone, it's lost nearly a quarter of its value in just over two months. And it's lost 52 percent of its value since peaking in October of 2007. Not that long ago.
But we do have news that is due out after the opening bell that could certainly influence stock direction. We'll get to it in a half an hour. January pending home sales will be released. Another drop is expected there.
And later in the day, automakers will release February sales figures and Edmonds.com analyst says industry-wide sales could fall by another 40 percent.
In corporate news, banking behemoth Citigroup unveiling a new program to help homeowners who've lost their jobs; Citi plans to lower mortgage payments for unemployed homeowners to an average $500 a month for three months. To qualify your loan you must be at least 60 days overdue or in foreclosure. For Citi, it keeps the bank from getting stuck with a home that will be difficult to sell.
Citi shares were flying up 10 percent. They are up 10 percent now in the open. That translates to 13 cents, Heidi. That's how low Citi is at this point.
But you know the blue chips have a little bit of life here with help of Citigroup and DOW 30 stocks and others. The DOW Jones up right now industrial average of 76 points. Look at the level -- 6,838.
The Nasdaq Composite meanwhile, up 19 points or 1 1/2 percent. S&P 500 is up 1 1/3 percent.
The president's men at work again today, Heidi. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will be on Capitol Hill to defend President Obama's tax increases and spending plans in his proposed budget.
Ditto for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. He will be talking to a Senate Budget Committee but the market has not typically responded very well to administration comments. There's just a lot of skepticism.
COLLINS: Yes.
LISOVICZ: It's clear that the Dow has lost 2,800 points or 30 percent since President Obama was elected.
CNN's Susan Lisovicz, thanks so much. Live from the New York Stock Exchange this morning.
Lining up at Dodger Stadium, no, it's not game day. These people are actually looking to get back in the action.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Some financial experts say when it's all added up, AIG could be into U.S. taxpayers for as much as a quarter trillion dollars. How can such a pay-off be justified? Well, CNN's Ali Velshi talked about it on "AC360" last night.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Why is AIG is such a big deal?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Look AIG -- remember when Lehman Brothers failed in September? Lehman Brothers simply wasn't as influential in the economy as AIG was and its failure which is now seen by many as a mistake really set off a global economic crisis.
AIG is a lot more expensive even if it's a little more costly.
VELSHI: $1,400 that's how much every family in America is paying to bail out insurance giant AIG. So why should the company get your hard-earned money? Because you could end up paying a lot more if the company goes down. Here is why.
AIG has 74 million insurance policies in a 130 countries worldwide and it covers everything. It insures major airlines against catastrophe. It insures big budget Hollywood movies against injuries to their stars. It even insures oil companies against hurricanes wrecking their offshore rigs.
All pretty standard stuff but here is why the company is tanking. AIG insured millions of mortgages that were repackaged and resold to investors and lost billions when the housing bubble burst. Now it has to pay out on those policies.
So why keep bailing AIG out? Because business simply wouldn't happen without insurance companies which take on risk and there's no one bigger in the risk business than AIG. And that is where the too big to fail argument comes in. What would happen if the government did let AIG fail?
ROBERT LENZNER, FORBES MAGAZINE: We don't know, to be honest. You know? I don't even think the Secretary of the Treasury knows. I don't really believe Bernanke knows. It's unknown what would happen if you let it go bankrupt.
COOPER: Ali what is scary about this, probably not only do we not know what would happen if they went bankrupt but we don't know if all this money being to tossed to AIG is even going to work, right?
VELSHI: Yes, this is the fourth time the government has been involved this time and adding another $30 billion a sort of a credit line to AIG with the taxpayers now into AIG for $162 billion.
A lot of analysts are saying that number could go up to $250 billion, Anderson, a quarter of a million. I asked AIG CEO Ed Liddy about that today. And he said, he acknowledged that high end of the estimate could be actually be true.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: $62 billion, many Americans today are trying to wrap their minds around that figure, AIG's loss in just one quarter. How much money is that?
Our Josh Levs is here now to put it in some context for us. Yes, good luck, Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I know, $62 billion. You know, I had it easy today because, check it out. Let me show you something over here at CNN.com. Pete Wilkinson (ph) did a great job and breaking it down for us. And you can read more examples there. I'm going to show you some of the best.
Let's go to these graphics. I love this, Heidi and put it into some context. Check it out.
You could get almost 250 Boeing 747 jumbos for that $62 billion. The next one is interesting. Let's say you wanted to buy your own Buckingham Palace. You could if you want to and you can get 46 of them for the $62 billion.
COLLINS: That's what I would order.
LEVS: Would you, see? I would never know what room I left my shoes in and I would just be miserable.
Check this out. The combined national debt of China and Australia and Mexico and the Ukraine. So, if for some reason you want to pay off their debts, you could. Now, do you have 2,000 people who you would like to send to the international space station? You could for that $62 billion. Some of our viewers are probably thinking right now who they'd like to send out to outer space.
A couple of more, $204 for every American, every person in this country, including kids, could get $204. That would total about $62 billion.
And finally, I don't know if this is good news or depressing, but it would take 40 years pay for the world's top ten earning celebrities. You can see three of them right there. If you take how much they got most recently, it would cover them for 40 years.
So just some ways to wrap your mind around that massive figure that AIG loss in that one quarter, Heidi.
COLLINS: Well, I like having a little bit of fun with it because it's so, so not fun. Yes, not quite sure what else you can do. What about iReporters? What are they saying?
LEVS: You know, there's a lot of frustration, and there's a lot of anger. And there's a lot of people trying to wrap their minds around it. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID SEAMAN, IREPORTER: You know if you were to give me $62 billion and ask me to lose it for you, I don't think I would be able to lose that much money ever.
MANY DORADO, IREPORTER: Another bailout? This is ridiculous. This is to the point where you are giving money to a company that's not responsible or taking responsibility, for their actions.
ROBIN SAVAGE, IREPORTER: Well, the first thing that comes to my mind is ok, who is getting paid big bucks or getting a corporate jet just to bail out AIG? We're not so stupid now anymore now, are we?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: You (INAUDIBLE) it there Heidi, a lot of frustration. And people can keep those coming all day long at iReport.com, Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, very good. Josh Levs, I appreciate it.
LEVS: Thanks.
COLLINS: An ambush in Pakistan to tell you about this morning. Members of a visiting cricket team wounded. Their teammates whisked away in a military helicopter. We now know six of their security guards were killed in the attack.
CNN's Stan Grant has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dramatic video of gunmen attacking the Sri Lankan team bus in broad daylight; the cricketers on their way to the stadium for a match with Pakistan's team. The attackers are armed with rifles, rocket launchers and grenades.
A shootout in the streets as Pakistan security move in to protect the players. A number of police left dead.
GOV. SALMAN TASEER, PUNJAB, PAKISTAN (through translator): This was a planned terrorist attack. People had with them heavy weapons, grenades. The way they attacked, this was not normal.
CHIEF HAJI HABIBUR REHMAN, LAHORE POLICE (through translator: The police put up a lot of resistance and I am proud of my policemen. They sacrificed a lot and five were martyred and four or five were injured.
GRANT: Sri Lankan players hit as well, a number wounded; reports saying mostly minor injuries.
VOICE OF LUCIEN RAJAKARUNANAYA, SRI LANKAN GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN: There at least six players where injured, two of them have been taken to the hospital and the others -- and all others are to be brought back.
GRANT: Witnesses and others traveling with the team describe what they saw.
MEHER KARIM, SRI LANKA TEAM BUS DRIVER (through translator): Suddenly in front of me was the SP van and two police warden vans and the attackers targeted those vans first, says this bus driver.
GRANT: Officials in Sri Lanka quick to react. The match canceled, the players will be flown home. The future of Pakistan cricket now in doubt and other nations Australia and India already refuse to tour.
VOICE OF SANATH JAYASURLYA, FORMER SRI LANKAN CRICKET PLAYER: Unfortunate incident and I think the only thing is to -- they are all safe. That's the good news when I spoke to Kuma. So I think that that is where we can (INAUDIBLE).
GRANT: This attack proof again of Pakistan's struggle to contain terrorism; the government and military already battling militancy across the country. Some are already drawing parallels between this attack and last year's terrorism in Mumbai.
Pakistan once again front and center in the war against terrorism; once again, the world looking for answers.
Stan Grant, CNN, Islamabad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: You can find out even more about the attack on CNN.com. You can hear what the Sri Lankan players were thinking and read about other terror attacks in Pakistan. All that just a click away at CNN.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: The tanking economy has businesses across the country just shredding jobs by the thousands but one major employer is still accepting resumes big time and that is Uncle Sam. Here to tell us about the opportunity is CNN's personal finance editor, Gerri Willis.
Hi there, Gerri.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Hi there, Heidi.
Yes, you're right. The government is the nation's largest employer and they are hiring big time right now. There are 41,000 job openings posted at the government's employment Web site; it's called usajobs.gov.
You might think that all these jobs are in D.C. But that is not the case. Federal jobs are located all over the country, and there are even 2,000 of them in Europe. So check out where the jobs are. Washington, D.C. has 6,500 openings right now.
You see they are all over the country. Colorado Springs, 1,700 jobs and Charleston, South Carolina, almost a thousand; Ft. Walton Beach, Tucson, Arizona. You can go to the West Coast to Los Angeles has almost a thousand job openings.
What is more, just about any job you find in the private sector can also be found in the federal government. The Web site, usajobs.gov, even has a part of their Web site called public/private sector crosswalk. And it allows you -- this is funny -- it allows you to pick a job function you have in the private sector and then translates it into the job title for the public sector.
Let's take a look at the top occupations that were hiring in February. Here you can see the list. Office clerk, of course, they need a ton of those, some 15,000, but you can also get higher-paying jobs here. Program analyst 14,000. Budget analyst -- we need a lot of those -- 10,000. I.T. management specialist, almost 10,000.
Let's drill down into that title. I.T. management specialist, you can see that job pays six figures at the top end of the range which is, you know, very attractive. A lot of people think the public jobs don't pay well, but they clearly do.
The good news here is that we have so many baby boomers retiring, about a third of the government jobs. They're going to be retiring in the next few years so they're going to have to replace those people.
Here's a look at the agencies now that had the most openings in February. So here is the kind of places you might work. Air force personnel center they have 39,000 job openings. Navy field offices, veteran affairs, veteran health administration, the army corps of engineers, they have 3,500 openings.
So Heidi, you can see there are lots of jobs out there and they are all over the country. The good news is that you can apply online and they will tell you how to do it.
COLLINS: So, obviously, we have been hearing a lot about graduating college students. A lot of them, we've had some of them on the show too, saying I have this education now which, by the way, I'm having a hard time paying for but now I'm going to go out into the job market and try to find a job which are slim, you know except for what you're talking about today.
Could they go to federal government for some of these, I guess for their first positions without a lot of experience clearly?
WILLIS: Yes. I mean, I think it's a good idea and here is why. Little known fact, federal agencies can actually forgive some of your student loans if they are federal loans. Up to $10,000 a year and up to $60,000 for any individual employee. Of course, this is not every federal employee in the world is going to get this but it's great news for people out there who are overloaded with federal loans and worried about paying them back and they don't know where they will get their next job.
It's definitely worth checking out. The big secret about this Web site is that they will push to your e-mail inbox job offers that fit your parameters so you'll learn about them as they happen. It's a great thing for college grads, for and people trying to change professions, for people who are middle-aged workers and older workers, definitely worth checking out.
COLLINS: All right. Very good. Appreciate that, Gerri.
WILLIS: My pleasure.
COLLINS: Love the info. Our personal finance editor, Gerri Willis this morning.
If you don't mind life on the road, another industry reporting a hiring boom. More people, including college grads are turning to truck driving for a smoother road during these tough times. Experts say the lucrative pay and shorter training periods is driving up the number of applicants.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL CURTS, DRIVING INSTRUCTOR: We've never seen anything of this scale where we've had so much demand for the jobs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Driving instructors say companies no longer even need to advertise or offer incentives. Because of the tanking economy, employers can afford to be picky.
A look at how day 43 is shaping up for President Obama now. Later this morning, he meets with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. They will talk about the global economic crisis. Then, this afternoon, President Obama will give a talk to the Department of the Interior; his budget would give that office millions for green energy projects. And later on, the president meets with Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Any minute now, the president will speak at the Department of Transportation, and when that happens, we, of course, will bring it to you live.
Investments in the tank; the stocks slump taking a bite out of many people's life savings. So what do you do now?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Any minute now, we are watching that podium, the president will be speaking at the Department of Transportation. Of course, you are looking at a live picture, and when it happens, we'll bring it to you live.
He's expected to deliver some remarks about the economic recovery and reinvestment plan specifically, obviously, how much money and exactly what types of projects they are looking forward to in the transportation infrastructure and the creation of jobs. We'll keep our eye on it for you.
Meanwhile, checking the calendar. Notice something about today's date? It is 3-3-09, also known widely as square root day. Math fans are planning to party like it's September 9th of '81. You do the math. Josh is laughing at me.
There are only nine square root days each century, and yes, we figured out that the next one is April 4th, 2016. Get it, four times four? And don't forget, there is a yearly math holiday coming up, too. Now that is March 14th, because it's pi day.
This is good stuff, Josh. This is what we do in the NEWSROOM.
LEVS: No one told me about these holidays. I'm excited.
COLLINS: Good.
Listen, you have a Facebook story to talk about. In fact, millions of users on the lookout today for a new attack by hackers. So what's going on?
LEVS: Exactly. And they need to be. In fact, I almost got it. It's a new variant of what's called a worm. I'm going to tell you exactly what to watch out for.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Quickly, we want to take you, at least show you for now, the Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. He is on stage with President Obama and Vice President Biden as well. Today the president will be coming to the podium very, very shortly to talk about the money that is inside of the economic recovery and reinvestment plan, specifically for transportation infrastructure projects and the creation of jobs in that sector. So as soon as he gets to the podium, we will bring it to you live. Meanwhile, if you are on Facebook, be careful opening your messages. Hackers have devised a new scheme that could give them access to your computer. Our Josh Levs is here now to explain. So Josh, when they can get access to our computer, that means they have personal information about us, so they can get it?
LEVS: No but they can use your computer to do anything. They can use the power of your computer, therefore slowing it down for you, it's a big mess. I tell you, I was actually sent this worm on Sunday by someone who worked here who didn't try to send it. I knew it looked suspicious so I checked with the center. I deleted it. We all need to be careful.
Let's zoom in on the board, I'm going to show you the deal here. For me, I'm at JoshLevsCNN, this is my Facebook page. For me, it was in the inbox. If you're on Facebook, you know there's lots of places you can get message. This is where it came in to me. I've deleted it.
So I'm going to take you over here to Trend Micro, their blog. They're an Internet security service. They figured out what was going on and they show it right here. So I'm going to bring you to this page. Let's see if we can zoom in.
This is what may show up as a message. It looks like it's from one of your friends and it says -- I know it's tiny print but it says that there is a video of you and you should check out that video. Let's stay on this page.
If you click on the video, you're brought to this. It looks like YouTube, and it tells you that you need to down load the new Flash Player. Do not fall for this. It redirects you to that worm. And Trend Micro told CNN that this worm can give hackers access to your computer.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
RIK FERGUSON, TREND MICRO: Not only that, the worm itself is going to search on that computer for any cookie files, so little files left behind by the browser that gives log-in credentials for Facebook and several other well-known social networking sites and allows the worm to log in there as you and spread itself to all your friends.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
LEVS: If you have been hit by this worm, we would love to hear your experiences in my Facebook page, as I said, joshlevscnn. We have a discussion board that I've opened up. If you were hit by this worm, we'd love to hear your story. Go ahead and send it.
Also on that page, I'm posting a link to the blog that I just showed you, tells you everything you need to know. It also tells people from other social networking sites what they should look out for, Heidi.
COLLINS: All right. CNN's Josh Levs keeping an eye on it for us. Thank you, Josh.
