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Saving Small Businesses; What is a Recovery?; Economic Crisis Impacting the World; Dow Heads Towards Fourth Straight Day of Rallies; Stimulus Saves Jobs in Maryland; American Infrastructure Talks How Stimulus is Saving Company, Employees; Geithner, Obama Meeting with Small Business Owners; Delaware Governor Wants Sports Gambling
Aired March 16, 2009 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. It is Monday, March 16th. And here are the top stories in the CNN NEWSROOM. The president will spend a bundle to boost small businesses. We will preview his proposal to get credit flowing again.
Phoenix, a city synonymous with foreclosure. We will see how it is holding up under the housing collapse. Are you one of the four million Americans who've lost their job to the recession? We will show you how to outlast the layoffs.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. Let's get you on the "ROAD TO RESCUE" in the CNN NEWSROOM.
You've made it clear, the economy is still issue number one. Today, jobs top your worry list. In our CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, 36 percent of you say unemployment is the most important economic issue facing the country today. That figure has nearly tripled since last spring. Jobs now outrank inflation, the mortgage crisis and the stock market.
This morning, this week, CNN's special reporting, "ROAD TO RESCUE: THE CNN SURVIVAL GUIDE." We're explaining the economic crisis that has engulfed the nation and the globe. We are scraping away the partisan noise, thankfully, and bringing you the information you need whether you are white, Hispanic, Asian, over 50, retired, kids in college, whatever. Our people, our resources are all in place to help you this week.
So let's do it. Let's get started.
Helping small businesses survive these tough economic times is critical for the economy. Next hour, President Obama and his treasury secretary will outline plans to boost lending to small businesses.
White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joining us live now.
And Suzanne, a couple of things we can talk about. Maybe we should hit on this first. You're reporting now that the president will at least, at the top of his remarks, make some comments about AIG and the bonuses that we learned yesterday are being paid to executives with that company.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Tony. We expect that he is going to talk about the anger, the frustration that he feels, along with many American taxpayers. This is really kind of a difficult situation for the president.
Obviously, he needs to express the fact that, you know, this is billions of dollars, essentially, to aid in AIG, but millions of dollars that were spent for executive bonuses. So a lot of people are scratching their heads and thinking, not again, is this more abuse here, where is our money going?
So he's obviously got to say, look, that they are turning things around here, and that this is not the way last year, in the fall, when they got this money. That they are being held to account, but at the same time he, too, is frustrated that this is not working well -- Tony.
HARRIS: OK, Suzanne. Let's move to the body of the president's comments in the next hour. And he's talking about small businesses and some help there.
All right. Let's do it this way. I am a bank that really hasn't been lending to small businesses. What's the incentive for me, the bank, to lend to, let's say, Suzanne's widget company? What am I going to hear in the president's plan, his proposal next hour?
MALVEAUX: OK. Well, hopefully this will work for my widget company here.
HARRIS: OK.
MALVEAUX: Under the proposal here, like, let's say you are a bank and you were lending my company $150,000 or so. Under the Small Business Administration, 85 percent of that loan would be guaranteed by the federal government...
HARRIS: Wow.
MALVEAUX: ... so that if I defaulted or something, they would be able to pay back 85 percent of that loan, that -- the bank would get that money. Well, now under the plan, they've upped it to a 90 percent guarantee. So they get -- it's a less risky loan to my widget company because they could get more money back if I end up completely...
HARRIS: Yes.
MALVEAUX: ... not being able to pay off this money.
So that really would be the incentive. That is the hope, that those banks would go ahead and be a little bit more free to lend that money to me, my widget.
HARRIS: OK. And there are all kinds of fees here connected to this kind of lending and this kind of borrowing. Is there anything in the president's announcement in the next hour to maybe mitigate some of those fees? MALVEAUX: On a temporary basis. It's not going to be all the time here. It's not permanent. But obviously, there are some fees that the banks are charged, the Small Business Administration, and there are fees also for those who are receiving the money.
And specifically, like the widget company, for instance, it could be up to close four percent, a processing fee that the bank could actually charge me. Well, they are saying, we're going to get rid of that. And that really could be to the tune of tens and thousands of dollars that would save my particular company.
HARRIS: Yes.
MALVEAUX: And that's a good thing for small businesses. But overall, Tony, I have to tell you here, they are talking about a very, very small bit from this economic stimulus package. When you think about it, we're talking $787 billion for the economic stimulus package.
HARRIS: Right.
MALVEAUX: It's $730 million, "M," million dollars that are going to this program to help the small businesses here. So obviously there are going to be a lot of questions about why it is such a small percentage of the package that is going to aid small businesses, because they are really critical to creating these jobs.
HARRIS: Absolutely.
Suzanne Malveaux, our White House correspondent.
Suzanne, good to see you. And the best with the widget company.
MALVEAUX: I'll let you know how it goes.
HARRIS: Oh, appreciate it. Thank you.
To the nation's financial center now, New York, and a look at your money. And our top money watcher, that is Christine Romans -- Christine...
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I want to work with Suzanne. I want to work...
HARRIS: With the widget company?
ROMANS: Will she be my boss?
HARRIS: Oh, she would. She would. And she is a pleasant boss. Let's put it that way.
ROMANS: I need to put in for my summer vacation already.
HARRIS: There you go. Good to see you, Christine.
ROMANS: Nice to see you. HARRIS: The plan that the president is going to announce next hour, who does it help?
ROMANS: It helps, Tony, frankly, tens of thousands of small business owners who might have been shut out of this lending program.
Look at it this way -- in the last three months of last year, the loans dropped 57 percent. Banks made 57 percent fewer of these loans through this program than they did a year earlier. That's the program she was telling you about. And 78,000 small businesses last year borrowed from this program, but that's down from $110,000 the year before. So you can see a lot fewer out there.
A couple of different things here. There's money available in some cases, but they are having a hard time finding small businesses that can qualify.
HARRIS: There you go.
ROMANS: In other cases, small businesses qualify, but they can't get the money. So there's a lot of different things happening here.
HARRIS: All right. So what is -- really basic here, what is a small business? And we found a list from "Fortune" magazine, and there are names on it like Bankrate, Jones Soda, even Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs.
Now, they sound like -- they sound like big businesses, actually.
ROMANS: Well, the rule of thumb is 500 or fewer employees, Tony. But depending on what industry you're in, there are some differences. There can be some differences, so you have to go to the SBA Web site if you are a small business owner and you want to see if you qualify, and if you are too big or too small. But the rule of thumb is 500 or fewer employees.
And keep in mind, because of sort of the different classifications of different industries, half of the people in this country, in the private sector, not including government jobs, half of the people in this country are employed by small businesses.
HARRIS: Yes. Yes.
ROMANS: So Suzanne was absolutely right, it is a huge driver of jobs growth in this country. You want to make sure that that's healthy.
One of the things that people keep telling me and that our small business people at CNNMoney.com are looking at is, when are we going to find out about this emergency stabilization loan of $35,000? This is what small business owners want to know.
They want to know, how can they get their hands on this $35,000 extra emergency loan that the stimulus provided for? And the rules, the guidelines have not been written yet for that. That's the one piece of the pie that a lot of small business owners want to figure out.
HARRIS: All right. What is it again? It's $35,000, because we've got small business owners who are going to be joining us over the next couple of hours.
ROMANS: Right.
HARRIS: It's $35,000...
ROMANS: It's an emergency stabilization loan. It's called the Business Stabilization Loan Program. And this is $35,000 of loans from the government out of the stimulus that is supposed to be available as soon as we can get the guidelines.
HARRIS: OK.
ROMANS: It will be available for people. Some people who are literally bleeding right now...
HARRIS: Right.
ROMANS: ... in their business want to know how they can get a hold of that money. Then the president and the treasury secretary are going to give us some more details in about an hour about these 7(a) loans, the Small Business Administration loans.
HARRIS: Right.
ROMANS: You know, we'll see if they can unlock this. The whole thing, Tony, is unlocking the money so that people can get these loans.
HARRIS: Right. And that -- it's in the stimulus package, right?
ROMANS: Yes.
HARRIS: OK, great.
ROMANS: The other one is in the stimulus.
HARRIS: Great. Great. Great, because we've got small business owners joining us over the next two hours, and we'll raise this issue.
ROMANS: I wonder what they could do with $35,000. I'm sure everyone knows they've got some bills to pay.
HARRIS: Well, one other quick note. I just got a quick note from Suzanne. She's hiring.
ROMANS: Oh, she is? OK, great.
HARRIS: She is. All right.
ROMANS: Great.
HARRIS: Christine, appreciate it. Thank you. And at the people's house, maybe at your house, genuine outrage today over bailed-out insurance agent AIG. Congressman Barney Frank, a key player in the financial crisis, wants to clean out AIG's executive suites.
That's after the company paid more than $160 million in bonuses this weekend. The money went to workers in the very unit that torpedoed AIG. Frank says the government should not reward incompetence. AIG says it was contractually obligated to pay the bonuses.
AIG has been propped up four times now, with $170 billion in bailout money. The company is almost 80 percent owned by taxpayers.
Here's Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke on CBS's "60 Minutes."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN BERNANKE, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: It makes me angry. You know, I slammed the phone more than a few times on discussing AIG. It's just absolutely -- I understand why the American people are angry. It's absolutely unfair that taxpayer dollars are going to prop up a company that made these terrible bets, that was operating out of the sight of regulators, but which we have no choice but to stabilize, or else risk enormous impact, not just in this financial system, but on the whole U.S. economy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Bernanke says the recession could end this year and recovery -- underline that, underscore it -- could begin in 2010.
Why don't we do this? Let's define a recovery.
There's our man. CNN's Richard Quest is in London.
And how would we define this, Richard? It seems to me the simplest way is to see some kind of growth, any growth.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No. No.
HARRIS: No?
QUEST: You see, you've made that mistake. You see, once again, you've managed to get off on the wrong foot, Tony. So we better put you right.
HARRIS: OK.
QUEST: It's going to be my job this week to try and explain, and at least put you at some rightness into your thinking.
HARRIS: Oh. Appreciate that, Richard.
QUEST: Well, glad to have you on board.
Now, Professor Quest is going to talk about recovery.
HARRIS: OK.
QUEST: The key thing to understand about recovery is that it is a slow and gradual process. For instance, let's look at a definition of recovery.
HARRIS: OK.
QUEST: Think about what the chairman of the Fed said, recovery later this year, but recovery is the gradual restoration of health for the financial system. Note the word "gradual." And it's also the sifting through of the financial wreckage, because you know, of course, we often talk after accidents about the recovery of evidence.
HARRIS: Yes. Yes.
QUEST: So on both sides of this we are going to -- now, in the past, Tony, if you come back to me, in the past, this has been the sort of thing we've always used at a time of recession.
HARRIS: Yes.
QUEST: We know what we need here. We need a couple of bandages, maybe a little bit of snipping, the sort of thing that basically your garden variety recession requires.
Not so this time around. This time, the recovery is going to require major triage. It's going to require hospitals, ambulances, and that is what we've been seeing so far. We've been seeing the whole panoply of emergency services being used towards it, whether it be...
HARRIS: And Richard, that approach has been criticized. Everyone -- the folks who are critical of the approach of this administration, say, look, there's no focus to the plans here. And you hear that over and over again.
QUEST: That is because of the size and scale.
HARRIS: Yes. Yes.
QUEST: I happen to -- I don't agree with that criticism. I think there's phenomenal focus in exactly what's been happening, but the size and the scale, remember, this won't do anything, Tony. We're talking about needing major surgery, and that's what is actually happening at the moment.
Now, keep back to my word "recovery."
HARRIS: Yes.
QUEST: When you have an accident and you start -- or you have the flu, what happens? You start to recover. But you don't jump out of bed and run a marathon the next day.
HARRIS: True.
QUEST: You recover. And that's why it's important that when we hear words like "recovery," take it not with a pinch of salt, but understand what it means. It means the slow, gradual return to health.
HARRIS: All right.
Richard, can I turn you a bit to the whole outrage over the AIG bonuses? I know the public is upset over the whole issue, but don't we have to be a bit realistic here?
After $173 billion in bailout money to this company, we have a keen interest in its success. Is the U.S. government now proposing to be in the best position to know whether it was wrong for AIG to authorize these retention bonuses? And isn't the real outrage here that we're beginning to understand how the street really operates?
QUEST: First of all, it depends who's getting the bonuses and how much they are getting. There will be some people -- listen, you know, hold your nose, Tony...
HARRIS: Yes.
QUEST: ... and just ignore the stench for the moment. That's the reality of this. We're going to have to just do this, whether we like it or not.
HARRIS: You have to say that to the American people. So say it to the American people.
QUEST: Yes, but what else -- Tony, nobody likes this, but there are certain people in AIG who are crucial, who their contract says were entitled to a bonus. They may not have been the people who lost the money. And the reality is, as Ben Bernanke -- do you really think Bernanke wants to sit there...
HARRIS: No.
QUEST: ... ladling out mass chunks of taxpayers' money?
HARRIS: Absolutely not.
QUEST: He's doing it because he has to, because AIG, through incompetence and malevolence and malfeasance, was allowed to become a phenomenally part of the global economy.
HARRIS: Boy, I can't wait. What a good week with Richard Quest.
QUEST: Tomorrow...
HARRIS: Yes?
QUEST: Tomorrow, I'm going to go through toxic assets. So just make sure...
HARRIS: Can't wait.
QUEST: ... toxic assets.
HARRIS: Holding our noses this week.
Richard Quest in London for us.
Richard, as always, great to see you. Good to talk to you. Thank you for setting me straight.
By now, you know the economic crisis is global. So we're bringing you updates from around the world on the road to rescue.
Let's look first at the situation in Russia, followed by a view from Britain.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Matthew Chance in Moscow. And Russia has been hit extremely hard in the global economic downturn, and there's evidence people here are increasingly pessimistic about the state of their finances and what the government can do about them.
In one opinion poll this month, it suggests that 58 percent of Russians believe the economic crisis is deepening. Just three percent that the crisis will be over this time next year.
The efforts of the Russian government, which has tried to inject billions of dollars to support the economy, has been noticed. But according to the polls conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation in Moscow, 39 percent of Russians believe the government cannot protect them from the negative effects of the crisis, even if it wanted to.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM BOULDEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jim in London.
There is a chance one day that British people will look back on this time and give their government some credit for taking the lead in bailing out the banks and stimulating the economy. Still, polls show that the government is deeply unpopular, and that's adding to the pessimistic feeling here. In fact, another poll shows that half of all Britons feel that their personal finances will continue to deteriorate as the economy continues to shrink in this very deep recession.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: OK. So let's talk about the housing crisis. It is hitting a lot of states really hard, but it is absolutely slamming Arizona. We go there live on our "ROAD TO RESCUE: THE CNN SURVIVAL GUIDE."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Three days, four days of good news for market watchers. Some positive territory over the last four sessions. And whoa, take a look. So far so good. We are in positive territory, and then some, up 98 points, clearly, off of session highs, because just a moment ago we were in triple-digit territory.
And we will, of course, be following the markets all morning long, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
You know, we can't even begin to discuss the economic road to rescue without looking at hard-hit Arizona. It has the third highest rate of foreclosure filings in the nation. Most of them in the Phoenix area.
Morgan Loew of our affiliate KPHO has been following this crisis, and he joins us live now from Phoenix.
Morgan, great to see you.
You know, one of the issues in Phoenix has been literally the bottom falling out of the housing market. How much housing stock is on the market there in Phoenix right now?
MORGAN LOEW, REPORTER, KPHO: Well, the normal is considered about six months. That was the normal. Right now, we've got about 8.5 months of housing inventory, but that's been as high as 11 and 12 months...
HARRIS: Wow.
LOEW: ... in the past few months. So it sounds like the numbers are coming down. That would be good news. But about half of the number of houses being sold, still, are foreclosed houses. So we're not out of the woods.
HARRIS: So -- and all these foreclosures obviously have had some kind of a trickle-down effect. And what is being impacted the most?
LOEW: This has had a humongous impact on our main job sectors here -- construction, you know, these big homebuilders that were driving the Phoenix market. They're not in business anymore. They are certainly not hiring people. Those jobs, who knows when they're going to come back.
Tourism business, I mean, we depend a lot to fill our resorts here on expendable income from around the country. We're in spring training right now, and the last I checked, numbers are down about 20 percent...
HARRIS: Wow.
LOEW: ... in attendance there.
And then we also have the service industry, which has been big here. Those are, you know, gardeners, restaurant owners, people who sell things. And they rely on expendable income from people in the Phoenix area. Those sectors are being hit very hard. HARRIS: Boy. And Morgan, we hear about the foreclosures and we -- you know, as related to this whole housing bubble. How is it really affecting everyday people out there in Phoenix right now?
LOEW: You can't really get a grasp for that unless you go out and talk to people here. It has affected just about anybody who has a house.
We had a little secret here in Phoenix, how people would increase their income by $10,000, $20,000, even $40,000 a year. They'd buy a house, they'd take out a home equity line of credit, they'd make some major purchases -- a car, boat, add on to your house, things like that. And if your home equity line ran out, no problem. You'd just refinance. And as long as the equity was going up in your home, that was not a problem.
HARRIS: Right.
LOEW: That's not the case anymore. So what we're looking at is a tremendous amount of income that people are used to spending that is just disappearing.
And again, that's money that is not going out to the service people, to the people who sell things. So we're getting hit pretty hard here in Phoenix, and you can trace it all to the foreclosure and housing bubble.
HARRIS: What will be the -- maybe you just answered it. What would be the first sign that things are starting to turn around in Phoenix? Are we talking about housing starts?
LOEW: Housing starts. As soon as they go up, that means good news for us. And getting these foreclosed homes off the market.
HARRIS: Yes. Yes.
LOEW: And they are trying to figure out ways to do that. The city of Phoenix just announced they're offering $15,000 incentives for people to buy and live in foreclosed houses. So they are trying to figure out ways to do it. But this is uncharted territory.
HARRIS: Wow. OK. Morgan, appreciate it.
Morgan Loew with our Phoenix affiliate KPHO.
Morgan, thank you.
LOEW: You're welcome.
HARRIS: You know, we were asking some of the sharpest financial minds in the country for their prescription on how to attack the economic crisis. They've got 90 seconds to break it down for you.
Here's one, foreclosure fix.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERRY SAVAGE, PERSONAL FINANCE EXPERT: Here's my prescription to fix the economy, or at least make a good start.
We need a comprehensive national foreclosure prevention plan, an edict from the government, that will give the banks and lenders cover to redo the mortgages that are out there. Maybe a rent-to-own program that would reduce the amount people have to pay. It would still bring income to the people that hold the mortgage securities, and it would stop this wave of foreclosure sales that is depressing prices and really destroying a big part of the economy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: OK. If you were one of the millions of Americans out of work, keep it right here. Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis has her top tips in the "ROAD TO RESCUE: THE CNN SURVIVAL GUIDE."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: You know, since the recession began, 4.4 million of you have lost your jobs.
Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis is here with some simple steps on how you can survive a pink slip in this week's survival guide.
Gerri, great to see you. Where do we start?
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Well, hey there, Tony.
Yes, first of all, you've got to know your rights if you're going to fight back.
Number one, you have to know what money you're due. You're due any wages you've already earned, and that includes overtime and commission. But I have to tell you, severance, sick pay, vacation pay, this is all at the employer's discretion.
Policies can vary. There's even state law that speaks to some of this. So you definitely want to do some thinking about it. Look at your employer guide book or your handbook.
HARRIS: Right.
WILLIS: And if you think you're being ripped off here, call the Department of Labor, 866-4USA-DOL.
You know, sometimes people don't pay what their supposed to, and the Department of Labor will investigate that for you.
HARRIS: Oh, very good.
Gerri, what should we do and what should maybe we know about unemployment benefits?
WILLIS: Well, obviously, Tony, if you're unemployed, you want to get all the public assistance you can.
HARRIS: Yes.
WILLIS: Look, the average worker is unemployed for five months, but there's really no guarantee how long it will take you to find a new gig. So apply for those jobless benefits pronto. They have been expanded up to 33 weeks of benefits, as much as 59 weeks for folks who live in states with high unemployment.
Now, you're going to get paid $325 a week, about, and the first $2,400 will be exempt from federal taxes. That's a big change.
Go to workforcesecurity.doleta.gov to find details for your state. And don't wait. It takes two to three weeks before benefits start after you apply.
Now, the government has local career centers out there where you can go for advice for help, support, even a computer if you don't have one. Go to careeronestop.org for details.
HARRIS: And the double-whammy here, you've just been laid off, what about health benefits?
WILLIS: Hey, this is critical you get this right, because the number one cause of bankruptcy in the country is, you know, high health care costs. Get on a family member's plan if you get laid off. That's the absolute cheapest option. You get on your spouse's plan, it doesn't cost much. It doesn't have to be the enrollment period for you to do that, you can do it when you're laid off.
Second, if that's unavailable to you, apply for COBRA benefits. You have 60 days to do this from the day you're laid off. Simply an extension your existing health insurance coverage, but the difference is you pick up the tab. Now the good news is, the stimulus bill provided for some assistance from the federal government. The Feds are picking up 64 percent of your COBRA premiums. And as we've said, you've really got to take care of this. It's critical. Go to the labor website at dol.gov for COBRA information.
And if you have a money questions, send it to us. We want to see your iReport.
HARRIS: Yes.
WILLIS: To iReport.com/issueone.
HARRIS: So happy you're going to be around to help us out this week. Gerri, we appreciate it, thank you.
WILLIS: My pleasure. HARRIS: Any cost savings, say, in bullet trains? High-speed rail? What will be the transportation for the next generation? Learn more by logging on to cnnmoney.com.
So Wall Street we understand is really - you can see it for yourself - really in rally mode right now. The Dow is looking to make five straight days of gains.
Susan Lisovicz is at the New Work Stock Exchange right now with details and also a look to where to find a job.
But Susan, let's talk about this rally, here.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Tony. Two hours in, it's the "Bernanke Bounce."
(LAUGHTER)
HARRIS: OK.
LISOVICZ: Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke doing his first on camera interview saying, once again, he thinks that the recession could end this year. Saying that the banking sector needs to turn around. And we've gotten good news from the banking sector, Tony, in the last week. From Bank of America, Citigroup saying that they probably won't need any more money from the government. Barclay's, one of the largest banks in Europe, saying that it's in good shape this year.
And the banking sector is rallying and so are the blue chips. Check it out. Right now the Dow is up 120 points. Citigroup shares up 36 percent, Tony.
HARRIS: OK.
LISOVICZ: Trading under $2.50 a share. So there's a bargain there. The Nasdaq, meanwhile, is flat. It's doing nothing. Doing nothing is better than what we've seen this year.
HARRIS: Absolutely.
LISOVICZ: But, you know, the Fed chief also saying he still expects unemployment to keep rising even if the recession ends, and that's one reason why most Americans don't have confidence yet in the economy. A new CNN opinion research poll shows that more than half surveyed say they're not confident that they could find another good job if they lost the one they hold now, Tony.
HARRIS: Well, here's the thing, Susan, we know that there are jobs out there, say, in the government, health care, we keep hearing about jobs in education. Are there any specifics out there?
LISOVICZ: Well, yes. This is one from the government, Tony, and it's not an official stimulus program. It is the 2010 census. It will bring, create, I should say, nearly 1.5 million temporary jobs. The government spending a record-breaking $14 million. Some hiring has already taken place. But if you go to 2010census.gov, there will be another round of recruiting this fall, when more than 350 local offices are opened. Once again, the job is temporary. Wages will range from 10 bucks all the way up to $34.00 an hour. So there's a lot of interest.
HARRIS: Nice.
LISOVICZ: And, hey, it's something that a lot of people can apply for.
HARRIS: It's a temporary job, but if you don't have a job, maybe it's the bridge you need to get to where you're trying...
LISOVICZ: It'll tide you through.
HARRIS: Exactly. All right, Susan, great to see you. See you next hour. Thanks.
LISOVICZ: You got it.
HARRIS: You're tax payer money helping out. Stimulus dollars already at work. We will check on the first infrastructure job of President Obama's first 100 days.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: CNN is throwing out the life vest all this week in bringing you "THE ROAD TO RESCUE: A CNN SURVIVAL GUIDE TO THE ECONOMIC CRISIS." It is information you need whether you are white, black, Hispanic, Asian, over 50, retired, kids in college, just starting a career - whatever. We've got our people, our resources all in place all over the world, really, to cover this global crisis.
As we focus on the worldwide recession, we need to point out, there are a few exceptions. Here's a look at one country standing on solid financial ground.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Sara Sidner in New Delhi, India where the Indian home minister just last month said that India was one of just a handful of countries that is a shining example of a resilient economy. Now, he credits much of that to domestic consumption. And if you take a look at this every day, working man's kind of market, it is full of people and they are buying.
But economists warn, there are some troubling figures out there and they have to do with production. The gross domestic product increased by 5.3 percent in the third quarter, but that down from nice percent in the last couple of years. What does all of this mean? Economists say, there's a severe slowdown here, but India is not in a recession right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HARRIS: Well, President Obama promised the $787 billion rescue package would save or create three to four million jobs. The first jobs to be saved as a direct result of the stimulus appear to be in Maryland.
More now from CNN's Tom Foreman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Signs along this bumpy stretch of Maryland highway say, "Men Working" and Washington hopes that means the stimulus is working, too. This highway project, just miles from the capital, is the first launched on money from the stimulus package and it came just in time for the private company hired for the work. American Infrastructure had about 2,000 employees, but they've lost plenty.
SHAWN CASEY, AMERICAN INFRASTRUCTURE: Approaching 350 people.
FOREMAN (on camera): Three hundred and fifty?
CASSEY: That's correct.
FOREMAN: And largely that was because construction was down so much?
CASEY: That's correct.
FOREMAN: And how many do you think you can bring back now?
CASEY: We're hoping to get everyone back.
FOREMAN (voice-over): They've already started. Tim Radel is back. He was laid off in January and worried about how he would provide for his wife and children. He knows many voters have doubts about the stimulus spending.
TOM RADEL, AMERICAN INFRASTRUCTURE: You know there's jobs already opening up already from it, and they just started talking about it not that long ago. I think it's going to work out pretty good for a lot of people.
FOREMAN: Like the people who run nearby businesses. If the road workers get confident enough to start spending again, that could mean money and jobs for gas stations, restaurants, clothing stores, all the places Brian White was avoiding while he was laid off.
BRYAN WHITE, AMERICAN INFRASTRUCTURE: Oh, we did a lot of cutting. There's times like on Fridays where we - you know, every Friday we'd go out and eat Chinese food. We don't - we cut that out and we had to watch what we spend, you know.
FOREMAN (on camera): Do you think that might come back now?
WHITE: Yes. Yes, indeed. FOREMAN (voice-over): The administration readily admits this is one project, one road, a fistful of jobs compared to the three and a half million lost. But it's a start.
RAY LAHOOD, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: And that's how we're going to get the country back on its feet.
FOREMAN (on camera): This project will take about seven months?
CASEY: That's correct.
FOREMAN: But at the end of that, you hope other projects will file in behind it?
CASEY: Absolutely. Yes, more than hoping. We're counting on it. We're counting on it.
FOREMAN (voice-over): And they are not the only ones.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Silver Spring, Maryland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And that first highway stimulus contract was awarded to American Infrastructure. Mark Compton manages business development and government affairs with that company and he joins us now from Baltimore, the best location in the nation, the land of pleasant living.
Mark, good to see you. How did you get to be first and what was your reaction when you learned you had the contract?
MARK COMPTON, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS MANAGER, AMERICAN INFRASTRUCTURE: How we got to be first was we were the first bidder, or lowest bidder of one of 11 bidders for the project. And our reaction was we were surprised as anyone to hear that we had won the first project.
HARRIS: Well, Mark, what will this mean? I mean, literally, for your area, your business. And how many jobs do you really think it will create?
COMPTON: This job will employ 60 individuals through the life of the project. So, and what I - what I think it means to - if you heard Bryan and you heard Tim's comment.
HARRIS: Yes.
COMPTON: One thing that Bryan said offline was, you know, when I'm laid off, I survive. Me and my family survive. But when we're working, we live. Me and my family live.
And our goal is to get all of the Bryans and Timmys back to work.
HARRIS: Yes, yes. How do you respond to critics who say that the jobs are not really jobs per se because they are merely temporary? COMPTON: Well, construction is a temporary business, if you will. It's a lot of projects strung together that make a season, whether it's a seven-month duration like this one or whether it's a three-year duration. Make no mistake about it, there are careers being made on these jobs. Bryan is a ten-year employee of ours. So for ten years, this has been his work. He is a professional, as is Timmy who had been with us for at least three or four years. So these gentlemen make a living and feed their families on this type of work.
HARRIS: Are you in line for other contracts?
COMPTON: We are. And we're bidding actively other contracts. Just to put it in perspective, here in Maryland and the part that we bid, these types of projects, there are 18 that we're bidding over the next two weeks. Thirteen of these are coded as "economic recovery" or "stimulus projects." So that tell you, without the stimulus we'd be bidding five but with the stimulus we're bidding 18, all of it at an approximate value of about five million dollars.
HARRIS: And you'll be adding new jobs for each new project that you get?
COMPTON: Well, the first goal of us is to bring back our other AI family colleagues and family members. So our first call is to, hey, when we bring back more Bryans and Timmy, we have about 350, as Shawn alluded to earlier in the piece, that are laid off. So the first call is to bring them back and then to keep them back.
HARRIS: Got you. Mark, what are you hoping to hear from President Obama today regarding help for small businesses?
COMPTON: Well, those are all our partners. Small businesses are all of our partners. They help us do what we do day in and day out. And we know that they are struggling along with everybody else. So, we're hoping that the helping hand that the president can give them is also going to give us as the dominos as they continue to fall.
HARRIS: Nice to be AI and not AIG these days.
(LAUGHTER)
Mark, good to see you.
COMPTON: Amen.
HARRIS: Amen. All right. Mark, appreciate it. Thank you.
COMPTON: Thank you.
HARRIS: Something you do every day could help someone else in this economic crisis. On our "ROAD TO RESCUE" iReporters are sharing their ideas and we're passing them on. So what's your best brown bag lunch?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARRIS: OK, as you know, the president is very busy. He started off his day, of course, by getting his daily economic briefing from his economic team at the White House. At any moment now, we're expecting to get some tape in to CNN. The president and Treasury Secretary Geithner meeting with leaders from the Small Business Administration.
This is all tied to the theme today of the president and the Treasury secretary talking to small business owners. And later in the noon hour, we're going to actually get plans from the administration moving forward to make money more available to small businesses and helping lenders to provide more of those dollars to small businesses.
Let's listen to the president and Treasury Secretary Geithner.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... to see how many small business owners are really struggling even though they're maintaining profitable businesses, their credit lines are being pulled and that obviously has huge consequences for employment because small businesses are one of the biggest drivers of employment that we have.
And so I've been on my team to figure out even as we're working diligently to increase liquidity throughout the financial system, how can we do some stuff that specifically targets the small business owner.
Now, you have here the chairman and ranking members of the respective committee's in the House and the Senate on small businesses. I know they've been hearing the same stuff. And I think the goal today is just to listen, hear more concretely some of the things that you guys are doing. And we'll talk a little bit about what objectives we have for this plan that we're rolling out today, but understand it's going to be a first step in what is going to be a continuing effort to make sure people get credit out there.
All right? OK, guys. Good to see ya.
HARRIS: And there you have the president and Secretary Geithner - Treasury Secretary Geithner meeting with the leaders of the Small Business Administration.
Later in the day - actually, at the top of the hour is when the remarks are scheduled. The president and Treasury Secretary Geithner will begin to lay out more specifics on a plan to help small businesses and really provide loan guarantees for lenders to provide more money for small businesses. Of course, when those remarks begin, somewhere at the top of the hour or shortly thereafter, we will bring them to you live right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
All right. Looking for ways to save money? Start with lunch. Let's take a trip now to CNN.com's iReport desk. And manning our iReport operation now, Tyson Wheatley, "Tyson's Corner."
And Tyson, you're getting ideas from iReporters for us?
TYSON WHEATLEY, CNN.COM PRODUCER: That's right, Tony. You know, all week long we're going to be challenging iReporters to share their thrifty ideas for ways of surviving this tough economy. And we wanted to start really simple with a brown bag lunch. It's something that everyone does every day to save some save money. And I want to share with you a few of some of these really awesome ones that we're getting in.
This first one comes to us from Phoenix and it comes to us from Alison McKee. And she woke up at 4:00 a.m. this morning to pack this lunch for her husband, Robert. And here it is. Here we can see a turkey wrap, we've got a Fugi apple, we've got some Fig Newtons and some carrots from the garden. Now Alison works from home and she also packs a lunch for her son when he goes off to school. So last fall they decided to rip out their flowerbeds and start a vegetable garden. And they've also grown some cauliflower some lettuce, and some spinach. Total cost of this lunch, $2.30.
Robert, I hope you enjoy your lunch today.
HARRIS: It looks pretty nutritious, too. I mean, come on.
WHEATLEY: Definitely healthy and thrifty.
All right. This next one is really outstanding. This is a video and we can start playing that video. This comes from Fran Feldman of Reston, Virginia. And check this out, you know, Fran says the ultimate brown bag, lunch can actually be made from last night's leftovers. And she made this video to prove it.
HARRIS: That's a good idea, yes.
WHEATLEY: That's right. Now, she basically makes a family favorite dish called, "Auntie June's Chicken." It's breadcrumb coated chicken that's been shallow fried, it's been topped with some parmesan. And she slices that chicken, put it's in Ciabatta bread, adds tomato, homemade hot pepper jelly. And for salad, she took some leftover steamed asparagus, she added some vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper - very simple. And for dessert, here you can see, she's adding two macaroons.
HARRIS: Nice, nice.
WHEATLEY: You know, she says, this his total lunch runs for just under $5.00. And remember, hey, we're looking at - we're talking about last night's leftovers. You can see the rest of the report on ireport.com. She walks us step by step. You can also check out a link to her awesome cooking blog. And you know what? We want to see more of your ultimate brown bag lunches sandwiches - lunches today. We want to see if you're being thrifty, practical. Just, you know, share with us. Tell us what's going on.
HARRIS: I like it. I like that lunch with that chicken. Boy, get some spices, jerk that thing up a little bit, it works for me.
Tyson, you knew it was coming. Tyson, appreciate it. Thank you.
WHEATLEY: All right. Take care, Tony. HARRIS: It's that time of year where we all fill out our brackets and become basketball fanatics. Does that 20 bucks that you put in the office pool help the economy?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: I don't know why that works, but it kind of does.
In offices across the country today, sports nuts are filling out these basketball brackets. Sure it takes your mind off these difficult times, it takes your mind off your job, but we need you to work right now. But can gambling help the economy bounce back? Delaware's governor wants to put his state on the road to rescue with an NFL sports lottery. Well, we read this story and we called up our friend CNN Sports Correspondent Larry Smith and Larry joins me now.
Larry, really, how would this work?
LARRY SMITH, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, what the governor is proposing is basically a state sports lottery in time for the NFL season, this coming season. The NFL gambling, as you know, is big business, wagering on those games. Delaware is facing a $700 million shortfall and gambling could bring $50 million to $100 million in revenues. So it wouldn't solve all their problems, but if they could become the first state in more than 30 years to have legalized sports gambling - first state east of the Mississippi to have legalized gambling, it certainly could put a dent in that deficit.
HARRIS: And I don't know that we know the answer to this, how big a business is this? You're talking about sports gambling, how big a business is this?
SMITH: Well, sports gambling is big.
HARRIS: Huge, right?
SMITH: I don't have those numbers. I know just the NCAA tournament alone, as you talked about a moment ago, is over $2.5 billion, the FBI numbers have shown. And that's $2.5 billion with a "B." Those are the dollars we're talking about. And that's just in the office pools and people going to Vegas and having parties and things like that in the different sports bars.
HARRIS: Well, you mentioned the office pools, look, the reality is these office pools have to hurt business. And everybody needs to keep their job over the next couple of weeks. Let's not get crazy about this thing. Do your work. But is there anything out there to suggest that these pools actually hurt business?
SMITH: Well, it's been estimated that the lack of productivity actually costs businesses about $2 billion every year. In fact, I know cbssportsline.com, they have one of the more active bracket sites this time of year. Of course, they are the - CBS shows all the tournament games. They have what's called a "Boss Button." Where you can go on and if your boss is walking up behind you, you can click and it will go to a mock spreadsheet like you're actually doing some work. HARRIS: That is crazy.
SMITH: You mentioned though, people are losing their jobs, so listen, keep that to a minimum. Keep working.
HARRIS: Exactly. We just thought this was an interesting story. So we had to get you upstairs. Larry Smith from CNN Sports. Larry, great to see you. Thank you, sir.
SMITH: Good seeing you.
HARRIS: Right now President Obama is meeting with small business leaders from around the country. He will announce new proposals to help these companies in just a minute. We will bring it to you live right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
We're on, "THE ROAD TO RESCUE: A CNN SURVIVAL GUIDE" to this economic crisis.
