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AIG Bonus Outrage Festers in Senate; Vegas: Land of Foreclosures and Cancelled Business Plans; Toxic Assets Continue Poisonous Pollution of Banks; COBRA Questions Answered
Aired March 17, 2009 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, everyone. I'm Tony Harris in the CNN NEWSROOM. And here are the headlines from CNN for this Tuesday, March 17th, St. Patrick's Day.
Outrage festering today over bonuses paid by bailed-out insurance giant AIG. One senator says AIG execs should resign or commit suicide.
Yes, there are jobs out there, but you have to know where to look. Our guest will point us in the right direction.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. No job, no insurance? Well, not necessarily. I've got pointers on post-job health care in the CNN NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: "THE ROAD TO RESCUE." All this week, we are using the unparalleled resources of CNN to bring you a survival guide for these tough economic times. We're going beyond the jargon and behind the numbers to explain the financial crisis and the search for solutions. And we are keeping you updated on stories affecting the economy and your finances.
We begin with the growing outrage over multimillion-dollar bonuses at AIG. The anger directed at AIG executives is echoing across Capitol Hill. Listen to this vent from Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY (R), IOWA: I would suggest the first thing that would make me feel a little bit better towards them, if they had follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep vow and say I'm sorry. And then either do one or two things -- resign or go commit suicide.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: OK. Grassley is just one of many in Congress hammering AIG execs.
Our Congressional Correspondent -- there she is -- Brianna Keilar, live on Capitol Hill for us.
And Brianna, it appears that more senators are weighing in today on the AIG bonus story.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They are. And Congress, in general, pursuing a few different strategies, Tony. And you can boil them down like this -- shame them, sue them, and tax them.
Shame them, perhaps, by naming names, something that powerful House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank has said he's going to do tomorrow when AIG's CEO is here testifying before Congress. Then suing them, pursuing some legal avenues, although legal experts are doubtful that may work.
And then, Tony, a really interesting one, one that is getting a lot of attention today here on Capitol Hill, taxing them. The idea -- and this is especially coming from Senate Democrats. Yes, writing a narrow tax provision that would really just zone in on these few people at AIG, really a number of people, but just these folks at AIG who are getting these bonuses, to recoup that money in the form of tax revenue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), MINORITY LEADER: Listen, Mr. Geithner was chairman of the New York Federal Reserve when -- in the previous administration when they decided to put this money into AIG. It was Mr. Geithner, in late February, who said that they had a plan to break up AIG, to sell off the parts, and to solve this problem. But after they reported a $61 billion loss, it was Mr. Geithner who shipped $30 billion more into AIG, and not one word has been said about solving the problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: And that is John Boehner, the top Republican in the House.
You can see, Tony, the Republicans, especially, really hitting on the Obama administration by going after the Treasury Department, saying a couple weeks ago, before they'd given this last infusion of cash to AIG, maybe they would have had more leverage to deal with this bonus situation.
HARRIS: You know, I was about to ask you if the Obama administration started to take some flak for this on the Hill. And I guess I just got my answer.
KEILAR: Yes, they certainly are taking some flak. And what's important to note, Tony, and I'm sure you've noted, is this is something the Obama administration has hinted at, something economists have talked about. There could very much be a need for more money from Congress for more bailouts.
HARRIS: Yes.
KEILAR: And it was already a tough climate, this only makes it more difficult. HARRIS: You're absolutely right.
Our Congressional Correspondent Brianna Keilar for us.
Brianna, appreciate it. Thank you.
Keep this in mind -- AIG lost $62 billion last quarter. Three months. That is the biggest quarterly loss ever. And these are the guys -- we're talking about the executives here -- getting the multimillion-dollar bonuses.
Our Carol Costello has more on the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): America has declared war on AIG.
From the president...
BARACK H. OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This outrage to the taxpayers who...
COSTELLO: ... to Congress...
REP. BARNEY FRANK (D), MASSACHUSETTS: People who screwed this thing up enormously.
COSTELLO: ... to New York's attorney general, to taxpayers. And the time for tact is over.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It makes me feel disgusted.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It makes me angry, certainly.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, they can change the law. They do every day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're a CEO of a company like that, you shouldn't be able to drive a limo. You should ride your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) on the subway like everybody else does.
COSTELLO: Public outrage has intensified ever since word leaked out that some AIG executives will receive $165 million in bonuses, despite the fact you, thanks to a $170 billion bailout, now own 80 percent of AIG.
How can that be?
AIG says there's nothing it can do. It's bound by preexisting contracts that, if voided, would lead to serious legal, as well as business, consequences for not paying.
And while that may be true, there are plenty who say bull.
REP. CAROLYN MALONEY (D), NEW YORK: The autoworkers had a contract, too. They're being asked to modify it. Why in the world was AIG's executives and workers not asked to modify their contracts, particularly those that caused the problem?
COSTELLO: Because, experts say, those executives knew AIG would not be allowed to collapse, because the government believes AIG's failure would tank the whole economy. By contrast, the auto unions voluntarily modified their contracts because the government made it clear bankruptcy was an option.
BARRY E. ADLER, NYU SCHOOL OF LAW: Federal money should be conditioned on elimination of old claims, whether that's done in bankruptcy or through a nationalization process. Before the federal government pours money into a troubled company that it deems necessary to save, the government should make sure that that money goes where it's intended.
COSTELLO: So what can the government do? Well, it can wield the shame weapon.
The New York attorney general now wants names so he can publicly determine who is getting a bonus and whether they were involved in conduct that led to AIG's demise. And Congress will hold hearings on Wednesday. The star attraction? Edward Liddy, AIG's government- appointed chairman.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: That should be hot.
All right. Happening right now, let's take you to the Senate floor. New York Senator -- you see him there -- Charles Schumer, he is also the chair of the Senate Rules Committee -- I understand is talking about AIG and the bonuses right now. Let's have a listen.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: ... these large and unseemly bonuses be warned, if you don't return it on your own, we'll do it for you.
In the letter, joining me in the letter, are the majority leader, Senator Reid; secretary of the caucus, Senator Murray; Senators Klobuchar, Carper, Lincoln, Menendez, Johnson; and you, Mr. President, Senator Begich; and the number is growing. Many other people, I believe, will put their names on the letter.
Now, in the past year, we have learned much about the reckless behavior within our financial system, and no firm was more reckless than AIG. What they did was not only irresponsible, but from a business perspective, it was immoral.
They took what was a very solid, well-made business that sold insurance to individuals and firms around the globe, and turned it into a gambling den that they used to enrich themselves. They sold credit default... HARRIS: There you go, New York Senator Charles Schumer there, who chairs the Senate Rules Committee. And did you get the takeaway there? Saying if -- and speaking to the executives of AIG who received the millions, $165 million in bonuses, if you don't return it on your own, we will return it for you.
All right. So we'll drill down on that a bit more. But a not- so-veiled threat there to the executives who received millions of dollars in bonuses from the faltering, some would say failed, AIG, the insurance giant.
We want to hear from you. What do you have to say about all of this?
Our e-mail question today: Does Wall Street need to change its money-first mentality? E-mail us @cnnnewsroom@cnn.com. And our Josh Levs will join me in about 10 minutes with your responses.
The economy is giving off some pretty positive signals today. First, inflation at the wholesale level crept up just .1 of a percent last month. The increase fueled by a big jump in energy prices.
Housing starts jumped in February, up 22 percent. That is far better than analysts predicted. Construction though is just a half what it was a year ago, and much of it is apartments.
We are live from Las Vegas shortly. The metropolitan area hit hardest by the foreclosure epidemic.
And Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his top bankers are in talks on interest rates today. The Fed is likely to hold a critical rate where it is, near zero. Most economists say the Fed wouldn't think about raising rates until the unemployment situation turns around.
President Obama speaks at a St. Patrick's Day luncheon on Capitol Hill this hour. Live coverage.
And earlier this morning, the president met with congressional leaders on his $3.6 trillion budget for 2010. He says those who don't like his plan should come up with something better.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: And certain aspects of this budget people don't think work provide us some ideas in terms of what you'd do. "Just say no" is the right advice to give your teenagers about drugs. It is not an acceptable response to whatever economic policies proposed by the other party.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Well, how do you think the president is doing on the economy? Our Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider will be along with some new poll numbers.
The casinos aren't the only places you could lose a fortune in Las Vegas. Just ask some of the homeowners.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Homeowners at wit's end. It's not just the people who are nearing foreclosure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHIE WILSON, CNN IREPORTER: Property values out here in this neighborhood, southern Arizona, has greatly depreciated in value. The builders have walked away. The landscape has gone to pot. The homeowners association is not taking care of their business. And it's just an eyesore and it gets to the point to where you just want to walk away and say, you know, I give up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Boy. A few years ago, you know, Las Vegas was the fastest-growing city in the nation. Now it's the foreclosure capital.
Edward Lawrence with our affiliate KLAS explains how it all went down.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EDWARD LAWRENCE, REPORTER, KLAS (voice-over): The world knows Las Vegas for gambling and good fun. Investors knew Las Vegas as a great place to flip a house and make tons of cash.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to spend a lot of time thinking about over-leverage.
LAWRENCE: Those days are long gone, according to analyst Jeremy Aguero. Still, he says housing may be the key.
JEREMY AGUERO, APPLIED ANALYSIS: I think that it's housing that got us into this mess, I think it's housing that's going to lead us out of this month.
LAWRENCE: Aguero says for the last seven months, the number of resale homes increased. Sure, 65 percent of those sales were bank- owned properties. Half of all homeowners in Nevada own more than the home is worth. We lead the nation in that category. But the sales point Aguero to growth.
AGUERO: All the fundamentals that still made this arguably the most prolific economy in the United States during the past 20 years exists. And in some ways, they exist more today than they existed three or four years ago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Visitation is going to be up between four and five percent.
LAWRENCE: The head of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority says buying up the existing inventory of homes must be coupled with the area's real economic engine. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just bring more people in and it's going to work its way through.
LAWRENCE: That's why the Convention and Visitors Authority budget will remain the same in 2009, $92 million.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We haven't reduced our advertising budget. And we're maintaining it. And we need to be in the marketplace to tell the message of what is happening in Las Vegas.
LAWRENCE: For the first time, the LVCVA sales force is making cold calls. This year, they've already made 1,000 calls to attract new conventions, replacing ones that left or significantly scaled back.
Aguero says the bottom line is that companies will continue to lay off in 2009, but there are bright spots and a lot of people working to turn this recession around.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And Edward Lawrence live from Las Vegas once again.
And Edward, what else are the people of Las Vegas doing to sort of turn this thing around?
LAWRENCE: Tony, there's a couple of things that are going on. The Convention and Visitors Authority has started an advertising blitz to try and tell businesses that it's OK to come to Las Vegas and hold their meetings and do business.
They also -- they went to Washington, D.C., last week to try and change the perception from lawmakers. And the third thing they've done is our state leaders here, Senator Harry Reid and some of the other Congress folks, have met with the banks and got them together with the people here in Las Vegas to try and stop foreclosures. They want the banks to refinance with those people who are in jeopardy.
The bottom line is that when tourism starts here in Las Vegas, people are hired, they're making money.
HARRIS: Yes.
LAWRENCE: There are no more layoffs and they can afford their homes.
HARRIS: And Edward, tell us about the number of foreclosures in Las Vegas, and something of a figure on the prices of homes there now.
LAWRENCE: We're at the top of every bad list and the bottom of every good list, it seems. The price of a home, the median price, is $156,000, which is down 37 percent from a year ago.
Analysts do tell me that there is one bright spot. There are so many homes out here, they're so cheap, they're seeing a lot of foreign investors within the last two months, mainly from China, who are buying up properties, cheap properties, here in Las Vegas.
HARRIS: Edward, thanks for your help. Terrific stuff.
Edward Lawrence for us.
Thank you, sir.
Let's get you quickly now to Josh Levs.
Because, Josh, we've been asking folks this morning to send us their thoughts, channel their outrage over the bonuses at AIG through us. And my guess is you've been inundated with e-mails.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We have, yes. I mean, you know, we were talking about philosophy on Wall Street and the impression people have.
HARRIS: Yes. It was a good meeting this morning. It really was.
LEVS: It was. And we knew, right, that if we opened this up, it would be the floodgates of responses. Of course. Because no matter what we ask these days, we still hear about this.
HARRIS: That's true. That's true.
LEVS: We were talking about this guy, right, Gordon Gekko? In fact, we have a little clip of him. Take a look at this, Tony.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "WALL STREET")
MICHAEL DOUGLAS, ACTOR: The point is, Ladies and Gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works.
(END VIDEO CLIP, "WALL STREET")
LEVS: The most famous part of that movie, "Wall Street," Tony.
HARRIS: But for a second, we don't want to tar all Wall Streeters with the Gordon Gekko brush, right?
LEVS: And we're talking about a fictional character.
HARRIS: Well, really?
LEVS: But based on a lot of people's questions, based on some real people out there...
HARRIS: Yes.
LEVS: And the fact is, a lot of people do have the feeling that that kind of thinking has been at the core of what Wall Street is. And some people think that's a good thing. So that's what we're asking today, is this philosophy, what people want to see or not see.
Let's zoom in. These are some of the e-mails. As you know, lots of them coming in.
HARRIS: Yes.
LEVS: We'll start off with this.
Robert -- "One would be insane to think that Wall Street should turn into an ethics classroom. Money first is the fundamental foundation of Wall Street."
Now, check out this one, Tony. It's interesting. "To some degree, greed is good. However, greed crosses the line when it benefits me and hurts other people. I don't know how the people receiving the bonuses can look themselves in the mirror and still feel good."
One more e-mail here. "Greed is not good for the middle class, only the wealthy."
And Tony, a lot of people here weighing in on that idea about the middle class.
HARRIS: Yes.
LEVS: Let's check out the Facebook responses.
Dalia (ph) wrote us this: "Wall Street will always be Wall Street. It's the money sector, nothing philanthropic about it. What we should learn from this economic downturn is that we can't have Wall Street at the crux of our economy. It shouldn't hold all that power. Middle class," Tony, "is what drives this economy."
HARRIS: Amen.
LEVS: Let me do another quick one here. "When you put making money ahead of human interests, you become a cold-hearted machine with no feelings or emotions whatsoever. How sad."
So there you go. These are the kinds of things we're hearing, Tony.
HARRIS: Yes.
LEVS: I think we just showed you all how to weigh in -- cnnnewsroom@cnn.com, or my Facebook page, Josh Levs CNN.
Keep them coming, Tony. We're obviously going to keep this discussion going.
HARRIS: Let's see if we can squeeze in another hit a little later in the hour. All right, Josh?
LEVS: OK.
HARRIS: What do you think of when you hear the term "toxic assets"? Well, it's nothing we need a hazmat team to handle, but these holdings we're talking about are poisoning the worldwide banking system.
Let's bring in our Richard Quest here. He joins us live from London to tell us why and sort of break this down for us.
Now, Richard, break down this term "toxic assets" for us, because I think we've heard it so much, we think we know what it means, but I'm not sure we really do.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, we all know what an asset is. An asset is something that is worth something. It might be your house, your car, a stock or a bond.
A toxic asset needs no definition because it is one of these complex financial instruments that would now come in to Wall Street that are extremely dangerous, hazardous to your wealth. They can seriously damage your wealth.
Just listen to Larry Summers, one of the brightest economists in the business.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY SUMMERS, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: There are very fundamental issues in the banking system, principally having to do with very large quantity of so-called toxic assets that people don't understand very well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Now, let's actually put this into perspective. Look at this.
Imagine this, Tony, is a bank. All right? I'm going to have to stand up for a bit.
HARRIS: OK.
QUEST: Imagine this is a bank and all the apples, the greens and the reds, they are the various assets within it. So far, so good. But we don't necessarily know which are the good ones, so we start looking.
These seem fine, no problems with these apples. Ah, hang on. Look at this. Now, that is what I would call a toxic asset.
HARRIS: OK.
LEVS: The problem though, Tony, the problem is, whether or not -- hang on. There's a couple more in there.
HARRIS: Are you eventually going to tell me that one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch?
QUEST: No. Well, of course it could ruin the whole bunch, no question about it. But the problem with toxic assets is, how much is this worth? HARRIS: Yes.
QUEST: Now, we can value the good assets. We know an apple is, what, 50 cents, $1 each, or whatever it might be...
HARRIS: Yes. Yes.
QUEST: ... depending on the part of the country. But how much should we value this miserable specimen? Or how about that? Because although this apple is toxic and damaged, well, you could make an apple pie out of it.
HARRIS: Yes.
QUEST: You might be able to make -- you could make chutney. So we can't put a price on these, but until we can get rid of them, well, your toxic assets are spoiling your barrel. And that is the significance of what's taking place at the moment in the banking system. Rooting out...
HARRIS: That is nice.
QUEST: Rooting out the ones that we don't want, and then finally putting a price -- I'm enjoying the rest.
HARRIS: If I don't say anything -- hey, let me ask you something here in just a moment. And I don't know if you've had a chance to hear this, but Charles Schumer, senator out in New York -- because we were talking about this last hour -- basically -- oh, we do have a sound bite? All right, let's play it for Richard, and then let's get his reaction to it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHUMER: My colleagues and I are sending a letter to Mr. Liddy, informing him that he can go right ahead and tell these employees that are scheduled to get bonuses that they should voluntarily return them, because if they don't, we plan to virtually tax all of it. He should tell these employees if they don't give the money back, we'll put in place a new law that will allow us to tax these bonuses at a very high rate so that it's returned to its rightful owners, the taxpayers.
So for those of you who are getting these bonuses, be forewarned -- you will not be getting to keep them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: OK. Richard, you've got all this money in bonuses. You know what? At this point, you think you're going to be able to keep the money free and clear, but guess what's coming? The long arm of the government is readying a tax proposal for you. QUEST: Yes. Yes. Windfall taxes against the oil companies, windfall against the banks.
Let me tell you, this is brilliant politics, and it's absolutely horrendous economics. You cannot and should not, and probably will not, legislate against a very small group of people. It's against natural justice, it's against the rule of law, and by and large -- look, you can't help it. These people earned that money. Admittedly, they took the bank down with them.
HARRIS: Yes. Well, let me just say this to you, the e-mails are coming to you. RichardQuest@cnn.com.
There you go, my friend.
QUEST: Richard.Quest@cnn.com. And if you want to Twitter me on this, because I know you're up in arms, it's At (ph) Richard Quest.
Come on. Bring them on.
HARRIS: Can't wait so see your show today.
All right, Richard, appreciate it, as always. Thank you.
Losing your job could also mean losing your health insurance. You can keep your coverage, but it comes at a price. We will walk you through your options.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KENNY PATTERSON, CNN IREPORTER: In the United States, this is one of the few places left on the planet where losing your job means losing your health care coverage. And that becomes tantamount to people losing their homes, going bankrupt, and it just creates social chaos in itself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: We need to drill down on this. That was CNN iReporter Kenny Patterson voicing what many of you are worried about in these difficult financial times.
Let's talk about this a little bit more with our medical correspondent. Elizabeth Cohen joins us now.
And Elizabeth, let's talk about COBRA. I mean, I think that is the real issue here. Say, my company -- we've got an e-mail -- let's put it up here from one of our viewers who has a real concern about this issue. And here it is, "My company has gone into bankruptcy. Can I get COBRA?"
COHEN: No. Next e-mail.
HARRIS: Really?
COHEN: I mean, seriously, yes. If your company's gone into bankruptcy, you cannot get COBRA. I mean, this is one of the difficult things, I know, about COBRA.
How COBRA works is that you get laid off from your job, and you can continue to get your employer-sponsored health insurance if your employer still exists. If you employer has gone bankrupt, there is no place for you to get health insurance from.
And of course the other big thing about COBRA is, you're paying for it now. Your employer is not paying for it anymore. That's huge.
HARRIS: All right. I want to get to the cost of that in a second, but if I can't get COBRA because my company has gone into bankruptcy, how do I then go about getting it? I need it.
COHEN: Right. You can't. So let's talk about people who can get COBRA.
HARRIS: OK.
COHEN: Let's talk about that, because probably more people can get COBRA -- or are eligible for COBRA than are not.
So let's talk about -- if your company has not gone bankrupt and they lay you off, but your company still exists, here's how you go about getting COBRA. Let's take you through a couple steps.
First, act quickly. Act now.
HARRIS: Yes.
COHEN: Act within 60 days, actually, specifically, or else you're not eligible for COBRA anymore. So don't sit around.
Also, find out the price. Call your benefits department and say, I want o go on COBRA. How much is it going to cost me? It's going to be a lot.
Also, find out if you can get a discount. Under the stimulus bill, you can now get 65 percent of your COBRA bill reimbursed. That is gigantic. Not for everybody, but some people. And we'll go into that in a little bit.
HARRIS: OK.
COHEN: And then go ahead and sign up.
HARRIS: You mentioned a moment ago that you have to pay for the whole thing.
COHEN: You have to pay for the whole thing.
HARRIS: How pricey is this?
COHEN: It's pricey. It's extremely pricey. I mean, for you or me, it would probably be $14,000 or so. But let's take a look at some national averages. This is from Families USA.
HARRIS: You stopped me in my tracks there. Sorry.
COHEN: I know, $1,400 -- right, exactly. HARRIS: Yes.
COHEN: That just took away anything, right?
HARRIS: Of course. Yes.
COHEN: For an individual to go on COBRA costs about $388 a month. For a family to go on COBRA, it costs about $1,069 per month. These are gigantic numbers. And by definition, these people have just been laid off, right? So how in the world are you going to afford that. That is why about nine percent of people who are eligible for COBRA actually go and get it.
HARRIS: You talked a moment ago about a discount, right?
COHEN: Yes.
HARRIS: And who's eligible to get this discount?
COHEN: OK. Let's go over that. This, again, part of the stimulus bill. You can try to get 65 percent of that -- of those numbers that we just saw -- reimbursed. So let's take a look at who is eligible for this discount on COBRA. First of all, folks who were laid off since August 31st. So after August 31st, until now, you can try to get this discount. But, your company must still be in business, as we saw with that original e-mail. If your company doesn't exist any more, you can't get COBRA and you can't get the discount.
HARRIS: Great information, as always. Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen with us.
Thank you.
COHEN: Thanks.
HARRIS: Thank you.
Some fresh CNN poll numbers on the financial crisis are just in. CNN's senior political analyst Bill Schneider joining us from Washington.
Bill, good to see you, as always.
Is the public still on board, I guess is a good place to start here, with the president's stimulus plan?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: The answer is, yes, Tony. But those numbers have been slipping. Right now a majority, 54 percent, say they support the president's $800 billion stimulus plan. But notice, in February, just a month ago, that number was at 60 percent.
Why is it slipping? Well, there's been a turn in the country against government spending. And the question did mention that it cost $800 billion. Why the turn against government spending? Because we're seeing a lot of stories about waste and abuse about how the government isn't supervising the spending, about how the taxpayer money is being abused and the way to summarize that is with three letters -- AIG.
HARRIS: AIG. I wonder what the public is thinking and maybe what the public wants the government to do about the financial crisis, Bill.
SCHNEIDER: Yes. Well, there are three bad choices here. Which one does the public favor? Forty-one percent of Americans say, let the banks fail. If they're in trouble, just let them go bankruptcy. You've heard a lot of Republicans say that's the best way to handle this.
Some Democrats are saying, well, maybe we should temporarily take over these failing banks to deal with what Richard called the toxic assets. Almost as many people, about 40 percent, say go ahead, take them over. A lot of Democrats are saying that. Some are even calling it nationalization, temporary nationalization.
What's the thing that people like least? Eighteen percent, give them money. Show them the money. Give them financial assistance. That's the bailout. That's the thing that people don't want to do, shovel more money at those banks. The other options are bad, but they're not as bad as bailing them out.
HARRIS: Our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider for us.
Bill, good numbers. That's interesting. Thank you. Nice snapshot.
If you're looking for a job, where's the best state to find one? We've got some answers for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: All right. After a down day yesterday, slightly down yesterday, nice little bounce back today, as you can see. Three hours -- just past three hours into the trading day and the Dow is up 36 point -- 62 points. All right. Sixty-two points. And the Nasdaq is up 23. Of course, we're following the numbers all afternoon long for you in the CNN NEWSROOM.
There are jobs out there on the road to rescue, but you've got to know the what and the where. Health care, doctors offices and outpatient facilities need technicians and assistants. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that sector added 16,000 people so far this year. Nursing and residential care facilities count 3,800 new hires. Hospitals, 6,800. The Motion Picture Industry has added 6,500 people this year. And then there's your Uncle Sam. The federal government, with the exception of the postal service, is hiring.
That's the what. Now the where. If you're looking for work, remember, location is everything. And Mary Delaney with careerbuilder.com is joining us now from Chicago.
Mary, if you would, we're going to show a map here. Where are the jobs? Break this out for us.
MARY DELANEY, CAREERBUILDER.COM: Sure. What we did is we took our job postings and we mapped them over 1,000 residents in each of the areas. And this highlights where the jobs are. So the dark blue has the most job opportunities. Light blue, somewhat less. And then orange and gray, not as much.
HARRIS: OK, Mary, let's do this. Let's sort of break this out by regions. I can see some blue in the south there. Tell us why.
DELANEY: Sure. The south brings a couple different areas. First of all, the baby boomers are retiring and moving south. And what that has done is brought increased medical needs to the south. So health care is growing in places like Arizona, Florida, Nevada, somewhat Texas as well. And then Texas also is benefitting from oil and gas needs, where there's increased engineering opportunities in southern Texas.
HARRIS: You tell us that the west is kind of in a mixed bag. Tell us why.
DELANEY: Sure. Up in Washington it would be biotech and health care, where there's also natural resources and mining in places like Colorado, Idaho and Wyoming. And then in California you'll see, although we've seen some layoffs in recent months, we think that's very short term because we've see some significant opportunities still in the technology sector, specifically web related.
HARRIS: And, Mary, is the D.C. picture, Washington, D.C., is that essentially -- when we talk about D.C., we're talking about Virginia -- is that essentially about government jobs?
DELANEY: It is. Government's a big opportunity in the D.C. corridor. Also, though, we're seeing other opportunities in the northeast where it's revenue-generating areas like collection agencies. Insurance companies are still having significant hiring. And then there's education. People are taking a fifth year of school or they're going back and so Massachusetts, New York has high education growth.
HARRIS: All right. So, again, that's the northeast. You kind of rolled in the D.C. area with the rest of the northeast. That's good.
All right, Mary. Good to see you. Thanks for that bit of information. That's good. Helpful information for folks looking for a job now.
DELANEY: Thank you.
HARRIS: Thanks, Mary.
The companies hiring are also looking for diversity. CNN's Barbara Starr is at a job fair in Landover, Maryland.
And, Barbara, good to see you. We know minority groups are being hit hard in every jobs report we get. Talk to us about some of the employers there today and the turnout.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Tony, here at FedEx Field in Washington, it has been a steady flow of people all morning. Hundreds of people coming through here looking for work, talking to about 50 employers that have booths here with about 1,600 jobs available. But many more people than that.
And as you say, this is all about diversity today. Employers looking for the most diverse job applicants they can. I have to tell you that a very special group of people that arrived here early this morning really caught our attention. I want to introduce you to this group of special needs adults who have been here all day. They have been moving through this crowd and it is not easy for them. They have been dropping off their resumes at various job booths. They're looking for work. They are very capable of working. And I want to talk to Barry Watson (ph), who is leading this group. This is the UCP School on the Potomac for special needs adults.
And, Barry, your guys have been out here with everybody all morning long.
BARRY WATSON, UCP SCHOOL: That's correct. Yes, we have. We've been out all morning long. Our school consists of us teaching them how to fax resumes, write resumes and basically e-mailing different resumes also. We were prepared to come out here to have them talk to some prospective employers also.
STARR: But it's been -- it has been really crowded out here this morning. It's been tough for them, I know. But they're not giving up. Several of these people have told me just before we came on the air, they have dropped their resumes off and they are looking for work.
WATSON: Oh, yes, they're a very determined crowd that we have here looking -- eagerly looking for work. Hoping that some employer would be willing to hire them.
STARR: How tough is it, let me just ask you, for disabled, special needs people in this economic downturn? People might think it's a very small group of people, but there's a lot of special needs folks out there that can work and want to work.
WATSON: That is absolutely correct. We have to overlook the employees as far as looking at their disability to show them that they do still have a mind and are willing to work.
STARR: And, Tony, that's actually what we wanted to, just for a few minutes, bring to our viewers. All walks of life, all kinds of people out here. And they share one real need -- the need for a good job - Tony.
HARRIS: Barbara, appreciate that so much. Barbara Starr for us in Landover, Maryland. America's Latino community has been hit hard by the tanking economy. But some are finding ways to cope.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: The latest jobless numbers show Latinos are taking a big hit in this recession. But for many in that community, dealing with tough times is nothing new.
Here's CNN's Brooke Baldwin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's lunch time at Coco Loco, and the orders keep coming in.
JULIO GUZMAN, COCO LOCO OWNER: My sales, they have been down for the past five months versus last year.
BALDWIN: This recession has forced owner, Julio Guzman, to get creative between online advertising, extra catering, and his loyal customers he keeps Coco Loco in the black. For Guzman and thousands of other Latinos, living on a budget is simply a way of life.
GUZMAN: We come here with nothing. You know, we have to start. You know, we don't have (INAUDIBLE) house for the families or any wealth. We have to start from scratch.
BALDWIN: It's the scene all too familiar to the Latino community.
AURELIO ARIZMENDI, LA PLAZA 102.3: They come to America with nothing. With zero. Nothing. Zip. And they start over again. This is really hard.
BALDWIN: Aurelio Arizmendi is a disc jockey at a Spanish language radio station in Atlanta.
Every morning, Arizmendi takes calls from listeners, many of whom are quite concerned about the economy.
ARIZMENDI: People who did used to have their own business, they're broke now. They are losing their houses, the cars, the trucks. Everything.
BALDWIN: This caller works in construction, and says jobs are drying up, because people aren't building.
This caller says he's about to lose his house, and is afraid if that happens, he'll lose his family, as well. According to the U.S. bureau of labor statistics, the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. hit hard. Unemployment in February double digits at 10.9 percent. That is the biggest jump from the previous month compared to every other group surveyed.
(on camera): We have lived through enough recession. BALDWIN: But those numbers don't worry Julio Guzman. He grew up in Cuba, under Fidel Castro's regime.
GUZMAN: Shortage of everything, so you know we were creative back then. You know, we learned to survive, because, you know, if you try, you'll make it.
BALDWIN: And making it for Guzman is the American dream.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And Brooke is with us right now.
Brooke, for the first time, you saw it in that graphic just a moment ago. We are seeing Hispanic unemployment in this country in double digits for the first time. We're talking 10.9 percent.
BALDWIN: Right. Right.
HARRIS: So tell me why.
BALDWIN: This is a big deal. And it really all pertains to the ripple effect of this housing collapse and how it's affected specifically Hispanics, specifically the construction jobs. You talked to the people -- we heard the callers coming in at La Raza, the radio station in Atlanta. Also someone with the Economic Policy Institution saying that Hispanics are over represented in construction sector.
And so when you start to look at some of the numbers, when you look at February specifically, the job losses in construction lost 104,000 jobs. So when you connect that with the fact that a lot of Hispanics rely on building, and people aren't building, then the construction jobs gone.
HARRIS: And we have some new data suggesting that housing starts are beginning to turn around.
BALDWIN: Some positive.
HARRIS: So there's a silver lining there hopefully.
BALDWIN: There is a silver lining. And a lot of people are relying on exactly that to continue because a lot of these folks, they said, you know what, I came to America with nothing. I cannot go home with empty hands.
HARRIS: What did you bring here? What is this?
BALDWIN: I brought you -- I thought this was interesting because we were at La Plaza (ph) -- oops, I'm losing my newspaper -- we were in a predominantly Hispanic area of Atlanta. And on the front cover of the Mundo Hispanico (ph) is disaplaio (ph), unemployment. Big deal.
HARRIS: Good stuff. Brooke, appreciate it. Thank you. BALDWIN: Thanks, Tony.
HARRIS: Yes, you good stuff.
BALDWIN: Thank you.
HARRIS: All right. We'll take a break. We're back with more CNN NEWSROOM in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: When it comes to your bottom line, our goal is to get you the information you need to get you through the day. Let's go to our personal finance editor Gerri Willis at "The Help Desk" in New York.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: We want to get you answers to your financial questions. Let's go straight to "The Help Desk."
Greg McBride is a senior analyst with bankrate.com. Sonia Alleyne is a career editor with "Black Enterprise." And Dani Babb is the author of "Accidental Landlord."
The first question comes from Jerry who says, "My son has served in the U.S. Navy for the past 22 years. He bought a house in Virginia Beach two years ago and put no money down. He has a V.A. mortgage that is strapping him and another large loan to consolidate debt. Is his V.A. mortgage eligible for refinancing?"
Dani.
DANI BABB, AUTHOR, "ACCIDENTAL LANDLORD": Absolutely. It doesn't matter what type of mortgage you have, FHA, VA, absolutely you are eligible for refinance. There is a 105 percent LTV cap, loan to value cap. If you're trying to do a modification, but many banks are working with you even if you're pretty close to the 100 percent LTV and you're behind on your payments.
WILLIS: All right. It's a very complicated world?
William asks, "We are a small plumbing company with about $100,000 of debt struggling to stay afloat. Are there any business credit counselors I can contact to help us pay our creditors? I really don't want to file bankruptcy, but I feel it may be my only option."
Greg, hearing a lot of this too, small business in trouble.
GREG MCBRIDE, SENIOR ANALYST, BANKRATE: Yes. And, I mean, I don't know if this is a business that William owns or how he has it incorporated or if it's just a company that he works for. However, try negotiating directly with the creditors to get those payments reduced so that you can -- so they can swing that. Also, they also want to kind of see what his -- if he owns the business, see what type of personal obligation, if any, he may have for business debt. See an attorney about that.
WILLIS: Yes, that's critical to know.
BABB: There are also new loans out there, new money out there. Sba.gov. There's a community express loan and the 7M loan to help people like him if he owns that business.
WILLIS: All right. So lots of help, sba.gov.
Linda in Texas asks, "I am an attorney who was recently laid off. I'm branching out to look for jobs in other areas, but no one wants to hire me for jobs I am overqualified for because they think I'll leave for a higher paying job. How does an experienced professional find work in this economy?"
Sonia, I'm seeing stories all over the place and I have to tell you, I believe them that employers are really hurting people who are older in the work place. They're taking it on the chin. And these layoffs, layoffs after layoffs you here about. What do these people do, over 50, having trouble?
SONIA ALLEYNE, CAREER EDITOR, "BLACK ENTERPRISE": Well, and the thing is, the onus is on the person seeking the job. And it's not that they think that you're overqualified, they know that you're overqualified and they're not -- there's not a fear that you're going to bolt because there's nowhere for you to go. I think what the fear is, is that you're going to come in as if this work is beneath you.
And so the onus is that you really have to come in and not only prove that you can do the job, that you can bring value to the job, but you can enjoy it while you're there and that you're not going to be frustrated because this work is beneath you.
WILLIS: That's great advice.
Well, "The Help Desk" is all about getting answers to your questions. Send me an e-mail to gerri@cnn.com or log on to cnn.com/helpdesk to see more of our financial solutions.
And "The Help Desk" is everywhere. Make sure to check out the latest issue of "Money" magazine on newsstands now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: You know, many of you want a prescription for fixing the health care system. We're turning to the best financial minds in the country for answers right now. They've got 90 seconds to give us a remedy. Oh, start the clock now!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAURENCE KATLIKOFF, BOSTON UNIVERSITY ECONOMIST: It's my solution to the health care crisis is to have a single, efficient system that doesn't drive the country broke.
We need to live within a fixed budget. The government's expenditure on health care has to be a fixed share of GDP. So what I would do is have the government spend a little bit more in the short run to get everybody under the same system and get rid of Medicare, Medicaid and employer based health care and set up a simple voucher system under which everybody gets a voucher but the size of the voucher you get is going to depend on your pre-existing conditions.
So if you're very sick, you got a big voucher. If you're perfectly healthy, you get a small voucher. You take your voucher to the insurance industry. You buy a health plan for the year and then you are covered. The government sets the total voucher expenditures as a fixed share of GDP so that we don't have an exploding cost through time and we don't put all this burden on to the next generation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Got to go! CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Kyra Phillips.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: No, don't go!
HARRIS: Your show is bursting!
PHILLIPS: I don't want you to go!
HARRIS: Gotta go!
PHILLIPS: All right.
