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President: Need States' Support; Big Taxes on Big Bonuses; Geithner's Ambitious Agenda; How to Fix Education; Wishers Come True; The Help Desk; Businesses that are Booming; Save Energy For Less; Eating Healthy on a Budget

Aired March 20, 2009 - 12:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: All right. And hello there to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes -- and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM -- sitting in day for Tony Harris.

Here are the headlines we've got coming on this Friday, March the 20th.

President Obama live this hour. He'll be talking to state lawmakers about his economic recovery plan. Meanwhile, the president trying to recover a bit of his own today from a bit of a late-night whoopsy, what he told Jay Leno that has a lot of people sounding off and actually has a lot of folks angry.

NICOLE LAPIN, CNN.COM CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Nicole Lapin from CNN.com. I'm not here to make you angry. I have a lot of free stuff for you online, and it's legal. I promise. You'll see coming up in the CNN NEWSROOM.

HOLMES: All right. Our commitment to helping you navigate the "ROAD TO RESCUE" begins next door into the White House this hour. President Obama trying to secure support for his economic recovery program. He's about to meet with states' legislators.

We'll head now live to our White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux.

Wow, these state legislators, a lot of them have their hands full trying to balance these budgets. What do we have coming up in this event?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: T.J., it's really a big responsibility for a lot of these folks. So there are going to be representatives from Hawaii, from Guam, from Mississippi, just about every state that you can imagine, talking with the president about some of their concerns. And the big message, obviously, coming out of this meeting is the need for transparency and accountability.

We're going to hear from the president again. He's going to be talking to these lawmakers and state officials saying, look, ,this is in your hands here to be responsible in how you're going to spend that money from this economic stimulus package.

Some of the people that he's also going to meeting with, T.J., here at the White House, California Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. They were together in California. He is one of the few Republicans who's really backed President Obama when it comes to the economic stimulus plan. Obviously turning to him to get some sort of support for this.

But this is a two-way street, a back-and-forth here. He is really counting on these state lawmakers and these state leaders to do the right thing -- T.J.

HOLMES: Yes, to do the right thing. Who knows what that is these days?

A lot of talk about the economy right about now, but the president took some time out to talk directly to the people of Iran today. I want to take a quick listen here and then ask you about it on the other side, Suzanne.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So in this season of new beginnings, I would like to speak clearly to Iran's leaders. We have serious differences that have grown over time. My administration is now committed to diplomacy that addresses the full range of issues before us and to pursuing constructive ties among the United States, Iran, and the international community.

This process will not be advanced by threats. We seek, instead, engagement that is honest and grounded in mutual respect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, of course the president talked about diplomacy when he was out there on the campaign trail, and that we needed to talk to Iran. Well, doing this publicly like this, is he essentially trying to put the ball in their court?

MALVEAUX: Well, he's certainly moving the ball forward here, T.J. This is really an unprecedented move. This is not something the Bush administration did.

Formally, what he's doing is he's wishing the Iranian people a happy new year in this videotaped message, but is very, very clear, he's going beyond that. This is really an olive branch that he is extending, and he's trying to show the Iranian people, as well as the Iranian regime, that he has respect for them.

This is really opening the door. We have not seen whether or not the Iranians have responded to this, but the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has said in the past, if you show me mutual respect, that he would be willing and open to diplomacy and talking with the U.S. government. Barack Obama has also expressed a willingness as well. This is just first step -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. A first step.

Suzanne Malveaux for us from the White House. Always a pleasure. Thank you so much, Suzanne.

Well, the markets could move because a man is going to open his mouth today. That's some kind of power, ain't it? But this man is not just any man.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, he's going to be speaking this hour, and he's speaking about the financial crisis at a bankers conference happening in Phoenix. We'll bring you the important details of his speech as soon as we get a hold of some of those details.

Also under way this hour, Vice President Joe Biden, he's administering the oath of office to U.S. trade representative Ron Kirk. The former Dallas mayor now the newest member of President Obama's cabinet. We hope to get some video of that here in just a little while. That happening today.

Kirk certainly got the job cut out for him. He's going to have to pry open international markets in the midst of a global recession.

That picture I was mentioning, ask and ye shall receive. There it is, this is happening, this live event here.

You don't see a picture of Kirk there in this particular shot, but not sure if the oath has already happened or it's about to come up. But we'll keep an eye on it, bring it to you here in a little while.

Well, the effort to slap big taxes on those AIG bonuses moves now to the Senate. The House approved a bill to impose a 90-percent tax on the bonuses. It applies to companies getting at least $5 billion or more in bailout money, also employees making more than $250,000.

Our Senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash back with us here live.

All right, Dana. You talked to Senator Dodd the other day about this whole thing. We just heard from him a second ago about this bonus fallout. So he is speaking again.

Let's take a listen to this and see if we can make sense out of this one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRISTOPHER DODD (D), CHAIRMAN, SENATE BANKING COMMITTEE: I'm the author of an 11-page amendment that covered the waterfront, I thought, eight weeks ago -- seven weeks ago -- on dealing with these issues. And so no one's angrier than I am to watch something that I thought was worthwhile to put into that bill.

I wouldn't go around and change my own amendment within days of that if I didn't think it was merely technical in nature. And so I'm angry about it, and angry that, in a sense, I've been held up as sort of responsible for all of this, when, in fact, I responded to what I thought was a reasonable request at the time, which it turned out to be far more than that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: All right, Dana. So now he's angry. Everybody's angry up there, and they are going to do something about it.

All right. And what we heard in there, everybody seems like they're getting religion. Well, church is in session apparently up there in Congress because of this 90 percent now tax.

What's next? Where are we moving now?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, I think, first of all, what was really interesting about those comments from Senator Dodd, T.J., is the fact that he's now saying he thought it was a technical change that he put in that did now, looking back on it, effectively prevent -- or actually protect AIG and other companies, and protect those bonuses.

But, you know, Ted Barrett, our congressional producer, and I, we were watching that press conference which was up in Senator Dodd's home state of Connecticut, and we were saying what we would ask is, well, wait a minute, you know, he's not just a Senator, he's the chairman of the Banking Committee. So if it's not his responsibility, whose is it to understand and know what the repercussions of that kind of thing would be, and know the kind of bonuses that have a potential to get out there for these companies that are getting taxpayer dollars?

And it's also interesting that he was doing this in the state of Connecticut. You and I were talking earlier about Senator Dodd and about the fact that this has blown up a little bit in terms of politics.

He's up for re-election. And this was an event that he was doing that was about as local as you get. He was talking about bringing home some money for some projects back in the state of Connecticut. So it was very interesting to watch that moment there -- T.J.

HOLMES: OK. Well, you know, every time he speaks now, there's just more questions that seem to be less unanswered. You were getting answers from Senator Wyden the other day, like I was mentioning earlier. Everybody you seem to talk to on this thing seems to be breaking some new on this thing. We learned something we didn't know before.

Let's listen to what Senator Wyden told you, and then I'll ask you about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RON WYDEN (D), OREGON: What I can tell you specifically is I talked to virtually the entire administration economic team. I wasn't able to convince them that even with this bipartisanship, even with the savings, even with the legal analysis, I wasn't able to convince them to go along, and I think that's unfortunate. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: OK, Dana. Explain to people exactly what that means. It sounds like some were fighting to make sure these bonuses didn't go through, and that the other side, the Dodds of the world, the administration, even, fighting to make sure that provision was in there that would allow these bonuses to go through.

BASH: This is another illustration, T.J., basically of what Senator Dodd was saying. Now we have two Senate Democrats making the case -- and you just heard from Senator Wyden in a very illustrative way -- that they tried to, from their perspective, do the right thing to try to deal with these bonuses that are now causing this uproar. This debate was going on about a month ago.

And what Senator Wyden said is that he was stopped by the Obama administration. And what he told me in addition to that is, the reason that they gave, and the reason that Obama officials gave for not wanting to do away with these bonuses, was because they were worried that it would have a brain drain on Wall Street and that it would drive away what Obama officials considered much-needed talent.

So it's just very interesting kind of looking at the big picture here. What we're now hearing both from Senator Wyden and Senator Dodd, two Democrats, is that the perception in the Obama administration was not that different from the Bush administration, that they didn't really want to do a lot at the time to do away with these bonuses. But now at the White House we're hearing a lot of anger just a month later.

HOLMES: Dana, I cannot wait to see who you talk to today and what comes out of that.

Dana Bash for us up on Capitol Hill.

As always, we appreciate you.

BASH: Thank you.

HOLMES: And let's talk about the treasury secretary now. Timothy Geithner, he's pointing the blame directly at himself when it comes to those AIG bonuses.

CNN's Chief Business Correspondent Ali Velshi spoke at length with Geithner about his ambitious agenda for dealing with the bad economy.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Forty-seven-year-old Timothy Geithner looks younger than his years, but the stress is starting to show. He says his eyebrows are turning gray. TIMOTHY GEITHNER, U.S. SECRETARY OF TREASURY: We've got a very ambitious agenda. We're trying to do in weeks and months what most governments do in years. And that's because we are completely committed to doing to what it takes.

VELSHI: On the job for less than two months, nothing is going as expected. The one-time president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank is beating back charges that he's gone soft on his old Wall Street pals, turning a blind eye as culprits of the financial collapse continue to profit.

GEITHNER: I think the American people are just enormously frustrated and angry that they find themselves in this position. We're very focused on, again, making sure that the assistance we're providing doesn't unduly benefit the executives that helped get us in this mess.

VELSHI (on camera): How do we deal with what seems to be tone deafness on Wall Street? How can these announcements come out? How are people so divorced from the reality of how angry Americans are about this?

GEITHNER: It is enormously damaging to everything we're trying to do. You know, all it does is feeding this great loss of confidence and the quality of judgments about individuals presiding over these financial institutions. And, you know, they're going to have to demonstrate a greater sense of responsibility going forward if they're going to earn back the confidence of the American people.

But you're right, it's very damaging. And I completely share the basic frustration across America about what's gotten us to this place.

VELSHI: And the president has said that he'd like you to use either legal means or leverage. You've got leverage, because in so many cases, these companies are still getting more money from the government.

GEITHNER: Right. We're very focused. Again, and we're making sure that the assistance we're providing doesn't unduly benefit the executives that helped get us in this mess.

VELSHI (voice-over): These days, when Geithner's not on offense...

GEITHNER: It's time now for us to move together and to begin to act to put in place the stronger (INAUDIBLE) reforms.

VELSHI: He's playing defense...

GEITHNER: I was not secretary of the Treasury until about six weeks ago.

VELSHI: ... constantly pitching his plan, selling it to business leaders here in the U.S., to world leaders last week in London, and twisting arms on Capitol Hill. GEITHNER: And the most prudent thing to do in this case is to move aggressively. If you wait and risk doing too little, then the recession will be deeper and longer, and we're going to face higher deficits in the future. The economy is going to be much weaker in the future. And I think, again, most people across the political spectrum agree on that now.

VELSHI: Geithner is working 15-hour days, dawn to dusk. His wife and two teenagers staying back in New York. That's where he was born, but Tim Geithner grew up all over -- India, China, Thailand and Japan.

GEITHNER: My father was a Navy pilot, spent his life working on development issues. My mother is a teacher, piano teacher. Because of them and their work, I grew up outside of the United States, and I learned early on as a kid, really, the enormously important role that America played in the world, and decided fairly on, watching America through the eyes of the world, that I wanted to work for my country.

VELSHI: And right now Tim Geithner's country is mad.

GEITHNER: You know, the financial crises are brutal and indiscriminate in the pain they cause. And they have this basic tragic unfairness, that people who were careful and responsible in heir personal, professional judgments, are being damaged by the actions of those who were less careful and less prudent.

VELSHI: Geithner is saddled with a big job and not enough staff. Several key positions remain empty at Treasury, including his deputy. That's slowing him down as he races to clean up the toxic assets infecting the nation's top banks.

GEITHNER: We've already started to make sure that the banks have access to the kind of capital they need to provide lending in a recession. And we're going to -- you'll see us move very quickly in the next few weeks to lay out a plan to help deal with these real estate-related assets that are at the core of the financial system.

VELSHI (on camera): How much money do you think that's going to take? The number $2 trillion is kind of out there.

GEITHNER: Yes, I wouldn't look at those numbers. Again, the important thing is the Congress has given us a substantial amount of resources, and we're going to direct that where it's going to be most effective in getting credit flowing again. And you're going to see us again move -- continue to move very, very quickly.

This government has done more in weeks than you see most governments do in months and years. And that's because of the depth and severity of the problems we inherited, and because, again, our judgment is, the quicker we move, the more aggressive we are, the quicker we're going to bring recovery back on track.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And this weekend, Ali and the CNN money team search for the truth inside the AIG scandal. You can see what they found, "AIG: FACTS & FURY," tomorrow and Sunday, 8:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.

Want to give you a little update, take you back to these pictures we were watching just outside of Chicago. Joliet is where it is, about 45 miles southwest of the city.

This is the Empress Casino. We understand that no one has been injured in this thing, but a casino fire there at the Empress Casino started just a little bit ago.

Firefighters still trying to get this under control. Being called a two-alarm fire.

We understand that everybody was evacuated. Again, don't believe anybody's in danger inside that place, any patrons. Understand they got out. And this is taking place in a section of new construction, so maybe a certain area of construction happening there at the casino.

And then the fire start there. But again, we understand that the casino has been evacuated. Nobody, no patrons in danger. But we will continue to keep an eye on it. Any updates, we will pass those along to you.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration pouring billions of dollars at the housing crisis. How soon before we actually see results? What does all this mean for you? I've got a guy sitting right next to me I'm going to introduce you to in a second. He's got some answers for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right, folks. I'm sorry, I know we've been throwing a lot of numbers at you here lately, but I've got another big one that you can barely get your head around.

We're getting this now from the CBO, Congressional Budget Office, of the estimate of our federal budget deficit for the current year. Let me get out of the way there for you -- $1.8 trillion.

We didn't have enough zeros to put up here, but $1.8 trillion. It's hard to kind of get your head around exactly what that means. Just know that's a lot. That's a record. We don't see stuff like that.

Of course, the president has put out his budget for 2010, that fiscal year, which starts in October, estimating that's going to be $1.4 trillion deficit there as well. But again, the president saying money needs to be spent now, there needs to be some deficit spending for us to stabilize and get this country back on the right track.

But again, more numbers coming out that just have your head spinning. Wanted to bring that along. More details to come on that throughout the day here on CNN.

Well, you've heard this time and time again, that stabilizing the housing market, that's the bedrock of any economic recovery. This week, what we think, at least, are positive signals. We learned that construction of new homes and apartments went up 22 percent in February. The Fed also taking steps to push mortgage rates even lower.

John Adams, host of "Money Talks" on radio and a weekly columnist for "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution," joins me here.

You just heard those numbers. And I said something to you right before we went on, 22 percent. That shot up. What does that mean?

JOHN ADAMS, HOST, "MONEY TALKS": T.J., it's playing games with number. If you had 100 percent, knocked it off 99 percent, it should be at 1 percent. At 22 percent at you're at 1.22. It's an insignificant increase over a number that was so bad, we didn't even want to report it in January.

HOLMES: All right. Well, it was something. We were looking for something positive to report, John.

ADAMS: Oh, I agree it's something, but we really need a jump- start to the housing market.

HOLMES: OK. Have we not seen what we need yet? And you were making a point. I want to get at this point first.

We hear so much about taking the toxic assets off the books of the banks, and that's going to help get things going again. But something else you were hitting on here with me is that you need to get the toxic house out of the neighborhood, also.

ADAMS: There are two parts I think to the housing equation. The first one is we have got to stem the tide of more foreclosures.

I think the president's stimulus plan does that through refinancings for those that can afford it and modifications for those that are almost in foreclosure. That's a good first step. That should slow down the tide of foreclosures.

We also have a serious problem with foreclosed homes that are now owned by the bank that are toxic houses in our neighborhoods, preventing the establishment of a floor, if you will, in the housing market. And I say if I'm taking a couple out showing them a house, and the house next door is bank-owned, the grass is six feet high, there are vagrants living in there, nobody wants to live in that neighborhood.

HOLMES: They might see a beautiful house right there that they want...

ADAMS: Exactly.

HOLMES: ... but next door, they don't want to live next to that.

ADAMS: They won't touch it. And so somebody has to go in there, buy that house, then they have to fix it up. T.J., it takes probably $15,000, $20,000 or more after you've acquired the house to get it in rentable or saleable condition.

HOLMES: But is there anything out there in Congress, anything being passed, anything being talked about, to help in that particular area? Can you even help? Can you even incentivize people to go out there and...

(CROSSTALK)

ADAMS: Absolutely. Absolutely.

HOLMES: How do you do that?

ADAMS: All right. First, how about a $15,000 tax credit for anybody who buys a bank-owned home regardless of owner, occupant or investor?

HOLMES: OK. You just named that. Is anybody talking about that?

ADAMS: Absolutely not. It's off the record.

HOLMES: OK. So you're giving them free ideas.

ADAMS: Free ideas.

HOLMES: All right.

ADAMS: How about this -- Mr. President -- here's a second idea.

HOLMES: All right. Go ahead.

ADAMS: How about directing Fannie Mae with some of the $700 billion that he just said is going to Fannie Mae, direct that toward loans available for anyone for acquisition and rehab of these houses? Right now the restrictions on investor loans are such that it's almost impossible for anybody to get a loan to acquire a house that needs work. Today, Fannie Mae houses have to be in perfect condition.

Finally, I'd recommend, say, a $25,000 tax exclusion for anybody who buys a house, a bank-owned home, fixes it up, and sells it to an owner occupant within 24 months.

HOLMES: OK. And again, these are things you're talking that you say nobody else is talking about.

ADAMS: Never heard them. Never heard them discussed.

HOLMES: All right. Before you go here, we talked about at the top we saw that 22 percent jump in some of these housing starts, but you said really kind of insignificant number, we were so much in the tank anyway.

ADAMS: Yes.

HOLMES: What do you see out there that does give you a little hope that -- a little flicker of hope? ADAMS: Prices are getting low enough now, T.J., that we are seeing investors jump in and snap up bargains. That may create some sort of a floor for this marketplace.

Once that floor is established, the real estate recovery can begin. That, I believe, is going to be the beginning of our road to recovery.

HOLMES: The beginning of our road to recovery.

Again, Mr. President, if you were listening to the guy with the name of a former president, John Adams, here with us.

Good to have you. Maybe somebody was listening and able to jump on those ideas.

ADAMS: Hope so. Thank you, sir.

HOLMES: Thank you so much. Appreciate you being here.

And you can head over to CNNMoney.com for information on the housing collapse, get the latest stats on the industry, the latest mortgage rates. You can learn how to make over your home on a minimum budget -- CNNMoney.com/realestate.

Well, the president has apologized to the chairman of the Special Olympics for an off-handed remark on "The Tonight Show." He's extended an invitation also for Special Olympians to visit the White House. This al started during a discussion about the president's bowling game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": Are they going to put a basketball -- I imagine the bowling alley has been just burned and closed down.

OBAMA: No, no. I've been practicing all night.

LENO: Really?

OBAMA: I bowled a 129.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: I have...

LENO: Oh, no, that's very good. Yes. No, that's very good, Mr. President.

OBAMA: It was like Special Olympics or something.

LENO: No, that's -- no, that's very good.

OBAMA: No, listen, I'm making progress on the bowling. Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, you heard there he compared his bowling game -- said it was like Special Olympics or something. The White House has issued a statement saying, "The president made an offhand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics. He thinks that the Special Olympics are a wonderful program that gives an opportunity to shine to people with disabilities from around the world."

The Special Olympics chairman issued a statement also, calling the president's apology sincere and heartfelt. Also challenged the White House to consider hiring Special Olympics athletes.

Well, we have asked you to weigh in on this whole thing about the Special Olympics. Josh Levs has been going through some of the e-mail responses.

Josh, we do a lot of e-mail questions, we ask for stuff on our Facebook pages, our Twitter accounts as well. And you can just tell by the responses you get and the number, just how much people are into an issue or how much it has, I guess, really struck a chord with people.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, they jumped on this. And I know you've been seeing it, too. They jumped all over this.

And I'll tell you, big picture here, we're seeing two camps. One is saying this is really not that big a deal. It seems to be a larger camp so far. The others are saying any remark at all like this is a big deal.

Let's zoom in. I want to show you some stuff. This is one of the most popular stories which is about it, right there on CNN.com.

T.J. was talking about the e-mails. Let's get right to it.

The first one here comes from Scott. "Why would such an offensive comment demeaning disabled people even come to the mind of an individual who is supposed to be leading our country and the free world? A simple apology after the fact is insufficient. I voted for President Obama. Had President Bush been in this situation, he would be absolutely lambasted."

But here's the other camp here. "Why are we so sensitive? I used to work in disability services. Did anyone gain any illegal bonuses over this comment? Were my tax dollars impacted? May all the perfect humans of President Obama's jury of his peers declare their innocence of not making similar or even worse comments."

Now, T.J., I want to take you over to my Facebook page, Josh Levs CNN, because, check this out here. This comes to us from a man who tells us about his own son.

"My wonderful son has Down Syndrome," he says. "While I really like President Obama, in this particular case he may be just like the majority of the population who do not think it's that big of a deal to make fun of people who are mentally challenged." That's from Frank.

Let's go to a couple more Facebooks and then we'll tie up.

Sabrina, "Come on, folks. I mean, really, this is really getting to be ridiculous. The man is human and, good grief, everything he says has to be misconstrued as offensive, negative and any other word of criticism you want to throw out there."

And this is an interesting point some people are making. We can end with this.

We've got Carol Lee (ph) saying, "He was making fun of himself. That was the point."

And Yvonne says, "You know what? In the end" -- a bunch of people saying this, T.J. -- "Special Olympics are getting publicity out of this. All publicity is good. This may even put some attention on the Special Olympics."

We're going to keep this discussion going right here on my Facebook page, Josh Levs CNN.

And T.J., I know you've had a discussion going, too. I think you're seeing some similar stuff, right?

HOLMES: We are seeing similar stuff. And it's just amazing, the reaction you get. And people so emotional on both sides.

And nobody suggesting the president wanted to actually put down anybody, but just the remark itself, it just kind of got a lot of people fired up. Also hearing from a lot of people with children of disabilities as well. So everybody's weighing in.

Josh, we appreciate you. We'll check in with you again.

And we'll be checking in with the chairman of the Special Olympics, responding to the president's questionable comment on Leno last night. He's going to actually be on "LARRY KING LIVE." That's CNN, tonight, 9:00 Eastern.

Tim Shriver is his name. Actually got a call from Air Force One, from the president, before the show even aired. The president called to apologize. But again, Larry King will have him live tonight, 9:00 Eastern.

Well, things certainly getting tight for a lot of folks, but one group has found a way to make wishes come true for people feeling the economic pinch.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, the president has demanded more reform and accountability in the nation's public school system. But what kind of changes would Americans like to see?

CNN's senior political analyst Bill Schneider breaking down the latest poll for us from Washington today. He joins us now live.

Bill, always good to see you and always good to see some of these numbers. So what are Americans thinking right now?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, local control of schools has some deep tradition in this country. Some educators wonder why? Why should the Pythagorean Theorem be taught differently in Texas than in New York?

Well, we asked voters around -- Americans around the country, would you favor increasing the amount of money the federal government spends on public schools in your area if it would increase the federal government's influence over education policies?

And the answer is, yes. For more money, yes, people are willing to support a greater federal role in education, which is, of course, precisely what President Obama is proposing in his budget. More money for the schools, but also greater federal influence. That appears to be a bargain most Americans would buy.

HOLMES: Yes, they don't seem to mine the trade-off if they can get more dollars since everybody's hurting right now and all schools could use a little more dollars.

SCHNEIDER: Right.

HOLMES: Well, speaking of more dollars, speaking about more dollars for teachers possibly, merit pay? Is that an idea that people are receptive to?

SCHNEIDER: Well, the teachers unions don't like the idea of merit pay but President Obama has said that he's at least open to the idea.

What does the public think? Do they think teachers whose students do better on tests should be paid more than those whose students perform poorly? The answer is, the public is actually split on this question.

Interestingly, this is a question that splits fathers and mothers. Fathers of school age kids like the idea of merit pay. Mothers are opposed to it pretty strongly. Mothers may say, well, I've got different children. Some of them are smarter. Some of them are not so smart. I don't think that teachers should be paid according to how well children, like mine, do on tests. It may not be attributable to the teachers. In any case, it's an idea -- that is an idea that splits voters almost down the middle.

HOLMES: That's interesting also that you point out that fathers think about it one way, mothers think about it the other.

SCHNEIDER: Right.

HOLMES: Bill Schneider, always a pleasure. Always good numbers you bring to us. We appreciate you, as always.

SCHNEIDER: Thanks, T.J.

HOLMES: And the recession has affected just about everybody, as we know. Maybe you're struggling to pay the mortgage. Maybe just struggling to get that cup of coffee. Here's one silver lining in the economic crisis being brought to us now by cnn.com's Nicole Lapin, caught up with a group out of New Jersey that's in the business of granting wishes.

That sounds like a good job to have. You get to make dreams come true.

LAPIN: It does because it's hard to ask for help. Let's be honest, it's hard to say, I need help, but people are doing just that on this website, wishuponahero.com. It's really simple. If you have a wish, it could be something small like Pampers, to something big, like a car lease payment. You just put it up there and then sometimes, just sometimes, there is a good neighbor out there, your hero, that makes your wish come true.

So we wanted to make this segment, T.J., a little bit more interactive. So we invited the founder to join us via web cam from their offices in New Jersey, and a hero as well, the founder Dave Girgenti who joins us now.

Now, Dave, you started this idea -- you had this after 9/11. Did you ever think it would grow to be this big? And what kind of growth have you seen just recently?

DAVE GIRGENTI, WISHUPONAHERO.COM FOUNDER: It's really -- first of all, I never expected it to be, I guess, this crazy. I expected it to work, but I didn't know it was going to go so nationally. Lately it's been really, really popping. The viral marketing of this really going. People are telling people. And lots of people are getting help from it.

LAPIN: Lots of people are getting help from people like the lady sitting next to you, one of the heros out there, Jamielynn Storch. You screen name is Amazing Grace. It's amazing that you've grated up to 50 wishes. When you first logged on, were you a little skeptical. Were you like, who's on the other end of this wish? Is this a scam? What's going on here?

JAMIELYNN STORCH, WISH GRANTER: Yes, a little bit. But I kind of had the idea that when you're going to give to somebody, you're just hoping that you're helping someone and if they're taking it (ph), you're trying to do something good and hopefully its legit and he has a lot of security that checks that out.

LAPIN: And then you read this. I want to pull up what you saw on the site from a daughter of a veteran who said that -- "I asked him," my dad, "what he wanted to do for his 90th birthday this year. His answer caught me by surprise. He got a kind of glazed look on his face and said that he'd like to go back to Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii."

What did you think, Jamielynn, when you read that? STORCH: I think I saw that wish right when it went up. And as soon as I read it, I knew that I wanted to help out and I knew it was a huge wish. I made a donation but then we talked with our local chapter, which is a group of people that work together to grant wishes, and we decided that we were going to fund raise and we were going to really work hard to get that wish granted. And we did gift wrapping at Borders. We did a flea market where we sold a ton of stuff for just $1 each. And we managed to raise enough money to send him and a couple people from his family back to Pearl Harbor.

LAPIN: Michael Yuhas (ph). You sent him to Pearl Harbor. That was his wish. But you got one of your wishes granted as well, Jamielynn. What -- who was your hero?

STORCH: My hero is Bree Morewishes (ph). She lives in California. And when I first joined, I posted a wish just for fun. I have a dog and we do agility. And I posted a wish for some agility equipment. And I didn't know Bree and she offered to grant my wish and we're now really good friends through it. We grant wishes together. I've actually flown out to California and meet Bree in person and we've become really good friends.

LAPIN: And the cycle continues. People helping people wishuponahero.com. Thanks so much to both of you.

And, T.J. that's what it's all about. It's about the good neighbors of people helping each other out during these tough economic times. Everybody has a wish. Everybody needs a hero, my friend.

HOLMES: You know, good news. It's so nice to have a good news segment on.

LAPIN: Yes, it absolutely is.

HOLMES: Nicole, we appreciate you. Thank you for that.

LAPIN: You are so welcome.

HOLMES: Thank you for that.

Well, we are keeping an eye on several things today. We have the president. You see this group gathering here. Folks are all aflutter. They'll shut up here shortly when they see the president of the United States walk out. But right now they're chitting and chatting. The president and the vice president awaiting to hear from him remarks to state legislators. Of course, state legislators got all kinds of issues these days with the financial issues. They are up against, trying to balance their budgets. They'll be hearing from the president and maybe he has some encouraging words for them. When those comments do take place, we'll go back there live.

Well, one of our viewers lost her home in a case of mortgage fraud. She gets some advice from our Help Desk financial team.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: We are answering your money questions to help get you on that road to rescue. Personal finance editor Gerri Willis and her team of money experts have your financial 411.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We want to get you answers to your financial questions. Let's go straight to The Help Desk. Ric Edelman is the author of "Rescue Your Money." Beth Kobliner is the author of "Get a Financial Life." And Greg McBride is senior financial analyst with bankrate.com.

Let's go straight to those e-mails. Angela in California says, "my husband and I were victims of mortgage fraud. As a result, we had to leave our house and file bankruptcy. Our district attorney said our broker broke the law, but was not going to file charges because he had more serious cases to focus on. We don't have the money to pursue it on our own and we left our house a little over a year ago. Is there any way for us to go after the bank and get retribution?"

Ric.

RIC EDELMAN, AUTHOR, "RESCUE YOUR MONEY": It's a little late if this has happened a whole year ago. They've been a little slow. Don't tolerate the district attorney's lack of response. Go to your local representative and demand action. The fact that their workload is too heavy, that's just rude. Oh, yes, the guy's guilty, but I'm busy dealing with other stuff. That's just rude.

WILLIS: Oh, I love that answer. So go get help. Don't take no for an answer.

EDELMAN: Go get help.

WILLIS: All right. Karen asks, "when I use my credit card, I immediately pay the balance online weeks before the statement comes out. I carry no credit card debt and my current credit score is 820." Congratulations. "Does paying prior to the statement hurt my FICO score? Should I let the balance sit until the payment date?"

Greg.

GREG MCBRIDE, SR. FINANCIAL ANALYST, BANKRATE.COM: It doesn't hurt the credit score, but it's probably not helping a whole lot either. As long as that balance never exceeds 10 percent of the available credit, she can wait until the end of the statement cycle and then make the payment in one fell swoop.

WILLIS: I kind of like the. I have to tell you, I like the fact that she's not putting up with credit card debt.

Gregory in Virginia asks, "what are the steps an individual should take if they are looking to find a job in another major city? What should someone think about before moving?"

Beth.

BETH KOBLINER, AUTHOR, "GET A FINANCIAL LIFE": Well, the obvious things, like hotjobs.com and monster.com. But I'm also interested to find out whether he's moving for a loved one or is he just moving because he wants to get a new city. And if that's the case, with unemployment at 25-year high, he wants to think about the job market. College towns like Austin, Texas, for example and certain cities in Wisconsin are doing quite well right now. So he wants to look at where he's moving and the other big thing is housing. He wants to look at citydata.com to find out about rentals, what the rental costs would be.

EDELMAN: And evaluate why you really -- what's the motivation here. Because just as he's trying to move to another city for a fresh start, others in that city are going to where he's living now.

WILLIS: It's tricky, but you can find the answers and this Help Desk is where to start. The Help Desk is all about getting you answers. Send me an e-mail to gerri@cnn.com. Or log on to cnnmoney/helpdesk to see more of our financial solutions.

And The Help Desk is everyone. Make sure to check out the latest issue of "Money" magazine on newsstands now.

HOLMES: All right. Want to let you know, we are waiting comments from the president of the United States. President Obama. He's going to be addressing stay lawmakers who, of course, have got their hands full trying to put together their state budgets and stay afloat. He's stressing the need to spend recovery ag (ph) dollars openly and wisely on projects to create jobs. We are keeping an eye on what's happening right there. When the president begins his remarks, we will bring them to you live. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Nicole, just a little earlier -- Nicole Lapin from cnn.com -- brought us some good news. And now we're so excited about that good news, had you come back to give us some more good news.

LAPIN: I got the news.

HOLMES: Which is that companies -- there are some -- that business is booming. And, hey, we'll take it right now.

LAPIN: Top 10.

HOLMES: Top 10.

LAPIN: Let's break it down.

HOLMES: All right. Business doing well.

LAPIN: Coffeemakers.

HOLMES: Coffeemakers.

LAPIN: A lot of people staying at home. They're making their own coffee. No fancy lattes. Career development websites. A lot of folks going to monster.com, careerbuilder.com. McDonald's. A lot of fast food is up. It's a fast meal.

HOLMES: That stuff's cheap.

LAPIN: Chocolate. It's got the lipstick index. A lot of people saving on the big things, splurging on little things.

HOLMES: Chocolate, they're just a comfort thing that makes people feel good?

LAPIN: Yes, the comfort thing, man. Hershey's up 50 percent in the fourth quarter.

HOLMES: Oh, wow.

LAPIN: Public universities. UT applications up. Connecticut systems up. A lot of state schools. Resume editing services. Not surprising there. A lot of resumes are going to health care, tourism, restaurant industry, down for financial services.

HOLMES: All right. Now, what's next.

LAPIN: Condom makers.

HOLMES: Business is up?

LAPIN: Babies are expensive.

HOLMES: So that's the deal. It's not about . . .

LAPIN: Condom sales.

HOLMES: It's not about people out there just having more sex, if you will, looking for more comfort.

LAPIN: They just don't want babies.

HOLMES: They just don't want babies.

LAPIN: Yes, bodice (ph) rippers. While publishing is usually way down, Harlequin, which makes those saucy novels with Fabio on the front, they saw sales rise in the fourth quarter. As well, science fiction, fantasy also up. And Hollywood. A lot of people are nesting, so they're staying at home. They're watching their movies. Netflix is up. Home gardening. And we're not talking about flowers here.

HOLMES: What are we talking about?

LAPIN: We're talking about food. People are planting their own stuff these days. $50 worth of seeds can make $1,250 worth of produce. So let's make a little garden at the homes (INAUDIBLE). Invite me over for some salad.

HOLMES: But what are people -- what tomatoes and things like that?

LAPIN: Tomatoes, lettuce, radishes.

HOLMES: Let's -- easy. You could do lettuce at the house.

LAPIN: You could do lettuce at the house.

HOLMES: I did not know that.

LAPIN: I'll have some (ph).

HOLMES: All right. We appreciate that. They're telling me to wrap, but we appreciate that. Top 10 list. Some businesses are doing well.

Well, a lot of people we're talking about here pinching pennies. You're stretching your dollars. But before you stretch your dollars, we're going to head over to President Obama. I'm told he is now arriving. Is this a live picture, guys? I do believe it is. He is about to go talk to these state lawmakers.

Again, this is just a shot of the president taking an easy little stroll. He's just walking across the street to a different office building there to address all these state lawmakers. Of course, he is going to talk to them -- whoa, watch your step there, Mr. President. He just lost his footing there on the step. The camera's always on. We catch everything, don't we?

All right, we're going to wait for him to get in there. Hopefully he makes it in without tripping over anything else. We'll be right back with the president's comments. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Take you back now live to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, right across the street from the White House. Just saw the president walk across the street where he is going to address the National Conference of State Legislators.

They've gathered there for their conference and the president going to speak to them about their situation. He certainly wants to tell them and encourage them to use a lot of that stimulus money wisely. A lot of that money starting to trickle down to a lot of states and state legislators who then have to dole it out to their communities. A lot of people want that money. A lot of people need that money. But the president is trying to encourage them to use this money wisely and also openly.

We're expecting to hear from, I do believe the vice president, Joe Biden, is going to be at this event as well. Then followed by comments from the president. We kept getting a couple of warnings, two minutes, 30 seconds. All that stuff has expired and still he's not there just yet. But, again, we've seen -- they've taken their seats right now and as soon as he does step up and start talking, then we'll get back to it.

Meantime, let's talk about an energy fix here. It can take years to make back the money you initially spend on a hybrid car, maybe solar panels. So some energy saving improvements can pay for themselves pretty quickly. Some others. Alison Kosik, a few of them for us now in today's "Energy Fix."

Alison, that's always a complaint, nobody can see sometimes the long term. They don't want to invest now and then see the savings down the road. But we want instant gratification.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, don't we all. You know, contrary to what many people believe, it really is possible to cut your energy bill without pouring tons of cash into expensive upgrades. A one of the fastest ways, install one of these, a programmable thermostat. They costs anywhere from $40 to $120 and let you preset your home's temperature. Energy Star says these can save homeowners about $180 a year. And to figure out how much you can save, there's a calculator on the Energy Star website. Go to that website. You plug in these numbers and it calculates it for you. Nice and easy, T.J.

HOLMES: That's exactly how we like it, Alison. Nice and easy.

Anything else nice and easy? People always trying to save around the house. Some little things you can do. But how else can we cut those costs?

KOSIK: And this is kind of surprising, T.J. If you have a second fridge in your house, it's probably costing you about $100 to $200 a year to run, especially because it's likely to be an older model. Instead, why not buy a dorm-size fridge to keep extras cold. You can even find Energy Star rated versions that would only cost you $30 a year to run -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. You talked about refrigerator there, but what we got coming up, that everybody's concerned about, the summer. It gets hot. You want to go inside to cool off. How do you cut those costs, the air conditioner?

KOSIK: Well, this is easy, keep those filters clean. New filters cost only about $10 each for central systems. And if you've got a window system, you can just wipe it clean. Clogged or dirty filters cut your system's efficiency by FIVE percent to 15 percent. So if your air conditioning bill for the summer is $600, you can slash your bill by at least $30 covering the cost of the three filters for the year -- T.J.

HOLMES: That's what we're talking about. Instant gratification. Quick, easy things we can do to save that money.

KOSIK: Exactly.

HOLMES: Alison, thank you, as always.

KOSIK: Sure.

HOLMES: Good to see you. Thank you.

Well, as the deepening recession puts pressure on household budgets, expensive food often the first thing to go. In today's "Fit Nation" segment, CNN's Elizabeth Cohen shows us how you can still eat like a king on what may feel like a pauper's budget.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The stock market is down. Unemployment numbers are up. And families are working much harder to make ends meet. But when it comes to eating, cutting costs doesn't have to mean cutting nutrition.

JULIE SCHWARTZ, EMORY UNIVERSITY: You could feed your family for $10 at home. It wouldn't be a burger and fries and a soda, but, you know, it's looking at other options.

COHEN: Nutritionist Julie Schwartz says just as with your finances, a little bit of planning and some smart picks can help stretch your dollars.

SCHWARTZ: It's really shopping wise. It's looking at circulars. What's on sale this week.

COHEN: And if it's lean meats you're looking for, you can save some cash by buying in bulk, slow-cooking tougher, less expensive cuts and choosing meats in their least processed form.

SCHWARTZ: It costs more to have the chicken skinless boneless than it does to have say a chicken breast with skin on it and the bone on it that you can take off yourself.

COHEN: Also, try to incorporate lots of fruits and veggies into your diet. Buying in season and at a local farmer's market is often less expensive. And if fresh veggies are still too costly, there's always frozen or canned options. If you can only afford the staples, like rice, pasta or beans?

SCHWARTZ: A bag of beans really will take you a long way. You know, a bag of rice with that beans, you've got a complete protein. It's filling and it can really help out.

COHEN: The bottom line, says Schwartz . . .

SCHWARTZ: The more we can do . . .

(END VIDEOTAPE)