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More TARP-Funded Outrages; Political Issues Discussed at Morehouse College
Aired March 20, 2009 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: CitiBank's CEO needs a new office suite. Price tag? $10 million. What? And they're getting how many billions of our money? We're on this like white on rice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSH LIMBAUGH: They don't have the right to take money that's not theirs.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Rush is right. The government can't take your bonus, like it or not. That's communism. Isn't it?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They got a huge return that enabled them a free hand to go wild.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: And $5 billion can make you pretty wild. That's what Wall Street paid to influence our politicians. Could they get elected without that money? Think about it. We're digging deep.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAURA LING: I do think that you have to keep the larger -- keep the larger perspective on the issue.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Our commitment to my colleague, Laura Ling. Still being held after being captured by North Korea.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Somebody wag saying today, I think, that I shouldn't be on Leno. I can't handle that and the economy at the same time.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: And the president does "The Tonight Show" and catches hell from republicans for it.
Live from the alma mater of Martin Luther King Jr., the campus of Morehouse College, your high-spirited national conversation begins right now.
They are loud and they are ready to go. America seems to have the pitchforks out these days. Hello again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez. We're coming to you live today from beautiful Spelman College. This is, as aforementioned, Morehouse College. There you go again. Ok. Who's here from Spelman? Who's here from Clark Atlanta? Morehouse? Here's why the pitchforks are out, it's a story that's been cycled in the business world but now it's in the mainstream media and boy is it ever. Everyone seems to be talking about the fact that Citibank who has gotten $45 billion in T.A.R.P. money is now going to redecorate the office of their CEO. How much money are they going to be spending on that redecoration for this new beautiful suite for this CEO? $10 million.
It's a question a lot of people are wondering about. Yeah, I hear the oohs and the ahs. Joining us are Jay Bookman, columnist for the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution," Shirley Franklin, the mayor of Atlanta, the honorable mayor. Thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate it. And Dr. Roger Williams is an economist here at Morehouse College. Think they'd be stoning me if I didn't get that right that time. Jay, I want to begin with you. The CEO is saying, you know what, it's going to end up saving us a lot of money. Is that dog going to hunt?
JAY BOOKMAN, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION COLUMNIST: It may very well save them money. But I think you have to look at the current environment. They may save a few million dollars. But when it comes time for congress or feds to give them another $45 billion, the answer may be no. Because they wanted to spend it to save a few million on their office.
SANCHEZ: I want you to hear what the CEO says himself. You guys ready for this? This is the CEO, his name is Vic Pandit. He was in congress just a month ago and he was talking about accepting something called a new reality. Does he really? Listen for yourself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VIKRAM PANDIT, CITIGROUP CEO: We need to do a better job of acknowledging and embracing the new realities. If I may be clear with the committee. I get the new reality and I will make sure Citi gets it as well.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: If he's doing a new $10 million suite for himself, does he really get the new reality? Professor?
PROF. ROGER WILLIAMS, MOREHOUSE COLLEGE: I think the positive -- whatever positive benefit he thinks he's going to get by redoing his office, could possibly be offset by the negative publicity that he's generating. So that on balance it's probably a negative.
SANCHEZ: Mayor, are you redoing your office these days?
MAYOR SHIRLEY FRANKLIN, ATLANTA: No. As a matter of fact I have the same furniture Andrew Young of 20 years ago. I really just think in this time, unless you're doing energy upgrades, there should not have been any upgrades in this.
SANCHEZ: Here's what a lot of Americans don't understand. Tell me if you agree with me. We hear these stories about all these CEO, and what we hear about are private jets, plush offices. Is this -- you're an economist, doctor. Is this part of the model that's necessary to be competitive? Or is it just a culture change that they're not willing to make? You tell us.
WILLIAMS: There is something to the idea that you need to have the kind of accoutrements to do business at the highest levels. So there is some justification for it.
SANCHEZ: We see story after story, doctor, of Asian CEOs who drive their own cars to work, some take cabs, they wear JC Penney suits. It's very different from what we're used to in the United States. Are we spoiled? What is it?
WILLIAMS: No doubt at some point in time the Asians will probably be more likely to emulate the U.S. model than we are to emulate theirs. So we're not likely to start driving cabs, if we can have a chauffeur.
SANCHEZ: Barack Obama goes on Jay Leno. First time a president of the United States has gone on "The Tonight Show" while being in office, we understand. We want you guys to watch this. I want to get your reaction. Hit it Roger.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO: Now, it's only 59 days now, right?
OBAMA: Yes, 59 days.
LENO: So am scrutiny. Is it fair to judge so quickly? I mean --
OBAMA: Well, look. We are going through a difficult time. I welcome the challenge. I ran for president because I thought we needed big changes. And I do think in Washington, it's a little bit like "American Idol," except everybody is Simon Cowell.
LENO: Wow. Wow.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: This is for our audience. Do you think the president should have been on Jay Leno? What do you guys think at home?
CROWD: Yeah!
SANCHEZ: No problems with it? Let me know -- let me know if you have a comment. Taking it to you, Jay. Good move, bad move?
BOOKMAN: Good move. That's like bank robber Willie Sutton, they asked him why do you rob banks, he said that's where the money is. Barack Obama went to where the audience was. He had 5 million, 10 million people watching him. He was able to give his message, build support for his program.
SANCHEZ: He himself and the feds have said this is the most difficult time the United States has been in economically since the great depression. Given the severity of that problem, should he be out in Hollywood talking to Jay Leno? Mayor Franklin?
FRANKLIN: Same answer as Jay. In order to communicate this, you need to do it in every single venue. So I think it's important for him to take the message to nighttime TV.
SANCHEZ: Here's what we're going to do. I want you to hear what the republican response to this is. This is important. We're going to be hearing from a senator who is not at all pleased that he was watching Jay Leno and saw the president of the United States, given the severity of the economy. His description of this, and then you'll hear the president respond in kind. Stay with us. We are live from Morehouse and we'll be right back.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Hey, this is Rick Sanchez. Thanks for calling.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, Rick. This is Monda from D.C. At some point this insanity has to stop. I'm a single mom, I live in a one-bedroom apartment. I converted the dining room into a bedroom for my child. We don't have a formal place to sit down to a meal and we eat on tray tables. Where's my bailout, where's my bonus for working hard making sure my child gets a good education? Volunteering in my community and at the school. Where's my bonus for being a good citizen? Why is it that my government would rather see me fail than help me while they continue to help the people on Wall Street? Wall Street isn't me. They couldn't survive in my world. It makes me sick. It makes me angry. And I'm tired of being tired.
(END OF AUDIO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. We are here at Morehouse. Let's hear it. I want to come back here and talk to you guys. I want you all to listen to what Jon Kyl has to say. Jon Kyl, republican from Arizona, responding to the president of the United States, going last night on Jay Leno. Roger, take it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JON KYL, (R) ARIZONA: He flies off to Los Angeles tonight to be on the Jay Leno Show. My suggestion is that he come back since he's taken the full responsibility to get his people together and say, all right, I want to know exactly what happened, who did what, when, and how are we going to prevent this from ever happening in the future.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP) SANCHEZ: Can you hear me? Everybody good? What do you think of the president's comments last night on Jay Leno? And now I want to hear exactly what you thought of Jon Kyl's response. He's being very critical of the president. Is he right to be critical of the president?
CROWD: No!
SANCHEZ: Who disagrees with Jon Kyl criticizing the president? Go ahead, I'm coming over to you over here. Stand up, if you would. I would like to know what you have to say. You raised your hand. Should the president be criticized for it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, he shouldn't.
SANCHEZ: Why not?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because he has right to have the freedom to say what he wants.
SANCHEZ: Is it about freedom or is it about the economy getting fixed and that being the biggest problem in the United States?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He needs to get his point across so why not go on TV. Everybody watches TV at night so to get his point across.
SANCHEZ: Everybody agree? Anybody disagree? Everybody think it's not the right time, whether you like Barack Obama or not, do you think it's not the right time for this president to be going to Hollywood and appearing on "The Tonight Show?" I got you right here, what is your name, stand up?
ARMANI DIXON: Armani Dixon.
SANCHEZ: Armani Dixon, tell me Armani.
DIXON: What I was going to say, he ran on the campaign of a visible -- or he ran on a visible campaign. So the demographics of the people who probably voted for him to get into office, are the same demographics of people or it sinks up with the same demographics from Jay Leno's audience. So why not go on the show if he ran for a visible campaign, the same people who voted you in office, the same people who watch Jay Leno they sync up, why not go on the show so they can see you.
SANCHEZ: Here is what the president of the United States had to say about Mr. Kyl. Take it Roger.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Somebody was saying today I think that I shouldn't be on Leno. I can't handle that and the economy at the same time.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Didn't Reagan, did Ronald Reagan do this? Did he use his popularity?
CROWD: Yes.
SANCHEZ: FDR, his fireside chats, remember those? So is it really about a different technology that's being used by this president in this case? Do you agree? Show of hands. You still think Barack Obama should have gone on Jay Leno? Show of hands. You think maybe he might be hot dogging in this case? I know this is a campus of -- not one taker. We're going to be talking about this and we're also going to be talking about something else that I think is important to all Americans. You ready? Is Rush Limbaugh right? Is Rush Limbaugh right when he says the following, that what's going on right now is McCarthyism. Going after the rich guys, almost like -- you think it is?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
SANCHEZ: You think it is? We'll listen to what Mr. Limbaugh has to say and what you have to say. Stay with us. We're at Morehouse, be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MICHAEL J. FOX: Wait a minute. What are you doing, doc?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need fuel.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Like the movie "Back to the Future," we may soon be picking through our garbage to fuel the family car.
TOM QUINN, E-FUEL CORPORATION: It's a crime what we throw away in our garbage cans that are energy. Our lawn clippings, things we throw away can now be treated into fuel.
WOLF: Tom Quinn's new invention the EFuel 100 Microfueler makes homemade ethanol.
QUINN: Ethanol is compatible to every combustion engine. Even works on diesels.
WOLF: It works like a washing machine mixing sugar and yeast with water, then it ferments for a day followed by low-heat distillation.
QUINN: Basically press one button and it does the rest.
WOLF: Priced under $10,000. It sounds like a more high-tech version of a moon shine still. But this grain ethanol is only safe for your car's drink.
QUINN: You have a D.O.T. approved pump nozzle that allows you to take the hose, put it into your car and start to fill up.
WOLF: The price of your own personal pump may give you a cause to celebrate, about $1.20 a gallon. But the cost could be mere pennies if you tap discarded beer and wine at restaurants and bars and at the source. According to Quinn, it's millions of gallons of potential energy, literally going down the drain. This brewery owner thinks homemade ethanol is a winning solution.
JIM STUMP, OWNER, LOS GATOS BREWERY CO.: Absolutely. Drink more beer, make more fuel. Sounds good to me.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: We're good. We've got an audio problem but we've fixed it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: We're on the campus of -- we're on the campus of beautiful Morehouse College. I'm so glad that you all are here with us. Thank you guys, for welcoming us, to be able to do our show here today. We're glad you're here. These young intellectuals who are now going to listen to Rush Limbaugh making a very important point. Is it fair to go after the bonuses of these AIG traders? They would say they earned their money legally. $165 million that yesterday the congress decided they would tax at 90 percent. That's like taking almost all of it away. Right? Here is Rush Limbaugh.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
RUSH LIMBAUGH: I don't even get the irony here. He doesn't even understand Joe McCarthy sat there on a committee and was basically using the power of government to impugn legally or not, falsely or not, private citizens. Barney Frank's doing the same thing, demanding their names be made public, that their bonuses be turned back, even after being told that they are being threatened and they fear for their own safety.
(END OF AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Jay Bookman, did Rush Limbaugh have a good point?
BOOKMAN: Well, Rush talked about irony. I think it is ironic to hear Rush Limbaugh talk about McCarthyism. We could start off with that. But I think we were talking earlier about culture. I think we had a business culture pre-stock market crash, that's when all these contracts were signed and there is a new culture now. What you've got is the leftover, a dinosaur contract, so to speak, with those AIG folks, it's being judged by the culture today that was signed into culture of a year ago. I think that's part of the problem.
SANCHEZ: But forget the culture for a minute. Let's talk about what's right and what's legal. Can Mayor Franklin go out there tomorrow and tax at 90 percent someone who she didn't believe was earning their money correctly, despite the fact that they earned it legally? Mayor?
FRANKLIN: I think that's a good question but that's one of the reasons why we have a judicial system. I would have preferred that AIG not to have given those bonuses and have this settled in the courts. I happen to believe it was a mistake to give the bonuses.
SANCHEZ: But the pitchforks are out. And in congress you see it. In this room you see it. And you're seeing it all over America. As a matter of fact, let's do this, Rog. Let's show them some of the hyperbole yesterday in congress as they debated and then eventually passed this bill, democrats and republicans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. CHARLES RANGEL, (D) NEW YORK: We didn't think it was controversial. We didn't think it was a democratic idea, a republican idea. We thought you felt the frustration of your constituents in saying stop the thievery at taxpayers' expense.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Let's talk about the money with the money man. You're an economist, professor. We're glad you're here. Maybe you can answer this question for us. Is it worth going after $165 million when in the real big picture, we're talking about almost $4 trillion that the government's going to be spending to try and rescue all of these companies, AIG included?
WILLIAMS: I think congress yesterday, and the media, were sort of piling on AIG. I think people have lost perspective. If you heard the CEO, Mr. Liddy testify, we're paying $165 million in bonuses. They borrowed $70 billion from the fed and the treasury. And there's $1.6 trillion at stake in terms of derivative contracts.
SANCHEZ: Do you think it's really going after really a small potato compared to everything else that's out there, sir?
WILLIAMS: If you take the top five or six salaries of baseball players, you could easily get to $165 million.
SANCHEZ: Who wins in this, Jay? You look at this politically and write about it at the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution?" Who are the winners here, is it democrats, is the president or is the republicans or neither?
BOOKMAN: I don't think anybody wins in this. Short term congress gets a win out of it because they get to placate the public anger. But I think you're seeing -- I mean their anger is justified. The frustration is justified. But anger and frustration are poor decision makers. What we're seeing is those anger and frustrations driving decisions that the professor indicates could backfire on us, could -- if congress refuses now to fund further bailouts of companies because of this anger and frustration, we can make a very bad problem much, much worse.
SANCHEZ: Is it money that's worth going after? Let's take that out to the audience if we can. Can you follow me, Cal? Let's go out there if we can. I'm turning my back to you, excuse me for just a moment. I heard you make a comment about this a little while ago. You seemed to be saying -- stand up if you will, what is your name?
CHUCK LESTER: Chuck Lester.
SANCHEZ: Chuck, do you agree with Mr. Limbaugh?
LESTER: Well I do agree with him to an extent, where it seems that you all are kind of really making things a lot more simple than they are, in that AIG, to begin with, they insure mortgages.
SANCHEZ: No, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about this. Hold on, though. No, no, no. You're not going there. Here's where you're going. The U.S. government has decided to take $165 million that was earned legally though questionably and tax it at 90 percent, meaning they're all but taking it away --
LESTER: That's totally wrong.
SANCHEZ: Anybody agree? You agree it's wrong or right? Applause if you think it's right. Applause if you think it's wrong. Who thinks its right? Raise your hand. Who thinks its right? I'm coming to you right there. Go ahead stand up if you would. Why is it right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's right because when we have an unemployment rate that is competing with minority populations, it's all but necessary to take that money back and give it to the American populous. We are suffering. I think the government knows that we are suffering. I mean, we have many people who can't even eat on a consistent basis. Many people who don't have jobs. When you have excess of hundreds of millions of dollars going to someone's pocket just to support a certain high lifestyle that money needs to be taken back.
SANCHEZ: I get it. But it certainly smacks of something that Mr. Limbaugh may be talking about. We're getting mad at the guys who have a little bit more than we do. Sorry, Cal, I know I'm walking around you a little bit, but it's a tight space here. Limbaugh says it's really getting back at the guys who have a lot more money than everybody else, and we're going to take it from them by hook or by crook, interesting.
By the way, when we come back, we're going to be talking about something else that's extremely important. The president of the United States is reaching out to Iran. In fact, he seems to be telling them that we need to find a way to get along with them, accused of doing this before in the past during the campaign. Some called it appeasing. What do you think? Stay with us. That conversation when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: We welcome you back. I'm Rick Sanchez. We're at beautiful Morehouse College in Atlanta. Yeah, you can give them a little applause for that one as well. Spelman's here too, by the way. I mentioned Spelman at the beginning of the group. Those are the gals you hear back there. I want to talk now about something we've been talking about all week long. This is important. This is part of the thing that makes America so angry. The fact that between 1998 and 2008, you ready for this number? $5 billion, $5 billion was used, or paid out in political influence by some of these investment banks on Wall Street.
And it turns out maybe by pure coincidence that during that same period of time between 1998 and 2008, many of the regulations that were put in place by FDR after the great depression all but disappeared. And as a result, we also ended up maybe by coincidence in the mess that we're in. And maybe as a result, perhaps by coincidence, a lot of people got real wealthy. Is there a connection? I want you to listen to this. You ready? This is Robert Weissman, he's a tax watchdog who I spoke with yesterday. Here's how he describes it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT WEISSMAN, DIRECTOR, ESSENTIAL ACTION: It was the best investment they made, $5 billion, still a big sum in Washington, D.C. over a 10-year period. They got a huge return that enabled them a free hand to go wild. They made, you know, super high profits when the going was good. But now they've collapsed their own institutions, their own industry, and unfortunately the real economy for the rest of us.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Well, what a coincidence, huh? Between 1998 and 2008, $5 billion used on influence. $3,000 of that, by the way, went to mostly the lobbyists. And by the way, in case you're wondering, 55 percent of it, Jay Bookman, went to republicans, 45 percent went to democrats. So it was pretty much split. The only reason there was a difference between the republicans and democrats is because at the time the republicans were in power. So this isn't one party's problem. It seems to be America's problem. Jay Bookman, get us started if you can, what's going on?
BOOKMAN: It gets back to the culture thing we were talking about earlier. Prior to the crash, that was the culture that was the accepted way of doing it. Everybody understood that was how it was done. Very few people complained about it.
SANCHEZ: Mayor, you have to -- you're a part of this game. You actually have to go out there and ask people to help you get money so you can buy commercials and put up billboards so people will know that Shirley Franklin's done a good job. Is that tough? Do you hate it?
FRANKLIN: Well, you do hate doing the fund-raising. But in order to get the name recognition, and to get -- in my case, in order to get the name recognition, I had to do it.
SANCHEZ: Most people would argue that you have done an admirable job. You're known throughout the country as being one of the stalwart mayors in the United States and that comes across the board, so kudos to you for that. But it still looks - in fact let me show you something. We put a graphic together. You guys want to see this? Look up on your monitors up there and I think you're going to be able to see this. You ready? This is the cost of doing business. All right? Roger, if you've got that graphic, help me out. This is a study. It was conducted by Common Cause, a neutral organization. They found that in 1976, if you wanted to run for the Senate, you would need to raise $609,000. Do you know how much money you need to raise today if you want to be elected a senator in the United States of America, $9.6 million. Ooh, ah, right? $9.6 million to be elected senator in the United States of America.
You want to know what it costs to be a congressman in the United States because we've got that one, too. Want to be in the House of Representatives? Here you go, 1976, back when Jimmy Carter was president, $87,000. All right? 2006, today, this is what it costs for that job, you've got to pay it to get it, $1.3 million. Professor? Something wrong with this?
PROF. ROGER WILLIAMS, MOREHOUSE COLLEGE: Inflation. The reality is, is that money buys you access in this system and that's the name of the game. Everybody plays it that way.
SANCHEZ: But if it's systematically broken, is there something we should do to fix it? Anyone? Jay, mayor, professor? Can we fix it?
FRANKLIN: There are limits and there are limits even for Senate and for Congress.
SANCHEZ: That must be one big limit.
FRANKLIN: I'm saying, you can get funding from different sources, but primarily from personal gifts, to run for the U.S. Senate and the Congress.
SANCHEZ: Let me throw this out there. What about public funding? What if we decided that from now on we the people will give you a certain amount of money, that's what everybody gets. That's what you're allowed to spend and forget about it. And wouldn't it be cheaper in the end because we think, this is free, we don't have to pay that money. These companies on Wall Street paid for that money, right? So it didn't cost anybody in this room any money. But did we end up getting - did we end up paying for it in the end anyway Jay?
JAY BOOKMAN, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION COLUMNIST: Of course you do. Power goes to money. That's what happened here. People with money got more power.
SANCHEZ: So those companies that charge or those companies that paid out those $5 billion, didn't they in the end end up charging the American people for it in their companies? Or do they eat that?
FRANKLIN: It looks that way certainly and it's a lot of money. Certainly the deregulation that you're describing is part of the problem. I don't think the fix is as quick or easy as you've described. Just go from one system to another.
SANCHEZ: No, it probably isn't. It's probably something that would take some time, and it also would be about changing a lot of mindsets it would seem.
The president of the United States talking tough on Iran. But certainly a different message than the former administration was given. Expected that he will get heat on this as well. Is the president of the United States, Barack Obama, taking on too much given the state of the economy? That's our next segment. We're at Morehouse College and we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: We welcome you back. We're at Morehouse. But I've been told to say this. You ready? During the beginning of this show, I mentioned Spellman. And Morehouse wanted me to talk about them. Then I mentioned Morehouse, and Spellman wanted me to talk about them. So here we go. Clark Atlanta University is here, too.
The president of the United States is tackling on yet another issue. It's interesting that word choice, yet another issue because that's what a lot of people are talking about. This time it's Iran. It's a video sent out last night by President Obama. He's talking now about a message that seems to be very different from the message from the previous administration. Where things were certainly a little more heated, the rhetoric was perhaps a little bit more antagonistic from both sides. The president of the United States is now talking about mutual respect with Iran and sent a message not only to the Iranian leaders, but to the people of Iran as well. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 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)
SANCHEZ: President of the United States is dealing right now with health care. He's dealing with energy. He's dealing with education and he has proposals for each and every one of those. And he's going around the country talking about those things. At the same time, he's trying to increase some of the manpower or some of the troop levels in Pakistan, while ending the war in Iraq and now he's talking about Iran. Shirley Franklin, you're an administrator. Can one person take on too much to be good at anything?
FRANKLIN: The president of the United States has to take on multiple issues. He has to do that and he has to put a team together to do that. When I came into office, I couldn't just deal with budget. I had to deal with crime. I had to deal with water and sewer. I think he is right to set a high standard for himself.
SANCHEZ: But can he do the economy problem, can he solve the economy problem while delving into all these other waters?
FRANKLIN: He has to because the world affairs are not going to wait until the economy turns around. SANCHEZ: He actually argues that the problems of the economy will be solved by doing these things interestingly enough. Maria, you got somebody back there.
MARIA ??: Yes. I'm here with Jason. He attends Morehouse College. What do you got for us, Jason?
JASON: I agree. You can't take too many things on at once. But we have to look at the aspect that this man walked into somebody else's shoes. This milk was spilt and it was bad before it was -- it's now spilt but it was bad long before it was spilt. So he's taking different responsibilities on which is a lot for anybody. But also, we've also heard before he got nominated, that he may be in partnership and cahoots and things of that nature.
SANCHEZ: But is it too much? That's the real question. Real quick, professor, take us out.
WILLIAMS: Rick, these areas such as health care, energy and education, they're sort of all interrelated. Energy making us more efficient, that helps the economy. Cutting health care costs, that helps the economy. Making education --
SANCHEZ: So you agree with the president when he says the reason I'm doing all these initiatives is because eventually it will put people to work and it'll help the economy?
WILLIAMS: No doubt. So that if we want to just isolate it on the economy, we're missing the components of the economy.
SANCHEZ: Before we go to the break, Jay, isn't he also striking while it's hot? He's got like 50 to 60 percent approval ratings right now. That's still good compared to the past president. You might as well try to get done what you can while you're up there, because pretty soon and you never know when that's going to happen. You're going to drop back here.
BOOKMAN: In 2004, President Bush was reelected I think with, not by a very small margin. He talked about all this political capital he had. He was going to go out and spend. That didn't work out real well for him because in the first place he didn't have a lot of capital.
SANCHEZ: Do it when you're hot.
BOOKMAN: But Obama's gambling. If he takes a few gambles, they start paying off, then that builds. If he takes a few gambles and he starts failing, then that begins to build and you have the opposite direction. It's a gamble.
SANCHEZ: Like coming down the hill. All week long we've been concentrating on Laura Ling. Do you know who Laura Ling is? She's a correspondent. Her sister is Lisa Ling. She's been trapped in, not trapped, I should say, but captured by the North Koreans. I was the last American journalist she spoke to Friday before she was taken into custody. We're committed to staying with her story. And when we come back, we'll tell you more about her plight. Stay with us. We're at Morehouse College.
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SANCHEZ: And we welcome you back. Thank you very much. This is kind of serious. Journalist Laura Ling, who I spoke with, from South Korea on Friday, has been taken into custody by the North Koreans. There are two stories out there. One is that she was in North Korea at the time. The other one is that she was in China and actually the North Koreans went across the border to detainee her. We have not heard from her since. We got a tweet from her on twitter yesterday saying, missing home. Here is her father reacting last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOUG LING, FATHER OF LAURA LING: I thank them for their thoughts and prayers. All her friends call. All wish me well -- you know, well wishes. So I thank them very much. Really makes me feel good about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Laura Ling and her producer, the State Department hasn't been saying much about the story. We'll continue to ask.
By the way, did you hear about Christopher Dodd? Christopher Dodd's comments when asked by an investigative reporter from CNN whether he had actually put the clause that allowed AIG to get the $165 million, did some stumbling, shall we say. Here's another update on that story and something that perhaps (INAUDIBLE) tells us a lot about how business is done in Congress. We'll talk about that when we come back.
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SANCHEZ: And we welcome you back. Enthusiastic minds, energetic as well. We're here at Morehouse College and we're glad we're here. We thank you all for having us. To bring you the special edition of our 3:00 p.m. NEWSROOM show. Senator Christopher Dodd suddenly found himself in a bit of a pickle over the last couple of days, why, because he was asked. weren't you the one as a chairman of the committee who actually put the clause that allowed AIG to keep the $165 million? He had a tough time did Senator Dodd giving a straight answer to our investigative reporter who was asking him the question, Drew Griffin. Let me catch you up on how this story unfolded first. Here's a look back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On Tuesday, Dodd adamantly denied to CNN that he was responsible for the exemption.
SEN. CHRISTOPHER DODD (D) BANKING CHAIRMAN: When I left the Senate it was not in there. So when I wrote the language, there was no such language like that. I can't point a finger at someone who offered to change at all.
BASH: But the next day an official at the Treasury Department flatly contradicted Dodd, telling CNN his office did know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: He did know, and in fact they say it was Treasury that told him about it. We're familiar with this story, Jay Bookman, you've been reading a lot about it. Here's what comes out of the story as far as I'm concerned or as I see it. Tell me if I'm wrong. He didn't read the legislation.
BOOKMAN: My understanding is that that language was added after it left the Senate.
SANCHEZ: Still his.
BOOKMAN: I mean, if you cover -- I've covered city council meetings, county commission meetings, mayor, you know this. The smallest city council in the country they don't read everything they pass.
SANCHEZ: Isn't that appalling? They write legislation but they don't read it and then -- how about the one yesterday, the 90 percent of the $165 million? Did they read that?
BOOKMAN: No, I'll bet almost maybe --
SANCHEZ: So they're voting on something they're not reading?
BOOKMAN: That's correct.
SANCHEZ: Mayor, help them out here. You're a politician.
FRANKLIN: A lot of times that happens. A lot of times that happens. And you rely on staff to do the reading and to give you a summary. So a lot of times that happens. And sometimes things are happening so fast, everyone can't read every piece of the legislation.
SANCHEZ: Let's go back to the Dodd thing, if we possibly can. Shouldn't he have just come clean professor, shouldn't he have just said, you know what, I'm not sure who put that in there, but I guess I should have known about it? I'm going to go find out?
WILLIAMS: Honesty is always the best policy. He's got enough political capital to admit if he made a mistake.
SANCHEZ: Here's a better move. Take a bold position and say, I'm thinking here, but take a bold position and say you know what, all things considered, it's $165 million, I know it seems like a lot of money, but we had to get this thing through, we were in a hurry. That would have been a good answer or at least it would have been a passable answer would it not?
BOOKMAN: It would have been the right answer because it's the truth. I think that's something people don't appreciate is how many moving pieces there are in all this. The scale of this problem in Washington and Wall Street is immense. SANCHEZ: The economic problem.
BOOKMAN: And the Treasury Department, for instance, they have a very small staff. Most of them haven't been confirmed by the Senate yet. They're trying to deal with the biggest meltdown in 60 years with a very small number of people. They don't know what's going on. And all they need to do is tell people, we don't know everything that's going on. And people might understand that better than being lied to.
SANCHEZ: Transparency, Jay Bookman, with the AJC, Shirley Franklin, the mayor of Atlanta, Dr. Roger Williams, economist here at Morehouse College. We'll be right back.
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SANCHEZ: Let's get back to that conversation we had a little while ago about Rush Limbaugh. Rush Limbaugh says you know what, you can't go after people who have made money as long as they did it legally. Politicians though and we brought this up yesterday and the day before, they've been going back and forth on this and we mentioned a couple of them yesterday. One of them wrote me back last night to say, no, I did not waiver of this. I was very consistent. To his credit, we're talking about Mitch McConnell, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Here's what he had to say. Barbara, I think we can put that up on the screen and we can read it. Any action we take must include the following: limits on executive compensation. If weak companies are seeking government assistance, the taxpayers should expect no less than a firm limit on what kind of executive compensation might be possible for those involved in these distressed companies. He said he said that and held that position all the way going back to 2008. Now let's hear the young voices of Morehouse College. On this campus, Moruk (ph) take us to the students.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, Rick, we're here with a group of very opinionated students from Clark Atlanta University. What do you got for us, Ashley?
ASHLEY: I think that in order for things to start changing, in order for mistakes to stop being made, people need to start reading their own legislation because there could be all kinds of things in there that just won't work and we need to work on that.
SANCHEZ: Don't rely on your staff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to say that the business of politics in America is changing. I believe it's changing for the better. People are being held accountable for their actions but what they're not reading or what they're reading and the American people are tired of being the butt of mistakes or lack of people doing their job and reading what they're supposed to be doing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well said. Brandon.
BRANDON: The problem is very simple. What we are doing as a government and as a people, we are over promising and under delivering. What we need to do is reverse that and over, under promise and over deliver. We're biting off way more than what we can chew.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Round of applause. Good job. You guys, smart comments from each and every of you.
When we come back, we're looking at the market and closing our discussion here at beautiful Morehouse College. We'll be right back.
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(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 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's but 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 look 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 meets in their least processed form.
SCHWARTZ: It costs more to have the chicken skinless, boneless than it does say 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. 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 from scratch, the better.
COHEN: Elizabeth Cohen, CNN reporting.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANCHEZ: And we welcome you back to Morehouse College. Everybody, you ready? Raise your hand if you think we're going to be out of this situation in one year. Raise your hands if you think it's going to be done in one year. Raise your hand if you think it's going to take two years to be out of this thing. Raise your hand if you think it's going to be about three years before we get out of this. For young people, they're not that optimistic. Professor, you're an economist. You look at this. You prognosticate. What is it?
WILLIAMS: Well, Rick, by nature, I'm an optimist. I listen, I think the consensus among economists is that by the end of this year and the beginning, first or second quarter of 2010 -
SANCHEZ: That's what Bernanke says. We'll start to see something.
WILLIAMS: Yeah, there's been a lot of stimulus pumped into this economy and the impact of it is going to start being felt.
SANCHEZ: Mayor, is enough money getting to the cities. Is it getting to you? I know you were in Washington recently making sure you got your share. Did you?
FRANKLIN: Not yet. Most cities are getting one or two programs, community development block grants, some money out of Justice for public safety and the other money is competitive money. We won't see that until June or July and the bulk of the match is going to states. So we're not seeing it yet and right now, we have police officers and firefighters on furlough because we don't have enough money.
SANCHEZ: I would like to thank Morehouse College for having CNN here today so we can take our show on the road and tell people what you are thinking as well. Thank you to all of you at home as well. I'd like to thank Spellman College for being here as well. See, I got it right that time and also, Clark Atlanta. My thanks to all of you.
We're live and here comes Wolf Blitzer in "The Situation Room."
