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Anger in the Streets in London; Protecting the President; President Obama's Leadership Test
Aired April 01, 2009 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We are just 30 minutes away from President Obama's visit with Britain's Queen Elizabeth II. You will see it here live.
So, we have pageantry and protests for you this hour. Crowds growing larger and rowdier in London. It is a mix of anti-capitalists, environmentalists and anti-war groups taking to the streets ahead of the G-20 summit which brings together the world's financial leaders.
Meanwhile, President Obama is pushing ahead with his agenda to fix the global recession. He has been meeting behind closed doors with the leaders of Britain, Russia and China. President Obama calling on world leaders to come up with tough new rules for managing the global economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK H. OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: History shows us that when nations fail to cooperate, when they turn away from one another, when they turn inward, the price for our people only grows. That's how the Great Depression deepened. That's a mistake that we cannot afford to repeat.
So in the days ahead, I believe we will move forward with a sense of common purpose. We have to do what's necessary to restore growth and to pursue the reforms that can stabilize our financial system well into the future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Back to those protests. We're talking about -- look at his behind me here -- smashed windows, scuffles with police.
Let's get the latest on the G-20 protests in London's financial district. The protesters have targeted much of their anger at the Bank of England and the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Jim Boulden has been covering demonstrations and he joins us on the phone right now.
And Jim, good to talk to you.
What's the latest from your location? What are you seeing?
JIM BOULDEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, I'm just about a block from the Bank of England. And what happened a few minutes ago is we were just filming on the outside, where there are a lot of people who, frankly, have been drinking a lot of alcohol, and they've been going at it with the police. And they just started really going at it.
The police have started to widen the cordon around the Bank of England and push people along. And it was getting a bit of argy bargy, as they call it here. It's calmed down a little bit, but what's happened is the police have hemmed in a lot more people around the Bank of England.
That's what they do here. They decide sometimes just to keep people from going in, and they keep people from going out. We were able to get out because of our press passes, but a lot of people are stuck there, and they're stuck t here for a number of hours.
Now, here where I am are riot police. They're on their horses, but they're not moving. They haven't not charged anybody.
We've had a few arrests, and we also have the climate camp, which is about a mile away from here. And that's been pretty peaceful. At least it was when I was there earlier.
I'll tell you, I had environmentalists who say they're going to spend the night in the middle of the streets just to show that, they say, the G-20 should be thinking about climate change as they're meeting here in London. But here at the Bank of England, the police have most of their focus -- and it's where -- you know, if things do kick off, frankly, later today, it's probably where it's going to happen.
HARRIS: Jim, you know, it makes sense, doesn't it? I mean, we see these kinds of pretty large-scale protests whenever there's a G-8 meeting, a G-20 and IMF. The World Bank holds a big meeting. But this focus of attention now on the financial district, it makes sense given the size and scope of the global financial crisis, doesn't it?
BOULDEN: Yes, absolutely. And you've seen a lot of protesters that say, you know, you bailed out bankers, you bailed out big business, now you're got to bail out people. You've got other people who say climate is (INAUDIBLE) and other people who want housing.
And you know, you've got your (INAUDIBLE), your anti-capitalists, as well. It's a real mixture of people. You can't pinpoint people to any one group.
And we've also seen people here with families, and peaceful demonstrations and marches as well. So it's a real mix. The worry (ph) -- and right now you can hear the helicopters over top -- it really is the focus of the police's attention.
HARRIS: And Jim, one other thought. I mean, you're always -- I know you've covered many of these. By and large, most of the people there are there to make a point. But in any mass gathering like this you're always going to get some knuckleheads who are trying to get the attention of the cameras and the police. Correct? BOULDEN: Yes. And what we saw about 20 minutes ago -- you know, a lot of people have been here since about noon, about lunchtime. And people, especially where I am, have been drinking, and drinking a lot.
And that's where I think things start to kick off. And so you get the knuckleheads, as you call them. And also, you know, we get the police, who, earlier today, were dressed pretty normally. Now are walking around with riot shields and helmets.
And in fact, I think we're going to move now, because we don't want to end up in this cordon. There's a whole group of police coming toward us right now, pushing people away.
HARRIS: Yes.
BOULDEN: So as I talk to you, we're just going to move back a little bit, because you know how this gets.
HARRIS: Absolutely.
BOULDEN: And you don't want to get stuck in the middle.
HARRIS: We know how it gets when push comes to shove.
All right. Jim Boulden for us.
Jim, appreciate it. Thank you.
You know, protecting the president on his trip abroad, police and security forces in London are trying to keep a handle on demonstrations while keeping President Obama and other world leaders safe.
CNN's Tom Foreman looks at the security precautions.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What you have is the leadership of the industrialized world all in one place. And President Obama's what we're going to start off with.
He has about 200 security agents with him, according to the BBC. He's traveling around in that heavily-armored presidential limo that we have heard so much about called The Beast. It's capable of fending off chemical, biological, and rocket attacks.
Of course, he has his own helicopters with him in case he needs to go anywhere. Marine One is there. And, at any given moment, if he has to, he can get on board Air Force One, which of course turns into a flying White House at the drop of a hat, and he moves on from there.
Most of the time that he is meeting here, he is going to be meeting over in this area right here. And I want to make this a little bigger and mark it, so you can't miss it. This is the area where he is going to be, this section. And that is really going to be surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of other security forces. There will be road closures. Even boats will be out here with scuba forces on them to keep track of anything that might come up out of the river right in here, because, as you may remember, in Mumbai, India, the attackers came from the water. So, they want to make sure there's no threat to any of these world leaders who will be gathered over here in this area.
However, London authorities have much more turf to worry about. They're also increasing patrols over in this area in the financial district, where protests are expected against targets like, say, the banks that are in that area, the Bank of England, for example.
These are protests from other places around the world, but many protesters are converging on this area. Bankers are being cautioned to dress down, not to wear I.D. badges or anything that might make them a target.
And security will also be up over here around Buckingham Palace, Parliament, areas like that, Westminster Abbey. Overall, London police expect to spend about $10 million and use thousands of officers in part because all of them remember what happened back in 2005. You remember that attack on their transit system, when a meeting of leaders from some of these same countries was coming up in Scotland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Tom Foreman for us.
Away from the fray, President Obama is focused on hammering out ways to address the global economic crisis. He and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown stressing the need for action at a joint news conference.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK H. OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I came here to put forward ideas, but I also came here to listen, not to lecture.
Having said that, we must not miss an opportunity to lead, to confront a crisis that knows no borders. We have a responsibility to coordinate our actions and to focus on common ground, not on our occasional differences.
GORDON BROWN, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: This summit cannot simply agree to the lowest common denominator. We must stand united in our determination to do whatever is necessary.
This is an unprecedented financial crisis. People have lost their homes, their jobs and, in some cases, their hope. And President Obama and I are agreed today that the actions we take are global solutions required for global problems.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Let's get right to our White House correspondent now, Suzanne Malveaux, traveling with President Obama. And you know, Suzanne, on a trip when presidential power is certainly being evaluated, the message from the president is certainly being scrutinized.
So what is President Obama's message for this day?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's interesting, Tony, to take a look at the body language between these two leaders, and also what President Obama was emphasizing during that press conference. He really was trying to show some empathy towards the people that you see on the streets, those protesters who are angry, they're frustrated.
A lot of people blame the United States for this global economic crisis. They say it started in the United States, spread over here, what are you going to do about it?
We heard the president acknowledge that, yes, there were some problems on the U.S. side, but that, also, England, as well, faced the same problems when it cane to not being able to regulate those financial institutions well enough. He also tried to downplay those differences between the United States and Britain on one side, focusing on economic stimulus, throwing money and spending at this problem, and France and Germany, that are saying, look, we need more regulations of financial institutions.
The main message, Tony, was, I'm going to listen as well as lead. It really does indicate a change of business as usual, no longer the case. But also, a leader who really does have to listen here, reflects the U.S. position now, which is one which is in the midst of an economic crisis. Definitely a vulnerable situation -- Tony.
HARRIS: Yes, absolutely.
You spoke of body language earlier. What was the body language like between Mr. Obama and the Russian president?
MALVEAUX: Well, if you take a look at the pictures, it was really quite surprising how warm it was between the two of them, especially after they did their formal statements. You saw President Obama -- they turned to each other, they looked at each other in the eye, patting each other on the back. They told a few jokes, this type of thing. It really looked like they had broken the ice, if you will.
And the main thing coming out of this meeting, the news nugget here, is that they're going to sit down later in July, not far from now, and come up with something, they believe, jump-starting those negotiations for getting rid of some of the nuclear arsenal that both sides have. This is part of the negotiating treaty that's expiring in December. They want something on the table before December, before that treaty expires. And so you see there is a real commitment here that they're going to move forward on that.
So that's a good sign.
HARRIS: Yes. A big trip for the president. We are glad you're there covering it for us.
Suzanne Malveaux.
Suzanne, thank you.
President Obama's handling of this economic crisis is seen as a huge test of his global leadership. The U.S. is widely seen as both the problem and possible solution to the world money mess.
Two financial experts explain why. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRYSTIA FREELAND, FINANCIAL EXPERT: I mean, I think that what we're seeing on one hand is the world really feeling that not only is this an economic crisis that has been exported by the United States to the rest of the world, and also a crisis caused, in a way, by an American ideological approach to financial capitalism, that Americans are accustomed to teaching the rest of the world to follow. But at the same time, the world really is expecting America to lead.
So you do have this paradox that on the one hand there is a lot of anger towards America. On the other hand, people really want the U.S., and especially this president, Barack Obama, to succeed. So the stakes will be high. It could be a moment where President Obama sort of patents his conciliatory approach is really appropriate.
MICHAEL ELLIOTT, "TIME MAGAZINE": The U.S. is the largest economy in the world. What happens in the U.S. affects everyone else. The U.S. consumer has always been the consumer of last resort in the world. Everyone wants the U.S. economy to be showing its animal spirits and be growing again at a fast clip. That helps everyone. There is no question about that.
I think what President Obama's acutely conscious of, though, simply having star power and being in charge of the world's largest economy doesn't mean that he can get his own way on every occasion. And as Peter said, you can see in the run-up to this that there has been a conciliatory approach, there's been an approach typified by partnership. And there has to be, quite honestly. Because a lot of the guys and women who are gathered in London have their own agendas and will not be shy about telling President Obama what it is that they want to see done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Here's what President Obama's schedule looks like for the rest of this day. At 12:35 Eastern Time -- can't wait for this -- the first couple meets privately with her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, that's immediately followed by a G-20 leaders' reception at Buckingham Palace.
And at 3:30 p.m. Eastern the G-20 summit kicks off with a working dinner. The president and pageantry. We're standing by for Mr. Obama's arrival at Buckingham Palace. Man, look at that! Wow, what's the proper protocol when meeting royalty? And don't forget, as the event unfolds, check in with cnn.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Josh Levs in the CNN NEWSROOM. We've been hearing about it for weeks and the government is representing it this way -- a computer virus set to strike today. That we're told it could take over your computer without you even realizing it. Here's the latest on this and how you can protect yourself.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: So let's talk about a computer worm that could strike today and could take over millions of computers. We've been hearing the horror stories. Are they coming true? Josh is back here with some answers. What's this thing called?
LEVS: Conficker-C. There's a "C" because there have been two previous ones that have caused damage in the past. Nothing about what we've been hearing about. You've heard about this, right?
HARRIS: Yeah. I have but the name has always escaped me, I didn't know what the heck it meant.
LEVS: I could take you through that but what we've been told is that it was planned for April Fools' Day, for April 1st, that can could take over computers and do this zombie thing where basically you don't realize your computer is taken over but it can combine all the power from these computers and do all this crazy cyber stuff. That's what we've been hearing. That's why we've been showing this picture here. The government has on its own blog, saying look this thing could basically eat your computer.
But I want to show you some of our headlines now at cnn.com which is telling us this. No problems so far as far as April Fools' computer worm awakens. So up to this point, Tony, we are monitoring this closely, we are not seeing huge numbers of computers taken over or massive problems but we still have to be careful. And I got a chance to speak a little bit earlier with a member of what's called the Conficker Cabal fighting this problem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DON DEBOLT, CONFICKER CABAL: So most importantly patch you system. Make sure Windows update is working and operation. Make sure you have security protection like the antivirus protection and that's operational and up to date as well. Because remember, threats today attempted disable those security controls.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Very good advice from him. Good things to watch out for. And sometimes you hear computer lingo, it comes across as a little too techno savvy, let's zoom in on the board one more time. Because the folks at dot com live have done something neat here. They have basically written out three major things. Check windows auto update. Most people know how to do that. Perform manual windows auto update if it's not automatic. Also update your antivirus program. Do these three things and you should be taking some really good steps toward protecting yourself if that thing is still going to hit, Tony.
HARRIS: Hey, Josh, stay right there. Let me try this here. Because I know you're coming back in a couple of minutes. Roger, stay with me. I know you're following this story of the Justice Department and attorney general Eric Holder. Essentially dismissing all of the conviction that was won against -- there he is -- former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens. And last hour you indicated to us that our e- mail question has generated a lot of reaction, right?
LEVS: Big-time. People are really hating this decision. I'll emphasize, we know it is an initial decision and we know there is a lot to learn about it, but based on what people are hearing so far, overwhelming negative responses to this.
HARRIS: So what I want you to do is just give everyone the address. I know there is twitter and everything else is involved. So folks if they want to weigh in can weigh in.
LEVS: Yes, absolutely, cnnnewsroom@cnn.com. That's going to show the e-mail there. The other place we've been getting a lot of responses is my Facebook page, which is Josh Levs CNN. If you're on Facebook, we encourage you to use that as well. We'll keep in mind both. And I'll be back with the responses.
HARRIS: All right. Thanks, Josh.
LEVS: You got it.
HARRIS: You're about to start getting more money in your paycheck. Just how much cash are you going to get through the new tax credit? Gerri Willis has some answers and she's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Hey, take a look at this. This is really what I've been waiting for today. And this is the motorcade, the presidential motorcade. That's the beast, obviously, carrying the president and the first lady to Buckingham Palace. Where is Richard Quest? Let's see if we can move him up here a little bit as we await this arrival and this meeting. It really comes down to this 25-minute private meeting that is being afforded the president and the first lady. So clearly the Queen of England is excited about meeting the new American president. She's not meeting with everyone obviously who is there, all the leaders who are there from around the world for the G-20. She is not meeting with everyone. A selected few. Among that group obviously the president of the United States. Let's take the president and first lady, get me out of this shot. There you go. All right. The president and the -- Richard, are you there?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Of course I'm here! I'm watching these pictures! HARRIS: You are so the man. So Richard, as we watch these pictures, this is the moment I've really been waiting for here. Let me have you play the role of the royal expert and I am the Obama prep person who has visited you in preparation for this moment right here. What do I need to know? What is going on at this moment right now?
QUEST: Well, the president entered the palace through the main gates, and instead of actually going into the building through the state entrance, he's been accorded the honor of entering the building through what's known as the garden entrance, which is to the side of the palace. That is the part of the building where the -- where very special guests are allowed to enter Buckingham Palace.
You can you see quite clearly now, I think pictures are coming to us. Now, it is unusual for the queen to meet a president of the United States that is not for a particular visit. For instance, for instance a state -- a full state visit, or good-bye visit when George Bush left the White House, he paid a courtesy visit. Bill Clinton did the same. So that is quite normal in that respect.
Now the other leaders will start to arrive at Buckingham Palace as well for the reception. What will happen, Tony, is that the U.S. president is fortunate enough to be granted a private audience with Her Majesty.
HARRIS: Very nice, yeah.
QUEST: Now that is -- I mean what will they talk about? One of the things we know is that a conversation with the queen is the most private conversations in the world. If anything leaks from that conversation, it won't be because it comes from Elizabeth's side. It will be because it comes from the U.S. side.
For her 50-odd years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth II has had a weekly audience with the British prime ministers, she's had. We never know anything about it. So one of the things to bear in mind, Queen Elizabeth has often been said she has the right to warn, to caution and to advise. She has no real power besides that.
But, she has met every president that's been in office while she's been queen except LBJ. So she comes -- so I probably am rambling on here.
HARRIS: No, no, no. Here's what I'm really interested - because I'm a little nervous about this for the president. I know I shouldn't be, they'll be fine, they've been coached up on this, but this is a big occasion.
QUEST: No, no! Stop it! Stop it! It is only people like you who are terribly excited by this protocol business. I can tell you because I've met the people involved.
HARRIS: I'm concerned about the bow. I'm concerned about the curtsy?
QUEST: What bow? What curtsy? First of all, as a foreign head of state, President Obama and Michelle Obama are not expected to bow, to curtsy, to grovel, to do anything other than -- do you know what they do?
HARRIS: What do they do?
QUEST: "Ma'am, how nice to meet you." It is as simple as that. Why do people like you get so excited at this whole process?
HARRIS: Well, I just -- I've been brought up to think that there are all these protocols involved here. You know? You don't fist-bump the duke. I know you don't do that? Do you do the two-cheek thing? Is there just a simple shake of the hands? I'm thinking there is a curtsy, there is a bow, there is a neck thing. All of this involved.
QUEST: If you are I were presented -- Let me name drop namelessly. When I was presented to Her Majesty, the queen, at the opening of CNN's offices here in London some years ago, yes, I did do the bow from the neck. But I'm a British subject in that respect. Now if you did it, some Americans do like the pomp, ceremony, circumstance of it so they do bow or curtsy. Not because they're subservient. It is a sign of respect, in the same way, Tony, that none of us would ever be rude to President Obama as "the president." Whatever we may think of him as "the politician."
So the queen is representing her country today. Now what will happen? Because real quick I'll tell you what else will happen over in the next hour or so, they will be joined by the other members of the G-20. They will then have canapes and drinks and schmoozing. That's not a royal word. Then they will all go to Number 10 Downing Street where they will have dinner tonight. Dinner perhaps a little bit of a fall- back from the Washington dinner in November which was all very posh and elegant, it is going to be simple -- lamb, salmon and bakewell tart (ph).
HARRIS: You are awesome! Thank you, Richard. Have a good show today, doctor. Good to see you.
So the president is inside Buckingham Palace now with Her Majesty, Elizabeth II. Are there any dos and don'ts when thou meeteth the queen? Robert Hickey is deputy director at the Protocol School of Washington where diplomats and executives American learn to mind their manners. He joins me now from New York.
Look, help me with this. Am I wrong to be just a tad nervous that everything comes off without a hitch here for this moment, this 25- minute meeting, private audience, with the queen?
ROBERT HICKEY, PROTOCOL SCHOOL OF WASHINGTON: I think it is absolutely normal that we Americans want to do it really well. And so to me, I think it would raise a nervous level in almost anyone. I think you are absolutely correct. But the British have in their culture so much more about the hierarchy of the culture that they're used to it. But we're such a flat culture where all men are created equal that we somehow when we get into that circumstance want to make sure we do it really perfectly.
HARRIS: Robert, what do you do? You're going to meet the queen and the duke. Is it, as Richard suggests, simply this is a head of state we're talking about? Is it simply a handshake and "it is great to meet you"? Is that it or is there something more? Is Michelle expected to curtsy? Help me here.
HICKEY: Well, generally we Americans don't curtsy to a foreign head of state. But just as Richard said, probably she may nod her head just a little bit, because what will happen will be is that you never touch the royal person. So what will happen is the queen will come in and if she extends her hand, then it will be all right to shake the hand. But probably the president and Mrs. Obama will just stand there and gently let their hands fall to their sides and wait for the lead from the queen to see what she actually does.
HARRIS: All right, Robert -- so I should relax?
HICKEY: Oh, absolutely! Because this is going to be a very fun moment.
HARRIS: I'm really looking forward to it but I just want it to go smoothly. I just want this world tour, at least this moment of the world tour to go smoothly. The hard work is to come tomorrow, to be sure.
HICKEY: The other thing is the queen has done this many times. So she's going to be an absolute expert at it. As Richard said, she's met every president since probably the '50s and maybe even Harry Truman. So she's going to be very good at making them comfortable and she's going to enjoy meeting these new people.
HARRIS: Well, you did a nice job making me comfortable with the moment. Robert Hickey, Robert, appreciate it. Thank you.
HICKEY: Oh, thank you.
HARRIS: And if the Obamas are a little nervous -- if -- about meeting the queen, maybe there is reason here. She's met, as Robert and Richard just mentioned, she's met 10 other American presidents in her 57 years on the throne and it didn't always go smoothly. For instance, as a White House dinner hosted by President Ford, the queen got up to dance right on cue. The band broke into -- "The Lady is a Tramp." Yikes!
Fast forward to 1991. Who can forget the talking hat? Sorry, your majesty. The mike was set up for the first President Bush. He's 6'2". She is 5'4". And in 2007, the second President Bush tried to add a couple hundred years to her age. Remember this?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: You helped our nation celebrate its bicentennial in 17 -- in 1976. She gave me a look that only a mother could give a child.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Pretty good, huh? The wink was a nice touch as well. She definitely wasn't around in 1776, but she ascended to the throne way back in 1952, nine years before Barack Obama was even born.
All right. Let's take a look at the other story in London. And, boy, "eat the bankers." All right, the protest continuing there. We will get you an update in just a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Hey, we're keeping an eye on the protests going on right now in London's financial district. Thousands of anti-capitalists, as they describe themselves -- this was crazy -- anarchists and environmentalists in the streets. They're trying to make their voices heard ahead of tomorrow's G-20 summit. The protestors have directed much of their anger at the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Bank of England. We will keep you updated on the story as it unfolds.
And someone who was sort of in the middle of all of this, I believe Keith Miller is on the line with us and Keith works in the financial district there in London at a brokerage house.
And, Keith, thanks for your time.
What was it like there for you -- were you trying to get to work in kind of the middle of this or is this something that you watched sort of build while you were on the job?
KEITH MILLER, LONDON BANKER: I had a meeting earlier this morning and I got to the office around about 10:00. And our office is just next to the Bank of England. So I was cautious as to how exactly I was going to get to work. But that early in the morning it was quite peaceful. So I got through OK, no problems. There were police, there were barricades, there were a few spectators and some protestors, but nothing really to speak of.
It wasn't really until lunch time when we looked out the windows and we started to see the crowd gathering outside the Bank of England. And it was locked. There was no way in. There was no way out. There started to become some violence there, some violent actions on behalf of some of the protest groups, rather the front line with the police and, as a result, some police guys obviously have been injured. Some protestors have been injured. And so it's been a interesting day.
HARRIS: You know what, when you think about this for a moment, Keith, much of this anger that's on display there is directed in your direction. How does it feel to essentially be one of the people for whom this anger is targeted?
MILLER: Yes, absolutely, you're right. It is targeted towards us. And the reason it's targeted towards us is because we walk around in suits and we work in the city. And we're being (INAUDIBLE) with the same brush. When, in actual fact, the people that really caused this is the government, the regulators, the greedy bankers at the top of the food chain. They're nowhere to be seen. And we've got to bear the brunt of it once again. You know, we've got to come to work to make a living to make sure we're serving our clients properly and we're doing the best thing by them. And we've got no choice but to come to work and we're being targeted for something that, quite frankly, in my job, in what I do, I've got nothing to do.
HARRIS: So you do understand the anger?
MILLER: Yes, I completely understand the anger. As a matter of fact, a lot of the people working within the city have got the same anger. I mean a lot of colleagues -- sorry, not colleagues, but a lot of friends of mine who work at the bank, for one reason they have (ph) they've lost their jobs and it's not -- they've not been taking the risks that these banks have been taking. And it's the regulators. And it's the guys at the top who have been instructing this with. And they've got no jobs. So of course I can understand the anger. But what people have got to believe and understand is that it's not just -- it's not every guy walking around the city of London wearing a suit that's been causing these problems.
HARRIS: You going to be able to get out OK?
MILLER: Yes, I think it's not going to be a problem. We're fortunate enough to be on the corner of two of the major protests. The more violent one and the more, I guess, the more vocal one outside the Bank of England and the other climate (ph) camp (ph) one. So I think we should be OK. (INAUDIBLE).
HARRIS: I just want your perspective on this. Last question for you. What do you hope comes out of this G-20? I mean you've got all these people converging on your city and, you know, you've got the world leaders there as well. What do you hope comes out of it?
MILLER: I mean, what I hope would come out of it, I hope that we're going to see some kind of reform as a currency, especially for myself. I hope that they make some grounds towards some kind of global currency where the U.S. dollar isn't relied on as the safe haven. So it's going to free up a lot of bad -- a lot of global economy.
I don't think that's necessarily going to happen. These G-20 meetings, or these government meetings, are always a little bit of a wet script. But let's see on this one, you know. The best thing that can happen is that it ends peacefully and they've got some kind of resolution as to how, once we get out of this, we're going to move forward. Because what we've got to make sure is that instead of worrying about how to prevent the fire -- the next fire, we're in the middle of the fire, so we've got to concentrate how we're going to put this fire out.
HARRIS: Keith, appreciate it. Get home safely, all right.
MILLER: Yes, cheers, Tony. Take care.
HARRIS: OK.
Let's stimulate your wallet right now. Many Americans will start to see a bit more in their paycheck this week. It's from a tax credit in the stimulus act. Gerri Willis is back with us. Gerri's in New York.
And, Gerri, look, I like the idea of getting a little more money in the pay envelope. How much are we talking about here? GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, OK, let's get started with how much the tax credit is. Keep in mind that just how much you get depends on your marital status, your salary and how many allowances or exemptions you take. Normally if you take the tax credit, that's a dollar for dollar reduction in your taxes when you file. But the administration here trying to goose the economy and that means they're getting the money out faster. So a little less will be withheld from each paycheck for federal income tax.
Here is what you will see. Singles will get an extra $10 to $15 per paycheck weekly. If you're married, your filing jointly, you'll get $15 to $20 extra per paycheck. Each and every year that turns out to be $400 for single filers, $800 for joint filers. So, you know, it's not the world, but it's something. And there's really nothing you have to do to claim this. When your employer adopts the new withholding tables, you get it automatically. Self-employed people can get the credit by reducing their estimated tax payments or simply claiming it when they file their '09 tax return next year.
HARRIS: Yes, not everyone qualifies though, right?
WILLIS: No, no, no. You know, look, if you make a lot of money, for those with high incomes, you won't be a part of this. For married couples filing jointly, the credit phases out after adjusted gross income of $150,000. So if you make $150,000 or more. For singles the phase-out is $75,000 in adjusted gross income. So if you make $75,000 or more, you are not eligible. If you're on Social Security, no, you won't be a part of this. Remember, you have to be making an income to qualify. And dependents. OK. So let's say your teenage son has a part-time job. He's not collecting this credit either because he's listed as a dependent on his parents' tax return. So devil's in the details here though. But if you meet those income limitations, you get this little bit of extra something something which you can then save or use to pay off credit cards.
HARRIS: No, you're supposed to go spend it. You're not supposed to save it. You're not supposed to pay off a bill. The economy requires that you spend, spend, spend.
WILLIS: I'm telling you. Your first job is to you.
HARRIS: You always say that. Good point.
WILLIS: Right.
HARRIS: Thank you, Gerri.
WILLIS: My pleasure.
HARRIS: Inside the mind of a G-20 protestors. Just what are they thinking? A look at their Twitter accounts.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Wall Street has closed the books on a horrible first quarter. It was the worst start of the year for the Dow since 1939. But today marks a new quarter, a new month and a new direction for stocks, at least for now. Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange with details.
And, Susan, let me give you a little warning here. We may be getting some tape shortly. You know how anxious I am about this tape -- this meeting with the queen today and the president -- ooh, there it is. There it is. Is there sound on it? Shall we listen? Is there sound on it.
QUEEN ELIZABETH: (INAUDIBLE).
MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY: (INAUDIBLE) but he's been busy in meetings. So I've been a little less busy. (INAUDIBLE).
QUEEN ELIZABETH: (INAUDIBLE) well, you'll have to get breakfast (ph) and (INAUDIBLE).
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've had breakfast with the prime minister. I've had meetings with the Chinese, the Russians, David (INAUDIBLE) and (INAUDIBLE).
PRINCE PHILIP (ph): (INAUDIBLE).
B. OBAMA: It's all important (ph).
PRINCE PHILIP: (INAUDIBLE) turning around.
B. OBAMA: Of course. Of course.
QUEEN ELIZABETH: (INAUDIBLE). It's always the same thing, isn't it. Always.
HARRIS: OK.
Susan, that was OK. I don't know if I like the duke telling the president, hey, turn around, buddy. Turn around.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, like that. Like, oh, you commoner.
HARRIS: Yes, yes, don't -- honestly.
LISOVICZ: Yes.
HARRIS: That bothered me a little bit there. But it was OK, wasn't it? The president indicating to the queen, look, I've been busy.
LISOVICZ: Yes, and I think he's . . .
HARRIS: I've been meeting with world leaders and I've been busy.
LISOVICZ: He seemed perfectly at ease with royalty.
HARRIS: He did.
LISOVICZ: And, of course, in this country, he is royalty, the president (INAUDIBLE).
HARRIS: Yes, he really is.
Hey, Susan, we were talking a moment ago -- OK. So, all right, I can -- sigh of relief there.
We've been talking . . .
LISOVICZ: You're more nervous than the president, Tony.
HARRIS: I know. And I just want them to be comfortable and the whole thing to go well and the American president and Michelle was looking terrific. And I just -- all right. So that's behind us.
Let us talk about the start of this new month. And the month gets started, am I correct, Susan, with some decent news on housing?
LISOVICZ: Yes. From a surprising sector, no less. The housing sector, pending home sales, Tony, jumped more than 2 percent in February. It's considered a good gauge of future home sales. So we've had that. That turned around stocks. And we also had mortgage applications rose last week. A lot of that was refinancing. But the point is, people are responding to lower mortgage rates. That offset the bad news we got from the jobs market on the private sector. More than 740,000 jobs were lost last month, Tony. And this will really drive it home for you. Literally, that is more than the population of the city of Baltimore.
HARRIS: That's my hometown.
LISOVICZ: That's your hometown. For the city of Baltimore. And it sets the stage for Friday's more comprehensive jobs report from the government.
HARRIS: What that means is that's a big number up there on the screen right now.
Susan, great to see you. Thank you.
LISOVICZ: Likewise.
HARRIS: OK. Live pictures now -- do we have those -- from North Carolina. Vice President Joe Biden is in the small town of Faison today touring a medical clinic. His visit is supposed to show how federal stimulus dollars are helping rural communities. The vice president will also visit firefights in nearby Pikeville. The town will use stimulus money to build a new fire station.
An inside look at the raging G-20 protest. Twitters from the protestors.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Very quickly, we want to show it to you once again. The president and the first lady meeting with Queen Elizabeth II. Let's listen in. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you so much for meeting with us.
QUEEN ELIZABETH: (INAUDIBLE).
PRINCE PHILIP: (INAUDIBLE).
B. OBAMA: (INAUDIBLE), it's so nice to see you. Thank you so much for (INAUDIBLE).
QUEEN ELIZABETH: (INAUDIBLE) in London last night.
MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY: (INAUDIBLE).
QUEEN ELIZABETH: I know. But (INAUDIBLE) time left.
M. OBAMA: MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY: (INAUDIBLE) but he's been busy in meetings. So I've been a little less busy. (INAUDIBLE).
QUEEN ELIZABETH: (INAUDIBLE) well, you'll have to get breakfast (ph) and (INAUDIBLE).
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've had breakfast with the prime minister. I've had meetings with the Chinese, the Russians, David (INAUDIBLE) and (INAUDIBLE).
PRINCE PHILIP (ph): (INAUDIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: There you go. Good, we got out of it before the duke did the whole, oh turn around for the cameras. Turn around.
The president and the first lady meeting with Queen Elizabeth II just moments ago. Elsewhere in London, boy, protestors really paralyzing parts of the city today. Thousands of people converging on the city's financial district, as well as the U.S. embassy. They're determined to make their voices heard a day before the G-20 summit, and we get that, when the world's economic leaders meet to hammer out ways to fix the global recession. The roughest demonstrations taking place near the Bank of England, Britain's central bank. We've seen skirmishes between police and protestors.
Let's turn to weather now. Fargo, North Dakota. A blizzard dumped about 10 inches of snow on the city yesterday. But after a week of sandbagging, shoveling is no problem to be sure. As for the river, things are starting to improve. It has now fallen below the height of those makeshift levees and it is still dropping. Many shops and businesses are open today for the first time in a week.
And Chad Myers, that is a bit of a relief. And is it true here that the melting snow may not be a significant problem for the river?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right now. HARRIS: Right now.
MYERS: Right now. If we pile up more snow, like we just did, and then all of a sudden all in one fell swoop it gets to 65 degrees, like it did two weeks ago that caused all of this in the first place, we could be back there again two, three, four weeks for now. But in the next 10 days, we don't have that warm-up at all in the forecast.
And the snow still came down yesterday from Minnesota, all the way into the North Dakota as well. I've got a cute i-Report. I've got to show it to you. It's from Evan Amundson from Fargo. He's bored. Let's see if you can tell.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EVAN AMUNDSON, I-REPORTER: Just want it tell all of the kids out there, you do not want to be stuck at home for this amount of time, which is like two weeks. It gets really, really boring because all the roads are closed and nothing's open.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MYERS: Yes, we used to get a couple snow days in Buffalo, we'd be bored because you couldn't do anything. Could you imagine, he's been off 16 days.
HARRIS: Oh, my goodness.
MYERS: The only good news is, his birthday is on Friday. So happy 11th birthday, Evan.
HARRIS: There you go.
MYERS: Rain showers into Florida. This is the story for today, Tony. There will be severe weather. There may be tornadoes in north Florida today. We'll be here watching them all night long.
HARRIS: Appreciate it, Chad. Good to see you, sir. Thank you.
MYERS: You bet.
HARRIS: Those protest organizers getting a lot of help from the worldwide web. CNN's international i-Report correspondent Errol Barnett is with us and he's been tracking all the action on the net.
What are you seeing there, Errol?
ERROL BARNETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Tony.
Well, all day we've been seeing the protestors tell us what they're up to on the scene and share information as well. When one of the major banks in London had its windows smashed in, it was reported here on Twitter first. We saw individuals and reporting locations where they were headed as well. Here you can see reporting on what other networks are saying, BBC clash here, people trying to move around the different areas. Let me show you another page. Under hashtagg20 (ph) rally, if I can pull that one up, I'm linking even to CNN video. But we're hearing from people about the locations they're moving. There's two protests. One is around the financial center. It's almost like London's version of Wall Street. Another is at Trafalgar Square, a major tourist location as well.
This group, g20.org, posted a group on FaceBook. People commenting. A lot of -- there's discussion here on why these protestors are so upset with bankers. And you have to keep in mind, in England, as in the United States, unemployment is up and there's public outrage at bank executives getting funds and bonuses as well.
And they're using this to coordinate the events. I-Reports are coming in to us from London. This individual sent us these images from early this morning. We're receiving more. People that aren't even part of this protest but simply seeing all of the activity around. So they've been using this to coordinate their protest events. Police keeping an eye on this so they can keep everyone else safe and cordon off certain areas.
Tony.
HARRIS: Yes. We had an interesting conversation from someone who works in that financial district talking about how difficult it was. Not so much getting to work, but it could be tricky getting out of the job because of the protests that are still taking some kind of shape there. So you'll be watching it for us.
Errol, appreciate it. Thank you, sir.
BARNETT: Sure.
HARRIS: A former senator convicted of corruption, but the case against him is going away. We asked for your views on the decision from the Justice Department and, boy, did you respond.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: The Obama Justice Department is dropping its case against former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens. The decision by Attorney General Eric Holder could mean Stevens' conviction will be voided. A jury convicted the Republican of corruption last fall, but there have been persistent claims of prosecutorial misconduct. Stevens' age, 85, and his election defeat were also factors. We asked what you think about it and Josh is here with more of your e-mail responses.
What are you getting, Josh?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Tony, I'll tell you, you know, we've been seeing a lot of people very upset by this, right?
HARRIS: Yes.
LEVS: And we're going to emphasize, these are initial reactions. There are some legal complexities we still need to learn about. But I'm finding a couple people weighed in on the other side now.
Let's zoom in. I'm going to start off with what the vast majority of people are saying to us, starting with John Coombes who lives up in Anchorage. "There has been a culture of corruption here in Alaska for many years. To vacate the conviction of Ted Stevens is further evidence that the state of justice in this country," Tony, "has experienced major degradation."
Here's John and Judy Edwards. "My wife and I are outraged." A lot of people using that term. "We voted for Mr. Obama and declare here that if he is not careful, he will lose his base over such highly questionable actions."
Here's another. "I am outraged that Holder is dropping this case. This Democratic administration needs to grow a spine." From David in Fort Wayne.
Let's check out the other side here. Here's a couple. "Senator Stevens is not guilty. Prosecutorial misconduct means he was unfairly tried."
And, Tony, I'll read you one more here. This one says, "if people will simply review the facts, they will understand the gross misconduct used by our government to destroy this senator. It would seem appropriate to file charges against those prosecutors that knowingly twisted facts and withheld information." That's from Dan.
Obviously a lot of strong feelings here. You can keep them coming, cnnnewsroom@cnn.com. The debate continues to rage on after the show at my FaceBook page, joshlevscnn.
And, Tony, you know, we are seeing overwhelming majority of people outraged. But as you can see there, some people saying, hey, the bigger concern is the legal system operates.
HARRIS: Yes. And, also, you were keeping an eye on this whole -- what's the name of this virus again? This web -- a computer . . .
LEVS: Yes. (INAUDIBLE) over here, conficker-c worm.
HARRIS: Yes.
LEVS: A lot of people concerned about what's going on with that. Is your computer safe? Is it not safe? I'm going to have details for you on that and what to do to stay safe coming up in 20 minutes.
HARRIS: You are a busy man. Josh, appreciate it. Thank you.
LEVS: Thanks, Tony.
HARRIS: Time for us to go. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Kyra Phillips in Washington, D.C.
Take it away, Kyra.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Tony. We're pushing forward on the protests, the politic and the protocol of the G-20 summit. Amid the rage on the streets of London's business district, President Obama gets down to business. This hour he's at Buckingham Palace.
Hello, everyone, I'm Kyra Phillips, live at the CNN world headquarters here in Washington, D.C. And you're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
