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President Obama Prepares Economic Address; Michelin to Cut 1,000 Jobs by Closing Alabama Tire Plant; Grassroots Anti-Spending Groups Gain Steam; Bank Sector Might Be Showing Life; Obama Administration Loosens Some Restrictions on Cuba; Pew Study Shows Three-Fourths of Illegal Immigrants Are Hispanic

Aired April 14, 2009 - 10:00   ET

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

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: So, let's look at some of those top stories now that we're following this hour. President Barack Obama preparing to give what the White House calls a major speech on the economy. The president is expected to talk about the need for more patience and the possibility of worsening unemployment. We're also being told there will not be any policy announcements. But you can of course catch that speech live right here on CNN, just over an hour from now. We are awaiting the reunion of rescued cargo ship captain, Richard Phillips, and his crew. They are waiting for him in Kenya.

Meanwhile, pirates are back on the prowl off the northern coast of Somalia. They hijacked two large freighters just this morning.

The federal government says marijuana is a main cash crop for Mexico's drug cartels. Sales of the drug in the U.S. generates $8.5 billion. And that's more than double what the drug lords make from cocaine. An estimated 15 million Americans use marijuana every month.

This morning, in Washington, President Barack Obama focuses on your money. The White House says he'll deliver a major speech on the economy next hour. And the tone is expected to be cautionary. We have team coverage of the president's speech, CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is at the White House now with details on the speech. And Emory University business professor, Jeffrey Rosenzweig is here to help us break it all down. We begin this morning with our Suzanne Malveaux. So what do we know so far about this speech, Suzanne?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, you know the White House is calling it a major economic speech. But I've been talking with aides, and they say, don't expect a lot of specifics. Don't expect him to roll out any kind of new policy initiatives. This is really an opportunity for the president to check in with the American people and say, here's where I think this economic stimulus package is working. The $787 billion. We heard the president yesterday talk about some 2,000 construction projects that they are really under budget as well as ahead of schedule, which is good news.

But we also expect that he's going to talk about the fact that they're still thousands of people that are out of work. People who are losing their homes. He's going do ask for patience from the American people. But this is really what the White House aides say is an opportunity for him to give kind of a progress report on where we are with this. I think, Heidi, what's important about this is really the timing. Last week we saw President Obama in Europe, meeting with European leaders. He's going to talk about how they made some commitments to help out with the global economy. We're also going to see the president just in a few days or so, be in Mexico and meeting with Latin American leaders. He wants the American people to know he is still focused on this. That this is important, he gets it, he understands that people are looking for some results. So that is why he's laying this out today, Heidi?

COLLINS: All right. Very good, Suzanne Malveaux, we of course, we'll be watching that speech, appreciate it, from the White House today.

We've seen President Obama move the stock markets with his words. So there may be some high stakes in what he had to say today. Here to talk a little bit more about his message and his mission, Jeff Rosensweig. He is an associate professor of international business and finance at Emory University School of Business. That's quite a title.

So let's talk about this for a minute. We did hear President Obama saying just last week that we're starting to see some glimmers of hope across the country regarding the economy. You agree with that?

PROF. JEFFREY ROSENSWEIG, GOIZUETA BUSINESS SCHOOL, EMORY UNIVERSITY: And interesting, Ben Bernanke backed that up today at the Federal Reserve. I think maybe they got a little bit ahead of themselves. It was a charm offensive about five weeks ago, when they all came out to say things are going to get better. And they talked the stock market up fairly dramatically.

But from my feel, the real economy, real people out there looking for a job, they're still hurting. And I think what he's going to do today is maybe dampen out these goosey (ph) expectations a little bit. They wanted to get people out of the depression they were in. That succeed. But you know, if your expectations are too high, and then they're crushed, that can be very bad. So I think today he's going to try to moderate things.

COLLINS: Absolutely. Because there's probably not redundant. It continually reminds people when you have the financial side of things and then you have the economy. We're talking specifically about unemployment. I mean, this is, this is something that we even heard from Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary today, saying yes, it's going to be awhile now. To remind you about the unemployment situation.

ROSENSWEIG: Yes, it's very tough. And also later this week, there's going to be data coming out on industrial production, and manufacturing is still going down. There's going to be data on housing. They've been trying to read the tea leaves and say housing has bottomed and may be coming up. I'm not sure about that. They were pushing some kind of good news a little too hard. It wasn't that good. Today there was very bad news coming out about retail sales, which is why the stock market is down. You know, people are worried about losing their job, or only working part-time when they want a full-time job. They're not buying, manufacturing is not selling. I think it's the president's job, having kind of said there's nothing to fear but fear itself and getting people feeling better. Not now, making people all jumped up. And then all of a sudden, these terrible numbers start coming out. And people are like, is he just Pollyanna out here.

COLLINS: Yes. What about the credit markets, I mean, are we starting to see them thaw at all?

ROSENSWEIG: They are thawing. When we had the freeze, and you and I talked about it earlier, banks were not even lending to each other. They didn't trust each other. The interest rate now that banks lend to each other has come down dramatically.

COLLINS: Right.

ROSENSWEIG: And if folks lend to each other, they'll get money when they need some. Let's say they have some big borrowers who need some money, that is the first sign of thawing. It is true that the Federal Reserve has done a good job of throwing enough money into the banking system to get it to thaw. And that's why we see bank profits going up, for instance.

COLLINS: Sure.

ROSENSWEIG: There's some action again by the banks.

COLLINS: What it means for later, though, is a completely different story?

ROSENSWEIG: That's right.

COLLINS: All right. Jeffrey Rosensweig, we always appreciate your insight, from Emory University today. Thank you.

ROSENSWEIG: Always a pleasure, Heidi.

COLLINS: We will have live coverage of the president's speech later this morning. It's scheduled once again for 11:30 Eastern, 8:30 Pacific.

Also, today, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke faces questions from young Americans. He's appearing at Morehouse College in Atlanta after delivering remarks, Bernanke turns the floor over to students and answers their questions.

We're just talking about this, new measures of the economy out this morning. And the surprises show just how volatile things really are. Wholesale prices dropped unexpectedly last month, according to the government's producer price index. The drop, 1.2 percent. Analysts expect the number to hold steady there.

At the retail level, sales declined 1.1 percent. Again, analysts were surprised with that. They had expected a smaller increase.

And quickly want to check out the big board for you now. The Dow Jones industrial average is down about 87 points there. We are just about 35 minutes into the trading day. Resting right below that 8,000 mark. We'll watch those numbers, of course, all day long for you here.

It is the day before the federal tax deadline. Yippee, right? Do you know how your money is being spent, though? A watchdog group says billions of dollars are being wasted. And minutes ago, they released a report to prove it the group says Congress stuffs more than 10,000 pork projects into the 2009 budget. The total? Some $19.6 billion. That is a 14 percent increase over the year before.

Alaska led the nation in pork per capita, at $322 per person. At the bottom of the list was Arizona, with less than $12 per person.

Here's a closer look now at the watchdog group behind the so- called pig book. Citizens Against Government Waste is a private, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization. It boasts more than one million members and supporters nationwide. It was founded in 1984 by the late industrialist J. Peter Grace and syndicated columnist, Jack Anderson. The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of the group. Its goal, eliminate government waste and inefficiency.

Trees down and power outages all left behind over parts of Georgia after severe storms blew through yesterday. Rob Marciano here now with the very latest. Some huge trees down all over the place.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Huge trees, big winds. The problem with that is a lot of rain and a lot of big wind behind thunderstorms. So an interesting weather scenario. And obviously people picking up the pieces. Now everything is moving down to the south as far as the strong thunderstorms go. And a tornado spotted earlier this morning across parts of central Florida. We'll run down where that severe weather threat is going next when the CNN NEWSROOM comes right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICIA HARKNESS, STORM SURVIVOR: I thank God that it came down when we weren't home. But if it would have come done another way, my kids would have been upstairs. I would have been in the back there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: It's like that all over the Atlanta area. Fierce winds hit about this time yesterday, bringing down hundreds of trees. They fell on homes across roadways and on power lines. Rob Marciano, one of our writers, was in the middle of all of that. And said it was terrifying. We were kind of all here. I lost one in my back yard, too. But look at this now, a video that we have. MARCIANO: Yes, your back yard, east of town, out of Dekalb County, which is east of Atlanta, very populated obviously. And a lot of old trees in that part of town, big ones, oak trees, pine trees, you name it, saturated soil, the winds 60-plus miles an hour, that's enough to take it down and the power lines, as we mentioned, over 200,000 at one point without power. That was just from winds behind the main thunderstorm line.

This is from winds down across south Georgia and Fitzgerald, with the main thunderstorm line that did have some embedded tornadoes. Six reports of tornadoes near the Florida panhandle, including parts of south Georgia yesterday. This is some of the damage that that particular line did. That has sunk down to the south. Here it is on the radar scope into south Florida now and moving through the Orlando area where we're starting to get some reports of some damage.

We did have a tornado watch or warning in effect for this area, especially through Lake County and Orange County. But now that has been downgraded to a, just a thunderstorm warning. And we've got maximum hail size of about half an inch there. But the people in the path of the storm, 59,000, near the Orlando Airport in about five minutes. So this is all moving very rapidly off towards the east, at about 40 miles an hour. The entire complex, the thunderstorm watch or the tornado watch, which is this orange box, that's in effect officially until 2:00.

I think they'll probably shorten that timeframe, because it is moving quite rapidly. And again, we did get one report of a tornado in Pasco County, that is just north of and east of Tampa, that cell was moving towards the west Orlando area. And it has been very, very rough there in the past couple of hours.

All right. So that's what's happening there. As far as what we've been looking at with these thunderstorms, this is a composite of certain things. This is reflectivity that shows the rainfall. This velocities, which shows the wind. Any time we see different colors, which we're not seeing right now, that would indicate rotation in a tornado. This, I believe is ecobill (ph), which indicates intense hail potentially just south of Orlando. And these are echo tops, which indicates how high those thunderstorms are. And again, south of Orlando down towards Kissimmee, is where we're seeing most of that action there.

All right. This is a live shot out of west Orlando, and it looks like traffic is moving a little bit better. Just a few minutes ago this camera angle was really getting pegged with some heavy rains and some gusty winds. So it looks like, Heidi, that the worst of the line has moved through the Orlando area. Now moving towards the coastline. We'll just wait to see what we'll get as far as tornado or at least damage reports going in.

Even if there wasn't a tornado that went through Orlando, just a straight-line wind, like what you saw in Atlanta yesterday, is enough to do some serious damage. So hopefully they'll go unscathed. But they've been getting hit pretty hard.

COLLINS: Yes, very powerful. All right. Rob, thank you. We'll check back later on.

MARCIANO: You got it.

COLLINS: Michelin announced they'll shut down one of their tire plants in eastern Alabama by the end of October. That will cost about 1,000 people their jobs. The plant makes Goodrich tires. The company said a drop in demand is causing the closure. Instead, the work will be shifted to two other plants.

General Motors struggling to stay alive and facing new reports that bankruptcy may be inevitable. What will that mean to your community, to the car dealerships and to the hundreds who work there? CNN's Brian Todd takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As slow as Molasses Chevy show room in Atlanta, Maryland. It's almost a given that the $82,000 Corvettes aren't moving, despite the attractive features.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seven-speed manual transmission.

TODD: But the $18,000 Cobalts, traditionally one of the most popular models, aren't selling, either. Only two or three a month these days at Darcars Chevrolet. Tammy Darvish, who owns this dealership and several others, says reports that GM is working out a bankruptcy plan with the government, has prospective customers nervous.

TAMMY DARVISH, OWNER, DARCARS CHEVROLET: I think it's like buying a house, knowing that the builder, the financier and everybody else is going to be gone tomorrow.

TODD: "The New York Times" reports the Obama administration is directing GM to prepare for a bankruptcy filing by June 1st, possibly a so-called surgical bankruptcy. That would split the company between its so-called good brands, like Chevy and Cadillac, and its unhealthy divisions, like Saturn and Hummer.

The good GM would enter an exit bankruptcy in a matter of weeks. Sold quickly to new company backed by the government. The bad GM would be left behind in bankruptcy court, possibly for eventual liquidation. Contacted by CNN, a treasury official wouldn't comment on the "Times" report. Saying speculation on the end result is premature.

TODD (on camera): But in recent days, a GM spokesman said if the company is forced into bankruptcy, it will look at the idea of selling healthy assets to a new company. But he said GM is still trying to reach deals with creditors and unions that will avoid bankruptcy altogether.

TODD (voice-over): Tammy Darvish is concerned that a bankruptcy deal might allow GM to go around franchise agreements that dealers have with the states and close dealerships en masse. DARVISH: These are people who are on our payrolls in our own communities. These aren't people, you know, that work for the manufacturers. There's absolutely no tie between the businesses that are running the car dealerships and the business that's run in the manufacturer.

TODD: Darvish said that's because the individual dealers purchase the cars themselves, make some of the financing arrangements and operate as independent businesses. She says dealerships are waiting to see what comes of this possible bankruptcy deal. But they might have to fight if GM and the government try to go around the dealer's franchise agreements with the states and eliminate some dealerships. Brian Todd, CNN, Atlanta, Maryland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: How your drinking habits may be affecting your health. A new online quiz to alert you to problems and point you to solutions. Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is joining us in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Heart-healthy fast food, maybe not a contradiction. The "Des Moines Register" reports that an Iowa company will conduct farm test this summer on a genetically-engineered soybean. The soybean makes an oil that has no trans fat. It is supposed to last three to five times longer in commercial fryers than most zero trans fat oils now available. If the soybean gets government approval, farmers could be planting it by next year.

Alcohol is the biggest foe of Americans battling chemical addictions. Now a simple online quiz can help you determine if you have a problem with alcohol. And if so, what to do about it. Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is joining us now to talk more about this.

So the question obviously, I think, would be, how do you know right off the bat whether you or someone you love has a problem with an addiction?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It can be very hard. And there's specific criteria that psychiatrists often have. But they also tend to, a lot of people tend to put things in the categories, either you're an alcoholic or you're not an alcoholic. And what we now know, having research this documentary for months is that maybe not surprising, it's a lot grayer than that. In terms of people who are hard-core alcoholics, or people who have problems drinking. There's no bright line, if you will, between those things.

What's more important and I think more interesting is how quickly you can identify people who are at risk. And that's what this institute, called the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse tried to figure out with a simple screening question. Now this is based on looking at 43,000 people. Take a look at the question here. People will have differing responses to this question. On any day, this is for men, on any day in the past year, have you had more than four standard drinks. And for women, a very similar question, they just made it three standard drinks instead. Again, this may sound pretty simple. This is based on lots of different studies.

And the idea is that if you fall, if you answer yes it that, you fall into a category which puts you at the highest percentile of possibly developing problems with addiction later on. The top fifth or 19 to 20 percentile, in terms of people who might have problems. So you know, it's interesting, that's the key though, is trying to figure out who these people are.

COLLINS: Yes and it looks like by the way they asked those questions, that they just might be trying to sort of detect these types of problems earlier in life. And then, you're supposed to change your behavior? Or what do you do with this?

GUPTA: Yes. I think you're exactly right. Who is going to diagnose someone who is an addict? As you sort of pointed out, as you were talking about this, how do you even know if you're an addict? Whose job is that? And this idea that the primary care physician, the sort of first line of defense might have some say in this, in identifying those people, is sort of the key to this.

Now they even came up with a video using actors to show doctors primarily, we've got a little snippet, take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think I'm an alcoholic?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Based on what you said, you do have signs of alcohol dependence. Your depressed mood, insomnia and fatigue may well be caused by your heavy drinking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: That's a scary acting right there. However...

GUPTA: (INAUDIBLE) actress. But the idea again that you can somehow identify who is going to go from having a problem like this woman, to having a D.U.I., or having a bigger problem drinking later on. That's the goal here.

COLLINS: Yes, no question. Well I know that you've been researching all types of addictive behaviors, if you will. And that's a topic that kind of fascinates me like who are the people who are more at risk maybe than others. But tell me something that you learned that was really surprising to you?

GUPTA: I think that this idea that you try and distinguish addiction as a sort of problem of willpower or disease of the brain. That is a controversial issue and one that I think that we really started to get to the bottom of. But also into that, is it sort of this clear alcoholic or nonalcoholic? And can you be treated successfully life-long for addiction? You know, it used to be thought that if you fall off the wagon, you're done, you're back to being an alcoholic.

COLLINS: Yes. Or you die.

GUPTA: Or you can have some significant problem like that. Is it less complicated than that? Could you be treated for life? Either with medications or therapy? And the answer came back, I think, a positive one. Yes, a lot of hope out there for addicts.

COLLINS: Yes. All right. Well, interesting. We want to know more about the documentary. A mother, a writer, a student, all addicts, could their brains hold the key to their addiction? Dr. Sanjay Gupta follows them on their journey to recovery and relapse. "Addiction" CNN Saturday and Sunday night, 8:00 Eastern. Sanjay, appreciate that. We'll be watching closely.

Trying to steer clear of an IRS audit. Some new Obama administration nominees recently showed how easy it can be to get in trouble over taxes. Our Josh Levs is here now to make sure you don't make some of their mistakes. And he's taking a look at other famous tax flubs. Hey, Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, there. Let me just tell you something, this is a really popular spread that's going on right now at CNNmoney.com. It's actually from "Money" magazine. And what they're saying is that each of these instances that we heard about in the news, brought up an issue that involves our complicated tax code.

So, what can you learn from it? What do you need to know from it? Let's zoom in, I'm going to show you the first one they talked about which is a lot of people will remember, Tom Daschle was in the news. Now they're pointing out the issue here was paying enough taxes on use of a car and driver and a note that he say he got for free. And they say this might happen to you if you get a lot of corporate perks. Well they do then in each of this case is how to avoid it.

In this case, they say, the tax liability on business gifts is a bit of a gray area. If the perk is for personal use, you may owe some taxes on it. Obviously speak with a professional there. All right. Tim Geithner, they talk about the issue here, paying enough social security and Medicare taxes. It could happen to you if you're self- employed.

How to avoid this? Now, one thing I like about this spread on CNNmoney.com is in each case, we have a very complicated tax code, we talk to you about where in the IRS code to look for. This is IRS Publication 334. If you're self-employed, your concern, are you paying enough social security and Medicare taxes. That might get you to the right place.

Nancy Killefer, the performance officer, they say the issue here was about paying unemployment tax on household help. And they say that this could happen to you if you have a housekeeper or a nanny. And same idea right there. They talk to you where through the IRS tax code you can get the information that you need if you have a housekeeper or nanny. Want to make sure you don't make a mistake.

Finally they point to this one, Hilda Solis, the labor secretary, the issue here about her husband, an outstanding liens against business. They say this could happen to you if your spouse doesn't pay enough taxes. Obviously, keep in mind that legally if you're filing jointly, you all have joint responsibility for those. So good things to keep in mind there. Now some of you aren't going to have that problem. But you might have other problems with your taxes. Questions, issues. We've just opened this up.

If you have a message by the IRS, something that you want to know about taxes, go to iReport.com. Send us your videos, your photos, your stories, whatever you want to know, Heidi. We look forward hearing people about that.

COLLINS: Yes. Most of us not running for positions like Treasury Secretary or chief performance officer or anything like that in the administration. But some people probably have questions. And they go and they ask those questions. You also have some information for us on surprising tax laws around the country.

LEVS: Yes. This is interesting. This is actually one of the five most popular stories on dot-com as of yesterday. It's still getting a lot of traffic today. It's called "Bizarre tax laws hit crackheads and pro athletes." I'm just going to show you two examples. People are having a field day with this.

Let's go to this first one. It's the jock tax. This is in California, an income earned while competing or performing in California. And the story on cnn.com comes from Mental Floss, they say that California actually started enforcing this after Chicago trounced Los Angeles back in 1991. And it's still on the books.

One more we're going to show you, a tattoo tax. Check that out. Arkansas has added an additional six percent state tax on getting any kind of tattoo. So all sorts of weird, funky tax laws you might not know about. Check that out right there, Heidi, all at cnn.com.

COLLINS: All right. We'll do it. Josh, thank you.

LEVS: You got it.

COLLINS: Partying on tax day, not a celebration, but a protest. Groups outraged over the government's recession response are rallying. We'll talk to one activist.

And getting from the U.S. to Cuba. For some people it's about to get a bit easier. We'll look at the president's new policy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins.

COLLINS: Conservative groups are taking a page from the history books to protest the government's handling of the economic crisis. CNN's Brianna Keilar explains. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a modern day Boston tea party, a scene that's played out in recent weeks from Los Angeles to Oklahoma City to Jacksonville, Florida. Protests against taxes, the bailout, the $787 billion stimulus, and President Obama's budget.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're spending money that we don't have on social programs that we don't need to fix problems that you have caused.

KEILAR: A coalition of conservative groups have recruited protest organizers online. And on Wednesday, tax day, hundreds of U.S. cities will host the small protests, according to various estimates by organizers. They're also encouraging Americans to send tea bags to their members of Congress. And a U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman tells CNN "employees have noticed some spillage of tea" as they sort mail headed for Capitol Hill.

(on camera): The Democratic response here on Capitol Hill, they are minimizing the reach of these protests, questioning whether this is really a grassroots movement and emphasizing President Obama's tax cuts for most Americans.

Brianna Keilar, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Joining us now from Chicago to talk more about the Tax Day Tea Parties is Eric Odom. He's the director of the Don't Go Movement and administrator of taxdayteaparty.com.

Well, Eric, thanks for being with us today. There's this interest about tomorrow, though. We've seen other protests. February 27 I think was the day where there were quite a few people out. I'm assuming that you have more planned. What's the point here? What are you trying to get across?

ERIC ODOM, WEB STRATEGIST AND ONLINE ACTIVIST: Well, it's a public statement of dissatisfaction, really, with spending, out-of- control spending. And it's not specific to this administration or this Congress. It goes back to previous Congress and administrations.

Government is just completely out of control with spending right now. And obviously that affects taxes because we are, we Americans in a poor economy are having to pay for that. And folks are upset. And they're ready to get out in the streets and make sure that government is aware of it.

COLLINS: How many people are we talking about here?

ODOM: We have confirmed 760-plus. It's give or take a few. But we're intimately involved with 760 organizers in 760 cities across all 50 states. It's hard to estimate the numbers. We know there will be ten-plus cities with probably around 5,000 to 10,000. Outside of that, the sky's the limit. It will easily get into six figures. But we can't get more specific than that. I wish we could, but we just can't.

COLLINS: Yes. So, what is this about, then? It's not only about just paying taxes, is it? It's about something bigger.

ODOM: Absolutely. We all understand that there's a need to pay some sort of taxes. But right now, it's just completely out of control. If you look -- in your segment earlier, about how there are 10,000-plus pork projects. Well, we don't think that the government is in a position or is being responsible in spending the money.

So, we're saying, let us spend it ourselves. We will, we the people will inject this money into the economy. We will make the right decision with our own money. The government has not proven itself to be able to make the right decision. And that's our message tomorrow for Tax Day Tea Party is that we're tired of it. And we want to be able to make decisions with our own money, and we think we can be more responsible with it.

COLLINS: You know, usually when you see a protest like this, the hope is that there will be some sort of discussion that is started with those who can make change. And at this point, the way that you guys are talking about this, it would be the government. Have you been able to generate any sort of discussion? Have you had any, you know, talked with Washington?

ODOM: We have not. In fact, I think there are less than 10 congressmen who have really directly addressed this. Both parties, or actually more -- there's more than two parties, obviously. But none of the parties really have reached out to us, with the exception of one, asking for a speaking spot.

So, there really is no dialogue there. This is completely independent of Washington, which makes it such a beautiful thing and totally grassroots. It's folks out here that are ready to act at the local and federal levels. And I think post-April 15th, we're going to see a completely new movement with new leaders, new coalitions, new networks. And we're going to see a lot of action and activity post- April 15th.

COLLINS: Specifically what? What's the first step you're going to take?

ODOM: Well, I think we want to leave that up to the local organizers. That's the beauty of this bottom-up mechanism, where, you know, we have new people in Utah, new people in Wisconsin, new people all over the country who stepped up to the plate in a leadership role.

And they are interested and willing and ready to go and start new coalitions that will show up at the legislature and lobby. That will have weekly meetings and talk about policy and different ways they can get involved in school board races and city council races and really all levels of government.

So, we think this is really going to happen from the bottom up, where the local organizers, based on the political landscape of their states, can decide on how best to cause political change across the country.

COLLINS: All right. Well, Eric Odom, we sure do appreciate your time today. Once again, he's the director of the...

ODOM: Thank you.

COLLINS: ... Don't Go Movement and administrator of taxdayteaparty.com. We'll be watching closely. Thank you, Eric.

ODOM: Thank you.

COLLINS: New tax credits you need to know about. What the president's recovery package for filers. Our Gerri Willis with last- minute tax tips that can save you money. "Your Taxes: the Real Deal" coming up next hour.

It's the issue that's consumed his presidency. And today, President Barack Obama is getting ready to make a speech on the economy. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs calls it an update on the steps toward recovery and the challenges ahead. Last week the president spoke about, quote, "glimmers of hope" in the economy. But the White House is cautioning against too much optimism. Yesterday, Gibbs warned of more months of unemployment.

President Barack Obama appears to enjoy public support of economic plans, according to our CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll. 58 percent of Americans believe the president has a clear plan for solving the nation's economic problems. Forty-two percent say he does not. And now compare that to the Republicans. One in four believe the GOP has a clear plan. Three in four believe the Republicans do not.

Again, the president is scheduled to speak from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. at 11:30 Eastern, 8:30 Pacific. And we will bring that to you live.

Some new signs of life in the troubled banking sector. Last week, Wells Fargo said it expects to earn $3 billion in the first quarter. And now, Goldman Sachs is coming through with big profits as well. Susan Lisovicz on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange now with details on this. Hey there, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Heidi. And Goldman's results reinforce the hope that signs of life in the banking industry do exist. Goldman made a lot of money in the first quarter, $1.8 billion. You remember, this is coming off the worst quarterly loss since the company went public in '99.

What's also very encouraging is that Goldman is raising additional capital, $5 billion in additional shares, new shares that it wants to use to pay the government's $10 billion in TARP. So, it's three positive things here, all coming out with these earnings. And of course, the biggest of all is that Goldman made a lot of money -- Heidi. COLLINS: Yes. Have any other banks repaid the government, though?

LISOVICZ: No. Goldman would be the first. It has been saying for months it wanted to repay the money quickly. And now it is in the process of doing so, Heidi. And one of the reasons why is that Goldman wants to get out from underneath the government's thumb. It's as simple as that.

You know, it has a certain amount of transparency, obviously, in being a public company. But with the government, there's all sorts of other restrictions. And of course, chief among them are restrictions on wages. Goldman and many other financial companies want the freedom to pay its workers what it believes the market values them at. And that's one of the things it cannot do while it's a recipient of TARP funds.

COLLINS: Yes, so, all of this sounds pretty good. Stocks are down, though. What's the deal?

LISOVICZ: Stocks are down. And Goldman shares are down 5 percent, to about the price where this offering, this stock price offering put the shares. But Goldman has surged 70 percent over the past month. And you know, Ben Bernanke -- along with the president speaking on the economy today, Ben Bernanke saying this morning that there are tentative signs of life in the economy.

COLLINS: Right.

LISOVICZ: Well, it's not a smooth road, not in a recession like this, Heidi. And the latest example of that is retail sales. Consumer spending fell more than 1 percent in March. It's a big drop, much worse than the estimate. And it just goes to show you, yes, there's signs of life. But it's not like we're out of the woods yet. I think that's a clear example of that. Consumer spending, critical to the economic recovery.

COLLINS: Yes. No question. All right, Susan, appreciate that.

We've got to get over to the severe weather center now. Want to get some breaking news out to everybody. Rob Marciano standing by now with another tornado warning in Florida, Rob?

MARCIANO: Yes, this one just to the east of Orlando now. In, still in Orange County, the southern part, just east of Lake Mary (ph). Here's the marker right there, a pretty decent amount of rotation in the radar, indicated by the radar. Not necessarily touching the ground yet. But certainly capable of doing that.

In the path of this storm, about 17,000 people. It does get fairly rural before it gets towards the Titusville and Cape Canaveral area, which it will do probably in the next 20 or so minutes. This is in effect until 11:00 a.m., and we'll see if they reissue that for points to the east. The entire tornado watch is in effect until 2:00 p.m.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: Getting from the U.S. to Cuba. For some people it's about to get a bit easier. We'll look at the president's new policy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: For many Cuban Americans, keeping in touch with loved ones in Cuba has been difficult at best. President Obama is about to change that. But not everyone supports this move. Here now, our senior White House correspondent, Ed Henry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The president is keeping a campaign promise made last May in Miami, the most sweeping U.S. opening to communist Cuba in decades.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's time to let Cuban Americans see their mothers and their fathers, their sisters and their brothers. It's time to let Cuban American money make their families less dependent on the Castro regime.

HENRY: Mr. Obama is lifting Bush administration restrictions that limited Cuban travel by Americans to just two weeks every three years. The 1.5 million Americans with relatives in Cuba can now enjoy unlimited travel and money transfers. The president is also expanding the list of objects that can be included in gift parcels to Cuba: clothes, personal hygiene items, seeds and fishing gear. All aimed at weakening the Castro brothers' grip on the Cuban people.

ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: All who embrace core democratic values long for a Cuba that respects the basic human, political and economic rights of all of its citizens. President Obama believes the measure he has taken today will help make that goal a reality.

HENRY: But Republican lawmakers Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Mario Diaz-Balart, Cuban American brothers from Florida, issued a joint statement calling the move a serious mistake that will give the dictatorship financial support.

Quote, "unilateral concessions to the dictatorship embolden it to further isolate, imprison and brutalize pro-democracy activists," they charged. The president did stop short of overturning the U.S. trade embargo with Cuba.

OBAMA: It provides us with the leverage to present the regime with a clear choice: If you take significant steps towards democracy, beginning with the freeing of all political prisoners, we will take steps to begin normalizing relations.

HENRY (on camera): The change is coming now because the president is headed to Trinidad later this week for the Summit of the Americas, and he wants to show the world there's going to be a dramatic shift in U.S. policy towards Cuba.

Ed Henry, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Tom Omestad, a senior writer with "U.S. News & World Report" is recently back from Cuba. He is joining us now today from Washington. So, Tom, this is certainly change. But it is limited. Why the change now?

TOM OMESTAD, "U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT": Well, the precise timing of the change, as Ed Henry has discussed, is to get something out, serious policy change on Cuba, before the president goes down to Trinidad for the annual Summit of the Americas.

COLLINS: Sure.

OMESTAD: But he's also fulfilling a campaign promise, and this is perhaps the first indication of an overall policy change on Cuba. It is a very modest change in some respects. It's essentially rolling back a series of restrictions on Cuban-American travel...

COLLINS: Right.

OMESTAD: ... and remittances. And in what is a departure, opens up a new area of a possible relationship with Cuba in the telecommunications area.

COLLINS: Yes, and this is really interesting. Tell us a little bit about how that's going to look? Telecommunications firms are going to be allowed to come in and essentially do business in Cuba.

OMESTAD: Well, that's true. That's from the U.S. standpoint. Now, we haven't received the reaction at least on that from the Cuban side yet. It's not going to go very far if the Cuban government doesn't cooperate with it. And...

COLLINS: Yes, I mean, they could just flat-out say, no way.

OMESTAD: That's correct. I mean, it's, you know, it's their sovereign island, and it will be up to the Cuban government to determine what are the rules of engagement, if any, with the U.S. telecommunications firms. I mean, the Obama administration now says that it'd like to open up cell phones, television, radio et cetera. Throw open communication, get more information going down to the island. But of course, the Cuban government has a few things to say about that as well.

COLLINS: Yes, because obviously that would allow them more information, and information is power. It's a connection to the outside world, if you will. And it may be possible that they won't say yes. I do wonder how this all came about by way of any concessions that Cuba made.

OMESTAD: Cuba hasn't made any concessions at this point. In fact, this really points to one of the major problems, major issues related to U.S.-Cuba policy. And that is, how do you sequence this? Do you make -- do you apply preconditions in order to develop a full political dialogue that might lead to a normalization of relations? That's been a sticking point all along. And, you know, the Cuban officials I spoke with down in Havana made it very clear, no preconditions. The first moves have to come from Washington. And then, if it's a serious gesture, in their view, then we can proceed gesture for gesture.

COLLINS: All right, so, how does this actually bring about democracy? Because, in effect, that's what the hope would be, ultimately.

OMESTAD: Well, I don't think the ultimate objective of the policy appears to be to foster democracy, to foster more openness and eventually freedom on the island of Cuba. I think the near-term objective of the policy seems to be get more information into Cuba, and as officials said very clearly yesterday, open up space, space for civil society, between the regime and the Cuban people. My suspicion is that the Cuban government will not favor that part of the new policy very much and may have a rather negative reaction to it.

COLLINS: All right. So, what do you see happening over the next year or so between U.S. and Cuba relations, particularly with regard to ailing Fidel Castro? I mean, how much of this is really about that potential opportunity?

OMESTAD: Well, you know, to be honest with you, I don't know that the eventual passing of Fidel Castro, whenever that happens, will have that big of an impact. I think one of the most important things that I came through in my reporting down in Havana is that, in essence, the transition to Raul Castro, Fidel's brother, has already taken place. It's been rather smooth.

And if anything, he's put his own stamp on the government. He's actually fired some senior officials who've run afoul of the Castros' order. And I think he's firmly in charge. I think the transition is essentially over.

COLLINS: Yes. All right. So, we'll be watching what sort of a difference this policy change seems to make. Certainly, we appreciate your extensive reporting, certainly. Tom Omestad, senior writer with "U.S. News & World Report." Thanks again, Tom.

OMESTAD: Thank you.

COLLINS: Severe weather still affecting parts of the South. Rob Marciano watching it all from the severe weather center.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Quickly want get over to Rob Marciano with an update now on what's happening in Florida. Hey, Rob.

MARCIANO: Hey, Heidi. Still have that tornado warning across eastern parts of Orange County. Here it is. You see the marker, the twisting action there, indicating a pretty good rotation. Nothing spotted on the ground, but certainly doesn't look like it's weakening as it heads over towards Cape Canaveral and over towards Titusville.

All right, let's advance this. By the way, people in the path of the storm, about 64,000 people. All right, let's roll this a little bit farther wide and talk about the tornado watch, which is in effect until 2:00 this afternoon. A lot of rough weather within this.

We'll go north of the tornado watch now and show you something that happened in the Atlanta area yesterday. A lot of windy conditions in through Jacksonville. Kind of a little meso-area, or miniature area of low pressure developing across the Florida panhandle like it did over north Georgia yesterday. Really strong winds coming up from the south. We've had wind gusts over 60 miles an hour in some spots.

So, that has done some damage. And as a matter of fact, we've seen some power outages because of it. This is an indication of power outages right now. Up to about 29,000 people without power. This is and around the Jacksonville area. So, certainly a lot to be dealing with there. As far as when this system's going to get out of here, probably not for another several hours, Heidi. It's moving fairly slowly, and this front still has to clear the entire East Coast before we calm down this atmosphere. Right now, the most active part of it is across north and central Florida. Back over to you.

COLLINS: Wow. All right. Busy, busy place over there in the weather center. Thank you, Rob.

MARCIANO: All right. You got it.

COLLINS: They live here, they work here, but they don't have permission to be here. New numbers are showing us just where the flow of illegal immigrants is coming from.

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COLLINS: More than three-quarters of all the illegal immigrants in America are Hispanic. A new study by the Pew Hispanic Center says nearly 12 million illegals were living here last year. Of those, 76 percent are Hispanic, and 59 percent came from Mexico.

Most of the others came from Asia and the Middle East. The study says illegal immigration more than tripled from 1990 to 2006. But it has leveled off since then. Fewer job seekers are coming here because of the economic downturn.

And the debates continue -- whether or not to legalize those illegal workers who do stay. Right now, the Obama administration is considering the issue. But with the economy being what it is, some people wonder if now is the right time to integrate them into the workforce. CNN's Thelma Gutierrez takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's going to be a tough fight, especially now that the nation's unemployment rate has hit 8.5 percent. People on both sides of the immigration issue are digging their heels in on this one.

OBAMA: We have to add comprehensive immigration reform. People who have been here for a long time and put down roots here have to have some mechanism over time, to get out of the shadows.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): The president is talking about making it possible for an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants to eventually gain legal status. People like Pedro Pablo (ph) from Guatemala, who usually waits hours on a Los Angeles street corner, hoping for work. Those who favor restrictions, even for legal immigration, say now is not the time to worry about Pablo with so many Americans out of work.

ROY BECK, NUMBERSUSA: The Obama administration is deciding to let six million illegal aliens hold jobs that seven million less- educated Americans are trying to get.

GUTIERREZ: For Roy Beck, from NumbersUSA, a group that wants to lower immigration levels, it's about protecting American workers.

BECK: Every time you eliminate an illegal alien from a job, an unemployed American gets work.

RAUL HINOJOSA, PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC POLICY, UCLA: It's an absolutely false statement, and it's meant to basically pit worker against worker. And that's the problem of trying to scapegoat the undocumented.

GUTIERREZ: Raul Hinojosa, professor of public policy at UCLA, says legalization could actually stimulate the economy. His research shows during the recession, back in the '80s, amnesty to undocumented workers helped kick-start the economy.

HINOJOSA: And what we saw is that the wages of the recently legalized immigrants rose, and the wages of U.S. workers grew even faster. And that's because taking people out of the shadows actually encourages them to increase their productivity, their education levels, pay into consumption funds, into the economy and pay more taxes.

GUTIERREZ: But opponents say a path to legalization for people like Pablo means more Americans will have to compete against him for the few jobs that are out there. But Pablo says he doubts any American would want to be a day laborer, especially in this economy. It's so slow right now, he's going home.

(on camera): Cecilia Munoz (ph), deputy assistant to the president, says President Obama intends to start the debate this year. But for right now, it's all talk.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: That's Thelma Gutierrez reporting for us. I'm Heidi Collins. President Obama speaking on the economy next hour at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

CNN NEWSROOM continues with Tony Harris right now.