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"Real People" Weigh in on Obama's First 100 Days; Regulators Press Citigroup, Bank of America for More Capital; Some Progress on Obama's Energy Goals; Despite Swine Flu Fear, Mexico City Subways Still Packed

Aired April 28, 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: Also, some of the stories we are watching right now.

A London jury acquits three suspected bombing co-conspirators. The men were accused of helping carry out a deadly July 7th attack in 2005. Fifty-two people died in the bombings. Two of the suspects were convicted of attending a terror training camp.

Pope Benedict XVI is visiting victims of Italy's deadly earthquake today. The pope offered words of hope while visiting a tent camp. And visited a damaged church in Laquila (ph). Two hundred and ninety-six people died in the April 6th earthquake. Thousands of people lost their homes in the quake, and are now living in those tent villages.

Expanding the offensive against the Taliban in Pakistan. And Pakistani military spokesman says fighter jets are now attacking Taliban positions not far from the capital of Islamabad. Ground forces may also be preparing to attack suspected hideouts in Taliban controlled area.

Let's bring you up to the minute now on swine flu. Since this time yesterday, the number of confirmed cases in the United States has more than doubled. The latest figure according to state and federal health officials 50. In the United States there have been no deaths blamed on swine flu. The illnesses have been relatively mild.

But in Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak, the death toll is growing. The nations' health minister says 152 fatalities are suspected as swine flu. Besides the U.S. and Mexico, swine flu is confirmed in five other countries as well. The World Health Organization has raised its alert to four on a scale of six. That means the disease spreads easily but is not pandemic.

Here's a look at where the cases are now. In the United States, the confirmed cases are limited to that map, five states, California, Texas, Kansas, Ohio, and New York. In fact, more than half of the nation's cases are from one single place, that prep school we've been talking about in Queens, New York. In addition to the U.S. and Mexico, here are the other countries with confirmed cases. Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, Israel, and New Zealand. At least 11 other countries do have suspected cases.

Later today, the Senate is expected to approve President Obama's nominee for a Health and Human Services secretary now. Kathleen Sebelius will take control of the agency immediately but the Senate has not yet confirmed key members of her team.

Let's begin this hour in Mexico City, the epicenter of the outbreak. CNN's Ted Rowlands is at a plaza there. So Ted, what's going on exactly where you are.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, there are some people out in the streets but it is by no means what you would normally see at this plaza in Mexico City. We are in front of a museum which is a huge tourist attraction. It is shut down along with other public venues. A decision was made yesterday to keep businesses open and keep the mass transit system running because of the economic impact of shutting those down.

That said, the health minister says they are watching it very closely and there is still a lot of concern about the potential for more cases to erupt because people are gathering at workplaces. You mentioned the death toll, it has gone up. The health minister said the positive side of that is there are less people dying per day. Six people Saturday, down to four Sunday, three yesterday.

They are hoping that is a trend. They are not sure but they're hoping that it is a trend. And that they may be getting a handle on it. They do expect more cases. They say they are in a good position to handle more cases as they come in. It's a tenuous situation here. More people are infected here, obviously, than anywhere else in the globe. So this is the spot where there is a lot of concentration and a lot of monitoring on where this is going.

COLLINS: Well, Ted, there has also been a lot of discussion about the source of the outbreak. What are officials doing now to try to track that down?

ROWLANDS: Well, that is a separate, obviously investigation that is going on. It is secondary to solving the problem of helping people. But, there is a lot of speculation that it has come out of Vera Cruz, the state of Vera Cruz which is east of Mexico City. People there have convinced us where it is. Tehre is a number of pig farms there. But Mexican authorities say there is no evidence of that, yet. In fact, their preliminary investigations have yielded no evidence of it. But that is still the mystery that has not been solved.

COLLINS: Absolutely. It's going take a lot of work, I think. Ted Rowlands, live for us this morning in Mexico City. Thank you, Ted.

President Obama on the eve of a milestone. Tomorrow marks his 100th day in office. The time frame often used to measure the early effectiveness of an administration.

CNN's political team has been looking into that issue and beyond. White House correspondent Susan Malveaux is joining us now from New York. Hey there, Suzanne. What are some of the president's big challenges now in the next 100 days, as we move forward? SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, obviously he has a lot of big things on his plate. We're going to see the president in just a couple of hours, he's going to be visiting with the headquarters of the FBI, the first time as president and really one of the things that he is going to be faced with is whether or not his attorney general decides to go ahead and prosecute some of the Bush administration top officials when it comes to giving the green light for some of those harsh interrogation techniques that many consider torture that the Obama administration considers torture.

It is not necessarily something that the President had expressed an appetite for. He said look, we don't want to look backwards. We are looking forward here. But there has been a lot of pressure on the administration, on his attorney general, to hold those people accountable. So we will see where that goes. They obviously don't want it to overshadow some of the big ticket items they got, health care reform, education reform. Those type of things and also Heidi, today what we're going to see is the confirmation of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, before Congress. That process wrapping up today.

We expect - this is important here. Because the Obama administration obviously looking at this swine flu situation, a potential crisis. Everyone wants to see how he is dealing with this health policy crisis and there are still a lot of vacancies that the head of the CDC, surgeon general, those are positions that have not yet been filled. Obama administration officials I talked to say look we can go ahead and handle this crisis, without them, we got a lot of qualified people but obviously they do need to settle that as well. Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes, certainly now is the time, I would imagine that they are saying that. How is the administration preparing for tomorrow, the 100th day. They have been preparing for a long time, in fact.

MALVEAUX: I think they have been preparing as much as we have been preparing.

COLLINS: Yes, absolutely.

MALVEAUX: Even more so. They have been looking at this marker very seriously. They know all eyes are on the administration. He is going to have a town hall meeting in St. Louis, Missouri. He is going to lay out his agenda. He is going to lay out what he wants to do in the next 100 days and talk about some of the pitfalls and the successes that we've seen in the last 100 or so. He's going to take questions from the audience and that's in the evening, primetime press conference, Heidi.

Once again to try to draw maximum attention to get his message out, to some say, spin it if you will. But definitely to set the agenda here. This is a president who is very savvy when it comes to the media. 15 press conferences, Heidi, so far in the first 100 days. This is going to be the third prime time one. So obviously they are going to try to control the message about what we have seen in the last 100 days and what we will see in the next 100.

COLLINS: Right. All right. Suzanne Malveaux, we sure do appreciate that. Thank you.

And tomorrow night at 7:00 P.M. Eastern, a CNN prime time special we have been preparing for as you heard Suzanne say, 100 days of the Obama presidency. Our "National Report Card" will give you a chance to grade the president and Congress on how they have done so far. Then at 8:00 Eastern President Obama holds that news conference, he will assess how well he is doing.

We have new numbers now on the president's popularity. As the first 100 days near an end, our CNN opinion research corporation poll shows 63 percent of you approve of how the president is handling the job. 33 percent disapprove. Does he have the right stuff to lead? 75 percent says President Obama does have the right qualities. 57 percent say they agree with the president on the issues.

And we just got a new consumer confidence number to tell you about as well regarding the economy, of course. It soared in April, up 12 points to 39.2. So what does that mean, Christine Romans is here now to tell us a little bit more. Exactly, what does that mean, Christine? Put it in context for us.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, some surprising strength in consumer confidence.

COLLINS: Yes.

ROMANS: You're right. It jumped much more than people thought. It shows you that consumers at least were taken to heart all of that talk about green shoots in the economy there, starting to feel better about their current conditions and also saying they're expectations were getting better. But here's the number. The number was 39.2. According to the people at the conference board that is still a number far below what is considered healthy and what is considered strong economic growth. So keep that in mind. It shows you that people are feeling better about things. After weeks of talking about green shoots in the economy about places or at least where the economic decline is slowing. That's reflecting in these numbers, Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes, definitely but the swine flu scare certainly not going help boost consumer confidence, right?

ROMANS: That's right. And the swine flu issue and all of the coverage of it is not reflected in these numbers. These were, of course, before this became such a big concern over the past few days. And folks trying to tally what could be the economic toll of concerns about the swine flu. And of course, if this were, god forbid, to spread into something catastrophic, what could happen. So look, here are the threats, you got trade that can decline.

Already we are seeing some countries put limits on imports of pork even though we are told again and again that pork does not carry this virus. Food, travel, transportation, all of these things hurt, all of these stocks have already reflected this and consumer confidence. At a time, Heidi, when people are already so nervous about what has happened in the economy this comes just as there were those, I keep saying, green shoots of confidence, green shoots of hints of a recovery. And then comes this, so it certainly is a concern.

COLLINS: Yes, absolutely. All right. CNN's Christine Romans of our CNN Money Team. Thank you, Christine.

Alert level up. World Health Organization has raised the rating on its pandemic alert chart now. We have an expert joining us who literally wrote the book on emerging diseases.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: The World Health Organization has raised the number on the pandemic alert chart from phase three to phase four. A phase four rating of a pandemic indicates a need for immediate response and mitigation efforts. It is defined as a verified human to human transmission of an animal or human animal influenza virus potent enough to cause community level outbreaks.

So what does all that mean? Joining us live from New York to discuss exactly what that rating is and whether raising it is actually the right move at this time. It's Pulitzer prize winning author and health expert Laurie Garrett. Her book titled "the Coming Plague," chronicles the spread of new or emerging diseases. Sounds like the perfect guest.

Laurie, thanks for being with us. First of all what do you think and were you surprised that the WHO actually raised that alert level?

LAURIE GARRETT, AUTHOR "THE COMING PLAGUE": Not the least bit surprised. It was completely appropriate and expected by just about everybody. The only thing that would have limited that decision is the lack of detailed information from Mexico that can help us understand exactly how virulent and transmissible this virus is. But it had already met most of the criteria of a -

COLLINS: Did it seem a little late for you? Did it seem a little late in raising that level?

GARRETT: There are consequences when you raise these levels. And we've seen the consequences play out in the stock market. You want to be sure you are doing the right thing. We don't want to be accused later of causing false alarm.

COLLINS: Yes, but you certainly don't want to be accused later, right of not being as safe as you could have been, either.

GARRETT: You got to walk that fine line as the president did over the weekend, trying to strike the right balance between a sense of alert and urgency. But not panic. COLLINS: Yes, definitely. But talk to us a little bit if you could because this seems really interesting to us today. You have to find out where this came from, don't you? I mean, you have to trace the origin of this outbreak but it is a very difficult thing to do.

GARRETT: It is difficult. We know that we had a case of a child who contracted pig flu in Texas last September. We know we had a couple of cases in California and Texas in the late winter here in the United States. And there is now some evidence of another case that involved a child in early April in Vera Cruz, near a giant pig factory, which any of these may be key to this outbreak that we are now experiencing. It's almost impossible to tell right now. A lot more detective work needs to be done.

COLLINS: Yes, exactly. Well, when you say that it makes me think a lot more about what exactly should be done, of course. And there are a lot of questions about that. In fact, I want to put something on the screen for everybody. Actually, we're going to listen to the sound from this person. This is the WHO's assistant director general and that is Keiji Fukuda. Let's go ahead and listen for a moment because I find this really interesting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEIJI FUKUDA, ASST. DIRECTOR-GENERAL, W.H.O.: Given the current situation, the current focus of effort should really be on mitigation efforts rather than trying to contain the spread of this virus. Predominantly because this virus has already spread quite far and at this time containment is not a feasible operation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Wow, really. Laurie, did you find that surprising? Containment not an option at this point?

GARRETT: Frankly, everybody who really deals with influenza and has been involved in all kinds of pandemic planning would have told you that a long time ago. It is almost impossible to hold flu into any given country or any given location. It is such a contagious virus that spreads so readily.

And unlike SARS, and this really important difference from the point of W.H.O.. Unlike SARS, people are highly contagious with flu before they have any symptoms or any fever. So you can't just spot the individual and say stand over here, please. We don't want you to spread your disease or get on an airplane.

COLLINS: Sure.

GARRETT: We can't do that with flu.

COLLINS: All we can do then when we look to our global health officials, I guess, is talk about treatment?

GARRETT: Well, mitigation is more than treatment. Mitigation is about telling people in their communities what they can do to protect themselves. It's about thing such as Mexico's already doing like closing schools, trying to limit the amount of human activity in big congregations.

COLLINS: See that sounds like containment to me, though.

GARRETT: Well, no. That is - containment is the notion that you can hold the virus in one geographic location. We're way pass that. Mitigation is limiting the number of people who actually then get infected after it is already in a geographic space.

COLLINS: OK.

GARRETT: I am talking to you today from New York City.

COLLINS: Right.

GARRETT: We already have the most cases in North america but the average person is not walking down the street here in Manhattan, worrying that somebody is going cough in their face and give them the virus.

COLLINS: Yes, probably not.

GARRETT: So Mitigation is about making it stay that way here in New York.

COLLINS: All right. Very good. Boy, we sure do appreciate your time. Laurie Garrett. She is the author of "The Coming Plague." Thank you so much, Laurie. Appreciate your time.

GARRETT: You bet.

COLLINS: Meteorologist Rob Marciano joining us now. Tracking some storms, Rob, and also some pretty interesting video. What do you have over there?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: Yes, I want to show you some video that came into us out of central Texas. This is a storm that we're talking around this time yesterday, the storms rolled just south of Dallas. In (inaudible), Texas, this was a school that got hid by this tornado, EF-1 with 90-mile an hour wind. Robert E. Lee Academy, the tree came down right on - school was in session and the kids were not in that classroom but the instructor was. And she says she lives in Texas her whole life and she was able to take cover and not have too much damage.

COLLINS: Wow. Very lucky.

MARCIANO: All right. We kind of monitoring some things. I want to move on over to some pictures here. This is out of Texas. Out of Houston. Are those the pictures? Yes, these are some live shots coming out of Houston. They have had a tremendous amount of rain, four to six inches, really, mostly in the last 12 to 18 hours. A lot of these major intersections are shut down. Schools in many cases are closed. So big time flooding happening right now. This is kind of driving me crazy here. We will get back to that if that gets a little bit better. Just tell me in my ear that that's going to happen.

All right. Here is your Houston radar right now. It looks like the heaviest rain is heading to the north and east. That's good. You might see things reform a little bit back here. But all in all, the scenario will be a drier one moving forward especially as you go through tonight. But right now, Houston, no doubt starting today under water for sure.

All right. As far as what we're looking at, a little bit farther to the north. The northern part of the system certainly stretching out and weakening. Heading towards what is a very large ridge or area of high pressure. That's keeping things mighty toasty. Right now it is 81 degrees in Boston and it is what, barely after 10:00. Their record is 90. I think that's going to be blown out of the water.

And then we look for - storms reform back here. And then back through parts of Montana where of all places, we got a blizzard warning that is in effect. (inaudible) and Houston you can see you water on the roadways there. In some cases entire intersections are blocked off. So we'll continue to monitor that situation throughout the morning.

COLLINS: Wow, you have got 90s on the east coast and blizzards in the west.

MARCIANO: Got to love weather this time of year. It's very interesting.

COLLINS: All right. Rob, thank you.

MARCIANO: You got it.

COLLINS: Swine flu hit back in 1976. Did you know that? What did we learn then? And how could it help us now?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: A major flu outbreak on board a cruise ship can have enormous implications. The cramp conditions could create it a perfect breeding ground. As a result, health officials are screening passengers returning from Mexico now for the swine flu virus. There is also a travel advisory instructing Americans to avoid non-essential travel to Mexico. But some die hard passengers have no intention of changing their plans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually, they just told us there is a traveler warning going across for Mexico. But I am newly married and we have to go on this cruise or she will kill me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They said that if we wash our hands and practice safe cleaning and all that, we will be OK.

COLLINS: No cruise line is reporting any passenger showing flu- like symptoms. Swine flu though caused a major scare back in 1976. Do you remember this? President Gerald Ford made a critical decision to order everyone to be vaccinated to prevent a swine flu epidemic.

Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here now to talk a little bit more about this. I really don't remember this. But I imagine there were some lessons that were learned from that potential outbreak.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That must mean I am older than you. Because I remember this. I remember distinctly that as child hearing about this happening. It is very interesting. Because I am sure the public health officials right now are studying up on what happened in 1976. There are big lessons to be learned. Let me tell you what happened.

In 1976, more than 200 soldiers at Ft. Dix, came down with swine flu. There were huge worries that this was going turn into a pandemic. Public health officials got very concerned and they ordered mass immunizations. Let's take a listen as to what President Ford has to stay at a time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GERALD FORD, FMR. U.S. PRESIDENT: I have been advise that there is a very real possibility that unless we take effective counter actions there could be an epidemic of this dangerous disease. I am asking each and every American to make certain, he or she receives an inoculation this fall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: He asked Americans to be vaccinated. Well they got vaccinated. There were more than 40 million vaccinations done in 1976 -

COLLINS: Wow.

COHEN: Including President Ford, himself. We saw that a little while ago. It's interesting. I don't know if you caught it but hey were vaccinating President Ford and the doctor was not wearing gloves. That would never happen today.

COLLINS: Yes, look at that. Of course, you have to do it if you were the president and ordering -

COHEN: And he is smiling while it was happening. Yes, so you can see the signs. They really, it was all hands on deck. Mass vaccinations.

COLLINS: Yes. How exactly did it go? Did everybody seem to step up?

COHEN: Not so well. That did not go so well because of what happened, they had to cancel the vaccination program after just a few months because some 50 people came down with what looked like Guillain-Barre syndrome. This is a terrible illness. It's a nervous system illness where the body's immune system basically attacks itself and it can be deadly. And so public health officials got together and said wait a second, this illness, swine flu, has not gone beyond Ft. Dix, New Jersey and yet we are vaccinating people all across the country and possibly giving them this terrible illness. So they put an end to it.

COLLINS: Yes. That's exactly what we were talking about with our last guest about containment. So that would have been something where we could talk a little bit more about the geographical containment of this if it was just in one place.

COHEN: Right. In hindsight, it's 20/20, so when people look back in '76, they say it was basically contained to this relatively small geographical area. Why did we go to crazy.

COLLINS: Yes. Understood. All right. Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. Thanks for the reminder on that.

COHEN: Thank you.

COLLINS: Appreciate it.

As you know the first 00 days coming to a close now for President Barack Obama. So how did he do. Real people weigh in with their grades.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins.

COLLINS: The first 100 days. It's a traditional measuring stick for presidents. President Barack Obama hits the milestone tomorrow. We will have a special look at the accomplishments and failures of the first 100 days. It all begins at 7:00 p.m. Eastern with a "National Report Card." And then we'll hear from the president himself at 8:00 p.m.

Moving past the pundits now to real people. Joining us with their 100-day grades are Dr. Rani Whitfield -- he's a family practice physician from Baton Rouge Louisiana; Jim Zawacki, a small business owner from Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Eric Bell, an unemployed midlevel manager in Phoenix, Arizona, who's actually doing quite a bit of contract work right now. So, we will talk with all of you shortly.

But I want to begin with Dr. Whitfield. Doctor, if you had to give the Obama administration a grade on the economy, what would that grade be?

DR. RANI WHITFIELD, FAMILY PRACTICE PHYSICIAN: Economy, I'd give the president a B plus on the economy.

COLLINS: Why is that?

WHITFIELD: Well, you know, I'm -- health care and the economy have a direct impact on my practice. My patients come in a lot of times frustrated because of the recession. I have some individuals who have lost their jobs or some that are struggling. And so, what we want to see, I want to -- I just want to see a happier patient. I have depressed and anxious patients because they're frustrated by what's going on in the economy. I do appreciate the president addressing the credit card abuse issue. That made a lot of my patients happy. But again, I think there's still a lot more to do. It's only the first 100 days, but I think he's getting a B plus when it comes to dealing directly with the economy.

COLLINS: OK, B plus now. First you said B. Now B plus. OK.

WHITFIELD: B plus. B plus. We'll go with B plus.

COLLINS: OK. All right. Jim, I want to get to you. As we said, you are a small business owner. You're coming to us from Grand Rapids, Michigan, very active in local business groups there. What would you give the Obama administration for a grade on the economy?

JIM ZAWACKI, SMALL BUSINESS OWNER: Well, I'd have to disagree with the doctor. I'd give him a C minus or a D.

COLLINS: Why is that?

ZAWACKI: Well, number one, when he campaigned, he talked a lot about manufacturing, and we haven't done anything to create jobs in the manufacturing area. I wrote a letter to President Obama the first of the year saying, if you could do anything, let's go to fair trade versus free trade.

In the TARP program to create jobs, what he has created is not immediate. And we need jobs now. And one of the best things he could have done or Congress could have done is say, let's scrap all 10-year- old cars and give them an incentive to scrap them, and then give them money so they can go out and at least pay for the lease on a new one. This has worked well in Germany, and it would create jobs and help the environment.

COLLINS: Well, C minus or a D then from you, Jim, on the economy.

ZAWACKI: Yes.

COLLINS: All right, Eric, I want to get to you. As we know -- we've talked to you a couple of times, Eric -- you were laid off last May, still haven't been able to find a full-time job. How would you grade the Obama administration on the economy?

ERIC BELL, UNEMPLOYED MIDLEVEL MANAGER: At this point, on the economy, I would give President Obama a D plus, maybe edging into a C minus. It's still early.

COLLINS: Why do you give him that grade, though?

BELL: My feeling is, we haven't done enough to help the small business owner. One idea would be to create a plan where small businesses could go and apply through the SBA for an immediate infusion of $250K in cash to start their business. I'm working as a contractor, but I'm also trying to build a business, and it's really challenging to get money. And based on a study I read from the Kaufmann Fund, the way we're going to jump-start this recssion and get out of it is through small business. They're going to lead us out and get us jobs.

COLLINS: Interesting. All right. So, a D plus, C minus from you.

Want to get to health care now. Obviously, Dr. Whitfield, this is an area that you know very well. You're literally in the trenches on this one. What's your grade for the Obama administration?

WHITFIELD: Grade now would still be a B. If I had to give a real grade, it's only 100 days. I'd really give Obama an incomplete. But he's done some things...

COLLINS: An incomplete on health care?

WHITFIELD: Yes. I'd have to give -- it's only 100 days. But he's addressed things with COBRA. There was 60 -- he provided subsidies for 65 percent of individuals who did not have -- or lost their jobs for the first nine months. He provided subsidies for those individuals. He provided some subsidies for COBRA.

Health information technology was in the stimulus package, and I know there are some things that area working out. I'm actually directly impacted by that because my office will be one of the pilot companies that will be given an opportunity to use the health information technology to better my practice.

Also in the stimulus package, there was money put aside for community health clinics, $500 million, as well as for training more physicians. There is a shortage of physicians in our country. And as you know, our biggest problem in our country deals mainly with health care costs. $2.2 trillion are spent every year, mainly on treating diseases and illness, not preventing them.

So, when it comes to health care, if you put it at the forefront, he inherited a broken health care system, $2.2 trillion of spending each year. And Obama put that as one of the prime things he wanted to address when it came to the stimulus package, so...

COLLINS: All right, so a work in progress from you.

WHITFIELD: Work in progress, yes, exactly.

COLLINS: All right, so, Jim, obviously health care is a big concern for small businesses as well. What's your grade?

ZAWACKI: Well, let me first state that number one, he inherited a lot of problems. And I think President Obama's trying to do too many things. We need jobs and fix the economy. That's the number one problem.

COLLINS: So, you think health care can wait? ZAWACKI: Well, it can wait from this standpoint. If you're going to start improving the environmental and Cafe and the things that he's trying to do in medical, you're going to put a bigger burden on small business that creates 60-plus percent of the jobs, and you're going to drive more jobs offshore. What we need right now is immediate jobs, and not more costs to business.

So, you know, again, he inherited these problems, and I think he's trying to do too much. Let's create jobs now. So, I can't answer as far as a grade because really, what he's promoting, I'd give him a C, C minus.

COLLINS: OK. Or maybe a "not applicable," an N/A.

ZAWACKI: That's right.

COLLINS: I remember my report cards. I got a lot of N/As. Eric, back to you. Now, obviously, for people who are out of work, health care is a huge concern. How do you afford it when you don't have an income? What's your grade?

BELL: Heidi, my grade in health care is going to be a C plus. As somebody -- exactly as you point out -- as somebody that felt the pinch when I lost my job, and all of a sudden, I'm staring at this large health care bill, and the COBRA help, you know, that definitely is something that was needed and helps the people that are unemployed and still looking for work. So, that's there.

You know, on the health care reform, we need to do something. My view is that it's time for the innovation in America to take hold in this area. You know, there's a great company I was researching last week, Medicity up in Salt Lake City. It would be a great opportunity for someone like me to get on and help a company like that in health care. So, I think there's opportunities there. I'm just not fully versed on health care to speak at large on it.

COLLINS: Right. But you know you want to see more innovation.

All right, well, listen, gentlemen, we sure do appreciate all of your time this morning. We could talk about many different topics, but we'll have to save them for a later date. Dr. Rani Whitfield and Jim Zawacki and Eric Bell, thanks so much, gentlemen. Appreciate your time.

ZAWACKI: Thank you very much.

WHITFIELD: Thank you.

BELL: Have a great day.

COLLINS: Thank you.

Tomorrow night at 7:00 Eastern, a CNN prime-time special, 100 days of the Obama presidency, our "NATIONAL REPORT CARD." We give you a chance to grade the president and Congress on how they've done so far. Then at 8:00 Eastern, President Obama holds a news conference. He will assess how well he's doing.

A ruling handed down moments ago by the Supreme Court to tell you about. It involves profanity on the airwaves. By a 5 to 4 vote, the justices say the government does have the authority to punish the networks. So, every time you see racy images or hear foul language on the networks, expect some kind of fine or sanction to follow.

Swine flu already causing investors to get nervous, so let's take a look now at what's happening with the economy. On Wall Street, stocks slipped Monday on fears about the impact of swine flu. Economists say if it turns into a large-scale pandemic, it could prolong and even deepen the worldwide recession.

Fears about the health of two of the nation's biggest banks. Citigroup and Bank of America have already received $90 billion in loans from the government and us, the taxpayers. Now, the two banks may need more money. Susan Lisovicz is on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange now with more details on this. Good morning to you once again, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. This is a very nervous time for big financial institutions and today in particular for two of them, Bank of America and Citigroup, the two biggest.

According to "The Wall Street Journal," federal regulators have told them they may need to raise, yes, even more capital. This based on early results of those stress tests, which will not be made public until next week. According to the "Journal," officials from both companies beg to disagree.

The shortfall for Bank of America could result in billions of dollars. We have not yet heard from either company directly what they will need to do. If in fact this is the result is that they will have six months to raise more capital in a variety of ways that could shed more assets. Citigroup has already been doing that, shed its Smith Barney brokerage unit and also a Japanese brokerage unit.

It could issue more shares. We saw Goldman Sachs do that recently because it wanted to pay off TARP as quickly as possible. Or it could convert some of the common shares -- some of the preferred shares, rather, to common shares. What we are seeing is both of those stocks getting hit. They're both down 4 percent. They're both Dow 30 companies.

But guess what, Heidi? We've seen a turnaround because at the top of the hour, we got a big jump in consumer confidence. Consumers thinking that maybe the worst of the recession is behind us or that we're at the bottom. And so you saw -- you see the blue chips are now green. And the Nasdaq's up, too -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes, we like green. Absolutely. Hey, should we be worried about the future of banks that need more capital, though, or was this not really a surprise?

LISOVICZ: Well, it's not a surprise that there's going be some problems, I think. I mean, clearly, this is a financial crisis, the likes of which we haven't seen in decades.

COLLINS: Yes.

LISOVICZ: No, I don't think that you should view it as necessarily a financial institution being insolvent. I think what it really is there for is that perhaps financial institutions need to raise more capital in case of another financial shock. And remember, this is called "stress test" for a reason, Heidi. Some of the measurements here are extremely adverse conditions like double-digit unemployment, double-digit -- further double-digit declines in housing, a very bad situation with GDP. So, it's really something where you're going to absorb future shocks -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes, understood. All right. Susan Lisovicz, thanks so much. Appreciate that.

LISOVICZ: You're welcome.

COLLINS: And Josh Levs is tracking the swine flu on the Web. So, Josh, what do you have?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, so many people are looking for the best maps out there. We have them for you, which ones to follow and what they actually tell you. Also your chance to send questions and your views all about the swine flu, I'll show you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Tracking the swine flu. There are a lot of online resources to help you see where it is and where it's spreading. Our Josh Levs is showing us now some of the best of them this morning. Hey, Josh.

LEVS: Hey there to you. Yes, we have one of the best at CNN.com, actually. Let me take you to it. We're just going to zoom right in. If you go the main story, a story about swine flu, you just click on the map tab.

And what we have here, I like this because it's simple. You can take a look here. You've got North America. You can click on any of the red tabs. It fells you about our latest reported cases. You can also go to other parts of the world, see the same thing. It's interesting and helpful.

There's also a more complicated one. The only other map I'm going to tell you about is this. It's called healthmap.org. And when you go to it, what you see here is the latest reporting from places all over the world. Not just confirmed cases, but all sorts of things. So, you've got North America over here. You can click on any area. They're saying OK, there's something suspected.

Real-time information. It's a really interesting project. They also let you zoom to any country in the world. You can click on China, it zooms over there. Click back on the United States, it zooms over here. If you're traveling, if you're thinking about traveling, you want to know the latest reported cases, healthmap.org is helpful, too.

And one more thing I want to show you via us at iReport.com. This is the great videos and sound and stories that we're getting from our own iReporters. Heidi, I want to show you one right now that is kind of a slice of life in Mexico City. Take a look at what everyone's wearing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELVIN FRANCISQUINI, CNN IREPORTER: So, we're all touring downtown Mexico City. Here's my compadre from Oaxaca. And as you look at other people, we're all wearing this blue thing because people are dying. And it's pretty bad. Everyone's wearing it. That's the famous (INAUDIBLE). And we've got to go now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: And so, it's just really interesting to see, Heidi, what all these people are saying. You know, there he is walking down the street. The few people in that major touristy area have the masks on. Gives you a sense, Heidi, of what people are going through right there.

COLLINS: Yes, absolutely. All right, Josh, appreciate it. Thank you.

LEVS: Thanks, Heidi.

COLLINS: A breeding ground for the outbreak. In Mexico City, it's underground. The city's subways ripe for spreading the virus.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Hey, something new I want to tell you about. I'm a blogger. And we've got a new CNN NEWSROOM page to show you. So, talk to me, everybody. Let me know what you think of the stories we are telling. And leave me a comment or two about what stories you would like to hear. Very interested in that. Go ahead and check out CNN.com/newsroom.

Tomorrow marks the 100th day of President Obama's administration. How much has the president delivered on energy and the environment? CNNmoney.com's Poppy Harlow has our "Energy Fix" report card. Sorry, Poppy, you were just on my blog, weren't you? I had to tear you away.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: I know, I was. I was going through it, Heidi. It was so exciting, because, see, I need to get on the blog bandwagon, I guess.

But, yes, a report card, really an assessment of the president on energy. He campaigned on change, and some change being made, of course, to the stimulus bill. We're going to show you some promises, and we're going to show you what's been delivered so far. One promise -- take a look here -- to create 5 million new jobs by investing $150 billion over the next 10 years in clean energy. That stimulus plan set aside $30 billion for clean energy projects, an additional $500 million to train people in green jobs, but we have not seen as we talked about, Heidi, that massive wave of new green jobs. The money hasn't been put to work yet. That's the issue here. We've also, Heidi, seen layoffs in the renewable-energy sector as well. So, a big promise. Not too much action yet. But again, this takes time.

COLLINS: Yes. What about hybrid cars? The president's been pushing for those.

HARLOW: He has. Let's take a look at the promise there. When you look at it, 1 million plug-in hybrids, that's what President Obama has said he wants to see on the road by the year 2015. The stimulus package again trying to give some incentive for people to buy these cars despite the recession, a $7,500 tax credit for the first 200,000 plug-in hybrids that any company, U.S. or foreign automaker, sells. We know the Obama administration is pushing right now, GM and Chrysler, to create more fuel-efficient vehicles. The president's auto task force has criticized both of those companies, Heidi, for creating trucks and SUVs and not as many fuel-efficient vehicles.

COLLINS: All right. Very good. We're watching closely alongside you. Poppy Harlow, sure do appreciate that. Thanks.

HARLOW: Sure.

COLLINS: And tomorrow night at 7:00 Eastern, a CNN prime-time special, 100 days of the Obama presidency, our "National Report Card." We'll give you a chance to grade the president and Congress on how they have done so far. Then at 8:00 Eastern, President Obama holds a news conference where he will assess how well he's doing.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: Mexico City subways crowded, humid and sweaty. They are an ideal setting for the swine flu virus. So, why are people still packed elbow to elbow down there?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Hot, humid and crowded. Mexico City's subways are the perfect breeding ground for the swine flu virus. So, why are throngs of people still packed shoulder to shoulder? CNN's Karl Penhaul takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN VIDEO CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Morning rush hour on the Mexico City subway. This is one of the biggest cities on Earth, and the subway system is its veins, moving millions of people from all social classes to work. Today, most passengers are shielding behind surgical masks, scared of the mutating virus feared to have killed dozens already.

FRONTINO VALDEZ, SUBWAY PASSENGER: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) PENHAUL: "I'm pretty nervous of this whole virus thing," he says.

Berta Hernandez is trying not to panic as she touches up her eyeliner. But she doesn't dare lift her mask to put on lip gloss.

BERTA HERNANDEZ, SUBWAY PASSENGER: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

PENHAUL: "I am nervous of the people who aren't wearing masks. Maybe they will suddenly sneeze or cough," she says.

Mexican authorities have warned people not to crowd into public places, but here that's impossible.

(on camera): It's hot and humid down here, and there's not much fresh air. And it's exactly crowded places like this that city authorities say could be a prime breeding ground for the killer bug.

(voice-over): Many of these passengers say they have no chance except to pack into the subway. If they don't show up for work, they fear their bosses will fire them. Some, like supermarket worker Rafael Martinez, risk the trip even though they're not wearing one of the masks.

RAFAEL MARTINEZ, SUBWAY PASSENGER: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

PENHAUL: "I was looking for a mask at my local pharmacy, but they sold out. I know it's a risk, but I can't find one," he tells me.

The headlines at the newspaper stands are alarming: "103 Dead," "Flu Spreads," "Mexico City Paralyzed." Shutting down the city could spark chaos.

JOSE LUIS SUAREZ, NEWSPAPER VENDOR: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

PENHAUL: "I don't think it's feasible or advisable to shut down the city. People will try and get out somehow, and that would make a bad situation worse," he says.

Back underground, officials were not handing out surgical masks at all stations, but were distributing pamphlets with hygiene tips. Good advice in theory, yet in practice, they can do letle else except crowd on to the subway and hope they don't breathe in the potentially lethal strain.

Karl Penhaul, CNN, Mexico City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: I'm Heidi Collins. Join us again tomorrow morning beginning at 9:00 a.m. Eastern. For now, CNN NEWSROOM continues with Tony Harris.