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War Experience Traumatizing for Many Troops in Battle Zone; Boomers Face Retirement Bust; Doing Business With Cuba; Foreclosures Hit New Records; Housing Bust Hits Minorities; How to Save Social Security; Huron County, Ohio Searching for 13-Year-Old Boy

Aired May 13, 2009 - 11:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: It is Wednesday, May 13th.

An astronaut becomes the first person to Twitter in space. Don't you have more important things to do?

Here are the top stories for you in the CNN NEWSROOM.

He is charged with gunning down five fellow soldiers in Baghdad. This hour, hear from the families of the accused shooter and the victims.

The recession takes a big bite out of Social Security and Medicare. They may go broke sooner than expected unless Washington does something. But what?

Bankruptcy, the "B" word. Filings soar, but the stigma and shame are gone with your debts.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And just moments ago, we heard from the family of Army Private First Class Michael Yates, Jr. -- emotional moments there -- one of five U.S. troops allegedly killed by a U.S. sergeant in Iraq.

We are going to play an extended portion of those remarks in just a couple of minutes for you. But first, we want to get to Baghdad.

And regardless of what you think, one thing is certain. The war experience can be traumatizing for many troops in the battle zone.

Our Cal Perry looks at how some U.S. forces are broken mentally by war.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAL PERRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's something we've seen in Iraq since the beginning of the war. While filming in the busiest combat hospital and country during 2006, a soldier literally collapsed in front of us. What followed was a stunning example of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's going on?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, he's still sweating.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, it's hard for me, because some days (INAUDIBLE). I think what we're going to do, how fast are we going to do it and everything, and it's just...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not an easy war.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, it's not.

CAPT. DAVID STEINBRUNER, M.D.: Was there still somebody in the vehicle?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. From here down from the CO (ph).

STEINBRUNER: Oh, Jesus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And both the arms -- and one arm was on one side. The nose was (INAUDIBLE).

STEINBRUNER: You didn't fail him. I'm sorry. You didn't fail him.

You want to do me a favor? Talk to somebody about this, please, because it's going to haunt your dreams for a while. You know what I mean? Which is appropriate. But if you just keep it bottled in, it's going to be bad news.

And the two guys you saved who are coming back here are saved because what you guys did out on the field. OK?

I think that guy right there, I mean, the fact that he passed out on us was the fact -- and he helped bring them in, collect the pieces of his own soldiers that he's responsible for, and it just overwhelmed him.

PERRY: Monday of this week, a soldier walked into a combat stress clinic and killed five other U.S. troops. His father, in Texas, without even knowing the details, already suspected that his son had been broken by war.

WILBURN RUSSELL, FATHER OF SGT. JOHN RUSSELL: I'm sure he's under a lot of stress. I'm sure he's seen a lot of friends killed and mayhem he shouldn't have seen. You can only take so much. Your body's going to break down. And that's what happened.

PERRY: Monday's incident was not the first of its kind. In September, a U.S. soldier killed two other U.S. troops during an argument over a bad performance review.

The simple truth is, we don't know about all of the incidents, the details behind what the military classifies as non-combat deaths. We do, however, know the statistics are staggering and frightening.

Suicide rates are at an all-time high within the U.S. military. The stress of long tours, repetitive deployments are also tearing families apart. Divorce rates also at an all-time high. PAUL RIECKHOFF, IRAQ & AFGHANISTAN VETERANS OF AMERICA: About one in four, one in five, will have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or some other kind of severe mental health injury. But a lot of folks are getting help, they're trying to deal with the stigma, but this type of incident just really shatters the families, it shatters the unit, and it's really going to last for a long time, unfortunately.

PERRY: Some veterans' groups in the U.S. put the number of soldiers that could be struggling with PTSD at 300,000, leaving the U.S. with a potential coming storm, soldiers who return home, but whose heads are still at war.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Boy, that is something.

Our Cal Perry joins us live now from Baghdad.

And Cal, let's turn to this investigation now. Any new developments?

PERRY: Well, Tony, quite frankly, we're in a bit of a holding pattern when it comes to these investigations. The U.S. military really is not going to share too much with us while the investigation is going on, but we are hearing bits and pieces from certain Defense Department officials out of Washington.

We know, for example, that the soldier in question for the shooting is being held by military police out at Camp Victory. We know that he was at that stress clinic earlier in the day. He went back to his barracks. At some point, he got his hand on a weapon, returned a few hours later, and then started shooting up that clinic -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK. Cal Perry in Baghdad for us.

Call, appreciate it. Thank you.

And happening now on Capitol Hill, the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing testimony about alleged torture. They're looking into the Bush administration's detention and interrogation policies.

Testifying right now, Philip Zelikow, a former aide to Condoleezza Rice. Also expected to testify, a former FBI agent who was involved in the questioning of terror suspects in which so-called enhanced interrogation techniques were used. He is expected to tell members of Congress that such techniques, including waterboarding, are ineffective.

We are monitoring the hearing, and we will bring you key portions of the testimony.

REP. DENNIS KUCINICH (D), OHIO: And I'll talk to you after the meeting, but you're not going to roll this member. Guaranteed.

HARRIS: Wow. OK. A congressional committee wants -- "You're not going to roll this member." Huh. All right.

A congressional committee wants to know when AIG plans to pay back billions of your tax dollars. The chief executive of the crippled insurance giant is testifying before the House panel right now. The government's bailout of AIG has ballooned to more than $180 billion. CEO Edward Liddy says the company is working hard to pay taxpayers back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDWARD LIDDY, CEO, AIG: It's critical to remember that we are partners. When we at AIG make mistakes, we expect to be criticized. But rampant, unwarranted criticism of AIG serves only to diminish the value of our businesses around the world, the businesses we are attempting to sell to repay the American taxpayer.

We continue to welcome a frank and open dialogue with Congress so that you can be in a position to support our efforts. This support is essential and will benefit AIG stakeholders, the American taxpayer most of all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: So that moment that we dropped in on at the top of this story was obviously Congressman Kucinich saying to CEO Liddy, "You're not going to roll this member."

All right. We'll try to put some context together on that.

Liddy also likely to face questions about the bonuses paid to AIG executives. Today's "Washington Post" says officials at the New York Fed knew about the bonuses five months before the fire storm erupted.

Today's recession could be tomorrow's financial headache for baby boomers. The downturn is pushing Social Security and Medicare to the brink sooner than expected.

Christine Romans is at the New York Business Desk.

And Christine, the rising jobless rate is really at the heart of this. It means these programs are actually taking in less money.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And since this recession began, Tony, 5.7 million jobs have been lost. All of those jobs are people and companies not paying into the payroll taxes that support this whole thing. So you've got people needing more benefits more than ever at the same time that less is going in.

Essentially, the recession on Social Security is chopping off four years of Social Security. This thing is going to "run dry" four years earlier than the trustees had thought, tapped out by the year 2037.

And then you look at the real -- the real crisis many people say is Medicare, frankly. That one is even worse off. That one, a couple of years chopped off. Its funding tapped out by 2017, two years sooner than earlier -- or sooner than forecast.

And you know, let me just say something about Social Security in particular. You know, I think that especially young workers today -- we know that for the next 30 years, technically, they're going to be able to pay out full benefits for the next few decades; right? But for Social Security, if you're a younger worker, I always tell people, think of this as the gravy, not the meal. You need to make sure you've got saving and investing for retirement because this is a ticking time bomb that for younger workers, there will be some real ramifications, like a higher retirement age, fewer benefits, something way on down the road.

HARRIS: Is there a -- is there a fix to this system that holds some promise here?

ROMANS: If there were, you think we would've done it, right?

HARRIS: Yes.

ROMANS: That's the thing. A lot of smart people have been working on this for a very long time. It's some combination of things, I think, Tony.

It will be a combination of hits or more payment for some people. It's going to be a combination, and it's politically very thorny.

You know, this is the ticking time bomb before we had the bomb that really went off in the economy; right?

HARRIS: That's right.

ROMANS: This is the thing we were really worried about. So the administration putting it back in the front and saying, look, we're talking about this, too.

So, it's tough, but remember, gosh, you've got to have more than just Social Security. For younger workers, you need to be planning for much more than just Social Security.

You know what it appears to me, Christine? We are lifting the hood on some programs now and taking a look at what's under that hood. And there's a lot of stuff there that isn't working that needs to be switched out, changed out, that needs to be fixed.

We're talking about health care, we're talking about Medicare now, we're talking about Social Security. There is a lot of work that we have to face up to. And, well...

ROMANS: Do you think there's political will to do that work and to get it done? I mean, because this work has been there for a long time and it keeps getting pushed off. If it's not a crisis right now, Washington is somehow always able to always push it out four more years, maybe? Maybe until the next round of elections? You think there's the political will this time, Tony?

HARRIS: Well, the only chance, it seems to me -- I was talking -- you know, we were talking about health care yesterday, and I was talking about -- sorry, we're going on here just a bit. But just to make this point, I was talking to Dr. Sanjay Gupta yesterday about health care because that was the focus yesterday. And what he says is, if you're an administration coming in and you've got all of these big issues to tackle, better to tackle them early, as opposed to late, because at whatever point you tackle them, you're going to need years to see some of the positive impacts of your policies. So better to start them early, as opposed to late in an administration, and maybe that's why we're kicking the roof open right now and taking a look at what's under it.

ROMANS: Well, if the economy can get moving again, then that is a headwind that all of these structural problems in these programs wouldn't have. But the recession really kicks everything while -- you know, that's why recessions are bad, frankly, because they cause a lot of problems, and this is one of them.

HARRIS: Open the roof, let the sun in, lift the hood, and let's see what's working here.

Christine, appreciate it. Thank you.

ROMANS: Sure.

HARRIS: And, of course, later this hour, we're going to talk about this some more. We will drill down on this crisis facing Social Security and Medicare.

Let's take it up with business correspondent Ali Velshi. He is our chief business correspondent. And CNN.com's Nicole Lapin will also help us on the story.

Opening up the trade routes between Florida and Cuba. The shipping industry can't wait.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Let's take a quick look at the markets right now. We'll talk to Susan Lisovicz in just a couple of minutes.

As you can see, the Dow is down -- that's pretty significant -- in triple digit territory here, 151 points. The Nasdaq down, as well, by 36.

We'll check in with Susan to find out what's going on with the markets today.

President Obama says he wants a new beginning in U.S. relations with Cuba, and so does the Port of Tampa. Port officials say opening trade could actually give a big boost to Florida's economy.

Here's our Jim Acosta. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARL LINDELL, TAMPA PORT AUTHORITY COMMISSIONER: There's good fishing around here. That's for sure.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Florida real estate developer Carl Lindell sees more than good fishing from the deck of his yacht. As a commissioner for the Port of Tampa, Lindell says the catch of the day should be Cuba.

LINDELL: We want to send a message to Washington that it's time to rethink this stuff and try to find ways to build some bridges between us and the Cuban economy.

ACOSTA: With U.S. and Cuban relations improving, ports across the Gulf Coast are drawing up business plans, hoping for an end to the 47-year U.S. trade embargo against the island.

ARTHUR SAVAGE, PRESIDENT, A.R. SAVAGE AND SONS If we increase the ships, that ties right to jobs.

ACOSTA: Tampa shipping tycoon Arthur Savage is already exporting U.S.-authorized farming products to Cuba. His grandfather once ran a ferry service to Havana.

SAVAGE: I would like to be right there one day with a mojito in my hand going to Cuba.

ACOSTA: He worries the state's battered economy could be missing the boat.

SAVAGE: They want to trade with us.

ACOSTA: Before the embargo, imported tobacco from Cuba turned Tampa into America's cigar capital. Today, the city has only a few cigar factories left.

ERIC NEWMAN, PRESIDENT, J.C. NEWMAN CIGAR COMPANY: There's a big mystique about Cuban tobacco.

ACOSTA: Cigar maker Eric Newman still cherishes the last bag of Havana tobacco his father liberated from the island.

NEWMAN: And to this day, we still have it.

ACOSTA: He wants more you.

(on camera): So you want to get in on the game, basically?

NEWMAN: We do. We do. Is it any better? Probably not. But the customer thinks it is. You, the media, will hype it up like nobody's business.

ACOSTA: Yes, we will.

NEWMAN: We want to join the fun. ACOSTA (voice-over): But Cuba's critics in Congress insist the island must change first by freeing its political prisoners.

REP. CHRIS SMITH (R), NEW JERSEY: It seems to me that we need deeds, not words. And they talk a good game. Release the prisoners. That's the clearest, most tangible expression that things are in the process of changing in Cuba.

ACOSTA: With the embargo still in place, all Carl Lindell can do is dream of reeling in the big one.

LINDELL: We can't afford this embargo anymore. It's doing no one any good.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And Jim Acosta joins us live now from Tampa.

Jim, who else is talking about trade with Cuba?

ACOSTA: Well, Tony, it's not just the Port of Tampa. We were talking to some officials with the port of Mobile, Alabama, yesterday. They're planning a trade mission to Cuba coming up in July.

They'd like to sell some of the Hyundai cars that they build in Alabama down in Cuba if the embargo could possibly be lifted. So it's not just Tampa, it's ports really all over the country right now, Tony, dusting off their Cuba playbooks just in case changes are made to the trade policy.

HARRIS: So I don't know where I was last week when you did the reporting from Cuba. And you visited a family member, sort of getting in touch with your family roots here.

Any reflections post trip? Have you been able to connect more faces with stories? And how have people who saw the story responded to your reporting?

ACOSTA: Tony, I got a big response, I have to tell you. And we thought that this Tampa trade story was sort of the natural follow-up to a lot of what's going on down in Cuba these days.

You know, Americans go there illegally every year, and to the tune of tens of thousands. And we saw Americans when we were down there and, you know, I couldn't help myself. I took it upon myself to go visit some relatives when I was there, relatives I had never seen my entire life, relatives my father, who left Cuba back in 1962, he hasn't seen in 47 years.

And so it was pretty special when I was able to capture those memories and bring them back home and show them to my dad. He was really touched by that, Tony. And it was something that I'll never forget.

And a lot of Cuban-Americans are going through the same experience right now with some of the restrictions being lifted on those Cuban-Americans who have relatives still in Cuba. A lot of them reconnecting these days. A lot of them going through some of the same moments that I had about a week ago.

HARRIS: Well, Jim, I don't know if you've heard, but I've got a blog page now after resisting for months and months and months.

ACOSTA: We all do, yes.

HARRIS: Yes, we all do. But one of the things I think it allows us to do, as I try to figure out the silver lining in this for me of having this page, is that we can put great reports on the blog page. And that's what we're going to do. We're going to put your report on the blog page.

I thought it was terrific. And...

ACOSTA: Appreciate that.

HARRIS: Yes. Yes. And glad you did it, glad you recorded it, and glad you shared it with everyone.

Jim Acosta for us from Tampa.

ACOSTA: We should all discover our roots.

HARRIS: Amen, brother.

ACOSTA: We should all discover our roots.

HARRIS: Amen. Thank you. Thanks, Jim.

At the White House this hour, President Obama consults with senators about picking a Supreme Court nominee. He is meeting with leaders from both parties and top members of the Judiciary Committee. The White House says the talks will focus mainly on the confirmation process. The president is searching for a replacement for retiring justice David Souter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: In the last few minutes of Heidi's program, you heard the emotional reaction from the family of Army Private First Class Michael Yates, Jr., one of five U.S. troops allegedly killed by a U.S. sergeant in Iraq. As promised, we want to run a significant portion of those comments for you.

Let's have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAWNA MACHLINSKI, MOTHER OF PFC. MICHAEL EDWARD YATES, JR.: Bring them home. They don't need this. Bring them home. That's all it takes, to bring them home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We -- personally you can't fight a politically correct war. OK? And playing these games with these people -- and it's not a game, don't get me wrong. It's not a game, but you cannot be politically correct and fight a war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: All right. And more of those comments a little later in the NEWSROOM.

We are also hearing from family members of the alleged killer, 44-year-old Sergeant John Russell. He is now in the Camp Liberty stockyard. His father says it wasn't combat stress that made him kill, but fellow soldiers who pushed him over the edge.

Russell's father and son have been talking to CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUSSELL: ... they're going to wash him out. Send him -- you know, give him a dishonorable for insubordination or he wasn't capable of handling the stress or something, you know, because they broke him. Normally a guy does not go off and kill people just because he doesn't like them. You know? There's got to be a reason.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN RUSSELL, SON OF SGT. JOHN RUSSELL: I think that they just got to him and he just couldn't take it. And I don't know, you know, a whole lot about it, but it's not him that did something like that. It's not subconsciously. Something in his mind just went off and he just had no control over it, is what I think.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: And we will hear more from the family in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: So, 18 months into the recession, Americans are still losing their homes at an alarming rate.

Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis has new foreclosure stats.

Gerri, good to see you.

These numbers look -- how bad is it?

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Well, Tony, it's not great out there. Foreclosures in April hit another high. One in every 374 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing last month. And that is the highest monthly foreclosure rate ever posted since RealtyTrac began issuing reports way back in January of that 2005. So far, foreclosures are up 32 percent from this time last year.

I know. We spoke to Rick Sharga of RealtyTrac, the company that issues these reports. Here's what he says is behind the flood of foreclosures.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SHARGA, REALTYTRAC: There were a lot of loans that probably would have been in foreclosure months earlier that were delayed by legislative processes and industry wide moratorium. And these are all hitting the books now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIS: Yes, so those moratoriums, they've been lifted now. Now we're getting the real numbers, the real look. RealtyTrac says the weakness will continue for another three to six months before the recovery starts. But the foreclosure numbers will begin to slow during the second after of the year - Tony.

HARRIS: Wow. Hey, Gerri, correct me on something here. I seem to remember you saying that foreclosures could actually hit 3 million this year. And we're not just talking about folks losing their homes, but the foreclosure process, somewhere in that process.

WILLIS: Right, exactly. Three million last year, the expectation is that we could have as many as 3 million next year.

Let's drill down here just a little bit and look at some of the hardest hit states.

Nevada has the highest state foreclosure rate. Foreclosure activity in Nevada up 111 percent from this time last year. One in every 68 houses received a foreclosure filing. That's more than five times the national average.

Florida comes in number two. Total foreclosure activity in Florida up 75 percent from April 2008.

And finally, California had the nation's third largest -- highest that is, foreclosure rate last month. Total activity there was up 42 percent from this time last year.

So you see, the places that had the highest growth in prices are having the biggest plummet.

HARRIS: You know, I wonder, what's the take away for consumers from all of this, Gerri?

WILLIS: Well, there's still more room for housing to fall, but we may see the peak of foreclosure activity right now.

Now that said, don't try to time the market bottom. Prices are down and down dramatically, but you have to take into account other considerations if you're going to buy, not just prices and foreclosures. You'll also have to think about the quality of the neighborhood, the amenities that are available now. You know, it's a great time to start thinking about, am I going to buy that second home, that first time home. But you need to look at the big picture.

And of course, if you have questions, send them to us at gerri@CNN.com. I love to hear from you and we answer those questions right here every Friday.

HARRIS: Terrific as always. Gerri, appreciate it. Thank you.

WILLIS: My pleasure.

HARRIS: And you know, as foreclosures rise, home ownership rates are falling. And some groups are being hit harder than others.

Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange with details on how the housing recession has hit minorities.

Susan, good morning.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony.

Well, before the recession, home ownership rates were growing faster for minorities than white Americans. Now that trend has reversed. According to a Pew Hispanic Center study homeownership has declined for Whites by 1.2 percentage points from the 2004 peak. For Latinos, Blacks, and Asians, the decline is up to 2.6 percentage points from the peak. So definitely seeing a reversal there.

And we're seeing a reversal of fortune on Wall Street. I know you were talking about it before. The Dow, the Nasdaq, the S&P 500 each down about two percent today. Weak retail sales, much weaker than expected. Another, you know, sign that, you know, we're not out of the woods yet. Consumer spending key, key to turning the economy around, Tony.

HARRIS: Hey, Susan, let's get back to those numbers here on home ownership. Why the big downturn in minority ownership?

LISOVICZ: Well, I think we could spend the rest of the program talking about that, Tony. I think there's lots of reasons. But I'm going to give you a few nuggets here.

One of them is that Latinos hold 25 percent of all construction jobs. So a lot of them have lost their jobs. So when you think about construction, that industry has been completely eviscerated with this housing recession, you and Gerri were just talking about foreclosures.

Minorities, meanwhile, more likely to get higher priced or subprime loans. And then more minorities are simply denied mortgage loans altogether. According to the Pew Study, denial rates in '07 for Whites were 12 percent. It was more than double that for Hispanics and Blacks.

And White homeownership rates, by the way Tony, it's interesting there, nearly 75 percent right now versus 59 percent for Asians, nearly 54 percent for Latinos, and about 48 percent for Blacks. That's a big gap, but it has been narrowing substantially since 1995 and that's good news.

HARRIS: Yes. All right. Susan, appreciate it. See you next hour, thank you.

LISOVICZ: You got it.

HARRIS: And if you want to dig deeper, just click on CNNMoney.com. You can see it right there. April's foreclosures are a real shocker. That's at CNNMoney.com.

Time to talk Social Security here. It is not a democrat issue or republican issue, it is an everyone issue. And even though we talk about it a lot, let's be honest, a lot of us don't know much about it.

Nicole Lapin is here now.

Nicole, help us with some facts on Social Security.

NICOLE LAPIN, CNN.COM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, because we all need to care about it. We pay into it every single month, every single year, more than 12 percent, half by you half by your employer. If you're self-employed, you know that you pay all of that yourself.

Social Security, of course, is a largely pay-as-you-go system which essentially means today's workers are paying benefits for today's retirees. So when it was created in 1935, the Social Security program paid benefits only to the retired workers themselves. Then the law was updated four years later to add survivor benefits and benefits to the retiree's spouse and children. Disability benefits were added in the '50s, and those, Tony, still stand today. The retirement age when the program started was 65, that changed in '83 to 67.

The first monthly Social Security check was paid to a retired legal secretary Ida Mae Fuller of Vermont - and we have a picture of her - in 1940. She paid $25.00 in Social Security taxes. She went on to collect almost 1,000 times that, almost $23,000.

And Tony, some say it is a totally different story today that we are actually paying into the system more than we will ever receive. More than we will actually get out, unlike Ida Mae there.

HARRIS: So, Christine Romans says consider it the gravy on your retirement plan.

LAPIN: And a lot of people are talking about that on the blog right now. What do you do for yourself? Join the conversation, CNN.com - it's a quiz. It's your blog.

HARRIS: It's my blog?

LAPIN: But I'm updating it for you. And you have to remember the URL because with we had some issues with that yesterday. CNN.com/... HARRIS: Newsroom.

LAPIN: There you go.

HARRIS: Thank you, Nicole. See you next hour.

LAPIN: You're welcome.

HARRIS: All right, Social Security will run out of money by 2037 unless changes are made. That is the latest projection from the trustees annual report. So, what are the options for saving Social Security? And boy, let's turn to our chief business correspondent now, Ali Velshi. He is live in New York where he is hosting his weekly radio show.

Ali, good to see you, Doctor. It was good to see you here in Atlanta last week and spend a little time with you.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It is lovely to run into you. Sure was. It was good to see you in person.

HARRIS: How about that, huh? And help us with this. Christine Romans was talking about Social Security, consider it the gravy on your retirement plan.

VELSHI: That's great advice.

HARRIS: Do you like that? What are some of the...

VELSHI: Well, first of all, look...

HARRIS: Sure.

VELSHI: There's two issues. One is, look, they say it's going to run out in 2037, and that number may change a little bit depending on whether the economy gets worse or better. So, if you're going to get it earlier than that, you shouldn't worry too much about it.

And if you're substantially younger than that, then you should be, Christine's right, you should be thinking about it as gravy. You should be thinking of - how does Christine describe it? -a tax that you pay for being an American. And what you should do is concentrate on your 401(k) and your IRA. If you're 25 years old, you can have no problems in retirement just by thinking about that starting today. So that's, I think, lesson number one about Social Security.

HARRIS: Got you. You know there are a number of - we've got a full screen here. I don't know if you can see it in your studio.

VELSHI: Yes, I can see it, I got one.

HARRIS: Of possible fixes here. How to fix Social Security. Take a look at this list, and does anything jump out at you as being particularly viable?

VELSHI: Well, look, we know we studied this many times. We know we can solve Social Security with some of those things. Either increasing the taxes, reducing the benefits, or allowing private savings accounts.

But one of the main ones we probably need to think about is increasing the age at which you can initially claim Social Security benefits. Because it may be a bit of an outdated old-fashioned concept. People work longer, that's the reality. The number of people who get to 65 and are told they need to retire and who don't want to because they're physically fit and healthier. I mean there are people who live well into their 90s on a regular basis now.

So I think increasing the age at which you can do this doesn't affect anybody except the youngest of people right now who have the opportunity to save up. I think that's the first ones we should be considering.

Private accounts are a neat concept. It's like 401(k)s, but we have seen how those don't always work because we are not all experts at investing.

So I think some, we need -- the issue here is that this administration can solve this problem. There is a solution to it. We need to get on with it now, have a fairly good public debate about which one of those options or others we're going to use. But solve it now so that we don't ever have to have a gap. It's a big and growing problem.

HARRIS: Let's get you a part of that debate there, Mr. Velshi.

Ali Velshi for us. Get back to your radio show, my friend. Appreciate it.

VELSHI: Hey send some people to my show if they want to discuss it directly me. I'll just give you the number, 877-266-4819. Tony, good to see you, buddy.

HARRIS: Yes, awesome. Thank you. Thanks, Ali.

So Ali touched on increasing the retirement age for Social Security. Look, we all know something has to change. Or does it? Should you just save more money by yourself and not rely on the government to support you? Listen to this point of view expressed this morning on CNN's AMERICAN MORNING.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB WEINER, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF, HOUSE AGING COMMITTEE: The program is solvent for the next 30 years. Once - and even then, when they say insolvent, it still will be able to pay 75 percent of the benefits even under the worst economic model. And the economic model that they're using, John, is the crash that we're in right now. So they've taken the worst-case scenario instead of recognizing that the economy will improve and that we'll go back to a solvency situation with Social Security.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HARRIS: Look, it's time for you to weigh in on all of this. Just go to my blog, which is updated by Nicole Lapin, CNN.com/newsroom. Look at the proposals for yourself and send us a note. Your job, your money, your life.

iReporters tell us how the economy impacts them, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: So, did you know that you are actually part of the engine that keeps the economy chugging? Of course you know this. Come on. Turns out a lot of you are flat out of steam in April. We learned today that retail sales fell for a second straight month.

And to get another read on the economy, let's go to producer Tyson Wheatley at CNN.com's iReport Desk.

And Tyson, good to see you. What do you have for us, Doctor?

TYSON WHEATLEY, CNN.COM PRODUCER: Hey, Tony.

You know, I want to talk about a great opportunity, actually, for our viewers to get involved with something special. It's tomorrow night, the "CNN MONEY SUMMIT." It's going to be at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. There's a great way that you can get involved through iReport and by doing something very simple. Which is to give us an update on how your own economic situation is sort of panning out for you right now.

And I was going to just share a few examples of the types of videos that are coming in already today. And encourage more people to tell us about their own situation.

We're going to start with Zennie Abraham, he's from Oakland, California. And Zennie, he says the personal economy hasn't really changed him, a whole lot for him. He's an entrepreneur who thinks it's actually a great time to be in business for yourself.

Let's go ahead and listen to what he has to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZENNIE ABRAHAM, CNN IREPORTER: My personal economy is roughly the same now as it was before, but it's on the upswing. My video blog business is taking off, our standard core business is working and now I have a national television show.

Regarding whether or not I see more people get hired by traditional firms, the answer is no. I tell everyone, it's a great time to be in business for yourself, but a terrible time to look for a job from a large company.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHEATLEY: OK. Now let's go ahead and hear from Shawn Cochran. He's 33 and he's from Bolingbrook, Illinois. He's a mortgage broker and he says he sees signs that the housing market is recovering, but he thinks these new stimulus package loans are confusing and ultimately not a benefit to the people who can qualify for them.

Let's hear what he has to say, it's a very interesting perspective.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN COCHRAN, CNN IREPORTER: It's getting better for those people who are qualified for FHA. And if you're not, if you're upside down in a loan or delinquent, it's not getting better. As a matter of fact, it's probably a little bit worse for you because it is not as easy to qualify for a loan.

So my answer to that question is mixed review. It's getting better for some, worse for others.

My name is Shawn Cochran, God bless you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHEATLEY: All right, Tony, I've got one more I want to show you. This is from Troy Davenport. He's a 22-year-old college senior from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. And he's a first generation in his family to go to college. He's worried about finding a job when he graduates. He says, you know, he's from a small town in northern Alabama. He knows a lot of people who are laid off and now are having trouble finding work.

Let's listen to his story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TROY DAVENPORT, CNN IREPORTER: I'm from a small town in northern Alabama called Attalla (ph), Alabama. It's blue collar workers, working factories. And I have more than a handful of friends that work in factories that have been laid off and still haven't been hired back.

But I did get this class ring not too long ago. And I hope that this class ring is not going to be more valuable than my college degree.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHEATLEY: So that's just a good sampling of the kind of things we're getting in.

Of course, CNN really wants to hear from you on how the economy is treating you right now. Are you seeing signs of recovery? Are things looking up for you? Or is it getting any worse? Just go to iReport.com/money and tell us -- give us the update today.

HARRIS: That'd be great. All right, Tyson, appreciate it. Thank you, sir.

WHEATLEY: All right, take care, Tony.

HARRIS: Space shuttle astronauts are about to catch a failing star, a superstar, really. The Hubbell Space telescope, Atlantis is about an hour away from grabbing Hubbell from orbit. Can you imagine? How tricky is this going to be?

During five spacewalks, astronauts will give Hubbell a new camera and battery that will let the telescope, we believe, see ten times farther and faster. The upgrades should keep the 19-year-old workhorse on the job until 2014.

The shuttle fleet will be retired next year. So this is the final mission to Hubbell.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Just getting some breaking news into CNN. We want to show you pictures now from Huron County, Ohio. Let's look at those pictures while I sort through the information as it comes in here.

The Huron County Sheriff's Office is investigating a missing 13 year old from the Bronson Township area. And here's what gets a little eerie about this. The boy kept a diary that had made threats toward several faculty members and students at Norwalk Catholic Schools.

The additional information that's coming from a Huron County Sherriff's Department spokeswoman is that a .22 caliber rifle is believed missing from the home and White 2003 Chevy 4X4 pickup is also missing, believed to have been taken by the 13 year old. And Norwalk Catholic Schools are now closed as a precaution for safety reasons, obviously.

So those are the facts, the details as we know them so far. And again, that information coming from the Huron County Sheriff's Department. We will keep an eye on this story and get you updates as we get additional information.

Let's look ahead to some of the top stories you'll see in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM. Stories of pain and loss told by the children of war. Our correspondent shares one little girl's heartbreaking story.

Do you take vitamins? New research shows that C and E can X out some of the benefits you get from exercise. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Let's update the story we brought you just moments ago. Live pictures from Huron County, Ohio. And Norwalk Catholic Schools are closed right now.

Let's take the pictures full if we could, please.

And the reason, it's strictly a precaution right now and here's why. The Huron County Sheriff's Office is investigating a missing 13 year old. And the boy is from the Bronson Township area. The boy, apparently, kept a diary and had made threats toward several faculty members and students at Norwalk Catholic Schools. Don't know how many schools are in that system. Maybe we can find that out.

A .22 caliber rifle is believed missing. A white 2003 Chevy 4x4 pickup is also missing and is believed to have been taken by the 13 year old.

So once again, the schools, the Norwalk Catholic Schools, are closed right now as a precaution until this 13 year old is located.

We will continue to follow developments on this story for you.