Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Health Care: Deal or No Deal?; Senate to Vote on Sotomayor Nomination; Cyberattack on Twitter; Sinking Home Values; How To Save Your Home; Examining Cuba's Health Care System; Grading the President; Adjusting After North Korea

Aired August 06, 2009 - 12:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Will it be deal or no deal on a bipartisan health care bill? Right now, President Obama is meeting with six Democrats and Republicans from the Senate Finance Committee. They're seen as the best chance for a compromise plan, but in a TV interview, the president indicated that the clock is ticking on a bipartisan bill. He said, quote, "At some point sometime in September, we are just going to have to make an assessment."

White House correspondent Dan Lothian joins us live now.

Dan, where do things stand? And is the president really running out of patience here?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, where it stands is that, you know, it does appear that this so-called Gang of 6, this bipartisan group of senators coming here to the White House, inching closer to a bipartisan bill, but, still, nothing on paper yet.

What White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said that the president's message will be to them today is to keep working. But, you know, you brought up a good point about patience. The president yesterday, in an interview with NBC News, talked about that, how down the road, in the fall, he may have to assess the situation in terms of trying to get a bipartisan proposal.

The bottom line for this administration is that there is certain things that the president really wants in health care reform. He wants to make sure that people with pre-existing conditions can still have insurance. He wants to make sure that this entire plan is deficit-neutral.

And so the White House wants to have bipartisanship when it comes to health care reform, but as they point out, they want to do it right -- Don.

LEMON: I know that there was a deadline here in the fall, but when does he want to get it done?

LOTHIAN: Well, the latest -- they're trying to stay away from deadlines. What they're saying now essentially is that the president wants to get something on his desk to sign and done by the end of the year. I mean, the White House really believes that when you look at health care reform, it's not only about providing the right kind of health care for all Americans, but they believe that if you get health care reform, you'll also help the economy.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In order to lead in the global economy and ensure that our businesses can grow and innovate, we also have to pass health insurance reform that brings down costs.

(APPLAUSE)

Reform that brings down costs and provides more security for folks who have insurance and affordable options for those who don't.

I promise you, we will pass reform by the end of this year, because the American people need it. The American people need some relief. Now, we're going to have to make it happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LOTHIAN: Of course, the White House had wanted to have something from the House and the Senate before the August recess. That, of course, did not happen. So, that's why you're hearing now the president saying that he wants to have something by this year, almost guaranteeing essentially that they'll have health care reform by the end of the year.

But one thing you've been hearing from this White House now over the past several weeks is really sort of pointing the finger at Republicans up on Capitol Hill and other conservatives across the country, and saying that they're putting out a lot of disinformation that really is causing some of the hurdles in moving towards health care reform -- Don.

LEMON: All right.

Dan Lothian at the White House.

Thank you, Dan.

So, how is he doing? We're talking about the president.

We'll have President Barack Obama's latest poll numbers straight ahead. And you have a chance to grade the president.

Go to CNN.com/reportcard. Then get the results tonight. Watch CNN's "NATIONAL REPORT CARD," 8:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

Judge Sonia Sotomayor just hours from a confirmation vote in the Senate. Barring a last-minute hitch, she'll become the first Hispanic justice on the U.S. Supreme Court and just the third woman.

CNN's Brianna Keilar is watching the Senate debate.

Brianna, all Democratic senators appear to be on board here. How many Republicans are going to vote for Sotomayor?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, our count now is nine, Don, because that man you see on your screen, Senator George Voinovich of Ohio, just announced -- he's a Republican -- he just announced that he will be voting for the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor. So, now, by our count, she will get at least 67 votes for her confirmation to the Supreme Court.

But the debate obviously continuing on the Senate floor ahead of this vote that we're expecting at about 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time. And there are 31 Republicans, who, like Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, have their concerns about Sonia Sotomayor and say they will vote against her.

Many of them concerned about her stance -- or her -- the stance that they assume she has on issues like gun rights. And a lot of them have said, as we've heard before, they're concerned that some of her off-the-bench comments she's made show that she will take her personal opinions and experiences into account, and they will color her decisions on the bench of the Supreme Court.

So, listen to what Senator Hatch said on the floor just a short time ago. And also a bit of a rebuttal from Senator Patrick Leahy, the Democratic chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R), UTAH: I hope that on the Supreme Court, Judge Sotomayor will take an objective, modest and restrained approach to interpreting and applying written law. I hope that she actively defends her impartiality against subjective influences such as personal sympathies and prejudices.

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D), CHAIRMAN, JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: She is a judge of unimpeachable character and integrity. These critics have also chosen to ignore her extensive record of judicial modesty and restraint, a record made over 17 years on the federal bench. Instead, they focused on and mischaracterized her rulings in just a handful out of her more than 3,600 cases.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: So, we are expecting that the Senate will vote to confirm Sonia Sotomayor here in a few hours, Don. And we're expecting that she will be sworn in, in a public ceremony, by the week's end -- Don.

LEMON: OK. Another thing that the Senate is going to take up, this Cash for Clunkers. When is the Senate expected to take action on that, Brianna?

KEILAR: Yes, a couple of big votes today before the Senate leaves town for their August recess. We're expecting that to come a few hours after the vote on Sotomayor.

First, what we're going to see is some debate. And we're going to see some votes on proposed changes that Republicans have to the Cash for Clunkers program.

The expectation is that these Republican attempts to change this bill are going to be rebuffed. They're not going to be successful. And that's really key, Don, because if Republicans do manage to change -- add some changes to the Cash for Clunkers bill, well, then the Senate would have to hash out its differences with the House-passed bill.

Remember, the House passed a version of Cash for Clunkers last week, and the House is gone. So, what would that mean? Well, with the Congress gone, basically it's possible that Cash for Clunkers could expire. It could run out of money before Congress gets back in September.

So, we'll certainly be watching that vote pretty closely -- Don.

LEMON: All right. Brianna Keilar.

Thank you, Brianna.

News about jobs and the economy now.

The number of people filing for first-time unemployment benefits fell last week. The Labor Department reports 550,000 initial claims for unemployment. That's lower than analysts expected. However, the government says continuing claims for benefits rose by 69,000. More than 6.3 million claims were filed during the week ending July 25th.

President Obama's economic team takes on critics of the $787 billion stimulus plan. Today the director of the White House Council of Economic Advisers said the program is helping stabilize the economy. Christina Romer also rejected the argument that rising unemployment is proof the stimulus isn't working.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINA ROMER, DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: Let me give you an analogy. Suppose that you go to your doctor for a strep throat and he or she prescribes an antibiotic. Sometime after you get the prescription, and maybe even after you've taken the first pill, your fever spikes.

Do you decide that the medicine was useless? Do you conclude that the antibiotic caused your infection to get worse? Surely not. You probably conclude that the illness was more serious than you or your doctor thought and are very glad you saw the doctor and started taking the medicine when you did.

Well, that was exactly the situation with the economy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, Romer says stimulus money is moving into the economy quickly, and the pace is increasing.

Former presidential candidate John Edwards's former mistress is apparently testifying before a federal grand jury today. Rielle Hunter and her baby were escorted into the federal courthouse in Raleigh this morning. Edwards, a Democrat, has acknowledged his presidential campaign finances are under investigation. The political action committee for the former senator from North Carolina paid Hunter's video production company $100,000 back in 2006.

Apparently there's nothing sacred for the cyberhackers out there. The popular site Twitter took a hit this morning, experiencing a major blackout, apparently the victim of a massive cyberattack.

John Sutter from CNN.com joins me right now.

And John, we're talking about a denial of service. I've been telling our viewers about this. What exactly is a denial of service?

JOHN SUTTER, CNN.COM WRITER, PRODUCER: A denial of service essentially means a third of computers are attacking the site, trying to slow it down so much with all that traffic that it eventually stops working. So, the motives behind this kind of attack could be many things.

It could be someone targeting Twitter for a specific reason -- again, social networking. It could be simply because the site has gotten (INAUDIBLE) is enormous. And there's some people that say that any site that gets a lot of attention from media and a lot of popularity with the public, you know, is vulnerable to attack.

LEMON: Here's the interesting thing. So many people sign on to Twitter. And I had a response from one of the viewers here.

It said -- here it is. I think the guy's name is -- he said, "Looking at my thumbs, like, what to do now, right?"

So, the reason I say that is because so many people are connected, and I'm wondering, can you get other people's information from that? Can it move on? Is it something that is viral or circuitous and can actually -- that they can get information through that way?

SUTTER: Well, there have been no signs that that has happened so far. I mean, the things you can do to protect yourself are obviously to have secure passwords, have different passwords for the different Web sites that you're a member of. And, you know, sort of watch what's happening on your own computer. Update your anti-virus, that sort of thing.

But there haven't been any signs of that so far. But yes, I think there's really something to this idea that we are so connected now online through Twitter, through Facebook, that when those services go down, people kind of panic.

We got a lot of those messages our tech blog, too, people saying, you know, "I don't know what to do now." Even I, when I was writing blog updates early this morning, I almost went on Twitter to re-post something about it, and I was like, "Oh, I'm writing about that."

LEMON: And you get used to it. It's like, you know, people who -- you know, not many people have home phones anymore.

SUTTER: Right.

LEMON: It's just the way the world is changing. There's not a town crier.

And speaking of that -- John Sutter from CNN.com, thank you very much.

The postal service also dealing with issues because of the Internet. People sending e-mails, not putting letters in the mail anymore.

Our postal service is getting clobbered by the Internet and the recession. I'm going to ask the postal service's chief financial officer what steps are being taken to prevent another American icon from getting stamped out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: So, President Obama hits the 200-day mark of his time in office tomorrow, and he has had a packed schedule so far. The president has signed 21 executive orders. He has signed 42 bills into law.

On the travel front, Mr. Obama has visited 18 states in his first 200 days. He has also traveled to 14 countries.

It's clear the president has been busy. Now let's take a look at how he's doing.

CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser has been going over the new poll numbers. He joins us now from Washington.

Thank you, sir. Always good to see you.

What do Americans think about how President Obama is handling his job?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, that's the standard question, the number one question, Don, that we asked and other organizations ask as well. So, take a look at it. As you mentioned, these are brand new numbers from CNN and the Opinion Research Corporation, a national survey.

Fifty-six percent of Americans are giving Barack Obama a thumbs up when it comes to how he's handling his duties in the White House. Four in 10 disapprove.

Don, that 56 percent is a pretty good number overall, and it's kind of in line with where other surveys have been this month. But look at this. There has been a drop, five points from June. And if you go all the way back to late April, when the president was marking 100 days in office, you see a seven-point drop -- Don.

LEMON: All right. So, do Americans think that the president is trying to do too much at once? I've heard that criticism and I've heard it through the media. But what about in the polling?

STEINHAUSER: Good question. And we asked it. And take a look at this.

Six in 10 -- I'm sorry, nearly two out of three Americans say, yes, they think Barack Obama is handling more issues than he should have right now. He's got a lot on his plate. That's obvious.

You just mentioned all the trips and the things he's doing. You've got health care, you've got the economy. And about three in 10 say, no, not at all, the president is doing just the right amount -- Don.

LEMON: OK, Paul. Well, how do Americans feel about the economy and how the president's dealing with that? We know that the economy is number one. And we've been talking a lot about health care, but economy at the top of the list,

STEINHAUSER: Yes, the economy is still at the top of the list, you're right. Health care is dominant right now, but overall with Americans, the economy is still the number one issue on their minds. Take a look at how they feel about the economy right now.

Only about 20 percent, 21 percent, say that the economic conditions in the country are good right now. You can see 35 percent say the economic conditions are very poor. That number, though, has been declining, so that is maybe an indicator that Americans feel things are going to be getting better.

As to how the president is doing with the economy, check this out. We asked about his economic policies, are they making things better? Forty-four percent say that what he's doing as of right now is already helping. Another 11 percent say, well, it's not helping yet, but it will in the future. And four in 10, Don, say the president's policies when it comes to the economy are not helping, not making it better.

LEMON: People want some relief and they want some money in their pockets.

Paul Steinhauser, our deputy political director.

Thank you, sir.

And, you know, you can grade the president. Let's go right here to CNN.com. We can tell you -- I'll put it in. You can't get on to Twitter, but you can get on to CNN.com.

CNN.com, and then -- there you go. OK. CNN.com/reportcard. Sorry. I don't know how I did that. I can't really type here.

But CNN.com/reportcard. And you can get it.

I want to make sure I get it. CNN.com/reportcard. I got it.

I just want to make sure I get it. There we go. We're on. Go back to the Mac.

All right, CNN.com/reportcard.

And guess what? Tonight, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, is when you can see how the president is doing -- 8:00 p.m. Eastern, CNN's "National Report Card" on the president. Look at it there, it's got grades and everything from an A to an F.

Let talk now about the United States postmaster general. He is saying today that sending and receiving mail is a fundamental right for every single American, but the postal service lost more than $2 billion in revenue just this quarter. Two billion dollars just this quarter, and expects to lose as much as $7 billion for the entire year.

Are we about to louse another American icon?

The chief financial officer for the postal service, Joseph Corbett, he joins me now.

Are we in danger? It sounds like, you know, $2 billion in the last quarter, $7 billion in the upcoming quarter, it sounds like you may be on the brink of losing the post office.

JOSEPH CORBETT, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, U.S. POSTAL SERVICE: Hi, Don. Thank you.

Absolutely not. Losing the post office, we've been around 235 years. And we'll be around for decades to come.

We're being hit by, you know, the recession and a couple other things. But it's still a strong organization and a necessary part of the American fabric.

LEMON: OK. So, listen, we've heard about the possibility, you're looking at the possibility of closing, a number of post offices around the country. And when you talk about that, of course, that will probably mean lob josses.

What do you tell the American people about that and the employees of the post office? What should they know?

CORBETT: Well, you know, it's actually a good thing that people are paying attention to this. It just shows how much people rely on the postal service and how vested they are in us being around. So, in a lot of ways it's a good thing.

We are looking at 3,200 stations and branches of post offices in major cities around the country. We have narrowed the search down to around 800 now we're still looking at. And there may be some closures or consolidations in there where it makes sense. We're only going to do it in cases where we can continue to meet the demand and make sure that the retail offices are available for the American public.

LEMON: OK. So, we talk about snail mail. That's what traditional mail has been dubbed here. The volume that so-called snail mail has dropped by 20 billion pieces this year and expected to drop to 10 billion pieces in 2010.

You know, you've got to look at the Internet, Mr. Corbett, and say there's no turning back. So, then, what does the post office do in order to stay viable to make Americans, you know, want to use the post office?

What do you do? You're in a predicament.

CORBETT: We are in a predicament, but we have been for 15 years.

LEMON: Yes.

CORBETT: The Internet's been around. People have been migrating to it.

Roughly about three or four percent of the volume of single- piece, first-class mail, which is only about a fourth of our revenue, has been migrating slowly to electronic diversion. Our volumes actually have been quite steady over the last five years. In fact, growing in two of those years. However, what's happened here is the economy. The economy, in connection with also migration, has caused the numbers to plummet, as you noted, by 20 billion pieces through June 30th.

LEMON: The postmaster general said this morning that the agency needs to cut delivery service to five days a week instead of six days a week. Do you agree with that?

CORBETT: Absolutely. Look at the -- we need to be on a level playing field with -- and have a go of it in terms of our finances.

We could save up to $3.5 billion, and 66 percent of Americans in a recent poll said that that's the preferred solution over other solutions like raising postage rates. So, I think actually the American public's behind that. And it will cause us to be more economically stable.

LEMON: Yes. Obviously, like many businesses around the country, I'm sure you'll have to -- you agree with that, you have to streamline in tough economic times in order to stay afloat here.

CORBETT: Absolutely. And we're doing that.

LEMON: All right. Thank you very much.

Chief Financial Officer for the Postal Service, Joseph Corbett.

We appreciate it. Have a great afternoon.

CORBETT: Thank you, Don.

LEMON: All right.

And on our NEWSROOM blog we asked you to weigh in on the post office's problems. Here are some of your responses. Larry says, "I hardly use the postal service anymore. I do most of my transactions online. If you can save money, they should go for it."

Also, someone else says here, "While I pay most of my bills online, I still depend on the postal service for other purposes like mailing birthday cards."

"I hope our legislators find a way to keep this American tradition alive," and that one is from Brandi.

We appreciate all of your responses. Make sure you go to CNN.com/newsroom and you, too, can respond to the subjects that are on our news here.

Time to find a new job? Well, we've got some tips on how to get free job training. Free.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: New unemployment numbers will be released tomorrow morning. The nation's jobless rate inching toward 10 percent.

If you're holding a pink slip, well, personal finance editor Gerri Willis is here to talk free job training for you. Yes, I said free.

Gerri, where do we start? Anything that's free, I say it's good.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: That's right, Don. That's a great place to start, isn't it? Costing you no money at all, and the place to go, the most obvious place, is the job.

If you're laid off, look, some severance packages include job training or other educational benefits. Talk to HR about your severance package and find out how you can take advantage of job retraining. Don't forget to ask about other positions in the company or at different locations if you work for a big company -- Don.

LEMON: All right. Well, can Uncle Sam help out with this?

WILLIS: Yes, you bet. The Department of Labor sets up local one-stop career centers. And at these offices you can find information on local jobs available, free classes on job prep, computer training, even.

There are also a number of specific programs that can help you out. The Displaced Worker Program, this is a program that will help you find work if you are laid off and the industry in that area is in decline.

There's also something called the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program. You'll be eligible for the job training program if you were laid off because of a shift in trade. Let's say your factory was shut down and relocated overseas. And finally, if you're a young adult, under 24, having trouble finding a job, you can take advantage of the youth plan. This program will help you develop a sustainable career path.

To find a one-stop career stop center, go to servicelocator.org on the Web -- Don.

LEMON: And Gerri, you and I know this, if you can get your foot in the door, do it; right? So, what about apprenticeships?

WILLIS: Yes. People don't think about this.

If you're considering a new line of work, think about taking on an apprenticeship. An apprenticeship is a combination of job training and classroom education. Apprentices get a paycheck and the potential to earn college credit.

Check out the Department of Labor Web site DOL.gov. Here you can search for apprenticeship programs where you can work with chefs, electricians, law enforcement agents, carpenters. You pick out your new vocation and get training while you work.

LEMON: All right. Where can people find grant opportunities? Grants are always good.

WILLIS: More free money, that's what we're talking about here.

A grant is a cash award given out to people who carry out some specific purpose. For example, if you have a novel idea on how to curb foreclosures or stem the tide of high school dropouts, you can apply for a government grant.

Check out this Web site. And be careful you get this right -- Grants.gov. There's a lot of pretenders out there. It's Grants.gov.

This site lists over 1,000 grants in areas like education, health, housing, agriculture. To find grants that you can help foot your tuition bill, go to Opportunity.gov -- Don.

LEMON: All right.

Gerri Willis, your personal finance editor, here on CNN.

We appreciate it, Gerri. Have a good day.

WILLIS: My pleasure. Thank you, Don.

LEMON: CNN's photojournalists have been bringing us an in-focus series report on health care. This one from Jeremy Moorhead. It looks at the heated lobbying effort on Capitol Hill.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here we are for health care for America. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a huge undertaking. Right now, we are in Upper Senate Park, in front of...

I'm the marshals' (ph) captain. My name is Julie (ph). And we're going to be positioning you folks throughout this Upper Senate Park.

It's going to be a great rally.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP (singing): We want, we want health care.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've got many, many groups who are volunteering their folks. The main responsibility will be to keep the sidewalks clear.

Why am I doing it? Because I support health care for all. I think health care is a right, and I think that this a pivotal time in our history to make sure that we guarantee that.

We've got almost 65 buses that are coming in the next two to three hours. I think we have people coming from as far as Hawaii.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three busloads from West Virginia.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some of them will be going to town halls to meet with senators. There's going to be a lot of people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come here now.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP (singing): We want, we want health care

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boy, there's more of you than we expected, which is what a movement is about.

DAVID HOPKINS, GRASSROOTS4CHANGE: When you go to Europe, you get health care from cradle to grave. And here in America, the richest country in the world, and you got millions of people who don't have health care. If they lose their job, they lose their health care. If they get divorced, they lose their health care.

It's basic stuff. Why can't we have health care?

SEN. BARBARA MIKULSKI (D), MARYLAND: We need to work together to pass universal health care. There is no option but a public option!

Thank you. Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: That was CNN photojournalist Jeremy Moorhead.

Nice report there.

We have been looking at how other countries deal with health care. Cuba provides its citizens with universal health care. Is it working? Is it working? We'll have a report on that in just about 12 minutes from now, right here on CNN.

August is shaping up as a make-or-break month for health care reform. If you had a chance to talk face to face with your congressman or senator, what would you say?

Tell us at our blog. Go to CNN.com/newsroom.

Facing a cash crunch. In today's "Money & Main Street" report, one woman turns her talent in the kitchen into a financial solution.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Of course, the economy, number one issue when it comes to Americans. So let's check in now what cnn.com/money -- cnnmoney.com. It is your source for all things financial. So take a look at that. You can go to cnnmoney.com and get the very latest on everything you need.

Now let's look at the numbers coming from Wall Street. You can see the Dow is down some 32 points there. Nasdaq down -- at last count it was down 19 percent. So, Dow down, Nasdaq down.

Oh, wait, so fast-forward two years. A news analysis paints a brutal picture of the housing market in 2011. And CNN's Christine Romans is at the business desk in New York.

And, Christine, homeowners may need to sit down for this bit of news, especially if you're like me and -- I didn't buy a house at the top of the market, but pretty darn near close to the top of the market. So, you know...

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know, I don't know if they have to sit down, because I have a feeling that many of them already know this in their hearts.

LEMON: Yes, they got it already, right?

ROMANS: If you're looking at your neighborhood and you see when a house sells, you see that it's selling for less money, you see the number of for sale signs, you see the foreclosures on your block. This is an analysis from Deutsche Bank that shows that, look, about -- in the first quarter of this year, 14 million homes were underwater according to Deutsche Bank. That means that the homeowner owed more to the bank than the home was even worth.

Now, flash -- fast-forward to when they think that things -- we're at the end of this housing recession. First quarter 2011 they say 25 million homes will be underwater. Don, that's 48 percent of all the mortgages. Think of that, the 51 million mortgages in this country, 25 million of them underwater. That's tough. That's tough stuff.

And the reason is, is because home prices have fallen, you know, nationally, according to Case-Shiller, from peak to trough 33 percent. You look at Phoenix, the home prices are down 52 or 54 percent. You look at some other places, it's here, in the New York area, down 21 percent peak to trough. It's because those home prices are falling. People now owe more on the house than it's worth, in many cases.

And that's going to be -- that's going to be something to contend with over the next year or so. It's going to be something that's going to make it difficult for you to move if you get a new job somewhere else, if you're lucky enough to get a new job somewhere else. It's going to mean there's not money to tap into your home to pay for college and some of the things we've been using the home -- the equity in our home for. So just a very sobering assessment from Deutsche Bank about what this housing situation's going to look like for many Americans for the next year or so.

LEMON: All right, Christine Romans, thank you very much for that.

ROMANS: Sure.

LEMON: We really appreciate it.

A New Jersey woman takes the cake when it comes to a creative way to save some money on her home foreclosure. CNN's national correspondent, Allan Chernoff, has today's "Money & Main Street" report. Check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Actress Angela Logan has played many roles to earn a living. She's worked as a teacher, model, hairdresser and is studying to be a nurse. But when she recently fell into foreclosure on her Teaneck, New Jersey, home, she turned to baking.

ANGELA LOGAN, MORTGAGE APPLE CAKE: It was a flash of desperation. And I thought, wow, we could sell these cakes they're so good.

CHERNOFF (on camera): A major reason Angela fell into a cash squeeze is that two years ago she hired a contractor to renovate the house. He took his money, but he only did a portion of the work.

CHERNOFF (voice-over): To save her home, Angela set a goal of selling 100 mortgage apple cakes in 10 days for $40 each. She asked everyone she knew to buy a cake.

LOGAN: The hardest part was to say, can you buy my cakes. This is my problem.

CHERNOFF: A local Hilton hotel offered its kitchen so Angela could bake faster. Angela says she's baked about 200 cakes, double her goal. And by qualifying for the federal make home affordable program, her monthly mortgage payment is dropping by nearly 20 percent. Other Americans in a financial bind, she says, can also find creative answers to their cash crunch.

LOGAN: Find your talent. Find something that you can do that will help. I can paint fences, you know? Who needs one? CHERNOFF: Almost any talent can generate extra cash. Teaching a skill, like playing an instrument. Home repairs, for those who are handy. Even dog walking or pet sitting for animal lovers.

LOGAN: Wow, this is incredible.

CHERNOFF: Internet retailer Bake Me a Wish got a whiff of the Mortgage Apple Cake and now is leasing pans to mass produce it and share the proceeds with Angela. A whole line of Angela Logan cakes is planned.

LOGAN: That's it.

CHERNOFF: Escaping foreclosure could propel Angela Logan to a new career as the queen of cakes. But back in her kitchen, she still studies nursing, knowing from experience never to depend upon just one role.

Allan Chernoff, CNN, Teaneck, New Jersey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right, more "Money & Main Street," tonight, 8:00 p.m. right here on CNN. Campbell Brown, 8:00 p.m. More "Money & Main Street."

You know, we're hearing a lot about socialism in the debate over health care reform. We're going to look at real socialized medicine Cuban style right here in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler is in a South Dakota hospital today after he took a tumble. Tyler, who is 61, is said to be nursing minor head and neck injuries. He was dancing around during a performance of "Love in an Elevator." A witness says Tyler twirled around and stepped backwards off the stage. It is not clear if the shows will be canceled. The group is expected to play Winnipeg tomorrow night.

Cuba is -- as a model for health care reform? Well, we'll see. It is a poor country. But it can boast about health care. A system that leads the way in Latin America. So, what are they doing right? CNN's Morgan Neill takes a look at the good, the bad of Cuba's health care system.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there a doctor here in Cuba?

MORGAN NEILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Michael Moore's film "Sicko" came out in 2007, the debate it sparked put Cuba's health care system under the microscope. Cuba's supporters gleefully pointed out that the poor communist island gave its people universal health care, something the United States doesn't do. Critics charge that conditions in Cuban hospitals are appalling. And that Cubans had to pay bribes to get decent care.

How does health care work in Cuba? It's not an easy question to answer, but there are some impressive statistics. According to the World Health Organization, Cuba's life expectancy is 78 years. The same as Chile and Costa Rica and the highest in Latin America. And its infant mortality rates are the lowest in the hemisphere, in line with those of Canada.

This clinic in Managua, a community outside Havana, is one of the country's newest and best equipped. It serves a population of some 15,000 people. The director tells us under one roof she has dentists, general practitioners, physical therapy, homeopathic medicine and a laboratory that makes vaccines.

NEILL (on camera): Built just five years ago, this clinic is really a symbol of what Cuba wants to do with health care all over the country. You can see the machinery is new. The walls, freshly painted. It's an idea of where the country wants to go, the future of its health care.

NEILL (voice-over): All of it free of charge. How does Cuba do it? First of all, the government dictates salaries. Doctors earn less than $30 per month. Very little compared to doctors elsewhere. And priority is given to avoiding expensive procedures, says Gail Reed, who's lived and worked in Cuba for decades.

GAIL REED, CO-PRODUCER, "SALUD": They concentrate on prevention. They concentrate on bringing services closer to people's homes so that the big-ticket items don't really take up, don't sponge up all that small budget they have.

NEILL: But Cuba's system certainly has its problems. Many hospitals and emergency rooms are decrepit and even unsanitary. Equipment is frequently old. And patients often supply their own sheets and food while in the hospital. Health officials admit the system isn't perfect, but, they say, no one falls through the cracks.

Morgan Neill, CNN, Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: What do cnnmoney.com writers and editors have to say about the job President Barack Obama is doing?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Well, President Barack Obama is closing in on a big milestone -- 200 days in office. It is up to you to decide how the president is doing so far. But cnnmoney.com writers and editors had their own opinions about it and Poppy Harlow is in New York.

Hello, Poppy. How are your colleagues at the Web site rating the president?

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: In basketball terms, Don, what else do you do as President Obama. We know he likes to shoot hoops from time to time. We got some slam dunks and we've got some air balls. This is an interactive tool. It's only on cnnmoney.com. I'm partial, but I'm a fan of this.

Let's start with some slam dunks because we've got auto bankruptcies. Just click on it there. This is a slam dunk according to our team because there were very few people that thought it was actually a viable option to put GM and Chrysler through bankruptcy because they thought folks wouldn't buy cars from bankrupt automakers. President Obama pushed hard with those warranty guarantees. He pushed hard on the creditors. He made it happen. They came out of bankruptcy really, really quickly. So that is deemed a success.

And I'm going to play you a quick video here that you can play, by just pressing that, to show you why they think that. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER VALDES-DAPENA, SENIOR WRITER, CNNMONEY.COM: In a way it was like what nobody predicted.

CHRIS ISIDORE, SENIOR WRITER, CNNMONEY.COM: I think there was a lot of doubt that you could have them be in and out of bankruptcy as quick as they were.

VALDES-DAPENA: It was really unprecedented for a company of that size, the size of General Motors, to go through a bankruptcy in, what, 40 days?

LEX HARRIS, MANAGING EDITOR, CNNMONEY.COM: : Obama pushed it through. He really -- he nailed it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: All right, as you hear, they think he nailed it, Don. So a big slam dunk there.

Don.

LEMON: All right. So, you know, the -- cnnmoney.com is rating that -- it's a big success, at least that part. But the administration has also thrown up some air balls so far, right?

HARLOW: Some major air balls. I mean, look at them. You've got, according to our team, their editorial prowess on this one, take a look there. Those are air balls, according to our team. And I want to point at one. I want to point at job creation because we have heard the president say time and time again, my administration will save or create 3.5 million jobs. Now they say they've done that with about 750,000.

But, Don, you can't argue with the numbers, that this economy has shed 3.4 million jobs this year alone. A lot of people are asking, how on earth are we going to create 3.5 million or save that many jobs? So that's a big question.

Some other ones quickly to point out. AIG bonus raids (ph). A lot of talk. Little action on that one. Reforming the rating agencies, executive compensation. We wanted to know what people thought. Quick Facebook comments for you here.

Brandon wrote into us, "Obama's spending policies are wrong, just like George Bush in many ways. He was right to save GM, however." He writes, "I live in the Midwest and it would have been a catastrophe if they went into liquidation."

And then John wrote us, "I would give him a c minus. I feel his first 100 days were very good but the last 100 I think he has over spent."

Don, so a lot of people weighing in on this. Again, cnnmoney's opinion, this tool. Play with it, it's fun.

LEMON: It is. I think it's very clever.

HARLOW: And we've got Bo the dog. Bo the Portuguese water dog for fun. You've got to have a little fun with this.

LEMON: I thought it was clever the way you guys did that. That is very -- and I would log on because I think it's interesting. You make it interesting. Instead of just words on the screen that you're reading, I think it's very cool. Nice job.

HARLOW: Thank you.

LEMON: Our cnnmoney.com team and, as always, Poppy Harlow, we appreciate it.

Hey, let's show you the cnnmoney.com Web site and also the -- why don't we go to the CNN politics Web site here, cnn.com/reportcard. That's where you can grade the president. And, of course, tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN, we'll have the presidential report card, 200 days -- second 200 days in office, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

Of course, someone I think always gets an "a" when it comes to the weather, that's meteorologist Chad Myers.

Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: Two journalists trying to reclaim their lives after living as prisoners in North Korea. The adjustment may not be so easy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The two American journalists freed by North Korea are back with their families. Euna Lee and Laura Ling arrived in the states yesterday after a personal mission by former President Bill Clinton. But as CNN's Brian Todd reports, getting back to normal may take some time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This part's pretty basic. An emotional embrace between Euna Lee and her four-year-old daughter and a comment from Lee's colleague about what they want to do next.

LAURA LING, FREED JOURNALIST: We are just so anxious right now to be able to spend some quiet, private time getting reacquainted with our families.

TODD: And that, experts say, is when the difficult work begins. Lise van Susteren is a psychiatrist who's deals with sensitive family reunions.

TODD (on camera): Is there a point when it's most difficult when all the attention ebbs and the day or maybe a week after the reunion, when all the cameras are gone and all the people are gone, when you turn to your spouse or your child or both and there's kind of this, what now?

LISE VAN SUSTEREN, PSYCHIATRIST: Well, yes, because all of the attention, when you come back, is a big distraction. So once that is pulled out of the picture, you really are faced, again, you and the person you were married to or you have been with all these years and had children with, and now you've got to kind of face the reality of what's -- what have we got going forward? Who am I? What is my career? Am I going back to my old job or am I now a person on a mission? Have I been transformed by this experience? And my spouse hasn't been transformed.

TODD (voice-over): Divorce, van Susteren says, is common among couples in these situations. Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell and Tom Howes were held captive for five-and-a-half years by rebels in the Colombian jungle. In the year since their release, Gonsalves and Howes have gone through divorces. Gonsalves says he also suffered an initial physical reaction after his first family encounter, a meeting with his father, he had a migraine.

MARC GONSALVES, FORMER HOSTAGE IN COLUMBIA: It was the emotion and joy that I felt and the rush that I felt to cover so much lost time in such a short amount of time now. It was -- it was something that was difficult to deal with.

TODD: There seems to be no set formula for readjustment. After being imprisoned for eight months in Iran, scholar Heleh Esfandiari arrived home on a Thursday, returned to work the following Monday.

HELEH ESFANDIARI, AUTHOR, "MY PRISON, MY HOME": I had to prove to myself that my jailer did not break my spirit nor my will. I had to prove to myself that it was the old me.

TODD: Lise van Susteren says the families of those who are returning have to be flexible. Families who do well in the readjustment period, she says, are those who take their cues from that returning relative and go at their pace.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right, Brian.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Africa. At town hall meeting in Nairobi today, she said Washington has a stake in Africa's future, but many of its leaders need to step up. She also met with Somalia's new president and vowed to continue supporting him in his government's battle against Islamic insurgents.

CNN's Fareed Zakaria interviewed the secretary of state about her trip. And you can watch all of that interview on "Fareed Zakaria GPS" at Sunday afternoon, 1:00 p.m. Eastern, and then again at 5:00 on Sunday.

CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Fredricka Whitfield, who's in for Kyra -- Fred.