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New Jobless Numbers Better Than Expected; President Obama to Talk about the Economy; Taliban Leader Suspected to be Dead; Cash for Clunkers Program Extended; Hypothermia Can Help Cardiac Arrest Survivors; New Flu Guidelines for Schools; Flu Guidelines for Schools; Grading the President; Explosive Health Care Meeting; Trade Law May Ban Troops Protection; New Jobless Numbers
Aired August 07, 2009 - 08:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: One of the most wanted terrorists in Pakistan believed killed by a U.S. air strike. His death could ripple across the region.
And the school bell rings, the health alarm sounds. This morning, a top-level gathering on the potential outbreak of swine flu.
And then...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get off of me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody back up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The health care debate turns ugly, overflowing crowds, outraged citizens. At more and more town hall meetings, the calls for reform are shouted down.
Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. It is Friday, August 7th, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
This morning, we are also keeping an eye on your wallet. CNN personal finance editor Gerri Willis, who you see there, is actually with us about new unemployment numbers that we've just learned. She'll talk to us a little bit about what this tells us on the recession.
And also the economy in focus at the White House this morning, that's where we find our Dan Lothian. He'll take a look at what the president will be talking about a little bit later on today.
And also this. How about that Cash for Clunkers program, huh? The Senate signs off and Americans cash in.
Wall Street was sure this morning's unemployment numbers would be ugly. Well, those fears were wrong, despite all of the predictions, national unemployment has fallen one-tenth of a percentage point. So that puts the new rate at 9.4 percent.
It's the smallest monthly loss of jobs we've seen in a year. And it's considered a strong sign that the recession may be winding down.
CNN personal finance editor Gerri Willis joining us now to explain. OK. So this is not as bad as...
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: No.
COLLINS: ... some people were expecting, so that's good, right?
WILLIS: That is good. However, 9.4 percent even isn't something to write home to Mom about.
COLLINS: No.
WILLIS: This isn't a reason for celebration. But here's why these numbers are so important. The unemployment number is a lagging number. It comes way in the rearview mirror...
COLLINS: Yes.
WILLIS: ... as the economy tends to turn around and as you said, of course, we saw a big surprise in the positives, here 9.4 percent, payrolls shrinking 247,000, and let me put that number in perspective for you just a bit here, Heidi.
The expectation is that we would lose 325,000 jobs. In the previous month we lost 467,000 jobs, almost 500,000. So this is a real shrinkage in the number of jobs that are going away.
But let me give you a little more on that number. The Labor Department also tracked something they called discouraged workers. These are workers who can't find a job, haven't been able to find a job and have stopped looking.
COLLINS: Wow.
WILLIS: There are some 335,000 people over the last 12 months who are in that situation right now. That is an increase, and that is down for the first time in a year. We were talking about how this number is lagging. Managers, hiring managers when they go out to hire new employees, that is a big risk they're taking.
They're really signing up for more than just what your paycheck every week. They have to provide you with health insurance coverage, a number of other benefits, and they're very reluctant to do that unless they feel very confident in the economy.
And what they've been doing over the last year is not just laying people off, but also reducing people's hours.
COLLINS: Yes.
WILLIS: People are working shorter hours, they're working -- giving back vacation time, all kinds of things. You're going to be seeing those people who, you know, maybe they only came in four days a week. Those people will get more work as the economy improves before the hiring even starts. So you're probably not going to see the kind of numbers that we would expect would be part of a healthy economy for several quarters, frankly, but today's numbers, just to put them in perspective, it's good to hear, good to hear that number looking a little bit better and I know the markets are already reacting here.
COLLINS: Yes.
WILLIS: We've seen them turn around -- Heidi.
COLLINS: OK. Well, as long as we keep it all in perspective and context, we sure do appreciate that. Our personal finance editor, Gerri Willis, this morning. Thank you, Gerri.
President Obama due to talk about the economy a little bit later on today. Want to get a look at that from CNN White House correspondent, Dan Lothian.
So, Dan, I'm not sure if the president will be talking about these numbers, but for him, that is certainly a good timing.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It really is, and you know, as Gerri was pointing out, we're not talking about stellar numbers here.
COLLINS: No.
LOTHIAN: But certainly much better than expected. So good news because all morning we've been talking about the potential of these numbers eventually reaching into the double digits.
The White House, the president himself, for sometime now, has been talking about how these unemployment numbers would eventually hit the double digits. So no doubt good news, and we expect to hear from the White House later this morning on those numbers.
What the White House will continue to say is that they believe that the stimulus package, the plan, is beginning to work, the jobs are being saved and jobs are being created. But that Americans really need to be patient because this is all going to take some time.
COLLINS: Yes, certainly. Well, the CNN "NATIONAL REPORT CARD" last night gave Americans the chance to sort of grade the administration.
LOTHIAN: Right.
COLLINS: How's the White House grading itself, do you think?
LOTHIAN: Well, yes. No, I think they gave a C, I guess, from the outside? But the White House giving itself a B, at least according to Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman.
And here's how he came at that grade. First of all, he pointed out that the economy has been pulled back from the brink of collapse and disaster because some of the tools that the economic team here has been able to employ.
They also believe that the financial markets have stabilized. And there has been some recovery, as well, in the housing market. They see it as improving. So no one here in the administration is by any means saying that the recovery has happened, but they do believe that the trend lines, at least, are moving in a positive direction.
COLLINS: All right. Appreciate that. Those comments coming from the White House, of course.
Dan Lothian, thank you, and in fact, we will have live coverage of President Obama's remarks on the economy. His comments are now scheduled for 1:15 Eastern.
And just about 40 minutes from now, we're going to be talking with Labor Secretary Hilda Solis. She, of course, will look beyond the numbers with us.
Meanwhile, to this story now, a strike in Pakistan. Officials there now saying a powerful Taliban leader is dead, killed in a U.S. drone attack.
CNN's Cal Perry is joining us now live from Islamabad, Pakistan with more on this. So Cal, what is the latest report of Baitullah Mehsud's death?
CAL PERRY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we're hearing from both the Pakistani governments and the U.S. government is they want 100, really, and 10 percent confirmation that he is, in fact, dead.
We know that in the early hours of Wednesday morning in northwestern Pakistan, there was a U.S. air strike of some kind using an unmanned drone targeting Mehsud who is the head of the Taliban across the entire country. So we're not just talking about a tribal region, we're talking about an entire country.
If true, and all reports seem to indicate that he was, in fact, killed -- we've talked to sources here who say there was a big funeral within three hours of his death on Wednesday. If he has been killed, it would be a huge blow to the Taliban here in Pakistan because Mehsud was responsible, some say, for up to 90 percent of the suicide bombing attacks across the country. Heidi?
COLLINS: Yes, in fact, as you say that, I know his claim to fame, if you will, actually took place just a couple of years ago. So how much will this actually weaken the insurgency across the border in Afghanistan? Maybe that's what we should be talking about here.
PERRY: I think that's a key point and definitely in 2007 the Benazir Bhutto assassination in December changed this country forever. And now when you land in Islamabad you end up at the Benazir Bhutto Airport. And it really reshaped the future of Pakistan forever. Many said he ordered that strike.
Now, Afghanistan, that is key, the U.S. military, of course, wants to draw down in Iraq, they want to draw up in Afghanistan. And Mehsud was definitely carrying out and he said so in 2008, he said he had suicide bombers ready to strike U.S. targets in Afghanistan.
And if he's as powerful as people are saying here on the ground, that should have an affect on the war in Afghanistan.
COLLINS: All right. CNN's Cal Perry for us. We sure do appreciate that, Cal. Keep us posted if we need to come back with you if more developed here.
Meanwhile, taking the health care debate from Capitol Hill to cities and towns around the country. It's getting ugly out there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get off of me!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody back up!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: We'll take a look at more of these, shouted down, here in Tampa.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And we've got a major hurricane that continues to roar in parts of the pacific. We're going to be talking with that. Plus wildfires out west and an extreme heat wave for parts of the nation. We'll give you the latest coming up in a few moments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A green light for car shoppers wanting to take advantage of the Cash for Clunkers program. The Senate joined the House in approving another $2 billion for the car rebate program. President Obama is expected to sign the bill extending the program into Labor Day.
The administration officials estimate there will be another half million new cars sold. Buyers can get up to $4,500 in government rebates for trading in their old gas guzzlers for more fuel-efficient vehicles.
And Judge Sonia Sotomayor is heading for the nation's highest court. Senators confirmed her Supreme Court nomination yesterday. She becomes the third woman and the first Hispanic justice on the high court.
President Obama calls it a wonderful day for America. Judge Sotomayor is set to be sworn in tomorrow.
Reynolds Wolf standing by now in the Severe Weather Center because we have a lot more to talk about. Somebody by the name of Felicia is kicking it up near Hawaii, yes?
(WEATHER REPORT) WOLF: That is the latest we've got on your forecast, of course. We're going to give you more details coming up throughout the morning. Heidi, we'll just pitch it back to you.
COLLINS: All right. Very good. But listen. You should stick around, Reynolds, because check out this picture. I mean what's wrong with this? We're here working, right?
WOLF: Absolutely.
COLLINS: Marciano out there -- yes. shrugging it off a bit because he's shopping.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, are you talking to me?
COLLINS: Yes, yes, I'm talking to you. Out there hunting for bargains right in the middle of the world's longest yard sale. OK? So tell us about this. Any good deals that you've found along the way? And really how much of it have you seen?
MARCIANO: Well, you know, this thing is so long that I just get carried away and I get out of range where I can actually hear you, but I think this is a good spot for us. It's 654 miles long, this thing.
COLLINS: OK.
MARCIANO: It starts off pretty much the middle of Alabama, dips into Georgia briefly, up through Tennessee, Kentucky, and then makes its way all the way to the Ohio-Michigan border. And they've been doing this for 22 years, and people like -- this is what they do. They prepare for this all yearlong.
COLLINS: This is a big deal, yes.
MARCIANO: Check out some of this stuff. And you know, the next couple of shots, we're really starting to stretch out some cable but, I sat on this. This is a little rickety thing. But every man I suppose should have one. This is back from the Super Bowl -- from 2000 Super Bowl.
COLLINS: It doesn't go in the pool? I mean it's a blow-up?
MARCIANO: No. It's a -- come on, you've never seen one of these?
COLLINS: I don't know. I think if you sat, you'd squish it.
MARCIANO: I figured Matt would have one.
COLLINS: Yes, no.
MARCIANO: It's a blow-up football chair in a pinch.
COLLINS: No.
MARCIANO: You know, it's basically a modern day bean bag. COLLINS: Yes.
MARCIANO: I showed this last hour because I know you like turkey, that's a real turkey tail.
COLLINS: Yes, no.
MARCIANO: All yours for $25.
COLLINS: Yes, you've got to be more original than this.
MARCIANO: What we're finding, Heidi, is that the deals really -- will probably come later in the weekend. Like any tax sale or garage sale or yard sale. They start high. The pickings are good, pickings get slimmer towards the end of the weekend, but that's when you can really, you know, get them down to a good price.
We saw some things across the way like old Coke signs, old Coke machines, Coca-Cola machines, that didn't even work, likely, for $350. So you've got your vintage angle and then you've got your plain old junk and then you've got people who just come out to enjoy the people.
COLLINS: Yes, we want to see...
MARCIANO: So that's what's happening here in Dunlop, Tennessee. Do you have any requests? Because I've got a laundry list of things to bring back. And I'm not...
COLLINS: I don't.
MARCIANO: ... seeing any of them at the moment.
COLLINS: I don't. I don't have any requests. I want to keep the pressure on you low. But we do want to see more stuff that's out there, because my understanding is that a lot of these people continue to come back year after year after year.
As you said 22 years, they come and they put their wares out for people to check out. Any Elvis stuff? I mean there's got to be some good Elvis stuff out there, right?
MARCIANO: I haven't seen a whole lot of Elvis stuff. Barbie seems to be a big player.
COLLINS: Yes.
MARCIANO: There she is in the obligatory purple heart or lavender heart. I was corrected by Kiran earlier with this particular...
COLLINS: Aurora.
MARCIANO: ... life size -- who's that? Aurora?
COLLINS: I don't know. I have boys. MARCIANO: And then Barbie next to her, right? I misspoke and thought that was Cinderella. Anyway, lamps. This one will run you 5 bucks. It's a pretty good deal.
COLLINS: All right. Well, cool. Listen. We're going to check in a little bit later on with you because we want to see more goods. Definitely.
MARCIANO: OK. Yes.
COLLINS: We want you to keep walking out there...
MARCIANO: Let's get our technical issues worked out and then we'll show you some good stuff.
COLLINS: Yes, because you can't hearing anything I'm saying, can you? I could really be dissing you. But I won't.
MARCIANO: Not all of it. But, you know, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
COLLINS: OK.
MARCIANO: I'm kidding.
COLLINS: All right, Rob.
MARCIANO: I'm kidding. I miss you.
COLLINS: We'll check back later on. Yes, yes, yes, me too.
MARCIANO: OK.
COLLINS: Me, too. In fact, we want to bring this up with our viewers because we want to know a little bit more from you this morning. Has the economy actually turned you into one of these weekend yard sale shoppers? If that's the case, what are you buying?
And how has it helped you to save money? You know if you were looking for that game table to put down in your basement or something, are you really going to the store? Or are you going out to some of these yard sales?
So here's your question. Has the economy turned you into a weekend yard sale shopper? Just go to CNN.com/heidi and you can respond to it there or you can always call us. The "Hotline to Heidi," the phone number 1-877-742-5760. We'll bring you some of that stuff up a little bit later on today. It's a Friday after all, right?
You hear the word hypothermia and immediately think this cannot be good. Well, not necessarily. Doctors are discovering it can actually help save lives.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Wash your hands, sneeze into your sleeve, avoid contacts with sick people. Those are the key personal guidelines for avoiding the H1N1 flu otherwise known as swine flu.
But right now, top government health and education officials are in Washington. You see Health and Human Service secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, unveiling updated guidelines for schools.
Now the head of the CDC is also there, along with secretary of the Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, again, and Education.
Flu season just around the corner. Many schools closed during the initial spread this spring, but that may not be the recommendation anymore. We will have much more on those proposed guidelines coming up a little bit later on with senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen. So stick around for that.
Also, hypothermia. It sometimes happens to people who fall through the ice or spend nights out in the cold. So why would doctors deliberately cause that condition? Our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is incredibly exciting, and I can tell you, I've been looking into this idea of hypothermia for some time. This idea of cooling somebody to try improve their outcome after a cardiac arrest.
A lot of studying showing that it works, but the remarkable thing to me, so many hospitals still not using it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): Zeyad Barazanji is back from the dead. Nearly five minutes without a heartbeat after a sudden cardiac arrest. But three years later, he's alive and well.
ZEYAD BARAZANJI, CARDIAC ARREST SURVIVOR: I feel stronger. I feel better.
GUPTA: Part of his treatment at the New York Presbyterian Hospital was therapeutic hypothermia.
I met with Barazanji's doctor, neurologist Stephan Mayer.
DR. STEPHAN MAYER, NEW YORK PRESBYTERIAN COLUMBIA HOSPITAL: Imagine a chemical burn injury in the brain triggered by 20 minutes of not enough oxygen. Hypothermia is like throwing water on the fire. It just puts out the fire.
GUPTA: The method is simple. You run chilled saline through an IV and wrap the torso and limbs in pads filled with cold solutions. Think of it like the opposite of a hot-water bottle.
As far as back as 2002, studies in Europe showed it sharply improving the outcome from cardiac arrest. And a new study says it's just as cost effective as many standard therapies. But here's the thing, it's never quite caught on here. The University of Chicago survey found that only around 230 hospitals out of some 6,000 in the country actually have this equipment.
MAYER: There's a treatment that was shown to be effective in two clinical trials in "The New England Journal of Medicine," the premiere medical journal in the world, yet today you could easily be taken to a hospital and not be given that treatment.
GUPTA: For Zeyad Barazanji, it meant a chance to cheat death, another chance to smell the summer air.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: So there you have it. It is a pretty remarkable thing, and there are about 300,000 or so people affected by a cardiac arrest every single year. The problem is, the second line there, 90 plus percent of them die, so there's been a lot of research, a lot of research going into trying to figure out how to improve those stats and this hypothermia might be a way to do that.
Again, as I pointed out, a lot of hospitals simply not doing this. It's part of the American Heart Association guidelines right now, but so many hospitals simply don't have the equipment.
I'll tell you. It is decidedly low tech. You haven't seen any big advertising campaigns, but that doesn't mean that it works. There are some potential side effects. It could lead to irregular heartbeats, it could lead to thinning of the blood, and that has been something that the critics have been concerned about.
But still, considering the numbers, the likelihood of dying from a cardiac arrest, simply cooling the body can make a huge difference. Back to you.
COLLINS: Sanjay, we'll have more stories from the front lines of emergency care in an hourlong special, "Another Day Cheating Death." It's coming your way in October right here on CNN.
A comic director, John Hughes, is dead. He suffered a heart attack while jogging in New York. If the name doesn't necessarily ring a bell, I'm sure you remember some of his movies.
That, of course, from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and before that, he launched the careers of many of the so-called Brat Pack actors, the "Sixteen Candles" and also the "Breakfast Club."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL GLEASON, ACTOR: What in God's name is going on in here? What was that ruckus?
EMILIO ESTEVEZ, ACTOR: What ruckus?
GLEASON: I was just in my office and I heard a ruckus.
ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL, ACTOR: Could you describe it, sir?
GLEASON: Watch your tongue young man, watch it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: John Hughes was also a prolific screenwriter, writing all three "Home Alone" movies and the "Beethoven" movies about the big St. Bernard. He also brought us the Griswolds and their vacations to Europe, Las Vegas and of course, "Wally World."
John Hughes was 59 years old.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: All right. Quickly to Wall Street now because we're just a few seconds away from the opening bell on this Friday, last day of the week. Everybody hopes to end on a positive note, as you know. But yesterday the Dow Jones Industrial Averages were down a bit, just 25 points or so ending yesterday at 9256.
So we'll see what happens this morning. Main numbers -- there you have the opening bell. The main number that we're looking at and have already talked to you about, of course, is in the job market, these jobless claims, 247,000 more people lost their jobs with the percentage resting now at 9.4 percent.
So, of course, we'll continue to follow those numbers and get you to Wall Street here throughout the day to watch the numbers.
Meanwhile, I want to get you back to this story because as we told you a little bit earlier, there are some updated guidelines that are being laid out right now for how schools are supposed to be dealing with H1N1 or swine flu this fall. Not very far off from school down here, it starts on Monday.
So the government's top health officials as well as the secretaries of education, homeland security, are taking part and our CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here.
Now, Elizabeth, I know you've been watching and listening in to what's happening, so what is the CDC saying? Should we be doing something different than what we've been doing?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is going to be a little different than it was in the spring. If you remember in the spring, Heidi, what was going on is that the CDC was, encouraging may be too strong a word, but when school were closing down, the CDC was saying, that's good. We think you should close down.
However, now the CDC is going to announce this morning that basically closures are really up to the schools. They're not giving schools any guidelines. As a matter of fact, the senior federal official told me the whole tone is going to be schools should stay open even when they do have children who have swine flu or staff members. So let's go over the sort of what's going on here with this update, and then we'll talk about some of these "weirdnesses" as Heidi just said.
Again, schools will get to decide when they close and also that kids can return to school 24 hours after their fever ends and the schools will emphasize teaching respiratory etiquette, which is sort of a new word, which is cough or sneeze into your sleeve, wash your hands often. But they're not going to be telling schools, you got a case of swine flu, even if half the school has swine flu, they're not going to be encouraging it to close down.
COLLINS: That's so bizarre to me, because I remember clearly they were saying, hey, you know, it seems kind of drastic when we are getting these cases reported, that yes, in fact, we have swine flu at our school to shut the entire school down. It's totally overreacting, but it's working. That's what they said before and now...
COHEN: And there was a study in the landscape that showed that school closures were working.
COLLINS: Yes.
COHEN: The way it was explained to me is that in the spring they weren't quite sure what they were dealing with. We didn't know if swine flu was going to be like the flu in 1918. We didn't know if it was going to kill people right and left.
But now when they look at swine flu, what they see is basically in some ways something very similar to seasonal flu. Yes, it kills people, but most people do just fine with swine flu. They have a couple of days where they're ill, but they recover.
So, I think that they've sort of tempered. Now that they know more about the virus, they've tempered that advice. But they're really leaving it up to schools. Schools are still free to close at any time.
COLLINS: Yes, OK.
COHEN: But the CDC is just not encouraging them to close.
COLLINS: So what about the contagiousness. I mean, it says they can go back to school 24 hours after the fever ends.
COHEN: Right. And I talked to some infectious disease folks about this. And they said, you know, this gets a little tricky. You're still contagious even 24 hours after the fever ends. So your fever ends on Monday, you go back to school Tuesday or Wednesday, you're still shedding that virus. You're still possibly contagious.
And so there are some people who are saying, gee, is that really the best advice to give people? But...
COLLINS: No. I'm sorry, I'm not the medical expert, but I'm thinking, no. COHEN: But would you really want a healthy kid staying out of school for 10 days? I mean, these are some tough decisions that schools and health officials have to make. If you have a child whose fever has ended, they're perfectly healthy, you tell them to stay out of school for almost two weeks?
COLLINS: No. But maybe just like 48 hours as opposed to 24. I don't know.
What about the vaccine? Because obviously that's the next step here. Everybody is waiting for this vaccine to come around and then we may not have to have these conversations.
COHEN: Right. Health officials are hoping that this vaccine will be out in the middle of October, but they also say that that is a best-case scenario.
COLLINS: Yes.
COHEN: So, it may not actually be out in the middle of October.
But when it does come out, some groups are going to get priority. And those groups are pregnant women because it has been shown that they die at a higher rate than people who aren't pregnant from swine flu.
Also, everyone six months to 24 years old is going to be recommended that they get a swine flu shot or swine flu shots. It's actually two shots.
And parents and caretakers of babies under the age of 6 months also supposed to get the swine flu shots.
Emergency and health care workers and anyone who is 25 to 64 years old with health problems.
You can see this list is long. It's a little bit complicated. It's really going to be up to doctors and public health folks to try to explain some people need to be first in line, other people need to wait their turn.
COLLINS: Yes, yes. All right. Well, we are watching all of this very closely, obviously. We appreciate it. Let us know what else develops.
Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.
COHEN: Thanks.
COLLINS: We asked you to grade President Obama as he wraps up his second 100 days in office, and the results are in. CNN's Tom Foreman shows us at the magic wall.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We told you how to vote yesterday and here are the results. For the general handling of the economy, a C-minus almost all across the country. It's not looking very good.
Let me circle an area here and I want you to pay attention because this area really matters. I'll tell you why in a minute. But first, let's look at really what happened that made such a big difference in all of this, and I want to go to a particular date. If we go up here to the 17th, listen to what the president was saying about health care reform.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So this is what health insurance reform will mean for the average American. It will mean lower costs, more choices and coverage you can count on.
FOREMAN: He has been trying to sell that message over and over and over again. But if you go back here to 167, this is part of the problem. Here's Joe Biden talking about the overall economy.
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There was a misreading of just how bad an economy we inherited. Now, that doesn't -- I'm not laying this assignment -- it's now our responsibility. So the second question becomes, did the economic package we put in place, including the Recovery Act, is it the right package given the circumstances we're in?
FOREMAN: So those were the messages that were coming out of the White House, but this was the result. They got hammered on the economy and, look at this, on health care they really got hit and they got hit by this part of the country. Why?
That's part of the older part of the country. More people here are older than elsewhere. These are people who gave them much better ratings earlier on when the question was, how do you handle swine flu? They're like -- the older people won't care about that.
In any event, the combination of health care and overall economy really beat them up quite badly. And when you move down the pale -- down the line here to the overall ranking of President Obama, you see what happens. He winds up with a C-minus even in his home state of Hawaii down here. The best he can do is a C-plus, not the kind of ratings he wants especially when you look back 100 days and you see back then, much, much, much higher ratings all the way around.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Heated debates across the country in what could be a make or break month for health care reform. Democratic lawmakers are spending their August recess trying to drum up support for the president's plan. But some town hall meetings are turning into shouting matches.
Beau Zimmer of affiliate WTSP shows us how things got out of control last night in Tampa.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEAU ZIMMER, WTSP-TV CORRESPONDENT: Hundreds lined up and at 6:00, it started off as a town hall meeting about an important issue.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When it comes to your health care...
ZIMMER: But before Congresswoman Kathy Castor could even begin getting through opening remarks, the protests began.
(VIDEO CLIP)
And then things quickly turned violent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get off of me!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody back off!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZIMMER: Freelance videographer Mark Bishop was among those roughed up.
MARK BISHOP, VIDEOGRAPHER: That's the most violent anyone has ever got towards me. It was, you know, surprising to say the least.
ZIMMER: Outside, hundreds more were locked out as the children's board building quickly filled to capacity. People banged on windows and doors. And became so loud the congresswoman was eventually escorted out. Some argue it was mainly health care reform supporters allowed inside the building.
(VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW REDER, PROTESTER: Everyone's voice should have the right to be heard and tonight was not a good example of that. There were a lot of people that were shut out of tonight's meeting.
ZIMMER: But others who attended say many were so outspoken it became impossible to have a discussion at all.
GEORGE GUTHRIE, EVENT PARTICIPANT: They think they're exercising their right to free speech, but they're only exercising their right to disrupt civil discourse.
REDER: Unfortunately, I feel like a lot probably wasn't accomplished tonight. You know, somewhere, and a lot of the screaming back and forth. No one got heard.
ZIMMER: In the end, there were only minor injuries reported. Police did their best to allow free speech, but eventually were forced to call the meeting short, ordering everyone go home.
Beau Zimmer for CBS News, Tampa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: U.S. troops in war zones. Sometimes their lives can hang by a thread. These flame-resistant uniforms are essential on the front lines. In fact, we'll tell you why they're under fire in Washington.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Fireproof uniforms -- for U.S. troops they may be as essential as bullet-proof vest. No one argues they are a critical way of protecting American lives in the war zone yet they may be taken away. CNN Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence now tells us why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An IED explodes, and the only thing protecting American troops from the blazing heat is a special fiber in their uniforms.
SEN. JOHN ISAKSON, (R) GEORGIA: They have a three to five-second delay before it is penetrated, which gives you time to put the fire out and reduce the burn to the soldiers.
LAWRENCE: But this fireproof rayon is not made in America. It may have to be removed from American uniforms in a few years.
There is a fight over who gets to make these uniforms, a job worth hundreds of millions of dollars to congressional districts and corporate board rooms.
SEN. JIM WEBB (D), VIRGINIA: Some companies, like DuPont, for example, have already lost hundreds of jobs.
LAWRENCE: We traveled to North Carolina State University where the army commission tests on fabrics from two dozen companies.
ISAKSON: Whether or not it ignites, if it ignites, how long it continues to burn, the after-flame.
LAWRENCE: The heat and flame simulate fires on battlefield.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In ordinary clothing, a person would be burned in a fraction of a second.
LAWRENCE: And sensers record how much of the heat hits the manikin's skin.
(on camera): The fire is so intense you can feel it through the protective glass outside the chamber.
(voice-over): The Army says the best fabric was the one from Tinkada, quote, "They have consistently exceeded our expectations. This has proven to be a valuable fabric and well- received by our soldiers.
Tinkada makes the uniforms in Georgia but imports the fiber from Austria. For all kinds of environmental reasons, that special rayon is not made in America.
ISAKSON: It breaths, it is fire resistant, and it is not matched by any American product.
LAWRENCE: So Congress passed a special waiver allowing the Pentagon to import outside materials for the uniforms. That waiver expires in a few years, and Congress is debating an amendment to extend it indefinitely. It was just defeated in the Senate with one opponent calling the amendment...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An exception that favors foreign suppliers of rayon over our own American companies.
LAWRENCE: Some lawmakers believe American companies will develop a similar fabric by the time the waiver runs out in 2015.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: Efforts are being made in Virginia and South Carolina to produce this product here domestically.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This will allow American industry to come in with a whole spectrum of ideas and alternate materials.
LAWRENCE: An American uniform with all-American materials.
ISAKSON: And I understand that from a business standpoint. But for the safety of our troops, if you don't have a superior product, it shouldn't be what our troops -- our troops should have the very best.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: And our Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence is joining us now.
All right. So, Chris, I don't get it. I mean, government contracts are obviously huge. They can be very, very lucrative. But if the fabric, the chemical is not made in the U.S., I mean, isn't the most important thing just making sure that our troops are protected to the absolute best protection they could be?
LAWRENCE: I think everybody here involved wants the best protection for the troops. The thing is, by law, the Defense Department is not supposed to import materials to make uniforms. That's a law. There's an amendment that will allow them to...
COLLINS: Right -- yes, the waiver.
LAWRENCE: Right, the waiver that allows them to do so. But the bottom line here is about jobs. You know, some of these American companies, some of these companies want to be able to compete. They're saying bottom line. If the waiver goes away, these companies have about three years to come up with a uniform that is just as good. The problem is if they can't.
COLLINS: Exactly.
LAWRENCE: Because at that point you wouldn't be able to import anymore of that special rayon. COLLINS: Yes. Well, then, where are the troops at that point? So it seems like they should come up with it first, then discuss, you know, what happens with the extra contracts maybe.
LAWRENCE: That's right.
COLLINS: But I'm not in charge, am I? Keep reminding me that.
LAWRENCE: No, you're not, but maybe you should be.
COLLINS: No. Chris Lawrence, thank you. Appreciate it.
New jobless numbers to tell you about and new clues to the economy, perhaps. We'll search for the bottom line with labor secretary, Hilda Solis, in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A snapshot on the economy. Now just last hour, those new jobless figures we shared with you showed that employers are pulling back on layoffs a bit. But could this really mean the recession is finally winding down? Can you make that leap? Joining us to discuss more on this, U.S. Labor secretary Hilda Solis.
Secretary Solis, welcome to the show. And thanks for being with us.
Let's quickly put the numbers back out there for our viewers in case they have not seen them. Unemployment now at 9.4 percent. A loss of 247,000 jobs in July. I feel like, people, when we say that these reports are coming out, they kind of dread it because they just don't know what to expect, and they know the situation is not good. What is your reaction to these numbers?
HILDA SOLIS, U.S. SECRETARY OF LABOR: Well, I think you're absolutely right. This is a very high number of people that are still unemployed. But you also have to recall that when we inherited this recession, we came in with well over 700,000 people who had lost their jobs. Now it's been almost cut in half, but that's still not good enough. The president and I are not satisfied with seeing one job lost.
COLLINS: Nineteen consecutive months of job losses. In fact, 14.5 million people now out of work. For all of those people who are out of work, I just picture them sitting at home and getting more of this news. What do you say to them?
SOLIS: Well, I would hope that first of all they would not give up hope in looking for jobs, and I would encourage them to go to their local one-stops to inquire about what job opportunities may be available or also look into training opportunities. You know, through our expansion of unemployment insurance, we're also allowing for people to use some of that funding to be able to get into job training programs. So here's an opportune time to look at those careers or areas that will grow like in the health care arena and also in renewable energy. COLLINS: I think there was a term that we learned just right after these numbers came out from our personal finance editor Gerri Willis, talking about the number that you also look at here, which is a discouraged workers who are the ones who have actually lost a bit of hope here.
SOLIS: Right. And we want to continue to keep them motivated, and that's why I think it's important that we talk also about some of the rescue and rebuild efforts that we've really focussed on and part of it is making sure that those people get their unemployment insurance, and we also provide them with health care coverage. 65 percent is paid for by the federal government through the COBRA plan. So there's a lot of different elements going on.
We also know that one-third of the stimulus money has actually gone out. So we still have two-thirds more of that money going out for infrastructure project development, research and development, new technologies and a whole other source of employment opportunities that will be coming.
COLLINS: OK. So, your words are encouraging to the people at home? I mean, I guess what I'm hearing you say is, yes, there are jobs that are going to be created, and that's still, you know, what the goal of the stimulus plan was.
SOLIS: Yes.
COLLINS: But you may have to change careers. I mean, what if you're not a person who works in the industry of infrastructure, if you will.
SOLIS: Well, here's an opportunity now to look in health careers and I.T., and also those other emerging industries. We're starting to see some, you know, uptick for example in allied health care careers and also in I.T., but also renewable energy. You got to think about those people that lost their jobs, that may not be coming back here, but could get in to say solar energy types of positions and also any renewable energy type of job. It could help provide them with the lasting income and one that will hopefully bring them up anywhere from 10 percent to 20 percent in their earnings. And that's something that is realistic. And the president just this week issued $2.4 billion in the creation of lithium batteries, so, we are putting money towards the research and development, and there will be job creation.
COLLINS: Is the government going to pay for training for people to switch industries?
SOLIS: We are paying for it. In fact, $500 million for green jobs.
COLLINS: For green jobs, OK. Understood.
SOLIS: Yes. And also $220 million for health care. Also, opportunities, job development there.
COLLINS: All right. Well, we appreciate your insight on these numbers as we continue to watch them very, very closely along with all of our viewers at home.
SOLIS: Thank you, Heidi.
COLLINS: Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis this morning. Thanks.
SOLIS: Thank you.
COLLINS: A big name in the war on terror. Apparently taken out by a U.S. drone attack. How his death could affect the insurgency.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: An awful lot going on this morning in the CNN NEWSROOM. Our crews always in place to bring it to you.
In fact, let's get a preview now from our correspondents out there in the field, beginning with Ivan Watson, live in Afghanistan.
Ivan, good morning.
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan gave us an exclusive interview. He described his theories for battling the Taliban insurgency and invited Pakistani military observers to join U.S. troops on this side of the border. I'll have that for you, Heidi, at the top of the hour.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: And the Senate approves another $2 billion to help you unload your clunker. I'll tell you what you need to know at the top of the hour.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Rob Marciano not in the CNN severe weather center, but at the longest yard sale in the world -- in Dunlap, Tennessee, where you can get stuff that's old, that's new or just pickled like green tomatoes. We'll have a live report coming up in the next hour.
Heidi, back over to you.
COLLINS: I don't know. It feels like a Friday to me.
Rob and everybody, we sure do appreciate it. We'll check back with all of you very shortly.
Also, healing bodies and minds. How American families are making a huge difference in the lives of some Afghan children and learning from them, as well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Now a refreshing break from all those reports about unemployment. Meet John Angleson, an employee at the Grand Hotel in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has managed to hold on to his job for 50 years. He began working as a banquet captain at the age of 17 when the hotel was in Minneapolis Athletic Club. Then in 1999, Engelson became the hotel doorman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ANGLESON, DOORMAN: During the winter, it's not so fun, but I don't mind it, you know. The worst thing is getting sloshed by the buses.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Yes, definitely winter not so fun there. Angleson says he has opened doors for many a celebrity over the years, but don't ask him to name names. Angleson, always the true professional, says his lips are sealed.
A culinary concoction is creating a lot of buzz at the Wisconsin state fair -- chocolate covered bacon. Yes.
Well, the sheer notion of this unusual snack on a stick may make some of you a little queasy. Fans say chocolate bacon is actually a delicious mixture of salty and sweet at the same time. Some fairgoers refused to act on that recommendation, though. They're opting instead to snack on the fairs cream puffs and good old Wisconsin cheese, which I'm sure can come fried, as well.
