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High-Stakes State of the Union Speech; Toyota Stops Most Sales; State of Your Wallet

Aired January 27, 2010 - 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: Let's rock.

It is Wednesday, the 27th day of January. And here are the top stories for you in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Tonight, President Obama faces Americans cranky about the lack of jobs.

This hour, a State of the Union scene center. Small businesses are the biggest job creators in the country. I will ask a bakery owner about her dough and if she is ready to hire.

And Toyota dealers are as lonely as the Maytag repairman today. The world's top-selling carmaker stops selling most models for now.

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

So here we go.

President Obama preparing for a high-stakes primetime speech tonight. He delivers his first State of the Union Address against a backdrop of voter frustration and Washington politics as usual.

The speech is expected to focus heavily on jobs and the economy. Those are the top issues on your mind, according to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll. Take a look.

Sixty-one percent of you say it is extremely important for the president and Congress to deal with the economy in the coming year. Unemployment is a close second.

A lot of the frustration President Obama is facing comes from out-of-work Americans. In hard-pressed towns in Ohio, people are looking for answers and jobs.

CNN's Carol Costello joins us live from Youngstown, Ohio.

Carol, great to see you.

What are you hearing from voters there?

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'm hearing a lot of frustration, Tony, and a lot of anger and a lot of hopelessness. They want to sit down and listen to the president's State of the Union speech here in Youngstown and they want to hear a plan. They want to hear the president's plan to create jobs in this area.

But as you will hear, even if the president has such a plan, it will be one tough sell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWD: Obama! Obama!

COSTELLO (voice-over): Then-candidate Barack Obama was no stranger here. He made 14 campaign stops in Ohio, two in Youngstown.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Youngstown, this is our moment. This is our time.

COSTELLO: Youngstown said yes, we can, 70 percent voted for Obama. Now many feel we really can't.

Mickey Wolfe lost his job in January of 2009.

MICKEY WOLFE, 2008 OBAMA VOTER: They come in this area and make promises when you want to be elected is all great. It's really, really frustrating that -- you know, that we're in this predicament.

COSTELLO: Youngstown, once a booming manufacturing town, has been in an economic black hole for decades. According to the Brookings Institution, 33 percent live below the poverty level. And Youngstown has one of the highest foreclosure rates in Ohio.

MAYOR JAY WILLIAMS, YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO: Politics is always at play.

COSTELLO: Mayor Jay Williams ran as an independent candidate in 2005 and won.

(on camera): Are people angry here?

WILLIAMS: There's a sense of frustration that Washington, in general, just isn't getting it.

COSTELLO (on camera): He says, while Youngstown has benefited from the president's stimulus plan, the city needs even more financial help. But its application for stimulus money set aside to ease urban blight was rejected by HUD, the Department of Housing and Urban Development. And Youngstown isn't happy. The local newspaper summed it up this way, "HUD to Mahoning Valley: Drop dead."

The Obama administration says that's unfair. Noting Youngstown has already received $52 million in stimulus money -- money it said created or saved thousands of jobs. The auto industry bailout also preserved jobs at the city's General Motors plant.

JARED BERNSTEIN, VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN'S ECONOMIC ADVISER: You could certainly find pockets throughout this country where we would very much like to have done more. But we believe we've done a lot to help.

COSTELLO: Over at Ball Busters, a local pool hall, the only kind of help they're looking for is in finding jobs. When the president speaks on Wednesday night, they want more than help, they want a plan.

(on camera): So, you want to hear, they want to hear from Barack Obama a plan.

JIM KROKOSKI, BAR OWNER: Exactly. Outline it.

COSTELLO (voice-over): And then tell the country how he's going to pay for it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Yes, Tony, they want a plan. It sounds so simple, but as you know, it's really not simple at all.

I think what people really want here is a renewal of that sense of hope. Seventy percent of the people in Youngstown voted for Barack Obama. They voted for that guy back in 2008 that they thought was going to bring hope and change.

They want to hear that in the speech tonight, and they want to hear more than that. They want to hear that he's really working for the middle class, and they want him to give definitive -- you know, they want him to give, like, some definitive plan to prove that in his second year, he will work for them.

HARRIS: Well, and you know what? Even more than that, they want to hear that the president has a plan that will fix their lives tomorrow. But, you know, there is no such plan out there, at least as far as I can tell from sitting at this desk.

Carol, are people that you talk to actually going to watch the speech tonight?

COSTELLO: Some people are, some people are not. I mean, I asked one man, "Are you going to sit down and watch the president's State of the Union?" He said, "Not really." You know, "I don't really trust politicians," because, you know, many in this town fell in love with Barack Obama, fell in love with politicians again because of his campaign.

They have fallen out of love right now, and it will take a lot to bring them back. The president has a big challenge on his hands.

HARRIS: All right. Carol Costello in Youngstown, Ohio, for us.

Good to see you, Carol. Thank you.

We want you to weigh in, as always, on the president's State of the Union speech tonight. What do you want to hear about jobs and the economy?

Here's a response already from Ken, who writes, "I would like Obama to honestly tell the country what as president he has to do with creating jobs other than federal jobs. Jobs are created by the private sector, not the government."

That's a good response, Ken. You're absolutely right about that. The president has mentioned that himself, that about 70 percent of the jobs in this country are created by the private sector.

If you would, please send me your thoughts on my blog. Here's the address for you: CNN.com/Tony. We will have more of your comments during the next two hours.

Let's talk about what we expect the president to say tonight as he tries to retool his message and reconnect with voters.

White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joining us live with a bit of a preview here.

Suzanne, it seems clear to me the speech has to be heavy on the economy, heavy on help to the shrinking middle class, and even more heavily if there's room on jobs.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, Tony, I thought Carol brought up some excellent points there in her report, because I think that's what the White House is really grappling with here, the sense of hope and inspiration that he gave during the campaign that essentially has been lost on a lot of Americans.

White House officials I spoke with this morning, they tell me that the speech is meant to present some hard, cold realities of the challenges that Americans face; namely, this dire economic situation. But it is also meant to give folks some sense of hope, that there is help, particularly for the middle class, things like reforming at least some practices of the health insurance companies, something that the president says he has not yet given up on. And some other initiatives like tax credits for child care, limits on federal student loan payments, extended support to care for the elderly, and a $4 billion increase on federal spending on education.

Now, the president, while he's doing that, he also has got to reach the fiscally conservative Democrats, the Independents that he's already lost, and even some Republicans. And so, how he's going to deal with that, he's proposing a three-year spending freeze on discretionary expenses, no more bonuses for top White House officials. The president trying to show the American people that, yes, he gets it. But he also wants to remind people how far they have come, that he did inherit two wars, this financial disaster, and so that the American people need to be patient.

I spoke with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs earlier today about this balancing act that the president is engaged in, in delivering that message.

Take a listen, Tony.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: When the president outlines what he inherited when he came into office, that's not blame. Unfortunately, that's reality.

If you were unemployed when the president came into office, your situation doesn't change just because one different man puts his hand on the bible. The actions of this president, we believe, are putting people back to work and getting our economy moving again.

That's what the focus of this speech will be tonight. That's what the president has been focused on each and every day he's been in office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And Tony, another point that Robert Gibbs talks about is that, while the president will acknowledge that he has more work to do in bringing this country together, bringing about change in Washington, as he had promised, he's also going to squarely put the onus back on Republicans who now have more power in the Senate to work with him to try to get something significant done when it comes to legislation, his domestic agenda. Because the bottom line is, Tony, is that he really needs those Republicans and he needs the support of those Independents.

HARRIS: Boy, as I listen to you, it is such a difficult needle to thread.

Suzanne, they're actually doing something a little different tonight. Maybe you can explain this. Questions to the president through YouTube?

MALVEAUX: Yes, they're going to use YouTube. We used YouTube for the debates during the campaign, they're going to use it this go- round for the State of the Union.

They're inviting people who are watching the State of the Union to ask questions of the president about his agenda, post them on YouTube. Next week, the White House is going to have a live event from the White House, an Internet chat, if you will.

The president, we are told, they're going to select some questions and answer those questions. So it's just one of the many different things that they're trying to do to show the people that, yes, they're paying attention and that they're engaged.

HARRIS: Yes, absolutely.

All right. Suzanne Malveaux for us.

Suzanne, appreciate it. Good to see you. Thank you.

MALVEAUX: Thanks.

HARRIS: And we will talk live with White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM. We're going to ask him what the president is going to say tonight in his State of the Union Address.

And also, tune in tonight for complete coverage of the president's State of the Union speech. Our special coverage kicks off at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

A recall of some of the most popular cars on the road, what you need to know about which Toyotas are affected.

And Jacqui Jeras is tracking the development of a dangerous ice storm, but let's get you -- there's Jacqui.

Let's get you to the New York Stock Exchange here and take a look at the Big Board. How are stocks trading today? We are down 22 points.

We're following these numbers with Susan Lisovicz throughout the day, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Very quickly here, we want to talk about Toyota, because as you know, there's been a massive recall that's been announced. But it goes far beyond that.

And Jennifer Westhoven is with us now. And you see Jennifer on HLN every morning with Robin Meade.

And Jennifer, appreciate you joining us.

First of all, talk to us about the recall and the problems with certain Toyota vehicles.

JENNIFER WESTHOVEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ready? OK.

So, the problem, of course, is with this floor pedal that we're talking about. They thought it was the mats so for so long. Now they know that it's that.

So, what Toyota is saying now, Tony, is what if you have one of these cars and the unthinkable happens, right, it suddenly starts to speed up? And they have actually given out a list of instructions that you can follow.

So, one is, first, the brakes. And they say take both your feet and press the brake as hard as you can, all the way to the floor. What you really want to remember, don't pump the brake, because pumping the break will cause you to lose that power, and that's crucial. That's your first crucial step to trying to slow down.

HARRIS: Well, but the other side of this is that Toyota is going to stop selling certain models. And maybe you can walk us through that side of the story.

WESTHOVEN: Well, these are some of their best-selling models, too, so this is a huge step for Toyota to take, to say most of our cars, we're going to stop building them and making them. So, the Camry, the Corolla, the Highlander, the RAV4. There are seven models in all.

And I think, Tony, that what they're trying to do here is that they're trying to make this like the Johnson & Johnson. They're trying to -- you know, back in the Tylenol scare. They're trying to say, we are putting how much we care about your safety and your trust in the brand ahead of our sales in the short term.

HARRIS: OK. Appreciate it, Jennifer. Thank you so much.

Where are the billions in the stimulus dollars going? Are they really creating jobs? We are investigating it at our Stimulus Desk today and all week.

And we are hours away from President Obama's first State of the Union Address. We are digging deeper on the issues you want to hear about -- jobs.

Tell us what you want to hear from the president tonight on the economy. Go to CNN.com/Tony and send us an iReport.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: As the president focuses on his first State of the Union, a lot of you are focused on the state of your wallets. Totally get that.

Our personal finance editor, Gerri Willis, joining me now from New York.

And Gerri, you've got my full attention here. Start us off.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: All right. Well, you know, the main thing here, jobs, jobs, jobs. It's expected to be the biggest headline for the president's State of the Union Address, and for good reason.

In January of 2009, the unemployment rate was 7.7 percent. That jumped to 10 percent in December of '09. That's almost 3.5 million more folks out of work than last year.

When it comes to the value of your home, last year was a doozy. January '09, last year this month, was the worst month on record ever for S&P/Case-Shiller, and they measure home prices across the country. But things aren't as bad as they were.

There are still losses, but they're not as deep. And let's take a look.

From November of 2007 to 2008, home prices dropped 18.2 percent. Last year, prices only fell 5.3 percent.

Things are also looking up for your nest egg. Consider this -- at the end of December 2008, your 401(k) balance was $50,200. But at the end of last year, that balance was $64,200, a 28i percent increase.

Not incidentally, mind you, the S&P 500 rose 24 percent last year -- Tony.

HARRIS: What about the cost of living, Gerri?

WILLIS: Well, no surprise here, but prices have increased.

Last year, inflation was 2.7 percent. Some of the biggest price jumps, you guessed it, energy and gas.

Let's take a look at what other products have increased most in prices.

Gas prices up over 50 percent. The price of used cars and trucks, guess what? Up nine percent. Transportation up four percent. This is all from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

And finally, an important thing to look at. You know, general health of the consumer, what is your debt?

Consumer debt is at $2,464,000,000, according to the latest stats, and that's about $100 billion less than where we were last year. That figures includes credit card debt, student loans, car payments, personal loans, but not mortgages. That means folks are spending less and not using their credit cards as frequently, Tony.

Mortgage rates are about flat. And people are starting to feel a little better.

February of last year was the worst ever reading on consumer confidence, at 25.3 percent. This month, though, our confidence is up over 50 percent from last January. Of course, we're still way off healthy levels of confidence, according to the conference Board.

And Tony, I'm going to be watching the State of the Union speech tonight.

HARRIS: OK. Good.

WILLIS: And we'll talk about tomorrow the news that will affect your wallet. Looking forward to that.

HARRIS: That's awesome. I can't wait for that.

Gerri, appreciate it. Thank you.

WILLIS: My pleasure.

HARRIS: Let's do this now -- let's get you caught up on our top stories now.

A man says he spent the last two weeks pinned under Haiti's earthquake rubble, but his account is in question. Surviving that length of time without water would be remarkable. Some speculate he was trapped by aftershocks perhaps days after the original earthquake.

The young conservative activist who exposed shady conduct at ACORN is facing charges today. The FBI indicates James O'Keefe and three others apparently planned to bug the phones in the New Orleans office of Senator Mary Landrieu. Two of the men posed as telephone repairmen.

And are your tax dollars creating jobs? We are investigating and checking in with our Stimulus Desk straight ahead, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. Welcome back to the "Stimulus Project," our weeklong look at where your tax dollars from the stimulus plan went and if it is helping to save or create jobs.

Let's update you now on a stimulus project we examined yesterday during this hour. It involves Boeing and a big cleanup.

Don Lemon is at our CNN Stimulus Desk with that.

And Don, if you would, remind our viewers about this cleanup project. Who's paying for it and the controversy around it?

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, I will. And Angela Frist (ph) is here working our map for us here.

So, Angela, take us to California, because that's what Tony is asking about. And we're talking about here, 30 miles north of Los Angeles. And it's in the Simi Valley.

Here's the controversy. Boeing has been contracted to do this cleanup for a DOE site. Right?

HARRIS: Yes.

LEMON: Boeing, we're talking about the jet engine company. But the question is -- they have a number of other controversial sites or sites that have gotten warnings for having hazardous material and what have you. So we wanted to know if they were going to -- this money that was allocated is going to go directly to the site that it's supposed to clean up.

So, again, this is Boeing, the big jet engine. They have been contracted to clean up this place.

All right. So Jessi Joseph has been making calls on this. And again, this is from Tony yesterday.

What have you found out about this $15.9 million?

JESSI JOSEPH, THE STIMULUS DESK: Yes. I spoke with Boeing yesterday, and they assure me that they're only going to use this $15.9 million of stimulus money to clean up the area of the site that is under DOE's control.

LEMON: OK.

JOSEPH: They sent me a statement to back that up, and I'll read that for you.

They say, "Boeing did not solicit stimulus funds for cleanup activities, nor has it used stimulus funds for any cleanup activities at Santa Susana, for which Boeing is responsible. Boeing's presence at Santa Susana started in 1996, when we acquired another company, and we've made significant progress in cleaning up the site and preserving it as open space."

LEMON: All right.

JOSEPH: So that's what Boeing says they're going to do.

LEMON: That's what Boeing says they're going to do, but who's going to watch Boeing? That's the question.

JOSEPH: Yes, that is the question. And that's why the site is a little controversial.

So, DOE has hired them as a contractor. So, at this point it's kind of DOE's responsibility to watch over Boeing and make sure they only use it for that portion. And that's what they say they're going to do.

LEMON: And we do want to say that we have reached out to DOE, and they said they are satisfied with the statement from Boeing and the money is going to go where it's supposed to go.

JOSEPH: Exactly. They said Boeing is going to do what they say they're going to do.

And before I let you go, they do want to note that 40 direct jobs have been created from this project. Forty jobs. We reported yesterday 11, but they now say 40 jobs over two years.

LEMON: Over two years. All right.

And $15.9 million is what they got, Tony.

So, listen, we're checking it here, everything. Every time we get something, we're going to check it and get it back to the bureau, because we're here working for you at the Stimulus Desk.

HARRIS: Don, appreciate it.

Jess, thank you. That's good stuff.

Thank you.

You know, we're also trying to put this stimulus package into a bit of a broader perspective, even a global perspective. Today, our polling indicates widespread dissatisfaction with the stimulus package.

Fifty-four percent of Americans polled believe the stimulus helped just bankers, 41 percent say it helped business execs. Only 25 percent believe it favored the middle class. But it is important to remember where we were as a nation at the start of this crisis, the start, which began long before President Obama took office. We were hemorrhaging jobs at a record pace at the end of 2008.

At the end, we had lost 2.6 million jobs. It was the highest level of job losses in 60 years.

The Bush administration even introduced its version of a stimulus plan to try to stop the bleeding. Remember those refund checks Americans got in the mail in the summer of 2008?

And that idea of a stimulus plan isn't just an American idea. Several countries, including France, the U.K., Japan, even China, introduced versions of a stimulus package to beef up their economies.

Early numbers suggest job losses actually slowed in 2009, the first year of President Obama's presidency and his stimulus program. In fact, the rate of job losses declined and the nation gained jobs in November before taking a hit again in December.

Just a little perspective for you.

We are all about "The Stimulus Project" this week. Tomorrow, on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING," a bridge built to make townspeople safe. Now they feel safe in saying what a waste.

"The Stimulus Project," only on CNN and CNN.com/stimulus.

And here's a question for you. So, who is better at creating jobs, the government or the private sector? We are focusing on that big question right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: President Obama's first State of the Union Address coming up just hours from now. We're expecting to hear a lot of talk about the president's plans to grow the economy and get unemployed Americans back to work. Among other things, he is expected to press Congress to pass new jobs legislation.

What do you want to hear from the president tonight? We want to know what's on your mind right now.

Let us have it. Give us an earful on our Web site, CNN.com/Tony and CNN.com/ireport.

The president's stimulus package was touted as a way to get unemployed Americans working again, but so far that hasn't really been the case. Well, the jobless rate is still at 10 percent.

So when are we going to start seeing results?

Here's CNN senior correspondent Allan Chernoff.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dr. Suzanne Walker could easily find a higher paying job. Her skills are always in demand, but she chooses to serve the underserved at this non-profit health clinic in Queens, New York, which is expanding thanks to federal stimulus funding.

DR. SUZANNE WALKER, COMMUNITY HEALTHCARE NETWORK: Our agency Community Health Care Network is still hiring, looking for very good people, people who are dedicated to providing good health care.

CHERNOFF: Like Suzanne, the clinic's new employees -- seven thus far -- also could likely find work elsewhere since health care is largely recession proof. That means Recovery Act funding for Medicaid clinics like Community Healthcare Network is having no impact on the unemployment rate, says Chris Mihm of the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which tracks federal spending.

CHRIS MIHM, GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE: That has not created an awful lot of jobs and there wasn't a great deal of expectation that that would create jobs.

CHERNOFF (on camera): The fact is, three-quarters of all stimulus spending thus far, $190 billion, has gone either for entitlement programs, mainly Medicaid, or tax relief, neither of which does much to create any jobs.

And as the so-called stimulus spending continues, two-thirds of the entire Recovery Act budget is for these two categories, not for jobs.

(voice-over): What the money is doing is providing sorely-needed help to those hit hardest by the recession, Americans on Medicaid and those without health insurance.

(on camera): The economy turned down, what happened to demand here?

CATHERINE ABATE, CEO, COMMUNITY HEALTHCARE NETWORK: The demand increased. We saw a huge percentage of increase this year. And again, the uninsured rate is increasing is because people lost their jobs, they lost their coverage.

CHERNOFF (voice-over): The private companies and state and local governments that have received stimulus money claim they have created or saved more than 600,000 jobs. But the Government Accountability Office finds that number is unreliable. Some employers are counting part-time jobs as full-time and others reported jobs, but said they had received no stimulus funds.

The real job-producing stimulus funding has only recently begun to be distributed, money for construction, roads, bridges, and even here at Community Healthcare Network, an expansion to build 20 new exam rooms that should put 70 people to work. And that spending will extend all the way out to 2016.

So far, though, the Recovery Act has been more of a social safety net than a jobs-building program. Economists say the recession will be long over before stimulus spending has a big impact on expanding employment.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: All right, and Allan Chernoff joining us now.

Allan -- boy, I've got a bunch of questions for you, actually. But let me start with this one -- was it unrealistic even to expect the Recovery Act to jumpstart employment.

CHERNOFF: Unrealistic to expect instant jobs, because how does government spend money? Well, right away you can cut taxes, that can be done quickly. But in terms of actually having contracts, you've got to bid them out competitively, that all takes time. It takes time, even if you want to improve roads, build up new buildings, it doesn't happen right away and we haven't seen too much of it yet.

HARRIS: And we have saved many jobs, haven't we?

CHERNOFF: Yes. The program has been successful in saving jobs, because a tremendous amount of money has gone to the states, even municipalities, so they haven't had to lay off teachers, firefighters, policemen. So that has certainly been part of that social safety net. It certainly has helped out there.

But again, creating new jobs, that's why we've still got double- digit unemployment and that's why you see so many people in the middle class saying this program is not working yet.

HARRIS: And help clear this up for me. When you talk about it, one of the huge -- two chunks of the stimulus, huge chunks going to Medicare and Medicaid, obviously, and to tax relief. When you look at Medicare, is that not money going to the states as well?

CHERNOFF: Yes. The Medicaid -- as you know, Medicaid is a split between the federal government and the states.

HARRIS: Absolutely.

CHERNOFF: For example, in New York state, normally New York state pays 50 cents on the dollar. Thanks to the stimulus, New York state now is paying less, 8 cents of all the dollars spent on Medicaid in New York is stimulus money. So it's 58 cents, 8 plus 50, that's now coming from the federal government. That's a big savings for New York state and that's saving jobs in New York state.

HARRIS: And clear this up for me. The other huge chunk of that graph that you put up for everyone was tax relief. And is that to individuals and corporations too? Break that out for me, if you would.

CHERNOFF: Right. We've had, as you know, the Cash for Clunkers...

HARRIS: Yes. CHERNOFF: ... the incentives for first-time home buyers, a lot of help to the middle class. So, yes, a lot of that is going for individuals over there. It is helping out, but you don't see an instant translation into jobs.

Longer term it certainly could help, because the idea is if people don't have to pay as much taxes, they can spend more money, and when they spend more money, that gets the economy moving. Eventually, businesses have enough revenue coming in to hire new people, but it doesn't happen right away. It's going to take time.

HARRIS: Good stuff. All right, Allan, appreciate it.

Allan Chernoff for us in New York.

And let's do this, let's go to Susan Lisovicz now with the New York Stock Exchange for more details on the job market.

And, Susan, we've been talking all week about the effects of the stimulus and we'll continue right on through the week. But look, let's be clear here. It really is the private sector that creates most jobs in this country, not the government.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And that's the way it should be. And that's the way, frankly, almost all of us want it to be, because the innovation and the pay comes from the private sector. I mean, you have a better quality of life and I think there's probably a lot of government workers saying yes, that's right. It's great to get a pension if you're a government worker, but look, this is what has elevated the United States to its status as the economic superpower of the world.

But don't get me wrong, the government is a big employer. In the last jobs report, 22 million people were classified as employed by the government. That is more than we saw employed in the construction and manufacturing sector, which have been decimated by the recession, Tony. But 22 million pales in comparison to the services sector, which is more than 110 million.

So, you want to see it, you want to see growth in the private sector.

HARRIS: And in order to get that growth, I mean you've got to get -- it comes back to banks, and you've got to get banks lending to small businesses. Big corporations that were in a position to borrow, to innovate, to create new opportunities, stop doing that and stop being a part of those kinds of activities so that the whole system really seized up, didn't it.

LISOVICZ: Yes, well, I mean, the pendulum swings pretty far each side. I mean, you know, a few years ago, all you had to do was breathe and you could get a loan. It got us into a lot of trouble. It was one of the reasons why we got to where we are.

On the other hand, you know, not lending to people who are creditworthy, who are comfortably employed, who have a long established employment history is also too extreme to the other extent.

But the fact is, as Allan and you were talking, we have double- digit unemployment and companies are still cutting. I mean just in the last few days, Tony, we have Wal-Mart cutting 11,000 jobs, we have Home Depot 1,000, we have Verizon cutting 13,000 jobs. So this is the kind of -- we're not out of the woods yet.

And you know, we're talking about consumer confidence, you know, we were talking about that yesterday...

HARRIS: Absolutely.

LISOVICZ: ... the one year high. Well, the fact is it's still really, really low. And what a lot of folks are saying is that the reason why it's where it is, that consumers still are so cautious is because the legacy of what we're going through is going to last for a long time. Even if we're seeing marginal improvement, our behavior has changed. How long it's changed, we don't know, but it's changed for a while.

HARRIS: I thought Suzanne Malveaux said something so interesting in her preview piece earlier in the hour saying that the expectation from the White House is that the president in this speech tonight will deal in some hard realities and will lay out the real picture of the difficulties in where we are. And part of what you're suggesting here is that it is going to take a long time to come out of this.

LISOVICZ: Yes. And unfortunately for politicians, when you have midterm elections, that doesn't really sit well for the majority party. But, you know, the fact is, there's a reason why it's called the Great Recession. We have seen things that have happened that have never happened before, Tony. It's going to take a while.

HARRIS: Yes. Susan, appreciate it. Just tell the people the truth, give it to them straight.

Susan Lisovicz on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Parts of the country bracing for a dangerous ice storm. We are tracking it for you just ahead right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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HARRIS: Let's get you caught up on our top stories right now.

Toyota has suspended sales of eight models, including the popular Camry. The cars have reportedly had trouble with the gas pedal sticking. Some of the same vehicles were involved in last week's major recall.

The daughters Jaycee Dugard gave birth to finally have birth certificates. Listed as the father, Philip Garrido. He is the man accused of kidnapping and raping her. His home is listed as the place of birth.

Boy, oh boy, look, a big winter storm taking aim right now at the Southern Plains, and it is not looking good. Parts of Oklahoma, Texas and points east are bracing for a thick coating of ice. That means all kinds of problems.

Jacqui Jeras is tracking this storm for us in the CNN Weather Center.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Where are the billions in stimulus dollars going? Are they really creating jobs? We are investigating it at our Stimulus Desk. That's happening all week. That's the team right there working over it, poring over all of those -- look at that. Who would read that? Well, we're reading it. Every last volume of it. Thick, thick, thick books there, all about the stimulus money.

We are hours away from President Obama's State of the Union Address. We are digging deeper on the issues you want to hear about. Namely jobs, really. Let us know what you want to hear tonight on the economy. Get in touch with us at CNN.com/Tony or send us an iReport.

We're back in a moment.

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HARRIS: All right, President Obama is expected to spend much of his State of the Union speech tonight talking about the economy, and we have some brand new poll numbers out this hour on the subject. CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser joining us live from Washington.

Paul, good to see you. What do the numbers show?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Tony, as you said, brand new numbers just a few minutes ago, CNN/Opinion Research Corporation.

We asked about, "How things are going in the country right now?" And take a look at this, not so well. About two out of three Americans, just slightly more, say things are going badly in the country. You know what, though, that's down a little bit from last year, from about a year ago, but still nothing to brag about.

Check this question out, Keating Hall (ph) our polling director asked this, very interesting, the first time -- "Are these economic conditions the worst you've seen in your lifetime?" the worst you've experienced? Look at that, Tony, three out of four people we questioned say, yes, they are.

What does this all mean? Check out the next number. Come tonight people want to hear about the economy tonight -- 61 percent, six out of ten say that it is extremely important for the president and Congress to deal with the economy. Yes, that other 36 percent who say it's very important and you got just about everybody, Tony, saying do something, fix this economy.

HARRIS: Yes. Where does, Paul, the president stand in the eyes of Americans?

STEINHAUSER: Americans appear to be split. They are divided on the job Barack Obama is doing as president.

Here's the approval rating from CNN, you can see, 49 give him a thumbs up, they approve of the job he's doing in the White House; 50 percent disapprove. That's down, Tony, about 15 points from about a year ago when he first came into the White House. They personally like him, that's what our poll shows, they like him a lot, but they say that overall he is not really dealing with the issues that need to be dealt with the way they want to see it.

Check this out. Specifically on the economy, the president, 60 percent say he's paying more attention to the financial institutions, like the banks and Wall Street, than the middle class; about three out of ten disagree. So that's maybe one of the reasons you're seeing a populous message from the president starting last week. You may hear more of that tonight, Tony.

HARRIS: I love the polling. He really has been tagged with that, that he is spending more time and is in the pocket of the big financial -- that is amazing.

All right, Paul, appreciate it. Thank you, sir.

Tune into CNN tonight for complete coverage of the president's State of the Union speech. Our special coverage kicks off at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

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HARRIS: Of course, we want you to weigh in on the president's State of the Union speech tonight. What do you want to hear about jobs and the overall economy?

Let's start with Dan. Wow, State of the Union -- man, here's Dan, "State of the Union, the same old, same old. You wash my hand, I'll wash yours, and all the while political talk to make America look good, while the poor get poorer and the rich get richer."

MBlake says, "Instead of helping the people who were victims from these incompetent banks, he gave to the banks."

And John lays it out this way, "For the sake of the American middle class, I want to hear about bipartisanship between the president and Congress. If this can be achieved, the middle class will not become extinct."

Boy, that is a tough, tough ask.

Send us your thoughts, send them to our blog, just logon to CNN.com/Tony. We will have more of your comments during the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.

Ali Velshi unable to make his radio show to talk about your money today. He'll be hosting CNN NEWSROOM right after me at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time. Stephanie Elam is on the radio -- CNN Radio, that is -- and she is joining us live from New York.

Stephanie, let's start with the phone number here so we can gin up from more calls for you.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's a good idea, yes. Because I'm sitting here, hosting the CNN Radio, filling in for our friend Ali Velshi who is now down there in the -- what? -- the peach straight? Left the apple for the peach.

But yes, the number here is 877-266-4189, and we've been having an interesting discussion about the economy as well as Apple. You know I had to talk about that, too.

HARRIS: Yes. All right, so, let me start with you here with you, you're starting to hear more and more rumblings about a possible double-dip recession. Are you hearing that talk and what would send us back to those days of negative GDP, please?

ELAM: Yes, and that's exactly what everyone wants to know. A lot of people saying, you know what, we probably won't, but some people say take a look at 1937. That's when the economy in the United States was four years away from the Great Depression was on the upswing and then they say that some things happened that just did not help. And if you take a look at that chart that's up on the screen right now, you can see, it's like, oops, that's not the way we want to go.

HARRIS: Yes.

ELAM: So, they're saying a lot of this has to do with the un -- the employment rate, obviously, it has to get stronger. But also, the Fed's policies, they can't start reining in the stimulus too quickly or, let's say raising interest rates too quickly, because that could cause a problem. So that's one thing to keep your eye on.

They're also saying there's a tax hike on the rich, that didn't help. These are some people's ideas of things that could have caused a problems; and also, an increase in wages. So a lot of people looking at 1937 saying, we have to be cautious about this.

But at the same time I've talked to economists and they're saying, we are probably already out of the recession, that it probably ended in the summer...

HARRIS: Yes, yes.

ELAM: ... and that at this point we are going to see a recovery. But here's the thing, it won't be as long until we see another recession, that the time between recessions is starting to get shorter.

HARRIS: That's probably an important distinction to make.

Stephanie, good to see you. We've got to run.

ELAM: All right, see you, Tony. Thanks. HARRIS: Have fun.

All right, here's what we're working on the next hour are the CNN NEWSROOM.

President Obama addresses us about the state of our union. What can we expect in the difficult economic and political times? We'll get a preview from Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton.

And her small business took a big hit during the recession. A bakery owner updates us on whether she is rolling in dough now or just barely rolling along.

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HARRIS: You know, there hasn't been this much hype over a tablet since Moses.

Do I get a rim shot or something for that?

Apple unwraps it's new wonder gadget in a little over an hour. Widely anticipated to be a touch-screen tablet computer gizmo or something. Errol Barnett is here.

And, Errol, you know, I don't want this to turn into a commercial for Apple, because Apple's not paying me any money for this. But there is a lot of hype and speculation, if you would, sort through all of this for us.

ERROL BARNETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And do you know what, it is the number one topic people on Twitter are talking right now, Tony. If you just look at some of the top trends, they post them here on the right-hand side, they all have to do with the upcoming announcement -- Apple Tablet, Apple Frantic, Steve Jobs, iSlate, iTablet -- some of the possible names.

But let's look at what this actually look like. Apple is being very tightlipped, so some social blogs like Mashable have posted what they believe to be, we cannot confirm, possible pictures of this device. Perhaps 10 inches in diameter, a touch screen, can jump on Wi-Fi, have bookmarks possibly.

And also Engadget, another blog we've been looking at, they have looked into some of the patents that Apple has been approved for. This one is a -touch screen, basically that just means it will know and understand where your hand moves.

But if you're not tech savvy, this all might be a bit overwhelming. Don't' worry, we reached out to Joshua Topolsky, he's actually the editor in chief of Engadget, asked why this device might really stand out.

Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOSHUA TOPOLSKY, EDITOR IN CHIEF, ENGADGET: It's going to be a jack-of-all-trades device. It is probably going to do some media stuff. It's going to do gaming. It's going to do communication. But we don't know for sure what the killer app is going to be for this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: And it may also possibly read e-books, that's a possible game changer.

HARRIS: Yes.

BARNETT: Also play games as well. That announcement, though -- can't confirm any of this until about an hour, when Steve Jobs steps onto the floor and makes that dramatic, possible Apple tablet announcement.

HARRIS: OK, I'm waiting and I want to see your report on it, and maybe you come back tomorrow and say if this thing is any good at all.

All right, Errol, appreciate it, thank you.