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Barbara Walters to Undergo Heart Surgery; Sparks Fly Over Gulf Oil Spill; Keeping Up With China's Emphasis on Public Education; Taxed Enough Already?
Aired May 11, 2010 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: All right. They do a lot of chitchatting about celebrities on "The View," but one of their own took time on yesterday's show to talk about a personal health matter.
Listen to Barbara Walters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA WALTERS, JOURNALIST: Later this week I'm going to have surgery to replace one faulty heart valve. Now, lots of people have done this, and I have known of this condition for a while now. And my doctors and I have decided that this is the best time to do the surgery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins me now.
Elizabeth, tell us a bit about this. She said lots of people have it.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, millions of people. So she's in very good company.
And what doctors do most of the time is open heart surgery. So, it's pretty serious. And we actually have an animation where we'll show you what happens.
Sometimes a heart valve -- you can see it there at the bottom of the screen -- it gets kind of cranky for want of a better term. It just doesn't work well, the little valves don't swing back and forth well. So they replace it with what you see here, which is a plastic valve. Sometimes they do a pig valve. Again, they go into the heart -- it's open heart surgery -- and they make that replacement.
VELSHI: When you say pig, you mean one from the heart of a pig?
COHEN: Correct. How about that? Yes.
And what's interesting is that a lot of times, people will say, oh, someone's got heart disease, it must mean they didn't eat well or they didn't exercise. And that's not the case at all with valves. It is purely mechanical, it's wear and tear. This is not an uncommon thing to happen at age 80.
VELSHI: How long does it take for her to recover from this?
COHEN: She'll be in the hospital probably about five to 10 days.
VELSHI: Oh, wow.
COHEN: And then afterwards, it takes about three months to really recover. People do cardiac rehab, sort of, you know, get themselves going and exercising again. But it takes a while.
VELSHI: Is there any way to know that you're going to be subject to this?
COHEN: There are two ways, basically, the doctors find out that you're having valve disease. Sometimes you might show up at the doctor feeling pretty much OK, but they'll hear a murmur. And when they hear a murmur, they'll give you an ultrasound. And on the ultrasound, they'll see the leaking.
And the other way that they'll sometimes know is that people will have symptoms. So, in other words, people will not feel well.
VELSHI: Right.
COHEN: They'll feel fatigued. They'll have a hard time going up stairs. And they go to the doctor, and that's going to be one of the first things they look for.
VELSHI: All right. Very good.
Elizabeth, thanks very much for bringing us up to speed on that.
COHEN: Thanks.
VELSHI: Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.
Hey, look. It's a brand new hour. I've got a brand new "Rundown." Let me bring it to you. Here's what I've got "On the Rundown" right now.
Everyone says, "I'm paying too much in taxes." Well, you might change that attitude after you hear the latest numbers, and they might make your life a bit less taxing.
Plus, are you ready for some football? Actually, I mean soccer. World Cup fever is in the air. The World Cup starts a month from now, and I'm going to help you catch some of that fever.
And I am not done with taxes just yet. I have got something to say you to and the tax man, so you are not going to want to miss my "XYZ."
But first, our top story.
Sparks are flying on Capitol Hill over the massive Gulf oil spill. The major players are blaming each other. They're pointing fingers at each other as more than 200,000 gallons of oil gush from that ruptured pipe in the Gulf of Mexico every day.
The world is watching. That's what the head of BP America said, making arguably the biggest understatement of the year since that accident happened three weeks ago today. Two new Senate panels are investigating the oil explosion from that rig, the Deepwater Horizon.
Meanwhile, the struggle to stop that flow continues. New options. As you know, there was a big concrete dome that was put on top of it. It didn't work. So, now they're trying something called a top hat, which is basically a smaller dome to cap the leak, or placing a valve on the blowout preventer, which is the thing that is thought to have caused this explosion in the first place, putting a valve on top of that.
We've got the story covered from Capitol Hill and from the Gulf of Mexico.
But first, let's go to Capitol Hill, CNN Congressional Correspondent Brianna Keilar.
Brianna, we know that BP is supposed to pay for the cleanup, they've agreed to do so, but the issue here is that economic damages, environmental damages, that's not nearly as clear.
What have we got on that?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this idea of, what about the businesses in the Gulf that are losing money because of tourism? BP has long said that it's going to pay legitimate claims, but the question really is, what does that mean, legitimate?
Well, listen to this exchange -- I thought it was very telling -- between Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell, posing rapid-fire questions at the head of BP America, Lamar McKay.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAMAR MCKAY, CHAIRMAN & PRESIDENT, BP AMERICA: Obviously, we can't keep from being sued, but, yes, we have said exactly what we mean, we're going to pay the legitimate claims.
SEN. MARIA CANTWELL (D), WASHINGTON: OK. So, if it's a legitimate claim, a harm to the fishing industry, both short term and long term, you're going to pay?
MCKAY: We're going to pay all legitimate claims.
CANTWELL: If it's an impact for business lost from tourism, you're going to pay?
MCKAY: We're going to pay all legitimate claims.
CANTWELL: To state and local governments for lost tax revenue, you're going to pay?
MCKAY: Question mark.
CANTWELL: Long-term damages to the Louisiana fishing industry and its brand?
MCKAY: I can't quantify or speculate on long term. I don't know how to define it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Ali, could you hear that? Because I wasn't actually able to hear the sound. Were we hearing on it air?
VELSHI: Yes. No, he finished up with saying that he can't speculate on the long-term damage to the Louisiana fishery industry, so he wasn't giving a whole lot of detail about what he would pay.
Are you able to hear me?
OK. It sounds like we've lost Brianna. We'll try and get her back.
But in the meantime, let's go to Venice, Louisiana. David Mattingly is there. He's right -- he's at the closest point to where this explosion took place. And he's trying to measure what's going on from that side.
David, you heard the head of BP America under pressure to say what they would pay for. Sounding like they were hedging a little bit.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I asked that same question of the CEO of BP just a couple of days ago, "How many fishing seasons are you willing to compensate fishermen for if their catch isn't what it's supposed to be?" And we got the same answer, "We will honor all legitimate claims."
Again, trying to find out what they consider legitimate is probably going to be handled in a cost of law.
VELSHI: Yes.
MATTINGLY: I mean, you've got everybody here deciding what is going to be worthwhile here. Is it BP who is going to decide? Is it the fishermen who are going to decide? Again, this is probably, most likely, going to be handled by a court.
VELSHI: All right. So that will be handled by the courts, and they're dealing with that on Capitol Hill.
What they're dealing with in the Gulf of Mexico right now is that failed effort to put that massive dome, basically a big block of concrete, over the spill and funnel the oil to the surface. That didn't work. There was some slush that was created because of how deep and cold it is down there. So now they're going with something smaller than that.
MATTINGLY: That's right. And that setback has cost us about a week here.
What they're trying now is a smaller containment dome that you described accurately. They're calling it a top hat.
It's only about five feet tall, about four feet in diameter, a fraction of the size of the dome they were using before. They think the small size and the way they're deploying it this time will help prevent that buildup of crystals that clogged up the old dome.
But they're not for sure with anything here, because, again, they keep putting that asterisk next to every statement that they make, meaning we've never tried this before, we don't know if this is going to work. But they've had this Plan B ready to go. They're going to have it implemented sometime toward the end of this week. And if they are successful, Ali, they'll be able to capture, they hope, about 80 percent of the oil that's now leaking.
They have another solution in the wings that they hope will work, that they're going to implement, called the top kill or the junk shot, where they're going to try and clog up the pipes down there and stop the flow of oil completely. That junk shot is not going to be ready until about 10 days to two weeks from now.
VELSHI: All right. And, you know, somebody told me on my weekend show this week -- I think they were speaking anecdotally, but they said we quite possibly have more information about the surface of the moon than we do about the surface of the ocean. You know, these things -- you sort of thing when we're in the habit of digging that deep into the ocean, we would know more about these things, but we apparently don't.
MATTINGLY: I kept pressing the CEO of BP about that. I actually said, "Look, it seems like you're pretty smart guys. You're drilling for oil a mile under water. It looks like there wouldn't be anything happening that you're not prepared for."
But, again, he says throughout the entire industry, this type of catastrophe, the chances of it were considered so remote, that there were no contingency in place to handle this.
VELSHI: Yes. Right. And regardless of how remote it is, when it happens just once, look at the damage it poses.
David, thank you very much for that. We'll keep checking in with you.
David Mattingly in Venice, Louisiana.
All right. We talk a lot about the education system on this show. China is promising to put more oomph into its education system. And the obvious question is, can the U.S. keep up?
We're not doing it right now. Are we going to be able to keep up with China's increased emphasis on China's public education?
I'm going to give you a side-by-side comparison coming up in "Chalk Talk."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Time now for "Chalk Talk." Every day at this time we're going to be talking about education, what your kids are learning, what other kids are learning, and most importantly, how we can help mold better, smarter students who will become better, smarter citizens.
Today, we're looking at the worldwide contest for public school smarts. Now, we've often heard that the U.S. is falling behind in public education and that China is surging ahead.
Today, the Chinese government approved an education overhaul promising more money and greater access to a high-quality public education. So, we want to compare where the U.S. stands now to where China stands, and where China hopes to stand in the next 10 years.
Let's take a look at this.
Right now, the United States has about 55,800,000 students, and we pay about $543 billion a year for public education. Now, there's something called a Pisa Science Ranking. It's a worldwide ranking of how students do. It's an international standardized test, basically.
See that number 29 next to the U.S.? Fifty-seven countries in the test. In 2006, the last year for which we have numbers, the United States came in 29th out of 57.
Let's compare that to China. This nation has way more students, estimated at about 319 million kids in primary and secondary school. OK, so a lot more students than we have. They have more students -- they have as many students as America as people.
Look at what they pay, a whole lot less per year in public education than the United States does, $150 billion a year. That might be an issue.
But take a look. In 2006, where they came out in that 2006 Pisa International Standardized Science Test, they're number 10. The United States is number 29.
Now, China is gearing up to get even more competitive about education. A new plan just announced yesterday will boost the education budget to four percent of their GDP. Four percent of the entire size of China's economy emphasizing early and higher education.
Leaders want to make preschool available to every student. They want 40 percent of their high school students to attend college. They want them to graduate and attend college.
For the record, 68 percent of high school seniors in the U.S. went on to get some sort of higher education in 2008. So, this is an area in which the U.S. is doing better than China is doing. Now, what is China doing better to do better on its standardized tests for a whole lot less money than the U.S. pays? Well, we're going to keep digging on that.
All right. When we come back, I want to show you -- well, I've got it over there, but I'm going to show you a newspaper story, a front-page newspaper story today. And you might actually think they're lying about this, but "USA Today" says we are paying the lowest taxes in the United States since 1950.
I'll tell you about it when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: So, if you were to just judge by the protests that are going on out there, you would think that we are taxed enough already. In fact, if you take those three initials, it spells TEA, like the Tea Party. Get this -- you're probably paying a lot less taxes than you think.
This is data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The story came to us courtesy of "USA Today," which actually has great stories on this sort of thing.
Tip up the front page of "USA Today," and it says right here, "Tax Bills in 2009 at the Lowest Level since 1950," since Truman was president after the Second World War. You're all sitting there thinking, what are you talking about?
If you take federal taxes, state taxes, local taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, all of that, it amounts to, on an average basis, 9.2 percent of income -- 9.2 percent. That sounds incredible, but take a look at this. I'm going to show it to you.
But let's not bother going back to 1950, because the world was a different place. Let's go back to the year 2000.
I'm just going to show you what taxes looked like as a percentage of income. And as you can see, this little bar, it's actually been going down toward the end of 2009. In fact, we're at the lowest point here that we've been in the last 10 years, but in the last 50 years as well.
Now, what's responsible for lower taxes?
Number one, the stimulus bill. I know people like griping about it, but the bottom line is that one-third of the stimulus bill was just tax breaks. That was -- that's part of it.
Also, higher unemployment. People who are on unemployment benefits are not contributing a whole lot to the taxes.
And lower sales taxes. Why? Because we're buying less. We've been buying less. Now, that's starting to tick up, because as people pay fewer taxes and the economy starts to stabilize, people are paying -- are buying more, so that may go up. There are also a lot of reasons I think if you were to extend this further out, you'd start to see this line going up.
I'm going to talk a lot more about that -- not a lot more, a little more about that in my "XYZ" toward the end of the show, so stay tuned for that.
But I'm going to bring you up to speed with some of the top stories that we're following here on CNN right now.
Vice President Joe Biden's son is in the hospital in Delaware. He's the attorney general of Delaware.
The White House says he is alert and awake, but has not given any other details about his condition. We're going to keep an eye on the younger Biden's condition and bring you any new information. We do understand his family is with him.
Crews are still trying to stop the gushing oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. Right now they're drilling another well to stop the leak, but that could take up to three months.
Oil executives from three companies involved went into a blame game over whose fault is -- whose fault it is at a Senate hearing today. The exact cause of the rig blast is still unknown.
I want to take you live to London right now, where Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who suffered a devastating setback in elections last week, is speaking live. Listen to what he has to say.
All right. Well, what I really wanted to show you was him walking into to 10 Downing Street, having just made a -- is he coming back out to speak?
Let's just keep an eye on this.
He's bringing his kids out. You know, we're just going to have to check on what's going on here.
He is saying he is going to step down. As you'll recall, he said he was still the prime minister, he would step down prior to the party's next convention, which is in fall, so that the party can -- the Labour Party can equip itself for the next election.
It does seem now that he is headed to seeing the queen. In a parliamentary system, that is what happens, the prime minister has to resign to the crown -- the queen in England, the governor general in other commonwealth countries.
So, in this case, he is going -- this is what we understand -- he is heading to see the queen, where he is expected to offer his resignation as prime minister of Great Britain. Again, the idea was that he was going to stick around for a while and allow the Labour Party to elect a new leader at its next convention, which I think is scheduled for the fall. Apparently, the damage seems to be too great, his ability to form a government, after his defeat at the polls. Too great. So, Prime Minister Gordon Brown now heading to see the queen -- obviously, she knows he's coming, these things are pretty set -- where he will submit his resignation, we understand, as prime minister of the United Kingdom.
What I am not clear on yet -- and we will get clear on it very shortly, we'll get our International Desk to bring me up to speed on this. I'm not sure whether he's resigning as prime minister to allow another party to form the government, or he's resigning as the leader of the Labour Party. My understanding was he was resigning as the leader of the Labour Party some months from now, but it does look like he is saying that he's unable to form a government, and that is why he would have to go to the queen to submit his resignation.
We will bring you up to speed. I'll get full details on that in just a few moments and bring you up to speed.
Listen, back here in the United States, monster tornadoes here yesterday. Chad Myers was telling you about them yesterday. He was covering them live.
These are remarkable, big tornadoes. One of them hitting a city, another one dispersing before it got there.
Chad's going to give us the weather and take us "Off the Radar" when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. I'm getting a little more clarity on what's going on in Great Britain.
It does appear that the resignation may or may not be connected to Gordon Brown resigning as leader of the Labour Party. That may still be in effect, he may be doing that immediately. But what he is going to the queen to do is to tell her that he's resigning as prime minister, unable to form a new party that will lead parliament in Britain.
We're going to go back to him in a second, because he's on his way to see the queen.
But until then, we have some news here that you were following yesterday afternoon, you followed well into the evening. You warned us yesterday we would have some long-track tornadoes, and lo and behold, they touched down, big ones.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, big ones. And we don't know exactly how big yet. I hoped that by now we'd get some information.
The Weather Service office, they go out to the damage and they see whether the trees fell down in different directions, or did they all go in one direction. If they all go down in one direction, you could actually get wind damage that looks like a tornado. Does it matter? Does it matter if you lost your roof whether it's a tornado or wind? No. The insurance claims are the same whether it was a tornado or not. Unlike --
VELSHI: A hurricane.
MYERS: -- if it's a named storm. If it doesn't get a named storm, it's two percent of your deductible and all that -- blah, blah, blah.
But what we want to get to today are just some amazing pictures that came out of this.
VELSHI: Wow.
MYERS: And then we'll kind of go "OTR" for the same reason, "Off the Radar," for the same reason that I'm going to complain about how we got so many pictures. Because the deal is, there were too many people out there.
VELSHI: Yes.
MYERS: There were too many people way too close to these storms.
We have a weather producer at CNN International. His name is Brandon Miller (ph). He was out there. He's a professional, he's done this before.
He was two miles from a tornado and couldn't see it. This is called an LP --
VELSHI: I'm actually going to ask you to hold that thought for a second.
MYERS: Go. Go. Go.
VELSHI: We're going to do that.
Let's go back to Great Britain.
What you're watching are pictures of the U.K. prime minister, Gordon Brown, who is headed toward Buckingham Palace. I don't know if he's -- he has arrived?
His car has arrived at Buckingham Palace. He is going to see Queen Elizabeth to resign, allowing Conservative Party chief David Cameron to take office, having struck a deal with Nick Clegg, who is the leader of the third-place Liberal Democrats.
In a parliamentary democracy, you've got to have the participation of more than half of the members of parliament. This is not something that Gordon Brown could achieve. The Labour Party, their 13-year hold on power, is now over in Great Britain.
Let's go to Max Foster. He's at 10 Downing Street, which is where we just saw Prime Minister Gordon Brown leaving. That's 10 Downing you're looking at. Max is on the phone.
Max, tell us what's happening?
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he came out, and he came out earlier than expected, and he made a very, very emotional speech on the doorstep of 10 Downing Street. He had his two sons, who we very rarely see, and his wife Sarah. And there was a tear in her eyes as he announced that he would be resigning. And then he was quickly in the car and off to the palace, as you can see in the pictures.
And David Cameron will be following him shortly afterwards. It's been an extraordinary five days in British politics here.
I mean, after the election, there was no clear result. So that's what we expected to get here in the U.K. We didn't get it, so there's been all sorts of horse-trading.
At one point, it did look as though Gordon Brown would stay in power, but he didn't have the support of his party. And it seems that David Cameron has had to do some sort of deal with Nick Clegg.
We haven't had -- actually had that confirmed. It could be a minority government simply run by David Cameron, but we can assume, I think, as you're saying, it will be supported by the Lib Dems.
VELSHI: OK. And just so our viewers here understand, you have to have the support of more than half of parliament to form parliament, but you just mentioned a minority government.
If David Cameron couldn't cut a deal with the leader of the third party, the Liberal Democrats, you can run as a minority government, in which case every piece of legislation basically has to be negotiated. You can't assume that anything's going to pass. And, in fact, that's not a -- that's not a situation that we're unfamiliar with here in the United States.
FOSTER: No, but here's something we're unfamiliar with here. And, you know, history dictates here that if that happens, then after a few months, you get a vote of no confidence. And if you haven't got the support of another party, your party then gets voted down, and they start the general election straightaway.
So, you almost -- I mean, do you have to have more than half the seats generally to get away --
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
FOSTER: -- with staying in power any length of time. And, you know, there are different levels of agreement they could have with the Lib Dems, not coalition, it might just be a very loose agreements where the Lib Dems agree to support David Cameron in a vote of no confidence.
VELSHI: Now, tell me, in a parliamentary system, the thing that takes the government down, if it's a minority government or they don't win half the seats, is when they have a bill that is before parliament about money. So, that's -- when you're in a minority government, the party that holds that -- those extra votes, that third party, can often have a lot of sway, they can force another election.
FOSTER: Yes. Most likely outcome of the Conservative/Lib Dem deal is a supply agreement where effectively the Lib Dems will agree to support David Cameron in a vote of confidence in him and in the budget, so that allows the conservatives to continue in the most basic form of government.
VELSHI: Right.
FOSTER: They have a leader and they have money to run a government.
VELSHI: Right. The budget is the issue, exactly.
FOSTER: Yes.
VELSHI: Hey, listen -- let's just listen to a little bit of the speech, the very brief speech that Gordon Brown just made a few moments ago. Let's listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORDON BROWN, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: As you know, the general election left no party able to command a majority in the House of Commons. I said I would do all that I could to ensure a strong, stable, and principled government was formed, able to tackle Britain's economic and political challenges effectively. My constitutional duty is to make sure that a government can be formed following last Thursday's general election.
I've informed the queen's private secretary that it's my intention to tender my resignation to the queen. In the event that the queen accepts, I shall advise her to invite the leader of the opposition to seek to form --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Max, do we know whether Gordon Brown is also resigning as the leader of the -- of the Labour Party or he's going to continue on for a little while? I know he's indicated that he's going to be resigning.
FOSTER: Yes. No, he's resigned with immediate effect, I can only assume that Harriet Harman or someone like that is carrying on and can take the role as the leader of the party. That his -- there are various people around him who have made very clear through their aides that they will be running to replace him. The most obvious is David Miliband, he's the foreign secretary.
I've spoken to several senior people today in the Labour Party and all of them are backing David Miliband. There are a lot of options if he doesn't get the support, David Miliband, who's very close to Tony Blair, seen as a Blairite as opposed to a Brownite. Mr. Brown isn't the most popular man in the party right now. So, the Blairites seem to have the best chance of providing the next leader.
VELSHI: All right. Labour Party was in power for 13 years. For our audience over here in the United States, would the shift from a Labour Party government to a Conservative Party government do anything that would have international effect or that would be worrisome or of concern, or even of interest to, let's say, an American audience?
FOSTER: I think one thing which will affect the rest of the world is Britain will have less money, so any new government will struggle to pay for foreign conflicts, for example, to support America in foreign conflicts if it was called upon to do that. Britain, obviously, is the first person to support America; first country to support America in these sorts of conflicts. That's less likely.
And I interviewed David Cameron very recently. I also interviewed Nick Clegg very recently. I put to them the very question about the special relationship, as it's called here, between the U.S. and the U.K., and both of them were bit guarded about their responses. David Cameron suggested that you should treat the relationship between the prime minister and the president as oldest friends, not best friends. They take their advice, but you don't have to do everything that they say. You can say no to your oldest friend.
VELSHI: Right.
FOSTER: And also, Nick Clegg saying to me, he would also be involved in this huge government in some way, saying you don't always have to say yes to America. There was a sense that Tony Blair was too close to America.
VELHI: OK. Very interesting. So, there will be things that we need to follow on this. Max, thanks very much for giving us some clarity on the situation right now.
You're looking at live pictures of Buckingham Palace, that's where Prime Minister Tony Blair, he's probably prime minister still, but he's not going to be prime minister. He's going to tender his resignation. He's also -- I'm sorry -- Gordon Brown has tendered his resignation both as prime minister and as leader of the Labour Party. He, of course, followed Tony Blair and led the Labour Party which jointly those two men led the Labour Party for 13 years in Great Britain and that comes to an end today.
All right. Britain and the United States have a great deal in common. There is one major difference. Over here, it's soccer. Over there, it's football. And this is the ball in common.
This is the ball -- the time of ball that will be used in the final game of the World Cup. If you don't know your pitch from your pitcher and your handball from your -- well, handball, you've only got 30 days to learn. Don't worry, though, because we've got a World Cup primer coming at you. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Today is a month away from the first kickoff in South Africa, the World Cup. It is the most watched sporting event in the world. I know people around here find it very strange when I say this, but it is. So, we're going to have to get you to bone up on your football.
Terry Baddoo is with me. This guy is a legend. He's the anchor of CNNI's "WORLD SPORT." He's going to give us a bit of a primer.
But, first, let me -- let me show you my fancy map here, all right? I'm going to go around the world to South Africa, right there. That is Johannesburg, South Africa. It is the country's largest city, one of the largest cities in Africa. This is where the final is going to be played.
There are two different stadiums in South Africa that will be hosting -- hosting the World Cup.
Now, here's the -- here's the thing that you need to know about the World Cup. There -- the host city always competes.
TONY BADDOO, WORLD SPORT, CNN INTERNATIONAL: The host nation always competes.
VELSHI: The host nation competes.
BADDOO: The host nation, of course, is being South Africa this time.
VELSHI: Right.
BADDOO: In the past, the previous winners always used to compete, but now they have to qualify. They are Italy. They did qualify, of course.
VELSHI: Right.
BADDOO: This is the 19th World Cup. There are 32 teams who will be taking part in this.
VELSHI: So, there's 31 who have to qualify except the host.
BADDOO: That process takes over two years to get to this stage.
VELSHI: Yes.
BADDOO: And, yes, there are 32 teams. They will play in eight groups of four.
VELSHI: Right.
BADDOO: And from that, two teams will advance in each group to the six. They'll play in a round-robin kind of thing.
VELSHI: Right. So, the first game of that -- of what we call the World Cup, even though it's been played a --
BADDOO: The first stage. VELSHI: The first stage.
BADDOO: Because there are three group games that each team plays.
VELSHI: Right.
BADDOO: And the top team from each group will advance to the round of 16 and then it's a straight knockout. You're going against somebody else, you play head to head.
VELSHI: Got it.
BADDOO: And you go through to the finals.
Now, these are the first finals to be played in Africa and that was one of the key goals that Sepp Blatter kind of ran on when he first came into power way back.
VELSHI: Right.
BADDOO: And he's got his wish and we're up to the first African World Cup.
VELSHI: All right. The first game is June 11th. The final game is being played in Johannesburg on July 11th. In South Africa, there are 10 stadiums and nine venues. Two of them will be in Johannesburg. And there are, as Terry just said, 32 teams, 31 qualifiers and the host is South Africa.
A big deal for South Africa, because they've only recently been able to join -- rejoin the international sports competition of the world.
BADDOO: Well, basically, the '95 World Cup of Rugby signified --
VELSHI: Right.
BADDOO: -- their re-entry basically into the --
VELSHI: And we saw that --
BADDOO: They did fantastically well. They won the competition. It was Nelson Mandela's sort of agreement (ph) to reunite the whole nation and sport was a key factor in that.
VELSHI: And the movie "Invictus" shows you.
BADDOO: I haven't seen it but I would --
VELSHI: It's an excellent, excellent movie.
All right. Who's likely -- who should we be watching? It's nice that South Africa is in there. They are not thought of as a finalist.
BADDOO: No. Never has a host nation ever failed to make the second phase of the competition. Now, there are some chances that South Africa will make it. We hope so because they tend to die a little, shall we say, having the part when the host nation doesn't have a decent round.
But the teams to watch for, always brazil, they are five-time champions and they are going for what they call the hexa, which is the sixth. They're always strong. They came through qualifying pretty well.
But they could be in trouble because Spain is playing fantastically well. They won the European championship two years ago. They're still a very strong team. They have an excellent goal-scorer David Villa.
But also, look out for teams like Argentina. And Lionel Messi, I'm sure, even Americans have heard of Lionel Messi, the World Footballer of the Year. He's been on fire for his club Barcelona during the league season. Everybody's looking toward to seeing whether Messi can perform at the level for his country that he does for his club.
VELSHI: All right. So, this is what you were talking about. There are eight groups that are playing. The stage two is going to be the round -- the 16 games through the final?
BADDOO: Yes.
VELSHI: And where are going to -- we got to -- there's one -- one of these groups that -- what do they refer to it as?
BADDOO: Yes, they call it -- they call it the "group of death."
VELSHI: The group of death. Right.
BADDOO: It's not politically correct to call it that. It used to be, but the way the world is now, not so much so.
VELSHI: Right.
BADDOO: But it's still called that. It is group C. It features Algeria. It features -- I'm sorry, where am I? It features Brazil. It features the Ivory Coast. It features North Korea and Portugal.
Now, we've already talking about.
VELSHI: Right.
BADDOO: Ivory Coast is a very strong African nation. They have the top goal-scorer in the English Premiere League, Didier Drogba to lead them. They've kind of underachieved. They had the golden generation.
They haven't necessarily performed up to par in the Africa Cup of Nations, for example. So, this could be their last grandstand if you like. And so, they are expected to be very strong.
North Korea hasn't played since 1966 back in England. This will be their the second World Cup.
VELSHI: Wow.
BADDOO: They are because they are secretive, a little bit unknown.
Portugal, of course, got Cristiano Renaldo, the former World Footballer of the Year, plays for Real Madrid. They may even win the Spanish Championship this season with Cristiano, the multimillion dollar signing, he's key for them. Again, they didn't have really great qualifying though. So, we're not sure.
And the same actually, they're not in the group, but Argentina managed by Diego Maradona. They didn't in the qualifiers, but you just never know with them. They are two-time winners, anything could happen with Diego to guide them.
VELSHI: All right. This is going to be a busy and fun month, one month from now. You got a month to get bone up on your football skills and we'll have you back to teach us, give us some tips and tell us, when we get some of the calls what they're going to mean.
BADDOO: I'm here (ph).
VELSHI: That's right. Yes. Terry Baddoo joining us.
All right. You just saw it here -- boy, we got a lot of international stuff going on. Today, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has told the queen of England that he is resigning as prime minister and that the conservative leader should try and form a government. We'll give you an update on that story when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. Take a look at these live pictures. You're watching a little history in the making.
That Jaguar right in the middle is carrying former U.K. prime minister, Gordon Brown. He is -- he has just left Buckingham Palace. You see the car turning around the corner there, it will emerge from the trees momentarily.
He's left. He has offered his resignation. He has resigned as the prime minister of Britain after 13 years.
He hasn't been prime minister for 13 years, but the party he leads or led has been in power for 13 years. He has just offered his resignation to the queen, and he has recommended that David Cameron, conservative leader in Britain, be allowed a chance to -- to form a government.
That's how it works in parliamentary systems. Even though the queen isn't particularly involved, she is the head of state and as a result, the prime minister has to form and dissolve his governments with the queen. So, the queen -- and recommends that he is -- basically here's how it goes. He goes to the queen and says, I am unable to form a government. I recommend that that opportunity be given to David Cameron, and what will happen is the queen will then have a conversation with David Cameron who is the very young conservative leader in Great Britain and ask him now to form a government.
That leaves David Cameron with two choices. One is to try and make a deal with Nick Clegg, who is the leader of the Liberal Democrats, a third party, a bit of a spoiler in this race. And try and come up with some sort of coalition government. Or run as a minority government, in which case every piece of legislation has to be negotiated to be able to get enough votes to pass anything in parliament.
So, that car there is carrying Gordon Brown in what will be one of his last rides as the prime minister of the United Kingdom.
All right. We are going to take a quick break. But before we do that, look what I've got for you. He's a little late. He's a little late because we had to talk about the prime minister of Great Britain. But as you can see there, he's sitting there looking quite stately himself.
Ed Henry, we'll be back with him in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. Ed Henry is here. It's that time of day that we talk to Ed for "The Ed Henry Segment." He's our senior White House correspondent, and as we always promise you a little something extra than you normally get.
What Ed doesn't know about me is that I was a star goalie -- in soccer.
ED HENRY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know --
VELSHI: What do you know about the World Cup? We've been talking about the World Cup. It starts in a month from now. You don't want to talk about it, do you?
HENRY: Well, I would. I actually wanted to talk to you about pizza, but I was trying to follow along earlier, and was it true that you ordered Domino's last night?
VELSHI: I ordered Domino's.
HENRY: Just because they don't cut in splices, they cut it -- they cut it in cubes. It kind of --
VELSHI: Yes. I know. They said they had new sauce and cheese and all. So, I ordered the pizza and I expected to it come in slices because everybody gets pizza in slices unless you're in kindergarten, and they cut it up into, like, a little grid. It was a round pizza cut as a square pizza and it was very upsetting. HENRY: You know, this is further evidence you're no longer in New York anymore.
VELSHI: That is right. That is a very clear signal. But the pizza was good, I'll give them that.
HENRY: And secondly -- and secondly, I hope David Cameron is listening because one of the first decisions he's going to have to make when he moves into 10 Downing is what kind of pizza he's going to order. And if they're not, you know, cutting it into slices, I think, clearly, he's going to want to know that.
VELSHI: But he's got a couple of other issues on his plate so to speak.
HENRY: Yes. Yes. And that's what I wanted to talk about, because it's interesting, he was considered the incoming prime minister, the British Obama, he ran on this "change" mantel. He even hired some Obama advisers, like Anita Dunn, to kind of come in and help him kind of run this "change" campaign.
Even though he's on the conservative side and you would expect him to sort of not get along with the Obama administration, what's fascinating from this side of the pond, I suppose, is that they might get along better, President Obama, and an incoming Prime Minister Cameron, than the president got along with Prime Minister Brown, who their relations were downright chilly. They didn't really seem to get along well. The White House has long denied this publically, but in private they really didn't get along very well.
And you have to look back to the Bush years when you had Tony Blair who was not on the same page politically would you think on paper with George W. Bush but they got along famously -- the issues on Iraq and other things.
VELSHI: Yes.
HENRY: And we could be seeing the makings of another partnership like that.
VELSHI: Yes. It's got to be interesting. As Max Foster was telling us earlier while we're watching those pictures, it is something that Americans should keep some track of because it will affect our relationships with Great Britain and some of the efforts that we got going on in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Ed, good to see you. That is a fantastic tie, by the way, and I'm liking the pockets.
HENRY: Well, thanks a lot. I appreciate that. I'll try to do that for you.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: And Roland Martin. Good to see you. Ed Henry, senior White House correspondent, part of "The Ed Henry Segment" you can see here every day on CNN.
All right. It's time for "Wordplay" when we come back from the break. We do this every day. The word today is "circuit breaker." It's meant to prevent a disaster. But some folks say it almost caused one the other day.
We're going to have "Wordplay" when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Hey, if you're wondering if "RICK'S LIST" started a few minutes early, it's not. I'm not Rick. These happen to be Rick's glasses. He left them in the studio. So, I'm doing my best Rick imitation right now.
I'm sorry, Sanchez. Here you go.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you very much.
VELSHI: All right. Let me put on my glasses because it's time now for "Wordplay." We do this every day. We take a term that keeps popping up in the headlines that might be unfamiliar to you and we tell you a little bit about it. We explain it to you.
Today, we've got the word "circuit breaker." You usually hear this in an electrical context, an automatic switch, and it kicks in to protect your electrical system in case of an overload or a short, it basically shuts the electrical flow off.
Well, in the world of finance, it's important. It's a device that's used by stock markets, not really a device, it's like software that's used to prevent panic selling and it's in the headlines because of what happened last week when the New York Stock Exchange's circuit breaker kicked in amid a strange selloff. But other exchanges that traded the same stock didn't kick in and that's why circuit breakers are important.
Right now, they're investigating why the market selloff took place. But what seems to have happened is the selling and buying slowed down on the New York Stock Exchange. It didn't on NASDAQ and other exchanges. Now, they're trying to figure out how to make them work on every exchange so that we don't see a repeat of last week.
Listen, when we come back, I'm going to give you a whole new way of looking at your taxes. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: It's now time for the "XYZ" of it. It's said that only two things are certain in life, death and taxes. And if you've been listening to small government advocates lately, you'd think the taxes are out of control.
What if I told you that wasn't true? That's a trick question, by the way, because I told you earlier this hour. But it's such an interesting story that it bears repeating. Here's the headline. According to "USA Today," Americans paid their lowest level of taxes last year since Harry Truman's presidency. The lowest level of taxes since the Truman presidency that was right after World War II. Taxes -- and I'm talking federal taxes, local, state, property taxes, sales taxes -- well, they all add up to a little more than 9 percent of all personal income in 2009 and that is the lowest level since 1950.
The average for the last 50 years by the way is about 12 percent. So, maybe taxes aren't so out of control. That doesn't mean spending isn't, and as our deficits continue and our debt increases, it doesn't mean taxes won't go up. In fact, many economists predict that they will. But some important tax cuts expire in 2011. And that will result in higher federal income taxes.
For now, though, consider yourselves lucky -- except, of course, for all the services you maybe losing because your city or state is going broke.
Now, I can hear you typing your responses to me already because you're sure that I'm wrong and you're sure that your taxes have gone up -- and you may be right. But, on average, taxes are down since the recession began. Thanks in part to that stimulus bill that has so many of us hot under the collar. One-third of the stimulus bill went toward tax cuts.
So, yes, death and taxes are certain, but taxes are always relative and they do provide some benefits. And if they do likely go up in the next few years, you can think back on these as the good old days.
That's my "XYZ."
Over to one of my favorite taxpayers, Rick Sanchez.
