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Mexico's Leader at White House; Primary Day of Discontent; Oil Leak Spreads Disaster

Aired May 19, 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: Live from Studio 7 at CNN World Headquarters, the big stories for Wednesday, May 19th.

A neighborly get-together at the White House. The American and Mexican leaders have difficult problems to weigh today.

New video of the oil gusher at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. On shore, Evangelicals try to pray the crude away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not trying to get God to decide where the oil should go. Everybody's going hurt from it. So what we do want God to do is just contain it and dry it all up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: The oil's devastating impact on coastal wildlife. Birds are dying even though little oil is onshore.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They've actually punched into the oil, probably because fish were below the oil. And so they're 100 percent covered, which means they're dripping with oil.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Oh, boy.

All right. Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.

Those stories and your comments right here, right now, in the CNN NEWSROOM.

So, immigration promises to be a major focus as President Obama meets this hour with the president of Mexico. Fallout over Arizona's new immigration law. Also on the agenda, drug violence that claimed 6,500 lives in Mexico last year.

White House Correspondent Dan Lothian joining us with more on the meeting.

Dan, early remarks from the two men better than an hour ago. How is the White House framing this visit? DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the White House, first of all, is saying that there's no more important relationship than the relationship that the U.S. has with Mexico, but they also say that it is a complex relationship. And because for the reasons that you just pointed out, some key issues that impact both countries. First of all, immigration, and also the whole issue of the drug violence.

Let's start with the drug violence issue.

As you pointed out, last year more than 6,000 people killed in Mexico, believed connected to the drug violence there. Ninety percent of the cocaine that flows into the U.S. goes through Mexico. And the Mexican government not happy about all of the weapons coming in from the U.S., tens of thousands of weapons that they've traced directly to the U.S. So, both sides really want to get at this issue.

On immigration, the Arizona law obviously is so controversial, and that's something that the Mexican government has clearly made the case, that they are against it. They believe that it simply is discrimination. So, that will be a topic here.

And also, they'll talk about trade and the overall economic situation, how both countries really depend on each other.

And at the arrival ceremony this morning, you heard both leaders talking about some of the challenges that both countries are facing. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Together, we can help create jobs and prosperity for our people. We can ensure that our common border is secure, modern and efficient, including immigration that is orderly and safe. We can stand firm and deepen our cooperation against the drug cartels that threaten our people. And given Mexico's global leadership, we can stand together for the opportunity and security of all people in our hemisphere and beyond.

PRESIDENT FELIPE CALDERON, MEXICO: We could do so if we create a safer border, a border that will unite us instead of dividing us, uniting our people. We can do so with a community that will promote a dignified life and an orderly way for both our countries, who are, some of them, still living here in the shadows with such laws as the Arizona law that is placing our people to face discrimination.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LOTHIAN: Tony, this is the fourth time that the two leaders have held bilateral meetings now.

Now, in addition to the pomp and circumstance, and, of course, the big state dinner tonight, which we are being told by the White House, security will be much different than it was the last time around, some of these changes that they put in place will be carried out tonight. But in addition to that, President Calderon will also be going to the Arlington National Cemetery and we'll be having lunch at the State Department as well -- Tony.

HARRIS: Yes, you wouldn't want any party crashers tonight.

So, Dan, President Calderon burning some calories, I understand, before tonight's big state dinner. What is that about?

LOTHIAN: That's right. You know, I should give a shout out to our photographer, Peter Morris (ph), ,who, this morning, on his way into the White House, looked across over at Lafayette Park and saw someone running with a bunch of people around him, pulled out his camera, and he got a shot of the Mexican president jogging in the park, surrounded with guys in warm-up suits and walkie-talkies, which I found quite interesting, running with, like, one hand up like this, talking on the walkie-talkie. But, yes, he had security around him, getting some exercise in before he got down to work with the president of the United States.

HARRIS: Yes. Yes. Yes. So, burn some calories before you pack some on later this evening.

All right. Dan Lothian --

LOTHIAN: That's right. That's right.

(LAUGHTER)

HARRIS: -- at the White House for us.

Dan, appreciate it. Thank you, sir.

President Obama and President Calderon will make statements and take questions from reporters. That's expected this hour at 11:50 Eastern. That's 8:50 Pacific. And you can see it live, right here, in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: So, let's talk about a Primary Day of discontent. Voters fire one incumbent senator and force a second into a runoff. In Kentucky, they embrace a Tea Party favorite. Or was that a giant bear hug?

Let's talk about all of this with CNN Political Editor Mark Preston. He is in Washington.

Mark, let's do this -- let's run through these races with a little help from the best political team on television. Let's try this approach out here.

First, veteran Pennsylvania senator Arlen Specter went down to Representative Joe Sestak. CNN's Paul Begala said this just after the outcome became clear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PAUL BEGALA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: If ever there was an example of an entrenched incumbent, and I think one that Democrats, at least, were kind of tired of in Pennsylvania, it was Senator Specter. Joe Sestak ran a tough, smart campaign, went right at that incumbency, went right at that establishment credentials.

And it shows that two can play this game. That this is not 1994, which really was a big anti-Democratic year. This is much more subtle. This is an anti-incumbent year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: OK.

So, Mark, what's your take on the Specter defeat?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, you know, Tony, Paul is absolutely right when he said that Democrats were sick of Arlen Specter. These are the same Democrats, remember, Arlen Specter as a Republican from the mid-1960s until just last year.

There was a lack of enthusiasm for his candidacy even though he had the White House behind him. Base voters in that state were unable to embrace him. And the fact that it rained out yesterday on Election Day, especially in and around Philadelphia, where he needed a high turnout, Tony, it really dampened it.

HARRIS: OK. So, in Kentucky now -- let's move on -- Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell's choice for the GOP nomination, Trey Grayson, was defeated by Rand Paul, the obvious choice of Tea Party activists.

Here's what CNN's Jessica Yellin was hearing in Kentucky last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: When I spoke to voters here, supporters of Rand Paul, at this gathering, they said that his victory should send a clear message to the Republican Party that the Tea Party is here to stay, that it's a real force. And one person said it's time to blow up the party. Their message is essentially, one person said, "We have to be less like Democrats," meaning we have to spend less.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: OK.

So, Mark, what's the message here?

PRESTON: The message there is anti-Washington, anti- establishment, and anti-machine politics. Rand Paul really embraced the Tea Party movement. He really latched on to it and was able to ride it to victory.

It doesn't hurt, Tony, the fact that his father is Ron Paul. It really plays well into all these activists. No question about that.

We could see this spread across the country. It all depends how the Tea Party plays it out.

HARRIS: Do you think that is likely, this idea of this movement spreading across the country?

PRESTON: Look, in some cases, I think it has potential to grow. What I think the Tea Party needs to do, though, is that they need to coalesce around one another. It's very decentralized right now.

It's really not a political party. It's just a movement. They need to talk about fiscal issues. That's what people want to hear. They want to hear how the economy can be improved.

HARRIS: Yes, I think you're right about that.

In Arkansas, as you know, the results were mixed. Wolf Blitzer made the call at 11:14 p.m. Eastern Time last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: In Arkansas right now, in order to win this Democratic primary, you have to get 50 percent of the vote, plus one. And we are now projecting here at CNN that neither Blanche Lincoln, the incumbent Democrat, nor the lieutenant governor, Bill Halter, who's challenging her from the left, will get to that 50 percent, Mark. That means there will have to be a runoff between these two candidates.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: OK.

So, Mark, can Senator Blanche Lincoln come through in a runoff and then come through in a general election in November?

PRESTON: Sure, she can. I mean, look, it's going to be a tough few weeks right now as they head into this runoff. In fact, last night, even before the election was called, we were seeing fund- raising solicitations sent out on behalf of Bill Halter, as well as Blanche Lincoln. This is going to be a tough three weeks.

What we're seeing down in Arkansas, Tony, is a different shade of anger. It's liberal anger at Blanche Lincoln. However, Blanche Lincoln is a fighter. If she can beat Halter, there is an argument to say that she'll be better off in the general election because she's proving to conservative voters in Arkansas that she's not liberal.

HARRIS: OK. One more. Let me squeeze one more in there.

There was another race in Pennsylvania. Mark Critz, a longtime aide to former Democratic Congressman John Murtha, beat Republican Tim Burns to fill the final months of the late John Murtha's term.

What do you read into that result? PRESTON: Look, this is a big story, Tony, because if House Democrats lost the seat, the storyline would be that the momentum is on the House Republican side, and that they'll be able to take back the House in November. Democrats were able to push back against it.

Very important, Bill Clinton was out there this weekend on behalf of Mark Critz. I suspect we'll see Bill Clinton on the campaign trail more and more. It will be interesting to see if he goes down to Arkansas, Tony, to help Blanche Lincoln in the next few weeks.

HARRIS: Yes.

Mark Preston, appreciate it. Thanks for the help. Good stuff. I think that worked out pretty well.

PRESTON: Thanks, Tony.

HARRIS: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, more fishing banned, tar balls washing ashore, animals dying. We will look at the spreading effects of that oil gushing deep under water in the Gulf of Mexico.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: All right. Getting bigger and badder, really, by the day, and it really is anyone's guess where that huge oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico is headed. Because of the danger, the federal government has put more of the Gulf off limits to fishing. It is now up to 19 percent.

New video from BP shows the oil and gas gushing under water. Take a look at that. And this is video before a tube was inserted into the well. That has slowed but not stopped the leak.

Tar balls -- let's talk about this -- are washing up on the Texas and Alabama coasts, but scientists say the ones in the Florida Keys that we talked to you about yesterday are not from the oil leak.

Now, to clean up the mess, they'll have to first contain it.

David Mattingly is in Venice, Louisiana, joining me.

And David, my understanding is that Louisiana, the coast now, is starting to get slimed a bit, and that this may, in fact, be the heavy oil that we were afraid of coming ashore.

How does that change essentially everything?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, what you were talking about, those efforts of containment, that clearly shows what's happening here in Louisiana, that clearly shows that these efforts to contain this oil are not foolproof. Already, 19 miles of shoreline in Louisiana has been hit by an oil sheen. And now we're hearing from state officials that heavy bands of oil -- they're describing this -- this is a quote -- "thick ribbons of emulsified oil with a pudding- like consistency" are coming ashore on some of the barrier islands on the eastern shores here of Louisiana.

We went out there yesterday. We were able to see a very thick sheen on top of the water. We saw some black patches of oil up on the beaches. We hadn't seen that before.

We were also seeing places where the oil is coating the roots of some of the sensitive vegetation along the shoreline. So, all of this new, thicker patches of this oil.

We knew it was out there. We had seen blobs of it out there before, these large patches of that thick oil. And now some of that coming ashore on the islands here in Louisiana. So, naturally, that is a great source of concern, because we know there's a lot more out there where that came from.

HARRIS: So, David, any new developments of BP's efforts to stop the flow of oil into the Gulf?

MATTINGLY: So far, BP is reporting that they're able to collect about 2,000 barrels of oil a day from that leaking pipe down there, and that was the result of that insertion tube that they put in there over the weekend. And that not even getting half of what the estimated amount of oil (AUDIO GAP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: No satisfaction still for Mick Jagger. He has been at the top of his game for, what, 50 years now? But he told Larry King last night he still gets caught up trying to achieve perfection.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Are you a perfectionist?

MICK JAGGER, MUSICIAN: Maybe. I am in some things, but I always don't know. There's only so far you can go in this kind of endeavor. You know? You've got to -- it's good that you have -- I like a deadline, because after the deadline you're done.

KING: You've got to be there.

JAGGER: And you've got to be there. And, of course, you can mess with this stuff. And some people in, you know, all kinds of artistic endeavors -- you know, writing books or making movies or records -- that people love the process of it. They love the process of being in a studio or editing the movie.

And so someone at some point says, "I think you're done now. I think you're finished. What you've got is good enough." You know?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Thank you, Mick Jagger.

(WEATHER REPORT) HARRIS: I want to get to this tease, but as we do this, let's load up a shot of the Dow, too, because we've got a major sell-off going.

But still to come in the NEWSROOM, in just a couple of minutes, a shared border and common ground. We will examine the ties and challenges facing the U.S. and Mexico as President Felipe Calderon visits the White House.

And there you go -- thanks, guys. The Dow, triple digit sell-off going on right now, down 130 points. That is actually off session lows, but that is a steep sell-off.

Let's take a break. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. Mexico's president gets a red carpet welcome at the white house. Felipe Calderon is meeting with President Obama at this hour. Immigration, drug violence, trade, and the economy are all on the agenda.

So let's do this. Let's find out more about Mexico's president. And Ines Ferre has been working on a profile of Felipe Calderon. She joins us from New York.

Ines, great to see you.

So, tell us about the Mexican president, you know, our partner, really, in Mexico.

INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, Mexican president Felipe Calderon comes from a long line of politicians in the family.

He was elected in 2006, in a highly controversial and a close election. He studied at the Harvard Kennedy School and graduated with a Master in Public Administration. And also Calderon is known as a social conservative, but his administration has been fiscally moderate to liberal, Tony.

HARRIS: OK. Drug trafficking is one of Mexico's biggest challenges.

How has Felipe Calderon sort of tackled that?

FERRE: Well, Calderon ran his campaign on one of the promises being to fight drug traffickers. And he declared a war on the drug lords. And during his presidency he sent out more than 45,000 military troops and 5,000 federal police, many of them to the northern part of Mexico, fighting against drug violence there. And his public security minister removed 284 federal police commissioners. They're all suspected of corruption, and they replaced them with hand selected officers.

Now, Tony, what the gangs have done is they've responded with escalated violence. More than 23,000 people have died in Mexico since Felipe Calderon took office, mostly due to drug-related violence there.

HARRIS: Yes. Yes, Those kinds of numbers will drive down your popularity.

So I'm just curious, where does public opinion stand on his presidency?

FERRE: Well, analysts say that he started with a very high approval ratings and they have come down since then. And public opinion in Mexico shows that while most may support the president's war, many feel that the drug lords are winning. And one of the things to note, Tony, is that the president has two and a half years left in his presidency.

HARRIS: OK.

FERRE: So it's really wait and see what he'll do in the next two and a half years.

HARRIS: Yes. He's got some time to make some changes and he certainly has a willing partner in the United States. Everyone is for border security, that's for sure.

All right. Ines, good to see you. Thank you.

The United States and Mexico share a 2,000-mile border and a lot more. We will talk about the ties that bind the two countries. And Mexico's president visits the White House. We expect to see the two men shortly. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: All right. Let's do this. You know there is certainly more to the relationship between the United States and Mexico than a 2,000-mile border. Some perspective now on the ties that bind the two countries and the challenges the leaders face.

Our own White House correspondent Dan Lothian, and White House correspondent for CNN en Espanol, Juan Carlos Lopez, are here with us. And in Los Angeles, Pilar Marrero, senior political reporter for "La Opinion" newspaper.

Good to see you all.

Pilar, let me start with you.

Describe the relationship -- the personal relationship -- between President Obama and President Calderon.

PILAR MARRERO, SR. POLITICAL WRITER, LA OPINION: Well, the personal relationship has been cordial. Obviously, President Obama went to Mexico right away after he took office. The First Lady, her first solo trip she went to Mexico, they were very well received. He got the support of Latinos and Mexican voters, Latino voters in the United States. So far it has been good, but there are issues that they need to talk about that are not so easy for either of them. HARRIS: This is interesting. It is -- but is it warm? Is it a warm relationship? Is it George W. Bush and Tony Blair warm? Because these problems, as you mentioned, are big, and you need a close relationship, someone who has your back if you're going to solve some of these issues, correct?

MARRERO: Well, correct. I mean, they are developing that. But, you know, there are problems that even a warm relationship can't really fix.

HARRIS: Yes.

MARRERO: And the problems of immigration and the problems of the drug war and the drug violence are not something that you can just fix by being friendly.

HARRIS: Juan Carlos, let me come to you on this one.

What's the common ground here between the two men? Let's start with that and then I want to get to some of the biggest hurdles.

JUAN CARLOS LOPEZ, CNN EN ESPANOL: Well, the acknowledgment that it's a big responsibility, talking about the war on drugs. The U.S. under the Obama administration -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, twice has acknowledged that the U.S. has a deep responsibility in the drug trade due to the high rate of consumption by Americans.

So that's an important acknowledgement to Mexicans. They want to be perceived as partners in this war and they want to see the U.S. doings its share. And we've seen a change. The recent policy on drug use prevention -- on prevention of drug use is very important in which it now emphasizes helping people who are looking for people and rehabilitation. And also looking to stem the flow of money and weapons from the U.S. to Mexico, things that Mexico has demanded in the past.

HARRIS: Yes, yes.

Dan, let me come to you on the same question I asked Pilar at the top. Talk about this relationship.

How would you describe the relationship between President Obama and President Calderon?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, the administration will say it's a very warm relationship. But to your point earlier, whether or not you can compare it to what the relationship was with President Bush, I think it is too early to be at that stage.

I mean, this meeting today, the fourth time that they've had a face-to-face bilateral meeting, they're looking at this as an opportunity to build that relationship. So they have that warm relationship now, but they also realize that there are some major challenges and so that's why one administration official described the relationship between the U.S. and Mexico as very complex. And for the reasons that you've been talking about, these issues of immigration and also the drug war -- Tony.

HARRIS: Yes, yes.

Pilar, let me come back to you.

Look, whether it's a cozy relationship, whether it's a warm relationship, you make a good point that these are really big issues that have to be resolved.

Which issue, above all others, do you believe the two men spend the most time on in their time together? You can't cover everything, but what issue goes to the top of the agenda where at the end of the day they would like to be able to report to their parties, we've made some progress here?

MARRERO: I think, and I wish I could be there looking into a peeping hole --

HARRIS: Yes.

MARRERO: But I think extensively, it will be immigration, but it will be the drug war because that is the most essential one. They basically coincide on immigration. They don't have any major differences there. What is needed is the political will to make it happen.

And the drug war -- the political will is not enough. President Calderon is under fire in his own country because there are doubts about the strategy that he's using. There are doubts about the intentions on this drug war and whether he's favoring a cartel or another cartel. There are things that are not discussed in the United States and that are discussed in Mexico. And I'm sure President Obama is aware of them. And there's a lot of money at stake.

With the Merida Initiative that was approved, the congress committed $ 1.6 million to Mexico to help with this war. But now the president of Mexico has to show what he has done with the money and what he plans to do with the rest of the money. There's lots of doubts about human rights, the military human rights, reforms in the police that are still not happening as fast as they should. So those are topics that, I think, are going to be at the top.

HARRIS: Yes. And Dan, to you on this.

Does the President believe he has a man -- a partner -- in Felipe Calderon, who can get significant work done? We can talk, talk, talk; we can cut check after check. But does the President believe he has a partner in the Mexican president who can get something done?

LOTHIAN: I think he does, Tony. And the reason for that is because you've heard the White House time and time again, when it comes to the drug war they'll talk about some of the gains, some of the progress that has been made on the ground there in Mexico. And they tie that directly to President Calderon, that he's been working very hard to clean up the drug problem in Mexico. But what can counter that, as well, is this whole issue of corruption within the government there in Mexico. So on the one hand, they believe that he's making some progress there, but there's still some problems within his government, as well, that the administration has pointed to, Tony.

LOPEZ: There is, Tony, a sense of urgency in Washington, because President Calderon has two years left in office. Many here believe that they have to get as much done possible before Calderon leaves because there's no guarantee that the next government will sustain the policy of facing the cartels head-on.

If you look at the failures, over 23,000 people have died since 2006, in Mexico, in this war on drugs. It's a very unpopular war in Mexico. And (INAUDIBLE) like this help Calderon, they help support his image in his country and help the request the government for the request for the Merida Initiative part two -- more money for the war on drugs.

HARRIS: Yes, yes. All right. Juan Carlos, appreciate it.

Dan, as always good to see you.

Pilar, great to have you on the program. Let's get you on more often.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a new drug control policy shifts the focus from the war on drugs to the war on demand. The White House Administrator who is involved in this program is going to be joining us tomorrow and there he is. That interview tomorrow right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. He is the man behind the new plan.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Let's get you caught up on top stories now. Two shuttle Atlantis astronauts are on a space walk right now, replacing batteries on the International Space Station. They were able to quickly untangle a snagged cable shortly after beginning the space walk. This is the second of three planned during the mission.

The American missionary held for almost four months in Haiti is back home in Boise, Idaho. Laura Silsby was accused of trying to take children out of Haiti, without the proper documents. A judge convicted Silsby and sentenced her to time served.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your children are waiting and I bet -- what are you going to be thinking as you walk through these doors in just a second here, Laura?

VOICE OF LAURA SILSBY, AMERICAN MISSIONARY: I am just very, very thrilled to be home. I have missed them more than words can express. I knew this day would come.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HARRIS: And honoring a fallen Marine. A crowd-lined tarmac at a Texas airport in tribute to Marine Corporal Jeffrey Johnson. He was killed mayM11 during combat operations in Helmand Province, in Afghanistan. Corporal Johnson was 21 years old.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: How cool was that picture a couple of moments ago from the Rose Garden as Dan Lothian and Juan Carlos Lopez were talking to us about the meeting of the two presidents for Mexico, and of course, President Obama to see all of the other White House correspondents mingling around talking about who knows what and getting ready to take their seats.

I guess they are now. Let me see here. Yes. We're just a couple of minutes away from the two presidents and their remarks and a little Q&A from the Rose Garden of the White House. And, of course, when it begins we will take you there, live, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

The gap of the average net worth of black and white families has more than quadrupled in the past two decades. Boy, that's a shocking result.

Our Christine Romans has details of the new study.

When we got wind of that this morning it took the air out of the room for a moment there, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know what? I'll tell you something. We have done many, many reports on the voluminous information about the income gap in this country, that is, the widening gap between the rich and the poor. The people who have so much wealth concentrated at the top and how the average American family has been stagnant over a generation.

This is from Brandeis University and it zeroes in even more carefully on the gap between whites and blacks and finds that white families are now about $95,000 richer than African-American families on average. That's a big gap, and a gap that has widened substantially since the same cohort, the same group of families was followed back in 1984. So the gap in 1984 was $20,000, a difference between a white family and African-American family in terms of wealth. Today -- in 2007 when this was the last data here, that gap was $95,000.

So let me just say what wealth is.

HARRIS: Sure, sure.

ROMANS: Wealth is what you own, versus, what you owe. It's pretty much very simple. What you own, your assets, versus what you owe.

The study found that African-American families from 1984, Tony, to 2007 doubled their debt. One in ten owed at least $3,600. And at least 25 percent, a quarter of this group, had no assets altogether.

Brandeis University researcher said that the great wealth produced over this period -- and the United States saw great wealth production over this period -- was concentrated primarily to the very highest income whites. And they make a couple of points about why.

They point out that our tax code is tilted toward rewarding mortgage interest and investments in the stock market and certain things where the wealth was already funneled toward folks who already have capital and have money. They also make another point, Tony, about in general the trend toward deregulation of lending. They say this actually hurt a lot of people because it pushed people into loans that weren't good for them.

HARRIS: Sub-prime, that whole debacle.

ROMANS: Pushed people into predatory lending.

HARRIS: Yes.

ROMANS: And so this really hurt, this proliferation of credit actually hurt some people more than others. It's a fascinating, fascinating study.

HARRIS: Hey, are we going to put that up somewhere? Maybe CNNMoney.com? Or, maybe I can grab that for you and we can put it up on our blog page. I would love for folks to get an opportunity to do a deeper read on this.

ROMANS: Yes.

HARRIS: All right. Let's do that.

ROMANS: And I'm going to tweet and Facebook the link. I'll make sure you have it, too, OK, Tony?

HARRIS: I appreciate it. That's -- all right.

Christine, appreciate it. Thank you.

Now to another study in black and white. This one measuring children's thoughts about race. By recreating and updating the famous doll test of 1940s, CNN's Anderson Cooper teamed up with a renowned child development psychologist who designed and execute this study. They asked children ages 4 to 10 questions like, show me the dumb child, or, show me the pretty child. The only difference in the pictures being skin color. The children, both black and white more frequently identified the darker-skinned cartoons as having negative characteristics. Our Anderson Cooper has been running parts of this study all week on his program week. Tonight he gets feedback from parents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: I don't have kids but I would imagine one of the greatest concerns is the messages that your kids are receiving once they leave your door. I mean, you're only with them for a certain amount of time and then they have their friends and, you know, we're seeing things on television and those messages are all around.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the part of parental responsibility, I've noticed that the media that we allow them to be exposed to does have a lot to do with forming their perceptions and perspectives.

I've caught myself -- my wife and I -- have caught ourselves with TVs just playing in the house and there will be a television show about police chasing folks, and nine times out of ten the folks that are being chased look a certain way. And so it -- that's the guy that's bad. And I noticed it, as a matter of fact, yesterday on a show that all of the guys that looked a certain way with a darker hue were taken away in the police car on the show. And the one person who was released had a lighter hue of skin.

COOPER: You think they get messages from --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure. Absolutely.

COOPER: Laura, where do you think that message came from?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's hard -- our family, the neighborhood we live in. Again, I think the media, you know. The TV shows he watches. It's coming from everywhere.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's more of a fundamental issue, not necessarily just looking at the response from the kids, but looking overall how the society is built and how it sustains itself because it's not changing.

COOPER: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because the economic ladders that people have to climb, it'll always have people in, I guess, imposed type of barriers to their advancement. And that will be reflective in how they can raise their kids, and what schools they send them to, and all the other things that can help to alleviate some of the responses that we've seen that were not pleasant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: So our CNN iReporters are also weighing in on this CNN study. Here's some of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EGBERTO WILLIES, IREPORTER: The solution to the problem isn't to try to get the greater society to do something about it. The solution to the problem is for individual parents to teach their kids. I ensured that my kid was involved in predominantly black, predominantly white, and integrated organizations, so that she would be comfortable in any environment. OMEKONGO DIBINGA, IREPORTER: My daughters are four and two years old. I didn't realize that at two years old, I had to start teaching them to be proud of their skin color. But when I couldn't find any pull-ups that had black people on them, and couldn't find any other things that didn't have princesses that were not white until the movie "Princess and the Frog" came out, I started to realize that there was a problem here in this society. My daughter was telling me she couldn't be a princess because she wasn't white, because of what she saw in preschool clothes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Oh, boy. All right. The conversation on kids on race tonight. What are you really teaching your children, black or white? Kids on Race on "Anderson Cooper 360" at 10:00 p.m. Eastern time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: We've got a lot of action on Wall Street, New York Stock Exchange, and the Dow. We'll get to that in a moment. We've got a big sell-off going. We'll get to those numbers in just a minute.

But what seems to be driving it is concern over what's happening in the eurozone. That still seems to be the biggest weight on the market right now, bringing stock values down. And let's see, gold -- we're follow that. CNNMoney.com, the best website for financial news on the web.

Let's look at the Dow now. We're talking about a triple-digit sell-off right now. The Dow is down 148 points. The Nasdaq at last check is down 38. We're going to get an update in a moment. It's been nearly two weeks since the so-called flash crash on Wall Street. We all watched as the Dow went into this gut-wrenching free-fall, plunging about a thousand points in about seven minutes. Regulators say they have come up with a plan to prevent a repeat performance.

Stephanie Elam, let's make our way over here to Stephanie. She's in our New York bureau for us.

Stephanie, how can a sell-off, as steep as the one we saw a couple Thursdays ago, actually be stopped?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's exactly what everybody has been talking about, Tony. It's like, let's not let this happen again.

So the plan is to slow trading down to prevent another panic crash that we saw here. So two weeks ago we saw some shares plummet by 60 percent or more in a matter of minutes. So now the SEC is proposing a plan that would slow trading on an individual stock if it swings either 10 percent in one direction or 10 percent in the other direction in a five-minute period. That is called a circuit breaker. Just like an electrical circuit breaker, it pretty much would allow for a kind of reset. The idea is to hit the brakes, which would allow the markets to establish a rational price for a stock, and then resume trading in an orderly fashion. Now, here's the key. The proposed rules would apply to all U.S. exchanges. Two weeks ago the problem was that the NYSE slowed trading but the electronic exchanges did not. They kept letting things go through. These new rules would create uniform market-wide standards. And, in theory, it would keep a stock from trading for $30 one minute and a penny the next minute. So that's why we are keeping our eyes on this story, as well -- Tony.

HARRIS: Wait a minute. Uniform market standards when exchanges have different rules for trading. How on earth is that going to work?

ELAM: Yes. Well, that's exactly the thing. At least during these sort of volatile moments, they want to make it more streamlined, and so everyone follows the same rules. If some have stopped trading and some others are trading, that would be the problem.

HARRIS: OK, Stephanie. And maybe next hour you can better explain what's going on with stocks today.

ELAM: OK.

HARRIS: Stephanie Elam for us -- I tried -- in the New York bureau.