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Foreclosures En Route to Record High; Latest Oil Plan Back on Track; Financial Reform Moves Forward in Senate
Aired July 15, 2010 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: OK. Hello again, everyone, I'm Tony Harris, the top of the hour at the CNN news room where anything can happen. It's all about your home, your job, your wallet today. We watching the numbers come in and breaking down how they will impact your life I also had a chance to meet a young man who had an idea and is turning it into a business.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I put in over $25,000 of my own money. You're only this age once. I don't have anything to lose, I got everything to gain.
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HARRIS: You are online right now. We are, too, Josh Levs is following the top stories trending on the internet. Josh?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony Apple planning a big announcement about the iPhone 4 tomorrow we've got out eye on that. Plus, everyone wants to know about this mysterious UFO over a Chinese airport. No joke. Coming up. I'm going to tell you what the state- run news agency Shin-Wa (ph) says about an investigation.
HARRIS: All right, Josh.
Let's get started with our lead story now.
There is a lot of news about the struggling American economy today. A short time ago, the Senate advanced the most comprehensive package of financial rules and regulations since the Great Depression, an answer to the 2008 meltdown.
We are new numbers on your neighbors: American who lost their homes during the first half of 2010.
And the new claims for unemployment benefits are out today. They fell last week, still too high, though, to fuel a recovery.
Let's begin the hour with the foreclosure numbers. CNN's Josh Levs is back, and he's been analyzing the latest stats from RealtyTrac -- that's the online company that tracks foreclosures.
What are you finding there, Josh?
LEVS: It's ugly, Tony. And what it says about what's going on in the economy won't surprise some people. I will tell you, there's a tiny little bit of a silver lining, but just barely.
Let's take a look at these numbers we have right here that are coming to us now as we take look what's happening in foreclosures in the United States.
First of all, this is the overall number -- you've got six months so far for the year in which the numbers have been tabulated: 1.65 million so far in the first six months of 2010. What that means is that at this rate, there could easily be more than 3 million this year, which would indeed be a record.
Now, let's look here. What this means for you, your neighborhood, the country, in general -- one out of every 78 homes is considered to be at risk given those numbers.
Now, I mentioned a little bit of a silver lining. Here's something: the rate of foreclosures is down a little bit from what it was the last six months of last year. So, you have a slowing down slightly of the foreclosure rates, down 5 percent from the previous month.
But something else has happened at the same time, and that is banks are jumping in and repossessing homes more quickly.
HARRIS: Yes.
LEVS: Repossessions are actually up a little bit. The last few months -- the latter three months of that period, repossessions are up more than they were at the end of the last period, last year.
We've got some video. Let me talk to you big picture, Tony --
HARRIS: OK.
LEVS: -- about what's been going on here.
What you have are a lot of lenders out there have been working to help borrowers more. So, they're helping them modify their loans, and in many cases, they are working with them, allowing them to sell their properties for less than their worth. So, that's one reason that you have maybe a slight decrease.
But you also have these banks that need to make sure that they're making their money and that are working faster to repossess homes, Tony, all at the same time.
HARRIS: OK, Josh, appreciate it. Thank you.
You know, the number of applications for new unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level in almost two years. There were 429,000 of them. That is down by 29,000. And it is much better than most economists expected -- claims for new jobless benefits peaked in March of last year at 651,000. They've been holding steady in the mid-400,000s for much of this year.
BP's latest effort to stop the Gulf oil leak is back on track. Plans for testing a new well cap were put on hold by a leaking piece of equipment. But crews are now ready to move forward.
CNN's Ed Lavandera is joining us live from New Orleans where the government's point man, retired Admiral Thad Allen, spoke to the media last hour.
And, Ed, I wish I could remember the question. But you asked a terrific question to the admiral. Maybe you can remind us of the question and his answer.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Tony.
Well, really, the headline here, real quick, is that everything is moving ahead on this integrity test. So, now, we'll await word from BP as to when it officially starts.
And to just kind of remind folks about what this means is that they will begin taking these pressure readings from the containment cap system and all of the machinery down there at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico and it will take anywhere between six and 48 hours for them to do these pressure readings. And what's interesting -- and also to kind of get people on the same page here -- is that after they do that, they will have to compare notes to what their readings were before the integrity tests.
So, we're still quite a ways away from figuring out exactly how this new system is going to work. But clearly, everything ramping back up after the leak was taken care of.
But really, all of this has been slowed down and delayed because of concerns -- getting back to the question that we asked the admiral here just a short while ago: Is how this entire process might affect the relief well process -- which as everyone well knows at this point, that the relief well that is being dug, that is getting very close to the point where they're going to intersect, is really the way they believe this well will be killed off for good.
We asked the admiral if this integrity test process will affect the relief well effort in any kind of way. And listen to what he said.
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ADM. THAD ALLEN (RET.), NATIONAL INCIDENT COMMANDER: That came up yesterday and there was an assessment done on that. Here's what we've done just to mitigate the risk: we don't think there's a problem there, but as close as the relief well is now to the wellbore -- even though it's significantly below where we think there might be a problem -- what we've done is the relief well right now is between four and five feet away from the wellbore. They need to go down probably another 100 feet before they actually try to do the penetration. And they were making arrangements to actually put a casing pipe down there to finish that part of the wellbore before they did the penetration.
What we've done is they pulled back to the last casing pipe. The wellbore of the relief well is filled with mud. And we're going to have them hold right there until we get some initial results of the well integrity test, just in case there is an interaction with it.
Yesterday, I said that we might not think that was necessary. But I think -- we think that's a prudent step, so we're going to do that today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: So, clearly, very delicate moments that everyone involved in this process is involved in at this point. So really, Tony, everything given the go-ahead to find out and remind people as well, this, they hope will turn out in one of two ways. The ideal kind of best-case scenario would be that this containment cap system essentially works by itself and seals off the oil flow. But perhaps what I think officials here seem to be the more likely process that will happen is that they will be able to reconnect all these riser pipes to containment ships on the surface of the water and at the very least, collect all of the oil that is -- that is spewing into the Gulf of Mexico.
So, one of those two options they hope will be how all of this plays out here in the coming days -- Tony.
HARRIS: (INAUDIBLE) gets stopped. All right, Ed Lavandera for us -- Ed, appreciate it. Thank you very much.
We got to tell you what all the talk about stacking caps and choke lines -- it can be difficult to decipher what's going on with the oil leak. CNN's Chad Myers explains exactly what it all means and what officials are trying to do. He broke it down on CNN's "ANDERSON COOPER 360."
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CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Let me get to an animation on my graphic, because it's a three-dimensional animation and it's amazing.
The old smoke -- the old oil going up, now, it's still going up and it's stopped. The cap that was on top of the blowout preventer for so many weeks is gone. It was not working all that well, anyway. Oil is still going around.
This top of the blowout preventer -- right up here -- they cut it off. Remember, it wasn't even very straight. It was kind of a cut off because the ROVs were there. They cut it off and it didn't work very well. Well, now, it's gone and they brought a brand-new top to this blowout preventer that is a good seal -- a good seal on the blowout preventer, a good seal to the new cap where the valves are. Now, that oil is still coming out here but it's not coming out of the very top where it was coming out for so very long.
As they close these valves, they're closing the valves here. There will be no more oil coming out. No more oil going to the ships.
The Q4000, the Helix Producer? Done, they're not working any more. They're not pumping any more oil out of here. That is stopped to try to get the pressures up.
And as the pressure comes up, we will know that if this thing maintains its integrity, all this oil will stay in the well, 8,000 feet down, 10,000 feet down, 12,000 feet down. That bore pipe gets skinnier and skinnier, smaller and smaller, more fragile as it goes down -- if that holds together, this well is capped.
ANDERSON COOPER, "ANDERSON COOPER 360" HOST: Do we know a timeline on when we'll know what we know? I mean, at what point do -- you know, I've heard 48 hours, I've heard less. What do you know?
MYERS: They will, every six hours, begin to close a new valve -- therefore, bringing up the pressure inside.
If you have all the holes open, like a perforated pipe, OK? If there's just a bunch of holes in it, there's no pressure inside, really. They're going to start to plug every hole. There are, we believe, five to six holes, valves, that they have to slowly screw down to close out. As they close the valves, the pressure goes up.
But they're only going to do it in six-hour intervals. They will close a valve and wait. Close another and wait. Close a third, and wait.
Finally, they get to the top. It's called the choke. And the choke on the very top of the new cap will be the last thing they close.
If they get to it -- let's hope they do -- pressures will be way up by then. When they close the top choke, that will be the final one that will keep this completely closed. There will be no more oil coming out of this well.
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HARRIS: Oh, man, Chad, that is good stuff.
Congress is working on ways to help you financially. Is that a little scary? We will get the latest from Capitol Hill.
First, a "Random Moment" in a minute.
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HARRIS: You know, just like Austin Powers' nemesis Dr. Evil, CNN's Wolf Blitzer has his very own Mini-Me. And she is our "Random Moment of the Day." According to the satirical yet confused Web site, the Onion, the breaking news here? Wolf raises girl in his own image.
Take a look.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From what Molly has told us, it appears Wolf Blitzer raised her as if she were no different from him. We know he fed her lattes and allantoids (ph), taught her to clean herself with a length ruler.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Amazing. You must be learning so much the life of this extremely reticent anchor.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. We're joined now by our chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, standing by.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, Molly, I think I overwhelmed her a little bit. She likes to be the one asking questions.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Christiane, what it's like on the ground there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When Molly feels upset, she talks to her imaginary friend via satellite.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Stay safe down there, Christiane.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's sort of a coping mechanism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: OK. An imaginary spokesman for CNN's Wolf Blitzer denies our anchor speaks in a colorless monotone. And Onion people, could you at least bring a fake beard. Only the best satire for the "Random Moment of the Day" -- come on, now.
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HARRIS: Legislation aimed at protecting your pocketbook and preventing another financial meltdown clears a final hurdle in the Senate.
Congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar is following developments for us on Capitol Hill.
And, Brianna, really, it seems so long ago that the economy was literally on the brink. But this is the bill that is supposed to stop a repeat of the financial crisis of 2008, correct?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And I know it does seem like so long ago. But I bet a lot of folks looking at their 401(k)s know --
HARRIS: Oh, yes.
KEILAR: -- that they still haven't recovered. Some of them are feeling the economic pain that came from this financial crisis. Of course, they're still feeling that.
So, yes, this is the bill that Democrats say are going to stop that -- is going do stop that from happening again.
But already, Tony, a top Republican, the leader in the House, John Boehner, is calling for this bill to be repealed, even before it is officially passed -- because we're going to be seeing that last step, the final passage of this bill in the Senate at about 2:00 Eastern. Then we're going to be seeing a ceremony between Speaker Pelosi in the House and Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, before the bill gets sent out of Congress and over to the White House.
But, yes, this is the last hurdle -- the last real hurdle we just saw minutes ago when this passed the Senate 60 to 38. Sixty votes, of course, being what was needed to pass it.
HARRIS: Yes.
KEILAR: So, just right there, Tony.
HARRIS: Hey, Brianna, didn't you mention last hour that this bill is about 1,000, maybe over 1,000 pages long? Maybe you can boil it down to some of the key points here.
KEILAR: Yes, it's actually over 2,000 pages long.
HARRIS: My goodness.
KEILAR: It's a very big bill. It's considered to be very sweeping -- which Democrats, of course, say is positive and a lot of Republicans say is not.
But basically, a few of the key measures here: one, there's a consumer protection agency that would be created. If you use a credit card, you're getting a loan, it's supposed to stop companies from unfair practices for that.
Another thing, it's supposed to regulate derivatives -- those really complex financial products, that when they flopped, caused Lehman Brothers to tank, would have caused AIG to tank if the government hadn't stepped in.
And then, also, one of the big things, it gives government the ability to wind down a big financial firm that's in trouble. Pretty much the way you see that the FDIC does with banks, Tony -- it would give the government that for these financial firms.
HARRIS: Yes. Why the partisan divide here? I know there is significant Republican opposition to this -- as you just mentioned.
KEILAR: There is. We saw one Democrat vote against, but we saw three Republicans vote for. And that's it. And that's because, by and large, Republicans think this is overreaching. They say it's going to cut off credit, that it's going to make it more costly, and they say that there are regulators now being entrusted with responsibilities, and they say these are the same regulators that missed the ball the first go-round.
But Democrats say, this is so important, this is sweeping change, to make sure that that financial crisis that just sent a chill down so many people's spines, Tony, that it's not going to happen again.
HARRIS: All right. On Capitol Hill, our congressional correspondent, Brianna Keilar, for us -- Brianna, thank you.
Putting Americans back to work -- that is a key to getting the economy going again. Today, one positive sign. We will go live to New York for the latest numbers on claims for jobless benefits.
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HARRIS: On day 87 of the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, BP is back on track to resume a crucial test on a new containment cap. It could put an end to the flow of oil from the ruptured well. BP has replaced a leaking piece of equipment that delayed the test.
Other top stories we're following for you:
Argentina is the first Latin American country to legalize same- sex marriage. The measure cleared the Argentina senate after hours and hours of debate. It also gives gay couples the right to adopt children.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission makes a new move to keep babies safe while they sleep. The commission has approved a new mandatory set of standards for cribs. They include what amounts to a ban on drop-sided models. The faulty cribs are blamed for at least 36 infant deaths since November 2007.
Four hundred twenty-nine thousand people filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week. That is a big drop from the previous week and the lowest level since August of 2008.
CNNMoney.com's Poppy Harlow joins us now from New York.
And, Poppy, first of all, good to see you. We're seeing some improvement here, but the numbers are still stubbornly high.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Yes. I mean, the headline on this report is, yes, those claims were down from the week before. The bottom line on this report is that it's an awful reading.
You know, for two years, Tony, since July 2008, we've had every week these unemployment claims above 400,000. That's a huge number. In Washington, the debate is going on about extending benefits for people.
Right now, the most aid that you can get from the government is 99 weeks -- almost two years of unemployment benefits. And the reason there's so much divide and debate over whether we can get people more is: do we have the money?
It is really a growing problem when you look at the numbers on your screen: more than 14.5 million Americans out of work. About half of them have been out of work for six months or longer.
By the end of this year, Tony, it's expected that 1 million people will have exhausted -- completely exhausted their 99 weeks of unemployment benefits and there's really not much else out there for them when it comes to a lifeline.
Take a listen to some folks who told us their story.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every time I go on an interview, it's always the same old story. Don't call us, we'll call you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've had unemployment insurance to help me so far and pretty much exhausted two extensions. My benefits ended like about almost a month ago. I've been living off my savings. That scares me a lot, you know, that I won't have anything in the next couple of months, you know, in my savings. You know, that really has me worried.
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HARLOW: Of course, it has him worried. Washington responding -- the White House yesterday saying stimulus spending has created or saved 3 million jobs. Look at these numbers. They claim it will say or create 3.5 million by the end of the year.
But, you know, Tony, harsh critics of stimulus and of the Obama administration say it has not brought down the unemployment rate. And to do that, you have to have 100,000 jobs created every month. Just to stabilize unemployment to lower unemployment, you have many, many more jobs than that every single month, Tony.
HARRIS: Yes. Is there other aid out there, Poppy, for people who have exhausted their benefits?
HARLOW: Yes, there's something. It's called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF. This is a program that got $5 billion from the stimulus plan. That's going to run out at the end of September, September 30th.
And the ongoing debate continues on this in Washington. They're going to have hearings on it in a few weeks -- whether or not you put billions more into TANF for these families. A lot of divide on that as well, Tony.
But, you know, I want to point you to CNNMoney.com, where you can hear a great piece, one of our producers, that you can hear from all of these people saying, look, I've been out of work for this long, here's my situation -- Tony.
HARRIS: Yes. Thank you, Poppy. Good to see you.
The legal challenges begin to Arizona tough new immigration law. It goes before a federal judge. Shortly, a preview from Phoenix.
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HARRIS: Arizona's new immigration law gets its first test in court today. At the top of the hour, a police officer asks a federal judge to block enforcement of the law until his case is heard.
CNN's Thelma Gutierrez is on the story in Phoenix for us.
And, Thelma, good to see you. First of all, if you would tee up the Salgado case for us, what's the argument from Officer Salgado?
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well basically, attorneys for Officer Salgado, Tony, are saying that this law, S.B. 1070, puts Arizona law enforcement in a very difficult position because there is federal law, and federal law -- they argue -- preempts state law. They say that police officers are not to conduct any kind of immigration enforcement. Of course, Brewer's attorneys will argue almost the opposite.
Now, U.S. district court Judge Susan Bolton will hear a motion to dismiss the lawsuit that was filed by David Salgado -- Officer David Salgado -- from Phoenix. Basically, David Salgado and the organization (AUDIO BREAK)
HARRIS: Oh, I think she -- yes, it froze. It's a broadband connection. It just froze on us.
And anyway, Thelma's got to get inside the courtroom. That's our Thelma Gutierrez reporting.
The fight against building a new mosque near September 11th's ground zero isn't the only anti-Muslim sentiment going on around the country right now. Hundreds of people in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, protested against a planned Islamic community center. And they were met by a group of counter-protesters who support the complex. The county commission has already approved the center which includes athletic facilities and a home for the imam.
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OSSAMA BAHLOUL, IMAM: We kind of speak with accent (ph), but we are a citizen of this country. Our kids are here. We are planning to live here. We love this country and we care about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry, but they seem to be against everything that I believe in. And so, I don't want them necessarily in my neighborhood, spreading that type of comments.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We must overcome this ignorance, this cloud of racial darkness that's in our community. We have to overcome it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You folks can do whatever meditation you like. These people are coming here to take over the United States.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Freedom of religion. I mean, that's -- that's my basic reason for being here, is my belief in freedom of religion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: So, on my blog, we asked for your reaction to the planned building of a mosque near 9/11's ground zero. And here are some of your comments: "Equating the Muslims who attacked the United States to the Muslims who pray peacefully at mosques is like equating Christians who bomb abortion clinics to all Christians."
"As the father of one of the victims of the South Tower, to even think of building a Muslim mosque is totally unbelievable. This is sacred ground -- a ground upon which many of us lost our children, husbands, wives, relatives or good friends."
"What has happened to freedom of religion? Today mosques are associated with terrorist cells and now Americans have a new phobia that didn't exist before 9/11."
Still to come, we dig a little deeper on a story that caused a lot of outrage, food sitting in warehouses in Haiti while children are hungry. We'll talk to an aid worker about the problem -- that's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Of course, CNN is your source for financial news. Let's get you to the best financial Web site on the web at CNNMoney.com, of course.
And take a look at the headline here, "Wall Street reform: One vote from law." That's scheduled to happen this afternoon. The 60 to 38 vote is the last big hurdle for -- that just shut down debate. So, the final vote later this afternoon in the Senate.
One other piece -- come on back here -- one other piece here, I just want you to get to the home page and I want you to click on this story. I know a lot of people are watching the program here are looking for jobs and maybe looking for better jobs. Best places -- 25 places, in fact, that saw jobs soar 20 percent to 67 percent, that's probably good information there.
We're about three hours -- just about three hours into the trading day. We're trading down triple-digit territory here. We're down 103 points. Quick check of the NASDAQ, and that is down as well, 21 points -- probably on the jobs number and foreclosures.
Let's take a break. We're back in a minute. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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HARRIS: I got to tell you, it is a story I just can't seem to get out of my mind, the report by our Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, about warehouses full of food in Haiti and problems getting it to hungry children. We're following up on that story today. First, here's part of Sanjay's report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): This is the store room? It used to be completely filled with food. This is all they have left.
GUPTA (voice-over): I decided to call a contact of mine.
GUPTA (on camera): Eric, it's Sanjay.
ERIC KLEIN, CAN-DO.ORG (via telephone): Hey, Sanjay. How are you?
GUPTA: I'm doing fine. I'm actually on speakerphone with you and our film crew is filming. We've just come outside this orphanage. And it's one of these crazy situations that you and I have been talking about. They have about 50 kids here, literally from a couple of months old to 18, and they have three stacks of tomato soup, a handful of beans and a little bit of rice. That's all they have really to feed these children, you know, for the foreseeable future. And I just thought I'd give you a call and see if you might be able to help out.
KLEIN: Right. Well, yes, absolutely. Let me make a couple of calls. (INAUDIBLE) truck. Yes, let me make a couple of calls right now and I'll get back to you. Give me about 20 minutes.
KLEIN (on camera): Hey, we're outside of the gate with the truck.
GUPTA (voice-over): We got the call. Eric, with Can-Do.org, found a warehouse full of supplies willing to stock the truck. According to a group that monitors relief response on the ground, right now there are at least 50 warehouses, football field in size, full of supplies just sitting there. Much of it has sat untouched since right after the earthquake in January, just never distributed.
GUPTA (on camera): Take a look at this. We've got 50 starving kids in an orphanage. We drove three miles down the street.
At the orphanage, they've literally had a half a bucket of beans. Half a bucket of beans and that was going to feed 50 kids for an entire day. All of this is beans over here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: You see -- you see why this is so disturbing? The Eric that Sanjay called on the phone is Eric Klein. He is the founder of Can-Do.org and he is joining us from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Eric, thanks for taking the time to talk to us.
Can I ask, I mean, a couple of just basic questions here to improve my understanding? What is standing between the food in those warehouses and the people who need it?
ERIC KLEIN, FOUNDER, CAN-DO.ORG: It's a major breakdown in communications. There's really no communications going on with the people here on the ground and the organizations. There's no reason that these - you know, these orphanages should be empty and hospitals should be shutting down right now. (INAUDIBLE) - HARRIS: Who's responsible for the break - I'm sorry, Eric. Who's responsible for the breakdown of communication? I know there's probably not one person or one group. But describe the breakdown because maybe by describing it, we can figure out a way to make it work better.
KLEIN: Sure. I can't speak on behalf of the organizations. I can tell you what we do is we organize -- we work directly with the trucking companies. We cut out the middleman, cut through the red tape. We find out where the food is. We contact organizations like Food for the Poor. People that will make their warehouses accessible and we literally -- what it comes down to is doing your first ground assessment. Going out and making sure you do proper assessment. Finding out where these orphanages are, these hospitals, the camps and literally just going to these places, organizing our trucks, organizing the Haitians, the workers. I mean 99 percent of our workers here are Haitians.
HARRIS: So you set up essentially -
KLEIN: It's not brain surgery.
HARRIS: Right. So you set up essentially a grid. You go out, you canvass the area. You set up a grid. You find out where the need is. And then you sort of take care of the need in the grid, correct?
KLEIN: Exactly. That makes sense. Exactly.
HARRIS: OK. All right. So just to move it step by step here, because I just want to understand this better. If your organization has mapped out a grid that essentially you're going to take responsibility of, it then becomes your responsibility to get the supplies and to get it to the people who need them, correct?
KLEIN: Correct.
HARRIS: All right. So how is it that we have, according to the report that Sanjay cited in his piece, 50 warehouses stocked with food?
KLEIN: That's a good question. I mean this isn't just Haiti. This is every disaster. Again, it's mind-boggling. But, I mean, to answer your question, I honestly don't understand how organizations have been around for 100 years, or have been in Haiti for 20, don't have a system already in place for this. I mean this isn't the first, you know, disaster that's hit Haiti. So I mean there should already be a system in place.
Again, it comes down to the communications. A major communication breakdown between the organizations and the people there on the ground. There is no excuse that we cannot - and can I give you a quick example?
HARRIS: Sure.
KLEIN: A month or two after the earthquake, we were working over at general hospital doing drops. And we were watching them perform amputations with hacksaws and they were giving them Motrin as painkiller. Three miles away we've got an airport full of supplies. Now are you telling me that we can't figure out or they can't figure out how to get a truck loaded and, you know, driven three miles away? There's no excuse for that. I mean this red tape and this, you know, the bureaucracy we keep hearing about, I mean that's one thing. But when you're talking about, you know, life-saving equipment that is three miles away, it's not that difficult to walk out on the street here, flag down a truck, pay the guy $100 and go and pick it up. It really is that easy.
HARRIS: Now, you -- is that what you did? Sanjay calls you. And you showed up with a truck of supplies for the orphanage. How did you do that?
KLEIN: Just like that. We -- when I first got out here, with any disaster we go out, we immediately partner up with, like I said, Haitian trucking companies, Haitian water companies and we literally - I mean we pay them. You know, we pay them a couple hundred dollars to rent their trucks. And we go and pick it up and we drop it off.
I mean I - you know, we've timed our drops from, you know, the airport, to the tarmac, to the hospital is under two hours. And I keep saying, it's not brain surgery. This is just common sense stuff. I don't understand why we keep talking about this red tape.
I understand, you know, the master plan and I know there is a lot of red tape and there's other things, other elements involved. But when it comes down to simple things, like transporting emergency relief supplies --
HARRIS: OK, Eric, let me ask a real direct question here.
KLEIN: I mean, you know (ph).
HARRIS: Forgive me, I'm going to ask a very direct question. Who is responsible for getting the supplies into the hands of people in need? If an NGO has asked me, as an individual in the aftermath of the disaster to send money, to send food, to send blankets, to send water and everything has arrived, I'm thinking -- I'm thinking it's that NGOs responsibility to distribute everything that NGO has asked for. Where am I wrong here?
KLEIN: You know, you're right. And here's the thing. I mean we keep saying let's not point fingers. I understand that. I mean because, you know, we don't want people not to donate. But they are responsible. But it also -- a little bit of responsibility has to fall into the hands of the donors. The donors have got to demand results. This has gone on way too damn long. We've seen this in, you know, Katrina. We've seen this after the tsunami. We've seen this during the Iowa floods. And it's like, this just keeps happening. The system is broken.
In order to fix it, the donors have to go one step further. And it's great, you know, you donate your money. But at the end of the day, you want to know where that - you know, where that money's going. So demand results. There's no harm in -wrong in asking these NGOs, these organizations, to show us where our -- the results of our money, where our donations are going, because look behind me. I mean this is -- this is everywhere. This isn't just one case. You can go to these warehouses and go directly outside the warehouses and you're going to see the same exact scenario -- no food, no water and supplies just not getting out. And that is a fact.
HARRIS: Eric --
KLEIN: And let me just say -
HARRIS: Yes, yes, yes. Yes, please.
KLEIN: Let me just say this. I know it's - sorry. I'm sorry. I want to say this. There are a lot of organizations out here, grassroots organizations, NGOs, that are doing great work. I don't want to take anything away from anybody. But, like I said, organizations - small organizations like ours that are on the ground, that have stuck it out, that are rubbing nickels together to pay for our trucks, because we don't have the money for PR, you see what I'm saying?
HARRIS: Yes.
KLEIN: So there are people out here that are struggling. We have projects that we've implemented, but we can't execute them because the donations are gone.
HARRIS: What's the name of your organization again?
KLEIN: It's Can-Do.org.
HARRIS: Eric, thanks for taking the time to talk to us. This is crazy. You know, then let's get the supplies in those warehouses into the organizations, in the hands of people like you and others who are actually, the other NGOs, smaller ones that you're describing, who are actually getting this done, because this is - this is nuts.
Eric, appreciate your time. Thank you.
KLEIN: Thank you very much, sir. I appreciate it.
HARRIS: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, finding strength in invention.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATRICK WHALEY, GEORGIA TECH STUDENT: I was able to get into my shirt and use my own shirt for my workouts. That was - that was one of the proudest days of my life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: This young man takes his engineering project to a whole new level after nearly losing his life.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: All right, let's get you the latest news on the Gulf oil disaster now on day 87. BP plans to begin testing the pressure on the new well cap soon. A self-imposed delay and another caused by a leaking pipe have been resolved. If the cap withstands the pressure, BP hopes to capture practically all the leaking crude.
Other big stories we're following for you.
The Senate plans a final vote on the historic financial regulatory overhaul bill this afternoon. Democrats got the 60 votes need this morning in a vote to cut off debate and advance the bill.
And the online company RealtyTrac says foreclosures fell by 5 percent during the first half of 2010. Still, experts say foreclosures are on track to set a record for all of this year.
Alison Kosik is on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. She's standing by for us with more on today's action.
And, Alison, look, the market's win streak in some real jeopardy at this point.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean we've had a great win streak for seven sessions in a row. The Dow, the NASDAQ, Tony, have both closed higher. You know, it's their longest run since March. But I'll tell you what, the rally is fizzling out today. We got some economic news that's dragging down sentiment.
Some traders I talked to on the floor earlier say we got a couple of readings on manufacturing and it's what's really weighing on the markets right now. Those reports show that manufacturing activity in the New York and Philadelphia regions, it grew in July, but it grew at a much weaker pace than June. Traders are also weighing a decline in weekly jobless claims. Sure, they fell, but it's the level that they're focusing on. That remains sky-high at 429,000.
Also, the Senate vote to move ahead on the Wall Street reform bill, that's not having much of an impact on trading right now. Approval was already priced into the market. And what may be going on here is that there's profit-taking after the recent run-up. You know, it could just be back to reality here on Wall Street about the slow economic growth pattern that we're in.
Checking on the numbers now. The Dow Industrials down 100 points. The Nasdaq off about 23.
Tony.
HARRIS: Well, wait a minute, Alison, is all this, I don't know, negative reporting here eclipsing another really strong earnings report this morning?
KOSIK: It actually is. You know, we heard from JP Morgan Chase, who followed Alcoa and Intel as the third industry leader to really knock it out of the park and top Wall Street forecasts this week. The bank posted almost $5 billion profit in the second quarter, partly thanks to a rebound in consumer lending.
Still, the company's chief executive, Jamie Dimon, said that losses from bad consumer loans that may remain at extremely high levels. Right now shares of JP Morgan are down more than 1 percent, along with most of the other financials in the market.
We're also keeping our eye on tech giant, Google, Tony. They will be reporting after the bell. Google shares have recently suffered through a 13-day losing streak. The search engine giant has been struggling with ongoing problems in Europe and China. They're down with the rest of the market right now, down about 0.5 percent.
But I've got to tell you, the one shiny light here is BP of all companies.
HARRIS: Really?
KOSIK: BP is up more than 2 percent. You know it could be hope that they're finally going to cap that leak in the Gulf.
HARRIS: Yes, I think you're right.
All right, Alison, appreciate it. Thank you.
KOSIK: Sure.
HARRIS: A near-tragedy turns into a great idea. It's our next big thing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: One young man isn't waiting on a corporation to hire him. He is banking on his own innovation. As part of my series, "The Next Big Thing," a special weighted shirt helps an engineering student heal after he was shot by robbers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS (voice-over): Patrick Whaley has spent years preparing for just this moment. He is testing his own invention out on the football field. A weighted shirt that builds up athletes' stamina. This ambitious engineering student has been thinking about this invention ever since he was a child.
PATRICK WHALEY, GEORGIA TECH STUDENT: When I was a little kid, I was really skinny. And so to build up muscle, I would actually carry around extra books in my book bag. I started thinking, OK, well what if I could just have normal clothing be weighted heavier than the average clothing?
HARRIS: What started off as just a few sketches evolved into real prototypes and then a patent.
WHALEY: And then that morphed into Omega Wear, which is a form fitting compression shirt with gel inserts. The fabric is propriety. The gel is propriety. HARRIS: Patrick took all the Monday he made from a paid internship and sunk it into his dream product.
WHALEY: I put in over $25,000 of my own money. You're only this age once. I don't have anything to lose. And I got everything to gain.
HARRIS: But last summer, Patrick nearly did lose everything when he became a victim of an armed robbery.
WHALEY: I was shot in the chest at point-blank range. The bullet went through two lobes of my right lung, through my liver and ruptured my inferior vena cava in my back. The doctors said the bullet missed my heart by one compression.
HARRIS: After the operation, he had to do a lot of physical therapy.
WHALEY: When I was discharged from the hospital, I was barely able to lift my right side of my body.
HARRIS: The once very physically fit amateur bodybuilder used his own invention to get him back into shape.
WHALEY: As soon as I was able to get into my shirt and use my own shirt for my workouts, that was one of the proudest days of my life.
HARRIS: What started off as a necessity, turned into an epiphany. Why not expand his market from just athletes and sports enthusiasts to patients who need physical therapy? His mentors agreed.
WHALEY: One of my advisers even said, he said, you know, it could be a game-changer in the apparel industry. And once he said that, it really just opened my eyes.
HARRIS: In May, Patrick's invention won Georgia Tech's Inventure Prize and with it came $20,000 in much-needed seed money. Along the way, advisers gave him much-needed connections.
WHALEY: I was able to get in touch with, you know, Olympic athletes, with professional athletes and a lot of that was extremely valuable information, you know. And the Olympic athletes are looking for having one every day of the week.
I've had a lot - thousands of shirts that are pre-ordered, already sold, that I have to fulfill before I can even, you know, start selling in the retail markets.
HARRIS: Patrick plans to get his product mass-produced and get it to market by next spring. Today, Patrick is still using his weighted shirt during his workouts. He can't do the sports he used to love. The shooting left him with only two-thirds of his lung and he gets out of breath easily. But he says he is more driven than ever.
WHALEY: I live every moment as if it was my last. Every second counts. I take everything that I can from life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: He's a good guy. Patrick Whaley graduates this summer and hopes to go full steam ahead with his company.
Chinese radar detects an unidentified flying object at the airport. Josh Levs checks out what's trending online in "What's Hot." That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: All right, where is that Josh Levs?
Josh, what is trending online right now, sir?
LEVS: Where else is - I'm like the most findable person. I'm always right here.
HARRIS: There you go.
LEVS: OK, Tony, everyone's talking about this. Everyone is talking about this right now.
HARRIS: What's that?
LEVS: Apple's big announcement tomorrow.
HARRIS: Oh, yes, yes, yes.
LEVS: You know the basic idea here is this iPhone has sold like crazy. The iPhone 4. They sold 1.7 million in their first three days alone.
HARRIS: Crazy.
LEVS: But as we know, there have been problems and it surrounds this little line right here and the way it's built. The antenna is along the outside of this little space right here. You put your finger over it, it can cause the call to drop out. A lot of people are wondering, and there's all this speculation, will Apple announce that it's having a recall?
HARRIS: Yes.
LEVS: And some analysts are saying they really doubt it. You know, when something has sold this well, it's hard to imagine a company recalling it. It might be that they come along and they offer, you know, free bumps or kind of a case, basically, that could help protect that area. We don't know, but there's tons of speculation about this right now what Apple is going to announce tomorrow. We will, of course, be all over that.
And now we've got to get to this UFO.
HARRIS: The what?
LEVS: The UFO. HARRIS: Oh.
LEVS: Over China. I know you're like, what? But look at this. Here's what happened. This is one of the top Google searches today.
HARRIS: Yes.
LEVS: There was this UFO - I know it's hard to see here, but take a look. I'm showing you now the official Xinhau Chinese news agency. And they've actually written about this. And this talk about what it is. It was spotted last week over Hangzhou, which is the capital of east China's Zhejiang Province.
And now there's this YouTube video that everybody is watching. There's tons of them where they've just put together these pictures. All these people saying what is this UFO over China? Well, Xinhau, the state-run news agency in China, says they have had an investigation, but so far they cannot say what it is, that was this UFO, and that they are still looking into it.
So, as always, Tony, conspiracy theories abound. Some of them, at least half of them, at least on the stories about the iPhone, we'll have some actual answers. And that one will be tomorrow.
HARRIS: What would we do without conspiracy theories?
Thank you, Josh. See you tomorrow, sir.
LEVS: That would be a nice world. OK, see you.
HARRIS: Yes, yes, yes.
More U.S. boots on the ground are marching out of Iraq for good. We will meet some of the soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: More U.S. troops are bidding a final farewell to Iraq. It is part of the plan to bring all of them home. CNN's Arwa Damon talked to some men and women heading home.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They've survived Iraq, and at midnight they start their journey home, 105 men and women of the 10th Mountain Division.
DAMON (on camera): These troops have all been waiting for hours and there's quite a few more left to go before they get on the plane. It's hot out, but no one here is complaining, and that is because all of these soldiers are going home. In fact, they're going home early as part of the ongoing draw-down to reach that White House goal of having troop levels in Iraq down to 50,000 by the end of August.
STAFF SGT. BRANDON CHILDS, U.S. ARMY: My wife. I called my wife first. I told her I was coming home. She was very happy and we're ecstatic that I'm getting home.
DAMON: And you guys are having a baby?
CHILDS: Yes, we're having a baby. Our very first one. I'm very excited. Very excited to be a father.
DAMON: And you didn't know that you were going to be home for the birth, did you?
CHILDS: No, ma'am, I did not. I thought I was going to be here stuck in Iraq. But, you know, it turns out that things are, you know, looking very good to coming home. So I'm very happy.
DAMON (voice-over): They've been here since November. After years of American troops learning their tours would be extended, these soldiers had their 12-month tour cut short. The number of U.S. boots on the ground is decreasing by the day, and commanders say that not even Iraq's inability to form a government will stop them from meeting their deadline.
These soldiers leave behind an Iraq with an uncertain future. But for them, the job is done.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: All right. Strap in, everyone. "CNN NEWSROOM" continues right now with T.J. Holmes, in for Ali Velshi.
