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U.S. Economy Sputters; Man Freed from North Korea; Lt Gen. Russel Honore Reflects on Katrina & NOLA Five Years Later; Children Being Diagnosed With 50/50 Chance of Survival in Pakistan's Floods; Homes of the Future

Aired August 27, 2010 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Ali Velshi.

ALI VELSHI, HOST: Tony, you have a great afternoon and a great weekend. Thanks so much.

I'm Ali Velshi, as Tony said. Here's what I've got on the rundown.

A message to the outside world from 2,300 feet, almost half a mile underground. We are actually seeing and hearing those trapped Chilean miners. They've been stuck down there for a long time. You've got to see this video I'm going to show you.

Plus, Tony was just talking about Hurricane Katrina. Well, this man stormed onto a disaster scene five years ago, chomping cigars, barking orders, and getting things done. Now five years after Hurricane Katrina, we are live in New Orleans with General Russel Honore.

And the Commodore 64. Do you remember that thing, big old keyboard and big old buttons? Well, the retro computer is making a comeback. I'll tell you about that.

The big story, though, this morning, the big story today is the GDP, the gross domestic product, the biggest measure that we have of the economy. It came in for the second three months of 2010. That's April 1 to June 30. We get these revisions all the time. The number came in lower than we had originally thought it was. Still, the economy is not in a recession. The numbers don't indicate that. But there is some reason for worry.

So why is that stock market today actually up? Well, I'm going to talk about the GDP in just a moment with my good friend, Poppy Harlow. But first I want to talk about what's going on in the economy.

And we just heard a speech from Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke. He's out in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, giving a speech about the economy, and here is a look at what he said in a nutshell. It's a much longer speech, but I want to show you just a few basics about what's going on with the economy. First of all, he said credit continues to be tight, but it is loosening up in America. No. 2, he said people are saving a lot. The savings rate is almost 6 percent. Remember, it wasn't too long ago when we were saving nothing. Now, the reason is that people are saving. They're worried about what might happen to the economy or their jobs. And as a result, they're not spending. But Bernanke says that what will happen is people will save enough to the extent that they will start to spend money. It will probably be next year.

Now, people want to buy homes. Interest rates are low. They want to get into homes, but consumer credit -- credit for homes, mortgages, still hard to come by. But he does say that, because of those foreclosures and because of continued pressure on homes, they're not going up very much, and those mortgage rates still continue to stay low. And he sort of implied that the Fed will do what it has to do to keep rates low, at least for a little while.

As a result of that, you're seeing prices that, when mortgages start to loosen up, you'll see prices that are attractive to people to buy. That's what he said about the consumer.

Now let's talk about what he said about businesses. A lot of interesting information. He said businesses are, in fact, investing in computers and business machinery. They're just not hiring staff right now. I'll talk about that in a moment.

But they are investing. The industries where there's investment going on, where they're actually building things, building structures and things like that, only a couple of industries. The oil industry, the mining industry. Things to do with energy. Because costs of energy are still quite high.

Also, he talked about the kinds of businesses that are getting money. Large businesses, the big building there -- large businesses can get credit, because they don't typically go through banks. They use other means of financing. So there is money being borrowed and being lent.

Small businesses have to go to banks, like we do. And they are not getting the money as easily as they would like to. Credit for small businesses is still tight.

Those big businesses, by the way, there's a lot of money on the sidelines. They have the money. They are simply not spending it right now. Maybe because they're worried about this double-dip recession everyone is talking about.

Let's talk about jobs, because as we know, it all comes down to jobs. He said two things about jobs, Ben Bernanke did. One is that the unemployment rate, having dipped down to 9.5 percent, is not indicative of the fact that more people are employed. It's indicative of the fact that there are fewer people in the actual work force. Fewer people who are actually claiming unemployment insurance, because so many people have actually fallen off the rolls.

He also said -- and this is an interesting point -- that companies, when they need more people to do work right now, are hiring temps. They're hiring part-timers, and they're asking people to work more hours, put more hours on the clock as opposed to hiring new people. They are -- they're holding back from hiring new people until they can see that consumers are actually stepping into the breach and starting to buy things. And he does say that maybe this recovery is going to get pushed into 2011.

Now, I told you about the GDP at the beginning of the show. Let's talk a little bit more about that with my friend, Poppy Harlow from CNNmoney.com. She's been following that report.

Poppy, we already had the first estimate for second quarter GDP. These things get reestimated, I guess...

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Yes.

VELSHI: ... every three months for a full year. So they are often revised. In this case, that estimate was revised lower.

HARLOW: It was revised lower. It's what economists expected. I guess it was not as bad as it could have been. But let's show everyone a full-screen graphic on the big wall you have there, so they can see exactly what we found out this morning.

It is probably the best gauge we have of our economy right now. See that 1.6 percent, folks, there in the yellow? That is the amount that our economy grew, according to the latest estimate, last quarter.

Now, take a look back at the red, all right, the height of the recession. This economy was shrinking at a rate of 6.8 percent, and then it got a little bit better, and then it grew more.

And then look at the yellow as it slides down there. That means that our economic growth is sputtering. And that's what Bernanke, the Fed chairman, that Ali just described, all the things he said today, all the important things, that's what he's concerned about. And that's what Main Street is concerned about, the fact that what we thought was a recovery is now waning. It's getting a lot worse than we expected. We thought the growth was about 2.5 percent. It's not. It's about 1.6 percent. That's the big concern.

And Ali, I want to give people some perspective here. Because in the boom -- boom times of the '90s, our economy was growing at about 3.5 percent. And for businesses to hire, they want to see at least 2 percent growth. So we're still below that. And that's why this number, as odd as it may seem for Main Street -- people say, "Why do I care," that's exactly why they care, because it has to do with jobs, it has to do with housing, and neither is showing improvement. It's actually worse than what we thought just about a month ago, Ali.

VELSHI: Let's -- let's just assume that people are still watching us. And you want to know about GDP. What are the components that go into it?

HARLOW: What goes into GDP? I mean, let's pull them up and show people here. You'll understand it. First, the consumer is the key one. Cars, et cetera. Anything that the consumer buys. That's a big one. Investments that companies make: building, new factories, et cetera. Obviously, that's a huge one.

Another big component here is government spending: everything from highways to hospitals. That's what makes up this GDP, and we're seeing it all wane right now, all pulled back, Ali.

We talked to folks across the country. They talked about living hand to mouth, living day to day. They talked about suffering in their families and their neighborhoods, and that's all, because these areas are shrinking, and we just hope that we continue to grow, even at a modest pace, and that we don't see economic...

VELSHI: I think it's fair to say we are at a modest pace. I mean, you look at that screen right next to you. It's still 1.6 percent in the right direction.

HARLOW: It's a little bit, yes.

VELSHI: It's a little small thing, but it's -- it's there. All right, Poppy, thanks very much. Good to see you, as always.

Poppy Harlow, you can see all of her great work on CNNmoney.com. And by the way, what a great place to understand this economy, particularly as it continues to get a little rougher. Just be prepared. Know what's going on.

All right. As tough as you think this economy might be, sure is better than being at the bottom of a mine. "Be calm. We are going to get out of here." Those are the brave words of one of the 33 Chilean miners trapped 2,300 feet underground for more than three weeks now.

Their ordeal has captivated people around the world, especially since it's expected to take three to four months to rescue them. Now a new video they made for their families shows how they organized their cramped living area. It's about the size of a small apartment. They sent them a device to shoot this down that 6-inch hole that they've got going down, 2,300 feet.

The message to their loved ones is filled with courage and hope and fortitude. And because of that, it's today's "Sound Effect."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I want you guys to know that we're tranquil down here. We want to get out of here. We're not going to stay down here. We're going to get out of here. Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): This guy doesn't want to get out of here, because then he'll have to take a shower, and this one hasn't taken a shower.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Many thanks to the people outside working to get us out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: All right. As you just saw, the miners appear in relatively good shape. They even sang their national anthem. Most have lost 20 pounds since they were trapped by a cave-in in August, on August 5.

And there is food that is actually going down to them. It's being sent down to them.

Almost anything sounds better than being trapped in a mine. But here's something that doesn't sound a lot better than that. Spending years at hard labor at a North Korean prison. That could have been the fate of an American who made a big mistake back in January. But now this guy is on his way home, a former president leading the way. We are live at the airport in Boston when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Any minute now, an American teacher and a Christian activist who has spent seven months locked up in North Korea will arrive home in Boston. He's in the company of the man who flew to Pyongyang on Wednesday to ask for his release. And that is former president, Jimmy Carter.

The North Koreans also happened to mention while Carter was there that they'd like to return to those six-party talks aimed at keeping nuclear weapons off the peninsula. We'll have to see about that.

First up, a very happy ending to a story that began in January when the man who was arrested was arrested for illegally crossing the North Korean border. CNN's Susan Candiotti is awaiting his arrival at Logan Airport with the latest on this -- Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Ali.

Of course, there's a lot of nervous anticipation here at the airport, a fixed base operation near Boston airport. As we wait for the arrival of Aijalon Gomes, North Korean 30 -- rather, he is coming in from North Korea. He is 31 years old.

Let me show you the set-up at the airport, as there is a lot of nervous anticipation as the family is joyfully awaiting his arrival here. This is an office over here where the family will be arriving and are waiting for him to come in. They're going to walk through these doors and then over to that bus that you can see over there. And then they will make their way over a very short distance toward these blue cones, where they're set up. That is where they will greet the plane, get off the plane, and be reunited with their relative for the very first time in a long time.

And then we hope -- we have our fingers crossed here -- that they walk over here to the microphones and we will speak. There's a lot of security here. You see these people in the business suits lined up, obviously, Secret Service and other security included, because former President Carter is with them, as well.

As you said, this goes back to last January, when Mr. Gomes was arrested, allegedly for illegally entering North Korea. We don't know exactly what happened. But we do know, of course, that President Carter evidently succeeded on his private mission, not sanctioned by the U.S. government, to go over there and to win amnesty, as it's being called, from the North Koreans.

Mr. Gomes is a teacher. His relatives tell me that he has been teaching in South Korea for about ten years now, and that he would often come home for a visit. They said he was last here at Christmastime and was feeling very well. They describe his character as being very sweet, always willing to help anyone.

They cannot explain, and no one at this point can explain why he crossed over into North Korea. There are accusations that he did so, perhaps, because he is known to be a human rights activist, but his family says, "We don't know exactly why he was over there." Perhaps he was going over there to try to help people, to teach them. But they are convinced that he had good intentions.

There have also been reports, Ali, recently that he had attempted to commit suicide. The family -- the relative that I spoke with doesn't believe it for a minute, believes that to be a false acquisition. His explanation, a possible explanation for that, he said that he may be sick because his body was shutting down because of the conditions under which he was being held. Of course, right now it's a joyous occasion, they said, as soon as they see him, you can imagine, there will be plenty of hugs all around.

VELSHI: And, of course, what we're interested in hearing, in addition to what he's got to say when he shows up, is what former president, Jimmy Carter, has to say. And I think there are a lot of people around the world wanting to hear if he's going to say anything about any other conversations that were had or other motives for having gone there.

I would suspect that, if there is some diplomatic effort involved here, we're not going to necessarily hear that from Jimmy Carter if he comes to those mikes.

CANDIOTTI: It may not be, but on the other hand, he can be very forthcoming. So perhaps he will share. But, of course, there are reasons that are of a sensitive nature that perhaps he may want to discuss first with the Obama administration. That certainly wouldn't be surprising if that happens first.

Again, the State Department congratulated former President Carter, and President Carter did make President Obama aware, obviously...

VELSHI: Right.

CANDIOTTI: ... that he was making this trip. We're -- I just keep swinging back to see if we see the plane coming in, because we do expect it to arrive very, very soon, and obviously when it does, we'll get back to you.

VELSHI: Yes, you let us know, and we'll -- we'll come right back to you. Susan Candiotti in Boston, thanks very much.

We've been talking about the slow growth of the GDP, of the economy. Is this recovery actually working? We're going to tackle the question with the experts, "YOUR $$$$$" up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: So if you look at the economy today, you look at the reports about the GDP, the gross domestic product for the second quarter. Boy, some Web sites tell you that we are in the tank. Others tell you that there's still growth, but it's slowing and sputtering, all sorts of different things.

So I had had a conversation with two people who I really respect when it comes to money. Chrystia Freeland is a global editor for Reuters. And Ken Rogoff is a economics professor at Harvard. He was the head of the International Monetary Fund. I started by asking Ken what his views were on this economy right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEN ROGOFF, ECONOMICS PROFESSOR, HARVARD: The economy has had a heart attack, and sort of the debate here is should we, you know, put some adrenaline into it, so the patient can get up and sprint around the track a couple times before collapsing, or do you just have to wait for it to heal?

And I think, you know, we have to be patient. It's very tough politically, and the political options are really not attractive. I'm worried about protectionism.

But I think they can do more with the Federal Reserve. I think they can be much more aggressive. I don't think there's too much more we can do with stimulus, although we may need a smaller stimulus bill to decompress from this first one.

VELSHI: Well, that's going to be a hard sell for anybody who's got to do it with a few months coming up to an election.

Chrystia Freeland is the global editor at large at Reuters.

Chrystia, I want to talk a little bit more, because we had a week full of dodgy and unclear economic numbers. We had some home sales numbers that showed great losses. We had jobless claims that were bad, but better than we thought they were going to be. We had a GDP for the second quarter that we just talked about that was, again, better than the bad that we thought it was going to be.

So let me ask you this. Ben Bernanke, again, in that speech at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, said that credit for consumers remains tight, but is loosening. Household saving is up to 6 percent. And that those savings rate -- rates are going to drive spending in 2011. He said that, you know, credit is still tough for people who want to buy homes, but on the other side, interest rates remain low. He seemed to be pushing this recovery off into 2011, and suggesting that let's not get crazy about this. It's just taking longer than it should be.

CHRYSTIA FREELAND, GLOBAL EDITOR AT LARGE, REUTERS: Well, I mean, I think we have to realize that, when Ben Bernanke speaks in public, he is very aware of the weight and the impact of his words. So he obviously wants to call them as he sees them.

But also, he wants us to have a glass quarter full or half full kind of feeling. You know, this Fed is very aware of the animal spirits in the economy. He doesn't want to get us too depressed.

I would, though, like to pick up on something that Professor Rogoff said about the economy having a heart attack. I think that's absolutely right, but I think those consumer numbers that you're talking about, Ali, point to something else which is going on, which is we have just had the financial crisis, and the economy is trying to recover from that. But at the same time, the U.S. economy is going through an incredibly wrenching structural adjustment.

It's like the Industrial Revolution, what the economy is going through with the impact of globalization and technological change. And that is really painful and really difficult.

And I think that accounts for some of the unemployment that we're seeing. Some of the jobs are just going away. They will never come back. And the readjustment of populations to that is really, really tough. A lot of that was masked by this surge of consumer credit in the past decade. People didn't realize how bad things were, because they could always borrow money in the ATM, which was their house.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: And that is just a part of what was a fantastic discussion. You can hear the whole part of that, the whole discussion on "YOUR $$$$$" this weekend, Saturday at 1 p.m. Eastern, Sunday at 3 p.m. Eastern. In fact, it's full of important information, including how you invest defensively if this economy is taking a turn for the worst.

Let me bring you up to speed with the top stories we're following right now at CNN.

Toyota is recalling more than 1 million cars over concerns that they could stall. So if you drive a Corolla, Matrix or Pontiac Vibe with a 2005 to 2008 model year, you might need to get it repaired. Toyota and General Motors teamed up to build the Vibes that are involved in the recall. The Japanese automaker attributes the problem to faulty engine control units.

The second hurricane of the season churning in the middle of the Atlantic, and the third one may soon form. Forecasters say Danielle is not a threat to land right now, but Bermuda isn't taking its eye off the Category 4 storm. Now, traveling behind Danielle is Tropical Storm Earl, and it could become a hurricane by Sunday. Chicken feed may be to blame for the nationwide recall of more than a half a billion eggs. Federal investigators say tests found salmonella in the feed given to hens at two Iowa egg farms that are linked to the recall. The salmonella outbreak has apparently sickened more than 2,400 people now.

FM radio chips in all cell phones. A desktop version of the iPad, and the Commodore 64 making a comeback. All of that after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: A lot of tech news going on now, so I wanted to bring in our friend, Shelly Palmer, who follows this stuff all very closely and makes it make sense to us. And sometimes I understand it, sometimes I don't. This one I absolutely do not get.

Shelly, good to see you again. What is this business...

SHELLY PALMER, : Nice to see you, Ali.

VELSHI: ... of somebody in Congress interested in putting chips that allow FM phones into cell phones -- I can't even believe -- I don't even know where to start on this one. What is this about?

PALMER: Well, OK. This is about the National Association of Broadcasters and the RIAA, the Recording Industry Association, which is the record companies. And they've gotten together, and they've gone to Congress, and they said, "Wouldn't it be fun if you mandated radio chips, good old-fashioned FM analog radio chips to be installed in every cell phone that gets manufactured for distribution in the United States?" What do you think of that, Ali?

VELSHI: I don't understand why I'd need that. I don't really need something else like FM radio in my phone, I don't know. Is there somebody who thinks this is going to be useful?

PALMER: Well, actually what happened was the RIAA wanted to find some new royalties. They've been sort of hounding the broadcasters for a long time for additional royalty payments for music. So the NAB used a good "Godfather" technique, which prestidigitation, which is sort of like keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

They made a deal with the RIAA, and the two organizations went to Congress and said, "Hey, let's put these chips in." Well, of course, immediately the Consumer Electronics Association, the entire wireless industry, the CTIA, which is the wireless group, the phone guys, all got together and said, "No, no, no. This can't happen."

So what's really -- what this is really about is the NAB doesn't want to pay any additional royalties for music. And what they did was they sort of did a sleight of hand, got everybody hot and bothered, and there's a letter that the wireless industry sent to the judiciary committees at the House and at the Senate, and basically, this thing is going to die. But it's scaring the heck out of everybody.

VELSHI: First of all, you can get an FM radio for two bucks, if you want one.

PALMER: Right.

VELSHI: And No. 2, I mean, I don't understand why -- I don't know. I don't understand any of it. I don't understand why it makes sense. Let me talk about something else...

PALMER: Well -- go ahead.

VELSHI: Yes. Let me talk about something that I understand a little more, because I'm actually -- I'm very interested in this one, in this retro move in computers. The Commodore 64 might be coming back? That was my introduction to computing, basically.

PALMER: Well, it was everybody of a certain age's introduction to computing. It was an Alltier or a Commodore back in the day. A company has acquired the rights to the old form factor, and they're supposed to be putting out a new Commodore 64 in the old case with a current technology atom chip in it.

Truthfully, I don't know if that brand has any value to anybody other than nostalgically. And that keyboard was so clunky when it was new. Can you imagine working on it now? But like everything old is new again, it's going to come back out. You know.

VELSHI; It was like a typewriter back then. You know what I was going to say about the FM radio is that I -- Microsoft Zune in competing with the iPod, one of their selling factors was that it had a radio transmitter. I know a few people who own Zunes, and not a single one of them told me they bought it because of the FM transmission.

PALMER: To be honest, Ali, if people wanted FM radios in their cell phones, all of the manufacturers would put them in automatically. The funny thing is about FM -- well, the funny thing is the antenna's in the headset cord, so who's going to carry a headset with their phone all the time? Silly.

VELSHI: Let's talk about Apple. The iPad, and there's some movement there to try and get a desktop version of the iPad?

PALMER; So what happened was, Apple filed for a patent, and the patent shows a slightly larger iPad that has like a little desktop stand on it. And everybody got all excited and it's like, wow, does this mean that an iPad is coming out that's desktop ready or with a desktop -- standard desktop size?

And the answer probably is, they're thinking about it, and like all good businesses that have very important intellectual property, they're trying to protect theirs.

So I think all we can gain from this is that the people at Apple are really smart in future thinking. Are we really going to see an iPad for the desktop? Ali, doesn't that make the iPad a little bit, like, even bigger and more clunky? I think what you're going to see pretty soon -- what I think you're going to see, I think you're going to see a smaller iPad, bigger than the iPad touch, and smaller than an iPad, because that's a form factor that people might actually want to use, something in the 6-inch diagonal range. And I've got little bird telling me that could happen pretty soon.

VELSHI: All right, Shelly. Good to see you, as always. Shelly Palmer is the host of "Digital Life with Shelly Palmer," joining me as he always does to give us a little clarity into our digital life. Thanks, Shelly.

All right. Five years ago, he came to a desperate city, filled with desperate people. You will remember this. Five years later, he is back. We go live to New Orleans with General Russell Honore.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: OK, we're very near the fifth anniversary of a natural disaster that soon became a national disgrace. Hurricane Katrina overwhelmed a lot more than New Orleans' levees and pumps. In that first day, that first 24 hours, almost nothing and nobody seemed capable of easing the misery and of that monumental need in New Orleans, until this guy came on the scene.

(VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Some people knew about him, but he was not a national household name until that day. U.S. Army Lieutenant General Russel Honore brought order to chaos and hope to a devastated city.

Five years later, he's retired from the Army, he's still a familiar face on this network, I'm happy to say as a CNN contributor. He joins me now with his unique perspective on how far New Orleans as come.

General Honore, always a pleasure to have you on. Thank you so much for being with us.

Take us back to the call you got. Take us back to how you ended up in New Orleans, because prior to that, it seemed like everything was going wrong. And I'm not even talking about the hurricane. There were people shooting, there were people -- there were still people dying and floating in the -- in rivers. There were -- there was the mess at the Superdome.

What happened? How did you get involved? And what did you do?

LT. GEN. RUSSEL HONORE (RET.) U.S. ARMY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, Ali.

On Tuesday, I arrived in Biloxi, Mississippi as that was my area of operation. And on Tuesday night, I talked to Admiral Keating, commander of Northern Command, and he gave me an order to move to New Orleans and help with the evacuation of the city of New Orleans. And that's how I ended up here Wednesday morning at 9:27 in the morning at the Superdome.

VELSHI: What did you do, General? I remember you with the cigar there. I remember you coming into really what could only have been described as chaos.

Was it as bad as it seemed, and what did you do to try and restore order, both with the military there and on the streets?

HONORE: It was bad. Of course, the biggest challenge was getting people out of the city or it could have turned into a search and rescue.

The search and rescue by air was being run by the Coast Guard, and on the ground by the Cajun Navy and the National Guard. All those teams were working well together.

What we pulled together was the evacuation plan, working under the supervision of the governor, Blanco, and her team in Baton Rouge. And we got the buses in that started flowing people from here to Texas. And by Saturday, we got airplanes in provided by the Department of Defense, and we flew them out of the airport, New Orleans airport, to all points across the country.

So we could have done it faster had we gotten there earlier, but there are many reasons and many explanations for why we weren't here. Our job was to get it done when we got here.

VELSHI: All right, one of the things we have probably learned since then, we saw it during the Gulf oil spill, is after a couple days of there being problems, all of a sudden, Thad Allen shows up and he became the sort of identifiable guy with the oil spill, the guy who said I got it under control, people are reporting to me, I'm giving orders and that's what's going on.

You were sort of that guy in Katrina, you were that face in Katrina. Was that a natural -- did somebody give you that authority, or did you walk in there and just decide someone has got to take charge? And were you the guy in charge?

HONORE: Well, my mission from the commander of Northern Command was to respond to orders from the governor and the mayor of New Orleans, working with FEMA to evacuate the city, conduct search and rescue, and to provide food and water wherever it was required and that's what we did working with the first responders in the National Guard.

VELSHI: And what's the lesson? What's the take-away? If something like that happens again, rather than you getting it on Tuesday you needed to be and I guess they need to decide that Sunday night or Saturday night, what have we learned from this for the next time this happens? What will the Army do differently? What will the government do differently?

HONORE: Well, we learned a lot, Ali, and from that, the whole deployment of FEMA has changed. Prior to Katrina, FEMA waited for governors to ask for requests. After Katrina and with the new leadership at FEMA, they're more proactive. They deploy before the storms happen on the flanks of the storm to bring food and water, medicine, ambulances, to evacuate people.

There have been many changes, as well as Louisiana have buses on contract to come here. They get the National Guard in, as they did during Gustav. Start contra (INAUDIBLE).

Many improvements have been made since Katrina and as we saw during Gustav, they did a good job of evacuating the city.

VELSHI: You're absolutely right. They did do an excellent job on that, so I'm glad we learned some lessons from that. We remember those days well and we we're thankful that you came on the scene and that you continue to be a good friend of ours.

General Russel Honore, pleasure to see you. Enjoy what is at least a celebration of what has changed in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast since Katrina.

HONORE: Thanks, Ali. They have a football tonight, this place is full of goodness. Tourists all over the place, the Cafe Dumar (ph) is full, there's people on Jackson Square. There's a party about to happen here tonight.

VELSHI: Good, all right, you enjoy it and say hello to New Orleans for us all.

And by the way, CNN's Anderson Cooper is back in New Orleans to see how the region has bounced back five years after Hurricane Katrina. Check out "IN KATRINA'S WAKE" a "BUILDING UP AMERICA," and "AC 360" special tomorrow night at 8:00 Eastern.

And by the way, I'm going to be talking to Don Lemon in just a little while, he's down there as well.

Listen, the misery of flood ravaged Pakistan gets even worse. It is now a fight for survival in the southern part of the country as a million more people flee their homes. Rampant deadly diseases are taking the lives of children. Sanjay Gupta is there, as well. We're "Globe Trekking" when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: OK. Time now for "Globe Trekking."

First up, North Korea where former President Jimmy Carter has succeeded in winning the freedom for an American citizen. A plane with Carter on board is expected to land any moment now at Boston's Logan International Airport.

With Carter is the American who was sentenced to eight years of hard labor for illegally entering North Korea from China. North Korea says the country's leader, Kim Jong-Il, granted the man, Aijalon Mali Gomes, amnesty for humanitarian purposes.

The American had been working as an English teacher in had South Korea. He was believed to have entered the North in support of a South Korean Christian activist who has been calling on the North to release all political prisoners. The wisdom of that activity remains uncertain, but Carter was acting as a private citizen.

Nuclear politics apparently played a role in Carter's visit. A top North Korean government official told Carter the North wants to resume multiparty talks aimed at getting the North to abandon its nuclear weapons program. The talks have been stalled for three years.

Now to Pakistan. A terrible situation continues to get worse. Floodwaters now raging through southern Sindh Province. A million more people have fled their homes over the past 40 hours; 1,600 people have been killed, more than 17 million affected in some way. The U.N. official calls the flooding a colossal disaster that's getting worse.

A huge threat right now is deadly disease. Those most at risk are infants and very young children. CNN's Sanjay Gupta is in Sindh, he's speaking to doctors and victims.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A fighting chance here in Sindh, Pakistan. It is all they can hope for.

Rehamt Chacher, a farmer, didn't get any warning when the floods came.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GUPTA: "We just ran," he says. He grabbed his wife, his kids, he ran, and they took all they could. You're looking at it here.

You see, they are staggeringly poor but they wanted a fighting chance and escaping the flood, they thought they made it.

"She started to get a fever. She couldn't keep anything down. She had lots of belly pain."

She's talking about her 3-month-old daughter, Benazir (ph). A few days later, she describes the same exact thing happening to her son, 2-year-old Wazira (ph).

(on camera): They brought both Benazir and Wazira here, to Civil Hospital. Doctors right away knew that these children were sick, but with such limited resources, there is only so much they can do.

Let's take a look.

You have two to three patients per bed in this hospital. Do you have enough beds? Do you have enough resources?

DR. G.R. BOUK, PAKISTAN CIVIL HOSPITAL: No. Because of this, there is no resources, because of the huge Sikharah (ph) population and there is some population from around the (INAUDIBLE) Kashmoor (ph) and (INAUDIBLE).

GUPTA (voice-over): The problem -- bad water, everywhere. With not enough good, clean water to go around, well, many -- too many -- have started to drink this. Millions of people, diarrheal illness, cholera, dysentery, typhoid.

(on camera): I mean, some of the children around here look very sick. And you have two, at least two children per bed, some on the floor.

Are you going to run out of space eventually? I mean, there are hundreds of thousands of people out there.

BOUK: Yes.

GUPTA: What happens to them?

BOUK: At moments, we can't do anything.

GUPTA: What are the chances this child is going to survive?

BOUK: I think 50 percent chance to survive.

GUPTA: Fifty-fifty?

BOUK: Fifty.

GUPTA (voice-over): Wazira and Benazir wouldn't get that fighting chance. This is their obituary. They didn't even make it to the hospital, both children died on the way there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: Be sure to catch Sanjay this weekend, he'll be live from the hard hit areas in Pakistan showing you how relief workers and medics are dealing with this disaster. You're only going to see that on CNN.

Well, staring death in the face and being considered the scum of the Earth. They claimed they were innocent and these guys actually were. We're going to talk about exonerations on death row, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Let me bring you up to speed with some of the top stories we are following right now on CNN.

It appears the U.S. economy sputtered a little bit in the second quarter. That would be the second three months of this year. The government's newly revised figures show that the gross domestic product, GDP, grew just 1.6 percent from April 1st to the end of June. That is lower than the earlier estimate of 2.4 percent. Remember, these things get revised a lot, though. Some economists had expected today's revised estimate to be worse than it was. The 33 men trapped for more than three weeks in that mine in Chile have sent a 25-minute video message to their families. They sent the equipment, by the way, down that six-inch shaft to allow them to do that. They appeared in great spirits, considering the difficult and cramped conditions. They applauded and thanked those working to free them. The men's lifeline to the outside world, is this thin tube, six inches around, about 2,500 feet deep through which food and equipment can be stuffed.

And Glenn Beck is calling conservatives to a rally at the Lincoln Memorial tomorrow on the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. The Fox News host calls his rally a nonpolitical event. Sarah Palin, however, is the keynote speaker. The Reverend Al Sharpton also organized a D.C. march on Saturday to commemorate King's speech.

Refrigerators with no drawers or shelves. Closets that wash your clothes for you. These are all space-age appliances that could find their way into a home. It might even be your home. That's our "Big I," coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANE JETSON, CARTOON CHARACTER: This is how your great, great, great grandmother made cookies. Our historical society feels we should all learn to do things the old-fashioned way.

ELROY JETSON, CARTOON CHARACTER: Gee, mom, you mean I can do that?

J. JETSON, CARTOON CHARACTER: Sure, you can, all you need are the right ingredients. Let's see, five eggs --

ROBOT: Please select a type.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Ah, "The Jetsons." I already gave away that I like the Commodore 64. So, love "The Jetsons."

Your family could resemble them one day, by the way. That brings us to an update on a "Big I" that we brought you some months ago. Electrolux Design Lab is holding a competition to bring you designs for the future for your home. They've now selected their top eight candidates from around the world.

Let's start with the eco cleaner. This thing is neat. It's a portable dishwasher and composter, designed by Ahi Andy Mosen (ph) from Iran. It uses electronic, ultrasound waves to ionize food and turn it into reusable waste.

OK. Now let's take a look at this. This one I love. I always wondered why you need a refrigerator to keep things cold when it's cold outside. This is an external refrigerator designed by Nicholas Hubert from France. It's attached to the outside walls of homes or apartment. The external fridge was inspired by the way people in northern China kept food on their balconies in winter to save on space and energy. So, when it's warm outside, the sun transforms light into energy through solar panels, and when it's cold outside, the food is kept cool naturally.

OK. Let's take a look at this one. It's the dismount washer designed by Lichen Guwho (ph) from China. These are just sketches. The washing machine combines the cleaning vessel and the laundry basket in one. The washer is put on a mountable motor or an energy stick hanging on to the wall to save on space. The energy stick dispenses steam to help keep the clothes clean.

Next in the clean closet design is from Michael Adenias (ph) from Sweden. It's basically a closet that washes your clothes. Your clothes are scanned for impurities. Look at that. And then they're cleaned with molecular technology.

The next one has the greatest number of votes on the Electrolux Web site so far. It's called the biorobot refrigerator. It's designed by Yuri Demetria from Russia. We talked about this a few months ago. It is -- in place of shelves, a non-sticky, odorless gel morphs around your food in order to keep it cool. It has no doors or drawers in it.

Now let's take a look at the elements modular kitchen design by Matthew Gilbride from the United States. This wall-mounted modular appliance allows you to cook on the same thing that keeps your food cold. It also provides lighting and air conditioning while cutting down on the need for space in the kitchen.

And meet the Snail, designed by Peter Alwin from India. It's a portable heating and cooling device that can be stuck directly on to a pot, pan or mug to heat or cool the food inside. It's powered by a high-density, sugar crystal battery.

And the final contestant in the Electrolux Design Lab contest is the Kitchen Hideaway which is designed by a gentleman from Australia. Basically, you sit in your chair, put on this helmet and visualize your food. Your thoughts are then transmitted to robotic chefs, who prepare the meal for you. I suspect that one is going to be a while before it comes to fruition.

For more information on the Electrolux Design Lab competition and to vote on the winner, head to my blog, CNN.com/ali.

All right. They love the Saints, and not even Hurricane Katrina could change that. Next, we're going to New Orleans live from five years after the storm, the "Who Dat" nation is celebrating more than just a Super Bowl win.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

VELSHI: Super Bowl champs, "who dat," the new New Orleans Saints finally have that bragging right after a string of losses on and off the field. There to cheer them on, some die hard and devoted fans. Our Don Lemon is live in New Orleans in the heart of the "who dat" nation.

Look at that! They're already celebrating behind you. Look at that woman right behind you. You got to turn around and see this woman

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Listen, I'm so glad you mentioned her because earlier I was on with Tony and I didn't realize she was performing behind me. And so afterwards, I got tweets and everyone from CNN emailing me, going, "who is that lady standing behind you?"

Her name is Jennifer Jones. She calls herself the grand marshall of New Orleans. She's a performing artist. She does parades, she does funerals, she does weddings. She even performs in live shots.

I asked her about why she did it and about the Saints. I said, do you love the Saints? And she said, of course! She even performs at the Saints' games.

So, listen, I want to tell you, Ali, you know everyone loves the Saints. Everyone loves the Saints. They're really America's team as we have been talking to people here. We went out and talked to some folks. I want you to take a look at what we found out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Saints country. The "who dat" nation as in --

AUDIENCE: Who dat! Who dat! Who dat! Who dat!

LEMON: An unusual way of speaking, fitting an unorthodox group of fans who for years stood by their perpetually losing football team, the New Orleans Saints. In the 1980s, the team was so bad, fans donned paper bags to cover their faces. But Saints' diehard Lionel Alfonso, Sr. turned to divine intervention for help.

LIONEL ALFONSO, SR.: I'm wearing this outfit now. Back then when they brown paper bags is out, I said, I can't lie, I'm the pope. I wore a bag.

LEMON: Alfonso is now known worldwide as "da pope" of the saints and in 1999 was one of the first fans ever to be inducted into the Football Hall of Fame.

LEMON: The first fan in the Hall of Fame.

ALFONSO: Right.

LEMON: What do you think of that?

ALFONSO: I loved it.

LEMON: Then in 2005, all hell broke loose on the city and the team's home, the Superdome. Even da pope was powerless against Hurricane Katrina's destruction. But the entire "who dat" nation stuck by their team and prayed their boys in gold would stay in the Big Easy. And they did. In a big way.

ALFONSO: You know, to actually see football players put hammers and saws in their hands and go rebuild houses, that's amazing.

LEMON: Then came the 2010 season. The team, once known as the ain'ts, won the Super Bowl, world champions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Still in shock to hear you say the world champion New Orleans Saints. It picks me every time. Hoping the Saints can carry us again through this year and keep our spirits up.

LEMON: Faith, a recurring theme here in Louisiana. And every Sunday, their miracle team, a statewide call to worship. "We will" is no doubt the chant to the rest of the NFL.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: OK, so Ali, you know how they will do the sketches out here (INAUDIBLE). She uses Drew Brees. That's Drew Brees right there. She uses him to get people to come over. This local artist (INAUDIBLE) her names is Gail Poems (ph). I grabbed one of your guests here to help me get through the live shots.

What do you think of the Saints, General?

LT. GEN. RUSSELL HONORE (RET.) : Who dat said is going to beat them Saints?

LEMON AND CROWD: Who dat! Who dat!

LEMON: See you, Juniper (ph). Thank you.

VELSHI: All of you have a fantastic time.

LEMON: We're having a great time. We're working hard -

VELSHI: Yes, but you're enjoying it.

LEMON: Yes, we're enjoying it. We're having a great time. We are working hard, but we're having a great time.

And Ali, make sure you tune in this weekend. We're going to be anchoring from here all weekend.

VELSHI: Absolutely we will. And thanks again to General Honore. You guys have a good time. We'll catch up with you later on.

Don Lemon is there all weekend.

LEMON: Who dat! Who dat!

VELSHI: Who dat.