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More than 8 Million Jobs Lost During Recession; Counting Down to Midterm Elections; Tropical Storm Hermine Brewing in the Gulf of Mexico; Craigslist Censors Adult Ads
Aired September 06, 2010 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Millions of unemployed and underemployed Americans have little to celebrate this Labor Day. And the future looks even bleaker for middle class workers. Economists predict that when job creation finally ramps up, higher paying professionals will find jobs. Lower skilled workers will also be hired. But the people in the middle could be shut out with many of their jobs gone for good.
Check out these sobering stats this morning. There are now 19 -- excuse me -- 14,900,000 unemployed Americans. More than 8 million jobs have been lost during the recession. But there are some bright spots.
Our CNN's Stephanie Elam joins us from New York to examine the trend. It's not a good one, is it?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: No, it's really not a good one, Jim, when you take a look at it this way. All around you think about it. The middle class is obviously the biggest one, but it's shrinking. And basically, most of the job growth that economists expect will be a low-paying, unskilled jobs and in those high-paying skilled jobs.
So that means the middle is getting lost. Take a look at the fastest growing jobs here. This is coming to us from the national employment law project. And saying the number one growing job, retail salesperson. Follow that up by a cashier. Then you've got food prep and that also includes fast food as well. Those are the top three that we're talking about.
So what's the common thread among these jobs? They all pay, as you can see there, less than 10 bucks an hour. And the NELP says 76 percent of the jobs created this year were in these kind of low-paying jobs. Now, on the other end of the spectrum, economists also says professional fields will pick up hiring. So think about jobs like research scientists, software engineers, biomedical engineers and lawyers.
And another study shows 23 percent of law firms plan to hire this winter. These are, obviously, jobs that require education, we also have to have more training. But at the same time, once you do get those jobs, they tend to have a larger pay check, Jim. ACOSTA: And is this a relatively new phenomenon, Stephanie? What caused it? ELAM: Well, the change here is we no longer have an economy that's based on manufacturing. Kind of like what I was talking about with you before as far as the gender pay gap with the younger Americans here. Well, analysts believe manufacturing jobs are going to continue to be outsourced. That's not going to be the place here.
Some of those manufacturing jobs that were lost during the recession, they're not expected to come back. But it's not just happening in manufacturing. You got real estate. You got construction. Financial services. All these jobs where a lot of them lost a lot of jobs and these days, those fields aren't bringing back very many workers. And those were good paying middle class jobs we're talking about.
But then you have other analysts who were saying this shift is not a permanent one. Lower paying and temporary jobs typically do come back first in a recovery which makes sense. So what we're going to have to do to see if this trend sticks. But right now it looks really difficult on a lot of middle class Americans out there.
ACOSTA: It sure does. All right. Stephanie Elam, thanks so much.
And this morning, we begin counting down to the midterm elections. Over the next 57 days, we'll look at the extraordinary passions building among American voters. Many are angry and they are motivated to vote. They will have their chance to make big changes in Washington.
37 Senate seats are up for grabs and in the House, of course, every single seat will be decided. 435 in all. The stakes are huge for lawmakers and of course, for you. Your job, your taxes, as Stephanie was just talking about. Even your health care could be shaped by the outcome of the November elections.
President Obama is hoping to create jobs and save the jobs of endangered congressional Democrats at the same time with a new economic plan. The president is rolling out his initiatives this week with speeches today in Wisconsin and Wednesday in Ohio and our CNN senior White House correspondent Ed Henry is here with a preview.
Hi, Ed.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, you're right. The stakes are enormous for the American people, enormous for this president as well. It could be a make or break week. These two big speeches today in Milwaukee. We're getting some new details about what the president is going to say. He's going to talk a lot about infrastructure spending. In fact, he's going to lay out what the White House is billing as sort of a comprehensive plan.
Try to create some jobs specifically when you look through the numbers. He wants to talk about rebuilding 150,000 miles of roads, constructing 4,000 miles of rail, 150 miles of airport runways. Obviously, hoping there will be in this $50 billion plan, a lot of jobs created along the way. It still needs congressional approval, of course. There's a narrow window with lawmakers still on break right now. They'll be coming back next week. But then quickly heading back to the campaign trail. So it's unclear whether this will actually pass. Then on Wednesday in Cleveland, the president wants to roll out a $100 billion tax credit permanently extending the tax cut that companies get for research and development. The idea encouraging companies to try to invest more in equipment, invest more in employees, hire more people, et cetera.
But these were two ingredients, targeted tax credits as well as highway infrastructure spending that we heard about last year in the big stimulus plan. Now the president's got sort of a second economic plan. He's going to roll out this week.
And obviously, a lot of people have heard about the stimulus and still are unclear as to whether it's really trickled down and helped them. So it's unclear whether the president is even going to get this through Congress, let alone whether it will really have an impact on the economy, Jim.
ACOSTA: And I can just hear the folks inside the White House saying, don't call this the second stimulus. I'm sure we'll be -
HENRY: You're right.
(CROSSTALK)
HENRY: They have probably learned some lessons about branding. When they first billed the first stimulus as something that was going to jolt the economy, that has not quite panned out and then this summer they call it recovery summer at the beginning. That has not panned out either.
So you're right. This is also an expectations game ratcheting that down. In fairness to the White House, you know, there have been government reports, private economists like Mark Zandi as well, you know, outside the administration suggesting that the stimulus has helped save or create something like three million jobs.
That's, obviously, positive. Certainly better than nothing. It's had some impact, but maybe not as much impact as Americans anticipated. At least in how the administration first sold it, Jim.
ACOSTA: All right. Ed Henry at the White House. Thanks, Ed. Appreciate it.
HENRY: Thank you.
ACOSTA: And the CNN Election Express is on the road, far outside the D.C. beltway. We're glad to say we're talking to real people about what's driving them into the polls and the message they want to send to Washington.
First stop is Pittsburgh and CNN's T.J. Holmes joins us live. And T.J., I can't believe they are talking about anything out there besides Steeler football.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN, ANCHOR: Yes. They got a situation going on with Steeler football, no doubt about it. Yes, they want to talk about that. Once we get that out of the way, they certainly move on and they move on quickly to the economy.
I want people to keep something in mind today. It's a three-day weekend. It's labor day. You are spending time with family and friends and, yes, that's what often these weekends are about.
At the same time, well, a lot of people are thankful to have a day off, a lot of people would love to be working today. You gave those numbers early about the almost 15 million people right now out of work who would like to be working. So keep that in mind on this labor day.
We're here in Pittsburgh. A state that has been blessed in some ways to keep its unemployment rate below the national average. But at the same time it continues to tick up. We are out here speaking to a lot of people. Expressing their concerns about the economy moving forward with the politics in Washington as well.
But can you imagine, a couple we ran into, can you imagine doing the same thing for 50 years but now be considering the possibility of giving it up because you simply just can't make money doing it anymore because of the economic times? That's what we ran into. Listen to these two.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE KELLY, DAIRY FARMER: We are 200 head altogether. It's hard to maintain your business. Property values are getting high and incomes low. It's usually to sell out and leave.
KATHY DAHLKEMPER, DAIRY FARMER: We're not going to (INAUDIBLE) we like the farm. We like the country. We like taking care of our animals and working long hours. But you don't make any money at it. The price of milk is not anywhere near what it costs to operate.
KELLY: I've watched politics my whole life and it doesn't never change. Doesn't make any difference which party is in office, which one controlling the Congress, which one controls the judiciary. It's the same thing. I think the Republicans are going to gain. I don't think they're going to gain as much as they think. But I think they will be. They always vote against the incumbents. Give them another chance to get rich.
I think they need to stop yelling at each other and get down business. Yelling at each other isn't going to solve anything. I'm tired of the yelling, hollering and screaming. They don't want to work together, tell them to get all new guys in there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And you hear him there, Jim. It's so disheartening to hear it. Been watching politics for a long time. He doesn't expect anything to change. He doesn't expect any help. He doesn't expect relief. He expects the same old deadlock. He has essentially given up on the process in Washington so he's having to do for himself and fend for himself. And one more thing, Jim, on the numbers I talked about.
Over the past year, the nation's unemployment rate has been essentially flat each month or has ticked down a bit. Over the past year. Well, conversely here in Pennsylvania, their number has stayed below the national average but in the past year it has gone up a full percentage point. So it seems to be going the wrong direction right now, Jim.
ACOSTA: And T.J., I mean, one of the things that we have to talk about is these congressional races out there in western Pennsylvania. That's a conservative part of the state. Could those races determine, you know, which way the house goes in the fall?
HOLMES: Yes, we think about the House. 435 seats up in the air, yes. So how would Republicans take the House back? Well, they're going to do it by focusing on several seats - specific seats around the country like the one here in Pennsylvania at least, western Pennsylvania.
We're keeping our eye on here as well where you have in the third district, a freshman Democrat in a Republican district. That is prime for the taking, in Republicans' eyes, at least. That one, along with several other around the country, they need to make some gains, almost 40 seats.
A lot of people give them credit for 20, 25, 30, but 40 could possibly be in the works as well. So here in western Pennsylvania, a lot of eyes nationally on this particular race. But also it is a very, very local race. Those candidates don't necessarily want to talk about what's happening in Washington. They want to talk about local issues and see if they can hold on to this seat.
But Kathy Dahlkemper is her name, the Democrat trying to hold on to that seat. She's getting quite all she can handle right now from a Mike Riley, the Republican who is challenging her right now.
ACOSTA: A lot of Democrats in red districts right now, all over the country, T.J., not just in Pennsylvania, who are going to be in a lot of trouble this fall if they can't get things turned out.
T.J. Holmes, our good friend, T.J., out in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with the CNN Election Express. Good to see you, T.J.. Appreciate it.
HOLMES: All right. Thanks, Jim. Thanks.
ACOSTA: And keep an eye on the CNN Election Express. It will be on the road this week in four states with members of the best political team in television on board. Jessica Yellin, John King, Gloria Borger, Dana Bash and T.J. Holmes. They're not all on the bus at the same time. But they'll be starting the week in Pittsburgh and then Tuesday, the bus arrives in Columbus, Ohio, an important state.
Wednesday, the CNN Express rolls into Covington, Kentucky, where there are some pretty contentious races happening down there. And then over to Indianapolis where another key Senate race is on the line. So stay with us for all of that. Now moving on to the people in the tiny southern California town of Bell. They are taking matters into their own hands. Talk about angry voters. Check this out. They are going door to door with a petition to recall their city council. Their entire city council.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And it's a new day. We got a new storm to talk about. This is tropical storm Hermine. Coming up in a few moments, I'll let you know if this thing is going to steer out deeper into the gulf and get stronger or if it's just going to roll right onshore. We'll let you know, coming up in just a few moments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ACOSTA: And they are getting up and standing up out in California where our cross-country trek begins this morning with people going door to door, petition in hand to recall their city council.
The Bell payroll scandal revealed city leaders making outrageous salaries, up to $800,000 a year in this economy. And a place where the median income is around $40,000 a year. Bell Police say they were pressured to help the town money make cars by impounding cars and charging owners high fees to get them back.
Hartz has issued a voluntary recall of its 8-oz bags of Hartz Natural Real Beef treats for dogs after FDA testing found they could be tainted by Salmonella. So far, no reports of any pets getting sick.
The Coast Guard rescued seven people trapped in the Atlantic Ocean off the South Carolina coast. This is amazing stuff. The four adults and three children abandoned their sinking boat and spent nearly a full day in the water. Luckily, all of them were wearing their life vests.
A Coast Guard helicopter was making one final pass after a six-hour search when a crew member spotted them in the moonlight. A big reminder to wear your life vest when you're out there on the water this weekend, folks.
And forget Earl or Fiona. Folks on the south Texas gulf coast have tropical storm Hermine to contend with. Is that how we're pronouncing it?
WOLF: Yes.
ACOSTA: Reynolds Wolf has more on this.
(CROSSTALK)
ACOSTA: Exactly. That's right.
WOLF: You know we were joking earlier -
ACOSTA: It doesn't matter how it's pronounced, as long as it doesn't do a lot of damage, right? WOLF: Absolutely. This is where it is. It's very pretty easy to see. You got the Yucatan Peninsula on this side. The Mexican coast, you got the Texas coastline. Then to the south just really deep convection at this point. This is pretty impressive.
If this system were able to stay over the open water for several days it might actually percolate into something bigger. It may be hurricane. But at this point, it looks like it's not going to be out over the open water for very long. It's expected to make landfall some time into Tuesday.
In fact, the latest forecast we have at the National Hurricane Center, indicates that it might make landfall just south of the Texas-Mexico border with winds around 60 miles per hour and gusts up to 70. Then that is a pretty strong tropical storm but it is not expected to become anything bigger and once it comes on shore, it will then begin to weaken. But it will still be a significant rainmaker.
So flooding is a very real possibility for parts of north and central and south Texas, especially as we make your way through the rest of the week and into the weekend. Sustained winds are currently 45, gusting to 50. So certainly something to watch out for.
You know, we mentioned flooding. This flooding a possibility anywhere else around the country? It sure looks like it might be today. Especially where you have this area of low pressure and you have these frontal boundaries coming together. You got all the components in place. You get really moist air that continues to surge. It's going to the north as it does so, it's going to interact with that low.
That combined with daytime heating could give some strong storms. And you can't rule out the possibility of even a few tornadoes, isolated tornadoes popping up, in parts of the corn belt, keep that in mind, especially into the afternoon. And any delays, any spots you plan on flying out of the Midwest, say Chicago, perhaps the twin cities, maybe even into some of the smaller regional airports in this area, you might have a few delays.
And something else that you're going to be seeing, not delays but get this, snowflakes in parts of the central and northern Rockies, including Yellowstone National Park and perhaps even Glacier National Park. It's hard to believe we're already at the time of the year when we're talking about snow back into the forecast.
Out in the West Coast, it's going to be great as heavy waves continue to come into places like say, (INAUDIBLE) beach. If you're going out doing some long boarding, waves are coming in sets two of. It should be beautiful there. Meanwhile out into the eastern seaboard, we have some issues in some places in terms of the rip currents. That might be a problem today for many of you out toward Virginia Beach, maybe even into Ocean City and the Florida coastline could be an issue, too. But also by the afternoons, some scattered showers and storms might cause delays and any picnics you might have in the beach.
Keep that in mind. Now, in terms of your temperatures, it is going to be a sizzling day for you in parts of the desert southwest. But in New York, another day. Highs are going to be back into the 80s once again. Enjoy it while you can. All right. That's the latest. Let's send it back to you, Jim.
ACOSTA: All right. Reynolds, thanks a lot. It looks like a great weather forecast for a big part of the country. So we're glad for that. Appreciate it.
WOLF: You bet.
ACOSTA: A new medical study is giving teens just what they want. A reason to sleep in like they need another reason. Researchers say starting school later improves performance in the classroom. And we'll find out more in just a few moments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: Checking top stories now. CNN has learned that up to 2,000 more troops may be going to Afghanistan in the coming weeks. A number of U.S. forces would deploy as part of the NATO call-up. The troops would help train Afghan forces and disable roadside bombs.
President Obama makes a new push this week to get the economy going. He has speeches today and Wednesday and plans to roll out tax cut and infrastructure proposals.
And the massive blowout preventer from the broken BP well is on its way to a NASA facility. Federal investigators will look for clues to the cause of the April explosion. BP plans to resume work this week to seal the damaged well for good.
It's no secret that most teens, they hate the mornings. But sleeping a bit later and starting school a bit later might actually help them do better in school. We are talking about a new study on all of that. That's coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: You might think there are a few things tougher than getting a sleepy teenager out of bed and off to school. Don't blame it on their attitude. Blame it on their biology. CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen tells us about a new study that suggests starting school a bit later could help teens do better in the classroom.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's 5:22 in the morning and 16-year-old Rene Carascilla (ph) is already getting up for school. A junior at Parkview High School in Auburn, Georgia, his bus comes at 6:20. The first bell ring at 7:25.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, 6:15.
COHEN: Rene's parents say he's not getting enough sleep.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His normal bedtime is around 11:00 and then he wakes up around 5:00, so he gets about six hours.
COHEN: Doctors say teens need nine hours of sleep. Rene says that's never going to happen.
RENE CARASCILLA, STUDENT: Nine hours of sleep? I don't think that's possible for high school if you have to get up at 5:00 or 6:00. That means you are going to be in bed by 8:00 or 9:00. I'm not trying to be in bed by 8:00 or 9:00.
COHEN: Experts say about 80 percent of high school students are sleep deprived. So why don't they just stop playing video games and go to bed earlier? Teen sleep expert Judith Owens says don't blame the teens. She says they are biologically programmed to stay up later.
JUDITH OWENS, SLEEP EXPERT: There clearly is a shift in adolescence to a natural bedtime and wake time being two or even three hours later than it was when they were, say in elementary school.
COHEN: She wants high schools to consider starting later. She did a study at St. George's School in Rhode Island where they delayed school start time by 30 minutes. And the results were stunning. Kid were much more alert.
ERIC PETERSON, DEAN: What we learned and what we saw was so overwhelmingly positive that I think all of us were probably taken a little bit aback by that. Starting school later actually got kids to bed earlier. And we think that was in large part because, by virtue of them being better rested, they were able to be more efficient and get their work done.
COHEN: Emory University sleep expert Dr. David Schulman says starting high school before 8:30 a.m. is short changing students and endangering their overall health.
DR. DAVID SCHULMAN, EMORY UNIVERSITY: It's asking for trouble. They'll be sleep deprived and they're going to have poor academic and inter personal performance.
COHEN: Rene's parents would love it if school started later and their son could get even just a few more precious minutes of sleep.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you have more sleep, then you can be a better athlete, you can be a better student. You can do everything more productive because you are functioning better on better sleep.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: Only one in five adolescents gets nine hours of sleep a night. Experts consider that the right amount they need. But get this, nine in 10 parents think their kid is snoozing just enough.
Still ahead, the politics of anger. A Tea Party candidate mounts a surprising challenge to the most powerful Democrat in the Senate. But some say her blustery comments have gone too far. My conversation with Sharron Angle. That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: Today we begin our countdown to the midterm elections and the voter anger that could prove decisive. The Tea Party has tapped into that voter frustration but the public is largely divided on its opinion of the movement. The latest CNN polling shows 36 percent have favorable views. Only 40 percent unfavorable views and nearly one in four Americans simply - they're not sure about what to think about this movement.
And one big question facing the Tea Party is whether or not contenders who are backed by the conservative movement are too conservative to beat their democratic opponents. It's a question that has dogged Sharron Angle who is out to take down the most powerful Democrat in the Senate, Harry Reid.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need to take our government back. I say Harry Reid, you're fired.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Sharron Angle just might be the Tea Party's biggest gamble yet. A conservative former state lawmaker in Nevada and grandmother who doesn't mind popping on the back of a Harley. Angle also has a tendency to shoot from the lip.
SHARRON ANGLE, TEA PARTY NEVADA: He's been water boarding our economy for over a year now.
ACOSTA: With rhetoric like that, Angle came out of nowhere and snatched up the endorsements of Tea Party leaders, including Sarah Palin and won the Republican nomination in the race for U.S. Senate. Her next opponent, the GOP's prime target.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you like to see him go away?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Actually, I'd like to dump him.
ACOSTA: One of the most powerful Democrats in Washington, Senate majority leader Harry Reid.
(on camera): Will you be a Tea Party senator in the Senate, if you get in there?
ANGLE: I don't know exactly what that means. I'd be a mainstream senator, how's that?
ACOSTA (voice-over): But Democrats say Angle is far from mainstream, pointing to her past calls to dramatically reduce the size of the federal government by getting rid of the Departments of Education and Energy, the EPA and the IRS. She's also made some white-hot comments on talk radio.
ANGLE: But this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those second amendment remedies. They're saying, my goodness, what can we do to turn this country around. And I'll tell you, the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out. ACOSTA: What was all that about?
ANGLE: Those are not the issues that people are really concerned about. They're concerned about our homes, our economy, our jobs. That's what they're concerned about.
ACOSTA: In another interview, she agreed there are domestic enemies in the government.
BILL MANDERS, HOST: We have home-born, homegrown enemies in our system and I for one think we have some of those enemies in our own -- in the walls of the Senate and the Congress.
ANGLE: Yes, I think you're right, Bill.
ACOSTA: Do you feel there are domestic enemies in the Congress?
ANGLE: The larger focus of that conversation was what has happened domestically here in our country for the last 18 months.
ACOSTA: Do you feel that the president or Harry Reid are enemies of the state?
ANGLE: I don't think anybody mentioned any names during that conversation. And, of course, those weren't my words.
ACOSTA: Those are your (ph) policies that you're talking about.
ANGLE: Those weren't my words.
We need to phase Medicare and Social Security out.
ACOSTA: Angle's comments on Social Security now star in Reid's ads. She accuses Reid of taking her out of context.
ANGLE: As we're conversationally speaking, sometimes when you pick out words, they're not the best words that you could have used.
ACOSTA: But many in her own party worry Angle as a risky bet. A recent poll found 71 percent of Nevada Republicans prefer a different candidate. Good thing for Angle, says Las Vegas political columnist Jon Rolston, Reid is just as unpopular.
JON ROLSTON, LAS VEGAS SUN: Harry Reid is the most negatively viewed person in this state, and there is hardened opposition to him. I mean, I think that Sharron Angle could be arrested on a felony tomorrow, and she'd still get 40 percent of the vote.
ACOSTA: We also caught up with Senator Reid who stands by his ads that paint Angle as extreme.
She says that a lot of what she said was taken out of context. What is your response to that?
SEN. HARRY REID (D) MAJORITY LEADER: It's a little hard to take out of context somebody said they want to phase out Social Security, get rid of Medicare. Her words are what she is. My words are what I am. So, I don't think you can run from what you say and what you do.
ACOSTA: A political wildcard in the Tea Party's rise to power, Sharron Angle has two more months to convince voters to deal her in.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (on-camera): One person I know who is closely watching the Nevada Senate and others is our very own, Rick Sanchez. Rick has a new book out called "Conventional Idiocy." And Rick, we got it right here. I'm in Atlanta where you usually are, and you're in New York where I sometimes spend some time. And we'll talk about the book in just a moment, but this whole Tea Party phenomenon, you and I both watched this over the last 18 months since President Obama has been in office.
They're fueled by anger. A healthy dose of social media, something you know a whole lot about. What are your thoughts about the Tea Party movement and their impact on the elections this fall.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's no question that the Tea Party movement has been brilliant in its adaptation of social media. In fact, I write about that in my book. It's one of the phenomenons that we've seen coming about in politics and the merge of social media and regular media in quite a long time. What Tea Party, unfortunately, has to be careful about or those people who are true to the Tea Party's beliefs, which is a smaller government, less taxes, for example, is not to be co-opted.
And by co-opting, I mean, when you got a big group of people out there who are caring and who are motivated and who are engaged, all of a sudden, you're going to get someone as you can see in some of the interviews and some of the things that I write about in my book, people like the health care companies. Rick Scott, the interview that I did with him.
ACOSTA: Oh, yes. I remember that one.
SANCHEZ: You're going to have different organizations that are going to come in there, and they're going to say, hey, you know what, here's a great group of people. Let's use them to meet our ends rather than America's ends.
ACOSTA: Right.
SANCHEZ: That's the problem with any organization like that.
ACOSTA: And so, a big part of your book is about politics. It's about social media. I got to ask you, though, where did the title "Conventional Idiocy" come from because I saw that title and I thought, OK, there's a story behind this.
SANCHEZ: Of course, there is. You're absolutely right. The idea is, and it's quite simple, that, you know, we've always been told about what the conventions are. What we think is, you know, the conventional thinking and that word that we use in media, conventional wisdom. See, once you throw conventional wisdom out there, then everybody thinks, oh, they got to know what they're talking about. Conventional wisdom is the experts, the pundits.
ACOSTA: They're wrong a lot of times.
SANCHEZ: They're on all the time. They tell you to what the truth is. And what you find is, if you look just beneath the surface, that often times, it's not the truth. That oftentimes, it's actually idiocy. And that's why we break it down. I mean, the subheading is why the new America is sick of old politics. And what we want to do with this book is show how, if Americans -- Jim, and you know this. ACOSTA: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Americans are very engaged out there. Maybe now more than they've been in a long time, but they have a tough time finding an outlet. So, the idea is with social media, with Twitter, with Facebook, with MySpace, people are coming together, and they're calling out these politicians, and these media pundits, and these demagogues, and saying, no, you're full of it.
And they're having real conversations. People joke a lot about Twitter. One of the reasons I love Twitter is because Twitter forces you to engage in a conversation. You get 140 characters. You can't do a lot.
ACOSTA: I wanted to ask you about twitter because, I mean, Rick, you know, you are synonymous with Twitter in many ways. "Rick's List," your show, is very much about this new phenomenon, this amazing website that everybody is addicted to now. I'm just starting to get addicted to it. And, you know, my producer tells me sometimes you got to get off of that thing.
How did you get to embrace Twitter? I mean, when did that idea pop into your head, ah-ha, I got to do something with this. This has got some legs.
SANCHEZ: It works for me, by the way, because -- and I write about this in my book, you know, look, I didn't grow up as a northeast establishment guy. I'm -- look.
ACOSTA: You're born in Cuba.
SANCHEZ: I grew up poor. I'll be honest with you. I was born in Cuba. I'm an immigrant. I'm a refugee. I failed first grade. My teachers thought I was mentally retarded. Who knows? Sometimes, my wife thinks they're right. I mean, all this stuff has been written and said about me in -- so I relate, Jim, in many ways. I relate in many ways to average people more than I do people who are powerful or famous or rich, et cetera.
So, social media fit me when I started reaching out and talking to people. And what I found is that I was able to connect to people out there and what it gave me was empowerment. I mean, I have 140,000 people who are my editors who tell me when I'm right, who tell me when I'm wrong, who tell me when something is working for me. I mean, it's quite a fun ride.
And I think, in the end, I dedicate this book to the people on social media because I think if we connect, we can change the world.
ACOSTA: Wow. Well, Rick Sanchez, host of "Rick's List" and author of the new book "Conventional Idiocy." I love the title of that book. And it's the kind of title that's just going to grab people's attention when they go through the bookstore, and especially with summer winding down, they might be able to squeeze in one more book. So, check it out. Appreciate your time, Rick.
SANCHEZ: Hey, my pleasure. My pleasure. It's a fun book. I had a good time doing it. It's a combination of my personal experiences, and like I said, there's some really interesting stuff to go through in there, and then the politics and then the social media, but all three work out very well. Thanks, Jim.
ACOSTA: Hell of a life story. Great job, Rick. Appreciate it. Thank you so much.
And speaking of the web, we've been talking about the web in the last minutes with Rick. Well, this is a totally different subject. The world wide web is now shrinking for people looking for sex online. We're talking about Craigslist and some changes being made there. We're going to be back in just a quick minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: Checking top stories now. Officials in Chile say they will drill -- they will set up an oil drill as a third option to rescue those 33 miners who have been trapped underground for a month now. This plan could be the fastest of the three rescue options.
Hartz has issued a voluntarily recall of nearly 75,000 bags of dog treats. The FDA found salmonella in some of the samples.
And Craigslist has closed down its adult services section. Critics called it an easy way to access online prostitution ads. Seventeen attorneys general urged Craigslist to stop the service. They also claimed and encouraged human trafficking and assaults on women.
And Washington is looking at a different way to fight crime. The weapon is noise. It is stirring up some criticism, though. And we'll have more on that in just a few moments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: Time now for a CNN equals politics update. It's 57 days until Americans vote in the midterm elections. And the financial worries of Americans are showing up in the latest CNN Opinion Research Poll. 8 in 10 Americans feel economic conditions right now are poor.
44 percent of the poll respondents blame Republicans for the economic mess, 35 percent say Democratic policies got us to this point, and 16 percent blame both parties equally. And let's look behind the numbers. CNN deputy political director, Paul Steinhauser, joins us from the CNN Election Express in Pittsburgh. It's getting crowded in that bus, Paul. You and T.J., Jessica, and Gloria. PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: And then, I got to get out of here in a few minutes, Jim. There's going to be way too many big names. I'm getting out of here.
ACOSTA: That's right.
STEINHAUSER: Seriously, no.
ACOSTA: Hope you brought snacks.
STEINHAUSER: Hey, you were just talking about our poll and brand new on the ticker this morning. Let's dig a little deeper. Earlier this hour, you were talking about that overall number in the battle for Congress. The so-called generic ballot. The Republicans had a seven-point advantage. That's up from four points from just last month, but let's dig deeper. Take a look at this, Jim. Just independents alone.
Independent voters and where they stand. And right now, our new poll indicates that independents are swinging for Republicans by a 32- point advantage over Democrats.
ACOSTA: Wow.
STEINHAUSER: That's a 24-point jump, Jim, from just last month. And why do independents matter, because they're the ones in the middle. They're the voters in the middle that can swing either way. And in the last two elections, they swung for the Democrats. If they swing for the Republicans this time, that's trouble for Democrats, Jim
ACOSTA: It is trouble for Democrats, but I'm also struck by this poll number. And to me, it may be the most important poll number in the entire poll. I mean, it's just my opinion, but the fact that Americans, according to this new poll, blame the Republicans for economic conditions more so than Democrats and President Obama and the Democrats have controlled Washington for 18 months now.
STEINHAUSER: Yes, they control the White House. They control Congress. We are seeing some deterioration on the number, but people still blame the Republicans more than Democrats. I guess, obviously, the recession started under President Bush, but, you know, the flip side to that is as well, it's not like they think the Democrats are doing any better job on the economy right now than the Republicans would, Jim.
Interesting stuff. And the economy is still crucial today. I mean, today, Joe Biden, the vice president, is going to be right next door, the neighboring state from here, Ohio. And he's going to be talking at a labor group about the economy and why does Ohio matter? There's a lot of policy there, but there's politics as well.
Ohio got a high unemployment rate, and there are a lot of seats in the House, and the governorship the Democrats are trying to hold on to, Jim.
ACOSTA: And Pennsylvania is important state where you are right now. Not only do you have the Joe Sestak/Pat Toomey to fill Arlen Specter seat which is a crucial race for the Democrats to hang on to the Senate, but you individual House races which could potentially help the Republicans swing the House to their side.
STEINHAUSER: Oh, yes. There's about four or five seats here the Republicans think they can win back. You know what, our Dana Bash, our senior congressional correspondent, and Jessica Yellin, our national political correspondent, both out covering races here in this state. You're going to hear a lot more about that today on the ticker and also right here on CNN.
ACOSTA: And speaking of all that anger out there and people blaming both sides, both Republicans and Democrats, I was also struck by the poll number that you got on the Tea Party movement. I noticed that at the very bottom of some of the poll numbers there that Americans have a slightly more unfavorable view of the Tea Party movement than they did earlier this year and way more unfavorable than they did say, eight months ago. That is interesting.
STEINHAUSER: It is. You've seen a jump there. You know, among Republicans, the Tea Party movement is very, very favorable, but among the total electorate, not nearly as much. One reason, may be, this is just a guess (ph), the Tea Party movement has really been getting involved in politics in primary politics. And that may be turn something people off, Jim. Maybe.
ACOSTA: Right. And as you've noted and as we've noted, many Tea Party candidates out there are Republican, if not all Tea Party candidates out there are Republican. So, like you said, there may be some Democrats. Some democratic leaning independents who are saying, OK, if that's what it's about, I'm going to be against the Tea Party. But great stuff in that poll this morning.
Lots of news there. And of course, you'll be following it. Our whole political team will be following it for the next couple of months. So, it's going to be busy times ahead. Thanks, Paul. Appreciate it.
STEINHAUSER: Thanks, Jim.
ACOSTA: Take a listen. This could be the new tool for the law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA (voice-over): Doesn't sound like much. I can barely hear it. And that's probably -- there's a reason why. It has a lot to do with the gray hairs on my head, but if you're under 25 years old, this annoying noise can drive you crazy. Some officers hope it will be a good crime deterrent. And we'll explain what all of this means coming up in just a few moments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: Today, we are changing up our home and away segment. Kyra is going to show you how easy it is to honor a fallen hero.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Every day in our newscast, we honor our fallen heroes from Iraq and Afghanistan. And we do it by partnering with CNN.com. Matter of fact, we're in their newsroom today, and it's called "Home and Away." You're probably familiar with it. And Katie Hawkins-Gaar is one of the CNN.comers who got involved in putting this all together. Why did you, guys, want to do this "Home and Away" project?
KATIE HAWKINS-GAAR, CNN IREPORT PRODUCER: Well, about six years ago, we started collecting the names and photos of troops that have fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan. And as the list continued to grow, we knew we wanted to create a place where we could have all these names of the fallen soldiers and also a place where loved ones could share their tributes. And that's how "Home and Away" was created.
PHILLIPS: And the stories are so emotional. I mean, what people write in, loved ones and friends and comrades.
HAWKINS-GAAR: Exactly. It's been amazing. We've had such a good reaction to this project and every story you see, whether it's from a daughter or an old college roommate or even somebody in the town who never even met this soldier. Each story is different. And our ultimate goal is to get a story for every single soldier.
PHILLIPS: Oh, my gosh. That would be thousands.
HAWKINS-GAAR: Yes, it would.
PHILLIPS: That's our goal, too. So, let's show our viewers how easy it is, OK, to logon and submit a way to honor a hero.
HAWKINS-GAAR: First, you just go to CNN.com/homeandaway. And you're taken here to the main page. You got two tabs here. Afghanistan and Iraq. And if you're looking for a soldier who died in either of these countries, you just search for their name. Let's see. Their profile will pop up ,and there's a place where you can share memories and messages.
In this case, this is a soldier that doesn't have any memories or messages. I'm sure he has family members out there who just don't know about this project yet.
PHILLIPS: Wow. So, the names and the pictures are in there.
HAWKINS-GAAR: Exactly.
PHILLIPS: And you can just go in and add comments.
HAWKINS-GAAR: Right. So, you just click this button. Share memories with iReport.
PHILLIPS: OK.
HAWKINS-GAAR: And you can share photos and videos here or you can just share a comment, a memory about this soldier. PHILLIPS: Wow.
HAWKINS-GAAR: It's really easy and then it will show up on that page.
PHILLIPS: And what kind of response do you get from spouses, parents, friends, because they always follow-up with us and say, wow, it meant so much to see them highlighted on CNN.
HAWKINS-GAAR: Exactly. They're just grateful to have a place where they can share their memories and that their loved ones will be remembered forever.
PHILLIPS: That's great. Katie, thank you so much.
HAWKINS-GAAR: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: So, once again, we want to ask all of you just to logon to CNN.com/homeandaway and tell us about your hero, and we promise to keep their memory alive.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: A busy Washington, D.C., mall has a noisy new device to chase away loiters, but critics say it unfairly targets young people. CNNs Brian Todd reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This section of Washington, D.C. called Gallery Place is very popular place among young people because of all the trendy bars and restaurants like these down here, but there's also been a problem recently with loiters and property managers have complained about that. A couple of weeks ago, there was a huge street brawl that took place.
We're told that it started down here in this metro station and kind of spilled over on to the streets. Since that time, property managers around here have installed this device up on the wall. It's called the mosquito. It emits a high-pitched sound designed to keep loiters away, but the question is, does it unfairly target young people?
TODD (voice-over): It can cause a high pitched headache and that's by design. Just outside the Gallery Place subway stop in Washington, the mosquito beeps often. But is it indiscriminate? This anti-loitering device was placed here after a big street brawl. But the property managers and the mosquitoes' distributor both tell CNN, the noisemaker doesn't target young people.
Still, the distributor says teenagers happen to do the most loitering. And he says the sound is most effective for the stage of life when humans can hear the highest pitches. MIKE GIBSON, MOVING SOUND TECHNOLOGIES: The mosquito when activated emits a sound at 17.5 kilohertz which is at the high end of the youth hearing range, 13 to 25-year-old hearing range. When a youth hears the sound, they find it extremely annoying and will leave the area in a few minutes.
TODD: At Gallery Place, we saw some young people getting irritated.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: can you hear it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Probably wouldn't shop at any of these shops if I heard it again.
TODD: Why not?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's too annoying. It gave me a headache.
TODD: There are settings on the mosquito that can be heard by older age groups. I played the sound off a computer in our newsroom near several people in their 20s, 30s and older. I didn't tip them off beforehand. On settings for people 25, 30, 35 and younger, no one reacted. Then --
TODD (on-camera): We're going to play a setting now for people 50 years old and under.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, I heard that.
TODD: I can hear that, too.
TODD (voice-over): Still, some believe this device does target teenagers unfairly.
TODD (on-camera): Among the community leaders who have concerns about this device, Judith Sandalow of the Children's Law Center here in the Gallery Place area. Judith, if there are problems with violence and loiterers driving away customers from businesses that count on that business in this area, wouldn't any little thing like this help?
JUDITH SANDALOW, CHILDREN'S LAW CENTER: I'm sympathetic to businesses needing to be able to engage the most customers in the best possible way. I'm sympathetic to that. This isn't the best solution. We need to have better programs for youth. We need to engage them in activities.
TODD: Believe it or not, young people have been able to use this device to their advantage. We're told by the distributor that that high-pitched noise that this thing makes has actually made its way on to the internet. He says that young people have been able to download that sound on to their cell phones as ring tones so that when their cell phones ring, they can hear the sound, but their parents and their teachers cannot.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE)
