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New Signs of Hope for Economic Growth; Mr. Fix-It of Auto World Makes Suggestions; Rick Sanchez Answers Critics; A Flexible Flat; Iowa Politics Heating Up; Video Games Changed the World; Playstation Turns 15; The Future of Video Games
Aired September 09, 2010 - 12:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Ali Velshi. I'm going to be -- think about me as your guide through the forest of news that we have to cut through today. We're mapping out some important information for today and that can help you tomorrow. Breaking down ideas, seeking out innovation. I'm going to give you some access and understanding to some of the things that we have to contend with. And here's what I've got on the rundown.
He has been called the Mr. Fix-it of the auto industry. He's practically considered a superhero in Japan. He's been asked to run major American car makers and he keeps saying no. You say you've never heard ever Carlos Ghosn? You will today.
Plus, the CNN Election Express rolls on. Today we're taking to you -- we're taking you to a battlefield state that suddenly turned blue, could turn red again.
Also, from Pong to PlayStation, we're taking on a virtually historic tour of the video game industry and we're going to do some gaming ourselves.
But first, I want to talk to you about the economy. It has been the subject of discussion all week. It's what the president has been talking about every single day this week. It's what his critics have been holding him responsible for.
We know that you think of the economy as issue number one. But I've got some news for you that I just want to add into the mix. It's not all as bad as everyone is saying it is. Let me just tell you what we've got today.
Every week we get new numbers for the number of people who claimed first-time unemployment benefits the previous week. And this week's number is lower than it was expected to be. It's also the lowest we've seen since July, which is a relief because that number has been ticking up.
And 451,000 people claimed for unemployment benefits for the first time last week. They went online or they called an unemployment office or they went to one. That's still high. I would love it if it were 300,000. If it were 400,000, we'd still be OK. But it is lower.
There's another big piece of information. You will hear people refer to this all the time, our trade deficit. The difference between what --
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Ali Velshi.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Loved that watermelon thing you do. I love, Tony, that once in a while we can actually just get away from the news --
HARRIS: Yes..
VELSHI: -- for a second. Good after -- good to see you. Have yourself a good afternoon, Tony Harris.
I'm Ali Velshi. I'm going to be -- think of me as your guide through the forest of news that we have to cut through today. We're mapping out some important information for today and that can help you tomorrow. Breaking down ideas, seeking out innovation. I'm going to give you some access and understanding to some of the things that we have to contend with. Here's what I've got on the rundown.
He has been called the Mr. Fixit of the auto industry. He's practically considered a superhero in Japan. He's been asked to run major American car makers, and he keeps saying no. You say you've never heard ever Carlos Ghosn? You will today.
Plus, the CNN Election Express rolls on. Today, we're talking to you -- or we're taking you to a battleground state that's suddenly turned blue, could turn red again.
Also, from Pong to PlayStation, we're taking you on a virtually historic tour of the video game industry, and we're going to do some gaming ourselves.
But first I want to talk to you about the economy. It has been the subject of discussion all week. It's what the president has been talking about every single day this week. It's what his critics have been holding him responsible for.
We know that you think of the economy as issue No. 1. But I've got some news for you that I just want to add into the mix. It's not all as bad as everyone is saying it is.
Let me tell you what we've got today. Every week we get new numbers for the number of people who claimed first-time unemployment benefits the previous week. And this week's number is lower than it was expected to be. It's also the lowest we've seen since July, which is a relief, because that number has been ticking up.
Four hundred and fifty-one thousand people claimed for unemployment benefits for the first time last week. They went online, or they called an unemployment office, or they went to one. That's still high. I would love it if it were 300,000, if it were 400,000, we'd still be OK. But it is lower. There's another big piece of information. You will hear people to refer to this all the time. Our trade deficit: the difference between what we import, what we buy from other countries and what we export. Obviously, we import a lot more than we export.
Well, the U.S. trade deficit dropped sharply last month, again, unexpectedly, due largely to the fact that we are exporting record numbers of goods. And I'm going to tell you about that in a second. So these are two very, very important parts of our economy which indicate, well, maybe things aren't all that bad. Maybe people aren't -- things aren't as bad as some people will have you believe.
Now I want to tell you about four bright spots in the economy right now. One of them, I said we're exporting a lot. One of the things we're exporting a lot of are farming products, things that we farm here in America. And largely that's because there are developing economies like Brazil and China, who are buying more of what we export. In fact, China is set now to become the second-biggest buyer of things that are produced on American farms. The biggest buyer, for your information, is Canada.
No. 2, mergers and acquisitions, we've been talking about this. You may have heard about it. We don't talk about it all that much on CNN. But companies are buying more goods. They're buying more other companies, in fact. So that's an important development. That's always a sign that some people think that companies are trading for less money than they're worth. So that's always a good sign.
I also want to show you about manufacturing. Well, you know, we keep on talking about the fact that manufacturing is down in America. But the fact is, in the last month, manufacturing was actually up. Manufacturing jobs were not up. We keep losing manufacturing jobs. But we actually hired more manufacturing temporary workers in August.
So something is going on in the manufacturing industry. I can't quite put my finger on it. But something's happening there.
And then I want to tell you about automobiles. We have had a rough month in automobiles in the last month or so. But the fact is Detroit, which was supposed to have fallen off a cliff a year and a half ago, is sort of back in business. The reality is we are selling cars. They are introducing newer models. Things that are more competitive in this high gas price environment market. There seem to be glimmers of hope in the car industry.
And very shortly I'm going to talk to a very important man in the car industry, Carlos Ghosn. He's the head of Renault and the head of Nissan. And a new book coming out by the -- by President Obama's former auto czar says that he was asked to come to the United States and run GM. He said no. I'm going to ask him why he did that in just a few minutes.
Now, I also want to tell you about something that's not so good. One of the things about doing business in America is that we are thought to be one of the most competitive economies in the entire world. That is changing. According to the World Economic Forum, the United States has actually slipped in competitiveness. I'll tell you -- let me show you the top five countries right now.
The No. 1 country for competitiveness is actually Switzerland right now. It moved up. Well, it was -- it's actually No. 1 for the second year in a row. No. 2 is Sweden, and they moved up. They were in the No. 4 spot last year. They've moved up. Singapore is No. 3. That's the same as they were last year. But the United States now No. 4. We were the second-most competitive country in the world last year. Now we're the fourth.
I want to tell you a little bit more about this. Let's -- Germany is No. 5, by the way. Let's take a look at other countries in the world. The United Kingdom is No. 12 in competitiveness. China, by the way, is No. 27. India is No. 51. It's actually slipped a little bit.
What do we use to measure competitiveness? A lot of things. No. 1, debt and deficit. Interest rates, access to money, things like that. In the United States, one of the biggest concerns is not just the lingering public debt and deficit but the state of the financial markets that are not yet fully stabilized.
The other thing -- this is interesting -- all of our political bickering is actually costing us. The World Economic Forum cited the weakening of public and private institutions, i.e., the public's lack of faith in politicians. This is important, because as you try and attract companies to come to your country, open factories, open businesses and employ people, if you are not seen as competitive, well, you're competing with those people who might be seen as more competitive than you are. In this case, other countries, so that is very, very important to our economy.
So the U.S. -- right now benefitting on some fronts. Some parts of the economy are doing OK. But one of the biggest concerns from a higher level is how competitive we are. And it does appear that we are losing ground in terms of competitiveness in America.
OK, I want to take you now to Dallas, one torn-up town and one -- one very lucky truck driver. Tornadoes hit the silly -- city yesterday, forcing the trucker's semi into a brick building and causing it to collapse onto his cab, the building. Here's today's "Sound Effect."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RONNIE MILLER, INJURED TRUCK DRIVER: Yes, I'm OK. I'm OK. OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You say you're all right? You need help?
MILLER: Yes, I'm going to need some help.
BRYAN BURNES, HELPED RESCUE DRIVER: I stopped to see if there was anybody hurt. And that guy over there was pinned inside that truck. And me and some other people pulled the door open to get him out. That was the building. That was it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you doing? You all right?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Now, he's obviously shaken up, but he wasn't seriously hurt.
Bryan Burnes, the man who came to his rescue, says he used a crow bar to help get Miller out of the truck. He says other people also helped.
And here's a look at the menacing storm as it raced through. Forecasters say Tropical Depression Hermine spawned these twisters. Other than Miller there are no reports of any injuries. But look at that. That's pretty impressive.
Well, a warning from Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. He says canceling plans to build an Islamic center with a mosque in it near Ground Zero would actually put the nation's security at risk. The imam spoke out on CNN for the first time. You'll hear from him on the other side.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: The controversy about the Islamic center near Ground Zero has centered around a man who proposed the idea, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who has been out of the country for several weeks while all of this has been going on. Well, he returned, and he talked first -- for the first time on TV with CNN's Soledad O'Brien. He did that last night.
He said that, if he had been able to think about when would have happened, the reaction this would have all generated, he might not have made the decision to want to develop the mosque where he did. But now that all of the outcry has showed itself, he says it's got to stay where it is. Here's why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IMAM FEISAL ABDUL RAUF, CORDOBA INSTITUTE: If we moved from that location, the story will be that the radicals have taken over the discourse. The headlines in the Muslim world will be that Islam is under attack.
And I'm less concerned about the radicals in America than I'm concerned about the radicals in the Muslim world. The danger from the radicals in the Muslim world to our national security, to the national security of our troops, the concern for American citizens who live and work and travel overseas will increasingly be compromised if the radicals are strengthened.
And if we do move, it will strengthen the argument of the radicals to recruit, their ability to recruit, and their increasing aggression and violence against our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VELSHI: So aggression and violence against our country, referring to terrorism, fears of terrorism as we come up on the ninth anniversary of September 11. Obviously, fears of terrorism are figuring very prominently in all of our discourse.
In about an hour I'm going to release a new poll that CNN and the Opinion Research Corporation have -- have put together. It's going to tell you about how you feel about the fear of terrorism.
Changing subjects for a second, imagine running different companies on different continents or being asked to be the president -- by the president of the United States to heal a sickly auto giant. You're going to meet the Mr. Fix-it of the auto industry. I want to find out what he thinks the fix is now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: In a soon-to-be published book, President Obama's former auto czar, Steven Ratner, confirms that he asked Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of both Renault and Nissan, to leave those automakers to run the ailing General Motors.
Ghosn, he says, not only declined but actually resurrected an old suggestion that General Motors become part of the Renault-Nissan alliance.
Now, what part of the story is more puzzling to you? That the U.S. needed a Brazilian-born, Lebanese-raised head of a Japanese- French auto alliance to save GM? Or that Carlos Ghosn turned the offer down, suggesting instead that GM be merged into the Renault- Nissan empire?
Well, if you know Carlos Ghosn, and I do, none of that is all that surprising.
Despite recent struggles with his companies, Carlos Zone -- Ghosn remains the wunderkind of the auto world. He's the head of Renault- Nissan, an alliance of two large automakers in two different continents. In recent years, he's been approached to run Ford, Chrysler, even Fiat. But he has shunned those offers, preferring to stay focused on the system that he built at Renault-Nissan.
So if he is so smart, what does he say the solution is for today's global auto industry? Let's ask him directly. Carlos Ghosn joins me now from Amsterdam.
Carlos, thank you for being with us. Good to see you again. Let me start with the obvious question: if this is true, what Steven Ratner says in his book -- first of all, is it true? And if it is, why did you say no?
CARLOS GHOSN, CEO, RENAULT-NISSAN: It is true. Well, first I proposed again what I believe in, that General Motors should join the alliance and share with the synergies that could develop. And he said that he would not -- he would not see this happening. But on the contrary, he proposed for me to take the job as CEO of General Motors, and I declined.
And I declined for a very simple reason. As you know, at that moment, and we're still are in one of the worst downturns that the auto industry has faced in history. And I felt that, you know, I can't quit. I am responsible for Nissan and Renault and, particularly, whenever you are in the middle of a storm, you are in charge; you have to deliver. You have to get the company out of the storm. So it was not the time to leave my present responsibilities.
VELSHI: Americans will remember back a few years ago, before the worst of what hit the auto industry happened, Kirk Krekorian had recommended that GE -- GM bring you in. You've sort of been on this for a while. The idea that you liked an American partner in this whole thing.
Now, you run two car companies on two different continents. I don't even want to begin to know what your schedule is like. What would this do for Renault and Nissan? What would it do for an American automaker to be part of this worldwide alliance?
GHOSN: You know, when we made a study with General Motors between Renault and Nissan and General Motors in 2006, and we were just analyzing to see what was on the table for us, if we were to join forces, you know, the amount of synergies that we were able to identify was really colossal. It was colossal. Obviously, it was a challenge to make them happen, respecting the autonomy and, you know, differentiation between each company.
But this was -- this was really the motivation for us, is to be able, each one being in its own turf, to add to the profit and add to the competitiveness of each company.
VELSHI: OK. Do you -- the government said no to that, and I don't know whether that was because of the times we were in or, as Steven Ratner says in his book, there was too much overlap. So do you think that can still work?
GHOSN: No, I don't think -- I don't think anything like this can work unless there is a mutual appetite. You know, I don't believe in mergers; I believe more in alliances. And for alliances to work, you need to have people from both sides convinced that this is the right thing to do. As long as one of the partners is not convinced, it's going to stop there.
VELSHI: Tell me what you think, then. Because you' have been invited in the past to join Ford and run it. You've been invited to join Chrysler. Now Chrysler is owned by Fiat. You've been invited to join that. And now you -- we find out you were invited to join and run General Motors. What is the state of the auto industry in the United States?
GHOSN: Well, I think -- I think it's recovering, slowly but surely. I think we are much better today than we were, obviously, two years, two years ago. But the recovery is not as strong as we would like it to be. But I think it's steadily getting there. I think this year we're going to -- the industry is going to be around 11.5 million cars, so it's up compared to last year. And I think 2011 will see another -- another year of growth. So I'm reasonably optimistic on the fact that we're getting out of the crisis.
VELSHI: Let's talk about the Leaf, because we're expecting to see this now, end of this year, beginning of next year. Do you think this is a real corner that we're turning, with the Leaf and the Chevy Volt, into electric cars? Do you think that we're going to be in a world a few years down the road where there's a mass market for electric cars and everybody is driving them and plugging them in wherever we go?
GHOSN: I think it's going to take a long time, Ali. I think, you know, our forecast is that in ten years, 10 percent of the total sales globally will be made by zero-emission cars, which are -- which are electric car for the moment. Because it's requires a lot of investment. The technology is going to have to continue to develop a lot.
But there is today a very strong spontaneous demand for the electric car.
We're going to start to mass-market the Leaf in December in the United States and in Japan. We have already a lot of hand-raisers who are very optimistic. But it's going to be a long road for this technology to be a dominant technology. I think we're talking about 20 or 30 years.
VELSHI: Let's -- let's try and get one down here to Atlanta. I'd like to drive one around and try it out.
Listen, you have a remarkable advantage, having been born in Brazil, working in Asia for much of your time. These are -- the U.S. remains the dominant automobile marketplace in the world, but it is not the fastest-growing marketplace in the world. I know you just signed an agreement to build a car, a specific Chinese brand of car, a joint venture in China.
Tell me where this auto industry is going and how that is going to affect my viewers now, Americans, in terms of the design and the price and the type of cars they drive.
GHOSN: Well I think the U.S. is going to remain a very important market for all car makers, even though, you know, emerging markets are going to be the main engine of growth, particularly China. But not only China; you can add India and Brazil and Russia.
But the U.S. is still going to be a very important force for us, which means that when we will design cars, we will still take mainly into consideration, what the U.S. consumer wants and what are the important features for the U.S. consumer.
Now the difference with the past is before, you know, we were taking many considerations, the U.S. consumer, the Japanese consumer, the European consumer. Now we have to take into consideration the Chinese consumer, who is really one of the dominant forces of the industry. China became the largest market in the world last year. And I think this is going to continue to be the case for the years -- for the years to come.
VELSHI: I'm going to get you back sometime, and we're going to have a conversation on how to get job offers, because there's always rumors surrounding you. The latest rumor is that Tata Group of India, which owns Land Rover and Jaguar, and inexpensive cars, wants you to come and run Tata Group. Is that true?
GHOSN: No, I think this is speculation, Ali. This one is not -- is not true. But you know, as long as the successor or the so-called successor of Tata has not been designated, I'm expecting a lot of rumors to fly around this.
VELSHI: Very good. Good to talk to you. We look forward to seeing you again. Maybe we'll see you in Detroit for the auto show, and we can take a spin around in a Leaf when you're in the United States.
GHOSN: Exactly. Thank you, Ali.
VELSHI: All right. Good to see you. Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Renault and Nissan.
Well, "RICK'S LIST" is a little over 90 minutes away. But the host of that show, Rick Sanchez, joining us a little early today to share some of his favorite stories. Straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Folks, I want to bring you up to speed with the news we're just getting in right now. The U.S. State Department is issuing a travel alert to caution U.S. citizens of the potential for anti-U.S. demonstrations in many countries in response to stated plans by a church in Florida to burn Korans on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks.
"Demonstrations" -- I'm just reading this from the State Department. Demonstrations, some violent, have already taken place in several countries, including Afghanistan and Indonesia in response to media reports of the church's plans. The potential for further protests and demonstrations, some of which may turn violent, remains high. They are urging travelers to pay attention to local reaction on the situation and to avoid areas where demonstrations may take place.
So the U.S. State Department is issuing a travel alert. There's several levels. We'll talk about this with -- with one of our reporters shortly. There's several levels of warnings from the State Department. This is not the highest level. It's an alert to say that, if this Koran-burning goes ahead on Saturday as planned, and as Pastor Terry Jones says it will, this may affect Americans traveling overseas.
We will continue to bring you more information on this as it develops.
All right. I want to talk to my good friend, Rick Sanchez, who takes over for me every day in this spot when he does RICK'S LIST. He's coming out with a brand new book. It's called "Conventional Idiocy: Why the New America is Sick of Old Politics." He joins me now from New York. We talked several times this week.
Rick, it is a great read. I loved it. Not just because of the insights that you have in there, but because it tells bits about your perspective on things that have happened to you. And one of the things that happens to you a lot is you get into it with -- with other people, sometimes other broadcasters and at other networks. They -- they hone in on you like a target.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Why are you so afraid to say FOX News, Ali?
VELSHI: Well, I was sort of thinking about them.
SANCHEZ: It's kind of where you were -- where you were going, right?
VELSHI: Yes. FOX News and particularly Bill O'Reilly.
SANCHEZ: Sometimes -- sometimes people in the business, you know, even our own industry, need to be called out, as well. I mean, look, if you're wrong, you're wrong. That's just the way it's got to be.
I mean, if FOX News goes on the air and says CNN didn't cover that event, well, it's my job to go on the air and say, "Well, wait a minute, folks. You know what? We did cover that event." And if they say we're not covering that event, that's a lie.
You know, just like the Shirley Sherrod incident recently, we had to set that straight. Not because, you know, we're any great shakes. You did some of those interviews. I did the interview with the two old southern farmers who came on my air and said, "You know what? Shirley Sherrod is a good woman, and she's not a racist." And you know, between Andrew Breitbart and FOX News that co-opted Andrew Breitbart's story and put it on the air, FOX News --
VELSHI: And let's just be fair, since we're not going to be afraid to say things. It was Andrew Breitbart's very incomplete story about Shirley Sherrod.
SANCHEZ: Andrew Breitbart's story made a woman who was trying to make a point that she was not a bigot and not a racist look like a bigot and a racist.
VELSHI: Right, right.
SANCHEZ: I mean, that's -- that's to a certain extent -- I mean, well, it's an injustice that's being done to a good woman.
VELSHI: At what point -- SANCHEZ: And Breitbart did that. And to be clear, because they've said, "No, no, we had nothing -- no, no, no," you did. As soon as Breitbart put it on his Web site, FOX News put it on their Web site.
VELSHI: Tell me what goes through your head.
SANCHEZ: So they're disseminating that message.
VELSHI: When you're deciding, I mean, because it's an obvious decision some days to be FOX's fact-checker.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
VELSHI: What -- what raises it -- what raises it to the level that you have to then get involved and call somebody else out on something you think isn't true? Because clearly, there are all sorts of people in the media saying things all the time, some of which are just not true.
SANCHEZ: Yes. A lot of people saying things about me. A lot of people saying things about you. As a matter of fact, if you're going to work in this business and you don't want to be blogged about or talked about, that's almost like saying, "I want to go in the ocean, but I don't want to get wet." Guess what? It's going to happen. So you might as well just -- as I say -- as my mother used to say (SPEAKING SPANISH). Once you get any kind of fame, you might as well go to sleep, because it's all going to happen around you.
The point is this, Ali. When -- when the threshold is that they're saying something about you as an institution, when they're saying something about CNN, the network where I work, where I -- that I love and that I think is certainly one of the most important networks in the world, and they're going out there and saying, "They're irresponsible because they didn't cover that story," and I go in our files and I say, "Wait, we covered it 25 times. How can you say that?"
But when you take an ad in a newspaper and say that we didn't cover the Tea Party in Washington, and then I look at the files, and I meet with some of our own researchers at CNN and say, "Am I crazy? But I think we covered that story."
And they go, "Yes, we covered it 25 to 30 times, and here's the video," well, then, that's speaking truth.
And when a woman like Shirley Sherrod is besmirched, a good woman, and we have an opportunity as a news organization to speak truth, then that's our responsibility, as well. And those -- those are the types of things that we've done. And that's what I detail. I mean that's what I talk about.
VELSHI: So what would you do? If you ran into Bill O'Reilly now, what would you say to him? I mean, do you respect what he does as a journalist, a very successful one? Or would you tell him, "Stop lying about us"? SANCHEZ: Well, look, I think -- I think Bill O'Reilly is very talented guy. And I think he's a very smart guy, and I give him credit for being a journalist first. And he's decided that he's going to aim his show to a certain demographic, which is fine.
The only problem, and again stuff that comes out in the book is it's OK to aim your message to a certain audience. But when you're aiming your message to a certain audience at the expense of another audience, in other words, you know, Ali, it's like if you and I could do this in our neighborhood right now. I could back to my neighborhood and find one person in my -- at the end of the block, the lady at the end of the block. You know what? We've all got to watch out for her, because she's such-and-such.
VELSHI: Right.
SANCHEZ: Or I saw her do this. And before you know it I'm a hero, because I'm getting everybody against this one lady. But that lady may really have not done anything wrong.
VELSHI: Right.
SANCHEZ: This -- this coalescing of forces by splitting people demographically, I think, is not a good trend.
As a matter of fact I write about two things in my book when it comes to our profession, something that you and I talk about all the time. We don't, we don't, we're not perfect at this. I mess up as much as the next guy, so do you, so do all of us, but there's a certain demagoguery that goes out there, the screaming machine in some parts of our media, that are just a bit obsessive and over the top.
Just like there are some of us in this profession that are, what I call mainstream milquetoasts, you know. They're just asking questions and they're afraid to say the stuff that's very important. Like they've got a guest on and the guest is saying it's raining outside and then they get somebody else to say it's not raining outside. Well all you've got to do is stick your head and look out the window and you're going to know if it's raining or not. You don't need two guests to tell you that, you know?
VELSHI: You're very good at being very direct, and it's in here and it's been a great read to me and people will understand you better if they read this. I hope they do. Rick, great work on this. Thank you so much.
SANCHEZ: Thanks, Ali.
VELSHI: "Conventional Idiocy: Why the New America is Sick of Old Politics" by my friend, Rick Sanchez.
All right it is blue versus red as we get closer to the November elections. T.J. Holmes is in a state that's not quite sure which way it's leaning. We're in Indiana with the CNN Election Express coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: OK, get this -- a home with moving walls and hidden rooms. In the future, that could be the new normal. Anjali Rao has this story in "The Edge of Discovery."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANJALI RAO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hong Kong is among the most densely-populated places on Earth, with seven million people sharing just 1,100 square kilometers of land. Sure, there are ways to make less look like more, but Hong Kong architect Gary Chang has gone one better.
(on camera): So this is 330 and --
GARY CHANG, ARCHITECT: Fifty, sixty square feet.
RAO: Square feet. And it turns into how many rooms?
CHANG: Roughly, at least 20.
RAO (voice-over): Twenty rooms in that tiny space? How is that possible, you may ask.
CHANG: Instead of me moving from one room to the other, in this home, the space changes for me.
RAO (on camera): Behold, the kitchen.
CHANG: And this is the mini bar.
RAO (voice-over): Nothing goes to waste here. A few more wall shifts reveal the master bedroom, the office, the laundry area, a spa- themed bathroom, guest accommodation and more.
There's even a mini movie theater. Hong Kong's biggest little home even works as a party pad. Gary once entertained 20 friends here. He admits that when guests wanted to have private phone conversations, well, they had to do it in the shower, but it seems a small price to pay for all that space.
Anjali Rao, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: With just 54 days to go before the elections, the CNN Election Express is on the road again listening to your concerns about politics and, of course, the economy, which is the biggest issue to most people in this country. Today's stop is Indianapolis, CNN's T.J. Holmes joins us live from there.
T.J., Indianapolis, Indiana, place in 2008, then presidential- candidate Obama turned things around. No democrat in 40 years had done that until that night. What's it looking like now?
T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you think? So teeing that up for me perfectly. Let's roll the video we have of the moment you were talking about.
He came here two weeks, Ali, before election day. A lot of people thought that was nuts. They're like, does he know what goes on in Indiana? They haven't voted for a democrat in this state in the last 40-something years, as you mentioned there, Ali. So why is he here?
Well, he must have known something was up, because he ended up winning this state by one percentage point and doing something that no democrat had done in some 44 years.
You see that rally. It was taking place there, actually where I'm standing here today at this big mall here in downtown Indianapolis.
Well, things have changed here a bit. They're thinking maybe this state could go back a little red here in the midterms. You've got nine congressional districts, five of them held by Democrats, but two or three are considered to be in play for Republicans.
But you also have a Senate seat that could change hands as well. Because Evan Bayh, the democrat, he decided he wasn't going to seek reelection. So you have another democrat, Brad Ellsworth, who, Ali, according to all polls that have been out publically, he's down by 20 percentage points.
But don't tell him that. He stopped by here at the a Election Express a short time ago and he explained what he sees happening right now. And I want you to listen to him closely when I asked him about stimulus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: You said you're proud of your record, your past. Are you proud of the vote on the stimulus bill?
BRAD ELLSWORTH (D), INDIANA: I think it was necessary. It was something we had to do to stop this economy from going over the brink, and I'll stand by that vote.
HOLMES: We need more?
ELLSWORTH: I appreciate some of the things that the president is saying he'd like to do. I don't want political gimmicks, from either side. This is too serious and too important.
HOLMES: Are you saying this is possibly a gimmick?
ELLSWORTH: I'm just saying in the next 60 days, things that either party says in the next 60 days just to get votes or elections is not what I'm about. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now you heard him there, Ali. I asked him specifically about the president's proposals, and he used the word "gimmick."
Afterwards, he wanted to be clear. He said, I'm not saying what the president is doing is a gimmick. But he also admitted that anything being presented right now as a possible new step, a next solution, another stimulus possibly, you want to bring that up between now and election day, 50 days away? He doesn't think it has a chance in the world of passing.
But he is holding on, right here now. He says his internal polling shows he's up; every other poll shows he's down. But this is one seat, where a difference can be made and possibly if Republicans are going to take back the Senate, this one of those states they need to take.
VELSHI: T.J., good to see you my friend. Thank you for bringing us that. We'll see you again, we'll talk to you again later on.
HOLMES: Good to see you, Ali.
VELSHI: T.J. Holmes in Indianapolis with the CNN Express.
Technology has come a long way since the Atari 5200. By the way, you have to check this out, this is good. Look at this thing -- thanks, Joey (ph) -- the Atari 5200. I know, I know, it's not the first Atari. There are -- there was one before this, I got it.
The video games around the world, you know how old they are? Video games have been around since the '50s and the Sony Playstation turns 15 years old today. What's the future of video games hold? We're going to do a little gaming of our own, that's our "Big 'I'" coming up after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: OK, we're going to go a little retro with today's "Big 'I'," it was a "Big 'I'" a long time ago. Let's look back at video gaming systems over the years. I would not have guessed that it started in the 1950s.
The first documented computer game was called "Knots and Crosses", which you would know as Tic Tac Toe, Xs and Os kind of thing. There wasn't much development in the '50s.
In the '60s, check out the big thing on the bottom there, that's the brown box. It was the first game console developed to work with a standard television. Obviously there were games that worked other than with a television.
The '70s, this is what I remember, look at that, that console there, the big orange one there. There were a few developments there, "Pong," "Space Invaders, Magnavox Odyssey, Atari, they all came out with video game consoles. I did say Nintendo as well, it was called the Color TV Game 6, that's the orange console that you see right at the bottom over there. Don't be scared, you can come in and take a look at that on the '70s.
Let's move over to the '80s for a second. That was the golden age of video arcade games. You can see there that we've got games like "Pac Man" and "Centipede," Kong obviously -- "Donkey Kong," "Q- Bert," "Pole Position," "Frogger." I remember those days fondly.
In the mid 1980s, Nintendo released its big console, the Nintendo Entertainment System. See it up on the top next to "Donkey Kong"? That sold tens of millions of units and can still be found in used game stores and yard sales around the country.
In the late '80s Sega released its game systems to compete directly with Nintendo.
Let's move it into the '90s now, that's when things got really, really exciting. It was during this decade that Nintendo actually released the N64, the Nintendo 64. The real boom was the release of Sony's Playstation, which you can see there. Sega tried to keep up with its Dreamcast Console.
Now you remember games from the '90s like "Final Fantasy," "Grand Theft Auto," "Resident Evil," "Rainbow 6." This is when they really started to get interesting.
Let's take it over to now, the 2000s, and this is where gaming really came into its own. Microsoft hit the video game industry with a big bang, releasing Xbox and then Xbox 360, which you can see on top; Xbox on the bottom, Xbox 360 on the top. Playstation II and III both came out in the last decade, as did Nintendo's Game Cube and then the Nintendo Wii.
Now today marks a big day in gaming history. Fifteen years ago today, Playstation exploded onto the market. And to honor that anniversary, I want to bring in one of the guys who helped develop Playstation I, Playstation II and Playstation III. He is the CEO of Sony Entertainment America, Jack Tretton, he's joining us from our New York bureau.
Jack, good to see you, thank you for being with us.
JACK TRETTON, CEO, SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT OF AMERICA: Pleasure to be here, Ali.
VELSHI: When you look back at when you were developing these things all those years ago, what were you thinking? Were you thinking that it was going to be -- that gaming was going to be the big deal that it is today? And most importantly, that gaming was not going to be something for sort of the teenaged set, it was going to be something for a more mature audience?
TRETTON: Well, I started out in the mid '80s, and at that time companies really felt that console gaming would ultimately transition into PC entertainment business. And while the PC entertainment gaming business is strong, it's dwarfed by the console business. And Playstation was really a game-changer in terms of bringing in a more mature audience, a more diverse audience.
VELSHI: And yet, computers have gotten faster and more effective and more compact. Why did gaming not become a computer thing as opposed to a separate console?
TRETTON: Well, it really became a social experience, something that you wanted to do with friends in the living room. I think a PC experience is typically in an office or in an isolated experience. It's really one consumer at a time. Gaming is a live experience, a very social experience and something you want to do with friends gathered around and the console really lends itself to that experience.
Plus, the console is really a dedicated device featuring gaming as opposed to something that's an ancillary benefit. I think most people still buy a PC for things other than gaming first and foremost.
VELSHI: Interestingly, though, I've got an Xbox and a Wii, mostly I use them to watch movies on them, but you can do all sorts of things on them now that you could do when I first had an Atari.
What are the things that these consoles do know for people that when you started in the '80s and you started with Playstation I, you never would have even conceived that people were going to use these machines for?
TRETTON: You clearly started out with a dedicated games console and it was first and foremost and almost exclusively, gaming. We ushered in CD play back with the original Playstation and DVD with Playstation II.
But now with Playstation III, you've truly got a multimedia device that's something the entire family can take advantage of whether it's watching Blu-ray movies, listening to your digital music, downloading content from the Internet, surfing the Internet. So really it's a multifaceted device that's the center of the living room that appeals to gamers first and foremost, but is not exclusive to gamers, there's really every form of entertainment possible on the Playstation III.
VELSHI: Yes, it's a lot more than just gaming on all of these consoles.
Jack, good to talk to you. Thanks very much. It must be great to sort of look back at everything that's happened in this industry. It really has exploded far beyond most people's imaginations.
Jack Tretton is the CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, joining us from New York.
I want to talk now about the future of video gaming. We're going to have a live demonstration -- you're looking at a live demonstration now. This comes a long way from when I was a kid, using Atari. We're going to talk about that when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: Let me be clear, I was never a big gamer. I don't have much dexterity, I don't have a whole lot of skill on these things. I was like everybody else at my age, we played video games, they were an advance on going to the, you know, the arcade and playing on ping-pong machines, but I never understood how this leap and bound took place. But what it did is took game from something that kids did to something that people did in all walks of life and all ages.
So I'm joined now by Dr. Richard Marks. This guy, he's got a lot of degrees behind him about robotics and things like that from MIT and from Stanford. He's a senior researcher with Playstation, Sony Computer Entertainment in America.
Thanks, Pete. And Pete, but the way, handles our graphics for us. So we appreciate that.
This is coming out next week, this is the new iteration coming from Sony. And some people have said, isn't this a bit like what the Wii has?
DR. RICHARD MARKS, SENIOR RESEARCHER, SCEA: It's different because it has a camera in the system and the camera --
VELSHI: That's that over there.
MARKS: Right. It knows exactly what you're doing and where you are with the controller. So when I move the sword somewhere, the sword actually moves virtually just like that.
VELSHI: Right. So I'm the guy on the right?
MARKS: No, you're --
VELSHI: I'm the shadow. So you're the guy I'm looking at and I can do that with you and we're fighting. I got you good. I'm not advocating violence here. You have sports games like this. All those kinds of things, too.
MARKS: I'm going to use the super strike on you. Now I can do special moves, all sorts of special attacks.
VELSHI: Now what's the thing this is going to do for gaming, this technology? What does this take us to?
MARKS: It gives us a lot more responsiveness and precision. So we can really get more about what the player wants to do into the game. That's really the big thing that we give it.
VELSHI: From sitting on the couch to getting up and actually doing things with it. I suppose you've got all the sports-types of things that go with this?
MARKS: Right, and not just doing kind of what you want, exactly what you want to be able to do with it, you can do that.
VELSHI: How is the technology different from the Wii? I have a Wii and I have a Playstation, but I don't have this. How is it different?
MARKS: We have internal sensors similar to the way they do, but we have also the camera as a very integral part of the system. The camera gives us the ability to know where it is in your room. So when you hold it high, when you hold it low, not just how you're swinging it.
VELSHI: I see. And this is coming out next week?
MARKS: Comes out September 19th.
VELSHI: And you have games that go along with it?
MARKS: Yes, there's a lot of different games. Games for every different kind of person. We have games that are for casual people, we have games for really core audience people.
VELSHI: Richard, this is fantastic. This is a lot of fun. I'm not a gamer and I have no skills, but something new comes out all the time and it's fascinating. Thanks for showing to show us this. It's remarkable how much research actually goes into these developments. So this is going to be the next big thing for a while coming out with the PS3 very shortly.
Thank you, Richard, I appreciate it.
MARKS: Thank you.
VELSHI: President Obama pours millions of dollars into his party, it's just one of the top political stories this hour. You're "CNN Equals Politics" update straight ahead live from Washington. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: It is time now for your "CNN Equals Politics" update. CNN's chief political correspondent, Candy Crowley, joins me now from Washington, part of "The Best Political Team on Television."
Candy, what's on the political ticker this hour?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, I found something for you to do this weekend if you want. It won't cost all that much.
Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck, the conservative FOX News commentator are pairing up again. They just had a joint rally here in Washington not that long ago. They are now going to have another event on 9/11 this Saturday.
They are going to be holding a -- this one is for pay and that's the big difference. You can get seats anywhere from $65 to $225. According to our reporting, it's almost full and it will be on 9/11. And according to Palin's Facebook page, quote, "We can count on Glenn to make the night interesting and inspiring." So that is "A Patriot Salute on 9/11." Also want to tell you, we're thinking how much is it worth to the president of the United States to maintain a democratic Congress? And I can give you a dollar figure, at least -- $4.5 million, because that's how much the president has taken from his funds from his old campaign fund and put into various democratic entities for House members, Senate members and the general Democratic National Committee to try and help at least mitigate what even Democrats say might be really big losses.
And finally, this is about the time, believe it or not, when we begin to watch the plane flights into Iowa and into New Hampshire. And one caught our eye, Newt Gingrich is headed to Iowa on Thursday. Four different kind of political stops where he will make speeches for candidates or for funds, all political causes.
Always, always and never too early to talk about 2012. Certainly, Newt Gingrich's name has been out there. But I have to tell you, Ali, this is also the time when people who are on the speaking circuit, people who do sell books try to keep their name out there as much as possible. And it certainly helps to keep us talking about whether or not they're going to be a presidential contender.
VELSHI: And this is exactly what you're an expert at. You would know when someone's plane shows up who otherwise wasn't supposed to be there. We will keep on covering with you. Candy, thanks so much for being with us.
Make sure you catch Candy on "STATE OF THE UNION" on Sundays.
All right, be sure to keep it here. We're going to bring you your next "CNN Equals Politics" update in an hour. You can also checkout CNNpolitics.com for political news at anytime.
