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President Obama & the Comedian; Bracelet Helps With Finances; Death Toll Rises in Haiti
Aired October 28, 2010 - 13:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The man who was thrown in jail behind a balloon hoax, you cannot forget this story, right? Everyone was terrified and then everyone was very angry. Well, he's now back trying to sell, of all things, bear back scratchers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD HEENE: All these tiny knots, it gives you a deep, deep penetrating scratch. Oh, man, this thing feels good. This thing is strong. Oh! Ah!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: A deep, deep, penetrating scratch. OK, he definitely wrote that script himself.
This is the one and only Richard Heene's latest venture. The scratcher attaches to a wall and allows you to scratch your back the same way bears do in the wild. He's selling it for $20.
It was in October of last year that Heene had the world thinking that his son had floated away from their Colorado home in a homemade balloon. He pleaded guilty then to a felony and served a short time in jail.
It's a new hour, it's a new "Rundown." I'm still Kate Bolduan.
"Austerity," probably not a word that comes up in regular conversation, much less unless you hang around economists, which I try to, because they're far more smarter than I. But how is it different from a stimulus? Our Ali Velshi and Richard Quest are going to tackle it today in "Q&A." You don't want to miss it.
Plus, our own Fareed Zakaria joins us this hour with a look at what can be done to bring good jobs back to America.
And if students aren't learning about money at home, why not at school then? Ahead, the brain behind a winning formula to teach one million kids about financial literacy.
He's described his own show as fake news, but nowadays Jon Stewart and "The Daily Show," they are making news. He's got the Rally to Restore Sanity this weekend. I will be there. And he's just landed the VIP of all VIP guests, maybe in the world.
President Barack Obama spending half an hour with Stewart last night. A first for a sitting president. Check out his intro.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW": Please join me in welcoming the president of the United States, Barack Obama.
(APPLAUSE)
STEWART: Does that happen to you wherever you go? Is that just a wild -- when you -- because when you guys go to work, do people typically applaud or -- it's a nice feeling.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It was a wonderful welcome. It does not happen, for example, when I go to the Republican Caucus meeting.
(LAUGHTER)
STEWART: I see. Totally different?
OBAMA: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Much more to see and analyze from the president's appearance last night.
And Pete Dominick is here to help me wade through it all. He's got both politics, comedy, credibility. He is the face of the new CNN program, "What the Week?" and a correspondent for "JOHN KING USA." He also hosts the political show "Stand up with Pete Domicate (sic)."
That's your new name.
PETE DOMINICK, HOST, "WHAT THE WEEK?": That's my new name. I'll take that. No one knows me yet. Dominick, Sirius XM Satellite Radio, yes.
BOLDUAN: And he also did warm-up for "The Daily Show" and Stephen Colbert.
DOMINICK: I would come in every night. My job is to come in to "The Colbert Report" or "The Daily Show" as a comedian, and I would fire up the audience, doing my standup, and mostly off the cuff with the audience. And I thought that nobody probably has reported on this part, but I am the insider.
BOLDUAN: So take me inside.
DOMINICK: So I'll take you inside.
I want to show you a sound bite and I'll tell you exactly what happens at "The Daily Show." Take a look at this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: And I was talking with a woman in the audience before the show and she brought up an interesting point. You know, 2014 is when these exchanges kick in and there'll be some sort of (INAUDIBLE). But up until that point, there's really nothing in this bill that doesn't allow these insurance companies to raise rates.
OBAMA: Not true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOMINICK: So, when you take a look at that, he's talking to a woman in the audience. Letterman does this as well.
I do the audience warm-up, I hand the microphone to Jon Stewart, and the same thing, Colbert. They take questions from the audience for five or 10 minutes.
BOLDUAN: This is before the show.
DOMINICK: Yes, one of the best parts about being in the studio audience of the show. And a lot of times, Jon will work something into the show.
And you heard the audience laugh. And as a viewer, you're like, what happened? Even the president probably didn't know about that.
BOLDUAN: No, it was definitely a little insight. So what happened?
DOMINICK: But she brought up a good question. And he probably -- I don't know, but he probably said, "What question should I ask the president of the United States today?" And this woman brought up this good point about the regulations don't come in. And so he brings it up to the president, and now we all know where that kind of thing comes from.
BOLDUAN: Exactly.
DOMINICK: Yes.
BOLDUAN: Another thing that I found interesting and I wanted to get your take on, this is probably -- I can't confirm -- probably the first time anyone in public has called the president "dude."
Do we have that sound bite, Kelly (ph)?
Perfect. Let's listen to it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: In fairness, Larry Summers did a heck of a job trying to figure out how to --
STEWART: You don't want to use that phrase, dude. OBAMA: Pun intended.
STEWART: All right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOMINICK: Yes. There's a huge double standard between Kate Bolduan or Wolf Blitzer and a Jon Stewart. Let me throw myself in there, Pete Dominick.
We're comedians, and we get away with that. And you can't. It would make no sense. It would go viral: "Reporter Calls the President 'Dude.'"
We're comedians, and comedians sometimes get to do it better because we get away with things. And that's the kind of controversy that the media is talking about. Is he a comedian or a political commentator?
You can decide.
BOLDUAN: It might just be sour grapes, though, because I think --
DOMINICK: Yes, it is. Well said.
BOLDUAN: He has to walk that line. He asked him very tough questions. It was a little more serious than funny that I thought. But he also can call the president "dude."
So, one question I would have, though, is many people are kind of wondering, is he moving into political activism, especially with an eye towards this weekend's rally? Does that mean he's becoming the figure --
(CROSSTALK)
DOMINICK: I just reject that. That's the question everybody is asking, and I just reject it.
Jon Stewart starts as a comedian, he ends as a comedian. The same for Colbert.
These guys are iconic in the media. You and I and everybody around our age and way older and younger, we'll always remember these guys. They're the most talented people in the world.
Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, no one can do it better than these two guys. They do it differently. And they do bring legitimate points and news, and they point out hypocrisy as good as anybody in the media, anybody in journalism, in my opinion.
And they do it differently, and so we can decide what we think they are. But the rally, we're both going to be there this weekend. It's going to be interesting to see what happens.
BOLDUAN: And who even shows up. We don't even know exactly. We know Sheryl Crow is performing.
DOMINICK: We do.
BOLDUAN: We don't know exactly who all is coming.
DOMINICK: They keep things mysterious. They do it well.
Stephen Colbert went to Iraq and the Olympics. Jon Stewart has done a lot of thing things throughout the career with "The Daily Show."
We don't know exactly what's going to happen. They like it that way.
BOLDUAN: Right.
DOMINICK: There's going to be a lot of people there. It's going to be a lot of fun. And hopefully, you know, there will be a better conversation, a more calm conversation, or maybe Stephen Colbert will appreciate scaring us.
BOLDUAN: Yes, restore sanity or fear.
DOMINICK: Right. Right.
BOLDUAN: All right. Thanks, Pete. You're the best.
DOMINICK: Thank you, Kate.
BOLDUAN: So, helping kids learn about money, that's where we're going next. For students who don't have a good grasp on managing their personal finances, a bracelet could help.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: In "Chalk Talk," how much did you know about managing your personal finances when you were a high school senior? Don't ask me even about how much I know about it now. How about when you were a college senior? Some of us are still struggling with our finances, but check this out.
A recent study by Sallie Mae discovered that graduating college seniors have an average credit card debt of $4,100, with one in five owing at least $7,000 by the time they graduate. That's tough to overcome, and the situation isn't much better for high school students.
A study by the JumpStart Coalition found that less than half of the high school seniors surveyed in 2008 were financially literate. The answer to turning this around could be held in a very small bracelet.
What am I talking about? Well, joining me to talk about that is Stacey Tisdale. She's created a financial education program for high school students.
Stacey, talk to me first about this bracelet. I've been teasing it, and I'm dying to know.
STACEY TISDALE, FINANCIAL JOURNALIST & AUTHOR: I have one for you.
BOLDUAN: What does it have to do with finances?
TISDALE: It's actually part of a program that has young people look at how the ways in which they feel about themselves affect the ways in which they feel about money.
As you know, Kate, the financial crisis that we've been facing shows us that we've got to give our kids comprehensive financial education. And, you know, studies show things like depression, problems with marriages, problems with self-esteem are largely rooted in financial problems. So we aim to give kids tools to live lives they want to live, not lives they're literally indebted to.
BOLDUAN: Not something that you should have to learn when you're in the middle of the problem, right?
TISDALE: Exactly. Exactly.
BOLDUAN: So tell me about the Winning Plays Program. I know it's kind of like a four-pronged program. Tell me about that.
TISDALE: It is a four-point program. And the first part, with exercises with things like this bracelet that says "Remember," and it's all inside, we remind young people of the things they do every day that can be applied towards good financial behavior. They problem-solve, they stand up to peer pressure, they make decisions, they sometimes forget they have that bag of trick ins their arsenals.
Second, goals. We help them paint a picture of who they want to be and show them how money can help them on that journey.
Third, we show them how things like peer pressure, certain social messages, a lack of role modeling can lead to bad financial decisions and take resources away from their goals.
And then, Kate, finally, it's the Personal Finance 101, things like saving, budgeting, investing. They play a great stock market game throughout the program called WeSeed.com, all in the context that being financially literate will help them be who they want to be.
BOLDUAN: And I hear that this is more than just personal financial management. I hear you brought in a psychologist for this, too. Tell me about that.
TISDALE: Dr. James Prochaska (ph). You know, we can't ask someone to change their behavior or get them ready to do it without showing them how to change.
Change is a process. Prochaska (ph) drew the map.
For example, a high school student might not be ready to open a savings account and stop spending their entire paycheck on sneakers today, but they might be ready to tell their best friend that they want to start saving and ask that friend to help them stay away from the mall. Dr. Prochaska (ph) shows them what they're ready to do, shows them where they are in the process, and gives them the tools to move towards who they want to be.
BOLDUAN: So tell me, how can parents get their kids involved with this? How can you take this nationwide?
TISDALE: Well, parents really have to pressure lawmakers to make financial education part of high school curriculums. And also, they have to realize that they are their kids' role model. They are their standards of right and wrong. And they have to, you know, show in their own financial behavior what they want their children to be able to do.
BOLDUAN: Well, on that point exactly, I hear that you just won a Department of Education Excellence of Economics Grant. So what's next for the program? Does that help you take it a little further?
TISDALE: It totally helps us take it further. And this program was created in conjunction with NFL Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott and his All Stars Helping Kids Foundation. And Ronnie and I met about a year ago when I was creating this, and he was looking for something like it for his foundation.
We also both help athletes make sure that their financial behavior is in line with who they want to be. We realize that if we work together, and if we had athletes share the stories about their financial challenges, students would realize that they weren't alone, and they would also be motivated to make changes in their behavior.
So, between our efforts, between the attention and support from the Department of Education, places like the Council for Economic Education, we hope to bring this program to one million kids over the next five years.
BOLDUAN: Ambitious, ambitious goals. But you are -- I can tell in your face that you're going to take it on.
TISDALE: Thank you.
BOLDUAN: All right. We also want to make sure everyone knows you have a book out. Correct me if I get the title wrong, but "It's the True Cost of Happiness."
TISDALE: It is. You got it. There it is. There's George.
(LAUGHTER)
BOLDUAN: All right.
Stacey Tisdale.
Thanks so much, Stacey.
TISDALE: Thank you, Kate. And I'll send you your bracelet. BOLDUAN: Thank you, ma'am.
Taking a hard turn here, the death toll, got to talk about this again. This death toll that has been rising from a cholera outbreak in Haiti. We've got to stay on top of this, and that's why we have a live report from Dr. Sanjay Gupta next in "Globe Trekking."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: Time once again for "Globe Trekking." Destination: Haiti.
The death toll from that cholera outbreak shown in red on our map has climbed to more than 300.
CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is joining us now via phone from the capital, Port-au-Prince.
Sanjay, thanks for joining me again.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Sure.
BOLDUAN: Describe since we are there with you but we can't see everything on the ground, what are you seeing on the ground? You were there right after the earthquake and stayed there for a long period of time after. What is it looking like now, especially now that they're dealing with this cholera outbreak?
GUPTA: Well, you know, just on appearances, Kate, if you were here right after the earthquake, and you look at Haiti now, you might not notice lots of changes. I mean, some of the rubble has been cleared up from the road, which is very important just in terms of logistics, getting around. And you have more people out on the streets now.
But, I mean, the big thing that people notice right away are the tent cities full of displaced people, literally all over the city, and in Port-au-Prince as well. So, you know, if you just visit, it wouldn't look a lot different.
What has happened with this cholera outbreak, though, is that the hospitals that had initially been taking care of a lot of patients who had trauma as a result of the earthquake itself, the (INAUDIBLE) patients have started to slow down a couple of months ago, for example, when I was here. And now the hospitals are just as busy as ever. Again, especially in the areas where cholera has been especially hard hit.
So, the big question that a lot of people are asking, Kate, is how many places in the country could we start to see cases of cholera? Now, there have been five confirmed cases now in Port-au-Prince, so it's clear that the infection is moving with people, you know, who are traveling into different parts around the country.
BOLDUAN: And I don't even know if it matters at this point, because the outbreak is there, but have they determined a source of where this outbreak began?
GUPTA: It's a great question. And I've talked to so many experts on this. And I can tell you, there's probably not agreement on this.
Some infectious disease doctors believe that, you know, cholera may have already been in Haiti, but it's sort of the more squalor conditions after the earthquake that allowed it to start spreading, people drinking contaminated water and moving the bacteria around and infecting other people. So, some people believe it was as a result of the earthquake from a lot of the terrible conditions and contaminated conditions allowing cholera to, you know, be here.
But like you said, it's a tough thing to figure out. The biggest thing now, where everyone is focusing their attention, is how to stop the spread. And it's in some ways a frighteningly easy thing to do, which makes it, I think, in some way, all the more depressing really that it's not being done as quickly or as effectively as people would have hoped.
BOLDUAN: I totally hear you, Sanjay. And I know you'll be on the ground for us there and keeping an eye on it all.
Thank you, Sanjay Gupta, so much. Stay safe out there.
GUPTA: Thanks, Kate.
BOLDUAN: So, as you can probably tell, I've been filling in for Ali since the top of the show, but, you know, he can't stay away from you for long. He's not off today. He's just busy, if we want to call it busy. I would call it having fun with "The Best Political Team on Television."
What are you doing, Ali? I come to Atlanta. You leave Atlanta.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: I know. We are never in the same place. But you are doing a fantastic job. I'm enjoying watching my show more than I do most days, but that's because I'm not really watching it most days.
No, really, and thank you for doing it.
What I'm doing is I am working with "The Best Political Team on Television" on some new technology that we've got that we're going to unveil for you that's going to allow you to get a better understanding of how the results are coming in on Tuesday. So I'm working on that for the next couple of days.
I am here and I am working. And thank you for the great job that you're doing.
Hey, by the way, I'm coming back in a couple of minutes for "Q&A" with our old friend Richard Quest, so hang out, because I'm going to give it back to you in a little while.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: Well, welcome to --
RICHARD QUEST, HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS," and so does Ali Velshi.
Even in times of austerity, sir, you and I are here together in the CNN NEWSROOM and around the world.
VELSHI: Every week at this time, Richard and I get together. We answer your questions about travel, about innovation, about the economy. And the best part of it is that nothing is off limits.
This week, we're tackling your question about some recent events we've seen in Europe, the idea of austerity versus more stimulus.
And Richard, who is going first this week?
QUEST: Well, Ali, I think I went first last week because you had that silly truck.
VELSHI: Oh, that's right.
QUEST: So, if I'm not mistaken, you have 60 seconds on the clock.
(BELL RINGING)
VELSHI: All right. Very good.
Consumers worldwide are recovering from this great recession, but they're not recovering fast enough. So many governments think that what they need to do until consumers step up to the plate is continue putting money into the economy.
That is stimulus. The idea is that if governments keep putting money in, it will keep the factories going, it will keep money flowing through the economy.
And you know what? In a few years, unemployment will go down, jobs will come back, people will be paying taxes, and we will deal with the deficit that the stimulus causes later on.
We'll deal with the debt later on. That's the view of this administration right now in the U.S.
There's a different view in Great Britain, where -- as you can see Richard is -- where they've decided that it's about austerity. If you don't have the money right now, you cannot spend it.
That means cutting back on government programs. It means laying people off. It means the government is not going to step in to fill in for the consumer who's not there.
Now, what's the effect of that? The effect is that some people who are hurting are going to hurt more. The hope is that what it does is it beefs up the economy and, as a result, there's more confidence and there's more investment. Unclear which one is better.
Richard, how about your one minute starting right now?
(BELL RINGING)
QUEST: It's very simple. Austerity versus stimulus goes to the heart of the economic debate.
During the crisis itself, it was spend, spend, spend. No one argued with that. But it left countries like the U.S. with a deficit of nine percent; the U.K., 10 percent. It drove countries like Greece almost to bankruptcy.
So now do you cut or do you spend? The choice is very simple.
Europe has decided to go for the grim reaper, the Halloween of cutting social spending. But the United States believes that the party still has to continue. They are determined that nothing is going to get in the way of them having a good time.
The only problem, Ali, is whoever is right, there comes a point when he who pays the piper has to be paid in full. And that means that, yes, the United States will also face the sort of cuts.
Austerity and stimulus, it's a matter of when.
(BUZZER)
VELSHI: And some people might face the wrath over that next Tuesday on election night, if you're thought of as somebody who spends and doesn't have a handle of spending.
Nice job there. Those were some of the best props I've ever seen.
But listen, props are not what separate the men from the boys, Richard.
QUEST: Absolutely. And there is only one way that we judge this competition.
Enter "The Voice."
THE VOICE: All right, gentlemen. This is it. It's the moment of truth. This is where the rubber meets the road.
It's time for you both to press your pointy anchoring noses to the intellectual grindstone. Here we go. Quiz time.
This week plans were announced in the U.K. to introduce a new tax-free savings account for children, which means kids will have more money, which means Justin Bieber will sell even more albums and will never go away.
Here's your question: Which of these countries has the highest national savings rate? Is it A, Japan; B, Germany; C, Italy, or D, France?
(BELL RINGING)
THE VOICE: Richard Quest.
QUEST: Japan.
(BELL RINGING)
THE VOICE: You are correct. Japan's national savings rate is just over 22 percent. Germany is a close second at 21.5 percent. The U.S., for the record, is a distance 12.2 percent.
VELSHI: You're on the board, Richard.
THE VOICE: Question number two -- Ali, catch up.
After a recent visit from IMF officials, the Iranian government said they were cutting state employee salaries and pension and unemployment benefits after huge protests. The Romanian government just barely survived a recent no confidence vote.
Here is your question. What year was the International Monetary Fund officially signed into existence? Was it 1943, 1944, 1947, 1945?
(BELL RINGING)
VELSHI: 1945.
THE VOICE: Ali, you are correct. The IMF is an organization of 187 countries and was created in December of 1945.
Last question, and we have a dead heat.
At one point in our history, yachts belonged only to the wealthy and affluent. Actually, it's still a bit like that. "The Voice" has a run-down houseboat which I share with my cat.
Here is your question about yachts. North America is the top seller of yachts, snatching up 60 percent of the market. Which of these regions is second?
Is it Asia, the European Union, the Middle East, Somalia?
(BELL RINGING)
THE VOICE: Ali?
VELSHI: The Middle East.
(BUZZER)
THE VOICE: Richard Quest?
QUEST: OK.
THE VOICE: This is expensive air time, Richard Quest.
QUEST: Oh, all right. I'm going to go with Somalia.
THE VOICE: Also wrong.
Ali? Ali, what is it?
VELSHI: Did he really say Somalia?
I'm going to go for the European Union.
(BELL RINGING)
THE VOICE: Finally, you got it right. The European market makes up around 38 percent of sales. Most of those are said to be the large and luxury ones, while in North America, the yacht tends to be small and medium-sized ones.
That means Ali --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: This makes me think that Quest just threw the fight. He just threw this. There must have been some betting on this or something. How did you say Somalia? What were you thinking?
QUEST: I thought it was a trick question --
VELSHI: You must have.
QUEST: -- that maybe yachts were registered in Somalia and that "The Voice" was tricking us.
VELSHI: Oh. Oh, that's very good thinking. I wish I had thought of that, except then I wouldn't have gotten it right.
THE VOICE: All right. 2-1, Ali.
You are your winner this week and the smartest person on your television right now.
For Ali in New York, and Richard Quest in a blimp over London somewhere, thanks for playing. We'll do this again next week.
VELSHI: Thank you, Voice.
And thank you, Richard.
Remember, you can put your questions down on Richard's blog. What is your blog name, Richard?
QUEST: CNN.com/qmb.
VELSHI: Or CNN.com/ali. Or tweet us your questions. We'll do this every week at 2:00 Eastern.
QUEST: Thank you, Ali. I will see you next week.
VELSHI: All right, Richard. Have a good one.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: OK. If you got a chance to see this a couple of weeks ago, this is Fareed Zakaria's cover story on "Time" magazine. How to restore the American dream. He's got a special coming up about this. He has got some fascinating ideas. And I'm going to talk with him in just a moment. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: David Mattingly has been a familiar face throughout the BP oil spill that we covered for most of the summer. He is now in Little Rock, Arkansas, with a new development in the story we all became so familiar with. David, are you there?
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via phone): Yes, Ali. What we're finding IS we received a letter that was submitted to the commission that's trying to get to the bottom of why this well failed and why that oil spill erupted into the Gulf of Mexico. That letter coming from the lead investigator.
It has to do with the cement, the cement that Halliburton provided BP to cement that well. If the cement had operated properly, it could have been able to keep the oil -- or the hydrocarbons from getting into the well and could have prevented possibly that leak into the Gulf of Mexico.
But what he was finding, and he's just laying it out here, they asked for materials from Halliburton, and they went to another company. They went to Chevron and asked Chevron to test these materials. When Chevron did that, they found that the cement was unstable. Well, then the investigator went back to Halliburton and said, we need to see your test results. And Halliburton, turns out, tested this cement four times, and three times that cement failed. That was in the weeks and days leading up to the blowout at the McCondo well there in the Gulf of Mexico.
So, what they're finding is -- this is probably even more disturbing is that BP and Halliburton decided to move forward using this cement before they had any test results even showing that it would work. In fact, he lays it right out here that before the evening of April 19th, the cement job may have been pumped without any lab results, indicating that the cement would be stable. So, this not only implicates Halliburton, calls into question their testing and their cement, but it also calls into question BP's decision and Halliburton's decision to use that cement before it looks like they even had any test results saying it would work.
So, very disturbing. Remember when all of these companies were sitting there right in front of Congress, they were all pointing the finger at each other. And now this letter coming out going right to the commission saying Halliburton tested the cement four times; three times it failed. But they were moving forward with that cement and using it before they got one single test result saying it would work, Ali.
VELSHI: All right, David. We'll continue to follow this. This is quite a remarkable development. Thank you for bringing that to us. We'll continue to look into this. David is on that story. That, of course, is the scene from summer, the McCondo well in the Gulf of Mexico, which just kept on spewing for months on end. Now new information that BP and Halliburton knew of a potential flaw in the cement that they were using. We'll continue to cover that as well.
All right. I think we'll take a quick break. We'll come back with more news in just a moment. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Okay. I got breaking news for you. We're working on confirming this with CNNmoney.com. But "The Washington Post" right now is reporting a record settlement between Verizon Wireless and the Federal Communications Commission. $25 million. $25 million. Now, this relates to a story we told you about a couple of weeks ago. This is about those mystery fees that Verizon Wireless now admits to having charged a number of its consumers.
We now have the confirmed from the Federal Communications Commission. I do have this in front of me. The FCC has announced a historic consent decree or an agreement with Verizon Wireless in which Verizon will pay $25 million to the U.S. Treasury. That's the largest fine that it's got. Verizon also said it will refund $52.8 million to about 15 million subscribers. It's not going to amount to much money per subscriber. It's going to be a couple of pucks per subscriber.
But the point is these are fees that showed up on people's bills and people said they didn't use the data services or didn't intend to use the data services. And after many, many complaints, Verizon turned around and said, yes, they are absolutely doing that.
The mystery fees, what they call the mystery fees, more than $77.8 million of them came from unauthorized data transfers initiated automatically by applications like games that were built into certain phones, by accessing certain web links that were designated to be free of charge, like the Verizon Wireless mobile web home page, but you got charged a data fee if you went to it. People were still charged for that. Also, unwanted data transfers that were initiated by third parties affecting customers who had filters for that not to happen installed on their phones.
Now, what the settlement means, there will be no more mystery fees. There will be the immediate repayment of 15 million customers. And they are making an offer to customers to block data services at the customer's request. Those are the main points about this. So, a settlement has been reached. We now have it confirmed between the FCC and Verizon Wireless. $25 million to the FCC. $15 million -- I'm sorry, $52.8 million back to subscribers. We'll going to get a little more on that and you'll be able to go to CNNmoney.com for more on that.
Am I going to Ed Henry now? Because I miss my Ed. All right. Ed Henry at the White House.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm here!
VELSHI: -- with "The Stakeout." I wasn't planning to be here, Ed, but you know, things get jiggled around on TV. You know how it is.
HENRY: This is a great surprise.
VELSHI: OK, can you see me? Do you have a monitor where you are? Can you see me?
HENRY: Yes. I do. I'm looking at you now.
VELSHI: You see what I'm doing now, right? Get it out of your system. Just say it.
HENRY: All right. Can we play a little sound from yesterday? I see your hands. We've got a little sound for you, Ali. Let's play the clip.
VELSHI: Okay.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATZENBERG: You do know what you inspired in us?
VELSHI: What's that?
KATZENBERG: A little Shrek action going on here, buddy.
VELSHI: Oh, you see? You see, Ed Henry is never going to let me live that one down.
KATZENBERG: All we have to do is put little ears. Go like this. Go like this. C'mon, put those hands up like that. I think Shrek.
VELSHI: I can't believe you made me do this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: All right. So -- oh, that was just wonderful. Now, we have some evidence of this. You look at the side by side, right there on the wall.
VELSHI: Oh, I tell you, it's the same guy.
HENRY: I see resemblance. It's practically the same guy. You're skinnier and you're not green.
VELSHI: But other than that --
HENRY: I see the resemblance. Other than the fact that you're skinnier and you're not green.
VELSHI: But other than that - HENRY: But there's a resemblance. Other than that. Other than the fact that you're skinnier and that you're not green. There's a resemblance. Other than that.
But I also like the fact that you threw my name out there in front of Jeffrey Katzenberg.
VELSHI: I was working it for you.
HENRY: I was asking yesterday if I could -- I was trying to get a lunch with him, you know. So, maybe his people will call mine.
VELSHI: Ed, I understand that there's something going on at the White House that's unrelated to the election and it has to do with those Chilean miners who we were so concentrated on for a while.
HENRY: Yes. It's interesting. The president was going to have a Rose Garden event just in a short while with the American companies that were involved in the rescue. There were NASA officials that helped with the search and the rescue mission.
But for some reason it's been shifted from a Rose Garden event with some public remarks. Instead, the president will meet with these folks behind closed doors. We're going to get some still photos of it. But he's not going to make public remarks. We're trying to figure out why the change.
But I just ran into someone actually from Aramar (ph), the food services company. And it's people like that. They were there on the ground, unsung work. But helping to feed the rescue workers, et cetera. There were a lot of Americans involved in that heroic rescue effort. Obviously, the Chilean government got a lot of credit. The president tries to make sure that the Americans that were involved, both in the U.S. government and in private industry, get some credit as well.
VELSHI: How involved were you in watching last night the president's historic appearance on "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart?
HENRY: Jon Stewart has to just be beside himself. He had something like 550 people in the live studio audience - live to tape, I guess -- here in D.C. The ratings were probably through the roof because of the hype. And then starting at 6 a.m. this morning, I was talking about it on "AMERICAN MORNING." A lot of people with talking about it. It's just the gift that keeps on giving for him, having the president on "The Daily Show."
There's sort of a -- it was a lot of Robert Gibbs' briefing today, frankly. A lot of reporters asking about it. Was it really worth it to go on there? Because Jon Stewart ended up not throwing a lot of softballs, even though he tends to agree with the president on some of these issues. He was speaking as somebody who maybe leans more progressive and was saying, look, Mr. President, you made a lot of promises in 2008, and they haven't been fulfilled. You were a lot more audacious, and you're not following up. The president sort of pushed back a bit. They also had some lighter moments. I think on balance, the White House feels like even though he maybe took a couple of hits in there, they think it's good. He's willing to take the hits, he's willing to take the criticism. He also has a sense of humor.
And more importantly, he's got a young audience -- Jon Stewart does. That's what the president wanted to reach. He's been on a lot of college campuses lately. There were a lot of young people who voted maybe for the first time in 2008, came out for then-senator Obama. They're worried at the White House they'll sit on the sidelines, so he's trying to reach those people. If he's got to do it, maybe have a couple of jokes at his expense, he's willing to do it.
VELSHI: Ed, you had fun talking about jokes at my expense. You had some fun with the Shrek thing. What are you doing for Halloween?
HENRY: I'm going to go to my -- my kids have a little -- they have Halloween parades at their school tomorrow. So, I'm going to duck out a little early. You're not going to see me on "The Stakeout" because I want to go do that. They've been spending a lot of time in their costumes. I can't reveal them now because they'll be mad at me. It's a big surprise for their friends.
But I haven't come up with anything yet. I spent a lot of time today, and my producer, Chandra Shepard, actually spent more time than I, calling around to places in D.C. because I was going to get a Shrek costume to surprise you -
VELSHI: Oh, nice!
HENRY: -- but then I kind of thought better of it because I thought it would be the thing that defined me, a Shrek mask on the White House lawn. I'd probably never live that down.
VELSHI: If you did it, yesterday would have been the time to do it because "The Daily Show" couldn't have gotten it on because they had the president. But yes, while Jon Stewart is around, you in Shrek on the White House lawn --
HENRY: Yes. I think I would not live that one down. But it would be a tribute, too. I'd only do out of the goodness of my heart just to promote you, to help get you in better with Jeffrey Katzenberg. The "Wall Street" movie was fabulous for you, but you've -- the TV thing is good for you, but we've got to keep pushing you to Hollywood.
VELSHI: We've got to keep going. I hear you. Ed, my pleasure to see you. So, I won't be seeing you tomorrow, which means I'll see you next week. But we'll be seeing each other a lot because of the elections.
Ed Henry, our senior White House correspondent.
HENRY: Have a great weekend. VELSHI: See you, Ed. Have a good one.
All right. The latest on who's ahead in the race to be the next California governor. It's one of the top political stories on our ticker. That's coming up to you next. Stay with me.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Five days left until elections. This election could be key in the power struggle for Congress. The Best Political Team on Television has the updates that you need to know about.
CNN's chief political correspondent Candy Crowley joins us now from the CNN Politics Desk. Candy, great to see you. What's crossing?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHEIF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you know, we are less than a week from this election. You know what that means. Polls and more polls. These are the final snapshots. Things are beginning to solidify. You're beginning to tell who has a real uphill battle.
Let's go to California. Lots of talk about how this is may be the year the Republican woman. But Meg Whitman, former eBay executive out there in a hot race for the governorship of California with Jerry Brown, who is now the state attorney general. She is behind in the latest field poll, at any rate, by ten points. That is a lot to make up between now and Tuesday. There are a number of undecideds, at least according to these polls. But you know, sometimes we look at the undecideds and we find later those are the people that stayed home rather than go and vote. So, it may not be as big of an undecided pool as it looks like. So, an uphill battle clearly for Meg Whitman.
Want to go down to Florida, we had two kind critical debates down there. The gubernatorial debate, senatorial debate. The senator race looks very much like Marco Rubio is holding on to his lead over Charlie Crist, the current governor, who is running as an independent. Kendrick Meek running on the Democratic ticket. Rubio has held on to a pretty good, pretty sizable lead outside the margin of error. It would take a real big mistake -- and, of course, we don't want to rule those out in these final days -- for him not to be considered a pretty formidable front-runner.
Finally, just a lot of politics is where you show up and how soon. And I want to point out that Mitt Romney, who everyone talks about as a possible presidential candidate for 2012, is down campaigning in South Carolina for Nikki Haley, Republican gubernatorial bid down there. South Carolina, very, very important in those presidential races, particularly for Republicans. Mitt Romney when he ran last time around, there was a lot of talk about how he might not do well in South Carolina because of his Mormon background. He did not win South Carolina, but certainly, if he's seen as giving a leg up to Nikki Haley, should she win, that will stand him in good stead in 2012, Ali.
VELSHI: All right. Candy, thank you very much. And as we count down to election day, CNN is bringing you an unprecedented documentary called "Boiling Point: Inside The Tea Party." See who and what make up this political movement, airing Saturday and Sunday at 8:00 p.m. right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: The November 1st issue of "Time" magazine, the cover story by our own Fareed Zakaria. How to Restore The American Dream. Is that the question that we all want answered or not? Some people think the solution to that question lies in next week's election. That would be a simplistic way of looking at things.
Fareed is with me right now. This article is a must-read. Thank you, Fareed, for being with us. Richard and I were just talking about this ideological battle between austerity or deficit cutting and stimulus. You sort of have a third way. I overheard a conversation between you and someone else the other day where you said you don't even like using the world stimulus anymore. There is an answer that doesn't emphasize consumption. It emphasizes investment. Explain that to me.
FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": Basically, as society, we are overconsuming. And for the last 20 years, we've consumed more and more, not because we had any increase in wages, but because we borrowed more. The average American now has 13 credit cards. Our debt went from about $700 billion in the 1970s to $14 trillion now.
So, that's not the answer. What we've got to do is invest in growth. That means RND, research and technology. That means upgrading the infrastructure. That shouldn't be considered - you know, there's good government spending and there's bad government spending. Giving people tax cuts, frankly, or increasing their pensions, whether it's the left-wing idea or right-wing idea -- that's all bad stuff. But building new research labs, getting us from being the 22nd in bandwidth in the world to number one. Those are all things that will spur growth, and those are the jobs of the future.
VELSHI: It's a good thing you're not running for anything. Because in this article, you actually propose a new tax. You dub it the American innovation tax. It would be a way of getting you to what you're talking about, investment in the things that will make American competitive. And that involves many things. It means educating people to the level that we can educate and put people through universities in science and technology and engineering and math.
Why a tax? What would that do?
ZAKARIA: What the tax would do is it would just pay for it. I mean, I don't believe that there is a free lunch here. If you propose an important new government program, you've got to explain where the money comes from.
Again, for the last 20 years, we've had plenty of new government programs and expanded them, but everyone keeps pretending that these don't cost anything. Bush's prescription drugs for the elderly. Whether you like it or not, you've got to pay for it.
So, what I say is, we have no national sales tax in this country. We're the only country in the advanced world that doesn't have one. If we put one in, five percent, which would be the lowest in the advanced world, that would still generate tens and tens of billions of dollars. You need to find revenue sources if you need to do this.
Now, in the long run, we've got to get our house in order. We've got to get some entitlement spending down, we've got to get costs down, but we can't wait. South Korea, a country of 50 million people, is spending $35 billion on green technology in the next five years. A country of 50 million people. Think of what the Chinese --
VELSHI: And their are on the top of that broadband list that you talked about!
ZAKARIA: And they're on the top of that broadband - you know, we think we're number one. And you look at these new studies that are coming out. And it's frightening. We're not in the top ten in many of these areas. So, there's -- that's all the more reason why we need to spend to catch up. It's not to stay on top.
VELSHI: If you haven't read the article, read it. It's a primer for going into this election because it will help you make great decisions. Fareed, great to see you. Watch Fareed on "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS."
Once again, check out Fareed's special, "Restoring the American Dream." Tune in to CNN this Saturday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. And Sunday at 10:00 a.m. Eastern -Eastern and Pacific time. Watch Fareed's special "Restoring the American Dream." Fareed Zakaria, thank you for being with us.
I'm going to take a break now. But when we come back n the other side, NEWSROOM continues with Brooke Baldwin.
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