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27 Miners Missing After Explosion in New Zealand; MSNBC Suspends Joe Scarborough; Paying Students to Learn; Aung San Suu Kyi Speaks to CNN; UNICEF's Fight to Save Children; Olive Branch to Business Community; Maxine Waters Hearing Off; Public Outlook on the Economy; Stimulus Stimulates Attack Ad Spending; Driving Electric Avenues; Buyer Beware of Black Friday Bargains

Aired November 19, 2010 - 14:00   ET

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

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: All right. It's 2:00 on the East.

I'm Ali Velshi. Here's what's going on "On the Rundown."

Schools considering paying needy kids to show up and work hard in class. Is it going to pay off?

Plus, a CNN exclusive. Aung San Suu Kyi tells us about her hopes for democracy in her homeland and what she expects from President Obama.

And the hot new car that never needs gas. I'll take you for a ride in the Nissan LEAF.

But first, a developing story in New Zealand.

At least 27 miners are missing after an explosion ripped through a remote coal mine on New Zealand's South Island. Rescuers are at the site of the Pike River Mine right now.

Two miners walked out of the mine with only moderate injuries. The explosion cut all communication and power in the mine. A major concern now is the state of ventilation in the mine.

Officials say rescuers won't be able to enter until their certain it's clear of methane gas. Because of the mountainous terrain, the mine is very different from the one in Chile, where 33 miners were rescued after spending more than two months trapped underground.

As you see in this diagram coming up, it's different from -- this is the mine in Chile. The shafts were vertical, they were dug to great depth. The trapped miners survived a half a mile underground.

By contrast, take a look at the shafts in the New Zealand mine. They're horizontal, as you see in this diagram. Officials say the trapped miners are probably a mile and a half or so inside the mine, but because they drill into the side of the mountain -- you can't really see that because you can't see the full left of that side -- they're actually only a couple hundred feet below the surface.

Here's what the CEO of Pike River Mine said about the accident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER WHITTALL, CEO, PIKE RIVER COAL MINE: We do have the advantage, because we can walk into the mine -- they're not a deep- shafted mine -- that the men and the rescue teams can get in and out of the mine quite effectively, and they'll be out of the small (ph) of the mine quite quickly. Yes, they will work through the night, and they'll work until they've been able to go throughout the mine and determine the extent of the incident and the safety of all of our employees.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Pike River Mine officials insist the rescue effort will not be as complicated as the one in Chile. As we mentioned, the reason is that the New Zealand Mine is not a deep-shafted mine. One official says because of that, they can get in and out quite effectively.

Joining us by phone to talk more about this is Mark Radomsky. He's the director of miner training at Penn State University in University Park, Pennsylvania.

Mark, tell me what -- compare this to what we saw in Chile. How is this rescue attempt going to be different?

MARK RADOMSKY, DIRECTOR, MINER TRAINING, PENN STATE UNIVERSITY: Well, it's going to be probably totally different. I mean, one, in Chile, you had a gold mine, you had a shaft, a deep shaft a couple miles underground. This mine in New Zealand is a drift mine. As you say, the portals or the entrance to the mine would be horizontal.

So, the CEO said the mine, you can walk in. So access is going to be a lot easier.

VELSHI: What are the challenges that these miners, assuming they're alive -- we don't know enough detail about anything because we have no communication with them -- what are the challenges they are facing right now?

RADOMSKY: Well, assuming they are alive, they would need to get to their cache of self-contained self-rescuers, isolate their lungs from the toxic atmosphere, and then seek refuge so that they can sustain themselves until they're reached by the miner rescue team.

VELSHI: What is -- you know, in the Chilean mine, we didn't hear about them -- we didn't know they were alive until several days in, a couple of weeks in. How do people survive in a mine if they survive the blast?

RADOMSKY: Well, they survive basically -- if there is an ignition and a blast, you know, the main consideration would be secondary explosions, and also the toxic atmosphere. So, again, they need to isolate themselves and get into an area where they're not breathing the toxic fumes, where they have enough oxygen. And so that's their biggest challenge right now.

VELSHI: Was the Chilean mine situation unusual in that these miners became trapped and had a place to go and hang out until rescuers could find them?

RADOMSKY: Well, the Chilean incident was a roof fall, so not as devastating in terms of how far reaching. And again, the atmosphere did not have gas, so it was a better situation. This is a coal mine in New Zealand, so the hazards are greater.

VELSHI: Mark, good to talk to you. Thanks very much.

RADOMSKY: You're welcome.

VELSHI: Mark Radomsky at Penn State University.

President Obama is in Lisbon, Portugal, today meeting with NATO allies. The two-day summit has Afghanistan right at the top of the agenda. In particular, strategies to end combat operations in four years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I expressed my gratitude to the Portuguese armed forces who are serving alongside us in Afghanistan. And here in Lisbon, I look forward to working with our NATO and our ISAF partners as we move towards a new phase, a transition to Afghan responsibility that begins in 2011, with Afghan forces taking the lead for security across Afghanistan by 2014.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: And we expect to hear from the president any minute on how things went today. We'll bring you his comments from Lisbon when we get them.

We want to update a sordid tale we told you about last month. You may remember some of the details, if not the names. It involved a married Atlanta-based federal judge, a stripper, drugs and guns.

Just moments ago, Judge Jack Camp pled guilty to three of the federal charges against him. Camp was caught in an FBI sting buying cocaine, marijuana and prescription painkillers for a stripper who he was seeing. He officially retired from the bench right before entering court today. Sentencing is in a few months.

Paying students to learn, it's a controversial idea that more school districts are exploring. We're going to take a look at that next in "Fixing Our Schools."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Breaking news.

Politico is reporting that MSNBC has suspended Joe Scarborough, "Morning Joe" anchor Joe Scarborough for two days because he gave eight previously undisclosed donations to friends and family who were running for office most recently.

This is the second -- sort of second related incident they've had. MSNBC also had an earlier problem with undisclosed donations. They are apparently in contravention of the network's ban on political contributions by employees unless they get specific permission from the network president.

I want to bring Howard Kurtz into this, my colleague, Howard Kurtz, who is joining me now from D.C. to talk about this.

Howard, let's just cut to the chase here. MSNBC has done well and not hidden the fact that it has a political slant on some of its news that often favors Democrats. I don't know that everybody in the world would be all that surprised that a couple of their guys, Keith Olbermann and Joe Scarborough, are supporting political candidates. Joe Scarborough has a history in politics.

This is a violation of NBC policy. Does it make sense for MSNBC?

HOWARD KURTZ, HOST, "RELIABLE SOURCES": It's an embarrassment for MSNBC. I think you have to have that prohibition there, even though everybody know Joe Scarborough is a conservative former Republican congressman from Florida. Everyone knows Keith Olbermann is a liberal. But there's a couple of things here that make these cases different, Ali.

For example, Scarborough was contributing to friends and, in one case, a family member in state legislative races in Florida that he isn't really involved in covering, whereas Olbermann had given to three congressional races.

VELSHI: Right.

KURTZ: And more important, the statement that Scarborough just put out -- and I was on the phone with MSNBC moments ago -- he was very contrite. He said that he apologized to MSNBC, that he didn't realize this policy would affect state races. He is taking a stance where he's very clearly accepting the two-day suspension the network has imposed. And that, I think, will make it less of a messy situation in terms of MSNBC moving past this latest embarrassment.

VELSHI: How do you deal, Howard -- because you study this, you know this, this is what you do for a living -- how do you deal with networks where taking ideological positions is par for the course during the day or on one show, but you can't do that in your individual life? I mean, is it a valid question to say that these people vote, they've got their views, and in the case of these two guys, they're invited to share their political views in public? I would suspect that Joe Scarborough's tacit endorsement of certain Republican candidates is a lot more valuable than a $500 check.

KURTZ: Yes, that's the thing about this, is that the power that they wield, the influence by having that microphone is, indeed, more important than any single donation. But at the same time, you have to draw a line somewhere. And the reason that I agree with this policy is that it's one thing for Scarborough or Olbermann or Rachel Maddow or people on Fox and CNN, for example, for that matter, who are in the opinion business, to share their views on the air. But when you get into writing checks for people, then you run into a situation, as Olbermann did, where he interviewed an Arizona Democratic congressman the same day that he gave the guy money.

Viewers didn't have any way of knowing that, and I would draw the line there. That's where MSNBC is trying to draw the line.

VELSHI: That's right. But two of the checks that we're talking about with Joe Scarborough are to his brother, who was a candidate for statehouse.

I mean, I guess the point is, NBC has a rule that says if you get what (ph) clearance you can go and appeal to the boss and see if they would clear you. Would that have been a more sensible way to do it? If he had gone and gotten clearance from the boss, and say, "My brother's running for a seat in the state legislature," would you have a big ideological problem with that?

KURTZ: No. And, in fact, had he done that -- and that was his mistake, not clearing it in advance -- had Scarborough done that, I'm sure the bosses would have said fine. And somebody like me, who does this for a living, I would not have criticized Joe Scarborough for giving money to his brother in a state legislative race.

But when you have a series of contributions over the years, it just creates a certain confusion, even though his political views are well known, is he a player, somebody who's talked about as a future candidate, is he give money to politicians, or is he just somebody who is paid to sit in front of a camera like I'm doing right now and tell you what he thinks?

VELSHI: Right. Is disclosure enough? If the idea is that you disclose it, you get clearance from your bosses, do you mind if anchors who are -- or hosts of shows who have an ideological bent to what they do, support their views with money?

KURTZ: I do mind. I think disclosure is a good first step. But here's my problem.

So, if you say, OK, you know, we know their opinions, it's all right to give money to a politician, well, what about the next step? Is it all right to go to a fund-raiser and help a politician raise money?

Sean Hannity, who hosts a show on Fox News, has done that on more than one occasion. If that's OK, is it all right to write speeches for them on the side, or privately give them advice?

At some point, you have crossed the line in which you are no longer independent, even as an opinionated person, but you are part of a political party.

VELSHI: Got it.

Howard, always good to have you on the show. Thanks very much. Come by any time.

KURTZ: I'll be happy to do that, Ali.

VELSHI: All right.

One of the topics we talk about every day on our show, "Fixing Our Schools."

We start out looking at 12th grade reading comprehension scores. Last year, students scored an average of 288 out of 500 points. That is up, by the way, two points compared to 2005, but down four points from 1992.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan says that suggests seniors' achievement isn't rising fast enough to make them succeed in college and in careers. One idea educators have is to improve grades and test scores to provide financial incentives to students.

A Harvard economist tried it out in four cities with different results. In New York, it did not help to improve standardized test scores, while in Chicago, grades improved, but standardized test scores did not.

In D.C., kids performed better on standardized reading tests. In Dallas, where second graders were paid to read books, it significantly boosted their reading comprehension scores on standardized tests.

Chris Spence joins me now. He's the director of the Toronto District School Board, my hometown, the school board under which I was educated. That's like a superintendent here in the United States. He is using social media to test the idea of cash for good grades in Toronto.

Chris, welcome to the show.

You tweeted out earlier this weeks, "Should we pay kids in our more disadvantaged communities to do well in school?"

What kind of feedback did you get for that?

CHRIS SPENCE, DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION, TORONTO DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD: Well, the feedback has been mixed. I mean, there's people who hate it, there's people who love it. But I think the fact on how we can better serve our kids, particularly from our more marginalized communities, it's a great conversation to have.

VELSHI: I put it on Facebook, and we got a ton of responses quite quickly about this whole idea.

When you tweeted that as director of the school board, what do you think? Are you just putting it out there for an idea, or do you have some idea that this might work? SPENCE: Well, I mean, I'm all about trying different things just to better support our students. And one of the things that I want to do is I want to lead with questions rather than solutions. And this is a good question for us, because we need to stay to ourselves, what else can we do to ensure that every student gets the opportunity to walk that stage with pride, dignity and options? And this may be a way to support students.

VELSHI: It is a question, though -- some people say that if you take the incentive to learn and be good and to do well in school away from the goal -- and that is that I will do well in life, I will get into a good university, and I'll have a good career -- and you make it about something else, are we endangering the value of what education should be?

SPENCE: Well, you know, again, the commentary on that has been mixed. But for me, again, I think the end result is, how do we look at different ways of serving our kids?

And, you know, for some kids, you know, they don't need the motivation. They don't need the incentive. You know, they've been brought up in an environment in which education has been valued, so it's not an issue for them.

This isn't a panacea. This is just a --

VELSHI: Sure. You don't want to have to do it. You just want to figure out a way to get students more engaged.

What would you do? What kind of things have come up as ideas for paying kids? I mean, are we talking about cash? Are we talking about incentives?

SPENCE: Well, again, it's such a high-level concept right now, and it's starting to unfold a little bit. But one of the things that we did is we set up a task force, an anti-poverty task force to take a look at this so you can talk about attendance, you can talk about, you know, being involved in certain social justice activities around the school, all the things that we know help to engage kids.

I mean, the first thing is, they have got to be in the building. And for some of these kids from some of these communities, they're not even there. So how do we get them there and engage them further in learning?

VELSHI: So, it could be anywhere from giving them some incentive to come to school, or, in Dallas, to read books, all way to pay for performance?

SPENCE: Absolutely. And I've got to tell you, two years ago I had the opportunity to visit the Spark (ph) program here at NYC, and I was amazed.

When I was sitting in the classroom and I heard those kids, and the conversation when they received their checks, one kid, a check for $86, all of a sudden he says, "You know what? I can go to college, I can go to university." For too many of these kids, post-secondary education is seen in the abstract and not a reality, because so many of them are educational pioneers in their families.

Another kid, $15. And she said, "I've got to work harder. I know I've got to make sure I complete my assignments."

So, I mean, there's a whole series of things that we can look at. But I think just having this conversation is great.

VELSHI: Yes. We often talk very regularly about things here in the United States. Are the challenges in Canada the same?

SPENCE: Well, you know, Canada and the United States, two different countries. And when you take a look at some of the (INAUDIBLE) results and things like that, you know, Canada is doing well.

But I think one of the things that there seems to be some commonality on are some of the marginalized groups. I mean, we have kids in our system, subgroups of learners, where 40 percent do not graduate. And I think the same could be said for some of the communities here in the United States. And so trying to open the door and say, OK, how are we going to serve these kids is something that I think we -- we're up for that.

VELSHI: Chris, thanks for joining us. Good to talk to you.

SPENCE: Thank you.

VELSHI: Chris Spence is the director of Toronto District School Board, talking about the concept of paying kids.

Hey, listen. I put that on my Facebook page. Go on there and tell me what you think about the idea of paying kids or creating some sort of incentive for them to do better in school.

Some crazy video out of Seattle I want to show you. A cop is seen kicking a teenager. The story behind the pictures coming up in two minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Next week we'll be bringing you to an all-star tribute of the top CNN heroes of 2010. These are people who have made positive and lasting contributions to their community and to the world. But their mission doesn't just end with an awards show.

CNN's Anderson Cooper takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "CNN HEROES": Good evening and welcome to CNN Heroes.

(voice-over): For the last three years, "CNN HEROES: AN ALL-STAR TRIBUTE" has given us all a chance to come together and honor every day unsung heroes who are changing the world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just such a tremendous show. This is what real people do every day, with no fanfare and no cameras.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're going to go to any awards show, come out to this.

NEIL PATRICK HARRIS, ACTOR: I'm so honored to be here.

COOPER: On Thanksgiving night, we celebrate the Top 10 CNN Heroes with tributes --

NICOLE KIDMAN, ACTRESS: I want to honor the strength of a remarkable woman.

COOPER: -- awards, and inspired performances.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To the heroes of CNN!

COOPER: And we announce the CNN Hero of the Year you voted for.

(on camera): The CNN Hero of the Year is Efren Penaflorida.

(APPLAUSE)

COOPER (voice-over): But what happens after the show is perhaps the best encore of all. The global exposure all the heroes receive can transform their work and their lives.

Doc Hendley has just opened a water filtration plant in Haiti, bringing clean water to an estimated 8,000 people every month.

ROY FOSTER, CNN HERO: Hello. How are you?

COOPER: Roy Foster is now able help female veterans.

And after being named 2009 CNN Hero of the Year, Efren Penaflorida captured the attention of an entire nation. His pushcart classroom model has been replicated more than 50 times across the Philippines.

More than just one night, "CNN HEROES: AN ALL-STAR TRIBUTE" has the power to change our world by inspiring the hero in each of us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you all so much for having us here today. It's a blessing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: You can see the 2010 "CNN HEROES: AN ALL-STAR TRIBUTE" on Thanksgiving at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Join Anderson Cooper, along with stars like John Legend, Halle Berry and Kid Rock as they pay tribute to the people you chose as heroes.

Again, next Thursday night, 8:00 p.m. Eastern. You can also meet all 10 of the finalists right now by going to CNN.com/Heroes.

Myanmar's pro-democracy leader freed from 15 years in detention, speaking out to CNN. Our exclusive interview next in "Globe Trekking."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Bring you up to speed with some of the top stories we're following here at CNN.

President Obama is in Portugal right now attending a key NATO summit. Afghanistan tops the agenda for the two-day summit. The NATO allies are talking about a plan to turn over security for some provinces to Afghan forces by early next year.

Minority farmers may finally get their money more than a decade after reaching a settlement with the agriculture department on claims of discrimination. The Senate is expected to approve the more than $1 billion settlement first agreed on in 1999. Qualified farmers could each get $50,000 a piece to settle their claims.

The 33 rescued Chilean miners are living it up in Los Angeles right now. They're seeing the sights, meeting important people and taking pictures with tourists. The miners and a handful of their rescuers were brought to L.A. to attend our all-star tribute to the 2010 CNN Heroes. You can see the tribute Thanksgiving night at 8:00 Eastern.

Time now for "Globe Trekking." First stop, Myanmar, formally known as Burma. Prodemocracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is wasting no time taking advantage of freedom from 15 years of detention. Myanmar's military leaders released her from house arrest on Saturday. She'd been held for 15 of the past 21 years.

Her party won the country's first elections in 1990, but the results were annulled by the military. Suu Kyi spoke with CNN's Fred Pleitgen. He asked her what she expects now from the Obama administration. Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AUNG SAN SUU KYI, PRODEMOCRACY LEADER: I believe in engagements. I'm not against that. There are lots of people who say that because now the U.S. has decided to engage with the regime, they turned their back on us. I don't think of it like that.

I think engagement is a good thing, but I don't want them to go into engagement wearing rose-colored glasses. I think I want them to be practical about it. Not engaged in rose-colored glasses but keeping your eyes open and alert. What engagement is leading to and what changes really need to be brought about. (END VIDEO CLIP) VELSHI: Fred Pleitgen joins me now from Bangkok. He conducted that interview. Fred, just give our viewers some perspective on this whole thing. She won an election. The government throws her in a jail for 15 of the last 21 years, not jail, house arrest, unable to see her children.

Her husband who lived in Britain died while she was under house arrest. She missed the interesting things that happened in the last 15 years. Why let her out now?

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, one of the reasons is they just had another election, which the international community, of course, America also said it was a complete sham, Ali. So right now I think that the military junta in Myanmar believes that they sort of sidelined her from the political process.

However, she of course has a very different view of all of this. She's already working to try to get a grassroots movement going across the country. She's trying to mobilize people who support her and I think that her main goal is she's going to try and gather so much momentum that they won't be able to ignore her anymore.

So certainly that's something that's quite dangerous for her, but it's also something the military leaders there will be very worried about, Ali.

VELSHI: Here's the question. You asked her what she expressed from President Obama. Is she really in a position to be expecting anything? Is it likely she's going to emerge as a leader of a political party or be able to have some voice or if she says anything and steps out of line she's going back under house arrest?

PLEITGEN: Well, anything's really possible. You know, it's very difficult to ascertain what the military leadership in Myanmar is going to do. Are they going to throw her back in jail if she keeps campaigning or let her do this?

Certainly if you look at her right now, she is by far the most important opposition figure in that country. I mean, when she was released from detention, thousands of people went on the streets, people who were afraid to speak their opinion at any other time, put on t-shirts, bearing her picture on it.

She is someone who's an important figure. There are people who believe in the future if things change in Myanmar, she could be a potential leader of that country. But also there's one very interesting point, possibly the military leaders believe that if they work together with her, they could get some of the sanctions against their country lifted.

They believe that she's someone who could campaign for that if they work together with her. We're not really sure what they want to do, but certainly she is a very, very important figure and one that they take very, very seriously, Ali.

VELSHI: All right, Fred, good to see you. Thanks very much. Fred Pleitgen in Bangkok, Thailand. Our next stop, by the way, on Globe Trek is Bangkok, an update on a story earlier in the week.

Police say they uncovered more than 2,000 illegally aborted human fetuses all recovered at a Buddhist temple in the Thai capital. Police searched the temple after neighbors complained about the smell of decay.

One person has been charged with performing illegal abortions. Two mortisians of the temple have been charged with hiding the remains. Officials say the fetuses may have been hidden at the temple for the past year.

Abortions are illegal in Thailand except in cases of rape or where a woman's life is endangered by her pregnancy.

Well, he's become famous for improving people's homes, but designer Verne Yip devotes lots of time to improving children's lives. He joins us next to talk about his work with UNICEF.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Tomorrow is the U.N.'s universal children's day. The idea is to remember the plight of millions of vulnerable kids worldwide and to take action to better their lives.

The U.N. Children's Fund marks the event in New York with the lighting of the UNICEF snowflake, which represents a beacon of hope. The snowflake ceremony was held last night.

Our guest, Verne Yip, helped flip the switch and light her up. Verne was named a UNICEF ambassador earlier this month. Verne, real pleasure to have you here. Thank you for having us. What do you do as UNICEF ambassador?

VERN YIP, UNICEF AMBASSADOR: Well, you know, my chief responsibility is really to get the word out. I don't think a lot of people know that 22,000 kids a day under the age of 5 die needlessly. That's not a month, that's not a year, that's a day.

VELSHI: Twenty two thousand, that what the button you're wearing on your lapel.

YIP: Absolutely. You'll notice it's crossed out all the way to zero because that's the goal of UNICEF and that's my goal, too, to make sure that number goes from 22,000 kids a day that die needlessly to zero. These are kids who don't have access to simple vaccinations, water, nutrition and so UNICEF has been for years now working to get that number to zero.

VELSHI: We certainly know the name. Every kid knows UNICEF. It works in abstractions now. People sort of need something to identify with. Where are some of these things happening? When I see 22,000 kids, under the age of 5?

YIP: Under the age of 5, that's correct.

VELSHI: Where in the world is this happening? YIP: This is all over the world. You know, UNICEF is in over 150 countries. People see specific places at the forefront of what's happening in the media at the moment, but UNICEF is in over 150 countries because they don't care about a political situation in a country, they don't care about the race of the gender.

VELSHI: Right.

YIP: Of a child or the religious affiliation. For UNICEF it's about the fact there is a child and that child needs help. So whether it's emergency relief or getting water there or getting nutrition or vaccines, it doesn't matter. It's about sort of helping those kids.

VELSHI: So you're trying to help because you got a particular audience of people who think you're amazing. And they're going to listen because if Vern's involved in this that must mean it's something I should pay attention to.

What can the average person do? So, you get out there you're an ambassador, people are seeing you on my show. What should we be thinking about with respect to getting the 22,000 a day down to zero?

YIP: Everybody can help. Everybody can do something. That's the important thing to grasp. This is the season of giving. It's a wonderful time to be with your friends and family.

Oftentimes people are spending so much time at the mall, focused on purchasing things. If you go it to unicef.usa.org you can purchase what we call inspired gifts and these start anywhere from around $20 on up.

There are so many things you can do. You can purchase mosquito nets that go somewhere, purchase things that are more education oriented or more water oriented.

VELSHI: You're buying things for -- that will go and help people, kids in these countries?

YIP: Absolutely. Instead of purchasing an actual thing to give to somebody you're giving them a present that keeps on giving, you know, the fact you are going to have mosquito nets deliver the on behalf of somebody to children somewhere. That's a pretty special thing.

VELSHI: That is a great idea.

YIP: Yes.

VELSHI: How are you -- how are you enjoying it? We love having you on here. How are you enjoying your relationship with UNICEF?

YIP: I'm actually loving it. You know, for me flipping the switch last night on the snowflake was huge because that's a huge iconic part of the holidays here in New York City.

But I don't think a lot of people necessarily know that snowflake represents UNICEF. It's the UNICEF snowflake and it's a beacon of hope for children around the world.

So it was wonderful to be a part of that and I'm also designing the UNICEF snowflake gala that happens at the end of the month as well so very excited to have that.

VELSHI: Great to have you here. Thank you so much.

YIP: It's my pleasure. Thank you for having me.

VELSHI: What a great idea, inspired gifts. I'm actually - I'm on your side on this one because in a couple minutes I'm going to talk to my viewers about this crazy shopping. We're a week away from black Friday. I just want to put a little water on this.

Let's find good uses for our money, even though I want everybody to help the economy. Do some good while you're at it. Vern, thanks for bringing this message to everybody who thinks you're terrific including us.

Vern Yip, a celebrity designer on set with us. He's the UNICEF ambassador. If you want to know more about it, we have linked to UNICEF and Vern's own website on my blog. Just go there and we'll direct you to where you need to go.

All right, President Obama has some choice words for business leaders. Our pal, Ed Henry is going to fill us in on the conversation starter when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: President Obama is offering an olive branch to the business community in an effort to smooth over bad feelings. As always at this time we're joined by CNN's senior White House correspondent Ed Henry. What's this about, Ed?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, if you remember the U.S. Chamber Of Commerce has really sort of been at war with the White House for months now.

They spent tens of millions of dollars trying to defeat the president's health care plan. They spent tens of millions of dollars in the midterm election largely electing Republicans, also campaigning for some conservative Democrats who share their agenda.

But they really felt like the president has been anti-business, the White House has pushed on that. What I'm hearing from officials close to the negotiations, some new information that the president was considering giving a speech to the Chamber Of Commerce, sort of going into the lion's den on December 2nd when they're planning a jobs summit here in Washington.

That event has now been canceled for unrelated reasons, but the chamber I'm told is planning a new event in early January when the new Congress comes in, right before the president's big state of the union address. They're planning to invite the president a second time now and the White House is going to mold it over. What I'm told by officials they're looking favorably on this notion of maybe just try to bury the hatchet here because there's been all this sort of pessimism in Washington that look, the president has an agenda that's at odds with the business community in the estimation of some in the business community.

And that maybe he's going to have a hard time coming together with the Republicans taking power in the House. There might be a ray of hope here for the White House. That maybe the president can work together with the Chamber Of Commerce, some of these business groups on say, trade.

You saw Tom Donahue, the president of Chamber Of Commerce, for example, in South Korea last week fighting hard on the president's behalf to try to seal that free trade deal. It hasn't happened yet. They're going to work together to cut debt, for example, might be support if of recommendations coming out of the president's debt commission.

The business community is basically taking the posture from what I'm told, you know, the election's over. They, you know, they helped defeat some of the president's folks, but it's over now and want to work together with the president. We'll see. There might be an opportunity here for both sides to come together.

VELSHI: If you run on to Tom Donahue, let him know to come on the show.

HENRY: Is he not a fan of yours?

VELSHI: Not at all. He thinks I'm a lefty freak or something like that. We invite him on. Tom Donahue, come on the show. Come and talk to me about your policies and about the things that he has been fighting and we want to talk about business.

HENRY: I'm going to have his people call your people.

VELSHI: His people call my people a lot. We just never get to talk to Tom Donahue. They put out statements and all sorts of things. Tom Donahue won't come and face me and answer my questions.

HENRY: It sounds like a beef you have here.

VELSHI: No, no, it's an invitation. Open invitation to talk to me. Ed, the president is in Portugal.

HENRY: He is and I think largely we're going to see a NATO summit, and our colleague, Chris Lawrence, is reporting that basically the president and the administration in general, what they're thinking about in private is the notion of trying to get maybe two or three provinces in Afghanistan to be secure enough to be handed over back to the afghans as early as next summer.

We'll see. That might be ambitious. This is going to be about Afghanistan and the nation ahead there, which is very tough, Ali.

VELSHI: Good to see you, my friend. I will see you. I'm off next week. Thanksgiving, you know.

HENRY: Have a great Thanksgiving you and your family and I look forward to seeing you on the other side. We're going to have a new time next week, 1:00 hour from now.

VELSHI: Very good, we'll get a little - little more, Ed, a little earlier in the day. Always a pleasure, Ed. Have a good weekend. I'll talk to you soon.

Time now for a political update. CNN congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar joins me from Capitol Hill with new developments involving Congresswoman Maxine Waters. Let me guess, something to do with ethics?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This has to do with ethics. She knows she had an ethics trial scheduled for a week from Monday, November 29th. Well, this trial, the Ethics Committee telling us now that it's not going to be held.

This is going to be coming up on the Ticker. It's so new, but it's not there yet. We're going to be writing something up shortly, but this Ethic Committee statement said the committee voted to recommit the matter regarding Representative Maxine Waters to the investigative subcommittee due to materials discovered that may have had an effect on the investigative subcommittee's transmittal to committee.

What does that mean exactly because I know it's confusing? Basically, they're kicking it back to the group of lawmakers who are oversaw the investigation and as per usual the Ethics Committee being very secretive about why they're doing that.

Also on the Ticker, this has to do with the economy, the American people still not feeling very good about the economy. According to a new poll, a new CNN Opinion Research Corporation poll, more than half of Americans polled said that they don't think the economy is doing so well.

That said, more than half, 52 percent, also said they're hopeful that things are going to be better here in the next year. That is, though, the smallest percentage in that hopeful group we've seen since the recession began in December of 2007.

And then also, Ali, you know, that whether or not the stimulus or as Democrats call it the Recovery Act, whether it was successful as a big, political issue here on Capitol Hill. Some Democrats say, yes, it was, Republicans say it wasn't.

Well, we do know that the stimulus managed to stimulate ad spending, $82 million spent on TV ads mostly attacking the federal stimulus so the great amount of that coming from Republicans saying it was a failure. That's also on the CNN Political Ticker, Ali.

VELSHI: Interestingly, I'm looking at it stimulating the ad industry. Brianna, thanks very much. Good to see you. Brianna Keilar on Capitol Hill. I'm going to take you for a car ride in a new car that never needs gas right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: No leaves on the trees in lots of places, but next month there will be leafs on the road. I'm talking about the Nissan Leaf. Unlike most of its green predecessors, the Leaf is entirely electric. It will wear a zero emissions badge.

It's built to go 100 miles on a single charge. It's priced not too bad for a high-tech piece of machinery. It will run you 25,000 bucks after your tax rebate. Some states offer more of a rebate.

As for when you can get one, that's a good question. Nissan says it's already has taken 20,000 reservations for the first batch and don't plan on taking anymore until sometime next year. I managed to sneak peek at one of them, however, I took the wheel and I played chauffeur for Nissan CEO, Carlos Ghosn.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: Is this a big stretch at this point for the average car buyer to get into this? What's the --

CARLOS GHOSN, CEO, NISSAN: It's not going to be a big stretch. I think first people would like to know what an electric car look like.

VELSHI: Right.

GHOSN: How does it feel to drive it?

VELSHI: Right. What kind of, you know, what is the interface with the electric car. How do I charge it? Is it complicated? The only difference really between this and a normally inducted car is the charge-up. From a driver's perspective, that's the difference, right?

GHOSN: The big difference between this and a combustion engine, first there's a charger, this is electricity. There's no noise, vibration, there is no smell. There is no gasoline. There is no gas pipe. There is no reservoir. There are a lot of changes for the driver.

VELSHI: Right out o the gate there are two cars people are going to think of as being electric cars. There's this and there's the Chevy Volt. Now, you seem to think there's a distinct difference here because you walked around the car and showed me no muffler.

GHOSN: There is no exhaust pipe in this car, which means this by no way uses gasoline for nothing. OK? So we tend to say electric car is a car that will not use gasoline. There's no exhaust pipe, there's no emission of any sort.

Any other car using gasoline is a hybrid of some sort. You can have a motor and an engine. You can say the engine is not used to move the car, it's used to charge the battery, et cetera, et cetera. You're still using gasoline.

The objective for us, obviously we have hybrids. This is not about hybrids. This is about having the technology and having a car which is totally, totally neutral in terms of emissions to the environment.

VELSHI: How big a role will electric cars play not just in Nissan, but in the automobile industry?

GHOSN: My projection is in ten years down the road, 2020, the global car market, 10 percent of the global car market would be made by electric cars.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: Get the rest of that interview on cnnmoney.com.

All right, so you can't wait to get your hands on those super black Friday bargains? I say buyer beware. I'll tell you why in my "XYZ" coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Time now for the "XYZ." I'm a business guy, but I am not into the hype surrounding black Friday. Just a week away, millions of you will rush out to take advantage of Christmas holiday discounts.

Scores of retailers will work in overdrive to lure you into their stores with door buster deals. Personally, I see zero reason for people to line up predawn just because retailers are so good at creating artificial demand for stuff. Look, I don't want to poop on your party. There are good deals out there, but you need to watch out for the real black Friday hoaxes out there.

For example, if you're lining up at midnight to score a 40 inch LCD HD TV for under $500, make sure that the store has more than four in stock. In fact, many big ticket sale items will be in very limited supply.

I've been telling you. Gold prices are going up. So beware of advertised deals of gold filled or overlaid jewelry. Those are fancy ways of saying gold-plated jewelry. Don't get me started on how retailers deliberately fudge whether the sale price is valid in store, online or both. Go out and shop if you want to, but be wary.

That's my "XYZ." Brooke Baldwin takes it over from here.