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Settlement in Madoff Case; 'A Soldier's Story'; Troops Home for the Holidays; U.S. Drone Attacks in Pakistan Kill 21; Parent Involvement the Key to Successful Schools?; Visionaries of the 1920s; Boehner Defends Tax Vote

Aired December 17, 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: Speaking about buying things, you can't buy justice, but $7.2 billion will buy a lot of peace of mind for thousands of people who were fleeced by Bernie Madoff. It's the largest civil forfeiture in U.S. history. It represents the proceeds of a Bernie Madoff who wasn't fleeced, and thus became the target of the Madoff victims' trustee.

Here's the word from the chief federal prosecutor in New York.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PREET BHARARA, U.S. ATTORNEY: A few minutes ago, a Manhattan federal judge approved a settlement agreement between my office and the estate of Jeffry Picower, represented by his widow, Barbara Picower. The agreement resolve a complaint we filed this morning seeking to recover the profits that the Picowers received over the course of 35 years from Bernard Madoff, moneys we now know were the proceeds of the largest Ponzi scheme in all of history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: So Jeffry Picower, he was one of the most successful of Madoff's investors. He ended up taking out $7.2 billion more than he invested. He was a rich guy to start with.

He died October 25, 2009. He was found in his pool by his wife. The coroner said it was a heart attack.

Now, his contribution, or his wife's decision to give back everything they got, means that Madoff victims have now recovered almost half of the $20 billion that was lost.

Cynthia and Richard Friedman lost $3 million. They join me now on the phone from West Orange, New Jersey.

Cynthia and Richard, one would expect people like you who had lost the money to think that this is great, it's a good outcome. But you have got reservations about the way this whole process is working.

RICHARD FRIEDMAN, MADOFF VICTIM: Right. We see this as good news and bad news.

The bad news is that despite all the money that the trustee has recovered, there are still hundreds of innocent people, many who are old and sick and have very little money, are being clawed back. Are you aware of the latest breaking news pertaining to this, those clawbacks?

VELSHI: Tell me about it.

FRIEDMAN: OK.

CYNTHIA FRIEDMAN, MADOFF VICTIM: We just found out that Representative Scott Garrett of New Jersey, the incoming chairman of the House Financial Services, introduced a bill to protect ordinary investors of Madoff from further clawbacks by the trustee. Can I read a brief excerpt from the statement?

VELSHI: Sure.

C. FRIEDMAN: "When investors see the civic seal of approval, they should have confidence in the account statements they receive. These ordinary investors who knew nothing about the fraud should not be held to a higher standard than the federal government, which, in the case of the SEC, missed the Madoff fraud and the IRS used these statements to gladly tax us."

VELSHI: All right. So your contention is that people who made some -- basically, the trustee has separated this into two kinds of people, people who got back less than they put in with Madoff, like you, and people who got back more than they invested with Madoff, like Jeffry Picower, whose estate has now given up the $7.2 billion.

How do you distinguish? Because at what level do you stop with who you go after?

C. FRIEDMAN: Well, as Representative Garrett's bill suggests, it's the ordinary investor that had no culpability, that had no idea what was going on, and had no reason to know anything was going on, because the SEC didn't know it and --

VELSHI: Right. But even the prosecutor today said -- or the U.S. attorney said this guy, Picower, should have known because of the size of returns he was getting. But ultimately, most investors didn't know. They may have suspected something was up, but how would you really know?

C. FRIEDMAN: You didn't. There was nothing. The statements looked legitimate. If you don't own the stock and have the stock in your hand, in your name, and you let the investment companies buy it in street name, you don't know. You have no proof.

VELSHI: And Richard, you were one of these people who thought that you were invested all these years in a conservative investment. You didn't think it was some great thing. It was something that was stable.

R. FRIEDMAN: It turns out I was jealous of all the people in the 1990s who were getting 30 percent returns on the Dow Jones Industrials year in and year out. We were getting 10 percent to 12 percent. I was happy, but I was jealous of them, to tell you the truth.

VELSHI: Well, you're a perfect example of why this is a complicated story. It seems obvious that we should all be happy that there's $7.2 billion going out to people who had lost money, but you bring us another side of the story.

C. FRIEDMAN: Absolutely.

VELSHI: And that is, there are some people who may have gotten in more than they invested, but they had no idea they were doing anything, or that those were ill-gotten gains. And the government is pursuing them.

About 400 cases, by the way, are being pursued of people who got more money out of it than they invested.

Thanks very much to the two of you, and we hope things work out.

R. FRIEDMAN: Thank you.

C. FRIEDMAN: Thank you.

VELSHI: Well, whatever else the new year has in store, we know now that our income tax rates won't be going up. Our payroll tax will be going down. And million of the long-term unemployed will have access to federal benefits.

In a little less than two hours, the president is due to sign an almost $900 billion compromise that sailed through the Senate on Wednesday and almost died in the House yesterday before an astonishing comeback and landslide approval at midnight.

So now lame-duck can head home for the holidays. Right? Wrong.

There's always a repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" which passed the House on Wednesday. For the second time, the Senate is expected to vote on it tomorrow.

The House can't vote on an updated nuclear arms treaty with Russia, the START treaty, but the Senate intends to. On Wednesday, members voted to cut off debate and proceed to a final vote, though it's not clear when. And remember, that's a treaty, so 67 vote are needed to ratify it, two-thirds.

Senate Republicans had vowed not to vote on anything until the tax cuts passed and the government was funded past tomorrow. None of the usual appropriation bills has been enacted, and the latest stop- gap spending runs out at midnight. The House passed a bill to maintain current spending through the end of the fiscal year, but a trillion-dollar Senate bill imploded when Republicans turned against it. A chief complaint was earmarks, pork barrel spending, many of which were inserted by Republicans.

Today's "Sound Effect" is from a man who feels he is being muzzled. Julian Assange, the founder and the boss of WikiLeaks, he's out of prison in London, but he's not quite free. He has to wear one of those bracelet things.

While he fights extradition to Sweden in a sex crimes case, he is confined to a supporter's estate and forced to check in with police every day. He has also had to post a six-figure bail so today he could stand in the snow, under a blue sky, and declare solidarity with a person he says he's never met. And that would be the U.S. Army private accused of trafficking in secret U.S. documents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIAN ASSANGE, WIKILEAKS FOUNDER: I never heard of the name Bradley Manning until I saw it in the media. And that is right, because in the end, that is the only way which sources can be guaranteed that they are protected, if even the journalists don't know who they are.

But we do see that he is embroiled through these allegations, that he is somehow involved in this. We don't know whether that's true or not, but we think we should do our part to help anyone who is being embroiled unfairly in our publishing activities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Assange says WikiLeaks has offered $50,000 to Manning's legal defense fund, but the Bradley Manning support network was complaining last week that funds that WikiLeaks had promised them back in July had not arrived.

Let's point out, though, it hasn't been proven that Manning leaked anything to anybody. We'll keep following this.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: For more than a year, CNN has been following the stories of three U.S. military recruits -- a mother who makes the tough decision to leave her baby in order to join the Army; an 18-year-old fresh out of high school, pursuing his dream; and a career soldier on his second combat tour in Afghanistan.

Jason Carroll gives us a sneak preview of what it's like for these three to be in the Army during a time of war.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the fading light of a cold December evening, barely one full year ago, the president of the United States forged Marine One, and then Air Force One for a trip to West Point, New York.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States.

CARROLL: The 33-minute speech he is about to deliver will affect the lives of every cadet in Eisenhower Hall. BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And as commander in chief, I have determined to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan.

CARROLL: Along with every man and woman serving or about to serve in the United States military.

For more than a year, CNN has followed three of these soldiers. Together, they tell a story of how the president's decision, to expand the war in Afghanistan, affects the people most directly in harm's way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One, two, three -- come on, you got it. Come on. You got it.

CARROLL: Latricia Rose joins the Army, leaving behind a 2-year- old daughter with a husband wondering how he can do it alone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we go. Almost done.

CARROLL: Sergeant Randy Shorter is a husband and father of two. Just 32 years old, he's already a veteran of two combat tours. Now he's about to return to Afghanistan to an area the military calls hell on earth.

And then there's 18-year-old Will McLain, who, weeks from tonight, may find himself carrying out the president's mission into the very heart of Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: Jason Carroll joins me now.

Jason, we've watched as you've put these stories together over time. I guess we all go into stories about the military with our own preconceived notions.

What surprised you most as you followed these three?

CARROLL: You know, there were several surprises along the way.

And again, just to sort of reset the clock here, the reason why I initially got involved in this series and wanted to do it is because I don't come from a military family, Ali. And I wanted to give people like myself and other folks out there a real chance to see what military life is like.

And what surprised me was the dedication. You hear so much about this, the dedicated soldiers. But when you see what you really have to go through in order to become a soldier, the sacrifices you make as a recruit, all the way up to folks like Sergeant First Class Randy Shorter, who is on his third combat tour of duty, the sacrifices that these men and women make, and have been making over the past few years during these wars, it's really incredible. So I think that was the thing to me that was the most surprising to really witness. VELSHI: Jason, these are not people who earn a lot of money. Sure, there are some interesting financial benefits to being in the military, very little of which makes it worth putting your life on the line.

Did you ever just ask them why? Why to this woman who leaves her young child and her husband behind? I mean, there are ways to make money, albeit a tough economy, without risking your life. Is there a consistent driving force?

CARROLL: You know, I think it's different reasons for different people.

Latricia Rose, the driving force behind her getting involved was economic. I mean, very little out there in terms of a way to earn a living. Latricia Rose saw this as a better way for her family.

For Will McLain, the very young recruit, 18 years old, comes from a very small town, he wanted out. He saw very few opportunities. He saw this as a way of serving his country and getting out of that small town.

For Randy Shorter, different again. His father was a military man. So, for him, it was a little bit of tradition that was involved as well.

So I think there could be very different reasons for why people ultimately get involved. But remember, as you know more than anyone else, I mean, we're at a time of war. And so the stakes are so much higher now when these folks get involved and join up.

VELSHI: Sure, that's right.

CARROLL: But when they do it, they are dedicated. And I think that was the thing that, again, that was most surprising to me to see.

VELSHI: They sure are. Whenever I see them shipping out at the airport, I'm always fascinated. I wonder if they think I'm staring at them for any particular reason. I'm staring at them to try and see if I can understand what their motivations are and what drives them.

We look forward to watching this special. We've enjoyed the work you've done on it, and it's been very helpful.

Jason Carroll, thanks very much.

Be sure to watch the one-hour documentary tracking these military recruits every step of the way. Really, you learn things you didn't know about it. "A Soldier's Story" airs this Saturday and Sunday, December 18th and 19th, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, both days only on CNN.

OK. Imagine the scenes playing out across the country right now as thousands of servicemen and women return home just in time for the holidays. Again, you think you know what it looks like, but we're going to let you in on the heart of all of it when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Thousands of servicemen and women are on their way home just in time for the holidays. Twenty-two hundred service members expected to come through Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport today alone.

On Sunday, 5,000 more military personnel flying through Atlanta. This is a big hub for military personnel who come back this way. There are a lot of commercial and chartered flights that bring people to and from Atlanta.

For all the traveling I do, I mostly see military personnel at Hartsfield.

This happy homecoming is going on across the country though. There are many other airports because these people are connecting and getting to their home bases.

Reynolds Wolf joins us now, live from the USO Welcome Center at Atlanta's airport. He has got more for us now.

It's always exciting when you see bunches of these troops. We all end up on flights with individual troops, and they often get a round of applause. But when you're at the airport and you see the USO bringing them through, and people responding to it, it's always something, Reynolds.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, no question about it. I mean, let's be honest, these are America's best.

And speaking of America's best, we have got one of them right here with us.

Sir, your name is?

PFC. MATTHEW MCMANAMAN, U.S. ARMY: Pfc. Matthew McManaman.

WOLF: Matt, where's home for you?

MCMANAMAN: Massachusetts.

WOLF: Massachusetts. So where have you been lately?

MCMANAMAN: I've been at Fort Benning for the past -- let's see, since August 10th. So six, seven months now.

WOLF: So you've been away from home for quite a while.

MCMANAMAN: Quite a while, yes. It's nice to be here trying to get home now for the holidays.

WOLF: You've got to be excited. MCMANAMAN: Oh, I'm really excited. A lot of family.

WOLF: Well, what do you look forward to most? I mean, since you've been away for so long, what's the thing?

MCMANAMAN: The biggest thing is my fiancee and my nine nieces and nephews. I'm big on family. Nine nieces and nephews, really big.

WOLF: Well, what about the food in the armed forces? I mean, is it -- does it leave a little to be desired?

MCMANAMAN: I'm not going to miss it at all. I mean, I'm going to have some good food here 18 days, and then I have to eat it all over again. You know?

WOLF: Absolutely. Where are you headed after the 18 days?

MCMANAMAN: I'm going to Fort Knox, Kentucky.

WOLF: All right. Well, good luck to you.

MCMANAMAN: Appreciate it.

WOLF: Thanks so much for serving your country. Happy holidays to you.

MCMANAMAN: You too, sir.

WOLF: You know, these guys come through waypoints (ph) like this, the USO. This USO -- we're going to take a walk in here real fast, Ali.

Actually, it has about half a million guys, men and women, that will come through here. And when they do, they just get a little taste of America before they head back to their families, or they may be headed the other way, going back to the battlefield.

They check in. If you look at some of the names -- like, on this one, you've got people from Texas, from Kentucky, Florida, obviously here in Georgia, Illinois, Ohio. From all over.

Let's see. We've got some from the Air Force, the Navy, the Army, the Marines, the Coast Guard. They're all here.

And when they do come in, they've got a couple of options. They can either sit down in these great leather recliners over on one side, or they step right up in the chow line.

And I'll tell you, as great as this stuff happens to be, I want you to see something else. Take a look at this video that we have. This is what it's really all about, this video that we took just a short while ago, parents waiting, excited, and finally, their son comes home. We've seen these sons and daughters come up these escalators -- their moms, their dads, their parents -- and when the families reunite, there is nothing quite like it. Ali, it's an amazing thing to see. They're home for the holidays just a short time. They're making the most of it before they head back.

Let's send it back to you in the studio -- Ali.

VELSHI: I've seen it a few times, Reynolds, and it is absolutely fantastic. I'll be at the airport later on today, so hopefully I'll get to see it again.

Thanks very much.

Reynolds Wolf.

We'll keep an eye on more of these troops coming in for you.

(WEATHER REPORT)

VELSHI: Drone strikes in the tribal region of Pakistan. We've been telling you about those. They've killed more suspected militants.

We're going "Globe Trekking" to Islamabad for a quick update after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

***30

VELSHI: Happening now. In about an hour, President Obama is expected to sign an $858 billion tax deal into law. That bill extends the Bush-era tax cuts for two years for everybody, as well as the ability to apply for extended federal unemployment benefits for another 13 months. There are a number of other things that'll -- that'll be beneficial to you in that tax bill.

There's Bernie Madoff, from March of 2009. The estate of one of Bernie Madoff's most successful investors has agreed to pay the government a whopping $7.2 billion. That's money that Madoff paid to investor Jerry Picower (ph). Picower withdrew that money from Madoff's investment firm over time. Picower died last year. His wife settled with the government. The government says it'll pay the money out as soon as possible.

And happening now, 120 Marines are arriving back at Camp Pendleton in California. These Marines participated in disaster relief after the Pakistani floods. They were also involved in the seizure of the ship Magellan Star after Somali pirates hijacked it in the Gulf of Aden.

Time now to go "Globe Trekking." It is going to be a tense weekend on the Korean peninsula. North Korea has warned South Korea that it will launch a military strike if the South goes ahead with live-fire military drills near Yeonpyeong Island, which you can see there. Yeonpyeong Island is just off the coast, seven miles of the coast of North Korea, but it's part of South Korea. Tensions are already high over the North Korean shelling of that island last month that killed four people.

New Mexico governor Bill Richardson is in North Korea, invited by the country to attempt to cool things off. CNN's Wolf Blitzer, as you see there on the right, only U.S. television journalist traveling with him. We heard from Wolf earlier by phone. He said the governor's already met with both sides to talk about key issues.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR (via telephone): It sets the stage for a more important meeting tomorrow that Richardson will have with the chief nuclear negotiator of North Korea, the man who invited him. Richardson here, Kim Gae Guan (ph) -- they'll have a meeting tomorrow. There'll be a big banquet in Richardson's honor tonight. So I think they're pleased that the discussions have moved forward.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

VELSHI: More from Wolf from North Korea on the situation tonight starting at 5:00 PM Eastern.

Let's to go Pakistan now, where three suspected U.S. drone attacks killed 21 suspected militants today. All three strikes occurred in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan. You can see it there in orange in the middle of the screen.

CNN's Pentagon correspondent, Chris Lawrence, is in Islamabad. He joins me now live. Hey, Chris.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Ali. Yes, the key to these strikes which makes them different is exactly where they occurred. It shows that the U.S. is increasing not only the frequency of the drone strikes, but also expanding into areas where they weren't using them before.

These were -- two Pakistani intelligence officials tell us that all of these three strikes occurred in the Khyber region. They also say there was another drone strike in that same area last night. Now, this is an area we hadn't seen drone strikes before. Most of them have been further south in the Waziristan area. But I'm told that the drone strikes in that part had been so relentless, some of the militant were starting to fan out to other areas, and the U.S. had requested the ability to sort of expand the drone program into other areas like Khyber -- Ali.

VELSHI: Chris, how is this going over, this whole idea of these drone strikes? They are reported as successful when they're successful, but we know sometimes they get militants, sometimes they don't get militants and sometimes they actually get innocent civilians.

LAWRENCE: Yes. Exactly. I mean, you know, this is a situation where publicly, the Pakistani government calls them unhelpful. They condemn them because, as you said, they do hit civilians from time to time, and that causes a lot of unrest, causes a big backlash against not only the U.S. but also the Pakistani government, as well.

Publicly, the American officials, U.S. officials, won't even admit they're using drones. It's sort of deny, deny, deny. But the U.S. is the only nation with that sort of capability in the area.

But sometimes, this spills out publicly. The top U.S. intelligence chief, the station chief of the CIA's office here in Islamabad, had to be recalled to the United States. He would be the person who would sort of oversee drone activity in this area, but he operates covertly. What happened was, a local Pakistani man sued, and this person was named in a lawsuit because this man says his son was killed in a drone attack. Once his name became public, the bureau, the intelligence community, says he was receiving death threats and it was simply unsafe for him to stay here in Pakistan, so he had to be recalled back to the U.S. -- Ali.

VELSHI: Still tricky relationship between the U.S. and Pakistan, one that the president said earlier this week in his report, his evaluation of the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan, one that still needs to be worked on. Chris, great reporting from out there. Thanks very much. Our Pentagon correspondent, Chris Lawrence in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital.

Let's to go West Africa now. U.N. secretary general Ban-ki Moon has called on the incumbent president of the Ivory Coast to step down following a disputed election there last month. He said any other outcome would make a mockery of democracy. The country's independent electoral commission declared opposition leader Alassane Ouattara the president over the existing president, Laurent Gbagbo. But the country's Constitutional Council invalidated those results. At least nine unarmed protesters were killed by security forces yesterday in Abidjan -- that's the country's largest city. The U.S. and other countries have given Gbagbo a deadline to leave the country or face sanctions.

Public education in this country is broken across much of it. Many people blame teachers, but how much responsibility do parents carry? We'll discuss it after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: We constantly on this show look at different ways to fix broken schools in the country. Today we're doing some homework. Several studies and polls now say it's not just teachers or the school board contributing to low student test scores and poor graduation rates. Some of the problems are at home with the parents.

Check out this Gallup poll. It asks, "In your opinion, which is a more important factor in determining whether students learn in school, the students, the school or the students' parents? Twenty-two percent of the national poll says it's the school. Seventy-six percent, overwhelmingly, says it's the parents. And if ask you public school teachers, the public school students' parents, they actually think it's -- it's parents, as well.

Let me be clear. Whether we're talking about teachers or parents or schools, we are not here playing a blame game. We just want to keep on examining what the problem is in our schools.

Joining me now is Julie Woestehoff -- she's the executive director of Parents United for Responsible Education -- and Steve Perry, our education contributor and the principal of Capital Prep Magnet School.

Steve, I'm so used to you telling me that it's teachers, but I know you've done a lot of research into this and you think there's a role that parents can play. We all know that, obviously. That's a given, that parents to have play a role in their education. But what can they be doing in the face of a public education crisis?

STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: One of the things that parents can do is they can help to set up an environment at home that's conducive to studying. I am the one who talks about teachers being responsible for what's happening in our schools and for education in large part. There also is a role that each one of us can play, whether we're members of the government or we're members of the parenting corps. We have to do what our part is so that we can all move towards a better school system.

VELSHI: OK. The issue here, Julie, is that teachers are paid to be teachers and go school. School administrators are paid to do that. Parents, particularly in this economy, sometimes to have work two jobs. And what parents can do can't be consistent across the board. So what can parents do that at least provides the basic support mechanism for kids to succeed in schools?

JULIE WOESTEHOFF, EXEC. DIR., PARENTS UNITED FOR RESPONSIBLE ED.: Well, of course, parents have a sacred obligation, really, to make sure their children get everything they need in life, and that includes an education. There's no skipping the parents' responsibility. The fact is, though, that the schools really can't take on fixing a family if a family needs fixing. They can't really reach out so far beyond their school boundaries. So we all need to work together. You know, we talk about parent-school partnerships. Sometimes that's a just cliche, and we really need to make that into a reality.

VELSHI: Well, when is it not a cliche, Julie? When does it really work? What examples have you seen where an intervention in terms of remarkable involvement by parents really changes not just their own students' performance but the way a school is running?

WOESTEHOFF: Well, boy in Chicago, we have a great example of that in our local school councils, which are bodies that are elected by the parents and the community to have a say in what happens in the school. That really motivates parents to get into the school, to bring their voices to the table, and to work with the teachers to make sure that what's happening in the school is going on well for children.

Parents really need to be empowered at the school, and sometimes they don't feel that way. You know, we have a lot of security in our schools. Sometimes parents come into the school and just they don't feel as though they belong. So we do need ways of making people -- of making parents feel more a part of the school so that they can be better partners with teachers.

VELSHI: Steve, we were just doing a story with Casey Wian the other day out in California, where parents are taking over a school. You know, schooling is complicated. What -- should parents be doing stuff, as did you in a special a few weeks ago, which creates the environment at home that helps? Or do parents need to be invited into the decision making about how the school is run?

PERRY: I think both. I think there are places in which parents in the home can be very, very helpful, something as simple as helping a child do note cards. You may not necessarily know the subject, but you can make sure the child is taking notes and show that they -- when they can explain to you their homework, they have a really good understanding of it. That's something that -- a little trick that a parent can use.

On the same token, parents can be very -- play a very meaningful role what happens in the school. In many cases, parents are the ones who are behind the a lot of the most fun parts of school. When you think about kids being able to go to band camp or we think about kids being able to participate in activities in the school, when they have technology -- in many cases, it's because the parents either lobbied their community and/or they went out and got the money themselves.

A lot of the fund-raising -- I mean, there are a lot of parents out there who have a bunch of candy bars somewhere in their house that they still have the responsibility of selling. That is what gives the culture and climate of the school.

VELSHI: Right.

PERRY: So parents should not necessarily be held responsible for what's being taught and how it's being taught because we pay and educate professionals to do that. But they can make a very big impact on the culture and climate. And honestly, Ali, that's what we all walk away from school thinking about. As much as I'd like to say that it's what we learn in the classroom, it's those relationships that form. And parents can do a lot to make that happen within the school.

VELSHI: Yes, that sounds logical. Julie, you agree with that?

WOESTEHOFF: Well, you know, there's so much work to be done. And we -- it's going to take all of us to do it, so we really do need to be working together more than we are now. And I think that, if you can think of it, parent, go to the school and do it. And it's going to help your child and it's going to help other children.

VELSHI: Julie Woestehoff, good to talk to you. Thank you very much for joining us. Julie is the executive director of Parents United for Responsible Education -- lovely acronym there, PURE. Steve Perry, our good friend and CNN contributor and principal in Hartford, Connecticut.

Let me bring you up to speed with some of the top stories that we are following right now on CNN. President Obama expected to sign the tax cut compromise bill in about an hour from now. The House finally passed it late last night. Along with extending Bush-era tax cuts, the bill extends emergency unemployment benefits for 13 months. CNN has learned that Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell will be at the signing ceremony next hour, and we'll be bringing it to you live.

The estate of one of Bernie Madoff's most successful investors has agreed to pay the government a whopping $7.2 billion. That money will go to investors who were swindled. it's money paid by Madoff to Jeffrey Picower. He died last year. His wife settled this. The money amounts to more than a third of the money lost by other investors in Madoff's Ponzi scheme. The government says the money will be paid out to those swindled investors as soon as humanly possible.

General Motors recalling about 100,000 new SUVs because of potential problems with seatbelts. The models are the Chevy Equinox, the GMC Terrain (ph) and the Cadillac SRX compact crossover SUV. In testing, a seatbelt anchor on the driver's side failed during something called secondary impact. GM is sending letters to owners that let them know what to do about the recall.

Well, what do you think life's going to be like in 80 years? Flying cars? Teleporting? Well, 80 years ago, people made some predictions about how life would be now. How close were they? I'll tell you about it on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: I love this stuff, to find out whether predictions come true. About 80 years ago, people made predictions about how life would look right now. Josh Levs has dug them up and is going to tell us about them.

(CROSSTALK)

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know what? This was really cool. First of all, let's set the scene, OK? We've got some pictures in 1931 for you, which I think is great that we can even do that. Take a look --

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: -- Depression.

LEVS: Keep in mind, you've got a couple years after, you know, the big crash. You had the Great Depression. You had Herbert Hoover in as president. And you know, what happened was, when "The New York Times" went to some visionaries of the day and said, What will the world be like, what will America be like in 80 years, they were really hopeful for a better time. And they wanted to see things be a lot, lot better.

VELSHI: Right.

LEVS: So let's take a look at what some of these predictions are. So this is now going all over the Web. People are (INAUDIBLE) This is one of the main ones, W.J. Mayo, well known for the Mayo Clinic.

VELSHI: Right.

LEVS: (INAUDIBLE) he guessed the average lifespan would be 70. We beat that.

VELSHI: Yeah.

LEVS: Right? According to the CDC, the average lifespan is now 78.

VELSHI: OK.

LEVS: So (INAUDIBLE) we're doing pretty well. Now, take a look at this, William Ogburn, who was a sociologist, very well known. He guessed that the U.S. population would be 160 million.

VELSHI: And we're double that!

LEVS: We've doubled that. But my favorite thing from him -- look what he guessed. "The magic of remote control will be commonplace."

VELSHI: He wasn't off by that much. When was the magic of remote control first commonplace?

LEVS: Well --

VELSHI: Ten years ago?

LEVS: (INAUDIBLE) '80s, but especially in the '90s. But you know what? You can expand on that and say we got our smartphones and --

VELSHI: Oh, I was only off myself by about 20 years on that, so --

(CROSSTALK)

LEVS: -- being in school. OK --

VELSHI: When I was a kid, by the way, you -- there was a wired remote for the TV with a lot of -- two rows of buttons on it, so --

LEVS: I've seen pictures of that.

VELSHI: Yes.

LEVS: Like, you click on it?

VELSHI: Yes. So I -- you know (INAUDIBLE)

LEVS: Look at this guy, Michael Pupin (ph). Take a look here. "Workers will be guaranteed an equitable share of wealth." Now, yes, exactly. I think especially in this economy, right, a lot of you are thinking, What? VELSHI: I don't think I -- I don't think a whole lot of -- I mean, I -- there are systems which have helped that come into place. There's more democracy in the markets. But I think a lot of people would take issue with that one.

LEVS: Yes, I mean, this is the thing. Like, they were being hopeful, especially because people --

VELSHI: Sure.

LEVS: -- were struggling so much. And let's get in one more. You know, this is a time when people are fighting about our borders. Look at this. Arthur Compton -- "National boundaries will gradually cease to have their present importance." And he was arguing that the world was going to become so globalized --

VELSHI: Yes.

LEVS: -- that we wouldn't be worried about our borders so much. There might even be these international governmental groups. Clearly, that's not exactly what played out, but it is interesting to take a look at that.

VELSHI: Yes, look, there's a lot more free trade. There's a lot --

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: It's easier to travel to other places and to land and take off and go through customs. In that sense, some of that --

(CROSSTALK)

LEVS: And this was pre-U.N. I mean, keep in mind --

VELSHI: Yes. That's right.

LEVS: -- the U.N. came out of the horror of the Holocaust and World War II, so clearly, there are --

VELSHI: And yet we still have horrible wars and they're still fought over boundaries.

LEVS: (INAUDIBLE) the idea that there are these international institutions. In some ways, he's right. The last thing I want to show you, a picture of Henry Ford.

VELSHI: Yes.

LEVS: (INAUDIBLE) business guy right here, Henry Ford, one of the biggest names ever --

VELSHI: Yes.

LEVS: -- in the history of America. He was asked to predict, and he basically said the only value in predicting is that 80 years from now, people are going to get to laugh at us or take a look at what it is that we would be saying and contrast it against reality. So he himself was really smart (INAUDIBLE)

VELSHI: And that was in the day before YouTube and things like that, so there's a chance that could have been forgotten. So anything we say today lasts forever. And as you know, if you've ever done a blooper on TV, it really lasts forever.

LEVS: Does it?

VELSHI: Yes.

LEVS: Does it?

VELSHI: Yes.

LEVS: Really? Fascinating.

VELSHI: Yes, it's like people dig it out and they post on it Twitter or something --

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: Honestly, why you got to keep on running that stuff?

(CROSSTALK)

LEVS: I posted the whole thing --

VELSHI: (INAUDIBLE)

LEVS: Yes, well, we've seen that. All right, so I posted the whole thing for you at Facebook and Twitter. I'm up at Joshlevscnn, and you will see all these luminaries, all these visionaries of the time, what they thought --

VELSHI: Fascinating stuff.

LEVS: -- it would be like --

VELSHI: I think it's great.

LEVS: -- in 2011.

VELSHI: Thank you, my friend. Always a pleasure to see you on TV.

Hey, the Tea Party planning to take an even more active role in the 2012 political races, especially in the race for the White House, the big one. We'll tell you about one event being put on the calendar today that could have an effect on who emerges as the Republican nominee --

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: President Obama is expected to sign the tax compromise bill in the next hour, but it's one of the votes on that package that tops our look at the political headlines. CNN chief nation correspondent John King joins me now live from Washington. What do you know, John?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ali, good to see you. You know, Republicans love tax cuts, right? You think all the Republicans would be saying, Great, the president's going to sign this today. But no. There's a divide in the Republican Party over this tax cut deal. Some people think it doesn't go far enough. They think all those cuts should have been permanent, not just extended two years. Others say the unemployment benefits and other things add to the deficit.

So John Boehner, who will be the speaker of the House in January, he's actually having to defend his vote today. Why is he defending it? Because Sarah Palin, among others, say this is a, quote, "lousy deal," in Governor Palin's words. Boehner says, You know what? He doesn't like everything in it, but he thought it was the best deal available at the time, since Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat, is still Speaker of the House. We'll watch for that event in the next hour.

And you mentioned a big event coming up next year. Don't make any Labor Day weekend plans next year, Ali, because CNN and the Tea Party Express are going to co-host a Republican presidential debate down in Tampa, Florida, Labor Day weekend, 2011. That is the same city that will host the Republican convention. So somebody at that debate will be looking to come back as the Republican nominee. We're looking forward to that event. Scrap the vacation plans.

And tonight on "JOHN KING USA," "Don't ask. don't tell" -- the repeal of the military's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy -- that big vote will come in the Senate tomorrow. The key player in the Senate pushing that bill through has been the independent senator Joseph Lieberman, a former Democrat from Connecticut. He's going to be on "JOHN KING USA" tonight, Ali. And one of the questions we'll put to him -- why can't he convince his close friend, Republican John McCain, to vote yes on repeal?

VELSHI: All right, that'll be good to watch. John, thank very much. Good to see you. "JOHN KING USA" tonight, 7:00 PM Eastern. Your next "Political Update" just an hour away.

Billions about to be returned to Bernie Madoff victims. It's a story I've been intrigued with since learning about his massive scheme two years ago. My "XYZ" is next.

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VELSHI: Time now for the "XYZ" of it. For the last three hours, we've been reporting news about a massive repayment to victims of the Bernie Madoff saga. U.S. attorney and the court-appointed trustee for the victims of Madoff announced that they recovered $7.2 billion from the estate of the late Jeffrey Picower, one of Madoff's most successful investors. That is the biggest civil forfeiture of money in U.S. history. Whether or not you care about this story, this is a huge victory. Remember, when this story broke in late 2008, almost everyone assumed that most, if not all, of the estimated $20 billion invested with Madoff over the years was gone forever. Prior to today's developments, the Madoff victims trustee already recovered around $1.5 billion by liquidating some of Madoff's assets. But today's announcement raises that number dramatically. Close to $9 billion now has been recovered, almost half the amount lost by investor. That Barbara Picower, who manages her late husband's estate, agreed to give back, as the trustee's office put it, every cent she received from Madoff's scheme is a huge step in addressing those investors who lost so much.

But it's far from over. About 16,000 people have made claims. About 2,300 of them have been deemed legitimate, and the trustee is suing some 400 people like Picower, who withdrew more money from Madoff than they had invested with him. And unlike the billionaire Picower, many of those people being sued are not wealthy, and they feel that the government shouldn't be going after them. It's a sad saga all around, with a good bit of news around it today. That's my "XYZ."

CNN NEWSROOM continues with Brooke Baldwin.