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Herman Cain in the Hot Seat; Dissecting Cain's 9-9-9 Plan; Fashion House Gets a Face Lift; Alleged Assassination Plot Revealed; Alleged Assassination Plot Revealed; Republicans Face Off in New Hampshire; Warren Buffett Reveals 2010 Income; Trapped Miners One Year Later; Talk Back Question; NBA Lockout's Ripple Effects
Aired October 12, 2011 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour, I'm Suzanne Malveaux. I want to get you up to speed.
American officials are outraged. They say Iran will pay. This Texas used car salesman is the unlikely suspect in an alleged assassination plot backed by Iran. Now, the U.S. claims that Mansour Arbabsiar, who holds dual U.S.-Iranian citizenship, tried to hire an undercover informant to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States. Officials say he wanted to blow up a Washington restaurant, killing the diplomat and potentially many Americans along with him. U.S. officials gathered Washington's diplomatic core to the State Department today to assure them that they are safe, and the Obama administration is now deciding how to respond to Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's an outrage that violates one of the fundamental premises of (INAUDIBLE) nation's (INAUDIBLE) is the sanctity and safety of their diplomats. And so, this is really over the top. They have to be held accountable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
The U.S. links the alleged plot to the elite Quds Force, a force that they believe could be backed by Iran's Revolutionary Guard. It's far from clear if the Quds were acting on their own or orders from Iranian's top leaders. Iran calls the alleged plot "a fabrication" and accuses the United States of, quote, "stupid mischief."
We are keeping an eye on an event where the secretary of state Hillary Clinton to see whether or not she has some new remarks on Iran and this alleged assassination plot. Clinton is going to be speaking at a conference in Washington that hosted by the Center for American Progress. That is happening in just a few minutes.
The terror trial of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab came to an abrupt end. That happened today in Detroit. The Nigerian man pleaded guilty to all counts on the second day of his trial. Abdulmutallab was charged with trying to blow up an airliner with explosives hidden in his underwear. That happened, you may recall, back on Christmas Day back in 2009. Attorney General Eric Holder and other Justice Department officials got subpoenaed today on Fast and Furious. A House committee want ease mails and other communications on that botched operation. That operation allowed illegal gun sales in Phoenix so that federal agenst could follow the weapons to Mexican drug cartels. Agents lost track of 2,000 guns. Some were used in murders in the United States and Mexico. Holder told Congress in May that he had only known about Fast and Furious for just a few weeks. Republicans claim that Holder knew more than he is acknowledging.
Senate Republicans have blocked President Obama's $447 billion jobs package, but lawmakers are likely to see that bill again, but in smaller pieces. President Obama says he is going to break the jobs legislation into several small bills and press Congress to pass each one of those.
He just wrapped up a speech at the White House forum on Latino heritage. That happened just moments ago. And Republicans did not like the way that the president would pay for the jobs bill. He wanted a surtax on people earning more than $1 million.
Herman Cain's surge in the polls made him a target at last night's Republican debate in New Hampshire. Cain's 999 tax plan drew fire as an unworkable scheme that didn't stand a chance of passing in Congress. Cain, as you know, is the former Godfather's Pizza CEO. He wants a flat nine percent tax on individuals, a 9 percent tax on businesses, along with 9 percent national sales tax. Candidate Jon Huntsman, he joked, he thought 999 was the price for a pizza.
The next debate is the CNN Western Republican presidential debate. That happens on Tuesday, October 18th at 8 p.m. Eastern. Anderson Cooper is going to moderate live from Las Vegas.
Budget cuts lead to an unintended result in Topeka, Kansas. The city council has repealed the local ordinance on domestic violence. That is because the district attorney stopped prosecuting misdemeanors. He says he didn't have the money. The council says the move forces the cases into state courts, which will actually have to bear the costs. Eighteen people have been arrested in Topeka on domestic violence charges but released because no one would prosecute them.
An update now on Brian Stow. He is the San Francisco Giants' fan who was brutally beaten outside Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles. Stow has left a San Francisco hospital. He's now in a rehab facility that specializes in severe brain trauma. The beating left Stow, a paramedic and father of two, in a coma for months. He recently spoke his first words and began interacting with his family.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. GEOFF MANLEY, BRYAN STOW'S PHYSICIAN: When Brian came here, he was in a comatose state and when he left us today, he was able to begin to speak, interact with his family and he is now beginning to eat as well. And he is making dramatic progress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEUAX: Doctors still aren't sure how much brain function that Stow is going to get back over the long haul. They call him a challenging patient.
Back to our lead story. The alleged assassination attempt against Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States. Justice Department alleges that the plan was to blow up a restaurant while ambassador Adel al-Jubeir was dining, killing him and perhaps many others along with him, Americans. The U.S. says the plan was conceived, sponsored and directed from Iran.
Outraged U.S. officials are planning right now their reaction. Our CNN foreign affairs correspondent Jill Dougherty is joining us live from the State Department. So Jill, these allegations, everybody is talking about them around the world. The State Department is getting together officials to figure out what to do next what are they considering?
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's start. There is quite a lot happening. Number 1, we have a meeting over here, a briefing that's being held by the second in command at the State Department, Bill Burns. He is briefing ambassadors from around the world and telling them about this alleged plot. He is also, by the way, assuring them about security for themselves here in Washington, D.C.
But really, he is making the case -- as the U.S. sees it, that this was a very serious plot and we are interested, of course in finding out, Suzanne, if possible, what those ambassadors think. Were they convinced about that?
We also have Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who this morning was scheduled to meet with the Swiss ambassador to Iran. And why that is important is because since the U.S. doesn't have any relations with Iran, the Swiss represent the U.S. interests. And the charge defare (ph) in Iran was called in by the Iranians, who are furious about these allegations. And the Swiss, want the Swiss to carry that message back to Washington.
But the most important thing, Suzanne, I think, is what's going on with the sanctions. And maybe we can talk more specifically about that coming out of Treasury.
MALVEUAX: Oh, sure. And we're just watching live picture there is, Jill, of the secretary about to take the podium here to make some comments. We will see if she has anything else to talk about this in particular.
But do you have a sense of what the United States needs to do to convince are those in the international community, those who she's meeting with, that this plot was real? Is there some sense of skepticism among folks?
DOUGHERTY: They have to give them as much proof as they can without, of course, revealing sources. And other thing that they are doing, and this is really important, they are urging the international community to isolate, isolate, isolate, isloate Iran. Just before we went on air, the Treasury Department had another notice that they are designating Mahan Air, that is a commercial airline in Iran, which it alleges -- Treasury alleges, has been transporting arms, et cetera.
And the important thing was, they said, "We are doing this. Today's action highlights further the undeniable risks of doing business with Iran in the wake of that alleged terror plot." So, that is -- the U.S. is really lobbying around the world for countries to have their own sanctions and also to carry out the sanctions that are on the books.
MALVEUAX: All right, Jill, thanks for following that. We will get back to you, certainly if there's anything that the secretary says that is of importance dealing with this particular story. Thank you, Jill.
Now, your chance to "Talk Back." One of the big stories of the day, if you watched last night's Republican presidential debate, Mitt Romney, he was ready for the assault. Waiting for the inevitable attacks on something he is pretty vulnerable with the eyes of Republicans, that is. And that is health care.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Governor Romney, your chief economic adviser, Glenn Hubbard, who you know well -- he said that Romney-care was Obama-care.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have less than one percent of our kids who are uninsured. You have a million kids uninsured in Texas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So, a swift comeback. But still, Romney-care, it's an issue. It's not going away. Today's "Talk Back" question, does Romney's changing position on health care matter to you? Carol Costello, she is joining us from New York.
So Carol, a lot of people think that several positions that he has taken he has flip-flopped on, and health care seems to be a pretty big one.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I know. He keeps shading his message when it comes to health care. But you are right, Suzanne, the biggest thorn in Mitt Romney's side what opponents call Romney-care. That's the health care plan Romney created in Massachusetts when he was governor. Turns out the Obama administration was entranced with Romney's plan. According to NBC News, Obama officials met with Romney's advisers to create Obama-care. And yes, both plans included a requirement to buy insurance.
Romney now says, yes, so?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ROMNEY: The truth is, our plan is different and the people of in Massachusetts, if they don't like it, they get rid of it. Right now, they favor it 3-1.
But I'm not running for governor of Massachusetts. I'm running president of the United States. And as president, I will repeal Obama-care. I will grant a waiver on day one to get that started. And I'll make sure we return to the states what we had when I was governor: the right to care for our poor and the way we thought best for our respective states.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Still, it makes you wonder. Here's Governor Romney on Fox News the day he signed the Massachusetts law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: When I set out to find a way to get everybody health insurance, I couldn't have cared less and I don't care less about how it works politically. In my view, it's the right thing to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So, Mitt Romney was for the individual mandate before he was against it, at least on a national level. And he says as president, he will reveal the very health care law that he inspired.
So, the "Talk Back" question today, does Romney's changing position on health care matter to you? Facebook.com/carolCNN. Facebook.com/carolCNN. I will read your answers later this hour.
MALVUEAX: All right. Thank you, Carol.
Here is a rundown of some of the stories we are cover the next hour. First, Republican presidential candidates make jokes about Herman Cain's 999 plan, but what's the reality here?
And then a profile of Iran's elite special operations unit, accused of plotting to assassinate an ambassador to the United States.
And also, it's a year after Chilean miner rescue. I'm going to talk to a man who says that many of the miners are close to poverty and losing their minds.
And later, why the NBA lockout is hurting more than just the fans. We look at the businesses that rely on those games.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALEVAUX: I want to go directly to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton making remarks out of Washington and see if she says anything else about this alleged assassination and terrorist plot that was backed by Iran.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS) HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Crimes against internationally protected persons, which, of course, includes diplomats.
Iran is a signatory to this convention. Iran is also in agreement with the Security Council resolutions to implement it. This kind of reckless act undermines international norms and the international system.
Iran must be held accountable for its actions. In addition to the steps announced by the attorney general yesterday, the United States has increased our sanctions on individuals within the Iranian government who are associated with this plot and Iran's support for terrorism.
We will work closely with our international partners to increase Iran's isolation and the pressure on its government. And we call upon other nations to join us in condemning this threat international peace and security.
Now, I want to thank you for thinking about tomorrow and for devoting this day and many other days as well to discussing the sources of America's greatness, the power of our ideals, and the prospects for our future. At the State Department, we work in an international landscape to find --
(END LIVE COVERAGE)
MALVEAUX: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying in very clear terms that they are looking for further action, retaliation against Iran. That they have slapped additional sanctions on individuals in the Iranian government they believe are associated with this alleged terrorist plot. That they are also encouraging people to isolate Iran from the rest of the international community. They are speaking before foreign policy analysts, but also holding meetings with diplomats themselves to try to figure out what are the next appropriate steps in retaliation for Iran.
Herman Cain found himself last night in the hot seat. It was the Republican presidential debate. It was in New Hampshire. Former CEO, Godfather's pizza, well, he has now surged in recent polls. His rivals, they are waste nothing time in going on the attack.
He is the latest attack. Their target is his 999 plan to overhaul the federal tax code. They hit that plan pretty hard. There were some lighter moments as well. I want you to take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON HUNTSMAN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it's a catchy phrase. In fact, I thought it was the price of a pizza when I first heard about it.
BACHMANN: One thing I would say is when you take the 999 plan and you turn it upside down, I think the devil's in the details. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So here's how Cain defended his plan. He was good natured about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The 999 will pass and it is not the price of a pizza because it has been well studied and well developed. It starts with, unlike your proposal, throwing out the current tax code, continuing to pivot off the can current tax code is not going to boost this economy.
This is why we developed 999, 9 percent corporate business flat tax, 9 percent personal income flat tax and a 9 percent national sales tax and it will pass.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Herman Cain quite confident there that this is what his plan would entail, lowering the corporate income tax rate to 9 percent, setting a 9 percent income tax rate for everyone and imposing a 9 percent national sales tax.
Alison Kosik, she joins us from the New York Stock Exchange, so Alison, Cain's opponents have a number of objections to this. First of all, they say that this is not likely to pass Congress. How come?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, it's clear that the critics are really pouncing on this you know what they say, they say one of the big issues here is that the plan is almost too simple because look at what it does.
It wipes out most deductions, even the ones that are extremely popular, like the biggie, you know, deducting the interest on your mortgage. It is one of the reasons people buy instead of rent so taking it away could hurt the already lousy housing industry.
Another issue here, says critics, the national sales tax, you know, who wants to pay more for things that they buy? It is likely to be a real tough sell. Also, will this tax apply to everything for necessities like food, clothing and housing?
I don't know if this is going to go over too well as far as the popularity contest -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: And Congress, you know, popularity is important for those for example got to win office again and again.
KOSIK: Yes.
MALVEAUX: Second criticism of the plan is that poor people would have to pay more in taxes. Does that ring true?
KOSIK: Yes. Well, you know, you talk to analysts and they say whenever you change the tax system, there are going to be winners and there are going to be losers. You know, many tax experts say the losers under 999 will be lower income Americans because 22 percent of taxpayers don't pay taxes.
They are low income, they don't make enough money to owe money or they get credits for things like having kids. So under 999, what's going to wind up happening is they would owe more and the higher earners would be taxed at a lower rate.
Also, the national sales tax, that's considered a regressive tax and the poor and middle class, they spend a greater percentage of their income on everyday items and now that will be subject to a new tax.
Right now, remember sales tax is just state or local, it is not federal -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Alison, the third criticism of the plan is not going to bring in enough revenue. CNN has crunched the numbers, "JK USA" crunching those numbers for us found a significant gap in the revenue between Cain's plan, which would bring in more than $1.7 trillion and the current tax structure, which brings in more than $2.1 trillion. So is that true? Is there a disparity here, just not going to raise enough revenue?
KOSIK: Yes. You make a big -- a good point here this is really the big question. Cain says 999 will bring in enough revenue to cover government costs but we are not really hearing all those details.
This is kind of murky, various groups, they are crunching their own numbers and everybody is coming up with something different. CNN's numbers say 999 won't bring in as much revenue as the government collects now.
Some tax experts say if you don't have all the details it is almost impossible to crunch these numbers the right way and compute the real answer at this point -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: And Alison, finally, before we let you go, how are the markets doing today?
KOSIK: We have got a nice rally that's holding up, the Dow up about 118 points, bank stocks are leading the way, JP Morgan, Citigroup, Wells Fargo are leading. The Dow right now, there's optimism that is growing that something is going to get done to help Europe.
The expectation is that investors are going to hear a plan today to recapitalize the European banks, so it doesn't hurt to get good headlines out of Europe to move the markets higher today -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right, we like it good news. Thank you, Alison.
So you want to be sure and tune in for the CNN Western Republican presidential debate. It is coming up next Tuesday night at 8:00 Eastern from Las Vegas. CNN's Anderson Cooper is going to be the moderator.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: The oldest fashion house in the world is (inaudible) or Dior, some of you may not be familiar with the name, but it has been around since 1889 and a decade ago, it needed a facelift. CNN's Alina Cho reports one of the industry's most beloved designers has step in.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He may not look the part. But Lanvin Alber Elbaz has the face of a cherub and the golden touch.
ALBER ELBAZ, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, LANVIN: I think fashion has to be relevant for the moment. If you read it for the day after, the day before it is sour. Try these ones.
CHO: This 50-year-old designer has been making clothes for the moment as creative director of Lanvin for 10 years resurrecting a label with a good name, but not much else into a luxury fashion force.
(on camera): You came to Paris just for him?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Yes.
CHO: Why?
JULIANNE MOORE, ACTRESS: I think if you're going to see a show, his work is so spectacular it is going to be worth it.
CHO (voice-over): And they do come, because Elbaz is able to do in fashion what few others can, create clothes that wow, but don't scream at you.
(on camera): You say your work is like a whisper, explain that.
ELBAZ: I think that whispering is something very personal because when someone whisper to you, he has to get really close to you.
CHO (voice-over): Clothes both customers crave and critics adore. All around, there were raves for his latest collection for spring 2012.
GLENDA BAILEY, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, HARPER'S BAZAAR: We could use those clothes, which as soon as you put them on, you feel really good about yourself.
CHO: And this season, Elbaz launched clothes for kids. Tot couture, with three to four-figure price tags, miniature copies of mom's clothes from the most copied designer on the planet.
(on camera): How do you know that you've made it? How do you define success? ELBAZ: I don't. I never know. I mean, first of all, I think I'm always the worst. Success is like a perfume. If you smell it, it is good. But if you drink it, it is not good for you.
CHO (voice-over): Elbaz says the collection isn't ready until the clothes speak to him.
ELBAZ: Well, I see the world. The dress tell me that she is OK and she doesn't want to go elsewhere, I know I have to leave her alone and let go.
CHO: A designer who creates not just clothes, but a sensation.
(on camera): When you see a woman walking down the street wearing a Lanvin dress, how does that feel?
ELBAZ: That touch me the most. I feel they chose me and I find it very, very personal. I just want to go and hug them and say thank you for doing that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Before working at Lanvin, he thought about quitting fashion, going to medical school. Now he says, he doesn't have to be a doctor because in his word, a doctor is going to give you Tylenol. He is going to give you a dress.
Well, did members of Iran's Qods force plot to assassinate a Saudi envoy? Iran calls the U.S. allegation a comedy show fabricated by America. Well, who exactly is Qods force? Could they have done it alone without authorization from Iran's top leaders? We are going to get to the bottom of this with the guests, a former State Department official, Nick Burns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: U.S. officials are fired up over an alleged plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States here on American soil. Congressman Peter King is calling it an act of war.
The State Department is issuing a rare worldwide alert, warning Americans to be on guard against terrorist attacks and U.S. officials are right now briefing the diplomatic core about the alleged murder-for-hire scheme.
Iran categorically rejects the claim, calling it an evil plot, but it reads like a spy novel. Saudi Ambassador Adele Al-Jubeir was been blown up in his favorite restaurant in Washington. The Justice Department has arrested this man, Mansour Ababsiar, a used car salesman with U.S. and Iranian citizenship.
He was jailed in New York just last month. He is accused of working with members of an arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to carry out this assassination.
Arbabsiar allegedly believed he was hiring assassins from the Mexican drug cartel for $1.5 million, but a drug carter member turned out to be a paid informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. A recorded conversation taken directly from the federal complaint quotes, Arbarsiar as saying he wants to you kill this guy.
A paid source says there's going to be like American people there in the restaurant, you want me to do it outside or in the restaurant? He answers, doesn't matter how do you it. The U.S. labeled Iran as state sponsor of terrorism some 27 years ago.
And President Bush, you may recall, he labeled it as part of an axis of evil, but because of the country's complex and unusual power structure, it is really tough to know how far up the food chain or chain of command this plot might have gone.
So, that's supreme leader, the Ayatollah, the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the revolutionary guard, which includes the Qods force and the Basij militia.
Former U.S. undersecretary for Political Affairs, Nick Burns, he's joining us from Cambridge, Massachusetts. He's also a former ambassador to NATO. If you could, Nick, you hear this plot, tell us, does it make sense to you? What would Iran even get out of this?
NICHOLAS BURNS, HARVARD UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS: Well, Suzanne, it is a bizarre and strange plot to be sure, but I find the U.S. charges to be highly believable and credible because what we are looking here in the revolutionary guards is a radical organization whose influence has grown in the Iranian government over the last several years.
I think it's fair to say that organization is tied directly to the supreme leader of Iran and not so much to the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. So this is a very serious challenge to the United States. Here is plot to assassinate one of the closest friends of the United States, the ambassador of Saudi Arabia in the capital city of the United States.
So, of course, our government is taking this very seriously, as the attorney general, the FBI director and Secretary Hillary Clinton indicated yesterday and the Iranians need to be held accountable for this as all of those officials said yesterday.
MALVEAUX: So what does the U.S. do? What are the tools that are in administration's disposal here to hit Iran and to hit Iran hard?
BURNS: Well, I think there are things the United States is obviously trying to think of now that it can do. First, we are hearing that the administration, we have read in the paper, the administration might want to sanction the specific individuals in the Qods force, the revolutionary guards who were responsible for this.
Second, the administration can try Iran in the high court of International Public Opinion. If you take this episode and you also look at the fact that Iran is making progress on its nuclear research effort, I think obviously going to the Security Council, mobilizing the many, many allies and partners of the United States around the world, along with the help of Saudi Arabia, because, of course, remember this is not just a crisis in U.S./Iran relations --
MALVEAUX: Sure.
BURNS: It's now very much a crisis in relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Arab world will be I think nearly unified in opposing the Iranian regime and setting up a barrier to the expansion of Iranian influence in the Middle East through a strong development of the militaries in the Gulf in association with the United States.
So in essence it is an opportunity for the United States as well now to really turn up the pressure and turn up the heat against the Iranian government, which is, of course, an international outlaw as a government.
MALVEAUX: Nick, turning up that heat here, clearly we've seen Secretary Clinton out front. We saw Attorney General Eric Holder yesterday. Does that indicate to you that this really is a diplomatic and a law enforcement issue here?
That they are going to take that strategy and we are not looking at not looking at military strikes. We're not looking at this playing now the terms of some sort of like conflict, an armed conflict with Iran?
BURNS: Well, neither President Obama nor President Bush before him ever took the military option off the table because of the nuclear challenge that Iran poses to the U.S. and our allies. But I do think this is very much right now a diplomatic political crisis and that's where it properly should stay.
Because what we want to do now, their government, our government wants to prove conclusively in the United Nations and elsewhere that Iran was responsible, the Iranian government was tied to this plot and the charges yesterday by the attorney general and the FBI could not be more serious and I think the charges could not be more credible.
That's where I think the administration has the greatest opportunity to isolate Iran to weaken Iran further. This is a government that was riding high several years ago with lots of people around the world listening to it. This government in Iran has lost a lot of influence. Ahmadinejad has well. This is a time for the United States to pressure, sanction and further isolate the Iranians.
MALVEAUX: All right, Nick Burns, thank you so much. We appreciate it.
BURNS: Thank you.
MALVEAUX: Republicans who want to take back the White House are facing off in New Hampshire. Herman Cain, he has got a lot of attention, it seems all his opponents want to take on Cain's plan to fix the economy. We're going to check in with our Wolf Blitzer in Washington to talk about that. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Herman Cain was front and center in the latest Republican presidential debate. The former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, he's been surging in the polls and, of course, his GOP rivals noticed that. So they went on attack over his plan, the 999 plan that would overhaul the nation's tax structure. They say it can't possibly work. Cain is standing by the plan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The 999 will pass, not the price of a pizza, because it has been well studied and well developed. It starts with unlike your proposals, throwing out the current tax code, continuing to pivot off the current tax code is not going to boost this economy. This is why we develop 999, 9 percent corporate business flat tax, 9 percent personal income flat tax and a 9 percent national sales tax and it will pass.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: My friend, Wolf Blitzer, he is joining us from Washington and Wolf, what I found fascinating about that debate last night was the fact that so many people and so much time of this debate focused on Herman Cain and the 999 plan. You know, he is doing pretty good in the polls here, but we have seen people come and go dip and dive. How long do you think this is going to last?
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S "THE SITUATION ROOM": I don't know how long it will last, but he is doing well. He is an intelligent guy. He's a smart guy, happens to be a nice man as well, and he is very available to the news media.
You see him on television all the time. He is not afraid to answer tough questions. I think one of the biggest problems he is going to have, Suzanne, is on this 999 plan, the third part of it a 9 percent national sales tax.
If you add a 5 percent or 6 percent state sales tax in many parts of the country, you are already talking about 15 percent and for poor or middle class people, everything they are going to go buy is going to be, let's say you add 15 percent to their purchases, that's not going to be very popular.
So I think that is going to be a problem. He does a pretty good job explaining what he has in mind because he has eliminated so many all the other taxes. He wants to restructure everything, but in terms of politics, explaining that 9 percent national sales tax on top of state sales taxes, that's going to be the hardest thing he is going to have to deal with. But he is doing well in the polls, you can't dispute that.
MALVEAUX: He's getting a lot of attention. I mean, everybody is talking about his plan, which is more than you can say for some of the other candidates. I thought it was interesting too. You've got guys like Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum, who both presented themselves very well in the debate last night. But they're still not doing well in the polls so why do we suppose there is not more traction there?
BLITZER: Yes, Santorum is doing relatively well. I used the word relatively deliberate in Iowa. Huntsman is doing relatively well, 4 percent, 5 percent, 6 percent, let's say in New Hampshire that's where they are looking, Huntsman, for all practical purposes, is staying away from Iowa.
Santorum is spending a lot of time in Iowa. So, they are very effective debaters. They are very good in making their points. They come from very different perspectives on some of the economic issues. If you take a look at Huntsman's economic plan, which was widely praised, by the way, by the editorial page writers of the "Wall Street Journal."
If you take a look at some of Santorum's plans, there are some significant differences there, but by and large, they're still players in all of this. They make their views known and they certainly have a say in the debates as we can all testify.
MALVEAUX: All right, Wolf, thank you very much. Great to see you.
BLITZER: Thank you.
MALVEAUX: Well, you want to be sure to tune in for the CNN Western Republican Presidential Debate. It's coming up next Tuesday night 8:00 Eastern from Las Vegas. CNN's Anderson Cooper is going to be moderating.
Well, they said it was like torture, being trapped underground for more than two months, not even knowing what their future held. The Chilean miners, they still haven't recovered, one year after their rescue. I'm going to talk to an author who says that some are in pretty bad shape.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: I want to go directly to Poppy Harlow. She has just interviewed billionaire, Warren Buffett and you've got some news to share.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Yes, this is interesting, Suzanne. This is a CNN exclusive, Warren Buffett, interestingly enough, sent me an e-mail this morning and it had two letters attached to it. One was from Congressman Tim Huelskamp, a freshman Republican from Kansas, who had been calling on Buffett to release his tax returns. The congressman saying he would release his if Buffett were to do the same.
Warren Buffett just sent him a letter back. And the news in it is that for the first time this year he's releasing how much money he made last year. It was nearly $63 million. And which he has said -- what he has not said that. He has said, though, that he paid $6.9 million in taxes. So he's saying, look, here's how much I made and I paid 17.4 percent of that in taxes. Far below a lot of middle America.
What I think really stands out here is that he goes on in this letter, Suzanne, to say that he would challenge any of the 400 wealthiest Americans to release their tax returns, Rupert Murdoch among them, to release their tax returns. And he mentioned Rupert Murdoch to me in particular. And that he would then do the same.
He's basically saying, if more wealthy Americans will come out and release their tax returns, show what they pay in taxes, he said to me they don't even have to attach their name to it, Suzanne, that he would then release his. So it's very interesting to see what he made and he's really stepping up this drumbeat in -- in his belief in the tax system in this country. His belief in the inequity, as he calls it, of the tax system. So we'll have a lot more for you on cnnmoney.com. I just wanted to get that news out there
MALVEAUX: Absolutely. Thank you so much, Poppy. Appreciate that.
The world watched and celebrated one year ago today when the 33 Chilean miners were finally rescued after being trapped underground for two and a half months.
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MARIO SEPULVEDA (through translator): I was with God and I was with the devil. But God won. I held on to God's hand, the best hand, and at no point in time -- how I do explain this? At no -- at no point in time did I doubt that God wouldn't get me out of there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So the miners thought they had a second chance at life, right, that things would be OK. But it turns out that many of them are suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder. They can't sleep at night. They can't even hold down a job. But joining me now is the author of a new book, "33 Men," Jonathan Franklin, and he spent almost six weeks on a hillside during the rescue operation and he interviewed the men while they were underground. The men even let him read their diaries.
Well, Jonathan, it has been a year now since they've been rescued. You know, we all saw the rescue. We were smiling. We were cheering along with them, thinking these guys had a new lease on life. But you've written that they're experiencing something very different, Stockholm Syndrome even, like a feeling of attachment to this mine where they were tortured by their experience. Can you explain?
JONATHAN FRANKLIN, AUTHOR, "33 MEN": Yes, exactly. They got fame but no fortune. They really thought they were going to be millionaires out of this. And it turns out, as usual, life is much more complicated. They have nightmares. They have flashbacks. They can't even go back into working in a mine.
MALVEAUX: What is their mental state of most of these miners now? How are they living?
FRANKLIN: Well, what's interesting is that they feel very comfortable when they're together. They formed a bond, this underground society. They were slowly starving to death underground. It's remarkable what they did underground. But now that they're above ground, they almost miss that kind of a -- that camaraderie, the friendship they had. They feel alone when they're not with the other miners.
MALVEAUX: And yet they are alone. You said during an interview you had with one of those miner, Samuel Avalos, recently, he told you, "I live in a house that creeks. And when I am asleep and hear that groan, it reminds me that I am back in the mine." Are they having flashbacks or are they feeling a certain sense of fear in the real world?
FRANKLIN: Yes. When you're with the guys, it's -- you know, it's like being with a soldier who doesn't like the sound of a mortar. Strange noises. They really still live inside the mine when they close their eyes. And when I wrote the book, I brought you underground to make you feel how terror-filled it was. And I think anybody who paid attention to those first 17 days when they were slowly dying, slowly starving to death, could understand why this -- this will never leave them.
MALVEAUX: You write about that, two horrible fates that they thought they were facing. This one with, you write, you say, "the men were looking at one another wondering who would die first. It was an open secret that the first victim would also be the first meal." Is that true? Is that what they told you?
FRANKLIN: Yes, it is true. I tried not to talk too much about that in my book because there's a lot of sensitivities and we -- who are we to judge people who are slowly dying and starving to death underground? But indeed they did talk about when the first person died, they had two options, they could bury him or they could eat him.
MALVEAUX: You also talk about a suicide pact, is that right?
FRANKLIN: I'm not so sure about a suicide pact. What I do believe is that the men were starting to question whether it would be better to die quickly or slowly starve to death. So, yes, they did talk about this idea of a collective suicide. I wouldn't exactly call it a pact. But they were slowly starving to death. For 17 days, they had no food. It was 90 degrees, 90 percent humidity. If you put yourself in that and then add in that you're trapped with 32 co-workers for 10 weeks, you might understand the stress they lived.
MALVEAUX: Sure. And, Jonathan, I want to try to end on a more positive note. A sense of optimism, if we can. What is the one thing you think that these miners need right now to be able to move forward, to function and to have a future?
FRANKLIN: What they really need right now is for the world to show that they still care about them. I don't know, letters, $10 donations. I know it's a hard time in the United States, but these guys are begging me, I'm journalist, they're begging me for money for English classes, for -- to get medicines. You know they're really -- apart from all the psychological problems, they're living in poverty. And as well all know that, you know, the dire poverty on top of all the problems these guys are having, it's just -- it's not fair.
MALVEAUX: Jonathan Franklin, thank you for your excellent work, your insights and clearly your update here because these are -- these are men who need a lot of help and who clearly need that message to be sent out there to the public.
FRANKLIN: Thank you.
MALVEAUX: Thank you, Jonathan.
FRANKLIN: Thank you. They do appreciate all these words of support.
MALVEAUX: Thank you.
You've been sound offing on today's "Talk Back" question, does Mitt Romney's changing position on health care matter to you? Carol Costello, she's got your responses.
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MALVEAUX: You've been sounding off on today's "Talk Back" question, does Mitt Romney's changing position on health care matter to you? Carol Costello.
What are folks saying, Carol? Hey.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I -- hi, Suzanne. I think many of these folks are Democrats, quite frankly, but I don't know. Some of them could be independents.
The "Talk Back" question today, as you said, does Mitt Romney's changing his position on health care matter to you?
This from George. "Here's a man who wants to be president. By all means he's ready to flip-flop just to get there. But the fact is, American people know better. Obamacare is good for America. It saves money and many people have insurance."
This from Janet. "Is Romney a flip flopper? Yes, to be polite. He implements health reform in his state and then says with a smile his first duty as president will be to kill Obamacare. I can't trust a word this man says."
This from Michael. "I don't understand how the man can brag that only 1 percent of children are uninsured in his state and then turn around and say he will end it. Why do you need to be cold hearted to be Republican?"
And this from Dave. "Yes, no, yes, no, yes, no, yes, no -- I can't decide."
Keep the conversation going, facebook.com/carolcnn. And thanks, as always, for your comments.
Suzanne will be back in a minute.
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MALVEAUX: The NBA has canceled the first two weeks of the season. It could mean an even longer timeout. The lockout will have a big impact on a lot of folks who make a living on game day. More from CNN's Casey Wian.
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CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Farm of Beverly Hills, near Staples Center, relies on customers going to Lakers and Clippers games for about a third of its business during basketball season. CEO Fran Berger is preparing for a long lull.
FRAN BERGER, CEO, THE FARM RESTAURANT: Staffing's going to get cut way back. Everything is going to get cut way back. We won't be buying as much. We won't be having as many people working at those nights and those hours. It's going to hit a lot of people.
WIAN: Restaurant workers making minimum wage plus tips, arena employees making $11 an hour.
DEMEK EMMONS, USHER, STAPLES CENTER: I understand as far as all the union talks. I know they have to negotiate everything. But there's other people out there that actually need the money.
ROBIN DEDEAUX, USHER, STAPLES CENTER: My wife and I, we can't go on vacations. And that's just the things we have to cut back on. We have to -- I have to make sure I watch out for the bills that I have, so I don't want to overspend myself now.
WIAN: The loss is particularly hard for workers in businesses near Staples Center, home to two NBA teams and the potential for 82 nights plus playoffs in lost revenue.
In Atlanta, restaurants near Phillips Arena already are reeling from the recent relocation of the Thrashers professional hockey team. Now, the NBA's Hawks are gone until mid-November, at least.
SCOTT HUMPHRIES, DANTANNE'S: There's definitely going to be a decrease in business on what would have been home games. We usually get a nice pop two hours before the game and then depending on how they do, some after game business also.
MIKE LEEBERG, EXEC. V.P., MCCORMICK & SCHMICKS: You got the Lakers in town or, you know, you've got LeBron in town. Then it becomes a whole day affair.
WIAN: Restaurants in some cities say convention and concert business will help soften the blow, but not for about 2,000 unionized workers at NBA arenas in California.
MIKE GARCIA, PRES., SEIU: We have billionaires disputing in a dispute with millionaire ball players. And typically what's -- and typically as it's happening across America, it's the working people that suffer the most.
WIAN: The CEO of this restaurant doesn't expect a deal before January.
BERGER: If the NFL can figure it out, I don't know why the NBA can't figure it out.
WIAN (on camera): One of the biggest concerns for workers here at Staples Center is if the NBA labor dispute drags on, they may not be able to work the minimum number of hours required to qualify for health insurance.
Casey Wian, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Right now with Randi Kaye.
Hey, Randi.
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Suzanne. Thank you.
