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GOP Presidential Candidates: Too Early to Decide?; Dan Wheldon Killed in Fiery Crash; Anita Hill: Still Striving For Change; To Refinance or Not?; Solyndra's Spectacular Collapse
Aired October 17, 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. Want to get you up to speed.
Investigators may look at track design to see whether it played a role in this horrific crash, the Las Vegas Indy 300. A chain reaction wreck killed Dan Wheldon, a driver who has won the Indianapolis 500 twice. Fifteen -- that's right, 15 -- cars collided, burst into flames, or went airborne. Now, before the race, there were some drivers who were complaining that the track was too short, too compact, leaving no room for error.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY KANAAN, INDYCAR DRIVER: I lost one of my best friends, one of my greatest teammates, and I don't know what to say.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not to many places in this country that you can have a two-time Indy 500 champion walk in the streets along with you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: After officials canceled the race, drivers returned to the track for a five-lap salute to Dan Wheldon. Two other drivers who were injured spent the night in a Las Vegas hospital for observation.
President Obama's trying to fire up Americans over jobs. He's beginning day three of his bus tour in Asheville, North Carolina, today. He is reminding voters, with 14 million Americans out of work, he says it was Republicans who killed his bill to create new jobs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If they're serious about creating jobs, I'm ready to go. I don't think anybody doubts that I have gone out of my way to try to find areas of cooperation with these Republicans. In fact, some of you have been mad at me for trying too hard to cooperate with them, haven't you?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: The president is demanding that Congress vote on individual elements of the jobs bill this week. Well, Philadelphia police are calling it pure evil. They have charged three suspects with kidnapping four mentally disabled adults in order to steal their Social Security checks. Police say at least one captive was chained to a radiator in the basement apartment. And authorities describe all four as malnourished.
Iran's foreign minister is challenging the United States to show the evidence. Now, he's referring to an alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S.
The U.S. says that Iran's elite military unit, the Quds Force, was behind it. An Iranian-American living in Texas now is in custody, accused of planning to carry out the hit. But the Obama administration says it's already had direct contact with Iran about this plot, and Iran says that's not true.
A fierce battle for Sirte, Libya, it is dragging on now. Troops are trying to crush fighters holding out for former leader Moammar Gadhafi. The battles are so fierce, many are fleeing, including families of former Libyan regime officials.
CNN's Dan Rivers is in Sirte, and says the city now looks like a ghost town.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN RIVERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sirte used to be a city of some 100,000 people, but now it's difficult to find just one. The handful that we have encountered have been here just to salvage a few more possessions from the wrecks of their homes, and all the while the fighting is continuing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Libya's new political leaders say they won't declare the country liberated until they take Sirte. Now, the city is Gadhafi's hometown.
The Occupy Wall Street movement marking one month of protests today at a campsite in lower Manhattan. Now, the group says it has raised $300,000 and received hundreds of boxes of food, blankets, medicine from supporters. Protesters are angry over the widening pay gap between corporate executives and everyday Americans.
Well, the World Series begins Wednesday, and it's going to be the St. Louis Cardinals representing the National League. They beat the Milwaukee Brewers last night to earn a spot in the fall classic. The Cardinals face the American League champs, the Texas Rangers.
Well, NASA will hitch a ride to the edge of space. The agency has signed a deal to charter three flights aboard Virgin Galactic Spaceship Two. The plane can put eight people and some science experiments into suborbit. The contract could be worth $500,000 for Virgin Galactic. The end of the shuttle program means that NASA is turning now to private contractors for help.
So, there are new poll numbers that show about two-thirds of us haven't made up our minds yet for the 2012 presidential race.
Wolf Blitzer, he's here with the new poll numbers.
So, Wolf, of the GOP folks, GOP contenders, who's at the head of the pack? What do we know?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, right now, it's very, very close between Mitt Romney and Herman Cain. Take a look at these brand-new CNN/ORC poll numbers just being released right now among Republicans -- Republicans only.
Their choice nationwide for the presidential nominee, Romney, with 26 percent; Cain, 25 percent; Perry at 13 percent; Ron Paul, nine percent; Newt Gingrich, eight percent; Bachmann, six percent; Santorum, at two percent; Huntsman, who's not here in Nevada for tomorrow night's debate, at one percent nationally.
But take a look at this number, Suzanne. It's among those who have definitely made up their mind among Republicans. We're not talking about Democrats. We're just talking about Republicans in this new CNN/ORC poll. Only a third, 33 percent, say they definitely will support the candidate they have already selected; 67 percent, two- thirds, say they might still change their mind.
But here's another number in this brand-new poll among all voters -- these are Democrats, Republicans, Independents, that's very disconcerting -- should be very -- of deep concern to the Democrats. "Are you extremely or very enthusiastic about voting in the next election?" Sixty-four percent of the Republicans said they were, only 43 percent of the Democrats say they are either very or extremely enthusiastic about voting in the next election.
That is not good news for the Democrats right now. Similar numbers in 2010 showed a lopsided Republican victory.
As you know, Suzanne, the Democrats were much more enthusiastic in 2006 and 2008, and that's why they won in those contests. This time, at least as of right now -- and this is a snapshot, as you know -- the Republicans are a lot more enthusiastic about 2012 than the Democrats are -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Yes. A big concern for the president, President Obama, whether or not people are going to turn out and vote, whether or not they're going to work really hard for him this go-round.
Wolf, I know that you'll be there for the debate tomorrow night. And "Saturday Night Live" had a little fun with the seating chart. We want to check out the seating chart. I want you to check this out as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE")
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In a locked janitor's closet are Congressman Michele Bachmann and curio from a bygone era, Newt Gingrich. Out in the parking garage is Texas Congressman Ron Paul. And live from a crowded gay bar in the Castro district of San Francisco, Rick Santorum.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very funny!
(END VIDEO CLIP, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE")
MALVEAUX: So, Wolf, I understand, in all reality, seriousness here, the seating chart, it's arranged based on the most popular, the person who has the strongest standing closest in that circle. Is that the way it's going to be arranged tomorrow?
BLITZER: Yes. I think we have a seating chart. I want to -- if we do, I'll put it up on the screen.
From left to right, and the two ends on the stage, are those with the lowest poll numbers. So, if you take a look all the way to the left Santorum, all the way to the right, Michele Bachmann, right now. Huntsman would have been at the end, but he's boycotting this debate here in Nevada for other reasons.
But if you go from left to right, Santorum, then Paul, Cain. Romney's right in the middle. He's atop our latest poll. Then Perry, Gingrich and Bachmann.
We do that in all of the polls. We have the front-runners in the middle, and then some of those who are not doing that great in the polls on the outside.
It was like that when I moderated the debate in Tampa. It's going to be like that tomorrow night here in Las Vegas. Anderson Cooper will be moderating our debate tomorrow night.
But we're here in Vegas, and in this particular case, Suzanne, what happens in Vegas won't stay in Vegas. The whole world will be able to watch the debate tomorrow night.
MALVEAUX: And nobody's going to be out in the parking lot, that's right, Wolf. Right?
BLITZER: Right. I liked that "SNL" skit on the Marriott Hotel TV channel debate. It was very cute.
MALVEAUX: It was a lot of fun. All right, Wolf. Thanks. Look forward to seeing you.
Don't forget, tomorrow night, CNN hosts the Western Presidential Republican Debate live from Vegas. Anderson cooper is going to moderate, 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, right here on CNN.
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: A horrific 15-car crash at the Indy 300 in Las Vegas has ended the life of one of racecar driving's brightest stars. The video is disturbing. Dan Wheldon was killed after his car careened off another, launching it into the air. It caught fire before slamming into a crash fence. Wheldon was airlifted to a hospital, but doctors said he had unsurvivable injuries.
Don Riddell is joining us live from our London bureau.
And Wheldon's death is a huge loss for racecar driving, but he was also British. And I assume that the mood there is just really -- I mean, people must be devastated.
DON RIDDELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, absolutely. It's a curious one though, Suzanne.
He was British. He grew up in the sport here. But, of course, he moved to the United States in 1999 and achieved great things in IndyCar.
So, actually, the general public here in Britain doesn't really know who Dan Wheldon is or was. It's only now, tragically today, that they are learning about how successful he was, what a great talent he was, and how hugely popular he was.
But certainly within the motor sport community in Britain, I mean, the mood is one of absolute devastation. An awful lot of people knew him in Britain over the last 20 years, and it seems as though he touched the lives of many drivers and inspired a lot of young drivers, too.
MALVEAUX: And Don, you have covered this sport extensively. Do you think when you see that video and you learn of some of the details, that this could have been avoided in any way?
RIDDELL: Well, it's interesting. I mean, you look at a crash like that, and you think, I have never seen a crash like that before. People a lot older than me who have been following motor sport for many more years than me say they have never seen anything like it either.
It was absolutely horrendous -- 15 cars, many of them airborne, many of them bursting into flames. Absolutely terrible.
I think there will be some quite serious questions asked now, Suzanne. And I want to compare it to Formula 1, which is a sport very similar to IndyCar, which had a real problem in the 1960s and '70s.
If you raced in that sport then, and you raced for five years, there was a two in three chance you were going to be killed. And some of the drivers then stood up and said we have to do something to make this sport safer. They did.
Since 1993, no one has died. The cars are safer, the tracks are safer, everything is safer to do with Formula 1.
You look at IndyCar, and within the last 15 years we've had four drivers killed. And when you look at how many cars were on the track, how small the track was, how fast the cars were going, the fact that you've got this wall and fence in very close proximity to the cars, I mean, it's perhaps a wonder that more people aren't killed in IndyCar.
MALVEAUX: So, Don, do we think these organizers really put these guys at risk, were too ambitious?
RIDDELL: Well personally -- I mean, I'm not the one to say it. I think there will be some very serious questions asked.
I think a big question will be, why were there so many cars in the field? And a lot of the drivers before this race took place were voicing those concerns publicly and saying, something could go wrong here.
And the way IndyCar is set up, Suzanne, when an accident happens, it usually goes very badly wrong, because the speeds of the cars, there's nowhere to go. You are in an enclosed space. It's very difficult to get out of the way, even when you see an accident about to occur ahead of you. A lot of these drivers yesterday, they just went straight into it.
MALVEAUX: Sure. Don, thank you so much for your perspective there.
I want to bring in Chad Myers to explain a little bit about what Don was saying.
Do we think, because there were so many cars and there was such a compact track, that this was just too dangerous for these guys to be racing like this?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It was too dangerous to be racing at lap 10 like this. There's a lot more racing to go, and these guys were shuffling back and forth.
And there was a wheel rub. Two tires rubbed ahead of Dan, and that started a chain reaction.
And the problem here, I believe we're going to see by next year a complete redesign of that catch fence. The fence is attached to big metal poles. Those big metal poles don't give very much.
And if you look at how this car was into the catch fence, it didn't hit the safer barrier. This track actually has gone through a significant renovation. You'll see there is almost like a double-wide piece of white there where the wall is. That's actually a safer barrier made out of the University of Nebraska.
They call it a soft wall, but it's not really that soft. Dan missed that wall. He flew over that wall and into the catch fence.
As the car -- and because it is an open cockpit car, you don't have any protection over yourself. Had this happened in a NASCAR -- although NASCAR typically don't fly like this -- nothing would have happened.
MALVEAUX: Right.
MYERS: The top of the car would have protected the driver. The roll cage would have protected the driver. But in an open cockpit car like we have right now in IndyCar, it's very difficult to be safe at any oval.
And I've said this a long time. Most of you don't know this. I used to do NASCAR racing for the Nashville Network, when it was still the Nashville Network, many, many years ago.
But here's Las Vegas, here's the motor speedway, on up to the north. People are saying, is it to fast? Were they going too fast? Well, this is no smaller, no slower than Texas Motor Speedway.
New Hampshire, they go a little bit slower, but still, you have to understand that NASCAR does drive on this track. They go 176 in qualifying.
Ricky Rudd, that's the fastest that it's ever been in NASCAR on this track. These cars were going 220.
So, was it too small? Well, you know what? It was a small track, a mile and a half, but they have smaller.
Here's what Indy looks like. You're trying to compare it to Indy.
Indy has basically two big straight-aways, a little bit of a short shoot here, and then back down. And then you put your brakes on, and you turn left, you turn left, you turn left, and you turn left. You don't really do that.
Dave, go back to Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
It's almost one continuous turn. There's a slight straight here, but by the time you drift out here and you start to make your turn in here, you're turning, you're still turning, you're still turning, you're still turning here. There's not much chance there, not much real room to back off, to slow down, let things kind of coagulate here out in front of you.
Watch the cars.
When you are in a banked car, you're in a banked turn, and you're in this car, your helmet is like this. It's right here. You can't see in the banking where the next car is.
Dan never saw this wreck coming, because he was in the car looking at the track, but the wreck was up ahead of him. He didn't have time to brake. He ran over Paul Tracy.
The tires are going different direction. Dan Wheldon launched into the air and went head first, literally, into these poles. That is the catch fence.
I believe the fence will look different in the coming years. The pole will be here. Somehow the fence will just dangle and connect to the wall, and there will be no metal bar, no metal pole that this fence attaches to anymore. It will actually be a softer fence if something like this happens again.
MALVEAUX: All right, Chad. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
MYERS: You're welcome.
MALVEAUX: Well, 100 years old, still running strong in marathons. Hear this man's secret to good health.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Here's one for the record books. A hundred years old. Fauja Singh runs a marathon.
It took him eight hours to reach the finish line. He says he took up running when he was 89, just a year ago, to help him cope -- well, more than a year ago -- to help him cope with the death of his wife and son.
He is nicknamed "The Turbaned Tornado." Singh completed the 26.2 miles in eight hours. He is the oldest person to complete a marathon.
So how did he do it? How can he still be running strong at age 100?
We asked Elizabeth Cohen, our senior medical correspondent, to look into all of this for us.
So, Elizabeth, I run marathons, I love it. But hey, 100 years old? How did this guy do this? I don't get it. What happened?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think you'll be doing them at 100. I am sure you will.
MALVEAUX: Give me the secret. Let me know.
COHEN: OK. Well, he says that his secret is that he doesn't drink alcohol, he doesn't smoke, he has a vegetarian diet, and he drinks ginger tea. And he says those are his secrets.
MALVEAUX: Those are great. I mean, that's very healthy living.
Now, explain to us -- it's one thing to run a marathon, it's another thing just to be alive, to be healthy at 100. How does he manage that?
COHEN: Right, to be alive and healthy at 100, that's what most of us aspire to, with or without the marathon. With or without the marathon.
We were speaking with someone who studies centenarians, and they've come up with an acronym when they are asked, how do people live to be 100? And this is the acronym they give. "AGING" is the acronym, which makes sense. "A" is for "Attitude." And that is -- and I don't mean this to sound -- this to be a pollyanaish kind of thing, but having a positive attitude really is correlated with living longer. It helps you live longer.
And "G" is "Genetics." It helps if you choose the right parents. That's very, very important.
He exercises. And this gentleman, it sounds like all his life he was getting daily exercise.
"I" is "Interest." And by "interest," what they mean is that your brain is occupied. If you retire at 65 and kind of check out of life, it's not good for your brain. And if it's not good for your brain, it's not good for your body. So, having an interest in life.
And "N" is nutrition, which is basic good nutrition. It doesn't have to be ginger tea. It doesn't have to be vegetarian. But we all know sort of the basics of whole grains and low fat.
And then the last "G" is for "Getting" rid of smoking.
MALVEAUX: OK.
COHEN: If you smoke, I suppose you can live to be 100, but it's pretty unlikely.
MALVEAUX: Yes. That's all good advice.
And the attitude part of it, Diana Nyad, we spoke with her. She's the long distance swimmer who tried to swim from Cuba to Miami. She did not succeed, but here's what she told us earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIANA NYAD, LONG DISTANCE SWIMMER: I think the message is, be your best self. And I think that's the message.
You live your life with passion. You know? You show your will. You feel proud of yourself when you go to bed at night.
You don't have to do epic things. Just raise your children well. Whatever you're doing, do your job well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: We love her.
COHEN: That's a great message. We do love her. And I had the pleasure of meeting her. And just when you meet her, standing next to her, she exudes that kind of positive attitude that the geriatricians we were talking about.
MALVEAUX: And how important does health care play into that? Obviously, a positive attitude is really important, but I imagine just taking good care of yourself. COHEN: Yes. Health care is important.
Having enough health care -- in other words, having easy access to a doctor and all that kind of stuff -- is good. Having too much health care is bad. And what I mean by that is that there is this growing recognition that doctors sometimes do too much to elderly people.
For example, if a 90-year-old gets cancer, the right answer might be, we're doing nothing, because sometimes the treatment will kill that 90-year-old person sooner than the cancer will. So I know it sounds funny to leave cancer alone, but sometimes at that age, the less the doctor does to you, the better. And I think as Americans we have a hard time with that because we think more is better.
MALVEAUX: Right. Sure.
COHEN: But remember, for grandma or grandpa, sometimes less is better than more.
MALVEAUX: Interesting. All right. Well, Elizabeth, you and I, marathon next year?
COHEN: No. Fifty years from now. Not next year. I won't be ready.
MALVEAUX: Fifty-plus.
COHEN: OK.
MALVEAUX: Thanks.
COHEN: Thanks.
MALVEAUX: Twenty years ago, Anita Hill brought the issue of sexual harassment into focus. Well, find out what issues she's tackling now. Anita Hill joins me next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: The year was 1991. Clarence Thomas had been nominated to the Supreme Court. And among those testifying at a Senate hearing, a then-35-year-old lawyer who had worked for him, Anita Hill. She accused Thomas of making harassing sexual statements which he denied. Until then, most women did not talk about such things.
Well, since then, Hill has led a relatively quiet life in Massachusetts. She teaches social policy law and women's studies at Brandeis University, still looking to make a difference.
Her second book is entitled "Reimagining Equality."
And Professor Hill, she joins us from Waltham, Massachusetts.
Professor Hill, very good to see you here. Had a chance to read your book over the weekend, and in your book you talk about the importance of homeownership as a way of achieving the American dream, and how difficult that is now, when so many people, out of their homes, the housing crisis, feeling displaced in their own country. And you write, "It is hard to imagine a more critical domestic concern than the search for a home in America."
What do you think is the single most important thing the president needs to do to address the crisis?
ANITA HILL, AUTHOR, "REIMAGINING EQUALITY": Well, one of the things that I proposed in "Reimagining Equality" is a home summit. Because I don't think there is any one single approach or policy that is going to create the kind of environment that we need to create. So that everyone really is able to find a home in America that provides them access to all opportunities that this country has to offer.
MALVEAUX: Do you --
HILL: The summit I think --
MALVEAUX: Sure, go ahead.
HILL: I'm sorry. The summit I think would absolutely give us a chance to have a conversation to talk about the overlapping policies that have been created to get us in the situation where we are today and that will be needed in the future to move us forward.
MALVEAUX: Have you met the president and his wife? Do you know them personally? Would you feel comfortable presenting your ideas to the president, to the administration?
HILL: Well, if I had five minutes with the president, I would love it. That would be the first thing I would talk about, of course. I have not met the president personally. Of course, I know people who do know him in the Cambridge community.
I have not met Mrs. Obama either, but I would love to have a chance to talk with them about the issues that I have been working on. And how important I think they are to the future of America, especially a generation of young people who I come into contact with regularly as a professor.
MALVEAUX: Well, professor, hopefully they're watching, either the Obama family or the administration. You also write in your book that you received more than 25,000 letters from the public.
That's really quite amazing -- since the Clarence Thomas hearings and that that has given you a sense of community and a sense of home. You write about this. Are you surprised that those hearings 20 years ago still resonate with so many people?
HILL: I'm absolutely surprised. I've been at conferences over the last couple of weeks where many women have talked about what were in fact unintended consequences of the hearing. This morning in fact I heard from a woman named Joan Smith who is working with young women in New York City.
She met me over the weekend and just the kind of advocacy, as well as the kind of work that women are doing, especially women -- women and men -- that are -- women who are working to help raise the voices of young women and girls. So that another generation does not have to experience sexual harassment as many of the women my age have.
MALVEAUX: Sure and we have some numbers. I'd just like to put them up there on the screen so folks can actually see that that number has dramatically increased. That there are more young women who have come forward with these allegations of sexual harassment and had their voices heard.
Was it surprising to you last October when Clarence Thomas' wife, Jeanie, reopened this issue and perhaps even attention over it when she sent you that voice mail message requesting for you to apologize for your testimony?
HILL: That was quite a surprise. I had no expectation that I would ever hear from Mrs. Thomas, or Mr. Thomas, for that matter -- Justice Thomas. But what I realized at the time once that message went public that it was an issue that resonated with so many people.
The hearings were not something that had just happened 20 years ago and remained static. It was something that happened 20 years ago and that we had evolved quite significantly since then.
And out of that whole episode with the voice mail message came the idea that we should think about, on the 20th anniversary of the hearing, what the hearings stood for, how we have moved forward in the wake of the hearings.
And what we can do in the future to keep moving us toward equality for women, not only for women, but I hear from people, from all ethnicities, all races, both genders, people from different backgrounds, whether it's socioeconomic backgrounds, and they say that the hearings were significant to them as well.
MALVEAUX: And we understand you did not offer any kind of apology to Justice Thomas or to his wife. That's correct.
HILL: Absolutely. I won't be apologizing. I told the truth and that I stand by and I will not be apologizing.
MALVEAUX: All right. Professor Hill, thank you very much. It is so good to see you and it was a good read over the weekend with your new book. Really appreciate it.
HILL: I'm so glad you enjoyed it and thank you for having me.
MALVEAUX: Sure. Hopefully you'll sit down with the Obamas soon. Appreciate it.
HILL: Yes, from your mouth to their ears.
MALVEAUX: All right. Thanks, Professor. Well, from beacon of hope for energy independence, a spectacular collapse now. The House investigates solar technology firm Solyndra and the federal government's stake in it. We'll going to take a closer look as well.
But first, mortgage rates are the lowest now in decades. So should you refinance? Well, our Christine Romans takes a look in this week's "Smart is The New Rich."
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: If you have a mortgage with an interest rate above 5 percent, 5.5 percent or higher, you need to check into refinancing that mortgage. Rock-bottom rates can spell huge saving for homeowners. How big?
Consider a house with a $200,000 mortgage. Three years ago, a 6 percent mortgage rate was common and the payment excluding property tax would be $1,199 a month. That same home refinanced at 5.5 percent a year ago would cost you about $1,135 a month.
Refinance today at a low 4.2 percent? The mortgage payment is only $978 a month. That's $2,650 a year less than the same loan at 6 percent. A lower monthly payment you would save $79,000 in interest over the life of that loan.
The math is clear. So why aren't thousands of people running out to refinance? It takes money. Home appraisals can run upwards of $400 and closing costs could reach a couple of thousand dollars at a minimum.
Takes time and patience and paperwork. If you bought a year or two ago and your home has lost value or your credit score has dropped, you are likely frozen out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREG MCBRIDE, SENIOR FINANCIAL ANALYST, BANKRATE.COM: The single biggest impediment to refinancing and taking advantage of these low rates is the lack of equity that many homeowners have.
What it really takes to qualify and get these low rates is good credit, proof of income, and some equity in the home. It's that lack of equity that's really the main obstacle for so many homeowners.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: For everyone else who plans to stay in their house a few years, mortgage brokers say do it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELISSA COHN, PRESIDENT, MANHATTAN MORTGAGE: The good thing about lower interest rates with people refinancing, it puts more cash in the consumer's pocket and hopefully that will help people start spending and get this economy to really recover.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: While the 30-year fixed mortgage remains a popular refinancing option, applications are up for 15-year fixed loans as well. The advantages for the 15-year, you'll own your house in half the time, you build equity faster and you pay thousands less in interest.
The downside is your monthly payments are higher than what the 30-year fixed loan. For more on saving money in your housing expenses, check out "Smart is The New Rich." Christine Romans, CNN, New York.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: A House panel is taking a close look at solar technology company Solyndra's demise and the federal government's investment in it. Taxpayers could be on the hook for half a billion dollars.
Today, a bankruptcy judge could decide on appointing a trustee after Solyndra's CEO and CFO both pleaded the fifth. Our Carl Azuz is here with more on how it all went down.
Carl, if you could explain to us first of all what is behind this deal as we know Solyndra.
CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Solyndra, Suzanne, in a nutshell was a bad investment from the get-go. The company made solar panels. It is based out in California. From the early days of the Obama administration, it was held as a shining example of a company that supported renewable energy.
President Obama spoke there. Vice President Joe Biden spoke via satellite at one point. So it had support from the top of the government. You see it encouraged green energy and it became one of the first companies -- in fact, under the stimulus package, it was the first renewable energy company to get a loan guarantee from the federal government. That loan guarantee was worth $535 million.
MALVEAUX: So what's wrong with the plan? What happened?
AZUZ: Well, for one thing, Solyndra never turned a profit, Suzanne and there were a number of people in the beginning, in the Office of Management and Budget, there were people in Department of Energy who were sort of questioning the riskiness of this.
They were saying this company has cash problems, the Department of Energy. There was an e-mail that said the company had problems making money. And they also said that Solyndra's business model back in 2009 showed that it could run out of cash by September of 2011.
Now that turned out to be prophetic because it was on September 6th of 2011 that Solyndra filed for bankruptcy protection and just last week the CEO of Solyndra resigned.
MALVEAUX: So what's been the fall-out beyond the resignation? I imagine. I mean, this has really caught a lot of people's interest.
AZUZ: Yes, I mean, you know, first and foremost, you have very tangible fallout in that 1,000 Solyndra employees simply lost their jobs, but now there are a number of investigations taking place right now.
For one of them, the FBI is looking into whether Solyndra officials misled the U.S. government into thinking this company would be a good investment. Congress is also investigating. They want to know why Solyndra officials testified earlier this summer that the company was on the upswing when all the while it was losing money.
Then another part of the congressional investigation as to why this company was sort of held as a shining example, why it was fast tracked for a government loan when it always had problems from the get-go. So there are a number of questions taking place and under the lessons learned category, Suzanne.
Some people are saying this is also about the riskiness of the government investing in private companies, because private investors invest in private companies like Solyndra that go under, private investors lose their money.
If the government does it or in this case use stimulus funds to do it, if the taxpayers, as you mentioned a moment ago, who are on the hook for half a billion.
MALVEAUX: All right, losing out on this. All right, Carl. Thank you very much.
AZUZ: Thank you, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Well, Herman Cain's 9-9-9 tax plan. He says it's going to help Americans making only $50,000 a year. Well, we want you to keep it here, see what the Truth-o-Meter says.
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MALVEAUX: All right. So every week it seems a different Republican is leading in the race for the White House. Every week candidates say something that's got us wondering, is it even true? Well, Angie Holan with the "St. Petersburg Times" and Politifact is putting some of the comments to the test of the Truth-O-Meter.
So, Angie, let's start with this one from Rick Perry. The Texas governor says, Romneycare has killed 8,000 Massachusetts jobs. What do we know about this? True? False?
ANGIE HOLAN, POLITIFACT.COM: We rated this one mostly false. The Massachusetts health care plan started in 2006. This statement makes it sound like 18,000 people lost their jobs. That's not what happened. This is based on an economic study that said increased business costs means 18,000 jobs weren't created that might have been created otherwise. A single study. But the statement takes it too far. We rated it mostly false.
MALVEAUX: Mostly false.
What about this one from Herman Cain. He says that someone earning $50,000 a year will fare better under his 9-9-9 plan than under the current tax system.
HOLAN: This one got a mostly false, too. The 9-9-9 plan is 9 percent income tax, 9 percent corporate tax and the new 9 percent sales tax. Now the accountants we talk to said a single person who makes $50,000 and has no deductions or exemptions would pay less under Cain's plan, but everybody else would pay more, especially families that get those child tax credits. So this one got a mostly false.
MALVEAUX: Mostly false.
Finally, Mitt Romney took a jab at President Obama when he said that the national labor relations board told Boeing that it, quote, "can't build a factory in a non-union state." Yes?
HOLAN: This one got a false, too. We get into the details on our website. But the issue is not about where a factory could be built. The issue is about moving work between factories that already exist and whether it's permissible to move this work based on the current law. So that's not the dispute that's going on and it got a false.
MALVEAUX: All right, Angie, we hope they'll be a little bit more truthful for the CNN debate tomorrow night. We'll see how this goes.
Angie, thanks again. Appreciate it.
HOLAN: We're looking forward to it.
MALVEAUX: Likewise.
She is everything from super model to super mogul. This business woman wears many different hats. We talked with Tyra Banks about the latest chapter of her life. She's going back to school.
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MALVEAUX: Tyra Banks, super model, television host, actress, best-selling author. Of course she seems to have it all, but she would like a little bit more. Poppy Harlow from CNN "Money" talked with Banks about her new life as a student at Harvard Business School.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: What is it like for you at Harvard Business School? Are you one of the students? Do you stand out?
TYRA BANKS, STUDENT, HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL: I'm one of the students. I'd like to think that I don't stand out. In the beginning, sure, you know, my classmates are like, what the heck, you look just like her. I'm like, yes, I know. I kind of know her well.
But, you know, second term, it's just me, you know. And it's funny, when I speak -- I can speak to a crowd of thousands, or in television, to millions --
HARLOW: Sure.
BANKS: And I have no problem doing that or an arena or a stadium. 60,000 people. I can speak. I can be strong and confident. We had an exercise at Harvard, at school, where we had to pitch a new concept or a new idea for our own personal business. My group chose a concept that I came up with and I had to pitch it to my classmates. And I was shaking like a leaf.
HARLOW: Really?
BANKS: Now I know how to cover it, but the last time I shook like that was when I interviewed President Obama. So that's how nervous I was to pitch this to my classmates because it was peers, you know? These are people that are billionaires and had these businesses and like, you know, that I feel humbled by. So I felt like, oh, my God, they're judging me and I was like uh. Now, they didn't know I was shaking, but I was terrified.
HARLOW: So talk to me about your view on the middle class.
BANKS: I was a middle -- I'm from the middle class. I -- probably lower middle class, I think. My -- you know, my parents divorced when I was six years old and then my mother was on her own. And child support back in those days wasn't as fair as it is now. So my dad did what the law said, you know?
HARLOW: Right.
BANKS: He still put me through private school and all that, but he did what the law said, which wasn't a lot for my mother. So I got to see that struggle. So I understand what that middle class struggle is. And it's real. It is very, very real.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So, Poppy Harlow joins us live.
Poppy, I've interviewed Tyra Banks as well and she is really quite a fascinating person. Really nice, down to earth.
HARLOW: Yes.
MALVEAUX: But, OK, come on, she has her own media company. Why go to business school now?
HARLOW: So it's a great -- it's a great question, Suzanne. I agree with you on all those attributes. I was really struck by her.
You heard at the end of that interview she was talking about the middle class and how she grew up in the middle class. The struggle that her mother went through working multiple jobs. She told me, I was taught to never rely on a man for anything. So this is why she's going to Harvard. It's all about excelling at her business and taking it to the next level. I said are you, you know, going to Harvard to get that degree, that gravitas that maybe a super model wouldn't necessarily get from the public? And she said, absolutely not. It is about the fact that I want to be able to run the numbers. I want to be able to hire the managers from marketing, to finance, to accounting. And I want to know who I should hire. I don't want to rely on other people and just delegate.
So it's about her taking her business to the next level and I think it's fascinating to watch as she's grown so incredibly successful after her modeling career in the media industry, now as a best-selling author talking about making that book into a film. She wants to be able to do the business side of it and do it the best that she can. So, she's going to one of the best for it. She's going to Harvard.
MALVEAUX: All the power to her. From one Harvard gal to another, I wish her very well.
Thank you, Poppy.
The FCC coming down hard on cell phone companies to make life a little easier for you. We're going to find out how, next.
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MALVEAUX: So the FCC wants to make sure when you see your cell phone bill, you know exactly what you're going to be charged for, instead of paying hundreds of dollars for those extra texts. Well, you'll soon receive an alert when you're about to go over your limit. Karina Huber, she's standing by at the New York Stock Exchange.
So what will we notice that's actually different here?
KARINA HUBER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK, Suzanne, what's different is the alerts are going to be automatic unless you opt out. So the wireless companies will be sending you a voicemail or a text message to let you know when you're near your data limit or when you're about to incur roaming charges. Then they'll alert you again when you go over the limit or hit the roaming charge.
Now, the goal, of course, is to get rid of what the FCC calls bill shock. And that's when you use too many minutes or too much data without knowing it, then get a big, fat, whopping bill. And those alerts start late next year.
Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Yes, we've all gotten some of those big, fat whopping bills.
Now, some of the carriers, to be fair, don't they already provide something like this already? You can just check online?
HUBER: Yes, they do. But the problem is, a lot of people don't actually sign up for it or they don't check online. So now the alerts will be free and they will be automatic, of course, unless you opt out.
Now, this is something that affects a lot of people. The FCC estimates that 30 million Americans have experienced bill shock. That is just a one-tenth of the U.S. population. So for many people the shock can mean an extra $100 on their monthly bill. But the FCC got a complaint about a $68,000 charge for going over minutes. Now, I thought I liked to talk, but this person seriously has got the gift of the gab.
But, really, the big issues seems to be data. We've got -- just gobbling up more data with more iPads and tablets out on the market. So that really seems to be the problem there.
Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: You like to talk. We like that, too. We like the fact that you like to talk.
Tell us a little bit about the markets. We saw a sizable sell-off and then it's picking up steam. What's motivating this here?
HUBER: Well, we're still looking pretty bad, pretty sharply in the red. We're down 193 points on the Dow. That's a drop of 1.6 percent. We've got a couple of things at play. First of all, mixed earnings from Citigroup and Wells Fargo. That bank missed its earnings expectations and is selling off sharply this morning. Down by more than 7 percent. Over at Citigroup, it is the second major bank in a week that the economy is challenging. So that's disconcerting.
Also, we've got a disappointing report on regional manufacturing that's weighing on markets and a lack of optimism about Europe coming up with a long-term solution to its sovereign debt problems. So those are a couple of things weighing on the market today.
Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right, Karina Huber, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Joe Johns, who's in for Randi Kaye.
Hey, Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Suzanne.
