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California Protest Turns Violent; New Help for Student Loans; Perry's First TV Ad in White House Run; Two More Quake Survivors Rescued; Interview with New York Representative Charlie Rangel; Economy Booming in One U.S. Town; IBM Names First Female CEO; Gunner Williams, Hockey Kid; Singing Halloween House

Aired October 26, 2011 - 09:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning guys. Thanks so much.

Well, after weeks of peaceful protest, patience runs out and police move in and dismantle the "Occupy Wall Street" movement in two major American cities.

This is Oakland, California. The '60s style showdown turned violent. Stunned grenades explode, tear gas spewing when protesters refused to abandon their tent city.

Dan Simon in is Oakland for us.

And, Dan, looks pretty calm behind you now. But let's talk to what led up to what we're seeing on the other side of the screen last night.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, these protesters had set up this tent city, as you put it, Kyra. They were there for about two weeks and authorities in Oakland thought it had gone on long enough. They thought there was a safety situation over there. They thought there might be some health problems with people living in those tents for so long.

So they decided to disband those protesters. They cleared everyone out yesterday afternoon and then a few hours later about 7:00, 8:00 at night about 500 protesters decided they wanted to take area back. So they started rallying towards city hall and that's the -- that's where they were met by police who were in riot gear, who threw tear gas into the crowd.

It was a very unsettling situation, about 100 people arrested. There were some people with minor injuries.

This went on all throughout the night. Things as you said now are calm, Kyra. I'm going to step out of frame and you can see a live picture of what it looks like right now. There's some barricades set up. Just behind those barricades is city hall. Just a few protesters now.

Police monitoring the situation. Things seem to be under control right now, but I think we'll have a better sense as the day begins of what things will be like -- Kyra. PHILLIPS: Dan, you talk about the police being concerned about violence and about things getting worse. Do we know yet what exactly triggered what the police did and triggered these measures? You know, pretty aggressive measures. And are they receiving criticism for that, as well?

SIMON: Well, police are saying that the crowd got violent. That there were some water bottles hurled at police. That some people threw paint at the officers. So they felt they had to respond in kind -- excuse me, that they had to respond in kind to prevent things from getting any uglier. And from their point of view, what better way to do that than to dispense tear gas.

In terms of what the community response is going to be, it is unclear at this point, clearly the protesters feel like that the police overreacted here, but in terms if there will be sort of any outcry from respectable community leaders, I think, we'll also be waiting for that as well, as the day begins -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll follow it, Dan Simon there in Oakland for us. Dan, thanks.

And then here in Atlanta, police arrested 53 protesters who refused to abandon their tent city in Woodruff Park. Police say that the arrests were orderly and they are peaceful. Organizers are vowing to return to the park and resume their protests as early as this morning.

And in New York Wall Street protesters are trying to sue the growing anger of nearby residence. Live pictures now that we're monitoring. Apparently some neighbors have been complaining about the incessant beating of a drum circle and the city established a complaint hotline. So protesters have now agreed to limit their drumming to four hours a day.

President Obama says that he understands the public anger that's fueling all these protests and other peaceful rebellions against the nation's power brokers. Here's what he had to say last night on Jay Leno.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look, people are frustrated. And that frustration has expressed itself in a lot of different ways. It expressed itself in the Tea Party and it's expressing itself in "Occupy Wall Street." I do think that -- you know, what this -- what this signals is that people in leadership, whether it's corporate leadership, leaders in the banks, leaders in Washington, everybody needs to understand that the American people feel like nobody is looking out for them right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And coming up in just a few minutes, we're going to talk with Congressman Charlie Rangel about "Occupy Wall Street." He has come out in support of the protesters. We'll talk to him again. Later today President Obama tosses a lifeline to young Americans drowning in college debt. Consider this. Grads from the class of '09 have racked up an average loan debt of $24,000. And many of them can't afford to pay that. The unemployment rate for college graduates age 24 and younger rose to 9.4 percent last year. That's the highest since the Labor Department began keeping records in 1985.

So the president will now unveil a plan to help. Christine Romans is crunching the numbers, Brianna Keilar is looking at the politics of the equation.

Christine, let's go ahead and start with you. Just give us the nuts and bolts of the plan.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Sure, OK, it's two different proposals that are sort of sped up here. Under health care reform there was student loan reform and the president wants to push up the start date to next year. So it was originally planned for 2014, now it will be graduates for 2012, Kyra.

They'll be able to do a couple of things. One is your -- what you pay for your student loans will only be 10 percent of your discretionary income. You know you won't be -- you won't be going broke every month paying for your -- for your loans. Also, it speeds up your loan forgiveness. So after 20 years, whatever balance is left on those loans, if you faithfully made your payments, it will just forgive the rest of those loans.

Also the second program allows current graduates to have a bunch of different kind of federal loans to consolidate them together and for a limited time be able to get a lower interest rate. So the White House is hoping that will allow people freeing up some money for people who right now are buried under a bunch of student debt.

Two points I want to make. One, it doesn't address the rising cost of tuition. A new report this morning from the Conference Board (ph) shows tuition is still going up and up and it still shows that we're just taking on so much debt, we've got to do a better job of educating kids about what kind of debt, how much debt and where they should be going to college and what kind of majors they need to be taking on, so they can -- so they can, you know, get through this pile.

It's still going to take years to get through this pile if you take all these loans -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Yes, it is.

And, Brianna, President Obama is bypassing Congress on this.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, he is, Kyra. He's using his executive authority and it's not even the first time he's done this this week.

You know, President Obama has been pushing his jobs plan urging Congress to pass it in parts. But what he's doing with this, with the student loan program, and also with something he unveiled on Monday in Las Vegas -- assistance for homeowners who are under water on their loans, refinancing assistance -- he's sort of got this message this week and you've heard it throughout the week, you'll hear it again today when he touts this program today at the University of Colorado.

It's called, "We Can't Wait." That's the message that he has. Sort of saying he wants to do things on the economy. If it's Congress, Republicans who are standing in his way, then he's going to sort of highlight that and in this case bypass Congress altogether, doing what he can executive authority -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Brianna Keilar at the White House and our Christine Romans in New York. Ladies, thanks so much.

And we're going to have live coverage of President Obama's outlining his -- or President Obama outlining his plan for college loans. His remarks are scheduled for 12:45 Eastern at the University of Colorado's Denver campus.

Oh, Herman Cain, not just the top choice among Republicans for the White House, but for their House, too. Meantime, Rick Perry really struggling.

Our deputy political director Paul Steinhauser joining us.

So, Paul, Rick Perry still trying to save himself.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: No doubt about it. And there's plenty of time left. We still have over two months until the start of these caucuses in Iowa.

So what's Rick Perry doing? He's going up with his first campaign ads to pay television commercials of his campaign. Check it out. This ad running starting in Iowa, Kyra. And what does it do? It touts Rick Perry, he touts it himself. His record on creating jobs in Texas. So I think you're going to see a lot more ads when it comes to Rick Perry. He's got $15 million cash on hand. That will -- that'll buy some commercial time in Iowa and the other states.

Take a look at this. This is a brand-new CBS/"New York Times" poll. This is why Rick Perry is coming out with those ads. Look at his drop -- the poll indicates his drop from 23 percent support to just 6 percent support in the polls. And you can see it right there, CBS/"New York Times." That's a national survey.

And, Kyra, why the drop? Well, Rick Perry himself said it probably has to do with my debate performance. And in an interview last night, Perry said, you know what, the biggest mistake I have made maybe, going to all those presidential debates. But they're kind of hard to turn down, Rick Perry, though, saying, and kind of admitting that his debate performance hasn't been the greatest.

Who's on top of that CBS/"New York Times" poll? Well, it's Herman Cain followed very closely by Mitt Romney, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Questioning whether he should even debate. As you can imagine, we're going to get our political buzz panel next hour to weigh in on that.

Paul, I'm sure they have an opinion on that comment. Meanwhile Cain, Herman Cain and his rise in the polls, what's behind it?

STEINHAUSER: A couple of things. Probably that 9-9-9 tax plan but another thing, likability. People -- it seems these Republican voters, according to the surveys, like Herman Cain. Look at this one. This is a brand-new one from (INAUDIBLE). Well, of all those Republican candidates, who would you most like to have dinner with?

Look who's on top right there? Twenty-nine percent Herman Cain, Gingrich at 22 percent, Romney at 17, all the other candidates in single digits.

Our poll from last week, our CNN poll, indicated the same thing. Likability, it's one of the reasons why Herman Cain has soared right up there -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Paul, thanks.

STEINHAUSER: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well, Joe the plumber, remember him from the 2008 race? He's launched his campaign for Congress. Did it last night in Toledo. He's running as an Ohio -- or running in Ohio, rather, as a Republican and he's using his real name now. Sam Wurzelbacher.

And you'll hear from him next hour. We'll ask him if he's ready for that transition from Joe the plumber to Joe the politician. That's coming up at 10:45 Eastern.

We'll have your next -- next political update in an hour or two, but you can always go to our Web site, CNNPolitics.com 24/7.

In eastern Turkey it's a race against time in the search for survivors from Sunday's deadly earthquake. Rescuers say the likelihood for finding people alive in the rubble declines by the hour. But some are beating the odds.

CNN's Zain Verjee joins us live from London.

I'll tell you what, Zain, we can't forget just the pictures of that 2-week-old baby being pulled from the rubble. Couldn't get enough of that yesterday.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: It was incredible. The baby, her mother, her grandmother all survived there.

Some other really incredible stories, too, that are out there. Four hundred and 61 people have been killed, but just take a look at this video. They're some of the latest emergency rescue efforts have rescued a 27-year-old woman. She was in the debris, Kyra, for 67 hours after the quake hit. She's a teacher. She has some breathing problems, but she's going to be OK. She's being treated.

Then there was this other guy, 18 years old, pulled from a collapsed building after 61 hours. These are some of the scenes of jubilation after the rescue efforts happened.

Let me just show you what the headlines are saying around the world, Kyra. The "Wall Street Journal Europe" says this, "Cheers, tragedy in Turkish rescues." This newspaper points out that the temperatures are falling and it could snow today. Also, rescue teams are racing to find survivors.

Take a look at the "Daily Telegraph." This is the headline. After hours of searching, we heard babies cry in rubble. The article talks about the miraculous rescue. You were saying nobody could get enough -- of looking the 2-week-old baby, but they also add that these pockets of jubilation were tempered by the discovery of so many dead bodies.

Finally in Turkey their paper is called "Today's Zaman." It says this, "Turkey stands united in the face of earthquake disaster." That paper says, "The quake really has shown, Kyra, that Turkey stands united as a nation, regardless of all that ethnic differences and despite an escalation and separatist violence -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Zain Verjee, we'll continue to follow this story and every move that those rescuers are making.

And coming up, we're going to ask a man who's been in Congress 40 years what it's like to get a 9 percent approval rating from the American people.

And later, we're going to take you to a town where there's low unemployment. People making six-figure salaries left and right and a housing shortage. In fact, the town is so hot, it's stealing strippers from Vegas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We're checking stories "Cross Country" now.

In Florida, a federal judge has temporarily blocked the governor's controversial plan to drug-test welfare applicants. That move comes after the ACLU filed suit for a single father who objected to the test, saying it violates his right to unreasonable search and seizure.

In Fayetteville, North Carolina, four high school students are recovering after a science experiment unexpectedly exploded outside the school's chemistry lab. The building was evacuated as a precaution.

And police in Albany, Georgia, suspect an unsatisfied customer at a Taco Bell drive thru threw a homemade fire bomb at the restaurant early Sunday morning. The restaurant's manager says the man had called to complain about the lack of meat in his chalupa prior to the attack. Police recovered a melted plastic bottle suspected of containing gasoline.

All right. We've got bigger problems than chalupas. A new poll asked Americans what they think about the job that Congress is doing. The results aren't just bad, they're laughably bad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": The approval rating -- the bad news is your approval rating is 41 percent.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Right.

LENO: The good news is you're still three times better than Congress. They're at 13. So, explain.

OBAMA: Yes.

LENO: I mean, so, if you're grading on a curve, if you're grading on a curve, you're killing. You're killing.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: All right. Let's bring in Congressman Charles Rangel.

You know, check out what the American people think of you and your colleagues. The CBS News and "New York Times" poll, Congressman, showing 9 percent approve. That's the lowest since 1997.

Now, sir, you've been in Congress for more than 40 years. How does it feel to get that big, fat, failing grade?

REP. CHARLIE RANGEL (D), NEW YORK: It's painful. Even though I normally poll between 80 percent and 90 percent of the vote during the general election, I am still part of the Congress. I'm still part of government and people are mad as hell and I don't blame them one bit.

And so, you know, it doesn't give me that much satisfaction that when you look at Republicans and Democrats, that Republicans polled much lower.

But the fact is that they have every right to believe that the government can do more than we are doing to make it a little easier for them to go through these crises.

And so, that's why I go down to Wall Street and that's why they know who I am and I walk among them, and I take the arrows and the bows because they are frustrated and something has to be done.

PHILLIPS: And they are frustrated. They are mad as hell when you look at these "Occupy Wall Street" protests. They're mad as hell with the system and, Congressman, that includes you. You're a part of the system.

And now, we're seeing protesters calling you a sell out and anti-trade protesters showing up now calling you out for supporting free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, South Korea. They say you're basically Wall Street's pal here, that, you know, you sold out U.S. jobs and ensured big corporations can just stash this money outside the country.

So, how are you responding to the specific criticism about you right now?

RANGEL: I can say without a question of doubt that half a dozen of people that appeared on the same street and not in my office complaining about my vote on the Korea-United States trade bill had nothing at all to do with the protesters of Wall Street.

And, of course, as a citizen, as well as an elected official, I think it's right when people have a problem with my votes that they express themselves, especially at the polls.

And again, I've been there for over 40 years. I guess I'm doing something right. But it doesn't make anyone feel good to be the subject of criticism. But it's deserved and, as it relates to being a part of government.

But the most important thing is that under our great country people can say what they want and that's in the Constitution. And I don't feel badly about that at all.

But I want to make it clear, anybody that jumps up and say that they're part of the Wall Street protest, they're not. And I know that there's limited resources that the press has, but it shouldn't take too much of an effort to find out they were totally, totally unrelated to the Wall Street protests.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's take a look at the violent scenes that broke out in Oakland last night. Should protesters be able to stay or police just doing what they need to do?

RANGEL: I'm not in Oakland. I can't see the clip that you probably are showing. But I think it's abundantly clear that there's just no -- there are limits to the right of free speech. And when it interferes with other people's right, it has to be weighed.

But I'm at a terrible disadvantage since you know that I can't see the clip that you're talking about.

PHILLIPS: Well, you watched the news it was all over last night and I suggest you do take a look at it. I mean, we're talking about tear gas and protesters being broken up and police say they were worried about it getting violent. It would be interesting for you to definitely take a look at this and get your take on this.

RANGEL: Well, it's happening around the world and when the Congressional Budget Office says that 1 percent of the high earners own 42 percent of the nation's wealth and people in the middle class are pushing into poverty and people in poverty are getting poorer, I think it's got to take more than just some tear gas to bring some equity into the system that we have in this great country of ours. That's America is all about.

PHILLIPS: Well, that means congressional -- that means congressional leaders like you, Charles Rangel. I mean, there is definitely frustration about what the leaders within our country are doing -- all the way up to the president of the United States. And we're seeing through these protests all types of frustration from politicians to corporate America. I know that you'll be speaking --

RANGEL: There's room for everyone to participate. There's room for reporters not to look for violent things and to report the disparities that exist in our great country. There's room for the clergy to talk against the wars and talk for the people that are poor and the sick and the aged.

And there's a heck of a lot room for the Congress and the United States government. So, you're right, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, there's room -- there's room to see that approval rating on Congress to go up, as well, a lot higher than 9 percent.

Congressman, thank you.

RANGEL: I have to agree with you.

PHILLIPS: Thank you so much.

All right. More on "Occupy" movement in just a few minutes. The author of "How Corporatism Conquered the World" says we could all learn a new way of life from the protesters. Douglas Rushkoff explains when he joins us live at the bottom of the hour.

And the most wanted holiday gifts of 2011. Last year, it was peace and happiness. What do people want this year? We're going to go to New York Stock Exchange for details.

And imagine gift shopping for 7 billion people. The U.N. says the planet is about to hit a new plateau, population wise. CNN iReporters try putting the figure into context, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Let's check out your "Showbiz Headlines."

Decades after he gave up meat, Paul McCartney is putting out his first veggie cookbook. It's based around his family's meat-free Monday campaign. To highlight the environmental impact of introducing and eating meat, by the way, Sir Paul and some famous friends contributed their favorite recipes.

Harry Potter movies are about to vanish from store shelves. Warner Brothers says it's going to pull all eight in December. Analysts think that the studio is taking a page from Disney putting popular films in the vault to be released. Warner Brothers and CNN, both part of Time Warner, by the way.

And six weeks in, Chaz Bono is done "Dancing with the Stars." He and his partner Lacey were voted off last night after low scores on a "Phantom of the Opera" tango and a spat with one of the judges.

Well, here's a number that's difficult to dance around. The United Nations says that next week, the world's population will hit 7 billion people.

CNN's Zain Verjee has more on how some CNN iReporters are sort of conceptualizing such as enormous figure.

What you got, Zain?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hi, Kyra.

Seven billion. I've been counting. The U.N. says that they will hit that number October 31st. That's Halloween.

This report basically says that most people will be under the age of 25. Most people in our world will be living in cities, not in the countryside or in rural areas and that Africa really sees the most growth.

So, seven billion, right? A really hard number just to wrap your head around. Here's what some iReporters did just to give us a sense of what it's like, OK?

Veronica in San Juan City in the Philippines puts it like this. She decided to start with one grain of rice and says that grain of rice helps make a cup of rice and to get to 7 billion grains of rice, you'd need almost 440,000 pounds of rice.

And then in Santiago in Chile, Bernardus decided this, Kyra -- he decided just to take a walk to help visualize the idea of 7 billion. And he figured out that by taking 7 billion steps around the planet, 133 times, he would not return home for 152 years.

And then, finally, Kyra, Luke in Chicago decided to use names to capture and represent the idea of 7 billion. He's 22 years old and he figured out that if he was going to name every single person on earth, he would have to name 10 people a second for every second since he was born.

Kyra, there's this Web site that you can plug in your birthday, your birth date and it will tell you what number you are in the world. The Web site is down. I wanted to plug your birthday in, 8-8-blank. But I'm estimating it at 3,898,265,107. That's who you are. Congratulations, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: You are a math whiz. And I was just thinking -- imagine if each one of those individuals, right, 7 billion people, if everybody gave 25 cents, put it into the hopper, what kind of amazing things we could do in this world. Let's contemplate that.

VERJEE: We're selfish, why would we do that?

PHILLIPS: Well, you're number one in my book, if I wanted to count the numbers. See you a little later in the hour, Zain.

VERJEE: All right.

PHILLIPS: All right. Coming up, we're taking you to a place where the economy is booming.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The money's here. My Vegas girls would rather dance here than in Vegas because they make more money here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Yes, things in this boom town are going so well, the strippers are leaving Vegas. We'll tell you more in just a few minutes.

And later, lessons learned from the "Occupy Wall Street" protesters. You'll meet an author who says what you see here could be a model of things to come.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Checking top stories now.

Two more survivors have been pulled from the rubble of Turkey's 7.2 earthquake. The woman and teenage boy were trapped for more than 60 hours. At least 461 people have died in that quake.

Hurricane Rina expected to strengthen as it nears Mexico's tourist hot spots. The storm is already packing 110-mile-per-hour winds. Both Cancun and Cozumel are under a hurricane warning.

And after weeks of private talks, the House supercommittee holds a public hearing. The head of the Congressional Budget Office is scheduled to testify. The committee is less than a month to come up with a $1.5 trillion deficit reduction plan.

Can you believe this? Christmas is less than eight weeks away. Not too early to start thinking about the holidays, I guess.

Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange with details on this year's most wanted gifts.

What are they asking for this year, besides peace, love, happiness?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: We'll get to that in a minute, Kyra. So, yes, if you can't figure out what to get that special someone, you can't go wrong with clothes. Clothes is the number one thing people are asking for. But after that, it's all about gadgets.

So, the second and third most wanted gifts -- tablet computers, laptops, notebooks and iPads, of course. And that actually seems exactly what people are more willing to buy anyway.

Spending on electronics is expected to hit a record high this year. It's really a big change from last year. As you mentioned, Kyra, the number one gift people asked for last year, peace and happiness. I don't know, what does that mean about our priorities then? Maybe they got peace and happiness and figured, ah, it's overrated.

PHILLIPS: One of these days, you know what it is, all comes down to humility, right? You got to be humble in one or another to realize what's really important.

All right. The Dow dropped to more than 200 points yesterday. What are you expecting today?

KOSIK: We are getting a nice bounce back in the early going, about three minutes into the trading day, the Dow up 153 points.

Now, today is a big day because it's supposed to be the day that European officials unveil a big plan to fix Europe's debt crisis. Meetings today are happening. The official announcement expected in a few hours this afternoon.

PHILLIPS: Got it.

KOSIK: And analysts do expect them to come through with an actual plan, even though we're hearing reports that there are still disagreements.

Right now, you're looking at the numbers. You see that investors are pretty optimistic at this point, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Alison, thanks.

What if I told you there was a state where the unemployment rate is 3.5 percent. People without college diplomas, they are earning six figures. And strippers are actually leaving Vegas because the money isn't as good.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Vegas now is seasonal. OK? You got to hit when it's golf tournament or some seminar.

Here, it's just happening every day. It's crazy. Anybody needs a job, come up to Williston, North Dakota.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guys come off the train come in here and they say they don't have a job and I say, sit here for three hours and they have a job when they leave.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: It's not the twilight zone. It's Williston, North Dakota. But its boom comes with a price.

CNNMoney's Blake Ellis actually spent some time out there.

Blake, where is all the money coming from?

BLAKE ELLIS, CNNMONEY.COM: Well, the money's coming from the oil and the oil is coming from a place called the Bakken Formation in western North Dakota, and it's just created thousands of jobs out there as these oil companies find new and better ways of getting all the oil out.

And the jobs are not just for these oil companies. Places are hiring all kinds of positions. We talked to a local fast food chain and the manager of the Taco John said that she came from Idaho where she made minimum wage and now she's making six figures, and they're hiring $15 an hour every single place is hiring as more and more people enter the state.

PHILLIPS: That is incredible.

Now, OK, take me into the experience, if you don't mind. You were actually there for a week and I understand you slept in an R.V.?

ELLIS: We did. Yes. There is absolutely nowhere to stay and that is the biggest issue there right now is this huge housing shortage.

So, we actually had to rent an R.V. in Bismarck and drive out to western North Dakota, about four hours, and drive around these little towns. We stayed in the Wal-Mart parking lot and we stayed at a rest stop. There are no hotels that have openings, even the locals are seeing their rents triple because there is just high demand out there. So, it's a huge problem.

PHILLIPS: Blake, I think you need to open up a bureau in Williston, North Dakota. You could do very well there.

But on another note, you interviewed a number of residents who say there's a bit of a backlash that is developing, as well. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the infrastructure and everything right now is five years behind on what it should be today. The roads are at least five years behind.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So many people working here and they don't have enough housing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's it. That's where I live.

Sleeping in this parking lot and in my truck, along with all these other people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our little peaceful existence is pretty much gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Wow. Tell us more about the frustrations and it sounds like you could make a little extra money if you sold your R.V.

ELLIS: Definitely. That's what people are doing. There are all kinds of job opportunities out there. People are coming out with R.V.s to rent. I mean, you could rent it for basically as much as you could an apartment in Manhattan. It's just crazy out there.

PHILLIPS: Wow. Well, great job, Blake. It's definitely a fascinating story and you can see more of it on CNN Money. Appreciate it, Blake.

All right, up next, "Occupy Wall Street" protesters have given us all a formula for a whole new way of life. That's the author of "How Corporatism Conquered the World" thinks. We're going to talk with Douglas Rushkoff.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Oakland, California, showdown "Occupy Wall Street."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD: Who are you protecting? Who are you protecting? Who are you protecting?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: What our next guest says it's not much their message that you need to hear. Instead, it's the methods you really need to watch.

Douglas Rushkoff is the author of "Life Inc.: How Corporatism Conquered the World and How to Take It Back."

Good to see you, Douglas.

DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF, AUTHOR, "LIFE INC.": Hi. Good to be with you.

PHILLIPS: All right. Let's talk about your op-ed. You actually say the "Occupy" movement is both scary and promising. Give me a more -- give me a little more context.

RUSHKOFF: Well, I mean, I think it's scary because it's hard to understand what it is. It's not recognizable. You know, we keep trying to contextualize it as a protest because we know what those look like because people marching in the streets and angry and looking for something. But it does not fit into that box because this is not a group of people demanding stuff, as much as it is a group of people modeling new behaviors.

PHILLIPS: Last night, I was telling you that Michael Moore talked to our Piers Morgan. You know, he has been embraced by "Occupy" protesters.

Listen to how he described the movement. I want to get your take.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL MOORE, FILMMAKER: Some people -- this is a protest against capitalism. For some other people, they like capitalism but they think capitalism has become really a system of greed and needs to be reformed or we need to put the controls back on that used to be there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: What do you think?

RUSHKOFF: Yes. I mean, if anything, this is a movement dedicated to evolving capitalism to whatever comes next. So, it's not a matter of people saying, "Oh, stop capitalism, stop the banks, end this thing."

It's more of a matter of people saying, "Well, what if we divest our money from corporate banks and put our money into credit unions and local banks, instead? What instead of having a heavy debate parliamentary system with a right and left that seem opposed, what if we develop something called the general assembly through which people have discussions in which to create consensus? What if we experience complimentary currencies so that we're not paying such a premium in order to have transactions?"

So, that's really what makes me excited about this movement, if you want to call it that, is that they are modeling strategies that then we can actually try ourselves.

PHILLIPS: All right. So, final question here -- because the number of journalists and, you know, a lot of people here and in the broadcast world, we've gotten criticized and hammered for saying, not going deep enough into this movement and interviewing other people that have a more intellectual message that we're just showing, you know, the peaceniks and the drumming and calling it another Woodstock.

What would you say we're not talking about? What is the one thing that we should take seriously about this and not forget as we monitor these various movements?

RUSHKOFF: I think the thing to look at is to look at the "Occupy" movement as kind of a cultural microcosm, as a little mini- society. And actually look at what are the things -- what are the things that they're doing?

In other words, how are they negotiating consensus? How are they talking? What are they thinking about currency?

What are the things that they're trying? How they get their net access? They use something called freedom tower, which is a free Wi- Fi WiMAX solution that could be employed in any city anywhere in the country.

So, look at what they're testing. You know, think of them as beta testers of new strategies for dealing really with a post- corporate society.

PHILLIPS: Douglas Rushkoff, the book is "Life Inc.: How Corporatism Conquered the World and How to Take It Back." It's always great talking to you, Douglas. Thank you so much.

RUSHKOFF: Great to be with you. You take care.

PHILLIPS: You can read more of his op-ed as well. Just go to CNN.com/opinion. You'll find his editorial in its entirety and can weigh in, as well.

Changes at the top of IBM. The company names its first female CEO in its 100-year history.

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PHILLIPS: All right, let's check news "Cross Country."

A Tennessee family survives a house fire thanks to the daughter's fake baby. The doll was part of a health class assignment on parenthood. Well, when her baby started crying in the middle of the night the girl woke up and saw smoke. She got everybody out safely, including the quote, "baby."

Traffic comes to a screeching halt in a Oklahoma highway -- on an Oklahoma highway rather -- after drivers spot money blowing across the road. Dozens of people pulled over, pocketed thousands of dollars and then took off. No one has claimed the lost cash and nobody has turned anything in.

And gassing up your car could load you up with germs. A new study finds that gas pumps are one of the germiest things we touch with public mail boxes a close second, by the way. 71 percent of pumps tested were highly contaminated with the bugs most likely to make you sick.

Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange with the details on some pretty big changes at one of the world's biggest technology companies. We love hearing this, Alison.

KOSIK: Oh yes, we do. You know this is significant because IBM's new CEO is a woman, Virginia -- known as Ginny to her colleagues and her friends -- Rometty. Virginia Rometty, she takes the helm at IBM next year.

Now she's been there for quite a while for about 30 years. Now she is the one who is known to have gotten IBM into cloud computing and analytics. She is also known to be the person who led the Watson computer project, you remember that, the computer that beat humans on "Jeopardy".

Now, on this news, IBM shares they're not moving too much because IBM has been doing pretty well lately and this is expected to be a smooth transition.

Still Kyra, a female leader is notable. She could wind up being the highest profile woman in all of corporate America -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Alison, it's 2012, right? We should see more, well, we're approaching 2012 I should say. We're almost there. I'm already jumping ahead.

KOSIK: Yes. That's ok.

PHILLIPS: Why, we shouldn't be talking like we're still having to break the glass ceiling, right? We should be seeing more major companies taking women on as the lead role.

KOSIK: Oh, listen, I completely agree with you. You know but the reality is, even nowadays, you know, we're in the 21st century and it is extremely rare to see a woman lead a major company, especially a Fortune 500. If you look at all Fortune 500 companies, you know, there only 12 female CEOs at companies including Kraft, Pepsi, WellPoint Insurance, Archer Daniels Midland.

It is -- so, it's even more rare when you have a female lead a technology company. But now, women lead the two biggest tech companies. IBM and HP, which recently hired Meg Whitman. Analysts say you know what is happening here, we are turning a corner. The more that this happens the more normal it will be. And who knows, we'll -- we'll stop leading the headlines with stories like this when it becomes an everyday thing where women are where they should be, leading big companies. Right, Kyra?

PHILLIPS: All right, Alison Kosik for president, that's what I say. Chicago -- it's not a bad idea.

All right, Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Cain has some competition. The boy's name is Gunner and he really is a sniper on the ice. Sports six minutes away.

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PHILLIPS: The stories making news later today.

12:15 Eastern on Capitol Hill, John Walsh host of "America's Most Wanted" joins police and fire officials calling for a broadband emergency network.

And later this hour from Denver, President Obama is expected to lay out his plan to help college students or college graduates rather trying to pay back their student loans.

And at 2:00 Eastern, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is expected to file a lawsuit against Sea World alleging the water park is enslaving the killer whales that perform there.

All right, we're following lots of developments in the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM. Let's check in first with Christine Romans live in New York -- Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi there Kyra. I'm going to tell you about how the White House wants to make sure that you're not still paying student loans when you're collecting Social Security and what it means for you to dig out of student loan debt. That's coming up at the top of the hour.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dan Simon in Oakland, California. There was a dramatic clash last night between police and protesters. Tear gas dispensed and what started it all? We'll have that story at the top of the hour.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And I'm Rob Marciano on the CNN Severe Weather Center, your hurricane headquarters. We have a hurricane and it's almost a Cat 3. Rina will make landfall on Mexico's shoreline tomorrow morning, and then potentially make a run at Florida. The forecast track in the next hour -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Thanks guys.

And Joe the Plumber is back. This time he's campaigning for himself and not someone else. Joe, the real name is Sam, is running for Congress. Is he ready for the switch from citizen to candidate? We'll ask him, he's live with us next hour.

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PHILLIPS: Two words, World Series.

JEFF FISCHEL, ANCHOR, HLN SPORTS: That is right.

PHILLIPS: Go.

FISCHEL: The Rangers are one win away, but you know what they got a lot of help in the last game because of the way Cardinals manager Tony La Russa handled his relief pitchers . Cardinals fans are upset; their hard-throwing closer Jason Motte wasn't brought in until it was too late.

La Russa is getting a lot of criticism including from an airline pilot. Sports writer Andy McCullough, flying from Dallas to St. Louis tweeted this, "Pilot announces flight time to St. Louis is 1:37, or faster than the time it takes Tony La Russa to get his closer into the game. That's cold." It is cold.

I'll have Game six the highlights tomorrow.

In between periods at last night's Black Hawks and Ducks game, this kid is Gunner Williams who scores from the blue line in the whole the goal. And you know what; he wasn't done. He did it a second time. Gunner goes home with $300 for doing this twice. And when Gunner was not doing his thing, Chicago star Patrick Kane was.

Kane, this spin-o-rama and (INAUDIBLE) pass to Marian Hossa. I think now we've seen Gunner's future. Kane later scored the game- winning goal in the shootout. Blackhawks win, Kyra.

That's sports.

PHILLIPS: All right. That was quick and dirty. See you tomorrow.

FISCHEL: Ok.

PHILLIPS: Ok.

FISCHEL: Fine.

PHILLIPS: Well, one singing Halloween house is now a nightmare. CNN's Jeanne Moos with more.

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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That's no motion detecting, anti-burglary device. This is a talking house, practically a dancing house. The Web site Gawker christened it "The Awesome Halloween Light Show You're Glad Isn't on Your Block".

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In a place perhaps you've seen in your dreams.

MOOS: Or in your nightmares. The house plays one number taken from the Tim Burton film "The Nightmare before Christmas".

(MUSIC)

MOOS: Here's the house version.

(MUSIC)

MOOS: This is the family that lives in the Halloween house in Riverside, California.

(on camera): Kevin, he prefers we not use his last name isn't doing any TV interviews at the moment. But we did have a nice long phone conversation with him.

(voice-over): At his day job he installs fiber optics for Verizon. But he takes a week off to put up the 5,000 or so LED lights on his own house. And he uses his spare time over a period of months to program them. He started the tradition back in 2008 with "Thriller".

He does something different every year. And this year's grave yard smash is "Party Rock Anthem" from LMFAO.

Cars cruise by. Kevin's house attracts a crowd of 300 or so people standing around watching the nightly show.

(on camera): One night a teenage girl showed up on his doorstep around midnight and asked if this was the house with all the lights and could he please turn them on. Kevin declined.

(voice-over): To us it may be funny, are the neighbors amused?

One we've talked to said folks seem to like it, although she was a bit worried it would get too popular. Online it's a smash, epic, incredible, awesome. That is Kevin's daughter departing the singing house mid-performance.

(on camera): Kevin says he doesn't do Christmas because he's too tired from Halloween.

(voice-over): Take your pick: is it an eye sore or an eyegasm?

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)