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Arson as Weapon of Terror?; John Edwards Trial Continues; Junior Seau Dead at 43; Ben Stein Talks Retirement, Economy; New Bin Laden Documents
Aired May 03, 2012 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour here. Welcome back. I am Brooke Baldwin.
Before we begin, we do have new details on that incident inside a high school in Memphis here. We have this video, this school district telling CNN a mailbox bomb went off in the hallway. It all appears to be some sort of student prank. The pressurized device contained Drano cleaner. Thankfully, no one is hurt. The exception is the assistant principal did go to the hospital after inhaling smoke, but everyone seems to be OK.
We will keep you updated.
And we talked about this here, about the Osama bin Laden file, hundreds of pages of documents seized in the raid that killed him one year ago released by the U.S. government. Now another dead terrorist is speaking from the grave, Anwar al-Awlaki.
The Yemen-based militant died last fall in a drone strike, but his group has published these new instructions. And among other things, they're telling followers to set fire to America, set fire. These new instructions include guidance on how to create a so-called ember bomb to ignite wildfires.
Want to go straight to Irvine, California, Bob Baer, formerly of the CIA.
Bob, good to see you again.
This is something we hadn't heard, this idea of using wildfires as weapons of terror. Question to you, is this a new idea? Is this something law enforcement has considered?
ROBERT BAER, INTELLIGENCE ANALYST, TIME.COM: They have considered it, of course.
Arson is a very effective weapon. It is easy to light places on fire and attack at several places. You don't have to procure explosives. And the rest of it, it doesn't surprise me. Al Qaeda is desperate to strike back. It has been a year since Osama bin Laden was assassinated. They do want to hit, and they intend to, and they will use any weapon they can get their hands on.
BALDWIN: So, just to follow up there, if you say that this is something certainly that they have -- I don't want to say anticipated, but thought about, this is also something that they're prepared to prevent?
BAER: I think so. I think we have to look at al Qaeda is -- the problem for the FBI in this country is that they simply put their instructions out on the Web.
They tell people what sort of weapons to get and accelerants and things like that, and they just have to follow the orders. You don't actually have to be in touch with these people. You don't have to call them on a cell phone. You don't have to e-mail them. You just say, hey, you guys go out and do this.
And a dispersed movement like this is very difficult to kill.
BALDWIN: Something else, Bob, that was published in this magazine today by al-Awlaki's followers, it's a ruling from al- Awlaki's himself deeming it that it is A-OK for Muslims militants to attack women and children in the cause of jihad.
He says they shouldn't be targets, per se, but if they happen to be in the way, it is allowed for Muslims to attack them. But the thing is here, Bob, in the letters here, these letters from Abbottabad, the bin Laden letters here, seem to say the opposite, because they're telling -- he is telling his troops, be careful about collateral damage.
So when you look at those two opposite ends of the spectrum, were they -- it seems like they were at odds, these two leaders.
BAER: You know, Brooke, you're absolutely right.
It is ironic that bin Laden himself was trying to contain the violence. He was trying to get away from slaughter. He knew it was counterproductive. But he couldn't get control over various franchises like in Yemen or Mali or other places like that.
And, you know, it has been counterproductive for Islamic militants to go after, indiscriminately, women and children and buildings and the rest of it. And I think what -- this is the best news of this. It is this kind of random violence which will ultimately destroy this movement. How long, I don't know.
BALDWIN: You have looked through these documents, these bin Laden documents that were released today. What is your biggest takeaway?
BAER: Oh, I think that how isolated bin Laden was, that, after 9/11, he was not only on the run, but people weren't listening to him. They were going off in different directions.
BALDWIN: Why do you think that was?
BAER: I think -- I think he never had that much control over the movement. You would have to look at 9/11 as pretty much as a pickup team that took on the professionals and got lucky. And after that, they didn't really have an important attack, except Madrid and London, and those were easy targets. And then after that, the movement very much fell apart.
And I think the fact that they haven't been able to strike since London and Madrid has just undercut the attraction of this, and ultimately these people are seen to be psychopaths that don't help Islam or anything. They have gained nothing at all.
BALDWIN: Well, al-Awlaki gone, OBL gone. There you go.
Bob Baer, appreciate it.
BAER: Thanks.
BALDWIN: Got a lot more for you in the next hour. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LUISA SEAU, MOTHER OF JUNIOR SEAU: Why you never telling me?
BALDWIN: Someone close to Junior Seau says he might have been lost, unsure about life after football.
I am Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.
(voice-over): LSD, mushrooms, drugs of the '60s are returning not in the club, but in the hospital room.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am just sort of passing through here.
BALDWIN: Plus, disturbing new numbers show America's taking a lot longer to retire. Ben Stein tells me his thoughts live.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: "On the Case today: What happened to this San Diego college student brings a whole new meaning to the term wrongful imprisonment.
The DEA admits its agents -- quote -- "accidentally left Daniel Chong in a cell for nearly five days." Chong says he was handcuffed, no food, no water, actually had to drink his own urine, and tried to commit suicide.
Agents say they picked up this young man during a raid where they took in eight others as well, found ecstasy pills, pot, ammo and guns -- still, though, no explanation of how they overlooked the engineering student being held for so long.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) EUGENE IREDALE, ATTORNEY FOR DANIEL CHONG: He screamed hundreds of times for help. He began to dig into the walls thinking that he could get water that way.
DANIEL CHONG, JAILED STUDENT: I had to do what I had to do to survive. I cycled through my own urine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Chong has now filed a claim against the federal government for $20 million.
Joey Jackson, a defense attorney "On the Case" with us today.
And, Joey, $20 million?
(LAUGHTER)
BALDWIN: I am guessing by your laugh, my answer to, is he going to get that is no?
JOEY JACKSON, LEGAL ANALYST: That would be my answer, Brooke.
Well, here how it goes. Whenever there is a suit against the federal government, first of all, it is tough. We have all heard the expression it is tough to fight city hall. Right? You can't fight them.
BALDWIN: Yes.
JACKSON: It works that way with the federal government also, although you can sue under limited circumstances.
There is something called the Federal Torts Claim Act, and under that act you can sue. And what you first have to do is what he did, is that you file a claim against the entity, the DEA, Drug Enforcement Administration. They then as an agency have six months to evaluate the claim.
And the reason there is a $20 million there is because federal rules require you to put a specific dollar amount. And so that is sort of just a starting point. What I do believe, though, since the facts are uncontested, and they are egregious, is that the agency will evaluate it.
They have already issued an apology. We have a United States senator, Barbara Boxer, saying, hey, I want an investigation, I want policies changed. They will probably admit to this. They will come up with some settlement amount, and, therefore, the case will go away and it won't even reach a lawsuit. That's my opinion.
BALDWIN: OK, hang on. Hang on. Hang on. Let me just get the DEA statement in. Let me get the DEA statement in.
Joey Jackson, they say -- quote -- "I extend my deepest apologies to the young man. I have personally ordered" -- this is the head of the San Diego office -- "I have personally ordered an extensive review of our policies and procedure here."
They use the word apologize. How does that play into this moving forward?
(LAUGHTER)
JACKSON: Well, I think how it plays is that they're going to admit liability here. They're going to admit that this was an accident and accidentally they left him in a cold, windowless cell that was dark for five days.
He managed to get some substance that was in there, I think a methamphetamine. He was hallucinating. He ate his own glasses. He tried to kill himself. I think they will admit to much of the facts. That apology demonstrates that. I think now, Brooke, they will move to finding a figure that is acceptable to the DEA, the federal government, and acceptable to this poor 23-year-old that had to endure it, and more importantly acceptable to his attorney.
BALDWIN: OK. OK.
Let's move to New Jersey, the case of this mother charged with endangering a child. She is Patricia Krentcil. Here is her mug shot. Apparently, she likes to tan. However, she is disputing police claims that she let her daughter inside a tanning booth and got burned. The girl is 6 years old.
Look at this. There kind of really aren't really words. But here are her own words explaining why she says police are wrong.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATRICIA KRENTCIL, MOTHER: There is no room, A. B., I would never permit it. C., it didn't happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: OK. Her looks aside, her looks aside, Joey, how do -- how do prosecutors prove this?
JACKSON: Her looks aside, well, with great difficulty.
And here is why I say this. I mean, first of all, the facts are in dispute. She certainly is not admitting anything to this effect. Certainly, she is saying the opposite. Then you move to who else can testify.
There's a child, right, 5-year-old. And I don't think the child will be competent enough to testify in a court of law, of course. And in the event that the child did, it would certainly a traumatic experience. The judge won't let her.
And then you have the tanning salon. And, of course, if they admit to this, then they face liability. So what do you have, Brooke? No witnesses, and so it is going to be a difficult case, I think, moving forward, unless, of course, there are surveillance cameras or other mechanisms in that tanning salon that can demonstrate that she snuck her into that tanning booth and they got a tan together.
BALDWIN: What about the tanning salon itself? Could they be held liable?
JACKSON: I think what we're more going to see is something in administrative liability.
And what I mean is, I think they are going to get a knock on the door from some Jersey authorities that say what kind of regulations are employed here? What kind of supervision mechanisms do you have? Do you look and see when customers are coming if they have children? Do you have a waiting area? Are they allowed to take them in?
So I think they will be investigated and there will be some administrative penalty or remedy that they have to endure. But I doubt they get dragged into a court for any type of monetary damages.
BALDWIN: Wow. Let me just say I had basal cell skin cancer right here last year, wore a Band-Aid smack dab in the middle of my face doing the news for a week last year.
And just don't do this. That's my little -- you know, that's my little thing for the day.
JACKSON: Yikes.
BALDWIN: It is just not smart. Wear your SPF.
Joey Jackson, thank you. It's not attractive.
JACKSON: Pleasure, Brooke.
BALDWIN: It's not attractive.
In a place where some young men consider rape a sport, four teens accused of gang-raping a disabled girl are out of jail for $67.
Plus, as Billy Graham struggles with his health, he is coming out here against same-sex marriage just before voters take up this matter. You're about to hear from him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY. COM: Time now for the "Help Desk," where we get answers to your financial questions.
And joining me this hour, Greg Olsen is a certified financial planner, and partner of Lenox Advisers. Lynnette Khalfani-Cox is the founder the financial advice blog, AsktheMoneyCoach.com.
Guys, thanks for being here.
Greg, first question to you from Malloy (ph) in Atlanta. Malloy wrote in, "I purchased my home 20 months ago and currently have a 30- year fixed loan at 4.475 percent. Should I consider refinancing?"
GREG OLSEN, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER: You should consider it. The recent drop in interest rates might make that be a smart idea. The first thing you should do is look to maybe do a modification with your bank because that would be the least expensive option.
HARLOW: Right.
OLSEN: Should that not be available, look to do a refinance, but calculate the refinancing costs and see how long the savings on a monthly basis will take you to recoup the refinancing costs.
HARLOW: Sure. Yes, you have to think about the up-front costs, absolutely. Thank you.
And, Lynnette, your question comes from Phil in Colorado. Phil wrote in: "I'm 69 years old and have a large portion of my savings invested in mutual funds. How should I allocate my assets?"
LYNNETTE KHALFANI-COX, FOUNDER, WWW.ASKTHEMONEYCOACH.COM: Well, tough to give very specific advice here, obviously without knowing his full financial picture.
HARLOW: Yes.
KHALFANI-COX: But I would say two things for somebody who is 69 and thinking about, you know, their investment strategy. Too often, I think older people, retirees or pre-retirees go a little too conservative.
Obviously, they want to preserve their principal, but you have to think about the fact that we're all living longer than ever. And, so, you could live potentially decades in retirement.
So, you want to be broadly diversified. You want to have some growth, though, to power your portfolio. So, don't just think, oh, it has to be C.D.s or money market accounts, very conservative fixed- income investments exclusively.
Make sure you do have a mix of stocks in there as well -- stocks, bonds, cash. Obviously, you have got to get the right asset allocation, the right mix.
HARLOW: Yes.
KHALFANI-COX: And you need a professional to sit down with you to ultimately review your entire situation.
HARLOW: Absolutely.
Thank you both.
If you've got questions you want answered, just send us an e-mail anytime to CNNHelpDesk@CNN.com.
(END VIDEOTAPE) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: A new development today in that videotaped gang rape that shocked South Africa.
Earlier today, four underaged teens accused of raping a mentally disabled girl, they were let out of the jail on bail, and the amount of the bail, $67 each. This is a crime that is filling the streets of Johannesburg with demonstrators calling for a life sentence for the accused.
The four bailed out today are among these eight men and boys charged in the kidnapping and rape here. Images of the repeated assaults, they were captured on cell phone, passed around from one to another to another. The video went viral.
And a mom discovered the images of her daughter's phone and called police.
Got a lot more to bring you here now, "Rapid Fire." Roll it.
The mother of Florida A&M University band member Robert Champion says authorities botched the investigation into the hazing that killed their son. Pam Champion is disappointed that the 13 suspects in the case aren't facing more serious charges. She wants the marching band disbanded for the next year and search says FAMU need to clean house.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAM CHAMPION, MOTHER OF VICTIM: If you don't clean the filth out, it just stays there. And right now, you can't move forward with business as usual, because the filth is still there. So we need it cleaned out in order for you to move forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: The Reverend Billy Graham gives his support to a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in North Carolina. The 93-year-old Graham says -- quote -- "The Bible is clear. God's definition of marriage is between a man and a woman" -- end quote.
The proposed amendment is on next Tuesday's primary ballot. It would also ban civil unions and domestic partnerships.
And watch where you walk in Windermere, Florida, and that's why -- a family of six forced out of their home by this ginormous sinkhole. It appeared in the backyard overnight. This thing is so huge, it swallowed four trees.
So, in terms of how big, it is 100 feet in diameter, 50 feet deep, and the hole is still growing. Look at this. Neighbors have been warned it could threaten their homes as well.
Former Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann throwing her support behind Mitt Romney today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), MINNESOTA: You see, I think, for all of America, this is a very simple proposition this November. President Barack Obama, President Mitt Romney, you decide. Very easy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Bachmann endorsed Romney this afternoon as the two appeared at a campaign event in Virginia.
Hillary Clinton, Timothy Geithner, other U.S. diplomats, they are walking a fine line right now in China as this blind activist seeks protection and then declines it. We're going to live to Beijing, asking the man who spoke with Chen Guangcheng why this activist suddenly is changing his mind.
And there is something big happening this Saturday night. It is round, it is bright. It is the super moon. We're going to tell you what to expect.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: "Get me out of here," pleads a Chinese activist to the U.S. Also, ugly secrets from John Edwards' inner circle, and what's that you say that is happening in the sky this weekend?
Time to play "Reporter Roulette."
And I want to begin here with Joe Johns, Greensboro, North Carolina, where another of John Edwards' former aides took the stand in his campaign finance fraud trial.
Hey, Joe.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, John Davis, the so- called body man, was the closest staffer to former Senator John Edwards all the way up to the point in January 2008 when he suspended his presidential campaign.
Davis recounted a moment at the Detroit Westin Southfield after which he had been told Rielle Hunter's travels with Edwards essentially to record Web videos about Edwards had come to an end. Davis said he was surprised to meet Hunter after weeks of not seeing her. Davis said he got off an elevator with Hunter and got onto another one and continued to his hotel room, which was on the same floor where Edwards was staying.
Davis said he called his wife to tell her what happened when there was a knock on the door. It was Rielle Hunter. She told him she and Senator Edwards were in love and that Edwards was concerned that he, Davis, had seen Hunter in the hotel.
Davis said he didn't care about this because he was focused on the campaign, but later he spoke to Edwards. And Edwards asked if he had run into Rielle. Edwards told Davis that Rielle Hunter was -- quote -- "crazy" and denied there was an affair.
Yesterday, one of the most intensely emotional parts of the trial came when a former research director for John Edwards and a friend of the late Elizabeth Edwards testified that Mrs. Edwards became so distraught following a "National Enquirer" story about the affair that she started tearing off her clothes in front of John Edwards, all the while saying, "You don't see me anymore."
Edwards' daughter Cate, who was seated behind the former senator, walked out of the courtroom and was seen wiping away tears. The prosecution is trying to show that Edwards accepted illegal campaign money to try to cover up the affair. The defense says all Edwards was doing was trying to keep information about the affair away from his wife -- Brooke.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Joe Johns for us in Greensboro, Joe, thank you.
Next on "Reporter Roulette," Reynolds Wolf here as we're talking about the moon being so big this weekend. It is the super moon.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The super moon.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Why do I always -- I want to say that look I am talking about Superman. Superman.
WOLF: Well, why wouldn't you?
I mean, take a look at it. Can we see that -- show the shot over my shoulder?
(CROSSTALK)
WOLF: Yes, there it is. How about it? It's the super moon.
BALDWIN: Very nice.
WOLF: Fourteen percent bigger is how it appears to the human eye, according to other times -- in -- opposite of other times in the year.
The reason why is because this orbit brings it closer to Earth than any other time of the year. Last time it happened was March 19 of 2011.
BALDWIN: OK.
WOLF: There are people that say that it makes things get kind of weird around the planet, makes fish swim backwards.
BALDWIN: No.
WOLF: It makes leaves fall back on to the trees, all kinds of crazy stuff.
(LAUGHTER)
WOLF: The thing that we do know about it is that it does affect the tides. There is no question about it.
And there is actually some speculation that it actually may have affected the Titanic when it sank back in 1912.
BALDWIN: Really?
WOLF: To be honest with you, I think an iceberg had a bit more to do with it than the moon.
BALDWIN: I'm thinking it was the iceberg, but whatever.
When we look at these pictures, like this picture, this is beautiful.
WOLF: Yes.
BALDWIN: How come, in some of the pictures, is it brighter, is it more orange depending on where you are?
WOLF: The reason why it appears more of a bright orange color like this one from last year...
BALDWIN: That's beautiful.
WOLF: A spectacular picture -- is because of all the particulates you have in the atmosphere. A lot of the dust, a lot of the water vapor can be seen much better for us if it's lower in the horizon.
As it goes up, it has less to filter it, so to speak, so it appears a bit smaller and appears a bit brighter. It's always more fun to watch it when it's lower in the atmosphere.
BALDWIN: Well, I will be in the mountains, so maybe I will have an bigger super moon.
WOLF: You might have a great view, really. Bring a good camera with you.
BALDWIN: I will. I will. And I hope all of you send us tweets. Maybe we will get some of them on, on Monday.
Reynolds, thank you.
WOLF: Good deal. You bet.
BALDWIN: Next here on "Reporter Roulette" let's talk about -- to Stan Grant in Beijing talking about Chen Guangcheng.
I know you just spoke with him, what, in the last hour or so. What's the update today? STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, just touched base with Chen Guangcheng again.
Now, of course, he is holed up in this hospital here in Beijing getting very-much-needed medical treatment. Of course, he has been ill for some time now while he endured 18 months of what he calls brutal house arrest.
Now, he says he is persisting with his desire to leave China. He no longer feels safe here. He doesn't trust the Chinese government to allow his family to live safely and he wants to go to the United States.
Now, I also spoke to Ambassador Gary Locke, the U.S. ambassador here in Beijing. He says that the Chen did want to stay in China. He asked him repeatedly the other day, are you sure you want to leave the embassy? Time and again, Chen said, yes, I do. I want to stay in China. I want to be a freedom fighter. I want to continue my fight and fight for the rights of people here in China.
But he has changed his mind. He has now discovered that threats were made against his family. There were threats of violence against his wife when the guards discovered that he had escaped house arrest. His wife was taken away, bound to a chair for two days, and beaten with sticks.
Now he says they can no longer live here. And he is appealing to President Obama to do all he can and get the Chen family out of China.
BALDWIN: Stan, this is all just so confusing. You broke into the show yesterday. You had just spoken to him. And he essentially was saying he was furious with the U.S., felt like the U.S. had misled him.
Now, as you're pointing out, he is sort of backing off those claims. Is he not telling the whole truth?
GRANT: He is going through a very, very tumultuous time here, Brooke.
This is someone, of course, who had to escape house arrest. He was injured in that escape. He spent six days inside the embassy, all of the stories swirling around him. Then you had Secretary of State Clinton arriving here, which really ramped up the pressure, China on one side, U.S. on the other, and this blind activist in the middle.
He did feel as if he wanted to stay. He told the U.S. that he wanted to stay. But after leaving the embassy and going to the hospital, he spoke to his wife. He learned about the level of threat that his family is facing and knew that he could no longer trust the government here.
He did feel let down by the U.S. He felt there wasn't enough information being provided to him before he made this decision but now he is appealing to the U.S. to try to get him out of here for the sake of his family. OK. Stan Grant, I know you're on it. Thank you, sir. That is your "Reporter Roulette" here on this Thursday.
One person close to Junior Seau, actually the man that drafted him, said the NFL great was having trouble finding his way after football. But that's not the only candid detail he revealed. You're about to hear from him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: He projected an air of invincibility, not to mention the last man you wanted to see coming at you if you were carrying the ball. But former NFL star Junior Seau must have been dealing with demons that no one ever knew about. The shock of his apparent suicide is now hanging over the league, hanging over his fans.
I spoke with Billy Devaney who drafted Seau for the San Diego Chargers way back in 1990 and he says the star linebacker was having trouble finding the next step in life after the NFL.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILLY DEVANEY, DRAFTED JUNIOR SEAU: If you knew Junior -- and people that know Junior, they know what a passion for -- first of all, for the NFL that he had, but also for life and for living and having a good time and that's what makes this thing -- this whole thing so surreal.
BALDWIN: But Bill, I was --
DEVANEY: -- the type of person Junior is or Junior was.
BALDWIN: You know, Billy, I was talking to someone just yesterday after the news broke who worked with him pretty closely on a TV show called "Sports Jobs with Junior Seau," and he described how he talked about his time at the league as sort of a longing, a longing for that career. Would you say, do you corroborate that?
DEVANEY: Oh, yes. But you know what, now Junior probably took it to the umpteenth degree because just of the competitive nature but to get to this level, to get to be an NFL player, sure, you have got to have a certain hunger and a certain desire and a certain competiveness and a love for the game and these guys that play, sure, there is a lot of money involved, you know that, and a lot of hurts and whatnot.
BALDWIN: Prestige.
DEVANEY: Players know the risk and they're still -- I mean, every one of them in this game today love what they're doing and understanding what the risks are and Junior was certainly one of those guys. But like I said he had a love for the game of football and for the NFL that I have never seen before.
DEVANEY: Billy, you talked about this tight circle of friends. Were they at all worried about him? Did they ever express any of that?
DEVANEY: Yes, we talked about that, certainly not to this degree. They were worried about him because they love the guy and they wanted to see what his next step was, what he was going to be involved in.
He was heavily involved in his foundation, he loved doing that, a lot of charity work, but he was still trying to figure out, OK, what, 43 years old, what's the next step going to be? That was the only concern, what direction he was going to go, but thirdly, not any kind of concern like this would happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Thank you, Billy Devaney.
New numbers show America's taking a lot longer to retire. This impacts every single one of you, economist, actor, friend of our show, Ben Stein has some thoughts. We will chat on that one. He will join me live.
Also just in, news about Facebook is due to go public.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Here we go. Just into us at CNN we're learning how Facebook will price itself when it goes public. Alison Kosik, live in the New York Stock Exchange, Alison, tell me about the when and the how much.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: OK. So when is on May 18th. That is the date right now that we're hearing. How much, Facebook shares when they're traded publicly, they can go anywhere from $20 to 35 dollars. That's what those shares will be traded at once they do hit the market on the Nasdaq, actually on May 18th.
Now just keep in mind this is a proposed price range for the shares. It is sort of a preliminary target and it can change many times before it goes public. You look at what other IPOs like Yelp and Groupon and others did, they were priced well above the planned range so even though this is a $28 to $35 range it could go even higher than that.
Keep in mind what Facebook is in the middle of is getting ready for its big road show expecting to start happening on Monday. That's when it goes around to all these big institutional investors, tries to convince them to buy into the company and likely that Mark Zuckerberg is going to be involved in this road show and even after this road show the price range that I just mentioned, it can change after that. In fact, it can change several times.
If they do get that $35 price range, though, Brooke, I've got to tell you they're going to be selling 337 million shares out there to anyone who wants to buy them. If they do get that price, in this IPO, Facebook would raise $11.8 billion, just from this IPO, Brooke.
BALDWIN: That is a mighty number to wrap your head around. Alison Kosik --
KOSIK: It is.
BALDWIN: -- we'll look for you reporting in "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Mr. Blitzer coming up.
Meantime, used to be you would work your rear end off, save some money, pay down the house, dream of retiring a little early, say around age 60. But check this out. According to an April Gallup survey today the average worker expects to chuck the daily grind at age 67. That is up seven years from an identical survey taken back in the mid-'90s.
I want to bring in our friend, economist, actor Ben Stein. Hello there, sir. Here is my question, we look at the numbers. My question to you, though, is this really happening? Are people really working later or they just think they're going to have to?
BEN STEIN, ECONOMIST AND ACTOR: Well, there are civil servants that have a nice secure government funded pension, they are not working later. If they are out in the private sector, which is by far the largest part of the economy, not only are they working later, but they are not going to be able to retire at all in most cases.
I mean, the retirement catastrophe that awaits American workers in the private sector is far bigger than the numbers that you are quoting indicate.
BALDWIN: Not going to --
STEIN: They're not going to be able to retire at all.
BALDWIN: Not going to be able to retire at all? Just going to be working, working, working, up till the very end?
STEIN: I think so. The majority of Americans approaching retirement age have less than $100,000 in retirement assets.
BALDWIN: Wow.
STEIN: That is not going to provide them with anywhere near enough to live on. I recently spoke to the head of a very large insurance company that sells annuities.
He says the number of middle class Americans who will be able to retire at the same lifestyle they presently enjoy is between 5 and 7 percent. So that means that 19 out of 20 roughly will not be able to retire at the same lifestyle or not be able to retire at all.
BALDWIN: OK. Here is my question to you. If people really, really are working very, very late in their years, it has to be more difficult for them to find work. What kind of work are we talking about?
STEIN: It is. Well, there are some jobs that have mandatory retirement ages. For those people, I don't know what they will do. Walmart, I am told, recently did away with its greeters, which was a great job for older people.
But I don't know what kind of jobs people are going to take. We are looking at a retirement catastrophe for middle income and upper middle income and lower middle income people of staggering dimensions and it comes at a time when the federal government is broke, cannot bail them out, the great majority of Americans have lived through one giant stock market crash, one giant real estate crash, another giant stock market crash which is recovering now but the losses to the savings of Americans have been devastating.
BALDWIN: But what do we do about that? As we're now looking ahead, sort of prognosticating what's going to happen, all these people who will be retiring, who rely on their Social Security, who are putting money away, are they going to have it to rely on in the end?
STEIN: I think unless they're very high income they will have the retirement income. I think they will cut out retirement income from Social Security for high income Americans, but for middle income Americans they will get it. But it is a trivial amount. At the very, very most you get is very roughly $2,000 a month. That is not a lot to live on in today's world.
Go shopping at a grocery store and then tell me if you think you can live on $2,000. What the others are going to do, I don't know. We're facing, for older citizens in a private sector, we are facing something equivalent to a great depression for people in the public sector -- policeman, firemen, firefighters, I should say, and police people, those people are all set.
But for the rest of us, it is going to really be a crisis. It is a crisis on a scale that no one could have imagined.
So what do we do to mitigate the crisis, though, Ben? What's the takeaway?
(CROSSTALK)
STEIN: The takeaway -- OK, the takeaway is that the government is not going to be able to do it for you. Your employer is not going to be able to do it for you. You can't count on the stock market to do it for you. You have to save more.
The crisis is Americans are not saving. For a few quarters during the great recession's worst part recently Americans had greatly stepped up their rate of saving. Now it is kind of being cut back again as Americans want to spend more. We -- there is no way out of this box except greatly diminished living standards for the older Americans. There is no way out. We're stuck now.
BALDWIN: OK. I am working hard. I tell you, I am looking forward to --
STEIN: Well, you're young. You're very young. You're very young. You can put away enough to tide you over. Young people your age can easily do it. But I am talking about Americans in their 40s, 50s, 60s, they are really in trouble.
BALDWIN: OK. Ben Stein. See you next time.
STEIN: Sorry. I wish I could say better things.
BALDWIN: Wah, wah. Thanks, Ben.
STEIN: Thank you.
BALDWIN: You can leave your car with a valet, thinking they're just going to park it, right? But this one guy did not do that, as one investigative reporter found out. The man takes the car on the highway, down the dirt roads, to his home and there's video.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: I know a lot of you like cruises. Maybe you have taken a cruise out of Port Canaveral, Florida. And, no, this is not a cruise story. This is about the car you may have left parked while you cruised and the trip it took while you were away at sea. Here is reporter Jeff Deal from our Florida affiliate, WFTV.
JEFF DEAL, WFTV CORRESPONDENT: Zero to 60 in 3.6 seconds, it's one hot car, fire red, a 430 horsepower V8 engine, a $60,000 2012 Corvette, the kind of car anyone would love to take for a spin and the kind of car you hate to leave in someone else's hands. But sometimes that's what people do.
Especially cruise passengers, looking to set sail on vacation, lots like Premier Parking Spot in Cocoa offer to watch your car while you're on vacation then shuttle to you the port in style. But Eyewitness News got a tip the owner of Premier Parking Spot, Jay Nieves, was known to take customer's keys, then take their cars for a ride.
To investigate we rented a flashy convertible Corvette and equipped it with a GPS tracking device. Then we sent a husband and wife in the sports car headed for vacation to drop the car off at Premier just to see what would happen.
But sure enough, the temptation was too much. Just six hours later, with the couple long gone, the GPS tracking device sent us a text message, alerting the car was in motion. That's when we captured this video of Nieves and another employee joyriding in our car, peeling out on dirt roads.
We saw them taking pictures of the Corvette in front of Nieves' home. Later that night we saw cruising on Merritt Island, and eventually parking it at Applebee's. Our computer GPS system shows Nieves even parked it at his home overnight.
Two days later, we watched him drive it all over town running errands. He went to Ace Hardware. This is Nieves, walking from the store to the car with a friend. Later, he loaded it up with lumber at his home, and even allowed a dog to run around in the customer's car.
Finally, when he left it in a parking lot near his business with the top down and door open for more than 20 minutes, we'd seen enough.
DEAL: Whose car you guys driving today?
You think it's OK to drive customers' cars?
DEAL (voice-over): His female employee didn't say much. And when we confronted Nieves, he played dumb.
DEAL: Whose car you guys driving out there?
JAY NIEVES, PREMIER PARKING SPOT: Whose car was that?
DEAL: Yes, the red Corvette.
NIEVES: (Inaudible).
DEAL: What's that?
NIEVES: We're not driving anybody's car. Why?
DEAL: You guys were driving that car all over town.
NIEVES: What are you talking about?
DEAL (voice-over): Even though we had all this video --
DEAL: Let me show you something, Jay. Let me show you this video. You see -- you recognize this road right here? You recognize those people right there in that car?
NIEVES: No, we're not driving anybody's car.
DEAL (voice-over): Jay Nieves flat-out lied and denied he ever took a joyride in a customer's car.
DEAL: You're going to say you weren't driving that car? Tell me the truth.
NIEVES: Sir?
DEAL: Be honest with us.
NIEVES: Sir, you're completely wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Wow. Surprise for people coming off their cruise in Florida this past Monday. Brevard County Sheriff's Office says no one from Premier Parking picked up the returning passengers after they took a cab to the perimeter lot. WFTV reports they found cars with keys in the doors and no employees in sight. Wow!
And now let's check in with one of my favorite people. I know, right? You shake your head. I don't know if you cruise --
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: That's a great story. BALDWIN: Right? Finding this car all over town?
BLITZER: That's amazing, just -- (inaudible).
BALDWIN: I know.
BLITZER: Yes, you know, wow.
BALDWIN: Yikes!
BLITZER: That's a -- congratulations to that team.
BALDWIN: WFTV. Good for them.
BLITZER: Yes. That's serious stuff.
BALDWIN: Hi, Wolf.
BLITZER: Nice to speak to you. What's going on?
BALDWIN: You know, the ush, how about you?
BLITZER: You're getting ready to go home. I'm just beginning. We have got two hours of serious news. Guess who is going to be here live in "THE SITUATION ROOM" in the next hour?
BALDWIN: You got me.
BLITZER: Newt Gingrich.
BALDWIN: Oh, really?
BLITZER: After suspending his campaign --
BALDWIN: Right.
BLITZER: -- yesterday, he's coming in today and we'll talk to him and we've got good stuff. I want to go through, review a little bit about the past, look ahead to the future, what will go on with the former Speaker of the house. He's going sit down with me, and we've got some questions.
I tweeted earlier today. I asked my followers out there on Twitter what would you ask him and they came up with pretty good questions so I'm looking forward to the interview with Newt Gingrich, now the former presidential candidate. We'll see what's next on his agenda now that this part of his -- I guess this part of his career is over with.
BALDWIN: This chapter is over.
BLITZER: Correct, this chapter's over.
BALDWIN: Wow. We'll look for it, Wolf. We will look for that interview.
BLITZER: Will you watch? Will you promise you'll watch, right?
BALDWIN: Promise. Cross my heart. Thank you.
BLITZER: Thank you.
BALDWIN: See you at the top of the hour.
Meantime, drugs, LSD, mushrooms, psychedelic drugs. Folks, I'm not talking Woodstock. I'm talking the hospital.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Psychedelic drugs. Those two words perhaps conjure up visions of long-haired hippies at Woodstock, brightly painted VW buses, communes, the '60s, you get it. But in this new millennium, those mind-bending drugs may actually be a way to help cancer patients who face death. CNN's Deborah Feyerick explains.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If somebody were to say, well, how did you feel on your worst day? Is this a pretty good representation?
NORMA LAURING, DRUG TRIAL PARTICIPANT: I think so.
FEYERICK: Just dark and wretched and --
LAURING: Yes. Gloomy.
FEYERICK (voice-over): With incurable stage IV cancer spreading through her body, artist Norma Lauring decided she had little to lose. Early one morning in a Manhattan doctor's office, she put on headphones, laid down and swallowed a powerful psychedelic drug with the same chemical properties as those magic mushrooms that came to define the Woodstock generation of the '60s.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
LAURING: Kind of a wonderful, visual world of colors and figures and motion, and more profound than that, for me, was a feeling of maybe being connected through time to other artists, to a creative force and to a feeling of peace.
FEYERICK (voice-over): In combination with therapy, that feeling lasted nearly five months, though for some people taking part in this FDA-approved New York University study, the feeling has lasted even longer.
Because it's in the same legal category as cocaine, heroin and crystal meth, the drug is kept under lock and key.
FEYERICK: So this is it?
FEYERICK (voice-over): This small vial contains 100 doses of psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms and is valued at $12,000. Dr. Stephen Ross, an addiction specialist at NYU has been given a license by drug agents to test whether the drug can help end- stage cancer patients like Norma.
DR. STEPHEN ROSS, DRUG TRIAL LEADER: I've been very surprised in terms of patients having reduction or resolution of death anxiety, decreased depression, living their lives more meaningfully, interacting with family members.
FEYERICK (voice-over): Dr. Jeffrey (ph) Guss is one of the main investigators.
DR. JEFFREY GUSS, DRUG TRIAL CO-LEADER: Sometimes people with cancer begin to die earlier than their body actually dies. They begin to withdraw, feel like life has no purpose. Life has no meaning.
FEYERICK (voice-over): The trial is only in its second phase, but Guss says findings show a single dose helps people with terminal cancer let go of lifelong behaviors and habits.
GUSS: It's our hope that helping them have a spiritual or mystical experience will awaken and, relatively quickly, awaken a new way of understanding themselves.
FEYERICK (voice-over): Norma Lauring, a naturally positive person, says she is now more at peace.
LAURING: A feeling of being connected to people, the universe, the past, the present, and I'm just sort of passing through here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: I'm just so glad she feels better, Deborah Feyerick. People are wondering who gets into this study? How are they screened?
FEYERICK: It's very interesting. Doctors are screening them very carefully.
Anybody who has a mental disorder, bipolar or schizophrenia, anything like that, they're not eligible because doctors really don't know the effects that this drug will have, but anyone with stage 4 cancer, they are -- they can participate in this study and it's not the sort of indiscriminate mushroom taking that we identified the '60s with. It is very measured and patients get one dose and one dose only.
And really, what it does, Brooke, is it sort of -- it accelerates -- let's say you've been in therapy for five years. Well, this accelerates that whole process so you're at a much higher level, much faster. And then from there you can go on and figure out exactly the associations. And it's a really interesting study and there are five others that are now ongoing at UCLA, at Johns Hopkins.
So it's pretty interesting. And it's not addictive and I think that's why these doctors are so fascinated by the potential that this offers, especially for people who can't let go of that terrible fear and the anxiety and what does my life mean now? BALDWIN: Right, and just release and continue on as long as they have. Deb Feyerick, that was fascinating. I thank you for that.
And I thank all of you for watching. Now to Wolf Blitzer. "THE SITUATION ROOM" begins right now.
BLITZER: Brooke, thanks very much.
