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Brazil's Graffiti Wars; Tropical Storm Debby Forces People From Homes; Home Prices Rise 1.3 Percent; Gang Life And Dying Young In Chicago; Families Told To Evacuate; Search Resumes At Collapsed Mall; Turkey Threatens Syria; How Much Hospitals Charge and Why; Battle For Campaign Cash Gets Intense; Federal Government Wants More People on Food Stamps; Afghan Journalist Reports on Twitter; Nannies Making Big Money
Aired June 26, 2012 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Suzanne Malveaux, this hour in the CNN NEWSROOM we are focusing on the rising costs of health care, politics and gun violence right here in the United States. I want to get right to it now.
Forecasters warn Florida's northwest coast could see another eight inches of rain today. Tropical storm Debby is forcing more evacuations, rescues and road closures. Just last hour, officials in Pasco County, Florida ordered the evacuation of 2,000 homes because of a fast rising river. Thirty-eight people were rescued from their homes overnight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was kind of panicking because the water came up over the wall where I live.
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MALVEAUX: If you're looking to sell your home, you may get a little more for it than just a few months ago. Home prices, they have now risen for the first time in seven months. They were up about 1.3 percent. Some cities did better than others. Phoenix prices have gone up more than eight percent. Still, prices are down 34 percent compared to just six years ago.
Now to Chicago where a 13-year-old boy died in his mother's arms after being fatally shot at a party. (INAUDIBLE) more deadly violence in the city endures every single day. We've been following this story, others are following it, too. "The New York Times" is reporting that homicides in Chicago are up 38 percent from a year ago. The paper also reports 240 people, that's right, have been killed in the city so far this year. Most of them shot. Those are some of the numbers behind what is going on in Chicago. I want to meet some of these families. Their lives being destroyed by deadly gang violence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Devonte's family wants you to take a good look at something you may need to brace yourself for. Devonte's body in an open casket. This, they say, is what violence on the streets of Chicago really looks like. The 20- year-old had recently returned to Chicago from college in Georgia. He was gunned down in what police are calling a gang shooting.
MELVIN NUTE: He's a handsome young man, too. You know, very handsome young man. And he got killed. You know, (INAUDIBLE) is nonsense.
ROWLANDS: Devonte's funeral was Friday, a few hours before the start of another violent weekend in Chicago.
MAURICE GILCHRIST: I want (INAUDIBLE), because I'm a gang banger, I ain't going to lie. I'm going to keep it real with you.
ROWLANDS: Silas Ratcliff and Maurice Gilchrist are both 16. Both are associated with a gang and say they wouldn't be surprised if they were shot today.
SILAS RATCLIFF: Just walking down the street, you never know, it could be your time to go.
GILCHRIST: Right. You always got to look behind, turning your back.
RATCLIFF: Bullets ain't got no name.
GILCHRIST: They might want to kill me, they end up killing you, you and you and not kill me.
ROWLANDS: The kids are matter of fact about the things they do and what they've seen.
GILCHRIST: I've seen people get shot, killed, robbed, stabbed. I've done some of that, all that. You just face it.
ROWLANDS: According to Chicago police, the murder rate here is up 35 percent compared to last year. People living here say the gangs have taken over. Some say they'd like to see the National Guard come in.
FREDDIE WOODSON, DEACON, ST. ANDREW CHURCH: We need help. You know, you need help. That's all I -- that's the only way I can put it.
ROWLANDS: Maurice and Silas say there are no jobs and people have no idea how hard it is to survive.
RATCLIFF: Have they ever had to wear the same clothes a week straight in your life --
(CROSSTALK)
-- wash their underwear out in the sink and hang it up and hope your same old school clothes will be ready or not knowing where your next meal is going to come. ROWLANDS: While they'd like to finish high school and get a good job, the dropout rate in Chicago schools is a staggering 40 percent, and Maurice and Silas say they know it's very possible they'll end up in prison or in a casket like Devonte Flanoy . Ted Rowlands, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: What these young people face on the streets of Chicago every day, it is simply heartbreaking. I mean, people are afraid to leave their homes to enjoy the summer. What is the city actually doing to handle this violence, to get a handle on any of this stuff? Joining us, Pat Camden, spokesman for the fraternal order of police. We also have Felicia Davis, she is deputy chief of staff for the mayor, Rahm Emanuel.
I want to start off with Pat Camden, first, who joins us from Chicago by phone. Pat, police union leaders have criticized the mayor, saying he's got to be hiring more officers, not fewer. You've been quoted in "The New York Times" saying it's penny wise and dollar foolish. What do police need to do and what kind of help do they need to get a handle on this, if anything can be done?
PAT CAMDEN, SPOKESMAN, FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE (via telephone): Well, it's -- Suzanne, it's not only the manpower issue, it becomes a question of community involvement and, you know, you heard the young man saying, yes, I'm a gang banger and I don't expect to live beyond this. And we've got to change that attitude. The city's working towards it. They're trying to put youngsters -- young men to work in a productive environment. From the police end, you know, if we could hire 2,000 more policemen tomorrow, it would be wonderful. But obviously that's not going to happen. It's just going to take a more concerted effort on the part of the city to start hiring officers so that we can start to build up forces to be -- you know, to contend with this gang violence.
MALVEAUX: And pat, one of the things caught our eye that you said is that maybe the city has been too successful in getting rid of gang leaders. Explain what you mean by that.
CAMDEN: Well, I don't know if too successful would be the word. And over the past seven or eight years, we've been very successful in getting gang leaders out of the picture and into the penitentiary. Unfortunately, when that happens, it's kind of a domino effect. Now we have youngsters taking over gangs where there used to be discipline. Now there is none, so now we have gangs going block to block, fighting for turf. No respect for life, no respect for elders, no respect for anything. And, you know, that's wherein this -- a 13- year-old gets killed sitting on his porch. He's not involved in the gang but the people shooting at him are.
MALVEAUX: And you've also explained some new strategies police are using. You're actually going to neighborhoods and doing kind of audits of gangs, creating a database of gang affiliations. How does that help? CAMDEN: Well, it gives the officers the knowledge of who in the community is, in fact, involved in a gang. That's been out there for a while. It's something that's being used, but the difficulty becomes the officers that we have are busy answering 911 calls. The city is in the process of changing response to those 911 calls. Some of the calls we have absolutely no business responding to. And in the past, we always have. So, we're looking to free up manpower. That's where, you know, the marijuana, 15 grams and under, becomes a ticket, so that manpower doesn't get tied up. Again, no matter how we look at it, manpower becomes an issue.
MALVEAUX: And Pat, I want to play a little bit of sound here. This is what the mayor talked about speaking out about the violence last month, calling for folks to essentially come together in the community. I want you to listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAHM EMANUEL, MAYOR, CHICAGO: I take responsibility and I'm accountable. Everybody has to be strengthened to deal with the violence that's there. There are forces that are bigger than just the police department or a school or a principal or pastor, alone. But I do believe this, combined and coordinated, our forces are stronger than gangs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So, he says he's accountable. What does the mayor need to do? Does the mayor need to do more to address the situation and the bloodshed that is happening in your community?
CAMDEN: Well, the mayor's accountable. He's absolutely right, but the community is also accountable. You know, we need people to start standing up and defending what is theirs, and that's the streets of Chicago. We need leaders, not only the mayor, but leaders within the community to step up beyond rhetoric, to step in and get involved with these young men that are creating this havoc that's wreaking, you know, parts of the city.
MALVEAUX: Pat Camden, fraternal order of police, thank you very much. We want to bring in Felicia Davis, she is the deputy chief of staff for mayor Rahm Emanuel, and she's also a former police officer. And Felicia, first of all, he says that more needs to be done. Pat says that more officers need to be on the streets and that leaders need to be held accountable here. You're one of those leaders. What are you doing?
FELICIA DAVIS, DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF, CHICAGO: So, I think that Pat and I agree that community engagement really is extremely important here. We need to make sure that the community is rejecting violence. You know, our young people are so predominantly affected by the gun violence that's happening in Chicago. And the two young men who were in the piece earlier echo that. We need this community to stand up, reject violence and also to reject this code of silence so that we can work together to eliminate the violence happening in our communities. MALVEAUX: Let's get specific here, because I understand that before, you had stated the mayor's office has stated that you have these specialized gang units and they were dismantled because they really weren't getting the job done. Is there anything that has replaced them so that you can deal with the -- with the gang problem?
DAVIS: So, the -- there are a couple of things that have been working. Chicago has a gang reduction strategy or violence reduction strategy, so you talked a little bit about the gang audits that are going on. We have over 600 different gang factions. So, some of this is doing the social analysis to kind of build the network, these young men frequently hang with each other, they are running around with each other, and we're -- the analysis actually helps to prevent next crime so that when we know that one particular faction is involved and we can predetermine an area where a likely retaliation is to be -- is to occur and the superintendent and the Chicago police department deploy resources there. So, that's one way.
Another way is to really work, really block by block, we have a wraparound strategy where when there is a takedown and Pat Camden talked about this. When we take violent street criminals who are dealing drugs and damaging our communities off the street, we work with those communities. We're giving them an influx to city services -- city service (INAUDIBLE), and we bring in resources to make sure that they are strengthened because the reality is that they own those blocks and we want them to take the leadership charge and be accountable for what happens in their communities and work in partnership with the city and the police department.
MALVEAUX: Do you -- do you think the mayor is getting a bum rap here? Do you think they're -- that this is really out of his control?
DAVIS: I -- You know, the mayor said he's accountable each and every day. There's no more important issue in the city than reducing violence in Chicago and the mayor is at the forefront of this. He talks about it every day. There's a morning call every day to discuss it. And to also talk about strategies and where we're going. So, that's the bottom line, but there are a lot of efforts that are being undertaken right now. And I think those things aren't -- crime is down overall in Chicago 10 percent, and I know that's cold comfort.
You know, as a parent, as a mother, former police officer, any time a young person is harmed on the streets of Chicago, it really tears at the fiber of us all, at the fiber of our community and fiber of our city. The mayor has said if a kid is shot in Inglewood, which is one of our south side communities, that kid, that shooting, or that incident hurts all of us throughout the city. And so, there are a lot of things that are being done. Today, for example, at Inglewood in one of our high schools, 200 young people started work yesterday, and we have over 200,000 young people engaged in summer programs. So, there are a lot of activities and programs that have been --
MALVEAUX: All right.
DAVIS: -- in place to address specifically where young people are involved. MALVEAUX: All right, Felecia Davis. Thank you so much for joining us, and clearly we hope that Chicago can get a handle on this problem, because it is just -- it is just heartbreaking every day to see the number of people who are impacted, the number of young, innocent people who are killed on the streets of Chicago. Thank you very much. We appreciate your perspective.
Here's what we're working on for this hour --
(voice-over): Florida gets drenched and it keeps on coming. Tropical storm Debby could dump another foot of rain on Florida's Gulf Coast.
Plus, searching for survivors after a deadly mall collapse in Canada. Rescuers continue digging through the rubble risking their own lives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can't let them die. What if it were your son or your daughter or your wife?
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MALVEAUX: And you open up your medical bill and have instant sticker shock. Yes, you just paid more than $200 more an I.V. bag. We'll take you inside an operating room and show you how it all adds up.
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MALVEAUX: Two thousand families are being forced to leave their homes right now along Florida's Gulf Coast because of Tropical Storm Debby. Now, officials in Pasco County ordered mandatory evacuations just an hour ago. Yesterday rescuers had to pluck dozens of people from their flooded homes. The slow moving storm, it has killed one person, dumped almost two feet of rain in some areas. And Debby is far from finished. The center of it is still 85 miles west of the state. John Zarrella, he's joining us from soggy downtown Tampa. Chad Myers from the CNN weather center.
John, God, let's start with you. It looks like you're standing in a lake almost. You know, what is -- what does it look --
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it does, doesn't it? Yes, it's not a lake. This is Bay Shore Boulevard. It's a main thoroughfare here in downtown Tampa. And it has been shut down for a couple of days now.
And, you know, as Chad will tell you, this is not rain water flooding. This is tidal flooding. You're looking now there at -- at the bay, at Tampa Bay, as it is overwashing the seawall there. And what you've got is this onshore flow that has been constantly pounding the shoreline, bringing with it all of this water.
Now, what's interesting, Suzanne, and I'm sure you'll be down here in August when the Republican Convention is in town, just down there about 400 yards from me is where the convention is going to be held. And, of course, now this is low tide. In about four or five hours, all of what you're seeing is going to be under water again.
But, you know, the local officials have told us, they've taken the convention into consideration. If they had this kind of event, they'd be able to deal with it. But one of the worries, of course, is, the end of August, height of hurricane season, you don't want to see one of these interfere with the Republican Convention. But it's always a possibility. It is Florida. And that will be the height of hurricane season.
Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Yes, that would make it pretty difficult for those folks attending.
ZARRELLA: Yes.
MALVEAUX: Thank you very much, John.
I want to go to Chad and talk a little bit more about the rain.
ZARRELLA: Sure.
MALVEAUX: How much rain is expected to get today?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Probably could still another four to six inches in some spots. Now, the problem is, we've had 20 inches in other spots last night. I'll get to that in a second.
I want you to notice that we didn't have an eye for a very long time. We have what I consider to be the center of circulation. And now that could mean that this thing is trying to regenerate a little bit more power. We're down to 40 miles per hour. And maybe we could bump this up before it makes landfall.
I hope not. We don't need any more power with this. It is still in very warm water. Not expected to leave Florida until Thursday morning. So it's going to be here a long time. And an awful lot more rainfall to come.
But this is the rainfall that came down overnight last night. And last night we even talked about some spots that got five inches of rain per hour for three hours straight. That would be south of Tallahassee, right through here. And then here's Lake City. We'll have pictures there. And then this rain moved all the way on up even into the shore area there of Georgia. It was a disaster last night and the flooding -- the flooding is still going on. Still trying to get better pictures because the numbers are just -- are devastating. And there -- you can't even think, 20.96 inches of rain in 24 hours.
Something else that happened last night on my watch, we were tweeting all about this, is Richmond, Virginia, had a wind event. I lived in that beautiful town and there are some very big, old trees. And when the winds blow, those old trees come down. And this happened last night. And 180,000 people without power for a while. Now that number's down to 49,000. But that's still an awful lot of power, an awful lot of tree trunks, an awful lot of stuff to get off those cars, trees and homes. So far, no one damaged -- no one injured from that. So that's good.
MALVEAUX: Oh, that's good. My brother lives there with his family. So I'll have to give him a call, see how they're doing.
MYERS: Yes, love that town.
MALVEAUX: Thanks, Chad.
MYERS: Sure.
MALVEAUX: Rescue crews, they are working frantically to save anybody who might be trapped under the rubble of a collapsed mall in Canada. They're trying to find out if anyone is trapped in the ruble of the roof. Workers are going to use a crane and some heavy equipment to dismantle the outside portion of the mall. Now, yesterday, when officials announced they were stopping the rescue, people in the community spoke out.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We come from a mining town where mine rescue never gave up on their people. And it didn't matter how bad it was, they stuck it out. They were there. You never left a man underground ever. You can't let them die. What if it were your son or your daughter or your wife?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: That is so emotional. You can imagine what people are feeling. The desperation there. I want to get the latest from the scene from Jeff Harrington of CTV.
Jeff, we understand -- we're hearing earlier that one person was hanging around the scene waiting to see if his fiancee was actually trapped?
JEFF HARRINGTON, REPORTER, CTV NEWS (via telephone): Right, Suzanne, that's right. He is frantically waiting by. He believes that his fiancee is the survivor in the rubble. At this point, we know there is at least one confirmed fatality. But officials have also told us that there is one survivor. And the way they were able to determine that is through some special surveillance equipment. They detected breathing. So they were never able to get a visual of this person to tell whether it was male or female, but certainly this person has strong reason to believe that it's his fiancee.
MALVEAUX: Jeff, do we know if there's any other evidence that they're getting that people might still be alive? Are they hearing tapping or anything at all that gives them hope?
HARRINGTON: Well, Suzanne, the tapping has stopped. They heard it yesterday morning during the early hours. Once again, just some knocks on the rubble. Crews called for complete silence on the scene. They didn't hear more tapping, but officials have said all along that is not a reason to believe that this person has passed because, in many cases, you know, similar to this, this isn't a situation that happens often in Canada, a rare situation. It happens in other parts of, you know, the world, developing countries, where buildings collapse. But they say in these types of circumstances, it's quite usual, typical, rather, I should say, that people slip in and out of consciousness.
Also, the weather has heated up here as well. So that's adding to the rush to get to this survivor in terms of hydration, in terms of, you know, the urgency to this rescue. And as you mentioned, you know, some help is on the way in the way of heavy machinery and a massive crane.
MALVEAUX: All right, Jeff Harrington, thank you so much. Appreciate it. We certainly hope that there are -- if there are survivors, that they are found.
Tensions are high after Syria shoots down a Turkish warplane. Now Turkey has a warning for its neighbor.
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MALVEAUX: Tough talk, no action, coming today from NATO. The alliance is not considering military retaliation against Syria for shooting down a Turkish fighter jet that happened last week. Both sides say that the jet strayed into Syrian airspace. It crashed into the Mediterranean and its two pilots, still missing. But Turkey insists that the warplane accidentally crossed into Syrian airspace and quickly corrected. Ivan Watson, he's joining us live from Istanbul.
And, first of all, Ivan, Turkey now says that it's going to treat any future approach from Syria's military as a threat. Do we think these two countries are any closer now to confronting each other and potentially creating some sort of conflict? A war?
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think this is a pretty serious warning to the Syrians. If you going to shoot down our planes, if they accidentally slip into your airspace, then expect the same from us. So it does raise the tension on both sides of the border between two countries who were already diplomatically -- their relations have been cut for the better part of the last year.
I don't think the Turks want a war. They do not want to invade into Syria. They have resisted calls to establish a buffer zone inside Syria to help the armed Syrian opposition in the past. So I don't think they want to go head long into any kind of conflict. But they're basically saying they will not tolerate this type of an attack, which brought down one of their planes and also, quite possibly, has left two pilots, who are still missing after four days, dead.
MALVEAUX: What has been NATO's response? So far it seems like they're condemning the fact that this plane went down, was shot down, but they're not really offering much military assistance. Do they have a plan in place? WATSON: I don't think there's any appetite in any western capital for any kind of military intervention into Syria. I mean that has been the pattern for a year and a half now despite atrocities and the thousands of people that we've seen killed inside Syria. What this was, was an exercise that the NATO headquarters had at Turkey's request that the NATO allies stand behind Turkey and all with one voice condemn the Syrians. But the NATO secretary general himself said, I don't think this is going to escalate any further. So I don't think we should anticipate this being the type of (INAUDIBLE) belly that could bring a NATO military alliance to suddenly start bombing Syria.
One important issue to look at, and question that we'll be following, could we see an increase in support for the Syrian armed opposition, perhaps in response to this Syrian action against Turkey in the days and weeks ahead? That's something we'll have to keep a close eye on.
MALVEAUX: All right, Ivan Watson keeping a close eye on everything there. Thank you, Ivan. Appreciate it.
Well, if you've got health insurance but you still could get sticker shock when you take a look at the medical bill. I want you to check out the prices.
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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Take a look at a hospital bill, you might see an IV bag charge. It's an IV like this. About $280 just for the IV bag. And that might strike people as very high. A stapler. This is a stapler that's often used in surgery. Something like this costs about $1,200.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: More fallout from the failed gun running sting operation known as Fast and Furious. Congressman Darrell Issa, he is leading the charge for a contempt citation against Attorney General Eric Holder. Well, the vote -- the House is actually going to vote on it this week and Issa is urging the president to reconsider its claim that the documents he wants are covered by executive privilege. The White House is standing by its position.
If you're obese, a government panel wants doctors to do more than just tell you that you are. The panel wants doctors to provide counseling for obese patients or refer them to a weight loss program. One in three Americans is obese. Now, under the current health care law, being challenged in court, most private insurers would be required to cover the entire cost of weight loss services including counseling.
If you ever looked at the hospital bill, item by item, probably you would do a double take. Almost $300 for an I.V. bag. That is part of the reason health care costs is soaring. In two days, the U.S. Supreme Court is going to decide the fate of President Obama's health care reform bill.
And right now, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is giving us an "In-Depth" look at how much hospitals charge for basic items and why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: One of the questions that comes up all the time is what about these hospital bills? How exactly do they break down? How do you make sense of it? No question, it leaves a lot of people scratching their heads. I want to give you an example here by taking you inside this operating room. This is the hospital where I work, where I'm a neurosurgeon. Just having an operation performed in a room like this costs $3,000 an hour. That's for starters.
Come on in.
Let's give you a couple quick examples. If you look at a hospital bill, you might see an I.V. bag charge. It's an I.V. like this. About $280 just for the I.V. bag. That might strike people as very high. Stapler. This is a stapler that's often used in surgery. Something like this costs about $1,200. This is a chest tube. If someone has compression of one of their lungs, they might need a chest tube like this that costs about $1,100.
You find examples like that really all over a room like this. Suture, something used in just about every operating room in the world. This suture over here costs about $200. If you look at even devices like -- this is a needle that's used for biopsies. If there's a concern someone has a tumor they'd use a needle like this. This is going to cost about $800.
It's important to keep in mind, if you ask the manufacturers of a device like this, why so much money? They'll say, well, it took years to develop something like this. The research and development costs are significant. Also they're guaranteeing a certain level of effectiveness of this needle. That costs money as well.
But something maybe you didn't know. When you look at a hospital bill, it's not just the cost of the supplies. There's also administrative costs built in. There's the cost of covering people who simply don't have insurance or can't pay. That's built into these costs as well. And finally, keep in mind, that what is charged and what is ultimately paid are two very different numbers.
RICHARD CLARK, HEALTH CARE FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION: The typical hospital collects about 4 percent of every dollar that they -- about four cents of every dollar that they bill. So it's not coming out in massive profits. It's coming out as a result of underpayment from the government.
GUPTA: I'll tell you, you know, the cost breakdown like I just gave you on lots of these different supplies, a lot of people simply never see. What we have found is a lot of people don't care as well. If you're insured, some people may not open the hospital bill. But there are 50 million people uninsured out there, and they care very much about hospital bills like this. What you can do is call the hospital and get a detailed breakdown. While on the phone with the hospital, if the cost seems still too high or hard to understand, you might be able to negotiate some of these prices down.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Sanjay is joining us live.
That's a little surprising you can negotiate. I want to, first of all --
(CROSSTALK)
GUPTA: It's not easy to do, as you might imagine. It's a laborious process. But you can.
MALVEAUX: You actually could negotiate down.
GUPTA: You can. People don't call the hospitals negotiating prices, asking could some of the prices for various products be negotiated. But it's possible. Most people don't get to that point. The sticker shock alone is too much.
MALVEAUX: So explain to us why this actually happens. I know we are already paying for a lot of uninsured folks in the tune of billions of dollars. Is that why, if you look at that price and it's so high?
GUPTA: It's a big part of it, Suzanne, when people say -- look, there's something known as uncompensated care. Someone who doesn't have insurance, goes to the hospital, goes to the emergency room, gets care, they don't have insurance, that's uncompensated. That's about $56 billion a year. The thing is everybody else, people who are insured, through different ways, they know this, they end up picking up a lot of the bill. They may pay higher premiums to the insurance company or have higher costs to the hospital, like I just showed you there. That's why this issue matters to everybody about insurance and the ramifications if people don't have it.
MALVEAUX: Tell us about the mandate. We know President Obama, under health care reform, would mandate folks buy insurance or face penalties. Would that actually, by putting more people into the pool, lower the costs?
GUPTA: I think it would make it so the costs wouldn't go up. I think it's very hard to say it would lower the cost. But I will tell you two things. One is this has been tried before at the state level. For example, in Kentucky, they said we're going to pass health care reform with no mandate. It just requires companies not to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions. What happened there, everybody's premiums went up and went a lot, up to 40 percent. People who had health care insurance they were happy with, they had to pay for everybody else. It would be like if you bought car insurance after you got into an accident. And car insurance companies would have to absorb that cost and pass it on to everybody else. That's what it would like if there was no mandate. MALVEAUX: We're going to watch closely. On Thursday, a huge day when it comes to health care.
GUPTA: Yes. I'll be right here with you.
MALVEAUX: Good, good. We'll sort it all out.
Of course, we'll bring you live coverage Thursday, Supreme Court decision on the president's health care reform law. The moment the ruling is announced, we're going to break down the decision, what it means. This is a huge deal. In-depth coverage here on CNN NEWSROOM and throughout the day is on Thursday.
The battle for campaign cash, it is more intense than ever. Forget $1 billion. We're talking about $3 billion campaigns.
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MALVEAUX: President Obama, Mitt Romney, rallying supporters, raising money today. The president is speaking now at a fundraiser luncheon in Atlanta. On the way, he stopped by the Varsity Restaurant, a local landmark, famous for its chili dogs.
Romney, on the campaign trail in battleground state of Virginia. During his speech a short time ago, he blasted the president for jobs, economy, and health care.
Political editor, Paul Steinhauser, he's joining us live.
Paul, so, Romney talked about the upcoming Supreme Court decision on health care reform. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY, (R), FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As you know, the Supreme Court is going to deal with whether or not Obama-care is constitutional. If it's not, if Obama- care is not deemed constitutional, then the first three and a half years of this president's term will have been wasted on something that has not helped the American people.
(APPLAUSE)
ROMNEY: If it's not -- if it is deemed to stand, then I'll tell you one thing, we're going to have to have a president -- and I'm that one that's going to get rid of Obama-care. We're going to stop it on day one.
(APPLAUSE)
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MALVEAUX: Both sides trying to play it to their advantage. Here's what the president said moments ago. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And the American people understand that we're not going to make progress by going backwards. We need to go forwards.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: They understand we don't need to refight this battle over health care. It's the right thing to do, that we have three million young people who are on their parents' health insurance plans --
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: -- that didn't have it before.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: It's the right thing to do to give seniors discounts on their prescription drugs.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: It's the right thing to do to give 30 million Americans health insurance that didn't have it before.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So, if the court does overturn Obama-care, Paul, what do we think is going to be the messaging from both sides?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Both sides are going to be vocal about this and both sides are going to -- regardless of whether the Supreme Court rules, Suzanne, they're going to play it to their advantage, no doubt about it.
And if you talk to political strategists on the Democratic side or Republican side, this is kind of what they say. If the Supreme Court strikes down the law or the whole law or even just the individual mandate, which is the key to the heart of the health care law, in a way, it actually may benefit the Obama campaign. Even though, listen, be honest here, this is the domestic signature achievement of the Obama campaign. It would be a black mark on his presidency. But at the same time, it would take away a rallying point for Republicans and it could energize a lot of liberals and progressives who would feel their health care was taken away. So, you know, a loss could be a gain in a way, Suzanne, for President Obama as he goes for a second term.
MALVEAUX: And how is the Obama campaign dealing with this, in this new ad that they've just issued?
STEINHAUSER: Yes, a lot of tough talk today. You heard tough talk you just played from Mitt Romney there. The Obama campaign -- remember last week the big story from the "Washington Post" that Mitt Romney's private equity firm that he co-founded, Bain Capital, was outsourcing jobs when he was running the company? Well, take a listen to this new ad by the Obama campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Romney's first 100 days, creating thousands of new jobs for Virginians.
AD NARRATOR: But would he? The "Washington Post" has just revealed that Romney's companies were pioneers of shipping U.S. jobs overseas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: That has played in Virginia, where Mitt Romney was earlier today. Playing also in Ohio and Iowa, two other battleground states. The Romney campaign pushing back on the whole story, saying it was very flawed. But, Suzanne, you're going to hear more of this tough talk and tough commercials on both sides between now and November 6th. Stay tuned for that.
MALVEAUX: OK. Paul, we know the president is here in Atlanta raising money, big money here. It's playing a huge role in this campaign selection season. We're not just talking about $1 billion. Is it true we're now talking about potentially a $3 billion campaign?
STEINHAUSER: Yes. Isn't that incredible? I mean, the numbers are just outstandingly high. And you're actually right. The Federal Election Commission -- releasing numbers in a report yesterday that talked about, if you put everything together, Suzanne, this entire cycle, which started at the beginning of last year, all the campaigns, the money they've raised, all the money raised by the parties and by these individual independent groups like the super PACs, put it all together, have could have up to $3 billion raised and spent in this campaign.
The president today, fundraising in Atlanta. He's going to raise over $5.5 million over two days. Mitt Romney, also another big week of fundraising. The money is huge on both sides. Campaigns just get more expensive every cycle.
MALVEAUX: Unbelievable, Paul.
(LAUGHTER)
It's dizzying to keep up with it.
Thank you, Paul.
One in seven people is now on food stamps in the United States. But the government wants even more to sign up.
Don't forget, watch CNN live on your computer while you're at work. Head to CNN.com/tv.
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MALVEAUX: For the past few months, the federal government has been running an ad campaign to get more people on food stamps. That is right. The government is trying to get people on food stamps. And the logic here is that there are some people who are missing out on this who should be on food stamps.
Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange to talk a little bit about reaching out to folks who might be eligible but don't have them.
Can you explain?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. What this really is, if you ask the government what the whole campaign's about, they'll tell you this is all about giving people, you know, what they're entitled to.
Look, right now, just over one in seven Americans are on food stamps. That amounts to 46 million people on food stamps in this country. And look at this. The Department of Agriculture is spending $2.5 million to $3 million on paid radio spots and public service announcements to bring that number up to have even more people go into the food stamp program.
Now, what this campaign is meant to do is target Hispanic, unemployed, the working poor and the elderly. For more than a decade now, food stamp use has been on the rise. Still, more than a quarter of people who are eligible for food stamps aren't getting them.
The biggest problem here is that people just don't understand what's required of the program. And the USDA says even when they do understand, a vast majority of these people don't apply, because they say they want to be independent -- Suzanne?
MALVEAUX: Imagine that there are some members of Congress who are upset by this. They're trying to find ways to cut the deficit --
KOSIK: Oh, yes.
MALVEAUX: -- and clearly they don't see this as helping in that regard.
KOSIK: Of course. Upset is putting it mildly. Sure. I mean, when you look at what the deficit is projected to be for 2012, it's expected to top $1 trillion. Sure, this is a big point of contention.
You know, Republicans and Democrats have been fighting over the safety net programs like food stamps and housing assistance for a long, long time. Republicans want to reduce funding, but Democrats aren't willing to make any major cuts.
This campaign will most likely bring in even more people into the food stamp system and push these costs even higher. The USDA says the federal government spent more than $75 billion on food stamps alone last year -- Suzanne?
MALVEAUX: And, Alison, tell us how the markets are performing today.
KOSIK: Interesting day. You know what, the markets have really been trying hard to pick up steam today. We got a better than expected report on home prices. Home prices went up from March to April. But the problem is limiting the gains today, is consumer confidence came in showing that it fell more than expected. The big worry there is, with consumer confidence low, that means spending could be -- you know, could be sort of kept close to pocket. Meaning people aren't willing to spend more if they're not confident in where the economy's going. Also, Europe is still a huge worry that's limiting any gains in the market today -- Suzanne?
MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you, Alison.
He's a young journalist from Afghanistan, and he is dodging bullets to bring the horrors of the fighting to light, and he's doing it on Twitter.
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MALVEAUX: A landslide in Uganda has killed 18 people. Rescuers fear the death toll is going to rise. Heavy rain sent mud crashed down on villages, burying everything in its path. Landslides have been a problem in eastern Uganda because of heavy logging that has left the land stripped of trees and vegetation.
Now to Kabul, Afghanistan, where, on Friday, insurgents, armed with guns, rocket-propelled grenades and explosives, rushed to the Spasmi Hotel. They opened fire on guests who were eating, killed 19 people and held others hostage during an 11-hour siege. While this went on, three journalists rushed there, sending out a stream of harrowing tweets as the insurgents fought Afghan and NATO troops.
One of those journalists is 26-year-old Afghan-born Mustafa Kazemi. He sent short but powerful messages describing the action. He tweeted here, "People pray for us. Heavy gunfight all around. Several bullets cross overhead and, God, hundreds of shots flying toward us."
Last hour, I spoke to Mustafa and I asked him what was going on in his head as he went running to that attack.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MUSTAFA KAZEMI, AFGHANISTAN JOURNALIST: There's two minute or one minute of time when you move out of the home and you head to that area where you think you will not come back alive. It's not a new feeling to me because, throughout several past years, when I went to combat coverage, I did think before leaving home that I may not come back home alive. Yet, of the day, I will return, come back home live. You will think you may not survive seeing the situation down on the ground.
MALVEAUX: You're a young guy. And I imagine your parents are worried about you when they see this kind of thing happening live. I don't know if they tweet or not. But I certainly called my parents when I was in the middle of all that mess there. Did you talk to them? Are they concerned? Do they tell you come home, what are you doing?
KAZEMI: My family is living in another part of the country. I'm leaving alone here in Kabul. But they usually -- when they get to know about an attack from TV, they have a sense of me going to the attack. So the first thing they do is call me up on telephone, saying, do not go to attack scene. Just stay home and do the coverage. So I'm tell them that I'm not going, I'll be here only. And I switch off my home telephone and I just go straight to the attack scene because I cannot risk staying at home and miss all the updates and the news.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: If you like to make six figures, you may want to take a look at child care. Some nannies making big cash taking care of kids.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a bargain.
(LAUGHTER)
CLIFF GREENHOUSE, PRESIDENT, PAVILION AGENCY: And I say that not jokingly in any way. These nannies are, in many ways, peers of the parents.
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MALVEAUX: Not quite Mary Poppins or Mrs. Doubtfire, but there are some super nannies and they are raking in some pretty big bucks. Nannies for the ultra-rich, capable of making more than a typical Wall Street salary.
Christine Romans tell us why their skills are worth so much.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When I look at your resume, it's something out of Mary Poppins, to be honest. Do people every make that --
TINA SUAREZ, NANNY: Yes, I dress up as her on Halloween.
ROMANS: Do you?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SINGING)
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ROMANS (voice-over): Tina Suarez has been a nanny for 28 years. SUAREZ: One family I worked for had a yacht and I sailed around the world on the yacht. There's times when you're in rough seas when you can actually slide up and down the boot on books and make it an adventure.
ROMANS: She can prep your kids for competitive kindergarten interviews and will teach them how to shake hands and make eye contact. She also makes $120,000 a year.
GREENHOUSE: That's a bargain.
(LAUGHTER)
I say that not jokingly in any way. These nannies are, in many ways, peers of the parents and --
ROMANS (voice-over): Cliff Greenhouse is president of Pavilion Agency, which places 400 to 500 nannies a year. About 20 are in the six-figure range. Post-recession, he says nanny salaries are reaching new highs.
GREENHOUSE: For the setting in a school, they'll make $50,000, $60,000 a year. They will work 35 hours a week. They will have three months paid vacations.
ROMANS: So to get them to devote their lives to one single family and offer huge flexibility, Pavilion doubles that salary range for some of their ultra-wealthy clients.
SUAREZ: One of the children I looked after got on a commercial flight and said, what are these people doing on my plane.
ROMANS: The median income in the United States is about $34,000. And the median income for a child care worker is just under $20,000. Bu this small set of super nannies is making five times that.
(on camera): What makes you different than a nanny who is making $10 an hour?
SUAREZ: We're in a park now. I don't sit there and just keep the child quiet with a bowl of Goldfish.
ROMANS (voice-over): Tina says she likes to the play the games she's picked up over the years when she's at the park.
Along with experience, education is one of the things the families look for.
JENNIFER O'SULLIVAN, NANNY: I did a bachelor of science in accounting. And then I did a masters in I.T.
ROMANS: Jennifer O'Sullivan uses her I.T. background to keep the house wired.
O'SULLIVAN: A lot of these families, their children have iPads.
(LAUGHTER)
And some people don't know how to use them. I like to stay organized. I like to keep schedules. I send them out using word documents, Excel spread sheets.
ROMANS (voice-over): About 20 percent request a bilingual nanny. Teaching Mandarin is a hot skill in the nanny set. But spending your life devoted to kids doesn't necessarily want your own.
SUAREZ: I don't want children. I like to give them back.
Christine Romans, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: CNN NEWSROOM continues now with Brooke Baldwin.
Hey, Brooke.
