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CNN Live Saturday
Airline Rescue Package Heads to President Bush for Signature
Aired September 22, 2001 - 12:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: There's a $15 billion rescue package for the airlines that is now heading for President Bush's certain signature. Congress approved the measure last night with lopsided votes in both chambers.
It will provide the airlines with an immediate $5 billion cash infusion and another 10 billion in loan guarantees. The airlines have slashed their schedules and they have cut close to 100,000 workers since the terror attacks as so many, many Americans shy away from flying.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: The terrorist strikes are rippling hard throughout the U.S. economy, which was already tittering. Most economists polled last week agree the U.S. is now in recession. Here's more from CNN financial correspondent, Chris Huntington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's unanimous on Wall Street, the economic fallout from last Tuesday's attack is corrosive and could linger a long time. The stock market just suffered its worst week since the 1987 crash. Now, all of the major U.S. financial firms say the United States in a recession. And all but one say recovery will not come until next year.
DIANE SWONK, CHIEF ECONOMIST, BANK ONE: Overwhelmingly, those people who believe we're in recession, they did not believe we were in one just 11 days ago. And so there has been a marked change in the view of the world just from this single event.
HUNTINGTON: History offers tempting comparisons but little in the way of helpful guidance as to how the economy will react. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the military industrial buildup needed to fight the Second World War kicked the post-Depression economy into overdrive. But few expect a war on terrorists, even a long one, will be a major job creator.
When the U.S. entered the Gulf War, it was also in a recession and emerged to kick off the longest peacetime expansion in U.S. history. But that was a war against a known enemy on a contained battlefield half a world away that Americans could monitor on television.
The uncertainty of the current conflict makes this situation unique.
ALAN KRUEGER, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: It's quite conceivable that out of fear, out of uncertainty in response to these attacks that the American consumer will withdraw. And that, I think, is the real concern for the economy at the moment.
HUNTINGTON: The terrorist attacked on an economy that was already vulnerable. Corporate layoffs were running at a record pace this year. The manufacturing sector had already given up more than one million jobs. And the technology industry, which fueled the economic boom and the bull market, had become bloated with over capacity.
But there are plenty of strengths -- budget surpluses to fund bailouts and interest rate cuts to spur investment, stable energy prices to keep inflation in check and consumers with the potential to carry on. General Electric took out full-page newspaper advertisements urging Americans to do just that.
JEFFREY IMMELT, CEO, GENERAL ELECTRIC: It's a way for GE to say we love the people of this country. We love what they can do. And it's time to go to work. It's time to go to work and get us through this.
HUNTINGTON: The uncertainty facing the U.S. economy lies in just how many Americans take up that challenge.
Chris Huntington, CNN Financial News, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE: We have heard a lot about the terror group, Al Qaeda, since September 11. Coming up, we'll take you inside that organization. But first, last night, several television networks aired a star-studded telethon to raise money for the families of the victims in the terror attacks. Here are some of the sights and sounds from the telethon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, MUSICIAN: This is a prayer for our fallen brothers and sisters. There's a blood range circle in the cold dark around and the rain is falling down.
TOM HANKS, ACTOR: We are really artists and entertainers here to raise spirits.
WILL SMITH, ACTOR: My friend and I want to remember that and that we are strongest when we stand together.
DWIGHT YOAKAM, MUSICIAN: I hope someday you will join us. And the world will live as one.
JIM CARREY, ACTOR: To risk your life for a total stranger in need is not only courageous but divine because in the face of that kind of selflessness, we can no longer call each other strangers. BILLY JOEL, MUSICIAN: ... left them all behind. I'm in a New York state of mind.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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