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Lou Dobbs Tonight
President Bush Focuses on Economy; Pentagon Prepares For 21st Century Warfare
Aired March 25, 2004 - 18:00 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.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Tonight, President Bush focuses on the economy and defends his record on the war on terror.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will use every resource, every asset, every power of this government to protect the American people.
DOBBS: Senator Kerry promises to restore trust in the White House.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I, as president, will tell you the truth and never take this nation to war on false information.
DOBBS: Tonight, I talk with House Minority Leader Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.
The Pentagon prepares for a massive repositioning of American troops to fight the wars of the 21st century.
And the growing backlash against the export of American jobs to cheap overseas labor markets. A leading American credit card firm cancels a deal with India's largest call center.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT for Thursday, March 25. Here now for an hour of news, debate and opinion, Lou Dobbs.
DOBBS: Good evening.
President Bush today said the economy is improving. And he again called upon Congress to make his tax cuts permanent. President Bush also talked about the war on terror. He said he would have done anything possible to prevent the September 11 attacks, had he received a warning.
White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is traveling with the president and reports now from Boston -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lou, it was earlier in the day when the president was in Nashua, New Hampshire, that's when he diverted from his planned remarks which were aimed at highlighting his economic policy to respond to the allegation that his administration had not yet done enough prior to the September 11 attacks to avoid it, this coming after four days of point, counterpoint, the latest allegation from Richard Clarke that National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was incompetent and a poll that shows nine out of 10 Americans were aware of Clarke's accusations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: There's a commission going on in Washington, D.C. It's a very important commission. It's a commission determined to look at the eight months of my administration and the eight years of the previous administration to determine what we can learn, what we can do to make sure we up hold our solemn duty.
Had I known that the enemy was going to use airplanes to strike America to attack us, I would have used every resource, every asset, every power of this government to protect the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Now, the White House continues the strategy of attacking the substance of Clarke, as well as his credibility. They are focusing on two things, the fact that the Clinton administration, under eight years, simply diminished al Qaeda, but within the first months of their administration, they were looking on a plan to eliminate al Qaeda.
And also they are stressing the fact that American voters should assess President Bush on his performance, not the first eight months before September 11, but after those attacks, how he handles the war on terror. We should also let you know as well that there are plans on the way for Dr. Rice to go back before the 9/11 Commission to meet with them privately to further give her story.
And just an aside here. In a fund-raiser here in Kerry country in Boston, President Bush tonight is showing to Kerry that they don't expect to win this state, necessarily, but you can raise money here in the tune of $1.2 million -- Lou.
DOBBS: Suzanne, Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, why is she not testifying publicly before the commission?
MALVEAUX: Well, Lou, as they have explained throughout the week, this has been an ongoing debate, and they say that this is executive privilege. They refuse to waive that executive privilege, that they stand by the principle despite the fact that there's a lot of pressure to get her to testify publicly before that commission.
They believe that she can make her case privately to commission members and they can use that for the public record, but they are not going to put her out there before the public and they are standing by their position this evening.
DOBBS: The position is somewhat undercut by the fact that the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Secretary of state, Colin Powell, appearing before the commission. How does the White House square that up? MALVEAUX: Well, they simply say that she's an adviser to the president, that in her capacity that she really does not have to testify. That's something that the president would have to waive off on. And by principle, they will not compromise her position or her ability to advise the president in that capacity. They just feel that that is not something that they are willing to compromise.
DOBBS: Suzanne, thank you very much -- Suzanne Malveaux traveling with the president.
Well, while President Bush today was trumpeting economic achievements, business economists today put job growth and the budget deficit at the top of their concerns. The National Association for Business Economics says those issues are the biggest threats to the American economy.
Kitty Pilgrim reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The members of the National Association for Business Economics have two top worries as they meet in Washington.
DUNCAN MELDRUM, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR BUSINESS ECONOMICS: Both the deficits and the lack of development in the job situation we see as two potential serious problems for the economy.
PILGRIM: This week's jobless data showed the numbers of people claiming unemployment benefits was up by 1,000. Job growth has been glacially slow. The U.S. economy only managed to create 21,000 jobs last month. President Bush was talking about jobs and the economy today in New Hampshire. He also addressed the second concern, the deficit.
BUSH: And so we're working with Congress to set priorities and to bring the deficit down, which will help.
PILGRIM: But in Congress today, there was little agreement. The budget debate was fraught with heated accusation, Democrats charging the Republican budget proposal does not do enough to solve the deficit problem.
REP. STENY HOYER (D), MARYLAND: Get real. Stop giving us this stuff. And the reason to stop giving the stuff is what you are doing is back to the same old $2.5 trillion in debt.
PILGRIM: Republicans countering that the tax cuts have been successful and the economy is growing.
REP. JIM NUSSLE (R), IOWA: What the Democrats are rushing to the floor to claim today is that right at the moment when we finally have seen a positive change in direction for our economy, let's give it a gut punch. Let's kill the jobs. Let's kill small business with a tax increase exactly at the wrong time.
PILGRIM: The next GDP number is expected to come in at a rate of 4.5 percent, a healthy showing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Now, the worry is that any economic gains so far made by better productivity. And it's clear to both parties job creation needs to pick up, Lou?
DOBBS: Thank you very much, Kitty Pilgrim.
The Democrats today put on a show of unity as they prepared to launch a new offensive against President Bush. Senator Kerry and his formal rival Howard Dean promised to work together to drive President Bush from the White House. And tonight, former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter will join Senator Kerry at a fund-raising dinner Washington.
Kelly Wallace has that story for us -- Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Lou, in the words of one Kerry adviser the hope is that this public backing today will validate John Kerry with Howard Dean's base now hundreds of thousands strong. Howard Dean has said he will not tell his supporters what to do, but he made it clear today he hopes they follow his lead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD DEAN (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I know who I trust. I trust John Kerry and that's who I'm voting for and that's who I'm working for. We're sending George Bush back to Crawford, Texas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: And before that rally, John Kerry met with some donors who helped raise money for Howard Dean, the Kerry campaign trying to tap into the extensive Dean network that helped bring in more than $40 million on the Internet last year.
Now, these two men had sharp, sharp differences during the primary campaign, but the presumptive Democratic nominee saying they are now focusing on what unites them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KERRY: Despite our efforts, each of us, to win this, we are here not to win for us individually, but to win for our country and for you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: Now, Kerry is just back from a weeklong vacation. His biggest and first challenge really raising cash; 10 days ago, the campaign set a goal of trying to raise $10 million. We have just learned, according to a Kerry adviser, the campaign reached that goal.
And, Lou, at this big Democratic Party dinner tonight, they hope to raise more than $10 million as well -- Lou.
DOBBS: Thank you very much. Kelly, they still have a lot of work to do to catch up with the Bush-Cheney campaign, don't they?
WALLACE: Yes, more than $100 million behind the Bush-Cheney team, so lots of work ahead. And Kerry hits the road Monday traveling to 20 cities, Lou, hoping to raise more than $80 million.
DOBBS: Kelly Wallace, thank you very much.
Tomorrow here I'll be talking with Senator Kerry about his new economic plan for America, how he plans to create new jobs and how he plans to stop the export of American jobs to cheap overseas labor markets. That's tomorrow here.
Turning to the war in Iraq, insurgents killed three more Americans. One American soldier was killed in a bomb attack north of Baghdad, another soldier killed with a gun battle with insurgents. Troops returned fire. They killed three of the insurgent gunmen.
In Fallujah, west of Baghdad, a U.S. Marine was killed when insurgents attacked a military convoy. Two other Marines were wounded.
The Army today said the suicide rate for troops in Iraq last year was much higher than for other soldiers. There were at least 24 suicides among our soldiers in Iraq and Kuwait last year. That is a suicide rate of 17 soldiers for each 100,000. That compares with a rate of 13 per 100,000 for entire Army; 2,000 Marines are going to Afghanistan to join the hunt for al Qaeda.
At the same time, the military is pressing ahead with plans to reposition tens of thousands of American troops all around the world.
Senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre reports -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lou, the Bush administration is about to dramatically reduce the number of U.S. troops that are based overseas, particularly in Europe.
The U.S. has had a formidable presence, particularly in Germany, over the last several decades. Those troops aligned to fight the Cold War. But with the new threat of the 21st century being terrorism, the U.S. is going to a plan in which they will bring many of the troops home, tens of thousands of them. Under the plan, big bases in Germany such as Ramstein Air Base and the U.S. European command headquarters in Stuttgart will remain, but other troops will be brought home.
They will be deployed when needed to expeditionary bases that will be in countries in new allies, including Bulgaria, Rumania, and the Czech Republic, as well as North and Central Africa. Today, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said the idea is not to withdraw from other countries, but to create new alliances.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We clearly do not want to bring all of our forces home. We want to have a presence in various parts of the world, because it has a healthy deterrent effect. It has the effect, also, of enabling us to train and work with our friends and allies around the world, so that we can function in a combined and joint manner, in the event we're called to take actions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCINTYRE: Now, some reports have put the total number of troops that will be brought back in excess of 70,000, but today, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld insists that was all speculation because the process is just beginning, the U.S. negotiating with many countries about what kind of troop level reductions will be carried out and he says it's far too early to say the exact number -- Lou.
DOBBS: Jamie, what more can you tell us about the deployment of those additional Marines to Afghanistan to reinforce the 11,000 troops already there?
MCINTYRE: Well, of course, there is the big spring offensive, the hunt for Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda and Taliban remnants and they could be helping there.
But Pentagon officials say their main reason is to provide more security for some of the events that will be happening in Afghanistan, particularly elections that are expected to be called in the springtime. In addition, the Marines which were on ships in the Persian Gulf will give the U.S. some more special operations capability as they continue that manhunt for Osama bin Laden -- Lou.
DOBBS: Jamie, thank you very much -- Jamie McIntyre, our Senior Pentagon correspondent.
That brings us to the subject of tonight's poll. The question: Should the United States greatly reduce its ground forces based in Europe, Japan, and South Korea, yes or no? Please cast your vote at CNN.com/Lou. We'll have the results for you coming up later.
Still ahead, the mother of a teenage suicide bomber says her son was manipulated. We'll have a report for you from the West Bank.
Senator Kerry prepares a new offensive against President Bush. I'll be talking with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
And one of this country's leading credit card companies has abruptly pulled out of a deal with an Indian call center. We'll tell you why.
A great deal more still ahead. Please stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: An ominous warning tonight that Texas oil refineries could be the target of terrorist attacks around the time of presidential elections. The FBI issued that warning, but has no specific details on potential threats. FBI sources, however, tell CNN the warning was issued out of what they call an abundance of caution.
In the Middle East tonight, Israeli soldiers killed three Palestinian terrorists as they tried to infiltrate a Jewish settlement in Gaza. The army said troops spotted the Palestinians as they tried to swim ashore with their weapons. Later, Israeli tanks and armored bulldozers entered a Palestinian area in Gaza.
Last night, we showed you a disturbing report about a Palestinian boy's unsuccessful effort to blow himself up at an Israeli checkpoint.
Today, Julian Manyon traveled to Nablus to meet with the boy's family and find out how this teenager came to be a suicide bomber.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JULIAN MANYON, ITN REPORTER (voice-over): Hussam Abdo's mother could not hold back her tears. She was remembering the dreadful moment when she saw her 16-year-old son on television wearing a suicide bomber's vest only hours after she thought he had gone to school. She told me that she blames the men so far unidentified who persuaded him to do it.
TAMAM ABDO, MOTHER (through translator): When I think that he was going to blow himself up, my brain boils. I ask God to punish the people who sent him. Instead of sending children, they should have done it themselves.
MANYON: Tamam, who has five children, said that Hussam is her spoiled son. She showed me his well-kept bedroom with Winnie the Pooh on the wall. Only one Israeli journalist has been allowed to question Hussam. And his report suggested that the boys may have done it because his school friends made fun of his small size.
But Hussam's 21-year-old sister told me that he wants to strike a blow against Israel.
SHAREEN ABDO, SISTER (through translator): I'm very happy because of what he did, but I think he is still too young. If he were older, I would encourage him to do it and I would like to be in his place and do it myself.
MANYON (on camera): You hate the Israeli's so much, you were ready to go and do this.
S. ABDO (through translator): It is not just me. Every Palestinian hates the Israelis.
MANYON (voice-over): In the years of intifada, Nablus has become a beleaguered ghetto. The city now seethes with helpless bitterness.
Members of Hussam's family told me that when the boys used to see suicide bombings on television he would run into the streets to celebrate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a very, very good boy. He loves his country. MANYON: And after trying to carry out an attack yesterday, Hussam has finally won the respect of his peers.
Julian Manyon, ITV News, at the Hawara checkpoint near Nablus.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: Still ahead, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi joins me. We'll be talking about jobs, the economy, exporting America, the election.
And putting the squeeze on the middle class. An alarming number of young Americans are now living without even the most basic health insurance. And many are learning an expensive lesson. We'll have a special report.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Tonight, the "Middle Class Squeeze."
A growing number of young Americans are living without health insurance.
Casey Wian has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERIC MOORE, UNINSURED PATIENT: The last time I had health insurance was when I was a UCLA student from between 1998 and 2000.
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eric Moore is typical of many young adult Americans, in and out of work since college, no health insurance. Two years ago, disaster struck. Moore had ignored persistent leg pain until he passed out on the street and wound up here, under the care of Dr. Susan Fleischman.
MOORE: She said, Mr. Moore, you have what's called a pulmonary embolism and it's a potentially fatal situation. And I was completely shocked. I had never even heard of the word pulmonary embolism.
WIAN: After four days in the hospital, having the blood clot dissolved, Moore left with a $14,000 bill and no way to pay.
MOORE: I have never seen really a bill that much for anything.
WIAN: Moore was evicted from his apartment and now lives with his mother, still deeply in debt.
Tonya Kirk is another recent college graduate working two part- time jobs. She has decided not to buy health insurance.
TONYA KIRK, UNINSURED WORKER: I don't want to spend the money on it. I guess I just figured full-time work is going to come soon. And so why start paying into something if I'm going to get something else? But full-time work is taking longer than what I expected. WIAN: Whether by circumstance or choice, 30 percent of 18-to-24- year-olds don't have health insurance, double the rate for all age groups.
DR. SUSAN FLEISCHMAN, VENICE FAMILY CLINIC: When you are 18 or 19 or even 32, you feel pretty -- fairly invulnerable. So as long as they don't get sick, they don't perceive not having health insurance as a problem. It is a problem, though, if they wake up with appendicitis in the middle of the night.
WIAN: A growing number of the young uninspired are middle class who have recently lost jobs.
(on camera): The newly unemployed often have fewer health care options than even low-income patients. This free clinic says it is turning away 100 recently unemployed people a week because they made too much money during the past year.
Casey Wian, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: When we continue, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi joins us. We will be talking about jobs, the economy, the election.
In "Broken Borders" tonight, a dramatic scene along the coast of Florida today. The Coast Guard comes to the rescue. We'll have a live report for you from Miami.
And another American company learns about the risks of outsourcing.
Also, we'll be joined by William Archey (ph), who says concerns about outsourcing are blown out of proportion and says American workers are doing just fine. He joins me to try to explain his point of view.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: President Bush today stressed job retraining as a solution to the lack of new job creation in this economy.
President Bush plans to spend a half trillion dollars on job training and education programs. Democrats who also support job training programs have called the president's plan another empty promise.
And Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, who is the House minority leader, joins me tonight from Capitol Hill.
Leader Pelosi, thanks for being with us.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), MINORITY LEADER: Thank you.
DOBBS: We have a new budget. It is a huge budget. Your reaction?
PELOSI: Well, I'm very disappointed in the Republican budget. You know, our budget should be a statement of the national values, so we come together in a bipartisan way to have a blueprint for economic growth to create jobs, to educate our children, to expand access to health care, to provide for our national defense.
Instead, we have a budget put forth by the Republicans that is not values based, that is not physically sound, and it should not have any support. It is hard to see where the budget hawks went, deficit hawks went in the Republican Party, because this has a historic budget and historic deficit of over $550 billion in just this year alone.
DOBBS: A staggering deficit and indeed even with the exigencies of the war on terror, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, that is a huge deficit by any measure.
However, the Democratic alternative, Congresswoman, according to critics of it at least, put forth $5 billion less than the Republican plan for the No Child Left Behind program, which has been one of the principal criticisms.
PELOSI: Not true.
DOBBS: OK.
PELOSI: The fact is, is that in areas that relate to a blueprint for the future, of investing in our children's education, as I mentioned, job growth, protecting our homeland, the Republican budget is seriously deficient.
It's hard to see a set of values that says it's better to give tax cuts to people making over $1 million a year than to invest in the No Child Left Behind legislation. They cut $9 billion in their budget out of the No Child Left Behind bill. There are cuts in the CHIP program, the Children's Health Insurance Program. And in Medicaid, we'll add 1.6 million people in our country to the list of those who are uninsured, bringing it over to 44 million people, when we should be reducing that number.
And when it comes to homeland security, the Republicans in the House were even over $580 million less than President Bush's budget, which was seriously deficient. The Democrats put $5.85 billion more than the Republicans into the bill in order to restore the cuts to police and fire and all those services so important to protecting our homeland.
DOBBS: Speaking of the homeland, let's turn to the 9/11 Commission, the furor that has been created by Richard Clarke, the former head of counterterrorism for the Bush administration. There seems to be some considerable contradiction between Richard Clarke now with a new book and appearing before the commission talking about the lack of urgency before the -- before September 11, obviously, on the part of the Bush administration, and what he was saying only about 14, 15 months ago.
Do you think that seriously undermines his credibility?
PELOSI: No, I do not.
I just think it speaks to the character assassination of the Bush administration for anyone who dares to disagree with them. I was one of the co-chairs of the joint inquiry, House-Senate joint inquiry on 9/11. And the testimony that Richard Clarke gave at that time, it was very consistent with what he is saying now, and that was public testimony. So it's on the record.
This is a person who is -- I don't have any idea what his political party is. He's a consummate professional in national security matters, very respected, and I think that people should listen to what he says.
DOBBS: Listening to what is said before that commission, Congresswoman, the statements, that go back over 11, 12 years, in which both parties, both administrations, that is the Bush administration and the Clinton administration, there seems to be plenty of culpability on the part of the national security apparatus, if you will, of this government over that period of time, irrespective of party. What are we going to take away from this commission in your best judgment?
PELOSI: Well, as one who was an author of the original legislation to create an independent commission. What I hope we will take away from it is lessons learned as to how to avoid such a tragedy in the future, how we dealt with it immediately and how we go forward to prevent it from happening again.
The families of 9/11 deserve answers that American people expect protection and this independent commission should produce that. I think it would be very important, though, as we seek the truth, wherever that takes us, that the national security adviser will testify in public before the commission and I think that if that doesn't happen we won't have a complete public record of how we got to where we were on 9/11 or where we're going from here.
DOBBS: Thank you very much. Congresswoman Pelosi for being here. House minority leader Nancy Pelosi.
Tomorrow night here, Democratic presidential candidate Senator John Kerry will be our guest. He will unveil his plan to overhaul the economy, his plan to create jobs for Americans, please join us tomorrow night at 6:00 Eastern. We hope you will be with us.
Still ahead here tonight, thousands more marines are heading to Afghanistan. I'll be talking about that with our military analyst General David Grange on point. And a U.S. company drops a key contract with a well-known Indian call center and outsource destination. We'll tell you what was behind the decision when we continue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: The rising trend toward outsourcing is suffering on occasion some reversals. Another American company has abandoned a contract to use cheaper foreign labor. Capital One has canceled its agreement with Wipro, that's India's largest call center provider, saying the work was not up to company standards. Bill Tucker has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Capital One, Lehman Brothers, Dell Computers, examples of company scaling back on the offshoring of their call center. Capital One unhappy with some of its customers being offered what it calls unauthorized offers of credit. Lehman won't comment on why it brought back home its internal help desk. And while Dell brought back some jobs to maintain corporate help desk, it still has call centers offshore as well as in the U.S..
JOHN SVIOKKLA, DIAMONDCLUSTER: As customers who are putting their work offshore, experience they are saying they have to bring it back to the United States or to a near shore outsourcer, so that they can have the quality and control they want.
TUCKER: A study by Diamondcluster, a Chicago based consulting group, found offshoring has significant risks that are often overlooked. Namely the increasing complexity of managing the relationships, uncertain financial paybacks and a lack of direct control. Other factors playing roles: privacy issues, cultural differences and global stability.
JOHN MCCARTHY, FORRESTER RESEARCH: You're going to see a little bit of a retreat from some of the interactive call work to more of the, not project work where time is less important, some of the document processing, data entry skills and things like loan processing.
TUCKER: So don't expect offshoring to go away, but it will change as companies learn hard lessons and in some cases see a marketing opportunity.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCKER: For example, in England, a bank Nationwide has a national campaign for customers promising to keep its call center and their financial information in the United Kingdom. No American company has launched a similar campaign here yet.
DOBBS: Well, thank you very much. Bill Tucker.
One of the country's largest technology trade associations says the threat to American workers from international outsourcing is greatly exaggerated. The organization, the AEA, formerly the American Electronic Association, says exporting jobs overseas will actually benefit the United States in the long run. William Archey is the president of the group. He's been quoted as saying, "the fear that we're losing the high level, high education jobs is enormously exaggerated, it's really happening."
William Archey joins us now from Washington, D.C.. Good to have you with us.
WILLIAM ARCHEY, AEA: The same.
DOBBS: The fact that you are suggesting it is exaggerated, the University of California study at the end of last year, actually October of last year showing 14 million jobs at risk of being outsourced. How do you square those up?
ARCHEY: Well, I tell you, Mr. Dobbs, that you're talking about the Berkeley study. That same Berkeley study has in it a statement that starts out, indisputably, the major reason for the loss of jobs was the end of the high tech bubble, a sharp decline in the domestic economic activity, and a couple of others. They did not cite productivity. But it was very much...
DOBBS: They didn't -- wait, wait, they didn't cite productivity?
ARCHEY: No.
DOBBS: That's kind of amazing, because everybody who talks about this cites rising productivity as the chief reason.
ARCHEY: So do we. Their direct quote, one sentence, "indisputably, most of the job loss is due to the technology downturn, the dot-com bubble and the cyclical downturn in the United States economy." That's precisely the point we make in our report.
DOBBS: OK, that's excellent. But let's go back to the fact that 14 million jobs are at risk to outsourcing irrespective of the cause of current unemployment levels.
ARCHEY: But the Berkeley report, again, I think, one has to be careful. They are saying these are the 14 million jobs that may be at risk. The reports very careful about saying that. It does not say those jobs are going to go overseas. What it says is that these may be in the future.
DOBBS: What we do know is that a number of high value jobs have already gone overseas, don't we?
ARCHEY: What we know is that some jobs have gone overseas and we acknowledge that. I think the data, however, on whether or not a lot of the high level jobs has gone overseas is in fact very much in dispute. And I'll give you an example, the Bureau of Labor Statistic a few weeks ago just revised its projections on jobs going overseas. And one of their projections on high tech jobs, which is the interest that we have, is there's going to be a 39 percent increase, 184,000 net new jobs created in just network analysis alone.
DOBBS: Over what period of time?
ARCHEY: Between 2002 and 2012.
DOBBS: So, over a 10-year period. You're getting pretty excited about that aren't you, from a BLS study?
ARCHEY: Not getting excited at all. I'm merely saying what the facts are.
DOBBS: Here are the facts. We have better than 9 percent unemployment amongst computer hardware engineers. We have some staggering numbers to look at in either case. The fact is that as a question of outsourcing, if this is something that you want to endorse, I mean, it's entirely your right, that's your business.
But the other part of it is, we're outsourcing jobs in this country right now with 14 as many as 14 million jobs at risk, for no other reason than the fact that U.S., multinationals want to ship jobs overseas to cheap labor markets so they can use the services, displace American workers and reduce their costs.
ARCHEY: First of all I would take real exception to the term "endorse" on outsourcing.
DOBBS: I'm sorry, I misunderstood you.
ARCHEY: I would also take exception to the point you're making about why those jobs are going over to just cheap labor. The point of our report is, and it says so right on the cover. It is offshore outsourcing in a rapidly changing intensely more competitive world. And that's one of the central points of our study is how much this world has changed. One of the things we're going to have to as a nation come to grips with is that some of these other countries have caught up with us. They have caught up with us in education. They've caught up with us in terms of infrastructure. One of the things about outsourcing is it's no longer just cheap labor because you can also you had the story about India and about bringing back some jobs. But India graduates more four-year engineers in one year than the United States does. 82,000 in 1999, we graduated 61, 000.
DOBBS: When AEA members send a job to India, to the Philippines, Romania, they are doing so for what reason?
ARCHEY: Fir of all, this is the other point we make. My problem, sometimes, Mr. Dobbs with the angle you take is, you give the impression that only U.S. companies do offshore outsourcing. All the rest of the world is.
DOBBS: You know, you are taking exception now. That's the second or third time, so let me help out here. I'm concerned about American workers, that's our focus here.
ARCHEY: And so are we.
DOBBS: What other multinationals do is certainly their business. What U.S. multinationals do and how it affects this economy in this country and American middle class workers in particular, is our concern. So that's why whether you take exception or not, I will address the issue of U.S. multinationals.
ARCHEY: It's also our concern.
DOBBS: Good.
ARCHEY: And we say so in the report. We're very clear about the fact some people are being hurt by outsourcing.
DOBBS: Some people are being hurt?
ARCHEY: But we're also saying that companies who are doing some of the companies who are doing outsourcing all their competitors in the rest of the world are.
DOBBS: That's just wonderful, because I really don't care what their companies are doing.
ARCHEY: You don't care if the company continues to be able to compete?
DOBBS: I really don't care because you know, why? This is the $11 trillion consumer economy that is heralded as the mother load for every other multinational to get to. And the issue here is sending U.S. jobs overseas without the simple reason of achieving access to those markets overseas. Do you think somebody is trying to achieve access to the Indian market, William?
No, they are trying to get cheap labor. Even the...
ARCHEY: They are not just trying to get cheap labor. It's also some very talented people.
DOBBS: I'm not arguing about their talent. I'm talking about the incentive and motives of U.S. multinationals. But if they were not talented they wouldn't have the access. But the deciding factor is the labor differential, and have you to acknowledge that. McKenzie even does.
ARCHEY: The labor differential combined with high skills. That's a very formidable proposition.
DOBBS: But those skills are no greater than in the United States, are they?
The greater -- those skill levels that you're talking about makes it possible.
ARCHEY: It's in some instances in terms of certain engineering and science skills, in terms of India, they are as good as or better than us in certain areas.
DOBBS: Well, in that case, you think what we -- what?
What should be done here?
ARCHEY: Well, I think one of the things we're going to have to do is we're going to have to deal with how much this world is changing, how much more competitive it is. One of the things we're going to have to do and I have seen many people on the show say the same thing. We have got to do something about math and science education. This system is failing us. Admissions to engineering schools in the United States are down 20 percent over the last 20 years. DOBBS: Quite right, and we've been reporting on that extensively on the very issue. The importance of education in our competitiveness. But competitiveness, in my judgment, should not be used as a code word for low cost labor, because that's the -- that is the advantage that is being attempted to be secured.
ARCHEY: But I can't make the point to you about the fact what I'm trying to say is, as I said about the Berkeley Report. The loss of jobs is far more a function of everything from productivity to the end of the high tech bubble. There are still jobs going overseas, that we acknowledge. But we think that attributing it to offshore outsourcing is greatly exaggerated, and I think the data shows that.
DOBBS: I have never at any time said that the reason that we have not been able to create jobs or have lost almost 3 million jobs over the past three years is solely do to outsourcing. Never once.
ARCHEY: Well, one does get the impression you think that.
DOBBS: Well, let me give you the concluding impression. That is that I do believe that when you have an economy that is not creating jobs as this one, and you are shipping hundreds of thousands of jobs overseas that you have significant problem and it would be probably better to constrain it, particularly since you are ruining the lives of a lot of good people who built a lot of these companies that are taking advantage of the differentials in labor cost.
ARCHEY: But you have to constrain the competitors in other parts of the world.
DOBBS: You know, I don't want to constrain everybody. I want everybody to be just happy and forthright and wherever that fails, let's try a new policy. William Archey, please come back.
ARCHEY: Thank you.
DOBBS: When we continue, "Grange on Point." More Marines are headed to Afghanistan and there's a new sense of urgency in this mission.
A desperate struggle through rough waters off the Florida Coast.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice is now asking for another meeting with the 9/11 Commission in a letter to Commission Chairman Thomas Kean just released by the National Security Council. The national security advisor is requesting to meet privately with the commission but still not to give public testimony. The letter says she wants to correct, quote, mischaracterizations of Dr. Rice's statement and positions given by former aide Richard Clarke. Rice previously met privately with the commission for roughly four hours, that meeting took place on the 7th of February. The Coast Guard and beach goers today rescued three Cubans to tried to enter the country illegally. They tried to make it to Florida on make-shift rafts made of inner tubes. Tonight the Coast Guard is searching for others who may have attempted to make the journey.
Susan Candiotti has the story from Miami.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In seas up to eight feet and dangerous rip currents, two of the three Cuban migrants struggled to stay afloat. You'll see one of them disappear under the pounding surf for 8 seconds before resurfacing. Trying to make land in order to qualify for asylum under a unique U.S. policy for Cubans. The migrants were a few hundred yards offshore north of a landmark fishing pier at Lauderdale by the sea. Coast Guard and news media helicopters hovered overhead. Not far away a makeshift raft of four innertubes tide together. Still inside a woman barely waiving to a second coast guard helicopter. Meantime a bystander on shore dove in and dragged the man to safety in between crashing waves.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was very beat up. Blistered really bad. Feet were pruned incredibly bad, and skin was peeling off.
CANDIOTTI: Two more rescuers waded into the water and helped drag another male to shore. Treatment began immediately. One man carried by volunteers and police to a waiting ambulance.
There was a translator there trying to ask him how many more and they didn't know what was going on until he yelled out Cuba.
CANDIOTTI: Another man comforted by a rescue worker who poured freshwater over the migrant. A Coast Guard diver was lowered to the drifting raft and two strokes he reached the woman and within minutes she was lifted to safety in a basket. Helicopters and boats were searching for others believed missing. Conditions have been dangerous for days off Miami's coastline with rough seas and a strong undertow. The Coast Guard says that makes a risky journey even more like a recipe for disaster.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI: The Cubans told U.S. authorities that seven of them left the island together about a week ago. Tonight rescue efforts continue for the five believed to still be missing. And, Lou, under the Wet foot, Dry Foot policy it's very likely the three who are in custody will be given legal status here in the United States.
DOBBS: Susan, thank you very much. Susan Candiotti from Miami.
In "Grange On Point" tonight the hunt for al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as Jamie McIntyre earlier reported, the Pentagon is sending another 2,000 marines to Afghanistan. Joining me now General David Grange. Good to have you with us. 2,000 more marines joining 11,000 troops already there. Why is that necessary? BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, it's the time, it's the surge, it's the spring offensive, not only by the coalition forces but also spring offensive by the enemy forces. And the 11,000 troops already there, you only put a portion of those actually in the field. It's the same thing with the 2,000 marines when they come in, only a portion of them will actually be boots on the ground beating the bush going after al Qaeda and Taliban.
DOBBS: A spring offensive, it has almost a peculiar ring to it, general, because there is a sense of I think a large sense that the Taliban has been vanquished and the al Qaeda effectively neutralized. That obviously is not the case with expressions like spring offensive. How large an operation will it be?
GRANGE: I think a very large operation, Lou, because it's going to be tied into the offensive operations of the Pakistani army in eastern Pakistan as they push enemy forces to move elsewhere. They move back and forth between the border all the time anyway. The spring is the time they can actually get through passes. They can actually move around rapidly with no transportation because keep in mind, most of them are on foot or donkeys or motorcycles. So it's a time that they move. It's also a time we have access to those places, as well. The spring offensive is truly the seasonal time to maintain the attack.
DOBBS: General, the decision to redeploy a lot of forces, particularly in Europe, what do you make of it?
GRANGE: I think it's long overdue. I think that's the right move. You know, we've been overseas in places like Germany for quite a long time. That was my last duty assignment. Some of the training areas for readiness are very restricted now. Status of forces agreement where you can train on the ground and the air is limited. The idea is to get people back to the United States where they can rotate in a more expeditionary mode to other countries that are closer to conflict areas, possible conflict areas. I think it's well overdue but it's going to take a while to do it. It will take several years to get it in place.
DOBBS: General David Grange, good to see you.
GRANGE: Same.
DOBBS: A warning from New York Fed today. The soaring budget deficit threatens the economy's health. Fed president Timothy Geithner told a regional bankers association today the threat is compounded by low personal savings rates, the size of the U.S. current account deficit, and the unprecedented amount of money needed to fund it. That is in somewhat contrasting style to Fed chairman Alan Greenspan's statements that he was no longer concerned about deficits.
Well, there was absolutely no sign of trouble on Wall Street today. Dow gaining substantially, up 170 points. The Nasdaq up nearly 58. The S&P 500 up nearly 18. It has, however, been a volatile month for stocks. Christine Romans is here. CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That gain was the biggest for the S&P and Nasdaq since last summer and, Lou, you're right, the volatility in this market has increased dramatically. Volatility up 40 percent just this month and you can see it in this chart of the Dow. More than half the trading days have had 100-point swings or more and I have marked those big rallies and selloffs in red and green there. It's the most volatility since this rally began last spring. They say volatility signals fear in the market. Volatility has come as these stocks have fallen to three-month lows.
DOBBS: And there's some evidence some Americans are having more trouble paying their credit cards.
ROMANS: This week the percentage of past due credit card bills hit a record. The American Bankers Association says more Americans, people who are jobless are using their credit cards, Lou, as a financing bridge. More of that middle class squeeze right there.
DOBBS: Christine, thank you very much.
Taking a look now at some of your thoughts.
Sandra Pugh of Omaha, Nebraska. "Mr. Dobbs, thank you so much for being a voice for the average American. The powers that be keep telling us that people losing jobs can go back to school and learn a new trade. To do what?"
Brenda Bush of Sheridan, Indiana. "The word trade conjures up the image that there is a fair and equitable exchange exporting jobs that strips our economy of its buying power and grows huge trade deficits does not constitute a fair exchange between markets nor cultures."
Linda of Washington, Indiana. "Millions of people in this country are out of work. Our educational system is in the toilet. Hundreds of thousands of people don't have or can't afford adequate healthcare and now we have people wasting our time over two words such as 'under God.' I think their energies could be put to better use in areas that really matter."
And Shirley Newman of Bakersfield, California. "I think we should delete 'under God' and replace it with 'under debt.' There would be no dispute over that concept."
We love hearing from you. E-mail us your thoughts at loudobbs@CNN.com. Still ahead, hear the results of our opinion poll tonight and a reminder now to check our website for the complete list of what is now a list of 475 companies and growing that we've confirmed to be exporting America. CNN.com/lou.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Now the results of tonight's poll. 76 percent of you say the United States should greatly reduce its ground troops in Europe, Japan, and South Korea. 24 percent of you say you do not. That's our show for tonight. We thank you for being with us. Tomorrow, please join us. Democratic presidential candidate Senator John Kerry will be our guest. We'll be talking about his economic plans for this country and newsmakers, the editors of the country's leading business magazines join us as well.
Please be with us. For all of us here, good night from New York. "ANDERSON COOPER 360" next.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired March 25, 2004 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Tonight, President Bush focuses on the economy and defends his record on the war on terror.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will use every resource, every asset, every power of this government to protect the American people.
DOBBS: Senator Kerry promises to restore trust in the White House.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I, as president, will tell you the truth and never take this nation to war on false information.
DOBBS: Tonight, I talk with House Minority Leader Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.
The Pentagon prepares for a massive repositioning of American troops to fight the wars of the 21st century.
And the growing backlash against the export of American jobs to cheap overseas labor markets. A leading American credit card firm cancels a deal with India's largest call center.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT for Thursday, March 25. Here now for an hour of news, debate and opinion, Lou Dobbs.
DOBBS: Good evening.
President Bush today said the economy is improving. And he again called upon Congress to make his tax cuts permanent. President Bush also talked about the war on terror. He said he would have done anything possible to prevent the September 11 attacks, had he received a warning.
White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is traveling with the president and reports now from Boston -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lou, it was earlier in the day when the president was in Nashua, New Hampshire, that's when he diverted from his planned remarks which were aimed at highlighting his economic policy to respond to the allegation that his administration had not yet done enough prior to the September 11 attacks to avoid it, this coming after four days of point, counterpoint, the latest allegation from Richard Clarke that National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was incompetent and a poll that shows nine out of 10 Americans were aware of Clarke's accusations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: There's a commission going on in Washington, D.C. It's a very important commission. It's a commission determined to look at the eight months of my administration and the eight years of the previous administration to determine what we can learn, what we can do to make sure we up hold our solemn duty.
Had I known that the enemy was going to use airplanes to strike America to attack us, I would have used every resource, every asset, every power of this government to protect the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Now, the White House continues the strategy of attacking the substance of Clarke, as well as his credibility. They are focusing on two things, the fact that the Clinton administration, under eight years, simply diminished al Qaeda, but within the first months of their administration, they were looking on a plan to eliminate al Qaeda.
And also they are stressing the fact that American voters should assess President Bush on his performance, not the first eight months before September 11, but after those attacks, how he handles the war on terror. We should also let you know as well that there are plans on the way for Dr. Rice to go back before the 9/11 Commission to meet with them privately to further give her story.
And just an aside here. In a fund-raiser here in Kerry country in Boston, President Bush tonight is showing to Kerry that they don't expect to win this state, necessarily, but you can raise money here in the tune of $1.2 million -- Lou.
DOBBS: Suzanne, Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, why is she not testifying publicly before the commission?
MALVEAUX: Well, Lou, as they have explained throughout the week, this has been an ongoing debate, and they say that this is executive privilege. They refuse to waive that executive privilege, that they stand by the principle despite the fact that there's a lot of pressure to get her to testify publicly before that commission.
They believe that she can make her case privately to commission members and they can use that for the public record, but they are not going to put her out there before the public and they are standing by their position this evening.
DOBBS: The position is somewhat undercut by the fact that the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Secretary of state, Colin Powell, appearing before the commission. How does the White House square that up? MALVEAUX: Well, they simply say that she's an adviser to the president, that in her capacity that she really does not have to testify. That's something that the president would have to waive off on. And by principle, they will not compromise her position or her ability to advise the president in that capacity. They just feel that that is not something that they are willing to compromise.
DOBBS: Suzanne, thank you very much -- Suzanne Malveaux traveling with the president.
Well, while President Bush today was trumpeting economic achievements, business economists today put job growth and the budget deficit at the top of their concerns. The National Association for Business Economics says those issues are the biggest threats to the American economy.
Kitty Pilgrim reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The members of the National Association for Business Economics have two top worries as they meet in Washington.
DUNCAN MELDRUM, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR BUSINESS ECONOMICS: Both the deficits and the lack of development in the job situation we see as two potential serious problems for the economy.
PILGRIM: This week's jobless data showed the numbers of people claiming unemployment benefits was up by 1,000. Job growth has been glacially slow. The U.S. economy only managed to create 21,000 jobs last month. President Bush was talking about jobs and the economy today in New Hampshire. He also addressed the second concern, the deficit.
BUSH: And so we're working with Congress to set priorities and to bring the deficit down, which will help.
PILGRIM: But in Congress today, there was little agreement. The budget debate was fraught with heated accusation, Democrats charging the Republican budget proposal does not do enough to solve the deficit problem.
REP. STENY HOYER (D), MARYLAND: Get real. Stop giving us this stuff. And the reason to stop giving the stuff is what you are doing is back to the same old $2.5 trillion in debt.
PILGRIM: Republicans countering that the tax cuts have been successful and the economy is growing.
REP. JIM NUSSLE (R), IOWA: What the Democrats are rushing to the floor to claim today is that right at the moment when we finally have seen a positive change in direction for our economy, let's give it a gut punch. Let's kill the jobs. Let's kill small business with a tax increase exactly at the wrong time.
PILGRIM: The next GDP number is expected to come in at a rate of 4.5 percent, a healthy showing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Now, the worry is that any economic gains so far made by better productivity. And it's clear to both parties job creation needs to pick up, Lou?
DOBBS: Thank you very much, Kitty Pilgrim.
The Democrats today put on a show of unity as they prepared to launch a new offensive against President Bush. Senator Kerry and his formal rival Howard Dean promised to work together to drive President Bush from the White House. And tonight, former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter will join Senator Kerry at a fund-raising dinner Washington.
Kelly Wallace has that story for us -- Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Lou, in the words of one Kerry adviser the hope is that this public backing today will validate John Kerry with Howard Dean's base now hundreds of thousands strong. Howard Dean has said he will not tell his supporters what to do, but he made it clear today he hopes they follow his lead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD DEAN (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I know who I trust. I trust John Kerry and that's who I'm voting for and that's who I'm working for. We're sending George Bush back to Crawford, Texas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: And before that rally, John Kerry met with some donors who helped raise money for Howard Dean, the Kerry campaign trying to tap into the extensive Dean network that helped bring in more than $40 million on the Internet last year.
Now, these two men had sharp, sharp differences during the primary campaign, but the presumptive Democratic nominee saying they are now focusing on what unites them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KERRY: Despite our efforts, each of us, to win this, we are here not to win for us individually, but to win for our country and for you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: Now, Kerry is just back from a weeklong vacation. His biggest and first challenge really raising cash; 10 days ago, the campaign set a goal of trying to raise $10 million. We have just learned, according to a Kerry adviser, the campaign reached that goal.
And, Lou, at this big Democratic Party dinner tonight, they hope to raise more than $10 million as well -- Lou.
DOBBS: Thank you very much. Kelly, they still have a lot of work to do to catch up with the Bush-Cheney campaign, don't they?
WALLACE: Yes, more than $100 million behind the Bush-Cheney team, so lots of work ahead. And Kerry hits the road Monday traveling to 20 cities, Lou, hoping to raise more than $80 million.
DOBBS: Kelly Wallace, thank you very much.
Tomorrow here I'll be talking with Senator Kerry about his new economic plan for America, how he plans to create new jobs and how he plans to stop the export of American jobs to cheap overseas labor markets. That's tomorrow here.
Turning to the war in Iraq, insurgents killed three more Americans. One American soldier was killed in a bomb attack north of Baghdad, another soldier killed with a gun battle with insurgents. Troops returned fire. They killed three of the insurgent gunmen.
In Fallujah, west of Baghdad, a U.S. Marine was killed when insurgents attacked a military convoy. Two other Marines were wounded.
The Army today said the suicide rate for troops in Iraq last year was much higher than for other soldiers. There were at least 24 suicides among our soldiers in Iraq and Kuwait last year. That is a suicide rate of 17 soldiers for each 100,000. That compares with a rate of 13 per 100,000 for entire Army; 2,000 Marines are going to Afghanistan to join the hunt for al Qaeda.
At the same time, the military is pressing ahead with plans to reposition tens of thousands of American troops all around the world.
Senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre reports -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lou, the Bush administration is about to dramatically reduce the number of U.S. troops that are based overseas, particularly in Europe.
The U.S. has had a formidable presence, particularly in Germany, over the last several decades. Those troops aligned to fight the Cold War. But with the new threat of the 21st century being terrorism, the U.S. is going to a plan in which they will bring many of the troops home, tens of thousands of them. Under the plan, big bases in Germany such as Ramstein Air Base and the U.S. European command headquarters in Stuttgart will remain, but other troops will be brought home.
They will be deployed when needed to expeditionary bases that will be in countries in new allies, including Bulgaria, Rumania, and the Czech Republic, as well as North and Central Africa. Today, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said the idea is not to withdraw from other countries, but to create new alliances.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We clearly do not want to bring all of our forces home. We want to have a presence in various parts of the world, because it has a healthy deterrent effect. It has the effect, also, of enabling us to train and work with our friends and allies around the world, so that we can function in a combined and joint manner, in the event we're called to take actions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCINTYRE: Now, some reports have put the total number of troops that will be brought back in excess of 70,000, but today, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld insists that was all speculation because the process is just beginning, the U.S. negotiating with many countries about what kind of troop level reductions will be carried out and he says it's far too early to say the exact number -- Lou.
DOBBS: Jamie, what more can you tell us about the deployment of those additional Marines to Afghanistan to reinforce the 11,000 troops already there?
MCINTYRE: Well, of course, there is the big spring offensive, the hunt for Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda and Taliban remnants and they could be helping there.
But Pentagon officials say their main reason is to provide more security for some of the events that will be happening in Afghanistan, particularly elections that are expected to be called in the springtime. In addition, the Marines which were on ships in the Persian Gulf will give the U.S. some more special operations capability as they continue that manhunt for Osama bin Laden -- Lou.
DOBBS: Jamie, thank you very much -- Jamie McIntyre, our Senior Pentagon correspondent.
That brings us to the subject of tonight's poll. The question: Should the United States greatly reduce its ground forces based in Europe, Japan, and South Korea, yes or no? Please cast your vote at CNN.com/Lou. We'll have the results for you coming up later.
Still ahead, the mother of a teenage suicide bomber says her son was manipulated. We'll have a report for you from the West Bank.
Senator Kerry prepares a new offensive against President Bush. I'll be talking with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
And one of this country's leading credit card companies has abruptly pulled out of a deal with an Indian call center. We'll tell you why.
A great deal more still ahead. Please stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: An ominous warning tonight that Texas oil refineries could be the target of terrorist attacks around the time of presidential elections. The FBI issued that warning, but has no specific details on potential threats. FBI sources, however, tell CNN the warning was issued out of what they call an abundance of caution.
In the Middle East tonight, Israeli soldiers killed three Palestinian terrorists as they tried to infiltrate a Jewish settlement in Gaza. The army said troops spotted the Palestinians as they tried to swim ashore with their weapons. Later, Israeli tanks and armored bulldozers entered a Palestinian area in Gaza.
Last night, we showed you a disturbing report about a Palestinian boy's unsuccessful effort to blow himself up at an Israeli checkpoint.
Today, Julian Manyon traveled to Nablus to meet with the boy's family and find out how this teenager came to be a suicide bomber.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JULIAN MANYON, ITN REPORTER (voice-over): Hussam Abdo's mother could not hold back her tears. She was remembering the dreadful moment when she saw her 16-year-old son on television wearing a suicide bomber's vest only hours after she thought he had gone to school. She told me that she blames the men so far unidentified who persuaded him to do it.
TAMAM ABDO, MOTHER (through translator): When I think that he was going to blow himself up, my brain boils. I ask God to punish the people who sent him. Instead of sending children, they should have done it themselves.
MANYON: Tamam, who has five children, said that Hussam is her spoiled son. She showed me his well-kept bedroom with Winnie the Pooh on the wall. Only one Israeli journalist has been allowed to question Hussam. And his report suggested that the boys may have done it because his school friends made fun of his small size.
But Hussam's 21-year-old sister told me that he wants to strike a blow against Israel.
SHAREEN ABDO, SISTER (through translator): I'm very happy because of what he did, but I think he is still too young. If he were older, I would encourage him to do it and I would like to be in his place and do it myself.
MANYON (on camera): You hate the Israeli's so much, you were ready to go and do this.
S. ABDO (through translator): It is not just me. Every Palestinian hates the Israelis.
MANYON (voice-over): In the years of intifada, Nablus has become a beleaguered ghetto. The city now seethes with helpless bitterness.
Members of Hussam's family told me that when the boys used to see suicide bombings on television he would run into the streets to celebrate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a very, very good boy. He loves his country. MANYON: And after trying to carry out an attack yesterday, Hussam has finally won the respect of his peers.
Julian Manyon, ITV News, at the Hawara checkpoint near Nablus.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: Still ahead, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi joins me. We'll be talking about jobs, the economy, exporting America, the election.
And putting the squeeze on the middle class. An alarming number of young Americans are now living without even the most basic health insurance. And many are learning an expensive lesson. We'll have a special report.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Tonight, the "Middle Class Squeeze."
A growing number of young Americans are living without health insurance.
Casey Wian has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERIC MOORE, UNINSURED PATIENT: The last time I had health insurance was when I was a UCLA student from between 1998 and 2000.
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eric Moore is typical of many young adult Americans, in and out of work since college, no health insurance. Two years ago, disaster struck. Moore had ignored persistent leg pain until he passed out on the street and wound up here, under the care of Dr. Susan Fleischman.
MOORE: She said, Mr. Moore, you have what's called a pulmonary embolism and it's a potentially fatal situation. And I was completely shocked. I had never even heard of the word pulmonary embolism.
WIAN: After four days in the hospital, having the blood clot dissolved, Moore left with a $14,000 bill and no way to pay.
MOORE: I have never seen really a bill that much for anything.
WIAN: Moore was evicted from his apartment and now lives with his mother, still deeply in debt.
Tonya Kirk is another recent college graduate working two part- time jobs. She has decided not to buy health insurance.
TONYA KIRK, UNINSURED WORKER: I don't want to spend the money on it. I guess I just figured full-time work is going to come soon. And so why start paying into something if I'm going to get something else? But full-time work is taking longer than what I expected. WIAN: Whether by circumstance or choice, 30 percent of 18-to-24- year-olds don't have health insurance, double the rate for all age groups.
DR. SUSAN FLEISCHMAN, VENICE FAMILY CLINIC: When you are 18 or 19 or even 32, you feel pretty -- fairly invulnerable. So as long as they don't get sick, they don't perceive not having health insurance as a problem. It is a problem, though, if they wake up with appendicitis in the middle of the night.
WIAN: A growing number of the young uninspired are middle class who have recently lost jobs.
(on camera): The newly unemployed often have fewer health care options than even low-income patients. This free clinic says it is turning away 100 recently unemployed people a week because they made too much money during the past year.
Casey Wian, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: When we continue, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi joins us. We will be talking about jobs, the economy, the election.
In "Broken Borders" tonight, a dramatic scene along the coast of Florida today. The Coast Guard comes to the rescue. We'll have a live report for you from Miami.
And another American company learns about the risks of outsourcing.
Also, we'll be joined by William Archey (ph), who says concerns about outsourcing are blown out of proportion and says American workers are doing just fine. He joins me to try to explain his point of view.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: President Bush today stressed job retraining as a solution to the lack of new job creation in this economy.
President Bush plans to spend a half trillion dollars on job training and education programs. Democrats who also support job training programs have called the president's plan another empty promise.
And Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, who is the House minority leader, joins me tonight from Capitol Hill.
Leader Pelosi, thanks for being with us.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), MINORITY LEADER: Thank you.
DOBBS: We have a new budget. It is a huge budget. Your reaction?
PELOSI: Well, I'm very disappointed in the Republican budget. You know, our budget should be a statement of the national values, so we come together in a bipartisan way to have a blueprint for economic growth to create jobs, to educate our children, to expand access to health care, to provide for our national defense.
Instead, we have a budget put forth by the Republicans that is not values based, that is not physically sound, and it should not have any support. It is hard to see where the budget hawks went, deficit hawks went in the Republican Party, because this has a historic budget and historic deficit of over $550 billion in just this year alone.
DOBBS: A staggering deficit and indeed even with the exigencies of the war on terror, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, that is a huge deficit by any measure.
However, the Democratic alternative, Congresswoman, according to critics of it at least, put forth $5 billion less than the Republican plan for the No Child Left Behind program, which has been one of the principal criticisms.
PELOSI: Not true.
DOBBS: OK.
PELOSI: The fact is, is that in areas that relate to a blueprint for the future, of investing in our children's education, as I mentioned, job growth, protecting our homeland, the Republican budget is seriously deficient.
It's hard to see a set of values that says it's better to give tax cuts to people making over $1 million a year than to invest in the No Child Left Behind legislation. They cut $9 billion in their budget out of the No Child Left Behind bill. There are cuts in the CHIP program, the Children's Health Insurance Program. And in Medicaid, we'll add 1.6 million people in our country to the list of those who are uninsured, bringing it over to 44 million people, when we should be reducing that number.
And when it comes to homeland security, the Republicans in the House were even over $580 million less than President Bush's budget, which was seriously deficient. The Democrats put $5.85 billion more than the Republicans into the bill in order to restore the cuts to police and fire and all those services so important to protecting our homeland.
DOBBS: Speaking of the homeland, let's turn to the 9/11 Commission, the furor that has been created by Richard Clarke, the former head of counterterrorism for the Bush administration. There seems to be some considerable contradiction between Richard Clarke now with a new book and appearing before the commission talking about the lack of urgency before the -- before September 11, obviously, on the part of the Bush administration, and what he was saying only about 14, 15 months ago.
Do you think that seriously undermines his credibility?
PELOSI: No, I do not.
I just think it speaks to the character assassination of the Bush administration for anyone who dares to disagree with them. I was one of the co-chairs of the joint inquiry, House-Senate joint inquiry on 9/11. And the testimony that Richard Clarke gave at that time, it was very consistent with what he is saying now, and that was public testimony. So it's on the record.
This is a person who is -- I don't have any idea what his political party is. He's a consummate professional in national security matters, very respected, and I think that people should listen to what he says.
DOBBS: Listening to what is said before that commission, Congresswoman, the statements, that go back over 11, 12 years, in which both parties, both administrations, that is the Bush administration and the Clinton administration, there seems to be plenty of culpability on the part of the national security apparatus, if you will, of this government over that period of time, irrespective of party. What are we going to take away from this commission in your best judgment?
PELOSI: Well, as one who was an author of the original legislation to create an independent commission. What I hope we will take away from it is lessons learned as to how to avoid such a tragedy in the future, how we dealt with it immediately and how we go forward to prevent it from happening again.
The families of 9/11 deserve answers that American people expect protection and this independent commission should produce that. I think it would be very important, though, as we seek the truth, wherever that takes us, that the national security adviser will testify in public before the commission and I think that if that doesn't happen we won't have a complete public record of how we got to where we were on 9/11 or where we're going from here.
DOBBS: Thank you very much. Congresswoman Pelosi for being here. House minority leader Nancy Pelosi.
Tomorrow night here, Democratic presidential candidate Senator John Kerry will be our guest. He will unveil his plan to overhaul the economy, his plan to create jobs for Americans, please join us tomorrow night at 6:00 Eastern. We hope you will be with us.
Still ahead here tonight, thousands more marines are heading to Afghanistan. I'll be talking about that with our military analyst General David Grange on point. And a U.S. company drops a key contract with a well-known Indian call center and outsource destination. We'll tell you what was behind the decision when we continue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: The rising trend toward outsourcing is suffering on occasion some reversals. Another American company has abandoned a contract to use cheaper foreign labor. Capital One has canceled its agreement with Wipro, that's India's largest call center provider, saying the work was not up to company standards. Bill Tucker has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Capital One, Lehman Brothers, Dell Computers, examples of company scaling back on the offshoring of their call center. Capital One unhappy with some of its customers being offered what it calls unauthorized offers of credit. Lehman won't comment on why it brought back home its internal help desk. And while Dell brought back some jobs to maintain corporate help desk, it still has call centers offshore as well as in the U.S..
JOHN SVIOKKLA, DIAMONDCLUSTER: As customers who are putting their work offshore, experience they are saying they have to bring it back to the United States or to a near shore outsourcer, so that they can have the quality and control they want.
TUCKER: A study by Diamondcluster, a Chicago based consulting group, found offshoring has significant risks that are often overlooked. Namely the increasing complexity of managing the relationships, uncertain financial paybacks and a lack of direct control. Other factors playing roles: privacy issues, cultural differences and global stability.
JOHN MCCARTHY, FORRESTER RESEARCH: You're going to see a little bit of a retreat from some of the interactive call work to more of the, not project work where time is less important, some of the document processing, data entry skills and things like loan processing.
TUCKER: So don't expect offshoring to go away, but it will change as companies learn hard lessons and in some cases see a marketing opportunity.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCKER: For example, in England, a bank Nationwide has a national campaign for customers promising to keep its call center and their financial information in the United Kingdom. No American company has launched a similar campaign here yet.
DOBBS: Well, thank you very much. Bill Tucker.
One of the country's largest technology trade associations says the threat to American workers from international outsourcing is greatly exaggerated. The organization, the AEA, formerly the American Electronic Association, says exporting jobs overseas will actually benefit the United States in the long run. William Archey is the president of the group. He's been quoted as saying, "the fear that we're losing the high level, high education jobs is enormously exaggerated, it's really happening."
William Archey joins us now from Washington, D.C.. Good to have you with us.
WILLIAM ARCHEY, AEA: The same.
DOBBS: The fact that you are suggesting it is exaggerated, the University of California study at the end of last year, actually October of last year showing 14 million jobs at risk of being outsourced. How do you square those up?
ARCHEY: Well, I tell you, Mr. Dobbs, that you're talking about the Berkeley study. That same Berkeley study has in it a statement that starts out, indisputably, the major reason for the loss of jobs was the end of the high tech bubble, a sharp decline in the domestic economic activity, and a couple of others. They did not cite productivity. But it was very much...
DOBBS: They didn't -- wait, wait, they didn't cite productivity?
ARCHEY: No.
DOBBS: That's kind of amazing, because everybody who talks about this cites rising productivity as the chief reason.
ARCHEY: So do we. Their direct quote, one sentence, "indisputably, most of the job loss is due to the technology downturn, the dot-com bubble and the cyclical downturn in the United States economy." That's precisely the point we make in our report.
DOBBS: OK, that's excellent. But let's go back to the fact that 14 million jobs are at risk to outsourcing irrespective of the cause of current unemployment levels.
ARCHEY: But the Berkeley report, again, I think, one has to be careful. They are saying these are the 14 million jobs that may be at risk. The reports very careful about saying that. It does not say those jobs are going to go overseas. What it says is that these may be in the future.
DOBBS: What we do know is that a number of high value jobs have already gone overseas, don't we?
ARCHEY: What we know is that some jobs have gone overseas and we acknowledge that. I think the data, however, on whether or not a lot of the high level jobs has gone overseas is in fact very much in dispute. And I'll give you an example, the Bureau of Labor Statistic a few weeks ago just revised its projections on jobs going overseas. And one of their projections on high tech jobs, which is the interest that we have, is there's going to be a 39 percent increase, 184,000 net new jobs created in just network analysis alone.
DOBBS: Over what period of time?
ARCHEY: Between 2002 and 2012.
DOBBS: So, over a 10-year period. You're getting pretty excited about that aren't you, from a BLS study?
ARCHEY: Not getting excited at all. I'm merely saying what the facts are.
DOBBS: Here are the facts. We have better than 9 percent unemployment amongst computer hardware engineers. We have some staggering numbers to look at in either case. The fact is that as a question of outsourcing, if this is something that you want to endorse, I mean, it's entirely your right, that's your business.
But the other part of it is, we're outsourcing jobs in this country right now with 14 as many as 14 million jobs at risk, for no other reason than the fact that U.S., multinationals want to ship jobs overseas to cheap labor markets so they can use the services, displace American workers and reduce their costs.
ARCHEY: First of all I would take real exception to the term "endorse" on outsourcing.
DOBBS: I'm sorry, I misunderstood you.
ARCHEY: I would also take exception to the point you're making about why those jobs are going over to just cheap labor. The point of our report is, and it says so right on the cover. It is offshore outsourcing in a rapidly changing intensely more competitive world. And that's one of the central points of our study is how much this world has changed. One of the things we're going to have to as a nation come to grips with is that some of these other countries have caught up with us. They have caught up with us in education. They've caught up with us in terms of infrastructure. One of the things about outsourcing is it's no longer just cheap labor because you can also you had the story about India and about bringing back some jobs. But India graduates more four-year engineers in one year than the United States does. 82,000 in 1999, we graduated 61, 000.
DOBBS: When AEA members send a job to India, to the Philippines, Romania, they are doing so for what reason?
ARCHEY: Fir of all, this is the other point we make. My problem, sometimes, Mr. Dobbs with the angle you take is, you give the impression that only U.S. companies do offshore outsourcing. All the rest of the world is.
DOBBS: You know, you are taking exception now. That's the second or third time, so let me help out here. I'm concerned about American workers, that's our focus here.
ARCHEY: And so are we.
DOBBS: What other multinationals do is certainly their business. What U.S. multinationals do and how it affects this economy in this country and American middle class workers in particular, is our concern. So that's why whether you take exception or not, I will address the issue of U.S. multinationals.
ARCHEY: It's also our concern.
DOBBS: Good.
ARCHEY: And we say so in the report. We're very clear about the fact some people are being hurt by outsourcing.
DOBBS: Some people are being hurt?
ARCHEY: But we're also saying that companies who are doing some of the companies who are doing outsourcing all their competitors in the rest of the world are.
DOBBS: That's just wonderful, because I really don't care what their companies are doing.
ARCHEY: You don't care if the company continues to be able to compete?
DOBBS: I really don't care because you know, why? This is the $11 trillion consumer economy that is heralded as the mother load for every other multinational to get to. And the issue here is sending U.S. jobs overseas without the simple reason of achieving access to those markets overseas. Do you think somebody is trying to achieve access to the Indian market, William?
No, they are trying to get cheap labor. Even the...
ARCHEY: They are not just trying to get cheap labor. It's also some very talented people.
DOBBS: I'm not arguing about their talent. I'm talking about the incentive and motives of U.S. multinationals. But if they were not talented they wouldn't have the access. But the deciding factor is the labor differential, and have you to acknowledge that. McKenzie even does.
ARCHEY: The labor differential combined with high skills. That's a very formidable proposition.
DOBBS: But those skills are no greater than in the United States, are they?
The greater -- those skill levels that you're talking about makes it possible.
ARCHEY: It's in some instances in terms of certain engineering and science skills, in terms of India, they are as good as or better than us in certain areas.
DOBBS: Well, in that case, you think what we -- what?
What should be done here?
ARCHEY: Well, I think one of the things we're going to have to do is we're going to have to deal with how much this world is changing, how much more competitive it is. One of the things we're going to have to do and I have seen many people on the show say the same thing. We have got to do something about math and science education. This system is failing us. Admissions to engineering schools in the United States are down 20 percent over the last 20 years. DOBBS: Quite right, and we've been reporting on that extensively on the very issue. The importance of education in our competitiveness. But competitiveness, in my judgment, should not be used as a code word for low cost labor, because that's the -- that is the advantage that is being attempted to be secured.
ARCHEY: But I can't make the point to you about the fact what I'm trying to say is, as I said about the Berkeley Report. The loss of jobs is far more a function of everything from productivity to the end of the high tech bubble. There are still jobs going overseas, that we acknowledge. But we think that attributing it to offshore outsourcing is greatly exaggerated, and I think the data shows that.
DOBBS: I have never at any time said that the reason that we have not been able to create jobs or have lost almost 3 million jobs over the past three years is solely do to outsourcing. Never once.
ARCHEY: Well, one does get the impression you think that.
DOBBS: Well, let me give you the concluding impression. That is that I do believe that when you have an economy that is not creating jobs as this one, and you are shipping hundreds of thousands of jobs overseas that you have significant problem and it would be probably better to constrain it, particularly since you are ruining the lives of a lot of good people who built a lot of these companies that are taking advantage of the differentials in labor cost.
ARCHEY: But you have to constrain the competitors in other parts of the world.
DOBBS: You know, I don't want to constrain everybody. I want everybody to be just happy and forthright and wherever that fails, let's try a new policy. William Archey, please come back.
ARCHEY: Thank you.
DOBBS: When we continue, "Grange on Point." More Marines are headed to Afghanistan and there's a new sense of urgency in this mission.
A desperate struggle through rough waters off the Florida Coast.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice is now asking for another meeting with the 9/11 Commission in a letter to Commission Chairman Thomas Kean just released by the National Security Council. The national security advisor is requesting to meet privately with the commission but still not to give public testimony. The letter says she wants to correct, quote, mischaracterizations of Dr. Rice's statement and positions given by former aide Richard Clarke. Rice previously met privately with the commission for roughly four hours, that meeting took place on the 7th of February. The Coast Guard and beach goers today rescued three Cubans to tried to enter the country illegally. They tried to make it to Florida on make-shift rafts made of inner tubes. Tonight the Coast Guard is searching for others who may have attempted to make the journey.
Susan Candiotti has the story from Miami.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In seas up to eight feet and dangerous rip currents, two of the three Cuban migrants struggled to stay afloat. You'll see one of them disappear under the pounding surf for 8 seconds before resurfacing. Trying to make land in order to qualify for asylum under a unique U.S. policy for Cubans. The migrants were a few hundred yards offshore north of a landmark fishing pier at Lauderdale by the sea. Coast Guard and news media helicopters hovered overhead. Not far away a makeshift raft of four innertubes tide together. Still inside a woman barely waiving to a second coast guard helicopter. Meantime a bystander on shore dove in and dragged the man to safety in between crashing waves.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was very beat up. Blistered really bad. Feet were pruned incredibly bad, and skin was peeling off.
CANDIOTTI: Two more rescuers waded into the water and helped drag another male to shore. Treatment began immediately. One man carried by volunteers and police to a waiting ambulance.
There was a translator there trying to ask him how many more and they didn't know what was going on until he yelled out Cuba.
CANDIOTTI: Another man comforted by a rescue worker who poured freshwater over the migrant. A Coast Guard diver was lowered to the drifting raft and two strokes he reached the woman and within minutes she was lifted to safety in a basket. Helicopters and boats were searching for others believed missing. Conditions have been dangerous for days off Miami's coastline with rough seas and a strong undertow. The Coast Guard says that makes a risky journey even more like a recipe for disaster.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI: The Cubans told U.S. authorities that seven of them left the island together about a week ago. Tonight rescue efforts continue for the five believed to still be missing. And, Lou, under the Wet foot, Dry Foot policy it's very likely the three who are in custody will be given legal status here in the United States.
DOBBS: Susan, thank you very much. Susan Candiotti from Miami.
In "Grange On Point" tonight the hunt for al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as Jamie McIntyre earlier reported, the Pentagon is sending another 2,000 marines to Afghanistan. Joining me now General David Grange. Good to have you with us. 2,000 more marines joining 11,000 troops already there. Why is that necessary? BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, it's the time, it's the surge, it's the spring offensive, not only by the coalition forces but also spring offensive by the enemy forces. And the 11,000 troops already there, you only put a portion of those actually in the field. It's the same thing with the 2,000 marines when they come in, only a portion of them will actually be boots on the ground beating the bush going after al Qaeda and Taliban.
DOBBS: A spring offensive, it has almost a peculiar ring to it, general, because there is a sense of I think a large sense that the Taliban has been vanquished and the al Qaeda effectively neutralized. That obviously is not the case with expressions like spring offensive. How large an operation will it be?
GRANGE: I think a very large operation, Lou, because it's going to be tied into the offensive operations of the Pakistani army in eastern Pakistan as they push enemy forces to move elsewhere. They move back and forth between the border all the time anyway. The spring is the time they can actually get through passes. They can actually move around rapidly with no transportation because keep in mind, most of them are on foot or donkeys or motorcycles. So it's a time that they move. It's also a time we have access to those places, as well. The spring offensive is truly the seasonal time to maintain the attack.
DOBBS: General, the decision to redeploy a lot of forces, particularly in Europe, what do you make of it?
GRANGE: I think it's long overdue. I think that's the right move. You know, we've been overseas in places like Germany for quite a long time. That was my last duty assignment. Some of the training areas for readiness are very restricted now. Status of forces agreement where you can train on the ground and the air is limited. The idea is to get people back to the United States where they can rotate in a more expeditionary mode to other countries that are closer to conflict areas, possible conflict areas. I think it's well overdue but it's going to take a while to do it. It will take several years to get it in place.
DOBBS: General David Grange, good to see you.
GRANGE: Same.
DOBBS: A warning from New York Fed today. The soaring budget deficit threatens the economy's health. Fed president Timothy Geithner told a regional bankers association today the threat is compounded by low personal savings rates, the size of the U.S. current account deficit, and the unprecedented amount of money needed to fund it. That is in somewhat contrasting style to Fed chairman Alan Greenspan's statements that he was no longer concerned about deficits.
Well, there was absolutely no sign of trouble on Wall Street today. Dow gaining substantially, up 170 points. The Nasdaq up nearly 58. The S&P 500 up nearly 18. It has, however, been a volatile month for stocks. Christine Romans is here. CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That gain was the biggest for the S&P and Nasdaq since last summer and, Lou, you're right, the volatility in this market has increased dramatically. Volatility up 40 percent just this month and you can see it in this chart of the Dow. More than half the trading days have had 100-point swings or more and I have marked those big rallies and selloffs in red and green there. It's the most volatility since this rally began last spring. They say volatility signals fear in the market. Volatility has come as these stocks have fallen to three-month lows.
DOBBS: And there's some evidence some Americans are having more trouble paying their credit cards.
ROMANS: This week the percentage of past due credit card bills hit a record. The American Bankers Association says more Americans, people who are jobless are using their credit cards, Lou, as a financing bridge. More of that middle class squeeze right there.
DOBBS: Christine, thank you very much.
Taking a look now at some of your thoughts.
Sandra Pugh of Omaha, Nebraska. "Mr. Dobbs, thank you so much for being a voice for the average American. The powers that be keep telling us that people losing jobs can go back to school and learn a new trade. To do what?"
Brenda Bush of Sheridan, Indiana. "The word trade conjures up the image that there is a fair and equitable exchange exporting jobs that strips our economy of its buying power and grows huge trade deficits does not constitute a fair exchange between markets nor cultures."
Linda of Washington, Indiana. "Millions of people in this country are out of work. Our educational system is in the toilet. Hundreds of thousands of people don't have or can't afford adequate healthcare and now we have people wasting our time over two words such as 'under God.' I think their energies could be put to better use in areas that really matter."
And Shirley Newman of Bakersfield, California. "I think we should delete 'under God' and replace it with 'under debt.' There would be no dispute over that concept."
We love hearing from you. E-mail us your thoughts at loudobbs@CNN.com. Still ahead, hear the results of our opinion poll tonight and a reminder now to check our website for the complete list of what is now a list of 475 companies and growing that we've confirmed to be exporting America. CNN.com/lou.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Now the results of tonight's poll. 76 percent of you say the United States should greatly reduce its ground troops in Europe, Japan, and South Korea. 24 percent of you say you do not. That's our show for tonight. We thank you for being with us. Tomorrow, please join us. Democratic presidential candidate Senator John Kerry will be our guest. We'll be talking about his economic plans for this country and newsmakers, the editors of the country's leading business magazines join us as well.
Please be with us. For all of us here, good night from New York. "ANDERSON COOPER 360" next.
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