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CNN Live Today

Heating Costs; What Women Want

Aired October 12, 2005 - 10:31   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are just past the half hour. I'm Daryn Kagan.
(NEWSBREAK)

KAGAN: As the temperatures go down, expect the cost of staying warm to go up. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have squeezed supplies of winter heating fuel. And earlier this morning, the Energy Department issued its report on what you can expect. Our Kathleen Hays is in our New York bureau.

Good morning.

KATHLEEN HAYS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.

And you know, it is kind of bad news, because we're definitely going to pay more. I guess that's not a surprise to most people. Maybe the good news is that the weather forecast from the government is so far for a winter not quite as warm as last year, but some warmer winter weather. Actually three percent colder, but the good news is that they don't expect a winter that's a lot, lot colder. Even so, given the disruptions in the Gulf, given what this has done to the price of crude oil, to the price of natural gas, we're definitely going to have to pay more to stay warm. Let me show you some numbers. Here's home heating oil. Last year, the average household paid about $1,200. Now that will be up more than 30 percent to nearly $1,600. It's an increase of about $378.

And in fact, the average price of a unit of heating oil up from $1.92 to $2.54. Let's look at the price of gas heat. A lot of people switched over to gas heat because it was supposed to be cheaper and cleaner. You're going to get socked there as well. Last year your average was $742. This year the average bill almost $1,100. Now still you're not paying as much as you would if you had heating oil. But still, a gain of nearly 50 percent.

As I mentioned at the beginning, this has a lot to do with disruptions in the Gulf. And as much as you're paying more at home to heat your house, you will probably continue to be paying more than you used to pay to fill your car.

Want to show you some of the forecasts from the EIA for crude oil and retail gasoline. The crude oil outlook surprisingly firm. The average price per barrel $58 for 2005. Next year, given rising global demand, the expectation is $64 to $65 a barrel. Now fortunately, as more refining capacity comes back online, the average price of gas, while higher than a year or two ago, maybe not as bad as the worst prices we paid this year. You can see next year the forecast for $2.45 a gallon.

Daryn, the one caveat here, of course, is that the weather is very unpredictable. And again, an even warmer winter could help a lot of folks, particularly in the Northeast and the Midwest. But if we get colder weather in those regions and in other parts of the country, we could see those averages move higher -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Even worse. All right Kathleen Hays, thank you.

And with those home-heating costs that drive so dramatically this year, it might be a good time to explore your options. One way to reduce your bill is as simple as upgrading your thermostat. Here now are the facts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Energy Department estimates using the programmable thermostat could save you more than $150 this winter. The way it works, is you set the temperature in your home to automatically adjust itself to match your schedule. Let the mercury drop at night and during the day if you're not at home. That alone will cut your energy consumption by more than 10 percent. That may not sound like much, but with most heating bills expected to cost around $1,500 this year, every little bit helps. The units retail at home-improvement stores for about $100. So you'll recoup your losses within a few months.

Experts say installing the new thermostat is no more difficult than putting in a light switch, and programming it is really about the same as setting an alarm clock. So if you've been putting it off, it may be time to bite the bullet and buy yourself a new thermostat. You can expect to save this winter and in the years to come.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Here's another interesting nugget for you. Women are outvoting men, and they're the fastest growing group of mortgage holders, as well. The authors of a new book join me to talk about how American women are changing, and how that's affecting all of us, and that's coming up.

There are our ladies. We'll be with them in just a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Now, a topic of "What Women Really Want." That's a new book that looks at what the authors describe as the enormous influence that women have on U.S. politics, on the economy, and that's just the beginning of the topics. The authors are very interesting, two women who have crossed the political divide to collaborate on this work.

Celinda Lake, who we have on the right, that's interesting. She's actually a Democratic strategist. And Kellyanne Conway, for the first time in her life, on the left. She is a Republican pollster. Ladies, good morning. Thanks for joining me.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, "WHAT WOMEN WANT": Thank you, Daryn.

CELINDA LAKE, "WHAT WOMEN WANT": Thanks for having us.

KAGAN: First, what a fascinating concept, to think that a liberal Democrat and a conservative Republican can get together and collaborate. Who would have thunk, huh?

LAKE: Most of the women of America, actually. Because most of the women of America agree on the issues of the priorities, on getting together to bring about change, and on changing the way we live.

KAGAN: Let's start with the first topic that I know is near and dear to both of your hearts, politics. You have a lot of interesting data in this, including women outvoted men by 10 million in the 2004 election. How are we seeing that changing American politics, Kellyanne?

CONWAY: Well, simply put, women have outvoted men in the elections for the last 20 to 25 years. And although you hear so much about female apathy, particularly among single or younger women, we should not forget that women are literally deciding who's in charge of this country. And that's significant in that you do see both of the campaigns, the major campaigns in presidential years, trying to target women. But they're trying to target different sectors of women: married women, mothers, senior women.

Celinda and I in this book are exploring, a little bit more deeply, some of those voter groups that have not necessarily been focused upon by the major campaigns; namely single women, 22 million of whom live in this country right now. Only 25 percent of them, Daryn, are under the age of 35. So we can't think of 20-year-olds on college campuses or even just widows who are going to vote.

Of course, you have to think of the millions and millions of women literally in the middling years and what's important to them. And we lay out in the book that their agenda is a hers agenda. The acronym stands for healthcare, education, retirement, security.

KAGAN: And one big word, umbrella word, that goes over all of that would be control?

LAKE: Control and peace. We see that women are really trying to either create parallels streams or change the arenas in which they live -- their home, their workplace, their children's schools -- to meet more of their lives, to be more family-friendly, to allow them to make more choices.

One of the most interesting things we found in the book is that women aren't living their lives linearly anymore. They're making their choices. They're trying to have it all, but not all at once. And so women are choosing when to combine work with family, having children later. Many women are facing caretaking responsibilities when they're seniors -- they're care givers, not care receivers.

So there are all kinds of changes out there. And I think one of the most interesting things in today's workplace, you can have a 45- year-old woman who's chosen to be single, a 45-year-old new mom of a 5-year-old and a 45-year-old grandmother all sitting next to each other.

CONWAY: Yes, and this concept of control -- let's not leave the viewers with the idea that women are control freaks and that sort of thing.

KAGAN: No.

CONWAY: We're actually saying the opposite.

KAGAN: Let's not to do that.

CONWAY: We're actually saying that they're trying to just exercise dominion and autonomy within their own smaller universe. So, control for a woman may actually be asking a landlord for after-hour security, better lighting in the parking lot, or a (INAUDIBLE) security system, or asking the school bus driver to pull up 100 extra feet so five moms can look out their respective kitchen windows while the children are waiting to be picked up for school that day.

And control also means that you have some say in self- determination, designation. There's so much uncertainty in the world right now, between terrorism and lack of healthcare benefits and job layoffs, that people feel like they do not want to invite more uncertainty into their lives, but rather, reclaim some of that certainty.

KAGAN: There is more to talk about, so I'm going to ask both of you to stick around. So Kellyanne and Celinda, don't go anywhere.

We're going to a break in a moment. First, though, I want to get to some news that is developing out of New Orleans. And that involves the retired teacher that was seen in that New Orleans videotape beating. He appeared in court this hour. Robert Davis had an appearance on charges that included public intoxication at the time of the beating.

Our Dan Simon is in New Orleans covering this story, and joins us on the phone from New Orleans. Dan, what happened in court?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

It was a quick 30-second hearing. The judge read the charges: public intoxication, battery, resisting arrest and public intimidation. Mr. Davis pleading not guilty to all four charges. The judge then set a trial date for January 18th, and that was about it. Robert Davis just emerging from the courthouse right now, giving a press conference with his lawyer.

This, of course, was a highly publicized incident, where Mr. Davis was pummeled by those New Orleans police officers on Bourbon Street over the weekend. And, of course, more developing today. But the plead's today not guilty, and Mr. Davis will have his hearing on January 18th, the trial date. KAGAN: All right. We are watching that. Dan Simon, live from New Orleans. Thank you for that. More ahead with our women, as we talk about what women really want with Kellyanne Conway and Celinda Lake. We're going to talk women and economics. How are you changing the jobs and your home? That's just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: And now back to our discussion of women and power in America. "What Women Really Want" is the title of a new book that is focusing on what the authors say is the immense influence that women are exerting in American politics and the economy. And as an example, they say women own more than 26 percent of the nation's 20 million companies, generating $2.3 trillion in revenue.

Let's say hello once again to the authors, Kellyanne Conway and Celinda Lake, who happen to be a conservative Republican and a liberal Democrat. Ladies, welcome back.

LAKE: Thank you.

KAGAN: Want to get to the issue of the home. And I think this is very interesting two facts that you include here. One,the biggest increase in stay-at-homes since 1976. And seven in 10 working mothers say they would stay home if they could. Now, I know some people out there try to take those facts and say, see, feminism was all a crock. Women didn't want to work, they want to stay home. But is that what it's about or is it about choice?

LAKE: It's about choice. And that's exactly right. And the important thing is that women support each other's choices. And what they're trying to do is also change both the home and the workplace to allow for more flexible choices.

Women want peace. They want control. They want flexibility. And they're going to insist on some changes in the workplace, if we're going to see top-notch women stay employed.

And they're going to insist on some changes at home. One of my favorite statistics in the book is how people are changing cars and adding to cars everything from washing machines to televisions, so that you can get more done while you're delivering your kids to that soccer match.

KAGAN: Yes, I'm not putting a washing machine in my car. Kellyanne, I want you to weigh in on this. How do you -- how do you rectify, you know, on one side that women want to stay at home, feminism and choice? How does that all play out in your world, as you look through it as a conservative Republican?

CONWAY: In what we would refer to as a post-feminist world, my ideological point of view, women are making those choices. Some are denying and deferring and delaying marriage altogether. So you have that whole group of women who are on the career track, or just don't want to find Mr. Right or aren't waiting around for him to buy their first homes, to become first-time investors, to take European travel, to actually expand what used to require marriage and motherhood to accrue status. They're just doing that on their own now.

But as for the increase in women who want to stay home, it's really Generation Y and the younger ones in Generation X who are pushing this. Many of them were latchkey kids themselves, coming from broken homes, divorced marriages. They've watched mom and dad in the workforce for 40 years to be laid off and get a gold watch and an "atta boy" slap on the back, and they don't want that.

The other thing that's going on is technology. And the voice of women is increasingly important and loud in the workforces, has meant that you got this whole spurring what we call mommy entrepreneurs. Women who are staying home to raise their children and saying, you know, I'm going to convert a hobby or my expertise and my skills into a home-based business and I can telecommute more, I can increase flexibility.

We also in the book call that the -- one chapter is "The Electric Highs" and the other one is "Open Collar Workforces." And it's really about the same thing, which is that women are demanding flexibility, a little bit more control. And to many of them, healthcare benefits are even more important than the salaries they're achieving.

KAGAN: Well, and I love the idea if you don't like the rules, then leave and start your own game. Ladies, a fascinating discussion. Thanks for sticking around for two segments.

LAKE: Thank you for having us.

KAGAN: Once again, the book is called "What Women Really Want." Kellyanne Conway and Celinda Lake. Thank you, ladies.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: Let's check the time. It is 10:53 in Alstead, New Hampshire, and it is 7:53, almost 7:54 in Los Angeles, California. Already heavy rain and deadly flooding in the Northeast. How much more could fall today on the already-soaked region? Jacqui Jeras with the details, coming up.

Plus, python -- oh, this stuff always gives me bad dreams. Python problems in Florida. First they went after the alligators. Now farm animals have to watch out. It's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: And this video just in to CNN. A freight train has derailed in Amsterdam, New York. Local media say that about 18 cars went off the rails, with one car rolling into the Mohawk River. No one was injured. Some of the cars were carrying flowers; others had hazardous material on board, but apparently from that there is no danger.

Another Florida python has been done in by its appetite. The snake slithered in to a Miami nursery to eat a turkey. But it was caught before it was able to digest the bird in peace. Last month, a python blew up as it tried to swallow an alligator in the Everglades. You know it's too early for turkey.

The new larger "TV Guide" was unveiled in New York City, yesterday. Actually, the one you'll get will fit in your mailbox, not like that one. The new format has fewer listings, but more feature stories. "TV Guide"'s editor-in-chief says what people want now is a different kind of guidance.

This week's snowstorm in Colorado was nothing new to the natives there, but it was certainly a sight for Hurricane Katrina evacuees. The Charles family from New Orleans has been in Colorado for a month and a half. The kids had never seen snow before. The kids had their first snowball fight, while dad faced a tougher challenge. He had to figure out how to drive in the snow.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: A lot more ahead in the next hour of CNN LIVE TODAY.

Controversy surrounding Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers. A look at what the Bush administration may have told a religious leader about how Miers would vote on controversial cases.

Plus, five days after the quake, a sign of hope. Amazing pictures of the rescue of a little boy in Pakistan. Look at that. A camera helped lead the way.

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