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American Morning

Minding Your Business: Cost of War

Aired January 06, 2003 - 07:48   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.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: I was very disappointed in the Giants. Weren't you, Andy Serwer?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Oh, it was a terrible finish if you're from New York; a great finish if you're from San Francisco.

ZAHN: Exactly. So, what are you going to talk about today?

SERWER: We're going to talk about...

ZAHN: Happy New Year, by the way.

SERWER: Happy New Year to you. Great to see you back.

ZAHN: Thanks.

SERWER: We're going to talk about the stock market, and we're going to talk about the pay that our men and women in uniform get.

Let's check in on the markets though first, Paula. Actually, a great week last week, a very short week...

(CROSSTALK)

ZAHN: So, a ho, ho, ho rally?

SERWER: Yes, yes, we had a little bit of a ho, ho rally. And most of that came on Thursday. You can see there the Dow was up nicely, so was the Nasdaq and the S&P -- a holiday interrupted week. Really the first trading day of the week is -- of the year is today.

The big economic story this week has got to be President Bush unveiling his economic plan on Tuesday.

ZAHN: How is the Street likely to react to that? Because there are some people saying those numbers are double of what they had expected...

SERWER: That's right.

ZAHN: ... if the reported $600 billion figure is in fact accurate.

SERWER: Right. Well, we're going to break that down for you later, next hour. The Street has got to like it though, because it's putting more money back into the economy. But we're going to talk about that, break it down into detail. Let's talk about pay, though, for soldiers. A very interesting situation here, Paula, because as of January 1, soldiers got a 4 percent pay raise, but it still might surprise people how little soldiers, sailors and marines get paid.

Let's break it down here. This is what a private 1st class gets: 15,400. And you can see a sergeant gets about 5,000 more. A 2nd lieutenant all the way up to 26,000. Compare that, though, to what people make in the private sector. And let's look here. You can see there a rookie police officer is making $34,000 a year; a rookie firefighter, 32. and that 34 and 32 is basically what a captain makes in the military.

ZAHN: Wow!

SERWER: So, people really say that's a tremendous disparity.

ZAHN: However, are there some benefits that they're afforded perhaps that the police officers would not be?

SERWER: There are tremendous benefits. And first of all, you're not paying for food if you're on duty, and you're not paying for sleeping arrangements either. So...

ZAHN: Can you put a number to that, what that would mean?

SERWER: It's very hard. We're actually -- people are trying to quantify that, but it certainly would add a significant amount of money to that package.

ZAHN: And health benefits?

SERWER: Health benefits as well, and that would also go for families. So, those are some great deals there.

I want to also talk about what it means to make that kind of money on an hourly basis, because this is where people were really getting upset. They were saying that people in the army were making the same as people -- less than people who are working at fast food jobs. So, if you break that down, $7.44 an hour for a private.

ZAHN: Wow!

SERWER: What do you make in fast food? Well, let's check it out. A fast wood worker makes $2 more per hour nowadays.

So, President Bush promised to give the troops a raise. He did, but there are people in the military saying that's still not enough, particularly if a war does develop. That won't look like a lot of money, will it?

ZAHN: So, the raise they've been given so far, it was 4 percent?

SERWER: Yes, this year.

ZAHN: And is anybody saying what would be realistic down the road?

SERWER: Well, you know, again in this economy, though, how much are you going to give people? How big a raise could you really give? It's hard to give someone more than a 6, 7, 8 percent raise...

ZAHN: Sure.

SERWER: ... given what the rate of inflation is.

ZAHN: Well, that's really interesting. I've never seen it broken up that way.

SERWER: Interesting, isn't it?

ZAHN: Yes. I can imagine why people are pretty upset...

SERWER: Yes.

ZAHN: ... who are risking their lives to fight for the country.

SERWER: That's right.

ZAHN: All right, Andy, see you back in the next hour...

SERWER: OK.

ZAHN: ... when you're going to talk about?

SERWER: The president's economic package.

ZAHN: OK.

SERWER: Yes, we're going to do that.

ZAHN: Before in advance of the president announcing it...

SERWER: Yes.

ZAHN: ... tomorrow in Chicago.

SERWER: We know.

ZAHN: Andy has all of the details.

SERWER: We know. We have some of the details.

ZAHN: You could have gotten into those papers and figured it all out for us.

SERWER: Right.

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 January 6, 2003 - 07:48   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: I was very disappointed in the Giants. Weren't you, Andy Serwer?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Oh, it was a terrible finish if you're from New York; a great finish if you're from San Francisco.

ZAHN: Exactly. So, what are you going to talk about today?

SERWER: We're going to talk about...

ZAHN: Happy New Year, by the way.

SERWER: Happy New Year to you. Great to see you back.

ZAHN: Thanks.

SERWER: We're going to talk about the stock market, and we're going to talk about the pay that our men and women in uniform get.

Let's check in on the markets though first, Paula. Actually, a great week last week, a very short week...

(CROSSTALK)

ZAHN: So, a ho, ho, ho rally?

SERWER: Yes, yes, we had a little bit of a ho, ho rally. And most of that came on Thursday. You can see there the Dow was up nicely, so was the Nasdaq and the S&P -- a holiday interrupted week. Really the first trading day of the week is -- of the year is today.

The big economic story this week has got to be President Bush unveiling his economic plan on Tuesday.

ZAHN: How is the Street likely to react to that? Because there are some people saying those numbers are double of what they had expected...

SERWER: That's right.

ZAHN: ... if the reported $600 billion figure is in fact accurate.

SERWER: Right. Well, we're going to break that down for you later, next hour. The Street has got to like it though, because it's putting more money back into the economy. But we're going to talk about that, break it down into detail. Let's talk about pay, though, for soldiers. A very interesting situation here, Paula, because as of January 1, soldiers got a 4 percent pay raise, but it still might surprise people how little soldiers, sailors and marines get paid.

Let's break it down here. This is what a private 1st class gets: 15,400. And you can see a sergeant gets about 5,000 more. A 2nd lieutenant all the way up to 26,000. Compare that, though, to what people make in the private sector. And let's look here. You can see there a rookie police officer is making $34,000 a year; a rookie firefighter, 32. and that 34 and 32 is basically what a captain makes in the military.

ZAHN: Wow!

SERWER: So, people really say that's a tremendous disparity.

ZAHN: However, are there some benefits that they're afforded perhaps that the police officers would not be?

SERWER: There are tremendous benefits. And first of all, you're not paying for food if you're on duty, and you're not paying for sleeping arrangements either. So...

ZAHN: Can you put a number to that, what that would mean?

SERWER: It's very hard. We're actually -- people are trying to quantify that, but it certainly would add a significant amount of money to that package.

ZAHN: And health benefits?

SERWER: Health benefits as well, and that would also go for families. So, those are some great deals there.

I want to also talk about what it means to make that kind of money on an hourly basis, because this is where people were really getting upset. They were saying that people in the army were making the same as people -- less than people who are working at fast food jobs. So, if you break that down, $7.44 an hour for a private.

ZAHN: Wow!

SERWER: What do you make in fast food? Well, let's check it out. A fast wood worker makes $2 more per hour nowadays.

So, President Bush promised to give the troops a raise. He did, but there are people in the military saying that's still not enough, particularly if a war does develop. That won't look like a lot of money, will it?

ZAHN: So, the raise they've been given so far, it was 4 percent?

SERWER: Yes, this year.

ZAHN: And is anybody saying what would be realistic down the road?

SERWER: Well, you know, again in this economy, though, how much are you going to give people? How big a raise could you really give? It's hard to give someone more than a 6, 7, 8 percent raise...

ZAHN: Sure.

SERWER: ... given what the rate of inflation is.

ZAHN: Well, that's really interesting. I've never seen it broken up that way.

SERWER: Interesting, isn't it?

ZAHN: Yes. I can imagine why people are pretty upset...

SERWER: Yes.

ZAHN: ... who are risking their lives to fight for the country.

SERWER: That's right.

ZAHN: All right, Andy, see you back in the next hour...

SERWER: OK.

ZAHN: ... when you're going to talk about?

SERWER: The president's economic package.

ZAHN: OK.

SERWER: Yes, we're going to do that.

ZAHN: Before in advance of the president announcing it...

SERWER: Yes.

ZAHN: ... tomorrow in Chicago.

SERWER: We know.

ZAHN: Andy has all of the details.

SERWER: We know. We have some of the details.

ZAHN: You could have gotten into those papers and figured it all out for us.

SERWER: Right.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.