Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Minding Your Business: Bernie Ebbers Pleads Innocent

Aired September 04, 2003 - 07:45   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We're talking about WorldCom and former chief Bernie Ebbers. He entered a plea.
Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business."

Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: The story continues.

SERWER: Yes, in Oklahoma City. By the way, "Hell is for Children," was that Pat Benatar?

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Pat Benatar, that's right.

SERWER: Right. Hell is also for Bernie Ebbers apparently. Yesterday, he was pleading not guilty in a court in Oklahoma City. That is his mug shot. You don't see too many of these, these days -- these corporate chieftains who are disgraced actually kind of facing the music, but this seems to be happening. He pled not guilty yesterday in court.

And, you know, what's so interesting to me, you guys, is, you know, this sort of touches on a turf war between the feds and the states. If you're frustrated with the fact that these guys aren't going to jail or aren't being prosecuted or aren't going to trial, so are the states.

So, what's happening here is Oklahoma is taking it upon itself to actually go after this guy, and this has upset the feds. But you know what? Oklahoma says too bad. Other states are going after these companies, too, and trying to collect taxes and things like that.

O'BRIEN: All right, let's talk a little bit about the market. A nice rally continuing...

SERWER: Another banner day. Yes, absolutely. September continues.

Let's take a look at the numbers. The Dow was up 45 points. The S&P continues to hold over 1,000, which is important. Nasdaq on a percentage basis is moving the fastest.

Today, though, Soledad, we may be seeing a little bit of a pull- back. I mean, and at some point, this has got to run out of steam, because while the economy has showed some signs, we're going to need some continued strength for the market to continue to move ahead like that.

O'BRIEN: And your series, "Where the Jobs Are," continues with a job I could never possibly take.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Rhode Island.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: It's a crossing guard in Rhode Island.

SERWER: Can you say -- this isn't bad either, though, Jack. Making the donuts, Krispy Kreme. You know, everyone talks about their donuts, but the jobs that this company has created, thousands and thousands and thousands of them. We'll talk about that later.

O'BRIEN: Thanks, Andy.

SERWER: OK.

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 September 4, 2003 - 07:45   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We're talking about WorldCom and former chief Bernie Ebbers. He entered a plea.
Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business."

Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: The story continues.

SERWER: Yes, in Oklahoma City. By the way, "Hell is for Children," was that Pat Benatar?

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Pat Benatar, that's right.

SERWER: Right. Hell is also for Bernie Ebbers apparently. Yesterday, he was pleading not guilty in a court in Oklahoma City. That is his mug shot. You don't see too many of these, these days -- these corporate chieftains who are disgraced actually kind of facing the music, but this seems to be happening. He pled not guilty yesterday in court.

And, you know, what's so interesting to me, you guys, is, you know, this sort of touches on a turf war between the feds and the states. If you're frustrated with the fact that these guys aren't going to jail or aren't being prosecuted or aren't going to trial, so are the states.

So, what's happening here is Oklahoma is taking it upon itself to actually go after this guy, and this has upset the feds. But you know what? Oklahoma says too bad. Other states are going after these companies, too, and trying to collect taxes and things like that.

O'BRIEN: All right, let's talk a little bit about the market. A nice rally continuing...

SERWER: Another banner day. Yes, absolutely. September continues.

Let's take a look at the numbers. The Dow was up 45 points. The S&P continues to hold over 1,000, which is important. Nasdaq on a percentage basis is moving the fastest.

Today, though, Soledad, we may be seeing a little bit of a pull- back. I mean, and at some point, this has got to run out of steam, because while the economy has showed some signs, we're going to need some continued strength for the market to continue to move ahead like that.

O'BRIEN: And your series, "Where the Jobs Are," continues with a job I could never possibly take.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Rhode Island.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: It's a crossing guard in Rhode Island.

SERWER: Can you say -- this isn't bad either, though, Jack. Making the donuts, Krispy Kreme. You know, everyone talks about their donuts, but the jobs that this company has created, thousands and thousands and thousands of them. We'll talk about that later.

O'BRIEN: Thanks, Andy.

SERWER: OK.

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