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American Morning
A Plan to Create Jobs; New Orleans Facing Storm Warning; After Irene; White House Forecasts Sluggish Economic Recovery; American Economy Added No Jobs in August; Tennis Great Jim Courier Interviewed; U.S. Open Timing Enters Third Round; Heart Attack Proof Your Life
Aired September 02, 2011 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Christine Romans.
New Orleans bracing for a bruising weekend. A tropical storm depression is forming in the Gulf. Twenty inches of rain could fall on that city the next few days, that could trigger catastrophic flooding exactly six years after Katrina.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A slower burn in Texas.
I'm Carol Costello.
Firefighters getting the upper happened on a major wildfire near Dallas that's now destroyed dozens of homes.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: And who is hiring?
I'm Ali Velshi.
We are just 30 minutes away from the monthly jobs report. One of the most closely watched and most important indicators that we have. What it means for America's recovery on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(MUSIC)
COSTELLO: Good morning, everyone! It's Friday! So happy it's Friday!
It's September 2nd, 2011. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING.
ROMANS: OK. It's Friday. But that means we got to talk about jobs. It's the single biggest thing driving the economy.
As Ali just mentioned, in less than 30 minutes, we're going to get the August jobs report, the numbers for job creation in this economy in August. It's expected to show 75,000 jobs were created. We have 300 and some million people in this country. That's far less than the 200,000 jobs many say we need to even make a dent in the unemployment rate.
It's why the president is gearing up to deliver a major speech on jobs next week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president will come forward with specific proposals that by any objective measure would add to growth and job creation in the short term.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Joining me now is our deputy political director Paul Steinhauser.
Paul, good morning.
And when Jay Carney was asked, you know, do you think -- does the president think his plan is going to create jobs? I mean, Jay Carney said, yes, it will create jobs -- by any measure, it will create jobs. They gave us a measure before during stimulus. They said, if we pass the stimulus, we have unemployment rate at 8 percent. That didn't happen.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: That didn't happen. Now, they're going to be in the spotlight next Thursday night when the president goes before congress.
Christine, you know, economists say the country is out of recession over two years now, but Americans don't feel that way.
Check this out, brand-new numbers, CNN/ORC. We just put them out this morning. Look at that.
Eighty-two percent say, yes, the economy is in a recession. Only 18 percent say no. so, Americans I guess, don't agree with the economists.
Jobs by far the most important economic number. Want more proof? Look at this number right here from our same poll.
We asked Americans what's more important for the Obama administration to do -- create jobs or reduce the deficit? Look at that, by more than two-to-one margin 68 percent say create jobs, only three in 10 say reduce the deficit -- Christine.
ROMANS: And, Paul, the presidential candidates are out with their own job plans and trying to look presidential and on par with the president.
Mitt Romney, he may give hints later this morning about his own plan. What do you know about it?
STEINHAUSER: He's going to give a sneak peek this morning. He's going to speak to a Hispanic group in Florida and he's giving a sneak peek of what he will say Tuesday in Nevada when he lays out his plan.
Among the things he will call for, making business taxes competitive with other nations, and eliminate what he calls burdensome regulations and bureaucracy. So, a little sneak peek this morning for next Tuesday's speech by Mitt Romney.
And also, Christine, Jon Huntsman, the former Utah governor, another Republican presidential candidate, he didn't wait until next week. He spelled out his plan on Wednesday in New Hampshire. And "The Wall Street Journal" loves it, it seems. They are praising him this morning and his plan. And, of course, "the Wall Street Journal" is very influential among fiscal conservatives -- Christine.
ROMANS: You are right. All right. Thanks so much.
You know, again, President Obama will speak about his jobs plan before a joint session of Congress, as Paul said, on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. You will be able to see that speech live right here on CNN.
VELSHI: OK. Right now, New Orleans and the Gulf Coast bracing for big trouble this weekend. Tropical storm depression 13 is in the Gulf of Mexico. It could become tropical storm Lee. It could drop up to 20 inches of rain in the area. State of emergency is already in effect in Louisiana. Flooding the biggest concern right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR MITCH LANDRIEU, NEW ORLEANS: What I want to tell folks here, though, is what we do know, is that there is high wind, there is a lot of rain and it's going slow. That's not a good prescription for the city of New Orleans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Oil giants, including Exxon, have already evacuated their workers, sending choppers out to their rigs, to bring everyone home until this is all done.
Meteorologist Jennifer Delgado is tracking the storm in the severe weather center.
Good morning, Jennifer. This is unusual in that normally we have a few lines that show where this thing is going. This is a little bit more uncertain.
JENNIFER DELGADO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it's just all over the place, Ali. And that's why everybody really needs some focus to focus on the track of the system. They need to realize that this is going to be a big rain-maker and we're also going to be talking about a storm surge and, of course, this is going to lead to a flooding threat.
As I show you the updated information, I can tell you, the maximum winds right now sustained at 35 miles per hour, with lots of gust. So, hopefully, we will get that later on.
But I want to point out to you the movement to the north. We talk so much about the forward speed of a storm system and this basically doesn't have one. It's been virtually just standing still over the last several hours. You can still see a bit more convection coming out of that -- the rain working in through southern parts of Louisiana.
Now to give you an idea of the track, and, again, don't just focus on the track. I want you to really focus on how it's going to be moving so slowly and pointing out to you as we go through Sunday morning or I should say Sunday morning right around 2:00 a.m., it is approaching looks like that coastline of Louisiana and then by Tuesday, we are still talking 2:00 a.m., just finally starting to exit out of Louisiana.
So, what is this going to mean? As I said, incredible rain amounts are going to be coming down. Right now, you can see the storms moving in, some of those bands working in through Louisiana. Can't forget about Mississippi and Alabama, they're also going to be dealing with the heavier rainfall. But as I put this into motion for you and take it all the way out through next week, look at the totals there -- anywhere in white, we're talking more than 10 inches. We are talking 10 to 15 inches, some localized areas could pick up about 20 inches of rainfall.
So, this is going to be really bad news in the sense flooding and, of course, we always worry about Louisiana, of course, with the levee system across region.
Now, I also want to update you on the travel forecast for today. Of course, we have tropical depression 13 and if it develops into a tropical storm later on it will be Lee. But I also want to point out to you, we'll have a chance for severe storms in the upper Midwest. Still very hot, we'll be dealing with the fire threat still for areas including the south and over towards the Rockies.
And then for the Northeast, it looks like we are going to be dealing with temperatures starting to warm up. We're also going to be increasing the humidity as we go through the upcoming weekend.
Now, Ali, I also want to point out to you, September 10th is the statistical peak for hurricane season for the Atlanta and we are just days away from that.
It's hard to believe it's already September the 2nd.
VELSHI: You and your team are going to be busy for the next several days.
DELGADO: Yes, we will.
VELSHI: Jennifer, keep us posted. Thanks so much -- Jennifer Delgado in our extreme weather center.
COSTELLO: Now, a little bit more about Texas, where a little water would go a long way for this drought-stricken Lone Star State.
Right now, crews are battling a major wildfire not far from Dallas and they're actually making good progress this morning.
CNN's Jim Spellman live at the resort area of Possum Kingdom Lake, Texas.
And, things are looking up?
JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, indeed, Carol. The sun just come up here so the crews will be able to get out and assess how much progress they made overnight. Conditions are really good for them overnight here. It's nice and cool. No wind at all and what they need to try to get ahead of this fire and get this put out.
You know they can't take any chances because of the severe drought conditions here. Ninety percent of the whole state of Texas under severe drought conditions. High heat, high winds pick up in the afternoon and all it takes a spark and an ember to fly behind the fire lines and this can take off again.
So even though they've got 50 percent containment now, they're not taking it lightly. They're hitting on all fronts from the air and with ground crews start to get this thing out once and for all here today, because they know they can't risk the slightest spark to start a new round of fires here -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I know that's a popular tourist spot. How is it impacting tourism where you are?
SPELLMAN: Yes, well, the economy here relies on tourism and it's already tough enough, you know, in these economic times. So, losing the final week of summer is big here so their real goal is to get everything reopened for tomorrow for Labor Day weekend. They feel pretty good about it.
Parts of the lake are already reopened and want to get everything done here today so that people can come for this final week.
A lot of small businesses here, the cafes, the gas stations -- they're re relying on that last round of income here before things taper down in the fall.
So they are optimistic about it. It's really important for them to get it open because, you know, on top of the fire damage, the economic hit is just something they don't need here, Carol.
COSTELLO: Jim Spellman, many thanks.
VELSHI: One of the early settlers in that area was the fur business and some of his best possums came from around there. And that's how they got
ROMANS: That's the legend of Possum Kingdom Lake.
COSTELLO: Did you Google?
VELSHI: I did. Maybe I got snookered, but that's what it said in the Google.
ROMANS: Well, if I look at you, it must be true.
VELSHI: Right.
We're following some breaking news, by the way, from Alaska. A 7.1 magnitude earthquake rocking the Aleutian Islands this morning. Look where they are. The area is home to major commercial fishing enterprises.
For those who follow the "Deadliest Catch," the Dutch Harbor is where that starts.
ROMANS: Dutch Harbor, right.
VELSHI: Our meteorologist Jennifer Delgado says a tsunami warning was issued and lifted a short time ago.
COSTELLO: Firefighters who worked at the World Trade Center when the towers collapsed 10 years ago face an increased risk for cancer. That's a finding of a new study headed up by the chief medical officer of the New York City Fire Department. The study's conclusion: firefighters exposed to toxic dust at Ground Zero face 19 percent greater risk of cancer than firefighters who were not there.
ROMANS: Casey Anthony may be back in court this morning. She's fighting against paying a stack of fines totaling more than $350,000. These fines represent the cost of the investigation into Caylee Anthony's disappearance and death. Caylee Anthony is her 2-year-old doubt.
Prosecutors filed a motion to stick Casey with the tab. Her attorneys will plead her case in front of a judge later today. And, of course, authorities said that she had lied so many times during the investigation that it led to all kinds of time and manpower spent on fruitless efforts to find this little girl.
COSTELLO: Now is your chance to talk back on one of the stories of the day. The question for you this morning: is the criticism against Chaz Bono and ABC fair? Even if you're not a fan of ABC's "Dancing with the Stars," I'm sure you've heard. Hundreds of viewers are not so happy about Chaz Bono's invite.
(BEGIN VIDEO LCIP)
CHAZ BONO: I hope that, you know, fair, open-minded people take the opportunity to get to know me week-by-week and realize that, you know, nothing scary about me. And transgender people are, you know, just people like everybody else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: But hopes of acceptance are not apparent yet on ABC's message board. There were hundreds of angry comments like this one and I'll quote it. "I am sick and tired of the homosexual agenda being shoved in my face. What's next? Will Carson be dancing in a dress? I will not be watching and will also be boycotting 'Dancing with the Stars' sponsors."
This is not the first time a TV show has been accused of pushing agenda. In 1992, vice presidential candidate Dan Quayle blasted the values of single and pregnant "Murphy Brown."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN QUAYLE, FMR. VICE PRESIDENT: It doesn't help matters when prime time TV has Murphy Brown, a character who supposedly epitomizes today's intelligent, highly-paid professional woman, mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone and calling it just another lifestyle choice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Today, there are more than 11 million single mothers in America. Can you even imagine an outcry about Murphy Brown today?
Now, granted, transgender depicted on television are more controversial, but "Dancing with the Stars" executive producer Conrad Green told the "Hollywood Reporter," "We don't have an agenda of any sorts. I think of the 120 celebrities we have put on the show we have had now, I think, three transgender or gay contestants. If that's a homosexual agenda, we're not doing very well at it."
So, the talk back question this morning: is the criticism against Chaz Bono and ABC fair? Facebook.com/AmericanMorning. Facebook.com/AmericanMorning. I read you comments later this hour.
ROMANS: But I thought it was just the dancing -- I didn't know.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: "Dancing with the Stars" and politics, who knew?
All right. Still to come this morning, a river runs through it. We're talking about a New Jersey man's living room. You may not believe how he escaped the raging floodwaters and survived.
VELSHI: Plus, today's tough job market, who has got it easier -- a college grad or a grandmother? We're going to talk to both to find out.
COSTELLO: And Dr. Sanjay Gupta will have some tips on how to heart attack proof your diet.
You are watching AMERICAN MORNING. It's 13 minutes past the hour.
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VELSHI: Blame it on Irene. It's another day of waking up in the dark for more than a million people who are still without power from North Carolina to Maine. President Obama issuing a disaster declaration for the state of Vermont. Rescue and relief efforts have resumed in communities like Rochester, Vermont, places that were literally cut of by floodwaters.
COSTELLO: In North Carolina, residents of Hatteras Island will finally be allowed to return to their homes this weekend, a week after Hurricane Irene hit. President Obama will see the flood damage areas in New Jersey for himself this weekend. He's expected to visit on Sunday.
ROMANS: One man in New Jersey was in his house when floodwaters arrived in his living room. What happened next is quite the story. CNN's Susan Candiotti is live in Cranford, New Jersey. This is a crazy story. This is an example of what you should not do in a flood.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, a lot of people are talking about what happened to this man. Rich Budntympo (ph) here in Cranford. A lot of his neighbors do think that he is crazy. He would tend to disagree, but what happened clearly here is that he panicked with water gushing into his house instead of staying inside on the second story. He went outside and dove into the water to try to escape.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI: It was right in your backyard. You're watching the water go up, and then, you see your kids played set right in the back of the tree. What are you thinking?
RICH BUDNTYMPO (PH), CRANFORD, NJ: I'm thinking that it's very dangerous, and it's time to leave this place.
CANDIOTTI: As you're looking outside, what is the storm looking like, and what's going on in your head?
BUDNTYMPO: The house is surrounded by water. I thought about, eventually, leaving 3:30, four o'clock in the afternoon on Sunday, so I grabbed my credit card and my keys. I literally opened the door, the water rushed in.
CANDIOTTI: Show me where you went.
BUDNTYMPO: I started walking down here and I did one of these. I finally got here and the water is up to here. I walked, I walked. Literally, the water is splashing in my face. So, I walk up here. I know this is the lowest point to come up. So, I literally walked up, and it goes higher ground, and I literally grabbed on to the railing here in my neighbor is pumping the water out very well.
CANDIOTTI: What did you say, though?
BUDNTYMPO: I said, I got to get the heck out of here. He said, what, are you nuts? I said, I'm swimming out of here. I'm getting out of here.
CANDIOTTI: Are you walking or sort of --
BUDNTYMPO: No, I'm swimming. I hold on to branches and I get pushed over here. I grab on to the pole here and let go and I get thrown all the way over here.
SAUL ZUCKER, NEIGHBOR: When I lost sight of him at the front door and so I decided to come over here. He said, keep an eye on me. This is a great view. So, I walked over here, looked out the window. And I saw him rest on top of that wooden fence, and he started doing a backstroke.
BUDNTYMPO: Back swam to the bushes over there, and then, I see him in the window and I just gave him a thumb's up.
CANDIOTTI: Did you think your life was on the line?
BUDNTYMPO: Oh, absolutely. I thought I'd be out in the street and literally done and be dead. And, I guess an angel or somebody saw who's watching me get to where I had to go. But it was not a point -- I just had to do it. I have four kids, and literally, I'm on my own, and I had to get out.
CANDIOTTI: You made the decision you were going for it?
BUDNTYMPO: Yes. And I brought my credit card and my car keys. Yes.
(END VIDEOTAP)
CANDIOTTI: That's right. He kept the credit card in his teeth. You know, he's a very fortunate man when you think about it, Carol, because he could have impaled himself on anything. I mean, look at all the debris that's out here now. Who knows what was floating under the water that he wasn't able to see. Back to you.
COSTELLO: So, Susan, just so I know, in case my neighborhood is ever flooded, I should have gone to the second storey of my house and waited for help to come? Not like you could call 911. The service was out.
CANDIOTTI: That's right. He could not have done that. You know, he actually wasn't supposed to stay there nor were his neighbors because they were under an evacuation order. So, quite frankly, if something happened to him, as you know, authorities can't go out in the middle of a storm and try to save anybody. The conditions are far too dangerous. So, you know, he took his chances and, fortunately for him, he was lucky.
COSTELLO: OK. So, the advice here is when there is an evacuation order, get the hell out of there. Thank you. Susan Candiotti reporting live from New Jersey this morning.
ROMANS: All right. Still to come this morning, who are the companies that are hiring and who are companies hiring? Is it the college grad or the more mature American with years of experience? We're going to find out. Granny or grad, who gets the job?
VELSHI: And can you cure heart disease with food? Our own Sanjay Gupta spent the last year looking into that very question very specifically. He joins us ahead with some answers that could save you or someone you know. Some answers about eating and heart disease on the other side. Twenty-one minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROMANS: "Minding Your Business" this morning. The big jobs report out in just a few minutes about 5 1/2 minutes. Economists forecast the unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.1 percent, and they expect 75,000 jobs were added to the economy in August. But, quite frankly, markets worldwide are bracing for disappointment here.
The White House forecasting sluggish economic growth next year and slower recovery than first thought. In its latest budget office report, the White House says unemployment will remain high not coming down to pre-recession levels until at least 2017.
That White House report helped push U.S. markets lower yesterday. The Dow, S&P 500, and NASDAQ all down about one percent each. And this morning, stock futures are down, too. We're waiting for that big jobs report and worried that it will show that the most powerful middle class in the world doesn't have enough jobs yet.
The U.S. government reportedly set to sue at least a dozen of the nation's largest banks. According to "The New York Times," the agency that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is looking to recoup billions of dollars lost after the height of the housing bubble. Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Deutsche Bank. Some of the banks in the suits, that's according to "The New York Times." Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan have declined our request for a comment. The other banks have not responded to our calls, so far.
August sales for new cars and light trucks rose 7.5 percent last month. That's according to research by Auto Data Corps. Most importantly, Chrysler and General Motors said their sales were up for individual who's buying vehicles as opposed to fleet sales. That's a good sign, perhaps, for consumer demand in the broader economy.
AMERICAN MORNING will be right back right after this break with that jobs report.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: We're just minutes away from getting the August jobs report. Economists are expecting that the United States economy added about 75,000 jobs in August, but when it comes to actually landing one of those jobs, what exactly are employers looking for? Is it a college grad or someone with years of experience? Here's Sandra Endo.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How can a young college graduate --
SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two years after graduating from college, 25-year-old Tony Fletcher has yet to put his business administration degree to use.
TONY FLETCHER, COLLEGE GRADUATE: I'm doing a lot of odd and end jobs, doing security at a nightclub at night. So, anything, I can do right now to keep food on the table.
ENDO: Sixty-year-old Denise Jones is also looking for a job. She said she was laid off 16 months ago after her position as a medical clerk was outsourced to India.
DENISE JONES, LOOKING FOR JOB: I have spent out so many resumes. Online. Everything is online. I haven't gotten one response.
ENDO: Unable to afford living on her own, this grandmother moved in with her daughter, and being a senior citizen in this job market makes it even tougher.
JONES: I'm experienced. How many people -- how many companies really will utilize that experience and at least pay you a decent wage?
ENDO: Fletcher and Jones may be at opposite end of their careers, but both are scouring job fairs and fighting for work in a market, perhaps, too small to straddle generations.
MANUEL PAST, USC PROFESSOR: The sweet spot of the labor market right now is probably if you're, you know, 28 to 45. You're old enough to have a record of job experience and young enough to understand some of the new technologies.
ENDO: So, who is more marketable? The granny or the grad?
(on-camera): Energy and youth skills versus wisdom and experience -- this tough job market is pitting every generation against each other. But it really comes down to what each person brings to the table.
SUSAN MILLER, EXPERT IN JOB SEARCHES: In terms of job search, it comes down to how proactive you are in your job search.
ENDO: So don't give up?
MILLER: Don't give up. Persist and be proactive.
ENDO: Good advice since experts say seniors and grads are two groups most likely to give up and drop out of the job market.
Sandra Endo, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Here are your top stories. New Orleans under a tropical storm warning. A tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico could drop up to 20 inches of rain on the Big Easy over the next few days. The governor of Louisiana already declaring a state of emergency with New Orleans facing the threat of catastrophic flooding on the sixth year anniversary of hurricane Katrina.
Progress on the fire lines in Texas, though, crews battling a major wildfire near Dallas say it's 50 percent contained. The blaze has destroyed dozens of homes and some of those that are to evacuate are now returning home in north Texas.
And a rupture in the once close between Israeli and Turkey. Earlier this morning Turkey announcing it's expelling the Israeli ambassador and cutting military ties with the Jewish state. The move follows Israeli's refusal to apologize for last year's deadly raid on a flotilla headed to Gaza last year.
VELSHI: OK, we're standing -- we've got the August jobs report. It has just been released. Let's go to Christine Romans. Christine, you want to --
ROMANS: Yes, I'm ready for you, Ali. Zero. We didn't create any jobs in August. And that is we have seen economists lowering their expectations over the past day or two, and they were right. Zero. The unemployment rate was steady at 9.1 percent, but no jobs were created.
So that's what it looks like that for you here. This is the forecast for 75,000 jobs created. Instead, it was nothing -- 17,000 jobs cut by the government, 17,000 jobs created in the private sector. But this is a labor market that's doing nothing essentially.
I want to show you the president's -- since the president took office because this is a huge political story as you know. This is what it was like when the president first took office. We were losing hundreds of thousands of jobs every month. We saw some activity related activity related to the stimulus, related to census hiring, a little bit of momentum here.
But now, as I said, you've got nothing here again. Oops, sorry. You can't see that. There's nothing here again. It's a disappointment. It really is a disappointment.
But I will say that market have been anticipating this. They have thought that this is the most powerful middle class in the world, right? And they are not seeing the signs of economic activity that they would have liked. They are not seeing the confidence among businesses and consumers that many people think at this stage of our recovery we should have, companies sitting on $2 trillion in cash and not hiring people, and frankly people putting money in their bank and their pockets because they are still uncertain what going to happen next.
So there you go, 9.1 percent and the worse since 2010, the worst for jobs creation since September.
Come over and join me. We will talk to Ken Rogoff from Harvard about this. I just want to give you a couple of highlight of this. Health care did go up in August, 30,000 new jobs. The government is counting 45,000 Verizon workers who were off. There were some question as to whether or not they would be counted. So they have been included in this, which means they are back. That strike is over so a bit of an anomaly. Manufacturing was essentially unchanged. It's kind of flat.
Ken Rogoff joins us now. He's a professor of economics at Harvard University, former chief economist with the IMF. Ken, good to see you. We're in this weird place where we don't have these strong reactions to these job reports because we all get we are kind of stagnating. KEN ROGOFF, ECONOMICS PROFESSOR, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: I think that has happened especially the last couple of months where a lot of the numbers have come in soft and those forecasters who thought we were going to bounce out of this at the end are now saying this is going to be a long time. All of the growth numbers are getting lower. And I'm afraid this isn't that surprising. It is discouraging but it's not that surprising.
ROMANS: Is there analysis, right, that companies are holding on to their catch and people holding on it their cash and paying a lot of debt. You look six months down the road whether you're running your household budget or your company, you're like, I don't really know. I'm not confident enough about the outlook to make any big decisions.
ROGOFF: I don't think any question about that that there is a big overhang of debt in the economy. We have not left the recession. I mean, I think that is the point most Americans understand. And the thing holding us back from a normal recovery is not just the government debt that everybody worries about but all of the private debt, the mortgages, it's --
ROMANS: It's all still there.
ROGOFF: Yes, yes.
VELSHI: So here we go into next week, where the president has a much vaunted speech. What can he possibly say that could provide any relief to anybody?
ROMANS: Confidence. People and companies need confidence it's going to turn around.
ROGOFF: The sad fact is what happened this summer with the debt debacle really discouraged everybody. It made everybody in Washington smaller, I think. And people thought there isn't going to be anything in Washington. We will see paralysis another year. And even if president Obama puts forth a great idea, could he get it done?
But if he were him I would put forward my idea, this is what I want to do. I would not ask what can I get done and what is politically feasible at this point. Where do I want to be the next decade and state it.
ROMANS: What would you be telling him?
ROGOFF: I think the infrastructure idea is a good idea. Anybody travels around the United States know we have problems and there are subtle ones like our electric grid. And there are a lot of unemployed construction workers. I think that's a good idea, although you have to finance it in a sensible way. You can't be paying three times going rate for the jobs you're creating. Nobody wants that.
And certainly not sharply raising taxes right now I think is pretty clear. And I suppose he'll announce that. So, you know, these are reasonable things. But, otherwise, you just got to look at the fundamentals. Education, investment -- there is no quick fix. ROMANS: Earlier in the program we were talking about the unemployment rates for people with a college degree and average weekly earnings for people with a college degree. Is that still a buffer, more education and a relevant education, if we are going to be in an environment -- he is a professor, of course. I have a feeling I know the answer. You have a particular vent on this. What I mean is people who look at this report are discouraged every time they hear us talk about jobs. What can a family do?
ROGOFF: Well, I certainly think that education is going to be important in the long run. That's not going to change. But it's not helping necessarily right now. I can't tell you how many kids are getting out of college and they can't find a job after one year, after two years. They have a really high unemployment rate.
So there isn't anything quick and, you know, you could be more flexible about what you'll take, being willing to move which, of course, is hard for some Americans because of their housing.
ROMANS: Ken is so practical. How do we turn it around? We had a debt crisis and financial crisis and it takes years for these things to work out.
VELSHI: If there were a silver bullet somebody would have fired it by now. This is going take a while.
ROGOFF: I think that's the main message we never left the recession. We are in a great contraction. It's not as bad as the great depression and give Washington a little bit of credit for that. It could have been worse. But it's not going to be where we are racing out of this.
ROMANS: When people feel bad about their economic circumstances they take it out on their politics and leaders.
ROGOFF: I like to think whoever wins the presidency will be able to trump a recovery at the end of that. It is going to happen. So whoever wins will say, "I did great."
VELSHI: Our new CNN-ORC poll says eight out of 10 Americans think we are in a recession right now.
ROGOFF: They're right.
VELSHI: Ken, good to see you.
All right, coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, four time grand slam champion Jim Courier is in the AMERICAN MORNING studios talking about the U.S. Open and the state of profession tennis in America. It's 38 minutes after the hour.
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COSTELLO: It is 39 minutes past the hour. So who is your pick to win the U.S. open? We have already seen Venus Williams drop out of the ladies draw with auto immune disease. On the men's side, many fans complain that Americans just can't stand up to the style and skill of the international stars. So let's talk about that and the U.SO Open with our next guest, former world and number one player, Jim Courier, who is now a TV analyst for CBS sports. Thanks so much for coming in.
JIM COURIER, FORMER TENNIS CHAMPION: Good morning. It's great to be here.
COSTELLO: Let's talk about the dearth of American players first off, because there is no big star any more. And I think that shows in a lack of apparent enthusiasm for the U.S. Open this year.
COURIER: I think I disagree with that because Serena Williams is one of the biggest stars in the game.
COSTELLO: Besides the Williams sisters.
COURIER: We have Andy Roddick who is a top ten player the last decade.
COSTELLO: He is up and down but not somebody like Andre Agassi or Jimmy Connor.
COURIER: He shouldn't apologize for his career. He's having a great career. And we have Mardi Fish who is the number eight player in the world, really ascendant right now.
Look, I get it. American fans are used to having great champions winning majors all the time. We have spoiled our fans and been lucky in this country and, look. The game has gone really international. We are in an era in the men's game which may never see again where we have three arguably the best players if Djokovic continues his climb of all time. Federer is certainly in that conversation, Rafael Nadal in that conversation - we'll hold the crush for now. I know you spoke with him. And Djokovic with season of the ages right now. How do you break through?
COSTELLO: A woman from New Jersey who carries an American flag in her tennis gear just to say, you know, America is represented and I'm here.
COURIER: Listen. We have good young players in both the boys and the girls' side. Christina McHale is certainly a good one. Sloan Stevens is another good young player who had a great win yesterday. She could actually play Serena if they both win tomorrow which would be really cool.
And we have a guy named Jack Sock who plays Andy Roddick tonight on the stadium court who is our U.S. boys champion. And he has a lot of potential. I will keep throwing names out. We are working at it.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: We're saying, who, who?
ROMANS: Venus made headlines this week. She has an auto immune disease she has. How was that received in the tennis world?
COURIER: I think with a gasp initially because Venus means so much to the sport and up with of our leading lights and she really is, particularly in the women's game, sort of the voice of reason on that side. So for her to have potential career threatening issues like that which we don't know much about it. We are just learning about it. I think it took us all aback for a second.
And now finding out more about Sjorgren's syndrome and what that means. There are pains in your joints. It's chronic fatigue. This is not great news. But if it can be handled medially, we'd love to have her back.
But she is 31 and maybe not much run way on the back end as there was on the front. And we have gotten a lot of great memories from Venus. And it's not a life-threatening, it's just a life-altering.
Watching Serena play yesterday, her opponent was a much lesser opponent. Serena was just serving, and the woman might have hit it back and might not have. But if she did Serena was just like this.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: The game has changed, hasn't it?
COURIER: Technology has moved the game forward, but also the general athleticism of the sport is really increased. If you look at the average height in the men's and women's game over the past 20 years, these athletes have now grown probably three to four inches on average. Martina Navratilova used to be considered the Incredible Hulk. She is 5'7" and basically a smaller player in the women's game now. Serena who is 5'10" and Sharpova is 6'2". If she wears heels, Sharpova looks like she is in the NBA.
COSTELLO: Americans play a power game. And isn't that one of the reasons they're not doing so well against European players because they play a more finesse game?
COURIER: I don't think that is necessarily the case. One the things we are trying to do in our country is get them at a younger age to play more on clay courts, because when you talk about the finesse game and a little bit more strategy, clay is a real great tutor for a younger player and something we haven't probably done enough of with our players.
I grew up on clay. I'm from Florida originally and we have a lot of clay courts down there. But if you grew up in California like a Pete Sampras or a Serena and Venus, you never saw a clay until you got older. So we're trying to make that adjustment.
But look -- you look around the global, the business world; it's competitive out there. The world is a tough place and tennis is a great living. It's a bigger sport internationally than it is in the U.S. So a lot of the better athletes overseas gravitate towards it.
We divide ours up amongst the other sports that are so popular here in the states.
COSTELLO: Thank you so much for coming in. We really appreciate it.
COURIER: It's my pleasure.
COSTELLO: It was great meeting you.
COURIER: Thank you.
VELSHI: All right. Just ahead -- I've been avoiding this conversation all day -- a plant-based diet can do your body good, apparently. I've been eating kale chips all morning by the way. Reducing your risk of cancer, diabetes and the biggest killer, heart disease.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks at the critical connection between food and heart disease and how you can reverse the damage you may have already done; on the other side of this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILMA MELVILLE, CNN HERO OF THE WEEK: When the Oklahoma City bombing happened I saw the size of that building on television. I had a hobby of learning to train a disaster search dog. I was deployed to Oklahoma City. I did wonder can we really do this? Can we really find live people?
But when I got home, I said, "What is this nation doing with approximately 15 FEMA certified dogs?" This one building alone requires far more than 15.
My name is Wilma Melville. Our organization trains rescue dogs and firefighter handlers to save lives after a disaster.
Right turn.
We like to use shelter dogs. It's a humane thing to do. There is nothing better than a dog's nose to find a live human.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of there, search dog.
MELVILLE: We've been to the World Trade Center, Japan, Joplin, Missouri, and Haiti.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Haiti, on our fourth day there, we made contact with a 10-year-old girl. We would ask her to acknowledge us with a tap. In around the sixth or seventh hour she stopped tapping.
MELVILLE: Finding live people is our goal, but providing hope for the onlooker and a place to begin work for the firefighter, those are many fold -- many fold objectives.
(END VIDEOTAPE) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right, what can do you to prevent a heart attack? I've been eating kale juice, kale chips and kombucha juice for the last two days. And I don't even know what kombucha is? But how critical is your diet?
Sanjay Gupta has spent the past year exploring the link between food and heart disease for a special that you can see this weekend. He joins me now from Atlanta.
Sanjay, I think it would be fair to say that a lot of doctors don't make the same link. They don't tell somebody who may have had damage to their -- their heart or artery clogging that go to a plant- based diet, you can reverse it.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. But they probably should do more of that. A lot of doctors need to drag their patients kicking and screaming like I am with you, Ali, into the world of what we've known to be true for some time with regard to our diet.
You know Ali, in full disclosure, there was no nutrition class offered at my medical school. Even if you look at organized medicine now, the National Institute of Health, it has 27 institutes, not one of them is dedicated to nutrition.
So there are still a lot of people who just don't know much about nutrition. I learned much of what I know just by myself. There's a lot of studies out there. There's a study called the China Study -- you may have heard about this -- showing 8,000 different statistical associations between diet and disease.
So yes we have known about these associations for some time. What is interesting Ali is that this is very hard to study nowadays this plant-based diet that I've been encouraging you to try for a couple of days because there is not populations of people who just eat that as much as they used to.
This is China's study. There was -- they looked at world China where people did eat plant-based diets because they couldn't afford meat frankly at that time. They had about 10 percent of the animal protein that we do here in the United States. Tiko and Campbell, who you see on the screen there wrote the study. They are three times the fiber and what they found, Ali, was that if you compare the United States average diet to the Chinese world diet, the rate of death from cardiovascular disease was 17 times higher among men and six times higher among women.
VELSHI: Wow.
GUPTA: And that's again, that's just -- the dietary changes. They control for a lot of other things but the diet was the big difference in these populations.
So we don't know what the mechanism is -- (CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Yes.
GUPTA: -- we don't know exactly how it works but there are health benefits potentially from -- from eating this sort of diet.
And let just me say Ali, because I know you've had some concerns, yourself specifically from how these stuff tastes.
VELSHI: Yes.
GUPTA: I will say that your taste -- taste buds do tend to acclimate a bit overtime. So give it about seven days or so and you may actually --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Yes.
GUPTA: -- start to enjoy some of the food that I sent you.
VELSHI: Ok.
GUPTA: And you might also start to get some of those benefits.
VELSHI: You sent a very pretty basket of food and it looked deceivingly delicious and then -- and then I started eating and drinking stuff from there. But you know what Sanjay, I don't look like you so I'm going to keep on going. You've influenced a lot of people.
GUPTA: You can lead a horse to water, Ali. You can lead a horse to water.
VELSHI: That's it. There -- a lot of people are being influenced by this and I really encourage people to watch the special. Sanjay thanks so much for this. You can see the special --
(CROSSTALK)
GUPTA: You got it.
VELSHI: -- "THE LAST HEART ATTACK" this weekend Saturday night at 8:00. Honestly, cancel a plan, change what you are doing. You want to watch this. You may not like the food either but it could change your life.
ROMANS: You can lead the horse to water but you can't keep away from the vending machine.
VELSHI: That's it, that's right.
COSTELLO: I'm still laughing over.
VELSHI: The kombucha juice, it's gross. COSTELLO: No, this definitely (ph) is a delicious remark.
VELSHI: Oh yes.
COSTELLO: Coming up next, our "Talk Back" question of the day. We will read through some of your responses. It's 54 minutes past the hour.
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ROMANS: Good morning, New York City. Central Park there right outside of our window. It looks like it's going to be a nice day.
COSTELLO: Yes. It's going to be a nice day. You know what -- something we forgot to mention? We were talking to Jim Courier the champion series is going to be held later this month. Jim is still playing and he's going to be competing against guys like John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. This is going to be very exciting.
ROMANS: Really, nice.
COSTELLO: So pay attention. The champions series will begin on September 22nd.
VELSHI: That will be great.
COSTELLO: Yes let's get to our "Talk Back" responses of the day. We asked you this question this morning. The question was --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Chaz --
COSTELLO: -- "Is criticism against Chaz Bono's appearance in "Dancing with the Stars" fair enough?
VELSHI: You seem a little choked up about it.
COSTELLO: You know, I think I need a drink of water.
This from Lana. "ABC absolutely should not be bullied into uninviting Chaz. What a great opportunity for parents to teach their children that despite our differences we're all God's children."
There's always the on/off button.
This from Richard. "This is still America. People have the freedom to live any personal lifestyle they choose. Just as you have the freedom to change the TV channel. When did America become so intolerant of other's personal choices?"
The majority of our responses and we had nearly 200, were positive in favor of Chaz Bono.
VELSHI: All right. It's been a tough week for the President. Even he admits being frustrated over what he calls an unwillingness by Congress to deal in bipartisan fashion with the country's economic problems. The President is not getting much love from the late night talk show hosts either.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, TALK SHOW HOST: The spat between the President and John Boehner, you know, the White House says it will switch the date of President Obama's speech on jobs from next Wednesday to next Thursday because the Republicans have their big debate scheduled for Wednesday. So, apparently, a debate nobody is going to watch carries more weight than his speech nobody is going to believe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Ouch.
VELSHI: All right.
Before we go today, a little something different happening at AMERICAN MORNING. For the last six years, Kelly Piercell (ph) has been our director. Kelly has been fantastic --
ROMANS: He is the man in Mission control and makes everything fly. There he is.
VELSHI: There he is right there.
ROMANS: You can see him.
VELSHI: There he is. And Kelly -- Kelly is a lot like me because we both have consistency in our dress. Right? I've always got the three-piece suit and Kelly always has a great jacket on and he has a shirt but dark shirt and it's buttoned up and khaki pants. Always nicely pressed.
In honor of Kelly, we wanted to, our floor guys wanted to give you a little tribute, Kelly. They all came in looking like you today.
ROMANS: Can you imagine going to work?
VELSHI: Let's bring them in behind me.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Look at them. The whole crew. Looks like we have a team here. They all came in and paid tribute to him. Kelly, by the way, has been here for 20 years. He is moving over to up front, "ERIN BURNETT'S SHOW".
So to all our guys who are dressed like you today --
ROMANS: Kelly doesn't have to get up at 2:00 in the morning any more. You son of a gun.
VELSHI: We wish you all the best. Thank you. Thank you for all the great work you've done here. A little reminder.
ROMANS: And good luck out front with Erin Burnett.
VELSHI: A little reminder in our business, a lot of people are involved. Thanks to all you guys as well.
COSTELLO: I must say, they look handsome today.
VELSHI: They look good, don't they?
ROMANS: All right. "CNN NEWSROOM" and T.J. Holmes starts with the very handsome T.J. Holmes right there.
