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American Morning
Underwear Bomber Trial Commences; Senate Holding Procedural Vote on Jobs Legislation; Wall Street Protests Continue; Economy in Peril; Egypt Erupts in Violence; Drones Still Fly Despite Virus; Huntsman Fires Back; Senate Votes Today on Obama's Jobs Bill; Need a Job to Get a Job?; Let's Make a Deal; Pencil Lodged in Boy's Eye; Pencil Lodges In Boy's Eye, Close to Brain; 49 Percent Have Not Heard of Occupy Wall Street
Aired October 11, 2011 - 06:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): New details this morning on the last moment of former apple CEO, Steve Jobs', life and the official cause of death.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The accused underwear bomber goes on trial this morning in Detroit, and he plans to defend himself. We'll have a live report just ahead.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The NBA cancels the start of its season after players and owners fail to agree on a labor deal.
VELSHI: And is that Big Ben or the leaning Tower of Pisa? What's up with the famed London landmark on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO (on-camera): Good morning. It is Tuesday, October 11th, 2011. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING.
VELSHI (on-camera): That is not all it is.
ROMANS (on-camera): Oh, that's right.
VELSHI: A very special day today. It's Carol's birthday.
ROMANS: Happy birthday, Carol.
VELSHI: Happy birthday, Carol.
COSTELLO: Thank you.
VELSHI: Thank you for spending it with us.
COSTELLO: I expect really expensive presents later.
ROMANS: OK. VELSHI: Is your birthday the same day at Brian? Why are you both at work?
COSTELLO: Brian Belzer is our executive producer.
VELSHI: Happy birthday to Brian, Carol, to all of you out there. I'm not getting involved in this birthday thing. I tweeted something you tweeted about how October 5th --
ROMANS: The most common birthday of the year, October 5th. More people have that birthday than any other birthday. I was suspecting it has to do with New Year's Eve.
VELSHI: And conception.
ROMANS: I don't really want to think about what my parents were doing back then.
VELSHI: In that case, let's move on.
ROMANS: Terrorist on trial. In just a few hours laying out a case against accused underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. He's charged with attempting to blow up a Delta Northwest airlines flight back on Christmas Day, 2009, with explosives hidden in his underwear. CNN's Deb Feyerick is live outside federal court in Detroit. Good morning, Deb.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Morning there, Christine. You know, when these would-be bombers are radicalized, they're taught not about failure but how to simply blow up a plane or whatever it is they're targeting. It's interesting to see what Abdulmutallab is thinking sitting in that court, wondering whether he's going to spend the rest of his life in prison.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: Nigerian graduate student turned accused suicide bomber is now acting as his own lawyer, and already 24-year-old Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has shown he's defiant. During jury selection he invoked his American born Jihadist mentor, Anwar al Awlaki, who was recently targeted and killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen. "Anwar is alive," he shouted in court, saying, quote, "The Mujahidin will wipe out the U.S."
ED MCMAHON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: When he got on the plane and came to the United States, there were only either two things that were going to happen. He was either going to be dead or he was going to serve life in prison in the United States.
FEYERICK: Defense lawyer Ed McMahon is not on this case but has handled similar ones.
MCMAHON: The idea of giving one last speech or one last moment in the sun before he goes off to prison for the rest of his life probably sounds appealing to him. FEYERICK: Abdulmutallab is accused of trying to detonate a bomb hidden in his underwear using a chemical filled syringe to trigger the bomb and blast a hole in the side of the plane. Authorities say he chose a window seat near the wing and fuel tank and waited until the plane was on its descent in order to cause maximum damage.
RANDALL LARSEN, HOMELAND SECURITY EXPERT: If you look back at Pan Am 103, it only took 14 ounces of explosives to bring down the 747. So it doesn't take a lot.
FEYERICK: Among those likely to testify, Dutch passenger Jasper Schuringa, who was a row behind when he heard what sounded like a gun shot.
JASPER SCHURINGA, PASSENGER ON NW FLIGHT: I freaked, of course, and without any hesitation I just jumped over all the seats and jumped to the suspect because thinking, you know, like, he's trying to blow up the plane.
FEYERICK: Also on the Christmas Day flight, Patricia Keaton and her husband bringing home their newly adopted Ethiopian children.
PATRICIA KEEPMAN, PASSENGER OF NW FLIGHT: We started to smell smoke and saw the reaction of the flight attendants and running with fire extinguishers we knew our situation was dire.
FEYERICK: Authorities were stunned at how easy it was for Abdulmutallab to pass seemingly undetected through malt poor airports, including Ghana, Lagos, Nigeria, and Amsterdam where he boarded the U.S. bound Delta Northwest flight. Officials believe the device was made by the same Yemeni bomb-maker responsible for bomb-filled printer cartridges sent to the U.S. last year, and also a similar device used in the attempted assassination of Saudi's head of counterterrorism.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: Now, shortly after he was arrested, Abdulmutallab did give statements to FBI agents. His standby counsel, the guy who sort of is standing in for him, is going to try to get the statements tossed out, saying Abdulmutallab was on medication treat for burns sustained during the attacks. So far the judge allowed the statements. So it's going to be pretty powerful listening to passenger testify what they saw and heard and see whether or not Abdulmutallab is the one who decides to cross-examine them. Carol, Christine?
ROMANS: Thanks, Deb.
VELSHI: President Obama takes to the stump in Pennsylvania today to promote his $474 billion jobs bill. The president's going to rally supporters just as the Senate prepares to vote on his jobs plan tonight. Right now even some members of the president's own party are slow to rally behind this plan.
Kate Bolduan is following this very, very closely live in Washington. Kate, it's not expected to pass. What's going on? The president said in his speech to the joint session of congress, I'm going to take this to all corners of the country to get Americans to back it.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He sure has done that, taken his message on the road. The vote tonight in the Senate, Ali, is a key procedural vote on the president's jobs bill. It's not a final passage vote, rather a key test vote for this measure.
And this is the modified bill put out by Senate democratic leaders including that so-called millionaire surtax we talk about to pay for the legislation, a 5.6 percent surtax on annual income over $1 million.
As you mentioned, neither Senate Republican or Democratic leadership aides think any Republicans will support the bill, and Republicans, of course, are labeling this package as another round of wasteful stimulus spending.
While Democratic leaders have said they are confident they'll get a majority of democratic support, there are real concerns among some Democrats around this package as well. The more moderate, centrist Democrats, especially those up for reelection, have taken issue with, among other things, how the bill would be paid for in terms of tax increases, in the end, as you said, the bill tonight is not expected to get the 60 votes needed to clear this hurdle. And then, of course, the question is, what's next? Talk of pulling out elements of this Bill and trying to pass it piecemeal, to which they would think would win more support, but no real serious talk about that.
VELSHI: So probably dead on arrival but an opportunity for the president and others to put their ideas forward on jobs creation. Kate, good to see you. Thank you.
COSTELLO: Now's your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day, as in that story. The question this morning, are you sold on the president's jobs bill? One, two, three -- all together now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let's put construction workers on the job. Let's put teachers in the classroom. Let's give small businesses a tax break. Let's help our veterans. Pass this bill. Let's meet our responsibilities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The president has said that a gazillion times in eight different cities. Now, if you need a refresher course, the president's jobs bill extends unemployment, cuts the payroll tax, provides money to hire more teachers and construction workers, you know, infrastructure jobs, and boasts a tax on millionaires to pay for it all. Republicans have their own mantra.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MITCH MCCONNELL, (R-KY) SENATE MINORITY LEADER: What this weekend's shown beyond any doubt is that Democrats would rather talk about partisan legislation that won't pass than actually passing legislation we know would create jobs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Because of the tax increase on millionaire, but you already knew that.
What we want to know today is if you're buying what the president is selling. So the talk back question today, are you sold on the president's jobs bill? Facebook.com/Americanmorning, Facebook.com/Americanmorning. We'll read your comments later this hour.
ROMANS: The Wall Street protests are moving on up to the east side this morning. They plan to march to the homes of millionaires and billionaires, including the CEO of JP Morgan Chase and the News Corps head Rupert Murdoch. Organizers say they're being targeted for what they call "a willingness to hoard wealth at the expense of the 99 percent."
Last night, things began to erupt at a sister march in Boston. New video showing police moving in after they were warned they warned activists they were in an area that was off limits. Other protests planned nationwide this morning. And a new ORC poll showing more people are paying attention. Half the country saying it has now heard about the occupy wall industry protests.
But, as you can see here, many are still asking, what's their point? Fewer than a third of the people surveyed said they agreed with movement, 19 percent are against it, but 54 percent still haven't made up their minds about it quite yet.
VELSHI: All right. Apple CEO co-founder Steve Jobs died of respiratory failure brought on by a pancreatic tumor. Jobs died Wednesday surrounded by his family at his home in Palo Alto. We now know the cause of death. Apple employees say they will celebrate his life on October 19th.
COSTELLO: It's time for a little sports. NBA players and owners have dug in and fans are bummed out. Basketball commissioner David Stern has now cancelled the first two weeks of the regular season. He says the sides remain very far apart on virtually every labor issue.
(WEATHER BREAK)
COSTELLO: Still to come this morning, Hank Williams Jr. out with a new song that slams FOX News, ESPN, and the United Socialist States of America. His new song, we'll play it for you right after a break.
ROMANS: Plus, first lady Michelle Obama, a Guinness world record. Ali's speechless. What she's doing.
COSTELLO: You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. ROMANS: People were exercising.
(LAUGHTER)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Fifteen minutes past the hour.
Chances are, your 401(k) had a very good day yesterday. The markets soared on news that a solution to Europe's debt crisis could be at hand.
But our next guest says it would be a big mistake to become complacent now. In Boston, Robert Kuttner, co-editor of "The American Prospect" and the author of the book "Obama's Challenge and a Presidency in Peril." Good morning.
ROBERT KUTTNER, CO-EDITOR, "THE AMERICAN PROSPECT": Good morning, and happy birthday.
COSTELLO: Oh, thank you. I appreciate that.
And I was happy that the stock market surged yesterday, because at least I could look at my 401(k) and it looks a little better, but -- but what I wonder is, so European leaders say, oh, they have this plan to help out the European banks. And I guess the big question I have is, will it work?
KUTTNER: Well, it's far from signed and sealed. The French and the Germans had a good day. It looks like they're a little closer to an agreement, but, you know, you've got 17 different countries that use the Euro. They disagree with each other on how to give Greece aid, without rewarding Greece for getting in over its head. They disagree on how to recapitalize the European banks. They're a long way from a real solution.
And then on our side of the Atlantic, we have several banks that up to their ears in mortgages that are not paying back on time that are very, very shaky. So the stock market has good days. It has bad days. We are a long way away from being out of this mess.
COSTELLO: You mentioned American banks that are in trouble, one of those banks would be Bank of America. And about countrywide it inherited all those bad mortgages. It's losing money because of them. Will Bank of America need a bailout eventually?
KUTTNER: Well, I guess I don't know. I don't have a crystal ball. But my point is, if Bank of America does get into real trouble it shouldn't get a bailout. It should get something more like what General Motors got, which is to say, a pre-negotiated bankruptcy where the government eventually has to resolve it under the new authority of the Dodd-Frank Law.
That means that the people who got us into this mess lose their jobs, and the bank is perhaps broken up. It's temporarily taken over by the government. This is what the FDIC does with small banks. And then they take a good, honest look at theirs books. The bond holders eat some of the loss as happened with GM and then they restore it to health under new ownership.
That was the big fight in '09. Secretary Geithner was of the view that you don't want to do that. That might be bad for market confidence. Better to throw money at them, better to prop them up.
I think if Obama gets a do-over and he faces this again with, let's say, Bank of America, and I should say I'm speaking hypothetically here. I don't want to cause a run on the bank, but this time they should use the new authority under the Dodd Frank Act and do something like they did with GM, which actually worked.
COSTELLO: You know, I can't envision another bailout because of all the protests going on on Wall Street right now, the Tea Party is a political force, and the Tea Party didn't so much love the idea of a bailout. I just can't see how that would happen again.
KUTTNER: No. And what I'm saying is, I'm distinguishing between a bailout where you throw money at these banks that got us into trouble and don't require them to change their business model. None of the bankers who caused the crisis lose their jobs.
Rather, you break it up and clean it out and it's the bondholders who take the hit rather than the taxpayers. And I think if one of these big banks does turn critical, that's the crucial choice that Obama faces. And you're very right to point out that the protests on Wall Street, even though not everybody sympathizes with the tactics, there's a lot of sympathy with the idea that we are the 99 percent, they are the one percent that got us into this mess.
So I'm saying it would be good politics, it will be good economics not to bail them out, but to clean them out.
COSTELLO: So you're saying these Wall Street protests as unfocused as they may be, are having an affect on policy being made in Washington right now?
KUTTNER: Well, the president himself has said they've tapped into popular frustration. Other mainstream Democrats certainly have said that they -- they speak for a general feeling that it was Wall Street who got us into this difficulty, and it ups the ante on the president and his Treasury secretary, not just to throw more money at them, but to fix the problem, because the banks have been dragging down the economy.
When you just bail out a bank that's effectively insolvent and you pretend that everything's OK, then the bank is risk overt when it comes to making loans, you don't get refinancing of mortgages. Small business doesn't get the credit that it needs and it's like a lead weight on the economy.
So this time, if another one gets into big trouble, let's fix it properly.
COSTELLO: Robert Kuttner, thanks so much for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.
KUTTNER: Thank you.
VELSHI: Well, after he was dropped from "Monday Night Football" for comparing President Obama to Hitler, Hank Williams Jr. is venting in a new song called "Keep The Change" that was just released on the web. Listen to the words.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANK WILLIAMS JR., MUSICIAN: This country sure the hell will go down the drain we know what we need. We know who to blame United Socialist States of America, how do you like that name.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: You can keep --
ROMANS: I'll keep the USA.
VELSHI: I'll keep the USA. You can keep the -- who took that out? That was the best part of the song.
ROMANS: Yes, you know, that's right. Because we wanted you to sing it.
VELSHI: You could keep the US -- I'll keep the USA, you can keep the change.
All right. He also called out ESPN and FOX News in the song accusing them of twisting his words around.
ROMANS: OK. First Lady Michelle Obama, no stranger to working out. In fact, today, she's hoping to set a Guinness World Record on the South Lawn of the White House. The category most people jumping, doing jumping jacks during a 24-hour period. Well, she's -- that's a hula hoop.
VELSHI: I was going to say, she's not going to win if that's what she's doing.
ROMANS: The jumping jack (ph) thing does starts at 3:00 P.M. Eastern.
VELSHI: Also, we can't show you pictures of that.
ROMANS: No.
VELSHI: But we can show you hula hoops because that was some other --
ROMANS: There you go.
COSTELLO: Exactly.
VELSHI: OK. COSTELLO: Big Ben is beginning to look more like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. In fact, Big Ben is now leaning so much it is visible to the naked eye. The level of the tilt has increased over the years due to construction underground. Even though there were some cracks in the walls and the ceiling, according to a new report, Big Ben is considered safe.
ROMANS: Is it true that Big Ben is not the clock, it's the bell? Is that right?
VELSHI: That's a good question.
ROMANS: I've got to look at that.
VELSHI: I sort of just thought of it in its entirety.
ROMANS: I'm going to Google it.
VELSHI: All right. Still to come this morning, choosy moms may have something to choose other than Jiffy -- no, Jiff. Sorry. Jiff. Why you could soon be paying a lot more for your peanut butter.
ROMANS: Plus, cash may still be king. But in today's economy, an old world form of commerce is making a comeback. Let me tell you all about that.
It's 22 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Twenty-six minutes after the hour. Welcome back. "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Markets are right now on track to open lower despite the Dow jumping three percent yesterday pushing stocks higher. A less gloomy view of the economy and hopes that Europe is beginning to get a handle on its debt crisis.
Corporate earnings season kicks off today after the closing bell. One of the largest aluminum producers in America, Alcoa, releases its third quarter earnings.
The banks are bracing this morning for the governmental proposal designed to limit the kinds of risky trading that played a part in the financial crisis. It's called the Volcker Rule, and if implemented it could cut revenue for Wall Street brokers by up to 25 percent.
And if you thought PB & J sandwiches could get you through the recession, think again. Because of a peanut shortage this year, prices are on the rise. And by next month, you could be paying 30 percent more for peanut butter.
Don't forget, for the latest news about your money, check out the all-new CNNMoney.com.
AMERICAN MORNING will be back right after the break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Top stories this morning.
Egypt erupting again, the worst violence in this nation since the revolution in February. At least 25 dead, close to 300 wounded in clashes between the Army and pro-cactic (ph) Christian protesters.
Many of those killed were crushed by speeding military vehicles. Egypt's prime minister vowing this morning to ban all discrimination based on religion, language, gender or ethnicity.
VELSHI: A virus infecting the computers that control U.S. drones, the unmanned planes, probably the most effective weapon in the war against al Qaeda.
They are controlled from an air base in Nevada. A defense missile says the problem hasn't grounded any flights worldwide and they are still trying to figure out how the virus was installed.
COSTELLO: Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman is firing back at the Baptist Minister, Robert Jeffress who referred to the Mormon faith as a cult. Huntsman, one of two Mormons running for the White House did not pull any punches.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON HUNTSMAN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The fact that, you know, some moron can stand up and make a comment like that, you know, first of all, it's outrageous. Second of all, the fact that we are spending so much time discussing it makes it even worse.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Huntsman says the reverend's remarks created a political side show and that we needed to be talking about jobs and the economy, not religion.
ROMANS: President Obama's $474 billion jobs bill faces its first vote in the Senate later today. And while Democrats control the Senate, there's no guarantee the bill will get the 60 votes needed to clear tonight's procedural hurdle.
The president in the meantime will be talking up his jobs plan today. He'll be speaking to supporters at a training center for electrical workers in Pittsburgh.
And there's one provision included in the president's bill that's getting an awful lot of attention. It has to do with discrimination against people who don't have jobs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS (voice-over): Unemployed? Don't bother applying for this job. That's what some recruiters have been telling job applicants and now the White House is moving to make it illegal. President Obama's jobs bill would make it, quote, "an unlawful employment practice" if a business with 15 or more employees rejects an applicant because of the individual status as unemployed. It would also ban job listings that exclude unemployed applicants from applying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not just bad for the workers. It's bad for the country. It's bad for the economy. It's a tremendous waste of human capital to tell people that because they lost a job they're not eligible to get a new one.
ROMANS: But business groups are critical and say employers will always hire the best person for the job, regardless of whether they have one now or not. They argue this law means frivolous lawsuits from disgruntled job seekers looking to blame someone for their unemployment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are concerned that it would chill the hiring practice of small businesses, because they would be worried that they would get sued if they fail to hire a person who had been unemployed for a long period of time.
ROMANS: Roughly 14 million Americans are out of work right now, and the average unemployment lasts more than 40 weeks. Some minorities are hit even harder. The national unemployment rate stands at 9.1 percent, for Hispanics, 11.3 percent, blacks 16 percent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If there are groups of Americans who have been disproportionately hit by long-term unemployment, which I think they're undeniably are, yes, it's going to make it more difficult for those people to get a job.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Some states are taking action themselves. New Jersey already passed a bill outlawing this kind of discrimination. Illinois, Michigan, and New York, all have introduced bills as well doing this.
But some companies say it's simply the way they're doing business now. They want to only consider people who currently have jobs, contacts and right now experience in their industry. They're not looking people who had --
VELSHI: Yes, although some of this stuff that was going on in New Jersey where this was being published in newspapers before New Jersey made it illegal. It wasn't stuff you need contacts.
It was just discrimination. If you're out of a job, you don't get a job. A lot of jobs in the country where you don't need to bring anything, except your own experience. Some people are just nasty about it.
ROMANS: Well, New Jersey clamped down on it. Other states are looking at it, too. In the jobs bill today, there's a provision to make it a federal law, but you know, how do you enforce it, too, is the other question?
COSTELLO: And the jobs bill itself is probably -- OK, it's time to make a deal. We're talking about bartering. An ancient form of commerce where people swap their skills and stuff for things they need or want.
VELSHI: Now this whole system of cashless deals, been around as you say forever, is making a comeback thanks to a new high-tech twist. Poppy Harlow is following that story and she joins us now - -- Poppy.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Good morning. I've always heard a bargain, but I'd never bargain in the way that I saw doing this story. You might think it doesn't happen outside flee markets, but bartering is back and it's back in a big way.
Thanks in large part to the persistently weak economy, but also thanks in large part to technology. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW (voice-over): It's as old as time before Benjamins and plastic, there was battering.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Swap, swap, swap, swap. Yes, everything I'm wearing is swapped.
HARLOW: And it's back in fashion. Craigslist is seeing an eye popping growth in bartering, citing a lousy economy as the catalyst.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love it.
HARLOW: Swap.com says it's seen more than 4 million barter exchanges since last year, and BarterQuest says its seen 150 percent increase in users since that time.
MICHAEL SATZ, FOUNDER, BARTERQUEST: We believe that it is a multibillion dollar market. We think it's the third league of e- commerce after buying, selling and auction. You're going to find people looking more and more to bartering.
HARLOW: The latest numbers from the International Reciprocal Trade Association valued the barter market in North America alone at $12 billion.
SATZ: This is a new way for some people to think about how to get the things they want or need.
HARLOW: And people are bartering for almost anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We did for 300 --
HARLOW: And then there was this engagement ring recently offered up on Craigslist in exchange for cars, trucks, jet skis. You get the idea. It's now even in vogue in high fashion and on display during New York City fashion week.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I found this sequinned blazer, which came from one of our swap hosts in Atlanta.
HARLOW (on camera): A good barter?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A good barter.
HARLOW (on camera): Is it all because of the state of the economy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, not at all. I mean, it's a confluence of factors. It's because of the recession. You know, we've all become so digital that we want to meet in real life.
HARLOW (voice-over): For some business owners, though, it's old hat.
(on camera): How many t-shirts do you pump out of here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It could be thousands. It could be hundreds.
HARLOW (voice-over): Harvey Paulvin has been bartering his custom t-shirts for 25 years.
(on camera): What do you get out of this?
HARVEY PAULVIN, OWNER, T-SHIRT EXPRESS: I get some of these Broadway -- all the Broadway shows. I love Broadway, travel, professional services, personal stuff, work around the office, if it needs all that, barter has made that easy.
HARLOW: But he warns it's important to use a reputable bartering service to prevent getting ripped off by someone who doesn't fulfill their end of the deal.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: All right, so you're probably wondering, maybe wondering at this hour in the morning about taxes. And Christine and I were just talking about this. It's very important, legally important in the IRS, anything you barter you have to pay taxes on at the end of the year. If you barter a $300 service for example, even though you're not exchanging a natural item, you have to write that on your tax return.
ROMANS: Is there paperwork for stuff like this? I mean, when you're borrowing something between businesses, you get a receipt?
HARLOW: You can. You should ask for one. It's on the IRS website. Any tax attorney we talked said, you know, you've got to do this. I don't think is happens all the time, but if you're going to barter, follow the law, do it.
One thing when researching the story, in Lynnwood University in Missouri, they launched a "Pork for Tuition Program." This is on the bottom -- so the pork farmers -- kids could go to school, they gave the school pigs for the cafeteria and the kids could go to school. That to me was like the extreme. They're not doing it anymore, but what a neat form of bartering.
ROMANS: Because pork prices had gone so high, more expensive than tuition.
VELSHI: Interesting story. Have to think about that.
COSTELLO: Thanks, Poppy.
Take a look at the surveillance video of a robbery gone awry. Two armed men wearing masks entered a Houston gas station. See them they're coming in. One of them jumped over the counter while the other fires a gun at the clerk.
But the thieves didn't know there was another clerk in the store and that clerk had a gun and there he goes. He's out of there. Both robbers ran. The one robber who was wounded, he did not get far. He's now in police custody. The other suspect is at large. Everybody has minor injuries, but they're OK.
ROMANS: A crime like that with the gun, your sentencing guideline went way up.
VELSHI: All right, if you got a fear of flying, this is not going to help. A runway camera captures a Southwest Airlines plane getting out of the runway after landing in a rain-soaked storm in Chicago's midway airport.
This happened in April. Take a look at it close-up. This plane came in a little too fast, went to make a turn before it was slow enough. You can see the rain spraying on to the camera there as it slides off into the mud. The NTSB just released that video.
ROMANS: And there's another one from amazing video files. One of the famous Cornwall Rock Cliffs in southwest England seen crumbling then crashing more than 100 feet into the ocean. It's so rare to catch something like this. The cliffs are taking a battering from recent storms and rising tides.
All right, still to come this morning, doctors say this is one lucky little 4-year-old boy after a pencil was lodged in his eye. You're going to meet this little guy and his family, and we're going to talk about the surgery that helped him when AMERICAN MORNING continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. We have a very special guest this morning. His name is Keegan Tinsdale. He's 4 years old and he lives with his family in Mesa, Arizona. Nine weeks ago, he was practicing writing his letters at his grandma's house, sitting at the table when he fell off his chair.
The little guy's pencil wound up lodged inside his eye socket and then deep into his head. Take a look at this brain scan. The white spot there you can see is the lead of the pencil. Doctors say he came within one-sixteenth of an inch -- one-sixteenth of an inch from death.
Keegan, his dad, Heath and his mom, Heather, are with us live this morning from Phoenix. Good morning, you guys. And our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, she's joining us live from the CNN Center in Atlanta.
Mom, let me ask you first how this happened. He's writing his letters like a good little guy should, and he slips off of his share, and right away -- he was at his grandma's house, right? Right away folks knew something was wrong. Tell me what happened?
HEATHER TINSDALE, KEEGAN'S MOTHER: He was at my mom's house and he was practicing, because he was supposed to start preschool the next week, and he actually was writing his letters and fell off the chair.
When it happened, no one knew it happened. My mom thought just the tip of the pencil was in his little eyebrow right there. No one knew the entire pencil was in his eye.
ROMANS: So what did she do? Did she call an ambulance? She knew something was wrong. She called dad. Dad, you're a --
TINSDALE: Calmed dad.
ROMANS: You're a local firefighter. So when you got there, what did you see?
HEATH TINSDALE, KEEGAN'S FATHER: She actually brought him over to me. I was at home, and his baby brother was sleeping at grandma's house. She loaded him up, brought him to me. When he got to me he was real pale, vomiting and -- didn't look very good. When I looked at his eye, his eye didn't look right. His eye was off to the left a little bit. Not really reacting very well.
ROMANS: As a firefighter, you knew to look in his eyes to see what the reaction was and you knew that something was up. You loaded him up to the car and you took him to the hospital?
TINSDALE: Well -- I started to head to the hospital. It was a little later in the afternoon, and the hospital is in traffic a little bit. I actually stopped at the closest fire station and had those guys help me out a little bit.
ROMANS: All right. I want to talk a little more, Heather, about what the doctors told you when you finally were starting to get this looked at. Had they showed you pictures of this brain scan? We just looked at some of those pictures. But when they were showing you the pencil inside there, what were you thinking?
HEATHER TINSDALE, MOTHER OF KEEGAN: I was freaking out, because no one no what it was. We kept calling my mom and she's just kept telling us, it was the tip of the pencil. And then we couldn't figure out what exactly was in his eye. None of the doctors knew. So I -- then you see how far it went down in some of the scans and then you get nervous, because it's right by the brain and --
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: It didn't go into the brain, right, Heather? It just -- I mean --
(CROSSTALK)
HEATHER TINSDALE: No, it went right by.
ROMANS: I can't decide, Heather, if this was the unluckiest little kid or the luckiest kid I've ever met.
(LAUGHER)
ROMANS: I mean, the chances of having the pencil go through right through that soft tissue but not hit anything major, you must be horrified and relieved at the same time.
HEATHER TINSDALE: Yes. It was definitely -- it was insane. It was the craziest thing we've heard.
(CROSSTALK)
HEATHER TINSDALE: I mean, you just look at him.
ROMANS: He looks like a great little kid. He's wearing glasses, really just to protect his eyes, right?
HEATHER TINSDALE: Yes.
ROMANS: Does he have any eyesight loss? How's he doing?
HEATHER TINSDALE: He does. He has a little eyesight -- he has 2400 vision in one eye. But he's doing good. He's tracking better. He's actually -- he's back to his normal self. He's playing hockey again and he's back to school. So he's adjusted so well.
ROMANS: And, Keegan, when you were at Cardon Children Medical Center -- Keegan, I don't know how talkative you are. 4 years old, that is a tough age, but -- especially for predictability of toddlers. But, Keegan, did you get to meet some hockey players when you were at the hospital?
KEEGAN TINSDALE: Did you see the hockey players? Who did you meet? Who did you meet?
KEITH TINSDALE, FATHER OF KEEGAN: Did you meet some favorites (ph)?
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
TINSDALE: He's shy.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: He is so shy. I'm telling you, I got kids that age. They would never even sit there.
I want to bring in CNN senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen. She's in Atlanta this morning.
Elizabeth, how crucial was this surgery in removing this from this little guy's eye? This must have been a pretty delicate procedure?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. A call out to Lisa Consuelo (ph), who was his surgeon at Cardon, because that pencil, Christine, was about a millimeter and a half away from his internal carotid artery. If it had gotten to that artery and poked it, he could have died. He could have bled out. So in the surgery, if she had made one false little move, she could have put it -- the surgeon could have put into that artery. But she didn't. She got it out safely. She said when she took it out, there was a gush of blood, which made her obviously, extremely nervous. But it turned out it was just blood from the initial injury. It wasn't blood from that internal artery. And she controlled the blood. As you can see, he was fine.
It's interesting. We asked Dr. Consuelo, was this a complicated surgery, and she said, no, not really, it came out pretty easily. It was about half an hour. The real sort of anxiety time was just making sure that she didn't nick that artery.
ROMANS: Elizabeth, you're a mom, too. All the things you could think of that could happen to your kids, this is not one of them. How many times have you heard your mom say, you better slow down, you're going to poke yourself in the eye? I'll tell you, this little guy was just sitting there writing his letters, Elizabeth?
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: Unlucky and lucky at the same time.
COHEN: Right, he wasn't even running around anywhere. The thing is, you never know. Christine, as the mother of three boys, you will not be surprised to hear that --
(LAUGHTER)
-- three-quarters of the injures like this in children are boys.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: Oh, great. Says the mother of girls.
Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.
Keith, Heather and Keegan Tinsdale, we thank you so much for bringing your story this morning. We are so glad that it's working out, and we hope he can recover more of that eyesight, and everything works well for him. He's a cute little guy. Looks tough.
Thanks, guys. Have a great day. TINSDALE: Thank you.
KEITH TINSDALE: Thank you.
ROMANS: By, Keegan.
KEITH TINSDALE: Say bye, Keegan.
ROMANS: Oh.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: That's a great story. It's always a miracle, growing up as boy, and with my boy friends, how we made it this far without serious, serious injury, when you think of all the near misses we had.
ROMANS: The day's still young, Velshi.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: All right, top stories just ahead and today's "Romans' Numeral," 49 percent. Here's a hint. It's all about getting your name and message out there.
It's 49 after the hour.
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VELSHI: Fifty-one minutes after the hour. Here's what you need to know to start your day.
Bracing for Hurricane Jova a long Mexico's Pacific coast. It is expected to make landfall later today. Forecasters say the Category 3 storm could be even stronger by the time it makes landfall.
Public health officials in California say Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs, died of respiratory arrest brought on by a pancreatic tumor. Apple says its employees will celebrate Jobs' life at a memorial event on October 19th.
The trial of accused underwear bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutalleb, begins this morning with opening statements. He is charged with trying to blow up a passenger plane on Christmas day in 2009.
The Michael Jackson death trial resumes today. They'll playing the rest of Dr. Conrad Murray's audio-taped statement to police made two days after Jackson died.
The start of the NBA season wiped out by a labor strike. League Commissioner David Stern has canceled the first two weeks of regular season games after owners and players failed to agree on a deal to end the more than 100-day-old lockout.
In the baseball playoffs, Nelson Cruz followed his game-tying homer in the seventh with a walk-off grand slam in the 11th inning to give the Texas Rangers a 2-0 lead on the Detroit Tigers in the American League Championship Series. But as Carol will tell you, it's not over until it's over. In the NLCS, Albert Pujols led the Saint Louis Cardinals in a rout of Milwaukee, 12-3, to even their series at one game apiece.
You're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING is back in 60 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: All right, welcome back. This morning's "Roman's Numeral," the number in the news today. The number is 49 percent.
COSTELLO: Uh-uh.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: The number of men in the world.
VELSHI: That's good. That's a good guess.
ROMANS: Actually, it's a lot of different things. But it's actually, today, the percentage of people who say they have never heard of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Right? That's according to the ORC International poll, which means 51 percent have. Right? More than half have.
If you are wondering how this compares to other things, say, the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, a poll last month found that 42 percent knew of him, had an opinion of the Fed chief.
VELSHI: More than Occupy Wall Street?
ROMANS: So more people know of the Fed chief.
VELSHI: And the Occupy Wall Street people will tell you that the only reason 49 percent of people know it is because they feel like a lot of mainstream media has avoided the issue.
ROMANS: They have been after you a little bit about that, haven't they?
VELSHI: Yes. We haven't avoided the issue. We got a tweet three minutes ago saying, why aren't you covering the arrest in Boston. I felt like saying, well, why don't you watch our TV show because we actually are. So a lot of people just tweet that they hate the mainstream media, even though the mainstream media is covering this quite effectively.
And credit to the Occupy Wall Street folks, they have been going on so long about this, it's unignorable.
COSTELLO: I thought it was very interesting that more people know about Occupy Wall Street than the Fed chief.
(CROSSTALK) ROMANS: That just shows you the movement is really resonating.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: -- Alan Greenspan was the Fed chief for ever and ever and ever. Like, nobody would ever know Ben Bernanke, really. That doesn't surprise me. But that's because you're --
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: We asked you to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning, are you sold on the president's jobs plan?
This from Edward, "The close to trillion dollars that was allocated in the first jobs bill didn't create a lot of jobs. The government cannot create sustained economic value. Businesses need to create value. The government needs to create an environment for business to thrive, not throw money at a problem for political sake. Estimates in the first round said it took about $250,000 to create one job. We would be better off giving that money to people who need it."
This from Renee, "What is wrong with the rich paying more taxes? Men and women all around the country are willing to work hard for their earnings and pay the taxes that come with them. Why is it OK for millionaires to not pay as many taxes when there are thousands of people in need of jobs"?
This from Dennis, "I'm sold on it. And most Americans are sold on it. The problem is the GOP members of Congress aren't sold on it, and they won't be until they're voted out of office. The world is quite aware that our GOP protects the healthy on the backs of the once-middle class."
And this from Ann, "Yes, I am sold on the president's jobs plan. This will give the economy a much-need boost. We need the infrastructure repairs desperately and construction workers need jobs. How many bridges have to fall before we do something to make them safer? Pass the jobs bill."
Facebook.com/Americanmorning. Keep the conversation going.
Most polls do show that, I guess, 75 percent of Americans are for the president's jobs bill, and that's kind of reflected in our comments this morning.
ROMANS: Why does he keep saying he's taking it straight to the American people, that he wants to take it straight to the American people, but the people in the House and the Senate who are the ones that decide whether it happens, so I don't know where that --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Well, if it became a ground-swell movement, if folks sort of said let's really push our congressman on it, but that doesn't seem to be happening at the moment. So while polls indicate people are in support of it, they're not really doing anything to enforce their --
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Well, I think the president was hoping voters would put pressure --
VELSHI: Right.
COSTELLO: -- on Congress to do something.
VELSHI: To get it done, right.
COSTELLO: But that's not quite working.
VELSHI: Coming up ahead in the next hour, you still do have a choice. We'll tell you the top-five jobs you can jump to if you want to get into an industry that's growing.
ROMANS: And how are the Chilean miners doing? All of them talking about selling movie rights, making millions, free sunglasses, and never having to work again. Life out of the mine, much different. We'll have a special update on their lives one year later.
You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. It's 57 minutes after the hour.
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