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American Morning
IndyCar Racer Dan Wheldon Dies in Racing Accident; Search for Missing Baby in Missouri Continues; One Health Care Reform Law Program Dropped; Cardinals, Rangers in World Series; Arrest After Boston Apartment Blaze; Mentally Ill Adults Held Captive; Indy Car Tragedy; Speed That Kills; Who is Herman Cain?; Obama Administration Drops Part of Health Care Plan for Long-Term Care; Researchers Say Money Can't Buy Love; Low Interest Rates Make Great Time to Refinance
Aired October 17, 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)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Speed that kills. An IndyCar champion dies after tires touch and cars fly into the air at over 200 miles an hour. We will speak to a driver who knew him.
ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Where is Baby Lisa? The National Guard is now joining the search for an 11-month- old baby. New twist and turns in the two-week old case. A huge reward is now being offered for her safe return.
ROMANS: A weekend of unrest. Protest spreading to four continents as Occupy Wall Street turns one month old.
CHO: And from that pizza guy at the bottom of the polls to GOP frontrunner. We'll take a serious look at the surging candidate, Herman Cain. Can he ride 9-9-9 to the nomination on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: And good morning, everyone. It's Monday, October 17th. Ali is off. Carol is on assignment, on her way to Las Vegas for the big debate. Alina Cho joins us today. Good morning.
CHO: Good morning, Christine. And we begin with a tragedy on the track. Indy 500 champion Dan Wheldon died in one of the worst crashes the sport has ever seen. It happened yesterday in Las Vegas. IndyCar going into the off-season with a horrible reminder how fragile life can be and just how dangerous the sport is. Our Carlos Diaz has new details from Las Vegas.
CARLOS DIAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alina and Christine, fans from Indianapolis to here in Las Vegas to all over the world are still shocked this morning at the death of one of the most famous IndyCar racers today Dan Wheldon. Dan Wheldon passed away right here in turn two yesterday after a 15 car massive pileup crash you just saw, and he was airlifted to a hospital.
Dan Wheldon was one of the most successful drivers on the circuit, won the Indianapolis 500 this year, and now he is remembered for all of the things he's done. Dan Wheldon said before this race it was going to be very intense.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN WHELDON, INDYCAR RACER: It's incredibly intense around this racetrack. We're doing speeds in excess of 225 miles an hour. With this race, you never know what's going to happen. So it's about staying focused and you really don't ever let off the power unless you have to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DIAZ: The Las Vegas motor speedway is a mile and a half oval. To put things in perspective, the Indianapolis motor speedway is 2.5 miles. So basically you have a much smaller track and much higher bank turns here at the Las Vegas motor speedway. When you have a number of cars going 220 miles an hour, some bad things are likely to happen, and that's what happened here yesterday, a horrific crash, one that Danica Patrick said was one of the worst she's seen in all of her years of racing.
And once again, fans mourning all over the world. We'll have fan reaction all morning long. And I knew Dan Wheldon as a person. I'll be telling you stories all morning long about Dan Wheldon, the father, Dan Wheldon the husband, and Dan Wheldon the champion, coming up all morning. Alina and Christine?
CHO: Carlos Diaz, thank you very much.
Coming up at 7:30 eastern time we'll speak to former IndyCar driver Lyn St. James. Lyn knew Dan Wheldon and has witnessed tragedy at 225 miles per hour many times before.
ROMANS: Other our big story this morning, images of protests against Wall Street, big banks, and corporations now coming in from all over the world. The movement is now a month old. And while most of the protests have been peaceful, in Washington D.C. 19 people were arrested yesterday including, professor and civil rights activist Cornell West after they refused to leave the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court. A message posted to his Twitter account says he's been ordered to appear in court this afternoon.
CHO: Here in New York, thousands surged into Times Square Saturday night, 78 people were arrested, and last night, 14 more, handcuffed for violating a midnight curfew at the city's Washington Square Park.
ROMANS: In Rome that city's mayor says it will cost them $1.4 million to clean up after rioters shattered store windows and set businesses and cars on fire. Police officers were among the injured.
CHO: And the movement against corporate greed even spreading as far as the Alaskan tundra. Take a look at this. A woman named Diane McGeetrin (ph) took this picture and posted it on the Occupy Wall Street Facebook. The image has now been shared more than 5,000 times. ROMANS: Now to the search for a missing baby in Kansas City, Missouri. The National Guard lending a hand yesterday in the search for 11-month-old Lisa Irwin who disappeared from her home two weeks ago. A big reward is offered for the baby's safe return.
CNN's Jim Spellman is following developments and live in Kansas City. Good morning, Jim. And what's so profoundly troubling about this case is it feels as if they're not making any progress now. The baby's gone. They think that maybe the baby had been taken out through a window. Is there any ground being covered here?
JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Christine. That's the frustrating thing for investigators and for everybody hoping for a safe return of baby Lisa. It was two weeks ago around 10:30 at night the mother, Deborah Bradley, says was the last time she saw baby Lisa. At 4:30 a.m., the father comes home from working the nightshift. The baby's gone. They call police. The search begins.
They've searched everywhere in this area. They're interviewed the family of course, anybody they thought might have any information, and nothing seems to be leading anywhere. That's why they decided to get fresh eyes on the case. They brought in this National Guard unit, 25 people specially trained military police officers to go through some of the areas they'd already searched before hoping that they can generate any clue to start to make some sort of progress. They join the FBI in that investigation. Here's what the FBI told us yesterday.
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BRIDGET PATTON, FBI SPOKESWOMAN: What we're looking at here is we have searched this area. We have new people out here, fresh eyes looking at the area that we've already searched, you know, definitely being thorough, doing our due diligence and making sure we have fresh eyes out there. Maybe there's something we didn't see the first time we searched it.
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SPELLMAN: I got a chance to go into the woods after they cleated their search. Really tough work, thick vines. They went over this inch by inch trying to find any new clues. No indication that they got anything there. I think they're right back where they were before the weekend trying to just generate anything that will lead to clues and hopefully find baby Lisa. Christine?
ROMANS: Has there been any real suspects or persons of interest in this case? I know that the parents stopped talking to investigators because the interrogations were so intense, the interrogations were so intense. But they have never named the parents or anybody else for that matter?
SPELLMAN: They haven't. And the police are being very circumspect. They're not saying a lot about that angle and allegations with the family, where that might be going. But there was a homeless man was seen in the weekend arrested over the weekend on an unrelated warrant. Every time a lead pops up, seems they clear it and are back to square one. Christine?
ROMANS: Jim Spellman in Kansas City, thanks.
CHO: Baffling case.
Three people have been arrested in Philadelphia for allegedly holding four mentally ill adults captive in the basement of an apartment building. The suspects face multiple charges including kidnapping. Police say they were out to steal the victims' Social Security checks and that's why they were being held. The building's landlord found them locked in a 10 by 15 foot room on Saturday malnourished and within a day or two of dying. It is believed the four adults were taken from Texas to west Paul beach, Florida, before arriving in Philadelphia earlier this month.
Later this morning, Gary Giordano will be in a courtroom in Aruba trying to win his release from prison. That Maryland man is a suspect in the disappearance of his travel companion, a woman named Robyn Gardner. His lawyer saying there's not enough evidence to hold him. Giordano claims he was snorkeling with Gardner on the Caribbean island back in August when she disappeared.
There's a delay in the trial of Michael Jackson's doctor. Testimony is on hold because the father of the prosecution's final witness died. There's no word from the court when the trial will resume. But even with the delay, the involuntary manslaughter case against Dr. Conrad Murray is expected to go to the jury early next week.
ROMANS: President Obama hits the road again today, his three-day bus trip, part of an effort to get Congress to pass elements of his jobs Bill after being defeated in the Senate last week. The president will make several stops in North Carolina and Virginia.
And Las Vegas is the setting and the economy is likely to dominate the conversation during tomorrow night's CNN Western Republican debate. Nevada always a critical state in the presidential election. This time though the unemployment rate is 13.4 percent, the highest in the country. And the home foreclosure rate in Nevada is also the worst in the nation. Tomorrow night CNN will host the Western Republican presidential debate in Las Vegas. Anderson Cooper will moderate at 8:00 p.m. eastern time right here on CNN. And our very own Carol Costello will be attending the debate. She's going to have all the morning after analysis.
CHO: We look forward to that.
And 48 years later, just a stone's throw from where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I have a Dream" speech, a granite memorial, a monument now stands in his honor. It's 30 feet high. The MLK memorial was dedicated on Washington's National Mall yesterday, President Obama among the people there paying tribute. He urged Americans to live Dr. King's ideals.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That is why we honor this man, because he had faith in us. And that is why he belongs on this mall, because he saw what we might become.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a day that all Americans can be proud of. And may I remind thaw this is not just a celebration for African-Americans, but for Americans and citizens around this world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: The ceremony honoring Dr. King was originally scheduled for August but was postponed because of hurricane Irene.
ROMANS: Still to come this morning a key part of the president's health care reform bill has suddenly been scrapped. The White House says it would have been too costly. How the change will impact you, ahead.
CHO: Plus, it's said to be the project that Steve Jobs focused his final efforts on. We'll tell what you that is and when it's rumored to hit the store shelves.
ROMANS: And the World Series is set as a team pulled off a miracle to even make the playoffs will be there. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. It's 10 minutes after the hour.
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ROMANS: Welcome back to American. The Obama administration is dropping a key initiative of the president's new health care reform law before it even gets off the ground. The voluntary insurance program was supposed to help people pay for long term medical care in their home or in a nursing home. And now the administration says it will be simply too expensive and unwieldy to actually implement.
Let's bring in senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. Elizabeth, this was a lifelong dream of Ted Kennedy. This was part of what he wanted health care reform to have, a way to save money so your family isn't burdened longer term about the very high cost of long- term care. How was this long-term insurance plan supposed to work?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, this was a dream for many people. This is one of the most insurmountable problems in health care in this country today, that you work hard all your life, save money, and then you end up in a nursing home, and the costs are devastating unless you're basically a multibillionaire.
Take a look at these costs. They will make your jaw drop. A year in a nursing home in this country on average costs $75,000 a year. Who can afford that? A year of home health care, having people come to your home and take care of you, $18,000 a year.
And Christine, here's the kicker. Most don't know this. Medicare doesn't pay. They think, oh, Medicare will pay that. I'll over 65. Medicare does not pay for long-term care. And Medicaid only pays if you are poor. So the theory here was that while you were working you would pay, say, $200, $300, $400 a month for the insurance and it would kick in once you were older.
ROMANS: Problem is, they found that -- they didn't think enough young, healthy people would voluntarily sign up to take money out of their paycheck to fund this because young healthy people don't think about long term care. They didn't think they'd ever be able to get this thing funded the right way.
And it's interesting as well, the number you show, about $75,000 a year, depending on the nursing facility it is, that's with a roommate. That's not with a private room.
COHEN: Right. It's not fancy.
ROMANS: If you want -- right. It's really tough and most families don't have enough money. So what's the political fallout been so far?
COHEN: Well, Republicans are saying, I told you so. And Republicans are saying, we knew that this would never work. We knew that young people weren't going to take $300, $400 out of their paycheck in order to save for something they might need. Because, you know, most of us will need this, but not everyone's going to need it.
AARP on the other hand is really urging the administration to try again. They say, look, this is our best bet for making this work, let's -- let's keep going, let's keep at it. But the administration has basically said, no. We're -- we're done with this where we --
ROMANS: Can they do that? Because it's law. I mean, it is law that this -- the class act, what it's called, and it's part of the Health Care Reform Law. So can the administration decide what parts of law it can and cannot implement?
COHEN: Well, you know, that's an interesting question and I think what they can do is that they can look at things and see if something is financially not feasible, and say, look. Let's say someone did sign up for this. Let's say we -- we said, yes, we're going to go for this. Well, what happened is, 10 years from now, there'll no money for these people.
ROMANS: Yes.
COHEN: So you don't want to start a program and have people pay in now so that 10 years later you can say, sorry, you ran out of money.
ROMANS: It does open a broader discussion I think that we should continue to have here about long-term care, how we pay for it, how expensive these policies are. A lot of people can get long-term care insurance through their companies.
But the older you are and the less healthy you are, the harder it is and more expensive it is to get long-term care insurance. And we're facing, Elizabeth, a tsunami of people who are growing older, who have all kinds of -- all kinds of illnesses and all kinds of care needs, and we don't have the money and we don't have the infrastructure, really, to take care of it.
COHEN: Right. Christine, it's a perfect storm in a terrible way. We have more and more people living into their 80s and 90s and beyond and we also have more and more medical care. So these people are living longer. All of us are living longer and we've got all of this expensive medical care, and, you know, how are we going to pay for this?
And, again, you can work hard all your life. You can save all your life.
ROMANS: Right.
COHEN: And you can still be in huge trouble when you -- you need this kind of care.
ROMANS: I know in your book, "Empowered Patient," you have a lot of interesting stuff. In my book about money and families, you know, I found that the average family spends $5,500 per elderly or disabled relative they have out of their own pockets, because this is a family issue.
COHEN: Right.
ROMANS: This is not just the person who needs the care. The whole family usually steps in. And that's what this class act was supposed to help. It was supposed to help save for those eventualities.
Liz Cohen, thanks so much.
COHEN: Thanks.
ROMANS: Nice to see you this morning.
CHO: Gunfire and explosions rocking the capital of Yemen overnight. Witnesses say government security forces continue to battle opposition troops. Earlier on Sunday, Yemeni soldiers opened fire on demonstrators who were gathering for a march in the capital. Five people killed, 54 others injured according to one medic on the scene.
ROMANS: And piles and piles of trash are littering the streets of Athens, Greece. The city's garbage collectors have now joined the nationwide strikes to protest a new round of tax hikes and spending cuts. The city says it's prepared to bring in private sanitation workers to clean up the mess.
CHO: And Steve Jobs, he was famous for ending Apple events with a line, "one more thing." And as it turns out, guess what? There is one more thing. His final thing may be something called the iPhone 5. You know, the iPhone 4S just came out.
The Web site CNET is reporting that Jobs dedicated all of his time to the new iPhone, which is expected to hit stores sometime next year. CNET reports the new phone will be a complete redesign, both on the inside and the outside.
ROMANS: All right. The World Series is now set. It will be the Texas Rangers and the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cards winning the National League pennant last night by stomping the Brewers in game six. Final score of 12-6. A little more than a month ago, the Cardinals were trailing by more than 10 games in the race for the playoffs.
The Rangers put away the Tigers -- poor Carol -- on Saturday night in game six. It's the Rangers second straight World Series appearance. They're going for their first world title. The Cardinals will be going for their 11th.
CHO: Rob Marciano hasn't watched baseball in months -- since the Yankees were done.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Season's over.
CHO: I would -- you know, had I know you were here in town I would have dressed up.
MARCIANO: Well, please. You don't even have to try. But, you know, maybe I would have wore a Texas hat, maybe, for Carol, but she's not here obviously on assignment. But, you know, that's going to be a good series, for sure. Cards and the Rangers, so we'll see how things --
CHO: What's going on in the weather department?
MARCIANO: Are we doing weather now?
CHO: Oh, yes.
ROMANS: Yes.
MARCIANO: I thought we're here to talk about sports.
ROMANS: Sports.
MARCIANO: Tropical storms. We're still in hurricane season, if you can believe that. Actually it lasts right through November. After Lee, we had a little bit of a respite, Ophelia. And then Felipe. It didn't do a whole lot.
This could be our next storm, which if it -- if it develops, it could be named Rena. But, here's the thing. This late in the season, we had pretty strong upper level winds. And this one may be picked up fairly rapidly. Doesn't really matter, though, about the winds. It's going to be the rain, I think, with this thing.
And they are flying hurricane hunter aircraft into it later on today most likely to see if it develops into a tropical storm -- or develop into a tropical depression or tropical storm. Two to four inches of rainfall potentially with this across parts of Southern Florida, already seeing gusty winds. Rip currents are going to be an issue as well, so flash flood watches have been posted for the southern tip of Florida.
And then regardless of how this storm develops, it will be picked up into the jet stream and rolled up the Northeastern Seaboard as we go through time. Already the radar is filling in across parts of Florida. We do have a little bit of rain across the northeast. But it's mostly just some unsettled weather across parts of upstate New York and through Eastern New England. Mostly just some gusty winds with it.
You felt the fall air this weekend. We'll get more of that today and through tomorrow.
Meanwhile, hot and record-breaking temperatures across parts of the Southern Plains. The winds will be the issue as far as travel delays today, but we shouldn't see a tremendous amount. Maybe an hour or less in some of the spots there across the northeast in through Chicago and Boston and some travel delays across parts of Miami as well.
ROMANS: Hey, happy Monday.
MARCIANO: Hey. Good to see you, guys.
ROMANS: Nice to see you, too.
CHO: Nice to see you.
ROMANS: You should come here more often.
MARCIANO: You mean that?
ROMANS: Yes, I do.
MARCIANO: Or you're just saying that?
ROMANS: No, no. But you're up here for a wedding or something, right, this weekend?
MARCIANO: Yes. Cousin Rudy got married. Congratulations to Rudy and Ashley. It was -- it was quite a party Saturday night.
ROMANS: Awesome. I think he loved it.
CHO: He was (ph).
ROMANS: Thanks, Rob. We're going to talk to you again soon.
Still to come, Herman Cain making a strong run for the Republican nomination, but how much do we really know about the Georgia businessman? CNN is going to take you in-depth next.
CHO: And if you haven't looked into refinancing your mortgage, we'll tell you why now just might be the ideal time.
It's 21 minutes after the hour.
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ROMANS: And welcome back. "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Markets right now on track to pick up where they left off last week. Stock futures trading higher this morning.
You remember just a few weeks ago, we were talking about the markets teetering close to a bear market? Ah. But this morning, the Dow is already at 350 points from the 12,000 mark, so it's going to have a pretty good run here lately.
Uncle Sam has reportedly looking into Google's finances. According to Bloomberg News, the IRS is investigating Google for avoiding taxes by shifting its profits overseas. A spokesman for Google says the investigation is, quote, "a routine inquiry."
It's one of the biggest energy deals in history. Kinder Morgan has agreed to buy El Paso Corporation for $21 billion. The two companies own about 80,000 miles of natural gas pipeline. Experts say the deal could mean higher transport fees, which could result in higher gas prices.
When was the last time you checked your credit report? You know it's something you can do for free, right? Once a year at AnnualCreditReport.com. I'll say it again. AnnualCreditReport.com, it's free. According to a new study by Visa, though, 42 percent of people have never bothered to check their score and that could be costing them thousands of dollars in higher interest payments.
You'll soon be warned the next time you're about to exceed your monthly talk, text or data limit plans, a deal between the government and the wireless industry is expected to be announced today. Under this agreement, wireless carriers will either text you or call you to let you know when you're about to be hit with overage charges.
And IMAX movies are about to get a whole lot brighter. Kodak has reportedly inked a deal to bring its new laser projection technology to a number of IMAX theaters. The agreement is a boost for Kodak, which has struggled in recent years as consumers shift from traditional film to digital cameras.
Don't forget, for the latest news about your money, check out the all-new CNNMoney.com.
AMERICAN MORNING will be right back after this break.
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CHO: Top stories.
New this hour, a suspect is under arrest after a Boston apartment complex went up in flames early this morning. More than dozen people injured including two firefighters and a police officer. The Boston Fire Department says 25 apartments have been affected, but it's not clear how many people were inside of them.
ROMANS: A horrifying discovery in the subbasement of a Philadelphia apartment building. Three suspects have been arrested and charged with locking four mentally ill adults in a 10x15 foot room for up to a week.
Police say they were stealing the victims' Social Security checks. The building's landlord found the four captive malnourished Saturday and with a day or two of death.
CHO: The racing world stunned this morning after a fiery 15-car wreck that claimed the life of IndyCar champion Dan Wheldon. The race was stopped after accident. Emotional drivers returned to the track for a five-lap tribute.
Wheldon was this year's Indianapolis 500 winner. He was a father of two and just 33 years old. Dan Wheldon was our guest after his thrilling Indianapolis 500 victory back in May. He talked about the intensity of the race and the pressure to push your machine to the limit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN WHELDON, INDYCAR RACE CAR DRIVER: It's incredibly intense around this racetrack. We're doing speeds in excess of 225 miles an hour and with this race you just never know what can happen.
So it's about staying focused and you really don't ever let off the power unless you have to, and you know, that's what I wanted to do yesterday, and that's what I did and fortunately I was able to drink milk in victory lane.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Unbelievable. So young, just 33 years old. Joining us now is former IndyCar driver Lyn St. James. She's joining us from Phoenix.
Lyn, good morning and thank you so much for waking up and joining us. You are a seven-time Indy 500 racer, 1992, Indy 500 rookie of the year. You have locked a lot of time on the track. Have you ever seen a pileup like this? Fifteen cars, and what do you think went wrong?
LYN ST. JAMES, FORMER INDY RACE CAR DRIVER: Well, actually I'm making the analogy, it's the perfect storm. It was where everything that happened that came together you know, caused the result, which was that crash and unfortunately the death of Dan.
No one thing actually caused it. So the configuration of the track, 34 cars starting on a 1.5 mile track at those speeds. So, you know, all of that combined and having a driver start at the back that is a champion that really wanted to have a great show.
So all of those elements coming together I think just was like the perfect storm and it was unfortunate. It was tragic, and it was just something that we all wished would never have happened.
CHO: And it happened so early in the race. Just five minutes into the race. Usually you see these things happen towards the end. Now, having said that I want to talk a little more about something you mentioned.
Thirty four cars on the track, a mile and a half track, a very small track and yet a lot of cars. Some people are saying that they believe there were too many cars on that track. Do you believe that?
ST. JAMES: Well, I don't necessarily believe that. I mean, I think 3 -- we run 33 in Indy, but that is a 2.5 mile track, it's a mile longer. It's more on the configuration. That you've got really, really wide racetrack with 20 degrees of banking in the turns, 9 degrees banking on the straightaway.
So you have this momentum and this ability for all the cars to be able to go flat out. So that really takes the car out of the driver's hands. So I don't think it was the number of cars necessarily.
It was just the fact that, you know, it was the speeds and configuration, again, the combination. You know, we can't pick out one thing. People would love to be able to find something to blame it on and it isn't just one thing.
CHO: I know you've spent a lot of time talking to people in the IndyCar community. How is everyone coping this morning?
ST. JAMES: Well, it's really stunned everybody. I don't think I've seen such an outpouring of this type of a loss from so many different factors. Because, you know, Dan came over years ago as a young brash kid from England and we watched him mature into being this absolute consulate professional.
He drove for a number of different teams. So he had friends, from competitor, the crews, the team owners, sponsors, everybody. He touched so many people, and so I think they've cancelled the championship year-end banquet. They did that five-lap tribute, which I think was really appropriate.
So it has touched so many people within our sport and I think it shocked a lot of people and I think it's going to raise that sort of, all who thought it was important to have safety. But I think it's even going to raise the bar for everybody to pay more attention about what we can do to continue to make our sport safer.
It is always going to be a high-risk, dangerous sport. We know that. The people in the sport know that, but we don't want this kind of thing to happen.
CHO: Well, you speak to a lot -- in fact, you train a lot of up and coming young IndyCar drivers and you talk a lot about the dangers of driving a car this fast. Don't you? ST. JAMES: Well, I do, because you know, today young people are starting at 6, 7, 8, 9 years old racing midgets, go-karts, everybody's excited and you know, everybody's having a good tile. You've got families are out there and I certainly support that.
It's a great sport. It encourages teamwork. You learn so much about yourself, but there is the risk attached to it. And so, you know, until you've actually seen a loss like this, and this will be a learning experience even for young drivers that are just sitting there watching it.
I have a young driver that I knew that periled in 1991 and I use that as an example for our young drivers. If you can't reconcile this could in fact happen to you, or these parents could reconcile that this could happen to their kids then they shouldn't be in the sport.
They should pursue something else because it is factor and if you can reconcile, which I did years ago, then you know, you love the sport and you can reconcile this could happen, then you're in it and -- everybody in this sport really recognizes that. You don't want it to happen, but realize it can.
CHO: I think it's clear that Dan Wheldon loved the sport. I remember when we spoke to him just after he won the Indy 500, he was racing to raise awareness for Alzheimer's disease because his mother had recently been diagnosed.
And also just in this last race, he was part of this promotion's deal whereby he would be the last to start and if he won, he would have split the $5 million purse with a fan, and I've been saying that that really speaks to his character.
I mean, isn't that why we have seen such an outpouring? Just people, drivers in tears about this, I mean, he really was beloved. Wasn't he?
ST. JAMES: He was. And he touched everybody that he was, came in contact with or even from the fans. He was really a very, very special guy. He was a really special guy, and you know, I think he had great dreams of what he still wanted to do.
And at the same time at least I can reconcile the fact that he won the Indianapolis 500 twice. My lasting memory will be him drinking that milk. I mean, I'm so glad, that visual, because, you know, sometimes we never get to realize our dreams and goals.
And even though he didn't get them all done, at least he was able to accomplish those, and his legacy is how many people he touched that will remember him forever. And for what he was, how he stood, and that's a great you know, sort of role model, again, for young drivers.
CHO: Two-time Indy 500 winner and, of course, drinking milk for those who don't know at the end ever the race is a time honored tradition at the Indy 500 for the winner. Lyn St. James, I thank you so much for waking up and spending some time with us.
ST. JAMES: Thanks for bringing such attention to this so people know how important it is.
CHO: Thank you.
ROMANS: All right. His take no prisoners attitude and catchy tax plan have sure shaken things up in the Republican Party. You know who I'm talking about.
Herman Cain, but who is he and can he hang around enough to win the Republican nomination? What staying power does he have? CNN has in depth ahead of AMERICAN MORNING. It's 38 minutes after the hour.
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ROMANS: Good morning, Washington. It is mostly cloudy this morning right now, 59. It will be sunny and 74 later on today. It's a nice, crisp fall day warming up in the nation's capital later on.
Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. His blunt no nonsense style and his 9-9-9 tax plan have taken Washington and the Republican Party by storm. But how much do we really know about Herman Cain and does he really have the staying power to win his party's nomination?
Our next guest has a written a terrific article about Cain for cnn.com. Let's go in depth now with CNN contributor, David Frum, and also the editor of frumforum.com. He's joining us live from the nation's capital this morning. Good morning.
DAVID FRUM, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning.
ROMANS: Does he have staying power?
FRUM: He's got a lot -- Herman Cain has a lot of abilities, a lot to like, a sense of humor. He's got real charisma in a race that's been kind of lacking that. He's honed a kind of presentational style and years on talk radio.
But the question that Republicans have to contend with, does this man know what he's talking about? And are they prepared to put so near the presidency someone who really doesn't have a grip on the policy answers.
There's a question. I mean, the style is no nonsense, but the problem is, there's a lot of nonsense in the content.
ROMANS: Well, I mean, is the Republican establishment, I guess, if there is such a thing, are they surprised by how he's climbed up the ranks here?
FRUM: The biggest surprise of the past month has been the collapse of Rick Perry and displacement by Herman Cain. This may not be a permanent change, but if you were something looking for an alternative to Mitt Romney. I don't like the Massachusetts health care plan. I'd like to see a more conservative contender. Don't we have one of these many, many Republican governors who can raise some money and articulate that position?
Rick Perry was supposed to be that person, second biggest state in the country, longest serving governor in Texas history. A man who had supposedly never lost a race he ran in.
Yet, you put him on a national stage and he just melted under the light. That created Cain's opportunity. Cain's got a lot of Perry's weaknesses but a much more appealing style.
ROMANS: I think what most people know about Herman Cain is he's the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza. He says he's got a sense of humor and America needs to learn how to take a joke, which is what he seems to say whenever there's a policy controversy about something he said on the stomp. He's got that tax plan, the 9-9-9 plan. Tell me something I don't know about Herman Cain.
FRUM: Well, you don't know that he was a former chairman of the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Perry was a serious business figure in the 1990s. And he was -- went up to the ranks of the fast food industry, developed this -- bought out this chain from its parent company.
And then became an important regional banker, but in the middle 1990s, he changed careers and he went from the business world to the talk radio world. And that's where the style of this method came from and the kind of careful work that he would have done as a 15-year younger person.
You see it in his famous confrontation with Bill Clinton. There's somebody who's really thought pretty hard about important economic issues. He's not doing that anymore because on talk radio you don't need to do that.
ROMANS: Right, in your opinion piece on CNN, the titled is called "Why Herman Cain Can't Be President?" So that's where you're coming from. But you talk about his lack of management experience in government. And also to some Cain is like a Ross Perot who also didn't have that management experience, but resonated. Something about him resonated, but he also didn't win.
FRUM: Right, obviously, Herman Cain has management experience, but in the private sector. Managing a government agency is a different thing. One thing, you can't fire people. You have to learn how to manage, if you can't fire. That's one of the reasons a lot of business CEOs don't do so well when they get into government.
It's a special kind of thing. Somebody like Rudy Giuliani who ran for president in 2008, he'd been a very effective public administration figure in New York City. Not clear he would do so well in the business world.
They're different streams. So normally, what we look for is, have you had a job as a governor? As a mayor? As a general? Have you run a major public organization?
ROMANS: Right.
FRUM: And presidents tend to have had that experience.
ROMANS: Not the president we have right now through?
FRUM: Well, and if you're a Republican, you could say, exactly, that's the problem. Don't repeat this mistake and make it bigger. All of -- so many of Barack Obama's problems come from he has never run a public organization before.
ROMANS: But the president before that did have a lot of management experience, the second-biggest state in the country. And there are two wars that have spent -- you know, years trying to out of, and also a financial crisis. You could pick your lane, if you want to make that argument.
FRUM: You can.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: I want to talk about the Cain plan.
FRUM: But people -- people usually react against the predecessor. This is doubling down on the predecessor.
ROMANS: Right. Let me ask you quickly. I want to listen to some sound about Cain's tax plan. On the other side, I want you to tell me if there's anything at all not to be made fun of in the 9-9-9. So listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN, (R), MINNESOTA & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When you take the 9-9-9 plan and, you turn it upside-down, I think the devil's in the details.
JON HUNTSMAN, (R), FORMER UTAH GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it's a catchy phrase. In fact, I thought it was the price of a pizza when I first heard it.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": If America's looking for catchy, unworkable solutions to complicated problems, Herman Cain will keep them coming.
(LAUGHTER)
CAIN: How do we fix health care? The 3-3-3 plan. Every time you get sick, three pills, three days off and three chicken-noodle soups.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: America wants simpler tax plans. They a simply tax plan and they say, that's too simple.
(LAUGHTER)
FRUM: Look, there inside this idea is an interesting concept. That probably is in America's future, and that you rely less on the corporate income tax and you rely more on a kind of Value-Added Tax, like they have in Europe. A lot of economists would say if you moved in that direction you would increase national savings, increase national productivity and also, by the way, decrease consumption, which got us -- excess consumption got us into so much trouble.
Cain's own particular math doesn't really work, because it probably won't add up to three digits exactly the same, if you do this right.
(LAUGHTER)
But there's something there. People understand that it's tough medicine because America does not have a national sales tax now. Value-Added Tax would really change the experience of life for a lot of people.
ROMANS: Right.
FRUM: But it has to be integrated into state sales taxes. That will be very difficult to do. And meanwhile, you're doing it to fund a reduction of corporate income taxes. That's a good idea from an economic point of view. Politically, a little tougher sell.
ROMANS: All right, David Frum.
And for some reason, Cain hasn't returned my call for comments on the 9-9-9 plan. But as soon as we know it -- a little economist joke -- but --
(LAUGHTER)
David Frum, thanks.
FRUM: Thank you.
ROMANS: I'll talk to you again soon.
Be sure to read David's opinion piece on Cain. You can find it at CNNmoney.com/opinion. I just tweeted it, so if you find me at chistineromans, you'll be able to see it too.
Be sure to watch CNN tomorrow night at the candidates gather in Las Vegas for the western Republican presidential debate. CNN live tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. eastern. Anderson Cooper will moderate and Carol will be there for all the morning-after analysis. ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: Just ahead on "AMERICAN MORNING," "Sesame Street" YouTube channel taken off-line after being hacked. It's true. You won't believe what was streaming in its place. Could have been brought to you by the letter X. Now, that's a hint.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: And another hint, today's "Roman's Numeral," $74,825. Here's the hint. This is why it's so important to save a plan for your retirement. It's an annual cost that won't be covered by Medicare.
Forty-eight minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Ten minutes before the top of the hour. Here are your morning headlines.
Wall Street may not be on track to extend last week's rally. Right now, U.S. stock futures are trading higher. Well, maybe they are. The gains fueled, in part, by optimism that Europe is getting a better handle on its debt crisis.
President Obama kicks off a three-day bus trip this morning as part of an effort to push lawmakers to pass his jobs bill. The president will make stops in North Carolina and Virginia.
The Occupy Wall Street protest is now entering its 35th day here in New York City. There were a number of rallies held over the weekend in cities across the country and the world. Most but not all of the protests were peaceful.
The racing world mourning the death of IndyCar champion, Dan Wheldon. Wheldon was killed in a fiery 15-car wreck on the track in Las Vegas. He was a father of two and just 33 years old.
"Sesame Street" shocker. The show's YouTube page had to be taken offline after it was hacked. The content was replaced with -- you guessed it -- pornographic videos.
And the St. Louis Cardinals are heading to the World Series. They won game six, beating the Milwaukee Brewers 12-6 last night to advance. It's their 18th trip to the fall classic, and they will play the Texas Rangers.
That's the news you need to know to start your day. AMERICAN MORNING is back after a break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Good morning, New York City. It's cloudy and 56 right now. It will creep higher when the sun comes out. Shines through those clouds later. 67 degrees later on.
This morning's "Roman's Numeral" is a number in the news today, and the number is 74,825. And that's not a one-time cost. That's an annual cost, the price of one year in a nursing home. And that's not a private nursing home room. That's with a shared room. They call it semi-private, but it means you have a roommate. You remember, Friday, the Obama administration dropped part of its health care plan that was designed to help families with the rising cost of long-term care. Workers would have paid about $100 a month into the program and, in exchange, they would have received financial assistance if they became disabled later in life or they needed help in plain old age. Critics argued that the plan was too expensive.
The reason we're bringing you this "Romans' Numeral" is because without this plan, and with, you know, dwindling access to long-term care insurance for some people, you need to keep in mind, that number, almost $75,000 a year, is not covered by Medicare.
CHO: We have a baby boomer population that is aging.
ROMANS: Absolutely.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: How are we going to pay for it? So that's just a number to make you think. That's just a number to make you --
(CROSSTALK)
CHO: That's an extraordinary amount of money.
ROMANS: It really is. It's not in my retirement calculator. When I go on line to figure out how much money I have to save, it doesn't fix in dollar there.
CHO: $75,000.
ROMANS: $75,000 for a couple of years in a nursing home. So this will bankrupt some families unless we figure out a solution.
CHO: We're got to work on that.
Meanwhile, in this morning's "House Call," money can't buy love. And spending too much of it on pricey jewels and fancy cars could make for a rocky marriage. That's right. According to researchers from Brigham Young University, they studied 1,700 couples, they found those who valued money and having lots of things were unhappier and tended to fight more. The study's author says materialistic people may spend more time looking for new things -- interesting -- rather than focusing on the relationship.
ROMANS: And they might be more in debt, and debt makes couples unhappy too.
All right. 30-year fixed rate mortgages at 4.2 percent, 15-year fixed rates at 3.5 percent, a five-year adjustable adjusted at 3 percent. Mortgage rates are hovering around record lows. So is now the time to refinance?
This week's "Smart is the New Rich," we take a look at, if you have a mortgage with an interest rate above 5 percent, you need to be checking into refinancing that mortgage.
Rock bottom rates can spell big savings for homeowners. How big? Consider a house that's $200,000. Three years ago, maybe a 6 percent mortgage rate was common, and the payment, excluding your property tax, was about $1,100 a month. Take the same house, refinance it at 5.5 percent, maybe a year ago, right? Your cost would be $1135 a month. Refinance today at 4.2 percent --
CHO: Wow.
ROMANS: -- the mortgage payment is only $978 a month. That is a savings over the year of $2,650, if you had that same loan at 6 percent. A lower payment, and you would save $79,000 in interest over the life of the loan. That is real money and the math is clear.
So why aren't thousands of people running out to refinance? Because it takes money. Home appraisals can run you upwards of $400. Closing costs can reach a couple of thousand dollars, at a minimum. And it takes time and patience and paperwork. If you bought a year or two ago, maybe your home has lost value or your credit score has dropped, then you're probably frozen out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREG MCBRIDE, FINANCIAL ANALYST: The single biggest impediment to refinancing is the lack of equity that many homeowners have. What it really takes to qualify and get these low rates is good credit, proof of income, and some equity in the home. And it's that lack of equity that's really the main obstacle for so many homeowners.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Yes, and a quarter of the country is underwater. So for them, they won't be able to refinance. But for everyone else who plans to stay in their house a few years, mortgage brokers say do it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELISSA COHN, PRESIDENT, MANHATTAN MORTGAGE: The good thing about lower interest rates and people refinancing, it puts more cash in the consumer's pocket, and hopefully that will get people to start spending and help get this economy to really recover.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The 30-year fixed mortgage is a popular refinancing option. Applications are up for 15-year fixed loans as well. A lot of people are looking at those. Save so much, so much on interest. The advantages of the 15-year, you'll own your home in half the time. You'll build equity faster and you'll pay a lot less in interest. The down side is the monthly payments are higher than with a 30-year fixed.
But for more on saving money on your housing expenses, you check out "Smart is the New Rich."
And I know you just refinanced.
CHO: I did. And I did the math, and you do think about those costs for the appraisals and closing costs and everything, and it is thousands of dollars. But then, when I thought about it, I thought, I'm going to make it up in a year.
ROMANS: Yes.
CHO: And maybe it's only a few hundred dollars that I'm going to save each month, but that adds up fast.
ROMANS: It does. It does add up fast. And did you choose a 15- year?
CHO: I did choose a 15-year mortgage. And --
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: You're going to save a lot in interest on a 15-year.
CHO: It's a bit of a tighter squeeze, but I think it will be worth it in the end. I keep telling myself that.
(LAUGHTER)
Anyway, thank you for the tips though. It's good for people to know.
Your top stories are next. It's 58 minutes after the hour.
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