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CNN Saturday Morning News
Washington Leaders Meet at White House Today; Norway Police Planning on Charging One Man For Both Attacks; Media Reporting a Possible Second Attacker Involved in Norway Killings; How Should Everyday Americans Prepare Themselves For the Nation's Default?
Aired July 23, 2011 - 07:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: We have just over a week left until the government will not be able to pay all of its bills. President Obama now saying he has been left at the altar. It got crazy in Washington, D.C. yesterday with the president and house speaker calling each other out in dueling news conferences. These two are going to have to see each other at the White House here in just a couple of hours. We have details for you.
Plus, if there is no deal on the debt ceiling, it could mean higher taxes, higher interest rates, and cut backs. So what should you do to prepare, just in case. Five things you need to know, our Clyde Anderson has that.>
Also, ladies, how tall are you? I ask this for a reason. Your height may have a connection to your chances of developing cancer. We will explain that.
Good morning to you all, I'm T.J. Holmes. So glad you are able to be with us here on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
Can you believe what was going on in Washington, D.C. last night? Maybe you were out last night, watching a movie, new "Harry Potter," maybe. Maybe you were out having dinner. But the leaders of the free world, you know what they were doing last night? Bickering. Back and forth in dueling news conferences; both sides blaming each other for no deal on the debt ceiling.
And what is going to happen here, in a little bit? At the White House, the president will sit down with these congressional leaders, even though, John Boehner, the House speaker, walked away from debt talks yesterday. The president called him back to the White House today.
At 11:00 o'clock this morning, just a few hours from now, they are supposed to go back. Both sides say they are confident a deal still is going to get done before that August 2nd deadline. They seem to be waiting for the other guy to blink. Listen to both sides from last night.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My expectation was that Speaker Boehner was going to be willing to go to his caucus and ask them to do the tough thing, but the right thing. I think it has proven difficult for Speaker Boehner to do that. I have been left at the altar now for a couple of times.
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), HOUSE SPEAKER: Dealing with the White House is dealing with a bowl of Jell-O. Let me just say that the White House moved the goal post. They refused to get serious about cutting spending and making the tough choices that are facing our country on entitlement reform. That is the bottom line.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right. Let me bring in our congressional-excuse me, not the congressional correspondent any more-our white House Correspondent Brianna Keilar.
Forgive me this morning, Brianna. She is at the White House for us. Hello, to you, as always. Good to see you.
The White House, the president, or Boehner, Speaker Boehner, walks away, but then he is called right back. What is supposed to happen at this meeting today?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: This is a bit of an emergency meeting. We heard the speaker say he is walking away from discussions with the White House, and now he is turning to Congress. He will work out a deal with Senate leaders.
And, T.J., they have been working on a more modest plan, that fallback plan that Mitch McConnell, the top Republican, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the top Democrat, have been working on. That will be the basis for their discussions.
But this is the president calling all of these folks back, and he said he is going to say to them, explain to me how you plan to increase the debt ceiling, because we are several days out here and there is not a clear path to an agreement, T.J. It is getting pretty nerve wracking.
HOLMES: OK, we are watching this closely thing. We have been watching it probably a little more closely than Americans have. You and I, certainly, watching every minute of this. But last night, it just seemed to take a weird turn, Brianna, with the dueling news conferences and the president cannot get a call back from Speaker Boehner. I mean, is this another in a series of turning points? This one certainly felt different to me.
KEILAR: This was and I think that was because you have seen the dynamic between these two men, President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner. They have kind of laid off the sharp barbs. You have House Speaker Boehner saying dealing with the White House-he reiterated a point that he made, it is like Jell-O. They are not serious.
We heard President Obama talking about being left at the altar. I think specifically, looking at President Obama, he was much more frustrated. And White House officials tell us he had tried to get a hold of the speaker earlier in the day, and had waited several hours. Then the White House said they are very-sources say-they are very upset about the timeline because they understand it the speaker was talking to reporters before he called the president to let him know he was backing away from the table.
HOLMES: Brianna Keilar, for us at the White House. Our White House correspondent-hey, you want me here? Which one you want me on? There we are.
All right. Brianna Keilar, we will see you again here shortly. A meeting coming up here in just a few hours at the White House. Another interesting day in D.C., thank you so much.
The other big story out of Washington, D.C. today, the FAA getting no money. Why? Congress took off last night without reauthorizing funding for the Federal Aviation Administration, you know, the FAA. So what does this exactly mean? Well, the transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says air safety is fine. They say the air traffic controllers, although the FAA is out of money, are going to stay on the job. Around 4,000 employees won't be getting paychecks for now. Also some construction projects at airports will have to stop.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAY LAHOOD, SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: One of the highest unemployments is in the construction trades. Why do we want to layoff or suspend more construction workers and our 4,000 employees who do a lot of good work will also be suspended. They live on a paycheck and they have budgets to meet. We have the best aviation system in the world. This is not the way to run it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: What is the hold up? What is the problem? The House Republicans, they wanted to make it harder for Transportation employees to unionize. They also want to cut subsidies to some rural airports.
We are about 10 minutes past the hour. Turning now to a still- breaking story out of Norway where at least 91 people are dead at the hand of what may have been a lone gunman. This kind of attack kind of brings up-and some of the images you are seeing right now, bring back memories of Timothy McVeigh in Oklahoma City.
Let's explain here. This is what you are seeing and it is a result of a first massive explosion in Oslo, the capital. But then came an attack at a youth camp on an island about 20 miles away. In that attack, witnesses say Anders Behring Breivik-you are seeing his picture there-they say he opened fire on a crowd that had gathered to hear more about the initial bombing. He fired into that crowd and then he fired into the water, as people tried to run-to swim to safety. Here is one survivor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADRIAN PRACON, SURVIVED ATTACK AT YOUTH CAMP: He was yelling, he is going to kill you all and we all should die. So, he pointed the gun at me, but he did not pull the trigger. He left and returned maybe an hour later when a few other people had found me and gathered around me. Then the people started running around because they did not know where to run. He suddenly showed up and he shot almost everyone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Our Diana Magnay is near Utoya Island this morning.
Diana, this is still a fast and moving and developing story, so give us the very latest.
DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'll just show you the geography of where we are now. If you look behind, Utoya is not the nearest island, but it is the one through the point in the distance. We are being kept far away by the police. They are using this point to send off speed boats containing divers who are still searching for bodies in the waters around Utoya. Because, of course, as you just said, the policeman shot into the water at people-at young children who were trying to escape.
And if you look at this setting it really is a sort of tranquil paradise setting. This was an island which belonged to the Labour Party. The prime minister of this country, he is a member of the Labour Party. It was where every year they would have their summer camp. A place for young people 16 to 22, mostly. Some as young as 13 to come and have a good time, discuss political issues for five days. Every year at a particular point, so an easy target to plan, which is presumably what this man did, if this two acts were connected.
And police say that they will charging the suspect they have in custody for both the blast in Oslo, and for this attack, hideous attack, on the island subsequently. We are hearing from the local media there are suggestions there was a second man involved. Eyewitnesses said they saw someone else on the island with him, not dressed as a police officer. They police have said that they are trying to look into whether that and if it is true or not, T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Our Diana Magnay, we will continue to check in with you throughout the morning. Thank you.
We are at 13 minutes past the hour on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
Five things you need to know, five things you should be thinking about right now, just in case Congress doesn't get its act together and increase the debt limit. We are talking to our good friend financial analyst, Clyde Anderson. He is here with me after the break. Stay with me on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: It is 13 minutes past the hour on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
We have a little "push it" going on as we show the White House. There is a reason for that. They might just be pushing it on down the road, maybe kicking the can, we could say, as well.
But there will be another meeting at that White House in just few hours, between the House Speaker, and other congressional leaders, and the president. This is after John Boehner, the House Speaker, walked away from deals-dealing with the White House on the debt crisis talks. He said he was going to just go deal with congressional leaders, but the president called him right back to the White House today. Again, we are only about a week away before the government says they won't be able to pay all of their deals-all of their bills, I should say.
Now, we have been told that if this deal is not reached that interest rates could rise, and the value of the dollar could decline. Take a listen now to Jay Powell, the former undersecretary of Treasury.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY POWELL, FMR. UNDERSECRETARY OF THE TREASURY: The consequences will appear over time in the form of higher interest rates which will play into mortgage payments and car payments and interest rates, and frankly into the broader economy. This will set the economy back, higher interest rates and all this turmoil. You will not see good economic growth. You will see a blow to the economy because of this downgrade, if it happens, which it seems like it will.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: OK, you hearing-and Clyde Anderson our financial analyst here joining me as always.
Good to have you.
We are hearing all of these big Armageddon.
CLYDE ANDERSON, FINANCIAL ANALYST: Yeah.
HOLMES: All this, what will happen to the overall economy. But should we be preparing ourselves? There are things we could be doing right now to-
ANDERSON: Exactly.
HOLMES: Just in case.
ANDERSON: Exactly.
HOLMES: And we are going to get to several of these. We will get to the interest rates. I know a lot of people are concerned about. But let's start with simply the stock market. People are concerned about investments right now.
ANDERSON: Yeah.
HOLMES: Should they be making a move, trying to do something?
ANDERSON: It is one of the things you don't want to be scared. If you are an investor, you are going to invest. When you think about it, when the market is down a lot of times that is when a lot of investors do well. On the average the stock markets gain between 9 and 10 percent, on average. So, you don't want to pull out or panic. Definitely, that is not the way to play the game.
HOLMES: What at this point about safe assets? What are the safe assets right now, anyway?
ANDERSON: I like the term safe assets. It makes me feel good. You are talking about gold. Gold is one of the safest assets. If you think about what gold has done. Gold is trading at somewhere around $1,600. So that is for an ounce of gold. So we are seeing it pop up all over the place. People are wondering about what is this thing, about we buy gold. Gold is a great asset right now. If the market goes down, because crisis happens, gold will go up even more.
HOLMES: OK, there is a reason we are seeing the commercials.
ANDERSON: There is a reason for that. I want to talk about that some more.
HOLMES: Let's turn to the tax gains. How are we supposed to be preparing here?
ANDERSON: One thing about tax gains-well, what we want to look at is the Roth. Roth has changed recently. A lot of people are investing in IRAs. Now, Roth doesn't require you-it is not a cap on it. So, you can make over $100,000 a year, and invest more into that Roth IRA. But Roth IRA have an, on front, you pay taxes up front instead of when you pull out.
So, with this crisis, what we can see is taxes increase. So, if you go ahead and take a penalty now to transfer from your regular IRA to a Roth, you can avoid those increased taxes later on when you decide to pull that money out. For example, if you are getting taxed at 20 or 25 percent, when taxes go up to 45 percent, then you are going to get taxed at that 45 percent on your other investments.
HOLMES: OK, that is a very good point and a practical one. If you want to take a hit, you might want to go ahead and take it now.
ANDERSON: The lesser of the evils.
HOLMES: Good point. This is the other one that a lot of people are concerned about. It has to do with interest rates. People are wondering, should I make a big purchase right now, or should I hold off?
ANDERSON: This is the time to do it. Pull the trigger.
HOLMES: This is the time.
ANDERSON: This is the time to do it, right now. Houses, I mean, the values, you are there, as far as the prices, they're great. Why not go ahead and take advantage while interest rates are still low. Because we have heard everybody talk about, now this happens, the interest rates will go up. The bond market is going to take a hit. So when the bond market takes this hit the banks have to recover. They have about 90 percent that they are paying, or covering, on investing in mortgages right now. When it happens, they will feel the crunch and they are going to take it up in those interest rates.
HOLMES: We have talked about these interest rates. But would this be something that would happen over time, or even weeks, or months?
ANDERSON: It can quickly. It can happen overnight. You can wake up and rates are high. What they are talking about now is our ratings being in jeopardy, our Triple A rating. That is like saying the government has bad credit. If you have bad credit, you will pay more interest on things.
HOLMES: My goodness, the whole country has bad credit. The last thing here, your retirement account?
ANDERSON: Yes, your retirement account. You want to keep an eye on it. We just talked about the bonds. We just talked about how they could take a hit. A lot of people have bonds or government-backed securities inside their retirement accounts. If these take a hit, you will lose a lot of money in those retirement accounts. You definitely want to talk to your broker, you want to talk to whoever handles your retirement account. See what you have invested in. Just get a good picture. Don't be blind into this. Make sure you understand what you are stepping into right now.
HOLMES: Good information. We spent the past several weekends about the debt ceiling and these talks. I wish they would give us something else to talk about, Clyde.
ANDERSON: Best reality TV out there.
HOLMES: Right. Appreciate you as always, buddy.
You like tall women?
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: You better not answer that question.
ANDERSON: Is that a set up?
HOLMES: It is a set up. It is always a set up. I asked him that question and I asked ladies that question, how tall are you for a serious reason, actually. Because your height may have a connection to your chances of developing cancer. Another new study out you need to know about. It is 22 minutes past the hour on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We have a new study out there that suggests that taller women are at greater risk for developing 10 different types of cancers. This research was done in England. It was published in the journal "Lancet." They analyzed information about more than 1 million women, who were part of a five-year long health study.
The research found that for every four-inch increase in height, the risk of these 10 different cancers go up. The tallest group of women they were looking at were at 5'9" or taller. Turns out they were 37 percent more likely for breast cancer.
Now, a lot of people may be listening to this and thinking whoa, do I need to go out and get some kind of a check up? Well, not necessarily. They are saying don't rush out. They establish here what they say is a "link," but not necessarily a direct correlation between the two. Still, something else to keep an eye on.
We are about 27 minutes past the hour now. The NFL lockout? Forget about it. The NFL is facing a lawsuit from former players for still feeling effects of their playing days. The good doctor starts right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
