American Morning

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March 16th, 2009
06:00 AM ET

What's On Tap – Monday March 16, 2009

Hello everyone!

Today kicks off CNN's week-long special report on the economy – Road To Rescue. We are explaining this economic crisis to you in a way only CNN can do. We are cutting out the partisan noise and giving you the information and knowledge needed to successfully navigate these times of uncertainty. Road To Rescue begins on American Morning today and here is some of what we have in store for you:

  • Outrage over AIG distributing 165 million dollars in bonuses to its executives.
  • Bernanke on 60 mins. For the first time in 20 years, a sitting Federal Reserve chairman is interviewed about the nation’s economy.
  • Many unemployed workers looking for a career change are turning to the trucking industry. Because truck driving jobs can pay around $30 thousand to start, and require only three weeks of training, these jobs are now in high demand. Truck driving schools across the nation are seeing an increase in applicants and the American Trucking Association says they are getting some much needed help in finally filling some long-time employment gaps.
  • Craigslist is a mirror of these tough economic times. It started out as a place for people to list the things they wanted to sell or places they had for rent. Now, the ads reflect just how hard the recession has hit home.
  • Free trade is flourishing once more in the Financial District – the hippie commune variety, that is. No money is exchanged at the Free Store, which recently opened at 99 Nassau St., and all the merchandise – which ranges from jewelry and vintage clothing to knickknacks – is literally priceless. To New Yorkers hit hard by the recession, the price and the timing couldn't be more right.
  • How to overcome your fear, anxiety, and depression over the poor economy. Dr. Joy Browne joins us live.
  • How bad is it? The U.S. unemployment rate hit 8.1 percent in February, a 25-year peak. The nation has lost 4.4 million jobs since the recession began in late 2007. How much worse could it get?
  • Where are the jobs in this economy? CNN's Gerri Willis has the latest.
  • Chief Executive Lynn Tilton is credited with turning around MD Helicopters, and has been amassing an empire through investments. She joins us live.
Filed under: What's On Tap
soundoff (12 Responses)
  1. Johnny Clark

    as soon as the ceo's give back the bonus I want the polititions to give back the contrabutions they recieved from aig.

    March 17, 2009 at 7:09 pm |
  2. Paul Ballard

    Some of the problem is that the Obama economic team is from the same culture in Wall Street. I think they were a little tone deaf to the looming public outrage that was bound to erupt once the AIG bonuses were paid out. Perhaps they need some common folk to participate in the oversight.

    March 17, 2009 at 8:52 am |
  3. Robert

    When Nixon was involved with Watergate, it was considered a crime. Then Dubya' decided that it was legal and affectionately gave it the name of "Patriot Act.". Laws can be changed.

    If AIG was shortsighted enough to allow their "bonus" contracts to be created without any sort of contingency plan or failsafe, then it is their problem to deal with the legal fallout. Perhaps they should reward their legal team whom devised the contracts that put them here.

    Jill S. may think that they are worthy of these bonuses because of the poverty level wages paid on Wall street but, since I am without work, insurance, losing my home and struggling, then I don't have to agree to have my tax dollars go to pay the "retention bonuses" for failure.

    I LOST my job and I didn't even have to fail but these leeches get money for irresponsibility. Only in America.

    March 17, 2009 at 8:23 am |
  4. Johnny Clark

    We can't call terrorist terrorist or enemy combatants enemy combatants but we can spend all morning calling men and women with families and bills just like the rest of us who were paid a bonus they will need "becuase it will be a while before they find a job thanks to the goverment" evil. oh yes remember a goverment apointed ceo paid out these bonuses. The goverment gave the money to aig with out strings. who is evil here the people or the goverment well they would realy like for you to think its the people.

    March 17, 2009 at 8:23 am |
  5. bruce mchattie

    I am canadian but watch closely what is happening in the usa, now that bush is out things will get better.My take on reviving the economy
    is too simple but here it is.Over the last 20 years my cost on providing
    for my family has stayed the same except for the cell phone cost.I wonder how much money is spent on this sometimes overrated communication syestem. Wow what a stimulus if cell phone cost where to be adjusted to every american for the next 2 years.Not sure
    how much money these companys make really don't produce anything
    just take money out of the economy?

    March 17, 2009 at 8:14 am |
  6. John Messer

    Good Morning,

    I understand and agree with the outrage over AIG and their bonus policy. My real concern was that yesterday I saw a news report stating that AIG sent billions of dollars, our tax dollars, out their backdoor to European Banks. I feel that this is being muffled by our leaders and very unfortunatly by the news media. Billions vs Millions. I smell a cover-up.

    March 17, 2009 at 8:10 am |
  7. marca bennett

    "Outrage" is an understatement......I agree with Grassley. Let them fall on their sword. Actually I would like to give them a shove. I think I speak for many Americans who have been watching many things that just did not make much sense go on in this country. I am not a rocket scientist however, I have known that somethings were amiss. It was covert and no one seemed to have the courage to question it. I suppose the country had to get into this dire shape for people to wake up to the problems and become angry enought to do something about it. I hope this public anger continues until "transparency" spreads throughout this country. The commoners need to take back this country........it is our money the dirty rats have made off with.
    By the way, I want/demand more that vocal shame for the executives....I want my money back.....

    March 17, 2009 at 8:06 am |
  8. Madazhell

    I am fed up with this so called War on Drugs. It is a total failure and costing the tax payers billions each year. We need to rid the law books of prohibition because it is prohibition that is killing, not marijuana.
    The only way to win this war is to decriminalization, legalization, put a tax on possession and regulate it the best we can.
    In the other countries that has already done this, the crime rate has fallen dramatically and the really good news is we would gain revenue to help our economy, bring back the jobs we outsourced to Canada on hemp products and clean up our prison overcrowding system.
    Alcohol and Tobacco is our two leading killers and they are legal, so why shouldn't marijuana be legal when there is no deaths from use, only from being prohibited that was formed from propaganda.

    March 17, 2009 at 8:02 am |
  9. KPerry

    AIG Bonus......sure they dupped the Gov't, ie the American people into giving them money. In this day of absolutly no integrity ......remember it's a business decision.... they got money for their company. So they deserve a bonus.
    If you want a fix, the entitled American public can start making smart decisions for themselves. Pay attention to our own business, stop expecting the Gov't to fix our lazy attitudes and take our business elsewhere. Let AIG implode under a wave of people who no longer do business with them.

    March 17, 2009 at 7:53 am |
  10. Bev

    I am sick of big bail outs.....what about the little people???
    I wrote to obama with a problem we are having and wow....... shocker... no answer.
    The gov. is taxing my full time high school daughter who has never worked a full day in her short life.Her father died and left her a little bit of money and now the BIG BROTHER is taxing her sovial security.she
    now is in debt to the gov. more than eight thousand dollars.I womder if we can break our contract with Mr. obama.

    March 17, 2009 at 7:23 am |
  11. JOhn

    Why don't you report on why the government understand the "bonus" for AIG execs prior to giving them the money? The auto execs understood they needed to look at the union contracts, but the government does not? this is typical of when government gets involved.. if this was a private investor loaning aig money I bet these details would all have been looked at right away...

    March 17, 2009 at 7:13 am |
  12. Moe

    The question of weather or not AIG should keep their bonuses is just another example of Congress not doing their job. In the first place had these lazy bastards done their job at the beginning, there would have been oversight incorporated and this whole mess never would have started. In the second place… At the time the first stimulus bill came up for vote these same Congressional idiots told us ( the American public) “ OH NO THERE’S NO TIME FOR US TO READ THIS BILL WE ARE IN SUCH A TERRIBLE BIND WE HAVE TO JUST SIGN IT ”. Our elected officials are as stupid as all the people who didn’t read the Sub Prime contracts they signed up for, and are now losing, or have lost their homes.
    As I see it …….The bottom line…. Who is to blame, is the American public. We are the suckers who put these overpaid, under worked, lazy bastards in office in the first place. They collect their same pay till the day they die. They keep their same insurance coverage till the day they die. THEY CAN VOTE THEMSELVES A RAISE ANY TIME THEY LIKE……Oh ya their just doing a fabulous job for us….Let’s make sure in November of 2010 we vote them all back in!!
    And by the way that next Senate vote will be for a SIX YEAR TERMS for thirty- four out of the 100 Senate seats.

    Wake up America

    March 17, 2009 at 6:56 am |
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