American Morning
"I can't begin to tell you how terrible the situation is."
CNN International Correspondent Michael Ware has been tracking the deadly gun battles between drug cartels and Mexican authorities.
He joined us live to discuss President Obama's plan and Secretary Clinton's visit south of the border.
The president's cautious optimism
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/03/16/minding_your_busi_art.jpg caption=" CNN Business Correspondent Christine Romans is Minding Your Business everyday here on amFIX"]
President Barack Obama was poised, confident, even laughing at times during his 60 Minutes interview Sunday night. He expressed confidence in his Treasury Secretary, and even had cautious optimism for the economy. Mortgage rates are historically low, credit-worthy Americans are rushing to refinance their home loans to lower their monthly payments, (if you have not yet, check it out) and finally, look how the President responded to this question by CBS' Steve Kroft:
“Were you surprised at the depth of this recession when you got here? Did you know it was this bad?”
President Obama: “Now–there's a potential silver– silver lining, which may be that things are so accelerated now, the modern economy is so intertwined and– and wired, that things happen really fast– for ill, but things may recover faster than they have in the past”.
Buying toxic bank assets
Today, the Obama administration will roll out its latest plan to tackle the banking crisis and get loans flowing to families and businesses again.
President Obama's Chief Economic Adviser, Christina Romer, joined us live from the White House.
Obama's grassroots troops
President Obama won the election with the help of a vast network of grassroots supporters who organized online and then took their message to the streets.
Now the President is calling on his volunteers once again... to sell more than a campaign.
Community bank boom
Bigger is definitely not better right now in the banking business. We're seeing commercial banks buried under a mountain of debt and needing the government to save them from themselves.
But for some smaller, community-based banks... business is booming.
They may not have the name recognition but some start-up banks say they can provide service that's just as good as the larger chains and they say their customer's money is just as safe.
Fast Forward
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Officials in Fargo, North Dakota are desperately trying to save six thousand homes threatened by the swollen Red River. They need more than a million sandbags to stop the flooding. So far just over 300 thousand have been filled. The river is expected to crest this week at about 40-feet. Flood stage is above 17-feet. Forecasters say more rain is expected over the next several days.
The shuttle "Discovery" astronauts are preparing this morning for their third and final spacewalk scheduled to begin at 11:43 am Eastern time this morning. Two "Discovery" astronauts will try to fix an equipment storage platform that jammed and couldn't be deployed.
At 12:30 pm Eastern President Obama will make the case for investments in clean energy and new technology which are included in his budget. You can see the President's remarks live on CNN or online at CNN.Com/live.
About this Show
Welcome to the American Morning blog where you can get daily news updates from American Morning's reporters and producers. Join us for "the most news in the morning," weekdays from 6-9 a.m. ET, only on CNN.
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