American Morning
Fast Forward
The stories that will be making news later today:
The "Discovery" astronauts about to begin their first full day at the International Space Station. The crew is scheduled for a wake-up call at 8:43 am eastern. They're preparing for their first spacewalk on Thursday.
President Obama travels to Southern California this afternoon. He'll hold a town hall meeting in Santa Ana on his economic recovery plan... Then head to Los Angeles. The President is scheduled to make a guest appearance on "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno Thursday before returning to Washington.
And in Washington... Vice President Joe Biden hosts a conference of community leaders from across the country. The group will discuss the best ways of spending the stimulus money. There will be a working dinner tonight at 7 o'clock eastern. And, meetings are scheduled throughout the day tomorrow.
What's on Tap – Wednesday March 18th, 2009
We’re continuing along the Road to Rescue this morning... Some of the biggest names and newsmakers in the economic crisis will join us.
- Donald Trump – He's getting sued again. He recently said the economy is the worst he's ever seen. Would he fire AIG execs?
- Senator Charles Grassley – He's the man who said AIG executives should resign or kill themselves. He's now backing off that a bit. Do you agree with him?
- Congressman Barney Frank – Many say he shares a lot of the blame for helping to put hundreds of thousands of people on the street. Today everyone will be watching Capitol Hill, as he faces off with AIG's CEO.
- McDonald's menu guru Karen Wells – The golden arches are only shining brighter during the economic crisis. Should there be more affordable healthy food on the menu?
- We also have Christine Romans and Gerri Willis taking your calls, e-mails and "tweets."
Here's are some of the big stories we're following for you today: FULL POST
Commentary: "We owe you more"
From Jill Schlesinger, Financial Advisor – Special to CNN's American Morning
Editor’s note: Jill Schlesinger, a certified financial planner, is executive vice president and chief investment officer of StrategicPoint Investment Advisors, which is based in Providence, Rhode Island.
I appeared on CNN's "American Morning" at 7:30 am today, ostensibly to provide commentary about the payment by beleaguered insurance giant AIG of $165 million in bonuses for last year. The interview turned into a brawl as the other guest vilified me and all of Wall Street for the AIG bonuses – in his mind, the compensation issue was in fact the root of the whole financial crisis. I did not get the opportunity to talk about what is missing from that analysis.
I came off the set thinking that we owe you more than a divisive, populist shouting match. Analysts, broadcasters and journalists of varied stripes owe you the nuance of the story, not just the headlines. We need to find the space between the poles that divide us so that we can discuss and understand the grey areas of this complicated and important subject – that is where the truly important policy decisions lie and where the impact on our economic future can be found. So here is the grey area surrounding the AIG bonus/Wall Street compensation story that I was not given the chance to articulate this morning.
'Pay what you want' cafe
All this week we're breaking down the global recession with our "Road to Rescue" coverage.
But we're not just looking at the problems, but talking to people with solutions.
Yesterday, we told you about an Ohio cafe where business is booming... with a "pay what you want" menu.
Sam Lippert – the cafe's owner – joined us live to tell us how it's going
Bad hair days
The roots are growing in. The extensions are coming out. And the era of super-expensive haircuts is now like your 401K—a thing of the past. This immutable reality has salon owners across the country biting their nails as more and more clients decide to skimp on beauty treatments.
“We haven’t seen it this bad in the 22-years we have been,” said the owner of the J.Sisters, a high-end salon in Manhattan, where hair extensions will run you anywhere from $1500 to $3000 and Brazilian bikini waxes (their specialty) are $75.
“People are scared.” It’s no better on the West Coast, according to stylist-to-the-stars Jose Eber. “I’ve been in Beverly Hills for 30 years and it’s never been this bad.”
Salon owners say that clients are stretching the weeks between treatments. “They don’t come as often,” said Eber. “Instead of 4-6 weeks, it’s 10-12 weeks.” And they’re cutting back on everything from blowouts to hairweaves.
Kiran: Tuesday Roundup
Good Morning and Happy St. Patrick's Day,
So our first day here on AM making it easier for you guys to give us feedback - we have our new toll-free phone line 877-MY-AM-FIX, our Facebook page and our Twitter accounts... and boy, did we get an earful!
More than 4000 calls to our hotline, hundreds more people following our tweets on Twitter. We are really trying to make it worth your while by taking your feedback, putting it on the air and answering your questions.
The biggest talker this morning without a doubt is still the AIG bonus outrage.
Things even got heated between our two guests Ryan Mack, President, Optimum Capital Management/Investment Advisor and Jill Schlesinger, Exec VP & Chief Investment Officer of Strategic Point Investment Advisors/Financial Advisor who had very different takes on the issue. Check it out here
A lot of our guests and viewers asked "Why does there seem to be a double standard for AIG?". Other industries and companies were forced to re-negotiate contracts in the face of this financial crisis. Workers were forced to take less money or forego a raise in an effort to keep their company afloat.
The other big question– why didn't the White House or Congress attach more strings before freeing up this bailout (taxpayer) money?
A lot to chew over this morning. But as always we'll keep you posted on what we find out. In the meantime, keep your comments coming.
Cheers,
Kiran
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