American Morning
Spitzer: Administration 'wrong' on bailouts, bonuses
With elections less than two weeks away, President Obama is busy helping raise millions of dollars for Democrats. He was in New York last night headlining a $30,000 a couple fundraiser and is scheduled to attend four more next week.
With a lot of Wall Street executives in the audience last night, the president made a pitch for regulating financial firms, saying “If there are members of the financial industry in the audience today, I would ask that you join us in passing what are necessary reforms. Don't fight them. Join us on it. This is important for our country.”
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/10/21/spitzer.eliot.art.jpg caption="Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer says Tim Geihtner has not negotiated effectively with the financial industry on behalf of taxpayers."]
Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, once known as the sheriff of Wall Street, has strong views on the Obama administration's financial reforms. He says the administration has “not gone anywhere close to far enough to reform the banking sector.”
Spitzer joined Kiran Chetry on CNN’s “American Morning” Wednesday. Below is an edited transcript of that interview.
Kiran Chetry: It seems a little bit strange that at the same time you're commanding $15,000 a plate from people who can afford it – a lot of big business – you're asking them to reign themselves in. So is there a contradiction there?
Eliot Spitzer: There is, but it's worse than that because the moment to impose the reform was when we gave the industry trillions of dollars. Trillions with a “T.” We gave them all the money and yet have not imposed upon the industry anything close to the necessary reforms that were appropriate. Paul Volcker, you can read it in today's papers, is saying this administration is not going anywhere far enough.
I've been saying – many others, even Alan Greenspan – that we have to restructure banking because they're making millions and millions of dollars, billions of dollars, using our tax dollars to play with it in the marketplace and then taking those profits out in bonuses instead of lending it to the businesses that need the cash and capital to expand. The industry is opposing the fundamental reforms that are necessary. Tim Geithner had all the negotiating power in the world. He didn't use it. Tim Geithner continues to be the voice of Wall Street, not Main Street. This administration has not gone anywhere close to far enough to reform the banking sector.
Talk Radio: Do we need a new Fairness Doctrine?
In the late 1940’s, the Federal Communications Commission decided that it was more likely to grant and renew licenses to broadcasters who offered up more than one point of view to their listeners. That decision came to be known as the Fairness Doctrine.
The doctrine was intended to serve the public interest by having broadcasters offer the public more than one side to controversial issues.
But the Fairness Doctrine didn’t last. With its constitutionality in question, the doctrine was repealed in 1987. Not long after that, conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh took to the AM radio dial and became a hit.
It wasn’t long before other conservative talkers followed his lead. They became so successful they pushed most liberal talkers off the dial. Today, according to Talkers Magazine, 91 percent of talk radio on the AM commercial dial is conservative.
Some say that’s reason enough for the return of the Fairness Doctrine. But, most experts say that’s not likely to happen. There is a new push, however, called “localism.”
Simply put, it means radio stations would be forced to carry more local programming that appeals to local audiences. Right now, big broadcasting companies like Clear Channel Communications, CBS, and others own hundreds of radio stations across the country. They often program syndicated, national shows featuring conservative talkers like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck.
Some say that kind of national programming is not serving some audiences across the country. Randi Rhodes, a syndicated progressive talker, is based in Washington D.C., where 93 percent of voters voted for Barack Obama. Yet, only a small percentage of AM talk radio is liberal or progressive.
FAA probes plane's landing on taxiway
CNN Atlanta Bureau Chief
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) - The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating how an international flight into Atlanta's major airport landed on a taxiway instead of a runway early Monday.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/US/10/21/georgia.taxiway.incursion/art.atl.airport.jpg caption="The pilots of the plane that landed at the Atlanta airport have been relieved from flying duties pending probes."]
FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said Delta Flight 60, from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, was cleared to land about 6:05 a.m. Monday on Runway 27R but landed instead on Taxiway M, which runs parallel to the runway. The flight had 194 passengers and crew aboard, according to CNN affiliate WXIA.
No other aircraft were on the taxiway, and there was no damage to either the taxiway or the plane, a Boeing 767, Bergen said.
A runway or taxiway collision, particularly with one plane preparing to take off and carrying a full fuel load, would be catastrophic.
Bergen said she isn't sure whether or when other aircraft have ever landed on the taxiway at Hartsfield.
Both Runway 27R and Taxiway M are 11,890 feet long, Bergen said, but the runway is marked with white lights while the taxiway is marked with blue lights.
Delta spokesman Anthony Black said the airline is cooperating with the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board in their investigation, as well as conducting an internal investigation. The pilots of the flight have been relieved from active flying pending the completion of these investigations, Black said.
CBO finds Dem bill with public option reduces deficit
CNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) - A preliminary estimate from the Congressional Budget Office projects that the House Democrats' health care plan that includes a public option would cost $871 billion over 10 years, according to two Democratic sources.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/POLITICS/10/21/health.care.cbo/art.pelosi.afp.gi.jpg.jpg caption="Nancy Pelosi, right, here with Harry Reid, proposes a "more robust" public option. The CBO analyzed the plan."]
CBO also found that the Democrats' bill reduces the deficit in the first 10 years.
This new CBO estimate, which aides caution is not final, is significantly less than the $1.1 trillion price tag of the original House bill that passed out of three committees this summer. More importantly, it comes under the $900 billion cap set by President Obama in his joint address to Congress last month.
CBO analyzed what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls a "more robust" public option - one that ties reimbursement rates for doctors to current Medicare rates, plus a 5 percent increase.
At a meeting with House Democrats on Tuesday night, Pelosi did not release CBO's preliminary numbers, but told members that CBO told leaders the House bill would cost well below $900 billion. Aides say final CBO numbers could be released on Wednesday.
Insurer under fire for cutting coverage
Ian Pearl suffers from muscular dystrophy. He uses a wheelchair and a ventilator, and in less than a month and a half he’s scheduled to lose his health insurance.
His insurance company, Guardian, decided to cancel a series of old policies in three states, leaving Ian without coverage. His family sued, and their lawyers discovered an internal company e-mail that referred to high cost policies like Ian’s as “dogs.”
The company has apologized, but for now, they’re going forward with their policy cancellations. The Pearl family is appealing to the Obama administration for help – adding their voices to calls for health care reform.
Ian has a new battle cry: "I am not a dog."
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