American Morning
Attorney goes from the courtroom to the showroom
It almost sounds like the beginning of another bad lawyer joke, but what happened to Paul Semenza is very serious and it's happening to white collar workers across the country.
Semenza practiced law for 25 years as a defense attorney at a small firm near Boston. Last year, he was laid off. The reason: the economy. Semenza was concerned but thought all his years of experience would soon lead to another offer, but it never came. Semenza said, “probably eight or nine months of not being able to get back into a law firm or a company doing litigation work, I decided I can use my skills in other areas."
Semenza finally found work as a salesman at Bob’s Discount Furniture in Saugus, just outside Boston. His pride soon gave way to worry he might not land the job at the discount store. He said, “I thought they would tell me I'm overqualified, and I was afraid that without a sales background they wouldn't accept me, but they did and I'm grateful.”
How to get your stimulus?
You’ve heard a few governors criticize the stimulus as “wasteful spending”. But Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley is so determined the stimulus will work, he wants mayors and other elected officials from across his state to see for themselves.
It's Maryland's response to the question: "where do I get my stimulus?" Come to a workshop, state officials say, and they'll tell you. At one of the workshops, we were surprised to find a standing room only crowd jammed into a packed meeting at the state capital... all vying for a piece of the stimulus action.
That’s where we met Jim Eberhart, the mayor of the small town of Perryville, MD (pop. 5000). He has a sewer project he calls “shovel ready.” The mayor just needs the money.
Governor O’Malley says the open process is a response to Republican critics who’ve blasted the stimulus as wasteful spending. In fact, O’Malley says his state could use a second stimulus.
Psst… don’t tell Washington… where talk of a stimulus 2.0 has slowed a bit.
Hostage to AIG
Outrage and anger are the watchwords in Washington these days, and they’re directed at one company: AIG. That troubled financial firm has already received $173 billion in bailout money to keep it afloat. Now it is handing out $165 million in bonuses to some of the very people whose incompetence led to the worldwide financial crises.
The response has been swift and harsh.
“It’s hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less 165 million dollars in extra pay,” the President said on Monday. “I mean, how do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat?”
From Capitol Hill came this from Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA): “These bonuses are going to people who screwed this up enormously.” His colleague, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), told CNN that AIG employees “don’t deserve a bonus. They’re lucky to have a job.”
What's in a Name? A lot when it's a "Trump" property
By Beth Anne Rotatori – Producer, CNN's American Morning
When Guadalupe Mendoza first heard the news that Donald Trump was developing a new resort in Baja California back in 2006, she chalked it up to rumor. She knew Baja had been booming – but she was still skeptical it had attracted the attention of one of the most successful real estate tycoons in the world.
But Mendoza of Downey, California, was intrigued, so she did some investigating and says she discovered the buzz was true: that the Trump Organization had partnered with Irongate, a Los Angeles-based real estate development and investment company, to build a luxury oceanfront resort at Punta Bandera in Baja.
Internet Survival
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/03/16/craigslist.art.jpg caption="Craigslist has become a meeting place for those hurt by the economic downturn."]
From Traci Tamura, CNN Senior Producer
For the past couple of years, I have been producing economy stories for CNN. We profiled a family facing foreclosure back in December of 2006. I remember sitting in the living room where we interviewed a couple who cried as they talked about the prospect of losing their home. I really had no idea that over 2 years later I'd still be covering these same types of stories.
The most recent economy story I produced was for American Morning – "Craiglist S0S". I found the idea for this story as I was surfing the internet on craigslist doing research on another story. I happened to be looking for people who are in such a tight financial bind they have resorted to renting out their living rooms to make ends meet. I found Alicia. She is a 29-year-old who has been unemployed for several months and continues to job search daily. She is currently behind a few months rent on her 1 bedroom apartment and is now desperately trying to rent out her living room space. For the first time in her life, Alicia has had to turn to public assistance and is living off unemployment and food stamps but that doesn't even cover her living expenses.
Are troops being laid-off?
With the civilian job market crashing, more American troops are electing to re-enlist.
But some of them are finding that even parts of the military are cutting back – and letting people go.
CNN Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence reports.
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