American Morning
Building Up America: Owner sees business boom in downturn
Today in our "Building Up America" series, a success story born out of the recession. A woman who saw an opportunity to help people be thrifty and get back on her feet at the same time. Our Tom Foreman has the story for us.
FBI investigates allegations webcam used to monitor student
The FBI confirms it is now investigating a Pennsylvania student's stunning claim that he was spied on in his own home by school administrators using a remotely-activated webcam.
15-year-old Blake Robbins was one of 2,300 students at Harriton High who took home a school-issued laptop. Now the boy's family claims the school used that laptop to spy on Blake and accuse him of doing drugs.
The school maintains any webcams activated were only done so on laptops that were reported lost, missing or stolen. The Robbins family has filed a civil suit.
To break it all down for us we were joined on Tuesday's American Morning by Paul Callan, a criminal defense attorney and a professor of media law at Seton Hall University.
Read more: FBI probes school spycam allegation
Don't ignore hypertension
High blood pressure is simple to diagnose and easy to treat, yet it is the second leading cause of preventable death in the U.S.
Now, a new report from the Institute of Medicine says hypertension is responsible for one out of every six adult deaths. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta has the report.
Lawmakers who don't request earmarks
Slashing earmarks and pork was one of President Obama's campaign pledges. Now, more than a year into the Obama administration, most lawmakers are still pigging out.
So who are the few who are not bringing home the bacon? As part of CNN's special series "Broken Government," our Ali Velshi reports from the "Earmarks Desk."
Broken Government: Are small banks the solution?
Editor's Note: All this week in our special series "Broken Government," CNN is taking a hard look at our nation's government; the frustrating problems and the potential solutions. Today, our Carol Costello reports on why banks still aren't loaning and what the answer is for small businesses. Tomorrow on American Morning, we focus on states that are trying to gamble their way out of the recession.
By Ronni Berke and Carol Costello
You're the owner of a small business that's more than breaking even during this recession. You have good credit and want to hire more people. Therefore, you qualify for a small business loan – right? Wrong.
Jimmie Hughes, who runs office supply business “Grand America” outside of Dallas, says although that description fits him perfectly, he's been turned down for a loan by six community banks.
"I could double the size of my company now if I wanted to, but what I need in order to do that is to have operating capital that I can use to stabilize the situation with my company so I can put some good people to work."
Hughes may be caught in the loan log jam now affecting many small businesses. According to the Treasury Department, the nation's 11 biggest banks cut their small business loan balance by more than $2.3 billion in December. In 2009, the Small Business Administration approved only $9.2 billion in 7(a) commercial bank loans, down from $12.7 billion in 2008.
To loosen up credit, President Obama has proposed moving $30 billion of funds repaid under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to community banks to lend to small business owners. But community bankers like Edward Merritt of Boston's Mt. Washington Bank, say cash is not what they need.
"I'm not really looking for more money to lend," he says. "I'm looking for more qualified borrowers to lend to, and that is as big a problem as I see it today as it is the bank's willingness to lend money."
We Listen – Your comments 2/22/2010
Editor's Note: CNN’s "Broken Government" series spurred heated response from American Morning’s Monday audience. Some sarcastically remarked that the government was “not broken,” because the Republicans were getting exactly what they wanted: “low taxes on the rich, and no regulation of the big money players on Wall St.”
- David: As far as Republicans are concerned, government isn't broken at all. They are getting exactly what they want from it; low taxes on the rich, and no regulation of the big money players on Wall St.
Others suggested greed was the culprit for the demise of the U.S. political system.
- Jan: Big businesses focus on greed instead of fair profits and investing in a company and its employees is an enormous part of why the middle class is in the position we are in today. No one, and I mean no one, needs the amount of money being given to companies top tier executives instead of investing back into the company and its employees. Greed defined as “excessive desire to acquire or possess more (especially more material wealth) than one needs or deserves avarice: reprehensible acquisitiveness; insatiable desire for wealth (personified as one of the deadly sins) has brought down civilizations in past history and unless we change this I fear for the future of America. What happened to being proud of your accomplishments instead of being greedy individuals who take the money at the cost of their employees? The people whose money they are running away with instead of help building Americas future and a stronger middle class. Companies need to invest in the employees who do the work.
- Greg: Union corruption destroying America. More union Corruption in Flint, MI
- Mark: The American Dream is alive and doing well–in India, and at a huge discount. Our, nay, The Government is not broken, they are right on schedule in selling out the middle class.
- Dan: Fix middle class problems, fix broken government – GET RID OF LOBBIEST, SET TERMS LIMITS FOR POLITICANS, We now have a new class system and the middle class does not fit anymore.
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.
On Twitter
