American Morning
Hard queries for CNBC's Cramer
It's been a "must Tivo" – all week long.
The ongoing grudge match between Daily Show host John Stewart, and CNBC's Jim Cramer. All the buzz is only encouraging the folks at Comedy Central.
Some people have some serious questions for Jim Cramer – about things he said – the advice he gave – and the role he might have played in manipulating the markets.
Minding Your Business
You know the Sesame Street song: "Can you tell me how to get... how to get to the UNEMPLOYMENT OFFICE?"
First Wall Street, then Main Street, now Sesame Street. The children's tv icon will lay off 20 percent of its workers - 67 people - and the pain will be shared across all departments. The week has brought job cuts not only for children's television, but also United Technologies, McClatchy newspapers, 616 lawyers at two major law firms (yes, inviting all sorts of tasteless lawyer jokes) and Dell confirms it is cutting positions worldwide but won't say how many or where. (Why the mystery, Dell?)
Government data show four states now have unemployment rates topping 10 percent. Long-suffering Michigan tops the list with an incredible 11.6 percent. Many economists expect these numbers to keep rising. Here's the bright spot for the morning: A little more than a dozen states have jobless rates 6 percent or less (WY, ND, IA,UT, OK to name a few) and Texas' jobless rate is 6.4 percent, much better than the 8.1 percent average for the rest of the country. If you are living in any of these places, we can only hope that you're feeling a little better about things than the national statistics suggest.
Fast Forward
The stories that will be making news later today:
Former President Bill Clinton's Mp3 player is up for grabs online through Tonic dot-com. Just over seven hours left in the auction. Bids have topped 12-hundred bucks. All proceeds go to help music programs in areas hit by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005
First Lady Michelle Obama makes her first official trip outside of Washington today traveling to North Carolina. At about 12:45 pm eastern she'll tour the Fort Bragg military base and meet with families. At 4:30 eastern she speaks to community groups in Fayetteville that provide support to the soldiers and their families.
The three American hostages held for more than five years in Colombia's jungles will receive the civilian equivalent of the purple heart. The Defense of Freedom Medal honors Defense Department employees and contractors injured or killed in the line of duty.
Can you explain frontal lobe dementia?
CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta reaches into his mailbag and answers your questions.
Question
A lifelong friend of mine, a “young” 58-year-old, has just been diagnosed with frontal lobe dementia. She was told she’s had it for 20 years, but there have been no noticeable symptoms until the last two years. Can you please shed some light on this disease?
Answer
Thank you, Kathy, for sharing you friend’s story and for the question. While there are many potential causes of dementia, Alzheimer’s is something that often springs to mind. It is often thought of as an older person’s disease, but it can occur in people that are relatively young, like your friend was. Having never seen your friend or examined her, let me instead talk a little about Alzheimer’s. It is a tough thing to understand because we don’t quite know what causes it, or how to cure it.
What's On Tap – Thursday March 12, 2009
Today on American Morning:
- As accused Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff prepares to plead guilty, one major question remains: what happened to the money? CNN's Allan Chernoff reports.
- The Taliban is now bragging it can strike at will at the very heart of Kabul. Just to prove it, they launched a suicide attack last month on government buildings that killed 20. CNN's Paula Newton reports.
- North Korea Korea says it will test a rocket in April. CNN's Jill Dougherty reports.
- Taxpayers hate the bank bailout. Lawmakers too. And now it looks like some of the bailed out banks themselves are starting to get fed up with it as well.
- The role of Michelle Obama – she has a much higher profile than many of her predessors – not just public appearances, but various print publications – landing on the cover of many magazines.
- A man used to giving advice perhaps should have gotten some of his own – think before speaking. CNBC Business analyst Jim Cramer is under fire after a web video surfaces where he admits to manipulating the market when he managed a massive hedge fund.
- John Edwards makes an appearance at Brown University and takes students’ questions – including one that alludes to his affair.
Clinton, Palin Comic Books
It's a bird, it's a plane, it's... Hillary Clinton? A new line of comic books hopes to spotlight powerful women in politics with four new biographical titles devoted to Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, Michelle Obama, and Caroline Kennedy. The books are meant to be educational, but also fun and interesting for everyone from 12 year old boys to 50 year old women.
The Clinton and Palin comics go on sale Wednesday and demand has been so high Bluewater Productions, the Vancouver, WA based company that produces the comics, has already ordered a second printing. The Michelle Obama comic doesn't go on sale until April, but there are already orders for 25,000 copies and the book has already popped up on ebay. Kapow, Batman! We take a look at the newest comic book heroes.
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
