Face the Nation (CBS) - 2008-12-07
Channel: malgent
Transcript
Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)
[0:01] Today on Face the Nation, will Congress
[0:03] bail out the failing auto companies? The
[0:05] White House and congressional leaders
[0:07] are talking now about a new deal which
[0:10] would give the automakers $15 billion in
[0:13] emergency loans to stave off collapse.
[0:16] But will the Congress go along? What do
[0:18] the auto companies have to do in return?
[0:21] How bad would it be if they went under?
[0:24] We're going to ask Senator Chris Dodd,
[0:26] chairman of the Senate Banking
[0:28] Committee, who wants to help. and Jeff
[0:30] Sessions, Republican of Alabama, who's
[0:32] long been opposed to any bailout. Then
[0:35] we'll talk with Tom Freriedman,
[0:37] columnist of the New York Times, about
[0:39] this and other challenges facing the new
[0:41] administration at home and abroad. I'll
[0:45] have a final word on why it's probably
[0:47] better for all of us to keep smiling
[0:50] even in bad times. But first, bailing
[0:52] out the auto companies on Face the
[0:55] Nation.
[1:04] Face the nation with CBS News chief
[1:06] Washington correspondent Bob Schiffer.
[1:09] And now from CBS News in Washington, Bob
[1:13] Schaefer.
[1:13] >> And with us in the studio this morning
[1:15] is the chairman of the banking
[1:17] committee, Senator Dodd. With us from
[1:18] Mobile, Alabama, Senator Jeff Sessions.
[1:21] U there now seems gentlemen to be some
[1:24] sort of a deal brewing between the
[1:26] Democratic leadersh
[1:28] Nancy Pelosi to be specific and the
[1:31] White House to take some of this money
[1:34] that was going already and has already
[1:36] been appropriated by the Congress to go
[1:38] to the to the automakers uh to start
[1:42] help them design more fuel efficient
[1:44] cars to take part of that money about
[1:46] $15 billion and just give it to them uh
[1:49] so they can as sort of bridge loan to
[1:51] help them basically pay the bills here.
[1:53] And so, uh, I want to ask both of you,
[1:56] uh, number one, do you think this is a
[1:58] good idea? And number two, do you think
[2:00] the votes are there now in the Congress
[2:02] to do something like this? Let me start
[2:03] with you, Senator Sessions, since you're
[2:05] down in Mobile this morning.
[2:07] >> Well, I think uh it's a lot better than
[2:10] they were talking about earlier when the
[2:11] automobile makers wanted $34 billion.
[2:15] Now we're talking about 15 and it's
[2:17] coming out of the uh money that's
[2:19] already been appropriated. So I think
[2:21] the chances of passage are better. But I
[2:24] do believe that we haven't had the kind
[2:25] of integrity in this request that's
[2:28] necessary, the specificity that's
[2:30] necessary. And I truly believe these
[2:33] companies would be better off if they
[2:35] sought reorganization under chapter 11
[2:37] of the bankruptcy code like so many
[2:39] corporations have done. Uh these would
[2:41] be proceedings under oath. they could
[2:43] relieve themselves of these legacy costs
[2:46] and other unnecessary expenses, come out
[2:49] leaner and more vibrant and be
[2:51] successful. This is the best way to save
[2:53] jobs.
[2:53] >> All right, Senator Dodd. Well, I I I
[2:56] certainly no huddle to like being where
[2:57] we are at all. Obviously, the danger
[2:59] here is you could end up losing the
[3:02] industry in the next few weeks. It's
[3:03] that precarious, Bob. That's not an
[3:04] exaggeration. No one can say that with
[3:06] absolute certainty, but the possibility
[3:08] of that is certainly strong. And so I
[3:10] think many of us, I think Democrats and
[3:12] Republicans don't want that to occur. So
[3:14] I think you described it well. This
[3:16] would be a bridge, not a bailout, uh to
[3:18] get us to the point where we can do
[3:20] exactly what Jeff has been talking
[3:21] about. Now the choice is whether or not
[3:23] you want to go for what they call a
[3:25] prepackaged uh chapter 11 bankruptcy
[3:27] which has some real problems associated
[3:29] with it or to create is something
[3:31] similar to that to empower a board or
[3:34] individuals to come in and do the kind
[3:36] of restructuring before the automobile
[3:38] industry would get any additional help
[3:39] at all and we might try to do that I
[3:42] know some say why don't we do that right
[3:43] now the problem is we got 48 or 72 hours
[3:45] and and all of us are not experts in
[3:47] this area it's a very complicated area
[3:49] they're legacy costs as Jeff has pointed
[3:51] it out. There are other problems. We
[3:53] need the time to do that. It seems to me
[3:56] and certainly that way ought to be the
[3:57] way we proceed bankruptcy. The problem
[3:59] with it, one, you've got pensions that
[4:01] could cost hundreds of billions of
[4:02] dollars that fall out of the back of the
[4:03] American taxpayer. Secondly, the claim
[4:06] is made and I think there's some merit
[4:07] to this that that we can do all these
[4:09] things, but if consumers can't afford to
[4:11] buy cars, the industry is going to fail.
[4:13] Uh, and the likelihood that someone
[4:15] would buy a car from a bankrupt company,
[4:18] I think, is a legitimate point. Well,
[4:19] let let me ask you and and just a quick
[4:22] answer to this then we'll go on to
[4:23] something else. Do you think at this
[4:25] point the votes are there to pass this
[4:27] sort of limited or smaller bail?
[4:29] >> I think they will be. Even people who
[4:31] don't like this idea, none of us want to
[4:33] wake up on January 1st and discover we
[4:35] don't have an industry to save. Jeff's
[4:37] got some 50,000 people in his state that
[4:39] work in the automobile industry. I've
[4:40] got about 15,000. Two million people.
[4:43] One out of every 10 jobs in this country
[4:45] is either directly or indirectly related
[4:47] to the automobile industry, including
[4:49] the foreign dealers here of cars.
[4:50] They're going to be affected by this.
[4:52] Suppliers, dealers, obviously. So, none
[4:54] of us like this at all. And there's a
[4:56] lot of reason to be furious at how the
[4:58] industry has handled itself. But there's
[5:00] a lot more at stake than just Detroit.
[5:01] If this were just about some companies
[5:02] in Detroit, I'd let them fail in a New
[5:04] York minute. Well, Senator, uh Sessions,
[5:06] like it or not, do you think at this
[5:08] point uh realistically speaking, that
[5:10] the Congress will go along with
[5:12] something like this?
[5:13] >> I think Congress is tired of being
[5:15] stampeded. They're tired of being
[5:17] threatened that we've got to pass
[5:18] something and any uh just a few days of
[5:21] voting or consideration. We haven't even
[5:24] seen a bill yet. So, I think there's
[5:26] still a lot of skepticism
[5:28] out there and I have my doubts that it
[5:30] would pass until we have an opportunity
[5:32] to really see what this is about. One of
[5:34] the things,
[5:34] >> it's a lot closer than it was with uh
[5:36] them waltzing in and going from 25 to 34
[5:40] billion pretending to be humble.
[5:42] >> One of the things the administration is
[5:44] talking about uh uh Senator Sessions is
[5:46] setting up some what some people are
[5:48] calling a cars are somebody an official
[5:51] in the commerce department perhaps who
[5:53] would have broad authority uh to force
[5:56] these companies to reorganize. Uh do you
[5:59] think that is a good idea? I'm not
[6:02] comfortable with that. It's another
[6:04] Paulson Zar type person. He hasn't been
[6:07] able to perform that well. Uh I am
[6:09] uneasy about the federal government
[6:11] telling these companies what they've got
[6:13] to do to be successful. They are the
[6:15] experts at it, not the federal
[6:17] government. So I'm I'm troubled about
[6:19] that. I think the bankruptcy procedure
[6:22] in which everybody is heard where people
[6:24] are under oath, experts testify,
[6:27] certified financial statements are
[6:29] brought up, union people have lawyers
[6:31] that represent their interest. Uh that's
[6:33] the best way, that's the way the system
[6:35] is set up. Uh B u Delta went into
[6:38] bankruptcy in 2005. It came out in 2007.
[6:42] It bought Northwest earlier this year. I
[6:45] mean, it's performing well. bankruptcy
[6:47] reorganization under chapter 11 will
[6:50] save jobs. The companies will continue
[6:52] to operate. It does not shut the company
[6:54] down. Senator
[6:56] >> integrity in that process.
[6:57] >> But what what do you feel about this
[6:58] idea of a cars are? Well, I I I'd like
[7:01] to see us go try that. Uh we may end up
[7:04] where Jeff has suggested, but I I think
[7:07] there's, as I said a moment ago,
[7:08] problems with that. Uh just pension
[7:10] costs alone could total hundreds of
[7:13] billions of dollars that would fall on
[7:14] the back of the American taxpayer. Uh
[7:16] again, the ability to sell automobiles.
[7:17] Again, if you don't sell automobiles,
[7:19] there's a credit issue here that we're
[7:21] not really talking about. Consumers
[7:22] cannot buy cars. You have to have a
[7:24] rating, almost a perfect credit rating
[7:25] to buy an automobile today. I was at a
[7:27] dealerships, met with dealers yesterday
[7:29] in Connecticut. They're having people
[7:30] walk in who a year ago or 6 months ago
[7:32] would have qualified to buy an
[7:34] automobile that are being turned down
[7:35] today because the credit ratings scores
[7:38] have to be so high. The dealers
[7:39] themselves are having difficulty getting
[7:41] access to credit. This is a credit
[7:43] problem. Credit is frozen, Bob,
[7:44] entirely. So I'm working all weekend,
[7:46] have been working all day yesterday,
[7:47] will today talking with Republicans and
[7:50] Democrats colleagues to see if we can't
[7:52] get this kind of support at least to get
[7:54] us to the point where we end up either
[7:56] doing what Jeff has suggested or
[7:57] something that has been suggested with
[7:59] an auto zar or that like in order say
[8:02] before you get any additional support at
[8:03] all then you've got to restructure to to
[8:05] a profitable company an effective
[8:07] company a viable companies.
[8:09] >> I I want to just ask you about this
[8:11] whole idea of the bailouts in general.
[8:13] uh you know that we've had this $700
[8:16] billion that the Congress appropriated
[8:18] told uh uh Secretary Pollson he could
[8:20] use half of it. I guess he's done that.
[8:23] Now he's talking about he may come back
[8:25] and ask your permission to use the rest
[8:27] of it. Do you think that what he has
[8:29] done so far has worked and should the
[8:32] Congress be ready to give him more money
[8:34] and this is money not going to the card
[8:36] makers but going into to banks and
[8:39] financial institutions? But I think some
[8:40] of it has worked and I think in the
[8:42] absence of doing what we did, this
[8:43] probably would be a thousand times
[8:44] worse. Uh I I I'm totally secure in that
[8:47] statement to you, Bob. But I also have
[8:49] been terribly disappointed that the uh
[8:51] administration under Secretary Pollson
[8:53] have not addressed the underlying
[8:55] problem that is the foreclosure issue
[8:57] which grows by the hour. Chairman
[8:58] Bernaki the other day said it well. You
[9:00] need to address the foreclosure
[9:02] mitigation issues. So, I'd be very
[9:04] reluctant to put it mildly, uh, to write
[9:06] a check or to give permission to have
[9:08] access to this 350 without some very,
[9:11] very strong assurances about a different
[9:13] direction. And I'm not sure they can
[9:14] give that. So, I think it would be I
[9:16] think if there were a vote tomorrow and
[9:17] they came up and said, "Give us 350. We
[9:19] want that second trunch." I think it
[9:20] would lose overwhelmingly.
[9:22] >> What about you, Sandra Sessions?
[9:24] >> I agree. uh the the idea that this
[9:28] Senate in a panic mode before the
[9:30] election would give one man $700 billion
[9:33] to allocate amongst his friends on Wall
[9:35] Street as he chooses with virtually no
[9:38] oversight whatsoever is just
[9:40] breathtaking to me and I think we're
[9:42] having some buyers remorse on that. I
[9:44] think the fact that he flip-flopped from
[9:46] buying toxic assets to actually buying
[9:49] stock in banks, whether or not they
[9:50] wanted the government to buy stock in
[9:53] their own banks or not, is a very
[9:55] troubling situation. So, I think there's
[9:57] going to be a lot of skepticism to the
[9:59] second 350.
[10:01] >> You need any help from Senator Obama? Do
[10:03] either of you think on this?
[10:05] >> Well, again, I think certainly there may
[10:07] be some requests and again, I don't want
[10:08] to shut the door entirely on this
[10:10] because I disagree with Jeff. I think
[10:12] this was absolutely essential. Had we
[10:13] not done what we did in October 1, uh
[10:16] this problem, Bob, would be far more
[10:17] serious than it is today. Injecting
[10:20] capital is what they should have done
[10:21] initially in my view. You get far more
[10:22] leverage of a dollar that way than
[10:24] buying toxic assets.
[10:27] >> Very different from what he suggested.
[10:28] Um Chris, I
[10:29] >> I agree. Although we gave him the broad
[10:31] authority. We gave much more authority
[10:32] to do that. But the idea here we are
[10:34] talking about $15 billion to keep 2
[10:37] million jobs working in this country uh
[10:38] over the next few days uh next few
[10:40] weeks. We wrote a check uh the
[10:42] government did for $36 billion in the
[10:44] city. We put $150 billion in AIG uh
[10:49] which is again now some $456 billion.
[10:51] None of us voted on that at all. And
[10:53] whether or not that's the best kind of
[10:54] use of those dollars is certainly
[10:56] questionable. And I come back
[10:57] foreclosure, foreclosure, foreclosure.
[10:59] For more than two years, Bob, everyone
[11:01] who's looked at this issue has said
[11:02] until you put a tourniquet on the
[11:04] hemorrhaging of the foreclosure problem
[11:06] in this country, the problem does not go
[11:08] away. 9,000 people a day in America are
[11:11] losing their homes.
[11:12] >> Let me go back to just one question on
[11:14] the auto thing. Uh they're talking about
[11:16] these various kind of conditions as yet,
[11:18] Senator Sessions, nobody has brought up
[11:20] the idea of maybe these auto companies
[11:22] ought to find some different people to
[11:23] run them. Uh
[11:26] should the people who are in charge now
[11:28] be allowed to stay if they're going to
[11:30] get this sort of a bailout?
[11:32] >> Well, if they get this kind of bailout,
[11:34] they're subject to governmental
[11:35] restrictions. There's just no doubt
[11:37] about it. and including salaries and
[11:39] that kind of things. I'm a little
[11:41] reluctant to tell private companies who
[11:43] they have to choose as their officers.
[11:46] But any private company, the board of
[11:48] directors needs to be, I think, quite
[11:50] unhappy uh with how things have gone
[11:52] over the years. And they should
[11:54] certainly be considering new leadership.
[11:56] >> Leave them there or consider new
[11:57] leadership.
[11:58] >> I think you got to consider new
[11:59] leadership if you're going to really
[12:00] restructure this and you've got to bring
[12:01] in a new team to do this in my view. And
[12:04] that's uh these
[12:05] >> should that be part of the condition of
[12:07] any bailout?
[12:08] >> I think it's going to have to be part of
[12:09] it and and they're different positions.
[12:10] I think it's it's clear GM is in the
[12:12] worst shape. Chrysler is I think
[12:14] basically gone. Probably ought to be
[12:15] merged. Ford is fairly healthy. So what
[12:18] we don't want to brand all of these
[12:19] companies exactly the same way. But
[12:21] nonetheless, if you're going to
[12:22] restructure and have a viable
[12:23] manufacturing sector in our country,
[12:25] >> so what you're saying about GM is that
[12:27] Rick Wagner, the chairman, has to go.
[12:29] >> I I think he has to move on.
[12:30] >> All right. Well, gentlemen, I want to
[12:32] thank both of you. Harry back in a
[12:34] minute to talk to Tom Freriedman.
[12:48] And joining us now, our friend Tom
[12:50] Freriedman of the New York Times, the
[12:52] author of a new book, Hot, Flat, and
[12:54] Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution
[12:56] and How It Can Renew America. And it is
[12:59] an excellent essay on where we are in
[13:01] the world today. And you talk a lot
[13:03] about how the rest of the world is
[13:05] catching up with us. And while that's
[13:07] good for them, it's not always good for
[13:09] us.
[13:09] >> And you can hear their hear their
[13:10] footsteps now. Bob
[13:12] >> Yeah. Yeah. Well, let's talk a little
[13:13] bit about what we just talked about here
[13:15] with with these two senators. Uh, as he
[13:18] was leaving there, you heard Senator
[13:19] Dodd say that he thinks that Rick
[13:21] Wagner, the chairman of GM, has to go
[13:24] and we're going to have to have new
[13:25] management at these companies or at
[13:27] least think about it in some of the
[13:28] other companies as part of a condition
[13:30] if indeed there is a bailout. What's
[13:33] your take on that? You've written a lot
[13:35] about this. Well, Bob, um, as a looks
[13:37] like I'm going to be a future
[13:38] shareholder of General Motors as a
[13:39] taxpayer. And as a future shareholder of
[13:42] General Motors, I sure don't want to
[13:44] have the management that drove this
[13:45] country, this company into a ditch stay
[13:48] on and hope that they're going to
[13:49] somehow miraculously drive it out. So, I
[13:52] would totally endorse new management. By
[13:54] the way, if we could um, and we're
[13:56] talking about bringing in a broom, of
[13:58] course, we can't do this. We should also
[14:00] be talking about all those Michigan
[14:02] lawmakers who for 30 years protected
[14:04] these companies to death by insulating
[14:06] them from all the environmental
[14:08] pressures, competitive pressures of uh
[14:10] of change um by preventing any mileage
[14:14] standards. These are people remember who
[14:16] oppose seat belts, rear view mirrors, um
[14:19] just about any innovation you could
[14:21] think of. So um we need a real change of
[14:24] thinking here. You need a change of
[14:25] thinking by management, but you need a
[14:27] change of thinking, Bob, by the
[14:29] congressmen and senators who protected
[14:32] these guys year after year. GM can only
[14:34] do two things today really well, but
[14:35] they can lobby Congress and they can
[14:37] advertise at the Super Bowl. That's
[14:40] about it. And until they get back to
[14:42] having the talent and management to make
[14:44] cars that people want to drive, that is
[14:46] the core problem. Go on a college campus
[14:48] today, Bob. How many young people do you
[14:50] see driving Pontiacs? You know, you
[14:53] don't see it. That's the core problem.
[14:54] They make cars people want to run.
[14:56] >> Where where where did they go wrong?
[14:58] Because you've written so much about
[14:59] this about the connectedness of the
[15:01] world economy. There are people in the
[15:03] world who are making some pretty good
[15:04] cars. Uh why can't we make a good car or
[15:08] or G uh you know the Detroit would argue
[15:11] we do make good cars, but whatever the
[15:13] whatever the case, they're having
[15:14] problems selling them. What happened?
[15:15] The core problem, Bob, is that they
[15:17] created a business model because of the
[15:19] concessions they made to the unions and
[15:21] whatnot and and many other problems
[15:24] where they could really only make money
[15:25] making big cars, making SUVs, Hummers,
[15:28] and trucks. And so that was the only way
[15:31] they could make money. So then what they
[15:32] did was they tried to create a universe
[15:34] basically where gasoline would be cheap
[15:37] and you could only or would only have to
[15:40] sell and make those big cars. So you
[15:42] remember a couple years ago as gasoline
[15:43] prices rose, what was their response?
[15:45] Was it to move immediately to electric
[15:47] cars or more efficient cars? No. They
[15:49] came out with a program for a $1.99 cent
[15:52] a gallon gas for a year if you bought a
[15:53] Hummer or a Yukon or a Suburban? It was
[15:55] like a crack dealer saying, "Bob, I'm
[15:57] going to guarantee you free crack or
[15:59] reduce crack for a year." It wasn't,
[16:01] "I'm going to get you off your
[16:03] addiction." And so that was they created
[16:05] a universe and then they tried to
[16:06] protect it and then the world basically
[16:08] impinged on them with higher energy
[16:10] prices and many other higher costs.
[16:12] Look, do you remember when Hillary
[16:14] Clinton was pushing her national health
[16:15] care program? Do you Did you see the
[16:17] auto companies out there saying we need
[16:19] a national health care program? After
[16:21] all, we have these huge burdens of
[16:22] health care costs. No, they were fat,
[16:24] dumb, and happy then. Now they tell us,
[16:26] "Oh, it's terrible. We've got these
[16:28] health care costs. Woe is me." But were
[16:30] they out there campaigning for a
[16:32] national healthare plan that they would
[16:33] have been the biggest beneficiaries of?
[16:35] No. They were brain dead. And it's it's
[16:39] a travesty that the American people are
[16:42] in this terrible choice today, which the
[16:44] two senators outlined, which is either
[16:46] we bail out people who really don't
[16:48] deserve to be bailed out. By the way,
[16:50] one of these car companies, let's
[16:51] remember, is a private equity firm,
[16:53] Syraus Capital. We're going to be
[16:55] bailing out a private equity firm.
[16:57] That's Chrysler. The guys who own
[16:58] Chrysler who bought Chrysler basically
[17:00] they got the car company for free.
[17:02] They're really buying the financing arm
[17:04] and and they wanted the GM financing
[17:05] arm, you know, with it. That was what
[17:07] they bought basically and they thought
[17:08] they'd just strip off the car company.
[17:10] Then oil prices went up and they got
[17:11] stuck holding the car company. We're
[17:13] bailing those guys out. Okay. Let's the
[17:15] Cus Cous people throw in some more money
[17:19] now. You know, why should we as
[17:20] taxpayers be bailing out a private
[17:22] equity firm?
[17:24] >> So you you favor letting the car
[17:25] companies go down?
[17:27] >> No, I don't. What I favor is if we're
[17:29] going to save them, if we are going to
[17:31] save them, then I want new management
[17:33] and I want to see a real plan for their
[17:35] survival. I understand what Senator Dodd
[17:38] was saying. It's terrible that the jobs
[17:40] that could be lost and we learned from
[17:41] Lehman Brothers going broke what the
[17:44] unintended consequences of this can be.
[17:46] But show me a plan because Bob, the
[17:49] world has changed around these car
[17:51] companies. Let's use the example of the
[17:52] music business and entertainment which
[17:54] you know so well. Somebody came along
[17:56] and and developed a new way to to
[17:58] produce music. It was the MP3 player,
[18:00] the the the PC. kids at home could
[18:02] produce their own music and they created
[18:04] Napster and all those programs. Then
[18:06] someone came along called Steve Jobs and
[18:07] the iPod. They figured a new way to
[18:09] distribute music. The music business got
[18:12] flattened. Same in the in the news
[18:13] business. People found a new way to
[18:15] generate news at home with blogging and
[18:17] a new way to distribute it. Bob, the
[18:19] same thing's happening in the car world.
[18:21] In India today, Tata is making a $2,500
[18:24] car. There's companies coming up now
[18:26] with whole new models for electric cars,
[18:28] new ways to produce, new ways to
[18:30] energize the and distribute the the the
[18:33] what you the fuel for these cars.
[18:34] There's a revolution happening in this
[18:36] business and if we give money to these
[18:38] people and it is not with a plan to take
[18:41] advantage of this revolution, it would
[18:43] be Bob as if today we said let's give
[18:46] money to make RCA Victor record players
[18:49] in the world of iPods. Okay. Who's going
[18:51] to give the newspaper business a buyout
[18:53] in the age of the blogger? Okay. All
[18:55] right. Well, that's what we're doing.
[18:57] That's what we're talking about.
[18:58] >> Let's talk a little bit about uh the
[19:00] recent terrorism that we saw uh surface
[19:02] in India. It reminded us that all our
[19:04] problems are not here in the United
[19:06] States. What do you make of this? And
[19:09] what what is the new administration
[19:11] faced with here?
[19:12] >> Terrible problem that we face here
[19:14] because Pakistan is a failing state and
[19:17] it's been a failing state for a long
[19:19] time. Um, and at the same time, you
[19:21] still have al-Qaeda and all its various
[19:23] offshoots, whatever brand names they go
[19:25] under out there. But Bob, if there's one
[19:28] thing we've learned from Iraq, um, uh,
[19:30] in my view, it's the simple message. It
[19:32] takes a village. Okay, what do I mean by
[19:33] that? The the situation turned in our
[19:36] favor in Iraq, not just because we sent
[19:37] more troops. That that really that was
[19:39] necessary, but it was not sufficient.
[19:41] The sufficient ingredient was that Sunni
[19:43] Muslims in Iraq said, "You guys are
[19:46] radical. You are dangerous. you are
[19:48] dangerous to our health and we are going
[19:50] to take you on. That's why the surge
[19:51] worked in the Sunni community, the same
[19:53] in the Shiite community. Until that
[19:56] happens in Pakistan, until you get
[19:58] millions of people in the streets in
[20:00] Pakistan who are ready to demonstrate
[20:02] against Danish cartoons that insult the
[20:04] prophet Muhammad, until you get those
[20:06] same millions of people ready to
[20:07] demonstrate against people who murder
[20:09] real people, not cartoon characters,
[20:11] you're not going to get a change.
[20:12] >> What can we do to change that? Well, I
[20:14] think that what we can do, obviously,
[20:16] we've got to help the new Pakistani
[20:18] government as much as we can. It's not
[20:19] perfect. It's weak. But they are decent
[20:22] people trying to tilt Pakistan in a
[20:24] better direction. They are definitely a
[20:26] start. But we also have to challenge
[20:28] them. We have to get in your face. Why
[20:30] are you out in the streets protesting
[20:32] for people about Danish cartoons and not
[20:35] people who are murdered in real life on
[20:38] the streets of India or your own towns?
[20:40] >> All right, Tom Freriedman. Always great
[20:42] to have you. Thanks. I'll be back with a
[20:43] final thought in just a minute.
[20:52] Finally, today my great teacher Eric
[20:54] Seide once said, "It was important to
[20:57] maintain the courage of one's doubts as
[21:00] well as the courage of one's
[21:01] convictions. That has never been hard
[21:03] for me. The older I get, the less sure I
[21:05] am about everything." So, I was very
[21:08] glad to find out something I always
[21:10] thought was true turned out to be just
[21:12] that. And now we even have the
[21:14] scientific evidence to prove it. I've
[21:17] always been attracted to happy people
[21:18] for the selfish reason they put me in a
[21:21] better humor. Will call me a cockeyed
[21:22] optimist, but I just don't enjoy cynics
[21:25] and doomsayers so I stay clear of them.
[21:28] Well, a respected British medical
[21:30] journal called BMJ has published a
[21:32] 20-year study of 4,700
[21:36] people which shows that happiness is not
[21:38] only good for you, it is actually
[21:40] contagious. It spreads like the flu. The
[21:44] researchers told the Washington Post
[21:46] that happiness is far more potent than
[21:48] just making another person laugh. The
[21:50] study showed that when one person in a
[21:53] group is happy, it increases the
[21:55] possibility sometimes by as much as 34%
[21:59] that others in the group will also be
[22:01] happy. Everyone from a spouse to a
[22:03] nextdoor neighbor and the impact can be
[22:06] longlasting. With the state of the news
[22:08] these days, we're not finding this out a
[22:11] moment too soon. So, I'm happy to know
[22:13] it. And pardon me for being smug, but
[22:15] another thing that always makes me happy
[22:17] is knowing I was right. That's our
[22:20] broadcast. We'll see you right here next
[22:23] week.
[22:36] This broadcast was produced by CBS News,
[22:39] which is solely responsible for the
[22:41] selection of today's guests and topics.
[22:44] It originated in Washington, DC.
[22:48] Heat. Heat.