PBS NewsHour - 2008-10-27
Channel: malgent
Transcript
Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)
[0:04] [music]
[0:10] Good evening. I'm Jim Lara. On the
[0:12] NewsHour Tonight, the news this Monday.
[0:14] Then the guilty verdict in the trial
[0:16] [music] of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens.
[0:18] With eight days until the election,
[0:20] extended excerpts from the candidate
[0:22] speeches, plus a campaign snapshot by
[0:25] Amy Walter and Susan Page, a look at
[0:28] proposals to help homeowners hit by
[0:30] foreclosure, and a report about the
[0:33] devastation in Haiti after three
[0:35] hurricanes.
[0:37] Major funding for the NewsHour with Jim
[0:40] Ler is provided by
[0:43] >> The world is changing and how we use
[0:47] energy today cannot be how we'll use it
[0:49] tomorrow. There is no [music] one
[0:52] solution. It's not simply more oil, more
[0:55] renewables or [music] being more
[0:56] efficient.
[0:58] It's all of it. Our way of life depends
[1:01] on developing [music] all forms of
[1:02] energy and to use less of it. It's time
[1:06] to put our differences aside. Will you
[1:09] be part of the solution? Chevron, human
[1:11] energy,
[1:14] Pacific life,
[1:17] [music]
[1:20] Vestus,
[1:23] the William and Flora Hullet Foundation,
[1:25] working to solve social and
[1:26] environmental problems at home and
[1:28] [music] around the world.
[1:31] and with the ongoing support of these
[1:34] institutions and [music] foundations.
[1:39] And this program was made [music]
[1:42] possible by the Corporation for Public
[1:44] Broadcasting and by contributions to
[1:47] your PBS [music] station from viewers
[1:49] like you. Thank you.
[1:55] Senator Ted Stevens was found guilty
[1:57] today on seven federal charges of
[1:59] corruption. The Alaska Republican was on
[2:02] trial in Washington for lying on Senate
[2:04] disclosure forms over renovations to his
[2:07] house. Stevens faces up to 35 years in
[2:10] prison. He's up for reelection next
[2:12] Tuesday. The judge did not set an
[2:15] immediate date for sentencing. We'll
[2:17] have more on this story right after the
[2:19] news summary. Federal agents have foiled
[2:21] a plot to assassinate Democratic
[2:23] presidential nominee Barack Obama. Court
[2:26] records unsealed this afternoon said the
[2:28] Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
[2:31] charged two neo-Nazi Skin Heads in
[2:33] Jackson, Tennessee last Friday. The men
[2:36] allegedly sought to target students at a
[2:39] mostly African-American high school and
[2:41] eventually attempt to kill Senator
[2:43] Obama. In the US presidential race
[2:46] today, the candidates ended their final
[2:48] week of campaigning and hit on economic
[2:51] themes. In Canton, Ohio, Obama urged
[2:54] supporters to choose hope over fear and
[2:56] promised to restore economic prosperity
[2:59] to the country. Republican John McCain
[3:01] was in Dayton, Ohio. He continued to
[3:04] distance himself from President Bush's
[3:06] economic policies and he pledged to cut
[3:09] spending. We'll have more on the
[3:10] campaign later in the program tonight.
[3:13] Wall Street staged a lastminute sell-off
[3:15] today as market uncertainty continued.
[3:18] The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost
[3:20] 203 points to close at 8175.
[3:24] The Nasdaq fell 46 points to close below
[3:27] 1506. For most of the day, stocks had
[3:30] stayed steady on news the Treasury
[3:33] Department will begin distributing money
[3:34] to nine major banks this week. The money
[3:37] is part of the government's $700 billion
[3:40] financial rescue package. There were
[3:42] some unexpected good housing news today.
[3:45] The Commerce Department reported new
[3:47] home sales were up in September by
[3:49] nearly 3%. But that was still 33% below
[3:53] the level of a year ago. At the White
[3:56] House, press secretary Dana Parino was
[3:58] cautiously optimistic.
[4:00] >> Those are certainly welcome numbers, but
[4:02] too early to say whether it's a trend or
[4:03] not. That's why we have to keep working
[4:05] at doing what we're doing to try to
[4:06] recapitalize the banks, rework mortgages
[4:08] where we possibly can, help people stay
[4:09] in their homes. But if it is a trend,
[4:11] we'll certainly welcome it. But we're
[4:12] not going to rest and and and hope.
[4:14] We're just going to continue to work and
[4:16] maybe next month the numbers will show a
[4:18] continued improvement.
[4:19] >> The commerce numbers weren't all good.
[4:21] The median price of a new home dropped
[4:23] by 9% to reach its lowest level since
[4:26] September 2004. We'll have more on the
[4:29] housing story later in the program.
[4:32] Stocks in Asia took a beating today.
[4:34] Japan's main index dropped more than 6%
[4:37] to hit its lowest point in 26 years.
[4:40] Other Asian markets, including Hong Kong
[4:42] and China, fell sharply on a chaotic day
[4:45] of trading. European stocks started out
[4:48] the day with steep losses, but staged a
[4:50] late recovery. The French market was an
[4:52] exception, losing 4%. A trader there
[4:55] warned the uncertainty will go on.
[4:59] >> Basically, everything is falling apart.
[5:00] Nothing really holds up. A newspaper
[5:02] headline this morning read, "The crash
[5:04] until when? That means we cannot think
[5:05] in terms of valuation anymore. The
[5:07] valuation has been down for the last
[5:09] three months and we know the stock
[5:10] prices will fall in the midterm. But the
[5:12] problem is that we don't know how much
[5:13] it will fall. The markets are still
[5:15] volatile. It won't stop in a week.
[5:17] >> French President Sarco will discuss the
[5:20] economic crisis with British Prime
[5:21] Minister Brown in Paris tomorrow. And
[5:24] later this week, Brown will meet with
[5:26] German Chancellor Merkel in London.
[5:29] Syria lashed out at the US today for
[5:31] launching a raid inside Syrian
[5:33] territory. Syrian government officials
[5:36] said four US helicopters fired on a
[5:38] building Sunday near the Iraqi border
[5:40] and that eight civilians died. In London
[5:43] today, Syria's foreign minister
[5:45] condemned the attack.
[5:47] >> We
[5:50] consider this criminal and terrorist
[5:54] aggression.
[5:57] We put the responsibility on the
[5:59] American
[6:01] government
[6:03] and they need to investigate and return
[6:06] back to us with the result and
[6:10] explanation why they did it.
[6:13] >> The US has yet to officially confirm or
[6:15] deny its involvement in the raid, but
[6:18] State Department spokesman Sean
[6:19] McCormack did say Syria summoned a US
[6:22] diplomat to discuss the matter. The
[6:25] Syrians did call in at the level of the
[6:26] vice foreign minister, our charge defair
[6:29] um whose name is Mora Connelly. Uh she
[6:33] went in, she uh listened to the Syrians.
[6:37] Uh they brought her in there to raise
[6:39] with her these reports of activities in
[6:44] Abu Kamal, which is close to the Syrian
[6:47] uh Iraqi border. Um but beyond that, I
[6:51] don't have any comment for you. A
[6:53] spokesman for the Iraqi government said
[6:55] the operation targeted foreign fighters
[6:57] that cross into Iraq. Two American
[7:00] soldiers were killed in a suicide attack
[7:02] in Afghanistan today. It happened inside
[7:05] a police station in the north where US
[7:08] troops were advising a police training
[7:10] program. The bomber was dressed in a
[7:12] police uniform. Also today, insurgents
[7:15] shot down a US helicopter near Kbble
[7:18] after exchanging fire with its crew. All
[7:21] on board were rescued. And that's it for
[7:24] the news summary tonight. Now, the
[7:25] Stevens verdict, the presidential
[7:27] campaign day, Amy Walter and Susan Page,
[7:31] help for homeowners, and Haiti after the
[7:34] storms.
[7:42] The Stevens verdict. Ray Suarez has our
[7:45] story. We take a closer look at the
[7:48] implications of today's guilty verdict
[7:49] with Paul Singer, associate editor at
[7:52] the Capitol Hill newspaper, Roll Call.
[7:54] He's been covering the Ted Stevens
[7:56] corruption trial. Paul, let's begin with
[7:58] what the government said and what the
[8:01] jury has now agreed Ted Stevens did. Uh
[8:04] well, the charges raised specifically
[8:06] were that he failed to report gifts on
[8:09] his annual financial disclosure forms
[8:11] that he reports to Congress every year.
[8:14] Uh he was receiving they alleged um uh
[8:18] major renovations on his home uh in
[8:20] Gerwood, Alaska that he was not paying
[8:22] for. He was also receiving a whole bunch
[8:24] of other gifts that he never paid for.
[8:26] Uh very expensive uh gas grill, a $2,700
[8:30] electric massage chair. All of these
[8:32] things the government alleged should
[8:34] have been reported as gifts on his
[8:36] financial disclosure forms. By failing
[8:38] to report them, he was essentially
[8:40] hiding things he didn't want the public
[8:41] to know. This is what the jury has
[8:43] agreed and has convicted him of today.
[8:46] >> They convicted him on all counts. What
[8:48] level of crime is this? What are these
[8:50] felonies?
[8:51] >> Uh yeah. Well, the form uh uh is a
[8:54] Senate form, but it's actually required
[8:56] by federal law uh that you fill these uh
[8:59] uh forms out and you sign a little thing
[9:02] swearing that uh uh everything on here
[9:04] is accurate uh and yeah, it's a felony.
[9:07] >> Did Stevens take the stand in his own
[9:09] defense? And if so, how did he explain
[9:11] the presence of the renovations, the
[9:13] artwork, the furniture?
[9:15] >> He did take the stand. He spent about
[9:17] two days on the stand. Um, and his
[9:20] argument was essentially this, that the
[9:23] family, the Stevens family did pay about
[9:26] $160,000 for renovations to a bunch of
[9:29] contractors. um and the other things
[9:32] that were being done by his friends and
[9:34] by this oil company that he was very
[9:36] close to. He claimed he didn't know that
[9:38] they were being done. When he discovered
[9:40] that they were being done, he asked for
[9:42] bills and just never received them. Uh
[9:44] the gifts that came to his home, he
[9:46] claimed he never asked for those gifts.
[9:48] He didn't want them. He asked people to
[9:50] take them away. The fact that they never
[9:52] went away was not really his fault. He
[9:54] said they were uh he made it very clear
[9:56] that he wanted them to go away. The the
[9:58] prosecution made the point, "Senator,
[10:00] you're one of the most powerful senators
[10:02] in the US Congress. How can you not get
[10:04] someone to remove a chair from your
[10:06] house, to remove a grill from your
[10:07] house? It seems hard to reconcile."
[10:09] >> The company involved, Veco, is a
[10:12] construction company in the oil services
[10:14] industry. Did the federal government
[10:16] attempt to show any prid quote quit
[10:18] proquo that something was offered and
[10:21] something given back by Stevens?
[10:22] >> You know, it's funny. They didn't,
[10:24] except they sort of did. They they never
[10:27] alleged any quid proquo. That would have
[10:30] been a bribery count and they never
[10:32] alleged that. It was not in the
[10:33] indictment, but they did suggest that
[10:36] Stevens had done some favors for Veco.
[10:39] Uh and during this time period, it was
[10:42] very unclear exactly if they weren't
[10:44] going to make that official part of the
[10:46] charges against him, why they would
[10:48] introduce it. And essentially, they were
[10:49] introducing it in a way to say these
[10:51] people were very close to Ted Stevens.
[10:54] He was doing nice things for them. they
[10:56] were doing nice things for him.
[10:58] >> We're just about a week away from
[10:59] election day and Senator Stevens is
[11:02] defending his seat. Is there any
[11:04] timetable for uh announcing a sentence
[11:07] or court reconvening in this case or can
[11:09] he go back to Alaska and run?
[11:11] >> He can go back to Alaska and run. Uh the
[11:14] judge uh this afternoon said that he
[11:16] would do sentencing uh probably after
[11:19] February. They're going to have a
[11:20] scheduling hearing in February. Uh the
[11:22] theory here is that there are numerous
[11:24] grounds upon which uh Senator Stevens
[11:26] might want to appeal this uh verdict. Um
[11:29] and meanwhile he's out on bond and he
[11:31] can go back to Alaska and run.
[11:33] >> And for the moment he remains a senator
[11:35] in good standing if a convicted felon.
[11:38] >> Yeah, he does. There's there's no direct
[11:41] execution uh that would throw him out of
[11:44] the Senate simply for being convicted.
[11:45] the Senate Ethics Committee would have
[11:47] to take up some sort of uh uh
[11:48] investigation of him and decide whether
[11:50] he should be expelled or or some sort of
[11:52] punishment. Um if he loses his
[11:54] re-election in a week, they probably
[11:56] won't bother.
[11:57] >> When's the last time a sitting United
[11:59] States senator was convicted of a
[12:00] felony?
[12:02] >> You know, I don't know that it's ever
[12:03] happened. I know that uh Senator David
[12:05] Durnberger uh about 25 years ago, I
[12:09] believe, uh uh uh was found guilty uh or
[12:13] believe he might have plead guilty. I
[12:15] don't remember exactly, but he was found
[12:16] guilty of some similar failure to report
[12:18] and he paid a small fine. Uh you have to
[12:21] go back a long ways before that uh uh
[12:23] before we have anything similar to this.
[12:25] >> We should keep in mind that Senator Ted
[12:26] Stevens is 84 years old. Do these
[12:30] charges and now convictions carry jail
[12:33] time?
[12:34] >> Yeah. Well, in theory, each charge
[12:37] carries 5 years uh possible maximum, but
[12:41] I mean, you're not going to give Ted
[12:42] Stevens 35 years in jail. Uh most folks
[12:46] I've spoken to, most things I've read,
[12:48] the suspicion is he could get a sentence
[12:50] of up to a year, year and a half, but
[12:53] even that, it's just hard to know
[12:55] whether they'd really put him in jail.
[12:57] Had Senator Stevens at at any time
[12:59] during this process talked about what he
[13:01] might do if found guilty?
[13:04] No, you know, he said he's innocent. He
[13:06] said uh he didn't do it. He said he
[13:08] never intended to do it. And he said
[13:09] he's going to go home to Alaska. In
[13:11] fact, uh one of our reporters caught him
[13:13] getting out of the elevator today and he
[13:14] said, "I'm going home. He's going back
[13:15] to Alaska to try and make the case uh to
[13:18] Alaskans that he was unfairly
[13:20] prosecuted." I mean, I will give him
[13:22] credit here that that the prosecution
[13:24] did admit on several occasions that they
[13:26] mishandled evidence. That will probably
[13:28] give him an avenue for appeal.
[13:30] >> Paul Singer, thanks for joining us.
[13:32] >> Thanks. Have a good evening.
[13:36] [music]
[13:41] >> And with a week to go, the presidential
[13:43] candidates make their closing arguments.
[13:46] Judy Woodruff has our campaign report.
[13:49] >> John McCain and Barack Obama both
[13:52] started the day in Ohio, a state that
[13:54] has sided with the winner of the last 11
[13:57] presidential elections. McCain met this
[14:00] morning with his team of economic
[14:02] adviserss at a hotel in downtown
[14:04] Cleveland. Later, he detailed his plans
[14:08] for addressing the economic crisis. With
[14:11] one week left in this campaign, the
[14:13] choice facing Americans is stark. My
[14:16] economic goals and policies are very
[14:19] clear. One, I will protect your savings
[14:23] and retirement accounts and get the
[14:26] stock market rising again. Two, I will
[14:30] help keep people in their homes and fix
[14:34] our housing market and realize the
[14:36] American dream of owning their own home.
[14:39] Three, I will create millions of
[14:42] high-paying jobs through tax cuts that
[14:45] spur economic growth, particularly for
[14:48] the small businesses, which create 70%
[14:52] of all new jobs in this country. Why
[14:54] would we want to raise taxes on anybody?
[14:57] But most most of all, small businesses
[14:59] in America. That's what Senator Obama
[15:01] wants to do. [applause]
[15:04] >> That charge that Obama would raise taxes
[15:07] was one McCain returned to again and
[15:10] again.
[15:10] >> We both disagree with President Bush on
[15:12] economic policy. The difference is is
[15:16] that he thinks taxes have been too low
[15:19] and I think and I think that spending
[15:22] has been too high. My approach is to get
[15:24] spending under control and cut taxes and
[15:28] encourage individuals to invest in our
[15:30] markets or buy a home and to encourage
[15:33] businesses to hire more workers. Senator
[15:35] Obama's approach is to radically
[15:37] increase spending and then raise taxes
[15:40] to pay for it. My approach will lead to
[15:43] rising stock market prices, a stabilized
[15:47] housing market, economic growth, and
[15:50] millions of new jobs. Senator Obama's
[15:52] plan will destroy business growth, kill
[15:55] jobs, and lead to continued declines in
[15:57] the stock market, and make a recession
[16:00] even deeper and more painful.
[16:03] >> McCain also warned that giving the
[16:05] Democrats control of both the White
[16:07] House and Congress could be troublesome.
[16:10] >> Now, this election comes down to how you
[16:13] want your hard-earned money spent. Do
[16:15] you want to keep it and invest it in
[16:17] your future or have it taken by the most
[16:20] liberal person to ever run for the
[16:23] presidency and the Democratic leaders
[16:25] the most liberal who have been running
[16:28] Congress for the past two years Nancy
[16:30] Pelosi and Harry Reid?
[16:34] >> You know my friends this is a dangerous
[16:37] threesome.
[16:39] They believe
[16:42] they believe
[16:43] they believe that $1 trillion of rescue
[16:46] financing is not enough and have already
[16:49] proposed another $300 billion spending
[16:52] spree they're calling a stimulus plan. I
[16:55] would rather give the great American
[16:57] middle class additional tax cuts and let
[17:00] you keep that money invested in your
[17:02] future.
[17:04] [applause]
[17:06] >> [cheering]
[17:07] >> Barack Obama, meanwhile, stomped in
[17:09] Canton, Ohio, about an hour south of
[17:12] Cleveland. There he returned to a theme
[17:15] from early in the campaign with what his
[17:17] aids called a closing argument speech.
[17:20] >> In one week, you can put an end to the
[17:23] politics that would divide a nation just
[17:26] to win an election that tries to pit
[17:28] region against region and city against
[17:31] town, Republican against Democrat. that
[17:35] asks us to fear at a time when we need
[17:37] hope.
[17:39] In one week at this defining moment in
[17:42] history, you can give this country the
[17:45] change we need.
[17:47] >> Obama batted down charges from McCain
[17:50] that he would expand the size of
[17:52] government.
[17:53] >> I don't believe that government can or
[17:56] should try to solve all our problems.
[17:59] You don't believe that either.
[18:01] But I do believe that government should
[18:03] do that which we cannot do for
[18:05] ourselves.
[18:07] Protect us from harm. Provide a decent
[18:10] education for all children.
[18:14] Invest in new roads and bridges, in new
[18:18] science and technology.
[18:22] Our government should reward drive and
[18:24] innovation and encourage growth in the
[18:26] free market. But it should also make
[18:29] sure businesses live up to their
[18:30] responsibility to create American jobs
[18:33] and look out for American workers and
[18:35] play by the rules of the road.
[18:40] It should ensure a shot at success, not
[18:43] just for those with money and power and
[18:46] influence, but for every single American
[18:48] who's willing to work.
[18:50] That's how we create not just more
[18:53] millionaires or more billionaires, but
[18:55] how we create more middle class
[18:57] families. That's how we make sure
[18:59] businesses have customers that can
[19:01] afford their products or services.
[19:04] [cheering] That's how we've always grown
[19:06] the American economy from the bottom up.
[19:09] John McCain calls this socialism. I call
[19:12] it opportunity. And there's nothing more
[19:14] American than that.
[19:16] >> [cheering]
[19:17] >> Obama kept up his efforts to tie McCain
[19:20] to the economic policies of the Bush
[19:22] administration.
[19:23] >> We have tried it John McCain's way. We
[19:26] have tried it George Bush's way.
[19:29] A
[19:30] >> and deep down deep down Senator McCain
[19:32] knows that. Which is why his campaign
[19:35] said that if we keep talking about the
[19:37] economy, we're going to lose.
[19:40] That's why he's spending these last
[19:41] weeks calling me every name in the book.
[19:46] Because that's how you play the game in
[19:48] Washington. If you can't beat your
[19:50] opponent's ideas, you distort those
[19:53] ideas and maybe make some up.
[19:56] If you don't have a record to run on,
[19:59] then you paint your opponent as someone
[20:01] people should run away from.
[20:05] You make a you make a big election about
[20:09] small things.
[20:11] Ohio, we're here to say not this time.
[20:14] Not this year. Not when so much is at
[20:17] stake. [cheering]
[20:20] John McCain might be worried about
[20:22] losing an election, but I'm worried
[20:23] about Americans who are losing their
[20:25] homes and their jobs and their life
[20:27] savings. [cheering]
[20:29] >> Republican vice presidential nominee
[20:31] Sarah Palin, meanwhile, appeared in
[20:34] Leburg, Virginia. And just as McCain did
[20:37] at his Ohio event, Palin accused Obama
[20:40] and congressional Democrats of
[20:42] conspiring to punish workers by raising
[20:45] taxes.
[20:46] >> We don't think that you should be
[20:47] working for government. We think that
[20:49] government should WORK FOR YOU.
[20:52] [cheering]
[20:54] SO IF you share that commitment, we need
[20:56] your vote on November 4th because if big
[20:59] government spenders,
[21:01] [cheering]
[21:02] >> if big government spenders control the
[21:05] House and the Senate and heaven forbid
[21:07] the White House, then
[21:11] they will have a monopoly of power in
[21:13] Washington. and the Obama Pelosi Reid
[21:16] agenda.
[21:18] [cheering]
[21:21] It would put America on a path that
[21:23] erodess the strong work ethic that made
[21:25] this country so great. SO, VIRGINIA, LET
[21:28] US FIGHT TOGETHER for what is right and
[21:31] free and uniquely American. [cheering]
[21:35] The number two on the Democratic ticket,
[21:38] Joe Biden campaigned in Greensboro,
[21:40] North Carolina, where he touted Obama's
[21:43] vision for uniting the country.
[21:45] >> Ladies and gentlemen, our problems are
[21:47] too big, and for too long, our politics
[21:50] HAS BEEN TOO SMALL. IT'S TIME TO CHANGE.
[21:54] [cheering]
[21:57] LOOK,
[21:59] >> Barack Obama knows that we need to bring
[22:02] people together.
[22:03] >> And the way he will do it is way all
[22:05] great presidents have done by reminding
[22:08] us reminding us of what we've overcome
[22:10] in the past. We've seen tougher times in
[22:12] this country, our parents and
[22:14] grandparents and great-grandparents, and
[22:16] they've overcome it. The other way great
[22:18] presidents appeal to America is they
[22:21] appeal to their better angels, not to
[22:23] their fears. appear appeal to their
[22:26] potential. And ladies and gentlemen, if
[22:28] you notice, that's all we've been doing
[22:31] in the last month of this campaign.
[22:32] That's all Barack Obama is doing now.
[22:36] It's not about, as I said, were you
[22:38] better off. Everybody knows we're not
[22:40] better off. It's about what are we going
[22:42] to do now?
[22:44] >> Biden will campaign tonight and tomorrow
[22:46] in Florida, while Obama makes stops in
[22:49] Pennsylvania and Virginia. McCain will
[22:52] hold a joint rally with Palin in
[22:54] Pennsylvania before traveling to North
[22:57] Carolina
[22:59] >> and Gwen Eiffel.
[23:01] >> For more on what the two candidates are
[23:03] doing to seal the deal, we turn to Amy
[23:05] Walter, editor and chief of the Hotline,
[23:08] National Journal's Political Daily, and
[23:10] Susan Page, Washington bureau chief for
[23:12] USA Today. Susan Page, based on what we
[23:15] heard Barack Obama say today, what is
[23:17] the substance of his closing argument?
[23:19] Barack Obama is saying, "It's been a
[23:21] tough eight years. We need a change.
[23:23] I'll offer you change. The other guy
[23:24] won't." I think that's the essence of uh
[23:26] of his closing arguments. It's been in
[23:28] fact the essence of his campaign for the
[23:30] last six months.
[23:31] >> It sounded Amy like the essence of his
[23:32] opening argument
[23:34] >> of his opening argument for the rest of
[23:37] Yes. for his tenure as president. Is
[23:38] that what you're suggesting? Yeah. I
[23:40] mean, I think that what he's doing right
[23:41] now, it's it's really interesting
[23:42] watching these two candidates, which is
[23:44] Obama seems to be sort of opening his
[23:46] message where a and trying to sort of
[23:48] bring it as we've heard all along,
[23:50] right? Bring as many people together as
[23:51] possible, the blue states and the red
[23:53] states and the hope and the all those
[23:55] words and McCain is much more focused
[23:57] and his message is much more closed as
[23:59] it would be uh focused much more on his
[24:02] base and turning out those voters that
[24:05] uh he's worried or not enthusiastic
[24:07] enough uh to come out on election day.
[24:09] So, one's trying to expand the map,
[24:11] one's focusing much more narrowly.
[24:13] >> Let's talk about the McCain message.
[24:14] There seemed to be a lot in that today.
[24:16] It was it was a full basket full of
[24:18] different messages.
[24:19] >> Well, I think uh I think Senator McCain
[24:21] is looking for a message that's going to
[24:22] work for him that'll get some traction
[24:24] that will convince some voters who are
[24:26] for Obama now, but maybe aren't quite so
[24:28] sure about it to peel off or those
[24:31] dwindling number of undecided voters to
[24:33] come to his side. So, for some of those
[24:35] might be taxes, uh it might be the risk
[24:36] of electing someone who's inexperienced.
[24:39] Uh really whatever argument will work
[24:41] for you is an argument John McCain's
[24:42] willing to make now because he's in this
[24:44] unfortunate position of uh being on the
[24:47] struggling side of this campaign. So, he
[24:49] needs to be more negative. He needs to
[24:52] hammer uh at Senator Obama. He needs to
[24:54] raise questions about him if he's to
[24:56] have any hopes of making this threading
[24:57] this difficult difficult course for him
[24:59] to 270 electoral votes. So, who are
[25:02] these voters that they're both going
[25:03] after? Are they the same group of people
[25:05] who they're just sitting at home waiting
[25:06] for someone to say the mo most
[25:08] persuasive thing or are they different
[25:09] groups of people,
[25:10] >> right? Because you wonder at this point
[25:11] in the game, is there is there anybody
[25:12] who truly is undecided? We've seen these
[25:15] Yes, we see these numbers and it's it is
[25:17] dwindling. I mean, it's probably five or
[25:19] six% who say that they truly are
[25:20] undecided. But I do think that you're
[25:22] seeing these candidates focusing their
[25:24] message on two very different audiences
[25:26] and and as as we pointed out earlier in
[25:28] terms of what they're looking for for
[25:30] the future. And so for John McCain, I
[25:31] think it is Susan's right that he's
[25:33] trying anything that works. But it's
[25:34] also making sure that he gets those
[25:37] voters that maybe are Republican leaning
[25:40] or folks who are part of the base but
[25:42] might not be as motivated to turn out,
[25:44] giving them the messages that they want
[25:46] to hear. So talking about taxes, talking
[25:48] about the liberal democratic
[25:50] establishment, those buzzwords to make
[25:52] sure that they are engaged, they
[25:53] actually get out and vote because again,
[25:55] we've been hearing over and over again
[25:56] that Democrats are turning out in large
[25:58] numbers in these early vote uh states.
[26:01] And so engaging those voters is going to
[26:03] be important, especially if his strategy
[26:04] is to play defense. Hold on to all those
[26:07] red states that George Bush was able to
[26:09] do. Maybe pick up a blue one. He talks a
[26:11] lot about Pennsylvania, but hold on to
[26:13] the red. whereas Obama is going in and
[26:16] he's he's almost in every state it seems
[26:18] these days.
[26:19] >> Well, let's talk about the geography a
[26:20] little bit, Susan. What states if if
[26:23] there's a path for John McCain um and if
[26:25] there's a path for Barack Obama who is
[26:28] saying he's nervous even though he seems
[26:30] to be ahead in so many of these polls.
[26:31] What are the states which are on that
[26:33] path?
[26:33] >> Well, I think for Barack Obama the key
[26:35] is to be strong in the Mountain West.
[26:36] This is a new battleground region this
[26:38] year. Colorado, Nevada, also New Mexico,
[26:40] which has been close in the past. that's
[26:42] given him his strength in those states
[26:44] has given him some leeway to lose
[26:46] Pennsylvania. If he happened to lose
[26:48] Pennsylvania, he could still win the
[26:49] presidency because he has he has come
[26:51] through in this new battleground region
[26:53] which I just suspect we're going to be
[26:55] watching for a long time. John McCain
[26:57] has uh a very precise path as as Amy
[27:00] said, hold the Bush states and maybe get
[27:02] Pennsylvania. Um, and that leaves him,
[27:05] it leaves him in the position of some
[27:06] Democratic presidential candidates in
[27:08] previous elections where they can
[27:09] calculate how they can get to 270, but
[27:11] it means every single thing needs to
[27:13] fall their way.
[27:14] >> You know, as watching these events over
[27:15] the weekend, you look at the crowds, the
[27:17] relative size of the crowds, and you
[27:18] wonder, does size matter? Does crowd
[27:20] size matter in this case at this stage
[27:22] in the campaign or is that just
[27:23] atmospheric at this point?
[27:25] >> I mean, I think a lot of it still is
[27:26] atmospheric. Let's remember this was the
[27:28] debate we had in the Democratic primary
[27:30] too that well Barack Obama's crowds are
[27:32] so much larger. This indicates of course
[27:34] that he's going to win by a huge margin
[27:36] and he would rack up these big events in
[27:38] Pennsylvania and Ohio obviously lost
[27:40] both of those states so they weren't
[27:41] necessarily uh indicative of the final
[27:44] vote. But what I think it does,
[27:45] especially for somebody like Barack
[27:47] Obama who is trying to keep these new
[27:50] voters, these folks who have he has
[27:52] helped to recruit and uh and get them
[27:56] registered to vote, making sure that
[27:57] they understand that they're part of
[27:59] something bigger. They see these
[28:00] pictures of him out with the throngs
[28:02] that this is, you know, part of a bigger
[28:04] movement. That message is what he's
[28:05] really trying to drive home with with
[28:07] these big rallies. You know, the other
[28:08] thing I've noticed in these big rallies
[28:10] is increasing numbers of these people
[28:12] are people who have already voted. Voted
[28:13] by mail, done early voting. Uh, you
[28:15] know, these are votes that are in the
[28:17] bank. It means that there can be an
[28:18] event over the next week. It's not going
[28:19] to change their vote. It means they're
[28:21] not going to be peeled off by some last
[28:22] minute argument. That's another role of
[28:24] these huge crowds we've seen is to get
[28:26] people to the polls early to to kind of
[28:29] guarantee that their vote is cast and
[28:31] it's going to be there.
[28:32] >> Let's talk about the vice presidential
[28:33] candidates on both sides. Are they at
[28:34] this stage, at this moment in time, are
[28:36] they helping or are they hurting their
[28:38] candidates?
[28:39] >> Well, I mean, I think it's pretty clear
[28:40] that that Sarah Palin has not been
[28:43] helpful in these last couple of weeks
[28:45] here. Now, where she still could be
[28:47] helpful, I think again going and talking
[28:48] to the base. But in terms of her broader
[28:50] message, if we are talking about picking
[28:52] up those true undecided voters, those
[28:53] folks who are on the fence either way,
[28:56] um I think that a lot of questions have
[28:58] been raised and it seems like anytime
[28:59] she tries to go out with whatever
[29:01] message it may be, it seems to be
[29:03] overshadowed by a controversy and now
[29:05] it's obviously the $150,000
[29:08] infighting within the [clears throat]
[29:08] campaign. Now it's the infighting with
[29:10] the campaign and who likes her and who
[29:11] doesn't and is she really a diva and
[29:14] who's speaking to her and who's not and
[29:15] right and so that has been overshadowing
[29:18] everything and in fact that's been part
[29:19] of the story all along right that the
[29:20] Sarah Palin message the one that we saw
[29:23] uh unveiled at the convention never
[29:25] really got a chance to really percolate
[29:27] because of all the other issues that
[29:29] were surrounding that.
[29:30] >> What about Joe Biden? Well, I think he's
[29:32] been helpful in that people see him as a
[29:34] credible president, but I think he's
[29:35] he's made some uh misstatements that
[29:37] have caused trouble in these last couple
[29:39] weeks, including saying that President
[29:41] President Obama would be tested early on
[29:44] by foreign leaders. I think the campaign
[29:45] spent a lot of time trying to put that
[29:47] one down. And with Sarah Pal and the
[29:48] McCain campaign came out with their own
[29:50] ad exploiting it,
[29:51] >> it really reinforced one of the c
[29:53] McCain's main messages, which is the the
[29:55] risk of electing uh Barack Obama. With
[29:57] Sarah Palin, I think you start see her
[29:58] starting to think about elections down
[30:00] the road. She is now thinking not only
[30:02] about making McCain's case but repairing
[30:04] her own image because this is a woman I
[30:06] think we are going to be seeing uh not
[30:08] just in this election but in future ones
[30:09] >> and so everybody's got to do what they
[30:11] can in the next eight days to kind of
[30:13] repair to emerge from this somehow whole
[30:16] >> right well you know one ticket's going
[30:18] to emerge as the as the president and
[30:20] vice president of the United States
[30:21] which is a pretty way pretty good way to
[30:23] emerge I think it's the other side that
[30:26] that worries about who's going to get
[30:27] blamed for what went wrong
[30:28] >> right including staff so it's not just
[30:30] the candidates, but it's the people
[30:31] behind the candidates that are looking
[30:33] for what their next step will be after
[30:35] this election.
[30:36] >> Okay, more to come. Amy Walter, Susan
[30:38] Paige, thank you both very much.
[30:40] >> And our election coverage continues
[30:42] always on our website. Just go to
[30:44] pbs.org and then scroll down to NewsHour
[30:48] Reports.
[30:52] [music]
[30:55] Next, new proposals to help homeowners
[30:57] in trouble. Jeffrey Brown has our story.
[31:01] >> Ever since Congress passed its financial
[31:03] rescue package last month, fears have
[31:06] grown that the twin problems of
[31:07] decreasing home prices and increasing
[31:10] foreclosures had not been adequately
[31:12] addressed. Amid growing calls to help
[31:15] distressed homeowners, more direct
[31:18] responses now appear to be in the works.
[31:21] According to recent data, foreclosure
[31:23] filings in the third quarter were up 71%
[31:27] from a year ago with some regions hit
[31:29] particularly hard and the average price
[31:32] of a home dropped by 9% in the last
[31:34] year. Again, some areas saw much greater
[31:37] drops.
[31:39] >> In recent weeks, candidates, lawmakers,
[31:41] and academics have put forward a variety
[31:44] of proposals to address the problem. And
[31:47] now the Bush administration appears
[31:49] ready to make its next move. On
[31:51] Thursday, officials appearing at a
[31:53] Senate hearing said they're working on
[31:55] details of a plan in which the
[31:57] government would provide a partial
[31:59] guarantee on troubled home loans.
[32:01] [snorts] Sheila Bear is the head of the
[32:03] Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
[32:05] >> The FDIC is working closely and
[32:07] creatively with Treasury on ways to use
[32:09] the recent financial rescue law to
[32:11] create a clear framework and economic
[32:13] incentives for systematically modifying
[32:15] loans. The aim is for loan servicesers
[32:17] to offer homeowners more affordable and
[32:19] sustainable mortgages.
[32:20] >> The new plan, which could be announced
[32:22] in the next week or two, is estimated to
[32:25] cost some $40 billion.
[32:28] And now, a look at several ideas on the
[32:30] table. Bruce Marx is the chief executive
[32:32] of the Neighborhood Assistance
[32:34] Corporation of America, a notfor-profit
[32:36] advocacy group for homeowners. Dan
[32:39] Alpert is founding founder and managing
[32:41] director of Westwood Capital, a small
[32:43] investment bank. and Neil Irwin is a
[32:46] financial reporter who's been covering
[32:47] the housing and banking crisis for the
[32:50] Washington Post. Bruce Marks, let's
[32:52] first define the problem beyond the
[32:54] numbers. What's happening out there?
[32:55] What do you see? Sure. I mean, what is
[32:58] out there, Jeff, is that is is the
[33:01] foreclosures stupid? That's what we have
[33:04] to say to Congress and we have to say to
[33:05] the administration because all the
[33:07] solutions out there, the refinances,
[33:10] all those solutions are not working. and
[33:13] that there are millions of homeowners at
[33:15] risk of foreclosure because they can't
[33:16] afford the mortgage payments. So we we
[33:18] have to do is we have to restructure
[33:20] these mortgages to make them affordable.
[33:22] That's not being done. Not being done by
[33:25] the servicesers or by the investors. All
[33:27] the solutions out there are failing
[33:29] Jeeoff.
[33:29] >> So in simple terms explain what you
[33:31] think should be done. What are the
[33:32] general principles for any plan?
[33:35] >> Right. Well well the general general
[33:37] principles is go back to what lending
[33:40] used to be. It's saying let's determine
[33:42] what a homeowner can afford. So what we
[33:44] say is what is the uh someone's income,
[33:48] the required monthly liabilities, the
[33:49] required expenses, and then you come up
[33:51] with a mortgage payment and you say this
[33:53] is what I can afford. And that's how you
[33:55] do. And now you have to restructure the
[33:57] mortgage. Let's not do a new loan, a
[33:59] refinance. Stay with the existing
[34:01] lender, service or investor and say
[34:04] reduce the interest rate to get to a
[34:06] mortgage payment that the homeowner can
[34:08] afford. It's basic lending. It's going
[34:11] back to the fundamentals. This is what
[34:12] the homeowner can afford. Restructure
[34:14] the mortgage. And that's good, Jeff, for
[34:17] everybody. It's good for the homeowners.
[34:19] That's good for the servicesers who are
[34:20] overwhelmed. Good for the investors,
[34:22] good for the communities. And you can do
[34:24] that without $1 of taxpayer money.
[34:27] >> Now, Dan Albert, uh, before I ask you
[34:29] about your what you'd propose, I I just
[34:32] note, you know, in our news summary
[34:33] today, we said that home sales were
[34:35] actually up a bit in September. still
[34:38] down a lot from last year, but but up
[34:40] surprisingly. Does that suggest at all
[34:43] to you that the market may have I don't
[34:45] know, settled, figured this out a bit?
[34:48] >> Well, I'm looking more at home prices
[34:49] and uh if you look at home prices, they
[34:51] continue to decline. The issue that
[34:54] really faces us is that so much of the
[34:56] value increment that was created during
[34:58] this lax lending and low interest rate
[35:00] period throughout the decade really
[35:02] never truly existed. uh the cost of
[35:05] housing completely disconnected from
[35:08] alternatives of rental. They completely
[35:10] disconnected from uh personal income and
[35:13] we we ended up at we ended up at a point
[35:16] where we believe housing values are
[35:18] going to nationally plummet by about 30%
[35:20] peak to trough. That generates many many
[35:23] losses. We went from $5.4 trillion in
[35:27] outstanding mortgage debt in 2000 to 11
[35:30] trillion at the end of 2006. uh that
[35:33] more than doubled the the amount of
[35:35] housing debt outstanding. Theoretically,
[35:37] we had some $20 trillion worth of
[35:40] housing stock, but unfortunately, a 30%
[35:42] drop from that, it takes you down to 14.
[35:45] And here's the here's the zinger. About
[35:47] a third of all homes have no mortgages
[35:49] on them at all. So, you have less than
[35:52] 11 trillion worth of collateral
[35:54] supporting uh 11 trillion worth of
[35:57] loans. That's going to create mortgage
[35:58] losses. It's obviously creating a huge
[36:01] negative wealth effect amongst people
[36:03] who own uh housing and that of course is
[36:06] translating into a mammoth recession.
[36:07] >> Neil Irwin, let me bring you in. You've
[36:09] been covering this in Washington. Why
[36:11] was there reluctance early on in the
[36:13] administration to tackle this problem
[36:15] head on? Well, the simple fact is uh
[36:18] it's great to talk about finding ways to
[36:19] prevent foreclosures to help people
[36:21] afford their mortgages, but it's uh
[36:23] really hard to do that in a way that
[36:24] doesn't uh you know disrupt private
[36:26] contracts that uh is actually practical.
[36:29] Uh you know, the reality is there are
[36:30] these existing mortgages. People signed
[36:32] up for them voluntarily. The bank center
[36:34] deals with both the uh the mortgage e
[36:36] and with the the uh whoever ultimately
[36:38] owns that mortgage. And uh you know,
[36:40] anything you do to try to help people
[36:42] afford a mortgage or renegotiate uh you
[36:44] kind of need buyin by all those parties.
[36:46] unless you're, you know, running the
[36:47] risk of a lawsuit. Um, so the the basic
[36:49] situation is, uh, it's it's a lot. It's
[36:52] a great thing to talk about. It's a much
[36:54] harder thing to execute in practice.
[36:55] >> And what we mentioned this this uh
[36:57] potential new plan by Treasury and the
[37:01] FDIC that Shil Sheila Bear has been
[37:03] touting. Uh, details to come clearly on
[37:06] this, but what do we know so far? The
[37:08] rough outlines are that uh a mortgage
[37:10] company, a lender, a bank would would
[37:12] agree to uh lower the value of a
[37:14] mortgage or what's owed on it to what a
[37:16] person can actually afford in exchange
[37:18] for uh the government being willing to
[37:20] protect the bank or the lender against
[37:22] any future losses. So the idea is the
[37:24] government steps in and says, "All
[37:25] right, if you, you know, renegotiate
[37:27] this mortgage, so it's say uh the person
[37:29] only has to pay 32% of their income,
[37:31] something that's affordable, uh we'll uh
[37:33] we'll bolster it and uh and protect you
[37:35] against further losses. Uh again, the
[37:37] the the level of detail you have to get
[37:38] into to actually make something like
[37:40] that work is uh is truly daunting.
[37:41] >> Bruce Marks, uh what what about
[37:43] something like that?
[37:45] >> Well, you know, it's not that
[37:46] complicated. I mean, I think, you know,
[37:48] people make it far more complicated than
[37:50] what it is. What we know with doesn't
[37:52] work is we know that refinances, getting
[37:54] a new loan doesn't work because the
[37:55] value is not there. People's credit
[37:57] scores are not there. That doesn't work.
[37:59] So, what we have to focus on is with the
[38:01] existing service and the investor. And
[38:03] it's very simple. You you determine what
[38:05] the homeowner can afford and you reduce
[38:08] the interest rate. And NACA, we're able
[38:10] to do this for tens of thousands of
[38:12] homeowners. But who let me let me
[38:14] interrupt you. Who who takes the hit in
[38:16] that point? Is it the Is it the lender,
[38:18] the serer, or the government? Who's
[38:20] taking the hit? Well, well, it is the
[38:23] investor that will get that won't get
[38:25] their 9 or 10% interest rate that might
[38:27] get their four or 3% interest rate, but
[38:30] they won't incur the foreclosure cost
[38:32] because what you're focusing on is not
[38:33] what the value of the property is.
[38:35] You're focusing on what the mortgage
[38:36] payment is and you're locking that in
[38:39] for the remaining term of the loan. So,
[38:41] you have a fully amateurized loan. So it
[38:43] doesn't So even if the loan is
[38:45] underwater, even if you owe more than
[38:47] what it's worth, then as long as you
[38:50] have a fully amortizing loan with every
[38:52] payment, you're paying off a bit of the
[38:54] principal with no taxpayer dollars. But
[38:56] you know what the biggest problem is,
[38:58] Jeff? And that is Fanny May. Fanny May,
[39:01] which sets the standard for this
[39:03] country, is the investor. So in essence,
[39:06] because they're refusing to do this,
[39:08] that's what's causing the massive
[39:10] numbers of foreclosures in this country.
[39:12] We change Fanny May's policy, we change
[39:14] it for the industry.
[39:15] >> All right, Daniel Alpert, you respond to
[39:17] that. I want to let you uh you have a
[39:18] you have a whole other idea for how to
[39:20] do this.
[39:21] >> Well, first of all, I'm more with Neil.
[39:22] Unfortunately, we have uh the sanctity
[39:25] of contracts in this country, and it's
[39:26] very very difficult. We've seen already
[39:28] how difficult it is to jawbone lenders,
[39:30] which is what the hope programs were
[39:32] trying to do, into making these
[39:34] alterations to their mortgages. Think
[39:36] about the private securizations which
[39:38] account for trillions of outstanding
[39:40] mortgages. And those those folks are,
[39:42] you know, servicesers and and trustees
[39:45] that are beholdened to bond holders who
[39:46] own little pieces of these mortgages.
[39:48] They're not going to risk their entire
[39:50] credibility and their entire uh balance
[39:52] sheet by somehow voluntarily making
[39:56] changes to these mortgages that are
[39:57] going to uh impair the folks that own
[40:00] them. So unless something happens that's
[40:02] of a more mandatory nature, I'm afraid
[40:05] we're going to have a a big problem. And
[40:07] that's what our uh plan calls for. We
[40:09] we've come up with a plan basically to
[40:11] allow mortgages or mortgage uh mortgage
[40:14] I'm sorry, borrowers who um are
[40:17] underwater or who have very high loan
[40:18] tovalue loans who can't make the
[40:20] payments uh to effectively do what
[40:22] they're supposed to do under their
[40:24] mortgage, which is surrender their
[40:25] collateral, surrender their deed. Right
[40:27] now, the cost of collection of of
[40:29] mortgages is running something like 30%
[40:32] of mortgage balances when it goes
[40:34] through foreclosure. In good times, it
[40:36] was 19%. So, you're talking about a huge
[40:39] additional cost. If uh deeds are
[40:41] surrendered voluntarily, uh you you save
[40:44] that cost. Now, who would do that in
[40:46] their right mind? No one. So, what we're
[40:48] proposing is that lenders be required on
[40:51] a mandatory basis to lease the
[40:53] properties back to the homeowners for a
[40:55] period of time. We've suggested four to
[40:58] six years during which time home owners
[41:00] homeowners will have a chance to get
[41:01] their financial houses in order and be
[41:03] able to buy back the home theoretically
[41:05] at a price lower than they paid for it
[41:07] originally at fair market value in four
[41:09] to 5 years. Look, if you believe that
[41:12] this crisis is is is created by some
[41:14] sort of a cyclical downturn, this was a
[41:16] bubble. This was not an overupp of
[41:19] housing or anything like that. It was a
[41:20] pure bubble. housing prices are going to
[41:22] recalibrate down to where they match off
[41:25] against rents, where they match off
[41:26] against personal income.
[41:27] >> All right, let me bring let me bring let
[41:28] me bring Neil Irwin back in here because
[41:30] this discussion
[41:31] >> I assume this kind of discussion is
[41:33] going on in Washington about how to you
[41:35] know there were early on there were
[41:37] concerns about what's called moral
[41:38] hazard and the sending the wrong
[41:40] incentives to people. What what how to
[41:43] limit any kind of program? What what
[41:45] kind of discussion or worries do you get
[41:48] uh on the Hill and in Treasury right
[41:50] now? Well, think about it this way. If
[41:51] uh if you create a program where you say
[41:53] uh if you can't afford your mortgage or
[41:55] it's hard to afford your mortgage, uh
[41:57] you can uh you can renegotiate it with
[41:59] some government help, um that can almost
[42:01] create incentives. People who are kind
[42:03] of scratching by and really stretching
[42:04] and maybe working a second job to try
[42:06] and keep up with their mortgage
[42:07] payments, they might have an incentive
[42:09] then to uh to just default, to just stop
[42:11] paying their mortgage and then they
[42:12] could uh be subject and and benefit from
[42:14] some kind of government program along
[42:15] these lines. uh you know there's a lot
[42:17] of perverse incentives that can come
[42:18] along and that's what a lot of
[42:19] Republicans especially are worried
[42:21] about. You know the truth is uh uh the
[42:23] FDI under Sheila Bear they uh they took
[42:26] over they're kind of doing an experiment
[42:27] in this right now. They uh they ended up
[42:29] taking over the failed bank Indie Mack
[42:30] back in August and they said you know
[42:32] we're going to move aggressively to try
[42:33] and renegotiate mortgages to help people
[42:35] out. They had 60,000 uh people either in
[42:38] some stage of the foreclosure process
[42:39] for 60,000 mortgages. As of last week
[42:42] only 3,500 of those had successfully
[42:44] been renegotiated. We're talking about
[42:46] massive massive numbers of mortgages and
[42:48] uh and dealing with individual
[42:49] homeowners, thousands of people all over
[42:51] the country. Uh it's uh it's it's a very
[42:53] big challenge.
[42:54] >> All right, Bruce Marks, I know you I
[42:55] know you wanted to jump back in. Go
[42:56] ahead.
[42:57] >> Yes, please. Look, let's let's talk
[42:59] about the reality of what's going on on
[43:01] the ground. There are solutions that are
[43:03] working now. When you talk about you've
[43:05] got you've got Secretary Pollson, he
[43:08] controls Fanny and Freddy. They have 50%
[43:12] of all the mortgages in this country.
[43:14] Now, now Fanny says that you have to be
[43:17] 4 months late before they will that
[43:19] before they will restructure the
[43:20] mortgage. Fanny says that they will not
[43:23] reduce the interest rate less than the
[43:24] market value less than the market rate.
[43:27] They will never reduce the principal.
[43:29] They're the biggest problem. So in in
[43:31] essence, the American taxpayer who owns
[43:33] Fanny May is foreclosing on themselves.
[43:37] And so if we want to do a dramatic
[43:39] solution, something that's going to help
[43:41] virtually the whole industry, every
[43:43] homeowner at risk of foreclosure, we
[43:45] change the practices of Fanny May
[43:47] because it's not just for the 30% of the
[43:49] mortgages that they own or that they
[43:52] guarantee or Freddy, the 20% that they
[43:54] own or guarantee, but whatever they do
[43:57] become the accepted solution for the
[43:59] industry. And then let's take the Sheila
[44:02] Bear standard. When Sheila Bear took
[44:05] over India, what did she do? First
[44:07] thing, a moratorum on foreclosures.
[44:09] Second thing, stop the interest rate
[44:11] increases. Third thing, restructure the
[44:14] mortgages based on what the homeowner
[44:15] can afford. Well, if Sheila Bear can do
[44:18] that as head of the FDIC and she owns
[44:21] India. And if Naka can do it as a
[44:23] nonprofit mortgage broker, why can't we
[44:26] have Secretary Pollson who owns Fanny
[44:29] and Freddy and they can set the industry
[44:31] standard? We don't have to go through
[44:32] the gymnastics of giving the deed back
[44:34] and and rerenting it or refinances or
[44:37] using the taxpayer money. We can do it
[44:40] the right way with the solutions that
[44:42] are already there staring in our face.
[44:44] >> All right, I think we're going to have
[44:45] to leave it there, but we'll come back
[44:47] to this no doubt in the coming days or
[44:49] weeks as the plan develops. Bruce Marks,
[44:51] Daniel Alpert, and Neil Irwin, thanks
[44:53] all very much.
[44:54] >> Thank you. Thank you.
[44:57] [music]
[45:02] >> [music]
[45:02] >> Finally tonight, a report from Haiti on
[45:05] the recovering from three deadly
[45:07] hurricanes. The reporter is special
[45:09] correspondent Fred de Sam Lazero.
[45:12] When the food supplies arrive in Gona,
[45:15] so do the riot police from the UN
[45:18] peacekeeping mission in Haiti.
[45:21] >> They bring some order, but not food for
[45:24] everyone. A stream of mostly women
[45:26] leaves empty-handed.
[45:29] >> I'm dying of hunger and so are my kids.
[45:32] I came here to get food, but they've
[45:34] given it all away. I haven't eaten
[45:36] anything today. I'm still hungry. I have
[45:39] nothing. Whatever you give me is all
[45:41] I'll have.
[45:43] >> They are among perhaps 800,000 Haitians,
[45:46] 10% of the population, displaced by the
[45:49] storms, which took at least 300 lives.
[45:52] One month after the last hurricane
[45:54] ripped through, roads are still barely
[45:56] usable, still covered with flood waters
[45:59] that are now reduced to a toxic sludge
[46:02] of oils and other pollutants.
[46:08] >> Just in Ghana, we have 3 million cubic
[46:10] meters of mud. You can imagine the
[46:12] effort that is needed. I hope the
[46:14] international community understands the
[46:16] profound catastrophe Haiti is going
[46:18] through.
[46:19] Hades President Renee Pval has had to
[46:21] rely on the international community to
[46:24] both fund and lead the relief operation
[46:26] in a country where 80% live in what the
[46:29] UN calls absolute poverty. Crippled for
[46:32] years by political and economic
[46:34] meltdown. One key player so far has been
[46:38] the non-government group Doctors Without
[46:40] Borders. Max Cosy is a director.
[46:43] >> There is a danger of uh some uh
[46:46] outbreaks of some uh Well, some some
[46:49] disease. Uh we are really in a high risk
[46:52] in this moment. Red alert if you want
[46:55] call it like this.
[46:56] >> Red alert.
[46:57] >> Yeah. There is a large part of the
[46:59] population that doesn't have any access
[47:01] to to uh clean water. And uh you know
[47:05] after a while that you don't have this
[47:08] capacity to to have a clean water, you
[47:10] start to drink what you find. For
[47:12] 51-year-old Odeta May, that meant
[47:15] drinking flood waters that she stood in
[47:17] for hours.
[47:22] >> There were bowls and plates lying
[47:23] around, we just scooped up the water and
[47:26] drank it without filtering it.
[47:29] >> Just outside her temporary shelter in a
[47:31] school building, the doctor's group
[47:33] began an outpatient clinic. Diarrhea
[47:35] from contaminated water was a common
[47:37] problem here.
[47:40] About 120 anxious mothers with infants
[47:43] and a few elderly craved their first
[47:46] medical attention since the hurricanes.
[47:50] 2-year-old Kelly was triaged to the top
[47:52] of the line to see Dr. Louis Jacqu smile
[47:55] with swollen face and limbs and
[47:57] aggressive skin rashes.
[48:03] The little child that you saw is
[48:04] malnourished. And one of the symptoms of
[48:06] that malnourishment is that you have
[48:08] dermatitis that rises up on the skin.
[48:10] And this is what we are seeing very,
[48:12] very often now. Kelly's mother received
[48:15] medicines and a nutrient-rich formula
[48:17] given to malnourished children. In
[48:19] Haiti, even before the hurricanes, a
[48:22] quarter of all children were chronically
[48:24] malnourished.
[48:25] The key to Kelly's recovery will also be
[48:28] access to food and clean water,
[48:30] something that eludes half the
[48:32] population in the best of times.
[48:36] Centuries of deforestation for lumber
[48:38] and cooking fuel has eroded the soil,
[48:41] washing it into rivers and streams. Now
[48:44] flood waters from the hurricanes have
[48:46] contaminated wells and Gaiv's water pipe
[48:49] network flimsy before is useless says
[48:52] Regel Gil a project worker for the
[48:55] doctor's group. We lost 80% of the water
[48:59] from the reservoir every day
[49:02] which is way too much. That's
[49:05] >> just just so I understand then you're
[49:07] saying that by the time the water gets
[49:09] from the reservoir
[49:11] >> into the city
[49:12] >> 80% of of it leaks out.
[49:14] >> Yeah.
[49:15] >> Non-government groups are trucking
[49:17] portable water from the city's reservoir
[49:19] in large rubber bladders. Then
[49:21] installing these on rooftops,
[49:24] transporting the water and finding
[49:25] available rooftops has been difficult.
[49:28] with the network we having right now
[49:31] right today uh we we touching
[49:36] around a third the first goal we're
[49:38] doing now is providing portable water to
[49:41] maximum of of population and the next
[49:44] stage will be uh cleaning the wells
[49:47] >> preventing disease is just one half of
[49:49] the public health task the other is to
[49:52] rebuild healthc care facilities which
[49:54] were demolished by the storms
[49:57] >> this warehouse was spared by the
[49:59] hurricanes and it's being quickly
[50:00] converted into an 80 bed hospital. The
[50:03] construction workers aren't finished
[50:04] yet, but the hospital work is already in
[50:07] full swing since it's the only hospital
[50:09] now in Gona, a city of more than 200,000
[50:13] people.
[50:16] >> We've got all our patients here right
[50:18] now, internal medicine, surgery, until
[50:20] we finish the other rooms. Pierre
[50:23] Malsher is on the medical staff.
[50:27] One major frustration is there are large
[50:29] needs in the population but we don't
[50:31] have enough diagnostic facilities. We
[50:33] have medicines but we don't have
[50:35] laboratory. We don't have radiology and
[50:37] surgery is limited. But the hospital is
[50:39] meeting its most critical need says
[50:41] gynecologist Rodney SA.
[50:46] >> Since we set up the field hospital the
[50:48] first day we had two deliveries and up
[50:51] until now we've delivered 15 babies.
[50:54] >> Dr. SA is volunteering here on a month's
[50:57] leave from her private practice in the
[50:59] capital Porta Press. A longerterm worry
[51:02] is the lack of doctors. There's just one
[51:04] for every 10,000 people in Haiti.
[51:07] Doctors from Cuba and aid agencies
[51:10] partially fill the void. In Gona, it
[51:13] will be months, perhaps years before a
[51:15] new permanent hospital planned for
[51:17] higher ground will be ready.
[51:22] Despite the challenges, President Pval
[51:24] and his cabinet vow Haiti will build
[51:26] back better than it was before. Their
[51:29] country, born out of a slave revolt and
[51:31] beset by invasions and civil war for 200
[51:34] years, has been relatively quiet, thanks
[51:37] in part to 8,000 UN peacekeepers. Pval,
[51:41] elected in 2006, says peace is the first
[51:44] priority.
[51:46] I see a mission for stability.
[51:48] >> The UN has a mission here for stability.
[51:50] It's called Manusta to help restore
[51:52] peace and democracy. In 2005, 2006, if
[51:56] you'd been here, you wouldn't have been
[51:57] able to go to Guna, walk the street.
[52:00] Today, we have restored peace to the
[52:02] country. It's the beginning of the
[52:03] country's rebuilding. With a $200
[52:06] million credit from a Caribbean fund,
[52:08] the slow cleanup is beginning in Gona.
[52:11] Roads first, then homes. President Pval
[52:15] says a public works program will put
[52:17] people to work.
[52:20] >> Odet Shame is not sure when or how
[52:23] she'll restore her livelihood as a
[52:24] seamstress, which is also the future,
[52:27] she says, for her children.
[52:32] >> I lost chairs, cooking pots, kids
[52:34] clothing, but the only thing I really
[52:36] cared about was my sewing machine. And I
[52:39] had a lot of material to sew for school
[52:41] uniforms. I lost all that, too. The
[52:44] money that I would have made from
[52:45] selling uniforms I would have used to
[52:46] send my kids to school.
[52:48] >> The big concern for Max Kosy of Doctors
[52:51] Without Borders is that the recovery
[52:53] effort be sustained. My fear is that the
[52:56] work will be done for the next month and
[52:59] then slowly slowly will stop is a little
[53:02] bit what happened with the with the
[53:04] media with the with the press. uh I was
[53:06] there the first days there was a lot of
[53:08] journalists a lot of media coming making
[53:11] interview spending time there and now
[53:13] you see that slowly the the attention is
[53:16] getting in somewhere else because it's
[53:18] not anymore the news but the needs are
[53:21] still there and I can tell you that the
[53:23] danger is more now than before yeah you
[53:26] have the death at the beginning but now
[53:28] you have the risk to have much more
[53:30] death in the future if things are not
[53:32] done correctly and and in a massive
[53:37] There's also worry about money for the
[53:39] rebuilding. So far, only about a third
[53:42] of the 108 million pledged by donor
[53:45] countries through the UN has actually
[53:47] materialized.
[53:56] And again, the major developments of
[53:58] this day, Alaska Senator Ted Stevens was
[54:00] found guilty on seven charges of
[54:03] corruption. And on Wall Street, the Dow
[54:05] Jones Industrial Average dropped another
[54:07] 200 plus points. We'll see you online
[54:10] and again here tomorrow evening. I'm Jim
[54:12] Lara. Thank you and good night.
[54:20] Major funding for the NewsHour with Jim
[54:23] Ler is provided by
[54:33] Pacific Life has been the power behind
[54:36] successful individuals for more than 140
[54:39] years. Pacific Life's strength includes
[54:42] assets exceeding $100 billion.
[54:45] So [music] when it comes to planning for
[54:47] retirement, your financial professional
[54:49] and Pacific Life can help you reach your
[54:51] goals. Pacific Life, the power to help
[54:54] you succeed. With soaring [music] energy
[54:57] prices and global climate change, there
[54:59] are good reasons for believing in wind.
[55:02] Wind energy [music] is clean and
[55:04] plentiful. And it answers the call for
[55:06] sustainable ways to create the
[55:08] electricity we need. We know [music]
[55:10] because our sole focus is developing
[55:13] technology that uses the energy of the
[55:15] wind to generate electricity. [music]
[55:17] America has some of the world's most
[55:19] abundant wind resources, and Vestus is
[55:23] here [music] to help harness them.
[55:27] Chevron.
[55:28] >> This is outrageous.
[55:29] >> Jeff Mkeley backs a bill [music] to take
[55:31] away your private vote in union
[55:33] elections.
[55:34] >> I'm not going to go vote in uh in
[55:35] November and without a secret ballot.
[55:37] Why would I do that for a union?
[55:39] >> I think Cartek [music] is an invasion of
[55:41] our privacy.
[55:41] >> Without privacy, there's intimidation.
[55:44] >> Cart is totally against our rights and
[55:46] liberties as Americans.
[55:47] >> Tell Jeff Mkeley, don't take away your
[55:49] private vote. The US Chamber [music] of
[55:51] Commerce is responsible for the content
[55:53] of this advertising. As Americans, we
[55:55] are entitled to a private vote.
[55:58] >> I'm Gordon Smith and I approve this ad.
[56:01] >> Jeff Mkeley's desperate attacks,
[56:03] sleaziness, says Reinhardt of the
[56:05] Oregonian. [music] His claims laughable,
[56:07] says the register guard. Not true, says
[56:10] the Oregonian. Jeff Mkeley. False
[56:13] attacks, [music] desperate campaign.
[56:16] >> Dave Brownlow, too liberal. wants
[56:19] President Bush tried for war crimes and
[56:22] favors [music] abolishing prisons. Dave
[56:24] Brown, just too liberal.
[56:28] Oregon has seen this crisis [music]
[56:29] before. Billiond dollar deficits and
[56:32] high unemployment. The Merkeley answer,
[56:34] increase spending by almost $5 billion,
[56:37] increase the [music] pay of top
[56:38] government bureaucrats by 33%. And vote
[56:41] against creating thousands of logging
[56:42] jobs. Now with the nation's economy in
[56:45] crisis, Mkeley's [music] friends in
[56:46] Washington want to spend another $150
[56:48] billion. Tell Jeff Mkeley we can't
[56:50] afford more spending and fewer jobs.
[56:53] Americans for Job Security is
[56:54] responsible for the content of this
[56:56] advertising.
[56:58] The grand opening of Oregon's largest
[56:59] flooring [music] center. Just dial 503
[57:01] Carpets.