CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2005-12-02

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Hello, I'm Bob Schaefer and welcome to

[0:02] the CBS Evening News online edition.

[0:05] Just ahead, a bloody day in Iraq. 14

[0:08] more Americans have been killed.

[0:10] Kimberly Doer will have the details.

[0:12] Also, waiting for keys. The FEMA

[0:15] trailers have arrived in some damaged

[0:17] neighborhoods, but hurricane victims are

[0:20] not being permitted to use them. And

[0:22] managing your credit card debt. Trish

[0:25] Rean reports on some effective ways to

[0:28] get a handle on it. It's all starting

[0:29] now on the CBS Evening News online

[0:32] edition.

[0:34] It is turning out to be one of the worst

[0:37] 24-hour periods since the war began. 14

[0:40] more Americans are dead, three today in

[0:42] a traffic accident. One who was hit by a

[0:45] rocket in Rammani yesterday. And in the

[0:48] worst episode, the military disclosed

[0:50] that 10 Marines on foot patrol yesterday

[0:53] were killed when a bomb went off near

[0:55] Fallujah. That brings the American death

[0:58] toll in the war so far to 2,124.

[1:03] We go first to Kimberly Doer in Baghdad.

[1:08] Just as the Americans were trumpeting

[1:09] the success of a monthsl long

[1:11] counterinsurgency crackdown in western

[1:13] Iraq, insurgents hit back with multiple

[1:16] attacks. The worst in Fallujah, a

[1:19] roadside bomb that killed 10 Marines and

[1:22] injured 11 more. They'd been patrolling

[1:25] on foot near the town, which had

[1:26] supposedly been tamed after two massive

[1:29] military crackdowns. The attack happened

[1:32] on the same day masked gunmen in nearby

[1:34] Ramani briefly overran some city

[1:37] streets. They released video to prove

[1:39] they controlled the city. The American

[1:41] sweep started in Talafer up north and

[1:43] has worked south through the towns along

[1:45] the border. Now, US and Iraqi troops are

[1:48] moving back towards Baghdad, making it

[1:50] harder, the Americans say, for the

[1:52] insurgents to do business.

[1:55] Many militants, however, are getting

[1:56] tipped off to US troop movements, and

[1:58] they're getting away. Then they're

[2:00] moving back to some of the towns that

[2:02] have already been cleared, like

[2:03] Fallujah. That may explain why this

[2:06] Marine patrol was there. A local contact

[2:09] tells us that two Marines were killed by

[2:11] an insurgent sniper in Fallujah this

[2:13] week and the troops had come back in

[2:15] force to hunt him down. Bob,

[2:17] >> you know, Kimberly, we hear reports,

[2:20] they tell us they've cleared out these

[2:21] areas and then the next day something

[2:24] like this happens. Do you have any sense

[2:26] of which way this thing is going?

[2:29] Well, US commanders say the way they're

[2:31] measuring it, they are having a

[2:33] quantifiable effect. That they've seen

[2:35] the lowest rates of suicide car bombing

[2:37] in seven months. They attribute that to

[2:40] the fact that the insurgents can't seem

[2:42] to get the cars or the bombers through

[2:44] this western pipeline through western

[2:46] Iraq. And so they're having to use

[2:47] roadside bombs because they're just

[2:49] easier to get.

[2:50] >> All right. Well, thanks very much,

[2:51] Kimberly. Thank you. In South Florida,

[2:54] it is still hurricanes past that are the

[2:56] problem. People who lost their homes to

[2:58] Hurricane Wilma back in October are

[3:00] still waiting, we learned, for housing

[3:02] from FEMA. And that's not even the worst

[3:04] part. Here's Mark Stman now with

[3:07] details.

[3:08] Hurricane Wilma crushed Pat McGee's

[3:10] home, but it was FEMA that crushed her

[3:13] hope.

[3:14] >> 5 weeks later, she's still living under

[3:16] the only roof she has, her Buick

[3:19] Century.

[3:20] >> You sleep right here.

[3:21] >> I sleep right here. And that has been

[3:25] >> 35 days.

[3:27] >> Worse is that right across the street

[3:29] sits a brand new FEMA trailer vacant.

[3:32] One of dozens of trailers that arrived

[3:34] here mid November. That's when folks

[3:37] started waiting for keys. A day of

[3:39] waiting turned into a week. And still

[3:42] these homeless hurricane victims were

[3:43] kept out of trailers they could see

[3:45] right from their destroyed front

[3:47] porches. It was 13 days before any of

[3:50] them were allowed to move in.

[3:53] I want this nightmare to end.

[3:55] >> Bridget Sodto has been sleeping in this

[3:57] tent right across from another empty

[4:00] trailer.

[4:01] >> You want answers. You want it done. You

[4:03] want to get into the place. You want to

[4:04] move in and just start your life. And

[4:06] looking at that was just like a big

[4:08] tease. Like here I am and you can't move

[4:11] in.

[4:12] >> The low point was Thanksgiving.

[4:14] >> Yeah.

[4:14] >> In the tent, in the car guarding against

[4:17] looters.

[4:18] >> That was depressing. That's depression.

[4:21] FEMA says the trailers just weren't

[4:22] ready.

[4:23] >> But you can't put people in place like

[4:24] that without electricity and without

[4:26] sewer hookup and without water. It's not

[4:28] safe to do that.

[4:29] >> But local leaders are furious.

[4:31] >> Get people in the homes. If the homes

[4:33] are here, put them in them and work work

[4:34] out the details later.

[4:36] >> Finally, just this Tuesday, FEMA started

[4:39] taking applications to get into them.

[4:41] Bridget Sodto qualified, so she moved

[4:43] right out of the tent and into a

[4:45] trailer.

[4:46] >> This is a roof. That's all I wanted was

[4:48] just a roof over my head for my children

[4:50] to be together.

[4:51] >> But Pat McGee is still under the same

[4:54] roof. FEMA said her name wasn't on its

[4:56] list. So for her, lights out meant her

[5:00] 36th night of sleeping in the car. Mark

[5:03] Stman, CBS News, Davy, Florida. In our

[5:07] series this week on credit card debt,

[5:09] we've shown you some of the risks and

[5:11] offered some suggestions on how to avoid

[5:13] going into debt. But what about getting

[5:16] out of debt once you're in the trap?

[5:18] Here is Trish Regan with some advice on

[5:20] that.

[5:22] >> Dabney Oliver is 31 years old, single,

[5:25] and carrying $13,000

[5:28] in credit card debt.

[5:29] >> I look at my budget and it's really

[5:31] tight. You know, it's just like paycheck

[5:33] to paycheck.

[5:35] >> Working for an advertising agency in San

[5:37] Francisco.

[5:38] >> Seriously minor changes, just mostly

[5:40] copy changes. Her take-home pay is

[5:42] barely enough to cover expenses, which

[5:45] includes $600 a month on her credit card

[5:48] debt. The San Francisco Bay area is one

[5:50] of the most expensive places in the

[5:53] country. So, keeping up with the Joneses

[5:54] here is even harder. It's one reason why

[5:57] so many are tempted to charge their

[5:59] credit cards to the max.

[6:02] >> I would just like to be out of debt, you

[6:03] know, more than anything, cuz I think

[6:05] that would just give me so much more

[6:06] freedom to do the things I want to do.

[6:08] If you think you're the only one

[6:09] suffering, look around you. Probably a

[6:11] majority of the people walking by you or

[6:13] when you walk down the street have got

[6:14] more credit card debt than they can

[6:16] comfortably handle.

[6:17] >> A good first step out of the debt trap,

[6:19] find a financial planner. We brought

[6:21] Dabney Oliver to David Yesi for some

[6:24] financial training.

[6:25] >> People talk about credit cards as being

[6:27] dangerous, and they are.

[6:28] >> The first thing a planner advises people

[6:30] to do, pay off the highest rate card

[6:33] before all others. If you're a

[6:35] homeowner, shift credit card balances to

[6:38] a home equity line of credit. The

[6:40] interest is lower and it's

[6:41] taxdeductible.

[6:42] Finally, try to use credit cards only if

[6:45] you can pay them off each month.

[6:47] >> These cards look well behaved. That

[6:50] could change.

[6:51] >> In Dabney's case, she's become an expert

[6:53] at flipping, switching balances to cards

[6:56] with super low introductory rates.

[6:58] >> Because I've kept my credit so good,

[7:00] they give me lots of offers. So, I'm

[7:03] good about doing the like flip around.

[7:06] >> But if you miss a payment, interest

[7:07] rates can soar.

[7:09] >> To some degree, the rates are almost

[7:11] predicated upon human frailty.

[7:13] >> They think maybe you might screw up.

[7:15] >> On average, I'm sure that they're

[7:16] collecting more than 3% or 0%.

[7:18] >> But since Dabney's rates are so low,

[7:20] Yesi told her to pay a little less on

[7:22] her cards because he wants her to do

[7:24] what everyone should do, save for

[7:27] retirement and save for an emergency

[7:29] fund.

[7:29] >> I think she's going to be able to do it.

[7:31] I would bet money on it.

[7:33] >> You're on a plan now.

[7:34] >> I'm on a plan now.

[7:35] >> Do you think you can follow it?

[7:36] >> Oh, I know I can.

[7:37] >> If she does, in 3 years, she'll be

[7:40] debtree. Trishan, CBS News, San

[7:43] Francisco.

[7:44] >> More stories are just a click away, but

[7:46] don't forget to join me on television

[7:48] for the on air edition of the CBS

[7:50] Evening News. On Monday's broadcast,

[7:53] underarm shaving, the use of

[7:55] antipersperants, and breast cancer. Is

[7:58] there a link? We'll investigate in a

[8:00] series of reports for CBS News.com.