CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2004-12-15

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Hello, I'm Dan Rather and welcome to the

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

[0:04] ahead, social security changes. Many see

[0:07] a need, others don't. But as we know,

[0:10] there are no easy fixes. We'll give you

[0:12] a look at some of the options. Also,

[0:14] should cell phones and other wireless

[0:16] gadgets be allowed on planes? It could

[0:19] happen and you could talk all the way on

[0:21] your flight. We'll give you the details.

[0:23] And turning garbage into gold. How one

[0:25] college dropout is doing it with worms.

[0:29] It's all starting now on the CBS Evening

[0:31] News online edition. President Bush has

[0:34] launched a two-day conference to build

[0:36] support for his secondterm economic

[0:38] policies. The president and his most

[0:40] trusted adviserss, including Vice

[0:42] President Cheney, are leading

[0:43] discussions of breadandbut issues that

[0:45] could affect you and your family for

[0:47] years to come. Changes in Social

[0:50] Security and federal taxes, and changes

[0:52] in how lawsuits by ordinary citizens are

[0:54] handled. To help you sort through these

[0:56] proposals, CBS News correspondents have

[0:59] overviews of the three top items on the

[1:01] president's economic agenda. First, John

[1:04] Roberts has you report on social

[1:05] security from the president's point of

[1:07] view.

[1:08] >> Franklin Roosevelt social security

[1:10] safety net is quickly developing huge

[1:12] financial holes. In 1935, the system was

[1:16] flush. 16 workers paid in for every one

[1:18] that drew retirement benefits. That

[1:20] ratio is now just a little more than

[1:22] 3:1. By the time all the baby boomers

[1:25] have retired, just 2 to one. In 2042,

[1:28] Social Security will become insolvent

[1:30] and today's young workers risk losing

[1:32] their benefits. President Bush wants to

[1:35] mend the holes, allowing workers to

[1:37] invest a small portion of their weekly

[1:39] payroll taxes in stocks and bonds that

[1:41] will grow or fall with the market. Those

[1:44] accounts would become the employees

[1:46] property. At retirement, government paid

[1:48] benefits would be reduced according to

[1:50] how much was put in the personal

[1:52] account. But private accounts don't

[1:54] address the overall funding problem.

[1:56] Without broader reforms or a rise in the

[1:58] payroll tax, the government side of

[2:00] social security will still run out of

[2:02] money. Increasing taxes could easily

[2:04] extend the life of social security, but

[2:07] President Bush won't even consider that.

[2:10] So, there's some tough choices ahead.

[2:11] Will the White House propose to raise

[2:13] the entire the retirement age, cut

[2:15] benefits, or in the worst of all

[2:17] political worlds, institute so-called

[2:19] means testing, where more affluent

[2:21] seniors who have contributed all their

[2:23] lives will never see a penny from the

[2:25] government. Dan John Roberts at the

[2:27] White House. Cell phones and other

[2:29] wireless communicators have transformed

[2:31] life. That's especially true for

[2:33] business travelers enjoying constant

[2:35] contact with colleagues and clients

[2:37] except when they're in the air. Now,

[2:40] that may be changing. CBS's Bob our has

[2:43] the inside story.

[2:46] >> In a high-tech age, airplanes are among

[2:49] the last remaining low tech zones where

[2:51] wireless laptops, two-way pages, and

[2:53] cell phones, for the most part, are off

[2:55] limits.

[2:56] >> We will let you know when they must be

[2:58] turned off and put away for departure.

[3:00] >> The Federal Communications Commission

[3:01] today took the first steps towards

[3:03] lifting the ban. These devices are

[3:05] becoming very personal to people, uh,

[3:07] very intimate, very important. And so,

[3:10] uh, at least having the potential to be

[3:12] able to communicate no matter where you

[3:13] are seems to be something consumers do

[3:15] want to see.

[3:16] >> At least some consumers.

[3:18] >> I travel a lot on business. I travel

[3:19] every week and to be in communication

[3:22] with the office is vital.

[3:23] >> But he won't be calling from the air

[3:25] anytime soon. While the FCC may think

[3:27] cell phones on planes make sense, the

[3:30] FAA has serious safety questions.

[3:33] Aviation authorities have long worried

[3:35] that radio signals given off by the

[3:36] phones and other personal electronic

[3:38] devices may interfere with cockpit

[3:40] instruments.

[3:41] >> Calling you from an inflight on American

[3:44] Airlines plane.

[3:45] >> This test by American Airlines and cell

[3:47] phone manufacturer Qualcomm found no

[3:50] problems. Still, FAA officials say

[3:52] multiple tests on all types of airplanes

[3:54] will be needed before cell phones are

[3:56] cleared for use in flight. Even then,

[3:59] not everybody's in love with the idea. I

[4:01] think it'll make an airplane one big

[4:03] giant phone booth. Um, you'll have a lot

[4:04] of loud conversations on airplanes.

[4:06] It'll be a distraction and it'll be an

[4:07] annoyance. There's a good chance flyers

[4:09] may have wireless internet access in

[4:11] 2006, long before they're ever allowed

[4:14] to use their cell phones on airplanes.

[4:16] There's increasing evidence wireless

[4:17] laptops are safe. And they have the

[4:20] added benefit of being easier on the

[4:22] ears. Bob, CBS News, Washington.

[4:25] >> We end tonight with proof that the

[4:27] American dream is still alive. The dream

[4:29] of finding your fortune. The man you're

[4:31] about to meet really stepped in it.

[4:34] CBS's Jim Axelrod reports tonight's Eye

[4:36] on America.

[4:39] >> Over there on the right behind the

[4:41] blooming patunias under the plastic tent

[4:44] is a would you believe a gold mine built

[4:46] of worm waste.

[4:48] >> So this here is our worm gin.

[4:50] >> Tom Saki believes he's set to make his

[4:52] fortune from 10 trays of worms eating

[4:55] garbage. How many worms do we have on

[4:57] this contraption? Uh, we probably have

[4:59] over a million worms.

[5:00] >> The result is Well, what do you think

[5:03] the result is?

[5:04] >> Worms eat through it. And what comes out

[5:06] here at the end is worm poo.

[5:09] And that's the scientific term.

[5:11] >> That's right. Yeah.

[5:12] >> Worm poop.

[5:13] >> Worm poop.

[5:13] >> Worm poop. Saki, a 22-year-old Canadian,

[5:16] is building a business in New Jersey by

[5:18] turning the half a ton of waste the

[5:20] worms produce each week into 6,000

[5:23] bottles of fertilizer.

[5:25] The trade secret is what he feeds his

[5:27] worms. And the product is proving to be

[5:30] remarkably effective. It seems so

[5:33] simple. Why hasn't anyone else thought

[5:34] of this?

[5:35] >> Well, I don't Maybe people haven't

[5:36] thought about making a product from

[5:38] garbage yet.

[5:39] >> Every part of his product is recycled.

[5:41] The bottle sent from school cafeterias,

[5:43] the sprayers, other companies extras,

[5:45] the boxes, misprinted mistakes, all

[5:49] recycled. Tom Skazy is turning garbage

[5:52] to gold. Brown to green. Two kinds of

[5:55] green actually. green chemistry, which

[5:57] is a buzzword in agriculture these days,

[6:00] organic fertilizers that are

[6:01] environmentally friendly. And then

[6:03] there's the other kind of green.

[6:07] The kind of green that comes from

[6:08] closing deals with Walmart and Home

[6:10] Depot, which he just did.

[6:13] >> You're a businessman,

[6:14] >> right? Not a scientist. That's right.

[6:16] It's all business.

[6:17] >> It's a classic case of riskreward.

[6:19] Saki's risk, he and his partner took a

[6:22] turn off a pretty fast track to go for

[6:24] it. The real trick was just, you know,

[6:26] dropping out of school and building it

[6:27] in a really big way. And that's what we

[6:29] did.

[6:29] >> And you weren't dropping out of just any

[6:31] school.

[6:31] >> No, we were dropping out of Princeton.

[6:32] Yeah.

[6:33] >> Imagine your son telling you he was

[6:35] quitting Princeton to corner the market

[6:37] on worm poop. It

[6:39] >> was just something where you can make a

[6:41] lot of money in the process, but smile

[6:42] sort of while you're doing it cuz you're

[6:44] doing a good thing all the way around.

[6:46] >> Tom Saki's story is a reminder about

[6:48] following your dreams. The pot of gold

[6:50] may require dealing with a ton of crap.

[6:54] in Trenton, New Jersey. This is Jim

[6:55] Axelrod for Eye on America. More stories

[6:58] are just a click away, but be sure to

[7:00] join me on television for the on air

[7:02] edition of the CBS Evening News. On

[7:05] Thursday's CBS Evening News, lead in

[7:07] Children's Jewelry. If you think a

[7:09] government recall solved this problem,

[7:11] wait till you see what an ongoing Eye on

[7:13] America investigation uncovered. for

[7:16] cbsnews.com.