CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2005-11-25

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, retailers call it Black

[0:07] Friday, the day that an estimated

[0:11] 130 million holiday shoppers hit the

[0:13] stores. Baron Pitts will have the story.

[0:16] Also, a major chemical spill threatens a

[0:18] large city in China, but the

[0:20] government's handling of the crisis gets

[0:22] criticism from an unusual source. And in

[0:26] our Friday Consumer Alert, you'll see

[0:27] how a late payment on one of your credit

[0:30] cards could affect rates on other cards.

[0:33] It's all starting now on the CBS Evening

[0:35] News Online Edition.

[0:38] The day after Thanksgiving is as much a

[0:41] part of our tradition as Thanksgiving

[0:43] itself. On Thanksgiving, we say thanks

[0:45] and eat. On the day after Thanksgiving,

[0:48] millions of us shop. And if you were one

[0:51] of those, you know what our lead story

[0:53] is about. It was a jungle out there.

[0:56] Here is Byron Pittz.

[1:03] >> From Miami to New York and San

[1:05] Francisco,

[1:06] >> everybody trying to find that parking

[1:08] spot.

[1:08] >> Lines were long well before sunrise.

[1:11] >> We got a music system. We got a a

[1:12] portable DVD player.

[1:15] >> And in some places, civility was gone

[1:17] before breakfast.

[1:19] to excuse me cuz I will slap money.

[1:23] >> In written Washington, shouting turned

[1:25] to shy.

[1:27] >> Black Friday in America when analysts

[1:29] predict 130 million shoppers will each

[1:32] spend an average of $400 on gifts. Just

[1:36] over this holiday weekend alone,

[1:38] >> 60% off.

[1:40] Oh my gosh.

[1:42] >> Bargain hunters like Shawn Williams.

[1:44] It's like you get 15% off before 11:00

[1:46] and if you don't get here before 11 then

[1:48] things run out and then you know you

[1:50] miss out.

[1:51] >> Last year retailers did 8 billion dollar

[1:54] in business on Black Friday. Regardless

[1:56] of how it goes this year, sales will be

[1:58] impacted by the internet like never

[2:00] before.

[2:01] >> Michael Brim, a college freshman,

[2:03] created his own website that allows

[2:05] consumers to window shop weeks before

[2:08] Black Friday.

[2:09] >> I'm catering to the average Joe, the

[2:10] average person who's looking to get a

[2:12] deal. the average person who's going

[2:14] shopping on Black Friday.

[2:16] >> The site's received more than two

[2:18] million hits, and it's not the only one.

[2:20] Brim calls it a way to educate

[2:22] consumers.

[2:23] Angry retailers have threatened to sue,

[2:26] arguing it jeopardizes their holiday

[2:28] business.

[2:28] >> Cuz I got everything

[2:30] >> and business say analysts may not be as

[2:32] good as last year.

[2:34] >> You've got people just incredibly

[2:36] unsettled about what their life will

[2:38] look like next year. And that's having

[2:40] an impact. But no matter, the hardy and

[2:43] the hardcore keep shopping. Last year,

[2:46] Black Friday wasn't the busiest shopping

[2:48] day. It was the Saturday before

[2:51] Christmas. Byron Pittz, CBS News, New

[2:54] York. And now to the water crisis in

[2:56] China. We sometimes think we have

[2:58] pollution problems in this country, but

[3:00] they are minuscule compared to what

[3:03] China is facing. Earlier this week,

[3:05] Barry Peterson reported on the rampant

[3:07] pollution that's come with China's

[3:09] economic boom. The latest disaster has

[3:12] poisoned the river supplying water to a

[3:14] city in the northeast and it's

[3:16] threatening cities downstream now in

[3:19] Russia. This time Barry says China's

[3:21] people and press may finally have had

[3:24] enough. It is a disaster of double

[3:27] proportions for China's leaders. First,

[3:29] an environmental nightmare and second, a

[3:32] rare chance for China's docel press to

[3:34] launch a major attack on the country's

[3:36] leadership. The spill involved a fire at

[3:39] a chemical plant that released

[3:40] cancer-causing benzene into the river

[3:43] that provides the water for Harbin, a

[3:45] city of almost 4 million. Local

[3:48] officials tried their best to minimize

[3:49] the situation, bringing in bottled

[3:52] water, drilling new wells in the city,

[3:54] and loudly promising that all would be

[3:56] okay. Surprisingly, it was China's

[3:59] official news media that wasn't buying

[4:01] it. The country's main official news

[4:03] agency said the disaster has quote

[4:05] stunned the whole nation. Now the 50-m

[4:09] long flow of benzene may become an

[4:10] international incident because the water

[4:13] flowing in the contaminated river will

[4:15] be in Russia sometime in the next 2

[4:17] weeks and the United Nations is offering

[4:19] to help coordinate cleanup efforts. But

[4:22] here's the reality. Decades ago, China

[4:25] started building plants and factories

[4:27] with no real regard to their

[4:29] environmental effect. As CBS News

[4:31] reported earlier this week, from one

[4:33] small city that deals with tanning

[4:35] leather, the chemicals are often poured

[4:37] into the street to make their way into

[4:40] the local river. Many of China's major

[4:43] rivers are badly polluted. Where the

[4:45] people of China once accepted this as

[4:47] the price of progress, they are

[4:49] increasingly frightened and angry about

[4:51] how they live. What's changing is that a

[4:54] lot of people no longer accepted China's

[4:56] progress means sacrificing their health

[4:59] or the health of their children. China's

[5:01] leaders once insisted this was for the

[5:03] good of the country. Suddenly, a lot of

[5:05] people in this country aren't buying it.

[5:09] Barry Peterson, CBS News, Beijing.

[5:12] >> With the holiday shopping season now

[5:14] officially underway, millions of

[5:16] Americans will be using their credit

[5:18] cards more than at any other time of the

[5:20] year. But convenient as they are, credit

[5:22] cards carry financial risk, including

[5:25] interest rate hikes that can hit when

[5:27] you least expect them. Valia has our

[5:31] Friday consumer alert.

[5:34] >> Like a lot of small entrepreneurs,

[5:36] Melanie Mills used her credit cards to

[5:38] manage spending. And her online gift

[5:40] business in Medford, Oregon, was going

[5:42] pretty well until

[5:43] >> Oh, I was stunned.

[5:45] >> One of her credit cards suddenly doubled

[5:47] its interest rate to almost 30%. I

[5:50] couldn't figure out what had happened

[5:51] because I have an excellent credit

[5:53] rating. I have no negatives. I have no

[5:56] late payments.

[5:56] >> But her credit card company decided she

[5:58] had too much debt. And that triggered

[6:01] something called universal default.

[6:03] >> My limit has gone up because I have used

[6:05] the card. Then they turn around and tell

[6:08] me I have a debt load that they're

[6:10] uncomfortable with.

[6:12] >> Too much debt, too much credit, both are

[6:14] on the growing universal default list.

[6:17] The concept got its name when missing a

[6:19] payment on one card set off an interest

[6:21] rate increase on all your cards. It can

[6:24] also happen if you go over your credit

[6:26] limit or even if you apply for a car

[6:29] loan or mortgage. The credit card

[6:31] industry says keeping tabs on a card

[6:33] holder's credit report is necessary to

[6:35] manage risk.

[6:36] >> If you incur speeding tickets, you are a

[6:40] riskier driver and you pay higher

[6:42] insurance premiums. And it's the same

[6:44] thing with credit. your creditworthiness

[6:47] deteriorates, you pay more.

[6:48] >> Do most companies tell you that that

[6:51] there's a universal default policy?

[6:54] >> I would say about half of the companies

[6:56] with universal default do mention it,

[6:58] but the way they mention it, you'd never

[7:00] know what they're talking about.

[7:01] >> 45% of credit card companies now use

[7:04] some form of universal default. Consumer

[7:07] groups say it just makes a bad situation

[7:09] worse. If someone does show some signs

[7:12] of being risky, how in God's name does

[7:14] it help,

[7:16] you know, hiking their rate three times?

[7:19] People say, "Oh, it was in the fine

[7:20] print." It wasn't in the fine print. It

[7:22] was in the unread print. If you think

[7:24] you're a good customer, fight it. The

[7:26] credit card companies sometimes back

[7:28] down. Melanie Mills managed to do that,

[7:30] but these days,

[7:31] >> I use cash a lot more.

[7:33] >> She's relying on credit a lot less.

[7:36] Thalia Shures, CBS News, Washington.

[7:39] More stories are just a click away, but

[7:41] don't forget to join me on television

[7:42] for the on air edition of the CBS

[7:44] Evening News. On Monday's broadcast, you

[7:47] could call it a TV revolution. It's

[7:50] already happening, and the way you watch

[7:52] television will never be the same again.

[7:54] For cbsnews.com,

[7:56] I'm Bob Schaefer.