CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2005-09-30

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (YouTube automatic captions)

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

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

[0:04] Just ahead, it is estimated that Katrina

[0:07] did well over a hundred billion dollars

[0:09] in damage, most of it uninsured. We'll

[0:12] tell you about the impact of this

[0:13] disaster on the US economy and your

[0:15] finances. Also, former education

[0:18] secretary William Bennett has come under

[0:20] fire for some comments he made on his

[0:22] radio talk show. Plus, a new law is

[0:25] about to make it more difficult to file

[0:27] personal bankruptcy. It's all starting

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

[0:32] edition.

[0:34] The numbers are staggering. The

[0:36] insurance industry estimates that

[0:38] Hurricane Katrina could cost it as much

[0:40] as $60 billion in claims. But that's not

[0:43] the half of it. Literally, the

[0:45] government said today the hurricane did

[0:47] more than $100 billion in damage that is

[0:51] not covered by insurance. We're already

[0:53] seeing the impact on the economy.

[0:55] Katrina had thrown 279,000

[0:58] people out of work. Consumer spending

[1:01] has taken the biggest drop since 9/11

[1:03] and personal income fell in August a

[1:06] tenth of a percent. Had it not been for

[1:08] Katrina, it would have risen 2/10en of a

[1:11] percent. The government believes Katrina

[1:13] will slow down overall economic growth

[1:15] for a while, but if there is any good

[1:17] news in this, what we'll have to spend

[1:20] to rebuild should eventually get the

[1:22] economy going again. to understand the

[1:24] enormity of what must be done. We're

[1:26] going to return again tonight to New

[1:28] Orleans and Sharon Alonsa. Sharon,

[1:30] you've been down there now. A huge

[1:32] number of people came back today. Uh

[1:34] what did they come back to, though?

[1:37] Well, 150,000 residents were allowed to

[1:40] come back to their homes in what are

[1:42] supposed to be the better neighborhoods,

[1:43] and you're looking at one of them. It's

[1:45] not such a great situation. These areas

[1:47] still don't have electricity. They still

[1:49] don't have water. there are uh because

[1:51] they've been without electricity now for

[1:53] a good month. Uh many of these homes are

[1:55] just full of maggots. So, they came home

[1:58] only to find out they can't stay.

[2:00] >> Well, what what's going to happen to

[2:02] them though? I mean, do they turn around

[2:03] and go back? Will they go to more

[2:05] shelters? I mean, the mayor has been

[2:07] going on about we need to get people

[2:09] back into New Orleans, but to hear what

[2:11] you say, it's going to be very difficult

[2:13] for them to stay there. It seems to me

[2:16] >> it really is a difficult situation

[2:18] because without the water or

[2:19] electricity, how do you start to clean

[2:21] up your house? There are no stores here.

[2:23] You can't go and get some lumber and

[2:24] board up your windows or your doors. You

[2:26] can't go to the drugstore. The hospitals

[2:28] aren't open. It's a bad situation. And

[2:30] the EPA said today, even some of these

[2:32] homes that don't look so bad could have

[2:35] toxic mold. So, it's a very, very

[2:37] difficult situation. Now, I should say

[2:39] that in the French Quarter, in the

[2:40] Garden District, some of those areas,

[2:42] they don't look so bad. they weren't hit

[2:44] quite as hard, but some of these other

[2:45] neighborhoods where they are allowing

[2:47] residents back in, they are simply still

[2:49] a mess.

[2:50] >> And you know, is it anything like it was

[2:53] after the hurricane first hit when they,

[2:55] you know, all law and order broke down?

[2:57] What about that? Are people safe there?

[3:01] >> Well, I think they probably are safe

[3:03] because at this point it still looks

[3:04] like the police and uh the the federal

[3:07] officials, the army, the National Guard

[3:09] outnumber residents. um they are all

[3:12] over the streets. Most of the time when

[3:13] we're driving around, what we see are um

[3:16] army vehicles, state police, um uh

[3:18] National Guardsmen. So, uh right now, I

[3:21] think they're definitely still

[3:22] outnumbering the residents.

[3:23] >> All right. Well, thank you very much,

[3:25] Sharon. Thank you very much. And be

[3:26] careful down there. The story that

[3:28] everyone seems to be talking about, and

[3:30] you have to ask just what was the man

[3:33] thinking. The White House today

[3:35] disavowed comments made by the

[3:37] well-known Republican party activist

[3:39] Bill Bennett. They called it

[3:40] inappropriate. That was mild compared to

[3:43] what other critics call Bennett's

[3:44] remarks about African-Americans. For his

[3:47] part, Bennett said today he was quoted

[3:49] out of context. Well, context and all.

[3:52] Here's Wyatt Andrews.

[3:55] listed my

[3:56] >> He's the former Secretary of Education

[3:58] and the author of the acclaimed book of

[4:00] virtues, which is why Bill Bennett

[4:02] created outrage this week, stating on

[4:05] his national radio show that crime would

[4:08] be reduced if there was more black

[4:10] abortion.

[4:11] >> I do know that it's true that if you

[4:12] wanted to reduce crime, you could, if

[4:16] that were your sole purpose, you could

[4:18] abort every black baby in this country

[4:19] and your crime rate would go down. That

[4:21] would be an impossible, ridiculous, and

[4:24] morally reprehensible thing to do. But

[4:26] your crime rate would go down.

[4:28] >> Abort black babies and the crime rate

[4:30] goes down. The White House called that

[4:33] inappropriate. Democrats demanded an

[4:35] apology. Many in Congress were simply

[4:38] livid.

[4:38] >> How ridiculous,

[4:40] how asinine,

[4:42] how insane can one be? Bennett declined

[4:46] an on camera response, but has said the

[4:49] context of his remarks deserves

[4:50] consideration. He explains that he was

[4:53] on the phone with a caller who was

[4:54] arguing that if all aborted babies were

[4:57] alive, social security would be solvent.

[5:00] Bennett says he found that absurd and

[5:02] used the black abortion comment simply

[5:04] to illustrate that absurdity. A thought

[5:06] experiment about public policy, he says

[5:08] in a written statement, should not have

[5:10] received the condemnations it has.

[5:12] >> And my view was simply wrong. Bennett's

[5:15] critics, however, don't think it was

[5:16] just a thought experiment. They see a

[5:19] former official blaming crime on blacks,

[5:21] not on poor people of all races.

[5:24] >> I think African-Ameans are certainly

[5:26] tired of being stereotyped as

[5:29] responsible for the majority of crime in

[5:31] American society.

[5:33] >> For African-Ameans, the timing also

[5:35] hurt. Right. When those early reports of

[5:37] a New Orleans crime wave turned out to

[5:40] be exaggerated, Bennett's written

[5:42] statement renounces all bigotry and

[5:44] asserts that over his career, he's

[5:46] worked hard for minorities. But there's

[5:48] nothing in the statement even close to

[5:50] regret or to an apology. Wyatt Andrews,

[5:53] CBS News, Washington. As we were talking

[5:56] about earlier, the government says that

[5:58] Hurricane Katrina did more than $100

[6:01] billion in damage that is not covered by

[6:04] insurance. It left thousands homeless

[6:06] and jobless. Well, now a new law is

[6:09] going to make it difficult for those

[6:10] people to declare bankruptcy. Bill

[6:13] Whitaker has our Friday consumer alert.

[6:17] >> Harry and Marilyn Leb better of Beluxy

[6:19] might look like they weathered Katrina's

[6:21] flurry.

[6:22] >> You need some bags,

[6:23] >> but looks can be deceiving. Hurricane

[6:26] Katrina devastated uh pretty much our

[6:30] way of life,

[6:31] >> wiping out Mississippi's casinos and the

[6:33] lead better's livelihood. They published

[6:35] tourist guides for hotel rooms. No

[6:38] hotels, no tourists, no income.

[6:41] >> The bills, they keep coming in. I mean,

[6:43] you know, house payments, car payments.

[6:46] Uh my husband had a stroke about 4

[6:49] months ago and we've had a lot of

[6:51] medical bills off of that

[6:53] >> for how many years? So, they're doing

[6:55] what thousands of victims do after every

[6:57] hurricane, turning to an attorney and

[7:00] bankruptcy. Bankruptcy.

[7:04] >> Never thought it'd happen.

[7:10] >> And they might be the lucky ones filing

[7:12] now before the new bankruptcy law kicks

[7:15] in October 17th. It was signed into law

[7:18] last spring to make it harder for

[7:19] Americans to erase their debts. In

[7:22] recent years, too many people have

[7:23] abused the bankruptcy laws.

[7:25] >> But for Katrina victims, it could feel

[7:27] like a double whammy. Why? Because the

[7:31] new law requires reams of detailed

[7:33] records, checkbooks, birth certificates,

[7:35] documents that may have been destroyed.

[7:37] They'll have to go through credit

[7:38] counseling. And if they earned more than

[7:40] the state average, they probably can't

[7:42] erase their debts, but will have to pay

[7:44] them down.

[7:46] In short, they may have lost a house,

[7:48] but not the mortgage payments. With this

[7:52] catastrophe, it's going to make it

[7:54] doubly difficult for people to get back

[7:56] on their feet.

[7:57] >> Some Democrats in Congress want a

[7:59] moratorum for Katrina victims, but

[8:01] Republicans and banking industry backers

[8:03] call that a lastditch attempt to gut the

[8:05] law. Why should we push back the

[8:09] protections against fraud, especially

[8:11] when the law has all the flexibility

[8:13] needed to deal with all of the

[8:15] legitimate cases? The lead betterers

[8:17] expect the old bankruptcy law to give

[8:19] them a fresh start. Countless others

[8:21] fear the new law could leave them with

[8:24] nothing but debt. Bill Whitaker, CBS

[8:26] News, Beluxy.

[8:28] >> More stories are just a click away, but

[8:30] don't forget to join me on television

[8:31] for the on air edition of the CBS

[8:33] Evening News. On Monday's broadcast, if

[8:36] you remember kindergarten as all fun and

[8:39] games, you'll be surprised to see how

[8:41] competitive it has become. And is it

[8:43] helping or hurting kids? For

[8:45] cbsnews.com,

[8:47] I'm Bob Sheeper.