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President Obama Touts Jobs in Michigan; Who Will Win Iowa Straw Poll?; New Breakthrough May Cure Cancer; New Documentary Focuses on Mountaintop Removal Mining; Riots in London Dying Down; U.S. Stock Market Up on the Day

Aired August 11, 2011 - 15:12   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(JOINED FOLLOWING CNN COVERAGE OF A LIVE EVENT)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: President Obama.

Did you hear his tone through that speech there in Holland, Michigan? The president is fired up and in a sense he also seems fed up, fed up with bipartisan bickering in Washington.

He's speaking at this one factory in this town in Michigan that is just about 30 miles southeast of Grand Rapids, and essentially at one point he was juxtaposing the success at this one particular factory -- the factory makes hybrid batteries for cars -- successes there -- they got a cash injection from the stimulus -- juxtaposing that with what doesn't seem to be working, according to the president, in Washington, the lack of compromise, at one point saying there's nothing wrong with the country, something is wrong with our politics, talked about inferring that the debt mess and also the recent S&P downgrade, referring to that as a self-inflicted wound.

Let's go to Athena Jones, who is there traveling with the president.

And, Athena, being in the room there, I'm sure you could hear this very impassioned voice, seemed to be speaking to one very specific group in Congress, who as he said more than once is putting party in front of country.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's true.

He was very fired up today. We didn't just hear him talk about this company here that's working on advanced battery technology, which is the reason he came to tour it. You also heard him talking about urging Congress to find common ground.

Now, this is not unusual to hear the president urge Congress to compromise. We hear this all the time from him. But, today, we heard a little bit more impassioned language from him. He said he's frustrated. You could probably hear it in my voice, he said at one point.

At one point, he said that people have been saying that, after all of this mess with the raising of the debt ceiling, with the downgrade, that he should be calling Congress back to Washington to work together towards reaching these more deficit reductions that are required by this debt ceiling deal.

He said the last thing Congress needs is to be back in Washington arguing with each other. What they need is to be out here on the road in places like this talking to their constituents who are fed up just like he, the president, is.

He talked about how he's going to be going on this trip next week out in the country talking to residents about how they feel. And so you heard a little bit of the touch on -- on these advanced technology batteries, the kind of technology that will help spur jobs. This is part of his overall agenda.

But you definitely heard some of the same political rhetoric we have heard before about Congress working together with a little bit extra I guess pep in it -- back to you.

BALDWIN: Yes, I would say some political pep indeed. He also alluded to that super committee. We now know the 12 names, the bipartisan committee, the debt-busting committee that will have to take a good long look at the debt and see what and how they can cut, make up to $1.25 trillion in cuts, hoping, to quote the president, they will do that in a sensible, fair, responsible way.

But, you know, some Republicans, Athena, have criticized the president saying, look, where's the president's plan? He talks about job. He talks about job creation, but how can we go about creating jobs? And I know he mentioned a couple examples as we have heard before from the president, talking about extending the payroll tax, trade deals.

Can you elaborate on what we heard from him today?

JONES: Well, he also talked about infrastructure.

The trade deals issue has been on the books for Congress for a while, and so they wanted to see these deals with Colombia, Panama and South Korea pushed through. Of course, you have your usual resistance on the part of labor to some of these deals.

And so this is yet another area that remains to be worked out. It's one of the many things that they believe could help spur growth. But what was so interesting today was to hear him come again and again back to the whole issue of Congress working together. He talked about the need to -- to have a fair share, everyone hold their fair share when it comes to making these deficit reductions.

And so he doesn't want to see aid for students to go to college cut, when you could also close tax loopholes for billionaires and for big companies. And so you saw a lot of that. I expect to hear this kind of rhetoric going forward, pushing Congress to come together, to compromise.

As you mentioned, with the super committee, there's already speculation about the people on the committee who have been chosen, whether or not these -- these individual people show that they are not going to be willing to compromise. For instance, some of the members who are going to be on the super committee were also on the Erskine Bowles committee, that previous deficit commission that the president set up, but they voted against the deal.

And so there's a lot of questions about what is going to be happening going forward, but you're going to expect to hear a lot of the same rhetoric from President Obama.

BALDWIN: Yes. We know about the nine names. Now we have the final three making the 12, Leader Pelosi naming her three. We will get to that a little later on.

Athena Jones for me in Holland, Michigan -- Athena, thank you so much.

And the president also mentioned the markets. You have been watching along. Guys, let's take a look at the Big Board here. The Dow, look at this, quite the contrast from what we saw yesterday, it is very much so in positive territory, Dow up 470, 468 points as we are just about 45 days (sic) away from that closing bell, rocky first couple of days, though, on Wall Street.

We're all over it and, of course, the closing bell as well. We will take that live.

Meanwhile, the folks challenging President Obama for his job, right now, they are in Iowa in a state that could make or break them, and Mitt Romney, he was asked an interesting question with an interesting answer. We will take you there live to Iowa next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: OK. Strap in, presidential politics time, Republican Party full-court press in Iowa. Mitt Romney heckled today by this activist on the subject of Social Security. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, I am on Social Security.

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And so -- I'm glad you're on Social Security. Hold on just a moment. Hold on just a moment.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I -- my wife is on Social Security. And listen to me. You came here to listen to the people.

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Mitt Romney not taking part in Saturday's Iowa straw poll, but campaigning today nonetheless.

Back to Mitt Romney here in just a moment, but, first, I'm willing to bet you're asking, what the heck is this Iowa straw poll? Stay with me, folks, because these are the basics. Here you go.

Iowa straw poll rule number one, music. Give the voters entertainment. Rule number two, food and what you're about to see here, various, oh, manifestations of the Iowa staple, butter. So that is rule number two, feed your supporters.

Real number three, bid the highest price for the choicest seats at the Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa, and on straw poll day pack that place with more of your backers than those of your competition. That is how a candidate wins the Iowa straw poll, an exercise labeled perhaps unkindly as organized bribery.

Here's the deal. Iowa straw poll, it's Saturday, it's pretty darn important, but it's not very good at picking winners. Look back with me and you will. Back to 1979, the winner of the Iowa straw poll was George H.W. Bush, who would lose the nomination to Ronald Reagan -- '87, Pat Robertson won the Iowa straw poll. George H.W. Bush received the nomination -- '95, a bit of a muddle involving a two-way tie there -- '99, that year, the straw poll did pick the winner, the second George Bush -- 2007, straw poll picked Mitt Romney. Winner, John McCain.

Let's go to Paul Steinhauser, live for us in Des Moines.

And, Paul, if the straw poll can't pick the winner, at least with any great frequency, well, why is it so important?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Here's why, Brooke. It is a real test of a campaign, of presidential campaigns' organizational strength, its grassroots outreach.

And while it may not always or that often pick the winner at least for the Republican nomination down the road the following year, it often can break a campaign. It was four years ago that former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson running for governor on the Republican side didn't do so well at Ames. Guess what? He dropped out a few days later.

It can also help some campaigns. Mike Huckabee, he didn't win four years ago, you're right -- Mitt Romney did -- but Huckabee had a strong second-place finish. And that really boosted his campaign. He went on to win the Iowa caucuses, so it can definitely make or break some campaigns.

Brooke, the straw poll as well as the debate tonight and the state fair right here, three crucial days in Iowa for the race for the White House on the Republican side, a lot at stake. And this race may be very different after this weekend is over. There are some candidates who have a lot at stake in this debate tonight.

Remember, it's the first debate in nearly two months since our debate, our CNN debate in New Hampshire. I'm talking about Michele Bachmann, a lot on the line for her, Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor, a lot on the line for him at the debate and at the straw poll, and for Mitt Romney, who is perceived as the front-runner right now, the former Massachusetts governor, Brooke. BALDWIN: But, Paul Steinhauser -- here's the but -- it sounds like the biggest names in and around this race here, they're not even taking part in the straw poll. A, why, and, B., what's up with Sarah Palin kind of swooping in out of the blue here?

STEINHAUSER: Yes, let's start with Sarah Palin. We're here at the state fair, right, in Des Moines. There's our bus. We brought it. It a big deal here. All the White House candidates come here.

Sarah Palin we have learned is going to be here, good reporting from our political reporter Peter Hamby on that. She is bringing that One Nation bus tour which you remember we saw earlier this summer back east. It's going to be right here in Iowa.

Listen, it seems every time she almost falls out of the spotlight, she jumps right back in. Maybe that's what she's doing. Sarah Palin has said she will decide by September whether she will run for the Republican presidential nomination. It will be interesting to see what she says when she's right here in Iowa.

The other big name, Rick Perry, the Texas governor, he's going to be here in Iowa later this weekend. And earlier, on Saturday, he's basically going to announce in South Carolina that he's a candidate for president. He is moving closer and closer to running, and that is also going to change the race, Brooke. It's getting more exciting by the day.

BALDWIN: Paul Steinhauser, very exciting there at the state fair. Enjoy those Twinkie logs. I see the stand over your right shoulder, incredibly delicious and oh so nutritious.

STEINHAUSER: Oh, yes. We will send you one.

BALDWIN: Paul, thanks.

And, as we said, the straw poll winner back in 2007, one Willard Mitt Romney, yes, his first name Willard, Mitt Romney, current Republican front-runner. But back in 2007, here's what he said about the Republican hopefuls who declined, declined to take part in that Iowa straw poll.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: Well, it's too bad the other guys weren't competing here. If they would had thought they could have been successful here, they would have been here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That is Mitt Romney then, the same Mitt Romney who is not in the straw poll this time, even though he is there campaigning today.

Shannon Travis, why no Mitt Romney in the straw poll, and is he taking any grief from the folks there in Iowa? SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: Well, the first question, Brooke, why no Mitt Romney, Mitt Romney says that he's focusing his attention on races that award delegates.

You know, you have to collect delegates in order to win the Republican nomination, and the straw poll, the straw poll that's going to be held here on Saturday, does not award delegates. As Paul just mentioned, it's basically a test of organization and popularity here in Iowa.

He spent a lot of money last time for a narrow win, and this time he's sitting it out. He's been focusing a lot of attention, a lot of attention on New Hampshire -- obviously, that's the first-in-the nation primary -- and on South Carolina, too, the first primary in the South.

So he's not here. In answer to your second question, is he taking a lot of grief, depends. He's really leading some polls here or even placing very well in polls here, but some people that I have spoken with personally have said that they feel like Mitt Romney is skipping out on the state, and if he isn't attracting or actively going after their votes for the straw poll, then why should he get it for the caucuses, which he will participate in, Brooke?

BALDWIN: Well, we mentioned he's there and off the top we mentioned that he got heckled out there. And we're not of the opinion that that in and itself, Shannon, is news, but an interesting exchange did come of it. Let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: We have to make sure that the promises we make in Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare are promises we can keep, and there are various ways of doing that. One is, we could raise taxes on people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Corporations.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Corporations.

(CROSSTALK)

ROMNEY: Corporations are people, my friend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, they are not.

(CROSSTALK)

ROMNEY: Of course they are. Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Shannon Travis, we listened to that a couple of times. If we heard that correctly, Mitt Romney said to this heckler, everything corporations earn goes to the people.

I'm just wondering, have we gotten any follow-up on that remark from the Romney camp, and are they sticking by it?

TRAVIS: Yes, excellent question, Brooke.

I have placed a few calls to the campaign and said, hey, are you standing by this? Was this a flub or what have you? Surprise. They are doubling down on it.

Let me read a tweet from Eric Fehrnstrom, who is an adviser to Mitt Romney -- quote -- "Do folks think corporations are buildings? They are people who incorporate to conduct business. They create jobs and hire more people."

So, the campaign is doubling down on that comment. In fairness, Brooke, the person who heckled, who asked that question of Mitt Romney is a liberal activist. He's done this to other Republican politicians before.

But the fact that Mitt Romney would answer that way and defend corporations against higher taxes is creating a lot of buzz, especially among his Democratic critics. The DNC chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, has already put out a statement saying that it was amazing -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: It's amazing. You're out there. It's like every little word, everything you say gets replayed, parsed upon.

TRAVIS: That's right.

BALDWIN: Shannon Travis, thank you so much.

Des Moines, Iowa, again, that straw poll Saturday.

Now to this. Medical researchers, they are calling them serial killers, but they mean that in the nicest possible way -- how something inside the body of a cancer patient are -- bringing them back from the brink -- this extraordinary medical breakthrough on cancer next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A possible extraordinary breakthrough on the fight against cancer. Scientists may have figured out a way to take your own cells and turn them into serial killers on diseases like leukemia. This discovery could change everything.

Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here to explain how this works.

This has the potential of being just tremendous. Explain this.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: OK, so there were three people who had cancer, Brooke. They had leukemia, a particular type of Leukemia. And they were almost at the end of the road. They had cancer. They got treated. They went into remission, and then it came back. And there wasn't a whole lot that they could do.

Doctors said, you know what, let's take their t-cells, which is the body's natural sort of fighter cells and let's ramp it up or amp it up, I guess I should say, and turn them into assassins. So imagine if you give those cells guns that they can go and shoot the cancer cells. That's basically what they did.

BALDWIN: Shoot those cancer cells.

COHEN: Shoot those cancer cells, and quickly within just a couple of weeks two out of the three patients went into a total remission.

BALDWIN: Wow!

COHEN: And one of them went into basically a partial remission.

BALDWIN: Are they cured?

COHEN: You know, I never like to use what our medical journalists call the "c" word, because you don't know. These people have had cancer go and come back before. And that could happen again. That's a possibility. It's only been 10 months to year. I would hate to use the "cure" word.

BALDWIN: Could this, because there's so many people out there who doesn't know someone who suffers from leukemia. Could this work with other people?

COHEN: You know, it is possible, and so they are going to start studying it at some point in other patients with cancer. It could be work for leukemia. It could work for other patients as well.

There is a bit of a danger here. These patients did get a little bit sick. I mean, nothing horrifically horrible, but they had fevers and diarrhea. And it could have been a threat to their life, but they caught it quickly. So you want to make sure when you're doing a treatment like this that you're doing more good than harm.

So you want to proceed carefully because this is new, and you don't want to just all of a sudden give it to everybody. You want to give it to people who don't have a whole lot of other options.

BALDWIN: The other part is they used a modified version of HIV to alter the t-cells.

COHEN: Right. It sounds crazy. You've got someone already sick and you're going to give them an HIV cell.

BALDWIN: That's what they did?

COHEN: Well, they modified it. So they took this HIV cell. They stripped it of all of its sort of toxic and harmful properties, and then used it as part of the genetic manipulation. So it was just kind of like a part of the machine that made this whole thing happen, but they made it so that it was harmless

BALDWIN: I know we don't want to use the "c" cure word, but this is encouraging.

COHEN: It's very encouraging, and it's something that they will look into further. So I'm going to be kind of the -- I don't mean to be the "e" word here. It is encouraging. They're going to look into it further. But you and I might be sitting here a year from now saying, god forbid, it didn't turn out that well. Those three patients have gotten cancer again. That's a possibility.

BALDWIN: I definitely want to follow through.

COHEN: Cross your fingers that this really does work.

BALDWIN: OK, Elizabeth Cohen, thanks.

COHEN: Thanks.

BALDWIN: And now this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you realize that you're biting the hand that feeds you? And I said, yes, but I also realize it's the hand that's killing me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Mountaintop coal mining, it is the primary economic engine for southern West Virginia, at least coal mining overall is. It's a "living hell," though, as one worker calls it, and another calls it a much-needed job. But at least one researcher calls it the state's biggest public health problem.

Soledad O'Brien, she's going join me here live in a moment. She's going to take us inside this battle. Her exclusive report is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: With money tight and jobs scarce and the price of everything including fuel going up, up, up these days, people are taking a close hard look at this controversial form of coal mining called mountaintop removal. Take a look at this recent CNN poll -- 57 percent of Americans in this CNN poll say they oppose the removal of a mountain summit to allow a mining company greater access to what's below, the coal there.

It's part of her upcoming documentary, calling it "Battle for Blair Mountain." CNN's Soledad O'Brien gets this exclusive firsthand look at this highly effective and highly controversial form of coal mining.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATION CORRESPONDENT: Most mountaintop removal sites are hidden from roads. To get a clear view of the aftermath, you need to go up. This is a mountaintop removal process.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They will be taking that all.

O'BRIEN: Another concern for those opposed to mountaintop removal projects, the blasting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It shook the houses real bad. It cracked their porches, ceilings in our houses. But you couldn't prove it was done by blasting. This was just a bad place to live.

O'BRIEN: Charles Bela (ph) lives in Blair. When blasting began near his home in 1997, he was working in the mines.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every time I would complain about the blasting, the superintendent said to me one day, he said -- he said do you realize that you're biting the hand that feeds you? And I said, yes, but I also realize it's the hand that's killing me.

O'BRIEN: Do you worry that the streams are damaged, that the dust is in the air, that it's not healthy? You can't tell dust by sniffing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another neighbor is Diane Kish (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me tell you, this fed our families.

O'BRIEN: You don't think it's unsafe?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

I would take a drink out of that water.

O'BRIEN: You would take a drink out of this water? No, you would not.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:

O'BRIEN: Yes, I would. Look at the color. I wouldn't let

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's better than black.

O'BRIEN: When you look at this mountain, the trees are stripped away, is that progress to you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a job in the making.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Soledad O'Brien, I look forward to watching this documentary. I have been up in a helicopter over those mountains as well. And this really is a battle, and a battle with two sides. You have people that say this argument is all about jobs. And then there are the folks who are concerned about the environment, more so than, you know, feeding one's family with these coal jobs. Which side do the folks there in West Virginia fall on?

O'BRIEN: You know, I actually think it's more nuanced than those two sides. I think it's often broken down jobs versus the environment, but what we really found is it's more complicated than that. There are certainly people who want to see jobs in the region but also don't necessarily want their drinking water or their water at all have toxins or be poisoned in any way. And there are certainly people who feel like they understand that those things should be able to coexist, but how do you get there?

So I actually think ultimately when you see the big battle there are people who love their community, and they love it so much that they are really willing to fight hard for it. So I don't know that necessarily -- why should people have to have an either/or? Why should it be jobs or a clean environment? Isn't there something in between that they can fight for and win?

BALDWIN: I thought that man said it best, that, yes, he's biting the hand that feeds him, but it's also killing him. For people who aren't in West Virginia, who don't live in that state, how does this story really resonate nationwide?

O'BRIEN: Well, I mean, I think today everybody is talking about jobs, jobs, jobs obviously because that is what we need in the United States right now. And also for anybody who is not in a coal-producing part of the country, we all walk in a room, flick a light switch on.

BALDWIN: Don't even think about it.

O'BRIEN: A lot of that -- exactly, and we want to continue not thinking about it. So the answer is not simply, well, eradicate coal production. It's how can you have people live together in an environment that's clean? How do you make it so people don't have to make a choice between a healthy environment and, you know, and having a job that pays well?

Are there jobs that can come in? You look at it right now there are no jobs that are coming into the area, paying $65,000 a year, which is what the coal miners we interviewed talked to and tell us, $65,000 a year. That's a hard job to replace.

So those are all the complicated and nuanced issues that are really happening. I think everybody who is watching the story, whether they are in West Virginia or outside of West Virginia can relate to that. You know, Blair Mountain is really a metaphor for jobs in the United States, I think.

BALDWIN: Yes, Blair Mountain, a huge march over the summer and essentially the issue is whether to blast Blair or not, right?

O'BRIEN: Well, I think the issue is if Blair Mountain could be mined, then what does that say about the potential for every single place in West Virginia to be mined?

BALDWIN: I see.

O'BRIEN: At this moment there's nobody setting up a blasting site on Blair Mountain. But it definitely has become a symbol, a symbolic point of where people are saying let's stop it now, let's stop mountaintop remove. Many of the coal miners say mountaintop removal is where the jobs are, good jobs, and if in fact you do stop mountaintop mining, you're stopping our jobs and livelihoods and impacting our families.

BALDWIN: Soledad O'Brien we will be watching the images. It's stunning. Let's tell everyone when we can watch the documentary, "WORKING IN AMERICA: THE BATTLE FOR BLAIR MOUNTAIN." That's Sunday night right here on CNN at 8:00 Eastern.

Soledad, thank you very much.

And before we go to break, a quick check of the big board. Look at that, the Dow up 534 points. We'll take you live to Wall Street next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Here we go again, and I mean this today in a good way. We are 15 minutes away from the closing bell on Wall Street. Look at numbers -- the Dow up 550 points. Alison Kosik, I was trying to remember during the commercial break, Monday was down. Tuesday was up. Wednesday was down. Today is up. What do we make of this?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Who knows what tomorrow will bring, right? We can only guess.

You know, this is a really nice change of pace, isn't it, after we've seen what's happened this week, just the beating that the markets have taken. The Dow now soaring 543 points. You know, the financial sector is really rallying, bank shares up 6 percent to 9 percent, bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo who wanted the financial sector to go strong. And that's where a lot of the momentum is coming from as well.

Also keep in mind, Brooke, momentum coming from the computer- generated trading. That's why we're seeing this spike suddenly so high on the Dow, up 554 points now. Just like we saw it happen on the way down when we saw those levels sort of hit and trigger more selling, we're seeing the reverse now where the buying is triggering new levels, and we're seeing the markets go up.

We're also seeing investors flee from gold. Gold prices are down almost two percent, and oil prices, they are back up about 3.5 percent. You can't always get everything you wish for. Brooke?

BALDWIN: We will take what we can get today there on, Alison Kosik. I will see you again in 15 minutes. We'll see how these numbers start to settle at 4:00 p.m. eastern time.

In the meantime, the streets in and around London are quiet at this hour. People who live and work there say they hope it stays that way.

Take a look at this. This is the next cover for "TIME" magazine. The assessment, "The Decline and Fall of Europe," and in the teeny tiny print below it says "And Maybe the West." I will speak with the journalist who wrote that cover story and what the chaos means for Americans, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Well, the streets of London are finally quiet tonight, but the last couple of days many witnesses have seen violence and mayhem. And now police are using facial recognition technology to track down people looting and setting fires. By the way, the technology wasn't supposed to be used until next year's Olympics in London. Now suddenly it's getting a dry run.

Also British Prime Minister David Cameron says they will find all the criminals.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: To the lawless minority, the criminals who have taken what they can get, I say this -- we will track you done, we will find you, we charge you, we will punish you. You will pay for what you have done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Already more than 1,200 people have been arrested, 16,000 police officers in and around the city, and at least $161 million in losses.

I want to bring in assistant managing editor for "TIME" magazine, Rana Foroohar. Let's just take a look here at the cover of the next magazine. You write a lot about the city of great wealth, London, the wealth divide, and how London is burning. But you write here "The only surprising thing is that it didn't happen sooner," these people taking to the streets. Rana, how do you mean?

RANA FOROOHAR, ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR, "TIME": I've been wondering frankly since 2008 when we were going to see this sort of violence. I think it's interesting we've seen it first in the U.K. The U.K. is positioned perfectly between the U.S. and Europe. Both of those areas are seeing problems now. We've seen the debt downgrade in the U.S. We've got the euro zone crisis. You've had incredible destruction of wealth and a great increase in the wealth divide, which is really what you're seeing in the U.K. right now. These are poor neighborhoods that are facing the first onslaught of cuts from governments that are going to have to get out from under their sovereign debt. And it's happening now and might happen elsewhere.

BALDWIN: We talked a lot about debts here in the states, they're talking about debt in the Europe and our situation in the U.S., it's not pretty. We heard the president fired up. We had the S&P downgrade, volatile markets and all this bickering in Washington. We think our situation here in the states seasonal exactly ideal, but you write that Europe's is worse. Why?

FOROOHAR: Absolutely. The thing is Europe's plan a, b and c, was for the U.S. to rebound. They were counting on us, as always, to carry the global economy out of the downturn. Well, we know that's not happening, so they're panicking.

BALDWIN: They're panicking, and Americans are panicking as well though because, you know, a lot of people here in the U.S., they're focus is I've got to pay my bills, I need to send my kids to school, keep a roof over my head. So explain to me what happens -- why is what's happening in Europe, not just the U.K. and these riots but elsewhere in terms of finances, why does that matter to me?

FOROOHAR: It matters dramatically because Europe is America's largest trading partner. Our companies do a lot of business with people there. What's happening in Europe right now is we're seeing the potential destruction of the single currency, or at least some very serious problems in that regions that can lead to recession. People there stop buying our cars, our technological goods, our luxury products and then we're all in trouble. And things are already dampened here, as we know. So it's a big issue.

BALDWIN: But how would it specifically affect me here as we look at the currency, the euro?

FOROOHAR: Well, if you work for a company that sells something into Europe, which a lot of us do, and Europeans aren't buying, that's an American job that could be put at risk.

BALDWIN: When you look at some of the similarities between London and let's say major U.S. cities, you have the unemployment rate among youth is high. Social media is powerful, and a lot of that has been a force behind what's been playing out in the streets of London, this malaise with the government. And if the rioting can happen in London, let me just throw this at you -- could any of these play out here in the states?

FOROOHAR: I think it could, and again I've really been wondering why we haven't seen more of this. I think most of our populist rage unfortunately has been channeled into partisan politics and the Tea Party movement, things like that.

In Britain, I think that you have more of a history frankly of labor protests like this. You saw it in the '70s with Thatcher, you're seeing it again now. But it could be when push comes to shove and when our super committee gets to work actually making the kind of cuts that are going to affect people here, you could see certainly protests, I hope not violence, but I'm not holding my breath.

BALDWIN: Rana Foroohar, I encourage everyone to read the next "TIME" magazine cover article. It's educational for all of us trying to get a better grasp on what's happening in Europe. Rana, thank you so much for coming on.

And it has been, as we mentioned moments ago, an up and down week there on Wall Street. Today was much, much better than yesterday. We'll go live to the stock exchange for the closing bell. Again, that is about six minutes from now. Also, breaking news from the world of politics. Be right back.

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BALDWIN: Well, we now have all 12 names here. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi naming the final three, her three picks of the 12- member bipartisan congressional super committee to look for ways to tackle America's deficit. Let's go to Wolf Blitzer in Washington for the latest news on who she has chosen. Wolf, give us the names.

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S "THE SITUATION ROOM": Well, Jim Clyburn, the highest ranking African-American in the House of Representatives, he's one of the Democrats that Nancy Pelosi named. Javier Becerra, he's one of the highest ranking Hispanic members of Congress from California, he was named. Chris Van Hollen from Maryland, who spent the last four you years working to get Democrats to the House of Representatives, used to run the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. So you now have 12 members, I'll call them the gang of 12, if you will, six Democrats, six Republicans.

And taking a look at the diversity, you've got one woman, Patty Murray of Washington state, one African-American, Jim Clyburn, one Hispanic, Javier Becerra, and you have nine white men all on this panel. So it's got a little diverse, not a whole lot of diversity.

But it will be a really powerful panel, because if they get a seven to five vote in favor of more than $1 trillion in cut, it automatically goes to the floor of the House, no amendments, automatically goes to the floor of the Senate, no amendments there, no filibuster allowed, a simple majority in both. If they pass it, then it goes to the president for his signature.

If they fail to do all of that, they have to come up with recommendations by Thanksgiving, the Congress, House and Senate, has to vote before Christmas. If they fail to do it, there is a trigger mechanism that goes into effect, and there's sweeping cuts from defense and from domestic programs, very potentially sensitive programs on defense and domestic spending that will anger Republicans and Democrats. So there's enormous amount of pressure. So this committee has a lot of work to do between now and Thanksgiving.

BALDWIN: They do indeed, and not a lot of people want to see those trigger mechanisms hit if in fact they do not come to an agreement. Wolf Blitzer, thank you so much.