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Will Stock Market End Week in Positive or Negative Territory?; Republican Presidential Candidates; CNN Hero Helen Ashe; Transit Police Cut Cell Phones; Getting to Know Candidate Cain; Campaign to "Out" Bert & Ernie; How to Avoid Investment Scams

Aired August 12, 2011 - 11:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Studio 7, I'm Suzanne Malveaux.

Want to get you up to speed for Friday, August 12th.

TGIF. OK. Go ahead, investors. Put an exclamation point on that.

After wild gyrations worth hundreds of points, billions of dollars this week, the Dow Jones stocks opening higher. Right now blue chips are up 84 points. Not bad.

Texas Governor Rick Perry looks ahead to shake up the Republican presidential race. Perry, a social and fiscal conservative, and evangelical Christian, is widely expected to jump in tomorrow.

Now, he was not among the eight Republican candidates who debated in Iowa last night. Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty tried to break out of the pack. He repeatedly zinged fellow Minnesotan Michele Bachmann.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM PAWLENTY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She's fighting for these things. She fought for less government spending. We got a lot more. She led the effort against Obamacare. We got Obamacare.

She led the effort against TARP. We got TARP.

She said she's got a titanium spine. It's not her spine we're worried about, it's her record of results.

If that's your view of effective leadership with results, please stop, because you're killing us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Well, Bachmann shot back, accusing Pawlenty of abandoning conservative principles.

Republican candidates, they're going to compete tomorrow in an Iowa presidential straw poll. It's an informal, non-binding survey open to voters who pay a fee. Military operations are reported on the outskirts of Syria's capital, Damascus. And opposition activists say that Syrian soldiers are moving into another town today to crush the five-month-old uprising against the regime.

Well, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says that the U.S. will harden sanctions against Syria. Now she is calling on other nations to do the same.

Police have hauled in more than 1,800 people across England since the rioting erupted on Saturday. Now, London will keep thousands of extra officers on the streets through the weekend. Riots are linked to five deaths and hundreds of injuries.

Looters pretended to help one bleeding man, only to steal from his backpack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHRAF HAZIQ, RIOT VICTIM: Because it happened somewhere here. I was looking in front. I don't know what happened.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you realize that the people were taking things from your sack when they were pretending to help you?

HAZIQ: I realized that. I felt sorry for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: That's a shame.

Prime Minister David Cameron is proposing a controversial idea that Britain consider blocking social media sites like Facebook and Twitter during unrest. That way, he believes that rioters can't use the services to organize, recruit and incite.

Well, Memphis police are charging an 11th grader with the murder of his school principal. Suzette York was stabbed to death in a classroom at the private Christian academy she led. Police say that York made the student angry by switching him out of a class that he liked last school year, so he made plans over the summer to kill her.

The community is in shock.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's so nice. That's why I'm in shock. Why? Why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It 's tragic all the way around.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We grieve. We grieve.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People have been praying at this corner of Memphis for a long, long time. And it's just a sad day for our whole community. (END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: The Postal Service wants to lay off 120,000 workers. It will ask Congress to remove collective bargaining restrictions so it can fire those workers.

The service is losing billions of dollars a year as people switch to e-mail and online banking. Officials plan to eliminate another 100,000 postal jobs by leaving open positions unfilled.

Well, this is a great story. A trip from the unemployment line to the lottery line pays off. Eighteen co-workers in Canada won a $7 million Lotto jackpot this week. Just hours earlier, 10 of them had gotten pink slips.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN WILLARD, LOTTERY WINNER: I looked at the numbers, and I had to ask somebody to come and take a look at them because I wasn't sure if I was reading it right. And she said, "Oh, you got them all."

And, you know, started to shake, vibrating in my seat. And then I had to get out and tell some of the people that were in it, and of course nobody believed me. "No, you're joking." "No, I'm not joking. We won."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: That's a great story. Each worker will get about $388,000. A nice little cushion there for the newly unemployed.

So a big question today, will the zigzag markets end the week in a positive or negative territory? It's been a heck of a ride all week long. One day you've got the surge, the next day there's a plunge.

Want to go live to CNN's Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange to make sense of all of this.

Alison, it has been one heck of a week here, and now we see a rise. Explain to us what's going on.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: We do. Right now stocks are in the plus column. That's a good thing. Wall Street seems to like the fact that consumers are still out there, they're spending their money.

We got two important reports this morning, one on retail sales, one on consumer sentiment. And we saw stocks initially pop on that retail sales number.

We found out that it rose .5 percent in July. So, sure, shoppers aren't going on huge shopping sprees, but the good news is the shoppers aren't totally gone.

All right. Then we watched stocks give back some of their gains because we did see the Dow up over 100 points. So the Dow gave back some of those gains after consumer sentiment plunged. We got that report.

And this is an important because it shows how consumers feel. And that's really important, because we, the consumer, we drive the economy.

So, in essence, Suzanne, we're getting mixed signals today on how consumers feel. And of course we've got stocks caught in the middle. So still a little bit of volatility out here -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And all that volatility, this dizzying week on Wall Street, what do you make of this turmoil? What are we to make of this going into the next week?

KOSIK: You know what I think we're left with? I think we're left with too many questions and not enough answers.

You know, for one, where is the U.S. headed? Will Congress get our fiscal policy in order? Can Europe contain their debt problems?

So what do you get when you have all these questions and no answers? You get this wild volatility.

I mean, just take a look. Look what we put together for you, the seesaw action that happened in the past week.

The Dow, closing down 600 points Monday, up 400. Look at that, Tuesday, down 500. Wednesday, up.

It really is whiplash. It's the first time in the Dow's history that we've seen closing numbers like this really, really crazy week. It looks like things are calming down, but you know this, Suzanne. You never know how things are going to end up. It's like a really good movie and you're waiting for the ending.

MALVEAUX: I hope it's not a bad ending. Alison, thank you so much. Have a great weekend.

KOSIK: You too.

MALVEAUX: OK.

Well, will Governor Rick Perry's Christian conservatism help or hurt his presidential bid? We're going to take a look.

Plus, highlights from last night's Republican debate in Iowa.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Here is a rundown of some of the stories that we are covering.

First, Texas Governor Rick Perry is ready to shake up the race with a Republican presidential nomination.

And a 10-year-old fishing off a pier gets the catch of the year.

Then, police in San Francisco stop a protest by stopping people from using their cell phones.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you can't get any cell service and something happens, what are you going to do? Absolutely nothing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And also, the fight over Bert and Ernie, their sexual orientation. How the Muppets found themselves in the middle of the same-sex marriage fight.

And later, how to recognize scammers looking to take advantage of the market uncertainty.

All right. The heat is on for the race of the Republican presidential nomination. Eight of the candidates squared off in Iowa last night, ahead of what could be a pivotal non-binding straw poll vote that is happening in Ames tomorrow -- Ames, Iowa.

And, of course, the economy is the number one issue for voters.

Want to take a quick look at what the GOP hopefuls say they're going to do to fix it.

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann touted her stand about increasing the debt ceiling.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We can start to see recovery within three months. Not the whole recovery, but we can begin to see it if we put into place what we know to be true. Number one, we should not have increased the debt ceiling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney outlined seven steps to help the economy grow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One is to make sure our corporate tax rates are competitive with other nations. Number two is to make sure that our regulations and bureaucracy works not just for the bureaucrats in Washington, but for the businesses that are trying to grow.

Number three is to have trade policies that work for us, not just for our opponents. Number four is to have an energy policy that gets us energy secure.

Number five is to have the rule of law. Six, great institutions that build human capital, because capitalism is also about people, not just capital and physical goods.

And number seven is to have a government that doesn't spend more money that it takes in. And I'll do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain is calling for a common sense approach.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We must have a maximum tax rate for corporations and individuals of 25 percent, take the capital gains tax rate to zero, take the tax on repatriated (ph) profits to zero, make them permanent, and certainty back into this economy, and I believe we can turn it around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, architect of the '90s Contract with America, pointed to his past accomplishments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As Speaker of the House, we had divided government. We negotiated with Bill Clinton. He vetoed welfare reform twice. We passed it three times. He signed it the third time, the largest entitlement reform of your lifetime.

We passed the first tax cut in 16 years, the largest capital gains tax cut in history.

Unemployment dropped to 4.2 percent. How would the country feel today at 4.2 percent unemployment?

That's my credential.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Jon Huntsman says he's going to take the approach he took as governor of Utah.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON HUNTSMAN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's called leadership. It's called looking at how the free market system works. It's creating a competitive environment that speaks to growth.

We cut taxes historically. We didn't just cut them, we cut them historically.

We created the most business-friendly environment in the entire country. We were the best managed state in the country. We maintained a AAA bond rating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Ron Paul, a former Libertarian presidential candidate, says that the economy is in trouble because the nation's monetary policies are all wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RON PAUL (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: -- comes from a failed monetary system. The interest rates that are way lower than they should be encourages malinvestment and debt. And to get out of all of that, all this other tinkering, you cannot do that unless you liquidate that. You don't bail out the people that are bankrupt and dump the debt on the people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty says his plans will help the economy grow at a faster pace.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAWLENTY: Well, the United States of America needs a growth target, and it needs to be an aggressive and bold growth target. I don't want the United States' growth target to be anemic or lag like Barack Obama's.

So, is the bar high? Yes. But do we need that growth to get out of the hole? You bet. And I hope people will go to our Web site and read that whole plan, because it's the most specific, comprehensive plan of any candidate in this race.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum says that lower taxes will mean more manufacturing jobs in the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The big thing I've proposed is to take the corporate rate, which makes us uncompetitive, particularly in exporting goods, take the corporate rate and cut it to zero for manufacturers. You want to create opportunity for businesses and manufacturing to grow? Cut that tax to zero. Our jobs will come back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And Texas Governor Rick Perry hopes to shake up the Republican race for the White House. Perry is going to announce his presidential bid. That is happening tomorrow during a speech in South Carolina.

Well, CNN contributor Will Cain joins us from New York, not to be mistaken with the other Cain.

Hey, Will. How you doing?

WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Hi. How you doing, Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Tell us about Perry's chances. What do you think? CAIN: I think that, in the end, Suzanne, it will end up being Romney versus Perry. I think he has very good chances. And in the end, that's the two guys you're going to see come down to the winners of the Republican nomination.

MALVEAUX: How do you think he compares to the former president, George W. Bush?

CAIN: I think the only similarity is that they're both from Texas. You know, people that know about the Bush family and his -- their relationship with Perry know these two guys actually don't even like each other very much.

The Bush family was behind Kay Bailey Hutchison's run for governor. And Perry's politics, the best you can even tell, don't necessarily align with Bush. Bush is much more of an establishment Republican.

MALVEAUX: Give us a sense of how faith is playing a role in the campaign. Last night we saw Michele Bachmann. She was asked about being submissive to her husband.

I want you to take a listen to how she responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 2006, when you were running for Congress, you described a moment in your life when your husband said you should study for a degree in tax law. You said you hated the idea, and then you explained, "But the Lord said be submissive. Wives, you are to be submissive to your husbands."

As president, would you be submissive to your husband?

BACHMANN: What submission means to us, if that's what your question is, it means respect. I respect my husband.

He's a wonderful, godly man, and a great father. And he respects me as his wife. That's how we operate our marriage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So, Will, it was interesting that the crowd was booing there, first of all, at the very question. But we know that Perry is a conservative Christian, and we heard how Bachmann responded to that question.

What do you make of her answer? How do you think people will take that?

CAIN: Oh, I think she knocked the answer out of the park. I mean, she handled that as well as it could be handled.

I was live-blogging during the debate last night, and I've got to tell you, nine out of 10 of the comments were highly offended by that question. They thought it was completely out of bounds. One out of 10 said, hey, that's kind of interesting. I find myself in that group.

I do think it's interesting. I think it's interesting to know if Marcus Bachmann is going to be elected president. That may sound like an overstatement, but Michelle Bachmann is the one to have put it out there in the past. She's the one to have made this issue part of the discussion.

MALVEAUX: I think a lot of people are interested in her answer there.

Do you think there were any winners in that debate last night?

CAIN: Easily Mitt Romney. I think he ran away with it.

Look, here's just my personal story on this. Six months ago, I could not have envisioned myself voting for Mitt Romney. He's the architect of Romneycare, which was the model for Obamacare. He's the guy who told Massachusetts residents that they must buy health care to reside within the state. That offends me philosophically and constitutionally as a conservative.

That being said, Mitt Romney right now is so far and away and clearly the leader, that I will have to start beginning to consider this could be the person I choose to be the next president of the United States.

MALVEAUX: All right, Will. Good to see you. Have a great weekend. We'll be following all of this. And clearly, a lot of folks in Iowa waiting to see whether or not they can drum up enough support.

The GOP candidates are barnstorming across the state. Correspondents are on the trail with them.

We're going to take you live to a campaign stop by Herman Cain. That is happening later this hour. In the next hour, we've got candidates Thad McCotter, Rick Santorum, and Michele Bachmann. They're all making appearances as well. We're going to take you live to their events.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Here is a look at today's "Choose the News" choices. Text "22360" to vote for the story that you'd like to see.

First, returning to work after retirement. The downturn in the economy, well, it's forcing some people who had already quit to go back on the job. We profile one senior who says he's been forced into that situation.

Second, the battle for the most valuable company in the world. Apple and Exxon are fighting for the number one spot, but others are using their business models to gain some ground. Or third, preparing for the greens. That's right. The Atlanta Athletic Club is hosting a major golf tournament this week, and one blade of grass can't be out of place. We're going to take you behind the scenes to see how they got that course ready.

You can vote by texting "22360." Text "1" for Working After Retirement; "2" for Apple Versus Exxon; or "3" for Preparing for the Green.

The winning story is going to air in the next hour.

Well, today's CNN Hero is an 83-year-old woman who founded The Love Kitchen. Helen Ashe has been serving up meals for the hungry and the homebound in Knoxville, Tennessee, for the last 25 years.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HELEN ASHE, CNN HERO: Daddy worked hard for what we got. He taught us not to take the last piece of bread from the table. Somebody may come out that's hungry.

My name is Helen Ashe, and I am the happy founder of The Love Kitchen. We address the needs of the five ages, I say: the homeless, the hungry, the hopeless, the homebound, and the helpless.

Do you have the coffee and the cups out?

My sister Ellen (ph) is a blessing to me.

And how about those small tomatoes, Ellen (ph)?

The Lord sent two because there's so much work to do for one.

Want me to help you in?

We went to nursing school. You know, back then segregation was pretty rampant. I just saw the black people that was having a problem with transportation and food.

So what are we going to start off with this morning?

Every day on my way home I would tell my sister, "One day I'm going to do something about this."

We're getting ready to open the line.

The first day we served 22 meals. That was in 1986. And since that time, we've been growing, growing, growing, growing.

Everybody here is a volunteer. They enjoy doing what we are doing.

We deliver from 1,400 to 2,200 meals every Thursday to our homebound people. We was taught to work for what we got and to share what we did get. And we have so many people that are in need, and that's what keeps us going. (END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Well, you've got just a little more than two weeks left to nominate someone you know who's making a big difference in your community. Remember, every CNN Hero is chosen from people you tell us about. So go to CNNHeroes.com right now.

Well, transit police stop a protest in California. They blocked cell phone service at a train station, and one officer told a local newspaper it's a great tool for police. We're looking deeper into that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Here's a rundown on some of the stories that we are working on.

Next, the unusual reason why cell phones stopped working at a California train station.

And then, the fight for and against same-sex marriage strangely leading to Ernie and Bert.

And later, investment scams are multiplying in this shaky market. We're going to show you how to spot them before you get scammed.

And in California, Bay Area Rapid Transit Police thwarted an expected protest at a train station in San Francisco. How? By cutting off cell phone service.

Well, BART officials told KTVU's Eric Rasmussen that it was a small sacrifice for safety, but some passengers, they worried it could have made a real emergency even worse.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIC RASMUSSEN, REPORTER, KTVU (voice-over): With a small army of police on the platform at BART's Civic Center Station, and even more officers on standby above ground, authorities shut down a protest before it even started.

The goal, to avoid a repeat of this scene last month when another protest over the BART police shooting of Charles Hill quickly got out of hand and disrupted service systemwide.

This time, the planned demonstration never happened, even though we found at least one man who admitted he was there for the protest.

(on camera): So what's going on? Where is everybody?

LEEDELL MOORE, PROTESTER: You never know. They might be here, they might not.

RASMUSSEN (voice-over): But one thing everyone seemed to notice, including us, was a sudden lack of cell phone service.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm scared now.

RASMUSSEN: Especially when some realized it was not a random outage.

LILY GARCIA, BART PASSENGER: If you can't get any cell service and something happens, what are you going to do? Absolutely nothing.

LT. ANDY ALKIRE, BART POLICE: Actually, media relations people made that decision.

RASMUSSEN: But at this late briefing, we had a tough time getting answers about why BART made the decision or whether the tactic has ever been used before.

LINTON JOHNSON, BART SPOKESMAN: I don't know. I don't know because the tactics that the cops use, I'm not always privy to.

RASMUSSEN (on camera): He specifically said it was the public relations department that made the decision to turn off the cell service.

JOHNSON: We suggested it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Casey Jordan is a contributor to "In Session" on CNN's sister network truTV. And he joins us now from New York.

Casey, good to see you.

BART officials say that police --

CASEY JORDAN, CONTRIBUTOR, TRUTV'S "IN SESSION": Good morning, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Good to see you.

They say that police say that the number one priority was to keep everybody safe and that they had successfully done that. But shutting down cell phone service, you know, obviously, a lot of people raised eyebrows over that.

The first question is, is this something that we've seen before? Is it legal?

JORDAN: Well, I haven't been able to find another incident in which this has happened. I think perhaps it is unprecedented, and yet, that's how these legal issues come to light and get debated. Whether it's legal or not, it hasn't been tested in the courts.

Public safety exceptions to or encroachments on our personal freedoms do happen. And remember, we just had evidence of that protest getting out of control last month.

Of course, everybody wants their personal freedoms. They fear censorship. They're all worried about living in a police state. Yet when a protest turns into violence and people get hurt, they love to blame the police.

So, you can't have it both ways.

The public relations department did make this decision, but I'm sure they did it after consulting their counsel within the police department.

MALVEAUX: Casey, a lot of people wondering, what happened to freedom of speech, assembly without government interference that's protected by the First Amendment?

JORDAN: Oh, there is nothing to stop the protest from happening. They didn't try to shut down the protest. They simply turned off the cell service so it couldn't become viral.

And I believe that they did that based on how the protest from last month really accelerated.

Again, the framers of the Constitution could not possibly have foreseen the world that we now live in with our smartphones and Wi-Fi and hot spots. The bottom line is: it was a lot different 200 years ago when your protest was standing on a soapbox on the street corner. Now, you can incite people with misinformation with calls to violence and in many ways things can get out of hand.

It really is just a cost/benefit analysis of where your freedom of speech begins to threaten the public safety. And, again, they did use intelligence. This was a -- they did verify the protest, and they were simply trying to stop a repeat of what happened last month.

MALVEAUX: Casey, they say it's a matter of public safety, but what would have happened if there was an emergency and passengers wouldn't have been able to even call 911?

JORDAN: That's a great question. You have to ask yourself, do you have a fundamental right to cell service? How did the world work before 911?

I think what the police did, and we saw some of that in the video, is they really made their police presence known at that particular station, where the protest was going to happen.

And as much as we are so reliant on our cell phones, the bottom line is, when you can simply shout for help, ask others to help you out, I think there's still police call boxes, anyone can flag down a police officer, at the same time nothing bad did happen. But if it had happened, we may not see so much public support for that particular tactic.

MALVEAUX: Casey, very quickly, if I could turn the corner, the recent riots in London that we've seen, the British Prime Minister David Cameron says that he's thinking of blocking all social media during those demonstrations. And free speech groups are saying really? Would you really do that?

I mean, Arab rulers did the same thing during the antigovernment uprisings the past year or so. I mean, doesn't that violate basic freedoms?

JORDAN: I think it's going to take courts to interpret where we cut the line. I absolutely agree that it's a slippery slope. What we saw with the BART situation was temporary. It was perhaps a few minutes to a few hours. I'm not sure.

But doing it as total public policy where it is unbridled censorship where you're shutting down things and only the law mangers at the helm are deciding for how long and what purpose, that is dangerous.

And so, civil rights advocates argue that we could end up living in a police state if this policy starts encroaching on personal freedoms. And yet everybody wants to be safe. I think it's going to end up in the courts and they will be final determinants of what the state can and cannot do.

MALVEAUX: All right. We'll be following that. You as well in the courts -- thank you so much, Casey. Have a good weekend.

JORDAN: Absolutely. Good to be here.

MALVEAUX: A reminder to vote for today's "Choose the News" winner. Text "22360" to vote for the story that you'd like to see.

Text "1" for returning to work after retirement, a look at how the sluggish economy is forcing some seniors to take jobs late in life.

Text "2" for most valuable company in the world, Apple and Exxon fighting for the number one job, the position.

And "3," preparing the greens, behind-the-scenes view of how the Atlanta Athletic Club prepared to host golf's PGA tournament.

The winning story is going to air in the next hour.

Well, they've been the fixture of children's television and Muppet rumors for decades. Jeanne Moos looks at the campaign to out Ernie and Bert?

And also, you've heard people stuffing cash in their mattresses. Well, with all of the volatility in the stock market, hiding cash is now becoming popular again. And folks from the financial Web site Mint.com ask users to name the most unusual places they're stocking their cash.

Here's what some said -- an iPhone case, the belly of a teddy bear. And we're going to tell you the strangest place that folks are hiding their cash, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MALVEAUX: All right. So, the new place that folks are hiding, stashing their money, this very realistic-looking head of lettuce. Yes, that's right. People are buying safes that are shaped like vegetables and sticking them in the fridge. Well, financial analysts say holding on to your savings at home not a good idea for obvious reasons.

Each week, CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta introduces us to someone who's achieved remarkable things despite having to overcome major challenges.

In this week's "Human Factor," we meet a man who finally went to get his much-needed physical. Well, out of the physical, the news wasn't very good. And that it drove him to become a part of our CNN Fit Nation triathlon challenge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You're a doctor, and you're on the front line of the childhood obesity epidemic, something that people talk about quite a bit. You decided that you wanted to actually not only preach about this, but to actually practice it as well. Is that right?

DR. SCOTT ZAHN, CNN FIT NATION TRIATHLETE: yes.

GUPTA: Tell me what inspired that. How did you decide to do a triathlon?

ZAHN: I just decided to do something. It just happened to be a triathlon. But, you know, as I was talking to my patients who are overweight, I realized that, you know, I needed to listen to what I was telling them. And I needed to set a goal for myself, something in the future to inspire me to do that.

GUPTA: A year ago, could you have imagined yourself doing this?

ZAHN: No way.

GUPTA: What changed and what is the lesson for other people out there who say no way? I'm never going to do that?

ZAHN: For me, it was to just start. To just make that first drive to the club and get on a treadmill and start walking, then do it the next day, the next day, and just build on that. But the key really for me was to just start.

GUPTA: Your body changed significantly. How much weight did you lose? When is the last time you weighed that much?

ZAHN: I've lost about 60 pounds. I'm under 200 pounds for the first time in 20, 30 years. I'm not even sure the last time I weighed under 200 pounds. So, physically I've changed.

GUPTA: You're also off all of your medications. As a doctor, this is important because a lot of people get the cholesterol medications, blood pressure medications. You don't always need them if you diet and exercise.

ZAHN: Right. If you diet and exercise, you can get off them. I was able to do that, you know. I talked in my video that my family history was kind of against me. I kind of realized that the genetics were against me but not my family history. So, you can change your family history by diet and exercise.

GUPTA: It's a pretty remarkable thing. Dr. Scott Zahn, I appreciate it very much. Thanks for joining us.

ZAHN: Thank you.

GUPTA: Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Reminder to vote for today's "Choose the News" winner. Text 22360 to vote for the story that you'd like to see.

Text 1 for returning to work after retirement. A look at the economy how the sluggish economy is forcing some seniors to take jobs late in life.

Text 2 for most valuable company in the world, Apple and Exxon fighting for the number one position.

Or 3 for preparing the greens. Behind-the-scenes view of how the Atlanta Athletic Club prepares for the golf's PGA tournament. Winning story is going to air in the next hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: We're keeping a close eye on all the Republican presidential candidates, the hopefuls. Herman Cain, he is speaking now in Des Moines, Iowa, he's at a state fair.

I want it to get more details on Herman Cain. He's never been in office. Many of you are just getting to know this candidate.

Our CNN political reporter Shannon Travis, he's at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines.

Shannon, you've been watching him, we've been watching him very closely, his performance in the debate, some of the things. But he's very quick to talk about his business experience. How is he doing when he talks about creating jobs? Are people paying attention to this guy?

SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: Excellent question, Suzanne.

People are paying attention to Herman Cain and he certainly hopes that they are. He's trying to distinguish himself as the only non- politician in the race. As you mentioned earlier, he ran for Senate in Georgia a few years ago; he lost in a Republican primary, and so he's never held elected office before.

But he has solid business credentials as the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, he also has some other background in business, sitting on different corporate boards. So he's hoping to distinguish himself as the only non-politician and the guy who can basically create jobs in this troubled economy.

Another few other quick points about Herman Cain. One, in terms of recent controversy, he recently said that he wouldn't feel comfortable having a Muslim serving in a Cain administration. He later apologized and clarified for any problems that any Muslims had with those comments.

And one last thing, he's a stage four cancer survivor, Suzanne. In July, he basically said he's five years free of cancer right now -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: How are people receiving him? What do they think about him?

TRAVIS: Yes, Herman Cain has a whole lot of support among Tea Party supporters. Among, actually, Evangelical Christians as well. That's going to play well for him here in Iowa. A lot of Evangelical Christians will go out and vote in the contests in the Iowa caucuses and in Saturday's Ames Straw poll.

But a lot of other people say, you know what, Herman Cain, maybe it isn't his time. A, the fact he hasn't held elective office before, are we ready to award him the top spot as the nation's commander in chief?

So there's mixed reaction to Herman Cain. Some people like his message, his economic message on lower taxes and adherence to the Constitution, but others are a little bit leery of the fact that he's never held elected office before, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right, I understand that he may be coming on the CNN Express Bus. So when he does, Shannon, we'll be stopping by to see what he's got to say, all right?

TRAVIS: We'll try to snag him for you.

MALVEAUX: OK. Great, thanks.

Shannon Travis, thanks.

Next hour, candidates Thad McCotter, Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann all have campaign appearances. We're going to take you there as they hit the stump in Iowa. Correspondents, as you saw, on the trail with all of those candidates.

For the latest political news, you know where to go, CNNPolitics.com.

They've been roommates for more than four decades. Some say that two of Sesame Street's most beloved characters may be a couple. Now just after weeks of New York legalizing same-sex weddings comes a cyber campaign to have a same-sex Muppet marriage.

CNN's Jeanne Moos has the story. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Do Bert and Ernie have a secret? Are the "Sesame Street" Muppets coming out of the closet?

JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE": What if they are gay? What if they're neck deep in each other's fuzz every night?

MOOS: A gay buzz has been around for years, but now there's an online petition asking "Sesame Street" to let Bert and Ernie get married.

The petition was dreamed up by gay activist Blair Scott.

BLAIR SCOTT, GAY ACTIVIST (via telephone): When I was 9 years old I wondered if they were a gay couple.

MOOS: There's been a lot of purely circumstantial evidence.

SCOTT: They sleep in the same room.

MOOS: They take baths together.

Look at the photo on their wall.

BERT: That's our picture.

MOOS: Oh, sure, there are also counter indications.

KIMMEL: Let's talk about Bert's eyebrow. No self-respecting homosexual would leave a unibrow like that unplucked. If there's one things gays do, it's pluck.

MOOS: They've been together more than 41 years, and just as folks speculated that Tinky Winky, the purple Teletubby with the purse, was gay, rumors have swirled around the roommate Muppets.

MIKEY GAY TODAY, YOUTTUBE.COM, : Bert not gay, Ernie very gay. And no matter how hard you try, Ernie, and I've tried, believe me, you can't twist them.

MOOS: The petition to let Bert and Ernie marry has spawned petitions to stop them.

(on camera): "The New York Daily News" even wrote an editorial on the subject entitled "They're just Muppets."

(voice-over) It sarcastically asks, "Why stop there? Why not march Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo down the aisle, too."

Funny, but not applicable.

BLAIR: That's more of a mentoring situation.

MOOS: The creators of "Sesame Street" are not budging. They say Bert and Ernie are best friends. "They remain puppets and do not have a sexual orientation."

But denials don't stop suggestive songs like the one for the show "Avenue Q."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): If you were gay that would be OK.

MOOS: The petition organizer knew when he was 5 years old --

BLAIR: That I had an attraction to Tarzan.

MOOS: So he wants role models for other young gay kids watching TV.

Though chances for a wedding for Bert and Ernie seem nil, still someone joked, "Will the reception be in Oscar's can?"

OSCAR THE GROUCH (singing): I love trash.

MOOS: Ernie may proclaim who he's true to --

ERNIE (singing): Rubber ducky, you're the one.

MOOS: -- but gay spoofs keep bubbling up.

THE VILLAGE PEOPLE, MUSICIANS (singing): It's fun to stay at the YMCA.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN --

THE VILLAGE PEOPLE: YMCA.

MOOS: -- New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: All right. Well, while you're keeping a close eye on the market and your bottom line, others are thinking of ways to take advantage of the instability. We've got some top tips on how you can protect yourself.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: The roller coaster ride of the stock market has many people in the stock market worried about the bottom line, and there are scammers out there ready to take full advantage of your financial vulnerability.

Our Alison Kosik is here with today's top tips, avoiding investment scams.

Alison, what should we look out for? How do we know we will be scammed?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne, the Better Business Bureau is actually warning consumers that you'll usually find more investment scams during tough economic times. So if you've been getting these money-making pitches and they sound too good to be true, guess what? They probably are.

The bureau says, if you are contacted unexpectedly, let's say getting phone calls or letters from investors urging you to respond, especially asking you for your personal information, you should be really careful.

Also, "Consumer Reports" reminds you to protect your online investment. Check your computer security, be careful what you download, what you encrypt with your wireless connection And don't use a public computer for any online investing. Check on your accounts often and keep an eye out for any inconsistencies -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: You have a couple other red flags as well consumers need to look out for, yes?

KOSIK: Yes. One of the most common consumer complaints, Suzanne, that the bureau are companies asking for big upfront investments and fees in return for a big payout. And if you are promised high returns for a low risk, that is yet another red flag.

The bureau says if you attend a seminar offering an investment plan for large returns with little or no risk, even with a money back guarantee, you really want to think twice before you hand over your cash.

Also, if the investment company uses high-pressure sales tactics, trying to get you to sign up immediately or pushing overseas investments or claiming you can avoid taxes by investing overseas, you really should be suspicious -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And, Alison, the question, of course, how do we know if the financial adviser you're using is even legit. We're going to ask you that after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: We're back with top tips about how you can protect yourself from investment scams. Our Alison Kosik, she joins us live again from the New York Stock Exchange.

And, Alison, we assume that the people we are using are legit, but how do you know if your investment company or your adviser is really the real thing?

KOSIK: Well, you shouldn't be afraid to ask to see their licenses, their registrations, any credentials before investing with any company. Check with the financial industry regulatory author site at finra.org where you can check on the investment firm and your broker's background.

Also, the Better Business Bureau says any reputable company will let you go ahead and take your time let you do your research before you go ahead and buy into any investments.

Finally, if you have a problem with your broker or you feel you've been a victim of investment fraud, the Securities and Exchange Commission's site says put your complaint to the investment firm to prove you complained about any unauthorized transactions.

And if the problem is not solved, file a complaint with the SEC at sec.gov, with FINRA at finra.org, as well as contacting your state's securities administrator, which you can find at nasaa.org -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right. Good advice, Alison, thank you very much.

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