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A Suspected Cop Killer is Holed Up Inside a House; FBI Agents Arrested the Mayor of Trenton, New Jersey, on Corruption Charges Today; Teachers in Chicago on Picket Lines Instead of in Classrooms; Congress Getting Back to Work After Summer Recess; Where Candidates Stand on Entitlements; Personal Tragedy for Suze Orman Highlighted Lesson; Suze Orman on the Economy, President Obama; Helmet-to-Helmet Hits in Sports; NASA Reveals Curiosity Secret; SEAL Who Shot bin Laden Speaks

Aired September 10, 2012 - 13:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN: I'm Suzanne Malveaux. This hour the CNN NEWSROOM we are focusing on politics, the economy, and striking Chicago school teachers. We want to get right to it here.

A man suspected of killing a police officer is holed up inside a house. This is in West Bloomfield, Michigan. This is right outside Detroit. Well, he has been locked in a stand-off with police since about 10:00 last night. Police say that the man is alone. He is armed, however. Just a little while ago they say he fired shots at the robots they sent in to get a look inside that house.

FBI agents arrested the mayor of Trenton, New Jersey, on corruption charges today. Now, these charges against Mayor Tony Mack stem from a project to build a parking garage on city property. He is accused in a conspiracy that involves cash payments from the developer totaling $119,000. In July agents raided Mack's home as well as the homes of his brother and a campaign supporter. Mack denies violating the public trust.

And teachers in Chicago are on picket lines instead of inside the class's rooms today. They have shut down the school system. Shut out almost 400,000 students today. Want to bring in Casey Wian he is outside an elementary school. Casey I understand that negotiations are now ongoing. Tell us what is the dispute? What are they trying to get to the bottom of between the teachers union and school administrators?

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, interestingly enough, Suzanne, it doesn't seem to be about money as much anymore. The teachers union saying that they are very close to accepting the school district's proposal of a 16 percent raise over the next four years. The average raise for each teacher, the issue that they say they're more concerned about right now is resources for the students, their health benefits, and perhaps most contentious is this new teacher evaluation plan that the teachers union said would cost perhaps as many as 6,000 teachers their jobs over the next one or two years.

Because those performance evaluations are tied to standardized testing and influenced by other factors. Such as tough neighbors, like the one I'm in right now. Now the Mayor's office, Mayor Rahm Emanuel saying he has no idea where that estimate of 6,000 jobs comes from they are disputing that. The mayor did say just a few minutes ago at a news conference that he believes they are down to the last few issues, so perhaps there is hope now that they're talking again that there could be some sort of resolutions.

Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: So they think there's a breakthrough that could happen today, this afternoon?

WIAN: No way to tell. We thought that was going to happen over the weekend. The two sides said they were making progress. They're not making any of those proclamations right now. It's certainly possible. There's certainly a sense of urgency that they want to get this done -- this deal done as soon as possible because no one wants children running around on the streets of Chicago with no school to go to. This is one of a 144 schools that was made available today for parents to drop their kids off between 8:30 and 12:30 if they had no other child care arrangements. But those arrangements are temporary and they're short-term and no one wants that to continue.

MALVEAUX: So Casey, there is almost 400,000 students that are out of school today. Obviously you talk about the parents that are scrambling to find alternatives. There are some places where I guess the kids can show up. Is this adequate today? Have there been problems?

WIAN: Well, there have been a lot of frustration and a lot of confusion. We talked to one mother of a student who dropped her daughter off here this morning. She had a job interview this morning. She didn't want to bring her child here to cross what was a picket line here all morning long, but she said she had no choice. We also spoke to a father, the father of three children. He is very frustrated about what's going on. Listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL GORDON, PARENT: I have three kids. It's difficult for us to be out of school talking about we need to strike. These teachers are working their butts off. There's 50, 60 students to one teacher. How can you teach a class if it's 50, 60 students to one teacher? Text books been used since 1938 probably. Who knows how long we've had these textbooks? This school alone has no AC in it. I know for a fact because I went here as a grammar school student. My kids are at home missing out on all their education, so now they get to go home and play around and pretend like this is a fun day. This ain't fun for nobody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIAN: And the final concern that a lot of parents are expressing concern about is the fact that obviously it's been well reported this has been a very violent year in Chicago.

MALVEAUX: Right.

WIAN: The murder rate up 32 percent over last year. There was a week last month where 14 murders happened. They are very worried about kids running around on the streets with no place to go no school to go to, given the violence that has been plaguing this area over the past several months.

MALVEAUX: All right, Casey. Thank you very much. Let us know if there are any breakthroughs in those negotiations. We'll put you right on.

Congress getting back to work after a summer recess. Lawmakers returning after getting -- trying to get some stuff done. This is a long list of unfinished business. The question is, of course, is how much work is actually going to get done between now and the November election? Dana Bash on the hill to talk about that. Dana, a lot of people a little skeptical that there's going to get all that much done before an election. Top priority, however keeping the government from shutting down. Where are they on that?

DANA BASH, SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That is going to be the most likely. In fact, I think you can take it to the bank that Congress will do that. So if you look at the list of things that we know Congress is going to do between now and the election, that's on it. Doesn't necessarily mean they did their work, Suzanne. They're supposed to pass about a dozen spending bills. That didn't happen. So what they are going to do is six months stop gap measure to make sure the government runs because politically both sides, Republicans and Democrats, know that it could be very bad for both of them if the government did shut down.

MALVEAUX: So Dana we are 57 days away from election. What are the things that they might actually be able to get done before then?

BASH: Well, I think the most important things to talk about is the Farm Bill. This is a piece of legislation that is passed every five years, and it was -- Congress had hoped to do it before they left for summer break. It didn't happen because of major differences, regional differences, as well as partisan differences, but what I'm told -- in fact, I just talked to a Democratic source who said that at the very least, they do believe that they are going to pass some kind of extension even if it's just a year because if they let this expire and that will happen at the end of September, it will go back to depression era farm laws and rules and regulations. That would be absolutely terrible. At the very least they'll do that and some kind of drought relief assistance for -- particularly for cattlemen and others who have no assistance right now.

MALVEAUX: What's likely not to get done?

BASH: Where do we start? I could talk to you for an hour about the things that are not likely to get done, but I think the most important thing to talk about when it comes to dire, dire movement that the Congress has to do by the end of the year is the so-called fiscal cliff. We've talked about that. It is the fact that the Bush era tax cuts are going to expire at the end of the year, and by law about $110 billion in cuts half from defense; half from domestic programs are going to happen automatically unless Congress does its job. That's the biggest deal. The list goes on and on. Cyber security, "Violence against Women Act" extending that. The postal service, reforming that, and, again, we could talk for hours about the things that are out there, but when it comes to things that they have to get done, those fiscal clip issues, we're going to be here probably until New Year's Eve. I wouldn't be surprised.

MALVEAUX: OK.

A lot of work ahead. Dana, thank you so much. Good to see you as always. Here's what we're working on for this hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: Why were you crying?

UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: Because of the blatant discrimination that was shown to us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Two California parents say their son was stopped from getting on American Airlines flight because he has down syndrome. Why the airline says it was a safety issue.

Suzy Ormon joins us live to talk about how the recent death of her mom highlighted an important investment lesson for her.

And there's a dilemma on Mars. Why NASA is hoping the Curiosity Rover does not find water.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: By the end of the week we might actually be seeing a pretty different economic landscape. That is because we are expecting a third giant stimulus effort by the Federal Reserve. I'm bringing in Alison Kosik from the New York Stock Exchange to talk a little about what would this mean for the economy and do we believe that this is actually going to happen?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK. So, first of all, this is the very technical term with the Fed could be doing this week. It's called quantize easing, and in it is case it would be called qe3. Because the Fed has done this twice before. It would be the third round. What this means is if the Fed does sort of introduce this stimulus what it would actually do is take money from its own balance sheet to buy U.S. Treasuries. Lots of U.S. Treasuries. There is also talk that in this round of stimulus, it could also involve the Fed buying up investments backed by mortgages. OK.

So then you're wondering why would the Fed do this. Well first of all, buying up these mortgage backed securities that would drive mortgage rates lower in hopes of giving it extra nudge to the housing sector, which is already showing signs of life. And buying treasuries would look to lower borrowing costs in the way of trying to give an incentive to businesses and incentivize consumers to go out there and take more loans. Suzanne basically trying to get businesses moving in this country.

Now, what critics say the problem is with this is actually demand. That is really the basic problem that's going on with the sluggish economy and that interest rates are already low and that any kind of new stimulus like this won't help except for driving investors from bonds to stocks who are in search of better returns. So if you've an investment stock it could be a good thing but with many question whether or not this would really give a boost to the job market.

Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right. Alison Kosik, thank you Alison appreciate it.

A days old question is there life on Mars? Well first, you have to find water. But apparently finding water on Mars could spell disaster for NASA and the Curiosity Rover.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: All right. It's been a fantasy of space explorers for years. Finding water on Mars. So as the rover Curiosity probes the surface of this planet, NASA has revealed a secret wish. Please don't find water.

So, Chad, I don't get this.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: But explain this to us because -- once you find water, you could potentially find life. This is Mars.

MYERS: They didn't think they were going to find water where they were going anyway.

MALVEAUX: OK.

MYERS: They didn't think that they were going to find water. They were going to look at the terrain rather than maybe a lake. But what happened six months ago is that they put the drill bit into the Curiosity without it being re-sterilized after they took it out of the box.

MALVEAUX: OK.

MYERS: So now there are -- it's just a drill bit.

MALVEAUX: OK.

MYERS: You know, just like you put in -- it probably cost 10,000 times more than this little drill bit, but as it drills in and if it finds water, it's afraid that any type of microbes, any type of germs that they have gotten on the drill bit may now be in the Martian surface. So transferring germs, microbes, whatever, from the earth to the Mars --

MALVEAUX: Contaminated water.

MYERS: Contaminated water so then it wouldn't be able to live. If it could find water, would be able to live. But this is -- it was 99 degrees below zero last night on Mars. I don't think too many things are going to be living there. I can get -- I know you can cryo freeze them and all that, but this is a very harsh environment. The solar radiation will kill things. There's very little atmosphere.

You know, we can't go up there and walk around. You'd be instantly vaporized with the sunshine because there's just no atmosphere to stop it. Not vaporized, but you could burn by the sun's rays.

MALVEAUX: Right. So how would we find water? If we wanted to -- if -- I mean could we do this the right way? You take that drill bit, and it's like, you know, it's not contaminated and we actually are able to do what we were supposed to do?

MYERS: This wasn't on purpose, obviously. They didn't want to do this, but they realized that when they -- if they were going to take this bit, leave it in the box, keep it sterilized, if something happened to the rover on the way down, maybe they couldn't get the bit into the rover and then they wouldn't be able to drill at all. So they took that little risk, and a semi-sterile -- they called semi- sterile environment, put the drill bit in, making sure it was ready to go.

It's like, you know, putting -- doing something like putting the drill in the drill bit -- in the bit in the drill and then going into the closet because you get in the closet, it's too dark. You might not be able to find --

MALVEAUX: So now what happens? What are they hoping to discover?

MYERS: They're still going to find rocks. They're still going to drill down and find things. And this little bit, whatever germs I just put on that drill bit, is not going to pollute Mars.

MALVEAUX: OK.

MYERS: We're OK.

MALVEAUX: And if we don't pollute Mars, we might not be polluting the Martians.

MYERS: You know, I --

(LAUGHTER)

MALVEAUX: If there is a life form there.

MYERS: True. this isn't Montezuma's Revenge. You know? We're not killing things up there that we know are there. OK. I also believe that when the asteroid hit the earth that killed the dinosaurs, some of that stuff probably flew up from the earth onto Mars.

MALVEAUX: OK.

MYERS: So the earth is already on Mars because we know Mars is already on earth. MALVEAUX: We already have our presence there. And real quick, there's a little photo -- Curiosity took a photo of itself. Is that right?

MYERS: Yes. It's been taking photos all week, and then even took a picture of itself. That's with the lens on. Then when the lens cover was off, so it has a much better filter, obviously, with -- when it gets dusty, they want to be able to cover these lenses. It also took a picture of a penny that is on the rover. I didn't realize there was a penny on the rover. In 1909 VDP Penny is on there to focus on so it can see itself. It's part of the focusing mechanism.

MALVEAUX: All very cool stuff. All right, Chad, thank you very much.

MYERS: You're welcome.

MALVEAUX: Appreciate it as always.

MYERS: You're welcome.

MALVEAUX: The Navy SEAL who wrote the book spilling details on the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, well, of course, he is now speaking out. Hear in his own words about the moment he pulled the trigger.

And don't forget, you can watch CNN live on your computer while you're at work. Head to CNN.com/TV.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: A Navy SEAL who pulled the trigger helping to kill Osama bin Laden, well, he is now telling his story. Now we are learning details about the raid last May in Pakistan from one of the Navy SEALs on that mission.

Mark Bissonnette talked to "60 Minutes" in an interview that aired last night. You are seeing him here. But this isn't really what he looks like. This is at his request. He was heavily disguised. His voice was altered and the lighting for the interview dimmed. His book, "No Easy Day," is being published under the pseudonym Mark Owen.

In the interview last night he talked about the crucial moments right before the raid started. And in another part of the interview, he said that he says he didn't even recognize bin Laden when he shot him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT BISSONNETTE, AUTHOR/FORMER NAVY SEAL: Roughly an hour and a half. I remember, you know, we took off, shut the doors and the radio call I heard was, you know, hey, we're over the border. We're crossing the border into Pakistan, and I remember thinking, wow, this is -- OK. This is happening. And I swear I glanced around the helicopter and half the guys were sitting there asleep on the ride in. And it was an hour and a half ride. Guys catching a few Z's on the way in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait a minute. Your team is flying into Osama bin Laden's compound, and they're asleep?

BISSONNETTE: Yes. No, it's your time to just kind of shut your eyes, relax. You know, mentally walk through whatever you need to walk through.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is still moving.

BISSONNETTE: A little bit, but you couldn't see his arms, couldn't see his hands, so he could have had something, could have had a hand grenade or something underneath his chest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So after Osama bin Laden is wounded, he is still moving. You shot him twice?

BISSONNETTE: A handful of times.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A handful of times, and the SEAL in the stack behind you also shot Osama bin Laden, and at that point his body was still?

BISSONNETTE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you recognize him?

BISSONNETTE: No. You know, everybody thinks it was like you know it's him. No. To us at that time it could have been anybody. Maybe this is another brother, maybe this is a bodyguard. It doesn't matter. The point is you just continue clearing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: A lot of people watched "60 Minutes" last night. Pretty eager to find out exactly how this raid went down. Not everybody, of course, thrilled about the details being revealed. The Pentagon has threatened legal action against Mark Bissonnette saying the book revealed sensitive and classified information about Navy SEAL operations as well as tactics. Well, Bissonnette's lawyer is disputing it and -- as well as Bissonnette himself.

I'm joined now by retired army general, James "Spider" Marks.

General, first of all, good to see you here. You've read the book?

GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Thank you.

MALVEAUX: Does it reveal anything that should not be revealed?

MARKS: Well, you know, Suzanne, you can't tell primarily because the operation was conducted by the CIA and the Navy SEALs were used under what's known as command-and-control of the CIA and only the CIA has the authority to declassify any aspects of this operation.

Now having read the book, I can tell you these are very familiar what's called TTPs that operators like the SEAL team, the DEVGRU as they're called, or the Delta Force folks, these are very familiar tactics, techniques, and procedures. But it is not the authority of Mark Owen, who is his -- the pseudonym, to declassify anything that he did on this raid. That belongs to the CIA.

MALVEAUX: And he actually says in "The 60 Minutes" interview, he says, "I'm not talking secrets, I'm not talking tactics, I don't even get into any of that stuff, but I really try hard and give the reader a sense of what it's like to be there."

In reading the book, in reading the account and seeing his own account, is that true? Is he telling the truth?

MARKS: Well, what he is telling is a phenomenal story, an account of what happened on that evening, and -- in Pakistan going after bin Laden in his compound. It's just phenomenal. The level of detail, the training that they went through. But he does talk about tactics, techniques, and procedures. When you look about this, different types of insertion techniques, how they approach the target, how they breach different obstacles, so all of that is certainly his details, but the real point is, is that he just doesn't have that -- the issue really comes down he doesn't have the authority to declassify it, and that's the rub. That's the issue that I am certain both CIA and DOD have right now.

MALVEAUX: And what is the impact of this? When you look at this, because you say he doesn't have that authority to declassify. He's written this book, he's told his account. Are people in danger? Are our men and women in uniform and in special ops in danger because of what he has published?

MARKS: Well, specifically for what he did, I would say the short answer is no. However, folks, his buddies, are still out on mission. They are still in harm's way. And to reveal how they train and what they train for, I think, truly is no secret. But when you get into the details of this very specific operation that's the concern. So his buddies are sill in harm's way. He knows that.

And he did his best to try to protect that, but, again, it's not his authority to do that, Suzanne, and that's -- and that's what we're coming down to right now.

MALVEAUX: And he left the Navy in April. He was highly decorated because of this mission here as a commando, so, first of all, how does the Pentagon deal with him? How does the Justice Department deal with him? And how do they make sure that this doesn't happen again?

MARKS: Well, you know, the only way you make sure it doesn't happen again is you establish from top to bottom. You just reinforce regulations that are already in place. You don't have to institute anything new. It just needs to be emphasized by the commanders in the various communities, the SEAL community, the Ranger community, the Delta -- the Army Delta community, et cetera.

The Marines have their own special ops.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

MARKS: The Air Force have their own special ops, and all of those need to be emphasized, and you just say, look, guys, have you to keep your mouth shut. Follow the rules. Keep your mouth shut. Serve honorably, serve quietly, like we are supposed to do. Let history sort all this out. Don't you contribute.

MALVEAUX: Is it possible, General, last question here, that they could use him as an example, that the Justice Department and the military could go after him pretty hard to show his colleagues that this is not the right way to go?

MARKS: Well, it could, and I don't think, you know, when I look back on all this and I don't know -- I'm not stating a fact, but I don't know in the past if anyone has suffered through the nondisclosure -- you know, enforcement of a nondisclosure agreement, Suzanne, so the short answer is, yes, they might.

On -- in this particular case, the death of Osama bin Laden, I would imagine that this would be a very difficult road to walk down to prosecute this patriot.

MALVEAUX: All right. General Spider Marks, thank you. Good to see you.

MARKS: Thank you.

MALVEAUX: Medicare, one of the most important issues for seniors this election. So what are the differences in the Obama and Romney plans to actually fix it? We're going to break that down for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Get ready for 57 days, plenty of noise, spin, in the homestretch to the election, especially on the big issues. We're going to lay out where the candidates stand on those issues in the next few weeks.

Today, Christine Romans is looking at one of the hottest of the hot- button issues. That, of course, entitlements.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Entitlements have been political since the birth of Social Security in 1935.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This Social Security measure --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: And 30 years later, Medicare.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: President Johnson signed the bill make it the law of the land. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: And now both may look different depending on whom you elect November 6th.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My plans already extended Medicare by nearly a decade. Their plan ends Medicare as we know it.

MITT ROMNEY, (R), FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We will preserve and protect Medicare and Social Security and keep them there for future generations.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS (on camera): President Obama says he has strengthened Medicare and Social Security over the last four years and says Medicare will now be solvent until 2024 because of his reforms. He says he has cut seniors' drug bills, saving seniors an average of $600 to $700. He gave seniors with the highest prescription costs a $250 check to fill the so-called donut hole. His signature health reform pays for preventive care for seniors as well. He has squeezed $617 billion out of Medicare by cutting waste and fraud and ending some payments to insurers. Now, Republicans call these "cuts to seniors." Obama aides say seniors will not feel them. And some GOP plans, by the way, include the same cuts. Now, the president wants to expand the power of a new 15-person independent payment advisory board to slow Medicare costs.

On Social Security for the nine out of 10 seniors getting checks, nothing changes. He does not want to privatize Social Security, but keep it fully a government program. He wants to make it easier for working Americans to save for their retirement through their 401Ks and IRAs.

ROMNEY: Thank you.

MALVEAUX: Now to the GOP ticket. Mitt Romney has promised repeal Obama care. If he does, prescription costs and preventive care are expected to cost more for seniors. Democrats, including Vice President Joe Biden and former President Bill Clinton, they claim that Medicare will be broke by 2016 if Romney repeals the Affordable Care Act.

A CNN fact check: A repeal of Obama care may worsen Medicare's financial situation and make it insolvent, indeed, as early as 2016. But experts say Romney's Medicare plans probably wouldn't be in place in time to bankrupt Medicare by 2016. And, of course, there's the uncertainty that you'll never really of know the affect of a plan until it's in place.

Now, Romney wants to privatize Medicare, allowing seniors to buy their own insurance using a voucher to buy insurance or use traditional Medicare. As for Social Security, in the past Romney and Ryan have each supported privatizing or creating private accounts for Social Security. Neither has said much about that lately. For future beneficiaries, Romney said he would slowly raise the retirement age and lower the growth of benefits for those with higher incomes. The president, by the way, to keep Social Security solvent, has not ruled that out either.

ROMANS (voice-over): the number of older Americans is expected to almost double by the year 2033. Changes are inevitable.

DAVID WALKER, FORMER U.S. COMPTROLLER GENERAL: Medicare and Social Security must be reformed, and the sooner the better.

ROMANS: Politics aside, keeping entitlements solvent means three things.

JEANNE SAHADI, SENIOR WRITER, CNNMONEY: They're either going to have to ask people to pay more, have to ask people to accept less in benefits, or they're going to have to do some combination of the two.

ROMANS: Christine Romans, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Tomorrow, we're going to take an in-death look at Wall Street reform. It all comes down to regulations. We'll break it down, what President Obama and Mitt Romney say should be done.

She's known for giving hard-hitting financial advice, and for TV host, Suze Orman, a family tragedy highlighted a lesson in personal investment. She's joining us live, next, to share her experience.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Suze Orman has written six consecutive "News York Times" best sellers on personal finance and has been ranked as the number-one of the busiest motivational speakers on the circuit. She began working her career as waitress at the Buttercup Bakery before she started her own business in the 1980s. And she's the host of "The Suze Orman Show" on CNBC. She's joining us now.

Suze, it is wonderful to see you. Thank you, as always, for being with us.

SUZE ORMAN, HOST, THE SUZE ORMAN SHOW: Hey, Suzanne, but it's nine. It's nine "New York Times" consecutive best sellers.

MALVEAUX: Oh, my gosh, nine. I got to give you your props.

ORMAN: Don't cheat me out of -- don't cheat me out of those last three.

(LAUGHTER)

MALVEAUX: I got it give you your props. Nine. That's amazing. You wrote something very touching and very loving about your mom, Ann, who had just passed away last week. And obviously, our condolences to you. You talked about her and her life from working as a secretary and selling Avon to help ends meet. And then I understand she was 97 years old, and you write a little bit about a lesson that you learned, a financial lesson as well, if you will, from that experience, a teachable moment. Can you talk a little bit about that?

ORMAN: Yes. Here it is. Let's go back a few years now to 1981 when I was my first year really first full year as a financial advisor working at Merrill Lynch at the time, and my father had just died. My mother was 66 years of age. At that time, only five years older than I am right now, Suzanne. So I go to my mom. I said, mom, I am telling you, I want to buy you a long-term care insurance policy. It will cost us $4,000 a year. I can afford that. Mom, I filled it out. Just sign here. We'll be fine. She said, nope, Suze, I'm never going to need that. I said, mom, you don't understand. Women can live into their 90s. And if something happens, this will really save us a lot of money. Seven times, Suzanne, seven times I filled out that paperwork for her. Seven times I sent it to her for her to sign, and every time, she said I'm never going to get old, I'm never going to need it, and refused.

Here's the bottom line. For seven and a half years now she's been in an independent living facility, or was, I should say, at Pompano Beach, Florida. And I've had full-time care around the clock for her.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

ORMAN: -- which is why she was able to stay there. It has cost me anywhere from $20,000 to $30,000 a month for the past seven and a half years, so averaging about $25,000 a month to keep her the way she should have been kept, with respect and dignity. If she had simply signed that paperwork, it would have saved me over $1 million.

MALVEAUX: So a lesson certainly for everybody else who might be in a situation like that. You say, obviously, women live longer than men, and women often have the role of primary care givers. What should women do to be prepared to prepare themselves for retirement?

ORMAN: Well, what you do to prepare yourself for retirement is, number one, if you can afford it, not only today, but all the way until you're 85, which is the average age of entry into a nursing home, please look into long-term care insurance. It is vitally important.

But besides long-term care insurance, ladies, each and every one of you not only needs a will -- fine, who cares about that -- you need a living revocable trust with an incapacity clause in it. If something happens to you, who is going -- forget dying. Let's say you have a stroke. You're incapacitated. Who is going to pay your bills? Who is going to write your checks for you? A power of attorney becomes void the day there's an incapacity. So you want a living revocable trust with an incapacity clause in it so that somebody can sign for you right away. You want to own your home outright. You don't want to have many bills. You want to know that you could be self- sufficient. Because I got news, I think your baby boomer children that you thought maybe would be able to take care of you, they lost their jobs. They don't have any money. So, women, you have to know how to save yourselves.

MALVEAUX: Suze, I want you to stay with us, please.

We have to take a short break, but I want to talk as well about some of the things that we should be doing and also talk a little bit politics. The presidential candidates, they're making a lot of promises, and whether or not you think they're going to be able to fulfill them. Up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Best selling author, host of her own show on CNBC, Suze Orman, back with us now.

You're known for not pulling any punches here, when it comes to financial advice. We're going to put you on the spot a little bit. We've seen both the Republican and the Democratic conventions. Just wrapped those up. I want you to weigh in, if you can, starting with Mitt Romney. He is pledging to create some 12 million jobs in four years, if he is elected president. Does it seem like that's something if you look at your finances and what you need to do is something realistic when we look at him?

ORMAN: I don't think it's realistic. It's kind of like a football coach saying I'm going to win that season. I'm going to win the super bowl. All anybody can say what they're going to do. I think it's actually more important to look at what somebody has already done, and so I'm not so much into I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that, especially in a situation where things are seriously bad. We don't know what's going to happen in Europe. We don't know what China is going to do. Everything will affect that. I do know, however -- and I can tell you this because nobody sees more personal financial statements of people than I do. I see thousands of them. That's what my life is al about. Not the economy, but how are people fairing personally in this economy, and the truth is they are better off today than they were in 2008. Unemployment is essentially where it was when President Obama took office. You know, he took office in January -- on January 20th, 2009, and so we're probably going to be at a lower unemployment rate next -- in November this next go around than when he took office, so things are getting better. They're going in the right direction. He is creating -- he is not saying he is just going to create jobs. He has created jobs, and so I have to give it to President Obama on that one.

MALVEAUX: And he says President Obama says that he wants to se about a million new manufacturing jobs.

ORMAN: More than being an economist, please. Remember, I'm a personal finance expert. So when it comes to housing, are people doing better? Oh, you bet they are. Here's where they're really doing better. In their 401K plan, my god, these people are up considerably from where they were in 2008, 2009, so when they see that they have more money in their retirement accounts, they feel better. When they feel better, they spend more money. When they spend more money, it helps the economy. So the greatest thing that's happened in these past four years is where the stock market currently is today.

MALVEAUX: So, Suze, put on your hat and give us some advice here. What is the most important thing we need to do?

ORMAN: I think -- as an individual or with an election?

MALVEAUX: As an individual.

ORMAN: Here's what I would say to everybody. I don't really care about what the governments are telling you. Can they fix it? Can they solve it? Nobody is going to know. Don't count on the government to save you. Don't count on any particular administration to save you. This is you. Don't count on a particular administration to save you.

This is the time that you have to save yourself. So you have to get out of debt. You have to make sure you have the paperwork in place today to protect your tomorrows. You should be funding your retirement accounts to the max. You should make sure that you're absolutely up to date, students, on your student loans. The biggest mistake you will make is to let your student loans go into default or deferment. Do whoever you can to take care of yourselves and don't count on anybody else to save you. That's what Ms. Orman will tell you.

MALVEAUX: All right.

Suze, good to see you as always. People are listening and watching. Thanks again. Good to see you.

ORMAN: Thanks, girlfriend.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

Weekend football games saw several hard helmet-to-helmet hits. This is what we're talking about here. Very dangerous stuff. One college player fractured his spine when he had a collision with his teammate. We'll talk to Elizabeth Cohen about the dramatic efforts that are now being taken for Devon Walker.

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MALVEAUX: If you watched football, you might have seen a couple of really ugly helmet to helmet hits. Trent Richardson was making his debut with the Cleveland Browns on Sunday and he made a hit to Eagles Safety Kurt Coleman who was going to tackle him. He hit him so hard that Coleman's helmet flew off and then -- take a look at this. This is Tulane's Devon Walker. Fractured his spine on Sunday after a head- on collision with a teammate.

I want to bring in Elizabeth Cohen to talk a little bit about Walker's condition.

When you see this stuff, your heart goes out. And you're worried that it could be very serious.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: And this could be very serious. He actually had a three-hour surgery yesterday and he's still in intensive care and will be there for several more days. And he's got a swollen neck. He's in traction. We don't know where exactly the hit was. But I want to show you an image that will help explain. It's a cervical fracture, which means a fracture in his neck, in that blue area. If it's higher up, that's worse. We didn't know where it is along his neck.

MALVEAUX: Do we have a sense of whether or not he would be paralyzed? Do they know that yet?

COHEN: Neurosurgeons said there's a chance he will be paralyzed. There's also a chance that he'll be up and walking in a couple of months. A lot depends on the location of that injury. And we don't have that piece of information right now.

MALVEAUX: Talk a little bit this because we've covered this. It seems like we've been covering this. But these head to head collisions, and these are the kinds of things that players are taught to avoid, and yet we see this.

COHEN: They're taught to avoid sort of putting the head down and ramming into one another. But that's not what happened to him over the weekend. When you see this video you can see they're kind of, the players like falling over one another, and falling into a pile. It's hard to put your head in the exact right position when you're falling down. So he didn't disobey any advice here. It's just the nature of the game. Players fall on top of one another.

MALVEAUX: It looks like it's all very serious.

COHEN: It does. Hopefully, he will walk again. But when you have an injury in the neck, there is always the distinct possibility of paralysis.

MALVEAUX: There are recommendations obviously to try to avoid the worst. Does it look like there are real changes that are being made in.

COHEN: It's really hard to say because if they had been tackling each other head on, we would say, wow, they're not supposed to do that. But this is, again, just them sort of falling into one another. I think that must be very hard to train someone. This is football. It's very hard to train someone, hey, try not to fall on top of other players and butt your head against them. I'm not -- I don't know much about football at all, but I don't know how you would train someone not to do that.

MALVEAUX: Then we'll just wish him the very best and hope that they -- that there is good news out of all of this.

(CROSSTALK)

MALVEAUX: -- lessons learned. All right. Elizabeth, thank you so much.

COHEN: Thanks.

MALVEAUX: We really appreciate it.

A California family planning to sue American Airlines. Joan and Robert Vanderhorst say they were not allowed to board their flight from Newark to Los Angles because of their 16-year-old son who has Down syndrome.

Kyung Lah shows shy this family thinks this was a case of discrimination.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERT VANDERHORST, FATHER OF BEDE: The chicken has wings?

BEDE VANDERHORST, HAS DOWN SYNDROME & DENIED FLIGHT: Wings.

ROBERT VANDERHORST: A beak?

BEDE VANDERHORST: Beak.

ROBERT VANDERHORST: He has feathers.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His parents and his pets.

(INAUDIBLE)

LAH: 16-year-old Bede's world, a world limited by Down syndrome. Last Sunday, an airline added a new restriction, barring him from a flight for which he was ticketed.

JOAN, MOTHER OF BEDE: He was just walking around. And waiting like any other kid would be.

LAH: His mother, Joan Vanderhorst, says she was stunned as the gate attendant approached her. She captured the encounter on her phone. The pilot, they were told, decided her son, sitting quietly at the gate in this video clip, was an in-flight risk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(INAUDIBLE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH (on camera): Why were you crying?

JOAN VANDERHORST: Because of the blatant discrimination that was shown to us and the lack of justice and the lack of fairness of the whole situation.

LAH: Bede had flown with his parents two dozen times before. What was different this time -- they upgraded their tickets to first class. JOAN VANDERHORST: If he was a security risk, I would have made that determination. I wouldn't have put him in that position in the first place. I'm not an incompetent tent, ignorant person expecting other people to risk their lives.

LAH: In a statement, American Airlines says Bede was, quote, agitated and running around the gate area." "We made the decision to have the family rebooked on a different flight out of concern for the young man's safety and the safety of others."

Bede's parents call the statement a blatant lie and corporate cover for their pilot.

(CROSSTALK)

LAH: Bede seemed unaware of the controversy sparked by the pilot's decision.

ROBERT VANDERHORST: If he makes that decision based on my son's appearance, then he can make that decision based on that person being gay, that person being a Muslim, that person being a Jew.

LAH (on camera): The family was eventually booked on another airline out of Newark back to Los Angeles. United Airlines flew them back, but in coach, all the way in the back of the plane so that they could, quote, "have additional space and privacy."

Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: CNN NEWSROOM continues with Martin Savidge, in for Brooke Baldwin.

Hey, Martin.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Suzanne. Thanks very much.