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Home Prices Rising?; Romney Losing Ground in Ohio; Immigration Debate; Syria Situation Update
Aired September 26, 2012 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And here we go, top of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
We begin with the race for president, goes to Ohio today, and Mitt Romney losing major ground there, at least according to some of these new polls.
Before we go there, I got to talk about one problem that both candidates agree the world is running out of time to fix.
But let's turn to the United Nations General Assembly, where the much anticipated speech by Iran's outgoing president was overshadowed by the man in the Middle East, Egypt's presidential Mohammed Morsi. Listen to how he introduced himself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMMED MORSI, EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I am the first Egyptian civilian president elected democratically and freely, following a great peaceful revolution hailed by the entire world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Let's go Richard Roth, covers the U.N. for us.
Richard, listening to the speech, it sounds like he's really stepping it up, ready to be this world leader, world negotiator. Is that fair that he's made the move from Muslim Brotherhood to world leader?
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think he's still both things. The leader of Egypt decades ago, Nasser and others, they had a prominent place when it came to the Middle East.
And there has been this vacuum ever since. President Mubarak had never even been here at the U.N. I think in the last 15 years and certainly played a much quieter role on the global stage in the Middle East. This is a big, impressive debut here on the stage I think many agree for Morsi.
Flexing his muscles, he is still Muslim Brotherhood back home. He was willing of course to be a global leader. He said to the General Assembly, I will adhere to all previous international treaties and agreements, such as the Camp David accords with Israel and things like that.
BALDWIN: Richard, here's what he said about the Palestinians.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MORSI (through translator): Just as you have supported the revolutions of the Arab peoples, I call upon you to lend your support to the Palestinians in their endeavor to regain the full and the legitimate rights of a people struggling to gain freedom and establish its independent state.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: What message is he sending to Israel?
ROTH: You know, he's going to be all things to all people, but he's keeping the agreements with Israel.
But he did tell this General Assembly the Palestinian issue is the number one thing for the world, he's saying. And, of course, we have had big changes elsewhere in the region. Palestinians still in that same situation, no matter which side you may be on. He complained about settlements made by Israel.
Tomorrow here at the U.N., President Abbas of the Palestinians may announce that the Palestinians want non-observer state status here at the U.N., a little bit of a step down from last year's full statehood that they want. But that's still significant. The General Assembly does not have any vetoes to block that action like the Security Council.
BALDWIN: Let's turn to Iran, to, as always, as we have talked about the much anticipated Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speech, not quite as fiery and bombastic as some like to look forward to. Nine months in office he has left. But here is what he had to say about Israel today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Continuing threats by the uncivilized Zionists to resort to military action against our great nation is a clear example of this bitter reality.
A state of mistrust has cast its shadow on the international relations whilst there is no trust or just authority to help resolve world conflicts. No one feels secure or safe, even those who have stockpiled thousands of atomic bombs and other arms in their arsenals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Now, that was bombastic, uncivilized Zionists, as far as pretty far in his speech here to the U.N. General Assembly.
We should point out also, Richard, the U.S. delegation walked out beforehand. In fact, we have the video here. Here, it is clearly empty seats. Did Ahmadinejad say anything that you hadn't heard before?
ROTH: Not really.
He did call for an independent fact-finding panel I think on the killing of Osama bin Laden, maybe 9/11. I know he's said many more inflammatory comments about 9/11 and conspiracy theories in earlier years. And that's what usually prompted the walkout. Canada joined the U.S. in boycotting, but some tables were empty, but this was nowhere near as, as you used the word bombastic, in what is Ahmadinejad's final planned appearance at the United Nations General Assembly.
For his final act here, it was sort of a quiet farewell near Broadway here, but the real show is that nuclear program of Iran. The Western countries, inspectors want to know really what is going on there.
BALDWIN: Richard Roth at the United Nations, thank you, Richard.
Speaking of a nuclear Iran, of all the voices you hear warning against that, few have been as loud as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He's been relentless in drawing attention to this very particular issue. But there are other voices coming out of Israel that might surprise you, Israelis who claim their country enjoys a double standard when it comes to nuclear weapons.
With, here's Sara Sidner reporting from Tel Aviv.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The prospect of Iran and the bomb is concern number one for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
His recent U.S. media blitz firmly planted the issue in the U.S. presidential election. Even a new political ad by an American interest group now running in Florida uses this Netanyahu speech as its centerpiece.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: The fact is that every day that passes, Iran gets closer and closer to nuclear bombs. The world tells Israel, wait, there is still time. And I say, wait for what? Wait until when?
NARRATOR: The world needs American strength, not apologies.
SIDNER: While Netanyahu jabs at the U.S. and the rest of the world for not doing enough to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, Iran complains that the world has allowed Israel's secret nuclear program to go unchecked and unchallenged.
Anti-war activists in Israel say their nation is employing a double standard when it comes to nuclear policy and that Israel's refusal to hold disarmament talks with its neighbors is a barrier to peace.
SHARON DOLEV, ISRAELI DISARMAMENT MOVEMENT: We have something that they can't have. Israel is a country that has nuclear weapons and says no to peace initiatives. I think that might seem as threatening to others. SIDNER: Israeli political scientist Gerald Steinberg disagrees.
GERALD STEINBERG, POLITICAL SCIENTIST: There is no testing. There is nothing there to say this is a threat to the other countries in the region.
Iran is exactly the opposite. Israel has defined itself as an exception and is recognized around the world as an exception. It is literally a small country surrounded by enemies that could be overrun in a few hours.
SIDNER (on camera): So what are some of the contrasts between Iran and Israel's nuclear programs? Iran says its program is solely for peaceful purposes and denies trying to create a bomb. Israel will neither confirm nor deny whether it has nuclear weapons.
(voice-over): Iran allows inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, but has denied the IAEA access to its Parchin military site where the agency believes Iran is developing nuclear triggers.
Israel has never allowed the IAEA to inspect its nuclear facility in the Negev desert. That facility near a town called Dimona came under suspicion nearly 25 years ago, when a nuclear technician there leaked photos and inside information to "The Sunday Times."
That information prompted analysts back then to estimate Israel had already amassed 200 nuclear warheads. Iran has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but has been censured for failing to curb its uranium enrichment. Israel for its part has refused to sign the treaty. Israel's leaders say one of the most glaring differences between Israel and Iran on the nuclear issue is the language their leaders use.
NETANYAHU: We don't call for anyone's annihilation. We don't foster terrorism. We don't threaten to obliterate countries with nuclear weapons, but we are threatened with al these threats.
SIDNER: Iran has never threatened nuclear annihilation. In an interview with CNN's Piers Morgan, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave a measured answer when asked about the threat of a strike by Israel.
AHMADINEJAD (through translator): The response of Iran is quite clear. I don't even need to explain that. Any question and any nation has the right and will indeed defend herself.
SIDNER: But this month, the general who heads Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps took it a step further. He said if Israel attacks Iran -- quote -- "there will be nothing left of Israel."
The war of words is creating fear of a regional conflict. In Israel, people are getting their gas masks and learning how to use them, preparing for the worst.
Sara Sidner, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Sara Sidner, thank you.
And a lot more news happening this hour, like this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: A stunning new poll shows that President Obama is leading Mitt Romney by 10 points in Ohio. Republican insiders tell us why. I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.
(voice-over): Home prices may be going up, but the buyers aren't who you think.
Plus, we have seen the studies, we have heard the rumors, but Dr. Sanjay Gupta reveals the truths about the hazards of cell phones.
Plus:
BILL NEELY, ITN REPORTER: The meat hook was there. They said rebels tortured and hanged people here.
BALDWIN: This scene inside a Syrian town where the killings don't stop.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Today's huge political news, Mitt Romney is losing Ohio by 10 points now, 10 points, says this brand-new poll. This is "The New York Times"/CBS News/Quinnipiac University poll, and the precise question posed was this. If the election were held today, for whom would you vote? You see the numbers; 53 percent answered Barack Obama, 43 percent Mitt Romney, a 10-point spread in crucial Ohio.
Obama is also beating Romney double digits on national security, on health care, on taxes, crisis management and overall foreign policy. Double-digit leads in all of those areas in Ohio in that poll just released today.
One of our go-to guys, Peter Hamby, joins me now from Washington. He's our -- one of our CNN political reporters.
Peter Hamby, just give it to us bluntly. How bad is this particular poll for Mitt Romney?
PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is very, very bad, Brooke, and one number you didn't mention there, Obama holds a 25- point lead among women, which is one of the biggest gender gap we have seen in any poll between the two this cycle.
Ohio is the linchpin of any White House strategy, especially for Republicans, who have never won the White House without Ohio. Romney can still do it, although the needle he's threading becomes very, very thin if he does lose Ohio. The question the political people are asking today is this lead actually 10 points or is it closer to what we have seen in previous polls, which is seven, six, five, four, perhaps, point lead for Barack Obama.
A lot of Republicans are criticizing some of these polls, saying the GOP is undersampled, Democrats are being oversampled. But, look, if you talk to any Republican in Ohio, they will admit to you that they are losing the state. They just say -- they just point out they think they're losing just by four points and they're still in the hunt rather than 10 points.
A 10-point lead is bad also from a media narrative perspective. The more we talk about Romney losing badly in Ohio, the more that becomes a perception among voters. The Romney campaign doesn't -- certainly is not happy with this poll out today.
BALDWIN: We're also talking about Romney in Ohio, because that's precisely where he is today, to gain some traction. He was joined this morning by a guy I know many of us will recognize, a really world-class, world-famous athlete, Ohio native who got up there and talked about winning, talked about success. Here is Jack Nicklaus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK NICKLAUS, FORMER PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: When I was competing, I didn't lean on someone else in tough times. I knew what I had to do on the golf course to succeed, and when I won, I certainly didn't apologize for my success.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So, Peter Hamby, I will just play devil's advocate. Look, I love golf. Working on my swing. Who doesn't love Jack Nicklaus? But here you have -- you have Romney, needing middle-class votes in Ohio. How is he helped by a man who has been the face of professional golf, doesn't even live in Ohio anymore?
HAMBY: It is hard to hate on Jack. The guy has 18 Masters.
I mean, look, he said in the speech, you know, this election isn't about wealthy people. It is about the middle class. You want surrogates like this in Ohio. Jack Nicklaus is an Ohio legend, from the Columbus area, and that's where they were campaigning together, and that's a bellwether part of the state.
He went to Ohio State. I mean, my personal preference, I want to see where Bubba Watson and the golf boys are going in this election.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: You want to see Romney with Bubba and not Jack, perhaps.
Peter Hamby, we will continue that offline. Thank you, sir, Peter Hamby for us in Washington.
And now let's talk about this. We will in a minute. Don't miss the first presidential debate, Denver, Colorado. You have Romney vs. Obama. That is one week from tonight, 8:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.
I jumped the gun. I wanted to talk about my cell phone. Pretty much every single one of us has these, it is a necessity. But what about the exposure to radiation? Is it really -- is it really making you sick? Dr. Sanjay Gupta, he will join me to explain what we can do to reduce the exposure next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: There was a passing I do want to note today, a man whose voice touched generations, a voice that Ronald Reagan called a national treasure. This is my go-to Christmas album, Andy Williams, Andy Williams. Who hasn't hummed along to his silky rendition of this tune?
(MUSIC)
BALDWIN: Oh. Andy Williams, he started his career singing with his brothers at the age of 8 and entertained for almost 75 years, 18 gold, three platinum albums, a self-titled variety show and Christmas specials that played on TVs across America, a popular theater in Branson, Missouri. His publicist says Williams died at his home in Branson last night after a yearlong battle with bladder cancer. Andy Williams was 84 years old.
And now to the cell phone radiation debate. Guess what? It's back. The question is, is there too much radiation going into our brains? Could it cause cancer? Here is the deal. It has been 15 years since the FCC set the radiation exposure limit for cell phone use.
Now the U.S. Government Accountability Office wants it updated now.
Our fellow neurosurgeon, Dr. Gupta, brain surgeon here, joining me.
And I have to be honest. When I first heard this, oh, my goodness, here we go again.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Back again.
BALDWIN: Back again. I mean, what's the deal?
GUPTA: In some ways, it never went away. There has been a steady beating of the drum on this issue.
Keep in mind, cell phones have really not been widely used in this country before 1996 or '97. This hasn't been a very longstanding issue. You were like what 2 or 3 years old?
BALDWIN: That's crazy.
Very funny, Sanjay. GUPTA: But even back then, people said, well, look, how much radiation is safe?
And when we're talking about radiation from phones, and I use mine all the time, just full disclosure, it non-ionizing radiation. And terms matter here, because ionizing radiation people know can be dangerous. That's the stuff from X-rays. But the non-ionizing in the doses that we get it, because people use cell phones so much, and because it can cause heat, it can -- you feel these things get hot, it can also change your brain in that it makes the brain in the area of the cell phone actually take up more sugar or glucose.
We know that it can have an impact. So people have been worried about this. The WHO, the World Health Organization, you may remember, weighed in on this and they say we consider cell phones a possible carcinogen, which means they're not shutting the door on this, more study is necessary.
BALDWIN: I was asking you in commercial. I said -- you pulled them out, you said, your headphones. If and when you're on the phone, you really do use them.
GUPTA: I do. And they're not the most attractive thing. But most phones do come with an earpiece. And it is funny, because if you read the pamphlet that came with your phone, most people don't do that, but it says to keep the phone about half an inch away from your ear.
No one does that. Everyone presses the phone...
BALDWIN: Well, apparently, Keisha (ph), my producer, talks on the phone like this, Keisha.
(CROSSTALK)
GUPTA: She read the pamphlet.
BALDWIN: She read the pamphlet.
How can you hear someone? Let's be practical.
GUPTA: Right. But I think it is even a tacit warning that, look, we think that we don't know for sure, but it is probably not safe to hold it directly to your ear. Even pulling it a little bit further back makes it much safer or use an earpiece, like I do.
Let me add one more thing. If you are having a really hard time hearing, what that means is your phone is now working harder to try and establish a signal, sending out greater signal to try and get the cell tower. That's more radiation. Those are going to be particularly dangerous times.
BALDWIN: What about Wi-Fi? What about our tablets? Should we be fearing this as well?
(CROSSTALK)
GUPTA: I think with Wi-Fi, the amount of radiation is a lot less. But some of this has to do with duration of exposure.
A small duration, I don't think anybody is concerned about that. But if a young child is using this throughout their entire life and they're using it for many hours a day, could there be some cumulative effect? Again, I don't think the answer is there yet. But remember a few years ago, the message was don't worry about this, nothing to see here.
And now you're starting to see as I said this drumbeat toward let's not dismiss this so quickly.
BALDWIN: I think it is interesting that you told me also that you're more of a texter. Maybe we're just -- I get sick of talking and I just would prefer talking.
GUPTA: You're a TV person. How could you be sick of...
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: I know, but after 4:00, I'm like done, done.
All right, Sanjay, thank you so much. I appreciate it. It's a lesson learned, headphones for me.
(CROSSTALK)
GUPTA: There you go.
BALDWIN: Now this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEELY: A makeshift scaffold with ropes and a meat hook was there. They said rebels tortured and hanged people here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: A chilling look inside a torture center in Syria. Don't miss this report.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Nearly every day, we give you the death toll of just one single day in Syria.
Today, that grim total is 275. But now there is another number reflecting the death toll since the uprising began 18 months ago, that toll so far, more than 30,000, 30,000. That number comes to us from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and includes civilians and Syrian forces.
And the government regime took a major hit today. Want you to watch the upper part of your screen. You're seeing one of two suicide bombs went off in military facilities in Damascus. Look at that. There was one, injuring, killing dozens. This is according to Syrian state television. Now, the Free Syrian Army has claimed responsibility. And much of Syria's three largest cities are in rubble from the conflict.
Bill Neely of ITV News went along with Syrian forces through the devastation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NEELY (voice-over): In one city, this would be bad enough. In three, it is a disaster.
But this is now the reality in the three main cities of Syria, the regime's troops fighting rebels for control of whole districts. Aleppo is Syria's biggest city and business capital, engulfed now in the business of war.
Aleppo is Syria's biggest city and business capital, engulfed now in the business of war.
The damage is extraordinary. The death toll incalculable. Aleppo is being destroyed to make it safe.
Syrian troops are on the offensive in the country's third city, Homs, recapturing many areas from what they say are foreign fighters and extremist Muslims, rebels, they say, directly armed by Arab states.
In one district they took, they showed us what they said was an abandoned rebel headquarters, bags with Saudi Arabian markings scattered around.
A makeshift scaffold with ropes and a meat hook was there. They said rebels tortured and hanged people here. We have no way of proving this.
The U.N. mostly accuses the regime of mass torture, but says rebels are guilty of human rights abuses, too.
But it's clear this is a dirty war. Here in Homs and in every city, no one is safe, no faith is spared, Christian churches and Muslim mosques, a battleground.
But one man is an optimist, the new governor of Homs, Syria's third city.
These rebels, he says, will be beaten and we'll win the war in Homs in one month.
One month, that seems very optimistic.
One month, he insists, but Britain and America should stop supporting terrorists. They are his masters words.
Throughout the interview explosions echo across the city.
Explosions, too, in Syria's capital city today, one at a military base, bombs smuggled inside and detonated by rebels. Here, too, troops crack down on restive areas with brute force.
Three cities, one war, tens of thousands dead.
And at the United Nations, complete failure to stop it.
Bill Neely, iTV News, Homs.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROOKE BALDWIN, ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": Back here at home, President Obama and his challenger, both hitting the trail, both in Ohio, a state both of these campaigns, of course, would love to have.
But for Mitt Romney, new polls out today suggest it is not looking good. Find out what's behind this widening gap.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: I would like to take a step back from the newsroom reporting today, this 10-point lead for President Obama in the crucial state of Ohio, 10 points over Mitt Romney in this poll. This is "New York Times"-CBS News-Quinnipiac University, but that is one poll, uno, one.
So, we've asked our political editor, Paul Steinhauser, to show us exactly how this poll really changes our CNN average of all of the relevant polls. We call it our Poll of Polls.
And, Paul Steinhauser, I understand you are looking at with other states, as well. Walk me through what you're seeing, if you would.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: I sure would. A lot of numbers here. We're going to get through them. There'll be a quiz on the other side ...
BALDWIN: Hit me.
STEINHAUSER: ... so pay attention. Here, we go.
OK, Ohio, you mentioned the Quinnipiac-CBS-"New York Times" poll. It's just one of four over the past two weeks. You put them all together. These are live-operator, nonpartisan polls. You average them together. Here's is what you get, the president with a seven- point advantage in Ohio.
Let's go next to Florida, another crucial battleground state, 29 electoral votes there, same thing there. We've got five polls over the past week-and-a-half, average them together, the president at 50 percent among likely voters, Romney at 45 percent.
Go to Pennsylvania, another big state, 20 electoral votes at stake there. We've got five polls over the past two-and-a-half weeks. You average them all together, 51 percent to 41 percent, the president over Mitt Romney among likely voters, Brooke.
BALDWIN: OK. Seven points, five points, 10 points, I do pay attention to you, Paul Steinhauser. Let's move on. What is behind the rise in Obama's numbers and then, you know, conversely, the drop in Romney's?
STEINHAUSER: Yeah because those are just the top line numbers, so here's the story behind the story, the number behind the numbers.
Listen, Mitt Romney's, I guess you could say, tough week last week with those controversial 47 percent comments from those hidden camera, fundraiser comments, that may be playing into it.
But, Brooke, I think more of this is about the economy. Polls in these states and nationwide are indicating people are starting to get a little more optimistic about the economy.
And look at this. Who would do a better job of the economy? This is from those Quinnipiac-"New York Times"-CBS polls you showed. Look at that. The president now with a slight advantage in all three of their states.
It was a different story, that Mitt Romney used to have the advantage on the economy, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Now, back to the Ohio/Florida scenario. Because, right now, CNN sees Obama very likely to win at least 237 electoral votes, come election day.
Were he to also win, Paul, Ohio and Florida, that would mean reelection for the president without having to win any of the other seven, tossup states. He would have the total 284. The magic number is 270.
Of course, there is no guarantee he wins both of those states or either state for that matter, but you see where I'm going.
STEINHAUSER: I see where you're going and you're absolutely right. The poll numbers right now, the poll numbers we're looking at give, definitely give the advantage to the president. It makes Mitt Romney's pathway to 270 much tougher.
But take a listen to this. This is Rich Beeson, the political director for Mitt Romney. He doesn't see it that way. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICH BEESON, ROMNEY CAMPAIGN ADVISER: They're sort of spiking the ball at the 30-yardline now. Look, Ohio, there's still 42 days to go.
We're in the, by any stretch, inside the margin of error in Ohio and the Obama campaign is going to have some problems there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: He's looking at different numbers. He's looking at their internal poll numbers that their campaign is doing.
Brooke, he does raise a good point, though. We still have just under six weeks to go and we've got four debates, the presidential and one vice presidential. The needle could move, no doubt about it, between now and election day, Brooke.
BALDWIN: It's exciting. We'll see you in Denver, Paul Steinhauser. Thank you so much.
And, now, to really the segment of the economy, speaking of what so many of us care about. The economy hits most of us right where we live. That is housing.
Today, we learned builders sold slightly fewer homes in August than they did the previous month, but new home sales were well up from one year ago.
And builders sold those homes for a lot more money. One reason for the jump in prices, you ask? Tight supply. There were fewer new homes on the market than there were last year.
The new homes report is the latest sign of improvement in real estate, but builders will have to sell homes at double the current rate to hit a level that signals a healthy housing market.
Remember pepper-spray cop? This guy made one hot man after pepper- spraying Occupy protesters at the University of California-Davis last November. It is turning out to be a very expensive way to break up a peaceful protest.
Under a proposed settlement revealed today, the university will pay $30,000 to each of those 21 students and alumni pepper-sprayed by campus police.
The school will also pay the protesters' attorney fees, a quarter million dollars. A federal judge will have to approve the settlement before anyone gets a check.
Firebombs, tear gas, Molotov cocktails, folks in Spain and Greece protesting cuts to retirement and paychecks as they the chaos flares there, find out what lessons we the United States could learn from this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Go with me here with this. Let's say you need a haircut. You walk into a hair salon. Your hairdresser said you suddenly have to pay 20 percent sales tax, just new government rules.
Also, let's say your paycheck is suddenly shrinking and your 401(k), the government chopped that in half, all of that to pay off your country's trillion dollar credit card bill.
Folks in Spain and Greece, that's happening. Look at these crowds. This is about a lot more than haircuts. The government, proposing huge spending cuts in tax hikes to try to avoid a bailout.
First, Greece, protesters throwing firebombs and Molotov cocktails today and unions went on strike to protest shrinking paychecks and rising retirement ages.
Here's the catch. The U.S. is facing similar tough choices. We racked up more than a trillion dollars in debt this year. Right now, Europe is taking action. The U.S. is frozen, punting the fiscal football until after the election.
Let's bring in Jim Boulden from London. And, Jim, you know, I know you've been covering Europe's financial crisis. It's not just about math. This is about people, their futures, their lives. What are the lessons that the U.S. can learn here?
JIM BOULDEN, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: The lesson any country can learn really is to do the budget cuts, if you're going to do them while you're not in recession, while the markets aren't forcing you to do it.
And what Spain and Greece are doing is trying to cut the budget deficit with 25 percent unemployment and doing it while their bond yields are too high to really be able to dip into the market, especially for Greece.
And, so, these countries have been forced to do this by the markets, Brooke, not by politicians. Their hand has been forced and now they're telling their people on the streets that they've got to be the ones that suffer the most.
Ironically, of course, the U.S. treasuries have benefitted from all the European upheaval, so it's made it easier for the U.S. not to have to make the tough choices at this moment.
But any country trying to cut the budget deficits, it's harder to do while that country is in a recession. It actually makes the recession worse, which makes it -- means there has to be more cuts in order to meet the deficit targets. It's nearly impossible to see how these countries can do that.
BALDWIN: So, you point out, you know, the unemployment rate, 25 percent in Spain. I'm just running down more numbers. Fifty-four percent of Greeks under age 25 are unemployed.
You know, are major spending cuts, raising retirement age here to 67, will that work for Spain and Greece?
BOULDEN: Well, over time it should work because what you have here, of course, is you've got people who have had very generous pension benefits, very generous benefits because of all of the upheaval these countries went through over the last 30, 40 years.
And, so, these people who have worked through the dictatorships, people that worked through the right-wing governments that there, then the whole thing's collapsed and then they had some social safety nets put into place to help those people, the question for them is why are you giving this kind of trouble now?
Younger generations, have to say, Brooke, when I talk to them on streets in places like Athens, they understand that this has got to happen. It's just the older generations that don't want it to happen to them because they've been through so much themselves.
And so that makes it a generational divide, as well. That might sound like something in the U.S., as well. The difference is, U.S. economy, of course, much more dynamic. People can move to where the jobs are and, obviously, the unemployment rate is nowhere near what you're seeing in these countries.
BALDWIN: And I can just hear, you know, the viewers thought bubbles here in the U.S. because, you know, OK, it's horrible that people in Greece and Spain have had unemployment numbers, et cetera, but they're thinking, so how does this affect me, right? How might this affect my 401(k) here in New York, L.A., Atlanta?
BOULDEN: If we get to the situation where the euro is not sustainable and I think we would be a long way from that happening. There's a lot of worries about that, weren't there, sort of in June and July?
If it got to a situation where Greece said, no more, we can't do anymore and their money is cut off by the IMF and the European Union, then you have a destabilization in the market, something like Lehman Brothers in 2008.
So, that's what people have to say. Could something happen like that? I'm not saying we're getting there. But could something like that happen? It will affect the world economy just as much as Lehman Brothers. That's what analysts will certainly tell you.
BALDWIN: We have just passed the year, a couple of years after that. Jim Boulden, thank you so much. Don't want to go back there at all. Jim Boulden for us in London.
Now, to illegal immigration, one of -- clearly, a hot topic dividing Mitt Romney and Barack Obama and the election. What should America do with millions of undocumented immigrants living, studying, working here?
We're going to take a closer look at the candidates' competing plans, next.
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BALDWIN: You might hear a lot of spin on the campaign trail when it comes to immigration and undocumented workers and, so, CNN is helping you figure out where President Obama and Mitt Romney really stand and how they plan to tackle immigration challenges.
Casey Wian looked at illegal immigration, both through the eyes of a sheriff on one side and a student on the other.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASEY WAIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Angelica Hernandez was nine when she first crossed the border.
ANGELICA HERNANDEZ, UNDOCUMENTED STUDENT: I still remember crossing the desert, having to sleep in the desert because it was getting too late and we had been walking for hours and my mom would hold my sister in one arm and me on the other arm. And, you know, just prayed that nothing would happen.
WIAN: But their human smuggler was pulled over for speeding and they were deported. Their second crossing succeeded.
Entering school as a fourth grader, Hernandez was teased because she spoke no English.
Pinal County, Arizona, Sheriff Paul Babeu has spent much of his military and law enforcement career battling human smugglers. Deputies in his county 70 miles north of the border, last year, engaged in 350 high-speed pursuits involving drug and human smugglers.
SHERIFF PAUL BABEU, PINAL COUNTY, ARIZONA: They look at these people, these humans, as product. They don't care about their safety. They'll leave them for dead. They get in a wreck and just walk away.
WIAN: Babeu strongly supports Arizona laws cracking down on illegal immigration.
BABEU: The impact has been so tremendous, not only billions of dollars in impact to our budget, but the crimes that are associated, many crimes committed against the illegals themselves.
WIAN: The sheriff and the student, one trying to enforce the law, the other trying to stay a step ahead of it.
Angelica Hernandez, the little girl who couldn't speak I think English, this week begins work on her masters at Stanford.
Hernandez graduated from Arizona State despite losing a scholarship twice because of Arizona laws restricting benefits for illegal immigrants.
HERNANDEZ: Being undocumented, it's something that gives you so many different qualities and strengthens you because you learn to overcome so many things.
WIAN: Now, she's filling out paperwork to apply for President Obama's deferred action program giving temporary legal status to young illegal immigrants.
HERNANDEZ: It is an election year. So, we don't know if he did it because of that or, you know, he's trying to get the Latino vote, but in the end, we knew it was a win for us.
WIAN: Not for Babeu who sees it as an unenforceable federal mandate and another lure bringing hundreds of thousands of people through his county illegally.
BABEU: President Obama wants to talk about what do we do with these 10 to 20 million people. Well, a lot of Americans including myself say, before we have that discussion, let's secure the border.
We as a country have not enforced the law and because of that we're at the situation we're at today.
WIAN: Hernandez is ineligible for a driver's license in Arizona. On this day, she's going to have her photo taken for her deferred action application, essentially breaking the law to become legal.
She worries Mitt Romney would end the deferred action program, leaving her ineligible for the job she wants in alternative energy when she finishes grad school.
Babeu worries President Obama will legalize more illegal immigrants and keep his deputies busy chasing smugglers.
CNN, Casey Wian, Pinal County, Arizona.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Casey, thank you.
Here's a staggering number. Three-hundred-one million, as in trees, gone. Yep, 300 million trees killed in one single year in a single state.
What caused this? And could there be other states who could be impacted as well? Chad Myers has the answers next.
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BALDWIN: Texas. Texas lost hundreds of millions of trees in a single year. What happened?
Chad Myers here looking at this. Talking about the -- I mean, looking at the pictures you can tell. You've talked about this so much, the drought.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The cracks in the ground gobbled them up. Not literally, but ...
BALDWIN: What happened, really?
MYERS: We had not one square mile of Texas that was not in some type of drought last year. It's eased a little bit. It's not gone. It's eased a little bit. Three-hundred-one million trees are now dead, gone, just absolutely devastated.
Some counties have lost 10 percent of their trees. In Dallas-Ft. Worth people were trying to water them to keep them alive, but many people just heard chain saws, day and night, cutting these things down because now they're becoming a fire hazard.
BALDWIN: That's awful. That's an awful picture. Can we end on a high note with a pull picture from the Hubble?
MYERS: Did you see this? Man.
BALDWIN: This is crazy because, just to set it up, what is it? It's a two million -- had to get the number right. Two-million-second time-lapse. Explain this.
MYERS: It's like taking a camera outside, holding it steady with the shutter open for 550 hours and being able to take a picture of what you see. The sliver of space that you see is not as big as the moon is wide.
BALDWIN: Wait. Wait. Say that again. The sliver of space we're looking at now is not as big as the moon is wide.
MYERS: This looks like you're looking at the whole sky. You're looking at a part of the sky that's actually smaller than the moon is big.
BALDWIN: Wow.
MYERS: So, they really have this focused in. This is the Hubble image. Keep the shutter over for 550 hours and you're finding this.
I have a graphic that I made to show how far away some of those dots are because they're now the deepest space dots we have ever been able to see.
BALDWIN: That's a mighty large number.
MYERS: Eighty-sextillion-two-hundred-and-forty-quadrillion miles away is the farthest dot that you see on that map.
I know. It's just a ...
BALDWIN: Sextillion, quadrillion ...
MYERS: I don't know if I could say that on TV, but I did anyway.
BALDWIN: That's incredible. So, that's how far away that is from us.
MYERS: Thirteen-point-two billion light-years away.
BALDWIN: Let's show the picture one more just because this is amazing. I love how you can see all the different colors here, thanks to Hubble.
No, no. Not the number. Do we have the picture?
MYERS: Not the zeros.
BALDWIN: One more time. It's coming. I'm told it's coming. We're waiting. OK.
MYERS: And online there's a high-definition version online and you can keep zooming in. Keep zooming in.
BALDWIN: Awesome.
MYERS: And you can see, in this picture, 5,500 galaxies. Cool stuff.
BALDWIN: Chad, thank you. I love ending the show on that note. And now it's Joe Johns in for Wolf Blitzer. "THE SITUATION ROOM" begins right now.