Tips On How To Teach Teenagers About Spending
ANNOUNCER: From New York City America's financial capitol, this is IN THE MONEY.</s>SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to IN THE MONEY, I'm Susan Lisovicz sitting in for Jack Cafferty. Coming up on today's program: The strength to keep the peace: The Pentagon's excuse of not sending enough troops to Iraq. We'll look at whether the numbers and the price tag really fit the job. Plus the invisible threat: Flu season's on the way, and so is the flu vaccine shortage. Find out if it had to be this way every year. And the next best thing to being there: You can't follow teenagers around while they spend, but you can teach them to be smart about it. We'll get some tips. Joing me today, a couple of very smart IN THE MONEY veterans. "Lou Dobbs Tonight" correspondent, Christine Romans, and "Fortune" magazine editor-at-large Andy Serwer. Do you guys remember the day when gasoline was actually cheaper than bottled water? When $50 a barrel actually was good compared to what we're seeing now.</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT": Fifty? Oh, 50, I long for the days of 50. It's 53, and it -- you know, and it hurts. And we heard from the government this week that it's going to cost you twice as much to heat your home this winter as it did just three years ago.</s>LISOVICZ: And no flu vaccines, too.</s>ROMANS: Right. Exactly. So it's tough. You know, it's tough for consumers.</s>ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: The price of oil's up 60 percent, year to date. $270 extra this year, American families will be spending on heating oil. The price of gas is already up. This is a tax on the American economy. Christine, I know that you've been speaking to people across the country.</s>ROMANS: Right.</s>SERWER: You talked to the people at Wal-Mart. They will tell you that this is taking money out of consumers' pockets, it translates back into the economy. The campaign is not focused on this, which is a surprise to me, because I think this is going to become critical after the election probably.</s>LISOVICZ: And you know, it's interesting because one of the things we've seen is quarter after quarter terrific quarterly profits. But one of the ways that it has come is by squeezing the costs, right? And you just don't have it when your expenses increase.</s>ROMANS: And if you're a consumer, you just moving around the pieces on the -- you know, the piece of the puzzle, paying more to fill up your tank, but then you can't buy some of the non-necessities and it's -- everyone's doing it.</s>SERWER: And you stay at home and watch cable. You stay and watch our show. It's a good thing.</s>LISOVICZ: OK, we like that, we like that, but everything else we don't like. Of course, Iraq is an oil exporting nation, but we want to talk about the violence there. The volatile situation in Iraq was very clear to western journalists staying at one Baghdad hotel this week. Our own Brent Sadler who was right in the middle of it, and Brent joining us now with more on the situation in Iraq. Brent, what kind of impact did you see this week with the recent speeches by administrator -- former administrator Paul Bremer and Ayad Allawi, those recent comments?</s>BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let's take this to Bremer first. Certainly, his comments, public comments, about concerns about the number of U.S. troops in Iraq really has been causing some criticism, some dissent within members of today's interim Iraqi government, and many of them who were around as part of the former governing council, I was talking to, and were really exclaiming to the point that why hadn't Mr. Bremer mentioned it publicly or privately at the time? And they particularly point to that devastating period soon after the fall of Baghdad, when Iraqis in the capital and elsewhere in this country went on a looting spree, shocking images that really triggered lawlessness from day one. Add to that the disbanding of the Iraqi army, that's still a very sore point here, and the departification (PH) policy that also was put in place immediately after the fall of Saddam Hussein. That also is a policy that's had to have been revised since then.</s>SERWER: Brent, Andy Serwer, here. Can you talk a little bit about the violence that was directed against journalists the other night? How horrific was that?</s>SADLER: Well, it was just literally across the road from where I'm standing. The two rockets came slamming straight past me, literally 100 yards away. And hit the lower floors of this Sheraton hotel. The Sheraton's been hit several times in the past. It is where the Western media is based. It's where private contractors are based. And the U.S. military says that these kind of attacks, audacious brazen attacks right under the noses of the U.S. military, that's on top of that hotel, really is planned, executed from Fallujah, just 30 miles from here, west of Baghdad. And it is the insurgents following orders, it's believed, of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi that, it's understood, has decapitated the British hostage Ken Bigley. "Reuters" reporting that video has been seen by them showing the beheading of a man identified as Ken Bigley. Ken Bigley one of three. Two of his co-workers, Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley, Americans, were beheaded several days after their capture. Now it seems Bigley has joined their gruesome fate.</s>LISOVICZ: Brent Sadler from Iraq. Thank you. As we mentioned just a moment ago, Paul Bremer, this week, became the latest former U.S. official to say the Pentagon did not send enough troops to Iraq to keep the peace. A day later, Washington's old administrative boss for Iraq said hindsight helped him see the problem. But even before the war General Eric Shinseki, the retired Army chief of staff, testified that more soldiers were need than the Pentagon planned. And if you agree that we're short on manpower today, you might wonder why nobody in the military yelled about it earlier. For a look at that story we're joined from Columbia, South Carolina by retired Brigadier General Mitchell Zais. He commanded U.S. and allied forces in Kuwait between the gulf wars and now serves as president of Newberry College. Welcome.</s>BRIG. GEN. MITCHELL ZAIS, U.S. ARMY RET.: Thank you. My pleasure.</s>LISOVICZ: So why the disconnect? Please try to put some perspective on these comments. These are bright people, all of them, whether they're here, in the U.S., or right in the thick of the action. Why is everybody saying it so much later?</s>ZAIS: Well, one thing you have to understand is the military culture is to provide your best input to the civilians appointed over the military. And once the decision is made to salute and go out and execute to the best of your ability. I think the American people don't want a military that contests every decision by their elected officials or those appointed over them by their elected officials. And it's impossible to overstate the influence of the example of Douglas MacArthur, who really ignored the guidance he was provided by the president of the United States and was fired. To, in public argue with the administration is really seen as a sign of disloyalty and inappropriate behavior in our military today.</s>ROMANS: But this is a life and death situation. I mean, if you don't have enough boots on the ground to get the job done -- you know, isn't it the responsibility of the military and the civilian leaders to make sure that the American casualties are as few as possible? That should be the overriding thing, not protocol or making -- you know, the civilian leadership unhappy, the elected officials unhappy.</s>ZAIS: Well, the civilian leadership have continued to receive advice from the uniformed military that we can, and probably need to, increase our strength levels. You know, you mentioned General Shinseki. And after that testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, he really was humiliated and insulted by Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, and that message got out pretty clearly, that any public testimony contrary to the party line was unacceptable.</s>SERWER: But general, now wait a minute. You served in Vietnam, correct?</s>ZAIS: That's true.</s>SERWER: Now, but didn't we hear the same sort of talk about Vietnam, that if we could only send in more troops then we could win the war. And in fact, that's what President Johnson did for several years. We kept sending more troops, but we were never able to defeat the enemy. There are some people who say if we had finally sent even more troops we would have won that war. But isn't it also true that if the local populace doesn't love you you're not going to be able to prevail?</s>ZAIS: Well, there's two issues there. One, the issue in Vietnam wasn't so much of inadequate troop strength, but an inadequate strategy that provided sanctuary for our enemies in North Vietnam in Laos, and in Cambodia. So, when they didn't want to fight, they would withdraw to a safe haven and then they would be able to attack us on terms that were favorable to them at the time and place of their choosing.</s>LISOVICZ: General, we don't have that much time. I just want to ask you quickly, I mean, what should be done? Everybody's saying behind -- you know, after the fact that too few on the ground. But what should be done now? What would you do now?</s>ZAIS: Well, we would need to increase the soldiers in Iraq as quickly as possible and to the maximum level as possible to provide security during that period when we are traing the Iraqi army, the Iraqi National Guard, and the Iraqi police force.</s>LISOVICZ: Retired Brigadier General Mitchell Zais, also now serving as president of Newberry College. Thank you for your insight.</s>ZAIS: Thank you.</s>LISOVICZ: Sit tight. We'll be back after the break. Coming up, from a great house to the big house: Martha Stewart may be going to prison, but she's nothing like the average female inmate. We'll show you the real face of America's women prisoners. Plus, getting stuck: This year's flu vaccine shortage is nastier than usual with one company's product pulled off the market. Find out how money plays a role in whether you beat the bug. And animal magnetism: See if you're attracted to talking rabbits as we show you our fun site of the week.