Former Labor Sec Grades Obama's First 100 Days; Experts Weighing in on Obama's First 100 Days; Facebook Habit Turns into Addiction for Some
PHILLIPS: Well, we expect to hear shortly from President Obama, surrounded by the people whose cards are in your wallet. He's warning the nation's top issuers of credit cards that new consumer protections are in the works. A White House aide says that the watch words are simplicity, transparency and fairness. And as banks try to boost their profits and cut risks, they've jacked up fees and interest rates. And they've lowered spending limits, even canceled cards despite regular payments. The Federal Reserve and two congressional panels have come up with separate versions of a credit card holder's bill of rights, none of which would take effect until next year, by the way. And Democratic senators Schumer and Dodd want the Fed to act sooner. So, with six days left in the president's first 100 days, most Americans like what they've seen. A new CNN poll of polls shows that a 64 percent job approval rating, 28 percent disapprove. That's almost identical, by the way, to George W. Bush's ratings in April of 2001. And, despite polls showing deep economic despair, an Associated Press survey finds more Americans than not believe that the country is headed in the right direction. It's the first time since 2004 that the right direction has outpolled wrong in the AP poll. Now we know everyone has an opinion, including Robert Reich. He's a former labor secretary under President Clinton, now a professor at UC Berkeley. And fittingly enough, he's graded the president's first 100 days. Professor, you do this very well. You're accustomed to giving grades, both good and bad. So let's get right down to it.</s>ROBERT REICH, PROFESSOR, UC BERKELEY: Well, I -- I certainly am, Kyra. For about 25 years I've been giving grades. So this is -- this comes naturally.</s>PHILLIPS: And I love this story. It's about your students and how you remember their grades decades later. I think that's fabulous. Well, let's get right down. Let's say -- let's go ahead and start with, let's say, the ten-year budget. What would you give him on that?</s>REICH: I give an "A." I think it's an extraordinarily bold document that includes not only his campaign promises but also a vision for where America ought to be going, with regards to universal health care; protecting the country and the world from climate change; and addressing inequality. Why inequality? In fact, we have inequality today that we haven't seen since the 1920s. We need to do something about that. And so that clearly gets an "A." I'd give it an "A" plus, except for the fact that the -- there are a little bit rosy scenarios in that budget document. And perhaps a little bit too rosy.</s>PHILLIPS: Really? Can you give an example of what you -- how would you define too rosy?</s>REICH: Well, the budget document assumes that the economy will be growing again by the end of this year, certainly by the beginning of next year. Most economists believe that that is a little bit too optimistic. Maybe we'll see growth again in the middle of 2010 but probably not before.</s>PHILLIPS: All right. What does the stimulus package get?</s>REICH: I'd grade the stimulus package at a "B." I think it is definitely as good as it goes, but it needs to be probably larger. Now, $787 billion sounds like a lot of money. And it certainly is a big stimulus. But when you consider, No. 1, that the economy is now functioning about a trillion and a half dollars below its full capacity, if we had near full employment. And you also consider that the states are cutting like mad services and raising taxes, we probably need a stimulus package that is bigger than the one that was enacted if we are going to get people back to work.</s>PHILLIPS: But $787 billion over the next two years, it's -- can we afford bigger than that?</s>REICH: Well, I suppose the question, Kyra, is can we afford not to? If we don't get the economy growing again and people back to work, then we're going to be in not only the recession for a very long time, but tax revenues are not going to be coming in. People are not going to be able to pay their own bills. We're going to see a -- just a continuation of this crisis. So, we do need to, at least in the very short-term, have a stimulus big enough to get people back into their jobs.</s>PHILLIPS: All right, usually we save the best for last. But in this case, it's going to be the worst for last. What do you give the bank bailout?</s>REICH: Well, first of all, I'm a great fan of this administration. I think the president is doing a wonderful job. That's why we have the 64 percent favorabilities. I think the public feels that way, too. But on the bank bailout, I have to give, reluctantly, Obamanomics an F because so far it hasn't worked. The banks are lending less now than they were lending five months ago. The bank executives are still giving themselves very sweetheart deals in terms of executive pay. They are still providing dividends and thinking about acquisitions and hoarding money. The money is not getting to Main Street. And that was the purpose of the bailout. So far, Americans have spent about $600 billion bailing out the banks, and we have very little to show for it.</s>PHILLIPS: So, I'm curious. If you were able to sit down and advise the president at this moment, giving him an F on the bank bailouts, what would you say, OK, this is how you'd raise the grade? I would do maybe this point and point number two right away.</s>REICH: Well, let me just say this, Kyra. The people on the right of the political spectrum generally think -- generally think -- that the banks ought to be in some form of bankruptcy or negotiating with creditors, that there's no reason for the government to protect them from their creditors, no reason for creditors to get a free ride. People who tend to be on the left of the political center say we ought to nationalize the banks. Now, I could probably make a pretty good argument for either the right view or the left view, but almost nobody agrees with the administration right now that we ought to continue the policies that Hank Paulson began under the George W. Bush administration and continue to shove money in the direction of the banks, public money, shareholder money. And again, I -- when I criticize the administration on this, believe me, I am very sympathetic with the notion that they are kind of making this up as they go. Nobody has been here before. No administration had to deal with a bank crisis on this scale since Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration. So, given the magnitude of the crisis, my failing grade is provisional. The administration can certainly improve their grade, and -- but something quite different has to be done.</s>PHILLIPS: Sure. And if you average it out with all of the grades, it comes to a C plus. We still need better. Robert Reich, good to see you.</s>REICH: Thanks, Kyra. Bye-bye.</s>PHILLIPS: Well, you too can grade the politicians you elected. Join us on President Obama's 100th day in office for the "CNN National Report Card." That's next Wednesday night. Grade them with CNN's best political team. Rate the president, Congress, state leaders, all of them next Wednesday beginning at 8:00 Eastern online and on TV. Well, it's a great way to keep in touch, or so I hear, but for some people, Facebook can take over almost like an addiction. How do you know when you've crossed the line? A lot of buzz on this story back here in the NEWSROOM. Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joining us now with this week's "Empowered Patient." You've heard some interesting Facebook stories. Are you a Facebooker?</s>ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I am, but...</s>PHILLIPS: You are.</s>COHEN: ... and I started to do it, and when I got all of these responses, and my little sister's best friend from seventh grade wanted to have a discussion with me, I'm like, I've got to go have to have dinner.</s>PHILLIPS: I don't have time for this.</s>COHEN: I don't have time for this, exactly. That was exactly the discussion that happened. I thought with myself. I said, I do not have time for this. But I met a woman -- or I interviewed a woman over the phone, 51 years old, single mom. Her 12-year-old daughter came down to help her with -- ask for help with homework. And this mom was too busy on Facebook. She said, I'm embarrassed to say I was too busy on Facebook. Her daughter went upstairs, e-mailed her, saying, Mom, I really need your help. And the mom didn't get the e-mail because she was, well, on Facebook. This woman says she knows she has a problem. She calls it an obsession, a compulsion. She tried to quit, and she just can't. And this is -- these are -- I didn't hear a lot, like a ton of these stories, but I did talk to some psychologists. Like one woman said, I had three people in my office with Facebook issues one day last week.</s>PHILLIPS: Oh, my gosh.</s>COHEN: People who just -- they find themselves getting lost in the Facebook world. That's sort of the best way to put it.</s>PHILLIPS: All right, so, I know you gathered, what, top five ways that you know you're addicted. How do you know?</s>COHEN: Right, because it's important to note here that all of these psychologists said this isn't Facebook's problem, this is how people are using Facebook. So they said you need to keep an eye on yourself. Are you crossing the line from a fun, entertaining thing to do to a compulsion. So, five, if you are losing sleep over Facebook, this is a problem. If you are on Facebook until 2:00 in the morning, and then you're exhausted the next day, you probably ought to cut back. Number four, you spend more than an hour a day on Facebook. Now, that's not a hard and fast number, but the psychologists I talked to said, does anyone neat more than a more than an hour a day of social networking? Don't you have a real life? Number three, you become obsessed with old loves. This one is big. The psychologists I talked to said they are having people come to them, they started to have affairs with people who they met up with on Facebook -- high school boyfriends, college girlfriends, whatever. If you have a real life, you need to pay attention to the spouse or the real girlfriend or the real boyfriend. If you ignore work -- now, all of us play around on the Internet a little bit at work except for you and me, Kyra...</s>PHILLIPS: Exactly.</s>COHEN: ... but if you really aren't doing your work because you're so busy changing your Facebook status, that's a problem. The number one way that you know that you might be addicted to Facebook, if the thought of going off of it puts you in a cold sweat. For example, Kyra, I asked this woman, did you ever think about taking a break? She said, yes, my therapist told me to take a break. She said, I did it for a day. She said that's all she could handle. And Kyra, I want to add in here, we asked Facebook for a comment. They have not gotten back to us yet.</s>PHILLIPS: OK, I appreciate it. I break out into a cold sweat seeing all my e-mails. You know?</s>COHEN: I know. That's bad enough. Right. That's bad enough.</s>PHILLIPS: I can't even keep up with that. Thanks, Elizabeth. Well, it's one of our favorite parts of the day, the 30-second pitch. And we give you the air time. You give us the best shot you can at getting a job. Marsi Thrash gets ready for her close-up coming up.