Banishing the Blues; What to Cut
ARI FLEISCHER, FORMER BUSH WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, sure they did, Larry, but the private sector, combined with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and some terrible decisions that people in the government made to have people take out loans they couldn't afford to repay. All of the above. But when we get to be a country where only the government can solve our nation's private sector economic problems, the government is too big and too powerful. It's the private sector that can pull us out of it.</s>TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Big government or big business? It could be a while before we find out if those who broke it will be able to fix it. Let's get to the New York Stock Exchange right now. Just past three hours into the trading day. And as you can see, the Dow up 64 points, but -- oh, 59. But that is off session highs for the day. The Nasdaq in positive territory as well, up 16 points. We'll follow the numbers throughout the day for you in the CNN NEWSROOM. The bad economy might help banish the blues. I'm talking here about blue laws that force liquor stores to lock their doors on Sunday. More now from Louise Schiavone.</s>LOUISE SCHIAVONE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The last vestiges of prohibition, partial or complete bans on alcohol sales on Sunday, are alive and well in roughly a dozen states. But now in the search for new revenues, some lawmakers say there's no time like the present for change and fresh funds.</s>SETH HARP, (R) GEORGIA STATE SENATE: We have had testimony from various grocers, convenience stores and things of that sort, and those individuals have told us that they lose a tremendous amount of business to South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama and Florida.</s>SCHIAVONE: Georgia, Indiana and Connecticut prohibit any retail sale of alcohol on Sunday. Fifteen states ban only liquor sales. The Sunday sales debate is on in virtually every cash-strapped state where blue laws still exist. In Georgia, action is expected soon on a proposal to let communities decide whether or not they want to sell alcoholic beverages on Sunday. Georgians we speak to agree.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's a great idea. I think it's probably a little outdated law. And I think the most important point on that is the revenue it's going to generate for the state.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can sell it Monday through Saturday, why not Sunday?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As a practicing Christian myself, I don't think the government should be in the business of determining what day is the Sabbath.</s>SCHIAVONE: Conservative religious groups, though, say the last thing society needs, especially in stressful economic times, is another day to sell liquor.</s>JIM BECK, GEORGIA CHRISTIAN COALITION: I know that the media loves to, you know, make folks on this side of the issue look like Bible thumpers that want to impose their will. Just because something consistent with values expressed in one religion doesn't make it bad policy.</s>SCHIAVONE: There's also this. Economists at MIT and the University of Notre Dame found last spring that repealing blue laws restricting Sunday commerce led to a decline in church attendance and donations. But advocates of getting rid of remaining restrictions on Sunday alcohol sales say, why not let hard working men and women who bring home the bacon during the week bring home a bottle of wine on a Sunday and deliver some revenues to cash-strapped states at the same time. Louise Schiavone for CNN, Washington.</s>HARRIS: How can our government start saving money? President Obama will be announcing plans to try to cut the deficit. We want to hear from you. What should we cut from this budget? Josh Levs is here with some of your responses. What are you hearing, Josh?</s>JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We've been getting responses all morning long, Tony. So many. I think this is the most I've seen in a long time. And I'll tell everybody what's going on. Zoom in on the board for a second. This is part of what's going on today with cnn.com/live hooking up with FaceBook. You know, you can watch the special programming while you sign in to FaceBook over here. Interact with everyone or your friends. So we posed a question on my FaceBook page this morning, joshlevscnn, and we're asking you all day long, "what should be pulled from the budget?" Tony, a few answers right here. Christopher writes, "I think we should cut back on tax breaks and subsidies to companies such as Exxon Mobil." Who's next. Darrell Lewis. "Total campaign funding reform. Total public campaign financing. The nationwide savings from the lobbying industry alone would save billions." Let's get in a couple more here. Laurel, "what about cutting back on our failed war on drugs? It's a multi million dollar effort." And we got time for one more. "It might be easier to look at what we can begin producing ourselves." That's from Michael. We got a graphic for you here. I can show you how you can weigh in. If you're a part of FaceBook, it's really easy. Just search joshlevscnn. And, Tony, we know not everybody is on FaceBook. Some people would rather e-mail us. That's cnnnewsroom@cnn.com. And I'll quickly show you a couple answers we got on e-mail and then I'll get back to, Tony. Let's go back in one more time. Joyce writes, "stop both wars immediately, bring all troops home." And Beth says, "cut the tax cuts. This pandering doesn't work. I just lost my job, so I don't have a paycheck to get less taxes taken out." Obviously lots of strong responses, Tony. We'll see what we hear, Tony -- we'll see what we hear?</s>HARRIS: Yes.</s>LEVS: We'll see what the president has to say tonight. We're going to follow up on this in the coming days, see how people feel about the president's plan to cut that deficit in half.</s>HARRIS: All right, Josh, appreciate it. Thank you, Sir.</s>LEVS: Thanks, Tony.</s>HARRIS: Iran says it need the energy. Some wonder if it's all about weapons. Iran's nuclear policy, next in the NEWSROOM.