Transcripts For CNN Your Money 20090726

your money, ali velshi is off this week. in the next hour, we're following your tax dollars, exactly where the $787 billion in stimulus money is being spent. plus, we'll find out if the surging stock market is a mir e mirage. first, we begin with the president's battle to reform health care. he made his case before the american people this week. >> if we do not reform health care, your premiums and out of pocket costs will continue to skyrocket. if we don't act, 14,000 americans will continue to lose their health insurance every single day. these are the consequences of inaction. these are the stakes of the debate we're having right now. >> how will he pay for the massive overhaul? where are the details? former new york mayor and republican presidential candidate rudy giuliani insists americans were left with more questions than answers. >> the cost of health care is going to go up over the next 5 to 10 years. when you add the trillions of dollars that he's spending, inflation alone is going to drive it up. i think that's why even democrats, so many democrats that don't support this. he's not telling the american people really how it's -- how it's going to operate. they left the press conference last night with more questions than they had before. >> so, did the president succeed in making the case for health care reform? let's pose that question to jamal simmons, democratic strategist with the raven group, and steven moore, editorial writer for the "wall street journal." jamal, let me start with you, did he sell you on the need and the urgency for this plan? >> well, you know, i was sold before he started talking. let's just be serious. >> the president had you at hello, didn't he? >> he had me at hello. i do think he did a good job. one of the reasons people voted for barack obama and the reason why his poll ratings stay above 50% to 55% because they trust him and think he's smart. and the one thing he did do at that press conference, he showed off his brain and sort of established he's still the person who is speaking straight to the american people on this issue. rudy giuliani just said that costs are going to go up under the plan. costs are going to go up anyway. right now we're spending about $2.5 trillion on health care, that's going to go to $7 trillion in 2025 if we do nothing at all. the president wants to get this done to try to save some of that money and get it out of americans pockets. >> the president had an unscripted remark that was interesting, if you want a plan that's going to guarantee more people uninsured, guarantee higher costs, guarantee more suffering for people and not necessarily better care, we've got that plan, it's the status quo. >> yeah, christine, i think the problem the president has right now, though, is that despite what jamal just said, the public opinion polling shows a continued decline in support for this plan. it's as if, you know, the more americans get to know what's actually in the bill, and by the way, this is a 1,200 page bill so a lot of us still don't know, but the more we kind of start to glean what's in it, support erodes. and the way they pay for this trillion dollar bill is mostly on the backs of small businesses, and my line on this is if we pass this bill, everybody's going to have health care, but nobody's going to have a job. >> well, that's interesting. i want to listen to something else the president said in that press conference. talking a little bit about the politics, he's talking about the politics on the other side of the aisle, listen to this. >> i've heard the one republican strategist told his party that even though they may want to compromise, it's better politics to go for the kill. another republican senator defeating health care reform is about breaking the mean. let me be clear, this isn't about me. i have great health insurance, and so does every member of congress. >> what's the problem here, the problem here road blocks or opposition from the republicans? or the problem here is he's getting pushed back by his own party and what kind of time line there'll be to get this thing done? >> you know, health care isn't just for democrats, it's going to be for republicans also. there are 14,000 americans who lose their health care every single day, and some of those people are democrats, some are republicans. the republicans have a responsibility to get in the game and try to figure out how to help solve this problem just as much as the democrats. of course, the president has to convince democrats to go along with it, but it shouldn't be just a one-party bill, this should be a bipartisan piece of legislation and frankly it's a little discouraging that republicans would rather play politics and disable a president when we have this big crisis than to figure out how to fix a problem. >> sounds to me like everyone's playing politics here. this is a big, huge, undertaking with a lot of different constituencies who have different viewpoints on how it should be done. >> yeah, look, i'm all for bipartisanship, i think this there is a bipartisan solution to this, jamal, but this is being handled exactly, christine, like the stimulus bill was done and cap and trade bill, democrats only, republicans out of the process, none of the republican ideas are in this bill, and that's, i think, the reason it's become so, republicans say we're not at the table, why would we vote for this? there are ways of doing this that i would, i think, insure the people who don't have insurance, but you don't have to screw up the entire health care system for people -- look, christine, most people have health care, which is the vast majority of americans like they have right now and very nervous about losing it. >> well, go ahead, jamal. >> according to the president's plan, what they want to do is maintain people's quality to maintain -- and maybe even improve quality, keep costs down, and allow people to have choice and keep their own plans if they want it. now, you just said that republicans didn't have a chance to participate in this bill, the president mentioned the other night, one of the bills moving through congress had 160 amendments from republicans that had been considered, so you can't -- >> they've been considered, but they've all been voted down by the democratic congress. >> well, maybe they were bad ideas. maybe they were bad ideas, that doesn't mean they don't have a chance to participate in the process. they certainly do. >> but you know, christine, at this point, we're coming sort of the fourth inning of this, it's not going to happen, you know, before the august recess, they're going to go back and i think democrats are going to have to get this done and i do think there will be a bill this year, but i think it has to move more to the center and it cannot put all of the costs on small businesses because small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and it has to be a system that also constrains costs, and jamal, i agree with you, we have to do it, but i don't think this bill -- look, for example, there's no medical malpractice insurance reform and a 1,200 page bill and everyone knows that's a good way to control health care costs. >> all right, and health care costs is something that we still continue to worry about and talk about how it would be effected here, and there's a feeling we haven't gotten control over that either. steven moore, "wall street journal," jamal simmons, thank you so much for joining us and we'll be talking about this again. i can guarantee it. have a great weekend. the debate over health care reform happening all over the country, probably even at your dinner table, what exactly is everyone arguing about? here's what's at stake. projections estimate that by next year, 164 million of you will get your health insurance from work, through your job, 81 million from medicare or medicaid, 14 million of you will buy insurance on your own, and 49 million and counting won't have coverage. the democrats want to cover the uninsured, but also preserve the employer-based health care system. now, the exact plan, the details still influx, but we're going to break it down what we know, how it will -- how we're going to explain how it could effect your doctor visit and your monthly budget. cnnmoney.com is here. if you get it through your job, through work, not a lot is going to change for you in the very beginning if this happens. >> near-term and long-term. in the near-term, premiums are not expected to go down measurably. unlikely your employer's going to drop you into the public exchange, a national insurance exchange supermarket. what could happen, though, within five years all insurance plans, those from employers, those on the exchange will have to conform to certain regulations. what you'll hear president obama said this week, nancy pelosi said this week, you will have your out of pocket costs annually capped. you will have the cap on lifetime benefits from a plan removed. you will be guaranteed coverage for preexisting conditions. that could help somebody with employer-sponsored insurance today because it means a couple of things. within five years and really we're talking 2018 because this won't get underway until 2013, you might see a reduction in your out of pocket costs if that cap soon applies. you also might be freer to leave your job because right now if you leave your job, you're like, oh, how am i going to get insured? now you know there are going to be some options out there for you. >> and this is most people at this point, most people still have their coverage through their job. you could be required to pay a tax, you don't have to pay tax on this benefit right now that you get in your job, that could be on the table. >> couple of different things on that. we don't know what the pay fors are going to be. the house has a surtax on the wealthy. couples making $350,000 or more, nancy pelosi wants to push it up to $500,000, we don't know what's going to happen there. the senate finance committee has yet to put out its proposals. the leading idea had been to tax your benefits at work, which are currently tax-free, the portion your employer pays, don't know what's going to happen there. and now there's a competing idea coming out to tax insurance companies and employers who provide these cadillac plans, but that could get passed down to you by way of costs. >> of course. >> who knows. >> let's talk about the people who buy their own insurance, what does it mean for people, the democrats' health care proposals for people who buy -- >> in the near term, it could be a benefit for them, because it's expensive to buy on your own individual market. those folks will be immediately eligible to go into the exchange when it opens and the idea of the exchange is you have a lot of different plans competing with each other for your business. so -- and also very low income, they can qualify for a subsidy. on the subsidy that your income takes you to 400% poverty level. that's another potential -- >> let's talk about the people who don't have insurance, the 49 million for next year, they get the most out of all of this. >> there's going to be a mandate to buy insurance, they will have that. they will be subsidized to buy it, they will have more choice in plans than they do now, they will have all of those protections that will immediately apply to plans in the exchange, you know, guaranteed coverage if you have a preexisting condition, they can't toss you out of the plan if you get sick, that kind of thing. >> all of this still influx, of course, and two tracks, what your health care's going to look like and also how we're going to pay for it. so two different kinds of -- very complicated and political discussions going on. thanks so much. the federal government's paying $5 million for turkey meat. on the surface looks silly, we'll tell you what it's all about. find out what uncle sam's doing with your stimulus pollen. all d. and it's not a steroid. help mereatetterl day long. an's noa ster unceit keepsrways open. help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe 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help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. never has more money been pledged to stimulate the economy on such a wide array of projects. your stimulus money is starting to flow around the country. more than 10% of it is already out the door. you can track it yourself, but the government's website following the stimulus, that's recovery.gov. but here's a taste, just a little taste of what you're spending money for. $ $9,435. these chairs usually retail about $1,100 apiece, going for office equipment at the department of labor. wisconsin, here is one project, almost $200,000 for a bathroom remodel and door replacement. four bathrooms for a service office space. the company saying it's been able to avoid laying off employees, they have 20 people working full-time on this $200,000 project. next door in minnesota, this one really caught our eye. look at this, $5.3 million for jennie-o turkey, part of $00 million in emergency food aid that's meant to combat the recession right now. a lot more food including pork and mozzarella 800,000 pounds of mozzarella all being paid for with your tax dollars going to soup kitchens. here's the biggest single contract on here. look at this. it is in washington state more than $1 billion for clean-up of a nuclear waste site. the department of energy says this contract is putting 832 people to work. that is a snapshot of your stimulus money at work. is this how your stimulus dollars should be spent? is this a good use of your money? these are just a few examples. republican congressman john campbell of california and democrat robert andrews of new jersey join us from washington. thanks for joining us, gentlemen. let me ask you first, in new jersey, what kind of contracts are you seeing doing there? are they going to create jobs and is it good for your state? >> i think it is good. there's a highway that runs through my state, a lot of bridges need repair and people are working today on that project. i think it's going to solve some major traffic problems and create some good jobs. so i think it's what we should be doing. >> let me ask you about -- i guess some of the blowback for some of these projects. when you go looking through the recovery.gov website and see some of these projects, $9,000 for office chairs, whether this should have been regular prop e appropriations, why is this stimulus? you can see a lot of contracts that haven't gotten up to speed yet. is this stimulating all of these projects? or do some stimulate more than others? >> no, i don't think it is stimulating. and most of this, as you just suggested in my view should've gone through the regular appropriations process. many of these things for bureaucracy, and that's great, we can discuss whether we should be spending money on that stuff or not, but to say that it stimulated the economy because it's just not because there's no multiplier effect. what would have been stimulative is only 3% of this was infrastructure type projects, only 3% of the spending. and more of it been that, when you build a road or create wireless internet or put in a bridge, then you create additional jobs than just building that because the private sector uses that infrastructure to create more jobs and that's what we should have been doing, but this so-called stimulus didn't do that, and in my opinion is actually going to harm the economy because all of the borrowing we're having to do to pay for it. >> congressman andrews, let me ask you about the infrastructure part of this. there are democrats too and progressive and left leaning economist who is say we need another stimulus. would you use that argument to say we need even more stimulus and we should do a big infrastructure package? >> i don't think we should do a second one, i think we should give this one a chance to work and put people to work. you know, there's money that's not yet been spent because we want to spend it carefully. i hate to hear these examples about the expensive office chairs and all of that, that's not supposed to happen. and it's our responsibility to make sure it does not happen -- >> those chairs retail for $1,100 and looks to me that the government got them for $400, they got them cheaper than retail. >> well, we should do better than that. and let me say this to you, there's money, for example, to try to make the grid smarter, so if someone builds a windmill, they can get the electrical power from the windmill site to the utility company, that's money that's going to make sense. people going to close on buying a home this week that are going to get an $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit that's helping to bring back the residential real estate market. and i think that what you'll begin to see is over time, not soon enough as far as i'm concerned, you will see over time more people go back to work, more companies prosper, and more opportunities for the american people. i think it's going to work. >> congressman campbell, let me ask you about waste. there's been a lot of concern about the size of this project. we have never undertaken something like this before. we know that there's government waste in all kinds of different areas. are you concerned at all about that? >> yes, there's no way, this is almost $1 trillion, and remember, that you hear from the white house and the administration and so forth, we've got to get this out really quick so it stimulates the economy. when you get it out really quick, literally billions at a chunk, tens of billions, you're going to have abuses, going to have waste, you're going to have fraud. and there's no way you can just create $1 trillion program, dump it all out there in 12 months and not waste a lot of it. that's not an indictment of the administration, that's just a fact of how it's going to happen. that's why we shouldn't have done this. because unfortunately we've -- this money is is not free, it's all going to be borrowed. and we're going to have to pay that back. and my fear is that even if you make an argument that it has some help to the economy now and i don't think it will, but even if you do make that argument, it will absolutely hurt a recovery in the future as we try to pay this money back. >> all right. well, this was the jobs, jobs package, we'll follow all of this spending and find out where we're creating jobs, what we're doing with this money and what kind of impact it is having on the economy. thank you so much. congressman john campbell, republican, and democrat from new jersey. time and money. one really good idea and focusing on the customer. that's next. ps my airways open.. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe 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paige thinks so. she and three partners started time for dinner five years ago based on an idea they found in a magazine. >> we're a meal assembly service where people come in and assemble meals in the raw form and then take them home, put them in the freezer and take them out when they need them. >> reporter: the business has grown nearly 15% each year, their goal now is $1 million in revenue this year. a small business succeeding despite obstacles like a flood last fall, 3 feet of water shutting them down for three days. >> and you have your rewards card, great. >> it's hard to find good customer service these days and the ladies and entire staff that work here should be an exemplary example for everybody. >> reporter: this customer drives 45 minutes from illinois to prepare meals for her family of six, she's been coming for five years. >> i think we're thinking about changing that. >> reporter: she says time for dinner listens to these customers, making changes that always make it better. time for dinner is still going strong when other competitors have gone under. >> because they are local and because they are doing so much to connect with their community and their customer base, they are excelling, they are succeeding, and they are doing better than the national chains. >> reporter: customer amy says she and her husband save money and time using the service. >> we both work full-time and so coming home both of us are tired and neither of us want to cook and comes home, we have a meal that's defrosted in the fridge. >> we usually budget about $200 every couple of weeks for meals. and this is $115 for the month. so it saves a bunch of money. >> reporter: clients say they save money because they can't buy all of the ingredients used in the recipes for as little as a time for dinner meal costs. and they eat out less often because nice meals are waiting at home. the recipe for small business success in this recession, a unique idea, hard work, but most important -- >> it's all about the customer, and that's how we make decisions here. if it's good for our customer, then it's going to be good for us, and it's proven. that works. from success to uncertainty, another look at struggles across the country, let's go to new york, a horse farm there tightening the reigns in this economy, but will it be enough? here's stable owner alex jacobson in his own words. >> pull yourself up. >> there you go. he's almost there. >> beautiful. >> it's a struggle every day to keep lakewood stables open. >> mortgage payment here, $12,100. another one here, $23,000, bill for shavings, that we delivered last week, $5,100. lakewood stables easily has $51,000 in bills a month, depending on the month. in order to take care of a horse, it costs. even our basic costs is about $500 to $600 a month. to just take care of that animal, one horse, we have over 60 horses here. children that used to take two or three lessons a week are taking one lesson a week. some families had to cut it out because of the recession. people don't have that extra money to spend. >> i've only been here three years. you have people that have grown up here. so you talk to them about this place closing down or going -- their world is over. you know, and it's not right. >> this is my home, i grew up here, i've been here for 20 years, i live here, i ride here every day. i come here every single day even on my day off. >> my girls are taking a lesson, there's an age where they are always like this at each other's throats, but coming here, getting along much better since they started coming here because they really have this in common and both love it. >> lakewood stables is i would say 90% kids business. you have little boys and girls, mostly girls here on a daily basis and you have really thousands on a monthly basis that come through our doors. our summer camp program. this is a program that took off since the inception. and unfortunately this year, you know, we see it, we see our numbers down from last year's camp because of the recession. >> what do we tell our horse? >> we have developed a therapeutic riding program with horse ability, which is a program that helps handicapped and autistic children through therapy on four legs. >> just me and you, okay? >> this place has been here for 100 years. and some of the things we're doing here's so great for the children that it would really be a shame not to get what we need to keep it here. >> jacobson says there are three things that lakewood stables needs to remain open, an indoor arena to keep revenue coming in year round, tax relief, he currently pays $70,000 a year because the operation doesn't have the five acres to be taxed as an agricultural property. they've applied for an exemption, also worked out with a payment plan with their lender in order to keep it current they have to pay a lump sum of $60,000 at september, the end of their high season, good luck to you. well, you've heard of the stay-cation. and now there's the hesession. we'll explain that when we come back. ng the right thing. is the advice you've been getting helping or hurting? are the fees you're paying really worth it? td ameritrade's fees are fair and straight-forward. their research is independent and unbiased. their investment consultants are knowledgeable and there when you need them. so why not talk to one? announcer: call today to schedule a free investment check-up, or visit a td ameritrade branch. i think i'll go with the preferred package. good choice. only meineke lets you choose the brake service that's right for you. and save 50% on pads and shoes. meineke. it's time for our news ticker. every week we go through the headlines so you don't have to. here to add their collective 4 cents to this week's stories are editor and chief of black enterprise and cnn political contributor roland martin. above 9,000, the dow, i've had my hands over my eyes for about six months or seven months and turn around suddenly, is the market telling us that things are going to get better in the economy? or is it telling us that the lights are still on, essentially. >> i think it's the lights are still on. how much worse could it get when you get down to 6,500? i think it's encouraging it's somewhat sustained performance by the stock market and i think you saw the news on housing stocks. that's encouraging, i think we can take a breath, but not relax yet. >> are we getting better? yeah, when you're at 6,500 and you're now at 9,000, rush limbaugh, it's better whether you like it or not. so it amazes me when people act as if you cannot acknowledge when the number is better. i remember every day it was -- every night i'm sitting on the campbell brown show and ali velshi the market is down 400 points, what's going on? and all of a sudden as we come back up, folks are like, okay, fine, it went up, it's no big deal. i'm not one of these big wig financial experts, i'm the kind of person who pull my money out of my mutual fund six months ago because i got tired of losing money. after the show i'm calling my company back and saying, fine, you can start taking that money out because it's confidence. >> you missed a big rally. >> restoring confidence. this is the second week in a row we got some signs -- >> but restoring confidence. >> and that was the whole point, to restore some confidence. >> and rush took a little piece out of, mentioned the program, also my friend susan lisovicz saying talking about the stock market rally we were somehow missing all of the terrible things that have happened. and no -- >> was that a fact? >> it has been very brutal time for workers, we still have high unemployment, that's still a problem. but look, you can at least look at your 401(k) statement and see that you're getting a little bit of it back. you're not back to where you were -- >> right, you're getting some traction. what you want is some traction. you want a feeling that things aren't sliding anymore. i don't know what else you can expect. >> it's not a political statement, just a fact. the stocks are up 43% and 37% respectively from the lows hit in march. >> yeah, rush, you can argue with those facts. and so you always want to see positive growth. you always want to see that if things are getting slightly better it's a lot -- much better than it's getting worse. literally it was every day people going oh, my god, not another report. how bad is it? >> we still have a lot of hurdles, and we can agree we've got a demand problem, small businesses are hurting right now. >> can they cut further? >> and then corporate profits, frankly, are up because of selling divisions and able to lay off workers. >> get through the next quarter. >> right. let's talk about the credit rating agencies being sued on the puzzle of who's to blame for everything that's happened in the economy. the credit rating agencies, should they be changing the way they do business? >> i don't think suing them is the way to do it. we all, of course, trusted these ratings, everybody -- >> i don't. >> you don't or you didn't? >> no. >> you never did? >> okay. >> well, you are an exception to the rule. everybody else thought if i got an aaa rating, that's a good thing. i think we need to go back and say exactly what those ratings mean and to what degree they can be held accountable. >> i'll tell you what when you put folks under depositions, it's amazing how the truth comes out. i'll tell you who should be going after. the credit report companies. >> why? >> because that's -- that's the biggest fraud. if you sit here and pay stuff off, i'm sorry, your credit score's very low. no, no, when want you to have a credit card, we need you to have a credit card, i don't want to have debt, that's when you want to sue somebody, sue those fraudulent folks. >> i have a theory too, over the next ten years so many people are going to have bad credit stores, it's going to become irrelevant because so many people are seeing it because they're losing their house, they don't have a job, you're triageing your bills we're heading into a period that's going to be tough for people. >> i can't stand it. >> tell me what you really think. there's a couple of things, we keep hearing things the hesession, the man-session. 80% of the jobs have been lost are to men. about how it's the end of macho, that global male dominated high-risk high-reward behavior is is what got us into this mess and men are suffering more and maybe the end, the death of macho. >> first of all, macho has been dying for at least the last 60 years if you haven't been paying attention. you can't have two secretaries, one to do the work one to chase around the desk. all of that stuff has been going away for a long time. i'm ruining your day, i know. but here's my solution. i have three daughters, have as many daughters as possible because they will take care of you in your old age. >> why is that? because they're the ones in college. >> making money, doing well. you know, this is the part of a very long-term shift. and we're really noticing it globally. what all of this means is my one son is going to have to change what it means to be a man in a global economy. >> not only that, i think back to bernard shaw a couple years ago when he said white men, take notice, you're a speck in the ocean of color. the world is changing, it used to be a male-dominated world, a white male-dominated world. now they're going to have to get used to the fact they're going to see more hispanics and asians in the market than before. same thing when it comes to gender, so it changes. >> black and hispanic men are also losing their jobs and middle class jobs. >> they're city still money. >> again, you have to retool future generations of young men, my son cannot think about training to work in a factory. a different mind set in what it means to be a workman that may be different in my mind. >> for instance, one of the areas where we have a severe shortage, nurse iing. >> nursing. >> you have women largely going to nursing, you now have men saying i might need to go ahead and get rid of my bias -- >> my macho bias. >> no, i might -- you can be a male nurse, as well. >> all right, thanks so much, roland martin, thank you so much gentlemen. we'll see you next week. >> absolutely, market, great run. >> so where in the world is ali? well, right now he's on vacation, but before he left, he got to spend some quality time in the kitchen. >> let's make a burrito. >> we'll start with a floured tortil tortilla. >> they say you are what you eat, what did he put in the burrito? and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me b bter da. a's a st unce kee mairways open... to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. annoitpsy airways open...ll. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. >> not a speck of flour on his apron.  the obama administration wants new regulations that could effect your money and your investments. at the heart of this plan, the creation of a consumer financial protection agency, a single agency to regulate mortgages, credit cards, insurance, the things that touch your money. it would have the power to examine subpoena information from banks and it would ban financial products deemed deceptive, the idea is under assault mainly by the financial industry who says the power should remain in the fed and this new agency could stifle innovation and freeze the credit markets. the treasury department disagrees saying reform is critical to protect your money from a repeat of this crisis. how could it effect you? the former ceo of citi wealth management and asked her what she thought could help individual investors. >> there's really important things here for the individual investors. the thing we're hearing a lot about is the protection agency, a lot of noise about that. if it's done poorly, it can be red tape and bureaucracy. it can help provide consumers with a way to cut through the clutter and confusion that financial service products can be for so many of them. mortgages, what are you signing when you sign a mortgage? and i think it can be a very interesting watchdog and help mate for the individual investor. >> and that watchdog, the proposals are just about anything that has to do with your money, your house, your retirement would come under this umbrella, you say it could go well or go poorly, how can they make sure it goes well? what are your recommendations to make sure this is something with teeth that helps individual investors? >> well, one it's got to have teeth, two the independent funding and the ability to really maneuver. i think more important than anything else, it's got to have common sense, right, the issue with disclosure is people tend to think more is better, right? another risk p out it on in there. the average consumer of financial products cannot understand what they're buying and what the risks are, i think, in ten minutes or less, then we fail. >> we know there are a lot of different agencies that had a mission to protect consumers and somehow nobody actually did it. >> well, and that is an issue, if you scatter responsibility too broadly, then no one really has responsibility. so that can be -- that can be a problem. but with any of these things, it really is do you have the right regulations in place? and very importantly, do you have the right people in place to cut through it? and do you have a number of the right initiatives in place? >> people have been burned by mortgage or whatever it is. confidence has to return. >> exactly. and they say you know what, i feel like the jerk. we had the research scandal a number of years ago, this m meltdown, what's having these folks do the best thing for me. so bringing out this consumer protection agency by bringing out this fiduciary standard by fixing the rating agencies through a few of these things showing up the money funds, some of the things that are being done here, the moe important thing is to bring back that level of confidence. >> all right. thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you. all right, you know, so let me get this straight. while i'm here in the studio working hard, ali gets to go shopping, ride his motorcycle with the guys from orange county choppers, cooks with rachel ray and now he's learning the craft of burrito making with the ceo of chipotle. you know, if you'd asked steve what his dream job was after he graduated from culinary school, the answer would have been to open a fancy expensive restaurant. you probably heard of his creation, which is is neither fancy or expensive, it's the fast food restaurant chipotle. a taste of how it all unfolded. >> i moved to denver in '93 with the idea i would start this one little restaurant, and it would be this cash cow that could help fund my real restaurant. >> right. >> and it did very well. it did so well, in fact, i said maybe i'll open one more. one more chipotle and that did even better than the first one, and you know, when i was doing this, i was feeling guilty, like i wasn't really following my calling. it's like i'm opening these, it's nice, i guess, but it's not really what i'm meant to do. >> tell me about your philosophy with respect to what's on the menu. >> it's important to understand where your food comes from and how it was raised. and i started to become interested in this about ten years ago. when i visited some pig farms, i mean it's really sort of a brutal condition that they're raised in. and they're raised with antibiotics and they never see the light of day and they're in small cages and they're -- it's very, very unpleasant, and at that moment seeing that, i knew that chipotle's success to be based on that kind of exploitation. and so that led us to look at every single ingredient we buy, to make sure it's raised the right way. >> reporter: there's a tradeoff here, right? >> there's a trade-off. >> reporter: you're getting a better quality food and it costs a little bit more. >> it costs them more, absolutely. and especially in these tougher economic times, it really puts a squeeze on folks. and unfortunately, you know, we have lost some transactions in the last -- in the last year, but not a lot. and people are still willing to pay a little bit more for the kind of quality they get at chipotle. but maybe they just don't come as often. >> reporter: let's talk about the menu. you don't seem to have a lot of items. and it hasn't expanded a great deal over the years. >> we have a very focused menu. the neat thing about chipotle with just a few things you can make different combinations, 60 some thousand combinations you can make, burritos, tacos, beans, salsas. we satisfy lots of different tastes. >> i asked you all the questions i can ask you. one thing left. let's make a burrito. >> let's make a burrito. ♪ ♪ >> that's your burrito. >> perfect. i will enjoy this. >> enjoy. >> enjoy. ali will be back next week. so, here on "your money" we look to do roman's numeral. get it? play on words. today, you're looking at the roman's numeral for today. well, since most of you don't live in ancient rome, we'll have to tell you what the number is. here it is, the number 725. and that is where the minimum wage stands right now. the recent 70-cent increase may not seem much to some, but to small businesses, it makes a big difference. and you the customer, maybe, maybe you will feel it. rafael queere doesn't want your grocery bill to go up. but he's worried his customers might see higher prices soon. he has owned this shoprite in new jersey since 2005. in that time, he has seen the minimum wage rise from 5.15 to $7.25. >> what happens, extra payroll transitions over to the consumer. cuellar has 40 to 50 minimum wage earners. >> his payroll costs won't go up dramatically with the wage hike. but suppliers, produce, meat companies and consumer goods factories, they're going to get hit hard. >> all these companies all have thousands upon thousands of minimum wage earners that are -- obviously, their costs increase. it passes on to me. and it passes on to the consumer. >> but many consumers will have more money to spend argue economists, and business owners like cuellar will benefit. >> even if they do have to raise their prices a little bit, they often make up for that in increased business, because workers are able to spend more money they have in their pockets. >> but not all workers are getting a raise. others argue in this economy, employment will suffer. >> it is going to cost us lots of low-skilled jobs. simply, employers won't be able to hire as many people. some will get laid off. well, those with jobs will have more money in their pocket. though that don't get hired won't have any at all. >> empty pockets is what concerns rafael cuellar. >> the long-term effect it makes people who weren't making minimum wage a little poorer. millions of other people didn't get a pay raise. >> still, there are many economists who point out it is simply the right thing to do. if you are earning the minimum wage, working full time all year round, you make about $15,000 a year. that is, depending on the size of your family, not even enough to cross the poverty threshold. all right. are you sleepy? if you can barely keep your eyes open, can't think, you, you don't like our show, or maybe part of a growing number of americans tossing and turning night after night. why, we'll tell you next. don't fall asleep. are you counting more sheep at night than money in your bank account? you are not alone. americans are losing sleep over the state of our economy. cnnmoney.com's poppy harlow takes a look and a nap. >> reporter: if a good night sleep seems like a faint memory, blame the economy. one-third of americans are losing sleep over their concerns about their personal finances or the economy, according to the national sleep foundation. >> we're seeing a combination of people, people who have had long-standing problems with their sleep, who report that their sleep is getting worse because of the added stress of the economy, as well as people who are coming in saying that they have never had a sleep problem before. >> prescriptions for sleep medications at a record high, topping 56 million in 2008, and up 54% since 2004. but if pill-popping doesn't sound like the solution, consider a good old-fashioned powernap. >> you can nap in response to sleep loss, so after the fact. or you can nap in anticipation of sleep loss, because only sleep can replace sleep. >> reporter: and napping may be just the ticket. business is booming here at yellow wellness, where, believe it or not, people in manhattan will pay nearly $30 for a 40-minute nap. >> it has been a real interesting change in terms of consumer behavior. before september, a lot of people were coming here and saying, i need, like, to get a nap. now what has been happening is that people actually need their nap. it's become a necessity in people's life. >> i just think it makes a real difference, first of all in my work. i do a better job, which means i get a better bonus. and i'm not going to burn out. >> reporter: 2/3 of adults say sleepiness interferes with their concentration and makes handling stress on the job more difficult. regulars here say the fee to sleep is a small price to pay to overcome exhaustion. >> coming here, spending the money, taking a nap, allows me to kind of burn the candle at both end. >> reporter: poppy harlow, cnn, new york. >> according to a study, taking a 30-minute power nap three times a week can reduce the risk of heart disease in healthy people, by 37%. the national sleep foundation found those people who report losing sleep over the economy are likely to also report being unable to work efficiently or exercise or eat healthy. thank you for joining us on your money. follow us on facebook and twitter. make sure you join us every week "y

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