Transcripts For WMPT PBS NewsHour 20121205

Many of them dying because Ocean Temperatures are rising and the waters are more acidic. I remember seeing fields of elk horn coral that you couldnt see through it and you couldnt see beyond it and those same areas are dead you know 99 dead. Ifill and we close with a remembrance of jazz great dave brubeck who died today, one day shy of his 92nd birthday. Woodruff thats all ahead on tonights newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Ifill the nations Third Largest bank, citigroup, announced big job cuts as it continues to scale back in the wake of the financial crisis. The 11,000 employees to be laid off worldwide, make up about 4 of the companys workforce. More than 6,000 of those jobs are in consumer banking. The move comes less than two months since a shakeup at citi ousting former c. E. O. , vikram pandit. He was succeeded by michael corbat. The bank nearly collapsed during the crisis and ultimately received bailouts totaling 45 billion, money that citi has since repaid. Roben farzhad has long watched the changes at citi for Bloomberg Businessweek and joins us again tonight. Roben, welcome. Today we heard that stocks soared on the news of these layoffs. What does that tell us about what was going on at citi . Its sad, actually. Citigroup is know you could say the financial crisis is over but in the throes of an existential crisis. It doesnt know what it wants to be. Investors have been clamoring for a while for citigroup to simplify, to shed payrolls, to be good at something. It does everything, but it isnt market leading, necessarily, in any one category. And by and large, they got the layoffs, at least the beginning round of layoffs that they wanted today. Ifill we know many of these layoffs are noin the u. S. , but i assume part of the relationship the stocks went up is people thought citigroup was too fat and needed this cutting. Yes. Citigroup it peaked in size at about 375,000 employees at the beginning of 2008. And its now closer to 260,000 employees. So it has it has let go of a lot of people to be sure. But its still a massive, hulking institution, and its the product of, really, a strategy of the past 15 years of rolling up banks, buying up assets in the ground, in farflung emerging markets. Its all over the world. Its in colombia. Its in pakistan. 7 and that really was the imprimatture that the recent c. E. O. , vikram pandit, inherited and he thought it was the strongest part of the bank. The new c. E. O. , michael corbat, came in and said were too big. Were too sprawling for any focus and were going to have to pull back in places like pakistan and romania. Ifill so the new schettino ic. E. O. Ismaking this step as as much as a recalbraigz from the bank . You can only expect that from a new c. E. O. Ptz who comes in at the boards behest way new pair of cold eyes and what citigroup is in its current iteration, is not working, not for the bank. Its not efficiently turning out profits the way its competitors like wells fargo, and w. J. Morgan who have eclipsed it after the great bailout of 2008. You sea the c. E. O. Pushed out by the board and the new c. E. O. Come this and given a mandate to effectively turn this massive super tanker arndt. Ifill it makes thee think this is a first step. Are there more layoffs to come . This has been going on across wall street actually since 2011. There have been north of 300,000 layoffs. You have seen it at u. B. S. , bank of america, which is strug ling with the own acquisitions. You have even seen it at goldman sacs, one of the winners after the financial crisis. Its actually, if you talk to these bank c. E. O. S they will tell you its a difficult time to run a multinational bank. Even with the bailout, and Interest Rates of 0 for four years, even when they offer you and me nothing on our savings and checking accounts they say in their own defense, were dealing with unprecedented regulation. We have to curb proprietary trading. We have regulators breathing down our neck and its hard to earn an extra buck in that environment. Youre seeing citi, in fact, address those concerns in the layoff announcement today. Ifill what does that tell bus the health of the Banking Sector and whether other big Banking Institution might be following suit . Citigroup is not as mump an indicator species as i think people would want it to be. 15 years ago, it was the financial supermarket. It rolled everything together. Its onestop shopping, and that mold has been called into question, not least by the architect of this model, sandy wiel, saying we should break up the big banks. Gwen, i think it tells us more about the end of the era of kind of this force conglomeration of bank wheres bigger is naturally better. You have seen, obviously, too big to fail banks become too bigger to fail, such as j. P. Morgan, or wells fargo which bought wachovia. But there are others who find they cant hit their stride with the asset they say accummed a decade ago. Ifill what were watching happening at citigroup. Does that make them an outlier or a sign of things to come . I think its a little bit of both. Citigroup, lets not forget, had to go in for two rounds of bailout money. There was even scuttlebut that the white house suggested this was a bank that should fail, that it was beyond rescue. It still has 1 fent billion of bad seeftz its sheets its looking to get rid of. There are no easy answers for it. There is no overnight turnaround. And at the same time, its a Public Company and shareholders are saying, show me the progress. Ifill roben farzhad of Bloomberg Business week, thank you very much. Thank you, gwen, have a good night. Woodruff still to come on the newshour senator bob corker on the fiscal crisis; the threat of chemical weapons in syria; floridas endangered coral reefs and the life and music of jazz pianist dave brubeck. But first, the other news of the day. Heres hari sreenivasan. Sreenivasan the people of the southern philippines struggled to recover today from a deadly typhoon. Nearly 300 were dead, and officials warned the number could go higher. More than half the victims were in the Compostela Valley province. The storm made landfall there, early on tuesday. We have a report narrated by Richard Pallot of independent Television News. Reporter a mother cradles her terrified daughter, but at reist they have found shelter. So many didnt at the cost of many hundreds of lives. Gustes of nearly 100 Miles Per Hour ripping through the southern philippines, triggering landslides and floods. Authorities describe how entire families were just washed away. Much of the initial rescue operation was in the dark with electricity and communications cut off. Entire villages waiting for the lights to see what was left and who survived, many already hearing the worst. Typhoons are common here with approximately 20 striking a year, but warnings from the president about the severity of this particular storm, so many philippineoze move out in advance. The death toll in the hundreds, rather than, perhaps, the thousands. This typhoon was much strong scer people were worried about the impact, so they heeded early evacuation calls. They moved to higher ground. They went to evacuation centers. And although current casualties are highly regrettable, it could have been much worse. Reporter the immediate issue is to get food to those most in need, those whose livelihoods have been destroyed. With agculture and infrastructure badly ruined, any further tycoons will have more farreaching consequences. Sreenivasan a massive storm pounded the southern philippines last december as well, killing more than 1,200 people. In egypt, a political crisis deepened today as supporters and opponents of president Mohammed Morsi faced off in cairo. The two sides threw rocks, sticks and firebombs as night fell outside the president ial palace. At least 126 people were hurt. And there were reports that masked men set fire to morsis Political Party headquarters. Protests erupted last week after the president assumed sweeping powers and a committee dominated by islamists rushed through a new constitution. The nations busiest port complex is back in business after an eightday strike halted operations. The ports of los angeles and long beach, california reopened today after port operators and the Workers Union reached an agreement late tuesday. The union said it won new protections against job outsourcing. Port officials said during the walkout, they were unable to move some 760 million worth of cargo a day. Wall street had a day of ups and downs and investors watched economic reports and weighed chances for a fiscal cliff deal in washington. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained more than 82 points to close at 13,034. But the nasdaq fell nearly 23 points to close at 2,973. The days big loser was apple, down more than 6 over concerns that smart phone sales are lagging. Former texas congressman jack brooks has died. He served 42 years in the house, and was in the dallas motorcade on november 22nd, 1963 when president kennedy was assassinated. Hours later, brooks was on hand as Vice President and fellow Texan Lyndon Johnson was sworn in to the presidency. Later, brooks helped author the 1964 civil rights act, and he drafted the articles of impeachment against president nixon. Jack brooks was 89 years old. Those are some of the days major stories. Now, back to gwen. Ifill lawmakers stepped up the rhetoric, but grew no closer today to agreement on how to avoid slipping over the so called fiscal cliff. But each side demanded the other compromise. Newshour Congressional Correspondent kwame holman begins our coverage. I have to just tell you that is a. That is a bad strategy for america, its a bad strategy for your businesses, and it is not a game that i will play. Reporter president obama today, in washington, assured Business Executives hell reject attempts to link the fiscal cliff budget negotiations to future increases in the nations debt ceiling. The New York Times reported republicans might accept higher tax rates on wealthier americans to avoid triggering tax hikes for everyone. In return, theyd demand greater spending cuts next year before raising the federal borrowing limit. If congress in any way suggests that theyre going to tie negotiations to debt ceiling votes and take us to the brink of default once again as part of a budget negotiation, which, by the way, we have never done in our history until we did it last year, i will not play that game because weve got to. Weve got to break that habit before it starts. Reporter the 2011 standoff between the president and republicans led the nation to the brink of national default. Standard and poors even lowered its rating on u. S. Government bonds. Now, the president has proposed he be given authority to raise the debt ceiling without congressional action. House republicans reject that idea. And theyve called for raising revenue without rate hikes, plus major savings in entitlement programs. The president argued today a partial deal is possible on taxes, if the g. O. P. Will agree to raise rates on the top 2 . And if we can get the leadership on the republican side to take that framework, to acknowledge that reality, then the numbers actually arent that far apart. Another way of putting this is, we can probably solve this in about a week. Reporter despite issuing a warning to Congressional Republicans, the president also expressed optimism that some gop lawmakers may be warming to the idea of allowing taxes on the wealthy to rise. But here at the capitol today, Congressional Republican leaders said the president should focus less on tax increases and more on spending cuts we put an offer on the table. Now he has out of hand rejected that. Where are the specifics . Where are the discussions . Nothing is going on. Meanwhile the people of this country are the ones that suffer. Reporter House Majority leader eric cantor claimed negotiations are deadlocked and the president isnt engaged. We have not had any discussion on any specifics with this president about the real problem, which is spending. We have got to do something about the spending. An obsession to raise taxes is not going to solve the problem. What will solve the problem is doing something about the entitlements, taking on the wasteful spending in washington. Reporter and House Speaker reporter still, republican senator tom coburn of oklahoma said the emphasis on the short Term Solution ignores the countrys larger financial problems. Personally, i know we have to raise revenue i dont really care which way we do it. Actually, i would rather see the rates go up than do it the other way because it gives us a greater chance to reform the tax code and broaden the base in the future. Reporter and in a web video, former republican senator alan simpson made a lighthearted attempt to get younger americans interested in lowering the national debt. Take part or get taken apart these old coots will clean out the treasury before you get there. Reporter for now, though, official washington enters another weekend in stalemate with acrosstheboard tax hikes and huge spending cuts looming at years end. White house officials said today the office of management and budget has asked federal agencies for contingency plans in case theres no deal, and the spending cuts start to take effect come january. Woodruff we continue our series of conversations on this hotly debated topic. Earlier this week we heard from Erskine Bowles and paul krugman. Tonight, we hear from a Senate Republican who has proposed his own plan to dodge the fiscal cliff. It includes limiting tax deductions, but no increase in marginal tax rates. And it would change eligibility for medicare and Social Security over the longer term. Bob corker is from tennessee and joins us now from capitol hill. Senator, welcome, and first of all, we heard late today that there was a phone conversation between the president and speaker boehner. Have you heard anything about that . No, i havent. Ive been in multiple conversations today about this. But ive been in a meeting until right now for the last two hours. So i have not been aware of the phone conversation. Sphwhrood well, we not hearing any reports other than the fact the call took place, but the fact that it took place, is that good news . Oh, i dont know, judy. I think there are a the love discussions about what is the best way to get the type of entitlement reforms that everyone knows needs to take place, both republicans and democrats. Judy, i have been in i dont know how many meetings in the last two years where there is a lot of commonality around the issue. As you know, the president has been, you know, sort of a not to be pejorative, but sort of a onetrick pony on this tax rate increase issue. What thats doing is putting all the focus on revenues, and no doubt, the American People are concerned about maybe being hostages, if you will, with tax increase at the end of the year. So there are a lot of discussions about the real and best ways to actually cause these reforms to take place again, reforms that both democrats and republicans acknowledge. But the president has not yet put on the table. So well see. I dont think, for what its worth, for those of you, for those people who listen in to your program, i do not think well get to a situation at year end where, you know, armageddon occurs. I do think the debt ceiling in an important date go ahead ill let you talk. Woodruff i want to ask you about entitlements but you were quotequoted on reuters saying yu were hearing whispers on the house side of the capitol, maybe some movement on tax rates. Do you think there is some movement in that direction among republicans in the house . Well i just think theres a discussion trade center a discussion about what is the west best way to get the outcome. An outcome where we save our nation. Where we come up with at least 4. 5 trillion in savings and we know it will be revenues i laid out a bill most people dont tho, judy that raid out specifics, that really moved our country towards solvency. There was a discussion. Does it make sense to continue on the rate issue or is it better to turn the phoenix some other place . There is a lot of discussions, and i think by the way, this haebt healthiest day i can remember regarding moving towards a place i think gets us the right kind of outcome that the nation needs at this point. Woodruff i hear you saying that theres more movement in the direction of what the president wants on raising tax rates for that income over 250,000 a year than what is being said publicly . Well, let me just let me make it slightly broader. Theres movement in a lot of directions, and i do think that republicans are beginning to be aware that the president and again im not trying to be pejorative but the president is really not laying out anything specific on entitlements, so i do think republicans are looking at, look, wed like to solve our nations problem. What is the best way to get us in a place where we actually have the leverage which, unfortunately, it takes the leverage to get us where we need to go as a country. Look, there are a lot of healthy discussions that are taking place, and i do think again, from my standpoint, someone who really cares about this issue, cares about its Economic Growth that would ensue january 1 or whenever we put this in the rearview mirror, the country would just take off economically. And i think today from my standpoint has been the very best day since weve returned from recess. Woodruff so, again, what im hearing you saying is if theres movement in that direction, it sowns like youre staying at least theres conversation about it, then that would open the door to some work on entitlement. Now, the white house would say the president has given some on entitlements medicare, as part of his health care reform. Yeah. Woodruff but do you see the coming together, the makings of an agreement there . I dont. And i dont. And i think thats where all of us who really want to see these programs stay solvent. We want them to be there for seniors down the road. We want to save our nations solvency, i think theres a lot of thinking about the best way to actually cause the president to actually come forth with a real plan. And thats not the case now. And it just isnt. So, look, as you know, judy, ive outlined a very detailed bill that i think most of which at some point in time is going to become law. And the longer we put this off, the deeper the hole gets, so were trying to focus on how do we get this done now woodruff let me ask you about part of your plan. Part of it would means test Social Security, medicare benefits. In order, the benefits would go down for those at the higher income levels. We had the economist paul krugman on the newshour last night who said that, you know, not only do the polls show Many American oppose, this but he said the benefit you get, the money that would be raised from doing that is really not enough to overcome the pain that he said it would cause lower and middleincome americans. Well, first of all, it would cause no pain to lower and middleincome citizens because they wouldnt be affected. And i agree, its only one of the things that needs to occur. Its a small part. There are many manager transformative things that need to happen in Social Security and medicare and my bill outlines both transformative things to really make them solvent. Theres a 27 trillion unfund liebilityd there. Lets go to me why in the world would american citizens subsidize my medicare . Ive been very successful in business. Ive been very fortunate to be in a country that allows that to occur. Im in an income category where its perfectly ridiculous for the american citizens to subsidize my medicare. And i think most people in my category would absolutely agree that, thats the case. So i understand what hes saying, but it makes no sense to me because it has zero effect on low and and middleincome citizens because they would not be means tested. Woodruff and just finally, senator, a question very quickly on the debt ceiling, the president made it clear today he thinks theres no justification for continuing to have these debt ceiling votes connected to the discussions about taxes and entitlement. I heard that. And i know he had a different position when he was in the senate. If you look back historically, judy, those are the points in time when youre able to deal with some of the deficit issues and by the way, government is only funded through march, anyway. So regardless of the debt ceiling, theres still the issue of the fact that we have we have only funded government through march. There are two points, the funding of government and the debt ceiling and i would agree with you, that its unfortunate that a 11 reg point like that has to be used. We should sit down to solve the problem. But the its the only thing thus far that produced results we got the budget control act last time to really take our nation towards solvency. I would agree with you. I wish we could sit down and selfsolve it. I think there is a majority in the hous house and senate that t to do that, but the only two negotiators that matter right now are the president and speaker boehner. And as i mentioned before again, i understand there are two sides of this tale the president is really not yet offering the kind of reforms that would make these programs solvent for the long haul so were trying to think how do we get there. So very healthy discussion today. Im enthused about today, and i hope well resolve this over the course of the next several weeks. Woodruff senator bob cork ethank you very much. Thank you. Woodruff we will have more perspectives in the coming days. Ifill next, two takes on the war in syria. As the conflict rages on, there are new concerns this week that the Assad Government is moving closer to the use of chemical weapons. Jeffrey brown has that part of the story. Brown the Syrian Civil War has now closed in on president bashar alassads seat of power, with rebel gunfire ringing out again today in damascus. Amateur video also showed new shelling in the capital, as Government Forces continued a push to retake key suburbs. And while the noise of war grows louder in damascus, so have fears around the world that assad may resort to chemical weapons. The Syrian Government has a number of sites containing what may be the largest chemical weapons stockpile in the world. Its made up largely of sarin nerve gas, mustard gas and cyanide. On monday, president obama sounded a warning, amid reports of unusual activity at the weapon sites. The world is watching. The use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable. If you make the tragic mistake of using these weapons there will be consequences and you will be held accountable. Reporter assads regime answered that it would never use such weapons against its own people, but today, at nato headquarters in brussels, secretary of state Hillary Clinton renewed the warning. Our concerns are that increasingly desperate assad regime might turn to chemical weapons, or might lose control of them to one of the many groups that are now operating within syria. So, as a part of the absolute unity that we all have on this issue, we have sent an unmistakable message that this would cross a red line. And those responsible would be held to account. Brown that was a view shared by u. N. Secretary general ban kimoon, speaking at a Climate Conference in qatar. The country has a fundamental responsibility to keep this stockpile of chemical weapons in the safest way. I have warned that if in any case these should be used then there will be huge consequences and they should be accountable. Brown and as fears of Chemical Warfare grow, the humanitarian crisis has steadily worsened. More refugees streamed into turkey today, fleeing syrian air raids. Brown for more on the Syrian Chemical Weapons threat im joined by leonard spector, a weapons and nonproliferation expert with the Monterey Institute of international studies. That can be hard to say. Welcome back. The white house says it has increased concern the government might be prepared to use these weapons. What does that mean . What are they seeing . We dont know precisely what theyre seeing. There are rumors that there is some sort of preparation for the chemicals that would be used in these weapons. There are preliminary steps that sometimes are taken. They she the delivery of protective gear at certain locations. We dont quite know, but i dont think the president would have made this comment and sen secretary clinton afterwards without there being some pretty serious indicators that we were getting close to possible use. Brown one of the things were hearing is the potential for mixing compounds. What would that mean . At least the sarin is thought to be in two parts, the binary weapon, and it has to be mixed together prior to the time the weapon is actually used. Sometimes the mixing occurs within the weapon itself, and sometimes the mixing occurs beforehand and the weapon is filled with the actual dangerous, lethal chemical agent. Brown now if this is said to be one of the Worlds Largest stockpiles, how hard is it to stop, or how hard is it to deal with . Would we even know if he was ready to use it . Thats one of the big problems. You might not know precisely how close he was to using them and it might be very hard to head this off at the moment of imminence, just before it was about to occur. If you try to do it at that moment, you may actually cause the chemicals themselveses to explode into the air because of your effort top to the attack, which could have its own consequences, which would be pretty horrifying. So we may be in a mode where to really take substantial military action, we may have to wait and see the actual use. There may be some kind of evidence that would be so compelling and so persuasive and so easy to explain to the world that this was just about to happen that we have to send troops in, or something of that kind, but its hard to imagine, especially with the legacy of the iraq war where we brown we have a map your organization created. I want to put that up so you can explain how spread out the sites are. Correct. So you have, i think, on that particular map, a number of site wheres there are major storage areas and a number of production sites. And what one is hearing is the weapons have also been disbursed perhaps to military bases, not necessarily recently, but historically. So you have a number of locations that would have to be secured if you were really trying to go in and control everything. You might not get it all. And you certainly dont want to take the approach of destroying it from the air because, again, you almost certainly will have offsite cons qebses. The gulf war syndrome that everyone has heard about may have been the result of the destruction of chemical weapon in iraq. , in the first gulf war, which, you know, even though it was a cloud of very, very dilute chemicals that may have had this impact on american forces. Brown thats the problem with a potential bombing. Thats right. Ifill gloun then theres talk about a ground effort, and i saw the New York Times recently quoted pentagon officials saying it would require more than 75,000 troops. Now, thats because of how disperse this might be . Its a little of dispersal because you would have to go after many different sites, but also, depending on the circumstances, you might have to fight your way in. The hope would be that as some of these sites come within the territory controlled by the Free Syrian Army, they will invite in outsiders to assist them in securing the sites that theyll number negotiations with the custodians and so forth and this can be done peacefully, in which case the number of troops would be limited but some of the worstcase contingencies involve larger numbers. There were reports hezbollah set up camps next to these sites. How secure are the site . Who is protecting them at this point . Who is in charge . In charge, are elite troops, as far as we can tell, still loyal to assad, and more or less, we hope sitting tight and doing their job of maintaining managing the sites in a safe manner. What could happen in the case of some of these troops deserting the sites with hezbollah having training locations nearby, lots of contingencies can be imagined. So we have to in a way hope that at least these Government Troops are able to maintain their position and stay, in effect, loyal to their mission, perhaps even more so than the government. Brown thats what i assume when we just heard Hillary Clinton refer to the possible that president assad might lose control of the weapons, or who they would devolve to na sense. Thats right purpose certainly, some will devolve into the region controlled by the rebels. But the hope is that the individual rebel groups that are operating near these sites will be ones that we are working with or that the jordanians are working with, and they will approach these sites carefully, and with the goal of maintaining security and ensuring that none of the material goes missing. There are a lot of sites and a lot of material. Brown when she says the fear, of course, is an i think her words were increasingly desperate president assad might turn to the weapons. Thats the real fear. Correct. There are some scenarios you can imagine where the weapons would be have been effective. The troops in the Free Syrian Army are unprotected. So if the chemical weapon were used against them, the Government Troops would be able to probably overrun a position rather quickly. People would start to die and others would flee. You can anticipate this. You could have other place wheres civilians might be implicated if there was an urban setting and a whole area of a city might evacuate for fear of what was coming. I think the counter to that is the threat against assad and the regime and the threat of intervention. Brown all right, leonard spector, thank you very much. Thank you. Woodruff and to an onthe ground look at the syrian war. John irvine of independent Television News and his camera man sean swan traveled to the idlib region in the north west part of the country and filed this report. Reporter hes among the injured in the battle of control these rebel fighters had seized a strategic building only to have it brought down on top of them by tank shells. The wounded quickly ferried. Dusty but unscathed. This rebel said just minor setback. The man had trouble hearing because his ears ringing from explosions. Minutes later we knew how he felt. A Syrian Army Tank in the valley had spotted our position. Where we were explosions the rebels fired back with all they had which wasnt much. A. K. 47s. Against tanks you can see why this is such a slog. Battle of attrition. Syrian army still has most of the fire power. It may be slow going but nature of battle has changed. It used to be syrian army that laid siege, but now the other way round. The rebels own the countryside these people have been bombed back to the dark ages. Their home destroyed by the assad regime and living in a roman byre. Among many families in byzantine city. Abandoned around 600 a. D. Reoccupied in 2012 a. D. Living in the remnants of an ancient fallen civilization they get to listen to the ongoing collapse of their own. translated what am i . A terrorist . My little child . May god curse assads soul. translated he killed his own people. Before we say, yes, bashar. We dont want him. A president doesnt kill his own people. Reporter even here theyve been bombed. Rebels are struggling to answer the rebel threat. Driving between villages. We heard the chatter of gunfire gunship prowled for targets. A week ago this refugee camp was a target for a mig jet. The regime would stoop to anything. Back in roman ruins, there is despair. No reason for hope. They feel ignored and forgotten by the outside world. Any faith they have left is in nothing earthly. Ifill next, the decline of coral reefs and the connections with rising levels of Carbon Dioxide. New reports this week show there were nearly 38 billion tons of Carbon Dioxide emitted around the globe last year. That, among other things, is having a very real effect in places like the florida keys. Hari sreenivasan traveled there recently, and filed this report for our series coping with Climate Change. Sreenivasan ken nedimyer has been diving in the florida keys almost his entire life. But the teeming coral reefs that he remembers from his early days of diving are now long gone. I would say its maybe 20 of what it was. Some places 5 . From what i remember seeing when i was you know young. Sreenivasan wow. And you know i remember seeing fields of elk horn coral that you couldnt see through it and you couldnt see beyond it and those same areas are dead you know 99 dead. Sreenivasan his memory is backed up by the facts. According to data from more than 100 monitoring stations in the florida keys, there has been a 44 decline in coral reefs over the past 20 years. On many caribbean reefs, its even worse. The decline is up to 80 over the past three decades. There is a lot of things working against coral reefs right now. Reporter the 358 miles of reef along the florida coast have been struggling to adapt to a wide range of problems including overfishing and pollution stemming largely from increased human activity. Thats why ken nedimyer is mobilizing small armies to help him restore the reefs. I joined nedimyer along with a group of ecotourists. These volunteers donate their vacation time, dive in and help reconstruct the corals that support the underwater ecosystems they come to see. Nedimyer has built underwater nurseries where young endangered staghorn and elkhorn coral are allowed to mature for more than a year before being replanted on existing reefs. This is one of the corals that we planted a couple years ago. Sreenivasan the nurseries have been successful, growing a small forest of elkhorn coral that nedimyer and his volunteers almost cant replant fast enough. But theres a bigger challenge these corals face the impact of increased Carbon Dioxide in the water. Its what scientists like Chris Langdon of the university of miami study. Its enough Railroad Cars stacked end to end to wrap around the earth seven times, thats how much carbon is going into the ocean every single year. Sreenivasan all that carbon has caused global sea surface temperatures to rise by about 1. 5 degrees fahrenheit over the last century according to the National Oceanic and atmospheric administration. Periods of high water temperature cause corals to bleach or expel the colorful algae that live in their tissue exposing their skeletons. But the co2 doesnt just warm the ocean, it also changes the p. H. Level which measures how acidic the water is and shows that oceans are becoming corrosive. Whats completely unique about whats going on now is the rate of change and thats what is so difficult for organisms. Things are incredibly adaptable but the adaptation rate evolution takes time. Reporter acidification acts a lot like osteoporosis does in humans. But in marine animals it makes their shells and skeletons brittle. The more acidic the water, the harder it is for corals to grow their skeletons. That leaves them more susceptible throughout their lives to other stressors like disease. There is also evidence that its harder for corals to reproduce when the ocean is more acidic. That means that if a coral dies, there is less likelihood that a baby coral is going to be able to replace it in the future. Sreenivasan scientists have been running Lab Experiments to see how coral reefs will react to the dual impacts of increased warming and acidification. So whats happening inside, why are they in these tanks . Are there differences between the tanks . We are controlling light to the amount of light thats coming into the system or into the tanks and were able to control that and then we are also controlling the amount of co2 thats in the tanks so we are pumping in co2 to elevate it to conditions that are predicted for 2100. Sreenivasan so these corals are in a way living in the future . Yeah, thats a good way to think about it. They are essentially living in the future. Sreenivasan it will be a tough future. Langdon finds that when corals are exposed to the expected co2 levels for 2100, bleaching occurs 50 more often. Elevated co2 can aggravate the sensitivity to temperature. It actually lowers resistance to temperature. What that means is that they can show signs of bleaching at a lower temperature than they would have before. So the combination of elevated temperature and co2 is worse than just elevated temperature alone. Sreenivasan but he adds that there are some coral species that may be able to adapt to high co2 and that corals can recover if p. H. Levels can be raised. Although thats a challenge requiring balancing the acidity locally while also reducing global co2. The decline of coral reefs has ecological and economic consequences. Coral reefs are the most biodiverse ecosystem in the world. With more than 500 species of fish living on floridas reefs, less coral has a Ripple Effect up the food chain says chris bergh director of the florida nature conservancy. The fish and the lobster and all these other animals that are so important to our economy and for the environment. They depend upon the coral growth and coral reef and if you have that much of a loss it really has a cascading negative impact. Sreenivasan florida is no stranger to storms, and healthy reefs buffer up to 90 of the force of incoming waves providing shoreline protection to people and property from storm surge and erosion. Then theres the dollars and cents. More than 33,000 jobs in the florida keys alone are supported by ocean recreation and tourism which accounts for 58 of the local economy and an average 2. 3 billion a year. It is the lifeblood of our economy in the keys. We get millions of visitors a year who spend millions of hours out on the ocean diving and fishing on our coral reefs. Sreenivasan amy slates dive resort depends on coral, and the divers who come to see them because we deal so much with nature and with diving its its probably life or death for my business, i hate to say it, but if the coral reefs thrive and grow, the more wildlife you have and the nicer it will be for everyone. And the more the divers will want to come here. Sreenivasan divers like the volunteers helping ken nedimyer rebuild reefs. I think our effort is, you know, its certainly not the answer. Its a part of the solution, its doing something, its buying us time. Sreenivasan time may be is running out for coral reefs in florida and elsewhere. Woodruff haris next story is about the impact warmer and more acidic waters have on shellfish. You can preview that and previous reports on our coping with Climate Change page on our website. Ifill finally tonight, remembering jazz giant dave brubeck. The pianist and composer died today after a sevendecade career that spanned much of the postwar jazz world. Born in california in 1920, he and his quartet would become known for rhythmically challenging compositions and for bringing jazz to a wider audience. Brubeck recorded dozens of albums. He wrote opera, ballet and even a contemporary mass. Among his many awards was a 2009 Kennedy Center honor. His 1959 album time out was the first jazz l. P. To sell a million copies. It contained his signature work take five. Here is that theme performed in three different eras. Ifill brubeck would have turned 92 tomorrow. For more on his legacy, we turn again to jeff. Brown and for that, were joined by another leading figure in the world of jazz. George wein is the founder of the legendary newport jazz festival and the new orleans jazz and heritage festival. Mr. Wein, welcome to you. You go back a long way with dave brubeck. Tell us about when you first heard his music in the early 50s. What stood out . Dave opened in my club, storyville, 1952 i think was the year. Nobody knew him. We opened, had about 20 or 30 people in the club. By the end of the week, it was full because it communicated people went out of the club and told everybody this fantastic music was happening. He went from right on there, the next 60 years, never lost his popularity. He was one of the most important figures of all the great figures in jazz in the 50s and latter half of the 20th century. Listening to take 5 was like solving a puzzle or untying a knot because people were hearing this melody in 54, and they didnt know what they were hearing. Once they solved it, they never forgoot got it and it became a hit for the next 50 years. Brown how big a moment was that, especially with take 5. It was a National Phenomenon on the pop charts, well beyond just the jazz audience. Nobody had ever heard 54 in a popular sense. Everything of 44, beating one you know, like rock n roll or funk music, on the 2 and 4. And all of a sudden, something came along that you never heard before. But if you listened and you solved it, you were humming the melody, and you were beating your foot, and it was jazz. And it has affected music ever since. Brown where did his love of jazz come from . He came from a sort of unusual jazz background from Rural California i read that he grew up taking to all different kinds of music, including classical music. That was one of the things that made his music appeal to more than just the average jazz fan. He had a classical background, and he utilizeed this. He never played a lot of classical music, but he utilizeed this feeling and his alternate rhythms that he used, niz left hand, his right hand i of he just played if a way nobody had ever heard. But it communicated. Thats the most important thing. His music communicated even though he played only the music hemented to play. Brown and what was he like as a person . What was he like to work with . He was the ultimate in elegance and excellence. We communicated with everyone i use the word communication. He respected his musicians. He respected his family. He respected the promoters and the producers that worked for him, that he worked for, and he respected his public. And thats the way he was. Because of that, you respected him. You never gave up a feel of love for this man because he was absolutely wonderful. Brown you know, you started by talkin talking about, but i gather he was playing until fairly recently, even for you, right . Dave was there in the very in 2011, last year, his sons, who are brilliant musicians, who are playing, and dave came hoping to play with his sons. And then we met in the car just a few minutes i got a call that he wasnt feel well. We sat there for 20 minutes. We didnt say anything. We just talked, talked about anything. He said, george, ficant play up to the standards of which i believe in myself, i cant play, so im not going to play anymore. And i think that was the end as far as his playing career. And its a loss we can never, ever replace. Brown just in our last 30 seconds, mr. Wein, how would you sum up his legacy, his influence today . I think that his legacy is that he could play jazz, which is a difficult music sometimes for the public to accept, and he could get the public to understand and accept it, and he never lost that feeling with the public. From the minute he became known, he was famous and drew filled up houses all over the world right until the end. Brown all right, george wein on the life and music of the great dave brubeck. Thanks so much. Thank you. Brown and you can listen to dave brubeck perform take five along with other classics on our website. Ifill again, the other major developments of the day citigroup one of the nations largest banks announced it will lay off more than 11,000 employees. President obama warned republicans not to try linking the fiscal cliff negotiations to an increase in the federal debt ceiling early next year. Timothy geithner says the administration absolutely it prepared to let the economy go over the fiscal cliff unless the republicans accept higher tax rates on the healthy. And the southern philippines struggled to recover from a typhoon that killed nearly 300 people. And what does a day in the life of public buses, trains and subways look like . The answer is part of our science roundup online. Hari sreenivasan has the details. Sreenivasan the image resembles a litebright time lapse. Find those pictures and our conversation with a Software Developer who set out to visualize the 24hour cycle of urban Public Transit systems. Thats on our homepage. An International Telecommunications conference in dubai aims to set new rules for the internet. Whats at stake . We take a look in the rundown. And on making sense, economics correspondent paul solman argues both sides of the Capital Gains tax debate. All that and more is on our website newshour. Pbs. Org. Judy . Woodruff and thats the newshour for tonight. Im judy woodruff. Ifill and im gwen ifill. Well see you online and again here tomorrow evening. Thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. 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