much effect it s having in dumping the pool. they say they re having the effect. then moving beyond that, there s the issue of 5 and 6. they haven t talked about it a lot. they have a generator in here and they say they ve got water flowing to those again. we come back to, as anderson said, again, number 4, number 4, number 4. this is the big issue because right now as they wrestle with all the other ones, elliot, they re almost acting as if number 4 is we ll get around to it when we get around to it. the truth is if there s no water in this pool, that s a big, big gamble. all right. if there is water in the pool, it s less of a gamble. either way, that s what they re betting on. let s hope for the best and hope there s an answer for it. coming up our next guest is a scientific visionary when it comes to japan s nuclear disaster. he s seen the future, and it isn t good.
not that the situation is better or worse in realty, but that there s more information to allow the assessment that came out today. look at today. look at the level of damage on all of these. this is the latest photograph that we have of all of this coming in here. and it gives you a sense of how much damage has been done. as officials have seen more of the damage to not only the structures and reactors but to the piping that goes to them, the electrical supplies, the superstructure, the more they have said this now rises beyond this level down here, it s up here to the three mile island level from 1979. which means wider consequences. it s still two steps short of chernobyl. believe me, these are big, big steps. what does this mean? here s what it means it means that they expect that radiation release has or has likely occurred in some sizable amount. they expect some deaths may happen as a result of this. and that severe damage has occurred to one or more nuclear
here. they say they are having effect. then we move beyond that. there is the issue of five and six, which we haven t talked about a lot. they got a generator in here and say they ve got water flowing to those again. so we really do come back, as you said, as anderson said, again. number four, number four, number four. this is the big issue because right now as they wrestle with all the other ones, they re almost acting as if number four is a we ll get around to it when we get around it. the truth is if there s no water in this pool, that s a big, big gamble. if there is some water in this pool, it s less of a gamble. either way, that s what they re betting on. all right. let s hope for the best and hope there s some answer real quick. tom foreman, always great to have you with us. coming up, our next guest is a scientific visionary when it comes to japan s nuclear disaster. he s seen the future, and it isn t good.
can general motors become a global leader again? it s a very tall hill to climb. they have got very interesting products they are developing globally. they were at that same point the homeowner is when they are about to lose their home. do you want a life line then? it was an expensive life line, big gamble, i hope they pay off. p.j. o rourke, you re the son of an auto salesman. four generations have been in the car business. i don t see any place for government in this kind of do you believe what he said, there was a chance those companies could have gone under. we do a little thought experiment on that. do we really believe those companies had so little value there wasn t enough international capital out there to get involved. chrysler said they couldn t sell it for a dollar. well, they may be right and that may have been about what it s worth. why are we the taxpayers keeping
history, in a rearview mirror, thank god for that. do you think after looking at this and listening to steven ratner the government did the right thing with respect to the auto industry. i do. when you look at what the alternative is, which is to have lost the companies, the ripple effect and impact on economies and the fact these companies needed a life line in a desperate moment, this in the end, i think, will prove to be a wise move. i think one of the interesting things ratner is saying and i ve climbed into some of these cars, some years in my career i did a deep dive into the auto industry, spent a lot of time in detroit and elsewhere. the key issue is the products have been lousy. we re starting to see, this is what is interesting to me, and i ll be watching closely, we re seeing competitive interesting products out of detroit. general motors is leading the way. the buick division, which would have been your great grandpa s car a few years ago is doing some things. it s the ho