prison riot south of lex topg. some of the 1,100 inmates housed there set parts of that facility on fire. some of the building so seriously damped they will to move some inmates to our facilities. health care reform proposals continue to cause confusion and stir debate. send us your questions on facebook add fredricka whitfield@cnn or cnn.com/newsroom and toon in today at 4:00 p.m. eastern where our panel of guests will join knee separate the fabts from fiction in the health care debate. stay with cnn throughout the day for the latest breaking news, "your $$$$$" starts right now. your health care. what changes, what doesn't? who benefits and who pays? the cot of reform and the cost of doing nothing. no noise, just answers. >> how much is it going to cost my kids? plus liberals appalled by a

deal between the white house and the drug company. a former member of president clinton's cabinet tells us why. got ready. it's time to talk "your $$$$$." welcome to "your $$$$$." i'm christine romans. lfr lfr is off this week. it's make or break month for health care reform. a happens will affect thousands of americans. competing proposals and nothing set in stone. let's bring in our senior political analyst and doctor radio. david, start with you. the odds are failure are rising a little bit every day. why? >> well, christine, these last few weeks have been cruel for health care reform, because we've seen a definite falling off, a fading of some support for president obama's health care reform and a growing resistance expressed in these town hall meetings, and i think it's changing the political mind-set, the psychology of congress.

it's very clear that rubbens are going republicans are going to be resistant to a big bipartisan deal than only four weeksation. it's going to be left up to the democrats increasingly, but among the democrats there's a real falling out now that's going on over important elements of the health care plan. >> most notably, the public option which was, we thought, a hallmark of this whole thing. right? a week now of this controversy of will there, won't they and how crucial and critical is the public option, where does that stand? >> we've reach add point now where moderates and liberals are getting so worked up over this, that it may be very hard to find a solution. in the house of representatives, there is a very large liberal block that's saying, if you don't put the public option in the plan, we're voting against it. we're going to vote against health care reform. and over in the senate side, democrats are saying, if you do put a public option in the health care reform plan, it will fail in the senate. so that's -- that's the makings

of a failure, and the president, when they come back from vacation, i think is going to have to haul democrats in, sit them down and be forceful working out a deal everybody can work with, otherwise he risks failure. >> the politics ever all this critical in what david is talking about, the politic. meanwhile, on the street, around the country, people are trying to figure out individually what this reform that's not even written yet would mean to them. listen to william from baltimore. >> caller: heim a veteran and also a retired it federal civilian employee. so i have access to two health care systems. what i really want to know is how any proposed health care legislation may affect or impact federal employee retirees? >> that was a caller this week on a radio show here at cnn that i hosted for ali velshi, and he wants to know what this means. we hear over and over again specifically this issue.

1.84 million federal retirees. what happens to them? >> everybody wants to know what it means to them. hard to get an answer. on this one, straight forward. on the v.a. side, veterans administration side, confusion in the beginning. quickly came out an said no changes to the veterans benefits plan. on the federal employee side it's both retirees and federal employee, the federal government's like any other employer. i don't think you'll see changes, and my favorite expression, the devil's going to be in the details. certainly the federal government has the ability to change the plan design once, whatever legislation comes out. although i see the rest of the country migrated more towards the federal plan as opposed to the other direction. >> you host a radio show, too and have been hearing from callers who want to know what's in it for them and what's going to happen for them. questions we can't answer now. the number one thing you're hearing? >> unquickically, if i stop insurance now, what does it mean for me in the future? can i keep my benefits. the answer is, maybe. in the short term, work for a

large employer you'll be able to keep your benefits as they are. assume your employer wants to provide the same benefits pack amps. however, the legislation is written with time limits and after a certain amount of time, if your employer's plan does not meet the criteria needed for this whatever benefit pact package the federal government puts together, the plan becomes disqualified and people's benefits will change. >> talk health benefits who has most to gain, the least to gain. people who have conditions today, people who don't have insurance, the early gainers. he'll who have their own health insurance through think company, could see co-pays vary and change and generally health economists said those who buy their own could see costs go down. is that a broad brush stroke of what it is? or maybe? >> maybe. depends on what legislation comes out and whether there's a governmental plan or if not and what's designed into these packages. i can tell you we all have a lot at stake in this.

the largest percentage of the uninsured are largely young american. a huge piece at stake and we're not hearing from them and they'll pay for a big chunk of this. >> a lot of people, when you larry people talking and asking questions about health care reform, afraid what they'll give up and who they're going to support. the midst whoof is in these bills, immigrants granted insurance coverage paid for by taxpayers. what's the truth? >> a number of that, one of them is that illegal immigrants will be covered by insurance. the president has given flat out promises that illegal immigrants will not be covered by this insurance. there is a, another myth which i think is about abortion, that the government is going to be paying for a lot of abortions. christine, as you know, there's more confusion over that issue as to where this is ultimately going to come out. so third myth is that government will take over health care in this country. i think it's way too early to

say that the government's going to take over. i don't think that's in this bill as all. are we in a trend direction? a more interesting debate. and finally, there's a myth, and i think this is a myth, that this bill is somehow going to lead to euthanasia, that there's going to be a death panel, so to speak, tell an old person when or if we're going to pull the plug on grand opinion ma, to use the phrases out there. and i think everything about this bill says we're not going there. that's not what this bill is about. that, in fact, all this is is about end of life counseling. and that's being dropped. i do think the day may be coming when there's going to be a lot more talk in the culture about how long one should live at the end of life and whether one really wants to be in a vegetative state and voluntarily give that up in a living will, which a lot of people already do. >> when you have politics and fear and uncertainty, then obviously, things been charged

and that's how these myths happen and real fear, an epic undertaking health care. thank you so much to both of you. also the host of sirius dotcom radio. more to talk about. this is frankly only the beginning. getting you the information you need doesn't end when this show is over. you can led to cnn.com/healthcare to answer your questions, fact checks, myth busters and more. so much for a new era from washington. we examine by republican and democrats can't seem to get along on health care or frankly anything else for that matter it seems. then a former member of president clinton's cabinet says an alliance between the white house and big pharma means you'll be stuck paying higher drug prices.

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all right. time for the ticker. we go through the headlines so you don't have to. we invited friends to give us their take on the news. joining us, stephen and pat aenk of new york 1 news. the obama administration threatened 20 push through a health care reform bill without republican backing.

democrats and republicans seeing eye to eye or -- for any other issue for that matter. stephen, can they get a bipartisan bill through? >> bipartisan, no. no way in the world. they couldn't get a bipartisan stimulus bill. one of the big failures of this administration has been its failure to bring republicans and democrats even remotely together. i mean, this country has become utterly fractured along political lines. if they're going to pass a bill it's going to have to be totally partisan. >> i hear more about the politics than the policies sometimes behind this bill. the politic, so darn, i don't know, interesting 0 horrifying, i can't decide, but moving quickly at least. >> well, i think republicans see the democrats just, you know, eating each other on this issue right now. they're having a good time watching that, but i agree with steve, that this is -- this is, if you look at the big issues in america, seismic changes, social security in the 1930s, welfare

reform in the 1990s done on a broad bipartisan basis. it's hard for me, christine, to see how this works if only democrats think they can do this totally on their own, even if they win, which i don't think they will, there's no kind of broad public support for the new program. >> and then answer the question what is a new public program and where will they go with it, people looking at public systemens 0 the other side. there's no consensus over where we should get to. >> i want to add one thing. why couldn't this administration have put in the bill something everyone could agree with? u. don't see it in the bill? >> no. this is it. this say the of work -- >> wait. >> it's 863, stephen back in. >> the only people that will vote for this are republican and democrating lawyers. that's who's enriched by this. listen, go back to the '60s. i don't remember when. maybe i'm not that old even though i look it. richard nixon declared war on cancer. everybody thought it was a great idea. why don't we declare war on

diabetes? 20 million americans could be helped by winning this war, and this is a war that's winnable! >> prevention is part of this. i want to let people know, i'm taking, this is a first here. just the first -- >> how many pages have you printed, christine? >> i know. now the conservation people will be on my case. this is just the first, i don't even know how much how many this is. 301. this is the -- called hr-3200, this big pile here. we've been hearing a lot about this. and house members, different committees about the senate version, it's much, must shorter. equally -- >> so far much shorter. >> none of these have -- this is all work, stephen, addition and for people to understand, all of this is still changing. all of this is still changing. isn't it? >> yes. the reason the senate bill is so shorter, christine, elements of the bill they haven't filled in. they just left them blank. but i mean, steve, i agree with you so much today. you're right.

this is a lawyer employment act and i've actually read the bill. not the whole thing but a lot of it, and i'm a pretty intelligent person. i have a master's degree and couldn't understand half the language they were talking about. >> read all of the 3,200 joking saying, gosh, three kids, where do you get the time? i have an ability to read a lot of information, and -- can't do it. >> i'm obsessed at this point. why can't they find one aspect of this that everyone can agree with? just one little point? and then maybe make that the focus of the bill, and, again, i keep coming back to this issue. there's 20 million, 30 million americans that suffer from die beat ooesz. there are drugs call the glp-1 to devotes 3ds billion, $4 billion to research to get the drug's approval. >> there are no specific drugs or commissions named in here. broad principles. let's move on. move on to the next idea. sort of a general conversation.

hearing health care reform critical to once the economy starts to rove we want it could continue to grow in health care reform. look at this number here. not sure if any of you are fluent in latin, but here is my roman number for the next story. the number is 38. 38%. the percentage of employers expected to rehire workers they have laid off. the angel of darkness two years. let me say something that's not negative. gm, one of those companies that will rehire workers, asking for the 1300 employees to come back to work mostly due to increased production in sales from the cash for clunkers. >> because we gave people $3 billion to buy cars. >> and signs the economy is bottoming, pat, or -- >> what's the surprise about that? throw all this money at team to come and buy cars. they buy cars for three weeks. >> listen what to robert gibbs said. no pessimism. the spokesman, white house spokesman. didn't want to take pessimism an

cash core clunker. listen to what he says. >> this has been a very successful program. okay? dealers have sold cars like they haven't sold them in quite some time. manufacturer, producing cars like they haven't in quite some time, and workers have been hired again to make those cars to replace that inventory like he haven't in quite some time. this is, without a doubt, an unqualified success. >> pat, what's wrong with that? unqualified success? >> paid them to make the cars! >> christine two days ago i was really kind of down. didn't get enough sleep. drank eight or nine cups of coffee. it was great. the next day totally dehydrated and had to sleep four or four day. we don't know the after effects of this. we know consumers pileed up a ton of it debt, not shopping at other stores. retail x autos are way, way down. it's way too soon top say this is anything, could be a total failure. we don't know what it is at this

point. >> christine, i got to tell you for full disclosure, rime one of those american whose took advantage of this program. i loved it. the government gave mes 3ds,000 for a car worth $600. the lessons americans love free money. right? this was a free money program. the prop is problem su don't get rich cashing out. that's what we've done. >> is it a sugar rush not necessarily sustained economic growth? through the fall? could this take money away from other retail spending in your view? >> the problem with the program, yeah, we've seen a big surge in auto sales. the real question, what's going to happen from three months and six months from now? all people are doing is just moving forward the transportation abcs they would have made three to six months ago pup might see nosedive in sales in a few moss. >> moving on to the next question, we can barely believe this story from "usa today." a government paid funeral

services, basically, because a spiking number of people who simply cannot pay, do not have the money to pay for fun lals themselves. instead, counties and states are using public money, your money to cremate or bury people too poor to pay for public service ps truly a sign of the times when people can't afford to pay for their own funerals anymore? a bottom in the economy looking towards a recovery and still looking to things like this. >> most have done this. they've said they've seen a notable increase 10% in some places bp 20% in others, and double in other places. people saying, setland ground, whatever the average funeral cost it. >> sign of the times? >> a sircht times, christine. totally. yeah. it's horrible. there's nothing else to say to this, except that times are really, really lousy. >> what you can say about it the economy is so bad you can't even afford to die. >> all right. i love it when you end with a

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mom and dad, get out your checkbooks opinion $50 for ing issing in the choir. another $50 to play in the band. $100 to $300 to play a sport or be a cheerleader, depending where you live, rather than cut sports and clubs public school, getting creative to save extra crick color activities. >> reporter: head to head competition for a spot on the team. no guts no glory. sure, but no cash, no football? each of these kids pays $100 to pay, budget cuts left this new jersey school district no choice. >> set! >> reporter: job was cut. some class sizes got bigger. now they've turned to new fees to keep sports and extracurricular activities alive. $100 in the high school, $75 in the middle school. a discount for families. >> including the cutting of middle school programs, cutting

of some coaches and ultimately after listening to so many parents, they were in favor of the other option, which was to institute the activity fee. >> reporter: a growing number of schools in 33 states are doing the same, after cutting to the bone. >> we're trying to find ways to eliminate costs where they can, but with the difficulty with the economy, we're seeing the amount of dollars that parents are being ask to pay to support programs increasing. >> reporter: parents have mixed feelings. >> at first, i felt a little funny about it, but then i thought about it. if the sport is going to die, i'd rather pay and keep the sport alive. >> reporter: the superintendent of this school says many parents feel the same way and participation hasn't been hurt, but she sees the strain on families. essex county has the second highest property taxes in the country. >> one of the things that parents raised is there's a lot of fund-raising that also goes on with respect to musical

programs or athletic programs. so you know, the activity fee was on top of all the other contributions that parents make all the time. but they wanted to see all the programs stay. >> reporter: those schools waived the fee for kids who can't afford it. and here what some of you told us on facebook and twitter. the fact children involved in these activities get better grades. not only are they better students they're healthier and in the long run will contribute to society morened be less of a burden on joe taxpayer. debbie said we actually had to pay for parking and they've taken away linen services for the school. towels are no longer provided for the students for gym or sports. the family has to send the towels home and send the towels and pray the kids bring them home. jude fri new jersey says, pay to play is fair. as a new jersey homeowner, the bulk of my taxes are for schools. new jersey taxes are among the highest in the nation. people without children should be given a break and parents

should provide for the needs and wants of their children. ticked off at how the recession is hurting your school, drop us a line with questions and kearse at "your $$$$$" at cnn.com or sandy tweet at christine romans. and long awaited credit card crackdown takes effect at long last. what are your new rights? you'll find out next. so what do you think?

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if i'm overdrawn, charge me 20%. >> are you rejecting that and stick wig the old rules? >> i mean, i don't know. i don't know what to do. >> i mean -- this is a big change, christine, it's that if you reject everything, you can pay back in five years, but before, if were you going to pay back, the amount you had to put down was, could be almost anything. now it's set. it's a fixed number and it's not, hopefully not as honorous as it once was. >> we were clamoring for this and seen interest rates rise, know they're closing people's accounts know the rewarts programs are going awe way or

strictly limited. we want add bill of rights. got our rights but at what cost? >> yeah. i think consumer finance 101, less than a year, christine you don't want to have debt on your credit card. the way the card companies make their money. i happen to think the huge explosion of availability of credit cards over the last 25 years has been something very pro-consumer. it helped low nk people be able to buy things. i don't have a problem with this still. i'm one who defends industry, but i think most of the changes here are commonsensical and i think it will make it easier for people to understand the terms of their credit card. >> the big change i think, christine, comes in february. where they say, if you're not 60 days in arrears, you cannot raise the interest rates. what happens if one is right and inflation starts to rise? that could really hurt the bank, and that could really benefit consumers, because it's going to pay them to be a little bit late, because they're going to take advantage of inflation.

>> listen, speaking of being late, an increasing number of homeowners failing to pay property taxes on time. no surprise here. it's tough. according to a report in the "new york times" local governments, this is surprising. local governments turning to private collectors to track down the money. that means quick cash for the county and they've close at gap from the people who aren't paying their taxes on time, but it means higher bills for the dlivg went homeowners because the private companies tack on huge service fees and interest rates. are local governments actually kind of making it worse? they have no other choice? >> it makes sense if everything is working as it should because the local government gets numbers on the cents from the dollar from the debt collector and deal with the problem. the issue is when you get into so many people having trouble. where's do you end up with here? the entire neighborhoods foreclosed? the city governments at least use discretion. >> this is a brain dead idea by the local governments. why don't they get the banks involved? because if these houses are foreclosed, the banks lose, too.

they lose mortgage payment. instead of turning to a third party, which is going to charge near usurious interest rates, charge someone mode vated to see that these people pay their taxes, don't get closings why aren't the banks involved? make a law the banks have to be involved? you can't get these outside visas? >> and it's like they're hiring guido to come and collect property taxes. the irony sheer what we talking about. credit cards charging these huge fees on overdue credit. now they're going to charge you huge fees to government, governments are, overdue on property taxes. an injustice here. >> and guido's entirely removed the situation. doesn't worry what the local unemployment rate is or the -- guido just wants his money. >> you need a third party interesting in sees this work out. these tax collector, don't give a darn. >> let's move along from our friend guido, to michael vick.

out of prison. he's back in the nfl. vick's jersey was the top seller on the nfl website at one point last week. the top seller, and his 234i new employer, the philadelphia eagles report they have not lost a single corporate sponsor, despite all the controversy surrounding vick and the worry that he's going to keep fans from buying tickets. we live in a country where if you have something that you're good at, we will give you a second or third chance. is that what we're seeing? >> take a little while for everybody to step back from the situation. here he is, he's back, got a contract. he served his time. >> should we be idolizing and -- >> i don't think we should be idolizing -- you should recognize we are entitled to second and third and fourth chances in this country. i think that's part of america, and if michael vick goes around and basically promotes the humane society and what they're doing and that's exactly what he's trying. >> they didn't hire him to promote dogs and cats but a

really good football player. >> true, but on the other hand, if he served his time, learned a lesson, we have to believe, he says he has. you give people the benefit of the doubt, this could do more damp to dogfighting, which continues to be a very, very active pastime unfortunately in this country and other parts of the world. michael vick could really make a dent and really improve that horrible situation. yeah i think the eagles, hooray for the eagles they did something brave. >> cost the eagles, cost anybody or we move on? >> we live in an era of redemption. people love the stories. comes down to one thing. can the guy complete passes? because if he performs on the football field i think the people are philadelphia will be very forgiving. >> yes. forgiving in this country when somebody is successful at something and contrite, 200. >> money, michael vick is certainly paying. his old contract was worth many time what's this one is. >> oh, he has a little hiatus.

>> like $30 million or something like that. >> wow. all right. more than $100 million. my producer says more than $100 million. >> wow. that's paying a lot. >> paying a lot. unless you're talking about, washington, that's a lot of money. >> should have given that money to the people top pay the bills. >> and everyone, thank you very much. a lot of fun. and the companies are alive with the white house for health care reform. our next guest says, that's going to cost you big time. 

>> george: on the surchs sounds bike a victory for proponents of health care reform. the pharmaceutical companies onboard working with democrats in the finance committee, receiving praise from the white house. for an $80 billion pledge to reduce costs over are the next ten years. former clinton cabinet member robert reich said he's appall by the deal twine the white house and the pharmaceutical industry. i asked an an alliance will mean for your drug costs. >> christine, we don't know the details of the deal. in fact, the white house has been living a little around whether there was a deal or what the term was. according to the pharmaceutical industry, there was a deal,

there is a deal and a big part of the deal is that medicare will not be allowed in the future. just as it hasn't been under george w. bush, to negotiate lower drug prices using a huge bargaining leverage it oishz otherwise would have. this means if in fact this was the deal that drug prices would stay quite high and it would put a crimp in overall long-term reductions in health c.a.r.are spending. >> your column, your piece on this issue was scathing. very outspoken about what you see as an alliance between these two. we spoke to the pharmaceutical president, representing the drug companies and asked about this deal and the reports it's going to save about $80 billion in health care costs in exchange for the government agreeing not use purchasing power to lower drug costs. he said, "there is no secret agreement. we were career with the

administration you can sign us up as partners but we will not support price coals because of its impact on research and development. when the senate and finance releases the plan you will see saving for seniors fixing the doughnut hole and approximately $50 billion as a mix of fees and receipts to expand health coverage to millions of americans." how do you respond to their response, i guess? >> the $80 billion they're promises to save very small in comparison with all of the money that we otherwise would save if medicare and medicaid could negotiate lower drug prices. remember, the baby boomers are approaching the time when they will be eligible for medicare. and the actual population of medicare and medicaid eligibles not only because they're baby boomers also because of this new health care plan, should is go through, will be very, very large. so if there are going to be savings through negotiating lower drug prices those are

going to be much, much grateder than $80 billion over ten years. >> back in 1984, the last time we tried this and it didn't get through, pharma was an obstacle. opposed to the proposals on the table. what could president obama have done to neutralize an opposition to universal health care without take ago way the government's bargaining power over drug prices? >> well, that's a very good question. i mean, the pharmaceutical agency, industry, and also the ama and the doctors, the hospitals, they last time around in 1994, and i was there, i had a front seat, they all opposed health care reform because it was going to hurt their bottom line. it was going to roob them of profits they thought. this time, the obama administration may be wisely, as a matter of tact tactics decided it would make deals and buy them off so they would not have that very strong opposition they

before. well, the problem is, if you buy them off, then you are essentially going to rob yourself and the public ever the savings you want to get over long-term health care reform. how do you balance the two? is it possible to have a much stronger health care way in actually keeps the bargaining leverage medicare and medicaid might have on the drug industry and still get the pharmaceutical industry in tow? i don't know. >> mr. secretary, 15 or 20 seconds here, do you think they'd get reform this time around and does it look anything like the proposals on the table now? is there a lot more horse trading in politics before we're done? >> going to be a lot more horse trading, christine. there is enough behind health care. the question, what exactly will we get? it's time for a heart to heart talk with your parents about their money and their retirement. why you absolutely must talk to

your senior parents before it's too late. coming up next. (pouring rain)

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jushgs when you were a little kid your parents probably sat you down and talked to you about money. about savings, about budgeting, maybe a little bit of annie louns to sh allowance to show the skill ps now that you're adult it's time to have ta conversation with your parents. the stock market most people lost money in their portfolio because of this financial crisis including your retired parents. parent getting close to retiring. our next guest says it's time to check in on mom and dad's finances and their retime plan. a personal finance editor is with us. the tough conversation to have. a delicate conversation to have with your parents, to ask them, look, where are you right now? i mean, are you safe? are you solid? are you ready? >> you used the exact, right words. delicate. i think that's the key thing if you're going to talk to your ageing parents about their finances, you really do have to approach it with a lot of

delicate diplomacy. after all, your parents have been living most likely independently for 70, 60, 80 perhaps-plus years and now just the thought of talking to their children, albeit their adult children about finances could put a lot of fear and apprehension on them. they might be worried about appearing to have mismanaged their finances, they might fear loss of control. go slow and have a lot of respect when you talk to them about t. if you can get information from them right away or want to get at much as can you before you talk to them what can you do? >> one of the things you should do is not just automatically assume it's about extracting information from them. you might offer yourself as a resource to them. you might start by saying, can i help you organize the bills or get your paperwork? order? something sthats a light touch and easy approach. not just, how much is in the 401(k) and do you have enough in pension to ride you through rest of your retirement? you can also tell them about resources that might be available to them as elderly

citizens. that's the kind of go-slow approach that will help them feel more confident in talking to you about these matters. >> before you talk to them, questions you have, is the mortgage paid off? do they have a 401o pension and have they asked you or your siblings for money? that gives you clues where they are. >> that's great to know before you even start the conversation. by and large parents are probably going to fit into two categories. one, the parents who need help down the road, perhaps because they need help right now. knowing whether or not they're asking you or your siblings for money is criticing. two, the other parents my be okay financially, and that will dictate the specific question that you ask. if they already need help, chances are the conversation will be a little easier, because you've had some issues with money already. >> even when i was in high school i was having conversations with my parents. believe it or not. i'm the oldest. i remember my dead show showing me where the insurance papers were, in case something happens.

opening this dialogue early. what do they need in case of emergency. >> kudos for your dad for doing something that is is very atyp. most people won't sit their high school children down let alone adult children. the key is, you know, if you start asking about important financial paper work, whether their 401(k) assets, their pension, those kinds of things, you don't want to make about how much is in those accounts or what do you have, necessarily. start by saying, you know, mom and dad, i feel so much more comfortable knowing the basics like where the paper work s or who your financial advisors are just in the event of an emergency. then i wouldn't feel so stressed if i had to jump in and act in your stead. so you want to know where the will is. you want to know who their life insurance agent is put to make sure they have a legal power of attorney. not the specifics necessarily of all the details but who are you

advisors or at least where is the important paper work. >> real quickly if your parents are asking you for money and you don't have any money, how are you supposed to handle that >> it's a tough call to make. let them know about openings. maybe a reverse mortgage, annuitities, locator.gov is a good one. n4a. they all will tell you about resources available for senior citizens. >> thank you so much. >> my pleasure. >> regardless of your own financial situation, the town you live in can make a big difference in the quality of your life. we visited one town that makes life better for its residents. >> this is a wonderful place to stay and raise a family. it's progress. got beautiful natural resources.

>> spanish lake, a st. louis suburb, 25 minutes drive north of the famous arch. >> we have a great population. >> spanish lake isn't wealthy. fewer than 15% of residents have college degrees. compared that with the national average of 27%. >> there used to be a lot of activities for the kids but there aren't the mall doesn't have very many retail stores so kids have to go to other places to shop. a lot of activities that kids were doing they have to go to other municipalities to do those activities. >> that's changing. this is a group organizing new activities for local group. >> we did not have a boys and girls club two years ago. now we do. but it serves the kids at one school. we need to expand that. >> the spanish lake community association are restoring a

historic house to create a community center and they launched a website for the area. >> i see it as an opportunity. not really so much as a challenge but a real opportunity for us to help bring people into the association, into the community that have not probably felt part of it for quite some time. >> the parent-student-teacher association is making a strong push to help kids go to college. >> speakers from universities, taking them on college campus tours, bringing them work shops for the students to help them with their applications. >> it's all about creating a better quality of life. recession or not. >> it's a great place to live and to raise a family and we're so fortunate that organizations are working together to strengthen this community. >> all right, coming up next, richard quest joins us from hong kong with a look at how the

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going from hong kong to london here to new york. can't wait to see him to see how these major financial centers are weathering the economic storm. richard, what are you finding there? >> i'm finding that i left london in gloom dismay and d dispondency. i arrived in hong kong and things are different. whether it's because of the vast stimulus package or asian spirit people in hong kong are far more optimistic than anywhere else. to put this into perspective, property prices in this city, having tumbled maybe 25% after last september, at the luxury end, the luxury end, they are now back to where they were before just about. >> so, does this bode well for the u.s.? we have numbers showing existing housing sales up.

some companies say they are hiring workers back. do you expect to see this optimism when you head back to this direction >> no. but to bring this full circle, what they are saying here, what they are realizing is that even though they have economic growth in hong kong in the last quarter of 3%, they cannot grow further and they cannot grow faster without the u.s. consumer. all roads eventually lead back to where you are, christine. they need, asia needs, even though it has some growth of its own, interasian good growth they need the u.s. consumer if things are going to get going. what they have here is optimism, what they need is americans to start spending again. >> a lot of their growth is stimulus. if they withdraw that stimulus or tighten credit standards, in china in particular is that going to slow -- is that going to slow their advance?

>> that is the big question. the general feeling is that there won't be a withdrawal of stimulus any time soon but there may well be a tightening of the lending, the bank lending which is the same thing. government money channelling out to the banks into the wider economy. what they really want to see is the united states getting some form of firm footing, not just reaching the bottom as we heard maybe today from ben bernanke that perhaps the bottom has been reached and things are getting better. they want to start seeing some positive growth numbers out of the united states. when that happens, then all the goods that are over here they will start to be sent back to where your. >> okay, richard quest in hong kong. if anybody wants to know about his custom made suit from hong kong you have to follow him on twitter at richard quest. thank you so much, sir. we'll see you soon. thanks for joining us on your