(CNN Student News) -- October 27, 2008
Quick Guide
It's Our Fault, Too - Consider who bears the blame for the current financial crisis.
Downsizing - Discover how some homeowners are downsizing their dwellings.
Tunes from the Trail - Hear about the history of music in American political campaigns.
Transcript
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: October is winding down, but we're just getting started with a new week of CNN Student News. I'm Carl Azuz.
AZUZ: First up, figuring out who's at fault for this current financial crisis. We've mentioned some of the solutions the government is trying to turn things around: President Bush is planning to host an international summit; Congress is talking about a new stimulus plan. But who's responsible for getting us into this mess? Randi Kaye has been looking at some of the biggest culprits, and she says the blame, at least partially, is on you and me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RANDI KAYE, CNN REPORTER: It was the ride you thought would never end, the spending spree you've grown accustomed to: bigger homes, fancier cars, more credit cards than you could count!
ALI VELSHI, SENIOR CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: We took on too much credit. It was part of the American dream that we were convinced we needed to be part of.
KAYE: For many, that dream is now a nightmare. In September, more than 80,000 homes were foreclosed on, a 71-percent spike from the year before.
VELSHI: We had the ability to get cheap and easy credit. It's like somebody offering you crack. You don't have to buy it.
KAYE: But we did! The Federal Reserve says the average family in the U.S. is nearly $80,000 in debt, including mortgages. That's about $2 trillion nationwide. And consumers are saving less than ever. In the last four years, you've saved less than one percent of your income!
VELSHI: We didn't save for a rainy day because for so long, we didn't see that rainy day. And now it's pouring and nobody bothered to stop and buy an umbrella, even if you could charge it to your credit card.
KAYE: We know it's not all your fault; you've been bombarded with offers of cheap credit and bigger home loans. But consumers seem to have abandoned any sense of discipline.
VELSHI: At some point, personal responsibility needed to kick in, and you needed to say, "You know what, I really can't afford this."
KAYE: But with all this easy credit, how could you? Especially when your neighbor's house is bigger, your best friend drives a nicer car.
KAYE: Instant gratification; easy credit makes it possible. Remember when you had to actually save up for what you wanted? Now you just charge it. Credit card approval takes minutes. And those fancy cars, instead of buying them, since you couldn't really afford them, you started leasing them.
VELSHI: Car leasing was a contributing factor to our idea that you didn't have to cut back. You could always get more than you thought you could afford.
KAYE: Living beyond your means has earned you, the consumer, a place among our ten most wanted culprits of the collapse. Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Ok, so if living beyond your means -- buying bigger homes, bigger cars -- can be a bad thing, then one solution may be to downsize. But some homeowners are taking that to the extreme, condensing their lives into less space than the classroom you're sitting in. Thelma Gutierrez takes us on a tour of a new, tiny trend in housing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN REPORTER: Some Americans are unloading their possessions, and they're learning to live small for peace of mind. In the middle of California wine country, Bill Kastrinos is learning less is more. How many square feet?
BILL KASTRINOS, TINY HOUSE OWNER: It's 98 square feet on the first level.
GUTIERREZ: For Jay Shafer, smaller is better. How many square feet here?
JAY SHAFER, TINY HOUSE OWNER: Depends on how you count it, but I usually just say about 100.
GUTIERREZ: They live in teeny, tiny homes, not much bigger than a child's playhouse.
SHAFER: On this side of this room, we've got a couple of puffy chairs flanking a boat fireplace.
GUTIERREZ: Oh, my gosh. Where do you sleep?
SHAFER: This is the sleeping loft upstairs.
GUTIERREZ: There's barely enough room for two people.
SHAFER: A stove and a refrigerator, even a little toaster oven.
GUTIERREZ: But Jay and Bill say owning a tiny house is the tradeoff for living without debt.
SHAFER: Oh, I'd say I'm living on less than $15,000 a year, mortgage free.
GUTIERREZ: Jay says thousands of people across the country are unloading clutter and getting rid of big houses to join the small house movement.
SHAFER: I look around and I do see a lot of people who seem like they're slaves to their homes.
GUTIERREZ: Jay says purging allowed him the freedom to walk away from a job he didn't want.
SHAFER: I didn't want to pay rent or a mortgage forever, so my plan was to escape the rat race.
GUTIERREZ: Now, he designs small homes for people who want a scaled-down version of the American dream.
SHAFER: Above the kitchen is the access to the loft.
GUTIERREZ: This is the toilet/shower, and imagine climbing a ladder to bed every night. Are you making a political statement here, or is this about being practical?
SHAFER: Its both. It's a very practical thing for me. If I didn't have a 100-square foot house like this, I probably couldn't afford to live in this county. Aside from that, politically speaking, I like the idea of showing people how little a person could need.
GUTIERREZ: Bill and Sharon Kastrinos joined the movement out of necessity.
KASTRINOS: We had a construction business in Southern California and things started slowing down with the economy.
GUTIERREZ: So they started building small houses. In 6 months, they've already sold 11.
GUTIERREZ: What do you think you gained in exchange?
SHARON KASTRINOS: I think the freedom. It's a tremendous burden that's off your shoulders. Small is ok, and it might even be better.
GUTIERREZ: So, what's the average cost for a tiny house? They range between $15,000 and $45,000, and you can park them pretty much anywhere you can park an RV.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ID Me
GEORGE RAMSAY, CNN STUDENT NEWS: See if you can I.D. Me! I'm a private home that's open to the public. My first residents moved in back in 1800. I've survived two fires since then, but my outside walls are still the same stone from my original construction. My address: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I'm the White House, home of the U.S. president.
Where They Stand
AZUZ: In January, the White House will have a new resident, either Senator Barack Obama or Senator John McCain. This week, we're gonna be taking a look at where these presidential candidates stand on some of the big issues, starting with the war in Iraq. Senator Obama, who was a state senator when the conflict began, opposed using military force in Iraq. He also opposed sending additional troops in 2007, a strategy known as "the surge," although Obama later admitted it helped lower violence. If elected, Senator Obama has said he'll gradually pull U.S. troops out of Iraq, with most American forces moved to other locations by the summer of 2010. Senator McCain voted for the use of military force in Iraq. He was one of the earliest supporters of the 2007 troop surge, and believes it was a turning point in the war. Senator McCain has said he doesn't believe in setting a timetable for moving U.S. forces out of Iraq, but he doesn't want to keep them there "a minute longer than is necessary."
AZUZ: There are lots of ways to show your support for a candidate or his position on the issues: T-shirts, bumper stickers, online groups. But there's another medium, music, that has been a time-tested way for Americans to express their political views. Jill Dougherty chimes in with a report on campaign songs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SOUND AND IMAGES: Hank Williams, Jr. sings at a McCain rally in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN REPORTER: Presidential campaign songs don't necessarily win elections, but they can sure help rev up excitement among a candidate's supporters, in person or on the Web.
SONG: It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed the trails for freedom: Yes we can. Yes we can.
DOUGHERTY: Turns out, campaign songs are as old as America. Like this one for America's first president, George Washington.
SONG: God Save Great Washington, his word from ev'ry tongue demands applause.
DOUGHERTY: His supporters simply lifted the music from the British "God save the King."
PROFESSOR PATRICK WARFIELD, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: You're gonna hear good old American partisan passion.
DOUGHERTY: Professor Patrick Warfield of Georgetown University put together a whole show based on campaign songs. Here's what supporters of Abraham Lincoln were singing when he ran for president in 1860.
SONG: Hurrah for the choice of our nation, our chieftain so brave and so true. We'll go for the great reformation for Lincoln and liberty too!
DOUGHERTY: There was negative campaigning back in those days too, songs about candidates' drinking or womanizing. There were show songs that became political songs.
SONG: The country's wild about Harry, and Harry's wild about, cannot do without both my country and me!
DOUGHERTY: Campaign songs these days often are less about the candidate, more about themes, the way the world might look if they were president. Jill Dougherty, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Before We Go
AZUZ: Before we go, we're releasing the hounds! That might sound more terrifying if this costumed canine wasn't dressed up like a bowl of fruit. The masquerading mutts don't get to have all the fun at this Halloween party. A few owners showed up in matching outfits! There were creative costumes on display, including a headless horse-man's horse... dog, and some standards, like this poochie princess. But most everyone seemed to have a howlingly good time.
Goodbye
AZUZ: Doggone it, we're out of time. We'll see you again tomorrow. I'm Carl Azuz.
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