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Attack of the Attack Ads: Citizens United and the 2012 Elections

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

PBS - By Evelyn Messinger - Oct. 16 (Opinion) - In 2012, two tidal waves will reconfigure the American electoral system and the news media that cover it. A tsunami made of money will buoy up the structure of entrenched political power, while a huge wave of personal technology will disrupt it. I can predict both of these events with certainty because they've happened every election year over the last couple of decades. Still, the changes in 2012 may be dramatic. Angry citizens around the world have been using a potent combination of mobile phones, social networking and broadcast television to upend established political orders. Now it's Americans who are angry, and this election could spark a new level of activism leveraged by these same tools. At the same time, this will be the first general election since the so-called "Citizens United" Supreme Court decision, which tossed out the last vestiges of regulations limiting campaign financing. Among other effects, this will translate into a record numbers of attack ads next fall. Taken together, these two changes may profoundly affect our democracy, and they deserve a closer look.

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Name That Firework

Sun, 03 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

PBS - Jul. 03 (Special Report) - Every year, A Capitol Fourth strives to bring you the best fireworks of any July 4th celebration. But did you know there are more than a dozen types of firework effects? Here are a few of the styles that you may see at the A Capitol Fourth celebration. Peony The most common type of firework, the peony shell type is a spherical break of colored stars that burn without a tail effect.

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Why Every Student Should Learn Journalism Skills

Tue, 24 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

PBS - By Tina Barseghian - May. 24 (Interview) - How do we make schools more relevant to students? Teach them the skills they need in the real world, with tools they use every day. That's exactly what Esther Wojcicki, a teacher of English and journalism at Palo Alto High School in Palo Alto, Calif., is attempting to do with the recent launch of the website 21STcenturylit.

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Fighting for bin Laden

Tue, 03 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Frontline - By Stephen Grey, Martin Smith - May. 03 (Special Report) - Two days after Osama bin Laden's death, Frontline presents this special report with inside access to the two biggest fronts in the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban. First, correspondents Stephen Grey and Martin Smith go inside The Secret War and uncover new details of CIA-funded Afghan militas tasked with guarding the border, gathering intelligence and launching kill raids against the insurgents and their Al Qaeda allies. Based in Afghanistan, their work is focused on Pakistan. A former commander of one of these teams, the Khost Protection Force (KPF), tells Frontline about how the team crosses the Afghan border into Pakistan's tribal areas. Under the protection of drone aircraft, they fire mortars against Taliban and Al Qaeda targets inside Pakistan.

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The Facebook co-founder who got away

Sat, 25 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0700

PBS - By Lauren Feeney, Chris Hughes - Sep. 25 (Interview) - While Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg edges his way up Forbes’ list of the richest people in America and is cast as villain in the must-see movie “The Social Network,” (premiering tonight at the New York Film Festival), his co-founder Chris Hughes is about to launch a new social network — one aimed at fighting poverty and its attending ills. Hughes left Facebook in 2006 to work for the Obama campaign and revolutionized politicking with his new media strategy, centered around My.BarackObama.com, an online community for supporters of the now-President. Hughes’ newest project, Jumo, a social network for the social justice sector, is expected to launch this fall.

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Health Reform Misinformation Persists; Medicare Solvency Now Stronger

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700

NewsHour - By Judy Woodruff, Kathleen Sebelius - Aug. 02 (Interview) - With more measures from the health care reform law set to take effect, more states are filing legal challenges as well. Judy Woodruff talks to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for more on the latest health care reform developments and what consumers may see next. JUDY WOODRUFF: We take a closer look now at these developments and the battle over the law with the secretary of health and human services, Kathleen Sebelius. Madam Secretary, thank you for being with us. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary KATHLEEN SEBELIUS,: Good to be with you, Judy. JUDY WOODRUFF: So, four months in after the law passed, and still such vehement opposition out there. Half the states are trying to repeal this in one form or another. How do you explain this? KATHLEEN SEBELIUS: Well, I think, first of all, this has been a long and very partisan debate, full of lots of misinformation. So, there are a lot of people who still don't know what's in the law, don't know what exactly it means to them and their families. And what we're trying to do is actually get information, get some tools, as the president said, whether it's the new Web site, healthcare.gov, which is really pretty dazzling -- it gives people information that they have never had before in one place -- or, you know, mailing information to seniors. Once people know what the law means to them and their families, that their adult child stays on their plan, or that no longer will a child with a preexisting condition be able to be kicked out of an insurance plan by insurers, they become much more enthusiastic about what actually the Affordable Care Act does. JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, I want to ask you about that, because the president did say that in the run-up to the passage of this legislation. He said, once people knows what's in here, they are going to like it. But the polls still show, yes, there is some more support, but over 50 percent of seniors still say they are disappointed in this law. KATHLEEN SEBELIUS: Well, when you think about what happened to seniors during the course of this debate, it borders on outrageous. Senior, I would say, were really targeted with a whole series of misinformed statements that were designed to scare them about the law, to get them to actually call on their members of Congress and Senate to stop it, starting with everything from death panels, which still most seniors think are part of the Affordable Care Act. JUDY WOODRUFF: Is that right? Most seniors still think that? KATHLEEN SEBELIUS: Absolutely. The recent polling says that seniors think this actually was passed into law. Seniors think that there is a change in their guaranteed benefits under Medicare. Nothing could be further from the truth. The guaranteed benefits are not only stronger than ever. We're going after fraud and abuse in a way that has never been focused on. And the Medicare solvency is much stronger than it was before the law was passed. JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, I want to ask you about that in a minute. But today's ruling by a Virginia judge, saying that this -- this challenge to the constitutionality of the law can go forward, what about the argument that is being made that it's not constitutional to tell people they must buy health insurance? KATHLEEN SEBELIUS: Well, I think, when you think about it, Judy, first of all, it's not a surprise that the ruling came today. I mean, what it basically does is, now there can be a debate on the merits of the case. So, it's really a threshold argument: Did the attorney general have standing to go ahead? JUDY WOODRUFF: What do you mean it's not a surprise it came today? KATHLEEN SEBELIUS: Well, I think that, being portrayed as somehow a major ruling, all the judge said is, come to court and then talk about the merits of the case. We're convinced that there are -- strong constitutional basis for this. And the interstate commerce, which is the purview of the federal government, governing business that travels back and forth across states, when you think about health care, there is a lot of interstate commerce. A lot of the health markets are regional. And people pay -- taxpayers pay for every dollar of uncompensated care. For everyone who comes through an emergency room door, that goes on to the backs of taxpayers and lots of people who pay insurance policies and pay more for those who are uncompensated. JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, meanwhile, you have Republicans who are saying, whatever happens in the courts, they're going to continue to try to chip away at this legislatively. They're going to try to deny funding for big chunks of this. Do you ever worry that you are out there trying to defend something that's going to be hollowed out? KATHLEEN SEBELIUS: Well, I hope we are able to engage in a straightforward manner this fall in that debate. I think it's fine for Republicans to go to their constituents and tell parents who have a child under the age of 26, your son or daughter, we want to take back their right to enroll in your insurance policies. We want to make sure that insurance companies, Mr. Republican Congressman or Congresswoman, are going to be able to kick your sick child out of a plan. We want to make sure that seniors will not see their prescription drug doughnut hole closed over time. That's a debate I welcome and I hope that we are able to talk about. Repealing this bill means taking benefits away from lots of Americans who are really relying on this change, once and for all, to get some tools into their own hands. JUDY WOODRUFF: On the savings that you have been talking about today that will be realized for Medicare, Republicans like Charles Grassley -- you have got -- and the insurance industry now saying the cuts that will come to private Medicare plans will result in huge increases in premiums for seniors, which will then force them to give up their Medicare. KATHLEEN SEBELIUS: Well, I don't think that's accurate, first of all. The data shows that about a fourth of Medicare beneficiaries choose Medicare Advantage plans. We have more companies offering Medicare Advantage right now than we have ever had before. We anticipate... JUDY WOODRUFF: These are the private... KATHLEEN SEBELIUS: These are the private choices. So, you can either choose traditional Medicare or a Medicare Advantage plan. But we have overpaid by about 14 percent. And everybody else in Medicare pays for that overpay -- pays more for their Medicare policies, no additional health benefits to the people who choose. And all we're saying is, gradually, over time, that overpayment should stop. We think there's going to be plenty of choices. JUDY WOODRUFF: And what is going to happen to those seniors who are in these plans? KATHLEEN SEBELIUS: They will absolutely have the choice of those plans. Those plans will stay in effect. They will stay in the market. In fact, the Centers for Medicare Services has issued a notice to companies, saying there will not be a cut next year. There will be a flat line for Medicare Advantage plans, so come in with your package of proposals. Come in with your bid. But we think there are going to be plenty of options for seniors who want to continue in a Medicare Advantage plan. JUDY WOODRUFF: Let me ask you about another headache out there, and that is Medicaid funding for individuals, the poor. A number of states, governors are coming to you, to the Obama administration, saying, wait a minute, this law means that we don't have the flexibility to deal with these rising Medicaid costs. Our budgets are being stretched and strapped. What are you saying to the states that are struggling with this right now? KATHLEEN SEBELIUS: Well, first of all, as you know, I was one of them, until very recently, governor of a state, watching the Medicaid budget. And this is a federal-state partnership, no question about it. I mean, the first thing we need to do is get Congress to act on the extension of the assistance for Medicaid programs across the country. That's been pending now for months and months and months, and tonight again came a near vote in the Senate. It's now been pushed off to Wednesday. But that's a huge step forward for states, to pass the FMAP, the federal matching plan. Secondly, in 2014, when the Affordable Care Act has an expanded Medicaid opportunity for lots of adults who don't qualify, it's paid for 100 percent by federal funds for the first four years and then gradually recedes to a 90 percent federal funding. So, this is a huge number of people who currently are coming through the doors of emergency rooms in states. States are picking up costs for all kinds of health-related costs. And the federal government is saying, we think we should cover everyone, and we think we are going to pay for it, states, and help you in this partnership. JUDY WOODRUFF: So many, many questions out there. And we thank you for dealing with some of them with us. Secretary Sebelius, thanks so much. KATHLEEN SEBELIUS: Sure.

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Obama's War

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Frontline - By Martin Smith - Oct. 14 (Special Report) - Tens of thousands of fresh American troops are now on the move in Afghanistan, led by a new commander and armed with a counterinsurgency plan that builds on the lessons of Iraq. But can U.S. forces succeed in a land long known as the "graveyard of empires"? And can the U.S. stop the Taliban in neighboring Pakistan, where U.S. troops are not allowed and the government is weak? In Obama's War, veteran correspondent Martin Smith travels across Afghanistan and Pakistan to see first-hand how the president's new strategy is taking shape, delivering vivid, on-the-ground reporting from this eight-year-old war's many fronts. Through interviews with top generals, diplomats and government officials, Smith also reports the internal debates over President Obama's grand attempt to combat terrorism at its roots. "What we found on the ground was a huge exercise in nation building," says Smith. "The concept's become a bit of a dirty word, but that's what this is. We started with the goal of eliminating Al Qaeda, and now we've wound up with the immense task of re-engineering two nations."

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In Netherlands, Insurers Compete Over Quality of Care

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

NewsHour - By Ray Suarez - Oct. 07 (Special Report) - By world standards, the Dutch are wealthy and healthy, but the country's changing. With each year, it's home to more Dutch elderly and more young immigrants from the developing world. The queen opened a parliament once again wrestling over health care, still trying to contain costs after a massive overhaul designed four years ago.

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Reforming American Health Care

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

PBS - By Bill Moyers - Jul. 18 (Special Report) - Advocate Donna Smith on how our broken system is hurting ordinary Americans. Then, policy analysts and physicians Sidney Wolfe of Public Citizen and David Himmelstein of Physicians for a National Health Program join Bill Moyers for a frank discussion about the political and logistical feasibility of a single-payer system amidst the troubled economy and a government dominated by lobbyists.

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Is University of Missouri's iPod Touch 'Requirement' Fair?

Wed, 20 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

PBS - By Bryan Murley - May. 20 (Comment) - But the "requirement" wasn't really a "requirement," if you read further into the Missourian article: The requirement will not be enforced, however, and there will not be a penalty for students who chose not to buy an iPod touch or iPhone, [Associate Dean Brian] Brooks said. "The reason we put 'required' on it is to help the students on financial need," Brooks said. "If it's required, it can be included in your financial need estimate. If we had not required it, they wouldn't be able to do that."

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Interview: Arne Duncan

Fri, 01 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

NOW on PBS - By David Brancaccio - May. 01 (Interview) - Arne Duncan has a reputation for being one of the leading reformers of low-performing schools during his seven years as chief executive of Chicago's public school system. Widely known for his implementation of the radical "turnaround program"—in which some of Chicago's failing schools were shut down and reopened with an entirely new staff—Duncan became the Secretary of Education in January.

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In Your State: Stimulus Spending on Education

Fri, 01 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

NOW on PBS - May. 01 (Special Report) - The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed into law by President Obama in February includes $100 billion of federal spending devoted to reforming the U.S. public education system.

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Work Hard. Be Nice.

Fri, 01 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

NOW on PBS - By Jay Mathews - May. 01 (Special Report) - Many people in the United States believe that low-income children can no more be expected to do well in school than ballerinas can be counted on to excel in football. Inner-city and rural children raised by parents who themselves struggled in school are thought to be largely doomed to low grades, poor test scores, menial jobs, and hard lives. These assumptions explain in part why public schools in impoverished neighborhoods rarely provide the skilled teachers, extra learning time, and encouragement given to children in the wealthiest suburbs. Educators who do not think their students are very capable are less likely to arrange challenging lessons and longer school days.

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A Radical Fix for Schools?

Fri, 01 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

NOW on PBS - By David Brancaccio - May. 01 (Special Report) - How is Secretary of Education Arne Duncan going to spend $100 billion in stimulus money—almost twice the education budget—to fix our nation's schools? During his seven years running Chicago's public schools, Duncan went head to head with the teacher's union and skeptical parents by closing down low-performing schools, getting rid of all the teachers, principals, even the janitors, and reopening them with new staffs as "turnaround schools." It's a drastic step, but the results have been promising. This week, NOW travels to Chicago to investigate the collateral damage of a top-to-bottom school makeover, and to get a glimpse of what the future of education might look like for the rest of the country. "We have to be willing to experience a little bit of pain and discomfort, but our children desperately need it and deserve it," Secretary Duncan tells NOW. "Just as we have to do it, unions have to change, principals have to change, teachers have to change, parents have to step up... business as usual is not going to get us there."

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Poisoned Waters

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Frontline - Apr. 22 (Investigative Report) - More than three decades after the Clean Water Act, two iconic waterways—the great coastal estuaries Puget Sound and the Chesapeake Bay—are in perilous condition. With polluted runoff still flowing in from industry, agriculture, and massive suburban development, scientists fear contamination to the food chain and drinking water for millions of people. A growing list of endangered species is also threatened in both estuaries. As a new president, Congress, and states set new agendas and spending priorities, FRONTLINE correspondent Hedrick Smith examines the rising hazards to human health and the ecosystem, and why it’s so hard to keep our waters clean.

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An unprecedented abyss of economic and social turmoil

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Bill Moyers Journal - By Bill Moyers, Mike Davis - Mar. 23 (Interview) - Once a meat cutter and a long haul truck driver, nowadays, Mike Davis teaches creative writing at the University of California, Riverside. This recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" has written so many books we can barely get them on the screen for you. Two of his histories of Los Angeles and Southern California, 'City of Quartz' and 'Ecology of Fear' were best-sellers. His latest: 'In Praise of Barbarians: Essays Against Empire.' Mike Davis, welcome to the JOURNAL. MIKE DAVIS: My pleasure, Bill. BILL MOYERS: Did you ever in your life imagine that America's financial system would become insolvent or that our way of life would be in such a sudden freefall? MIKE DAVIS: No. And I found myself in the position of, say, a Jehovah's Witness, who, of course, believes the end is nigh but then one morning wakes up, looks out the window, and the stars are falling from heaven. It's actually happened. Of course, people a lot like myself are famous for I think the phrase is we predicted eleven out of the last three depressions. So, no. BILL MOYERS: But I do think this time most everyone would agree with what you how you've described what we're going through as the mother of all fiscal crisis. Do you have a sense of the people you know being frightened right now? MIKE DAVIS: Oh, people are terrified, particularly where I teach in Riverside County. People have no idea you know, where to turn. UC Riverside is the largest percentage of working-class students in the UC system. And their families have scrimped and saved. And they've worked hard to get into courses that pointed toward stable careers and jobs. And now those futures are incinerated. What kind of choice do you make? You know, what do you study?

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Calif. Scientists Advance Toward Producing Fusion Energy

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

NewsHour - By Spencer Michels - Mar. 17 (News Report) - Spencer Michels reports on the ongoing efforts of scientists in California, who say they are getting closer to producing fusion energy to help fuel American energy independence. Imagine producing energy the same way the sun does: cheaply, cleanly and infinitely. That's what scientists like Ed Moses at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab in California say they think they can achieve.

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Journalism Education's Broader, Deeper Mission

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

PBS - By Dan Gillmor - Feb. 07 (Opinion) - Accepting an award from Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School for Journalism & Mass Communication several months ago, former PBS NewsHour host Robert McNeil called journalism education probably "the best general education that an American citizen can get" today. Perhaps he was playing to his audience, at least to a degree. Many other kinds of undergraduate degree programs could lay claim to a similar bragging rights; a strong liberal arts degree, no matter what the major, has great value. Still, there's no doubt that a journalism degree, done right, is an excellent foundation for a student's future. Even if McNeil overstated the case, however, his words should inspire journalism educators to ponder their role in a world where these programs' traditional reason for being is increasingly murky. Our raison d'etre is open to question largely because the employment pipeline of the past, a progression leading from school to jobs in media and related industries, is (at best) in jeopardy. Yet journalism education could and should have a long and even prosperous life ahead -- if its practitioners make some fundamental shifts.

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Warren Buffett One on One, Extended Transcript

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

PBS - By Susie Gharib, Warren Buffett - Jan. 25 (Interview) - Q. Are we overly optimistic about what President Obama can do? Warren Buffett: Well I think if you think that he can turn things around in a month or three months or six months and there's going to be some magical transformation since he took office on the 20th that can't happen and wouldn't happen. So you don't want to get into Superman-type expectations. On the other hand, I don't think there's anybody better than you could have had; have in the presidency than Barack Obama at this time. He understands economics. He's a very smart guy. He's a cool rational-type thinker. He will work with the right kind of people. So you've got the right person in the operating room, but it doesn't mean the patient is going to leave the hospital tomorrow.

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Bill Moyers reflects on Middle East violence

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Bill Moyers Journal - By Bill Moyers - Jan. 09 (Comment) - In a city made noisy by hammers and saws preparing for the inauguration of a new president — a city already reverberating with partisan rancor, and with the constant chattering of the opinionated — it was hard to hear the sound of a single snare drum along Pennsylvania Avenue, between the White House and Capitol Hill, but there it was: a mere handful of men and women, 70 at most, had come out this rain-swept morning to bear witness to the dead - to the victims of war.

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Hunting the Hidden Dimension

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0700

PBS - Nov. 02 (Special Report) - They're odd-looking shapes you may never have heard of, but they're everywhere around you—the jagged repeating forms called fractals. If you know what to look for, you can find them in the clouds, in mountains, even inside the human body. In 1958, Benoit Mandelbrot begins using computers to explore vexing problems in math. They help him to understand repeating patterns in nature in an entirely new way. He coins the term fractal to describe them and develops the Mandelbrot set in 1980.

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Multiple Economic Factors Driving Fears of Global Recession

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

NewsHour - By Jeffrey Brown, Simon Johnson, Jim Ellis, Binyamin Appelbaum - Oct. 25 (News Analysis) - U.S. and global markets endured another tough day Friday as fears intensified of a global recession. Financial experts examine the factors driving the recession speculation and possible solutions to the crisis. Jeffrey Brown: Another huge hit on global markets, another volatile day on Wall Street, more nations looking for help, and new steps taken by the U.S. Treasury. We catch up on all this at week's end now with Simon Johnson, former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, he's now a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Jim Ellis, assistant managing editor of BusinessWeek magazine. And Binyamin Appelbaum, a financial reporter at the Washington Post who covers the Treasury Department. Well, Simon Johnson, the story overseas just gets worse. What jumps out at you today?

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Heat

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Frontline - By Martin Smith - Oct. 21 (Special Report) - (VIDEO - 50 mins.) Melting glaciers, rising sea levels, fires, floods and droughts. On the eve of a historic election, award-winning producer and correspondent Martin Smith investigates how the world's largest corporations and governments are responding to Earth's looming environmental disaster. "I have reported on the Cold War, the breakup of the Soviet Union, the rise of Al Qaeda, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," says Smith. "But nothing matches climate change in scope and severity." The world needs to dramatically cut the carbon emissions responsible for wreaking havoc on the planet's climate, according to Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, whose organization, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), shared last year's Nobel Peace Prize. "If we don't take action immediately, we face a crisis," Pachauri tells Smith. "Climate change is caused by human actions, and we need to do something about it. The sooner we realize that, the better." With that sense of urgency in mind, Smith traveled to 12 countries on four continents to investigate whether major corporations and governments are up to the challenge. HEAT features in-depth interviews with top policy-makers and with leading executives from many of the largest carbon emitters from around the world, including Chinese coal companies, Indian SUV makers and American oil giants. The report paints an ominous portrait. Despite increasing talk about "going green," across the planet, environmental concerns are still taking a back seat to shorter-term economic interests. Smith's journey begins at the epicenter of new industrial development: China. In the midst of unprecedented growth, the Chinese are clearly moving in the wrong direction. He visits Shenhua Energy, one of the largest and fastest-growing power companies in the world -- a coal conglomerate with a huge carbon footprint. But its CEO, Dr. Ling Wen, tells Smith that he answers not to the public but to his shareholders. "We must create money, not lose the money," Ling says. "It's my responsibility as a CEO of this company." And when pressed whether he should make climate change a higher priority, Ling says that he would if his shareholders asked him. But, he says, "I'm afraid maybe all the shareholders, they cannot accept that concept." In the meantime, China continues to build two new coal-fired power plants every week.

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Fed Chairman Signals Support for New Stimulus Package

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

NewsHour - By Jeffrey Brown, Martin Baily, William Beach - Oct. 21 (News Analysis) - Wall Street saw a boost Monday as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress that a second stimulus bill might help the economy. Experts examine the prospects for a new stimulus plan. JEFFREY BROWN: Just three months ago, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said he thought it was premature to serve up a new round of measures to stimulate the economy. But times have clearly changed, and today he weighed in positively on a notion that is now very much in play in Congress and being discussed as well at the White House. Is another stimulus plan needed? And if so, what should be in it? We ask that of two who testified at a congressional hearing today after Bernanke spoke. Martin Baily served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers during the Clinton administration. He's now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. William Beach is the director of the Center for Data Analysis at the Heritage Foundation in Washington.

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U.S. Stocks Up, But Unease Ripples Across Global Markets

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

NewsHour - By Jeffrey Brown - Oct. 20 (News Analysis) - Although U.S. stocks surged in the final moments, stocks in Europe and Asia dropped Thursday as fears of a worldwide recession grow. Journalists and an economics analyst discuss. ... Even as Wall Street opened this morning, there were heavy losses in Asia -- Japan's Nikkei index fell 11 percent -- and throughout Europe. In the era of globalization, the sun never sets on the financial markets, and now the turmoil and fears of a steep recession are worldwide. We update the situation with Zanny Minton Beddoes, economics editor for the Economist magazine; Heike Buchter, business correspondent for Die Zeit, a German newspaper; and Susumu Awanohara, a long-time economics journalist and now senior analyst at Medley Global Advisers, an investment consulting firm.

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