How has economy changed your holiday plans?
(PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
The shopping malls, department stores and discount retailers are doing all they can to let you know the holidays are almost here. This year, they really need your business. Last month, retail sales suffered the worst monthly drop on record. And the outlook isn't so bright heading into the Christmas season.
The unemployment rate is at a 14-year high of 6.5 percent, foreclosure rates have spiked across the country. Even if you're fortunate enough to still have a roof over your head and a job to pay for it, your retirement savings have probably taken a pretty hefty beating... as stocks continue their slide southward.
So spending money on holiday travel, food and gifts may a little harder to swallow this year.
There is one bright spot: gas prices are down...a lot. So you can at least drive to your relatives'. There are no guarantees what you'll find on the table or under the tree when you get there though.
Here’s my question to you: In light of the deteriorating economy, how have your holiday plans changed?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Fewer Americans see country divided: Why?
(PHOTO CREDIT: GALLUP ORGANIZATION)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
One of the longest, nastiest, most divisive presidential races this country's ever seen is now in the books. A little more than half of us are pretty pleased with the results. The rest of us? Not exactly.
But that doesn't mean we're without hope.
According to a new Gallup Poll, fewer Americans see the country as divided now as it has been after other recent presidential elections. We're still a long way from all being on the same page, but it's better. After the 2008 election, 57% say the country is more divided on major issues than in recent years. But that's down considerably from polls taken after the previous two presidential elections. In 2000, 64% said we were more divided, and in 2004, 72% said so.
A lot of Americans think Barack Obama is just what the doctor ordered. 54% of those surveyed said the Obama administration will be able to heal the divisions in the country. 44% say it will not.
Here’s my question to you: What does it mean that fewer Americans see the country as divided?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Is General Motors worth saving?
Click the play button to see what Jack and our viewers had to say.
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
As GM goes, so goes the nation...That's the old motto anyway. Financially neither one is looking so good right now. And General Motors, along with Ford and Chrysler, is looking for some help from our already cash-strapped government to get back on track. Estimates are if the Big Three go belly up, unemployment could hit 10 percent.
But doubts about a bailout for the auto industry grew yesterday on Capitol Hill as Democratic leaders conceded they don't have the votes to get a measure through in next week's lame duck session.
Watch: Cafferty: GM worth saving?
If General Motors fails– and it would likely be the first of the Big Three to fall because Ford is in better shape and Chrysler is a much smaller company– the impact would be huge. It's not just the hundreds of thousands of jobs at GM that would be lost, it's literally thousands of smaller companies all over the country that sell their products to GM. It's highly likely many of them would fail as well.
As Time Magazine's Bill Saporito put it quote, "The decision that Washington has to make is whether we pay for G-M's survival or for its funeral."
Because whether G-M gets help from the government or not, as taxpayers, we are on the hook. We'll have to cover everything from lost tax revenues and higher unemployment costs to G-M's hefty pension obligations.
Here’s my question to you: Is General Motors worth saving?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
@jackcafferty on Twitter
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