president's special envoy to afghanistan and pakistan is hospitalized in washington, critical condition after surgery to fix a tear in his aorta. in in addition to having been a guest on this program, ambassador holbrooke is a member of the extended "larry king live" family. his daughter sarah is one of our best and senior producers. we send our best to ambassador holbrooke and hopes he makes a swift and complete recovery. conan o'brien tomorrow night. barbra streisand wednesday.

i am now focusing on jobs and what he is proposing along with republicans amounts to an almost $900 billion stimulus package which republicans have now signed onto. my feeling quite frankly is that the democrats ought to understand that they're getting

a lot out of this deal and go with it. >> roland martin is a cnn contributor. first, i want you to listen to president obama defending the tax deal. listen to this. >> the bipartisan frame work that we've forged on taxes will not only protect working americans from seeing major tax increase on january 1st, it will provide businesses incentives to invest, grow, and hire. and every economist that i have talked to or that i've read over the last couple days acknowledges that this agreement would boost economic growth in the coming years and has the potential to create millions of jobs. >> roland, on this show you have made the point that extending tax cuts for families making $250,000 and more would not help job creation. are you saying that the president is wrong in what he just said? >> i was repeating what the

president was saying for the last two years. the president himself has been making the very argument that we should put the money in the hands of the middle class and folks who are in a lower class because they are likely the ones who are going to spend more. now, all of a sudden the president changes his tune because republicans made it perfectly clear they were not going to budge at all from that. in his news conference the following day he made the comment about this whole notion of they saw this as the holy grail. therefore, he decided to go along with the short-term extension of all of the tax cuts. gloria's point. i understand. democrats are angry because of the state tax provision. the house earlier passed the extension in terms of the certain cap $3.5 million for individuals, 7 million for a couple, the president in negotiation raised it to 5 and 10 million and democrats said where in the world did that come from?

that's why you see angers between house democrats and the. >> house democrats aren't in on the game and are curious as to who was negotiating for democrats. let's bring stephen more into this. i've spoken to you more in the last week than my wife. i still haven't got a straight answer out of stephen. tell me again specifically as you can other than the fact that it makes everybody feel good how extending these tax cuts to the top 2% of earners, those who earn more than $250,000 ends up creating jobs. >> well, let me just first say that my friend roland has it half right about why this happened. it's not just because republicans won the election. the over thing, roland that happened in the last week was he got 9.8% unemployment rate. that was the trigger for why this deal had to get done. the white house correctly

panicked that what they've been doing for the last two years to create jobs hasn't worked very well. ali, i tried to explain it to you many times. here's the point. when you talk about those people in top 2% or 3%, if you look at the statistics a good percentage of those people are small business owners, operators or investors, people employers in the country. the point that i've made and many republicans are making is if you want to create jobs, you can't take money out of the hands of businesses. you have to give them an incentive to invest and to hire workers. by the way, it's very rare as you know i agree with larry summers and joe biden and barack obama. if the deal is done, it will provide a lot of juice for the economy in 2011 and if they get this deal done, i think it enhances his chances of being re-elected in 2012. >> the issue here is not -- i don't think it's that stephen agrees with them but criticism is that the president and his advisers all rolled. >> yes.

and also -- >> i don't think they got rolled. i don't think they got rolled. if you look at where the money goes in this package, the democrats got the extension of tuition tax credits. the earned income tax credit. they got middle class tax cuts. so if you want to divvy up numbers actually, the democrats actually got more of what they wanted and the republicans got what they wanted. the big thing here is -- this is for phase two, what happened next on deficit reduction because i think now republicans who vote for this are complicit in adding to the deficit so the question really is do you do some big tax reform package that reduces the deficit. >> they got rolled in a sense when the president in this news conference talked about the notion of maintaining a purist position. all throughout the midterm elections you heard the

president talk about i will not extend the tax cuts for those above 250. that was the hard line position he took. republicans hard line position was -- >> there was an election. >> i get there was an election. when you hear republicans talk about principle, talk about this is where we stand, democrats are saying why did you give in? the reality is the white house blinked. republicans remained steadfast. that's just a reality. >> i do think this is a change of strategy. there's no question the first two years was a stimulus plan orientated toward spending. this is a traditional republican stimulus of cutting tax rates. i'll say this on the deficit issue. if we grow this economy, if we start getting jobs back, i predict next year we'll have a lower budget deficit and not a higher one. the reason the deficit is through the roof right now is the economy isn't growing and people aren't working. >> we'll keep talking to you and follow this closely. thank you. if this deal does go forward,

taxes won't be going up for anyone in the new year but you could be stuck with a much bigger bill when it finally comes due. i'll explain on the other side.

are reducing the deficit isn't that difficult.

the tax cuts have been extended for everyone for two years and extends benefits for long-term unemployed for a year. ken is a harvard professor and former chief economist of imf, international monetary fund. this tax proposal could cost $800 billion or more. you warned us before of a looming debt crisis. larry summers went further. this is what he said. he said if they don't pass this bill in the next couple of weeks it will materially increase the risk that the economy would stall out and we would have a double dip. is what he's saying true and does that make sense? >> i think we need something like this. there's no question. unemployment is hanging up at a high level. we need some stimulus. it provides clarity and confidence but you're right. we got to pay for it down the road. it's not a free lunch. cutting taxes does boost the

economy. it doesn't cost as much as most government spending. there's no free lunch. >> it does kind of feel like everybody punts this one. everybody does the thing that's politically expedient at the time and then doesn't deal with the fact that the deficit is looming. this has gone from an issue that hawkish conservatives were concerned about to an issue everyone is worried about because no one has a solution to the deficit and the debt. >> frankly, i thought the commission that came in with this report about what to do with the deficit had a lot of good ideas. you have to get rid of the deductions. make it a lot simpler. lower the tax rates. that way we can have a higher tax and not mess up our economy as much. that's the way forward. the president said it recently. >> the perfect way to get nothing done in washington, d.c. is to create a commission. we already have a commission. it's called house and senate committees.

it's called the congress. so this is one of those wonderful ideas that people say thank you so very much for this hefty weighty report and we'll absolutely ignore it. >> i worry about it becoming another 9/11 commission report. the reality is you do sometimes need other people because congress are the people that got us into this to some degree. >> there are members of congress on the deficit commission. here's the fundamental problem here. we know that three biggest areas of our budget, medicare, social security, and defense. the reality is republicans do not want to touch defense. democrats do not want to touch social security or medicare so we're back at the standoff. also, look at the tax cuts. it will increase the deficit but republicans say, okay, there's no sweat. we're cool with that. nobody likes pain. that's the problem when it comes to our deficit. >> let me ask stephen about what you're saying.

no one wants taxes to go up at the end of the year. is it more important to boost the economy in the short-term or to take steps to reduce deficit in long-term because the deal that the president has made with republicans may not do anything or much to reduce the deficit in the long-term. >> the number one issue to the american people, myself, you, everyone watching this show right now is jobs. how do we get 15 million people without jobs back into the workforce. that's got to be priority number one. to my friend, roland, i would say this. we have a new congress that's coming in in january. the republicans take control of the house. let's see what they do. i think you'll see some very significant spending cuts. a change in strategy now. we'll see across the board reductions in the amount of spending for not just the domestic programs that you like but i think defense programs are going to have to come under scrutiny as well and then we have to tackle those big entitlement programs starting by the way in step number one probably going to have to repeal the obama care health care bill.

we can't afford to put 30 million people under the government health insurance system. >> operative word. come under scrutiny. scrutiny is not a cut. stephen, you can try -- >> i'm going to use fantastic graphics to bring this back. let me remind you in the tax proposal under scrutiny at the moment. it's not a done deal it will get through. basically this tax proposal includes extending tax cuts for everyone. not just those families earning $250,000 or less. everybody. it extends unemployment benefits and the ability to apply for extended benefits for a while. it does not help the 79ers and 99ers exhausted of unemployment benefits and creates a payroll tax holiday and reduces the amount that you are paying that employees pay for social security from 6.2% of income to 4.2% of their income. let me ask you this, ken. in the wake of this great recession which we hope we're in the wake of, can you expect

americans to prioritize the country's debt over their immediate needs? this is what it is. something that will hurt us and affect us in the future versus right now. i want to show you a poll before you answer that, ken. let me show you this gallop poll just taken recently. support for extending tax cuts for all americans for two years, all americans, 66%. two-thirds. support for extending unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed, also two-thirds. those two things do different things. >> well, i mean, there's no question that the economy needs the help now interest rates are very low. we will down the road if we don't do something. the reason we're not paying like them is the rest of the world crazy or not think that we'll address the problem eventually. they think americans are

inventive. we'll come up with an idea. i really do think we need the stimulus now. we're just in no position to go through with big tax hikes and the economy is not growing the way the white house had hoped at one time. the federal reserve is at its limits. i don't want to see trade protectionism. i really think this was a pragmatic decision by the president and while the liberal democrats are whining but they lost the election. if they wait they're not going to get a better deal. >> hold that thought. you'll take us into the next block. hold that thought for a second. more with roland, stephen and ken in just a minute. banks were at the center of the financial crisis. sheila baird was watching over those banks. what the fdic chairman has to say about the health of your bank right now on this show.

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>> lots of debate about what the right thing is to do. roland, pick it up. >> i have no faith in political leaders or american people doing the tough choices. here's what i mean. we saw it this year. democrats felt that health care was a vital issue. what ends up happening? massive losses when it comes to the election in november.

we know that immigration is a critical issue in this country. republicans do not want to touch it out of fear of ticking off the tea party. democrats want top touch it but fear of failure because they don't want to angry hispanic. when it comes top deficit and cuts and the hard cuts, we don't -- we always say not in my backyard. cut the other guy's stuff and not mine. that's why we never get anything done. no politician wants to face the prospect of losing office by making the tough choices. >> you know what? we have and ken one of the top economists in the country. i'll pose this to him. the way i think about this, ken, is we have to get the economy growing faster than the debt. so we don't end up like ireland and spain and portugal. if we get to 4% growth which we should have in a normal economic cycle, i think you start to see revenues pick up and the gdp grows and then the debt isn't

quite as big a problem as it is right now. would you agree with that. >> you'll be the hero of this show if that ends up happening. ken, what's the likelihood? >> i think it's strong medicine we need now. unemployment is just at a horrific level. things are really tough. but we have to do something over the long run. this isn't going to go away. we spend more than we tax. roland is right. voters are to blame. we vote these people in. if someone tries to do something different, we vote them out. i think that day of judgment will come when interest rates start going up and you just have to look across to europe and watch what's happening and not just to the smaller countries, germany and france are getting hurt too. it's going to come our way. we will have to react. i do think we'll do the right thg. winston churchill famously said americans do the right things after trying everything else. >> and also, ken, americans are a reactionary society. we do not want to go on the offensive.

we have to wait for a critical mass to act. i can't believe what we heard from stephen. let's hope it gets better and it won't be too bad guess what? if economy goes to 4% or 5%, the debt is still too high. >> i agree with that. >> you said it won't be that bad. >> let's see what you have to say come january and february when i think republicans are going to make those tough cuts and my prediction is roland will be the first one who will protest those cuts. >> i invite you all back. i invite you all back to continue this conversation right here. we'll keep a close eye on it. thank you so much. roland, stay there. next, she's on the front lines. safeguarding your bank account. she says extending tax cuts before slashing debt is a big mistake.

one-on-one with sheila bair next. in this week's turnaround, stephanie elam looks at one woman's brewing passion for her coffee business. >> i met lucy in july of 2009. she was determined to take her mobile espresso catering company from the cart to the corner coffee shop. >> i'm not letting up, boston. i don't care. >> and now welcome to voltage coffee and art. to make her dream a reality, she used her catering funds and worked at a second job at another coffee shop and then she found a venture capital firm, launch capital, which gave her a $150,000 loan. by networking with her clients, she got help writing a business plan, finding a contractor and building her cliental. >> what's so cool about this place and how it became a brick and mortar location is i already had a name for myself before i opened the door. voltage coffee made something to someone before i opened the door.

>> welcome to small business. it's only an 84-hour week. >> cook awarded her $4,000 to start her catering cart through the sam adams brewing the american dream program which helps small food and beverage businesses get funding. he understands her passion. >> when i first met her a she's making cups of coffee. with just a bit of a loan she was able to make that dream this beautiful coffee shop. >> now with one successful shop, she's hoping this is just the beginning.

>> basically you still are not done with boston even though you have your storefront. >> this is just the beginning. >> stephanie elam, cnn, cambridge, massachusetts.

taxpayers could get an early christmas present in the extension of existing tax cuts. as we have been discussing, there are some very tough decisions to be made about reducing the deficit and ultimately the debt. deficit hawks warn the cost of doing nothing or even doing what the president and republicans have compromised on may be another financial crisis.

maybe bigger than one we have ever seen. one person concerned about the deficit is sheila bair. you'll know her as chairman of the federal deposit corporation but because she's someone that's been selectively vocal about other issues beyond that of just banking in the united states and we appreciate that, sheila. you're not like some in washington. always talking about stuff. when you talk, people listen. let's talk about the deficit outside of your purview but you are concerned that we really should have started working on this deficit now. >> yes. we really do need to get a plan, a credible plan in place in this congress. it can be phased in over the next several years but i think it's important for the international community and particularly the investor

community to understand that we do have a sound path to fiscal responsibility. we don't have that right now. >> it's my sense that americans would embrace a tough path if they knew where it led. right now we have a lot of rhetoric out there. we have people saying this deficit we're passing on to our grandchildren which doesn't mean anything to most people and others saying you can't tackle the deficit during this economic time. we have had these commissions particularly the president's commission offering some hard choices to rein in long-term deficit. which of those choices do we need to consider embracing? >> a credible plan. i think the bull-simpson plan is a credible plan and how a bipartisan agreement could be achieved. there are other plans that

incoming budget chairman paul ryan has a good plan. that may be more to the ideological preferences of some but i think that's not really the question. the question is where can we find common ground in the middle to approve a package. i think it needs to be evenly distributed. it needs to be fair and credibility and real and not gimmickry. i do think the deficit commission recommendations are credible and certainly ones that we could support. i think again it's just important that this be dealt with in a meaningful way. >> they are offering up talking about reductions in mortgage interest deductibility and talking about social security increasing age at which you get that. they have sort of offered something. should it be realistic that we need to move in this direction? >> there are several areas where there are good support getting rid of the special deductions and getting rid of that and

lowering everyone's rates and picking up revenue in the process would be a tremendously beneficial to taxpayer fairness equity and simplicity. many changes in social security even public polls are showing that people would support to removing or raising the cap on the income that's subject to the fica tax now. i think there are a number of measures that have good support and hopefully they can put together a package that is at least within $4 trillion over ten-year range. it needs to be done and there could be real world ramifications. it's not just that. it could be real ramifications for costs and consumers and the government and for banks if this isn't dealt with in a meaningful credible way in the short-term. >> one of the things that you gained a lot of acclaim for through the worst of the financial crisis where we didn't think everyone had a handle on what's going on. you had your fingers on the pulse in this country. i assume you and your colleagues have the best sense of what's going on in banks. have you lost any sleep over wikileaks saying they have enough information to bring down

a bank or two. >> you know, listen, i think it's always important for everyone to understand deposit insurance and understand that if you're fully insured at your bank you have nothing to worry about. we have a special website that explains the rules. 250,000 per deposit or per bank but you can get more than that. our website will help people walk through that. i think if you want to learn more about banks, there are reliable sources of information. our website, call reports have a lot of financial information about banks. credible analysts out there. i would look for reliable information about the banking sector and understand that if you are below our deposit insurance limit you are fully insured no matter what. >> do you think it's likely there's information about banks that you don't know? >> i don't. i said this before. i can't imagine what could be out there that they think would have such a big impact. sounds like it's old information. whatever it is. so, you know, i ignore that kind of thing.

people are just trying to stir up trouble and scare people. that's not constructive. i ignore it. i hope other people do the same. look for credible sources of information if you are interested. >> always a pleasure to talk to you. thank you for being with us. sheila bair, chairman of the fdic. imagine living on $190 a month. now imagine doing that in retirement. this could become a reality for americans if things don't change. i'll talk to you about it afterwards.

>> watch enough tv and read enough blogs and you will think taxpayers always get a raw deal. about a $12 billion profit. roland is backs and lex joins us as well, managing of cnnmoney.com. we remember when banks were in big trouble back in 2008. the government entered with the controversial bailout to prop up a number of financial institution. you know it as t.a.r.p. citigroup received $145 billion. the treasury department announced it is selling shares of citi and will wind up with

$57 billion as a result. we spend 45 billion to bailout citi. $57 billion came back a couple years later. a nice $12 billion profit for taxpayers. general motors, a profit turned on citi. was the bailout good business? i'll start with you, lex. >> it's getting harder to hate this bailout. i remembering about back at the beginning of the year forecasting a $100 billion dollar loss from t.a.r.p. and down to 56 and now we're at 25. it's hard to see what the problem is. in fact, you are beginning to see a lot of very positive signs in the financial sector. >> what do you think, roland? >> an absolutely good idea but it's not just because of the profit from the sale of citigroup. remember you were on tv every day, mr. doom and gloom, stock market dropping 500 points and people were freaking out because of 401(k).

dow goes down to 9,000 points in march. now it's back up 2,000 points. we stabilized those 401(k)s and pension plans and so the market was able to get itself together and be able to move forward. that to me was the most important thing with t.a.r.p. and bailouts because it was needed. for all of these people who were complaining understand if we didn't save general motors more than 1 million people would have been out of jobs. not just people at those plants. the parts makers. restaurants around the plants. the people who own homes in those areas. this thing would have been crazy had they not taken action. a smart move. >> was it smart move or a lucky move? >> it was definitely a smart move. it's really tough. you couldn't imagine where we were two years ago that we would be where we are now relatively stable financial markets. it's amazing to me given the profit figures we're seeing that

it doesn't square with the public sentiment. everyone still hates t.a.r.p. >> that might be the lesson to us all. a lot of things seem gross that we don't want to do. it looks like at the time rewarding the very people who caused the problem but in the end it may have worked out well. >> can i make one other point on this? there are still -- it is still important point to make that it's not like a poker game where you can take your chips and leave with your profit, right? it's very possible that the full cost of the bailout is not yet known. the government did a lot of stuff, flooded the system with money to make sure that we would make money on this deal and so we don't know what the outcome of that is going to be. >> as you and your folks at money.com always point out, we attach ourselves top the number associated with tarp but it's trillions of dollars put in by the fed and in other case. we may not have profited on the whole deal just yet. good point. living on $190 a month.

a month. that will be a reality for many americans who are currently in their 50s. according to a new survey, people are not saving enough for retirement. we knew this. more evidence of this. even when you factor in social security. 72% of those surveyed expect to work through retirement, which is not the world's worst thing, of those folks more than half say they'll have to work while the rest say they want to keep working. obviously we can do that now. officially the economy has been recovering since june of 2009. we're past the -- we're a year and a half into this recovery according to experts. businesses are doing better. the fact that so many people simply won't have enough money to retire, is that a sign the recovery is failing to reach individuals or is this just the way we've been behaving for years? >> it's the way we've been behaving for years. unfortunately it's only getting worse. and i view how prepared people are for retirement as the ultimate yardstick of where we are.

and you can talk about record profits for companies and you can talk about stabilization of financial markets but if the kind of numbers we're talking about that people will retire on is very troubling. >> did we wake up after this financial crisis? are people going to realize they have to save and can't just have a house that goes up in value? >> i said this before. one of the values that i believe, no matter how painful it is, out of this financial condition we're in right now, it forced americans to go back to old school priorities. that is if i can't afford it, i can't pay for it in cash, i'm not buying it. so absolutely. so look, i've been there. i've filed for bankruptcy. i almost lost my house. even all of the money i make right now, man, i pay for my car. i am paying my house off. i don't want debt. this whole notion that we have to carry debt is crazy. i'm hopeful that people have realized we can't just keep buying and buying and buying and second home and jet skis and

multiple vacations because you have to think about the future. my parents are retired at 63 living in my home. i'm even telling them what they can't buy so they can manage their money right now. i'll say no. i'm your son. i'm thinking about where you're going to be in the next seven to ten years. forget it right now. >> two of the best dressed guys in the news business here. roland martin, always a pleasure to have you. >> i got my johnny cash look going. >> you do look like johnny cash today. lex harris, always good to see you. money.com is just a treasure-trove of all of this kind of information from personal finance to investment so check it out on money.com. parents always ask me, what should my kid be studying to make sure they can get a job when they get out of school. i've done research. i'll tell you on the other side.

parents ask me all the time what their kids should study in

school to land a good job after graduation. my answer is accounting. accounting jobs are expected to grow 22% between 2008 and 2018 cording to the bureau of labor statistics. accounting is about money. money is everywhere. you don't just keep the books. you might advise companies on the best way to use their money. in a globalized economy there are greater demand for accountants with expertise in international trade and mergers and acquisition. a good accounting job is going to take work. a job like public accounting requires a four-year degree and advanced degree or a cpa designation. one thing about accounting companies is they are very in touch with businesses. they have the pulse of business in america. we thought we would turn to the head of a major american accounting firm to get some sort of sense of what accounting -- what business is going to look like through the perspective of

an accounting firm. we are joined now from london. the company conducted a survey of clients to see how optimistic they are about the economy and whether they are planning to staff up in the next year or so. welcome to the show. thank you for being with us. we are mired in, surrounded in, drowning in pessimism about business. your report is actually more optimistic than i would have expected. >> well, good morning. yes. thank you. nice to get some good news for a change, isn't it? we conduct this survey quarterly and our most recent survey in all three major areas that we ask the participants we got an improvement in optimism. overall level of their business optimism and perspective on own businesses improving and

actually an increase in the number of people that thought they might be in a position to hire in the next six months. very good to see some improving results. >> now, more than half of the business leaders that you surveyed reported that they are concerned about a double dip recession. that is sort of two edges of the same sword. is this fear of a double dip

preventing small businesses from hiring more people right now? >> i think one of the reasons that we saw some improvement in their optimism was a reduction in some of the uncertainties. but those uncertainties have not completely gone away, and there still remains, i think, widespread concern about the fragility of the recovery, where some government policy and tax requirements may be going, the impact of health care, what's happening in europe, the thought that perhaps expansion in china might start stalling. all of those things continue to create uncertainty that causes businesses to, i think, tell us that they still believe there's a possibility that we could see the economy going backwards. yes, i think inevitably that concern about uncertainty impacts confidence. confidence or lack of confidence impacts their willingness to invest and hire. >> let's talk about the fact -- we just talked about the accounting industry, one of the few industries on a long-term hiring run. we've seen retail companies hiring people in the last few months because we saw consumer demand pick up. isn't it demand that's going to cause companies to hire people versus a very politicized discussion about certainty or uncertainty? >> i think that's right, ali. certainly as i travel around and talk to our clients at grant

thornton, we have very dynamic clients, they're dynamic businesses that want to grow and invest. they have ambition. certainly the uncertainty is a factor that impacts their willingness and ability to do that, but there are other factors, too. i think they're looking for an environment that's going to be innovative. they need more access to capital. >> let me ask you this. you have lived in great britain where you are right now, and you now live in the united states and work there. you've also lived in china. a lot of people have been watching particularly this past week the demonstrations in london over the uk government's decision to increase tuition. we've seen other demonstrations across europe, and people here in the united states have been asking me, are we next if we don't get our deficit and debt under control? what's your thought on that?

>> it will be interesting to be in london this week and observing the student riots and also trying to not only dodge the demonstrations but also the continual talk of the royal wedding. we at grant thornton operate in over 100 countries around the world, and we're very fortunate with the dynamic organizations that we serve seeing them increasingly wanting to expand their business into the opportunities that the global economy provides. there's no doubt it's very unsettling when they see these sort of images on your television channel, for example. i think there is concern that the united states does have work to do to get its financial and fiscal house in order, and there may be some medicine to take. however, i also -- getting back to our survey, i think that's tempered by a high degree of optimism. i think in the united states structurally we're in a much better position than perhaps some of the european economies

that have labor legislation that makes it very difficult to actually increase the private sector job opportunities, whereas in the united states i think we have more flexibility. we have perhaps a stronger sense of innovative in the labor markets, and i think we have more of a willingness perhaps to change and to retrain. i think if we're going to get out of a 10% unemployment issue in the united states, we're going to have to look at retraining some of that work force to take advantage of the industry sectors that do have a chance to grow. >> steven shipman of grant thornton. thank you.

if you or someone you know cheer is in short supply this year. usually this is a time when companies lay people off and don't hire them. career coaches tell christine romans that the end of the year is not time to let up on your job search. listen. >> a little firmer. watch that. get right in there. >> this career coach wants you to get a job for christmas. >> people might think that december is not a great time to look for a job.

the reality is if you're job hunting, all you need is one job. >> no question. with more than 15 million americans out of work competition is fierce. >> people aren't hiring at the end of the year. january more likely, february is when we see employers confident to hire. >> in terms of career openings, it's broad-based all throughout the economy. all sectors have openings. the challenge is because people looking for jobs for those openings. >> that is 4.4 job seekers for every available opening. sounds daunting but the best it's been in two years. >> please don't bring family members or friends with you to an interview. >> she wants you to beat out three people to be that be one. >> if you get yourself invited to an office party as a plus one, fabulous, especially if it's a company organization you

want to get inside. have a party. have a potluck. it doesn't have to be expensive, but you've got to be out there connecting with people. >> according to "consumer reports" americans spend on average 15 hours at holiday gatherings this year. etiquette expert peter post says you don't have to network for a job at those parties. >> tack, honesty, and show a little restraint. at the same time, you're honest about your situation, and all of a sudden it's amazing how people open up, listen, and offer to help you. >> bottom line, there are plenty of opportunities to network for a job this season. just do it tactfully or don't do it at all. christine romans, cnn, new york. >> thank you for joining the conversation this week. i'm here every saturday 1k p.m. and sundays at 3:00 p.m. you can catch christine romans on your bottom line on saturday morning 9:30 a.m. eastern. eastern. have a great weekend. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com