hundred a week. now 2,000 to 3,000 pie as week. david: tell maureen dowd. number one thing to watch, new home sales released 10 a.m. eastern time. economists expect sales to rise 4.4%. gerri: hello, everybody, i'm gerri willis. coming up new warnings out today. ebola is here to stay and will continue to spread but has the fda found a treatment? also as the fall season kicks off so do holiday prices and they are rising. we'll help you cut your costs. exclusive interview with wells fargo showing how optimistic american workers really are. "the willis report" where consumers are our business starts right now. ♪ gerri: between high fees and crammed seats flying is a hassle these days but now there is a new threat, cell phone conversations. the federal communications commission has been considering for nearly a year, lifting the ban on cell phone calls aboard

planes but now capital hill is getting involved. a group of 77 lawmakers sent a letter to the fcc and the transportation department urging them not to allow cell phone calls at 30,000 feet. one of those lawmakers joins us by phone, republican congressman bill johnson of ohio. congressman, tell us why you oppose these calls? i know why i hate them but why are you owe pesting them? >> gerri, for two reasons. first of all thank you for having me on your show today. for two reasons, one is the safety concern. can you imagine what would happen in an in-flight emergency when the flight crew are trying to get passengers to comply with safety instructions and everybody has their cell phones out and trying to call home and they're doing all of these things, not paying attention? safety concerns would be my number one objection to this. but secondly, you know, not everyone has the common courtesy not to conduct an invasive

telephone conversation. can you imagine, being in the center seat in an airline on a three-hour trip. gerri: i can imagine all of those congressman. >> yes. gerri: a lot of us thought about this seems to me number one issue here, i hear about what you're saying about safety but the annoyance of people on their cell phones. they're bad enough as it is already. >> sure. gerri: once you are strapped in there, talking up to the last sentence loudly about inane things. do you feel like you're tapping into a groundswell of support? do the people live in your district, do they support you on this. >> i haven't heard a lot of talk from people in my district. i live, i represent a district in appalachia, ohio, unfortunately not all that many people in my district fly anywhere. it is a very depressed part of the country and, you know, the people in my district are just fortunate to have a job to be able to drive back and forth in their car. gerri: i hear you on that.

but, you do bring up an interesting thought here, which is that people are starting to get more and more violent on the flights. we hear more and more stories about the knee defenders. people are having arguments about the device that prevents somebody from leaning their chair back. you have said and so have other congressman, perhaps we could have arguments, fistfights over these cell phones. how serious is this issue of violence on planes? >> well, you know, i haven't heard of any specific reports myself. fights breaking out or violence on planes but ily see the annoyance factor going through the roof, if you're sitting in the middle of two people having personal cell phone conversations on a three-hour flight you can't sleep. you can't work. and you certainly can't get up and walk into the other room and get away from it. >> well, i think, all the airlines are sort of in a wait-and-see mode. i know everybody was put on

notice last year when the fcc said it was considering lifting a ban. have you heard back from any agencies you've written your letter to? >> i have not. to my knowledge i'm not aware of any specific response by the, by the faa or the fcc. so, i'm not certain. if they have. i'm hot not aware of it. but i certainly hope they consider strongly, you know, these aspects, the safety, and the annoyance factor. it will change the culture of airline travel if we start allowing this. gerri: i want to show folks a list of the airlines out there who are taking a wait-and-see approach. it includes alaska airlines, jetblue. on and on. southwest, united, american airlines. they want to see what regulators require. most of us are voting no. congressman johnson, thanks for being on the show. >> thanks, gerri. appreciate you having me. >> we want to know what you think. here is our question tonight.

should folks be allowed to use their cell phones on planes? log on to gerriwillis.com. vote on the right-hand side of the screen. i will share the results at the end of tonight's show. big brother is checking your personal data, don't expect them to keep it safe. a watchdog sounding the alarm on a government agency quietly collecting massive amounts of data on nearly 600 million financial accounts. turns out these records are not adequately protected. republican congressman luke messer, joins me from indiana. a member of house financial services committee which grilled the government agency over this very issue. you are concerned about this. my question goes back to first principles, why is this agency, cfpb, consumer financial protection bureau, why are they collecting so much information on people? >> yeah, gerri, it is ironic, a bureaucracy, creating to protect consumers is doing so little to protect consumer data. there are real questions whether much of these millions, hundreds

of millions of pieces of data are really needed, to in fact protect con assumers. and then clearly they're not taking the right written safeguard to protect it. gerri: i want to you respond to richard cordray who recently talked about what a good job they're doing, helping us out. here is what he had to say? >> consumers deserve to have someone who will stand on their side, protect them against fraud and insure they're treated fairly. the new consumer bureau was created to make sure these things are achieved for all americans. >> what do you say to that? >> well, listen, in concept the idea of protecting consumers is of course a good one. one of the problems with the cfpb they're really not accountable to anybody. funded through federal reserve. they don't go through typical congressional oversight and appropriations process. we find out they have hundreds of millions of pieces of data and haven't taken adequate protections. at a time when you have major

data breaches from hackers in places like target and home depot and the rest, i think america needs to make the commitment to those very consumers that the chairman is saying that he wants to protect, and take the steps we need to protect that data. i think we ought to at least allow individual consumers the option of opting out of the program. if i had my preference we would require the government to get individual consumers to opt-in before this data could be collected on them. gerri: just to give folks a real world view how much information is being collected, it is impressive. it is massive. 600 million accounts all-in. look at detail. 195 million mortgages. 75 million credit cards. 11 million credit reports. 5.5 million student loans. on and on the list goes. look, we're used to having people collect our data and our information but the problem is, the gao is saying that they're not doing a good job they're protecting us. they're failing in fact. how as a consumer can we be sure the government is protecting us

here? they claim to be helping us, but in fact the opposite could be happening? >> recent events show you really can't be certain. that is why government should only collecting data it absolutely needs. we need safeguard in place to make sure this data is secure, that it is kept anonymous and it can not be traced back to the individual consumer. i think chairman hensarling had it right, when he said, seems that the cnpb is trying to out-nsa the nsa. why do they need this data in the first place? and for certain, if they're going to keep the data, we need to make sure we're taking steps to make sure we meet our commitment and keep this data secure. gerri: well, i have to tell you, seems like they're completely at cross-purposes. they want to use the information to help us. the very fact they have all the data means that, just the opposite could happen. here is the warning from the watchdog, the gao report. financial protection bureau has

not yet fully implemented a number of privacy controlled steps. information security practices which could hamper the agency's ability to identify and monitor privacy risks and protect consumer financial data. tell you congressman. we've been down the road a lot with a lot of different private companies. here is the federal government who will do the exact same thing. what are you growing to do to protect us? >> voters understand when big government meets big data, they better be concerned some what we need to do is change the budgeting process of the cfpb so they are accountable and have government oversight. take steps to make sure this data is made, is kept anonymous and not able to be traced back to the individual consumer. we ought to have opt-in requirement so that consumers are not required to have this data collected. this is, voters understandably are concerned. they don't trust government. we need to do more to make sure they're protected. david: congressman, thanks for

being with us. >> thank you. gerri: we still have a lot more to come this hour including your voice. your voice is important to us. that's why during the show, we want to you facebook me or beat me at gerri willis fbn. send me an email going to the website, gerriwillis.com. at the bottom of the hour i will read your tweets and emails. first, more dire warnings from the cdc about the spread of ebola but could a be on the way? the latest news coming up. [ male announcer ] automotive innovation starts... right here. with a control pad that can read your handwriting, a wide-screen multimedia center, and a head-up display for enhanced driver focus. all inside a newly redesigned cabin

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gerri: some good news on the ebola crisis. the fda allowing a canadian pharmaceutical company to allow a experimental drug for people infected infected with ebola virus. the news, couldn't come at a better time. the cdc said ebola cases could surge to 1 1/2 million by january. dr. william miller. welcome to the show. the name of the drug is tech mir a that is the name of company. they have a treatment for ebola. can it be effective and can it be effective quickly? >> this new drug came on board of the basis of a whole raft of

new findings in immunogenics. combination of utilizing new research in immunology with those in genetics. very fortunately this drug could very likely be effective. gerri: that is great news for folks out there. how long will it take to produce and really start getting to people who are affected? >> well here's, that is the particular problem. we don't really have any depth of experience with any of these new entities. it is very likely that they will prove to be effective but, because they're so new, there have not been yet any really in depth human trials. this is all experimental. we do not know about long-term consequences. there are a lot of issues about ethics because the nature of these kind of processes to produce a drug like this is very complicated. so often times it can only be done in a few doses at a time until it is scaled up and it

can't be scaled up until is known to be effective and safe. so we're in a pickle in that respect. gerri: take as while, takes a while for the drugs to be tested and to be mass produced. meantime cdc saying today as many as 1.4 million cases of the virus in liberia and sierra leone. at the end of the month they will predict from 21,000. we go from 21,000 by the end of the month, to 1.4 million by the end of january. that seems to me an almost impossible trajectory. do you understand the math on that? can that many people be infected? >> answer is yes and the reason that you can have this kind of a disconnect is that the virus that is behind ebola, and there are multiple strains, can change forms. it is a characteristic of viruses that they mutate rapidly. what can happen and what has happened in certain circumstances in the past in our human experience with infectious

disease to see that a virus changes from the form that is spread by person-to-person contact or by contact with body fluids, or with contaminants, surface contaminants to aerosolized form. gerri: that is what i'm worried about. >> in the air. that is why you have these eform must difference in projections. the fact is, we have no idea yet what can happen with ebola. gerri: it is really scary stuff. and now forecasts today that, ebola could be with us for a long time. maybe we just don't eradicate it in africa. what happens it goes on and on and on? do you believe that to be true? >> i know it to be true. i think it would be a mistake for people to assume that there is something specific about ebola that is very directly different from the types of plagues that we have encountered in the past. these sorts of diseases, as terrifying as they are, have happened all through human history. you can go back to exodus, to the book of exodus with the 10

plagues of egypt or the book of samuel, with another devastating infection that was described, epidemic of widespread proportions. this has happened all through history. what we have now though is new danger from the fact that we're globalized in a way we weren't before. gerri: right. >> we're a plane ride away from some of these things. gerri: one of my guests told me recently he described it as the plague on today's "opening bell," mayo clinic ceo john knowsworthy had pretty tough words. listen to this. >> there is the possibility it could come to the united states, so preparedness for the public and for hospitals is terribly important and we're very active. >> do you feel that our hospitals are ready? >> i think they're getting ready around the country. they know they need to. that is what the health care organizations need to do, inform the couple. don't frighten the public but inform the public. gerri: so are we ready here in the united states? >> i think that we're ready in

the united states for the form of ebola that spreads from person-to-person. we have active health agencies that know how to deal with this. we are, as a population willing to accept the concepts of quarantine. this is very different from the african nations that have been afflicted with this but i would like to comment on issue of preparedness. although i think it can be asserted we're prepared for this kind of a threat here in the united states i don't think in a global sense we're prepared at all. for example, we have rushed to send 3,000 troops. these are, these are military people. this is not the optimal kind of response that we would have to this sort of thing. gerri: who would you send, doctor? >> i think we need to have a new form of international cooperation. and there are many things that we can do proactively i think are a must. gerri: but not soldiers is what you're saying, somebody who is actually trained, has some kind

of medical background. i am afraid we'll have to leave it there, dr. miller. thanks for coming on. fascinating information. you must come back. >> thank you very much. gerri: now the latest developments on obamacare. the health and human services department says 14 insurers are dropping out of the obamacare system. this includes the biggest provider in minnesota's marketplace, and california will lose too. also, health and human services secretary silvia burr well says 77 insurers will offer obamacare plans for first time. meaning a net gain of 63 insurers in 44 states. i guess the question is, how big are those new insurers? later in the show the white house trying to keep companies from going overseas. are shareholders at risk? consumer prices on the rise. we'll tell how you to avoid some of the most costly moves. don't go away. ♪ when fixed income experts

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gerri: get your wallets ready. this fall is coming in with some serious sticker shock. so which products should you leave on store shelves? which should you buy now for big discounts? personal finance expert vera gibbons is here with more. welcome back to the show. >> hi, gerri. gerri: here is what we're looking at, prices up, up, up. consumer price index up 1.7% august over august. that is really bad. i don't know what the federal reserve is thinking. go over some of the categories. food and drink. >> they're going pretty much across the board in wide range of categories. you've got food and beverages. gerri: let's start there. >> yeah, okay.

butter, milk, cheese, bacon. bacon is up 41% over the past couple of years. >> now we've got since last year. but the number you're citing is a couple years. >> absolutely huge. they had some sort of virus killed off animals. that is part of it. feed costs are up. not just limited to food. you have got air fares up pretty much across the board. we're talking 500 round-trip right now. and -- denim, homes electricity. the list goes on and on. you're paying a lot more out-of-pocket of you have to brace yourself for higher costs. >> school supplies are up as well. >> school supplies. sending your kid back to college as people did, you shelled out a thousand dollars to get them started with accessories,. gerri: you want to buy a house what is happening. >> buy sooner than later. mortgage rates are expected to go up over 5%. even when rates rise by 1% your purchasing power is reduced by a

whopping 11%. buyers might be interested in getting in now, particularly cash buyers if they're ready to make the pounce because they're feeling more confident about the housing segment. housing prices are are up there. gerri: electricity prices are up across the board. >> that is a system problem. you have rules and regulations pushing prices higher. coming right back to the consumer and hurting us right where it hurts. >> all right. >> pretty painful. any number of reasons. look at basic supply and demand is obviously reasons. foodstuffs it is weather-related, droughts, things of that nature. some companies want to pass the costs down to consumers. they have been reluctant to do so. haven't been able to do so. they're reluctant to continue to absorb costs and passing them down to you and me. gerri: save me money. where do we get discounts. >> use apps like mint for tracking and budgeting. when you're out there shopping red laser for comparison

shopping. there are statistics average family can save a thousand dollars if they put time in to do comparison shopping. doing more strategically, grocery store go generic. apples instead of oranges. skip the cheese. gerri: don't buy oranges. they're not good. >> oranges are bad. oranges and grapefruits, crops have been terrible. if you bought them in the grocery store you know they don't taste that. gerri: i love oranges. veer remarks appreciate it. u.s. taking fight against isis straight to the source, syria. we'll have a live report on that. when companies move oversees to avoid paying taxes shareholders are the big winner, right? not so fast. a look at a sneaky irs law you want to know about. ♪ guys! you're not gonna believe this!

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♪ ♪ gerri: well, the pentagon says the airstrikes in syria took out key training camps and facilities of isis. officials also say this is just the beginning of a sustainable, persistent campaign against the terrorists that could go on for years. rich edson is lye at the white house -- live at the white house with the very latest. >> good afternoon, gerri. the pentagon and white house are saying the early indications are that these attacks were, in fact, successful, but there are skeptics questioning if these strikes will be enough to confront this and, as the president says, degrade is and ultimately defeat isis. before the president went to new york for u.n. meetings, he did mention on the south lawn of the white house and warned the american people this really is just the beginning. >> the overall effort will take time. there will be challenges ahead, but we're going to do what's necessary to take the fight to this terrorist group for the security of the country and the region and for the entire world.

>> for the most part, congressional leaders are onboard with what president obama has been doing, but there are questions in congress. senator tim kaine, for example, from virginia, a democrat, he's calling for a congressional vote to authorize the expansion of these airstrikes. he said not doing so would set a dangerous precedent. congressman chris van lollen, a senior democrat -- van hollen, a senior democrat, says speaker boehner should bring congress back to debate and vote on this but they are, of course, running for re-election and won't be back until after the midterm elections. president obama still in new york at u.n. meetings as the white house says he's trying to build an even greater coalition to address this issue on top of the five arab nations that also contributed to the airstrikes last evening. gerri: so it wasn't just isis that was the target of these airstrikes, correct? >> right x. that's one of the biggest changes here. when the president spoke a couple of weeks ago, he talked about strictly degrading isis, perhaps going into syria which happened last night. but we also saw, according to

the administration as the president announced today, were attacks against this affiliate known asal corps sin. thisthis has probably been the bigger threat to the u.s. homeland. officials say this group had gone from the planning phase to the execution phase, the u.s. had been monitoring them for several months, and because of the action going on in syria to combat isis, the u.s. also attacked some positions, and it's something the administration will continue to do. but, again, this is certainly an expansion over what the president had laid out a couple of weeks ago here at the white house. gerri: very interesting. rich, i know you'll keep an eye on that for us. thank you so much. and for more continuing coverage of the attacks on isis, be sure to tune into lou dobbs tonight as lou sits down with a former ambassador to syria, tonight at 7 p.m. eastern time. and stay with fox business at 8 p.m. eastern time, neil cavuto talks to former new york city

mayor giuliani about the u.s. plans for isis. all coming up. and more u.s. companies are moving abroad. you've heard about inversions, right? they want to cut their tax rate, but what does it do to investors? are shareholders left paying the high prices? here with more, rick adelman, great to see you, great to have you here. you know, this is one of those unexpected things, i this -- i think, for a lot of people who hold individual stocks. if one of these companies decides that they're going to do an inversion which means they actually have themselves taken over by a cane that's somewhere else on the planet, not the u.s. of a, there can be a tax consequence for individual investors. tell us about that. >> yeah, it's a rather shocking development because normally when there's a merger going on, it's not a taxable event. but when it occurs as an inversion, as you said, gerri, if you own shares in that stock, you're going to have to pay

taxes on any profit you have up this this point. so you're going to get a tax bill you might not have been expecting. gerri: and maybe you didn't want to sell right now, right? maybe for whatever reason. and, granted, you know, you can pay the tax bill out of whatever profits you have, but maybe you weren't prepared to unload this investment. so confusing for a lot of investors. what advice do you have for them? >> well, you can flip into the new stock in most cases without any problem, but you're still going to have to pay tax. the real advice for investors these days is you shouldn't be owning individual stocks. those days are really gone. the notion of getting rich by careful security selection is something that has gone by the wayside. today it's all about asset allocation. it's not a question of did you buy the right stock, it's a question of how much money do you have in stocks in the first place as opposed to bonds or government securities or real estate or gold or foreign securities and so on. so trying to get rich or do well with your investments by picking

individual stocks is not only risky and expensive, it can hit you with unexpected tax surprises like this one. gerri: there are a lot of people on this network who would fight you on this. and i will defend to my very last breath your ability to buy individual stocks, but i don't do it. i buy mutual funds and etfs because it gives me more flexibility. >> i have the ability to do it too. i'll defend your ability to smoke a cigarette, but you know what? it's not something i'd advise. gerri: i want to take you to something different because we talked about the tax consequences, but you're talking to a lot of americans every day about their financial assets, their retirement funds. they're saving for the things that really matter, and a lot of them have big questions tonight about what's going on all over the planet; the middle east, our airstrikes in syria, ebola. do you watch these events with an eye to the potential impact on people's portfolios?

>> very much so. how can you not? we're always watching for what we call the black swan, the unexpected event that could create havoc on our investment portfolios. and we have contingency plans ready for our clients in case something occurs that would force us to make a substantial, immediate, sudden change so that we respect caught unaware -- aren't caught unaware, unsurprised. what it comes down to is this: everybody should own an umbrella. that doesn't mean you're going to need it or use it every day, but one day for sure you're going to be happy you've got the umbrella -- gerri: what's the umbrella, rick? what do you mean by that? what's the safety net? >> el, it means -- well, it means we are ready. if, for example, there's going to be an unexpected calamity, a surprise of some kind, maybe it's an asteroid falling from the sky, maybe it's a terrorism attack, maybe it's a surprising fed action, maybe it's a who knows what it's a, we're ready with recognition that, you know

what? we can alter the portfolio as needed for the client who has a sudden liquidity event, a client who has a sudden need for cash, a client who's suddenly been diagnosed with a health issue, surprisingly shocked by a spouse and a divorce is upon them. we're ready to make action for the client so that their financial life can still be secure, they can still achieve their goals despite unexpected events beyond their control -- gerri: well, rick, when you get news of a calamity that's unexpected -- >> your financial adviser can do the same thing. gerri: rick, when you get news that's unexpected, give me a call, will you? [laughter] >> i sure will, if the phones are still working. gerri: thank you. >> thanks, gerri. gerri: and now we want to hear from you. we discussed congress trying to block the use of cell phones on airplanes. should flyers be allowed to the use their cell phones on planes? here's what some of you are tweeting me tonight. april says: no, it's annoying. what did we do before cell phones? they will survive. and another viewer writes: text

only. can't imagine all kinds of air rage with people constantly talking. and on facebook, the posts sounded a lot like this one: i don't like laws prohibiting people from doing stuff, but the reality is that so many people yakking on the phone would drive me absolutely crazy on the plane. it's annoying, i agree. and finally we got: hell no, do you know how aggravating it would be to sit there and listen to a phone conversation for a two to three-hour trip? no way. i agree with you guys. you got it right. here's some of your e-mails answering our question about whether people want to downsize. tamara from maryland writes: yes, i just hold my huge estate home and am planning to buy a home about a third of the size. who needs two eating areas, a formal living room? not me. and jo ann agrees: downsizing, did it and love it. now we just need to sell our family home. and bruce from texas says: simpler is better and less expensive. we love hearing from you.

send me an e-mail, gerriwillis.com. and when we come back, a look at the most popular cities for families these days and, next, how optimistic are you about your financial future? coming up, exclusive results of a new survey after the break. but first, here's your consumer gauge with the numbers that are important to you. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ how much money do you have in your pocket right now? i have $40, $21. could something that small make an impact on something as big as your retirement? i don't think so. well if you start putting that towards your retirement every week and let it grow over time, for twenty to thirty years, that retirement challenge might not seem so big after all. ♪

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home depot, and we will keep you posted on all the latest developments, as we always do. well, from home depot to retirement investing. american investors are beginning to feel hopeful for the future, that's good news according to the wells fargo retirement optimism index. overall, investor optimism is at the highest level since the start of the recession. but there is a twist, and we're going to tell you about that. joining me now, karen wimbish who's going to tell us all about this. it looks so good. the numbers are really up. take a look at these numbers. highest level in seven years, up 29, it's an index, plus 29 2014, plus 46. what's going on there? >> well, that's good, and it certainly is the best we've seen since the great recession. but if you look to the ten years before that, we were averaging about a hundred. and i would say those are how people feel generally about the economy and about the job/labor

markets. so at the macro level, they would agree that things feel like they're gradually getting better. gerri: you say there's fear behind this. tell us about that. >> well, when you get down to the personal level, you find there's much less optimism. half of the respondents said i feel significantly impacted still by the recession. six out of ten said i'm saving at or below the rate i was saving before, and financially i'm at or below where i was five years ago. gerri: wow. >> so they are not recovering the way they see the general economy. gerri: i have to tell you, this is what i hear from viewers of this program, the same kind of attitude. let me put a gallup poll to you and see if it matches what you're seeing in your survey. gallup found 60% of folks saying caution is wise and calling it unwise, only 37%. are people distrustful of the stock market itself? >> i think that they are very wounded still from the loss that

they, many of them, experienced, most all of us did during the great recession. so i think they are cautiously in the market and think they should be very careful. the risk/reward equation for them is not something that they're comfortable with. but i guess the good news is there that they are in the market. 68% of them in the survey are investing long-term assets in the stock market. gerri: and it's up. >> it is up. gerri: it's up dramatically. and so many of these people, many that watch this program don't want to be in the stock market, and yet we have been on fire with the markets hitting new highs. it's hard to describe or explain why people won't get involved when it's doing so well. >> well, and, again, i think it's just because it's still too fresh. it was such a massive decline for many people in their loss of wealth that it's not like the dot.com that went, came and went, and we all forgot about it pretty quickly. gerri: right. >> this was not only the stock market decline, but this was housing, this was loss of jobs. it was a deep wound. and so while they're in the

market, they still haven't forgotten what happened, so they're very cautious about that. and feeling a little discouraged about the prospects for earning more money over their lifetime. some of them feel like they've maxed out. gerri: 69% say they are highly or somewhat confident they'll have enough for retirement, so people still trying to get by. i think the solution is a better economy. >> i think so too. gerri: higher earnings, more confidence, more consumer buying. it just reinforces a better economy, and the dominoes fall. >> and more saving. gerri: that would be good too. karen, thanks for bringing the story. >> thanks for having me. gerri: time to look at stories you're clicking on tonight on foxbusiness.com. stocks ending lower today following disappointing economic reports from overseas, and the news of the airstrikes against isis in syria. cadillac moving its headquarters to new york city next year to be closer to more people living in the lap of luxury.

gm also says the brand will become a separate business. cadillac sales fell nearly 5% this year. and the splitting of businesses is the theme today. who doesn't have a phillips lightbulb at home? the company separating its lighting division into two different companies, saying the move would make it easier for the lighting arm to enter new markets. and procter & gamble is getting out of the pet care business. the company selling its land brands to the european company spectrum. financial terms not disclosed. and those are some of the hot stories right now on foxbusiness.com. still to come, my two cents more, and up next we show you the baby boom towns, the cities across america that are being called the most family-friendly. you'll want to see that. ♪ ♪

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gerri: if you're seeing a lot of strollers in your neighborhood today, your city might be a baby boom town. so what makes a metropolitan area likely to attract young families? wendell cox studies such trends, and he joins us from st. louis. welcome to the show, wendell, great to have you here. i am amazed at this let's, and i want to show folks, raleigh, austin, vegas, phoenix. it's a tour of the south and the southwest. why are those areas producing so many babies? >> a lot of it has to do with housing affordability, the ability of young families to buy houses that have yards and a good environment for children. so really it's -- you think about young people who might start out in the central city in

apartments, when they decide it's time to have kids and a few years later they decide they need good schools, they tend the move to the suburbs where they can get a single-family house with a yard and so on. gerri: i have to think schools are ab important part -- an important part, but i also believe people rarely leave the region they're from for that very reason. do you find people are making large moves just because they intend to start family? -- start a family? >> what we see happening, the moves have slowed down a bit since during the great recession and so on, but the movement continues. there's now a harvard report out that indicates that you can pretty much explain migration between metropolitan areas based upon housing affordability. and the reason that's important is that housing is the biggest element of the household budget, and it's the only element that differs substantially between metropolitan area and costs. gerri: that must be why there are no cities in the northeast in your top ten, is that right? >> that combined with the fact

that some of the cities, think about buffalo, rochester and so on, have economies that are not too good. but housing affordability is definitely an issue because if you're having to pay two or three times as much for your house as you do can, let's say, in the midwest or the south, you're going to be inclined to, perhaps, live in an area that isn't your first choice geographically, but is a first choice with respect to the standard of living. gerri: two of the cities are in the great state of north carolina where i'm from, raleigh and charlotte, that'd be a great place to raise a family. who's at the bottom of the list? what are the cities that do poorly? >> again, it comes down to economics. you're thinking of -- los angeles, by the way, is doing very poorly at the moment, and that has to do really, again, with housing affordability and the fact you can't build many new single-family houses and so on. but then the other issue that gets into it is cleveland -- is economics.

cleveland, pittsburgh, they do very poorly and, again, they've had difficult economic times. housing is affordable in those places, but there aren't enough jobs. they aren't getting anybody moving to them. gerri: good point. i think that makes a lot of sense. wendell cox, thanks for coming on the show tonight. >> pleasure. thank you. gerri: we'll be right back with my two cents more and the answer to our question of the day: should folks be allowed to use cell phones on airplanes? i know how i vote. we've never sold a house before.

(agent) i'll walk you guys through every step. there are a lot of buyers for a house like yours. (husband) that's good to know. ♪ gerri: well, at the very tiptop of the show, we talked with congressman bill johnson about plans by 77 members of the house to rethink allowing cell phones on planes. do you think people should be able to use their cell phones on airplanes? we asked the question on gerriwillis.com. 28% of you said, yes. who are you? why do you want to talk on planes? 72% of the same people said, no. be sure to log on to gerriwillis.com for our online question every weekday. i really don't think i can take people talking on cell phones on planes. well, ever find yourself torn between a cup of coffee or a beer? now you don't have to choose. star bucks is testing a latte it

says will have the same flavor as stout beer like guinness. the dark barrel latte is being tested in ohio, florida and is topped with whip cream and a caramel drizzle. it does not contain alcohol. it's going to need more than caramel for me. and finally tonight, i hate to say i told you so, but the you tried to buy shares in the chinese e-retailer alibaba last week, you are suffering today because shares fell to a new low. we told you it would happen. it's a good lesson for all of us. ipos are there to enrich the owners and the insiders and, of course, all of wall street, but don't succumb to the greater fool theory. keep your powder dry on these new issues until the insiders have sold or the stock has established itself. that's my two cents more. they're not a great deal for small investors. that's it for tonight's willis report. join us tomorrow, we'll have the three things to look out for to show that the economy is recovering. moody's chief economist john

land sky will be with us. don't forget to dvr the show if you can't catch us live. have a great night, we'll see you back here tomorrow. ♪ ♪ charles: lots of big news moving markets today. here's what you missed: first, the latest on the isis airstrikes in syria and the government's crackdown on corporate inversions. rich edson in washington d.c. >> the president's announcement that we have attacked through airstrikes targets in syria, not only those isis targets that the president laid out a couple of weeks ago, but thal corazon terror group, why the u.s. expanded its campaign. there are now some in congress who are calling for a congressional vote and authorization on this expansion. and meanwhile, the treasury department laying out new rules that would make it more difficult to have a corporate ip version, something trea