as much as they do in small amount of years they have been on this earth. >> archie griffin, what a pleasure. >> appreciate it. thank you. david: a really good man. "the willis report" is next. >> hi, everyone, i'm gerri willis. the $1.1 trillion spending bill hitting a hurdle in the house ahead of the midnight deadline. can lawmakers keep the government running? fox business's rich edson is live from d.c. with the very latest. tell us what this fight is about. >> good evening, gerri. depend who you are as far as the fight is concerned f you're a republican, there are dozens who problems with number of provisions in the bill. they want less spending. they want immediate response to president obama's executive order on immigration. republican leaders always knew they were going to lose a few dozen of these folks. the real surprise is democrats. they have a major problem with a

proposal in this bill that rolls back some of the dodd-frank leg regulatory reform bill of because of those objections it may derail this bill. >> why is this in an appropriations bill? because it was the price to pay to get an appropriations bill. i was told we couldn't get all these other things that have been described here so lovingly, beautifully unless we gave wall street this gift. >> democrats have supported this provision in the past. it was agreed to in this bill on a bipartisan, bicameral agreement. and so while some members may have objected to this issue or that issue, nobody did this unilaterally. we've done this in a bipartisan fashion and frankly it's a good bill. >> congressional and white house aides are telling us that president obama, vice president biden are making calls to democrats on the hill. meanwhile house minority leader nancy pelosi who are telling her colleagues to vote against this

proposal. so intra-party fighting going on between democrats as well. meanwhile the white house and administration confirmed that they are telling some government agencies right now to prepare for all contingencies including shutdown of the federal government. they say though out of an abundance of caution, gerri. gerri: rich, tell me, are we going to see another shutdown and to what degree dot republicans have a their ducks in a row. >> this is much different environment than a year ago, republicans prepared for it and wanted it and that lasted for weeks. republican leaders in the house and senate say they don't want a shutdown. there is a backup plan, we expect for hour or so republicans and democrats will try to drum up enough support to get the trillion dollar spending bill through. that is what the white house wants. that is what congressional leaders want. at least congressional republican leaders. beyond that they have an option. that option to continue current government funding levels through what is known as continuing resolution that would keep the government open.

we're not sure how long that would fund the government conceivably next year when the new congress comes in. this is also example how republicans and democrats would have to revisit this issue. republicans want to be clear of this. they want to continue in the next congress focusing on different issues. right now they're still dealing with government spending if they can't get this bill through. gerri: speaking of issues what is happening with the president's executive order on immigration? >> this bill is supposed to deal were this -- with this, in allow republicans take over house and senate to deal with the president's executive order on immigration. this funds discretionary side of budget through the end of fiscal year in september. takes department of homeland security funding and only funds that through february. that allows congress next year to revisit funding. perhaps attach other policy they have yet to determine what it would be to respond to president obama on his executive order on immigration. that two-step approach is something house speaker

john boehner prefers. if they just continue funding government like this, or fund government for rest of fiscal year, what is known as continuing resolution we talked about, it robs republicans of that opportunity to attach some type of policy in the beginning of next year. so a lot of different issues at play here. you've got dodd-frank. you've got executive order. you've got spending levels. that is what happens when you pass a bill that is a trillion dollars at end. year and you don't work through the normal congressional process playing itself out now. gerri: unbelievable. just quickly what are the chances we don't get agreement tonight? >> you never know what happens with these things. there is an awful lot of procedure involved here. it appears at very least democrats and republicans would get together on a bill that funds the government temporarily. how much time that would be, we're not quite sure yet. but at very least it appears they have the tools available and the will available to get the government funded by the end of tonight. at least carry this over and punt to the next couple of days next couple of months. for that time period we're just

not certain. gerri: rich, i'll tell you what. you hear anything at all. let us know. we'll get you on the air and update our viewers. thanks for being on the show tonight. >> thanks. gerri: we'll bring you all the latest developments as they happen this hour for sure. we, switching up gears here a war for your wireless dollars. we talked about it a lot, all the majors sprint, very son, at&t, a mobile slashing prices to get your cell phone business. but a small up start is undercutting all of them. we first heard about the company from consumer expert and raised yo show host clark howard last night. >> my favorite of discounters is company called republican wireless.com. their service is fantastic. i've tested them thoroughly. i've been testing freedom pop and well, not as, it is work in progress. gerri: do you want to know more? joining me now the cofounder and ceo of republic wireless. welcome to the show, david. great to have you here.

we've got a big thumbs up obviously from clark howard last night. i hear consumer reports is big fan of your services. tell us about the company and how you keep prices low. >> thank you, gerri. it is great to be here and i'll tell you how we keep prices low. we focus on the fact that all of us have wi-fi around us, most of the time. at home, at work, often in airports or other places. other phones natively, naturally use wi-fi when available for phone calls. obviously for when you're using apps. because of that we can pass savings on to you. gerri: so, this works differently than your usual cell phone, right? the technology is different. which makes me wonder, is it as reliable? >> yeah, great question. wi-fi has gotten to the point today where it can support a phone call no problem, very, very high quality. this is super important, when you leave wi-fi, we seamlessly hand you over to cellular so you don't worry about the call

dropping. it is not interrupted at all. as clark said, it's a fantastic experience. gerri: i think that is fascinating. i didn't mean to interrupt you. right now sprint is offering deal considered best among the majors, 60 bucks a month, unlimited minutes, text and data. that looks pretty darn good, right? very appetizing. look at republic wireless, five bucks a month, unlimited talk, text, data on wi-fi. that is a major, major difference. what kind of pickup, takeup, are you seeing in the marketplace? >> yesterday we did a flash sale of our moto x, the second generation at $349. we sold thousands in 24 hours. and we've, in the last year, tripled our subscribers. so there is great uptake because of the five, 10, 25, $40 plans. but as important as the price is the experience and consumer reports really got this right, when they surveyed 63,000 of their readers and ranked us the number one no contract carrier,

what that represents is an experience that is just bar none the best that there is. we have subscribers tell us, we're using money we saved to go to date night, to take our kids to disney world. that is how you really measure customer satisfaction. gerri: david, i have to tell you, electronics, cell phones, laptops. all these things are taking up more and more of the family budgets. we've seen numbers just recently. but my issue is this, what i really wonder is this, if you go to your parts of the country you find wi-fi is really less available. really big cities where you have a seamless wi-fi experience. if i take up your service out in the burbs way, way out, will i have a good experience? >> you are. we have the same cellular footprint that you enjoy with a traditional cell you oar carrier. you will cut over to wi-fi. you will go on cellular. so you don't have a limited

footprint. if anything you have a bigger footprint. if you go indoors where cellular might not be that great coverage we have wi-fi coverage. gerri: david, thanks for coming on the show. we appreciate your time tonight. >> thank you, gerri. gerri: interesting stuff. when you think you know what the low price is along comes something else. we have more to come this hour including your voice. your voice is important to us. that's why during the show we want you to facebook me or tweet me @gerriwillisfbn. send an email to gerriwillis.com. at the government of the hour i will read your e-mails. first is the american dream dead? a third of a poll said they think it is. we'll have the latest as oil continues its slide. (vo) rush hour around here

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gerri: worries about holiday sales for retailers may be all for naught. government says sales rose 3/4 of a percent. they think falling gas prices is freeing up money for consumers to spend elsewhere. check this out the dow had been up 200 points for closing up just 63 points following the

worst selloff since october. so big turn around for the markets. meanwhile after dragging down the markets yesterday oil is sinking again today, closing below $60 a barrel today for the first time since july 2009. will this oil dividend give the economy a boost? joining us now, scott brown, chief economist at raymond james great to have you here. i think this is fascinating potential possibilities for what could happen to the economy, this dividend boost. is that what we're seeing in the retail sales numbers today? >> it was a little bit there in the numbers we got for december. i think we're probably going to see a much bigger effect into december and early part of 2015. generally when you look at impact of lower gasoline prices for consumers, depend how low they go and how long they stay low and shows up with a lag. i like to use the 13-week average. it may be some time before we see full effect but at least a partial effect in november.

gerri: yeah, it was a little pop, certainly surprised wall street. you saw what happened to stocks. by some estimates, for every penny gas prices fall, consumers save a billion dollars that can go into the economy. and yet, to some extent the polling certainly of americans, there is disconnect here belies all that. what we see there is a certain lack of confidence among americans. 64% saying that they believe in the american dream. that compares to 72% in the teeth of the economic downturn early 2009. how do you explain that? >> well, typically consumer attitudes are going to lag the economic news. we've had some very excellent job numbers this year. just through the first 11 months we're looking at the strongest year for job growth since 1999. yet you don't here that reflected that much on the nightly news. people are still hearing a lot of bad news out there. the recession itself was

especially hard particularly on the middle class. you had a lot of damage done. this has always going to be a very lengthy recovery, very gradual recovery but things are gradually getting better. looks like we're likely to pick up some steam. gerri: what you say is true, job growth is better than some time, many, many years, people that experience that job growth first are the consumers. they see first-hand the benefits. so, if that's true, why aren't they spending more? if that is something that falls right to their bottom line. is there, this is what i believe, is there some kind of lack of confidence going on there is more fundamental and associated more with the distrust that grew out of that great depression or recession, however you want to describe it? >> well there probably is still some distress about the economy, some long-lasting negative feelings. but i think the biggest factor,

biggest restraint we've seen this year is the relatively weak wage growth. gerri: right. >> so wages, average hourly wages are barely keeping up with inflation. there is not a whole lot of firepower with consumer spending. mostly consumer spending growth is coming from the job growth we're adding. we would like to see the job market continue to improve, tighten up and get some increase in wage growth. that is should i think help consumer spending advance more in the second half of next year. first half of next year, we're looking for really positive impact from low gasoline prices. second half of the year we should see transition to more sustainable growth. >> another bottom line number we're seeing, 18% of americans say they will never get out of debt, never, ever, ever. they expect to have debt all of their lives, partly because people have such difficulties in the great recession, carrying mortgage debt that will go on for a long time, college debt higher than ever. you mentioned you want to see more job growth.

you mentioned that you want to see more wage growth. what would make the difference? >> well, i think you're always going to have a certain percentage of people saddled with these high debt levels. i think that has been an issue now for really a few decades. with the rise in college costs, you're seeing a lot more student debt. that will stay with recent graduates a lot longer. makes it more difficult for them to buy a new home, for example. but i don't see this as really being a widespread problem for the overall economy. again it is very severe obviously for the individuals involved. but i don't think it will be necessarily a drag on overall growth. i think there is a long as you're seeing good employment growth, good wage growth, that is really fundamentals of the consumer sector. gerri: scott, thanks for coming on the show. good to see you. >> my pleasure. >> now we want to know what you think. here is our question tonight. is the american dream a pipe-dream? you heard the numbers. some people think so.

log on to gerriwillis.com. vote on the right-hand side of the screen. i will share results at the end of tonight's show. later in the show it is day four of your user's guide to best year in financial moves. we answer the question, how do you do that? we'll try to save you frustration, getting your home wi-fi to work faster. that is something you want to know, right? ♪ she's still the one for you. and cialis for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment is right. cialis is also the only daily ed tablet approved to treat symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision,

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gerri: does it always seem like your home wireless network chooses worst possible time to crap out like getting climax of your favorite netflix show? with a few inexpensive steps you

can get faster, more reliable wi-fi. i kid you not. here with that, derek cooper, 20 plus years in the tech industry working for google and yahoo! the woman has street cred. she will take us to school. >> i am but take it slow. gerri: that is perfect because i need you to take it slow. so you have several recommendations that we'll start with the first one. use a wi-fi scanner. what does that mean? >> okay, a wi-fi scanner gives you more information about the networks in your area. you can usually see names of your networks, but, this wi-fi scanner will tell you what channels those networks are using. gerri: how does that help me? >> okay. so wi-fi works on different channels but when you get the wi-fi router, usually default settings are ones everyone uses. >> right. >> that means everyone is on the same channel. gerri: you don't want to do that, right? >> no, you don't want to do. that you want to use a channel with no other networks using it. >> does the scanner will tell you? >> the scanner shows what other

networks and here's the channel you're on. that will help you pick another channel to use. gerri: that sounds very mart. i like that. >> use the app coombs with the router. gerri: >> yeah,. gerri: sounds like don't do the other thing we doesn't do? >> a lot of time they tell you enter ip address in web browser, what, ip address what are you talking about? a lot of routers come with app download on the phone of the gives you access to all the configurations and settings really easily. you can do things like change channel quickly. gerri: is it in english? >> is it understandable? >> they try to make it as user-friendly as possible. gerri: promises promise. a little nervous already. you say use service like speed test.the net. what is that? >> that is a service that lets you know how fast the up load and download speeds are currently. gerri: our not guessing now. there are actual numbers. >> there are actual numbers. if you want to be really scientific, check this first. then tinker with the settings and see if that makes a

difference. >> does it tell you how to tinker with the setings? >> well, what we just talked about in terms -- that would be it, tinkering with the setting. >> you're really good. okay. come to my house. antenna position is important. i understand that but you explain. >> well, it is interesting, the wi-fi actually travels in the air, physical thing. if the antenna isn't actually straight or in a place really accessible, that would really affect internet speeds. just changing it could make all the difference. gerri: mine used to be under my desk and knock it over all the time. >> yeah. the best place is center of your room on high shelf which most people don't have that. try to do the best you can. gerri: some tech nerd out there is designing their home hoschably. when all else fails turn it off no. >> turn it off. if you call someone to help you, that is the first thing they're going to do. you might as well just give that a shot. gerri: sara, ultimately, sound like for free or very little money i can actually make this wi-fi work for me, is that what

you're saying? >> yes. you should always try to do something yourself before calling someone because that might be more expensive option. gerri: i suppose you tell me i can learn by doing? >> yes. learn so much by just giving it a shot. >> sara, great stuff. thanks for being here. >> thank you. gerri: i feel smarter. okay, coming up a flu forecast how one professor says he can predict the flu will strike your city. one doctor breaks it down. our guide on year-end financial moves to do with advise on health care. what to do with the fsa leftovers and what to do with the obama care penalty in 2015. we're watching watching whas happening tonight in the capitol right there. spending bill stalled. shut down is on the horizon of the could happen tonight, my friends. the latest coming up.

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gerri: more and more of the nation's health care bill is being paid directly by you, families. so tonight we're helping you manage those rising health care costs in the new year. our special user's guide continues with dr. george owe, strategic adviser to a site with information on over three million health care providers. you should check it out. doctor, i want to go through this piece by piece because, frankly, you've got a lot of good information here, and i want to make sure we don't miss any of it. let's start with fha limits. you may have additional benefits you're missing out on. start us out there. >> that's right. the vast majority of large employers in particular and even smaller employers are offering health plan options that include a health savings account. and my recommendation is that if you haven't already p signed up for it, you should sign up for it or at least consider it and fund it to the max. gerri: so if you're still in

open enrollment, you can do this. what are the benefits of this account? even though there's a little bit of sticker shock because you have a premium to pay and a health savings account to fund, the cost of a health plan is about 20% cheaper than an hmo plan. there are multiple tax benefits, and many employers, particularly large employers, fund your account. that money can roll over year after year, and it's yours to each even if you lose your -- even if you lose your job. gerri: you set the money aside tax free, right? you take the money out tax free, and your employer may contribute to it. so there's a lot of free money there if you're having trouble paying that health care bill, it's a big assist. contribution limits are changing, so for individuals we're looking at $3350, that's up $50. families, $6650, that's up $100. great news for people out of there, and the out of pocket limits, $6400, for families,

$12,900. i think people are afraid of it and don't understand because in some cases i think people have seen the fsas, and they've lost money in them. what is your advice on fsa? >> well, the law around fsa has actually changed with the affordable care act. so your employer now has the option of allowing you to roll over as much as $500 a year. in the past it was a use it or lose it. gerri: sounds terrible. >> me too. and especially on the dependent care account. we would always lose a lot of money. but now your employer can choose the let you roll it over, and your fsa can actually even supplement your hsa or have an fsa all on its own. i would advise making sure you look at last year's spending, if you had any excess in your fsa, that you rethink what your contribution is for the next year. gerri: so the beauty of these is that what we see are a lot of employers out there are giving

you less and less dough, they're funding these insurance packages less and less so you have to set aside some money. and if you're going to do that, you want to do it tax-free. that is the best way to do it. i want to change gears a little bit here and go to obamacare. because if you're not careful here, you're going to get hit with a tax, right? >> that's right. and, of course, the affordable care act has an individual mandate in it which says that if you are not insured, that you are subject to a tax. the tax is increasing. in 2004 it was 300 -- i'm sorry, it was $95 per person or 1% of your family household income, whichever is higher. it's going up to $325 per individual. it's 50% of that for children or 2% of your household income. gerri: this adds up quickly. >> if you make $100,000 in year in your family, you're going to pay $2,000 and have nothing to show for it. gerri: this is coming out of

obamacare, very bad news. any other advice for people out there who want to put themselves in the best position possible for health care next year? >> well, i think that there's a few key things to consider, and i would summarize it all by saying go shopping. so, number one, if you bought your health insurance plan through the exchange last year, make sure you don't let it renew on autopilot. here is why. the obama administration made a ruling that to make it easier for consumers, you didn't have to do anything, it would just auto renew. but if you do that, the risk is that your insurance premium will be much higher than it was last year because of how all of the subsidies are calculated. so go into the exchange, do your homework, select the plan. even if you select the same plan, make a conscious choice. if you get insurance through your employer, as i said earlier, make sure you really consider that hsa plan. if you've left your employer and you're buying cobra, think about getting individual insurance. you can save up to 50%. and the third most important

thing is to make sure that your doctors and your hospitals that are right for you are included on your plan. 50% of the exchange plans have narrow networks. gerri: and the federal government on the obamacare exchanges are defaulting people to the cheapest plan. we've got to go. doctor, thank you. >> thank you so much. gerri: and coming up tomorrow we wrap up our user's guide to the best year-end financial moves with a way to get your 2015 budget in shape. we have the ultimate budget guide for you. now, what if you could find out where the flu was hitting next? sort of an early warning system for the disease. well, a new welcome back site aims to do just -- web site aims to do just that, and it's based on a model by academics at columbia university's school of public health. what can you learn? internist doctors, nancy similar kins, she's also the medical consultant for the state of new jersey, joins us now to discuss. i love this idea. >> right? gerri: i think it's so cool. that was the first thing i did,

where my family lives, where i live. >> this was started by the cdc in november of 2013. they ran this contest saying, okay, who's going to be able to predict the flu the best. so the team at columbia won the contest. and so how does their model work? their model is based on two different sets of data. it's based on social media meaning google flu facts -- [laughter] which is great. gerri: so if you're going on the web, you're part of the study. >> exactly. and also the cdc hard facts. so they put the two together in this algorithm, they came up with this mathematical formula, and lo and behold they think they can predict. so we new yorkers, we're looking at january 10th as our worst week. gerri: so if you're going to pick a day to stay home -- >> that might be the week. gerri: i want to show people what this looks like. here's peak flu seasons for cities all around the country. chicago, december 20, dallas, december 20, l.a., december 27th. there's on the web site, there's a map of what this looks like,

the outbreaks and where they are so far. i've got to tell you, it's mostly in the south right now, but it's moving all over the country. you get a sense of where it is, where it's going. can we also show folks the individual cities, and you and i will discuss more about this while we're show what the cities look like. you'll see spikes on these charts, and this is when the flu is going to hit. >> we're going to try like we do the weather, and we're not always perfect with the weather -- gerri: i think this is more scientific. >> we've come very far with weather, so let's hope this is the beginning of really -- this is the first time that we're actually trying to really predict where the flu is going to -- gerri: isn't that interesting? don't you think that we would have done this earlier? it's funny that we're only doing it now. let's talk a little bit about the fact that the current flu shot, for goodness sakes, isn't really that great at preventing the flu -- >> okay. let's not get that out there. gerri: but that's true. >> okay. so let's say -- gerri: that's true, right? >> it's not perfect. it's not perfect. gerri: it's far from perfect.

>> okay. there's a barricade outside. a few people get through. picture that as the flu virus. but most people are blocked by the barricade, correct? so if you have a flu shot, you have antibodies to about 90% of what the mutated virus hasn't become. so it's only the little bit of mutations that the virus has become. let's not start picking on it yet because we haven't proven -- gerri: well, that's the news from the federal government. they issued it out, they said the virus has mutated, and people are taking that to mean -- gerri: i always get a flu shot. >> me too. it's as effective as it can be. this might be a bad year in terms of mutation, you still need to get the flu shot. gerri: we won't tell people not to get -- >> and wash your hands. [laughter] gerri: and eat your dinner and pick up after yourself. [laughter] thank you for coming on the show. and now we want to hear from you. a new poll finds only two-thirds of us believe in the american dream, and i'm smiling here, and i shouldn't be.

that's the lowest in two decades. are you with the majority? is the american dream, is it a pipe dream? here's what some of you are tweeting me about our poll question tonight. rick writes this: not a pipe dream. it's the two four-letter words that seems to bother a lot of people, hard work. and another viewer says this: the american dream never dies. is it a little tough right now? yeah. the dream only dies if you quit. on facebook mike posts this: it seems to be headed that way, but if things work right, anybody can still make it big. and another: with big government standing in our way, regulation, taxes, bad education, high energy costs, yes, it's a pipe dream. in addition to following me on twitter and facebook, be sure to like fox business on facebook. and when we come back, a cranchf how rising beef prices are impacting his industry. we're going to tell you about cattle rustlers, my friend. they're stealing cattle. and next, more juicy details coming out of the sony hack as a

high-powered producer is forced to apologize. and here's your consumer gauge with the numbers that mean the most to you. check that out. stock market up 10% this year, that's not too shabby. ♪ ♪ how could switchgrass in argentina, change engineering in dubai, aluminum production in south africa, and the aerospace industry in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 70% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing.

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♪ ♪ gerri: president obama planning to seen the trillion dollar -- sign the trillion dollar government spending bill if it reaches his desk, but at this hour that's a big i i if. rich edson from capitol hill. >> democrats have just started their caucus meeting here in the house. you've got the white house, president obama, vice president biden who are lobbying to get this trillion dollar spending bill through. and now you have a handful of senior democrats here in the house who are lobbying against it. so this division over this wall street provision, what it basically does is it takes a piece of the dodd-frank wall street reform act, it softens it up a bit for large institutions that receive government mustn't.

normally, they have to take these derivatives types of deals and move them out, spin them off into subsidiaries. this would ease that restriction. and so a number of democrats are fighting against this, fighting against this entire bill. you have senator elizabeth warren in the senate. there are republicans who are opposed to this, particularly in the house. they want to spend less money, they want an immediate reaction to president obama's executive order on immigration. this bill doesn't address either of those things or spending as low as at least they'd like, although supporters of the bill would say it does reform some certain spending provisions in federal code. but democrats and republicans always knew they were going to lose a few dozen republicans in this. it's very surprising the revolt that we've seen among democrats, especially the divide between democrats in the senate who support this provision. democrats in the white house who support this and now rank and file democrats or who are revolting against this, and they don't have the votes they need to get this to the finish line,

gerri. gerri: unbelievable. so what's the next step? >> the next step is this caucus meeting right now, and democrats will see where they are and perhaps present to republicans the number of democrats they can actually get to vote on this thing. the last reports we'd seen or heard is they needed about 0 or 50 democrats -- 40 or 50 democrats to sign on. essentially, they could put it on the floor set up for failure, the second thing is a short-term government funding bill known as a continuing resolution. this is not really what anybody in leadership wants, though democratic leaders now in the house appear to be pushing for a type of short-term funding bill, basically, to force republicans to take these wall street provisions out of the longer-term funding bill. but it just means we're going to have to fight over this again, perhaps, depending on how long that short-term provision is. so that's plan b. it seems unlikely the government might shut down, but we are getting awfully close to the point where they're going to have put plan b on the floor be

they're going to avoid a government shutdown tonight, gerri. gerri: rich, thank you for those reports. well, from capitol hill to hollywood and even hollywood couldn't write this epic. the sony pictures hacking story rocking tinseltown, it's getting worse, much worse. two of the biggest names in the business exposed exchanging, get this, or racially-charged e-mails about president obama. for more on this, the executive editor of "the hollywood reporter." matt, thanks for coming on the show. just how incendiary are these comments? >> well, you know, they are e-mails back and forth between amy pascal who is the head of sony pictures and scott rudin who is a very powerful producer and makes a lot of movies for sony. they're joking about movies that may or may not, that president obama may or may not like, and they joke about 12 years a slave, about django unchained, all movies starring african-americans. and they're doing it in a very

cavalier manner. both pascal and rudin have since apologized. gerri: look, you can read this yourself, and you can see what these folks are saying it's just in bad taste. i'm sure if they knew it was in public, they never would have said it. i'll read rudin's apology: gerri: matt, this puts the lie to the a that hollywood is full of good lefties who are big supporters of the president and would never say a negative word. >> well, they say that this was made in jest and that it's not a reflection of who they are. in fact, amy pascal said those exact words, this is not who i am. but i think a lot of people might question that if they're seeing these e-mails out of context. it looks pretty shocking. gerri: i was amazed, because i didn't think this kind of joking would occur. what else are we seeing out of this? this has just been a drip, drip, drop of bad news for hollywood, and particularly sony. >> yeah.

there are thousands of documents that have been made available, everything from internal spread sheets about profitability of movies to e-mail inboxes, communications with celebrities, scott rudin was calling angelina jolie a spoiled brat. very embarrassing e-mails. and it dose from that all the way -- it goes from that all the way up to financial subjects. gerri: these are people that regular americans don't know that well, but they are a critical part of the hollywood infrastructure, and it occurs to me if conservatives had made the kind of comments they were making in e-mail form, they would have been slain. i mean, the reaction would have been over the top. what kind of reaction is this getting? >> well, there has been negative reaction in hollywood. i think people were very shocked to see these e-mails. they did quickly apologize, and neither of them has a history of making any racially-insensitive comments. in fact, they are the opposite

of that. i mean, i know both of them, and i don't think that they are racist, but these are certainly shocking e-mails. gerri: shocking e-mails. you know, it was a hacking story, what is it now in your view? >> i think this is, i mean, this is a larger, you know, a studio has now been made completely transparent. so within hollywood there's an intense amount of scrutiny on what this has revealed, and in the general business world i think this is a wake-up call for every business out there. gerri: no kidding. that's what i worry about, every company in the world's going to be blackmailed and all their private information leaked. matt, thanks for coming on the show. great to meet you. >> no problem. gerri: and still to come, my two cents more. and rising beef prices aren't only making burger lovers angry, it's leading to a trend of cattle theft. no kidding? cattle rustling, just like you saw in the movies years ago. one rancher speaks out, next. ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ gerri: well, it sounds like something out of a western, cattle rustling. but as beef prices continue to soar, it's a real threat to ranchers. just this week more than 150 cattle were reported missing in idaho, and their value? $350,000. with more on this, kevin koester, a cattle rancher. great to see you. you've had this happen yourself. tell me what happened and how much money you were out. >> well, we don't know what really happened. it's typical of ranchers especially in the west and more remote areas where we only have the opportunity to get a head count maybe three or four times a year, so months can go by before we realize for sure that we're missing substantial

amounts of cattle. so in my case when we gathered our cattle at the end of the summer, we found that we were missing 45-50 head which represents close to $100,000 in value. gerri: wow. >> and that happens all the time. and ranchers really, it's against their nature to all the time report things to law enforcement. so the numbers we see across the country really just represent a tip of the iceberg in true losses. gerri: well, my understanding is that these high prices for beef are driving a lot of this. tell us about how those two things work: >> sure. right now we're at the lowest time in the last 50 or 60 years in terms of having the numbers of beef cattle in the united states, so the demand across the world is growing, and so prices are rising what ranchers get for their cattle, so it's a crime of opportunity for thieves to go ahead and steal cattle because it can be $30 or $40,000 of value in cattle, and a truckload

can be well over $150,000 in value. gerri: wow. >> so the opportunity is there for thieves, and they're -- gerri: and they take it. kevin, is that how they do it, do they put them on tracks so there aren't, like, cowboys who come on your property and like -- how does it work? how do they steal? >> well, it can range, depends. typically, in the more remote areas it will be cowboys, and they can either be on four-wheelers or horseback, and they'll get 'em down to an area and get the cattle into a trailer or a truck, and the cattle can be hundreds or thousands of miles away before anybody even realizes something happened. gerri: wow. and as you said, you're only counting, like, three times a year, so it's easy to miss this entirely. is this problem going to get worse before it gets better given the fact beef prices are up 27% from a year ago? >> yeah, common sense would tell us it's a crime of opportunity like this where thieves can make a substantial amount of money

and, relatively speaking, i think across state by state we have relatively low penalties in a lot of cases for the theft of cattle. gerri: really? >> so we probably need to work on state by state look at seeing what the penalties are and maybe see if we can stop some of these bad habits. gerri: so do people go to jail or is it a fine? what happens? >> it can be a blend of each. it's state by state, each state handles it how they see fit within their penal codes. it can be prison time but, unfortunately, i think we start lower, and the courts kind of work their way through fines before they actually send people to prison in a lot of cases for the theft of cattle. gerri: wow. very interesting. kevin, thanks for coming on the show. it's great to see you. >> thanks, gerri. gerri: and we'll be right back with my two cents more and the answer to our question of the day, is the american dream a pipe dream? ♪ ♪

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a new york times poll shows americans are less optimistic about the ability to work hard and get rich. do you agree the american pipe dream -- i can't even say it. easy for me to say, the american dream is a pipe dream? that's what we asked on gerriwillis.com. 59% said yes, 41% said no. look at that. be sure to log on for our online question every weekday. and finally, we talked a lot in the show about the oil dividend for consumers, the price break on gas providing just a little more wiggle room in your budget and that, of course, is the good news. but at "the willis report," we don't just report the news that might impact your wallet, we're also actively looking for ways for you to save and get an advantage. to that end, we introduced you tonight to the ceo of republic wireless, a cell phone service provider whose prices, well, they're an embarrassment to the big players. they are very cheap. we show you how you can see which towns and cities are getting hit by the flu next. good stuff. we're looking out for you at "the willis report" where consumers are our business.

that's my two cents more. and that's it for tonight's willis report. thanks for joining us. don't forget to dvr the show if you can't catch us live. "making money" with charles payne starts right now. have a great night. ♪ ♪ charles: i'm charles payne, and you're watching "making money." breaking news, countdown to a government shutdown. tonight's midnight deadline draws near, the white house braces for the worst. obama and biden feverishly working the phones, and the clock is ticking. if they fail, get ready for the blame game. rich edson is live in d.c. with the latest breaking news. >> reporter: good evening, charles. and this bill is in trouble. as you mentioned, president obama, vice president joe biden making phone calls to democratic lawmakers, democrats right now in the house are having a caucus meet, but there's a split in the party. house minority leader nancy pelosi telling her colleagues to vote against it. she says this bill has a wall street provision in