>> well, it comes down to this. brittney griner is home and a lot of americans are very happy about that, but paul whelan is not home and four years in a russian prison, no sign that that will change anytime soon and my nextness is not happy about that. david whelan joins us right now, the brother of marine paul whelan, kind enough to join us. david, it's very good to have you and i know that it's trying

circumstances and you had publicly said yourself, as did your brother, very happy to hear the news on brittney griner, but has it pushed your brother further back? >> not at all. and i think all americans should be happy that brittney griner is home. there should never be anybody who is opposed to an american being free from detention. paul's case, brittney's case and the 50 or so americans detained around the world are all individual cases and progress at their own bases so paul's case wasn't in front of or behind brittney's case, it was beside and the u.s. government did the best it could do to bring an american home. they were trying to get paul home and we really wanted them to and disappointed they weren't able to and they're continuing to work on it and i'm confident they'll be successful. >> i understand that the stages did give you a heads-up that your brother would not be included in this deal, that's probably a bit crass for me to

describe it as such, but were you given an indication that they're following up? >> neil, this is all dirty politics so don't feel crash. it shows an evolution how the u.s. government and especially under the biden administration, we've seen this evolution of the white house adapting better, dealing better with wrongful detainees families. when trevor reed was released we didn't know it until everybody else knew it and it was hard to process. having an evening to process it privately gave us a real grace to be able to, you know, be angry at russia and to be sad about paul and happy about brittney, but doing it privately not having to do it in the public eye. neil: you know, it's very hard to be in your position and you've represented your brother so well and your family in general, but we're told that your brother was never part of this deal, that the russians never wanted him to be part of this deal, it was like a take it or leave it approach. what did you make of that?

>> that's my understanding, too. the u.s. government made a proposal, as far as i understand, two for one proposal. brittney griner and paul whelan for probably viktor bout last summer. we knew that was never going to happen, the russians are all about parity, it was going to be two for two or one for one and those we were counting on. the russians were only going to exchange one person and i know that they have a very unusual approach to paul's case. they consider espionage in his case to be real and a serious crime and also, if they have a spy that's caught outside of russia, they may want to have a get out of jail card for that person. >> while i have you, david, i'd be remiss. president trump had said shortly after the news of this swap agreement quoting here, what a stupid and unpatriotic embarrassment for the usa. what did you think of that?

>> i think it's dispoappointing the office of the president is to take care of all americans and i think what president biden did was take care of an american in peril and bring home the american they could bring home so it's disappointing that a former president would have that sort of perspective. neil: now, two of the years that your brother was held in russia were under donald trump. >> right. neil: any anger toward president trump? >> not to president trump as the person. i think where we are right now is that the office of the president is the decision maker in paul's case and it's important for us to hold them accountable. so, if the president doesn't do something and then later claims that he did, then i'll call him on it and i'll call president biden after his term on it, too, if paul is still in detention under another president. it's really important for the

government to be engaged and the u.s. government was not engaged in paul's case for the first two years and not all of that is president trump's fault. and i think that the government was not prepared with hostage, and they were focused on terrorist and old-fashioned approach. there are more tools now available to the biden administration. still, my brother pleaded during president trump's term in office and president trump didn't, not to talk about paul at all, it's offensive. neil: i'm not trying to make insinuation, when president trump said this is stupid and embarrassment for usa, i assume swapping out for a noted and notorious arms dealer is not the way to solve these things, but presumably and in past

administrations, republican or democrat, that these the way the deals are done. >> it may feel crass, but that's the way it's done and people are saying we shouldn't do deals because that puts people at risk. over 50 americans have already been wrongfully detained around the world and we're doing nothing. doing something to bring them home is a good first step. if the people in power in congress or the agencies in the u.s. government don't like that, then they should come up with ways to fix it. president biden signed an executive order last year that gave people the permission, the maybe responsibility to start coming up with strategies with dealing with wrongful detentions of americans to try to get ahead of this problem and to be preventive rather than reactive. perhaps the people worried about it should fix the problem rather than campaign. >> you know, david, i was wondering, there's a deal like this and we could talk about the other ideas under investigations going back to john kennedy in 1962.

does it encourage nefarious activity? in other words, the americans are so hot to trot to get a valued american or well-publicized american out, that they will do anything and everything so we will try to capture an american on nefarious terms in the hope that some of our biggest crooks and terrorists are ultimately freed themselves. what do you think? >> that's the risk, right? the kremlin is obviously a bully, they're thugs, they're murderers. we don't want to be that country. we don't want to be those people and so there is a line between bringing a knife to a gun fight and being prepared to stop the bully from bullying. where the u.s. government crosses that line i'm not sure. i think they need a plan. they didn't have a plan when paul was arrested and didn't have a plan the last two years of the trump administration and even the start of the biden administration, what do we do.

who is going to make a decision, and more decisions being made or confidence in trying new things, more attempts to be creative. they're not all going to work, but if they bring americans home, i think that's a good thing. neil: finally, david, how is paul holding up? have you had a chance to talk to him? >> he was able to speak to our folks, he's been speaking to them on a daily basis. he was pretty shattered and getting his hopes up. i think we had our hopes up he'd be coming home. he was planning where he would live. he's lost his apartments in the states in the last four years and thinking about that future and i think not being able to think about that future. he's had a huge activity on the go-fund-me page from prison and people talking about sending him letters and all of that will eventually reach him and i think the support will help him in the next days. neil: and i'm sure with your

support, you're a heck of a brother, and david whelan on behalf of his brother paul whelan and both men were very, very happy to hear of brittney griner's release and since then and after that moment have chosen not to play politics in this. they want it resolved, the sooner the better. david, thank you again. >> thanks, neil. i appreciate it. neil: in the meantime, take you to the border in this country and growing concerns what happens in really less than a couple of weeks when title 42, a means of isolating those trying to get into this country, goes away. bill melugin on that. >> that's right, title 42 set to drop in 11 days from now, but even with it still in place we're seeing an explosion of activity really all along the southern border. up to eagle pass, take a look at the video the drone team shot early this morning of a single enormous group of several hundred migrants that crossed illegally at eagle

pass. almost all of them single adults from country for the most part are not subject to title 42 which is why they're willing to turn themselves in like that. they know once they give themselves up they're likely being released into the united states, but that group pales in comparison to what we saw yesterday. the second piece of video, this was a single enormous group of 650 migrants that crossed into the eagle pass area late yesterday afternoon, and at the exact same time this group was crossing on the other side of town, there was a group of 350 that crossed. so our team in one hour in eagle pass yesterday saw over 1,000 people cross illegally. as you can imagine, that's a massive drain on border patrol resources, pulls agents off patrol and that del rio sector is averaging more than 10,000 illegal crossings every week. and this is border patrol infrastructure, this is the soft-side tent facility that they put up in eagle pass to

deal with progressing. a capacity of 1,000 people. and yesterday our drone was over it as it started over flowing. there were lines of migrants waiting to get inside and they weren't able to unload because of the facility. this is with title 42 still in place. it's only going to get worse when it finally drops in 11 days and lastly, it's not just there in the del rio sector. this is video from one of our contacts in cuidad juarez, hundreds of migrants passing into el paso, texas, happening along the southern border, you'll see people walking through the river. long lines of people gathering and walking right into the city of el paso. there are really only a couple of border agents on hand from the video we were able to see and that el paso sector has been hammered just like eagle pass, sometimes upwards of 2000 people every single day there in the el paso sector and you can see from the video how nach

no nonchalent, they'll be in a single line and now border patrol in the tu san sector reporting they dealt with multiple groups totalling several hundred people from 17 different countries around the world and three different continents. neil, keep in mind. that's with title 42 still in place. when it drops, it's going to get a whole lot worse. back to you. neil: incredible, bill. thank you very much. bill melugin. and chris is here from the national border patrol council. bill mentioned a good point. all of this is with title 42 in place. what happens when title 42 is not in place. >> at that time we're going to quadruple or maybe more the numbers that we're seeing. if you look at what mr. melugin said. a lot of them are not affected

by title 42 and safe for them to come through and once title 42 is gone no one is affected by title 42 so we're going to be overwhelmed at that point if we aren't overwhelmed already. neil: you know what i noticed now, we've got live drone shots of what happened at the border and those trying to get into this country, obviously aware that drones are watching, camera crews are watching them and they still come, wave after wave after wave, bolder and much more in your face than we've seen in the past. what do you think of that? >> i think it's-- we've known this has been coming for some time and the administration or administrations have done nothing to stop this. this has been going on since 2013. if this was a for profit company we would have been bankrupt years ago. it's insane that the federal government has no desire to fix this problem. neil: now, we have been told that, and you know this better than i, chris, that the administration is looking at $3 billion post this title 42

thing, i don't know what degree, what would happen or what would change, but that would seem relatively to me to be a drop in the bucket, but your thoughts? >> yeah, i think what they need to do instead of putting a bandaid on a broken leg put pen to paper and fix this legislatively, enforce the laws on the book. turn people around where they're coming across and stop the incentives coming in illegally. it's too easy to come in illegally. it's easier illegally than legally. neil: well, chris, thank you very much. good seeing you again. >> thank you, thanks for having me. neil: all right. chris cabrera. we're keeping an eye on twitter right now. there's a back and forth who can release information and all of that. all of this as more documents are released, almost on a daily basis here, that shows there wasn't only bias going on at twitter, but they were revelling in that bias. stay with us. my most important kitchen tool? my brain.

so i choose neuriva plus. unlike some others, neuriva plus is a multitasker supporting 6 key indicators of brain health. to help keep me sharp. neuriva: think bigger. hi, i'm jason and i've lost 202 pounds on golo. so when i first started golo, i was expecting to lose around 40 pounds and then i just kept losing weight, and moving and moving and moving in a better direction. with golo and release, you're gonna lose the weight. as someone living with type 2 diabetes, i want to keep it real and talk about some risks. with type 2 diabetes you have up to 4 times greater risk of stroke, heart attack, or death. even at your a1c goal, you're still at risk ...which if ignored could bring you here... ...may put you in one of those... ...or even worse. too much? that's the point. get real about your risks and do something about it. talk to your health care provider about ways to lower your risk of stroke, heart attack, or death. learn more at getrealaboutdiabetes.com ah, these bills are crazy. she

has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term policy! find out if you're sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com. introducing a revolutionary comfort mat that can be lengthened and even go around corners to perfectly fit your space. because we don't want to be confined to just one area to stay comfortable while working. the comfortmat connect from weathertech. the snaplink system makes it easy to connect end middle, and cornerpieces. for comfort that lasts as long as the day. learn more about the infinite possibilities of the american made comfortmat connect at weathertech.com.

>> all right. so many documents, so little time. it seems by the day there are more revelations and document dumps on key issues that have arisen over the years with twitter. what they shared, what they didn't. who they silenced and who they didn't. the latest from alexandra huff in washington. >> hi, neil. we're expect the at any moment anytime today the next installment, picking up where writer matt taibbi leaves off. the decision to remove then president trump from the platform. according to internal communications of the company he shared, it doesn't come down to a singular tweet or a day with one executive writing to another the removal was due to actions by trump and supporters over the course of the election and frankly the last four years. taibbi suggests the framework

had long been set. the latest drop is now tiabbi shows how the safety chief who played a critical post supporting. >> this post about the hunter biden laptop situation shows that roth not only met weekly with the fbi and dhs, but with the office of the director of national intelligence. earlier this week, writer barry wright revealed expressing prominent conservatives, including black list to reduce their visibility. thinking back when former twi twitter ceo jack dorsey assured that shadow banning was not taking place on the platform. what others referred to as shadow banning, twitter

referred to as visibility filtering. that's about the same thing. neil: visibility filtering. thank you very much. in the meantime, here, you're probably having a devil of a time finding gifts at the right price, but what if someone is stealing them? a lot of folks are stealing them and a lot of retailers where this is happening is saying forget about whether we can get the goods on the shelves. because of this crime wave we might not have a store very much longer to stay open. it gets involved, it gets messy and it gets scary after this. what's up my trade dogs? you want to be rich like me? you want to trust me on this one. let the stars choose your next... [inaudible] it's time to take control of your investing education. learn your way. not theirs. td ameritrade. where smart investors get smarter℠. (vo) businesses nationwide are switching to verizon business internet. (woman) it's a perfect fit for my small business. (vo) verizon has business internet solutions nationwide. (man) for our not-so-small business too. (vo) get internet that keeps your business ready for anything.

from verizon.

>> all right. things are so bad with stores getting robbed that the ceo of walmart indicated that he may have to close some stores in the blighted areas because of it and all of this at a time

when the stealing has got ten so widespread and the crime with it so widespread some folks are afraid to shop at these stores. and hosting the big show today, among many other things, this is out of control, what do you make of it? >> it is, neil. and i'm in new york to be with you and sitting across the desk and here i am not sitting across the desk from you. [laughter] >> on a serious note. this is marginalizing or disenfranchises people around the country and targets are packing up and leaving in some places and other big box chains are leaving as well. if you look at retail across the country. last year in 2021, at about almost $95 billion, 27% increase from the year before. and this has become problematic for people who rely on the big box stores for jobs, incomes to support their families. another instance that i think

is creating this environment for cities across the country, even the suburbs, is these soft on crime policies that are pushed by people like kim foxx, who gives guidance to our county prosecutors to undercharge cases to ensure that young people who commit these crimes don't end up in jail. look at gascone in los angeles and who the district attorney is, but california retail merchants, they said that just in san francisco and oakland, they received losses of 3.6 billion alone. so, this is impacting everyone and they need to get this under control otherwise it will be way too late. they're putting a lot of people out of jobs. neil: yeah, and one thing that's wild, too, john. it's not as if the stores don't have cameras and walmart has them everywhere and a lot of retailers, and the rest. but that doesn't silence a lot of the would-be thieves that

they're not at all perturbed by that. what do you think of that? >> i think that they need-- the legislators need to get tough on this kind of crime. i know we focus on big crimes, murder and first degree and second degree, all of that kind of stuff. but in florida what they've recently done, greater a greater penalty of law for those who steal, retail theft. they've set it up in the state of florida if you steal 10 or more things at two different locations within a 30-day period it's a felony and it's a serious felony so that's a deterrent and florida, as you know, neil. they don't play around when it comes to crime and that's one of the reasons i'm proud to be a floridian, but i've got to tell you, this needs to be a trend across the country. in places like new york where we've seen an uptick and many other places around the country they need to change the laws and get serious about this. right now, because there's a lot of stores that can't handle it especially when insurance companies after two, three

instances of this, they're saying, we're no longer going to cover you because you're too much of a risk for us and that's happening all over the country, neil. neil: you're talking about a lot of stores that go into risky or dangerous areas that might think twice now. >> absolutely. we're talking -- and a lot of these places, i'll use chicago again, they had a target on the south side on 87th street. this is where people really needed the jobs. this was opportunity for a lot of families to feed their families and they wanted to hire from the community. so now you've got an instance where a lot of the big box chain stores are saying, look, if it's not a really safe neighborhood where we can ensure there's not going to be a lot of retail theft. we're not going there. which means there will be a lot of communities marginalized for this and we know that the inner cities are in bad shape now, but even more so, which is something that's unimaginable for me because people need the help, they need the jobs and certainly, these businesses need the workers.

so, that's a big part. neil: you're a busy man. what have you got planned for your big show tonight? >> a lot on tap. harris falkner, jonathan tavis, and i encourage everyone to join us, and don't change that dial. if you can say that, sounds like a 1950's term. neil: you're too young for that reference. >> i know it. neil: hang out with an old guy and speak with an old guy. great seeing you again and catch you on the big show. >> thank you, my friend. neil: a great human being. in the meantime here, we've been telling you that the federal reserve is poised to raise interest rates next week that's almost a given. a lot of people were selling off on that and the stock market had a horrible week. i digress. what if i told you that all of this might be overdone that people see a silver lining here, you're just not hearing much about it? you will after this.

- [narrator] if your business kept on employees through the pandemic, getrefunds.com can qualify you for a payroll tax refund of up to $26,000 per employee, even if you got ppp. and all it takes is eight minutes to find out. then we'll work with you to fill out your forms and submit the application. that easy. getrefunds.com has helped businesses like yours claim over $1 billion in payroll tax refunds. but it's only available for a limited time. go to getrefunds.com powered by innovation refunds.

my most important kitchen tool? my brain. so i choose neuriva plus. unlike some others, neuriva plus is a multitasker supporting 6 key indicators of brain health. to help keep me sharp. neuriva: think bigger.

>> you're not seeing the number of people laying off people as opposed to trimming jobs, not hiring ago. . that bodes that we'll have a shallow recession. >> we're not going to hell in a hand basket, despite so many people fearing that we are. neil: a couple of the wall street titans i've been talking to people on this network and fox business if you don't have it, demand it. and a lot of you have it and don't have to demand it. and some saying we might be getting stir crazy if we're looking at a recession at all, it might be relatively mild if it comes to pass at all. they base that on continuing job growth and we do have the backdrop of inflation and a reminder that we'll probably keep the every leary federal

reserve hiking rates after this weekend and probably after that. and here is a capitalist market strategies, and steve moore, svengali, and katherine, you first, people like ken fisher, and like fisher, moynihan and others are saying we're going to have some bumps, but it's not going to be nearly as bad. what do you say? >> well, inflation has to come down, unfortunately, the fed held rates too low too long and we're dealing with the aftermath of that. remember, inflationary pressures aren't just supply side. it's not all putin's fault, it's not supply chain distortion's fault. we have a labor market that's overheated. for the fed to get back to 2%, the employment rate cannot remain where it is, 3.7%, that's very close to historic lows, even the fed sees unemployment rising to 4.4.

i think, neil, it goes to 5% plus, and if i'm right, historically, it's never happened in the united states that unemployment over a course of 12 months rises 50 basis points or more and the economy is not already in recession. so, that's coming and that's what's required at this point for the fed to comply with its dual mandate, which remember is 2% inflation and full employment. neil: you know, you think about it, steve, we started out at 0% interest rates this year and right now we're around 5% and maybe go a lot further north than that. who knows? where are you on this? >> well, look, i think that we've done a pretty good job of getting that inflation rate down, neil, from 9% a few months ago down to somewhere in the 5 to 6% range right now. but i've got to tell you it's harder to get from 6% to the 2% that we need to be at than to get it down from 9%. what i'm saying is, i don't

think that this fight against inflation is over by any means. i think it's not just the fed's job to bring inflation down, but we need to, let's not forget that what caused this massive inflation was the massive $4 trillion of spending and the question, of course, is will this new republican house of representatives when they take the gavel in january, will they start to bring that spending spree to a halt? i can't answer that question. i don't know, neil, because this is christmas season and i've said it on your show last week, that you know, republicans like to play santa claus just as much as the democrats do. so that's my big concern is whether we can get this massive spending binge over. neil: you know, normally when you have divided government as we'll have for the next couple of years, jonas, wall street likes that and a lot of business guys like that, they can't go too crazy, but i say they can, they can go crazy. what do you look at? >> some of the spending is autopilot and would require action to stop. it's good and a lot of spending

is coming down, you know, the student loan deferles . it's all on the fed. fed has done a good job not causing a depression and there's three bubbles, took out two. the crypto bubble largely gone as being a bubble and tech boom, a bubble gone just like 2000. the housing and commercial real estate bubble is there and this is a touchy one, high mortgage rates, high commercial mortgage rates could collapse and cause a '08 type of a situation. if we don't shoot for 2% and go for stable 3%. mandate is stable prices not it has to be 2%. without the white house helping we might have to settle for that as opposed to over doing it or going to 0% or a negative

situation and inflation. neil: and i had a chance to talk to sam zelle, i'm a name dropper. buys cheap real estate and makes money on it. even with the impacts of the higher rates, he thinks they should go higher. he's fishing around and doesn't see much going on in this environment. if that's right, real estate, to jason's point, has some hurt yet to come, what do you think? >> yeah, it has some hurt yet to come. the u.s. economy is two-thirds based on consumption. the u.s. consumer derives workout from two sources, home value and 401(k)'s, both are underwater and both have further to go. so that means that 2023 is going to turn ugly for consumption. as i mentioned the principal driver of the economy, which up to this point, neil, has been remarkably resilient. the reason for at that

resiliency despite the inflation, in some cases food and oil prices double digits year over year. consumption has been good because people have jobs. once we get that flip in the job market and we get unemployment rate rising, consumption is going to roll over and exasxaserbated by a fe that's hiking and it has further to fall. >> do you buy that, steve? steve? can you hear us? >> is that for me. one thing that you've left out of the equation, we haven't mentioned the d-word which is debt. when you look at how much debt the federal government has taken on, trillions of dollars in the last few years and then, also, one thing that really concerns me, you guys are right, the consumer has been king over the last couple of years, the consumer has been really carrying the economy on

its shoulders, but look what's happening to credit card debt, neil. and consumer debt, it's surging and that means, you know, can the consumer keep spending like this? i have some doubts about that because all debts have to be repaid unless you're the federal government. neil: yeah, jonas, what do you think, the consumer very resilient and still so maybe less than a year ago. what do you think? >> i mean, if they can keep borrowing and don't lose their jobs in high numbers, we need a percent to ice inflation, but stocks, bonds and real estates. i think that bonds have the least down side followed by stocks. i think that real estate going forward because that hasn't corrected yet. it's frozen because of the higher rates. and mortgages are coming down a little basically not a lot of activity and the fear of this activity has caused long-term rates to go lower as so supposed to short-term rates. that's the one to keep an eye

on and to navigate. neil: four weeks in a row that the mortgages have been declining and we haven't seen a pickup in mortgage activity. something to what you're saying. have a wonderful weekend. disturbing news to follow is the baby formula shortage, it hasn't gone away not only in key cities across the country, what am i saying about the entire country? it's gotten a little out of control and doesn't lydia know it. >> it's been reported that the baby formula shortage is getting better. you can see here data from just last week shows the in-stock rate at about 86%, that's approaching the stockage rate that we saw before the shortage, but in contrast, take a look at this photo. it shows the mostly bare shelves of the cvs pharmacy behind me. and the chain says it continues to ration formula purchases across the country. we're finding the social media groups and facebook pages and

websites continue to be very busy helping parents locate formula that they need. find my baby formula.com registered 7,000 new people to their website the past couple of weeks and parents tell us it's getting harder to find the formula they need. >> the past week, it's been crazy for us. we have been getting less powder, so, whatever i have, i kind of like, you know, like can i just feed him less? but then it's like, you can't feed a child less because that's not fair to them. >> meanwhile, an independent report find a lack of leadership at f.d.a. during the baby formula crisis has led to perceived constant turmoil at the agency. the f.d.a. commissioner dr. robert caleb said in response to proposed changes to the agency will be released in january, but that does little

to help parents who need baby formula now. back to you. neil: lydia, thank you very much for that. lydia hu. you think it's pricey getting gifts under the tree. you should see how much it's costing this year to put lights on your house. can we say insane? ♪

♪ >> clark? oh, clark! >> honey, i think i know what's

wrong. ♪ >> you know, back in the griswold days, chevy chase and all of that. the worry was the price of ornaments and decoration and now the cost of keeping them lit and doesn't brady grady know it? that's a historic high. >> hi, neil, if you light up your home this christmas you might be shocked by the electric bill you're going to face. this house is certainly used to a high electric bill in december here in tinley park. dominic is the mastermind or the madman behind the elaborate christmas lights display. you're used to your bill being more than the rest of the year and because electricity prices are up 14% you're bracing for that. >> of course, normally $300 a month during december holiday

and goes up to about $1400. this year i'm going to imagine, 16, 17, $1800 at least. >> your display has 200,000 lights and 400 figurines, that's a lot more than most people have at their house and even for the everyday person who is decorating their home this year they're going to be paying more for lights, about 15% more. same with wreaths and ornaments and scented candles and wrapping paper is more expensive this year than last year. you add onto your display every year. >> yeah, it's a massive undertaking to get it up. 15,000 zip ties, staples, paint, everything to keep it going usually 8, $10,000 a season and i've got to imagine $12,000. >> a lot of money, but you donate to charity and so can people who come by the display. you should see this at night, you don't get the full effect during the day and how much goes into this and unfortunately how much it costs, neil. neil: it's staggering to your

point. grady, thank you very very much. have you had it with the holidays? some people are not going that far, but aren't really keen on gift giving and by the way not keen on receiving either. in fact, it now represents a majority of americans. say what? ♪ ♪ since there's zero overdraft fees if she overdraws by $50 or less. and, kyle, well, he's keeping calm with another day to adjust his balance if he overdraws by more than $50. overdraft assist from chase. make more of what's yours. vision insurance doesn't do you any good if you don't use it. just like this treadmill i bought, that i keep saying that i'll use... but never do. yeah. with hundreds of frames to choose from,

you can put your vision insurance to good use at america's best. book an exam today. ♪ [christmas music] ♪ ♪ ♪ weathertech gift cards have the power to wow everyone on your holiday list. offering a variety of american made products. weathertech! nice! like floorliners... cargo liner... tablet holder... boot tray... cupfone... sink mat... pet feeding system... anti-fatigue comfortmat and more. order the weathertech gift card instantly for the perfect gift at weathertech.com my name is joshua florence, and one thing i learned being a firefighter is plan ahead. you don't know what you're getting into, but at the end of the day, you know you have a team behind you that can help you. not having to worry about the future makes it possible to make the present as best as it can be for everybody.

>> all right, taking a look right now at the so-called season of giving. a lot of americans are not keen on, in fact, more than one in

four actually dislike exchanging gifts during the holidays. kelly o'grady on that, susan lee on that. kelly, are you in that one out of four americans? [laughter] >> no, i'm not. honestly, neil, i love gift giving and love when you find something someone loves and you see that on their faces and they're excited, but i will say that doesn't always happen, and that does cause some anxiety because it's hard to give a gift that someone else loves. you have to put yourself in their shoes and with everything else costing more, it's tough this year. >> process cheeses are the gift that keep giving, that's a freebie. >> make a note of that. neil: there you go. [laughter]. neil: susan, what do you think. when americans were asked, one in four say right now that the best thing you can give is nothing at all. do you agree with that? >> so, i don't have any concrete evidence here, neil. but i suspect that every christmas gift i give you gets regifted to your least favorite

relative, but you know, this year, too-- >> you've never given me a christmas gift at all and you know, please. >> i have, but i think it was cousin vinny, your least favorite cousin that has that bottle of wine. it was notably a pretty good bottle of wine from canada. 2022, a different year. layoffs up and inflation at 6% instead of 8%, near the 40-year highs and when you hear somebody like jeff bezos says it's time to titlen the-- tighten the wallet and tighten the spending and the buffer in your wallet is going to disappear according to jamie dimon, i think they'll spent less. neil: all evidence is that people are shopping in droves. and parking lots outside of malls are crowded and if the consumers are, it's a funny way

of showing it. >> that's fair. what we're hearing, people are giving list gifts in the number of people they're giving to. the average spending per person is up 11% versus last year, so, it's about 250 per person. so, people are saying, you know, well, okay, maybe i'm not going to give to everyone, all of my friends and family, i might pick a couple of people and that means that you're seeing people go spend in droves and go to those malls and whatnot. they're not necessarily saying i'm giving to everyone. so that becomes a problem when you show up and someone got you a gift and oh, i can't get you anything, that's anxiety. neil: awkward. >> yeah, (laughter) . neil: we're talking about just the work environment, too, and getting good help. going to the malls and stores, that's tough. i'm sure you've heard and susan, i'll explore with you, the olive garden manager, out of a job-- not sure whether it's man or woman -- trying to get proof

from workers, one said the dog was sick, and proof of that because it happens all the time and the manager is out of a job. >> i find that hard to believe. given there are 10 million job openings and it's still a tight labor market, so olive garden managers are looking for the workers to fill the shifts. i'm surprised that that actually happened, but we do know, look, there are layoffs-- >> i'm not surprised. susan think about it, and you know, there's no help around and i feel sorry for the help that's there because they're getting blitzkrieged by people who say they're not happy. >> and hopefully higher boneses and the gift giving, to keep the gifts, h and m's and the like and stores are charging customers to return items. do you have pay for that $7, $8 postal mail. i think that has an impact. neil: quickly, kelly, maybe the

best thing maybe at olive garden free bread sticks. >> you can never have enough of that. >> fortune cookies. neil: at the rate they're going they may want to pursue you. i want to thank you and have a wonderful christmas. we continue here at fox with the latest developments, including what we're going to mary from twitter soon. i love to help people understand the world through their lens and invest accordingly. you can call us christmas eve at four o'clock in the morning. we're gonna always make sure that you have all of the financial tools and support to secure your financial future. that means a lot for my community and for every community. where can you go for family fun... and do your holiday shopping all-in-one? lowe's, actually.

this holiday season come experience the magic of winterfest. good morning, kaleb. alec. are you seeing this? are we cartoons? i think we are. this is awesome. look over there! is that alec, kaleb, welcome to shriners hospitals for children village. we call it fezzyville. and i'm the mayor. mayor fezzy you boys got here just in time. we need your help. oh, wow. this is shriners hospitals workshop, where you can discover the moments our donors make possible. this is amazing. wow! kids, it takes a whole lot of support from caring people out there to make all this happen. and i can't think of anyone better than you two

to deliver this important holiday message. what do you say? think you can do that? sure thing, fezzy. i can't believe we got to hang out with fezzy. that's mayor fezzy to you, alec. wait, we have a job to do, kaleb. oh, yeah. it takes a lot of support from caring people just like you to fund all the important work that everyday heroes at shriners hospitals do every single day. can you become a monthly donor today? when you do, we'll send you your very own love to the rescue blanket to show that you're a part of our shriners hospitals for children workshop team. i hear the blanket is adorable. laughs but seriously, whether you call or go online to loveshriners.org and become a monthly donor or just make your very best one time gift. we want to say

thank you and happy holidays, everyone! bye, bye cough. later chest congestion. hello 12 hours of relief. 12 hours!! not coughing? hashtag still not coughing?! mucinex dm gives you 12 hours of relief from chest congestion and any type of cough, day or night. mucinex dm. it's comeback season. >> newly released twitter files now, but in congressional testimony from former ceo jack dorsey from back in 2018 into question. this as g.o.p. lawmakers react to evidence of censorship of conservative voices by the tech giant. welcome to fox news live. i'm griff jenkins. hey anita. >> hey, griff, good to see you. i'm anita vogel. the white house denying an