york. this is the "cbs overnight news." good evening, i'm meg oliver. tomorrow, the u.s. joins the european union imposing strict new travel restrictions in response to the new omicron variant. in addition to south africa, a host of other countries are included in the u.s. restrictions, affecting an estimated 122 scheduled flights between the u.s. and south africa in december. cbs's deborah padda leads off our coverage tonight from south africa. >> reporter: once again, a pandemic-weary world has been plunged into uncertainty

following the discovery of a new variant by south african scientists, which could be more transmissible and vaccine resistant. one nation after another has shut its doors to countries across southern africa. the u.s. follows tomorrow, and israel has imposed the world's toughest restrictions to date. banning all travels for the next two weeks. >> now's the time to act fast, early, hard, and strong. >> reporter: but with omicron already circling the globe, public health experts say border closures don't help. there is bitter anger here over the hasty travel bans. south africa's foreign ministry says the country is being punished for its excellent science and ability to spot variants quickly. there is also smoldering resentment amongst many africans, who believe they are bearing the brunt of wealthy nations' decision to hoard the lion's share of vaccines.

we spoke to south africa's naaltute for communicable diseases. is omicron the price the world pays for not having global vaccine access? >> i think, yes, it should remind us that it may have played a role. um, and that we should be making vaccines accessible to all populations throughout the world. >> reporter: less than 7% of the african continent has been vaccinated, and many health workers have not received a single jab. deborah padda, cbs news, johannesburg. meanwhile, former-fda commissioner and pfizer board member, dr. scott gottlieb, told face the nation's margaret brennen south africa has 16 million doses of the vaccine that they have not yet distributed. let's go now to cbs's lilia luciano in los angeles with more on dr. gottlieb's advice on this strain. good evening, lilia. >> reporter: good evening to you, meg. dr. gottlieb said it's crucial to determine whether this variant is vaccine resistant to figure out how to best fight

covid. holiday crowds are filling the sidewalks, free ways, and airport in l.a. this weekend amid growing concerns about omicron, the new coronavirus strain. >> it's almost definitely here already. just looking at the number of cases coming off planes this weekend, it's almost a certainty that there have been cases that have gotten into the united states. >> reporter: scientists are working to quickly understand just how dangerous and contagious the strain is but they say they haven't found that omicron is vaccine resistant. former fda commissioner dr. scott gottlieb. >> someone who is fully boosted is also well protected from this. that could be a pretty good backstop from this becoming really epidemic in the united states. >> reporter: the threat of omicron comes as covid cases in the country are surging. the hardest-hit states with new infections, michigan, minnesota, wisconsin. these cold-weather states have vaccination rates below the national average of nearly 70% with at least one dose. increasing the urgency for more vaccinations and booster shots.

>> whether it's going to be a three shot and you're done or three shots and then every once in a while, you have to reboost, we will have to see how things roll out. >> reporter: moderna says if it needs to come up with a new vaccine to fight omicron, it could do so by early-next year. ow do you feel at this point about the pandemic. >> >> i would say i'm like cau cautious, a little nervous, especially with the news coming out about some of the mutant strains. >> reporter: tomorrow, the city of los angeles will start implementing its strict proof of vaccination mandate for restaurants, gyms, and a variety of other businesses and venues. meg. >> lilia luciano for us in los angeles. thank you. president biden is back in the white house after spending the holiday weekend on nantucket. he is keeping a close eye on the omicron variant, as he gets ready for a busy week ahead. cbs's ouija jiang has the details. good evening, ouija. >> reporter: good evening to you, meg. and new tonight, we know that

tomorrow president biden is planning to update the american public with the latest developments on the omicron variant. we also know that soon after he got back to the white house this afternoon from his thanksgiving break here in nantucket, he met in private, in person with his covid response team, including with dr. anthony fauci to talk about the administration's plan to deal with this new strain. dr. fauci informed the president that it will approximately take two more weeks to have more definitive information on the transmissibility, severity, and other characteristics of the variant. but he continues to believe that the existing vaccines are likely to provide a degree of protection. he also urged people to get their booster shots. along with the pandemic, president biden is dealing with a looming deadline. as of now, the government is only funded through friday. after congress passed a short-term measure back in october. and last week, the treasury

secretary warned that the federal government will not be able to honor its financial commitments after the 15th of december unless congress votes to raise or suspend the debt limit. now, republicans have repeatedly said that they will not support that. president biden plans to travel to minnesota on tuesday to promote his $1 trillion infrastructure package. but, meg, he is still working to pass that other social spending bill that, also, looks like it has a tough road ahead. meg. >> indeed, ouija jiang, thank you. thousands of american service members are facing disciplinary action up to dismissal if they are not yet fully vaccinated by tomorrow. cbs's david martin has the story. >> we need you to get vaccinated. >> reporter: with vehicles nation deadlines looming, the two top marines pleaded with the troops. >> we need every single marine in the unit to be vaccinated. we don't -- we don't have extra marines. >> reporter: with 91% fully vaccinated, the marines are on

track to have the worst record of all the services. the navy, which had the most serious outbreak of covid aboard the carrier theodore roosevelt, has the best record. 97% fully vaccinated. what is going to happen to service members who do not get vaccinated? >> that will mean that they could be administratively separated for not following the direct order. >> i represent approximately 40 service members from all branches of those 22 are navy s.e.a.l.s. >> davis is an attorney and member of the air force reserve who, himself, is refusing the vaccine. >> my clients don't think that this is being driven by military readiness, by medical reasons, or even by just good order of s. >> in oklahoma where the republican governor has decreed that soldiers in the state national guard are not required to get the vaccine. >> freedom is our ability to say no, including to a vaccine. >> reporter: the army responded to that with a memo saying any soldier who refuses will be

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this is the "cbs overnight news." i'm meg oliver in new york. thanks for staying with us. today is cybermonday. traditionally, the busiest online shopping day for the year. millions of americans will log on from home or work trying to get hold of the perfect holiday gifts. but this year, global supply chain issues are making those internet purchases a little more difficult. a recent survey found 77% of adults say they've experienced product-related shopping problems online. and nearly half say those were for items that were either out of stock or back ordered. much of the trouble can be traced to logjams at the nation's ports.

carter evans has the latest. >> reporter: with a record number of containers piled high at the ports of la and long beach, idle cranes may be a surprising sight. >> there is no room in the yard to offload a vessel. >> reporter: local long shoreman union president took us dock side to explain why it now takes so much longer to unload these ships. >> it's normally cooking around here. everybody's moving. but because there is no space in the yard, there's not that much we can offload. >> reporter: so that's why we are not seeing a lot more cranes moving around? >> that's correct. >> increased consumer spending during the pandemic led to even more imports clogging up the ports. do you guys take pride in the amount of con tapers you can move? >> oh, definitely, it's like a game. it's a challenge. it is a fun. you know? >> reporter: crane operator rick mckra used to work a lot faster. >> how long would it take you in general to unload a ship like this? >> probably three and a half, four days. >> how long is it taking now? >> taking about nine, sometimes longer. >> he can only unload a

container when there is a place to put it. >> 20 million of these? >> 20 million. >> going to come through these ports? >> come through the ports. >> ponce de leon showed us row after row piled high. you may think these trucks line up for the first load available but that is not the case. they are here for specific containers and sometimes they are in the middle of the pile. it's like a giant game of jenga. move four containers, just to get to one on the bottom. how long are these containers waiting here on average now, do you know? >> the dwell time here is over nine days. >> reporter: add that to the time it now takes to offload, and it could be 18 days before these containers even leave the dock. the new infrastructure law has $17 billion earmarked for the nation's ports and long shoremen say spending on port rail improvements will help. >> we can load, in about a five-hour period, about 300 containers on a rail. >> these are big-money projects that take a long time. >> yes, they do.

>> just this week, the u.s. navy announced it would allow containers to be stored at the naval base, welcome news to longshoremen. >> whatever it takes to give us some fluidity, some breathing space in the terminals so we can move the containers a lot faster. >> reporter: meanwhile, the white house says many big-box retailers are promising to schedule more overnight pickups. >> if they commit to pick up containers, then we will be able to move these and catch back up. but until then, it's not going to happen. >> reporter: i'm carter evans in long beach. >> despite the supply chain issues, the national retail federation predicts americans will spend about 10% more in gifts this holiday season than they did last year. about $860 billion. in many cases, people will spend more than they can afford and charging it to their credit cards. well, there is a new option. it's called buy now, pay later. mark strassman explains. >> reporter: black friday. shop till you drop. or for millions of americans, until their credit cards max

out. but if you are shopping online this year, you've probably noticed new payment options. companies like afterpay, clarna, and affirm. michelle sweet's favorite. >> it was very simple, um, very easy to navigate. >> reporter: outside raleigh, north carolina, sweet used a firm a couple-dozen times to finish her christmas shopping early. >> just kind of like they are giving you the control of how you want to repay them based on your budget and what you can afford. >> reporter: affirm is a so-called bnpl, credit companies that let you buy now, pay later. one in six americans shopping online may use a bnpl this-holiday season. >> it's basically a credit card replacement, except we have a couple advantages. >> reporter: billionaire max levchin, a co-founder of paypal, launched a firm in 2012. the san francisco-based company now has almost 9 million active

customers. >> we built the whole idea around the notion that consumer finance is so complicated and so convoluted, consumers lose money and lose sleep over just uncertainty of what things actually cost. >> reporter: unlike a credit card, affirm underwrites each transaction separately in r real-time. interest rates, from zero to 30%. simple interest, not compound. payment options, 60 days to 60 months. and you know the total cost upfront. >> no fees, no gotchas, no regrets. >> transparency. >> that is the virtue. >> you pay over time and you know what you are going to pay. >> exactly. >> also buying in, more than 100,000 merchants, including giants walmart, target, and amazon. they pay higher fees to affirm because consumers often spend more. >> so consumers say you know what? not just the dress, but the shoes and the dress, i can afford it, i will pay for it over time. >> cbs news business analyst

jill schlesinger worries sometimes it's too easy. >> the ease with which we can make these kinds of transactions is really good for consumers. the downside is that we are creating habits and behaviors that may lead to more spending than we'd like. >> reporter: levchin says affirm helps protect some consumers from themselves by denying new transactions. >> there is a difference between buy now, pay later and buy now, pay never. >> it's never fun to be told we're sorry but you cannot transact this time. and so, it's this weird goldie locks product that helps consumers, helps merchants, spins the wheel of commerce without getting anyone hurt. >> reporter: sweet agrees. >> this actually helped me create a budget and it's actually given me the opportunity to get the things that i need and pay for it within a short period of time. >> reporter: remember, with bnpls, discipline spending, managing your credit smartly still falls primarily on you. >> last one.

>> reporter: but like everything with black friday, it's all about options. mark strassman, san francisco. there is a lot more news ahead on the "cbs overnight news." (announcer) if you're an american age 50 to 85, and you're counting on social security to help your family with your final expenses, this news may surprise you. the social security death benefit is capped at just $255 and not everyone is entitled to claim it. today, the average funeral cost is over $8,700. that's quite a big gap. how will you fill it? hi, i'm jonathan, a manager here at colonial penn life insurance company, and with coverage options starting at just $9.95 a month,

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the cost of just about everything is going up. inflation is running at an annual rate of about 6%. that's the highest in decades. david pogue has a light-hearted look at a serious issue. >> you might have noticed there's something crazy going on with the prices of everything. restaurant prices are up 5% over a year ago. cars, furniture, meat, fish, and eggs, up 10 to 12%. used cars, up 24%. and gasoline. gasoline is about 50% more expensive than it was a year ago. and heating oil has the same problem. it could be an expensive winter. at the heart of all of this is one of the fundamentals of economics, supply and demand. as illustrated today by the david pogue thespian ensemble.

>> get your dehydrated water. $4. $3. two bucks? >> when there is a lot of supply, and not much demand, the prices go down. but when there is very limited supply and a lot of demand, the prices go way up. >> i got the last two tickets to see lady gaga. front row. do i hear $800 each? 900? 1,000? the question is why now? megan? >> it's just eating into people's buying power. so that has real implications on every american. >> reporter: economist megan green is a senior fellow at harvard's kennedy school, and chief economist at the kroll institute. >> what did the pandemic do to supply? >> so when we shut down the whole economy, that automatically caused disruptions in parts of a really complex

global supply chain. we are seeing huge backlogs in terms of containers waiting in ports and ships waiting offshore. and that's partly because of labor. so, we can't find truckers or longshoremen in order to get all of these goods off of ships into ports, and onto shelves. >> reporter: all right. so what about demand? >> as we re-open the economy, there's just been this surge in demand as people go out to buy stuff. on top of that, you have the kr christmas-holiday season coming. >> reporter: the spike in gas prices is a different problem. oil companies who lost company during the great lockdown are now limiting how much oil they produce. >> oil. get your oil. oil. get your oil. >> oh, come on, man. >> hey, listen, buddy. during a lockdown, you people weren't flying or driving. we made all this oil we couldn't sell. we are not getting burned again. >> yeah, but you are driving up the prices of gas and food. >> not my problem, pal.

oil. get your oil. >> reporter: if you are old enough, you might remember the big inflationary cycle of the '70s and early '80s. mortgage rates at 18%? but megan green thinks that this cycle won't be like that one. >> i actually think what we're facing right now is pretty different. in the '70s, we had really high inflation and really low growth. um, it's called stagflation. >> but during the lockdown, many companies made themselves more productive by investing in automation and other improvements. >> so, if we have productivity growth, it doesn't necessarily result in higher prices. >> reporter: does the fact that our government has poured trillions of dollars of cash into the economy play a part in all this? >> so, what -- what the government has already done, certainly, has fed the flames of inflation a bit. and it was sort of designed to do that. don't forget, the stimulus was offered in order to get the economy going and jump started after it had been put in a deep

freeze. >> reporter: and what about the trillions of dollars yet to come as part of the new infrastructure spending bill? >> and there, i am a lot less worried. the fiscal-stimulus measures on the table are all due to be deployed over the next ten years. a lot of it is aimed at infrastructure spending. and because we don't have many good shovel-ready projects, ready to go, infrastructure spending ends up being kind of back-ended. >> all right. megan, so the big question, when will this end? >> what i think, unfortunately, we need to see is both demand to wane and also this backlog in the supply chain to be alleviated. and so, i think that we'll probably really see inflation abate in early 2023. >> reporter: so, there is your crash course in the inflationary cycle of 2021. and 2022 and 2023. the pandemic triggered a shortage of almost everything, and the recovery triggered an increase in demand for almost everything.

things will not get back to normal until supply and demand even out, again. diagrams!

we end this half hour with the story of some furry friends who are finding new homes for the holidays. here's ben tracy. >> reporter: andy and jennifer parsons didn't think their hearts could handle a new dog. they lost the one they had for 13 years just last month. >> and we are definitely dog people and we miss her and we miss the presence of a dog. >> reporter: but they heard the richmond animal shelter lets people foster a pet for two weeks during thanksgiving. >> we just thought it would be helpful to get a little bit of some dog back in the house, and not really have to feel like we're committing right off the bat. >> it's a good test run. >> yes. >> and then, y'all canee i works. >> reporter: shelter director, christy chips peters tries to find a temporary home for these abandoned cats and dogs.

>> i was thinking about how full our shelter was of all of these animals that just want toded to loved and thinking about the people out there that may be alone for thanksgiving that want the same thing. and so, if we could connect the two, maybe it would be a really beautiful thing. >> reporter: she matched the parsons up with a 2-year-old pitbull named squirmy. >> i love her so much. i'm so glad that she is with you. >> reporter: more than half the time, foster parents end up adopting. and that's exactly what the parsons did. seems like a pretty instant match. love at first sight. >> it's almost like it was the perfect dog for us, 100%. >> reporter: and now, they know their hearts still have plenty of room left to share. ben tracy, cbs news, richmond, virginia. and that's the overnight news for this monday. for some of you, the news continues. for others, check back later for cbs mornings. and follow us online anytime at cbsnews.com. reporting from the broadcast

this is cbs news flash. i'm elise preston in new york. the federal trial of jeffrey eps epstein associate ghislaine maxwell begins this week. the socialite nices faces up to 70 years in prison. after a private battle with cancer, fashion designer virgil abloh has died. abloh was the artistic director for louis vuitton's wear. the first black person to hold the post at the french design house. he was 41 years old. oscar-winning actor matthew mcconaughey says he is not running for texas governor. the announcement comes after months of speculation that he would campaign for the job. the actor's political party affiliation is unknown. for more news, download the cbs

news app on your cell phone or connected tv. i'm elise preston, cbs news new york. it's monday, november 29th, it 2021. this it's monday, november 29th, 2021. this is the "cbs morning news." bracing for omicron. the new covid variant triggers alarm across the world. how countries including the u.s. are scrambling to respond. cyber monday. shoppers are expected to break records on line today. why the supply chain crisis could open the door to more scammers. making a decision. actor matthew mcconaughey announces whether he'll run for governor of texas. good morning, and good to be with you. i'm