this morning airline customers are fed up, frustrated, confused, and exhausted. another day of that southwest

airlines meltdown that's leaving passengers stranded in terms analysis. we're going to talk to the president of the company's pilot association about what went and what is still going wrong. meanwhile, other airlines are struggling to get back to track after a monstrous winter storm pummelled the northern part of the country leaving more than 60 people dead. we're going to take you live to western new york. and this morning, another legal roadblock for migrants seeking asylum in the u.s. after the supreme court decided that title 42 will remain in place for now. we're going to be live in el paso. and as we speak, we're closely following news that's coming out of the vatican that's saying the 95-year-old former pontiff, pope benedict, has fallen very sick. pope francis now calling for prayers for from around the world. and later this hour, fresh fallout over that congressman-elect, george santos, facing new criticism after admitting to fabricating parts of his resume and religious background.

it may be a holiday break, but we got a ton of news we're watching. already this morning, more than 4,000 flights are canceled nationwide. 2,500 are flights from southwest airlines alone. southwest already canceling 2,000 flights on both monday and tuesday. now they've canceled another 2,000 for tomorrow. southwest says the storm sparked issues with flight crew scheduling. the secretary of transportation on "nbc nightly news" yesterday called it a, quote, unacceptable situation. >> while we all understand that you can't control the weather, this has clearly crossed the line from what's an uncontrollable weather situation to something that is the airline's direct responsibility. >> nbc has more live from bwi airport, that's baltimore. we have the latest. just seeing you there taking a knee next to those bags, you feel for these folks in all sorts of cities around the

country who likely have no clue where their goods are. >> reporter: peter, what really is concerning and quite frankly as a father upsets me is that a lot of these bags have christmas gifts in them. and people are telling me that the bags are going to be used, you know, to go home and get gifts out and you have the gifts that were supposed to go to children under the tree. look here, peter. these bags are supposed to be in l.a. dallas. even san francisco. and this isn't just it, peter, and our viewers at msnbc. look right over here -- a sea of bags. you have orlando, rochester, new york, seattle, and people have been coming here all day. we've been here since 6:00 a.m., and they are trying to claim their bags. the sad part is a lot of these folks are unable to find their bags which just adds to the confusion when you deal with the southwest airlines cancelations. 60 of which are here at bwi. one of the most affected airports. over here, let me bring you over

here. this is -- your name again, ma'am? your name -- >> sonya. >> reporter: i understand that you had christmas gifts, they're in the bags, you're in line here. what is going through your mind? >> yeah. well, i spent all day yesterday trying to call three different numbers, never getting any answer, busy. didn't pick up. picked up, then got disconnected. so just trying to find my daughter's bag. she was an unaccompanied minor. got on a plane, they loaded the plane with the baggage, then they canceled the flight. pilots timed out. she got off the plane. we were fortunate enough to get her booked on another flight to st. louis, but the baggage, we have no idea where it is. >> reporter: am sorry you're dealing with this. i hope you're able to find your bag. a lot of these folks on here and, frankly, got to commend them, they are being very patient despite this inconvenience and frustration. we're going to hear from another passenger. let's hear what she has to say. >> you know, we found my

granddaughter's and my luggage but can't find my daughter's luggage. it's the most disorganized thing i've ever seen. very frustrated with southwest. it's been a nightmare. >> reporter: a nightmare indeed. and look at all these bags here. now the sad part is that some people have their medicine in there. they didn't take their medicine and put it in their carry-on, so you have some folks who need their bags throughout the united states. the medicine is in them. and they can't get them. so it's a mess out here according to what one woman told me and some people say it is absolutely ridiculous. however, southwest airlines says that they are trying to fix the situation. but it's going to take a few days. back to you, peter. >> yeah. you think about that mess and then you multiply that by the families, sonya's family, an unaccompanied minor who was stuck dealing with all this. on the ground at bwi, what a scene there. we appreciate your talking to us. i want to bring in casey

murray, president of the southwest airlines pilots association. casey, in simple terms, this isn't the first time we've seen something like this for southwest. i think it was october of '21 where there was a not-too-dissimilar challenge for southwest, had real problems. what's unique or different about southwest that makes them most likely to have a problem like this? why are they dealing with the brunt of this? >> well, thanks for having me, peter. you know, southwest operates a very complex network. it's point to point, our peers are hub and spoke. and that adds a level of complexity. but as you mentioned, this has been foreseen. we've been warning of this for over five years. the last two years we've seen more meltdowns, they've been more severe. just last month i did a podcast where i said i fear that we are one thunderstorm, one atc event, one winter storm away there a complete meltdown, and here we are. and so we have warned the company. we've tried to partner with

them. and they just haven't made the investment. >> we heard from pete buttigieg who was addressing this very issue, the secretary of transportation, of course. here's part of what he said on "nightly news" about the problem and specifically about southwest airlines. listen. >> what we have going on right now is different for southwest, this one airline, than what we're seeing across the rest of the system. as a watchdog, we are going to hold them accountable for meeting customer service commitments, and we're going to have to take a deeper look at what's going on with their scheduling systems, other issues that may have contributed to this. >> you share some of those frustrations as it relates to the airline here, how should they be held accountable? how does this get resolve the so families aren't dealing with this the next holiday season? >> yeah. i spoke with the secretary yesterday. we had a long conversation. the customers have to be addressed. i mean, this ultimately falls to the real reason that southwest is here. i mean, it is our customers, and our employees were left out

there with no leadership in a vacuum. all our frontline employees were doing the best they could. but the customers -- i mean, they've lost time, they've lost money, they've lost memories and lost a christmas. and it's sad, and southwest is going to have to address that. >> what are your pilots doing now, the flight attendants, too, i imagine? obviously there's not enough to get to the right places. you talk about the point-to-point travel now. what are you as the union trying to do to help resolve this? >> well, we're supporting our pilots. we're talking to a lot of them, getting communication out. but southwest right now and yesterday operating 1,500 flights. a lot of that is really just getting crews in place, and they're going to do it tomorrow, as well, get crews both flight attendants and pilots into position so that when they do start ramping up this weekend they're going to be prepared. >> you're not the airline, you're the pilots association. but the people that are flipping their tv on now hoping that they can get to where they need to be, to say nothing of getting their bag back. when is this this thing cleared up? how many more days of this are

we dealing with? >> i think three or four more days. you know, our pilots are the most productive in the world. they will do anything to get our passengers safely and efficiently to where they need to be. that's our commitment. it's our commitment from the pilots' standpoint to our customers. now it's up to southwest to support that. >> three or four more days, bad news for nose who have already been dealing with this for five days so far. captain casey murray, we appreciate you making time and speaking to us. >> thank you, peter. we now know what this weekend's brutal storm looked like and the death toll is awful. 65 lives at least in the buffalo area, hardest hit. they're confirming additional deaths today. there is still a driving ban in parts of buffalo. and rescue crews are just making it onto some roads that were snowed in for days. with temperatures just starting to rise, they could hit the 50s the next few days, experts are warn being another problem -- dangerous flooding. with us is nbc's marisa para live in buffalo.

our meteorologist is with us, too. let's start with you on the ground, marisa. the best thing about seeing you there is the fact that there's no more snow falling at this point. it feels like it was relentless for most of the last week. >> reporter: correct. i mean, if anything what you might be able to catch a glimpse of is it almost looks like it's raining because we're catching snow that is melting, falling down off of the buildings. so occasionally you'll have maybe a -- might be a little icicle or something that's falling. for the most part it's the melting snow, a big part of the next step here. in addition to the cleanup efforts. something that we just learned from erie county executives is that on this one route around here, route 33, they're looking at 30-foot snow drifts. there are still places in the city of buffalo that have a lot of abandoned cars, that they're still in the process of trying to remove. even if you're seeing streets like this one behind me that look very much passable, in fact you can probably see several cars behind me driving as we

speak. that driving ban is still in place so that they can get the rest of the city looking like what we're seeing here. and to your point, that death toll just continues to climb. in erie county, that is the county that buffalo is in, they just announced that they're up to 34 confirmed deaths. and unfortunately, they do expect that to climb. we're talking about such a dramatic change in temperature. this was so -- this was so bitter cold and one of the main reasons, peter, why we're seeing the death toll that we're seeing because this last round of snow that we had about a month ago, we had more snow then, but the difference is at its peak here with the lake-effect blizzard, we were looking at negative 20-degree windchills. so that means people who were stuck outside, people who were stuck inside of their cars, they did not have a high chance of survival if they couldn't get to a warm place. so there are still warming shelters, still people in those warming shelters, people who didn't have access to electricity. we know there's around 800 people who still don't have electricity. to your point, things are

warming up here. now in this next phase as they continue the cleanup, now everyone's looking forward to the snow that is melting. however, it's melting so fast, indition to the rain we're getting this weekend, flooding is going to be the next big concern here. >> we can see the frustration in the hands of the lady over your shoulder there who is spiking snowballs at the ground right now, represent could the way i think a lot of people feel about this awful storm they've had. let me get to you, michelle, with a look at the forecast. what is the look ahead? what do the next several days look like, especially for folks around the lake who have been crushed in recent days. >> i know. such terrible news. hi there, peter. we're looking at the warmup that marissa talked about. 40s today, tomorrow, then 50s as we go throughout friday. so this is a big warmup. once you get a warmup this time of year, you often get rain. that's what marissa was talking about, too. friday they're going to start to see rain coming in. that's going to last several days, the threat for showers at least into early next week. so combining that snow melt along with that new fresh water

falling, that's going to create problems at the creeks. we're going to see rising creeks. we could see flooding in spots, that could seep into people's basements. that's going to be the next problem. as we look at radar across the country, we are quiet today there. we're not looking at any snow falling. we don't expect any snow falling. we had the winds switch around. we're not getting lake-effect snow bands. heavy snow and rain out west. that is where most of the active weather is today. the blue is stretching from the northwest all the way down to the southwest including the intermountain west. that is the snow where you see the greens, the yellows, the oranges, that is rain, and those brighter colors are heavier rain that's in the southwest. also some pink, that's where we're seeing the icy stuff. so for today, we're quiet in the east. really the rockies all the way to the east. sunny and cold. we're starting that warmup, we're warming up in the middle of the country. that's going to spark the chance for severe storms later on tomorrow. we'll talk more about that in just a bit. right now the main focus for today is the mountain snow. we'll be measuring snow in

feempt we're going to be measuring rain in double digits as we go throughout the next several days. it's not just this storm. we're looking at a series of storms the next several days. this is going to last into the early part of next week. for today, watching out for heavy snow and rain impacting the four corners, the rockies. really gusty winds, too. the rain is falling, the snow is falling, and those winds are gusting up to 70 miles per hour in many spots. that's going to make for very difficult travel in the air and also on the ground. then tomorrow, that sweeping cold front moves into the plains, moving into warmer air. so you know what happens then when we get the clash of air masses of cold air with warm air, that southwesterly wind is going to spark the chance for strong to severe storms this texas, arkansas, louisiana. that would be later on tomorrow. we could see some very heavy rainfall with some of those storms. then as we go throughout friday, the cold front makes its trek even further east. rain extending from the gulf coast states to the great lakes. and it will be rain, not going to be snow. that's the good news. strong winds and localized flooding in the south. and as we go throughout

saturday, we're going to see rain moving into the northeast. for new york city, we'll see rain at the ball drop. >> looking at the green on airports on the east coast, a welcome sight for so many throughout this country right now. always good to see you. thanks for your update in. breaking news when we come back. pope francis asking the public to pray for his predecessor, pope benedict xvi, after the 95-year-old's health took a turn for the worse. latest on how he is doing next. then live from el paso, thousands of migrants may have to wait months longer to learn their fate after the supreme court decided to take up title 42 but kept the pandemic rule in place for now. what do you think healthier looks like? cvs can help you support your nutrition, sleep, immune system, energy ...even skin. so healthier can look a lot like...you. cvs. healthier happens together. (classical piano music) - [reporter] one of the deadliest mass shootings

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we're back now on msnbc. as we speak we are watching breaking news, it's coming from the vatican where pope francis is calling for prayers for his spresdor, the former pontiff, pope benedict, whose health we have learned has worsened. joining us with more is raf sanchez. this was sad news to hear overnight that his condition is getting worse. what where do we know about how benedict is doing? >> reporter: peter, we know the situation is serious enough that immediately after issuing that appeal for prayer today pope francis went straight to the monastery at the vatican where former pope benedict has been living these last nine years to

visit him there. now that is not a common occurrence. the last time these two men are known to have been together was in august. that was at a formal ceremony for new cardinals. pope francis clearly felt it was important to make that visit today, possibly to say good-bye. we do not know the exact details of former pope benedict's condition, but the vatican is saying this worsening of his health is associated with his age. he turns 95 years old -- turned 95 years old back in april. there is kind of an unprecedented situation because pope benedict made history back in 2013 when he became the first pope in 600 years to resign from his position. and that why we have the situation we have today where you have a sitting pope, francis, and a pope emeritus, benedict, both alive, both together in the vatican. now these two men do seem to have developed a relationship over the last ten years. they have very different life

stories, they come from different wings of the church. pope benedict was born in germany, the first german pope in 1,000 years. he is associated with a more traditional form of catholicism. when he made that shock announcement that he was resigning in 2013, peter, he actually did it in latin, he caught a lot of people offguard when he said it. but benedict from argentina -- francis, excuse me, from argentina, associated with a more liberal, modern form of the church. and so there's no real playbook here, peter, for what happens if a former pope passes away. of course when a sitting pope degrees, it chicago -- dies, it that go for hundreds of years. for now catholics around the world will be heeding pope francis' call to pray for his successor -- predecessor's health. >> of course pope benedict becoming the pontiff back in 2005, succeeding pope john paul ii after his passing. raf sanchez covering the latest.

we wish him very well. and new strength at this time. there is growing uncertainty for migrants coming to the u.s. after the supreme court ruled that a public health measure called title 42 should remain in place at least for now. the measure's been used for nearly three years to block most migrants from seeking asylum here in the u.s. the white house says it will continue enforcing the policy, but it's pushing for title 42 to be lifted. with us to talk about all of it is nbc news correspondent sam brock. he is there in el paso. "usa today" washington bureau chief susan page and alan orr immigration attorney and past president of the american immigration lawyers association. i want to get to you on the ground very quickly, sam. walk us through what we're seeing there because the basis of title 42 which was created under former president trump as a pandemic-era policy was to try to keep america safe from an influx of covid. the health officials in the country say it is no longer

needed. who are the folks that you are seeing who are there right now in the u.s. who have not been expelled? >> reporter: you know, it's a lot of families. you would think this would be men traveling, but so many women and children. take a glance here at who we have. young kids, 3, 4, 5 years old, playing with their toys i'm told from this mom here, that in terms of resources, food, diapers, other things of that nature, there's a stack of them available from church groups and nongovernmental organizations that have been donating them. if you walk with me, you'll hear periodically people coughing. pretty much everyone around here has the flu. they've been sleeping outside in temperatures, peter, that are 20, 30 degrees. it was a bit warmer overnight this past evening. that's the reality of the situation. as we continue down the street, it looks like this for blocks and blocks. here you'll see a long line of people. what they're doing now is waiting on line to get orange juice and coffee and other sorts of protein. food is being distributed. beyond that, and this was illustrative until a couple of days ago, no bathrooms.

there were a couple of them. now as of yesterday, they've brought in about eight to ten port-o-potties, what you'll see on this line. what are folks supposed to do, there's 500, 600 people living in a space, where are they supposed to go for basic hygiene? one of the questions to be answered here. and where they can go for sheltering, some are scared of shelters because they're worried it could make them target for border protection. others lack the documentation they need. i spoke with a local pastor who explained why you see all these folks here, and many of them cannot get inside of shelters. take a listen. >> these people are afraid. there's plenty of shelter, el paso's done a great job of providing shelter. but the majority of people don't have the proper documentation. >> reporter: if you're one of the countries blocked from seeking asylum by title 42 does that mean you cannot get into a shelter? >> correct. >> reporter: over my shoulder now, they are still giving out lunch. there's three meals a day for

500 to 600 people. the line has not diminished as they've gotten rid of most of their supplies. the reality now as it pertains to the sheltering is a city that is trying to expand its capacity. we spoke with a local judge, kind of like the mayor, they said they're funding 2,500 beds, processing center for migrants, going from 6 hundred to 1,400. title 42 is going to remain in place. that surge may not be there, but if the expectation were that if title 42 remains you're not going to see migrants continuing to come to cities like el paso, that is not accurate in some sense because these are all venezuelans, blocked by title 42. many that i've spoken with have spent months on the mexican side and decided once december 21st came and went and title 42 wasn't lifted, they came here anyway. so they're finding a way into this country and dealing with very, very difficult conditions. >> yes, pictures are so powerful. it makes your reporting that much more important now as we see those people about whom we're speaking. alan, i want to ask you about this order from the supreme

court right now that keeps title 42 in place, at least for the course of the next several months. and judge gorsuch who was among those dissenting here, the conservative jed, said among other things court should not be in the business of per pet waiting this for one emergency because elected officials have failed to address a different emergency. he said the border crisis is not a covid crisis, what's your reaction to this order from the court? >> it's very clear from the title that it is not a covid action because the cdc is actually the body that determines when title 42 should be lifted. they said it should be lifted. what we saw from the supreme court yesterday was a procedural move that left open to say the government could take action while the stay is in place, leaving it open for the biden administration to try to remove the policy again. although the louisiana court is holding it in place, or congress to do something, more laughable than anything else in this situation. what we know is the supreme court is not looking at the merits of title 42, the supreme

court is looking at the procedure of allowing 19 different states to enter this at the very end to say they have a claim in the decision without going through the real due process that is determined by starting the lower court and working to the supreme court. >> susan, as we heard from alan, the idea of congress doing something about this issue is, in his words, laughable. that's his perspective. but it happens to be a fact right now, right? we have been dealing with this for decades without any real progress. what struck me is a new survey, i think it's from ugov, from the "los angeles times," they found 55% of americans say the u.s. should continue to offer asylum to people who arrive at the border if they were found to be fleeing persecution. we're now in 2023, just a matter of days away. that means the presidential process begins in earnest very soon. former president trump already announcing his candidacy. you know how potent this is politically. is there any capital for something to get done on this? >> there is i think virtually no

prospect for anything to get done on this. nothing got done when democrats were in control of congress. we'll be in a more broad situation politically with republicans taking over the house. there's not any dispute that our immigration system is broken. there's a lot of dispute on exactly what should be done about it, and also it is as you said an incredibly potent political issue. it is some of the original issue that donald trump touched when he began to run for president in 2015 and one which he continues to return to. yes, i think there is going to be a problem -- i think this is going to be a problem that doesn't get fixed, and that becomes the subject of enormous debate for a next campaign. >> alan, what does a secure border look like in your view? what should the solution here be? >> the first thing we should understand is the border's been closed for three years, so there are going to be a loot of migrants that maybe need with regards to different situations around the world. the second thing we need to

understand is that america can meet this challenge as poland did to meet the challenge of the ukrainians. we can accept a lot more people than we have and in the future. we are way down in refugee numbers. these are individuals looking for help. these are people, not things, and they should be treated as such. as the greatest power in the world, we're able to meet in need and organize around the problem. we need the willpower to do and maybe the courage. i ask that the president looks in his toolbelt and potentially look at other remedies such as going through the administrative procedure act for ending title 42 and extending tps to other classes of individuals because this is a humanitarian disaster. sure every claim may not be valid at the southern border, but every person should get due process. we have the capability to meet this need and address it. we don't have all the other borders closed, the southern border isn't closed, people are still allowed to apply for asylum. we need equity. title 42 ended asylum for the northern triangle, the same as the chinese exclusion act. it's directed at black and brown and poor people. >> yeah. when alan orr speaks about tps,

the temporary protected status that is debated and provided to some from other countries. susan, last thought to you. president biden will be going to mexico in the next several weeks there. obviously the migration crisis is going to be significant. he's going to talk about migration specifically from some of those northern triangle nations right now. what is the u.s. doing to try to address the situation on that side? >> yeah. the united states is trying to get better relations with mexico to deal with some of these situations at the border. you know, they have tried to expel people to mexico to wait in mexico, that has worked in some cases, but with the title 42 people we see them coming back over the border again and again because there is very little penalty for being a repeat offender in that case. there's a lot to talk about with mexico. we have big problems, we have a difficult relationship with mexico at the moment, and that's one of the things that has made it harder to deal with the situation on the southern border. >> susan page, sam brock, alan

orr. thanks to all of you. we appreciate your making time. ahead here, the intensifying calls for the republican congressman-elect george santos to resign before he even takes the oath of office. this after admitting to fabricating his education and employment history and about his religious history, he claims he is jewish. how the republican jewish committee is responding next. e t

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[daughter] slurping don't pay for water. pay for clean. it's got to be tide. we're back now. this remains a big talker. the latest on the embattled congressman-elect george santos. the new york state republican is facing new backlash after admitting in interviews that he lied about his background. the republican jewish coalition says santos would not be welcome at the group's future events after misleading its members about his faith. he's not jewish. he says he's catholic, although he said he was jewish in the past. last night on fox news, santos responded to questions about his jewish heritage. >> my heritage is jewish. i've always identified as jewish. i was raised a practicing catholic. i think i've gone through this. even i've not -- not being raised a practicing jew i've joked with friends in circles

even with -- in the campaign, guys i'm jew-ish. >> even tulsi gabbard was not satisfied with that answer there on fox news. nbc has reached out to santos, has not received a response. nbc's stephanie gosk has the latest on the controversy. >> reporter: facing allegations he lied on his resume, new york congressman-elect george santos has this to say -- >> if i disappointed anyone by my resume embellishment, i'm sorry. >> reporter: adding -- >> a lot of people overstate in their resumes or twist a little bit or ingratiate themselves. >> reporter: among the claims embellished, his graduation from baruk college seaing "i didn't graduate from any institution of higher learning." the republican is under fire after "the new york times" revealed his biography couldn't be entirely corroborated including a claim on his website that he used to be "an associate asset manager" at citigroup. the 34-year-old now saying he never worked directly for citigroup. and there are questions about

his heritage. here's santos at the republican jewish coalition last november speaking about congressman lee zeldin. >> lee has served as an inspiration as a friend and as a leader for the jewish folks in congress and for all of us in this room by -- one point being just two members. so now we're going to be three. >> reporter: santos tells the "post" "i never claimed to be jewish, i am catholic." he has not responded to nbc news' request for comment. his constituents in long island had mixed opinions. what do you think should happen with george santos? >> i'm very concerned about it. i think the -- i would like to see the election done over. >> reporter: for this voter, the important thing is policy. >> i think he embellished his resume. >> reporter: do you think that that disqualifies him from being a congressman? >> no. >> reporter: santos insists he's still committed to serve. once sworn in it would take an act of a republican-controlled house to remove him.

>> our thanks to stephanie gosk for that report. joining me is nbc news capitol hill correspondent ali raffa. the congress hasn't been the hill at the moment. what's surprising is how republican leadership has been responding with mostly silence to the latest revelations of congressman-elect santos. >> reporter: yeah, peter. it has been complete radio silence from house republican leadership in response to this story. and i know nbc news is one of several media organizations that have reached out for comment and haven't heard -- hasn't heard back. you heard stephanie say in that story there that it would take at act of a republican-controlled house to be able to remove santos once he's sworn in. and judging from the silence, it's not looking like there are any plans to do this. as you mentioned, it is not too surprising considering in the years past there have been several republican members of the house that have been embroiled in controversies and scandals and have faced no

repercussions, no backlash. when you add that to santos helping republicans secure their razor-thin majority in the house that they're going to enjoy for the next two years, this becomes more understandable. you add the fact that the house's top republican, kevin mccarthy, who is trying to secure each and every last republican house vote for -- before those speakership elections in less than a week now, this makes more sense. but there are republicans who are speaking out about santos, who are criticizing him for this. so it's going to be interesting to see when republicans and democrats return here to capitol hill if there's going to be enough support for this to be able to possibly force a vote to remove him from the seat once he is sworn in. something we're definitely going to be keeping a very close eye on. >> hard to describe his comments as embellishment when i think we all commonly refer to those as lies. allie raffa. thank you so much. when we come back, what will the new year mean for your wallet? what the experts are forecasting

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realtor.com to each their home. back now with more breaking news here on msnbc. just moments ago, one of the convicted architects behind that plot to kidnap and assassinate michigan democratic governor gretchen whitmer, barry croft jr., was sentenced in a grand rapids courtroom to 235 months in prison, that's about 19.5 years, an even longer sentence than the ringleader behind that plot got. just 24 hours ago, adam fox was sentenced to 16 years in federal prison. the men were convicted on charges of conspiring to kidnap whitmer who in 2020 became the target of a far-right series of attacks in light of the state's covid restriction policies. with the holiday season wrapping up we are taking a closer look at how retailers made out this holiday shopping season. according to masteraccord, u.s.

retail sales rose about 7.5%, 7.6 to be exact, between november and december 24th, after businesses offered hefty discounts and deals this holiday season. the spending comes as a much needed boost because inflation keeps putting a strain on people's budgets. joining us now to talk about it is robin farzad npr host of "full disclosure." good to see you. it makes sense that spending was up by 7%-plus, given inflation is up by about 7%-plus for us right now. what do americans' spending habits tell us about the health of our economy heading into the new year? >> the economy is deep, it's powerful. as i've said before, there's a lot of fomo spending where you missed out during the pandemic, and you're raring to go out and stay at a hotel and go to a spa and eat out and movie tickets, some movies have done well. we have seen box office go up, theme parks, the like. i'm scratching my head on where

money was saved, maybe not on commuting or wardrobe if people are able to work from zoom. so that is eager money that wants to be spent. and the problem is the fed is also trying to snuff out some of that enthusiasm because it tends to be inflationary on the margin. >> so that's what i want to ask but, to say nothing of a separate conversation about all the people saving money by wearing sweatpants with holes in them during their zoom conversations. let me ask you about the issue of inflation -- not calling you out, just saying here. talk to us about inflation, though. we do anticipate the fed that there's another rate hike coming in the not-to-distant future, perhaps less than we thought it could have been, less likely three quarters of a point, maybe half a point. what does that mean to regular consumers right now, the fact that rates are likely to keep going up? >> it chokes off housing, mortgages, it chokes off auto loans, all sorts of things go up. that's the most watched metric in the world is the fed's main interest rate. the fed took up it more than four full points this year. the most since the early '80s. people are worried about what that terminal rate is.

if the fed, jerome powell could telegraph we're going to stop at 4.75 and see how the patient takes the medicine, that would be good news. there's fear that the fed's going to go above 5%, maybe stop and keep them at 5%. and that could be recessionary. that would just be a cry uncle point for a lot of people with maybe even devastating the housing market. there's fear going into '23. >> one thing that doesn't get a lot of attention, though it's got attention when it was going up, was the price of gas. the number now hovering at $3.13 a gallon. is that likely to have an impact to help inject new energy into the economy? >> true, but it's being offset by the price of eggs. have you been to the grocery store lately? >> yeah, not good. >> i saw a price of eggs clocked at like $8, $9. that's by avian flu. we've become inert to this over the years. chicken wings, eggs, flour, a rolling supply chain issue. and you're getting hit somewhere with inflation, tip-flation, cafe prices going up, travel

prices going up even though the airports are intolerable. it's almost like a game of whack-a-mole with inflation. >> i don't know where you're paying $8 for eggs. you should come to my trader joe's, $3, $4. ain't great but not worse. always good to have you with us. i appreciate you making time. we always like your perspective and expertise. thank you so much. when we come back here, intensifying concerns about met misinformation that experts say is decreasing vaccination rates and contributing to death. coming up, how an exhausted medical community is now fighting back against those deadly lies. addely lies. it onlyd for an everyday item to become dangerous. tide pods child-guard pack helps keep your laundry pacs in a safe place and your child safer. to close, twist until it clicks. tide pods child-guard packaging. shingles. some describe it as pulsing electric shocks or sharp, stabbing pains. ♪♪ this painful, blistering rash

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powerful throughout the pandemic, but in our investigation, speaking with public health officials and looking at the data we now can say that it's not just covid vaccination that's being impacted. this woman wasn't sure if she was going to get the covid vaccine. >> they said it's going to change your dna. they came up with a vaccine too quickly. >> reporter: misinformation that fueled rumors and divided communities across the country. but while the spread of covid may have slowed since height of the pandemic, the spread of misinformation has not. a recent survey shows one-third of parents now oppose schools requiring children to get measles and other vaccines. in oklahoma city, vaccination rates among school-aged children dropped 4.5% over the last three years. >> we worry about things like measles, mumps, rubella and other diseases largely controlled. now seeing increased hesitancy

there. >> reporter: thanks to misinformation. >> thanks to misinformation. >> reporter: at a local clinic, dr. dale says flu shots are down, too, even as the nation deals with one of the worst flu seasons in years. >> only at about half the typical number of flu injections that we would typically see by this time of the year. it worries me to a great extent. >> reporter: used to battling disease, the oklahoma city health department finds itself also fighting lies about vaccine safety. >> reporter: how dangerous is misinformation? >> it's cost lives. i mean, i don't know how else to say it. it's about as dangerous as it gets. >> reporter: the department set to move resources to monitor public sentiment using new technology to comb through social media. when vaccine messaging was drawing fire, the health department removed the word "vaccine" and added choose to its public service announcements. it worked.

>> on media platforms dropped immediately. going down because we offered the chase as opposed to message of get vaccinated. >> reporter: a time funding is stretched to the limit putting resources towards fighting misinformation is adding to the strain. >> public health funding has been cut by almost 20% in the decade leading up to covid. public health departments does not have enough people and did not have enough money and that made their response really difficult. >> reporter: she finally learned the truth from a pharmacist and got the shot. >> i'm glad i changed my mind. >> reporter: one small victory in the growing battle against medical myths. so think about it. just to break the problem down a little more. you have funding cuts going on. then people who are trained in public health who are now expected to be experts in communication and in messaging. it's a huge burden and they say it's one that's going to get worse if some of these other diseases, peter, begin to

spread, because of vaccine hesitancy. >> kristen, you're right. some of what we've already seen is so concerning. polio, more cases of that in rockford county just north of new york city. the measles with a recent outbreak in columbus, ohio as well. this has real wide ramifications. doesn't it? >> reporter: absolutely. you know, in many cases like polio, these are diseases that we've had under control, that public health officials say they're under control, because of vaccinations. so if fewer and fewer people are getting their children vaccinated thesee are going to begin to see the spread in more places, putting an even higher burden on this public health departments. >> kristen dahlgren, one of my favorite people. thanks for sharing. that does it after a couple of busy hours. happy new year if i don't see you before then. after a very quick break we pick up with more news. with more n.

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a very good day to all of you thank you for joining us. i'm alex witt at world headquarters in new york. problems for southwest airlines not going away with thousands of new flight cancel aces today, after a chaotic christmas weekend. leaving customers across this country and the federal government searching for answers. also this hour, more condemnation of