that. >> the republican congressman kevin brady of texas will join us live. what happened. eight u.s. troops charged in connection with the death of another american soldier. 19-year-old danny chicken reportedly suffered physical and mental abuse by his fellow troops. and we knew the housing crisis was unprecedented but new numbers reveal it was worse than first thought. why are we learning this just now and how the numbers could spook buyers considering purchasing a home in the new year. and it is the phone number that has gone viral and it won't just make sarah smile. ♪ sarah ♪ >> the "news nation" is following the latest policy stand-off in washington that could mean your taxes could go up in count them, ten days. it could mean unemployment benefits would run out for 2 million people. i don't have enough fingers for that. just over an hour ago white house press secretary jay carney announced president obama made

separate calls today to house speaker john boehner and senate majority leader harry reid. >> in his call to speaker boehner, the president reiterated the need and his commitment to work with congress to extend the pay roll tax cut for the entire year. and the fact that the short term bipartisan compromise passed by almost the entire senate is the only option to ensure that middle class families are not hit with a tax hike in ten days and gives both sides the time needed to work out a solution. >> earlier today, the moment that has so many people. democrats tried to get the house to consider the senate passed compromise yet again. >> the house stands adjourned until 10:00 a.m. on friday -- >> mr. speaker, mr. speaker -- >> mr. speaker -- i would like to ask for unanimous consent that we bring up the bill to extend the tax cut for 160 million americans as you walk off the floor, mr. speaker. >> knicks news capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell

joins us live. some people are calling that a stunt by stenly highway y hoye. that's what many will be about today when they wonder what's going on with congress. >> reporter: it is one of those moments that is great political theater. steny hoyer who knows the rules so well knew he had a moment to try to seize it. there was no expectation there would be a full session today and he took the spotlight and made his political point. that's what he set out to do. the other work of the day has been some phone calls and some letters being exchanged. the president called speaker boehner and called majority leader reid to get a check of where things are. it seems all sides are reiterating the point they've been over the last 24 hours. it does not appear any new ground has been broken. we had a hint of that today when speaker boehner convened a meeting with no democrats at the table. a bit of political theater as well there. and those would be the members of the republican team that would negotiate if there were a

chance to bring senate democrats to the table and try to hammer something out. here's what the speaker said earlier today. >> all we're asking for is to get the senate members over here to work with us to resolve our differences so we can do what everybody wants to do. extend the pay roll tax credit for the next year. i'm hoping that they're ready to work as we are. >> reporter: certainly the president is giving the message to the speaker that he still believes that in order to get to a one-year deal, first as the white house says, there should be this insurance policy of putting the two-month plan in place so there would be no lapse in those unemployment benefits or the credit for pay roll taxes. that may be an end game at some point where they try to combine the two. we're not there yet. so far the speaker is saying that his aides say that he told the president there is time here even though it may be inconvenient during the holidays but there's time to hammer out the longer deal now.

so not much change and the space in between has been filled with some of these sort of political moments. phone calls, letters, speeches on the floor. >> all right. thank you very much. now let me bring in house republican deputy whip congressman kevin braidy. one of the eight who were selected by john boehner who were invited to participate. thank you for joining. i'm trying to get a feel of how even the opinion papers or some of the writers are saying, this is one of the headlines from the "l.a. times." the senate is gone. the house is pac up. for now that means working americans will see their taxes rise in january. that's one of the most softly worded articles that is out there. in the end, a lot of people will blame the republicans here after january. what is your thought there? >> wouldn't it be great if headlines like that were actually accurate? that isn't house republicans passed a bipartisan bill with over 41 votes margin to extend the tax cuts for a full year.

just as the president demanded last week, just as steny hoyer demanded last week. i think senate democrats really short-changed the american public by rushing through just a mere measly two-month extension and then racing home to their vacations. i'm convinced the president is really serious about a full one-year tax cut. we've got plenty of time to resolve it. the bill is actually now in the senate waiting for he and senator reid to point conferrees. we're ready to go to work and will stay through holidays to get it done. >> let me play what republican senator john mccain had to say about house republicans. let's play it. >> it is harming the republican party. it is harming the view if it is possible any more of the american people about congress. and we got to get this thing resolved. and with the realization that the pay roll tax cut must remain in effect. >> let me add to it. the "wall street journal" op ed

says, and i quote, when senator mitch mcconnell says his main task was to make sure president obama would not be reelected, this article says basically house republicans are making sure that president obama gets another four years. >> i don't think anyone in america believes republicans are raising taxes. i think everyone in america for three years has heard the president get up every morning trying to figure out how to raise taxes on anyone or anything he can get away with. so i disagree with sort of that go along to get along mentality in the senate or anywhere else. the fact of the matter is, the senate adjourned, raced back to their vacations. said we'll get around to it when we get around to it. the house republicans are determined to solve this problem. and i really think the american public gets this a lot more than maybe perhaps some of the main street d.c. people think they do. >> let me ask you. you say the american people don't believe it is the house republicans. but who will they blame then? do you believe that that won't cross anyone's mind?

these millions of americans who would see this increase? who is to blame? >> house republicans are here. and we intend to work through the holidays to be here, to negotiate a real solution. a full-year tax cut. we're not ready to blame anyone. we're just asking, is there any democrats anywhere in america willing to come back from their vacation and work with us to solve this problem now, and my question is, where are they? is there even one who will do that? >> let me ask you a question that a lot of people are having regarding the senate republicans and the house republicans. where do you guys stand if you stand together? one of the points made by our first read political team is that house republicans allowed the senate to break for christmas holiday without explicit orders it would need to come back. you point out that democrats may be on holiday. but certainly house republicans did not say, guys, you need to stick back here. we're not going along with this deal. we saw the high five with mitch mcconnell.

there was a belief that a deal had been secured and that house republicans, if you want to call it fall in line, if you would like to indicate compromise which is a more positive word. call it what you will but that seems to have been the plan. >> well, senate republicans sent this bill back to the house. they had a different view of what that bill should look like. according to the house rules, congress rules, the constitution, when the house and senate have different views, we go to a conference committee. that's what we're doing, following the constitutional process. and we have plenty of time. if the president is serious, if harry reid is serious, we have plenty of time to have and we would welcome all republicans, all democrats from both parties, both chambers to help us solve this. >> what do you count as plenty of time? we're at ten days here. >> you know, does anyone think ten days isn't enough? i mean, look. >> is that a trick question? because if you can't get it done in months, one would think that ten days would not do the trick. >> i would think that a pay roll

tax cut extension of unemployment benefits that end in ten days would be plenty of reason to not do the business as usual. go along the get along thinking and actually solve. this i think that's one of the reasons congress's approval rating is so low, is that we're stuck. too many people are stuck in the old timetable. we've got plenty of time. >> we'll see if you are right, sir. i greatly appreciate you coming on with me. thank you so much, congressman. now i bring in a.b. you heard him. very polite in his conversation but people are not polite when you talk about this behind the scenes. folks are furious, how do we process what's going on? >> well, conservatives would argue that they are as the congressman did. they are holding this up on principal. it is bad tax policy to extend the tax cut for only eight weeks them want to extend it for a full year. they're sick and tired of the senate doing temporary patches and continuing resolutions and short term spending bills. the senate hasn't passed a

budget and they're tired of the way that washington works. and they know that only 11% of the country approves and they want things to change. unfortunately for them, they were opposed on policy grounds to an extension of the pay roll tax cut to begin with. then they changed their minds. now they want a full extension. this is very hard to break through. to explain to americans who hate the congress, are tuned into christmas and out of the fighting in washington. want to keep their thousand dollars or more in some cases and don't want to hear any more about people staging stand-offs and brinksmanship. it will be very hard for the message to get across to the voters and they know that's why you're seeing the fight between conservative republicans and then establishment republicans who want to pack up and go home and know the politics are terrible. >> we have a couple of sound bites from what people on the street are saying about this. let me play a little bit of the tone at least that you're hearing from people not in washington and who i think are not a part of this game. let's play it. >> i think it is a break down

just because congress itself is broken down. it has gotten to the point where it is partisan bickering. it is the people that put our government into power. and they seem to have forgotten that. >> to that point, you bring up the point that house republicans initially were against a one-year extension. now they're for this one-year extension. how do they get out of this trick bag? are there backs up against the wall and they will inevitably end up voting for this senate agreement? >> well, they're going to end up extending the pay roll tax cut. whether it is for two months or 12 months. but there are all sorts of proposals on the table right now for how they get out of this without too much embarrassment. they're very technical and i won't lay them out for the viewers. to say there are some possibilities for trying to get this done between now and december. let's say friday the 30th which would be close of business for the year. and everything expires on 12/31, saturday. so there is probably a way out. right now they need to stand their ground and say we've pointed our conferrees and we're

standing here waiting to do the people's business themselves don't want to back off so soon. i spoke with the republican member who is getting on a plane to go hole. as he member of the leadership in the house. and he was saying that he expects that something will be pulled out of the hat by the deadline for sure. but they are going to continue with this show. even though the members are up and going hole. they said we won't be coming back. we won't be called back. they were free to go. they were told they could go home. there was never a communication that this was a problem for the house until it was too late. >> all right. thank you very much. we'll see if ten days is enough and i love that you say it, they see it as standing their ground. a lot of people might call it something else. thank you very much. >> thank you. moving to another story. eight u.s. soldiers are now charged in connection with the death of a fellow soldier in afghanistan. danny chen was the target of intense physical and mental abuse because of his race. in a news conference today, his family and chinese american

advocates say they are pleased to hear the army is taking action. >> the people responsible for his death must not only be charged but they must be found guilty. >> nbc news chief correspondent jim miklaszewski joins us. take us through the allegations. a lot of people are wondering what exactly happened or what is alleged to have happened here. >> according to u.s. military officials and the charge sheet, it appears that 19-year-old private danny chen shot and killed himself while he was alone in a guard tower there in a remote outpost of southern afghanistan last october. now, according to u.s. military officials and the reason eight soldiers are charged in connection with this death, five of them are charged with involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide is because it is alleged that those eight soldiers drove danny chicken to kill himself.

because according to the military he was apparently an underperformer. he didn't do what he was asked to do. and then hazing or disciplinary ritual of some kind. these soldiers heaped abuse both physical, mental, and oral in materials of racial slurs on danny chen. today in new york, the president of the organization for chinese americans in new york, elizabeth, spoke on behalf of the family. >> we must send a strong signal and today is just the beginning that an asian-american life is not dispensable. and that an asian-american life is not cheap. no human life is. >> according to military officials, army investigators also uncovered apparently a diary that chen had kept of all the abuses that he suffered over

a several-month period before he allegedly was driven to kill himself. the investigation, even though charges have already been filed, the army continues its investigation to find out exactly what happened here. >> thank you very much. we all knew the housing crisis was bad but a new report shows it was even worse than we thought. what impact will it have on people looking to buy a home. i'll talk with the author of a book called "foreclosure nation." plus, mitt romney responds to the ad that he put an end to the attack ads against gingrich. and for any fans of the music group hall and oates, we'll tell but a phone number that has gone viral. join our conversation online. [ male announcer ] tom's discovering that living healthy can be fun. see? he's taking his vitamins. new one a day vitacraves plus omega-3 dha

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we're following developing news in decision 2012. he [ yelling ] >> wow! a tense moment in iowa. that was the scene on the stage earlier in iowa during one of newt gingrich's events. one of a few events where he's been heckled in the past week in iowa. here's a live look now to new hampshire. where gingrich is about to speak in manchester after receiving the endorsements of new hampshire and house speakers earlier today. mitt romney is also in new hampshire on a three-day bus tour trying to protect his lead. they said romney was taking the state for granted. >> he has accepted multiple

invitations to speak. i think those are indications that he is taking new hampshire for granted. >> joining me now, political report he domenico. thank you for coming on with us. let's talk about that tension. we see hecklers pop up at several events. it does point out what happened in may when a conservative voter said he was a joke for the party after he criticized paul ryan's proposal regarding medicare. here again a couple events where he's been confronted just in iowa. >> reporter: there have been a few of these events, even for other candidates. michele bachmann has to deal with some of this. she had to exit the stage. the bigger issue for newt gingrich is he is being outspent 8-1 on air by mitt romney's super pac that's in favor of the mitt romney and getting hit by ron paul, getting hit by rick perry. it is very difficult to sustain that. then you see pictures like.

this it is not something that lends to a positive narrative for newt gingrich. >> absolutely. you pointed out how much he is being outspent. mitt romney was on "morning joe" and on "daily rundown" and saying it would be against the rules. i think he said he would end up in the big house if he asked them to stop some of these ads or tried to control the content of the ads. in new hampshire, romney has this big bus tour. and there is a belief that he may be slightly running scared there. >> if newt gingrich can't take the heat, he should wait until obama's hell's kitchen. that was his line saying we need to test our candidates. he is all for accuracy. in new hampshire, this the statement romney has to win. despite what romney will say, despite what his campaign will say, delgados are all that matters, it didn't work out for the florida, florida, florida strategy or elsewhere. romney is really going to need a

place like new hampshire. they don't want to take it for granted. they don't want to look like they're taking it for granted themselves don't want to repeat what some see as the mistake of 2008 where they ceded that territory and taking it for granted and then john mccain comes in at the last minute. remember, two weeks ago herman cain dropped out of this field. so boy -- >> that was just two weeks ago? oh, my goodness. that felt like a lifetime ago. wow! talk about things that can change. a new poll out. ron paul in first place in eye wax significant numbers for him. a significant increase. 28%. gingrich at 25. romney, 18. perry at 11. i think it was the first team, your team that pointed out in the democratic primary at this time, hillary clinton was up 22 points, i believe, something like that. and how things can change so quickly with so few days left to go. >> remember, that was a national poll in december 2007 where hillary clinton was leading barack obama 45-23. john mccain was in fourth place

nationally. same period. two weeks out before the iowa caucuses. what matters are these state polls. the caveat on this state poll with ron paul in front, it was done over ten days. like we talked about, how much can change. the reason i brought that up was not because ron paul's support may not be there but newt gingrich's support may not be as strong as it shows him, it shows him in second place. we've heard anecdotally from folks on the ground, polls showing hill losing support. it may be possible that this roll overestimates his support. the pollsters note that by saying ron paul's supporters look locked in but newt and romney, and it could be going on other candidates. >> quick by ron paul being locked in. he has an event. 225 people showed up but they had to open an overflow room as well. so those who are enthusiastic about him are sticking with him

for now. thank you so much. >> absolutely. coming up, what happened to handle with care? what fed-ex is saying this hour about the delivery man caught on camera, throwing a delicate, a fragile package, a computer over a gate. plus, chinese hackers hit the u.s. chamber of commerce, gaining access to the information of millions of members. former rockette amy opened in jersey city with children's dance classes and expansion in mind. she monday tiesed by representing taste, added adult classes, a performance summer camp and partnering with another group on performances of the nutcracker. [ male announcer ] in 1894, a small town pharmacist set out to create a different kind of cold remedy using powerful medicine and natural ingredients

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fed-ex is dealing with a public relations nightmare. look at this. a fed-ex delivery man carelessly tossing the package over the gate. the customer said he was home with the door wide open when the computer monitor he was waiting for was tossed over a gate. it is not clear when the video was shot but it has received 2.6 million hits online. fed-ex has released this

statement saying the situation has been resolved to the customer's satisfaction and we are handling the employee according to our disciplinary policies. a company spokesperson would not say if the delivery man would be fired once they find him. but add, quote, this won't be his best day. coming up, "news nation" takes a look at newt gingrich's campaign for president obama? take a listen. >> then you should be pro obama. >> that's what his advice was. why did he give him that advice? the very latest on that. plus, the most sweeping changes to pilot rules in 50 years are made official. the faa finally putting a limit on the amount of time a pilot can be on duty. ace down that hil without a helmet. i took some steep risks in my teens. i'd never ride without one now. and since my doctor prescribed lipitor, i won't go without it for my high cholesterol and my risk of heart attack. why kid myself? diet and exercise weren't lowering my cholesterol enough. now i'm eating healthier, exercising more, taking lipitor.

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up in closing arguments. gingrich for obama? he told a voter to throw his support behind the president. and move over, burger king. we'll tell you which restaurant is set to take over burger king as the second largest fast food chain in the nation. >> i can't just go running off into the blue. >> pretty awesome, fans of the hobbit get a sneak peek at the much anticipated peek at the movie. first, rules to prevent pilot fatigue in the cockpit have been in the works for some time. today the faa made them official. the regulations date back to the '60s. this comes nearly three years after that deadly commuter plane crash in buffalo where 50 people were killed. a federal investigation found that the regional airliner's pilot and co-pilot were flying while fatigued. tom costello covers the aviation

business and there has been some pushback against these rules that are now official. >> the airlines themselves felt that the new rules might be too expensive. they're reserving judgment at the moment saying they want to study what the new rules are. the cargo airlines have also said they're going to be too expensive as well. the bottom line as you stated, the whole point of this is to address issues that came up as a result of that crash outside of buffalo. while pilot error was cited as the reason for that crash, as you mentioned, pilot fatigue, long distance commuting, incredibly long and exhausting work hours were all discussed during this investigation. these are decades old issues. so here now are the new rules that the faa has acknowledged going into effect. they don't go into effect two years. to begin, flight time must be limited to eight or nine hours. that depends on what time the pilot takes off and where they're going. multiple time zones, that kind of thing. ten-hour maximum rest period. it used to be eight hours. and you had to find time to

sleep in that period. now it's ten hours with an opportunity for eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. you can imagine what that means if you're in an overnight in a hotel somewhere. 30 consecutive hours free from duty every week. consecutive hours is critical there. and pilots now, this is important. pilots must affirm that they are fit for duty at the beginning of their shift. in other words, if you did commute cross country, it is up to you to make sure that you got the sleep before you report for duty. you can't just come across country and then suddenly jump into this cockpit of a plane and expect that you're going to be fit for duty if you're exhausted and you're fighting a cold which is what happened, of course, in the case of that buffalo crash. but, and this is important now. the cargo airlines said this is all way too expensive for us. we can't do this. we fly multiple time zones. we take off at night. they argued that we can't have these rules apply to us. the faa agreed. cargo airlines are exempt.

today i asked the d.o.t. secretary, the secretary of the transportation department whether pilot's lives are any less important than airline pilots lives. >> every life is important. safety is our number one priority. we have an obligation when these rules are developed to make sure that they can meet a cost effective formula, and so we will meet with our friends in the cargo industry and we will explain what this rule does and we will explain the safety aspects of it. and we will encourage them to adopt this. >> so there you go. mr. ray lahood, the secretary of transportation arguing the cargo airline pilots' lives are important as airline pilot' lives and he will try to get the ceos to go along willingly. they've fought this all the way. nonetheless, a pretty big change for the nation's airlines as a whole. back to you. >> thank you very much.

and just days before so many families will gather together to celebrate christmas and the holiday season, a family in name is desperately trying to find a 20-month-old girl who disappeared from her father's home over the weekend. right now authorities are pouring over more than 100 leads offered by the public about the possible whereabouts of this little girl. ayla reynolds. the fbi has launched a door to door search while searching trash bins, even the draining a strael. her mother said she is just trying to remain optimistic at this point. >> i just want to tell ayla she's going to be okay. i want to see her face. i want to see her eyes. i want to feel her touch. i want to tell her i love her. >> i'm joined now by investigative reporter michelle. take us back to when this child first disappeared. she was with her father. and was in bed, i believe. >> she was in bed. that's correct. according to police she was

reported missing on saturday morning around 8:50 al. the dad told authorities that he last saw his child around 8:00 p.m. the night before. a very large window. and at that point she went missing. we do have a description. she was last seen in a one-piece polkadot jumper that says daddy's princess on the front of it. and there has been an all-out search throughout all the neighborhoods including the immediate area where she went missing. i've spoken to many neighbors throughout that neighborhood. what they tell me is that investigators, they've gone underneath their houses. they've searched their back yards, their pools, their sheds. >> ayla's father release ad stale. i have no idea what happened to ayla or who is responsible. i will not make accusations or insinuations until the police have been able to prove who is responsible for this. are police saying there was any sign this home had been broken into? >> at this point they're not saying but what some reports have come out to say the doors were unlocked. that there were other people

inside the home. one may not have been a family member but everyone is cooperating. i have to say it's nice to hear from her father and for him to come out to say, look, i'll give you whatever is necessary. do whatever i can to help find my daughter. he and ayla's mother were going through a custody battle. so of course, in most of these types of situations, it is difficult. and so that on top of the fact that their child is missing is quite troubling. of course, and any investigation, you're going to look at the place where the child went missing. cars have been confiscated. investigators are combing through a lot of that evidence. they're talking to neighbors, family, friends, doing everything they can. if you have any information on this case, please pig up the phone and give the police a call. >> thank you very much, michelle. lawyers for the army intelligence analyst accused in the nation's largest ever security leak have rested their case. that tops the news around the nation. closing, a utility in the case of private first class bradley manning are set to begin tomorrow.

the army intelligence analyst is accused of downloading secret documents that later surfaced on the website wikileaks. the defense attorneys called only two witnesses and tried painting manning as a troubled man who should not have had access to classified material. manning faces charges of aiding the enemy and if found guiltiering could be sentenced to life in prison. >> and 12 meks of an ohio amish group have been charged with federal hate crimes connected to what is being referred to as beard cutting attacks. this happened earlier in the year. the seven-count indictment also charges the group with conspiracy, assault, and evidence tampering. cutting someone's hair is considered deeply offensive in amish culture. the deadly blizzard that dumped more than at foof snow in the plains is now moving away from that region. clean-up crews are clearing out ice and snow. drifts up to ten feet. we're seeing the clean-up is allowing thousands of stranded drivers to finally leave those roadside motels where they were

stuck for shelter. but forecasters say a new storm is threatening to hit some of the same areas impacted earlier this week. meteorologist carl parker is tracking the storm for us. that's never a good thing. you get hit once, hit twice for these people possibly. >> we've got another one on the way. it will probably bring six inches to denver. maybe as much as ten inches in the western south suburbs. that first storm is lifting up into the lakes. it has become a much warmer storm. we've got wet weather up and down the east coast. a little thunder in the southeast. that will be moving out tonight. drier air will fill in for a short time. then we'll see another storm take shape across the deep south. a new low coming up. more rain in areas that really do need the rain. this is good news. you probably would like to see some snow coming up here. that won't happen in the south any time soon. wet weather then lifts up. the new storm coming into the west, dropping down today will move into colorado tonight and

tomorrow. again, about six inches in denver. probably about four to eight in parts of new mexico. we'll find more of that on friday. then that storm works across the country, becomes a rain storm in the southeast. lifts up on christmas day. a little bit of wet weather here for the southeast and a tiny little bit of snow in the northwest side of that. it looks like for the most part, we won't see snow in the east come christmas day. back to you. >> thank you. coming up, listen to this. a starting new report out about the housing crisis. we are only now just learning that it was much worse than first thought. what kind of impact does this have on people buying and selling in the new year? i'll talk with the author of foreclosure nation. first, there is a lot going on today. here are some things we thought you should know. president obama took time out today to go christmas shopping in alexandria, virginia. there you have it. at a best buy. the president said he bought a video game for his daughters. the president also went to pet smart with first dog bo and

bought a rubber chew toy. while there, bo played with another dopg dog. after shopping the president stopped for pizza. meantime on the campaign trail in iowa, newt gingrich was confronted by a gay voter about gingrich's opposition to same sex marriage. here's his response. >> well, if that's most important to you, then you should be for obama. >> there you have it. you should be for obama. >> the "wall street journal" reports hackers in china breach the computer. defenses of the u.s. chamber of commerce and gain access to everything stored on its systems. that includes information about the chamber's 3 million members. the breach is the latest regular confrontation between the chamber of commerce and hackers. ♪ ♪

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coming up at the top of the hour, the circling firing squad

continues to fire. and newt tips to take the hits. plus the gang of eight meets with themselves. this as the majority of americans, even the "wall street journal" cries shame on the republican majority. it's not feeling a lot like christmas in washington now, is it? revised figures show the housing crisis that started in 2007 was even worse than we realized. how is that possible? hole prices, or home purchases in 2010 were revised downward by almost 15%. purchases in 2008 and 2009 were revised downward 16%. that translates into a 3.5 million fewer homes sold since 2007 than originally stated. joining me now, real estate and foreclosure attorney sherry, author of foreclosure nation. thank you for your time. >> reporter: sure. thanks for having me. >> why are we getting these amended numbers? is that the right way to

describe them? >> reporter: recasted numbers. >> why are we getting them just now? >> reporter: well, this came out last february competing statistic provider noted some differences in their numbers. and started to question the national association of realtors' methodology in computing the existing hole sales. remember, they're based on an estimate, based on a sampling of data reported by actual realtors. >> so oxley, though, and i saw the story first reported on "nightly news" last night. it is everywhere today. the headline is it is worse than we first thought. do you not see the headline that way? >> reporter: well, the numbers certainly show that. from a real life perspective, mostly experts look at a variety of indicators. and even once we have them, it is climbed of funny. we actually spent relatively little amount of time on them. we spend a lot more time digging behind the numbers because there's so much that we all know any way the numbers don't tell

us. there are all kinds of variables they don't reflect. all kinlds of i haddio sink ra r. home buyers were for a home. if you need a home and you have the money you won't not buy a home because these numbers retroactively have been revised down. you'll go look at a home and you're more focused on the prices in a particular neighborhood. same thing with developers. most developers need to have a local market study done which is very extensive and it is not based on this information any way. >> this report just quickly says that 3.5 million fewer homes were sold in 2007 than originally stated. so does that have no ill bag years later on the housing market? >> well, it certainly does. at least temporarily it will create a blip. it is giving us more reason to doubt. it will give us more reason to doubt numbers moving forward. how do we know the number are accurate. we already know the number of defaults and foreclosures that are reflected are probably

underestimated. certainly the am of shadow inventory is underestimated as is negative equity. when you're dealing with this, you have all kinds of methodology issues. let's face it. banks and homeowners who don't plan on paying their mortgages are not very transparent and koomtive. we can look at the big picture. back to the bubble and we know that the correction just is not in the same scope as the excess was. we had 27 million loans, risky loans made. of that only about 6% have been addressed. so we haven't work our way through this no matter what the indicators say. >> thank you very much. great having you on. thank you. in case of an emergency, you can now call hall and oates, not this hall. and the trailer for the new hobbit movie is out. i can't wait. and one critic says fans will be weeping with joy. let's get the latest from pop columnist courtney hazelet. >> this has made. a "news nation" at 30 rock, if

you've ever had a hankering for hall and oates and didn't have it loaded on your phone or ipod. you can call this phone number. 719-26-oates. we have how it works if you want to prehear it so to speak. take a listen. >> welcome to hall and oates hotline. please press one. to hear rich girl, please press two. ♪ you're a rich girl ♪ >> how much do i love that song? that's what i press. this is fantastic. >> who is behind this? >> it is actually a tech company called twilio. they make it so businesses can install their own hardware for apps and that sort of thing. i reached out to the hall and oates manager saying did you know this was coming? how do you feel about this? he said emphatically we can tell

you we had no idea. they're thrilled that it is happening, however. totally caught them by surprise and i love it. he said just another day in hall and oates land. >> i think they're the greatest duo of all time with you why did they select hall and oates for this? no word yet. they're 57 on the dark. what's incredible, really they just resonate quite a bit. next year hall and oates will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of their first album. definitely a band in pop culture. we're thrilled with this little treat. hobbit trailer. >> there are some very, very happy people out there right now. the honor, an unexpected journey. the exact title. the first of two hobbit movies. it doesn't come out for another year. the trailer was just released. you can watch a little bit of it right now. >> you asked me wungs if i had told you everything there was tong tonight about my

adventures. while i can honestly say, i have told you the truth, i may not have told you all of it. >> bilbo baggins. i'm looking for someone to share in an adventure. >> this is a peter jackson production. he brought you "the lord of the rings" and i believe the 17 oscars "the lord of the rings" series won over the years. this was a tough movie to make. it stalled out. they had to switch directors. and it is on its way. >> thank you for my christmas gift as i will a lord of the rings fan attic. >> and hall and oates. >> thank you. >> for the very latest entertainment news, logon to scoop.today.com. ♪ ♪ i think i'm falling ♪ i think i'm falling

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we told but the congressional showdown over tax cuts. the fight means your taxes could go up in ten days. the partisan back and forth is just the latest battle. the highly contentious year that saw congressional approval plummet to lows we've never seen. a new gallup poll shows it will end with 11% approval. if your taxes go up in january, who is to blame? republicans, democrats or both? go to facebook.com/newsnation to cast your vote. we'll have the results of that tomorrow. that does it for this edition of "news nation." martin bashir is up next. i would describe us as sort of a reserved couple.

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