i want to bring in ali velshi.ince the beginning of the year job growth has averaged 151,000 a month. >> yeah. >> economists say we need that and more to keep up with the growth in population. >> we need at least 150 to 200,000. >> how do we do better? >> look, we've got to fix the things that got broken in the recession, so we do need the construction jobs back and do need manufacturing jobs back and if congress gets past the fiscal cliff what you're going to start to see is there's been a groundwork laid for an economic renaissance in the united states, gas prices, natural gas prices have come down because we're finding so much of it and producing more oil. know there's a housing boom and there's been a resurgence in manufacturing. now the problem with manufacturing is not creating as many jobs. more manufacturing output but those are the areas we can concentrate on, energy, manufacturing and housing to create more jobs, and that's already kind of happening. government can only stand in the way of this right now

i'm ali velshi. you're watching our special coverage of the connecticut school shooting. i'm in newtown, connecticut, about a block away from the school which is roughly behind me. a block away from the scene of the horrible massacre. here's what we know right now. in about an hour, officials are expected to start releasing the names of the victims. we've learned the names of two of the adults, the principal and a school counselor, but not the names of the children. now, that is expected to start happening at around 8:00 a.m. right where i am. right now the bodies are still inside the school. police say it's an active crime scene and that means the shooter's body is still there, as well. police say 20-year-old adam lanza was the shooter, and also say his mother's body was found inside the home they shared together about 2 1/2 miles from here. >> i'm john berman in the town square here in newtown. flags flying at half staff here all around the country to honor those lost at the elementary school shooting here in newtown, the sandy hook elementary school. president obama of

ali velshi is here next with a special live edition of "your money." to the president and founder of americans for tax reform, grover norquist. excuse me, sir i'm gonna have to ask you to power down your little word game. i think your friends will understand. oh no, it's actually my geico app...see? ...i just uh paid my bill. did you really? from the plane? yeah, i can manage my policy, get roadside assistance, pretty much access geico 24/7. sounds a little too good to be true sir. i'll believe that when pigs fly. ok, did she seriously just say that? geico. just click away with our free mobile app. we replaced people with a machine.r, what? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it? hello? hello?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello? ally bank. your money needs an ally. >>> checking stories that are trending this hour, how about taking a look at this snake? it is a python, 17 feet long. wandered, i like that word, into a florida everglades picnic area. it was shot and killed by a park ranger. >> we jus

i'm ali velshi, "starting point" starts

i want to go back to ali velshi just down the street here in newtown. ali? >> you know, john, you see those parents so emotionally distraught and so much of the community like that and elsewhere in the community, there's this feeling about how stunned everybody is. when you travel around this town as i did last night, john, as you saw, it's a bit of a sleepy place, it's a quiet place. in the last ten years, i understand there's been one homicide here. we are now learning a little bit more about the man who police say was the shooter. he is 20-year-old adam lanza. last night, our piers morgan got insight on lanza from a former classmate. >> he was really quiet, he kept to himself. he was a little fidgety, a little uneasy sometimes if you were to look at him. i think he was just socially not really into going out there and making as many friends as everyone else was doing in elementary school and middle school. preferred to stay to himself. >> reporter: adam lanza's body was found in the school. his mother's body was found at the home they shared about 2 1/2 m

ali velshi. are you done with your slippery chicken? cleaned the plate. >> ali, have you no shame, young man? >> no. i'm sticking with this thing until it is done. >> yeah. >> well, i just got my big glass of ice water here and i may have to get some dinner. >> you're a healthier eater than i am. >> no. if you knew what i ate this holiday, i'm surprised i can even fit on the screen. let's get our viewers up to speed on the talks that are trying to prevent the looming fiscal cliff. >> with the fate of the nation in the balance the senate is going home. that's right. no vote tonight on the senate side. the chamber will reconvene tomorrow at the bright and early hour of 11:00 a.m. eastern. >> oh, my gosh. >> 11:00 a.m. i would have thought they might have gone home for a few hours, had a shower, and come back to work. with just 13 hours until the deadline they will reconvene. the house is waiting on the senate. so nothing is getting done there. if you bet this would come down to the wire, you were right. >> gosh, they have to get up before

ali velshi, thank you very much.tes. >>> tens of millions of that dollars poured into chicago communities to reduce crime as part of the program launched by the state's governor here. so why are the murders onthe rise? what happened to those millions of dollars? that is where we sent drew griffin. sent him to chicago on a number of trips here. he's got the troubling findings from a four-month long investigation. that's next. [ gordon ] for some this line is a convenience. how you doing today? i'm good thanks. how are you? i'm good. [ gordon ] but for others, it's all they can afford. every day nearly nine million older americans don't have enough to eat. anything else? no, not today. join me, aarp, and aarp foundation in the drive to end hunger by visiting drivetoendhunger.org. anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ female announcer ] live the regu

do we have ali velshi? is ali velshi there? ali? you have more coming up, i know. >> i do.lp me out here. they're not that far apart, are they? >> this is all politics. they're not that far apart. all the hard work has been done. and the danger of not getting a deal done far exceeds the danger of paying a little extra tax. i'll talk to you about that when i come back, don. >> see you after the break. >> all right. excuse me, sir i'm gonna have to ask you to power down your little word game. i think your friends will understand. oh no, it's actually my geico app...see? ...i just uh paid my bill. did you really? from the plane? yeah, i can manage my policy, get roadside assistance, pretty much access geico 24/7. sounds a little too good to be true sir. i'll believe that when pigs fly. ok, did she seriously just say that? geico. just click away with our free mobile app. >>> from the cnn money newsroom in new york, i'm ali velshi. this is your money. the fiscal cliff is a battle of ideological wills. some americans feel strongly that increasing taxes hurts the economy. quite po

our own ali velshi. >> at this point, if you haven't left, don't go out. >> great job, ali velshi.a helmet and anchor. >> speaking of anchors, worst drag on the economy. the relentlessly bad unemployment rate. sure, it got a little better, but 12 million americans are still out of work. worst realization, fixing that may take much longer than even the pessimists fear. >> we can't always have 3% growth. maybe we'll just have to be happy with 0.2% growth and we're going to like. you'll have to eat your vegetables, america, eat your vegetables. >> the chickens are coming home to roost, we're going to all have some bills to pay. there's going to have to be a tax increase pretty much on everybody in the united states. >> extreme violence struck several places this year. an an attack on a sikh temple in wisconsin took six lives. the gunman was wounded by police and then killed himself. another mass shooting in colorado at a midnight premiere of "batman" left 12 people dead, 58 wounded, and a lot of questions about the alleged gunman. the incident that stunned the nation the most, however

one of the best in the business, ali velshi, is kind enough to grace us with your presence. >> thoseuestions. great to know what people want to know. >> there were so many. let me get some of the highlights. lisa asks how does this affect the extension of unemployment benefits which expire december 31. >> this is awful. this is the worst part about it. unemployment benefits are traditionally 26 weeks provided by your state. when the financial crisis hit, the federal government added extra weeks to that so you could get either 79 or 99 weeks. the average length of time that you're unemployed right now is about 40 weeks. but as of december 31, the federal extension will end which means you will then only qualify for the 26 weeks. if you're in the federal extension, you're getting it, it ends. and then there after, you can only get your 26 weeks from the state. there is discussion about extending it and it's a tough one. that's a political football. >> i don't know if i'm pronounce this name right, but the question is i was hoping to buy a house after the new year. if we fall off the cl

and i want to bring in my colleague, ali velshi. hey, ali. >> reporter: john, it's a sad morning and will get sadder in a few moments. just a few moments from where we are standing, a press conference is about to begin where they are going to release the names, we think, of many of the people killed. david arioso of cnn was one of the first on the scene. david went to the firehouse you keep hearing references to where parents were thinking they were going to meet their kids. david, what happened yesterday? >> well, between the early morning hours, parents would file towards this firehouse and would basically try to get a sense of whether or not their kids, their loved ones were alive. toward the early part of the morning, you would see parents walking out teary eyed, shaken, but with their children. as the day progressed, you would see parents walking in pairs, walking with state troopers or fireman without a child m. of the parents were besides themselves with grief. it is just one of those things that you can't put into words so mu

alison, back to you. >> thanks, ali velshi.ow will the markets and small businesses react if we do go off the cliff? in an hour, i'm going to ask a former economic council member under george w. bush about the future of our economy. >>> meanwhile, india's capital is on lockdown right now. new delhi and other cities brace for unrest and protest after a young woman brutally gang raped dies. we have a live report from new delhi coming your way. stay close. at a dry cleaner, we replaced people with a machine. what? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it? hello? hello?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello? ally bank. your money needs an ally. >>> 20 minutes past the hour, thank you so much for sharing your time with us. the u.n. arab league special envoy for syria says the country faces two choices, hell or political process. met with russia's foreign minister in moscow a short time ago, and they both urged an end to syria's 21-month-long civil war. they warned that things may on

cnn's ali velshi has been talking to neighbors, people who knew this 20-year-old. he's joining us now. ali, what are you hearing? >> reporter: wolf, more questions come out every time we try and find more information. you can't see the house, it's behind me, behind that police car you see. that's cordoned off, still a crime scene. police say they have found it quite fruitful what they have found in here. what we know about nancy lanza, she lived alone with adam lanza. the family lived alone since 1998, the whole family, nancy lanza, the husband peter lanza, the son ryan, 24 years old, and adam, who was 20 years old. what happened is peter lanza left the house at some point a few years ago when they divorced. he doesn't live here anymore. ryan lanza, who is 24 years old, went off to work. he lived in hoboken, new jersey. we saw he was taken in for questioning yesterday. that left adam and nancy back here. nancy lanza worked in finance in boston and here in connecticut for some years. but recently she has left work. we don't know whether she was retiring or whether sh

chief business correspondent ali velshi joins me now. help us cut through the spin. the partisans all have a different take on this. if you raise taxes on the top 2%, what's the impact? what does it look like and how much of an impact would it have on the deficit? >> well, let's look at it in two ways. one is income tax, right? right now, the highest earners, those households that earn more than a quarter million dollars a year, pay a higher tax rate on the marginal amount, the amount above the $250,000 a year. so we're talking about taking that rate from 36% to 39.6% if we even go there. that hasn't even been negotiated yet but that's 3.6% on every dollar you earn above $250,000. there are not a lot of studies that suggest that that would have catastrophic effects on the economy. the other area that democrats want to raise taxes are on investment income, things like capital gains, dividend income. now, those will jump significantly. here's the thing. very few of these benefits affect middle class workers. it does affect the higher income earners and the question you

this time, there may be a serious price to pay for it. >> ali velshi, thank you. >>> straight ahead, college student wins a restraining order against her own parents. we'll tell you why. >>> but first, getting a college degree doesn't have to bankrupt you. christine romans has great advice. >> reporter: at 24, greta russler has her bachelor's degree. figuring out how to pay for it wasn't easy. >> i only applied to two schools. both in-state, because those were the only ones that were really going to be a reality. >> reporter: she chose georgia state university where a four-year degree cost just over $21,000. she earned a scholarship to cover tuition. loans and a part-time job paid for living expenses and study abroad. >> i ate a lot more ramen that i am proud to admit. i had a mattress on my bedroom floor. my clothes were kept in boxes on a bookshelf in my closet. i was living the college life. >> reporter: russler graduated last year with $7,000 in loans, well below the national average of nearly $24,000. she did all the right things. you have to keep the debt down in the first plac

ali velshi, who ever thought this was going to be the socialism of the business world.his true colors. the truth of the matter is as one famous judge in britain once said, it is every man's duty to avoid paying taxes. it is no man's duty, no man's duty to evade paying them. and that is the threshold upon which we seek. however, bearing in mind there are deficits that have to be covered. and there are spending that has to be reached. and in that environment, there is no other alternative but for higher taxes. do you think europeans like paying 40%, 50% taxes? but the alternative is not nearly so pleasant. i've just been to iceland, high taxes, high rate of living. and an economy that is actually recovering better than anywhere else from the financial crisis. so ali velshi, do taxes have to rise? yes, in the united states. >> i think we're agreed on this. richard, always my pleasure to see from you across the pond. richard quest. let's talk about where the taxes sometimes go. infrastructure, superstorm sandy caused overwhelming devastation and exposed dangerous flaws in u

. >> i'm ali velshi at cnn in new york. >> it is you and me tonight, ali. with the nation perched on the edge of the fiscal cliff we are keeping a close watch on events to prevent an economic disaster. >> we hope. we will spell it out what those talks mean to all of you watching. and if they fail to reach a deal what it means for you, the economy and your wallet. >> thank you, ali. no news is good news and fiscal cliff talks are at a standstill with neither side wanting to give ground at this point. >> trying to find a lining around that cloud, if there is one, and democrats and republicans are still talking. they are still trying to reach a deal to stop the spending cuts and tax hikes that are likely or possible to push our economy back into the recession if we go over the fiscal cliff. >> but ali, neither side is budging much. you have been reporting on it for the last couple of hours. friday though, president obama said that he was optimistic that the two sides could reach a deal. this morning, he sounded less positive though. >> if, you know, if people

>> a hat would help, ali. >> just for my mom. >> mrs. velshi >> let's see what tonight's weather looks like. it looks cold. >> it is. not going to be as mild as we saw last year. you might see a flurry or two. temperatures expected to dip down to the 30s. windchi-chill factor will make feel like the 20s. we are a hat. wear a coat and across the central united states into kansas and missouri. even into the panhandle of texas. this is where we see snowfall. kansas along interstate 80, 4 to 6 inches of snowfall. the windchill very significant across northern great plains and right across the united states from illinois into new mexico, snowfall there. some of the new year's eve celebrations may be on the short side, especially in grand forks, north dakota, where the wind-chill factor, sanjay, supposed to be minus 28 degrees tonight. >> karen, thank you so much. i think people will still be standing out in new york city tonight. >> yeah, couldn't pay me enough to go stand out there in the cold. >> no bags and no booze. >> you know what? if this fis

ali velshi is in new york, dana bash is live on capitol hill. we will start with you, dana. what has gotten lawmakers now not seeing eye to eye? >> reporter: actually, let me answer that by asking one of the members of the senate republican leadership, senator john thune, who just came out of the senate republican meet egg. senator, can you tell us where do things stand as far as republicans feel? >> well, look, republicans advanced a proposal last night. you heard senator mcconnell talk about that on the floor. we are still awaiting a counteroffer by the democrats. and there was an indication that we could have received that by 10:00 this morning. we have yet to receive it. but there are discussions that continue. senator mcconnell and vice president biden are continuing to discuss this and we think there perhaps still could be a path forward. the one thing that is a, you know, democrats come out and made a big deal out of chained cpi, republicans are very concerned that if that not be used as an offset to reduce or to replace some of the spending cuts that you would occur

it is just -- the gap is narrowing a little bit. >> ali velshi, i love talking money with ali velshig. >> always my pleasure. >> get on there, get on witnesser and chat. >>> we are getting reaction from the obama administration now which has been closely monitoring the numbers in washington. that's where we find the white house correspondent brianna keilar. we hope the leaf blower is done. what do you hear? >> reporter: no leaf blower, no jackhammer. we are getting reaction from the white house, obviously. they saw this positively, don. month surprise. this coming from the chairman of the president's council of economic advisors. it says while more work remains to be done today's employment report provides further evidence the u.s. economy is continuing to heal and continuing to heal from the wounds inflicted by the worst downturn since the great depression. this is obviously similar to what we heard in past months. but the president or -- certainly the white house pointing to this as proof that his economic policies should continue. specifically in this reaction. they point to that

. >>> i'm ali velshi in for soledad. holiday travel horror. people soaked with snow and winds that will knock you over. the northeast getting the worst of it right now. we are tracking the storm. >>> and back to work in washington with five days to go. president obama comes back to washington to try to hammer out a deal with the senate, and we're hearing it may come down to the final minute of the year. >>> sticky gas pedals costing toyota $1 billion. the company's plan to put sudden acceleration allegations in their past and how you may we able to cash in on it even if you already sold your car. >>> a packed show ahead. congressman steven latourette of ohio, senator richard blumenthal of connecticut, plus the grinch. it's thursday, december 27th. "starting point" begins right now. >>> well, our starting point, a brutal winter storm battering the northeast and torturing holiday travelers all over the country. here it is on the radar. the system is expected to dump up to two feet of snow on central maine today. six states are under winter storm

. >> count on me, ali velshi. a fight between world powers with agonized parents and children caught in the middle. russian president has banned u.s. families from adopting russian orphans. moscow says too many orphans have been abused by their new american parents. state department says it is willing to talk more about keeping the children safe. >>> fiscal cliff isn't the only threat to the u.s. economy. get a load of this. the container cliff. nearly 15,000 dockworkers from maryland to texas are threatening to strike, starting sunday, which could shut down more than a dozen key shipping ports and cripple commerce across the country. dock on workers are demanding higher container royalties to boost their pay. >>> did the newtown school shooter have an evil gene? scientists at the university of connecticut will study adam lanza's dna to see if a mutation or ab normality could have made him more violent? this is the first study of its kind on a mass killer. >>> jockeying started for john kerry's senate seat, even b

ali velshi gives us the bottom li line.son kosik is on wall street watching how worried investors are reacting this hour. dana, we want to begin with you. we are hearing there might have been some progress overnight. >> a lot more optimism being expressed from sources in both parties. mitch mcconnell who the prime negotiator on the republican side just moments ago told reporters he spoke to the vice president, who is the prime negotiator now on the democrat side. so not totally all night, but they were up pretty late and early into the morning going back and forth making what again several sources say was significant progress. again, hate to say it, i have seen that movie before. i know you have too in covering similar negotiations like this. this is really, really been a roller coaster with people feeling optimistic and suddenly we hear things hit a snag. as you said, 14 hours to go. there's nothing like a deadline that really pushes congress to do something. >> and dana, one of the sticking points you have been talking ab

>>> from the cnn newsroom in new york, i'm ali velshi. this is your money.or the rich. banks, too big to jail. america's energy boom and prices at the pump. and the fastest internet speed out there, all that coming up. but first, your money is getting cheaper every day. here's why. the federal reserve is like a car with no steering wheel, has a gas pedal and brakes. to apply the gas to the economy, the fed lowers interest rates making it cheaper for companies and individuals to borrow money that they can then spend or invest, hopefully in ways that stimulate the economy. four years ago the fed lowered its rates to near zero, that puts the prime rate which is always 3 percentage points higher at about 3%. still, the economy didn't move at a good enough clip, so the fed turned to other options. the latest was what was come to known as qe-3 or the third installment of quantitative easing. that's just a fancy way of saying they're printing more money to get into the system, a lot more money, rather than just swapping existing money for bonds with major banks. to

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i'm ali velshi, you're watching cnn's special coverage of the connecticut school shooting. we are live in newtown, connecticut. here's what we know this morning about what happened at sandy hook elementary school. in about 30 minutes we expect authorities to hold a news conference right where i am and release the identities of the victims. police say 20 children between the ages of 5 and 10 were killed as well as six adults at the school including the principal and psychologist. sources say adam lanza was armed with three guns, two on him, one found in a car nearby. police say he got the guns from his mother who owned them. she was licensed to have them. she was found dead in her home about 2 1/2 miles from where i am now. every new detail helped paint a picture of a horrifying tragedy. cnn's anderson cooper explains how it unfolded moment by moment. >> all units, the individual i have on the phone is continuing to hear what he believes to be gun shots. >> reporter: the first word was chilling. it only got worse. >> they're reporting multiple fatalities involved in this sho

our own ali velshi. >> if you haven't left, don't go out. >> next time, get a helmet and anchor. >> speakingchors, worst drag on the economy, the relentlessly bad unemployment rate. sure, it got a little better, but 12 million americans are still out of work. worst realization, fixing that may take much longer than even pessimists fear. >> we might just have to be happy with .2% growth and like it. eat your vegetables, america. >> chickens are coming home to roost. there will be bills to be paid. there's going to have to be a tax increase on pretty much everyone in the united states. >> extreme violence struck several places this year. an attack on a sikh temple took six lives in wisconsin. the gunman was wounded by police and then shot himself. another mass shooting at a premiere of batman left 12 people dead, 58 wounded and a lot of questions about the alleged gunman. the incident that stunned the nation the most, however, happened in newtown, connecticut, when authorities say a gunman descended on a school and killed 20 first graders in addition to half dozen adults, his mother, and himse

this is pretty great, cnn sent ali velshi to atlantic city. why? he's a business correspondent.they don't like him. he was in the middle of the street and unwittingly provided us with tonight's edition of "behind the news." >> one hour from now they want everybody who doesn't have a reason to be outside inside their homes. this is a mayor who said a number of people haven't left. that worries them but at this point if you haven't left -- [ laughter and applause ] >> jimmy: hurricane backup dancers. congratulations. i think the lesson there is, only risk your life when it's hilarious. watching on a great night, two of the greatest guests in talk show history, howard stern and tracy morgan. [ cheers and applause ] and a fantastic band, brooklyn's own sharon jones and the dap kings are here with us tonight. it's been a lot of fun, even with the rain, fun to be here this week, walking around brooklyn, marveling at the artisanal cheese shops. there are many of them. a lot of family still leaves here. my uncles live here. how many people in this room are my uncle tony? i have morrellt

i'm ali velshi. same time tomorrow. r advanced a.who tried it agreed that it relieved their headache fast. visit fastreliefchallenge.com today for a special trial offer. visit fastreliefchallenge.com social security are just numbers thinkin a budget.d... well, we worked hard for those benefits. we earned them. and if washington tries to cram decisions about the future... of these programs into a last minute budget deal... we'll all pay the price. aarp is fighting to protect seniors with responsible... solutions that strengthen medicare and... social security for generations to come. we can do better than a last minute deal... that would hurt all of us. >>> we are getting a preview of piers morgan's interview with bob costas, the nbc sportscaster received big time backlash after using halftime of a sunday night game to comment on gun control, specifically referencing the murder/suicide involving an nfl player. fast-forward to moments ago when costas spoke with piers morgan. >> 70% or more of footballers apparently carry guns. clearly

from the cnn money newsroom in new york, i'm ali velshi. this is your money.t obama says a deal between democrats and republicans is, quote, within reach as america ticks closer to the fiscal cliff at midnight. >> they are close, but they're not there yet. and one thing we can count on with respect to this congress is that if there is even one second left before you have to do what you're supposed to do, they will use that last second. >> duown to the wire. if you thought the fiscal cliff snuck up on congress, the debt ceiling bill that triggered this to begin with was signed into law in 2011. we have known from that day forward this day would be upon us if nothing was done. and everyone in congress has known all along what it would take to avert the blanket tax hikes and spending cuts that are mandated to start in the new year. how much time is that, by the way? 517 days, or you can call it one year, four months and 29 days, or 73 weeks or 12,408 hours. you get the point. your political leader is engrossed in a colossal waste of time. the tax cuts were enacte

and joining us now, our chief business correspondent ali velshi in new york.what's going on with this united states iss sudden drop in the price of gasoline? >> three things. one is superstorm sandy took a lot of cars off the road. it really reduced demand for gasoline as you know. until recently there have been a number of gas stations in the northeast still without gas. people after realizing they weren't going to have as easy a time getting gas decided to make other plans it the storm itself took some roads out and took some people off the road. number two, there were some refinery issues in california going on at the same time. they've been resolved. that's put more gasoline online. the third thing, this one's important, crude oil prices, which are really the underlying feedstock for gasoline, crude oil prices have remained low. as we are concerned about the fiscal cliff and a slowdown in the world's economy and in asia and in europe. so these are the three factors that have come together to give us a sustained drop in the price of gasoline almost over the

also ali velshi our chief correspondent is joining us. deal or no deal?rom what dana is reporting, that a deal is in sight. republicans are saying they're going to have a vote tonight. looks like a deal is done. >> with the senate. >> we don't know what the house will do. and the last time john boehner tried to put something on the floor, his caucus rebelled. he'd have to let the house vote its will. >> but you agree if the president of the united states supports it, most of the house democrats will support it. so you don't need a majority of the republicans, you need a few republicans to get to that magic number of 218. >> exactly. obama and pelosi seem to have a firm grasp on the house democrats. it's just a matter of getting it to a vote in the house. what's happened over the course of the day is we had this seesaw. when details leak out, that angers democrats, they go back to the negotiating room and fight for a bit more. then some details leaked out that there weren't enough spending cuts. that angered republicans. obama's comments angered republican

the attention of cnn business correspondent christine romans and our chief business correspondent ali velshi>> number ten, apple. the first year without steve jobs and a company that is trying to prove under a new ceo that it can still invent things we didn't even know we needed that we would buy faster than anything has ever been sold in personal technology before. >> number nine, the u.s. stock market, despite all the worries about the fiscal cliff and maybe slower growth in the u.s. economy, the stock market has had a great year. too bad you missed out. our money has been in the market, the rest of us have been worried about the fiscal cliff. >> number eight, facebook's ipo, hundreds of millions of people like facebook, but investors did not in its first day as a trading company. questions about nasdaq and the company's ability to make money on mobile users pummeled the stock which has yet to climb back to its ipo price. >> number seven, mother meyer. the new ceo of yahoo, who announced she was just going to take a two-week maternity leave as she tried to turn the company around. looks li

cnn's ali velshi shows us how we got here. >> now we have passed a bold package of tax relief for america'st starts more than a decade ago when president bush initiated a series of tax cuts for all americans. but it's a deal with with the devil. the cuts, which are politically expedient but costly to government, expire in ten year's time. >> both houses of congress have passed tax relief that will protect the middle class. >> when it came time for the cuts to expire, the u.s. was emerging from the worst recession since the great depression. so president obama agreed to extend the tax cuts for two more years in exchange for congress extending federal emergency unemployment benefits. those cuts are expensive. if they are extended by 2020, the bush era tax cuts will be responsible for more than half the total national debt. democrats insist that taxes go up for the wealthy but stay in place permanently for those earning less than $250,000 a year. >> we need to stop the job killing tax hikes and we need to start cutting spending now. >> republicans refuse to play ball. they say no higher rates

the top ten stories that caught the attention of cnn business correspondent christine romans and ali velshi. >> number ten, apple, the first year without steve jobs and the company is trying to prove under a new ceo that it can still invent things we didn't know we needed that we would buy faster than anything's been sold in personal technology before. number nine, the u.s. stock market, despite all those worries about the fiscal cliff and slower growth in the u.s. economy, the stock market has had a great year. too bad you missed out. smart money's been on the market, the rest of us are worried about the fiscal cliff. >> number eight, facebook's ipo. hundreds of millions of people like facebook, but investors did not on its first day as a public company. the stock has yet to climb its way back to the ipo price. >> number seven, mother meyer. the new ceo of yahoo! who announced she was just going to take a two week maternity leave as she tried to turn this company around. 37 years old, it looks like a mother's touch is what yahoo needed. >> mother nature. an intense drought in the midwest t

i'm ali velshi. that's your money. same time tomorrow.the candidate's speech is in pieces all over the district. the writer's desktop and the coordinator's phone are working on a joke with local color. the secure cloud just received a revised intro from the strategist's tablet. and while i make my way into the venue, the candidate will be rehearsing off of his phone. [ candidate ] and thanks to every young face i see out there. [ woman ] his phone is one of his biggest supporters. [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center... working together has never worked so well. [ nyquil bottle ] just reading your label. wait...you relieve nasal congestion? sure don't you? [ nyquil bottle ] dude! [ female announcer ] tylenol® cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion. nyquil® cold and flu doesn't. relieves nasal congestion. if we want to improve our schools... ... what should we invest in? maybe new buildings? what about updated equipment? they can help, but recent research shows... ... nothing transforms schools like investing in ad

. >>> from new york, i'm ali velshi. this is your money.ment be and what are you wailing to pay for it? there are 15 days left to avert the fiscal cliff and republicans are finally offering to increase tax rates on the wealthy. speaker boehner proposed an increase on families making a million bucks or more. the white house says it is not enough. but it is a step in the right direction. boehner was back at the white house today to talk about it some more. republicans may be bending slightly but generally oppose more revenue because they feel government already spends too much. so the question is not really about whether millionaires or those making more than $250,000 a year will pay higher rates, the real conversation boils down to the role of government. fareed zakaria were discussing my contention we should be less concerned with actual rates and be having more of a discussion about the value that americans get for their tax dollars. >> here's the problem with that. americans like government. so what we have for the last 30 years, don, is

from the cnn money newsroom, i'm ali velshi. this is your money.yota will pay more because of another car blunder. instagram intends to make a buck off your pics and the fallout from the shooting in connecticut is hurting gun manufacturers. first, two weeks to go before the country falls over a fiscal cliff, and negotiations are picking up steam in washington with three meetings in eight days between president obama and house speaker john boehner. the president has been insisting on letting taxes rise on those making more than $250,000 a year. the top 2% of earners. boehner agreed to let taxes rise on people making a million or more a year and the president's counteroffer, raise taxes on those making more than $400,000 a year. for some perspective, the top 1% of earners in the united states make $375,000 or more a year. >> i think we all know that every income tax filer in america is going to pay a higher rate come january 1st unless congress acts. i believe it is important that we protect as many american taxpayers as we can. and our plan b would

that, ali velshi, is what you call a pro.cond of all, you will not see cnn guests running into that problem. that's right, we do not waste our money on fancy, dangerous signs for our remote locations. all david gergen needs is some lip gloss and a lava lamp and he's good to go. that being said, cnn anchors have actually encountered some onset mishaps, and it turns out it is a global problem. [ speaking foreign language ] >> loosely translated, that was damn you, wolf blitzer. of course there are a lot of potential hazards for folks on tv. sometimes a sign falls, sometimes the lights fall and sometimes, as our friend from wsmv reminds us, even the reporter falls. >> reporter: and look, they're big. this one is about 12 pounds, but they can grow to -- [ laughing ] >> i'm telling you, never work with animals or fish. it is all fun and games until you have to pry a large-mouthed bass off gary tuchman's neck. but back to that cnbc incident. the guest was a pro, the anchor was a pro. no harm done. i just want to point out that cnbc