alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange.all street want to hear from the president? >> you just made me laugh. investors have heard enough talk on this. we have all heard enough talk on this. as investors go, they'll most likely not be satisfied until they hear there is a deal in the works. we don't expect to hear that today. that doesn't mean that the investors won't hear what the president has to say. the market has sent a strong message to the president and to congress since tuesday's election, listen, it's time to get to work. in terms of when wall street is focusing on today, the president's speech will be toward the bottom of the list. europe is still front and center with the greek parliament getting set this weekend and european finance ministers are waiting to decide if greece gets another bailout. weak earnings from jcpenney and disney in the mix. get ready for another negative open. carol? >> so question for you, will the market take any deal on the fiscal cliff or is it looking for something specific? >> that's t

alison kosik is live from times square this morning. pening there? 60% of ticket sales are expected to be made today. we know the odds are pretty slim, but people are still going for it. >> reporter: they are still going for it. you know, you talk about the odds, the odds are slim. 175 million to 1 are the odds that you'll win this, but what the heck. everybody is trying anyway. the $500 million is only expected to grow as the buzz continues about this huge jackpot. more and more continue to put money in and buying tickets. what's interesting is that this jackpreside jackpot has been rolling over 16 times and the likelihood of it rolling over is getting slim. there's a 5% chance it will rollover again. so there goes even more incentive to buy tickets. but here's the thing, $500 million, you don't get that. you probably wind up with about $324 million. what can you do with that? i don't know. what can you do with it? >> $324 million, oh, my goodness. you are talking to people buying tickets, why do they do it when the chances of winning a

alison kosik is in new york this morning. allison, he's not the first ceo to hint of firing employees or hiring freezes because of obama care. >> right. because according to employers like that, it's going to cost these businesses that much more, albeit with affects only about 3% of businesses. still, obama care is already changing the way those businesses hire. and it's not necessarily for the better. so under obama care businesses with 50 or more employees, they've got a choice. they could either hire full-time employees and give them health insurance or face a fine of $40,000 plus $2,000 for each additional worker past 50. what some businesses are doing is they're limiting schedules for hourly workers to below 30 hours a week. meaning they're moving toward hiring part-time workers instead of full-time ones because it would cost them too much. it's something that's really affecting the service industry meaning restaurants and hotels that rely on a high turnover workforce and typically haven't offered health insurance in the

alison kosik at the new york stock exchange.the white house releases its first statement about the general john allen investigation. we're sitting on a bunch of shale gas. there's natural gas under my town. it's a game changer. ♪ it means cleaner, cheaper american-made energy. but we've got to be careful how we get it. design the wells to be safe. thousands of jobs. use the most advanced technology to protect our water. billions in the economy. at chevron, if we can't do it right, we won't do it at all. we've got to think long term. we've got to think long term. ♪ >>> we could learn more details about the scandal surrounding those two generals in a white house briefing later today. but for now, we do have reaction to the general john allen investigation. so let's bring in our white house correspondent brianna keilar. good morning, brianna. >> reporter: good morning to you, carol. and as you know, this story is something that broke in the middle of the night, 1:00 a.m. eastern time this morning. so a couple of hours ago we got th

that's just me, though, carol. >> alison kosik, thank you.e director of the international rights labor forum, joins us now from washington. good morning, judy. >> hi, good morning, carol. >> good morning. tell us what it's like to work inside one of those factories. >> well, the factories -- it depends which factory you're in, but it's generally fairly crowded, and there are rows and rows of workers on stools. at sewing stations. what happens in the case of the fire, especially a fire at night, is that the lights go out. so you have the fire, you have darkness, you have no -- not enough emergency exits. sometimes the emergency exits are blocked by some of the work in progress that's on the floor. and alison made a very good point. the workers don't feel they can speak out, don't know enough about what the risks are that they are working within. and they also feel like if they do speak out, they might lose their job. and the same goes for the factories. the factoriestell the retaile retailers, we really need to improve the situation in this fa

including the updated galaxy,, possibly commng out next year.i'm alison kosik in new york.ts name stores... opening to shoppers ábeforrá black friday. friday.people will bb able to get into the store starting at 8 p-m on thanksgiving day. laat year.k-mart and walmart pre among the other sttres to open to shoppers onnd plans - thanksgiving day. 3&coming up... a well-knnwn pieee of ffahion... goes up foo auction. auctioo..he big bucks brooggt pn by dorothy's iconiccblue dress... from the wizard of oz. 3 3 3 p3 3

alison kosik explains who's offering the yeaa.er pkg-as follows -- forget black friday....this is the new trend.wal--artt announced it will open at 8pm on thanksgiving day this year, offering deals to entice early shoppers. it's the second year in a row that wal-marr night, buttit's openingg2 hourr earlier his year. sears and k-mart have also announced they'll open on thhnksgiiing. and more retailers could follow suitt wal-mart sayssit's responding company is responding to have their turkey, go want to 3 shopping, and get to bed at a reasonable hour, all in the same day. the number of shoppers hitting the stooes on thanksgivinggday has soared in little ooer 3-percent in 2009,, to more than 24 percent last year. and they're not alone... getting an early ssart on their shopping this year. 80-percent of peoole say they'll start their holiday shopping before december, that's accorddng to the 12-percent started before . - have tt be eady for the pnflux. christmas shopping season is the most critical time of ear for them, no lasts. 'm a

alison kosik joins me from new york. explain what that means. >> reporter: lock-up essentially means these companies before they go public want to hold people back from selling their shares all at once, keep the price of those shares higher. as far as how facebook is faring as these lock-ups expire, if you believe in this theory of the economics 101, when you increase the supply of shares going up on the market the price usually goes down and other times when these lock-ups for facebook ended you saw the shares fall 6% and 4%. i'm seeing that theory thrown out the window because facebook shares are up % and then on monday saw them jump 4%. facebook shares have been finding their footing. the share price really has found to have found some balance. it's no consolation for those who bought it around $38 on ipo day. if you started working for facebook before it went public and you're an investor, today is payday. there will be more of that coming soon as well, carol. >> i'm still laughing over your aha ha ha. >> this one, b

alison kosik, it's a beautiful thing. >> isn't eigit a lovely thing?hole day planned out now. forget black friday, who needs it. walmart is opening its doors at 8:00 p.m. on thanksgiving day, offering deals to entice those early shoppers so you could find yourself a 32-inch lcd-tv for 148 bucks and blu-ray disk player. this is the second year in a row that walmart is doing this. this time around it's opening two hours earlier this year. and sears and k mart, they're also announce that they're going to open on thanksgiving, as well. expect more stores to follow. you know, last year toys "r" us opened early, though it waited until november 19th to tell everybody about it. if you go though, it's not going to be empty. you're not going to be alone. the national retail federation says the number of shoppers hitting the stores on thanksgiving day soared in the last three years from a little over 3% in 2009 to more than 24% last year. and with walmart announcing it's opening earlier, i wouldn't be surprised if you see those numbers go up again. carol? >> afte

dowwclosed out wednesday's trading session at its lowest level all year, dropping below 13,000.alison kosikeakk down the nummers from tte new exchange. &p ii was a rutal say on -33 wall street.. aad the selling 3 bell even rang.commentssfrom e- c-b president mario draghi putt & investors in a bad mood..e german economyyslowing.for wall street, it's a ign that even tte biggest and strongest 3 the debt crisis.that sent oil priccs in the u-s tumbling nearly 5-percent.but tuesday's presidential ellction -3 certainly wws a factor.the bigg iisue: hho isspressdent obama going to deallwith the bigggst -3 issue facing the u-s economy... the fiscal cliif? patings aggncy fitch fired a - it will downgrade the u-s credit rating if congress does pothing and the economy goes over the edge.as one analyst put it today, if therr's no resolution, stocks will plummet and the econnmyywill drown in quicksand.that all senttthe dow tumbling 311- points... the biggest decline - offthe year.we did seeesome individual sectors post big moves... and ii waa a direct results offpresident obama -3 stocks sold off, with j-

so is our alison kosik at the new york stock exchange this morning.you hearing from traders on the floor right now? >> first of all, expect stocks to sell off at the open. the bell will ring in about two minutes. expect the dow to drop at least 100 points. part of the reason isn't just because of the election. part of it is because of european central bank president made some comments today, saying the euro crisis is beginning to affect germany's economy. the big deal there is because germany has really been the checkbook for the euro crisis these days and the fact that now it's being said out loud that germany's economy is feeling the effects, being hurt by this, that spooking the markets. the other reason you're seeing the drop is because of the election. reaction because of the election, what's coming next. the focus for wall street now, kate, is on the fiscal cliff. congress and president obama have two months, 55 days to deal with those tax increases and federal spending cuts. a deal has to be reach ed. wall street sees it this way, to avert poss

alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange with more. what went wrong? >> if you look at toys r us' facebook page you see complaint after complaint about orders being kabsled, merchandise out of stock, people waiting for hours on the phone and bad customer service. look closer at this. pretty scathing comments. people saying they'll never shop there again. others saying the page needs to add an unlike button. to give you an example one shopper placed her online order on black friday and the item was in stock. then they canceled her order because they were out of stock and she lost the sale price. toys r us is saying it's the busiest time of year for the industry in general. out of stock isn't uncommon for any retailer. seems loik a pretty reasonable response but not making people who missed out on those deep discounts feel any better. >> it's like bait and switch. >> it does feel that way, doesn't it? wait a minute. you said i can get that sale price and i don't get it. toys r us is saying it's working to accommodate each individual customer that problem

alison kosik joins us from the new york stock exchange.g pretty good this morning. >> reporter: you and a lot of other americans surveyed in this report. yeah. looks like the consumer is in a better place than they were, say, a few years ago. as you said, consumer confidence reaching a four-year high in november. this rise better than expected. americans said that they're feeling more optimistic about the jobs market now and in the future. so this is really good news, especially ahead of the holiday shopping season since confidence often correlates closely with how much people are going to get out and spend. we know that people have already been hitting the stores and buying on line in force. it's good for the economy when people are feeling optimistic and they're out there spending money. as for the market, not seeing it move too much. it looks like investors have bigger fish to fry. known as the fiscal cliff. the dow is down about 11 points. there's still a lot of worry about how these talks on coming up with a deal on the fiscal cliff,

>> alison kosik from times square. on. >> reporter: the line is growing, people buying powerball ticket tickets. who doesn't want to be filthy rich, right? you have to be in it to win it. i'm seeing some buy a few here and there. others are buying more than just a few. they're taking their chances even though they're pretty slim at this point, christine. >> alison kosik, slim. essentially one in 175 million. thanks, alison. >>> saudi diplomat killed in yemen. gunmen opened fire on the diplomat's car, killing him and a bodyguard. diplomat said to be stationed at the saudi embassy's military section in yemen. >>> new developments in the deadly garment fire in banglade bangladesh. three mid-level managers are under arrest. several thousand people are mourning and protesting near the factory, a factory which makes garment for export to places like the united states. >>> 34 days before drastic tax hikes and spending cuts are triggered by the fiscal cliff. speechless. two parties can't seem to make any progress on entitlement

alison kosik for us this morning. you for that update. >>> we want to take you no you to miami, florida. still a state in yellow. we have not yet projected florida. ashleigh banfield is there. you were dealing with long lines yesterday. today there's a hold up. what's the hold up, ashleigh? >> well, soledad, it wouldn't be florida if there wasn't a hold up. you're right. and the hold up is the counting, unfortunately. what a strange notion. what do you do in florida when you wake up in the morning and you know that your state is the only state that hasn't made a decision and the rest of the country moved on without you? you order brunch on miami beach at the news cafe and you wait and wait and wait until south florida can count all those absentee ballots dumped on them last night, u.s. post delivering them and then opening every ballot, scan ining every ballot checking, verifying and counting. it's a lot of work. they worked all through the night. i've got to be honest with you. i talked to -- that would be a ferrari

alison kosik. let me bring you back in to talk about this.people cringe when you start thinking about 401(k)s. >> oh, yeah. >> is this a scare tactic or is there a real chance that your 401(k) could get axed? >> you know what, brooke, it is a possibility that certain benefits of your 401(k) -- of your 401(k) could become that sacrificial lamb as they hash out this deal on the fiscal cliff. this group is spearheading a movement, what they want to do is make everybody aware of the possible implications of going off the cliff. a big part of the fiscal cliff is tax reform. if congress and the president do nothing by the end of the year, employees could be in danger of losing some benefits attached to their 401(k)s. we talked with brian graph, with this group, he says the big worry is that congress could reduce how much employees can put into their plans on tax deferred basis. so you look at currently what we can do, workers can put up to $17,000 into their 401(k)s every year. you see that cut all the way down to $10,000. that's a huge difference,

alison kosik at the new york stock exchange.ave to tell you, i am now in the process of refinancing my home for the second time in two years. last year sailed through the process, this year, they keep asking for more and more documents. so the good news is, interest rates are lower, bad news is, little harder to refinance, isn't it? >> it really is. and you're one of the people who is taking advantage of these historic rates and the fed has promised to keep rates low until 2015. but would you believe that three out of four americans aren't more inclined to take out a loan even with lower rates, according to the new research from bankrate.com. so what if you do want to get a loan with one of these low rates? how do you go about doing that? so we ask greg mcbride, the senior financial analyst with bankrate.com and here's what he had to say. first, good credit is key in this whole process. a score above 700 could even get you an interest rate below the inflation level and that means you could essentially be borrowing money for free

alison kosik joins us from the new york stock exchange. alison, what is the reason for this?e talk that it is to combat the dominance of online shopping sites like amazon, but really on thanksgiving. >> this is a combination of intense competition out there and consumer demand. people want this. retailers say this is exactly what they're giving, giving people what they want. the data supports that. the national retail federation says more than half of us, we started shopping for the holidays, so way long ago. more than 12% of us started way before in september, so no wonder black friday is getting earlier and earlier every year. stores are looking to tap into that by enticing shoppers with lots of exclusive deals. >> makes sense, a lot of people go to movies after thanksgiving deals, but not everybody is happy here. >> no, because opening early means the workers have to leave their thanksgiving table and go to work early and that sparked some employees to really vent online. there is a petition on change.org, one employee says give thanksgiving back to employees. target says

alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange to explain it all. >> nothing like a half naked guy toyou sell your tickets, right? spirit airlines is dovetailing that half naked fbi guy into this promotion it has saying don't lose your shirt on high fares, promoting it's $29.80 one-way fare include iing on thanksgiving. by spirit standards not so outrageous. they have hefty fees include in up to $50 for your carry-on, $15 booking fee, $17 usage fee and if you want to eat or drink anything on the plane, carol, better have your credit card ready because you're going to pay for that stuff, too. >> it's a weird country we live in, isn't it? >> i know. how do you think half-naked fbi guy is spirit airlines? i don't get the connection but they clearly do. >> maybe the real shirtless fwie has another career in mind in the future. >> perhaps, yes. >> alison kosik, thanks so much. >>> college coaches and a game on the court and a cause off it. we'll talk to two of best whose teams are playing in the coaches versus cancer classic. [ male announcer ] when it comes to the financial obstacles mili

let's did to alison kosik at the new york stock exchange for us. just about an hour 40 minutes from the closing bell. and should we avoid looking at our retirement accounts tomorrow morning, alison? >> look at it. to be honest with you, don't change your 401(k) based on a bad day because you want to look at the s&p 500. that's the mutual funds, 401(k) really tracks and still up 10% for the year so chances are your 401 is all right at this point. look on wall street, stocks are trading calmer today. we saw stocks trade higher this morning. now they're in the red. dow down 62 points. could be an indication of what's to come down the pike. the market' churning for a couple of months with the fiscal cliff. the expectation is that the president and congress will wind up hammering out a deal and until you're there we won't see a strong conviction to buy >> can walk black friday? >> t's tafr. >> can you believe it? we're hearing walmart opening 8:00 thanksgiving night. eat your turkey, go shopping. >> that's right. >> why? to cash in. >> they're the trend

alison kosik at the new york stock exchange. are we talking about a comeback, alison?he head of this home price index, he'll tell you it is safe to say we are now in the midst of a recovery. here is a bonus. for so long all of our good news with housing, it's been for the buyers. finally good news for the sellers. home prices jumped more than 3.5% from july through september. this is the biggest percentage gain for prices in more than two years. a bunch of things are boosting prices, low mortgage rates, the jobs market is getting better, a number of foreclosures is falling, all that helping to boost the home prices. brooke? >> black friday, cybermonday, now officially behind us. give us an update on the consumer confidence here. >> the number we found out about consumer confidence they put the exclamation point in the jump we saw in spending this past hole take weekend. consumer confidence hit its highest level since 2008. they're feeling more optimistic about the jobs market and that's good for the economy. when people are feeling optimistic, they go out and spend mor

and the woman in the know, alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange. so, share. >> reporter: adp says private employers added 158,000 jobs in october. this could be a good indication over the big show, and that is the government report that comes out friday. government jobs report expectations comes in at a bit less than that. pegging that number anywhere from 105,000 to 130,000. you know, any way you slice it, we're still at a point where we're only adding enough to barely keep up the population growth. it's not going to bring down unemployment in a significant way at this point. it's been kind of stuck. the economy added 114,000 jobs in september. this one is the last option before the election. it takes on that much more importance. both sides are likely to find something to talk about. president obama would say it's better than the 800,000 jobs we were losing when he took office. and romney could come out and say the unemployment rate is still high. and both would be right. economists would say it doesn't really matter. what's going on in your own

let's get to alison kosik at new york stock exchange.gas for us, talking about the folks who are unemployed and brianna keilar is in ohio. >> reporter: we're still awaiting reaction from both campaigns. you can almost already tell what they're going to say. you would expect the obama campaign to emphasize the steadiness of numbers and say it's no time to change course and you would expect governor romney to say this is a slow recovery, the number shows that and it is time to change course. overall, though, it seems unlikely that this will affect the collection. certainly obama's advantage that the number did not hit 8%, important hurdle that was cleared last month and undercut the romney campaign argument that 8% unemployment seemed to be the norm. but the real issue is battleground states like ohio, where i am now. unemployment here is significantly lower than the national average. it's 7% here. it's like that in a number of other battleground states. and that really may be more of a determining factor, soledad. >> thanks, brianna. appr

i'm alina cho. >> and i'm alison kosik. john berman and zoraida sambolin are off today. past the hour. we're learning more this morning about the dramatic yawn fall of cia director david petraeus after an affair with his biographer. it's triggered new questions about an fbi investigation and demands from lawmakers concerned about a possible breach of national security. cnn's barbara star is following developments for us. she's live at the pentagon. barbara, good morning. talk to us about the timing of this investigation. >> well, good morning, alison. apparently it all started several months ago when the fbi began investigating a complaint about harassing e-mails a woman was receiving. those e-mails were tracked back to paula broadwell. so, the investigation proceeds. by all accounts, no evidence of any security breach at this point. but, it's the timing that is raising questions. it was election night, last tuesday night, when the director of national intelligence was first informed about the investigation. the white house, the next day. the president the day after that

alison kosik is in new york. is in case washington doesn't reach a deal in the so-called fiscal cliff? >> exactly. let me start with explaining exactly what a dividend is. if you own shares the dividend is this chunk of cash paid back to you. typically, you get it every quarter. walmart, it was going to pay its next dividend january 2nd. because we don't know what's going to happen with the fiscal cliff, the expectation is that taxes are going to shoot out, walmart will pay out this dividend early so shareholders can record that payout this year when dividends top out at 15% compared to next year when the rate is expected to jump to 40% if there is no deal reached on the fiscal shift. they say it's in the best interest of its shareholders. true, it's also in the best interest of the founders, the walton company. >> walmart isn't the only company moving uch the dap the right? >> right. more than 100 companies will be issuing these special dividends in the fourth quarter. more than triple have done this in recent y

alison kosik at the new york stock exchange.ond tour of superstorm sandy devastation today. he's heading to staten island. o. 100% new. ♪ 100% greek. 100% mmm... ♪ oh wow, that is mmm... ♪ in fact it's so mmm you might not believe it's a hundred calories. well ok then, new yoplait greek 100. it is so good. ♪ >>> the reason the terrible twos are so terrible is that at this age, children are just developing their independence. and they want some sense of control. unfortunately, the terrible twos may start as early as 1 1/2 or younger. and they last longer than three or four years. so terrible twos may actually be a misnomer. parents can help their child with the terrible twos by giving them a special script to work with. my turn, please. i don't want that. no thank you. once the child has a better vocabulary and can express his or her needs, then often the terrible twos will go away. give your child choices. . do you want to wear these shoes or these shoes, do you want to eat broccoli or carrots. that way they feel a lite bit in c

cnn's alison kosik is at a convenience store in new york. i would have expected a long line. >> reporter: you know what? there isn't a long line here. people are stepping up to the counter buying powerball tickets. not buying a lot, in great, great numbers but enough because all you really need is one. right, carol? >> that's true. all you need is one. >> reporter: i don't know where to go. i'm circling around here. >> have you bought your ticket yet? >> reporter: i did. i d i bought it this morning. i only bought one. i believe one is all you need. think about the odds. they're really, really slim. really low. 175 million to one. that is the odds. it's not dissuading these people from coming out and buying these tickets and dreaming. they're saying i'm not going to go back to work tomorrow if i win this today. >> i wouldn't go back to work tomorrow. maybe i would for a couple of days just to gloat and brag. >> we would miss you so much. >> yeah. sure you would. >> reporter: there you go. >> i don't know. do most people like -- are they play

alison kosik joins me from the new york stock exchange. send their money directly into the government to help cut the debt. come on. >> i know. i had to do a double take with this, too. they really did. but here is the sad part. they had all that hard earned money but of any money they gave to the government, it's really not going to make a big difference. look, the government accumulated more than $1 trillion with a "t," $1 trillion in debt with year. the less than $8 million that people donated to the national debt to bring it down, that's just a tiny, tiny fraction, but you know what, $8 million isn't jump change. until now people donated about $3 million a year. so there's a huge jump and it shows how big the fiscal cliff is and that people are actually paying attention. a chief economist at concord coalition says that people who donate are saying they can pay more in taxes so they're putting their money where their mouth is. carol? >> who are these people? >> there isn't one type just to keep in mind. it's not just the really rich or

new york city can be idealic during the holiday season, but as alison kosik shows us, the fantasy hasrstorm sandy. >> reporter: in 2011 over 50 million visitors to new york spent $32 billion attending shows like the christmas spectacular, shopping on fifth avenue, and riding around the island on the circle line. superstorm sandy has pretty much guaranteed that record won't be topped. in hard-hit lower manhattan the world's biggest financial companies reopened quickly, but that's not the case for many small shops and restaurants in the area and tourist attractions like the meesh statue of liberty. >> i don't think that the impact on tourism will be felt only in lower manhattan. we have some museums and attractions that are not yet open and some that are partially open, so i think we'l h here. >> reporter: down the jersey shore, they're worried about the summer. >> the boardwalk we walked on it together this summer greeting residents, talking to business owners. it's gone. >> reporter: tourism is a $38 billion a year industry in new jersey and more than half of that comes from the shore

alison kosik joins us from the new york stock exchange. really?: really, just in time for election day, too. and this is actually working out to be the biggest two-week drop for gas prices since 2008. the latest lundberg survey says the national average fell by more than 20 cents a gallon from october 19th to november 2nd. aaa reporting today as well a national average of $3.47. it's only been a month ago that it was $3.81 is a gallon, that's a 9% drop in price. and it's a trend that could continue. the lundberg survey predicts prices could fall another 10 to 20 cent a gallon. and we could see some prices fall below $3 a gallon before the end of the year, better than even the most optimistic forecast we were talking about a few weeks ago. >> so there's a gas shortage in new york and new jersey. what impact will sandy have on gas prices? >> reporter: not necessarily a shortage. what analysts are saying is that sandy could actually bring down prices. that's because, as i said, there was no shortage of gasoline. the gas prices we're having here in th

alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange to tell us about small business saturday maybe?> exactly. that's what they're calling it. that's what it's been called a couple of years. the small businesses feel like they're being kind of left behind and saying, hey, we're here, too. don't just go shop at the walmarts and kmarts and everything. there's usually a pretty sizeable turnout. industry groups said last year more than 100 million people came out to shop at these independently owned small businesses. this is a push to shop local. american express started this whole movement. now the government's small business administration, it's now on board. plus a number of industry groups are pushing this as well. if you are watching football last night you may have noticed ads promoting small business saturday. the funny thing is, that's one of the big obstacles that these small businesses face, getting the word out. these big box retailers have these big ad networks, plenty of money to spend on circulars and tv ads. you'll see these small businesses are turning to places loik face

our alison kosik is live at the new york stock exchange with today's top tips. first, i'd like you to help some people maybe get through what they need to do to take full advantage during open enrollment season because it's really complicated. >> reporter: it really is. i know everybody is probably getting inundated with e-mails about open enrollment. there is a new study out from met life that says only 56% of employees eligible for benefits feel confident they're going to make the right choices for themselves and their families. we spoke with the founder of the financial advice blog askthemoneycoach.com. she says you need to think through your existing health care benefits, keep an eye on any new offerings for 2013 and think about any changes you expect to have in your health care spending, like if you plan to have a baby. next, consider a health savings account. if you already have one, evaluate your balance. that will help you decide if you're putting too much in or you're not putting enough money in. remember that next year -- this is the point you were try

that is this week's "getting down to business," alison kosik, cnn, new york. ♪ >>> while 2016 is alreadyiticians, several veterans who served in iraq and afghanistan are celebrating their 2012 victory, in fact, a historical election for them. our pentagon correspondent barbara starr has more on the veterans ready to take their seat in congress. >> reporter: republican tom cotton, a veteran of iraq and afghanistan, was one of the big winners tuesday. seizing the fourth congressional district seat in arkansas. >> although i don't know what committee i'll be assigned to ultimately, i wernl want to play a central role in helping to guide america's foreign policy in the next congress. >> reporter: cotton, a law school graduate, was in the 101st airborne division. nine veterans from these wars have just won congressional seats, seven republicans and two democrats. >> this is definitely a historical election for the iraq and afghanistan veterans. there are going to be more in the next congress, twice as many in the next congress as there are currently. >> reporter: seth lynn has a program train

here's alison kosik with top tips from the stock exchange. >> with thanksgiving in the rearview mirrory shopping season is officially in full swing. up to 147 million people are going to be shopping online or visit stores this weekend. they're going to be looking for a lot of deals. even with all the markdowns and promotions, you know what? you may not be getting the best deal. we've got a few tips on items to avoid buying. first of all, skip the clothing rack. the 50% off sign, clothes are usually discounted later in the season as stores get ready for spring apparel. another aisle to skip, believe it or not, the toys. wait until two weeks before christmas because then you'll find cheaper prices. also avoid buying that big brand name hd tv. if you can, wait until january or february. prices on those usually fall as manufacturers clear stock to make room for newer models. and last but not least, christmas decorations. i know you're getting in that holiday spirit, but so is everybody else. the advice is wait for prices to drop as the holiday gets closer. if you've got the patience, the b