and ben breedlove's heart stopped beating for long minutes at a time. on the brink of death, mary, anita, and ben say they went to heaven and then came back. their stories raise questions about faith and fear. is heaven real? what does it feel like to die? tonight, cnn's randi kaye talked with three people who say they have left this world for another. we leave it to them to tell their stories, their words, their answers to questions we all would like to ask. >> my name is mary neal. on january 14th, 1999, i died while kayaking on a south american river. i live in jackson hole, wyoming. i am married. i had four children. they were all competitive cross country skiers. i am an orthopedic spine surgeon. and i was very busy. i mean, i finished my residency and was married with a full-time job and one child and then had another one and another one and they kept coming. and i think i was very, very typical. i had very little time for my spiritual life. >> what was your relationship with god and spirituality? >> i did take my own children to sunday school, and i tri

and i was walking alongside the gurney holding ben's hand. and this warm little hand, which i was loving at the moment, ben was looking straight up, and he said, mom, do you see that light? no, i don't see anything. but he said, it's there, can you see it? and he told me it made him feel really good, and he thought it was an angel. >> nine years later or so, when he was 13, you took him to the cardiologist. >> he explained what was happening with ben's heart that it wasn't pumping properly at this point, and fluid was backing up. the doctor reiterated that we need to start thinking about heart transplant. >> so how did ben take this? >> when ben and i left the appointment, he just asked me very seriously, mom, am i going to die? so i said, yes, you will, and we all do at some point. none of us really know when that is. >> how hard was that conversation for you? >> it was really heartbreaking. he was just so young. and he's having to deal with difficult questions, and i just wish that he didn't have to deal with that at such a young age. on the

you are "in the loop." benolicymakers are wrapping up their two-day meeting today. remember that bernanke's news conference will be 30 minutes later. coming up short in the fiscal sector here in an airline reported earnings that missed estimates. fedex raised its forecast for the entire year. shares of amc began trading today. the movie theater chain controlled by china's third millionman raise $302 and invited members of its customer loyalty plan to take part. an unusual aspect to this ipo. we mentioned, chairman ben bernanke will be holding what is likely his last news conference today. his term

the market. nothing more. >> ben? >> i love that. he taiwanesre the most energetic people in the world. god bless them. >> ben, you have been spot-on with t merging growth things. guys, fantastic sow. "cost of freedom" connues on the place for business: fox. ♪ ♪ >>> don't get yourselvein trouble by declaring it now. >> exactly. >> yeah. it did happen. >> remember that? obamacare navigators caug encouraging individuals to commit tax fraud, to get government bsiaries. now a new house committee report is bashing the program for msconduct like that, along with poor training and iffy protections for consumers' very private informatn. is it time to cast away e expensive taxpayer-funded navigators once and for all? hi, everybody. i'm david asman. happy holidays. weome to "forbes o fox." go inocus with steve forbes, mike ozanian, elizabeth

the tenant is a friend of ben who is out of town. moment, they're living off the $35,000 in prize money that they've won with their business idea in new york. this is a business coach who helps young entrepreneurs designed to help fledging companies cut through red tape. today, he is coaching the -- showing the coach they are making to his app. >> they had a great business idea for new york city. they have identified a problem which is accessing buildings which is a big problem for new york city. and they have a great vision for where they want to take the company. >> it may help thousands of new york city. but now, for company is still looking for an affordable office of its own. the next day, 27-year-old ben art is off to an important meeting. he's going to install one of the key systems in a new york office. a local electrician takes care of the technical aspects. ben says this is the first of the devices to be installed in new york and he hopes it will work. but something isn't quite right. the device doesn't seem to work. the el

bernanke and the post-crisis ben bernanke. at those individuals differently. >> why? >> i could tell you why. let's give peter a chance. >> this was a guy who got the baton from alan greenspan in 2005 and 2006 without any storm clouds. everyone thought this was smooth and he would be able to coast along on a goldilocks economy that was happening. it did not work out. students of the great depression, the expert on the great depression found himself confronted with much the same thing. he had to invent new rules and new tools for the federal reserve. that has been controversial. those decisions -- we do not know how the full legacy will be measured. we have not seen the wind down of the risk factors that everyone knows are out there. looking back, critics in washington as well as supporters who say they are thankful ben bernanke was in the job if for no other reason that he provided a cool hand. in terms of how he led the fed and made decisions, controversial as they may be, people in washington are thankful he was there. served

. >> the other impact is on benning road in the district. our john gonzalez is live in northeast with the very latest. john, how are things right now in. >> a lot of work behind us and jackhammering also, and this is going to be the case here on benning road and bladensburg road for the next several hours. i will step out of the way so you can take a look. this is phase one of a very long job throughout the day at a very busy intersection. i spoke to a supervisor. skied him how many gallons of watt we're gushing out of here. he said tens of thousands and described it as a small river. we understand a 12-inch main that runs under benning road has what is called a blow-off mechanism, a value that helps drain the record from this very old pipe. how the super here described it. that valve ruptures and this is definitely cold weather related. again, this is benning and bladensburg. if you're familiar with this area in northwest d.c., you know how busy this area is and how much work is going on here. this is phase one, literally just starting to d

you are "in the loop." ben bernanke and other fed policymakers are wrapping up their two-day meeting today. remember that bernanke's news conference will be 30 minutes later. coming up short in the fiscal sector here in an airline reported earnings that missed estimates. fedex raised its forecast for the entire year. shares of amc began trading today. the movie theater chain controlled by china's third millionman raise $302 and invited members of its customer loyalty plan to take part. an unusual aspect to this ipo. we mentioned, chairman ben bernanke will be holding what is likely his last news conference today. expires january 31. the confirmation vote in the senate may take place as early as next week. no one is taking that's after the surprise where the central bank confused -- prediction.making a you are not sticking your neck out. class i am not. job creation has really picked up and that has a lot of people talking about the possibility of a taper. we talked yesterday about how retail sales were pretty g

when he overdosed about four years ago, it was the first time ben had tried it. remember the point when you started using prescription drugs? >> well, originally, i had been prescribed them for an injury. i was on painkillers and muscle relaxers, and definitely even within that time there were probably a couple days when i took more than i was prescribed. >> did you think about the safety at all? >> it's a classic statement, this isn't going to happen to me. well, of course, everyone who it happens to said that at one point. >> and that's where the story of ben from virginia intersects with ben gupta, the law student, and thousands of other unwitting overdose victims, it won't happen to me. >> it's more realistic for someone like me who has a job to overdose because it's amazing how little you need of a mix of alcohol and narcotics to overdose when your body is not used to it. >> how little are we talking about? >> i think it was maybe four or five beers and two or three shots, and that was it. >> a few beers, a couple of shots and some methadone. >> exactly. >>

to test we enlisted the help of the ben's colleagues. a conference room discussion about what to order for lunch. very heavy stuff. >> consistently david wins the competitions. >> would like date day. >> hold on. >> you know the co-worker that talks and talks. >> do you think. >> hold on a sec. and played that guy. oh, did the data show it. >> this is me in blue, now people can come and say, "ben, you need to tone it down." >> we compared an alert employee with a tired employee. >> time for a snooze. again. the data was loud and clear. you are in your chair. your posture is up rite and you are moving around. it flat lines when you lay down. if my boss had access to the data i might be in trouble. i asked if ben's company would sell the product to someone that wanted to spy on employees, and if not, how do you prevent it? >> they are not allowed to use it in a way that identifies users. we won't operate this that way. >> ben says clients' employees couldses the badges. why? bank of america is a good example. ben's team saw a call center wa

both leaderships wanted this to happen for the reason ben bernanke expressed. it's not often washington gets a chance to please anybody but markets wanted this, the country wanted this. >> all right. so now that they are all getting along in washington, will that carry over to 2014, john? >> to a limited extent, susie. there will not be a shutdown when the government runs out of money in january. they will extend government funding along the lines outlined by the deal, and i think that even though some republicans said yes, we'll make demands for the debt limit, i don't think they will push it to the brink so we'll is a smooth process on the debt limit. the question is can we get anything bigger than that? can we get immigration reform? a grand bargain? that is by far from clear and actually unlikely. >> so if you have a two-year deal on the federal budget, then if the debt limit debate becomes contankous, what would the gop look for to let administration raise the debt limit? >> you certainly could have them return to issues of obamacare, that they have loved t

cohen, the ben in ben & jerry's, there was a problem with the first batch of thosebrownies. what went wrong? >> the brownies all stuck together, and they clumped up into this 50-pound block of brownie. when we got these huge blocks of 50-pound brownies, it was really hard to pull them apart, and mostly we got little bits of brownies, and we said, "well, what can we do with these little bits of brownies?" we said, "well, we'll try shoving them in chocolate ice cream and make chocolate fudge brownie ice cream," and that's how the flavor came into being. >> the birth of a flavor. >> greyston brownies are in three of ben & jerry's flavors, including, of course, chocolate fudge brownie. the bakery makes 11,000 pounds of brownies a day just for ben & jerry's. all the bakery's profits go into the greyston foundation, a nonprofit organization that runs programs for needy families in yonkers whether or not they work for the bakery. the foundation's funding doesn't only come from the brownies. it comes from grants, from other business ventures, from private donations. and the

the consistency? >> well, great quarterback play. ben in the areas he want you be in and being able to trust the ball. >> michele: go get warm. >> thank you. >> michele:ly too, bob. >> let's look at the afc playoff picture. the top three seeds all lost this week. so after the patriots fell today in miami the bengals missed an opportunity to overtake new england for the number two seed. kansas city meanwhile, clinched the playoff berth with a win today in oakland while the dolphins moved into the final spot for the time being. but ravens play tomorrow night in detroit own the head-to-head tiebreaker against miami. tony, which loss in your mind was the most significant this week? >> bob, i think it was cincinnati's loss tonight because not only did they lose that opportunity to move into the number two spot, but they energized the baltimore ravens because now the ravens know if they win out, win their final three games they're the north division champs and i don't think anybody outside of that baltimore locker room was considering that as

angle of ben, the kayaker, as ben heads down the waterfall. >> school stuff. >> and so then he finds the jump and they climb on to the kayaker and -- >> you got to be a little nuts to do certainly like this but these guys are extreme sports professionals. they just happened to film this one. >> beautiful. >> you'd hit the stone. >> i would. >> police are looking for public help to find these people. this is in washington, d.c., this is at a drugstore. and you see a woman walking into the drugstore. and when she walks out, two men with disguises offver their fac, walk in with handguns and start demanding the employees put the money in a bag that they have. they are eventually able to get an undisclosed amount of money. when they collect all they want, the end up walking out the doors. >> looks like the girl was the lookout. she went in to find out what was going on, told them the coast was clear and then went ahead. >> it seeps like they knew when this person would be counting money. there was a lot of loose money on that desk. >> we do get a still shot

the roads to pay. i don't think that's fair. >> okay. ben stein. >> well, the whole idea basically is a subsidy transfer from the taxpayer to motorists, unions. it is very expensive to have a stretch of highway or bridge repaired we're having a lot of it done in beautiful southern california. the wage, that these gentlemen get for their work which seems to me mostly of leaning on their shovels -- >> be careful there. >> well, not to talk about your father, charles -- >> yes, you are, yes, you are. he built haeighways. >> these guys are leaning on their shovels and they're getting paid $100 an hour. >> $100 an hour? >> yes, that's the subsidy from the taxpayer who are earning way less than that to a union worker -- >> $100 -- >> can you, for god's sake, let somebody else talk? >> get to your point. >> go ahead. >> $100 an hour -- >> i don't know if that's right or wrong. all i was trying to get out of the congressman and all i was trying to factor in with the millions we're spending every year and the point about stimulus money, if you averag

maggie lake, cnn, new york. >> i love the picture of ben bernanke in swim trunks on the beach.bernanke's last big move likely came last wednesday, taking the fed's foot off the gas pedal just slightly and beginning to slow down that third round of stimulus. it's also known as tapering. analysts say it paves the way for the next fed chief, janet yellen, to take the wheel in february, makes her journey a little less bumpy, at least for the first few months. >>> all right, coming up, a fight in america's schools. it's not a brawl at recess, it's playing out on the national stage. >> we have to get better faster. >> right now the federal strategy is so wrong headed that i shutter to think of what it's doing to teachers. >> is there a crisis in public education? why your children's future in america's future economic security depend on who wins this fight. here we honor the proud thaccomplishmentsss. of our students and alumni. people like, maria salazar, an executive director at american red cross. or garlin smith, video account director at yahoo. and for every garlin, thousands mo

reserve has taken interest rates to historic lows and used its power to stimulate the economy using quantitative easing. ben bernanke announced the feds will scale back the program next year. we'll decode the fed's actions, look ahead to the tenure of incoming fed chairman janet yellen and look at the recovering economy. >>> the federal reserve wrapped up two days of policy meetings and concluded the u.s. economy is strong enough to start tapering the banks investment program known as qualitative easing. >> starting in january we'll purchasscale back purchases. >> reporter: the positive signs are few but strong. unemployment reached 7% in november. the s&p 500 gained 25% just in the past year. the highest in a decade. and congress passed a budget for the first time in four years. >> today's policy actions reflect the committee's assessment that the economy continues to make progress, but it has much farther to travel before conditions can be judged normal. notebly despite fiscal head winds the economy has been expanding and we expect growth in the coming quarters. >> reporter: all this good economic news co

we have the westbound lanes of benning road closed. blade e bladensburg is closed in both directions. this is the case for the entirety of the morning rush hour. the repair work will be with us until noon or so this morning. keep in mind you will encounter traffic tie-ups. the volume is still pretty light. we are expecting that to change. with more on traffic we go

ashley: bob as we look back to the legacy of ben bernanke, has qe been successful? l go past $4 trillion. i don't think the success of qe has been maybe up to his expectations. the alternative doing nothing is worse, right. >> absolutely. look at article in the paper and people are coming to a conclusion whether or not it has been successful there is really little chance that i have that ability to tell you. i can say that i think the economy would have been able to sort of weather the storm without quantitative easing. and i think it is a good thing that the economy is moving forward enough and think what viewer at home should take out of all of this. that the economy is healthy enough, that the fed can reduce these asset purchases. that's a good thing. that's what is going to sort of power you towards the equity markets in 2014. tracy: what is your final question to ben bernanke at his last conference? >> i think the real question that needs to be figured out, and i don't think ben has this answer, how do you get those excess reserves out of the banks balance sheet

the stockmarket rallied after the news was announced. here is what ben bernanke in his last conference as fed chair had to say about the fed's thinking and the general state of the economy. >> today's policy actions reflect the committee's assessment that the economy is continuing to make progress and it has much farther to travel before conditions can be judged normal. notably despite head winds, we expect grope growth will pick up in coming quarters. >>> the fed has been expected to start to taper its monetary stimulus. interest rates were inching upwards with mortgages rise to go an average of 4.24%. up a full percentage from may. >> that's near historic lows. lower borrowing costs have helped fuel a spectacular housing market six years after it collapsed. rates will continue to rise in 2014 as the fed decides to taper even more bond purchases, we are seeing a noticeable drop-off in the number of mortgage access. last week, they fell 5 and a half percent from the previous week, dropping to their lowest level in more than a dozen years evenso so, home

liz: speaking of the fed, what grade would you give ben bernanke as he heads off into the sunset after his term in the federal reserve. log onto facebook.com/afterthebell. take into account what you really think of the economy. we will read the answers later this hour. [ male aouncer ] what ia small company became big business overnight? ♪ like, really big... then expanded? ♪ or their new product tanked? ♪ or not? what if they embrace new technology instead? ♪ imagine a company's future with the future of trading. company profile. a research tool on thinkorswim. from td ameritrade. hmm. mm-hmm. [ engine rev] ♪ [ male announcer ] oh what fun it is to ride. the mercedes-benz on your wish list at the winter event going on now -- but hurry, the offers end december 31s [ santa ] ho, ho, ho! [ malale announuncer ] lease the 2014 ml35 for $599 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. it's not the "juggle a bunch of rotating categories" card. it's not the "sign up for rewards each quarter" card. it's the no-games, no-messing-'round, no-earning-limit-having, do-i-look-like-i'm-joking, turbo-

the other thing i told you about, ben affleck, you probably know him best as the husband of jenniferd know her best as someone who's really tired of the paparazzi and taking it actually to the government. they're speaking out, taking action and ben is in "playboy" not posing, he's reeling on the paparazzi who stalk his kids and other actors' kids. hear what he had to say in a moment. avo: the volkswagen "sign then drive sales event is back. which means it's never been easier to get a new passat, awarded j.d. power's most appealing midsize car, two years in a row. and right now you can drive one home for practically just your signature. get zero due at signing, zero down, zero deposit, and zero first month's payment on any new 2014 volkswagen. hurry, this offer ends january 2nd. for details, visit vwdealer.com today where their electricity comes from. they flip the switch-- and the light comes on. it's our job to make sure that it does. using natural gas this power plant can produce enough energy for about 600,000 homes. generating electricity that's cleaner and reliable, with fewer e

that policy has been the signature of outgoing federal chairman ben bernanke. t the fed will begin to ease off the easing under new chair janet yellen. under this new edition, we'll examine the green shoots of a recovering economy. >> reporter: the federal reserve wrapped up two days of policy meetings and concluded the u.s. economy is strong enough to start tapering the banks investment program known as quantitative easing. >> we'll be purchasing $75 billion a month reducing purchasing of treasuries by $5 million each. >> reporter: the positive signs are few but strong. unemployment reached a five-year low of 7% in november. the southboun s&p 500, and congd a budget for the first time all year. >> the economy is continuing to make progress but it has much farther to travel before conditions with be judged normal. notebly, the economy has been expanding at a moderate pace as we expect growth to pick up helped by monetary policies and waning fiscal drag. >> reporter: all this good economic news could mean that it's time for the fertile reserve to ease it's massiv

now, miami and baltimore, they opened the door for big ben and the steelers. ben roethlisberger, going up top to patrick. and the dive in. pittsburgh beat cleveland, 20- 17. and so, the attention turned to kansas city chiefs. and, the san diego chargers. if the chiefs win, the steelerses are in. davis, runs it in. sapbsace city. with that 20, of the 22 starters. taking the lead. this is tied now, 8 seconds left. the kickers, just missing the 41 yard field goal. the steelers, going at that one. as in overtime. nick, drained the 36 yard field goal. eventually it won the game. eliminated the steelers and the chargers are going to the post season winning by 27-24. so, the chiefs will be at the colts next week. chargers at the bengals. now, the time and date have not been set. but we know about that as far as the afc and the nfc. the war warriors and the jets. >> all right. thank you, vern. >>> the "cbs evening news" is next. we will see you back here in half an hour. >> a news update on kpix.com thanks for watching. see you in 30 ,,,, ,,,, wouldn't it be nice if th

the fed knew what it was doing. because ben bernanke knows what he's doing. because in this one case, the one rare case we have a part of the government smarter than the people who trade stocks and bonds for a living. we might have to endure endless attacks from ben bernanke and the president and the policies that hurt growth. we can digest the endless slagging of this outgoing fed chief for creating balloons and the disciplines that so many ideologues dogmatically think are right. however, in the end, though, and today is the end, the last meeting of the ben bernanke era, he got it right. it was the critics who got it wrong. with this rally in the face of common sense decisions to cut back on asset purchases, the economy and we have the reason not to own stocks that one day the fed will begin to slow down as bond buying and it was fabulous, plus the worry is now behind us. we saw today a glimpse of the future and they tried to prop up the bond market, and they know the economy is growing enough that the fed doesn't need to keep pumping in steroids and rates a

bernanke steps down as the fed chair next month rupee -- to be replaced by janet yellen. benrnanke was asked what he would have done differently. recognize thew to crisis. i was slow to recognize the crisis. in retrospect, it was a traditional classic crisis, but in a very different with different types of instruments and institutions that made it more difficult to see. whether or not we could have prevented it were done more about it, that is another question. >> growing violence in south sudan is raising fears of the civil war. 500 people have been killed and thousands have been displaced in fighting the twin government forces and troops loyal to arrival general. rebel forces seized control of the flashpoint town of bor earlier today. hundreds of people have died in clashes between government- backed muslim fighters in rebel christian militias. according to amnesty, the fighting has displaced around 614,000 people nationwide and about 1000 people were killed in clashes over a two-day period. the russian parliament has approved a mass amnesty to thousands of prisoners, inclu

the show. itis what we did. >> ben, what is your take? if you read the article, he did not compare homosexuality to bestiality. he listed 11 different sins that he said were in the same all over category of a sinful nature in this world. i think it's funny to me the only people that came out of the 11 sins listed, including greed, men sleeping with multiple different women, having sex before marriage, examples like that, the only group that has come out and even claimed their lifestyle was claimed to bestiality, which he did not do is the gay, lesbian community. they are trying to get a notch on their belt by destroying a reality show that teaches morals and values compared to other reality tv shows out there. it's a hit job on someone who spoke his mind. he's not eloquent in the way he said it. i wouldn't have said it that way, it's blunt. the bible is not a pc book that is going to make everyone feel good. there are rights and wrongs. it's what he was talking about including 11 other sins. >> i spoke with barry hinson, the basketball co

. >> we enlisted the help of ben's colleague, the first scenario, a conference room discussion about what to order for lunch, very heavy stuff. >> consistently, they have all these competitions and everything. >> you know that coworker that just talks? >> i want to go for something a little healthier. >> and talks. >> just a lot better and really good. wait, wait, wait, hold on oh second. >> oh did the data show it. >> you can see this is me in blue talking. people are able to come to me and say ben, you need to tone it down. >> you got to pipe down. >> exactly. >> after lunch, we compared the alert productive employee with the lays, tired employee. >> time for a snooze. [ buzzing ] >> again, the data was loud and clear. >> you're in your chair, your posture is upright a little bit and it starts to front line when you lay down. >> if my boss had access to this individual data, i might be in big trouble. i asked if ben's company would sell it to those who wanted to spy. >> they're not allowed to use it in a way that identifies individuals. if they did, they would vital the contact, th

let the tapering began. bennanke has entered his last lap. $10 billion of cutbacks and bond buying. he said more but gradual. tell us what it means. >> he was like a magician at this. you make the coin disappear and fool everybody saying look at this hand. that is what he did. with this hand, he tapered. with the other, let's keep interest rates low. they pay attention to this low interest rate. also taper light. the markets were unlike the middle of last year even suggesting -- in the middle when he suggested that record to taper, the markets went upward. >> get me the market psychology. they loved it. they did not expect it, and they loved it. >> he said there will still be easy money. do not worry about this. the marks have been adjusted. -- the markets have adjusted. long-term yields are up. most of all, the economy is working with health. back in may, people said the economy is not that strong. now, it is strong. today, we got numbers. they revised up the third quarter. 4.1%. the highest since the fourth qu

it's helped strengthen the housing and stock market. ben bernanke says the fed can still reverse course. that sent stocks skyrocketing. the dow and s&p closing at record highs closing the biggest daily gain in two months. the nasdaq closed at a 13 year high. the markets continue to climb later in the a week. america's economy is growing faster than first thought. the final reading shows an annual growth of 4.1%. that's up from 3.6%. this is the first time that gdp has topped 4% since 2011. gross domestic product is very important. it's the broadest measure of the strength and size of america's economy. we have big earning news. oracle beat analyst estimates. u.s. home builders broke ground at the fastest pace in over five years increasing 23% over october and on jennifer anastasoff -- on an annual pace. joining us are barbara marcin and alan blinder. he's author of the book after the music stops. thank you both for joining us. alan, what do you think? were you surprised by the news this week. >> i wouldn't say shocked. everybody knew that t