country. that one making government the primary lender to students. take a listen. >> by cutting out the middleman, we'll save american taxpayers $68 billion in the coming years. $68 billion. that's real money. [laughter] real savings that we'll reinvest to help improve the quality of higher education and make it more affordable. jane: the legislation delivers really a wide reach. about half of college students receive some sort of federal aid, and more than eight million are going to college with the help of pell grants. but even some in the president's own party say eliminating the banks in this case, the middlemen you might call it, also can mean eliminating jobs. we'll continue wamp r watching this. gregg: a key barometer of the economic mood is rebounding, we're talking about the consumer confidence index. jerry willis of the fox business desk is with us. tell me about the numbers.