meant that you personally were better off, because you were buying gasoline for $2.50 a gallon, not for $3.89 or $4 or what some people project by the summer could be $5 or more. how s that possible? well, that s what s exciting, and it s one of the reasons i m running for president. i love how explicit the pandering there is. it s almost he s like, what, do you want $1,000? do you want a new car? what do you want? $2.50 a gallon, i ll give it to you. who is right here when the president says, if a politician guarantees cheaper gas, he s lying, and newt gingrich says, i can get you $2.50. he can t. he can t get you $2.50 gas. and the fundamentals aren t really playi ining into the gas prices right now. we are a net exporter of gasoline for the first time in our history. we get more miles per gallon
companies fannie mae and freddie mac. fannie and freddie owe the government $150 billion. they continue to lose. committing more government funds to the housing market would likely meet strong criticism among many in washington, shep. shepard: rich edson from the biz live on capitol hill. rich, thanks very much. meantime mortgage rates hit another record low today. a great sign for americans who can afford to buy or refinance a home. freddie mac reports the average fixed rated on a 30 year loan fell again to 3.89%. that is the lowist rate in the united states ever. ever on record dating back more than half a century. but mortgage applications are actually down over the past month. retailers are now reporting holiday sales were even better than they expected. november and december sales up about 4% for a total of more than $470 billion. that s according to the national retail federation. the trade group had forecast a gain of only 3.8%. but the overall pace is still worse than in 2010
there could be 15 inches before the snow stops today. you can see how big the system is stretching from the great lakes to the northeast and see flight delays now in newark and laguardia, an area that saw a lot of rain in the past 24 hours. and what do you get when you cross tim tebow with david bowie, an amazing bit by jimmy fallon on late night. we ll have it for you in 20. how low will they go? there has never been a better time to get a mortgage or to refinance. the average 30-year fixed rate has slipped to a record low, 3.89%. cnbc mandy drury is here with what is moving your money. despite the incredible rates, a lot of people reluctant to actual the trigger. or maybe they want to pull the trigger but can t take advantage of the record low rates because they don t qualify. many don t want to sink money into a home they still fear could lose value over the next few years. the good news is, though, the housing market is showing signs of putting in a bottom. for example, las
the prices of homes and the cycle continues. we know price will go down further this year, not as much as before, but they will. we know there s already over 28 million people under water meaning they owe the bank more than their home is worth. as prices go down further, that number will increase. we know that s number one reason for foreclosure and default. we have three to five million people behind on payments. we understand the fixed rate mortgage has fallen to a record low of 3.89%. that would be a great opportunity for people if they have the money and can afford to get a new home. right. the problem is we still have a problem with consumer confidence. we have folks, first time buy wloe ers who are competing for these homes. we re still having a 30% contract failure rate. these contracts are falling through for the lack of property appraising or inability to get a
frantic shoppers, some breaking out into fights. the story is out of hand and people fighting and shooting over the tennis shoes, michael jordan if tennis shoes. there was a line. the line was like 200 for the next day. it was incredible. it was unbelievable. this is the first year they actually had thanksgiving day shopping on the day itself. so instead of being with your family or turkey, whatever you eat, you were in line. i think it s gotten totally out of hand. we re forgotten what this holiday is about. it s really gotten out of control. i hope people come to their senses. heather: on the other hand, it is good for the economy, but national retail federation, numbers were like 3.89% increase