increase 8% this holiday shopping season to around 940 to $960 billion so a lot of positivity for this holiday shopping season despite the rate of inflation. interesting so see spending going up as high as inflation is. alison kosik from the macy s in new york, thank you very much. we re digging deeper with personal finance columnist michele singletary. her latest book what to do with your money when crisis hits: a survival guide. at this time last year the concern was supply chain issues. this year it s inflation. as alison laid out for us holiday sales expected to be up compared to last year and retail sales surged last month so why do you think it is that consumers are seemingly ignoring inflation? well, i think there s still a lot of pent-up demand shopping
she did think it was safe. the coroner intervened again slightly later to say what gives you the right to make a decision about the material that you place before children? and she replied, these are not decisions we take in a vacuum. angus crawford, thank you. the time is 19 minutes past one. our top story this lunchtime. the pound touched a record low against the dollar overnight as the uk react to tax cuts. as the cost of living crisis hits struggling households, we look at how supermarket customers have been changing their shopping habits. coming up on the bbc news channel. worcester rugby club face being suspended from all competitions unless they can show they have enough money to continue by 5pm today. players and staff have been told to collect their belongings.
the need for mental health in america has skyrocketed because people have seen everything upset. everything they have counted on upset. most of it is the consequence of what happened. what happened is a consequence of the covid crisis. he does dismiss claims that covid relief, the spending by his administration is to blame for inflation hitting a 40-year high. also in this interview, the president addressed the growing fears of recession. he said, quote, it s not inevitable because the u.s. is in a stronger position than any nation in the world to overcome this inflation. joining us now michelle singletary. author of what to do with your money when crisis hits. a survival guide. he said a recession is not inevitable because of the strong fundamentals in the economy. what do you think of that assessment? i think he s absolutely right. we have two parts of america.
house, thank you very much. joining us now is betsy stevenson, a former member of president obama s white house council of economic advisors, and she s a former chief economist for the labor department. also with us is michelle single terry, syndicated personal fitness columnist for the washington post and author of what to do with your money when crisis hits: a survival guide. we need the guide now, michelle. betsy, good to see both of you. betsy, let me start with you. last month, jay powell said that 75 basis points, increasing the interest rates by 0.75% was not something that was actively considered. what s your expectation now and would that be enough to slow inflation? well, i think what jay powell has said is that he s going to read the data, and that they are going to react to the news they get and they did get some news that inflation was much higher than i think people expected in this latest read. a lot of people have talked
just traveling that close to strangers, i feel like better safe than sorry in this case i d rather not get sick. i ll keep it on. reporter: a national poll finds 56% favor keeping the transportation mask mandate while 24% oppose it. it s not just air travelers. masking rules vary from city to city, buses, trains, and subways. with many people asking should they drop the mask or double mask? adding to the mask confusion the justice department s decision to appeal that federal judge s order that struck down the mask mandate. we ll respect the ruling, but we re still going to follow the science, and that s why we re appealing. reporter: but it s a gamble many public health experts worry the cdc could be handcuffed if the appeals court agrees it exceeded its authority. when the next big crisis hits, we want a cdc that s strong, nimble and decisive and that won t happen if the court curtails it. reporter: confusion