tax/fee? the problem is, gregg, we re not paying for anything. the debt is over $15 trillion. we re not paying for anything. we re borrowing it. we are mortgaging our future. when a republican is in the, who the democrats say this is catastrophe. but now that a democrat is in the white house, we hear nothing about the debt. at least from them. we can t go on like this. nobody in the world behaves like this. all these people out buying their christmas presents are the last at the last minute, when the bill colts due in january, they got to pay for it. only the government gets to spend forever. gregg: yes, we should all be mini government. thanks very much. cal thomas, doug schoen, happy holidays. merry christmas. thank you. same to you. gregg: thank you. they are keeping notes about your health. so why are some doctors opposed to sharing that info with you, the patient? fox news medical a teamer joins us next on that debate.
look, is the charity trying to expand because that s probably needed. absolutely. like we said, it s tough for everyone right now, but we are seeing more people give. in fact, that food drive that we spoke about took place at six bases across the country. one young family who we spoke with at that toy drive and the food drive, mary and dean dewitt, they tell thus is their first christmas in two years. dean, who is only 27 years old, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, reminding us that military families face everyday struggles like civilians while serving our country. in fact, this is the first time they ve even had a christmas tree since he was diagnosed. here is what his wife had to say. i think the biggest misconception is that you re basically taking care of in every way and we live paycheck to paycheck just like everybody else does right now. in another family we spoke with, gregg, said they ve been donating to the program for years. they have four children.
consumer confidence is rising, gregg, especially when you look at the numbers. some of the analysts we talked to say that holiday spending is projected to be up about 7% this year over last. e commerce has risen 15% this year. that is all of the internet sales. a lot of folks don t even step foot this a store anymore. economists tell us there are several reasons we re seeing promising numbers this year. many retailers are offering a big deals to lure people to their stores. but as we also know, unemployment numbers have dropped this year. and fewer folks are in debt because of the economic down turn. not overextended as much, leaving more cash for things like christmas. consumers have reduced their debt servicing burdens immensely over the past three years. we now see the consumer debt servicing burden or installment credit payments relative to income the lowest it s been in
able to formulate more questions o for me, be more educated and i absolutely agree with the patients surveyed that the more educated a patient, the better they are. gregg: all right. the flip side is doctors are not very happy about this. there s a down side, i suppose. here is the down side, gregg. first of all, doctors think patients are going to worry too much cause there is a lot of technical jarringen in those notes. things like rule out lung cancer. well, i may not think lung cancer is possibility, but i write in rule out and patients don t necessarily know how much of a risk that is. doctors are also worried that this information is going to get out because patients surveyed said 50% of the time they shared it with other patients. so it goes around and around and you lose track who have has it. the other possibility is, by the way, not only about worrying, but how much excess work is this going to generate for physicians? i hate to sound selfish, but we are already so overb
breeding orchard, researchers hope to use the best 15 to create the next generation. the only thing we want from the chinese trees is the blight resistant genetics. everything else we want from the american tree. experts say a viable american chestnut tree will have a small percentage of genetic material from its blight resistant chinese cousin. researchers are optimistic the program will be a success and one day again the american chestnut tree will provide not only a source of lumber, but those holiday delicacies as well, chestnuts roasting. gregg, it s not a bad idea to try and use them in the oven as well for stuffing for a turkey, for example. gregg: absolutely. all right. if you put the stuffing together, i ll cook the turkey. i ll get back to you on that. gregg: thanks very much. the stand-off over extending the payroll tax cut is finally over for now, at least. but what s the fallout from this latest battle? we ll take a look at both sides coming up next.