down, as unemployment numbers come down confidence numbers go up and they ll spend more and maybe make the big one, the home price we saw this morning, being so bad may turn the corner as well. again, a lot of this has to do with mr. obama signing the tax credits going forward, for another two years and that will turn confidence around, but, if not, if not slowly, maybe a little quicker than slowly and, hopefully quicker and hopefully he ll address it tonight. martha: before i let you go, the sentiment around the country, and we talked to economists is we are in recovery. lame as it may be in some ways, do you believe we are in the beginning stages of the recovery. absolutely. absolutely. we should be. martha, you have done this a long time, recessions last a year-and-a-half, sometimes two years and we are really going on a two, two-and-a-half years recession and i don t care what the stock market does and the minor 2.5% growth number that may show that takes us out of the technical
responding to what is a palpable unease in the land. and i think that is a very real challenge for business. we ll be right back. more with larry summers and what to do about the american economy and more from him on what it s like working with president obama. what do you think the number american growth number will clock in at for 2011? as harold wilson once suggested, you should name a number or name a date but never name both. but seriously, fareed woman: good night, gluttony a farewell long awaited. good night, stuffy. ( yawning ) good night, outdated. ( click ) good night, old luxury and all of your wares. good night, bygones everywhere. ( engine revs )
for china or the world economy. we believe it s in china s interest to allow the currency to appreciate more rapidly. still, ben bernanke with whatever the variables may be, offering a very optimistic outlook for the year ahead. we see the economy strengthening. it s looked better in the past few months and we think that the growth number for 2011 seems reasonable. joining us now to talk about the issues that will drive this economy and job creation in this country, steve forbes, chairman of forbes and editor in chief for forbes media. how are you? happy new year to you. let s start with china. dan also runs the largest steel company in north america, aggressive in saying listen, china is deliberately manipulating its currency to grow its economy at our expense. beyond that, they don t
christmas is over, certainly, but the rush to the malls tharks s not. the stores are expecting a large rush. beware, many retailers are tightening up return policies. let s go to kerry sanders who is live in florida for us. he s going to tell us what kinds of policies are in place that people need to be aware of if people return their gift. thanks in advance for that. good morning, kerry. reporter: good morning, alex. i feel like it s still christmas shopping. it s still busy. of course we had records. the national retail federation said despite 10% unemployment in the country, 3.3% increase in sales over 2007. a record growth number of sales. it s good news. now, we are after christmas and people are returning gifts. look at the percentage of people returning giss. 46% don t know the policies.
act and they count, they are beginning to galvanize nations around them. basically, it s a continent regime. growth continues to go like gang busters. still seems reasonably stable. while i disagree a little bit because if you look from the outside, look only at the growth number, you think that this is a government that should feel confident, but then imagine yourself in the office. in box piling up with reports of riots. reports coming of all kinds of economic numbers not very reassuring. for example, inflation is rising. the real estate bubble. i think this is a government that has done a lot to be proud