But theres no problem finding my partner, tyler mathisen. Hes down at the New York Stock Exchange today. Hey, ty. Thank you very much, sue. When you watch these traders watching the politicians, watching themselves on cnbc, it becomes more and more clear that the markets these days are almost being held hostage by every remark and every headline. Whether its Speaker Boehner just a few moments ago in washington, or the president on the road in pennsylvania at a toy factory. Both sides spinning, and that is leaving traders heads spinning. Eamon javers in d. C. With the latest volleys in this match. Im going to try not to do anyany spinning here for you, tyler. But another day of kind of dueling press conferences here in washington. Difference today is we have a little bit of a Campaign Style theme as the president took his act on the road to pennsylvania where he tore this toy factory up there. Basically making the case for his tax cuts but he had a chance to make a toy factory joke as president s are want to do. He said hes got a naughty and nice list back in washington. Hes got certain congressmen in mind to be on that naughty and nice list. But take a listen to what the president said making the case that this is all about tax cuts for the rich and republicans wanting to preserve those. Whats riding on this debate. This is too important to our economy. It is too important for our families to not get it done. Its not acceptable to me and i dont think it is acceptable to you for just a handful of republicans in congress to hold middle class tax cuts hostage simply because they dont want tax rates on upper income folks to go up. Then one of those congressmen whos presumably on the president s naughty list today, speaker john boehner, who came out just a few minutes after the president spoke. He talked here on capitol hill a little bit about the stalemate that he sees these talks being at this point. Sort of a glum take here from the speaker of the house. Obviously hes saying that these negotiations not broken down. They continue to talk but a stalemate is the way he characterizeded that. So tyler, not great news here on capitol hill, but theres another week next week. Well get another crack at this thing. Eamon, thanks very much. Where do we stand . Are we any closer to a deal . We thought wed give you our little guide with the daily spin on our rise above deal meter. As you can see, after todays dueling conferences, not so much. Sort of a no deal. Closer to the red side. We do still have some time, of course. Bob pisani, how are traders down here investing reacting to mr. Obama and mr. Boehner . It depends on what the headlines are. So the president said the clear majority voted for a balanced approach. But theres a lot of debate about what that means. Representative boehner i thought was much more into fighting words over there. Listen to what he said. Increasing the tax rates is the wrong approach to take. He said there was a stalemate in the talks with the white house. Look at the dow industrials. We did move down around 25, 30 points as his comments came out. He said were almost nowhere in the talks. Sitting right near the lows for the day. If you look at the overall sectors that are moving today, pretty much balanced on either side. Pretty much even on the balancedecline line. Worries about higher taxes on dividend paying stocks seem to be lows for the day but not violent downstrokes here. I think the problem is well have trouble moving into positive territory at the close. A lot of concerns about headline risks over the weekend. We could be down 10, 15 on the s p monday morning on something that happens over the weekend. Sunday shows may be very interesting. Bob pisani, thanks very much. Its been an incredible week for companies that are issuing dividends. A slew of big names announcing special payouts because they are worried about that fiscal cliff. Theyre worried about what the tax structure will look like next year. In all about 20 billion worth of special dividends have been announced in the Fourth Quarter alone. So is it smart to get in on some of those names that you see on your screen right now . Or do these stocks actually hold their value . Killer of killer capital is back with us. Jeff, have you a very interesting take on this. Most people would like to dive into it right now but that may not be what you should be doing. Thats not the pure angle im taking. It is kind of a powerball fools gold feel. People are rushing in because these companies are coming out with special dividends. Watch that x date. The stock should drop the special amount of that dividend but i dont think the proper route. People dove in to hewlettpackard. Will hurt people in the long run. Is there what about the tax structure for the new year and these companies. Increasing dividends by in some cases record amounts. This year were seeing more an more people are putting allocation to a dividend stock. You have to be very careful. Some people are getting in because of the dividend and not paying attention to volatility. A couple stocks i really like this year, moving into 2013, mostly due to the housing turnout. Wells fargo, yielding 2. 6 . Much better than the 10year. Finally, duke energy, a nice energy company, putting up a nice yield but you have to strip out the volatility somehow. Thats the prudent way to approach it. Duke energys up 1. 66 today. Ty, back down to you. Zynga, one of the big stocks to watch today, the stock getting crushed. Thats one way to put it, down another almost 7 at 2. 44. The social gaming site amending its deal with facebook allowing facebook to develop its own games. Check out zynga shares this year, down about 75 . Julia boorstin with the details now. Well, tyler, it may not be game over but zynga does have a tough road ahead as it adjusts to a new World Without preferential treatment from facebook. Heres the issue. Now zynga cannot drag gamers from facebook to its own platform, zynga. Com, which puts a real damper on their vision to make zynga. Com the ultimate destination for social gaming. Zynga claims these changes give its own platform much needed freedom. Why is that . Because zynga no longer needs to use facebook logins, show facebook ads or show facebook for payments. That last one is key. Zynga. Com no longer has to hand over a 30 cut. Some analysts agree, jeffries calling the changes mostly increment positives while web bush says these new relationship terms are a winwin. Facebook will hold on to its gamers and it could cash in from gambling. Zyngas requiring to offer its gambling on facebook whether it does eventually launch. Facebook can afford to pull the plug on zyngas special terms because its games just havent been thriving on facebook the way other Developers Games have. Is this all a ploy for facebook to make its own games . Though facebook technically could make its own games, the company says its not interested. Julia, thank you. After years of being in the doldru doldrums, home prices are back on the rise. That should be a good thing for the housing recovery. Right . Well, not necessarily. Diana olick joins us from washington with some details on that. Reporter hi, sue. Look, rising home prices are good. Dont get me wrong. 1. 3 million borrowers came back above water because of rising home equity, according to core logic. But thats why i it was so struck by this warning from very well respected analysts at Capital Economics. They say the big threat to this housing recovery is its dependence on investors who are looking for those cheap great deals. Investors made up 20 of october home buyers according to the National Association of realtors and they are largely all cash. Theyre looking for rental yields and theyve been getting anywhere from 8 to 12 thanks to high demand. But Capital Economics warns the worry with investment demand is that the very recovery and prices that it is driving will eventually reduce rental yields and undermine the investment case. In certain cities such as phoenix, this has already happened. Home prices in phoenix are up over 20 from a year ago on the s p case schiller home price index. Prices are also rising fast. In las vegas, parts of california, and even in florida. Another concern is that prices overall are rising faster than Income Growth and that does not bode well for noninvestors either. This phenomenon is playing out largely in those formerly very hot markets that crash the hardest. There are still some great deals for investors in places like chicago, atlanta, even right here in d. C. Before you take me off, i got one thing. Someone wrote in to the blog today really right down the line of what were saying. He says people are buying homes out here in new orleans stupid fast. But the problem is theyre investors and theyre renting them all out. Very good point. Diana, thanks. Good to see you. Ty, down to you. The German Parliament approved a new bailout package for greece. Meanwhile, unemployment hits a record high in the eurozone but European Central bank chief mario draghi expects the economy to recover in that area in the latter half of next year. So whats ahead for debt stricken greece and the eurozone members . Joining me here at the New York Stock Exchange, constantine mikalos, thns chathens Chamber Commerce president. Approval of another bailout round of money for greece but some bailout money depends on the buyback of greek debt. Do you think this is all going to happen just the way its supposed to happen . Spl well, greece has gone through its own cliffhanger. I think weve stopped right at the last hurdle and the decision to disperse this next tranche is a major vote of confidence for the Greek Economy. However, this its contingent though. Absolutely. Absolutely. And this is what were waiting actually to see what voluntary nature will this reduction of the public debt have in the sense that the National Insurance and government organizations cannot possibly endure further haircut because theyve already had their deposits it remains to be seen. Greek banks have volunteered already but i dont think that is sufficient in order to make this greek public debt sustainable down to 120 by 2020. So were going to be living through another cliffhanger in the next three to four months. However, i think that if the greek government proceeds with the necessary deep reforms and for example, dispensing with red tape and introducing the red carpet treatment for both local and Foreign Investors, via competitive tax system which is going to be voted in later on this month and the privatization scheme i think they will be on the right track. Youre here for the ceremonial function of ringing the closing bell later today but youre really here to drum up investments in greece. Why today, given all of the uncertainties, given the fact that the Greek Economy is floundering a bit, why would i choose to invest there now . Tyler, think that the level of fragility as far as the Greek Economy is concerned is strengthened over the last few weeks and the fact that it seems certain now that were going to remain within the eurozone, within the european union, it begins to alleviate any fears Foreign Investors would have as far as investing in greece. The major fear up to now is would they be investing in euros and collecting their profits in greek drachmas. You talk about no longer a possibility so were on the right track. Forgive me for interrupting. You talk about the greek fiscal cliff. We have our own and people here say we could be the next greece. How does that make you feel when you hear that kind of talk from american politicians, American Business people, american citizens . Extremely worrisome because you represent 25 of the Global Economy whereas greece, which wasnt the cause of the european crisis, only represents 2 of the european gdp. So if you guys were to actually have such deep problems, then it would mean problems for everyone globally and no one would want that. Im sure that youll be able to find the right solution by the end of december. Let us hope. Mr. Michalos, thank you very much. Sue . Thank you, ty. Two big winners in that 587 million Record Powerball lottery. But how much do you really need to earn to make you happy . The answer may surprise you. And before you fill up your tank with gas, listen up. Aaa is warning regulators to stop sales of a certain type of fuel at the pump because it could damage your car and void your car warrantee. Details on that when power resumes in two minutes. [ male announcer ] this is karen and jeremiah. They dont know it yet, but theyre gonna fall in love, get married, have a couple of kids, [ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a long, happy life together where they almost never fight about money. [ dog barks ] because right after they get married, theyll find some retirement people who are paid on salary, not commission. Theyll get straightforward guidance and be able to focus on other things, like each other, which isnt rocket science. Its just common sense. From td ameritrade. Its just common sense. If we want to improve our schools. What should we invest in . Maybe New Buildings . What about updated equipment . They can help, but recent research shows. Nothing transforms schools like investing in advanced teacher education. Lets build a strong foundation. Lets invest in our teachers so they can inspire our students. Lets solve this. Welcome back to power lunch. Brian schactman here at the markets desk looking at five below, about a 2 million market cap, the preteen and teen specially retailer. They reported earnings and the stock is up 15 here but it is a pretty fascinating earnings report. Eps and revenue were pretty solid but guidance was actually for the most part below consensus. Why is it so rocketing to the up side . Adjusted operating margin, about triple expectations and comps were 50 better than expectations. Those two metrics are pretty important. This was an ipo over the summer and it is about double from its initial public offering. Back to you. Thank you very much, brian. Well, president obama making his case for raising taxes on the wealthy during a tour at the toy factory in pennsylvania today. But what are the chances of passing his plan into the divided congress . Representative adam schiff is a democrat from california and is a member of the House Appropriations committee as well. Congressman, nice to have you here. Welcome to power lunch. Thank you. Great to be with you. We heard im sure you heard house Speaker Boehners comments earlier today. The stock market didnt like it. He said basically there is a stalemate. We are almost nowhere. That is not good news as we approach the fiscal cliff. Specifically, what areas would you be willing to compromise on in terms of spending or in terms of the tax proposals that are out there to try and get this thing solved . Well, first of all, in terms of Speaker Boehners comments, i think we have to recognize there is a certain choreography that goes on in a negotiation, as might be expected. After the leak the leadership got together and said the right things. Then theres going to be a distancing as the difficult terms are negotiated until we come together again. Im kf didnconfident we will an avoid the fiscal cliff. I recognize well have to give, as well as the other side, but i do completely agree with the president that the election was about something and one of the center front issues was whether those that have done well in the last decade should be called upon to do a little more in terms of helping to pay down our deficit and debt. I think the electorate answers that question so thats got to play a role in the negotiation and has. But i think well get to yes. How are you going to do it though . You said you know youre going to have to compromise. What areas in entitlements, for instance, or other areas do you think there is a willingness to compromise to get us closer to resolving the fiscal cliff issue . I think democrats have already shown a willingness to make very significant cuts. Weve already in the budget control act agreed to an excess of 1 trillion of cuts. Thats a pretty good faith counsel payment on our willingness to come to the table and do things that are very painful and difficult for us to do. We havent seen that yet reciprocated in terms of gop willingness to raise the kind of revenues that weve already committed to reducing in terms of spending cuts. But i think weve demonstrated very good faith that were ready to make the hard calls to pay down our debt, balance our books. At the same time, we dont want to take steps that are going to be counter productive . Terms of the economy and getting people employed again. We dont want to go with an austerity approach like europe that will put us into potentially a double dip recession. Speak to me about another issue that youve really been on the forefront of, and that is immigration reform, specifically as it pertains to highly educated and highly qualified students and individuals who are in the United States. The house basically has just passed a bill that would allow them to stay in the United States longer but it doesnt look like it has much future in the senate. What are your thoughts . This is an issue where we really ought to be able to get to yes. Ive introduced legislation to try to address this issue and make sure that we can provide visas to people that graduate with degrees, advanced degrees from the United States institutions, in engineering, in math and science. So i dont think were all that far apart but there hasnt been a willingness yet to come to resolve some of the remaining issues. But this ought to be really a nobrainer for us. We cant afford to be turning away the best and the brightest, not only educating them here but then turning them into our competitors. So i hope that we can get to yes on this soon. And i think there is encouraging reason to believe that we can get to yes on a broader immigration bill. Im hearing some of my gop colleagues talk in terms about this and show receptivity to this that weve never seen before. Congressman, thank you very much. The fiscal cliff isnt just affecting businesses and average americans. It is also having a major impact on contract negotiations in baseball right now. Well explain how and why. Plus, the aaa warning about a tecertain type of fuel at the pump. Phil lebeau knows what it is. It is a new ethanol blend called e15. You might be saying whats e15 and why is the aaa worried about it . Well explain when power lunch returns. If lawmakers allow the u. S. Economy to fall off the fiscal cliff, 2 million jobs will be lost. Governor of getting it done. 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[ male announcer ] tis the season to discover the kid in all of us. Enjoy Free Shipping and great values on your Holiday Shopping from l. L. Bean. If you use e15 gasoline in your car i dont know whether i put it in my car. Maybe i do, i dont know. Listen up. Aaa warning regulators to stop sales of the fuel because it could damage your vehicle. And thats not all. Cnbcs phil lebeau behind the wheel for us in chicago. Whats going on . Tyler within doubt youre using e15 right now. Most of the gas stations using this are primarily in the midwest, a lot in missouri where ethanol is very large. Talking about a 15 blepd nd of ethanol. Aaa says the epaed a g edepa an stations should stop selling that. E15 is only approved for 12 million vehicles. There is another 228 million on the road, most built before 2010. Not the flex fuel variety. Theyre not covered. Many warrantees will not be covered if there is e15 related claims. The epa has improved the use of e15 ethanol blend gas since june. Again we arent seeing widespread use of it. Epa and the Renewable Fuels association say that over the long period of time, e15 is safe for vehicles. You look at the price of gasoline as it has come down over the last couple of months. The bottom line is this. Weve heard a lot of complaints about e10, ethanol blended gasoline a while ago. And those claims lot of people are saying they werent born out. Now we are hearing the same complaints and concerns about e15. Im curious, phil. Are there blended gasolines that contain ethanol that are not e15 that i might be putting in my car . Yeah. E10. Ethanol10 which is 10 ethanol which is widespread. What im talking about is when that was first introduced, a lot of people said dont do it, it is bad for the engine. Over time the claims that have been brought forward about potential engine damage, a lot of people are saying theyre just not there. Theyre saying thats whats going to happen with e15. Got it. Thanks, phil. Forget the Record Powerball lottery. You knew we werent going to win anyway. But we posed the question how much do you really need to earn to be happy . A very interesting answer after the break. Plus, a whild weild week fo market and with the ongoing fiscal cliff talks and the allimportant jobs report coming out next week, we have smart ways to position your trades. The dow only down three points now. Back in two minutes. Or that printing in color had to cost a fortune. Nobody said an allinone had to be bulky. Or that you had to print from your desk. At least, nobody said it to us. Introducing the business smart inkjet allinone series from brother. Easy to use. Its the ultimate combination of speed, small size, and lowcost printing. Syou know, ive helped alot ofof people save a lot of money. But today. sfx loud noise of metal object hitting the ground things have been a little strange. sfx sound of piano smashing roadrunner meep meep. Meep meep . sfx loud thud sound awhat strange place. Geico®. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. I put away money. I was 21, so i said, hmm, i want to retire at 55. And before you know it, im 58 years old. Time went by very fast. It goes by too, too fast. But i would do it again in a heartbeat. [ laughs ] half past the hour, gold prices just about to close. Sharon epperson is track being the action over at nymex. Hi, tyler. Gold prices are closing near the lows of the session. Right around 1,712 an ounce. Down 16 or so on the day. Weve seen a lot of volatility of course in gold with every headline about the fiscal cliff having some reaction in this market. And when it all comes down to the final day of the month, were looking at gold prices that are only slightly lower than where they started out this month. But we are looking at volumes that have been very significant in this past week. In fact, record volume on tuesday for gold futures. A lots of volatility in that session for sure. Were also looking at what is happening in terms of some of the gold coin sales. Those have been very strong for november and in fact, were looking at the strongest sales for november that we have seen in 14 years. And it is not only Retail Investors wanting to buy coins. They also want to hold the gold etf, the largest gold etf, the gld, has set gains for four straight months. This month no different. Right now we are looking at a record level of holdings for the g l gld. Trading action on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, bob pisani is here. Whats interesting, we talked earlier in the day headline risk going into the weekend, do you want to go long when anybody can go on the sunday talk shows saying deals off, we dont have a deal, looks awful. Then youre down 10, 15 points on the s p at the open. Guess what . Representative boehner put up the dow industrials came out and said were almost nowhere in the talks. What else can you think of to say that doesnt sound very positive to me . That certainly doesnt sound very positive. Yet we got very little reaction in the markets here. These are very narrow trading ranges. My point is, if youre bullish, if you believe that ultimately a deal will be made and that it is substantive, then whats happening here would support your thethesis, because frankly representative boehner doesnt sound very optimistic right now and the markets are not freefking oufreefk i freaking out. Remember sectors had a horrible start to the month but theyre the market leaders. Those concerns about dividend tax increases dont seem to be weighing that much anymore on these utilities. Youve got to figure that the people in those corporations that are paying out those dividends now, they know. They know that dividend tax rates are going to go up somewhere, some time in 2013. If you want to be gloomy about this, one thing everyone agrees about is somewhere taxes are going up for something. Even if it is just deductions going up. Theyre going to limit the amount that you can take. And if there is going to be decreases or cuts in spending. Thats going to influence the economy negatively. One way or another, you ask the question whos taxes are going to go up. It is the people who benefit from Capital Gains and dividends. Mostly the more affluent people who are the people who have disposable income to invest. And so and who is going to benefit from the loss of deductions or lose from the loss of deductions . The difference 15 to 20 is very small compared to the difference between 15 and 40 . 40 on dividends. Thats right. Bob, thank you. Bertha coombs is up down at nasdaq. Despite todays trading, the nasdaq composite and nasdaq 100 are the best gainers for the month among the major indexes. The nasdaq 100 in fact up nearly 1 . Biggest gainers on a percentage basis for the month, Green Mountain coffee and rim. Both very controversial stocks, both up 48 . In infosys will switch its listing over to the nyse effective december 12th that means there will be a new stock. Next stock in line in terms of large market cap is facebook. Facebook today is flat as it moves away from zynga a little bit. But look at this month. Facebook has had its best month since listing. The stock up about 28 . And its gain this month has actually meant that it has had the most positive point impact when it has come to the mdz nasdaq xos fit. Likely now to be added in to the nasdaq 100 some time next month. That will be something to watch. Lets get a check on how the bond market is moving right now. Rick santelli is our guy at the cme. Well talk currencies. We always look to look at oneweek charts on friday. These oneweek charts are very interesting. If you look at a 10year for one week, were down about eight basis points in yield. We are hovering very close very close within a half basis point to a fresh twoweek low. It is not a long time and its been a narrow range but thats what it is, nonetheless. If we open that up to the 30year, its only several basis points down. A little different look to it. But the kwaquantitative easing figure into these longterm moves on the long end. Euro versus the dollar, it hasnt been a huge week. Certainly its up a bit. Maybe about a quarter. But if you look at bigger picture, these are fourweek highs on the euro. We havent closed a 1. 30 on euro versus dollar since october 22. Last chart, dollar yen. Just like the euro for the week. Now this is in dollar terms. Dollars only a little bit lower. But the level is significant. We are also very close to a fresh high on the dollar versus yen going back to april. That is dollar improvement, if i said it backwards. You said it perfectly. Thanks, rick. 31 days left for lawmakers to reach a fiscal cliff deal. Cnbc is heading to the home states of key congressional leaders involved in negotiations. Today john harwooden in kentucky. Senate republican leader Mitch Mcconnells home state to find out how the fiscal cliff is impacting constituents there. Reporter in the senate, the challenges is bringing together red states and blue states. Mitch mcconnells kentucky is horse country. Of the states represented by top congressional leaders, its the reddest of all. Among the top leaders of congress involved in fiscal cliff negotiations, the one facing the most home state pressure may be Senate Republican leader Mitch Mcconnell. He faces reelection in kentucky, a state where the Tea Party Movement is alive and well. President obama may have won this election but two years ago leaders of the Tea Party Movement elected ron pauls son rand as kentucky senator over an establishment republican. One leader of that movement who runs a highend audio equipment business says they could do the same thing in 2014, and this time take out Mitch Mcconnell if he agrees to raise taxes. We shall not raise taxes in this country. We do not have a revenue problem. I would like senator mcconnell to recognize that the washington leaders are like a bunch of crack addicts. They need evermore money for evermore growing government and it is at the expense of the ordinary citizen that they pursue these policies. Reporter but the brighter those lines are drawn, the harder it will be to get a deal. Owen williams worked more than 20 years on wall street. Now he runs a Small College here that sits on the board of the Henry Clay Center for statesmanship. The way to a solution, he says, is for both sides to have a voice. Both have taken the attitude that its my way or the highway. And americans recognize that thats just not the way things typically get done in this country. And if we continue along that line, we will go over the fiscal cliff and who knows what the abyss beyond it will be like. Reporter the United States senates always valued its reputation as the worlds greatest deliberative body set apart from the political passions of the moment. The roll of Mitch Mcconnell and fiscal cliff talks will put that reputation to the test. John harwood, cnbc, lexington, kentucky. The new york mets and david wright agreeing on a 138 million, eightyear contract making it the richest deal in franchise history. The timing might work out well for mr. Wright as well in light of the upcoming fiscal cliff. It is affecting the world of baseball, business, average americans, you name it. Brian schactman is here to help me out a little bit with my laryngitis today. I should have brought some tea. Bottom line is i cant wait to get my hands on the details of that david wright deal. I guarantee you there is more bonus money than he had yesterday. Lets be honest here. 100 of Major League Baseball is in the 1 . League minimum is 480,000 a year. If you go from 35 to nearly 40 in taxes, which could happen as we all know, that makes just about every agent take notice. In fact, they are trying to find ways to get more money before the end of the year. People tell me its not priority one in contract negotiations, mainly because the concept has a few limitations. Teams are only going to be able to do so much. Youre not going to see players who are signing multiyear contracts be able to get 40 million, 50 million, 60 million in signing bonuses you may have seen in the past in professional football. So will this higher tax rate coming down the pike have an impact on some of the players and the agents and the deals that they get . Yes. But i dont think it is going to be as out of control as what some people are speculating. Even though a lot of people are telling me it is not such a big deal, my reportings actually showing otherwise. Just like the special dividends, its happened a lot just this week. B. J. Upton just signed a 75 million deal with atlanta. In baseball, these deals almost never include big bonuses. But what did he get . 3 million payable december 31st. It just jumps right off the page. Tampas Evan Longoria and his agent he just signed 100 million extension. What did he do . He pulled up a 1 million bonus payable december 15th. This is happening. But the 75 million deal that upton signed, hes not going to get a 75 million bonus. In fact in baseball they usually defer money but it is definitely happening. They want to do it on wall street. I talked to a lot of traders who want their bonus frontloaded into this year. But because most of those companies are publicly traded companies with shareholders, they cant do it. You can do it in sports though. Brian, thanks. Ty, down to you. Wild week of course on wall street. Smart strategies next on how to play the fiscal cliff talks and the jobs report next week, if you dare. Plus, its one of lifes biggest questions. No, not whats the meaning of life or why are we here or what do women want. But how do you how much do you need to be happy . Money wise . Our robert frank says he knows. Robert . Thanks, tyler. Im pretty sure the folks that just won that Powerball Jackpot are feeling pretty good right now. But you dont have to win the lottery to feel happy or wealthy. Well tell you how much it really takes for both after the break. In october 2004, our nation debt was 7. 4 trillion. Today that number has more than doubled to over 16 trillion. Can i help you . I heard you guys can ship ground for less than the ups store. Thats right. Ive learned the only way to get a holiday deal is to camp out. You know weve been open all night. Is this a trick to get my spot . [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. Save on ground shipping at fedex office. 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Part of a whole new line of tablets from dell. Its changing the conversation. What starts with adding a friend. Could end with adding a close friend. The lexus december to remember sales event is on. This is the pursuit of perfection. The industrials now down 17. In todays finance question. This is all posturing. 27 say traders have got it right. Just stop talking until the deal is done. 53 say neither side. Time to call greece . Now lets see whats coming up on street signs. Brian sullivan has the answer. Thank you very much. Coming up on street signs john olympic fee. We spoke to him by phone a couple of weeks ago on the run in belize. Robert frank getting him back on the phone. They will he will join us, maybe they, he apparently is on the run with somebody else now, too. By phone at 2 00 eastern time. Plus, the New York Times headline says people are paying less in taxes than they were in 1980. It is half right. Well dig into both sides of the story with the author. And should detroit be dissolved, just completely rolled into the county or even the state. One state senator says yeah. Is he our guest. Big street signs coming up in a few minutes. Couple of very interesting stories there, brian. Lets go to eamon javers with some new developments on the fiscal cliff. Well, the wall street journals just released some new details here from Mitch Mcconnell, the Senate Republican leader. They say mcconnell is floating a couple of new ideas here on the fiscal cliff. Let me read those to you from the wall street journal. Theyre saying that mcconnell is saying that republicans want changes in eligibility in terms of these entitlement programs, particularly means testing. Which means if you make over a certain a money or have a certain net worth you may not be able to collect all social security, medicare benefits and that sort of thing that everybody else can collect. They also want to talk about age requirements for those entitlement programs. In return, the wall street journal is saying mcconnell, the republican leader in the senate, is proposing that the gop would agree to more tax revenue but not not to higher rates. Course, we heard the president say earlier today that at the speech in pennsylvania that any deal he signs would be contingent on raising those tax rates for the upper class in this country. So thats the impasse there, is tax rates for the wealthy. The republicans are floating now some entitlement changes. Well have to see how the democrats and the white house react to those ideas. Thank you very much, eamon. A dearborn, missouri couple winning the largest jackpot ever and the states largest prize. Cindy and mark hill matching all six numbers drawn to win the record 587 million prize. They spoke at a News Conference earlier about what happened when they first found out they had won. I went by to see what the numbers were and i got back in my car and i didnt have my glasses. And i was thinking is that the right numbers . Is that the right numbers . And i was shaking and i called my husband. I said i think im having a heart attack. Anyway, i drove to my motherinlaws house to let her verify what i thought i had seen. Thats what it was. That is what it was. Dont you hate it when you cant see, when your glasses arent there . Could this be the other big powerball winner. The man came in to this maryland gas station store yesterday and asked for the powerball numbers and discovered he had the winning numbers. Man jumped up and down and grabbed his ticket and took off, only to return minutes later because he realized he needed gas. He told the cashier he was from maryland and a member of the military but bought the ticket outside of flagstaff, arizona. Wow. Fantastic. Thanks, ty. In light of those big wins, we ask how much would you need to make to be happy . Our wealth editor robert frank is here with a very surprising answer. Hi, sue. Well, the question of how much it takes to be happy is a little subjective. It depends of course on your current finances and those around you. But new research gives us some pretty good averages. In the u. S. , the optimal salary for happiness is around 75,000. The more you earn, the happier you are, until you get to around that 75,000 marker. After that, income doesnt lead to much more happiness. For wealth, americans say they need around 1 million in total assets to feel wealthy. But millionaires say they need even more. Around 5 million to truly feel wealthy. Well, again, the more you have, the more you need. Thats true around the world as well. New data from scandia shows globally people need income of around 161,000 to feel truly happy. People in dubai and singapore need the most since they have very heavy concentrations of millionaires. Germany and germans needed the least to feel happy. People in dubai an singapore needed more than 2. 5 million to feel wealthy. These numbers are higher than the u. S. Since the numbers they surveyed are really a wealthier group. All of which shows that wealth, like happiness, is relative, though that lottery winner, theyre rich by just about any measure. Oh, absolutely. Thats fascinating. Thanks, robert. Appreciate it very much. Ty . Sue, a wild week for the markets. Fiscal cliff talks in washington sending investors on a roller coaster ride. Jobs report next week is going to be a key focus. How should you position yourself . Get ready for the trader triple play. As we head out, the biggest gainers on the New York Stock Exchange right now. At u. S. Trust, our expertise extends well beyond Investment Advice and research analysis. It includes proprietary offerings like our eldercare program, which helps provide for those who came before you. And our Financial Empowerment program, which helps prepare those who come next. Resources like these have made us the numberone trust company. Thats why generations of families have come to us to help build their own legacies. Everyones trying to figure out what the next candidate is for a special dividend. Credit suisse had an interesting note and metric for how to look at it. Two stocks in particular, one criteria is insider ownership. Morningstar has a 56 insider ownership. Bok financial which is a Regional Bank in the southwest, 62. 5 . Bokf has a 3 dividend. Brian, thank you. It was a wild week on wall street. Lawmakers expected to meet this week on work for a compromise deal for a fiscal cliff. I would hope our friends on the other side can kind of turn off the campaign. We could have prevented this crisis months ago by just simply adopting what we passed in the senate. President obamas meeting with highprofile chief executive officers today to talk about the countrys fiscal issues. Were just here to support doing the right thing, putting america back to work. We dont legislate but we know a lot about what the consequences are of a failure to reach an agreement. Only way democracy works is through compromise at the end of the day. I know no other way. Im optimistic we can continue to Work Together to avert this crisis. Our ultimate goal is an agreement that gets our long term deficit under control in a way thats fair and balanced. A reversal of fortune on wall street as stocks trade on fiscal cliff comments from president obama and john boehner. No substantive progress has been made in the talks between the white house and the house over the last two weeks. The white house has to get serious. Republicans know where we stand. Weve said it, weve said it, weve said it so many times. I think all of us today are confident we can reach a bipartisan agreement by christmastime. According to Congressional Republican aides who have talked to the wall street journal, they say they have obtained a copy of the white houses proffer here in the fiscal cliff negotiations. Do you have faith in any of them to rise above . Would it be okay to go over . We will rise above. One can only hope. So how should investors brace themselves for the big week ahead . In todays trader triple play, jeff kilburg, along with mahir dongei. Steve, you get to go first. Would you have expected that today basically a flatline kind of day for the dow and s p and so forth, would have been more volatile given greece, given the comments out of washington and in pennsylvania . I certainly would have. Id have thought that the greek news, the bailout tranche, would have been more positive. I would have thought the miss on Consumer Spending would have been more negative. I would have thought we saw more movement in the futures market before the open. We didnt see that. We waited for the political speakers. Theyve been pretty much lined up on their sides defending those who voted for therm. Theyve been moving markets which they didnt do today. Jeff kilburg, how are you positioning your accounts, your portfolios for the next week and next weeks ahead . Two very different stories here. Were seeing nearly 100point move in the s p from two weeks ago when boehner came out in a nice tone. Im looking at the tenyear note which is showing a different story. There is a lot of fear in the market with the 10year at 1. 62 . I am a believer there will be a resolution, therefore i am playing it via the tbt. Thats short the long end of the curve. It is an inverse related stock that you can get long right now because i do see a sigh of relief coming after that in the bond market. Mahir, how are these fiscal cliff headlines and negotiations rippling through your markets, and how, if at all, are you reacting to them . Well, seems like were having most of the impact right now because as we see headlines come out, were seeing gold move 15 and 20 right now. Gold seems to be the riskoff trade as opposed to the safe haven asset. So what were doing over here right now is were only participating in levels that we feel comfortable getting long and getting short and the best thing that weve done is participate into the options. The options have been very, very cheap. Were on sixmonth lows in option volatility so it allows us cheap protection to the up side or to the downside. How have you been making money this week . Well, weve been doing it with the options and weve been looking at levels. For us, 1,701 has been a strong level support. 1,751 has been a strong area of resistance. So weve been participating kind of near those levels which have been very successful for us. And another intermediary number, 1,730 that weve been using as resistance. Steve, how have you been making money this week . Thats exactly how you make money this week. You have to know your levels, you have to trade your levels. Today 1,414 has been a perfect level for the s p. Every day you got to know your levels and trade them when they get there. You got to be careful. Youre only going for singles and doubles here because it is too dangerous. No triples, no swing runs. No swinging for the fences. Absolutely not. In the next hour, well have another exclusive with john mcafee, still on the run in belize. Brian will talk to him live at the top of the hour. Well be right back. [ male announcer ] tis the season to discover the kid in all of us. The memories that last, start with the gifts that last. Enjoy Free Shipping and great values on your Holiday Shopping from l. L. Bean. Monarch of marketing analysis. With the ability to improve roi through seo all by cob. And you. Rent from national. Because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. And go. 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And at this special time of year, they shine even brighter. Come to the winter event and get the mercedesbenz youve always wished for, now for an exceptional price. [ santa ] ho, ho, ho, ho [ male announcer ] lease a 2013 glk350 for 399 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. As we were just talking, a day of relatively little volatility. Dow industrials we decided just like 13,000. Nasdaqs decided it likes 3,000 an the s p 500 has decided it likes 1,414. Sue, with your voice, i recommend highly a visit to dr. Jack daniels this weekend. You know what . I think youre on youre on, ty. Absolutely. Thanks. Youre watching oil. I am. I am. Were seeing continued central bank intervention. Japan came out today. I think thats going to put win in the sails. Technically that 89, we should see a nice