jennifer westhoven is here. the new you jobless numbers come out in about 25 minutes, not expected to look too hot. >> thank you. today is the day where we get the big monthly jobs report. this is the thing you'll probably see in headlines of all the weekend papers. what we could be doing is closing in on nearly 10% unemployment. the september numbers are coming in less than half an hour. we'll bring them to you as we get them. you can already see here in just two years unemployment rate has more than doubled to almost 10%. so we have been headed this for quite some time. how do you square this with the bad news? well, the fed says the recession is nearly ending. then you go being look at this. but it's because the job market is called a lagging indicator. it could be some time, even as other parts of the economy are healing, for the job market to come back and for companies to start hiring. >> painful for so many waiting to get a job. thank you so much. >>> michael jackson was apparently in pretty good physical

our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. >> these are the big monthly numbers. if you watched yesterday, we got the weekly numbers. but this is like the big kahuna when it comes to the job market numbers, how do we know how things are going? there's a lot of fear. today could be the day that we officially -- maybe we see 10% unemployment. the september numbers are due this morning. we've already been very close to 10%. we were just under that in august. we've been headed this way for quite some time as you can see from this chart here. unemployment, where we started only two years ago, we were only at 4.5% there. how do you square this bad news we're talking about this morning with the fed head saying the recession is ending. we saw ben bernanke talking about that. jobs are a lagging indicator. >> painful still for so many people. jen, thanks. >>> tlc is stopping production on the reality show "jon & kate plus 8." the network says jon gosselin sent a cease and desist order to stop filming his children. gosselin told larry king that he's trying to protect his kid

jennifer westhoven is joining us now. it's been a while since we could say the jobless numbers dropped. it doesn't mean we don't have a ton of people out of jobs. >> it's right. the weekly number looked really good. there was a sizeable drop meaning that the line at the to filers, the lowest since january, 521,000 people filing for the first time, down by 33,000 people. it's still long. more than half a million moern americans, not a healthy sign but a good signal that the job market is gradually getting better, although we know it's healing far too slow for many americans who are trying to find work. now, stocks were already looking like they were going to rally before that number, but it looks like they'll have a strong start. that bell rings in about 59 minutes. 9:30 east coast time. >>> working moms say they're busy but they are happy. that's the conclusion of a new poll where working moms clocked in a little happier than stay-at-home moms. don't get me wrong. 80% of the stay at home moms but 85% of working moms rated

i'm jennifer westhoven, looking out for you. >> thanks, jen. you can get great advice each weekday on "morning express with robin meade" from 6:00 to 10:00 am eastern. >>> there is precious jewelry out there that no one wants to claim. diamond rings and platinum watches. what happens to it if no one says, hey, that's mine? . >>> this is a little hard to believe. there are diamonds and jewelry that nobody wants to claim as their own. they're among some 40,000 items the florida state government auctioned off yesterday. the stuff had been left behind in unclaimed safe deposit boxes and was turned over to the state. some people got themselves a bargain. >> these are early notes. some are fractional notes from the civil war. there are several confederate bills. i save these items for my grandsons when they get older, want to go to college. maybe this will be a good investment in their college education. i was expecting to pay more. i figured this would go for over $2,000. i got it for $1,200. >> thinking about the grandkids. these items also include

money expert jennifer westhoven is joining us. the government is looking at the possibility of extending it. on the screen i just want to flash free money. more of it. >> that's actually part of the problem, though, right? it's expensive. i mean, that's money that the government doesn't get to take in. so then they've got a deficit to deal with. but a key test vote could be coming maybe as early as today to get the $8,000 tax credit alive buying your first home. democrats are trying to look at legislation to make it cost maybe a little bit less. they're hoping to gradually faze it out so it would start at $8,000 then a few months later become $6,000 then $4,000, $2,000, you get the idea. that's less expensive than a competing plan going around. that's the one the realtor ls like. that would extend the full $8,000 credit and also make it available for a lot more home buyers. one of the problems, though, is they're getting a lot of fraud associated with this. they'll be watching it very closely. the clock runs out november 30th as o

and jennifer westhoven is looking out for you. people always have to look out for these scams. >> they know you're seeing the headlines will failing banks, so the fdic is warpg watch out for this, you could get an e-mail that says check your bank deposit insurance coverage. but don't even open it. delete it. this is one of those e-mails that says, oh, hey, are you worried about your bank failing some well, type in your sensitive financial information here. we'll make sure your money's safe. yeah, right. safe with them. do not fall for that. remember, no reputable company will ever ask you you via e plal for sensitive information. if it your bank does something, they always say go and click the link to the bank so you don't get thi phony websites or anything like that. and you don't get fished. they will clean you out. >>> ford looks pretty good in the latest rankings on the most dependable cars from consumer reports. now, don't get me wrong. asian cars still dominated this list as they have done for years. so we wanted to look for

jennifer westhoven has more on why general motors is pulling the plug on the brand. >> hey. they couldn't sell it. they tried. there were months of negotiating and with penske. penske pulled out saying we can't buy it. gm will stop making saturns. the dealerships will have to close. that's 13,000 dealership jobs at risk. if you own a saturn you can still get it serviced at gm dealers. don't worry about that. here's people reacting at one saturn dealership in michigan. >> kind of unsettled as i drive off the lot. but i still think it will be a good car. >> i just think that it will be taken care of. i'm not concerned. >> right. so the gm dealerships -- those cars will be taken care of. you can't buy them in the future. penske never made cars and were hoping somebody else would make them and start to deal for that. the deals broke down. it men the whole deal didn't work. >>> bank of america's ceo ken lewis says he will resign. he helped build the company from a southern bank. regional bank and into the first true national bank in this country. it is the biggest u.s. bank by as

jennifer westhoven is here. morning. >> good morning. thanks, robin. i know you talked last week about how the pentagon said it met or beat its recruitment goals this year. we wanted to get into how -- what the pay is. break it down a little bit for uh-uh. for a lot of people that can't find a job, they think at least i know i can get a paycheck if i join the military. recruits can typically make by the end of their first year a little more than $18,000 a year, there's also free health care, food and housing allowances as well and, of course, you probably know they've been waving around big bonuses to try to get people to sign up, too. 40% of recruits got bon uses averaging $14,000, almost a year's worth of pay there. here is some good news, too. because we all rely, in many ways, on the military. the pentagon says its newest ranks are better educated, 96% are high school graduates. that are meeting their own internal quality goals as well. >>> women's pay has risen faster than men's in this recession. in the past two years, women's median wanls rose m

our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. apple is saying people are snapping up the iphones still? >> they're pretty expensive. you can't see a magazine or watch tv for more than a half hour without seeing ads for the iphone. it seems to be working. they sold more macs and iphones than ever before in the fourth quarter. profits up 47%, way past the estimates. a lot of people signing up for that iphone. the stock shot up 7% last night. at one point $204 a share. that's an all-time high and it may help the stock market when that rings this morning and maybe not just apple. there are some signs maybe everybody is getting sick of being el cheapo and thinking about spending more for christmas. we're talking about some of the retail sales there. bloomberg is quoting economists who say people could be getting frugal fatigue. t.j.maxx and marshalls said we think people are going to spend more. intel did the same thing and they made chips for so many gadgets there's like a little hint in the air, shall we say, that maybe people have

. >>> our money exert jennifer westhoven, finally? >> yeah. this is like, we keep adding up this little deck of cards of small signs that the economy could be healing. but there are signs that it could be getting better, not everybody necessarily seeing it. still, though, we're taking it. good news in a bad economy. more economists saying companies will be adding jobs. these aren't economists who sit in the ivory tower at schools and make predictions and work at harvard. these are the economists who work with businesses so that they can make their plans, what should we be doing over the next six months. here you see 24% say they plan to hire. it could mean the job market may be coming into the end of the awful rut that it has been stuck in. u.s. economy has lost more than 7 million jobs since the recession started. unemployment, we know, right, almost 10%, the worst in 26 years. >>> those baby einstein videos -- >> oh, this is a great story! >> they kind of make you think they're good for your baby's brain. they get called educational. well, y

our money expert jennifer westhoven is looking out for you. some say the credit card companies are not playing fair. what's going on? >> there's a lot of criticism. people tell stories and it seems like the banks are trying to get their last licks in before the new rules go into effect. this is chuck and gene lane. they said even though they didn't miss a payment, they jacked up their monthly payment from $370 to more than $900. that's a lot of money to suddenly have to come up with every month. >> this is the worst economic times in history practically. i work for a small company. we've laid off 30% of our workforce. i just took a 10% pay cut this morning. and this is what you're going to do to us? >> and that's the story we're hearing across america. it's happening to many people. jpmorgan chase, the bank in this story, they confirmed that they doubled minimum payments for a million card holders and the bank said, hey, we want to make sure we get our money paid back in a reasonable period of time is their side of it. so it's still very hard

money expert jennifer westhoven is here with more. if you're a small business the only thing you have as backup would be a temp agency, right? >> it's really hard. you get one person out, then the whole company can basically shut down. one or two people get sick, you've got a problem. experts say you want to try to have two people who kind of have the flu plan going on. who is going to do what if this person is out? you have to have two. what happens if one of them gets sick? mostly, they say, aside from temp agencies, you want to try to cross train people so they have a much better sense of everybody else's job so they can try to fill in, and prioritize about what's important, right? maybe you forget about behind-the-scenes people, like the i.t. person. maybe you want to have another person there in case your i.t. person gets sick. they also talked about your sick policy. you want to make sure that if somebody's sick, they feel like they can call in and take a sick day. they don't feel so guilty that they come in and get everybody el

jennifer westhoven is here. we talked about this yesterday but now we have the numbers. >>> now we have the numbers and it will depend on what you heat your home with. already we know that the average savings is about $84 this winter, according to the government, and if you heat with natural gas, and that's a little more than half the country. that is the major heating fuel, then you're going to pay about $105 less than last year, even better. if you pay with oil, $40 savings and people who heat with oil have some of the high e bills. with electric you'll save about $20. that's one of the cheapest. big savings for propane users in rural areas about $280. now here's where you can see it. if you're in the midwest, the yellow part, that's where you'll get the most savings and in the northeast that's where you see a lot of natural gas and heating oil as well. >>> burger king, it may never look the same again. the 12,000 fast food joints are upgrading major overhaul. what do you think about this? they are turning the

jennifer westhoven has the story. they're trying to get us in there. >> in a way, this is a really good time to try to be a consumer, it's just a lot of people doane want to be spending right now. but one analyst says even this early, even at halloween, he's seeing 5% discounts. that's good for families trying to make ends meet, trying to figure out, how am i going to afford christmas this year. so the forecast just starting to shape up, and it looks like the shopping is going to be flat like last year, and this is a huge part of the economy. holiday spending is a big deal. but last year was the worst record in malls and department stores. some say the focus this year is going to be on the practical. that means impractical, you may see big time savings on them, like jewelry and sports vacations. i'm going to guess that black friday, the day after thanksgiving, there will be a whole lot of sales that day. we'll keep up on that. >>> here's an interesting story if you're a frequent flyer or if you fly with your family, w

i'm jennifer westhoven looking out for you. >>> you can get great money advice from jennifer westhoven each weekday on "morning express with robin meade." >>> some firefighters got themselves in a dicy situation when they tried to educate the public. >>> look at this. to make matters worse, one of them didn't even seem to notice that he was burning. >>> that's a quick check of your saturday headlines. welcome back to hln. i'm holly firfer. an undercover operation has revealed how easy it is to buy a gun at a gun show. no questions asked. it's a loophole in the law that basically side steps background checks. randi kaye looks at how it works and who's riled up about it. >>> so things went horribly wrong when some firefighters tried to do a sprinkler demonstration. look at this. two firefighters' suits caught fire after plastic dripped on them. but the firefighter in the middle didn't seem to realize he was burning. he was helping the guy on the left until the one on the right helped him. one firefighter was hospitalized with burns on his hand and cheek. >>> a two-month investigation end

our money expert jennifer westhoven, good morning. >> good morning. we talk about so many prices getting lower, this ain't one of them. the college board says a high education pricier than ever. at a private school, one year will cost more than $35,000, tuition, fees, room and board. public schools cheaper, but still expensive. in state, about 15,000, out of state, 26,000. we did all of the room and board, too, because most students do need that. there was one little bit of good news in this report. it's that more people are qualifying for some kind of help. so that could be a grant, tex benefit. that's helping, but not that much. >>> of course, i've always said i'm going to try to keep you to date on what's happening with the possible extension on unemployment benefits. you haven't heard me talk about it for a while because it's been stuck in the senate. this is just update to tell you it's stuck. by some accounts it's because republicans want to tack a number of amendments on to the bill including one with about a.c.o.r.n. the problem is this versio

our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. that's good news in a bad economy and even before the who will days? >> you know, in a way, robin, i want to warn parents to be careful. if you spend too much early you might not have much left later on. they are trying -- the toy wars are on. at target they're doing 50% off. they are following walmart's lead by slashing some toy prices to get you in the store. so popular toys for 5 bucks. the main thing about this is that they're expecting that you and me, all of us, are going to keep a tight rein on our holiday spending, that we're probably only going to spend the same as last year so those retailers want to try and get as many of our dollars as they can. they often think if we spend early, we'll still spend later on. so they just think that you might spend more that way. so be careful for your budget. >>> last week mortgage applications jumped to their highest level since may. behind the surge mortgage rates below 5%, relatively low home prices and that juicy $8,000 tax credit from

money expert jennifer westhoven is looking out for you. hey, jen. >> so the energy star label is supposed to mean that a product saves energy, right the? kind of like a seal of approval from the government? that's why you get tax rebates on them. but there are reports that many of those appliances are not living up to their promises and maybe shouldn't even qualify for the sticker at all. here's "consumer reports" talking with cnn's mary snow. >> in our labs we found it used more energy than it claimed. >> can a manufacturer just put on an energy star sticker if it wants to? >> they're supposed to have the products tested and they do, but they themselves test it. >> they're supposed to have them tested so maybe the question is, can we really trust companies to do their own testing and to really give us not the best-case scenario but the real-case scenario on the sticker? the energy department plans to try and widen independent testing or find some other measures to make sure that companies are measuring accurately so that sticker gives you

bring it on, money expert jennifer westhoven. good morning. >> people are thinking about the fact they need more insulation and they need to fix the door or a heating system. >> do you have your microphone on? >> yeah, did it fall? it did. sorry about that, everyone. >> if you need to fix a drafty door, there's a good reason you might want to do it this year or next year. save your receipts. you can get 30% of the price back. that's up to $1,500 back in your income taxes for regular investments like the ones we were talking about or heating or air conditioning systems and you can get more than $1,500 back if you upgrade to solar panels or wind energy. we'll have all of the details pretty soon on our website. cnn.com/robin. we're working on getting that up. you can check the government's energy star website. >>> gift cards this holiday season that have been so popular and this year retailers think the sales likely to be flat. they'll get real creative to try to get you to buy them. so target has made gift cards that double as toys

let's go over to our money expert jennifer westhoven with details. >> hey, thank you, natasha. ken lewis says he'll be leaving bank of america by the end of the year. he's been under a lot of fire over the acquisition of merrill lynch. that happened during the height of the financial meltdown at a time when people, leaders really worried the entire system was going to collapse. he was hailed as a hero for that then, but since then, a lot of questions. no successor has been named. >>> millions of americans facing foreclosure call their banks over and over. a lot of you told us your stories. you're trying to find a way to keep the home, change the mortgage. well, a new government report shows some banks have stepped up. that's some good news in a bad economy for homeowners. and new government report says they are looking at reducing the principal. so good for the homeowners, not necessarily for the banks according to the "wall street journal." because the banks do lose some money when they do that. but it does mean they've got a much higher chance of getting something back instea

well, our money expert jennifer westhoven is looking out for you. some people are wondering, what's the holdup in congress? >> so many families, virginia, are relying on this money. it's all they have to make ends meet. the plan would mean 13 more weeks of checks for people in some states. not all of them but the hardest hit states. it did pass the house of representatives but then it goes to the senate and that's where the road block was. and the whole thing is that the extension would be in states that are in red where unemployment is more than 8.5%. there you see them. what happens is the senators from the other states, the white states, are barking, saying, hey, that's not fair to the people who live in our states. maybe they should get the extension, too. now, look. the bill is not dead yet so they may work out a compromise. i will keep you posted on any developments on this but a lot of families of course seeing their benefits run out. for every job open right now there are six people looking. very tough times to get a job. no doubt about it.

small businesses across the country may not be ready for that flu and jennifer westhoven has more on that. >> this is one of those things where it's a good idea if you get involved, you can remind your boss or take initiative yourself in some way. if you're in a small business, when people don't share jobs at all, they may think, well, i'm making myself indispensable, but the whole team could be in trouble. ask if you can cross train with someone. of course you couldn't do it perfectly, but at least something could get down. plus, your boss should have a back-up in place for key roles like somebody who can fix the computers. and don't feel bad or guilty about calling in sick if you catch the swine flu h1n1. even the president asked companies to be flexible in that case and if you get sick, remember, if you go in, everybody at work could get sick, too. >>> gas prices down. it costs so much less to fill up than it did last year. aaa's latest tally of the average price is $2.46. it should be 15 to $20 less for you to fill up than it did last summer. >>> if you pay taxes, you may find th

our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. i think some people were slightly surprised by that, because we are involved in two wars that have lasted a long time, but still the recruitment numbers have been fulfilled. >> yeah. haven't been so popular, yet a lot of people signing up. the military says it has a lot to do with the economy. we wanted to take you inside. we talked about how the pentagon meet or beat its recruitment goals. first of all, recruits can typically make, recruits, about $18,000 a year by the end of their first year. plus they get free health care, they get housing allowance, food allowances, and, of course, i'm sure you know they've been waving around big bonuses to try and get people to sign up. look at that. you can make almost a year's worth of salary just to sign up. some of the dollars there. also, good news for the pentagon, for everybody. they said the newest ranks really well educated, 96% are high school graduates. above their targets. remember, for a while, right? there was criticism they were tr

i'm jennifer westhoven, looking out for you. >> thank you, jen. and you can get more great money advice from jennifer westhoven, each weekday on "morning express with robin meade" from 6:00 to 10:00 a.m. eastern. >>> a woman took police on a wild and dangerous high-speed chase. look at this. there was a child in the backseat. find out what police had to do to stop her, even after she crashed her van. >>> a woman took florida deputies on a wild, high-speed chase with a 7-year-old girl in the backseat. she was clocked at speeds topping 110 miles an hour, and at one point was driving the wrong way, weaving through traffic. she finally crashed into a guardrail after deputies laid black strips on the highway to puncture her tires. and even after getting out of her car, police say she refused to respond to their commands and had to taser her. the child was handed over to protective services. >>> an arizona dog is vying for the title of the world's tallest dog. this is george, a great dane that stands 42" tall. he can tower over adults when he stands on

our money expert jennifer westhoven. why is that? >> this is a story that everybody who has been outraged by their credit card companies will enjoy. maybe they're not coming soon enough, but the visa laws weren't supposed to kick in until february. lawmakers say the credit card companies have been abusing the grace period, hiking fees and rates, so they want to basically speed things up here. this is what the lawmakers wanted to do. they've been seeing the same thing you've been seeing out there. they've been seeing that the credit card companies maybe trying to beat the law are jacking up rates, calling in and cutting credit limits. so instead the new rules would go into effect on december 1st, according to this house committee. we'll see if the full senate and the house approve that. >>> mortgage rates on the rise in the country for the second week in a row now. a 30-year fixed rate loan now averaging about 5%. rates had gone below 4% in the spring. now dead even on the 5%. i put the 15-year up there, but i think, man, you got to b

jennifer westhoven is looking out for you. i don't mean the extra large fare they already charge. >> right. it's on top of that. they're just looking to get you any way they can. if you travel on the days around thanksgiving, they have the black out days, now, they're going to hit you with up to $20 in fees. they're tacking them on for christmas, too. ten days around the holidays. pretty hard to try and dodge those days. there's only one way to say no to the fees. steer clear of the airlines charging them, but southwest and jet blue are not charging those fees at this point. if you want to get to your destination on time, what's the airline most likely to get you there? southwest. they're on time arrival rate last month, 83%. that's the tops in the carriers. the worst? air tran. a one in four chans you'll be late. >>> good news. lower rent. apartment vacancies hit highest since 1986. the number of empty apartments surging. even in new york city, the wrenn terr renters have the power. they're moving in with family and friends a

our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. >> hello. we do these kind of stories here and on cnn, a lot of times we get really angry calls from the companies. >> why? >> because they don't want to have to give away free shipping. so i feel like this is really a case like it touches a raw nerve. you really are getting something for nothing, and sometimes it's hard on them but, look, you know, this may be the season you can take advantage. retailers, they really are counting on online sales to try to help them out. it could be good news in a bad economy when it comes to your holiday shopping. four out of five retailers are going to offer free shipping, sometimes with minimum purchases. that's according to the national retail federation, but more than half of them will offer it with no minimum order, so that means if you can find a better price online, it is a good deal if you can get that free shipping. not only is the president cracking down on executive pay at some firms that took billions in bailout money, now we're getting another ste

our money expert jennifer westhoven is looking out for you. so you go and look for the stickers because they tell you, oh, you're doing something good and it will pay less to run the machine. >> you pay a lot of money, it it'sed to mean the product is saving energy. sort of a seal of approval. that's why you get tax rebates. there are reports a lot of these appliances should not qualify for the energy star rating at all. here is "consumer reports" talking to cnn's mary snow. >> in our labs we found it used a lot more energy than it claimed. >> so can a manufacturer just put on an energystar sticker if it wants to? >> they're supposed to have the products tested and they do, but they themselves test it. >> they're supposed to have the products tested. soy guess the question is, do we trust the companies to be doing all the testing without any checks? the energy department says they'll widen some of the independent tests, "consumer reports" say it's 5% to 10% of your appliances. good chance your appliance isn't living up to its rating. >>> recal

i'm jennifer westhoven, looking out for you. >> jen, thank you so much. you can get great advice each weekday. >> it's safe, spooky, and for some, the perfect way to spend halloween. horror movies have some people so hooked, they can't get enough. what exactly keeps these fear fan flat particulars coming back for more? %%%%%%%%%%%% >>> ever since i can remember, i've been fascinated by making money. by the time i was 31, i retired and embarked on a new mission so you can save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off. >>> why am i smiling? when you hear what i'm going to talk about, you'll think, have i lost my mind? foreclosure rates are likely to rise, according to experts. the rest of this year, through 2010. so why would that make me file? because i don't believe it. inspite of the fact that increasing numbers of americans are dwlingt on their home loans. throughout the first half of this year, the idea of doing a short sale, where a lender agrees to negotiate a lower selling price for a house and they take a hit on the mortgage balanc

jennifer westhoven is here. what have you got? >> maybe a lot of people are thinking about it, but not wanting to. >> but the bed feels so good. >> yeah. this is a little more personal, though, than we're kind of used to. open enrollment season. you may be getting the envelope in the mail soon as your company talks about what kinds of health benefits are out there. l.a. time sincere reporting that if you want insurance, more companies are going to require you to take a risk assessment test. they're going to be looking right at you, measuring you, weighing you, taking your blood pressure, and look closely at your health, the risks and the risk that you may need costly treatment. and that way, you know, they're saying, well, they may ask you to meet some measures, lose weight or quit smoking. that could mean you get lower premiums so it may help to give you a real world incentive to do it. they may also give you a discount at the gym. if you don't meet the measure, that may mean you get stuck paying higher deductibles. it's like the

jennifer westhoven is here. bosses are getting serious about wellness programs. >> it's just a way for them. they're trying to curb the way that costs are growing up but this is more personal than you might be used to. if you want health insurance, more companies are going to require that you take this risk assessment test. that's according to this morning's "l.a. times." what the test does is they look right at you measuring you, weighing you, asking all kinds of questions. and the point is once they know more about you and your health, they may know that you are risky. you may need costly treatment and then they are going to say you have to do something about it or you may have to pay more. you may have to lose weight or quit smoking and if you do those things, you could get lower premiums. get a discount at the gym. if you don't, you may pay higher deductibles than other people at work deemed healthier. >> boss would know how much you weigh and stuff? >> it's more like the wellness department and they're not

our money expert jennifer westhoven will give you the latest on this. just because you put fiber in a big box of sugar doesn't mean it's healthy for you. >> yeah. sugary cereals is one you just mentioned. mayor anywa mayonnaise was another. it's a green check -- check it out. basically the industry came up with this, the food industry. they were trying to have uniform labeling but the fda was saying we're going to have to take a look at this and see if this is really accurate because you might not think that sugary cereal and mayonnaise were a smart choice. the fda says logos like that may have been misleading. the government agency says you have to meet these standards before you put that kind of a logo on. >>> honda says it may start build i building here in the united states. that would be some good news. the fit looks like a little mini minivan. it's a five-door hatchback. honda has been really surprised how many americans have been buying it. they didn't make a final decision yet but they already have two plants in ohio and one each in alabama and

jennifer westhoven has more on that. jen, it wouldn't just be for first-time buyers, right? >>> a lot more people could qualify for basically free money under this new agreement struck by senate leaders that would be some good news in a bad economy. it might help the housing market. now if this is approved and it's just a senate agreement at this point, if you've lived in your home for five years and you want to move, you could get a $6,500 tax credit so that's a big new thing to tack on to this proposal. not just new, first-time home buyers, anyone in their home for five years. the first time buyers would keep that credit. it would run through april. the clock runs out at the end of november. all right. it's halloween. this is kind of spooky news from walmart. they're selling caskets online. did you hear about this? costco sells them, too, only online. they do not want you to see them in stores. >> wow. it would take up space, though, wouldn't they? >> i don't think they want to remind you of your own mortality. you can get them online and they get them to you within 48 hou

jennifer westhoven with the results of a noof survey. we always talk about these new things. >> i love the j.d. power surveys and things like that. it gives you a sense of, hey, you get to see instead of just asking around your family and friends, how is everybody doing? it do they like their phones? which phone will make you the happiest? the phone isn't the key but would you be satisfied? well, if you don't have a smart phone like an iphone or blackberry you're likely looking over at your neighbor's smart phone getting a little jealous and recenting your phone for it. people without smart phones became less satisfied with their own phone while people who had smart phones became more satisfied. kind of reminded me of that story by dr. seuss. in the survey, apple's iphone topped satisfaction for consumers and business users and lg and blackberry tied for second by consumers. iphone, i, too, am envious. >> you used to look over all the time at my phone. your phone was older at one point. >>> all right. the white house planned to help at-r

melissa long is in today for jennifer westhoven. thanks for being up early. i've heard people say, well, they're not getting business so they're trying to get money off of you. >> you have to be shrewd. if you're thinking about a remodel and have been holding off until you really wanted to make sure you could afford it, you may be able to save as much as 20%. that is good news in a bad economy. according to "the wall street journal," home builders and contractors have been idle because of the housing slump, are getting into some bidding wars for remodeling work. also, you have the material costs that are down for plywood and lumber. however, remodeling trade group says cheaper isn't always better. some low bidders may be trying to cut some corners. also, some good news about growth in the economy led to the biggest gain for stock prices in more than three months now. the dow rose thursday just shy of 200 points. nasdaq and s&p 500 also making pretty big gains. investors liked the better than expected report on the nation's gdp, gross domestic product, which g

i'm jennifer westhoven, looking out for you. >> thank you, jen. and you can get more great money advice from jennifer westhoven each day on "morning express" with robin meade from 6:00 to 10:00 a.m. eastern ooh. >>> a woman took police on a wild and dangerous high-speed chase. look at this. there was a child in the back seat. find out what police had to do to stop her, even after she crashed her van. >>> a woman took florida deputies on a wild, high-speed chase with a 7-year-old girl in the back seat. she was clocked at speeds topping 110 miles an hour, and at one point was driving the wrong way, weaving through traffic. she finally crashed into a guardrail after deputies laid black strips on the interstate to puncture her tires. and even after getting out of her car, police say she refused to respond to their commands, so they finally tasered her. the child was not hurt in the wreck and was turned over to child protective services. >>> an arizona dog is vying for the title of the world's tallest dog. this is george, a great dane that stands 42" t

melissa long is in for jennifer westhoven. they're going to charge you high amounts because you're the only customer. >> business has been down. if you have been looking to change the kitchen cabinets, it could be the time to make some investments right now on your home. because you can save 20%. according to wall street journal, contractors that have been idled are getting into bidding wars for you and your work for remodeling. material costs have been down. however, remodeling trade groups say that cheaper is not always better. >>> stock market set to open at the bottom of the hour. 17 minutes from now. the dow rose just shy of 200 points on thursday. the nasdaq and the s&p 500 also making strong gains. investors liked the better than expected report of the gdp. >>> also some new figures for investors to digest at the opening bell this morning. consumer spending fell in september by the largest amount this year, down .1% as the cash for clunkers program ended. in the meantime, personal income remain flat. >>> lot of lick wor

money expert jennifer westhoven looking out for you. so the word is the government is going to extend it. there have been rumors about it so where are we now? >> so the action could come this week and there could be a key test vote as early as today to keep alive the $8000 tax credit to buy your first home. a lot of people credit that with propping up the housing market. democrats are eyeing legislation that would keep it alive next year but, get this so it would start at $8,000 like it is now and then every quarter it would come down so $6,000 then $4,000. you get the idea. now that's less expensive than a competing plan that would extend the full credit, the full $8,000, and also make it available for a lot more home buyers as buyers. as of right now the clock runs out, november 30th. the recession may be over. a report due thursday is expected to show the economy grew over the summer. i said grew. that would be good news in a bad economy. this is the gross domestic product and it will likely confirm the recession theoretically ended

our money expert jennifer westhoven looking out for us. good, free money, sounds like. >> it's all good. as it dpets colder out, people are turning up their thermostats. it's a good time to remind you if you need an energy saving upgrade like insulation, door heating system there's a good reason to try to do it this year or next year because it will expire, this tax credit. you can get 30% of the price back in your income taxes. it's up to $1,500 for those kind of regular investments and if you decide you're going to be crazy green and put in solar panels or wind energy, it's not crazy but it costs a lot, you can get even more than that. the government's energy star website and some retailers will let you know which ones are -- well i've never seen insulation go in. cool. >> and caulking. >> she's a new homeowner. >> she's like what is that? >> well christmas is coming right, the holidays, so gift cards, they've been popular for so many years. they're expected to be flat this year. retailers are getting real creative. they want to entice y

but jennifer westhoven is looking out for you. >> well, there's a new scam out there i want you to be careful of. you've heard the headlines about banks failing and that can be pretty scary. well, criminals are going to use your fear to try and steal your sensitive financial information. the fdic is warning you might get an e-mail that it looks innocent, the subject line says check your bank deposit insurance coverage. well, if you see that, don't even open it. delete it. it is not from the fdic, it's from the bad guys. the e-mail basically says, hey, type in your information here and you can check and see if your account, if your money is safe, if it's insured. that sounds good, but they don't really mean safe, they mean safe with them. don't fall for that. phishing attacks tripled. just by getting your e-mail account and password, they can find ways and maybe worm into your bank account. be very careful, keep your money safe, and remember, no reputable company asks you for sensitive information through an e-mail. you can go to the company's website and log in that way if you want to

our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. i just paid $25 for shipping. i really wanted it, but i wish it were free. oops, can't hear your mike. flip the switch on real quickly. is it an easy fix? do we hear jen? we want to hear about it. >> embedments to buying something online. this season, i tell you, this is the holiday season, natasha it's good to be a shopper. there are great deals out there. can you really get something for nothing in this case. more retailers offering free shipping, with strings, you know, like a minimum, maybe $50 of stir before you can get it, but more than half are going to be offering it with no strings attached at all, according to the national retail federation. you can stay out of lines. >>> how do you get to carnegie hall? practice, practice, you know the joke. it turns out forget those nine years of piano lessons, it may be better to join the stage crew. the guy who oversees props at the concert hall, can you believe his salary last year? $530,000? >> that's more than half a million. >> that's more than the musicians. i m

i'm jennifer westhoven looking out for you. >> thanks, jen. you can get more money advice each weekday on "morning express with robin meade" at 6:00 a.m. eastern. >>> many are going to see the virgin mary while they receive service. you won't believe where it ended up. they said it would never last. but it's been two months, and you're still going strong. glade lasting impressions. two fragrances alternate to keep things... fresh and exciting day after day. - and not just for 30 days. - ( inhales deeply, sighs ) but for 60. it's the longest-lasting plugins ever. get freshness that won't fade away for 60 days. ahhh! with plugins lasting impressions. and yes, it's glade. s.c. johnson, a family company. >>> he's receiving the nobel peace prize? >> people all over the world are weighing in on president obama winning the nobel prize, but find out why many are saying he doesn't deserve it. >>> police found what they say are human bone fragments in the backyard of kidnapping suspect phillip garrido. now they may know where those bones came from. >>>

jennifer westhoven -- resources are quite small and not large. >> we were trying to look at this from the point of view of what if you work at a small business. if there's a flu epidemic, it's going to affect you. so, what could you do to try to make your office place safe? one of the things is to make sure other people know what you do and how to do it. people think, i want to be indes penceable, but the whole company can suffer. how can everybody do each other's jobs in a pinch, not perfectly. plus, your boss should have a back-up for key roles like somebody to fix the computers. if they're down, you're all not going to be able to work in some offices. and don't feel guilty if you do call in. even the president asked companies to be flexible about this because if you come in, you could get a lot of other people sick. it seems like your employer could force you to go home. >>> if you pay taxes, this will make you think, i'm paying for a lot of people. you'd be surprised how many americans don't pay a dime to the irs. 47% of households, so it's not like that's including children. 71 m

i'm jennifer westhoven looking out for you. >> thanks, jen. and you can get great advice each weekday on "morning express" with robin meade from 6:00 to 10:00 a.m. eastern. >>> you know people are still talking about the guy who held up a loan office. then dropped to his knees and prayed with his victim. >> i was in that situation for a reason. and i'm just trying to figure out what that reason is. >> the so-called praying robber is now talking about what drove him to commit the crime. >>> first lady michelle obama was on the jay leno show last night, and she appeared via satellite from the white house. leno peppered her with questions about her husband. specifically, what she finds most annoying about him. her answer, he's always beating her at tennis. there's also a question about his beloved baseball team, the chicago white sox. >> question number six your husband just won the nobel peace prize. would he rather have world peace or have the white sox win the world series? >> that's a tough one. and i think if you would ask him, he'd say he'd

melissa long is in for jennifer westhoven. how are you doing? >> good morning. it's 650,000 jobs at least. that's how many the obama administration says the program has created or saved. it's through the end of september such as work on repairs to the highways you drive. the white house says these numbers are more reliability than data released earlier this month that indicated about 30,000 jobs were created directly as a result of contracts. >>> some new economic reports for investors to digest this morning. consumer spending fell in september by the largest amount this year. this is according to the commerce department. the number's out at 8:30. this is the cash for clunker programs called it a wrap. meantime personal income remained flat and savings rate is up. >>> an update on the drywall story from china, which thousands of homeowners has said damaged their homes, made them sick or possibly both. the cpsc says it cannot establish a link. now, in the past, the drywall was found to contain sulfur compounds. the government says it just needs more time to study

. >>> jennifer westhoven is off today. in business news, though, for you, a new survey suggesting few of us will see our finances improving any time soon. according to the university of michigan, most believe the economy is start to go improve and unemployment will begin to bottom out. but they have a dismal outlook on their own personal finances. >>> so if you want to book airline tigckets for the holida this year, expect to pay a little more. flights are going up each day. last year people who booked last minute got some great deals because airlines were caught off guard by big drops in demand. don't expect that this year. >>> all that data that disappeared from t mobile sidekick cell phones last week, earlier t mobile said the data was probably gone for good. but the dangerous subsidiary who makes the phones for t mobile said it has found this data and they will return it soon. >>> it seems like everyone is talking about the little boy in the balloon from yesterday afternoon. our own chuck roberts is here to talk more a

jennifer westhoven joins us with more on that, and there is a survey. i don't know if we need a survey because you and i used to compare our phones and say, hey, what's that feature? what have you got on yours? >> yeah, and mine had pretty much none. i think in some ways it's how the condition of being human has a big impact on business. this is a measurement of people, whether or not they were satisfied with their phones. usually pretty standard, people like this, people don't like that, does the phone give them some trouble. what they found this time around was if you didn't have a smart phone, like an iphone or plaq blackberry, you were likely to look at your neighbors and then taking it out on your cell phone, saying you were dissatisfied with your old phone just bausz it didn't do the fancy things. so people who had the smart phones said they were more satisfied. i foechb tied with apple for satisfaction. >>> is it working? first, there is a congressional oversight panel. they've got a report coming out today that's going to criticize the plan, not

get more great money advice from jennifer westhoven each week dai on morning express with robin meade from 6:00 to 10:00 a.m. eastern. >>> wildfire life officials in florida are taking bold action against owners of exotic pets but some say that's unfair. >> i don't feel like the state has any business getting into my affairs. >> how a little girl's death, though, caused officials to crack down and urge people to turn their pets in. >>> some frustrated pet owners say that florida wildlife authorities' latest push for safety is a bit extreme. officials are asking people with exotic animals to turn them in even if they have permits. dave demarco from news 13 explains why. >> reporter: if mike looks upset carrying this gym bag, it's because max and zora are inside. he told his children this morning he was giving away the burmese pythons. >> i'm going to cry. i know it's snakes, but they're a family pet. >> reporter: after a 2-year-old summ sumter county girl was killed by her python, fish and wildlife officials started cracking down. state law requires owners to have permits and larger sn

jennifer westhoven talking about that. a lot of people, tough times, more and more people filing for benefits. >> a lot of people are counting on those checks. they don't know what they'd do if they ran out. a generous proposal coming from democratic senators. an extra 14 weeks of benefits for everyone on unemployment assistance. that's all across the country. we got a map, too. if you lived in a state that's red, that means that unemployment is higher there. so more than 8.5%, that means an extra six weeks in addition to that. a 20-week extension in all there. it goes well beyond an earlier proposal that came from the house. it may be that the senate democrat leadership is playing santa a little bit here just to try to get this out of the committee and out onto the floor for a vote. it might be more modest by the time it becomes a law. due for a senate vote next week. >>> hundreds of lawsuits are piling up over allegedly toxic drywall. there's a con ssolidated class action suit moving forward in louisiana. that's accordin

jennifer westhoven is looking out for you and you want to know too? >> the fda is looking for closely. that's good news because a lot of nutritionists said what is goggin here, when we were telling about what's going on with the smart choice labels. they wanted to try and make things uniform before each different company had their own icon, it was pretty confusing, so they're trying to do a good thing. but is it necessarily working with if mayonnaise and sugary cereal gets the label. the product would have to meet the government's standards before it could be labeled as healthy or a smart choice. when you see mayo saying it's healthy, you wonder. there's usually a lot of fat in it. >> the same issue about those little labels with appliances. >> yes, can you trust industries to you know--their job, their mission is to look out for their stock hoeders not for you. >> tell me how you feel, jen. >> that's their stated mission. >>> all right, your money, the $700 billion bailout it may have avoided a great depression, but at what price? that's from the man