. >> as patricia sabga reports, new rules and changing landscape for banking. >> this town needs this me reply one horse institution only to have someplace people can come without crawling to potter. >> in it's a wonderful life, community banks still play a vital role in the nation's economy. providing loans to small businesses and farms and individuals whose needs and profiles don't always fit the rigid criteria of big banks. >> rural areas are especially important areas served by community banks, especially smaller community banks because those are the areas that large banks either don't want to serve or are pulling back from serving. >> typically defined as banks with less than $1 billion in assets community banks fared worse than their bigger counterparts during the financial crisis. of the 414 fdic banks that failed between january 2008 and december of 2011, 85% were community banks. the roughly 7,000 community banks that survived the crisis are now wrestly with its costly legacy the raft of new regulations crafted with big banks in mind that require big money and big manpower to

patricia sabga reports. >> reporter: food stamps are one of the most hotly contested issues in the farm bill and an enduring source of political controversy since they were created. the first food stamp program was originally a way to bridge the gap between struggling city dwellers in need of food and rural farmers with crops. in 1961 president kennedy fully implemented the program, along the way, electronic benefit themselves. the program standings as the country's largest effort to counter hunger. it is officially called snap, and food stamp benefits stand today at record levels. roughly 48 million americans use them at a cost of $78 billion in 2012, an average of $133 per month per recipient. eligibility depends on your income level, you can't buy alcohol, cigarettes or hot food. but it provides an overall boost to the economy. >> for every dollar that is spent through food stamps, you generate an additional $0.75 in the rest of the economy. of all of the things that lawmakers could do to help support the economy in a tough economic time, one like now, nothing is more has a bigger ba

patricia sabga has the story. >> good afternoon. >> good afternoon, mr. rowbuck. >> chely rowbuck is about to teach this class how to write computer code. >> we're going to learn a language called java script. >> reporter: his mission develop curriculum for public schools based on stem education. >> stem education is extremely powerful. what is the first step? i am trained as an engineer, and we're taught to raise questions and analyze and think critically and then come up with solutions. >> reporter: but stem education is expensive. the u.s. government has budgeted 3.1 million dollars for it. >> in the grand scheme it is less than 1% of the overall budget spent on education. >> reporter: she says schools across the u.s. need entrepreneurs like chely roebuck because there just aren't enough resources to teach stem. >> the private sector needs to help us think about how we can better leverage federal resources. >> reporter: roebuck and his team invented their own inexpensive laptop that he brings to schools. >> this is what we came up with. to design these

patricia sabga tells us the tail. >> reporter: designer handbags to high-end homes wealthy americans are lapping up luxury, fuelling growth at high-end retailers such as michael cores which saw a 31% increase in the sales last quarter. but further down, belts are tightening. wal-mart cut its forecast as its conscious consumer reigns in spending. spending and confidence are increasing in households earning $90,000 or more, but falling in those earning less than $70,000. >> for middle and lower income families there are two main problems. one is weak job growth and weak wage and salary growth for those who have jobs, and the second thing is weak balance sheets, so that is loss of housing values, and for many families more depth they are comfortable with. >> reporter: the overwhelming majority of american families are still struggling to rebuild their wealth in the weak of the great depression. while 24% will thriving. thriving households own more than three-quarters of america's financial assets, such as stocks where i have sored this year. they have also benefited the most from reboun

patricia sabga joins us now. >> a lot of people wondering and waiting over what is going to happen to jpmorgan. mor than half of jpmorgan's total profits last year, and would be the largest agreement the u.s. government has reached with a single company. jpmorgan would pay a 2 billion dollars fine to settle the investigation that it mislead investors, and 7 billion dollars is compensation to investors. 4 billion dollars is reported earmarked for consumer relief. that including reducing mortgage payments and issuing but loans to borrower with low to moderate incomes. some of the money may also be used to combat blight in areas ravaged over behousing crisis. >> i don't think that fines resinate with individual people kind of main stream consumers. i have heard over and over the refrain of i want to see somebody in handcuffs. so i think from a retribution sense i don't think people will be happy until they see that. >> this may close the door on jpmorgan's mortgage headaches, but its legal battles are far from over, including the acquisition that it rigged the libor rate. >>> i keep hear

patricia sabga, al jazeera, new york. >> reporter: financial xrpts say clothes are a good deal on cyber monday, electronics tend to be cheaper on black friday. >>> recently the scene of those devastating tornados, and andy joins us from illinois. the shelter behind you is starting to fill up. >> reporter: it is. they are expecting about 1200 people here. many of them tornado victims. this is a huge operation and the pastor tells us, they have rounded up an estimated 1200 pounds of turkey. so it all works out. they have this big room here, and another one back there. all of the food was donated by various businesses. and the people making this feast are all volunteers, and there will be some here who will have lost everything in last week's tornados. so the volunteers here say they are working off of their inspiration. >> i have a home. they don't. this was a dining hall. we decided we were going to deck it out for them to really have a nice thanksgiving day, and -- yeah, they need some good memories. >> reporter: and in fact there are several other churches and high schools who are also

patricia sabga send the day crunching the numbers. >> reporter: the 16-day government shutdown was expected to dent an already weak job market. but the latest report showed that u.s. businesses stuck to their hiring plans. the unemployment rate edged up slightly to 7.3%, but more worrying the percentage of working-age people participating in the labor force fell to 62.8%. signalling growing discouragement. >> the best remedy to address labor force participation is to grow the economy, and that's why the president keeps talking about investing in our road infrastructure. in vesting in our human capital infrastructure. because as we create those jobs that will come from those investments then you'll get more people back in the work force. >> reporter: the job market is still suffering from the same biggish dwlus have plagued it, the lack of high-paying jobs. >> we have a situation right now, where for most of this year we saw enormous creation of very low-wage jobs. >> reporter: more than 50% of all new jobs created in the private sector this year have come from three of the lowest paid group

patricia sabga reports. >> black friday gets the attention. for many retailers, cyber monday is just as important. >> my guess is we'll go short of $3 billion on cyber monday. >> this year brick and mortar retailers are offering big door buster specials. analysts are not expecting consumers to bust down doors. americans spent nearly $2 billion on cyber monday seeing double digit sales. >> retailers are recognising that consumers have a great deal of technology. they can shop, whether they are at work, through the internet and at home. >> it's not just happening on desktop computers. on the go computers are harnessing mobile devices. retails are spending money on apps. >> because of instant gratification and technology, they are offering text messaging, coupons when the client is in the store and getting a coupon. >> the last few months are brutal for retailers. walmart, target, seers and coals are expecting leaner sales as cautious consumers hold tightly to their money. >> retailers are offering shipping as a lure. >> a lot of the strength in