On Tuesday, we had two Congressmen on the show to talk about the auto bailout.  Since I like to be fair and balanced, below watch the perspective from two members of Congress.  The first is Represenative Brad Sherman, a Democrat.  Then next up is Representative Ron Paul of Texas, a Republican.

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Take a look at this chart, I found it from a Professor at Harvard’s blog after someone mentioned him to me moments ago.  The chart shows you why American auto companies are struggling, and Asian automakers are faring better.  (they have problems also, but not to the extent our companies do.)  He is a Professor at Harvard, Greg Mankiw, and he posted this chart courtesy of another professor, who is based in Flint, Michigan of all places.

Cost Differences

Tomorrow, Saturday, I am going to be anchoring throughout the afternoon on several things.  The most important thing?  Your money!  Of course the backdrop of our coverage is the G20 Summit, but we are having our own financial summit in our studios in New York.  Stuart Varney, Dagen, Tom, and myself plus a panel of experts, some surprise guests, and of course some talks with my main man Neil Cavuto.  He’s in Washington at the White House.  He gets the best assignments, but hey, he’s Neil.

Email us at feedback@foxbusiness.com OR call us tomorrow 877 249 9626 between 8am and 4pm Eastern time.

TGIF

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That was my best guess on the show today, that unemployment goes to 8% by December.  Retailers will not hire seasonal workers, and more white collar jobs are going to be lost.  Out of Chicago today, news that city workers and private sector jobs are going going gone.  We are working to get Mayor Daly on the show tomorrow, I will keep you posted.

Also, this assessment of initial jobless claims from Charles Brady of the fox Business desk:

“The number of Americans seeking first-time jobless benefits jumped 32,000 to 516,000 last week, the highest since September 2001 (during the last recession). We should note that initial claims have crossed above the half-million mark in each of the last five recessions.

Another important measure in this morning’s report was continuing claims. This figure tracks the number of workers collecting benefits for more than one week. Continuing claims rose by 65,000 to 3.897 million last week. That was the highest in 25 years (since January 1983). A rise above the 3.5 million level has coincided with each of the past five recessions. Continuing claims have been climbing steadily since last October. The rising trend means it’s taking unemployed people longer to find jobs. Today’s report comes on the heels of the monthly employment data out last Friday, which showed the unemployment rate jumping to a 14-year high of 6.5% in October.”

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Everyone loves to blame the media, it’s almost as much fun I think for folks as blaming the politicians (well, they are responsible for policy).  So is it the media’s fault that 72% of us now believe that we are in a recession? That is the assertion made by recent polling data, and I thought about this as we get into the holiday shopping season.  Is it our fault?

Will Americans ignore their own pocketbooks and investment accounts if the media stops talking about the word “recession?”  Is it the media that is fueling the economic downturn? I cannot possibly answer this because I AM the media, but I also look at the data such as manufacturing activity and indexes, and I see the losses in black and white.  The government tells me people are losing their jobs and we now have 6.5% unemployment in this country.

If people don’t spend this holiday season, is it because they really don’t have the money, or the media has convinced them they don’t have the money? Thoughts?

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