the prime minister of greece tuesday, days after the greek parliament approved drastic spending cuts and tax hikes aimed at cutting that nation s massive debt. more earnings reports this week including h&r block. expected to report lower earnings with more americans out of work fewer people are filing tax returns. plus, forbes magazine will tell us who s the richest of them all when it releases its list of the world s billionaires. let s go now to the prices at the pump. they are creeping up again. the national average of a gallon of gas today is $2.74. a month ago it was $2.66 a gallon. a year ago it was $1.94 a gallon. these numbers are all from aaa s daily fuel gauge report. joining us from the nbc bureau in washington is rhonda, energy expert and former associate deputy secretary of energy in the bush administration, that being bush 43. good morning, nice to see you. good morning, alex. good to see you too. where are oil prices going and what s that going to do to our
grinch at the gas pump just in time for holiday travel. gas prices rising nearly every day for the past two weeks. according to aaa s daily fuel gauge report, the national average for a gallon of regular is nearly three bucks, folks, and that s about 40 cents more than it was this time last year. brian sullivan of the fox buzz network knows why. why? supply and demand. i mean, an improving economy s a good thing except it puts people more in a traveling mode. they want to get their car. the world, china continues to grow, and there s more demand for every barrel of oil, and that is sending prices go up. megyn: i thought oil prices go down as the economy suffers. is that not right? as it goes down, it will. megyn: so is it in any way a good sign? does it reflect on our improving economy? it does which is the downside, right? [laughter] things are better so we re going to say, hey, you know, i can afford that trip now.