Ahead. A packed two hours for you. New york mayor cory booker will join us. And poet journalist, angela davis will join us as well. Gold medal olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas has written a new book. And judy chu is with us, and the macks join us, and singer adam lambert. Monday, december 10th. And starting point begins right now. Wow, thats an ominous little graphic right there. Yes that is because the fiscal cliff is what were talking about this morning. Thats the starting point. President obama and the House Speaker speaking face to face for the first time in more than three weeks. The two men who stand between millions of americans and the fiscal cliff sat down, had a conversation. A Critical Development 22 days away from the cliff, which means severe tax hikes and spending cuts unless the two can find a way to compromise. Nobody is saying much. But spokesperson says the lines of communication remain open Erskin Bowles said this. You know, they have started to tango now and any time have you two guys in there tangoing, have you a chance to get it done. Our white house correspondent, brianna keilar, live in washington, d. C. This morning. It doesnt sound like very much. But i guess were making a lot out of it, a first step. Any indication where it goes next . We dont know where it goes next. They are saying the lines of communication are open. Were expecting the white house and the speakers office, they are going to continue talking. We dont know when the meeting, the next meeting will be between president obama and the speaker this is something certainly promising, because they havent spoken in person for a few weeks. Havent spoken oneonone since the election, so this is something that could be promising, but House Republicans are still publicly saying they dont want to capitulate to the white houses demand that income tax rates for the wealthiest americans increase. That said, listen to what i agree ing number of republicans, including senator bob kocorker e saying. A growing group of folks are looking at this and realizing we dont have a lot of cards as it relates to the tax issue before year end. A lot of people are putting forth a theory and i actually think it has merit. You go in and give the president the 2 increase that its talking about. The rate increase on the top 2 . And all of a sudden, the shift goes back to entitlements. Now, it seems soledad, that the growing talk here is among row public i had c republicans saying budge on giving the rate increase to the top 2 , the wealthiest americans. Maybe not go up as much as the white house wants, but give them the increase so we can move on to entitlements, talk about Social Security and medicare. That is a senator, and president obamas major obstacle is dealing with House Republicans. If they do nothing, everybodys rates go up anyway. Thats exactly right and there is growing international pressure. We heard from the head of the imf saying, if you go this route no, growth in the u. S. , there is starting to be pressure not from within the u. S. , but from outsides. And the president heads to michigan today trying to put pressure from inside the u. S. As he tries to raise awareness of and really push republicans from outside washington to increase tax rates. Brianna keilar, thank you, brianna. Well talk with newark mayor cory booker about the cliff negotiations. Authorities in mexico have found the wreckage of a small plane they believe was carrying Popular American banda singer jenni rivera. No survivors on the plane crash. They took off from monterrey, mexico and were heading to an airport near mexico city. The wreckage is in nuevo leon. More from rafael romo. Jenni rivera won two Billboard Music awards and sold more than 50 million records in a career that spanned just over a decade. Not only that, she was also an incredible businesswoman. She owned a company that created and marketed her own music. A fragrance, Jeans Factory and also a a company that manufactured and sold some of her products some of shes very well known by mexican americans in the United States and just as popular in mexico. And you can imagine this morning, soledad, many are mourning her loss. So true. The kind of music she sings, its called banda music what is that . Its a regional mexican music, heavy on brass. Talks about the life of common, regular people. And it was appealing to mexican immigrants, especially in the state of california where she was born, soledad. So incredibly popular and she was known as the diva of banda. She popularized that genre of mexican music. Sad story. Thank you, rafael. Appreciate it. John berman back from vacay. Welcome back. Great to be back. We may learn as early as today, the identity of an elite navy s. E. A. L. Rescuing an american doctor held hostage in afghanistan. We know the s. E. A. L. Was a member of s. E. A. L. Team 6, the same group that took down osama bin laden. We dont know if he was part of that raid. Dr. Dilip josephs family issued a statement offering thanks and condolences. The radio show that pulled a prank where kathryn the dutches of cambridge was a patient was shut down. They are stunned by the nurses death. There isnt a minute that goes by that we dont think about her family and what they are going through and the thought we may have played a part in that is gut wrenching. Jacintha saldanha was duped into believing that the queen was on the phone to speak to the duchess. The duke and duchess are deeply saddened about saldanhas death. Josh brent free on 500,000 bond. He was driving drunk when his mercedes flipped and caught fire on early sunday morning. Jerry brown jr. Died in that crash. And his teammates were playing in cincinnati, where the cowboys pulled off an emotional victory over the cincinnati bengals. Right to work opponents, expected to start converging on michigans capital today. The protest is expected to swell to thousands tomorrow when the senates house and senate are trying to hammer out an agreement to make them the 24th right to work state. We have more from the capital. Good morning, john. All quiet at the Michigan State c capitol behind me. Governor rick sniyder expected o sign this bill tomorrow, you can expect thousands of protesters between now and team it would ban contracts that require workers to join a union. To pay union dues. Those in favor of the bill say what it would do is help the economy by saving jobs, bringing more work to michigan. Even raising salaries by not forcing union dues on workers. Those against the bill say that those benefits that they have now, those jobs that they have now, could take a major hit. Obviously, huge political implications and well be watching to see how the action unfolds. Allison kosik in lansing, michigan. Where we expect huge protests over the next few days. Else where after taking a lot of heat for a hateful rap against u. S. Soldiers, psy with the hit gangam style was spotted shaking hands with president obama over the weekend. Psy performed at an event, and he apologized for the concert where he rapped with slowly and painfully killing u. S. Military members and their families. A decade later hes a star and people are going through all that video. The lyrics on that, interesting. Still ahead on starting point, governor Chris Christie could have a challenger when his term is up. Well talk about cory booker about the growing buzz surrounding his political future and she is americas golden girl. Gabby douglas will join us later this hour. Will tell us how she almost quit right before the olympics. Frustrated. Wanted to give up her sport and go work at chickfila. Hopefully shell bring her mom in. Her mom has been a big help in her life. Well talk about that. Businesswise, whats happening . Fedex trucks will fill the streets today. The biggest shipping day when they will get your gifts, so many of them, this will be a record day for them. Will you get your gifts on time . You will if you are shipping by today. You are watching starting point. Yeah. One Phillips Colon Health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. Approved [ female announcer ] live the regular life. Phillips. Its lots of things. All waking up. Connecting to the global phenomenon we call the internet of everything. Its going to be amazing. And exciting. And maybe, most remarkably, not that far away. Were going to wake the world up. And watch, with eyes wide, as it gets to work. Cisco. Tomorrow starts here. Time for citi price rewind. 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Potato with bacon. Weve got a lotta empty cans. [ male announcer ] hear from our chefs on facebook this friday good morning. Welcome back to starting point fedex bracing for its busiest day ever. It will handle more than 200 packages per second. The reason . Internet sales are booming and driving Holiday Shipping volume up by 10 over last year. Gas prices tumbled 46 cents over the past two months according to the lundberg survey. Refining problems being resolved at the same Time Seasonal demand is shrinking. The National Average price for of regular, 3. 34. U. S. Stock markets down after closing mixed on friday. European stocks down after supermario monte announced an early resignation and japan is in a recession. Dour moods around the world this morning. I know that will affect us early. Christine, thank you. 22 days until we fall over the fiscal cliff. Some people have described it more as a gentle slide. There are reports of progress that might avoid disaster, the white house confirms that the speaker, john boehner and president obama met at the white house yesterday. Both released statements basically they wouldnt say anything, but that the lines of communication remain open. Can we hope for a deal any time soon . Cory booker, the mayor of newark, new jersey. Nice to have you with us. Very nice to be here. Not part of the fiscal cliff discussions, apparently downo the two of them. What happens to your city if we go over the fiscal cliff . Its a real challenge for people all over my state, frankly. A lot of families in this tough economic time, seeing them having 2,000 or more on average of expenses of not enjoying tax cuts, will make a real impact. People barely making mortgage payments, falling behind on car payments this will be a difficult thing. And that will have a multiplier affect. People who dont have extra money to spend hurt the stores that that would be shopping in, the food they would be buying, so on, so forth this is a time we cant have a government that is especially republicans, holding hostage all of this country. 98 of our country. A negotiation. So i wouldnt i get are you a democrat. So you will blame it on republicans. Democrat, republican, we saw the last time what happened we had a conflict like this around the debt ceiling debate. The debate ground on and Consumer Confidence dipped, the economy was hurt. Credit downgraded. How likely it is we will have a deal . I am really hoping after seeing what happened last time, i really hope we learned a lesson from this. Washingtons inaction, People Holding folks hostage over issues to me that are that are we should be debating about, extending tax cuts for 98 of americans will really hurt people. And these arent folks making 250, half a million a year this will really hurt their families. Bob kosher said this over the weekend. Seems like he is ready to acquiesce a little bit. There is a growing group of folks that are looking at this and realizing that we dont have a lot of cards as it relates to the tax issue before year end. A lot of people are putting forth a theory and it has merit. Where you go and get the president the 2 increase. A much less of a tax increase than hes been talking about the focus then shifts to entitlements and that maybe puts us in a place where we can actually do something that really saves this nation. He is a republican, laying out, listen, we could do a deal on the tack thing, we dont have a lot of leverage. But the worry is, what about the entitlements, spending, thats what they are concerned about. What spending cuts do democrats need to put on the table that actually make a difference . You are absolutely right. Its good to see Many Republicans going back now on pledges that they made often decades ago. This is ridiculous. We wont get out of this only by spending cuts. There has to be a balanced approach to how were doing it it will have to be a balance between raising revenue and a balance between making cuts. Simply that. This is Something Congress will work out. I wish that many more americans actually had seats at the table. But we know this. Social security, they have to do a Balance Sheet analysis. We cant spend more money than you are taking in. Some entitlements, we have to make ways to make them solvent and strong again. Timothy geithner said farm bill subsidies are on the table. If, in fact that is on the table, the bulk of your Food Stamps Program is under the umbrella of the farm bill. In fact, its almost 70 of the farm bill. Which is kind of interesting, right . Brings us back to what your experiment wasory t ory ver the challenge, living off food stamps. Look at the president s plan, a very balanced approach, calls for Infrastructure Investment that will give us longterm economic return. If you think you will solve our problem if we wanted to go on a diet and we do it by cutting out a pound of flesh it will hurt the body as a hole. So food stamps an area you get a longterm economic benefit. Especially if you think of the children, the families who have children, a large pestage of people receiving socalled food stamps in the snap challenge. Giving them a chance to go to school with a nutritionally Good Foundation is a challenge. Two bills. One that makes cuts in the senate. Very difficult, very challenging. You have senators like senator stabenow saying well do innovative things, with access like to fresh and healthy foods. We want to protect recipients. And the president is saying he wont make cuts with the house bill. The house bill makes deep cuts, hurting the 46 million american whos are receiving this benefit right now. I can tell you from very personal experience, aint that much money. Did you it for a week, a suppleme supplement. Veterans are on the snap program, even a small percentage of military families are on snap. They rely heavily on it. A large pestarcentage of americ who rely on snap, it pulls them above the poverty line. Are you going to run for governor . That was a magic johnson. A nolook pass. A great move. You know this is the next week to two weeks. Polling shows christie way ahead. The polling showed george bush way ahead. You look at headtohead matches, doesnt put him that far over 50 . So we think that any democrat christie is vulnerable. A lot of issues on the state hes not falling in line. From womens issues, environmental issues, a balanced way. I will consider United States senate as well. I am trying to make the decision based on where i can make the most difference in the city i love and the state i love and the nation i pledged my life to. That was a long maybe. You are too good of a friend for me im not going to give you political now were politicians. Words, words, words, words, maybe. All right. I know you will let me know. I will definitely let you know. We have to take a break. Still ahead, how about Hillary Clinton . Will they run for the white house in four years . Never too early to hop on a story i say. They will be formidable if she does, even republicans say that. Newt gingrich said that. Back in a moment. Any way you want. Fully customize it for your trading process from thought to trade, on every screen. And all in real time. Which makes it just like having your own trading floor, right at your fingertips. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. Try our easytouse scottrader streaming quotes. Its another reason more investors are saying. [ all ] im with scottrade. Its another reason more investors are saying. Music is a universal language. But when i was in an accident. I was worried the Health Care System spoke a language all its own with unitedhealthcare, i got help that fit my life. 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