The fiscal cliff has economists and politicians in a tailspin. The term is used to describe what will happen if Congress fails to come to an agreement on budget cuts or tax increases by the end of the year. Some are saying the term is inaccurate, and somewhat alarmist. Linda Wertheimer talks to linguist and "Boston Globe" language columnist Ben Zimmer about the origin of the term "fiscal cliff."
Have you ever been out shopping for other people during the holiday season, and the sales were so good you couldn't help but buy something for yourself?
The National Retail Federation calls that self-gifting, and says that this year consumers who do it plan to spend an average of about $140.
Spokeswoman Kathy Grannis says that's the most in the 10 years the NRF has been asking shoppers about the trend.
"People really look forward to the holiday season and the discounts that are offered, because they know that they're going to get items significantly less than they may have any other time of the year. You know, when you see cashmere sweaters that were previously $150 now marked down to $30 and $40, that's a great example of what people would be driven towards," Grannis says.
For Jackie Lerner, last year it was a cherry-red leather purse. Lerner is a psychologist who lives outside Boston, and she's an admitted self-gifter.
"I never really wanted a red purse, but my sister-in-law did, and we were out holiday shopping. Go into the Michael Kors outlet, signs up everywhere, 20, 30, 40 percent off, and there we walked out of the store with two Michael Kors red purses," Lerner says.
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President Obama visited Myanmar, also known as Burma, on Monday. In doing so, he became the first sitting U.S. president in history to visit the country. He was greeted by cheering crowds and promised the Burmese people that the U.S. would stand by them as Myanmar moved towards greater freedom and democracy. The president's visit was a controversial one, since the government there has yet to release many people the U.S. considers prisoners of conscience and large sections of the population are still suffering inter-communal violence. However the Obama administration says it wanted to applaud the reforms that have been made, and use the visit to encourage further progress.