As DACA's fate heads into a crucial week, it's still unclear whether the president fully grasps the key numbers and definitions behind the divisive issue. FactCheck.org's Robert Farley joins Cheddar to break down exactly how many people DACA affects, and what it really means. He traces the president's history of getting his numbers wrong when describing the overall population of Dreamers.
The president is on the record saying he's heard varying numbers on the DACA population. Trump approximates the number as somewhere between 650,000 and three million. Farley reveals the accurate figure, and why politicians are so likely to misrepresent the numbers.
Then, we discuss Senator John Cornyn's (R-TX) claim that America is, "the most generous country in the world when it comes to legal immigration." Farley acknowledges it's true that the U.S. gives permanent legal status to more immigrants than other industrialized nations. However, when it comes to the overall percentage of the nation's total population, the U.S. ranks 18th.
Cheddar's Chloe Aiello has our cannabis year-in-review, breaking down how several states legalized adult recreational use and greenlit medicinal use in 2021. She noted that while a cannabis legalization and decriminalization bill was introduced in Congress this year, potential FDA involvement in the industry, as well as a 25 percent excise tax, killed any chance the bill had of moving forward. Aiello also speculated that some form of cannabis reform could be rolled out in 2022, as the midterm elections draw closer.
Jim Worden, Chief Investment Officer at Wealth Consulting Group, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says the period between Christmas and New Year's is difficult to predict due to a lack of institutional volume, with the Omicron variant adding even more uncertainty on Wall Street.
Prices at the pump this year reached a seven-year high, and a new forecast from GasBuddy shared with CNN predicts that gas prices will only continue to rise in 2022 and that the national average could even reach $4.00 a gallon; however, analysts at GasBuddy say anything could happen when it comes to gas prices in the future, as the pandemic has made it difficult to make any predictions about the economy. Consumer Energy Alliance federal policy advisor Michael Zehr joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
David Stryzewski, CEO of Sound Planning Group, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says that some of the major stock positions are getting the most lift to the upside as the major indexes climb higher to begin the week.
