Jimmy Barrett and Shara Fryer take you through the stories that matter on the morning of 12/17/2018, including: Are the Democrats purposely not talking about the booming economy? Every day we see more and more stories predicting doom and gloom for the economy. You could argue the media has largely ignore the economic success of the past 2 years and as we approach the next election cycle they’re ramping up efforts to paint a dire economic future – all in an effort to affect the 2020 election; A Northwestern Mutual survey finds 44% of American say money is their number one source of stress, followed by 25% for personal relationships, and 18% say work. Released this week, John Hancock’s Financial Stress Survey found 69% of workers are stressed out over finances, with 72% admitting to worrying about their personal finances at work, and one in three doing that more than once a week. Credit card debt hit a record high this year at more than $1 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve. Student loan debt has jumped 150% in the past ten years. 1 in 4 Americans doesn’t have any money in savings for emergencies.