for those of you wanting to know what i would have done back at my old hedge fund. there's always a bull market somewhere and i try to find it right here on "mad money." i'm jim cramer and i'll see you tomorrow! tomorrow! russia moves troops closer to ukraine. china's economy crushes and ours is nots so hot either. meanwhile, congress' paul ryan talks about fighting poverty. and the leftist police finally called him a racist. well,is he's going to join us le toin explain his remarks and te us about his plan to help the poor and tell us how to get america moving again. kathleen sebelius admits obamacare will raise health insurance plans next year and she alsond says there will be n delay beyond the march 31st.

you are going to extend the deadline and the individual mandate is dead. >> quietly, without any fanfare, people question whether the white house willhe abandon the mandate with obamacare at the heart of it. >> good i evening, everyone. i'm larry kudlow. this is "the kudlow report." we're live " here at 7:00 p.m. eastern and 4:00 p.m. in the west. the stock market suffered pretty big losses, especially from the russian military on the ukraine border and unexpectedly low numbers from china. let's bring in dominic chu to explain all of that. >> the lastn time we saw a mart selloff to this degree was back

on february 3rd when stocks drop because weaker china numbers came out and u.s. manufacturing data wasng weaker than expected. all told, the dow drops 231 points, nearly a percent and a half. the s & p is down over a percet and the nasdaq is down 1.5% as well. if you take a look at the sectors, where the action was, it was pretty much right across the board. you canar see the cyclical sects like technology, industrials, consumer discretionary, the retail stocks got hit the worst. the lone spot here, utilities. it was more of a defensive sector and less economically sensitive. now, you also saw it play out on the bond market. it started at 2.74% and dropped all the way down towards session lows around 2.65. so again, a very, very sharp move in yields to the downside.

that means people are buying up the safety of u.s. government bonds. you have to talkt about what is driving it. china, like you said, a real concern for traders. what is happening for the second biggest world economy? is it slowing down? that is going to beis key. what is happening in ukraine, crimea? to be official, not official? who really says it's going to be worth anything tooi the overall markets? they are still concerned about what is happening in ukraine, in crimea. to be some kind of military action? all of these traders, larry, are trying to jockey for some kind of position. back over to you. >> stickba around. we've got much more to talk to you about. i want to raise one quick point. i didn't think retail sales helped much either today. january revised lower. february's pretty mediocre. you're being looking at three-month retail sales minus column, less than zero. that's not a great story for the usa. >> no. and this is just the first quarter of this year. you tack that on to what was viewed as a weaker holiday

shopping season at the end of last year and really calls into question whether or not the consumer here, remember, american consumers make up abot two-thirds or more of the u.s. gross. domestic product. so again, if those consumers aren't spending, that's a real cause for concern, larry. >> codominic, stay with us. let me get through other stuff. as you mentioned, there were worries about russian troops massing on the ukraine border. that was one of the factors that hurt stocks today. ian williams is in ukraine. what can you tell us? >> reporter: good evening, larry. russia shows no signs of backing down in its plans seemingly to annex crimea as soon as possible. for good measure, moscow even announced fresh military exercises involving 8,500 troops. campaign, if you will call

it that, is very low key. you don't see much sign of campaigning. there are large posters by the road. we stopped at a small town along the coast, went to one of the offices where they were preparing for the vote. they had leaflets there and donations for the so-called self-defense forces. we didn't see much beyond that. there was a polling station. perhaps one explanation of that came in the words of one organizer. he said, we're already organizing the winning party for next tuesday. so they are not much in doubt about which way the vote will go. on the diplomatic front, angela merkel today is weighing in saying it will be a catastrophe if russia didn't change direction. perhaps in a last way of averting that catastrophe, john kerry will sit down with sergey

lavrovy in london to see if something can be salvaged at the 11th hour ahead of the referendum. the signs here on the ground are not encouraging. larry? >> all right. many thanks to ian williams. appreciate it. now also, folks, late-breaking news. secretary state john kerry told the senate appropriations subcommittee that the u.s. and eu will not recognize the sunday crimea referendum and that on monday they will unite to impose sanctions on russia and i quote, there will be a very serious, series of steps, end quote. all right. let's break it down and look at the selloff and what may lay ahead. capital growth management, chief investment officer of index financial partners, cnbc's own

dominic chu will give us his important guidance. le referendum and militaryim troops is bad enough. monday they may start the sanctions. >> i think the growth is going to sell rate. recentl results have been held back by the most bitter weather in 20 years. clearly you can't forecast what is going to happen in europe and there are scenarios that there would cause the market to go lower before it goes higher. no matter what happens, our economy sixen months from now wl look a lot better than it does today and the stock market will reflect that. that's a way to look at this. >> your advice, basically, ken, would be whatever happens in the next days ahead regarding sanctions or what not with ukraine, you would say buy the dip. is that fair? >> i would buy the dip. one of the things, it's very

unpredictable but these crises -- the ultimate buying opportunity is the cuban missile crisis in 1962 when the economy was fine and if you bought it and we went to nuclear war, it didn't matter anyway. >> jack, do you agree with kenneth or do you have a different take? >> i think kenneth is absolutely right.ol a couple percentage points off of these highs. and if you think back last month weon saw the exact same thing happen in beginning of february and it was a buying opportunity. now, look, this is the consequences of what happens when you talk loudly and carry a small rystick, which is exactly what this administration is doing and we are going to have to live with those consequences. you know,eq putin is going to te this as far as he can but the reality is this. what we saw today is what i would call a large global margin call. it takes the 50 billion portfolios to liquid date a little bit because they are

worried about confiscations. so there is a very, very big fear right now, especially among -- >> that's a good point. they may be selling. that's a very interesting point. dominic, let me just ask you this. another factor here is china. the news from china, industrial production allows the retail sales that came way below estimates. china is tightening credit. they are actually deregulating short-term interest rates. how big a factor is china? what's the china buzz? >> the interesting part is that the traders throughout the course in the past couple of weeks had china front and center for good reason it's the world's biggest second economy. but now the focus is really tilted a little bit towards whaw is happening in ukraine, crimea, and what's happening there because, again, it's one thing for an economy to slow down. when you start adding possibly bullets or military action to the a mix, you can't plan for i.

what is interesting, this has not been in any way, shape, or form, a panic selloff in terms of stocks. we have lost a little more than a percent in stocks. it's been a slow grind down. we're only 2 or 3% away from all-time highs in the both the dow and s & p. this is not some flood of offers to sell stock in the market. what this iset in contrast is a lack, if you will, of bids to come in and buy this market. there's a big difference between wanting to come in and flood the order with sells or just say i want to stay back a little bit, larry. >> i think that the negative shock therapy -- and i don't want to waste too much time on this because nobody knows the answer. negative shock therapy is a russian invasion of eastern ukraine. besides the crimea elections. >> sure. >> which may trigger sanctions, we don't know if russia is going to turn to a full-force invasion as they did in 2008 in georgia. we just don't know. that by itself may not even

affect the united states very much aty all but i think it's a shock effect that will reverb rate through the economy. labor costs are low and productivity is rising slightly. prices are rising above cost. there is cash in pristine balance sheet. don't you think there are bargains out there? >> iba think there are bargainsn this market. industries are sole consolidating. the earnings are going to surprise on the reupside. the home-building industry, we're underbuilding houses. at some point there has to be a substantial increase in housing starts. it's hard tosi know when it's going to be. the short positions are up in the stocks. there's controversy about what the outlook of the spring selling season o is. i can tell you that the numbers that i get from my isi weekly on home building orders show quite

a bit strong, sharp move to the upside since december. >> do you have any names? do you prefer anyyo names? you usually give us a couple good names. >> not in the home builders but in the airlines we just don't know what is going to happen when they report the earnings in the next month orar two. in the airlines, i think united, continental, american airlines, delta, they are all going to participate strongly in this. >> all right. thank you very much. jack, what's your next step, buddy? >> i think we've got to buy this dip and pay real close attention to copper. copper under $3 is a warning signal. we have to be careful. if that continues and we see that downtrend continue, that may signal that things are going to slow down the second half of the year. all in all, what you said is absolutely right. corporate america is strong. it's healthy. they are buying back their own stock. shortage stock developing out there. so here you've got portfolio managers looking for bargains.

unfortunately, there are less and less because there's less and less stock out there. it's something we're going to have to pay attention to. >> i hate to be redundant. i know ukraine is going to be important in the next few days. i know china's retail sales are very important. but profit is the mother's stock and imo know it's a global stor but nonetheless, u.s. profits are at record high levels and show no signs of tanking down. and that's why i, frankly, am optimistic about this whole story. i know there's going to be a lot of speculation and i know there's shock effects from places like the ukraine. we'll see. anyway, thank you very much. you've been great on this program. we appreciate it. jack,it buddy, thanks a million. dominic, as always, great to have your commentary. coming up next, congressman paul ryan who joins me live to talk about getting people out of poverty, back to work, and off

the government dull. gomeanwhile, the individual mandate, i say it's dead. there's been so many delays and extensions, it's not even enforceable and the only person who doesn't understand the mandate is dead is the woman in charge, haa secretary kathleen sebelius. and please don't forget, free markete capitalism is the best path to prosperity. you start getting rid of the health care mandates, we could start returning to capitalism. i'm kudlow. we'll be right back. 'll be righ. so our business can be on at&t's network for $175 a month? yup. all 5 of you for $175. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential? add a line, anytime, for $15 a month. low dues, great terms. let's close!

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so, does the republican party have the right pro growth message that could help carry big wins in the coming november midterms? i say the gop needs a positive message out there and they especially have to appeal to the middle class and what i call and ronald reagan calls take-home pay. that's what will make american home. ronald, as always, to be joined exclusively by an old friend, paul ryan. congressman ryan, great to see you again. thanks for coming on. >> good to see you, larry. congratulations. >> nine years. i ran longer than most soap operas. let me get a quick take, how do you see this ukrainian story?

john king up on the hill said sanctions probably on monday. what do you think? >> it's really important. the question is, how do they get the people closer to putin. i think there's a huge energy play to make with respect to l & g and natural gas. putin is not going to have that grip on europe like he intends on having. this has to be costly. it has to show that the world is not going to stand by and let these things happen. i'm encouraged from what has been reported on this. let's see what the sanctions are but if he can get europe, that's a good step in the right direction. >> thank you for that. second point, you've done this a lot. i don't know why the left got on your case all of a sudden. you've been in inner cities, to the projects, you've talked about the importance of the culture of work and you've talked about poverty tracks, poverty traps for everybody,

men, women of color and so forth. the left wing blogs are accusing you of being a racist. i want you to have a chance to tell the left-wing bloggers a word or two. >> my words came out a little long but the point i've been making all year long is this. if you look at the war on poverty which is in its 50th year now, we have isolated the poor from the rest of america in so many ways, we have almost quarantined people and people are trapped in poverty, not to mention the inadvertent problems with the government's response on poverty has created barriers for people to work. you and i talk marginal tax rates all the time so we created these barriers to work. we're isolating people from poverty and we need to

reintegrate people from poverty. we need to have better strategies aimed at outcomes. do these ideas and policies get people out of poverty or are we measuring success at how much money we throw at programs? we need to rethink this approach. what we are doing right now is not working. point number two, growth is key. growth is king. we don't have growth going into these communities the way it's working right now. >> you know, it's almost like -- i really -- these left wingers, you know who they are. >> sure. >> she's guys call any of us pointing out the perverse incentives and offering to change the incentives and to change the whole culture, calling us racist is insane. that doesn't help the poor people out there who need a cultural -- it's time somebody put some fresh eyes on this. i've been talking to our friend, yours and mind, robert woodson about this very same project.

i don't want to spend too much time on it. >> let me tell you, bob can tell you, there's phenomenal great stories going on in our poor communities of people fighting poverty successfully. there's phenomenal stories of people who are doing this, who are succeeding. we need to learn from them so we can replicate this and clear the barriers so they can flourish and succeed and replicate the success story. that's the message we're trying to get. sometimes we are messy in what we're trying to communicate but the status quo is indefensible. >> all right. next question, big win for the republicans on tuesday night in florida. big win. my question to you, paul, is can the gop make this into a real cycle year, a real wave year by connecting to the middle class for what ronald reagan used to call take-home pay or after-tax

income? gop didn't seem to do that in 2012. i'm just saying, here's an opportunity. everybody knows that everybody is pissed off about obamacare but can you all show them a better life and better wages and more hours worked? >> i just had a vision of the last campaign. so look, obviously we didn't win the election so there's more things we've got to do. here's the key. we've got to have a growth agenda and plan. dave put out a plan the other day, people have issues with the details but we're talking about ideas and debating solutions and the models show us just the joint tax model shows us $1400 in more take home pay for the families, 1.8 million new jobs. we're talking about an energy boom that could turn this country around, turn around manufacturing. we're talking about job

manufacturing reform to get people in the career and curriculum that they need so they can get really good jobs because we can have more careers in manufacturing and high skilled if we get these government policies out of the way. they need to take pressure off monetary policy, stabilize interest rate, tax reform, regulatory reform, clear, transparent, predictable regulations and more importantly, let's get this education system turned around. we're having a vigorous debate about charter schools and choice and skills. we've got to succeed in this debate, implement these reforms and there's no stopping this country, as far as i'm concerned. >> it's so bizarre to me. i don't think people in this country are worried so much about the minimum wage as they are getting a good wage. i mean, median wages have been falling. >> that's true. >> i don't think it's a question

of overtime. i think it's a question of working more time, not 25 hours but 30 hours or back to a 40-hour work week and to me that has to be done with macroeconomic reforms that would just put some torque behind this which is the worst recovery since the post world war period. >> look at the headwind. we've got obamacare cutting down to a 30-hour work week. we have regulation after regulation. we have tax rates that are all-time high, higher than all of our foreign competitors are and a government that says we will not pay down the debt in fact we're going to take it to 25 trillion. 63% increase in spending. those are the signals being sent to investors and entrepreneurs and workers and business owners, small business owners across this country. it puts a chilling effect on growth and that's why we're limping out of this recession. it's an anemic recovery.

we're walking into a dead decade. but we know what we've got to do to win this. we've got to show the country a real choice, here's a vibrant agenda to increase jobs, ta take-home pay and make sure everybody no matter where they are or stage of life they are in, we have better ideas to help them reach their potential. >> got to reach out to everybody. we don't have time to talk about immigration reform. anyway, house budget chair paul ryan, thank you ever so much. >> congratulations, you're an asset to the country. >> thank you, paul. you tank care yourself. up next on "the kudlow report," the great art lafler. we're going to get his perspective on how to make america great again. i'm kudlow. please stay with us. se stay wit.

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larry. you guys have been reporting on the recall. we're talking about several gm models from '03 to '07. according to hundreds of pages of court documents in video depositions of gm engineers reviewed by nbc news, there has been a partial fix back in 2005 but gm decided not to announce to car owners that it was available. general motors is now acknowledging that a potential problem with its ignition switches first surfaced in 2003. that's three years earlier than previously reported. video depositions show that nearly nine years ago gm engineers proposed a limited solution, to make sudden ignition shutoff less likely, a problem that gm acknowledges is now linked to at least 12 deaths. the testimony also shows that other gm officials made a business decision not to spend what a plaintiff's expert has described as about a dollar per

car on what they called only a partial fix. >> they knew how to fix the problem or substantially reduce the problem and solely for cost reasons chose not to fix the problem. >> that is lance cooper who settled on behalf of the family of brooke a 29-year-old who died on her birthday in 2010 when her '05 chevy cobalt crashed. >> her ignition shut off turning off the system and antilock brakes. >> she hydroplaned and was hit in the side by another car. >> this is the type of car key at issue. gm says in the recall that weight like a heavy dangling key chain can cause it to move. see that large opening in they

proposed redesigning the key to replace this slot with a hole. gm says the design was initially approved but later canceled. instead, the company ordered these inserts for any customer who came in to a dealership complaining of an ignition problem. only 474 inserts were handed out. lawyers at this deposition last year asked gary altman, the former program engineering manager for chevy cobalt why? >> it made a business decision not to fix this problem and five months later sold her a vehicle with the problem, didn't it? >> object to form, argumentative. lack of foundation. >> you can answer. >> that is what happened, yes. >> altman, who is still with gm, went on to say that the reason gm decided not to make the key fix in 2005 was that the change could not 100% fix the problem. altman also said he did not agree that the car was unsafe. >> the car could still be maneuvered to the side of the road. >> reporter: we found altman

outside of his home in suburban detroit. >> you mentioned something about a business decision and you rejected -- >> i'm not going to comment on that. >> reporter: and asked him to clarify his testimony. >> why did it take so long for these recalls to happen. >> i can't answer that question. >> reporter: a high-level executive told me that gcm is deeply troubled about the decisions that were made. >> one single death is enough to make a recall. >> reporter: the justice department is also looking into whether gm may have required car makers to report problems to congress promptly. congress is planning hearings and larry, while gm declined to comment on camera about our investigation, company officials made it very clear that they are fully cooperating with federal regulators. >> all right. we'll leave it there. gabe gutierrez, appreciate your ace reporting.

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secretary kathleen sebelius admits that obamacare premiums are going up next year. huh? really? i thought they were supposed to be going down this year and next year and forever. then again, with all of the exempts and extensions put in place by president obama, the guts of the individual mandate are being ripped out. if you're going to extend the march 31st deadline, by the way, i don't care what miss sebelius says, they may wind up extending it forever. here are two policy experts. betsy, start with you. this may be a minor point in the whole downfall of obamacare and the individual mandate but sebelius going before congress saying obamacare premiums are going to go up? i thought that was one of the principle of the entire program.

>> well, that's right. but in fact they are going to go up in part because the enrollment figures so far are very disappointing earlier this week kathleen sebelius held a press conference announcing that the pace of enrollment is lower. many people have not paid. she declined to say how many but insurance industry experts tell us that perhaps 20, 25% of people have not paid in washington state 43% have not paid. so they haven't really purchased health insurance. they are not covered. and worst of all, only one out of every ten who is eligible for obamacare has signed up for it. 90% of those who are eligible are saying, no thanks. >> all right. let me go to matt. matt, look, not enough people are signing up. the wrong people demographically

are signing up. they are not getting the young people. they are getting the elderly people. this whole business of the new regulation which talks about hardship, okay, if you sign a document and it says you have a hardship which means you cannot pay the premiums and you've got to find premiums that are lower than obamacare and if you don't, you're off the hook, now, this has got to take a gigantic chunk of people off the whole thing and to me this, too, rips out the guts of individual mandate. >> larry, the fact that people can get a hardship exemption does take some people out of the risk pool but there are a still large number of people who could potentially sign up, whether it's the right group signing up yet. it's skewing older. we're not getting the young people at this point and it's not clear that we'll get enough of them by the end could mean that premiums will go up next year.

>> i've got to ask one more thing now. they are delayed once again for the individual mandate. if your policy was canceled and you want to renew it, you're delayed, they delay it beyond march 21st, that's three-year delay which, by the way, covers my three-year moratorium idea. but having said that, those people are going to wind up not going into obamacare because the law -- the new regulation says, if you can't get something that is less expensive and not as good, it's okay. you'll never have to pay a fine. so this is another population that's out of obamacare and the insurance companies are going to have high costs to even replace the cancellations to renewals or they are not even going to get the input of people they thought they were going to get. so therefore this is an utter, utter, failure. >> let me make it clear that the way these regulations are worded opens the door to virtually everyone to get an exemption.

it's implausible that people who once had policies and got them exempted would be exempted from the share tax and that concept has a political shelf life of about 15 minutes. it's not going to happen. but let's clue everyone in to what is actually happening to this law because the fact is the president is dismembering this law, literally chopping off key provisions of this law. as soon as he detects that there's political opposition to them. >> in other words, these decisions are coming from the white house. >> yes, they are political. >> they are not coming from larry kudlow or other critics of obamacare. they are coming from him during this election year when he said that the individual mandate was the heart and soul of the program, he's ripping it apart. so therefore, to me, it's gone. >> in fact, not only is the individual mandate is gone, the employer mandate is gone. the benefit package defined by

washington is gone. over half the deadlines in the law are gone. many consumer protections are gone. most of this law is gone. >> matt, tell me where you think we're wrong in this analysis. >> well, where i think you're wrong is that you're not still considering the vast majority of people who aren't going to look and say, can i get an exemption or should i not participate. they are going to look and say, should i buy health insurance, is affordable, should i sign up for this? and if we have people who are looking at what is available and saying, i think i'll get a deept de decent deal because the premiums are lower at least for now, we'll see some enrollment. i don't know that we'll ever get the high numbers. >> i don't mean to be -- i don't have much time. i just want to ask you, matt, on that point, on that point, aren't you shocked that miss sebelius goes up to the hill and says premiums are going up? i mean, wasn't one of the key

points for this whole obamacare story that premiums were going to come down? >> but premiums came in lower than this year than projected. they are only going to go up in the future. so we're starting at a lower base and as we have a new population that so coming in, premiums are going to go up. >> i've got to jump out. i think the only way they are going to fill this up, they are going to take what is left on earth and they are going to have to go to mars and saturn and have to go to jupiter. that's the only way that they are going to find people. anyway, thank you, as always. up next, real american business leader joins us, bill george. he's formerly of medtronic. we're also going to ask him about sanctions against russia. his old company does a lot of business there along with many other american firms. stay with us. we're kudlow.

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president obama needs to send a message to vladimir putin. a lot of companies that do business in russia are quietly expressing misgifgs that their growing operations may be sanctioned in retaliation. it's a tough mix. here now to comment, bill george, a former medtronic ceo and he currently serves on the board of exxonmobil which is doing a lot of business. bill george, this is a tough dilemma. the united states may go right down and may be forced into these sanctions and putin may retaliate and businesses are going to be caught in the cross fire. how do we get out of this? >> we want to de-escalate this conflict. when yanukovych got thrown out of the ukraine and streets of kiev, he's the one that is lost

already. i don't think we want to get into an economic war with russia. jimmy tarter tried that. yes. we've got a lot of american companies like texaco and boeing and others that have spent decades. a very important trading partner. the best way to avoid military escalation and conflicts is to have good trading relationships. >> the problem is, vladimir putin doesn't give one hoot of the economy. in other words, they are going to take over the crimea on sunday and may violate it again. and there is an obligation to uphold international law.

now, is it spob -- let's take exxonmobil, which is your company, a great company. maybe putin won't retaliate. maybe he'll need exxon more than they need him and they created a great relationship and and as far as crimea goes, it's 60% russian and used to be under russia but i hope it will not be taken over. i'd rather see it operate like an autonomous part of ukraine. we're not going to sell that. i do want to ask you something

else. and donald kendell, i knew mr. kendell. he made peace with various dictators, including stall lynn and certainly khrushchev on down. during the cold war they let him operate the pepsi-co companies and they may let them continue. it may not come to a retaliation. >> i hope not. but i also think what president obama ought to do is put a series of pressure on putin. i think that the imf stepped up with some money. this guy, yanukovych, i've heard he's stolen up to $70 billion. no wonder ukraine is broke and they have no money. with he need to help them out

there. the other thing that the president ought to do and i don't know why he didn't do it a long time ago, he ought to open up exports and the natural gas. we have plenty for the next 30 or 40 years. if we can export more natural gas into germany, then they are not sole dependent upon the russians. we don't want to split with the europeans. >> in limited time, i want to ask you this. this is a free country. we believe in free enterprise. would you please tell me, as a harvard business school professor and a former ceo, what right does our federal government have to tell private companies who to hire, how much to pay them, and when to pay them? this business about dictating by executive order, so-called overtime, in my opinion, is just completely, utterly counter. not only in a free market capitalism but to american laws.

>> i think the president is making a huge mistake here. the whole thing we are trying to do is elevate all of our employees to professional workers. now we are going to tell a restaurant manager and software workers and that's not what we wanted to do. they wanted to elevate people and pay them for the work they do. many companies don't care whether on the job or working at home or where they are, they are going to get paid for doing the work. that's the future. larry, the key issue is not paying them overtime. it's getting the economy growing so they get the demand out there and they have the supply and we need more jobs and high level jobs. >> that's the way the game is supposed to go. please explain that to the president, appreciate you coming on. >> i would like to. >> all right. we'll talk some more. thanks ever so much. >> unfortunately, we had technical difficulties with my panel art lafter.

we'll have him back very soon. next up, michelle caruso-cabrera gets an interview with the president of the ukraine. ukraine. we miss out on the things that matter today. ♪ at axa, we offer advice and help you break down your insurance goals into small, manageable steps. because when you plan for tomorrow, it helps you live for today. can we help you take a small step? for advice, retirement, and life insurance, connect with axa. for advice, retirement, and life insurance, so our business can be on at&t's network for $175 a month? yup. all 5 of you for $175. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential? add a line, anytime, for $15 a month. low dues, great terms. let's close!

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we have some breaking news now on the growing tension in ukraine. dominic, what have you got? >> larry, our own michelle

caruso-cabrera caught up with the ukraine and today, tonight, he's meeting with the ukraine american association, a cultural advocacy group. michelle caught up with him going into dinner and asked him about what happens this weekend if the vote for crimea for russia goes as expected towards the russians. take a look at what they got. >> reporter: what does ukraine do on monday? >> on monday? >> reporter: yeah, after the results come out? >> in all possible ways. using all leverage from the international community, from our international obligations and pressing on russia. >> reporter: do you use your military? >> so interesting. would you use the military? he did not say anything. he walked away. >> i want to come back on this very question. i want to come back to the

washington examiner story where secretary of state john kerry said monday is the day for determining the united sanctions by europe and the united states. kerry was asked in this hearing today by senator lindsey graham whether ukraine asks for military assistance, will the united states help? and what kerry said was he didn't answer directly. he said, we have contingencies, we are talking through various options that may or may not be available. so they are keeping their powder dry, which i think all options on the table is the right thing to say. >> it is the right thing to say and it's also the right thing to say nothing about the use of military force at this time. even putin, despite the fact that there may be troops amassing in certain areas, there hasn't been an explicit threat of force and that's going to be the key going forward. >> anyway, there are 25,000

people in crimea. dominic chu, the best of the best. appreciate it. that's it for tonight's show. i'm larry kudlow. thanks for watching. we'll be back tomorrow evening with much more on the ukraine and just about everything else. in the new new york, we don't back down. we only know one direction: up so we're up early. up late. thinking up game-changing ideas, like this: dozens of tax free zones across new york state. move here. expand here. or start a new business here... and pay no taxes for 10 years. with new jobs, new opportunities and a new tax free plan. there's only one way for your business to go. up. find out if your business can qualify at start-upny.com

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