and bitcoin doesn't represent block chain anymore than a website represents the internet. it's one use but as our country's kind of been reluctant to provide regulatory certainty, capital has flood the united states where this innovation initially was off to a good start. for other pastures do you believe that regulatory certainty could foster increased innovation in this market in the token economy? >> i want to understand that better, but, yeah, that makes sense on its face to me. >> when you look at consumer protection, the s.e.c.'s focused on protecting the securities market and the concern is, if everything looks like a security, there's a lack of certainty for investors. and so the token tax act bipartisan legislation that would provide that certainty to say, if it meets these criteria, then it's not a security, is one that we're currently working on and hope to move through this

committee in short order beyond that, obviously, the scope of the federal reserve has a charter. and earlier, in your testimony, you talked about 2% inflation as a target here in congress and around the country and certain sectors, people hear 2%, plus or minus 0 deviation. certainly no long-term deviat n deviation. can you state that, or confirm that's the policy to target precisely 2% or to what extent is there some level of variance for higher or lower inflation? >> yes, we say that inflation, that our objective is 2% but it's a symmetric objective in the nature of an economy, it's never -- it will rarely be exactly 2.00%. it's going to be a little higher, a little lit lower as the economic activity fluctuates, as oil prices fluctuate. >> over what sort of time

horizon do you look at that? >> well, we -- one, it is symmetric in the sense we'll always be trying to get back to that and, you know, these things don't move super quickly so we will be conducting monetary policy in a way that achieves both of our objectives. we've also got our maximum employment objective so -- >> so in balance and maybe over a longer period than a quarter for example, or -- >> definitely over a longer period >> and last time we spoke, we finished talking about trade and i think it's fitting we finished talking about trade today. obviously, the united states has become really the world's land of opportunity we are a great destination for good services, capital, intellectual property, labor, including people but trade has definitely been a high point for this current administration we've strengthened our trade deals. we're working to strengthen our trade deal with china, as we

speak. but there's been a lot of consternation about tariffs. historcally, congress has overall authority for trade, and they've delegated that to the presidency my concern as we look at 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum, for example, while u.s. steel companies have benefited from higher tariffs with greater profits, the share prices have been destroyed and part of that is there's no certainty as to how long this tariff is going to last. if we passed a law weather a 25% or 200% tariff or 0 tariff, would the certainty provide better outcomes for the market >> i think certainty in these matters would be helpful >> so toward that end, we're working on the global trade accountability act my hope is that can be bipartisan and congress can eventually lock in our rates and the trade deals that do make trade great again. thank you, and my time is expired. i yield. i appreciate your testimony. >> thank you very much, chairman

powell i'd like to thank you for your testimony today. without objection, all members will have five legislative days within which to submit additional written questions for the witness to the chair which will be forwarded to the witness for their response i will ask our witness to please respond as promptly as you are able without objection, all members will have five legislative days within which to submit extraneous materials to the chair for inclusion in the record, and with that, this hearing is adjourned that's the conclusion of fed chair jay powell's two-day testimony on capitol hill this week welcome to "the exchange." i'm kelly evans. three big hearings fed chair powell wrapping up his testimony but also trade rep lighthizer answering questions about the state of negotiations with china still ongoing right now, we, of course, are monitoring headlines here former trump attorney michael

cohen appearing for the first time before congress let's begin with powell, though, and bring in our reaction panel. michael. omar and steve liesman and rick santelli are all on board as well a very busy day. hard to keep track sometimes of which hearing we were in and, frankly, lighthizer's comments overshadowed powell's because he was so hawkish on china. with regard to -- >> i knew which one i was in i knew i wasn't watching the cohen hearing. >> that was a little easier to tell >> what were the big headlines from powell? >> he was definitive about a plan coming soon to end the balance sheet run-off. that's -- he was more definitive than he's been in the past about that he said we are definitely not changing our inflation target. we're trying to communicate better that was important third, i think, was an interesting thing to watch over the past two days, kelly, about

how much concern there is both from democrats, republicans and in the senate and the house about banking mergers and banking regulation that was the big topic that kept occurring and you have two different ways this is happening. one is from rural republican senators that are concerned about bank mergers and the second is more from a democrats from the urban areas and so they seem to be united on this i was watching the stocks of bb & t and suntrust and the regional banks i didn't see much change i don't think this particular one is an issue. but i don't want to be the bank executive negotiating the next bank merger given what i heard today, the tenor, the political tenor about banks right now. >> before we go down that path, what did you think about the comments from powell, especially with regard to the balance sheet, the inflation targeting and how is the ten-year responding to all of that? >> first, let me go in reverse

order. with respect to the banking issues, you know, we remember yesterday, i talked about, after the hearings were over, that i thought the news was how the politicians on the senate side had a certain stance with regard to the federal reserve that didn't really include monetary policy steve agreed with me he just took a different angle it's the same on the house side. it's about banks my own feeling is, and this isn't meant to be giving you insight into how i think or how things should go but i think the democrats really want more control in the bank because they want to use it and more of a social settings, if you will remember, tom perez is head of the dnc. when he was secretary of labor in 2014, he tried to use disparated impact studies to get banks to make loans they shouldn't make which is at the heart of the credit crisis. a lot of blame to go around but it made banks lower the bar to get around that's at the center of this in

both chambers. and i think it's a disturbing trend because its end game is the federal reserve. >> as far as what steve alluded to, why do you think the share prices aren't moving more in reaction to that if you are an investor in these banks, wouldn't you be concerned about things headed in that direction? they seem to be sdlhrugging tha off. >> the country can move any way it wants, as long as it follows the rules. it's movement that has little potential for actually making relevant change in the here and now. maybe in the grander picture it will but that's why i don't think -- >> the reason may be that trump officials, trump-appointed officials will approve or disapprove this merger it's not up to congress. the concern is the political heat you may get and just to push back a little bit on rick -- >> the trump administration itself has its own populist leanings at times. >> but they've been very

pro-trump in -- pro-bank in terms hough thterm s of how they feel with respect to regulation. >> rural republican senators also on this issue, they do not want to see banks in their communities close down >> let me bring in michael aroni on that. we've been following the movement toward mobile apps instead of branches. whether that helps or hurts in the long run, i'm not sure what are the markets going to do with all this talk about the balance sheet and the size it will remain at and powell not saying they'll necessarily go higher than the current inflation target >> i think the big takeaway for me is the powell put lives and breathes and is well in reaction to what was a volatile period at the end of last year, powell came in his testimony and assured markets that they would be patient, that the balance sheet was going to be much bigger than it was previously, and the path forward on the balance sheet is likely to be a lot slower if not even

stop so despite the fact that fundamentals for the market continue to deteriorate some, it seems as though the fed is willing to keep the punch bowl at the party for a while longer. >> you tell clients to stay long stay in equities stay long bonds. rates aren't going any higher. >> and i would even suggest the fact that the fed is going to support financial assets it seems as though the interest rate that the mainstream economy can handle is probably a bit higher than what the financial markets can tolerate and the fed looks like they're going to lean a little bit towards the financial assets and i think powell over the last two days continued to stress the idea that inflation is likely on the back burner for a little while. talked about oil prices. and so i think he continues to suggest that inflation is not or breakaway inflation is not a challenge currently. that's going to leave rates low for a while. >> do you agree with that? >> yeah.

if you go back to the press conference in january, powell was asked what it would take to get him to hike rates later on this year. and he said i'm going to need to see an argument for rate increases. and a big part of that was inflation. right now it doesn't look like inflation is a threat moving forward. what exactly is the need for rate hikes right now why not be patient as michael pointed out. >> rick, what do you make of that >> i agree the one question nobody is asking is that i fully understood when you had qt going on a parallel track in realtime with rate hikes, that might present a problem, especially with so little knowledge on the impact of balance sheets up or down in history. but nobody has mentioned, if we're going to pause on rates, why should we drain the balance sheet more the more normal we get, the better, although i like the place powell is in right now >> if they are not going to hike rates, could they at least keep things from overheating by taking this opportunity to reduce the size of the balance

sheet? >> not even overheating. just take the opportunity when markets aren't in a funk to make the balance sheet smaller. we all know the end game the balance sheet small erates higher they're both insurance because they may have to raise the level of the balance sheet and lower rates. so why not grab more insurance while you can. >> steve, final word >> just to answer a little bit of rick's question and others on the panel as to why there's so much talk about banks and other things and not monetary policy because nobody is going to complain when the fed is not hiking rates everybody is happy here. >> good point. >> there's an assymmetric put here on inflation. nobody is going to be concerned. they don't see the inflation out there. they're not willing to preemptively fight it. no political will for it and that makes the fed assemet rick about it >> everybody nobonobody wants t about it until they have to.

>> thank you, everybody. here's what else is coming up on "the exchange. trump and kim jong-un meet again. can the u.s. get north korea to make concrete progress on the nuclear program? or will this end up as nothing more than a photo op the twitter war about work everyone is watching ivanka trump versus alexandria ocasio-cortez. plus, the skinny on weight watchers' drop and how wearables and washers are helping best buy beat the competition. this is "the exchange.

welcome back day one of the north korea summit is in the books there was a meet, a dinner and plenty of controversy. eamon javers is there with more. >> reporter: tomorrow there's going to be a signing ceremony for what they are calling a joint agreement between the united states and north korea. but no word of exactly what they're going to be agreeing to here they're going to be doing that signing ceremony after a series of meetings, bilaterals, expanded bilaterals, a working lunch. time to work out details between now and tomorrow what we do know is the president

has been making an explicitly economic pitch to kim jong-un of north korea, essentially saying, look, if you join the broader community of nations, there are a lot of economic goodies that you can have, that your country can have you can benefit. he's using the example of hanoi here the former capital of north vietnam that fought a brutal and bloody war against the united states now there is a rapprochement between these two countries and hanoi is a vibrant, thriving city economic vitality is visible all around as you walk the streets here here's the pitch the president made to the north korean leader earlier today. >> i think that your country has tremendous economic potential, unbelievable, unlimited. and i think that you will have a tremendous future with your country, a great leader. and i look forward to watching it happen and helping it to happen and we will help it to happen. >> it's not clear when we might learn what the two countries have agreed to in the behind the

scenes portions of the summit so far today. and potentially tomorrow we do expect, though, there will be a news conference in th afternoon tomorrow, hanoi time happening around 3:00 a.m. east coast time we should get some answers from the president at that point as to what exactly they were able to agree to. is this the big denuclearization deal or are they going to agree to a smaller deal, an incremental step >> one interesting development from the morning people were wondering if the president would stay up to watch the michael cohen hearing. but lighthizer said they believe they're trying to use his testimony to slow down the president's push for a china trade deal and markets did sell off when some of his headlines crossed. is there going to be a real notice of the comments that he's made here? >> you know, i think it's going to be tricky for the president to process all of that

there's a lot going on here in hanoi. the president has been out and about in the motorcade had a dinner with kim jong-un. he's also got the michael cohen hearing dominating tv. he's been tweeting about that earlier today. hasn't tweeted since the hearing started. that we've seen. we don't know whether the president is watching that in realtime, but the president is one to pay a lot of attention to what's being said about him on cable news back in the united states will he have the band width to pay attention to the lighthizer comments >> and would he sunday the markets are coming back now. dow down about 40. eamon, thank you the kim jong-un summit one of the major events we're following. also the showdown between india and pakistan let's bring in michelle caruso-cabrera >> always a pleasure >> what do you make of the progress or lack thereof on the talks with north korea >> i think what's happening in hanoi is significant that the president is attempting

to do something. and get somewhere with north korea because when you look at what's happened in india and pakistan in the last 24 hours, once again, hostilities on their disputed border. they're both nuclear powers, armed to the teeth and we have to worry once again about the possibility of nuclear war in that region a region where we fought our longest war in history in afghanistan. so to understand the significance, why what he's doing there is so important. all we have to do is look at that other situation and know de-escalation is extremely important. >> and extremely difficult and it's interesting to say, okay, well, how can the president try to get this leader to make any steps along -- in that direction he can use the stick of sanctions. sounds like he's starting to think about the carrot of economic growth and prosperity is that going to sell with kim jong-un? >> he's been talking about that carrot since the very beginning, offering out economic prosperity if you join the nation -- join

the world of nations, you can have a stronger economic base in your country whether or not kim jong-un wants that, i think depends on his internal calculus. does he see a stronger economy as something that keeps him in power or is it something that threatens his power. he can look at china and say they liberalize for 30 years they did reforms their economy got better and the community party is still in power today. or he could act like the cubans and every single time there's any little bit of market opening, they get terrified at the prosperity that it sees and brings to other people and they shut it down >> we had a guest on last week who said the vietnam model probably has kim jong-un laughing he doesn't see it as a way of liberalizing his economy but a way of waiting out the u.s., turning political appetite away from wanting to deal with that region >> that would assume we'd move

our troops from south korea. my understanding is that is nowhere in any of the discussions that are ongoing right now. you can have an end of war declaration that does not mean that we'd take our troops out of south korea. >> so that speculation is overdone >> they've shot it down repeatedly when given the opportunity. >> publicly and privately. >> there are reports that suggested the president is interested in being able to declare an end to that war and the way he's wanted to declare an end to other foreign wars and maybe he wants to say, i've achieved a piece and deserve to be internationally recognized. >> so international negotiations when it comes to peace treaties are legal definitions. different items. and an end of war declaration does not mean that we would remove our troops. as opposed to a full-on peace treaty why this is important and end of war declaration because you can't convince the north koreans that they've got to disarm unless they are secure or he is secure in his position i think that's the key implicit -- i think it's

probably been explicit to them but we're all learning implicitly we've told kim jong-un, he can keep the job you can stay in power. we're going to allow that. please understand that that's why you can be comfortable with an end of war declaration. that's why you can be comfortable about denuclearization >> michelle, thank you coming up -- we're just 30 days from the brexit deadline. no one really knows what's going to happen there either because of that, many companies have left the uk one american company is doing the opposite we have that story ahead plus, a shocking expose of what it's like to be a facebook moderator from suffering ptsd to low wages and what's described as a toxic work culture, we speak to the writer behind a piecliti uthe ghngp e web. and so much conversation this week "the exchange" is back in two. creating a better world isn't just a result, it's a responsibility. emerson. consider it solved.

welcome back to "the exchange." here are some of the movers this hour mylan shares are down on weaker than expected guidance the lower forecast is due to higher projected sales, marketing and research and development costs. gw pharma is reporting better than expected earnings on strong demand for its new epilepsy drug shares up nearly 14%, even though revenue did miss. and cybersecurity company palo alto networks beating on the top and bottom lines results there helped by a jump in product business and increase in services revenue. that stock up about 7% right

now. let's get over to sue herera for our cnbc news update hello, everyone. here's what's happening. former trump lawyer michael cohen delivering his long-awaited public testimony before congress. in his remarks to the house oversight committee, he says lying became an everyday occurrence working for trump >> every day, most of us knew we were coming in and we were going to lie for him on something. and that became the norm and that's exactly what's happening right now in this country. and it's exactly what's happening here in government, sir. >> pakistan's military says its air force shot down two indian war planes after they crossed the boundary between the new two nuclear-armed rivals in the disputed territory of kashmir. two indian pilots were captured. egyptian railway authorities say a rail car rammed into a barrier inside cairo's central railway station causing an explosion of the fuel tank and

triggering a huge blaze that engulfed the station at least 25 people were killed and another 47 were injured. you are up to date that's the news update this hour kelly, back to you here's what else is coming up on "the exchange. >> weight watchers stock price gets a bit thinner ivanka trump and representative ocasio-cortez duke it out on twitter. no soup for you. and will your next pizza order come via rotob it's all ahead in "rapid fire. to full-blown production. ♪ ♪ let's go from being on-call... ♪ ♪ to being on-line. american express can help move your business forward with loans, vendor payments and buying power. chat with one of our 4000 specialists and let's make it happen. the powerful backing of american express.

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welcome back let's catch you up on a few stories that should be on your radar. it's time for "rapid fire. this is a pet-free edition today. seema mody, michelle caruso-cabrera and dom chu are here weight watchers had a huge earnings miss and weak full-year guidance the company has been going through a rebranding they are calling themselves ww they'll even change the ticker they signed a partnership with

kohl's what do you think turns this around now >> i would say this is a company that's in a transformative stage. it's trying to rebrand itself as a platform and a lifestyle brand as opposed to just the weight loss, counting calories thing and those evolutions don't come out some kind of pain. obviously, pain is one thing losing one-third of your market value is completely difference >> i'm bombarded with adds for nuum is there any truth to that is point counting not working? >> i think it serves as an example of why weight watchers is having so much trouble just given the number of competitors already out there that also have done a great job with their instagram marketing and getting in front of that millennial base >> the oprah effect is also now -- >> millennials are less interested in losing weight, right? and my experience on the subway would suggest that as well from what i see you know, most of these other

weight loss companies have a product that you buy you don't have to think. you don't have to do anything. >> you can get a meal kit, which is very handy. that's a big difference than trying to have to go through your day, add everything up and figure -- >> weight loss, a little more personal responsibility. maybe they aren't the kind of weight loss for the time >> i am not sure you can categorize it as just millennials because they eat avocado toast. they are concerned about their health just not this idea that you need a system or calorie counting approach or meal kit or anything else. >> i'm also told, certainly not by our executive producer, but that they've changed their point system to make it -- i remember like doing this years ago and if you had fruit or vegetables, that was zero. now the proteins are zero? when you get used to doing one set of things and they tell you, no, no -- it's hard enough to figure it out and then they change it up that's a tough one >> it's not as fun doesn't this also serve as a

great case study for companies that just think they can bring in a powerful celebrity status individual and think that person can help reinvent the brand. this tells us that doesn't always exist it can happen. tommy hilfiger, also kylie jenner they've done a great job with those celebrities. >> they need a kardashian? >> i don't know if they want to go there >> weight watchers needs a kardashian best buy had solid holiday sales. a very different narrative than we've heard. appliances, wearables and smart home devices all boosting sales. >> it feels like a lot of these retailers have finally right sized. we went through this period where we thought some of these brands were really going to go out of business. >> best buy was one of them. >> they reduced square footage figured out service really matters. i think the whole big secular trends we talk about are still there. more and more consumers moving online they're starting to capitalize

and be multichannel so they can get that >> right near rapid fire we've brought about a couple of things you talked about garmin. their results powered by fitness devices, wearables >> and for your pets >> but also this idea that electronic arts and all these gaming companies were trying to find fortnite killers. fortnite was a big reason they did it because video gaming consoles were a big seller they attributed some of that to the fortnite craze going on. best buy is in a position where they are now price matching amazon to give people the ability to go to the store, touch it and say if you can find it on amazon for cheaper, we'll honor the price and give it to you there. these are working out in a way that is working. >> look at the stock in 2016 it was at $26. and today it's at $70. this pricing structure, these new plans they've unveiled seems to be working for now. >> we're not even talking about the fact they boosted their dividend 11% >> and buyback >> and from consumer

perspective, i would add best buy almost has an advantage on amazon because of the geek squad. because somebody will install it for you as opposed to -- >> i see -- ordering a tv from amazon they're so enormous. >> i totally agree >> somebody install it >> seriously shares of campbell's soup getting a boost after he company beat on the top and bottom lines. helped by the snack that smiles back, goldfish, v8 juice and pepperridge farm >> so for better or worse, we're now going to start benchmarking all of these consumer staples companies against kraft heinz because of just what happened to kraft heinz and the write down of their brands. not all consumer brands, we mentioned it during the kraft heinz day have been taking as big of hits as oscar mayer or kraft have >> a lot of -- >> there's not been a great performer at all no doubt about that. the idea is if you are trying to

evolve with consumer tastes, there are going to be some issues along the way i don't know if salty soups or canned goods are going to be the savior they could be but that's not to say campbell's is -- >> goldfish are a gold mine as far as i'm concerned >> the beverage category did pretty well. v8 vegetable juice which i was sort of surprised by given the emergence of juice cleanses and shakes and this healthy trend going toward kale juice. >> no one drinks orange juice anymore. everyone thinks -- >> too much sugar? >> yes, orange juice is the new soda >> except in paris >> and they have such an obesity problem there. >> i'd never own campbell's soup because i think it has this weird board structure that doesn't tell me the board is so -- they have other issues >> until they sort that out. >> they have still done relatively better than kraft heinz. still down 18% over that period. >> a battle is beginning between ivanka trump and representative

alexandria ocasio-cortez trump saying most americans don't want a guaranteed minimum income like the one proposed by the representative in her green new deal ocasio-cortez said as a person who worked for hourly tips and wages in my life, i can tell you most people want to be paid enough to live a living wage isn't a gift it's a right workers are often paid for less than the value they create >> living wage is different than universal basic income a living wage suggests you're actually working so she's already started to defuse and conflate and change the words of what she originally meant, alexandria ocasio-cortez. >> and a living wage isn't a gift it's a right everything suddenly has become a right. a right to this. a right to that. what i think ivanka trump was trying to say is that people want to work and they want to work for a living and not just get a hand out. it's core to dignity

it's core to the american way. >> i mean, i would say this. i would say that, to your point, we toss around these terms like monetary theory, ubi, universal basic income, living wages i'm not sure a lot of folks exactly know what they mean. and so before we go -- i know there are millions of americans working hard or trying to find work to get themselves a chance at doing well for themselves and their family this is not to slight them at all. but the point here is i'm not sure if those systems are things that can be put into place effectively at all and certainly not something the markets or the economy would be able to sustain. and even fed chair jay powell said it over his testimony >> i think minimum wage has been a hot-button issue for years and likely will become one for the 2020 presidential election i think why this specific debate has gotten a lot of attention because you have aoc, former bartender and ivanka trump, the daughter of a billionaire, now also advise tor the u.s. administration

that context certainly fuels some opinion >> the juxtaposition doesn't help >> makes it easy for aoc to dismiss this interesting if someone can step forward and say i was not born into the trump family, but i hear the same thing from my constituents or from people across the country, and the message is not flawed just because of the messenger, shall we say fedex is partnering with walmart and pizza hut to test a last mile delivery robot this is still requiring approval from test cities, including fedex's home town of memphis you can see what it's going to look like. the real effort is to have same-day delivery for things like groceries and pizza where that would be really important >> i think it would be really cool i hope it works. i am trying to think of a robot going down the streets of new york city. >> good luck >> if it can be done, amazing. >> without being tackled, stolen what happens in that case? >> graffiti. >> drone deliveries of amazon packages this is all coming

i just don't know how long it takes to get there five, ten years ago, i didn't ever think i would be getting all of my stuff hand delivered to my front doorstep like i do now. >> what do you do with all the cardboard boxes? >> we have a town recycling area so my garbage route does take those things for us, but i have, when things have gotten big, gone to that dump where the cardboard is and the line to get there to recycle your cardboard, it's the amazon effect. >> thursday evenings, it's putting the boxes out on the curb >> crushing them and -- stacking them i don't know how the fedex bot fits into all of that, but if it can eliminate any boxes, we're into it. appreciate it. coming up, the battle over brexit continues just 30 days ahead of the march deadline many companies would leave the uk altogether. one u.s. firm has other plans, and we'll have those details right after this want to get social with "the

exchange"? e-mail us @theexchange@cnbc.com or find us on twitte twitter @cnbctheexchange not the exception. at emerson, when issues become inspiration, creating a better world isn't just a result, it's a responsibility. emerson. consider it solved.

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[mercedes-benz voice assistant] how can i help you? change color. make it cooler. play my music. the a-class... ♪ british lawmakers are preparing to vote today on the future direction of brexit we're just 30 days away from the march 29th deadline. while the clock ticks down, if businesses can't afford to take many chances villa marks visited one company to witness its preparations for what's coming next >> reporter: businesses across britain battle a subornly uncertain plexit computer with well-known names ready to run down their uk facilities or shift jobs overseas. u.s. e-commerce firm pfs has chosen a different route lisa cooley left memphis, tennessee, last year to open this new fulfillment city in southampton. brexit's march 29th deadline is

already demanding her attention. >> it's a task trying to start something up in that span of time and it's also a task trying to get inventory moved and imported here and set up. i believe it's a little chaotic in the beginning, but, you know, at the end, our goal is to service our client >> those clients are as global as their consumers and her company employs thousands of workers worldwide pfs had only one major european warehouse in belgium regardless of how well or badly brexit negotiations go in the coming weeks, it's clear that many sectors seeking to do business here in britain have already made significant changes. and this warehouse is one big example. firms like pfs can't wait on the politicians while they wrap, pack and ship people's parcels >> if it's a no deal, there would be for them an initial cost increase as they up their capacity to enable traders that

do business with the companies to work as if they were doing trade with the rest of the world today. >> reporter: that's why businesses are having to decide whether to keep their operations in the uk, in the eu or both and as firms make preparations and banks book provisions, those brexit concerns are now big enough to fill a building. >> this really gets to the heart of brexit, doesn't it? every time you see a headline that jobs or factories are leaving the uk, you can just see the hearts of the british people sinking. this is suggesting that there may be more to it that maybe in the long run britain could benefit in some way. >> that is the argument that's been put forward by proponents of brexit. what's interesting is just yesterday the government department focused on brexit released some new data and one of the things they wanted to reiterate was the idea that in a 15-year time horizon, you're seeing the uk economy

being as much as 9% smaller than it would have been had the current trading conditions continued. so that's one of the concerns people have is this will really have a majorly negative impact on the economy in terms of individual businesses. they are expecting about a 13 billion pound, around $17 billion a year just in changes to the administrative side of things when it comes to customs arrangements they are preparing for a no deal we don't know whether we'll end up in that situation >> people say britain's real hope if it goes it alone is to become hong kong or singapore. i didn't see much appetite for that i look at the protesters behind you and the calls for maybe a second vote and wonder, are they going to scrap the whole thing altogether >> there is clearly very significant levels of division inside the uk as you can probably hear by the protests and counterprotests. lawmakers preparing to -- for a series of votes this evening in the next 15, 20 minutes.

and that's going to include one option of a referendum as well as the labor proposal to keep the uk inside a permanent customs union. >> willem, thank you for continuing to follow it for us willem marx is in london tonight. facebook moderators are responsible for blocking controversial content ranging from conspiracy theorys to murders. we have the shocking details about what they see and how they co wh atomg peitth cinup -driverless cars... -all ground personnel...

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welcome back we're watching shares of pg&e corporation, the bankrupt california utility shares are down 2% they were down as much as 6% on headlines from dow jones saysing that pg&e told federal regulators that one of its powerlines were part of maintenance in 2013 and it's needed an overhaul since then. it said it delayed safety work and that's probably one of the prime suspects in tlarge california wildfire. those headlines kelly moving those shares back over to you. >> got headlines with their bonds trading, too thank you. just a couple of minutes until

"power lunch." what's coming up >> what is the cofounder of paypal up to >> we're going to ask. >> he founded a new point of service, loan app which allows people to borrow money at the ash registerment i want to buy a tv, i don't have enough money. i apply for a loan it will be interesting to hear what he says about the health of the consumer >> is this a new way of doing an ol thing or a pbetter way >> also the ceo of a company, our mystery stock. it's up 600% in the 12 months. up 55% this year alone that is the only clue you shall get. >> but you would have to be a bio tech company to get that kind of return >> maybe, maybe not. >> see you then. up next, moderating mayhem we'll talk to the journalists who details how facebook

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conditions that facebook moderators face at cognizant, a vendor use d by facebook. everything from employees doing drugs during work to cope with violent imagery to a manager carrying a gun due to safety concerns facebook issuing a response saying quote, we know there are a lot of questions, miss understanding and accusations around facebook's content review practices, include iing how we r for and compensate is the people behind the important work. we are committed to working with our partners to demand a high level of support for our employees and we take it seriously. joining us now is casey newton >> thank you for having me >> tell me about the story >> i read a daily newsletter about a social networks and a reader wrote and said i moderate content for facebook and i would like to talk to you about it over the next three month, i was able to talk to seven people i've now talked to more than 15. >> why do you think that first of all, who are the types of people we're talking about who

work there >> this is a low paying job. pays about $15 an hour so somebody who's going to look at this very violent imagery is going to be making about $28 thourk a year. folks in many cases are eager to do it. >> are these young people? what's the age breakdown >> i made it on to the floor facebook invited me in when i looked around, it seemed like everyone was in their 20s and 30s and had a college feel to it. >> why do you think they invited you in >> after i told them what i found, i think they were eager to show me it was not the experiences of every moderator i was able to speak with some folks who said they were having a better eck appearanexperiencet safe and supported ever since i published this, i've been inundated with contractors from around the world. >> so jimmy summed it up well.

they found the ways employees were coping at the workplace, beyond the workplace, maybe therapy and counseling and all that that might be needed. facebook gets in trouble when it doesn't moderate and now when it does is there any way other than going through these images we've had investors say they don't want to invest because mark zuckerberg's effort so wrigright the ship is by hiring thousands and thousands more this is a huge amount of money we're going to be spending this is the tip of the iceberg of what is needed to really moderate the content what implications is that going to have? >> it's also true that facebook earned record profits last quarter. $6 billion i think they could pay these folks double and it wouldn't dip into facebook's ability to grow in the future. is it true this is going to be expensive? sure, but this is essential work we're not just talking about you know impressions of violence we're talking about our speech on the internet and how much of that takes place on facebook this has to be a core priority

>> i'm not sure what doubling the wage would achieve it could be a million dollar a year job and i don't know how people are supposed to deal with the trauma explain without being too graphic what people are looking at >> drug cartel violence. beheading. content from isis. a drowning there's child exploitation don't. on one hand, you're right, this is never going to be an easy job, but there are others who do this like in law enforcement and they get paid better more money goes a long way it's not a panacea, but i think it's the right start >> what is facebook going to do about this, knowing they're trying to do it for the right reasons so that typical people on the flat form don't see this kind of imagery, but u it's exposing a new set of people they could be sued for this in the long run >> it's true they are in a very tricky position there is no easy answer to this problem, but you know, the thing i always keep many mind is facebook has worked very hard to

grow this big. they've hired the smartest people in the world. this is just one more unintended consequence. it's on o them to fix it >> thank you so much that does it for the exchange today i'll go join tyler and melissa in a moment for "power lunch" which begins right now >> thanks, we'll see you shortly. i'm melissa lee. new u at 2:00, the fed trade fears. trump's summit with kim and tensions between two nuclear powers the five big stories we're following. plus, disrupting the big banks paypal's ceo and one stock up more than 630% in just a past six months. we'll hear from the ceo and stocks are trying to claw their way back off session lows. the dow was down 180 points earlier. "power lunch" starts right now >> welcome t