weight champion of the world and go to my room or-- >> frank and jessie james. >> reminds me of the first game in 1940 -- never mind. imus: good morning, warner. >> good morning, i-man and finally. [laughter] the heat go for the 20th straight tonight in philadelphia. dwight howard went to the foul line 39 times for the lakers. imus: made 25 of them. warner: certainly did. imus: missed 14. warner: man, i tell you. everything you retain everything. unbelievable. and that free agency the biggest name was mike wallace, he goes to the dolphins, which immediately makes ryan tannenhill a better quarterback. and that's about it on this time around. imus: what's there to watch tonight on tv, sporting events? all of these ncaa games, but i think if i had to watch something, i would turn my sets off now. imus: okay. 18 after the hour. the blonds are next.

stones. ♪ night nighted ♪ ♪ imus in the morning ♪

>> black smoke for a second time. no pope? and the papal odds shift again. good morning, everyone, no, no, no, betting on the papacy is not the lead. interesting story, but the top is this. the president bouncing america's books or not and his popularity. and he told that balancing the budget is not priority. and a poll showed him losing to ground in congress on handling the economy. we're in the middle of another budget mess and this time the president is not winning the battle handsdown. today we get the democrats trillion dollar tax hike plan and wait for it, stocks will be up again. okay retail sales, yes, stocks up again. here we go. "varney & company" is about to begin. how do traders

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>> in case you were worried, president obama says he has no plan to balance the budget. in an interview with abc news says the top priority is growing the economy not balancing. listen to this. >> my goal is not to chase a balanced budget just for the sake of balance. stuart: all right, now, please look at this. we're over 16 trillion dollars in debt. it will be 17 trillion by september. the president says we can't cut and eliminating is not a priority. and since the senate passed a budget in '09. the new budget by the democrats, primarily gets the deficit down by tax increases, a trillion in new taxes and rolls back cuts from the sequester and replaces them with nothing. there you have it. ryan balances, the president does not, democrats tax big.

here is the good news of the morning. battling budget plans, not slowing down the rally. the dow is charging forward into uncharted territory. yes, another high yesterday. it looks like prices may go up just a little bit more right at the opening bell. watch it happen right here, please. dad, i'd put that down.

ah. 4g, huh? verizon 4g lte.

700 megahertz spectrum, end-to-end, pure lte build. the most consient speeds indoors or out. and, obvusly, astonishing throughput. obviously... you know how fast our home wifi is? yeah. this is basically just asast. oh. and verizon's got more fast lte coverage than all other tworks combined. it's better. yes. oh, why didn't you just say that? huh-- what is he doin

>> a minute to the opening bell. expecting a small gain, but first, charles, you're good at picking stocks. could you be just as good at picking the pope? black smoke from the sistene chapel this morning and no pope yet. the odds shifting again. your pick, brazil of scherer. charles: i'm feeling more confidence about this guy. he's of german descent and as we talk in the stock market, the archbishop of sao paolo and 20 million people there. stuart: is there something sacrilegious about that? can we move on. the latest poll from "the washington post," shows approval his popularity is neck and neck with congressional republicans?

not seen that before. charles: he's definitely overplayed his hand, that's why all of a sudden, let's have dinner and come to the white house. changed course, could be too little too late and people are seeing those scare tactics. stuart: armageddon. charles: irresponsible for the leader of the free world. irresponsible ann i think that people are upset about that. stuart: irresponsible to force hurt and pain on the american people for political purposes. charles: or fear that we can't cut the budget in 2%, we in the government can't find savings even though you the american people have been crushed in the last five years and people found it to be despicable as well. stuart: handling the economy leads the republicans by 4 points, i say it's a turning point. the opening bell will ring in a few seconds. here is the back drop to today's market action. we've got retail sales figures in earlier this morning and the headline looks good. up 1.1%. now, please, dig a little

deeper. if you take gas station sales out and remember, gas prices are up sharply. if you take them out, then you've got only a .4% gain in retail sales. you take out car sales, you take out gas sales, up only .4%. not this good as originally portrayed. the bell has rung and we're now trading and remember, we're coming on a series of record highs on the industrials, no retreat in the early going, we've opened pretty flat and somewhere around 14,446, in the very early going. let's from the general market to specific stocks. boeing, f.a.a. approving fixes for battery problems on the dreamliner. so, nicole, where is it? because we've been following this thing all the way from 74 and look at that, $84. >> 84 and change and analysts now talking about steeple nicholas, $85 and a buy rating and not too far from where it is. good news for boeing.

and year to date up 12%. boeing weathered a pr storm pretty well. stuart: pretty well? i'd say extremely well. >> extremely well. stuart: a huge bounce back, 10 bucks in 10 days. and netflix, if you have an account you'll be able to log into facebook and get netflix movies. that's the way i understand it. nicole, it will me about netflix stock. >> well, this link is worth over 3% gain for netflix is a winner and you'll be able to get the features on your facebook. very interesting, so we've got to watch both stocks. >> another big bounce there, i want to look at apple, i believe it's down again, because the wall street journal is picking up our expectations for the galaxy 4, i believe out tomorrow. and samsung outspent apple on ads last year. and let me get back to that story we brought yesterday. how do you invest in samsung?

it's not easy, is it? >> well, definitely not easy. i do caution everyone, there's a pink sheet, it's not liquid, don't go for that. the best way is the etf exchange traded fund. ewy. a basket of stocks in korea, but samsung is 22% of that investment. does it reflect samsung's success? i don't know whether it does or not. >> it does to that degree, but it also has hyundai is next, and posco is next, those are the top three holdings. stuart: at the moment down, $59 per share. >> a pretty good run and probably as we pull out the chart more you can see it runs parallel. stuart: not that great, not that great. charles: it's a pretty good move, but i mean, the problem with etf's, though you have a basket like mutual funds, it's like the good and bad. not a pure play on samsung. stuart: not like your stocks, oh, no. >> unfortunately not. stuart: another deal not as in

merger, but news-wise. the fda warning that z-packs, pretty common antibiotics, may carry serious heart risks. back to nicole. pfizer z-pack, the stock, please. >> the stock has dropped over 1% yesterday. it's interesting how it's just sort of holding at this level. this is big news when you talk about z-packs, these are, obviously, different names for this anti-bacteria drug and i think everybody has taken the z-pack to fight the cold and the like, not good news. stuart: i guess that pfizer is so big that this tiny portion z-pack is not going to-- >> i'm not sure. i'd like to see the dollars and cents. it's one of the most popular drugs and when you talk about irregular heartbeat and electrical activity could be potentially fatal, this is big headlines and big news.

i think it's going to be one that we're going to continue to follow. stuart: we're going to deal with it a little later on. is it a huge scare? that's what we're going to ask later on. >> have you heard they're pulling it off? i haven't heard any huge warnings don't take it. stuart: we'll get the full details in a moment. no impacts on pfizer. the dow is dead flat. down .45. right around the new high that was reached yesterday of 14,450. there you go, just turned positive. i'm not very-- to me, very surprising new numbers that come from the labor department. they show more than 2 million people voluntarily quit their jobs every single month in the united states. that's a huge number to me. 2 million quitting their jobs? here is melissa larina, i take this as a sign of strength in the employment market because you've got to have a lot of confidence to just up and quit your job to the tune of 2 million people doing it a month?

>> absolutely. people i would say now are noticing that they're getting a little bit more bites in terms of their candidacy. so on linkedin you can actually see that live by the people that are viewing your profile and you can even see in terms of calls that you're getting. you're getting a little more recruiters out there calling people at their jobs. stuart: that's interesting. you've got to explain to me. linkedin. how does it work? you're telling me that linkedin is a signal of improvement in the job market. go through that again. >> sure, absolutely. for example, if in the prior months during the deepest part of the recession, you aren't getting many views to your profile or weren't getting a lot of contacts, people searching you out and trying to find you as a passive candidate, i would say now, you're getting a little bit more bites. mentioned from your profile. stuart: charles, connell into this. i found 2 million people per month voluntarily quitting. you can't go on unemployment insurance with that, you can't do that. you've got to be fired or laid

off for that. laid off, actually. i find that extraordinarily high number, is it? >> no, it's about right. stuart: is it? >> yeah, to me, the shocking number from a report that came out from the government was the least amount of layoffs ever in the 12-year period of washington, so, that to me also is an indication that, you know, obviously, it's a positive sign. by the way, 1.5 million layoffs sound like a lot, but that's the least amount. does at that give people confidence. stuart: we're talking around in a circle and essentially saying this is a strong labor market. charles: no, no, i think it's improving labor market. here is the other thing, the jobs openings have not increased. but people are-- the companies aren't laying people off to the degree they were before. and like the old saying we keep saying we've cut to the bone. and i think that companies have finally hit bone. is that what we're looking at really? >> i would say what people are noticing is that in light of the cuts that happened, they are noticing that there are some companies, actually, as per a

survey that manpower group did earlier this year, there are companies looking to hire. so, about 18,000 employers were interviewed in this survey and 17% during q1 mentioned they are looking to hire. while, only 8% were looking to layoff employees. there's a little bit of a who wants to be the dumb per than the dumpee. and the people in the companies are noticing peers were let go and might see the writing on the wall for themselves. they're taking a little bit more proactive stance and actually saying that they quit instead of being let go. stuart: can we all agree that this is an improving labor market? >> it's a-- it could be an inflection point that's what i'm thinking. i'm thinking could be an inflection point. stuart: and take off? >> not take off, but turn around, a lot of people-- >> do you agree? you're the expert. >> i completely agree. charles: the inflection point is

a technical term. [laughter] >> can't say 100% positivity, but we can say improvement. stuart: good enough. >> thank you. stuart: president obama touted his role in the oil boom during the presidential debate saying his policies created more production. no one questioned it and he won the election and he was wrong. the story, the full facts and figures, we have it for you, it will be new at ten o'clock this morning. all right, it's wednesday morning and 7 early movers. retailer express says it was hurt by a slowdown in government spending. that stock is down. drug maker, spectrum pharmaceuticals, forecasting a big drop in full year sales, market really hates that. it's down 36%. toyota says it's going to offer employees the highest bonuses in five years. back to $102 a share on toyota. starwood hotel expects more growth in the global travel

arena, that stock is up a little bit. and we have coach, this is important, a democratic luxury this company, coach upgraded by city this morning and the stock is back to $49 a share. phillip morris named a new ceo. sometimes the stock moves when you've got a good chief. didn't today, down a half-- and dole foods losing money in the fourth quarter and it's down 5%. as for the dow industrials, well, up a point. okay? it's a gain, very modest, but we're at a new high. not necessarily intraday high, but new high. time is money, 60 seconds, here is what else we've got for you this morning. we don't call him nanny bloomberg for nothing. new york city's mayor michael bloomberg people need them to help make decisions. and we'll have charles on that. and what you like on facebook tells about sexual orientation or political leanings even

though you might not offer that up voluntarily. dr. keith ablow an outspoken critic of social media weighs in. and a question for judge napolitano if the president is legally obligated to submit a budget by a certain date and this president hasn't met the deadline, what's the penalty? why have a low if there is no penalty? the judge joins us at 10:35. let's look at the price of oil today. back to 93.27. we're up this morning. and president obama the democrats say we don't have a spending problem. really? why are we sppnding millions of your tax dollars researching overweight lesbians that and more examples of extraordinary government waste next. (announcer) scottrade knows our clnts trade and invest their own way. with scottrade's smart text, i can quickly understand my charts, and spend more time trading. their quick trade bar lets my account follow me online

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that allows utility officers to communicate directly with devices plugged into the electrical grid. you got that? they just went public and they're trading. we already know that you'll spend money on your pets no matter what. so you better start saving. obamacare managed to make veterinary care more expensive. many veterinaries are planning on passing along medical device taxes to owners. a tax intended for people not to pets. it is for iv's, scalpels, anything owned by humans and pets, will pay. and to show how bloated this government is i want to bring you two examples of outrageous things. $227,000 for study photos in national geographic, i don't know why we're doing it it. 1 1/2 million dollars to study why lesbians tend to be overweight. don't know why we're doing it.

tom is here, citizens against government waste. i know you've got a series of examples of things that are driving us crazy, government waste. go through them one at a time. >> there are so many things out there, stuart, that you really almost don't know where to start and it does point to the fact that agencies could be eliminating this waste instead of talking how the airports are going to have lines for four hours and let the people in interest other countries, we can't afford the border patrol, money spent on an robo squirrel to see how it reacts against a snake. we have money being spent on programs like sugar and peanuts that cost hundreds of millions of dollars. stuart: wait a second, let me jump in for a second. there's a headline in the newspapers this morning about sugar subsidies. for whatever reason we're doing this, doing us 1.2 billion dollars a year. you want to explain that. that outrageous spending or what? >> well, it's a program around

for many years. one of the convoluted ways to force sugar to be higher than the rest of the world. 3 1/2 billion more for sugar and look at the products that we buy, few have real sugar, high fructo fructose. what about the peanut subsidy, why are we doing. >> 275 million dollars over five years eliminating the peanut subsidy, more than 550 recommendation ins our prime cuts report that we issued a week or two ago. it's on our website. and 1.8 trillion in savings over five years, that's are programs that have been been around, unfortunately, for many years, and have been on many lists, including the president. and there are 81 programs in this prime cuts report that would save about 86 billion dollars over five years and yet, the president hasn't even included them in anything he's

been doing. stuart: and i want your answer on this one. why doesn't the president look at these obviously easy cuts? why doesn't he do it? >> because it would mean that the government really could be smaller and that would defeat the objective of this administration which is to grow the government and raise taxes so that we can continue to spend money. and if the wastes were eliminated it would prove that the government can really be smaller and that's why nothing has happened with sequestration, why the cabinet officials are running arn with their heads cut off and no one knows what to do except that congress says be more flexible get rid of the waste. stuart: i think that's why we're at a turning point and why the polls are now beginning to turn against the president because he will not cut where it's easy and obvious to cut. tom, we're out of time. come again soon, please, you're in the middle of the action here andway want to hear more. >> thanks. stuart: and time for the gold report. where are we this wednesday morning? closer to $1600 an ounce. at 1593 as of now.

and new york city mayor mike bloomberg pushing for his soda ban and he says the sugary drink ban is designed to protect the poor because they can't take care of themselves. you can bet that charles is really fired up about this one. he gives the nanny mayor a piece of his mind after this break. ♪ honey, oh, sugar, sugar ♪ ♪ you are my candy girl ♪ ♪ and you got me wanting you ♪

>> a judge blocked new york city mayor mike bloomberg's soda ban hours before it was to go into effect. and mayor bloomberg says the ban is needed, because poor people don't have the ability to take care of themselves. all right, charles, waiting 35, 40 minutes to get into this. charles: i've been waiting 50 years to get into this one. this is my main beef with liberal mindset. they sincerely believe that poor people, black people, hispanic people just don't have the mental capacity to take care of themselves. and they feel obligated to help them almost the way in my family we have three yorkies and we feel obligate today feed them, keep them warm, sheltered and

protect them. you look at someone like, when you hear this, it's-- and you know what? people can feel the way they want to feel. what bothers me more than this when the poor people accept this, you're right, we don't have the ability to do it and this is the field you enter into. we're victims, we want all of these things because he we can't fend for ourselves, then you're, obviously, this is-- you'll get it, but you're giving up a whole lot more, i think. stuart: is it fair to take the other side of the argument and say, look, i can tell that these people cannot take care of themselves. they are obese, they need my help whether they want it or like it or not, they need my help because they're not doing the right thing. >> and that's of the argument. but the bottom line, we all have an expiration date, if there's some way we could eat right and not die, that's a different debate, but people want to live a certain life style. >> yes, but, but, wait a second.

another argument, i've got to pay for that. >> those are two separate arguments. what we're saying is that mayor bloomberg says that these people don't have the mental capacity to walk past mcdonald's without going in and getting a big mac. rather than saying they eat it simply because they like it. he he's saying they don't have the mental capacity to resist that stuff, so, it's incumbent upon me to remove the mcdonald's, to remove the sodas, to remove these things because they don't have the mental willpower to ignore it, rather than saying, i happen to like chicken and collard greens and big mac, leave me alone, mr. mayor, i'm not an idiot or stupid. when you vote for these policies over and over again he and vote for the people you're letting them say that about you. >> you took about 30 seconds to get fired up there, but you did. i take your point, charles. and good points and we take it. president obama takes credit for an oil boom that he has nothing

do with. he takes credit for an oil boom the work of the very companies he's demonizing and wants to tax more. that will be new at 10. plus, wait till you hear how much money you could make in a career in legal marijuana from growing to selling to delivering, it's big numbers we will have for you next. important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers.

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>> the most important thing we can do is to make sure we control our own energy. so here's what i have done since

i have been president, we have increased oil production to the highest levels in 16 years. natural gas production is the highest it's been in decades. stuart: that was the presidential debates. the president taking credit for america's energy boon. in fact, he has stood in the way of that boom, and it's not me that's saying this. it is the congressional research office. their latest report says, quote, direct quote, all the increase in oil and natural gas production from 2007 to 2012 took place on non-federal land. we do indeed have an energy boom, but it is not the result of the administration's policy on the federal land they control. it is the result of private enterprise, getting the oil and gas out of private property. the president slowed down the permitting process on federal land. he restricted offshore drilling. he got in the way of the energy boom. yet in the debate he took the credit. it was clearly good politics. he won the election, but it's

lousy policy. if he would just get out of the way, america could have a jobs boom, an even bigger energy boom, and independence from foreigners who hate us. stuart: all right, everybody, it is wednesday morning. at this time we always check what's happening to your stock market investments. we're down just 20 points on the dow. edging back from the all-time high of 14,450, that we hit yesterday. early days, though, who knows where it will close. not only was the president wrong to take the credit for the energy boom, he wasn't even challenged by the media at the time. now we have to learn that big oil is actually -- they are the people, big oil, they are the ones spending the research money for shale and natural gas drilling, how to get for of it. -- get more of it. and the president is demonizing those oil companies calling for more taxes on them.

i don't want to be too strong, charles and liz, but i think it is outrageous. liz: four out of ten oil barrels are still on government land. the president is taking credit when he doesn't deserve to take credit. by the way, the big problem is we've got the middle east. middle east is blowing up an arab springs all around that area, what they are doing is they are raising oil prices to raise social spending so they don't have an arab spring in their own backyard. when we have an energy boom like we are seeing in the united states, it helps the middle class, it will keep down middle class taxes and it will keep the dollar low too, it will close the trade deficit and will make oil and gas cheaper. stuart: where is the media in this? charles: i bristle when i hear people say the president is a liar because it is a harsh word. stuart: yes, i would not use it. charles: the sound bite we used was completely disingenuous. he's taking credit for something he had nothing to do with and he was against. further more, every time the president speaks it feels like oil companies are just ripping us off.

i wonder how many people out there don't think oil companies pay any taxes. they would be shocked to see over the last 25 years, they paid a trillion dollars in taxes. liz: exxonmobile's tax bill is greater than the gdp of morocco. let's put it that way. stuart: all right. i think we straightened it out. all right. let's see what -- silver spring networks, a big ipo today. it opened up big. nicole, it opened big. where is it now? nicole: it did open big. it was a $17 ipo. that's where it was priced. you can see it at 20.97 right now. it traded as high as 22.49. california-based tech company. hardware, software. and basically they had a lot of buzz surrounding it. what they do is that they have hardware and software that allow utilities like pg&e to plug into the so-called smart grid. that would be one of their many jobs that they do. also a clean energy ipo, it's

been very well received, obviously, as you can see, a lot of buzz. it got a nice pop, but it is pulling back now, and trading at its lowest point of the morning. stuart: i have to ask, why the hat? nicole: i don't know. that's what they do. they always give out little hats. i want you to feel like you are here. the ticker symbol is on the back. stuart: we can't see it. it is a silver spring network hat. nicole: yes, and on the back it has the ticker symbol. stuart: just charge them for the advertising, nicole. nicole: i know. i'm trying to have you remember the ticker symbol for next time. stuart: probably won't. nicole, thank you very much indeed. last night on abc, the president told george stephanopoulos that balancing the budget was not his priority. let's remind, everybody, please, we're still sitting on a 16 1/2 trillion dollars worth of debt. it is going to be 17 trillion dollars by september. the president wants more tax increases. he doesn't want any spending cuts. i think, that's why we're at a

turning point in public opinion. go. charles: well, the president is at a turning point for sure. because they promoted his healthcare law initially as saving people money and fixing the healthcare system. now, in retrospect, everyone says well it was never designed as an economic policy, and the same thing is happening again. the president has some real issues here. liz: credibility issues. stuart: paul krugman is telling him that big deficits don't matter. he's telling the president that deficits are under control. don't worry about it. the president is taking that message and running with it. liz: that runs counter to what he wrote in 05 when he said big deficits do matter, they really do ruin the economy. right now we have the president with a credibility issue. he was talking about the spending cuts, the sequestration cuts as if, you know, a collapse was going to happen. i will tell you, this is breaking news, pimco, black rock, they are all preparing for when interest rates rise because of the massive debt spending

going on. they are saying rates will have to rise in a big way to pay for spending. stuart: that is a huge negative. that's a major negative for the stock market. liz: you can see the buyer's remorse at the federal reserve in buying all the u.s. debt. stuart: all right. the dow is down 29 points now, backing away from the all-time high that we reached yesterday at the close. the obama administration was required by law to submit a budget. february the 4th, got to do it. nine weeks later, the president still has not handed out even an outline of a budget. in fact, the president has only met a deadline once. so has a law been broken? the judge will join us at 10:35 on that one. then we've got facebook and privacy. according to a new study, your likes on facebook could reveal your tendency to use illegal drugs even your political party, even though you haven't explicitly said all of this. by the way, facebook owns that information. dr. keith ablow is not happy

about it and he will be here at 10:26 this morning. facebook is down big this morning. netflix is teaming up with facebook. now you will be able to watch your netflix movies while logged on to facebook. that's how you get into netflix. nicole, the netflix stock first? nicole: take a look here at netflix right now is a winner. it's been a winner all morning. year to date up almost 100% in 2013 alone. gaining 3.3% at the moment. now, they're teaming up with facebook. you can go on facebook and get your netflix features there. that's in addition to the x-box and things that, you know, other things that you use at home, so netflix is infiltrating every thing you do. trying to make it easier for subscribers to be able to get their movies. stuart: okay. but look at the stock perform. that's terrific. almost doubled i think in a couple months. big stuff, huge, nicole thanks.

how much money can be made in a career in the legal marijuana business? here to tell us is the president of -- wait for it -- the cannabis career institute. robert, welcome to the program. i know we've pre-interviewed you. we got some numbers from you. i'm going to tell the audience exactly what numbers we're dealing with here. you are telling us that in arizona if you've got a growers license and you sell the marijuana through a dispensary that you own, if you are both the grower and the seller, you are saying you can make $10,000 a day, is that correct? >> yes, stuart, right now in arizona, there's a limited amount of dispensaries and the owners of those dispensaries pretty much have a lock on a certain area, a district, and those dispensary owners will be making at least $10,000 a day. stuart: is that a real number, robert? i mean to everybody else, it sounds like an enormous amount of money. is it real?

>> well, you have to remember that the demand is quite high and supply is quite low, so the number of dispensaries there, since there's quite a few, they will generate quite a large income. stuart: but this person would have to pay insurance and subsidiary wages and rent and all the rest of it, out of that $10,000 a day. that's not pure profit. >> sure, that's not going to be profit, that's going to be money coming in. there's going to be a huge overhead obviously. but those are the numbers and they're probably even greater than that. i was just being conservative as were the people who were telling me. stuart: we want to hear the hard numbers. you have got them. thank you very much, robert. now, you have a category called master grower, i take it that's a real professional that knows how to produce the good stuff, if i may, you are saying that master grower can make $250,000 a year, is that accurate? >> correct. these consultants are in high

demand. there's very few of them who are qualified. the ones who are qualified really know what they are doing and the dispensary owners will only be able to differentiate themselves from the other dispensaries by having the top growers. stuart: now does a top grower, is that somebody who produces the highest thc content in the leaf, or is it somebody who produces marijuana that has a particularly pleasant effect? >> yes to both of those. it would be somebody who could grow the kind of medicine that would be suitable for the type of ailment that the dispensary was providing the medicine for the patients that needed that kind of medicine. stuart: last one, robert, before i run out of time, a delivery service, the person who runs it from the dispensary, maybe to your house, if there is such a person, you are saying they are good for 40 or 50,000 bucks a year; correct? >> correct. they can be dispensary agents. they can service the terminally ill and they can be the

interface for the people who can't get out to the dispensaries which is really what the programs are all about. stuart: thank you very much for joining us. we are not into judgments whether it's right or wrong. we just want the hard numbers from the cannabis career institute and you are it. robert, thank you very much, sir, we appreciate you being with us. >> appreciate being here. stuart: remember, friday is vice day on fox business. we're talking about the big money in pot, booze, gambling, all day long on friday, starting right here on varney & company, vice day, stop smiling. is this good news for the economy? after today's retail sales number, deutsche bank upped its forecast for the economy. the economic growth rate, saying the consumer is still spending, despite recent increases in taxes and gas prices. that's unusual, charles. they are saying hey, maybe the economy is going to expand a bit more rapidly. we're ignoring the tax increases. charles: there's two ways to look at this, this is the ironic thing, i wrote about this last

night for my morning report about confidence, is this a sign of confidence? i don't think it is. i think this is part of a longer trend which i have been calling the dropout nation. that people say you know what? there is no future, so i'm going to live for today. the federal reserve did a survey not too long ago, for what people save for, what declined dramatically people aren't saving for retirement or education or to buy a home. what increased dramatically to make a purchase and to have liquidity. those are the only things that people are saving for. it was interesting because in december our savings rate exploded back to 6.4% which seemed sane in a real confusing world with higher taxes but then immediately dropped back to 2.4% in january. again, it feels like people are living in the moment. stuart: that's very interesting, but it would mean sharper economic growth, and it would probably mean a stock market rally continues. wouldn't it? charles: money to the bottom line, although, it's interesting in a sense, guys, that what it means longer term, there are more negative longer term implications but for the stock market today and this week and

next week, it is good news. liz: it is good news. the consumer has been deleveraging. morgan stanley, goldman sachs has been noticing that too. stuart: they can afford to take some more debt? liz: maybe. but this is bubble kind of behavior again, spending what you don't have when your savings rate is so low. stuart: interesting news from deutsche bank and the dow is still down 32. got it. food stamp reform, paul ryan wants it. i say we need it. the democrats will demagogue it to death. that's my take. it is next. first, do you know 2 million people are quitting their jobs every month? >> these current employees are in the companies are noticing their peers were let go, and they might see the writing on the wall for themselves. they're taking a little bit more of a proactive stance and actually saying that they quit instead of being let go. i'm a conservative investor.

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stuart: a series of record highs all in a row, where are we now? well, we're looking for a 7th straight record close, not going to get it on this basis, down 28 points. longest stretch of records by the way in the dow since 1998. down 28, though, at the moment. a new link between netflix and facebook, users can now log on to their facebook account to share netflix content with their facebook friends. share prices of facebook down 2 1/2%. check netflix, the other side of this deal, they are up again, $189 a share, up 6 bucks. now, please check boeing.

a dow stock. faa approved its battery fix, boeing can start test flights soon. the stock is back to 83, down at 73, 74, when that battery problem first surfaced. my take is next on paul ryan's attempt to reform the food stamp program.

>> it is time when we make money with charles. roll the animation. now you have broadcom.

charles: two guys named henry started the company out of a condo, a spare room in a condo, in california. huge company, it survived the whole telecommunications boom, bust, and now they are thriving. last year they grew much better than the whole industry. they are taking market share. they do chips in three different areas, hand, home, and what they call infrastructure. amazing opportunities, all three of them. future opportunities will be 5-g. the car, the television, and of course the global market. love where the stock is right now. it's made a bit of is a move -- bit of a move. got a little bit of resistance. back up to 37, 38, it breaks out. i think it is going to g go from here. i love the fact they are taking market share. stuart: it is wednesday march 13th, it's 10:18 eastern time. charles: i'm writing it down too. stuart: you better. we did. facebook and privacy always a controversial issue, now a new study it suggests depending on

what you like on facebook, that data can determine your drug use, even your politics, even if you don't want people to know all of those things. dr. keith ablow joins us 10:26. you can bet he's not happy about this. i drove into work early this morning. i'm still hearing ads for food stamps. the government is still reaching out trying to sign more people up for free food. paul ryan's budget plan tackles the food stamp mess, head-on. here's my take: first, ryan would impose a work requirement and a time limit. in other words, you can't just sit back, stay home, and take -pthe food forever. can't do that under ryan. second, he would limit the cost by handing control of the program back to the states. here's what you get, spend it as you will. third, ryan's plan has a moral component. he wants welfare to help people get out of poverty, not to lock them into dependence.

that is morality. doesn't this sound a lot like bill clinton's welfare reforms? it does to me. but you can expect the obama team to fight this tooth and nail. they've been using food stamps to buy votes. vote for us, and look what we will give you. we won't make you work and besides, the rich can pay. to this administration, dependence is good. personally, i wouldn't mind so much if i got a thank you. those of us who pay for all of this free food would be happy, maybe, to see some appreciation for the help that we give to other people. those we help, dream on, dependence actually causes resentment. let there be no doubt that food stamp reform is urgently needed. we are currently signing up 3,546 people a day. do you really think that that is america that we can be proud of?

stuart: check that market, please. coming back just a little. we're only down 22 points as of right now. check boeing as well. up earlier, but i think it sunk a little bit now. some of the good times rolling off it. what's going on, nicole? nicole: yeah, that's right, it is down 1/4 of 1%. that wasn't before it hit a new annual high of 84.82.

when you chart it, it really goes back to 08 type of levels. you can see it down, though, it pulled back. the whole story is that the faa is allowing two 787s to test fly the redesigned battery, of course putting back in service, the 787 back in service a big deal. stuart: it's come back from 73 to 83, 84, that's quite a comeback in my opinion. nicole, thank you very much. what you like on facebook could reveal a lot about you, without you even knowing about it. joining us now is dr. keith ablow. i know you really do not like social media, facebook. >> i don't. stuart: because you think it divorces us from reality. what's wrong with going on facebook and having the information about you interpreted by facebook itself? is that intrinsically wrong? >> i think it's what a business would do. of course, but i'm not sure people are aware that that's what they are doing.

they aae trading in their personas -- stuart: you mean they are so naive after all these years, oh, gee, i never thought they would collect the information and make some judgments about it, really? >> no, i don't think they actually know that or don't care or being made not to care. that's another way in which facebook denies you your autonomy and your privacy, right. do facebook users really intend to trade in their personas in exchange for a fun tool? stuart: yes, they do. that's exactly what they are doing. that's precisely what they are doing.% >> that's exact lly why i objec to it because that's what a drug pusher does, he says look have some coke, you will enjoy it. it will be fun. at the end, when you are dependent on it -- stuart: stretching. >> no, i'm telling you this is worse than that because people don't recognize that it is intoxicating and dependency inducing and ultimately deprives them of their autonomy.

it renders them fictional characters in their own existence. stuart: you are painting a picture of us ordinary people as totally naive. >> listen, did we struggle through the 60s and the rest of this in order for people to declare their individuality by pouring themselves into a for profit enterprise that intends to simply mine their data? stuart: do you have something against profit? >> no, if facebook wants this to be the case, we are talking about it so people are hearing, the trouble is nobody would want that. very few people want that. yet they do it. that's why it is a drug. liz: facebook has a lot of privacy controls and 13 million users consumer reports says, 13 million facebook users choose not to use those privacy controls. why is it all facebook's fault? >> i'm not saying it is their fault anymore than you would say -- is cocaine at fault -- it's something that uses human

weakness and frailty in order to profit. and people become dependent. it is very hard for people to choose not to do it. liz: i shut down my facebook page. >> well, you are somebody who might be able to stop smoking immediately. but you know what? i know that facebook is a drug and i'm on facebook. that's why this is something that ultimately going to get people away from real solutions to real problems because they are pretenders on this. what's the real endgame? it is to find out while they are pretending to sneak inside and say yeah but what do you really think and feel? because we're sell that. this is perverse. that company is perverse. it is a drug. people who run it have to deal with their own moral consciences. stuart: it is $27 per share, if it is pushing a drug and pulling us in, i would have thought that would have made it a pretty good investment. would you buy facebook stock if

you thought it was a good investment? >> i didn't buy facebook stock. i think it may well be a good investment. i can't bring myself to do it. i can't invest in dance moms as a reality show. stuart: trying to get a word in edge wise. >> sorry, this is your show. stuart: yes, it is. would you invest in a tobacco stock? an alcohol stock? >> i would not invest in a tobacco stock or alcohol stock. i don't think alcohol or tobacco should be illegal. stuart: what about a vegas casino company? >> i think we're on the fence but i think they could do a lot more to turn away people who are impulsi impulsive gamblers.

stuart: friday of this week fox business network is running vice day, we're talking all about alcohol, weed, drugs, gambling, pornography. across the spectrum. >> right, it is a vice. stuart: you are telling us that you are appearing on the fox business network and you wouldn't invest in any of these vice companies? >> i would say from my moral standpoint, i can't do it, because you know what? i don't want to give anybody cancer. i don't want to give anybody pathological gambling. look, i know people can gamble without becoming addicted, but i just don't want to get involved. i think it is a bad idea. stuart: would you invest in defense stocks? >> sure, that defend our freedoms and liberated us from nazi germany, absolutely. i'm big into that. in fact i people should flock to those companies. enrich them. absolutely. stuart: always fun. always intellectually challenging. >> anything about autonomy i'm

in. anything that disempowers people, i'm out. stuart: do you understand the meaning of a hard break? do you understand that? >> hard break, we're out. i want to stay. stuart: no, we're out. >> why does it have to be that the rules apply to me? [laughter] stuart: i don't have an answer for that one but i will think of one during the break. thank you very much indeed, dr. keith. good stuff. >> take care. stuart: the law said the president had to submit a budget by february 4th. the administration still has not submitted a plan, even outline, and won't until next month. in fact, during obama's time as the president, he's only met the deadline once. so what law has the white house been breaking? and if it's broken a law, is there a penalty? you know who's next. judge napolitano.

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what? customs didn't like it. so why do banks do it? hello? hello?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello? ally bank. your money needs an ally. >> howdy partners, come on to hostess twinkie town for some golden twinkies. >> watch out. they are stealing the hostess twinkie. >> watch this. stuart: i remember that commercial when i was first in america. the twinkie is not dead. hostess brand has agreed to sell the twinkie, to two investment

firms. the deal is reportedly worth more than 410 million dollars. all those brands will probably make a comeback by this summer. paul ryan released his budget earlier this week. the democrats followed yesterday with their own version. but what about president obama? we've seen no budget from the white house, despite a legal requirement that the budget be submitted to congress by the first monday in february. all rise, he's here, the judge andrew napolitano. is that a law? >> yes, it's a federal statute that congress imposed upon the -- itself and the president. it doesn't have to generate with the president. it could generate with someone in the house. it could generate with someone in the senate, but it's a statute that must be enacted. the budget is a statute that congress enacts on the president and signs into the law. the congress has imposed upon itself to do it by the first monday of february. stuart: that's flat out breaking the law. what's the penalty?

>> nothing. when you or i or charles or liz or anybody watching us breaks a law, there's a consequence. when congress breaks its own laws that it imposes upon itself, there's no consequence. there's no consequence to the members of congress or the government. the government is not going to fine itself. obviously they can't make it by the first monday in february because that's passed. this is the first monday in february preceding the fiscal year, which starts on october 1st. they can't make it for this year. they haven't made it for the past four years. the only sanction is political. congress is breaking the laws it's written. stuart: if nobody cares there is no penalty. if the penalty is political, people vote against the president and his party, then there is no penalty because it's not seeped through that this is an important thing. if the media essentially protects the president and the democrats in congress, then it is not going to seep through the public and there will be no -- >> that's where i think it is a

good -- if you don't mind me saying so that we're having this conversation. i don't think this keeps people awake at night, but they ought to know that the congress does not follow its own laws and there are real consequences to this. i will give you an example of a real consequence, because there is no budget, the president is free to move cash within a department. so if the defense department gets -- i will throw a number out -- 100 billion dollars, they get a lot more, the president is free to send all of that to the army or all of that to the navy, or all of that to west point, because there are no budget items that force him to spend in accordance with congress's will. so that's an advantage president. stuart: yes, but wait a second. the sequester cuts, 2 point whatever it is percent. the president said we've got to cut vaccinations for children in georgia. we have got to cut white house tours. you're telling me that's not -- is that not accurate? >> do you think the president was being knowledgeable? stuart: wait a second. because of the absence of a budget -- >> the president is free to cut

what he wishes. stuart: and he can put the money wherever he likes. >> absolutely. if he wants to hire 100 soldiers, he only has to hire 98, he can hire the 100 and not hire somewhere else or not spend somewhere else. there is no legal mechanism to prevent him from switching funds from a to b, so long as the total in each department raises -- raises 98% instead of 100%. stuart: we're two weeks into the sequester -- >> you and i have discussed this. stuart: i have not heard this. i did not know in the absence of a budget the president is free to direct money where he chooses. i didn't know that. >> absolutely is. remember the sequester doesn't cut. it reduces the increase. so instead of going up 100 cents on the dollar, proposed increase, it goes up 98 cents. what happens to that 2 cents? he can grab it from here and he can grab it from there. stuart: he's not done that. >> he's not done it. stuart: he claims we're cutting there and cutting there. >> there's no mechanism to prevent him from doing it. with a budget there would be a

mechanism preventing him to do it. president nixon tried not to spend budgetary items that congress authorized. the supreme court said you have to spend it because it's in the budget. stuart: we're out of time. >> congressman ryan, whatever you think of the numbers at least has tried to comply with the law. although he's a little late. stuart: you're on the show every single day. i didn't know that. >> i only talk about subjects that you and the queen request. [laughter] stuart: always good. judge, thank you very much indeed. that was good. here's a headline for you, and it's from the washington post, quote, obama's reelection honeymoon ends. find out why after this. [ indistinct shouting ] ♪ [ indistinct shouting ] [ male aouncer ] time and sales data. split-second stats. [ indistinct shouting ] ♪

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stuart: we've seen some decline in gas prices recently, but overnight they have been holding fairly steady. look at this, 3.70 per gallon for regular, that's the national average. oil is back to $93 a barrel, that's where we are now. samsung is set to release the new galaxy x-4 phone tomorrow. reports out this morning shows samsung outspent apple in advertising for all of 2012. can the new samsung release be the iphone killer? probably not. apple is up 2 bucks today. 431. the cardinals couldn't reach a decision on a new pope this morning. black smoke into the air of

vatican city. the cardinals are expected to vote two more times today as we keep a close eye on the chimney above the 16 chapel. totally separate story now, is the honeymoon over for the president? new numbers suggests that it is. back in a moment. little did i know that one week later i wasn't smoking. [ me announcer ] along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help pople quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostilityagitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you develop these stop taking chantix and see your doctor right away as some can be life-threatening. tell your doctor if you have a history of heart or blood vesl problems, or if you develop new or worse symptoms. get medical help right away

if you have symptoms of heart attack stroke. use caution when driving or operating machinery. comn side effects include nausea, trouble sleeping and unusual dreams. people around you...they say, you're much bigger than this. and you are. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chanti is right for you. stuart: let's get back to nicole and zillow. i know that stock is higher today. i do remember that charles recommended this around 30 bucks a share when he recommended it? charles: 37.

nicole: yeah, charles payne another great call. right now up 2.7%. you can see zillow at 52 bucks right and above that level. pacific crest raised it. now the price target is 60 bucks up from 48 because obviously it surpassed 48. so they had to refigure their numbers. not only it is a winner here, year to date it is up nearly 90%. we have talked about some serious winners. netflix was up almost 100% in 2013. zillow is up almost 90% in 2013. only the first quarter. stuart: let's not forget, charles saw t coming. that was good, charles. now it's 52 on its way up anymore. very good. charles: thanks a lot. stuart: you did well with that one, now the latest is michael kors, you like it. charles: this is a reiteration. down about a buck and a half on it right now. all of a sudden in the last two weeks, the hip trade on wall street is to sell kors and buy

coach. coach does have some nice things but i think wall street is being premature. coach is on sale. although yesterday two firms came in and defended it. today it got an upgrade. still looking for kors to go to new all-time highs. stuart: you choose kors that's the one for you. charles: i like them both. i don't think it is an either or propositi proposition. i'm a little worried about kors, my wife went to look at a dress, and it was really expensive. stay aspirational michael kors. stuart: did your wife buy the dress? charles: no, we did not buy the dress. we want to go back to the kors that used to sell $190 dresses. aspirational that's what we're looking for. stuart: this is my opinion, the tide is turning against president obama. we've got a new washington post abc poll. it shows that the public trust in the president on the economy is about neck-and-neck with the

republicans in congress. and it gets worse for the president. his job approval rating is 50%. that's down 5 points since january. joining us now is sabrina shafer. good to see you again. my position is that this turning of the tide began when the white house cancelled public tours. i think it was downhill from there. am i making too much of this? >> no you are not at all. i think it put to the american people just how out of whack the president's priorities are. the economy is number one issue for american families who are working hard. we have a national debt creeping to 17 trillion dollars. borrowing 40 cents on every dollar. unemployment has hovered at 8% for a year now. and we had all of this hysteria over the sequestration with no meaningful cuts except for tours at the white house. stuart: you think this has gotten through to the public. you think the continuing poor performance of the economy, and now these cuts which really were

not really serious at all, for most people, except as the president intended, you think that has really turned the tide of public opinion? over and above what we're seeing in these polls? >> i think people are realizing that if we want to see meaningful change to our budget, to our economy, to the national debt, we need to tackle entitlements. they realize that cutting the white house tours is superficial. it is not getting at the real problems. i think that suggests that people are opposed to cuts. but i think when people are talked to about how we want entitlements here for the long-term and solvency in the long-term and suddenly they do believe in serious meaningful reform, even means testing. stuart: that's the total opposite of what we have seen for the last four years. you say you are going to cut entitlements in any way shape or form and you are out, you win the election if you go against the cutting of entitlements. >> i think that is a winning message for republicans. they may not like me saying that. one of the problems is that --

stuart: you describe yourself as a conservative, leaning right? >> yes. stuart: you say the republicans should now say get to grips with entitlements, it is a winning message? >> i think they shouldn't be afraid of it. one of the problems is that the message is always being driven by the left. if the republicans don't respond now and don't get behind the ryan budget and really come out there with something consistent and forceful, they are not going to be able to benefit from this drop in the polls. stuart: last point. liz: i think the polls are showing is that the crisis is how we govern ourselves. we don't govern anymore. so when we talk about entitlement reform, it has to be couched in how it helps the middle class, to save those programs. stuart: save medicare, save social security, don't kill it, right. i'm sorry we're out of time sabrina. we thank you very much for being with us today. i think it is very important subject, turning of the tide here, big stuff. the fda warns that pfizer's z pack could cause heart problems. what is the issue?

dr. manny will join us next. today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention se, attentioon site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cies. siemens. answers.

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stuart: trouble for pfizer over its very popular z-pack cold drug. the fda no less says it could cause some heart trouble. dr. manny is here. all right. doctor, is this a source for concern? this thing is prescribed very

widely. >> no, i don't think so. this is a warning that came out in 2012 from a very good study, fda looked at it, basically said if you have underlying factors of cardiac disease, especially arrhythmias, if you have low magnesium or low potassium, you should tell your doctor because there's a potential side effect taking a z-pack, which is a very popular antibiotic could give you also abnormalities of the rhythm and that could lead to a problem. stuart: did you say 40 million prescriptions a year? >> absolutely. it is one of the most popular if not the most popular antibiotic that is given out at all ages from very small children to older people. it is very common for sinus infections. very common for upper respiratory infection. it is easy to take. because it's only five days. it comes in a pack. that's why they call it a z-pack. it looks like a credit card. you open it. take two pills the first day and then a pill every day. people think it is very benign.

it does have potential for side effects, in reality. stuart: i'm sure you have prescribed it. >> all the time. >> stuart: does it work? >> it works. it is a very popular antibiotic. it will continue to work because the class of antibiotic that it is have a very specific target for certain bacteria, and that's why it will continue to be used on a daily basis. stuart: does the fda have to put out this kind of warning if there's x number of problems in a small number of people who have taken it? >> well the fda is not going to put a black label warning on the drug yet, but what it did do is going to add a couple more lines, specifically targeting the side effects about heart problems, which were not there before. so doctors -- this is more for doctors to be aware. stuart: got it. dr. manny, this is your first appearance on varney & company. >> isn't this great? stuart: it is not going to be your last. if you are not careful, you will be invited back. >> thank you very much. stuart: doctor, thank you very much. we appreciate it. >> thank you. stuart: i have breaking news for you. the founder of automotive stepping down over what reports

say are major disagreements with executive management. founder of fisker automotive is stepping down. all right, you got it. the highlight reel is next.