i think it's going to make a comeback. >> and that $19 billion sale has raised that value of blackberry as well. >> might be a takeover play. big guys on wall street looking at as a takeover play. catching a falling boat anchor right now. watch out. >> eric bolling d "cashin' in" right now. taking the american work ethic and throwing it out the window. it's the dirty little secret behind the president's big push to lift the minimum ge. >>t's time for the minimum wage to go up. >> president obama still pounding the issue. wait till you hear why these liberals want to raise it. this minimum image will give you maximum rage. >>and slamming e door on big labor. auto workers telling the ua to [ bleep ] off. there should be a wake-up call for unions everywhere. and here's controversy. johnny carson' writer, why this is no laughing matter for america.

"cashin' in," protecting you, starts right now. i'm eric bolling. welcome to "cashin' in." wayne rogers, jonathan hoenig, michelle fields and richard beckham joins us. when asked about the push to raise the minimum image, wage -- >> they just be able to work less because they're getting a decent wage. >> hard to believe his economic adviser just sd that. but this attack o hard work is becoming a common theme from the left, is it not? >> since when is it the government's role to try to get americans to work less? the only good thing about this is that finally the democratic party is owning up to what they're really about. they're not about getting americans back to work. they're about getting americans dependent on the government. the cbo report that just came out shows that raisi the minimum image to $10.10 an hour

will reduce 500,000 jobs. the american people didn't elect their representives to come here and kill their jobs, yet that's what's happening. >> john, over the last fewwek, we've heard lefties after lefties tell us, we need to work a little bit less. but that's not what this country was founded on. >> no. amera was the country that coed thephrase, to make money, earning money, productivity. that's what this country is all about. but we see many on the left glorifying dependence and delm n delmonizing independence. this is economy 101 when you force people to pay higher-than-market wages, the result is less production. it's low-skill jobs that give people that foot in the door. the left want to keep peop dependent on the government. >> bob, tell me how this helping

the lower end of the income scale -- >> i don't know where to start. put it this way. neither of those two, particularly jonathan, never had to work over 40 hours a week in his current job -- >> that's untrue, bob. >> how do you know that? what are you talking about? >> jonathan, maybe you work 80 hours. that's fine. but my point is if you take somebody on minimum wage in this country and they work a 40-hour workweek, they're in the poverty level. what they do in order to make up for that, they work a lot of extra hours in order to feed their families. by bringing this thing up a little b, the minimum wage, that means they may have a free hour -- >> hold on, gu. wayne, if that does, in fact, happen, where the low end of the income spectrum moves up -- prices could go up for things like a mcdonald's cheeseburger. who does that help? >> well, i don't think it does, eric.

the point is, it's not really whether or not this is going to affect, i don't thinso much, the pricing mechanism and the economy so much as it's going to affect people working. the workforce itself is going to shrink. people are going to hire less people. if i can get a job done at the same price, i'm looking at marginin my business. if my getting the job done with five people who can do this job instead of six people who can do this job, i'm going to lay off that sixth person. that's what's going to happen. so the workforceis going to shrink and ultimately this is going to drive jobs away as opposed to promoting jobs. >> go ahead, last thought michelle. i want to move on. >> it's not just guessing. the cbo has said it and that was the labor department's own assessment back in the 1930s when the first minim wage s enacted. jobs were destroyed as a result. >> jonathan, the wage does increase unemployment -- >> it's lled economy 101, bob.

>> we want to put a lot into this block because we're talking about jobs. we'rgoing to shift gears a little bit. the uaw this week lost a big fight in tenssee at a volkswagen plant. jon, let's talk about that. the union lost. that's a good thing for workers because? >> well, look at all the industries where unions have won, eric. airlines, textiles, automakers, education. the result is destruction of wealth, destruction of jobs. so it's not surprising that many employers and even many employees themselves are saying we want no part of this union. in fact, the only places that unions are really growing of course is in the arena of force, government. that's where they're thrhriving. >> bob, you and i argue this point quite a bit. right-to-work state, tennessee, a lot of auto companies are coming from overseas opening up in this plant because of the lower cost labor. why is that a bad thing? >> i'm not sure it's a bad thing. you want a bunch of foreigne

to come in and go south, fine with me. but the point is, their plants are in the usa and they should be subjected to be unionized -- >> to bring the nderful job they're doing in detroit, bring it to the south, too? >> ford is doing well. bob corker, the senator from down there, about two days before this thing was up for a vote said that he talked to vw and they said they would move their new line of cars into this plant in tennessee or if they lost, it wou go to mexico. now, that, to me, is the worst kind of intimidation. >> michelle, staying on the point about the uaw failing in the south and for a lot of us on the right, we think that's a good thing. plain it for us, will you? >> i also think this is a trend. if you look at polls, americans don't have a favorable view of unions. and membership for unions continues to go down year after year. people are not happy with unions. why are you going to give them all this money just for the

unions to go give it to the democratic party? that's what ends up happening. you end up just paying for all these elected officials to the democratic party. >> and, wayne, very important point is a lot of these plants -- there are a lot o deals struck with these auto companies to come over, offering tax incentives and whatnot. but making sure that it stays right to work. this loss for the uaw in tennessee, very important for a lot of other states in the south as well, right? >> i think there's a bigger thing going on here, eric, than just the labor dispute. that's the fact that detroit itself has disintegrated. and everybody thought that detroit, the city, the whole area around detroit, was based on the automobile industry. e automobile industry when it became unionized and became recalcitrant, it destroyed th city of detroit. and chattaoga and those areas of tennessee and people, they fear that. now, whether or not it's true or not, to bob's point, i don't know. but they fe it and that's what

drove them to vote the way they vote. >> you're probably right on most of that. michelle, in a righto-work state, they don't hav to pay union dues -- pay a little attention. in right-to-work stat, if you unionize, you do not have to give your money to the union to give to democrats. they don't have to -- just so you get that straight. >> michelle? >> i'm not even going to answer that. that is so -- the way you just spoke to me was so condescending and inappropriate. >> i'm sorry. i just wanted to try to correct the -- >>e want to wrap this up. >> go ahead,on. what the unions have become, theye become a political party. they've become a way of bringing money to the demrats. more so than protecti any worker's rights. >> and not just a political party. but they use politics, they use government force to create higher-than-market wages and the net result is the same thing as the minimum wage. you have the destruction of

jobs. when you pay people $50 an hour, th're only worth $15 or $25, the net result, destruction of jobs. you sa it in detroit. you saw it everywhere where unions have dominated the workforce. and using govement force to make it happen. >> we have to leave it there. we're going to -- b and michelle are going to make up in the break, i promise you. you can continue the conversation right now on twitter. #cash #cashinin. make your voice heard today. when "cashin' in" trends, you trend. coming up, what do these late-night hosts havein common? a lack of punch lines about president obama. why johnny carson'sead writers are protecting him. are protecting him. and one person hoste "the

announcer: get caught buzzed driving, and you could do some hard time.

woman: craig. knock it off! sorry, mom. announcer: it could cost you around $10,000 in fines, legal fees, and increased insurance rates, and that could set you back a few years. buzzed, busted, and broke because buzzed driving is drunk driving. move secret service, late-night comics want to protect the president, too. johnny carson's former head writer saying they protect president obama but choosing not to poke fun at him. and who better than to ask about this than our panel. michelle's father wrote for johnny and wayne was a gut host on "the tonight show." wayne, tell us about guest hosting for carson. >> it waalways a great experience. when i was there, the head writer was a guy named pat mccormick who was totally nuts. the more outrageous it was -- by

the way, politicians were not protected. nobody protected anybody. johnny shied away from political discussion. but it didn't mean that he didn't make jokes about them. and everybody made jokes about -- anything went. the producer at that time, wonderful guy, very bright, harvard law school graduate, everybody contributed. i could tell you some funny stories about it. we had a great time. >> michelle, your father wrote for johnny. politics is always -- there's so much fodder for jokes there. he like to right about politics, too, or the other stf? >> yeah, my father was a huge conservative. he wrote for carson along with ray siller. my father was a big conservative. that was never a problem because with carson, it was just whether or not you were funny. that's all he cared about. he would poke fun at both sides. now it's so much different. hollywood writers feel like they need to protect this president

and they can only take shots at republicans. i think that's why we saw leno, he had great ratings but he was kicked off the air. and i think the reason why is because he wasilling to poke fun at this president that made the republicans and middle america laugh. >> siller, who wrote this piece we're talking about, he was a former head writer for johnny carson. he said, maybe ty're protecting president oba because they're afraid of being call a racist if they make jokes about him. >> i don't think jay leno lost his job cause of his conservative views. my guess is most of these writers there are liberals. and they probably are. and that's how it works. i'd be willing to own up to that. >> what about it, jon? late-night shows are very important. people watching the late-night shows, when they wake up in the morning, that same network is on. that's why the late-night program is so important to the networks.

>> i think they're important although i think they're less relevant and less culturally impactful th ever before. but the reason why jimmy fallon and jon ewart protect the president is they support the president. they supportis basic premises. control over people's lives. whether it's health care, green jobs, all the initiativesnd money he's spent, they just overlook because they agree with his basic premise that we're here to serve the greater good. >> go ahead, wayne. >> one of the things that's fascinating to me is cnn, for example, has lost 39% of their prime audience since last january. that tells u something. i think that tells you that fox, and all due respect to roger ailes, he's done a sensational job. he's found out that there's an audience out there in america who will respond to the right. it was not done before. this is an aazing thing that

fox can outdo cnn and cnbc combined and this is because there's an audience out there that he discovered. why hasn't cnn done that or cnbc done tha i don't know. >> michelle, go ahead. what ray points out, which is a good point, mo americans actually identify as conservative more so than liberals. so there's this huge market. and that's what roger ailes was able to tap into. he wanted to. but all of these other netwks want to ignore that huge demograpc. they just want to cater to the people on the coast. i think that's why you're seeing the ratings for a lot of her networks that just want to cater to people on the coast and liberals have bad ratings. >> can i pull up that picture? we have a little picture. if you want hashtag, do that and name that picture. that's that selfie from the nelson mandela memorial service. we're going to leave it right there. coming up, feeling funny about who's making money?

why is it when entertainers make millions of dollars it's okay but when ceos do

hope you'll join us in about 15 minutes. stay with us. well, here's something to think about as the president wages war on income inequality. this week "the new york times" ran an article justifying celebrities like robert dney jr. making millions. mr. downey bringing in a cool $50 million for the film "the avengers" but "the times" is the loudest mouth in the room crying foul when a businessman is successful. jonathan, why the double standard? >> well, the double standard

exists because weon't respect people's minds, we only respect their muscles, their bodies. so when we see a sports star throw a pitch or lebron james dunk a basketball or see gisele on the cover of a magazine, we think, well, you know, i can see what they're doing, they're doing something. no one can look as pretty as gisele, the ceos we don't know what they do according to obama they sit around cashing checks and playing golf all day long. wait a minute, that's obama. the point is ceos earn their money and not everyone can do it. they earn every penny and they deserve it. >> not only that, wayne, they create jobs and that doesn't seem to be highlighted in "the neyork times" piece. >> i would say jonathan is on to something in the sense that we don't see it. we the public do not see what a ceo does. you can't have a photoaph of a guy sitting at a desk, you know, making decisions. it just doesn't hpenhat way. so, when you see athletes or you see movie stars or you see scantily clad young ladies, you know, that's a visual impact.

it's not something that you understand. that's te, they're not -- they're not creating jobs. that is corre. they are taking jobs. they are not creating them. you don't see a cea -- ceo creating bs. >> and, michelle, we at, we'll speak for myself and the show, i'm all for people making 50 million bucks but don't get down on lloyd blankfein o donald trump for making a lot of money, too. >> ihas a lot to do with the president vilifying ceos or businessmen all the time. if you turn on tv and you watch a movie, the evil businessman he's always trying to take down the little guy. that's how they are portrayed which is very unfair because ma of the wealthy businessmen, ceos in this coury are self-made. they didn't inherit this money. they got the money throh hard work, skill, and sacrifice, those are things we should be commending not lookingown upon. >> bobby, your side is so hypocritical on this issue, i cannot believe, it's ay for

certain groups to make a lot of moneand not other groups. >> i just learned something, donald trump didn't inherit it. listen, robert downey jr.'s made $50 million and my question about the -- go down to wall street, these investment bankers, these guys should be in jail because they took this country damn near into a depression and yet they get 50, 20, 50, $100 million in bonuses. these guys were never perped walk. >> all because the bad businessmen have the heelp of te government. >> how many times have i heard presidenobama say, look, a ceo makes 200 times what the average work makes. that's vilifying the ceo and yet "the new york times" said leonardo dicaprio he deserves 50 million bucks. >> do you think the ceos who have bad years lose wages? >> i don't know. >> they don't. >> iish we had more time. we've got to jump. more time would be great, wink, wink. thank you all for joining us this week. coming up, look out the

governrnment is looking to obsee tv newsrooms. is uncle sam planning to conol

time for what do i need to know for next week, wayne, you're first. >> well, you know, i've been hot on these high-tech stocks and the biotechs and i like somethincalled myriad genetics, mygn. i talked about it in the past. it had a bumpy ride recently. watch it. >> we'll keep our eye on it.

how about you? >> a lot of coodities are in bull markets, eric, we've talked about couffee and cotton and i m looking at grains, i think jjg deserves a place in your portfolio. >> very good, guys. thank u very much. stay hot, fellas. that's it for us. thanks for joining us. before we go this week we learned alarming news. the c says it wants to xin, quote, the process by which sties are selected in newsrooms across america. >> the fcc has announced it is not going to send researchers hired by the government into newsrooms across the country and that's the good news i think for all citizens. >> is this 1984 big brother, is this mao's communist china or the soviet union or do we still live in america the free? the first amendment protects the ee press for a reason, taking away our blood-spent freedoms. week after week we seek the truth for you and the last thing

america needs is the government telling us what news we can and can't feed. i'll see youn the fives. tomorrow night. kennedy: it is presidents' day, we never figured out what you are supposed to do to celebrate this winter day off, president celebratesifth anniversaryf stim plus passing -- sfitim plus passing, they blog about success of a questionable government prop up, and jay carney 7 ou sense out a few tweets. you happy mr. president? we are. this is "the independents"