then you will complain about the mashed potatoes being too hard, the turkey is too dry, what is this place, i can't get good service. that's what i'm going to hear. stuart: the truth is i never complain about anything. you know that's the truth, don't you, lauren? three, two, one. lauren: i know you wouldn't come. stuart: that's true. neil cavuto, it's yours. neil: someone is not telling the truth. someone is not telling the truth. all right. stuart, thank you very much. have a good weekend, my friend. at the corner of wall and broad, we've got the dow looking at a record, s&p looking at a record, nasdaq looking at a record. that despite a sort of ho-hum jobs report here that shows 245,000 more were created in the latest month. here's the thing. the markets were looking for something close to double that, about 445,000. having said that, though, we did see the prior two months revise to another 11,000 more jobs than we thought we were getting. the unemployment rate is now at

6.7%. some other news that's more immediate that might be helping investors look at this jobs picture in a much bigger way, what we are seeing happening with the likes of amazon and walmart hiring a lot more workers for the holiday season, and giving the ones they have bonuses to keep them happy. that's nice. all this as we see lockdown measures across the country, particularly in los angeles county. they are talking about fairly sweeping moves in new york state. we will get to that in just a second. but all of this has spurred the need to talk a little more about stimulus, yes, in a lame duck session nancy pelosi adding to that saying the alarming november jobs report, i don't know if i would call it alarming, is another urgent warning that real relief is needed, quoting from her press release, we have to crush the virus, stop the mass layoffs of essential workers and put money in the pockets of american people. now, there might be different rationale on the part of republicans here but they, too, are eager for some form of stimulus. mitch mcconnell on board with that plan that could cost

upwards of $908 billion but the fact that the two sides are talking about the need for relief seems to hint that we just might get it. but we don't want to get ahead of our proverbial skis. chad pergram with the latest on capitol hill. hey, chad. reporter: good afternoon, neil. there is momentum here. house speaker nancy pelosi says she wants to blend a coronavirus aid package with a bill to fund the government. the government funding deadline is the end of next week. pelosi says they have to attach the two because it's the only train leaving the station. now, pelosi opposed a bipartisan bill in the late summer but she now says the creation of a vaccine and the election of joe biden altered the landscape. listen. >> that is a total game changer. a new president and a vaccine. this has simplicity. it's what we have had in our bill. it's for a shorter period of time but that's okay now, because we have a new president. reporter: just days ago, senate

majority leader mitch mcconnell consulted with the white house and said his narrow $550 billion bill was the only measure which could earn the signature of the president. this boils down to details. will there be liability protections moeor money for sta and local governments. the other issue they have to settle is the issue of payment checks. just wednesday on capitol hill, treasury secretary steve mnuchin said direct payments were dead. neil? neil: all right, just to be clear, though, it seems like they are joining the effort to keep the government lights on with this stimulus plan, if it were to come to pass. is that right? reporter: that's right. that was the main point nancy pelosi made today. she says, her words, this was the only train leaving the station. also her word that there is now momentum to do a coronavirus bill. neil: got it. thank you, my friend. have a safe weekend. chad pergram following all of that. all of this at a time when the virus certainly is spiking in

lots of places. record daily death count, record daily hospitalization count, record daily just simple cases count and then a record early read of a positive virus reading coming from 27 states. but perhaps in no other state than california is this problem as acute as it is in this country, and especially lockdown measures, shutdown measures, that could hint of where we were way back in the early days of the pandemic itself. william la jeunesse with more from los angeles. hey, william. reporter: hey, neil. as you mentioned, california was first with those lockdowns back in march. other states followed suit. so they say let's try it again. restrictions kick in likely on sunday in some parts of the state. other parts may be later. the question is how long it goes. remember, definitely past christmas, likely past new year's. that's going to kill brick and mortar retail. of course, that's when they make bank. here's what it means for

residents. no indoor or outdoor dining, playground, museum, campground, theaters, bars closed. hotels only medical and essential worker guests only. businesses in general, shut down. retail will be capped at 20% of capacity, meaning long lines in any store, including groceries. no barber shops or nail salons. >> we were shut down for seven months and we did all the precautions like putting up the plexiglass and getting all the sanitation, everything was up to date, and they shut us down again. i don't think it's fair because he doesn't follow his rules and why should we? reporter: so here's how it works. the stay-at-home order is triggered whenever icu bed capacity falls below 15% in any one of five regions statewide. northern california, 18%. l.a., 20%. sacramento, 22%. currently. but the thanksgiving surge has yet to hit. 11 malls, colleges have been

open as field hospitals to handle the overflow. >> i know you have acknowledged that you have lost some moral authority because of the french laundry situation. do you believe the damage done to your credibility is stable? >> i'm doing my job. i will continue to do my job. that's what i have to do. reporter: that was the first time governor newsom has been asked about his dining at the french laundry, contrary to rules. obviously pretty curt response there. by the way, the l.a. sheriff says he's not going to enforce this, not his problem. so a lot of it is going to be up to people to follow it, because the sheriff is not going to do it. alcohol and beverage control, maybe they will, but by and large, self enforce. back to you. neil: everyone depends on the honor system. william la jeunesse, thank you very very much, my friend. to tennessee republican congressman mark green on all of this. i know you are on the other side of the country, congressman, but you are starting to see more and

more states, municipalities, counties, crack down with lockdowns, more lockdowns and more measures to come, hints of that in the new york city metropolitan area. in one state after another, where hospitalization capacity rates are the lowest they have been since the start of the pandemic. are you worried this is festering into something much bigger than most people thought? >> i think we can expect, neil, thanks for having me on your show, i think we can expect this as the temperatures get colder, people go inside, so the transmission rates are going to pick up, it's expected. i think most of the states are managing their icu bed capacity very well, and individual per hospital. i don't think these lockdowns, i mean, i find them actually more of a threat to the public health than the actual virus at this point. you know, the mortality rate to the virus is significantly lower with remdesivir and the

monoclonal antibodies. places like california are doing more harm than good. neil: you know, president-elect biden has said in an interview that he really thinks about a 90, 100-day mask requirement strongly urged, not ordered, would wipe out this problem and this severe uptick in cases. do you agree with that? >> well, there is mixed data on the masks. the annals of internal medicine just published a danish study that showed very clearly in that particular study, it was a prospective study, the masks did not make a difference in transmission. now, there are other studies that have shown it makes a difference. i think the medical community, something that a lot of people don't realize, we as physicians, we get all sorts of different information about studies. one study says this, another study says that, and we have to make decisions on that. right now, the consensus on this

is still a question mark. neil: let me veer into politics if you don't mind. the president is still maintaining his legal fight over the election a month ago. but some republicans are saying, you know, we understand you count every vote, get it right, but seeing as you keep losing a lot of these legal challenges, it's time to hang it up. do you think it's time for the president to quit and acknowledge that joe biden is going to be the next president? >> no. i think he needs to count every legal vote. every court action needs to happen. these courts have been set up as a part of our basic principles of government. we have three branches of government and it is the law that these, you know, situations can be heard in the courts. it is president trump's right to have those things be heard in the courts and we have an obligation, he's our president right now, to wait and hear what those courts have to say. so i fully support every single vote being counted and every

single legal process going forward. neil: do you think the results will be overturned? >> you're asking for a prediction and i have not dug into every single legal case so i will have to go home and do some homework on all of those to answer that question, neil. neil: you and me both, i guess. let me ask you, joe biden has also said he thinks it's a good idea for the president to show up for the inauguration, that it shows continuity, i'm sort of paraphrasing here, from the cnn interview, but that personally it means little to him, it would mean a lot to the country. do you agree with that? >> you know, once the legal process has gone forward and the courts make their decisions on these purported and alleged fraud cases, i think we should go with what the courts say. that's the process that we have established in our country and

so i think if that's what they decide, then we all need to get on board with it. but until that time, i think every allegation needs to be investigated and if it warrants a court hearing, then it gets a court hearing. then we make our decision. neil: all right. congressman green, i hope you have a wonderful holiday. >> thanks, neil. neil: tennessee republican congressman, mark green. doctor by training, too, i might adhere. we are going to get an update on what these states are doing, particularly the break do you know of what they want to do in california because these measures affect 40 to 50 counties in that state and they are far-reaching as william la jeunesse said. other states are closely monitoring because they might be doing the exact same thing whether or not you like it. after this. did you know you can go to libertymutual.com

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neil: what do you think about what the secretary of state in georgia has called the president's tone, that it could lead to some bad things, maybe even violence? >> the president should do everything he can on saturday when he has his rally to get

every republican that voted for him out to vote, and some maybe that didn't vote for him out to vote, those people that are scared of a biden presidency with a democrat senate, he should stick to script, forget ad libbing, don't talk anything about how he was cheated out of being president of the united states, do everything to unite the republicans. neil: that was chuck grassley's way of saying mr. president, focus when you are in georgia this weekend. he will be there tomorrow, by the way, on behalf of the republicans, the senators who are running right now in that race. focus on getting them back to the united states senate and save any other problems you have with counts in the state for another day. not this state, not this weekend ahead of that january 5th runoff race that is as tight as a tick. steve harrigan with the latest on that. reporter: big day of campaigning and big weekend of campaigning for the two senate run-off seats set for january 5th.

those two races could determine which party controls the senate for the next two years. today, vice president pence in town here in atlanta, later going to savannah to campaign with both republican senators. also on the other side, former president obama today holding a virtual rally for the two democrats. now, among republicans who are dissatisfied with the voting process here in georgia, how it's gone so far, some of them are encouraging fellow republicans not to vote. republican governor brian kemp last night spoke strongly against such a move. >> -- urging people not to go vote in this election, all that is going to do is give the democrats everything they want. it's going to give the radicals everything they want. i mean, this is literally the firewall. i think we all have to pull together and figure out what have we got to do to assure people that their vote's going to count. reporter: we expect the presidential ballot to be certified today. it's been counted three times.

joe biden with a lead of roughly 11,000. as you mentioned, president trump tomorrow to valdosta, georgia to campaign for both republican candidates. back to you. neil: i know polls can be a little questionable in certainly a run-off election where anything can and usually does happen, but a couple of them show the democratic candidates leading, one within the margin of error, another outside it. is there any connection between the president's, you know, concern about the vote in georgia for himself and how it's spilling over on those races? reporter: there have certainly been a lot of warnings, a lot of conservatives, lot of republicans saying don't talk about not voting, don't talk about problems with the presidential ballot. focus on these two elections. the republicans have a very strong history in run-off races in georgia so the real question is how influential are these peop people, being a very vocal group saying not to vote, will they

have any real influence when it comes to election day, january 5th. neil: all right. thank you very much. to senator joe lieberman, former independent senator of the beautiful state of connecticut, of course ran for vice president of the united states back in 2000. senator, this back-and-forth on these races, particularly the run-off battle going on in georgia, if those polls stay where they are and they could and likely will change, and the democrats pull both races out, that's a whole new ball game, isn't it? >> yeah, neil. great to be with you, as always. so it is a whole new ball game. as a matter of fact, a lot of the ball game over the next two years is on the line in georgia early in january in these run-offs because obviously, these two races will determine whether the senate is republican, so this one house controlled by another party than the white house or the house, or

whether democrats control the senate and basically are in control of the whole of the federal government. that doesn't mean joe biden is going to get everything he wants, but it means it's going to be a lot easier and i was surprised by the recent polling in georgia that showed the two democratic candidates ahead, because the history is, as steve harrigan said, that republicans win special elections in georgia. i think two things are happening. one is the state is changing. witness the fact joe biden carried georgia. second is i think it's intuitive more than scientific, i think all the tumult around president trump not acknowledging that he's lost his bid for re-election may not be helping those two republican candidates for the senate. i think chuck grassley gave pretty sound advice to president trump about what he should do this weekend. neil: you know, the "wall street

journal" echoed what you just said, senator, this morning saying mr. trump is already sounding like he wants to run again in 2024 and his stolen election claims sound like an opening bid for campaign donations. at least for now he can say with justification he held the gop, gained seats in the house and avoid a rout in the senate but that narrative changes for the worse if the gop loses in georgia and mr. trump divided his own party to serve his own political interests. he needs a gop senate nearly as much as mitch mcmcconnell does. what do you think of that? >> i couldn't agree more with what the "journal" says. the republicans don't need me to give them advice. certainly the president doesn't. but what's happening in georgia, it's not about president trump or the presidential election count. it's really about who's going to control the senate and that's pretty important over the next two years. so it ain't over til it's over

but i think the democrats have more of a chance to carry at least one if not both of these senate seats than we would have guessed just a week or two ago. neil: yeah. it's looking that way. like you said, it's way too early to tell. senator, i don't know if you have had a chance to catch joe biden's comments last night on cnn, but the whole issue of whether the president should concede, will concede, came up and about the importance of the president being at joe biden's inauguration. he seemed to dismiss it for himself personally, but thinks it's good for the country that he be there. i hope i got that right. that's the gist of it. what do you think of that, that no matter how trump feels, if it turns out these legal options have all failed, he's still bitter, still angry, but he shouldn't be petty about it, he should show up for the inauguration of joe biden, if for nothing more than to show the continuity of our system. >> yeah. i totally agree with what

president-elect biden had to say. i didn't see it last night. i do occasionally watch a cable news network other than fox networks but very rarely. neil: you are forgiven just this once. just this once. >> thanks. that's very merciful. i think joe biden was right. honestly, we all know how disappointed, angry, convinced president trump is that he got cheated out of this victory, but the courts are not siding with that. that's the way we resolve conflicts here. it's going to be hard for him but there's no question that for the country, it would be better if he and his wife were at the inauguration of joe biden. they don't have to endorse him, but they are there really for america that i know he loves, that he, donald trump, loves. he can go on to do whatever he wants to do after that. look, if he doesn't come, and

his wife doesn't come, the inauguration will go forward, joe biden is going to be our next president. it really is time for president trump to acknowledge that. he's thinking about running in 2024. well, that's four yoeears down e road. i think it's time to put the country first, as president trump has said and one big way to do that would be for him to attend the inauguration of his successor. neil: all right. we will see what happens. we will take an under/over on the odds of that happening. have a wonderful holiday. be healthy, be well. joe lieberman, former vice presidential candidate, multi-term senator from the beautiful state of connecticut. we were talking about joe biden. he's on the wires right now talking about the need for stimulus, saying that any covid relief package passed this year will not be enough. no matter what they come up with. so it's $900 billion, doesn't matter, it won't be enough, that congress will need to act again in january.

he says congress and president trump must get a deal done on coronavirus relief to be followed up by a deal done by the next president, who joe biden was clearly reminding people, would be him. stay with us.

neil: it's called contact tracing, trying to find out someone who has either tested positive for the virus or run into someone else who has, they want to follow what those people were doing prior to getting the virus itself or running into someone else who has it. in new jersey, it's not proven that simple. a lot of people are blaming governor murphy's pretty tough standard here to track people but it's a little more involved than that. we have a little bit more on this and why contact tracing has proven to be such a difficult thing to do. reporter: it's a lot more complicated than that, neil. you are exactly right. some folks actually believe a

lot of this noncompliance starts at home with parents. take, for example, new jersey like we are talking about. new jersey actually just this week banned indoor sporting events after governor phil murphy called out ice hockey parents for not complying with the state's contact tracers. listen to this. >> we are seeing a failure to cooperate in more than 60% of cases. again, it's anecdotal but a lot of that is with hockey. we are sick and tired of hearing this, folks. reporter: so in new york, the numbers are a little bit better. 1 in 5 people don't cooperate and some of those really could be terrified parents, neil. when this parent's daughter tested positive last week, she quickly was scolded for putting others at risk. he says he was told by contact tracers that parents of teenagers specifically don't often cooperate with them. he says covid shaming has to

stop so families can start to feel more comfortable speaking up and saving lives. >> they're afraid of backlash. they're afraid of their kid being with the scarlet letter c on their chest. to me, that's unbelievable. because we are all in this together. we are not enemies of each other. the only enemy we have is the virus. >> it just really hurt because i didn't mean any harm for anyone. reporter: the good news is that it doesn't appear anyone else around her got sick with covid and she is feeling a lot better. she is really hoping other kids will see this, if they are going through the same thing, facing the same kind of cyberbullying will reach out for support because it's not fun and it is complicated. neil? neil: it is not. apparently people are increasingly resisting just the idea. thank you very much. great story. rather telling one. we could see this play out in a lot of other states. as well as a lot of other

states, municipalities, all clamoring to get back to business as usual, whatever that means. take a look. >> close the bars and keep the schools open is what we really say. if you look at the data, the spread among children and from children is not really very big at all. >> schools will remain open for in-person instruction. we will continue to offer parents choices for the spring semester. >> closing schools due to coronavirus is probably the biggest public health blunder in modern american history. >> we have been saying for months that kids need to be back in school in person, and the data continues to support that in every way. neil: all right. it's inconsistent across the country right now and that could be complicating things. all that at the same time new york mayor bill deblasio is considering in-person classes returning but it won't be that simple, won't be that black and white and it will still be

confusing for parents to say the least. the independent women's for um senior policy analyst along with carol markowitz join us. what do you make of this battle over in school in person, not in school in person, because no two cities seem alike on this. >> you know, you and i have talked about this before. for some reason, major american cities decided to either reinvent the wheel like new york city did and set up a completely new schooling system with cohorts and remote learning and some combination of it, and other cities just decided not to open at all. i think we made a gigantic mess of it. the european cities seem to have just opened. they didn't put in new filters. they are largely not wearing masks. they are not doing social distancing. they simply opened. neil: we hope to fix that. we have a bit of a problem with carol's sound here.

but let me ask about where all this is going. as cases spike, and they have been spiking all over the place, there is going to be more pressure on elected officials which is always dangerous, to do something, and they end up doing something that's far more draconian than the issue at hand. where do you see this going? >> look, we have seen this disparity revealing dynamic i think play out over the school reopening battle and i think it's revealing in two ways. first of all, it shows what we really value as a society. opening schools, not saying it's risk-free whatsoever. but it is a lower risk activity than many things that are open. basically things to make adults happy, right, bars, restaurants, liquor stores. that's very revealing about where our priorities are, i think, as a country and what risks we decide or at least i should say not as a country, but our elected officials decide what risks are worth taking and what risks aren't worth taking. the other thing i think has been very revealing is the dynamics between school systems and

parents. i think this has totally stripped bare the fact that the school systems, public school systems in this country, are run for the benefit of the adults employed by them and not for the benefit of the children who are supposedly receiving their education from them. and this was clear i think to a lot of parents before the pandemic but it's become really clear now, with these debates over reopening when parents' input has been completely disregarded and as carol said, parents have been treated as though they can't even get clear information, let alone having their input actually respected. i think that has to do with the fact that parents don't have school choice, they don't have the power to actually connect the dollars, the $25,000 a year, more than that, that new york city spends per child, they don't have control of those dollars and they don't have school choice, therefore, they don't have a lot of power in the system and they are getting run over. neil: you know, i think your audio is good with us here, carol. it's playing out in kentucky in the weirdest way, where the

supreme court has asked kentucky's governor to reply in person to the attorney general there, who is trying to have the governor justify targeting private parochial schools and shutting them down and not extending the same across all public schools. so it's raising other issues. where do you see this going? >> yeah, absolutely. one of the main things that we have seen also happening across the country is that suburban school districts are largely open. private schools are largely open. gavin newsom in california sends his kids to an open private school while public schools in his area remain closed. so we see this double standard happening all over the place. it's going to lead to giant inequities and the people who claim to care about that for kids should really step up and do something about it now. neil: you know, the longer this drags on, it doesn't matter whether a vaccine, it doesn't matter whether millions of doses will be available by the end of this year.

i know one of these companies is saying we are very optimistic that by the end of next year we could have upwards of a billion doses. talking about pfizer, more to the point here. until then, i suspect these crackdowns are going to remain in effect. that will send it well past a year that we have been dealing with this pandemic and the fallout on our schools. >> that's right. in fact -- yeah. we have seen actually outrageous demands from teachers unions that go beyond the vaccine. you just said yes, by the end of this year, we are unlikely to get mass vaccination out to teachers which, by the way, i'm on the record arguing for putting teachers right behind health care workers and the most vulnerable in nursing homes so that we can get the schools open. but if the schools -- teachers unions are negotiating, for example, in fairfax county they are saying they want the schools to remain closed all the way through fall, through august of 2021, long past probably when

the vaccinations will be available to most teachers. we are really seeing again that the teachers unions hold the power here and that parents don't. that is a direct consequence of the way we set up our system and the way we fund districts and systems instead of directly funding students. neil: carol? >> absolutely right. the kids are not scheduled to get the vaccine until 2022, from what i understand right now. so we are looking at a situation where schools might not open next fall, either. i think people need to take that really seriously. if you listen to dr. fauci, he says social distancing will occur into 2022. that means a continuation of our school problem. neil: all right. guys, thank you very much. i think. you had some good warnings for us on all of this. we will see where it goes. in the meantime, we know china is trying to get back to business as usual, but a tourist campaign for wuhan? remember they shut that entire region down. it's sort of like their chernobyl. now a tourist campaign to woo you to wuhan.

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♪ neil: that's an ad for wuhan, the wuhan province, the epicenter of this entire pandemic in the earliest of days. they are trying to get you to go to wuhan. i guess it's a beautiful area. but again, it kind of ignores the obvious that, well, it's wuhan. anyway, be that as it may, they are pouring a lot of money into this campaign, hoping that what you start in wuhan, you will continue by extending your visit

to china. greg palkot has more on the significance of all this. reporter: yeah, there are new reports just out today about w news missed by china in the early stages of covid-19, this time about the way it tested for the virus. the associated press news agency now saying tests initially in that virus epicenter, wuhan, were scarce, inconclusive, poor quality, gave a lot of false negatives. for a few weeks in january, for example, not a single new case was reported even though infections were later found to be in the hundreds. this according to the report, possibly due to beijing's central health agency going with three relatively unknown chinese firms bidding for the right to do the testing. that has raised questions about secret deals, bribery, conflicts of interest. now, shoddy early testing, it is claimed, could be another reason why the chinese government of xi

jinping was slow to reveal the results of coronavirus and that as we know as led to a greater crisis of covid around the world. experts do know, however, that china was dealing with something new and other countries, it has to be said, including the u.s., had big stumbles when it came to testing in the early stages as well. we and other places are still trying to catch up. one final note, in recent weeks, there had been virus flareups in a few cities in china. this time around, mass testing, very quickly, of millions. live and learn. back to you. neil: live and learn is right. thank you very much. fascinating. you probably know about all these various covid tests. now one that's a quick swab in the middle of your nose, doesn't go all the way up to your cerebrum but how about doing it like essentially a breathalyzer test? they have that right now. grady trimble has more from texas. grady? reporter: hey, neil. welcome news to anybody who has

had that swab all the way up like you said almost tickling your brain. this is it right here. let me show you how it works. i have a plastic straw. take my mask down. all you do is blow into the straw for about five or six seconds, and this is just a working prototype so this information is going to the cloud, but they can analyze your breath and the goal is they can text you an alert immediately to tell you whether you are covid positive or negative. chris rhody, this is your product but you are in partnership with texas a & m. you have rolled this out already at colleges and hospitals but you see this application to be a lot broader? >> that's right. it's really designed to get people back to work. whether you are in a company, in a hospital, a health care worker, or university, get back to work. reporter: not just work, fun stuff, too. >> no, that's right. talking about any type of travel. could be airlines, could be a

ship, right. yeah. it's really good. reporter: i could see this at stadiums, concert venues. it's really interesting, neil. they are comparing it right now to the pcr test. so far, they found that it's incredibly accurate. what they are doing now is they want to roll this out and texas a & m is helping them mass-produce it so they might be able to do that. they are also applying for emergency use authorization by the fda. you might see one near you. neil? neil: when you say it's amazingly accurate, is it more accurate or within the same range of accuracy as some of the other covid tests that are out there, including the fast ones? reporter: well, it's different from those. because of that, the results are very promising to be more accurate right now, but again, this is very early stages. they don't want to jump the gun and make that claim. but it's a different test because it analyzes the chemistry of your breath and the body's reaction to covid. that's how it identifies whether

you have the virus or not. it's not testing for the virus itself. it's a completely different system. and it's artificial intelligence so it can get better and better as it goes. neil: that's wild. good stuff. thank you very much, grady trimble following all that in bryan, texas. all right. yesterday i had a good opportunity to sit down with the governor of ohio. he's a republican but there are a lot of republicans there who are furious over his new lockdown measures. they are not quite lockdown but they are enough that a few of those republicans want him impeached and some are saying no to things he's demanding. the read from a former secretary of state in ohio on when republicans turn on, well, republicans. after this.

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neil: hell hath no fury than constituents who don't like calls for limiting their freedom or lockdowns. by and large it's been democrats that had to respond to that but it happens to republicans, too, including mike dewine, republican governor of ohio, whose crackdown efforts to deal with a serious spike in cases in his state have prompted a number of republicans to push so much as, well, for his impeachment. where is all of this going? ken blackwell with us, the republican former ohio secretary of state, cincinnati mayor, much much more. what do you make of all of this? he's trying to say all right, this is what's going on, ken. this is what i got to do to stop it from going on and increasing, referring to the cases and promising that a vaccine is coming but in the meantime, this is what we got to be doing. a lot of people don't like it. what's happening?

>> well, neil, i'm 72 and 72 of those years -- 50 of those 72 years, i have been in some level of government. there is a dynamic tension between the organized power of the state and individual liberty. mike is reading this situation and he is saying that he's a little bit more for organized power of the state in this case. but we have a representative form of government in the united states and in ohio, and those folks in the state legislature that are closer to their folks tend to be a little bit more towards, you know, liberty, individual liberty. so this was a great discussion and debate. now, the call for mike's impeachment i think is an overstretch -- overreach, but

the debate between the governor and the legislature are what's the proper balance in terms of meeting the needs of ohioans to conquer this virus is a healthy discussion, because one of the things that we know, and mike will tell you that these lockdowns have consequences that are just as negative as the virus itself. so look, this is a healthy discussion. i have been focused, to tell you the truth, on pennsylvania, michigan, georgia and wisconsin to make sure that we get the november 2020 presidential election right and i'm proud of the fact that ohio is in a position now to talk about the mobilization of all of our forces to get this right in terms of delivery of the vaccine and to educate the public in its

safe use. neil: i do want to talk about that legal battle in those states. that's for another interview. for now, i apologize for the constricted time. got a lot of breaking news here. very good catching up with you. stay well, stay healthy. i had no idea you are so old, 72. you don't look it, my friend. you do not look it. ken blackwell. more after this. to support a strong immune system, your body needs routine. centrum helps your immune defenses every day, with vitamin c, d and zinc. season, after season. ace your immune support, with centrum.

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neil: we have been telling you about we have remarkable progress being made on stimulus right now and it's lifting all the major market averages. they are all in record territory right now. that's because nancy pelosi kind of on the same page as mitch mcconnell, who is kind of on the same page as joe biden, kind of on the same page as donald trump, who is kind of on the same page, you get the idea. everyone seems to be open to a stimulus measure that does seem to have increasing bipartisan support. the devil's in the details, but for republicans, it could come in handy to score some sort of a deal here, because it might just help those republican candidates in the run-off election slated for january 5th in the peach state. that is the state of georgia. blake burman with how all of this is coming into play. blake? reporter: they are all on the same page, but the question going forward is what exactly might be on that page in terms of a deal, how many pages might it be in terms of size, scope

and cost. you mentioned what is going on right now with the run-off in georgia, as all eyes are on that state as to what could potentially mean for the senate in 2021 and going forward. but here in 2020, lawmakers, both democratic and republican, are at least talking up the possibility that maybe, just maybe there could be a deal here on the horizon. the house speaker nancy pelosi, she is talking with the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, pelosi saying today a covid relief package of some kind very well could be attached to a government spending deal that needs to be hammered out here in the next week. listen. >> that is the vehicle leaving the station. you see a bill come to the floor, you don't see the whole underpinnings or the orchestration of what it takes to get to a place so if there's a vehicle and we can add this language once we see the text, that what is we would be doing. reporter: but what kind of deal they are talking about, neil,

still remains unclear. the possibilities at least dollar-wise range from roughly $500 billion to north of $1 trillion and both sides have very different views on things like liability protections and funding for states, for example. we heard from the president-elect joe biden as it relates to his reaction to the jobs report that we saw this morning, and he said that underscores the need not only for a deal in december, but also a deal well beyond that. this is what the president-elect said. quote, congress and president trump must get a deal done for the american people, but any package passed in the lame duck session is not enough. it's just a start. congress will need to act again in january. neil? neil: all right, blake burman, thank you very very much. however you want to look at it, as blake outlined the plans for the republicans and how they are looking at this, democrats, how they're looking at this, but this has become a front burner possibility now and doable in conjunction with a plan to keep

the government lights on and avoid a government shutdown. hans nichols joins us now, axios reporter. love having you on. thank you for taking the time. what do you make of this stimulus effort and you know, i used to pooh-pooh and dismiss it every time i heard it because it always sounded like when i would ask my dad how far away are we, almost there, almost there, never happened. so is this different? >> well, if you are suggesting you never arrive to a location with your father, this should be a philosophy case and we should be talking about xeno's paradox and the arrow. you eventually did arrive there and that's what's happening here. in part because there's a deadline and deadlines force action. the deadline is the government funding that will run out december 11th. so really, it's easy to think about just from a tactical and technical point of view how you make this deal come together. you split the difference, you cut some sort of deal on liability protections as your correspondent was talking about and you can get to a round number, to an even number that's

south of $1 trillion. so it's obvious the deal's out there but just because a deal is obvious to you and me talking right now doesn't mean they would have the political will to get the deal done. that's something we just don't know and you need to be inside of mitch mcconnell's head on that. neil: the fact that mitch mcconnell is open to it, and i remember it wasn't that long ago, in fact, last week at this time, that he had no interest in it. what's changed? >> the number. mcconnell is never totally opposed to a deal. he was just always opposed to a deal north of $1 trillion. so when even back in may, when they were still talking about the cares 2.0 stimulus 3.5, mcconnell told the president of the united states back in may he didn't want to go north of $1 trillion. so now that pelosi and schumer have come in this $900 billion range they are getting closer to where mcconnell was at, which is anywhere depending on how you do the math, between $300 billion to $500 billion. you know, there's obviously a deal to be had.

it's just a question of is there the political will and will there be a compromise. if you don't get it now attached to this short-term government spending shutdown or whatever they end up doing, some sort of bridge loan, you can go back and do it later. but biden's rhetoric here is the most interesting because he so clearly wants money injected into the economy now. all the top advisers want that. that's what they are hoping for. but they don't want it to foreclose the opportunity to spend the $3 trillion that they are talking about for their build back better plan. that's unlikely to happen, even if georgia goes the democrats' way. it's unlikely you are going to get to the $3 trillion because you got joe manchin and other moderate democrats that aren't going to be for that much spending or even tax increases, but biden's interest is to get this done now. i suspect that will play out in the pelosi/schumer side of the equation. neil: what about where republicans are coming from? we just raised this possibility they are worried about what's going on in georgia. i know the polls aren't

iron-clad but they show the democratic candidates leading. one within the margin of error, the other outside the margin of error. that could change and you remind me of that all the time, these are fleeting issues here. but that would be a game changer there. i'm wondering if republicans look at this and say well, if this can help, make sure at least one of those republicans wins and we keep control of the senate. it's worth the nearly trillion bucks. what do you think? >> yeah, that may be part of the calculus, right? so mitch mcconnell may be thinking to himself i want to give david perdue and kelly lovellov loeffler something to go home and talk about, what they are doing to make sure schools reopen safely, what they are doing about ppe. it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how you get to a political deal. what i don't know and i don't think anyone knows is where mitch mcconnell's top line number is. mitch mcconnell's a pretty crafty negotiator. so if he does have a top line number, he's probably not going to betray it but if there's even the existence of one, he's not

going to hint of that, either, because mitch's power in this is he's always willing to walk away. senator mcconnell's power on that. so that's the dynamic but sure, it can help. you know, you talk to senators that say would you like to go back right before an election and say you just spent billions of dollars to get people back to work, get kids back to school safely, i think most senators, republican or democrat, will take that offer. neil: real quickly, the president as you know is going to be in georgia tomorrow. there's a great deal of concern being expressed by republicans that his battle, his legal battle over the election a month ago is getting in the way, in fact, so sympathetic to the president they say don't bother to vote for either candidate because it's all a sham. i'm wondering how this all plays out here and for the president's own reported interests at running again in 2024. what do you think? >> the president has to thread it.

he has to make sure republicans get out and vote for those two republican senators and he's got to -- neil: he's not good at threading. he doesn't do threading well. >> maybe this is a saturday of subtlety. i don't know. he does sometimes broadcast on different frequencies. let's acknowledge that. he's able to talk to different audiences in different ways. you know, i suspect he will go off prompter, if that's what you're suggesting. this really does come down to how the president will handle it. the bad news for you is you will probably have to work on saturday to cover the president's speech because that's really what's going to determine in some ways which way the senate goes. neil: yeah. i hear you. i work every saturday because i love what i do. sometimes i pinch myself wondering why do i love what i do again? hans, great catching up with you. hope you have a wonderful holiday. love having him on. looks at things a little bit differently even with that threading analogy. i want to go to edward lawrence right now, because the biden team is getting ready to come in and jared bernstein, of

course, has been with him forever as an adviser, and he's going to be playing that role as well for the incoming administration, but it's some stuff i guess he's been saying that's gotten a lot of people's attention. what is it exactly? reporter: yeah. little eye-raising. let's start with where we are right now. if you look at the latest job numbers, the unemployment rate as we all know, 6.7% in november and that's far below even what the federal reserve estimates were for this past summer. white house economic adviser larry kudlow says president trump's mandate to get the government out of the way and lower tax rates had record low unemployment with no inflation in february, also allowed us to rebound now faster than expected. >> i think we're way ahead of expectations and i think the economy's still fundamentally sound with tax cuts and rollback of regulations and better trade policies instituted by president donald trump. i think it's still very strong. reporter: one of the economic advisers around the

president-elect joe biden warned of a capitalist implosion. jared bernstein will be on the council of economic advisers in the biden administration. he, in accepting the nomination, he said we need an economy reimagined for economic justice and fairness. listen. >> we must build back an economy that's far more resilient, far more fair, and far more inclusive. it is precisely the vision this nation needs and i suspect i'm not the only person on this stage chomping at the bit to get to work on making their vision a reality. reporter: so the visions will be very different than the current administration and we could see more government control, in an op-ed last march, bernstein writes quote, next, and this party is admittedly progressive, a restructuring could deliver a much-needed comprehensive system of social insurance from cradle to grave. the great depression made the need for such safeguards

glaringly clear. he will be only one voice in an administration, but this might give you a little glimpse into what a president-elect biden is going to hear in 2021. back to you. neil: all right. thank you very very much, edward lawrence. we will take a quick break. letting you know about these various vaccines that are coming, many people wondering how the united kingdom approved fiezer pfizer's vaccine before our own fda did. we did notice dr. fauci sort of pulled back his criticism of british regulators versus american ones that we are a little more cautious and circumspect and dot the is, cross the ts to make sure everything is safe. he said he was not meaning to imply they were doing a bad job here. nevertheless, pfizer is already indicating that shipments available this year which it thought could get up to as high as 100 million, will probably be at around the 50 million mark but it's next year that it and

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neil: you don't see this every day, with the united states supreme court associate justice putting the pressure on a governor to explain a decision but that's exactly what brett kavanaugh has asked kentucky's governor andy beshear to do to respond by later this afternoon at the latest to attorney general cameron's request for the supreme court to rule on whether in-person classes at some of the state's religious schools can proceed. the governor is saying no, they can't. the attorney general is essentially asking why the heck can't they. attorney general cameron is with us now. good to have you. >> thanks for having me, neil. i appreciate it. neil: same here, sir. what's at stake here? explain what's going on, because the governor's office, we did reach out to the governor, by the way, but the governor's office has been saying this is

not, you know, targeting private schools. you say otherwise. >> well, that's exactly right. look, i look at this as a larger context. the fact of the matter is that he's infringing upon the first amendment rights of parents all across the commonwealth who simply want to send their children to religiously affiliated schools. meanwhile, gambling parlors, retail shops, movie theaters, all continue to stay open. but he has found it necessary to close down religiously affiliated schools. that is a direct infringement upon the first amendment rights we all hold so dear. as the attorney general, it's my responsibility to stand up for those rights. neil: so when the governor is saying this is not tilted or just private schools, this cr k crackdown that favors more virtual than in-person learning, you say that's not the case? >> the larger context is the

fact that he has closed down schools, specifically religiously affiliated schools, but opened up the other things i just mentioned. what i have advocated and what parents all across the commonwealth of kentucky have advocated is the simple fact that the schools need to be able to apply with the cdc guidelines. take one school that spent nearly $30,000, lexington cristi christian spent nearly $400,000 in an effort to keep people safe during the midst of this pandemic. neil: what's happened, you know better than many, attorney general, where there have been cases where public schools have been shut down, parents have been shipping their kids to private schools, registering them there. i would suspect the same phenomenon was going on in kentucky and that could have something to do with all of this. what do you think? >> well, i think that's certainly a part of it. look, we just want our religi s religiously affiliated schools

to have the same opportunity we have given retail shops, we have given movie theaters, we have given gambling parlors, they should have the same opportunity. neil, nyou know this. dr. fauci just this past weekend was on television talking about the importance of getting our kids back in school. the cdc has even put forth statements to that very same point, that very same fact, that schools have not been the superspreaders a lot had feared. it's important that our children get back to school. it's important that parents in the commonwealth have the right and the opportunity to send their children to these religiously affiliated schools because not only is the curriculum important but it's also learning the story of the bible, learning the story of faith. again, that is protected by the first amendment. we are going to stand up for that here in the commonwealth. that is my responsibility as the attorney general. neil: now, brett kavanaugh asked the governor to respond to this, to respond to essentially your lawsuit by the end of today. i'm no lawyer, you are a very good one. what if the governor does not? then what?

>> well, it's still left up to justice kavanaugh what the next steps are. he can either consider this by himself or he can consult with the other eight justices on the bench. this is a really important case. i hope they will take careful consideration of it. obviously the diocese case came out last week in new york that basically said there can't be specific limits placed on the free exercise of religion on in-person worship services. i think this case is very consistent with that. i'm hopeful we will get a favorable decision that allows our parents to send their students, their children back into the classroom at our religiously affiliated schools. neil: all right, we will watch very closely. daniel cameron, thank you very, very much. kentucky's attorney general in the middle of an unusual point involving the supreme court where associate justice is effectively arguing governor, you have to answer this, you have to respond to this and if you don't, well, there could be some hell to pay. stay with us. the dow well into record

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neil: all right. much has been made of the early

picks president-elect joe biden has had for his economic team. very few, if any, from the wall street community but there is a new entrant here. he will lead the national economic council after serving with barack obama, he joined the investment firm blackrock and that's noteworthy in and of itself. charlie gasparino with more on the significance of that. what do you think? charlie: interesting pick. we should point out that brian deese is known for many years on wall street for his work in the obama administration. he's raised some eyebrows among progressives because he worked on wall street, conservatives he's raised some eyebrows because he's a believer in environmentalism. i went back to blackrock, some of my sources there. remember, it's not just an investment firm, it's the world's largest investment firm. it has close to $8 trillion under management. i asked my sources there, what do you think of this pick, for him as essentially the nation's

top economist inside the white house? the fed is the top economist but that's separate. inside the white house, the head of the nec is essentially national economic council is essentially the top economist for the new president, joe biden, and what they basically said is this. brian's a smart guy, he's obviously steeped in progressive policy, but he was never an economist inside blackrock. he was never a portfolio manager inside blackrock. he was essentially a marketer, somebody that sort of pitched environmental investing parameters both to the company's portfolio managers as well as creating some investments for others, for clients, to invest in environmentally social conscious investments. it's interesting. they think, they question his qualifications as an economist, is essentially what i'm saying here, and they also say that if you are going to pick someone to be the nation's chief economist,

it should be someone that really, that should have some background in that. brian deese's background, as i said, is in marketing, essentially, and in these environmental issues, not in investing. look at larry kudlow's record. look at gary cohn's record. larry was a long-time economist, worked at the fed, worked on wall street, had his own economics firm, was an economics writer. gary cohn essentially ran goldman sachs. was a trader before that. brian deese does not come with that type of background and it's raising eyebrows. people say this is a political appointment, this is essentially joe biden looking to throw some bones to the progressive left for some guy that essentially is a marketer of economic theory. couple other interesting points. larry fink unveiled a new investment parameter to take into account environmentalism and socially conscious investors at davos this year, before the lockdowns. i was told that fink, blackrock

confirmed this, took the corporate jet to attend davos to unveil these environmental issues which always raises eyebrows when you use a corporate jet which is a gas guzzler as to carbon emissions. i asked if deese took the corporate jet, too. they say he flew commercial and has never used blackrock's corporate jet. we should point out a statement from blackrock about brian deese. they think he's a really smart guy, intelligence, integrity, unique ability to craft solutions to complex challenges. and helping investors understand the risk of climate change. but again, inside the firm, pretty controversial. i will tell you this. my e-mails, i'm getting dm'ed by a lot of people on wall street as i'm saying -- doing this report saying you know, brian deese is a smart guy but he's a sales guy. here's from one, he's no economist, a sales guy. interesting. raising eyebrows. back to you. neil: sales guy economist. you wonder which is the better badge of honor. thank you very much, charlie

gasparino. great job as always. in the meantime, what to make of the final weeks, of course the president would like to see this not be the case, but if his legal challenges fail on the election a month ago, these are the last, what, six or seven weeks of the trump administration. so when he hints at maybe firing cabinet officials as he has intimated with bill barr, at least a growing chorus that seems to be developing within the white house is that's exactly what he's going to do, you start thinking all right, you are all going to be out of those jobs in six or seven weeks so what does it really matter if you lose them right now? lee carter is with us, we have teslyn figueroa and bob cusack, the hill editor in chief. welcome to all of you. bob, does it matter? i guess it's a pride issue. in the case of the attorney general, you know, being heaved

out weeks before he would officially walk out. but does it matter? whether it's now or six weeks from now? >> i don't think so. it certainly would trigger some chaos because then where does it end? jeffrey rosen is deputy attorney general who has known barr for over 20 years so would he resign? it could be chaotic. remember, the president really is thinking about 2024. he has lost this election. i think he could come back in four years, who's going to beat him in a primary if he's healthy? i don't think anyone. but so i think how he goes out is very important for really starting his own political comeback for 2024 bid. neil: these erratic firings or pressure or tweeting people out of a job, it's been kind of common for this president. i'm not sure it damages him one way or another, even if it's someone of the heft of bill barr, but your thoughts? >> absolutely. it helps his base.

trump understands that 70 plus million people voted for him and they like the trump brand and as we close season 44, he will certainly say the infamous words and i think season meaning reality show like "the apprentice" he will say you're fired not just to bill barr but i'm sure several others. he understands, i agree, that he understands this is all about 2024. this is either about him running himself or running the political party. the republican party. he gets it. he understands. i think a lot of people really underestimate trump's strategy and i don't know why because it's very clear how he moves. i think he wants to set a clear example that if you do not move the way he wants you to move, you will be moving out the door. neil: you know, i talked to chuck grassley about this very subject yesterday, and he was of the view look, you have an important race to see goes your way for those two senate seats in the run-off on january 5th, don't do anything to screw that

up because if you are indeed entertaining a 2024 run and you have led to all this volatility and commotion, it's only going to hurt you. what did you make of that? >> you know, i think to a certain extent, what's going to happen in georgia is going to happen, whether he fires barr or not. i think this is going to, if he does fire him, it will energize his base, it will create hysteria among the media saying look at the disarray and i don't think much will really, really change. i do think that this particular race is so, so important and the president's engagement in is it so, so important because you need to have people who are believing if you go out and vote, your vote will count. we need people believing in the democratic process. we need people to be energized, excited and enthused to get out there and do whatever it takes to vote on that day. on both sides. so i think that's what's most important.

whether or not he fires barr i don't think is as important. i think it is fairly, you know, straightforward out of the trump playbook. if he does, i wouldn't be surprised. if he doesn't, i'm not sure it makes a difference. neil: yeah. i actually agree with you on that. you should run the other way. but i will say this. bob, i will pick your brain a little on it. this notion that the president's obsession with getting the count right in all these battleground states, he's had one legal loss after another, that this distraction and criticism of the governor in georgia, the secretary of state in georgia, lieutenant governor in georgia, that has been so divisive, there's a real possibility of both of those republicans could lose, and in the end, he could be grabbing defeat from otherwise the jaws of victory as far as leaving washington with the senate in democratic hands. what do you think? >> that's right, neil. listen, i think republicans have said this are favored to win both but there was a poll out this week showing democrats

doing a lot better, winning one race, the other one's tight. they are both tight. republicans are divided over this issue. so unless they get unified and republicans i have talked to, they are very nervous about that exact scenario, and if republicans lose the double header, it is devastating to the party. neil: let me switch gears within your party and to joe biden, he has been rapidly assembling his cabinet or chief advisers and so far, no bernie sanders. he hasn't picked the labor secretary yet. how is that going to go down if it ends up not being bernie sanders and there is no role for bernie sanders in this biden administration? >> it's going to go down exactly like it's going to go down which is no one is confused that bernie sanders may not get a position within that cabinet. bernie sanders knows that as well. he knows that joe biden governs as a moderate. there's no confusion. he told his base that he would make him the most progressive president ever in the history, i

don't know why he told his base that, because he cannot force joe biden to be anything other than joe biden, so progressives, to be honest with you, have really moved on from bernie sanders. they are looking to other leaders within the party to really pick up the mantle and continue on. they know that bernie sanders will not speak out against his friend joe biden who he's governed with for over 50 years, who's a friend of his, let be very clear about that, and they just moved on. they know he won't run again. he's certainly up in age where that is not a possibility. so they are moving on. progressives will continue to push the line. you have leaders like senator turner, you have leaders like michael rendo, killer mike. it's not just aoc. there are plenty of leaders in the progressive movement who will continue to push until they take over. so that divide will stay divided over the next four years. i just want to say this on the last comment. republicans would love democrats to take over, to be quite honest with you, in the senate, because it gives them something to run on in 2024.

they want democrats to take over to be able to say hey, look at how democrats screwed it up, now you need to put us back in office and democrats, especially progressives, they want democrats to take over because we want to be able to say if you have the house and the senate, will you do as promised instead of just using an excuse to say oh, republicans wouldn't let us take over. wouldn't allow us to push forth policies. i think democrats will take georgia and i think republicans and a lot of democrats are on board with that as well, because it just fits the strategy for 2024 and sadly, it's not about the american people, it's all about strategy and who can win in the next election, and that's really unfortunate for all of us. neil: lee carter, real quickly, i suspect in his heart of hearts, joe biden would prefer the senate remain republican because it eases some of the pressure to which she just alluded. >> yeah. i think it would be really tough for joe biden if he did have all three houses because he's going to have to get a lot accomplished to make some really tough decisions. i think that would be a harder situation. i think it would be a harder

situation for the american people. i think that's a silver lining view of what the republicans want. i don't think the republicans want to lose georgia at all. i think if republicans do lose, it's an opportunity for republicans to go and redefine themselves and figure out what the soul of the party is really about. but i don't think that's really what the republicans want at all. i think the republicans want a seat at the table and they want checks and balances and ultimately, i believe a split government and checks and balances, that's when we get compromise and that's what's needed. neil: guys, i want to thank you all. have a safe, healthy holiday. in the meantime, timing is rather curious here. jeff bezos agreeing to pay some nice holiday bonuses for his workers. walmart doing pretty much the same thing. the bezos thing is kind of interesting, because there are a whole bunch of politicians who say pretty chintzy when it comes to sharing the wealth, particularly with his workers. after this. ♪

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neil: all right. they say timing is everything. the fact jeff bezos has announced he's going to be paying his holiday workers some, well, holiday bonuses, in fact all the workers are getting that, comes at a time when there's been sort of a clarion call by politicians not just in this country but worldwide for him to open up the wallet more, be more generous with his workers, pay more in taxes in the aggregate, and the timing couldn't be more curious, essentially with a new administration taking over in this country in just a matter of weeks. scott shellady on the significance of all this. what do you think? >> it's great to see the worldwide swamp knows how to run

amazon better than jeff bezos does. they say he should pay his workers or they know he can afford to pay his workers a lot more. they haven't stopped at saying they know what's better for our children to keep them in school or out of school. they haven't stopped with they know how to keep us safe versus locking down our entire economy. now they have gone after one of the best capitalists in the world who has done very well for himself and almost making it seem like it's a penalty for what he's done, and that they know how to do it a lot better because they know how to do everything better than you do. so it's not surprising to me and if they knew so much, they should try to reinvent what he's done themselves. neil: you know what's amazing, we know his more liberal-minded views. he owns "the washington post" so he's one of them, i might -- i hasten to add here but he's going to be under a lot of scrutiny, that comes with being the world's richest man, of course. it also comes with being almost slavish to getting costs under control, to not letting them get

out of whack. but that makes him a target. >> well, you know, it does. this is part of the playbook, though, neil, because the left feels comfortable having those people on their side but there will be a time and it's already starting to happen, when they start to come after you on the left. you are going to start to see this happen more and more, especially now that we have got a new administration where the water's a little muddied up. they are going to come after everybody and anybody and jeff bezos is going to be in their cross-hairs even though he's one of them. so that's not surprising. i have seen it start to happen already. they begin to eat their young. that's 100% part of that playbook. neil: all right. great catching up with you, my friend. apologize for the truncated nature of this. we are following a couple of things including at this point what is going on with all of this remote work that's being done, presumably there are vaccines out there, they are not going to have as many people

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the rise of the chief remote officer, facebook leading the charge here making massive investments in virtual reality to make it feel like you're in the office. spearheading the head of remote work as a position, chief remote officer officer. listen. >> it really takes someone who has a strong hr background, a strong understanding of technology and has the ability to think outside of the box about some of the new issues that are arising now. one such issue is the ability to pick up and work anywhere. lauren: set the hours, expectations and equipment that's necessary and protocol. let's take a zoom call, for instance. can you keep your camera off? what about the background? and questions of quality, if the boss and most of the c-suite are in the office, but workers are not, how can you guarantee face time and equal opportunity?

so should the boss telework from time to time? the labor department says 21.8% of workers are, because of the pandemic, and glassdoor finds job openings for remote work only surging 276% since last year. look, while company culture is often lost as employees navigate their bedrooms instead of office hallways, teleworking can create opportunity specifically for women, where flexible work arrangements can call them back to corporate america. because they can juggle responsibilities a little bit easier. in fact, that's true for all working parents. neil, i will send it back to you. neil: thank you, lauren, very very much for that. doesn't my next guest know this very very well. dr. ann marie tester runs a company that's very big in the online learning arena, helping both education and businesses. very good to have you, doctor. you could make the argument that as soon as vaccines become

available, people won't be doing things virtually, either school or business, online, but you say that isn't necessarily going to be the case. >> thanks, neil. no, it won't be the case. multiple studies show online earning can be better than on-ground learning. the key is engagement. when you look at the economy as it stands now, it's really been enabled by technology and remote work. without it it would have been much more devastating, the pandemic would have been much more devastating. instead we see people moving functionalities online and having some benefit to their family life and flexibility as was mentioned, work/life balance being a principal factor. we believe that covid simply accelerated trends that were already happening. and the key is to make an engagement and make the experience good in order to be effective. neil: now, for those that look at schooling and say in-person is better for kids in school, is it? i know where you're coming from

and a lot of your stuff is tailored to college and the business arena is an entirely different arena, but how do you look at that? because all of this is coming to the fore as we look forward to vaccines that will get more people back to work, you would assume more kids back to in-person learning. how do you play that? >> absolutely. well, a couple of things about on-ground education. certainly a digital backbone is required. whether school is fully online, hybrid or fully on ground, that's not deniabldeniable. the idea we had a digital backbone prior to the pandemic has been proven incorrect. the massive chaos we have seen in multiple markets is evidence of that. so what do we need going forward? we need systems that work any which way. the reality is that investments in technology are going to be essential and people will be asking critical questions across sectors about the quality of engagement in that technology regardless of how learning occurs. in markets for young children,

we have a critical need and that is to catch up. the planet has lost almost a billion school years due to pandemic closures and stay-at-home orders. now we need kids to catch up. we have a generation that was born, say, between 1999 and 2014 that critically needs to catch up and most of that catch-up will be online for practical reasons. going forward, to scale education, online makes great sense for professionals who need to continuously upskill. so online will be the preferred method for people to maintain their skills and maintain their economic viability. neil: i was surprised to learn that china's been way ahead of this phenomenon long before the pandemic and has quite the edge over us. is that true? >> it's hard to say. the transparency is not as high as it is in the united states, obviously, and what i've learned is that i would never count out the united states in a contest for innovation.

we will innovate our way out of this crisis. in the form of vaccines, in the form of better technology backbones, in the form of a more educated work force. i have no doubt about that. neil: where do you see all this going? the reason why, we have been criticized in this country for not being more purposeful or focused on this because there are different virtual learning for schools and all the way up to the college level and for businesses that are not the same everywhere. should we -- i know they can't get a one size fits all, but is that the problem, that it varies so dramatically? >> i think the key challenge has been not enough focus on the user experience and education is a gigantic sector. in fact, education is probably the worst experience on the internet writ large. if you look at music, retail, even banking, those fields have leapt ahead with user-friendly engaging platforms that allow work to be done or entertainment to be consumed.

education has lagged. that will end. covid has exposed the lack of a digital backbone and convenient engaging and effective solutions will now be important, and obviously at amesite we work on those. neil: we will watch it very closely, doctor. thank you very very much. speaking of whether you are going to be learning virtually or in person, some signs that there are big hopes for these vaccines, 20 to 40 million doses expected by the end of this year, up to one billion doses by the end of next year. we shall see.

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when you post your first job at indeed.com/home. neil: the president going to be in georgia tomorrow and we will be speaking on my live show with brett rothenberg, right now david asman the america for saturday -- any day is neil cavuto, you work every day of the week. neil: and david asman day. >> good to see you, good afternoon i am david asman in for charles payne and this is making money, breaking right now the major industry sitting all time high again despite a worse than expected jobs number, investors are banking on a covid relief deal from congress but also on the refusal of the public, even