left-hand side of your screen you can see why. gamestop is up 111%. amc up 172%. the market to me feels like a casino, very unsettling. the dow industrials down 458 and at this moment heading south. neil, it's yours. neil: you know what's so weird, stuart, you can i can remember this when we cracked down on short sellers because they would sort of bad market to get even worse, so in the last downturn almost a year ago, short selling was slowed if not stop. now the problem is, sort of frothy buying. so how do you control that? it's a whole new set of questions. i've been raising them. thank you, my friend. yeah. absolutely. what's weird too, stuart, when you think about it, it is a good conversation to have this notion who's right. short seller is betting on a

hunch that maybe the consensus around some popular names isn't justified so they have ever right to short it. the idea that the business is going down and take it out. then those who counter that but now with death threats and all this other nonsense, i knew we had polarized times in politics. now it applies to the old pragmatic world of investing. stuart: if you let the market work as it is supposed to work or do you step in because this is a new market facing new issues? open question and there is no question that will be the subject of major debate. it is yours. neil: we need someone to sort of watch the henhouse. who is going to watch it. stuart, great job. try to follow up. sure. stuart: i just thinking of the political response. whose left holding the bag? is it the little guy? if it is the little guy there will be a political response to

this, there will be hell to pay. can you imagine bernie sanders going after the big wall street firms? it is a sure-fire target of him. there will be a political response if the little guy gets holding the bag and loses a ton of money. that is all i got to say, neil. it's yours. neil: no. a lot of people are. the issue with gamestop, he might stop there as bernie sanders. he strikes me as someone who would go to a gamestop. i don't know for sure but i'll look at that i enjoyed this, stuart, it probably helped my ratings. there is a normally a mass click-off. we probably kept a few on board. gamestop, no fun and games. how many puns can i keep pushing to get the point across this is approaching that this is a 20 billion-dollar plus company. the change in its shares yesterday, dwarfed the kind of attention apple usually gets. get a load of this, that was first hour of trading.

today's first hour of trading close to believe it or not in the first hour of trading $80 billion worth changing hands. back and forth. back and forth. again, far more than apple, far more than issue normally sees ever. we are on top of that. the ramifications of all of this with lauren simonetti. following it very closely and others that might be following along. lauren, what is the latest? lauren: neil i'm calling what we're seeing in the markets today a trend of the pandemic, the rise of the retail trader, the day-trader enabled like apps like robinhood, no fee platforms like charles schwab and media boards, reddit, the little guys go up against the hedge funds and suits. right now they're winning. their first target, the biggest target gamestop. shares this year up 1800%. the stock has exploded. huge volume. and neil, the only news is that

the chew which cofounder has a seat on the company's board and turning around the mall store that sells videogame. but 1800% around? that is extreme. no. it is social media messaging board telling you to buy, buy, and force the hedge funds to rush to cover their short positions that drives up the price of the stock. it drives up the valuation of the company. mostly companies have been struggling but have popular names. think amc, the theater, blackberry and the retailer express. so literally these day traders are eating the suits lunches. you can call it a form of cyberbullying if you will, it makes wall street look like las vegas. we have more questions than answers now what to do about it. who is their next target? how big do these companies get? does fed chair jay powell address it today? is it a form of systemic risk to

the overall markets? what can sec nominee gary gensler do about it while not interfering the way markets work, right? you know, less transparency in the end, maybe if hedge funds have to stop disclosing the shorts the way they do now. we got news moments ago, ameritrade put restrictions on some gamestop and amc transactions to mitigate risk. the fear is, what you're talking about with stuart, the little guy gets hurt. when they decide they need to sell their shares, who are they going to sell them to? more questions than answers but the market is down today, and many of these popular shorted stocks being cheered on on social media are up in nonsensal ways, neil. neil: yeah. thank you, lauren, thank you very much. amc came out the gate with

number of shares changing hands likes they never seen. amc is for example, normally changes 75, 80 million shares change hands typically. now within the first hour of trading, not even the first hour, more than 500 million shares changed hands. to put it in some perspective, that is 10 times the activity that apple was seeing in that same hour. of course apple is getting a lot of attention because it reports its earnings and revenues. could be the first, you know, 100 billion-dollar revenue quarter for any company, let alone an american company. that is after the bell. that puts this in some perspective. let's go to ray wang, constellation research ceo, charles payne, "making money." charles is very busy musing on markets. charlie gasparino is with us. i forgot about charlie. but charles looking at this

phenomenon some weeks back. charles payne, if you look at the catalyst initially for attention going to gamestop it was, you know, a guy was going to take it to the internet level, joining the board, finding a way to be more than just a brick-and-mortar concern. it looked promising. enough for bank of america all right, this is an issue maybe worth 10, $15 more a share. nothing like this. so what happened? >> right. neil, first of all i got to say i recommended many of these stocks on january 11th or before. i've got the report in my hand that i sent out to my subscribers and here's the list. the shorts, first of all, all this nonsense, all of this noise, all this whining by wall street is making me sick! 140% of gamestop was short. i didn't hear one person on tv complaining about wall street trying to crush gamestop claim. 140% short! i told my subscribers, buy this stock and they made a fortune. i told them to buy virgin space,

we took profits on that today. physician, that is up huge. tank gears is up huge. neil, you can't allah wall street to short 75% of the stock nobody says anything. crush these companies into the dirt around then when the individual investor makes money everyone is up in arms. they're going to lose their shirt? don't you think people are trading, traded 80 billion shares today. people are ringing the register. i have a kid who bought a house. he made $50,000 and bought a house. some people are going to lose some are going to win, if they want to change the rules of the game now because the general public is making money after decades of the shorts crushing thousands of stocks into the dirt, i watched stocks being crushed completely to zero no one ever whispered anything because those stocks didn't have wall street sponsorship. they were small names. maybe they went public through reverse takeover. whatever it was the shorts had their way with the market for decades. i'm thrilled, if you're going to

try to destroy a company shorting 140% of its stock you have to accept the fact that individual investors are playing the same game you're playing and now you're losing. neil: you left out there the kid who bought a house was your kid? >> relative of mine. by the way he, not trying to blow smoke neil. he was so thankful, listen, there are people out there who would never be in the market. listen some people are going to lose, some are going to win. last year, one final point, five stocks, five of the biggest name blue chip stocks were down $400 billion in market cap. the same folks that rammed your retirement fund into exxonmobil down $100 billion are telling you don't make money? don't give it a shot? don't take risks? that is what it is all about. >> people, neil, will lose the house on this trade, we should point out. i don't care what anybody says here, retail investor is off then the last out when this

thing implodes and it will implode. listen, here is the bottom line. these sort of bear raids, i've been reporting about this for the past week. it is a bear raid. it is not just game stock. it's a bunch of names. it is done by retail investors that is the only difference. there has been, bull, there have been bull and bear raids forever. almost took out some of the big wall street firms during the financial crisis but i will tell you, people losing their houses will be retail investors when the gig is up on this. when people figure out that gamestop -- neil: but, charlie what brought it, always a battle between the shorts and those long a stock. i get that. but was it when it got on social media? elon musk said, hey, hop on reddit to see what the fuss is about? did it get undo attention, all of sudden a lot of people started looking at you know, small cap stocks? they're not all tech, started saying all right, this is a group that's been to charles

payne's bottom on the bottom shorted. now we have counter to that? >> now, bottom line -- stocks like game stock are incredibly volatile. a lot of them are like penny stocks. that is how they trade. here is the difference between now and the past. now you have people locked in their apartments an in their houses. you have zero p interest rates, you have no commission trading out of rock binhood, put all three together you will get crazy stuff on this the only cure to this i hate to say people stop speculating for them to lose their houses, for them to lose a lot of money will do. that will create some sort of consequence. takes away the moral hazard. that will happen here. trust me. neil: hatched already to a number of, it is happening to a number of short trading firms. melvin capital, a host of others who did get some cash infusion. i do want to bring ray wang into

this. ray, a lot of people say you invest in the market, there is inherent risk in that. people are shorting stocks forever. sometimes it works out for them, sometimes it doesn't. seems to go against common sense grain, someone betting on a company's stock to collapse. but they're free to do that. what has changed, the social media role, the reddit role, push by elon musk and others, don't let these guy rule the roost. challenge their views, go after this idea the stork has only one direction to go, counter them, take them out. has it elevated to a degree that authorities have to start looking whether that has changed the equation? >> neil, i think the authorities are definitely going to be looking at this equation but part of this is the short sellers got shafted by robinhood and reddit at at the same time. people are bored and tired, sticking it to the man. that is the challenge. there will have to be some regulation. charlie is right there has to be

some consequence. there is no moral hazard. charles is also right but we've been get stuck on short selling end by short selling firms for some time because they were in charge. both factors are in play. regular hatetores will have to come in or else we have casino style gambling. neil: why do they have to jump? they always make it worse when they jump in. what has to happen here is, listen a market is all about consequence, okay? the short sellers go too far out on the limb, they get crushed back. these, bull raid guys trading on no commission through reddit and robinhood, they're going to get blown out at some point. trust me t always happens. that is what make as market. that is what establishes consequence and that is what prevents moral hazard. if they get involved in this they will make a bad situation. >> i agree with charlie on that. >> exactly. >> if regulators come to the aid

of poor old billionaire hedge fund guys all of sudden losing for once because the little guy with 900 bucks in a robinhood trade, i heard them call the cartel today on financial tv. someone called all these folks with 900-dollar accounts a cartel. meantime these billionaires who pay no taxes and get to have their way are now, they're the victims? are you kidding me? charlie is right. don't bring regular latetores into this. >> the one thing charles, you're missing, the regulators will be coming not to the aid of the wall street guys, trust me, no one is cry about melvin capital right now. they will come to the aid of the little guy who will get screwed on this. >> i don't see how. if you start to restrict trading or put in new rules -- >> they will hold the bag on game shop, blackberry, amc while sophisticated investors --

>> charlie, you can't say sophisticated traders in this -- neil: charles payne, help me with my friend. if you got in gamestop, amc, seen the stock go way, way up, the ol' argument in the go go days of the late 1990s, when internet was going bust everyone wanted out the door at the same time around only some to go through and they got burned. i'm not saying the same wouldn't happen here. a investor could lock in his or her profits, i made a killing. i will dodge out. at what point then do these investors who are getting this being making a tidy profit, charles, what do you tell them when they want out and they can't get out, if that were to happen? >> there are three things. first of all people are making money every single day. people are trading, we use the word trading which implies buying and selling. i tell you for myself around my subscribers, i had them take profits on gamestop. in my own account had blackberry

bought it a year ago based on the technology. i was shocked when my broker called me up. 3d systems, was theory of mine. 3d was going to be big. i took profits in personal account. i have subscribers take profits in every one of these names even before today. we're not up extra 300%. what i'm saying so-called smart brilliant investor wasn't in this at the beginning there has been some news on almost all these things. not to justify runs. amc raised a billion dollars. help wanted out up 128%. so the most important thing that i know to your point, neil, everyone wouldn't be able to get out at the same time. some are trading this back and forth but it is not all little guys. it is not all robinhood traders putting $80 billion into gamestop today. believe me there are big trading firms, high frequency stuff. there are a lot of other folks in there trying to play this too. >> yeah but, charles -- neil: if i were to buy a stock based on my son's going to a

place i would have been a billionaire many times over. i should have thought of that. but i did not. gaspo, finish that thought. >> i'm saying they weren't in it. they had 140% short. smart money got their ass kicked. that is what i'm saying. >> in and out, in and out. they're done. algorithms in and out they're done. small guy that actually believes -- neil: gaspo, charles is right on this, the smart money never bothered with these issues. might have gone momentum play. some are regretting that you have to admit some are regretting this. this is retail investor phenomenon. >> i would say take the gains, go buy big tech stocks while you can. >> i knew you would say that. ray, by the way i'm not disagreeing with you on that one. neil: i poll follow payne, just buy a house.

that is the way to do it. guys, thank you, very, very strong. interesting point on all of this, there are ways you can buy market averages. you can buy groups. there is etf for almost everything, one strikes me more curious this year it's a russell 3,000 index of the 50 most shorted stocks in the country. going into this year, only a few weeks back, what do you think it is up this year? just this year? 33%. not all big names you're hearing about, amcs, expresses, game stops, it is 50 small stocks that are the most shorted with the experts saying these are the ones that will go down the most. they're not going down. they're up, 33%. all the other market averages. [inaudible]. stay with us. ♪♪

neil: all right. welcome back, everyone, so many executive orders, so little time. the biden administration, joe biden himself will sign a

lot more to address climate change. that is today's theme. edward lawrence with more what we can expect. hey, edward. reporter: follow beginning of your show. in 90 minutes, president joe biden will sign several executive orders, one making the biggest buzz is the ban on new drilling on leases and fracking on federal land and waters. the west virginia attorney general is looking at lawsuits, over other states, revoking the keystone pipeline permit. two, this new energy ban, coming in signing even before the paper is already signed. listen to this. >> we've been been having discussions with our colleagues on this issue, the keystone pipeline where states that have direct impact, where there is standings. we're going to defend america. that is what republican attorneys general do, we will make sure we will be the last line of defense. reporter: oil and gas sources yesterday told me the ban would

being extended for a year after enormous pushback from democrats and unions, the white house now do not have a specific timeline yet. here is biden's energy secretary nominee earlier today, listen. >> i'm curious how a long-term ban consistent with the president's goal unifying our country and putting americans back to work? >> i think the president's plan of building back better which would create more jobs energy, clean energy, than the jobs that might be sacrificed. reporter: but the west virginia attorney general points to workers like neil crabtree who moved his family for the keystone pipeline. >> we have people who haven't worked almost a year. we were really dependent on this project to provide for our industry, our families, insurance. we need projects we need projects like this all the time. reporter: some of the other

things biden will sign impacting jobs, establishing climate considerations as an essential element for u.s. foreign policy and u.s. national security. committing to the u.s. the goal of conserving 30% of our lands and oceans by 2030. so we'll hear from the president on all these issues later on today. we'll see, neil, if he will take questions. back to you. neil: all right. thank you very much. edward lawrence in washington following all of that. claire chase with us right now, mack energy director of government relations. claire, i would imagine you're not enthusiastic over some of these moves the president has taken. what always strikes me as odd, we've already seen studies that the keystone pipeline is very environmentally friendly and would not be nearly as harmful as some had feared. that was the state department study issued in the obama administration. i always believed we should be all-in on energy. by all means explore solar and wind and some other alternatives

but do not drop the energy ball when it comes to the traditional stuff. i mean, i look at what's going on in the middle east. a lot of them over there don't flip over us. i don't want to give that control away. why can't we just do it all? >> it's a really great question. i have mean, you will never hear anybody in oil country say we don't need to look at renewable energy, we absolutely do. you're right, without oil and gas we have no real, reliable affordable source of energy to provide what this world needs. it is exactly right it is a energy security issue. for the first time in history we were energy independent and when the stroke of a pen under president biden, we will now be relinquishing that control to people who are not very friendly to us, to russia, saudi arabia, some other middle-eastern, venezuela, perhaps iran to some extent. we have to be very mindful of that. it is really unfortunate we have

a president doesn't seem to be aware. neil: i think he is aware and he is dealing with two constituencies. obviously a lot of those union members are losing jobs, not too keen on that decision. environmentalists within his bailiwick who welcome this development here. they seem to be counting on a resurgence of green energy and investing of that. that will eventually get these folks, 1000 plus already lost their jobs, many more to come, and soon, train them in the new economy. i think that takes a little longer than a few months, though. >> i think you're absolutely right. i think we have to be careful about talking about renewable energy in that sense because we know without be is sy did i, without government subsidy that source of energy right now is not affordable. and then you have the tax hit when you have these people that are losing their jobs and

revenues, the federal government makes a lot of money on oil and gas production and oil and gas leasing. you're losing that revenue and losing tax dollars of employees who no longer have a job and providing money to the green energy industry, our budget can't afford that or the state level here in new mexico. we're impacted by that. i think it's a tough sell, at least in my mind it doesn't make a lot of concerns. two plus two does not equal four in this instance. you will not hear any oil company executives we're not about green energy. we absolutely are. we just need to be smarter about how we go about it. you can't you know, focus just on that one piece without insuring that you have the revenue and the source of affordable energy to sort of stablize the country and provide that energy and that source of you know, commodity that we need in order to make things like cell phones and medical equipment. i mean we wouldn't have any

ventilators without oil and gas. neil: that is a very good point. i get annoyed when i hear people talk about a push to clean energy and these jobs lost are collateral damage. i think they're a little more than collateral damage. claire chase, thank you very much. great seeing you. >> thank you. neil: we've got the dow down about 350 points right now. obviously all this froth around these small cap stocks suddenly having very big cap valuations with all of this trading and you know the shorting and then the people buying out the shorts and all this other stuff but there is something else going on here and a lot of it could be hinging on the potential federal response. there is always that after this

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among those climate advisors, john kerry the climate czar, i think what they call him, will be selling out some of the actions the administration is about to take now that we rejoined the paris climate accords. we'll listen to the end for dollar signs. this will not be cheap. i actually took the time the climate agreement donald trump separated us from when he first became president citing some of the owner us costs with that, they were lopsided, u.s. would bear most of them, china, brazil would get off scot-free, india to some extent. maybe john kerry will speak on that. we're focusing in post-pandemic world where we hope to get to work and back to school. that is the directive right now chicago teachers have been given. the problem with that chicago teachers are not for in-person classes just now no matter who is ordering it. garrett tenney with all of that.

hey, garrett. reporter: hey, neil. this standoff continues with teachers returning to the classroom. chicago public schools told parents to be home because they had no indication that teachers would show up like they had been ordered to. the district is allowing online classes to continue for now, as negotiations are own going with the union but after months of negotiations, of talks, of several missed deadlines, mayor lori lightfoot the city still plans to open classrooms for k-8 starting monday because too many students are failing behind. lightfoot is asking teachers to put pressure on the union to reopen schools. >> of course we want you to be safe. of course we take your health and safety incredibly seriously. we have built a plan to make sure that you can get the vaccine. but we need to you work with us.

we need to talk to your leadership. because we can't get there unless we get there together. reporter: the union claims that the schools are not safe for in-person learning. that the city's reopening plans don't go far enough to protect teachers around remote learning should continue until teachers are vaccinated. despite the city's plans, the city's plans meeting or exceeding state and federal health guidelines. in another new study out of the cdc found no evidence that schools transmit the virus at higher rate than the general community. concluded schools can reopen with proper protocols. president biden's chief of staff weighed in on the that the unions are right to hold out. >> i don't think unions are overruling studies. schools that haven't made investments to keep the students safe. most of the teachers i talk to, they want to be back in the classroom. they want to know it is safe, we

as a country should make the investments to make it safe. reporter: monday is the new day to watch, neil that is it when the district plans to move ahead with in-person learning and if teachers don't show up, it is because they are going to be going on strike. neil? neil: thank you my friend, very, very much. to garrett's point, teachers are often times parents too, including my next guest. lauren is a st. joe's charter school teacher, parent as well. very good to have you. you're between a rock and hard place on this you want to teach but you also got realities you're dealing with. so what's your solution? >> well, neil my solution is to make schools the first priority, be the first priority to vaccinate teachers. they should be the first priority to make sure all the safety measures are in place. as a working mother and a teacher myself it is almost impossible to have my kids at homeworking paul day long. they're trying to mimic the

school day virtually, for smaller kids especially that is almost impossible. then to throw in working on top of it is completely impossible. so my solution would be to make schools first priority. they should have been first priority when we opened in the fall. we're still seeing that we're home with our kids. they have had very minimal days in school. neil: would you feel safe, because i hear this from a lot of teachers, lauren, they would not feel safe personally going back to in-person instruction. they are certainly older, not kids themselves. they could be vulnerable to getting the virus themselves from ironically the very kids going back to class. what do you say? >> i think there needs to be options. i think there needs to be options for those that want to teach virtually as well as for families that want to keep their students home. at the same time there are several teachers that want to go back to school. they would rather be in school.

so look at those teachers. make parrity. make students want to come back a priority as well. every single family needs choice. they need to be able to decide if they want their kids home if they feel safe that way. or if they want them in the classroom. schools have taken extreme measures, safety measures in order to keep our students and our staff safe. i just don't understand how hundreds and thousands of people can go through a grocery store every day but in a controlled environment we're taking all the safety precautions in the schools they're not even considering opening schools up. it is really frustrating. neil: all right. i hope it all sorts out. lauren, thank you for taking the time. best of luck to your kids as well, not only in class but your own. lauren holman, charter school teacher. there is that.

ken langone on the furor over the froth after this.

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neil: all right. as promised we're monitoring john kerry, the president's special on voice to deal with climate change, in fact all climate-related matters. what steps we're taking to rejoin the paris climate accords which president trump had disassociated this country saying we were picking up the tab for some of the biggest polluters on the planet like china, india, brazil, were not putting in as much. we're told john kerry is offering a plan set carbon levels, was original intent, u.s. manufacturers could be very onerous. it is still early in the game here. we'll continue monitoring all of this. we're monitoring the prospect of jobs. in california a good many in the high-tech field are bolting in light of higher taxes and finding lower tax and regulatory confines.

texas is big winner. bay area is having hard time hanging on the technology workers and big worry for california republican congressman michelle steele who joins us right now. congressman, thank you very much for taking the time. i'm just wondering how you keep those jobs from leaving when so many already have? they just tend to follow the last guy out, right? >> you know what? it is amazing that how high taxes and income taxes, you name it like a sell tax. everything is just so high on top of it and governor closed down all the businesses since last, you know march, means more than 10 months now. i heard it is not just big tech companies but even small and small businesses and medium-sized businesses. i heard last just september, 23% of those businesses cannot come back. this number might be much

higher. i think we need to work really hard to lower taxes. we have to work really hard to remain open small businesses with safety guidelines. so you know what? i think a governor is going totally wrong direction. that is why californians are doing recall, campaign right now. we collected 1.2 million signatures. we need 1.5 and we are getting there in march. i hope he is listening to californians. neil: i don't know what the appetite is now. thanks to your election and others republicans narrowed the gap in the house but it is still a democratic house. still with nancy pelosi a speaker, still technically now a united states senate where the edge goes to the democrats, besides the white house. you have got an uphill fight advocating for lower taxes no matter where you are. but is it a tough sell now even

in washington? >> actually there are state and local taxes. trump administration did a great job lowering income and corporate taxes but there is a cap for states like blue states like new york and california. we have high, high income taxes. in california you're paying up to 13.3%. now they're taking about raising to 16.8%. but there is a cap for 10,000-dollars for deduction. you know what? those blue states and democrats came from the blue states, they agree it is not hurting the states but actually hurting constituents. so we are doing at the federal level, we got to work together to make sure that we're going to repeal those state and local taxes. that is going to be the start. neil: all right. we'll watch it very closely. congresswoman, thank you for taking the time. two quick things as the congresswoman is speaking. more details what the administration is planning to do on climate change. among issues that have come up.

we're focusing on climate advisor gina mccarthy, idea about powering economy with clean energy. john kerry is the climate czar, saying that the president is making climate change central to foreign policy planning. so this goes way beyond just a commitment to climate change and to cooling down the planet this actually addresses something far more central to our foreign policy and how we go about it. in the meantime here we've been telling all the hullabaloo over gamestop. i raised this as a possibility early in the broadcast, we had discussion of this, regulators would want to jump in to try to do something about this. so that the little guy doesn't get hurt if he or she is coming out trying to sell gamestop shares in this case. they can't get out, well a state securities regulator reported in baron's online that gamestop trading should stop for 30 days. so it begins.

i'm sure that legislator will not be the first and will not be the last. stay with us

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froth, depending which side of trading. top regulator in massachusetts, that the new york stock exchange should go ahead halt trading in gamestop for 30 days so everyone can cool down. william gavin, secretary of commonwealth, he said, small, unsophisticated investors will get hurt by this. spokesman for the new york stock exchange told "barron's" they have nod had a chance to digest all of this. at a time people are shouting both sides of the trade, short squeeze famously made gamestop put like a rocket, $20 billion, has a lot of folks saying this is the just the beginning. david asman here with all of this. normally we vilify the short traders, right, the ones pounding down an issue. now, we seem to be focusing on those who are pounding the short traders. what do you make of all of this? >> well, on one hand, you got to

give it to a lot of these retail investors, that discussion at the beginning of the show fantastic between charles payne and charlie gasparino. charlie warning a lot of people will lose their mortgages as a result of this, because they are retail investors. they're just average folks who don't have a reserve of thousands of investors backing up their decisions which would give them millions and millions and billions of dollars let's face it to cover their bets. people are putting their house up to cover their bets. until enough people begin to lose their houses this, is going to continue. on the other hand,'m i'm a prcatiuy. iolweold loweed lowed lod on m. at th ihashaha jrnalistsalistsalo.d who wave rul rationsatioha benethet short s sle s s theaso reaso r i osco osecocoauc th pthutey a a l oey m m m m m flncg tingeopleplen gt tt t mhaeee rules ss ttha spl se.impl hean s i iss not immemm t t pr suprprnd politiaitnsiciansicre t

ooccepccngepng buonbustirom sommefef tsese ort seerses,lleome oom oom the e shoe se slers sohat'sha why t why t why thy ra tendentecy tocycyor thehe srtrt llers aernd they'rehey'rehecareo ath ofath at losin lin l lvein y ecau bseec these m the ttt of te marketrkmuchch moreor powerful than as rich as these people are, than the movement of these short sellers that can only apply a couple billion dollars to a trade. the whole market is plying tens of billions of dollars to these trades. on the one hand you have to admire the moxie of the etail investors. the little guys are winning right now at this point. on the other hand you got to say watch out the practicalities of the way markets work, the practicalities of the way washington works and regulations that benefit these billionaire traders are going to kick in at some point. as you mentioned what's happening in massachusetts, that has already begun. neil: all right. well-said, david. very, very much.

by the way we are learning right now, david touched on it, some big short trading firms lost arm and leg on this by shorting gamestop and getting stuck in the squeeze here, melvin capital, comes to mind, we're learning hedge fund titans like ken griffin, steve cohen, have injected about 2 and 3/$4 billion into mervyn capital. this was a firm, very noted short firm started the year out with 12 1/2 billion dollars in assets. a lot of them tied up in gamestop. it is safe to say they're down to their last couple of billion. we'll have more after this.

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♪ ♪ neil: all right, i talked to you earlier about the massachusetts regulator who wants to put a 30-day freeze on investing right now in gamestop. doesn't end there. just as we thought, others would take move to sort of rein in what they call the craziness, but td ameritrade is saying that trading is now being let on a restricted basis in gamestop and amc. i don't know kind of what that means, market watch reporting

this policy has been instituted immediately as both shares have seen triple-digit percentage increases and seen their market value go up tenfold at a minimum here. there are multibillion dollar concerns right now, gamestop, for example, is up so far, so far -- that is with today's gain -- close to 2,000%. in the month of january. last time i checked, january's not quite done. ken langone is with us, always good to have you, hope you're doing well. what do you make of all of this, the gamestop froth and all these others? what do you make of it? >> the interesting thing is they say a little guy hasn't got a break in the market in the little guy's winning big here, and the big guy, the pro, is losing. i've got a simple solution, very simple. let the company do an overnight underwriting, let them go to all

their shorts and say give us $100 a share, and we'll sell you the stock. what's the stock now, 340, 350, something like that? neil: right. >> and the people with the stock are going to have a better deal because they've got a company with a lot of money in it. gamestop had one foot in the grave a month ago. this notion of shutting it down for 30 days, it's a simple problem. you've got more owners than the shares outstanding, that's the problem, because the shorts kept creating the supply. now, now you've got -- as i said, i see this as a singular opportunity. company picks up the phone says to the ces, we want to do a quick -- sec, they want to do a quick underwriting. they're public, so they've got all their data available. it's the end of the year, just go in and make a contract with all these people that are short the stock and say i'm going to save you, instead of $340, pay

me $100, all that money comes into the company and here's a company with maybe $2-300 million cash in the bank. the little guy that owns the stock, it's not worth 340, but at least he's got a company that's worth a hell of a lot more today -- neil: gamestop's not alone are, right in you've got amc and blackberry, express, a host of others -- >> they're all -- neil: do you think this is froth? in other words, as you see it, ken, do you see this as similar to what we had in the late 1990s. >> yeahness yeah. neil: whether that boom was going bust. >> this is irrational behavior, okay? normally stocks trade based on earnings, based on dividend, based on prospects. this has no relevance whatsoever to any of those data points. it's simply supply and demand. and right now the guys with the supply have the upper hand over the guys with demand. that's why the stock is going

up. these people are going into the market and trying to cover their position, and no stock is coming in. the thing i'd be intrigued by is to though what's the percentage interest that's being paid to people that loan their shares to the brokers to deliver. because when a guy short stocks, you have to borrow the stock to deliver it to the -- [inaudible] so i don't know, at one point i remember a few years ago when sears roebuck got up to $150, i think it cost you 25-30% per annumming to borrow stock to deliver to the people that were, that were -- bought the stock. now, by the way, the people that bought the stock as long as they bought it to cash, they aren't -- they're going to be fine because somehow or other this thing has got to settle. and it's going to settle at a lot higher price than it was when people bought it at 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, $15 a share.

it's going to settle at a higher number. but i'm saying here's an opportunity for some creative banker to go to the company and say, hey, you need $30 million? we can get it for you. neil: if an offer was made like that, ken, i can envision a situation where a lot of people holding gamestop or amc and they want out the exit door, they're all leaving at the same time, and not everyone's going to get out. do you feel that? >> of course you do. that's the problem you've got now. if all of a sudden this imbalance in supply and demand abates, who's going to get hurt. if everybody wants to sell at one time and the short sellers back away, you've got a downdraft, and the stocks go down. look, remember, it gets back to basic supply and demand. a buyer and a seller. if you don't have the buyer, the seller can't sell it. if you don't have the seller, the buyer can't buy it.

it's very, very simple. but the problem here is the people that are in these different, i don't know reddit, is that what it's called, red admit or something like that? i never heard of it. i've been investing money for 60 some years, i haven't herald of any of this stuff before, but it's out there. i think people started to look at the -- somebody said gamestop had 140% of its capitalization short. well, that's a ready recipe for some guy to some kid over there buy a hundred shares of stock, you can't lose. and they all went in and bought a hundred shares of stock. and so -- neil: when -- right now there's a focus on all of these haley shorted, smaller cap -- heavily shorted, smaller cap stocks right now, and i'm wondering whether this could be as simple as a shift in strategy, obviously magnified here, but a lot of people saying, made a

opportunity of of money on the teslas and the apples and the amazons, and they're still making money that hand over fist, but this is a way to keep that high-tech ride going, that it might be shifting here and that's really all that's going on, and the government shouldn't get involved in policing that. what do you think? >> what i think going on right now could very well the beginning of the bursting of the bubble. i mean, with all due respect, i look at what tesla's market cap is, this guy's done a hell of a job, everybody i know that owns a tesla los it -- loves it, great car. but let's face it, audi and mercedes and gm and ford are not going to just roll up and go away. they're going to be back. and they're making electric cars, it's a lot cheaper than the combustion engine car because of the transmission, all the things you have to do. what i'm saying, neil, this could be the beginning of some sort of sobering effect of the market in general. i mean, when you look --

neil: do you think this is a rich market then, ken? do you think -- overall -- that this is a rich market? >> oh, sure. of course it's a rich -- it's a very rich market. and all i'm saying is if you've got great companies with great balance sheets with good income statements, their stock will go down. what is the old-fashioned saying, when they raid a house of ill repute, they also take the piano player? that's still valid. [laughter] okay in what i'm saying, neil, is if you've got great companies, you know, my company, lily, parker hand fin, home depot, choice -- i'm sorry, option care, i'm giving you the names of -- couple brands. these are great -- yum brands. these are companies that are going to be fine. my net worth might be a lot lower after the bubble bursts, but that doesn't take away from the intripsic value of these great phs. what you have to worry about is

the hereafter, and that's what's going on with a lot of these tech stocks bigtime. bigtime. somebody told me the other day the market cap of tesla is more than all the five major manufacturers of automobiles, ford, general motors, mercedes, volkswagen, i forgot what the fifth one was. now, what's the magic of making a car? the magic, i guess, is the battery technology. but that isn't far away from all of these people, they're all going to have electric cars, all of them. it's going to get down to price. and, by the way, elon musk is a genius. what he's done, i think, i'm not taking a thing away from the man. he's spectacular. but what i'm saying is, there's going to be a catch-up here. and when it happens, supply e and demand will reign again. that's all. neil: so what happens with the prospect of higher taxes coming?

most people think that joe biden will be able to get corporate tax hike to 28% from 21%, also investment related taxes, move them up a little bit, and that he'll be able to pull it off, and that might be a deterrent for this bull market. do you see it that a way? >> here, let me say this. there are 435 members of the house of representatives and 100 senators. that's 535 altogether, right? the difference between the two is 7. the democrats are even with the republicans in the house -- in the senate, 50-50, and i think they've got 7 more seats in the house than the republicans. america is down the middle. let me make something very clear. finish trump's 2017 tax bill, my taxes today are higher as a result of that bill, not lower.

i'm happy to pay them. i've had to sacrifice nothing. i think i should pay more, and i am paying morement but, neil, we've got to address the basic problems of america. what are they? income inequality, deplorable public education. it's disgusting. it's disgusting. it's bad all over. infrastructure needsment the deficit -- needs. the deficit. write down a list of things. at a point in time where you may want to not raise taxes, if they raise taxes, classically they're going to exacerbate any economic downturn because when you raise taxes, it typically is not good for the future of the economy. we know with this tax cut, look at how the economy took off. you go right down the list. so i hope they understand there are consequences to everything we do in life. everything. this is no exception. the only way -- i'll give you an

easy one. what the hell am i doing getting $3,000 a month from government for social security? that's a disgrace. take it away from me. that's a good start. take it away from the fat cats. that's a very good beginning because one of the problems in america is people are talking about the rich versus the poor, income inequality. and by the way, neil, my feeling on the $15 minimum wage, i'm ambivalent for one reason. business will build it into its model. i'll tell you what i'm more worried about, neil, and it's coming, i'm worried about inflation coming back. you look at commodity prices, there are indications that that's the beginning. you look at wage increases, these are all inflationary activity. the current administration needs to understand that this economy is in a very delicate state. and rather than taking the meat

axe approach, they need to take a fine surgical instrument approach. because the wrong decision can have consequences far beyond what they're going to be able to deal with. the stock market, who can argue that it's not high? who can argue that it's not frothy? look at these valuations. i'm an early investor in palantir. hell, we got it at 9, 10, 11 a share, here it is $37 a share. fabulous company, the best as what they do. but is it worth three times what it was worth three months ago? i don't know. i'm happy it is -- neil: let me ask you, ken, about what you said sometime ago, not that long ago after protests got violent in washington in the last, you know -- under the trump administration. you had said at the time that you felt the trade --

[inaudible] and that you vowed to support biden. you said as well there should be no mitigation at all that the storming of the capitol which resulted in the death of five people was shockingly horrible and wrong. you said you would do everything you could to help make joe biden a successful president. do you -- >> because you know what? if he has a successful presidency, that means things are good. herbert hoover did not have a successful presidency, did he? i don't think he did. roosevelt did. truman if did. reagan surely did. hell, when the president has a successful term, it means the country's doing good. that's what i'm talking about. we all -- look, it's in my interest for this man to be the best president we ever had. neil: do you think they should impeach donald trump? do you think they should impeach donald trump right now to prevent him from running for office? >> i have no opinion on it because it's meaningless. it's meaningless. leave the guy alone, let him go.

what i am saying is i thought after he went through the whole court procedure, he was in every -- not every, but he was in a lot of courts, and every court said the same thing, where's the proof of? give us the facts. didn't have 'em. i'm pleased he did that because he held the electoral system accountable. be i the courts said -- and, by the way, many of these judges were judges he appointed. the courts said give us the facts. you haven't got the facts, no case. good bye. it was over. he should are gone after the last case that he lost, he should have gone on television and said i still think that there's voting irregularities, i hope to god that in the future we'll work out ways -- don't forget, one of the problems this year was because of the pandemic, a lot of people didn't vote in person. so it was a unique situation. but what i'm saying is where i felt betrayed, look, nobody likes to lose, but if you're

going to lose, be gracious. and i felt as president of the united states, he should be held to a higher standard. whatever he said or didn't say that a got these people to washington, the fact of the matter is it was under his watch. he was still president of the united states, and it was ugly. and five people host their lives. five -- lost their lives. five people. that's precious. so -- neil: -- seven out of ten republicans, ken, are still open to the idea of donald trump running again for the presidency. are you? >> four years of politics is a lifetime. okay? a lifetime. i know this, that with the redistricting that's going to go on as a result of the 2020 census, think about this, the people are moving out of blue statements, moving out of -- states, moving out of california, moving out of illinois, they're moving out of new york.

where are they going? they're going to florida, they're going to arizona, they're going to texas. or they're going to north carolina. now, if they're going to bring the problems that they are running away from to the statements -- states they go to, i pittty those people because what the hell are they doing? it's irrational behavior. they shouldn't want it to happen there. this notion that texas is moving blue, i don't believe it. i don't believe it at all -- neil: again i'll ask you, or donald trump if he wants to run for president again, and a good many republicans support that notion, do you? >> do i support it? neil: yeah. >> absolutely not. absolutely not. i think donald trump did, he did a lot of great things. that's tragedy of what happened here. i think he -- i think dealing

with china he did the right thing. look, we gave china a mulligan 45 years ago when we said we've with got to help them get on their feet. a prosperous china is safer for america than a china with its back to the wall. so we made a lot of concessions, as we did with the europeans after we beat them in world war ii. the germans, the poles, everybody else that was our enemy over there, the italians. that's the genius and that's the heart of america, we did those things. we did it with china. china is now the second largest economy in the world. they don't need handouts. and i think what he did in the middle east with all these deals with israel is wonderful. it's wonderful. i think saying to the nato countries, hey, guys, we all signed a piece of paper, and we all said we were going to spend 2% of our gdp. we're paying ours, where's yours? that's a transaction, that's fair. he did a lot of good things.

and, by the way, i don't think we should apologize for saying america first. what did we go to war for? to protect our values and protect our democracy. that's why we went to war in world war i, especially in world war ii. we had to be lured into world war ii, and we did for one reason, because roosevelt knew that our way of life, our democracy, our values were in peril. look, four years is forever. you know, there's something, neil, in 2016 donald trump didn't win, hillary clinton lost. in 2020 joe biden didn't win, donald trump lost. that's my opinion, okay? that's my opinion of what happened. but what i'm saying is maybe the world's going to say, much like churchill, remember, they turned cur chill out -- churchill out and brought him back? how about nixon?

in 1962 richard nixon gets in front of a group of reporters and says, well, you won't have nixon to kick around anymore after he lost the guber that tol race in california. remember that? old tricky dick is finished, right? six years later he's prime minister of the united states, same guy. -- president of the united states. neil: never say never, i guess, ken. >> all right. stay in touch. are you taking care of yourself, are you staying. safe? neil: i am, i hope you are as well. >> i'll leave you with one thought, we live in the greatest country on earth. don't forget that. neil: i hear you, my friend. ken langone, the man who founded home depot, so much more, and has generously given all those billions back to hospitals and research, even dealing with covid as we speak. stay with us, you're watching fox business.

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today establishing climate change as a national security priority. president biden is directing federal agencies to move toward or a sustainable structure to create jobs while also stopping new oil and gas leases on public lands and waters. now, that is the most detail we've seen on how the administration mans to create jobs. -- plans to create jobs. tough questions from republicans in her confirmation hearing about how the administration plans to take care of those workers. >> what would you say to those 11,000 construction workers whose jobs have been destroyed by the stroke of a pen, and what would you say to them? >> i would say we're going to get you to work. and, by the way, meeting the needs of climate change, there'll be many more jobs created, good paying jobs, union jobs. >> reporter: since the keystone pipeline permit was revoked, the canadian company behind the pipeline said it laid

off hundreds of workers, although in a news release the company said the decision would impact thousands. north of our border, one leader is calling on canada to implement trade and economic sanctions against the united states to pressure president biden to reverse his decision. >> should stand up for our interests just like we did against president trump's unfair steel tariffs against our country, just like we stood up to his effort to rip up nafta, and so we hope a similar position taken here. >> reporter: as we await more details on how the administration will create those green energy jobs, republicans are saying the pipeline being killed is ill-timed with a lot of americans struggling financially. neil: jacqui heinrich on capitol hill, thank you very much. all we're waiting for now is to hear from the president of the united states on these initiatives. the president will detail step by step executive order by executive order exactly how he

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neil: all right. it's a bit of a gutsy move on the part of google promising to cut off all pac money for republicans who voted against certifying the election results. they never made a move like that against some democrats who did essentially the same thing four years ago when donald trump was going through the electoral vote certification process. different times, different folks. edward lawrence on the latest on this. edward with. >> reporter: yeah, google's political action committee announced it will not give those donations for the 2022 elections

for members of congress who objected to the electoral college votes. the decision made after the storming of the capitol on january 6th. google did not make the same pledge back in 2016, as you pointed out, when seven democratic house members objected to the electoral college votes for president donald trump. google plans to hold back from republican congressional members, google collected $1.6 million from its employees and gave it more than $1.8 million in contributions. for the 2020 election cycle, the money was split about even between the two parties. other companies also announced their pacs connected to their employees will not support republican lawmakers, those who objected, companies connected to american express, at&t, disney, marriott, other companies also halted donations to everyone like jpmorgan, citigroup and facebookment now, facebook has slanted much of its donations for the committee, for for the

company that gave $5.2 million to the presidential candidate in 2020. again, these pacs did not pull donations following the objections in 2016 or when democratic lawmakers objected in 2000 or 2004 either. neil? neil: all right. thank you, my friend, very much. edward lawrence on all of that thement i want to take you back to what is happening with gamestop, stopping the enthusiasm for the issue that has now looked at a market cap that would put it in the top 50 fortune 10 companies. -- fortune 100 companies. it has been changing hands at a multibillion dollar pace. the read on whether any of this is getting a little crazy amid reports that td ameritrade and others might sort of step back and sort of control or restrict trading, i believe amc was the

other issue. scott martin back with us, kind of enough to stay with us -- >> always with you. neil: -- interrupted from breaking news. all the with you. scott, thank you. ann, thank you. ann, want to begin with you on this to sort of rein in the froth. i guess in a trading extent with td ameritrade and now the extreme, this massachusetts regulator who wants a 30-day freeze on trading in gamestop. what do you think? >> i think actually, if anything, it didn't come a little bit sooner. i think as we, if we do get the 30-day freeze, i think as the regulations get in there, what is really driving this, how much of this was a real attempt to try and, you know, how much of it was perhaps new shift which now is the populism risk hedge funds are going to have to start dealing with if they see it's impacting all their positions. it's interesting as an

inflection point. neil: you know, i want to focus a little bit on these short trading firms that were sort of dangling on life support, citron, because they just made wrong bets here. they were in a squeeze of their own. they got a little bit of a rescue, scott, from the likes of ken griffin, steve cohen, big hedge fund titans, to the tune of about $2.5 billion. but if one or both of these firms were to go out, to essentially fade off into the sunset, there are a lot of people who are beholden to them, a lot of banks and others. would they and should they be rescued? >> well, here's the thing, should they be? probably not, neil. will they be? probably. and that's kind of the sad kind of back story of wall street, isn't it? there's always been these bailouts. there's been very little moral hazard. to your point about what's the collateral damage, yeah, there's brokers, there's trading firms,

there's custodial firms that have leverage extended to these companies that, you're right, if they go bankrupt bust, that money's gone. but i gotta tell you, i want to comment on the 30-day shutdown of gamestop or fossil or some of these other companies. i actually disagree completely with that idea because of the fact that the way to fix this is not to turn off the liquidity. as far as to hut down what is -- shut down a free operating market. somebody's buying, somebody's selling. yes, the regulators were out to breakfast, lunch and dinner on this in not noticing some of the synthetic option strategies to short the stock and get over kind of done, but cutting it off now, the horses, the cows, the pigs, i'm using too many metaphors, are gone. they've left the barn. when we're like, hey, let's lock the door, you've got no animals left there to take control of.

neil: ann, you could think of it this way as well, people are wise enough to know when they're getting into something frothy, buyer beware. no one has expressed much sympathy in the past for short traders, those betting the price of a stock will go down. so i'm just wondering what you make of this right now. i'd like to hear your answer before we get to biden. go ahead. >> good afternoon, everybody. >> well, in terms of the sympathy for, you know, i'm much more concerned about what this means for what the stock market is supposed to do. it is supposed to be the conduit to which -- is a allocated the companies in a way that reflects the fundamental value. and what we're seeing right now is a break in that fundamental model. the stock market's an incredibly important part of our economic system and to see it impacted in this way, i think, is a really challenging moment. i think damage is being done, and i think actually -- is going

to be critically important to get this fixed. neil: all right. sorry to jump on top of you on this. again, we are going to go to the president. i apologize for the truncated nature of this, talking about his climate change initiative, more executive orders. keeps 'em coming. we'll have at least a half a dozen today. take a look. >> thank you very much. let me get to it. today is climate day at the white house, and -- which means that today is jobs day at the white house. we're talking about american innovation, american products, american labor, and we're talking about the health of our families and cleaner water, cleaner air and cleaner communities. we're talking about national security and america leading the world in a clean energy future. it's a future of enormous hope and opportunity, and it's about coming to the moment to deal with this maximum threat where that's now facing us, climate

change, with a greater sense of urgency. in my view, we've already waited too long to deal with this climate crisis. we can't wait any longer. we see it with our own eyes, we feel it, we know it in our bones. and it's time to act. and i'd like to note parenthetically, if you notice the attitude of the american people toward greater impetus on focusing on climate change and doing something about it has increased. across the board. democrat, republican, independent. it's, that's why i'm signing today an executive order to supercharge our administration's ambitious plan to confront the existential threat of climate change. and it is an existential threat. last year wildfires burned more than 5,000 acres in the west, as no one knows better than the vice president, former senator from california. an area roughly the size of the entire state of new jersey. more intense and powerful hurricanes and tropical storms

pummel statements across the gulf coast -- states across the gulf coast and along the east coast. i can testify to that from delaware. historic floods, severe droughts have ravaged the midwest. more americans see and feel the devastation in big cities, small towns, coastlines and in farmlands, in red states and in blue states. and the defense department reported that climate change is a direct threat to more than two-thirds of the military's operational critical installations. two-thirds. and so this, this could well be on the conservative side. many climate and health calamities are colliding all at once. that's not just the pandemic that keeps people inside, it's poor air quality. multiple studies have shown that air pollution is associated with an increased risk of death from covid-19. and just like we need a unified national response to covid-19, we desperately need a unified national response to the climate

crisis because there is a climate crisis. we must keep, we must lead global response. because neither challenge can be met, as secretary kerry's pointed out many times, by the united states alone. we know what to doment we've just -- to do, we've just got to do it. when we think of climate change, we think of it -- this is a case where conscience and convenience cross paths, where dealing with this existential threat to the planet and increasing our economic growth and prosperity are one and the same. when i think of climate change and the answers to it, i think of jobs. a key plank of our build back better recovery plan is building a modern, resilient climate infrastructure and clean energy future that will create millions of good paying union jobs. not 7, 8, 10, $12 an hour, but prevailing wage and benefits.

you know, we can put millions of americans to work modernizing our water systems, transportation, our energy infrastructure to withstand the impacts of extreme climate. we've already reached the point where we're going to have to live what it is now. that's going to require a lot of work all by itself without it getting any worse. we think of renewable designing, installing and conserving technologies and building homes and buildings. and we're going to reduce electric consumption and save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in energy costs in the process. and when the previous administration reversed the obama/biden vehicle standard and

picked big oil companies over american workers, the biden/harris administration will not only bring those standards back, we'll set new ambitious ones that our workers are ready to meet. we see these workers building new and installing 500,000 new electric vehicle charging stations across the country if we modernize our highway system to anticipate to the changes that have already taken place. we see american consumers switching to electric vehicles through rebates and incentives. and the residents of our cities and towns breathing clean or air and fewer kids living with asthma and dying from it. and not only that, the federal government owns or maintains an enormous fleet of vehicles, as you all know. but today's executive order combined with the buy american executive order i signed on monday, we're going to harness the purchasing power of the federal government to buy clean,

zero-emission vehicles that are made and sourced by union workers right here in america. with everything i just mentioned, this'll mean one million new jobs in the american automobile industry, one million. we'll do another thing. we'll take steps towards my goal of achieving 100% carbon pollution-free electric sector by 2035. transforming the american electric sector to produce power without carbon pollution will be a tremendous spur to job creation and economic competitiveness in the 21st century, not to mention the benefits to our health and to our environment. already 84% of all new electric capacity planned to come you should the electric -- on to the electric grid this year is clean energy. clean energy. why? because it's affordable. because it's clean. because in many cases it's cheaper. and they're keeping up.

we're going to need scientists and national labs, land grant universities, historical black colleges and universities to innovate the technologies needed to generate, store and transmit clean electricity across distances. and battery technology and a whole range of other things. we need engineers to design them and workers to manufacture them. we need iron workers and welders to install them. technology to invent, design and build will ultimately become cheaper than any other kind of energy, helping us dramatically expand our economy and create more jobs with a cleaner, cleaner environment. and we'll become the world's largest exporter of those technologies, creating even more jobs. you know, we also, i'm going to build 1.5 million new energy efficient homes that are going to benefit communities three times over; one, by alleviating

the affordable housing crisis;, two, by increasing energy efficientty and, three, reducing the wealth gap linked to home ownership. also jobs to do things like plug millions of abandoned oil and gas wells that pose an ongoing threat to the health and safety of our communities. they're abandoned wells, and they're open now. and we're going to put people to work. we're not going to lose jobs in these areas, you're going to create jobs. they're going to get prevailing wage to cap those over a million wells. these aren't pie in the sky dreams, these are concrete, actionable solutions. and we know how to do this. the obama/biden administration reduced the auto industry -- rescued the auto industry and helped them retool. we need solar energy, cost competitive with traditional energy, weatherizing -- we made

it cost competitive, weatherizing more than a million homes. the recovery act of our administration, the last administration, our administration, the democratic administration, made investments of $90 billion. the president asked me to make sure how that money was spent on everything from smart grid systems to clean energy manufacturing. now the biden/harris administration is going to do it again and go beyond. the executive order i'll be signing establishes a white house office of domestic climate policy. that'll be led by one of america's most distinguished climate leaders, former epa director gina america car think. as -- gina mccarthy. she will chair the national climate task force made up of many members of our cabinet to deliver a whole-of-government approach to the climate crisis.

this is not, it's not time for small measures. we need to be bold. so let me be clear, that includes something revitalizing the economies of coal, oil and gas and power plant communities. we have to start by creating new good paying jobs capping those abandoned wells, reclaiming mines, turning brown field sites into new hubs of economic growth, creating new, good paying jobs in those communities where those workers live because they helped build this country. we're never going to forget the men and women who dug the coal and built this nation. we're going to make sure they have opportunities to keep building the nation in their own communities and getting paid well for it. while the whole-of-government approach is necessary though, it's not sufficient. we're going to work with mayors and governors and tribal leaders and business leaders who are stepping up. and the young people organizing and leading the way. finish my message to those young people is you have the full capacity and power of the federal government, your government's going to work with you. now, today's executive order also directs the secretary of the interior to stop issuing new

oil and gas pleases on public -- leases on public lands and offshore waters wherever possible. we're going review and reset the oil and gas leasing program. like the previous administration, we'll start to properly manage, we're going to -- unlike it, we're going to properly manage lands and waterways in ways that allow us to protect, preserve the full value that they provide for us for future generations. let me be clear, and i know this always comes up, we're not going to ban fracking. we'll protect jobs and grow jobs, including through stronger standards like controls from methane leaks and union workers willing to install the changes. unlike previous administrations, i don't think the federal government should give handouts to big oil to the tune of $40 billion in fossil fuel subsidies. and i'm going to be going to the congress asking them to eliminate those subsidies.

we're going to take must be and invest it in -- money and invest it in clean energy jobs in america. millions of jobs in wind, solar and carbon capture. in fact, today's actions are going to help us increase renewable energy production from offshore wind and meet our obligation to be good stewards of our public lands. it establishes a new, modern-day civilian climate corps that i called for when i was campaigning to heal our public lands and make us less vulnerable to wildfires and floods. look, this executive order i'm signing today also makes it official that climate change will be at the center of our national security and foreign policy. secretary kerry, as our special president envoy for climate, with him the world knows how serious i am about one of america's distinguished statesmen and one of my closest friends speaking for america on one of the most pressing threats of our time. of john was instrument thal in

negotiating the paris climate agreement that we started, that we rejoined, this administration rejoined on day one as i promised. and today's executive order will help strengthen that commitment by working with other nations to support the most vulnerable to the impact of climate change and to increase our collective resilience. that includes a summit of world leaders that i'll convene to address this climate crisis on earth day this year. in order to establish a new effort to integrate the security implications of climate change, as part of our national security risk assessment and analysis will also be included. with this executive order, environmental justice will be at the center of all we do addressing the disproportionate health and environmental and economic impacts on communities of color, so-called fence line communities. especially those communities brown, black, native american,

poor whites. it's hard, the hard-hit areas like cancer alley in louisiana or the route 9 corridor in the state of delaware. that's why we're going to work to make sure that they receive 40% of the benefits on key federal investments in clean energy, clean water and wastewater infrastructure. lifting up these communities makes us all stronger as a nation and increases the health of everybody. finally, as with our fight against covid-19, we will listen to the science and protect the integrity of our federal response to the climate crisis. earlier this month i nominated dr. eric lander, a brilliant scientist who's here today to be the director of the office of science and technology. i also nominated another brilliant scientist, dr. francis arnold and dr. maria zuber to cochair the president's council

on advisers on science and technology. president eisenhower started it six weeks after the launch of sputnik. it's a team of america's top scientists charged with asking the most american of questions, what next? what's the next big breakthrough? and then helping us make the impossible possible. today i'm signing presidential memorandum making clear that we will protect our world class scientists from political interference, and as sure as they can think, research and speak indirectly to me -- directly to me, the vice president and the american people. to summarize this, it's about jobs. good paying union jobs. it's about workers building our economy back better than before. it's a whole-of-government approach to put climate change at the center of our domestic, national security and foreign policy.

conservation, revitalizing communities and cities and on the farmlands and securing environmental justice. our plans are ambitious, but we are america. we're bold. we're unwavering in the pursuit of jobs and innovation, science and discovery. we can to this. we -- do this. we must do this and we will do this. i'm now going to sign the executive order to meet the climate crisis with american jobs and american ingenuity, and i want to thank you all. i'm going to go over and sign that now. [background sounds] [inaudible conversations] >> first order i'm signing is tackling the climate crisis at home and awe abroad.

this next one intilling trust in government in science and integrity and evidence-based policy making. more here. and the last one is the president's council on environment, science and technology. thank you all for your time. >> sir -- [inaudible] [inaudible conversations] >> thank you, guys. thank you. >> mr. president --

[inaudible conversations] >> thank you, guys. >> sir -- [inaudible conversations] >> thank you, sir. neil: all right. the president signing some more executive orders and memorandum today. he's been busy in this respect. as you know, we've talked often times about his propensity to go the executive order round. donald trump built up some steam months into his administration, this president doing it in the first few days, already roughly in the first week -- remember, he was inaugurated a week ago today -- he has signed more executive orders, men ran dumb -- memoranda at a pace that eclipses all of his last four predecessors combined. to david asman, i think is joining me now. david, thank you. your thoughts on these initiatives. i mean, republicans typically come back and say we love to work with you, you keep saying you'll work with us, but you

bypass us with these executive orders. what gives? the. >> right. and also it does remind you that what many people say this is the third term of the obama administration. all these people who were with president obama when joe biden was vice president. gina mccarthy, head of epa. of course, john kerry's going to be heading up the climate change initiative. and how did that the turn out? i mean, we have been here to a large extent before. i understand that these plans are more ambitious than the ones we had before, but a lot of it has been tried out. a lot of the planned recovery summer, remember that, joe biden was in charge of in 2010 to get us out of the recession, we were supposed to have all the new jobs, 500,000 jobs a month for the recovery summer. we ended up with a job deficit that summer because the green jobs didn't appear. so you know, we wish him the best. as i heard you say earlier, we should have all hands on

approach to energy. if we can get, use what we have with carbon, but combine that with renewable energy that would be great, but be careful of those promises. we tried them in the past, in the first two terms of obama and biden and it didn't urn out that well. at least we didn't reach the promises that were made. neil: very quickly this notion that the stimulus measure might be handled the same way, might use reconciliation that a simple majority will get you that $1.9 trillion package. then what? >> that's a good question. are we going to end any attempt to have a representative of the split country that we have in congress in what passes and what doesn't passes? will we see the end of the filibuster, chad pergram knows a lot more than anybody i know. suggests that in fact we may not see the end of the filibuster.

that may be the republicans will be able to hang on to it as some bulwark against, against those who want to just roll over any kind of opposition to these very big changes but we'll have to see. neil: they're only just beginning. thank you, dave. now, here's charles. charles: hey, neil, thank you very much. good afternoon, everyone. i'm charles payne. this is "making money." major indices are under pressure all session long. nobody is paying attention. all eyes on the war between retail investors and professional shorts. wall street pros losing a battle that was easy pickens of for decades. now out after the kindness of their heart wall street wants to change the rules. we have all-star panel. and we'll hear from fed chairman jay powell during this hour. they are moving closer to the new mandate in my opinion where

they think there is greater risk of not achieving social justice than anything else. we'll continue to watch that as well. let's go to edward lawrence, on the federal reserve with the latest on interest rate decisions. over to you. reporter: the federal reserve released a number of different statements here. in fact one extra statement they put out here reaffirms their guidance going forward. they will let the economy run above 2% inflation for a period of time in order to get that long-term average back to 2%. the federal reserve is leaving rates where it is in their current statement, the pace of the recovery. the statement says, employment is moderated with sectors affected by the pandemic. there is weakness in some sectors that are hurt most by the pandemic. in a nod to the vaccine, it actually says here the path to recovery will depend on the courts of the virus including the progress of the vaccine. the statement also says that the on going crisis continues to weigh on the economy,