are still alive today. that's buzz administrationridge, david scot, charles duke and harrison schmidt. now you know 12 have walked on the moon and the big deal on the market a the this moment is the price of oil topping $71 a barrel and it's on pace to finish at the highest price since october of 2018. hit 71, backed off a little and you know what that means, higher gas prices down the road. all right, my time's up, neil, sir, it is yours. neil: and those gas prices, they are high. you know, they're staying high and they are going higher, it's really jolting for a guy like you whose pretty cheap, its got to be unnerving. >> [laughter] neil: i did sneak that in there stuart thank you very very much my friend, stuary varney have a wonderful weekend. right now, we're trying to make a go of it for the dow, the s&p already in and out of record territory here, but the markets almost certainly are going to

have an up week unless everything just folds, we're focusing on that, because they're doing this and relatively holding their own as our interest rates even in the face of a continuing push to get taxes higher, not only in the united states but across the globe, you've been hearing about this agreement on the part of president biden and his g-7 counterparts to push something called a global minimum tax of at least 15%. the devil's in the details blake burman at the white house and where it all stands. hey, blake. reporter: hi, neil, good afternoon. this is a major endorsement to start off off off the g-7 meetings with leaders from those countries are indeed endorsing a global minimum tax on corporations of at least, which is the way they are fram ing it, of at least 15%. this had been an issue as you know that the treasury secretary janet yellen had been pursuing on behalf of the biden administration for quite some time. here is how a senior administration official phrased it in the lead-in at least how the biden administration views this saying, "it's a major

statement to have g-7 unit in this effort and serve as a springboard to getting broader agreement at the g-20 so we see this as a critical step towards ending the race at the bottom on corporate taxes that's come at the expense of workers, text pence of investments and domestic renewal and at the expense of growing the middle class." now, simultaneously the g-7 leaders will call for an end to the digital services tax and that is something many of the larger u.s.-based tech companies opposed as they felt they were being unfairly scrutinized by many countries all across the globe, especially in europe. for example, the computer and communications industry association, which represents many of those companies, said in a statement in the lead-in to the g-7, "we applaud g-7 leaders for their efforts toward ambitious global tax reform" but the work is not finished until digital taxes that unfairly target u.s. businesses have been removed. now, on this issue, neil, of the global minimum tax of at least 15%, keep in mind this is

just an endorsement at this point. it's not like corporate tax policy here in the u.s. has officially changed. as you know all of that starts and is written up on capitol hill, and there will certainly be some pushback on this front if the administration tries to go this route as they are in certain halls of congress. neil? neil: all right, thank you for that, blake. we talk about congress and what it might or might not do regarding this particular matter a lot on its plate here but chad pergram, you know, you know the intricacies of this far better than i. a global tax would have to pass its way through congress, right? reporter: absolutely, they barack obama have to pass this and what's going to complicate the question of the global minimum tax is a potential change to the u.s. tax code via an infrastructure bill. now, someone who knows a lot about this is dave camp. he is the former chairman of the ways and means committee. >> you could have a situation where the u.s. ends up not being aligned in terms of where the

rest of the world is going and one of the drivers of the 2017 act was the u.s. was out of step with the rest of the world. that really drove the 2017 act. reporter: there are internal democratic debates over restor ing reductions for high state and local taxes, salt, and infrastructure bill, even some liberals from high tax states oppose the reduction they want to tax the wealthy and now, there's a tentative agreement among 10 bipartisan senators on an infrastructure bill. >> we're just trying to popular ize it, take the temperature of people, see what they're interested in. it's paid for , and so that's i think a real threshold issue for a lot of people but it's going to build a lot of bridges and a lot of roads. reporter: senate majority leader chuck schumer says they are working two tracks, a bipartisan one and another where democrats try to pass the bill by themselves. neil? neil: you know, chad, i've always learned a lot from your reports but the one thing that sticks in my head is it's the math, it's the math, it's the math and is the math there

now, on the infrastructure, even with this bipartisan senate push reporter: two things you should know. when you have this coalition of 10 democrats and republicans coming to the table, democrats probably still need to move the bill via budget reconciliation. the reason is they probably lose a few democrats, you know, they have to get people like joe manchin and bernie sanders on the same page here, so they probably need a handful of republicans. you know, i talked to roy blunt the other day the republican senator from missouri and he said had they gone with the shelley moore capito bill they would have had 20-25 republicans on board but how many democrats would they have lost just not in the senate but also in the house of representatives. neil: it does seem like an up hill battle then chad thank you very much. let's talk about taxes not part of this bipartisan plan here, among these 10 senators, five republicans, five democrats, but certainly, part of the biden plan. daniel de martino booth, the former dallas fed advisor

and mark hammerich, senior economic analyst. danielle, if i can go first to how the markets and how you look at the infrastructure situation, would there be disappointment if it never comes to pass or would there be relief if it never comes to pass? >> well, neil, i think again, we get back to semantics and optics, and if it's true infrastructure, and that failed, given it is an extremely bipartisan push, the true infrastructure, knowing that we have multiple trillions of dollars of repairs for our bridges and tunnels and roads, if that fails, i think that the market would indeed be disappointed because a lot of it has been priced in, and this could be a good engine for growth going forward, but again, i think what's key for the democrats is keep it simple stupid, is to make sure that they keep focused on pure

infrastructure and on simplifying the tax code which you've been just now talking about to make sure that companies pay that 15% floor. if they just look at those two aspects and focus on them, i think that you can get bipartisan buy-in on this and markets will be happy with it. if you try and throw a whole bunch of other convoluting not infrastructure-type of aspects into this legislation, it will get muddied up and you'll be back at reconciliation. neil: you know whether its worked the merit right now, mark , or not, it's a lot of spending going on, right? and a lot of planned spending going on, or being cooked up, and many argue that's what's prompting this inflationary run- up on top of an improving economy that's built demand for limited supply of lots of things, yet, if the markets are panicked about it, they're not showing it not even in bond prices and yields that have been relatively stable. why is that? >> i think that the take on the

part of financial markets right now, neil, seems to be that they believe or broadly as a collective society, we believe that the federal reserve is right. that this too shall pass, in the sense of the inflationary pressures we're seeing, and that cpi reading we had this week, yes, it's more expensive to get on an airplane right now because a year ago, very few people wanted to do that, and there's a shortage of new cars to buy and that has bid up, of course, the price of used cars, and so as we i don't want to say reopen the economy, but open the economy, there is a cost to pay for that, and i don't want to come on here, neil , and tell you that i have a high degree of confidence that it is indeed transitory because i think that this is an experiment that's being played out in realtime but i think it feels like the bet to make at this point. neil: yeah, and i hear that a lot as well, danielle, that making the comparisons as you are, when we're flat, you know, on our you know what's last year

at this time, any comparison with that is going to show a marked increase in activity to see nothing of prices so that has been the argument for the federal reserve's so-called patience through this. do you think the fed has it right, that it's waiting it out, hoping, crossing fingers, any other appendage, in the hope that this is short-lived? >> well neil if you dug into the weed of yesterday's initial unemployment claims, two states were in the top three. missouri and alaska. they are ending their supplement al federal unemployment benefits this saturday, as in tomorrow, and you saw triple digit declines week over week in their unemployment claims and i think what the federal reserve is banking on and hoping for is that as we get the 25 states that are exiting the supplementa l unemployment benefit plans early as we get these people flowing back into the labor pool the most egregious and largest form of

inflation which is wage inflation, that 60% of any company's cost structure that we're going to see wage inflation start to come down as people, as you would say, forced back into the labor tool, that's going to tok relieve some of the supply shortages on the labor side as mark was saying a lot of this is transitory in terms of input cost, the most important one that the fed has its eye on is wage inflation and i think we're going to see that start to tick down. neil: let's hope that's the case but mark, for those who look at buying treasuries anywhere along the spectrum, how would you advice them right now? >> well, i would say first of alabama that the u.s. has a reputation that remains intact as being a place to invest, and you know, there seems to be plenty of demand for u.s. treasuries and one needs to have asset allocation

in the sense of having alternative investments, and so i think that that continues to be a favorite investment, and, you know, you may want to look at differences in duration, people have gone the shortened in recent times, whether inflation becomes a more precarious challenge down the road, then you look at that from a different perspective. neil: all right we'll see. when i get you guys back a little later in the show, so don't wander too far, i want to get into the bitcoin with you right now because they are opening up potential markets and venues for people to use will be.rrencies of all right now, not much one way or the other for the dow. for the other market averages looking at a pretty good week, i think i lumped in the dow with that. that technically is not the case the dow not joining in that parade as far as a weekly win thus far that could change. some of the cryptocurrencies it's a different read depending on the crypto plate here, we're

also going to be exploring this g-7 concerted effort to get to the origins of covid, after this. >> ♪ ♪ the lexus es. every curve, every innovation, every feeling.

a product of mastery. get 0.9% apr financing on the 2021 es 350. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. [typing sounds] [music fades in] [voice of female] my husband ben and i get 0.9% apr financing on the 2021 es 350. opened ben's chili bowl the very same year that we were married. that's 1958. [voice of male] the chili bowl really has never closed in our history. when the pandemic hit, we had to pivot. and it's been really helpful to keep people updated on google. we wouldn't be here without our wonderful customers. we're really thankful for all of them. [female voices soulfully singing “come on in”]

in business, it's never just another day. it's the big sale, or the big presentation. the day where everything goes right. or the one where nothing does. with comcast business you get the network that can deliver gig speeds to the most businesses and advanced cybersecurity to protect every device on it— all backed by a dedicated team, 24/7.

every day in business is a big day. we'll keep you ready for what's next. comcast business powering possibilities.

neil: how did it all start? how did covid all begin, in a lab, outside a lab? well now you can add pretty much all the world's richest nations in this concerted push to find out. rich edson with more from the state department. hey, rich. reporter: good afternoon, neil. growing calls to try to figure out how covid-19 began and initiate another investigation within china to try to figure that out. there was a conversation earlier today. secretary of state anthony blinken according to the state department spoke with china's top diplomat and that the secretary pushed a transparent study in china into covid's origins. chinese state media says yon responded that the theory that the virus leaked

from a lab is absurd. in england, leaders from the group of g-7 nations are planning to publicly request that the world health organization lead a new investigation into the origins of covid-19. that's according to bloomberg. next week, leaders from the united states and european union will meet for a summit in brussels. reuters reports a draft statement including, "we call for progress on a transparent, evidence-based and expert-led w. h. o.-convened phase ii study on the origins of covid-19 that is free from interference" as more officials openly call for an independent investigation >> the world has the right to know exactly what happened and to be able to learn the lessons and indeed we will support all the assets in order to make the transparency and to know the truth. reporter: there was an investigation earlier this year. the world health organization team partnered with the chinese

government for an examination in china into covid-19. officials say they were denied access and that china's government was still withholding information. chinese officials refuse to allow a follow-up investigation. here, the biden administration has initiated an intelligence review. that is expected by the end of august. back to you, neil. neil: rich edson, thank you very much, rich. want to raise this with our former defense secretary, former nebraska senator chuck hagel. always good to have you thank you for coming on. >> thank you. neil: how far can we realistically, push the chinese on this , if they keep saying no , this is all a political sham , just paraphrasing here. no it didn't begin in a lab, end of story. >> well, obviously, we have limitations, neil, as to how much we can push, but, we can push. we've got levers, we've got relationships, we've got

dimensions to our relationship with china that affect everything else and i think this administration is right, to continue to push on this , to get some answers, and to team up with the world health organization, as well as all of our allies because we just don't know, but we need to know, because if for no other reason, it's for the future. what happens down the road, in a year, in five years if something else like this breaks out so we've got to have better answers than we're getting, and we need to push the chinese more. neil: you know, secretary, maybe it's just me and you're far more verse than these foreign affair issues than i'll ever be but i do notice a much more provocative china, certainly provocative regarding taiwan and just the in your face response to the increase about the origin s of the virus, you know, strutting their military stuff around the globe. to what end? what's going on? >> well, i think if you go back a few years and chart president

xi's trajectory and his history, he has been all about power. he has been all about positioning china as the center of the universe in every way, and now its becoming clear milli militarily and space, not just economically what those authoritarian intentions are, and the effects they would have on our world, and our world order, and i don't think it's anything new. i mean, when i was secretary of defense, under the obama administration, i saw it. we all saw it. i met with president xi three times in china. they were pretty tough meetings, and those days, i confronted him about the east china sea, south china sea, what they were doing, intimidating their neighbors which they have expanded that and accelerated that, but i don't think it's new, neil. its been progressive and if you

look at chinese history, that's the way they operate. i was once reminded by an old chinese engineer. he said mr. hagel, he says you've got to remember something about the chinese. we're 5,000 years old. he said we're very patient. we know where we're going, we know what we want to do and know how to get there. neil: so i understand the island s in the south china sea to which they had no right but they didn't see a u.s. response. do you think that from that, they're gleaning that we would not respond to an invasion of taiwan? >> well i think that's in their calculations. i'm sure it is, and it be. i don't think that's anything new to our planners certainly when i was secretary of the defense and in the united states senate before that we knew that was always an option the chinese had but they're building their force structure and their capabilities, and

they're ratcheting up not just rhetoric but everything, so i think at some point here, we're probably headed for some kind of a showdown with them, and i think president biden is wise here in one of these approaches he's taking when he said that we need all of our friends, all of our partner, all of our allies with us on this , when dealing with the chinese. not just in the pacific asia region, but in europe as well, and i'm sure this is going to be on the agenda on the g-7 summit when the g-7 leaders get together and talk about it and i'm sure president putin and president biden will discuss some of this as well. neil: and i imagine that president putin and president biden will also be discussing these hack attacks on a number of big u.s. entities including one of the world's largest meat providers jbs and the colonial pipeline. now, the russians have argued it's not from us. we certainly isolated it to russian entities, whether vladimir putin directly knew

about it, that's another matter but it seems almost impossible that he not know about it. what do you think? >> well i think you're right. i think it's almost impossible to believe that he did not know about this , or have some sense of it. nothing goes on in russia without putin knowing about it, and directing it, and so this will obviously have to be a top priority issue on that agenda with putin and biden, and biden has got to play this just right. he's got to be clear, direct, and i think he's got tok say to putin that, you know, we have some recourses here to deal with this. we don't want to do it, but we will use our abilities and we have many in the cyber world as well as other capacities and we'll use those , and i think he's got to lay that out, not in a direct warning, but in a very

clear conversation, leader-to- leader. neil: i'm sure the same conversation the other way will go with vladimir putin saying all right, you pull this with us , we can extract some pain on you, they are an opec plus member country as you know. they could extract some pain there, we're already seeing oil prices lift as a result. i'm just wondering where all of this goes, because it's pretty frosty. >> it's very frosty, but let's start with this , neil. its been the russians who initiated everything. we haven't initiated anything against russia in its commercial sector, or anywhere else. its been them who has done it. now, like you say, you can ask the question, well did putin know was it government-inspired, directed, so on? well we'll leave that on the side for right now but the fact is, our intelligence people are very clear on this it came from russia, so they've started this so we've got to make sure that he understands, like i said, not a warning to

him, not if you do this we're going to do this but make it clear, we have capacities. we don't want, it's not in our interest, as you say it's not in putin's interest to get us into some kind of a cyber war with russia, because this will affect everybody. it will affect trade, it'll affect everything, but we want to make it clear that we're not going to allow this to continue. now we're much better off let's find some common interests here to cooperate where we can, we're going to have differences, we've always had differences, but let's reorient the relationship, but i think you've got to come at this with some force and some reality as well as reaching out to putin and saying let's cooperate. let's make sense out of all of this and let's work where we can work together, but we're not going to continue to tolerate what we've seen happen here in this country. neil: all right, see how these talks go then chuck hagel, former u.s. defense secretary, nebraska senator, decorated vietnam veteran, thank you very

much for your service. we've got a lot more on the implications from all of this later in the show and how it's affecting markets not much i should point so if markets are worried or panicked about whether tensions are escalating, a funny way of showing it, today 's triple digit decline in the dow notwithstanding other market averages on the week holding their own. we'll keep you posted, also on the virus, what's happening right now in chicago, some good news out of the windy city, lifting all remaining covid restrictions. we're on that, after this. >> ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

hey, you wanna get out of here? we've got you. during expedia travel week, save 20% or more on thousands of hotels. just book now through june 12th to plan your escape with expedia. expedia. it matters who you travel with nobody builds 5g like verizon builds 5g because we're the engineers expedia. who built the most reliable network in america. thousands of smarter towers, with the 5g coverage you need. broader spectrum for faster 5g speeds. next-generation servers with superior network reliability. because the more you do with 5g, the more your network matters. it's us...pushing us. it's verizon...vs verizon.

and who wins? you. neil: all right, we're taking

those open for business signs pop-up everywhere in the country but who would think by now we're seeing chicago dropping all restrictions in place. grady trimble has more from there. grady what are we looking at? reporter: hey, neil we are on an architectural boat tour on the chicago river and there was a big cheer when our tour guide elliott announced that masks would not be required on the boat today and that chicago is fully reopened. that means restaurants, bars, even wrigley field back to full capacity and if you're vaccinated, you do not have to wear a mask. a year ago this time, ship colop y will tell us you had to have every other road blocked off now, now you're hoping for a breakout year. >> we were restricted, social distancing and wearing masks so definitely limited to the amount of people we can carry but now with restrictions being lifted we're really excited to be able to capture the maximum amount of customers on every tour, and the good news is, tourism is coming back. people are traveling again, and we're really excited to be part

of this great city and moving forward. reporter: so a lot of cities reopened before chicago did. how will that impact tourism, do you think people are going elsewhere or is chicago going to see experiences come back? >> definitely, tourists are ready to come back. we may have lost a little bit of conventions, small convention business, but it's minimal. i think we're going to be fine. i think we're really looking forward to a great summer. reporter: just talking to folks today it sounds like people have come here from all over, even for weddings, i mean, events are back. >> events are back. people want to get out and live again and we're all excited about that. reporter: we're ready for that after the year we've had here in chicago and neil, we will leave you with this beautiful shot of the city, and the sears tower decided to pop-up right as we were approaching it, so we'll leave you with that beautiful shot and an iconic building actually it's called the willis tower now. neil: yeah, i forgot about that. beautiful shot and it's good to know that you weren't just

standing in front of a green screen, you're actually there. good stuff thank you very much, grady trimble. you know, you think about it, it's stuff like this that's at the core of this economic re bound. you can even say inflation that we're seeing because demand is building for all sorts of stuff and there's only so much of that stuff around, so the real core of this is our great coming out party that's going on nationally including in chicago today, danielle booth with us and mark hammerich and danielle at the core this is what it's all about. it's all about the great reopening, and we like that part of it, and it's picking up the pace, isn't it? >> it is, and it's really gratifying to see chicago is a city with a rich history and the biggest beneficiaries of these reopenings, neil, are not the biggest companies, but the smallest businesses in america. the ones who have really suffered the brunt of not being "essential businesses" throughout the pandemic, and you really have to say hip-hip hoora

y for small business owners being able to have customers come back to them as this great country reopens, so i love to hear stories like this going into the weekend. it's very uplifting. neil: yeah, you know, there were little bumps along the way, i like to think they are manageable bumps. mark we're getting word that royal caribbean celebrity cruise s is arranging to private ly fly two of the infect ed guests on saturday. it surprised a lot of folks because it was almost a completely vaccinated ship, but it's stuff like this that gives people some pause to say nothing of the spike in cases we're see ing, particularly in developing countries, so when you sort of look at this , the whole big picture, are we out of the woods? we have some bumps ahead of us. how do you see it? >> we are not in 100% sunshine yet, by any stretch of the imagination, neil, and chicago and illinois are

interesting in that they have lagged the improvement in the u.s. unemployment rate and so it's important for them to get back to business with the assumption that it's safe to do so. you know, we look at the fact there's still a couple million jobs yet to makeup to get back to pre-pandemic levels in leisure and hospitality but with each sort of iteration of this , the fact that, you know, my wife and i plan to go out to a restaurant and dine inside this weekend, like a lot of other people, that means that that is capturing revenue that just simply couldn't have been captured not that long ago and i think that's replicating itself time and time again. i think obviously, you know, to the package earlier, the thing is going to be slow is the business travel and convention piece, and i think that's still uncertain and that's going to make a difference, the trajectory of that spending, and just what that looks like, let's say three , six, 12 months down the road. neil: yeah, it's a slow but steady arc, i get that.

danielle one of the things i do notice and i'd be curious how mark stinner goes tonight but he might get sticker shock on that menu, menu prices have gone up, the big food perveyors are saying they have to lift help use prices to compensate for workers more, chipotle 4% increase, we've seen a host of others follow suit. where do you see that going? >> well, you know, it's interesting, neil. because you're seeing inflation at grocery stores kind of offset one of the biggest six drivers of the surprise increase in yesterday's consumer price index one of those six sectors was food away from home, and we've heard from countless, from countless restauranteurs that whether you're talking about beef or corn or especially pork with the amount of pork that china's buying from the united states, a lot of these prices have gone way up,

and it's incumbent upon a lot of these restaurants to pass the prices along and there is a risk, and i think that one of the reasons from our prior segment that we were talking about the treasury rates being as low as they are is that there is this risk over the horizon that if there's too much sticker shock, that you could have a pullback in spending, simply because people can't afford to pay up, so that is something i think we need to keep our eye on neil: real quickly, i promised before and mark maybe you can help me out with this deal where one large 401 (k) provider is allowing folks to invest 5% of their assets in cryptocurrencies and the like for us all, widespread 401 (k) plan. i'm just wondering what you make of that and whether this is an endorsements of this technology that might stabilize some of the crazy rides we've been seeing in these stocks. what do you think? >> yeah, i mean, from an

individual investor perspective, whether for short-term investing or retirement, a boatload of caution advised there and as one firm said they aren't going to allow people to put more than 5% of their assets into that class anyway, so institutional invest ing has been moving along this path for sometime now but obviously, there are huge questions out there about future regulation, and there's a tremendous amount of volatility, but as a hedge, and if you can afford to lose the amount that you're investing, when did doing so with crypto i'd say it's worth consideration but this isn't for the widows and orphins fund by any stretch of the imagination, neil. neil: no, but that's a good way to play it just if you recognize that there's a good chance you could lose all your money and you're okay with that you can get on the rollercoaster and see how it goes. guys, thank you both very very much. so much was going on this week, but for my money, much of the real human drama was right

at our border, griff jenkins remains there, capturing every minute of it. griff what's the latest? griff: neil, we're going to show you just what a disarray the border wall is in this section and why the residents and officials are so welcoming of the governor's announcement he'll take those matters into his own hands that's when we come back. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

some days, you just don't have it. not my uncle, though. he's taking trulicity for his type 2 diabetes and now, he's really on his game. once-weekly trulicity lowers your a1c by helping your body release the insulin it's already making. most people reached an a1c under 7%. plus, trulicity can lower your risk of cardiovascular events. it can also help you lose up to 10 pounds. trulicity is for type 2 diabetes. it isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. it's not approved for use in children. don't take trulicity if you're allergic to it, you or your family have medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. stop trulicity and call your doctor right away if you have an allergic reaction, a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, changes in vision, or diabetic retinopathy. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. taking trulicity with sulfonylurea or insulin raises low blood sugar risk. side effects include nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, which can lead to dehydration, and may worsen kidney problems. show your world what's truly inside.

ask your doctor about once-weekly trulicity.

did you know that geico's whole 15 minutes thing... that came from me. really. my first idea was “in one quarter of an hour, your savings will tower... over you. figuratively speaking." but that's not catchy, is it? that's not going to swim about in your brain. so i thought, what about... 15 minutes. 15 percent. serendipity. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. >> i said i'm going to go to the border. >> when are you going to the border, vice president? >> the administration has asked -- i'm not finished. i've said i'm going to the border, and also, if we are going to deal with the problems at the border, we have to deal with the problems that cause people to go to the border, to flee to the border. >> do you have a date? >> i will keep you posted.

neil: okay, that went well. i want to go to griff jenkins right now because of the mess at the border that he has been knowing better than anyone here and it's a reminder why the texas governor has taken matters into his own hands reminding the president you won't finish this darn wall, i will. griff, what's the latest? griff: hey, neil. you know the residents and officials here are really glad to hear that welcoming news from the governor, because if the vice president came to this section of del rio she would see the disarray of the situation of the existing wall is. let me take you up to the birds eye view in the sky, neil. you can see from the drone the short section of tall trump wall 30 feet tall coming across the gate i'm standing in, that was built under president obama and then on the other side of that gate which needs repairs, by the way, you see another little section of trump wall. people here tell me that on the morning of the inauguration they were working on that section of the wall.

by noon they had stopped. its been sitting like that ever since and this influx of migrants is really frightening residents. we talked last night at that border security summit with the director of texas department of public safety, colonel steve mccraw, here is what he said about how residents feel. >> i mean, they're u.s. citizens that have a right to live free from fear and harm, and listen to the questions that they're asking in the room, it's just amazing and it's absolutely , you know, in tolerable that the u.s. citizen should be living in fear that someone is going to come to the property and commit harm to themselves or their families. griff: meanwhile, neil, the migrants keep coming as many as 1,000 in the last 24 hours. we caught up with a sheriff who came to the summit from medina county, sheriff randy brown about 100 miles north of the actual border. he's impacted as well and here

is what he said about whether or not the vice president should or should not come. listen. >> have you seen what happened when the vp went down south, don't come, don't come. really? that's a response? so we're all pissed off. they sit up there, they lie, they act like nothings going on. griff: so while this mess sits here from the old construction on the trump wall, look at the repairs having to be done to the obama wall, neil you can see in this section where they are repairing it the migrants must have simply used a blanket to lift up this little chain link or go underneath it or on top it was pulled down for those that don't want to surrender that's a situation and what the vice president would see if she came down right here where i'm standing, neil. neil: you know, real quickly, griff, i've been looking at the weather in the del rio area, its been over 100 degrees the last few days. it looks like right through the middle of next week over 100 de. is there any slowing in this activity when it gets that

hot? griff great question, neil and over the years i've covered it traditionally by the time you're hitting mid-june and july, it slows down, because it's so hot, but here is the difference. that is the cartels south of the border are telling all of the migrants as far as you can go to venezuela and beyond, now is the time to come because the border czar opened, despite what the administration says, and once you get here you'll be taken into the border patrol's hands, processed, caught, and released in most cases. so it's like selling a summer vacation, if you will, for those that want to get to the united states. many of them who already have family members waiting on this side for them, so the heat, not the obstacle at this moment in terms of the numbers we're seeing and there's no better piece of evidence than that than these may numbers seeing 180,000 encounters in the month of may, up 457% in this section in del

rio. neil? neil: nothing stops it i guess griff jenkins thank you very very much great reporting as always my friend. want to go to jonathan hunt, right now, of course griff focusing on those who want to make america home, in any way they can force the issue but you know in the los angeles area, it's an issue with those who don't have a home, who are americans, who right now are confounding the public and their area and finding a place for them what's the latest jonathan? reporter: well, neil, homeless ness in la is obviously a public health crisis. it is a mental health crisis, and it is, at times, a violent crime crisis, whether the homeless are the victims or the perpetrators of those crimes, so what are the solutions? well they are going to cost money, so here, behind the blue fence, you look at, topped with razor wire, the city of la has setup a tent encampment and now the cost though is what is

staggering here, per-tent, $2,600 per-month, per-tent. that is more, neil, than the cost of renting your average one bedroom apartment in la and for that, you get the white tape marks on the ground, the tent, and some food and you get some bathroom facilities. that's it. 2,600 per month. they are also here in la building more permanent housing what they call tiny villages, et cetera, putting up some dorm rooms but according to the city controller, those are running at a cost of more, get this , more than half a million dollars per- unit. listen here to the city controller. >> we absolutely desperately need more housing for people experiencing homelessness, and mental illness and addiction , but not at a cost of $550,000 to $750,000 a door. that is utterly unacceptable. reporter: now, we asked mayor

eric garcetti for an interview, that request was turned down. we also sent him a series of detailed written questions. those weren't answered, but after our first reporting this morning, we did get a statement from the mayor's office. his spokesman saying the mayor is committed to tackling this crisis, and is "using every available resource toward long term and high-quality solutions that end its vicious cycle" the statement goes on"there's no one-size-fits-all solution to ending homelessness, which is why mayor garcetti spearheaded the city's largest-ever investment to provide strategies that are nimble, targeted, and sensitive to the needs of our homeless neighbors." now whether these are long term, whether they are high-quality, whether they are nimble at the cost for a tent of more than the cost of renting a one bedroom apartment, neil, i'll leave other people to decide. neil? neil: that's stunning. that is absolutely stunning. jonathan hunt, thank you very

much. stay with us. we'll have more after this. (vo) while you may not be running an architectural firm, tending hives of honeybees, and mentoring a teenager — your life is just as unique. your raymond james financial advisor gets to know you, your passions, and the way you help others. so you can live your life. that's life well planned. stay restless, with the icon that does the same. the rx crafted by lexus. lease the 2021 rx 350 for $449 a month for 36 months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. (vo) conventional thinking doesn't disrupt the status quo. which is why t-mobile for business $449 a month for 36 months. uses unconventional thinking to help your business realize new possibilities. only one 5g partner offers unmatched network, support,

and value-without any trade offs. that building you're trying to buy, - you should ten-x it. - ten-x it? ten-x is the world's largest online commercial real estate exchange. you see it. you want it. you ten-x it. it's that fast. if i could, i'd ten-x everything. like... uh... these salads. or these sandwiches... ten-x does the same thing, but with buildings. sweet. oh no, he wasn't... oh, actually... that looks pretty good. see it. want it. ten-x it. yum!

neil: all right, masks no longer required on the house floor but this push and pull is good news/ bad news comes as we learn two passengers testing positive

for covid on a fully vaccinated royal caribbean cruise so some promise and then a setback, dr. nina ratcliff with us right now. doctor, where do you think we are in this right now? >> well covid-19 vaccine has this virus but we're not at a point where we can declare victory. just yesterday there was 16,000 new cases of covid-19 in the united states, so while we have made progress, we need to continue getting people vaccinated and taking precautions, and what happened on this cruise ship where precautions were taken. everybody was required to be vaccinated. the crew and the passengers. this is a reminder we need to stay on this. neil: so i just think that if the nation comes together and about a quarter to a third of americans have not been fully vaccinated, and some might never be fully vaccinated. is it among that population of risk of an outbreak, if they are in crowded situations, i don't

know if that's the case maybe the vaccinated are safe, but what about among the un vaccinated? are they vulnerable at these events to a super-spreader-type phenomenon? >> yeah, absolutely, i mean, covid-19 is a highly contagious virus that's passed primarily through respiratory droplets. you can't see it. you can't hear it. that's what makes it very dangerous so you may nod feel anything but you can be passing it to somebody else, and also, i want to add that children under 12 do not have the opportunity to be vaccinated, so they are amongst the vulnerable. those who are unvaccinated are vulnerable to this disease. neil: all right, doctor, i apologize for the truncated nature just wanted to bring you up on that news, by the way speaking of royal caribbean, we've heard that passengers on millennium, another ship, are being tested as part of a routine to return to st. maarte n and the united states, so as they continue those tours a bigger crackdown on making sure

everyone's been at least tested. we'll have more, after this. ♪ ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (vo) ideas exist inside you, electrify you. they grow from our imagination, but they can't be held back. they want to be set free. to make the world more responsible, and even more incredible. ideas start the future,

just like that. in business, it's never just another day. it's the big sale, or the big presentation. the day where everything goes right. or the one where nothing does. with comcast business you get the network that can deliver gig speeds to the most businesses and advanced cybersecurity to protect every device on it— all backed by a dedicated team, 24/7. every day in business is a big day. we'll keep you ready for what's next. comcast business powering possibilities. shingles? oh... you mean bill. he's been a real pain. again with the bill... what? it looks like a face. ...hearing about it 24/7 is painful enough... i don't want to catch it. well, you can't catch shingles, but the virus that causes it may already be inside you. does that mean bill might have company? - stop. you know shingles can be prevented. shingles can be whaaaaat? yeah prevented. you can get vaccinated. oh, so... i guess it's just you, me and bill then. i'm making my appointment. bill's all yours...

50 years or older? get vaccinated for shingles today. hey lily, i need a new wireless plan for my business, but all my employees need something different. oh, we can help with that. okay, imagine this... your mover, rob, he's on the scene and needs a plan with a mobile hotspot. we cut to downtown, your sales rep lisa has to send some files, asap! so basically i can pick the right plan for each employee... yeah i should've just led with that... with at&t business... you can pick the best plan for each employee and only pay for the features they need. hearing is important to living life to the fullest. that's why inside every miracle-ear store, you'll find better bedtime stories. you'll find a better life is in store at miracle-ear, when you experience the exclusive miracle-ear advantage. it starts with our free hearing assessment. plus innovative products that fit your needs and budget. with free service and adjustments for life. we're so confident we can improve your life,

we're offering a 30-day risk-free trial. call 1-800-miracle today and experience the miracle-ear advantage for yourself. ♪♪ neil: welcome back, everybody. as you probably know, there's been a lot of back and forth about a labor shortage in this country. we have 9.8 million jobs right

now not there in the latest months, but we have almost 9.5 million job openings. a lot of these people are blaming the extended federal unemployment benefits, the $300 that have been extended into september. many gloves, particularly re-- governors, particularly republican governors, have steeped those benefits, many of which will stop as of tomorrow, others that will stop later in the month. hillary vaughn on how that is already playing out. hillary. >> reporter: hey, neil. well, even though labor secretary marty walsh told lawmakers on capitol hill this week he does not think that these boosted benefits have led to a worker shortage and he also doesn't support ending them early, some states are doing it anyway. starting tomorrow alaska, iowa, mississippi and missouri will be ending that extra $300 that the federal government offered on top of state unemployment that already exists. more than 300,000 people in

those states could be affected and cut off from the extra cash. but it's not just people out of work that have been scooping up those benefits. experts tell us international crime groups have been doing that too. the secret service warned about this a year ago telling congress that they were tracking a vast international scheme to defraud u.s. state unemployment systems. about 70% of that stolen cash, about 400 being, has left the country -- billion, has left the country and ended up in the hands of criminals based in russia and china. >> i don't think it's a coincidence that there's been an increase in these cyber attacks on our core businesses. i believe some of that funding came from the unemployment insurance money that was stolen. >> reporter: the white house telling me in a statement this, quote: widespread fraud at the state level and pandemic

unemployment insurance during the previous administration is one of the most serious challenges that we inherited. and, neil, the biden administration did set aside $2 billion to try to help states modernize their unemployment systems. but republicans on capitol hill say it didn't come with any if strings attached, so states weren't forced to actually guarantee that they use that money to do that and that it would cut down on fraud. neil in. neil: thank you very much for that, hillary vaughn. so so the impact in these states that you have to wait until september for those extra federal government benefits to end, are we looking at continuing labor shortages right through the summer at a minimum? ed stringham joins us, trinity college. professor, if i could begin with you, is it a given that this labor shortage persists through at least this summer? >> i mean, it's a big problem

right now. we've got 15 million people still collecting continuing unemployment benefits at various federal levels. that's a huge amount. there's still 7 million fewer people working now compared to a year ago. and it looks like a lot of businesses are just clamoring. they need workers, they want people to get back to work, expect idea that taxpayers, us, you and me are paying people to be staying at home, i think, is a big problem. neil: how long is it a bug problem, dave? what do you think -- a big problem, dave? what do you think? >> well, i think part of it's going to be temporary, and part of it's going to be permanent. i mean, this -- what covid and particularly our government's response to covid did was create

. but the notion that these massive subsidies for unemployment are somehow not affecting the worker shortage, i mean, that is, like, that is pure washington fantasyland. and how long it lasts, my guess is that you'll see some of it sort of snap back over the next six months. but we've caused structural changes in the economy where some jobs are going to be automated or digitize thed or eliminated in some fashion entirely. neil: you know, the fall is the great comeback in america, right? most businesses are going to sort of be pushing their workers to return to their physical offices. i don't know how many will talk them up on that. a lot of these federal extension unemployment benefits, and to both of your earlier points, end. i'm just wondering how you see the fall economically sorting out.

will a lot of these issues be addressed by the sheer numbers of people likely to return to their physical offices? >> yeah, i'm personally optimistic. and if you look at the data, there's a lot of positive signs. i think the underlying fundamentals in the economy have always been strong. i think that a lot of the policies were extremely disruptive, unnecessarily so, shutting down all sort of parts of the economy. but once we've been removing, the government's been removing its restrictions, people are getting back to work, people want to get back to work. people want to start spending, start traveling again, start going out. hospitality jobs, there's a huge amount of demand for hospitality jobs right now. and so i think that over the long run, as long as we get rid of these bad policies, the economy can get back on track soon. neil: so, dave, in the meantime we've got a lot of planned government spending.

i don't know whether it'll all come to fruition, but just some of the goals are pretty pricey. that could be an issue that either helps or hurts. how do you see it? >> hurts. [laughter] i think -- [laughter] i mean, look, i think that, you know, a market economy is a wonderful, wonderful mechanism in the overwhelming majority of ways to, you know, to flatten out cliffs and peaks and to generally see progress and create wealth. and when you distort it, you do not make the mechanisms better. you make them worse. and i would argue that with the possible exception of world war ii, what we've done in the last 16 -- 15, 16 months has been the largest self-imposed economic distortion in american history. and that is not -- i agree with ed. i'm generally optimistic. but when you continue to weigh

in these kind of breaks against the energy of a market economy, it's not going to help. it's not going to help. it's not going to help get back to normal faster x it's not going to help the people who got hurt the most by the pandemic. neil: all right, gentlemen, i'll see you a little bit later in the show, ed and dave, on all these other developments. this is something near and dear, by the way, to john taffe ther, the host of "bar rescue." they're having their 200th episode on sunday. man, how time flies. jon has spent an inordinate amount of time trying to help out those in that industry, and they need that help, don't they, jon? >> they sure do, neil. you know, we're getting nailed from all sides. i'm listening to your labor conversation, and many of my friends run the large casinos in las vegas. we can't get our employees back. of it's just with unbelievable. it's outrageous. but now we're getting nailed by food prices, and some markets,

neil, meat prices have doubled. i was telling a story the other day about ketchup practice. they used to be 7 cents, then they went to 11 cents, then 17 cents, 30 cents, 40 cents if you can even get them. how does -- neil: are you kidding he? wow. >> so we're getting nailed from all sides. neil, we sell a hamburger, we don't make money on it anymore. neil: so what do you tell them? i mean, when they're dealing with them, and you're talking for the big but for the small that's got to be the an on bigger bite. >> it's unbearable. in las vegas we can't get our casinos staffed again. i have friends that own restaurants, this is their chance, neil. the restaurants are filling up again, the economy's coming back, the consumer is active. we can't be open seven days a week, because we don't have the staff. that's another 30% hit on revenue. and then add the cost factor to it. the average restaurant, neil, runs about a 60% prime cost can

meaning food cost, beverage cost and labor cost are 55-60. another 20% or so is administrative cost. that restaurant only makes 20 optimally. we have no chance of being profitable at this chance -- at this time. and the government intervention, as your previous guests were saying, is the issue. neil: you know, i'm just curious though, jon, some of these casino and other jobs, particularly in vegas, they pay pretty welch and -- well. and they're still having trouble getting workers? i mean, you would think that it's well north of some of the benefits some of these folks would till be getting. but even that isn't helping? >> no, it isn't, neil. and think about the economics of it. if it's a two-person household and they're making $800 each, that's $1600 a week, that's about $83,000 a year. the median household income in america is about $67,000 a year. so you're making above median

income by staying home on unemployment, and we say, well, it's only $300 a week more, neil, that's $1200 a month. that pays many of their rent. so to suggest in this isn't a factor in inhibiting people from returning to work i just think is foolish. i speak to these employees. i know better. neil: so what do they do? what do you recommend they do? if there's a shortage of labor, you know you're going to have angry customers, right? they're going to be waiting forever on a meal or the drinks, what have you. some of these large casino venues where it could affect how many they can bring into what they hoped are going to be, you know, full rooms and convention centers. so it does play out in a pretty weird way. where do you see it going? >> well, neil, i think it does end, of course, but i don't think we see an end to this til '22. consumers can't be disappointed, neil, so i have to cut back

hours. i have to provide a good with experience when they're there. reduced employees means reduced hours or a reduced experience. i can't reduce the experience, so i have to reduce the hours. so that reduces my revenue again. so i'm right back to 50% capacity from a revenue standpoint, and i'm losing revenues during key revenue periods, neil, when the biggest opportunities of all exist, i can't seize them. but imagine you fight, you get past all this, neil, you serve that hamburger, and you still can't make money on a hamburger now because of food costs. so our industry's in a serious crisis. we're going to have to really look at raising prices if food costs don't come down. there's going to be consumer resistance if we raise prices. there's consumer resistance if we reduce the quality of an experience. we're fighting for providing the kind of experience that our guests want, neil, and there's obstacles at every turn right now. neil: you know, 200 episodes is a lot of end episodes. and a good many of them are

before the pandemic. what have you learned from this whole experience? >> yeah. you know, neil, it's interesting. on this show together you and i have talked so much about the impact that this has had on the industry. this season of "bar rescue," these past episodes have showed me the impact it's had on humanity, the people that work in restaurants and own restaurants. it's been very emotional. i had one family lose their house three days before i got there. four young boys were sleeping upstairs on a wooden floor above a restaurant. i've had owners lose their homes to keep paying their employees. employees are carpooling because they lost their cars. they're so far behind on their rent and their bills, it's powerful, the impact on the individuals within the industry. we haven't talked enough about that. that's what i saw on "bar rescue" this year. this is a tough business, as yo. margins are really tight. when government gets involved and raises taxes or costs go up or labor issues prevail, all of

these issues take margins down to almost nothing. i'm in an industry that's surviving for its very existence. consumers are supporting us, unfortunately, i just don't think the government is right now. neil: incredible. jon, you've never forgotten where you came from or the people who get you there. best of luck, my friend. jon taffer, "bar rescue." 200th episode on sunday. that's not too shack but. you know, what jon was talking about was the restaurant hospitality arena. it's not just localized to those businesses. i want you to meet the police chief in arizona who's having a it'll of a time finding -- devil of a time finding officers. after this. ♪ life in the fast lane, surely make your lose your mind. ♪ life in the fast lane ♪♪

incomparable design makes it beautiful. state of the art technology makes it brilliant. the visionary lexus nx. lease the 2021 nx 300 for $359 a month for 36 months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. [typing sounds] [music fades in] [voice of female] my husband ben and i $359 a month for 36 months. opened ben's chili bowl the very same year that we were married. that's 1958. [voice of male] the chili bowl really has never closed in our history. when the pandemic hit, we had to pivot. and it's been really helpful to keep people updated on google. we wouldn't be here without our wonderful customers. we're really thankful for all of them. [female voices soulfully singing “come on in”]

nobody builds 5g like verizon builds 5g because we're the engineers who built the most reliable network in america. thousands of smarter towers, with the 5g coverage you need. broader spectrum for faster 5g speeds. next-generation servers with superior network reliability. because the more you do with 5g, the more your network matters. it's us...pushing us. it's verizon...vs verizon. and who wins? you.

look...if your wireless carrier was a guy, you'd leave him tomorrow. not very flexible. not great at saving. you deserve better - xfinity mobile. now, they have unlimited for just $30 a month. $30 dollars. and they're number 1 in customer satisfaction. his number? delete it. deleting it. so break free from the big three. xfinity internet customers, take the savings challenge at xfinitymobile.com/mysavings or visit an xfinity store to learn

how our switch squad makes it easy to switch and save hundreds. ♪ neil: all right, you think it's hard for restaurants to find workers and small businesses to find workers, how would you like to be sean duggan, the chandler, arizona, chief of police, and find out it's just as difficult trying to look for future police officers? the chief is joining me right now. very glad to have you.

i can't believing this, but i guess i can. what's the problem? can you hear me, chief? >> yes, i'm here. neil: all right. i apologize for that. you're obviously offering all sorts of incentives to boost recruitment. where do you stand? >> right. so we understand that presently it's a challenge to find qualified and talent ared people that are willing to be police officers. neil, my father was a police officer in new york city in the '60s and '70s, and i joined in the '80s without any doubt. policing has never been as complicated, complex, dangerous and challenging as it is today. so what we're trying to do is to encourage people that are willing to do this, that want to make a difference in their community to consider the chandler police department. and it's not just offering incentives to come onboard, but

it's also the community that genuinely supports and appreciates their police. as evidenced by the incentives that we're offering but also by our use of technology, our equipment and training and, again, a community that understands the importance of having qualified and talented people working in the ranks of their police department. neil: that a makes a big difference, right, chief? if you go to a community that appreciates you, you're more likely to stay in that community whether you're on the police force or not. how have people been responding to this pitch? >> right. so this is relatively new. we've only had this out for a couple weeks now, and it's been overwhelming. so we have had applications from all a over the united states and including quite a few from here in arizona. is so we anticipate this to be a very strong process right now, and this will continue as we continue to our recruiting efforts throughout the year. neil: do they get a little dissuaded by, you know, obviously all of these stories

and, you know, police, you know, issues involving, you know, violence and all the rest? does it give them pause? in other words, are they just one smartphone snap away from potentially losing a job or not getting their side out, or they feel that, you know, there's just not the national support for police that there used to be? >> right. i think all of that factors in. but what we're trying to convey here in chandler is that we are a community that values and supports their police. so if you are driven by the drive to make a difference in your community and be part of a noble profession, then i am suggesting that chandler, arizona, is the place to do that, because this is a community that understands and the importance of having people committed to do a very difficult job to, and in turn they show incredible support and value.

just last night, neil, our city council approved the budget for next fiscal year, and instead of reducing our budge, they increased our budget by adding additional police officers to our complement. so we have positions that -- to be filled, and by having this incentive, it's just one way to be differentiated from others. neil: well, i wish you the best, chief. obviously, that service to others is in your dna. you talk about your dad and all, i hope that is contagious. sean duggan, the chandler, arizona, chief of police. all right, when we come back, if you like what you've been seeing in the markets, these boom times, charlie gasparino has talked to some big honchos who say, you know, it's going the keep going. ♪ ♪

(vo) while you may not be running an architectural firm, tending hives of honeybees, and mentoring a teenager — your life is just as unique. raymondaymoesay fcialanalad tgekn,mentoring a teenager — , your life is just as unique. onsiaymondaymoesay fcialanalad tgekn,mentoring a teenager — e wathe u thheyoththyoerth onsiaymondaymoesay fcialanalad tgekn,mentoring a teenager — i'the est's t enjut'str at'r err er ne wheneng does. ng goe gright. ane llife. th'siflllannedla. with comcast business you get the network that can deliver gig speeds

to the most businesses and advanced cybersecurity to protect every device on it— all backed by a dedicated team, 24/7. every day in business is a big day. we'll keep you ready for what's next. comcast business powering possibilities.

♪ neil: all right. show-off time for elon musk. not a new rocket, the latest model of his popular model s. this is a little bit pricier than some of the other ones including the s that preseeded it. about $130,000. for that, you get a car that goes 0-60 in two seconds. are you in? gentlemen, very good to have both of you there. now, reading about this and, obviously, elon musk is trying to take on the bmws and the mercedes of the world. what do you think of it, ed? and this battle back and forth for electric vehicles becoming sort of like the cost du jour here. >> i find it amazing. i think i wrote the first

academic article about tesla about how they're using silicon valley-style thinking to innovate in the car industry. at the time this was six years ago. that's interesting, i wonder if it'll work. but time and time again, musk has showed that this big style thinking, innovative thinking has really been transforming the auto industry. a lot of people think of this as a staid industry, nobody can get into it. tesla's now worth ten times more than ford motor cars. it's really just remarkable. he keeps coming up with new ideas, making the cars faster, longer range, and he just, he's the magic man, i guess, i don't know. neil: yeah. i'm wondering, dave, to the point on the runup in the stock, and he does some beautiful vehicles and certainly has this down right. i'm just wondering if the stock is ahead of itself in that achievement. what do you think? >> well, right now they are profitable, so that was one of the things, we always worry

about that with start-ups, is it just, you know, a bug pie in the sky -- big pie in the sky idea. right now they're delivering, so is it going to continue? i don't know, obviously. but it hooks like they're doing well so far, the fact they've turned that corner. they have the ability to mass market these cars. we've got the expensive ones now, the plaid car for 130,000, but now they've got these cheaper ones. and that's been the long-term goal, is to have these flagship models with cheaper ones as well. neil: for dave, that's just money underneath his couch cushions. i am wondering whether it's getting crowded in the ev market. what do you think of that? obviously, it's the direction the nation is going, we're told, but there are a lot of people and a lot of carmakers going there. what do you think? >> i do. you know, i was thinking about this a lot today, neil, why are they doing it. you know, i have gone from being

a skeptic, longtime skeptic about the company to thinking that musk is truly kind of a, you know, every transformative industry requires somebody who's not just a great businessman, but is also a phenomenal promoter and has their hands on the psyche of the public. and i was thinking how much he really does. like, he is that kind of, you know, generational figure of american enterprise where he just, he's inside people's heads and knows exactly what buttons to press. and that's what i think this product is. and my if hat's off to musk and to tesla. neil: i am wondering, we did see the latest, you know, jobs numbers and the inflation numbers that people are, you know, come back to work, they're willing to pay more for things

in the process. i guess including electric vehicles. i don't know about a $130,000 one, but we'll see. one of the things i did notice, and maybe you could both comment on this. ed, i'll begin with you, that used car prices were up almost 30% in the latest month. i grant you from a position where nothing was going on, you could say the same of almost all of the prices of items across the board, i get it. but that particularly stood out to me. is that a phenomenon to watch? how do you see it, ed in. >> it's a major problem, actually. we've got various input problems such as the chip shortages, we've got steel tariffs still going on for the last few years, aluminum tariffs, and these things are all catching up to industry. last year a lot of the rental car companies, they sold their entire fleets, and now -- they had to just to get by, and now they're scrambling to get new

cars or even used cars. and so there's just not the amount of cars that are sitting around. and, you know, it'd be nice if you could just flip that switch and the production could ramp right up, but it's not that easy. so i think this is kind of a big problem caused by a lot of the pandemic policies and also the tariffs and import reduction policies that we're going to be seeing this problem for a while. neil: you know, i understand they didn't have enough used cars, and that's what prompted the runup. but, dave, i'm just curious, does that come at the expense of new car purchases? >> probably, you know, probably not. i don't think you see the prices spiking to the extent the they did if there was available supply of the new cars that people wanted. i mean, you could almost make the other argument that if they've spiked 30% in a month, that that ought to be a spur to

the, you know, to the building of new cars. and, frankly, it probably is a price signal to car manufacturers for them to get on their horse and go. but all this goes back to what we said in the first segment which is, you know, there was this notion before, whoa, we're just going to take a two week hiatus here and, you know, we're just with going to be cautious because we can get through, this everybody can work from home and nothing will be, you know, damaged. but you're seeing the damage now. the damage of structures and arrangements and agreements and price levels. and this is, you know, yes, there's a strong fundamental enjune in the american economy -- engine in the american economy. but, yes, these distortions are going to cost consumers and taxpayers thousands and thousands of dollars per household for years to come. neil: all right. final word on that particular subject. and, by the way, not just localized to cars and that sort of thing. homes as well.

home prices are rocketing. and for the 43rd straight month, it's been the case where all key components of the housing market from the cheapest to the most posh are doing a-okay. if after this. ♪ -- better than all the rest. ♪ better than anyone, anyone i ever met. ♪ i'm stuck on your heart ♪♪ fune innovators of the nasdaq 100 like you become an agent of innovation with invesco qqq

- hello, friends. michael youssef here. you know, the right says that christ was conservative. the left says christ was radical, but christ is the creator, god in human flesh, and he's the only one who can give you peace, and he wants to give you that peace, eternal peace. will you come to him? - [woman] are you looking for peace that can withstand any hardship that life can bring? visit findingtruepeace.com to find answers. that's findingtruepeace.com.

♪♪ neil: all right, this housing boom is still on, and right now for the 43rd straight month, reporting double-digit growth pretty much across the board. susan donnelly joins us now, very good to have you. this does seem to be pretty wide even in the upper, upper echelon of homes that were actually stalled for a while and the

lower, lower end that was actually running out of supply. so where are we nowsome. >> yeah. well, first, thanks for having me. great to be here. what we continue to see is just this intense demand from home buyers, and that demand is coming from two different audiences. one, something we call the great reshuffling which is the pandemic really gave people the freedom and the license to think about how they live, where they live, and they're taking advantage of that. people are literally on the move, want to be on the move. and then the second audience is the millennials. so at the same time where we have this influx of people feeling this freedom to move, the millennials are aging into home buying, and they're having babies, they want more space, they're turning 40, and they are also on the move. and, you know, add in lumber prices and low interest rates, and we've got a housing market that's pretty hot.

you know, we continue to think it's going to be a bright spot of the economy moving forward. neil: do you ever think though that it gets a little frothy, susan? i'm not saying last housing boom and bust where people were bidding on property sight unseen and, you know, flipping them, but you do hear talk of potential buyers rushing and offering gifts and free vacations to homeowners to get their bid accepted. what do you think? >> yeah. we're definitely hearing a lot of those stories. but the fact is 70% of homes right now are still going for list price or below. and so those stories about pizza parties and, you know, even making -- offering money to help people buy their next home, that is, it is in the smaller part of the market. but it is an opportunity for buyers to get ready for, you know, when they want with to

actually move into a home and using tech and talking to agents, you know, online instead of in person and getting their financing in order. there's a lot of things that buyers can do to make themselves more competitive if they're in those markets where that 30% is really, really hot. neil: you know, sellers sometimes don't want to unload even though they have hefty profits because they're just going to have to plow into another home that's just as rocketed in price. what do you with see happening there? >> yeah. i mean, good indicator of the moment is inventory is up 4% in maw, and that's the first time that we've seen inventory go up in a year. that seems to say that sellers are, whether they're getting vaccinated, they're getting excited about moving into a new home, they're starting to understand what their worth situation might be now that the pandemic is coming to a close here, hopefully, and and so that

is definitely fueling some more inventory. but you are right, i mean, in order to move, you know, you need to have a place to go into. but that inventory piece really going to help us out there. neil: how long does all this last, do you think? >> you know, these underlying factors like this buyer demand that just feels really sustainable to us, again, that wrapping your life -- wrapping work around your life instead of life around your work and those millennials, that feels very sustainable for us, you know, moving forward here, you know, well into 2022. and i know that you mentioned, you know, 2008, and this looks nothing like 2008 to us. and people are able to get financing that they can afford. people have equity in their homes. we're not seeing those exotic loans that really, really took the market down in 2008.

developers are building a ton, so we continue to see, you know, sustainability moving forward. neil: we hall see. susan, thank you very much for taking the time. i hope you have a wonderful week, the president of zillow. people swear by that. checking their homes day in and day out. a cottage industry. charlie gasparino, he has always, you know, had his ear to those who are sort of assessing these markets, this booming economy. he has some interesting reads on how long it all lasts. maybe like our last guest, for a while, right? >> you know, yes. and you can tell it by the wall street investment banks. anything could happen. could get hit by a meteor. but the wall street firms are telling me -- and this is why they're worried, they're preparing for an historic boom

in investment banking and trading. the deal flow is forcing the firms like goldman, jpmorgan, morgan stanley to, essentially, integrate people back to the office a lot faster. even firms that didn't have the hard and fast policy like morgan stanley, people are now having to go back because the deal flow is so immense right now. again, firms that benefit the from this are the firms involved in traditional investment banking businesses, goldman sachs, morgan stanley and jpmorgan as a very big with securities firm in addition to a commercial bank. and what's really interesting about this, neil, what they're telling me, is they're going to make so much money over the next 4-6 months based on all this deal flow everything from the robinhood ipo to trading and everything else, they are preparing for a backlash similar to right after the financial crisis. remember, in early 2009 wall street, after being bailed out by the government, by the taxpayer and with super low interest rates, was making money hand over fist.

goldman sachs had their first quarter of 2009, i believe they made $4 billion. it was an historic quarter for them right after the financial crisis, after they almost blew are up. this is not quite the financial crisis, but they are worried. coming out of a pandemic, a lot of hardship that did occur, and now all of a sudden wall street is going to be booming like never before. and, yes, you know, they're just thinking about how elizabeth warren's going to come at 'em. the ppp loan program didn't work so smoothly for small business, but goldman sachs, morgan stanley is and jpmorgan did great because interest rates were low, the fed was involved. you get all the populist arguments. watch those arguments because they are, and watch their profits. i hear this is, like, 1990s level business that they're doing here. neil: wow. >> that's put amazing. and watch those stocks. those stocks could be really popping soon. back to you, neil.

neil: uma little too young to -- i'm a little too young to remember the 1990s, but i heard it was crazy stuff. [laughter] >> maybe they'll get a book deal out of this. [laughter] neil: always looking out for me. so there you go. is that a good business attitude? charlie, thank you very much are, my friend. all right, we're focusing on the g7 summit going on in england right now. the president will be meeting queen elizabeth. i was struck by the fact that the queen has met with every president since harry truman. i thought every president since harry truman. there was one with whom she did not meet. who do you think that was? after this. ♪ ♪ wealth is breaking ground on your biggest project yet. worth is giving the people who build it a solid foundation.

wealth is shutting down the office for mike's retirement party. worth is giving the employee who spent half his life with you, the party of a lifetime. wealth is watching your business grow. worth is watching your employees grow with it. principal. for all it's worth. obsession has many names. this is ours. the lexus is. all in on the sport sedan. lease the 2021 is 300 for $379 a month for 36 months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. this isn't just freight. $379 a month for 36 months. these aren't just shipments. they're promises. promises of all shapes and sizes. each with a time and a place they've been promised to be. a promise is everything to old dominion, because it means everything to you.

wanna help kids get their homework done? well, an internet connection's a good start. but kids also need computers. and sometimes the hardest thing about homework is finding a place to do it. so why not hook community centers up with wifi? for kids like us, and all the amazing things we're gonna learn. over the next 10 years, comcast is committing $1 billion to reach 50 million low-income americans with the tools and resources they need to be ready for anything. i hope you're ready. 'cause we are.

we know how much you count on us... ...and that's why we're here 24/7... ...and on the road maintaining a fast and reliable network. we're always working to ensure the internet meets your needs... ...by making access easier for all... ...with comcast lift zones and our internet essentials program. we're invested in making our apps easy... ...to give you personalized assistance around the clock. and we're committed to keeping our team and customers safe by working from home... ...and using precautions in store. see what we're up to at xfinity.com/commitment

♪ neil: big mac hack attack, add mcdonald's to the growing list of companies that has been hacked -- have been hacked. gerri willis has much more on the story. what are we talking about here? >> reporter: hey, neil. that's right. mcdonald's the latest hit by cyber hackers. saying hackers stole data from

its systems in the u.s., south korea and taiwan, this company is the latest target of cyber criminals. unauthorized access was cut off a full week after it was identified. the company hiring external investigators to track the breach of its internal security system. business contact info for u.s. employees and franchisees among the information breached. now, it's just the latest in a string of cybersecurity and ransomware attacks which include ybs and the colonial -- jbs and the clone january pipeline. companies say they've been preparing for years to come watt cybersecurity threats, so why are ransomware thieves able to extort billions? listen. >> the majority of large multi-national companies who are the targets now are not prepared. they have the standard instant response, breach response plan, but when it comes to ransomware, it's literally a game-changer.

>> reporter: experts say it's the biggest and newest threat to america's corporations in a generation. ransomware attacks are launched every 11 seconds and extort $20 billion in revenues every year. now, over the last 27 years america's largest companies have established something they call a chief information security officer role, or cso, chief security officer for short, to combat all forms of cyber attacks. but their power is typically limited, and they don't report directly to the ceo as their name might suggest. still the, neil, as i send it back to you, we are a long way from that equifax breach almost five years ago where the executive in charge of security, guess what? had a degree in music composition. those were the days. [laughter] neil: that wasn't exactly music to his ears. see what i did there? [laughter] gerri, thank you very much. great report.

anything i can do. you know, they're taking up this issue, by the way, the g7 going on right now in england. but there's a lot of pageant withly involved including the queen meeting with the latest u.s. president. she's met with every one since harry truman. every one but one, and i just found earlier, who do you think it was? lyndon johnson. she never met president johnson. that's the extent of my interesting insight on this. craig dillon is the former adviser to prime minister boris johnson, joins us right now. that's a big treat as well for american presidents if you think about it, craig. they get a chance to meet the queen. she's certainly met a bunch of them. is there any reason why lbj did not? do you know? do we know why that never happened? >> it was explored on "the crown," actually. he wasn't too much of a fan of the royal family, so we ended up sending out margaret to go and deal with him. [laughter] they got on quite well,

actually, dancing the night away. neil: all right. so margaret had her chance. the queen maybe not so much. i'm glad you settled that one for me. do you know as well how the queen felt about certain presidents? i suppose she got a kick out of donald trump, she was impressed with jfk's style. any scut canning butt you can let us in on? >> the queen is the best diplomat in the world, i think. the only person who's been doing it for her entire life, so we'll never know on that. it is interesting, a lot of americans come to me and say why do you guys still have a royal family, and i always say this is why. we can wheel these people out, you know, we have kate out today with joe biden, william and kate going, everyone wants to meet the queen. this is soft power in action. you guys may have the kardashians, we've got the royal family. neil: you have an edge there, i'll give you that. [laughter] i wonder how it's going. you always hear when we have

these, you know, g7, g20 events, i've always subscribed to the view, i try not to politicize it, that european leaders, by and large, favor democratic presidents. they gave ronald reagan a rough time, certainly gave donald trump a rough time, george w. bush a rough time, that is, until 9/11 and the residual goodwill he enjoyed in dealing with terror. but, by and large, they do seem -- and we're seeing this already with joe biden -- to gravitate to the president that gravitates to their issues like climate change, government spending, that sort of thing. what do you make of that? >> it's interesting, actually. a lot of people are noticing that boris has been using the build back better slogan. funny enough, boris was using it long before joe biden was using it. sometimes it's a bit of both. we don't know who copied that from who, but they've definitely both been using the same slogan. you know, the interesting thing is that the british conservative party are in a much more centric

position now, a although what we are seeing with some of the new democrats is they're much more aligned with the far left of the labour party. so if the republicans keep moving in the same way they're moving, maybe they're going to become more centrist. it just seems to be who is going to take the centrist position. craig: got it. you're a font -- neil: craig, you're a tonight of information. the former adviser to boris johnson who's hosting this year. we'll have more a this. ♪ tonight we are young -- plans for the long term, and plans for a long weekend. assets you allocate,

in business, it's never just another day. it's the big sale, or the big presentation. the day where everything goes right. or the one where nothing does. with comcast business you get the network that can deliver gig speeds to the most businesses and advanced cybersecurity to protect every device on it— all backed by a dedicated team, 24/7. every day in business is a big day. we'll keep you ready for what's next. comcast business powering possibilities. nobody builds 5g like verizon builds 5g because we're the engineers who built the most reliable network in america. thousands of smarter towers, with the 5g coverage you need. broader spectrum for faster 5g speeds. next-generation servers with superior network reliability. because the more you do with 5g, the more your network matters. it's us...pushing us. it's verizon...vs verizon. and who wins? you.

♪ welcome to allstate, ♪ ♪are you down, d-d-down, d-d-down, d-d-down♪ where we're driving down the cost of insurance. ♪ ♪ are you down, down♪ ♪d-down, down? are you♪ drivers who switched saved over $700. ♪ allstate. here, better protection costs a whole lot less. you're in good hands. click or call for a lower rate today. shingles? camera man: yeah, 1 out of 3 people get shingles in their lifetime. well that leaves 2 out of 3 people who don't. i don't know anybody who's had it. your uncle had shingles. you mean that nasty red rash? and donna next door had it for weeks. yeah, but there's nothing you can do about it. camera man: actually, shingles can be prevented. shingles can be whaaaat? camera man: prevented. you can get vaccinated. baby, call the doctor. camera man: hey! you can also get it from your pharmacist!

50 years or older? get vaccinated for shingles now.

neil: all right, g-7 still going on we'll be monitoring this for you the president will formally meet the queen on sunday, he's going to have a dinner where she will be in attendance as well so we'll be monitoring that as will royal watcher extraordinaire charles payne. hey, charles. charles: [laughter] hey, neil, yeah a lot to watch this weekend but that ain't it. neil: yeah, go ahead. charles: [laughter] well good afternoon, everyone. this is the royal watcher, charles payne and this is " making money" breaking right now. you know it's a great debate on wall street, how long will the sky high inflation persist. i've got to tell bonds, well they are as cool as the other side of the pillow. stocks are not so sure but there's a subtle shift back to growth and i don't think you want to miss it. now these are the moments folks when the seeds are planted for big money to come, so we've got you covered. meanwhile,