russia-japanese war, 1904 to 1905. teddy roosevelt, first american peace prize. don't forget to send in "friday feedback." send an email, varneyviewers@fox.com. this is your chance to be part of the show. we're calling it fan friday. take a video of yourself, tell us your name, where you're from, say you're watching "varney & company." if you're not careful you will be on tv. ashley it is yours. ashley: fan friday. can't wait. i'm ashley webster in for neil cavuto. the producer price index soaring to a record 9.7%. the dow is up 200 points. it comes on heels of alarming consumer inflation figure. you're talking to former walmart

u.s. ceo bill simon how these price hikes impact your wallet. bottom line, it hurts. pennsylvania republican congressman mike kelly will join me on concerns that china could be spying on athletes at the upcoming beijing olympics. former nypd commissioner howard safe irwill join me how businesses can protect themselves against this disturbing surge in crime. the top story of the day. inflation hits new highs. president biden's poll numbers are seeing new lows. edward lawrence at the white house. good afternoon to you. take it away. reporter: think they're coordinated there? numbers coming from a president who as he was a campaigning for to be president ran on message of unifying the country. think about this, president joe biden approval rating is 33% in the latest "quinnepiac poll." that is a historic low for this

president in this poll. at the same time the same poll a year in office, former president donald trump had an approval of 36%. so in one year americans are looking at this administration which republicans say has created a crisis at the border, botched the withdrawal from afghanistan, led an assault on the energy industry spiking prices and giving, allowing inflation to reach a 40-year high. >> watched everything this president has been wanting to do, one is damaging the country but he has been failing. you would think the leader of the free world would unite the nation, not divide it. reporter: new poll showing how underwater president biden is on the economy. 70% of americans say the state of the economy is not doing well. majority of americans think the economy is getting worse from here. only 15% believe it is getting better. with inflation running 7% year-over-year the white house is blaming the global market and covid saying everybody is going

through this and they're working on it. >> our focus as sing where we are addressing issues in front of us to an effort to accelerate the course of the recovery. reporter: try telling that to somebody paying 6.3% more for the food they buy at the grocery store or 50%, about 50% more for the gas that they pay to put in their car. ashley? ashley: exactly right, edward, thanks very much. as the president's approval ratings tank, filling up the tank is getting more expensive. oil topping 82 bucks a barrel as gas prices are soaring. buckle up. experts say it is just the beginning. fox business's grady trimble is in chicago with how much pain we could be feeling at the pump. grady? reporter: ash, prices for car and gas you need to drive them are outpacing just about every other sector when it comes to inflation. look at the numbers over the last year.

edward just noted motor fool up almost 50% from a year ago -- fuel. used vehicles cost 37% more than last year. new vehicles up about 12%. new car prices head records last year. in fact edmunds is saying the average transaction price is now higher than the average msrp. americans are paying on average $662 more for a new car than the automakers themselves say they should be selling for. and as far as those gas prices go, ashley, you say buckle up. $4 could be on the horizon. price cost rise even more if demand coming off the omicron wave is higher than expected. typical runup between now and memorial day with the folks at gas buddy is 35 to 85 cents a gallon.

we could top that. in chicago where the gas is 3.79 at this gas station. we'll hit four bucks a gallon soon. same goes for california, new york, new jersey. you know how it goes. unfortunately gas prices going higher everywhere. ashley: yes, they are. grady, thank you very much. meantime biden's nominee for the fed's number two post lael brainard says combating inflation is the fed's most important task. joining me is quill intelligence llc, ceo, chief strategist, danielle dimartino booth. and strategic wealth partners investment strategist luke lloyd. thank you both for joining us. let me begin with you. danielle. inflation the number one job or task facing the administration and the fed for that matter, but mr. biden keeps wanting to spend, spend, spend. this is probably the worst time to be proposing that kind of spending, right? >> it is. we've actually already seen

major fiscal backfires, for example, 10% of americans have seen their food assistance rise by 25% since october the 1st. look at any chart of food inflation and you see it has taken off like a hockey stick since then. pumping more money into the economy is harming those who can handle inflation the least. inflation is the most regressive tax. i applaud manchin, tester, sinema and other moderate democrats saying we need to step back trying to assess maybe this fiscal stimulus is actually doing more harm than good. biden needs to change his tune and try to figure out, you know what? let's try to tamp down inflation, not pump it up further. ashley: luke, i always thought the solution was cut government spending, raise interest rates, tighten the money supply to kind of cool down this heated economy. i haven't seen any of that yet. >> no, you haven't. that is the problem right now with the federal reserve.

it is all about helping the middle class. the middle class is the backbone of the economy. reducing inflation should have been a top priority a year ago. just coming out now saying it's a top priority. we all saw this coming. if you didn't you need to go back to economics 101. the middle class is the backbone of the economy and high inflation destroyses middle class, that purchasing power. that one dollar a year ago is worth 93 cents. fighting inflation saves the middle class, if you save the middle class you save america. keeping inflation high, rates low that bubble goes kaboom!. i don't think anyone of us want to see the economy go kaboom! ashley: certainly not. danielle, from a worker point of view the inflation hits middle class, low income working families who are the least able to combat and pay for these higher cost goods, right? >> that's absolutely right. i think that is the point that is being missed and has been

missed to luke's point. the federal reserve had the window of opportunity last year. the federal reserve knew the policies would make rents go through the roof. that is the household biggest line item all the time. try signing off on a lease when your rent goes up 10 or 12%. that is awful thing for middle income family has to sustain especially lower income earners beneficiaries to fed policy, pumped up the stock market, pumped up financial assets. as luke said, those smack in the middle can afford it the least. the small business owners in the country as well which has been devastated by this misguided fiscal policy since the cares act was passed. ashley: luke, is it difficult line to follow because if you slam on the brakes too hard as some experts have warned it could trigger a recession. are you concerned about that at

all? >> no, i'm actually concerned about the exact opposite. there is two scenarios in my mind. like i was referring to during the first question, right? if we keep rates low and we keep inflation high the bubble gets bigger, middle class is hurt. middle class props up the economy through spending their money, right? they're spending money at companies, reflected in company's earnings. the problem if inflation gets too high they have no money to spend. then all of sudden companies don't have earnings, the bubble goes kaboom!. the opposite is the best. we have short term pain. five or 10% decline in the stock market, cooling in the economy. in the long term, middle class, all america has money to essentially spend on the economy and we keep this growth going. ashley: "wall street journal" editorial board writing this, the american workers can be grateful for small favors, they

did receive a raise at least 0.1% after inflation. that beats decline of 2.4% in real wages during the entire year. we got into this, danielle about impact it is having on the workers. what is interesting to me is that the biden administration has up until now blamed manufacturers, the meat industry, the energy company, for raising prices and gouging consumers. i think he misses the point entirely. >> he does miss the point entirely. the child tax credit alone according to the university of chicago has pulled 1.5 million workers out of the economy, spouses out of the economy. if you really want to see the worst kind of inflation, then make employers pay more for their workers. that is exactly what we've seen. again there are a lot of fiscal misfires here. i think the biden administration is focusing on the wrong sources. we actual sea producer price index come in a little bit lighter, lower than they would have been according to the

consensus estimate this morning on a month over month basis. we may see the turn in the supply chain. that is not the right focal point. the as i continuously repeat, misguided fiscal policy fuels inflation and needs to be tamped down. ashley: luke, how does this play out? do you see inflation with us well into, as some ceos are planning on mid 2023? certainly not transitory but how long are we going to face it? >> i definitely think it will stick around for probably another year or two? we're close to the peak, right? we're near 7% inflation. could we see upwards 8% inflation year-over-year. i think so. that doesn't mean inflation will go away, right? we're used to 2 1/2% inflation but now we're, might see, four, 5, 6, 7%, over next five or 10 years when it averaged out. i don't think it is going away anytime soon. the problem is everything is just so political right now.

nobody necessarily cares about helping you know average americans. they don't. there is all they care about getting votes. even the federal reserve is politicized right now. i find it interesting, brainard went from dovish a few weeks ago to hawkish so quickly. you know, it is all political. ashley: certainly is. as we see the president's approval rating starting to tank. so there is a consequence for all of this. danielle, luke, thank you both for being here today. we really appreciate it as always. thank you. >> thank you. ashley: biden, president biden, thank you, making a last-ditch effort to sell voting legislation to, well, frankly some reluctant senate democrats. we'll have more "cavuto: coast to coast" coming up.

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through congress. fox news congressional correspondent chad pergram joins us now. chad, how successful do you think he might be. reporter: ashley, the bully pulpit travels. tuesday was georgia. today president biden takes the message to capitol hill. the push to change the filibuster when it comes to voting rights. senators joe manchin and krysten sinema is not on board. sinema is talking on the senate floor right now. that oppositioning united states the ire of the congressional black caucus especially after manchin open braced one voting measure. >> some real interesting trying to figure out why is it that when we decided to support his bill he seems to be supporting a filibuster of his own bill? reporter: but the president gained support of one moderate democrat on the filibuster.

>> my preferred to do the filibuster change for everything but the truth is if we need a carveout to address voting rights, i'm there, i will do it. reporter: the president swung and missed twice last fall when he met with house democrats at the capitol. it was an effort to pass the infrastructure bill and the social spending bill to be fair infrastructure is now law. the other bill finally passed the house but is stuck in the senate. it is unclear if the president can close the deal today. >> his weighing in personally can have an impact, particularly on sinema and manchin. i hope that's true. reporter: democrats aim to use the gop filibuster of a redesigned voting bill as parliamentary tool to change the pass the bill but they can't do that without the support of all democrats. ashley? ashley: chad, thank you very much. meantime, the president facing a barrage of criticism over his handling of covid with the

latest polls showing his approval rating at a new low of 33% and with just 75% of democrats approving of his performance. so is the door open perhaps for someone else in 2024? how about this would hillary clinton try to walk through that door again? think about that. "washington examiner" political investigative reporter sarah westwood joins me right now. i will get to the hillary questions in just a minute, sarah. let's begin with the polling, a new low among the major polls we've seen during the joe biden's presidency, covid the number one issue, how damaging is this to him? >> i think it is incredibly damaging, obviously having an approval rating that low makes it so much more difficult to get his agenda over the finish line, so it is sort of baffling that biden is choosing to make some of his most aggressive ambitious moves right now, trying to water down the filibuster.

trying to get through a far left piece of legislation that most americans don't really seem to care about when his approval rating is so low. you notice in georgia where stacey abrams running for georgia, leans republican a purple state, stacey abrams didn't want to be seen with him in georgia. cite ad scheduling conflict why she couldn't be on stage with the president in her home state while he talked about her signature policy item. that is reflection how unpopular he is and how much of a drag he could be on candidates like stacey abrams running in centrist territory. ashley: always interesting to look at the independents because often the swing vote is with the dermer of who wins in the next election and 57% of independents say man, they're not real impressed with joe biden. they must obviously look at these numbers in the oval office but can voting rights turn things around? i don't think so.

what else can the president do to try to turn opinion around? >> the problem for biden right now is that he is really expended all of his political capital already. he used it to get through that massive american rescue plan last spring. he used it to get the bipartisan infrastructure package over the finish line. he expended a lot of it during the disasterous afghanistan withdrawal when he expected congressional democrats to walk the plank and defend him what was clearly disasterous foreign policy move. he expended it unsuccessfully to get "build back better" over the finish line. now he has very little leverage left with both moderate congressional democrats like manchin and sinema, who may have been willing to meet him in the middle if he was more popular, if someone with a little bit more juice but that is gone at this point, if you're manchin and sinema, what incentive in there to cave to his demands when he is so unpopular or with

little defeats, that is where he unpopular and face as problem. ashley: that is a good point. hillary question, based on weakness with joe biden, certainly with vice president kamala harris having her own struggles to say the least, as we look towards 2024 is there a possibility that a party could turn around and say, hillary, you're the most qualified, we know your history, it is not great, you haven't won but could hillary clinton be the person the party turns to in 2024? lo and behold, this would be insane, would it not, what if donald trump runs against hillary clinton again in 2024, what are the chances of that? >> a rematch eight years later this, is window how desperate democrats are turning to historically unsuccessful candidates or even placing biden on the ticket with a republican, there is talk of course adding liz cheney to the ticket with biden, to try to salvage their

hold on the white house here. reflection of just how bad things are for democrats. i think hillary represents sort of a old guard of the democratic party, right? she is not considered necessarily far left on the social issues. she represents the way things used to work, recognition from democrats that they drifted very far from the sort of clintonesque politics at one point successful. clearly far left politics not playing well on the national stage. ashley: wow, just to think about it, would be great for tv ratings. good for us. that is for sure. we shall see. stranger things happened. sarah westwood, thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. >> thank you. ashley: straight ahead, thank you. straight ahead, not just teachers staying out of school. student attendance has plummeted nationwide since the latest covid surge. that is not good. we're going to discuss after the break.

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♪. ashley: the struggle to keep kids in the classroom goes on. public school attendance across the country hitting a new low as staff shortages threaten school shutdowns. fox news correspondent bryan llenas is live in brooklyn this afternoon with the very latest. bryan? reporter: ashley, the vast majority of schools nationwide are still offering in-person learning. reality attendance is suffering. kids are calling out sick. kids are in quarantine. anxious parents frankly too worried to send their kids into the classroom. we are seeing big drops in attendance rates at some of the nation's largest school

districts. latest data here in new york city says 76% of students mr. in the school with the nation's largest school district. just 70% of students were in class in los angeles. 72% were in chicago before the five-day teacher work stoppage and 70% of students attending boston schools. boss tone, miami faring much better at 90 and0%. munn minneapolis school district will go to remote learning due to shortage. others are finding creative ways to address the teacher shortage. in kansas for instance, the state's board of education eased requirements for hiring substitute teachers. anyone over 18 with a high school diploma and pass as simple background check is now eligible. in palo alto hundreds of parents answered the call to volunteer

doing light custodial work, office assistants and school services to keep their schools open. >> if schools close, go remote, movie theaters are not closed, malls are not closed. so it creates a system we're in a situation where children can be dangerous. it is not a positive with regard to academic and social advancement. reporter: there is pushback including from students themselves at brooklyn tech high school, the nation's, city's largest high school, moaning the nation's largest. they walked on tuesday in protest saying they are demanding remote learning because they are feel unsafe in the classroom. eric adams repeatedly does not want to go to the remote learning and to keep the schools open, ashley. ashley: thank you very much for that. president biden calling on the military to help overwhelmed hospitals while continuing to blame the unvaccinated for the

covid surge. fox news correspondent steve hair fan -- harrigan with more on that part of the story. reporter: that's right, steve. a short time ago president biden announced one billion covid tests would be distributed to one million americans over the next several weeks. u.s. military, medical teams would be sent to some of the hardest hit states. here is the president. >> today i'm announcing our next demoment of six additional medical teams. 120 military medical personnel to six hard hit states, michigan, new york, new jersey, ohio, rhode island. reporter: some states including new york are beginning to see a slight decline in the numbers of new covid cases. numbers in new york down about 10,000 a day over that seven-day average from a peak on january 2nd. the cdc director continues to say that the omicron variant is less deadly than previous

variants. 91% lower risk of death from omicron. other federal health officials saying that in some form covid is here to stay. >> look ahead at what happens when this peaks and it ultimately goes down. we're not going to eradicate this. we've only done that with smallpox. we'll not eliminate that. that only happens with mass vaccination programs like we did with measles and vaccines. we ultimately will control it. reporter: finally when it comes to masks the head of the cdc said the best mask is one that you are willing and comfortable to wear all day. ashley, back to you. ashley: all right, steve, thank you very much. by the way the supreme court could issue its covid shot or test ruling within days now. abc vice president of regulatory labor and state affairs ben brew beck joining me now how this ruling could impact the construction industry. we've lost him.

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wafor a disioisiois 've b'ven'vblin to have our members do the osha rule, on december 166th, once they lifted the fifth circuit stay. we try to have our members obey the rule which happened on january 10th. we have a lot of of uncertainty in construction industry right now. we are exacerbating the problem in the industry with half million skilled workers a shortage of them right now. we're concerned it will exacerbate that and disrupt the supply chain and increase inflation we're seeing across the board. we're at 40-year high right now. we're very concerned about how this could impact the economy right now. ashley: so the mandate says either employees are fully vaccinated or they must be tested weekly. now, how do these companies,

these are companies that have 100 or more employees. how do they set up the testing? how expensive is that? that is a big burden, right? >> it's a huge burden, something we're hearing about from a lot of members right now. they are not able to access the amount of tests that they would expect to have to give employees who do not receive vaccination, starting february 9th. they have a month to secure those right now, in absence after supreme court ruling that putting the stay back in place. there is a lot of uncertainty how to comply with the rule outside of the vaccine and testing program, there is just a lot of dynamics right there and right now we're very concerned about and top issue for a lot of our larger employers. ashley: now businesses have complained that in this scenario that there are some workers who will just simply quit because they don't agree with it. the white house says that is completely not true, not that i know how they know that, is that

a concern too for businesses as we are already dealing with labor shortages? >> yeah. it's a big concern. there is a lot of concern that folks from the larger companies will quit those jobs and seek employment outside the construction industry, or seek jobs with smaller sized employers. that is really disruptive for the construction industry for existing contracts as well as future contracts like rebuilding roads, bridges, schools, stuff we're hoping that the infrastructure bill and other investments by the government into the construction industry would accomplish. this may undermine some of the economic benefits we're hoping long term and short term on the infrastructure front. so certainly something we're very concerned about and we're just hoping for a ruling that comes out and puts that stay back in place. just in short term especially until we can, we can help our members comply with the rule. they have only had about three weeks to try to comply with the first phase of it, go forward into the february 9th phase. ashley: now they live in limbo

until we get this court decision. by the way the government says they believe the policy could prevent 250,000 hospitalizations and more than 6,000 deaths in six months. do you feel that is an exaggeration? >> it is tough to tell. i leave that to the health experts but what i do know is that there is going to be a big economic impact once this rule goes through without testing capacity and labs, private home tests, and without you know, really understanding how this will impact businesses and the construction industry. i think that will hit a lot of people in their wallets and back home more than i think the administration really understands. ashley: all right. we'll leave it there. we await the high court's decision. ben, thank you so much for joining us today. okay. >> thanks for having me. ashley: thank you. from the supreme court to local crime, home depot is the latest retailer ramping up security as a surge in crime hits retailers

across the united states. home depot vice president of asset protection scott glen tells fox business he believes the rise of anonymous online marketplaces, mask requirements and police funding cuts are all factors in the retail crime spike. joining me now to talk about it, former nypd commissioner howard safir. howard, you know, we have seen the video from the west coast, the smash-and-grab type robberies. now we have a d.a. in manhattan who is wanting to go soft on crime and reducing the types of charges that are leveled against these violent robbers. this is a difficult time for retailers. what are your thoughts? >> my thoughts are district attorney bragg is probably the number one obstacle to crime reduction in new york city. when you look at some of the leftist progressive district attorneys in other major cities like san francisco, los angeles,

chicago, it is sending a road map to criminals you can commit crimes without any accountability. it's a terrible time for law enforcement, and people like bragg are just emphasizing that they're more concerned about criminals than victims. ashley: you know, it is interesting we mentioned online, i think what home depot is referring to, if you're online, dealing with a third party seller, if they have a bulk of some product that they're selling remarkably cheap, there is a good chance that those goods were stolen. we're seeing more and more. >> absolutely. if it sounds too good to be true, and probably it is stolen goods. the fact is that the internet has provided a marketplace for these people to get rid of stolen goods and law enforcement doesn't really have the ability to track it as they should in this kind of situation. we have to do, we have to get back to sending signals to

criminals, that if you commit a crime, you're going to be held accountable. but that is just not happening in this country now. it is very concerning. we're headed towards chaos. new york city was the safest large city in america before the de blasio administration and now it is going back to the bad ol' days. ashley: yeah. it is very concerning indeed. i want to get to this too. a wanted ex-convict, i'm sure you followed this story, who allegedly stole more than $2,000 worth of merchandise by threatening a drug store worker with a knife, he had his armed robbery charges downgraded thanks to the d.a. alvin bragg's new policy apparently, they say if they use a gun they will prosecute as a felony but if it is with a knife, no, sorry, not going to do that. to me that is just insane. the person in question who was robbed in the drugstore, the worker said she feared for her life. doesn't even want to go back for work. yet the d.a.'s office said he didn't use a gun so we'll not

prosecute this at a felony level. >> you can kill somebody with a knife, hammer, golf club, with a bat. ashley: yes. >> it is ridiculous. the fact is what has to happen is we have to charge these people with the crimes that are set out in the law. what this district attorney bragg is doing is he is basically instead of using the law as written, he is interpreting it and making himself a legislator rather than letter of the law. this is crazy. in fact in the case that you just mentioned the judge in the case said to the criminal, you're lucky, you're lucky that this district attorney charged with a crime, otherwise i would be sending you away with for a long time, misdemeanor, sending you a way for a long time. down the rabbit hole. ashley: so disappointing not only is the city battling the covid lockdowns and everything else, now we have the d.a.

making the streets simply a heck of a lot unsafer than before. so disappointing for a city trying to bounce back. howard, we're out of time, thank you for spending time with us this afternoon. much appreciated. >> good to be with you. ashley: thank you. many coming up the robots are coming to a restaurant near you. yes, they are. we'll explain a little later after this. here we are, this is the table that peanut will take mee to. i will sit down. thank you very much. >> [inaudible] ashley: i will, thank you, peanut. see you later. ♪. off peanut goes. ♪ your shipping manager left to “find themself.”

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i know there's conflicting information matching your job description. about dupuytren's contracture. i thought i couldn't get treatment yet?

well, people may think that their contracture has to be severe to be treated, but it doesn't. if you can't lay your hand flat on the table, talk to a hand specialist. but what if i don't want surgery? well, then you should find a hand specialist certified to offer nonsurgical treatments. what's the next step? visit findahandspecialist.com today to get started. >> i don't have sawdust for brains. ashley: you laugh then, "jetsons," 50 years ahead of their time. now businesses are jumping on the robot train. next time you order take-out, guess what, your meal might not be delivered by humans. kelly o'grady, live in los angeles, with a fox business exclusive, to tell us about a new company disrupting the food

delivery industry with robotics. kelly, take it away. reporter: ashley i love the comparison to the "jetsons." i'm at serve robotics headquarters. i hear them coming up behind me. i have two robots zooming in, zoe and enzo. they are on the sidewalk doing food deliveries every single day. they're 95% on time. zero emissions. they don't call in sick with omicron which is pretty good. the big announcement the company just completed its first commercial, the first commercial delivery without humans in the loop. that is what is called l 4 autonomy. tesla is at l2. i want to bring the ceo in to tell us a little more about enzo. this guy, comes, delivers my food. here is what i expect. how does there work? >> quite simple. robot shows up. enter the codes. unlock and you can grab your

food. reporter: owe perfect. m-cafe. i love m-cafe. i mentioned this happened without humans in the loop, first commercial delivery. how is that possible? >> level four is all about safety. these robots have a lot of redundancy, a lot of safety features to make sure they are out there independent of human health and be safe. for example, they can detect unat taken tiff driveways pulling out of the driveway without looking at sidewalk. today, self-driving cars and robots require someone to watch over their shoulder over some video remotely. video feeds cut off, people make mistakes. these robots don't require anymore. they can actually be safe which is what level four is about. reporter: how did you design this, so people didn't have the trepidation? >> we spent a lot of time on this. we wanted them to be unique and fresh. at same time the something that

belongs. why they look like shopping carts with eyes on personalities. reporter: there you go, ashley. we're having a labor shortage. enzo is more reliable and cost effective. he doesn't require tips. this may be something that companies use to deal with the great resignation. ashley: probably doesn't require vacation or sick time as you pointed out. the perfect employee. kelly, thank you very much. great stuff. our next guest runs the company that created well, the alexa for drive h throughs. presto ceo raj suri joins me now great to have you on the show. we were watching some delivery robots there from los angeles. what does your company do? tell me about presto? >> we think of presto the anti-metaverse company. we overlay next generation digital solutions to the physical world, help physical industries restaurants operate

more efficiently and generate higher revenues. ashley: so these robots, what do they do? >> one of our products was presto voice that powers drive-thrus around the country. we announced the largest royal out of voice a.i. in history to operate checkers corporate drive-thrus location. when you pull into a drive-thru through location. you don't need too talk to a human. you talk to presto voice assistant. take your orders more reliably, consist extent consistently, that your food pickup would be faster than otherwise. it speeds up the drive-thru and lets humans do their jobs better because the voice a.i. is doing all the routine work. ashley: but are you a job-killer for humans, raj? >> well, the fact of the matter is right now that restaurants can't find enough labor to actually keep their restaurants

open. and so in that environment they need technology like this. they need automation to actually just serve as many guests as they were able to before. so this game has changed and you know, plenty of unfilled jobs right now. restaurants are struggling just to stay open, to provide the same level of service they were previously. that is what our technology helps them do. provide better service. serve as many guests as before and speed up the over all drive-thrus which is critical for any restaurant chain. ashley: we had some pictures on the screen, raj, of some of those small, just like the robots from los angeles, small carts on wheels that deliver the goods. i don't know if the age of surging crime, there you have it, what is to stop someone stealing them? >> yeah. look, robotics is still pretty early. we'll see how that goes. but generally people don't steal -- these robots are very easy to track. they don't have like a good resale value. note like an ipad for an

iphone. so it is, we find really, we have tablets on tables at chillies at red lobe sister and applebee's. people thought they would take the apple's home from them. they're for only restaurants. nobody can do anything outside of the restaurant. ashley: how is business going, raj, quickly before we finish up? how are you doing? >> we're growing faster than ever before. we're announced we're going public later this year by a spac. raising several hundred million along with that we're investing it all in helping these physical industries solve the labor shortage and, you know, investing in computer vision, voice a.i. also robotics. various different avenues to help restaurants do more with less because, environment is tough right now. they can't stay open. ashley: yes. well, you're certainly providing a solution. raj suri, ceo of presto, thanks

for joining us. fascinating. thanks so much. "cavuto: coast to coast" well return after this. i could use some help showing the world how liberty mutual customizes their car insurance so they only pay for what they need. (gasps) ♪ did it work? ... it's a thirteen-hour flight, that's not a weekend trip. fifteen minutes until we board. oh yeah, we gotta take off. you downloaded the td ameritrade mobile app so you can quickly check the markets? yeah, actually i'm taking one last look at my dashboard

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♪ let's give them something to talk about ♪ ashley: president biden certainly has something to talk about. the question is is anyone listen ing? he's about to meet with senate democrats in a last ditch effort to stir up support for offering

filibuster rules on his voting rights legislation. this , after his big georgia speech, well, basically failed to move the needle. of course we'll be monitoring the president's meeting and we'll bring you the headlines as we get them. that's the president. all right, to our top story this hour, president biden has blamed supply chain issues for the rise in prices, but as issues have slightly improved at the ports, consumers certainly not seeing easing in the prices. gas is also playing a huge role in these high costs. fox news correspondent william la jeunesse now has more on this part of the story. william? reporter: well, ashley let me give you the good and bad. turnaround times for truckers at the ports has improved. remember they were sky high with containers, that's better. also the ports are not jammed with as many ships as they had in the past although we're still seeing record volumes. what has not improved is pricing , number one on trucking and number two on shipping rates

, right? so china, it's still coming from china a container is still costing five times more than pre -pandemic. truckers of course want higher wages because there's lack of capacity there. of course gasoline, warehouse costs, all pushing inflation higher, and it's affecting not just imports, but the congestion is killing exports as well. we haven't talked about that. why does that matter? because those are u.s. jobs, right? american manufacturing, and agriculture, produce, wine, rice , meat, the california farm belt lost $2 billion in just five months because farmers there could not get truckers or the shipping companies to move their products to china. >> what we're seeing is the steam ship lines sending empty containers back rather than backhaul filled with american made products or the majority of exports.

reporter: so despite the administration claiming that it saved christmas and of course is going to be temporary experts say it's going to get worse before it gets better. >> the average cost for trucker s moving goods used to be three to $500 locally is now $700 to $1,000 in the past three to four months. we see these prices continuing until the market bears for them to be reduced. reporter: so while some saw some rays of sunshine before the latest variant, spot rates for shipping began to fall a little bit. well, after omicron, they say it is spreading now, the virus is spreading to the docks, the warehouses, the truckers, factories in china, and the u.s. , and that's going to mean product shortages and higher prices likely to continue >> this is wiping out labor forces and it's like a rolling

sick leave, and so that's what's really slowing down now the recovery of the supply chain s. reporter: so university of california found that eight out of 10 containers, ashley, were going back to asia empty and although we are buying record amounts from china, china is $16 billion short of their commitment on the 2020 trade agreement to buy our stuff so that's the situation in terms of the trade balance, ashley? ashley: wow. that's fascinating stuff, william thank you very much, appreciate it. really puts it in perspective. we're going to move on to this story now mortgage rates soaring to their highest level since march 2020 as inflation remains hot, and this comes as rents in manhattan are hitting their highest levels ever, just last month. madison alworth is in madison, new jersey, with a look at how high housing costs could climb this year. madison? reporter: hi, ashley.

yeah, whether you are a home buyer or a renter, 2022 is not off to a good start for those home buyers, both inflation and the surging cost of homes are problematic but there is another issue that is adding to the budget and really hitting their wallets. take a listen. >> feel like the interest rates go up but the house prices usually go down, that's not the case. interest rates are going up, and the houses are still selling for top dollar. reporter: that means a double whammy for home buyers, not only are you paying more for the home but also more for the loan, and that's regardless of the length of time. 30 years, 20 years, it's all up, so owning the american dream is more costly than ever and like you mentioned, renting, the american dream is also more expensive. rent prices have jumped more than 4% since last year. one of the biggest contributors to the rise in inflation. part of the problem with this housing crisis is that there's just not enough inventory on the market.

supply chain issues have really dampened new builds. for example, this house was a complete renovation and supposed to be listed in august but because of all of the delays and cost of labor they are now just listing this weekend. the windows alone took two months to be delivered but like i said it's going to be listed this weekend for $899,000, ashley. it's not even officially on the market yet, and they already have an offer well-above that asking price. houses can just not sell fast enough, despite the fact that everything is costing americans more. ashley? ashley: it is, including mortgage rates. all right, madison fascinating stuff great stuff, thank you. a new survey from the conference board also showing more than half of u.s. ceo's expect higher inflation to continue until at least mid-2023. they also say that labor issues are their biggest concern. joining us now is former walmart u.s. ceo bill simon.

bill, thanks for being here. look, it's like we're in the perfect storm. we have the supply chain is broken, we don't have enough people to fill the jobs, inflation is extremely high. as a former ceo, this is a difficult time, even for a walmart, because you've got to fill the jobs, your costs are going up to hire people. i mean, this is a very difficult time. how do we get through this and what is the solution? >> well thanks for having me. it is a perfect storm, as you described. we're faced with all these sort of converging issues at the same time and, you know, just sort of listening to your program for the last 10 minutes, its been interesting to see. while we're struggling with inflation and supply chain issues and shocking out of stock s and grocery stores in america like we've never seen, our leaders are meeting on things like voting rights bills and filibusters and things that are not relevant to the

day-to-day lives of americans, and they need to sort of push all those other things aside and understand the pain that's happening in america today, and ceo's are faced with very very difficult decisions while they're trying to operate their business day-to-day and take a step forward, which is how they have to do it. they're also faced with uncertainties of burdens of things like, you know, testing and vaccination implementation that may or may not happen. things that the federal government couldn't accomplish on its own they are placing the burden on businesses and that's making it even more difficult. ashley: let's talk about labor shortages, a big concern for a majority of those ceo's that were surveyed. the downside of this is you're going to have to pay people more and you are paying people more, which just adds also to the inflation. it's a vicious cycle, but you have to pay high wages, you are having to offer these perks and bonuses just to get people to

take the jobs. >> well that's right, and it is driving inflation. it is a big component of it, but sort of in my career i've never seen such a seller's market in labor and it's a time, it's what's really causing the great resignation as you described it earlier. it's a seller's market. people are leaving a job for a better job and better wages, and that's an unsettling thing. where you could have found somebody at 12 or $14 you're now paying 20 or $22 an hour to do, and while that's good for the worker, it's not great for the business and from a worker' perspective, you know, when ground beef is touching on $7 a pound, you know, even $20 an hour is not really enough. ashley: how long do you think this is going to go on? it's a struggle. the ceo's say they expect inflation to be high through mid -2023. this could be a tough year, 202. >> well i think it'll be with

us through most of the year because it's sort of like a tangled wire. you're not going to solve inflation until you solve the supply chain issues. you're not going to solve supply chain until we finally get enough people to work through covid or figure out how to detangle covid, the covid work stoppages from everything that's happening, and it'll take a while once that happens for the supply chain to sort itself out. there are things that can be done to help. the federal government has resources that can help with supply chain defense logistics agency for example, is able to move military material all around the world anywhere, maybe some of their expertise or resources could help untangle the supply chain issues in the short run. there's a lot of things that could be done if there was a focus there. ashley: yeah, the focus is on voting rights, apparently. all right bill simon, thank you so much for sharing your expertise on this difficult time for the economy and businesses. thank you so much.

by the way, regardless of just how high prices are getting, the white house says the solution for inflation is more government spending, i kid you not, and this is a great time to bring in louisiana republican senator bill cassidy. bill, explain to me why spending more money is the way to solve high inflation. >> spending more money will not , will not help inflation. spending more money the democrat s think will help their re-election chances. it's a political play in which they take care of those folks who kind of, they wish to make kind of indebted to them, but what they're doing is indebting the rest of us by the hidden tax of inflation. that's a political play, ashley. ashley: well, it maybe a political play, but it seems to not be working with the voters. you look at the polling the most recent polling for the president down to a 33% approval rating

and let's face it. this high inflation is a tax on the middle class and lower income working families who are the least able to afford these really high prices, so political ly, i think it's a non- starter. >> it is a non-starter. people that used to buy steak now buy hamburger and people who buy hamburger are buying hot dogs and if you bought hot dogs, i don't know what you're buying but the point is that the president's approval rating is going down. he campaigned as a moderate. he's governing, so to speak, as someone from the far left. the policies aren't working. the american people feel had, and they feel poor, and that's a bad combination for a president. ashley: well, you know, the build back better legislation is stalled in congress, thank god for that, but what's interesting is is that as this country continues to struggle, and the prices go up, the labor shortages go on,

this administration is more focused on voting rights legislation. it maybe a pivot. it maybe trying to smoke screen if you like, but the reality is, people are not buying it. >> i agreed with your previous guest. when he said we have all these major issues, the crisis at the border, the inflation, the logistics issue, and the president in georgia talking about voting rights, when georgia has more permissive laws than his own state of delaware, that once more seems a political play. now, republicans, obviously, in the minority. we're all about what do we do about inflation? what do we do about the problem at the border et cetera, i agree with bill simon who spoke earlier. that's where our priority should be. ashley: all right let's shift gears if we can. senator, you introduced a bill that will prevent criminals from receiving a stimulus check, but democrats blocked that bill and the boston marathon bomber still got his check. this is one of these issues that

makes you shake your head, but why are democrats trying to block something that i think most people in this country would say is ridiculous? >> it is ridiculous. it's salt in the wound. it's a thumb in the eye. it brings back kind of the anger for the victims that their tax dollars are going to someone who did heinous crimes such as the boston bombing. i can't answer for democrats, i really can't, because it's really a fairly, a bill that everybody should be behind. it's just kind of the state we are in, where their party would rather stimulus checks go to people in prison, which just once more is salt in the wound of the victim. ashley: i mean, stimulus checks to convicted killers, sex offenders, i just, you know, i don't know how you can defend it >> it's not just the stimulus check, ashley. it's your tax dollars. it is almost as if you open your

wallet and give to the person of whom you are a victim. now that is the insult to injury now, by the way, clearly, too much money in the economy is part of the reason of the , part of the reason of the inflation. the $1.9 trillion covid relief package that biden passed on a party line vote is contributing to this , and one small measure that's part of the contribution, it is an echo of the insult. ashley: well, fight the good fight as they say, senator bill cassidy, thanks so much for joining us today. we appreciate it very much. >> thanks for having me. ashley: thank you. coming up, the cruise industry getting hit hard after another surge in covid cases. we are live at the port of miami with the very latest, when we come back. ♪

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ashley: the cruise industry battling covid again, according to the cdc, cases on ships have surged 30-fold in just two weeks phil keating is live at the port of miami with the very latest. phil? reporter: good afternoon. very strict requirements that all crew and almost all passengers must be vaccinated and must show a negative covid test before even boarding the big ship. those expire this saturday, and the cdc has now decided to allow it to expire leaving those protocols voluntary up to the cruise lines, but according to the cdc, just the past two weeks have shown that 30-fold increase in positive covid cases on the big vessels. just like in every state across the country, the highly- infectious omicron variant drastically surged on cruise ships in in december. in the first two weeks, 160 positive cases among passengers and crew.

in the second two weeks, that number shot up to 5,000. stuart sharon has taken a dozen cruises since just last summer when the industry resumed fail ing after the pandemic froze it for more than a year. he says actually, he feels safer at sea than on land. >> covid on board ships is just proportionately lower on a ship than what we're seeing on land. we're talking not even 1%. the protocols are working. people are confident in cruising and people are going. reporter: still, due to the latest wave of covid-19, royal caribbean and norwegian have now canceled about a dozen scheduled cruises for this year. financially, the industry has lost dozens of billions and billions of dollars since the pandemic began. >> all of the small businesses that contribute to our industry were equally affected, so getting the economy moving again , getting our industry up

and running again also provides, you know, a lot of economic benefit to all of these other small businesses. reporter: and recent cruisers telling us that with their vaccine cards handy, and supply of masks, they had no hesitation climbing aboard. >> it's more precautions than when you get on an airplane, so yeah, feel pretty safe. reporter: still, thanks in all to the very highly infectious omicron, the cdc is still recommending for all of us at this point, do not go on a cruise depending on whether you're vaccinated or not until the omicron surge subsides. back to you. ashley: phil great stuff. yeah, cruises regardless, phil keating in miami. president biden now sending medical teams by the way to six states to help hospitals overwhelmed by covid-19, including my next guest's hospital. let's bring in president and ceo

of university hospital in newark , new jersey, dr. sharif alnahar. doctor, thanks for being here. explain, give our viewers an idea of what's going on at your hospital right now. >> thank you so much for having me. so we are in the middle of an omicron surge. we are seeing about 150 patients in our hospital with the disease , but luckily 60% of them are simply here with covid and not for covid, that's still of course an operational strain on our hospital but we're not seeing nearly as many folks with that severe respiratory disease that we were seeing in the earlier waves of the pandemic. the more severe constrained right now is staffing. we have so many folks out due to covid and that's compromising not only care for patients with covid but for all of our patients so this couldn't come at a better time in terms of the president's announcement. ashley: so the omicron patients certainly not getting those kinds of symptoms, those severe symptoms that we were experiencing with delta, is

that right? >> that's right. just to give you an idea only about 10% of folks in our hospital with covid right now need a ventilator. that was well over 20% in earlier waves and so we are see ing lower severity on average , but what's compromising care for everybody is just the lack of staff, lack of staff because they're out due to covid or secondary effecteds of schools being canceled because of staffing issues and other issues our employees have to deal with so this military help is amazing. we had it in the spring of 2020. the heros in uniform are set to come next week, 20 or 30 people , for 30 days, waiting to hear more details but really important for our staff and can't be more grateful to these military heros. ashley: very good. i'm glad you're getting the help you need. of those with omicron, doctor, were some of those people vaccinated? >> we have about 25% of patients with covid in our hospital who are fully vaccinated, and very small

number who are boosted and again , the vast majority of those are simply here with and not for covid. still though, 75% of patients with covid in our hospital are completely unvaccinated, and so it's important to remember that vaccinating and especially boosting does reduce the severity of disease which is why we're still big proponents of that. ashley: been plenty of talk about when we hit the peak or the perceived peak. do you get a sense of we're close to that point, maybe in a week or two, based on what you've seen at your hospital? >> well knock-on wood, god willing i think we are starting to see the beginning of that. we had about 150 patients for the last four or five days. that does represent the beginnings of a plateau hopefully and we've already seen daily cases start to not only plateau but decline in the new york metro area. i really do hope we follow the pattern of south africa which was a rapid rise but also a rapid decline and we're starting to see at least the

plateau phase of that here. ashley: well very good. we thank you for being here today, doctor, and very happy you're getting the help that you need at your hospital. again, thank you for being here. all right, coming up, after the break, the british olympic association is taking new steps to protect athletes ahead of next month's olympic games and no, it doesn't have anything to do with covid. we'll explain and have the details, when we come back. i'm greg, i'm 68 years old. i do motivational speaking in addition to the substitute teaching. i honestly feel that that's my calling-- to give back to younger people. i think most adults will start realizing that they don't recall things as quickly as they used to or they don't remember things as vividly as they once did. i've been taking prevagen for about three years now.

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ashley: the justice department now under pressure by a group called asian pacific american justice to stop the department's controversial china initiative. fox news correspondent david

spunt is at the justice department with the details on this story. david? reporter: ashley, good afternoon this goes all the way up to attorney general merit garland. he is feeling the pressure to make a decision about the china initiative. it began in 2018 under then- president donald trump's administration and those close to the initiative say it has been successful. just yesterday, ashley, outside here at doj protesters stood outside doj begging for an end to the three-year-old program just this week, 192 yale professors signed a letter to ag garland arguing that the strategy is problematic on many levels because it includes racial profileing. >> hope that they will end the prosecuting of china's american scientists and allow them to go back and do their research rather than fear for their future. reporter: in the letter from those yale professors they wrote that the organization is one that avoids racial profiling and

discouraging beneficial and important collaborations and the influx of talented personnel but experts in chinese government espionage point ashley to the recent conviction of former harvard professor dr. charles leber, the distinguished chemist will go to prison for covering up his ties, intellectual and financial to the communist country. >> hispanics and black people and asian americans all have been invited to spy for china, so it's a bit distasteful i think to have this come up as a political issue. reporter: the attorney general called for a review into the department's inner workings with the people's republic of china and i'm told that review is supposed to be done in a matter of weeks, ashley? ashley: very interesting, david thank you very much. meantime, want to point this out the british olympic association saying they will offer temporary phones to british athletes at

next month's olympics over fears they could be spied on by the chinese government. all right, let's get reaction now from pennsylvania republican congressman and congressional china caucus member by the way, mike kelly. congressman, i heard this news and went, you know, this is the captain obvious headline. of course china will do everything it can to spy on the athletes, right? >> yeah, i don't think anything changes, ashley, that's the old story, if we're not paying attention to past history then we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes we've done before. i don't think china even tries to hide what they do anymore. they do what they do and they bully their way through it and we sit back and i think our idea for all this stuff is let's write them a letter and ask them please stop doing that it's really offensive. i just, i'm not sure i understand any more what our foreign policy is, it's one of those policies where you sit back and let people do what they want to you and point the finger and say boy they shouldn't have done that, that was bad in the meantime we lose market share, jobs, we lose our future.

ashley: and i wanted to pick-up on the report just that we heard from david spunt in washington about trying to undo the china initiative but in the course of that report you hear from people like mike pillsbury and say look , what you've just said, china's aim is to bold facely spy and steal whatever information they can get and the fact that people have been caught providing information and to china, it seems to me the china initiative is not racial profiling. it's not, you know, a sinister thing to do. it's just reality. what do you say? >> i'm with you, a leopard never changes its spots, when you've seen this happen before and you watch it happen again right before your eyes and say i just don't want to look at that because i can't believe it's happening, it's happening in realtime and our job is to protect the american citizens and for that matter, once america's gone, once we're knocked out of that king seat, who elevates to that and i just don't think the world looks better with china sitting in

that position. ashley: exactly. all right, enough with china. i want to get on to this issue, congressman. i want your take on the latest inflation numbers. you view, as do many, inflation is a tax on all americans, right >> absolutely, absolutely. ashley when you have to make a decision, and i'm looking at propane now and a lot of the area that i represent uses propane as its energy source, you have to make a choice between whether you're able to heat or whether you're able to eat, because you can't work it any other way. you only have so many dollars to work with. look i know our wages have risen i think a little bit over 3%, but now inflation is over 7%. it was, we were told this is transitory, once we get through this we'll be fine. the idea behind all this , this things going up faster than the space shot and for us to sit back and think it's going to go back, no. we're in the worst time of the year to be paying those type of prices to heat our homes and to feed our children, it just doesn't make sense and to sit here and say no, no, no, you don't understand, the reason the

prices going up is because people are buying so much of it, holy smokes. who could be more detached from the reality of the way the world works. ashley: yeah, instead of trying to fix the supply chain, which is slowly improving but i mean slowly, but this administration is now focused entirely on voting rights legislation, ignoring what's going on in middle america. >> well, listen. the way this works, this is a power grab again, but if we watch as things go on and as the american people's lives become harder to live and the cost of living keeps going up and up and we always go back to covid or some other issue to get them to a side track to say no, no, don't pay attention to this. let us tell you what's really going on and i think it's time for the american people to say do you know what? fix what's broken, fix it now, and don't try to shove this other stuff down my throat and take my eye off the ball. it just doesn't make sense. when you're raising children,

when you're living in a community that's hard hit and looking at all these things and you got an administration that has a blind eye and a deaf ear to the cries of the american people because where is the disconnect and better than that, where's the connect? i just don't see where they ever understand what the american people are going through. their problem is always, it was the previous administration, and these damn republicans don't want you to be able to vote the right way, and the right way for them is to shut it down so you can only vote their way. ashley: yeah, well that's a good place to leave it right there. congressman mike kelly, great stuff. thank you very much for joining us on the show today. appreciate it. >> thanks ashley. ashley: thank you, sir coming up, more and more companies cashing up on the crypto craze, why a new study suggests it could become more mainstream. we'll get into that, when we come back. ♪

ashley: new york governor kathy hochul facing growing calls to take action against manhattan district attorney alvin brags go soft on crime policies. it's getting a lot of backlash. charlie gasparino has the very latest on this story from our new york newsroom, charlie? charlie: ashley, governor hochul thought she had the business community locked up and it looked like based on her contributions she had it locked up, in terms of support for her to run for governor next year, and remember she's probably going to get a primary challenge from tom swazi, a congressman from long island, a moderate democrat. she's also got two republicans that are fighting for the nomination that one willow pose her, rob astorino, the former westchester county

executive and lee zeldin, another congressman from long island, but it looked like she had the whole thing locked up, support on our side, big business community in new york city particularly was lining up behind her, and then you had this brag controversy where alvin brag, the manhattan d. a. came out and said he's not going to put anybody in jail unless you kill somebody. that's essentially what his new policies came down to. just random attacks, do not necessitate felony convictions or charges, plus there's no jail type. you go down the line. it's one of the more progressive and crazy progressive policies out there and now, hochul is coming under tremendous pressure from the new york city business community and her own contributors to do something about it. what can she do? lead a recall effort. apparently there's no voter recall in new york. somebody like the governor has to try to announce it or they

have to be an application. she could a point a special prosecutor for the manhattan, for the county of manhattan, meaning that someone could basically do the cases that what's his name, that brag doesn't do, so there's things she could do but also use the bully pulpit and that's what the they want and so far she's not doing it and what i'm hear ing is the that the business community is up in arms that she's not even mentioning this. now, what is she worried about mentioning this? well every democrat in the country is worried about the progressive wing of the party. chuck schumer is moved dramatically to the left if you could believe it, he's leftier than he used to be because he's worried about a primary challenge of aoc, and the alexandria ocasio-cortez, so the business community in new york does not vote numbers as the unions and all of the sort of interest groups; however, they do have money, and

they lined up against eric adams because he told them the right things and said the right things and so far is doing the right things, and if they line up against somebody else, guess what? this thing could sway because new york state voters, ashley, as someone i've covered new york state politics actually in another life earlier when i didn't have so much grey hair, even the democrats, listen, progressives run the sort of interest groups and they've been elected but the average voter is not that progressive, so there is a way in here for someone who skates the middle ground and goes after bragg, but again this is what we're hearing, she's in deep trouble with her own contributors, ashley, back to you. ashley: very interesting part of the story, but crime in manhattan, a lot of concern, a lot of worry out there right now charlie, thank you so much, great stuff as always appreciate it. let's change gears, getting into the bitcoin boom. a new survey from visa finds a quarter of small businesses

across nine countries including the u.s. , brazil, singapore and canada, plan to accept digital currencies as a form of payment in 2022. let's bring in anchorage digital co-founder and president diogo monica. thanks for joining us. do you see 2022 this year as being another year of great growth for the cryptocurrency world? >> yes, absolutely, and you quoted a survey that visa did that shows that almost a quarter of small businesses in nine countries are going to accept bitcoin or other assets as a form of payment. that means that the 30% of small merchants outside of the united states and 20% of the merchants within the united states are expecting to offer crypto in 2022. ashley: small businesses this virgin galactic found more likely to accept cryptocurrency outside of north america. what's it going to take to bring

on more acceptance in north america and especially in the u.s.? >> well there's a couple of things. there's definitely no lack of investment. i think last year or in 2021, we saw record number of $33 billion invested in cryptocurrency companies, but one of the things that is holding the united states back is actually around regulatory clarity, and even though the biden administration has actually been encouraging policy makers to get educated about crypto and what it takes to protect consumers and bring regulatory clarity, we will continue see increased demand in the united states as we get more regulatory clarity and new bank institutional crypto offerings come out. ashley: but you know, there's always the regulation out there, the sec gets involved and it's really kind of counter to what cryptocurrency is all about, keeping government's fingers out of it so how do you bridge that, you know, dilemma in order to get greater acceptance?

>> it really isn't. crypto is not just one phenomenon. crypto is not just payments or value. crypto is many things. there are 15 different areas of crypto that now have clear product market fit. what we have done at anchorage digital is actually worked hand in hand with regulators since the founding of the company and we've always seen the need for regulatory clarity and digital asset banking and part of the reason is because we believe that crypto is not really a replacement for the traditional finance world. it's actually bringing competition, so we absolutely welcome clear guidelines to the participation of more institutions and obviously more retail. ashley: very good. thank you very much it's always fascinating to follow it especially as this story expands , so hopefully we can have you come back and bring us up to speed. thank you so much for joining us today. when we come back, we're going to tell you the story of why the willie wonka of medina, ohio

is now sounding the alarm of rising labor and supply costs, the sweet story, after the break you're a one-man stitchwork master. but your staffing plan needs to go up a size. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire with my hectic life you'd think retirement

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>> dear friends, you are now about to enter the nerve center to the entire wonka factory.

inside this , all of my dreams become realities, and is of my realities become dreams. boys and girls, the chocolate room. ashley: the magic golden ticket, well listen, candy companies not feeling so sweet this month, as labor and supply costs continue to sky rocket. my next guest, the willy wonka of medina, ohio says he's had to increase the ample price of his candy by about 12%, to combat the rising costs, the candy company owner larry johns joins me now. larry great to have you here. you've been around for 40- something years. have you ever seen anything like this? >> no, i haven't. i've actually owned mcjack for 22 years, i bought it from the founder, and i would say for 22 years i saw price increases of 1% to 2%, sometimes some customers we didn't have to increase their price at all, we could lock it in for two to three years at a time, never seen anything like this.

it's a little crazy. ashley: well let's talk about the prices you're having to pay. we know the supply chain has been broken. how difficult has it made it for you to get your products out there? >> its been difficult on many levels. first of all we talk about the inflation issue, but you also mentioned supply chain. here is a good example. corn syrup, which we use in our lolly pops we will typically call for a delivery in our large 50,000-pound tank about two days ahead of time to make sure there's room for the next load. there's been a few times this year, one-time in particular, where we were down for over a week, waiting for corn syrup because they couldn't find a truck driver to bring it to us and that's just one example of many. ashley: so how about the labor shortage situation. that's another issue. have you been able to keep your workers and have you had to increase the cost, increase the pay to keep them? >> actually, we've got a few issues there.

we have increased the price, the labor rates an our operators three times over the last year and paid out many bonuses using some ppp funds, profit-sharing, a different combination of incentives to make sure we can keep good people but also when we get busy in the fall season we will normally bring in about oh, anywhere from 15 to 25 extra temps to help us through the busy period. this year we were scraping to try to find four or five. we actually left money on the table, orders we could not fulfill, because we just couldn't get the people. ashley: yeah, that's got to hurt how have you done since this pandemic kicked in. did more people stuck at home, did they have more of a sweet tooth? >> actually, the sales, i would have to say the sales really tanked back in 2020 when they were first lockdowns and people weren't going out to supermarket s and so forth but this last year, they were probably, our demand was back to almost pre-pandemic levels;

however, we could not fulfill that demand so our sales still are not back to where they were pre-pandemic, just because we can't get enough staff to make all of the orders that we have. ashley: right. well, we thank you for being here, we wish you the very best of luck for the future, larry johns with the sweet company and hopefully more sweet success, larry. thanks for joining us. quick look at the market before we head to the break. the dow pairing most of the triple digit gains that we saw at the start of the trading day. still up 58 points, we'll be right back. ♪ feel stuck and need a loan? ♪ move to a sofi personal loan. earn $10 just for viewing your rate — and feel what it's like to get your money right. if you used shipgo this whole thing wouldn't be a thing.

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♪. ashley: by the way ford motor market value topping $100 billion for the first time ever, as automakers stock jumped 4 1/2% hitting another 20 plus-year high. my time is done. charles payne, it is all yours. charles: thank you so much, ashley webster. good afternoon, everyone, i'm charles payne. this is "making money." breaking right now, there is tension in the area, you can feel it. wall street is trying to digest the possibility of four rate hikes, balance sheet runoff but the near calm today belies the biggest names in the market. the question for you, should you be a buyer or a seller? earnings season has begun, folks. what you should expect, what you should own, what you should