will go forward with their vaccine mandate and fire all workers who are not vaccinated by january 31st. part of the business roundtable releasing a statement saying this today. companies may take different approaches based on their unique circumstances and diverse workforces, employee and customer safety remain paramount and efforts to promote vaccinations will not abate. the national retail federation calling it a significant victory for employers adding this. the nrf urges the biden administration to discard the mandate and work with employees, employers, public health experts and practical ways to increase vaccination rates and medicate the spread of the virus in 2022. the attorney general of florida says this is not about mandates but vaccines. >> this is about whether the president of the united states and his administration can an

act such sweeping policy that was never given to them by congress. it was absolutely a win yesterday not only in this specific case but for the separation of powers and the principles in which this country was founded. >> reporter: absolutely about mandates is what she said at the white house pivoting adding pressure on private companies. listen to this. >> supreme court's decision on the osha mandate means it is up to individual employers to determine whether the work for places will be safer employees and whether businesses will be safe for consumers. >> in a separate division 5 before the supreme court allowed the vaccine mandate to go forward for healthcare workers at facilities that receive federal money. the white house plans to aggressively pursue the mandate.

ashley: sobering news for retails, retail sales falling one.9% in december as inflation and supply chain struggles hit consumers. spending down, household debt is up, rising 6.2% year-over-year in december. let's bring in jerry willis and capital management president gary howpaaum. consumers getting hit hard but i want to get into the consumer debt, average for the average household is 165,$622, up 6.2% year-over-year. i am surprised. i thought people were doing better saving prior to the inflation starting to bite. >> it all fell apart in the fourth quarter. that 155,$000 number is reflecting mostly mortgage debt and we are seeing that as

people try to trade up, by morehouse but also people add on to credit cards and that is a sign of people having trouble turning to their credit cards, higher savings rates early in the pandemic, that is over now so savings rates are falling. lots of trouble, the american household budget, their balance sheet so to speak is not balancing. people are having real trouble here as they see their own wages down 2.4% according to the labor department. we have to keep an eye on this but such great news for the american family budget. ashley: gary, i know you love the fed and you love to talk about the fed. the producer price index up a whopping 8.3% over last year. the question to you is has the fed been clueless? >> reporter: being too kind. i try to be as optimistic as

can be but when you add up higher prices, a lot of jobs unfilled, the debt picking up, we are seeing it in credit cards and a lot of people buying homes in the trees, getting bigger mortgages and they should. that is possibly toxic going forward. i'm worried about the consumer over the next year. we are talking retail sales today, the weakest stocks in the market the last four months have been retail stocks. they have been telegraphing this major league slowdown and that is worrisome and they are coming after the stalwarts. there are two names that were rocket ships in retail, costco and home depot now breaking down. i'm a big believer in watching markets. this is worrisome and i'm

worried about the consumer over the next 6 to 12 months with a fed the is forced to raise rates and taper, maybe they will, maybe they won't in a time they shouldn't. ashley: some say if you hit the brakes too hard on this economy, you could trigger a recession. what are your thoughts on that? >> absolutely. it is likely the fed is behind the curve, and momentum is slowing down. higher interest rate, 3 to 4 this year at a time when wages are going down, and debt is building. and hard to accommodate.

>> and, is there a chance we do more harm than good. >> the market and economy addicted to unimaginable amount of money printing, any change in that changes the structure of the economy and markets, they have been addicted to it and very worrisome. i have been worried the last 18 months. i have been saying it in every one of my reports, what happens if we get to the point the fed is forced to make a move, not wanting to but forced to and you know what is doing the job now? interest rates itself as big-time on the tenure in the last couple weeks which means mortgage rates are going up, credit card rates going up across the capital going up and not a good thing as it looks like the economy slowing down. ashley: very interesting

indeed. we have an administration that is still hell-bent on spending more and more money how about you? >> spending more money at this time only makes the inflation pressure worse. that is one of the things consumers are reacting to. one reason they are pulling back on buying at retail, prices are so high. why add to that trouble? look at the main thing consumers are experiencing? markets are selling off, interest rates going up and your money doesn't go as far as it used to. none of those things are positive. if you want them to do the right thing, save money, they need a more positive environment. ashley: they certainly do.

great discussion. thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. moving on to this, the supreme court strike down of the president's vaccine mandate for big business comes as many top ceos say shortages, let's get reaction, under donald trump, eugene scalia. high court's ruling must come as a big relief for businesses across the country. >> good to join you and certainly there were a number of companies that were concerned by the mandate the was placed on their workers when there was already a shortage and many workers saying they wouldn't do it. they would quit if they had to. on the other hand there are many businesses that still want to get employees vaccinated. they are free to continue to seek to do that.

what i would emphasize, this is a high-profile setback for the labor department. when i was there is labor secretary i was under a lot of pressure to adopt one of these emergency rules about covid but we didn't do it. i thought it would be a distraction from efforts to deal with covid. we had a comprehensive program of guidelines for workers and companies how to address the virus and thought we had existing authority to address it. one thing that makes the decision a setback for the labor department is the authority the labor department once thought it had has been shrunk by the court. the court has said that covid in the ordinary workplace is not an occupational hazard that occupational safety and health administration, the court said if you are in a special workplace, dealing with the covid virus or cramped environment, then osha has a

role but when government agencies overreach they come away with less than they had before and i'm concerned for the labor department, part of what they are wrestling with today, the program i put in place which was largely continued under the current labor secretary is going to have to be narrowed separate and apart from what was thrown down. ashley: taking a step back, talk about the labor shortage problem. how do we get people back into the workforce, the participation rate needs to come up. how do we do it? >> certainty helps and one of the concerns this mandate has caused is uncertainty hanging over employers, workers, months now and that may be a blessing to the market.

when the president came in, he embraced some very progressive social welfare policies and a narrative that the economy was in terrible shape and a significant spending and unemployment benefits, that was a mistake. it contributed to workers being on the sideline and workers have gradually been coming back, but it is slow and encountering other head wents too. it is a challenging economic environment for the president. he has other very large regulatory ambitions for other federal agencies. decision by the court yesterday, a setback for the regulatory plans of other agencies because the court has made clear it doesn't believe regulatory agencies, administrative agencies should be making huge policy changes and less congress give them clear authority to do so. there could be a blessing for

the president because one way to get workers back and keep the economy going the way it had been was to avoid unnecessary regulations, yesterday's decision makes that harder for the president and could be a blessing in disguise. ashley: it could be. how concerned are you about the supply chain and the impact it is having on businesses and labor? business owners having to pay more for their goods and more for the workers they can keep. >> when i talked to employers about the challenges, it has been understanding these osha requirements and there will be new questions. that has been a challenge and of course bringing workers back, many companies particularly the transportation sector, fearful because this mandate was going to make it harder to deliver goods. the supply chain problem has

many causes, but this will not being in place will ease the problem a bit. much for joining us today. we appreciate your insight. let's move on. the crime surge showing no signs of slowing down. my next guest says a part of the solution is addressing the nation's homeless crisis. that story after the break. i may be close to retirement, but i'm as busy as ever. and thanks to voya, i'm confident about my future. voya provides guidance for the right investments. they make me feel like i've got it all under control. voya. be confident to and through retirement. your record label is taking off. but so is your sound engineer. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do.

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a violent carjacking in new york city, when example of a crime save we are witnessing in many big cities. david lee miller live in new york city, david. >> reporter: drivers beware, we are seeing a significant increase in the number of carjackings from coast-to-coast.

in some major cities the number of carjackings have come close to doubling. in new york city on wednesday, the aftermath of one of the most brazen was caught on video. the driver of an audi suv, when he sped off, the suspect being sought. two carjackers were taken into custody, the driver was an off-duty city cop, and attempting to take his white pontiac. penciling a congresswoman mary scanlon had her car taken at gunpoint. in illinois state senator, the latest statistic in 2020, 57

carjackings in philadelphia, and 836 incidents, 30% spike in the nations capital, 426, 18%. many police department beefing up efforts to combat the surge including philadelphia. >> the philadelphia police department is actively working to identify and apprehend the individuals committing these crimes. we are deploying additional resources to investigating these incidents and working to get ahead of and prevent these incidents from happening in the first place. >> according to experts these carjackings are crime of opportunity. they advise people to remain alert, lock cars windows and doors. another thing to keep in mind according to the expert they say the carjackers usually are not targeting a specific model

car. what you're looking for is a victim that has his or her guard down the could be perceived as vulnerable. ashley: absolutely awful. thank you so much. carjackings are not the only crime. i want you to take a look at this video, a homeless man mugging a good samaritan who gave him a coat on the new york city hide -- the homeless problem is leading to crime across the country and highlights a policy failure. joining me now, central park civic association president michael fisher. thanks for joining us. i'm watching this video and wondering if in this case the homeless person was startled by someone who was trying to help him and reacted in a violent way but it speaks to the unpredictability about the homeless on the streets. >> one of the challenges we are

having in new york city is there are so many homeless people living on the streets and most of these folks that are living on the streets are mentally ill. there is a very good chance that person didn't really know what was going on, maybe thought they were going to be attacked or something and that's a big possibility. so unfortunately the city has like a lot of other things abandoned homeless people and this gentleman and the back on the street again. what they should be doing is taking the person off the street and getting them help and get rehabilitated, not leaving the ministry like that where they can commit another crime. ashley: you hear that the homeless don't want to go to a shelter, they don't like the rules and they want to be free to do what they want to do. how hard is it to get homeless people help? >> it is impossible. when they do go to a shelter they get beaten up, robbed, they would rather stay in the streets.

when it is cold like this where they are staying is the subways. the subway the biggest homeless shelters in the country. they are staying in the subways, grand central station, all over the place. unfortunately the city, people being pushed into moving trains, continuing to get worse. ashley: is there the money and the right programs available for these people? >> new york city has a budget of $4 billion. don't know what they are doing with this money or how they are spending it. they are spending on some expensive shelters which don't address the issues on the street anyway. the money is not being used correctly. they don't have a clue how to handle the homeless crisis here or california or anywhere in between. they don't have a clue.

ashley: is a getting worse? >> it is getting a lot worse. homeless people have a right to sleep on the streets, anywhere they want, no one has a right to remove them. we should be coming up with alternate solutions where we can get them off the streets and get them help and rehabilitated and back into jobs, keep them off the streets. ashley: let's hope some of that can start happening soon. thank you so much for joining us to talk about this issue that seems to be becoming worse and worse as we go forward. thanks for joining us, appreciate it. coming up, why mark cuban says bitcoin should not be seen as a hedge against inflation. we have his explanation next. ♪♪ the trumpets ♪♪ they go ♪♪

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ashley: microsoft word is going woke, launching an inclusive spelling tour that offers politically correct alternatives to commonly used phrases. madison allworth joins us with more on that and other top business headlines. >> reporter: when you use microsoft word to the redline when you make a spelling the steak maniacal purple line when you write a word or phrase that could be potentially problematic. here are the words or phrases that will be flagged by the woke filter and their suggested alternatives was based on concern around age, cultural and gender bias and other factors.

for example if you want to write that madison is a master at reporting business news, no, no, no, change that to expert. this change impacts versions of microsoft word from 2019 on word. you can opt out of it. onto another tech company. google is expanding its property empire with a $1 billion office purchase. at a time when many office buildings remain empty or near empty because of work-at-home policies, google has acquired all the buildings. the company is still waiting for a heavily you made uk headquarters to be completed. they were supposed to be done in 2016. some crypto news this friday, dog to be the coin got a bum thanks to elon musk. here is the tweet that started the crime. elon sharing earlier this morning that tesla can be purchased, very early this morning. he made good on a promise he made last year about the crypto currency. the condo coin started as a joke, one of the most volatile currencies and even with that

volatility, 2000% higher than it was a year ago. don't start buying dogs the ease of the coin to purchase to the, still has to be paid for with dollars and cents and a lot of them at that. ashley: madison, master of the business headlines. billionaire investor mark cuban saying bitcoin isn't and will never be a hedge against inflation. let's bring in natalie brunel. thanks for joining us. is mark cuban right? >> i would disagree with cuban at the point he is promoting, crypto currency like dogs of the ease of the coin, the decentralization or scarcity of bitcoin, has proven itself to be a great hedge and great insurance policy against the

central bank's expansion of our money supply. bitcoin returns with 90% in 2020, 300%, last year 60%, gold which was a longtime inflation hedge went down during that time and important to remember the 7% the government is telling us is the number they are telling us, tell that to the person paying 40% more for gas or 17% more for rent. i would argue real inflation is closer to how much assets have appreciated from the s&p 500 during a time when the economy is barely productive during covid. that really hurt the american story in the middle and bottom of the economy, people who are savers on fixed incomes. it widens the wealth gap even more and those are the people that made the savings technology. i disagree with mark cuban. ashley: the hedge would be that you have a finite amount of bitcoin, limited supply which

is a great hedge against inflation because it is against a never-ending supply of us dollars. i'm surprised that cuban thinks that way. >> a lot of work to be done to educate people about bitcoin. everyone from the average american to the billionaires. we saw bill miller say you located 50% of his net worth to bitcoin. some people believe in this technology. i certainly do and you are right. we have this inflationary environment and the fed can talk about tightening but the reality is our economy is addicted to the money printer, stimulus and without it for too long we run the risk of massive consequence, bankruptcies and all of it, the supply of bitcoin where we need to keep the money printer going to keep our economy afloat and that is scary for a lot of people out there. ashley: still this overhang of concern about regulation in

crypto currency market. >> a lot of concern over other crypto currencies, but not bitcoin come bitcoin is universally recognized as property and the property we need to save us from this inflationary environment so the regulatory framework is pretty clear and more clear from here on out when it comes to bitcoin where the after crypto currencies and other platforms have questions and roadblocks ahead. ashley: a lot of optimism for the year ahead and the fate of bitcoin and democrats of currencies. >> i have a lot of hope for bitcoin. right now we're in choppy waters and everyone is waiting to hear what jay powell and the fed will do next but we need a little bit of a spike in demand or another stimulus and we can send the number 2 all-time highs very quickly with bitcoin. i wouldn't be surprised if we had new all-time highs this

year and in the environment we are in right now where everyone is one foot in one foot out waiting to see if the fed will tighten, we are hovering in that 40 range but it is a great time to accumulate, or to accumulate now than in the 60,000, you can get more bang for your buck, super excited to see where bitcoin goes from here as more institutional investors come in. ashley: you are a mine of information. great stuff. thank you for taking time to chat with us today and we will continue to follow the crypto world. it is fascinating to me and a lot of viewers. thanks, appreciate it. coming up after the break democrats dealing another blow to the biden agenda. we are live on capitol hill with all the details when we return. ♪♪ i don't have to stay

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ashley: president biden seeing his agenda limited by senator from his own party for the second time in two month. this time it was senator kristen sinema who pulled the plug on hopes on taking action on voting rights. fox news congressional correspondent chad program has more from capitol hill. >> good afternoon. a stinking blow to president biden on voting rights and the filibuster. kristen sinema refusing to budge on the filibuster. democrats lack the votes to change the filibuster exclusively for voting bills with the president said this is not over. >> president biden: if we miss the first time we can come back and try it a second time was we missed this time. we missed this time. >> reporter: the president was

also unable to deliver on build back better in december. it is true that some legislative goals simply aren't ripe yet and it takes a while for the legislative vines to get a proper political weather. democrats even dropped a plan for symbolic weekend session and votes on martin luther king day. even if they lack the votes, to execute the gambit. >> due to circumstances regarding covid and another potentially hazardous winter storm approaching the dc area this weekend the senate will adjourn tonight. make no mistake, the united states senate will for the first time this congress debate voting rights legislation beginning on tuesday. >> reporter: democrats need all their members on board and available to vote but it is about the math. once in a democrat is sidelined because of covid. republicans are skeptical of the democrats prospects. >> democrats are not going to be able to get this done but

more importantly, senator kristen sinema and that the democrats may step up and say we are not for changing the rules. >> reporter: democrats will try to placate the left who are incensed about the implosion of build back better but they still don't have the votes. ashley: thank you very much. to this issue 30 million families are set to lose child tax credit checks beginning this weekend. while most republicans are opposed to an expanded child tax credit, some have signaled interesting reaching a bipartisan agreement on a path forward for that particular tax credit. good time to bring in north carolina republican congressman ted budd. thank you for joining us. where do you stand on this issue? are you exposed -- opposed to expanding the tax credit?

>> member what donald trump did. he was much for and i supported child tax credits in the form of tax credits. what biden was doing was sending checks on the road to march for socialism so he really likes to send checks to people for them to feel that so they grow on government dependency but if you want to target it for those who need it most i am fully supportive of helping those that are truly in need but we already got too much government money chasing goods that are into their because people are incentive to stay home. milton friedman would have said that leads to inflation. there is too much money chasing too few goods because too many people are incentive to stay home. ashley: that's a good point heard many times. talking about the economy right now the inflation, we've seen the numbers, really hurting, it is a tax no matter how you look at it on the middle class and lower income, working families and yet the administration continues to look at i would say build back better installed but they still want to keep spending.

>> they do. we have so much money, people are at home, afraid, i was with a flashlight who are on fixed income saying we can't out run it, they get a small social security increase which they have been saving for all their lives and they get that check and there is not enough to go around at the end of the month and it is really tragic. all these problems are solvable. we have to focus on supply chain, we have to focus on what ronald reagan figured out in 1982 which the results of the carter administration you are seeing under biden that led to something we haven't seen in decades and that is stagflation. if we unleash the american economy, rollback these mandates, let people do what they know best and give people their freedom back which our forefathers fought for, many men and women in uniform served for, give them that freedom

back and they will unleash the economy, that will solve all the problems we are facing right now. ashley: how do we get people back into the workforce? the participation rate is pretty dismal, below pre-pandemic levels. we've got to get people back in the workforce. there are plenty of jobs to be had. >> there certainly are. a major disconnect between the demand for jobs and people's willingness to go there. there's a certain amount of people that are very responsive to the fear that the democrats have put out there. i was asked that very question lastly, how do we get people back to work because there's such a demand for people. one of the problems in the supply chain. we have to stop this fabricated series of crisis after crisis the democrats are doing and let people know it is safe to get out there to work, we need medical truth and stop these mandates. ashley: to get your reaction to the k and 95 masks that were distributed to you and your

fellow congressional colleagues, stamped on the back made in china. how ironic. >> is from north carolina feel we were stabbed in the back when we did that because we were one of the biggest textile state in the country and we can make all these things. i was a big supporter of make ppe, personal protective equipment in america and north carolina can certainly step up to the plate and do that. when they force us on before to where k and 95 masks and hand it to us in big letters made in china we can see nancy pelosi, chuck schumer and the biden administration is totally still in cahoots with china and they would rather buy from china than support great states like north carolina. ashley: you can't make this stuff up. we are out of time. thanks so much for talking with us today. grocers getting hit by higher food and supply cuffs.

we talked this to leonard junior about what he calls the perfect storm of problems. that sounds ominous after this. ♪♪ i've been waiting so long ♪♪ i've been waiting so long ♪♪ i've been waiting so long ♪♪ where i am going ♪♪ ♪♪ 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

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's >> everything is $0.50 more every day every day every day. >> a little bit of an increase on everything, 20, $30 more. >> i don't splurge like i used to. we have a lot of people in office with a different agenda, the average person's benefit. ashley: as inflation surges our next guest says rising prices and surging demand causing a perfect storm for grocers. to leonard joins me now. a difficult time. tell me, let's begin with the supply chain issue. are you having trouble getting

goods and how much more -- >> it is a challenge but before that i live in london is there any place the us hasn't lived? ashley: no, good observation. i have lived everywhere. >> you are rooting for green bay maybe coming up. ashley: you are well informed. >> it is a perfect storm. it is a perfect storm that. we've been in the business 50 years. i don't remember in my lifetime the markets as volatile as they are. also the worker shortages right now with the omicron putting a real impact on all farmers and ranchers and shrimpers and everybody we talk to all the time. it is a common thing they don't have enough people to produce the product and that is why you are seeing the shelves empty and a lot of supermarkets.

one of the things we are doing is keeping shelves now but bobbing and weaving. one of our buyers told me we are in the metro new york area but ice melt is popular, storm coming up. they are running out of plastic jugs for the ice belt. we found a supplier that could do them in pails instead. we are doing that with things like scott's towels, tropicana orange juice, stew leonard's orange juice. we have to bob and weave and the agile to keep shelves full right now. ashley: how have you managed the pricing side of this. you have to pass on some of this cost and how has that impacted sales? >> first of all it is awful hard. we deal direct with farmers. when a farmer calls me up and says i've got to fill my tractor up every morning with

gas, and look at the price. i've got to front my price 5 tends, $0.05 or $0.15, what i'm doing is i don't think these high prices are going to last because half of it is transitory which has to do with all these crazy supply chain hiccups that are happening in the other half are real costs like labor. we had to bump our rates up to dollars an hour and fuel. transportation is extra cost, it is costing us to get a tractor-trailer from california where the fresh fruit and berries are to the new york area. ashley: very quickly, how about the labor shortage. do you have enough workers? how are you handling that part of the story? did we freeze?

what a shame. student leonard, such a great guest. he's on his homework. i have lived everywhere and i lived in green bay for a while. i will leave it right there. coming up after the break, the federal government, $5 trillion on covid relief measures but president biden still wants to do more. we have what the president is pitching when we return. ♪♪ because as a fiduciary, it's our responsibility to always put clients first. (other money manager) so you do it because you have to? (naj) no, we do it because it's the right thing to do. we help clients enjoy a comfortable retirement. (other money manager) sounds like a big responsibility. (naj) one that we don't take lightly. it's why our fees are structured so we do better when our clients do better. fisher investments is clearly different.

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♪♪ ♪ everybody hurts ♪ ♪ stu: everybody hurts sometimes. including president biden. about to close out his first year in office after spending the last 12 months in a brawl with members of his own party dealing with the better back and taking biden inflation. where does the administration go from here? joe biden is counting his infrastructure legislation as a success today after what some are describing is a terrible no good very bad week for the president. to wrap it all up my edward lawrence at the white house with more. edward. >> getting close to finishing out his first year in office. today the white house making up

a bit to go to that on the voting rights bill to the u.s. supreme court to mandates. the infrastructure bill, a very bad timing on this. it looks a little desperate as a president going towards the only piece of legislation from his domestic agenda that was able to be signed into law. today announcing from the department of transportation, the transportation rehabilitation construction project for bridges. waiting on the president's remarks here, white house press secretary mixing this again with voting rights. listen. >> a lot of people are surprised 19 republicans voted for the infrastructure bill and five or six in the senate and five or six in the house. there are initiatives that have historically had bipartisan support like voting rights that have become unfortunately perceived as a personal issue. >> calls for spending $26.5 million on bridges over the next five years.

5.3 billion of that available for this fiscal year. some 43,000 bridges in the country in poor condition. the money will help about 16,000 of those. some republicans wondering why it has taken so long to focus on implementing the infrastructure bill. this week senate minority leader making the point that the priorities of this administration have been misplaced since day one. >> president biden story is that democracy is on death's door. but he spent nine months chasing a reckless taxing and spending spree before addressing it? must not be that much of an emergency. >> so inflation at record hi, 40 year hi, covid cases that a record hi, lack of testing in some areas, people waiting in long lines. any american scratching their head on why president was pushing voting rights bill while spending more and not focusing on what's right in front of them. back to you to be one questions as all of them. thank you very much.

the federal government has spent $5 trillion on covid relief measures. president biden still wants to spend more. announcing new measures to combat the virus including free masks for all americans. foxbusiness heller avon has more on that part of the story from capitol hill. >> hi, ashley. the president wants to give your mask a makeover. he wants americans to wear high quality masks. something like a k a 95 or an n95 mask. doing a better job of protecting people from it in colder than cloth deal. having away some of these high quality masks for free. as of today, the cdc still has not change their guidance. their website still says cloth asked her the way to go medical grade masks should be for healthcare workers only. he will dip into the national stockpile of ppe to send out these masks, about 700 million

that we have stashed away. about two mask each for every american. these masks do not last forever. generally these and 95 archaea 95 are considered a daily use mask. if you sweat in it or it gets wet, you need to get a new one. >> what is the point of sending these out to americans, a lot of them are just single daily use. >> masks save lives. that is the important thing here. we want to make sure everyone has the tools and resources that everybody needs to protect themselves and their family. >> questions about where these masks are coming from. numbers in the house now have to wear a rogue mask -- rogue on the house floor. were shocked to see that they were not made in the u.s. they were made in china. stamped on the front of the mask. there was actually at the

question about cost. they cost about three, close to $1 billion a day. ashley. ashley: wow. hillary, thank you very much. let's move on. the media pointing to president biden's rough year. check out these. epic failures. the new yorker, joe biden's year of hoping it was a brutal start for the new president and the financial times editorial board writing this headline biden's disappointing first year in office. we already knew that it was a bad year in the eyes of voters based on his record low polling. look at that. down to 33% approval rate. here to sort it all out for us is gop fundraiser noel nick paul and demonstrate laura fink.

how badly beaten up do you think joe biden is right now? >> well, i think that we have two senators in our party that are unwilling to deal. i think when the majority is so narrow, that makes it so difficult. the american recovery act was bipartisan. the infrastructure bill was bipartisan. something that was not done by president trump in four years, we have an infrastructure every week, we got it done with 19 senator supports. getting masks into the hands of americans and tests in the hands of americans, leveraging the power of the american postal service is a good thing. it is a hard moment. two senators from your own party that will not budge. i think joe biden has shown he is resilient and i think you will see things improve. >> all right. noel, it was not just about two senators that refused to budge. there were many other things.

the handling of covid, the handling of the economy. what is your thought? >> well, i mean, we can continue from that and go afghanistan pullout. we can go from, you know, exactly how he handled the rollout, you know, of covid and what he has done there. if he was doing such a great job, why would his approval ratings be in the 30s? you know. it is all of these great things going on that my counterpart said, wanted to he have a very high approval rating? apparently, people are not very satisfied with what he has done in his first year. >> laura, respond to that. why are these polling numbers so low? a lot of concern. we have the economy, we have covid, the supply chain mess and those motor numbers, those polling numbers are bearing out the concerns of the country. how do you respond?

>> polling numbers approve and they approve overtime. i think what my colleague would have defended trumps defeat with his low approval numbers and not attributing that ineffective. that is fine. i will say this, a lot of times it is a lagging indicator. it is clear that joe biden has to approve his polling numbers. i think that when you look at the unemployment rate, when you look at the stock market, when you look at all the different indicators, say, hey, you know what, we are in an unprecedented pandemic, unprecedented hard times. are you going to vote yes on the guy with the steady hands throughout this? talk to me in a few months and we will see whether this has settled in or not. i do not think that you can slam him exclusively for low poll numbers unless you are willing to do the same thing for donald trump for four years. >> all right, noel, what do you say? do they go down from here? was this a momentary blip? >> well, i mean, you are talking about the market. we are seeing record highs in

the market. the market has also been heavily, you know, stimulated. you know, with a lot of funding. what we are not talking about is inflation. the everyday american. you've got the division between rich and poor. you have a middle-class basically being eroded here. so, you know, i do not think he has done such a great job. [inaudible] ashley: no, but, laura, let me move on to another subject that is kind of being pushed back a bit. the southern border. that is an issue that really gets the voters. the feeling that the southern border is wide open and we are doing nothing to close it. >> well, i would say this. a problem inherited from president trump and a problem to any president that will take the reins. it has been politicized to the tv. equally we need comprehensive immigration reform in this

country. i live right next to the border and i see that. american businesses need to build jobs. they are two ways to do that. one is immigration and to is getting women back into the workforce. both of those problems, joe biden has a plan for. both of those problems republican extraction is 100%. there was a time when we could approach immigration thoughtfully. security on the border paired with ensuring legal immigration was possible for the immigrants that want to come here.

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ashley: officials and multiple states now are warning of fake covid tests at pop-up sites as well as online. how could this be? grady trimble in chicago with the latest. grady. >> hey, ash. several government agencies say scammers are preying on people desperate for a test to try to get personal information. things like insurance information and identification information. this company runs this site, it is called center for covid control. they have 300 sites across the country according to their website. they are close right now as they are under investigation here in illinois and multiple other

states. they have been operating from the better business bureau who says they received complaints about people not getting results back, terrible customer service and some locations asking for id info. for its part, the company says it is committed to serving our patients in the safest most accurate and most compliant matter regrettably due to our rapid growth in the unprecedented recent demand testing we have not been able to meet all of our commitments and that is why they say they are closing for the next week to try to close out those problems. in the meantime, the better business bureau is giving people advice and how to avoid getting scammed. only use authorized testing sites like state run sites. watch out for look-alike websites and be wary of unsolicited callers and messages. as you can see here, this site has a sign on the door that says "closing temporarily". it was open this morning despite the fact that the company told us all of their 300 sites across the country would be closed.

we started asking questions and that is when they put that sign. the problem, ashley, these pop-up sites are unlicensed and unregulated in many states and so they are able to get away with some stuff, apparently, according to people making these accusations. ashley: very interesting, grady. in chicago. thank you so much. either way, and other shortage crisis. this time dealing with blood. the u.s. seen the most serious blood shortage in a decade. less than one day supply of some blood types. that does not sound good. doctor claudia is the association for the advancement of blood and biotherapy chief medical officer and joins us now. doctor, let's start at the key question, why do we have such a shortage of blood? >> it is a combination. there are staffing shortages in the blood collection centers, just like in the hospitals and

many other industries. and, also, donors, i think, are tired. they are tired of the pandemic. they have been pulled in many different directions trying to deal and trying to stay healthy. they are just not coming in and the numbers we help your staffing shortages a large part of it. ashley: also, i would imagine during the lockdown, you did not have anyone coming in and out must have been very hard to make up the loss of donations just from that period. >> at the beginning of the pandemic, we saw speed decline and blood donations. all mobile drives were canceled because people were scared of covid. blood centers depend on businesses and schools to host blood drives and that has ended completely. now you can only make an appointment at a regular blood center to go and donate blood. that reduces the amount of blood available in the beginning. nonessential surgeries were

canceled by the surgeon general and not a lot of cap enough blood despite the fact that we. donors. things have normalized. hospitals have started working again. the donors are still not coming out in the staffing shortages and the schools not being available. the business is not being available. it is all coming together as a perfect storm. i would like to add one more thing. our best donors are the baby boomer generation. they are getting older. they are not available to donate as often and they are more at risk of covid so they may be staying in a little bit more. we need younger people to step up and start donating blood more. ashley: what kind of problems are being created by the shortage? >> when you do not have blood, we cannot transfuse patients who are in need. hospitals that have a grim shortage, they will have to triage their patients. the ones who need it the most will get it, the ones who need it less may have a delay in

nonessential surgery or get fewer units. if they need three units, they may only get to. if it gets severe and continues, patients will start to be severely affected. if you don't have blood when you need it, you could have a heart attack, you could have a stroke. it could lead to death. i cannot overstate how serious it has become. i do not wannacry wolf. i know people out there have heard over and over again that blood centers need blood, they need blood. we used to be comfortable with five or seven days worth of blood on the shelves. with the pandemic we became comfortable with the new normal. three days worth of blood on the shelves was sufficient. but now we are at one day. one serious car crash or if you patients in need could wipe out the blood supply for a region and then patients would be affected. severely affected. ashley: we have heard the warning. doctor, thank you so much for

joining us. i had no idea. overly we can get that message out to get more donors into the blood banks. thank you, doctor, appreciate it. >> going donate. you will save a life. ashley: there you go. that is the message. president biden. the most powerful banking regulator. what wall street is saying about all of this next. ♪♪ ♪ you're my best friend ♪ ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ care. it has the power to change the way we see things. ♪♪ it inspires us to go further. ♪♪ it has our back. and goes out of its way to help.

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♪♪ ashley: foxbusiness alert. president joe biden will nominate sarah blumer asking to be the federal reserve's next vice chair for supervision or ghibli making her the nation's

most powerful banking regulator. charlie joins us now. is this bad news for the bank? >> if you are banker, it is. you if you are a liberal democrat, you may think it is great. if you're jamie dimon, this is not the person you want in there appointing some very, very radically progressive people. some have gotten through. some have not. as you know, the head of the currency did not get in, gigi so is being held up on the federal communications commission, but the latest want to be nominated is sarah bloom raskin as a head up bank supervision for the fed. every banker i talked to in the last 24 hours said that this is like back to the future, meaning

it will be the same relationship they had with dan tarullo during the obama years which was highly adversarial in your face. we want you to do stuff, you will do what we say. her big push will be, you know, progressive energy policies based on her background. she has done writing on this. what the banks are expecting is her to make them as part of a stress test. more lending for what is generally considered esg investing. social government stuff. away from pure investing in the best investments and new stuff based on social merit including the environment. that probably means not much lending for oil and gas exploration. it does have an impact. now, she needs to be termed by the senate. maybe it will be the contentious senate debate on this they will push back with their lobbyist. but, you know, if you are

looking for left-wing agenda, how it actually gets promoted and how it impacts economic policy with banks and companies, you have to look not just at normally the top of the ticket meaning joe biden, kamala harris and janet yellen at the treasury and a few other people. you have to look at who they put in the vast bureaucracy what these people represent. again, gigi at the fcc, a very progressive on all sorts of issues. if she gets confirmed by the senate, that means that policy that involves telecommunications entech, very big industry, will reflect those progressive views. if sarah bloom raskin gets in there, that means that the banks will have to report to her aggressive agenda because she is a chief regulator, the fed is a chief regulator of all the banks. ashley: right. >> mainly since the 2008

financial crisis. this is how liberal and progressive policies get pushed through to corporate america, regulatory apparatus. it is just one more. unless joe mansion says enough is enough. i cannot tell you. or kristin cinema. we do not have good insight into that just yet. back to you. ashley: all right. somewhere elizabeth warren is smiling. >> i forgot to mention her. [laughter] ashley: always in the background. thank you very much, charlie. here's a question for you, has the fed totally blown a handling of inflation which we know now stands at a new 14 year high. cpi up 7% year-over-year. steve moore former trump senior economic advisor and freedom works senior economic attribute or is here. is that a little harsh, steve? you know, the fed said it first. we believe it will be transitory. others have said they have been clueless since the beginning.

what say steve moore. >> when u.s. a question will the fed be behind the curve and are they responsible for the inflation? it almost sounds like a trick question. of course they are. the fed should have been raising rates nine months ago. they should have gotten ahead of this storm. now they have let inflation just get worse and worse as months go by. i have said this, you know, to neil, and i will say it to you. as you left this snowball get bigger and bigger of inflation, the pain and the economy of sucking out the inflation gets much much worse over time. it could take one year to a year and a half. remember, in the early '80s, when reagan and volker had to, you know, drain the economy of all that excess inflation, it took a while. it took almost one year. we had a got wrench in recession as a consequence of that.

there is some pain to come, in my opinion and respective financial markets in the real economy as a consequence of this runaway government spending and the feds monetary policy. >> i am glad you brought that up, steve, because there's a growing number of people who say, look, if you push the brakes too hard, that could lead to recession. to your point no space on the early 1980s. is that a real concern? >> yeah, it is. a lot of reasons we had a recession in 1982. don't forget that we delay the tax cuts. that delayed the ferocious recovery that we had starting at the very end of 1982. boy, it was painful. it was painful when the brakes were slammed on the money supply. some people think he did it -- this is an issue of historical debate -- whether he slammed them too quickly and too abruptly.

we will see how they deal with that. the problem is, if you don't do it cold turkey, the inflation problem lingers a lot longer. i don't know if i can advise the chairman, do you just slam the brakes on the money supply? by the way, i don't think that he will do that. talking about a series of gradual increases, i think you should act in a more abrupt fashion to get a hold of this inflation. when you get more than a 10% increase, ashley, that is a sign that consumer prices still have some room to grow before we start seeing a reduction in that inflation rate. ashley: for the average consumer out there, steve, you know, consumer spending is a huge part of the u.s. economy, these prices are getting to the point where it is really, really hitting consumers hard and spending is dropping off. to your point, your analogy,

it's a snowball, getting bigger and bigger. right? >> that is exactly right. a little personal story. i wife had me go out to the grocery store last night, you know, our usual grocery bill is about $100, now we are paying about $125 for groceries. here is what is interesting, i don't know if you are seeing this in the town you live in, but there was no milk to be found. [laughter] no eggs and no milk to be found at any price. i wonder if there will be a black market in dairy products right now because there is a shortage of those things in many cities. ashley: yeah. yeah. it is concerning, is an it. nothing more concerning their bare shelves in the stuff that is there is very expensive. steve, we are out of time. hopefully the fed can get it right. we shall see. thank you, steve. >> have a great weekend we want

you to, sir. combating the california exodus. governor gavin newsom is doing to try to bring people back to the golden state. we will explain next. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ore than a trading platform. it's an entire trading experience. with innovation that lets you customize interfaces, charts and orders to your style of trading. personalized education to expand your perspective. and a dedicated trade desk of expert-level support. that will push you to be even better. and just might change how you trade—forever. because once you experience thinkorswim® by td ameritrade ♪♪♪ there's no going back. whether you've enjoyed the legendary terrain in telluride, the unparalleled landscape of park city or the famed peaks of whistler, you face the hassle of lugging your gear

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ashley: we have been reporting for some time now the exodus of california residents and businesses to low tax red states. now california governor gavin newsom is looking at ways to try to lure some of those people back. kelly o'grady is live in los angeles with more on the governor's plan. kelly. >> hi, ashley. this has been happening for a while. crime has been increasing. the cost of living soaring, gas prices the highest in the nation. i know, i filled up this morning. the golden state has the highest

marginal tax rate. it does not appear that they are waking up to some of their policies driving out of the state. these new initiatives may not address the roots of the issue. last year nearly 1% of the population left. roughly 300,000 people. you can see where they are going. florida, texas, as we said. more business friendly. california is not only dealing with soaring housing prices, also i multimillion unit shortage which is a big contributor to the homeless crisis. one of newsom's initiatives includes 2 billion in grants and tax credits to encourage housing development in urban areas. also floating and pausing an increase in the gas tax. to be clear, that would not reduce paying at the pump, just prevent it from getting worse. bell, other climate initiatives from the governor to stop oil drilling in certain areas could see gas prices increasing. new high cost initiative would negate all of these monetary incentives if asked. the proposal would create the first in the nation single-payer healthcare system and nearly

double california's current tax revenue costing taxpayers $163 billion. tax experts where that would not only drive or people from the state from a cost perspective, but healthcare quality concerns on top of that. there's a separate proposal to extend health care coverage to an estimated 700,000 immigrants without legal status. overall, these particular initiatives from newsom don't reduce taxes, don't reduce prices at the pump. you spoke with michael fisher earlier in the program and i thought it was interesting how interconnected how the homeless in crime are. they need to be interconnected in these initiatives are just more spotty. ashley: could not agree more. kelly, thank you very much. interesting stuff. florida is one of those places people are leaving blue states for. should the gop be worried that people will bring their politics with them, perhaps turn these red states a little purple? florida congressman joins us now there has always been a concern,

especially for people in florida, that these people are running away from high taxes, high regulation, but they kinda bring their politics with them. that, to me, has always been very strange. why don't you look at the reasons that you are being forced out. turning red states more purple. >> i am kind of concerned about. it seems like it is actually going the other way. florida is turning rather. the people that are coming down have had it with progressive policies and the reason those are coming out is because a progressive policies. it would be kind of insane to come down because you are fleeing from progressive policies and bring it down with you. so, i think that that is really what is happening. we are seeing a huge influx of people coming. a lot of people coming from silicon valley and other parts of california. that report that you just stated, i expect we will get more people coming to florida because those are just insane policies. insane policies that really hurt

the poor. the middle class. also hurt the upper classes. they don't want to pay any more taxes they have to. certainly not these crazy policies that gavin newsom want to put through in california. i used to say that bill de blasio was the best thing that ever happened to miami, okay, because of the policies that he implemented in new york and sure enough it all happens, it came to pass, we have a lot of new yorkers coming down. i don't think they are bringing their politics with them. i think they see what that kind of politics has done to states like new york and california. ashley: and it just would not make sense. what is florida doing so well, in your opinion? it's a long way from california to florida. why florida? >> well, because we are a sunshine state. when you go on the beaches, in the water, you can actually swim and then. you don't have to put on a wet suit because it too cold. a very business friendly environment.

during my time as mayor, we set up a lot of the infrastructure, the ecosystem necessary for big tech and tech to come down, technology companies to come down to florida. no state income tax. very low taxes. business friendly environment and a great environment and a great climate. it is kind of natural. same thing with new york. you know, a longtime new yorkers have been coming down here to vacation. they come down and say, hey, this is a really good place. we start a business and now we move. that is exactly what is going on. ashley: also, i think that the pandemic, the rise of remote workings is getting people more opportunity to move to florida and still retain their employment. right? >> that is correct. the pandemic shows you that you don't have to go into an office. you want to get back to in person. a lot a business businesses do not require it.

you have a lot of people that are in that type of -- i'm not talking about manufacturing. obviously, you have to do that every day. you have to go to the manufacturing plant. other kinds of businesses, they do not really need to be in an office so they are finding they could do it remotely and they can do it remotely from anywhere in the world, why not do it in miami, why not do it in florida where everybody else is freezing up in new york and chicago and everywhere else. i mean, it is kind of nice down here. 66 degrees, the sun is shining. it's not bad to be in miami right now. [laughter] ashley: not bad for january, that's for sure. i just quickly wanted to talk about the labor shortage. the ruling from the u.s. supreme court yesterday about the vita mandate. they blocked that. still struggling to get people back into the workforce. why is that? >> i think a lot of it has to do with some states and the federal government continuing to give of, you know, subsidies and unemployment benefits.

people are saying, look, i can make just as much money if not more money staying at home. that became a disincentive. we have re- incentivize people to get back to work. it is, to me, amazing we have well over 8 million job openings. every time i go and talk to a small business owner, their number one concern is i cannot get people to work. we have to incentivize work, dis- incentivize staying at home. when you are staying at home, you are a drain on society and you are not a productive member of society. you will feel better about yourself and you will be a productive member of society when you are back to work. we need to incentivize work not dis- incentivize work like we have been doing the last two years. ashley: exactly. congressman, thank you so much. enjoy that 66 degrees. making a lot of people jealous. >> i intend to, believe me. i am going out right now. ashley: [laughter] life is rough. thank you so much. stop falling as the big banks

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ashley: stocks falling today on mix reads from big banks and weak retail data. here to break it all down for us is our good friend mitch rochelle. good afternoon to you. let's begin with the banks. the headline numbers i thought were generally pretty strong, but why are investors underwhelmed? >> i think, ash, good to see you, i think the fact that the earnings, the top line number, the bottom line number were good, some of that was returning some long-lost reserves. remember, the banks put away a lot of money in reserves not knowing what covid was going to do to their profitability. their profitability has done great over the last year and a half, two years. they are returning some of the piggy bank money. that his earnings that are not

really from operations. i think the analysts are looking past that. they did not see loan growth weird one of the things in a rising rate environment, you look forward to banks and lending more and making more money because interest rates are higher. but loans are not growing and i think that that is part of the fact that business confidence is off a little bit. the fourth quarter, really, there were a lot of uncertainties. long-term higher interest rates and the fact that the economy will power through will be good for banks. ashley: yeah. maybe a buying buying opportunity today on the dip. those rising interest rates, we know they are coming. they are already moving up. it has to look like a good bet. >> 100%. you know, i was picking and conversations with neil when we were talking about what looked good for 2022, i talked about banks. big banks probably have more pressure than the regional banks

it could be in some of those less popular less well-known regional banks. >> let's turn to retail sales. down 1.9% in december. spending down the consumer that levels going up. how much of a concern is out for the overall economy? >> the problem with the retail sales number is so much of the december retail sales is really driven by the christmas shopping brigade. in fact, because of the supply chain story, any shoppers pulled forward those holiday shopping items worried that hot toys would not be on the shelves and they were doing it in september and october. the retail is not sure, we are offering sales and promotions early on. i think we have very distorted numbers. the one that does concern me as the university of michigan, go blue, university of michigan consumer sentiment which was very weak today. that tells me that the consumer

looking at everything going on right now is a little cautious. our economy is driven by the consumer. unless we see the light at the end of the tunnel, i think that the consumer could be the story, at least in the first quarter. ashley: yeah, and, you know, and a lot of that depends on the fed who many argue blue the inflation. got that story wrong. now they have to put on the brakes. do they put them onto hard and when do we use the dreaded r word, recession. >> steve moore nailed it a couple months ago. the reality is, paul volker and charlie talked about it too, forcing the economy into a self induced coma. we do not want to see that. the good thing about jay powell, and i will give him credit, he has been very, very transparent about what the plans are and telegraphed it well. hopefully the markets will not

revolt. you may even see a fifth rate hike this year. we have to get inflation under control. >> very careful. do you remain optimistic, though? i know there's a lot of headwind as we start the new year. we will see that later on this year? >> i think the covid story will drive it. if doctor siegel and others are right and marty mcgarry, that this omicron variant turns out to be the best thing to happen to get us there covid then i think that the economy will soar as we start reopening everything and getting back to what normal should be. >> i cannot remember now. let's hope you are right. mitch, thank you so much. and for joining us. have a great weekend. >> you too, ash. ashley: let's get into the casino stocks. soaring today. after regulators announced they

will stick with the rule that only allows six casino license. look at those stocks go. we will have more kudo coast-to-coast after this. ♪♪ ♪♪ (vo) america's most reliable network is going ultra! with verizon 5g ultra wideband now in many more cities so more businesses can do more. mike's bike shop! downloading up to 10 times faster. whoa! is that already... (mike) yeah. (vo) hello business on the go. bye-bye public wi-fi.

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the dow off 365 points, the s&p down half a percent, the nas a damage down just a tenth of a percent. my time is up, time now for charles pavement charles, take it away. charles: good afternoon, everyone, i'm charles pain, this is "making must be." every economy is saying this economy is bombing, so how to do you explain all the disturbing economic news today? retail sales, a bust. consumer sentiment, a bust. bank earnings, a bust. so while the folks in those ivory towers seem stressed, the stock market thinks it's a mistake. in fact, i'm going to borrow from one of shakespeare's earliest plays. now, before you head to the hills, these are also t tes