stuart: walking in a minefield here, you realize, don't you? >> i do. stuart: eight 1/2 and nine. i have no idea how you can have an average between eight 1/2 and nine. mathematically. >> 8 and 3/4. stuart: i never seen a shoe size of 8 and 3/4 but i'm looking. appreciate it. ashley. see you soon. my time is up. stuart, it its yours. neil: we're watching what you're watching. a selloff here. depends on the day and moment, how they react. normal catalysts giving us release from inflationary bring pressures. the bottom line the inflation report coming out as expected but a 40-year high for inflation, annualized basis, 7.9%, up .8 of a percent. it is best to put in perspective how much you're making versus how much you're paying.

wages are running at 5 1/2% clip. that is better than a decade high. the problem inflation running a lot further than that, 7.9%. for whatever you're making on the job you're paying out more at the pump, the grocery store. that conundrum continues. so shows no signs of slowing down. to peter doocy right now at the white house how they're digesting these latest numbers, peter? reporter: neil, it is real interesting because we've been talking about rising inflation for months but the white house has decided to start blaming rising inflation on vladmir putin. in a statement today the president says today's inflation report reminds american budgets are being stretched by price increases and families are starting to feel the impact of putin's price hike. today's statement does not mention the pandemic which was all over january's statement about inflation. back then it was the president's promise to lower prices americans faced from the global problem of inflation related to

the pandemic. gas up 38% since last year. fuel i will up 43.6% since last year. neither one of those figures fully factors in the disruption caused by russian invasion of ukraine the last two weeks. but the white house says they've a fix. when we have electric cars powered by clean energy we will never have to worry about gas prices again. autocrats like putin won't be able to use fossil fuels as weapons against other nations that kind of a thinking a problem for lawmakers in oil producing states that want the biden white house to cut red tape. >> the disconnect between the people in this country and this administration. this administration is bent on social engineering of this country, making it into image of segment ever the population that voted for this president. reporter: on the president's schedule, he has a meeting with

the president of colombia. this evening he is off to a glitzy fund-raising dinner benefiting the dnc, neil? neil: thank you very much. peter doocy at the white house madison al worth on ways to get around this. they could be talking about dropping the federal took. we'll talk to austan goolsbee shortly. talking about the big box retailers might have an end-run. madison, help us out. you're at in clifton, new jersey? >> i'm at a costco. there has been a line all morning long. americans are filling up here. americans are looking for any which way they can save at the pump. one way to do it is at the big box stores sam's club and costco where you get a discount on gas. we shot drone video this is a less than an hour ago. long line of cars people waiting to fill up at the tank here.

they're willing to wait so they can save. this station is charge $4.09. compared to the national average of $4.32. we're in clifton, new jersey. average for gas in new jersey, is $4.38. by waiting here, saving nearly 30 cents versus going to a station down the street. not a surprise people are willing to wait when you consider how much gas is costing us today. it is up 60 cents from just a week ago. and up a buck 50 from a year ago. you know the white house as we've been mentioning, they have pointing to russia as the cause of this problem but the reality we've been dealing with this well over a year and americans are now starting to adjust the way they will be living their lives. according to aaa survey, nearly 60% say they will change the driving habits with gas prices rose above $4. we are there. 75% say that they're going to change even more if it reaches

five dollars. we're not there yet. concerns if that would happen. states trying to help out. michigan and georgia considered eliminating gas tax in the states. that would save 27 to 30 cents per gallon for residents there. americans are trying to save at pump. these are good options. you do have to have a membership to fill up at a costco or sam's club, neil. neil: madison, thank you very much. austan ghouls see, former obama economic council chair, university of chicago economics professor. good to see you again. >> thank you, neil. neil: we go back and forth whether more domestic production change the equation. we talk past each other. i know you don't think it would, i want to focus for now where we're going here, regardless on views of domestic production because inflation tends to stick around for a while.

that is the history. it gets really severe, it also can lead to a economic slowdown. that too can be the history. i'm wondering whether you're concerned about that? we always had this underlying strong economy. something jimmy carter didn't enjoy when prices went through the roof with the opec oil embargo, what have you. we have an underlying strong economy. i wonder higher these prices get that the stag part of that inflation argument resurfaces? do you think that is inevitable now? >> i don't think it is inevitable. i do think there is a risk a risk of that. the stag part of stagflation comes when the fed raise interest rate to slow down the economy. it is not that inflation generates slowdowns, to try to stop the inflation they try to put on a heavy brake. we learned from the '70s, if

the inflation is coming from a supply shock like the inflation coming because of the price of oil goes up raising interest rates doesn't fix that problem. and so that why economists say you don't tighten into a supply shock. i do think war into ukraine, even before the war actually started you saw you saw impact of this on oil prices as rumors of war were starting. that's generated a supply shock. but at the same time historically the american people are much more understanding of sacrifices they have to make in wartime settings than they are of general inflation i think you're right about that, austan, but the reality is this uptick in prices now got a real spark from the war, i grant you that. >> yeah. neil: we've been seeing an uptick in prices, activity, i get it a lot of this comes off

the pandemic, we were an economy in park, any activity would see prices rise, that is exactly what happened. now i'm beginning to wonder though whether we're hitting a level where people obviously pivot and they buy cheaper cuts of meat, things going on at the grocery store? might even seek out cheaper, grades of gasoline when they fill up. they might drive less, all of that, i get that but are we at the points here where it is even beyond the fed's ability to control? now back in the late '70s, early '80s, obviously paul volcker he was raising interest rates, sometimes a full point at a time. many are expecting next week we'll see the federal reserve raise rates, probably no more than a quarter of a percent. does the federal reserve risk making this situation worse? >> yes and look, that's, the fed is in a tough spot. they're getting yelled at from all sides and some sides are saying before there was war the

inflation is coming from these supply chain problems and the other side is saying the inflation is coming from too much monetary and fiscal stimulus. so they're trying to thread the needle. i think it does make sense before the war for them to get back on something like the path they were on before the pandemic arrived because the economy almost back to where it was before the pandemic arrived. but this whole war throws a wrench into that plan. it doesn't mean that the fed can't act obviously but it does mean the fed has got to be careful not to overdo it which they might have wanted to go aggressively, six, seven, eight rate increases for this year. i think they got to be careful doing that now because now we got, we got just a old, red-blooded supply shock coming from the price of oil going up. so they have got to be careful not to overdo it. neil: i think you're right about that, but the big fear seems to

be, austan, this supply shock, whatever will stick around a while. economists talking about this could last for years and if russia is a disclose -- dislocated player because vladmir putin no matter what happens ukraine vladmir putin could still ostensibly be running russia, a lot of sanctions and measures will not be magically lifted. so this environment continues, the price of almost everything continues rocketing. we see what started out in oil, spread to agricultural commodities, things like lumber, all this other stuff showing no sign of reversing. so are we going to be stuck with inflation and federal reserve stuck in a position where it is really limited how far it can go because maybe out of even its hands? >> yeah. we might. you know, your geopolitical analysis is superior to mine but i do think that you're on to

something, that in a way we chose this. if we will confront the aggressor and we're going to boycott their oil, we knew there would be sacrifices associated with that but we're seeing it now. it is obviously worse for russia than it is for western europe or for the united states but it is not to minimize. there is pain associated with those decisions and i do think we're going to have to live with that for basically as long as, as this continues in the geopolitical arena. neil: yeah. sobering but you might be right about that. austan ghouls see, great to see you again. former obama economic council chair. we're getting a news item in i want to relay with my next guest right now. british prime minister boris johnson saying he fears russia will deploy chemical weapons in ukraine. that some of his recent activity, putin's activity

deliberately targeting civilians, hitting 18 hospitals that wasn't by accident. also targeting two nuclear power plants, coming within 1500 feet of reactor, the chernobyl one, isn't by accident. so worse, more horrific behavior to come if the british prime minister is right. congressman michael mccaul on that texas republican, house foreign affairs committee, so many other crucial committees, he has been meeting with a lot of the crucial players. congressman what do you think of that, the next step at least according to boris johnson chemical weapons, maybe worse, what do you think? >> you know typically putin will allege that ukraine is using certain weapons they don't actually have as a precursor or pretext for what he is going to do next. so you're right, i will be at the british embassy this evening talking with top officials about

this very issue, what will come next. the brits are reporting that the thermobaric bomb has been used by the russians in ukraine. this is a very insidious weapon that sucks oxygen out of the air and you breathe fire in. it is an incendiary device. this is again, we talk about the geneva convention, between using that bomb and bombing maternal hospital with children, this will be the second childrens' hospital they have targeted. then you see these mass graves. i was in poland at the border of ukraine, it just was very reminiscent of world war ii. just very eerie, neil. this is a very tragic situation. neil: you know, congressman, it is interesting item out of "bloomberg news" talking about russian military prowess, that it is in question because of how significantly the russian

military has been bogged down in ukraine. the gist of it was that the more bogged down the more desperate vladmir putin becomes and higher the prospects of being tried on, crimes against humanity, the more likely he is to show his inhumanity. the more targeted attacks on civilians, all of sudden we're dealing with a wounded animal not only cornered but just crazy. do you fear that we're at that stage? >> well i think, that is part of the concern, when i get my briefings. first of all we totally overestimated the strength of the russian military. they have proven to be not as effective as we thought. they're at a slow crawl right now but they are closing in. we completely underestimated the strength of the ukrainians and the ukrainian people. their will is much stronger than the russian soldiers which gives me long-term hope but we got to

get these lethal weapons in. we were up late last night voting on a package, billions of dollars in lethal aid we can now -- we're already putting stuff into ukraine but we need more things like the, like the drones that can deliver firepower. surface-to-air missiles. the more we get those in country immediately we can help you know, this resistance movement but to answer your question, the way it was described to me by a very high level official in a classified setting kind of like a scorpion. you don't want to back the scorpion into a corner, then he brings the tail out and stings you with everything he has and what they mean is, the short-range tactical nukes. this would be the nightmare scenario that we want to avoid. imagine if putin launched those nukes, either in ukraine or poland or some other nato ally?

neil: no, you're right. all bets are off then, congressman, god help us all in that event. thank you very much. good luck at your meeting to night, sir. michael mccaul, the texas congressman meeting with some of the key players particularly with britain that is putting out this morning a concern but again it comes at a time when there is growing criticism of the russian military that it is not up to speed. the flipside, half-full glass view of that, vladmir putin might decide if i'm having a devil of a time taking out ukraine what am i thinking considering going into estonia, lithuania, poland, a nato member? he might be reined in here. his expectation for his soldiers is not simply panning out. there is that. more after this. ♪.

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developments certainly in ukraine are not helping matters any. vice president of the united states in poland urging that we will continue to have a backstop for nato. that we will defend every inch, all of those nato countries have. we've never ever relinquished that. let's go to jackie heinrich at the white house on that message. reporter: hey, neil. the headlines out of the press conference were basically reaffirming the u.s. commitment to help ukraine but attention on kind of a auction ward moment with the vice president. not the first time she burst into laughter at inappropriate time. it struck again in the press conference in warsaw with the polish president. an npr reporter directed a question to harris and president duda, whether the u.s. would take in ukrainian refugees. watch this. >> need to know if you think, if you asked the united states to specifically accept more

refugees? >> okay. a friend in need is a friend indeed. [laughter]. reporter: that rubbed ukrainian president zelenskyy former spokesperson the wrong way. she tweeted the video with the comment, it would be a tragedy if this woman won the presidency. duda finally responded to the question saying he had asked the u.s. to speed up process for ukrainian refugees with family in the united states. harris then delivered her answer the u.s. is not sending ukrainians currently in the u.s. back to a war zone if their visas expire. she stopped short of united states taking in any number of refugees. administration officials said harris is not in poland to make any deals, whether humanitarian aid or transfer of military equipment, but she is there toe reaffirm washington's commitment to help ukraine n that same vain harris was careful in answer to another question not to accuse russia of committing war crimes since that might obligate the

u.s. to give some sort of a response. president duda said very plainly it is obvious that russia is committing war crimes in ukraine, neil. neil: yes, she seemed to be extremely tentative, guarded, in the face of this, so it is unusual. jackie, thank you very, very much. what does lieutenant colonel danny davis think of this? defense priority senior fellow, military expert, served his country with great honor. colonel, we almost seemto be reacting with one arm tied behind our back. part of it i can understand. you are the militariry expert i will never be, sir, but it seems like we're far more concerned about vladmir putin's reaction than our own proaction, our proactive response. what do you make of it? >> yeah, you know, the harsh, cold, i mean spur reality is we have to make absolutely certain

that we don't allow this situation to get escalated beyond the borders. there have been so many horrific things, the hospital in mariupol, the scenes of destruction in kharkiv, now increasingly in kyiv, these emotional appeals by zelenskyy, they all pull at our heartstrings and everybody hates what russia is doing but we dare not push too hard we escalate it, now that it is people in poland who are suffering this or warsaw, or god forbid the united states if it gets into nuclear escalation that would be catastrophic. we absolutely have to be cold-hearted about this in some respects not to let it expand beyond. we given them the maximum historic sanctions on their money. we're cutting off some of their oil. which is their lifeblood. let me point out cutting off oil to japan is one of the motivations cause the them to eventually attack pearl harbor. there is bad historical

precedence here. we have to be careful about it. neil: what would be an act that would go too far? a lot of people say putin is all bluster. for example, he said he would retaliate against those countries that are even declaring they will provide military assistance to ukraine? he might, but so far no signs of that, so are we overfearing this putin expected response? >> well, look, i mean he was pretty clear from december onward that he would, he would use military force in various ways in ukraine and he made good on that, as he had done twice before. as i said, even on your show previously. so we dare not think that he is bluffing on this because he has shown, right now, he is demonstrating an even stronger point, that he is absolutely committed to this and he is not letting any of this global condemnation, just condemnation slow him down. neil: wait, colonel, how would

he retaliate, particularly against nato countries particularly poland providing this assistance? >> specifically what he said -- neil: how would he do that? >> yeah. just days ago he said, when we were talking about this mig 29 issue, he said anybody who provides air power ends up attacking russian forces will be considered a belligerent, we'll attack their airfields. that is the reason why they didn't agree to let the migs fly into poland. we'll send them over to ramstein airbase, you deal with that because they take that threat seriously. one inch of a nato country gets attacked, article v, we're all 30 potentially in a war, we can't take that risk when putin is willing to show he is willing to do anything. neil: one final question, it was raised a lot today maybe the russian military is not as

impressive as it was made out to be, not nearly as impressive vladmir putin hoped it might be and that might give him pause. forget about what nato countries are doing, we're sanctioning, he will think twice about going into any country, if he is having a devil of a time making inroads in ukraine? his own military's performance might give him pause now, and that is the best news we could hope for? >> without question, without question that's the case. whatever he may have thought before it is now been exposed absolutely. he is having a devil of a time conventionally with a country that didn't even have an army basically in 2014 and now that he is having such difficulties there is no way conventionally he could match up with a 30-member nato military alliance, absolutely not. that should give us some confidence all this claims him wanting to recreate the ussr, roll west, stuff, he doesn't have the capacity, whatever he may want to do. that should tell us we can keep this contained but if we do

things like some of these people have been suggesting here on defense one yesterday that we set up a no-fly zone light in the western part of ukraine, that just risks having him drawn in, because let me make this last point, in the late 1990s, still a kgb officer, putin actually authored the concept of de-escalation which included the potential using a nuclear, tactical nuclear weapon if they thought they were conventionally being hemmed in and were at risk. he is now president. he signed that into law in 2000. we cannot take a chance he would do that in a desperate situation. neil: well-said, colonel, very well-said. lieutenant colonel danny davis, very good catching up with you, very good counterread to a lot of stuff. you have to be a little cautious on all of this. meantime here, the sanctions continue and those bolting out of the country of russia continue. goldman sachs now the first financial firm to say we are out of here. citigroup also regrouping as

well. all of this at a time the russian president is already saying to those leave, we could just take your assets and we probably will after this. ♪. and your family first. i promise to serve, not sell. i promise our relationship will be one of partnership and trust. i am a fiduciary, not just some of the time, but all of the time. charles schwab is proud to support the independent financial advisors who are passionately dedicated to helping people achieve their financial goals. visit findyourindependentadvisor.com

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♪. neil: all right. you get out of here, i go after your assets. that is the strategy that vladmir putin seems to be employing right now with all of these companies that are bolting from russia including mcdonald's. that still will have a lot of stores and a lot of restaurants like burger king and leave them behind in that country, so they can't literally take those back with them. i'm talking about financial giants like goldman sachs, the first to say it is formally leaving the russian market particularly around moscow and the russian president saying of all of these companies, we can seize your assets, maybe in the

case of burger giants and the rest, any product that's still there, any whoppers or big macs. a little harder with some of the other financial assets they literally take out the door with them. we're watching it closely as is gerri willis with more on the exodus and the reactions to the exodus. gerri? reporter: neil, that's right. this whole issue really heating up here. burger king as you say is suspending all the corporate support for its russia franchise restaurants. there are some 800 of them. this includes marketing, supply chain support, all the other corporate support they typically allow for and stopping investment in expansion in russia for the franchisees. also moments ago, google will also paused as on google properties and networks, presumably youtube, also the search giant. this is a global thing they're doing for advertisers based in russia. the big news today, now it is the banks turn to leave russia.

goldman sachs becomes the first wall street firm to pull out. the company is sighing, it is quote, winding down its business in russia in compliance with regulatory and licensing requirements. but they say they will continue to support clients across the globe. goldman says its exposure is 650 million. really not a lot of money for them. some u.s. banks have been criticized in the last week for holding russian bonds, investing at a low price. goldman says it is simply a market-maker in the bonds, not a investor or speculator. also citigroup, this is the biggest u.s. bank with the biggest russian presence. they're say they're attempting to wind down their operations in russia, particularly the consumer operations. the bank had some 3,000 employees in russia. they're telling fox business, their exposure is $5.4 billion in loans and securities and guess what? they have another 4.4 billion mostly in cash on deposit in the

russian central bank. the bank said this to us in a statement, we're continuing our previously announced efforts to exit the consumer bank business in russia. as we exit we're operating the business on more limited basis giving the operations. this morning we got news warner music and sony music are suspending operations in russia. those companies are the number two and three worldwide in their business. we talked a lot about american companies leaving russia. according to the list from the yale school of management there are more than 330 companies doing just that but plenty are saying. unfortunately we have burger king on the list right here, no longer a part of that. dunkin' donuts, marriott, halliburton, the other companies you see here, they say they're staying. neil as i tell you as i send it back to you, it could change any minute. we're getting new companies every single minute that they are leaving russia, primarily

for what you are mentioning that the russian government is saying hey we'll take your assets anyway. neil: they just figure the hell with it. thank you very much. gerri willis. luke lloyd with us on this. luke, as big as these developments and exits are, i was thinking of citigroup, right? $10 billion exposure to russia sounds like a lot until you realize they have better than $2.7 trillion in assets. so i don't want to burst vladmir putin's bubble but you could freeze and take away your assets all you want, it is really a rounding error on a rounding error for these guys. so what is the big global impact of this? >> yeah. so look, the conflict over in russia and ukraine is not a good thing at all but, neil, i'm so sick and tired of woke capitalism and cancel culture. all these companies are being hypocritical when it really irritates me. these companies are so quick to pull out of russia have been and

continue to invest billions of dollars into china who literally has slave labor and may even be committing human genocide. all that matters to these companies is the positive pr they. stuart: that they are making a stance for the majority of the public they're talking about, right? look, i don't think companies would have been woke in doing this 10 years ago. social media has changed the game and all these companies care about is how many retweets and likes they will get on a social media post. neil: i'm just wondering though, what is the impact on russia? you rely probably more on china and other nefarious characters to take oil you can't sell to anyone else. i would imagine that these restrictions remain in effect, luke. i don't know what the market impact would be as long as vladmir putin is still in charge of russia, no matter how ukraine works out, what do you think? >> i think it is going to have huge impacts, first of all we're putting all the restrictions on russia but all these companies are employing tons of people over in russia.

so basically a double-whammy for russia. look, majority of these companies i think are just pausing their operations in russia. it is not going to be permanent. companies won't risk eroding billions of dollars they have invested in russia, make it disappear overnight. take mcdonald's for example. they're missing out on something like $50 million a month by pausing their operations right? notice how i used word pausing. once thee conflicts end majority of those companies will resume operations. look at what companies say, none of them said they're saying away for good. they're using words, pausing, suspending tells me this is only temporary -- neil: i'm sorry, luke, i can't see them coming back, you talk about the woke pressure, if putin is still running things. i wonder if they just stay out until he is gone? that might be wishful thinking but what do you think of that? if that could be the case that

could be a year's long sort of exit? >> i completely agree with that actually, neil. i think they will stay away from russia until putin is gone. i don't think he will be around for that much longer. i don't mean he will be, you know, gone from this earth. i'm thinking he will be stepping down the position or the russia is actually going overtake some part of the politics in russia. people are revolting over there. there are a lot of protests. he don't think he will be around much longer. i wouldn't put it past if the companies will be back in year or two. i don't think they will be away that much longer. there is still a lot of growth on russia. they put the whammy on themselves by doing this. that doesn't mean they're done for good. neil: that is a very good point. luke, thank you very much, my friend. i do appreciate it. meantime on less divisive things, if you're a baseball player, this is pretty serious stuff. the baseball season delayed by

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basically, choose what we want our future to look like. so what's yours going to be? have you ever met a transgender kid? there is no atmosphere that is the same as playing a sport with your team. when you're playing a sport, it's not just about you. it's about what you can do as a team or as a group. most of what i coach are team sports, and it's not about being perfect. it's about growing as an individual and growing as a team member. and where in that does gender identity come in? i want to even be a coach someday just to help other kids get to where they want to be. we're a team.

♪. neil: major league baseball cancels another 93 games as they put further back the start of the baseball season, if we ever see that. doug eldridge, to make sense of this, so even i understand it. doug, where is the season going? >> that is a great question, sir, we're up to 180 games canceled thus far. opening day is pushed back april 14th. longest stretch was 925 games, 25 years ago. games are won by hits and runs and lockouts are won by dollars and cents, we're at an impasse right now. neil: what is the issue?

i'm told they got a little closer that is the players and owners but they're still far apart, on what? >> welcoming into this, sir, the two big issues at least from the players perspective was the luxury tax issue and compensating junior players, the minimum salaries. baseball has the unique process that prolongs a time until players can actually hit free agency which is the free market equivalent in the sports world. the players want to see that shortened to maximize their value at a younger age because you have so many miles on the tires as a professional athlete. as we got deeper into this we saw two issues emerge, that was international draft and qualifying offers. players do not want a international draft where the mlb open as dual draft for international players as well. ironically, the latin american players as well were vocally against the international draft. the other issue is the qualifying offers which is really something from the nfl world, when a free agent hits market, receiving team has to

provide offsetting draft pick the team losing star player whole. that is logjam they're facing. it comes back to the dollars or cents this is $11 billion industry. it is not the game or sport of baseball, it is the business of baseball. neil: just as a baseball fan myself, i'm not familiar in the weeds as you are. all i know is the battle between billionaires and millionaires and i'm ticked off. >> well there has been an interesting reframing of that that is a great point n years past going back to the last work stoppage, the longest in the history of the sport, retribution and blowback came on the players but we're seeing interesting reframing from a pr context. the blowback, pushback is being generated towards the 30 mlb teams and their owners. remember, sir, the new media deal kicked in. the old media was 1.155 billion. for mlb the new media rights is almost 2 billion, 1.9, driven ironically by streaming. apple did a 7 year deal at

85 million a year. nbc is up to 30 million a year just for streaming rights, just for streaming. players are looking at all the expanded revenues for revenue, wait a minute, you pushed back on pennys in the crosswalk when you're collecting dollars hand over fist. i say it as unapologetic capitalist as you well know, when you sit in the cheap seats eating hotdogs calling balls and strikes no pun intended there is imbalance in terms of allocation and intersection of dollars and cents. there is a well reasoned standoff. hopefully it comes to the resolution, the good news, good news, to provide the proverbial silver lining there is conversation there is progress, if there is progress, there is solution in sight. neil: talk is good. very much to have you on, the fact of your knowledge of sport, but only one ever called me sir. no one ever calls me sir. great to have you. doug eldridge, we'll come to see

what happens to those talks. we're looking more important talks a world away. we're on top of that with ukraine and russia after this which saved investors over $1.5 billion last year. that's decision tech. only from fidelity. new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. when you sponsor a job, you immediately get your shortlist of quality candidates, whose resumes on indeed match your job criteria. visit indeed.com/hire and get started today.

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but they promise to talk again. she is a ukrainian parliament member, joins us from ukraine. they go back and forth on these talks, they don't seem to produce anything. the russians seem to violate humanitarian promises. are you optimistic they can settle this you know without, you know the war getting out of control? >> [inaudible] ukraine has always professed to talk but we need to. we need to have options on the table to. it is not an option when we have vladmir putin is telling us he wants our government to capitulate and he wants to install his own puppet government and own moscow-run president. that is not a negotiating position and russia those well

enough, that president zelenskyy and ukrainian people will never accept that but there are options that could be on the table. our president has been very clear about that. -- out there and we'll talk. neil: you're right about that. at least president zelenskyy offered the whole issue of nato membership that is not a deal breaker to him. it is not necessarily be all, end all. that was you know, just ignored by the russians. so, where does this go? >> it goes to the victory of ukraine and to ukraine staying an independent country and this is all about we ukrainians are focused on -- whether serving in the army or serving our people in parliament or performing any kind of basic jobs that are necessary right now to keep us going, we are all set on a victory for ukraine and ukraine remaining a independent country. we're set to do all it takes for

that. we're appealing to the international community to stand with us and continue standing with us and to do more in order for russia to finally understand that their vision of an empire striking back, an empire coming back is not going to take place anytime in the 21st century or ever. neil: lesia, i know you have friends, colleagues, fellow parliament members fighting the good fight in ukraine but do you have any family or friends back in russia who are aware of what is going on, or maybe not aware of what is going on? what can you tell us about, thoughts on how the russian people are feeling about this? >> you know, i'm a very, sort of 100% ukrainian born and bred. i have no family whatsoever in russia. i don't really have that many friends in russia.

my husband does have some friends who still live there. actually they are trying to get out because they understand the living conditions there, the ones that -- will never be possible not in the near future at least. so they are literally trying to get out because it is not become comfortable to live in russia. the friends who i have are originally from russia but have lived with russia forever, they write messages to support to me regularly. they do in ukrainian, saying glory to ukraine for which i'm very, very appreciative. that means it is not the problem with the russian people. it is the problem with the russian establishment. and russian establishment and russian president who clearly have a problem with ukraine. neil: yeah, i hear you. thank you, ukrainian parliament member. it is an interesting insight there. that will really decide where this goes, how the russian

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♪ ♪ neil: well, enjoy those wage increases while you still can. while average americans are

seeing them move up about 5.1% year-over-year, the fact of the matter is their cost has been rising at a far higher rate, 7.9% annualized right now, highest in about 40 years. we're going to go to larry kudlow about all of this, whether a lot of people are saying we're returning to something a lot of people don't want to return to. also the former nato ambassador, special representative to ukraine during the minsk talks, whether any talks can be salvaged right now. there have been four separate sets but little progress. edward lawrence at the white house, first, on inflation. >> reporter: yeah. you know, neil, any way you look at it, the numbers are just i awful. in fact, here at the white house they do believe inflation will settle back down at some point this year. however, the president in a statement that said this, you. , a large contributor to inflation was an increase in gas and energy prices as the markets reacted to putin's aggressive actions, blaming it on the

russians. right now food prices up 7.9% year-over-year, the same as the headline inflation number. when you look inside those staples, mil up 11.2%, fresh fruit and veggies up 7.7%. bread up 6.5%. now, we know that gas is up. fuel oil to heat your home, and it's still winter, cold in places, 43.6%. you see where this is all going. so the white house press briefing going on right now. so yesterday we knew this would be a big deal. so we asked, or i asked what the administration has done to actually bring down inflation that has worked. we heard deflections and no specifics. listen. >> for americans who are going out, again traveling, going to restaurants and getting back to normal. and we also expect to see continued moderation in used car prices. so that's what our prediction, how our assessment is at this point in time. in terms of steps we have taken --

>> what has worked? so october 13th is when you announced the port initiative. >> yeah. >> what's the specific you can point to this. >> well, there are a number of steps, as you compare month to month, we've seen inflationary numbers go down month to month. >> reporter: that's what they said over the past six months or so, look at month to month numbers. the curve here, it's starting to go back up. the micron ceo telling me in an exclusive interview that we'll have the chip shortage into 2023 now. listen. >> the or part of the chip shortage will continue to improve as we we go through calendar year '22 and some parts of this will continue into '23 as well. of course, micron continues to make the necessary investments to meet the demand growth that our customers are bringing to us. >> reporter: and i heard from a former republican white house economic adviser that this looks a lot like jimmy carter's economy.

back to you. neil: thank you, my friend if, edward lawrence there. to madison alworth on gas lines that might be revisited and, in fact, in a lot of parts of the country already are. madison. >> reporter: hi, neil. yeah, so the gas story's a tough one. americans are hit really hard by this. finally i have somed good news, there are ways for people to save. one of the ways americans are saving is by going to their costco or sam's club and getting that discount gas. this station right here charging $4.09 compared to the national average of $4.32. but we are in the state of new jersey. the state average is $4.38. so you're saving about 30 cents each gallon by going here versus the gas station down the street. here's the thing, you are going to have to wait to save because everyone is jumping on this. taking a look at some of the drone footage earlier, we've been seeing around 60 cars pretty much all morning long waiting consistently for this gas, and it's because of those deals and the desperation that

meshes are feeling -- americans are feeling to get a better deal. both costco and sam's club offer discounted prices. sam's club has told fox business member members pay on average by about 10-20 cents because those member-exclusive prices. here today we're looking at 30 cents cheaper than the state average. it's not a surprise that people willing to wait when you consider just how much gas is up, up 60 cents from just a week ago and up $is 1.50 from this time last year. the white house has tried to paint it as a russia problem, but the problem has existed well before the invasion of ukraine. we have seen an increase over the last year. the problem has been here. it's just now reaching that fever pitch. so you do have to have a membership when you fill up at sam's club or costco, but i ran the numbers, costco is $60. so if you have a small car, 12 gallons, it would take 17 times to make up the difference and

save $60 and make up, you know, membership costs. but if you have two cars and you fill up once a week, that quickly happens. and those are the kind of calculations american families are making right now because, unfortunately, we don't expect gas prices to go down anytime soon. neil in. neil: yeah, it appears that way. madison, thank you very much. to my buddy, larry kudlow, the host of the hit show at 4 p.m., "kudlow." you and i might be one of few, certainly at fox business, who can remember -- [laughter] long gas lines in the '70s. i remember as a kid i was the guy in charge of the odd-even days, all right, you bring it to the gas station today. [laughter] are we going to visit that again? >> well, we don't have price controls, at least not yetment and -- yet. and i think price controls a had a lot to do with the long gas lines. i say not yet.

that may be a triumph of hope over expectations, but so far we don't have that. but what we do have is across the board increases in prices. i mean, it's really important not to get hung up on vladimir putin and ukraine and the recent spike in the oil prices or gasoline prices because, first of all, this story started a year ago, over a year ago. it's functionally because of big government spending, deficit spending enabled by the fed that expands their balance sheet, and it's created far too much money. and if you look throughout this report, neil, it's really interesting to me. take energy out, okay? excluding energy, the year to year change is 6.6%, 12 months. take gasoline out. excluding gasoline, it's 6.4%. the fed if's inflation target was 2%. we'll probably never see 2%

again in our lifetime m. neil: wow. >> it's all over the place. every category of. cpi is rising. and that's the characteristics of a wave of inflation that is sourced at the government's spending and money printing. and until you stop that -- and, by the way, last night the house passed a $3.5 -- 1.5 trillion omnibus appropriations bill that's roughly 7% higher than the year-ago baseline as best we can determine. nobody's really read the darn thing. so they continue to spend, okay? and the federal reserve continues to print money. so, neil, we got ourselves a problem here. neil: yeah. that $1.5 trillion spending package if, only about $6 billion of that was for -- 16 billion of that was for ukraine, and we don't even know all the details of that.

i'm wondering if the continuing runup in prices itself will lead to a slowdown in the economy, that we get the stag part of inflation that we haven't yet gotten, and that that is a double whammy. >> oh, i think almost certainly. almost certainly. so one of the wall street economists around this morning real weekly wages continue to decline. i mean p nominal wages are rising very nicely. but the trouble, of course, is inflation is also rising very nicely. so people are losing ground. yeah, look, you're going to have higher inflation and slower growth, okay? if when is there a recession? if i don't know. i don't think you're going to get it this year, but i think you're going to see a touch of stagflation. and the federal reserve hasn't begun to fight, they haven't begun to fight. so once they start that, the risk here is high oil prices, an

inverted yield curve. of you might have some financial market problems. but basically, neil, we are stuck in a '70s type inflation she scenario. it's across the board. if they did a diffusion index for the cpi, it would probably be, you know, 80 or 90%. prices are rising everywhere, and people are paying for it. at the pump, sure. at the grocery store, sure. but they're just paying for everything. and that's characteristics of an a inflationary wave that's going to be very hard to stop. neil: you know, you've talked about inverted yield curve, where short-term rates begin to eclipse the longer term rates, almost always leads to at the very least a slowdown, if not recession. i'm beginning to onlier, though, whether the federal reserve wants to act on this or whether it's scared to, that any attempt to raise rates in an environment

like could backfire, so they'll use it as an excuse not to go too aggressively. what are the implications of that? if. >> yeah, that's an important point. again, neil, go back to the '70s story. particularly the back end of the '70s when we had the second oil spike. neil: right. >> here's the mistake the fed made: instead of tightening policy, they kept policy loose. so what happens? the spike in energy prices then is monetized by the fed so it spreads to all prices. so both prices and price expectations go up. what the fed if should have done back in the late '70s is tighten monetary policy so the energy price spike didn't spread. now, it sounds to me -- i agree with you, i don't hear this fed taking the kind of aggressive

posture that they should take. i mean, look, just in simple terms i'd like to see much tighter money right now to deal with inflation. number two, we've gotta have a huge expansion of oil and gas production and pipelining. we've got to stop this regula that story -- regulatory octopus from strangling our fossil fuel sector. we desperately need oil and gas right now to stabilize or bring down prices. and number three, besides deregulation we need lower taxes. we need lower taxes that would help the middle class and would help businesses to try to survive this inflationary tsunami. unfortunately, that reagan-type policy prescription is no where to be found right now. neil: you know, you're right. you think about it, while ronald reagan was cutting taxes, paul volcker came in to aggressively raise interest rates. it took a little while, and at

this point in his presidency it didn't look like reagan was going to be elected. but he stuck to his principles and his gut on this one, kept the taxes -- kept adhering to that economic policy, let paul volcker do his thing. the rest is history. but i don't see the tax cut thing happening, nor do i see this federal reserve chairman doing anything approaching that to address inflation. what do you think? >> yeah, well, i agree with you. i mean, i totally agree with you. you know, one of the problems i'm having right now, these new federal reserve nominees, they want to spend more time on climate change. they want to spend more time on denying fossil fuel companies any bank credit. that is exactly the reverse, the opposite of what -- we should be helping the fossil fuel if companies. but most of all, neil, it's up to the federal reserve to keep prices low. we need price stability. we don't need woke policies, we

don't need climate change policies. and, you know, this inflation is about a year old now, okay? so that's different than the '70s, because the '70s was like a 0 or 12- 10-12-year inflation wave. so we're not nearly that deep into it. and i guess the point i'm making is if the fed would act now, quickly, strongly, you know, regime change, change expectations, surprise the market with a one-percentage point increase in the target rate -- neil: wow. >> surprise the market by a huge wave of selling bonds which will take money out of the system. in other words, we could stop a '70s-style problem, but it's going to take very rapid action. and at the same time we're doing that, i mentioned tax cuts. the other point is regulatory relief. particularly fossil fuel. it's a regulatory octopus, and we've got to stop that because we need to liberate the fossil

fuel companies to provide plenty of oil and gas to deal with that sector of price hikes. neil: you know, larry, my producer wants us to move along here, i love talking to you, but on that point we did what you advocate, you know, aggressively raise rates maybe a full point, really speed up, you know, the, you know, the bond-buying -- stop the bond buying and all that much like, you know, germany is indicating and the european unijanuary is indicating, wouldn't that panic the market? i think the difference between the '70s and now is everyone in charge seems to really panic and obsess over the markets and the near term reaction to what might be a long-term, good dose of medicine. >> well, look, my view is the sooner they act, the better they're going to be. the stronger and more aggressive hi you act, the faster they can get over this.

markets will do okay in the long run if you have, you know, decent economic growth with price stability. the point is we've strayed from that. pat:. we've got to get back on to that path. i'm not worried about market. the fed if announces a one percentage point hike in the feds fed funds rate, okay? just for instance. and we're going to sell 3, 4, $500 billion worth of bonds just for the heck of it. you probably get a couple of bad days in the stock market, okay? but, but, but, but investors would realize that they're giving us the right medicine, that the adjustment will be short. and since you look at stocks for the longer term, they will come back because the economy will come back. right now the longer the fed if waits, the less backbone the fed has,s the harder this is going to be.

the inflation tax not only on middle million people, but on businesses, small business, that inflation tax will kill the economy if the fed doesn't take aggressive steps right away. i call it regime change. some people call it shock and awe. [laughter] the markets will withstand that, neil, and they will thank the fed. they will thank the fed. neil: that's well put. ronald reagan obsessed with the markets, we would have never seen what we ultimately saw. otherwise, larry, you and i are back in please your suits and watching and this and pontificating. [laughter] >> i don't have quite as much hair. [laughter] neil: i had some doozies. larry, great to see you. >> thank you, appreciate it. neil: not only his connection, but his big picture view of things that he can explain many english and get through thick skulls even like my own.

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neil: you know, 2.2 million ukrainians have from fled their country, half of them in poland, but other countries are opening their borders ask their arms to these ukrainians. right now from hungary you'll find our connell mcshane, also helping out. connell. >> reporter: hey there, neil. what happens when people come into the country whether it's in hungary or poland, slovakia, moldova, they'll start near the border. many times they'll get on a train and start moving into a larger city which is what we're doing right now, this town that we're on is on the move, but it's moving from a border town in to budapest, and then many of the refugees will find connections to another part of europe. it's such a -- [audio difficulty] you get six train per day that come in there, hunkly's taken in well over 200,000 refugees.

you get the idea how much pressure there's again to be on some of these economies. but especially in recent days when you have conversations with these people who have had such long trips is that they are dealing with a full-fledged humanitarian crisis backing in ukraine. and we know that now because we're getting firsthand accounts from people who stayed in the early part of the war and then moved out. this young woman, for example, on the train platform before we left from kharkiv, mitt so hard. we got into this conversation about whether civilians were being targeted, and she told me, well, yes, in her view, they certainly are. her family owns two homes. listen to what happened. >> i have two houses. both of them were destroyed. >> reporter: they were destroyed, the houses? >> destroyed. there are just no house anymore. in two places. and so my friend's house also destroyed, and there are no -- at all. like, places where there are

children also destroyed, hospitals, almost all the schools in our city are destroyed, and this is nothing left. we have almost no military at all. >> reporter: so if there's any doubt about what civilians are going through, you listen to someone like that and realize, neil if, it's not an isolated story by any means. we've heard time and time again that people are moving out of these hard-hit areas of ukraine, and they literally are dodging bombs as they get from if one city or town to another. and to that young woman's point, heir so worried about the people they've left bemind. we heard earlier today from the kyiv region who had spoken to some people that were left behind. they are not allowed, according to her, to evacuate now. russian soldiers moved in, and they're simply not letting hem leave. neil? neil: amazing. connell, thank you very much, connell mcshane on a rain in

hungary looking at all of that. board kurt volker back with us -- ambassador kurt volker back with us, special representative to ukraine. ambassador, you know, millions now, when all is said and done, will be trying to exit the country or already have, 2 million plus. i guess a lot depends on how this all sorts out in ukraine whether they'll ever, ever return. what do you think? >> well, exactly. we don't know how this will turn out at moment. ukraine is fighting or -- for its survival. they're pounding cities, civilians, and the west is not doing everything we could to help them. if ukraine survives, i think a lot of them will want to go back, a huge rebuilding effort. they are very patriotic, hay care about their homeland, and they want to see it rebuilt. but if we allow ukraine to be exterminated by putin, i think

we're going to see millions more just become permanent refugees or permanent displaced people living in other countries for years to come. neil: ambassador, do you think it was a mistake on our part to nix this polish idea of providing planes for ukraine? >> yeah, absolutely. i still don't understand what the rationale is to not provide equipment to the ukrainians so they can defend themselves. neil: not equipment, this would have been, you know, fraying over air space -- flying over air space and maybe ukrainian soldiers doing that, but -- [inaudible conversations] neil: -- argued that that would invite world war iii. >> well, yeah. you can throw out the world war iii argument every time if you want to. stingers might cause world war iii, humanitarian goods might cause world war iii. putin has said our sanctions against him are an act of war. what we're talking about is the mig 29. they fly them in ukraine.

they have the pilots to be able to do, this would be an additive element to their armed forces. the ukrainians would come in, fly them out. if the poles did not feel comfortable and wanted more top cover from us, they were willing to transfer them from germany t. neil: you would have called putin's bluff on this -- >> absolutely. neil: -- you don't think it's the type of event that some fear. >> yes. there's a story about u.s. grant when he took over forces in the civil war and he found his officers always debating what are confederates going to do this, what if they do that, and he finally interrupted them and said, look, stop thinking about what he's going to do and give me a plan for what we're going to do. and that's exactly where we should be with ukraine right now. putin doesn't want us to enter the conflict. we don't want to either. to be clear, i'm not suggesting

we should. but he is more worried about us helping ukraine than we should be about him dragging us into the war. neil: ambassador, thank you very, very much. good seeing you again. something to think about. >> thank you. neil: selloff ensues. again, these guy rations are based on the skittishness of what's going on in ukraine and failed peace talks again, the fourth such time we've seen that. we trade on these ukraine developments. right now we worry about them. yesterday at this time we were a whole lot less worried about them. ♪ ♪ if you invest in the s&p 500 your portfolio may be too concentrated in big companies. this can leave it imbalanced and exposed when performance varies. invesco's s&p 500 equal weight etf, rsp, is spread equally across the s&p 500, which reduces potential concentration risk and helps keep your portfolio in balance.

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♪ neil: all right, what the market giveth cryptocurrencies end when they were high flying, it taketh away. today maybe it's a reassessment, move on the part of president biden to rein it in or at least examine it.

with us now is brent harrison, u.s. clip to currency exchange president. you know, i know there's this fear that bitcoin, some of these other currencies, can be used by nefarious characters, maybe russian oligarchs to bypass sanctions and restrictions. but that may or may not be true, but i'm wondering if a move to sort of offer more oversight is automatically a bad thing. i think it might give cryptocurrency some street cred and some foundation when you you know it's being treated like a big boy. where are you on this? >> so the u.s. right now is largest capital market in the world, and a big part of that comes from the existence of responsible regulation. think about the u.s. future futures market being as large as it is with the cf, c oversight to insure anti-market manipulation, to insure safeguards against fraud and illicit finance. so some amount of regulation is

important to allow institutions to come in and feel confidence in being able to put their money into this emerging space like cryptocurrency. and i think what we see as positive about the executive order is it wasn't a call to regulate clip to currency one specific way or another, it was a call for people to do research and come back with reports trying to understand what are the areas that really need to be addressed in terms of regulation and what areas don't. neil: so i'm told, i could be wrong and my source could be wrong, that the catalyst for this white house move was an internal report that some of these old oligarchs were using bitcoin, i don't know if it was exclusively bitcoin, to fine ways around this -- oh, we lost him. hopefully we can get him back. charlie gasparino is with us, i know you're here to talk about amazon, but i did want to pick your brain about regulating or finding a way of policing

cryptocurrencies more. i don't know if that's necessarily bad news. but how do you see it? >> listen, i think it is, and here's why. i mean, listen, that might be good news for the country, but -- [laughter] i think it's bad news if you own stuff. and here's why. i know for a fact there are wall street guys that are going to, particularly after of the russian invasion in ukraine, saying, you know, you should -- telling the biden administration you should think about banning it. and why is that? because most crypto -- not most, but a large part of the crypto market is used for illicit activities. and if you are worried about russia, you know, counterfeiting or, you know, russia banks and other buzzes that are barred9 from the regular payment system out of swift and different means of paying in the normal way of doing things, they could turn to crypto to get to finance themselves. i've spoken with a lot of crypto people that say that's pretty

difficult because there's just not that much scale in the crypto market. brad garlinghouse of ripple said that on liz claman's show a couple weeks ago. but this is bouncing around the biden administration, and my guess is when you read between the lines, you've got ready what yellen said before biden signed that order, it sounded like she was saying let's go out there and egg late the hell off the -- regulate the hell out of this. there's a thinking that this stuff is so embedded in the economy right now, at least in the investable economy, that it's going to be the hard to put genie back in the bottle. this thing is out here. i want to get to amazon a little bit, neil, because this is a huge story. we should put up, if we've got a price chart of amazon, it's trade thing at almost $3,000 a share: right about there, it's up $143 today which is a decent gain for a stock of this level. they're going to do a 20 for 1

stock split. we've been reporting about this for the better part of a year. what it took was jeff bezos stepping down. he kind of was enamored with having a $3,000 stock price, and a lot of people close to him said is, the new ceo is in there now, and he's obviously doing what a lot of investors want himmed to do. this going to guarantee people will flock to the stock? the theory is if it's a lesser price, it's more affordable -- by the way, you can still buy fractional shares of stock -- neil: right. >> but it's the sticker value that's pretty scary. plus, if it gets into the dow jones industrial average, that could help spur stock. once it's in that average index funds and things of that nature. so all those combined will, you know, people think will jazz a stock that's been kind of sleepy over last year despite how great amazon's doing as a company. it's quite with remarkable. but we've been reporting. i just want to say the first

story that my producer, ellie territt, pitched to me in april of last year was amazon split story. and, you know, we had to wait a year, but it's right. it's pretty remarkable. the other thing i want to say is don't expect massive gains right out of the box at least according to traders. i mean, today we have a rally on headline, but traders think it'll be gradual. western point out that amazon also build, i believe, a $10 billion stock buyback, check me on that number. i believe that's accurate. meeting, the reason why i don't think it's up higher is because they haven't announced a date for the stock split. that'll be at the next board meeting, and i think that's in may. neil: i thought they were looking at june, that this could become effective in june -- >> yeah, i think you're right. neil: the history with google and apple, you get a little bit of interest in the beginning, but it isn't a single catalyst.

had hay offered a dividend, something microsoft did, you know, apple, maybe that would have changed the equation here. but you don't think there's some sense of just to get into the dow 30 that that this was a desperation move? you know, the last time, what, was 1999 they did it -- how do you see it? >> yeah, i think it's all of the above. i already think the stock -- you know, the company is doing great, but the stock has been underperforming. i think that's kind of what people are looking at. this company that's running world, it's getting into streaming sports and everything else. you know, people relie on amazon so much, but it's got stock price that's plodding along. so getting it in the dow, to have the sticker price not freak you out, i think those are clearly issues. and, you know, listen, the street kind of likes this. but, you know, it's, it remains obscene -- and, by the way, just want to make the point i think

they're going to announce in may, it'll take place in june. i think that's what i've been hearing. neil: i thought that's what i said is. i know it takes effect -- assuming that it does go through. >> no, i'm correcting you. neil: making me laugh. [laughter] charlie, you're the best. [laughter] you know? you line up all the business reporters, all the guys that break news. there's all of those guys and then there's charlie. but, of course, i'll take that back with the admonition he just threw at me here. again, amazon following some of the other big tech titans whose stocks get a little pricey, a quick fix is to chop those prices down to see if you can get more buyers. today they can, today they are. ♪n' happiness. or confidence. but you can invest in them. at t. rowe price our strategic investing approach can help you build

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>> reporter: welcome back to "cavuto coast to coast," i'm hillary vaughn. government funding runs out

tomorrow. the house yesterday passed their version of the spending package, the senate today is considering passing their version. it includes aid for ukraine, over $13 billion. many that ukraine supplement includes $4 billion in humanitarian aid and $1.3 billion in economic aid, but this ukraine package is part of the overall $1.5 trillion spending package that is not fully paid for and will add to the deficit in light of another 40-year high record inflation number, that is a concern on top of senators' minds. we talked with senator joe manchin today, he he said the administration needs to do more to address inflation. do you think inflation now is a threat to our national security because it continues to rise? >> well, it's a threat to the quality of life that people have and are depending on, that's the bottom line. it's the number one enemy we have. >> the administration's done enough to deal with -- >> i think there's a lot more we

can do. >> reporter: the white house is also getting babb lash from republicans for not doing enough to bring down gas prices after president biden told reporters he can't do much about it and that it's russia's fault. >> the biden administration has tried to evince some laugh out loud revisionist history. they're trying to rebrand the entire increase in gas prices on their watch, listen to this, as an effect of putin's recent invasion of ukraine. >> reporter: but not all senate republicans are rooting for this increase in spending. nine senators want a cbo score before they vote for it, and senator braun told me moments ago that republicans should not vote for spending package if they also say they care about inflation. we'll have more "cavuto coast to coast" coming up. ♪ ♪

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neil: more than two weeks in to the war in many ukraine, and is vladimir putin getting desperate and a whole lot frustrated, and could he do something like unthinkable use of chemical weapons? don't rule it out. they're fearing just that. david spunt at the state

department. >> reporter: hi, neil. this was a worldwide threat series, the head of the fbi, the head of the national security agency, also the cia and the director of national intelligence grilled by u.s. senates on intelligence committee about what putin, as you mentioned, may be capable of. this was a worldwide threats hearing, though the main topic was russia; specifically, what happened yesterday at chernobyl. that is, of course, the site of the nuclear accident in 1986 north of kyiv. we know that that went off the power grid yesterday. according to yawnen power officials -- ukrainian power officials, they say this was at the hands of russian officials. the iaea put out a statement saying no critical impact on safety. here a bit from today's hearing with the director of national intelligence and other senators. listen. >> this man's barbarism is a shocking opening chapter in the return of history.

and now we must prepare ourselves for this new era where, frankly, greater dangers lie ahead. vladimir putin's claim is meritless but familiar, that his is a powerful company and, therefore, he has the right to make vassals of his neighbors. >> reporter: intelligence officials kept coming back to the phrase putin's playbook. we've heard it over and over again. it included the russian claim that ukraine is pursuing biological weapon attacks with the help of the united states. but listen to the facts right here. >> -- not believe of that ukraine is pursuing biological or nuclear weapons, we've seen no influence of that and, frankly, this influence campaign is completely -- bioweapons work in former soviet union, so this is a classic move by the russians. >> reporter: neil, with respect to that chernobyl site

going off the power grid, dni director haines was asked about that by a senator. she said it's something we're monitor, but it's not an all-out crisis is at this point. the head of the iaea who monitors all this nuclear science around world, he is in turkey today urging, urging the safety and security of the nuclear facilities in ukraine. neil? neil: yeah. let us hope so. david spunt, thank you very much. thomas grant is us right now, the former special assistant to president bush on these and so many other national security matters. i'm curious, how real a threat is that? it seems unthinkable, but we've seen despots use chemical weapons before. what about here? >> yes, i mean, look, i think the risk is small many, but it's not zero. and we know that the russians are used chemical weapons many individual cases over the past several years against alexei

navalny, a leading opposition figure just a year and a half ago, against a former spy in england three or four years back. so they're certainly capable of using them, but it's something that we have to be concerned about in the current situation. neil: does it get to be potentially more likely the more trouble and frustration vladimir putin has,s you know, with attack on ukraine and that he gets desperate? if. >> that's certainly a concern. we do know that this invasion has not gone as anticipated. putin thought that he would be in kyiv and have to depose the zelenskyy government three or four days into the operation maximum. we're now in the third week. we've seen a step-up of his assaults on urban centers against civilian infrastructure, against civilians over the past few days. the situation turns even more dire from putin's perspective, and i think we have to worry

increasingly about the desperate steps he might take to save his situation. neil: so as you see it now, are you getting any signs of desperation out of putin? these deliberate attacks on hospitals and civilian centers, apartment buildings, apparently targeting to, you know, two nuke hard facilities coming within 1500 feet of the chernobyl one, the reactor. that does show dicey behavior. >> it is dicey behavior, but i don't think he's reached real desperation at this point. it's a slog for him. they're making slight progress. the telling factor here, to my mind, is going to be russian casualties. the russian media has done a very good job of concealing those casualty figures from the russian public at this point. but as the numbers mount, that's going to be increasingly difficult to do, and that is the one thing that'll begin to turn the russian population against this war effort. and that, i think, are will have

an impact on way putin behaves going forward. neil: all right. we'll watch closely. thomas graham, thank you very much. we're going take a quick break, want to let you know that new jersey is toying with dropping its gas tack to help new jerseyans, a number of legislators are pushing for that as they are in states like illinois, california, new jersey. the governor has been coy on this, but it's a big tax. it's 42 cents in new jersey. there's also a move afoot to temporarily suspend the federal gas tax, that would be 18 cents. for how long, anyone's guess. who knows. we'll have more after this. . it has the power to change the way we see things. ♪♪ it inspires us to go further. ♪♪ . .

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neil: let's go to my buddy charles payne to see how we get through this down market right now. now as down as it was. to you, charles. charles: it is looking for a reason to stop going down, neil. we'll explore all of that. thank you very much, my friend. i'm charles payne. this is "making money." nothing positive on the diplomatic front as russia sticks to its outlandish demands. inflation is as bad as everyone thought, as we know it will get worse major indices and amazon trying to bust out the old playbook. not all countries are ending business in russia.