to see a continuation of that trend. i think it'll be really constructive. maria: and, of course, the big topic of conversation is the debt ceiling, are hay going to get this done, or is biden not going to go along with strings attached? >> i think we'll see some more back and forth, we'll see what public opinion is, how the needle moves when you get closer to that date, and hopefully they do something for once instead of kicking the can -- >> i'll take odds on that9 bet. [laughter] maria: i don't know if the markets actually care? >> i think we've been trained, right, to expect a a last minute resolution that's less than ideal, but it will get resolved and we'll sort through the mess and uncertainty afterwards. maria: great show, everybody. lee zeldin, adam johnson, have a great day. "varney & company" picks it up from here. thanks for being here. stu, take it away. stuart: good morning, maria. good morning, everyone. put elon musk on the screen, and people watch, yes, they do. he's got an opinion on

everything, he makes a lot of money, and he makes things happen. last might on tucker, part two of the big musk interview and, again, he dealt with the big new thing, artificial intelligence. he's so worried by it that he thinks the government should have a contingency plan in case things go wrong. lauren's going to tell us what else he had to say just a little later. let's get to the markets, the dow industrials looking for a small loss today, down about 120. nothing small about that. nasdaq down about 112 points. red ink on the left-hand side of the screen. interest rates not helping stocks this morning, the 10-year yield at 3.62%, but look at the 2-year, powering to, what, 4.25%some almost, 4.24. this is called a rate inversion. short-term rates ahead of long-term rates. that suggests a recession is coming. we'll see. oil holding around $80 a barrel, $79.55. gas prices though, they're moving and rising. the national average for a gallon of regular up 1 cent,

$3.68, is the price. but look at the midwest. gasbuddy forecasts a spike, and it's happening. illinois up 44 cents in a month, minnesota, iowa, nebraska, i think kansas is in there too, up 30 cents or more in a month. whoa, arizona up a whopping 69 cents a gallon in one month. $4.66, is the average there right now. let's get to the cryptos. bitcoin has dropped below the $30,000 level, 29,2 is where it's at. etherium also down below 2,000, $1,977 is your price there. on the show today, working people in america have taken what amounts to a pay cut for the last two years. biden says the economy's doing just fine. calls to impeach border e chief alejandro mayorkas to his face. lawmakers told him he's a failure. but is he? he's speeded up the immigration process, made it more efficient, and that the's exactly what his boss, the president, want wants

him to do. check this out, renaldo gets $200 million to play soccer -- football -- in saudi arabia, and he puts an opponent in a headlock. no red card. we cover it all. wednesday, april 19th, 2023. "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ ♪ just gonna stand there and hear me cry ♪ ♪ that's all right because i love the way you lie ♪ stuart: interesting music, i must say. it is wednesday and that's midtown the manhattan. cloudy today. they're lauren that's what i was saying -- stuart: not so busy. it's supposed to be busy because it's wednesday, midweek, not a monday or a friday, but it's it's not. all right. part two of tucker's interview with elon musk aired last night,

musk again warned about the dangers of a.i. what have we got, lauren? lauren: everyone thinks of that doomsday scenario when the robots take us over. but elon musk was talking about another disturbing scenario, the training by certain humans of this artificial intelligence to manifest their world view of both politics and history. like a big silicon valley-minded frankenstein group think unleashed. elon musk says that is the equivalent of training a.i. to lie, and it could influence the ballot box. >> i raise the concern of a.i. being a significant influence in elections. and even if you say that a.i. doesn't have agency, well, it's very likely that people will use the a.i. as a tool. in elections. you know, if a.i.'s smart enough, are they using the tool, or is the tool using them? so i think things are getting weird, and they're getting weird fast.

lauren: i didn't think of that. but he said in that interview, look, chatgpt writes better than human beings, it just does. it could write a social media post really convincingly. that that social media post shapes public if opinion, and that's just one little, little, little example of the power of a.i. stuart: throughout the show today we'll have what else musk had to say about a.i. st it's quite some spectacular stuff. lauren: things are getting weird. stuart: yes, they are. look who's here now, the man himself, sean duffy. sean, you embraced crypto, i know you did. you've still got your arms around them. are you ready to embrace artificial intelligence, or are you scared of it? >> i don't think we have a choice, stuart. i think it's coming, and i think it's interesting to the hear a guy like elon musk talk about the concerns that we should have, the power of a.i. and how it can influence people, the way they think about their families, their neighbors, politics, all those issues that we have to consider. there's also wonderful things that are going to come from this.

how more effective will your doctor be analyzing, you know, your blood results or, you know, the results of a x-ray with regard to broken bones. those are all issues that i think are going to make our lives way were the. hearing this let's take a pause, this is what elon musk was talking about, take a pause for six months. the problem is if america takes a pause, the rest of the world does not. china doesn't take a pause, and to you fall six months behind in an industry that's moving ahead at light are speed, it's very concerning. now, i like the fact that elon musk is say saying, hey, we should have some truth around a.i., and i want to be part of that truth mission. some people will say, well, he's sold out to china, he's building battery factories in china and building his cars in china. but you know what? he's been a fair player for the most part at twitter, i think he could be a fair player here. you need more balanced rich people to get involved in this space, just don't have left-wingers pushing their ideology through a.i., changing

the way we think for the lefties in america. stuart: yeah, left-wingers changing the way we think. not elon musk. would you stay there, please, sean. i've got more for you in just a moment. i want to turn to the stock market right now, losses at the opening bell this morning, especially the nasdaq. down about 100 points. eddie ghabour is back with us this wednesday morning. eddie, are you still looking for a big market selloff soon and then a rebound, a big rebound this summer? >> absolutely. we think the rebound will be more in the fourth quarter, but we've warned our clients that we think this quarter or is going to be the one that shows the most rate of change in a negative way for earnings, for the economy. and you have that simultaneously going to happen and hit at the same time we get into the heat of this debate on the debt ceiling. and in typical d.c. fashion, we don't expect anything to happen until the 19th hour, and there could -- 11th hour, and there can be a lot of damage done in

conjunction with bad economic data and fear that we think will bring the market to new lows. and then we'll be buying in the summer and into the early fall -- stuart: you keep using that expression, new lows. if you get a new low on the s&p 500, you're taking it from 4100 down to 3000. that's a huge drop and a very sudden, huge drop. are you sticking with that, a huge drop in the immediate future? >> yes, we are, because we don't think this market has properly priced in what's happening under the hood economically. i mean, look, one thing i'll point out is anyone paying attention to these credit default swaps on the u.s. treasury and insurance companies and financials continue to increase. so we're staying range-bound here near term, and someone has on the right. either the bond market and credit markets are right or the stock market is right. i'm betting on the credit and bond markets are being correct and predicting what's happening here in the future. stuart: last one real a fast, 30

seconds, tell me why you think amazon is the best company to gauge the consumer. >> well, i think that's the best gauge for middle america because that's where a lot of the purchases happen. and they have warned also with many other companies that there has been a change in behavior of spending. and that's why they're laying people off. you know, these companies are doing this not because heir going to see an is acceleration in earnings or demand, but they're seeing a deceleration. inventories are up, prices are down, and that means profits are down. and if that happens, stock prices must follow, in my opinion. stuart: i'm dying to see you change your opinion, but it's not just yet. eddie ghabour, we'll see you again soon, i know we will. thank you very much. >> thank you. stuart: all right. that's the markets. let's get back to politics and the 2024 election. governor desantis is seen as the main challenger to donald trump, but, lauren, i think desantis' popularity is slipping just a little? lauren: i think that's fair, but it's early, and iowa is still nine months away. there's chatter though that key

donors, financial backers, they're keeping their powder dry right now. they're worried that desantis has moved too far to the right on the big cultural issues. they think that might alienate the independents and then he can't win the white house. ron desantis still hasn't announced a presidential run yet, right in so we're talking about this, and he might be making moves, but he hasn't announced. there are 20 republicans representing the state of florida in the house of representatives. one has endorsed desantis. that's congresswoman laurel lee. she had been desantis' secretary of state. seven others have thrown their support behind donald trump. stuart: that's fascinating. lauren: byron donalds, matt9 gaits and john rutherford, just some of of them. ken griffin reportedly deciding he will stick with ron desantis, he donated $50 million plus to republicans in the past midterms. stuart: this is fascinating. lauren: you've got to follow the money sometimes but when you have seven republicans who love

what desantis is doing in florida backing trump -- stuart: the writing is on the wall. the former governor of arkansas, asa hutchinson, he's going after trump. watch this. >> why does the party need to move on if from donald trump? >> because donald trump has taken us back to bitterness, he's taken us back to, you know, what's a personal venn debt a that. whenever you look -- vendetta, whenever you look at what he wants to do as president, it's more about getting even with his political enemies, and that concerns me. stuart: sean, are you in the camp that says trump's policy is good, but his style is bad? >> so i'm in the camp of, yes, his policies have been remarkable for the american economy. our foreign policy was way better under trump. i don't love everything he does, stuart, in regard to how he engages the public. i think he could be smarter on that. but what president has had the

fbi, the cia, the doj lie about them from before they came into office, feed those stories to the media and tell the media and the american people that he colluded with russia? it was an absolute false story. 'd t make you pretty angry. stuart varney, you would be really ticked off if they did that to you. donald trump or is no different. and i think republicans look at him and are, like, i don't like always the style, but he's a fighter. listen, ron desantis, i think he's slipping for a number of reasons, but these big donors say, well, ron's going too far to the right. ron desantis has to win a primary, and the primary voters are on the right. you can't look at a general election million you win a primary election, and so ron desantis is actually smart to come to the right and challenge trump in that space. but if you're a donor you're going, listen, as lauren just mentioned, donald trump's pulling away. it's not getting closer. there's a lot of road left to run, but it's not getting right ther. donald trump seems to be running

away with this right now, and this legal case in new york is causing that as well. stuart: that's true. sean, we're going to be watching you on "the bottom line," 6 p.m. eastern with dagen. thanks very much, see you later. karine jean-pierre defended president biden over his recent family vacation in ireland. roll tape. >> let's be very, very clear, it is consistent with other presidents when they've had family travel with them abroad, this is nothing new. we did nothing different than past presidents, and so, yes, they paid for their way. stuart: okay, but we're going to ask again, does china have something on the biden family? republicans demand that the administration stop inviting tiktok influencers to the white house. they're warning of a serious national security threat from an aggressive china. missouri congressman mark alford leading charge. he is next. ♪ ♪ ♪

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♪ stuart: the epa administrator will be grilled on capitol hill today over the recent slew of green regulations from the white house. grady trimble is with us. what are republicans saying about these new rules, grady? >> reporter: stu, whether it's clean water rules, ev and gas stove regulations, republicans say these are all examples of the biden administrations overstepping its authority to push its green energy agenda. today's hearing in the house will be the first time republican lawmakers have a chance to grill the epa administrator since he announced new tailpipe emission standards last week. that, of course, part of the biden administration's push to get more americans in electric

vehicles. separately, the department of energy has proposed new gas stove rules that could block the sale of about half of the gas stove models on the market right now. gop lawmakers are pushing back against that as well saying the rules will raise costs for americans. >> let the forces of the market and innovation drive this transition, not the heavy hand of joe biden and the democrats. this is all part of their green hallucination. they're pursuing the really almost like a religion, this ideology of climate. and the sad part about it, the losers are going to be the american people, and the winners are going to be russia and china. >> reporter: meanwhile, there's been a push in major cities to ban natural gas in new construction. well, that effort could be going up in flames. a federal judge sided with restaurant owners in berkeley, california, who argued that banning natural gas in new

buildings, stu, is a violation of federal law. stu? stuart: grade key, thank you very much, indeed. congressman mark alford, republican from the great state of missouri, joins me now. congressman, you're going to be questioning the epa administrator today. if we ban gas stoves or other appliances using natural gas, does it reallythat much? >> stuart, of course it doesn't. but that's not the purpose of this administration. this administration is attempting to gain as much control as they can. instead of using a stick and carrot, they're using a stick to whack it over the heads of the american people. a couple of months ago when this story first came out that they were going to try to ban gas stoves, this president, this administration tried to gaslight the american people saying, oh, no, we're not doing that. now the truth is coming out. we are going to grill the secretary today as he is before the ag committee to find out the truth in this this matter and why this administration insists on really changing america for

the worse. stuart: got it. now, congressman, you don't like tiktok influencers at the white house. [laughter] i don't know whether has got anything to do with climate rules or not, but you don't like these guys at the white house. what's the problem? >> well, here's problem, the communist chinese party controls tiktok. people have to wake up. 140 million users in the u.s. currently are using tiktok. they think it's a sweet, innocent thing, but the chinese communist government, the party, is able to the spy if on everyday americans who are using this the to get their ip addresses, information in their phone and sometimes in their computers. what they're doing with that information, i have no idea, but the communist chinese government does not need to be spying on 140 million americans, and we certainly do not need these influencers inside the white house. president biden wants them in there to have his own briefing room with them, and this is really tantamount to the rooster inviting the fox into the henhouse. stuart: i understand the security angle here, but i know

a lot of people who actually run businesses on tiktok. and they tell me that tiktok is just better at doing reels, for example, it's a true competitor in the marketplace, and it's better than the competition. how do you respond to that? >> well, look, i'm all for capitalism, i'm all for a free market system, but when you have something that is a national security threat, why do you think it is better? because the chinese communist government has made it better than facebook and its stories and instagram. i think the market will catch up to this once tiktok is out of the picture, it's no longer a viable option, or if the chinese communist government wants to sell off to some other concern that they do not have control over, we would be for that. but until then, we have to realize, with we've got to wake up that china is the biggest threat to our national security, and we better make sure that our house is made of brick and not straw, because the big, bad wolf

is huffing and puffing at our door. stuart: congressman mark alford, with we do hear you. thank you for joining us. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: the education secretary was questioned about china's influence on our education system. what did he have to say? lauren: nothing really. he did not know if china was trying to influence higher education. i found that shocking coming from the fact that, you know, china's infiltrating our higher education universities for years now, and we just don't seem to acknowledge it or take it seriously. listen to what he said to congressman here. >> are you aware of efforts to influence u.s. education by the chinese communist party in this. >> no, sir, i don't have any information if around specific efforts to try to -- >> okay. are you familiar with the confucian institutes, confucius institutes? >> i don't have information on

the confucius institutes now, but i can -- i'm sure my team may be aware of it, and we can look into that. lauren: the confucius students are funded by china. they had been in over 100 colleges teaching students that there are no human rights abuses in china, and taiwan was undisputed chinese territory. several reports have slammed these institutes as waging a soft war against the u.s., and since many have closed, but they do still exist, and our education secretary doesn't have is information on them. stuart: that reminds me mayorkas not knowing anything about the wristbands that the cartels use -- lauren: a astonishing and sad. stuart: on the futures market right now with a few minutes to go before the market opens, this would be some red ink, especially the nasdaq, down 111. the opening of wall street next. ♪ makes me feel alive. ♪ baby, i been, i been losing sleep -- ♪ dreaming about the things that we could be ♪

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stuart: a little worrying if you're looking at the nasdaq this morning, down about 100 points at the opening bell. shah gilani's here. let me completely reverse course. do you think there's any chance

of a melt-up on the stock market? >> yes, there is definitely a possibility of a melt-up, stuart. i wouldn't put a high probability number on it, but a possibility, absolutely. on account of the fact that the markets are close to some resistance levels, and investors are looking at those. if we get above those resis a dance levels -- resistance levels, if earnings are better than expected, there could be a lot of money that comes off the sidelines as in the fomo, fear of missing out, type trade. we've got something like $5.3 trillion in money market funds now, we've got institutional investors who are mostly short now might have to cover in a hurry. so, yes, the possibility of a melt-up is out there. stuart: suppose the federal reserve next month did not raise interest rates. would that give us a melt-up? >> no, i don't think so, stuart. i think the melt-up will be more mechanically based. again, as i said earlier, as far

as earnings, the remaining reporting period's important for investors. if earnings are better than expected, they might think that the worst is behind us, and if analysts start raising estimates for the second half of the year, investors might look at that as, well, if we don't see a rate in may, then we know we have a pause. what comes after the pause? if inflation does anything we'd like to see it do, that means probably a rate cut. when? i would say probably not until next year, but investors would try and font-run that and maybe -- front-run that that and maybe get back in the market. we have a few hurdles to get over before investors take that leap of faith. stuart: okay. just keep that melt-up idea in your head. shah gilani, you're all right. thanks for joining us, sir. the market's about to open, it will open on the downside. i'm going to pay particular attention to the nasdaq which i think is going the on the quite sharply lore, probably down about 100 points, and that a may with in part because interest rates, the 2-year treasury

yield, rising to above 4.25%. nasdaq investors don't like that, and here we go. the dow has opened with a loss of 103, 104 points. about three-quarters of the dow 30 are losers. we've just got six or seven winners in the dow 30. the s&p 500 also to the downside, a loss there of about a half percentage point. the nasdaq composite is down about three-quarters of 1%. let's get to the big tech stocks. where are they now? apple, microsoft, amazon, alphabet, meta platforms, they're all down, 2% down on meta, back to 2 the 13. susan: we'll get to that in just a minute, a headline that just crossed. stuart: they've got some kind of job cuts. first of all, let's deal with netflix. good news on the password -- susan: maybe not for the stock, but for stu varney, there's a delay in the cracking down on password sharing for the 100 million netflix watchers that that don't have their own account. but as for the actual report card itself, you only had 1.75

new sign-ups, and wall street was looking for that 2.3 million plus number, so that was disappointing. sales were up less than 4%, so that's a slight miss as well. profits did come in better, but globally 232 the million netflix subscribers around the world, that is huge. also remember that they cut prices in emerging markets like asia, latin america and middle east. so if you look at the actual margins and is how much they're making per user, that actually wasn't as much as wall street had anticipated. but there was some relief, i think if you look at some of the price argument the hikes which i was surprised by, you had a full grown up grade at ubs, calling it -- upgrade, web bush added the stock to the best ideas look and deutsche bank going all the way to 410 for the stock, so that's some pretty good upside. no more dvds, stu, after 25 years. 5.2 billion dvds shipped during that quarter century,

netflix says the last dvd will mail the fall -- this fall. stuart: what a shame. susan: you don't get -- [laughter] i have to double check some of this this. it's up 13% -- stuart can we get to morgan stanley? big bank there. susan: huge, yes. but the deals are drying up. so, you know, i actually thought it wasn't a terrible quarter. it was better than expected sales and profits to start this year. but like goldman sachs, you have investment banking, tough going especially with higher interest rates. so investment banking revenue actually went down by a quarter to start this year, roughly in line with what goldman just put in yesterday. wealth management held up pretty well. i think it makes sense because it now is a majority, a big chunk of morgan's business representing over 40%. here's the silicon valley bank fallout, western alliance, great indicator on what to expect from these regional, smaller banks and whether or not they have been losing money to these large, too big to fail institutions. western alliance, better than expected numbers.

they said deposits are recovering and going back up this month of after falling 11% last month. and then citizens financial, which is another smaller lender, also missed on their report card, drop of 5% in their deposits. and just one more, if we can bring up synchrony, that's a big decline, accounts going down because of the svb collapse by 1%. stuart: there's a lot of news today. i i want to hear about tesla, because i believe they've just cut the price again on the model 3 and the model y. susan: six price cuts this year. the big number tonight in that report card will be automotive margins, how much do they make per car sold. magic number will be 20%, and i think anything below that will be disappointing to wall street and analysts. so musk cutting prices again for the model 3, model ys, $3,000 discount each, and that means -- here's the big part -- the model 3 base model now closer to the original advertised price of

$35,000. remember when it was released, it was going to be the every man car? you're sub-40,000, right? so we're closer. stuart: so you could get a tesla model 3 -- >> base model, no adtives. stuart: and few if you got the,7,500 tax credit -- susan: they're only able to get the $3,500. stuart: that's the bare bones model -- susan: which nobody gets. we kind of already know they delivered a record 422,000 to to start this year, so we know what sales will be. but i think profit will be the question if they're cutting prices. i will be very interested to hear if there's going to be some sort of share buyback, because you heard elon musk saying he wants to institute a buyback this year of up to 10 billion. stuart: and will he be on the call. let's get to disney and meta in particular because i know we've got some job cuts there. susan: the headline just

crossed, meta, apparently, has now started tear latest round of layoffs, and they're focusing on technical jobs that will be laid off, so hi of graphics, software and even software engineering and user interface, other roles as well. this is part of that second round of 10,000 job cuts on top of the 11,000 that was announced in november. but think about it, cost cutting is the reason why this stock is up about 70% in the first four months of this year. i think disney is following suit as well, cutting down on cots, starting thousands -- costs, starting thousands of layoffs next week. and that includes 15% of the entertainment division according to bloomberg that will be cut. so this is part of that three rounds, 7,000 job cuts that will be done at the house of mouse by the end of the summer. also, by the way, i wanted to check in on roku, but we'll do that another time. stuart: how about united airlines? i know they reported a lost, but they forecast good time thes ahead. susan: they preannounced these numbers, so we knew what they were going to get in terms of sales.

the fact they started off with losses is because they had to pay higher labor costs and also jet fuel. we know there is strong travel demand that they see in the springtime and through to the summer, so that revenge travel season will continue. think that's pretty much been priced in, don't you think? stuart: yes, i do. my buck says that the dow will close higher this afternoon. susan: you think? stuart: i've just got $1 on it. coming up, senator roger marshall wants a vote of no confidence on dhs chief alejandro mayorkas. >> mr. secretary, you arer the derelict in your duties. that's why i have a draft resolution that i intend to introduce in the coming days that would require the senate to take vote of no confidence on secretary mayorkas. stuart: okay. so here's my question, so what if mayorkas is impeached? what will it really change? senator mar a shall is here shortly -- marshall is here shortly. ♪ you've got to get yourself

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stuart: on the markets this morning, we've opened with a loss. dow's now down 1 is 00, and the nasdaq's down a mere 76. service the worse earlier. a new poll reveals americans have never been more negative about the economy than they are right now. jacqui heinrich is with us. all right, spell if it out, please. how bad is it? >> reporter: well, stuart, it is the highest percentage of people in this survey's 17-year history, now saying they hold negative views about economy both now and in the future. only 12% are saying they feel optimistic with 69% saying they feel pessimistic amid worry about inflation, high interest rates and the risk of a recession. but the president's trying to

redistrict some of that blame to house speaker ken mccarthy after his speech -- kevin mccarthy after his speech on monday saying the real financial peril will come if congress does not raise the debt ceiling and allow the government to meet its financial obligations. mccarthy told wall street on monday that he just can't pass a bill to the raise the debt limit without massive federal spending cuts attached. >> he threatened to become the first speaker to default on our national debt which took over 230 years to accumulate. he's threatened to be the first one to default on the debt which throws in a gigantic recession and beyond unless he gets what he wants. >> reporter: today biden heads to maryland where the white house says he will criticize mccarthy and the house gop for slashing programs, proposing to slash programs like veterans' health, opioid treatment and childcare with their spending cap requests, and democrats have been trying to show that they're aligned on hair demands to pass a no strings attached bill to

raise the debt ceiling after a white house call with congressional leadership yesterday. the white house writing in a statement the, president biden, leader schumer and leader jeffreys agree that we won't negotiate over default, and republicans should pass a clean bill like they did three times in the previous administration. but some house democrats today are signaling that heir going to break that lockstep. the house problem solvers' caucus voted to support a bipartisan proposal that would lift the debt ceiling for six months while also finding ways to cut and reduce the debt. so some house democrats now signaling that they just don't want to wait and are going to break this brinksmanship, stuart. stuart: well done, you got through the entire report without a leaf blower in the background -- >> reporter: it's an achievement, thank you. [laughter] stuart: we'll get back to you real soon, and that's a promise. a new op-ed: biden's economy stuck between a rock and a hard

place. doug schoen is a democrat, and he wrote that that, and doug is back and joins us now. okay, doug, or let's spell this out. what's the rock, what's the hard place, and is the economy going to hurt biden in 2024? >> sure. well, the rock is high interest rates, rapid increase, the pecker of continued inflation -- the specter of continued inflation at a high level and the possibility of a, as jacqui heinrich was saying, crippling recession if, in fact, there is issues about the debt ceiling. so so there's no good economic news out there, and it's clearly suppressing the president's own approval rating. stuart: i don't think he's going to run. i don't think the democrats will let him run. you're a democrat, very much inside the party. what do you say? >> i, i take a slightly different view. i think he's going to run,

stuart, as long as he is able to run. and i think the democrats will probably support him even if they have private doubts about him simply because there's nobody on the bench who offers a credible alternative. stuart: well, what's your judgment though? do you think he is capable of running, capable of going through a campaign and then capable of running the government for four more years? >> well, it is hard for me to speak about the future, but i can talk about the campaign. and having been in the white house with bill clinton, running a rose garden strategy is not a difficult process to engage in. it's not quite the same as living as he did in his basement in wilmington, but it's pretty darn close. people come to you, the media comes to you. you don't really have to campaign that broadly. so my suspicion is that he's

going to make every effort to run and that the process will favor someone who has at least the skills necessary to project a message. stuart: during the campaign hoe the he'll have a very hard time escaping the media, not answering any questions. that's going on the a very difficult thing for him to pull off. last 20 seconds to you, doug schoen. >> yeah. and he's done a pretty good job in his first term of dodging the media, and my guess is as the campaign goes on and the republicans fight among themselves as appears likely, he will do a better and better job trying to duck the media and not answer substantive questions. i don't think -- stuart: if asked, would you help his campaign? would you work on his campaign? >> you know, i believe the republicans are so divisive and so extreme with the 6-week abortion ban and permitless

carry in florida that i would help him. but the problem solvers' caucus with their restrictions on spending are where my heart is. stuart: okay. doug schoen, welcome back. good to see you again. >> thank you for having me. stuart: thanks. all right, we know now that wages just have not kept up with inflation. we've got that. how bad with -- i want to know how bad is it? have we got any numbers on that? lauren: when you look at real earnings, real wages which adjust for inflation, they have declined every single month since april of 2021. two years of treading water, being underwater. the heritage foundation put the number on it, can and there it is, $7400. they say families have lost $7400 as a result of both high prices and the increased cost of borrowing. that's a lot of money in two years just out the door, and nothing you can do to change it. even though your wages are going up, even though you have is a job and you got a raise, it's

being eaten at because of inflation. stuart: going nowhere. what is this about people going deeper and deeper into debt because of these apps where you buy now, pay it a later? lauren: it was supposed to help you pay for, like, a designer bag, right? a luxury. people are using it for necessities like food. they're at the grocery store. i'm scared to go with to grocery shopping, it's always at least $500 because you have to feed a family. they're opting to use buy now, pay later which is just so sad because they can spread the payments out without accruing interest, but they're doing that over and over and over again. it's a major, major problem. you know what happens when you go to the food store and you take the kids? they want a toy, they want this, they want that. that bill just gets bigger and bigger, and because it's free money at the time, americans are saying i'll spend much more than i can afford, and heir going -- they're going even further into debt. stuart: if you have six kids like i do, you learn to say no.

lauren: so what's the secret? stuart: just say no, be firm. [laughter] i'll come grocery shopping with you. lauren: i try the it all the time. stuart: so the real question is, are you better off now than two years agosome that's a good question, isn't it? that will be my take at the top of the next hour. tomorrow is 4/20 the, otherwise known as weed day, and it turns out we're spending more money on weed than we are on chocolate. what does kennedy make of that? she's going to be here later. as we get ready for summer, you may want to rethink your travel plans. fliers, air crafl -- flyers could face soaring fares. i'm sure you want to hear about that. it's next. ♪ ♪ time to fly ♪

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i screwed up. -mhm. i got us t-mobile home internet. ah! now cell phone users have priority over us. and your marriage survived that? you can almost feel the drag when people walk by with their phones. oh i can't hear you... you're froze-- ladies, please! you put it on airplane mode when you pass our house. i was trying to work. we're workin' it too. yeah! work it girl! -woo! i want to hear you say it out loud. well, i could switch us to xfinity. those smiles. that's why i do what i do. that and the paycheck.

♪ stuart: flying blind, that doesn't look good, does it? we are just a month away from the official kickoff of summer, but it you're planning a trip on a plane, you better pack your patience and extra money too. connell mcshane with us. go ahead, give us the bad news. >> reporter: well, in a weird

way, the good news is actually the bad news, stuart. in other words, good news for the airlines is bad news for the rest of us because a lot of people, hay want to fly. they want to travel, and that's one of the reasons it hooks like you are, indeed, going to be paying more to travel this summer. think about what united airlines said last night when united reported earnings. it reported a losses in the most recent quarter but says it'll be profit profitable again quarter and said command is really quite strong. in fact, the ceo says especially international demand has been really strong of late. comments were similar in many ways to what we heard from the delta ceo in recent weeks. and if you look at the numbers, airline fares went up by 17.7% in march from the year before. you know, that's before the busy season even kicks in, and in an lists are calling for them to -- in an lists are calling for them to go up even more. there's also limits on the number of flights they can fly because of the pilot shortage and delayed aircraft deliveries playing a role as well with some

analysts adding many that airlines are also starting to pass along some of the costs associated with going green. what's frustrating, of course, in all of this for the passengers is the higher fares don't always translate into better and faster service. the technical problems at southwest yesterday just the latest high profile headache for travelers. of -- >> kind of ruined my plans, but, i mean, i'll just get work done since it was my only ride here. i could get dropped off early this morning. >> what are we supposed to do? it's ridiculous. it's lies. they can't even give us a direct answer. >> reporter: so there you have it, stuart. you will end up, you will end up paying more when you travel this summer, and you will probably get less or at least have to put up with whatever comes your way. you're welcome. stuart: well, i did ask for the bad news, and i guess that's what we got. connell, see you later. still ahead on this program, kansas senator roger marshall, kennedy, dr. marty makary and

former education secretary, a real star guest, betsy devos. the 10:00 hour is next. ♪ ♪ oh, or well, i guess we're gonna find out. ♪ let's see how far we've come. ♪ let's see how far we've come. ♪ i believe it all is coming to an end. ♪ oh, well, i guess we're gonna pretend ♪ ..

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