hi, everybody. welcome to the "the wall street journal report" i'm maria bartiromo. the dow breaks through a milestone them nasdaq not far behind. it is time to buy, sell or hold? super tuesday approaches. will it be the final chapter to crown a nominee or the beginning of a long drawn out battle. and hiring, hiring and working in the brave new world and how to make employers want to invest in you. the "the wall street journal report" begins right now. >> this is america's number one financial news program, "the wall street journal report." now maria bartiromo. >> here's a look at what's

making news as we head to a new week on wall street. america's economy is doing better than first thought. the first revision of the gross domestic product showed group growth at 3%. that is increase from 2.8%. the gdp is the broadest measure of the strength and size of america's economy. well, after toying with it for days the dow jones industrial average closed above 13,000 on tuesday of this the week. for the first time since may of 2008. though it did not hold later in the week. the nasdaq flirted with a milestone reaching 3,000 on wednesday. the highest level since december of 2000. ben bernanke testified before congress in his semi annual testimony. he made no mention of further easing by ned and said the jobs market is still far from normal. consumers opened their wallets in february. store sales up 4.7% over last year giving retailers a head start on the spring selling season. 80% of retailers beat analyst

expectations. auto sales are roaring forward. chrysler up 40% for the month of february. ford up 14%, gm up 1% and toyota up 12.4% higher. that's a pace of 15.1 million annual auto sales the best number since february of 2008. the intersection of politics, economics and business is a crowded corner and it grows more important all the time. one of the smartest guys in the room when it comes to all three is ian bremmer, president of the eurasia group. good to have you on the program. >> good to be here. >> let's start with the economy. fourth quarter gdp stronger than expected in the united states. the dow breaking through 13,000 and here we are talking about records. the nasdaq touchesing 3,000. is it time to feel better about things in the u.s. >> i think it is and not just because we are seeing better consumer confidence and unemployment broken through the numbers that six months ago people were saying we weren't going to hit but looking at the

global environment, the things concerning ceos at the beginning of the year that could crimp the united states was the europeans falling apart. i think looking out to europe right now that worst-case scenario is taken off of the agenda. the thing that is worrying us the next six months oil prices. that's where there is potential to have an externality that could have a negative impact on the u.s. economy. >> we got another lending facility for the european central bank and that seems to be stabilizing things. it is creating that perception. >> i think what we are seeing is if the germans in pushing as hard as they have on austerity it is not that they are going to make greece work but they are getting enough support from within germany and the northern europeans as a whole to build toward some kind of fiscal compact. which means europe structurally works more effectively and combine that with more lending and you avoid the worse-case

scenarios. europe stays together, the euro looks stronger and people are willing to invest again. >> the wild card for the u.s. has been if europe accelerates to the down side that will spill over here. the chairman of the fed this week gave no hint of more quantitative easing. a lot of people were trying to parche his words when he spoke to see if we are going to get more stimulus from the fed. doesn't look like we are. >> with the leads you offered from the top of the segment, there rant lot of folks in washington that are clamoring for additional stimulus. >> let's talk about the price of oil. you hit on an important point. you don't think that israel will attack iran. you don't think that that is going to create a problem for oil. tell me how you see the middle east working in the country? >> israel does not want to attack iran. they want us to think they do. that's a different story. they really want the united states to attack iran, but we

don't want to which puts the israelis in to a country none drum. how do they get america to do their bidding? it is hard with this administration. there is a the possibility through escalated tit for tat, blowing up israeli embassies and diplomates, as that continues you can see them target american targets and the united states is drawn in. there is a premium around iran. it's because life is getting more dangerous between the israeli and iranians, even though i think it is highly unlike theically they will go after the ieian ran nuclear capacity. >> what is the negative impact to the u.s. economy? >> i think we are gets close. i think once you get past 120,

125 people will make different choices in how they feel about the american economy. i'm not an economist. i'm a political scientist. i'm worried about the spike not the creeping. i'm worried if suddenly we have a real, a real belligerent impact that doesn't just hit israel and iran but starts to spill across the middle east. >> you are just back from asia, any other risks to the global economy? is china slowing down? >> no. china is doing well right now. the chinese government is very much filling the gap that exists from the lack of export manufacturers for the chinese to the united states and in to europe. what i see is the u.s./china relationship getting worse. the chinese had no problem vetoing the security council resolution before he came to the united states. i saw u.s. officials feel they

have no influence on china on issues. and the chinese showing no capacity to shift their production away from state-owned enterprises, 62% of the chinese economy today is state owned enterprises. they don't run efficient ly. long-term they won't a model for growth for think the country but show no willingness or capacity to move away from them. it is an enormous challenge. it has been a car with a massive engine driving down a straight road. the road has a big curve coming up we have no idea if they have a steering wheel and i'm skeptical. >> this will take a long time to transition. these are not easy issues when you are talking about an economy that has been driving a certain way for so many years. >> on this issue, i don't see the beginning of transition. i see them talking about it.

i don't see them doing anything to prepare for it. a bank had a report that makes the same point but no evidence they are going to do it. this year and next year i see strong chinese growth. lord knows we need that in the rest of the term but long term no one is kicking the can further down the road than the chinese. >> thank you for joining us. up next, a look ahead at the super tuesday battle. and why your next job may be just another gig. surviving in the economic normal as an independent worker. we will look at how the stock market finished the week. back in a moment. forty years ago, he wasn't looking for financial advice. back then, he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning for our military,

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i can't imagine where she is... strawberry cheesecake. [ grocery store pa ] clean up in aisle eight. found her! [ female announcer ] yoplait original. 25 flavors for you to love. it is so good. the most definitive day yet of the 2012 primary season is coming up this week on super

tuesday. voters in ten states go to to the polls. more delegates will be awarded to candidates than any of the contests of the last two months combined. jim vandehei is with us. he is the executive editor of "politico." thank you for joining us. >> great to be here. >> 400 plus republican delegates at stake on tuesday out of 1,144 needed for nomination. how to you think thank things shake out? >> i think it is a big day for santorum. he has to show he can have more momentum and win more states. particularly ohio. i think if he can it will go all the way to the convention, i think there's no incentive to get out of the race. however, if mitt romney can win in ohio and can win some other states, nice bucket of states virginia which is a slam dunk for him on super tuesday, i think it will go a long way to convince republicans he is inevitable whether it will be that day or the next month or

so. >> it seems that way. of course governor romney won in arizona and michigan this week. last week by three points in michigan where he had the support of college-educated, wealthier voters and senator santorum got the support of those making under $100,000 a year. what's your take on the distinction of the voters? how does i that impact the general election? there is a clear pattern in every state so far that mitt romney does well with older voters, wealthy voters. where he struggles are with social conservatives and with those working-class republicans. that's where rick santorum has found his sweet spot, as you just described. i think that is problematic for mitt romney. he can't just be the candidate of the wealthy, the candidate of the old. he has to show that he has some capacity to broaden the appeal of the republican party. remember, his hard-line position on immigration might be a great position to have with conservatives. it's not a great position to

have with the hispanic community, and so many important swing states. so he has a lot of baggage and liabilities that he needs to show he can overcome to broaden his appeal come the general election. i think that's why so many republicans like jeb bush and others are expressing concern about the tone of this campaign, about the issues that are being discussed at this campaign and the fact the parties seem so narrow. >> ohio's 66 delegates available on tuesday are getting a lot of attention and more than $3 million in advertising spending from governor romney. the political action committee supporting him. this part of the country has been hit hard economically. what do the working class voters want to hear? ? >> i think this is what rick santorum's initial message, where he is focused on manufacturing and the republican party is committed to helping working-class voters not just republicans could resonate. early poll ing suggests he is doing well in ohio. it is pretty narrow.

i think it will be a two-person race between rick santorum and mitt romney. and the question is if rick santorum has enough money and time to pull away in that state. if he does, it would be huge for him. he would be able to say i'm a candidate performing well in the midwest, really well in important swing states. i think that will resonate with established republicans who are skeptical of him as a general election candidate. i think if you are going to watch one state for super tuesday, don't pay attention to anything other than ohio. >> what about the jobs creating policies of the candidates. it's frustrating we're not sticking to the issues. where are are their plans in terms of creating jobs? >> the truth is, if you put ron paul to the side, because he is a distinct ideology and libertarian, most republicans are in the same place as far as they want to change and simplify the tax code, reduce corporate tax rate to 25%, lower and

simplify individual tax rates. one big distinction has been rick santorum's focus on given preferential tax treatment to manufacturing jobs. in places like ohio, places like his home state of pennsylvania, i think we even saw this in michigan it is a pretty powerful message and resonates with working-class voter that state after state, particularly in the midwest are saying we like rick santorum more than we like mitt romney. >> the idea of lower taxes as a way to create jobs obviously very much talked about. let's talk about this tax reform speech from governor romney in michigan on tuesday night and across the board 20% tax rate, setting the corporate ratd at 25%. can he sell that economic message beyond the corporate world? >> i think so. one, there's not a lot of specificity on what he would do with spending and entitlement programs but the tax policy itself, i think he could sell that. i think most americans are open

to tax reform. something that simplifies the code an most americans appreciate the corporate tax rate is higher here than other countries which can hurt the growth of corporations and it hurts job creation. the trick is finding stom definition to mitt romney beyond just i'm a candidate who's inevitable, the candidate that can win. i don't think that anyone seeing him as inevitable and i don't know that any republican thinks he can beat barack obama right now. this race is so much different today than it was a month ago. a month ago, barack obama was very beatable. the economy looked in more trouble a month ago than it does today. mitt romney had more money, had all of this momentum. now suddenly barack obama looks strong. he scares republicans. it's the reason that if you walk around washington everybody's talking about how, how do we get another candidate in the race? can we get jeb bush or mitch daniels because they don't think that mitt romney has the winning

formula, the winning message and i think most importantly the winning personality. people forget he is essentially a professional presidential candidate. he's been doing this for five years some if he still hasn't figured out how to connect, how do you pitch yourself as part of a narrative of why you should be president and how you would change the direction of the country, it is hard to imagine that he will suddenly find the formula. this is a smart guy who du his home work and is what he is. what you see will be what he is the remainder of the campaign assuming he were to win the republican nomination. >> it is important to note that things change quickly. so we will be watching. jim vandehei from politico. up next on the "the wall street journal

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welcome back. working 9:00 to 5:00 maybe a thing of the past as more active american workers leave traditional jobs in favor of freelancing, consulting and being their own bosses. more than one-third of the american work force is considered independent. joining me is sara horowitz, executive editor the freelancers union representing freelance workers in all 50 states. one in three workers are what you call contingent. 42 million freelancers or contractors or as you say independents. tell me about the growing trend. >> it says that we are in a gig

economy. people are working from project to project and job to job and not just one job for 25 years. we know that just by looking at the way we work, our friends, our family,ing our colleagues. >> i guess you have real independence. what are the benefits and challenges of flexible workers for the companies that hire them and for the workers? >> for the companies, what has often spent they can make people flexible and not provide benefits, which is not always a good thing. what it means is we can have a flexible work force where we have benefits, pension and health insurance and unemployment system and looking to make it fair for workers, the same way that we did in the new deal in the 1930s. every time we see a change with we have to think of how do we go back and start to build a new kind of safety net. >> unemployment right now at 8.3%. it seems like things are improving, jobs market, little by little. what do you think the numbers

indicate right now? >> what i think is the big indicator is the temp jobs. we looked at twhapd the beginning of the recession. and said these are the only jobs being created. i think what we will not see is the temp jobs will go down and everyone will go back but that those temp jobs are independent jobs. people are being leased through different companies, they are part time, self employed and that's the number that i think we need to look at. >> what aren't we doing in support of this group? >> one of the things you will find shocking is we don't count this new work force. here we are having this huge number of people working in this way and right now the president has a small piece in his budget to count this work force. the other is it is a very entrepreneurial and interesting work force. let's look at new forms of access to capital. make it if you are going to work in this way there are ways you can grow your business and it doesn't have to be million and $2 million amount amounts but 50,000, 25,000, 5,000.

this is the next economy. we first need to recognize it and help to build it. >> you started by saying, look. this is a gig economy. how do you sustain a career with a string of gigs? >> yeah. it is not just a string of gigs. it's really a web, a network of relationships. the most important thing anyone can do is to start to build the network of people, your friends, your family, the people that you worked with. if you are graduating from college, start to recognize you have already started to build the network. if you have i you have been laid off and over 55 that's the same thing. it is different than just thinking of getting a job and a paycheck. >> of course the benefits are so important. you recently were awarded $340 million to create a new non-profit health insurance co-op. talk to us about that. the union has been offering some version of la a la cart health insurance? >> freelancers are architecting

this new way and what is exciting out of health reform is there is significant capital to show how you can have non-profit health insurance and that's where you are containing costs and giving people value. we are trying to show that freelancers, if you design it for them, you design it for the whole country. we will start in new york, new jersey and oregon with this. >> really good stuff. good to have you on the program. >> thank you so much. >> sara horowitz joining us. up next on the "the wall street journal report" we will look at the news that will have an impact on your money. and love and luck for less. an iconic american hotel offers a special sale. e right insurance at the right price. the "name your price" tool, only from progressive. ready, aim, save! grrr! ooh, i forgot my phone! the "name your price" tool. now available on your phone. get a free quote today.

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sure. what flavor? mm, one of each. lemon burst, hm, cherry orchard, blackberry harvest... my daughter's grabbing some yoplait. pina colada, orange creme. i can't imagine where she is... strawberry cheesecake. [ grocery store pa ] clean up in aisle eight. found her! [ female announcer ] yoplait original. 25 flavors for you to love. it is so good.

for more check out the website wsjr.cnbc.com and hope you follow me on twit and google+. look for @maria bartiromo. now look at the stories coming up in the week ahead that may impact your money this week. on noend institute for supply management services index gives us a glimpse in to activity in the nonmanufacturing part s of the economy. super tuesday, voters head to the polls in ten states to cast ballots in the presidential primary. on friday the latest jobs report including the unemployment rate and the number of jobs the economy lost or gained in the month of february. and finally, how's this for a cheap date? wall dor the astoria is charges guests $16 for the stay. isabelle and joan schwartz spent

their wedding night at the waldorf and back then it was $16.80 for the room and 30 cents for a phone call. they have a policy of charging the original room rate to returning guests marking a milestone. this weekend they celebrate their 60th anniversary like a couple of newlyweds. rooms at the waldorf start at $319 a night but you can't put a price on true love, can you. thank you for joining us. my guest next week, sir richard branson, virgin group founder. he will be joining us. keep it here where wall street meets main s

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