hi, everybody. welcome to the "the wall street journal report." i'm maria bartiromo. a strong jobs report, the greek debt deal gets done and the price of oil. what does it all mean to the markets and this portfolio. if you think space is the place, meet a man that can take you there. >> $200,000, what do you get for that price. >> the ride of a lifetime. >> he played with bruce and was on the sopranos but steven van zandt is not done. the new stage for his talent. the "the wall street journal report" begins right now.

. >> take a look at what is making news as we head in to a new week on wall street. another strong jobs report. the economy created 227,000 new jobs in february slightly better than expected and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.3%. that's the third straight month of solid growth in jobs. 61,000 more jobs were created in december and january than first estimated. important news about the greek debt crisis. greece won acceptance of a bond swap where investors will get less than half of the face value of every bond they own. that will lower the debt obligation and clear the way for another installment of a bailout. a tough tuesday for the market. the dow fell triple-digits for the first time this year, mostly on the worries of the greek default possibility but rebounded later in the week and by thursday erased the losses.

apple's new ceo introduced the new version of the pied this week and it will be called the third ipad. it has a crisper crean, 4g capability and it will start at $499. here's a look at one-year chart of apple sales which have done very well. edward lazear is here. current economics professor at stanford university. it is wonderful to have you on the program. >> great to be with you. >> thank you for joining us. let's start with friday's jobs numbers. the unemployment rate 8.3%. 222 -- 227,000 new jobs created. what does it tell us. >> it says things are getting better but doesn't say things are god. the trends are the right direction no, doubt about it. we are seeing unemployment claims go down to levels that

are almost consistent with a normal economy, almost. and the good thing, i think it is hidn in some of the data that is that the number of quits are exceeding layoffs. that's been true the last few months. when the economy is growing and labor market is healthy people feel comfortable about quitting and when we are going in to a recession layoffs go up. the fact the trend has gone in the the other direction that quits are above layoffs are a good sign. those things are positive. the problem is this, it will take a very long time for us to get back to a normal labor market, even at this pace we are still talking about something in the neighborhood of 2015 before we are back where we were in 2007. that's a long time from now. >> you think that we need to stop focusing on the short run and aim for long-term growth. what to you mean by that? how do we do that? >> i do think that. i'll tell you why. if you look at -- again, look at

the data. look at the numbers. ask what has happened? we haven't had a recovery. we are not even back to trend growth right now. trend growth over the last 30 years before the recession was 3.1% a year. if you look at the period since the recovery began, that is since the recession technically ended, we have growth of 2.4%. we are not even back on trend, let alone making up for what we lost. if we think of what we need to do, my view is we are not very good at fixing things in the short run. we can take care of immediate problems but not good about getting labor markets going in the short run are. what we are good at is creating conditions for invest temperature and productivity growth over the lank long haul. what that means low, efficient taxes, favorable trade policy, avoiding excessive regulation and at this point it means getting entitlements under

control. the budget situation is an enormous problem, not only in the long run, it is already a problem for us. >> let me ask you about europe. what's the debt restructuring deal that we saw this week for greece mean for the overall euro zone crisis? i don't think the story is over, right? tell me where we snand terms of this euro zone mess. >> i would say anytime you get a restructuring and a quiet way of working out of a major problem that's better than having a volatile way of doing it. so this is a positive step. i think the europeans, in part because they have misread our history, have focused a bit too much on patches for the short run and on fixing the contagion problem. their problems are fundamental and structural as ours are and getting worse in the long run. i think, at least in part, they have turned their attention to these structural problems. but i these short-run patches i don't think will have much affect on europe.

if we look at europe and say what are the implications of that for us? europe is a in a recession now. maybe not technically but clearly in economic trouble f. they were to have a major recession, one of the good things about our economy is we are relatively self sufficient, at least for right now. as a result, even a major recession in europe would only cost a half percentage point of gdp. >> what about oil? it seems like that's the other major elephant in the room, ed. how concerned are you about the price of gasoline? do you think gas continues to rise? if gas continues to go higher will it throw the recovery off course. >> we always estimated for every $10 increase in the price of a barrel of oil it costs us a quarter percentage point of economic growth. if you think of oil going up by 20 to $30 a barrel, you are talking about a half to

three-quarters of a percentage point of economic growth. at this point given our growth rate is not high to start with that is significant. it would have an affect on us. again, it's not necessarily crippling but not the kind of thing we want to have happen to us when we are in a fragile recovery period. >> i guess we will have to keep watching. your take on the republican candidates for president. is the economic message getting lost in this talk on social issues? what do you think? >> the one god thing i think about this debate and not just on the republican side, i would say both sides of the aisle. people always talk about how contentious things are in washington. i spent a lot of time in washington. i don't find them more contentious now than when i was there 2006 to 2009. the good thing that is going on in washington is people are focusing on real, important issues and they are doing it before we hit crisis levels. so the notion that the national debt, that the deficit, that

growth and entitlements are front and center, not only in the republican campaign, but in this whole election is a breath of fresh air. that's what we should be talking about. it's important. i'm glad to see the candidates are talking about. >> absolutely. got the issues back on the table. wonderful to have you on the program. thank you so much. >> good to see you. >> thank you so much. coming up on "the wall street journal report," tv shows that don't air on tv. how netflix is taking on cable with the help of a soprano. steven van zandt joins me next. and sir richard branson on oil prices and big banks. one business lesson you don't want to miss. [ kareem ] i was fascinated by balsa wood airplanes since i was a kid. [ mike ] i always wondered how did an airplane get in the air. at ge aviation, we build jet engines. we lift people up off the ground to 35 thousand feet.

these engines are built by hand with very precise assembly techniques. [ mike ] it's gonna fly people around the world. safely and better than it's ever done before. it would be a real treat to hear this monster fire up. [ jaronda ] i think a lot of people, when they look at a jet engine, they see a big hunk of metal. but when i look at it, i see seth, mark, tom, and people like that who work on engines every day. [ tom ] i would love to see this thing fly. [ kareem ] it's a dream, honestly. there it is. oh, wow. that's so cool! yeah, that was awesome! [ cheering ] [ tom ] i wanna see that again. ♪

well, in sky, sea and soon space virgin group founder sir richard branson hopes his high

standards for quality set him apart from the competition. i spoke to the united kingdom's fourth richest citizen this week about the investments he's making when others in the travel industry are cutting back. in sir richard branson's club it's all about how you play the game. >> okay. let me show you how to do this. >> i love it. >> all right. one, two, three. >> oh! >> if you are the best in your field you will never go bust. no clubs, airlines that are the best go bankrupt. you will never touch foot, ever see virgin airline go bankrupt because we are the best in its field. >> virgin atlantic's new 10,000 square foot clubhouse at jfk airport is more than a waiting room. >> this is a spa. >> this is a spa. come this way. >> from the pre-flight massages to the restaurant to decor the lavish space is part of

branson's $150 million investment in offerings to lure business travelers. >> if you are smaller than the really big guys you have to be better. >> who would you say is your clientele coming in to this lounge? >> we call them upper class. we offer first-class product, but we charge a business-class fare. >> one of the big stories in business these days is the price of oil. how tough has it been in terms of passing that extra cost on to flyers? >> it's been very tough. we want to be competitive and make sure anyone flying on virgin atlantic gets the best price but that affects the bottom line and oil is now up at effectively $150 a barrel in europe and i think all of us have to work extremely hard to try to do something about it. we are working with a company called land tech who have a

fantastic development who is taking the waste product coming out of steel plants and turning that in to aviation fuels. >> do you think as we see prices moving higher it will be a catalyst for companies to make these kinds of changes that you have been making for a long time? >> i certainly hope so, and i believe so. from a global warming perspective, i believe we have to move on to clean fuels any way. from an economic perspective, i don't think the western world can cope with fuel prices 1 a $50 a barrel too long. the danger just as we are coming out of recession could put us back in to recession again. >> how has the industry changed? do you feel capacity is lower. we have had mergers and firms unable to stay afloat in the competition. what are the trends in the business? >> there is less capacity out this. and less competition.

that may be good news from the individual airlines' point of view, make better bottom line profits, but i think it will end up with slightly higher ticket prices. >> what can you tell us about business today with virgin having 400 companies? if you were starting today, where would you put new ideas and money to work? >> i don't think where can i put money to make money. i think how can i make a difference to other people's lives? where are people not being served very well and for instance virgin america here, the airline in america we are not offering a great service so we thought let's build an airline in america that does offer great service i think that's the best way of building businesses, improve people's lives and you do well. >> how's virgin money doing? you were part of the group that acquired northern rock.

what are your plans for fbl financial services? what would you like to see this develop in to? >> we took over northern rock, we branded it virgin money. we are 50% over what we thought we would be in the first six months since we have taken it over. people trust the virgin brand. we are attracting tons of new customers and have a chance to shake up the banking industry. >> you have helped to create stability in an environment where we were seeing upset. how's europe doing from your sfientd? >> i'm a born optimist, i feel the government has got the fire power to make sure that europe comes through and europe is not going to let the world down. >> release, release. >> taking the world up is branson's next and true to form well publicized bet. space tourism. you said virgin galactic could be taking people in to space by 2012. tickets $200,000. what do you get for that price? >> you get the ride of a

lifetime. i'm hoping by the end of the year we will be taking people up. it may slip in to next year. virgin gal lactic is some years ahead of the competition as far as commercial space travel is concerned. you know, it's ridiculously exciting and myself and my children will be going on the first flight. >> what do you do when you face delays? what happens in your individual plans when you face a delay? >> interesting. i was in the dominican republic yesterday trying to get here and took a scheduled flight on another airline and suffered a 24-hour delay. i'm right up to date with all of my e-mails. up next, from e street to the jersey turnpike to a lonely road in norway. little steven van zandt takes on a new gig in the changing landscape of art and commerce. he will be with me next. as we take a break, look at how the stock market ended the week. [ female announcer ] off limits?

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see what a raymond james advisor can do for you. hey, it's sandra -- from accounting. peter. i can see that you're busy... but you were gonna help us crunch the numbers for accounts receivable today. i mean i know that this is important. well, both are important. let's be clear. they are but this is important too. [ man ] the receivables. [ male announcer ] michelin knows it's better for xerox to help manage their finance processing. so they can focus on keeping the world moving. with xerox, you're ready for real business. >> dvd subscription service netflix's first series featuring a familiar face. san van stars as a new york mobster under the witness protection in a tv show that is not on tv. little steven van zandt joining

me right now. great to see you again. >> you too. >> congratulations on "lillyhammer." how fabulous. >> thank you. thank you. >> what a fantastic original series from netflix. not like each episode airs in the same time slot every week. talk to us about the show. >> a new world now. all of the episodes are up at once, which are the viewing habits of most people these days, especially young people. >> people want to watch when they want to watch. >> they will tape a whole season and then watch it. netflix is ahead of everybody else. they have been visionaries, i think, all along. reed hastings is an amazing guy. finally integrating tv and computers, like we always talked about but have been waiting for that and the content person ted soranoss is equally innovative. it makes a statement i think about where they are going with

their content. >> really does. >> it is like, you know, they are not going to compromise. they will do something artistically interesting to them. this is a norwegian show. >> this week it was in the news because they are looking for a cable partner to offer streaming content so they continue to look for growth opportunities. >> growing and already they are in south america, canada, england. as that continues, that changes everything. that cultural exchange that people talk about will actually be happening for the first time. for don't creators it opens up this wild possibilities. >> it's amazing because you are on the cutting edge as things are changing so much. so you have the way we consume entertainment changing so much. purchase ing song downloads instead of albums. what diversity. >> i have the first two music channels on sir are russ xm.

only howard and i have two with channels. >> is the rise of the niche entertainment change the way you create things, the way you work? how does that dictate the way you operate? >> that's a good question. i've thought about that myself. when people start to watch movies on phones and probably their watches next year. >> smaller and smaller. >> should there be more closeups or not? that was always the question with movies versus tv. i don't think it will change that much. you may start to divide things in to webisodes. for instance a variety show or something like that might be in three or five hch minute segments. even a drama could be operate separated that way. that would be the only difference i think. >> the first time since the death of your dear friend, clarence clemens and controversy over tickets being bought up on-line by scalpers shutting out fans. what are thoughts as you go back

on tour with e street? >> i'm not involved with the business stuff. i don't know how it works honestly. my focus is on the work and on the content. >> and on your new series. tell our viewers where they can see the new series, "lillyhammer" and how you came up with the idea. >> it actually wasn't my idea. he husband and writing team found me in bergen norway where i was mixing my all girl band of cocktail slippers who are a norwegian band and someone's here to see you. okay i will go see them and they said we have an idea for a show, gangster, witness protection, "lillyhammer." and i wasn't interested in playing a gangster again so soon but i couldn't resist it. it is a mono culture, 5 million people. no one knows anything about norway. so i wanted to make norway one of the characters.

anything you see is new. but how well it is working in america we could not have anticipated. even people who don't like subtitles because the lead person is speaking english you become him. you know what i mean? you are peerp experiences things through his eyes which was an interesting autistic device. i'm not sure if it has ever been used and it was totally by accident. but you tend to forget about the subtitles after a while. >> "lillyhammer" is the series. it is the first original series from netflix. it is great to have you on the program. >> great to see you. >> thank you so much. steven van zandt joining us here. up next, the news that will have an impact on your money and racking the world's riches. who has the biggest bank account? we will tell you next. 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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wealthiest is out from forbes magazine, carlos slim maintains the top spot. slim is worth $69 billion. he is followed by the richest americans, mime microsoft founder bill gates with $61 billion and warren buffett with $44 billion. rounding out the top five bernard arno, and clothing store zara founder other tay goe with $17.5 billion. thank you for being with me. next week i will talk about the high price of oil with the ceo of chevron will join us. keep it here where wall street meets main street. see you again next weekend.