>> we can't cut back on those things that are important for us to grow. we can't just cut our way into growth. we can cut back on the things that we don't need, but we also have to make sure that everyone is paying their fair share for the things that we do need. >> susie: president obama takes the wraps off a $3.8 trillion budget. key to the plan? raising taxes on the super rich. >> tom: meanwhile, greece's parliament passes tough new

spending cuts, igniting fresh violence as protestors take to the street again. it's "nightly business report" for monday, february 13. this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening, everyone. president obama unveiled his 2013 budget today and, for the first time, projects the deficit dropping below $1 trillion. but tom, the budget is far short of the president's promise to cut the deficit in half by the

end of his first term. >> tom: there are a few other firsts in the president's budget, susie. among the highlights of the $3.8 trillion plan? the top tax rate on dividends would jump to 40% for upper- income taxpayers. americans making more than $250,000 a year would see higher income taxes, raising $1.5 trillion in revenue for uncle sam. >> susie: given that this is an election year, how much of this is likely to make it into law and what will the year ahead bring? darren gersh takes a look. >> reporter: by now, it's not much of a surprise the president wants to raise some taxes. >> we don't need to be providing additional tax cuts for folks who are doing really, really, really well. >> reporter: so will taxes go up on the wealthiest americans? >> no, not a thing. almost all of those provisions have been proposed and rejected before. >> reporter: long-time budget watcher stan collender says the president's 2013 spending plan is all about getting to the november election.

>> it gives the president the ability to say "this is what i want to do," not necessarily to guarantee this is what's going to get done. >> reporter: building more roads is one thing the president would like to get done. he's proposed using savings from winding down war spending to pay for some new infrastructure. but that's like waving a red flag in front of a budgeteer like collender. >> you are proposing to use money you were not going to spend for something else anyway. so it probably won't work and won't fly and republicans have said they are not going to do it. >> another big policy goal of the president is to head off automatic budget cuts in defense and other spending. they were put in place after the debt ceiling agreement last summer. former senate republican budget staffer william hoagland says the president is offering a deal that has been rejected before. >> because republicans have made the clear point that they want spending reductions not tax increases and his proposal is tax increases versus spending cuts. >> reporter: there is one presidential budget request that's likely to be granted this year.

>> congress needs to pass an extension of the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance without drama, and without delay. >> reporter: the bigger drama will come later. the president worked hard last summer to avoid the first-ever national default. that deal was supposed to last into 2013. >> you remember the wonderful debt limit debate we went through last year? it would appear to me that according to their own numbers, we could be very, very close to hitting that statutory debt limit again at the end of this year or definitely early in january of 2013. >> reporter: so this year, it's likely all the budget issues that are supposed to be tied up in october will be pushed back into what may be the biggest post-election lame duck session in congressional history. darren gersh, "nightly business report," washington. >> tom: one government agency asking for a big raise is the securities and exchange commission. it wants almost 20% more money next year than this year.

the top stock watchdog is busy writing new rules for the markets, including the volker rule. that rule would ban banks from using their own money for certain trading activities. the namesake of the rule, former federal reserve chairman paul volcker, came to its defense. public comments on the rule were due today and volcker wrote critics of the rule say preventing large banks from trading for their own profit won't eliminate the risks. >> so we're going to move from kind of a regulated-- entities that are regulated-- and have a lot of capital and liquidity and are subject to a lot of rules and requirements and we'll kick it out to what's called the shadow banking sector. >> tom: regulators will review the hundreds of comments they've received, rewrite the rule and ask for another round of comments before a final version. so, it could be a year before the volcker rule goes into effect.

>> susie: on wall street, strong gains in u.s. stocks today on word that the greek parliament passed strict austerity measures this morning. investors believe the vote opens the way for greece to receive international bailout funds, bringing some stability to europe. the dow rose 72 points, the nasdaq added 27 and the s&p was up nine. but while american investors approved of the weekend developments, the reaction in greece to those unpopular measures was a different story. this is what it looked like early this morning in athens as angry protestors clashed with riot police. for a country that has endured five painful years of recession and a 20% unemployment rate, the message from the demonstrators was clear: no more drastic cuts in wages, pensions, and jobs. european policymakers are expected to vote on the greek austerity plan on wednesday. but greece still needs to meet more demands before it can count on any emergency bailout funds from europe.

it has to come up with $400 million in additional spending cuts, and greek politicians have to sign a pledge that they will implement the reforms. time is running out for greece. it needs the money before march 20 to meet debt repayments and avoid default. >> susie: joining us now with more about the impact of the greece on global markets? martin gilbert. he's c.e.o. of aberdeen asset management, a global investment firm based in scotland with over $270 billion under management. nice to have you on our program tonight. >> thank you. >> glyp given the violence of te protest is asterty the way out of this crisis? >> i think it's the only option the governments in europe are already borrowed to the hit. they really have to keep the rating agencies on side and that

has been their prime consideration. if you follow economics i would try to spend your way out of this crisis. but i don't think that is a feasible option. we would like it get your percent pic pick perktive a -- . what would be the euro be like without greece. what is the perspective from the other side of the pond? >> i don't think it would lead to the breakup of the euro zone. like spain for instance, came out, which is a major economy. but there has been a lot of political economy inves capitalo try to keep it together. i think greece and the rest of the euro sown would lik -- zonee to see greece stay in.

>> thethis is a really tough way for them to try to solve it and very, very tough on the greek people who i think are probably bearing an unfair percentage of the pain. >> >> it's an extremely tough situation. looking at the market asset of it, many investor are trying to figure out what is the impact of this greece crisis on the stock market. what is your take on that? >> it's had little effect on world stock markets generally. we are seeing economies on bad shape we are seeing companies boteboth u.s.and european in ba. they took out a lot of cost in 2008. they are all very cash rich and performing well. so companies are doing extremely well at the moment. i'm not at all surprised to see

the stock markets go up. >> i don't know if you saw the cover story in "barons" over the weekend. they say "enter the bull". dow 5000 in the next two years. do you think we are in a bull market. >> i think we are entering a rising market. i am not sure it's a bull market that we have waiting for. there are a a few asset classes you can put your money. government bonds are very over valued compared to equities i would like to have bhond bonds h rising yields. >> could you tell us what youar. >> i like phillip morris in the u.s. >> long history of growing thei. carlsberg in europe and bap and

imperial group in the uk and lots of good yielding stocks. thank you. >> for disclosure do you own these stocks personally or our firm? >> our firm owns them i don't own them personally. >> thank you for coming on the program. >> a pleasure. >> tonight our guest martin gilbert of aberdeen asset >> coming up, we'll take you to the toy industry's big show, where toymakers vie for the next runaway hit and everyone's a kid at heart. >> susie: most of us track numbers out of washington and wall street so we can figure out how the economy is doing. but if you really want a good read on the recovery, it pays to travel to middletown, new york. that's where you'll find one of the nation's biggest makers of corrugated boxes, and where erika miller learned about an offbeat economic indicator: cardboard box sales.

>> reporter: it all starts with enormous rolls of paper, some weighing over 6,000 pounds. the paper is fed into this machine, where it is sandwiched into three layers using glue and steam. what comes out is corrugated paperboard, used to make boxes in almost any size for almost any purpose. >> the beauty about corrugated-- and why we are helpful in predicting what the economy will do-- is because we're not specific to any industry. from people who need small boxes to package nuts and bolts to people who want to package mayonnaise to people who want to ship pet products. >> reporter: welcome to president container. at 522,000 square feet, it is one of the nation's biggest corrugated box factories. every day, the plant churns out roughly 800,000 boxes-- enough to fill 45 tractor-trailers. what happens in factories like this one is watched closely as an economic indicator. the theory is the more

corrugated boxes that are produced, the better the economy is doing. that's because over 95% of all products in the u.s. are shipped in corrugated boxes. unfortunately, president container hasn't seen any signs the recovery is picking up speed. >> economic outlook is cautiously optimistic. we are stable. 2008, 2009 are behind us. as far as tremendous growth, i don't see it. >> reporter: that jibes with what many economists are seeing. b.n.p. paribas' jeremy lawson expects the u.s. economy to grow at a 2.3% rate this year. >> what that is-- it's enough to prevent the unemployment rate from increasing. it's probably enough to generate a slight fall in unemployment. but it's not enough to change things very quickly-- to bring about say a rapid fall in unemployment. >> reporter: president currently has about 350 employees, and grossbard isn't planning on hiring more anytime soon.

his main concern is smaller profit margins due to rising raw material and healthcare costs. so, grossbard says it doesn't pay to make major business investments until he sees a key sign. >> for us to start hiring is a pickup in the economy. a pick-up in the economy means i need more machines in order to meet demand. more machines to meet demand, the more people i need to run the machines. >> reporter: for now, the factory now will keep running 24 hours a day, five days a week, weekends as necessary. and it keeps tight control on costs. for example, virtually all the production scraps are recycled back into those heavy paper rolls. you might even call it thinking outside the box. erika miller, "nightly business report," middletown, new york. >> susie: an exciting day for investors in apple. tom, apple shares crossed an important milestone, topping $500 today. >> tom: susie, lets take a quick

look at the chart. a steady climb higher over the past year and closing tonight at over $502 up almost $9 per share. we roll out tonight's "market focus." u.s. stocks drifted higher as greece moves forward with its government spending cuts. despite the riots in the streets. the fractional gain for the s&p 500 made up what the index lost on friday, closing just shy of its most recent high from last week. the industrial and financial sectors led the way-- up about 1% each. energy shares caught a bid with the news out of europe as well. speaking of energy, crude oil futures settled back above the century mark.

over $100 a barrel. oil rallied more than $2 a barrel, up to its highest close in a month. electronic oil trading was stopped at the c.m.e. for over an hour for what the exchange called a technical issue. one of the energy stocks rising was chesapeake energy-- up more than 2%. shares have been hit by the record-low natural gas prices. the company announced plans today to sell up to $12 billion of assets, including its wells in west texas. the money would be earmarked to pay down debt. much of the market rebounded from friday's sell-off with banking stocks helped push up the dow. bank of america and j.p. morgan topped the dow industrial gainers, each up about 2%. susie mentioned apple shares reaching a milestone today, closing over $500 dollars per share. it comes as apple launched a new fight against iphone competitors. apple has asked a federal court to block samsung from selling its newest galaxy nexus phone. apple contends the phone violates four apple patents. google is involved in the battle because the phone runs google's android software. google stock wasn't hurt by the lawsuit, moving up 1%. the company did receive some good news from europe.

late today from the u.s. too. regulators there okayed google's buyout of phone and tablet maker motorola mobility. the hottest thing in professional basketball is a harvard university economics graduate. jeremy lin has led the new york knicks to five wins in a row and that has helped the stock of his home court, madison square gardens. shares jumped almost 4% to a new high. volume jumped too-- more than four times normal. m.s.g. has been in a fight with time warner cable, the dominant cable provider in new york city. knick games are not on live in new york, but the newfound popularity may help push negotiations forward. a couple of biopharmaceutical companies were moving fast. regeneron rallied 12% after raising its sales outlook for a key eye drug. shares closed at a new high. chelsea therapeutics lost more than a third of their value after the f.d.a. raised concerns with its hypotension medicine. and that's tonight's "market focus."

stocks like chipotle mexican grill, panera bread and even mc- donald's have been on a tear, hitting new highs this year. that brings us to tonight's "word on the street," "restaurant." debra borchardt is a markets analyst at thestreet.com. >> deborah. unemployment rate is still over%. over% -- 8% and what is attractive about restaurant stocks in 00 that environment.

>> we have a recessionary typef. but people still want to g go ot to eat. we are seeing key trends in the market where you get to go out to eat where it's nicer than mcdonald or wendy's but you haven't spent a ton of money but you feel hike you have gone out to a restaurant. we have seen a rise in burgers. >> i tried to find a food stock that hbilit hnl hadn't moved upe chimerchiplote. >>. >> they have moved up nicely in the low 20s to the mid 30s. not and all time high. are the market investors late or arthe run is getting exhausted. >> i think thi there is room toe in this stock.

they have a concept burger work. it's their answers to it's fresh and it's new. red robin will do well with the burger concept. i think it will be lifted along with the other burger concepts. >> find buyers then. you spotlighted bj restaurants this is a company involved in the brewery business as well. this stock in the low 50s is close to a new high tonight. >> they heard me talking about it. here is the thing about this company. it's a little nicer than the fast casual. as i mentioned they have a brewery in the restaurant. they are really building off the kraft beer craze. anything associated with the caforkraft beer is taking off. eastereach restaurant is differ. >> do you own either of these

stocks. >> >> i don't. >> susie: here's what we're watching for tomorrow: we'll see the january numbers on retail sales and imports and exports. as for earnings, avon, comscore, goodyear and weightwatchers are expected to report. also tomorrow? diamonds may be a girl's best friend, especially on valentine's day, but the stones aren't just beautiful-- they're one of the best-performing commodities this year. its one of the world's most recognizable buildings. now, its owners want to capitalize on that fame. "empire state realty trust" filed for an initial public offering of up to $1 billion today. the company manages more than just offices at the empire state building. it has over 7.5 million rentable square feet of office space in its portfolio. it plans to list here at the new york stock exchange under the ticker symbol e-s-b. >> tom: two former bear stearns hedge fund managers who were among the first to fall when the housing collapse began have settled civil fraud charges

against them. the deal between the s.e.c. and ralph cioffi and matth tannin came the same day a trial was to begin. combined, the men will pay $1 million in fines. cioffi will be barred from the securities industry for three years, tannin for two. neither admit guilt. both were acquitted in 2009 of criminal charges that they misled investors. >> susie: the recent uptick in

>> susie: the recent uptick in job creation is welcome news, but tonight's commentator says problems in the labor market still run deep. he's glen hubbard, dean of columbia university's graduate school of business. >> the employment situation for january set forth many high fives in washington, but there's a problem with america's job machine. instead of momentum, at the pace of job growth over the past two years, it will take us two more years just to get back to the number of jobs we had in december 2007. but, of course, we have more people now who could be looking for work. the ratio of employment to population has dropped about five percentage points since mid 2009, and that isn't getting better. the drop in the unemployment rate in the past two years has come from the fall in labor force participation, not from jobs for a given population. that's bad news, and it doesn't

have to be that way. memo to washington: how about delivering fiscal sanity, promoting innovation and investment, making credit available to job creators and easing regulatory burden on business? i'm glenn hubbard. >> tom: today's toughest assignment went to our suzanne pratt. she spent the morning playing at the toy world's big annual event: toy fair. and, with sales down slightly last year, toymakers are toiling for the next furbie or tickle me elmo. >> reporter: toymakers sure would love a big hit this year. so, will it be the ipad look-a- like known as a kurio? it's a whiz with parental controls. or could it be perplexus? although i'm a bit perplexed by what it does. maybe it will be an entertainment tie-in, one that boy-toy giant hasbro is banking on. those are toys spun from upcoming movies like spiderman,

g.i. joe and even hasbro's popular battleship game. >> with the amount of entertainment that kids consume on all screens-- not just television, but on mobile devices, on their laptops, and on desktops-- entertainment programming is clearly a driver in our business. it's not the only driver, but it's a powerful driver. >> reporter: as you can imagine, toy sales are fairly resilient. after all, who doesn't love to play? but analysts are predicting a flat-to-slightly-up year for sales this year as more kids are being distracted by things other than toys. >> increasingly it's difficult to compete with free, when there are games online, or activities online, or virtual world's online that you can get involved with initially at least for free. that takes up a lot of that available mindshare for what kids can do. >> reporter: which is why many toymakers this year are creating app-cessories or app-tivities. they allow tech-savvy kids (and adults) to play with things that come alive when tethered to an

ipad or smartphone. but, hopefully, there will always be room for those toys that still require imagination, or perhaps even a little love. suzanne pratt, "nightly business report," new york. >> tom: that's "nightly business report" for monday, february 13. i'm tom hudson. good night everyone and good night to you too susie. >> susie: good night tom. i'm susie gharib good night everyone, we hope to see all of you again tomorrow night. "nightly business report" is made possible by: