of chemical peps. b -- chemical weapons. they may do more in terms of posturing than diplomacy. president assad said he's willing to place chemical arsenal under control if and only if the u.s. stops threatening military action and arming rebel forces. when we see the united states really wants stability in our region and stops threatening, striving to attack, arms to terrorists we will believe necessary processes can be finalized. demand israel ratify the weapons ban convention and stated syria does not trust the united states. writing about assad's requirements thus far "new york times" suggested they could become a lever for endless negotiation and delays. much as saddam hussein delayed arms control inspectors during the 1990s. yesterday secretary kerry said the u.s. is negotiating with the russians because of american mistrust of the syrian government. just how much trust twists

between u.s. and russia is yet to be determined. at the end of their press conference on thursday, secretary kerry could not hear part of mr. lavrov's translation and asked that the interpreter repeat his remarks. it was a glimmer of just how deep the distrust remains between the americans and russians. >> can you give me the last part of the translation, please. hello? >> translator: yes, hello. >> you want me to take your word for that. it's a little early for that. >> joining me today editor and publisher of the nation and a contributor to the "washington post," most of msnbc's "up" with steve kornacki, steve kornacki. joining us from washington, "new york times" white house correspondent peter baker. peter, thanks for joining us. i'd like to ask you the first question here. in terms of u.s. and russia relations, dmitry at the carnegie moscow center, he says that syria ultimately is only

marginally important to the russians and their real objective here is to constrain america. how accurate do you think that is? especially in light of vladimir putin's op-ed in the "new york times" yesterday. >> that's a fair analysis. he's very smart about these things. the point is not that bashar al assad is not necessarily vladimir putin's best friend. putin made clear in conversations with american officials he's not all that fond of the guy. what he really bristles at is this notion that the united states can go around the world playing policeman as he sees it. he's very burned about libya. he felt russians under his predecessor and really his subordinate at that point dmitry medvedev acquiesced to u.n. security council approval of a mission in libya to intervene for humanitarian purposes and becoming regime change with gadhafi being pushed out he feels the russians got burned

and he doesn't want that to happen again. it's about america and russia as much as syria. >> katrina given your experience and understanding of moscow, what do you make of that idea is as much to do with u.s.-russia litigations and relitigating battles fought in the past as it does with the current situation in syria. >> i'm not the real expert, the expert is my husband stephen f. coen. we wrote an op-ed on the eve of the outbreak of diplomacy. the importance of that called "syria, the alternative to war." it's a broader look at the need to revive constructive u.s. russian relationship because so many issues run through that. vladimir putin has his own geopolitical politics. his narrative of what happened in the middle east in the last period, arab awakening is less democracy than eruption of extremism. there are many issues that russia and the united states could work constructively on. of course there's syria. i think we need to test putin's

resolve, take it to the security council and test the resolve. but lets be honest. we've already seen more success than miller strikes might have achieved, which is syria saying it will sign the chemical weapons convention which we must test and also dismantle and destroy chemical weapons. issues such as terrorism, such as iran, such as how do we construct a more stable middle east that the u.s. and russia must work on. we must come out of a period, which as steve has written about for so long is as bad, possibly, as it was during the cold war or has been a new cold war. a lot of that runs through washington for the moscow. >> steve, on katrina's point about we have to test the legitimacy of these efforts and see whether the syrians will give up their chemical weapons. the notion that they would be taking a page from saddam hussein's playbook is very distressing. if we recall in 1991 as part of

the cease-fire agreement during the gulf war they ordered giving up weapons, they spent years object owe lying, keeping them from them. whether this stockpile arsenal will ever see international control. >> that's the question. i don't have an answer for it. that what next question. there are reports, suggestions maybe even some of the chemical stockpiles dispersed around the country making it harder for inspectors to find. what if that can be validated. we have resistance, can protect from any u.n. security council resolution. indications there's a threat of force as part of this all russia will protect from the resolution. what happens if a resolution can't get through here, if there

is no threat of force, there's indications assad is dispersing the chemical stockpile, indications he's doing what he did for a decade in the '90s, what's the response to that. what's the next step for united states government, obama administration, congress, united states, that's what i'm stuck on now. >> none of us are weapons experts. it's about political will. if there is that testing of these diplomatic testing, i think that needs to be tested. winston churchill said better to jaw, jaw, jaw than war, war, war. it could deepen the humanitarian catastrophe. what can't be denied is russia has a vital interest in finding a political solution to syria. it does not want to see chemical weapons spread beyond the weapons of syria. >> beyond chemical weapons it does not want to see a civil war

devolve. >> undercut the possibility of a broader reset, not only u.s. russian relations but u.s. relationship with the middle east so critical moving forward. >> peter, a question of how the white house happen run this, you wrote a great article in the "new york times," those americans frustrated by the lack of decisiveness, if you will coming out of the white house and yearn for the days of george w. bush and happy to see a deliberative transparent presidency, do you think this is working for the president? these are certainly high-stakes negotiations. if nothing ends up happening on the diplomatic front, i think it's highly unclear whether the president will even be able to get authorization from both the american public and congress for military strikes and i'm not sure where that leads him. what's your assessment of how they have played this thus far. >> i think it's a great question. look, most people inside the

white house don't think this last few weeks would have gone as smoothly as they would have liked. the president hasn't come across in the way even his own advisers would like him to be received. his numbers on foreign policy isn't very good. having said that they feel like this is giving them an opening. at the moment they can argue this threat of force led to diplomatic in the first place. doesn't work out go, back to congress, if they do go back to congress, look, we gave it every effort. you saw we went the extra mile, so therefore stand with us now. whether that sells on capitol hill is a different question. i don't know they have a full-on plan b sort of in mind at the moment. they are sort of playing this day by day. >> part of that is the awkwardness of having to make the case for war at the same time you're trying to gin up enthusiasm for the diplomatic process, which is a peaceful

process. that's like almost an untenable situation. just from the white house -- from your beat, peter, i guess one thing that surprised me through all of this is how much of this decision making seems to be coming from the man himself, which is to say president obama. we know about that walk with dennis mcdonough. it surprised me in your reporting john kerry and chuck hagel were not consulted that friday when the president decided to go for congressional authorization the day sergey lavrov offered they would cede their chemical weapons supply to the community. kerry seemed on the outside of the president and white house and rad manages decided to wrap their arms and embrace that suggestion. a lot there seems to be i won't say a disconnect but certainly the nexus of decision making in all of this seems to be coming back to the commander in chief without the assistance or guidance of his cabinet members. is that accurate? >> i do think this is an administration where you see the white house increasingly being the assertive player and

determining foreign policy, in fact cabinet secretaries there to implement, explain and made it happen. that's not to say the white house isn't paying attention to john kerry or chuck hagel, they are, certainly. the president did come back with that walk with dennis mcdonough having made up his mind without needing to hear much more from his staff. convened them in the oval office, two-hour conversation. people there told me he came in already having made up his mind. wasn't like we were being asked to present a full case of the way it might have been. he only called john kerry and chuck hagel afterwards when it was a decided deal. this is him playing out his instincts. this is presidential leadership at its purest for good or bad. whatever happens in the outcome will rest entirely or largely on the decisions he's made all along the way. >> steve, where do you think the american public is with this? i would say president obama's base, which was not in terms of

the numbers with him on the idea of military intervention with this sort of transparent and some would say very agile diplomacy. do you think he's winning their hearts and minds. >> we have clear evidence he isn't. when this debate started to come to a head a few weeks ago, initial polling said basic question of if chemical weapons were used by assad should the united states intervene militarily. the question was 42-50, 42 yes, 50 no. when you add more details, a targeted, limited no boots on the ground airstrikes thing, it flipped around to that point. 51-44 in support, i think. there is new polling, nbc "wall street journal" poll that does the same thing. baseline for military intervention is way down, down into the low 30s. add all these qualifiers no boots on the ground, targeted, limited, still now negative.

the country in the last few weeks as it thought about this, thought about iraq, the arguments, has moved against this. >> katrina, perhaps the country doesn't know what it wants. >> i think the country does. the term "war weary" has become cliched. many in the base, not just the base but across the board. president obama was elected to extricate this country from two very, very long wars. i think the country is in a mode not to rebuild this country, not disengage from the world. there are isolationists. but i think this is an extraordinary moment. i value that the president had the courage, really, to walk back and accept that there is a diplomatic alternative. he's come under fire. i think it takes a president who respects why he was elected and wants to measure all possible outcomes to do that. i think it's an opening now for a new foreign policy and a new

way of measuring credibility. i think the president has renud credibility with millions that he has stepped back and is going to look harder at what needs to happen moving forward. >> somehow i'm not surprised at the fact you don't miss george bush-style cowboy diplomacy. >> i think across the board that is what we're looking at, a rejection, rebuke and disgust with how the well was poisoned. >> it is a fluid situation, indeed. peter baker, thank you as always for your time and expertise. a great piece to link to so everyone can read it. >> thank you very much. >> five years ago this weekend lehman brothers became the symbol of meltdown chaos in the financial system, presidential systems and america's relations with the banking industry. we will revisit the 2008 crisis and too big to fail when bloomberg business week's josh green joins us. plus 2chainz make his "now" debut. we will talk to the recording artist about his album, cookbook

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afghanistan, taliban militants launched a major attack on the u.s. consulate in the western city of herat. the state department said no civilians died but contracted workers at the consulate were killed. militants had suicide vests, and may have used rocket-propelled grenades. the attack is indicative of many parts of afghanistan. "new york times" reports in areas of the hard fought helmand

province where america ceded control to the afghan army the taliban is gaining a foothold. british and american forces struggled for years taking heavy casualties for a modest security bubble. those gains have started to vap wait this year. it's also symbolic coming one year and two days after the consulate attack in benghazi that left four americans dead. this morning the head of al qaeda called for attacks in the united states to, quote, bleed america economically. in the 72-minute audio message, al zawahiri said keeping america intention and anticipation only cost as few disparate attacks here and there. coming up, hank, tim, dick and meredith. they may not have been household names in 2008 but that changed as the economy was on the brink. some key players in the financial crisis later when bloomberg's business week josh

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five years ago sunday lehman brothers filed the nation's largest chapter 11 bankruptcy sparking a downward spiral in the market and precipitating a global panic which has sense come to be known as the financial crisis. quote, you'd expect a better name to have emerged by now for creativity to fail. the summing up is just one more insult writes bloomberg editor in the magazine's latest issue which examines root causes, effects, asks if we're safer. inside secretary hank paulson recalls how at the peak of the drama he told his wife, i feel the burden of the world is on me and i failed and it's going to be very bad and i don't know what to do and i don't know what to say. please pray for me. lehman's employs remember the day it went under. some cries, some drinking beer,

some doing shots of tequila, most smoking. total chaos. meredith predicted the crisis, despite her early morning she lost big. i rode lehman all the way down to zero. pretty ironic, right? the magazine remembers the gloom, the popularity of the british world war ii era slogan, keep calm and carry on, as well as occupy wall street movement and coalescence. hi, i'm dick fuld, the most hated man in america. marveling how little it's changed. wall street remains the destination for newly minted college grad given low barriers to entry. says lewis, if you're a certain kind of kid who doesn't know anything about anything, wall street is still a great place to

go. joining me senior national correspondent with bloomberg josh green and the special issue on the financial crisis and also joining us business and economics correspondent matthew iglesias. josh, i'd like to go to you first in terms of what happened five years ago. on some level many people would remember the financial crisis, i'm still going through. many remember the big fish, lets talk about fuld, i will quote you to you, the uncomfortable exercise i perform on the show. you write, no one on wall street has paid a steeper price in reputation and personal fortune, this partly to fuld's hubris, nicknamed gorilla. also circumstances and twists beyond his control as a former chief financial officer says he's the great greek tragedy of

the crisis. that is a heavy is the head that bears the crown of being the great greek tragedy of the crisis. a lot of contenders. >> when lehman went down and the full scope was clear, he was kind of the guy who emerged as the the ultimate villain. he got hauled before congress, all the protesters beating him as he went into the limo, shamed by everybody at congress, his glowering face became the one seared in everyone's minds. i thought it would be interesting to see where he is five years after the fall. contrary to most people think wall street has recovered, 1% were back on their feet, there were some people who did pay the ultimate price. he's become in a way this sad, broken down pariah off touting penny stocks instead of being the billionaire he once was. >> where is he? >> he tried to make a go after lehman. he stuck around, helped manage

the bankruptcy, then tried to start his boutique advisory firm. from what i could tell, fuld didn't talk to me, no one wanted to hire him to advise them, which might not entirely be a shock. >> yes. >> he's since gone on, does have a business. he's working with a small chemical company, penny stock, touting it at conferences. he's trying to maintain a certain kind of dignity, having a job, going to work, not just disappearing and going to jail. life isn't pleasant for him. >> you know, i mean, matt, i don't know there's a lot of americans whose empathy gene is firing -- go genes fire? i don't know anything about the human body, who do not feel a large amount of empathy for these guys and many more of these sort of wall street titans should have seen their fortunes diminish because of what happened to many other americans

in the crisis. the question remains, was the -- was this litigated correctly when we talk about the financial crisis. >> the real tragedy we don't have wall street people suffering, how many people nowhere near wall street suffering to this day. i do think the story about dick fuld is sad, sad to see someone out of work, unable to put their career back together. he's hardly the only person, we're talking millions across the country. the premise of big rescue operations brought into the financial system if you healed the banking system, the economy would recover. sooner or later. some thought it would take a long time but it would snap back and powerful self-correcting forces. we haven't seen that. we've had year after year after year of millions of people out of work. that's the tragedy her. >> katrina, the biggest things are bigger than ever. they are now 30% bigger than precrisis. dodd/frank has seen 40% of its

stipulations or provisions implemented. that's still sort of being written in congress and subsequently trying to be unwritten by certain republicans in congress. five years is i think reason to mark the anniversary of the crisis, but it does -- >> it's a measure of a political, economic system that has failed its people in many ways. this was a financial crisis and opportunity to restructure the financial system, the hyper financialized system that had been unleashed to a large extent by larry summers, deregulatory zeal and other regulations. that's right to sound the note of concern not for dick fuld and bar barons and masters of the universe for wall street but the millions seeking jobs, those that lost their homes in the bubble of the terrible mortgage foreclosure. the fact we sit here today, 95% of the gains from the economic recovery have gone to the top 1%

is something we need to think hard about. the system is built, you mentioned dodd/frank, we did an investigation at the nation, wall street money that poured into gutting dodd/frank is shameful. but the good news is we have consumer financial protection board which may not be strong enough but it's trying to help working families. you've had people who emerged from this crisis, elizabeth warren, senators trying to restrukt you're a system that isn't working for working people. >> josh, i want to talk to you about people in the administration you think handled things in the right way. tim geithner is one of the people you interviewed. obama bet on his plan and stuck with him. geithner outlasted nearly everyone. as gene spurling said geithner went from someone people were unsure of to achieving the elevated status of being the guy with the toughes calls at

perilous moments and turned out to be right. >> when it came to breaking the financial crisis, that's right. he needed to heal the banking sector to snap back and not have the economy collapse. geithner never explained to the obama add manage, never explainedish historically taxpayers have been the ones that kind of bailed that out. the cleveland study did a study ordinarily financial crisis cost 10% of gdp, $1.5 trillion. but rather than having taxpayers do that, he was going to try to lure in private investors. that's ultimately what they did. people don't realize how much money was saved in halting the crisis. i think that one of the reasons is that that entailed going easy on a lot of these banks and not taking away their bonuses and firing ceos. >> i would say coddling. they coddled the banks. >> they coddled the banks.

>> i didn't coddle the banks. >> disconnect between main street and wall street is so apparent. banks on a trillion plus and corporations and they are not investing. >> something endlessly confusing to me is the animosity between wall street and white house. we can talk about it for days. why given the treatment wall street and the banks received is there so much anger. the conventional wisdom is that wall street is completely on the outs with the white house or vice versa and there is no chance. >> i wanted to say the same thing, is it incredible thin skin, obama used fat cats, talked about corporate jets, is that it? is it dodd/frank? the democratic party forged alliance in the bill clinton years, wall street alliance, became a huge source of campaign cash, political cover for democrats. not mondale dukakis liberals, business community likes us, wall street likes us.

clearly president obama got re-elected last year despite fierce opposition financial and political and vocal opposition from wall street. the democratic party is partly moving away from it, not entirely, plenty out there that have that clintonian relationship with wall street. i'm curious how it evolves over the next several years. >> quickly, a question who is going to take over the fed. the president under pressure not to pick larry summers. yet it sounds like he's very much still in the running. >> he is. the president is a big fan. a lot of the president's economic team are big fans. they have worked closely together. i think there's a lot of reasons to not go with the summers. at the end of the day those guys know him well, respect him enormously and he's the guy they want in there in their hearts, whether or not that's who they go with. >> bros.

>> special issue on the banking collapse five years ago on the stands now. steve kornacki, catch "up" with steve kornacki, starting tomorrow they will break down what happened in washington in the format of a 1970s game show. i hope you'll be wearing a polyester blazer. >> i will call my uncles. after the break he's your favorite rapper's favorite rapper. he has a new title, an acronym within an acronym. highly developed taste beds. we'll talk with atl's 2chainz about his cookbook when he joins me live in studio next. restaurant we all like? ron: i'm sorry, who are you? jc: i'm your coworker! c'mon guys, i'm driving. jc: you guys comfortable? it's best-in-class rear legroom. jim: do you work for volkswagen? jc: what? no. i work for... the company we all work for. the place we just left. you know j.d. power ranked passat the most appealing midsize car two years in a row? i bet uh dan here wishes someone found him most appealing two years in a row.

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he has been called the new king of atlanta hip-hop. kanye west reportedly makes scarves listening to his music.

capped off 2012 with grammy nod for gold certified debut album, based on a true story. this week the rapper released hisheim anticipated b.o.a.t.s. ii: me time. production assistance with some of hip-hop's most sought-after beatmakers. irt comes with 2chainz mealtime cookbook with recipes ranging from pan seared sea bass to heirloom salsa to chicken marsala. joining me 2chainz. his new album b.o.a.t.s. ii: me time. also a new book called #mealtime. we've got to get to the cookbook. first lets get to the album. congratulations on the debut effort. a lot of anticipation for it. >> yes. >> you're working -- a music magazine, for those of us who

followed the careers of these guys, you are working with an all-star lineup. is it hard -- tell us about your creative process. is it hard to work with that many producers and have a unified sound. >> for me this was a wish list i had prior to becoming the star, getting on the level i was at. i was always a fan of farrell, diplo, what he does for the community. it was about being in a position i could reach out. we respect each other's time and space. when we're in the studio we made magic and music together. those will be my friends for a life time. >> the track was reported after a grammy afterparty still in his tux. tell me about that. >> first album got nominated for a grammy. it was a big thing. i was excited. i went to the grammy, i was hyping myself up, if i don't

winter a grammy, i'm going to the studio tonight. there was a great chance i wasn't winning a grammy. i didn't go to any parties i went to the studio. he came to my studio. he had on a tux, bowtie. he was all swagged up. for me the whole vibe was there. he played him my album he made the beat in front of my face, i recorded it and you've got the song. >> lets talk about that. we've been talk about police, stop and frisk, all these issues relating to minority communities and their interaction with the police. what is feds watching about? >> it's a reality record. it's no secret our country has been -- somebody is monitoring us every step of the way, every cell phone, so many satellite towers. for me being a rap artist, having my schedule online, it's really not hard to -- being a part of social media, twitter,

instagram, whatever it is, it's not hard -- our privacy is basically eliminated at the end of the day. so i feel like, you know, it's another step with the government, for a lot of rappers and entertainment, period, we walk on egg shells not to make any mistakes because almost everything we do is under a scope. >> it's like two-fold. on one level you have over 2 million twitter followers and you're sharing with them and part of your community. at the same time you're talking about surveillance, have you followed all the news about what is being monitored in terms of e-mails, facebook, twitter, electronic communications, is that something that concerns you? >> i mean, in our form of work, it comes to us. we get notified. for the most part in this day of age it's common sense. this is our 12th year since the towers. since that tragedy happened. it's not a secret what our country is doing to try to keep us safe. you know, some people think it's

being nosey at the same time. for me i try to educate people in an entertaining way without boring them. they can watch the news. i just try to -- they might dance and party to some of my music but still may have an underlying meaning or substance involved. >> i'm sure for minority communities surveilled by the police in one form or another, it's almost like a continuation of that sort of feeling of being watched, you know. >> definitely. >> so i want -- i have to get to the cookbook. >> you like that cookbook. >> from surveillance to chicken marsala. this is a big deal, i think, on a number of levels. one because mealtime and me time is an awesome verbal hashtag. we talk about foods and our bodies and respect for our bodies and what we put into them. i think it's really meaningful someone in your position is taking time out and making something like this, which is a cookbook that stands alone.

it is a real cookbook, i think there are images, with real recipes, really healthy recipes, that are about something beyond eating. it's about the way you treat yourself, the time you take for yourself and valuation of self day to day. why do you have this cookbook and what is your relationship to food? i know you've had some health problems. is that where it began? >> i have a personal chef. let me start off by saying i have a personal chef that prepares these meals for me. i'm on the road, i've done close to 700 shows since 2010. i do suffer from acid reflux as well as ulcers. i take a couple of forms of medication which i don't like taking. i try to eat properly to prevent me from getting sick. a couple of those things that i need to do is not get too full, not get too hungry. i don't eat any beef or pork, you know what i'm saying? i rarely eat fried food. i have shaped a healthy form of living and lifestyle of eating.

it's just my mentality, what you put in is what you get out, like a receipt. i get energies, how you feel, your complexion, your glow and everything is very important as far as your food. so a lot of people think it's for the high-class or, you know, you can't afford it. you can do this stuff on a george foreman grill. these were done on the tour bus driving going 50, 60 miles an hour. it doesn't take a lot of skill to do it. >> the recipes are great. me time sauce which is like old bay influence, crab cakes with mango salsa. >> mealtime. really when i put the book together i realized how much i loved seafood. >> i realized how much i loved seafood with your cookbook. also like these directions in it

that include position yourself in a room surrounded by a handful of tvs playing sportscenter with the sound off. in the teriyaki salmon put versace apron. drape yourself in adidas sweat suit, chains and things. it's very funny. how does 2chainz conduct him in the kitchen. i know you have a chef that does a lot of this stuff. if you cook, what are the things you cook. >> i have an apron. i have an apron i put on, don't have to take off the ring, make sure i wash up and everything and get my cutting board out, get all my seasonings out. i like cooking with olive oil and things of that nature, you know what i mean. it just depends. i like cooking for women. >> well, i volunteer myself any time you want to cook for me 2chainz. we have to leave it there. the album is out recording artist author 2chainz thank you

so much for your time. best of luck with everything. >> thank you for having me. >> thank you for coming on the show. >> coming up california raises the bar on state minimum wage. will president obama follow suit at the federal level. we'll discuss the living wage just ahead. ♪ for a strong bag that grips the can... get glad forceflex. small change, big difference.

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passed legislature and will be signed into law by jerry brown.

starting in 2016 at 10 buck the highest in the country, washington state at $9.19 an hour. matt, i am a huge proponent of the minimum wage. i think it's only fair people make a living wage given the fact full time year-round making federal levels make $15,000 a year, very difficult to get by on. some folks argue against it and say it hurts job creation. as an economic guri, i wonder what you think. >> the empirical evidence of minimum wage is mixed. studies showing it hurts job creation, studies show it doesn't hurt job creation. at the time we're at, if there's a moment when minimum wage will get people paid more and won't slow job growth it will probably be right about now. you can say in the long run is this really going to be a viable strategy for fixing all the economic problems in the united

states, i kind of doubt it, but seattle and washington state is one of the lowest in america, they are getting by with higher minimum wage, california can probably stomach it and it will help a lot of people out. >> when you look how it's changed from 15 to 1 to 270 to one. it's not that companies aren't making money but workers salaries aren't coming up. >> becomes harder to defend. you have this sclerotic congress that isn't going to pass minimum wage increase, the direction is congress is cutting wages and benefits for the poor, food stamps. >> you're right. >> it makes sense progressive minded states like california would take a shot doing this at the state level. >> talked about minimum wage in the state of the union address. just on a purely political level, i feel like this is a winning issue, even if it can't

get through congress, making it unconscionable to not give people a minimum wage, pushing for it, putting it back in the groundwater, water supply, american dialogue. >> on so many levels. it's a winning issue. we live at a time of unprecedented inequality. i will say once again 95% of the gains of the economic recovery went to the top 1%. moral issues. people who work should not live in poverty. there's a very pragmatic factor, too. if you put money in people's pockets, they are going to move it into the economy, which is why tax cuts for the rich don't make sense, earned in come tax credit, payroll tax cuts made sense. i think there are moral pragmatic reasons. i think for president obama it will be a winning issue. he has wind at his back, there is majority support for it. in the short-term, because of the sclerotic congress, which nobody can attest, the president

could use executive authority to increase minimum wage for federal contracting jobs. you'd hit about 2 to 4 million jobs just doing that. i think it's a win-win win. >> there are five states louisiana, alabama, mississippi, tennessee, carolina that have never passed minimum wage laws. it's really interesting to see how the country is carved up along lines largely red blue in terms of who is focused on the issue of minimum wage and who is not. >> that's absolutely right. there is a minimum wage in the southern states, the federal minimum wage. a number of southern states have used a low wage economic development strategy and they had a lot of success for a number of years luring manufacturing jobs away from the unionized northern falk rice. i think you see there's limits to that growth strategy. a lot of those states are the poorest in the union. it hasn't really succeeded building an overall climate of prosperity and educated workforce and high living

standards. at the same time you do see business interests are very strongly opposed to this kind of thing. it is true they are moving to sunbelt states. >> it is an enlightened class we need a chamber that understands business, understands workers should have money in their pocket. if you are going to have true social contact workers need to be at the table with enlightened business and other government partners. >> there has not been last minimum wage hike -- i don't want to call it a hike -- last time raised in 2007, went to 2009. will we see it before 2016? we'll see. thank you to katrina, josh and matt. that's all for now. i'll see you back monday noon eastern when i'm joined by joy reed, josh smith, boston university professor. "andrea mitchell reports" is coming up next. [ male announcer ] ah... retirement. sit back, relax,

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right now on "andrea mitchell reports," unthinkable, a community just fighting back from hurricane sandy is hit with another devastating blow as a roaring blaze tears through a jersey shore landmark. >> yesterday we saw what it means to be from our state. we are tough and we stand together in a crisis. >> in colorado, the rapidly rising waters are forcing thousands from their homes and threatening areas from denver to boulder, the colorado springs as record rains continue to fall overnight. president obama assigned an emergency declaration for the state. a bigger deal as talks forge ahead on chemical weapons. the u.s. and russia are taking a look -- a new look at a broader plan for syria to end the civil war. >> i will say on behalf of the united states that president obama is deeply committed to