i had no knowledge or involvement in this issue, in its planning or its execution. and i am stunned by the abject stupidity that was shown here regardless of what the facts ultimately uncover, this was handled in a callous and indifferent way and is not the way this administration has conducted itself over the last four years and not the way it will conduct itself over the next four. >> i'm abby huntsman and you're in "the cycle." the story dominating conversation today, whether you live in new jersey or not. governor chris christie facing the music. all dates back to the controversial lane closures at the george washington bridge last fall. what could it mean for

christie's presidential run? critics say his team ordered lane closures on this extremely busy bridge connecting new jersey and new york city. retaliation against the payor of fort lee, who refused to support christie's re-election bid. it crippled the city for four days. now the doj is looking into it and the senate commerce committee wants answers from the port authority of new york and new jersey, which runs the bridge, and all of this puts governor christie in the hot seat. craig melvin is in fort lee where the governor is heading to apologize in person to the city payor. craig, while christie was uncharacteristically quiet about this when the story broke yesterday, he was in full talk mode this morning. >> reporter: yeah. abby, good afternoon to you. this is fort lee, new jersey. the borough of fort lee, roughly 35,000 people live here. it's in the shadow of that aforementioned bridge, the

george washington bridge, the busiest in america. this is city hall. this is where we are expecting governor christie's arrival any minute now. this is the largest media presence the borough of fort lee has probably ever seen. literally 50, 60 cameras here waiting on the governor. we're told the governor may arrive out back. the governor, when he comes, in addition to apologizing to the mayor to his face, the mayor said in a news conference earlier today that he wants governor christie to apologize to the people of fort lee as well. the mayor said he felt that the governor had essentially disrespected the people of fort lee, that he didn't respect the folks here when his administration shut down that bridge back in september. all of this happening just a few hours after governor christie apologized for almost an hour and a half, two hours and tried to explain things as well.

take a listen. >> i am embarrassed and humiliated by the conduct of some of the people on my team. i also need to apologize to them for my failure as the governor of this state to understand the true nature of this problem sooner than i did. i would never have come out here four or five weeks ago and made a joke about these lane closures if i had ever had an inkling that anyone on my staff would have been so stupid but to be involved and then so deceitful as to not disclose the information of their involvement to me when directly asked by their superior.

i am responsible for what happens under my watch. the good and the bad. and when mistakes are made, then i have to own up to them and take the action that i believe is necessary. let me tell you, everybody, i was blindsided yesterday morning. that was the first time i knew about this. it's the first time i had seen any of the documents that were revealed yesterday. >> governor christie there really drawing a red line, saying that the first time he heard about this was 850 yesterday morning. continuing to maintain that he had no direct knowledge of any of this until that point. again, we're waiting on governor christie to arrive. we're told he is going to helicopter in, come here, meet with the mayor. i asked the mayor earlier, what do you want to hear from governor christie? said he'll apologize. what i don't want to hear, though, is for the governor to talk about that ridiculous traffic study nonsense. it will be very interesting to hear what governor christie --

you know, assuming that we find out, it's going to be very interesting hopefully to find out in the conversation that happens between the two of them and whether or not the governor once again addresses the media after that meeting. but again, all of that expected to happen any moment now in fort lee. >> interesting indeed. craig melvin, thanks so much. we want to now bring in josh barro. what a day it's been. i want to get your thoughts. did christie help himself with a nearly two hour long presser or just add more fuel to the fire? >> i don't know what other option he had. i think he made the abject apology that he needed to make. the problem is what are the implications, etch if christie was telling the truth? he basically said i had no idea what was going on. my staff was lying to me and out of control and doing things they shouldn't have been doing. it's really not a very compelling message to be sending to the state. >> josh, twitter was ablaze. you were having a lot of fun on twitter with this.

but also ronan farrow tweeting let's close that bridge when we come to it. sam stein jumped in. the next book will be called "lane change." but of course, serious stuff. this is a guy who's got a history of petty revenge to where the new republic called him nixonian, in that he has a toxic combination of insecurity and power hungriness that leads to politics of spite and retribution. thoughts on christie and his history of petty revenge and how that may help or hurt him in the future. >> that's the thing here. we sort of talked about how the people who were operating in this day today are not people he has a lot of direct contact with. the guy at the port authority who seems to be the chief villain. christie was saying he doesn't remember the last time he met with him.

but i think there is a culture in this administration. bridget kelly was his deputy chief of staff who was responsible for dealing with local governments and with agencies like the port authority. one of the hallmarks of chris christie's first term was his close relationships with local governments. those could be really favorable ones. the night before the election, i was in union city, new jersey, a few miles south of fort lee. everyone i saw at the rally was talking about how chris christie got them a fancy new high school. chris christie fixed the sidewalks. so he was dolling out favor where is municipal officials were supportive of him. another part of that strategy was clearly imposing punishments on municipal officials who wouldn't fall into line. christie is saying this wasn't standard behavior for our administration. i didn't know about that. it's entirely plausible that he didn't know about the specific bridge closure decision. but it definitely appears to be a culture that was built within the administration where people who work for him would have thought that this is something the governor wanted him to do. >> i think that's exactly right. we still don't know the answer to the question.

did bridget kelly just take this upon herself, the staffer you're referencing to, go forward with this quote unquote traffic study, or did she get that direction from someone else? everyone's focused on these e-mails where david wildstein said got it. i really think the nastier piece of this is when they were talking about an anonymous sender. is it wrong that i'm smiling about the traffic problems? wi wildstein is saying no. saying i feel about the kids. saying don't worry, they're the children of buono voters. i think this is part of why this is such a problem. it's something that everybody in the country, whether you're politico or not, can relate to. the details are salacious and juicy. do you think that this is kind of the end of this or do you think we're going to continue to see this drip, drip and

christie's going to have maybe a few more press conferences in his future? >> i think there are a couple of things. one is there's a lot more documents to come out. david wildstein was testifying before an assembly committee in trenton and taking the fifth to every question that was being put to him. so this story will have legs. i think it will be brought up if christie runs for president repeatedly in a republican primary. this is a very simple thing to tag him with. it's a story that you can tell to voters, that they will understand a lot of scandals are complicated. this one is really simple. i think it is for that reason likely to stick with it. >> josh barro, always great to see you. thanks so much. let's bring this chris christie thing to the table. this thing, whatever we want to call it, a scandal. bridgegate. you mentioned this, krystal. will it be sort of a drip-drip situation? and my sense is that this story has legs. that this will be the first chapter of many. and i think we can all agree that if there is any sort of linkage with chris christie to

this story, then he's pretty much done. i don't see how you can walk your way out of that one. but regardless of that, i do see this as being somewhat problematic for him longer term. one of them, because it not only reinforces the idea that he is a bully, but many people including myself that admire the governor for being sort of above the fray. he's this guy that's willing to reach across the aisle and work with democrats when he feels it necessary. and this is an example of something that is so petty and opposite of the type of guy he's trying to be. i think this also speaks to -- and josh just spoke to this, a culture and an environment that i think he has created. i think that is causing people to ask a lot of questions. >> i think it goes to what you just raised, abby. does he reach across the aisle to work with democrats, which people would say is a good thing. or does he use a machine that does political payback against anyone who is his opponent. and this whole scandal is about the pact that they were trying to pressure democrats under duress to get these

endorsements. i mean, there is an irony here in having a retaliation scandal over trying to appear bipartisan. i would argue another way to do it would be to just be bipartisan, you don't have to close any lanes. just work with democrats well enough that they would endorse you by choice and not within the context of a huge payback machine. "the new york times" and others have documented there are many other things. on the nose to what's happening right now, new jersey governor chris christie going to fort lee to apologize for something that happened months ago. why is he going today? is there any reason for this? does this make any sense? and that is the pressure on the governor, and we'll hear what he has to say if he speaks publicly there. i would present the idea that this is not the time to go to fort lee, that he is only going to fort lee now because he got caught and because this affects the chris christie brand. like anyone knows with apologies, it does depend what's in your mind and heart. he spoke a lot about his heart and his passion and his emotion and his looming anger.

he promised us some anger later, which is a classic christie for the press. and they like covering that. sometimes it does make him more interesting to cover. but this is serious. people's lives were affected. the reason why this matters is not just about traffic, it's about political power. the same way that some of us are critical about surveillance. there's abuse of power here. >> and the ego on this guy. i mean, even in this, it was all about him, right? he was the victim. he fired his staffer not because of what she did, but because she lied to him. it was ultimately all about him in this press conference. >> some people love that about him. a lot more that we have to say about this, so we will get back to it coming up. chris christie is expected to arrive in fort lee to apologize to the city's mayor at any moment. we will keep an eye on that. up next, of course, more on chris christie with mr. new jersey politics. you know him. we'll also get into the other big political story this afternoon, the president's

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we are back in the spin cycle. for more, we have steve kornacki. welcome. steve, your sense of what we know now. >> yeah, i mean, what we know now is there's more we're going to know, because the wheels are sort of in motion right now. as i think you guys have talked about a little bit already, the wheels are in motion on a number of fronts. the state legislature, it's a complicated sort of granular new

jersey politics story. it's power, its subpoena power is due to expire. that subpoena power now unquestionably going to be renewed into the new legislative session. so there's that track. there's potentially the u.s. attorney for new jersey who may be getting involved, and if not, might be a different u.s. attorney. potentially that. of course there's the senate commerce committee. jane rockefeller is asking questions. we know there's a lot of unanswered questions. a lot of things left unanswered by christie's press conference. we will have a lot more answers in the coming weeks and maybe months. >> steve, i appreciate your microscopic look at this thing. but your political history knowledge is also. i want to look a little further into late 2015, somewhere in there. americans like a tough guy. they like a tough politician. chris christie has presented himself as a doer who gets things done at a time when

washington has seen to be like a rugby scrum. where all they're doing is pushing against each other and not moving forward. if he starts to take on this stench of the bully, nobody likes a bully, everybody wants a bully to get knocked out, especially perhaps by a woman, especially perhaps by an older woman. if he starts to seem like a bully, a lot of folks are maybe going to say what's up with that? can you think of a national politician who was known as a bully, not just in getting things done, but in terms of this is your demeanor every day? >> well, i think the bully thing has been around with him for a while. maybe this could reinforce that to a degree. but to me, the best case scenario, the best case interpretation of all of these events, from chris christie's standpoint, if you are pro-chris christie. the best case is basically that he was duped. campaigns in new jersey,

potentially campaign nationally as this strong leader, this sort of unvarnished tell it like it is new jersey guy, for better or worse, that's the image he's created for himself. he's up there today talking about how his deputy chief of staff had apparently been lying to hill for weeks, maybe months and he had no idea. i remember watching three years ago his education commissioner, same thing happened. potentially others who we may learn have lied to him, or he'll say lied to him during all of this. for a guy who's so tough and so street smart, it's the image he likes to put out there. seems a little easy to lie to this guy. >> another interesting part of this conversation is you don't see conservatives necessarily running to his defense. i etch read tweets from conservatives saying is it wrong that i hope the media tears him down. because he is on the conservative side obviously because he isn't so extreme. democrats are probably secretly cheering as well. because he represents in a general election the greatest threat to someone like hillary clinton. i'm interested to see in the

days to come if conservatives will support him. >> i think that's part of the challenge for him here, because a lot of people are focused on what are democrats going to do with this info. if he's going to go to 2016, he's got to get through a lot of republicans first. there are a lot of republicans out there who have a target on his back as well. so i haven't seen either, much defense coming from the republican side. steve, one other thing i wanted to check in with you about. has christie ever been in water quite this hot before in his political career? >> no, but there have been moments before, but the combination here, i think that's what makes this a weird story for people. the combination of a national figure with national ambitions, i'm sure everybody was covering that press conference live today with something that is so ultra local. >> here's the other thing.

chris christie won fort lee by a pretty good margin. >> it's interesting, the first 45 minutes, i was like, he's doing very well. i feel like he's forthright. he's mostly in control of the press conference. the second hour, let's say, i was like wait a minute, that strikes me as a question, that strikes me as a question -- i started to have more questions starting to get away from him a little bit more. were you with him as far as a beginning that was solid, and an ending that was more rocky? >> i thought it was a remarkable political performance and presentation. the facts will still have to out. the facts will have to out. there are a lot of problematic facts. steve mentions the u.s. attorney in new jersey, which is a job he used to hold, announced today because of a referral, they are opening an investigation. that is a lot of power and that is distinct and it's endless subpoena power with no expiration date that they can go after more of these documents.

the only reason we're talking about this is because an investigation turned up documents. to the point that he presented today, it is very difficult to go two hours like that. the intellectual stamina he has, the master of detail. i thought a lot of what he said was concerning in what i would want out of a politician, whether he is paying attention and deciding you're going to be told all kinds of things in this office as president. what do you figure out is true? how do you test it? when are people lying to you? but as a presentation, it was exhaustive, it was detailed, it was emotional in a way that took a very bad hand and played it well. >> but it seems like he's so much about me, me, me. she lied to me. how she hurt the people of new jersey. what about that? >> i agree with you that it went on way too long. it was all framed around him. initially, the apology was good. he started trip on some of the

facts. >> two sleepless nights. how does that work? >> i know that steve kornacki will be heard from again on this network. our new jersey expert. thank you for your time. >> and we are keeping an eye on fort lee where we are expecting governor christie at any time. up next, president obama takes us to the promise zone. plus, the back room tug of war between big pharma and the government agent tasked with keeping us safe. who decides what ends up on those warning labels of some of america's most popular prescriptions? that's up next. so when coverage really counts, count on nationwide insurance. we put members first. join the nation. ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ i have a big meeting when we land, but i am so stuffed up, i can't rest. [ male announcer ] nyquil cold and flu liquid gels don't unstuff your nose. they don't? alka seltzer plus night fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a decongestant. [ inhales deeply ] oh. what a relief it is.

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president obama makes good on his 2013 state of the union promise 19 days before his next one. the president declared his first five promise zones. these are troubled neighborhoods in regions where the president hopes to fight poverty and income inequality by invest iin money in tax breaks.

kristen welker is outside the white house. kristen? >> good afternoon. that's right. those five promised zones include san antonio, philadelphia, los angeles, southeastern kentucky, as well as the choctaw nation of oklahoma. the idea is to give those communities tax credits and grants so they can invest in things like improving job growth, improving education, decreasing crime and creating more affordable housing. there was some bipartisan support for what president obama announced today. mitch mcconnell, senator rand paul were at the white house today. senator mitch mcconnell had this to say. "this region has suffered enormous economic hardship over the last several years. thousands of jobs have been lost. and economic opportunity is extremely limited, particularly because of this administration's hostile policies toward the coal industry." not surprising that to some extent mcconnell is supporting this but keeping his distance. he, of course, is up for

re-election this year. what we really saw today was a preview of what we're going to hear later on this month from president obama and his state of the union address when he talks about economic inequality. here's more of what he had to say. >> this is going to be a year of action. anybody in this country who works hard should have a fair shot at success. period. >> what you're also seeing is a preview of this debate that's going to play itself out in the 2014 campaign trail about income inequality. democrats have really tried to paint republicans as being the party of the rich, to some extent. we've seen that during this debate over unemployment insurance. president obama's going to call for an increase in the minimum wage during his state of the union address later this month and then democrats, i think, we will see will seize on to some of those themes as they hit the campaign trail. republicans really on defense. for example, we saw senator marco rubio yesterday talking

about his vision, his plans for closing the income gap that exists in these country, talking about the fact that he supports more of a state-based effort at closing the income gab as opposed to some of these broad federal programs. so a preview of things to come both in terms of the state of the union address, but also just 2014 campaign politics and of course we should underscore the fact that these are the first five of 20 promise zones that president obama is going to be announcing over the next three years. back to you guys in the studio. >> kristen welker at the white house, thanks so much. turning now to an important story for any of us on prescription medication. specifically women on birth control. there's concerning evidence that some drug manufacturers may be putting profits before safety. the case of nuvo ring, a popular hormonal contraceptive introduced in 2001. in the year since, a growing number of women have come forward with allegations that it

caused blood clots and other severe side effects. now 1,500 women are suing in a mass litigation in federal court. they claim the drug makers not only knew about the risk, but lobbied the fda to soften the label. the claim was disputed, telling "the huffington post," "the company has provided appropriate and timely information about nuva ring to consumers and the medical, scientific and regulatory communities, but we remain confident in the safety and efficacy provile offile of nuvaring. it raises bigger questions about the fda's relationship with big pharma, and behind the scenes tug of war between safety and sales. joining us now t"the huffington post" reporter who wrote the story. great to have you here. it isn't just nuvaring. this is something many women need to know about. >> absolutely. this is a common process, these negotiations over what a drug's

label will look like. sometimes safety is put aside because you have drug companies that try to argue with the fda and say that conclusions were not accurate. with respect to nuvaring, it's true that all hormonal contraceptives carry some risk of blood clot, but multiple studies have associate the ring with a higher risk that has not been disclosed. it is disconcerting that they knew about this before nuvaring was approved for the market. leaving out that critical warning information from the label has proved critical to thousands of women who suffered from blood clots. sometimes they have been fatal. it does call into question the ability of drug companies to use their influence in the safety process under the fda when it comes to approval of drugs and medical devices. >> i think a lot of people look at the fda as our sort of advocate in all of this. if it passes the fda, it's got the good housekeeping seal of

approval sort of thing. they're supposed to be policing big pharma on our behalf. do you think that the fda is doing enough for consumers? >> no, it's not doing enough for consumers, especially since it was created for the consumer. in terms of fda regulation, they have been given more authority by a congress to impose label changes when safety information becomes available after a drug is brought on to the market. previously, it was a voluntary action on the part of a drug company to update its label. but with nuvaring, since 2007, congress gave the fda the authority to unilaterally impose a label change and they have failed to do so despite the evidence that has emerged about the risk of blood clots that is greater, of course, as i mentioned before, when compared to other hormonal contraceptives. in addition to that, they often convene advisory committees to assess safety when it comes the voting on label changes. many times, it's been found that those so called independent

advisers have direct financial ties to drug companies. again, it's a question of conflicts of interest. are these independent advisers then putting the public before profit? >> it certainly wouldn't be the first time that an agency got too close to the industry that it was supposed to be regulating and policing. another practice, though, that has been widely criticized that is common within the big pharmaceutical industry is paying doctors to promote their products. and one large pharmaceutical maker announced that they're going to stop that practice, stop paying doctors to promote their prescription products. and that was as a result of some increased transparency within the affordable care act. is the affordable care act doing anything else to sort of shift and clean up the relationship between the fda and big pharma? >> that change that you mention is perhaps the most critical change under the affordable care act that kind of gets at that relationship. so under that change,

pharmaceutical companies will be required to disclose payments that they make to physicians for consulting fees as well as promotion. that data collection actually began and kicked in last august, and in september of this year, cms will create a website where it will disclose all of those financial contributions between drug companies and physicians. so that is a major step. as you mentioned, glaxo smith cline is one company that has now decided just to stop paying doctors altogether to promote their drugs. other companies might be weighing a similar decision in light of the fact that this information may be public. in terms of the fda's role, there haven't been any significant changes to that other than the amendments act that i mentioned from 2007. there continues to be this problem where the fda still hasn't actually used its authority because about 70% of the fda's funding comes from user fees from these pharmaceutical companies. so that's another process that tilts the balance in favor of drug companies because it's also a very underfunded body.

that's something that congress would have to address if they were able to try and move the fda in a more independent direction where it's not completely dependent on the pharmaceutical industry. >> let's take a step back and look at this more from the consumer predictive, even if you don't know how the fda works. when people see political adds and the political says i approve this message, a lot of people are like that's weird, politics is weird. actually, they are forced by federal law to say that, right? walk us through why a couple would want these rules that force these companies at the end of those commercials to tell us a little bit more and tell us on the packaging? >> well, it's important because often not only do patients not know, but prescribing doctors, while they are aware of most of the risks associated with these drugs, they kind of make a decision that's more based on efficacy, especially because extremely adverse side effects are rare. so the blood clots associated with nuvaring also are rare, and what the issue is here is that the manufacture of nuvaring has

been masking i think the elevated risk of the blood clots, and only mentions in a quick second in their advertising that that risk is there. and women just have said that they don't know about it. >> this is so important for women to know more about. thanks so much for being here. we appreciate it. up next, everything you need to know about economics explained through online dating? stick with us. >> tell us about yourself. >> let's see, i know a lot about sharks. >> let me stop you right there. well built. and a great hugger. >> awesome, grandma. >> what are you doing? >> beefing up your profile. >> i don't know. don't you think it's a little too hey, look at me. >> that is exactly what we want. eyes on the prize. don't worry, i will edit out the sweaty parts. [ female announcer ] look younger in 8 weeks?

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we are becoming a regular dear abby with all the tips we've given you. we've given you some great advice on getting healthier, building a road map to a better career and a better you. plus, how to focus on your goals. there are two categories that we have not yet touched on. your wallet and your heart. who better to give us a little bit of advice on both of them than an economist. paul hoyer is a professor who found himself back on the dating scene after 20 years of marriage and realized one big thing. the online dating market is not all that different from the business markets that he teaches about. paul looks at modern microeconomics through the lens of modern romance in his new book "everything i ever needed to know about economics i learned from online dating." out now. guess we don't need to take your class now, professor. i did want to ask you one of the

fundamental assumptions in economics is that all the actors are rational, in this case talking about the actors being human beings. human beings in love, which seems like the most irrational time of all. so how does this all work out? >> that's a very good point. even the most staunch market-oriented economist wouldn't say that people are always rational all the time. the point of the book is to think about the rational side of online dating. not to suggest that there isn't this other side, which is very important, i agree. >> the bigger the market, you have more job options, more dating potential, because there's more people who you might want to date. but doesn't that sort of opportunity create more competition, and also the whole thing of when you walk into a store and there's too many choices, you get sort of paralyzed by that sort of situation? >> yeah, that's a very good point. the beauty of a thick market for

dating is you want more opportunities, not because you need more people to choose from, but because each potential mate is different from the next one, and so by having a bigger choice, you have a better likelihood of having some or some choice among those who you will be attracted to and it will be attracted to you. now, if the software on an online dating site isn't helpful at parring down that list, then you're right, you could potentially get overwhelmed. >> you lay out ten tips to find love from economists, one of which, number nine is basically look good and be successful. walk us through these. tell us how successful you were at finding love. >> i was very successful in the end. i have a girlfriend now, we've had a year and a half relationship that's going very well. >> yea. >> she works 100 yards away from here, stanford economist. we knew each other. we knew many of the same people, but we didn't meet until we were both on an online dating site.

to go back to your question about -- yeah, be successful. of course that's true in general. what that means is the same things, many of the things that make you attractive in the job market also make you attractive in the dating market. there are some differences. but, for example, if you're good-looking and you make a lot of money, that helps you a lot in online dating. now, it turns out if you're good-looking, that also helps you to make money, which then has this indirect effect back into the online dating market. >> there's a lot of great tips in the book. i remember people would say it will change the way you look at everything in the world. that's certainly true and represented in this book. thank you so much. >> thank you for having me. >> and from online dating to digital money, up next, inside the ever-expanding world of crypto currency.

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bit coin, so she is back with a new article to help us navigate the expanding digital currency landscape, at coin investment for dummies. i need to read this article, because in this issue, i am a complete and total dummy. what is bit coin and what is crypto currency and what is going on to money? >> well, bit coin is an online peer to peer based currency that functions the same that you use bit torrent for trading movies. essentially what that means is its value is only conferred on by consumers like you said. people can get online wallets through websites like coin base and they can hook them up to their bank accounts and use the bank accounts to purchase bit coin and other crypto currencies. bit coin is the most popular and the reason we even talk about it on tv is because over the course of the last year people have actually become millionaires by buying bitcoin and selling it at the same time. and there are also now a lot of competing crypto currencies.

>> well, you were talking about people becoming millionaires off of bit coin. even little girls. this is the cutest article on "huffington post." this is two young girls selling goodies and lemonade in exchange for bitcoin. you obviously pay with your phone there. it's such an adorable story and picture. how does this work in the world? what would they do with it? >> how does the transaction specifically work? >> yeah. >> so there are companies that exist just to help companies get set up so today can accept bitcoin. each bitcoin user has their own specific identity and you can transfer bitcoin or world coin via this online system. it's the kind of thing that theoretically is a little bit difficult to explain, but once you sign up for the services, it's pretty simple and straight forward. >> the thing that is so crazy to me about bitcoin is that they are literally created out of thin air, right? like your parents told you money doesn't grow on trees. apparently it does grow out of computers.

because it literally is someone's idea and they create it and then this whole market happens and it got me thinking, betsy, and it got us thinking here at the cycle, why shouldn't we get in on the action? so we went ahead and created our we're going to get in on the action here, created our own coin. what is to stop nip from creating their own virtual currency? >> nothing stops people from creating the currencies. there's barbecue coin, sex coin -- >> sex coin? >> yeah. not a great investment. >> don't take bait. >> crystal wants to hear about the sex coin. >> i'm sure she can google it. there's nothing that stops people from making the currencies but there are market forces for value. you might think investing in a ron paul is a bad idea because the brand is pretty terrible, it won't have much value. but light coin and world coin are better known in internet

currency, the cryptocurrency community circles and they're worth more. >> you had a quote from an expert in your article. he says i'd only recommend using altcoins for speculative purposes if you really love risk, absolutely in love with ris, and interested in wachg money disappear. people have made a lot of money on bit coin. is there a bubble? >> there have been tiny little bubbles. you can see the value go up and then fall, but over the course of the year the value on the whole hassteadily risen. >> seems like snap chat to me. >> i don't know what that means. >> disappears quickly. up next, back to kindergarten, sort of. you want to see this. [ male announcer ] winter olympian ted ligety can't take a sick day tomorrow. [ coughs ] [ male announcer ] so he can't let a cold keep him up tonight. vicks nyquil. powerful nighttime 6 symptom cold and flu relief.

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is saving money better than not saving money? >> yeah! >> if you save enough money, what would you do with it? >> i would buy an island made out of candy. >> a stand full of sugar. >> money could be made out of soda and a shower can be made out of hot fudge. >> oo. >> it was one of the most talked-about ads last year and one that many left scratching their heads but aching for more. look at geico, for example. no other commercial left a mark so deep into the public consciousness as this one. >> mike, mike, mike, what day is it? guess what today is? >> it's hump day. >> whoo-hoo! >> and the new old spice ad. it has been all the rage described by many media outlets

as creepy but also wonderful. long story short, it's gone viral. if you weren't talking about old spice a week ago you probably are now. for those of you living under a rock like crystal, here is a quick look at the ad. ♪ old spice now he smells like a man and they treat him like one ♪ >> creepy, right? but also sort of mesmerizing. it tells a much deeper story than meets the eye about the toughest part of motherhood, letting your lit boil go and accepting the harsh reality that you aren't the only woman in your baby's life anymore, which to me is the part of what makes the ad so odd. why would this encourage young men and better yet their mothers to buy old spice? if anything, it's a turnoff. this got me thinking, who are these people coming up with this stuff? the people who say, you know what, a mother slithering up a couch singing about her maturing son is brilliant. but time and time again, these attention-grabbing ideas capture

public dialogue. remember the frogs budweiser super bowl ad back in 1995? >> bud -- >> wise. >> er! >> they took a risk doing something off the beaten path and it worked. it was the most talked-about ad of the year. that was 1995, though. if that ad were played today it likely wouldn't be seen as weird or even really noticed partially due to the fact we're totally desensitized. what used to be shocking is now seen as somewhat normal and even boring. also a million other distractions compared to 19 years ago. the twitter, facebook, instagram. companies have to cut through the clutter and get straight to the consumers. face it, we are a tough sell. we want to be moved, surprised, shocked, weirded out, even grossed out, and we are. we tweet about it, talk about it, blog about it, and talk about it wherever we go. so you can't pay for that kind of publicity and that's exactly the point. if it's being talked about, you're winning.

this also got me thinking -- how can our show break through all the promotional clutter? so today, here, we premiere my version of "the cycle dream." >> so what's better, spinning or not spitting? >> spitting! >> why? >> because you get to talk about how you feel. >> and you get to argue. >> and you don't have to read the prompter. >> and ari doesn't read that well yet. >> what? >> said with love. >> awkward. >> it's not comp collated. watch "the cycle" on msnbc. >> we had a lot of fun making that commercial. and i've posted some behind-the-scenes snapshots on our facebook page. that does it for us. now to a man who always breaks through ari and the experience. before i let you go, good luck reading the prompter. >> thank you very much. i enjoyed that commercial you ran and i know why we do it. for the journalism. >> that's right. >> good afternoon, everyone. i'm ari mellber.

one hour and 48 minutes. was it long enough for chris christie to answer every question? >> i am embarrassed. i've terminated the employment of bridget kelly because she lied to me. someone who i permitted to be in that circle of trust. there's no justification for ever lying to a governor. i would never have come out here and made a joke about these lane closures. i have a job to do. i am responsible. i was blind sided. i'm not happy i was blind-sided. i'm not proud i was blind-sided. this is not the taupe i've set over the last four years. i had no knowledge or involvement. i am stunned by the abject stupidity. i am who i am, but i am not a bully. i am humiliated. i did not know this. i was deceived. >> strong words from chris christie today. now, we are looking at a live shot in fort lee, new jersey, the center of this scandal.

that is where governor chris christie is expected at any moment. we will bring it to you. we're following rapid developments in a day focused on chris christie's response to allegations of political retribution surrounding the closing of the nation's busiest bridge. that all stems to incidents back in september. chris christie's visit to fort lee will come after a nearly two-hour news conference today where chris christie announced the firing of a. bridget kelly and after a statement from the u.s. attorney's office in newark it was reviewing the later, we will determine whether the law was implicated. david wildstein pled the fifth refusing to answer state lawmakers for investigating this very issue. we need to be clear, no evidence has suggested that chris christie knew about or ordered the lane closings in question. now, throughout the nearly two-hour-long news conference the governor emphasized his repeated attempts in the past to minimize this scandal were based on dec