threatened trouble and the governor who they serve. the first grabbing into all those delivery closing the george washington bridge. i don't think we still have a picture again but that was a lot of skin in a blizzard. that was good stuff. that is dedication. any way, "way too early" is done for the week. happy valentine's day! "morning joe" starts right now! ♪ >> i think it was a bad decision to have school. frankly, in general, the streets, the last time it showed since we got here, they haven't been properly cleaned and swept and it's just very dangerous. >> i think it was a horrible idea. it's really unsafe just walking a few blocks, you know, it's very slippy out and i feel it's not safe for kid to be walking on the street. >> i think the chancellor made a huge mistake. she is endangering the safety of our children and to say it was

so that they could get a hot lunch today is really sad! and then to blame it on an erroneous weather forecast, every weather forecast has some error built into it and they should have accounted for that. this was inexcusable! >> angry new yorkers there having their kids sent to school in this weather. i have to say down in d.c., the schools are all shut and parents are annoyed having to find child care, at least they have not having to deal with safety issues on the sidewalks which are very slippery this morning. happy valentine's day! >> happy valentine's day! >> snowy valentine's day. i'm katty in for mika and joe will be with us in a moment. joining us around the table, the former governor of vermont and former chairman of the democratic national committee howard dean and visiting professor at nyu, harold ford jr. and look at that! >> do you like? >> very nice. >> do you dig?

>> hand knitted? >> yeah. this was in sochi. a friend of mine went over for the opening ceremonies and let me borrow this so i have to give it back. >> you have to give it back after i've had a chance? >> we will make sure we get your picture in it. >> the brits are not doing very well at these olympic games. then i'll have some of those golds. to washington, we have pulitzer prize winning editor of "the washington post" and political analyst of msnbc, eugene robinson. how is the snow down there, gene? >> a lot of snow down here. you don't want to see it. we got a lot of snow in both short of blows in this snowstorm but we are surviving and there is no school which i think is smart actually. >> i think it's fine too. i'm heading back down today and then actually i'm going to head off to brazil tonight. i think i'm done with the snow. >> brazil? >> yeah. i just picked this week to do my show for rio next week.

nothing to do with the weather and i will be thinking of all of you a lot. >> thanks. let's get enough of brazil and get to the punishing nor'easter that is still slamming the east coast. it's delivering a parting blow of snow and sleet this morning after yesterday's blizzard-like conditions. some areas saw more than a foot of snow. the storm is being blamed for at least 18 deaths, including tragically a pregnant woman what was hit by a snowplow in new york city. doctors were able to save her baby, though. more than 400,000 homes and businesses are still in the dark. 90% of those are in georgia and in south carolina. 49 out of 50 states had snow on the ground yesterday. florida was the sole exception. msnbc meteorologist bill karins is with us now. tell us it's over. >> our nor'easter did live up to the heights. definitely the storm of the

winter. texas area two or three days ago dealt with the ice and the power outages in the deep south with the ice storm and the snow totals yesterday and last night. the highest total i could find mt. storm, west virginia. 28 inches. allentown, pennsylvania, 19 inches. baltimore and new york and philly to d.c. everyone in the 12 to 8-inch range and mostly on the frontside which was mostly last night. new york city area, the snow ended north wards. snowy north ofab albany. definitely going to deal with the snow from vermont. it will exit during the morning today. a quick moving storm, a clipper storm moving in behind 2 in nebraska. st. louis today getting about 1 to 3 inches of snow and that

will move eventually over the ohio valley including northern kentucky and through washington, d.c. early this morning. not a lot of snow and d.c. probably only an inch and philly 2 to 3 inches. the storm will get stronger as it exits the boston area and we could be talking about 3 to 6 in maine will get nailed. i was just looking up the real forecast. there is actually a big shot of cold air heading there and they will go from the 80s to the 70s so i hope you'll be all right. >> i'm not listening. it will be perfect. >> of course, it will. it's rio. new york mayor de blasio decision to keep the schools open during the nor'easter led to a chilly change with al roker. 40% of students made it in yesterday. a series of tweets writing in part, so now my daughter's public school is being let out early. is it worth putting kids' safety

at risk and how about all of the parents and care givers who have to scramble to get their kids home? is there no one there with any common sense? then he writes, i knew this a.m., new york city's mayors office and new york city schools could close schools. talk about a bad prediction. long-range de blasio forecast, one term. mayor de blasio is defending his call to keep the schools opening saying new york city doesn't shut down when there is adversity. he also responded to roker's criticism. >> i respect al roker a lot. watched him on tv for many, many years. it's a different thing to run a city than to give the weather on tv. so i am comfortable with our decision making and we just got off the phone with the national weather service. i respect all of the meteorologists out there but the one i respect the most is called the national weather service and this did -- they just affirmed to us on the call before we came out to you that this went faster

and heavier than their projections last night. >> that response made roker even more outraged. he then tweeted how dare new york city mayor's office and new york city schools throw the national weather service under the school bus. the forecast was on time and on the money. mr. mayor, i could never run new york city, but i know when it's time to keep kids home from school. and schools chancellor freeman is criticized for this comment at the news conference. >> we never made the calls on snow days until the morning of and many, many people complained about that. if you had to leave your home to get to work, there was all kinds of issues. then we decided to try to do it the night before. because this storm was so unpredictable and what we heard last night is not necessarily what we saw therng coming down here, it has totally stopped snowing. it is absolutely a beautiful day out there right now. >> they cancelled a town hall

meeting in brooklyn because of, quote, inclement weather. >> this is stunning. you, of course, had the same thing happen a couple of weeks ago in atlanta, georgia where you had parents who were not only inconvenienced, bill, but also were actually one father reportedly walked six miles in the snow to be with his daughter at school. for this to happen in new york city, for de blasio and any city official to say with we all didn't know what was going to happen yesterday, hell, we could just roll your tape from yesterday morning at the top of our show and you were telling us, what? stay off the roads. why? because the national weather service was saying stay off the roads. this is inexplicable. what did bill de blasio know. >> owe knew we were getting very

heavy snow during the new york city rush hour and 2 to 3 inches of snow per hour for two to three hours. the forecast officially for 6 inches and we got 9 1/2 inches and 3 1/2 more than called for. the timing was right. you talk about the difference between 6 inches and 9 inches is not that much as far as the impact on the roads and the sidewalks. people around the country have to kind of know the back story here. new york city has only cancelled school ten times in the last hundred years. think of the blizzards that went through. i think one point a ten-year period new york city never cancelled schools because of a winter storm. the important point is society has changed. we used to let our kids ride their bikes without helmets and in the car without seat belts. society has changed and we are a lot more protective of our kids and the safety issues out there and i think it's time for new york city to get on board with it and i think al was kind of getting at with this. why are we risking things we don't have to? >> just one other thing. he talks about the storm and how quickly it was moving. how quickly was this storm

moving? >> i mean, it was we were moving at like 20, 30 miles per hour. it wasn't any different than many other storms the speed of it. that really wasn't an issue. that was kind of nonsense. >> you predicted it was going to move quickly. >> if anyone wants to be outraged, they got the kids to school and already there, at least 40% that showed up in the teachers. then they said, okay, everybody go home. we are going to release school early. it was 35 degrees. it was raining. the crews were out there. the roads were dramatically improving and parents had already brought their kids to school the ones that did and all of a sudden the people have to leave their jobs, their hourly wages to go get their kids for the afternoon. if anything, it didn't make sense, that was the dumbest thing they did yesterday. >> yeah. thank you, bill. we greatly appreciate it. harold ford, let me bring you in. you're a new york city resident. boy, what a rocky, rocky start for this new mayor. two botched efforts in snow

removal. we joked about it the first day but, you know, when you start dealing with kids and school, it's not a laughing matter. when you know that it's coming and you make the wrong call and try to circle arn and justify it, that's even a bigger problem. what is going on? >> you contrast this with the governor of georgia a couple of weeks ago. he took full responsibility. held himself accountable. the mayor should do the same. even some of his strongest allies here in new york, including the speaker of the city council and the public advocate said a mistake was made. that is what people look for in leaders and governor dean would certainly know that and others would know it as well, so i'm hopeful the mayor was a mistake and hope he owns up to it and lays out clearly to the public how they will evaluate these things going forward. blaming meteorologists is not the right thing to do. i don't think there was a meteorologist who did not predict this so i think -- a

part of the citizens across the city. >> governor dean, let's ask you. >> we never close school. look. this is somewhat of a shakedown. i think the first lesson is do not get in a tweeting war with al roker. if the tv weatherman wants to tweet, let him tweet. you don't have to have an official response to that. that just makes it worse. maybe some mistakes were made. if the city doesn't have a history of closing schools, i understand why the mayor made this decision. i do agree that sending them home halfway through the day was probably -- but this was a judgment call. peoples lives were not at risk. calm down. a huge difference between what happened here and in georgia. what happened in georgia were life-threatening. people were stuck on the interstate for 18 hours. >> a woman was killed and thank god the baby lived. >> she was hit by a snowplow. it has nothing to do with -- >> there wouldn't be any snow plows if there wasn't snow on the ground. >> very good point, harold. i'm not going to get into an

argument with you or al roker either. look. this is a snowstorm and not one of the horrible snowstorms we have ever had in new york. this is all going to go away but there are some lessons to be learned. one is it is true. i think what bill said the society has changed and people have different expectations about closing schools than they did 15 years ago and that is lesson number one. lesson number two you do not have official responsible for people tweeting things about you. that is crazy. >> lesson number one is clarity. i think once you send the kids to school, send them there the whole day and as a parent that is the kind of thing that messes you up because you sorted your morning out and then lvers pulled out of meetings and work and then you got to get to school when you weren't expecting to and i think that is the kind of thing that really makes parents annoyed with officials. let's move on from the weather. there is some fresh analysis when it comes to what is behind the soaring wealth of the nation's top earners. the huffington post analyzed the gap between executive and

employee paid a divide has widened 1,000 percent the last 60 years. the article notes how corporate pay is approved by the directors of the board and many of whom are directors themselves at other companies and, therefore, have a vested interest in paydays. you think the soaring line at the top belongs to the top 1%. the rest of the working world seems to be hovering at the bottom. when you reveal the key, the line at the top actually belongs to the top 0.01% whose salaries in the 1 dollar range. below that is the 0.1% and the top 1%. i saw these graphs yesterday when i was coming up on the train. they are staggering how many that 0.01% is gaining in income while everyone else is pretty much flatlining. >> we do all see it, though. we all see the stories about the

ceos that make 150 million dollars a year and run their companies into the ground and, yet, 75 million dollar golden parachute. it's outrageous. gene, back in the 1950s, there was that famous expression what is good for general motors may be good for america. that may be the case in the 1950s because, you know, the ceos may have been making $2 million, $3 million. now, you got to say what is good for gm workers is good for america because the top 0.01% is taking home so much higher percentage in profits and it's skewing everything, isn't it? >> it really is. and it's ridiculous and it's unjustified in my view and it's also self-reinforcing as katty noted. the boards that are approving this conversation are largely

made up of coloraeos of other companies so they compare with each other and say with the going rate for a ceo. that going rate has skyrocketed in that upper, upper echelon. and it should be noted that there are ceos of some major companies that don't play this game and that make a lot of money, but that don't -- that aren't frankly so greedy. but, unfortunately, too many are and you want fuel this discussion about inequality, you know, keep paying yourself $60 million a year. >> the problem, howard dean, is we are seeing a bigger disconnect not only by the wealthiest and, katty, these are striking numbers, between the top 0.1% and the 99.9% of the rest of america. you start to realize just how

skewed this recovery is because so much is going to the very top and it's not just the income inequality that the 0.1% are driving, now we find out that like 40% of consumption of america is driven by the top 1%. my god. this is an economy that is desperate need of demock kraization. >> rich people do spend money and so forth. the big problem is the average person in this country is not doing well and hasn't done well for 20 years. so they see the people that are at the top and they are doing intraet and they are having this -- this is literally a lot like the guild of age of 1920s so it's demother-in-lawizing.

it's n -- demoralizing. if you think you can play by the rules and you work hard and you get a college education and you don't get ahead, you don't think the country works for you any more is the real problem with the income gap and it's also led by people who don't seem to give a damn about the country who are these people making $60 million who are running their companies into the ground. >> this is not to bash people who have done well. >> not at all. >> joe has pointed out a lot of have failed upwards and get huge paydays for it. over a two-year period, we know that this would also help. this is what is startling. joe, listen to this. it would also gradual increase the minimum wage for tip labor and it stands at $2.13 an hour. 70% of the normal minimum wage. the economic policy institute, this is a nonpartisan think tank in d.c. that recently released a report saying passing the

minimum wage would affect 21 million workers nationwide. you think about that the fact that this $2.13 for tip labor it's been that way since i was a waiter out of college. that's what i made. >> these kind of numbers have already been stated and make the case even more so for raising the minimum wage. second. the data shows when the minimum wage has been increased over the last 10 to 20 years, this argument that employment goes down and wages go down has refuted the data and shows unemployment actually goes down. so it should be done. but this issue with this 0.01% and 1%, the administration, over the last few years has talked about raising taxes on the wealthy and put that at $225,000. furthermore you have a number of people on that graph probably at that top 0.1% are hedge fund

managers here in new york. i believe it carried interest tax that should be raised. the fact the obama admission has not raised this in six years is a travis travesty. every day americans invest their own money enjoy shouldn't be the case. they should pay the same rates all of us around the table pay on earned income. not the only answer to solve this problem but things we can do to -- not distribute the wealth but enable people through education and infrastructure and other things to get a good job and grow the country. >> obviously, that is not going to take care of it by itself. raising the minimum wage is not going to take care of it by itself. katty kay, i think most americans -- and, yes, republicans like myself -- conservatives want to know, as well as liberals why hedge fund managers that make $150 million or $200 million a year are

paying 14% in taxes. they want to know why the two candidates that ran for president last year, mitt romney and barack obama both paid tax rates in the teens i while most other americans paid as much in tax rates. it's insanity. on the other end, i think you should, you know, cap taxes at maybe 35%, 33% and make it a lot flatter than it is. but harold is exactly right. when you have the top 0.01%, you know, making billions and billions of dollars while the rest of america is struggling and they pay 14%, 15% in taxes is just outrageous and it doesn't matter what party you are unless you're in the i'm a billionaire party, this is the wrong thing to do for america. >> i would agree. >> you look at that graph and you see that the majority of people who are in that 0.01% are making their money out of dividends and returns on

investments. they are not making it out of income. so they are not being taxed. the income tax rates which is why they are paying 14%, 15% and it doesn't make sense. if you're trying to do something about social mobility having a higher tax on the dividends has to make sense for america. >> also education. >> 35% is still a lot less as a high tax rate than many countries around the world. >> yeah, exactly. that's what i'm saying. i think a really good conservative approach is millionaires and billionaires pay at least 30% and pay no more than 35%. if democrats want to argue 30% and 75%, we will have that debate and we will win that debate, but, again, i think most americans don't understand why the richest of the rich are paying such low tax rates. you know, katty, a couple of parallels. the first parallel is what happened in the guild age as

howard dean said. teddy roosevelt came along a hundred years ago and bust up some trusts that were dominating the economy in such a way that the top 1% was exploding and middle america and the lower middle class were collapsing. also there is a parallel that conservatives can look at and margaret trahatcher when she to over the conservative party in great britain in 1975 said enough of these concentrations of wealth and she wasn't just talking about the richest of the rich. she was also talking about the government controlling all of these industries and she said one of her top goals is spreading the wealth out among the middle class. when you have people like margaret thatcher and push as a bedrock and this income and inequity that continues to explode, we have a real problem. the numbers you brought today, katty, pretty eye-owning. >> yes. i think most americans wouldn't

believe there is now more social mobility in many european countries than here in america and doesn't seem to be what this country is about. coming up on "morning joe," the moderator of "meet the press" david gregory and chuck todd. then elizabeth kolbert and zachary quinto will be on "morning joe." we will be right back. ♪

♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] with five perfectly sweetened whole grains... you can't help but see the good.

let's take a look at the morning papers from our parade of papers. "the washington post," a federal judge has struck down virginia's ban of same-sex marriage. the judge says the law was unjustifiable even under the loosest interpretation of the law and quoting abraham lincoln in her decision. same-sex marriage is in the state currently on hold depending appeal.

>> the seattle times. another member of congress to announce his pending retirement. he served ten terms in congress and becoming chairman of the house natural resources committee. he says it's time for voters to choose a new person with new energy. ralph waite has died who is remembered for his role as the loving and wise patriarch in the '70s television series "the waltons." later in life he sought a political career running for congress unsuccessfully three times. ralph waite is survived by his wife and three children from a previous marriage. you remember "the waltons"? >> i do. he was in the top five along with cliff huxtable.

>> he was a great dad. >> i loved that show. him and the mom went away. remember that? we didn't understand why she went away. it was bad. >> we could talk about "the wire." >> bowling green daily news. general motors out trying to restore the eight corvettes that sank into a 40-foot sinkhole on video. the cars were on display at the national corvette museum in kentucky. watch this. the crews cannot remove the cars until this entire building is declared stabilized and secure. that could take up to three weeks. officials say the rest of the museum did not suffer any structural damage. they look like little match boxcars now, they are so far down. such a loss there. >> it seems like "oceans 11" where they drill underneath and get the cars out that way.

drake says he is quoted with "rolling stone"'s decision to bump him from the cover. instead "rolling stone" ran a special on the death of philip hoffman. philip seymour hoffman i respect you but the press is evil. he says i am done doing magazines. not surprising there was an online backlash. >> a double-edged sword. they want to use the media to promote themselves. >> of course, but -- >> a situation of trying to -- absolutely. losing a great actor. >> you think he would have a bit more grace. >> only cover i was ever bumped up was "newsweek" and i was thrilled because they were going to use an awfully good picture. >> it can work in your favor.

a special interview with the new host of "the tonight show" jimmy fallon that starts on february 17th. i'm sure when you get here to the building and you're down at the evidentors you see the posters up for jimmy fallen and seth myers. a lot of changes here at 30 rock. it's great. a lot of new energy coming in. with us now is the chief white house correspondent for politico, mike allen. you're here with the morning playbook. happy valentine's day, mike! >> happy valentine's day and happy friday. >> there it is. >> agenda for the year is called an america that works. is it going to work for them, mike? >> they hope that it is because it's going to give them things to talk about in the midterm elections which is very different than going to the president's desk and being passed into law. this week, when the congress raised the debt ceiling that was the thing they had for the year.

so they are done doing anything meaningful in this political year. sometimes it usually happens in august. this is one place where the congress is six months ahead. so republicans at their retreat decided we are going to use this time to tee up issues that will help us. the president says he is going to go it alone with executive and regulatory actions. we can go it alone about what we are passing. they say they are going to embrace the issue of income inequality you've just been talking about and say we are going to go after the root causes of it. they are going to say it is because there isn't enough job creation, educational opportunities. they will be repackaging things they love, charter schools, regulatory reform, medical liability reform and saying those will help actually address the real causes of income inequality. >> gene, good morning. harold ford. i don't know if you've seen this plan but you wrote yesterday about not having a health care alternative.

if the health care alternative is a part of this america's work plan they have laid out, can it be helpful to them as they find themselves heading toward the fall elections? >> i think it could be helpful if it's a credible alternative. if the alternative is, well, you know, go back to the way things were, i think that's is not good enough and it's not going to play. polls show that people are not wild about obamacare but people do not want it repealed. republican party's position is still it should be repealed, we should get rid of it, it won't work. well, fine, give us a credible alternative. we haven't heard that from the republican party yet. >> you've seen the first cut at the -- at republican attempt, it gets rid of the preexisting conditions. i mean, this is a pretty bad. i think what the democrats are going to do is take the first cut and say, hey, how do you like this? republicans will say absolutely not. do they have any other bright

ideas like that in there? >> that's a good question. you know, what other bright ideas? get rid of preexisting conditions, take the kids, you know, up to 26, take them off the parents insurance. i guess you can do that too. there are a lot of consumer friendly provisions in obamacare that people really like and are getting used to. you know, good luck trying to convince everybody to take those back. >> amazing how quickly we are starting to see the obamacare story change its tone. >> it still has a long way to go, to be clear. we shouldn't overstate this. >> the numbers that came out this week, i think were some of the best numbers. >> no doubt about it. >> average people in america are now seeing their luck turn. the problem is the price because it is -- my son is now trying to do all of this stuff and he is paying the full price. he certainly is far from wealthy but he is not at 400% of poverty so there are going to be some ongoing problems but i think a lot of people will suddenly say, hey, i'm getting something i

never had before and i could never buy insurance before and some of those people are going to be republicans. >> on that price issue is why the white house needs to keep working to get the numbers up. politico mike allen, thank you for joining us on this friday. coming up, why something new evil looking black suits worn by the u.s. men's ski skaters may be to blame for the disappointing finishes in this year's winter games. "morning joe" sports is coming up next. welcome back. how is everything? there's nothing like being your own boss! and my customers are really liking your flat rate shipping. fedex one rate. really makes my life easier. maybe a promotion is in order. good news. i got a new title. and a raise? management couldn't make that happen. [ male announcer ] introducing fedex one rate.

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♪ sharing's never been better for business. (knochello? hey, i notice your car is not in the driveway. yeah. it's in the shop. it's going to cost me an arm and a leg. that's hilarious. sorry. you shoulda taken it to midas. get some of that midas touch. they tell you what stuff needs fixing, and what stuff can wait. next time i'm going to midas. high-five! arg! i did not see that coming. trust the midas touch. for brakes, tires, oil, everything. (whistling)

♪ now here comes the triple. over his right shoulder. he learned a triple out here. will he go for it? yes! and he nails it! will we see the triple from kenworthy? he wants it. for just the third time in u.s. winter olympic history, americans have swept the podium! >> sent that amazing? in that south beach sun right there in sochi. the u.s. men's ski team sweeping the medals in the slopestyle. we lead off with this because that is a bright spot of our olympic update for you.

the u.s. men's hockey team are off to a strong start after their opener against slovakia yesterday. the americans had six goals in the second period for a 7-1 final. next up for the u.s. is this hot matchup against the host country russia and that comes up on saturday. then there was this. a painful moment for u.s. champ jeremy abbott yesterday. take a look. >> oh, no! he came down forward and then looks like he is hurt. >> that was a hard fall. >> what is going on? >> poor guy, right? abbott took a hard spill attempting a quadruple toe flip during the men's short skate program. apparently he came down on his toes and that acts as a hinge throwing you forward. crowd gave him a standing ovation. he finished 15th overall. the poor guy there really was well thought of going into this and then had that terrible fall. more from the world of firg

skating. evgeni plushenko is retiring. he landed awkwardly while attempting a triple axle and said it felt, quote, like a knife in my back. the 31-year-old is the first figure skater in the modern era to win medals in four olympics. he has been plagued by back and knee injuries in recent years. he says he has had 12 different surgeries. that was a big loss. after shani davis finished nowhere near the podium and richardson had equal disaster in the speed skating and u.s. is trying to figure out why. the under armor suit built before the games might be the problem. it may be slowing down skaters. vents on the back of the suit were designed to allow heat to escape they are also allowing air to enter and create a drag

that keeps skaters from staying in the low position. they need to achieve their maximum speed. the u.s. is threw half of its races and still hasn't medaled in that sport. a scary moment on the bobsled track at sochi yesterday. a worker on the track at the sliding center was struck by a four-runner sled on a test run. video revealing three men were working near the finish line before two jumped over the wall to escape and then the one is hit by that on coming sled and he suffered two broken legs and air-lifted to a local hospital and has undergone surgery and is conscious and listed in stable condition but officials are trying to figure out why the workers were on the track. can you imagine that coming at you? they are designed with that sharp front. one woman skating round -- excuse me. one woman speed skater found herself in the perfect position to take gold yesterday. that position being last. look at this. chinese skater competing in the world 500 meter short track

final was at the back of the pack when the racers took a spill 37 the only left remaining upright, she then cruised on to gold by a six-second margin! that is all you got to do. wait in the back of the pack and wait for everybody to mess up and then you blast by them! and you get a gold! >> that is your olympic gold? >> that is my advice all along. >> here is a look at the medal count. norway remains on top with 13. germany leads the gold medal count with seven and ranking fifth overall. i think once we allow you to wear the official sochi sweater, our u.s. team -- >> i'm worried about britain there not even on the list. up next, mika's must read opinion pages. don't go anywhere. we will be back with more "morning joe." go! [ male announcer ] it's surprising what your mouth goes through in a day.

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♪ it is 6:46 here on the east coast. a shot of the white house. still snowy there in washington, d.c. time for our must read op d op-e op-eds. peggy noonan is writing in "wall street journal." diane blair was a friend of hillary clinton and here is what peggy writes. the blair papers remind us in the past quarterer century the office of the presidency is everyone's psychotherapy. there is an emphasis on the personality, nature, character and charisma of the president. he gets into dramas and he survives them and working out his issues and a venging

childhood feelings of powerlessness. he will show dad, history becomes the therapist at the taxpayer winds up paying the therapist bill. this wouldn't be so bad. it would actually be entertaining if the presidency were not such a consequential role. gene robinson, what do you make of all of this that has come out of the diane blair papers? >> you know, it's an interesting point of view. i guess the question is is it the fault of the president's, really? are they drama queens, all of them, or, in effect, are we in the media perpetuating this sort of psychoanalysis of our president, overanalyzing what we imagined to be their inner lives and making stories out of that? and i think you could argue that

we do that a bit -- not a bit too much. you could argue we do that a lot too much. i don't think it's just that the president is charismatic. ronald reagan was charismatic. yet we didn't impose all of this sort of psycho drama on him the way we do it on, for example, president obama or president clinton or president george w. bush. >> i think we forget a all of the people we talk about so much, they are just human beings. >> we all are. everybody has evidence. i like peggy noonan stuff a lot but this doesn't make any sense to me. we are humans. we don't -- >> they say president clinton had a colorful life when he was in office. >> every president did. >> he is exactly right. you write about it differently. if you look at the standards between the kennedys and now clinton, it's completely changed. my question is -- if i had all

of these notes of private conversations with hillary clinton, would i want them relieved? i don't think it makes the lady who released these notes so great. in "the new york times" it's called a valentine for restaurant workers. in this he writes among generally mistreated minimum wage workers a subgroup whose wage wage experience is even more michelle and unfair. the group is tipped workers. on my part many well educated professionals and even high ranking officials don't know about this. in any case, few who already know about the tip minimum wage could guess how low it can go. try. are you ready? $2.13. valentine's day is the second busiest restaurant day of the year after mother's day. thank that server who is not going out to dinner with her

loved one. she is waiting on you and think about this. for 23 years, the federal tipped minimum wage has stood at $2.13. isn't it time to change that? >> here is the deal with this. if you go to europe, they get paid the same as everybody else and the tips are much smaller. this is a washington problem. the restaurant association does not want to raise that wage because that means that they have to charge the menu. the way it is now, you pay extra. restaurant owner doesn't have to worry about it and still maintains their profit margin. i think it's outrageous. >> if they do, only to 70% of the federal minimum wage which right on now is in -- that is where we go. >> if you want to tip, tip. >> i would like to wish my wife a happy valentine's day. happy valentine's day. >> still ahead, why "businessweek" says the minimum

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just us hanging out taking selfies and talking how the sox are going to do. >> or the current state politics. >> or if you don't want to have the [ bleep ] by ben. >> i could ask you meaningful questions. what are your hopes? what are your dreams? what are your fears? >> or we could talk about "goodwill hunting." and who did the bulk of the writing. >> or you could learn about how things are true like how incredibly short matt damon is. >> or how your eye twitches every time you saygee. >> i have a button too. mine is better and shinier. >> mine is bigger. >> buzz of bromance there.

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the winter isn't so great here in l.a. i burned my hand on a seat belt buckle this morning and it was terrible. i will say i must be worried to live in a place where people need to actually wear uggs. this is funny. someone shot this video of a guy shoveling snow in a parking lot outside of a walmart. for some reason, he is shoveling the snow into a wire bottomed shopping cart! see? he is shoveling the snow and into the cart and it just goes right back onto the ground! i don't know why i could watch this all day long! that, to me is far more

interesting than any winter olympic sport. >> all right. welcome back to "morning joe." as you take a live look south from the top of the rock down south to lower manhattan and beautiful skies over new york harbor. maybe, maybe, just maybe the skies are parting and we are going to have a beautiful day today. welcome back to "morning joe." back with us on set we have got katty kay and thomas roberts is here wearing olympic garb. harold ford junior is here, along with governor howard dean. howard, i spent the day in your state the past couple of weeks with my kids. >> thank you. >> moderator of "meet the press" is david gregory. the host of "the daily rundown." the man who always tells me if the world is an oyster, then

certainly manhattan and all of those who inhabit it are in the center of it and just died. the question i must ask is what kind of day did bill de blasio have yesterday? >> he would be better off if he were wearing the olympic sweater. i'll tell you this. apparently, he is not shoveling the snow in front of al roker's place. i think now he should be making a list, okay, al roker, what is his address? let's see here. let me get those streets done. >> unless, of course, he is actually, joe, shoveling it into al roker's backyard. >> the other thing he has to fear. >> i think he is. katty, actually, it was quite a bad day. weather woes for commuters and for school bus drivers and parents and children all across the northeast -- well, all across the east coast, but also

a bad day for politicians. why don't we go through the news. >> it was really the pits, let's face it yesterday. roker took city officials to task with a series of tweets writing, in part, so now my daughter's public school is being let out early. is it worth putting kids' safety at risk? how about all of the parents and care givers who have to scramble to get their kids home? is there no one there with any common sense? then he writes, i knew this a.m., new york city's mayors office and new york city schools could close schools. talk about a bad prediction. long-range de blasio forecast, one term. ouch! mayor de blasio is defending his call to keep the schools open, saying new york city doesn't shut down when there is adversity. he also responded to roker's

criticism. >> i respect al roker a lot. watched him on tv for many, many years. it's a different thing to run a city than to give the weather on tv. so i am comfortable with our decision making and we just got off the phone with the national weather service. again, i respect all of the meteorologists out there but the one i respect the most is called the national weather service and this did -- they just affirmed to us on the call before we came out to you that this went faster and heavier than their projections last night. >> that response made roker even more outraged. he tweeted how dare new york city mayor's office and new york city schools throw the national weather service under the school bus. the forecast was on time and on the money. mr. mayor, i could never run new york city, but i know when it's time to keep kids home from school. and schools chancellor is criticized for this comment at the news conference. >> we never made the calls on snow days until the morning of

and many, many people complained about that. if you had to leave your home to get to work, there was all kinds of issues. then we decided to try to do it the night before. because this storm was so unpredictable and what we heard last night is not necessarily what we saw this morning coming down here, it has totally stopped snowing. it is absolutely a beautiful day out there right now. >> which, of course, made it onto the front pages of the papers this morning. hours later, farina cancelled a town hall meeting in brooklyn because of, quote, inclement weather. joe, is it a good idea for politicians to get into tweeting matches with weathermen? >> we were debating this back and forth and then howard dean noted this better than anybody. you do not get into wars. if you're an elected official, don't get into wars with people who are tweeting. number one rule i was told at campaign finance, our campaign

school years ago, howard, was never punch down. >> right. >> if the attack against you is, you know, on tv, then respond on tv. if it's on the radio, respond on the radio but don't respond to attacks on twitter. if you're a public official, that is absolutely ridiculous. >> the other part that have is, if you have to respond, you don't respond. as joe said, you got to say above the fray. you may make mistakes and you got to stay away from the fray. harold, you've been there. >> i don't do the twitter/twitter thing. >> not just twitter. but whenever somebody comes after you. >> you don't punch down. >> you don't punch down. this is not only punching down but also let's go to bill karins. bill, when they held that press conference, they must have thought we all had a short memory. i'm not being negative.

i would say this of anybody that held a press conference and thought that our memory was so short, we didn't remember what people like you were saying six, seven, eight hours ago. bill de blasio said that the storm moved faster and was much harder than they ever expected, which is ridiculous. >> the problem with that, joe -- >> said it was so unpredictable. this wasn't unpredictable. you told us exactly what happened. i know all of us made our decisions based on your forecast and your forecast told -- you said, stay inside. this was going to move fast. it's going to be hard. get home. >> i just don't understand the approach that the mayor took. i mean, the history of new york city is not to cancel schools. we will open the schools up if you want to keep your kids home, keep your kids home.

the teachers were forced to come in. if the parents decide to keep their kids home, they decide to do that. why blame the forecast which 9 1/2 inches and the forecast was for 6. the timing was exactly correct. why he approached that argument, i don't know. he also said i respect the national weather service. that is all great but the national weather service in philadelphia when that band came through told people to have something warm in their cars, their cell phone charged and gas in the cars to stay off the roads. then when this band got up to new york city, the forecast office in this area pretty much said the exact same thing, don't be on the roads. so it kind of contradicts exactly what he was talking about, how he justified it. >> thank you, bill. we appreciate it. david gregory, i remember actually bill saying that yesterday. that the national weather service, who he was throwing under the school bus as al roker said, do not get in your car, but if you do, you better have blankets, a fellow charged cell phone, 20-week ball bearings and

gauze pad. you're going to be there for a very long time. >> right. >> john lennon said life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans. that is kind of what happens to politicians. they have all of these great ideas and then clenching a basic golfan governance comes along and it can throw, especially a newcomer, for a loop. >> i heard bill karins saying i built a snow cave in my living room. totally sure i was going to be okay. look. i think that -- you know, the problem is if you're going to be tough, if you're a city official and you say, we are going to keep the schools open, that's how we do it, you got to be able to back that up, you know? you got to keep the roads cleared. you can't think of kids who walk to school and live close to the school. you got to think about the transportation on a wider scale. then katty made this point earlier. it's not just annoying to parents but you have real difficulties for people who are working, trying to get to work.

if, all of a sudden, you say, oh, no, we are going to keep the schools open and then you shut them down because you were wrong, that's just reckless. and it gets to a point of kind of governance at any level that really you're responsible because it really does get treacherous and it can get treacherous fast for people coming longer distances and it just becomes completely disruptive. look. governor dean was talking. i'm from los angeles. so i don't have a great deal of experience with this. but, you know, i think views have changed about what local districts can handle, what cities can handle with regard to this kind of transportation. >> i think so many more people in these cities. in d.c. a lot more families with kids and a lot more people are affected and erroring on the side of caution. let's move along. in tennessee, today is the final day of secret ballots to determine whether workers at a chattanooga plant will join the united states autoworkers union.

if the plant unionizes it could be seismic for the region. car manufacturers have, in recent years, been drawn to southern right to work states that have offered big incentives and are union resistant. the vote comes as the company seeks to open a new suv production line at one of its new north america plants that would add some 1,500 jobs. senate bob corker who has publicly criticized unions surprised many by saying he has learned vw will bring the new suv to chattanooga if the employees at the current plant decide not to unionize. a vw representative says the vote won't impact the decision. some oppose unionization have excused volkswagen giving the uaw access to enlist its workers. joe, this is such a big issue with car manufacturers maintaining that this is why they are so competitive in the south. >> no doubt about it. you go across the deep south,

you see states like alabama. in alabama, it is now an incredible success story when you talk about the mercedes plants there. they are now building two lines of cars. unemployment in alabama below the national average. you go across the deep south. so many auto factories across the deep south. harold, one of the reasons why has to do with the taxes, the fact the they are right to work states and energy costs. i asked bob riley. bob, why is mercedes building more and more cars in alabama every year? he goes, joe, it's pretty simple. our taxes are lower. we're right to work state, and our energy costs are lower. so this certainly would dramatically change that equation and would it make auto manufacturers in europe and across the world think twice before coming south?

>> be interesting to see. one of the fascinating things about this story it appears at least in some of the press reports that volkswagen has not taken dramatic steps to discourage it. some say they are encouraging this to happen. you have those being critical, including some national vices out of washington suggesting that they took tax breaks from taxpayers in the state and now are going to renege on the deal which is an odd argument to make because any reneging on the deal would presumably hurt the company. the company is saying they are okay with the unionization and can afford it. it's just kind of interesting to see it all unfold. someone from that state and supported unions in that state and even supported the car manufacturers were all going to watch this and watch if they unionize what happens to that plant going forward and it's important to note volkswagen said they will still bring those jobs to the state regardless of the outcome of the vote. >> chuck, obviously, a lot at stake, yonel for thenot only fo

all unions as union membership continues to decline. what are the stakes on both sides? >> i think the stakes are pretty big and it has been fascinating on this. this is not being forced upon vw. vw is not seeming to be overly fighting this. you know, if it does succeed, it's a different kind of partnership. the uar would be as what, aw and vw will come up with as fit ends up succeeding. look. i do think this is one of those, you know, if -- if uaw breaks in here, it is going to break in all the south. you do see they are cutting a different type of deal with vw in order to try to get a foothold into the plant there, knowing if they can get one, then, all of a sudden, it will be a trickle effect. i think it's a very significant thing, but if vw doesn't change

their mind, they keep bringing jobs, i think it's going to end up being a pretty popular thing with autoworkers. >> i think the americans don't get this at all. the germans have the best labor management model of anybody in the world and that is what they are trying to duplicate. our labor management model, both in the public and the private sector, is antagonistic. adversarial. when you open up the books and you show that if you give x. wage the company gets worse and you lose jobs in the long run the union ask does the smart thing. we have to work and labor and management on the same team in this country. we haven't done it and volkswagen knows what they are doing. i hope this succeeds not because i'm pro union which i more or less am. i hope it succeeds because i'm pro jobs and i think this is going to make a much better relationship between labor. this is a model that all american labor and management

ought to be using. >> well said. >> gene robinson in washington, there is obviously a balancing act, a fine balancing act that everybody has to perform and they are doing it up in ford where the uaw has formed a partnership with ford and ford is bringing jobs back to america. we, obviously, were up there and were excited about what we saw there. there is a reason why european auto manufacturers have gone going south because they are right to work states. i wonder if maybe the unions and the carmakers might finally be figuring out a way to work together here that will allow us to continue to steal jobs from other countries, which is what i want to do. i want to keep stealing jobs from europe. >> exactly. i'd like to to do that too. the european carmakers don't have this ideological version to

unions that frankly bob corker seems to have and that many republicans have. they just want a relationship between labor and management that works. now the specific way they do it in germany which kind of involves more or less an in-house union and something they call a work counsel, you couldn't do it quite that way under u.s. labor law. you kind of work with the union you got. and the union we got in the auto industry, the uaw, now seems ready to work with volkswagen on that basis. why would anybody object to that? this seems like a win/win, especially if the jobs are going to come regardless of the outcome of the vote. >> it's going to be very interesting to watch then management model up against the american union and see if they can replicate what they have to be incredibly success in germany and if they could bring some of that here. david, before we go, what is planned for sunday's "meet the

press"? >> we will talking about the future of the olympics and the cost. mitt romney will be my guest exclusively to talk about the republican party as well. something you're not seeing anywhere else. debate about climate change. the president wants it to be a year of action. what about the weather and the swings? bill nye, the science guy, will debate marshall blackburn of tennessee on the question of climate. >> mitt romney to preside over a successful olympics and no shortage of snow there in salt lake city when he did it. a little different in sochi, perhaps. >> right. >> they are calling it the spring games. >> with the suntans as well. gene, we will look for your column online in "the washington post." chuck todd, see you coming up on "the daily rundown." what is missing from the minimum wage debate we have been having? peter coy will join us next. you're watching "morning joe." we will be right back. [ male announcer ] this is joe woods' first day of work.

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business week peter coy. the latest issue features six covers in its efforts to share the stories of workers most affected by the minimum wage debate. peter writes raising the minimum wage is certain to be a wedge issue for democrats in the midterm elections because it's the rare redistributive measure that joys forward popular support but to opponents it's max of big government and heavy handedness and explains why politicians on both sides are reminding their qaets of their ideologies. what is the writ minimum wage? what is the fairest way for the world's largest economy to arrive at it? joe, exactly what we have been talking about. the problem is clear how to overcome this problem is so much mo more complicated. >> they are to figure out how to walk the fine line and how you get people paid more without actually hurting the economy

costing jobs. peter, you actually say in the article that the question is not whether the minimum wage is going to be raised or not, the question is finding that sweet spot. talk about it. >> so i looked at it from both the economic point of view and the kind of morality social justice point of view and you get distinct answers. on economics, the wisdom you find it in econ 101 is if you put a price floor that is above the equilibrium you get management. the study in 1994 involving fad food employees in pennsylvania and new jersey, ever since then that seemingly obvious statement is slowly undermined. no question that a high enough minimum wage destroys jobs but in the kind of range that we

have been talking about, namely, you know we're at $7.25 now going up to around $10, many economists are including an increase of that magnitude probably would not cause a big increase in unemployment. >> peter, we have heard when you adjust it for inflation actually, minimum wage right now is far below what it should be historically. talk about that. >> so, yeah, you have to adjust for inflation. in 1986 the minim68 the minimum only $1.60. in our article we use two different means for adjusting to inflation. the one you'll sometimes hear is that historical peak that even ten ten would not equal the historical peak. but using a more act accurate historical adjustment, the 1010 would probably be the highest

ever by a small margin. to say this is a gimme, no, it's not. it is a big jump 40% increase in the minimum wage and it would be a lot. so anybody who says pooh, poohs it and says it's not enough, it is a big step. >> some have said in the past when you raise the minimum wage the last 20 years it has not impacted it negatively or upward wage pressure. number one. number two, how do you feel about a two-tiered approach for on younger workers having a lower minimum wage and being more experienced or head of household you may have a higher wage which seems to be floated amongst some in washington. >> there is already a subminimum for people under 20 for the first 90 days on a new job, but it cuts out, then they have to go to the regular minimum. so stuff in there from the federal reserve bank of new york talking about puerto rico which has lower wages in general that

that would be a great place to test out a broader exemption for under 20 and give those people under a step of the first rung of the ladder from which they can climb. where if you insist that they get paid $10.10 and first job in youth they may not ever get on that ladder. i agree with you that expanding the subminimum probably makes sense. >> $10.10 works for the economy and doesn't create a hike in the economy levels and it has broad popular support. is it going to happen? if not, why not? >> i don't cover politics. but i think it's got a shot. i mean, we do raise the minimum wage. it's not like we never raise the minimum wage. every two years we raise it and i think it's about time so i think it very well could happen. >> the new issue of "blookbembe

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boston red sox ainstead to the yankees. that is the subject of a great new 30 for 30 short, "the deal." >> by early december of 2003, i think the sense within the industry was that alex rodriguez to the red sox was inevitable. >> the interest level from texas's end was to vote this player's contract. if it didn't work out in the short term they had to repackage this and get out from under it. certainly in boston hoping they wouldn't get him but we watched it play out. >> maybe we could have something to talk about with the rangers if they could take manny, we would take alex and then some party, other than the rangers or alex, would make up the difference in the contract. >> we knew the players we wanted. jon lester. we ended up talking about a manny ramirez. >> we get to the winter meetings and now we continue the deal trading no more for magglio ordonez and also getting a young

pitching prospect in that deal brandon mccarthy. we are trading manny and lester and nomar for a-rod, magglio and brandon mccarthy. >> you know what is so fascinating about this documentary? a-rod made the decision in 2004. he said, i want to be part of that rivalry. the rivalry that he saw in 2003 between the yankees and the red sox. he wanted to be in the middle of it. and he was a red sox for a few hours. a frightening picture. the promo of a-rod with that red sox hat, still scares the hell of me in the night when i have the image flash in my mind. it explores the other part of that trade with the yaernnkees the rangers had lace of five or six players to go along without going with alfonso soriano. they passed on robbie cano. the deal, by the way, harold ford, as you know, was produced by the barnicle boys, nick and colin barnicle, mike barnicle's

sons. it airs on espn this sunday at 8:00 p.m. eastern. that trade, that deal, i would say impacted the direction of the two clubs over the next decade and i would just say as a red sox fanatic, we have got three world series to show for it because we passed on a very bad deal on a cheater. >> well, as a red sox fan, no doubt it's clear from what i've seen so far and nick and colin are talented dudes and i'm looking forward to seeing it on sunday. you think the red sox got the better end of that deal. do you not think a-rod would have contributed in a big way to the red sox giving up manny ramirez if that was true and look at the configurations there. could the red sox still not have put it together or frankly would the yankees been at a disadvantage. this was a yankees and red sox rivalry at its best if you listen to cashman's comments

there. >> look what happened. i mean, before we had a-rod, we hadn't won a world series since 1918. when the yankees got a-rod, we won three world series and this last year is a perfect example of how, in baseball, i think more than any other sport that we follow on, you can't buy championships. you can't buy world series. i remember being told by barnicle and they were about to trade nomar in 2004 in the middle of the summer. said, god, that sounds like a terrible idea, mike. we won't get to the playoffs. mike said, we will get to the playoffs. the clubhouse will be better. they will come together and we will get to the playoffs. you never know. but, obviously, you know, a-rod is a guy that is not even defended by his own teammates right now. he's not a guy that brings the clubhouse together. this clubhouse is poison. don't you agree, harold, that in baseball, more than any other sport, chemistry. that clubhouse chemistry because you have to work together for

162 games and about eight, nine months out of the year, that you got to like the guy that you're playing with. >> you got to like him and the team has to stay healthy and have a good management team in the dugout and we saw what the red sox did year over year improvement from where they were two years ago and how they won the series just last year. so i think you're right. >> katty kay, i would ask you what you think about it but i know you don't like to talk baseball early in the morning. >> no. i usually leave my baseball discussions for another hour or so and then i am on my way. >> i think we can believe the cover of the deal with the red sox hat on is spooky. the underlight is like preventive chuck y. >> no wonder you're having nightmares, joe. >> congratulations to mike's boys, because they do this all by themselves. they do the filming, they do the setup, the editing and they have done a great job of pulling this together. >> despite who is their father. >> valentine's day, we are being nice because they have a great

dad. up next, it may not take an astroireroid to wipe out life a know it and elizabeth kolbert has something unfolding before our eyes. "morning joe" will be right back. >> they cancelled a town hall

♪

wow. scary stuff on a friday morning. a frightening scene of the 1998 film "deep impact" about a comet threatening to wipe out planet earth. with us now is elizabeth kolbert who says a future extinction. what do we face losing and why, elizabeth? >> the analogy between the clip that we just saw and the present extinction is that we are also a force of changing the world very quickly and when i say "we," i mean, people. and what we -- what one of the defining characters of this sort of event where you do get a big extinction event is you lose creatures across all different groups.

for example, mr. corals are threatened and many large animals are threatened. rhinos and apes and animals people are familiar with and we are losing organisms. >> you are sugaring it isuggest because of what we are doing? >> the extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago which there is a pretty broad scientific consensus was caused by an asteroid impact and that crater produced by going to the earth is off the gulf of mexico. now you will hear scientists say i have heard scientists say that we are the asteroid because of these very radical ways that we are changing the planet. for example, we are changing the atmosphere, we are reporting a lot of carbon monoxide into the atmosphere and changing the climate and it's changing is the chemistry of the oceans.

when you dissolve co 2 and water it's a weak acid and drink it in soda but it's an acid so we are changing the chemistry of the ocean as well. >> how do we understand evolution as it corresponds with extinction? >> well, as darwin taught us, evolution and extinction are flip sides of one another but what is happening now, is that extinction is taking place. evolution takes place at the rate of genetic mutation. one of the points i think is important for people to understand we are to the extinction. we hear it all the time. so like that must be natural but, in fact, extinction took take place extremely rarely. you should really not know any animal is being in extinction in the course of a human lifetime. if you know creatures are going in extinction it is a very

unusual moment in human history. >> we are powering a lot of carbon monoxide into the stee atmosphere. we want to see the world markets to emerge and get stronger and it happens more and more people come online and more energy is our need around the world. how do we reconcile those two competing dynamics? i know we want cleaner energy but how do we satisfy these and, at the same time, address this clear problem? >> i think that is, you know, the question of our time, exactly. how are we going to reconcile this? we do want people who are living in poverty and are energy poor is the phrase to lead better lives and we also realize, you know, very clearly that we shouldn't be pouring all of this co 2 into the atmosphere. that is the question, exactly. >> read the book. the book is "the sixth extinction." elizabeth ko lbert, thank you fr joining us. up next, actor zachary

quinto is standing by. we will talk about his role on broadway and his upcoming film. >> it was great. >> i saw it. you're watching "morning joe." we will be right back. [ julie ] the wrinkle cream graveyard.

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♪ i don't know of anything more tragic when a young girl

just puts herself to the mercy and i hope this is not too -- >> as a matter of fact, she is freckles. he's got a very large nose. >> he's not right down homely. >> no, i wouldn't say right down homely. >> well, if a girl had any sense, she'd look for character in a man anyhow. >> that's what i've always said, mother. >> you've always said it? you've always said it? how can you always have said it. you never even thought about it. >> that was a scene from "the glass menagerie" and here with us is zachary quinto. one of the few humorous scenes but this is valentine's day and we're all trying to be cheerful. congratulations. i saw the play. your performance was fantastic. >> thank you so much. >> was it fun to be back on broadway? >> it was my first time on broadway, so that was a particularly -- >> but you started out in

theater, right? >> i did. theater is nothing new to me but being on broadway in a classic american play and such a legend such as terry jones and with an incredible director, john tiffany and amazing company, it's been a very, very powerful experience for me. i'm sorry to see it come to an end in about a week. >> and she plays your mom, she is amazing. >> yeah. >> so what's it been like to work and have this -- this is a rapid base for people who were familiar with theater, how much is drains you since this is not the most uplifting of plays. >> but there's something about the ritual of it, eight times a week, and the consistency of that. it does require a certain kind of stamina, very different from film and television where you're working long 15, 16-hour days. you have your days to yourself so you can really structure, if you're good at it, you can structure a way to support the work you have to do at night. >> so you stay disciplined, then? >> i try.

sometimes i'm better than others. >> tom is such a kind of not over-the-top role but he's a big figure in the play and emotional and expresses his emotions and spock is the antithesis that you're playing in the "star trek" movies. i was surprised to go from seeing you as spock and then seeing you play such a different role. >> that's the goal for me. as much as i can cultivate a sense of diversity and expansion in the kind of work that i do, the happier i am, the more fulfilled i am creatively. so for me it was important to be able to play a role, a character that embraces the depth and the expanse of that emotion, as tom does. tom is really the biggest substitution for tennessee, the clearest distillation of tennessee and this play is the most autobiographical play that

he wrote. so it's been a really wonderful experience for that. >> zachary, two things, one on the film front, one on the tv front. you have a new film coming occupy, "agent 47." but do you think that you'll return to "american horror story"? >> i don't know. i get that question a lot. i don't know anything about what their plans are for the next season. i haven't connected with ryan in a while. >> because you were really bad, bad, bad. >> evil guy. so i'm not sure on that front. i close the play next sunday, february 23rd, so everybody has a week to come check it out basically and i leave the next day and i'll be shooting in berlin for the next few months. >> it's amazing. you've had such a great career and i know you've let a little more of your personal life more into the equation by coming out. your career has not skipped a beat. and i think for a lot of people they can look at you as truly an

inspirational force and someone to look up, to especially for young actors coming up that don't want to build on inverted cards, go on a strong foundation. >> that's a nice way to put it. authenticity is really the only path that adds up to anything in the end. and if the pursuit is integrity, then the only way to achieve that, i think, is to be fully integrated in your life. so for me that was the choice that i made, but everybody has to make their own choice. >> very briefly, how much fun are you having playing spock? >> i love playing spock. >> you're just great. zachary quinto, thanks very much for coming in. zachary, great to have you on the set. and before we go, harold has a bit of what passes for breaking news. harold, really? >> so let me be clear. my wife is watching. we are so excited. swimsuit issue, 50th anniversary issue. my wife is in the bathing suit

business. her bathing suit is being worn by the young lady in the middle who i'm not looking at very closely. congratulations, sweetheart. >> there's no top. why didn't your wife send a top? where's the rest of the stuff that goes over the butt? >> is there really a bathing suit there, harold? >> i'm told that there is. congratulations, sweetheart. >> i won't be taking that to rio tonight. >> this band-aid has more coverage to it. you've got to be kidding me. >> okay, enough. up next, it's the fight of the century. bill de blasio versus al roker. only one man will walk away alive. maybe not, but one man may be voted off the island, according to al. we'll break down their feud. next on "morning joe" when we come back. can i help you?

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♪ good morning. it's 8:00 a.m. on the east coast, 5:00 a.m. on the west coast, as you take a live look at a snowy new york city. back with us on set sir thomas roberts. harold folder jr., howard dean and eugene robinson. how's the snow down there, gene? >> there's a lot of snow down here, you don't want to see it. we got a lot of snow in both sort of blows of this snowstorm, but we are surviving and there is no school, which i think is

smart actually. >> i think it's fine too. i'm heading back down today and then actually i'm going to head off to brazil tonight. i think i'm done with the snow. >> brazil? >> yeah. i thought i'd go and do -- i just picked this week to do my show from rio next week. i will be thinking of all of you, a lot. but let's get -- enough of brazil, let's get to thatnor'ea. it's delivering a parting blow of snow and sleet after yesterday's blizzard-like conditions. some areas saw more than a foot of snow. the storm is being blamed for at least 18 deaths, including tragically a pregnant woman who was hit by a snow plow in new york city. doctors were able to save her baby, though. more than 400,000 homes and businesses are still in the dark. 90% of those are in georgia and in south carolina. 49 out of 50 states had snow on the ground yesterday, and florida was the sole exception.

nbc meteorologist bill karins is here with us. please, bill, it's over, right? done? >> this one is over. there's a little one behind it we have to deal with. our nor'easter did live up to all the hype, definitely the storm of the winter with the ice that we dealt in first in the texas area two or three days ago and then the power outages in the deep south with the ice storm and then the amazing snow totals that we had yesterday and last night. the highest total that i found very appropriately called mt. storm, west virginia, 28 inches. allentown as far as cities was the highest with 19. albany got nailed last night, 17. baltimore, new york, filly, d.c. was in the 8 to 12-inch range, mostly on the front side. the only people that have a bad drive is from the new york city area where the snow just ended northwards. we still have bands of snow to deal with in connecticut, massachusetts, especially north of balanalbany, new york, in ar from the white mountains of new hampshire all the way back through vermont definitely will

deal with the snow. so it will exit during the morning today, there it goes. right behind it watch nebraska and iowa. a quick-moving storm moving in behind it called a clipper storm. they move quickly so it's not going to put in a lot of snow but even st. louis today getting 1 to 3 inches of snow. that will move over the ohio valley, including much of northern kentucky and through washington, d.c., early tomorrow morning. not a lot of snow. d.c. probably only an inch, philly 1 or 2 inches, new york city 1 to 3 but the storm will get much stronger as it exits the boston area so that's where we could be possibly talking about 3 to 6 in maine. i was just looking up the rio forecast and there's a big shot of cold air heading there. they're going from the 80s to the 70s, so i hope that you'll be all right. >> i'm not listening. it's going to be perfect. i'll be thinking of you. >> of course it will, it's rio. >> i'll be thinking of you in the snow. new york city mayor bill de blasio's decision to keep schools open during the nor'easter led to a chilly

exchange with the "today" show's al roker. just 45% of students made it to class. roker took city officials to task in a series of tweets writing so now my daughter's public school is being let out early. is it worth putting kids' safety at risk? and how about all the parents and caregivers who have to scramble to get their kids home. is there no one there with any common sense? then he writes i knew this a.m. new york city mayor's office and new york city schools would close schools. talk about a bad prediction, long range de blasio forecast, one term. mayor de blasio is defending his call to keep the schools open saying new york city doesn't shut down when there is adversity. he also responded to roker's criticism. >> i respect al roker a lot, watched him on tv for many, many years. it's a different thing to run a city than to give the weather on tv. so i am comfortable with our

decision-making and we just got off the phone with the national weather service. again, i respect all the meteorologists out there, but the one i respect the most is called the national weather service. and this did -- and they just affirmed to us on the call before we came out to you that this went faster and heavier than their projections last night. >> well, that response made roker even more outraged. he then tweeted how dare new york city mayor's office and new york city schools throw national weather service under the school bus. forecast was on time and on the money. mr. mayor, i could never run new york city, but i know when it's time to keep kids home from school. and school's chancellor carmen freena is also being criticized for this at the news conference. >> we never made the calls on snow days until the day of. and many, many people complained about that. so then we decided to try to do

it the night before. because this storm was so unpredictable and what we heard last night is not what we saw and by the way, it has totally stopped snowing. it is absolutely a beautiful day out there right now. >> later she cancelled a town hall meeting because of, quote, inclimate weather, joe. >> bill karins, let's go to you. you're the expert here. this is absolutely stunning. you, of course, had the same thing happen a couple of weeks ago in atlanta, georgia, where you had parents who were not only inconvenienced, bill, but also were actually one father reportedly walked six miles in the snow to be with her -- with his daughter at school. for this to happen in new york city for de blasio and any city official to say we all didn't know what was going to happen yesterday, i mean, hell, we could just roll your tape from yesterday morning at the top of our show and you were telling us

what? stay off the roads. why? because the national weather service was saying stay off the roads. this is inexplicable. what did de blasio know and when did he know it. >> he knew we were going to get very heavy snow during the morning rush hour, 2 to 3 inches of snow, the forecast was for 6 inches. we did end up getting 9 1/2 inches, 3 inches more than what was called for but the time was right. if you're talking about the difference between 6 inches and 9 inches, it's really not that different on the impact on the roads and sidewalks. new york city has only cancelled school like ten times in the last 100 years. at one point there was a ten-year period where new york city never cancelled school because of any winter storms. but i think the important point here is that society has changed. we used to let our kids ride their bikes without helmets. we used to let the kids go in the car without seat belts. society has changed. we're a lot more protective of

our kids and the safety issues out there. i think it's time for new york city to get on board with it. i think that's where al was getting with this. why are we risking things we don't have to. >> real quickly, just one other thing. he talks about the storm and how quickly it was moving. how quickly was this storm moving? >> it was -- you know, we were moving at like 20, 30 miles per hour. it wasn't any different than many other storms, the speed of it. that wasn't really an issue. that was kind of nonsense. >> well, yesterday you predicted that it was going to move quickly. >> if anyone wants to be outraged, they got the kids to school, they were there are there, the 40% that showed up and the teachers, and then they said, okay, everybody go home. we're going to release school early. it was 35 degrees. it was raining. the crews were out there. the roads were dramatically improving. parents had already wrought their kids to school and now all of a sudden people have to leave their jobs, their hourly wages to go get their kids for the afternoon. if anything didn't make sense, that was the dumbest thing they

did yesterday. >> yeah. thank you, bill. we greatly appreciate it. harold ford, let me bring you in. you're a new york city resident. boy, what a rocky, rocky start for this new mayor. two botched efforts in snow removal. we joked about it the first day. but, you know, when you start dealing with kids and school, it's not a laughing matter. when you know that it's coming and you make the wrong call and then try to circle around and justify it, that's even a bigger problem. what's going on? >> yukou contrast this with the governor of georgia a few weeks ago. he took full responsibility, held himself accountable. the mayor should do the same. even some of his strongest allies in new york, including the speaker of the city council and the public advocate who was a former employee of his said, look, a mistake was made. they need to re-evaluate their criteria for closing schools. that's what people look for in leaders. governor dean would know that

and others would know that as well. i hope it was a mistake and he owns up to it and lays out clearly to the public how they will evaluate these things going forward. blaming meteorologists was the right thing to do. i don't think there was a meteorologist who did not predict this so it's a little confusing and bewildering on the part of citizens across the city. >> governor dean, let's ask you. >> we never close school. look, this is somewhat of a shakedown. the first lesson is do not get in a tweeting war with al roker. if the tv weatherman wants to tweet, let him tweet. you don't have to have an official response to that. that just makes it worse. so, you know, maybe some mistakes were made. if the city doesn't have a history of closing schools, i understand why the mayor made this decision. i do agree that sending them home halfway through the day was probably -- but this is a judgment call. people's lives were not at risk, calm down. there's a huge difference between this and what happened in georgia. what happened in georgia was life-threatening. people were stuck on the

interstate for 18 hours. >> somebody was killed yesterday. there was a woman that was killed and thank god the baby lived. >> she was hit by a snow plow. it has nothing to do -- >> there wouldn't we any snow plows out unless there was snow on the ground. >> a very good point. >> i'm just saying to suggest that -- >> look, this is a snowstorm, it is not one of the big, worst, horrible snowstorms we've ever had in new york. this is all going to go away, but there are some lessons to be learned. one is, it is true. i think what bill said is society has changed. people have different expectations about closing schools than they did 15 years ago, so that's lesson number one. lesson number two is you do not have official responses to people who are tweeting things about you. >> i would say lesson number three is clarity. i think once you send the kids to school, send them the whole day. as a parent that's what messes things up. you send your kids to skol and then you get pulled out of meetings and pulled out of work and you've got to get to school when you weren't expecting to

and that's the kind of thing that makes parents annoyed with officials. let's move on from the weather because there is some fresh analysis when it comes to what's behind the soaring wealth of the nation's top earners. the huffington post analyzed the gap between executive and employee pay. the article notes how corporate pay is approved by the directors of the boards, many of whom are executives themselves at other companies. and, therefore, have a vested interest in seeing higher paydays and check out these graphs from "the atlantic." when you see the first graph you think the soaring line at the top belongs to the top 1%. the rest of the working world seems to be hovering at the bottom. but when you reveal the key, the line at the top actually belongs to the top 0.01% whose salaries are in the $30 million range. below that is the 0.1% followed by the actual 1% who are staying fairly consistent.

joe, i saw these graphs yesterday when i was coming up on the train. they are staggering how much that 0.01% is gaining income while everyone else is pretty much flat lining. >> but we do all see it, though. we all see the stories about the ceos that make $150 million a year and run their companies into the ground and get a $75 million golden parachute. it's outrageous. gene, back in the 1950s there was that famous expression by, i believe it was the ceo of general motors, who said what's good for general motors is good for america. that may have been the case back in the 1950s because, you know, the ceos may have been making $2 million, $3 million. but now you've got to say what's good for gm workers is good for america because the top 0.01% is taking home so much higher percentage of the profits.

it's skewing everything, isn't it? >> it really is. it's ridiculous and it's unjustified in my view. and it's also self-reinforcing. the boards approving this compensation are largely made up of ceos of other companies and so they compare with each other and say, well, this is the going rate for a ceo. well, that going rate has skyrocketed in that upper, upper, upper echelon. and it should be noted that there are ceos of some major companies that don't play this game and that make a lot of money but that don't -- that aren't, frankly, so greedy. but unfortunately too many are and, you know, you want to -- you want to fuel this discussion about inequality, you know, keep paying yourself $60 million a year. >> and the problem, howard dean, is we're seeing a bigger

disconnect not only by the wealthiest, and these are striking numbers, between the top 0.01% and the 99.9% of the rest of america and you start to realize just how skewed this recovery is because so much is going to the very top. it's not just the income inequality that the 0.01% are driving. now we find out that like 40% of consumption in america is driven by the top 1%. i mean my god, this is an economy that is desperate -- in desperate need of democratiization. >> that's a really good point. there's two problems here. the difference between the top and the bottom is there's nothing wrong with having rich people. rich peaople do spend money and so forth. the problem is the average

person isn't doing well and hasn't done well for 20 years. so they see the people that are at the top and they're doing great and they're having this conspicuous -- this is literally a lot like the gilded age in the 1920s. so it's demoralizing. it's not so much that it's a big gap, that's a problem. the problem is that america doesn't work if you don't think you can get ahead. if you think you can play by the rules and you work hard and get a college education and you don't get ahead, then you don't think the country works for you anymore. that's the real problem with the income gap. and it's also led by people who don't seem to give a damn about the country, which is those people making $60 million for running their companies into the ground. >> and this is not to bash people who have done well in their lives. we've seen a lot of people as joe pointed out that fail upward and get huge paydays for it. if we look at a bill that would raise the federal wage over a two-year period, we know that this would also help -- and this is what's startling. joe, listen to this. it would also gradually increase

the minimum wage for tip labor. tip labor stands at $2.13 an hour, 70% of the normal minimum wage. the economic policy institute, a nonpartisan think tank in d.c. recently released a report saying passing the fair minimum wage act would affect more than 21 million workers nationwide. when you think about that and the pay disparity, just when we talk about the federal minimum wage and the fact that this $2.13 for tip labor, that's been that way since i was a waiter out of college. that was 20 years ago. that's what i made, $2.13 an hour. >> these kind of studies and these kind of numbers as has been stated make the case more so for raising the minimum wage. when the minimum wage has been increased over the last ten to 20 years, this argument that employment goes down and wages goes down is just refuted. unemployment actually goes down. so it should be done. but this issue with this 0.01%

and 0.1%, the administration over the last few years has talked about raising taxes on the wealthy and put that number on a quarter of a million dollars. it's clear that's not the number for wealth in the nation. furthermore you have a number of people on that graph whom are hedge fund managers in new york. the fact that the administration -- that the obama administration has not raised this is a travesty. the fact people can invest other people's money and enjoy the capital gains rate that everyday americans enjoy shouldn't be the case. they should pay the same rates all of us around the table pay on earned income. that's not the only answer to solve this problem but there are things we can do to ensure -- not to distribute wealth but we enable people through education and infrastructure to get a good job and grow the country. >> i mean obviously that's not going to take care of it by itself, raising the minimum wage is not going to take care of it

by itself, but katty k., i think most americans and, yes, conservatives want to know as well as liberals why hedge fund managers that make $150 million or $200 million a year are paying 14% in taxes. they want to know why the two candidates that ran for president last year, mitt romney and barack obama, both paid tax rates in the teens while most other americans paid at least twice as much in tax rates. it's insanity. and of course i'm conservative so on the other end i think you should cap taxes at maybe 35%, 33% and make it a lot flatter than it is. but harold is exactly right. when you have the top 0.01%, you know, making billions and billions of dollars while the rest of america is struggling and they pay 14%, 15% in taxes? that's just outrageous. and it doesn't matter what party

you are, unless you're in the i'm a billionaire party. this is the wrong thing to do for america. coming up we'll check in with politico's michael allen, plus the rapper drake says he's disgusted that philip seymour hoffman knocked him off the cover of "rolling stone." what if you could shrink your pores just by washing your face? [ female announcer ] neutrogena® pore refining cleanser. alpha-hydroxy and exfoliating beads work to clean and tighten pores so they can look half their size. pores...shrink 'em down to size! [ female announcer ] pore refining cleanser. neutrogena®.

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let's take a look at the morning papers from our parade of papers. "the washington post" a federal

judge has struck down virginia's ban of same-sex marriage. the judge said the law was unjustifiable even under the s loosest interpretation of the law, quoting abraham lincoln in her decision. same-sex marriages in the state are currently on hold pending appeal, though, thomas. the "seattle times" doc hastings is the latest member of congress to announce his pending retirement. first elected in 1994 he served ten terms in congress, becoming chairman of the house natural resources committee. the 73-year-old lawmaker says it's time to let voters choose a new person with new energy. "the new york times" well-known character ralph waite has died. he was remembered for his role as the patriarch in the '70s series "the waltons." he also had roles in "the bodyguard," and ncis. later in life he sought a political career running for congress unsuccessfully three times.

he is survived by his third wife, linda, and three children from his first marriage. he was 85 years old. we remember "the waltons." >> he was also voted several years back when they did america's 50 best dads, he was in the top five. >> so he really was a great dad. >> and remember when they'd say good night to each other. good night, ma, good night, mary elizabeth. >> i tried that at my house. >> i know what you watched. >> i watched a lot of tv growing up. i loved that show. remember the mom went away? she had tuberculosis and they sent her away. i couldn't understand why she went away. >> can we talk about the wire? >> sure. the bowling green daily news, general motors out trying to restore the eight corvettes that sank into a 40-foot sinkhole on wednesday. there's video of this. the cars were on display at the national corvette museum in kentucky. watch this. the crews cannot remove the cars until this entire building is declared stabilized and secured. that could take up to three

weeks. officials say the museum did not suffer any structural damage, but you can see there they actually have video of the cars sitting at the bottom. they look like little match boxcars, they're so far down. but such a loss there. >> it looks like a seen from something like "ocean's eleven." "usa today," rapper drake says he is disgusted with "rolling stone's" decision to bump him from the magazine's cover. instead "rolling stone" ran a tribute to the late philip seymour hoffman. yesterday drake expressed his anger on twitter saying, quote, they also took my cover from me last minute and ran the issue. i'm disgusted with that. rip to philip seymour hoffman. all respect due. but the press is evil. the rapper also added, i'm done doing interviews for magazines. drake deleted his original tweets amid an online backlash. not surprising. >> it's a double-edged sword. they want to use the media to promote themselves. >> of course, but a great actor

has just died. >> losing a great actor -- >> you'd think he'd have a bit more grace. >> you would think. >> it's very frustrating. the only cover i was ever bumped off was "newsweek" and i was thrilled because they were going to use a really awful picture. i was delighted. >> so it can work in your favor sometimes. so this weekend's "parade" magazine, a special interview with the new host of "the tonight show," jimmy fallon, which is going to be incredible. that starts on february 17th. i'm sure you saw when you got to the building, you see the posters that are up for jimmy fallon and for seth meyers. seth starts the following week on february 24th. but a lot of changes here at 30 rock, it's great. a lot of new energy coming in. with us now the chief white house correspondent for politico, michael ke allen. you're here with the playbook. happy valentine's day. >> happy valentine's day and happy friday. >> there it is. >> and today is when house republicans in a valentine's spirit unveil their agenda for the year. it's being called an america that works. is it going to work for them,

mike? >> they hope it is because it's going to give them things to talk about in the midterm elections, which is very different than going to the president's desk and being passed into law. katty, this week when congress raised the debt ceiling, that was the last thing they had to do for the year, so they're done doing anything meaningful in this political year. something that usually happens in august. so this is one place where the congress is six months ahead, so republicans at their retreat decided we're going to use this time to tee up issues that will help us. the president says he's going to go it alone with executive and regulatory actions. we can go it alone with what we're passing. so what they say is they're going to embrace the issue of income inequality that you've just been talking about and say we're going after the root causes of it. they are going to say that it's because there isn't enough job creation, educational opportunities. so they'll be repackaging things that they love, charter schools,

regulatory reform, medical liability reform and saying that those will help actually address the real causes of income inequality. >> gene, good morning, harold ford. i don't know if you've seen this about the gop not having a health care alternative. if a health care alternative is a part of this america works plan that they have laid out, can that be helpful to them as they find themselves heading towards the fall elections? >> i think it could be helpful it's a credible alternative. if the alternative is, well, go back to the way things were, i think that's not good enough and it's not going to play. you know, the polls show that people are not wild about obamacare but people do not want it repealed. and so the republican party's position is still it should be repealed. we should get rid of it, it won't work. well fine, give us a credible alternative. we haven't heard that from the republican party yet. >> you've seen the first cut at

the republican attempt, it gets rid of the ban on pre-existing conditions. i mean this is a pretty -- this is pretty bad. i think what the democrats are going to do is take the first cut and say, hey, how did you like this? and the public will say absolutely not. do they have any other bright ideas like that in there? >> well, that's a good question. you know, what other bright ideas -- you get rid of pre-existing conditions, take the kids up to 26, take them off the parents insurance, i guess you could do that too. there are a lot of consumer friendly provisions in obamacare that people really like and are getting used to. you know, good luck trying to convince everybody to take those back. >> it's amazing how quickly we're starting to see the obamacare story change its tone. >> it still has a long -- let's be clear, it still has a long way to go. >> the numbers that came out this week were some of the best numbers -- >> but average -- no doubt about

it. >> average people in america are seeing their luck turn. the problem is the price because it is -- my son is now trying to do all this stuff and he's paying the full price. you know, he's certain low far from wealthy but he's not at 400% of poverty. so there are going to be problems ongoing but i think a lot of people will say, hey, i'm getting something i never had before. i could never buy insurance before and some of those people are going to be republicans. >> politico's mike allen, thanks. up next from cancelled flights to closed restaurants, the nasty weather is putting a $50 billion dent in the economy. that's ahead in business before the bell. we'll be right back with more "morning joe." honestly? this deal was way too good to believe.

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oh, lewis, well, we are celebrating weather this friday with another storm down in this historic winter. let's check in with dylan dreyer who's live in king of prussia, pennsylvania. what's it like there, dylan? >> reporter: you know, it's fine right now. it is cold but the sun is out after what was a miserable day yesterday. we saw heavy snow, then we saw rain and last night we had more snow on top of that. you can see just a winter wonderland in all these neighborhoods. but the problem is that rain that we had yesterday, the snow just absorbs it like a sponge. look what it did to the roads here. i mean everything is just covered in this slush.

it is making it such a mess. and, you know, all streets are like this, especially in the neighborhoods. but we ended up with about 10 inches of snow, then another 2 inches of snow last night. and actually for philadelphia, this is the most 6-inch snowstorms they have seen in one season on record, so we are breaking records all up and down the east coast. we saw record snowfall in new york city, we saw record snowfall in worcester, massachusetts. philadelphia schools are closed again today. it looks like they'll be going through mid-june as of right now. yesterday i did have a chance to have a snowball fight against some of the kids. it was girls against guys. i told them that you have to have a stockpile of snow balls. we've got snow balls of all shapes, all sizes here. i've got my producer over here who's just taking them, no defense. don't worry, i've got one for you guys too. >> dylan has a good arm. look at that. >> notice the art of snowball

warfare. dylan dreyer there, in king of prussia. blasting the local kids. up next, the financial toll of the winter weather. how the string of severe storms that we've been seeing has impacted the economy. we'll be right back with more on "morning joe." ♪

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you stand behind what you say. there's a saying around here, come back new. around here you don't make excuses. you make commitments. and when you can't live up to them, you own up, and make it right. some people think the kind of accountability that thrives on so many streets in this country has gone missing in the places where it's needed most. but i know you'll still find it when you know where to look. there's jen. happy valentine's day from sochi from our station manager, jen. so even more snow is expected this weekend for certain parts of the country. the cost of all these storms is having a lasting impact with local businesses. with more on that, katy tur.

>> reporter: in ridgewood, new jersey, making the trek to work wasn't a choice. >> are you looking for us to deliver tomorrow? >> reporter: on the eve of valentine's day, one of the biggest business days of the year, the little flower shop was open. >> if you were not able to come in, how much money would the shop be losing? >> thousands of dollars if we don't come in and do it. this is how we make our money. >> reporter: record snowfall and freezing temperatures have put pressure on businesses north to south. the economic impact, $50 billion, and 80,000 jobs. take this map. a year ago today 43% of the country was covered in snow. right now, it's 60%. cnbc calls it frozenomics. >> people saying home from work are lost hours. people not going to the mall, lost sales. all sorts of economic activity that might have happened that because it's been too cold and too snowy is not getting done. >> reporter: at virginia's largest yououtlet mall, snow-fid parking lots instead of shoppers and at car dealerships, vehicles

filled parking lots instead of potential buyers where they have reporting a sales drop of $1.7 billion. from lost sales to snarled roadways and grounded planes, transportation has taken the biggest hit. it's cost passengers $2.5 billion. the food industry is also hurting. where restaurant owners can only keep their fingers crossed. >> when the weather comes in like this, it's probably a good 75% of the business for the day is shot. so we just open up and hopefully we'll pick up something. >> reporter: in new york city, school was cancelled midday, and parents had no choice but to cut their losses. >> i had to leave work early, so i lost half a day. >> reporter: but back in ridgewood, neither snow nor sleet nor hail could keep the florist from delivering. >> that's right, the florist is always on duty. coming up next, she went from journalist to reality tv star. our great conversation with author and real housewife carol

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that's singer stinger. >> i am the hostess! >> you want to do that? >> i was [ bleep ] uncomfortable. >> do you understand me? if you're going to call me a liar, we're going to have a

problem. >> don't tell me anything, [ bleep ]. >> don't talk [ bleep ] about my friend. >> are you crazy? >> the woman is deranged. >> you're a psychopath. >> a psychopath? >> yes, you have no soul. >> where were you. >> don't touch me. >> i find that laughable. >> i did going to tell you, something hert. >> what is your problem? >> that was a trailer for the upcoming season of bravo's "the real housewives of new york." here with us now, co-star of the show, carole radziwill. he's out with a new book "the widow's guide to sex and dating." can i tell you when we were sitting next to each other at that bah mitzvah, you were so nice. i had no idea you were on that show, i'm sorry. >> i don't usually lead with that. >> i know. i don't usually lead with that either, but i had no clue. "the widow's guide to sex and dating." it's funny. it's also a lot like a lot of

our lives, including yours, so tell us a little bit about the idea, where it came from. >> after i wrote my memoir, i thought -- i was thinking about my next project and i started dating. i lost my husband very young and i was talking to some girlfriends and sharing dating stories. it's always funny to talk about dating. one of them said you should write this down and you should right at some point when you're more in the state of mind a novel and call it the widow's guide to sex and dating. okay, i might do that. so it was ten years after my husband passed away that i started writing this. and i was in a much more whimsical state of mind. i had found the sense of humor about the absurd tee of life and i gave it to claire early on in the story so it's really a comedy. >> after being through -- going through something like that, you do at some point have to laugh at some of the absurdity, it is

so unbelievable. >> yes. >> after such a massive loss. >> yes, yes. a couple of years -- it took me a couple of years to find my humor about it. once i did, i thought, okay, you can either kind of go through something like that and completely break down and have a nervous breakdown or you can just kind of understand the complexity of life and the absurdity of some of it, so that's what i did. >> so at what point after the grieving process subsides, it never really ends, but at what point when you begin dating does the level of ridiculousness, the laugh out loud that you have to suppress when you're dating someone, when does that subside? first date, second date, when? >> you know, i go through long phases in my life where i'm just dating and then i decide if i want a relationship and i'm in a relationship. but right now i'm dating. honestly, i like it. i say i'm the queen of first

dates because i've never had a bad first date. i think it's fun to meet new people and kind of interview them, part of my training in nature. i'm a little bit of a journalist anyway. so i enjoy -- i enjoy first dates. to get me on a second date is a little bit of a -- is more difficult. that requires a little magic and fairy dust and chemistry and stuff. but i don't -- i'm not -- i will go out with anyone once. >> that's a good way of putting it. >> and that's what claire does in the book too. she goes on a series of first dates. >> i was going to ask how much of you was in the book but what you said is remindful of the story. and i forget the actor who talked about it, but dating a woman, first time, walking her up to her apartment. she opens the door and he says, you know, i'll come in and she says, no, i never do that on the first date. and he allegedly says to her what about the last date?

>> i've never heard that story, but i love it. >> it's a good one. >> i love it, i love it. well, it's not actually a guide by any stretch of the imagination. it's just a fun title. and there are rules throughout it. but they're more like philosophies of life. one of them is you never sleep with a man until he thinks he's in love with you, and that sometimes can be -- you know, men fall, you know, can fall quickly. >> thomas just fell for me. >> so it could be the first date or it could be, you know, three or four dates or two months, but you should never like -- you never invite them in until you -- until -- another one of my philosophies is let them chase you until you catch him. >> that's a good one. actually millennials could use that advice. >> who? >> millennials. young women, not us. not us. but, you know, i just get the feeling that it's so transactional now.

and kind of a little bit -- i think it's lost its -- i don't know, i was very conservative. what are you laughing at? >> just the whole concept is funny. i mean parts of the book are very funny. i was just skimming through the book. but the whole concept is funny. i mean you're an adult and all of a sudden you're dating? >> you got married and was supposed to be with one person for the rest of your life and that was the plan and then all of a sudden -- >> yeah. it's hard. widows are the new virgins because it's almost like losing your virginity all over again. it's difference from the experience of divorce. i knew that experience. and there's a spirituality attached to it that might not be attached to divorce. and then when you get divorced, i think your friends are all like, you know, going through their blackberries and saying, oh, hooking up with this person or that person, but no one really wants to see you have sex again when you're a widow. but it's really what you think about a lot. claire is constantly obsessed

with it in this book. not that i was. >> on the show last season, you dated somebody that was in that crazy house in st. bart. >> yes. you watch the show? >> it's not a guilty pleasure, it's a pleasure. >> what? >> can i watch one with you? >> yes. >> i'll come and watch it with you. >> you seem to me as a more floater, a casual observer, because you are a journalist. so i always thought that you were basically on the show and your big plan is to really write a book about reality shows down the ryline. except that trailer we just saw, you're in their face, you're throwing down. >> you know, i'm not a confrontational person. i don't seek drama. but the drama this season finds me. and then i might have an aristocratic name but i'm all italian. >> i'm going to have a viewing party with you. >> it will be great. we'll eat ice cream and we'll watch "the real housewives of

new york." >> i would like to come. >> we wear elastic pants. >> i think i'm going to wear some. >> barnacle, you can come too. >> i can't wait. i'm so excited. i'm so glad to have you on the show and i was so happy to meet you and, boy, was i surprised when i saw that you were actually a tv star. the book is "the widow's guide to sex and dating." carole radziwill, thank you so much. "morning joe" will be right back. humans. even when we cross our t's and dot our i's, we still run into problems. namely, other humans. which is why, at liberty mutual insurance, auto policies come with new car replacement and accident forgiveness if you qualify. see what else comes standard at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? how much money do you think you'll need when you retire?

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interesting tweets coming in about you. >> what's that? >> joe nbc really looks like he reeks of booze and cigs this morning. >> i wear pajamas on set last week and that's like the new normal, right? >> i wore glasses today because alex said i was terrible yesterday and that i couldn't read and i have my pajamas on. >> i'm going to wear a dinner jacket the next time i come. we know about barnacle, joe is wearing pajama pants isn't i'm on the front lines of the de blasio blizzard of 2014. and i'm still getting dressed the way i think a professional journalist should get dressed. i'm disappointed. >> if you both stand up, i think you can both show off your plaid pants. >> joe, are you okay up there? i know you're dealing with the

elements. you are brave. >> the most important thing is you've got to be prepared and stay hydrated. >> i'm not sure, john lennon may have been flying over central park with a ufo. >> "the new york times" will have it if it did, or if it didn't. >> boy, that's kind of tough, wow. >> can you call phil? i think it's an hr issue. should you call tj's wife first? >> we've got a snowstorm. willie looks like he's on south beach. >> he's in miami. >> first we do have to talk to carl bernstein. we love having carl here. >> i already miss him. >> he's one of our favorite guests. let's have a seven-belt salute for carl. can you do it, t.j.? [ bell ringing ] >> okay, i'm bored. >> show respect. >> he is 241 and how many feet tall? i don't know. brian sullivan. and in washington, white house correspondent for the huffington post, sam stein. sam? >> hello. >> a little wisp of a man.

>> oh, my god. >> do you know what tinder is? >> tinder, is that like the -- >> no, it's that app. check donnie's phone. >> my dogs don't like you. they have nowhere to go. >> your dogs don't like anybody, by the way. they bite you and pee on your foot. >> i'm like a dog whisperer. i'll come to your house and work it out. >> we just saw the french media pass. [ speaking in french ] >> can i play the sound bite we were going to play from the speech? >> i'd rather just hear myself talk, but sure. >> i know. welcome back to "morning joe." it's time to talk about what we learned today. thomas. thomas, thomas. basically wearing glorified olympic flag, what did you learn today? >> i learned that my sweater is a big hit on twitter. my patriotic valentine theme is a success. >> it's fantastic. >> i learned that you do not

challenge al roekner a tweeting contest. don't do it. >> that is smart. i want to borrow that sweater. thomas. i learned even though it's valentine's day, mike barnacle still gets a hard time on this show. really. >> a lot of love. >> he still does, but fortunately for his sons they have a wonderful mother. well listen, have a great valentine's day, everybody. have a wonderful weekend. thank you so much for watching. we will see you monday. if it's way too early, it's "morning joe." stick around, chuck todd is up next with "the daily rundown." washington still sort of shut down. no, not because of political gridlock, because of the snow. federal agencies are on a delayed opening this morning after the massive, deadly storm that has dumped snow and ice from mississippi to maine. and other states not beginning with m. more than 100 million people are digging out this morning and another blast of snow, believe it or not, is on the way.