hi everyone. welcome to on the money. what's hot on four wheel, what you may be driving soon and does detroit have bad timing. what business has appetite for new product. and helps eliminate food waste and paws and think about it. the ins and outs of the pet insurance. on the money right now. >> this is on the money. your money, your life, your future. now becky quip. >> here is a look at the new week. americans kept their wallets in in their pockets in december.

it was the largest monthly decrease since january 2014. retails sales are always closely watched because consumption makes up more than two thirds of the u.s. economy. part was a because we were paying a lot more money for gasoline in the month of december. one that saw some wild interday swings. stocks closed at a one month low thrz but the markets rebated on friday. oil tuck tumbled by five perked touching about $46 during the week. earnings season is under way and turning into an ugly one. wells fargo met expectations but j.p. morgan chase citi a you will missed estimates. -- ceasing troubled operations in canada after two years because it couldn't find a road to profits until 20021 at least. the company will close 133

stores. more than 17,000 employees will be out of a job. >> while tuition increasing have been slowing paying for education is still a high cost challenge for many americans. president obama is expected to propose a plan for free communicate college tuition in tuesday's state of the of the union address. that can make an announcement how best dollars can be spent. doctor amy gut mann is the president of the university of pennsylvania. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> this is a huge discussion taking place over a number of years. but we are expecting the president will propose free college tuition for community colleges. do you think something like that is a good idea even though went don't have the details on any of this yet. >> i think making access to college today more accessible to more people is actually critical to the american dream of opportunity. i think this is the engine of

opportunity for our population. it has been from the mid 20th century. and it's only gotten more and more essential to what makes for having the opportunity that has really defined the american dream for millions of people. and that engine of opportunity needs to be stoked. and so i think a proposal like president obama's is one of many proposals needed to get this engine more vital than it has within in recent years. >> it seems like something that's gotten a little out of control. i went to a state university and when i started it was about $7,000 for traditional room and board can and today it is 25,000 a year. i don't know how an average family can afford that for one child let aloe two or three kids in school. what happened? >> if we go back to the 1960s,

the mid 20th century that is when i was thinking about college in high school. have tthe. the city university of new york graduated 36,000 students a year tuition free and about 24,000 night students with minimal tuition. they graduated ten noble laureates. they graduated the likes of colin powell and jonas faulk and an ddy growth. and those wonderful talented hard working young people at the time got a free education. that was in a time when it wasn't as clear that a college education is essential. now it is absolutely essential. >> dr. gutmann tell us about your story. i know you had some issues trying to pay too. how were you able to go to school. >> my father was a scrap metal dealer. he had minimal -- no savings. we had no savings. he had a very modest income and

he died when i was a junior in high school. and my mother was a stay-at-home mom at the time but before she had me and married my father she was a stenographer. and we had no money for college. but my parents believed in education. and what made my career possible -- and i owe it all to a full scholarship based on need at radcliffe college. >> do you think technology is going change and kind of force this change to happen? you have online options and massively open online courses and all kinds of innovations on kavrpts campus. will that bring down the cost of the traditional college model. >> online, mooks. they are called mooks and they are a bold experiment. i think have the potential to change education.

they are going to supplement what can be done, you know, on campus. and they are already making available high quality courses to million s of students who otherwise would not have any access to them. the question is not is much what the technology will do but what we will do with the technology. and my hope and my plan at penn is to enrich the inclass learning we can have with what are called mooks with what are called flip classrooms wrsmt the students learn online outside of class and interact more with their faculty in class. but also we have already 3 million students who have accessed our courses who would never be able to come to penn and have an on campus experience. those courses are free. they still don't substitute for

getting ing ting a degree and g interaction but i think just like the printing press all at once didn't revolutionize learning it did over time. is to process is going to be ev but i believe the results were revolutionary. and totally incompatible and the supplementary to the on campus learning. >> thank you for joining us today. >> my pleasure. thank you. >> up next we are on the money. the mood was electric at the detroit auto show but is it a case of bad time big the auto makers. and biting off more than you can chew. one start-up is hashing out a recipe to eliminate food waste. and look at how the stock market ended the week.

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the new all aluminum ford f-150 and the vw gulf driving off with the big prize. but the feeling there was electric. get it? phil lebeau joins us with more. >> becky there was a little something for everyone at this auto show. clearly the most optimism we've seen in a number of years and that was reflected in a slew of new models. >> introducing the chevrolet bolt. >> with sales surging, the buzz is back at the detroit auto show. >> these are good times here in detroit. and u.s. altogether. >> there are new performance cars and lux hi models but two electric models made the most chatter. gm estimates the bolt will have a range topping 200 miles. when it debuts in 2017 and could sell for as little as $30,000.

>> can you make 30,000 stick? >>, you know, it is a concept vehicle. but if it is going to fit the equation that customers are looking for, yes that is what we're going to do. >> while auto makers are out thing greater mileage, others have the industry saying it is time to revisit fuel economy standards set five years which calls for auto fleets to average 54 and a half miles a gallon by 2025. >> i think we -- >> to they make sense. >> we have to make a fact driven analysis of what that's going to be. >> it is time to explore the future of buick. >> for now the focus is on resurgence in autos not seen since the late 90s. >> there is so much enthusiasm and optimism right now. i'm hoping it is not silly. it seems more pragmatic, the lessons of 2009, 2010 aren't that far behind us. >> how optimistic are executes

in the industry? many believe sales this year in the united states will top 17 million vehicles. if that happens becky, it will be the highest auto sales since 2001. >> thank you. we are also joined by mickey maynard. director of the reynolds center for business journal center at arizona state university. do you think that is realistic. >> 17.5 is realistic. you never know what happens with summer auto sales. there is always the chance the economy starts to hit a rough patch and we see sales drop a little bit. consumer confidence dips a little but i think consumer confidence is a really good shot. >> how about you. >> the housing start, the economy in general, consumer confidence and jobs. so if jobs continue to pick up.

especially full time employment continues to pick up i t we could get to 17 million in the industry. but remember only about two-thirds of people have full-time jobs. we've turned into kind of a temporary economy. so those are the places you have to look. are people getting hired and are they getting hired into full-time jobs. >> as you pointed out the big emphasis at the detroit auto show was ab electric vehicle. all coming at a time when gas prices are drouping dro p dramatically. is this just another case of bad timing. >> look, thach make these plans months if not years in advance in terms of the vehicles they have in the planning process and they are going to roll out here. so you can't just hit the brakes once you see gas prices plunge. but it is there are becky, as much as we saw about the discussion of the electric vehicles a outshow because of the bolt and the bolt. we also saw the return of power cars. muscle cars. look at the ford gf, the acura nsx. that is pure muscle we're

talking about. that and that is a reflection of the optimism in the industry. >> the big three are riding high right now. but historically these companies haven't managed prosperity too well. can they may not intain this ti? >> it wasn't just that they learned lessons, it was that general motors and chrysler got a big hand from the government. when they went through the bailouts and bankruptcies they had a lot of their legacy costs stripped away. so if they can't make money now without all of that overhead, they are never going to make money. >> part of what i see for the future phil are these self driving cars. and i know a couple of weeks ago you droe would have been those things or allowed to drive you. kid you feel safe? did you like it? >> i loved i it. felt very safe. it was very comfortable. do you know what it was? it was an extension of cruise control. it was only on the highway. it was a concept car by audi. an a 7. and when we hit auto pilot on the highway driving through the

mojave desert we were zipping without and it felt very comfortable and very natural. this is coming fast and all the auto makers are moving in this direction. we'll see more of this in the next couple of years. >> phil, mickey, thank you both. >> thanks becky. >> up next on the money, sorting america's food waste problem. how one company wants to put more food on your plate in instead of of in the trash and pets are living longer and could run up some big medical b

according to study by the national resources defense counsel, uneaten food costs cities billions of dollars. businesses of course pay a huge price too but just like everything else there is an app for that. tony vu is ceo of mintscraps.

and elizabeth felts is a director of beta beta hospit hospitality group. >> the way it works is restaurants input waste data on a daily or weekly basis. and our platform calculates how much waste they are generating, how much it costs and how much they can save. and over time if they input this data they can also get recommendations on ways to reduce waste. >> like order less of this because you are throwing x amount every week. >> something long those lines. >> how do you make money with that. >> restaurants reduce money by saving waste and it's a subscription service so a monthly fee restaurants pay. >> you have been at batali&bastianich and have been using that the last five years. how does it work at your

corporation. >> a friend. we started using because we were looking to reduce food waste and it is not that easy in the restaurant world. >> what did you find was one of the biggest products you were ordering too much of or throwing out too much of. >> one of the best things we found is that a lot of it you don't know what you don't know. which is that in trash hauling it is not like they come around with trucks and scales on them all the time. so you think your trash is one thing and it is not. so you actually get information about what you are composting, what you are throwing away, what you are recycling and one thing you find is people aren't doing as good a job as you think they are. >> what you? >> that you are not diverting as much food waste to landfill as you think. >> how much would you say that you are saving in terms of what you are now either ordering less of or being able to better compost. >> i would say what we've gotten is data. which is something that we didn't have before.

and now that we have almost a year's worth of data we can say hey carting company you are charging us for that that and the other thing and we now know we're actually producing x, y and z and that is invaluable. >> you have a background in business and international technology tony, is that right? >> right. >> how did you come up with the idea for the app. >> i have years of training experience in technology and a deep passion for the environment. and i saw my co-founder and i saw there weren't any good tools to track waste. so we put our heads together and came up with the idea. >> what make you think about the restaurant industry. >> in new york city restaurants generate a lot of waste ands the a pressing issue. when we arrived here we saw an opportunity to address that issue. >> are you a fooddy? >> definitely. love restaurants. >> you must have been thinking

about thing likes this for a while elizabeth. once you got hooked one the idea did it make sense to you instantaneously. >> it's all about the data. and getting information ant what you are and aren't already doing so any angle you can approach it from is a huge help. >> and you feel better today than a year ago. >> it's huge. >> thank you both for joining us today. up next on the money a look at the news for the week ahead and if you are kick off 2015 on a new paw w man's best friend. how pet protection could save you if bills and heartache.

for more on our show and our quests you can go to our website, otm/cnbc.com. and follow us on twitter and on the money. more earns are coming. ibm, netflix, general electric are mcdonald's all report. markets close monday for the martin luther king holiday. and tuesday night president obama delivers the stereotype of the -- state of the union. thursday the european central

bank meets. and 31 years since apple launched had macintosh computer. and friday we'll get existing home sales for december. did you get a pet this holiday or know somebody who did. our producer got little noel here. they are learning plan category make all the difference for providing a long and happy life for your furry friend. sharon epperson joins us to talk about your new pet. >> pets often become like family really quickly and there isn't anything that a pet owner wouldn't do. but when a beloved pet gets sick the costs can add up and financial planning cann imake a big difference. >> pet insurance makes the most sense when your pet is young and the premium is lower cost. if you just got a new pet or kitten, look at the options because this can help you pay

for medical expenses that might come oi along their core life span. >> buying pet insurance is a big consideration. so you have to weigh the pros and cons. >> in a case like this with a new pickup, is it a good vaemt? >> well it really depends on the pet and the type of care you are looking for. the price can vary anywhere from $10 a month to 35 a month up to a hundred dollars of month depending on the type of care. >> what kind of care. >> it's just as difficult as it is for humans to figure out the type of p coverage you want. and whether there are certain conditions that may not be covered at all. >> say we're going with the platinum plan. >> awesome for the more exotic animals. with a little pickup like this is going to be more like the 10 to 35 dollar a month. >> what should we know before we

do in. >> just like regular insurance. you have to figure the different things that go with it. read the fine print. she likes me too. you want to find out co-pays and deductibles and all the things that are covered. oh my kids are going to want one now. it's really important to look at all the costs and add those up and to see if it makes sense to have it. and medical conditions first. look to see if they are healthy and when he existing conditions they have. >> they do preexisting conditions for pickuppies. >> they do for puppies. all those things you have to look at still, precipitation coverage. >> so dogs want the affordable care act extended them as well. >> exactly. >> sharon, thank you so much. and noel. thank you for being here today too. that does it for us today. i'm becky quick. and thank you so much for joining us. next week we'll be on location in the swiss alps to bring you ceos and innovators.

each week keep it right here on "on the money." have a

breaking news overnight. the teen couple who sparked a multi-state manhunt because they were wanted on a two-week crime spree have been captured. how police tracked them down and where officers found them. and the south jersey mom accused of setting her newborn baby on fire has been charged with murder. we'll hear from the woman's neighbors ahead in a report coming up. plus, get ready for a sunday soaker. rain will be moving in and there is a chance of some icy conditions a little bit later on. the nbc 10 first alert forecast is next. good morning. this is nbc 10 news today. i'm rosemary connors. it's 5:30 on this sunday. meteorologist michelle grossman is tracking the timing of th