sam allen joins me. thanks again for being with us. first let's talk about russia and ukraine. you have some forestry business there. what kind of exposure do you have? >> quite a bit. in the ukraine it's strictly selling equipment but in the russian market, we have factory that makes large combines, large tractors. we have forestry operations, as you indicated. and we make seeding equipment so we have a number of people there and a lot of activities under way right now, trying to figure out what we're going to be doing depending upon what happens in the market, making sure that first and foremost, our people are safe, do we need to evacuate people, what do we need to do. secondly, what do we do to take care of our dealers and customers. >> reporter: there is some concern if this continues to be a problem, russian resources will be redirected away from the sorts of things that you sell. >> you know, in the short term that can always happen. in the long term, and we do view these things from a long term perspective, i know that sometimes that's difficult to understand if your ho

ceo sam allen, beyond making sure everyone's safe, he is expecting a potential for short-term pain. >of the world's land, 8% of the fresh water. russia, in the long term, is going to have to be part of a positive solution for helping feed the world. so, we need to figure out a way to steer through all these crisis and continue to stay there. >> and late today, caterpillar's ceo said he is guardedly a optimistic. it doesn't take much of a disruption to cause a large ripple effect. he is also said, china, while improving, is probably not going to return to the era of double-digit growth. >> jane wells. >> that's ludicrous. >> the world is not shutting down. russia's economy was slowing going into this. russia's economy is flawed on some level. at the same time, it's 80% natural resources. nothing has changed. it's not going to change. >> and they need the money. >> deere and caterpillar, they've been in russia forever. they're committed to the place. they're not scared by this. and this kind of stuff doesn't make a lot of sense to me. >> if wheat prices go up sharply, isn't that a good

sam says the president's budget should be how not to spend others money. also, dean writes in, too bad the gop will kill his budget. are they totally heartless? commentspage, several on that. allen writes in on her thoughts on the president's budget plan. she says stop messing around with other people's lives. we will continue to bring you comments. we want to hear you on the phone. the phone lines are open. ruben in philly on the line for democrats. good morning. caller: i am doing fine. to see them stop concentrating so much on what is going on outside the united states like in the ukraine. many problems here dealing with our own people getting jobs. we have a lot of schools closed recently. a lot of the unemployment has run out. part of the short term unemployed. part of the seasonal workers. we need to concentrate on the spending bill. wage isthe minimum great because gas prices are going up every day. agriculture is going up and even the price of beef is going up. i think $10.10 is still an insult and slap in the face but it is what it is and showing they do care about the people. host: you said there should be less spending overseas. how do you feel there has been an effor