louis fed president william poole.ock hitting a new one-year high. should you be a buyer? we'll tell you how to play it. we'll start in washington a few days before the president begins his second term. a new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll shows the majority of americans approve of his overall performance and support the president's direction on gun control and immigration. our chief washington correspondent john harwood here with more on what was a pretty stunning set of numbers. interesting in lots of different ways. >> true on both counts. he does have majority public approval at 52% and he does have people in general expressing his support for his view on immigration and gun control. there are significant head winds for him in terms of pessimism and resignation about the state of this economy and also the ways in which washington may be making it worse. let me just run through some numbers. when we asked americans, when you look at 2013 is this going to be a period of economic expansion and opportunity or a ti

that the statement pool made on the matter was false he's referring to the st louis fed president william poole who had only said a few days before this act this move by timothy geithner and ben bernanke to cut the discount rate he had publicly said to the media to therefore the investing population that he saw no reason for the fed to cut rates so of course at the time karl denninger was caught out but he's thinking that all of wall street is cut out because of course he didn't even suspect that they were actually rigging the game for tim geithner's buddies but well that i'm sure is a keen observer of the market and he digs down deep into the architecture of the options market and the fed funds rate so he can see quite clearly through volume what's going on who's doing what and he's an informed sophisticated trader and the fact that someone like this would be bamboozled by insider trading by geithner of course it evokes the response of discussed and horror because it is not just about a guy trading of inside information it's about the secretary of the treasury ruling the country under the bus

i got going with how ben bernanke knew nothing and how fed voting member william poole knew nothing becauseecause we all know now that if the fed had cut rates at the time, we might not have had so many financial institutions go under. but i don't mention this to show how right i was or how wrong they were. although the cruel irony of their laughing at my performance was galling. i am confused to this day about how my contacts could have been so much better than their contacts. how could the feds not get it better than this one commentator? doesn't it say that it could happen? how could i get it so much more right than the fed did? i have some theories. some are reluctant to tell the truth, for fear that it could haunt them in the fear of regulatory action. it could shake confidence. which even in the best of times, could be an issue. finally i think they speak to their own people. maybe the big shots like jeremy irons in "margin call", the best movie made have wall street, even went out on the score. you don't rant every day, i was amazed that my comments were met with such instant derisio

william pool, said my own bet is the financial market upset is not going to change fundamentally whatconomy. atlanta fed president dennis lockhardt talked about cramer's rant and said, i believe that the correct policy posture is to let the markets work through the changes in risk appetite and pricing that are under way, but the market observations of one of my more strident counterparts -- and that is not jim cramer -- are worth sharing. jim, do you remember that day well? >> the market was down that day. you can't come out all the time and -- i don't know who their sources were, really. because they go on and on. that everything was going to be fine. the sources, you know, my trusted friends, colleagues have been in business a l time. they just weren't saying the same thing as the fed. it didn't actually -- it wasn't like i had a particular insight. there were a lot of people who thought this way. >> i was as well at that point, 2007, i remember your rant well because i said -- you know, i used to sit up in the back stairs, i thought, what in god's name is going on. i actually came

williams. >> andrea: is that where the story ends? >> eric: i'm walking across a poollking by, drink in my hand. walk over and i think that's juan williams in the hot tub. juan? hey, bolling. just what reese up, dude? >> eric: i love new year's eve. it's my second favorite holiday. fourth of july is my favorite, midto feel summer. new year's eve is second. happy time of the jeer. >> andrea: i don't have any fun hot tub stories. >> kimberly: that you went to share. >> andrea: i actually like it. i used to not like it. inused to think it was totally overrated. i still kind of do, but i don't know. the last couple of new year's have been fun. i'm in to it. tonight will be a good night. >> greg: you remind me of the year i met john gibson in the steep room. hemmer was there. i think they drugged me. it woke up somewhere in new jersey without my pants. it's predictable. i don't likebe new year's eve. a stupid thing. arbitrary thing. why be reminded i'm one yea dea. i don't need that. i prefer to sit home and watch reruns of "matlock" how you're supposed to spend it >>> medi

williams. >> andrea: is that where the story ends? >> eric: i'm walking across a poolver and i think that's juan williams in the hot tub. juan? hey, bolling. just what reese up, dude? >> eric: i love new year's eve. it's my second favorite holiday. fourth of july is my favorite, midto feel summer. new year's eve is second. happy time of the jeer. >> andrea: i don't have any fun hot tub stories. >> kimberly: that you went to share. >> andrea: i actually like it. i used to not like it. inused to think it was totally overrated. i still kind of do, but i don't know. the last couple of new year's have been fun. i'm in to it. tonight will be a good night. >> greg: you remind me of the year i met john gibson in the steep room. hemmer was there. i think they drugged me. it woke up somewhere in new jersey without my pants. it's predictable. i don't likebe new year's eve. a stupid thing. arbitrary thing. why be reminded i'm one year closer to death. i don't need that. i prefer to sit home and watch reruns of "matlock" how you're supposed to spend it >>> medicated on over the cou

williams. >> andrea: is that where the story ends? >> eric: i'm walking across a poollking by, drink in my hand. walk over and i think that's juan williams in the hot tub. juan? hey, bolling. just what reese up, dude? >> eric: i love new year's eve. it's my second favorite holiday. fourth of july is my favorite, midto feel summer. new year's eve is second. happy time of the jeer. >> andrea: i don't have any fun hot tub stories. >> kimberly: that you went to share. >> andrea: i actually like it. i used to not like it. inused to think it was totally overrated. i still kind of do, but i don't know. the last couple of new year's have been fun. i'm in to it. tonight will be a good night. >> greg: you remind me of the year i met john gibson in the steep room. hemmer was there. i think they drugged me. it woke up somewhere in new jersey without my pants. it's predictable. i don't likebe new year's eve. a stupid thing. arbitrary thing. why be reminded i'm one year closer to death. i don't need that. i prefer to sit home and watch reruns of "matlock" how you're supposed to spen

williams. >> andrea: is that where the story ends? >> eric: i'm walking across a poolwalking by, drink in my hand. walk over and i think that's juan williams in the hot tub. juan? hey, bolling. just what reese up, dude? >> eric: i love new year's eve. it's my second favorite holiday. fourth of july is my favorite, midto feel summer. new year's eve is second. happy time of the jeer. >> andrea: i don't have any fun hot tub stories. >> kimberly: that you went to share. >> andrea: i actually like it. i used to not like it. inused to think it was totally overrated. i still kind of do, but i don't know. the last couple of new year's have been fun. i'm in to it. tonight will be a good night. >> greg: you remind me of the year i met john gibson in the steep room. hemmer was there. i think they drugged me. it woke up somewhere in new jersey without my pants. it's predictable. i don't likebe new year's eve. a stupid thing. arbitrary thing. why be reminded i'm one year closer to death. i don't need that. i prefer to sit home and watch reruns of "matlock" how you're supposed to sp

pool going. what is your favorite part of the game? christopher william says betting squares, chicken wings, and commercials. >> no football? >> no football. get on facebook and let us know what you think. tomorrow you will learn our take on the oddsmakers, the commercials. >>> up next, stop the presses, krystal ball says ronald reagan was right. why do i suspect there is a catch here? yes she is, yes she. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. 100% vegetable juice, with three of your daily vegetable servings in every little bottle. and you'll dump your old broom. but don't worry, he'll find someone else. ♪ who's that lady? ♪ who's that lady? ♪ sexy lady ♪ who's that lady? [ female announcer ] swiffer sweeper's electrostatic dry cloths attract and lock dirt, dust, and hair on contact to clean 50% more than a broom. it's a difference you can feel. swiffer gives cleaning a whole new meaning. and now swiffer wet and dry refills are available with the fresh scent of gain. >>> new gdp numbers were released yesterday, and for the first time since the dep

pool and spa. that is a beautiful house and well priced. >> $2.85 is a fair price? >> only because his name is attached to. i other than that, not at all. >> serena williams the market for $1.85 million. >> this is really a starter home most great celebrities start on wilshire boulevard. this is only $1.85 million. it only has two bedrooms, this is what you get. 2400 square et. she paid a little bit less than $500,000 less for it than she bought it. she's looking to make a killing. beautiful, show eswhite, clean, a place anybody can move into. walls of windows and nice city views. that would kill me the window on the left, i would feel like i would fall out of it. the building has a concierge and spa and gym and the corner terrace and too bad it wasn't a little bit higher with the city views. >> we're making a big leap also in los angeles, barry bonds, a little bit of infamily given his steroid past. 25 million bucks. he was on house arrest a few years ago for obstruction of justice. is this where he's on house arrest. >> actually, he's trying to appeal the house arrest and didn't want to serve the 30 days. why wouldn't you want to do those 30 days. it's

william howard taft. i shared a bath with him, okay? and the water was fine. >> okay. >> and, you know, we had a lovely time -- >> granted it was an olympic-sized pool -- >> he correcting my assertion from earlier. who he said what? >> a sore winner. of all people it was frothy that talked about being a sore winner. it is amazing to me -- and there is something to note here. it is one thing that mitt romney wasn't watching. okay? who one cares. but what might have been really helpful, if the republican party was changing look at that loster. 88-year-old jimmy carter was there. bill clinton was there. hilary was there just having come out of a long stay in the hospital. where was george w. bush. i understand his father was ill, but where was george w. bush? >> stephanie: yeah. >> they are going to dig in their heels. they don't want to lend their stamp of approval and then they call us partisan. >> stephanie: this is unprecedented for a president to talk about the issues which we ran on and the american agree with. >> yeah, it's a lot of chutzpah on his part. and fact-based which we are here, one of the things this president has done three years ago, only a t