are going to have some pretty serious issues over the course of the next 10 years. maria: yeah. >> so spending all around needs to come down. we need a dose of fiscal austerity. it's been egregious spending that has really led to this runaway inflation, and we need to happen wrap that up. maria: stephanie, what are you going to tell clients today, real quick. >> sell. [laughter] maria: okay. in a word. [laughter] all right. great conversation -- >> was that quick enough in. maria: we so appreciate all of you, congressman jodey arrington to, stephanie pomboy, mark tepper, cheryl casone. we've got a market that is up 65 points on the dow jones industrial average, "varney & company" begins right now. stu, take it away. stuart: good morning, maria, and good morning everyone. the transportation secretary has finally arrived in east palestine. he's not happy about it, but the pressure was mounting. twenty days after the derailment, he just had to go. donald trump went yesterday and

told residents the biden administration has abandoned them. there's a pattern developing here. the biden team is often late to the game, and they're late on this one. the russia-china alliance is firming up. the two will conduct joint military the exercises week off the coast of south africa. the nato chief, generals stoltenberg, believes china will supply weapons to the russia. that will cross a red line. putin confirmed that china's leadinger will be visiting -- leader will be visiting russia. to the markets, limited price action wednesday. something similar to that today. dow's up about 60, but the nasdaq's moving, up over 1%, up 129 points. interest rates, focus on that for a moment. still a negative. they've been rising gradually recently. the 10-year treasury, again, real close to the a 4% yield. on your screens now, that is the highest level since early

november of last year. as for the 2-year, that's around 4.. 0, 4.71 as we speak. and how about this? the 6-month treasury yielding, what? is that right as of now? yes, it is. 5.10%. that's pretty good, isn't it? you can't lose your money, you don't pay income tax on your interest, that is not a bad deal. 5.1%. the left bad mouthing florida when ron desantis looks good, the left attacks. a guest on msnbc says florida is, quote, all crystal meth and alligators. you're going to like the governor's response. it is thursday, february the 23rd, 2023. "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ ♪ your chance has come and gone.

♪ and you know, it's just too little, too late -- stuart: oh, that was too easy, wasn't it? too little, too late by jojo. [laughter] that refers, of course, to transportation secretary buttigieg who has finally gone to the east palestine, again, maybe too little, too late. there's sixth avenue, manhattan. no, that's pete buttigieg. okay, i'll move on. nearly three weeks after the toxic train derailment, transportation secretary buttigieg finally visited east palestine. he's there now. good morning, susan. susan: good morning to you. stuart: this comes a cay the after president trump was there. susan: handing out water, food, even going to the mcdonald's -- stuart: he ran the mcdonald's. [laughter] susan: exactly. twenty days later pete buttigieg getting a visit from an administration, now, buttigieg says he's only following protocol, and that's why he showed up 20 days later, and and

he didn't want to dethe tract from emergency response efforts. and he's only allowed to go after the epa moved out of its emergency response phase. listen to what he told a reporter yesterday. >> reporter: what do you have to say to the folks in ohio, in east palestine who are suffering right now? >> well, i'd refer you to about a cons interviews i've given today. >> reporter: no message for them? >> i co, and i'd refer or you to to those comments. >> reporter: do you mind sharing it with us? >> right now i'm taking some personal time -- >> reporter: okay, thank you. [inaudible conversations] stuart: what was that about? susan: well, i think he wanted to see who the reporter was and what organization they worked for. i agree, taking a photo is kind of unusual with a reporter, but he was also polite, i would say, after being asked those questions on a private street. buttigieg, by the way, is blaming the trump administration last week, he was criticizing their withdrawal of a proposed

rule that would require trains to carry dangerous chem chemicals -- chemicals to use electronically-controls brakes, but because they pulled that rule, i think there's fingers being pointed on both sides. stuart: "the wall street journal" takes to pieces buttigieg's excuses for what happened. thank you, susan. president trump fired back at accusations that his administration is to blame for the derailment. roll tape. >> no, i had nothing to do with it. i had nothing -- no, he's got to work in the airports, we've never had airports like this where, like -- we're like a third world nation, and this is an example of the breakdown. our whole country is breaking down. stuart: all right. let's say good morning to will cain who joins us today. will, i see this as a political loss for buttigieg and biden. how do you see it? >> i do as well. you know, this seems to be in real life atlas shruggedded.

as president trump points out, critical infrastructure, leadership, the backbone of this country falling apart, stuart. and i think while we have given appropriate attention to exactly what happened in east palestine and the tragedy there in that community, it also becomes a symbol for something at large and that is we were told this would be the administration that put the adults back in charge. what we're looking at is a crisis of competency. we have an administration whose focus, and they make no secret of their priorities, are constantly dei and climate. those two things at all times, you know? the head of the transportation, the secretary of transportation, pete buttigieg, is a dei hire. before he went, the highest ranking official to go was michael regan of the epa who canceled a climate, a climate conference in africa with actor ikris -- aye kris elba. climate and dei while the rest of the country, the backbone, the actual nuts and bolts of how this country works decay.

stuart: and where are we going from here? because i don't see any improvement, and i often see the biden team just late to the game. a crisis develops, you can see it coming. the crisis hits, they put out some concern point the finger of blame at somebody else, and -- belatedly take action way too late. there's a pattern in the administration. >> absolutely. it's a little bit like a child, right? it's not my fault. it's my brother's fault. yeah, what was it you just reported, it was 20 the days it took butte -- buttigieg to show up in ohio, and before that i believe it was two weeks, we had it on "fox & friends" weekend before the epa and the federal government stepped in as well. that's an eternity, stuart. there was a black mushroom cloud over this community. there were water supplies poisoned, ground water contaminated with people showing symptoms of sickness, you know, with a potential connection to forms of cancer, liver and lung cancer when it comes to vinyl chloride.

two weeks and 20 days for leadership to show that it cared besides a few tweets. it is the way they've handled everything, stuart, as you pointed out. wait to see, you know what? exactly how they handle the border, wait to see the political fallout, then choose your course of action. late and reactionary and the tail of the dog, not the head of the dog. stuart: it's not leading, it's reacting. will cain, thanks for being with us this morning. great stuff and we'll see you again soon. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: as the 2024 the race, believe it or not, is beginning to take shape, we're getting a look at what voters think of president biden and former president trump. susan's here. take us through it, please. susan: well, actually surprising because if you look at npr late poll, it looks like we have bind at the highest now since march of last year. look at, up 46%. up there, which is interesting. among registered voters, an even higher number of 49%. when it comes to the gop side, i was looking at this, and dethe

sanities versus trump, can desantis the according to in this survey from npr, he's actually more popular in his support skews more towards republicans with college degrees who make more money and live in cities and suburbs, and trump's support connells from more blue collar -- comes from more blue collar, rural appeal. what does that tell you, 54% someone else? if. stuart: they don't think trump can win. susan: that's the npr/pbs poll. rasmussen says trump will win. stuart: let's get back to the economy and the markets. we got numbers this morning at 8:30 eastern time about gdp. what's the -- it was the forty quarter we -- fourth quarter we-lookback? susan: i would say 2.7% still tells you that the economy is still strong, and that means the federal reserve will have to continue hiking interest rates. possibly, did you read this? it looks like the terminal rate

now if you listen to all of the fed speakers, is at 5.5%. stuart: ouch. susan: [inaudible] stuart: yeah, but i like the safety. all right. let's check futures, here we go this morning. disease -- it is thursday, we're in the green. gary kaltbaum with us today the. all right, gary, big picture, virtually none of our regulars on this program are bullish. where are you right now? >> i think there's plenty the of areas in good shape. i wouldn't with call me a bull or a bear, i think we're going to be the playing some ping upon here. but i hear a -- ping-pong here. but i hear a lot of talk that we're going to break the october lows. i'm not in that camp. we can pull back, revisit a little bit. i'm not so worried about them. i'm more worried going forward as far as earnings, you know? nvidia's up huge today on terrible earnings, and if these earnings don't reaccelerate in names like goldman sachs that

went up on a 60% drop in earnings and others, there will be healthcare to the pay going forward -- there will be heck to pay. i'm just happy, i think we support this morning after this recent pullback. stuart: forgive me for going back to this and sounding like a broken record, but i really like the 10-year -- actually the, i like the 6-month treasury at this point yielding just over 5. and the 10-year getting close to the 4%. not that i would buy the 10-year, but what does that tell you about the market when you've got nearly 4% on the 10-year? >> well, all i can tell you is if the 10-year yield keeps going higher, that's the cost after capital going up, cost of mortgages going up, cost of borrowing going up, and that's going to the impact the economy going forward. i'm not so sure it's as strong as the numbers say. the good news is, you know, i used to have a very big income business until powell crushed it with his 0% rates. i've been buying a bunch of 1-years at 5% right now, and that's good to do because i have

clients that like riskless income investments. so that's going to continue for right now. stuart: that's me. gary, great stuff. thanks for being with us this morning. see you again soon. coming up, russia's putin says china's xi will visit moscow. what should we coabout the china-russia alliance? senator john kennedy had this to say. roll it. >> china respects strength, and if china decides to send military weapons -- not just economic support, but military weapons -- to russia, america's going to have to respond. stuart: all right. what should the biden's response be? we have a retired navy seal here with his advice. the desantis camp is firing back at msnbc. a quest host claimed florida is all crystal midwest and alligators. ram laffer -- [laughter] i wonder what florida congressman byron donalds makes of that? the congressman is next.

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stuart: the fight over the debt ceiling, well, it is escalating in washington. grady trimble is there. are we going to run out of money earlier than anticipated? >> reporter: quite possibly, stu. the u.s. could default on its debt as early as june according to a new study from the bipartisan policy center. that same study found that the federal government will take in $2.5 trillion between now and june but will spend half a

trillion more than that in the same amount of time. summarizing the government spending problem in a nutshell. this study even more dire than the congressional budget office's warning that the u.s. will default between july and september. the committee for a responsible federal budget calling that the report really, really bad. >> it was chilling, and hopefully this will get lawmakers to the take seriously the negotiations that they're in the midst of on how to raise the debt ceiling. there should be no talk of default. it's really dangerous. but the idea of raising the debt ceiling while doing something important on the budget and on the debt is a really good idea. >> reporter: and while president biden has falsely accused republicans of wanting to cut social security, a new washington post report says his aides are discussing raising taxes on the wealthy to avoid running out of social security benefits. the report also says president biden hasn't voiced support for

such a proposal yet, but something to keep an eye on, stu. higher taxes. [laughter] stuart: yeah, here they come. you've got to concern got that right. a guest host on msnbc took a dig at florida while trying to bash governor ron desantis. watch this. >> there are three states that you can't really run from if you're trying to win across america. you run from new york, you're too crazy, you're a liberal. you run from california, you're too crazy, you're a liberal. you run from florida, it's all crystal meth and alligators, right. >> stuart: all crystal meth and alligators. [laughter] we'll get to -- [laughter] the response from the governor many in just a moment, please. confusion going on here, but we will respond to the all crystal meth and alligators, that's an absolute promise. susan: you know what i want to tell you about? i want to talk to you right now about andrea mitchell. stuart: please.

[laughter] get me out of this. susan: okay. remember on msnbc you had andrea mitchell, she was interviewing vp kamala harris last week, and she asked the question what does ron desantis know about black history when he says that slavery9 and the aftermath of slavery should not be taught in florida to school children? well, desantis the' group says that's not exactly the right framing and not accurate of what he said. actually, desantis, he's not opposed to even thing of the fact of slavery in schools, but he has opposed the teachings that use some specific authors and source earlies to which andrea mitchell -- materials to which andrea mitchell did say this. >> in my interview last friday with vice president harris, i was imprecise in summarizing governor desantis the' position about teaching slavery in schools. governor desantis is not opposed to teaching the fact of slavery in schools, but he has opposed the teaching of an african-american studies curriculum as well as the use of some authors and source

materials that historians and teachers say makes it all but impossible for students to understand the broader historic and political context behind slavery and its aftermath in the years since. susan: so i didn't hear i'm sorry in that -- stuart: no, i didn't either. susan: but desantis' press secretary responded on twitter saying to all of the bookers and producers reaching out to our office from msnbc, nbc news for ron desantis to join their shows, this will be the standard response from our office until ann create ya mitchell really apologizes and your track record improves. i don't really see ron desantis showing up on msnbc that often, but once we get into the primaries and, you know, he becomes maybe he leads the pack, then of course i would imagine that he might be on there. stuart: you think? susan: definitely. [laughter] we're spicy today, aren't we? susan: well, andrea mitchell's response there, i was imprecise? no, you were wrong, 100% wrong.

and you're on the wrong side of history, the wrong side of the fence, in my personal opinion. then we have former vice president mike pence, he's going after ron desantis. susan: and this sounds a bit like you because you tell me which side -- well, no. gop, republican, i would say, foundations are about small government, and that's kind of what vp mike pence argued yesterday because he did criticize ron desantis for escalating the disney battle especially ahead of the 2024 primaries, right? but he said he would have dealt with his differently. he says going after the taxing authority goes beyond the scope of what i as a conservative, limited government republican would be prepared to do. now remember that desantis is now going after their special authority in that, in their special real estate there in florida where they actually hava state, like a disney-governed area, right? in florida. it's been carved out with his own, by the way, special tax regime. stuart: i don't blame desantis

for going after that, not one bit. go after them. susan: really? but limited government, right? stuart: show us how you're going to run the country. attack those who go after us, attack those who are telling us america is a rotten place. go after them. susan: even if you employ 50,000 in the state so you're one of the largest taxpayers? some would say limited government is kind of the gop way. and you've said that before, but i like that you're being spicy this -- stuart: nice to see you in an opinion role this morning. susan: it wasn't an opinion role, just argued the other side. stuart: well said. the market, please, show me the futures. aye got green -- not bad. dow is up 100, and the nasdaq is up 1.3%. i'll call that a modest rally. the opening bell is next. ♪ ♪ she works hard for the money, so hard for it, honey. ♪ she works hard for the money so you better treat her right ♪

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stuart: willful. three minutes to go to the opening bell. d.r. barton with us this

morning. d. the r., in this to me is the stock of the day if not the week, i'm talking nvidia. st the up 12% now after a big gain yesterday. is this all about the chips for artificial intelligence? >> i think there's a big deal about the chips for artificial intelligence because a lot of people have been talking about the lower e revenues from last year. we've had a lower quarter e over quarter in server, their big moneymaker, their big revenue item. all of those things happen, you see what's coming forward, stuart, we've had some people dumping nvidia that drove the price down. i think where it is right now we need it to pull back a little bit more for a buy, but -- and it might not be a buy for a little while, but it's really popping today. it's a.i. stuart: okay. i've asked this question before to our guests. very few of our regulars on this

program are bullish. very few of them at this point. where do you stand on this? >> well, it's tough to be able to put myself in a camp one way or the other. i think i'm very pro-volatility. we're going to keep getting these days, stuart, where we're bouncing up and down. but i think long term if we look at what happened when we are so strong during the first part of the year, we usually have good follow through for the rest of the year. i think if the fed decides to play any kind of nice over the rest of the first half of the year, we're set up for an okay finish to the year. and i think the numbers prove that out from what we do thinks to haveically. stuart: okay. -- historically. what are you buying, if anything, today? >> today, stuart, i am buying what you're buying, for today we're getting a little pop in the market. i'm liking really short-term

treasuries. how can you go wrong with a 5% treasury that's a year or six month duration? when you've got the yield curve inverted like this and they're giving you pretty much the cheapest money you can get guaranteed, that's a pretty good place to go for the really short term. stuart: yeah. >> i colike some other chip -- i do like some other chips in the short term, stu. we talked about nvidia, it's too high right now, but i think the chip world is going to see comebacks. i'm buying those on pullbacks from here out. stuart: okay, we hear you. d.r. barton the, thanks very much for being here. we'll see you again soon. ten seconds to to go until the opening of the market, and it looks like we're going to open to the upside. we're going to be taking another look at nvidia at -- in a moment because it's the stock of the day and the week. we're up 130-odd points, that's .4%. sounds like more than that, but it's a solid gain in the early going. how about the s&p 500? have we got that one going yet?

i think we do. yeah, there you go. it's up three-quarters of 1% and well above 4,000. remember morgan stanley saying that by the end of the year the s&p will be down to 3,000? susan: well, they said by the end of the first half of this year. stuart: really, the first half? susan: that's right. we could go all the way down to morgan stanley and mike wilson who was the number one strategist last year, yes. stuart: nasdaq is up over 1% in the early going. big tech, how's it doing? microsoft is up 1.5%. apple, still shy of 150. amazon at, what have we got, it's at 96. meta's up a fraction. google, i always call it google. i know it's the alphabet, but it is $91 a share. that's been taking a hit recently. susan: oh, yeah. stuart: earnings before the bell, let's start with alibaba. susan: they beat by 18% and also it's a stock buyback story, they're buying back around $15 billion more of their stock. they have the cash -- stuart: 15 billion?

susan: they're kind of the amazon of china, the amazon and ebay, paypal, etc. it went a great report card, but they do talk up their guidance because they say the china reopening hasn't been fully priced into the december quarter, so you'll see more bullishnesses on the reopening and the consumer spend in the next few quarters. stuart: i'm interested in moderna and merck because they've got a vaccine -- susan: yeah, that's interesting. service the up. stuart: i think they've got a vaccine on skin cancer. southern susan melanoma. a partnership with the fda that the if fda has granted them breakthrough status. both of these stocks were actually up after that announcement, so this might be -- let's see what happens. stuart: across the bottom says covid-19 vaccine sales fall. susan: yes, we know that. it should be priced in already to the stock because we kind of understand that not many people are getting their booster shots. stuart: hardly anybody.

[laughter] all right. domino's, pizza people, right? if they're down 10%. susan: it wasn't a great report card. falling short on sales, also a misin -- -- miss in that boom for ordering your pizza while remote working and home schooling, those days are pretty much done. stuart: let's get to nvidia. is it still up bigtime? yes, it is, 11.8. this is because they make the chips that do artificial intelligence, roughly speaking. susan: it's booming. we're talking about artificial intelligence, the hype around chatgpt the, also bard from google. and a lot of people have said nvidia, by the way, is up 45% in the first six weeks of this year. you're looking at me because i know what you're going to say, you missed it. stuart: i did. susan: and a lot of people said look at the report card, better profits, better sales to enlast year, guiding for a much better 2023 because of artificial intelligence, and guess who makes those fast chips, those

sophisticated chips that is used in a.i -- stuart: nvidia? susan: that's correct. also look at the tie today, the other chipmakers also rallying. looking at amd, mar marvells of the world. outperformers so far in this year. stuart: okay, susan. don't tell me, okay? don't tell me, i'm going to go at this one as easy as i can. elon musk is moving headquarters back to k california. say it ain't so. susan: well, so it's a new engineering headquarters in california. stuart: in california. stuart to -- susan: right in the heart of silicon valley where the old hewlett-packard headquarters used to be. [laughter] elon musk making this announcement with california governor gavin newsom yesterday. stuart: are we going to say thi? susan: it was a very interesting pairing. it was surprising that gavin newsom did more of the talking than elon musk did. i think elon musk maybe had

three sentences or so. but fremont, tesla's largest u.s. car factory, has been in fremont, that was their headquarters for a long time. stuart: that was a photo op for newsom who is going to run for the presidency and doesn't mind being seen next to the elon musk. susan: what does elon get out of it? well, you know, it is in california where you have your engineering headquarters and your largest car production -- stuart: and all those high-paid executives are going to pay california taxes instead of no tax in texas. susan: you heard elon musk on twitter yesterday, of course, telling us that next week they're going to have their investor day. so it'll be interesting to see what kind of new services, maybe optimu us, the robot, there's a lot of hype -- stuart: tesla at 204. it's like nvidia, straight up. susan: that is correct. stuart: ebay. solid earns,s cautious outlook. susan: i would say, look, to end

last year they actually had better sales, better earnings to end 20222, but guidance for the quarter is pretty week from what i understand, so -- pretty weak. so that's why it's down 5% or so. it's a tough environment. stuart: i'm really interested in this one. apple has been working on a glucose tracking device that steve jobs was around. is this the pinprick if -- susan: no pricking. stuart: you don't do this. susan: you don't have to prick your fingers, apparently, to track your glucose levels. this is something that apple's been trying to engineer for a long time, and this might be something they could introduce on the apple watch, the wearables, which we know is a huge segment of their -- stuart: 40 cow -- how do they do that? how do they figure what's in the blood? susan: well, there's sensors. on an apple watch you have glucose can, blood oxygen levels that you can detect just by firing lasers -- stuart: really? susan: yes. this was very useful during

covid -- stuart: you have lasers fired into your wrist from your apple watch? susan: yes, i co. they're green, red. but this is a threat to the other glucose monitor the makers, so you know when apple, largest company in the world, gets into something the others, competitors should be concerned. stuart: got it. that was all good stuff there, susan. susan: thank you. i'll get you an apple watch -- no the, i won't. you're getting me one. stuart: one of the stories we're following is the yield on the 10-year treasury. keeps on closing with -- in on 4%. it's not there yet, but it's close. susan: okay, the terminal rate at 5.5% next year, we're still below 4%, does that mean within the next 10 years they assume interest rates are coming back down? stuart: i don't know. susan: that's exactly what they're thinking. stuart: the price of gold, is it anywhere near 1900 an ounce? no, it's at 1832. bitcoin, is it anywhere near $25,000 where it was a couple

weeks ago this? no, it's at $23,900. oil, $75. nat gas, there's a shock for you. we've had a warm northeast and nat gas is only $2.29. coming up, dr. drew blasted california's governor newsom for his policies around drug addiction and homelessness. watch this. >> you don't know how bad it is in california. you can't imagine. you've never seen anything like it. and by way, these are people who could be treated easily. stuart: can the golden state ever get a handle on these crises? look at this op-ed, what america needs to hear from ron desantis. peter morici is going to tell us what he needs to hear from the florida governor. he's next. ♪ if you could only say what you mean to say -- ♪ say what you need to say, say what you mean to say ♪

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stuart: we are 12 minutes into the trading session, looks like we've got some green. dow's up 100. the nasdaq is up over 102 points as we speak. senator tim scott delivered a speech in iowa yesterday. sure seems like he's running. what was his message? susan: well, a lot of people say a very optimistic message from tim scott. that might indicate a 2024 run. >> i see 330 million americans getting back to celebrating our shared blessings again. tolerating our differences. and having each other's backs again. a new american sunrise, even brighter than before. susan: yeah, that's right. so in terms of the painful parts of america's past, he says it's not joe biden's to dredge up and

exploit every time he's losing an argument. from my conversations with people and big money donors in silicon valley, they say that larry ellison, oracle billionaire, he is backing tim scott in he runs. he'll provide some of the funding for a tim scott run if it happens. stuart: in which case he's got a serious run on his hands. he's just been to iowa. look at this op-ed. it says what america needs to hear from ron desantis, who is the governor of florida. peter morici wrote that, and he's back with us this morning. all right, tell us, what do we we need to hear from the florida governor, in your opinion in. >> well, we know he can run florida, and that's pretty hard but it's not as difficult as being in washington. the current round with the debt ceiling isn't going to accomplish a great deal. they'll come up with some sort of face-saving quite to raise the debt ceiling, cut spending someplace or another, but what are we going to do about entitlements? two-thirds of the federal budget, an even larger sharaf

debt service. of we're getting to the point where debt service soon will be bigger than our nominal rate of growth. at that point, we become a dog chasing its tail ask catching it, and that hurts. stuart: so you want to the hear from desantis what he would do with social security and medicare and raising the debt ceiling. you want a statement from him, do you? >> i want him to to give us a plan for entitlement spending overall which includes social security, medicare, food stamps, section 8 housing, the whole soup. we just have to address that. we can't afford what we're spending. the second thing is look at the war in ukraine. it showed us a lot that was wrong with the russian military. well, guess what? it shows us a lot what's wrong with the american military. we can't supply them adequately. we're at a burn rate on ammunition, which is just too great. how did that happen? we can't evolve new weapons systems effectively. the chinese and is russians have got some systems we don't have. so i'd like to know what he's

going to do to shape up the pentagon. and we can go down the lust. immigration reform -- down the list. we need immigrants to run this economy. our birthrate is too low are. we've gone around in circles about this too long. what's the plan? what's the program? what's your rationale for being president? stuart: but this is politics, isn't it? the moment a candidate, if it was desantis the, goes up there with a plan to deal with social security and medicare, that plan is rip ared to pieces -- ripped to pieces by the democrats who simply say you're cutting entitlements, you're cutting what every low income person needs, you're cutting off the el orally. elderly. they -- >> the thing is you don't go at it from that angle which you chose to do with me. entitlements is much bigger than social security and medicaid, medicare. you know that. how viewers -- our viewers know that. what are we going to do about that whole buffet of welfare that we have? the dysfunctions at the pentagon and the inadequacy, for example,

there's all kinds of areas in the federal budget that are inadequate9ly funded. the federal aviation administration. remember the shutdown in january? that was from a computer system is ancient, and it's not due to be updated until 2030 because it's operating on the same nominal budget that it did in 2009. stuart: okay. would you agree with this: any republican candidate as we approach the 2024 election must come up with a plan on social security, debt ceiling, medicare? they're going to have to do that but not at this point many. >> well, they're going to be the asked about it. stuart: yes. they have to have a plan. >> they're going to have to have answers. i'd like to know what his answers are. you know, it's easy to whack around disney when you're in florida. wait until he comes to florida and you have competent politicians to hit back on behalf of disney. it's easy to tell the florida state schools we're going to get rid of diversity and inclusion offices. st the harder to tell state department departments of education through a political appointee on education.

stuart: peter, it doesn't sound like you're a major league desan us the supporter -- >> that's not true. i like him a lot, and i also like tim scott a lot. this is what i'm saying, this is the what i need to hear from him if you're to going to win. we're going to play on joe biden's field where he says i'm going to protect social security, i'm going to be the champion of the poor. what he has to do is say what are we going to do in 2032 when we're out of bucks, fella? stuart: okay, okay, nice point. peter morici, hold yourself back there, lad. >> i'm going to run for office. [laughter] stuart: see you soon. next case, cnn's jake tapper the condemning the attacks on nikki haley from the left. what's he saying? susan: so he was criticizing this msnbc segment that nikki haley was using her ethnicity, and i'm quoting here, as a weapon against poor black folks and poor brown folks. jake tap ther says it brings out harsh attacks from the left.

of. >> you see some people on the left noting that nikki is not her original first name. there is a very ugly side of the left that comes out when nikki haley runs for office. susan: her first name is from her indian ethnicity, and they just usually bring this in some pretty ugly attacks if you're, some would argue, someone from a minority background running in a gop race. stuart: as a conservative, yeah. that will attract attention. thanks, susan. former vice president mike pence torched biden's response to the ohio train derailment. watch this. >> this is one more example of absent without leadership in the biden administration. biden's policies on this economy derailed the economy of east palestine long before that train came through. stuart: it did take the transportation secretary, pete buttigieg, 20 days to visit the site. he is there now. more than 2,000 flights have been delay or canceled today.

yeah, there's a rare blizzard warning in southern california. if you're traveling today, we'll tell you where you may have a problem. ♪ ♪ -- into the future. ♪ i wanna fly like an eagle to the sea. ♪ fly like an eagle, let my spirit carry me ♪ people remember ads with a catchy song. so to help you remember that liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's a little number you'll never forget. ♪ customize and save. ♪ only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

stuart: there's a massive winter storm stretching from washington state to the northeast, and it has delayed or canceled over 2,000 flights today. kelly to grady at lax. what's the scene there, kelly? >> reporter: well, stuart, you can feel the nervousness brewing. you know, we're just kicking off that early morning travel here on the west coast, but we're already seeing those delays, those cancellations trickle into lax here. looking what's happening on a national level, that coast to coast storm is wreaking havoc in the skies. over 1300 delayed flights domestically and just under 800 canceled. now, yesterday we reached close to the 7,000 delays domestically, so those numbers on screen will likely get worse as the day progresses. and midwest of those issues are coming from the midwest.

minneapolis st. paul getting walloped with the wind and icy runways. the storm is expected to wind down later today, but it likely will cause a domino effect for a number of days before as airlines rebook stranded travelers. but a really big surprise is the winter weather expected this weekend in southern california. that's right, you heard me. a blizzard warning goes into effect for l.a. cost tomorrow morn -- county tomorrow morning for the first time since 1989. at the liest elevations there's -- highest elevations there's the possibility of 7 feet of snow. we're also expecting wind gusts of up to 75 miles per hour. realistically, you're not going to see blizzard conditions in downtown l.a., but the wind and rain wreaked havoc back in '89 on highways, and we are looing -- looking at a flood watch. the infrastructure just isn't there to deal with it. the new storm not impacting lax yet, but there's a lot of

trepidation about what could happen this weekend. stuart: i just don't expect to see 7 feet of snow in allowance -- in downtown los angeles, i'm not prepared for that. [laughter] >> reporter: mountains. stuart: check those markets, please. look at the nasdaq, up 124. the dow up 205 points. modest rally. still ahead, jason chaffetz, south carolina congressman russell fry, dave sears, sean duffy. the 10:00 hour is next. ♪ -- well, i feel fine. ♪ 'cuz your kisses lift me higher like the sweet song of a cochoir -- ♪ and you light my morning sky with burning love ♪ you'll always remember buying your first car.

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