Transcripts For FBC Cavuto Coast To Coast 20240713

I have got to go back reporter 50 billion to those who might be concerned that is too expensive. We dont want to talk about it it is a substantial number. Were going big. We could go back every day or every week. Were going big. Thats where mitch mcconnell, that is the way he wants to go. That is the way i want to go. I want to get it done and have a big infusion as opposed to going through meetings every couple of days. We dont want to do it that way. Go big or solid. The country is very strong. Weve never been so strong. That is what were going to be doing. We dont want, with this invisible enemy, we dont want airlines going out of business. We dont want people losing their jobs or not having money to live when they were doing very well just four weeks ago. So were going big and that is the way it will be. That is the way everybody seems to like it on the hill. Any other questions to steve . Reporter airlines and hotels, call for restaurants today. Was any type of Emergency Assistance discussed on the call . A lot of restaurants have to close even if theyre doing delivery, theyre not making as much money they would with a full house . Two comments on restaurants and the president understands this. This was emphasized this morning. First of all we want to make sure the states allow drivethrough forgeses of these fast foods to stay open, particularly a time period, were telling people dont go to restaurants. These companies feed a big part of america and i expect theyre going to feed a bigger part of america. The second thing they asked me to emphasize, i wasnt going to do it now but as long as you asked, many of these companies have apps. You can order ahead of time. That way when you get there is it is as simple they will have it packed. It was given to you with social distancing an it will be very fast. So we expect that they will be able to feed a large part of the population. And regards to support, i will say a lot of these businesses are Small Businesses, are companies, franchiseees, 500 or less and we have a specific program that well be unveiling that helps all businesses, small and mediumsized businesses of 500 or less. Reporter question regarding marriott corporation. It is furloughing thousands of individuals because of the impacts of the coronavirus. Will your legislation help those individuals . I hope so. That is one of the reasons why we got to act very quickly because we understand, whether it is the airlines, hotels, for good reasons, to protect the United States on medical issues, these businesses are shut down and president wants to make sure, as i have said, well use all powers we have. You saw this today. Trillion dollars of potential liquidity into the market. The powers we dont have were going to congress and i will say there is a lot of bipartisan support for these issues. So im going to apologize because i have to go deal with some other things. If that is okay, mr. President. Thanks, steve. Go ahead. I do want to comment on this, okay . We absolutely believe in keeping the markets open, okay . Americans need to know they have access to their money. After september 11th the only reason why the markets were closed because the technology was disrupted. Ive been on the phone with major banks, with the New York Stock Exchange. Everybody wants to keep it open. We may get to a point where we shorten the hours if that is something they need to do but americans should know we will do everything to make sure they have access to their money at their banks, to the money in their 401 k s and money in their stocks. I want to be very clear. We intend to keep markets open. The banks are recordsetting strong. We have that which is much Different Event than what we had not so long ago. Go ahead. Reporter mr. President , you mentioned army corps of engineers. You had a conversation with Governor Cuomo. He believes new york will run out of hospital beds. Are you prepared to mobilize as they reach capacity. Were starting to, were starting the process. It is a process, we hope it will not be necessary but it could be necessary. The state is working on it very hard themselves but well probably supplement what theyre doing. Reporter given that many of the precursors for pharmaceuticals come from china, there have been, there have been supply disruptions, that supply has been broken to some degree, do you expect we could run into shortage of prescription drugs . I dont see that at all. I think think i china has every incentive to make sure things work well. China wants to make sure things work very well. They have every incentive to do so. Jeff . Reporter mr. President , the governor of ohio called off election that was supposed to happen today. Do you agree with that decision and what steps are you taking to insure that elections Going Forward if this pandemic continues, that elections will be able to happen and including the of course the big one in the fall . The governor of ohio is doing a great job. He called it off and well see what happens. Theres a court case. It hasnt been fully determined yet. But if he called it off i could understand that, because he is definitely somebody that knows what he is doing. Well be seeing what, very soon, you know, theyre going by the rule of 10 as opposed to 50. It is pretty tough. I would say probably you could violate that if you wanted to for an election. I think election is very special thing. He chose a date sometime in june. That would be a decision made by him. He felt it was necessary. The courts are, somebody is challenging it. So the courts will ultimately decide. Reporter what are you doing to insure were still in this situation a month from now, two months from now. What im doing, what im doing, john is very simple, were getting rid of this virus. That is the best thing we can do. By the way for markets, very simple solution, we want to get rid of it. We want to have very, a few deaths as possible. This is horrible thing. You look what is going on with italy. We dont want to be in a position like that but much larger, were much larger country. We dont want to be there. I think weve done really well. I think we have done well. States have done well. Were all working together. The best thing we can do is to get rid of the virus. Once that is gone, it will pop back like nobody ever seen before. I that is my opinion. It will pop back like nobody ever seen before. Reporter followed up on johns question, how many facilities could the army corps build and what steps are you increasing number of ventilators . Right. We ordered massive numbers of ventilator, we have, by any normal standards, respirators, ventilators, we have tremendous apartments of equipment, compared to what were talking about here, this has never been done before and yesterday i gave the governors the right to go order directly if they want, if they feel can do it faster than going through the federal government. Weve knocked out all the bureaucracy. It is very direct but still always faster to order directly. I gave testimony, that was totally misinterpreted by the New York Times on important unfortunately but the, it is very important. Yes, mic . If i could amplify . Yes. The president directed us to work with the department of defense. There are twoways dod can be helpful in terms of expanding medical capacity. The governor of new york asked us to look at the army corps of engineer which would perhaps renovate existing buildings. The president has us inventorying what you understand as field hospitals or mash hospitals that can be deployed very quickly. We spoke with governor inslee in washington state. We have resources in that part of the country we could move. As governors make these requests we will process them, bring them to the president. There are two different lanes dod can provide. In addition to many medical supplies to augustment our national reserves. The President Task tasked us to evaluate, every request from governors, field hospitals, expanding facilities or army corps of engineers that could retrofit existing buildings. The army corps is very prepared to do as we say, were looking where it is going but, and they do call them mash hospitals but the field hospitals go up very quickly. We have them. We have all of this equipment in stock and were looking at different sites and a few different locations. Well not need them, in West Virginia so far they have none, still none . Still none. West virginia. No case. Big jim, the governor must be doing a good job. Or is that is reported . That is what is reported. Is that reporting issue or they have no cases . That is all, i see West Virginia is only one that has no cases. Obviously that is being treated differently than a new york or a california, different parts of california. I do say this though, the army corps of engineers is ready, willing and able. We have to give them the go ahead if we find it is going to be necessary. We think we can have quite a few units up very rapidly. Im going to work with Governor Cuomo. Im going to work with a number of governors. Governor newsom has been very generous in his words, im being generous to him too, were all working together very well and i think a lot of very positive things have taken place. Were talking to california about different sites but we can, we can have a lot of units up fairly quickly if we think we need them. Reporter president follow up on i think what i will do, i might ask sema say a few words on telehealth. Then we get back to this. Thank you, mr. President. As the president announced earlier we are doing a dramatic expansion what is known as telehealth for our 62 Million Medicare beneficiaries who are amongst the most have customerrable to the coronavirus. Were acting in accord with the appropriations bill signed on many march 6th as well as president s Emergency Declaration last week and this action is part of our broader effort to insure government requirements, rules, regulations dont get in the way of patient care during an emergency and todays announcement builds on the significant progress the president has made over the past three years around Telehealth Services and while weve have allowed for virtual checkins, full telehealth benefits were restricted to those living in rural areas, established patients an for brief visits but no longer. Medicare beneficiaries across the nation, no matter where they live will now be able to receive a wide range of services via telehealth without ever having to leave home and these services can also be provided in a variety of settings, including nursing homes, hospital outpatients departments and more and thanks to the leadership of hhs well also be temporarily relaxing certain hipaa requirements so doctors can provide telehealth with their own phones. Well use Enforcement Discretion when it comes to collecting copays so cost wont be a barrier. This is a part of our larger efforts around mitigation and as we are encouraging americans to stay home whenever possible, we dont want our medicare policies getting in the way. Perhaps elderly patient for diabetes needs routine check up and nothing to do with the coronavirus. With our new telehealth benefits. This person who is at risk for the crone virus doesnt have to venture outside of their home. They can talk to their doctors via skype and they dont have to be exposed to virus and receive care from the safety of their own home. Another medicare recipient could experience mild flulike symptoms instead of sitting in a waiting room with other Vulnerable People they can received a vice from their doctor at home. This shift is important for clinicians and providers over next couple weeks will face considerable strain on their time and resources. Medicare patients dont absolutely need to come into an office wont have to. This allows the Health Care System to prioritize for care for those that are more, that have more needs or in dire need and plea serve protective equipment as well. State Medicaid Services can provide telehealth without federal approval. We asked all states to make that available as well. We asked private Insurance Companies to expand the telehealth benefits to make it clear to the providers and their members what they cover. As our nation seeks to balance the twin imperatives getting americans the care they need during the outbreak and limiting the spread of the virus, the impact of this historic action simply cannot be overstated n an emergency those on the front lines shouldnt have to worry about federal rules and red tape hamstringing them when they need flexibility above all else and were doing everything in our power to make sure that doesnt happen. I also want to briefly mention because of the president s Emergency Declaration we do have the ability to provide a lot of medicaid waivers and florida was the first state to be approved. We were able to do that in martie of days, thank you. Any questions, please. Reporter where do Senior Citizens go on instructions how to do telehealth . They should call the Doctors Office and Doctors Office can tell them how to do that. Medicare members may not have access to equipment, were asking family members to help with this, respecting requirements around social distancing if any of those family members or neighbors have symptoms they should obviously stay away. Will you be posting numbers . Thats correct. That might be easiest ways to do, post numbers. Can call the one 800 medicare number and get information. Those phone lines are open. Thank you very much. Admiral, stay a few words where were going. Then i would like to ask dr. Birx to say a couple words, how the system is working . Well, thank you very much. As we talked about earlier this week the commercial system is rapidly advancing in the testing capabilities as of today our Public Health laboratories and cdc Public Health labs reported out 31,278 tests, so almost 32,000 tests. The Clinical Laboratories, association of Clinical Laboratories have reported out about 27,000 tests. Most importantly of the 27,000, 8200 were yesterday. This showing dramatic ramp high throughput comes in. We dont have the numbers from the American Hospital associations, which means all the individual hospital laboratories. We will have that up coming in the next day or so then ambassador birx, that everything will roll up into common reporting by the end of next week. In terms of drivethrough laboratories are blossoming through all over the country by individual states. The ones were heavily involved in and pushing equipment to, we expect over the next few days to begin setting up 47 of those in approximately 12 states. The material is already palletized and being shipped to the locations. Most cities have the specific locations. Some do not but still going to central receiving. Well know we are deploying 140 Commission Core officers. Half of sites reported requirements. 140 officers were going, we expect that to go on the way we expect it. We did a trial site with full mobile unit with drivethrough, with ppe. We had a lot of kinks in the system as you can expect. We do a test before we go out into the field. Dont expect these to be 100 perfect the moment they come. They will be adapted to the state and local situation but were very confident these will add testing to the already very robust Health Care System and commercial system. Thank you, mr. President. Thank you, admiral this has never been done before. It sets a great road map for the future should we have Something Like this in the future. I hope we dont but it has never been done before and they have done an incredible job. Again worry working with the states and relying on the states. We have to because they have, it is point of sale, it is point of site, i think were in about every instance getting along really well with the states. If i could, dr. Birx, say a couple words, please . Thank you, mr. President. I think what youve been hearing from us is to find solutions that are high quality and sustainable, based on the front line workers and governors requests. I, those come in on the governors call. We have been immediately responsive to those. That is level of red tape and bureaucracy we have removed. I think that point about sustainability and quality is very important, as the president says, were creating a road map for a different level of functionality for future pandemics. Our flu pandemic Preparedness Plan was a plan. Now were seeing where we have to revive. Where we have to create new avenues of research and new avenues of work to really insure that need of the American People can be reached. We were adamant about having a high quality test based on our commercial vendors. Over the next few months you will begin to see that other tests that were utilized around the world were not of the same quality, resulting in falsepositives and potentially false negatives. These tests were studied and studied by the fda to really insure they are that level of quality and we have given the states permission to insure the same level of quality. I want to say one minute on the testing. Testing should not be used as an assessment of your risk. Were asking every single american, no matter what your generation, from z and up to x and millenials inbetween to insure youre following these guide lines. We hear every night of people who are not in work, moving that time into bars and other areas of large gatherings. If we continue with that process, we will fail in containing this virus. So every single generation has a role to play. Were asking our older generation to stay in their homes. Were asking the younger generations to support them in social contacting through videos and other skype type functions. Or just a simple telephone. Were asking the younger generations to stop going out in Public Places to bars and restaurants and spreading asymptomatic virus on to countertops and knobs, and Grocery Stores and grocery carts. I heard innovation last night on the news. I want to applaud the private sector who are creating senioronly shopping times. I think that is extraordinary. I think that shows what america brings. I think other countries will learn from us about how to really protect seniors in this type of way. Im hoping that it carries through to next year when we have our flu epidemic where we can really have a very different profile of the amount of mortality we have during flu we never talk about. Anywhere from 15,000 to 45,000 individuals are lost every year. If we learn how to do this well, and sustain some of those core changes, we can change the way respiratory viruses not only for this but the future affect americans. It is a big thing. Ask a question. Reporter question on the clinical data. So weve had now, roughly 5000 people test positive. We had 90 deaths or so. When are we going to know the data of hop those people are . Who ask been infected, are, what the ages are, preexisting conditions are, how serious it was, for those who have been tested positive, but also for those who have died . Well youre singing my sheet of music. Im very data oriented. Thank you for bringing up a issue of data. I want to applaud hhs. We had a discussion several days ago. They made calls into seattle and california to really understand that. And also importantly to understand how many of their patients needed ventilators. How many of them needed oxygen support, how many of them needed and what they needed. Could we predict early someone who was going to have a more difficult course . These are all the questions were asking right and answering right now. We did get an early report back from santa clara and seattle. Were digesting it. We just got it this morning. Were looking at it carefully because we think that road map is very important to other communities. We have not discussed this with new york yet, we do know from other countries, that is all available on line, that profile, you can see mortality under 30 is extraordinarily low. Mortality across the board outside of wuhan is settling somewhere around. 7. But that should not be reassuring because it is much higher in people with preexisting medical conditions, even if young. And people that are older with preexisting medical conditions. And so we still want every american focused on doing what they can do today, to change the course of this pandemic. Commit to making data public so we will all know . Were committed to not only making it public but have a website everyone can see in real time. Reporter dr. Birx if i can follow up, you are all signaling a much more aggressive posture containment mitigation. Many states have been very aggressive but there are a small number of states have not issued public guidance to their residents. Is it important for the success of the effort that 100 of the states be forward leaning on this and, if so, mr. President , what would be your message to those states that have not . Okay. Thats why the Vice President and the president yesterday issued those critical guidelines. As i said this morning on fox friends. You can look at them as guidelines, look at them as requirements and can look at them the president asking every american in every state to follow those. We put them out at the federal level. So every american could do today to change the course of the epidemic. I think it is empowering. All of us have social responsibility to each other. That is why we believe every mayor, and every governor should be instituting these guidelines that came from the white house and president of the United States. Weve been very tough with those states. I know exactly what youre talking about. Weve been very tough on them. Thank you. Go ahead. Reporter follow up question on testing you have been telling us for days millions of tests been sent out. So why have fewer than 60,000 people have been tested . You will hear different numbers this week. You heard number 8,000. High speed tests were approved last friday and last thursday night. If i could talk to Therma Fisher and other groups have the platforms out there, do not rely on pull technology to push out those tests because we can only make them available. Groups have to order them. So we have been talking to therm ma fisher, one of the key platforms to push out tests based on need and not wait for orders. Reporter issue getting the test out or getting the test conducted . Thats a great question. I know part of it is getting the test out right now. I think the admiral and others are working on getting the issues related to getting the tests conducted. Obviously that does take time. He is working on Innovative Solutions that are creative and sustainable that will be a gamechanger in testing but we dont have the data yet. This is a critical comparison. Can you do it yourself . Can you actually sample yourself . These are kinds of things were working on right now and he is getting data for us. The states are doing a lot of it. The governors and states are doing a lot of it with even our tests. Go ahead. Go ahead. Reporter thank you. Can you give us a sense how long these tough new restrictions will need to be in place until we start to see the rate of this virus going down . Also can you speak to the study many as 2. 2 Million People in the United States could die if this werent type of action by the government taken . That we saw yesterday . Models are models and theyre based on input and theyre based on infectiousness without any controls. I can tell you weve never seen that level of infections modeled up to that 2. 2 million in mortality. So we are looking at that. We are having a particularly modeled meeting tomorrow. I think that really will be important. I dealt with a lot of with a lof modelers in my time. They are wonderful people. They have their favorite inputs and integration functions. Were evaluating all of those to integrate and create the best model are the United States based on the best data. That first set of recommendations you saw were based on what we could do today to prevent anything that looks like that. If i could say one other thing to the hospitals and dentists out there. Things that dont need to be done over the next two weeks, dont get it done. If youre a person with an elective surgery, you dont want to go into a hospital right now. There is a lot of distraction. There is a lot of people doing a lot of other things to save peoples lives. So lets all be responsible and cancel things we can cancel to really free up hospitals beds and space. Lets do everything we can to insure that we dont need the ventilators because we protected the people who would have needed to use them. Reporter are you looking at possibility of more actions like, for example, limiting travel within the United States . Are you looking its possible, its possible. Well see how it goes. There has been there has been great cooperation with local governments and states. Well see how it goes. It is going right now pretty well. Please . Reporter follow on that, mr. President , very quickly. Go. Reporter do you need to invoke the defense production act to get more of those medical supplies to different were able to do that right now we havent had to. It is certainly ready if i wanted we can do it quickly. We studied it closely two weeks ago actually, well make that decision pretty quickly if we need it. We hope we dont need it. It is a big step. Reporter more help from the federal government, what do you say to the governors . Three states need help. Symptom states have three people, two people, no people in the case of West Virginia. Were looking at it very closely. Weve taken it apart 15 different ways. It is a very difficult thing to do. It is a very big step. If we need the step well take it. Reporter first question, a lot of people got travel to places that are not considered hot spots, caribbean, mexico that sort of thing over the next few weeks. Would you recommend they follow through with the plans . I would just say enjoy your home, stay. I would say right now, we have to get this problem fixed. Well get back into business really quick. Well open up our country. Well open up our society. The world will hopefully open up. We see areas of the world that havent done well and we see areas doing very well, and i would put us in the category of doing very well for a country so big. I think that i would recommend that they just enjoy your living room. Joan . Go ahead, please. Reporter what do you say to people who are not heeding these guide lines from the white house . Also i have a question on asymptomatic people as with dr. Birx. Im not happy with those people if theyre not. Those people are shouted down by other people. They know it. Theyre being, almost like selfpolicing. People went in. There are a couple of instances i guess, probably more than a couple where people are not happy when they see others doing what theyre not supposed to be doing. We have to get rid of this. We have to win this war, ideally quickly, quickly. The longer it takes, not a good situation. Im not even talking about the economy. Im talking about the lives of a lot of people. Yeah, please . Did you have one . Reporter white house have nip restrictions on corporate bonuses for companies that get bailed out Like Airlines . Im going to ask mike, answer that question. I think it is all a work in progress. What President Trump made clear to industries around the country is that were going to do whatever it takes. We understand this is an extraordinary moment in the life of our nation. The reason why the president brought in leaders of the financial sector, airline industry. He will meet with all additional Industry Leaders today and tourism and hospitality. He has tasked secretary of treasury to work with members of congress of boeing parties, to insure the kind of economic support that will allow the industries to weather period of coronavirus to come back stronger than ever before. Weve had such incredible, i dont know, almost the word spirit is the best word, it is like spirit. The banks have come in, the banks doing things they would have never have done. Theyre working on extensions and lots of things they wouldnt have done. Copays with regard to Insurance Companies. For them to be doing what theyre doing, you know all about the copays. They would have never done that, they did it, they were in my office, i would say the 11 biggest in this country. Probably the 11 biggest in the world, all the big ones, they did i things on copay nobody would be doing, but they wouldnt have done in million years but they did it. There is great spirit in the country. You want, yes, please. Reporter dr. Fauci. Dr. Chachi you like being accuse of overreacting that is indication we may be doing things necessary to beat this, bend of curve. How long do you think it will take for you to be confident that yes, were bending the curve or no, were not . You know, i cant give you a firm number on that because the dynamics of outbreaks in some respects are predictable, historically. They do this and that. We dont know because this is really unprecedented. I mean of all the outbreaks that i have been involved with over the last at least 36 years, ive been going historically back, we never had a situation where the mobilization of all the different component, travel restrictions, internal containment, mitigation, Financial Assistance, Public Health assistance, testing. So we dont really know but the one thing i do know, i do know that if you look at models with all of their vicissitudes of models, that when you have input into the kind of mitigations and things that were doing, were going to see a hump instead after peak. I would really be surprised, if all the things that were doing, this is really a comprehensive approach. I was struck as i was listening to everyone make their presentations, that you know, im a scientist. Im a Health Person and im a physician, who sees patients so i look at it from one particular standpoint but what im being impressed by this is really a comprehensive thing that has multiple components to it. All of them got to succeed if were going to get to the end point ive described multiple times from this podium. I hope if everyone does their job, well be able to give you a number, say you know, weve seen that inflection and were coming down. I would hesitate to do it now to be honest with you because it might be misleading and i dont want to be misleading. I want to say one other thing because i heard dr. Birx say it, i think we need to say it over and over again, when i was young a long time ago i felt i was invulnerable, the way many much us feel were invulnerable, and when were asking young people to help us with the mitigation strategy, staying out of bars, staying out of restaurants, really trying to distance yourself, dont get the attitude, well, im young, im invulnerable, in some respects youre certainly less vulnerable than i am, however what you might inadvertently do, i know you dont want to do that, you dont want to put your loved ones at risk, particularly the ones who are elderly and ones who have compromised conditions. We cant do this without the young people cooperating. Please cooperate with us. Thank you. [reporters shouting questions] reporter dr. Fauci, i will read my notes to get this right, but apparently a new study out of china, found vast majority of cases, 86 were untested patients were mild to know symptoms. What does that say about the impact of testing . Does it mean testing should go beyond the [inaudible] that question keeps coming up. I will not evade the question but i want to make a point, we tend to think that were not going to be able to mitigate or contain without testing. They compliment each other in some respects but theyre separate channels. Even if we had no testing we should be doing what were doing now. The question youre asking, so i wont evade it specifically, whatwould it be important outside of a doctor patient coming in together, of knowing whats out there, what might be under the radar screen . The answer to your question is yes. So let me tell you what the cdc is doing right now. Theyre going out there and part of their program is to get a feel for what is there that wasnt initially thought to be coronavirus. That was thought to be Something Else. When you do that, youre also going to get a feel what the penetration is in society. So were heading with a high throughput things were hearing about to get an answer to your question. Reporter Governor Cuomo said this morning he believes that well see a peak in terms of infection in 45 days. Would you concur with that . You know it is possible. I know, the governor has been really, i believe doing a really good job of trying to stay ahead of this, 45 days is not unreasonable. You have to be careful when you get a number, you own the number, if the number doesnt come out youre in trouble and that is the reason why from our standpoint from the federal government were talking about a range. So within that range, isnt like you want to be correct for the sake ever being correct but you dont want to be wed to something, then have to back off. Go ahead. Reporter when is the soonest well know that these new guidelines are actually bending the curve or actually working and is there a point in time where you in next couple weeks you will be able to tell the president more draconian measures are needed . What is happening, if you look a metaphor, it is a race against the virus, if left to its own devices will do this and us, trying to somehow blunt that. You could see the virus going up and up and your effect, your work, what youre trying to do may actually be having an effect but you may not see it because it will still be going up and as youre trying to implement your interference with the virus, you may not realize that you were actually interfering. It is going up, still going on, youve done nothing. You dont know whether it would do this versus that. So the answer to your question, it probably would be several weeks and maybe longer before we know whether were having an effect. May be at the end of the day well see a curve that would have been way, way up. I wouldnt like, put us to task every few days. Wait a minute, it is going up, is it working or not . That would be really misleading if we do that. Reporter i have a question. Go ahead. Reporter guidelines which were announced yesterday, one of those guidelines was recommendation against gatherings of 10 or more people and today the governor of alabama issues her own guidelines, it was recommendation against gatherings of 25 or more people. Right. Reporter what is your recommendation of people of alabama, people across all of the country as far as the guide lines announced yesterday by the federal government . Okay, so, one thing we dont want to do is get hung up on the difference between 10 and 25. I think you might agree with that when we give guidelines, theyre only guidelines. We sit down and we look at data, as dr. Birx said, were data driven on different models 10 looks good. If someone wants to do 25 well not fault them, if someone comes to us to ask us what we think the best is, we stand by the numbers. It isnt perfect, it estimate precise math, it is assumptions and it is data that make you get your decision. Reporter would it be more effective if every state around city in the country playing by the same rules . Yes, of course. This is the United States of america. There is a lot of Free Enterprise there. People do their own thing and quite frankly i dont think theres a big deal difference between 10 and 25. We have many, more important things to worry about than that difference. Reporter supply chains, talking about preparedness for the future. Yesterday larry kudlow said there is idea floating around the administration to cut taxes for Companies Bringing their supply chains back to the United States. He said he specifically likes immediate 100 writeoffs of structures and equipment. He said you hadnt endorsed that yet. Would you endorse that . Were looking at many ideas, create being incentives for companies, knolls only that type of company but other companies. Were looking to help companies such as airline industry, within the airline industry, well be doing that. We will be doing that. This is not their fault. Theyve been veried nag, were helping them we have very powerful airline industry. Well start up as soon as this is over. Well have planes ready to go. We have to help them during the short term. Reporter thank you, mr. President. I wanted to know have you taken a look at some of these models such as Imperial College london model poses a very difficult choice, whether shutting down society or overwhelming the Health Care System, is that something we look at every model. We relied on very talented people, there is no better team than the people behind me and i will say that all of the people that have done those models are all in constant touch with dr. Birx and tony and everybody that youve been hearing so much from over the last couple of weeks. Weve looked at, we looked at many different models and model we have, we want to save a lot of lives, we want to save a lot of lives. If you get too steep on the curve you will lose a lot of lives perhaps unnecessarily. Well find out, everything has a risk, well see. If people do what were telling them to do, what were asking them to do, you will see a saving of a lot of lives. Now boris in the uk, yesterday you saw what happened. Looked like they were going a different way, then he went away of similar i guess similar, i dont know exactly i would say we had a conversation yesterday similar to what were doing. So a lot of people seem to think this is going to be, we are looking to the save the maximum number of lives. Everything else will come back. A light will not come back. Everything else, our economy will come roaring back. Well know, you will know, all that day, somebody was asking about the day, when will you know, when will you know . Well know. All of sudden wow, that is looking good. That is looking good and well be on the other side of the curve. That is a day we look forward to, okay . Reporter this week though, that made you decide, yes, now is the time to to implement much more stringent social distancing measures . No, i dont think so. This is where we were going, from the beginning, this is where we were going. This is what he had in mind. This is were going step by step, that was the next step, the next logical step. As dr. Faw chip said, i think very importantly, one of the most important things when you write the history of this was the fact we closed it down to china and europe but in particular china. We closed it down to china, the source, very, very early. Very, very early, far earlier than even the great professionals wanted to do. And i think in the end that is going to be, that will have saved a tremendous number of lives. Reporter follow up. One on the economy and other on the broader picture here, but just to follow up on my colleague, some people did note your tone seemed more somber yesterday. You talked about a august timeline. Do you see projections from people who thought that two million potentially that could die maybe prompted part of that . Was there a shift in tone . I didnt think i, i have seen that where people actually liked it but i didnt feel different. I have always known this is a, this is a real, this is a pandemic. I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic. All you had to do was look at other countries. Now almost 120 countries all over the world. No, i have always viewed it as very serious. No difference yesterday from days before. I feel the tone is similar but some people said it wasnt. Reporter economy, your former Economic Advisor said almost 100 chance of recession, do you see it that way . I dont think in terms of recession. I think in terms of getting it out. When we finish with the virus we will win, we will win and when that victory takes place, our economy will go through the roof. It is so pent up, so built up, it is so ready to go in upward direction but we have to knock out this enemy. This is tough enemy with, very to knock out. That is all of us. I dont think in terms of not recession. Its words. We have to knock out this, well have an economy, i actually think weve have an economy like never before. All pent up. Did you have something to say . Questions president efforts to issue travel advisories for parts ever italy and south korea, screening all passengers, efforts regarding went to travel to europe and what went into effect midnight last night adding uk and ireland informed that that was informed by all the experts around us. What the president has been doing from the very beginning as dr. Birx, dr. Fauci, lets follow all the data. Bring the president the best options what is happening on the ground but with regard to yesterdays, 15day, slow the spread plan, our team unanimously brought to the president these very strong recommendations for every american because we truly believe were at a point in this epidemic in our country when we can reduce the number of people that actually are exposed to or contract the coronavirus. But well continue to bring best data, best evidence, best recommendations, frankly of the best Health Experts in the world, and president will continue to make decisions that put the health of america first. In other words, reduce the number of people that die. That is what were trying to do and when you do the steep curve, a lot of people are going to die, a lot of people. The worst ever, they say 1918 and i dont have to go into the numbers but they were unbelievable numbers. Had they known, had they done what we had now it would be a very much different story. It would still be tragic but very much different. But that was, that was the one that people write about. That was incredible, that was an incredible pandemic like we havent seen but, we have, we have done something that, that i hope, hopefully well all made the right moves. Were all in this together, including you and we want to see fair press and i tell you what, it has been generally speaking, i think it has been, been a great thing to see. It has been very, very the, getting along with democrats, getting along with republicans, for the democrats themselves, there has been a lot of spirit, there has been a lot of things happening i havent seen happen in the first, almost now 3 1 2 years, it has been very nice to see. That is one of the good things, but really the good thing we have to knock it out. We have to win. We want to keep the slope as low as possible because that is a lot of lives in there. Lets go back to somebody that didnt get one, please. Go ahead. Reporter mr. President , this is had impact on chinas economy as well. Have you received any indication from officials there they will have trouble meeting the purchase agreement, part of the phase one deal, particularly agricultural buys . They need our product very badly and, no, i vane received Good Relationship with china. I have not received anything to that. No, we have a signed agreement. Theyre going to be buying and they have been buying a lot of product. Yeah, please. Reporter earlier today dr. Birx was talking about the possibility much our Hospital System being overburdened, overtaxed and she talked about certain options that are available to the United States if that happens including va hospital the, department of defense medical treatment facility. Right. Reporter even hospital ships. At what point do you tap into those options . Well i will know the point. By speaking with Governor Cuomo and other governors were going to know the points. It will be different for new york than it will be for iowa or from idaho or from West Virginia, frankly or for, you know, its different. New york has a big problem. The state of washington has a big problem. California has some big problems. Everyone is doing a good job but well know when it will be, i believe more spot, it will be not the whole thing but spots. There are hot spots in trouble, big trouble and there are other areas in no trouble at all. They watch it on television, they dont know, it is not affecting them, theyre lucky, theyre lucky but there are areas of the country dont have much of a problem and some dont have any problem. They will not have a problem with hospitals. But some areas, new york, california, state of washington, they will have some difficulty, when we see that coming well be in there. Were already making preparation for it. Reporter mr. President , senator marco rubio of florida, your trade advisor Peter Navarro have been recommending an executive order that would insure the Raw Materials for pharmaceuticals and medical devices manufactured here in the United States. We were getting indication last week you were close to signing the executive order. I dont want to say exactly. China right now is sending us everything we need but were looking at some alternatives, yes. Were looking for alternatives. We have other places. Ireland does a lot of work for us, you know that in that world, the pharma world, very tremendous producer. We are looking to bring a lot more back home, you know me for a long time, ive been talking about this for many years, long before i decided it run for president ive been talking about this. We have to be able to take care of our country and that was one of many things on the list. Were discussing it. Marco is very much involved and peter is very much involved. A lot of people are involved. A lot of people feel that way. Well be discussing. Snoop please. Reporter you said canada closed borders to noncitizens. Not to the United States. Reporter not to the close to the United States. Are you considering closing land borders. Canada has not closed it to the United States. They have closed it to the world but have not crowed it to the United States. Reporter are you considering closing u. S. Land borders . I dont want to say that. Were discussing things with canada and were discussing things with mexico, quite honestly. Again the relationship is out standing with both, outstanding. We signed our deal, usmca, the relationship is very strong. Reporter tonya, others criticized for you using the phrase chinese virus. How do you feel about that, you continue using that phrase. Well china was putting out information which was false that our military behave this to them that was false. And rather than having an argument, i said, i have to call it where it came from. It did come from china. So i think it is a very accurate term. No i didnt appreciate the fact that china was saying our military gave it to them. Our military did not give it to everybody. Critics say using phrase creates a stigma. No, i dont think so. I think saying our military gave it to them creates a stigma. Please . Reporter when you speak to travel and tourism executives today, what specific help are you going to offer to them . They need help, lets face it. They go from having record breaking years, this is, third year of record breaking years, travel and tourism, airlines, everything, they were doing record numbers, ordering new planes, building new hotels, everything was really hunkydory. Then one day we hear about this rumor in china, then we find out it is much more than a rumor. Then all of sudden, we make a great decision to close it up early. It will be a whole different world, a whole different world. We make a to close it up to china. All of sudden tourism, we close it up to europe, im not sure that has ever been done. I know i made the decision to close it to china, that has never been done before, but it was a great decision. We make good decisions. So, tell you my best decision, the people behind me are total pros. All over the world they are respected, dr. Birx, anthony, who has become, where is anthony, become a Major Television star for all the right reasons. No, he is just so professional, so good. The people that we have working here have been incredible. And theyre totally respected. The admiral has been incredible having to do with the testing, incredible. He is viewing this as testing also from the future. Were building a platform. When we took over this platform, first thing the admiral said was, this was not designed for what were talking about, millions of people. It wasnt. It is nobodys fault. Who could have ever predicted a thing like this . But we broke it down and really will be incredible system. It is now a great system. I just, i just want to say, these are incredible people standing behind me. Theyre most respected in the world. Every country you mentioned today so far called them, they call them all the time for advice. There is nobody better working than what we have. [reporter shouting questions] say . Reporter why are we not seeing dr. Redfield last couple days . He is in atlanta. He is doing a good job. Were very happy with him. Go ahead. Reporter mr. President , yesterday we were being told that the payroll tax was going to on prize the lions share of fiscal stimulus. Right. Reporter we also had the markets fall quite dramatically yesterday and, did that inform you it wasnt about the payroll taxes. Did that inform your decision . What made you make that change and when did you make a change . I didnt make a change. Were looking at payroll tax and various other forms of getting money to people and the payroll tax is something i have always liked, the problem it take as period of time, months before they really see something and we dont really have months in terms of People Living a lot of these, you have, you have people that work on tips. You have people in our, it is a large number people. Tremendous who would think this, they do nicely, they work very hard, they work on tips. We have to take care of our people. We dont want people suffering during this period t wayne their fault, that this thing all of sudden was upon us. So were looking at various were looking at pave roll tax. It is possible. But wed like to be able to get money to people. We are very lucky our country is doing so well. We can do this and we can do it easily but we have to do it and i have to say, mitch mcconnell, if you look at mitch and kevin and the whole group, its been incredible how theyre reacting, how congress is reacting, whether its the house or senate, how theyre moving. Im talking about democrats and republicans. But weve had tremendous leadership meetings and they want to see it done right and they do want to go big. I think going big is important. I dont think we want to go up there every day with a different idea, different concept, oh, gee, lets worry about the airlines, lets do this one. The other big problem, the cruise ship industry, an industry that was setting all sorts of records two months ago, then all of a sudden, theres nobody on the ships, okay. So we have to help these. These are great industries. These are going to be taking care of people and passengers and for years to come and paying tremendous taxes. Tremendous taxes for years to come. So we have to make sure that this is done. Yes. Reporter mr. President , i want to bring up a point, what you referred to a short while ago about politics. In your address to the nation you said we have to put politics aside, stop the partisanship and unify together. But this morning, you criticized the democratic governor of michigan, yesterday the democratic governor of new york, you have attacked obama, attacked biden. In fact, every day except one since that address, you have lashed out at a democratic leader. Are you going to set the example . I only do that when i have to respond. I watched on television, she said something that was false. Therefore i did do that and i will continue to do that. If they are not going to play fair because they have the media on their side, i dont, i just have me, and if theyre not going to play fair, im going to do that. If they are going to play fair, theres going to be nobody theres fwoeg to going to be no better than donald trump in terms of bipartisanship. But if they are going to say things that are false, like the story that was written yesterday, lot of people, i dont know, somebody, i think i know who but they taped a Conference Call i had with the governors. It was a good call. I assume somebody is going to tape it. They handed it to various people, one of them the New York Times, and the New York Times chose to write totally inaccurately about it. It was a disgraceful thing. It was bad journalism but they do a lot of bad journalism. But we respond to that and actually, people get it. People get it. No, i want it to be bipartisan and nobodys going to be better than me but when they attack me or the people, these incredible people behind me, im not going to let them get away with that. I cant do that. How about one or two more questions. Go ahead, please. Please. [ inaudible question ] you can do a national lockdown. Hopefully were not going to need that. We think of everything. We have every idea you mentioned, we thought of and its a very big step. Thats a step that i mean, in one sense would work. Its a very big step. Its something we talk about but we havent decided to do that. Please, go ahead. Reporter mr. President , what would be the determining factors for you to take that action . It would have to get to a level i just dont think its going to be an action we are going to take. But anthony, all the people standing behind me would get together in a room plus some additionals and we would make a decision. I dont think thats a step we are going to be taking. One more question. You didnt have one, did you . Reporter will the u. S. Government provide Financial Assistance to boeing and airplanes suppliers like ge . We are looking at that. We are certainly looking at boeing. Boeing got hit hard in many different ways. Boeing never had a problem for years. They were they were an incredible they were it was unthinkable what happened with respect to boeing. Unthinkable. Probably i would consider it the greatest company in the world prior to a year ago. Now they get hit in 15 different ways and they have different management. I have met the new people, running boeing, and i think it will be outstanding. We have to protect boeing. We have to absolutely help boeing. They were doing a job, they were getting, it was coming along well and then all of a sudden this hits. So obviously when the airlines arent doing well, boeings not going to be doing well. We will be helping boeing. Reporter can you respond, mr. President , before you leave, what john was saying . You called for people to leave politics out of this. Joe biden said the World Health Organization offered testing kits that they had available to the United States, if you give it to us now. We refused it, we didnt want to buy them. Joe biden says the w. H. O. Never im going to let tony answer that question. Whoever is best at answering that. I do have to say when you talk about politics, i watched the debate. Not too exciting. But what they said about me and we have done a great job, when you talk about not being bipartisan, what they said about me and if you look at swine flu, the whole thing and i guess it was 2009 and what they did and the mistakes theyve made, they were terrible. They were horrific mistakes. 17,000 people died. Ill be honest, they shouldnt be criticizing because we have done a fantastic job. The only thing we havent done well is to get good press. We have done a fantastic job but it hasnt been appreciated. Even the closing down of the borders which had never been done and not only did we close them, we closed them early. The press doesnt like writing about it. So we have done a poor job on press relationships and i guess i dont know who to blame for that. I dont know. Maybe i can blame ourselves for that. I will blame ourselves. But i think we have done a great job. I think we have done a poor job in terms of press relationship but let me have somebody answer your question. So i tried to cover this in the answer when i talked about quality of kits and our quality analysis runs through the fda. So all of these platforms, we have asked people to submit and we have asked states to Quality Control so i mean, anybody could submit their test to us. We dont buy tests that havent been Quality Controlled and they show us the data. Either show us the data up front or show us the data after they have been running them, because quality testing for our American People is paramount to us. It doesnt help to put out a test where 50 or 47 are false positive. Imagine what that would mean to the American People. Imagine their level of concern now in telling people that theyre false positive. We take this same approach to hiv. Imagine telling someone they were positive to hiv and they werent. So that is our bottom line. The customer, the American People first. So any of these groups can submit their testing kits through our regulatory processes, but without that and without a plan, we are not going to accept tests that have not been studied by us. Good answer. Good answer. You have something on that . Im just going to emphasize a little bit more on that. When i became involved in the testing world, i called senior officials at the w. H. O. As i could find to understand what the situation was and as far as i can tell from sources that should know, no one ever offered a test that we refused. What i heard, too. This is a Research Grade test, Research Grade test that was never not approved, not submitted to the fda, that was supplied in tens of thousands of quantities to 100 countries in the world, okay . So i think theres a lot that people are saying about this that is based on rumor and myth, nothing was offered that we refused. It was a Research Test that was not approved. Again, there was a small number that we have greatly surpassed in a very short period of time. Number one, nothing was offered. Number two, it was a bad test. Otherwise it was wonderful. Listen, thank you very much. I assume he will apologize. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Neil there you have it. For the better part of an hour, the president going on and spelling out where things stand on this coronavirus quest to get it under control. This as we just got news from the centers for Disease Control and prevention that the confirmed number of covid19 cases has just surpassed 5,000 in the United States and this of course coming at a time when a number of cities and states are contemplating measures of their own. You heard that the president was not keen on this idea of a national lockdown. It also goes by another term in new york city, shelter in place strategy on the part of new york mayor bill de blasio. Something that fellow democrat and new York Governor Andrew Cuomo is not a fan of, making clear that Something Like that is just not necessary at this time. The administration also making it clear that it is ready to get cash into americans hands immediately. The treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin, who had to leave early, was en route to the capitol to say, i quote here, the president has instructed me to do what we must do right now. He didnt give details except to say that the amount should be significant and that millionaires should not get it. He went on to say, secretary mnuchin, we want to make sure americans get the money in their pockets quickly. The stock market is kind of all over the map on this. It is retracing some of the ground, about a sixth of the ground that was lost yesterday. But back and forth on this really kind of dovetails the back and forth on where this whole virus is going, whether its getting worse, whether we have a handle on it. The president with very sober analysis, saying he doesnt know but he thinks we will come back from this. The markets will come roaring back, the economy will come roaring back. The dow right now is about 638 points. To john hilsenrath, wall street journal Global Economic editor. What do you make of the president saying we are on top of this, ive got the best people in the world to be on top of it, as much to instill confidence as ease panic. Is it working . Let me talk about the economics of it. Im in no position to talk about the health of it and the virus and how thats being handled. On the economics of it, i think something important is going on today. I think what we see is the administration recognizes that theres a Funding Crisis brewing here and let me explain what i mean by that. Businesses talk about something called working capital. Its the money that they have in their Bank Accounts and also the revenues coming in and how they use that to pay their bills. The economy is grinding to a halt, working capital is slowing down. Every household is in the same position. We have paychecks coming in and we use it to pay our bills. I think what we see with what Steven Mnuchin is saying today is an urgency about getting working capital into American Business Bank Accounts and into the Bank Accounts of american households so they can bridge through the Health Crisis and keep paying their bills without this thing feeding on itself. The fed, by the way, is doing the same thing today. It launched a new program for something called commercial paper which are shortterm loans that companies get, and i think thats really where the Crisis Management is right now. People are whyiusing the word stimulus. I dont think thats what we should be talking about right now, stimulating demand. Listen, people are shuttered in their homes. They are not going to run out shopping. We need to get money in their pockets so they can pay their bills so when its time to come out of the house, then you can go out and spend. I think thats why what mnuchin said is really important because it sounds to me, i think maybe this is why the market is up, the administration is on it and i Hope Congress is on it, too. Neil i do wonder about that, though. You talk about putting money in peoples hands, whether its for the payroll tax limit presumably for the middle class or below, not millionaires, that it takes some time for that to register. What are we looking at here . I dont think that payroll tax cut is the way to do it. If you are an hourly worker and all of a sudden your hours have been eliminated, you know, a payroll tax cut isnt going to get there in time. Ive got to go back and look at what mnuchin is talking about but it sounds like hes talking about more urgency. The payroll tax cut, lets debate it later. What i think really needs to be looked at carefully is Unemployment Insurance system. If you lost your job, like these are systems we have in place, can you go to those systems and get cash today to pay your bills. Its not about a stimulus or a tax cut. Its about funding in place today so you can pay this months rent and this months utility bills and this months phone bill. Neil on that, a lot of this is meant, i dont want to call it stimulus, to put cash and get more cash in the system, we all know what happened during the financial panic and the meltdown, i get that, but if you are inclined, hunker down in your home, to not go out because you are worried about this virus, you are worried your kids get it, your parents get it, so you are hunkered down at home, any amount of money isnt going to change that, will it . Right. But you still need to be able to pay your bills. Neil understood. You need to be able to go out and get your groceries. Its the exact same thing for companies right now. Thats why the fed is doing this commercial paper thing. Companies need to pay their bills. If you have a salaried worker, you want to write that paycheck without laying them off. You want to be able to pay whatever, you know, liabilities youve got where the bills are coming due to pay your rent in your building. So you know, again, thats why im steering away from this term stimulus. Its about bridging the gap. I should say also, this is different than the financial crisis. That was something that started inside the Financial System where the banks just couldnt make loans to people. This is happening in the household sector and the business sector, where theres just a risk of a funding shortfall so you dont have the shortterm assets to pay the shortterm liabilities. I think and hope the government is mobilizing today to bridge that gap so we can get past the Virus Outbreak and then lets talk about stimulus later when people are able to go out and actually shop. Right now its pay the bills. For companies, pay the bills. For households, pay the bills. Neil well said. Thank you very, very much. The treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin did address the possibility the stock market closing to sort of breathe a little. He was not keen on it. Take a look. We absolutely believe in keeping the markets open. Okay . Americans need to know they have access to their money. After september 11th the only reason why the markets were closed was because the technology was disrupted. I have been on the phone with the major banks, with the New York Stock Exchange. Everybody wants to keep it open. Neil to the American Institute for Economic Research president edward stringham, walter Asset Management ceo Rebecca Walser and Charlie Gasparino joins us on the phone. Edward, to you first on what you think the message is the administration is sending. We had reason to close the markets after 9 11. They couldnt open. They were so damaged and there was flooding at the time, i remember so they couldnt open. When they did, days later, the notion was some days would pass and people would be calmer. So does the treasury secretary have a point, you want to send a signal youre not going to just quit, walk away from the markets . Certainly. Yeah. The markets being open is crucial for the economy, for people to know what Business Sentiment is in the world. The fact its dropped so much really shows that people are really worried about supply Chain Management and you know, people just being able to work. But it is good today, the fact that markets are up a little bit. We need this pulse on the economy. Im glad theyre not approaching that subject of closing the stock exchange. Neil you know, rebecca, im curious what you make of the fact we can call it stimulus, call it a way of providing cash to the banking system, the corporate world, but if you think about it, Interest Rates in late august were right around 2. 5 for overnight money, now close to zero. If just the last couple weeks they have been reduced by over 1. 5 percentage points. The fed has poured trillions of dollars into buying everything from commercial paper, mortgagebacked securities, treasury securities, and today notwithstanding, the markets have tanked on that. I wonder what would rally them. I suspect it would be good news on the virus itself. What do you think . No, neil, you are 100 right. This is really a situation where weve got the economics versus the Actual Health of people and its forcing people to stay home, not to obviously p patronnize restaurants, bars, gyms, movie theaters are closing. When you have this sort of situation which is really unprecedented, except maybe back during the spanish flu, you are going to close down businesses which is going to have the blunted Economic Impact that the stock market here is forecasting. So what i see is that you are exactly right. This will not stop until the virus is what i see is the stock market slowly dying three months, then a miraculous resurrection after three months. I truly see the virus will be contained and the market will roar back and we will have an influx of World Capital we have never seen before in the history of the world. Neil hope youre right. Charlie gasparino, your reporting has been stellar on this. One of the things that interests me when we talk about the spanish flu in 1918, theres the great comparison the president alluded to that st. Louis, for example, one of the biggest cities at the time in the country, had done this social distancing thing and the losses were limited. Philadelphia at the time did not and the losses were substantial. 675,000 americans lost their lives in that plague that took 50 billion lives across the world. Not even getting into world war i. Does the president have a point to say look, on this social interaction and curbing it, whether its 10 or fewer, 25 or 50 or fewer, depending on the state or locality, that its about keeping people apart . Yeah. By the way, i thought he had a very strong press conference, something you could tell the markets kind of liked it. It was bouncing back up as he was speaking. He sounded except for the end when he got a little petty, he really set the tone. Hes absolutely right. Listen, i have family members, im old enough to have family members, believe it or not, who were affected by the spanish flu. My wifes grandfathers father died in brooklyn on the spanish flu. It affected a lot of people. These were people who largely lived in skwqualor in tenements. Were not at the turn of the century where tent families share one bathroom on a floor. Thats what was going on back then. We are comparing apples to oranges. I think hes right by taking the steps he took, the china travel ban was excellent, that was, you know, those steps and the warnings now to social distance will work. I want to make one quick point here about the stock market. Lets not engage in saying this thing is going to come back the greatest stock market ever when the pentup demand hits. We dont know. We are in very uncharted territory. I will say one other thing about the economy. Heres whats kind of scary about it. The fed is taking all these measures, treasury is taking all these measures to help big business. Big business is better, is pretty well capitalized. On the whole. Not everyone, but largely well capitalized. They do have debt. They have record numbers of debt. Interest rates are so low. But they are better capitalized. Where this really could get hairy for the economy is Small Businesses. Small businesses really need to stay open. They are generally consumerdriven. They are ground to a halt. Talking about restaurants, dry cleaners, you name it. Thats where none of this fed stuff, lower Interest Rates, qe, you know, these other programs, the fed facility today neil that hasnt done squat for the markets. Nothing. They employ half of americans. Neil youre right. Charlie, thank you very much. Rebecca, i wanted your quick take on Something Else that was going on as the president was speaking. A confirmation right now the number of cases in the u. S. Just passed 5,000. A week ago it was at 1,000. People hear Something Like that and say what if this still continues to spiral for awhile, maybe months. Whats the impact . Well, i think that thats exactly what im saying we need to be prepared for because we havent had the test widespread availability so we expect fully that the numbers are going to climb as the tests become available and i expect that to further depress the market. As i said, i do see several more months of this actually happening but once the virus hits the peak and i do believe what President Trump was dead on in his talk that we will see it, we will see when it stops and that is when i believe we will, because this is so unique and i take charlies point that hes saying we cant predict when its going to come back but this has come upon us so quickly because of what has actually happened. We had great unemployment numbers, excellent growth, Earnings Seasons that were surpassing what we expected, we expected a loss, we had huge growth of 4 on average, we had great fundamentals and this just came out of nowhere and took everything down the fastest ever so because of that, when this virus subsides and everyone in the world will see the u. S. Has reached a point where its back to business as usual, i believe President Trump is 100 correct, i believe because hes done the things hes been asked to do, he will be and america will be rewarded and we will see that the market will come back and it will be unique. To charlies point, it will be unique but it is going to come back as fast as it went down. Yes. Neil timing is everything, right . Im wondering here given whats going on right now and a wall street journal poll out yesterday that showed that americans are less confident about the future, whether they take that out on him. Oh, yeah. No, its really hurting the average person, especially small business. I think that theres the health risk but theres the economic risk by making restaurant workers unemployed and all these Small Businesses having to stay at home for weeks, maybe even months. This is going to be a huge burden on them. I think its good to slow down the spread of the disease, thats necessary, thats great, but at the same time, if we are being too draconian and destroying the economy in the process, that could actually be even worse. Neil final word on the subject. Guys, thank you all on these fastbreaking developments. Before i get to my next guest, we will about 450 points, on the phone with us is treasury secretary under george h. W. Bush, 43rd president of the United States, john snow, on the phone right now. John, always good to have you. Your successor, Steve Mnuchin, up on capitol hill right now pushing for what would be upwards of an 850 billion stimulus package, a chunk of which might, might involve some sort of payroll tax. They were just signaling and said it wont be sweeping or allinclusive. What do you think such a package should look like . Well, i think what we need here is to talk about a framework to deal with this unique situation we find ourselves in. I find myself in alliance with one of your earlier guests who said the real focus right now needs to be on stabilization. We need to stabilize the incomes of the people who are being adversely affected. We need to stabilize the situation with thousands and thousands of businesses so they dont shutter their doors, so they will be able to reemploy people when the economy comes back. Neil but it could be delayed coming back. I only say that because the uaw just called for a twoweek shutdown of the victory auto plant, this on top of the news adidas says some of its stores in the u. S. And canada will be closed right through march 29th. Similar such closures going on at a host of major players. Lyft, the ride sharing company, will stop ride sharing. In other words, if you hop in one of its cars, you are there alone. Is that the kind of stuff that feeds on this economic drag . Well, absolutely. The irony of this whole situation is that in order to deal with this virus, the meteor that hit the economy that was performing so well, in order to deal with the virus, we have to put the economy through the ringer, the Public Health care policies of isolation, closing down so much of the economy, which is going to really hurt. But we can provide stabilization in the interim and stimulation eventually. But right now, its time to stabilize conditions. Neil obviously youre right to say priorities should be on addressing the virus and all of that. A lot of people and industries and companies who through no fault of their own are facing this financial crisis are going to be holding their hands out saying what about me. During the financial crisis, little more than a decade ago, it was largely banks, gm, some of that. But this could extend to airlines, casino operators, hotels, small business, other types, even those who cant pay their rent, landlords who cant get that rent. You get the picture that it could extend way far beyond just the monies we spent then. Are we able to do that . I think we are going to have to, actually. This is the time to go big. That would be my counsel. The bigger risk is doing too little and creating bigger consequences. Creating a catastrophic situation for millions and millions of innocent people and businesses, Small Businesses. We can recover from having a big, big program here. We will never recover from doing too little. Thats coming from an economic conservative. Neil i hear you. That was one of the things that george bush jr. Had to wrestle with when he was looking at t. A. R. P. , the troubled Asset Relief Program and some of the other programs that went against his grain. I guess both sides are on board with hefty stimulus here. It occurs, ill let you go, as we are getting news of u. S. Business inventories slipped in the latest month, thats generally considered to be a bad sign if theyre not restocking their shelves. I could go on about retail sales that are losing their oomph, Home Builders that are under pressure despite the low Interest Rates. Where do you think were headed . I think we are headed to a selfinflicted, selfinduced significant economic slowdown which is essential to deal with the Public Health crisis of coronavirus. This is not 2001. This is not 2008. The nostrums of 2001 and 2008 are not right today. This is not a liquidity trap. This is not a product of inadequate aggregate demand. This isnt the product of Interest Rates too high or too low for too long. This isnt the product of speculation and excesses in the market. Its the product of this tsunami that hit, this hurricane that hit of the virus. So for the short term, for the next month, certainly for the next eight weeks the cdc has talked about, we need a strong Stabilization Program which means putting money in peoples pockets and making sure that these Small Businesses dont shutter their doors. Neil all right. John snow, former treasury secretary of these United States, thank you very much for taking the time to chat with us. We should also let you know guatemala is saying its temporarily suspending flights of some deported guatemalans, others that were returned under the Asylum Agreement with the United States. We dont know much more than that. The president has been stressing that our border is tight with mexico and the canadians. He said keep in mind whatever the canadians are doing to forbid travel to their country does not apply to americans. He did not signal that the same would apply to the canadians or not apply. All this occurs at a time when one country after another, you heard from italy, germany, iran, around the world, locking down their respective borders as this sort of cocooning happens across the globe. The president meanwhile is looking to expand what they call Telehealth Services. He explains. We encourage everyone to maximize use of telehealth to limit exposure to the virus. Its been a very successful method of communication but never used on a scale like we are going to use it, telehealth. Neil all this when the bay area is ordered to shelter in place, three weeks now, for Health Officials there just to try to mitigate all of this. That can prove easier said than done. We have the very very latest. Reporter what does it mean and are you next to face these very strict containment protocols. Residents now in seven california counties, together the size of connecticut, ordered to stay home unless they are buying groceries or medicine. We are asking the public to voluntarily comply. This order by law is enforceable as a misdemeanor or failure to comply with it, but that is an absolute last resort. Reporter police, fire, utility workers are exempt. Other businesses, however, are required to close and send workers home. The exception, gas stations, banks and restaurants doing takeout or delivery. With this order in place, you will still be able to get food, care for relatives, run necessary errands and conduct the essential parts of your lives. These measures will be disruptive to daytoday life, but there is no need to panic. Reporter the bay area is the epicenter of californias outbreak, with more than half of all the infections. Cases in santa clara county, silicon valley, doubled friday to sunday. Yesterday, governor gavin newsom banned evictions and utility cutoffs and moments ago thement sa president said he did not believe a federal lockdown was justified and those decisions will remain with state and local officials. If you want to establish a framework of martial law which is ultimate enforcement, we have the capacity to do that. We are not at this moment feeling thats a necessity. I believe when the president takes the bold step of putting out national guidelines, you can read those as national rules. Reporter right now, it appears that some cities want to overreact now to get ahead of the curve. Others want to protect the economy and let those rising numbers justify their decision. Thats where we are on a state and local basis. Neil for this particular minute. Thank you very, very much. By the way, st. Paddys day is also a big primary day. Its going on in arizona right now, in florida, illinois. Ohio was supposed to be part of the mix but that states governor putting that off a little and the president agreeing with the move. I will talk to governor de wine at 4 00 p. M. Eastern on fox news. Meantime, to real clear politics cofounder tom bevin on how this is shaking out politically. When i heard the president talking about maybe july, maybe august, its conceivable that this could put off even the conventions or i dont know, telecommute then. What do you think . Yeah, we havent even really started thinking about what that would look like. The democrats couldnt even use an app to run a caucus in iowa with a couple hundred thousand voters. The idea they would somehow try and do a Virtual Convention where the delegates can vote, you know, seems like it would be problematic to say the least. But youre right, we do, look, this election is going to continue on and its just a question of right now, im sitting here in ill kninois, th governor has closed bars and restaurants but is sending people out to vote. The board of elections asked him to postpone it. He decided not to. Voters in florida and illinois, two states with elderly populations, more so than the rest of the states, are going out to polling places. We will see what turnout is. I suspect it will be very very low. But amid a Health Crisis we have going on, it seems like maybe not the right thing to be doing. Neil im wondering, i saw this wall street journal survey i alluded to yesterday where more americans are anxious, thats probably an understatement, and less optimistic about the future, this at the same time despite todays gains, the dow for example is kind of back to where it was when this president took office. The virus and the market tumble isnt on him but you think it is going to hurt him in the fall . Its so hard to say. The political calculus is completely scrambled. Im not sure voters are going to hold it against trump, the Economic Impact of this, because it was unforeseen neil if its going on then, they might. What they will handle against him is the way they have handled it. The administration has gotten off to a rocky start and seems to have its sea legs, its footing and seems to be on top of its game in terms of reassuring the public and taking these measures that need to be taken. You heard trump, he said it three or four times in the presser today, we got to take care of getting rid of the virus first, we can worry about the rest of the stuff later, in terms of the Economic Impact and how to rebound. Hes confident that it will. Everything starts with him getting and his administration getting a handle on the health issue, Public Health crisis thats happening right now and they seem to be doing a good job of that at least, you know, they have the tone they have taken the last couple days has been dramatically different and well received. Neil do you get a sense, though, if all these measures, the Federal Reserve has taken, the administration is looking to take, the stimulus thats to come, the fact that it will extend to far more than those who got help and rescues at the time of the financial crisis, that at least the ingredients are there for an economic comeback . Sure. We just dont know. This could be, i mean, knock on wood, this could be in the rear view mirror by the time election day comes and quite some time. We just dont know. It could be over in a few weeks, it could last all the way through election or beyond. Who knows how that will shake out and how the campaign will progress and how the public sentiment is going to react to how long this thing progresses and again, it will come down to how the administration handles itself and handles this crisis. It is certainly a crisis that has got a Human Element to it thats very tragic, got a political element to it, got an Economic Impact element to it that again, we have no idea of seeing, foreseeing how this is going to work out. Neil we shall see. We just dont know. Meantime, look at something that kind of illustrates wahats goig on. This is times square. One of the busiest crossroads in the world. There arent a lot of people on those roads. In fact, they are walking in fits and starts. This is sixth avenue. This is one of the busiest avenues in the world, let alone new york or the United States. Very few people there. It is surreal to put it mildly. All of this at a time when a lot of people are looking at this, trying to say where are we going here . Susan li has been watching this and what companies are doing to respond to this. Susan li . Susan you can imagine big business is being hit and as you heard from treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin, he will get some sort of aid maybe in tax deferments, possibly even cash injections. We are trying to keep up with all the news. As you can imagine, a lot of it is coming thick and fast. Looks like the uaw which represents hundreds of thousands of auto workers, actually want the plants at gm, chrysler and ford to be suspended, at least shifts to be suspended for two weeks because of the coronavirus. Also, we just heard from Marriott Hotels which employs thousands. They will furlough a few thousand of their employees because a lot of people are not traveling so they arent checking in to those hotels. Also, bricks and mortars and stores shutting up temporarily, at least a lot of new announcements this morning. The latest being ulta, a big beauty company. They are closing doors during this Coronavirus Spread. Also heard from the Tapestry Group which owns coach, kate spade as well, sephora, another big beauty brand closing their doors as well. This adds on to the names we talked about yesterday. Adidas just in the past hour say they are closing up shop. At least temporarily, until march 29th. Apple has actually taken back the deadline, saying they would reopen possibly on march 27th, now looks like its indefinite until they get clear signs this Coronavirus Spread has been contained. Nike says they are closing shop until the 27th. No update on that date. Lululemon, under armour, the list goes on and on in terms of the number of stores that have been closed. There is good news for amazon and online retailers because bricks and mortars might be closing up shop but people are still shopping on the internet. We heard from amazon saying they will hire 100,000 extra employees across north america for their full fimmefillment ce paying 2 on top of their 15 minimum wage they are already paying workers because of the huge demand they are getting for shipping out goods because people are not going out for point to point or human contact to buy their goods so they are shopping online instead. Just to clarify also, amazon recognizes that there has been huge demand for essentials like medical supplies, clorox wipes that have been very hard to find. They have already confirmed to us this morning that they will prioritize those essential elements and those shipments. They say we are temporarily prioritizing household staples like food, water, medical supplies and other high demand products coming into our fulf l Fulfillment Center so we can restock and deliver those products. They say vendors and sellers understand this. We appreciate their understanding but they know we need to temporarily prioritize this for the good of america and worldwide. Neil . Neil common sense approach. Thank you very, very much. People are scared as susan pointed out and some Companies Act on that by addressing some of the issues they are concerned about. It was in a situation very similar to what happened in the crash of 1987. We revisited that yesterday and the single biggest point hit in the dow since that october 19th, 1987 collapse that then represented about a quarter of the dows value. Yesterdays tumble even at 3,000 points or thereabouts just about half of that. Art laffer was there then. Hes with us right now. One of the things i remember about your old boss Ronald Reagan is he didnt dramatize the problems. He appreciated the magnitude of the stock market hit but he put it in better perspective by expressing faith in the country, the economy, kind of the approach the president took moments ago. How important is that to reassure americans now . Its really important. Its also very true. Its not only important but its the truth. I disagree with so many of your guests on the show about this is unique, its never happened before, oh, my god, its time to panic, do something big. No. Its not. We have been through this. Kennedy assassination, the terrorist thing, the high tech bubble, the one in 87 which you referred to. Weve had a number of these historic things. Theres a common pattern that comes with all of them. When you look at the common pattern, youve got disruption of the market, you get supply chains broken, you get liquidity problems for Many Industries that are uniquely hit. The answer is straightforward and simple. [ speaking simultaneously ] what you do on those industries is, the publisher of the london economist for 17 years says in times of crisis, discount freely. Take the companies that have liquidity problems and make sure the treasury and the fed and other government organizations supply them with liquidity during their period of crisis. You do it when to make sure the liquidity crisis doesnt turn into a solvency crisis. This is what a central bank is all about. Neil do you bail them out . And thats exactly what should be done. You dont bail them out. You give them loans and guarantees so they can meet that so they dont have to sell their cruise ships at a discount at a fire sale and become insolvent bankrupt. The other thing you do is what reagan did so beautifully. Dont just stand there. Undo something. Cutting the payroll tax makes it much more attractive for firms to employ workers and it makes it much more attractive for workers to work. Those are the incentive effects. Government spending being called a stimulus is like calling a nuclear bomb a peacemaker. Government spending is the problem. We went through this all in 2008. You and i on many shows went through this when jack kemp and all the others were getting panicked and screaming and wanting this big program and we did not want it. We were right, they were wrong. Neil what i worry about to that point, you are right, sorry to keep jumping on you here, is this notion that they did it for a lot of the banks at the time, did it for gm. Theres going to be a lot more industries and companies that will have their hands out saying hey, look, this isnt our fault, you got to do something for us. Many more players than were affected at the time by that financial fallout. But its not their fault. No one blames them for it. I mean, trump is not to blame for the coronavirus either. Weve had a big hit in our country. But government doesnt create resources. Government redistributes them. When you bail someone out, you are putting someone else into trouble by taking the resources from them. You cannot pay people not to work or pay people for having losses and tax people who have profits and expect the system to do well. It just plain wont. Neil let me ask you this. [ speaking simultaneously ] neil it can change the political environment. The reason why i mention it to you, it was a close contest between john mccain and barack obama in 2008 until the meltdown, the Lehman Brothers fold, then it got to be a gap and john mccain could never narrow that. You could say the same fdr came in in the middle of a depression, nothing could stop him in that environment. Im wondering as we look back in history, are you worried i love it. Neil that this will be the backdrop, a worrisome one for the president , that the outside the black swan event, im sure you hope its shortlived is changing this race. What do you think . Let me do your two examples. Hoover in the 30s raised the highest marginal income tax rate from 25 to 63 on january 1st, 1932 and lost the election. Duh. Then you look at what w did with a stimulus package of 1. 75 trillion and john mccain was sacrificed by george w. Bush who put obama in the white house. You look at reagan. Reagan did none of that stuff in the octobernovember crash in the market and if trump doesnt do that, if trump does the tax cuts for nine months and provides a stimulus to make it more attractive to employ people and people to work, there will be no problem and im betting this will turn out to be a very big plus for the president because he will have solved the crisis of coronavirus and the economy will bounce back nicely. Neil but in the reagan example you and i did in 2008 and 2009, if they do that stuff, they will destroy the economy. Then you will have trump out of there. The republicans out of the house [ speaking simultaneously ] neil let me ask you this. I worked with him closely. Neil in the Ronald Reagan case, obviously when the 87 crash occurred he wasnt up for reelection but his reaction to that did help his Vice President george bush senior get elected because the economy [ speaking simultaneously ] they elected reagan for a third time. A third time in 1988. They elected reagan and it turned out to be George Herbert walker bush. He lost it himself to bill clinton. But the truth of the matter is you do tax cuts, progrowth stimulus, you are going to do well if you do Government Spending stuff, you will be disastrous. Reagan did it just right, perfectly correct, as we advised him back then when he was 17 years old. Neil you and i were old then. Art laffer, thank you very much. Mr. Smartypants. One of the greatest economic minds of the last century. Meanwhile, the president meeting with restaurant executives today. This as mcdonalds and others now are shutting down their dining rooms in the hope to push takeout and drivethrough orders and thats it. Grady trimble in chicago with the latest on that front. Reporter mcdonald doesnt want any customers dining in at companyowned stores and plans to do the same at franchises. You can see behind me at this location, they dont even have chairs out. The president today meeting with executives of just about all the major fast food and restaurant chains in the Company Including mcdonalds, burger king, yum brands and darden restaurants. The president requesting hothos to encourage customers to use drivethrough. We discussed the role pickup and Delivery Service can play in the weeks ahead. Thats been happening and they have been fantastic. They have been absolutely fantastic. They have been doing it already. But they are keeping it open and smaller staffs of very capable people and very capable companies. They are doing it, pickups. Reporter starbucks is also only allowing people to order and take out their orders as well as mobile ordering. Back here at mcdonalds, i spoke with a customer who says this location is already seeing the consequences of this ban on dining in. The sad part about it is they had the lto lay off four people from this morning crew. Thats the tragedy of this all. They are at the bare minimum. Its the manager which was at the counter, then theres a couple cooks in the back. Thats just the new normal at this point. Reporter its not just these large chains impacted. Local restaurants are also getting hit hard by these bans on dining in. Here in illinois and elsewhere. Uber eats is suspending delivery fees for anyone who wants to order from local restaurants to try to cushion the blow on those local companies. Neil thank you very much, my friend. On that same subject, we are hearing from austin, texas following much of the country at this point in closing bars and restaurants effective 1 00 p. M. Eastern standard time. That would also probably mean, i dont know for sure, they would remain open for takeout orders, delivery orders and the rest. The restaurants themselves, whats happening in new york city and a host of other cities around the country, will be the rule of thumb in austin as later on today. We will keep you posted on that. Meantime, we have Legendary Restaurant Brands chairman and ceo paul benjinelliwho joins us now. You have got so much under your umbrella here from bennigans, steak ale, all of that, how does this impact you . First of all, great to be with you again. We have been really busy and we were preparing for one hell of a st. Patricks day so happy st. Patricks day from all of us to you and your viewership. Neil you as well. The way it impacts us, i have been listening to all the stories especially over the last week, and the simple fact of the matter is this. Look, common sense should prevail. Its not so common anymore but we have been already doing a lot of these things in terms of not only safety for our guests but safety for our employees. We have been doing things that are practical from a delivery standpoint or pickup only. Im glad to see some of the Third Party Delivery providers are rolling back commissions and doing free deliveries so we are still trying to survive, but it would absolutely be brutal for some of the restaurant compan s companies, before this even hit [ inaudible ] bad year for a lot of restaurant chains because they didnt prepare for it. Its interesting, the meeting with the president today, no [ inaudible ] operators were present in the discussion. While some Public Companies were represented and larger brands were represented, some of the smaller business people, franchisees and independents, were not represented. I think the offset to that is at least i heard today that whats being considered from a stimulus standpoint so we can get to the other side, i really see there will be a steep type of recovery when we get past some of these unknowns and of course, the word unprecedented has been used a million times but this is uncharted territory. So when, although the fundamentals are still very very sound, when we get to the other side of it and people feel confident again, the bounce will be significant. Thats what were holding on to. Neil do you ever worry the longer this drags on where people dont go out and very few order takeout or delivery or that sort of thing, that people get used to this and say you know, its not bad, im saving some dough and i dont need to go to pauls great restaurants, heaven forbid, do you worry about that . Well, you know, thats interesting because even before all this, i had been holding something i really firmly believe in. Casual dining gave up on the guests. Guests never gave up on casual dining. Even when this news first broke, we saw a lot of restaurants that were packed and standing room only, twohour waits. People still love the respite from the day to day to have great Dining Experience that we provi provide. I think theres enough market share for us to go around but again, my caution is the people that got overleveraged, the brands that werent smart about signing leases [ inaudible ] are going to be shaken out. Again, it bodes well for those of us that are wellpositioned and have cash to go take advantage of Second Generation space and franchising has never been better because i think with people now being subject to the situation that exists today, you are in business for yourself, not by yourself with franchise agreements, you know, i think again, when we come out of this, its going to be a very robust time because the fundamentals are still very strong. Neil yeah. And you got to eat. It would take a nuclear war for me not to go to a restaurant but i understand where you are coming from. Thank you very much. Be well. Happy st. Paddys day. Happy st. Paddys day. I have that montecristo waiting for you. Neil it is st. Paddys day. You wouldnt know it looking at the avenue of the americas, looking at times square and parents across the city are home with their kids because all the schools are closed and could be for quite awhile. Take a look. We are asking everyone to work at home if possible, postpone unnecessary travel and limit social gatherings to no more than ten people by making shared sacrifices and temporary changes, we can protect the health of our people and we can protect our economy because i think our economy will come back very rapidly. Neil so how can parents deal with this and keep them entertained at the same time and juggle a major broadcasting job while theyre at it . Lets ask lauren simonetti. She is trying to deal with all of that. Lauren. Lauren its called a kind nanny for me right now. All right, more than 7 in 10 schools across the country are closed. Maybe for the rest of the school year. Okay . Millions of parents are sudden home School Teachers and maybe remote employees themselves. The upshot is a chaotic juggling act. Here are some tips. Create a schedule first and foremost. For consistency but also for sharing of technology needed to not only learn but also to download games and movies to keep you occupied. Get creative. You can take a virtual field trip. Order those subscription boxes. They arrive at your doorstep. Tons of activities to do. Set household chores. Imagine that. Above all, you want to set a calm tone in the house. Remember, lots of businesses, they are setting up virtual experiences right now. For instance, if your kid takes a music class, that class is probably online now. Youre watching ramblin dan streaming his talents and seeing a big boost in demand. We plan on making it better and better and better every single day. We already ordered a bunch of equipment to our houses any day now to make sure the streams are as high quality as they can be. Right now we have parents asking for more and more and more. Lauren on a personal note, let me ask you, what we are doing in my neighborhood, it is st. Patricks day even though it doesnt feel like it, so have the kids make a rainbow, put it in your window, then go out for a Scavenger Hunt finding rainbows in other windows, sending luck to people everywhere. When i get home and the nannys off, we will go looking for other rainbows. Neil thats the difference between your kids and mine. They are looking for bars right now. Thats a whole different issue. Lauren genz, z for zoom, zoom is where its at for older kids. Its where they are partying and learning. You remember the good old days, right . Neil no, i dont. Im also curious how you get your kids to do chores. Thats quite a concept there. Lauren i bribe them with candy. Neil there you go. That would work for me every single time. Lauren, thank you very, very much. Great job. Meanwhile, you have Major League Baseball getting pushed back at least eight weeks for the start of the season. Thats a slippery slope. Its not a guarantee. To former nfl great jack brewer who joins us on the phone. Between that and now rumors that the whole Tokyo Olympics could be pushed back, japanese olympics, this is a major top player in those olympics as the virus itself. Im wondering what kind of spring, maybe even summer, are we looking at . Its going to be tough. This is unprecedented, obviously for the world in this epidemic but the sports world in general. This is normally the one thing that brings the country together or the world together is the olympics and sports. Major league baseball, people can go out and normally get things off their mind by watching some sports. It doesnt exist now. Its really going to get worse, if you look at it, because when you see the athletes start to be affected, i think thats when the league must step in, because players are around each other in the locker room, youre sweating in the weight room together. Its not really a place you want to gather like that. I think its inevitable that Major League Baseball will probably have to push this season out even further into the summer. You may see Something Like what happened back in the 90s, when the nba shortened their season, you may see Something Like that happen. Neil baseball did the same, it was a truncated season. Lot of people put that whole season with an asterisk. Im wondering, was any serious thought given to just playing in an empty arena, whether its basketball, i know nba canceled everything, same with march madness and all that . Was it so untenable that that was just a bad idea . I think so. You know, sports is made to be in the stadiums and arenas. You have employees that work in those stadiums, you have vendors and merchandising departments so its such a trickledown effect, i cant really see a league really Going Forward and playing sports without anyone in the stands. I think it takes away from the game. You heard several players have come out and said that if that happened, they wouldnt want to play, and i agree with them. I think right now, we want to all hold our families and the athletes themselves want to support their communities and i just dont think it looks right putting the guys out there to play right now. Neil let me ask you while ive got you, you heard the tom brady news that he is not going to be signing with the patriots, no hint as to where he will go, but he tweeted out that although my football journey will take place elsewhere, i appreciate everything that we have achieved and am grateful foraccomplishme. We heard a number of bostonians saying to him pffff. Exact quote. What do you think . Where does he go . You know, right now hes had two real offers. One from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and another one from the l. A. Chargers. I think, you know, if you are tom brady right now, hes looking at the second half of his career and that means postfootball. So he has a wife thats one of the famous models. I think tom is more leaning towards getting out to l. A. Where he could build his brand even bigger. Hes almost 43 years old. He has half of his life hopefully still to. Going to a place like in l. A. , they have a new stadium theyre going into next year. He could bring excitement next year. Im shocked that patriots allowed money to keep from getting tom brady back. Looks like he will make about 30 million a year over two years if he were to take the deal proposed by the buccaneers and the chargers. Neil wild stuff. Thank you very much, my friend, jack brewer. Former nfl great. So much more. Look at corner of wall and broad. Dow up 700 points. Interest rates are backing up in the environment here. There is a lot of weird things under the surface going on. Jackie deangelis on floor of New York Stock Exchange with the latest. Reporter market is off session highs. More important lit s p up 4 1 2 and nasdaq is performing better as well. This is a sign of confidence coming out of that very long press conference, very detailed in terms of what was covered there. You had the president , the secretary of the treasury. Some officials helping with the coronavirus, the task force, confidence coming back in. Traders telling me the dow tested a level under 20,000 today, it says something. You test that level, sometimes you tend to go there. Well have to see what happens. Lets look at some stocks being hit the hardest, turning around even, been a very volatile day. Airlines is one of those groups starting down earlier this morning but, continuing losses actually as a matter of fact. Delta down, united as well. Southwest turning the corner by one penny. Boeing was ones dragging the dow. Still lower but less after drag. Big movers, dow, inc. , intel, unitedhealth group, proctor gamble, they are tied to the coronavirus in a positive way, in a sense theyre doing things for folks to help them get out of this but Consumer Discretionary it is a rough one for restaurants and retailers. Were hearing more closures. Nike earlier this week said it was closing. Its stock happens to be up. Mcdonalds, starbucks, wendys, will close the stores, they will do the dine out options mandated here in the tristate area. Seems like were taking wider across the country. Then of course there is amazon saying two things. It will hire more workers to help get orders out faster. Also confirming that theyre prioritizing shipping essential supplies out to people. Amazon seeing a gain of 7 there. Finally part of the tristate closures, gyms, movie theaters. Movie theaters are getting hit pretty hard that could be another thing spreads across the country. We have numerous reports of malls closing, that kind of thing. People are taking abundance of caution. It is the thing to do right now. When one area does it, the others have to follow, it seems like theyre not acting responsibly at the moment. Right now we have a gain of 690 points on the dow. See if we hold it heading into the close. Neil jackie, thank you very much. I want to take you to times square, outside of our offices avenue of the americas. This is not what new york looks like alone on st. Patricks day. This keeps freezing this is outside of the offices of avenue of americas. Last year at this time, there were a lot of drunk people celebrating this day. Very few people at all around this day. Well get through this we always do. Well see. Happy st. Paddys day. Bolton to take you through the next hour. Deirdre im Deirdre Bolton in for charles payne. President trump offering a optimistic outlook. We emerge from this challenge with a prosperous and growing economy. That is what is going to happen. It is going to pop. Deirdre the white house is proposing a whopping 850 billiondollar emergency stimulus by were going to bring you the view from inside of the room. Of course you had Senate Republicans meeting