white house on how the president and company are handling the omicron thing. steve? >> neil, this is the white house that is focused mostly or at least primarily on getting people vaccinated since their first day last january. now there's new questions about whether or not they were focused enough on testing. >> why is it that you guys were so unprepared for the need for testing after the holidays? >> peter i'm happy to see you back and well. second, i would say there's been a massive surge in cases as you know and we're a part of in d.c. and new york. there's been an unpredented -- >> the president is talking about winter of severe illness and death. while he's saying that publicly, why weren't you guys doing more to prepare for wenter? >> peter, everybody decides where to get a test. you can purchase tests online. later today we'll have details on how 150 million americans that have health insurance can get reimbursed for tests. we'll have more on that later. >> we just got a detail about some of the americans with insurance getting reimbursed. that starts january 15. after the omicron surge from the holidays. we also heard today that the 500 million free tests, mailed to people's homes, that they've been talking about for weeks, they haven't signed all the contracts for those yet, neil. >> neil: peter, how are you feeling, my friend? >> i'm doing well. i was boosted and surprised last monday when i came to the white house and tested positive. i isolated at home and i'm happy to be back. i have more questions for the next one. >> neil: yeah, you're indestructible. thanks, peter. now let's go to dr. bob lahita from the st. joseph's institute. you hear more about cases like peters and others in the surge in cases across the country. when do you think, doctor, it begins to ebb? >> based on what we know about south africa and now the united kingdom, i presume this will ebb late february, early march. so i do think the numbers will come down. we've had 99% roughly in estimates of the population that have the covid virus is omicron. so omicron is out there. it's taken over. >> neil: so as you have been telling us from the beginning, it's very contagious, certainly more than the other variants that we've experienced so far but not very dangerous. how do you see that playing out? will it remain that way? >> yeah, i think it's going to remain that way unless we get another variant. but the omicron basically, if you have comorbidities and you don't have the booster shot, i think you could have some problems. by and large, the beds in the hospitals are filled up with omicron patients but not a lot of people wind up in the ic up on ventilators. that's good news, neil. >> neil: the pfizer ceo doctor is saying that an omicron vaccine could be ready as early as march. how significant of a development is that? >> this is the wonderful nature of molecular biology, that is the way science goes in this year, 2022. certainly last year. we can analyze the rna segments of the virus that are responsible for the spike protein. if they change, they can simply make a new vaccine based on the new rna variation within the genes of the virus, which is amazing. that's unheard of. couldn't be done 15 years ago. >> neil: you know, all of this comes at a time when people are looking at the progression of covid and wondering if this is its final sort of throw here or whether we see variations of this and it will always be with us. you early on said we might have to get used to the fact that in one way shave or phone it will always be with us. the president of the united states disagrees with that. but your conclusion was based on just the evidence before you. you don't see that changing. this is a permanent -- >> right, i don't see that changing. you know, coronavirus is a big group of viruses. there's variations of the coronavirus. the coronavirus has been the cause of the common cold in a lot of people over the past several decades. so i think this coronavirus, once it's no longer a pandemic may become endemic, which means like the flu, every year we will have to rev up and get a variation of the vaccine to protect all of us. this virus will be just like influenza. it will infect people, it will kill people, make people sick. it will not affect millions and millions like it's doing today, neil. >> neil: you know, i've asked you this before, doctor, but i think it bears repeating that a lot of people have not been vaccinated. they hear the problems of those that have been vaccinated and say why should i. then we hear about the boosters. they say hey don't know how far and how long this goes. why should i bother. you say? >> i say bother. it's worth your life, worth chronic illness. people have not been vaccinated have shortness of breath, can't taste anything some some them upwards of eight months, can't taste or smell. these are terrible things that people don't want to have. even if you think you can survive the virus, you can have side effects based on genetics and other variants. let's get the vaccine and get the boosters. >> neil: got it. thanks dr. lahita. >> thanks. >> neil: and a economic spike i'd like to tell you about. the run up in prices across the board from everything from gas and your heating bills all the way to food and pretty much everything that you like. it's going unabated right now. that is a problem for the federal reserve as they have already indicated that they will raise interest rates to solve that but it will have a uphill battle on its hand. susan li knows it what are we looking at? >> yeah, we're looking at less supply. so if you've been to your local supermarket chain, you'll need that there's less stock in the grocery aisles. the complaints have been loud and circulating across social media with videos of empty fridges and grocery shelves. omicron spread is exacerbating a supply chain with the contagious variant forcing workers and food makers, inspectors and the grocery stores themselves to call in sick and stuck in quarantine. so if you feel that meat supplies are harder to find, you're not wrong. last year we had slaughters of hogs and cattle dropping off. many of the biggest companies have been very vocal in the lack of labor, that includes conagra, campbell soup, egg innovations and the large grocery chains. with fears of less supply, that has stockers stockpiling again, which is reminiscent of the early days of covid. it's not just the food chain. you have other companies like fed ex warning of longer shipping delays because of workers quarantining with omicron and thousands of flights could be affected, delayed or cancelled. bus schedules have been alters and schools being shot. omicron is making it feel like the spring of 2020 again and could be spiking surprises and continuing the high run of inflation that we've been experiencing. >> neil: hiking rates might not stop that we're following it closely. thanks, susan. susan li following the developments. meantime, we're focused on crime in the big apple and a new d.a. that doesn't seem to be reading the same script as the mayor of new york. why the guy who wanted to be mayor is here to say i kind of warned you about this after this. ♪ limu emu... & doug ♪ ♪ superpowers from a spider bite? 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what will happen if there's another variant? will this stop? are we going to make things better? most people are saying no. we don't feel like the biden administration will make things better. 50% say the biden administration is making the economy worse. >> neil: gary, looking at this, inflation would stop when people would stop paying the higher prices. they keep paying them because they don't pivot or they don't want to and they're not doing that yet. so are they absorbing this better than they're giving credit? how would you define what the consumers do? >> there's things that you buy that are necessities. when you're dealing with the big guy, which is oil and petroleum, which is in so many products and every dime that it goes up over a year is $10 billion out of the pockets of the consumer, add in used cars that you can't even afford right now. people that -- two words that come to mind. kitchen table. when they sit at the kitchen table and see their bill was $75 instead of 50, they get to wondering. guess what? that's where the poll numbers move things and that's where you see the president's poll numbers way, way down. they're wondering whether he can get the job done. you know, i watch lee carter and what she has to say. she's nailing it 100%. >> neil: she's got those scary buttons, the knobs. so she knows stuff long before you and i do. she's like oz behind the curtain. so lee, let me get your take on how people are absorbing all of this news. right now they're dealing with it, they're not happy about it. they want it to come down, but i don't know if they're welcoming the means by which those prices might come down. that is raising interest rates, doing stuff like that. how do you think this all falls out? >> i don't think people are optimistic and there's any plan put forward by this administration or this congress. people are pessimistic about the near term and the long-term right now. especially -- this is really concerning. independent voters have lost confidence in this administration by 30 points just this year. joe biden's approval rating is only 29% among independents. he had it as has as over 60% approval rating among independents. they don't have faith that he can do the job. five in six are saying they're worse off today than when joe biden took office? what does this mean? the republicans have a clear path to victory in the mid-terms if they take advantage of it. if they do it the right way. what people don't want to hear is more fear tactics and blame games. they want solutions. they want to hear how are we going the get out of this. they want to hear about the economy going forward and inflation getting better and the supply chain being fixed. that is the path to victory. they want control back in the hands of the american people. they say we want to keep the american economy going and we'll continue to work and nothing will shut down and that this is going to have an end. that's what they want to hear. the republicans have a clear path to be optimistic to lay out a plan going forward. if they do that, there's a clear shift in power in washington d.c. >> neil: interest rates have been backing up before this process and the fed moves. we started out with the major averages down. the nasdaq is close to correction territory, a drop of 10% or so from its highs. what is the market telling us? >> well, for me, it's not just the move, it's how quick the move was. really skyrocketed. then when you have a market that is so used to ridiculous amounts of easy money and printing money and things changing in a nano second, that's where you got the bad reaction. maybe today the nasdaq had enough on the down side and maybe we've seen enough on the upside in the near term. let me say without any doubt, if interest rates back up in to the twos, look out below for the market. it's going to be trouble for the fed. you know there's a problem right now with the fed because of the one thing the president does not want in an election year is for the fed to be tightening and taking away the punch bowl. the fact that that is happening lets you know how scared jay powell is open inflation that he's been a big part of. >> neil: right now we're double what we were last year. still low but double what it was. so it does bear watching. as does the crime in this country, particularly in new york's metropolitan area where you have a mayor that is promising to crack down on it and the d.a. separately elected who has other ideas. this should go well after this. with the new schwab starter kit™. new investors can open an account and get $50 to split across the top five stocks in the s&p 500®. you can also unlock short videos, step-by-step guides, and other easy-to-use tools designed for people just getting started. plus, investment professionals are on standby 24/7 if you ever have a question. it's the smarter way to start investing. ♪ liz, you nerd, cough if you're in here! ishh! i took mucinex dm for my phlegmy cough. what about rob's dry cough? 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no, sir. let's have a great day! the chevy silverado offers eight cameras with up to 15 different views. find new views. find new roads. chevrolet. >> neil: what is goings on in new york bears worth watching. not with the new mayor, but the guy right now that was elected separately as manhattan's new district attorney who says he's not soft on crime. he's just not for making everything that everyone is apprehended for a crime in the first place. that is falling on deaf ears, however. ted williams joins us on what he makes of it all. ted, that seems a case of mixed messaging. what do you make of this? >> neil, it's not only mixed messaging, it's dumb and stupid. crime is going up in new york. you have a new mayor. a guy that is supposedly going to be eric adams, progressive on crime. he brings in the first black female chief of commissioner of police there. this d.a. cuts the legs out from under both of them. here he is talking about reducing certain crime and not prosecuting certain crime. he is a prosecutor. he's not a legislator. legislators make the law. prosecutors prosecute cases. let me just tell our audience about a wonderful child. crystal diaz. this is a young woman that was working in harlem at a burger king this weekend when a low life came in, got $100 -- stole $100 from her and shot and killed this young child. we're talking about the reduction of crimes? we're talking about helping criminals in this country? what the hell is going on, neil? >> neil: yeah, that case just was so wild in my mind. she gave him the money. everything he wanted. he comes back and shoots and kills her, no damn reason. the d.a. says this is a case that had nothing to do with the stuff he's looking to do. but haven't we played this game before out west and had pretty disastrous results? in other words, if you remove crimes for consideration, you just have more consideration for consideration, don't you? >> yeah, you're right. they tried this in san francisco. now the mayor is trying to get tough on crime. philadelphia has had similar problems. they're now trying to back off and get tough on crime. chicago had wanted to defund the police. now they're trying to reverse courses. i think some of these mayors are getting it. these criminals are out here taking over these various jurisdictions, these various cities. this is one of the things that is troubling to me. this guy, alvin gray, the manhattan d.a. wants to lessen the penalty for murder where a personal only serves 20 years or less. this is ridiculous. we're giving the cities over to the criminals. we don't give a damn and law-abiding citizens. you have a child wanting to work at burger king just to earn money. you have this low life talkses the 100 from her and then shoots her in the chest and kills her. >> neil: for no damn reason. you know that beautiful girl did not want to work there so late at night because she feared for her life. it's so tragic. ted, you know, to give the new mayor credit and his police chief, they're both against what the d.a. is advocating. the governor could recall him. that doesn't seem likely. so how do you see this sorting out? >> what should have happened and this d.a. should have been wise. he should have sat down with eric adams and the commissioner of police there and tried to bring about preparation in a slower manner when it comes to the criminal acts that he wants to take off the books. neil, if you talk off a cold bottle of water and throw fire at it, it's going to burst. what he's doing here is ridiculous. he's saying i'm the new sheriff in town. i am going to do what i want to do i'm not going to prosecute what i'm not going to prosecute and he's leaving new york city vulnerable. the new major will have to step in and speak out. the commissioner has already sent a memo out saying that she's not on board with this. >> neil: you're right.she has. he has not yet that i believe, ted. we're monitoring closely. thanks very much in the meantime. >> my pleasure. >> neil: ted williams. we told you about chicago classes cancelled the fourth straight day running. we thought we would talk to a parent. a parent is pretty pissed off next. why give your family just any eggs when they can enjoy the best? 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(naj) one that we don't take lightly. it's why our fees are structured so we do better when our clients do better. fisher investments is clearly different. >> neil: all right. chicago teachers, you don't listen to us? maybe a lawsuit will get your attention. laura golden is a parent in a lawsuit against the chicago teacher's union for keeping kids out of classes now four days running. she's kind enough to join us right now. very good to have you. >> good afternoon. thanks for having me. i actually just received an e-mail from one of the schools for my boys. we're looking at day 5 classes have been cancelled for tomorrow already. >> neil: is that how they tell you a day at a time? drip, drip, here's a fifth day? >> that is how it was last week and so far this week. however, they were kind enough to let us know by 4:00 on friday afternoon that there would be no school for today. so that we didn't have to spend a weekend wondering yes or no. >> neil: how do they justify what they're doing? >> they can't justify what they're doing. it's an illegal strike. the children belong in school. the science has shown clearly all along that it's safe for the kids to be there and for the teachers to be there. there's no other choice. the option is clear. the teachers need to go back to school so the kids can go back to school and learn. they're falling so far behind. not just educational-wise but also emotionally and socially. they are beginning to learn or lose their skills to interact with each other. >> neil: what i can't understand, even the mayor who has been a friend of the teacher's union for some time has had enough. she wants them to open the doors but they're not. so what is going on here? what is their biggest fear? what do they say is the reason why they're doing this if omicron cases, contagious as they are, are not serious? kids wear a mask. so what are they saying? >> they're saying that they want to have metrics in place that they can close schools when the numbers get too high. they want to be able to say when they're open, when they can close. they want to have that power. and they're saying that the steps that they have taken are not enough as far as providing masks and they also want to have all of the children test before they go back. which in a district with over i think 300,000 students would be quite the feat to accomplish. >> martha: you know, the chicago school system spent millions to get classes ready for this post covid world, whatever you want to describe it. pricy measures have been taken to address all of their concerns and they're still doing this. now your lawsuit. what does the lawsuit demand? >> yes. the lawsuit is to compel the teachers to go back to the classroom. that is all that we want. we want them back in the classroom where they belong, teaching our children. >> neil: when you raise your concerns, they seem very straightforward, very black and white. how do they answer? what do they say? >> they have obviously -- their answer is no, they're not going back to the classroom until their demands are met. they're basically using our children as pawns. our kids have been pawned since the beginning of this pandemic two years ago, this is exactly where we were last year when the schools were supposed to open up in january and they didn't open up until march. they kept dragging it out saying we need more safety measures in place. we want to be more vaccinated. we want more ppe so the city prioritized the teachers. they got vaccinations first. they have given them the ppe and we're back where we started. you could have seen this coming a month ago before the christmas break that we would have something like this happen. why didn't they start negotiating then? everyone knew this was going to happen. >> neil: you were certainly ahead of that curve. keep us posted. we did reach out to the teacher's union to get a statement from them. they have yet to get back to us. we'll keep you posted on that. keeping you posted on russia as well. you know that they have become increasingly militant and very bellicose and i'm not talking about ukraine. we'll have more with leon panetta after this. some people have joint pain, plus have high blood pressure. they may not be able to take just anything for pain. that's why doctors recommend tylenol®. it won't raise blood pressure the way that advil® aleve® or motrin® sometimes can. with ww, i lost 30 pounds for trusted relief, trust tylenol®. and i feel incredible. i love the new program because the app does all the work for you. it's never too late to start. join today for 50% off at ww.com. hurry, offer ends january 10th. ♪ limu emu and doug.♪ and it's easy to customize your insurance at libertymutual.com so you only pay for what you need. isn't that right limu? limu? limu? sorry, one sec. doug blows several different whistles. doug blows several different whistles. [a vulture squawks.] there he is. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty♪ >> forced posture by the russians in the border areas around ukraine. in the russians are serious about deescalating, they can remove troops and decrease the force posture. >> neil: that's not happening, is it? welcome back. the fact of the matter is, vladimir putin remain as bellicose as ever. not just ukraine but kazakhstan. leon panetta joins us, the former white house cia director and chief of staff. what do you think vladimir putin is really up to here? >> well, it's an old playbook that putin is using after a number of years of watching putin in action. he's ratcheting up the pressure, he's deploying his forces. he's making unrealistic demands regarding nato. he's threatening military action. that is the way he tries to bully and get his way. i think it's particularly important for the united states and our allies to negotiate with him from a position of strength. to make very clear to russia that there is a price that is going to be paid if he takes that kind of action. >> neil: he assumes that that price will not be military. there might be more sanctions. he's one of the most sanctioned countries on the planet than iran. so what if he doesn't care about that? >> well, i think the united states and our allies can actually take some pretty strong steps against russia. one is sanctions, which is to cut him off from the international banking system. i think using cyber to go after infrastructure, go after their electric grid, go after their pipelines. weaken their commit. in addition to that, it's important that we move as we are moving up additional forces in nato to move up towards russia and indicate that we're going to take a strong stand with regards to any other aggression by russia. lastly, we're providing defensive weapons to the ukraine, which is important. providing them with javelin missiles, machine guns grenades. i hope we provide them with anti-aircraft missiles. that was used against them in afghanistan. all of that means that they're not just going to walk into the ukraine without a fight. >> neil: i just wonder, secretary, over the course of the past year since the collapse of afghanistan if leaders like vladimir putin, even xi jinping in china think we're more talk than action and more so when it comes to europe. doesn't seem to have the stomach to follow-through with measures that could be tough on them as well by implementing them against russia. what do you think? >> looks there's no mistake about it. putin is testing president biden, testing the united states and testing our allies. i think for a period of time, putin has read weakness on the part of the united states. he went into crimea. he went into syria, libya. he's conducted cyber attacks against the united states. he hasn't paid much of a price. he's testing that right now. that's why it's particularly important that the united states and our allies stand strong, make clear that we're going to be unified in opposition to anything that russia tries to do against the ukraine. >> neil: i was surprised to learn and you probably have more current numbers, secretary, the actual number of russian troops in an around ukraine is closer to 125,000. not a one of them going anywhere. they've been there awhile at least, a core group of them have. what will it take to remove them or to ease that presence up? >> well, there's no question that as we go through these negotiations in geneva, there will be nato negotiations and negotiations with the europeans that i think is really important that one of the steps russia takes is to back off in terms of troop deployment and indicate good faith here that they're interesting in negotiations. we know that they built up their deployment. we know it's located largely through the areas next to russia and we also have good intelligence on just what exactly those troops are doing. look, i think nato to some extent is whether putin overplays his happened. first of all, he hasn't done this quietly. he announced to the world what he's trying to do. normally if you attack another country, you do earth quietly. secondly what he's doing is resulting in the exact opposite that he wants. which is a stronger nato and a more unified united states and our allies. there's now countries like finland and sweden that are looking for nato -- looking for membership in nato. that is exactly what putin doesn't want. but that's what he's going to get. >> martha: >> neil: looking at this right now, do you think this could be the year -- someone could make a false head. there's a lot of coordination with china and russia. in other words, you keep them busy in the ukraine and we'll keep them busy in the south china sea. you think they think like that? >> you know, look, there's a hell of a lot of danger points in the world right now. it's not just dealing with russia. it's not just dealing with china. it's dealing with iran, the potential for a nuclear armed iran. they're dealing with north korea, which is sending new missiles all the time and dealing with terrorism, which is still a threat. so there's a number of danger points in the world that the united states and our allies are going to have to pay attention to. one thing is clear, even though russia and china may be trying to work together with each other, the one thing that they hate is the united states building alliances with other countries. because they know they can't do it. so if the united states maintains strong allies, maintains strong alliances, i think we have a strong key to try to deal with these danger points. >> neil: yeah, we keep forgetting they have fewer things. thanks, leon. good seeing you. >> good to be with you, neil. >> neil: leon panetta on all of that. remember john tappa, the bar rescue guy? he's wanting to rescue bars and diners and restaurant owners and he's looking to washington to help him help them after this. ♪♪ ♪ well the sun is shining and the grass is green ♪ ♪ i'm way ahead of schedule with my trusty team ♪ ♪ there's heather on the hedges ♪ ♪ and kenny on the koi ♪ ♪ and your truck's been demolished by the peterson boy ♪ ♪ yes -- ♪ wait, what was that? timber... 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