Percent. The west coast ports are due to reopen today. Part of a lengthy labor dispute between shippers and dock workers union. If theres a shut down, the National Retail federation warns the u. S. Economy could face a hit of 2 billion a day. I asked jack lew about that in our interview. President obama will meet with Angela Merkel today. Theyre expected to discuss issues like russia ukraine, international trade, and Counter Terrorism efforts. Chinas imports dropping 20 from a year earlier. The steepest decrease since may of 2009. Exports down more than 3 . In europe the story is all about greece this morning. The countrys new africanamericanPrime Minister he promised to reverse some of the reforms imposed by greece by the international lenders. Setting up another standoff with the u. N. Back at home glean prices are riseing once again. The coverage cost of a gallon of regular jumping 13 cents in the past two weeks to 2. 20 and she warns the trend likely to continue. Prices still 1. 10 below the mark at this time a year ago. I think the tensions with greece are particularly notable. They actually went so far to demand refer rations from nazi germany. Things are getting uglier. Nobody looks like theyre backing down just yet. To me, i mean we talk secretary lew about this and i guess we can talk about the whole interview now. But hes basic message was that everybody should be cool off and stop the rhetoric out there. Thats what he has to say. I think hes right. Theyre Digging Deeper holes for themselves as they stake out their sides. I would say the rhetoric is such a level. But the ecb saying basically you have until tomorrow and were not going extend anymore loans and the greeks saying we want reparations from world war ii from nazi germany. I dont know the news source but green span is for greece to leave the yoends eurozone. Wow. And the question becomes what happens to spain. How the eurozone governments deal with this issue of austerity. Greece is not the only one. Im game for the break of the euro at this point. I am. I think i think its a miss. I think theres a lot of unknowns. As soon as you start saying that the big chunk was snow started falling from the sky. Thats an answer from god. Exactly. Why dont we check on the markets. With the concerns and everything going around with the ramping up of the rhetoric you can see that the futures are a little bit weaker this point. In europe the biggest hit coming to greek. The tax is down by 1. 3 . The ftse down by a half and the cac 40 down. Overnight in asia we saw the shanghai market ended up by 6 10. Oil prices weve been watching so closely. Things picked up. They slowed down. Wti up. Gas prices at the pump up 20 cents. Take a look whats been happening in the bond market. 109year note is yielding 1. 9 . And currencies at the point it looks like the dollar is down against the euro and the yen. Also keeping an eye on what has been happening in the gold markets. It looks like gold is up by about 6. The World Leaders heading to istanbul. Last night in washington i spoke to jack lew before he left before the gathering. Here is what he had to say about that great jobs report last week and what it means for the u. S. Economy. Watch carefully. This is as feisty a our treasury secretary gets. I think that it is time to say that we turn the corner and were in an economy that is growing. It has sustainable growth. Its growth is showing up in not just businesses but in jobs and were now seeing wages go up a bit. I think this is a trend that needs to continue. We need to make sure we do what we can to continue the growth. And i think that, you know were getting some benefit now from Lower Oil Prices in terms of the economy to gate boost on top of that. Im feeling confidence were looking at a good period ahead. What do you say to the critics that the administration has a series of jobkilling policies. How do you respond . The facts have proven them wrong. We have an economy. Were growing jobs at the record rate. Were seeing strong growth and come back in manufacturing. Were seeing construction come back and seen our deficit go away down at the time when we have 10 Million People who are finding the security and having Health Care Coverage they didnt have before. I think the critic bhos said all of these things were going to hurt the economy have been proven wrong. What do you say average america who have not felt the impact of better gdp growth through their paychecks and other bays. I think thats been a very big issue. If you look over the last few months. The fact over the last year weve seen average wages going up. We need more wage growth than that for people to feel it. About 28 captainital gains tax. It seems like theres a creep going on toward well ill remind you 28 Capital Gains rate was a rate was effect in president reagan was in office and the economy did fine at that time at that rate. We are top rate for individuals is where it was when president clinton was in office and we had the longest period of uninterrupted growth in american history. I think were not doing things we havent tested. Weve had an experiment in the country. We had big tax cuts for wealthy people and the economy didnt do well. Were going back to policies that were in place when the economy was doing quite well. Obviously there are those that would dispute that notion. This is the equivalent of you know how a guy scores a touchdown . He did a million jobs over three months. That was his victory dance. That was his victory dance. Okay. What does he do when he loses . I think its the same. That was him doing the chicken dance or whatever. The crickets were wrong. The critics were wrong and we turned a corner. We made million jobs over three months. Why dont we talk about more about what jack lew had to say and dug deeper into fridays blowout jobs number. Joinings us now is qma and chief economic correspondent at politico and cnbc kribltcontributor. In erm it is of higher rates. What do you think . I think that the economy is doing quite well. I think even blow the surface that the growth and wages might be higher than the official numbers suggest. Theres aed had wind by baby boomers retiring and beplaced. I think things are going well and maybe a little bit better than the official data suggested. Were going back to rates where the economy did very well. And the idea the tax cuts that came in lead to worse economic times. I think thats probably wrong. Its impossible were going to go back toot higher rates with the current congress. It doesnt make much sense to talk about it. I think that we can possibly withstand some. I want to talk about fridays jobs number. It changes the equation about what we talk about in terms of what to expect from the fed next. A lot of people say its going to be tough for the fed not to raise rates given the great numbers. But larry somers has a piece in the final times that lays out four times why they shouldnt do it quickly. Its pretty compelling given where the Inflation Numbers are which is not very high. We did see the. 5 increase in a month. Which is pretty good not great. Weve seen it pop upanddown repeatedly month to month. I think theyll wait and see whether the numbers are sustained before they make a call on rates. I dont think theres a lot of pressure on them. The jack lew interview was interesting. Its about a million jobs over three months. Its at lot of jobs. But you mentioned bill clil ton. Clinton lowered the rate from the 28 . He want to put it back. Hes picking and choosing where he wants to put it. And hes right. Theyre not going to get the tax rates they want. But the idea theyre going back to the clinton tilestyle of policy. Theyre moving away from that. The implications for Hillary Clinton. Yeah. I think theyre significant. I think theyre significant. What way . They will be if the wage increases are sustained. Right now theres a New York Times piece on sunday shows about pressure on Hillary Clinton to come up with an economic plan to address economic inequality. People feeling better on the economy andless pressure to come up with policy sies hes running foreign policy. She can run on basic less progressive economic. If you look at the wage it is makes her campaign look easier. What do we do about economic . I think brought up the right point. This is your study you come up with. You think wage growth is better than expected. I know, you talked about it. In case anybody wasnt listening. Theres a puzzle. Its a puzzle. We look at growth in the Fourth Quarter is 4. 3 . If you look at the Consumer Confidence ratings theyre up. Gasoline prices play a role. Is it possible theres something about the data were missing. It turns out if you look make some assumptions. Theres about 250,000 baby boomers retiring and claiming Social Security every month. Its 500,000 replacing them. Make some assumption about how much baby boomers are making. Come up with six cents an hour. Its big enough to perhaps even double the wage growth the democracy worker was starting or retiring. It was experiencing. So its a head wind that is always there. But the number of new claimants in Social Security has gone up by 50 since 2006. Now were starting to get good job growth. That means we have more people coming in. We have more people going out. And the dynamic is enough to maybe skew down the number for what a typical worker is experiencing. If thats true it means the things are maybe a little bit better than the official statistics. Steve im sorry. I think theres a very long way to go to change americans opinions about obama economics. And thing youve had strong job growth but amid very very negative sentiments about the economy and, you know, ed was talking about wage growth. What you said makes a lot of sense. I think theres not been any leverage at all to get wages that keep pace with inflation. So im wondering, i mean m a lot can change in two months let alone two years. Its going to take a lot for Hillary Clinton to say im running on the economic platform of president obama. I think thats true. Opinions are starting to tip positive. So i think youre right to address some of the systemic things. More so she may have to disassociate herself. Im not sure she will. I factual to lou about this. The whole transcript is online. The notion of middle class economics. I dont know that is resonating in the mind of the American Public in a way that says im on board with middle class economics. Sign me up. Thats probably true. The record and the economic feelings that people have and the jobs numbers and the wage numbers and the attitudes might be in her hes going after the minimum wage. Shes going support the minimum wage. Invest in infrastructure. All the normal things. Closing Corporate Tax loopholes. Then says she wants to provide incentives where shes think about providing incentives to corporations to profit sharings with employees. I dont know how she would go about that. And changing labor laws to give them more clktive bargaining power. Is that considered aggress ienough . I think thats a start. She had a fivepage memo. I imagine that came out of that collective bargaining rights to do it for more profit sharing. Theres a lot of push back on that. That. Thing is going to be a rans trns transition year. By the way, much of the inequality is driven by the feds own policy. They were trying to make sure they were saving sbiert economy. As a result the people at the top benefit the most. Youre not fighting back . I think weve been through this. We disagree. The people at the top benefitted the most. They did. If you were an owner of properties anywhere around the world. What abouted fixed income. If youre on a fixed income and a senior youre getting hosed. Everybody 55 and older are the ones who are the saviors. And theyre the wealthy as well as they are the poor. I know, its part of the whole thing right now that the fed and rich people. I think theres a big argument. I know they were trying to save i think they probably did. I think in the process, you end up helping those who have the most. Their assets inflate the most. I think it was a middle position. Youre right. The older people have the assets. The reason Interest Rates are as low as they are is the fed who play ascii role. Part is because theres a great deal of cash around the world owned by older people that are seeking the safe secure from Interest Rates. You read about the fact the idea theres too much debt in the world. Yes, but part if i want to buy a bond. Someone else has to go into debt. Why are Interest Rates so low . What would Interest Rates be . Im not saying the feds shouldnt have done it. But i think people and i say this to somebody that benefitted over the last several years. Thats one of my point. If you think about the benefit two average mortgage holder of lower rates. How do you count that . In terms of the benefit or the middle class. For a long time the people who needed it most couldnt qualify. Couldnt qualify. Thats not the vast majority. Theres a percentage of mortgage holders that couldnt qualify. Theres a big chunk that who had existing mortgages that didnt qualify. Miami that cap. I did that exact thing. Im smack in the middle. We have to go. Andrew forced me to bring it up. Its a running argument. And my jury is out. I would like to see an academic study that totals up all this. Ann is in my ear telling me to move on. I need to know his pos on beyonce versus beck. Beck is the best. My facebook feed lit up with everybody talking about how great her performance was. Said she stole the show. You havent answered the question. It was before the grammys. Before the grammys. Dont have Jack Lou Jerry versus bob, of course. Thank you very much for coming in. When we come back this morning for at least the second time this winter a poeshly historic storm is heading for new england. We have a live report from maine next. First, as we head to a break. Take a look at this date in history. Can it make a dentist appointment when my teeth are ready . Can it tell the doctor how long you have to wear this thing . Can it tell the Flight Attendant to please not wake me this time . The answer is yes, it can. So, the question your customers are really asking is can your business deliver . If you are up this early you might not have seen this morning. Its one of the more notable pairing last night. Tony bennett teaming up with lady gaga for a renner dedication of dancing cheek to cheek. That is a weird pairing. The weather is a major story this morning. Keith carson joins us from portland, maine. Here we go again. Yeah. Its unbelievable even for me. Piling on the snow one after another. The story with the storm is how cold it is. The nice northeast wind in my face here. Portland, obviously, you dont think of maine super compact. Theyre having the same problems in boston. The giant snowbacks out here. And there is nowhere to put the snow. They have to put it in dump tucks and drive it out of the city. They dump it into a snow farm which is a fancy way of saying a field they dump a bunch of snow. Over 68 inches of snow so far this season in portland which is the seasonal average. Were only at the beginning of february. This storm dropped a couple of inches of snow. Its been snowing consistently for awhile. Its not coming down that hard. We have the snow down here left over. Its the light fluffy stuff. Easy enough to move but when you combine it with how cold it is out here i think it is starting to get to people a little bit. I was in boston for the bliss around a couple of weeks ago. The tone in boston is different than maine. Theres a comradery people here in maine. If youre going to live up here you should be okay with the snow and cold until it at least april or sometimes may as they call it mud season up here across southern maine. But, guys you know, as you know were based in atlanta. The Weather Channel is. My wife texted me yesterday when i was standing out in there and she said where the screens for the window. I want to open it up and get air. I responded in a short message. I dont like you anymore. Were out here standing here and its 6 below. Shes down there and its 58 degree s 65 degrees i can feel your pain with that. I understand that. I could rub it in and say my coffee is not quite as warm this morning as it usually is. That would be painful. They didnt fix that in the new studio . I noticed i havent been seeing you as much. Are we only old studio friend . No youre not wearing any plaid today. We have to get you in the new studio someday. Well make it happen. I cant do the normal fashion thing for you today. Its about layers. I have a plaid medium sized shirt underneath. Im halfway, at least. Okay. We appreciate that. Putting in the effort. See you soon. We have some passing to tell you about this morning. Former Goldman Sachs senior partner John Whitehead died at the age of 92. He left after 38 years to become deputy secretary of state under president reagan. He was a board member of the new york stock exchange. Another wellknown name in the world of Corporate America also passed away over the weekend bob silver passing away at the age of 58. Hes best known as right hand man of trial lawyer. He used to call him the brain. He was behind mr. Boys biggest cases. Microsoft, for example, proposition 8, bush versus gore. All of those cases and, of course, he will be missed as well. Those are two sad stories. He was only 58. He was only 58. Yeah. You know both of them . I knew both personally. And they were good people. Coming up this morning top stories including a 30 billion evaluation of the firm behind so why pause to take a pill . And why stop what youre doing to find a bathroom . With cialis for daily use, you dont have to plan around either. Its the only daily tablet approved to treat erectile dysfunction so you can be Ready Anytime the moment is right. Plus cialis treats the frustrating urinary symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently, day or night