A recession and the market rallies. We will figure it all out for you. Varney and company is about to begin. Stuart check the big board. A very modest rally. We were up 80 points a few moments ago, close to 18,000. However we got a modest rally but we have negative numbers on the economy. Retail sales went down. The layoff rate went up. But we have the ukraine peace deal and that is helping the market. Not much but we got a little bounce out of it. Heres the news on you cream. Vladimir putin announced a ceasefire that will go into effect in Eastern Ukraine midnight on saturday. Washington times online opinion editor Monica Crowley is here. Lets deal with russia and ukraine first. Theres a lot on the plate this morning, i say Vladimir Putin won. We have been down this road with Vladimir Putin and the snake ceasefires. We have seen this routine before. It is a temporary measure for him to regroup, reorganize and 3 assaults ukraine. He is not going to stop. His ambitions are not satisfied by this particular piece of land. He is going further. Stuart does he threatened the Baltic States which are members of nato and formerly committed to defending . I think that is next. You will see him start to make noises about running the baltic areas. They are part of nato which means there is a provision in the nato charter, an attack on one is an attack on all three. If he moves on them, this is what the assault on georgia was about a crimea and ukraine. He was probing of the western alliance. Where we going to respond . Were we going to act and retaliate . Because we havent been known as we could move with impunity on these other countries. Stuart the market wont like that. Look at this map. I have a list of countries where we no longer have representation. Dont have an embassy. This is the middle east lose somalia yemen, iran, syria, lebanon. We have been run out of town. Is a retreat, a big retreat all over the most sensitive area in the world . One of the green areas is the left including people like president obama criticized president bush for quote makes growing of the least. No one screwed up the middle east more than barack obama based on the map you show. It is perfectly consistent with a president who comes out of the committed left meaning they always believe america is not a force for good in the world but a force for evil in the world. And global injustice and that meant we have to atone for that the retrenchment and apology which is what we have gone from this president. Stuart hasnt hurt as yet in the wallet but if that comes over here that is when you take a big hit in the wallet. Stay there. Look at the oil roller coaster continuing. Right around 50 a barrel as we speak, 50. 10 a barrel up and down 2 or 3 all the time for oil. Gas prices another story, st. Up. Again of 0. 02 overnight 2. 23 is your average and that is up a dime from a month ago. In many places there has been a sudden spike, much faster going up than down. We begetting to that later on the program. South carolina and leaving the 1 club. Now is just idaho utah montana and wyoming. Those are still 20 averages for regular are less than 2. We bring to you every day the cheapest gas in the land costco, idaho, 1. 61. You got to pay cash for that. We call this the middleclass squeeze and we talk about it every day. The white house talks about a recovery, says it is going great but we the people evidently feel very differently. According to the latest fox news poll 65 of the country is still, feels we are still in recession. Two out of three. About half, 49 said they are just able to pay most bills, direct quote. How come so many people are scraping by six years after the end of the recession . When the president from and small recovery, we get into that too. The president has called out an individual company over obamacare. Was in interview with buzz feed. Roll tape. I looked at staples stock recently or what the compensation of the ceo is but i suspect they could well afford to treat their workers favorably and give them some basic Financial Security and if they cant then they should be willing to allow those workers to get the Affordable Care act without cutting wages. Shame on them. Stuart as you saw the president went after stables and staples responded with this. We brought you this at the end of the show yesterday, we were first on the air with his, quote, unfortunately the president appears not to have all the facts. The initial story was misleading as our policy regarding hours for parttime employees is more than a decade old. It predates the Affordable Care act by several years. Come on in former ceo of office depot and current ceo of the committee for ecprogra ask you the president do this . Why does he go after a company beat up on a company when he knows that it is his policies that raise the cost of employing people for obamacare and goes after them because he says they are mean . Why does he do this . It is disheartening. The reporter set up a falsehood, basically said we are talking about the aca and staples is catching this. They had a 24 our policy in place for over a decade. What started this story was they went out and posted in stores they want everybody to follow this policy. The reason has nothing to do with the aca but the state and localities the have local wage and hour laws, they were penalized over 2 million last year for wage and hour violations where employees work more than a certain number of hours and didnt take a break or in lunch that they were supposed to so this is a standard beginning of the year practice that all retailers do when they go out and reinforce you have to follow the rules in the store so we dont get penalized. The big story here is the amount of regulation the number of rules at the federal level, state level and local level. Stuart do you think a company like staples has an obligation to provide health care an obligation to be generous with employees, that is what the president implies. He is saying you have enough money, your executives make enough money, do the right thing. Staples is a wonderful company, they take very good care of their employees, this is an american Success Story they started with one store in 1986, build this into a 24 billion global company. We ought to be heralding Companies Like staples rather than diminishing them and calling them out. Is disheartening when government officials call out any individual or individual company. Interesting thing is the aca act actually outlaws the kind of mini net programs provided by restaurants and retailers to their hourly employees. These need the new minimum set by the aca so it took away healthinsurance that was being provided by a lot of retailers. The big story is the amount of cost that the government through its regulations and penalties is imposing on American Business. Stuart that big story, that is the story, doesnt sell very well. It is a complex argument to make. If you are a politician in you say it is all these regulations doing it, it is far easier to demagogue that position and say you are just being mean, you got enough money, your executives make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, you are just mean. Much easier to take that position. How can you love jobs in this country and hate the job creators, that is what i dont understand the you cant keep in tune in American Business. We have to provide incentives for American Business to create jobs. We have to remove the barriers and celebrate great businesses and great leadership at Companies Like staples that are providing these jobs. Stuart hank on a second. Do you think president obama changed america so much that you cant get back to this a position of celebrating job creators . I hope that is not the case. It is easy for populists ago after corporations but in the latest polls of the american middleclass, they are supportive of american corporations and American Businesses because they know the struggles american corporations have had. We talk about mean streak versus wall street. Wall street is a different deal. American companies are creating jobs Small Businesses and Large Businesses and i think the vast majority of americans truly understands that and i hope that continues to be the case because that is what is driving the economy. Stuart thanks for joining us. We will see you again soon. Take a look at as low, down reported disappointing numbers, down a lot 15 under 200. That did not stop ceo elon musk from saying has laws market value could hit 700 billion by 2025, matching where apple is right now. Elon musk is saying we are another apple, give us ten years. Apples stock making another new high. 126 a share, a 14 this year. February 12th, not bad going nice a. Perspective for you. Apples market value at that share price is 730 billion. Tesla, market value 24 billion. Clearly they have a long way to go. I want some headlines. Lauren simonetti has got them. Give it to us. House of cards shows its cards too early. Netflix releasing season 3 for half an hour yesterday. Some folks were equal to stream the new episodes before they were taken down and netflix claims a Technical Glitch but the show has some fun with it on twitter posting this. Theres always a leak in washington. Of 13 officers, they will launch the twentyseventh. I cant wait. Cheap seats and united avoided the some lucky customers for firstclass tickets, firstclass to europe on united yesterday for 70 but the carrier canceling those tickets and blaming a vendor error during currency conversion. United also says thousands of these customers tried to take advantage of the mistake. Many customers angry today. United stock is recovering but it 0. 1 . Stuart before you go on i say united should have let those fares stand, taking people to europe and great pr. Liz i am with you totally. Under the fair but say can you do it . Me give you 70 for economy instead of first class and everybody wins. Stuart a story about the dreamliner. Tell me about it. The boeing 787 dreamliner, on may 7th. There are 726 seats. The business capt. Speaking of the Business Class cabin 28 seats. They are arranged in a way so everyone has access. Tickets go on sale this saturday and flights the dallas to chicago to start. Stuart excellent headlines. I am glad we gave it to you. Grover norquist, you know him, d. C. s tax crusader. Guess what he is doing. He says abolish the irs, jumped on that bandwagon. Really . Do you know is never going to happen . I am going to have it out with him. Know that chasing performance can mean lower returns and fewer choices in retirement. Know that proper allocation could help increase returns so you can enjoy that second home sooner. Know the right Financial Planning can help you save for college and retirement. Know where you stand with pnc total insight. A new investing and Banking Experience with personalized guidance and online tools. Visit a branch, call or go online today. Stuart modest gain, ceasefire in ukraine, 15 points, 70 points from 18 k 1,223 an ounce up 3 as of right now. Big merger, expedia buying orbits 12 a share, that is 1 billion deal. Both stocks are winners. Orbits hitting a new high that is a consolidation. Tears one thing i consider true waste of time it is a call to abolish laws i r s. It is never going to happen yet here we are talking about this with our most got you guests. Drebin norquists new book is called end the i r s before it ends us. Show yourself on camera. Youre wasting your energy. You are manhattan tints energy calling for something that will never ever happen and you know it. That is the title of the book and it is a history, 300 page book on the seventh of april in time for tax state budget goes to the history of how we went from being a country that 1 or 2 of taxes in 1774 before the American Revolution to paying over 30 in taxes state, federal and local and it lists a dozen different approaches to bring the irs and incometax down towards zero. Do you get there . It will be an awfully long time but among the strategies are what we are doing at the state level, called for stuart i dont see you getting there. I could see tax reform, lower tax rate do Something LikeRonald Reagan did and said the economy on fire. I can see that. Getting all the way to zero where you dont collect tax money on income, i cant see that ever happening. Without an income tax, they tell you about their state income taxes. There are 7 states with no income taxes, two states with almost no income taxes, three or four move towards zero. Stuart societies lower taxes is forwards, not backwards. Stuart we collected 1 or 2 , there are x stage we dont have an income tax. I got that but how are you going to you cannot reverse the history of the last hundred years. I dont see that it is reversible. Look at what is happening right now. North carolina has begun to phase out its corporate and individual tax, Corporate Tax will be 3 in a couple years. Main announce their goal is a constitutional amendment to phase out to zero and in kansas it is a law that the income tax, arkansas cutting the income tax in missouri, they cut the income tax. In nebraska cutting the income tax, arizona looking to phase out its income tax. At the state level we have quite a number that are on the march toward zero and when we do it states next to them are going to have to begin that march as well. The goal is to move towards zero. We wont get their tuesday. Stuart do you worry you will be sidelined to the fringe because of your position . Not if you read the book. If you read the book it walks through exactly how you get with lower taxes and how long it will take. How long it took us to get to the present mess we are in. That didnt happen overnight, it took 200 years. Stuart before the ira ends, when is it coming out . April 7th available on amazon and all that good stuff. Stuart i am sure you will be back with us and i will give you an argument all over again. Always a pleasure. Time is money. 30 seconds, former Sony Pictures chief amy pascal seen in this picture. Speaking of the women in the world conference here is the headline. She says hollywood actors are Bottomless Pits of need. All right, she actually said talent. I guess i am supposed to be talented. Tiger woods seen in this picture. A leave of absence competitive golf. Back to his standards. That is one for you. The set of the waldorfastoria final, sold for Chinese Insurance Company 1. 9 billion. Elton will use the money to buy five other luxury hotels. Power ball winners, and a regressive tax the best way to tax for people if you want to do that. May spend an enormous amount on lottery tickets. I will tell you the stunning total of lotteries in one minute. Its frustrating being stuck in the house. Good thing xfinitys got 2 hour appointment windows. They even guarantee theyll be on time or i get a 20 credit. Its perfect for me. cause i got things to do. Oh, yeah woooo with a guaranteed 2 hour appointment window and a 97 ontime rate xfinity is perfect for people with a busy life. Stuart league, called the amazon for moms stopped taking a beating, moving lower after a disappointing forecast. Would you are looking at is the new lower down 26 . Sales at kellogg hurt by weak demand in europe and asia people are eating less cereal than they used to turning to perceived healthier alternatives. There were at least three winners of the power ball and the jackpot was 564 million. Night. The jackpot 564 million. The Winning Ticket sold in north carolina, puerto rico, and texas. Each will get a little bit more then 127 before taxes. We collectively america, spent a total of 70 billion on lottery tickets last year and that is more than we have been on sports tickets and books video games and movies and music all combined. 70 billion. Monica, that is a waste of money and a terrible way of taxing poor people. Very few people actually win the government makes out like a bandit and i say dont do it. You get that ticket, you will wait with bated breath but still, its part of the fun of being part of this Huge National pool. The chances of winning are slim. Stuart this is varney co. And you find that to put a dollar on the table knowing youre going to lose, and then the disappointment of finding that he did actually. First of all, i dont know that im going to lose. You know you have to find it. I wish, maybe in my next life. Stuart i reject the title of captain no fun. [laughter] okay, after the break, the irs chief apologizing to congress but find out why he says he is sorry. And first journalist and longtime 60 minutes bob simon killed last night in a car crash in new york city. He was 73 years old the future of the market is never clear. But at t. Rowe price we can help guide your retirement savings. Our experience is one reason 100 of our Retirement Funds beat their 10year lipper averages. So wherever your longterm goals take you we can help you feel confident. Request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. Call us or your advisor. T. Rowe price. Invest with confidence. The real question that needs to be asked is what is it that we can do that is impactful . What the cloud enables is computing to empower cancer researchers. It used to take two weeks to sequence and analyze a genome; with the microsoft cloud we can analyze 100 per day. Whatever i can do to help compute a cure for cancer, thats what id like to do. [ male announcer ] we know theyre out there. You cant always see them. But its our job to find them. The answers. The solutions. The innovations. All waiting to help us build Something Better. Something more amazing. A safer, cleaner brighter future. At boeing, thats what building Something Better is all about. Stuart it is a modest rally and the ukraine ceasefire deal stocks modest early on up 45 points upwards about 90 points away from 18 quay