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Clinton Falls Behind Sanders in Latest New Hampshire Poll
Katie Pavlich: Well look, they looked at Hillary Clinton in the beginning and said she's the inevitable nominee, we want her to become the first female president, she's been wanting this for years now, she's ready to go, she's had time during the Obama administration to get better at campaigning, and here we are. And she actually hasn't gotten better as a candidate. And look, they've spent so much money so far giving her this cash, so now they've got two options. They can keep funneling money into her campaign, much like the federal government and see if it goes anywhere, or they can pull back and say “OK, let's look at our options here. Joe Biden is maybe going to enter the race. Bernie Sanders may not be a viable option as a candidate when it comes to actually winning the nomination, so maybe we should actually take a look at that." We should acknowledge though, that Hilary Clinton support isn't just coming from these big donors. The $45 million that she announced, a majority actually came from donations of $100 or less.
Charles Payne: Well, you know money helps. But there's something, and I've studied this a little bit, about the numbers and the money following the numbers. It's always like so what all this money is sitting around for this ordained candidate, these guys are smart, and they hedge their bets. You always talk about these Wall Street guys who donate to both sides. They hedge their bets, and the bottom line is when these numbers start to change, they start to say "Hey, maybe we should hedge our bets," which by the way, could be part of the reason why Hillary is spending a weekend at the Hamptons throwing these fundraisers and reassuring these guys that somehow I can get my favorables a little bit better, my trustworthiness will get a little bit better, stick with me. I need your check book.
Adam Lashinsky: On the one hand, I think they are nervous enough and by nature, are shoppers. I mean Charles is exactly right about that. That said, they're also not going to ditch a good investment because the stock is down, to stretch the metaphor.
Scott Martin: It's not good. I heard you call her bluff about a year ago and I thought you were crazy and it turns out you were right if you're counting a few months here and there. But I tell you what, if you're these donors, and a lot of them are high finance, in the medical field, academics, you're thinking about something longer term than maybe just the primary. You're thinking about the presidency. You're looking for something back down the road. If suddenly, she doesn't look like she's going to be in that seat, you better move your money out of there fast. Remember, just a few months ago you couldn't get into to these Hillary fundraisers. Nowadays, she's struggling to get people to pay to go hear her talk. She has to send out these emails offers that say if you bring in this coupon, you get in for free you don't have to pay 30 bucks. That is so stark and different from what it was months ago, when everyone was lining up to hear her speak.
New Sign Mandated Minimum Wage Hikes Are Backfiring on Workers
Katie Pavlich: My concern, and I actually travel around to college campuses a lot, is people not getting their first opportunity to work and to do the basic jobs and to maybe get the skill set that maybe they won't need when they work at some big firm somewhere someday, but the basic skill set that gives them work ethic which is so important and you're seeing in the younger generations work ethic not being instilled because they can't get their first job. When it comes to them taking away these jobs and replacing them with machines.
Charles Payne: They made no bones about it. It's been clear. I look at all these reports. You look at how much food costs, how much staff cost, how much rent costs. They're working a margin so thin right now it's embarrassing. Google of course and these other companies can do these kind of things. Guess what? They have 50 percent profit margins. They don't have single-digit profit margins. Most are small Business who is buy the franchises. Seattle 1,000 jobs lost in the first months of the higher minimum wage. You have to go back to the throes, the panic when the great recession began to get that kind of number.
Adam Lashinsky: That makes total sense to me. But I read the comment that Wendy's management made and I read it and I'm thinking, oh, you were going to automate everything that you could no matter was the minimum wage rate was. Right? They'll get their costs down anyway they can and they should.
Scott Martin: I was worried they were never going to stop in associations like the NRA, National Restaurant Association, National Retail Federation, all knew this was going to cost jobs over the course of this hike. And guess what, it's not just the jobs that come right out of the economy. But it's also the impact that it has on those that get out of work. They get out of the workplace, they don't get any train, they get discouraged, they maybe drop out of the labor force so they rely on the government for unemployment benefits. It has a big economic event, impact, with regards to how this minimum wage hike happens and how it doesn't happen naturally but by force and it hurts businesses.
Lawmakers Celebrate Social Security; Program Turns 80 Years Old
Katie Pavlich: There is that separate issue. No, I mean, it is something that has come up a couple of times in the 2016 presidential campaign on the gop side. Republicans actually want this issue to be addressed because they believe that they are being scammed that, their money is being taken away from them unfairly. Chris Christie, I do think overreached basically saying once you reach a certain threshold, it's only fair that you keep paying and you don't get the money back. Whereas, mike Huckabee is on the other end of the spectrum. Don't touch it. It's the governments --
Charles Payne: Christie came out with a plan that I thought was overreaching, to be quite frank. When this thing started, it was a scam because the men didn't even live to be 60 years old let alone 65 on average. To Scott's point, is going to run out of money too. Next year the disability one runs out of money. The surge of people who claim disability because of mood problems just to let you know.
Adam Lashinsky: Exactly. It's a government program that doesn't do any good. It should just be gutted, right? That's what she's saying. By the way, I think raising the retirement age is a good idea.
Scott Martin: I guess I forgot the balloons, Hillary. I'm sorry about that one. Look, social security is in a lot of trouble. We're running on, what, about 20 years left of her or him because it's easy. This is a, frankly, very easy math problem. We are taking -- putting out more than we're taking in. That's not going to work long-term. Sure, we need to change it. Yes, the politicians need to address it. Guess what, nobody wants to talk about it, but just whistle by the graveyard and say, hey -- keep putting money in.
Stock Picks
Charles Payne: CYBR
Adam Lashinsky: IWD
Scott Martin: DIS
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