- The stock market has taken a nose dive,

while consumer prices havespiked the most since 2008.

Is a surge in COVID cases the culprit?

Or is something else drivingthis plunge in the market?

What's the president's responseto the economic free fall?

And what does it mean to your wallet?

Jenna Browder explains from Washington.

- Yesterday stocks scared asvirus fears shook the markets.

The Dow falling 2.1%, the S&P down 1.6%

after setting a record the week before.

In another sign of worry,over the past year,

consumer prices have jumped 5.4%,

the most since 2008.

- We also know that as oureconomy has come roaring back,

we see some price increases.

Our experts believe, and the data shows,

that most of the priceincreases we've seen

were expected and areexpected to be temporary.

- [Jenna] At the White House,

President Biden hit backat what he called doom

and gloom predictions

and defended his record on the economy.

- Six months into my administration,

the US economy's experienced

the highest economic growth rate

in nearly 40 years.

- [Jenna] Conservatives argueBiden inherited an economy

already making a strong economy

from the 2020 COVID shutdowns.

The president called on Congress

to pass a $1.2 trillionbipartisan infrastructure package

aimed at fixing roads,bridges and broadband.

- We should be united in one thing:

passage of the bipartisaninfrastructure framework,

which we shook hands on.

- [Jenna] On Capitol Hill,Republicans and Democrats

are battling over thedetails of that bill.

They have until Wednesdayto make it happen

before Senate majorityleader Chuck Schumer

forces a Senate vote.

- We're still working on it.

Chuck Schumer, with all due respect,

is not writing the bill,

and nor is Mitch McConnell, by the way.

So that's why we shouldn't

have an arbitrary deadline of Wednesday.

- Of greater concern is the $3.5 trillion

social infrastructure plan,

which pours federal dollars

into entitlements like childcare,

college tuition andgreen energy initiatives.

Republicans are solidlyopposed to the plan

and economic experts believeit will harm the economy

in the long run.

Republicans stand unifiedin their opposition

to the social infrastructure plan

and even some Democrats areexpressing their concerns.

The White House needs every Democrat vote

to bypass the GOP and passit through reconciliation.

In Washington, Jenna Browder, CBN News.

- You know, folks, weall want infrastructure,

we want good roads,

we want the airplanesto fly appropriately.

We don't want a bunch of potholes,

we don't want bridgesbreaking and falling down.

I mean, there're obviously some problems.

So we've gotten the deal together,

a bipartisan group hassaid okay, we'll pass it

but the trouble is that the Democrats want

to slip along with thisso-called budget reconciliation

and put through an enormous package

of social deals where this children

are put into public schools,

free tuition and colleges,

all kinds of social spending

and the green new deal.

And the American people don't want that.

As somebody said,

"We didn't vote for socialismand that's socialism."

Well, anyhow, let's take alook at the stock market.

CBN financial editor, DrewParkhill is with us right now.

And Drew look, is a momentary pause

on a bull market

or is this something more serious?

- No, this is a momentarypause in a bull market.

How long that pause is gonnalast, Pat, we don't know.

The media was blaming it on COVID

and I knew they were gonnablame it on something.

I thought they'd probablyblame on the big spending bill,

which they didn't and they said,

oh, it's the rise in COVID cases.

Well, they're not at that level yet.

But Pat, you know how the market works.

I mean, the excesses had been building up.

The Russell 2000, which I know you follow,

which is smaller stocks forpeople out there in TV land,

that's been going down for a while.

So there was fewer andfewer stocks going up

and that's always a sign thatyou're gonna have a drop.

We did Monday, we may havesome more sideways moves,

wild up and down swings for a while

but longer term, the market's gonna go up.

It's not gonna be a ragingbull market necessarily,

but it's gonna keep goinghigher over the years ahead.

- You have forecasted thatit was gonna hit 10,000.

What do you think?

- 100,000, yeah, it's gonna go,

before this is over.

Now, this is down the road,

this is not next week

but this bull market will top out

and you can quote me on this.

Around 155,000 on the Dow

plus or minus 10,000 or 5,000 points.

Between 150, and 160,000.

- So if people are watching this,

I mean, the market is funny.

I mean, it's individual stocks,

so you say stay investedor get out or what?

- No, I mean, you could have an ETF,

which is basically thewhole market in one stock,

like SPY or QQQ or you couldhave individual stocks.

I mean, it's up to everybodywhat they wanna do.

But longer term, the overallmarket's gonna go higher.

Individual stocks will havetheir own ups and down,

but overall, the market'sgonna go higher, no question,

depending on some of the problemswe see out of Washington.

- What about this crazy spending

of trillions of dollars that Biden wants

on so-called entitlements?

It'll never go away.

What kind of impact willit have on the economy?

- Bingo, that's a big problem.

Look, here's the problem, Pat.

I've got a graphic Iwanna show in a second

but before I say that,

I wanna point this out.

These programs, as you just said,

they never go away.

They become institutionalized.

They become part of the government.

So let's say the Republicanstake the House next year

and the Senate

and a Republican wins in2024 or 2028, whatever

and he wants to make some cuts

to these programs that Biden

and the Democrats want to create.

The media will go crazy,

the Democrats will go crazy.

You'll hear the wholeheartless Republican thing.

So what you're gonna have is bigger

and bigger government andmore and more programs.

Now, I wanna show you this quote

from The Wall Street Journal yesterday,

talking about Biden's programs.

"Every new Biden programis a burden on the economy,

reducing its natural market-driven ability

to create high-paying jobs

while entrenching state-run,

impossible-to-kill zombie entitlements."

That was an opinion columnin The Journal yesterday,

which really sums it up the way a lot

of people are thinking

because Pat, the bigbattle in Washington now

over this $3.5 trillion bill

is not gonna be Republicans and Democrats,

it's gonna be Democrats versus Democrats

because a lot of moderate Democrats

are really worried about this big spending

and they're reallyworried about these taxes.

Every time I turn around,

I'm reading about the new tax increase

they're talking about.

And there's no way you can get all these

and sustain an economy

that would be as strongas it would be otherwise.

- Drew, thanks for your insights.

Drew Parkhill, our economics editor

and ladies and gentlemen,you heard it here

and I believe in what he.