this -- that's higher hand the last few years because inflation hits everything, lee. [laughter] >> including chocolate and flowers that are not the same quality as every other day of the year. not to be a cynic, but i bet a lot of people are spending money on experiences. go out there, get a massage, do something fun together. maria: i also want to say happy galentine's day. i was celebrating the other day with my mom, my sister and my niece on the beach. cheryl: as the only single lady on the panel, i will say yes to cocoa price, i'm still eating the chocolate. >> yeah, here we argue, oh, the consumer's too strong, we need to pull back, and i'm just excited to pend on valentine's day. maria: "varney & company" pix it up, stu, take it away. stuart: good morning, everyone. it was the worst day for stocks in 11 is months, so what's happening today? okay, a reunbound. look at this, the dow

industrials up maybe 100ment points at the opening bell, maybe, and the dow, i'm sorry, the nasdaq also up about 100 points. a partial rebound. i'll characterize it like that. interest rates staying at elevated levels, the 10-year at 4.31 now, and the 2-year, well, that's well above 4.5, in fact, it's reached over 4.64 as of now. elevated levels. bitcoin, that's broken above $50,000, you're at $51,700 right now. here's something else that keeps going up eatly are. gas, regular now averages $3.25. it's up 3 cents overnight, diesel up to $4.08. politics, the republican majority in the house getting smaller. a democrat won the election to replace george santos. tom suozzi got over the top, the snowstorm affected the turnout.

alejandro mayorkas faces a trial in the senate. this president's staying under wraps. before he started a speech yesterday, he made a point of saying he -- saying he would not answer questions. at the end, he walked out. on the show today, john kirby promoted to assistant to the prime minister you'll be seeing a lot more of him at the white house press briefings andless than karine jean-pierre. that's not going down well in some quarters, white, male kirby overshadowing back, gay female karine jean-pierre. one candidate suggests a minimum wage of $50 an hour. representative barbara lee calculates that's what it takes to live in california. it's wednesday, february the 14th. happy valentine's day, everyone. "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ the way you hold me, hold me, hold me ♪ stuart: holy, holy, holy, okay. it is ash a wednesday, and that is, i believe, st. patrick's a cathedral. lauren: yeah. stuart: we're going to start the morning with money. many wonderful himself -- mr. wonderful himself is with mentioner all right, kevin, an uptick in inflation, the cpi report, stocks sold off. do we still have an inflation problem? >> yeah, we do. stuart: is it serious? >> it was materially hotter than anticipated, it tells you the fed if will not be cutting anytime soon. i am not sure personally the fed's to going to cut at all this year. i think these data points are going to keep coming every couple of weeks with the numbers hotter than expected. inflation is very hard to tame, really hard to tame. and now it's getting political, because you're at a time when you as the incumbent never want

to be fighting the inflation story going into an election. stuart: can the stock market get over that? if there's no rate cut this year, disappointment. >> it can if it continues to show productivity gain requests. what your defense against inflation is higher productivity in s&p 500 earnings, and so far we've got a lot of evidence of that. of course, you have got the a.i. thing happening at the same time which i think people are starting to think coulden hasn't productivity which is while they're -- enhance productivity. we'll have more volatility. the next set of data points will probably show hotter also inflation. stuart: okay. what have you got -- what's your problem with people going to credit cards because the high prices are really squeezing them? i don't see anything bad in that, do you? >> the problem is the balance they maintain month after month on it at 23% interest because one of the outcomes of the fed's hike from base si 0 to 5.5% is credit card rates are at almost all-time highs. when you're talking about 23%

interest, it's virtually e impossible to catch up with that if you're carrying a balance. you're keeping a balance of 2, 3, $4,000 on a credit card, you can never catch up. stuart: so what should people do? >> make sure what they do is pay off their balances if they're using credit cards. use every trick in the book to cut back on spending. most people outspend themselves by around 15% per month k. and that's because they're buying a lot of stuff they don't need. these are age-long problems because you're given that credit card the minute you turn 18, and you just don't have good handle on how to use it. if you just put $50-60 on it, your credit rating goes right up into the 700s. you just don't do that and, of course, you get in trouble in your 20s. stuart: it's very difficult to tell americans to be thrifty and and save and don't go for the $4 cup of coffee, make it at a home. >> yeah, it's true, except now they're starting to get the joke. this is really painful when your number one expense is your

credit card debt. stuart: you got that the right. it's like the federal governmen- >> that's the biggest credit card. stuart: it's a huge credit card. you're going to stay with us for the hour, sir. thanks very much, indeed. the white house once again defending biden's mental fitness. lauren: heir going to continue to get behind president biden and denounce that special counsel hur report as politically motivated. from. >> the president's going to stand and defend himself. the characterization, the way that report was characterized was not just me saying this, legal experts on both sides said it was flatly wrong. and it was gratuitous. and it was inappropriate. and so the president's going defend himself to the american people and make that very, very clear. and so we believe, he believes he did the right thing, and, you know, we're going to continue to speak on this very, very loud and clear. lauren: they should have done it sooner. you know, now it's almost ingrained in the american psyche that biden is too old for another term, right? if 86% of viewers are concerned

about his mental acuity, reuters is reporting that the advisers to the presidents knew in 2020 his age was an issue and would be an issue for the american people, but they decided instead to paint him as an experienced, steady hand that could return order to the white house. stuart: well, they've got to sprint somehow or other, haven't they? lauren: now it's four years later and you're putting him out there to run again. stuart: yeah. [laughter] kevin? >> you know, i'm quite amazed at the situation going on regarding his, this narrative on his longevity. i think the only issue to deal with it is to swap out kamala harris and put someone in there that you feel comfortable could take over. i'm not against her personally, i'm just saying her poll numbers are the worst in history for -- stuart: how do you do it? how do you switch her out in. >> look, if you want biden to win, you have to know the independent feels comfortable that you've got someone to step in that you would be comfortable

being president. that is not her right now. lauren: who is it? >> the only reason i bring this up is i look at it through a policy perspective. if i thought i'm -- they're going to keep this ticket, i'm go if to go -- i'm going to go longer energy. this is an extraordinary situation9. why leave her in that seat when you know with certainty the independent will not vote for his ticket out of the concern that she might be president? stuart: you lose the black vote. >> no, no, you can find -- certainly there's another person of color to take that seat that's better positioned. look, i mean, am i wrong on this? i mean, i think it's kind of obvious. stuart: hold on a second, i've got to get to this. new polling shows 53% feel a president biden received special treatment in the special counsel's report into his classified documents. jason chaffetz with me now. this special counsel report, the hur report, it's not going away, is it? >> no. a lot of people feel he got special treatment because he did get special treatment. that's why they feel that way. they understand that there is no

fact pattern in which a united states senator walks out the door with classified information. there's no justification for that. and he had it in some cases evidently for decades. and so should you prosecute that? yes. the only excuse not to prosecute him is that he's feeble, that he'd be a sympathetic the person? i think the question how old go to the attorney general. who's telling the truth in is it the special prosecutor hur, or is it the president of the united states who said he's fit as a button and, guess what? he should stand trial. if joe biden actually wants to put to rest and attack this issue about how how unfair this report is, then demand that they release the transcript and the add audio and and/or videotape of the interview. is. stuart: as proof of his innocence. produce them and let's see them. here's from the new york post, editorial board that is, says kamala harris says she's ready to everybody, and the post says nothing could be scarier. finish and here are the five

names being mentioned as potential replacements for biden if he should step down. gavin newsom, michelle obama, 2k3wre67ben whitmer, adam bashir and kamala harris. jace, what do you make of the democrats' bench? >> the democrats are in a corner because they have prioritized somebody's skin color and gender over competency. to kevin's point, people want competency. and that not what the democrats say they're going to do. they have to fit a certain demographic profile. i think that is so demeaning to the american people. they want the very best person to serve as the president of the united states. the example is barham if massachusetts they overwhelmingly -- barack obama. they overwhelmingly got behind barack obama not because of his background or color, because they felt like he was the best person for the job. and yet democrats are going to make these decisions for all the wrong reasons. stuart: got it. jason, i know we'll see you again real soon. kevin's with me, for the hour

actually. would you trust biden to run one of your companies? >> painting me in a real corner here, stuart. i hire people based on merit and their experience and executional skills and other corporate mandates. most politicians have never if actually run anything, and i don't mean that in a demeaning way. when you have to make payroll every wednesday, that's a lot different than being a politician has to raise money for a campaign. i don't think i'd a hire any politician that had never if run a corporate mandate or a private business because i get to choos- [laughter] from a vast universe of people that have already proven to me they have executional skills. why would i hire an ex-politician? if the same reason i don't hire consultants. they're never made decisions of consequence. they just have opinions. after two years at a consulting firm, i take that resumé and throw it in the garbage because they've never done anything. and so i hate to sound so tense on this, but i want proof of executional skills. that's what i want.

stuart: fair if enough. why not? kevin, stay there. coming up, senate majority if leader chuck schumer has an interesting take on biden's mental acuity. roll tape. >> i talk to president biden, you know, regularly, sometimes several times in a week. his mental acuity is great. all this right-wing propaganda that the his mental acuity has declined is wrong. he's going to win the election because he has a great record are. stuart: well, right-wing propaganda? we're going to discuss that in depth. to the border crisis, the house impeached dhs secretary mayorkas. he has no plans to leave office. so what happens now? texas congressman pat fallon takes that on right after this. ♪ ♪ this thing, it's making me get an ice bath again. what do you mean? these straps are mind-blowing!

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♪ if. ♪ stuart: border patrol sounding the alarm on the number of chinese nationals coming across can. griff jenkins is at the border in california. how many chinese are coming in? >> reporter: stu, it's hard to put into perspective. in fact, in this fiscal year since october 1st started, more than 20,000 and more than 90 of those 20,000 came right through here in the san diego sector. let me show you where i am in california. we wanted to bring you because this fence ends here in this remote area. we're at elevation 3,000, 60 miles east of san diego. and right around that corner is where with migrants have been coming. take a look at this video, our fox nation team shot it. you can see the migrants streaming through, many of them from china as well as turkey and

other countries. in fact, when you look at all of the groups that have come in recent days, you're seeing them from more than 73 different countries. finish and and as you look at the challenge of a remote area like this with such a hot spot for the cartels, it's clear to understand now why people like ban john judd -- brandon judd says he's worried not always about the size of the flow, but what's in it. particularly in this case, these chinese migrants. listen to what he had to say here. >> i want to show you all of the chinese nationals that are crossing our borders illegally. these are single adult men of military age. that is a very scary prospect. we know that china does not like us. we know that we are in the crosshairs of china, and they are exporting so many people to our country, and you have to really fear about that. >> reporter: now, we haven't seen is out here this morning any chinese migrants just yet

and perhaps that's partly because, stu, if you look through the fence a little bit, you can hear a generator running, that's the mexican military, mexican immigration authorities. they've set up an outpost here which is great because it's helping stop the flow in this area, but if they were to pick up and leave which officials expect they will at some point, it could be back to business as usual. you've got brandon judd coming up as a guest, couldn't be anybody better to talk about this problem because it's one at the border we've seen what happens in texas, but out here west this is really ground zero now, and they need to get a handle on it. and to put things into perspective, in 2021 fiscal year, 450 total migrants, chinese migrants all year. they've eclipsed that number in just the past 48 hours here in just the sand yaw go sector. tu -- san diego sector. stuart: that's really something. thanks so much, griff. house repolice palins impeached secretary mayorkas. texas congressman pat if fallon

joining me. now this goes to the senate where mayorkas faces a trial. the administration does not want to see that, do they? >> no, they don't, stu, not at all. you can only control what you can control, and i'm not in the senate. so i'm glad because some folks have tech thed me actually last night and said, well, what happens now? he's not going if to be removed? well, there's always that remote possibility. it's a long shot, of course, but we needed to impeach if him. he has richly deserved this. if you look at the immigration and nationality act, federal law clearly states people need to be detained until their status is legally determined, and he has not done that, and the fifth circuit even found that. this is the first time since 1876. it's a black mark in history for him. but again, he deserved it. stuart: republicans are tearing into the senate bill that gives $95 billion to ukraine and israel but fails to address the border crisis. speaker johnson calls it dead on arrival. so, congressman, is it more important to fix our border than help ukraine? >> yes, i believe so.

i think they're both very pocketer but it is far more important -- important, but it is far more important to concern yourself with your own border. i was elected to protect american citizens. that's the greatest calling of any elected official. we don't know with the chinese nationals, there were only 450 under the last year, in the last year of president trump's administration. this past fiscal year under joe biden which were 24,000, mostly military-aged men. also russian nationals, russian nationals on the border, they've also spiked. so that's of great concern for me. the russian m.o., they did that in ukraine, infiltrated and put folks in place to sabotage when there was a conflict. so it's very dangerous, and we need to get our act together. stuart: if you absolutely want to stop all illegal immigration coming up at our southern border, what do you do? >> i think realistically you have to take the flood and reduce it to a trickle. stopping a border that long with anybody if ever sneaking in, it's manager that's ooh a very difficult. -- something that's very difficult. you reinstitute the wait in

mexico policy. border patrol agents tell you that would reduce the flood by 70% on day one -- stuart: and the president could do that by an executive order. >> yes. he doesn't even need congress, stu. stuart: right. >> and how about building a wall and barriers that we were doing under president trump, and on day one joe biden stopped that. and and he also on day one designed an order saying he's going to have a 10046 day mothen deportations. he still doesn't get it. stuart: congressman, thanks very much. the golf of georgia brian kemp sending more georgia national garden troops to the texas border. what -- why he's doe -- why's he doing that? >> sending our soldiers down there is going to help texas be able to do their job a little bit better. it also shows our support and continues to, i think, keep pressure on the white house that they could change course, redo some of the executive orders

that they have, implement policies that have cork -- worked in the past that republican governors over a year ago talked about implementing and giving suggestions to the president, offering to meet with him. but they're just not acting up there. they don't, they don't get it or they don't want to fix the problem, one of the two. lauren: kemp plus 12 other republican state governors have pledged state resources to help governor abbott control what's coming in through the texas border because the federal government is absent fixing the problem. so this is what it looks like. right now, since 2019, there have been 29 georgia national guard in texas. they're sending approximately 20 more this spring. they're not going to go there to make arrests. these are engineers, people with mechanical experience, they're going to help texas build a command post at the border. but this is brian kemp -- no friend of donald trump -- stepping in with some of the other tate governors on the republican side to help texas. stuart: since when have we had states taking over the job of the federal government at the

federal border? >> i've never seen this before. here we are in february, election's november. which issue is hotter than immigration and border security right now? nothing. this has become the number one election issue because -- including you, stuart, you focus on this every single day. stuart: i do. >> and these images are so striking and so powerful of people walking underneath barbed wire. i mean, i don't care what side of the wall you're on, you've got to address this issue if you want to be elected. stuart: absolutely. and it will be addressed too. let's check futures, please. we've got some green on the screen. up 100 for the dow, up about 100 for the nasdaq, modest rebound from yesterday. the opening bell is next. ♪ 'cuz i'm your lady and you are my man. ♪ whenever you reach for me, i'll do all that i can ♪

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go into, stuart. we had bought some, added to our microsoft and google positions when their earnings came out and they got a little bit hit. but yesterday, to me, was expected because i think markets have front-reason run expect -- front-run expectations of fed cuts with a higher pci number, those expectations have been duh minished, and the market was due to sell off. we're seeing such bifurcation in the market, stuart. companies that miss earnings are getting absolutely trounced, and those that beat expectations even by a little are screaming. it's starting to look a little paraboll you can. you see what happened to meta, arm holdings. we bought arm, we made 137% in arm, sold the stock yesterday. i mean, some of the numbers are just a little crazy for me. and that is a sign, i think, of the little bit of too much front running. stuart: okay. we spoke about this before. you think there's a big -- yeah, you think there's a correction coming, don't you?

like 10% down. >> i do. and i think it would be healthy. i'm looking forward to it. i would hope to see it because i think that would clean out a lot of the loose and the weak links, i should say. again, some of these stocks that have gone parabolic don't deserve the kinds of moves, 20, 30, 40, 60%. these are meme stock moves in real serious companies that i don't think those are justified. so investors are getting a little bit anxious that if we miss this ride, the market can go up like it did in 2023, and we're going to miss it. and they're chasing stock. to me, it's not the way the market should operate to. it's getting a little bubblish s. underlying is the economy still good, i believe we're going to have rates higher for longer, that's okay. the economy can handle it. i just think the market's gotten ahead of itself. stuart: the market's gotten ahead of itself. shah ghailani on this valentine's day. all right, shah, we hear you. we've got the dow up 100 points right from the get go.

roughly speaking, it's half and and half winners or and losers on the big board. dow is now up 125. move to the s&p 500, that's also opening higher after a huge drop yesterday. it's up about half a percentage point, still just a tad shy of 5,000. the nasdaq composite on the upside yet again, it's up .80% after a big loss yesterday. 15,780. not so interested in the level there as a in big tech which makes up the base of the nasdaq. big tech, all higher today. look at meta go, up $8. alphabet, 146. microsoft if struggling back to 407. amazon and apple round out the list. let's go to nvidia. they've had a meteoric rise, and they've just hit and crossed a new milestone. today overtook somebody in market cap, didn't they? lauren: amazon and googleing is -- google is in their sight. off the -- this is the first time in 22 years that nvidia shares closed with market value

greater than amazon. they're the fourth largest company in the world. fourth largest. microsoft, apple, saudi aramco, nvidia. stuart: that really is an absolute stun or. --er stunner. you ever seen anything like that before? >> yes, we have. this is the engine of productivity. that's the way the market's looking at it. stuart: what else have we got in the cards? uber. [laughter] i own a thin sliver of uber. they've got a stock buyback, and i'm going to do well. lauren: it's a milestone, first ever. uber is reporting operating profit. that's a big deal. consistent free cash flow, and now a tech company is rewarding investors. ceo derek -- [inaudible] has done a wonderful job. he really has. he turned a management train wreck that he took over a couple years ago into a mature company. it's now part of the s&p 500 and, like i said, it's rewarding investors. stuart: their competitor, lyft, they're seeing now a big gain.

what's this about a typo getting in the way? lauren: okay. it was a human mistake in the earnings report. human makes a mistake, artificial intention -- or the algorithms -- capitalize on that a mistake. there was an error in the release that said a very specific profit margin would rise by 500 basis points, but it added ap an extra 0. the actual number was 50 basis points. the company came out and corrected the error. so the stock went in after hours from up 60% to up 90%, and and now you can see it's up 28% because the report card was good. so humans make a mistake, and the a.i. capitalizes on it, but who's to blame? the human, right? stuart: should they go to the sec? >> i imagine the sec's reviewing the situation, as they should. they're all about a disclosure. 50 basis points is half a percent. 500's 5. overstating margin increases by that much, obviously, is going to have a lot of algos and all

kinds of trading systems saying, wow. that's what happened. lauren: the news was good. they can did report a loss. it narrowed active riders up double digits. stuart: so they're rightfully up 28% -- lauren 29%, not 60%. stuart: kraft, how did they do in. lauren: they lost their pricing power. prices rose almost 4% while volumes fell more than 4%. overall revenue down 7. profits down 15%. stuart: a big drop for airbnb. i just flashed on my screen there, down big this morning, pretty big, 4%. i thoughting they a calm out with -- lauren: it was. it's what they had to say about the current quarter. if you look at the growth rate of nights booked, they said that's going to moderate. it could be this revenge travel that we've seen for the past couple years after covid is cooling off. there are catalysts. summer if olympics in paris, airbnb is going to be a popular option for many people who don't

want to pay the exorbitant price of a hotel room. nights booked, up 12%. revenue up 17%. stuart: okay. just wait until you get the world cup finals staged in new jersey -- lauren: i might if airbnb out my house. [laughter] a laugh. stuart: walmart, they're going to buy something. a tv company? lynn lauren lauren vizio, yep. and it's not because they want to sell more tvs. i'm sure that would be a plus, but they want the advertising data. they can show more ads on the tvs if they by advise owe. vizio has special access as a tv operation to ad inventory and to specific viewing data. the "wall street journal" is reporting that walmart is in talks to buy advise owe for -- vizio for at least $2 billion. that's it, a cool 2 billion. stuart: well, kevin is still here, soldiering on next to me in the studio in new york, and he's brought with him his stock picks. and they are -- i just love thid google, right in. >> here's why. i have investments in over 50

private companies, and i look each quarter at what their fastest growing expense if is, is and it's digital advertising. direct to consumer. every company's tryinged to do that whether you're a behemoth or a small business. and the major beneficiaries of that, stuart, are these three names. so why would i not own these companies? because they are the digital economy. and nothing's changed. people tell me, oh, it's time to sell them because they're trading at a exorbitant fees. no because nothing's changed. the increase, the rate of increase of digital spending continues to be the number one expense for me. stuart: i can't see how they could ever really have a huge selloff, any of them. >> well, remember, metaspd did when they got lost in the metaverse. that stock got killed. but even during that period our spend on facebook did not change. and so i looked at it and said this has to be a buying opportunity. yes, they're spending too much on the metaverse, but that'll

self-correct and, indeed, it did. newt stuart you got it. microsoft at 407, meta , 467. check the big board. we're up, not as much as at the opening bell. up 58 points. dow winners, give me that list, please. intel, salesforbes caterpillar, boeing, jpmorgan. s&p 500 winners headed by davita, i don't know that one. what's that one? if iqb? that -- what's that? american intel, boe or r corporation. not big names. nasdaq winners, do we see any big tech there? no, we don't. jd.com, datadog and applied materials. that's a big one. don't forget to send in your friday feedback, sented us anything you like. even -- send us anything you like. varneyviewersfox.com. lauren: don't encourage it. stuart: i'm not. i'll take it. i can handle it. look at this op-ed ed. liz peek

wrote it. she's going to tell us what those potholes are. and there's this, economists warn the country is on a, quote, unsustainable fiscal path. so when will the debt bomb hit? we have a report on that after this. ♪ ♪

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stuart: the house budget committee meets at the top of the hour and, look, the latest projection puts the national debt at a total of $54 trillion 10 years from now. how about that? edward lawrence at the white house. what would be the interest payment on that much debt? >> reporter: yeah, we're talking about right now an interest payment more than all of the spending the government does on children. it's also more than the spending

the government pays for medicaid. by 2026 the committee for a responsible budget says the interest payment alone will be $1 trillion, that's interest only, not paying down the actual debt. all of this getting worse because the revenue coming in does not meet the payments going out. the congressional budget office says the deficit will be $1.5 trillion this fiscal year. nextphysial call year -- fit call year $1.8 trillion. it'll be $2.6 trillion in 2034 if nothing changes. the push for spending continues from president biden as more people are starting to take notice. >> look, the bottom line is, is that we're $34 trillion in debt. that's the equivalent just next year in our interest service payments alone at being over $900 billion which is the equivalent of our entire national dependence annual budget. >> reporter: so at some point as senior policy director for the committee for a responsible budget says all a americans will have to pay higher taxes to service the debt, accept less in government services and get less in benefits.

the cbo projects social security and the highway trust fund will be insolvent within 10 years and even the fed chairman for years has been saying this is an unsustainable fiscal path. back to you. stuart: edward, thank you very much, indeed. kevin o'leary sitting right next to me here in new york. we always a keep talking about how this debt is not sustainable, and sooner or later we run into a debt bomb and it explodes. is that going to happen? >> it can, and the reason it would would be if rates reach double digits on inflation. we've seen some mt. '70s before. the real question becomes, stuart, is how productive will the underlying economy remain. because if it stays within range, and it's actually a little high right now, it's post-second world war percentages, but the truth is that it's not extraordinarily high as a percentage of g can dp, but -- gdp, but if anything breaks in terms of product knit if economy or rates go up, then it's a huge problem. and i think it's great we talk about, because we don't spend

enough time pointing out this risk is out there. stuart: and no politician wants to cut spending. >> that's the problem. who would do that? either side of the bench. hi, elect me and i'll make your life miserable. stuart: we're running a debt of airport around $1.5 trillion -- of around $1.5 trillion. how is this possible? >> think about it, my message is restraint. misery. no pending and no services. -- spending and no services. stuart: you're not a very good policy decision. >> exactly. [laughter] that's just not going to work. obviously, it's got to be fixed long term. lauren: nikki haley is trying to do this. she says the unpopular, that social security is going to run out, so we have to either raise the retirement age for which you can get it and tell young people don't expect it so soon finish. >> how's she doing? lauren: she's getting eviscerated in ads like president trump by president trump. but she's leveling with people -- >> and how's that working for her? lauren: it's not. >> i rest my case.

i admire her stick to it ofness, but at some point she's going to run out of money. stuart: 15-love to you, kevin. [laughter] a federal judge ruled that elon musk must testify in the sec possible securities fraud thing. are you okay with that? >> i am. i believe in transparency. i think you have -- look, elon's an unusual guy. i'm a huge fan. obviously, he -- the missiles keep coming in at him, and he just keeps, you know, moving forward. al a though it must eat up so much of his time. i look and ask, if i was going to ask him something, it would be why do you want to spend so much time defending the stuff you could have avoided in the first place? if on the other hand, he's so productive that you have to admire his success. stuart: got to read the book. >> it's interesting. stuart: very good book with. this is just for you. a senate candidate in california calling for a $50 per hour minimum wage. roll tape. >> in the bay area, i believe it was the united way came out with

a report that very recently $127,000 for a family of four is just barely enough to get by. just do the math. of course we have martial minimum wages -- national minimum wages that we need to live to a live -- raise to a living wage with. fine, i have got to be focused on what california needs, and what the affordability factor is when we calculate this wage. stuart i think she got to it eventually, $50 per hour minimum wage. what do you think about the government telling everybody how much they can make? >> the problem with that narrative is it does not discuss the root issue. california is the most often competitive state in the union -- uncompetitive, it is the worst managed, and the city of san francisco is an example of how you can get to being a rat hole over 10 years. it is an absolute war with zone. so why not discuss better management of the resources versus just continuing to pay for inefficiency and lack of executional skills? that place is a loser state.

the number one loser state. on my list of winners and losers. stuart: 100%. >> number one loser. stuart: one more. nvidia, this just in, just passed google in market cap. it is now the third most valuable u.s. company. total val -- valuations, did i get the math right? lauren: you kid. if you invested $1,000 in nvidia shares 10 years a, that would be worth $00,000 today. -- 100,000. stuart: coming up, secretary mayorkas has been impeached. there could be a very public trial that a keeps the border front and center well into the spring. that's not what the administration wants at all. that'll be my take, top of the hour. prices may be melting consumers' watches -- wallets, but chocolate shops are still expected to come out okay on valentine's day. we've got a live look at a 90-year-old chocolate shop after this. ♪ ♪

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♪ stuart: how do you pick music for valentine's day? okay, it is valentine's day, and if you're buying chocolate for a loved one, expect to pay more. you got that? kelly o'grady at a 90-year-old chocolate shop. okay, straightforward question. kelly, how much more are we paying for chocolate this year? >> so at this shop, stuart, this is in queens, they've raised prices 12%. the owner actually told me that costs have gone up a lot more. big driver of that, what's in chocolate? cocoa. so those prices have risen significantly because of a crop shortage in western africa. the packaging has has gone up a lot. so has the minimum wage, pretty significantly. everything you see here is actually made in house. i got a tour earlier. but those prices that i mentioned, it's not stopping people from spending this valentine's day. take a look at these numbers.

so overall spending is expected to be $26 billion. that's flat versus last year, but spending on your significant other, that's going to hit record highs. i want to bring in the owner, rachel, to talk about this a little bit. what are you seeing in terms of the sales trends this year, rachel? >> so we are seeing record highs in sales, we're seeing record highs in the amount of transaction as both online and in store. however, we are noticing that the average ticket is going down. >> reporter: people are spending on chocolate instead of diamonds this year. and rachel told me, stuart, she's expecting about 1,000 people in the door. i'm going to eat a ton of chocolate today. stuart: well done, kelly. nice to have you on the show. all right, there is a new dating app. apparently, lauren, there's a catch here. you've got to have good credit to get on it, so you've got to reveal your credit, i guess. lauren: you can only sign up if your credit score is 675 and above. that's good credit. the average credit score in the country is actually 716, so i

guess a lot of people can get on this app. the called score -- it is called score, and it's about attracting like-minded people on the premise if that, look, nobody wants to talk about money or how you deal with money, but money is why most people get divorced, right? stuart: whatever you say. lauren: handle it up front. stuart: okay. moving swiftly along. how long do you have to date someone, in your opinion, before you reveal your financial life? >> by the third date. if you're going out on the third date, you're interested in a longer term relationship are. the number one reason, as you aptly brought up, is not infidelity in a 7-year period for divorce, it's financial stress. you need to know the spending habits of your potential partner. and if they outspend you, you will eventually have a failed relationship. so i think you talk money right after the second glass of wine on date three. right there. lauren: agree. what if you just got on an app like the league where you have to, you know, have a really good job and make a lot of money to

get on it. stuart: what's it called? lauren: the league. out links to your linkedin profile. >> okay. i mean, any app that says let's determine the net worth of an individual, i'm going to assume there's a lot of people making it up. stuart: absolutely. [laughter] lauren: and just because you have a lot of money on paper or doesn't mean you have a good credit score. just saying. >> you've got to talk about money. love and money go hand in hand. stuart: i do want to say thank you very much for joining us for the hour, kevin. that was a fine performance. >> really enjoyed it. lauren: second glass of wine, third date. how much money do you make -- >> and have you ever been bankrupt. anyone in your family. stuart: you could look that up, couldn't you? >> why not ask? stuart: still ahead, liz peek says trump could ride special counsel's report all the way to the white house, but only if he avoids these potholes. liz is here to tell us what those potholes are. border crossings at a low in january. brandon judd is here to tell us why. morgan ortegas and ken golden round out the list.

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