jeremy, let me bring you in on market side of the equation. the trump rally continues. we're off a little bit but up massively since he won the election. this obviously makes the fed interest rate hike later this month even more likely, but will the market take that in stride? >> what's amazing really how the market has moved on the interest rate side. you've seen a huge shoot upin long interest rates, even more than people expect the short-term rates to move. a huge diversion in market force. financials do well. small caps do well. cyclical stocks do well. large caps they're up, but a up a lot less than mid and small caps which are more sensitive to the u.s. economy. dollar has done well which hurt international exposures, emerging market exposures but really helped japan a standout country that benefits from u.s. growth and a rising dollar. if you do believe the u.s. is continuing to improve, very positive policies or growth i

think you look at things like small caps in japan. ashley: gentlemen. we're already out of time. jeremy schwartz and walt mccarthy. they're clapping away. friday heading into the weekend. the dow, all we had to do finish in the green would be higher, short of another record but higher for the week. here comes the the the closing belle with melissa francis and connell mcshane. melissa: s&p 500 and nasdaq turning positive within the last hour. i'm melissa francis. connell is back. connell: i am connell in for david asman this is "after the bell." what names are moving book, here is what else we have for you at this hour. donald trump back to work, looking to fill his remaining cabinet positions. among those paying him a visit, a democratic senator from north dakota. so we're following that. trump even taking his own team by surprise as we were taken by surprise with his pick for

defense secretary last night. we'll tell you who this general james "mad dog" mattis is and some extraordinary measures needed for him to assume this role. that is all coming up. plus a shocking new crisis for america's heroes. nearly sick hundred veterans may have been -- 600 veterans may have been infected with hepatitis or hiv. how this happened and what is being done about it. melissa: can caterpillar and american express are among the biggest drags, but the big oil rally continues. phil flynn, price futures group, will tell us how high he thinks crude will climb. lori rothman on floor of new york stock exchange. lori, tell me who came out on top this week? >> let's look at the week. the dow did not come out on top but you're looking component names, winners and losers. talk about benchmark details here in a minute. goldman up nearly 6%. you have unitedhealth up 5% on

the week. intel and visa, down 3.5 and 5.6% this week. the dow was only down .1 of 1% snapping a three week losing streak. nasdaq managed to hold on to gains for the week. financials had banner week. no surprise they took a little off the the top. goldman was down 1 1/2%, one of the laggards on friday's trading session. a lot of news on ford in addition to recall of some mid-sized trucks. shares down 1 1/2%. basically the headline here saying the ceo says they're still moving small car production output to mexico despite criticism from who else, president-elect donald trump. send it back to you. connell: all right, lori. phil, oil has been some story. we've been talking about it all week long. the weekly gain is 12%. you brought it up, a day or two ago, when we see 60 bucks, 51.67

today? >> if not this year, early next year, connell. the world changed since the opec-non-opec agreement. a lot of people are skeptical. eni seem my said we have tendency to cheat on the agreement. looked like profit-taking ahead of the weekend. we got a late story that u.s. senate passed overwhelmingly a bill to extend sanctions on iran for over 10 years. not clear whether president obama will sign that bill but iran will not be very happy about that. especially with the president trump coming into office he could very easily squash the deal because sanctions will be in place. right now they have been suspended by president obama as long as iran complies. this will give donald trump the possibility to lift those sanctions. back to you. connell: right, good one to keep an eye on. phil, thanks. melissa? melissa: the markets were largely unfazed by today's jobs

report. 178,000 jobs were added in november. the unemployment rate fell to 4.6%. that is a low level. it is the lowest level in more than nine years in fact s that necessarily a good thing in some ways? trump advisors, economic advisor steve moore. is here. jack howe, "barron's" editor and michelle girard is here. the wage data, that what makes me nervous about this number. we're barely seeing wages outpace inflation. >> we're continuing to see only gradual increase in wages. we had better news last month and some extent reversed in november. the bottom line we're ever so slowly seeing wage pressures move higher and looking ahead if we can get the kind of stimulus i think we'll get from the new administration, the economy is going to perform better, i think that will translate into higher real wages. i don't necessarily think that

means higher inflation overall because tax cuts that we always say boost the economy's productivity or productive capabilities can actually increase output. that can have disinflation nary consequence when you combine that with tighter money. bottom line i think under a better growth outlook down the road we're actually going to see more, meaningful upturn in wages. melissa: steve, that was some good analysis. you disagree with any piece of that? >> would i ever disagree with michelle? melissa: you would be crazy. i know i wouldn't. go ahead, give it a shot. talk to me what i just heard? >> she got it exactly right. i make a couple points. ultimately wages rises when productivity rises. this gets to the motivation behind the business tax cut. a lot of people saying you cut tax for businesses it goes to rich people. no, we have good analysis that shows when you cut the corporate tax, melissa, the people who benefit the most from that are the workers because they have

more capital -- productive and that is what gives them higher wages. i like that aspect of the story longer term but it might take a while, michelle. it will take six to nine months. melissa: there is something wrong with steve's mic. we'll work on that i think. jack, let me ask you, what i worry about ask a head wind right here the fed has to come in and raise rates at some point, right? i guess as michelle argued, she's right we're not seeing any inflation, do you think they have to come in and raise rates and what kind of a headwind does that provide? >> yes. and none. they're coming from absurdly low levels. not like we'll suddenly jump up quickly. a little bit of a rise in rates is a good sign. means that the economy is pretty healthy. melissa: right. >> this is decent jobs number. the thing that stands out to me, we still have low percentage of people participating in the labor force right now. part of that is because of folks getting older. part of that we have problem with mismatched skills out there. we talk a lot about infrastructure and building,

things like that. employment in construction right now is pretty good. it is factory workers and miners out of work. we need to figure out a way get people jobs again and get them the right skills. melissa: michelle, one thing it could impact, housing market, rates go up and gets people off the sidelines, they say wow, i should get off and buy. on other hand people have variable rate that will increase mortgage, and that is not great at a time when wages aren't rising, that impacts government debt and how much they have to pay every month. >> let's be honest, talking about a handoff from monetary policy to fiscal poll sift the scenario is going to be that these rates too low for too long are finally going to be normalizes. over the near term that is going to present a headwind. extracting ourselves from the excessive accomodations that we've had in place for a long period of time is not going to be easy. we've seen in the past the fed

has gotten spooked when the markets react negatively to the prospects of rates being normalized. but ultimately we have to get to a place where we have a better monetary fiscal policy mix, and even if that means some headwinds over the near term, ultimately better fiscal policy will show itself, and i think in the end we end up with the economy on a much more sustainable footing. connell: it is interesting, guys, we talk about mixing policies, one of the things that was talked about on the network today was interview with microsoft former ceo, neil cavuto did on "cavuto: coast to coast" earlier and they were discussing the mix between the role of government and the role of the private sector and how much impact he believes government has on the economy. so let's watch that. >> there is very little the government can actually do to stimulate the economy in the long run. yes, interest rates in the short run. yes, spending in the short run but those things, they blip up, they blip down. but at the end of the day, i

think inexorable kind of advance of innovation in the private sector will stimulate jobs. jobs in america. maybe jobs abroad too but jobs here in america. connell: i'm sure, steve moore, in general you would agree with something like that but an interesting question for someone like you advising the president-elect now when all the talk is about what can people in government, especially mr. trump, do to get, quote, unquote, our economy turned around. what do you think? >> steve balmer is fantastic running a technology company. he is right, technology in the long term will be prepare appellant of growth. thank god he is not donald trump's economic advisor because he is completely wrong. if you fix tax structure, regulatory structure, health care and we believe you can increase growth by two percentage points for a long time. they're inhibitors to growth. holding back business investment.

we think you go to 2%, 4%, growth four to five years that is amazing stimulus. over longer term technological improvements but right now we need to get tax and regulatory changes done. i think quickly it will have impact on growth. connell: what do you say, jack? that is the basis, entire basis steve lays out there and advising the president-elect for their argument they're making, that is a change government can make and they say, steve is arguing that will lead to higher growth. that is the trump argument. >> i will meet you 3/4 of the way there. i'm skeptical of 4%. i would like to see it. upside looks like more than 3%. low-hanging fruit is definitely corporate tax rate. it is highest in the world. it is not a great revenue raiser because there are too many loopholes. it could be substantially lower around substantially flatter. it's a win for companies, a win for employees and win for

investors and let's get it enacted quickly. melissa: amen. connell: thank you, jack. melissa: they're so smart. remember when 4 percent was not a big deal i don't know if we really can do four. i hope we get back there that it will not be outrageous. connell: there you go. melissa: details about a secret deal made by the obama administration leaving top lawmakers in the dark. why thousands of refugees from terrorist hot spots are headed to u.s. soil after being rejected, rejected by another nation. connell: then shocking new crisis for heroes in this country. nearlyhundred veterans who may have -- 600 individual rans may have been infected with hiv and hepatitis. we'll talk about how it happened and what is being done about it. melissa: criticizing donald trump for filling his cabinet with the super wealthy. is it class warfare plot or maybe these guys know how to get the job done? we're going to weigh in. >> i will be putting on the

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♪ the crown, marco polo, lost and found ♪ ♪ grace and frankie, hemlock grove, season one of...! ♪ show me house of cards. finally, you can now find all of netflix in the same place as all your other entertainment. on xfinity x1. melissa: it may be friday but things aren't slowing down at trump tower. ambassador john bolton, pam bondi, attorney general of florida, you remember her, heidi heitkamp, democratic senator. all among those stopping by for meetings today with the president-elect. fox business's blake burman is on the scene with the latest. is there a red carpet there? i mean is there like step and repeat where the paparazzi takes pictures or no? reporter: if you saw behind our camera, it is like tourists taking pictures left and right. for some reason we're interesting, melissa. melissa: i always think you're interesting. reporter: they do come out to trump tower. thank you, thank you, thank you.

it has been a busy day for the president-elect. really a busy week. he made five different cabinet appointments monday through thursday. today is focused on meetings potentially looking forward. some. meetings that empty with the president-elect, former secretary robert gates, he started things earlier this morning. head of dod under president obama and president george w. bush. john bolton, former u.n. ambassador rumored to potentially be one of the four or five finalists for the secretary of state position. he was here at trump tower. also intriguing one was heidi heitkamp. she is a senator from north dakota and she is a democrat, the second democrat from capitol hill that the president-elect has met with. she is potentially interviewing for a role to become the energy secretary. there was a little bit of a policy rollout that mr. trump and his team unveiled today, and that was the strategic and policy forum is what they are calling it.

basically a group of major players from all over the country and a lot from wall street, that the president says, president-elect says when he is president he will have at the white house, starting in february, and will be meeting with them frequently. among them steve schwarzman from blackstone, larry fink from blackrock, jamie dimon from jpmorgan chase. big-name ceos, bob iger from disney, mary barra from gm. there were a does or so on the list, the most influential. the president-elect says when he is in the oval office he wants to meet with these folks fairy regularly. back to you. melissa: interesting. we'll see if he listens. thanks for that. connell. connell: a story about bashing billionaires. there have been a number of mainstream media headlines last few days, slamming donald trump's wealthy cabinet picks. "washington post," headline was,

collective wealth defies trump's populist campaign promises. "chicago tribune," populist trump fills cabinet with billionaires and wall street tycoons. but president-elect has his own message for the media. >> put on some of the greatest business people in the world. one of the networks said, why, he put on a billionaire! at commerce. that is because this guy knows how to make money, folks. connell: here now to talk about all this, erick erickson, the resurgent editor and fox news contributor and noelle nikpour, gop fund-raiser and steve murphy, democratic strategist. i throw in a piece of gossip. i received a note from fox news producer inside the trump tower, chris christie walked out of the elevator with kellyanne conway. for those into political gossip. not sure what that means but maybe we'll talk about it a little later.

in terms of the billionaires, steve, let me start with you, do you have an issue all of this? easy on one end, these guys can't relate to the people voted for trump, but at same time should you be punished how much money you make? what is your take? >> doesn't matter to me who really cabinet officers are, who his picks are, looks to me is headed down the road of an orthodox conservative republican administration, minus the trade deals. and that is going to, by cutting taxes for the wealthy, by deregulating wall street and letting them do whatever they want, running up deficits, we're quickly going into recession again because all those policies together mean interest rates are going to rise. connell: noelle, what do you say? >> you know what? i think that who he is appointing are some top-notch people. number one, william, wilbur ross is taking the place of penny pritzker. billionaire versus billionaire. connell: right. >> pritzker has inherited wealth. wilbur ross worked for his. if you want to get nitpicky

about it, look at that. betsy devos, i remember meeting her back in wyoming years and years ago when she was doing some stuff for alliance for school choice. this lady has been pounding the pavement for many, many, years and does not have to work you know to make life better for children. so these are great appointments. connell: take both those things, erick. what steve brought up is the economic argument that steve moore was trying to counter earlier, these conservative economic policies, and maybe this is more of a traditional conservative republican cabinet we would have expected from president-elect trump we're getting here. steve's argument, democratic argument, that will lead to another recession, take that up along with back and forth about billionaires if you can. >> first of all i thought he would put the goldman sachs on the payroll so we could get transcripts of hillary's speeches we never saw. beyond that, listen, he is actually, his pick for treasury, worked for george soros.

wilbur ross was a member of the central democratic committee in new york state. was a clinton donor. a number of these people have been obama donors in the past. connell: you don't think it is very conservative cabinet? >> i don't think it is super conservative. what i think they know economic policy given their backgrounds. he has a pretty diverse cabinet. sounds like cabinet meetings will be contentious between conservatives and more moderate members of the republican side. connell: nobody thinks it matters how much money they paid in the past. thanks to all three of you. we appreciate it. melissa: new jersey governor chris christie we were told as we mentioned just walked into trump tower. he is setting his sights on a new position. two of his advisors confirming to fox news he wants to take over the reins at the rnc. christie is facing opposition from some in the trump administration, including rnc chair reince priebus. this should be interesting. key members are pushing for michigan gop rona romney mcdaniel or fox news

contributor mercedes schlapp. should be interesting battle. connell: very interesting. neil had her on the other day which was a good interview. chris christie getting in the mix for that? melissa: very interesting. connell: the next government bailout to talk about may be the u.s. set to forgive $100 billion in student debt. what that could mean for taxpayers. steve more will sound off on it. plus, president-elect donald trump announcing the picks for secretary of defense but congress will have a little more to do here than normal in terms of confirming this choice. we'll talk about it with lt. general tom mcinerney coming up with his take. >> they say he is the closest thing to general george patton that we have and it's about time! it is about time. [cheering] this is your daughter. and she just got this. ooh boy. but, you've got hum. so you can set this. and if she drives like this, you can tell her to drive more like this. because you'll get this.

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melissa: surprise announcement from the president-elect donald trump, telling the crowd

his choice for secretary of defense. during his thank you tour in cincinnati. >> we are going to appoint, "mad dog" mattis. as our secretary of defense. but we're not announcing it until monday, so don't tell anybody! melissa: that was pretty funny. here now is general thomas mcinerney fox news military analyst. everybody brings up idea that person can't be appointed as secretary of defense after leaving active duty. why is that, by the way. >> that is part of our civilian control tradition, melissa. they put it in there so you wouldn't indiscrimenantly do it.

melissa: senator kristin gillibrand has respect for him, but it is in there for a reason like you said, to separate the military and have civilian control over it. she is not willing to put the waiver in. does she have a point? >> no. the fact, melissa, we've been at war 15 years. we need someone to get in there and solve this war and close it down and defeat radical islam. if we listened to kristin gillibrand we would be at war 100 years. we need people who know how to fight wars and end them that can deter and dissuade enemies. why i believe president-elect trump is sending the right signal to world that general mas will be the new secretary of defense. consider this, president trump gets off the phone with vlad putin, says, vlad agree with you, i need to check with my

secretary of defense, "mad dog." that alone is worth a deterrent wing of b-21 nuclear bombers. we want to deter our enemies. i think that is the right choice. melissa: i can imagine him calling him vlad as well. makes sense to me. how does his approach different? from his tone you think he is growing to be very aggressive but he is also cerebral and thoughtful. how do you think his approach will be different than what we've done? >> i think it will be very balanced but the fact when you have iranian speedboats driving fast and threatening our ships in the in the gulf, hello cop aiming weapons at us and fighters close by, that will stop. he will tell them if you take any provocative action toward us we will shoot you down. that will stop. many other things iranians are doing in the middle east will stop. i assure you within 30 to 60

days, from the 209th of january -- 20th of january, isis will no longer be called a caliphate. melissa: i hope you're right. general thanks for coming on we appreciate it. >> thanks, melissa, another crisis for america's heroes. paul ryan condemning a wisconsin va hospital after learning nearly 600 veterans may have been infected with hepatitis d, c, or hiv. they were exposed when a dentist did not follow proper sterilization procedures for his equipment. melissa: oh. connell: more shocking than that, the dentist hasn't been fired. speaker ryan called this a stunning show of bureaucratic impunity. wow, not fired. melissa: that is horrible. connell: i don't know how you explain that. melissa: all right, you make it, they spend it like that. years of overspending by the federal government causing the national debt to near $20 trillion mark. what that means for you and your money. connell: just when you thought there is drama of the general

election was over, the bad blood between the campaigns reaching i guess new heights. >> i understand that they're angry. i understand some of them are bitter but they made it very personal last night.

melissa: the election is over but the fighting is not. thank goodness. top clinton and trump campaign

aides butted heads at harvard. >> providing a platform for white supremacists, makes me a brilliant tactician i would have love to have lost. give my a minute, david, i'm more proud of hillary clinton's all right speech. she had courage to stand up. i would rather lose than the way you guys did. >> no you wouldn't. that is very clear you wouldn't, respectfully. how exactly did we win? go for it, jen, how exactly did we win? i would like to know, spent four months of my life to do it and excuse me, and we did it. melissa: erick erickson, noelle nikpour and steve murphy are back. air. >> eric: , that righteous voice belonged to jen palmieri, as wikileaks said ugly, hateful things about catholics, evangelicals. now she is going to be the righteous one saying anyone who

didn't vote for hillary clinton is supporting a platform of white supremacists. what do you think about that? >> you know, we actually doe ist hillary clinton alt-right speech. what we know from all the pollsters, when they looked at their data, the biggest shift in the election didn't come from james comey t came from her calling trump supporters a "basket of deplorables." then she did have to walk back, by the way. palmieri, someone who organize ad pretend catholic group to get the catholic church to come out in disgust tells you -- melissa: you would think you would rejoice at this speech, nothing we could have done differently, they supported white supremacists we would rather lose than do that. sounds like she is resigned to losing and fine with it? >> yeah, melissa, you do have a point, i will tell you, number about one, better candidate

equals better results, point blank. number two, i have to admit working in presidential campaign, i worked for rudy giuliani when he ran his campaign, tell you it is a thankless job and really an exhausting job. i give them both props for even doing a debate so soon after this. it was a bad blood campaign. i mean it was pretty personal, pretty bad, with rioting in the streets afterwards. you know, it proves there is still some bad blood. kellyanne had a right to defend, they won, fair and square, you know. so i feel like jen with a little out of place and probably exhausted and just went for the throat. melissa: steve, i mean, it seems like it is just emotions are still very raw, obviously even more raw on the democratic side where you know, democrats, she said a whole bunch of times, jen palmieri, we won the popular vote, we won the popular vote. that has to hurt a lot when you're sitting there thinking we

got 2.5 million more votes. the system doesn't work that way because so many were in california and we ended up losing? >> look, nobody is say, well, once we get, find out for certain, that putin didn't steal the election in these three states where we're seeking recounts, nobody will say, nobody will say. melissa: sour grapes is not a good look on anybody. >> nobody will say he didn't win the election fair and square under the system that exists, the system is really unfair. it is rigged just like he said it was. but look, in terms of race, democrats should never back off or back down on this donald trump ran as a racial demagogue. he did it in his announcement. melissa: oh, steve. >> all the way through last week. melissa: sour grapes. all those people that voted for president obama before are suddenly white supremacists, they switched to trump. they were not racist last time around when they voted for pet obama.

>> he ran to racial prejudice. he did. >> funny how he picked up more hispanics than romney. melissa: we'll leave it there, guys. >> that was misogyny. melissa: let's try it again in three months. see if everybody feels better. bring kellyanne back, jen palmieri. >> maybe we won't have anymore tweets next three months that would be a good thing. melissa: not very likely. connell, take it away. connell: something completely different, something completely to watch this weekend. the world will be watching italy. they have a big vote on major political referendum, could be the next big thing, "brexit," trump, italy. voters will decide whether to amend their constitution, give the government more power and the prime minister, matteo renzi, has pledged to resign if the referendum is voted down. speaking of "brexit," former uk independence party leader, nigel farage, who spearheaded separation from britain in the european union, he says the eu is dying before our eyes and this vote could send shockwaves

through the global economy much like the exit in britain did. >> if he loses his position as prime minister is tenuous. he will probably have to form a emergency administration and the four big italian banks are basically on the edge of bankruptcy. connell: all right. so there you go. that is something, this weekend, italy, big vote. by sunday night, markets sunday night into monday morning we'll see. along the lines of populist vote in other places. fox business will cover it monday morning. >> they have all been surprises lately. you have to keep an eye on it. the next bailout. uncle sam is about to forgive billions of dollars in student loans and lawmakers are preparing to hand republicans the bill. huh? steve moore, advisor to president-elect donald trump is back to sound off. ♪ your path to retirement

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connell: okay, the national debt is quickly approaching believe it or not, you probably do believe it, $20 trillion. that indicates years of overspending by the government. both sides of the aisle. with that we're bringing rich edson into the equation, nation's capitol. rich will tell us how we got here and why we're concerned about it. sounds like probably should be a weekend documentary but we'll give you two minutes, rich. reporter: give you time back on this one. we heard this before. we're now at $20 trillion. that part is new. budget experts warn that we're on a path eventually leading to higher interest rates for consumers, slower economic growth and higher taxes and

lower government benefits. congressional budget office says higher level of debt will raise interest payments for government, give it less flexibility to respond to recession. it increases chances of a fiscal crisis. at the turn of this centuries the government's debt was $5.5 trillion the as it approaches 20 trillion, one former cbo director says politicians only talk about provisions that will make the national debt worse. >> the chatter you hear is tax cuts, infrastructure spending, military spending, don't touch social security, don't touch medicare. that quite frankly just doesn't add up. mr. trump inherited a very big budget problem from president obama. reporter: in the 2016 fiscal year which ended in september, the government added $590 billion to the national debt. took in 3.3 trillion in taxes but it spent 3.9 trillion. more than half that spending went to government health care and social security. health care costs more than $1.1 trillion, and more than a

trillion of that is just medicare and medicaid. the government spent more than 900 billion on social security and disability insurance. defense cost about $580 billion. the government spent $300 billion for programs for low income americans. 164 billion on federal retirement benefits. 100 billion on veterans programs and 600 billion on everything else the government does like transportation, research, education, international affairs and housing. still the largest and most rapidly growing segment of government spending is health care as costs increase, baby boomers retire and percentage of those in the workforce who pay taxes to support those retirees shrinks. connell. connell: all really amazing unlike the government on time and budget. >> thanks. connell: vermont governor howard dean dropped out of the race to become the next chairman of the dnc. that is job he already had. he was dnc chairman from '05 to'

09. melissa: doesn't debt forgiveness on the taxpayer dime. who else. they are set to forgive $108 billion in student loan debt. as president obama prepares to leave office, guess who is getting stuck with the bill? republicans taking over, that means you and i. steve moore, trump economic advisor and fox news contributor is back with us. we say republicans are getting the bill, but taxpayers are getting the bill. what is amazing to me, i read through many financial scheme in my lifetime which is what this was, i can't even sort out, this is related to savings on obamacare? we were somehow, like, rejiggering this loan program? , was going to pay, how is that related, steve? >> it is called government accounting. melissa. truly, i don't know if you should laugh or cry about this. melissa: yeah.

>> president obama is giving a pardon to all these thousands and thousands of kids who got duped into these student loans, and now they want forgiveness. look, this is basic matter of fairness. why should kids -- i helped work my way through college. i didn't take out any student loans. why should i have to pay more taxes for kids who skated along and then took out these big loans and now they don't want to pay them? also unfair to the people who did pay off the loans. i think a lot of people i know, who, had to tighten their belts and make these, sometimes substantial student loan monthly payments to pay back what they owed to the government. this is the -- explain to me, melissa? why should these folks get forgiveness on their loans? like saying i'm not going to pay my mortgage, for goodness sakes. melissa: that would be just as fair. the other thing people gloss over the idea when you pump out these loans and make all this money available, all you do, federal reserve done the study,

this is not a partisan thing, all you do instantly inflate the price of colleges. >> of course. melissa: so just sort of the price is rising to match money being given out. if we takal took away the loans, not that no one would go to college, the price of college would drop, so many people took out loans, got b.s. degrees in things now they can't find a jobs so wasted any way. >> i agree with everything you just said. single biggest financial scam in america how much universities and colleges charging families. melissa: it is. >> college should cost half of what it does. here is an idea, melissa. i suggested it one time to donald trump. i don't know if he takes it up. no student loans to any college that doesn't freeze tuition next five years. every college in america could do that. freeze tuition. mitch daniels did it at perdue. they have -- purdue. they have frozen their -- every company, sorry, college should do that. one way to get control of costs.

a lot of colleges have multimillion-dollar, some have billion dollar endowments. melissa: right. >> why not use endowments to lower tuition cost? melissa: 10billion dollars here we'll pay it, steve -- 108. >> not like we have a bilge debt. oh, yeah, we have big debt, $20 trillion. melissa: i will jump out the window behind me. i actually can't. connell: it is not that far down. we have, this is another actually distressing story coming up in a moment. it's a joke, guys. she is not going to jump. secret refugee deal. i can't really believe this story. wait until you hear coming up in a moment. thousands of refugees from terrorism hot spots around on their way here to the united states. lawmakers are not get answers who they are. we'll get as many as we can next. ♪

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to help you keep rolling with confidence. go long™. ♪ connell: now we'll tell you about this back room refugee deal. nearly 2500 refugeesterrorism he world headed now here to the united states, after, this is the key, after being rejected by australia. now some lawmakers are demanding answers as you might suspect, but the state department classified details on their resettlement. we have the don barnett, center for immigration studies where he is a fellow. don, explain to me, who are these people, where are they from and why did australia reject them? >> well, basically is this is a group from all over the world that has been boating into australia for at least two or

three years and, australia has policy where they're not accepting anybody by boat because they were getting a large number of boaters and there was, deaths and so on, so forth. they have stopped that by this policy. their policy basically says you arrive by boat, you get hauled out one of two islands, island nations, naru. and they have collected there. they have not really been vetted as, as whether they are legitimate refugees or not. connell: right. >> basically up to 2,000, mostly male, about 90%, single male, have been collected on this island and the u.s. has come along and, basically agreed to take them. my first question -- connell: why, there are obvious questions there, but, as i mentioned when i was introduced to you, some of this information as we try to learn more about this, australians reject them, coming here, why is some of that or much it classified, do you know that? >> honestly i don't know but has the potential for making the

story much worse than perhaps it really is. numbers can be blown up or watched. very good question, found same thing, getting exact feel for numbers, it is going to be known eventually, because they, by law do have to record refugees as they come in and where they come from. connell: on one hand, if we knew more about it, these people are okay, just because of -- >> exactly. exactly. connell: issue in australia was the boats. if we don't know, start to fill in blanks yourself. ask more questions. >> furthermore, australia agreed to this totally bizarre exchange like trading cards, taking pot luck with a group of refugees from central america. connell: right. >> basically they have said, okay, we will, if you take these off of our hands, in effect, we'll take this group from central america. makes me wonder, what is it that you, what makes these people so undesirable? connell: right. >> if there was a truthful, and open, open -- connell: if it was more

transparent we would know. >> exactly. it is very strange. it is very strange, the fact it went on for months and just the story broke after the election, i'm assuming they thought it would be a negative for the election. should have been broken prior to the election. connell: we'll follow up on it. maybe we'll learn coming weeks and months. don barnett. thank you very much. appreciate it. >> thank you. melissa: "leave it to beaver,," everyone is looking for a good deal. i use what's already inside me to reach my goals. so i liked when my doctor told me that i may reach my blood sugar and a1c goals by activating what's within me with once-weekly trulicity. trulicity is not insulin. it helps activate my body to do what it's supposed to do release its own insulin.

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. >> 'tis the season for christmas shopping. and someone is a little bit eager. a precocious beaver is getting into the spirit and checking out those selections at a dollar store in maryland. how cute! >> the budget conscious animal, taking a look at christmas trees, causing trouble.

knocking down items. >> that's not nice. >> no major dam-age. >> that's bad. this is still your read. >> the rogue beaver apprehended by theed should -- sheriff's department. >> i love it, "risk & reward" starts right now. >> this campaign proved the old rules no longer apply, that anything we want for our country is now possible. this is the hour when the great deeds can be done and our highest hopes can come true. we're going to do it, folks. we're going to do it. [cheers] we will have two simple rules when it comes to this massive rebuilding effort. buy american and hire american, we're going to do it ourselves. we will finally end illegal immigration. we will construct a great wall