steve mnuchin, we heard some of it. >> make us in line. >> 15% great for pass through. dagen: give me more of my money back, i earned it. >> people are expecting it. maria: have a great day. "varney & company" begins right now. here is stuart. stuart: thank you very much indeed. another big day, here it comes, the tax cut announcement. pretty good profit reports and oh, watch that market. good morning, everyone. he will spell it out today. the trump tax package. we don't know how much of it he gets, but here are the basics. a 15% tax rate for big companies. a 15% tax rate for small companies. oh, that adds up to a massive tax reduction for business. we may also find out about a special low tax on corporate profits brought back to america. that would be pretty good big stimulus. stimulus this is the basis of

the long awaited trump plan. very strong corporate profits so far, up 11% from a year ago, it's the best showing in six years. so, companies making good money, and the promise of tack cuts to come, that's why the dow closed at 20,996, only, what, 119 points from its all-time high. sit back, everyone, watch some financial history. you will like it. varp "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ . >> we can get to 3% sustained economic growth. that's very achievable, tax reform is critical to it, regulatory reform is critical to. i think as you know, we have been working very hard on the president's executive orders and we are focused on creating economic growth. stuart: all right, treasury secretary mnuchin moments ago, saying there's no doubt about it, our economy will grow and

that growth is going to pay for those tax cuts. more on that in a moment. first off to the markets, strong profits have been sending stocks higher, as we've said a moment ago, only 119 points away from the dow's record close which was 21,115. that's the mark that a lot of people would like to hit very soon. how about dow futures. where will we open this morning? ever so slightly higher. same with the s&p or that's pretty much standard and nasdaq, that's going to be up as well. not huge gains at the opening bell, but none of the gains of the last two days will be cut back. we've got some big name stocks already reporting earnings today. first of all, the dow stock which is boeing. they've got a problem with their commercial aircraft deliveries. that stock is down just 1%, but that's two bucks off and it's a dow stock. that's hurting the dow a little bit. higher sales at united technology, otis elevator, that division doing nicely. the stocks marginally higher.

how about procter & gamble, they issued a warning, they said the strong dollar hurt their sales this year. the stock is down about 1%, that's exactlying dow futures. here is here today? liz peek columnist with the fiscal times. all right, what's the biggest driver of the rally, strong profits or hope for tax cuts? >> it's both. we clearly have new energy on the tax cut front. we'll wait and see what president trump looks like today. it looks like he's gone back to keep it stupid simple as larry kudlow and steve moore and others have been advising him and push for tax cuts. i think that's right. that's the energy behind the market, but corporate profits r coming in better than expected and that was sort of necessary because valuation measures so the market to be pricey. if prices were lagging that would be a negative. ashley: i think initially tax

cuts and things president trump talked about sparked the rally. they can't get their act together on health care. the republicans seem $to be fighting among themselves. liz is right, i think that corporate profits are leading the charge. even though the standard for them are not that high. i think you're missing something. ashley: yes. stuart: i think you're missing something, the president proposes to lower tax rates on small business, the so-called pass-through businesses, subchapter s. they're enormous employers. liz: they're the reason for net job creaks in the last decades. >> 50% of private sector employees is through the pass-through businesses and 37% of payroll so that's a huge sector of the economy. stuart: steve mnuchin moments ago is saying that's the group-- >> can i just make a point. >> great, but it's a proposal.

>> can i make a point, we're stretched on valuations because they're looking for tax cut. the chicken and egg problem. the chicken is the tax cuts and the egg is the profits. and every other year was high taxes and crimped economic growth. stuart: what's the driver of the market. you say it's profits? >> if we can get an enormous sector of the private sector-- a big part of the private sector going from a tax rate now that people don't understand, individual rates are as high as 50% in some states to 15. what incredible motivation is that to spend and invest and hire people. >> that's a change. >> that's stimulative. that's a big deal, but the announcement has not made that much difference to the market. futures showing gain of what, eight points. >> they announced they're going to repeal obamacare. >> i don't think you can get that until--

>> it's the hope of tax cuts. ashley: correct. stuart: which i think is stimulative for the profits ap economy and look at twitter, please. they're going to open higher. whoa, sharply higher. >> sharply higher. >> a 10% gain. >> monthly active users are up. more than they expected. and that's better rates than more than a year. even the revenues are down, first quarterly revenue decline for twitter, it popped. they added now 328 million monthly active users, watch this, added 9 million in the last quarter. guess who helped twitter with na 9 million. guess how many trump added, 8.9 million. stuart: so they added 9 million and trump added 8.9 million. >> in the first quarter. stuart: trump himself or-- >> trump himself, his followers came flooding into his twitter feed and 8.9 million. stuart: they opened twitter

accounts. liz: correct. stuart: 8.9 million people opened twitter accounts because they wanted to follow donald trump. liz: correct on twitter. ashley: can you make money on them. liz: they have make-- they make half ad revenue than facebook does with users. >> you have to admit isn't it shocking the trump twitter feed hasn't generate that had kind of growth before this? he's all over twitter, how he communicates with the american public. stuart: all over the world. >> it's amazing. stuart: a california judge blocked president trump's order that tried to withhold funds from sanctuary cities. president trump tweeted first the 9th circuit ban and now it hits again on sanctuary cities, both ridiculous rulings, see you in the supreme court. we have to have judge napolitano to comment. i say it is a politicized judiciary. that's what mr. trump is facing and you say?

>> i understand his argument there, but this is a very, very reasoned opinion, sound under the constitution, i would have signed it myself. here is what happened. the obama administration offers, i'll round out the numbers, 120 million to the county of san francisco, $100 million a months. you will comply with the following obligation. among them is know the ice. donald trump comes in and says you want those 100 million dollar checks to continue? you will comply with what ice asks you to do. that's the retroactive i am possession of i am poe-- imposin imposing, when the new budget kicks in october 1st, if the congress is willing to to this, he can put that condition on and once they accept the money

in my hypothetical, $100 million a month, if one of nos conditions, you have to comply with ice requests, that's black letter supreme court law. the feds can't tell locals how to run their shopsles in the locals have agreed in return for cash to supply with the feds. stuart: so it's temporary, this could be fixed. we can take money away from sanctuary cities if congress okays it in the budget taking part in october 1st. that's where we are. >> precisely. it couldn't be done retroactively. stuart: did you see the ted cruz item and he a wants to take money from those confiscated, like el chapo, take that money and build the wall. >> it is legal, but he's going to get resistance from the law enforcement community. they like to be able to used

confiscated funds on their own, like for faster police cars and better high-tech equipment. for the government to say confiscated funds are going to a dedicated purpose that's not theirs, they're going to do that kicking and streaming. >> there have just been objections. they can't stop it. >> other than by other members of congress. if senator cruz's proposal comes to past then the construction of the wall will not cost the federal government a nickel. stuart: exactly. in fact, if it were taken from the $14 billion that el chapo reportedly accumulated, it will be mexico who actually pays the money. >> good luck finding that $14 billion. in fact, it will be his american customers who paid the mexican bandits the 14 billion. stuart: but it's not illegal. >> no, it's not illegal. stuart: i thought you were going to say it was unconstitutional. >> no, no, just cash.

stuart: thank you, we'll see you later. a story for you, a pack of wild boars goes on a ram pain in northern iraq killing three isis fighters. the local media reporting say that isis took revenge on the pigs that carried out the attack. ashley: i bet they did. liz: what a story. stuart: 100 members of the senate going to the white house today. later on today. president trump and his top military advisors will brief them on north korea. this is a very usunusual meetin. and the president says canada has been outsmarting us on trade, tax that wood and dairy, too. rise and fall... predictable is one thing you need in retirement to help protect what you've earned and ensure it lasts. introducing brighthouse financial.

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. stuart:. you know, the price of gold ran up to $1300 an ounce while it backed down again, 1264.80 is

your gold bullion count now. first the president would put a tariff on wood from canada and now going after canada and dairy products. roll tape. >> we learned that yesterday, frankly, with canada, with the dairy farmers in wisconsin, upstate new york, different places a lot of border states in particular, are not able to sell their dairy products into canada and going on for a while. everybody nthinks of canada being wonderful and i do, but we announced that we will take cabe of our dairy farmers. >> do you support the moves, canadian wood and dairy? >> sure we do. we have a president for the

dairy farmers and we appreciate your neighbors for the north, but we're looking for fair trade. >> there's also the prospect of reciprocal taxes from other countries on your farm exports. it's got to be on your minds. >> it does, on it concerns us, but we know there are stiff barriers, in countries all over the world, that prevents our products from going in there and we think that if we want to talk about having free trade and fair trade, what's fair for them is fair for us. stuart: do you regard this as an opening bargaining position by our president? >> i think it is, i think it's getting everybody's attention that we want to come to the table and have those very difficult discussions about all of our trade and agriculture is normally a very successful in trade treaties, but we are neighbors to friends that produce other products and we feel like everyone should have a fair shake and we're looking forward to protecting gains

that we have made in trade in the past ap trade treaties and looking forward to doing even better under the promise of this administration. stuart: if it was a straight forward comparison of the price of a pound of wisconsin cheese versus a pound of canadian cheese, which is the cheapest? >> well, i can't answer that today. i'm a dairy man by trade and spent 30 years, but i was on the farm working hard not following the prices. i would say that in canada, what kicked this all off, they created another class of milk, so that they could get around the ruse of the trade treaty, so they're not in violation of the trade treaty, but it mistreated our farmers in new york and midwestern states. what the president is doing is standing up for american jobs and american people. stuart: well, you know, a lot of people are going to be saying, look, this is the president supporting and helping his supporters.

wisconsin put him over the top in the general election, november 8th. upstate new york went solidly for mr. trump and is in deep depression. some people are saying, look, this is a political payoff. do you respect that entirely? >> i totally reject that. the rural america is as important, and we need the same attention, agriculture is the driving economics in america. and this is one example how barriers pop up in front of our commodities and prevent us from doing business in the rest of the world. we've got to understand that 95% of the mouths that are fed across the world live outside the borders of america and for us to be an i believe to move our products into other countries and be able to create more jobs, be more productive, even more productive in our country is very important to our rural communities. stuart: hopefully, they don't

impose tariffs on you and our products. >> there are-- it's out there, that could happen. the president of the american farm bureau, thank you for coming on board this morning. we appreciate it. >> thank you so much. stuart: yesterday we showed you, wait for it. there you go, no, that's not it. we showed you $425 mud-stained jeans from nordstrom. check this out, please, women's clothing company, top shop, they're from britain, new pair of clear plastic jeans, i guess you could all those see-through jeans, can't you, only $60. liz: oh, my gosh. ashley: that's great. liz: you won't have to go to the gym to sweat. >> no kidding. stuart: walking away from this one. ann coulter says that she will be giving her speech in berkeley tomorrow night no matter what the school has to say about it. yes, she will. more varney after this.

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>> oh, the cord cutters strike. more layoffs at espn, which is a unit of disney. liz: 100 employees, according to a memo leaked to fox news, including on-air talent and play by play anchors could be laid off. we said this is coming, 100 employees, a record loss of 621,000 subscribers in the

month of october alone. they've lost 12 million since 2011. that's a world of hurt. stuart: 600,000 dropped espn in one month. liz: that's a record. stuart: we've got the clash over free speech that comes tomorrow. ann coulter planning to speak anyway on the berkeley campus. she will defy the university and she'll speak in a public square on the campus. liz peek, i want to know what do you think that other college authorities, other faculties, what should they be doing now? >> i think across the country faculty members should be demonstrating in favor of free speech. if the agitators begin to understand that they are not going to be tolerated, things will not be shut down just because they don't like what people have to say, you'll see less of this kind of resistance. there was a wonderful editorial written by the head of the wood droe wilson school at princeton

said we need diversity on campus. good for her. where are her colleagues and everybody else in the community. it's an outrage that there should be a consideration of protesting this. stuart: howard says and defines hate speech. liz: if you don't like it, don't go, as elizabeth warren says. stuart: but hate speech. ashley: it's not shouting fire in a movie theater. this is just someone's point of view, their opinion. liz: by the way, if you suppress hate speech, then you suppress finding out who the bad guys are against freedom. you need sunlight, protecting hate speeches. stuart: no place for that at our colleges, that's my opinion. we're going to open that market in four and a half minutes' time and we're going to be pretty much flat to ever so slightly higher. boeing and procter & gamble had

come out with earnings and a little disappointing. that's taken a little steam out of the market. he had the opening is coming and we'll be there for you.

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>> okay.

here is a number to watch very carefully. 21,115. that's the old record closing high for the dow jones industrial average. we'll open this morning right at 21,000, in other words, we've got 115 points to go before we hit the record. five, four, three, two, there you go. we're off and running and where are we going in the early going this morning. we're up 13 points, 21114. we're up, after a fabulous two taye run, way more on 400 points up in the last couple of days. we're up a tiny bit more. the nasdaq back above 16,000. we got there yesterday, and we're holding there as of today. and dow components, they came out with the profit reports early today before the market opens. procter & gamble, boeing,

united tech, the top two are dow stocks, that's taken some steam out of the dow. procter & gamble and boeing down. united technologies up a fraction. how about this? twitter, there's a move, have not seen an upside on the move on twitter for a long, long time. and more trump people are opening twitter accounts and that's why they're up to $16. trump has an impact after all. how about that? chipotle, whoa, are we in turn around mode after the e. coli problem, better sales, better profits. the stock is up four bucks. we call them the fabulous five for want of a better name. all-time high for facebook. that thing it up. amazon well move -- well above 900. and what a big start to the day. ashley webster, liz macdonald,

shah gilani and keith fitz. what's driving the market, the open of tax cuts or strong profits? keith fitz? >> a little of both. the end traders are rushing to be a part of the problem. my concern, not to be debby downer, there will be profit taking in the next 24, 48 hours. stuart: thank you. [laughter] >> and 21, don't want to be debby downer. are you in seattle where it's raining? yes, i knew you were. [laughter] >> is it profits or the hope of a tax cut, shah gilani? >> i agree with keith. i'm not the debby downer, but both under the tax cuts talks the other day boosted the market and that began the push higher. earnings are coming out great and the combination is the one-two punch taking them higher. >> if profits were not up 11% so far from last year, this market would know the be at 21,000. >> absolutely not.

because it's pretty expensive based on revenues and earnings. yes, we need profit growth and i would add a third element, which is the economy. the economy is showing signs of strength, not only consumer sentiment, but home prices are going up, et cetera. after a couple of months of indifferent growth. it looks like growth might be accelerating. >> we're at 21,021. that means we're about 120 points away from the all-time record high. the trump administration reportedly dropped any support for a so-called border adjustment tax. keith, i will bring you back into the show, despite what you just had to say. i will bring you in. that, if you drop the border tax, surely that's very good news for the retailers, isn't it? >> well, i think so. i think it's not only good news for the retailers, but good news for anybody that imports anything cross border in the manufacturing process. this is good all the way around. less government means bigger wallets. stuart: what do you say, good

for the retailers? >> i think it's good for the retailers and it's momentary. i don't know if they can sustain forward upward moves. it's too difficult an environment for them. sales are going to continue to be problematic. earnings are going to be problematic. and close more stores right and left. it's just, it's, you called it the ice age and that's what it is. >> 8,000 stores, maybe more. >> some analysts are predicting 50 retail bankruptcies this year. >> and their and annual profit would have been 1 billion loss on that alone. >> and retailers that pay the 35% profit tax, higher than almost any other industry group. they should be looking stronger than the gains of retailers. that's my opinion. we call them the fabulous five,

close to at or near all-time highs. now, shah gilani, these people, they are extremely powerful corporatio corporations. is anybody looking at them in terms of their corporate power? >> i don't think they're looking at anything other than the right stocks to be in. this is the future. all the stocks represent the future in terms of technology, in terms of america, the market. they're the leadership and probably going to continue to be the leadership and as long as they are, the market has higher to go. stuart: blows me away. the companies on the screen worth market value worth nearly 3 trillion dollars. three of them, microsoft, alphabet and apple have nearnearly an and a half trillion dollars in cash. liz: and d.c. needs a clue not just about bringing that cash back home. look at the size of the labor force for the companies. stuart: very small. liz: this is a transition in the economy. get a clue what's driving labor growth here. stuart: that's a big problem, but they keep on churning

ahead, the fabulous five. microsoft a new high reached 68 and small change, a new high. facebook 147 new high, keeps on running. >> this should be music to your ears. i think that microsoft is the best of the lot there. stuart: well. [laughter] >> in terms of the cloud and in terms of their products, they're making great improvements in their products and i've switched over to their products and i think they're hitting it out of the park. i own for the benefit of our some microsoft stock, not much, not half enough, but a little of it. [trumpets playing] >> and keith fitz, i want you to stay out of this conversation. i don't know what you think about microsoft, i don't want to know. stuart: twitter, this is interesting, not seeing this for a long, long time if at all. 10% gain, it's called the trump bump. tell me that again, is it trump supporters? >> 9 million new monthly active users and donald trump added 8.9 million. stuart: that's the trump bump on twitter.

are you going to buy it? >> no, way, it's a trump dump, it's controls and i'm not having any part of it. stuart: what a nice day. and would you buy this thing, galani? >> more users and declining revenue, this is probably a good opportunity to short it. this is a dead cat bounce. a lot of shorts here, people had to cover when the stocks had good earnings in terms of beating expectations. this has nowhere to go. advertisers aren't glomming onto it and-- >> nobody's bought the thing. >> the thing is out of favor. if they begin to add and acrete new users, yes, advisors will find a way to take advantage of that. >> got to get the haters off the site. stuart: $16 a share on twitter. the big board now shows a gain of 21 points. we're up this morning after a 400 point plus rally in the last couple of days. u.s. steel losing money. people were not expecting that. look at that loss.

u.s. steel is down, ouch, that hurts. how about higher profit and sales pepsi, no response there from the market. they're down $2. amc networks and charter communications, they're going to team up on original content. let's see the stocks, please, they're teaming up. that would be-- we haven't got it. never mind. i can move-- yeah, i do have it. ashley: there you go. liz: there it is. stuart: there you go, both of them or the upside, teaming up for original content. chipotle, favorite stock, if not a favorite eatery. are they on the start of a comeback trail. that's a nice looking chart. may up recently, $16 higher today. is this the comeback, shah gilani? >> well, it is for the moment and there was a lot of short covering at $435 that boost the stock up. got some big investors touting it. they're in it and want to go higher. given the price of the stocks and expectations for earnings growth, i don't see it.

i wouldn't buy it. you're happy to have had the nice bounce. >> these are the kind of companies you should buy in the height of the crisis or the depths of the crisis. toyota in the low 70's, united airlines at 67. you buy chipotle when it hits 350. liz: bill ackman is diving into the stock and saying it will pop. stuart: so ackman is saying that. liz: ackman. stuart: so, keith fitz, would you stick your toe in the chipotle waters. >> i would go eat there, but i wouldn't buy the stock, short covering. >> which is braver. >> i know, which is braver, right? the thing with chipotle and you've got to look at the consumer. the consumer is not necessarily looking an at that. if your alternative is alphabet or facebook, i would submit you don't want a burrito, you want a bigger share of the social media companies. stuart: we hear you. disney given release dates to

live action lion king and frozen two. and beauty and the beast with more than a billion dollars. would you jump on disney close to the all-time high, would you buy it, keith. >> i love that stock except for espn, that's this block i can't get by and so, i would do it hesitantly, very cautiously, don't put all of grandma's inheritance in it. if you've got it, a little share at a time. stuart: i guess they're down because they lost, what, 600,000 espn subscribers. liz: october. ashley: there you go. stuart: in october of last year and that's taken the stock down just a little bit. okay. the dow jones average is up 18 points. i want to say thank you very much to shah gilani, liz peek and keith fitz no matter what he says. and we've sorted it out. check the big board, a small

gain, 16 points higher at 21,015 as we speak. president trump's tax plan, 15% tax rate for big companies. 15% tax rate for small companies. republicans still need democrat support to get all of this lot through. do you think they'll get it? well, we're on that story. also, happening today, the entire senate has been invited to the white house for an update on the situation in north korea. we'll deal with that, most unusual meeting. we'll deal with it.

>> now, fox news reporting more developments from the president, his tax plan that's upcoming later on today. now, this is to do with the family deduction. ashley: yeah, this comes from john roberts chief white house correspondent, fox news. he says the word is, the number

that's being kicked around is a family of four will have a tax deduction of $24,000 under president trump's new plan, what we're trying to find out what is it now? how does that compare to-- >> frankly, i've not heard of something called the family deduction, i think it's standard family of four, used an a barometer, if you like. stuart: i'd like to know what it is now. ashley: we'll get it. stuart: we're on it. checking the big board, up a tiny, tiny gain. the nascar composite backed off, but reached an all-time high this morning. a fresh all-time high, facebook, microsoft, google, tesla. okay, microsoft has backed off, tesla-backed off, but not much. and all of those big names hit all-time record highs. the kind of market we're in. starbucks is unveiling military family stores, which employs

vets and military spouses. remember when they said they were going to hire refugees, e-mack. liz: yes, there was a backlash, now, 37 family-- military family stores, both veterans and spouses, military spouses will be staffed there. they will service, you know, military members around bases. they also want to more than double the number of veteran and spouse, military spouse workers in their work force at 25,000 by the year 2025, up from 10,000 now. >> i notice the stock has moved above 60. 61 apparently the latest they think. that's starbucks for 61 .13. >> and we'll take a look at the white house, president trump is expect today announce his tax plan, overall, sometime today. congressman with us, republican from ohio on the tax writing committee there. and how much support when this gets to the senate, how much

support from democrats, any at all? >> stuart, look, everybody, whether you're in the house or senate know they have to reduce the tax rate. we cannot have the highest tax rate in the world and allow businesses to leave and we have to make it and hoping that democrats and republicans, we need to see this and need to move this forward. stuart: i know we need, we need, we need. are you going to get the support from the democrats when you've cut the corporate tax rate to 15% and small business to 15%. can you get some democrat support for that, do you think? >> i think what we have to do is make sure, the democrats nl of which are friends of mine, realize if we don't to anything, the businesses will continue to leave the united states and guess what happens? the big argument is we're going to lose revenue. we're losing revenue already as businesses go across the pond, over seas, and set up headquarters. stuart: i know that's what we need to do. i know that's what we're hoping for, but have you heard anything from some of the more--

like joe manchin, for example, or heidi heidkamp? have you heard anything. >> i washing with a bipartisan group and we had a bipartisan breakfast. we talked about dropping the tax rate and one of the members from other side, moderate democrats said what are we going to do about the deficit. one good thing, i'm glad we're talking about the deficit, too. we haven't talked about that, we talked about spending, spending, spending and what we now have to do we have to look at thing, lower the rates, and look at spending so i think we need-- this is great, this opens up the topportunity to say how do we become competitive and keep spending down. stuart: hold on, congressman, treasury secretary mnuchin walked right away from the border adjustment tax. that's how you pay for it, were going to pay for tax cuts and he's walking away from it. >> look, the border adjustment

tax already i'm not supportive of in its current state either. i want to see the transition rules and issues, because what the border tax does, it pushes that cost onto the consumers, again, it's just a tax, just a tax change that the consumers pay for. in the end what we have got to do spur the economy. doing a border tax, all it does is cause individuals and hardworking families to spend more money, that's going to hurt the economy. i'm a big believer, i'm know the saying let's throw it out, but we have to look at all ideas and that's the key. stuart: how did you respond when your colleagues on the other side of the aisle were talking about the deficit and how we mustn't run up the deficit? when the deficit has been run up by $10 trillion during the eight obama years? >> well, again, it was a great dialog because now we're talking about the deficit. i love to hear the democrats talking about that. but at the same time, we have to look at being competitive. so, look, we're in a business snacenari

scenario. i've been a businessman for 30 years, you can't sit and do nothing, your business will fail. we have to look to be competitive and bring our expenses down and bring the deficit down at the same time. that's a difficult thing, but by the way, small businesses do that all the time, in the real world as i call it. i was in the real world for 30 years i had to do that. stuart: well, you've got to get the republican party together, got to do it. couldn't do it on health care, you've got to do it on taxes. can you tell me that you will get the republican party together to get a tax cut this year? >> well, look, i believe republicans understand we have to bring taxes down, look, republicans always believed you shouldn't have to pay for a tax cut. i'm not saying that is the answer, but i know that most republicans believe you should not have to pay for a tax cut. on the other side i know democrats believe you should have to pay for a tax cut. how do we get republicans together? we can't continue down the path and we're the party of small business, small families,

individuals, families hardworking class americans, we have to make sure that everybody gets that opportunity that allows their taxes to come down and at the same time, grow this economy. it's one of the reasons why i told you, the border tax concerns me, if it hurts hardworking families, that's an issue for me as well. thank you for joining us, sir, we appreciate it, thank you. >> thank you. >> check that market again, please, because we're back up a little bit more. up 20 points now, half the stocks on the dow up, the other half of down. happening later on today, the entire senate invited to the white house for a briefing on north korea. kim jong-un conducting live fire exercises. a u.s. carrier group headed for korean waters. a precarious situation and we're on it next.

>> later today president trump meets with the entire u.s. te a this is described as a briefing on north korea. come in colonel ralph peters, fox news strategic analyst. ralph, you remember the golf of tonkin and the tonkin gulf incident when north vietnam

reportedly fired and will the president outline that today? >> i don't think, i don't think we'll stage a provocation that gives us an excuse to go to war. the chances of north korea to provoke us. first off, it's very good that trump is meeting with the senators op this and has the cabinet meeting with this. if we are compelled to strike north korea, it would not be a surgical strike like the cruise missiles of syria. it would be a war, short or long, it would be a war. and so, congress needs to be on board and informed and cooperative and supportive, but the other thing is, there is a bottom line here. and the bottom line is that we cannot allow north korea to develop an intercontinental missile that can reach the united states. now, the warhead-- the nuclear issue of course is paramount overall, but the trigger point is that

intercontinental missile, whether it's armed with poison gas or m & m's, we can't allow north korea the ability to hit the united states. stuart: let me ask you this, if they were to launch intercontinental missile and we shot is down at sea, is that an act of war on our part? no, that's a gray area, but we could couch that as a defensive act or preventive act. we can't shoot it down over north korean territory. once it's over international waters we could make a good case. stuart, this is so incredibly complex it makes our problem with isis or even iran look like cake walks. stuart: and a good deal more threatening. it's a most unusual meeting. intriguing. >> but it's a good sign because you've got to get everybody in washington behind you on this one. stuart: ralph peters, thank you for joining us, sir. we'll see you soon.

we're up 25 points on the dow industrials, 21,022 as we speak. we'll be back. and the urinary symptoms of bph. tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have a sudden decrease or loss of hearing or vision, or an allergic reaction, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis. [phhello.ng] hi, it's anne from edward jones. i'm glad i caught you. well i'm just leaving the office so for once i've got plenty of time. what's going on? so those financial regulations being talked about? they could affect your accounts, so let's get together and talk, and make sure everything's clear. thanks. yeah. that would be great. we've grown to over $900 billion in assets under care... by being proactive, not reactive.

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. stuart: conservative ann coulter is about to test america's commitment to free speech. good. it's about time. she's going to speak on a public square on the berkeley campus. the college had banned her speech claiming safety concerns. that's pathetic. what is a university for if it's not to encourage the free exchange of views? and make sure the debate actually takes place. all right. just step back a little and look what's really going on here. the left has taken to the streets. physically. challenging and intimidating anyone with a different opinion. you've got a trump bumper sticker? you risk having your car keyed. walk down the street wearing a trump hat? that's risky. and don't even think of voicing a conservative opinion on a college campus. you will be threatened, run out of town, and students will

demand a safe space from you. so here comes ann coulter. she is a direct challenge. are you, berkeley, going to protect free speech or not? a patent has developed. conservative opinion is sensitive. conservatives are called hate mongers, they are violent shut down. well, there is a moment of truth coming tomorrow night. it is crunch time. here's where i stand. ann coulter should be welcomed at berkeley. she should speak freely. violent demonstrators should be arrested and charged and students all across the nation should be told very clearly no more safe spaces. no more trigger warnings. if you can't engage in open and free debate, you do not belong in a university. the second hour of "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ ♪

. stuart: break free to the second leg of the trump rally, maybe. well, we've got a 22-point gain for the big board right now, that puts us well over 21,000 again. remember, please, 21,115 is the all-time record high. we're pretty close. another all-time high for the nasdaq composite, it slipped back a fraction, but we were there well above 6,000. and fresh all-time highs are some of the biggest names on wall street. facebook, microsoft, alphabet, tesla, all of them earlier today a price that they've never hit before. oh, but look at u.s. steel losing money, wall street was not expecting that. that stock has taken a giant hit. it's down 25%. who would have thought? however, twitter, who was expecting this? nice pop there. they're getting something called a trump bump.

8.9million new monthly subscribers because of president trump. wynn's new casino has touched a two-year high. paul ryan and house gop leader with first news conference since returning from recess. we're waiting for news on tax cuts, health care, the border wall, and funding of the government. this could move the market. when he gets there to speak, you will hear him and hear what he has got to say. president trump's big tax announcement, that is coming up later on today. here's what we know or what -- we're pretty sure. he wants to cut corporate tax rate, that rate down to 15%. he wants to extend those tax cuts 15% to small businesses. and he wants a tax break for child care expenses. fox news contributor mercedes is here. are republicans going to mess this one up the way they mess up health care, says he

pejoratively? >> no. i hope not. i pray that they don't. the republicans need a legislative victory. obviously the tax reform bill is something that i think the republicans will be able to come to some agreement, but there are sticky points. trump's plan so far doesn't include the border adjustment tax, something the gop -- stuart: so we're not going to pay for the tax cuts elsewhere, are we? >> right but the other part is that the trump administration has mentioned some reciprocal tax, so we will see what they're coming up with. the bigger question, again, is revenue neutral. those conservative republicans will be, tammy knows, will be very concerned about whether this will raise the deficit. so far the way we're seeing these principles laid out, it seems it's not revenue neutral, and we know according to the way the congressional rules work that you -- if it's going through a budget reconciliation, it cannot increase the deficit after ten

years. so they need to make sure they're going for short-term. stuart: these are valid for ten years. >> right. and these are some of the statistic points they're going to have to deal with. stuart: paul ryan approaching the podium. let's listen in, please. >> regular order. hey, how are you doing? everybody here? morning. since president trump took office, this congress has sent 29 bills to his desk. that is most for a president's first 100 days since 1949. nearly half of these measures to take excessive regulations off the book, so we can grow this economy. after years of workers and for the next regulatory enslot, all the unpredictability that has come with that, we are providing relief for energy jobs, for small businesses, for retirees. it has been an estimated that the steps we have taken with

this administration will save families and businesses more than $67 billion. that is real relief, and that promotes real economic growth. we've been trying to cut red tape for years, and now it's finally happening at record levels. also to promote job creation. the president has signed bills making it easier for women to pursue stem careers and to become entrepreneurs, to help our veterans. the president signed a bill to lower out of pocket cost and to take steps toward fundamental va reform, very much in need. we are going to keep building on this record. right now, we are working on a government funding bill that addresses some of the country's core priorities, including strengthening our national defense. last week, i was in europe visiting some of our key nato allies and across the board, allies are ready to see america step up and lead again. a big part of that is rebuilding our military, which is something we're in the middle of doing right now. we're also working to fix our tax code. today the administration will outline its principles for pro

growth tax reform, which is a work i will step forward in this effort. mean we will have lower rates, we will have simpler tax cut with fewer brackets, and we will have an irs to serve the taxpayer, and we will continue to work to keep our promise to repeal and replace obamacare so that we can lower costs and create more choices for families. we have undertaken some very big reforms to tackle entrenched problems. there's a lot of work left to do, but under this president's leadership, this unified government has made a solid start. thank you. >> good morning. welcome back to many of you. as the speaker talked about, those bills that have moved to the president's desk prior to this congress,. stuart: speaker ryan did not move the market. when he started to speak, the dow was up 22, at the end of it, he was up 25. he didn't say anything the market could get its teeth into. what he did say is that we've got -- the president is going

to announce his principles of tax reform lower rates and a simpler tax code. no more detail issued whatsoever about it. liz: well, he's pushing back on the democrat narrative that the trump agenda has failed. he's saying it's the most laws passed since 1949. that's around the era when fdr started the 100-day, you know, whole standard. so the whole -- that's what the 100-day thing was. so 1949 was in around then. so there's some significance here pushing back on the democrats saying trump's agenda isn't going anywhere. but 29 laws. stuart: i remember 1949, and it was truman, by the way. liz: i agree. it was that era, it was the '40s. stuart: just saying. liz: i know. i agree with you. i know it was truman. stuart: the market is moving a little bit i'm not saying because of what speaker ryan had to say, but we're up 33 points. maybe the market was listening to our own right here mercedes

who insisted that we will get tax reform this year. >> well, i'm optimistic, but here's what we're going to see happen, these principles come out today. but mike mulvaney was the one who mentioned we won't see a detail plan until june. that extends it. will it be done by august? that's going to be very tough to be done in two months. stuart: what a lot of people are focusing on is this border adjustment tax. mnuchin said, no, we're not going to go. forget it. that's the -- ashley: the payment for the tax cuts is now out the windo w. stuart: yes, it is. it's not going to be revenue neutral. you'll get tax cuts, but you will not get offsetting revenue. >> and the other thing in the republican plan, actually, the paul ryan plan talks about a 20% corporate tax cut as opposed to the 15%. remember, gary cohn, the president's national economic is adviser also weeks ago suggested a 20% cut. so it's interesting that this was called negotiation 101, trump is starting with 15%.

stuart: this takes a lot of nerve, though, for the democrats to turn around and say, oh, we're very worried about this. you can't do that. liz: oh, yes. when obama doubled the debt and, by the way, $1.4 trillion in overpayment waste, fraud, and abuse and entitlement programs over the last ten years. so you want to talk about the deficit? do that first. fix those problems before you take another nickel in taxes out of people's wallets. that's what i say. stuart: and you're going to think about that. liz: stick to your own shop before you start hitting up middle class. >> the only other thing that's interesting is the child tax credit, in the republican plan, it's not part of that plan. this is something that president trump is taking in, that could be an ivanka trump influence on that. but that's going to be process of negotiation as well. stuart: we are monitoring what the republicans are saying, the house republicans, we're monitoring what they have to say. to so far, nothing that would move the market. no detail on tax reform or the border adjustment tax, but

we're monitoring it. i want to move on to what i think is a crisis of american colleges all across the country, actually, and that is free speech. berkeley at the center, again, i'm calling it the free speech crisis. they blocked ann coulter from speaking. now she's defying authorities. she's going to the university tomorrow night speaking at a public square on campus. fox news contributor tammy bruce on that one. you heard me at the top of the hour. >> i did. stuart: i'm ranting on this. arrest them, charge them, and if the students can't handle it, you're not in the university. >> you know, what's interesting here, a number of things have happened already, young america's foundation, which had been sponges the speech saying that it has become too violent and too unpredictable. so they're saying they don't want to risk lives in this regard. anne, though, is still apparently moving forward. she's denying she has announced what the location will be. but what we do know is that this is the black block. this is a group of people who dress in black. they're the ones what do as an example just prior to the inauguration in dc set the

limousine on fire, destroyed and vandalized a bank of america and is starbucks. many of them were arrested. these are people who go around to various areas. they're certainly not the students. but berkeley, i say, is complicit in this in their rhetoric saying there's nothing we can do and the berkeley campus police have a standing order that they will never intervene unless there's an imminent threat to life. which means how are you going to make that call? so this is an invitation for the black block to move through and take control and to have their way. stuart: that's outrageous. >> it is. stuart: that is outrageous. >> so this is what you've got i think also is a development over the last year and barack obama's last few years. in encouraging and rewarding this kind of activity in that it makes a difference. and with berkeley's position of, like, well whatever, it reinforces that this is a wa to approach things, and it's a shame. >> conservative -- the lawyer for the conservative club in berkeley said this with regard

to the police and what you're saying about the stand down policies. the lawyer says quote, they don't do anything, the police, they won't lift a finger, they won't protect you, they won't arrest anybody, unless you are literally about to be killed in front of their eyes, they won't do anything. stuart: hold on a second. paul ryan is taking questions. let's listen to that. [question off mic] >> yeah. reconciliation is regular ordered, just so you know. that is the regular budgeting process, but we want to look at every avenue, but we think reconciliation is the preferred process. we think that's the most logical process to bring tax reform through. and chairman is marking it up. i think we're planning -- once we mark up the bill, we want to move forward as quickly as possible, and that's basically the schedule. yeah. casey. [question off mic] >> no. not at all.

no. no. we've been -- this is something we've been talking to them all along. we had a very good meeting yesterday. our committees weighs, means, and finance in the white house are going to work regularly to make sure we get a bell together that's unified. we've been briefed on what they're going to do, and it's basically a long exactly the same lines we want to go. so what we see is progress being made, shoaling showing that we're moving and -- wow. let's do that again. progress being made. yeah, progress. wow. that was very interesting. so, no, we see this as a good thing. we see this as a good thing. [question off mic] >> we think it's very constructive. so tom macarthur also has a lot of experience in insurance. knows insurance markets inside and out. worked in high risk pool kind of settings. so we think that macarthur amendment is a great way to lower premiums, give states more flexibility while

protecting people with preexisting conditions. those are the three things we want to achieve. you have to remember, obamacare's collapsing and people are getting hit with double-digit premium increases. so whatever we can do to get those premiums down but also make sure that people with preexisting conditions is met. but every state is different. we had a risk share pool in maine that worked well, so we want to give the states the ability to customize the reforms to maximize the ability to lower premiums and preexisting conditions. and that's exactly the heart of what the macarthur amendment does, and i think it's the heart of consensus. susan. blurting out. i'm just not going to do it, you know? [question off mic] >> we're getting really close. the administration onb along with our appropriators are down to the last fine things. i think we're making really good progress. obviously csrs, we're not doing that be that is not an

appropriation bill, that's something separate that the administration does. we're very, very close to everything else, and now it's getting down to the final details. that's not our intention or goal we want to get this done on time. that's our plan. thanks, everybody. we'll see. we'll vote on it when we get to vote. stuart: okay. that was interesting. we'll vote on it when we get the vote. okay. when is that going to be? ashley: fair enough. stuart: would like to know. what do you take out of that? didn't move the market. i don't think he added materially our understanding of the issues whether it's health care or tax reform. i think that's kind of a wash. >> are you like eeyore from winnie the pooh series? gloom and doom? come on, stuart. stuart: okay. go ahead. go ahead. >> i think it's a solid first start. i think it's going to be a healthier process, not that we're talking health care, a health process going forward learning from their mistakes.

you have to bring in the conservatives. whether it would increase the deficit, what does this mean? whether it's going to be temporary versus permanent tax cut, so i think that they are in a better position in terms of passing tax reform as opposed to what we saw with the health care. stuart: can we just clear something up here? if you go to reconciliation, that means it can pass in the senate with 51 votes. you don't need the 60. 51. so one of the rules for it going for any measure going under reconciliation. >> it has to be existing legislation law. existing law. and update it, reform it, however you need to do that. but you can introduce new legislation through budget reconciliation. there are limitations, as well as limitations that you cannot increase the deficit in ten years. stuart: in ten years. >> yes. that's a fact. stuart: okay. so you can get 51 votes in the senate for the president's tax reform plan if you can fit it to the rules of reconciliation that gives it a huge shot.

>> and republicans would prefer a revenue neutral bill, which at this point it doesn't seem that president trump's plan is going to go in that direction. stuart: i doubt it's going to happen. it did not move the market. i'm going to repeat that. speaker ryan went before the public and the dow was up 23. now it's up 23 points. did not move the market. okay. now this. senators are heading to the white house this afternoon. this is an all hands meeting on north korea. former massachusetts senator scott brown. now, i don't know what's going to be discussed and what the president's going to say about north korea. would you speculate what might go on in that meeting? because it's very important. >> well, of course it's very important. and as you know, north korea is saber rattling. i think it's very good that he's reaching out to the chinese president, obviously, and working with china and really putting some real, real pressure, not only diplomacy pressure but economic pressure on china.

and the fact that he's actually being inclusive and bringing in all members of the senate i think is brilliant in that it's really extending an olive branch, stuart, to the entire senate, democrats and republicans and letting them know without any bs whatsoever what's, in fact, going on. and they're going to hear from the president but more importantly his leadership team that can give them up to date accurate information on the real state of affairs when it comes to north korea. i think it's great. stuart: ralph peters on the program about a half hour ago said, look, north korea must not be allowed to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles because they can put a nuke on one and attack the west coast of the united states. they must not be allowed to develop that kind of missile. that's what this meeting is going to be about, isn't it? how do we stop them, what do we use to stop them? >> absolutely. as you see, many presidents, not just president obama, but prior presidents, you know, tried to do the carrot and stick approach and quite frankly, it's not working

because china, who really holds the cards here, has the ability to cut off oil, cut off trade, and really hurt them monetarily. it has not been willing to do so. but now with this president and china understanding that we have a relationship with china, there's some real pressure to put on north korea. so that's a good thing. however, he does have just traditional weaponry that he can lob at south korea and start a real mess there. so we have to kind of walk a fine line, but you're absolutely right, stuart. the fact that he could put a nuke on a intercontinental ballistic missile, forget about it. it would be devastating and quite frankly, we need to make sure that doesn't happen, and i think all measures will be on the table. stuart: of course there's nothing to stop the president branching out and discussing tax reform with the 100 senators he's assembling at the white house. i mean, he could lobby a couple of moderate democrats. why don't you see it my way. nothing's stopping him from doing that, isn't it? >> listen, of course not,

stuart. and i listen to you every day, as you know, and you've been nailing it not only on obamacare but on tax reform. the public sent them there to do that. they need to get it done. they need to show that, in fact, we're going to continue on with that agenda, and it will help everybody just across the board, and i've always said, and i think we talked about this. the repatriation, i would take it in piecemeal, take that money and use it wherever you want to use it. you want to use it toward obamacare? reduction? infrastructure? i don't care. just get that money back because that's a $3 trillion nongovernment stimulus bill. stuart: you're right, scott. that's an enormous amount of money sitting right there. scott brown, everyone. thank you for joining us scott. appreciate it. thank you. >> thanks stuart. stuart: we have a statement from the u.s. pacific fleet. ashley: yeah, this is interesting what he's saying. he's saying quote the united states can defeat any north korean missile attack on u.s. carrier strike group. also goes on to say the u.s.

wants to bring north korea's kim jong-un to his senses, not to his knees. and, by the way, they will have a missile defense system that will be operational in south korea quote in the coming days. stuart: and that's the admiral who just said it left-hand side of the screen and congressional hearing as of right now. good stuff, ashley. thank you. check the big board coming down but not much. 20 points higher. more varney after this

. stuart: what's this? another push for a new, much higher minimum wage? what is it, ashley? ashley: yeah, what is it now? 7.25, 15 bucks an hour by the year 2024. we're talking about congressman keith ellison and of course bernie sanders are all pushing hard for this. it's never going to get through republican control

congress. president trump then candidate donald trump did say he would be open to pushing it to 10 bucks on the campaign trail. they're doing a donald trump. shoot high, get something below. stuart: see what happened to all the wait staff to newark airport. >> automation. that's where it's moving. these companies say it's cheaper to automate. stuart: kiosks. liz: should call it the minimum wage job destruction. stuart: federal judge blocking president trump again this time with holding funds to sanctuary cities. he says see you in court. we're on it

. stuart: now, it's not a huge gain for the dow industrials. 26 points. okay. but we're well above 21,000. but look on the right-hand side of your screen. united health, 3m, mcdonald's, microsoft. four very different kind of companies, all of those four hitting record all-time highs today. look at that. you've got health care, you've got industrial company, you've got a fast food chain, a software company. that is extraordinary. and all of them going to record highs. now, we just got the latest news on how much oil we got in storage. what have we got? ashley: down 3.64 million. that's more than double what the markets expected. they expected a draw down of 1.66 million. oil was on a bearish trend, ticking now to the upside here. you see it on the green right now. stuart: ticking up. however, i'm looking at the gasoline figures, and there is a bill that means we've got more gasoline in storage and that is 3.3 million barrels of gasoline extra.

i would hope that that means the price of gas is going to come down. >> summer driving season stuart: yes, it is. i'm very susceptible to the price of gasoline. has gone up about 2.30 in new jersey where i buy my gas. ashley: that's outrageous. stuart: 2.40 i should say and a couple of weeks ago it's 2.10. liz: that's a national disgrace. stuart: it's hurting me. oh, i've got breaking news from ibm. they're opening more data centers and the stock is up. what's this? ashley: yeah, four new ibm cloud data centers in the united states. two of them will be in dallas and two new facilities in washington, d.c. look, mr. trump, we're investing in making america great again. stuart: did you know it's the cloud business that has propelled amazon and microsoft to these high levels? ashley: taking ibm longer to get that going. liz: years. ashley: yes. stuart: and they opened four data centers and the announcement gives them a six cent gain. ashley: huge. stuart: on that stock. yeah, how about that?

quick check of the big go board, pretty ecstatic at that level for this morning. now, north korea republican tom on tucker carlson. this was last night bashing president trump's border wall. watch this. >> i oppose putting a 30-foot structure on top of a 3,000 foot sheer cliff. what sense would it make to take down a structure that's working and replace it with something that people on the ground wouldn't? i don't know if it's the most productive use of the money that we would have. stuart: now, that is a republican from north carolina who says i don't want that wall. come on in, please, republican steve king. you know, i've got to say yet again, sir, that the republican party is totally divided, even on the issue of the wall. i find that remarkable. >> well, stuart, i listened to this interview last night and as i listened to it, it just sounded like it was a rambling of double-speak. i mean, we don't want to put a

wall on top of a 3,000 foot sheer cliff. i've traveled every mile of that border, i don't remember a 3,000 sheer foot cliff on that border. . stuart: but you know what i'm getting at. the republican party was not united on health care. there's probably some serious divisions on tax reform, and even the border wall, which i thought was bedrock republican policy right from the top down, you're not united on that either. >> stuart, you are right, and i recall a speech i made to our republican conference early in january of this year, and i said "we've got a strong consensus here, we're going to have to let go of the details and move. let's get these things done. let's not fight over mnuchin any longer. and instead, much of this of the first 100 days has been squandered with the delays, people holding out for their things that they. the. i want the clearest principle that we can get, but i want to move without the chance to move. and this is a historic opportunity, and it's disappearing from it. if we don't do something to

put this momentum back together. . stuart: okay. talk about lack of momentum. a loss of momentum. how about the sanctuary cities blockage by a court? again, you're shaking your head. but this is another roadblock towards progress on what the president wants to do. by the way, the president is tweeting this: first, the ninth circuit rules against the ban and now it hits again on sanctuary cities. both ridiculous rulings. see you in the supreme court. another roadblock for that momentum that you're talking about, congressman. >> and, stuart, i want to go on the record here on your program. i would vote today to abolish the ninth circuit. it's so scrambled our constitution, they need to be abolished and everybody laid off and start all over fresh with all those new folks keep in mind the lesson they might learn from this. what does the president do at this point? he's been denied the constitutional and statutory authority to protect the united states with his refugee executive orders, congress granted that specific authority to the president.

this isn't a front to congress an article one and in a front article two that comes out of the ninth circuit. so if i were the president, i would be putting together a strategy like this. all right. you all played this game of shutting the government down in 2013 and republicans run their hands over this. the president may have to put together a strategy that says you know what this government's going to run? i'm going to get what i want, and we're going to see who blinks. stuart: you know, there was a poll recently that showed if the election were held again today, president trump or donald trump would beat hillary clinton 43-40. i think that poll suggests that the blame for this lack of momentum that you're talking about is not resting with president trump. it's going to the republican party, i think you're agreeing with that. >> i am agreeing. i don't know about the 17% that abstain from that poll, but i think that because congresses has moved, and we clearly have the majority. especially in the house. we're not tied up of getting

anything when but a majority, has some filibuster rules which they could waive tomorrow, and i'm thinking they should do that. we haven't moved confidently. we've got time to do some reform along the way and then moved on with the tax reform. we can put those pieces together. we need to on health care sell insurance across state lines and send that over to the senate and then the senate could contemplate do we want to do this with 51 votes or let chuck schumer dictate the policy of the united states of america? . stuart: okay. sounds like you live in hope, as do the rest of us. congressman king, thanks for joining us, sir. we appreciate it. >> thank you. stuart: now let's get back to taxes. president trump promising a big tax announcement later on today. treasury secretary steve mnuchin is saying tax plan is still a work in progress. roll tape. >> i will confirm that the

business tax is going to be 15%. we've been talking to chairman brady and speaker ryan on this for a long period of time. and as i've said before, there's many aspects of it we like. there are certain things that we're concerned about. what we've discussed with them is we don't think it works in its current form, and we're going to continue to have discussions with them about revisions that they will consider. . stuart: okay. joining us now fox news contributor charles. welcome to the program. you don't have your usual smile on your face this morning. are you feeling down in the dumps about tax reform and health care reform and all the rest of it? >> no. actually, i'm feeling pretty good about it. at least the tax reform part. i do think what mnuchin's remarks there signaled that they are coalescing around something, and it means that they understand they have to do something on it. health care reform, i just -- i really don't see how they come around on it just because, you know, the republican version of the bill is, you know -- it is obamacare light, and it's kind

of hard to get excited about that. but taxes, they've got to do something on that. stuart: but if you get a 15% corporate tax rate, and you have a 15% rate on sub chapter s, very, very small business, you've got a maximum of 15% rate there, and you've introduced some kind of special low tax to incur all those trillions of dollars overseas to come back to america. if you've got all those three done, you would have a remarkable stimulus for the u.s. economy. and that's where i think things are going. focus in on what is doable and do it. what do you think? >> absolutely. it would be absolutely extraordinary what i think the economy would -- what would happen to the economy if they accomplish that. and it's all doable. it's all within reach. but i tell you. all of this concern about deficits, and i am concerned about deficits. we have $20 trillion in debt. it's terrifying. but why is it that these people -- they're never concerned about deficits. they're never concerned about

debt when they're spending our money. they only get upset about deficits and debts when they're talking about cutting our taxes. and that's a real problem in washington the way bureaucrats and politicians think when it comes to spending money. when it comes to giving us our money back or taking less of our money, and it is a money, then they get all, then it is responsible about deficits and debts. come on. it's ridiculous. stuart: the border adjustment tax seems to be gone. the president is leaning away from that and so is the treasury secretary. that means the tax cuts, if we get them, will not be paid for. that means in the immediate future, you're going to have a run up in the deficit. and that will be political news. >> that will be terrible. but going back to the idea that disburse the economy the way i think it will and the way that history has shown that it will, then there's

no -- and you know what? if we wind up with running up deficits, then let's cut some spending. i have no problem cutting spending. we should be doing that anyway. i'm all in favor of it. and that's one reason why i'm sort of, you know, the whole idea of obamacare light passed by republicans is a little bit, you know, that's not going to do anything to help debts and deficits. stuart: let's see that smile, please, charles. there you go. that's better. you can't leave with a grim look. charles hurt, everyone. we'll see you again soon. >> thanks, stuart,. stuart: we come back with still a 20-point gain with the dow industrials. that's what we have. we've been there almost an hour. ashley: since the start. stuart: from the get-go. 21,020 is where we are. coming up, the ceo of hobby lobby. he says religious liberty is more important than profits. he'll explain it after this.

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>> earlier in the program, we spoke with zippy, the american farm bureau president, and he says the president's new executive order on agriculture is getting everybody's attention. take a listen. >> i think it's getting everybody's attention that we want to come to the table and

have those very difficult discussions about all of our trade and agriculture is normally a very successful in trade treaties. but we're neighbors to friends that produce other products, and we feel like everyone should have a fair shake, and we're looking forward to protecting the gains that we have made in trade in the past and in our trade treaties and looking forward to doing even better under the promise of this administration. we're on to you, diabetes. time's up, insufficient prenatal care. and administrative paperwork... your days of drowning people are numbered. same goes for you, budget overruns. and rising costs, wipe that smile off your face. we're coming for you, too. for those who won't rest until the world is healthier,

neither will we. optum. how well gets done.

>> the most important thing to us was religious liberties, and we think with the supreme court nomination that he has had that we're going to have religious liberties, so that's the big deal for us. and we can handle a little bit more taxes or a little less taxes, so those issues are great but not that important to us. we're excited about that part of what president trump accomplished. . stuart: well, look who's here. hobby lobby ceo and founder david green. by the way, has a new book giving it all away and getting it all back again. i like the sound of that. first of all, explain yourself. you are -- explain yourself. you are a business leader who says that religious liberty is more important than taxes. >> well, yes, because if i'm

being forced to pay for things that i think -- drugs that i think is going to take life, that is very important to me, so we obviously had to fight because of that. stuart: the morning after abortion pill. >> exactly. stuart: you refuse to carry. >> exactly. even though we had 16 contraceptives in the mix, those are four that we couldn't go with. stuart: what happened in the end? >> well, obviously, we won 5-4. you know, it's beyond us why it wasn't a 9-0 on the basis of forcing someone to take life. stuart: you went to the supreme court, and you won. >> exactly. exactly. stuart: you didn't have to tell what -- sell what i'm calling an abortion pill. >> exactly. so the define for us was going to be $1.3 million based on the number of employees we had. so that was the rock and the hard spot. we were going to take life or pay penalty. stuart: you could have lost. >> we could have lost. stuart: what would you have done if you lost? >> we don't know what we would have done. but we knew what we weren't

going to do. we weren't going to pay for someone's abortive pills. stuart: okay. and this is a quote. you will not see -- you said you will not see a penny from your $4.6 billion business. now, you get a salary, i take it. >> yeah. i have a salary. i've been making the same for the last 11 years. i can get myself a raise. probably deserve it. but really, our assets, we see them as something that we're stewarts of. so we're stuart what god is giving us, and it's the same for our children. none of us are going to benefit from the assets of this company. we're here to stuart it. stuart: i don't get that. i'm a kind of guy who looks for profit. i want to pay a minimum of taxes. >> yeah. stuart: and that's the way i want to go, and i think that's good for america because the less tax i pay, the more money i've got, i can stimulate the economy, more jobs, et cetera, et cetera. what's wrong with my point of view? >> no. it's all good, and we

do the same thing. but what we want to do with those profits is give them to ministries, so that's what we do. we want to keep this in things that are ministries that we're involved in. so we're making as much money as we can, we're opening as many stores as we can to be more effective in the ministries we're involved in. stuart: you've got 780 stores now. building how many a year new? >> the last several years it has been between 50 and 70 every year, so we're growing at a pretty good pace. stuart: if i were to say you're aggressive christian operation spreading the word of god, is that what you do? >> that is our purpose. we have to have a purpose. stuart: and that's a far higher purpose than making money? >> we make money. we need to do that to do what we want to do in the end. the end result is something that's eternal. telling people about christ. so we think more of eternal things than temporal. stuart: in that sound byte you

were saying you don't care if you pay a little bit more in tax or a little bit less. >> not a big issue. stuart: yes, is a big issue. >> well, for us it's not a big issue. i'm not that crazy about taxes but at the same time, there are bigger issues for us and god has blessed us. we do well. we're very profi we have zero debt, and we do $4.6 billion, so we are good. we pay our employees minimum wage of $15.70. so we care about family, and we care about our employees. so we're good. but religious liberties is a big issue for us. stuart: are you -- forgive me of asking political question. but are you a trump supporter? >> well, it wasn't my first choice but rubio was our first choice. but when we got to the point where we felt there was only one way to keep our religious liberties, then trump was our candidate. stuart: what would you say the biggest problem that america faces today? >> i think the biggest problem; is that correct need to go back to where we

started, and that is where we started in god we trust. i had a chance to talk to mr. trump, candidate trump who said we're not going to make america great without going back to god and his word. stuart: are spiritual people gaining ground in america or losing ground? i know that's a very rough way to put it. >> it seems like we're losing ground but hobby lobby is doing everything we can. we're going to be putting a bible museum in washington, d.c. it's 430,000 square feet. it's five blocks from the capital, so we think that if we can get god's word in, and we look back to something we can stand on. god's word, i think i can stand on it in my marriage, in my business, in my family, and i think this country could stand on god's word as well. stuart: extraordinary. david green. hobby lobby. thank you very much for joining us, sir. we appreciate it. >> thank you. stuart: all right. there you are. we'll be back. your insurance company

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liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. . stuart: students at uc berkeley are suing the college after the decision to block ann coulter from speaking on the day she was originally invited. well you viewers had a lot to say about that. first of all, from julie, there is no free speech anymore. not allowing someone to speak because you disagree is not free speech.

disgusted with some of our colleges. here's another. why would any parent send these kids to the colleges? they're not getting an education, they're being taught to hate. any comment, ashley? ashley: we've got smart viewers. i was thinking about this coming in today. i just cannot believe that the colleges and especially berkeley of all places, the free exchange of ideas. you may absolutely hate what someone else think so. but the very fact that you shout down them and police have to come out to protect those that are just trying to put their point of view across is absolutely -- it's an embarrassment. land of the free? give me a break. stuart: hold on a second. i went to college. it was a very radical school london of economics. and sure we had our demonstrations and students would shout and heckle conservative speakers. but you didn't stop them from getting on the campus and shut them down. you didn't do that. liz: right. i think berkeley's afraid. i don't think the berkeley

professors feel they have the wherewithal, intelligence to debate ann coulter. i think they're afraid, and that's wrong. the irony here is they're calling ann coulter and stuff hate speech when you have tom perez dropping f bombs all over the place. and if, you know, if you don't like it, don't go. you know what? take those masks off. that's what the university is doing. they're taking the masks off because these kids are dressing up like it's a dungeons and dragons game with black hoods and masks and rioting. and it's against the law to wear a mask. not allowed. ashley: and their cowards. they don't have the conviction to show who they are. stuart: tomorrow night, violence, police should make arrests. ashley: but they don't. stuart: they've been told to stand down. liz: but the berkeley mayor is friends on social media with one of the organizers. stuart: what a disgrace. ashley: what a disgrace. stuart: this is one of the occasions where you and i and the viewers are in absolute sync. we're together on this. back in a moment

. . .

stuart: technology companies are fabulously wealthy. they have the kind of money that is very hard to get your arms around, hardo understand. let me start with apple, watch this. it has $246 billion in cash. that's not the value of factories or real estate, that's a quarter trillion cash. how about microsoft, the original tech titan? $122billion in cash. alphabet, parent of google, look at that. $86billion cash. all right. you add up those three and it comes to $454 billion in cash. that's almost a half trillion dollars. with that kind of money it gives you enormous power. should the tech companies be

reined in the way industrial giants were, should the political leaders have influence over all that money? most of it is parked overseas. should we force them in some way to bring it back home. what will we do if we cut corporate tax rates and they don't bring the money back home. it's a big debate and what happens when a company acquires more money than half of the world's countries put together? the market value of just those three companies is $1.89 trillion. three american companies worth a little bit more than the gdp of italy. the third hour of varney & company is about to begin.

[laughter] >> i was hoping when i came to america that i could be a billionaire that those hopes are fading fast. let's get to the money, shall we. the dow is up 33 points. it puts us firmly a 21,000 and it means that we are less than a 100 points away from the old-time record high for the dow industrials. not bad. how about that nasdaq? yes, it's over 6,000 again. up a bit more. that is a new all-time record high for the nasdaq. technology companies on the nasdaq. dow components reporting profits today. let's have a look at them. disappointing, the stock is down, boeing disappointing, that stock is down. that dow stocks, that goes down and weighs in the overall industrial average. united technology no so bad earnings there, up a fraction. how about twitter? more people are signing up for twitter accounts, active monthly users by 8.9 million because of

president trump. look at chipotle. looks like they are turning the things around. remember the e. coli problem? 488 now. we call them the fabulous five, referring to them just a moment ago, big-tech stocks, all of them are setting at very close to their all-time record high. i say corporate profits are fueling the market more than the hope of a tax cut. liz, ash, i'm saying, look, corporate profits, they're so strong up 11% over last year. i think that's what's fueling the market rather than a hope of a tax cut. ashley: i used because the word that you used is hope, we know what president wants and republicans wants. both on health care and on the border wall, there's no consensus there. how likely are to get tax reform. they are going to get something through but the markets are concentrating on profits. stuart: how about the border

tax, elizabeth? liz: yes, sir. stuart: we understand that the president and the treasury secretary are moving away from a border tax to pay for tax cut. liz: it split the business community and he needs a business community united to support his tax cut's agenda. it would have hurt big-name companies that are big employer in red state that is went for trump. we were talking wal-mart, you know, a lot of retailers didn't like it. toyota didn't like it, the the coch -- koch brothers didn't like it. stuart: i don't think this border tax -- it's not going to happen. ashley: no. stuart: if you cut taxes elsewhere, that deficit goes up, you may like it or hate, it will go up. liz: i don't care if you i sound one-note, you will pay for that

tax cut. stuart: to change the subject, left-hand side of the screen, russell 2000 all-time high. straight up, russell 2000. later this hour we will joined by the president of national retail federation, big winner if the border tax goes away. the retailers hated the border tax, looks like he's a winner on this one. next case, the trump administration says they are going to unveil the biggest tax cut in history? chris is in dc. i think that they need to republicans -- the republicans need a few democrats in the senate to support basic tax reform. are they going to get that democrat support? >> we will see what they propose? remember, president obama proposed a rather sweeping change to corporate taxes.

that was not a controversial proposal among democrats. it is an economic concept. it has bipartisan support, which is by bringing america's tax code into line with the rest of the developed world, you can start to bring some money back from overseas, you can start to gethe money here and increase investment. that's somethi that's noncontroversial. in the details, how low and how much, we will see, but as a concept, this is something that should be able to get some bipartisan support. stuart: the democrats would only support it, this is way back when, when the money that came back was earmarked in certain directions. you couldn't buy back your own stock, oh, no, you had to distribute, distribute the money, that's the big string. that's why they supported it. you're not going to get strings like that on this corporate tax

reform effort. >> the republicans have a decision to make. do they want to try to get a lasting tax reform, that means getting eight democrats. so that means they have to get eight democrats in order to get e lasting tax reform that could create the kind of us taken growth that you saw after the risk & reward 86 reform, simpler, fairer and has long-term results and provides predictability that investors, capitalists want. this is what it's going to be like, we can live with this or the republicans can say, you know what, let's do it dirty. let's jam it on reconciliation, it's going to have a sunset in it but hopefully we can get some kind of stimulus out of this so we can win reelection. stuart: i say do the latter, i say you. [laughter] stuart: i do. i say get it on the books, get your score on the board for heaven's sake. [laughter]

stuart: where do you stand? >> here is where i stand that for the american people what they look to washington continually for is that it can work, that washington can be made to work because otherwise what will follow this election is what we have seen in 2006 which is wave after wave and we ended up with a parliamentary kind of system where the only times that you can legislate and govern is when your party is swept in after the other guys stink it up so badly that you try to jam your unpopular reforms through and we play ping-pong through. we never advance and people lose more confidence in the government. it is time for somebody to grow up and say, we have to function like the republic we are, not a european parliamentary system. stuart: i knew i liked you. and, yes, you're with me. put a score on the board. [laughter] stuart: come back soon.

appreciate it. >> the democrats, they're going to introduce a 15-dollar minimum wage bill today, explain. ashley: good-bye jobs tomorrow, right? stuart: i say. ashley: federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2024 incrementally in introducing it. it's not going to get through congress. president trump did talk about maybe 10 bucks an hour on the campaign trail but then kind of -- kind of downplayed that particular issue. the congressional democrats are doing this as the whole fight for 15 effort but we know what this is led to. we talked about this earlier, you go to restaurants now and you have an ipad you do your order, you're wiping out -- restaurants and employers can do away with employees once it gets passed the tipping point, what that is certainly $15 an hour and people get replaced by robots and machinery and that is the reality. stuart: job-destroying minimum wage.

that would be my opinion. liz: what are the democrats' job plans, what is it? do they have one? they are never going get the white house again. stuart: spend more government money. liz: more government res ashley: it's not the government money, it's our money. stuart: president trump says canada has been outsmarting us he's going to tax the canadian lumber and dairy products as well. we have the iowa secretary of agriculture next but first here is what mark stein had to say about it. >> hey, stuart, stuart, lumber prices are at their highest since the beginning of the century in the united states so making all this fabulous cheap canadian wood, canadian as scott would say, canadian pine is the amazon.com of lumber. [laughter] ♪ we asked people to write down the things they love to do most on these balloons. travel with my daughter. roller derby.

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>> do you feel a trade war can canada? >> no, sir. >> why not? >> we have massive great deficits. when we have country with deficits, we have no fear. stuart: he has no fear with trade war in canada. he did slam tariff in lumber, maybe he will do the same thing with canadian products. the iowa secretary of agriculture. sir, you support the president's orderers on lumber and maybe later on dairy products? >> i certainly don't know if there's something coming on dairy or not. aware of the lumber but not really in my ballpark. i certainly am very pleased to have the conversation yesterday with the group of ag folks from

around the country on agriculture issues and trade was very important, trade with canada, méxico and obviously china and japan that was talked about. stuart: are you concerned that if we slap any kind of tariff on agriculture stuff coming into america, then we will have tariffs slapped on our stuff when it goes to china and someplace else. that would be a trade war, surely that's of a concern? >> you know, we are always concerned about having good relationship with our trading partners. i think one of the things the administration is focused on and we will see how effective that will be is making sure that our trading partners are living up to the rules in those trade agreements. that was the conversation about dairy yesterday, certainly a feeling from the american perspective that they're not living up to the nafta rules in -- in reflection of their change in dairy policy that doesn't allow some of our milk to go north of the border.

so i think -- stuart: is the president staking out a negotiating position, tough line now which he will negotiate down towards a middle level at some point. is that how you see it? >> i don't know, i don't know what the strategy is here for sure on issue. it could be simply because he believes that there are unfair practices coming from canada. it could be certainly noticed in relation not only to canada and other issues but it could be other countries as well as. i think we saw that in some of the tough talk that we heard in china and -- and i think we now hear the chinese come to have some conversation about importing beef, about more friendly relations. i think there's some opportunities to be able to change some rules and improve some trade on corn going to china as well as and maybe pork as well. that came from an aggressive conversation maybe about north

korea as much as it was about trade, but i do believe that in some of the cases there needs to be some change in the approach of trading partners. stuart: bill, i know iowa pretty well. i have driven around the state a lot. the sight of the corn fields, it's a wonderful, wonderful sight. thank you for joining us, we appreciate it. thank you. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: we have news on the trump tax plan from john roberts at the fox news channel. sources telling him the top tax rate looks like it will be what 37 -- 39.6. liz: here is the other issue that needs to be covered. where does it start, at what income level? ashley: it was supposed to be 25% the top rate originally, wasn't it? stuart: yes, it was.

ashley: that has gone up considerably. stuart: top rate of 37%, down only 2.6 from the current top rate of 39.6. liz: a lower level of threshold of income. you really are taxing the rich. guess secret in washington, d.c., the rich gets tax cuts because the rich pay the taxes in the country. stuart: that's an extraordinary development to make it 37 instead of 25 and lower the rate at which that rate hits. ashley: plays into the president's narrative that he really wants to help the middle class. stuart: it's not a give away to rich people. wealthier people will not get much at all out of president trump's tax policy plan. very interesting. liz: there's still the medicare surtax from obamacare. stuart: if you get rid of obamacare, you get rid of that. that's fascinating.

37% the top rate. i wasn't expecting that. everyone, check the stock price of general electric, it says our power grid, america's power grid is vulnerable. they say that a hack should shut the power off, few details in a moment on that one online u.s. equity trades... ♪ ...you realize the smartest investing idea, isn't just what you invest in, but who you invest with. ♪ poallergies?reather. stuffy nose? can't sleep? take that. a breathe right nasal strip instantly opens your nose up to 38% more than allergy medicine alone.

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stuart: i'm going to repeat the story of general electric about the power grid. give me the full story, please. ashley: let me get to it right here because i want to -- i just lost it. what. hang on. liz: new york university research and that it could be -- ashley: there you go. it was vulnerability in the lek call -- electrical grid that they believe can be exploited and basically shut down portions of this country. stuart: the whole country's electrical grid. ashley: power systems around the country. stuart: ge is bringing attention to, this we have to fix it. liz: the predent's

infrastructure spending, per grid. stuart: i want to repeat more layoffs at espn, significantly. not affecting the stock, looks to me that disney's stock is barreling through because of the movers but espn slimming down again. liz: 100 employees including on-air talent, play-by-play anchors. 52-week high. it's got blockbuster movies like beauty and the beast, frozen, star wars offsetting the problems at espn for now. stuart: let me draw your attention to the stock market. we are up, a spurt of action. now we are up 60. i wonder if this got anything to do with this report we just broadcasted from john rob rts at fox news channel, sources are telling him that the top individual tax rate looks like it'll be 37%. we were all figuring it would be

33% or 25%. according to john roberts it would be 37%. liz: any tax the rich argument, anything that supports that means easier passage of tax cuts . stuart: richer people making more than $400,000 a year would not longer get the gigantic tax break. liz: wasteful the government is. stuart: think of it in terms of who pays for the tax cut. it doesn't take much to pay for it if your top rate is 37% as opposed to 25%. ashley: correct. liz: lower threshold. stuart: you hit the top tax rate -- liz: for single filers.

stuart: that's going to drop, so that top tax rate will come in at -- liz: 202,000. stuart: which means the government's take will be very much significant. ashley: yeah. stuart: they are canceling out the border tax which would have raised them a lot of money, less generous tax rate to the wealthy and that evens it out. ashley: much more palatable. liz: to make elizabeth sanders -- [laughter] liz: elizabeth warren. stuart: look what's happening on the market right now. up 66 points and the jump occurred just as we were hearing that the top tax rateaybe7%, not lower than that. let's listen into ryan zinke. >> the governors to the

department of interior today. the kid that grew up in the west right next to glacier park, today's xutive order to review the act is long overdue. as secretary, stewards of america's greatest treasures. stuart: ryan zinke about to address topics including monuments created by president obama. we will listen what he has to say meanwhile we have a very significant news development and that is that the top tax rate currently at 39.6% may only come down to 37%. that's according to john roberts who is reporting from his sources in the administration. ashley: to your point, the effective rate was 40 and a half percent.

that comes down to 37, so you're saving 3 and a half percent. stuart: okay. ashley: okay. look at up side. stuart: much less, lesser tax break for wealthy people than everybody was expecting. ashley: even 33. stuart: let's bring in david, former budget director of president reagan. author of the book trumped, a nation on the brink and now to bring it back. i want to talk about this report that the top tax rate will be 37%, not 33 or 25. now let me explain myself. this is why i think this is important. we are going to take a -- we are going to give the rich a lot less than we thought therefore it doesn't take that much to make a tax cut pay for itself. [laughter] >> if only that were true. lower is better, but also we are lowering the rate of 15% for business income on a pass-through basis.

the corporate rate is coming way down and i'm for it. get rid of the damn thing. it's ons sleet, stupid and uncollectible. but my second point is you have to pay for it with spending cuts or alternative revenues and we are talking about 4 or 5 trillion of revenue loss from the corporate, from the pass-through, from the individual plus all the spending he wants, defense, the wall, et cetera. stuart: i've got. >> we have to pay for it. stuart: secretary mnuchin said growth will eventually pay for it. >> can i? she's delusional. we are going to get very little growth from cutting the corporate rate. i agree you need to do it. the corporate rate isn't an accounting matter. they offshore accounting income, they will get it a little bit

back. stuart: hold on a second. >> yeah. stuart: all that money piled overseas and we have three technology companies which alone have almost half trillion dollars, almost all of iparked overseas. >> right. i saw that. stuart: that does not come back here because you've got a very high corporate tax rate of 35%. it stays over there. you drop it down to 15% or even lower to encourage it to come back and it will come back. >> okay. stuart: huge stimulus, that is growth. >> well, first of all, it comes back at 10%, second, the total available is about 2 trillion, 2 and a half, that's 250 billion over a few years. it's a rounding error in a government that's going to collect 40 trillion over the next decade and spend 53 trillion. stuart: but it's a stimulus. >> it's not really stimulus, a

small amount of revenue reflow that's good to have but won't make that big a difference. stuart: subchapter s corporations, maximum rate of 15%, that's a great deal of money into the hands of mom and pop businesses, they will spend it and invest it and that's stimulus? >> that's more deficit unless you offset and we are already drowning in debt plus another 5 trillion that trump wants to add on top. we have a debt crisis. i just want to tell you, stuart, there's going to be no tax bill whatsoever. they will end up in the worst fiscal blood bath and debt ceiling crisis month after month that you can ever imagine. the treasury is now less cash than apple. it will be gone by july. there is no working majority to raise the debt ceiling which is froizen into law. we are dealing with 30 years of fiscal that's coming home.

it's not trump's fault. there's nothing he can do about it and no republican majority that's even close to lining up. look at health care, look at the wall, he can't get -- stuart: nobody has a solution to what you're talking about? >> that's true. stuart: only game in town is cutting some taxes to try to stimulate as much growth as you can get. there's no alternative. >> yes, there is an alternative. stuart: what's the democrats' growth plan? >> they have no growth plan. washington has no growth plan. washington is basically bankrupted the country and it's now even impossible to pass a tax cut because we are borrowing so much money and the last 12 months we borrowed, $750 billion and the next recession hasn't even started and we are going to have it. stuart: let's say we accept your basic premise, we have a problem. let's say i accept that. where should i invest? >> i think anybody who is

investing in the stock market is delusional. stuart: no stocks, where do i invest? >> get in gold. stuart: david you have been saying this to my knowledge ten years, if i had followed your advice ten years, i couldn't retire. >> well, if you would have followed my advice in 2005 you wouldn't have lost 50% of your money. if you followed my advice in 2007, you wouldn't have lost your money. the bubbles are made by the fed and it comes and go. stuart: we should listen to the president of the united states, president trump. [applause]

>> thank you, mikey, great vice president, great help. everybody loves mike pence and i want to thank you for your service, you've been incredible. it's a real pleasure to be at the department of interior where you help preserve the splendor and the beauty of america's natural resources and i can tell you the group that's in here right now, they are really doing the job, right, lisa, they are doing a good job? we will take care of alaska too. don't worry about it. [laughter] >> and they protect the ability of the people to access and utilize the land which truly belongs to them and belongs to all of us. secretary ryan zinke is doing an

incredible job and he never overlooks to details. he's a detailed person. soon after he was confirmed, we had a snowstorm, big one, and he was out there on the steps of the lincoln memorial shovel lg -- shoveling the snow all by himself and he's a strong guy, he did a very good job, but we are proud of him. the first 100 days we have taken historic action to eliminate wasteful regulations, they are being eliminated like nobody has ever seen before. there's never been anything like it. sometimes i look at some of the things i'm signing, maybe people won't like it but i'm doing the right thing. i will till -- tell you, literally some politicians are saying you're doing the right thing, i don't know if i would

have the courage but we are doing it for the good of the nation. we are returning power back to the people, we've eliminated job-destroying regulations on farmers, ranchers and auto workers and so many workers and businesses. today i'm signing a new executive order to end another egregious abuse of federal power and to give that power back to the states and to the people where it belongs. the previous administration used a 100-year-old law known as the theantiquities act. have you heard about that? eliminating the ability of the people who actually live in those states to decide how best to use that land.

today we are putting the states back in charge, it's a big thing. i'm pleased to be joined by so many members of congress and governors who have been waiting for this moment including governor hurbert of utah. thank you, goverr, governor la of maine who by the way lost a lot of weight. i knew him when he was heavy and now i know him when he was thin and i like him both ways. [laughter] >> done a great job. governor calvo of guam. governor torres from the northern mariana islands. thank you, thank you, governor. i also want to recognize senator hatch who, believe me, he's tough, he would call me and call

me and say, you have to do this, you didn't stop. he doesn't give up and he's shocked that i'm doing it but i'm doing it because it's the right thing to do but i really have to point you out, you didn't stop and mike the same thing. so many people feel, mike lee, so many people feel so strongly

and it's time we ended this abusive practice. i have spoken with many state and local leaders, a number of them here today who care very much about preserving our land and who are greatly concerned about this massive federal land that's gotten worse and worse

and worse and now we are going to free it up. to free it up. that's why today i'm signing this order and return control to the people, people of utah, people of all of the states, people of the united states. every day we are going to continue pushing ahead with our reform agenda to put people back in charge of their government and their lives and again i want to congratulate the secretary, i want to congratulate art and mike and all of the people that work so hard in bringing it to this point and tremendously positive things are going to happen on that incredible land,

the likes of which there is nothing more beautiful anyone in the world, but now tremendously positive things will happen. so i want to thank you, i want to thank everybody for being here. god bless you all and god bless america. thank you, thank you very much. [applause] stuart: and the president will now go over and sign the executive order. let's repeat. the president objects to the 265 million acres of american land and water ways that have been put under federal control because of what the president calls the abuse of monuments legislation, he's signing executive order which will put an end to the abuse of that power. that's how he's framed this executive order he is now signing as we can see right

there. he will hold it up, by the way. [applause] stuart: it's going to be running to a dozen or more, i'm sure. >> 34. 34 executive orders. stuart: the judge is with me, ladies and gentlemen. judge napolitano is a founding member of the society for the keepers of art of knowledge. [laughter] >> president and sole member. stuart: the president is about to leave the room. we have gotten to the point and i will keep this brief, we got into the point that the debt bomb is coming, it's going to

explode, you're telling me don't put your money in stocks, you're delusional if you have money in the stock market and he's saying by gold, if you did that in the last ten years, he's been saying that for ten years, i wouldn't be able to retire. >> well, get out now and you will be able to retire. third time in this century. these are bubbles. it's based on the fed putting interest rates in zero for practically eight years. it's based on the hope that congress is going to add to the deficit with tax cut that is we can't afford or that they're unwilling to pay for with spending cuts. donald trump inherited this mess. i don't blame him. when it comes to the fiscal issue, he's clueless, he doesn't want to cut entitlewants to raiy

50 billion over the next years, he has priorities, how in the world does this add up? stuart: okay. [laughter] stuart: i hear you. my problem is someone like you is inevitable right at some point in the future. you cannot tell me what that point is. >> i agree, i agree, you only have to be right once because the next time there's no way to rescue it. this is the difference, i would say. the fed is out of dry powder and washington is broke and there's nobody that's going to be be able to rescue this mess. stuart: thank you, sir. now, reports say, suggest that trump administration had support for the border adjustment tax on imports. matt joins us now, ceo therefore

and matt you won because retailers hate the border tax. you won this one, are you happy? >> well, stuart, i think we are happy that we are going to see the element of a plan from the president that's going to be good for our economy, consumers, small businesses, good for investment, job creation. so we are very pleased about that. as you and i discussed in the program, we don't think the proposal is going to go away. we think it's an extraordinarily bad for consumers who will drive up prices for everything that people purchase. that's not what our economy needs and that's not what the trump voters for last november. stuart: another win for you because as i understand it, retailers do pay that very, very high level of corporate tax, 35%, you pay the higher effective tax rate than most of the industries and so you have to be another winner if that tax rate drops to 15%. you guys are making, --

>> we are please today see that. the tax plan needs to be blown up. if we can do that -- if we can't do that, we at least need to lower rates. we create more jobs in this economy than any other industry. that's why we have been pushing for -- stuart: you know what the argument is of the other side of the business is. tax relief is not going make much difference to that. >> no, tax relief will make a difference to the extent you can use capital in other ways. what we are seeing here really is an enormous transformation in the industry. remember that more than 90% of sales still occur in bricks and mortar stores but it's important to know that seven out of the top 10 and 21 of top 25e-commerce platforms are

operated by brick and mortar stores. this is consumers changing behavior and there are big players like amazon, wal-mart, home depot who are investing in their experience and growing very rapidly. that's where consumers are but the retail industry is not going to go away, it will continue to transform. stuart: i'm sorry to interrupt you, matthew. i have interesting news on the tax bracket that is the president proposes. thank you. we understand -- this is what we are getting for that the president will push for three tax brackets, 35% at the top rate, what's the other one? 25, 10. those will be the three brackets. at the moment there's five or six brackets. top tax bracket down, the top

rate down to 35%. that's a pretty significant tax break for wealthy people but not as significant. a lot of people thought it would be 33%. ashley: 37. stuart: it's 35%. that's our latest information. that would be the top rate of individual taxation at the federal law. that's very interesting. the market is come back down again. the market went up on the fear that that would be easier to sell in congress because you're not giving rich such enormous tax break. now we hear is 35% and we have a 30-point gain for the dow industrials. just fascinating. are you happy? 35%? are you okay with this? >> we are great with that,

stuart. listen, many thousands of the retailers we represent have small entities. we hope they get treatment with corporate players. the more money of pocketbooks of american citizens is more money for the american economy. it's good for bricks and mortar and online players, which is really where most retailers are today. online and in stores, it'll be great for the economy people spend. stuart: this is a brilliant piece of lobbying on your part. you got everything you wanted, lower corporate tax rate, got rid of the border tax and pass-through rate, subchapter s corporations, you didn't lose except to the online and retailers? >> well, i don't think we are losing. again, we represent everybody, we represent them both and our bricks and mortar are investing heavily. i think it's too soon to declare victory on anything in the tax

code. listen, we are getting details and that's fascinating stuff. we will hear more at 1:30. stuart: you're smiling. >> well, i'm happy to talk to you. stuart: you know you've won. >> we have a long way to go here. i think it's true, though, that when it comes to the border tax or service tax, you know all about those, those are bad for consumers and bad for the economy. stuart: you're such a good lobbyist. thanks for joining us. ashley: seven tax brackets, lowest 10, highest at 39.6, reduces from 7 down to 3. stuart: okay, seven down to three. 35, 25, 10. got it. now, this the man on your screen that you're about to see, uber driver, with our very own

connell mcshane and told connell that he's a varney fan. just listen to

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call to request your free decision guide now. because the time to think about tomorrow is today. stuart: you have to check this one out. our own connell mcshane took uber ride and struck up a version with the driver who says he's a big varney fan but the driver stopped watching varney for a while and here is why. listen to this. >> i got tired of listening for him for a while. what brought me back to him was when he -- the billionaire saying that they should pay more taxes and he explained, we don't tax wealth, we tax income. that's what made me start listening to him again, he got a billionaire, he was telling everybody about wealth versus income. that's why i decided to come back to him.

guess who is on the phone right now? >> thanks for having me on. stuart: i'm appall that had you would turn us at all but i'm very glad you came back. you know, that's one of the main points that i try to make. we don't tax wealth in this country, we tax income. that turns you back onto us, didn't it? >> yes, because a lot of people don't understand how the tax bracket and how the financial system works and you do which i loved a lot. that's what made me turn back on again. stuart: you got annoyed because i was banging on the table saying, i want a tax cut, i want a tax cut, that annoyed you? >> not as much as the ryancare bill, that really annoyed me because i realized the individual mandate is not good for anyone, the cadillac tax, they are picking down the road and when i was listening you tell senators and congressmen to

just pass the bill, i realized it was a detriment to donald trump and not congressmen. he's there for eight years, you heard me right, eight years, those congressmen are going to be 10, 30 years, what are they going to do pass that to donald trump. stuart: can i say you shouldn't be driving a car for a living, you should be in this chair right now. are you a full-time uber driver? >> yes, i am. i live in baltimore, work in dc. stuart: thank you very much, indeed, for listening to the program, we really appreciate it and your input today was spectacular. thank you, sir. >> thank you for having me on. stuart: yes, sir. ashley: how about that? stuart: more varney after this.

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and her mobile wedding business. she travels far and wide to officiate i do's. and quickbooks automatically tracks those miles. she categorizes with a swipe and is ready for tax time. find more than $4000 in tax savings. visit quickbooks-dot-com. stuart: the big news of this day

is rich people are not getting as big of a tax break as they thought they were going to get. the top tax rate under the trump plan will come down but just to 35%. it is currently 39.6. a lot of people would come all the way down. not such a great break for the likes of neil cavuto, sir. neil: or you, sir. i don't want to rain on your little parade here, but that 35% rate, might not be a sure thing because they will limit your deduction. so that little tree farm of yours. >> little tree farm. neil: you might go into plastics or something, but it does not look good, bud. you can afford it. that is is the kind of country we live in. >> are you done? neil: no. i got two hours. we're calling it the varney surtax for the next two hours. great show. great reporting. you've been on this before, stuart. we'll carry that baton.