>> he's under scrutiny. jon: the fight with his brother, to get as much money out of assets. maria: that'll do it for us. erin elmore, jon hilsenrath, guy benson. stuart, you're watching record highs in the market. stuart: yes, aim. well, are we going to get there today? 40 odd points away. good morning, it's great to be back specially on a day where we might, i think, we probably will, i think we almost certainly will hit 23,000 on the dow and we are very close to it. that was the close yesterday. 22,956. it was the 66th time the dow had hit record during the still young trump presidency. and this is how we open this morning. we are going to go up again, certainly for the dow, 20-odd points. we are off. legitimate question, what's going on here?

number one, the economy is growing, number two, commit today tax cut and number three reports are strong. look at netflix. prepare to spend $8 billion to produce its own content next year over 5 million new subscribers signed up in three months. the stock is above $200 per share. sales up worldwide reported this morning by johnson johnson & jo. morgan stanley, same story with goldman sachs, all of them dow stocks, all of them up. let's sum it up, the media is full of report about hostility toward president trump on wild press conference, investors could not care less. we are watching for dow, 23,000. i believe it's coming very soon. you have to see this, varney & company is about to begin. ♪

♪ >> i hope hillary runs. i hope, hillary, please run again. stuart: i would call that -- [laughter] stuart: the president hopes hillary runs again in 2020, i'm sure he does. he was all smiles with senate majority leader mitch mcconnell talking tax reform andy puzder is here, ceo of hardy's and carl's jr., are you buying unity on tax measure? >> absolute i am. ic it was very clear yesterday that mitch mcconnell and the president are both on board, they know they have to get tax cuts, everybody knows they have to get tax cuts done this year if they have any chance of retaining the senate in 2018. so, look, the market believes it, if the market didn't believe it you wouldn't be up at 23,000. stuart: some negative comments, though, from some republicans in the senate, they are holding

back on gun hoe for tax cuts, that doesn't worry you? >> not at all. i think strategically some people chose to hold back because of the last minute they want their vote to be the one where they get their point negotiated, where they can retain a little more negotiating power. i don't think -- even john mccain has to know that this has to get done. so i'm with the market. i think this is -- i think things look very good. stuart: all right, you're on board with unitity members of the -- message. the dow is going up 20-odd maybe 30 points at the opening bell. by the way, we hit 22,000 on the dow, that was august the second, a couple of months ago. 23,000 on october the 17th, stay tune, it could just happen. look at netflix, that stock is going to be up this morning, they put up a strong -- no, no. we are going to be down a fraction. ashley: yeah. stuart: they put up strong

subscriber growth yesterday, 5 million new people coming on board. they were up earlier, now they are just about dead flat. we will see how that pans out. lots of big names reporting profits today. goldman sachs, johnson & johnson, morgue anticipate stanley, all of them coming strongly. all of them on the upside. market watcher, one of many, actually. [laughter] stuart: these profits, they are looking pretty good so far, what say you? >> they are looking very strong specially from the financialses like goldman sachs, morgan stanley, jpmorgan last week. look at netflix, stuart, netflix came out with a great number on the subscriber growth, but look at how much money they are spending more content, $4 billion. now -- stuart: 8 billion next year. mike: as they keep spending money for their content and disney is stepping away for own

streaming service, i would be careful with netflix. i would not be a buyer at these levels. stuart: may i add something that liz has been talking about, off book balance sheet shows 28 billion dollars in debt. total. that's a big debt. liz: shareholder equity, it's a lot. stuart: negative on netflix? mike: i think it's gotten ahead of itself. stuart: andy puzder, come in here. 66 record closes since election day. the media, though, they don't like to call it a trump rally, do they? >> no, they don't and really this is about consumer and business optimism. everybody is optimistic, you look at the university of michigan, consumer survey that came out yesterday, it came in at 101, they were expecting 95. last year at 96, great number. national association of

manufacturers, manufacturer optimism, everybody is very optimistic, it looks positive for tax reform, they are even talking once again about trying to do something on repeal and replace. there's a lot of optimism out there and it's showing up in the market, has been since the election. stuart: real fast, andy, 23,000 on the dow today. >> yes, absolutely. i think we will hit it. i hope we keep it, we will hit it for sure. stuart: 23,000 on the market today? mike: i have to agree with andy. stuart: we are all in agreement. i've got this for you, radio host and nra host dana lash, she says she had to move, leave her home, she's received death threats, here is what she tweeted about this, spent my weekend prepare to go move due to repeated threats from gun control advocates and there is a picture of belongs of hers in

garbage bags, judge napolitano is with us this morning. i'm incline today say so much for free speech? >> so much for the inability to the government to protect free speech. the supreme court ruled that the government has obligation to protect it. she is commercing the freedom -- exercising by ads she makes in the nra and the manner she express on radio. the government cannot permit what's called the heckler's veto where the people in the audience so disagree with the message that they intimidate or shut down the messenger. when the government fails to stop the intimidation, it's complicit in the destruction of her free speech. stuart: let's be clear, though, it's not the government's fault that ms. lash is receiving death threats? >> correct. stuart: it's up for the government to fix it?

>> correct, she should not fear making the nra ads which are compelling and effective and she should not fear in defense of the right to keeping bear arms. i make the same defense all of the time and you have to do it without fear but measure of confidence that the government will do its job. stuart: big picture, my opinion, the violent rhetoric is coming from the left and it is the left and that violent rhetoric that's causing this kind of situation, that's my opinion. >> this is an age-old argument. left thinks that government can take care of us. we know it cannot therefore we have to take care of ourself, it's not just me, it's the supreme court, the united states in heller versus is district of colombia, modern interpretation of bear arms. you can ask her at 11:00. stuart: that's right, she's coming at 11:00 o'clock. are you absolute to total freedom to bear arms? >> okay, let me tell you what heller says. it's an individual right, this

is a supreme court opinion, it's not a elective right, it's a prepolitical right, meaning it exists from our humanity, existed before the government came into existence and it allows us to possess arms, not armaments. arms, something that you can physically carry that are of the same technological sophistication as the bad guys has and the good guys have. stuart: that's the support -- >> supreme court interpretation of the second amendment. stuart: that's how we live with it in a modern world? >> yes, including home state of new jersey where it is nearly impossible to exercise that right because the progressives have yet to -- and the government have yet to conform to the supreme court interpretation. stuart: judge, thank you very much for putting that in perspective. i have not realized the situation before. >> see you at 11:00. stuart: dana loesh will be

joining us and talk about the threats and her having to move. back to the markets, check the futures, dow 23,000, looks like it's going to happen this morning. we are 43 points away. we will be up over 25 when we open this market. history could be made, you've got to stay there and watch it happen. then we have hillary clinton defending those nfl players who take a knee during national anthem. she says, it's no big deal, kneeling is a position, what will mike huckabee say about that? we will ask him, 9:45 eastern this morning. forbes out with annual rich list, four of the top five are techies, people who have made money in technology like the technology stocks, we will tell you who are the richest people in the world after this ♪

♪i'm living that yacht life, life, life top speed fifty knots life on the caribbean seas it's a champagne and models potpourri on my yacht made of cuban mahogany, gany, gany, gany♪ ♪watch this

don't get mad (bell mnemonic) get e*trade and get invested ♪ ca♪ yes you can ♪ can i kick it? ♪ yes you can ♪ can i kick it? ♪ yes you can ♪ well i'm gone ♪ can i kick it? ♪ to all the people who can quest like a tribe does... ♪ stuart: president trump's pick for drugs are congressman tom of pennsylvania has withdrawn from

consideration. the president tweeting the news just moments ago. joint report from washington post and 60 minutes, dan marino helped fuel the opioid crisis, the bill was opposed by the dea and embraced by the drug industry. mr. marino out. forbes out with richest americans list. i want to know who are the top five. liz: bill gates number one, 89 billion, jeff bezos is second, 81.5 billion and warren buffet is third, mark zuckerberg and larry ellison. stuart: four of five technology guys. warren buffet the outstanding guy. liz: bigger than ukraine. stuart: really? liz: yes. stuart: how many will leave money to estate taxes so the government? >> all of them including warren buffet. just kidding. stuart: okay. i think we should move on, shall

we? our next guest named president of new task force to apprenticeship program, big deal, michael is with us, associated builders and contractors ceo, michael, i i wt to know how does the apprenticeship program work, you take on a youngster, you pay a bit less, you get a tax break from the government, you train them for a specific noncollege job and then put him to work, is that it? >> yes, basically you're right. first of all, thanks for having me on this morning. apprenticeship program is earn while you learn program. the construction industry does this and historically done it for a number of years and we do it in different ways. essentially if you have someone that's interested in the construction industry, they come on board, we teach them some core skills around safety and value added skills, competency-base training that they can go out into a project, add value immediately for the

company and for the client and then during that process earn and continue to learn and build additional competencies. a phenomenal career path. stuart: how do you expand the program? i know it exists already. do you expand by giving better tax break, how do you do it? >> there's a number of opportunities for expansion, first of all, promoting careers in construction or careers in technical education, manufacturing, et cetera. it's a well-kept secret unfortunately as you know that our industry has 500,000 jobs ready to fill right now and over the course of the next three years, if we get infrastructure, get a modest 2 to 3% growth, we can add another million. so it's a big secret right now and my opinion the tradition right now is go to college. i tell you what, in our situation, we've got unbelievable careers, stories of people that have come in and learned how to grow and start their own business.

stuart: it's an alternate to college, isn't it, that's what it is? >> awesome career path. if you take take a look at construction business, jones this or bob's this, people come in to our trade, learn skill and start a business, then the next thing you know they employ people. 99% of the construction companies in the united states employ less than 100 people, they are small businesses. stuart: unions say, you are just getting cheap labor, so tell us how much -- let's suppose you're an electrician, apprenticeship in electrician program, how much less do you earn compared to a union electrician whose been on the job a few years? >> so, listen, it's all about what the market bears, it's all about competency of the individual brings to the table, someone with a lot of desire can come and learn competencies and get paid for the value that they

bring and they grow. we have some stories of individuals that whether they're not college graduate or drop-outs, come into our industry, learn a trade, learn a skill, grow up through the industry, become vice presidents and owners of the business, the feeling of financial wealth is limitless in our industry. stuart: we wish you well with the apprenticeship program, i remember it very well from my days in europe when it worked pretty well, i have to say. appreciate it. >> appreciate it. stuart: yes, sir. we are on 23,000 watch, of course, we have united health, johnson & johnson, they've reported financial result this is morning, those three companies will add about 40 points to the dow industrials when trading begins and we only need 43 to get us to 23,000. this could be a big day. ashley: get hats ready. stuart: get the graphic ready. big day for the nfl, players and owners meeting in new york city, they will discuss anthem

protest, of course. i have to tell you ratings for sunday games down big this year and there's talk that the tv networks could take a financial hit because of those anthem protests. we will wrap it all up for you after this. i can do more to lower my a1c.

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>> did you just listen to the question that i just answered? quarterback room is exactly where it needs to be, okay. we are fortunate to have a great quarterback in aaron rogers and we are committed to the path that we are on and we need to play better as a football team. stuart: he doesn't want colin kaepernick, that was mike mccarthy answering to a question of colin kaepernick. players and owners are meeting in new york city to discuss protests, ashley, i hear talk about compromise? ashley: maybe. there's no real agreement certainly not among the owners. some say you can't -- they want to respect the players' rights but at the same time they have to get past this controversy because it's hurting them in so many ways, financially as well. so what do they do? do they actually change the league rule that says you are required to stand up, players are allowed to stand up but can

raise fist. is there a compromise? even the owners themselves are very unsure. one thing they can all agree is this is hurting the game, the money that it generates and they have to get past it but the problem is there's no consensus. stuart: i don't think that standing or raising the fist would satisfy the president? ratings down 8% compared to last year. that could hurt cbs's -- cbs they carry football -- liz: wall street shops are saying, yes, it'll be hit bottom line. cbs's profits for third quarter will be down, single digits around 3%. advertisement revenue down, same dollar percentage amount. here is the hops and choice, do you not show them live on television and cut to commercial break. it seems that's what the networks are choosing to do, cbs and nbc, looks like they are doing that, average number of viewers down, off by 1.2 million

less people watching on average each nfl game, so with 50.2 million. stuart: it's taking a hit. they will need to do something about it. ashley: they will have to. stuart: we are expecting -- well, this is my prediction, i think the dow will hit 23,000 relatively soon and quite prepared to be wrong but i think i'm going to be right. we have very strong profit reports coming this morning from three dow stocks which should add 30-40 points to the dow when the opening bell rings, we shall see. we hope to be on the air on this program when we hit 23,000, we do not have a fancy graphic for you. can't afford it. a lot of money on it. [laughter] stuart: balloons and confetti coming down. we are watching for 23,000 and we hope you are too. back with the opening bell after

this

stuart: all right, we are walking up towards the opening bologna wall street this tuesday morning, it is october 17th, this maybe the day when we hit 23,000. we shall see. futures pointing towards the higher open, strong performance

profitwise from three big dow stocks, we closed yesterday just 43 points away from dow 23,000. futures are pointing up by about 20 points, bang, here we go. we are off, we are running, 9:30 exactly and we are down -- 7 down, down 8. okay. [laughter] stuart: thank you very much, indeed, ladies and gentlemen, we are up 22,000, 22,973, 975, 976. here we go. we are up. we are up just a fraction right at the opening bell, .08% on the dow. show me the s&p 500, how is that doing in the very, very going? s&p is down a fraction. virtually nothing. 29 -- that's ridiculous, not hardly down at all. how about technology stocks, where is that? down .04%. so the dow right now 22,975.

look at netflix, please, it's spending big on original content. it signed up 5 million new subscribers but the stock is down in the early going. we will explain that momentarily. lots of big names reporting profits including goldman sachs and united health and morgan stanley and et cetera, et cetera, all of them doing well except harley davidson which is not a dow stock. got it. who is with me on this momentum potentially historic day? who is with me, i will tell you, ashley webster, elizabeth mcdonald, scott and mike murphy. mike, mr. murphy, we hit 22,000 on august the second, did you expect 23,000 to come so quickly? mike: i didn't. typically the market has a few pullbacks, this has been a steady low volatility climb to 22,000 to 23,000.

stuart: slow and steady. scott, did you see 23,000 coming as it might come? >> no and like i said, i'm schizophrenic about it. there's what i think should be happening and what i know is actually happening. what we know that's actually happening is, stuart, there's still a ton of money out there. our gdp was equal to the stocks and bonds, the financial economy, one to one. today it's three and a half to 1. so we've got a ton of money still out there that's going to support this market even in the face of north korea and all the dangers until we have something that's systematic and right now it's not on the horizon. stuart: 22,989, 10, 11 points away from 23,000. wait for it. morgan stanley says a stock

market correction is looking more likely. what are they saying, liz? >> they are basically saying they are watching every time we have gone into earning season and looking at the run-up, the run-up in s&p 500 was half than prior run-ups, to mike's point, two times the market has turned down after earning season typically down 3%, they're saying it could be a pullback, possibly correction. stuart: 10% down? ashley: up to this point, not a correction, but every downturn, if you'd like, has been met with buying opportunity. that's helped with the melting up. mike: morgan stanley still sees the market 5% higher from where it is today, six months out. what they're saying, they are better than i am, we are going to go down and then up in six months, so -- stuart: 5% up in six months is another extra thousand points if i'm doing the math right. mike: in the meantime it'll go up and then down, i guess.

going higher. stuart: that's what they're saying. let's get back to netflix, as we said, they have added 5.3 million new subscribers and spending maybe $8 billion on new content for next year but the stock is actually down a little bit this morning, why is that, murphy? mike: netflix is law of big numbers, it's gotten so big, 90 billion-dollar market cap and they are spending so much money, big companies that are putting their content on netflix's site is going to step away. it's too much of a threat like disney, they will put their own streaming content onto compete with netflix. so while netflix is spending, if they don't -- if all they have is original content, they are no longer going to have disney movies or television shows, people are going to look elsewhere. liz: heck of a hamster wheel. their costs are growing fast e than cash flow coming in the door. to your point, netflix valuation

is gm and ford combined. can they continue on this treadmill that they have been onto acquire customers with expensive content with disney and apple breathing down -- ashley: the question is are they a buying opportunity and who wants to take on all the debt? liz: can the viewer takes $12 a month or what pricing will break the back of netflix? mike: it pulled back to $87 a share, a lot of talk about somebody acquiring, up here 90 billion, very few people who will buy them out here. stuart: check out the big board. got within 10 or 11 points of 23k, backed off a little bit. 10 points higher. time to take a look at sears, the stock was down really big, should i say bigly yesterday, major investor left the board, shares down almost 30% this year. we should be playing the organ music because the stock is down

another 1% below six bucks. [music] ashley: there it goes. stuart: stop the organ music. they are down a fraction, 146 on ibm. now here is tesla. the company reportedly having trouble welding together a mostly steel vehicle as opposed to the primary aluminum bodies. the stock backed up, what's -- liz: it shows you how difficult it was, the story came out that they were doing it by hand. the overarching theme about tesla, frontier is profits, they have been profitable in one or two quarters, the problem with tesla the battery is very heavy and don't last forever, you to replace the battery, it costs a lot to upgrade your home to charge the battery and the infrastructure of the power plants are not there to power the electric car batteries.

that's the overarching theme for the entire electric car sector. stuart: scott, are you big on tesla -- no, you don't. go ahead, give us your opinion? >> i'm big -- these are all nice ideas, aren't they, they are great ideas, but at the same time they haven't had a ton of competition, they had the entire government banking them the entire time. i think that they've got some problems, so i'm not a real big fan, i love the idea, but it's still so early to wait -- i want to wait and see because i think competition will hurt them big. stuart: voice of reason from london this morning scott shellady. iphone 8 is reportedly being outsold by last year's iphone 7. ashley: kind of embarrassing,

would you not say, much better camera, wireless charging, not a whole lot physically different than iphone 7. i think what this shoes people are waiting for iphone x or 10 where it goes into a whole other league. people are hanging onto their 7's but they also predict a super upgrade cycle when the 10 comes out. we will see. stuart: i hear a lot of negatives on apple, murphy? mike: i wouldn't buy into those, i would ignore the negatives, they have a ton of cash, maybe -- there has to be some plan behind releasing an 8 and 10 at the same time because normally it doesn't really make sense, why would anybody go out and buy the 8 if they could wait six or eight weeks and get a 10 full glass screen, smaller but a bigger screen. i'm waiting for it. i don't know, did apple have something up their sleeves? not really sure.

stuart: you went back and got the 7, didn't you? [laughter] stuart: take it easy. macy's, wait for it, they are going to open doors at 5:00 p.m. on thanksgiving day, that's the same time macy's opened last year, now anybody here actually going to go out to bricks and mortar. ashley: root canal. stuart: murphy? mike: macy's trying to get you differentiated. they are going to need to give you a better experience, you're not going in there to buy a pair of socks, you are going in there for a better experience. this is a good try on their part. stuart: scott shellady do you celebrate thanksgiving while in london? >> very, very quietly, so with the windows closed absolutely, yeah. stuart: there you go. president trump nearing a decision on who is going to be the next fed chair. first to mike murphy, does it matter who is in charge at the fed? >> it does.

stuart: really? mike: for sure, i think keeping yellen keeps the market where we are going. the market doesn't like uncertainty. a few names flouted out there as potential replacements, if the market doesn't like it, it could definitely derail the rally we are on. stuart: you want yellen to stay? >> or gary cohn. stuart: does it make a difference whom the president choses? >> i think the situation with the u.s. economy and the global markets the way they are today, i'm not sure it does make a difference. i know -- i understand where mike is coming from about keeping things the same and marching forward with the market, but at the end of the day, yellen has used words like a mystery to me or phrases saying things are mystery to her. i don't know whom the next person is that's going to be able to figure out what's happening with the markets. we've almost had cero percentage rates, low interest rates and we can't find inflation, that's a problem. i think there's going to be a lot of people out there that don't know the answer to that, so i don't really think it does matter because there's a lot of

folks that do know the answer. liz: i think it matters. >> it's not going to matter. liz: it matter ifs you put a john teller, replace fed with computers, you don't have the human beings calling the shots. stuart: i wonder what the market would do in that respond? [laughter] stuart: let's talk to rand paul about that. is that time and we have to say good-bye to scott and mike murphy. thank you very much, gentlemen. just watch, as soon as they disappear from the screen the market hits 23,000. check it right now. we are up 14, 22,971. earlier we came within, what, 8 points of 23,000. we are still very, very close. coming up, peter kiernan, former goldman sachs partner, one thing keeping the dow from 23,000, he's going to tell us what that is at 11:00 o'clock this morning. ashley: hope it doesn't hit

23,000 -- [laughter] stuart: more tough talk from north korea. it's ambassador to the united nations warning nuclear war could break out at any moment, we are on it. hillary clinton says there's nothing wrong with nfl players taking a knee during the anthem, she says kneeling is not disrespectful, it's showing -- you will hear it after this.

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stuart: all right, we are on dow 23,000 watch, of course, we are up 17, 18 points. we are what about 25 odd points away from 23k. now, we have the nework, new jersey, they really want amazon in their city, nicole, how much are they offering amazon to build headquarters there?

nicole: $7 billion all kinds of incentives in order to woo amazon right to newark, new jersey, chris christie, senator bob corker, the mayor of newark and offering 5 billion in tax incentives over the next ten years to do creation. new york offered too, they are trying to get him right here in new york, cuomo and de blasio, tell amazon to be a better corporate citizen so they don't want them, some in new york -- these are the dow 23,000 hats, can't open them until we see dow 23,000. stuart: see you shortly. all right, now president trump and mitch mcconnell held a news conference, they had discussed tax reform and health care over lunch and then they held news conference, pretty wild, actually, come in mike huckabee, is the republican party finally uniting, what say you? >> well, i think so.

i was kind of expecting the president to give mitch mcconnell a football sweater yesterday, they would hug, exchange, you know, tearful glances, it was the kind of meeting they needed to have, stuart, to show that there is cooperation, but i think one of the things that i'm sure mitch mcconnell has learned in all and all of the republicans are learning, if you mess with donald trump, he's not going to take it in a benign way and say, well, that's fine, we will just meet over a nice bowl of peanuts later. this is a guy who fights, he fights hard. i think what is refreshing to a lot of americans, they feel like he's fighting for them and that's a good thing. the meeting was terrific yesterday and i thought it showed a lot of -- a lot of unity going forward. stuart: okay, now hillary clinton, she's coming in saying what she's got to say about the nfl protests. roll tape, please. >> so you have to resist what our very clear -- what we call

dog whistles to that base, that's what the black athletes kneeling was about. that was not against our anthem or our flag, that was actually kneeling as a reverence position. it was to demonstrate in a peaceful way against racism and injustice in our criminal system. [applause] stuart: well, the audience liked it, did you, governor huckabee? >> i don't know of anyone who is a bigger nfl fan and knows more about game than hillary clinton, so certainly i want to take her at her word when she talks about football, because as we all know u she is a dog-on expert on the game. of course, it's ridiculous for hillary to be saying that because frankly when you put a microphone in play irs' faces, most of them don't have a clue. one guy the other day, yeah, this is about gender pay equality and i thought seriously, how many people thought that was what you were kneeling about? the whole thing has become

absurd and they are losing fans, they are losing steam and if they want to play football, play football. if you want to get political, do what guys like i did, get on the ballot, run for office, serve and change things. you don't change things by insulting half of america, you change things when you get elect today office and you start voting rather than just voicing your view by doing something that a lot of people find utterly disgusting and disrespectful to the flag and anthem. stuart: do you think hillary clinton holds political ambition to come back into some way into politics? >> oh, lord, i hope so, please, please let it be because i can't think of anything else that would be worst for her party and better for ours than for hillary to get back into the world of political gamesmanship and become a candidate. maybe she can call the country a basket of deplorables. stuart: sarcasm aside, do you think she will get back into any

kind of race? >> i don't think so, stu, she loves this stuff, deep down enough people around her that will have an intervention and they will lock her in that house up in chappaqua and not let her do this to herself and to her friends. stuart: got it, governor huckabee, always a pleasure, come and see us again real soon. >> thank you, stu. stuart: where are we now? we were approaching 23,000, we are still fairly close but just 8 points higher. that means we are 33 points away. what else have we got for you? live report from the california wild fires e have -- evaucees returning home. you have to say, progress is being made. more vaurny after this. zar: one of our investors was in his late 50s right in the heart of the financial crisis, and saw his portfolio drop by double digits.

it really scared him out of the markets. his advisor ran the numbers and showed that he wouldn't be able to retire until he was 68. the client realized, "i need to get back into the markets- i need to get back on track with my plan." the financial advisor was able to work with this client. he's now on track to retire when he's 65. having someone coach you through it is really the value of a financial advisor.

stuart: 23 minutes into the trading session. we thought we might hit 23,000, we have not thus far. we are still up but only just 22,961 is where we are. president trump may impose tariffs on chinese companies to curve surging import of solar panels. our next guest builds solar

plants with the panels and other -- and parts and he's not a fan of the proposed tariffs. joining us jim. all right. jim, the tariffs have not yet been imposed. what's the impact on your company if they are imposed? >> stuart, first, big fan of yours and thanks for having me on. stuart: come back soon, okay. -e laws over here to make something that looks like a tariff. stuart: hold on a second. there are two companies which are foreign-owned but they do business in america and they're saying, put tariffs on the import of chinese parts for solar plants, that's what's

going on here, so these tariffs are being considered, correct? >> they are being considered and as as one of the 360,000 solar workers are buying american every day. we are will put 3 million tons of u.s. steel in our products, in our plants here in the u.s. we are strong on hiring veterans, we really do work hard to buy america products, we do buy american panels, we buy panels across the globe from ko, cables. stuart: what's the complaint? if you buy american products and you produce your solar plants with american products largely, why have you got a problem if we impose tariffs on imported parts from china? and

those 360,000 workers. american manufacturing is doing fantastic. we have seen over 400 u.s. manufacturing companies open as a result of solar, utility scale now since 2008. we are about 3% of the u.s. grid growing about 1% a year, so the manufacturing base in the u.s. is growing very strongly. stuart: okay, jim, i'm sorry, i'm out of time, jim, thanks for presenting your case, we appreciate it and we will be following it. >> thank you very much. stuart: here we come, top of the hour, my take on the elites in in the media and continuing content with president trump. yes, maybe they have over done it. that's next. "volatile markets." something we all think about

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stuart: i've been away a couple days. i made a point watching and reading the mainstream media. i thought maybe with the economy clearly doing much better, and 401(k)s going straight you maybe the media would be less harsh towards our president. they're using over the top language. sheer ven yom the media unleashes against president trump. paul krugman,ed word lies, printed over and over again. he is referring of course to the president. krueger. he should remember his prediction after market crash and global recession if trump won the election. how wrong can you be? when president trump ended the illegal payments to insurance

companies, leading democrats called it a spiteful act of vast pointless sabotage. the president was simply agreeing with a federal judge. when the president stated a fact, it was a fact that federal workers couldn't stay in puerto rico forever, cbs news could barely retain derision. a awful lot of head shaking, how could he say this? $29 billion committed to bankrupt island, pays no federal income, tax, 19,000 personnel on of the ground, head shaking. watching performance of the mainstream media is at least annoying. yes, i have been shouting at tv again. not just the way they cover what they think is the news, it is what they don't cover. i didn't see much reporting on economy. there have been huge gainses in consumer confidence, manufacturing expanding. stock market on a tear. that is all largely ignored. why? because the president is doing

well in this area and media doesn't want you to know. maybe the left should listen to senator durbin, the number two democrat in the senate. he says the party could lose to president trump in 20 20 if they overdo it and become too liberal. same said for the media, you will continue to lose credibility if you overdo it with your contempt. too late, the media has overdone it already. the second hour of "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ stuart: well maybe we're making a another run at 23,000. we're awfully close. that is that we're still 14 points higher. look at the big tech names. where are they? mixed bag, facebook, amazon, up, alphabet up, microsoft apple,

down very, very, slightly. how about netflix? strong subscriber growth and they're spending $8 billion on original content. not good enough. they made a dismal forecast for december. down 35 cents. unitedhealth, morgan stanley, most are up except for goldman which is down three bucks. they're turning in a pretty strong performance. now this, president trump and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell meet at the white house. they said this, roll tape. >> my relationship with this gentleman is outstanding, has been outstanding. >> i want to underscore what the president said, we have the same agenda. stuart: joining us fox news contributor steve cortes and katrina pierson, former trump national spokesperson.

first of all, steve, are you buying the unity call? >> you know i am. i think it is temporary. i will tell you this i have been very harshly critical of senate republicans, particularly, on your shows. if government were a business, and the senate was a business, this ceo would be fired. all that said i don't think it is this time to be super harsh and critical. president knows in presidential way for coming weeks there should be detente, should be cooling, because we have to get taxes done for the american people. stuart: katrina, what about senators flake, senator mccain, senator collins, do you think they're won over to the cause of tax cutting by this unity meeting yesterday? >> i don't but i think they should, stuart, and the reason is, following president trump's leadership and trying to come together in good faith to work this out together is the right thing to do, and i think they

know their voters believe it is the right thing to do, particularly when you're talking about something in the republican platform with regard to taxes and helping out families, something that the president ran on, something that many of them ran on and won, specifically turning blue states red. and they have to take notice of that, so now if they're going to get it done, it needs to get done. i think people are tired of the lip service. i think the president is really waiting on now for them to get their act together. stuart: if you don't have republicans in the senate on board, you don't have 50 votes to pass it. you will have to go with 60. you need help from democrats. i get to that in a second. first i want to break down this $4,000, the tax plan, which we are told, will put $4,000 into the pockets of working families, $4,000. break it down. ashley: a lot of questions about the math. i wish i can say x minus y equals whatever. basically what you believe the impact of corporate taxes have on workers, wages and their

ultimate income. treasury secretary steve mnuchin says 70% of workers pay amount of tax affects their pay. others say close to 25%. if you drop the corporate tax rate down to 20%, maybe just a little optimistic. it's a number that is floating around out there although the math is just a little fuzzy, however, there is no guarranty that company that get as cheaper corporate rate will invest, expanding the business, hiring more people. what if they expand the business and go to ought mowtation? it there are a lot of questions. stuart: steve, isn't the white house using experience of all countries around the world have a high corporate tax rate and slow growth of workers wages versus a higher tax rate and

growing corp. wages? does that work for you? >> i think the white house is too cautious not optimistic for what the tax plan can do for the american worker. the american worker need this is so badly because this slow economic recovery has been wonderful for the high-end but slow to no recovery for working class americans. by the way those people put president trump over the finish line in 2016. it was midwestern, blue-collar workers. it is time now to deliver growth to them in wages. they need it very badly. on top of that, simplification. our tax system is such an albatross upon american lives and businesses. it is so complex. it hasn't been reformed since 1986. i was in great school sleeping in a bunk bed with my brother. i didn't have a driver's license yet. it has been that long since we had tax reform. it is a must-do. stuart: i hate to tell you what i was doing, katrina? >> this is one piece of a much

greater puzzle we're talking about. of course if you give businesses opportunity to invest in themselves they will. of course if you give businesses the opportunity to bring in trillions of dollars, that is what this is. this incentives, investment. it works. that is growth. that will trickle down into wages. that is the way that it works. it is common sense. we should have been doing this a long time ago. stuart: don't say trickle down. the expression trickle down has unfortunate history in this country. do you think it happens? >> it does. but i think what will definitely happen you bring the money back to this country, companies will invest. these companies are in it for profits. if you want to raise wages profits go up, you have to give the companies opportunity to do that you've seen that already, with getting rid of some burdensome regulations. you've seen that with a stock market waiting on this type of a plan to be passed. this president has a goal, to help the people. that is what we're going to do. stuart: at top of the hour, my editorial is my take. i took the mainstream media to

task, the elites. i think they are as contemptuous as ever against president trump. i see no difference. no change here. but i also notice, katrina, i noticed that senator durbin is in a local radio interview, he says, watch out. president trump could win a second term in 2020 because we're overdoing it on the liberal side. i'm not so sure that the democrats are going to take his advice there and not keep on overdoing it. >> well this is what we call in trump campaign world, ptsd of politics. this is post-trump derangement syndrome. they have absolutely overdone it. this president can't win no matter how great he is going to be. people will see the effect in the pocketbooks. they will see it in the economy. they will see it in their communities even, because this president is committed to making america great again. he is doing everything he can to work across the aisle. he is working in good faith with the establishment up to this

point. i do think you will see a lot of that impact communities as well as representatives who want to see this type of change. they have absolutely overdone it. they need to start giving him credit where credit is due because it is going to backfire on them. stuart: steve, i just, while i was away i made a point of watching the establishment media. i just didn't see the stock market or the economy reported on that much. did you? am i missing something? >> no, stuart, because they're lost in a new york, washington media bubble. they don't realize between brooklyn and brentwood is a gigantic country. by the way a country starting to feel good again. that is not just the stock market. it is fantastic. consumer confidence, manufacturing indices, investment starting to happen, belief, regulatory relief. there is great things going on in the country with optimism is palpable. if we put tax cuts in the mix the economy will soar and that will drive the mainstream media

nuts. it bothers me, their lack of hon tess aand journal 'tis -- journal list, they saw how insanely unfair the mainstream media was to trump. it made them some degree more open to trump's message. perhaps they continue to do that. stuart: while we have both of you on the screen, katrina and steve, will you both admit shouting at mainstream tv and shouting and throwing things. >> shouting and throwing things and things we can't say on television. stuart: i don't throw things but with the grandchildren around i avoid saying nasty things. steve, katrina. thank you for being with us. >> thank you. stuart: north korea warning nuclear war could break out any moment, saying they're not ruling out diplomacy either, but it won't be until after their missiles can reach the east coast of the united states.

you can bet we're on this one. retail ice age, here we go again. sears, the stock falling again today after losing a trusted board member. and nordstrom, they have stopped the search for a i beer. what companies will survive in this age where amazon is king? remember this, senator rand paul front and center when the president signed a health care executive order. a bipartisan deal reportedly in the works. you're watching the second hour of "varney & company." ♪ if you have medicare

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remember - these plans let you apply all year round. so call today. because now's the perfect time to learn more. go long. stuart: breaking news after an arrest because of opioid epidemic. ashley: two businesses from china have been arrested. they're trying to find out where

the synthetic opioids are coming from. separately two chinese individuals supplying through the internet large quantities of fentanyl to people in the united states, either to individuals or to drug dealers here, who disperse them. these are incredibly powerful synthetic drugs. a few grains of fentanyl can be lethal. 20,000 americans died from fentanyl alone in 2016. that number expected to grow even more this year. and so the department of justice saying they actually managed to work in tandem with chinese authorities to track these two people down. stuart: really? ashley: they set up internet place. they go on the dark web. one case the drug dealers use bitcoins to buy fentanyl on the dark web and distribute it in north dakota of all places. stuart: the fact they engaged chinese authorities to get ahold of these two. ashley: that's a big deal. stuart: good stuff, thank you. check that big board. we're still, what, 19 points, as we speak away, yeah, 19 points

away from dow 23,000. that is what we're looking for this morning. we have boeing on the downside. airbus, their big european competitor, has agreed to buy a majority stake in bombardier in the c series jetliner program. boeing is the biggest loser of all the dow stocks at this point. now this. north korea warning a nuclear war could break out at any moment. that is it what they say. no impact whatsoever on the markets. come on in please, john bolton, former ambassador to the united nations. why are you laughing? >> i wouldn't take my stock tips from north korea i must say. stuart: fair enough. look, this more of the same old, same old? i don't think north korea will do anything while china is holding its communist party meeting, the big meeting they have ever five years. i don't think they will do anything. >> i think you're absolutely right on that and i also don't think china will do much and

hasn't done much despite its rhetoric to pull north korea in until this is over and xi xinping and can say with certainty he accomplished his objective consolidating his own personal power. but i think the north koreans are experts at propaganda. they know who the threats are aimed at. they're aimed at the weak sisters in the united states. it just demonstrates, if you don't like their behavior now, imagine what it will be like when they do get nuclear weapons if they allow that to happen. stuart: read into that. you know much more than anybody. do you believe the chinese authorities, after they have finished with this communist party meeting do you think they will then take the serious measures against north korea which they have been promising? >> i'm very skeptical of that. i still think they believe unfortunately that north korea is really america's problem and that's why to my mind the only diplomat lick strategy left here for the united states to deal with north korea is to go to china say look, we have one of two options here.

either we can eliminate the regime or somebody will eliminate the nuclear weapons. i think china can bring the regime down. i think they fear doing that because of the consequences they might face with refugees coming into china. so i have an answer for that. let's reunify the peninsula, essentially under south korea. if they don't like that, they need to know the president said very clearly at the united nations with respect to north korea, denuclearization is the only way forward, meaning worry not going to end this particular scenario with them still in possession of nuclear weapons. i think that's pretty clear. stuart: one more item which i don't think has received that much publicity in america and that is isis. looks to me like they have lost their foothold in their own caliphate. i will show viewers of a syrian woman ripping off her burka, celebrating liberation from the terrorists. that is a still shot. they have lost, mr. ambassador, have they? isis is done on the ground?

>> i think pretty clear the caliphate, what used to be syria and iraq is gone. we've basically taken control of racca, the capital. is ice continues, a lot of its people were exfiltrated to libya, yemen, afghanistan. their terrorist at activities will continue. there is less noticed aspect going on here, as the iranians saw that isis was about to disappear in terms of geographic control in the region, they have turned their attention using the baghdad government regular forces and shia militia that had been engaged against isis, they have now turned them against the kurds in iraq who want independence from this, from this tehran-dominated government in iraq and just 24 hours ago the iranian-led iraqi forces retook kirkuk, a major oil city in that part of iraq. so, we're now going to see a

battle, i'm afraid between iran and its surrogates and the kurd and the united states has said, the president said yesterday we're basically neutral. i think we should back the kurds. stuart: isis down, iran up. got it. mr. ambassador, thanks for joining us as always. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: coming up, officials say california is not out of the woods yet but this has been real progress containing fires that ravaged the northern part of the state and now there is a chance of rain. we'll take a live look on the ground next. ♪ hi, i'm mindy kearns. it's great to finally meet you. nice to meet you too.

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stuart: this story caught my attention, general motors. they will test out self-driving cars in new york city. what? liz: lower manhattan, five square miles track. stuart: good luck. liz: testing them. you can basically emergency all the yellow cab drivers, taxi drivers on the fence watching. this comes as deutsche bank watching, general motors will be first to the market with a mass-produced commercial electric car. they're testing the chevy volt, five square mile track of lower manhattan. that is why gm stock's up 25% over last few months. stuart: that is part of the reason. liz: hydrogen fuel cell battery. to your point they're becoming a tech company, the fact they're testing chevy volts in california, michigan, arizona, and now new york, which means they could be ready to go within quarters. that is what deutsche bank is saying, within the next few quarters. stuart: are you skeptical like i am? ashley: yeah. i want to embrace it.

i'm like scott shellady who always rolls his eyes when we talk about this. sounds great but reality -- stuart: lower manhattan little lanes. tightly knit. liz: we don't know if people honk at car or people at the car will stop or read road signs. ashley: can they navigate new york city pedestrians. stuart: let's go down there and observe. liz: with all the yellow cab taxi drivers. ashley: it could be fun. stuart: amazon dominates every corner of the retail industry. what do other retailers need to do to survive? who is the best place to survive? we'll ask that question as someone who knows. amazon's stock, 1010. we're back in a second. ♪

♪ stuart: penny lane, 1967 i think. i first listened to this in east africa. ashley: as you do, as one does. stuart: let's get to the stock market. we're making a run at 23,000. we're awfully close. i'm doing the math with 14 points away from 23,000 on the dow. remember please, we only hit 22,000 on august the 2nd. here we are, october the 17th pressing right up against 23-k. big techs check them please. apple down a fraction. microsoft down a little more than that still all of them awfully close to all-time highs. how about this,

johnson & johnson, jpmorgan, they are dow stocks, both of them hit all time report highs this morning. a long parade of dow stocks. those two today. president trump pledging unity on taxes with senate majority leader mcconnell. joining us national retail federation president and ceo matt che. i you should do a victory lap because you're the guy who killed the border tax. >> i think congress concluded it wasn't workable way forward. stuart: you killed it stone dead, and it is your fault. >> victory lap will be when we get tax reform done. i hope it will be this year. comments from the president and leader are very encouraging. stuart: you're buying it, you're buying idea there is unity between the president, congress, republican party, you're all-in, you buy it, we'll get tax cuts this year? >> conceptually we buy it. stuart: what do you mean son sent wally? >> there is path forward but will be slimmest of margins. in the senate they have one vote

to lose with senator cochran out with his illness. looks like budget resolution will get done ton thursday. signs are favor from support murkowski and collins of maine and senator paul from kentucky that is the first step forward. if the house is ready to go, challenge is in the senate to bring these two things together to get something done for the president. stuart: you represent retail guys, online people, the retail industry. that is what matt shea does, you represent their interests. are all gung-ho for tax cuts, this year? >> yes. there have been a lot of studies out there, the president's study, the cea study earlier in the segment, $4,000. we did one in september. $4690 per corporate employee is share of corporate tax that they pay. stuart: the left is coming at this saying there is no way. this is just pie in the sky dreaming. it's a lie. it is not going to happen, but you have figures say it is no

lie, it does happen? >> we have those figures. since you mentioned the wore pie, it comes down to the political perspectives. if you're someone thinks about redistribution of the pie this will not work. if you think about tax reform, it makes sense. we think the pie will get bigger with tax reform. stuart: i want to talk about your membership, across the board, bricks and mortar, online people, they're in your organization, national retail federation. i put it to you not all the bricks and mortar guys will survive. nordstrom is having a hard time finding a buyer. sears stock has tanked recently. what is it like representing companies which may not survive, and why are you smiling? >> i'm smiling because i saw your lead in to this and i see the ticker down there. this is more like tetonic shifting. there are winners and losers. there are always are. we're seeing acceleration of the disruption taking place, so it is happening in real time, we see it the ways we didn't when

sears came on the market 125 years ago, it was a disruptor, same way, you don't feel it. when walmart came on the line 60 years ago, you didn't see it and experience it this way. we see it real time. it is happening with a great deal of velocity. you know what? retail industry will grow 4%. retail will be fine. stuart: retail industry will grow 4%, that is sales? >> correct. that's right. stuart: you will not deny, what is it, 8,000 retail stores will close? >> there will be storessed closed and new stores opened. stuart: 8,000 of them? >> those are not our numbers. there have been studies net number of stores will be greater in terms of opening. stuart: really? net-net, more stores open than closed. do you believe it? >> it is not ours. we don't spend that much time thinking about it. stuart: yes you do. you represent retail. >> the association we're not the online association. we're retail association. stuart: don't tell me you don't

spend time thinking about how many stores go out and how many stores come? >> i think we spend time thinking where is the industry headed tomorrow. it will look very differently than it does today. nordstrom is a great company with strong fundamentals outperforming piers with great management team. that is timing issue. sears has unique management and ownership style different from other people. those are one-office. i don't think you can paint a broad brush across the whole industry. stuart: think you're doing a fine job representing your indoes try. >> always glad to be with you. stuart: firm diplomat. well-practiced in television. matt share, thank you for being here. at top. hour, my take, the editorial, i was saying the mainstream media, the elites they're piling on president trump and i don't think they are going to stop. joe concha is a media watcher and he is joining us now. joe, thanks very much for being with us this morning. >> good to see you, stuart. stuart: am i right, piling on

contempt, i don't think they stop. >> i saw your monologue at beginning. stuart: a monologue? >> late nightesque. the jimmy kimmel of fox business. i mean it as compliment. stuart: go ahead. >> you mentioned paul krugman in there as well, and paul krugman is a pulitzer-winning economic columnist for "new york times." so i like visual aids. i like to educate the audience. so i asked your producers to give me two tweets he sent out during the puerto rican crisis. hopefully they put the first one up here and the first one was about a cholera, here it is. outbreak in puerto rico. cholera in a u.s. territory, among u.s. citizens in the 21st heck of a job, trumpie. that was retweeted 33,000. that is going viral. couple hours later, after he is corrected by many people in social media and news reports he sends out this tweet. if we get that up real quick,

you know, there really isn't cholera outbreak. instead something else like this. hopefully get the tweet up, it can make the point. that was only retweeted 600 times. .04% of the original. a lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth can get its pants on. talk about media. this is small example but it is typical. throw it out there see if it sticks. if you get called on it, actually correct it, no one sees the correction. stuart: senator durbin in a local radio interview in illinois, he says, you know, we could lose, the democrats could lose in 20 20. president trump could get a second term because maybe we're overdoing it not just the venom but liberalism. they have gone too far to the left. do you think the democrats will pay attention to that and rein themselves in? >> you need a message. you can ask any democrat, what was hillary clinton's economic message to folks in michigan,

ohio, pennsylvania, wisconsin, they would kind of fumble it, well, no tax cuts for the rich. there was no definitive message. that is what you need. mitt romney didn't have a definitive message in 2012. obama is bad, i'm better. while you're away, pew research does great work, put out a study, president trump gets positive coverage 5% of the time. think about that. every one hundred stories you see, 95 of them are negative but the bigger takeaway, but 74% of the time they focus on his character and leadership. only 26% of the time on policy. so think about that. so when consumer confidence comes out on friday, all-time high for 13 years, that gets scant coverage. almost zero. stuart: right. >> if the president says something like he did in the rose garden not calling families under other presidents, that dominated news cycle. policy ignored. psychoanalysis of president by people who are not psychologists at last check is being done by journalists, pundits, that is the big problem.

the focus is off and priorities are way off. stuart: i took a couple days off. i made a point of watching mainstream media, and i was shouting at the tv from morning to night. i -- >> were you listening to the beatles in east a a after from. stuart: i was, yes. i lived there in nairobi, kenya, 1967. >> i'm not surprised by that for some reason. stuart: you're not surprised? >> you're a worldly kind of guy with the accent. stuart: come back soon, joe. this is interesting, we love this story. basketball star lebron james, admits in quotation marks, to being frugal. roll tape. >> i'm not -- buying no apps. i still got pandora with commercials. >> you know you're rich, right. >> i'm not paying for it. i'm not paying. stuart: ashley -- ashley: he went to the stuart varney school of spending clearly. cheap. he makes what, 200 million in

the nba. he made a lot of money but he is notoriously cheap. even has pandora, but one with commercials on it, so doesn't have to pay full price. he will only have his phone turned on. will not put data roaming on his phone. this guy could buy and pay for anything. liz: does he have a dodge caravan? ashley: with manuel window? probably. stuart: okay. okay. matt shey. >> tax reform. stuart: you do not want thrift to return as a virtue, do you? >> thrift is a vice. stuart: thrift is a vice. >> driving the economy forward. drive consumption. stuart: thrift is a virtue. >> no thrift is a scottish thing. i'm married to a scottish woman. she is still cutting out coupons. i get it. but it is time-consuming. time is money. stuart: we like to chime in on this. liz: thrift is a virtue. stuart: thank you. last word? ashley: yeah, my parents, they

were very young during the second world war, but they grew up with the mantra. those that went through the depression. you don't throw things away. reuse. cut coupons. do all of that. liz: how is copper wire invented? two scotts pulling on the same penny. stuart: hold that note. >> we're screwed in edinborough. stuart: we're still 20 points away from dow 23,000. investors thrifty with their money. dana loesch, nra spokesperson harassed by supposed gun control advocate, forced out of her home. she will tell us how it came down in our next hour. first, senator rand paul, he was front and center when the president signed the executive order on health reform. we'll find out what he thinks of the bipartisan effort on taxes. that's next. ♪ [vo] when it comes to investing,

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♪ >> i'm hillary vaughn in santa rosa, california, where 14 wildfires continue to burn through california wine country and today, firefighters are working to combine two fires, the nun fire and oakmont fire trying to get control. underneath this plume of smoke behind me, hundreds of crews are

furiously cutting down trees, clearing brush, maintaining barriers so they don't threaten any structures below. there are still 27,000 homes and businesses at risk in this area. 40,000 homes have been completely wiped out. more "varney" after this. ♪ paying less for my medicare? i'm open to that. lower premiums? extra benefits? it's open enrollment. time to open the laptop... ...and compare medicare health plans. why? because plans change, so can your health needs. so, be open-minded. look at everything-like prescription drug plans... and medicare advantage plans from private insurers. use the tools at medicare.gov. or call 1-800-medicare. open to something better? start today. ♪

stuart: we've been positive all day but not quite reaching 23,000. we're right now about 29 points away, up 13. now this. nfl players and owners meet today in new york city. they're discussing the anthem protest. jared max is with us. i think they're heading towards a compromise of some sort, stand for the anthem, do your thing beforehand, what say you? >> i hope so, because sports fans are sick of this politics in sports. you shouldn't care what my relationship is with the flag. i don't care what your relationship is with the flag. be respectful. don't be a jerk but that is up to you. stuart: do you think football fans will forgive and forget? >> i think we have a short memory. once the games are great, couple things ago, after things reached boiling point we had great football, nobody was talking

about it. this weekend we didn't see the anthems or protests by the networks. concerted effort. stuart: ticket sales are all down, merchandise dice sales are down, so far i think football is taking a hit. >> however, i don't think there are fewer football fans. a study found that 57 million people take part in fantasy sports. we live in greatest hits society. if i watch one game, three-hour game, i deal with 63 minutes of commercials. or watch the red zone channel, greatest hits album, instead of one album with a couple of hits and deep tracks. people watch football differently. fantasy football, gambling. the red zone channel and technology. i can go on the smartphone, in three minutes, get everything that i used to do in three hours on a sunday. stuart: i think football is migrating to college, i think football fans i should say. i am. >> it seems more exciting game too. stuart: saturdays, they are

great games. ashley: purer form. i love it. >> the money probably ruins it. why do i want to bang on my body so badly. the college guys are different. they are playing for their contracts. stuart: jared, thanks for coming on in short notice. jared max is all right. look at big board, 24 points away from 23,000. peter keirnen, former goldman sachs guy, he says one thing is keeping the dow away from 23,000. he will tell us what that is at the top of the hour. hopefully we don't hit 23,000 before he comes on the show. we'll be right back. ♪ . stevens. your testimony will save lives. mr. stevens? this is your new name. this is your new house. and a perfectly inconspicuous suv. you must become invisible.

[hero] i'll take my chances.

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we'll get. so yes, i'm all in for tax cuts. there is probably nobody up here for cutting taxes and more willing to cut taxes than myself. stuart: but you don't want a clawback of ending deduction for state and local taxings something like that. you don't want that? >> even that i'm fine with. i want to make sure you take away deductions from people in the middle, adjust the brackets or adjust the rate or they will get a tax increase. the president completely agrees with me. i brought this up to him and his team. president pointed to his team, make sure those in the middle don't have a tax increase, as long as that happens, i'm his most enthusiastic supporter and. stuart: are you buying that 4,000-dollar per working family number? that is the amount of money that tax cuts, this tax plan would contribute to working families? are you with that number, are you okay with it, 4,000 bucks? >> it is unknown because the tax bill has not been put together

yet. the reason i have been agitating at the people in the middle. they pay this 25% rate. if you take away state income tax reduction and property tax reduction and personal exemption, there is possibility people in the middle could have to tax increase. you have to adjust the brackets or do something to allow them to still have some deductions. but actually policy of getting rid of state income tax deduction, i don't have the policy, but first policy of conservatives that people's taxes go down, not up. stuart: do you have 50 votes in the senate for the tax cut program you outlined? >> i think so. i think biggest holdup is not people like me. i want a big, big, very bold tax cut. i'm for bigger the better. i will settle than less than i want but i want the biggest and will age tate to make sure everybody across the board that everybody get as tax cut. the problem isthe other side. there are three or four people don't want it to be a tax cut at all.

they want it to be revenue neutral. cut taxes on half the people and raise taxes on other half to make it neutral. stuart: yep. >> i've always been a believer make it deficit neutral not raising other peoples taxes by cut canning spending. i have many entitlement reform bills are out there. i can't get a republican to sign on, because they give lip service to smaller government but afraid of theirhadow. not a damn one are really for cutting spending. stuart: when push comes to shove, there are 50 votes in senate for the tax package as outlined by the president and mitch mcconnell. >> i think. the biggest obstacle are not people like me who want to cut taxes. the biggest obstacle are people don't want cut taxes. that is the where the rub is. can you get them on board? you will have to get them on board losing best parts of economic growth which is cutting taxes. i wish we didn't do that i hope voters out there say to republicans not for tax cuts, why the hell did we elect you,

if we don't shrink revenue of government and size of government? >> we don't think of you as compromise kind of guy, but you're talking compromise, senator. >> i've been always for variation of compromise on this will take a smaller tax cut? sure. will i take one that cuts taxha. for obamacare, i was repealing for whole thing, and repealing parts of it, i was november for keeping obamacare. i was not for keeping block granting obamacare. that doesn't make it conservative to block grant obamacare. stuart: mr. senator, you made news, you will vote for a tax cut plan. that is a big deal. >> i can't see myself not. the only hold up has to do what the president says, not increase taxes on middle income earners. stuart: senator rand paul, i'm glad you scrambled to get you into this program. pleasure having you on today. >> thank you. stuart: thank you very much, sir. check that big board. we're still up, but not quite at

23,000. we're close. not quite there. close but no cigar is the expression. all right, everyone, there will be more "varney" for you after this. ♪

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duck: quack! call to request your free decision guide now. because the time to think about tomorrow is today. stuart: you could call this a tale of two issues; health care and tax cuts. with health care the president left it to congress. give me a plan. you've had seven years, where is it? i'll sign it. result? no plan, no repeal. we're still stuck with obamacare. with tax cuts very different story. on this issue the president is leading, and he's pushing hard. dinners with democrats, dinners with republicans, meetings in the oval office, press conferences. and tonight, another speech. he's addressing the good people at heritage. they want growth, they want tax cuts, and the president will no doubt push for conservative unity to get it done.

perhaps the president is learning on the job. after allowing congress to heed on health care and seeing nothing happen, he's now driving the tax cut train. he has to. he can't allow the centerpiece of his growth agenda the fail. and despite intense media hostility, it looks like investors are onboard. the dow surely would not be closing in on 23,000 if investors believed the tax cut effort would fail. there are 75 days left in this calendar year. unlike the orphaned obamacare fix, the president is clearly treating tax cuts as his baby. the third hour of "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ ♪ stuart: oh, i know it, i know it, i know it. sly and the family stone. am i right? peter kiernan, am i right?

>> look at you. stuart: it is amazing, isn't it? [laughter] till on dow 23,000 -- still on dow 23,000 watch, only 15 points and change from dow 23k. look who's here, peter kiernan, "american mojo" author. also with us, peter morici, university of maryland economics professor. peter, you say there's one thing holding us back by, what, from 23,000. >> we are ignoring boeing. when they threw the first baseball pitch out, the stock was about 170. it is $90 higher today. and because of a deal that happened over the weekend between airbus and bombardier, people freaked out on boeing. don't freak out on boeing. believe in boeing. boeing is the engine that brought the dow to where it is, it's going to take us over 23. stuart: does peter kiernan own a

chunk of boeing? >> i don't, but i will by the end of the day. stuart: you think that's soft after the gains they've made? >> yes. this stock is an absolute horse. it's been fantastic. believe in it. that's the momentum. the fact that that's stalled a little bit is what kept it below 23. watch that engine roar. stuart: now it's up 30 points. see what you're doing? >> there you go. stuart: peter morici, i think we're going to hit 23,000 fairly soon. are you going to dispute that? >> i can't dispute that. there's two sides to this market. one, the numbers support these kinds of valuations. you know, i feel that is true that they do, and that the valuations could really be much higher. the other side is the psychology. you know, america finally has a president that, guess what? believes in america, not somebody else. he believes in free markets, not schumer think. we have to have the tax cut not because it's so large and it's going to transform america in the way that kevin hasset

claims, but simply to maintain that investor psychology and keep the positive vibrations going. stuart: you know, i think people may be tuning in to the top of the show and watching us very carefully, because the dow is starting to move much, much closer of we are now eight points away from 23,000 and closing -- look at that, now we are five and change. >> talking it up, stu, come on. >> well, if it happens while i'm here -- stuart: stay on it. this is a horse race. we're awfully, awfully close. as soon as peter kiernan got rid of the idea that it's just boeing holding us back, the market goes straight up. what have you got to say for yourself? >> this is just the beginning. what you have is earnings power. peter was talking about it you have these dow component stocks that are reporting this week, they're all having wonderful economic reports. stuart: on that note we've got goldman sachs, morgan, j&j, unitedhealth all reporting today, all of them really solid profits.

that's part of the equation. peter morici, strong profitability is surely the key note in this latest rally. >> there's two sides to this, they're both positive. one is we can expect strong profitability for the next couple of quarters, and who knows what beyond then. the other thing is that the underlying price of capital has fallen because in this technological age we create more value with less capital, physical assets. what that means is the price of capital is lower, and the sustainable price earnings ratio -- which averaged about 25 over the last 25 years -- is more likely sustainable now at 35 which means 2300, you know, i'm really great to celebrate that. i will be happy with this market when it delivers to me something around, you know, 30. stuart: well, we're almost there. okay, i hear you, peter -- >> no, i mean 30000. stuart: i'm with you. you're talking 30,000 on the dow, okay, that's a ways away.

we're awfully close to 23k. it could happen very, very quickly. somebody buys a chunk of a dow stock, and you've got yourself 23,000 on the dow. but tell me, peter kiernan, these profit reports that we're seeing, i think they're much better than expected. i don't like the expectations game, but they're very strong, what we're seeing so far. >> some have gamed it, harley davidson have gamed it by saying they're down over 40% for the year. the financials are just getting warmed up. people are wondering are rates going up, i'm telling you, rates are going to go up. >> yep. >> inflation is coming. people who don't see it, you're not looking. there are wages, there are pockets in the -- stuart: here we go, pay attention, everyone. [laughter] we're almost there. i've got the balloons ready, the confetti ready, i've got the loud cheering bystanders ready to go -- >> got the trumpets. stuart: we're not quite there, not quite there. okay, whilst we're waiting --

>> come on, come on! >> what's going to happen while we wait, the financials are going to be the next piece of momentum here. watch the financials. they've been -- stuart: there we go! [laughter] ♪ ♪ stuart: thank you very much. >> did it happen while i was on air? >> yes! stuart: we couldn't see you, actually -- >> oh, you cheated me! you cheated me? but the way to look at this is american companies have strong profitability because of strong overseas growth. new york is new amsterdam, is amsterdam in the 18th century. it's about to make money on anything good that happens in the world. the same thing with boeing and the west coast companies. do not underestimate how globalization is pushing up the value of large american companies. stuart: all right. elizabeth, chime in -- wait, wait for the question. [laughter] we're now at 23,000. i know you're something of a skeptic on the market.

>> no. stuart: would you be selling at this point? you hit the number -- >> no, i would not. i mean, this is about velocity right now. there's no volatility. it's a pretty comatose market right now. i think -- stuart: comatose market? >> it is not in terms of volatility, in terms of not being so chaotic with the plunges and the dips. it's a buy the dip moment like morgan stanley said. if we go into a rocky earnings session, you buy it. >> peter kiernan, get used to the thought inflation is coming, the fed will be hiking rates. what does that do to the investor? does that hurt the market? is that a headwind? >> i think, no, because a lot of people have been searching more yield everywhere, so that's why these emerging market stocks are going up. what you're starting to see is the united states is propelling the growth of the world. and what you're seeing -- and peter was sort of on this point as well -- if you look at the 43 countries in the oecd, all 43 are growing -- >> right.

>> -- all those economies are growing and fully a third of them are growing faster this year than they did last year. that is called momentum. stuart: peter, is that unusual -- >> it is -- stuart: -- that they all grow at the same time? >> it's extraordinary. and that is really a testimony to the fact that the financial crisis is now officially over. we are now in the post-financial crisis world. we've had our recovery from the carnage, and now the global economy goes forward based on digits as opposed to feel. it's really a profound thing that's happening. you know, just as everybody is worrying about, you know, heavy industry and the chinese are doing everything they can to prop up their steel industries, i mean, look at some of the stuff that google is doing like building computers based on quantum mechanics, driverless vehicles. general motors is going to put driverless vehicles in downtown manhattan very, very soon to test them out. can you imagine robots driving cars in downtown manhattan? stuart: no, i can't. >> we are living in a whole new

age. stuart: we are, indeed, and i can't imagine it. i've got to go to the floor of the new york stock exchange. nicole is there. tell me what happened when we hit 23k. >> reporter: oh, yeah. we were pushing up against dow 20,000, we finally broke through 23k. just another indication of what a run we have had on wall street since election day. you know, the traders like to see dow 23,000. it wasn't like there was a big cheer, but they like it, they make these hats. i want to tell you what got us here from dow 22 thousand so you know what the real winners are. we hit dow 22,000 for the first time august 2nd, and the winners since 22,000, caterpillar, dow, dupont, pfizer, boeing, those are some of the best. boeing up about 9% since dow 22,000. so breaking new records, stuart, across the board. and, of course, we've got a very fine hat. stuart: and there you have the hat. before we hit 23k, you were waiting to break it out, now we've broken it out -- >> reporter: i know, gave you

a little teaser. i didn't think it was going to be today. stuart: oh, i was convinced -- >> start making the 24,000 hat. stuart: i went on a limb -- >> well, we've got to close above 23 first. stuart: that's true. >> the extraordinary thing is just for a moment to pause, in april of 2009 the dow was 6,900. think about it. 6,900, in just that short period of time we have exploded, we have tripled, more than tripled. stuart: okay. i want to be forward looking now. we've hit 23,000. let's look to the future because tonight president trump addresses the heritage people about tax cutting. yesterday we had the tax cut plan front and center with the amicability between the leader of the senate and the president. look forward now. if we do get a tax cut plan somewhat similar to what the president is bro posing and -- proposing, and rand paul says he'll vote for it, if we get that, where does the dow go?

peter, you first, real fast. >> 30k by the end of donald trump's first term. stuart: sorry, say that again. 30k by when? >> perhaps the election. but certainly by the end of donald trump's first term. my feeling is that over the next three years we will get to 30k. doing 10% a year would not be that big a deal now. stuart: that's a revolution in stock market investing. >> no, it's not. it's basically going from price earnings 25 to price earnings 35. i think that's very doable in an era when you create companies like google on $23 million worth of start-up capital. that's all it took to start that company. stuart: three years away. peter kiernan, you say? >> not a chance. stuart: not a chance? >> i'd short that. i'm sorry, peter, i think you're one of the smartest guys i know, but i'm telling you we have a very highly valued market today because of one word: anticipation. they're anticipating that we're going to get this tax cut. i think if we don't get some sort of tax relief, i believe

the market is going to have an accident and not the kind that gets over in a day or a week. >> i think -- [inaudible conversations] >> and also if rates go up, if rates go up and the dollar strengthens alongside that, that could hit the profit line as well because of the translation of the currency receipts. it does happen. there is a slippery period. but, you know, people are more worried about their mortgage and college tuition than they are about gee copolitical risks -- geopolitical riskings. and that $14 trillion plus in money printing by the central banks around the world, that wall of liquidity is coming in. stuart: this seems to be agreement around the idea that the tax cuts is the pivot. if question get it, all -- if we get it, all bets are off, we go up. now peter is saying that we're going to hit 30,000 by the next election if we get this tax cut. peter kiernan, you're saying -- >> i'm less optimistic, but if we get this, we are going to have continued growth. the momentum will continue. and what's happening and what's

important is -- it goes back to liz's point -- in the next ten years if we keep going outside the united states there'll be a billion new members of the middle class. and what do middle class people buy when they get the money for the first time? they buy american goods. they buy the quality brands, and if you look at the top hundred brands, most of them are made in the good old usa. stuart: by the way, we had an all-time high for netflix earlier this morning. it's slipped since then, but it was at an all-time high. facebook is right at an all-time high, $175 per share, 59en cents if you want to count that. we're up a buck on facebook, never been higher than that. there are other stocks which are very, very close to all-time highs. i'm looking at amazon at $1009 per share. that was well over $1000 earlier, but it's back above and firmly there now. we seem to have stabilized just below 23,000 on the dow jones industrial average. and, again, around this table at least there is consensus that

the pivotal, pivot deal here is the tax cut. gotta have it, otherwise we might not go much further on the upside. facebook, amazon, alphabet9 and apple all up, the only big tech stock that's down is the one that i own, and that is microsoft at $77.44. take a look at sears. that stock was down big yesterday, a major investor left the board of directors. it's down 30% so far this year, down another near 5% today. look at ibm. now, they report their profits late today after the market closes. as you walk up to that close, ibm is down just a fraction. and now this, ladies and gentlemen, having hit 23k, this: florida's governor, rick scott, he's declared a state of emergency ahead of a speech by a white nationalist, richard spencer. he is scheduled to give a speech at the university of florida on thursday. judge napolitano coming up on that state of emergency in that area. and this: president trump

called the iran nuclear agreement the worst deal ever. he followed up by announcing his refusal to recertify the deal. the former mayor of shiloh, israel, with us soon. he says senator schumer is playing politics with the issue and secretary tillerson just doesn't get it. but first, nfl owners and players meet in the city today discussing anthem protests. more on that in a moment. we're going to play a little jimi hendrix playing the national anthem. why not? >> yeah. ♪ ♪ who knew that phones would start doing everything?

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♪ ♪ [laughter] stuart: yes. well, we did hit 23,000. we hit it earlier. and we dropped the confetti, and we played the trumpets. we hit 23,000, we made it -- okay, we've backed off just a fraction. by the way, in this studio i can see the other networks, and i know what they're dealing with. and msnbc is running an interview with john harwood, the man who ruined cnbc with his arrogance in the presidential debate. i don't think they're going to call it the trump rally. i don't know because i can't

hear it, all i can do is see it, and they don't seem very swiewzed. nfl owners and players are meeting today in new york. connell mcshane live in new york, what's the headline? >> reporter: all right, stuart, first of all, thank you for the update on the competition's programming as we come in here. now, i will say this, there's been a lot of speculation about this meeting, right? certainly last week and this week leading up, and there's been speculation that some sort of major announcement would come out of it. right off the top, don't count on any kind of major rule change or a mandate or something that says these players must stand for the national anthem. since all of that speculation came out, there have been a couple of changes. number one, the players have been invited finish there'll be a number of players here today along with their union representatives -- and also we had just this morning a joint letter sent out by the commissioner and one of the players, doug baldwin who plays for the seattle seahawk, and that letter supported a bill in

congress on criminal justice reform, something some of the players have been pushing for. so you had that joint letter, they both signed it. you also have a joint statement from the players and the owners. i just want to read you part of that: there's been no change in the current policy regarding the anthem. the agenda, meaning today at the meeting, will be a continuation of how to make progress on the important social issues players have vocalized. everyone as part of the nfl community has tremendous respect for our country, anthem, flag and military. so again, it seems from what we're hearing and from reading between the lines that the players and the owners more than what had been reported in some places last week have come together on some of these issues or at least look, stuart, to come together in finding some sort of a compromise, some sort of common ground. now, there was a players' meeting up on park avenue today, different location in new york, where a group of players and some of the owners got together before this meeting. this meeting officially begins early afternoon here in lower

manhattan. we'll be here throughout the day. stuart: connell, thanks very much, indeed. >> i think you have a problem with your protests when the major networks are saying stay in commercial break and don't show it live on camera, the kneeling. i think it might be an issue right now. stuart: meanwhile, the drift away from the nfl continues, and they're not going to do a thing about it. coming up, progress being made in california. they're not out of the woods with the fires yet. they're still, they're still alight, put it like that, but there is the chance of rain. we're going to get a live look on the ground coming up. and we're going to be join by this man, dubbed a global she were pa by -- sherpa by lady margaret thatcher. hey, stay right there. ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ [laughter] stuart: very apt music. i just love it, don't you? okay. so we hit 23,000. let me take you back to the election when the dow stood at 18 ,000. that was november 8th louisiana last year. -- 8th last year.

what was paul krugman at "the new york times" and andrew ross sorkin of cnbc, what were they saying? >> that the markets were going to collapse, similar to brexit, that trade would collapse when trump was elected. rachel maddow was saying the same thing, cnn. if you followed them, you lost a lot of money. this is journalistic malpractice, their thoughts are not facts, their opinions are not facts. they literally have cost people money. it is journalistic mall practice, the analysis that they did. stuart: could you be a little stronger? >> let me just give you a line from mr. krugman. he said, quote: we are very probably looking at a global recession with no end in sight. what did peter kiernan just tell us? 34 economies -- 43 economies growing -- stuart: we were on the air election night, and peter kiernan, what did you say? >> i said it was a buying opportunity. basically what happens is you

have people practicing stock investing without a license. don't watch 'em, they'll get you in the wrong place. >> well, those same types of individuals who we aforementionedded said the same thing about brexit, that the markets would collapse, right? and it didn't happen. stuart: have we excoriated the opposition? >> not enough. [laughter] stuart: president trump pitches unity with senator mcconnell. get together on taxes, repeal obamacare. the question is, is big business kind of fed up waiting for congress? let's bring in ted malek, the author of "common sense business." welcome to the program. >> thank you. stuart: before we go any further, what's your opinion about paul krugman? did you write an article about him? >> i did last year when he was backing the opposition in the campaign and called him a limousine liberal, which he is, and an economist without credibility. stuart: you're welcome on this program. >> i am an economist.

stuart: yes, you are. okay. is business, in america now, is business just angry at politicians? >> well, i think they're fed up with the team. look, when you have a football team that's not winning, you usually trade the players or get a new manager, and i think that's what we have to do with this congress. it's dysfunctional, it's obviously not productive. it's extremely unpopular. and there's no bipartisanship, therefore, it's not getting anything done. so i'm with steve bannon, i think we need a new team. stuart: really in. >> i am. stuart: get rid of mcconnell, speaker ryansome. >> let's bring in term limits. get rid of them all. that's not what the founders wanted. they didn't want incumbents that serve forever. i used to work for the u.s. senate, so i know it from the inside. stuart: are the votes there for a huge tax cut with no offsetting, let it pay for itself or razor tax to pay for it? just cut taxes and get on with

it. >> i am absolutely in favor of it. stuart: are you a reaganite? >> i was part of the administration. i prefer a steve forbes flat tax, but i'll take this one, and it will do wonders for the economy. it's already built in the expectation, so we have to see it come to fruition. if we don't, if we fail at this, i think the game is over. stuart: now, you know this from the inside. you've been around the block on tax cutting for many, many years. do you think we will get a tax cut this year? >> i absolutely believe we'll get it, and i think it will be the republicans that deliver it. there might be a few crossover votes that we can peel off on the democratic side. and if we don't deliver it, i think we're really in bad shape. and that has also to do with the other question of aversion and bringing money back, you know, $2.5 trillion sitting overseas that shouldn't be there in the first place. we've got to bring that back. we've got to make it attractive for those companies to plow that

money into the american economy. stuart: does that money come back if we get a 20% corporate tax rate and also get a tax holiday where there's virtually no or very, very low corporate tax for a given period of time to get the money back? >> that's the deal. now, i can't see why we couldn't have done that already aside from a bigger tax bill. so that should be part of the program. there's $2.5 trillion that's mostly in pharmaceuticals and technology. companies like apple, microsoft, pfizer have $100 billion each sitting offshore. we could ask the question why in the first place, but that money should be back here. stuart: now, the left will say, okay, you bring the money back, but it won't create jobs because companies will just put it into a higher dividend, or they'll buy back their own stock to get the stock price up. that doesn't help the economy. what's your saying to that? >> well, some of that may happen that still helps the economy long term. i think that we have to actually

see it plowed back into real infrastructure, real jobs, training, research and development, things that make america more productive, more competitive. and there's a possibility for that. i work on the micro level with companies all the time. let me tell you, they will make those things happen. stuart: you're a former partner at goldman sachs. if we have a tax holiday and a 20% tax rate on corporations, do we yet the $2.5 trillion back? >> i think it will come back if, the big if, the rudyard kipling if, if they believe there is a place where they can profitably invest that money. so the fact is we're going to get a tax cut. i believe so. but that is the beginning of the process. the process then has to move into fiscal and other activities with regulations so that it becomes wan attractive place -- becomes an attractive place, the most attractive place in the world to start a business, open up a new line of business, build a new product or device. when that happens, that money will come flooding back.

stuart: last question to ted, if we do get this tax cut -- and you think we will -- does this stock market go way beyond 23,000 on the dow? >> oh, yeah. no, it has legs that could go much, much further. we used to joke, jim glassman wrote a book that the dow would be at 28,000, and everybody was laughing. it's not impossible. stuart: wow with. [laughter] all right, mr. malek, why don't you come back on the show with an outlook like that. he's all right. thanks for joining us. the california wildfires, hillary vaughn in napa county for us, the latest please, hillary. >> reporter: stuart, this white cloud behind me is very deceiving because underneath it are 30-40 feet high flames and hundreds of fire crews working in that smoke trying to get control of the nuns fire. the goal is to combine two different fires in hopes to get control. to give you a sense of how dire and deadly this situation is,

over half of all firefighters responding statewide are working here along with heavy duty equipment, 39 helicopters and 500 fire engines. in this area alone, 27,000 structures are still at risk. statewide over 5700 businesses and homes have burned down, over 4,000 of those had been in this area in surrounding communities, entire suburbs completely wiped out. the goal here today is to make sure that that fire burning behind me does not make it to ground level here where there are tons of vineyards lined up at risk of becoming also another victim of this fire, stuart. stuart: right there for us, hillary vaughn. thank you, hillary, we'll be back to you later. thank you. i want to bring in larry elder, syndicated radio host and california resident. [laughter] you know, look, these fires are truly serious. the damage, extraordinary. >> they are. stuart: california is in, not in good financial shape as a state,

and now it's got to deal with this. what say you about this? >> well, you're right, we're not in good financial shape depending upon who you ask, we're either a half a billion or a trillion dollars unfunded just in pension liabilities, plus we're spending about $25 billion every single year on illegal aliens and the children of illegal aliens, primarily health care and educational benefits. so, yeah, we're in bad shape, and this is a state that, as you know, is run entirely by democrats. the democrats have a majority-proof margin both, in both the houses of our government. and they're able to do whatever they want to do. they're taxing and spending and regulating and driving people away, driving high income people away, and this is what you get when you have one party, left-wing government. stuart: well, what are they going to do to pay for getting these fires under control? >> well, there's always this battle between how much money you get from the feds, how much money comes from locally. some of these fires take place

on federal lands, and the federal lands are the ones that are often the most mismanaged because of the environmental concerns. you don't have the kind of thinning of the trees that you normally have that would prevent some of these fires from being so deadly. so there's back and forth as to who owes who what. bottom line is our finances are so bad that sooner or later we're going to be cutting back on services as i mentioned the last time i was here, serious services like education and like police and fire. no one is saying that's happened yet, but sooner or later you're going to find a bunch of finger pointing and people making arguments that our state is being mismanaged and our priorities are bad. stuart: okay, larry. i want your input on president trump and senator mcconnell pitching unity -- [laughter] about tax -- [laughter] why are you laughing? because a lot of people have taken that unity message, they're running with it, and they've said on this program that, yeah, it looks like we will get a tax cut this year with these two coming together like this. why are you so skeptical?

>> oh, i'm not skeptical, i think there will be a tax cut, but that's not because of the bromance. you know the whole line in washington, d.c. if you want a friend, get a dog. there are no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, just permanent interests, and it's in both their interests to do a tax cut deal. and unlike health care, there is a consensus here, so it's going to happen. and i agree with peter. once it happens, the stock market's going to go crazy, and donald trump is going to cruise to get reelected because as ronald reagan did when he got reelected, 49-1 state victory. it wasn't because all of a sudden the country became fiscally and culturally conservative. they were happy at 4% gdp growth which is what we're going to get in the event that we get this massive tax cut/tax reform. stuart: larry elder, a california resident saying things like that on national television and locally as well. [laughter] >> practicing investment without a license. [laughter] stuart: that too. larry, you've brightened us all up this morning. we like that.

thank you very much, indeed, larry elder. >> you got it. stuart: florida's governor with, rick scott, he's declared a state of emergency, i just think in one county. it's very localizedded. state of emergency, one county. that's ahead of a speech by white nationalist richard spencer. he's scheduled to speak at the university of florida -- i think it is on thursday of this week. judge napolitano discussing that state of emergency to insure free speech in just a moment. but first, we'll be joined by the former mayor of shiloh, israel, david rubin, on the president's decertification of the iran nuclear deal. should we be celebrating? "forbes" out with its annual rich list are. four of the top five are techies. take a why would guess as to who they are. everybody knows -- >> yeah, yeah. stuart: we all know this. they're all americans, by the way. and we will be back. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ >> i'm nicole petallides with your fox business brief. well, amazon continues to expand its footprint in seat and across our nation -- in seattle and around our nation. the epicenter of retail there in seattle for 88 years, this historic structure, 300 pine street. it was the home to macy's. macy's out, amazon in.

this is a very big deal. obviously, an indication of what amazon has been doing to these retailers. of course, amazon employs 50,000 folks, they continue to administer people there in seattle. we know that amazon has been working for a second headquarters, but macy's this year down 44% while amazon has been a gainer, up 34%. big picture here amazon continues to spend and needs more space for its wares. ♪ ♪ his late 50s right in the heart of the financial crisis, and saw his portfolio drop by double digits. it really scared him out of the markets. his advisor ran the numbers and showed that he wouldn't be able to retire until he was 68. the client realized, "i need to get back into the markets- i need to get back on track with my plan." the financial advisor was able to work with this client. he's now on track to retire when he's 65. having someone coach you through it is really the value of a financial advisor.

our recent online sales success seems a little... strange?nk na. ever since we switched to fedex ground business has been great. they're affordable and fast... maybe "too affordable and fast." what if... "people" aren't buying these books online, but "they" are buying them to protect their secrets?!?! hi bill. if that is your real name. it's william actually. hmph! affordable, fast fedex ground.

stuart: want to tell you about the "for" richest americans list. it's just come out. i'm going to give you the top five. bill gates -- i can't read that, $89 billion. jeff bezos, 81. warren buffett, 78. mark zuckerberg, 71. lawrence ellison, as in oracle, $59 billion. all of them are americans, of course, all of them are technology -- except for warren buffett. the guy who's number three at this point. they're all worth a lot of money. now this, president trump decertifying the iran nuke deal. come on in former mayor of shiloh in israel, david rubin, a frequent guest on this program. our window into israeli politics, can i call you that? >> i'm happy to be that. stuart: okay, well, then you are. that's who you are. the influence of iran and its power and position -- is that benjamin netanyahu?

[laughter] stuart: live television, got ya. >> perfect timing. stuart: it's okay. >> never done that before. stuart: don't worry. he's dropping both of his phones on the floor. okay. iranian influence and power in the middle east rising. i sense a confrontation coming at some point, israel/iran, america/iran, you say what? >> i've been saying for about 15 years that there's going to be a military confrontation. and i, you know, at one point, at one point i thought that while the military confrontation could, didn't have to come right away, it could have been delayed, but hopefully sanctions was going to work at some point. but we're way past that point now. the sanctions regime has passed, trump certifying -- decertifying the iran deal is a good thing, and i think crippling sanctions

can help because it weakens iran. but we've got a big problem now because this deal has given them billions of dollars. they're spreading it around, they're supporting hamas terrorists on the south of israel. they're supporting hezbollah terrorists in syria and lebanon. and every terrorist group gets major support from iran. they say it themselves. stuart: if it's a military confrontation, that's war. that's war in the middle east on a major scale. that's a very serious thing. >> it's a very serious thing. but i believe it's winston churchill once said that you have to look evil in the face when it's there, and you have to confront it. and you have to have the courage to confront it when it needs to be confronted. stuart: is this what the israeli people are saying? >> well, israel understands that it has to be done, that something has to be done seriously all across the board. israelis are happy all across, from the far left to far right

that president trump has decertified the iran deal, and now we're just waiting to see what comes up now. if there is no major inspection, unlimited inspections of all of the military site ises in iran -- sites in iran according to this revised deal that the congress will be working on, if there isn't that, then there really is no other chance. it's going to end up, trump is going to rip up the deal because it's practically useless at this point. and within ten years, they will be a nuclear power. and remember, the iranian leaderers, the ayatollahs in iran are in the same spirit of ayatollah khomeini who took over in iran from the shah in the late '70s and who called for exporting the islamic revolution. they believe in it just as strongly, and exporting the islamic revolution doesn't mean just attacking israel. they're working fehrishly on --

feverishly on intercontinental ballistic missiles -- stuart: are they in league with north korea? they work hand in glove? >> absolutely. stuart: is this just speculation? >> no, this is something that is known. israel has very good intelligence, and we're aware of these things. stuart: if you believe, and you've believed for many, many years that a military confrontation is coming, when? and what sets it off? >> well, to that question i have to -- stuart: you can't really answer the question, can you? >> i don't know. stuart: you condition. >> i don't know -- you can't. >> i don't know, but if we stick to the iran deal in some form, they would never agree to do away completely with their nuclear research and development program. stuart: but that was not in the deal, was it? >> it wasn't. stuart: they didn't say we're stepping away from all nuclear research and development. >> that's correct. stuart: they didn't say that. >> that's why it was a bad deal.

stuart: so if we break that deal, we abrogate that deal, don't they move quicker towards a nuclear weapon? >> well, no. i don't think so. i think if the deal is, if the deal is abrogated, then that means, yes, they will be free according to the deal to do what they want to do to speed up their nuclear research and development and creation of nuclear weapons. but we will also be free. stuart: you'll stop them. >> that's right. stuart: okay. david, thank you very much for joining us, david rubin. you're a popular guest on this program, and you say some really extraordinary things. we appreciate you being here. >> you're welcome. stuart: all right. now, we have been telling you about this story for some time now. we're intrigued by it. florida's governor, rick scott, he's declared a state of emergency in one limited area, in one county in florida, ahead of a speech by the white nationalist richard spencer. he's scheduled to speak at the university of florida. the governor wants to free up

some funds in case there are violent protests. judge napolitano will discuss that in just a moment. and the markets did, indeed, hit that record 23,000 on the dow. yes, we hit it, then we retreated, but we did hit it not too long ago. we'll be back. ♪ ♪ is this a phone?

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stuart: dana loesch, second amendment supporter, frequent guest on the program, received death threats because of her pro-gun stance. the threats were so serious, she had to move. judge napolitano here. what's happened to free speech? >> i hope that her free speech has not been stifled, and we don't know all the facts in the case here. we know that she is a staunch, perhaps the best known public defender of the right to keep and bear arms as articulated by the supreme court in the modern era in america today. if she suffered because of those views, then the government in the place where she suffered has fail add adequately to protect her rights. stuart: well, it's not the government's fault that she got threats. >> no, but it is -- stuart: it's the government's responsibility to defend her. >> correct. and it's the government's

responsibility to assure her freedom of movement and ability to continue to express her views. stuart: dana was supposed to be on this program, but she had to cancel at the last minute. she had a scheduling conflict. we hope to bring her back at some point. now, judge, i want to move on to this. in florida, the governor, rick scott, he's declared a state of emergency in one county ahead of a peach by the man on the right -- a speech by the man on the right, richard penceer, white nationalist. first of all, a state of emergency, that's a bit extreme, isn't it? >> you know, we start with the premise that this is a state school, the state government owns the school, so it cannot distinguish amongst speakers on the basis of the content of speech. the students want him there, and he wants to speak, they have to let him speak, and they have to protect his right to do so. the state of emergency cuts both ways. in one respect, the governor is thinking ahead of time that there may very well be violation, and i want more police there so we don't have another charlottesville. the other way it cuts is it chills the freedom of speech.

it keeps people from going there because there'll be such a police presence, and it prevents people like this guy whose speech i condemn but will defend his right to articulate it from actually going to these venues. so this is a bit of a head-scratcher. i think in his mind, because i read the very lengthy executive order, the governor believes he's doing the right thing to assure the right of this fellow to speak and the right of listeners to hear him. remains to be seen what happens. stuart: it's a fair point. he has been banned, we figured it was 26 countries, in europe -- >> yes. can't go into 26 countries. >> these must be european countries without first amendments -- stuart: yes, they are indeed precisely that. >> which would be all of them. [laughter] stuart: the man is an anti-semite, anti-everything. >> voltaire, i condemn what you say but defend to the death our right to say it. that's where i am on this guy and probably where most of us are. stuart: i think so is, indeed.

excellent summary. >> aren't you kind. stuart: yes. too kind. >> thank that 200-year-old now-dead french philosopher. [laughter] stuart: he was a coffee addict, did you know that. >> i did not know that. stuart: it was either him or russo -- >> your knowledge of history is impeccable, mr. varney. stuart: i'm in deep trouble. more "varney" after this. ♪ this is judy. judy is 63 years old. her mortgage payment is $728 a month. that's almost 9 thousand dollars a year. now judy doesn't think that she'll be able to retire until her mortgage is fully paid off. this is mike. mike is also 63 years old. his mortgage payment was $728 a month. mike thought he would have to work for another 12 years until his mortgage was paid off...

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we go much higher. say it again. >> we have momentum in hiring. we have momentum in the economy. we need something to push a little further. if we get it, it will be fantastic. stuart: well-said, young man. well-said. neil, take it away. neil: what if we don't get the tax cut? stuart: you discuss that on your show. neil: that is the half empty depressing glass. thank you very much, my friend. we're keeping track of the dow at record place off the 23,000 highs. off of improving economic numbers we've been seeing. this would be a 4,000 point jump for this market this year. it crossed 20,000, five days after trump inaugurated. did so on march 1st, 21,000. did so on august 21st to it 2,000. august 20 second. today,