going to instill confidence in the company for the future and not easy to do. >> real quick loving. >> jd.com good to see you everybody right to stuart varney we go and over to you. >> stuart varney i like it a lot thank you very much indeed. decision day for grand dad stock, that would be general electric, and embarrassment dare if the nfl and the president -- [laughter] he issue ors a classic rocket man tweet. [laughter] what a way to start a monday morgue and good morning everyone. look e-look at this g.e. will cut its dividend in half and stock has gone up not much but it had been up more. separately wall street journal says a refocus of the whole company but no breakup anyone over 30 remember the good old days when it was a stock for widow and orphan new guy john plans new era starting now. all right the nfl well there's a new era but it is not good. everity seats and the anthem

protest have not gone away. plus, another controversy roger goodell new contract $49 million a year a private jet for life and health care for his children for life -- [laughter] we're on it. president trump now in the philippines he has met with vladimir putin left hate that. they think piewten is playing our president. but before we get to that -- let's start your monday off right -- here is the president's perhaps greatest tweet ever. why would kim junk u uninsult me by calling me old when i would never call him short and fat. oh, well -- i try so hard to be o his friend. maybe someday that will happen. [laughter] he has a way with words doesn't he in "varney & company" is about to begin. >> i think it demonstrates to

mr. putin that donald trump can be played by foreign leaders who are going to appeal to his ego, and to try to play apart his insecurity. >> really -- former cia director john brennan thinks putin played our president, played donald trump -- more on that many a few minutes but first -- let's look at the markets it is monday morning it was a down week last week and we will be down of the opening bell today no significant reason for that. no single reason popping but we'll be down 0, 90 points. stock of the day is probably going to be general electric expect a lot of volatility that slashed its diff end in half twelve cents will be stock is a fraction higher than the very swrsh early going had been higher than that. jack howard is with us barron sr. editor that was a big cut in the diff end why has the stock gone u up? okay five or ten cents it has gone up. >> excessive hopefulness there's deep oar problems than it can,

diff dividend u should have happened and analysts i talk to say, there are structural problems with g.e. that its products and many many its business lines aren't competitive u enough and that it is pricing some of the deals too low. not accounting for all of the risk it is taking and creative financing things like that to keep selling products but price too low and taking too much risk. >> drops into the teens. ming smallerrer dividend you need that yield and for that to stay high price needs to move lower i think. >> in my opinion this is just my opinion if it drops into teens half of our viewers out there will buy it and buy it on grounds that surely g.e. could struggle back for 21 and give them a 10% gain. >> talking about half had of your viewers should boy at some point g.e. is cheap enough but problem is it is not just about selling off business lines.

you need to get some -- there's a huge disconnect between paper earnings and catch jpghted by business it won't fix that right away but it will take some time. [laughter] you start on a monday morning let's give them something. what do we get -- [laughter] but stay is there. we will entertain your ideas later. >> something i like come on. [laughter] >> politics -- get a rise out of somebody on politics two formallier intelligence chiefs with, slam the presidents other his russia comment. lawrence jones hosted the blaze, he's with us this morning in new york. president flying flag in asia and media couldn't find a single thing they wouldn't give him credit for thinking. >> you know it is crazy because i feel the president is best when he's overseas. because there's this -- national approach of america being first, and giving the leaders face telling them that

he's not gobbing to leave our country behind so i think it is pretty disrespectful especially having those two had had served the country before now criticizing the president why he's overseas. j you know, i think they miss, miswhawnd the president has said when he did meet with putin the president said i believe he means it. >> yes. that was translated in media as i believe putin. which also it shall >> he said that he stood behind intelligence community as well. look, i don't get people saying he's anti-america had it comes to russian but antiwho he is and entire campaign and any time to show a strength he's always doing is now to suggest that president is a double agent for russia i think it is disenjean is use. >> put that trump tweet again on the air again up on the screen. this is where trump calls the kim jong-un why would he pin cut me by calling me old when i

would never call him short and fat? [laughter] well i try so hard to be his friend and maybe someday that will happen. lawrence jones i want your comment on that. [laughter] >> funny come on. >> exactly. hilarious. but takes a lot to get used to a president who had says things like that. you know? >> i'm tired of president bsing arranged and wish they would tell the truth so i think it is kind of refreshing to see the president make fun of -- >> dc transstroke -- >> see is that your line in the morning? >> the temporary one million they come back yes it is. >> living up our monday morning so wonderfully with a -- all right lawrence, hold on a second i've got i think more for you but listen to this. >> you to. okay. >> alibaba racked up $25 billion wot of billion sails that was singles day in china.

what happens? >> they smash their own record and 97% of their transactions kale through smart phones in the first minute. 90% for the entire day through smartphones al be be has it going on they're tracking the consumer shopping habit in countries around world and what a riot they are singles day started eight years ago. retail therapy chinese style shop we have cybermonday. black friday. but these guys are saying you know retail you are single go alone and shop. >> jack march founder of alibaba he thinks hien is the in process of changing way they shop. going straight to smart phones. it's 90% of that singles day sales we're on -- >> 97% first minute and overall. that's right look at the number the number of people who commute into san francisco that was a number of transactions per second in alibaba 25 billion of stuff sold on singles day. >> hold --

quiet you know quiet and everybody is speaking out of turn. now, wal-mart. i have a new strategy higher or prices on the the website. wait a minute, ash does that mean they'll charge you more if you order online than if you bought the same thing in the store is? >> sounds like a risky strategy doesn't it they're trying to drive peel to the stores they say so cheap online that by the time they throw in free two-day shipping it is unprofitable thousand you can get the store price online but you have to physically go to pick it up but they can't compete on some of these prices they're trying to boost profit to get more into the store. this makes perfect sense if you're going wall more the you are ups you are fedex being your own deliverly person you should get paid for that. >> so they say $10 in shipping cost so -- to ship a buck 28 -- >> and paying such a small price for an item wonings they throw in shipping they're losing money they want to be on profit. >> we've gone through putin --

kim jong-un g.e. done wall street done opening the market now listen to this. tax reform, the setup begins writing its version of the bill this afternoon, jack is with me. lawrence is with me i say right from the get-go lawrence. i say start rolling your eyes at me. something is better than nothing. what did you just ?ai >> i disagree and i'm disappointed. in me buzz you won't hold them account public. stuart varney in republican faces telling them go big or o go home. and you're say let's just settle. forget that we get your majority we gave you senate, house oval office but we'll just take what we get. you're avoiding -- not the stuart varney i know. >> you would say no deal is better than the deal that is on the table. >> this is bad. this is bad. you of all who promote business to give you some growth in the economy. >> mediocre. so that's not what we sent them there to do.

ivelg okay stay there for a second jack something is better than nothing. might well go home because what they're talking now is widely to top income, there's not enough there for the middle-class, it's a start but it's not a very strong start there's a lot more to be done here. >> widely to toking are you kidding me? >> no i'm quite serious and majorities of peel -- >> if it comes down at all cools down one point that's it. and the rich lose these vast -- [inaudible conversations] double the number of people think about they'll in connection increase in people who pay zero income tax. >> people have appreciated asset their whole life and never taxed -- >> talk about small business. amp that's the only way that a lot of -- >> that's who i say go pay taxes. if liberals will say that had talking point right there then we go big we're punished regardless give everybody a cut.

everybody gets the cut. >> well what's your name again? jones and company in the future is that what he's going to be? well look had thank you very much. [laughter] for your input the producer of the pral just said lawrence jones and company sounds good to me. [laughter] well -- hey look at a physical $133 a share. there are reports that the iphone 10 freezes up in cold weather. some users say their screen is has become unresponsive when they go outside. others say that the face unlock feature won't work in low ts apple says it is workingen software update don't worry 133 a share hardly any change. alabama senate candidate judge roy moore says he might sue "the washington post" for publishing story that accusing hill of having inproarpght relationship with a 14-year-old girl. moore saying those allegations are also. the judge will judge on that. and a lot of empty seats at nfl stadiums arranged the country

anthem protest not going away that's not stopping roger goodell from asking is for a huge new contract. almost $50 million a year a private jet for life, health insurance per the family forever, question is he worth it? we'll be back.

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>> emirates airline orders 40 of brand new 787 dream liners from beauing and stock boeing stock up yet again 262 on boeing this morning anheuser-busch changing its u.s. chief in face of slumping sales of budweiser and stock down one and quarter percent. cal qualm board and cash and stock offer. up brod come down to nfl there were a lot of empty seats that at least some of sunday's game that's not stopping that gentleman roger goodell from asking for a huge new contract.

49.5 million a year in addition lifetime use of a private jet lifetime health insurance for him and his empire family. with us is former nfl super bowl champ, he's the author of that great book with -- a remark public title which he will give us later. but welcome to the program testimony >> thank you good to be back again. >> goodell worth that money? >> well if you look at the brand of the nfl, and at end of the day paid on how well you can improve the grant i would say no. but it is interesting how in this world today we have people many our business people goodell is business -- and fortunately we have nfl -- owners who understand business. and yet i don't know for some reason they allow brand to be damaged this way to continue to go. we're going through a c change right now where they speak about nfl entertainment which we should be. see change because i see how thet both sides they want out of this somehow or another they want out. but there's no way out in the

short-term. looks like damage has been done. well they want out but mistake was made a year ago when they allowed to take their organization, and mark that's the colin kaepernick and i said it proudly because that's what we're up against but we have now people, rethinking what about they do on sunday and old days sunday was a day of football now we can think about other things to do and realize we're happy away from the nfl as long as we have a -- a enterprise that does not respect our country i'm proud of americans staptdinging up to man up to do what we do right now. we're letting people know that our country come os first before our entertainers. interesting by the way colin kaepernick citizen of the year is on the front of there it is gq magazine of the year. you don't like that. >> this is message about that happening and what we're going on right now in the black community socialism is at heart

of all of this and you have a young man now. what he did basically is put in stock. he talked about how bad be policemen are doing and now that invest in the black community is going up now. he's not articulate muff to talk about issues yet compared with jesse jackson and muhammad ali these are not heros and superdog is also not a here rewe have to get become to the good americans are -- >> you have it tell me more about the black community if you say that mark and socialist are not exactly run aring the show. but there are huge presence in the black community. how did that happen? >> they're running a show and if you understand where black community was and female all of the thinkings thinkings that ams all about a message now going into that community many which stupid dog calen kaepernick are hero and ben benson and going against narrative. successful articulate proud american and black community today and that's when you pull

back curtain to fight this offseason as americans. >> this is quite a statement mark system of socialist running show in the black community. >> wii not looking for pity but looking to take the boot of the guys out of and we'll take that. >> take the boot of the guys off the black community that's the exact opposite what have we hear on a day-to-day basis in america. >> get back -- i want you to read out again the full title of your book. >> and whips -- and repeat it. live and turn a good man into wine win that that's what americans do. smg that's how you get a smile on your face thanks verify for joining us it's a pleasure. thank you, sir. coming up one of our top market watchers says -- there's one global event not a global event yet but it might be. that has the potential to kill the stock market rally. it is the plague fitzgerald will make that case after this . let's begin.

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♪ ten african nations on alert of a concern vowpgding the black death otherwise known as the plague our next said it could affect the stock market rally here at home in america market watcher keith is fitzgerald let's get it right is making

this rash and outrageous claim seems stretch to me that -- a plague outbreak countrily only in madagascar with warnings in ten african countries that seals a stretch that could upset our stock market. explain it. >> well, there was only a minor threat from polio only a minor threat from small pocks there was only a minor threat from the dubai plague but today day and age the concern that bothers me is that this is a kind of thing that you get on a airplane with with today raveling and reach europe when it does something like this spreads very is rapidly in densely populated areas particularly if it mutates from u dubai form to the form to kill within 24 hours. that's the kind of stuff that should shat per financial markets because of this psychology that goes along with it. fng would you trade stocks on basis of unfounded possibility

this in the futuresome? >> people trade stocks on unfounded stuff all of the time how many iphones do you sell how many things can it g e sell and people trade on unfounded information all of the time when i take a huge position no. but proved for invest ors to say what events could disturb the way i look at the world. this is certainly one of them it fits that category, and i think it be remiss not to look at it. >> would it be called a "black swan" i'm particular with that expression something is that whats from way out of o no whereby and suddenly affects market dramatically if this occurred a spreading of the plague outside madagascar maybe a case in europe and/or america is that a "black swan"? >> technically it is unknowable stuart many this case it is known. i think the true "black swan" is how fast it spreads if it mutates that's the big if. you know again you don't know for certain you hope they never

come true but remiss not to take them into account as professional investment counselor. >> we hear you keith stay there and comments on ge. e. when market opens by the way the market will open a u few minutes time we'll be down about 72 points back in a moment with the opening bell --

stuart: all right. last week the market, as in the dow jones average, went down. first time in a long time, actually, many, many weeks that it actually went down. we're about to open the market monday morning in 3, 2,1. we're off, we're running and seeing red pop up on the left-hand side of the screen, lots of it. we're down 40 points, 45 points, we're stabilizing with a loss of around 50 points right from the get go on the dow jones industrial average. all right, down 58 as we speak. that's a loss of a quarter percentage point. the s&p 500, where is that going in the very early going? a loss of a quarter percentage point. show me the nasdaq, please, the technology sector, if you like. the nasdaq is one-third of 1%. ge, show it to me, please. that's going to be the stock of the day. you'll see an awful lot of volume. it's down. it's opened lower. >> because it's given a pretty down beat profit outlook on top

of the transformation they're announcing to their shareholders, the outlook for profit in the short term certainly not that great -- stuart: and the dividend's down, cut in half. alibaba, they've racked up $25 billion worth of sales on china's singles day. it's down $1.35 at 185. walmart, now, you buy something on walmart online, and you will pay more than if you went to the store to buy the same thing. >> right. stuart: walmart stock at 91 this morning. more on that in a moment. qualcomm's board of directors rejects broadcom's bid, they're up 80 p cents and broadcome is down. general electric has cut the dividend in half. that's what we're going to talk about. ashley, liz, keith fits and jack howe. keith, the stock is lower. would you buy wit at $20 a

share, keith in. >> not in a million years, stuart. i think the company's in serious trouble. it's an american icon that's going down the drain. john flannery's project or, you know, his remarks this morning seemed to be more like buzzword bingo than specifics, i don't like it one bit. >> they gave a pretty downbeat profit outlook as they announced this transformation and cutting the dividend in half. that's hurting the stock -- >> holding at 20. you've got to wonder how long it will stay in the blue chip dow index. it's been around since queen victoria was around and grover cleveland was president. stuart: it leaves the dow, then a lot of fund managers will not buy it because they only buy dow index stocks. >> right. stuart: on the cusp at $20 a share. jack howe, you would not buy it at 20? >> you need a big dividend yield. for that to happen, you need that share price to come down well into the teens, then maybe.

stuart: my prediction is it will drop into the $19 range, and people will buy it and shoot it back up to 20. of we shall see. alibaba, $25 billion worth of sales in china's singles day. that was one day. most people shopped on smartphones? >> yeah, 90% of them. i mean, alibaba broke the record by lunchtime. that was a record it set last year. they did $10 billion in sales after just one hour. $25.3 billion is the record. that stock is up more than double. i think china has, alibaba has it going on. they're saying, you know what? don't sit home and be single and alone. come out for some retail therapy. they can track consumer shopping -- stuart: and 90% of them bought on the smartphone which means they are out front of us in the way they shop. i think that would be accurate. >> about half -- stuart: i hear you saying yes, keith. i'm glad you're agreeing with me

on something. [laughter] walmart, you buy online, and you'll actually pea more than -- pay more than if you -- >> it doesn't seem to make sense, but here's the problem. some of these food and household good items, the prices are so low, they're losing money. it's just not profitable. they're saying enough is enough, they'll charge more online because that's what they need to build on razor-thin margins. you can get the cheaper price, the in-store price online, but you have to go and puck it up. >> the question is will wall street cut walmart the same slack it cut amazon. it has no profits. walmart has seen that income go down. so will wall street give walmart some slack here. stuart: okay. only time will tell. [laughter] i'm going to get back to smartphones and how they're used for shopping these days. there is something called the consumer technology association. they say, look, 61% of shoppers plan to use their smartphones.

if they buy something online for the holidays, 61% use smartphones. why am i not surprised, jack howe? >> i call my wife, hey, did you do the christmas shopping yet? [laughter] this is younger shoppers who have grown up with their phones as their main means of getting on the internet and doing things. everything these days is about mobile because these younger consumers go there first. stuart: okay. any comments from anybody? keith, you want to come into this? >> well, i think it's the wave of the future, pardon the pun, becauses this is -- to walmart's end, a hail mary strategy. this is not a management insight, not a stroke of brilliance, this is trying to bring people back to stores that are rapidly becoming ghost p talk -- ghost towns. alibaba is going to take on amazon shortly. stuart: what happened to you, keith? you're all bright and fiery, and on monday morning you say the plague is a threat to the future, you don't like walmart, what's wrong with you?

>> i better go visit starbucks or something, because that's a west coast institution. [laughter] stuart: i see that it's not raining this on the west coast. is that what's got to you, no rape? okay, okay. [laughter] where are we? we are down 60 points. we were supposed to go down 90 points. we've paused at loss of 65, 66, 67. all right. there's a rival to alibaba which did very well in the singles day sales in china, and that is jd.com. look at them, up 6%. >> everybody ignores it. better customer satisfaction scores than alibaba because they own their infrastructure. they do a better job of getting packages to customers on time, and there's all kinds of room in china for both these players to prosper. stuart: so they are big players already in china. were they part of singles day? >> and it's much more fragmented than it is here in the u.s. it's all online, there's opportunities of room for growth

for both these companies. stuart: up 6% as we speak. all right. better profit and revenue at tyson foods. strong demand for chicken and beef plus lower cost of animal field. it's only up 26 cents. disneyland, southern california, shut down two cooling towers following an outbreak of legionnaire's disease. work -- origin county, california, health officials said nine people developed the disease. okay? disney, not -- the stock's not reacting to that. but look at boeing, please. emirates, the airline, they've ordered 40 boeing dreamliners, the 787, $15 billion worth. boeing up, again, not much but up, $261 on boeing. anheuser-busch inbev changed their u.s. chief. they've got slumping sales of bud and bud light, the stock is down a buck. walmart, all-time high. i think it was a fraction higher than that this morning.

91.69 -- >> and to keith fitzgerald, you could argue brick and mortar are becoming ghost towns, but walmart has increased sales 12 quarters in a row, that's three years quarter after a quarter. >> we're just a year after the jet.com purchase. walmart, i think, has a spring in its step right now. i feel pretty good -- stuart: walmart owns jet.com. [inaudible conversations] >> i hear exactly where you guys are coming from, but looking at the longer-term game, i just don't see it because amazon versus everybody else is radically changing the retail land scape. and i don't think -- >> but wall street has given amazon a lot of slack, you know, a nonprofit -- the. stuart: keith, would you buy amazon, therefore, if you're so big on m amazon beating everybody, would you with buy the stock at $1100 a share? >> no question. stuart: okay. well, there's a straight answer. he likes something. [laughter] remember that commercial, hey,

mikey -- [laughter] all right. here's a story. hasbro has reportedly approached mattel about a merger. hasbro has a market value of $11 billion, it has brands like "star wars," my little pony, monopoly, nerf. mattel, market value $5 billion. they've got barbie dolls and hot wheels. you don't think much of the idea of a merger, but -- >> how are you going to go from a vertical deal between at&t and time warner, very little reason for regulatory concern, they don't like it. you going to go from that to the two biggest toymakers in the country, and the regulators are going to be okay with it? stuart: not barbie dolls and hot wheels, toys are these things and the games -- >> not to mention there could be serious revenue dis-synergies here meaning a company like disney wants two different players to do toy deals with. if they're combined -- stuart: totally out of step with

the market one more time, jack howe. [laughter] i think we should go to keith for the last word of the day as we open up the market. keith, it's yours. >> i tell you what, for all of the nonsense that i've brought to the table today, there's still a lot of opportunity particularly when you look at these big tech companies because they're changing the future, and i hope you're onboard, stuart. stuart: there you go. that's a warm -- still own that microsoft. you know, keith, you're all right, and you'll come back soon. thank you very much. i do have to say good-bye the keith and to jack. great stuff, we appreciate it. thank you, gentlemen. all right, now, the loss has been pared. we were down, what, 60, 70 points, now we're down 47. show me ge, please. let's see what's happened to ge. it's going to be all over the place. right now it has dropped below $20 a share. it's down 3.8%. >> you're already -- [inaudible] stuart: i got that right. [laughter] now, i do predict that people will buy it. day traders looking for a quick gain and sell it again when it

hits 20, but look at the volume, 19 million shares in ten minutes, ladies and gentlemen. >> wow. stuart: all right. check this out, please. gee whiz tech, it's giving some of its factory workers bionic exoskeletons, special robotic suits that make them stronger and fast err. i'm interested in that. i want one. [laughter] and president trump and russia's putin, they teamed up to take out isis in syria. could we call that a success? general jack keane coming up next. ♪ ♪

stuart: all right. we're and minutes in, and we're down just 38 points on the dow industrials, 23,3, is the scorecard, so to speak.

walmart, whoa, look at this. walmart is testing virtual makeup. you've got to tell me about this, lori. how does it work? >> reporter: so we've all been there -- maybe you haven't, stuart, but you go to the drugstore, you buy some foundation, it's the wrong shade. so walmart is introducing this virtual reality program call in five stores where you can try on the makeup digitally to make sure it's the right color for you. now, the bigger picture, of course, is that it's trying to expand its tech long call footprint. -- technological footprint. some analysts are calling walmart a tech start-up. shares up 35% so far this year, and they are up this morning in large part because of this story. back to you. stuart: thanks very much, lori. i've not actually used that mirror yet -- [laughter] >> but you will. stuart: dream on, lizzie. [laughter] ford is giving bionic

exoskeletons to its workers. ash, would that be like getting extra muscle power? >> kind of. it's like combining man and machine. you strap on this device, it goes on the shoulders and the arms, and it's basically for auto workers who work right there. that picture's perfect, who work on the underside of vehicles, and they're constantly having to raise their arms. this'll give them an extra 15 pounds worth of power in this exoskeleton, and they're saying the average worker will do that physical lift over a million times a year making a car. so this is designed to cut back on fatigue and also on injuries. >> i want one. what if you have a spinal cord injury? >> same kind of -- it's the same company that designed that. stuart: actually, we showed that on our show. remember that? i approve. president trump calling out kim jong un in this classic tweet: why would kim jong un

insult me by calling him old when i would never call him old and fat9? oh, well, i try so hard to be his friend, and maybe someday that will happen. joining us now, retired four-star general jack keane. general, what did you make of that tweet when you first saw it? what was your reaction? [laughter] >> well, i know the president just finds it irresistible, he just has to respond. [laughter] stuart: so did we. >> i don't make much of it. i mean, what i'm really focused on is the strategic things that he's accomplishing as a result of this visit, pushing back on north korea, you know, partnering with our allies to stand up to chinese aggression and doing something about the incredible trade imbalance that we have in that part of the world. those are the major policy issues he's dealing with, and i'm delighted to see it. stuart: but the other issue which did come up after that meeting with vladimir putin, they've agreed -- russia and america have agreed, or so it seems, to beat isis, paul rise them on the ground.

that would seem to be another plus for the president's foreign trip. would you agree with that? >> yeah. i don't really understand it to be frank though, stuart. listen, we've taken down 95, 98% of this caliphate with coalition-led forces inside syria and with iraqi forces inside iraq. the russians haven't done much, if anything, to contribute to that. i'm wary of the russians here because they are in a political and military alliance with the iranians. they control western syria, they want to control eastern syria where we're operating now. they've moved forces in there, proxies from iran on the ground, assad forces, and they really want to control eastern syria. and that's what i think their, the game is here. and i hope that we clearly understand what their strategic intentions here and we don't wind up losing something that we don't have to give up. stuart: following the visit to asia and all the consultations with our asian allies, the next time the north koreans launch a

missile, do you think, a, it will be shot down; b, will it be shot down by the japanese or the americans? >> i don't think it'll be shot down unless it's coming dangerously close, you know, to one of our allies. i think our strategy right now is not to take on any of the missile testing, to truly focus hard on the diplomatic-economic sanction approach. hopefully, as a result of the president's visit behind closed doors with president xi, that he has committed to do more and to do it more urgently than what he's currently doing. and i hope in time we'll get a report out from the president on that. that's what we need to be doing. stuart: okay. general keane, thanks for joining us. >> good talking to you, stuart. stuart: yes, sir. alabama gop senate candidate roy moore threatens to sue "the washington post" over its sex abuse story. you know what that means? all rise, the judge is next.

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stuart: we're coming back a little bit. the dow was down 60, now we're down 27. take a look at ge, please, stock of the day. a lot of volatility here. it did, indeed, drop below $20 a share. i'm expecting some buyers with the hope of maybe a $1 gain for

a quick carry. nice profit, we shall see. at the moment, 19.88 on ge. they've cut the dividend in half. let's get to roy moore. he is now threatening to sue "the washington post" over its sex abuse story. all rise, napolitano is here. on what grounds could he i sue? >> well, he is a public official. excuse me, a public figure. he's a former public official. and the standard under a case called new york times v. sullivan is that he would have to show that "the washington post" knowingly published a falsity or was reckless in its concern for truth or falsehood. now, "the washington post" says it has four eyewitnesses. the eyewitnesses could be mistaken, the eyewitnesses could be erroneous, but that does not rise to the level of knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth. stuart: so you're saying judge roy moore has a very difficult position to argue this particular instance.

>> yes. however, often in cases like this lawyers will advise the politicians to file the complaint. it pushes "the washington post" back to the wall, and he only has to do it for another three or four weeks until the election is over. but to use the courts for a political purpose like that can generate frivolous pleading fees. he could end up paying -- you like this -- the fee for the lawyers for "the washington post" to resist litigation that is at its core doomed to lose. stuart: okay. now, the republicans, this is my opinion, they don't want anything to do with judge roy moore. >> i think you're right. stuart: and it -- now, he's facing this election on december the 12th. >> right. stuart: he may win. what do the republicans do if he wins and they don't want him? >> they can shun him, they cannot speak with him -- stuart: i thought they could say we're not seating you. >> no. under the constitution -- the supreme court has ruled on this. as long as he meets the constitutional requirements, age, 30, resident of the state,

alabama at the time he was elected, they have to seat him. by the way, because this is a special election, if he wins, he'll be seated immediately, like the next day. senator strange, luther strange, the current occupant of that seat, loses his job at the moment roy moore is proclaimed the victor. can they expel him after they seat him? only for something he does while he's in the senate. they cannot expel him now for something that supposedly happened 40 years ago. stuart: so if he wins -- >> he's in. to use the language of the street, they're stuck with im. stuart: he's there. [laughter] >> yes. it's a fascinating issue legally, and i was amazed at all the yelling over the weekend we're not going to seat him, we're going to expel him. so i went back and read the supreme court opinion. couldn't be clearer. stuart: okay. i don't know how you feel about this, but i don't think he should be -- i don't think he should -- a man who rejects the ruling of the supreme court should not be in the judiciary

and should not be an elected representative in the united states of america. supreme court rules, you go with them. stuart: i mean, this is the reason -- >> i mean, this is the reason he was expelled as chief justice -- stuart: yep. >> -- because he rejected twice. once he rejected an opinion of the 11th circuit court of appeals on a federal issue and once the opinion of the united states supreme court on a national issue, on an issue that the matter is now closed whether same-sex marriage is lawful. he directed judges in alabama not to solemnize or accept the licenses from same-sex marriages because he believes it's immoral. he's entitled to that belief, but he's not entitled to frustrate the law of the land because of that belief. stuart: well said, judge. we'll see you again in the 11:00 hour. democrats going to the well to attack the gop tax plan. one leading democrat calls the tax plan a dagger in the heart of new york. another one says it's just

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stuart: senator schumer. the tax plan is a dagger in the heart of new york city. nancy pelosi, tax plan is giveaways to big corporations and billionaires. bernie sanders, it is morally repugnant. notice extreme language? seems like desoperation, doesn't it. they are desperate to stop the tax plan, because if it passed it would be a significant win for president trump. republicans would go into next year's elections with a growing economy and a middle class with more money in its pocket. tough stop that. especially when the democrats are in such disarray themselves. they have no clear leader. who runs in 2020?

kamala harris, cory booker, tulsi gabbard? they are up and comers. bernie sanders and. clintons? no way. hillary doesn't even know that. democrats are floating virginia governor and clinton friend, terry mcauliffe. this is not a bench with depth, is it? it is true that the gop is in disarray itself. read the comments on our facebook page. the fight over roy moore and health problems of senators mccain, pal and cochran, are troubling from the republican point of view. but the gop clearly has gotten the message. the writing is on the wall. they have read it. get it done. my opinion? the democrats extreme language is a sign of last-ditch desperation, and the republican party understands they can not fail now. so, yes, i do believe the gop will, at the very last minute, push this over the line. they will get their 51 votes in

the senate. the stacks deal will be done. the president gets his win. you want to take me on america? the second hour of "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ stuart: you know what? we come back to almost even. we were down 60. now we're down one, on the cusp of maybe going positive. big tech stocks. we follow them every single day. look at them go day. three up, two down. only microsoft and apple are down. the others fractionally higher. no big movement there. look at ge, stock of the day clearly. cutting its dividend in half. they have a new focus, new turn around plan. market sold it. 19.86 is where it is. it is down 3% as we speak. walmart earlier today hit an all-time high. that is the all-time high,

91.78. there you have it, walmart. this is a story about the retail ice age. brookfield property partners offering to buy remainder of the mall operator ggp they don't already own. they will pay $14 billion. consolidation in the mall marketplace. ggp on the upside by 5%. right. i issued forth with an editorial at the top of the hour. hope you saw it. democrats i say, desperate to stop the tax push. they don't want to give the president or the gop a win of any kind. joining us now, larry o'connor, wmal radio show host joining us in new york city. i said very clearly i think they have got the message. they will push it over the line no matter what. i also say something is better than nothing. so what do you say? >> i think you will get something, but not necessarily the something you and i were hoping for on inauguration day and certainly not when the

republicans in the house passed their bill. stuart: do you think they will get it done? >> i think they will get it done with democrat help. i think they get better than 51. i think joe manchin is very important vote in the senate in west virginia. he is in untenable situation. west virginia is different than virginia. stuart: democrats punish their own if they step out of line. >> it is true. joe manchin shown to be independent person. claire mccaskill is more susceptible to being punished but being punished by people of missouri where president trump did pretty well. i would love to see the president do. he is finding the third way sometimes. i would love for him to put pressure on mr. jones, man running in senate for alabama, make that race about the tax cut bill. okay, mr. jones, you want to be a democrat representing alabama, you think you might make this out of default because of what is happening with your republican opponent, mr. moore? then how about tell us right now how are you going to vote for people alabama on tax cut bill.

are you with chuck schumer or with the people of alabama? stuart: stay right there. larry. please. we have with us now, nan hayworth, former new york congressman. whoa. explain why i'm saying whoa. if you were a, if you're a republican, and you represent any constituency in a high of it taxed state, new york, new jersey, i've gone through the list, many times. you are in trouble, people in your constituency will be paying more if they can't deduct state and local tax. >> right. stuart: what do you say? >> potentially, the standard deduction we know is going up. that will help a lot of people. yes in high-taxed states like ours. guess what? chuck schumer is not the taxpayer's friend, stuart. that i know will come at a shock to you. when he starts railing against these tax plans, it is because he feels political -- stuart: his ox will be gored something rotten. >> exactly.

only one wielding a dagger is chuck schumer and fellow democrats spending us into oblivion. stuart: you know which side of the fence i want to talk about. >> yeah. stuart: can you get a tax bill through, that gets rid of almost all the state and local tax deduction. >> no, you can't. not not house. stuart: so yourself interest, nan hayworth, forgive me for saying this -- >> no, no. stuart: keep that deduction for state and local taxes or at least a good chunk of it? >> when you represent a district in congress, stuart, you have to take to heart the interests of your constituents. even though, i agree with larry, talking about in terms of doug jones is brilliant, the tax reform plan will benefit every american, for multitude of reasons, including the corporate tax cut, it is a, not a corporate tax cut. it's a middle class jobs bill. that is what it is. we could argue the benefits of this bill forcefully and we should. but democrats have a powerful

tool in places like new york against republican members of congress whose constituents, some who will be hurt. stuart: last on this one you think it will go through? >> i do. kevin brady will negotiate on the "salt." not going to completely eliminate it. he is a great public servant. smart guy. stuart: everyone stay there. this is breaking news. from president trump. he is announcing his pick to run health and human services. he just tweeted, here it is. happy to announce i'm nominating alex azar next hhs secretary. a star for better health care and lower drug prices. azar used to run ely lilly. he worked at hhs under george w. bush. he is a frequent guest on this program. nominated to be hhs secretary. got it. now alabama senate candidate, roy moore slipping in the polls. larry o'connor, you know, this is a mess no yeah it is a mess.

stuart: he might win and he might also lose. >> constitutional republic is messy thing sometimes. the fact that people of alabama get to have their say. they have had their say about roy moore so many times. i saw you with judge napolitano lay out all the times where judge moore defied supreme court, defied 11th circuit. gets unseated. goes to the people of alabama. we like this guy. whether he can sustain this latest barrage i really don't know. stuart: look, republicans don't want him. they do not want him in the senate. according to judge napolitano, once, if he wins that election he is seated the next day and there is nothing republicans can do about it. >> that's right. stuart: a thorn in the side, nan hayworth of republicans? >> most definitely. stuart: could affect the tax deal? >> i don't think it would affect the tax deal. gives them more incentive to get people on board, so they can bet this thing passed because they may have a -- >> work the jujitsu right now. >> i agree.

>> there is no chance in you know where that a democrat would win in alabama except for this extraordinary circumstance. go down to mr. jones, all right, you want to be in the senate, this is it, go on the line, promise people of alabama on certain fundamental things like a tax cut you will vote with the republicans. >> not will happen that way, larry. >> box him in right now. are you with chuck schumer or al franken or people of alabama. stuart: i think we reached consensus of agreement around this table. number one, yes, something will get done. we all agree on that. >> yes. stuart: what we do not agree, something is better than nothing. you don't think this something is better than nothing. >> from the president's perspective it is. president needs a win. the president needs a win. liz: i find it really shocking all of sudden congress is getting religion about the debt when they doubled it over last 10 years. getting religion about the debt comes to giving us back our money we earn. >> that's right. liz: balanced budget five times

in last six decades. >> democrats are only interested in balancing budget on the back of taxpayers. when they didn't challenge, they're using reconciliation mechanism in the senate. liz: it's a straitjacket. >> that is a straitjacket. then they have to fall within very specific budgetary corridors. if they blew out the filibuster, now they're afraid to do, they may be down to just one majority, leading by one, if they blow out the filibuster they could have provisions that would please those of us -- stuart: that will not happen but we will get something. last word. ashley: nan said something earlier that struck me. you said the corporate tax cut is a jobs measure. i think republicans are terrible at messaging. >> right. ashley: that comes across giving a break to fat cat corporations -- bizly raising individual taxes. >> middle class jobs bill. stuart: wrap it up. you know how these things go. bottom right-hand corner of ge. i'm looking at dow jones average

which really turned around. we were down 60. now we're up 20. >> ever since your monologue. just saying. stuart: you think? >> i'm connecting the dots. america needs stuart varney. stuart: you're flattering me, you know it and i love it. alibaba, we call this china's version of amazon basically, have the thing called "single's day" over the weekend. reach ad billion dollars worth of sales in the first two minutes. overall, they brought in 25 billion. barack obama is only up. 17 cents. i say democrats are in disarray, they have no one to challenge in 2020. former bernie supporter, turned trump supporter joins us in a moment. nfl commissioner roger goodell looking for a huge bump in his paycheck, up to $49 million a year, plus private jet and health care for life. ashley: nice. stuart: as stadiums get emptier over the kneeling controversy. is goodell worth the money?

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stuart: we have come back in the last 15 minutes. we were down 60. now up 23. anheuser-busch inbev. weaker sales for bud and bud light. changing u.s. chief of operations. they own bud light. tyson, good business for beef and chicken businesses. lower cost for animal feed. that is helping them. ge cuts their dividend in half from 24 cents a share to 12 cents a share. they are below $20 a share. we'll see if anybody buys them with a quick rebound above 20.

not happening yet. the star of the "wonder woman quote movie, gal gadot unless what? she will not dot sequel with bret ratner is involved. bret ratner accused of sexual misconduct by half a dozen women. the word is, can't have a movie rooted in female empowerment and in part financed and produce by a man accused of sexual percent conduct. it is alleged. major actresses olivia munn, ellen page said he did things. stuart: quite a conundrum. liz: and keep the star of it. stuart: for the democrats we posed who runs in 2020. start with terry mcauliffe and a

long list. want commentary from our old friend harm been hill, trump for president advisory board. this man used to be with bernie sanders. switched course, intelligently and now -- >> thank you. stuart: terry mcauliffe, he is a clintonesta. >> oh my gosh. stuart: friend and financeer of hillary and bill and there is talk of running in 2020. what do you think of this? >> there is no perhaps bigger d.c. swamp monster than terry mcauliffe. he ran the dnc. one of the closest friend with the clintons. he was going to be there in the hotel on election night with hillary clinton. so he is irrevocably tied to that world and he will have a very difficult time differenting himself in progressive field. stuart: clintons are pretty much done in politics. woe be their representative in the democrat party. >> the democrat party is schunk them. terry mcauliffe has no future at the presidential level in the democratic party.

stuart: joe biden on a book tour. in the book, he suggested he left the door open for a run in 2020. what do you make of that. >> there's a fight for the very core, for the fabric of the democratic party, to redefine it. and joe biden represents the old democratic party. he, he ran for president in 1988. he ran for president in 2008. he is a quintessential democrat. he has has been good for democrats for a long time but not part of the new, more progressive wing of the democratic party. he will have a difficult time rebranding himself. he is known quantity. stuart: older gentleman. like 70. >> he is very old when he stands for election. stuart: then bernie sanders, somewhat similar position. he would rebrand the democrat party but he would be in his late 70s, if he ran. what do you make of the possibility of his candidacy? >> i actually don't think sanders will run. he will put his support behind progressive candidates to try to reframe the democratic party from outside.

he made a really good run in 2016. he got very close, frankly. had it not been for dnc meddling perhaps he would have been the nominee. you know what? he would have been a difficult guy to defeat in the general election, believe it to my core. americans wanted change. they throw their hands up in the air. they may have gone with the socialist. to start with. stuart: you were with him to start with. >> don't rub it in. stuart: two senators and congresswoman are possibilities. kamala harris from california, cory booker from new jersey, both senators, tulsi gabbard, hawaii congresswoman. do you make anything of those three contenders? >> here is the problem. none of them have done anything. they have done basically nothing. they have no track record in the private sector. stuart: barack obama. >> cory booker was unmitigated disaster as mayor of newark. he ran his twitter account and save kittens from a fire.

if you look at these guys, they need accomplishments. we showed with barack obama having zero experience whether in the private sector other in politics was not a recipe for success. i don't think that american people are going to gamble again on somebody with no experience. stuart: we've been through all leading candidates, terry mcauliffe, joe biden, bernie sanders and three you just mentioned. dismissed pretty much all of them. >> they're all problematic. stuart: is there anybody else a potential front-runner. >> elizabeth warren. stuart: ah yes. >> elisabeth warren. the reason she could be trouble, she is not afraid to get down in the mud to fight with president trump. the president trump always wins in these engagements. nobody better in a head-to-head fight with another opponent than trump but elizabeth warren has shown not afraid to. she embodies progressive ideals and direction democratic party moving in. she is person i look to. she had accomplishments in washington.

stuart: but also got to be a harvard professor on grounds, let's not forget that. harlan hill, former bernie sanders guy. no longer. harlan, thank you very much. appreciate it. general electric, cut the dividend in half, 24 cents down to 12 cents. clearly this is not the powerhouse stock it once was. we're on this company because they're trying to for a come back. they are down do. walmart, buy something online, you will pay more than if you went to the store buying the same thing. how is that for a strategy? we'll discuss that in a second. ♪

stuart: now this story is about walmart trying to challenge amazon. walmart is changing prices it charges on its website, relative to the price charged in the store. not quite sure i understand it. ashley does. ashley: you would think it is cheaper to buy online than to go in the store to be competitive with amazon. wrong way around. they're raising prices on some food and household items because they have gotten so cheap, with a two-day free shipping walmart offers, it is unprofitable. they're on razor thin margins. so they decided, you know what? we'll raise prices to a reasonable amount. that forces people into the stores to buy, which are cheaper than online because shipping obviously, then it's a win-win. we'll boost our profits. we'll get more people in line. the danger with this, saying you know what? i can go to amazon get it cheaper and get free shipping. walmart says it is not worth their time to offer such cheap

prices to lose money on some of these items. stuart: if you're going for super low prices go to the store. that's what they want. ashley: they are driving traffic through the stores. stuart: if you go through the aisles, you will always buy something other than you went in for. ashley: impulse buying. stuart: stock is up. liz: are you saying men shop and don't purchase? stuart: i didn't say anything like that at all, liz. don't get me in trouble, please. it is true. men don't shop. liz: unless at the camping store. stuart: markup of the tax bill, chair of senate finance committee orrin hatch proposing some change to the 401(k). we have details for you.

stuart: check out the big board. we're still 20 points higher, having opened 40 or 50 points lower. 23,400 is your level. big technology companies not that active recently. same story today. alphabet up a buck at $1045 a share. the airline, emirates, has ordered 40 boeing 787 dreamliners. the stock is up again. this is a huge blow to airbus which hasn't had a new order for their giant plane in a couple years. roku, they're up another 10%, at 36 on roku. the media, seems to be critical of president trump over the weekend for what he said about his meeting with vladmir putin. here is what the president said,

roll tape. >> i believe that president putin really feels, and he feels strongly, that he did not meddle in our election. what he believes is what he believes. stuart: the way the media played that was, president trump believes vladmir putin. joining us now is howard kurtz, media buzz hosts he is with us this morning. am i right? the media seemed to get on the president for having a meeting with vladmir putin and then twisted what was actually said. have i got that right? >> well in fairness, stuart, the media originally were reacting not to the clip you just showed, which was the president's attempt to clean it up, with a conversation he had with reporters on air force one over vietnam, if you looked at literal words of the transcript it did seem to suggest perhaps he believed putin's denials about russian hacking, russian interference in the election. fox's john roberts who heard the

audio, which hasn't been released, it didn't give that inflection. we saw the president clarifying what he meant, you need to understand the sequence. stuart: okay. it seemed like, throughout the asia trip, i know it is not over yet, seemed like the media wanted to be negative. they didn't have a big, big issue to be negative about. and ended up nipping at the president's heels. that is my characterization. how about yours? >> well my read is that the coverage of most of the trip was fine but it was very, very modest because the president was disciplined. because everything was going pretty much as expected, in japan and south korea and china. you didn't get much coverage. in other words, there is no screw ups, that is not a big story. the weekend came. there was tweets by the president again, short and fat, kim jong-un, and flap over the putin remarks, then yes, all of sudden was big news, everybody pounced on it, thriving on

controversy. sure the tone of it was rather negative, particularly there is this underlying feeling in the president why isn't he more confrontational with russia, president trump made no bones since the campaign he would like a more cooperative relationship with moscow. stuart: tell me how, when you first saw that presidential tweet with kim jong-un, i would never call him fat and short. when he first saw that, what did you think? >> well, i thought it was entertaining but at the same time, part of me said, gee, is that really the way you want to talk about the leader of north korea who has all the nuclear weapons and is threatening? the thing i learned about this president, the things he does on twitter, whether tweaking people, sometimes a bit over the top. certainly i can't think of another president who would deal with north korea that way. this is his style. his supporters like his style. the media have a view, that is not presidential, that is not diplomatic. that is not how you do these

things. so they are harder on him than might otherwise be the case, because they never dealt with a president like this. he doesn't particularly care. stuart: the question stand, will we get used to the president acting like this, used to this? we have three years to go. my answer is no, the media will never get used to him ever, but i think a lot of country will, entertaining in funny sort of way. what say you? >> being an entertainer part of what you do in politics. i think there are times when he goes a little over the top in terms of personal insults. the press doesn't want to get used to it because by holding him to a standard that he needs to act like other presidents and be more stated and weigh every word and parse every syllable and vet every pronouncement, that generates controversy when he doesn't do it. it gives them narrative they like. stuart: it is fascinating, howard. did you think we would have a year like this? i certainly did not. i was hoping for it but didn't

expect it. >> who would have thought. stuart: who would have thought. we keep coming back to it. thank you, howard kurtz. see you soon. get back to the markets. general electric is the stock of the day. it is down 3% after it cut its dividend in half and put out a rather limited profit forecast for the future but there is another possibility here hurting the stock and that is, liz, they might be forced out of the dow 30. liz: i'm watching market value. they lost 100 billion in market value value in a year. that is a lot. there is unwritten rule with the dow committee, that the swing, because dow is weighted, effect of a stock's swing matters, determining whether the dow stock stays as a blue chip. this is 0.6% impact. it is infinitesimal when it comes to other stocks like merck even though it has bigger market value. this is the last lone survivor.

it is hand been around since queen victoria. stuart: i remember well. liz: you remember well. stuart: in all seriousness, forced out of the dow for whatever reason, those managers who buy the index -- ashley: correct. stuart: they have to buy the 30 dow stocks, they don't buy ge at that point that ace real blow. liz: that is a real blow. cut the dividend in half. the dividend yield is bigger implied versus the dow overall. has a bigger market value than merck and nike. still there is a debate on wall street. stuart: herb london is with us. i want to talk to i am about ge. i refer to it as your granddad's stock. in my generation and i'm a grand dad, it was the stock of the day. >> it's a very different kind of stock today. looking at it in the future you do not see the profit margins necessary for investment, however, if the stock goes down to 15 i think it is a buy. stuart: at 15? >> yeah, 15. but i mean it is remarkable. i don't think it is going there but it is possible. stuart: it is not, is this a

stock that millenials should buy now? >> i don't think so. i can't see, millenials buying it. i don't think there is enough after profit margin. i think looking at stock over the future, i do not see a kind of a sanguine scenario. unless of course, as i said, it goes down and you start getting a buying surge. that is possible. stuart: okay. i always think that trying to get to the level of an amazon, google, microsoft, facebook, you're shaking your head. >> i don't see it. i don't see it. stuart: they will not get back to that level. >> no, i do not. stuart: herb, stay there. we want to get to tax reform. senator orrin hatch says he is writing changes into your 401(k) in his version of the tax bill. now adam shapiro is the guy who broke this story, and i want to know what the senator hatch wants to do with my and your 401(k)? reporter: not just your 401(k), stuart. your ira as well. first the 401(k), if you are 50 years or older, right now,

you can contribute an additional $6,000 to your 401(k), pretax. that is called the catch-up. how would you feel if they got rid of that? that is what senator hatch is proposing. get rid of the pretax catch up for people 50 years or older. allow it to be $9,000, but you have to pay the tax when you make the contribution, making it an immediate roth. so you could do the 18,000 pretax into your 401(k), but anything on top of that, would be taxed and it would be a roth. also, he wants to repeal the special, you might call it legislation guideline that allowed people to convert the traditional ira's into roth ira's. that would no longer be possible going forward. bottom line if you have ira, and you're going to convert it to the roth, take the money tax-free if you retire, if the amendments become part of the bill. stuart: that is a little bit of tinkering with 401(k)s and eye as. the bottom line is not a huge

change. i think i'm right in saying that. your judgment, please, adam? reporter: i wouldn't say a little bit of tinkering but a way to pay for some of the bill because he is also proposing cuts, allowing corporations to deduct dividend payments up to 12.5% of total dividend payments. that is big. that is not allowed. stuart: adam, you got the stower. we appreciate that. adam shapiro. herb london, listening to this? >> i think it is rejiggering. attempt to find another way of getting some sort of revenue in, at a time talking about tax cuts and this is what the republicans are doing at the moment. saying where in fact can we find additional revenue since we're dealing with a revenue neutral tax bill. that is a mistake. the mistake, seems to me, should look at economic growth. if in fact you get the corporate tax down to 20%. get real economic growth that is what you should look at. rejiggering that occurs. this is all at margins. stuart: herb, got it. stay there please. more with you in a moment.

nfl commissioner roger goodell is looking for what would be a big payday. in his new contract, he wants $49 million a year and a private jet for life and that is not all. there is more, believe me. some stadiums around the country, by the way, as we speak, well they're not half empty but there is a lot of empty seats, okay? so here's the question. is roger goodell worth 49 million a year and a free private jet for life, not to mention health care for his kids!? we'll be back. ♪ shield annuities from brighthouse financial, allow you to take advantage of growth opportunities. with a level of protection in down markets.

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stuart: you know this is a pretty much a dead plat market this monday morning. down two points. even split between winners and losers, green and red. nfl commissioner roger goodell wants $49.5 million a year, plus lifetime use of a private jet, plus, lifetime health insurance for all of his family members, including his children. mike huckabee, former arkansas governor, obvious question is goodell worth it? before you say anything, could you make the case he is worth it on the grounds that he is vastly expanded nfl revenues during his time as commissioner. now what? what do you say? >> well, i think he may have done that up until this year but, look a lot of empty heads, in empty suits have resulted in some empty seats in nfl stadiums, if it keeps going, it will be empty pockets for nfl owners. i don't think there is any way

you can justify that. i feel like his leadership this year is absolute failure. you don't give people a big amount of money for doing a pathetic job. besides, stuart, i will do the job half the money, and i will fly delta coach for rest of my life. just give me a call, nfl. i'm ready for you. stuart: i get the impression both sides of this anthem dispute are eager for a way out of some sort. and there is nothing available at the moment, and i think the damage has been done. what say you? >> i think you're right. the damage has been done. there is a way out. apologize to the people of america and especially to the veterans of america that they never intend toddies respect the country. they realize how that is viewed. they understand how they offended their fans.

they're going to start standing up. do it on their own time and on their own dime. they will not do it while they're at work. people are paying big bucks to sit in the seats, have subscriptions to the nfl channel to watch them play. they're not paying for their politics. they're paying for their, playing on the field. get back to them. stuart: i don't think they will do that, governor. >> it will be a generation, if there is even a generation, that cares about football, before this is resolved. they have alienated a lot of the people sitting in those seats. stuart: hold on a second, governor. i want to update everyone on news breaking about espn, they're teaming up with snapchat. has this to do with football? ashley: they will do an espn

sports center like show, three to five minutes long on snapchat's platform, their discover platform to tune in. twice a day. 5:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. they're losing viewers on regular cable tv show. they're trying to reach millenials, doing it social media on snapchat. stuart: what do you think, governor? would that work? >> i wonder if they ever considered that by making their content more left oriented, getting into politics, instead of sports, that is why their revenues are down. why they're laying off people and people canceling espn. do they not get that? how document are these people? they want more money? that is crazy. stuart: you make far too much sense. >> easier for me. stuart: governor, thanks for joining us on a monday morning. appreciate it sir. >> thank you. stuart: kevin brady, he is the ways and means chair, got it, he says the house bill will pass by

thanksgiving. omb director mick mulvaney will tell us what the white house wants in it. he will join us, powerful guy, very important guy, in our next hour. ♪ ♪ dad: we walk inside... and it's raining... our home was ruined... we couldn't live there. mom: our first concern was the kids. this was going to be hard on them. chubb got us a place to stay in the same school district. otherwise it could have been a nightmare. dad... chubb turned a disaster into an adventure for our kids. mom... and no one missed a day of school. ♪

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ashley: general electric cutting its dividend. we know that deirdre bolton, she is outside of ge's building in new york. deirdre, what is the new ceo saying? reporter: ashley, the tone is all about simplicity. so the new ceo, although i want to highlight, he has been with the company about 30 years, john flannery said literally, quote, complexity has hurt us. so going forward this is all about streamlining ge. and ashley, you know this the people inside in addition to ourselves, of course, lo are listening to the ceo and other senior management, giving more details about where they see growth coming in 2018, talking all about taking responsibility for the fact that ge's stock is down 35% year-to-date. compare that that to the s&p

50015% rise during same amount of time. it is met about positive reaction from the crowd, g. neil: that is supposed to be the safest part of a portfolio for people managing everybody's pension money or bigger funds. everyone has ge, so that 35% drop has hurt. getting back to this issue of accountability, they're going to start paying senior executives 80%. eight, zero, percent in stock. they will lose part of their cash salary. they will be rewarded with stock. the ceo saying 100% of his remuneration is going to be in stock. they are simplifying the board. so instead of having 18 different directors, they are cutting that down to 12. three of those are going to be new. one of those seats, somewhat controversially is going to totry

trian. a activist investor. ceo putting his own money where his mouth is as far as pay goes. we've been talking about the dividend cut the company spoke about as well. it is only the third time in the company's 125 year history. and ceo, john flannery, talking about the fact that cash is like oxygen to the company. he says once the cash unfusion, the oxygen infusion goes back, they can reconsider increasing the dividend in the future. ashley. ashley: very quickly, deirdre, you mentioned some shareholders there, this morning, what is their reaction especially to the dividend cut? reporter: not happy going in. i spoke to a few going on. in i give hats off to ceo john flannery and on time and addressed the elephant in the room. he knows the company has not performed as it should. that is all part of these initiatives he is announcing. they grounded corporate jets. for the new headquarters in boston they pulled back on

developing that further. they are cutting research, streamlining divisions. so put it this way, he got out there. the tone was very crisp but clean, efficient. so he is certainly seeking to answer the questions that are going to be coming up from these institutional investors. ashley: deirdre. thank you very. good stuff. the stock moved higher because of the dividend cut. they cut their profit outlook, ge, under 4%. under 20 bucks. stuart believes that is a buying opportunity. we'll see if you are right, mr. varney. we'll have more "varney" after this. volatility spiked... and? >>by the time they got me an answer, it was too late. td ameritrade's elite service team can handle your toughest questions right away- with volatility, it's all about your risk distribution. good to know. >>thanks, mike.

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stuart: it didn't get much attention, but the podesta group will reportedly go out of business at the end of this year. never heard of the podesta group? okay. it is a bedrock democrat political operation. at one time it was the largest

non-legal political operation in the country. it was founded by john podesta who ran hillary's campaign and it's now run by his brother, tony. the firm took millions from the russians before the election. they've been swept into the mueller investigation. oh, dear. wasn't russia, russia, russia supposed to knock off president trump? that's the narrative that the democrats and the media want to keep going. they don't want democrats touched at all, especially the firm that helped hillary. what? hillary has a russia connection? as well as paying for the so-called dossier of dirt? as we've said many times, the clintons are finished in politics. that's the way it seems. perhaps they understand that they're done, that's why their friend and financier terry mcauliffe is being talked about as a candidate for 2020, anything to keep them out front in democrat politics. but it won't work. the whole clinton clan has been

exposed, and it may get worse. there are three major scandals being investigated and indictments, legal charges are not out of the question. the third hour of varney and company is about to begin. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ stuart: john fogerty. finish elizabeth tells me that that is john fogerty. creedence clearwater -- >> ccr. stuart: he's the lead singer. thank you, ashley. >> very welcome. stuart: i'll move swiftly along. [laughter] we're up one point. stocks are relatively flat. they were down earlier this morning, now we're just about dead flat, up one point. 23,423. let's get back to my take, the editorial top of the hour. joining me now, fox news contributor karl rove. all right. i'm saying that the clintons are

done, the podesta group is going out of business, and that's a big deal, and that the clinton istas are trying to stay in the game by promoting as terry mcauliffe running for the presidency in 2020. what do you say? >> >> well, i agree with everything except the last point. the podesta group is gone. in fact, tony podesta has already been forced out as the leader of the group. he promoted his, the longtime, the woman who for a long time has been running the firm being the chief operating officer, and she decided she was inheriting something that wasn't even worth it, and she quit taking some the people with her, so you're right. the clintons are finished, i agree with that. terry mcauliffe certainly promoted himself, but like you, i think the era of the clintonistas is now dead, and he has little or no chance in 2020. stuart: okay. i've also been saying that the

republican party and president trump get something done on taxes this year. it will happen. that's my judgment. is it yours? >> yes. i think we'll, we're likely to see the house pass its bill by thanksgiving, we're likely to see the senate follow shortly thereafter with its, probably shortly after thanksgiving. it'll go to conference committee and come out and, i think, be voted upon and passed by the end of the year. there are differences between the two. some of those differences are real differences that are going to need to be negotiated, but some of them are differences in which, you know, it's sort of like leverage. if you're the house and you are saying, for example, we're going to not totally abolish the state and local tax deduction, but we're going to limit it, then the senate -- which has no s.a.l.t. state senators on the republican side -- is not going to just sort of duplicate what you did, they're going to get rid of it altogether so that when they go to conference, the pressure is to keep it as

limited as possible not to expand it. stuart: yep. >> we'll see a bill. stuart: also, karl, i'm saying that something is better than nothing. now, a lot of people are taking me to task on this, saying that the two bills, the house and the senate, they just don't deliver the kind of growth that we were looking for or the tax cuts, but i do maintain something at this stage in the republican party's life, at this stage in the electoral process, something is better than nothing. what say you? >> yeah. i agree, but i'd also make the argument that if we get -- look at what's in both the senate and the house. cut the corporate tax rate to 20%. get aer territorial tax system o we're no longer the only major industrialized country in the world that double taxes the profits of american companies abroad. we get, we have a repatriation form that so people can bring back, companies can bring back those vast sums of money, the trillions of dollars of stranded american profits abroad who are not brought home because it would be double taxed here, those are big -- expensing

provision. those are going to be big pro-growth policies, and they're in both bills. and we're likely to see a lot of that corporate tax cut show up, even the congressional budget office said at least a quarter of that is going to show up in the pockets of wage earners at those companies in the form of higher wages. i think it's going to be more than that, and so do a lot of economists. look, don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good, but there's a heck of a lot of good in this bill. simplification on the individual side, it's not going to be a tax cut for even. people like you and me, top earners are not going to get a substantial tax cut, at least a percentage tax cut like people in the middle and the lower filers do, but it's still going to be a simplification and a pro-growth tax cut on the individual side as well. stuart: and it will be brutal before it actually is passed, and brutal it will be, but we'll be covering it. karl, thanks for joining us, sir. thank you. >> thank you, stuart. and i hope your colleagues stop

barking out varney at you and start calling you mr. varney. the lack of respect on the program this morning has just been appalling, i've got to -- [laughter] stuart: well, thank you, karl. anytime you want to come and anchor this show, you've got it, man. [laughter] thank you, rove. [laughter] all right, joining us now is scott martin, kings view asset management kind of guy. he's a stock market guy. you know, this tax question -- whether we get it or not, whether it's disappointing or not -- at the moment it seems to have stalled the market, doesn't it? i mean, at 23,300. we're stalled because of taxes, right? >> it does, mr. varney -- [laughter] which something to be noted, right, because this is a market, stuart, that has rallieded on great economic fundamentals, very good fundamentals within the s&p 500, and i think the hope and promise of the trump administration to follow through on, goodness, just something in the agenda. so the fact that this keeps dragging out and the fact we have the senate really cutting up this tax bill is something

that, as you mentioned, is really detrimental to stocks going forward and a reason, and a good one, that the stock market is pausing here. stuart: okay, talk to me about ge. as you know, they've got a turn-around plan, they've cut the dividend in half, they've issued a pretty nasty forecast for the future, and right now that stock is trading at $19.50 a share. would you buy it? >> i wouldn't. not right here, stuart. but i almost feel like a shrink talking here and saying this is hitting bottom. this is a safe place, this is where the healing begins, ge. so soon as it trades, stuart, i think it would be an interesting take for six, nine, twelve months. longer term, there's other stuff i'd rather own, but we've talked about this, my friend, when the sentiment totally washes out on a stock like this and the baby and the bathtub and the bath water are all thrown out out as they are today, down 4% as you mentioned, that's a time to really start watching the stock

and maybe taking an entry point. stuart: i think a lot of people are. i also want to talk to you about walmart. they're raising prices online so that you pay more if you buy something online at wal-mart, you'll pay more than if you bought the same item in the store. does that sound like a good strategy to you? because the stock has hit an all-time highed today, scott. >> it has. and walmart's been really interesting, you know? walmart is kind of the situation where maybe the world is big enough for amazon and walmart. as far as the strategy goes, good isn't a word i would probably use here. [laughter] i would say it's interesting. some of the online price ands the differences between the store and online are pretty striking. i mean, hamburger helper, for example, is $1 more online which is shocking to consider they can get more than a dollar anyway for that stuff. but when you think about online shopping, you think about the experience, stuart, you think about the quality of the goods, the speed at which they're delivered. if i were amazon, i'd figure out what that expensive stuff was at

wal-mart and just undercut them and see if you can steal their customers. stuart: that's one of those obvious things that a capitalist company would do. scott, thanks for joining us. as always, sir, we'll see you again soon. >> see you, stuart. stuart: we've got a very important guest coming up later in the show, mick mulvaney, director of the office of management and budget. he'll join us right outside the white house. we're talking taxes, of course, and economic growth. first, though, we'll deal with this: a lot of empty seats at nfl stadiums. that is not asking commissioner roger goodell for asking for -- from asking for a huge new contract. question: we've been asking this all day, is he worth it? we'll ask the man who advises the league's 32 owners. he says goodell isn't going anywhere. that's interesting. ♪ ♪

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stuart: went to repeat the breaking new, president trump announcing his pick for hhs. he tweeted this: happy to announce i'm nominating alex azar to be the next hhs secretary. he will be a star for better health care and lower drug prices. he used to run eli lilly, and he worked at hhs under george w. bush. he's a frequent guest on this program as well. blake burman at the white house. all right, why is he the pick? >> reporter: i can tell you a senior administration official who i spoke with, stuart, kind of laid out the case that alex azar is somebody who knows hhs very well. he had worked there before, and in this person's words, they say aczar could hit the ground running, also pointing to the argument that azar knows how to lower drug prices. when you look through his biography over last several years and even past that, this is somebody, as you mentioned,

who worked at hhs, number two during the george w. bush administration, had led the u.s. division of eli lilly, he also had been confirmed twice unanimously by the united states senate, and that was part of the argument as well that was put to me by this white house. he's been through the confirmation process twice, has been unanimously put through. as you mentioned, he is somebody who has been on this program, and he had pushed on this program the need to unravel obamacare. listen here. >> you need the president, the hhs secretary, leadership, they've got to be out there talking, educating people what's the problem and how does this solve the problem, each element of it. it's got to be 24/7. that's how obama got obamacare through. this isn't just you'll take this for granted, this has got to be a full court press. >> reporter: now, stuart, even though he had been confirmed unanimously twice by the u.s. senate, now he'd be dealing with a whole different animal as the backdrop of trying to repeal and

replace obamacare will, no doubt, hangover his confirmation process. stuart: yeah. but he's got experience in getting the cost of health care down. that's what we want more than anything else, because that's the nut of the problem. blake, you're all right. thanks for joining us. nfl commissioner roger goodell reportedly wants a contract worth nearly $50 million a year. remember, please, the anthem protests continue, and there's a lot of empty seats in the stadium. joining us now, a consultant to the league's 32 team owners. all right, mark, i've read your stuff. you say that goodell isn't going anywhere. does that mean that he gets this new contract that he's asking for? >> stuart, he didn't ask for that contract. that was not what -- you know, the term of art these days, fake news? one person puts out a story because they have an agenda? that's what happened here. to quote one of the members of the committee, that story is garbage. the reality is where roger's

contract would be is roughly the same amount of money that he is making now, and with that being many specific performance clauses, that would be voted on by many of the owners as each year comes up. so there is no big increase, there is no jet for life, there is no $50 million that has been requested. little bit of fake news, my friend. stuart: no, no, i'm glad you pointed that out, that it comes from a single source which has an axe to grind, and we like to hear that. thank you very much, indeed, for telling us about it. but you do believe that goodell stays as commissioner of the nfl, i mean, he stays. regardless of the salary he pulls in and anything else, you say he stays. why? >> absolutely. well, because he is the right person to lead the league through the next collective bargaining agreement which is the single most important thing that a commissioner does in sports these days. he is also going to be the one to lead going into the next broadcast contract cycle. why? because his history is he took a

terrible cba in 2006 and in 2011 made it a great one. they're going to be at $15 billion in revenue this year. this is a very unusual time we're in in the united states right now. social issues dominate brands that we thought were impervious. the reality is brands have never been impervious, and people who actually make money off of them and millions of dollars off of them at some point need to understand you can't insult your customers and expect them to keep coming back. stuart: yes. but it's goodell's handling of the anthem problem that's really upset so many people. >> yes. stuart: and yet you say the anthem protests, the empty seats, the declining tv ratings push that all to one side, goodell stays because he's done well for the nfl in the past. that's not a very strong argument when they're in the middle of this, i'd call this a crisis. football's in real trouble here. >> well, stuart, it's not a matter of just what you've done in the past, it's what the past

will indicate you will do for the future. we are in this period right now with the anthem which, by the way, is starting to die down. only three players protested the anthem in the games on sunday. so it is starting to die down. it takes a little while for 2,000 players to understand what they're doing and why they have a responsibility that can be handled in other ways, and their agendas can be addressed in other ways. it doesn't happen overnight. now the next phase of this is this continual education, this continual outreach to the fans. there really is no one in a better position to oversee the entirety of the nfl than roger goodell, and the people who know that best are the people who actually pay the salary, the 32 team owners. stuart: and you are in close touch with them, and that's very interesting. mark, thanks very much for opening up this story. it's or very interesting. we appreciate your point of view. >> my pleasure, stuart. stuart: yes, sir. in 20 minutes director of the office of management and budget,

mick mulvaney -- a very important guest -- he joins us from the white house. and, of course, we're talking about the tax reform progress. we're also going to be joined by alfredo ortiz, you can see him at the end of the table on the right there. that's a picture. from a meeting attended with president trump and steve mnuchin on taxes. he likes the tax plan. he is with us shortly. check this out, nasa -- >> we have ignition. stuart: sorry, i jumped all over that, but that's nasa launching an unmanned rocket from virginia to the international space station. they've got a cargo onboard, 80 kinds of ice cream, frozen fruit bars, pizza. the rocket is due to arrive at the space station tomorrow. that's a pretty quick trip, i guess. [laughter] in advance of thanksgiving, of course. we'll be back. ♪ ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ stuart: the founder of microsoft, bill gates, wants to start to build a smart city in arizona. one of gates' investment firms,

belmont partners, has acquired about 25,000 acres of land 50 miles west of phoenix. they want to create a so-called smart city, and they're going to call it belmont. the city will have top technology, obviously, for communications and infrastructure, data centers, autonomous vehicles. belmont will also include space for 80,000 apartments along with public schools -- hopefully, there's some charter schools in there -- and retail stores as well. that's where it will be built. belmont coming your way, arizona. microsoft's stock not affected by this development at all, it's down just a quarter percent, 23 cents lower at $83. more individual stocks. first of all, alibaba. huge numbers from singles day, $25 billion worth of sales. it's up just 14 cents because this was expected. alibaba's rival, jd.com, put up big singles numbers as well. that company, that stock is up nearly 5%. higher profit, higher revenue at

tyson foods. there's strong demand, apparently, for chicken and beef. that comes as a surprise. and animal feed is much lower in price, that's why the stock is at a 52-week high. tyson foods. disneyland, california, shut down two cooling towers. there's been an outbreak of legionnaire's disease. nine people who went to the anaheim park in september did develop legionnaire's. boeing, emirates airlines has ordered 14 of the new dreamliners. what a performance from boeing this year. ten minutes from now roughly we'll have with us -- we'll go to the white house where budget director mick mulvaney will join us. yes, we're talking taxes. meanwhile, president trump talking tough on trade during his trip to asia, but kid he win in his -- but did he win in his trade dealings with china? we'll ask someone who knows.

more "varney" after this. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪

stuart: of course i know day tripper, for heaven sakes. am i right? >> yeah. stuart: thank you. [laughter] we're up 11 points on the dow industrials, that's a very, very modest gain, but we are at 23,400. this has been no significant pullback in a long time. president trump, he has been talking tough on trade in asia. peter morici is with us now, economist at the university of maryland. peter, okay, the president talked tough on trade with china. did he come away with anything concrete? because i know that you want him to be tough on china. did he get anything? >> not a whole lot. i mean, a lot of those deals that were advertised would have happened anyway, and the trade deficit keeps getting bigger and bigger. now we have to see what happens when the next shoe falls. likely a lot was said in private that wasn't said in public. tillerson's in favor of a much harder line. and, you know, it is telling that the southeast asian

nations, while they're not lining up behind this bilateral business, are coalescing into their own trade zone to offset the influence of china and, you know, people like the philippines and so forth are and japan and what not. they're kind of lining up with the united states on strategic issues. stuart: is that bad, peter, if we're excluded from this new trade grouping in asia, we're not part of it, is that bad? >> it's absolutely bad. it's make sense to produce stuff in mexico, canada or japan because they will all have free trade with europe and a lot of asia, and the united states will not. stuart: well, the president can't just jump back into this big trade agreement because he's already said we're out and he doesn't like it. >> well, the problem is now they're changing the big trade agreement and ripping away some of the things that were put there to make the united states happy because we're not in the deal. so just joining up and becoming country number 13 was not a great -- would not be a good idea. i think it's possible to take

this back, to climb down from this position and get back involved with tpp. we can just say, well, look, they've turned themselves into a bloc, so this is now one on one. i would point out when with i first got involved in trade policy as a teenager, believe it orbit, it was because -- or not, it was because john kennedy was getting very nervous that the europeans were creating a trade bloc, and we were locked out. and that's what gave rise to the kennedy round which caused a dramatic reduction in u.s./european tariffs. because in those days, that was the game. the americans were concerned about getting locked out. if they manage to add korea, you know, and taiwan to this group of 12, then we're really in a lot of soup in asia because, you know, there's already japan in there and the philippines and vietnam and so forth. but it's encouraging. it's encouraging that they're doing this to counter chinese influence. stuart: okay. >> they see the devil in a way that liberals in america refuse

to acknowledge. stuart: fascinating. all right, peter, real fast question. our viewers are looking at their screens and seeing on the bottom right-hand corner, a five-year low at least for ge, 19.27 a share. would you buy it at this point? i know you don't follow the market -- >> well, i actually follow it more closely than you think. i was talking about that this morning with my wife. i would like to know more about how they're going to shed the locomotive business and the lighting business and who's going to get that money, you know? are they going to stuff it in their pockets? you know, the new ceo talked about cutting everybody but his pay. my feeling is that there's a culture of bloat at general electric just like at general motors. and for the time being, they can make that company look better by selling stuff. but is this going to be like hewlett-packard? i really am be2006 and between on this one. let's see how they price in this

dividend increase, and that could prove to be an entry point. you know, with venn motors there were several periods where it went down and came back up before it finally went bust. but i'm not convinced that general electric isn't just a fundamentally culturally-broken company that's incapable of keeping its costs down. stuart: wow, you're taking this thing down. it was down 5.9% when you started, now it's down 6.1% -- >> i doubt that i did that much. stuart: i tell you, lad, i tell you. professor, time's up. see you againen soon. >> take care. stuart: now, our next guest has been in the white house with president trump during discussions on tax reform. alfredo ortiz, president and ceo of the job creators network, joining us now. alfredo, i know you like this plan, but a lot of people are not happy with it. it's not reagan-esque. we hear that criticism all the time. many upper middle class people are going to probably be paying more in the long run rather than less. so what do you like about it so

much? >> stuart, thank you very much for having me, first of all. look, this is not a perfect plan, but they're both great plans overall. these two things between the senate version and the house version are going to do more for small business owners across the country than we've seen over the past 30 years -- stuart: is that the pass-through deal where the top tax rate comes down to, what is it, 25%, i think, in the house version. >> >> yeah, on the souse side, that's right. and they treat it -- house side. that's right. they realize that small business owners that represent two-thirds of new job growth in this country are just critical and really the backbone of our economy. on the house side, it brings it down to about 25%. and on the senate side they deal with more like a deduction, i think it's about 17.5% deduction -- stuart: but not everybody who runs a small business will get that super low rate, will they? >> you know, i think that's where the opportunity when both committees come together, chairman brady did a nice job with his last amendments when it

came out of committee to really address a lot of it. professional services, for example, originally were not included. and now up to a certain amount they are included. and on the senate side, i think we're going to see modifications. bottom line, they're going to come together. you have 56 million employees of job creators out there, small business owners, 29 small businesses out there are. when you're able to be able to invest in people, in hiring more people, paying them more benefits and wages, it's all going to help. and, stuart, i've also got to comment a little bit on the corporate. we see the democrats bemoaning it, and i've never seen more superlatives used trying to take this down. they're nervous, obviously, because when you actually pass a corporate rate, it's actually good for small business owners because think about how the procurement strategies work, right? they hire people. stuart: so you like it. last word to you, you think it's definitely going to get done this year, yes? >> yes. i think we're going to see the house pass their version by thanksgiving, and i think the

president's going to see a bill on his desk for him to sign by christmas eve. stuart: all right, alfredo, thanks for joining us, sir. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: now i want to bring in steve witkoff, a real estate investment firm. steve, welcome to the program. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: now, i thought that you've got a house many florida and that if there's no more deduction for state and local taxes, being a new york kind of guy, you were leaving town. you were going straight down to florida because they've got no local taxes there. is that true? >> well, i've had my home down there since 2009, and i loyally pay taxes in new york city and new york state since then. stuart: are you leaving? >> no. stuart: you're not? >> no. stuart: but you will end up, probably, paying even more in tax than you would than if you left, right? >> but new york, new york state and new york city have a structural problem right now -- stuart: yeah, but you have done the math, i'm sure. >> oh, yes, i have. stuart: and you will be paying more, correct? >> yes.

but, you know, this happens now -- stuart: you're prepared to pay more? >> i am. but i also believe that it forces politicians at the state and city level to be a little bit more disciplined about i 40 they budget. stuart: steve, steve -- >> i believe that. stuart: i hate to be dismissive of this, but do you really think that governor cuomo of new york, mayor de blasio in i'd, they're into lowering taxes? >> i think they'll be forced to. stuart: no way. no way, steve witkoff, no way under god's green earth. >> you know, it's eight years, for eight years me and only one politician that was anti-dodd-frank. it was an anti-new york lawment i worked with senator javits, he would have never allowed it to go through. stuart: it won't be democrats. no democrat will try to get rid of dodd-frank. no democrat will try to get rid of obamacare. no democrat will cut taxes. >> and then more people will leave, and they'll be forced to be more prudent about how they

think about things. stuart: okay. a couple of questions here. i say that something is better than nothing. i think there's disappointment about this tax deal, but pass it because something is better than nothing, and you say -- >> i'm a big fan, and i agree with you. this is a pro-growth tax plan. the expensing portion of it, which no one's talking about but it has no opposition, is hugely pro-growth. that allows jpmorgan if they build a new trading floor in new york city to expense that all immediately. it allows microsoft on, if they repatriate those corporate profits from overseas, to put up a new headquarters building in expense. it's a huge pro-growth piece of the puzzle. the 20% corporate taxes is a huge growth driver as is that repatriation. so i think it's -- that's the biggest deal. and if you care about growth and you're in business, you care about growth, you care more about growth than you do about paying taxes. stuart: last one. do you think you can structure it so you spend at least 180 days per year in florida so that you are a resident of florida

and still conduct your business in new york city? because that way you'd escape all these extra taxes. [laughter] >> i don't think i can, and i don't think i want to. i'm really loyal to new york because it's given me so many blessings. but i do think that we need to improve the way we do business in new york. stuart: all right, steve. i'm with you -- i'm not with you all the way, actually -- [laughter] but i'll take you as an honest and decent man, and we appreciate that, steve. thank you, sir. >> thank you. thank you. stuart: okay. i'm shaking my head. >> you are. >> i had -- off the record, i had dinner with the president two weeks ago at the white house, me -- stuart: we're still on the air, you know? did you realize that? okay. save it for the commercial break. [laughter] you might -- don't say something you don't want to say. >> oh, no, no, it was a good -- stuart: good dinner. >> that just went i through? stuart: the world heard that. you okay with that? you still got a job? [laughter] thank you very much, indeed. mick mulvaney on tax reform next. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ >> hi, etch, i'm lori rothman on the floor of the new york stock exchange with this fox business brief. and i do want to direct your attention to shares of sony. they're down a little bit this morning, off four-tenths of 3%

despite a nice write-up in barron's over the weekend. barron's says sony is off the doghouse, all kinds of good stuff to grow the business, selling the bio-computer line in 2014, playstation 4 console sales have been strong, they've cut back on smartphone production, but they've increased chips to run the cameras in cell phones. let's go back to those playstation console sales, 60 million. that doubled microsoft's xbox sales. so again, a nice write-up for sony, and it's one of stocks we're watching today. time now to get you back to varney and company. ♪ ♪ 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. that's it. i'm calling kohler about their walk-in bath. nah. not gonna happen. my name is ken. how may i help you? hi, i'm calling about kohler's walk-in bath. excellent! happy to help. huh? hold one moment please... [ finger snaps ] hmm. the kohler walk-in bath features an extra-wide opening and a low step-in at three inches, which is 25 to 60% lower than some leading competitors. the bath fills and drains quickly, while the heated seat soothes your back, neck and shoulders. kohler is an expert in bathing, so you can count on a deep soaking experience. are you seeing this? the kohler walk-in bath comes with fully adjustable hydrotherapy jets and our exclusive bubblemassage. everything is installed in as little as a day by a kohler-certified installer. and it's made by kohler- america's leading plumbing brand. we need this bath. yes. yes you do. a kohler walk-in bath provides independence with peace of mind.

call to save $500 off bath walls with your walk-in bath, or visit kohlerwalkinbath.com for more info. stuart: when you hook at this, amazon jt plows ahead, storms up the board and it's now worth $1,139.12 per share. that is an all-time record high. that's $13 higher. you know, i to remember just a few short years ago, maybe three, four years ago that thing was about $100 a share. before that, it was nothing. >> get in the time machine, go back and buy a bunch. [laughter] stuart: that's what we're going to do. i'll buy the time machine. [laughter] isn't that astonishing? >> yes. stuart: straight up, $1100 a share and still going. all right, got it. joining us now -- no, not yet. we're just fixing up the microphone. what have we got right now? >> tap dance.

stuart: i've got a tap dance. let's do ge, why not? what's the latest price? down to $19 and change, is that right? put it up, please. it's 5.5% lower, ge, right now. that $19.35 -- >> they say it's a five-year low, but it really is a 1997, '98 -- stuart: that's more like it. >> the problem here is that ge is wanting to shrink itself, and investors are worried it's going to be less profitable. bottom line. stuart: i'm waiting for people to jump in and buy it and with a very low transaction cost, what does it cost you, $10 to make a trade? >> yeah, yeah, right. stuart: you wait for it to go up by five, ten, cents, and you're in, you're out. >> it still has a strong business unit. it does. stuart: i'm just think it's a day trader's paradise. if i was doing that, i might be tempted to mess around with ge, wait for a 10, 15 cent -- >> it's not like an eastman kodak or sears. it's a viable business.

stuart: those are two dangerous names. [laughter] okay. what else have we got? ge now at $19.36. check the big board, please. it's a pretty stalled market. i think a lot of people waiting for some news on these tax cuts. what's the form that they're going to take and will they pass year. we're up eight points on the dow industrials, 23,430. >> and will the state and local tax deduction stay in some form or another, right? stuart: oh, that's the big deal. i think that is the biggest sticking point. mow momentarily, we'll ask mick mulvaney about that, but i've got the judge who just sat down next to me. [laughter] i'll tell you why, because president trump slammed the former heads of intelligence agencies over the weekend, he called them political hacks. some in the intel community not happy, but you follow this very closely. >> i do. stu stuart was the president right to say that? >> well, it depends who you speak with. there is a bitter division in the principal intel agencies

over whether the president was correct to say i believe that vladimir putin believes that he's being sincere when he says no or whether the president was correct to say i believe the american intelligence community. stated differently, there are chunks of different branches of the american intelligence community who think that the russia stuff is all made up, that there is no basis for it, and it was made up by the people president's called political hacks, the former leaders of the intelligence agencies, only one of whom is still in office, admiral rogers ran the nsa under president obama and still runs it under president trump. there are others in the intelligence community who say the president is trying to warm up to vladimir putin, that's his way to run foreign affairs, but there is solid, serious evidence of russian meddling that nobody should discount. so is the intelligence community speaking of one mind here? absolutely not.

is the president insulting them when he disses them? he's insulting some, and he's not insulting others. stuart: the media wants to pick up on russia, russia, russia only if it relates to president trump. >> oh, gosh -- stuart: the media has no interest in picking up on russia, russia, russia if it relates to hillary clinton. >> you're exactly right. and to support that, "the washington post" this morning reported in a 20-page piece, 20 prints pages, not 20 newspaper pages, 30 contacts that the trump campaign had with the russians during the campaign. it's almost as if they're doing bob mueller's research for him. question: is it conceivable that donald trump knew of none of them? that's the question at the end that we don't know the answer to. and if you ask that to the intelligence community, depends on who you ask. stuart: i'm so glad we asked you. >> have i made in any easier? i don't know. stuart: pretty clean cut. i'll take it. thank you, judge. >> tell mick mulvaney to cut

everybody's taxes. stuart: i'll tell him right now for real this time. mick mulvaney, i know you're waiting for us. cut everybody's taxes, direct message from the judge. big smile coming up. he's next. [laughter] life happens. that's why feeling safe is priceless. with adt, you can feel safe with an adt starter kit

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♪ stuart: we got him. joining us now, white house budget director mick mulvaney. sir, welcome to the program. it's great to see you back again. >> great to be here. stuart: the big selling point for both these versions of the tax plan is that we'll get economic growth down the road. that, to us, is a big selling point. but kevin brady says we'll only get an extra half percentage point of growth. that's rather disappointing. will you tell us he's wrong and we'll get to 4% growth? >> yeah, i'm not sure where kevin's getting his numbers, and i'm not sure what that half is being added to. what we've talked about, stuart, from the very beginning and sort of hard-wired into every single discussion you and i have had in the last year is how do we get to sustained, sustained 3% growth. honestly, when you and i first started talking about last, early this year we didn't think we could get there til 2019 or 2020, and it looks like we're already there. looks like the fourth quarter

will be there as well, so it's that sustained 3% growth that is sort of driving everything we do. if kevin says we can only get another half a percentage point, if that takes us from 3 to 3.5, that's great. i'm interested in staying above 3% on a sustained basis. stuart: a lot of people were talking about 4% growth by next year, but this elimination of the state and local tax deduction, can you give us some kind of where we stand on this? because we're hearing different reports about the whole deduction goes completely or just the property tax deduction will be maintained up to $10,000. where do we stand? >> right. and before we move off of the 3% versus 4%, i do think there's a chance you'll see 4, but it's not a sustained number. we look at the office of management and budget over the average course in time. you'll see, obviously, fluctuations outside of that number for a period of time. anyway, to go into state and local tax deductions, i think what you saw in the house, what

you're probably hearing is one of differences between the house proposal and the senate proposal. the house proposal, because of some of the politics involved, went ahead and put back in a deduction for some property taxes as part of state and local tax deductions. the senate doesn't seem to do that, at least it didn't in what it rolled out last week. so that's one of the differences between the two. again, that is -- it's an important difference and something that will need to be worked out, but that's part of the negotiation process. stuart: we hear the house bill will be passed by thanksgiving and a full bill signed, sealed, delivered before the end of the year. do you think that's realistic? >> actually, i think you're going to see the house bill pass this week, and the senate may actually have a chance to pass theirs before thanksgiving, if not, immediately after. so the goal, obviously, is to get all of this wrapped up by christmas, and i still think not only are we on schedule there, we're slightly ahead of schedule because of the rapidity with

which the house passed the senate budget about ten days ago. so things are slightly, slightly ahead of schedule as we stand here today. stuart: how about that? mick mulvaney, thanks for joins us, sir. we'll see you again soon, i hope. >> thanks, stuart. stuart: yes, sir. there will be more "varney" after this. ♪ ♪ . . . .

stuart: maybe we broke news there with mick mulvaney. he is did sigh hoping to get the house version of the tax package done this week, and soon before, thanksgiving, maybe even the senate package as well. maybe that helps the market. we have turned not exactly sharply higher but we turned up 50 points. liz: we'll take it. stuart: if i'm grasping at straws, okay, i will grasp at straus. the stock of the day still

general electric. we're still below $20 a share. i'm waiting for day traders bounce it back up a little bit. maybe that will occur under neil cavuto's experience. isn't that right, neil? it is yours. neil: i wonder if roy moore could speed up the clock. december 12th election. you don't want to risk a law. dealing with a democrat. skedaddle as fast as you can, get ahead of that. stuart: hadn't thought of that. well-don't, neil. original thinking. neil: that is what i try to do. yeah, yeah. thank you my friend. we're on top of that. you have to wonder in light of the interesting interview whether the administration and what we're seeing out of the pousers that be out of the republican party that the they are trying to get ahead of this roy moore situation, just as we hear senate leader, mitch mcconnell saying you should given allegations of these women step down right