infrastructure time for a bipartisan deal in washington, taxpayers beware but ought to be excited to see the competitive tax system. >> gop on the clock let's see this all works out i'm rooting for us. >> over to charles payne in for stuart varney. >> thank you very much cheryl i'm charles in for stuart here's what we're following for you this morning tax reform is done next priority for president trump preparing country crumbling infrastructure and president trump says he wants to spent one trillion dollars now here's the question, can he get the democrats and the republicans to work together on this onesome we're all over that. also positive economic sign wages up and unploim down and food stamp use aiming lowest level down nearly 5% in president's first year sphwiching gears greg coaches san antonio spurs asked about charitable gives he says reach people don't need all of their money and has choice words for those who don't give to charity

what he said and well it's all wrong and elon muck is taking on ford he say test it is la pickup truck is coming soon and bigger and better than f150 varnmy and company starts right now. ♪ charles: all right take a look at that, that baby is cold outside and by the way it is getting colder and we're togs windchill numbers frigid weather the midwest i lived there for a year and a half i bet you it is like minus 20 below but kansas city can boast about being a balmy 2 degrees. with a rally hit dow 25,000 in

2017, and, of course, now that the tax deal is done a lot of focus on what is next on the the trump agenda for his administration and a pouked on trillion dollar infrastructure that package is on the docket now remember when senate minority leader chuck schumer said he would work with president trump on infrastructure spending you don't remember roll that tape. >> to join us we expwrea democrats are talking about this and a bill long before donald trump was campaigning for the president. now we have a president elect who is called for a large, large infrastructure bill. which joins us even if it is republican colleagues in house and senate aren't for it. come on in david former chief of staff to paul ryan what's senator schumer what he said last year are, of course, is one thing well will they work with president trump now? >> i think we have to look at how an infrastructure bill will be done because president trump is talking about something very

different if you recall back in 2009, the democrats had an infrastructure package that really didn't work, the president, president obama said after that, it wasn't really a shovel ready as we with thought but they did pave a lot. this has to be something different and president trump is talking of something different. but he wants to do is get some federal money, some state and local money but then get private money involved. it can be done if the projects are worthwhile as market projects. and there are market projects o through the which will attract private money. that's what the president wants to do. that's a wise way to do it. that is not what senator schumer is talking about so the democrats if they want to do this are going to have to compromise and look at doing something to create jobs right away and have long-term market -- >> essentially what does schumer want? because seems like there are two xoangts of the three laid out to make this -- viable solution. state and local funding which i think would be out of the question with respect to democrats particularly those

with dead states and in the private sector they seem to have private sector involved in anything so do they want another defact transfer of wealth from the federal government to the estate where the money is squandered? >> they want a trillion dollar down payment of simply federal money and then talking about doing something creative and world bank has been successful in attracting some private minnesota for some of their projects because they are market oriented projects. this is the key if the democrats will agree, to look at projects which will be -- that market will support, because they will provide some real imroat to the economy and a stronger base of the economy. we've got something we can work on. but that's the key. >> being able to transfer goods and services that are key components to growing gdp in if almost every watching show has a who are row story or two on crumbling infrastructure so push ing back on this. i think it is a tough political football or for them i want to give a little bit here because i have a number to share with you on food stamps usage down 4.6%

in thes past year. cost of maintaining food stamp program now at a 7-year low what's your reaction to that? >> well this is a reaction to some of the imroat we've had in the united states. i used to work for jack and jack is used to sigh you should measure had compassion by how many people are getting off a of food stamps because they're getting better job, better opportunities, and are are able to work back in the economy and a work themselves back up so they no longer need food stamps that's what compassion ought to be measured by. and i think on that basis some of the things that have happened this year both the imroat and economy has been stimulated by some of the -- some of the efforts to reduce regulation and some of the growth that's been put in there by people looking for the tax cuts which are now finally here those are sorts of things along with states trying to be careful in how they spend their money and phraser money which have -- result ared in fewer people being on food stamps because they no longer need them that's

true compassion by getting job. >> you talk conservatism there's a lot of talk about welfare reform would this be right launching pad to enact welfare reform because it worked pretty well for people when bill clinton enacted it. >> i think some of the things done there in a bipartisan way are things to look at making sure people who are getting welfare are learning are either taking training or they're -- they have a job they're looking for a job they're doing those things. obama administration started taking some of the those things we and it hurt had people who are looking for jobs so yes, there's some thing there is you can do but mostly in training area and job training area are places you want to look. i think real l true complete welfare reform is probably something we're going to need tods after we've had several years of growth. >> okay. so really have the jobs out there for people to come to get. >> all right now with unemployment well under 4% under 5 prct soon on 4% that

opportunity will be there. david thank you so much. really appreciate it. my pleasure. i want to switch gears now to your favorite topic of late bitcoin prices rebounding back here a bit and hedge pound they want in and speaking many that i want to bring in greg special writer at "the wall street journal" who wrote about this. all right, so dwreg, hedge funds coming in to bitcoin. good thing or bad thing is that a red flag or -- >> well they could go long and they could go short to me it is a way to legitimatize the market when you get sophisticated money in be it hedge fund or big institutions, that's another sign of a growth and that market not necessarily a bitcoin bowl but if you are that is something that is positive you know a lot of guys are looking to go short. j but by the same toke assuming that smartest guy in rumor is smartest guy many a room and that's not necessarily true. >> that's right because they perform since 2009. so just the pact that they're getting interested didn't necessarily mean that you want to follow what they're doing but it does say to me this is becoming a market that even a

sophisticated people have to pay attention to. and you know, it's not just grandmother and in south. j here's the thing purist folk who is recognize viability of currency and bitcoin three, four, five years ago, they're sort of cautious or o worried that cboe, and the goldman setting up a trade aring desk and hedge funds coming in this is sort of currency that has appeal with no government control and nothing ma nip lited or printed and doesn't face regulation from government and that is a key appeal to this. could it backfire as more and more of these entities that start to get onboard? >> it is a good point that when investors get involved and when they have a chance to short something often that's when things start going down you can think about sub prime market think about tech boom when shorts were able to express their position that's when you have problems for the market. and as you suggest the reason

why some people are excited about it because you don't have institutions involved but future market i want to argue is the government. so once government gets involved i get a little more concerned but for now i think there's a reason to think that this same pipe that love bitcoin will continue to love it. people i know to love it are buying more of the dips next one for you greg america's hottest oil play means truckers to get around i'm talking about down in texas, thousands and thousands of truckers you wrote a book called rackers, what does this say this trucking shortage and huge reare bound and texas economy, and in general in particular but also in oil patch. >> i was traveling to the country and it is fascinating group of entrepreneurs who have created this revolution an american revolution not elsewhere in the country and they always say that prices are all we need when prices they're the solution for everything so prices fell -- they pulled back on production, and then -- and then prices start rising again and now they're coming

back what's amazing to me it is really three field and eagle and yet it is a point where we're getting pass 10 million barrels day and this year surpass it this year and biggest producer in the country and in the world i should say and this is kind of suggest this we've gotten the american economy to it. >> yesterday at the dallas fed came out with a manufacturing data, at 11-year high, you know so it seems that there's an echo effect also booming oil l means booming manufacturing afl that creating amazing high paying jobs. now i guess the big question here is, we've come back a lot in oil fix a resistance plan, and do we break out through there could we and enough discipline among american frackers and o'perk not to overproduce and let price go up a little bit? >> fannie mae and freddie tracke learning as ofs did 22 ngtd

almost 300 more rigs onis line but they seem to be bringing them back be in an orderly fashion not to disrupt prices. so maybe they've learned hard way. >> i'm skeptical it will could be. the history suggest that these guyses are are big tackers they talk about pulling back. but they always wait for their neighbor like we're all much more careful this time. but i don't see that they isly tbhies to see. they spend more than they should each time and temperatures us as kiewrls because prices come down that puts a ceiling on all of us and natural gas price and oil prices so more bullish about us but not necessarily about the industry. rng thank you it really appreciate it. a scary new it report on food safety says that fka process to get recall foods off store shelves so slow that it can take nearly a year to get dangerous products out of the hand of consumers more on that one coming up, and also could 2018 be year when diplomats talk between the u.s. and north korea really officially begin diplomatic talks south korea as

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>> all right take a look at gold, had a pretty good five days and soft run into resistance to 1300 but gold alive and hanging in there diet is other alternatives and oil had had a huge spike in part to big shutdown in libya also speculation on cusp of a major breakout 60s and resistance down locket but watch with oil if it breaks out. and a government well now, they're saying that the food recall process is way too slow adam has had the details. >> dangerouslily slow is what they're saying is department of het and human services inspector general actually studied recalls between 2012 and 2015. and charles what they found is that it can take e ten months to completely remove from store shelves a food item that has been deemed a health threat that should be removed so think about that.

they tell you in september it should be off the shelf and buy it in april that would be a problem but in defense of fda a lot of us have something on shelf prefinancial crisis that we should have thrown out and doesn't mow it is there. >> i have a theory if i pay for it i'll eat it. i'm just joking most of the time. south korea predicts that north korea will be open to talks with the yaits next year. i want to bring in christian white who is a former trump and bush senior advisor, you buy this one as a lot of conflicting reports this two or three days ago, north korea said we were de facto at war with them it will already. >> i don't buy it really so the host left wing part of a left wing government that we have now in south korea they're always committed much more to negotiations the idea that some combination of payment and other concessions to north korea can improve their behavior it is something that the trump administration really principle reject so in the part, point of

sanctions to some extent is to bring north korea become to the table but bring them back is what would be different than previous negotiations. but i think it is going to take more time. >> we have time because it feels like clock is running as north korea rise in ability to launch these -- these missiles take them anywhere they want around the world in warhead a nuclear warhead. >> yeah, i think we're at that point already frankly that's the cost of -- of policies over multiple administrationings of both parties that have allowed north korea to get to this point. they have a multistaged space launch vehicle and icbm that's been tested and hydrogen bomb exploded so if they have a reindustry vehicle to hit a target and, of course, you don't have to be close with a hydrogen bomb so i think they have that capability. our senior commanders in the pac have said as much and basically now comes down to deterrent and missile defense and pressure on regime but basically north korea

has what it wants it is a shame. >> how does kim jong-un get out of this and give up nuclear program which -- president trump said is key issue here in say face within this country because -- you know, as it gets further away from grandfather these become harder to hold on to. >> yeah it's amazing as you point out he's third in line it is not only first but you have a second generation of succession never done in a communist system. answer is he can't give u up his nuclear arsenal no intention of doing that and never will under current political construction you need a different form of government no north korea for them to give up their nukes now i think it is fine we insist on complete disarmorment of peninsula but in reality some sort of freeze or -- you know, downturn in their capabilities would be more acceptable and stepping back frankly north korea is an an exof the china problem more. i think what the more we view it just as u.s. versus north korea is actually not a great way to

view this problem. in fact north korea is very much a creature of china. >> right. i want to switch gears president trump cutting funding to after a israeli vote what do you say was that the right move? >> yeah it's the only move that really makeses difference up in foggy bottom it is a little bit like washington if you can take away their money and this is something we used to do but haven't done in a long time. but the idea to cut down a small amount 2 or o 300 million out of $8 billion with the united states gives whole u.n. system every year. but it's it enough to get their attention it and something jesse helms did when he was chairman of relation committee got their attention and now it is a good move. >> how do we know it got their attention and perhaps next test because they've belittle israel for forever and dissed america over and over again so when will we know that hey, you know what, this was enough of a move that perhaps we'll get them to at

least treat us with some respect. >> right probably be the absence of more bad conduct rather than any good conduct this is afterall still the u.n. you know ultimately u.n. is failed at every sort of major -- problem that it has come arranged all of the things that have intentded to do when it was created in 195 failed to do and doesn't help you with a security a huge suck on the budget. components of the u.n. like the u.n. high commission or o refugee and international and arms control element of the u.n. that do a useful function. but you know by and large this organization is pretty profoundly failed . >> no doubt about that. christian white thank you very much. great to have your are expertise. >> thanks charles great to be here. charles: brutally cold here in new york winter is in full swing and only going to get worse. we have a very chilly winter forecast for you. right after this --

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>> let's get a quick look at these tech names somewhat mixed. been under pressure under last month of the year but obviously huge years for all of those stocks on screen right there. absolutely phenomenal. come on very late in the year but big as well, big retail names and, of course, enjoying a great holiday season thus far you can see all of the big name there is wal-mart macy'ss jc struggle but finding way to hang on and sears unchanged in premarket and east coast in midwest in for a very big decrease for fox news adam is at the weather center with the details. adam just how cold will it get? >> charms it is frigid across country we've got windchill advisor as running from maine all the way back into northern plain states that's going to stick with us because these temps are so low. these are across this renal feel

like close to 20 below in chicago, 8 below in cleveland, look at that fargo 33 below and even warmer places feels like 26 degrees countrily in dallas. now it if i drill in tighter here you can see some of these areas i'm getting rid of windchill now so these are actual temperatures out ten to 15 degrees below zero in some cases business mark close to 25 degrees below zero and there international falls 34 without windchill it is colder than that either way you can't get outside. eventually place like minneapolis folks are wondering what about new yore's eve well here are your forecasted lows every single morning for next couple of morns from thursday morning to friday morning, you get going into the weekend and unfortunately here, saturday, sunday morning so thousand this is new year's o eve morning looking at temps back down aired 0 or single digit across the large portion of the country. it gets even colder yet on

monday morning. so that's what you're out on new year's eve night temperatures in debt singles to just 12 to 15 degrees there. it is going to be cold. charles: thank you very much adam we will make sure to bundle up opening bell a few momentses away. nasdaq and s&p looking higher and dow jones looking lower. we'll have it all for you in just a couple of moments.

oning bell going to ring in about 30 minutes remember been an extraordinary year now this is two months ago when nasdaq was up almost 35% in the dow was up just maybe 25, 26%. that gap is closed a lot. so what we've seen is rotation

out of the big tech name os more stable industrial name. material names and not high wire and not things that are making, you know, next gee wiz gadget but companies that actually thrive in growing economies. so we've got a couple them going on there with this market as we head into 2018 and now opening bell is ring aring you can see our board boeing again there you have it 150-year-old company at the top of the board there boeing have been one of the huge winners this year. caterpillar been a huge winner general electric is one of the dow dog spots you sew that name early in january. folks just guessing maybe the worse is over o for them and wren yesterday apple was a big doctoring on everything. again a is drag in part because of reports of taiwan that iphone x call it the x if you will -- that the order rs for them will be lower than initially thought some estimates began at 50 million now they're saying almost 30 million so apple drag once again. but we're pop lathing board here

and there'ses your s&p 500 up pretty nicely again trailing the dow and nasdaq for the year. you may see some rotation into that as well and let's the nasdaq also having a pretty good start to the session. so all around it is a pretty good start to the day. you remember a lot of folks are away streets are thin here no one on rods and certainly wall street is sort of tumbleweed frozen float around down will. well, a big news item for next year is going to be that trillion dollars perhaps that is going to go to infrastructure spend certainly at the top of president trump agenda joanings now adam shapiro, keith fitzgerald and if we bet it and believe me that, you know, both sides have screamed about this for long enough to belove that we will. how will that impact the economy and the stock market? >> i think it is going to be great for the economy and great for the markets charles we're seeing rotation and traders trying to get ahead of that but like i do you drive around country bridges are in disrepair and our airport use with name it we need it and we have to do it

to come up with world class standards just for castes for american people to it is good net, net, net. >> shaw. president campaign a deal and i think this is long overdue he's now said that he wanted to wait to get easiest part it have done and third leg of what he's trying to do here so on heels of tax cuts i think this is a good idea and great for the economy i think also great for the majority. >> how early to get that implemented because i think one of the key problems with the obama infrastructure plan was to bureaucracy involve sod it is easy to write a check and hard to get it to a project particularly when state and local government hijack it. >> not that issue but what are we going to spend it on remember building train to nowhere in california and that's a billion dollars plus for the taxpayers in california and a federal government. so this money, yeah it is going to go out there. but politicians on both sides of the aisle -- they're going to have their pet projects you have to be about careful with that. >> shift it now because it is coming on strong and big

question still we have a few days left. dow o 25 ,000 by friday what do you think? >> i'm betting for it even though momentum peters out a little bit we have a chance to do it and we have two days after this there's enough there to put it forward. i think we'll get will. consumer confidence out later today pending home sales out later today and needs to be a cat catalyst. i think consumer spedgedding will be huge and sentiment is great and i think new home sales here's home big sales out of the pack too. >> keith, 25,000 on the dow this year. >> well as you know i look for that late in the summer i'm with shaw on every account he mentioned right on the cusp qoangt take much particularly as wall street is tumbleweed now to move that. >> all right guys now holiday retail sales you're sort of reference it. so far they've been coming very strong, and now of course this week begins with what they call return season and by the way that's always good particularly or for shippers like fedex, ups

but people go to malls they shop after they return things so let's start with the ups fedex the one of those you like them? >> i like them both. you know o i prefer fed exover ups. i own those and my family owns them i don't own them personally i don't recommend them but figure that stand out to me and one i'm concerned about i don't to be debbiedown here but concerned about the debit card debt is you're talking about $90 billion had in return that has to go somewhere but is that money but that's a figure i'm looking for keenly. >> but dling cities are now back up and that's a problem because people aren't paying off their credit cards. >> no where near 2008 levels but our people using their credit card ares to pay for essentials if people are using credit cards to pay for essentials they haven't gotten kick back yet from the tax cuts or bonuses that have some announced. some are -- >> my own analysis is studyings

this from other data i think it is a sign of confidence. i don't think they're using for essentials but we want debit spending after great recession begun and now people are shifting back to credit in part because they're confident they're going to not only keep their job but a raise soon maybe that's misguided what are your thoughts on that? >> anticipating the tax but hope to get minnesota back there so additional spend on cards you'll have it is partly due to opt o mism. let's talk about a new holiday coming up guys as if we don't have enough. amazon probably taking a key from alba wants you to have dimmingal day friday this is focus on digital con tengt things like movies and a ebook and i don't know you in on had had onesome -- >> i'm watching it but i'm not a great demographic for that charles i don't spend a lot of time in front of the television but wrath arer lifing life but there's a lot of people who do, and i -- i'm really interested to see

what happens here. i have no idea how this number is going to come up. >> amazon has been trying to get that singles day thing going fop i think there's something else they started also early this year adam. this is, obviously, millennial on largest demographic in this country so there are a lot of people into this thing and might tap into something is testimony >> might tap on to something and on the other hand china has a billion plus people who just spent our credit cards to hill for christmas. so may not be a lot of extra cash right now. >> what had do you think? >> amazon is great and late it had erm its of buying from amazon i am in there now. i think service is fantastic delivery is amazing product line is tremendous. but 5,000 products on sale and buying echo devices and they're falling into whole ecosystem and amazon ecosystem this is just -- proliferating their entire brand. that device i think is going to add -- i've read somewhere like $20 billion in extra spending to amazon over next several years alone that's a huge break through for them let's check on the big board guys because trading now for over six minutes

up a little bit the dow is now pulled back. again i think this market is sort of grappling for some sort catalyst that wants to break out and again we've got news coming up many 30 minutes to help that happen. by the way lets take a look at oil combine a pipeline burst yesterday and libya to shut down 60,000 barrel a day it in production. with the forecast from saudi arabia and you get a crew that popped big time and level not seeing since june and 2015 on cuss of a imagine breakout for west texas through $60 also check on gold rather gold had a pretty good week last week, and hanging in there today as well. that 1300 has been reare sis taint for a long, long time through there may get the gold waking up in meenl time everyone is still sort of bitcoin fanatic you love or hate it and volatile could the nonvolatility over last few days give it credibility. i think it is pretty good thing that it is sell u down right near a resistance point but it didn't continue to collapse so bitcoin hang hadding tough right

now and then names that we can never forget like apple those took a bit hit yesterday as they were mentioned over concern over o weaker demanding mow shaw are you concerned i will say i'm so accuss testimony to weird reports coming out of asia about potential slowdown of production and potential less demand. this whats many times economic daily, all of these, you know, and you know if you ever sold your stock in last four or five years on that stuff you regret it. happen to apple time and time again and continue to then beat all of the expectations. it is almost like they want expectations down so you can beat them. i think this is a blip for stock down 5 act and nothing wrong with it. needs to breathe anyway. >> apple -- share that opinion. absolutely you know here's the thing it hasn't been a device company for a long time that's how world continues to think about. it's about services and it's about software and about home automation market. that's where apple is really going and don't forget about medical device when is apple

pivots into that disruptive on scale that had sequel to or o greater than whole ipad thing. speaking of someone who like to disrupt things elon musk promisings that tesla pupght could challenge had ford f150 iconic and it's got power all american should ford be worried? >> i think ford should be scared to death charles. it's -- it it's really telling to me when i travels over i see all kind of alternative in vehicle, motorcycle, however, i come back home and what i see is big well made iconic, but they need an outside voice like musk to get they will off their rock to make them do something innovative so i'm welcoming this i think it will be god for market overall and shake ford up. >> i don't know i'm so listen, i like tesla and elon musk but i don't know about f150. >>ing that stick arranged but i agree with keith we need innovation in terms of

electrical vehicle not except replacement until 2020 so a long time for ford and imm to catch up to protect vehicles but that will happen in the meantime. >> you have china where they're going all electric in the next 20 years and a you know, he's making the product now whether he's going to make a profit on it. he's letting -- >> whether they would be an audience where people need that real power i'm not sure they gee it ambitious and that made elon muck whos he is. i want to ask you job or jumbo mortgage bright spots for but could be a party pooper. you have details. rng concern that banks with $10 billion ins is thes right now if they have mortgages roughly 19% of their business are jumbo loans those are loans by most over conforming limit of $224,000, and in new york city more expense weigh new cap on mortgages you can deduct

interest on a mortgage value up to $750,000. there's concern that the refinancing of jumbo mortgages and origination of jumbo mortgage is going to decline also concern that interest rates have a hit on jumbo mortgage but i looked up quickly "new york times" list the -- interest rates every day, and by the way, 30-year fixed jumbo right now is cheaper than now it was a year ago same way that 30-year fixed conforming loan. so million dollar homes were up 18%. 750,000 homes up 11% and 5 thorks up 14 so see what happens and those have to be hottest area in the market. thanks to key and shaw preerkts your expertise and market and everything else. >> all right guys let's get a quick check of the big dow up four whoing points arranged here for a while. but again in about 20 minutes we've got news come out that had might change what. in the meantime got a question

for you. which amazon product was the top seller on the site this christmas season? we'll have the answer for you right after this.

>> all right quick check of the big board the dow off four points range are amount for now you can feel some intensity but it is really tough in a lot of folks away. here's the big question now, what was the most popular item on amazon for holidays jerry are willis is at the nysc with the answer for us. jerry. >> hey chars what was right murming one seller for amazon so-called smart speakers they're about the size of a hockey are

puck i have seven in my house alone superpopular. threw the entire holiday shopping season, and in addition to that, one billion item sold by small businesses on amazon it was their biggest holiday shopping season ever. things flew out the door number two seller was the fire o stick. so answer to your question all about echo dot 30 bucks per and let me tell you they could not hold on to them. charles back po you. >> charitable l gives could fall some say under new tax plan adam you have those details. >> americans give generously and not just because you can itemize to get a tax deduction but with doubling of the standard deduction for single and married people there's concern that it will fall and won't be able and crunched numbers to give you an example what have they're worried about in florida 1.8 million donors claim that charitable deduction in 2015 that accounted for $13 billion. so if you lose about 5% of that

that 651 million that charities would not be getting so there's concern that had the increase of the standard deduction singles remember it is going to go to 12,000 married to 24,000 will cramp chaft cial giving in the meantime san antonio spurs sounding off on giving to charity, quote, because we are rich as hell and we don't heed it all. and other people heed it and you are a bleep if you don't give it. pretty simple. well coming on in jill, a little but that's the hallmark of greg pops. >> pops smartest guy on planet just ask him. win a couple of championships apparently he can talk about charitable giving but always such a grouch pointing finger at how bad america is particularly rich people in america i think he's -- i think he miss it is. i think we're most generous country in the world and we have been for a long time. it has to do a simple google takes about eight seconds to come across philanthropy which

finds much align top 1% fork over 1/3 of donation made on planet and easer tax bracket xepght those earning less they donate to charitieses so don't talk about how americans don't give away any money or too rich and not giving away muff we crush every other country italy and germany 20-1 we outdonating them. >> with a tax bill that we're giving -- giving -- money to rich people who don't need it. that the market doing so well corporate earnings doing so well and rich people doing so well they don't heed it greg is taking on that same sort of idea that hey, u you've got too much that you don't need. who determines what we need? >> greg -- [laughter] apparently when you have tim duncan all of those years that makes you an expert 91% of middle-class earners got a tax cut here and those pushing narrative that this is or for the the rich is from the

democratic side of the aisle and my question, though, is in these situation what is is the democratic plan has that been presented what are they running on many 2018 besides voting against tax cuts opinion it's easy to complain but when you doajt offer a solution that's when people say come on give me something. >> i say don't ever understomach how generous americans are because these are official numbers unofficially we give a lot more even as much -- so it all frustrates me when i hear this kind of stuff. >> i buy more drinks when i'm out than anybody -- >> i heard about that trying to bar with you. how about this one -- take a look from a news -- headline many "newsweek" melania trump order ertd removal of 2h-year-old tree from white house -- that's not the whole story, though? >> of course not it's not like she said you know what trees stink and produce oxygen solet get rid it have but it had to go. >> what was wrong with it? because from what i understand it was old, they looked at it it was i do help we old oest tree n

front yard oldest in my county and we have four tree experts look at it before we finally cut had had it cut down but deemed dangerous and it was dying. and apparently sort of what was happening there. but it "newsweek" knew this and, obviously, any kind of reporters they knew it why such a ingenuous headlinesome >> that trump including the pirld who polls very well by the way is evil. we may or may not live in the same county in a state nearby and you're right we have a tree recently fall in the town next to us on a house. fortunately it fell on the garage and no one was hurt but old tree and should have been cut down leading that part of the martive is perfect for 2017 and terms of our media and that is pushing area negative to trump administration help when that doesn't -- >> charles real quick about that it was the national -- they actually advisorred the white house attack this thing down because it is being held up with polls and a cable it is it should have come down years ago. >> stay right there joe you too

i want to check on the market real quick take a look at the dow 30 about half an half right perfectly you've got g.e. and nibbling at that that's one of the so-called dogs and explain that later. nike which i reported last week another dud that stock under pressure and for the most part down two points so no big movers in either direction and president obama oh he's taking a shot social media interview, and that social media in interview with prince harry he said internet is distorting the baseline of reality. and you're going hear it right after this. (snap) achoo! achoo! (snap) (snap) achoo! achoo! feel a cold coming on? zicam cold remedy nasal swabs shorten colds with a snap, and reduce symptom severity by 45%. shorten your cold with a snap, with zicam. ...from godaddy! in fact, 68% of people who have built their... ...website using gocentral, did it in under an hour, and you can too.

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charles: president obama taking a shot at social media with a conversation with prince harry, roll tape. >> the dangers of the internet is, people can have entirely different realities. they can be cocooned in information that reinforces their current biases. used to be in the united states, for example, we had three television stations. everybody watched walter cronkite, david brinkly, whoever the chief anchor was. everybody had a common set of facts. they might be conservatives and liberals, but people generally agree on a baseline of reality. charles: all right. hill media reporter joe concha.

i read somewhere you're the most tweetedfy at "the hill." what do you say about this baseline reality? is that real? distortion of the baseline reality? >> i find it interesting the former president giving that advice considering how often he took shots at fox news, almost seemingly on weekly basis, that is not really, only listen to these guys. charles: fox and its enormous audience equated to one of those old big three he talked about. he dismissed the audience out of hand. >> fox business bottom off the hook. look at it that way. i think more and more, seeing from cnns and msnbc's from the world, playing to particular audience, they're pet tried social media people would get if they say anything positive. remember jimmy fallon messed up trump's hair and and humanized

him for it. charles: is it a symptom the problem or the problem itself. >> what is, how do you define the problem? we're cocooning ourselves? charles: maybe idea, we live in echo chambers, our own echo chambers. we reinforce things we believe and shut out things we don't believe, that is the narrative. >> charles, the problem is the consumer. people are afraid to hear other viewpoints they're the problem. i'm not sure, fox, because i'm on it. they bring on different viewpoints. other networks, more and more echo chamber the president described. it is not good programing. that is why cnn can't give million viewers in prime time night. they go to one segment of audience. charles: i get a lot pushback and when i bring dems and never-trumpers on. we want to hear all voices. i have something you can't make up. new york city's liberal mayor comparing himself to thomas

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section hour of "varney & company" is here. i'm charles payne. here for stuart. dow 25-k effect still within reach. we're a few short rallies away. we have three days left to make it happen. then there is the big new push already underway. president trump pushing of course for a trillion dollars in infrastructure spending. and, ultimate enlightenment for new york city mayor bill de blasio. find out why the socialist mayor is being mentioned in the same sentence as gandhi. even henry ford and thomas edison. that's right. only a few days left in the year but the crazy stuff is still out there. we have no shortage of headlines for you. hour two starts right now. ♪

charles: all right. let's check on the big board. dow off a little more than 10 points. we're trading in very tight range all day long. s&p 500, take a quick look at that because it has been up for most of the session. the s&p hanging in there also, by, check, take a look at gold here as well. do we have gold? can we bring in bold? right now -- gold. big tech names. amazon, we had gerri willis talk about the echo dot. also one billion small business. so that's been a huge seller. there is gold right there. gold had a good week 1/2. up against serious resistance at 1300 each. the dow trading side way, seven seven points. looking for traction, for something to get it jump-started. we have breaking economic data coming in right now. consumer confidence. h for month of december. adam.

>> u.s. consumer confidence at 122.1. november was revised to 128.6. it had previously been 129.5. the consensus by the way for what we would get for december was 128. so again consumer confidence, 122.1. charles: cool. we'll break that number down as we go on. the dow is a few points away from 25,000. we're really close but nevertheless it will need some sort of catalyst to get the final push. joining us to discuss, "fiscal times" columnist, liz peek. fun thing to talk about dow 25 this year. >> yeah. charles: i feel it will happen very soon but you don't want the momentum to completely fade and we're sort of trading sideways the last couple days. >> i think there is a lot of year-end portfolio adjustment going on charles. i hear amongst hedge funds, the change in the tax bill, going to

this three-year time period you have to hold various assets before you can take a capital gains count on them. that is up from one year. that is generating some trading from what i'm hearing, some selling. i think the catalyst will be this. as we go into 2018 economists are generally upping their numbers for real growth in 2008. one of the leading economic groups on wall street is talking about 3% real growth and that would be three quarters of 3% real growth. as the numbers go up people go, what does that mean for earnings? that is without anything from the tax cut. they're saying maybe half a point extra for that. charles: it feels like, i don't want to say a foregone conclusion, but the new york fed, atlanta fed, who zero in on the gdp number, were on 3%, solidly 3%. 3% plus for consecutive quarters for the next year. do we keep the momentum going in an how much could be baked into

the market already? >> a lot is in the market. people are optimistic about growth and earnings growth. generally speaking the banks on wall street have been slow to get to this 3% number. that is the ow liar position. the other thing that is happened of course that i think again we haven't talked about it enough. it is not just the united states. it is world push, sing conoised growth around the world. i hear one slightly cautionary note about china. the beige book came out over there and they're talking about a little bit of caution about consumer spending and so forth. but generally speaking right now things are looking pretty good. that is pushing commodities prices higher. that is another asset class. charles: copper has been hot still. oil has been hot. i do want to ask you another one, liz, weeks of speculating we do have the numbers coming in. consumer obviously is back, not afraid to spend money. christmas gifts have been through the roof. holiday season has been huge. what is your take? the naysayers are saying driven

by credit card spending. that is a red flag. i think driven by optimism and relief people can actually go out and spend that money, where before they were in a economic foxhole? >> i heard a great expression last week, thrift fatigue. everyone is tired of being thrifty. net worth is up enormously 8 or 9% this year. home values are up about 6%. that also drives spending. i think u.s. consumer is smarter than a lot of the gurus, charles. they know wage increases are coming. they see the labor market tightening. they see a lot of job openings. when they look for a job, there is a lot more opportunity. all that drives optimism. i'm a little surprised by the consumer sentiments number seems low to knee. my guess we'll see that revised upward. looking at timing of it, it could reflect all the disagreement and ney saying about the tax bill. charles: tax bill. i would like to break it down along political lines as well. >> by the way let's not discount

the fact that 122 historically a really big number. charles: speaking of history, real good news on history front, food stamp usage down a lot. u.s. department of agriculture saying 4.6% drop in the past year alone. so combine all of this, food stamp usage down, wages are starting to climb, albeit not as fast a pace people hoped or wanted but all the economic momentum going into next year looks really pretty good at lower end of the spectrum. >> on the food stamp story that is what this is supposed to be. this is supposed to be one of the countercyclical programs when the economy is not doing well, the food stamp program is supposed to step up to help people through transition, stronger economy, better jobs, et cetera. that is what happened here. you had manipulation of the numbers with states and obama trying to take away some restrictions. charles: sure. >> we're looking what you would hope to see. charles: there was promotion, radio promotion, television

promotion. listen, we're a generous nation we want to help people down and out. the best generosity help someone get a job to help themselves. liz peek, thank you very much. i want to bring in former press secretary for vice president mike pence, mark later. mark, taxes done, check mark there. there is still plenty left to do and to be quite honest with you only a short time to do it. let's walk through some of these things. immigration, some sort of immigration deal particularly with duck can. can that happen, will it happen? >> i know it's the president hope and desire to have it happen. i know you have a lot of people on the hill. the one big question are democrats going to come to the table and actually show a willingness to work with the administration? you had a senator over the weekend, a democratic leader last weekend going on one of the sunday shows, they want daca but not willing to do anything about

the wall and border security on the president's agenda. you have to learn to compromise you have to learn to do a little bit of both. there is a deal to be had. the president wants to make a deal and protect the "dreamers." charles: there are a lot of republicans, particularly establishment types, would like to see "dreamers" stay here. how does that change the negotiation, equalibrium if you will? how does that impact the potential outcome? >> i think you see a lot of lawmakers including president say they want to do something to protect the "dreamers," in a way that is legal not just through executive action which was found legally questionable under the previous administration. there is a deal to be had. will the democrats come to the table? will they work with the president and provide border security which we also need to address? i know the previous administration looked the other way while terrorists were bringing cocaine into our country but this administration is focused protecting our neighborhoods and protecting our cities. the president is very serious about having strong border

security including a wall. charles: mark, let me ask you about obamacare. individual mandate is out. almost nine million people signed up for obamacare. democrats admit it must be fixed however. is there any sort of bipartisan agreement to address that issue? >> that one will be a little more difficult. you started to see a little bit of bipartisan support coming together under the graham-cassidy bill. there is lot of support for republicans to do that, basically block grant the money to the states. let states make decisions and tailor the health care programs best fit needs of their population. there shouldn't be a machine date from washington. charles: states don't mind making decisions but they want washington to continue to cut the checks. one trillion dollars and combination that includes federal money, perhaps two or $300 billion, state and local money and the private sector. some say this is the magic elixir not only get it done but to raise the kind of money that

makes it work. when do you see? >> absolutely the right formula. where i am in indiana, where i'm from, we had governor, previous governor actually did that, worked with the private sector. got $4 billion in the state of indiana to put in the roads and bridges and airports. it can be done of the president is a builder. knows these things mean jobs. i think it is important. i know we can get democrats on board. question of finding funding and right mix of local, state, federal. charles: there are political operatives, this would be seen as major victory for the trump white house will push back against this, no matter, despite the rhetoric and despite being on the record saying they want infrastructure will not go with it no matter how great the deal is. >> it is unfortunate and we do see a lot of that. you see democrats out now trashing economy, really cheering against america in hopes of winning an election. that is not the way you win elections. that is not the way you make our

country greater. let's get things like infrastructure where we agree. do things on immigration. do things to make the economy great again. the president wants a deal. he wants to work with you. will you come to the table? charles: i think americans are clamoring for all of that to happen. i hope you're right. mark, thank you very much. >> thanks, charles. charles: new york city mayor bill de blasio compares himself to gandhi, henry ford and i guess you could say his honor is in good company. we're going to explain that when we come back. ♪

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charles: check out the big board. you can see we're barely grinding it out. you can see more green squares there on the table. maybe we're getting a little bit of traction. still the market relatively unchanged at session. yard work at the white house. removal of historic tree, adam, what's happening? is melania getting fair treatment from this? >> from "newsweek" no. it was headline was out of touch. cnn is giving facts as they are. the national arboretum, the tree doctors, advised white house and first lady, 200-year-old tree, planted by andrew jackson in 1835, in honor of his wife that

the tree is in danger. it should have fallen down. it is held up with cables and poles so it doesn't go boom down on someone's head. they recommended taking it down. the first lady agreed, take it down. "newsweek" has a headline, melania trump, first lady, orders removal of 200-foot tree. it's a little bit skewed on "newsweek." not a fair headline. charles: good to know. is that the tree on the bill there. >> i would rather have the bill. i can't see the tree. that is the tree on the left. it is to the left. charles: that is very, very -- >> it will be remembered. charles: it will be remembered. of course, i don't think she was going there to take down a tree. >> of course not. advised by arborist, people understand that trees do fall and sometimes hurt people. charles: an opinion piece by "wall street journal" assistant editor james freeman says vermont senator bernie sanders might agree with some of

president trump's tax plan. joining us trump for president advisory board member harlan hill. you're a former bernie supporter. >> that's right. charles: could jim freeman be on to something here? >> absolutely. what i find so funny about this, democrats including chuck schumer, bernie sanders, nancy pelosi and others predicted a tax cut-induced apocalyptic hellscape if the bill passed. it passed and now they're saying it didn't do enough. they're being inconsistent to the point seems like the democratic policy on economics is bipolar. that is going to present a problem for them going into this election because to me, it feels like they're rooting against the american worker, against the american economist. they're rooting for people to lose their jobs. they're rooting for people to not get tax bumps, i'm sorry their wage bumps. they're rooting for more pain, instead of coming to the table negotiating with republicans to provide an even better tax bill. the president even admitted

himself, this doesn't have anything he wanted. president ronald reagan, he had three tax bills. there is going to be more. this is just a down payment on the ultimate tax progress that the president wants to make. charles: they can't be mad at child tax credit. 1400 refundable. some actress over the weekend who said the tax bill took away breaks for teachers. now they have to buy their own supplies. that was wrong. feels like knee-jerk reaction to go back to same set of talking points. >> yep. charles: this bill puts to your points, democrats in serious bind. it would be serious to bernie sanders vocalize he likes some of this. it matches some of the rhetoric he shared on the campaign trail. >> yeah. charles: this is why president trump won. why bernie sanders should have gotten nomination from the democratic party. this was not a pure republican tax bill. >> even hillary clinton and barack obama said that we had a problem with the corporate tax rate in this country.

even those two, you know, hyper progressive leaders in the democratic party said there was a problem with the corporate tax rate. so i'm not sure that on that issue there is much daylight between the democratic establishment and the republican establishment. the problem is the democrats are just all over the place. if i'm a voter out there trying to understand where they are and what they're going to do to my taxes, i can't make heads or tails. so it is a problem. charles: you have 143 million people getting a tax break. this isrding to the tax policy center most liberal of all folks who scored this, there may be more. average of $2,000. only 4.8% will have a tax hike but those are relatively wealthier people in blue states. go figure. >> absolutely. this is not just you're going to save money. easier to file taxes standard deductions doubled. if you're average middle class family, don't want to deal with all the deductions, take the standard deduction, a lot easier come tax day. can almost do it checking a box.

charles: right. >> that is something people will realize as soon as they start filing taxes. charles: next one for you. >> yes. charles: new york city mayor de blasio let's just say he sees himself pretty highly. comparing himself to thomas edison, henry ford and gandhi. is this prerequisite run for the white house if you're all those folks give him a shot. >> on one hand i can't stand bill de blasio, he is so pompous and smug, but to his credit he is by far the most effective progressive, elected leader in the country bar none and he just -- charles: how do you judge that? how do you judge his effectiveness? not by new york city where homelessness is starting to go up and you know, we have income inequality. how do you judge bill de blasio's effectiveness. >> i will judge him he won by a significant margin in new york re-election. he carried over 60% of the vote. crime is down and raising taxes people still want to send him

back to the town hall. you know, if nothing else, bill de blasio is setting up a run for 2020 here. i'm not so sure why he is hyperbolic comparing himself to thomas edison. i took a hard look at why the party bosses in the democratic party that were opposes him. this might be a guy with real momentum behind him. there are not many progressive leaders elected in office today could make a legitimate case for running for president in 2020. elizabeth warren, bernie sanders, who else? there are only three names. charles: the old saying will it play in peoria? does bill de blasio play in perecord yaw. >> i don't think he is a great candidate. the problem on the democratic side they don't have great candidates. the bench is pretty weak. charles: the democrat party, who won the party, far left?

is it still up for grabs? because i was under the impression it would be de blasio, kamala harris, someone in the bernie sanders strain if you will that will be the standard-bearer for 2020? >> that would probably be the smart play for democrats but the problem is they're still entrenched clintonites don't want to see the party going back in that direction and want third way democratic agenda that has kind of flownerred. i don't think we have a clear winner. charles: harlan, thank you very much. biggest tax deal done in a generation. that is done. step two is infrastructure spending. president trump has a plan and expects to have it ready early 2018. ♪

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charles: president trump still in florida post-christmas break. but he is working. blake burman standing by with more on the president's agenda. blake, first, infrastructure, when can we see something. >> they do want so get to infrastructure charles, next month in january. that is the plan from the white house. they want to roll out the plan come january but the details are few and far between on this infrastructure package. so much so that the white house says that the plans now are to have the president, paul ryan, mitch mcconnell meet at camp david next month to hash out some of the details here. here is what we do know. the white house wants to spend $200 billion in direct federal money. a trillion dollar package total, with the rest of that being made up through public/private partnerships and incentives as well. democrats want to see the direct federal spending number much higher than $200 billion.

still much needs to be worked out from both sides. still as relates to the president right now, he remains committed to touting this tax bill. his latest tweet came yesterday from florida which he said thing, quote, all signs are that business is looking really good next year, only to be help the further by tax cut bill stocks market is poised for another year of success, charles. if they are able to get the infrastructure package done, that would set up nicely for the president come 2018. charles: blake burman, thank you very much. yes the year of the stock rally has been huge. could we continue that sense of optimism into the new year? what if we told you less people are using food stamps. is that less of a good thing? i say it's a great thing. more "varney" next. whoooo.

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charles: quick check of the big board. dow gaining traction up 22 points. this is near highs of the session. take a quick look at some big tech names we saw for the last month or so with some rotation out of them, profit-taking. nevertheless huge years and big day again. amazon leading the pack there. facebook bigger percentage gainer all looking pretty good. now taxes are done. infrastructure is next for the white house. joining us now arizona congressman david schweikert. you're own the joint economic committee. >> correct. charles: this will all go down, a whole thing about public money private money, state and local money. it is interesting cauldron if you will. ultimately is that going to be what gets us over the finish line? >> i'm not sure i heard the word cauldron as a way to phrase it, charlie. look, it is really expensive in a time where mandatory spending entitlements are 2/3 of our federal spending so your

government is consumed by paying for entitlements. so coming up with the cash, the ability to finance infrastructure, we're going to have to look to lots of those additives in your cauldron and some of it is going to be, are there certain federal assets sold or leased? are there bonds, partnerships, state and local, munition tall partnerships. you will have to create this financing mechanism to put it all together. charles: is this where the private sector will play a big role? because i remember war bond used to be a big deal. even the average american, not personally, but i read about it, even the average american went out there and bought them in part because they thought it was a good investment and in part they thought it was the patriotic thing to do. wall street and financial world are always looking for different instruments we know infrastructure, our highways are steady source of income. it is done on a local level.

could that be a key to make this work? >> you're heading the right direction. it is parksly that. it is partially what is infrastructure. there are great studies out there that say adoption of technology in urban and suburban areas is actually the fastest way to move traffics ifter. so it's more than just laying asphalt and concrete or building roads or fixing our dams. it is weaving technology into the way our stoplights and way freeway on-ramp meters, everything all talks to each other. charles: sure. >> if we do this right it will be absolutely terrific for economic growth. charles: here in new york, we would be happy if you fixed a few potholes. then we get on to the fancier stuff like the electric grid. i do want to ask you about this, representative, new report on food stamps on the decline big time. there has been a 4.6% drop in the past year. signs, in my mind that we're moving in the right direction and if you agree with that is

this the right spinning board to start talking about welfare reform? >> absolutely. for those of us on the joint economic committee we spend a lot of time on this. it is more than just food stamps. earlier in the year we saw data on social security disability. that trust fund was about to go broke. all of sudden its life was extended because folks are choosing to do work instead of pursue that disability claim. we see this all up and down the economic ladder. when we're seeing numbers of minority labor participation. even felons, people with felony convictions are finding job opportunities. this is really wonderful for our society because the fact of the matter is, if you have that economic growth it really, really provides an opportunity for so many people that have been left out over the previous decade. charles: right. i think it's always a straight sign. that's why when the jobs numbers come out i'm always more interested in the participation than anything else because you want to see americans who

believe it will happen. that is a big step ultimately making. >> you nailed it. it is, don't pay attention to the unemployment number. pay attention to how many folks are choosing to move back into the labor force because that's actually where our economic engine really is based. charles: speaking of economic engines, there is a report out that china, the economy growing so rapidly, they're on track to overtake our economy in 15 years. obviously asia is becoming a economic global powerhouse. india will supplant england and someone else this year. what is the reaction to the new shift, economic power to asia? >> look, if you just look at the demographics, now i think some numbers on china may be excessively optimistic because they are getting ol' -- old very fast. look at india, indonesia, vietnam, there is a lot of young people there, we as americans we want to sell them things. we should look at this

optimistically, we'll have a whole lot of consumers out there that we need to sell stuff to. charles: all right, but economic might goes hand in hand with political might, military might and those things. are you concerned -- you know last week a big story in the uk. there were no british ships outside of harbor. the first time in two or 300 years. at their peak in the 1870s they controlled 25% of the land mass, 21% of global output, and nair navy was twice the size of the next two nations. president trump talked about he combined these things with his national security policy. so is there a point where it gives us the impetus to continue to grow? >> well look, we have to grow. growth takes care of so many things. it also provides you the resources to actually protect everything a sea lane to your patent rights to everything else but you must be an economic powerhouse. but with that remember we're not trying to be an imperialistic

power around the world like the old great britain but we're trying to actually have a fair world to buy and sell and trade and sell our products and our technology to. that actually, but that happens where you got to have also regulatory rules in the u.s. that allow us to grow and allows us to grow. charles: representative schweikert i have to let you go. we have gone past time. i love our conversation. >> thanks, charles. charles: new "wall street journal" poll shows college-educated women prefer democrats over the gop 62% to 32%. want to bring in an attorney, emily campagno. it happened in recent years. but recently it happened big time. what part of president trump plays a role in this, to what degree? >> right now college educated women account for 15% of the voting population. in about 30 nine of 60 or so house districts that have been slated for extremely competitive

races next year they account for much larger share, up to 28%. in come case studies of women who jumped ship they cite gop reaction and behavior as part of it, not issues or policy. for example, throwing weight behind roy moore. that was considered a divisive election of the other issue, the president himself. taking a step back i believe it behooves the gop to make a concerted effort for clear and concise messaging on policy these voters need to know, they expect government transparency. they need to know where their money is going but there is a multimillion-dollar sexual harrassment slush fund in congress. this is something the gop should tackle, blow that open. tax bill, detail for voters, immigration. issues a lot of muddy waters deserve and expect specificity. in terms of the executive office, that goes to media accountability and objectivity. it is incredible disservice to these voters they're not hearing

the correct messaging what the executive office is accomplishing. so in terms of objective information that's the kind of thing that these voters need moving forward. charles: that is something republicans and white house have to take into their hands because the mainstream media will never ever give them credit and certainly won't highlight any successes. i have one more for you, emily, stuart calls the cabal at fbi. some are saying time to purge the anti-trump elements from the fbi. what is your reaction? in your experience how objective can the fbi be particularly what we learned about the disdain for president trump, some key officials there? >> i was a federal attorney for a long time and the issue here, everyone has a bias, everyone has an opinion but issue whether impedes or affects the outcome. i think this is a perfect example of when the message is on few sated by the delivery. everybody attacked use of the word purge, which is

inappropriate, absolutely. everyone is focusing on the sound bite and not focusing on the message is this investigation objectively being executed? can the voters depend on these officials to do their business appropriately or objectively. if people can not depend on the objective outcome where does that leave us but now it is being politicized but it is larger issue. charles: no matter i think the outcome will be tainted. i want to shift to the fda. you say food recalls are dangerously slow. hillary vaughn is standing by. hillary? >> charles, the fda can take months to recall foods dangerous to your health. a new bombshell inspector general report, that the recall process for 80% of america's food isn't moving fast enough to make sure unsafe and hazard does products are kept off store shelves. in some cases it can take up to

10 months for stores to top selling food that can make people sick. the department of health and human services reviews 33 different recalls. 23 cases were class one, which means the products could kill you if you ate them. the rest were class two and it took an average of 57 days for them to recall these 57 cases. charles? charles: hillary, thank you very, very much. now there is this. tesla going after the ford f-150. adam, do they have a shot? adam: sure they have a shot. will they land that? don't hold your breath. elon musk announced through twitter and he said quote, i promise we will make a pickup truck right after model y have had the core design engineering elements in my mind for five years. am dying to build it. hopefully building of that truck won't kill his company or him. here is the deal to compete against the ford f-150 the most popular selling truck in what,

40 years? charles: 40 years. adam: a lot to ask. benefits to electric engines and people and gas, electric will, tesla has to deliver the model y. won't happen until 2019. 2020 might be when we get the truck. it looks like creature from the alien movies. they might want to rejigger the design. charles: bill de blasio for president and ford f-150 being replaced by tesla. that is a brave new world we're heading into. adam, appreciate it. all week we've been on the stock market rally, the tax bill, whole-hearted economic optimism has been out there but the question is, what about the pesky russia, russia, russia story because the democrats won't let that one slip away and we're on it next.

♪ adam: president obama took a shot at social media in a conversation with prince harry. here's what joe concha has to say about it. roll tape. >> i find it interesting that the former president's giving that advice considering how often he took shots at fox news which was almost seemingly on a weekly basis saying that's not real, and only listen to these guys. charles: fox news and its enormous audience too which equated to one of the old big three he was talking about. he dismissed the audience out of

hand. >> fox business got off the hook though so you have to look at it that way. i think you're seeing more and more from the cnns, msnbcs, of the world they're playing to particular audience because they're petrified the social media kick back they get if they say anything positive about the president. ♪ i used to have no idea what the american cancer society did. research? yeah. but also free rides to chemo and free lodging near hospitals. i used to maybe give a little. then i got so much back. ... i used to have cancer. please give at cancer.org. that's why feeling safe is priceless. with adt, you can feel safe

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charles: take a look at apple. one analyst firm says that, smartphone shipments and profits fell over the summer. apple shares have been under pressure last couple days. a lot of speculation just how the iphone x is going to sell. then there is this, a trump supporter, filed a sexual assault complaint against former trump campaign manager corey lewandoski. vila claims she was assaulted at a party at trump international hotel last month. joining us corey lewandoski. like to have your response to villa's accusation. >> well, charles, i think as someone who has been through this, you understand there is a due process and there is a process which they will go through to determine a person's innocence which i think you have been through. you understand it and you respect it. charles: i think everyone understands and respects it but a lot of people are wondering why someone who was so close to president trump as you are, someone who has been rooting for president trump like joy has, what would motivate her? what do you think is motivating

her with these accusations where she says she has at least go witnesses? >> you know, charles, that is a question for here. i'm not here to speak for joy. what i am here to speak for me. what i am going to do let the process play forward just as you do when you were accused of sexual harrassment in your own case. charles: next one for you, corey, you coauthored the book, let trump be trump with david bossie. it's, you detailed how you were intimately involved with the campaign and now of course next year you're expected to testify in front of the house intelligence committee regarding the russia probe. what's your reaction to being called to testify and what should we expect? >> well i'm happy to testify. the one thing that is most interesting and most troubling is, you know, i was in the gym last friday working out, all of sudden my phone explodes because it was leaked the house intelligence committee had served a subpoena to somebody, it wasn't me. never notified me.

media was aware before i was. i'm happy to testify on anything that relates to the campaign. that was no collusion, cooperation, between the campaign and russia. happy to do it in open setting and behind closed doors. i said time and time again if anybody did or chose or attempted to interfere with the outcome of the election by working with a foreign government i think they should be in jail for the rest of their lives. so that is the position i take. i will be happy to answer any questions that the house tell against committee has. i have offered on multiple occasions to come in and speak with them. so now i will have that opportunity sometime next year. charles: corey, you're vouching for yourself, but are you saying you could vouch for everyone intimately involved with the trump campaign that there was never any sort of outreach or collusion or even, even incidental contact that might have been deemed now illegal? >> well, look i can't vouch for anybody but myself because i don't know what other people were doing. it has been widely reported that there were individuals associated with the campaign who

were having meetings that i didn't know about, only read about later and it looks like today the story is that bob mueller is potentially going to hand down a superseding indictment on paul manafort and rick gates. you have to remember their time at the campaign was very brief and indictments they have been handed down on were for issues that took place 10 years before they ever joined the trump campaign or had anything to do with it. if anybody at any level coordinated cooperated, colluded with russia to materially impact on the campaign, on both sides, whether that is the trump organization or the clinton organization i hope those people go to jail for rest of their lives. but what we know is that the clinton campaign paid for a dossier to a former mi6 spy to went to russia to dig up dirt and looks like that dossier used by fbi at some level integrate this investigator be part of it. now we see deputy director of the fbi taking early retirement and that really calls into question legitimacy of this

continued probe. charles: yeah, corey lewandoski, thank you very much for coming on the show this morning. >> thank you. charles: well jumbo mortgage, you know the big loans for big houses? some are saying that this new tax bill could actually hurt them. adam you have the details. adam: in a lot of banks this is roughly 19% of mortgage originations with banks with 10 million assets or more. a jumbo loan if you're not familiar with this, if you go to most place as conforming loan is $425,000. anything above that is jumbo loan. new york city, san francisco, it is 625,000. banks are worried that they won't originate as many jumbo loans. these are profitable loans. they tend to keep those on their books as opposed to conforming loans they sell back to freddy mack and fannie mae. everybody is concerned about refinancing going forward with the tax reform.

charles: a lot of people pay cash. adam: a lot of people like new york city, $750,000, the new mortgage cap you can deduct interest to mortgage up to $750,000. one bedroom in this apartment in the city can sell from 600 to a million dollars. charles: sure. mark steyn, one of our favorite guests company members on "varney & company," he is coming on next. i bet he has something to say about this. mayor bill de blasio, new york city mayor, mentioned in the same sentence and same breath as gandhi. mark steyn, entire 11:00 a.m. hour.

charles: hedge funds coming in to bitcoin. good thing or bad thing, is that a red falling or? >> they could go long or go short. to me a way to legitimatize the

market, whether you get big money in via hedge funds or institutions that is sign of a growth maturation after market. i'm not exactly a bitcoin bull but that is a positive. these guys are looking to go short. charles: assuming the smartest guys in the room are always the smartest guys in the room and that is not necessarily true. >> that is good point. hedge funds have underperformed in 2009. the fact they're getting interested doesn't necessarily mean you want to follow what they're doing. it says to me this is becoming a market even sophisticated people have to pay attention to. you know, not just grandmas in south korea. charles: here is the thing, purists, folks who recognize the viability of cryptocurrency and bitcoin even three, four, five years ago, they're sort of cautious or worried that the cboe and the goldman setting up a trading desk, now hedge funds coming in, this is the sort of currency has an appeal because it has no government control, not a fiat currency that can be

printed or manipulated, doesn't face any regulations from any government and that is a key appeal to this. could it backfire as more and more entities that as you say legitimatize it get on board? >> that's a good point. when investors get involved and have a chance to short something often that's when things start going down. think about the subprime market. think about the tech boom in 2000. when the shorts were able to express their bearish position, that is when you had problems for the market and as you suggest the reason why some people are excited about it because you don't have institutions involved but the futures market i want to argue is the government. once the government gets involved i get a little more concerned. for now there is a reason to still think the people that love bitcoin will continue to love it. charles: right.

charles: i am charles payne, headline following you this morning, market in a holding

pattern, the big question, will we soar again, that is the question we are asking. donald trump has good plans for next year, on his agenda will be infrastructure, will it work out a bill with democrats, and nbc making the central harassment policies after firing matt lauer. call it -- hollywood is on for its worst year in decades as fewer people are watching movies on the big screen. and the forecast for the midwest, northeast and the winter chill in full effect as we bring in a new hour, the new year, the third hour of "varney and company" starts right now. charles: check the big board. the consumer confidence

numberless than expected, the dow gained traction since then. the majority of them up higher led by mcdonald's. back to the markets. donald trump is hoping to begin 2018 with a bipartisan bill on infrastructure, the question, will he get it done? joining us now, best-selling author mark stein. democrats said for years they want infrastructure, they have run on infrastructure platforms, chuck schumer once it. now they have a chance to give it to the american people. >> the question is will they -- the one president, one republican president who is seriously interested in this. this overrides any commitment to small government and low spending you would've had with ted cruz, they can do it with this president they are not serious. charles: you can argue the tax

bill, steeped in tradition republican orthodoxy, $2000 child tax credit, $1400 refundable, things like that. you have got a builder, someone outside the norm. chuck schumer knows donald trump very well. >> he is interested in this, embarrassed by new york's reports and new york ought to be. la guardia is the ridiculous. you can't get a taxi or bus or car anywhere near the town. the marine terminal is training wide. these are not first world airports. same with my system, same with bridges. charles: i drive a jeep. for three years in a row my car ended up hitting a pothole, $2000 every time. the third time i bought a jeep. >> i used to be manly, not like you with your big suv. i used to drive a chevy silverado pickup truck, i wanted to look like a pickup

driver. after you drive on new york state roads for 30 or 40 miles, your back is wrecked, you have sciatica and you want some -- charles: unfortunately new york, our infrastructure is so bad, emblematic of the entire nation. >> super storm sandy for example. if the city instead of being opposed on climate change, the mayor had a flood barrier, the dutch flood barrier, the st. petersburg, if we are going to collude with the russians let's collude with whoever built the st. petersburg flood barrier, this is important. charles: democrats have their chance. another one, the usda sang number of americans signing up for food stamps down 5% this year. that is a positive sign.

do you think the economic optimism that exists everywhere except in headlines and polls of donald trump will start to manifest even more. >> i hope so. i live in broken down northern new hampshire. one of the saddest things is the way supermarkets in the obama years took to ordering on the basis of food stamps. when the food stamp is renewed the first of the month the supermarket shelves got meet and vegetables and two, three, four days after that, until the food stamp kicks in again next month. 40 million people, the population of america during record be hayes's presidency, still on food stamps. the population of canada, twice the population of scandinavia, ten times the population of new zealand. it is not about poverty. it is about people who have

given up on the possibility of work and a life with dignity. that last part is what drove part of the trump campaign. charles: part of that is making the transition is going to be tough. you can take an economic hit as you step outside the safety net america has created into another world. you may take an economic hit to get a job somewhere like mcdonald's. people have to believe the initial it is worth it ultimately. >> that is right and to look from the democrats point of view it is more important than minimum wage, they talk about minimum wage as if a guy starts on the minimum wage at 17 or 18 and that is the job he does 50 years later and it is not. people get off minimum wage. food stamps, the psychology of food stamps for the reasons you said is much more dangerous and i don't want to see this country go anyway, britain for

example, 10% of the population hasn't worked today since tony blair put office in 1997, 20% of british children are raised in homes where nobody works so that sitcom cliché everyone mocks, the guy coming through the door saying hi, honey, i'm home is unknown to a fifth of households. charles: we want to avoid that and not in america's dna, hasn't been. stay there if you can, you are with us. back to money, one of our many masters, dan shafer, presidency of shaver asset management, you have been somewhat bearish on the markets. this has been a huge beer. are you seeing of signs that may be this rally doesn't have credibility? >> i don't see credibility, look at the numbers, everyone

is excited about the economy growing with housing sales. and houses for sale all over the place, spotty around the country. look at the gdp number, and a big portion and government spending. of government flows spending because of less tax revenue and start balancing the budget, less money in the economy. if you connect the dots it doesn't make sense where the market is pricing and -- the manufacturing data, all the earnings data we are getting from corporate america, you are discounting all that stuff. >> you got to look at the margins, this -- charles: buybacks were down versus last few years, at the top of the income statement, earnings per share, revenue growth, something had gone

sideways, that improved markets. >> we have been in markets for 30 years, the market hasn't corrected 3%. charles: that is a different argument. that is not talking fundamentals. >> something strange is going on, looking at how currencies are trading. the spread between the ten year and two year treasury is collapsing, the 30-year and ten year collapsing precedes a major recession. charles: let me talk about current cfi masson's you brought it up, but coin, last week, seems to be stabilizing right now. what would you say? what are your thoughts on bit coin? >> it is the biggest joke out there. nothing behind it, you are trading bowling balls. it has no value except what people perceive. charles: what is wrong with? >> the reason i'm not going to

touch it, don't care for goes to 100,000, i know who started it. what is behind the coin? is there? that isis? a world order trying to be put together to have a one world currency? we don't know those answers was how could i trade something i don't even know who the players are? charles: the guy who created it and all that stuff. if they are the only one out there, but coin is out there, add some validity to the story. the idea of nothing being behind it, what is behind fiat currency, two weeks ago a painting stalled for $450 million. the canvas and oil was worth $1.50. the idea that something is not worth something, what is behind the us dollar other than full faith and credit in the government that will print more of them in the next financial crisis? >> every government has to have their own currency people can exchange value and people have to believe in that currency. the united states is a country that is taxing people, creating

revenue, and has the ability to print their own currency or not. there is something behind the us dollar, the us government -- another issue. charles: we are over time. you won't have this discussion for a long time. to dismiss the coin out of hand is a mistake. >> i will let you know in a year. charles: the congregation at grand lake united methodist church gave $3500 tip to workers at the local awful house after the pastor preached about generosity. the five workers said they were overwhelmed. melania taken to task about removal of the magnolia tree but the mainstream media leaving out important details, we are all over that one. some analysts, a massive drop in charitable giving because of the new tax plan but our next guest isn't buying it, all those details next. ♪

♪ i am mad ♪ i don't want to go to you like that ♪

charles: homeowners especially in high-tech states rushing to pre-pay property taxes before the gop tax bill to january 1st, i want to bring in david mcintosh. what is your take on this? >> i am glad people are prepaying their homes. the issue on the charitable, the studies the classic liberal elite cynical view of the american people. people give to charity out of the goodness of their hearts, they tie it to the church, gives to the boy scouts, little league, because they want to

see their communities better and help other people. it is bad economics, the big driver is how much disposable income they have and this will increase that for every middle-class family in america. i predict it will go up. charles: i have always been offended the complaints about america and american generosity have always been so displaced in my mind and disingenuous, not just the money but the technology that we have shared with the world, blood, sweat and toil of our military men and women who've died for freedom around the world, it is so amazing of the amount we have given to this world over and over again only to get smacked in the face and told we are not generous enough. >> it is quite amazing and it is part of the american spirit, the humble spirit that we keep on giving, we keep sending our troops to create peace in the middle east, we can giving to

charities to help those who need it the most, we make sacrifices not only for our neighbors but people all around the world. that part of what makes america great. stuart: the tax plan is in, you and i have had plenty of conversations leading up to it, now that the final version is there it is not perfect, no one think that is perfect but will be other bites at the apple, what would you like to see? >> i would like to work more on the individual side, bring down the tax rate for the corporation so they can be competitive with the great new tax rate we have and continue to give families a break as we trim back government and reduce spending. washington doesn't need the money, people should keep it and have freedom to make choices for themselves. stuart: for small businesses, independent businesses, they are the lifeblood of america's business, the majority of the hiring, what if there was a way of finally getting rid of

interest in taking that and finding a way to redistribute that to the middle class and small businesses or should we just be honest and admit that these folks who enjoy their interests are too powerful, too rich and powerful and they will get their way? >> they have a big influence on the investment and it is a difficult change because it is a partnership lot rather than a tax law you can distribute this as you see fit and you create your partnership. it is a complicated issue. i to do is to say next time we should do more than $150 billion in tax cuts. and 50 votes in the senate, this time dedicate it to individuals. charles: if this bill does everything i think it will do they will have the economic and political power for another bite at the apple, always a

pleasure talking to you. san antonio spurs greg popovich has harsh words for people who don't donate to charity, here is the quote. because we are rich as hell and don't need at all and other people need it and you are a blank if you don't give it. pretty simple, that is what he said. marks time, what is your reaction? he is always on his soapbox pointing fingers at people and i resent when somebody tells me what i need or don't need. >> he is talking about hollywood celebrities for example who think the way you show compassion is by demanding the government tax people more and that isn't charity. if you have small town government like we do in new england's towns will often have people who say we would like to make a donation to planned parenthood or whatever it is, if the town does it is not charity. charity is something that

people give what they feel they can give and what they want to give and that is the best measure. when you have a situation you look to the government, obama himself was the classic example of this. he said his faith taught him we are all our brother's keeper. his brother was living in kenya on $12 a year. nothing stops president obama putting a $20 bill and mailing it to kenya and tripling his brother's salary but somehow the left think the less government does it it is not serious. charles: what about we are obligated to do it? we do it because -- i share my will because of the way i was raised and my belief in god and what my mother mostly taught me and it served me really well. that plays a big role in it also. >> our life is a compact

between the past, present and future and one way you commit to the future is what you do with the money in your pocket when you are making it here and now. charles: major-league prospect gave his parent the ultimate gift for the ultimate christmas gift, gave my house. not sure if you have seen this video. the $5 million bonus here and when he signed with the arizona diamondbacks in june, a wonderful video. do not disturb signs are going away at some hotels as part of a security plan. we will tell you why disney is making a change. ♪ life happens.

that's why feeling safe is priceless. with adt, you can feel safe with an adt starter kit professionally installed for only $49.00. call today, and install an adt starter kit that includes security panel, keypad, key fob, entry and motion sensors and for a limited time, get a camera included and installed at no additional cost. that's a $449.00 value, installed, for just $49.00. adt has over 140 years of security experience, with our commitment to customer service, and round-the- clock professional monitoring, you have the comfort of knowing that adt is helping to protect what matters most. call today, or visit adt.com to get your adt starter kit installed for just $49.00. adt. we help keep you safe, so you can feel secure. call 1-888-337-safe or visit adt.com and get your adt starter kit for just $49.00.

charles: ambassador nikki haley announced major spending cuts after general assembly vote on israel. what are your thoughts on this? nikki haley gave a powerful speech and she and donald trump took action. >> being anti-israel is a large with the general families, like donald joe, the un secretary-general says in the interests of world peace all the nations of the world come together and form one soccer team and his deputy says in that case who would we play, the secretary-general goes israel of course. there is, as we saw, a lot of truth in the fat. i am not in favor of the un. of the guys who set it up after

the second world war had seen where we would be today they wouldn't have set it up so the question is can you diminish its importance and make it less -- >> it is self-important, everyone who goes there themselves highly and rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars of parking tickets but to your point is an antiquated? not unlike nato, and its mission a relic of the past? >> basically the second world war victory parade and because of that you are not going to let america, britain, france, russia or china to change the prison system because it would involve bringing in more people. realistically what you need is the civilized functioning states to cooperate on the things and the problem with the un is it undervalues, it diminishes the foreign minister of norway by putting them on the same level as the foreign minister of sudan, which is not true, it is absurd and insulting and there is no point

taking that seriously. charles: stay right there. democrats spent the year resisting donald trump at every turn but where has it gotten? fred barnes says it has gone from nowhere, he joined us to explain. nbc updating its sexual harassment policy in the wake of the matt lauer scandal. is it a case of too little too late or have gone overboard? we are asking the question. ♪ a loverboy at plan ♪ he don't play by rules ♪ girl don't play the fool ♪

charles: let's check the market, the majority of stocks

up come in your highs of the day for the big board, we have two days left in trading for 2017 so i want to bring in john layfield. how do we end 2017 and talk about momentum into next year. >> momentum comes from the last jobs report, the jobs report was a good jobs report and the first that was not disrupted by the hurricane. you saw the fundamentals of the underlying economy which are very strong and add to that a tax cut similar to 1964 where president kennedy, enacted by president johnson, tax cuts went forward, gdp witnesses 6%, pretty good economy with a tax cut on top of that. that is what we are thinkable we won't the 6% gdp but something similar as far as a good economy with tax cuts. charles: how does that play with the market where some are saying that is well and good but maybe authority priced into the market? >> if tax cuts were priced into

the market i think the august recess we have seen the market go up 8% to 10% based on tax-cut, nothing else changed. going forward, the underlying economy has not been priced in and the repatriation of money, these companies have become solid companies, we won't see a lot of job creation or which is already at the highest since 2007 and interest rates already building or buying machinery they need to buy. they will become better companies, that is good for the market. charles: let me ask another one. commodity prices have been looking good, copper is up, steel is up and oil had a huge session yesterday, back since june 2015, your feelings on oil particularly as a proxy for the us and global economy? >> oil will stabilize. the global economy is growing in sync, copper, i own a copper

etf, double the last couple years, mainly because supply demand finally adjusted by the same supply demand adjusted in oil prices as well, no longer seeing opec being able to rule the world, these quotas have been bogus all along, significantly exceeded what they put on themselves, use the shell and the permian basin or whatever come forward and take the gap in opec so you have a window of 40 to $65 of oil, staying in the high 50s. connell: let's talk about retail sales have been hot this holiday season. there is an estimated $90 billion with returns going on. that is good news for shipping companies but good news for them all because it puts foot traffic there. >> it is not like coney island with an increase in attendance

because of a new bearded lady or strong man. retail is not dead but retail is hurting significantly, 7600 stores close, so many jobs lost than in manufacturing and macy's and jcpenney even though they have done incredibly well the last few months and sales have been up they are cut in half in the last few years. amazon has 10% to 11%, if amazon is growing at 27% they double in 3 years so all the damage they have done in the last 20 years they will do again in the next three. it is not a good sign for retail, retail is not dead but it is not a place i was investing in. >> it is impressive for footlocker which was written off, up huge from the lowest deck of the year. will that be sustainable? remains to be seen. do i have -- this is for john.

thanks, appreciate it. i'm jealous of you in bermuda, we will talk again soon. nbc has issued a new sexual harassment policy in the aftermath of the firing of matt lauer. amid sexual harassment allegations. what are your thoughts on these new policies? >> very interesting if you look at them. a 0-tolerance policy in which nbc is trying to have a process and limit liability. a lot of information, people knew what was going on with matt lauer so they are trying to clean up the mess and this is a new thing for me to defend nbc but they are trying very hard to have a process around this in which they are telling people, telling their employees

that if you say something and don't say something we can fire you for it. it will be next to impossible to enforce but i give them credit. there has to be a process, corroboration for any of these stories. i understand they are trying very hard to do the right and it is messy. charles: does the pendulum swing too far? you say it is wrong for someone to invite a vegan to a steakhouse? that kind of thing was part of a policy, urban myth already, but if that is the case how do you know, and did have any interaction with each other? >> that is a possibility but defending nbc, trying to do the right thing here but you are right. we have said all along at concerned women for america

there has to be a process which everyone deserves that and we need to work to get to the truth so look. i would like to say women are always morally superior to men but the issue of the cross dream and the book taught us and took away her innocence, that that isn't always the case so they are trying to make sure they can get to the bottom of things but it is messy and hard and there will be mistakes along the way. stuart: wall street journal nbc paul says college-educated women moving away from the republican party, 62% polled prefer the democratic party to lead congress while 30% say republican. a reaction to that? >> there are some real challenges for the gop, gender identity politics, hillary clinton would be president and

people tend to vote, now is the time for the gop to recruit and fund and deploy. some fantastic women running for the house and senate races for the gop, rather than statewide races like marsha blackburn, and kathleen wall in texas too, diane black running for governor in tennessee, some fantastic women candidates, it is important for the gop to work with them and recruit more. charles: candidates to articulate a message the mainstream media never give the republican party credit for anything and gains in our economy benefit everyone, men and women. is there a way to sing aloud the things that have helped women so far under donald trump? >> a very smart woman,

mcdaniels, everybody benefits when they are able to keep more of their own money and we vote our pocket books. messaging is important and we have unbelievable, and must deploy these subs that he people, and talking about white college-educated women, republicans hardly ever carry that group. and that is how trump won. charles: appreciate it. new york city mayor bill diblasio compared himself to gandhi, you have the details. >> he was interviewed by politico magazine. if you are not family with our mayor in new york city you will be. he is trying to make a national impact, going to iowa, sending them back. he said in this interview he

doesn't mean to equate himself with gandhi and those people but many people fell on their faces trying to experimenting with things come a there is no leader who hasn't had setbacks. the mayor of new york who was just reelected, if you are democrat and don't get elected something is wrong, the city is 95%, he won overwhelming reelection, he is on this tour, and hillary clinton listened to him about progressive ideas. and bill diblasio, a half-hour, coming to a town near you. charles: governor cuomo doesn't like him much. >> i was amazed by this alternative mount rushmore. gandhi, thomas edison, henry ford and bill diblasio. charles: let's put love our all

up their too. >> they are john, paul and george and bill diblasio is the ringo of the operation. >> this is not defense of bill diblasio but i'm surrounded by people who can't stand the man but i keep saying to them he has done what he said he was going to do, brought in universal pre-k, and despite stop and frisk, at historic lows, he will be talking. charles: another serious issue. >> he sleeps most of the day with a copy of a newspaper which is -- he doesn't weight up in the city that doesn't sleep, he carries on sleeping in a city that doesn't wake up. >> plenty of financial scandals. >> tough to compare your self, the mayor of new york city, one term to all of these, one of the best inventors. >> and his mind he is in a

loincloth driving around in a model t with a lightbulb. charles: bringing intelligence to the rest of the world, democratic plans plan to use the gop tax bill as a way to hammer republicans ahead of the midterm elections. we will ask fred barnes if that is the winning strategy and apple facing lawsuits after admitting it slow down its iphone, the details in 90 seconds. ♪ ♪ left right up down ♪ running around ♪ alternative pillows... ...and of course, price. tripadvisor helps you book a... ...hotel without breaking a sweat. because we now instantly... ...search over 200 booking sites ...to find you the lowest price... ...on the hotel you want.

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>> i am gerri willis on the floor of the stock exchange, all eyes on apple as the company gets eight lawsuits slowing down iphones, moving out battery performance was little the models impacted, they are four of them, the iphone 6, by phone se and iphone 7. some changes for them. big numbers we are seeing analyzing the company performance, apple smart phone profits shares down, 60% from

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charles: back to politics democrats continue to resist donald trump at every turn. look at this headline from fred

barnes. people's resistance, look at what the democrats haven't accomplished, fred barnes, weekly standard executive article, joins us now. the resistance is strong and they are going all in on the tax bill helping 143 million americans. >> the resistance may be strong but this year it was very very unsuccessful. republicans got a supreme court justice, pushed back regulation and won the big one, the tax reform bill and that got them over the hump that they had done nothing really big and trump's first year, now they did. this whole attacking the tax bill for democrats is something that holds democrats together. it unifies them. makes the resistance happy but i don't think it gains them anything on some of the issues including infrastructure, democrats are going to be

divided. charles: initially on the eve of it being passed we were warned it was armageddon, perhaps the worst thing that ever happened in america, of all the things that have happened in america, look back and say we wish hadn't happens, since then, the narrative has changed to the point it is not armageddon but doesn't go far enough. again, i don't know how the democrats tell the average american to grant a years not a big deal extra in your pocket. >> people will find out about it, democrats have said it will hurt the middle class and enrich the rich and people will find out when they get their paychecks in a couple months they can look at it and see the withholding of tax has gone down and that means a tax cut, they are getting one, the democrats said they are not getting at all. this is a real problem for democrats.

charles: let me ask you the whole thing, the gop, are they in trouble when it comes to the midterm elections? all generic polling says they are, some recent losses, you lose alabama, a red state, those things suggest to a lot of pundits this could be a wave election for the democrats. >> it could be. if the election were held a month ago it would have been a wave election with democrats winning house and senate but the election in 2018 is ten month away. a lot could happen during that period. i don't think donald trump's personalities going to change and that is a problem. charles: does donald trump's rhetoric and occasional off tweet supersede the success of the stock market, the economy, tax-cut, when someone steps into the voting booth, i didn't like this tweet even though i'm making more money? >> it is not going to wipe out

people being happy about other things trump did but it is a problem. people want to like her president. they reacts in an unpresidential way they are not crazy about and that is a problem but not the end of the world for republicans. ten month the way they can do a lot. even trump can maybe ease the concerns about himself, he is a smart guy, he must know that is hurting republicans. sort of curb his tweets a little bit even though mitch mcconnell says he's warming up to trump's tweets. charles: a lot of people will be in for a pleasant surprise, always appreciate it. mark stein, your reaction, the gop, the data says this is a wave election for the democrats, the same predictions hillary was going to win

overwhelmingly. >> up until 9:5:07 pm on tuesday night in november, that is what they were saying so they were wrong and fred makes a good point, the democrats have been ineffective given the unpopularity of trump and the republican party. it is a democrat problem. they are leaderless, their ideas are stale and most people who aren't political pundits in this country live paycheck to paycheck and you can see, 1437 and suddenly it is 1478, that is a real difference you see the first week you get it and democrats have no answer to that. charles: despite the box office success of star wars, hollywood is on pace for its worst year in decades, what is behind this? ♪

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charles: now this, disney has announced new security policies

at its resorts. >> they will start phasing this in. when you go to hotels all over the country you can click sign, do not disturb, no more do not disturb signs, saying occupied but they require staff at the hotel to enter every room every day and it is believed it safety measure after what happened. charles: fewer people going to the movies these days, hollywood on pace for its worst urine two decades. claudia is here to explain why. >> reporter: the numbers are down from last year even with the last jedi playing at this theater behind me bringing in $400 million and largely because fewer people are coming out to movie theaters like this one. early estimates from studios have revenues down to a half% to just over $11 billion and attendance down around 4% to

1.26 billion people. it sound like a lot but the lowest level since 1995. blame it on increased competition, netflix, amazon, bad movies and bad timing. for instance last week in the latest star wars film from disney opened with $220 million, 17 times as much as fox's animated ferdinand which cost $111 million to make and took in just $13 million. analysts say superheroes and horror flicks did well especially at cinemas offering amenities like food and reserved seating but as more people get their entertainment on demand at home and rely less on reviews, more on approval scores on sites like rotten tomatos, big 3 movies in theaters that show them will need to become more interesting and innovative. >> when you combine a great in the experience with great movie, you have people coming back for more and wanting to go to the movie theater even with all the competition out there.

>> reporter: analysts say while ticket sales are a 22 year low it will be a record-breaking year for hollywood internationally with worldwide box office approaching $40 billion. of attendance keeps declining, look for ticket prices to keep climbing, costs about $9 at many theaters, $15 at this theater in westwould and that doesn't include the popcorn or sodas. charles: a weird way to address an audience, charge them more. appreciate it. more varney after this. ♪ ♪ got a fever of 103 ♪ you can do more than dance ♪

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charles: get a quick check of the big board. it meandered all morning long.

i want to thank mark steyn. we'll see more of mark steyn tonight. hosting tucker carlson on fox news channel. >> they're really scraping bottom of the barrel for hosts. that time of year. charles: great to have you. david asman in for neil cavuto. take it away. david: thank you, charles. welcome to "cavuto: coast to coast." i'm david asman in for neil cavuto. shopper spending $800 billion according it mastercard. will this momentum continue with tax relief on the way? ask our panelists for entire hour. we had to pay these nice extra. "wall street journal's" james freeman. they are laughing. and cabot phillips. good to see you both. james, $800 billion. biggest year-over-year jump since 2011 by the way. we never had anything like it. what is going on