maria: have a great day, everybody. join me for george w. bush and laura bush tomorrow live. varney & company begins right now. over to you, stuart. stuart: good morning, everyone. great to be back, right from the get-go, check your 401(k), you making money today. look at this, a triple-digit rally right from the get-go for the dow industrials, big names already reporting strong profits and that's what the market is focused on right now. not so much political distraction, just money. four dow components in the news today, three of them better than wall street predicted. fourth ibm, report after the bell. all on the upside. how about netflix?

blow-out quarter, they added 7.4 million new subscribers, a fresh stream of money. the stock has more than doubled in the last year, would likely hit a new record when it opens half an hour from now. look tat pretty market. on the other hand, there is tesla up corruptly holding production of model 3, we have one market watcher who says buy the stock despite the problems. cheer up, even though it's tax day and the president says it will be much easier to file your return next year, makes you feel better? varney & company is about to begin. ♪ ♪ stuart: well, i think the stock of the day, of the morning is probably going to be netflix, look at that thing premarket, blow-out subscribers growth and

rosy forecast. emac, tell me all about it. liz: 50% more subscribers last year, they added 26 million last year. 7.4 million the prior quarter alone. so here is the problem with netflix, the cost of programming, stuart, has doubled -- has basically doubled in two year's time. sort of like tesla. tesla needs to make more cars because it's going through cash burn. netflix needs to add way more subscribers to justify the cost of programming. stuart: but they will be up 21 bucks. liz: open 140 billion-dollar company. they were only 20 billion in market value three years ago. stuart: in sharp contrast, we have tesla, they say temporarily, of course, they have shut down model 3 production, what's going on? ashley: a 4 to 5-day pause. workers are being told you will have to use vacation day, stay at home, don't get paid because the store problems with the

automation, stu, and also the fact that this is creating buffle neck, not 2500 model s, model 3 sedans produced every week. what's interest asking the process that they have in place to put the cars together it's automated, it's robots, that analysts say is the problem. they are not working as they should. elon musk now says we are relying too much on automation, quote, to be precise my mistake, humans are underrated. stuart: interesting that comes from him. ashley: admitting you know what, we need more human interaction. stuart: stock is down this morning when it opens. now we have four dow components reporting today. goldman, j&j, united health and ibm, ibm after the close today. this market is really all about profits which are currently being reported, bryan is with us, chief economist at first trust advisers, all right, bryan, the numbers so far -- i

think look really pretty good. >> they are blow-out. stuart: they are that good? >> yeah, 28, 29% earnings growth, stuart, 25 companies or so reporting. this is a blow-out year for earnings and that's why the stock market will be up, forget mueller and forget trade wars, forget all of this stuff, you to own stocks when earnings are rising like this. stuart: do you think -- the earnings are so good, do you think it'll give us another leg up for the market? in other words, above the old high which was 26,600, i think it was. >> my forecast is 28,500 for the dow, 3,100 on the s&p 500. i made that back in december. i haven't changed and i'm not changing, you know, so we've gone through a correction, fears of trade wars, fed rate hikes, all of these things. by year's end.

it's like -- what that is roughly a 15% year and my belief is that the risk is on the high side, we could be up 20 to 25% this year possibly, but our forecast, i think we've stayed conservative. we went 15% gains in the markets this year, so it's 28,500 on the dow jones. stuart: now, we've got news this morning that china is easing the rules on american car companies doing business in china. now, that sounds positive, is that part of the positive backdrop to the market? >> well, there's one thing about china that's always interesting, they can say a lot of things, but the reality on the ground, you always have to wonder, but when the united states acts tough and -- and that's what this president is doing, president trump is acting tough, when the united states acts tough and force it is rest of the world to react, usually good things happen and my belief is that going after china is a

perfectly okay thing to do. i'm word -- worried about tariffs. i don't like tariffs in general, to make china a more free trade place, they are the least free trade country in the world, to push them in that direction is a positive thing. if president trump wins and this looks like a win right now, look out because this market will have another leg up on that too. stuart: i just want you to repeat something you earlier, the earnings report, the profit report we have seen so far show up like 28% compared to last year year over year? >> 28 or 29, those are the numbers i'm seeing right now. we only have 35 companies out of 500 reporting but, yes, 28%, we expect 15 to 28% growth for the year as a whole and that's a huge positive for this market. stuart: bryan, you put us all in

a good mood. great stuff. see you again soon, thank you, sir. 200-point gain for the market first thing this morning. florida celebrating the tax plan however new wall street journal poll says his message is not getting through. look at this, overall, 27% view the new tax law as a idea, 36% think it's a bad idea. what a difference. joining us mario díaz, republican from florida, those numbers are not what you were hoping, are they? >> they are not, but have you been watching the press coverage, varney? [laughter] >> wages are starting to go up, unemployment is at a level -- at record lows, people are getting good jobs, they are no longer working 30-hour workweeks and this is just the beginning, you will continue to see the trend

continue. stuart: but the message is not getting through -- look 90% to have people who get a wage have seen a higher wage because of tax cuts and yet very few of them are associate that higher wage with the tax cut. your messaging must be wrong somewhere. >> it's difficult to get the message through the coverage of this bill. you listen to mostly coverage this is only for the wealthy, this is not going to do anything, these are crumbs, the reality is going to start sinking in, i really do. first place again, if you look at all the forecasts for economic growth, cbo and others it was less than 2% for foreseeable future and we are seeing that change dramatically. wages are going up. is it going to take some time, yes, despite all the falsehoods, i think pretty soon you will start seeing an uptick in those numbers. you are already starting to see an uptick.

remember, they were horrible at first because this was supposed to be armageddon. it's looking pretty good when people are getting jobs. stuart: you were with the president when he was celebrating the tax plan in florida. you were with him. did he tell you he was going to get out on the road and mention elsewhere? >> he's been doing it. he has a bully pulpit. that was a great event. private-sector folks who told their stories of how -- what the tax code, this new tax cut means to them, how they are now hiring more people, they are investing in new jobs and equipment, so it's a great story. the president, i think, has a bully pulpit, i hope he does more of it, when he's out there and talk about the issue people listen. stuart: congressman, we appreciate you being with us this morning. >> my pleasure. stuart: futures, we are going higher when the bell rings in 20

minute's time. 46 for the nasdaq. how about this, dick's sporting goods, now they are telling us what they will do with the assault-style weapon that is were pulled from the shelves following the florida shooting. dick's said the weapons will be destroyed, turn intoed scrap and recycled, dramatic stuff. the trump administration says california is bulking at the plan to send troops to the border. and next, in honor of tax day, judge napolitano say it is government is steeling your money. he says taxation is theft, nonsense says i. we will be back. how do you win at business? stay at laquinta.

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stuart: trade-related stocks in the news, for example, boeing, it will open higher this morning up about 3 bucks, same story with caterpillar, another major exporter, it's up 1.65, 1%, 15

minutes from now. i'm going to switch gears because today is tax day, yes, judge andrew napolitano is here and yes, he says taxation is theft and i say that's nonsense, i will allow you to make your case. >> this is a case made by your countryman john locke that allowed taxation is theft because it's taking without consent and thomas jefferson said the only moral transactions are those to which there is consent. so you are sitting at home one night, knock on the door, somebody shows up with a gun, give me your money, i want to give it away in your name, you call the police and you find out he is the police, come to take your tax dollars and give it away in your name. stuart: come on, judge. taxation has been run by the supreme court about 100 years ago and it passed. >> because it's in the constitution, it's not moral, but it is in the constitution the right of the government to

take your income without your consent. i mean, supposed -- stuart: would you rather have duties on import as they used to do in old-fashion days? >> i would prefer fee for service because i could consent to what i want. i steel $20 from you and i give you the book, keep the book, it's worth more than $20, i don't want the book, that's what the government does, give us your money, we will give you a service whether you want it or not. let me tell you the flip side of this, not all theft is immoral. so if you're starving to death and i own a loaf of breath, you have the right to take that bread and consume it because your right to live is higher right than my rate to process the bread. stuart: if we are talking morality, i see your point. everything else is nonsense. >> do they teach morality at the school of economics? stuart: absolutely not. i want you to listen to what

steve, microsoft guy told neil cavuto about estate taxes, roll that please. >> i'm going pay estate taxes, when i die they'll be a estate bill paid, for somebody who has been so lucky and fortunate as i have i'm willing to do more. now, i'm not saying that's what society should decide, democracy should figure it out. stuart: go at it, judge. >> if he wants to give his money away, let him give it away, why should he impose the burden on the rest of us. he's so anxious to fill the government's coffers let him fill them with his own money. stuart: people with that kind of wealth, wealthy people in general, do not pay estate taxes, they have a estate tax planning. >> something which i strongly approve because estate tax is another tax on something they already pay taxes on. stuart: yet, the estate tax seems to stay with us, it never

gets quite swept away. >> the only time it goes away in certain state that is want to draw wealthy people to die there like florida, for example. forget about our home state. forget about new jersey, you die in new jersey, your heirs are pulpits. stuart: taxing people on point of death stops the accumulation of wealth over generations and the creation of a financial aristrocacy. >> the left doesn't believe in consent. they just believe in authority. stuart: yes. >> people on the right sometimes have the view as well. stuart: but you can guard against the estate taxes? >> yes, you can. stuart: make sure you don't pay a dime. >> steve ballmer has to have the best estate planners in the land because his estate is humongous

in size. [laughter] liz: so does bernie sanders and nancy pelosi. >> they are dwarfed by steve ballme. stuart:ly bet that nancy pelosi will have an estate tax, estate plan that would avoid taxation. >> she can afford -- >> the great progressive supreme court justice oliver once said no one should pay a nickel more than they owe. all you can lawfully to avoid, not evade but avoid. [laughter] ashley: every time he got the opportunity -- >> where was dotty dave?

[laughter] stuart: thank you. we will see you at the 11th. hey, check the futures. [laughter] stuart: let's see if the chuck wrecked the market, no, he did not. [laughter] stuart: we will be up 220 points. we will take it. how about this one, teenagers could be answer to labor shortage, companies are scrambling to hire them, that's produced the lowest teen unemployment rate in about two decades. we will have details on that next for you.

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because you're so excited? because ice is cold. and because of all those miles. obviously. what's in your wallet? i'm not sure. what's in your wallet? this wi-fi is fast. i know! i know! i know! i know! when did brian move back in? brian's back? he doesn't get my room. he's only going to be here for like a week. like a month, tops. oh boy. wi-fi fast enough for the whole family is simple, easy, awesome. in many cultures, young men would stay with their families until their 40's. ythen you turn 40 ande everything goes. tell me about it. you know, it's made me think, i'm closer to my retirement days than i am my college days. hm. i'm thinking... will i have enough? should i change something? well, you're asking the right questions. i just want to know, am i gonna be okay?

i know people who specialize in "am i going to be okay." i like that. you may need glasses though. yeah. schedule a complimentary goal planning session today with td ameritrade. stuart: this is probably going to be the stock of the day, one namely netflix blow-out quarter for new sun -- subscribers, up 7% in 7 minutes from now. companies are snagging teen workers. >> we know that the economy is growing, job creation at longest stretch over the past 7 years and so companies need to get a little more creative in terms of finding more workers because that's been the major issue, there's been a severe worker shortage and just, i think, it was about week bit ago i wrote a piece for fox business news website and spoke specifically about the shortage and tightening of labor market, you are seeing job creation, the economy is growing, we have more money but where are we getting

the workers and some companies like ge, like you can become a nurse certified assistant as teenager. it's not just shopping bags -- stuart: these are jobs which do not require college degree? >> correct, correct. this is actually an extensive feature piece in the wall street journal today talking about various students -- i shouldn't say students, young teenagers who were or have been working for jobs that you wouldn't normally think of. even lawmakers across the united states are trying to change some of the laws to hire younger -- ashley: they have computer skills because that's all they know and often more than a lot of the workforce out there and they don't demand as much. >> coding and learning -- right. so we are seeing this more often in that article that i wrote, i actually said companies need to get more creative in terms of finding more employees but i didn't think of teenagers, i had suggested looking at stay-at-home parents, those with

criminal work records, trying to get them back to workforce and recent retirees because there is a shortage at the moment and the labor participation rate is the lowest we have seen since -- before the recession. stuart: when you talk about teenagers, 17, 16, 18? >> yeah. stuart: full-time jobs, not just weekend jobs? >> not all of it. 16's and 19, 30% of the age group working. stuart: does the left agree, surely they will see you are exploiting -- >> right, some that do say that and you have one democrat, i have it written who is fighting to change the law so that workers can be 17 and 16-year-olds to work with heavy machinery, it's across the board. stuart: okay. >> not everybody, though, you have to think in terms of labor rights and salaries, these kids stay within the jobs it is proven and these are march numbers as high school student you will make less, about 500 less a week had you gone to get

your bachelor's. huge difference. stuart: good story, cristina, thank you very much. check the market again because it opens in about four minutes and it will be up over 200 points for the dow industrials and we will be back to cover it. g than the standard treatment. eliquis had both and that turned around my thinking. don't stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. if you had a spinal injection while on eliquis call your doctor right away if you have tingling, numbness, or muscle weakness. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily...

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stuart: yesterday the dow closed with a gain of over 200 points. looks like in 10 second we will gain with a gain of more than 200 points. if that's correct you'll be up 24,700. 3, 2, 1, boom, off we go. we are up, we are running and where are we now in the very early going. we are up 154, we are up 221. right from the get-go. every dow stock except one is either unchanged or up, what's that last one there? ashley: johnson and johnson & j. stuart: the dow is up .8%. s&p, up .6% there and the nasdaq composite is on the upside, this one to tune of .8%. we are up all across the board. now we have four components of the dow industrials, four of the 30 are reporting profits today. we already seen gold mane, j&j and united health and they are

all up except j&j which is fractionally lower. ibm reports after the bell this afternoon and it is walking up to that profit report. now, netflix, probably the stock of the day surging shares there, up 20 bucks at $328 a share, why, they had a blow-out quarter of subscriber growth and better yet they issued a rosy forecast. investors love that. tesla temporarily shutting down model 3 production again, take it on the chin back below $300 a share, down 3 bucks this morning. who is with us this tuesday? ashley webster and elizabeth mcdonald, d.r. barton and mike murphy. this is about profits, mike, the companies that have reported they are up 28%, 30 companies reporting, up 28% from last year, it's a blow-out. mike: it's a blow-out. we are doing even better than that, what i like what you said, stuart, it should be about the

profits, i shouldn't be about the geopolitical events that are out there. the way you value a company is based on current profits and future profits and that's what we are seeing and right now this country is hitting on all cylinders. stuart: what do you say to that, d.r.? >> we still underestimate the impact of tax reform. we will continue to see that with every company that reports, we will continue to see that quarter after quarter, that rally is not done. stuart: by the way, the banks have been reporting strong profits, they have already actually, we have seen reports already, they say it's the result of the tax law, so d.r., if you're so hard on this, would you buy bank stocks? >> on the day of early february, you said where to put money, i said banks specifically, regional banks, i still love them. they are benefiting from regulation and tax reform improvement and will continue to

do so in rising rate interest rate environment. stuart: spring is here. [laughter] mike: if you have improving economy and you have companies that pulled back about 10% like big banks, jpmorgans, citigroups, great place to put money. stuart: netflix, the stock of the day and so far it is, now up $17 at 324. now i want details emac about the blow-out and forecast. liz: they added 7.4 million last quarter. the reason it's popping is because the majority of its customers in the last quarter that have brought on new came from overseas, those are new markets, a lot of binge-watchers for example in south america, latin america. this stock is up seven fold in just three or four year's time. the market cap at 143 billion, watch out, costs are up, costs are growing faster than revenue growth.

stuart: you picked latin america to binge-watch. liz: they love telenovelas. mike: the question is whether or not they will pass price increases and seeing subscriber growth, they did and got the growth they wanted. i think it's too much with disney coming, i think people are missing that part of the story for netflix. i think it's more than fully priced. stuart: okay, so far todays is the stock of the day and that's netflix. ashley: by far. stuart: going the other way is tesla. more headaches, model 3, right? ashley: pause, unquote. a 4 to 5 days, workers were told use vacation days or stay at home and don't get paid, the problem with the automation, these vehicles are put together almost exclusively by robots and they are not functioning properly, it's creating a bottleneck and to get to that 2,050 vehicles per week is not

happening, even elon musk has said, you know what, it was my mistake, humans are underrated, quote, unquote. stuart: interesting that he should say that. now we are down 5 bucks on tesla. yeah, tesla down 280 something. check the big board, solid gain. i think this is the high of the morning thus far, up 237 points now, 24,800 we reached it. better profit and better revenue at goldman sachs because of the tax law they say, goldman is up 290. higher sales at johnson johnson& johnson by strong demand of cancer drugs, not much action in stock, up 1.5%. the stock is up 4%, they report growing businesses all across the board. ibm report after the bell this afternoon, they are up a buck in advance of that, now, wal-mart, they are revamping the website with higher-end brands in mind.

so d.r., i'm sorry, wal-mart remain it is principal competitor to amazon? >> they are clearly the number one competitor and they are the one that are going to keep pushing the envelope out into the bricks and mortar retail space using distribution center, that's the only thing that's comparable to amazon. i think still rosy outlook for wal-mart. they are doing a lot of good things. stuart: this thing was up 110. >> they've had a good pullback, i'm begin to go get interested. ashley: revamp of the website is to deemphasize the name wal-mart, they are trying to go higher end, more modern, cleaner, they will stick with yellow style that's in the logo, they don't want it to be the low-cost store. liz: they are going after the higher-end shopper. they need more luxury brands besides michael kors and

lord&taylor. mike: we own wal-mart. i think they are also going after the millennial camp with the jet.com purchase, so i think wal-mart is a great stock, you mentioned it was 110, i'd rather buy it at 87 than 110. stuart: i want to talk about the retail ice age because there's a blockbuster report come out from ubs, it says 30 to 80,000 retail locations could close by 2025, that's a huge spread. liz: yeah, they had 7,000 store closures. now 80,000 -- stuart: by 2025. liz: still 7,000 last year. stuart: that's an extraordinary closure rate -- america will look and feel differently, mike. >> it will, it's already happening. if you go to madison avenue in new york city, you will see store after store empty, this is where high-end retailers were.

the way consumers get their products, the way they consume, the way we shop has changed and it's not changing back. so the entire retail landscape needs to be aware of this which i think they are and they need to focus on experiences, to get you into a store, they have to offer you an experience that you can't get online. stuart: blockbuster report. >> it was, i read it cover to cover, stuart, they had amazing numbers in there. the reason for the big spread is whether retail sales grow by 2%, low end or 3% that will get you to the -- actually the opposite. 80,000 store wills close if we grow slower. here is the big thing, we've got to concentrate on the winners, mike mentioned home depot and lowe's earlier when we were talking before the show, best buy, you to concentrate on who is going to win that bricks and mortar retail game and avoid the others. liz: concentrate on the losers on wall street to private equity crowd who said take on the debt, build more stores when the shift was clearly going online.

stuart: this was a mistake. ashley: prices in commercial real estate. there's a whole bunch of them on madison avenue in middle of manhattan. this is going to happen across the country. what happens then? stuart: rents come down then. dick's sporting goods, they are going to destroy those assault-styled gun that is they pulled off their shelves. now is this -- this is business' response to the gun, isn't it? that's an extreme response, i'd say. ashley: absolutely, in response to florida high school shooting, no doubt. they took a stand, they lost customers because of it but they've stuck wit, this is just another phase of that stand that they are taking. how it hurts the business, i don't know if anyone has quantified that. stuart: is id good pr or not? >> i think it's good pr, pr number one, number two, they took a stand and they did something that they believe in. if you don't like it, you can sell your holdings, if you like

it you can buy it based on that. stuart: fair point. it's that time, ladies and gentlemen, we have to sigh -- say good-bye to d.r. barton and mike murphy. you will get over it, liz. 24,780, just shy of 24,800. got it. listen to this, new yorker magazine blasting chick-fil-a, calling the fast-food restaurant s' values creepy, it has no place in new york city. brian kilmeade fired up about that one and joins us next hour. uk authorities are warning about cyber threat of russia, harkers are going after private companies and government infrastructure, we will have details for you next

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stuart: all right, 12 minutes in on tuesday morning, we are up 227 points right there at 24,800 on the dow. listen to this one, apple plan to go launch a news subscription service. nicole, can you tell me how that would work? nicole: details haven't come out but will launch sometime within next year, what's interesting is they made recent acquisition of a news app and that's called texture. that was providing content of more than 200 magazines for 9.99 a month. it's unclear as to how much they may or may not charge but they are just pushing the services to get you more articles, more magazines and that just goes into service's revenue which is what they are pushing over the iphone, we are seeing the growth there, icloud, apple pay, i tunes purchase and apple music.

that is the area, apple services that have seen trajectory of growth recently and they are pushing it forward with more you can use or not. stuart: >> not. [laughter] nicole: subscribe or not. stuart: thanks, nicole, we will see you later, thank you. britain and the united states jointly accusing russia of targeting global web equipment for espionage. joining us now former david cameron strategy director in britain, steve hilton, he's over here where he belongs, steve, become to the show. >> good to see you again. stuart: the russians are coming after us? >> the russians are, it's not just the russians, it's the chinese and independent groups and i think the real story here is actually not in the threats in the attack which have been going on for years, will go on in the future regardless of how tough we are with sanctions and i think we should be tougher, the real point going back to my work inside the british government is increasingly what you've seen is big government

getting more and more dependent on the big it contracts with big suppliers, whether that's in defense or in other bits of the infrastructure, the fact that you've got the big centralized systems make them really vulnerable as well as add to go cost of the taxpayer, one to have biggest battles that we had inside the cameron government was trying to break up the contracts to have much more small contracts where you got smaller start-ups, lower costs and more decentralized and that's more security as well as being better value for money. stuart: you were working with david cameron several years ago, 5 or 6 years ago? >> before that, 2010 we started. stuart: that's interesting because that means that just even back then before all these recent developments in technology, even back then there was a problem. >> huge problem and it's still there and i think it's even more the case with the u.s. because the systems are so much bigger. we never get to talk about this with all of the gossip about

stormy daniels, but jared kushner, for example, the office of innovation, i'm not sure the exact name, one of the things that they are working on is exactly this question of the old-fashion centralized antiquated way in which government organizes its it infrastructure. stuart: that's a big job, though. >> huge, it's really important. stuart: and very important. now, protestors in france, they are challenging -- i'm laughing, they are challenging emmanuel macron's labor law. [laughter] >> exactly. i think the interesting point here is that the big picture macron is absolutely right to try and do this. it was a big part of his platform and he's right to push through and it's a fight that he needs to win, however, there's a detail here that's really important. i think he's made a tactical error. these protest that is we are seeing now are actually about the railway reforms, the reforms to sncf, the french railway

system which is beloved by the french, it's almost like the nhs in the uk, they love the railways, he didn't say anything about reforming the railways, he doesn't have a mandate for doing this, he picked a fight in an area where he point to the election result, look, you voted for this. he will have a struggle winning this, he has to win it because the reform of the labour laws are reform. stuart: the unions will never let him do it without a real big fight. >> exactly f it was on any other area of the roadways he will have the voice of the people with him against the unions, on this one he actually doesn't. stuart: i remember it must have been 12, 15 years ago, bill gates, microsoft guy, he goes over to france and the very weekend that they want him over there to -- how do we make our technology safe for work, the very weekend that he arrives, they pass a new law that says, you can't answer e-mail and you can't work beyond 5:00 o'clock. [laughter] >> that's right.

stuart: tell that to a microsoft guy or technology worker. >> hilarious. germany is taking the same approach. it's absolutely the case. remember the uk went through this back in the 08's -- 80's with margaret thatcher. they are way behind the curve. stuart: the word battle is absolutely correct. [laughter] stuart: thanks, steve, i have to tell our viewers, you to watch the show, it's a good one, the next revolution with steve hilton, it's on sunday on fox news channel. every time you want to come with us, you can. [laughter] >> i would come every day if i could. stuart: steve, you're all right. >> you'll regret that one. stuart: check the dow 30, please, how many of the 30 are up, answer 26, one is unchanged and 3 are down. dow is up 225.

the trump administration says california is bulking at plans to change troops to the border. up next congressman roger williams, his state has already sent 700 to the border and plan on doubling the number. he's next alerts -- wouldn't you like one from the market when it might be time to buy or sell? with fidelity's real-time analytics, you'll get clear, actionable alerts about potential investment opportunities in real time. fidelity. open an account today. fidelity. [fbi agent] you're a brave man, your testimony will save lives. mr. stevens? this is your new name. this is your new house. and a perfectly inconspicuous suv. you must become invisible. [hero] i'll take my chances.

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stuart: 22 minutes into the trading session and we are still up 200 points. they make sharpies, by the way, they got an upgrade and the stock is up, dominoes has you covered anywhere? liz: dominoes will accept orders to 150,000 places across the u.s. that don't have traditional street addresses, so could be park, park bench, a statute, it could be the beach, it could be your chrysler van. here is the other trend that's going on that's interesting, the majority of americans are now ordering food via their smartphones online, 60% of dominoes pizza order comes from ordering online, you know, we will deliver everywhere. we will blanket the country with

pizza. stuart: makes sense. i like that. liz: pizza at the beach. ashley: there you go. stuart: the administration says california's governor jerry brown at barking at sending troops to border. joining us republican from texas. congressman, i'm sure you don't think much to this, vent, please. >> well, i don't think much to it, governor abbott of texas is doing a great job, he's doing his responsibility as you said 700 on the ground now, 1400, jerry brown sees things totally different. we've got issues down there with drug wars, sovereignty issues, we have people coming over, terrorist that is want to kill americans and he sees little different by not wanting to send national guard there. that's the difference between california and texas. stuart: governor brown said i will take 400 national guard troops and spread them out throughout state, in land, coastline and maybe also in the

border, now apparently it's not going to be on the border, that is provocation, deliberate provocation to president trump, isn't it? >> well, there's no question about it. he doesn't favor president trump, but what's more important is to adhering to the laws of the land and we need to defend our borders and california has a border, texas has a border and i would think governor would rather do what's right over dislike of the president. stuart: why are you doing it in texas, what's the primary reason, just to agree with president trump? >> no. well, i'm former secretary of state of texas and we live this problem a long time and you merely go down there and you see those that are coming here illegally, between the ports, not through the ports, tremendous drug war, drug cartel is going on that has to be taken care of and then there is the sovereignty issue of sovereign borders of the united states of america, so this is not anything to support president trump although he's asking governor

abbott is doing the right this, we have been involved with governor perry, governor bush in securing borders in texas from people that want to come over and break the law. stuart: you have a large hispanic minority in texas, what do they think about national guardsmen on the border? >> well, i think when you talk oh to those who are here from a legal standpoint they feel like this is what we need to do, it has nothing to do with hispanics or any other ethnicity, you need to come over to america, come through texas in a legal fashion and that's what we are doing -- what we have done in the past with border patrol. now with the national guard. stuart: congressman roger williams, thank you for joining us. president trump is laying out a new plan for syria, he wants to bring our troops home and let our arab allies take over the fighting. big change in strategy. we have details for you coming up next.

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stuart: tuesday, april 17th, yes it is tax day. good morning everyone. 10:00 on the east coast, 7:00 on the west coast. we've got a rally on our hands. big names like goldman sachs and netflix combining to send this market higher. your money is doing very well this hour. in fact for this day, it is all about profits. more on that in a second. in syria the trump administration reportedly wants arab nations to commit money and troops to the fight. if that happens the u.s. would withdraw from syria. richard haass, council on foreign relations chief, he will tell us if that is a good move. tesla temporarily shutting down production on the model 3. one hedge fund manager predicts an enron-like colap for the company. that is kind of dramatic stuff. we have market watcher tom lee with us. he makes bold predictions. we'll see what he has to say about tesla. the nba playoffs are

underway, apparently people are watching. ratings for pro basketball at four-year high. jason whitlock will be here to tell us why. yes, you're watching the second hour of "varney & company." ♪ stuart: happening this hour republican leadership holding the weekly news conference. we'll be closely watching it, any headlines, any breaking news you will absolutely hear it first. your money, let's start with that the big board shows a nice gain, almost 1% higher. we're again above 24,800. some dow components reporting very strong profits unitedhealth leading the dow winners. ibm reports after the bell today. goldman good report but the stock is down a bit.

johnson & johnson, pretty solid report but that stock is down. netflix that could be the stock of the day. it is surging after a huge growth in subscribers. that would be the number of subscribers, i got that right. check the big techs you have to watch them all of testimony to the upside. amazon up 32 bucks today. apple back to 177. alphabet is up, $26. microsoft, up $1.30. [trumpets playing] thank you. i got it right. green arrows across the board. scott shellady, managing director of tjm europe. scott, this is all about profits. that's it. no political distraction, it is profits, right? >> it is all about profits,

stuart but another weird thing is happening. market continues to rally of those days of low volume. the last four trading days were the slowest of the year. yesterday slowest. friday the second slowest. wednesday the 4th, the slowest. when we don't have a lot going on the market will tend to squeeze on any bits of good news and this is good news. stuart: so, i say this is all about profits. the reports so far have been very good, very strong. do you expect them to be strong enough for a second leg of the dow? >> that is the problem. with all the volatility in the market are the multiples. johnson & johnson good report, you mentioned that earlier. they were up in the 140s. now they're down in the 130s. they have good numbers and struggling to get back where they were. we're seeing volatility affect asset prices t will take the market a while slowly, surely

ratchet up. if we don't have any political tensions you will see the stocks work their way in that direction. it will not be a tumultuous time. stuart: with profits like this you don't expect a big sharp selloff? >> no. look the economy is doing well. we're heading towards that that ever elusive 3% gdp i like to see the numbers fill behind where the stock prices are gone. if we see the economy continuing doing, numbers are hotter than expected in terms of inflation, that will be good. that will bolster where we're going. stuart: tell me about netflix. huge growth in subscribers especially overseas. the stock is up 20 bucks. can it keep performing like this, scott? >> i'm and a grayian. i grew up on a farm. my dad will tip his half and say, son, how much milk is left in the cow? we're up over 70%. i love netflix, they are a big

disruptor, they have their own content what is my expectation on a stock up 70% year-to-date already? that is my biggest turnoff what would be my expectation of this asset? could i deploy the money better elsewhere. stuart: fantastic company, fantastic growth rate. huge market still to grow overseas, it has gone up so far, so fast. you have to have a little word of caution. >> exactly right. stuart: whoever arranges your wardrobe, a degree of caution might be in order, scott. >> or an eye test, right? or an eye test. stuart: we stick with the cow jacket, son. that is a winner. scott, you're already. see you soon. >> all right. stuart: retail giant dick's sporting good, they are destroys, literally destroying the assault style rifles they pulled from their shelves after the florida shooting back in february. joining us now is "town hall" editor, fox news contributor katie pavlich. >> good morning, good morning.

sorry, launching right into it here. this seems to be the response of some businesses to the gun issue, taking action shemppselves outside of the political arena. would you approve? >> i wouldn't say it is outside of the political arena. dicks sporting good came out after parkland, florida, shooting claimed they were stopping selling automatic rifles in their stores but stopped selling them in 2012. this is a lot of public relations for them as well. destroying them under guidelines of atf. to all listening, you have can not destroy firearms. they have to be discarded through number of lawful process. a number of lawmakers are destroying firearms without consulting atf. they did this move back on their own but in 2012. mostly a minor issue. stuart: do you think this will spread, activity like this or related to this, do you think it

is going to spread? >> i think it may but the issue is when you look at the crime statistics from the fbi, if you want to solve the problem rather than making a political point or send a message for public relations purposes, rifles are used in 2.2% of all crimes each year where as firearms are, sorry, handguns are used in many of the rest of them. handguns take up the majority of crimes committed with firearms. and so, if they really want to do something about it, stop selling handguns. i don't think they should stop selling either one of them. they're a private company. they can do what they want. stuart: before i move on, let me ask you, is there any change to the firearms rules that you would accept? >> i support the legislation that went through recently with the fixing nics incentivizing states to put in mental health information to other states through the federal background system to prevent people who

should not be buying firearms from doing so. if you want to respond to the parkland shooting situation, adding more bureaucracy to number of levels and failed bureaucracy that failed at government little down to the school to the sheriff's department, i don't think adding more brock proctor & gamble and laws on to the books should be the way to go. i think holding people enaccountable for not enforcing the laws would be a better process, more fish enand stopping these things from happening in the future. stuart: katy, do you see "the wall street journal" that the republicans have a lot of work to do on the tax cut selling it? >> i did. stuart: 27% think the tax cut is good idea. 36% say it's a bad idea. this is problem heading to november, isn't it. >> this is problem as the deficit may explode to a trillion dollars next year. that is very concerning but a little bit inconsistent with other polling. we see president trump is getting majority of credit versus president obama when it comes to the economy.

people feel like they have more money in their pockets, that they are more stable in their own economic financial situations. so there is a little bit of polling on the other side of this counteracts it. republicans have a lot of work to do especially in states like california where the tax plan was voted against by many representatives there including republicans, also in places like new york. stuart: got it. katie pavlich, thank you very much. >> see you soon. stuart: got it. a bright spot to cheer up boston marathon runners on very dreary day. temperatures barely in the 40s. of the rain and wind, spencer a therapeutic dog wearing a rain jacket, holding flags by the side of the road, third year in a row he cheered on runners. good for you. white house says president trump is open to meeting vladmir putin, but should he? richard haass council on foreign relations will answer that question, should he? this article in the new yorker slamming the

fast-food chain chik-fil-a for the pervasive christian traditionalism. brian kilmeade will have a lot to say about this and he join us later this hour. you're watching "varney & company". so lionel, what does being able to trade 24/5 mean to you? well, it means i can trade after the market closes. it's true. so all... evening long. ooh, so close. yes, but also all... night through its entirety. come on, all... the time from sunset to sunrise. right. but you can trade... from, from... from darkness to light. ♪ you're not gonna say it are you?

stuart: we're at the high of the day, up 250, 24,000, 823. look at that, general electric at 13.71, up nearly 3%, one of the best gainers among the dow 30. morgan stanley upgrades twitter. they say user growth is improving. they like that. the stock is up 6.8%, back above 30 on twitter. the trump administration

reportedly wants to replace american troops in syria with arab troops and we also want our arab allies to pay for it all, billions of dollars, an rebuild syria too. joining us richard haass, president of council on foreign relations author of the book, the world in disarray." welcome to the program. is this a viable plan, arab troops in, arab money in, america out. viable? >> we used to teach 90% of life is implementation so this is a swell plan but the odd that is it is actually going to happen are modest and the idea that we won't have to open our wallets or keep troops on the ground is highly unlikely. stuart: i believe that when president trump was speaking with the crown prince of saudi arabia he put it to him directly, we want $4 billion if you want us to stay in syria. i think the crown prince kind of nodded his okay, we can work on this. >> that is the way crown princes

respond. stuart: you're very dubious about everything, richard [laughter] >> look, fenn i think there is a chance of getting arab participation in force. but saudis, u.a.e. don't have the much in way of ground troops. egypt could do something. jordan could do something. you will need u.s. forces as the backbone of the force. we can get the saudis and the u.a.e. to put in some money. jordan and egypt don't have any money to put in. they also need money for all sorts of other things. saudi arabia is spending billions of dollars every month on the misguided war in yemen. they have ambitious reform plans at home. they have all been pumping a lot of money into the egyptian economy. so the idea they have got this unlimited checkbook to also fund things in syria is, i think, again it is a bit suspect. stuart: you don't think it will happen, bottom line, richard? >> i think something will happen.

i don't think it will be the neat solution where the president wants, where we don't have to pay and keep troops there. we will have to continue to pay. we will have to keep troops there. maybe we can share this and have some partners. i think that is the optimistic scenario. stuart: white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders says president trump could and is still willing to sit down with vladmir putin. obvious question, richard, should he sit down with vladmir putin? what do you say? >> i'm not against that per se. right now the u.s.-russia relationship has less to it in terms of substance than the u.s.-soviet relationship had at the worst moments of the cold war. i don't think that is in our interests. we haven't had a congressional delegation in years to give you one example. we keep kicking out one another's diplomats. i'm not against the meeting but it has to be a well-prepared meeting. i don't want it to be a personal meeting without the kind of background work that diplomats do. you need a very specific agenda. the president's not equipped to

negotiate arms control. he is to the equipped -- that is not a cheap shot at him. that is not what presidents do. there is a lot of work they could use fully do in detail on syria, ukraine, arms control. that is not something where the two presidents should begin at most. they should end it. stuart: when i look across the spectrum of president trump's foreign policy so far in his administration, i give him a b-plus, if not an a minus. what would you give him? go on. >> you have a future as a harvard professor where nobody fails. stuart: would you give him an f? >> not an f but i would be closer to the c or d range. i actually think this president, use my favorite word has abdicated many aspects of american world leadership. almost like his health care policy a lot more repeal than replace. i think we're setting in motion, dynamics on the trade front and

strategic front that will rebound badly for the united states. the fair frayed would be incomplete. you have a lot going on. we'll see what he does with iran next month. we'll see what he does with north over the next few months. we can get together in couple months, okay we can give them a serious grade. it is probably too soon right now. stuart: we'll come back in couple months to see what kind kind of a grade you give. >> sorry, professor, i din have you when i was student. stuart: richard haass, you're all right. come back soon. how about this one, the coffee industry fighting back, fighting california law that puts cancer warning labels on coffee products. who is doing what? ashley: well, a judge in l.a. said basically there is is a by-product in the coffee from roasterring beans. starbucks and retailers are fighting back that the levels

are so small that they do not pose a danger. let's not forget california has a list of some 900 chemicals that they believe could, i say could perhaps create problems with cancer. and once that is designated you have to put a warning on every product that you sell. the coffee companies are coming back look, we've already been to court over this and proved the levels of a crylimide are not dangerous to consumers. here we go. stuart: warning labels on absolutely everything, they lose their force. liz: california, you said, california said put warning labels on fire logs? stuart: you buy firewood, a block of six logs. ashley: yep. stuart: there has to be a warning label on it, danger, burning this product has carcinogenic material. you laugh at it, that is what you do. ashley: exactly right. stuart: not a laughing matter. >> no. stuart: facebook's problems, far

from over. zuckerberg not out of the woods yet. we have the full story coming up next. ♪

retail. under pressure like never before. and it's connected technology that's moving companies forward fast. e-commerce. real time inventory. virtual changing rooms. that's why retailers rely on comcast business to deliver consistent network speed across multiple locations. every corporate office, warehouse and store near or far covered. leaving every competitor, threat and challenge outmaneuvered. comcast business outmaneuver. stuart: here campus those profit reports and they have been pretty good. better profit and revenue from goldman sachs. they got a boost from the tax law. the stock is down a fraction. ibm reports after the bell today. as you walk up towards the profit report the stock is up 1.1%.

facebook's chief, zuckerberg, will meet with the european union's digital chief today. i believe, ash, new privacy laws take effect next month. ashley: may 25th. this is going to be a big deal. general data protection, gdp, it setting very strict rules on data, protection of data. if you violate these rules you will be fined up to 4% of your annual revenues. in some cases these companies will be paying 1, $2 billion if they are, euros if they are found guilty of these offenses, of not properly protecting people's data. so the eu's chief of digital commerce is going to see mr. zuckerberg, couldn't find a word for it. stuart: spit it out, lad. ashley: they will also meet, by the way, with the ceo of google. so the eu has 55,000 bureaucrats. they have got to do, right?

stuart: they are going after facebook and going after google. ashley: yes. stuart: by the way, facebook is facing a class-action lawsuit in the united states. what is this about? liz: this is a hasesty lawsuit facebook faces. when you take a photo and put it on facebook, facebook says who else is in the photo, type in the name. so you type in the name. san francisco judge said, wait a second, this lawsuit that was initially filed seeking class-action status out of illinois, that is invasion of privacy. you're storing biometric data. that is against the law. facebook is saying wait a second our servers are not in illinois. has no standing. the san francisco judge said you're invading privacy. taking people's photos without their consent and storing them in your database. this is big deal for facebook. they face up to $5000 in user per fines that can translate into billions of dollars. ashley: tracking people in a photograph without their knowledge. liz: without their knowledge. ashley: that is the violation. liz: that is the class action. stuart: facebook stores that

information? liz: that's correct. any of us, our photos are in facebook, we didn't know about it, right? stuart: that's interesting. how do you keep that out? i have no idea. more problems for tesla. they have temporarily, they say, shut down production of the model 3. there are a lot of bold predictions about tesla. we're on that, even though the stock is down this morning. "the new yorker" magazine blasting chik-fil-a, calling its christian values creepy. they say that chain has no place in new york city. brian kilmeade will respond. ♪ think your large cap equity fund

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♪ stuart: one of my all all-time favorites, the taxman. appropoe. something that the beatles would say. good production value. we're still holding on to 200 point gain for dow industrials. we're just shy of 24,800. big tech names, a few minutes ago they were all up. they are still all up. amazon, facebook, apple, microsoft all on the upside. intel one of the top gapers amongst the dow 30. it is up 1 1/2%. it got a price target hike. one investment company says it will hit 62. it is at 53 right now. still on the market, corporate profits seem to be fueling this rally.

come on in tom lee, fun stat global advisors. thanks for coming on the show. >> thanks for having me. stuart: you're the kind of guy that makes outrageous statements occasionally. have i got that right? these strong profits being reported right now. >> yes. stuart: strong enough to give us another leg up for the stock market? >> absolutely. corporate profits are strong. they're accelerating but it is coming at a time when demand is actually quite good. top-line growth is around 8%. i think things that drive further growth like housing demand and you know consumer spending are strong. so, i think it's a god time to be owning equities. stuart: the high hit in january was 26,000 and change. dow industrials. do you think we'll go past that? >> yes. we've got through a necessary correction a deep and painful one, we haven't seen for a

couple of years so it seems like it is new. a 10% correction happens once a year. i think that is behind us. now we can focus on the fact that bonds are not as attractive as stocks. there is still a ton of savings flow. as you said corporate profits are quite good. this is good time to buy. stuart: quite good? corporate profits seem to be stellar. thank you very much. i'm looking for the wild comment. now tesla, they have taken a pause in the production of the model 3. i have got a hedge fund manager saying that tesla is going to be like enron down the road. what do you say? >> well we know the market's pretty nervous. we can see it in the credit markets. that is it where tesla bonds began to weaken. i think there are some doubts about their execution but, look, they have a really loyal customer base. they have got a very charismatic ceo. you know, in some ways i actually think tesla will come out of this fine. stuart: they will come out of it okay. >> yeah. stuart: but it will be a very difficult time in the near term.

>> it has become a little bit like missouri stock, a show-me stock, investors need to see some execution before they are comfortable. if this is time someone is bullish they should get involved. it had a huge pull back. you're not bullish. you say they will survive? >> i think in 10 years tesla has the opportunity to become a transformational company, because of what they're doing. so if someone does look forward 10 years, tesla may be a great opportunity here. stuart: aren't you the guy that said about it coin was going to $25,000 and it is still languishing around 8,000? >> yes. it has been a tough start for the year to bitcoin because it is down year-to-date but i think a lot of that weakness is because of taxes. last year capital gains were record for cryptocurrencies. u.s. households we did a model, we estimate u.s. households owe about 25 billion-dollars of

capital gains that need to be paid to the irs. that kind of money coming out of bitcoin has been a huge depressant on the stock. we expect that selling pressure to begin to abade, yes we think the coin can reach 25,000. stuart: when? >> before the end of the year. stuart: before the end of the year? >> yes. stuart: tom lee says bit coin, 25 grand? >> yes. stuart: within 10 years, tesla has chance to be transformational company? >> it has a chance to be a transformational company. stuart: dow jones will go beyond the 26,000 and change by end of the this year. >> yes. stuart: it's a bullish tom lee? >> yes. we're coming at time where everyone is nervous and scared and political risk. if you're long-term oriented you want to add exposure to equities. stuart: are you contrarian? >> in 25 years, most of my clients say we tend to be contrarian. stuart: have you been right? >> sometimes. stuart: thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. stuart: see you again soon.

now ubs is predicting thousands more retail stores will close over the next seven years. what did they say, 30 to 80,000 stores? liz: that is a shocker by 2025. there has been 7,000 or so store closings a year. if it is 80,000 by 2025. that means 11 thousands closings. cushman wakefield, real estate crowd says 12,000 a year. this is worse than expected the retail ice age. jcpenney, j. crew, macy's are closing stores. this nothing focuses the mind like a hanging in the morning. you have to get your internet strategy. walmart and target are getting a internet strategy. stuart: i've been out and about over long three-day weekend i have seen shopping malls deserted with boarded up stores. strip malls gone and finished. this happens all over the case. ashley: the landscape is

changing forever. liz: what do you do with the strip malls? these are white elephants. stuart: what do you do with them? millions of square feet of retail space vacant, dormant. ashley: who wants to move this? who is the customer. liz: restaurants and experiences is not enough. stuart: it is 10:36, look who is here, on the radio with brian kilmeade. he is the host of the "brian kilmeade show." welcome to our program. i'm sure you heard this, "the new yorker" magazine slamming chik-fil-a for its quote, pervasive christian traditionalism. they say it has no place here in manhattan. the title of the piece is, "chik-fil-a's creepy infiltration of new york city." have at it, brian, with do you think. >> i think they sell a sandwich one every second sections the reason they're overtaking mcdonald's, people like the product and mayor message. it would be different came in here we're going to only open to gang culture, we're going to bring back this element, this legal element of crime and

corruption but they're just talking about bible verses on the walls. they're talking about having off on sundays. they're talking about when you come in having experience where they care about you, instead of getting awe sandwich, feeling like you have a hug. bill de blasio, our terrible mayor in new york city, when they came into queens he wanted to boycott testimony instead of seeing economic opportunity. it is really insulting. but i'm embarrassed for "the new yorker." i'm embarrassed for people who read this, say, great point. i don't know what to say about this it is so abhorrent. stuart: how you can say there is no reason for them, no place for this particular restaurant chain because they have a christian message, because they have some bible verses on the wall, how you can say there is no place for you in new york city, that is an outrage. it is foolish. because when mayor de blasio announced he wanted a boycott of chik-fil-a that was greeted with lines around the block. there is just one across the

street here. those lines are still here to this day. >> the other thing aside from the special sauce on there that tends to be a little fatty i think it is good for you than most of the other things. you go in there, god forbid, pun intended you have to sit there and read the wall and maybe take off a line that might have been taken from this horrible book called the bible, have a bounce in your step and feel better about yourself. we don't want that combination of things happening? irk ridiculous, isn't it. just ridiculous. >> i think so, did you see dominoes? they're offering an option to deliver a pizza in the great outdoors. you could be at the beach for example, or a statue or something. they will deliver a pizza to you. >> this is great. this is why you defected from the uk to take asylum here because of innovation. what do we have every other block in new york? a pizza place. how do you differentiate yourself? make a great pizza or convenient pizza. i can go to the beach. order a pizza.

come to me or describe myself. instead i'm saying at madison and fifth. look for the guy with the great abs and wonderful deltoids on the beach blanket near crashing waves. or describe my blanket and cooler. it is great. the pizza guy shows up. puts on his sandals, walks across the beach to bring you a pizza. you know why? domino's wants your business and they will deliver it. stuart: i like it. >> that is why you came to this nation. stuart: that is one of the reasons. there are all kinds of reasons. >> it is not for the soccer, i know that. >> it is now. kilmeade, your time is up, it is great. thanks for joining us, we'll see you very soon young man. >> best of luck the rest of the day with your panel. i know they have a little chip on their shoulder. pull them down a peg. stuart: nothing i can do for you, brian. don't worry about it, son. next case. important stuff, the trump administration says california's governor jerry brown is balking

at sending national guard troops to secure the border. the formerly golden state once again going against the administration. it is a battle. we're on it. first though the nba playoffs happening right now and apparently people are watching. ratings overall for pro basketball at a four-year high. i will ask jason whitlock why. he is next. ♪ anna and mark are heading into retirement... and a little nervous. but not so much about what market volatility may do to their retirement savings. that's because they have a shield annuity from brighthouse financial, which allows them to take advantage of growth opportunities in up markets, while maintaining a level of protection in down markets. so they can focus on new things like exotic snacks.

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♪ ashley: in the last hour florida congressman mario diaz-balart, told us that the trump tax cuts may be unpopular with some people right now but all of their benefits will soon change public opinion. take a listen. >> i think reality will start sinking in, i really, really do. in the first place, if you look at all the forecasts for economic growth, cbo and others it was less than two percent for the foreseeable future. we're seeing that changing dramatically. wages are growing up. despite all the falsehoods pretty soon you will start seeing a up tick in those numbers. you're already starting to ian uptick. they were horrible at first this was supposed to be armageddon. armageddon is looking pretty good when wages are up and

people are getting jobs. ♪

stuart: well let's look at dollar general's stock. nicely higher, nearly 3% up. why? jpmorgan has given it an upgrade. up it goes. it is close to 100 bucks a share. the nba playoffs continue tonight with three first round games. the nba is enjoying a four-year high in the ratings.

viewership up 8% across the four major networks that carry games compared to last year. jason whitlock with us, host for "speak for yourself" on fox sports 1. good to see you again. >> good to see you, varney. stuart: okay, we're -- tradition between us of course. why a four-year high for nba ratings? what is the deal here? >> the product is good, they have young interesting stars with steph curry and dynasty with golden state warriors and lebron james what he is trying to accomplish with the cleveland cavaliers, with the philadelphia 76ers with this young kid ben simmons that captured the imagination. i think they have good product and food storylines and fascinating players. stuart: it is interesting as the nba ratings go up about 8% year-over-year football ratings

are down 9% year-over-year. what do you make of that? >> well i think we need some context in terms of let's remember, that 9% drop doesn't mean the nba is even close to catching the nfl. so it's great. there is more opportunity for growth in the nba because their ratings hadn't been very good. having said all of that i think the nfl has come through a difficult stretch where politics has overtaken the sports and discussion of politics has overtaken the sport whereas in the nba, when you go to watch an nba game you're not thinking about politics. you're not thinking about protests. you're thinking about competition and the stars you're going to see. i think the nfl is taking the necessary steps to take back to that, the product, being the sale. the product being placed front and center more than outside voices and politics.

stuart: now, you're with fox sports 1. i watch european championship soccer on fox sports 1. i've been seeing some fantastic games recently and yet you're on the show. you never mention soccer. you never mention the great ratings. you never mention how this brilliant sport is now coming on strong in america. all you do is talk about, you know, there is of no consequence varney, you keep telling me up. >> let me give you some good news. you know who has got the world cup 300 hours of live coverage of the world cup? fox and fs1. stuart: yes. >> we will be talking world cup soccer this summer big time. stuart: you will come on this program and talk world cup soccer, is that a threat or a promise? >> it's a promise and a threat. it will be the one thing you know better than me, varney. that will do you a favor. you can be smarter than me for a change. stuart: that is the one thing? the one thing?

[laughter]. whitlock, whitlock. seriously, i mean do you enjoy soccer? look, it is the sport of my youth. it is the national sport of my home country and i love it, especially the quality we've seen recently. do you enjoy it too? >> i enjoy, i am going to be honest with you, i enjoy the world cup. every time that i sit down and watch that little of soccer i'm blown away at athleticism the skill but, varney i'm a football person. football has carried me, american football has carried me from the ghetto to wilshire boulevard, to a college campus football is why i'm here. football is why i exist. i am a nfl, college football, high school football nut why job the way you are probably about soccer but my appreciation for soccer is high. i'm looking forward to the world cup. wish that we were in it but i'm still going to enjoy the

international play and the world cup. look, i follow occasionally the champions league. i think it was last week we had an amazing game that preceded us. stuart: oh, yeah. >> so i want to talk more soccer. you won't have to wait long this summer. i will be talking. stuart: you got that right. i just can't wait. wit lock, we will see you -- whitlock, we will see you very soon,. >> got you. stuart: sure thing. not quite the high of the day for the dow industrials. up 231 points. more "varney" after this. ♪ they appear out of nowhere.

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help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. you'll be able to choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. whether you're on medicare now or turning 65 soon, it's a good time to get your ducks in a row. duck: quack! call to request your free decision guide now. because the time to think about tomorrow is today. stuart: this just breaking. pennsylvania republican congressman charlie dent is resigning. he is leaving congress in the next few weeks. come on in steve russell, republican from oklahoma. steve, i make it now that there are 44 republicans in the house who are leaving, not standing for re-election, and democrats only need to flip 24 and they're in control. this is not a good sign, is it? >> well, it depends on how you look at the context.

people leave congress all the time. more than 2/3s of the republican conference alone elected since 2010. that tells you that members like charlie dent, who is a friend, who have been here for quite some time, they have met their goals and objectives. he already announced his retirement. he is looking at it maybe to reclaim his life, maybe employment afterwards. we don't know the particulars but, you know, it just depends. if you look at single snapshots you can draw wide circles in any direction you want to. stuart: is it because of president trump? >> i don't think so. stuart: not at all? >> knowing charlie, traveled with him, spent time working on issues with him. stuart: not this particular example, but the 44 who are leaving? >> look high-profile ones that you see and here, these are people that have been here 16 to 20 years. coming to end of their chairmanships, they're in their

mid 60s. i want my life back. you have to look at some of that in context, in terms of whether or not we'll retain the house i think we will. president clinton was right. it is the economy, stupid. what we see is, you know, we've got an awful lot of positive numbers we see with the tax reform. we see with 3.3% economic growth. admission of democrats saying yeah, trump might be responsible for the improvement in our economy. even the congressional budget office, stuart, has come on and said, maybe this tax reform is going to work out after all with their recent release of numbers. so the american public, they know what they got in their paycheck. they know they're paying less taxes. there is less unemployment. they're going to work. all of this, nobody cares about comey and stormy and all of this different stuff. they're trying to put bread on the table for their family, to have a little bit extra at end of it. stuart: we gotcha. real fast, should we impose more new sanctions on russia?

because the president is, is not going to do that he is declining to add new sanctions. >> we have i think to be targeted with our sanctions. we've seen with the recent attacks on cybersecurity. in fact, stuart, i really invite everyone to take a look at dhs.gov, department of homeland security issued a major cyber warning, how industry can protect itself. the computer emergency readiness team, if you go to dhs.gov, you can find the links there. it tells businesses how we can protect ourselves. we have resources we need to do and really need to focus in protecting ourselves because russia will always attack. stuart: got it. thank you for joining us this morning and your comments on mr. dent. thank you for being here. got it. new poll in the "wall street journal," only 27% of people think the president's tax cuts a good idea. not a good sign for republicans as we head to the midterms.

rnc spokesperson kayleigh mcenany will join us on the issue in our next hour.

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yeah. schedule a complimentary goal planning session today with td ameritrade. stuart: 11 a.m. in new york city, 8 in california, here's what is new this hour. los alamitos voted again to opt out of the california sanctuary state law. we'll be joins by republican guber that to having call candidate john cox. he wants san diego to join the fight too. listen to this, the department of homeland authority says cities hid 142 suspected gang members from deportation. judge napolitano really fired up about that one too. food stamp usage way down, more than a half million people dropped off the food stamp rolls in a single month. pastor daryl scott is with us this hour on president trump's welfare reform purchlt. >> and listen to this, in new jersey lawmakers passed a bill that would bring back the obamacare individual mandate.

our voice of reason on health care, betsy mccaughey, is with us too. yes, a jam-packed hour ahead for you. the third hour of "varney & company" starts now. ♪ ♪ stuart: this is a financial program, and we'll start with your money. look at that. the dow 30 shows 26 of 'em on the upside, and we're pretty chose to the high of the day for the dow industrial average, 24,841. we're up 267 points. four dow components reporting profits today; goldman, johnson & johnson, unitedhealth. they all came out with pretty strong numbers. the stocks not reacting quite that way. ibm reports this afternoon. it is profits, big profitings tt are fueling this overall rally. ron carson is with us, he's with the car soften group. he's with -- carson group. he's with us in new york today.

these profit numbers, not many of them so far, but they're very, very good. strong enough to give us a second leg up for the dow? >> you know, it's going to be interesting because consensus right now, 17 percent earnings growth, next year 10 percent, pretty strong. i get the feeling -- stuart: [inaudible] aren't we? >> nothing can keep this market down here in the short run. as i said the last time we were on here, stuart, i think people need to be aware volatility -- don't get scared out of the market. behavior's going to drive success, not whether earnings get the market to 26,000. so it's really, it's almost impossible to predict, but make no mistake about it, the fundamentals underpinning the economy are pretty strong, although we saw the first crack. the employment number was weak every than what we thought. productivity gains have been a little weaker than what we thought. we need to be careful. stuart: but do we break above the high for the dow that we reached in january, 26,000 -- >> i think we do. i actually think we do.

but i don't think i'd be buying today based on the fact it's going to probably do that. stuart: our viewers keep hearing about stormy daniels, russia, russia, russia, mueller, this, that and the other. and these are all negatives in the minds of investors. you're saying ignore that and focus on profits and fundamentals? >> no. focus on the downside, which you're going to hear me to say that. here's what's crazy, it's how the markets perform have almost nothing to do with how investors actually do with their portfolio, because people make bad short-term decisions, because they get scared out of even the greatest names that they own. and getting the risk budget right is the most important critical decision. go look at all the studies, all the behavior studies. people dramatically lag what they own because they watch us talk about what's going on in the markets and make a short-term decision based on me saying, hey, it's probably going to go to 6,000. then -- 26,000. then it doesn't, they sell out, they don't stick with it, and they repeat this terrible cycle

that goes on and on and on. but the fundamentals are strong. buy good companies and just be patient. and you really don't care if it goes to 22,000 before it goes to 26,000. take a longer term view. stuart: talk to me about tesla. i know we've discussed this before. they've halted production of the model 3. the stock's at 287. where's it going? >> well, originally recommended a short here on your show. for the first time, a short in the 240 to go down. 287. you know, they've got $4 billion in cash, they're burning a billion a quarter, they've got another billion coming during the 12 months, they're going to have to go to the capital markets and raise cash. it's going to compete directly with them, the production numbers are less than what the market thought. they're probably losing money on the current model, and people are looking ahead. love the product, i think it's going to 200. good chance it's going to 200. maybe lower. stuart: okay. >> yes. stuart: don't touch it with a

10-foot pole at this point. >> i wouldn't. stuart: bitcoin. i have no idea what you think about bitcoin, but it's in the news. it's about $8,000 as we speak, 8,100. it's been at that -- i don't suppose you dabble in bitcoin. >> i do, actually. you know, i guess go triple long. stuart: wait a minute -- >> i'm kidding. stuart: does ron carson own a bitcoin? >> i do. i actually own bitcoin. my son was in bitcoin before virtually anybody had ever heard of it but got out of it way too soon. i told him here a few months ago what it would have been worth. block chain's real, and block chain enables the cryptocurrency to you are survive. i just had a consultant on this, block chain's going to be massively successful. but trying to pick the right cryptocurrency now is akin to picking the right dot.com in the

'90s. stuart: but i wouldn't pick -- >> pick the internet instead, not the individual players. stuart: i would go for the underlying technology. >> absolutely. figure out which protocol's going to survive, but right now it's a horse race among lots of protocols. people like -- listen to what their opinion is because they're talking about emerging protocols that are much superior, much easier, consume a lot less energy than bitcoin does. stuart: is your bitcoin -- and i don't know how many you've got -- [laughter] is it going up from here? >> i think it's going up. stuart: by the end of the year? >> i think it's going up. this is a real technology that's going to transform our society. stuart: bitcoin up, tesla down. >> there you go. [laughter] stuart: i got it, ron. i got it. ron carson, you're all right. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. stuart: appreciate it. all right, lawmakers in new jersey have passed a bill that would bring back the obamacare individual mandate. betsy mccaughey always comes on the show to talk about beating

obamacare. she's the former lieutenant governor of new york -- yeah, new york, that's right. [laughter] she joins us now. >> that's right. you're going to see the same thing happening -- stuart: wait, wait, wait, wait. we just used some jargon. you've got to explain it. the individual mandate, they want to bring it back. what is the individual mandate? >> the individual mandate says if you don't buy obamacare-compliant insurance, then you have to pay a penalty. it's called a tax. at the end of the year, it averages $995. stuart: okay. >> for a tax filer. stuart: so that's it, that's the obamacare individual mandate. >> that's right. stuart: for the moment, it doesn't apply in new jersey, but they want to bring it back. >> well, it doesn't apply anywhere starting 2019 because president trump's tax reform zeroed out that penalty in the tax reform law. but state lawmakers are being fiercely lobbied by the insurance industry all across the country to, state by state, create their own penalty for not having an obamacare-compliant

plan. and ten blue states including new york, new jersey, connecticut, maryland, california and others are looking at that. and, frankly, those state lawmakers have to ask themselves, okay, are we going to kowtow to the insurance industry, right, or are we going to look after the public which wants more choice. nobody's being told they can't have obamacare. they can still buy it and get a subsidy. but right now under president trump's reform which takes place in 2018 you have a choice. if you don't buy it, you don't get zinged with a penalty. stuart: i understand. pressure from the insurance industry. >> absolutely. stuart: all right. next one for you, it's an op-ed and a headline from the washington post. here it reads: americans are sticking by obamacare. if only the gop would stop trying to kill it. okay. now, that's an editorial opinion in "the washington post." what do you say? >> it's garbage. and the reason is, look at the facts. enrollment is declining, insurance companies are pulling

out. right now obamacare premiums are one-and-a-half times higher; that is, they've more than doubled since obamacare went into effect. so the average consumer has to pay about 150% more than before for a premium, and what do they get? they get a deductible that's so high they're not really covered when they go to the doctor. and despite all of these price increases, insurance companies are lose aring their shirts. in fact finish losing their shirts. in fact, they're suing all of us for $15 billion to make up for the losses they have already incurred. stuart: but if i'm getting a nice be, fat, healthy subsidy, i like are it. >> that's right. the only winners are people who get a total free ride, right? or people who can't buy other health insurance. but unfortunately, the big losers are consumers who want to buy affordable health insurance, and the insurance companies themselves. they have lost their shirts on this. stuart state battling it -- still battling it, aren't you? [laughter] it never goes away.

>> i'm writing to bitch ware, it's coming soon -- to obituary. stuart: thank you very much. food stamp enrollment, i mean, did it go down. president trump also issued an executive order that requires recipients to find work. we'll cover the full story with pastor daryl scott. he was at the white house with president trump recently. los alamitos city council voted for the second time to opt out of california's sanctuary law. john cox, he's a republican running for governor in the golden -- the formerly golden state, and he's calling on san diego to join the fight. president trump is in florida selling the tax plan, but a "wall street journal" poll suggests his message may not be getting through. stay with us, rnc with us next. ♪ ♪

stuart: kentucky businesses getting a co be part of the wedding industry. the state's department of agriculture offering a $5,000 prize package. it's a wedding contest. businesses can submit photos of venues, catering, flowers, gifts, other services. they want people to come to kentucky to get married, and this is how they're enticing them to get there to do it. good idea. >> interesting. stuart: now this, a poll found 27% of those surveyed say the new tax law is a good idea, but 36% say it's a bad idea. meanwhile, president trump is talking about the tax deal in "usa today." quote: on the announcement of my signing this historic tax reform, companies immediately started announcing thousands of new jobs and making enormous investments in their workers. unemployment claims have reached a 44-year low. that's the president in "usa today" today. katie mcnerney's here, rnc spokesperson.

the blunt truth is that the president's message is not getting through, is it? >> well, that "wall street journal" poll also cited the fact that nearly a third of those surveyed were undecided. there's other polling that has shown the opposite. in february a new york times poll showed 51% support of tax report. stuart, it's no secret democrats are painting this as negative as possible. out on the airwaves, we have a big job ahead. stuart: i think you're going to spend, what, $250 million just on house races to keep the house republican? >> that's exactly right, stuart. this is a monumental investment. we want to keep the house, we want to make gains in the senate, and we have to fight. history is absolutely not on our side. and the way you do that, the way you fight history is by achieving what the president's achieved, sharing it with the american people and having a ground game with where we can

knock on doors, pick up the phone and talk to persuadable voters. stuart: there is another problem, and that is we had nudes on it this morn -- news on it this morning, charlie dent is leaving the house. he's a republican. that brings to 44 republicans in the house not seeking re-election. and that 44 number includes some people in leadership positions. this cannot be seen as good news for the republicans in november. >> well, a lot of those individuals in leadership positions were brushing up against, basically, tenures or deadlines that they had to leave their chairmanships at a certain point, basically term limits. we always hate to see people go, especially people who are in line with the president. charlie dent was one of those handful of republicans who wasn't always on board with the president's agenda. it's not particularly helpful. but for those who want to stay and win in november, you should support the president. and for the new wave of republicans coming up through the primaries, we hope to find exciting new, young faces and people who will get behind the

president's agenda because that's the people's ageneral. stuart: every democrat i speak to is wildly confident they will win big in november. every republican i speak to is seriously worried. >> right. well, democrats should not be so wildly confident, and they were pretty wouldly confident about hillary clinton, and look how that turned out. the reason republicans -- myself, our chairwoman, president trump -- always emphasizes what we're up against is because we can't allow the republican base to not be energized. and that's why by putting out the warning signs that we don't have in the bag, it encourages our base. democrats can talk about the blue wave, they're hurting themselves by doing that. stuart: caylee mceer inny, thanks for joining us. >> thank you. stuart: we like to check all different markets. oil still close to a three-year high, $66 a barrel. the national average for regular gas remaining at $2.71, up just a fraction of a cent overnight. it's up about a nickel in the

past week and may go a bit higher still. we'll see about that. how about this? be h.j. moore is the oldest business in oak park, illinois. they've been forced to close. they've been around for 130 years. their property tax bill is $107,000 a year. however, you just go across the state line to indiana, and a similar company pays $5,000 a year. >> well, that's a no-brainer. stuart: jeff flock is going to tell us about it in a moment. check this out too, porsche recreating the 911 model using legos. it was one of the fastest cars when it was released back in the 1970s. the ritz carlton launching a luxury cruise line, designed like yachts. look at these pictures. we're going to tell you when, if you wish, you can start making reservations. more "varney" after this. ♪

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okay? it's made no metal. it's 17 feet long, 7 feet wide, two-burner stove, microwave, outdoor shower, queen-sized bed. the list price starts at $46,000. i remember those all the way through europe. yeah, weren't they all metallal? like -- metal? like a tube. >> do you want one? stuart: no, i don't. the ritz carlton designing cruise line designed like yachts. relaxing common spaces, spa, the cruise line begins sailing these things in 2020. you can start making reservations next month. now, this is my favorite story of the day. a treasure-trove of 1,000-year-old silver coins, rings, pearls and bracelets have been found on a german island in the baltic sea. it's been linked to the era of a famous viking king. arkologists say a hundred of these silver coins are probably from the reign of harold

bluetooth who lived in the tenth century. >> yeah. a 13-year-old found it. stuart: a 13-year-old found it. >> with a metal detector. >> and he was called bluetooth because of his dead tooth. stuart: okay. i didn't know that. i didn't know him, actually. [laughter] oh, serious story, and it's a bad one. the department of homeland security says cities hid 142 suspected gang members from deportation. judge napolitano, rightfully fired up about that. of -- and president trump taking on welfare reform. he signed an execs tiff order -- executive order that would require recipients to join the work force. pastor daryl scott on that, and he also has a word about the starbucks incident. more "varney" after this. ♪ ♪

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stuart: pretty much the high of the dayp 267, well above 24,800. food stamp enrollment down big, dropping 600,000 people just in the month of january. president trump, on a similar note, issued an executive order which would require recipients of government benefits to join the work force.

pastor daryl scott is, urban revitalization coalition ceo, is with us now. pastor, welcome to the program. first of all, this decline in food stamp rolls, 600,000 in january alone, the left says we're starving kids. what say you? >> i say that it's a good thing that there's a decline in the food stamp rolls. you know, the president just rolled out his new economic mobility reforms, and his goal is to take american citizens from poverty to prosperity, from dependence to independence, from welfare to work. the thing we have to realize is welfare was never intended to be a lifestyle. nor was it intended especially to be generational. i mean, you have first -- i mean, you have second, third and fourth generation welfare recipients in america, and it was never intended to do, to serve that purpose. stuart: sure. but is it cruel, i mean, in any sense of the word, is it cruel to push people off welfare perhaps by requiring them to

work? is it cruel? >> i don't see how it's cruel to encourage able-bodied american citizens to seek employment especially if employment is available which it is. the unemployment numbers are down, jobs are up, you know? companies are hiring, america is pushing more towards economic prosperity. it's a great time in america to get good jobs and better jobs. so why would we encourage someone to take advantage of a welfare system that was never intended to be a handout, it was supposed to be temporary assistance for those that are in need. stuart: is the black community onboard with this? >> the black community will get onboard with it. i mean, we don't want to be marginalized and stereotyped as a community of indigents and lazy people that all we want is welfare. it's a mindset. there's a scripture in the bible that talks about being transformed by the renewing of our mind. if we get this messaging right

that we're not being disenfranchised, we're simply being empowered to prosper, and then we can start thinking and doing for ourselves on that level. and once again, it was never intended to be generational or to be a lifestyle, it was only to be temporary assistance and that's all. stuart: pastor, i'm going to inform our viewers about some developments in the starbucks situation. bear with me. two black men arrested at a starbucks in philadelphia over the weekend after they asked to use the bathroom without buying anything. arrested, handcuffed, out. this is an incident at a starbucks in los angeles back in january. this video just refast surfacing. resurfacing. the man claims he asked to use the bathroom, starbucks refused. but just after that, they let a white man use the bathroom. now there are calls to boycott starbucks. pastor, what's your take on these incidents? because starbucks seems to have a real problem here. >> are well, yes. but i really don't think that the actions of a couple of

misguided employees is representative of company policy. i don't want to damn starbucks, the entire franchise, simply because of the action of two misguided or two racist employees that are stereotyping blacks based upon whatever conceptions they have in their mind. i don't want to condemn starbucks, i don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water. but i think it's something that does need to be addressed from a corporate level to make sure it doesn't happen again. stuart: pastor daryl scott, always a pleasure. we'll see you again. and now this, a troubling story. the department of homeland security says cities ignored federal detainer requests and hid 142 suspected gang members from deportation. judge napolitano is here. wait a second, judge, i believe there's late-breaking news on a related issue. >> there is. the supreme court, just about 15 minutes ago, invalidated

portions of a federal law that ride automatic deportation of immigrants who commit crimes; that is, persons who are here not lawfully convicted of a crime are are, serve their time, get out of jail. the statute required immediate deportation, the supreme court invalidated it. this was heard shortly after justice and scalia's death, ande supreme court split 4-4. when justice gorsuch join ised the court, the court drove 5-4. justice gorsuch joining the liberal bloc of the court to give them the five-vote majority that they needed. stuart: so an immigrant comes to the united states, commits a crime, is arrested for that crime -- >> convicted, goes to jail, serves the term -- stuart: serves the term, comes out -- >> right. stuart: the idea that they would automatically be deported, that's struck down. you can't do that. >> correct. the government would now have to move for deportation and prove that the person should be deported rather than, as the statute read, bypassing this

trial procedure, just seizing the person and deporting them. stuart: and we're talking about a crime, not a civil offense. stuart: -- >> correct. this backs up to the story about california. now, these are people who are accused of crime, very serious crimes, crimes so serious i'm not sure that i would give them bail. but state judges gave them bail, and then instead -- of course, they're here illegally. instead of telling the feds they're about to get out on bail, just let them out into society. a very dangerous thing to do. stuart: and -- >> the headline says hid. they didn't hide them. if they hid them, that would be an independent federal crime committed by state officials. they didn't hide them, they just failed to tell the feds that they had released them. stuart: they decided not to let the feds have a go at them. >> correct. stuart: they made that decision. >> correct. if they put them in the basement of the mayor's house and hid

them, that would be a federal offense. stuart: they're stymied at every time by the law or the interpretation of the constitution. >> it does seem that way. and what is the hook on which the supreme court hung its hat in this 5-4 decision? the law was vague and ambiguous. now, i have to read the statute. i just ordered the opinion. my assistant will have it upstairs in a couple of minutes, but just the summary that i read was that the law was vague and ambiguous and, therefore, invalidated. therefore, the feds cannot -- >> i believe justice scalia would have voted the same way justice gorsuch did anyway -- >> he would have had an animus against vague statutes. >> right. >> particularly when it resulted in loss of liberty. stuart: but this will be seen as a victory for the left -- >> yes. and frustration for the president who chose neil gorsuch expecting he would go the other way on this type of case. >> yeah. stuart: well, he tonight. >> no. stuart: he didn't. [laughter] judge --

>> something happens to you when they give you a black robe for life. it happened to me at a vastly different level than justice gorsuch, but it happens. stuart: define what happened to you. >> you are totally free from your former ties, ideological, political -- not familial -- social. you almost don't care what the editorialists say, what the crowds say, what the politicians say because you have the power and you have the job, and you have it for life. you can do the right thing. stuart: and that's a fine thing. >> it is a fine thing because it preserves the liberty and the property of the minority from the majority who would use their power to take it. stuart: well said, judge. got that one right. >> i said something to you this morning that our dear lizzie liked so much, she wants me to do it on her show about taxation being theft. [laughter] >> forgive me. >> she's a glutton for punishment. stuart: i've got to get on with this. [laughter] two -- wait for it, this is

interesting -- two rock-crushing companies near chicago. one of them is in illinois, the other is in indiana. wait til you hear the difference in their property taxes. jeff flock is at the now-closed h.j. mohr rock-crushing company which is in oak park, illinois. he's there right now. what was their property bill? >> reporter: i'm in a piece of history, stuart. if you look at this place, this is the oldest continuously operating business in oak park, illinois. been here since 1893, helped build this town. i'm going to show you what it looks like outside. yeah. property tax bill, i tell ya, you know today's tax day, and we're talking about income tax, right? and illinois' income tax not that bad. property tax, for this piece of property here in oak park, $106,000 last year. a very similar business, same kind of property right across the border in indiana, they paid $22,000.

in fact, there's yet another business that they have, same kind of property, they paid as little as $5,000 property tax. illinois has the second highest property tax in the country, and it's making it impossible for folks like this. as i said, if you look -- i don't know, come over here if you can, dave. this is the old cement mixer or. this has been here since the 1800s. finish as i said, building this town. and now taxes pretty much driving 'em out of business. it's tough. stuart: that's quite a story, jeff. just quite a story. what a difference. >> terrible. stuart: why don't people move? obvious question. jeff flock, we appreciate it. see you again soon. another fascinating story from california. trains there are running even slower because of homeless camps near the tracks. engineers are warning operators and passengers that the homeless people wandering onto the rails

are forcing them to slow down and make emergency stops. california. another one, the los alamitos city council voted for the second time to opt out of california's sanctuary law. john cox, republican, he's running for governor of the state. he's also calling on san diego to join the fight. he wants them in it too and out of the sanctuary law. more "varney" after this. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ >> i'm nicole petallides with your fox business brief. netflix blows it out of the park yesterday, the stock jumping today looking at a record all-time close since march 9th. right now at 332.73, more than 17 analysts have raised their price targets including bank of america with a 347 price target. the popular netflix shows, of course, here in the states at home, 13 reasons why, the crown, house of cards, jessica jones and stranger things. original content around the globe have really boosted that subscriber growth number. and going forward the outlook is strong as well. netflix's original programming was up 85% to a record 483 hours. the stock up 109% over the last 52 weeks, the best performer in the s&p 500.

it's continuing to sustain subscriber growth and interest and will continue to spend on content as well. ♪ ♪

stuart: a survey from ucla found that a majority of residents in los angeles county very anxious about the rising cost of living there. young people are the most worried, a majority overall considering moving out because of the -- moving out of the area because of rising housing and other costs. people between the ages of 18

and 39 were also more negative about job satisfaction, environment and health care. there's trouble in l.a. still in california, the city of los alamitos has voted for a second time to opt out of the state's sanctuary law. john cox is with us this morning, republican candidate for governor of the formerly golden state. john -- [laughter] i'm sorry, i'm being sarcastic. you're pushing for san diego, san diego county, to opt out as well. what chance that that will happen? >> oh, i think that's a good chance. the commissioners are, the supervisors are mostly republican, and they believe in the rule of law which our politicians in sacramento don't, stuart. it's plainly obvious. the people are mad about this, stuart, because it seems like they're elevating illegal alien criminals over the law-abiding citizens. you know, the first rule of government is, you know, the first role of government is to protect its citizens, and, you know, the rule of law is sacrosanct. if we don't have a rule of law, stuart, we don't have an

economy. your story about los angeles is very true. people in this state are worried about the economy, they're worried about the cost of living, and is our politicians are playing games, fighting the federal government and not upholding the rule of law. i'm really glad that orange county, the northern counties and now san diego county is going to step up and say enough, we want the rule of law enforced. stuart: i want to bring to your attention, i'm sure you've seen this already, but president trump tweeted about california's governor brown. here's what he said. looks like jerry brown and california are not looking for safety and security along their very porous border. he can't come to terms for the national guard to patrol and protect the border. the high crime rate will only get higher, much-wanted wall in san diego already started. now, originally governor brown said, okay, we'll take 400 national guard troops, and he said they'll be spread around the state. the coastline, the interior. and as i recall, there was also the border.

now he's balking at putting the troops on the border. does he want illegals to just walk in? is that what he wants? >> well, i don't know what he wants. he issued this order to have the national guard go to the border, then he told them they're not going to be there to help. what's the point? you know, this is the mismanagement of the democrats writ large, stuart. they've mismanaged the border, clearly, but they're also mismanaging the housing, the gasoline costs, the tax burden. i mean, california has the highest tax burden. you know, this is tax day, and californians are having to write big checks to government officials that just waste their money. i would suggest people in california go to a web site called transparentcalifornia.com. they will see the monumental mismanagement of this state. employee after employee booking hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime and other pay. mean while, californians are

barely scraping by as your point about los angeles makes clear. stuart: this time next year it gets worse. because the people in california who pay all this money in state income tax, and i think it's some of the highest in the nation, that will no longer be deductible against their taxable federal income. that's -- you're going to have a wave of people leaving before this time next year, surely. >> they're already leaving, stuart. you know, i'm a cpa and a businessman, and basically the tax rate in california effectively doubled. there are people checking out homes in nevada and texas, all over the place in california. and i want to change all that. i mean, it just needs better management. i think we could ultimately eliminate the income tax in california if we had better political management, if we stopped the abuses in the payroll systems, if we made sure

people weren't double of staffed, that caltrans was run efficiently without waste. that requires somebody that has experience in business like i have, 40 years in business, stuart. i'd pinch a lot of pennies, and i do it because i don't have money to waste like the politicians do. stuart: if elected governor, would the first thing that you'd do be to stop and end the california bullet train, san francisco-los angeles, $77 billion? >> the first thing i'd do is get rid of sanctuary state, the second thing i'd do is get rid of the bullet train. absolutely right. the waste has got to stop. weaver got to start using our resources wisely or this state is going to empty out, and i don't want to have that for my children. stuart: john cox, thanks for joining us. see you again, sir. thank you very much. you know the makers of sharpie pens and rubbermaid products,

wells fargo upgraded the stock, and it's up 4.5%. united health care, they gave a rosy forecast, and they reported strong growth across all of their businesses. the stock is up 3%. that adds 50 points to the dow industrials which are up 250. a warning of another equifax-type data breach. dozens of big name companies on the fortune 100 list are vulnerable, so says our next guest, and he joins us after this. ♪ ♪ as a control enthusiast, i'm all-business when i travel... even when i travel... for leisure. so i go national, where i can choose any available upgrade

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stuart: i do believe we can call in the stock of the day. netflix just hit an all-time high, $334.43. that is an 8% gain. they've added millions of new subscribers, and that's pushed the stock way up today. we have this for you, the u.s. and british governments have issued a joint warning saying russia is behind a series of cyber attacks on government and private networks, and there's more to come. joining us now is a software development company's president. bill, welcome to the program.

this sounds like a serious threat if the two governments are getting together and saying, hey, it's the russians who are doing it. what troubles me is there's more to come. tell me about it. >> that's right, stuart. great to be here. there's a constant flood of threats every day, and more and more as we're seeing they're being sponsored by other states, and more and more you see that we as a government, in collaboration with our allies, really need to take action. and, you know, what disturbs and concerns us from where we sit, we see the breach that brought down equifax last year is still widely deployed. stuart: hold on a second. there's two things here. the british and american governments are getting together and saying, hey, you -- russians -- you're trying to attack us. either knock it off or we know you're going to do it again. there is a separate issue here. your research, you found that, what, 57 of the fortune 1 to00 -- 100 companies have

downloaded the same software as run by equifax? so you're saying that another huge hack is imminent? is that what you're saying? >> we're saying that risk exists, right? there are what are called known vulnerabilities, and we're seeing people acting very slowly to fix these in spite of there being so much pub lis i and so much awareness -- publicity and so much awareness particularly of the breach that brought down equifax. you're still seeing 80% of corporations are still using that same software. 20% have fixed it, but yet 80% have not. and other vulnerabilities, of which there are hundreds, you see even a slower addressing of that problem. and, therefore, of course, the risk still exists. and it's big companies, right? it's the top automobile companies and so forth. stuart: can you tell us -- i mean, top automobile companies, you're saying general motors, ford? >> yeah. well, we can speak about industries. we can't, obviously, highlight the individual companies, but it's 8 of the top automobile

companies, 15 of the top insurance companies, it's 7 of the top technology companies. think about that fortune 11 just as a sampling -- fortune 100, there's between 10-20,000 organizations that we know are using that component that was at risk for equifax. but that includes these very large companies and small companies, everything from -- stuart: let me get this right. these 57 companies that you're talking about, they're using the same software as was used by equifax that let the hackers in, and they stole 145 million people's personal information. you're saying that those 57 companies -- and and a whole lot more -- have that same software, and they've not yet changed it? how much does it cost to change it? >> well, i think that's part of problem here and why this has been such a festering issue. the reality is that 80% of breaches occur through the

software level and through vulnerabilities and problems with software, yet only 6% of the cyber budget in enterprises goes to managing software security. and so what's happening is we're focused in other places and, trust me, it's a complicated, big problem. but we're not focused on this. and this is not a very expensive problem to solve. we're in the business and others are in the business to help solve this problem. stuart: so another big hack is imminent. bill, thanks very much for being with us with important research. we appreciate it. >> thank you. stuart: there will be more "varney" after this. ♪ ♪ anna and mark are heading into retirement... and a little nervous. but not so much about what market volatility may do to their retirement savings. that's because they have a shield annuity from brighthouse financial, which allows them to take advantage of growth opportunities in up markets, while maintaining a level of protection in down markets.

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stuart: 2 1/2 hours ago we had the market go straight up 200 points and we've held that gain. ash, surely this is about

profit? ashley: if we stay away from tweets and headlines we're in food shape. stuart: walk a way from political distraction and. liz: this is the best performance six, seven years for banks. stuart: we're up 245. my time's up. neil, it's yours. neil: stuart, thank you very much. we're in washington, d.c. this is tax day as you all know. republicans like to remind you this is the last time you are paying at higher tax rates. a reminder to put the best foot forward and tell americans big tax cuts are coming. it will be noticeably different next year. all of this comes at a time we're getting mixed indications how the public feels about this we'll hear from mitch mcconnell later on. he will be a special guest on "your world" on the fox news channel. the guy at epicenter on all of this, what they will mean for the economy, trying to remind fellow republicans to get the word out they are going to do a