>> love the suicide doors awesome. >> different. >> new name for them. >> i don't love the name true. good morning maria. good morning to all of the glncht crowd back there and a let's get right at it how will markets perform this monday following friday whopping 5 point selloff lower across the board. but watch out. these sharp ups and downs have not gone away if it is consolation stayed in fairly narrow range are 24-26,000 that's the range recently. let get to the news background for today's decline. doesn't seem like these items are having that much effect on market but more and more like a government shutdown maybe

invests investors have gotten used to them they want to build border wall senator schumer or said he won't get a wall in any form friday night is shutdown deadline also strikes down affordable care act so now what, well the in thes now push the more government care have republican ares come up with replacement plan to get through congress on which president will sign. one thing for sure there's a long legal battle still to come. check out the health insurers down premarket this morning because that judge saying, no obamacare. i can't resist this one. the national average for gas is down now for 68 straight days. merry are christmas. back back. the average is down to 237 nationally by the way one with of my colleagues paid 215 at a

costco in new jersey. missouri, a buck 97 is average now ladies and gentlemen, that is cheaps gas. >> it is. "varney & company" sb to begin. even the house which is majority republican they don't have votes for his 5 billion wall plan, in fact, ryan afraid of what's going to happen than to all of the house wednesday night the a day and a half before two days before the is shutdown and they don't have is votes in the senate. we're going to do whatever is necessary to build the border wall to stop this ongoing crisis of illegal immigration this is a very -- comes to it absolutely. >> there you go. [laughter] first up you have senator minority leader chuck schumer throwing sthaidz on border wall funding that is. and then we have white house advisor e steve miller saying

trump is absolutely willing to shut down government over that wall. now come on in brian wests bury. chief economist there at first -- at first investor there now brian i don't think the market cares about another government shutdown. what say you? >> totally agree. i actually think that a shutdown might be good for the market. one of the biggest problem i see long-term is federal spending and it's too high and i know this shutdown is over spending more on a wall. but they have the places to cut and so government shutdown in my opinion it focuses attention on how much government is spending. what it is spending on, and i think in the long run that's positive for investors. >> okay, now charles their chief investment strategist, sanders talking to the the generals jerry baker about the economy. about recession. roll tape. >> maybe telling you there's

crackses under the surface it means we want to start to look at additional fines that are recession could be senior than what i think the consensus believes. >> there's 100% chance to get recession in next year i think trade holding the key. the key to the -- to the the span right. i think that key to the length of runway between now and next recession to a large degree does to trade. >> dancing around issue there but, obviously, she sees reseg is a possibility next year. what say you? look, we're going to have a recession at some point. but i don't think it's at least for two years. one of the things that people -- i think are completely missing about the trade talk, they keep calling a trade war. it's not. the chinese have already cut tariffs on 1500 goods. they're going to cut tariffs on cars. the european union is cutting tariffs on industrial goods probably cars as well. mexico has cut tariffs. canada has cut tariffs on dairy.

and in other words, the u.s. is the pressure is already ending up bringing down tariffs. and i think that's positive for the rest of the world. one of the things, though, is that a lot of these other countries have built their economies on exports and that hurts them and so what a then people say is, oh, if the foreign economies are slowing down that's going to hurt us. when, in fact, it is the exact opposite. we pick up the growth that they lose. that's why our economy is doing well and i don't see recession any time in next couple of years. >> now president trump is tweeting about the fed i'm the not going to read the whole thing but essentially saying listen, you don't have to raise interest rates that's not the right thing to do here. what had say you? i mean, i got i don't think the fed is going to raise rates as fast as everybody thought or as high i think the president is right on this and you say what? >> well, i'm in a little bit of a disagreement. i don't think that fed needs to

go fast to raise rates. but i do think they need to get them up from where they are. the overall economy what we call nominal gdp real growth plus inflation over the last two years is up 4.8% and that tells me that the federal funds rate ought to be about 4 and a quarter and the tenure treasury ought to be about 4 and a half. and so what we're doing is we're artificially keeping rates low. one of the problems with that is that it causes what we call now investment people borrowing money to invest in things that they shouldn't when interest rates are so low so i don't agree with this and stuart just one quick thing. there's so many people out there who somehow think all of the growth we've seen over the last 9, 10 years is all because of the fed and quantitative easing but in reality think about it. we've invented fracking 3d pripghting cracked genome

smartphone all of these things that the fed did not build any of those things. that was entrepreneurship. okay, i believe in entrepreneurship and we can handle higher rates with with the kinds of growth rates are we have today. >> all right brian we can handle it. thanks very much for joining us we'll see you again real soon. >> see you stuart. rough road for sears, the stock that is -- executives, however, are still getting bonuses. wait a minute -- [laughter] how much and why? >> more than 25 million next year. about 335 workers executives there, and first nine months. rather first half of next year that's the plan to give those bonuses let's back up. sounds like what is he doing giving out money to failed company who drove car into the ditch a lot of companies and bankruptcy do this to keep the -- keep the top managers in, the talent there to restructure. you don't want to brain drain when this company just reported positive sales in the third

quarter for first time in years circuit city paid so did radio shack and whole host of members by companies it has to keep people inside to manage the bankruptcy. >> good reason bad pr. thanks. thanks liz. a federal judge as you know rules obamacare is unconstitutional. betsy mccoy is with us obvious question betsy now what? >> there will be an immediate appeal to the fifth circuit court of appeals they uphold it we have a year of litigation heated. meanwhile this law remains on the books. the jot come is iffy it is likely that higher courts will stand by medicaid expansion that is where most peel got their coverage under obamacare. so they have nothing to worry about. the real issue is this first part of the law which is the fed will take over of the regulation of commercial insurance in the states. the states always have that power that's why these 20 states

is went to court saying we want to be able to offer our residents lower cost plans. >> hold on a second. what will the democrats do here -- will they try to make this into an extension of government care somehow or another? >> interestingly in court and in congress, and on the state leal but democrats are saying we don't want any options except obamacare no exit ramps off of it because it will weaken obamacare so in state after state they're saying we don't want the states to allow insurance companies to offer short-term plans. these plans which can go on for three years are 70% cheaper on average in tampa i just looked rate this morning it cost one tenth as much as obamacare to buy a plan when it has a short-term plan so many states want to offer these plans in the trump administration is stepping in and doing exactly what the states asked this judge to do. the trump administration is is

deregulating and saying to state if you want to, you can allow insurance companies to offer a whole range of plans outside of obamacare's one size fits all benefit package allow them to price it differently to give healthy people a break and -- the result will be cheaper plan. let me summarize there's going to be endless court reviews all the way to the supreme court. i've got it. i've got it. second point, this -- the medicaid expansion is set. is going to stay in place don't touch it it will not be touched. third one, the trump administration's plan is to allow states to go for much cheaper plans outside obamacare if those states want to. and that the big deal. >> bad news if you live in new york, new jersey, california qoangt get that deal because democrats in those states say we don't care what federal government does we're going to double down on one choice only. >> but it is going to be available that choice is going to be -- by this -- in some states. changed only in some states is p

in some behind new york, california, maryland, vermont no choices because the democrats in those states forbid it. >> okay betsy thank you good stuff. check futures we have to be down about 140 points for dow industrials. please remember it is a volatile time. and we were down 500 had almost down 500 on friday. down a bit more this morning. a new report from the senate on social media's role in allowing russia to spread disinformation in election of 2016. it says, the big social media companies have become a tool for social control and having manipulated by politicians and dictators. now that is a story and a half and it is really about google and facebook. more staff shakeups at white house, mick mull in as chief of staff interior secretary out at the end of the year media is spinning this as chaos in the white house is that the case? we are on it.

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well you want what's going to happen had we with open them this monday morning and answer is down not that much down about 120 points for the dow maybe 26 not that much for the nasdaq. an early 2020 poll has some familiar faces out front give me the top three in order.

>> what about the b's number one joe biden coming in with 32%. followed by well, a or familiar face bernie sanders, at 19% and beto o'rourke coming in from texas with 11%. past iowa. that's iowa. iowa democrats it is they get the first go around at all of this by the way if you're interested elizabeth warren she just got 8% down with 5% with 7 kamala harris. so it is bernie and beto. >> okay. older, older, younger. correct. in a net shell yes. left far left far left. [laughter] the cabinet shakeup at the white house proceeds. ryan zinke and nick mulvaney in and with us former press secretary pence. mark, media calls this chaos in the white house. what do you say? >> absolutely not this is what

happens every year around the midterms you have that crew that came in to help the the president get started. two years into it they're now moving on, and you'll get another crew that will take them through 2020 reelection this is just standard turnover. but you know, media has to create some kind of palace intrigue story because i would rather talk about that. >> but media is on target when they do point out there's been moreover in trump cabinet than any cabinet that i can remember in the first early term of a president. i mean, can can you remember anything like this? smg well, you know every president oarpts differently. they structure themselves differently. i know that president is someone who is focused on action and results and in many cases when he didn't see results that he wanted he took quick action to make sure we would get somebody in there to get results that he wanted that's where the president is going to build his cabinet looking ahead. you're going to have a great finalized chief of staff position. you'll have a new interior secretary and there might be even a couple of others who we

don't know. >> can government be efficient with a high level of turnover? i mean can the job get done? >> well thing about these jobs is that they're all consuming. they are 16, 18, 20 hour a day jobs six days week. i know they are members of the jurily and physically draining on people. and a lot of folks who have been doing these jobs for last 18 months two years are now looking can i do that for another two years? or do i want to go home to see my family look to do something e else and bring in new blood and energy and new ideas? >> okay so you don't see any problem? >> normal turnover thank you very much for joining us sir. i think the market feels the same way. and for some time i don't think there's political turmoil that affects the market that much. >> even the shutdown. but johnson & johnson there's a stock to watch it took a hit last week on claims that it was aware of asbestos in baby powder but latest is a statement i think from johnson & johnson.

>> refuting reuters is reporting johnson & johnson baby powder is safe and asbestos free thousands of independent test bis regulators and world leading labs prove baby pouter is never contained asbestos they provided reuters with hundreds of documents and directly responded to dozens of questions nod to correct misinformation and falsehood notwithstanding this, reuters repeatedly refused to meet with our representatives to review the fact the. it was a report from reuters strong report saying that it was a strong statement from j&j. calling conspiracy theory have asbestos and market premarket is down another 3. >> they lost nearly 40 billion in market friday on that report. j&j so -- >> huge. >> but in meanwhile turmoil at j&j coming back a bit we were down 140, 150 now we're down

about 100 and tech stocks and nasdaq collectively down about one-third of one percent not a huge selloff this morning by any means. we've got the latest on brexit. theresa may prime minister telling her critics there won't be a second intersection pit referendum she says it will be a bad day for great britain if that whats. ashley is back from his long-term actually his weak week long like eternity but he's back. got all of the latest for us with new and improved british accent we'll be back. [laughter] i'm snow. and just like you, the further into winter we go, the heavier i get. and while your pants struggle to support the heavier you, your roof struggles to support the heavier me. [laughter] whoo.

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♪ there's no place likargh!e ♪ i'm trying... ♪ yippiekiyay. ♪

mom. ♪ what is price of gold when you have a downside market move we're back up comploaz to 1250 per ounce with gold this morning let's get become to brexit trees mesas there will be no second

referendum. ashley is back from a week over there. here's my question, my statement, my opinion. i think theresa may will stay as prime minister and i think eventually parliament will accept her brexit deal in some form or another am i way out an a limb? >> no that's one scenario they're both playing chicken theresa may will keep going with this but will not accept deal but up to last moment but some of those mp's kind of like saying let fuss take over. which was provided for amendment and they could push for a managed exit which would be wto rules forget theresa may or pushing for a second referendum i know she said that there's no way that we'll call for it so i can tell you being there on the ground, the momentum for a second referendum is getting -- greater. humiliation and market turmoil. you attack it into the wire. wow. >> wants britain to stay in the eu bottom line. yep. now who's -- who did the bookie say is most

likely to succeed theresa may. >> 4-1 favorite followed by dominic ex-brexit 9-2 and home secretary but there he is. problem with boris is he doesn't have support in parliament because he's a divisive figure he's the donald trump of u.k. politics. but out in the lands outside of the major metropolitan areas they love him. they do. yeah a character. >> what dog they think of trump. still a lot of trump things in london there was people running around with trump 2020 t-shirts. a lot of people the brexit chanting fake news at the british media over there on the street protesting so there was some parallels to what we've with seen going on here. >> you know, so interesting. i have got to get over there one day. [laughter] so long ago -- [laughter] all right we've got an interesting statistic about how much millennials earn. give me that interesting statistic. >> nearly 70k this is the 22-37 age group here's the

important -- the average. yes, for that is about what they make. that age group the median that is correct. 70,000. how compared to previous generations? >> historic high it is a highest in a generation since year 2,000 and women are driving that number higher. so you know we're looking at federal reserve data saying oh millennials are broke it is saying well, no she was saying wait a second no more money than you realize. you know. >> parents basement so they don't pay out much. but that's interesting stat. 22-37 the average income for their millennial is 70,000 that's a medium half a more or half than less. 70 that's huge. >> i thought they were the brokest -- >> bigger than medium household generally. >> but a lot of debt and we thought they were the brokest generation but they're not. looks like making a lot of money. smg great story the brokest generation. >> forgive me. >> i'm a missionary for good --

check the big board for futures. come back down a little bit more. we're going to be down about 130 odd point for the opening bell. still a tiny los, though, for the nasdaq. all right the market opens shortly and we'll take you there. [laughter]

we've got 40 second to go before we open this market first thing on monday morning as i constantly say the way the market opens is not necessarily the way the market closes. it is just volatility and we've with had is since early october doesn't like like it has gone away and we were down 500 points nearly 500 on friday and we're going to open this morning on the downside to the tune of another 100 point plus. we've got political scandal breaking loose washington, d.c.,

that's so far does not appear to have a major impact on the market. we've got this -- this contest about shutting the government down or getting a border wall. that too doesn't appear to have that much of a big deal in that kind of a market. here we go. 9:30 eastern time we're up, running ring we're going to open down yes we are. we're with off about 120 points in the very early going. lots of red on the left-hand side of your screen we're down one-half had of one percent on dow industrials. how about the nasdaq composite? i'm sorry, the the s&p. that has opened and it is down -- just turned negative for the year. now the nasdaq -- so the the nasdaq has gone negative for the year but look at the s&p 500 meanwhile down almost half percentage point in line with the dow. all right show me the nasdaq please because that too that now is negative for this year for the the calendar year. that's down one-third of one percent. any consolation, the technology stocks are not down as of as the

dow and s&p. not much consolation because they're down. check the big techs sees opportune moment to do just that and we are pretty much down across the board with the exception of apple which is up all of 78 cents at 1*6 6. facebook dun a fraction, look at amazon dropped below 1600 bucks share even though this is the week for amazon sure isly. alphabet down microsoft down a buck at 104. all right monday morning who is with me yes, i have is here. jack is here, liz and ashley too. all right, let's see now. we've -- i've got this statistic -- i hate to be statistical but i'm going to use it anyway. if you look at going back to 69 five day after christmas, and the first two days of the new year am i boring you ashley -- >> well, beginning too statistical. >> market goes up in those five days for the first two days of the new year. what do you say to that? >> bologna. [laughter]

>> not that big of a move it is not that big of a sample side not something than sink my teeth into and say there's something here on average market goes up all the time it goes up over a long time period. i think we ought to expect a positive year for the market next year. i think we're looking at five or 6% earnings growth next year if you think market will rise in line with earnings it is not going to get more but rise you say five or six percent plus points for dividends or 8% next year i don't see any reason. >> you can believe in that. no reason not to be in stock. >> okay. now we're down 208 points all of two minutes into the session. jeff seeger you don't see a santa claus rally you don't see much performance next year. >> no. you know, i think the one thing the market investors expected on this 90 had-day reprieve they expected for the market didn't get it, they also assumed it that technology stocks were bullet proof they are not. so ting that chance of a rally

towards end of the year is slim to none, and i feel that the market is still drastically overvalued and we're going to see pullback next year. [laughter] >> you doing here -- [laughter] president trump he's pressuring the federal reserve tweeting today about the fed he's saying don't raise rates next year. what do you say about him saying that? >> he accidentally almost stepped in a good idea here. i think that -- we have raised rates fast off the floor -- hold back -- we've gotten off the floor which is healthy right, so we've gotten something in terms of rates that savers are getting on save deposits but i think right now fast enough it is a time to slow it down and see what happens next year. i'm not sure there shouldn't be any hike next year but people say maybe one or two instead of three or four. >> but forgive me trump are is why do you need to raise are rates inflation is really more if you strip out health care and

administration so irony here is that par dioxide is you raise rates, and not going to trigger recession really because when you raise rates is does trigger recession avoiding recession so you have dry powder you can cut it you know what i mean? >> rate i know i didn't mean to cut you off but let's suppose we get three rate north carolinas next year. jeff that is bad news for the market. >> it is bad news and trump knows this market is addicted to low rates if rates go up the market is not able to move up. as far as president trump tweeting about where he thinks interest rates should go i think that's a very or, very bad decision on his part. i think that the -- the fed should be left to do what they do. and i think he should not get involved. [laughter] >> i was just a -- just a mans in the middle. >> should have an independent central bank about a president should not sending rates and outrageous. president excuse me --

the president is not setting rates. he's nearly jawboning the fed. >> that's how not say he's right or wrong the presidents have done that certainly lbj it. >> sit back and see his big rates and messed up by the fed he's going to have something to say good for you mr. president. next one, all right now this is a key story is here. big picture. this is bad for the social media companies. if a damming new senate report on russia's disinformation campaign in the election. here's the quote, key one along with interesting -- social media have gone from being the natural infrastructure for sharing collective grievances and coordinating civic engage the to being a computational tool for social control manipulated by canny political consultants and available to politicians in democracies and dictatorships alike. this is a shot fired right at google and facebook and twitter am i right? >> yeah it is just a continuation of bad headlines,

and if you're let's say you're a democrat and you think that facebook, you know, helps swing the election somehow. you've got reason to be upset but republicans aren't if love with facebook either because they'll view it as like suppressing conservative, facebook has no national -- no natural friends right now across the mill spectrum. but the horse is bolted for social media they have no control over it now you have very complex algorithms to completely manipulate and target people with amazing accuracy. for the people of these companies to say we've got it. got it under control of course they don't. we don't have any privacy or don't have any control over people trying to manipulate us that is the bottom line. >> jeff seeger and i will agree on this i don't like big brother. i don't like this level of control and power exercised by handful of multibillionaires in california. i don't like it. >> i don't like it and they gotten what they've deserved. they should have -- they should have presented our privacy from day one, they

didn't and now they open the the door for the wolf that the government is to come in and regulate. >> that's the problem. >> if you're an investor in these stocks you have to listen to the drone beat growing louder to remove the legal in that shield to let these guys be sued. they have that sealed right now. >> keep in mind that reason that people are so upset is because they're so effective at what they do. and like it or not that does make it a vital advertising platform going forward. >> seven minutes into trading session on monday morning that follows big drop on friday of last week. we're down 174 points that is equivalent to three quarters of one percent down 168 right now just below 24,000. jack in in the box exploring potential sale of the company what you do your your stock price goes up and up in this case 6.5% how about 50, 51 a barrel yes it is 5128 to be precise here's the news on gas

good stuff. 237 per gallon down 68 straight days. i just love it. j&j serious subject here. they took a big hit last week on claimses that it was aware of asbestos in its baby powder they've come out with a very strong counterstatement but the market is pulling them down another 4%. looks grim. it does. they're going to lose and have some scary judgments against them and there's some appeal that probably knock dollar figures down, and analyst who is follow the stock say maybe two to five billion dollars when all is said and done as company that can quickly get a hand on 20 billion dollars in cash so this is by no means fatal. for anybody looking for a buying opportunity by the way here, this is a stock that wept from being another too expense toif fairly price right now so i'm not sure that i would be rush aring in here to buy on this. >> to be in crisis control mode i'm sure they are. take a look at the health care stocks -- bearing in mind that a federal judge declared obamacare the

affable care act unconstitutional or look at that. down 13% all of them down a center -- 17 i'm sorry. down 9% anthems down. they're taking quite a big hit. obviously, health care stocks are down on this. >> keep in mind the health care stocks the hospital stock, they have profited immensely from these government subsidiaries so you pull them away from them the potential of them pulled away from them they don't have free ride anymore so i would not want to be in the the health care stocks with the hospital stocks i think they're ahead for some tough -- >> seriously taking it on the chin look at that anthem is down 2%. >> appealed probably for legal -- forever -- for a long time and wee see how it works out now down 210 points on dow jones is industrial average down nearly 500 friday. down about 200 as of right now. collective loss in one trading

session plus ten minutes of this one. we're down over 700 point. and that's the way it is at 9:40 eastern time. how about the younger people in our audience would not know who used to say and that's the way it is. >> is that cronkite? >> it was walter cronkite younger people never heard of him for herchs sake. >> baseball player. >> i knew him. [laughter] >> thank you so much. jeff seeger jack -- you know who walter cronkite is. >> had a chocolate bar. >> klondike. google announcing plans to expand a new york headquarters investing billion dollars -- and adding 7,000 new jobs. in new york it shall how about that? that's like amazon they're coming to big apple full details, coming up. first, though, democrats vowing to fight to bring back state and local tax deductions. the democrats want to bring back. it is manage to pull that off what does that mean for the

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market down a little bit more in last couple of minutes now down 26761.1% down that is clearly, volatility has not gone away. , of course, remember nissan chair carlos ghosn out of course they have failed to find a successor so -- liz nissan and are they in limbo. they're in limbo and he owns at least 40% of nissan so now they're demanding an emergency shareholder meeting to somebody to lead the company.

it is probably worst crisis in decades carlos ghosn was arrested it in tokyo for misusing corporate funds underreporting his income to evade taxes so -- a leadership crisis right now. >> read are the wreath journal what he's alleged to done it isa very interesting article. wall street journal good stuff. politics, democrats vowing for a i thought too to bring back state and tax deduction remember salt, got rid of the deduction for state and local taxes. the democrats want to bring that deduction back. joining us now is art laugher former reagan economist. what do you say to that look i personally would love to see it because -- that salt killed me but -- it did. you just did. >> public service at its best. just joking. [laughter] i mean, what's chance was them bringing that deduction back? >> about as much chance as i can understand why ghosn would try to cheat on taxes when he makes

that much money. i mean, why would you cheat on tax and ruin it all but for state and local tax duction shouldn't be there at all and simply what it is is you have a subsidy from federal government for your state and local taxes which subsidize the high tax states and that shouldn't happen it shouldn't be democrat republican liberal or conservative those deox duction are inappropriate and shouldn't be there. now whether they can come back and appeal to people in places like connecticut and new york and california. and minnesota, whether those states can pull up enough political votes to do it i don't know. but -- that's where it lies there shouldn't be any and we've been moving over last 40 years to get rid are of those deductions. >> okay not new. okay from a personal point of view, it is very important subject. but then we'll get to it. >> i don't know how i would do it from my standpoint it is important too because you're paying taxes and i don't to pay taxes as much as i love you

dearly. >> in allness if you did bring back deduction for state is and local taxes it would wreck the tax reform program. because that salt in a no deduction state is and local taxes that will bring in a ton of money for the treasury -- in the first quarter of next year. >> so do other thing like google getting subsidies is from states. you know they lose the revenue in washington state totally because they moved. and then they get all of these deductionses so they don't get rev are knew in states state and local governments are just classic spenders and resources, they do it in every single move they can. and you know that i got to be why toangt you throw out government in new york and new jersey with high accident tays stuart. why don't you revolutionize the place because people deserve the governments they get and if you want to sit there, in these high tax state and not join me in tennessee with no income tax i don't get you. we could have a beautiful fox studio here. a big building just like it is, in fact, we also have a mcgraw

and hill here too. >> thank you ashley. i thought someone would join us. thank you, thank you. thank you, thank you. ashley by the way is only fellow native tennessee in the the group. you can tell by the action. i'll be coming native floridian fox studio in naples i'm down -- >> naked floridian scared me to death in your case stuart. i just -- what can i tell you, help me. i'm moving to california. >> okay. okay one stuart i have to fit it in half of americans say they did not get a raise in this karnd year what happened we've got a very strong economy. half did not get a raise. >> well more than half aren't working. so those guys didn't get a raise are, obviously. but if you look at the working population i don't know that -- half is a low number or high number but it seems like a -- you know doesn't seem like a terribly low number to me a lot of them got raises by just getting jobs you know that's -- best raise are of all. >> you can tell us they're going

to get a wage raise in 2019 because pressure on wages is to go up not down or sideways but to go up. >> yes, if this boom continues if we don't have complete disruption of the economic plans, i don't see any reason why we wouldn't have nice growth this coming year. if that happens stuart you're going to see wage withs go up nicely. but do remember those wage numbers are really held artificially low because the people coming in to labor force are usually at the very bottom so the average wage rises muchless than the wage of any fixed group of people. >> yeah fair point to make there. fair enough. see you again soon. >> awfully fun being with you guys by the way. [laughter] >> awe. why that guy would cheat on his taxes. why would he do that? >> what can i say except that i would love to join you in tennessee okay. simple as that. nissan guy. nissan guy why cheat on his taxes? >> he went to great lengths to

do. using shell company all over place to build in beirut. >> it is just crazy how much is enough? >> good question. it is never enough as far as i'm concerned. [laughter] thank you very much tin deed we'll see you soon. damage has been done. now down up almost 300 points. this 29 of the dow 30 on the the downside. apple with a software judgment to iphones in china we're told that this is a kind of effort to avoid a sales been over there. i'm not sure how that work bus we'll have details for you. apple stocking now up just a fraction. we'll be back. place, the xfinity xfi gateway.

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called volatility still there down 280 points on the dow

industrials down 93 on nasdaq. all of the major indicators are down better than 1%. apple updating its iphone the software is iphones in china, why? >> they believe that their latest version of software will help them skirt around what is the patent fight with say they ban sale of iphone because of this patent fight. the the iphone says we can get around this. and we'll, you know, this ios12 update will get us around it so we'll see. apple is one big tech name that is a little bit higher this morning in otherwise big down market maybe that was it. stay on trade, stay on china. remember, what -- i really need an update on what's going on with these china trade talks and 0-day deadline

it has quiet and china economy is not doing very well but that's all we've got we need a status on somebody who knows what's beginning on that would be jordan chang or asia watcher what's gipping on what should i know about this? >> well, there is there are those trade talks. a lot of people are saying there's an agreement because the pressure on the president to have something. and clearly that would help the stock market. but the chinese economy right now i think puts a lot of pressure on the chinese to come to terms with the u.s. because we're see some pretty dreadful you remember ins coming out they're underperforming already low expectations and stuart, this is a really bad indicator that national bureau statistics in beijing told province not to produce its purchasing managers index what they're trying to do is essentially control the flow of economic information that's never a good sign. china is really in trouble. >> and that gives us leverage over china. but it doesn't solve the problem

of saving face. any agreement that chinese side must save face they can't take an flat out defeat in public they can't do that so what kind of formula would allow a face saving agreement for both sides? >> you know, i don't know if there is because the chinese rule arer now own it is this trade dispute with the u.s.. he's basically taking power from everybody which means that he's responsible for everything that goes wrong and 2018 has been a pretty bad year for him. so i think that he pretty much believes that he's got the humiliate the united states in order to contain his enemies. and so that mean for him he's really got to put the hard word on trump i don't think there's a face saving way for both sides i think he believes he has to win. >> but he could put a face saving maneuver on the surface by going after president trump but agreeing to something privately and quietly that would

satisfy mr. trump. i mean, the elements of the deal there's enough pressure on both sides for a deal of some sort to emerge is that what you're telling us? >> well, you know that's the way it should work. but the mr. speakers inside beijing right now are somewhat bizarre and so i think that that really puts him at a precarious position meaning that he really feels that he should take china to the edge because look, if he doesn't do well on this stuart, he probably will lose power and maybe even his freedom. so ting that really the incentive for him are to drive a very hard bargain with the the united states. you know, and we've seen some pretty tough chinese positions inspite of the bad economic news, and a, obviously, xi jinping knows that we know that he's in a weak position but nonetheless driving this train really hard. smg he is. jordan thank you very much sir see you again soon. check that big board down 260 point i won't call this stability but volatility that's

what we've got down 1% a big number on house hoing at the top of the hour. how do home builders feel about the housing industry? that number could move the market and we'll have it for you as gas tax rise and voters not ready to pay for climate change, and france just one example. my take coming up. 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.

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stuart: 10:00 in new york. 7:00 in california. breaking news on the housing sector. ash, i think you got the number. ashley: just got it. comes in at 56, well under what we were hoping for. stuart: wait a second this is how homebuilders feel about the -- ashley: how they rate the current and future level of home sales. coming in at 56. the estimate was for a 60. for the several months through this year we've been at 68, 67. we're down to 56. in line with other real estate

information we've been getting over the months, there is a steady, slow, decline. there is another indication the confidence level from the homebuilders, anything above 50 is still positive i would like to point out. it is not as high as was expected to be. stuart: confidence declining a little bit. optimism declining a little bit in the housing market. we need more on this, money map press strategist, keith fitz-gerald. joins us on the program. keith, another disappointing number on the housing market. not catastrophic, a little disappointing. what is the key problem here? >> i think it is psyche. it impacts various industries differently. these guys have to order material well in advance. they have to bank the land. there are all contracts set in place. this is big one to me, stuart, down to graphically,. stuart: as an indicator for future of the market and economy, it is not that great? >> no. i think it is actually downright

bad. i don't want to use the word to dampen monday morning. but you know what? this is not a god figure whatever way you cut it. ashley: is this an excuse for the fed to be more dovish which is the market wants to hear from the fed? this is another example take your foot off the gas for interest rates? >> that is what you would think, ash. that is logical point. the fed is not logical. they go on the other side of the spectrum. i think they put themselves in a box. they will raise rates to prove they can do it. >> that number is 3 1/2-year low. stuart: 3 1/2-year low. all right. we'll have more on this. by the way in our next hour. we have jerry howard on the program. ceo of national association of home builders on the state of the housing market, or the all right. now this. the market is down 213 points. now down 208 points. maybe you were right, ash. ashley: executive producer pointed out maybe bad news is

good news again. stuart: could be. maybe the fed will not rush to raise rates as we thought if you have a strong economy. now we're down 211 points. the nasdaq, s&p, big board, the dow all negative for 2018. now this. the riots in france appear to have died down over the weekend a little bit at least but the protests have left their mark and they have left a message for climb mart warriors the world over, america included and that message is two-fold. first, voters are not prepared to pay more for energy now to solve a distant problem. the french are not going to pay a penny more for gas just because emannuel macron wants to play his part in climate change. they already pay $7 a gallon. second point, voters are not prepared to sacrifice their standard of living while the world's largest carbon poe hutter does nothing. we often forget the paris climb

at accord to allow china to pump out carbon without any check until 2030 when it pledged to try to cut emissions n short the greens have a problem. the their climate solutions won't fly with voters. that means democrats have a problem. they are the party of the greens. they rarely say it, fighting climate change is part of their 2020 campaign. but it is not on the list of voter concerns. if they propose climate action that hurts your standard of living they will have a hard time to convince voters it is worth it. conclude from this editorial in today's "wall street journal" here it is. according to a nasa satellite survey the earth has gotten greener, thanks in large part of rising concentration of that vital plant food, co. 2. that means we're able to feed not only rising population but give the poorest among us a more nutritious diet. the french strikers have a

better grip on reality than their ruling elites. democrats, please, take note. the second hour of "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ more on my editorial coming up later this hour but first, right now let's get to president trump tweeting about the border wall funding. here is that tweet:"anytime you hear a democrat saying you can have good border security without a wall, write them off as another politician fighting the party line. time for us to save billions of dollars a year, have at the same time far greater safety and control. former deputy assistant to gw bush, brad blakeman is with us. all right, brad, there is a government should down looming, the president taking a hard-line, schumer says you will not get the wall. that looks like a shutdown will happen.

which side are voters on? >> i think they will be on the president's side, only if the president makes his case to the american people in advance of the closure. my advice to the president is, do what only you can do, mr. president, that is address the nation. in prime time, lay out your case. tell us why border security is important for the shutdown, why you're shutting the government down. what is the purpose behind it, what is the benefit of it. i think the president, if he does that, then perhaps hits the road for a couple days and keeps the americans focused on the attention of why democrats are doing this to our country, surrendering our sovereignty he wins the issue. stuart: why do you think the democrats are doing this? because in terms of money in a 4 trillion-dollar budget the two sides are about, what, $4 billion apart on funding for the wall? that is not a great -- what is that? .01% of the total budget, something like that? why are the democrats digging in their heels saying the president will not get the wall? >> they're sacrificing our

sovereignty for political points this is part of their resistance. they think they can wear the president down and avoid the responsibility that they have to secure our nation. donald trump will win this issue. the american people understand that border security has to do with sovereignty of our country. and their own personal safety. and the fact that 12 million illegals are here because since our inception as a nation we have never tackled the border security like we should have. stuart: what about all of these investigations? virtually every aspect of president trump's private life and his political life as president, almost every aspect, is under some kind of investigation or probe. does that interfere with his ability to get a deal on the wall? >> it should not. if the president -- stuart: but does it? >> no, i don't think the president will allow it and that's the whole idea is that the president want as showdown, then el, democrats are going to

get one. the question is, how will the american people receive isn't they will receive it well if the president explains it. this is part of the democratic resistance. they have done this since the day of the election of the despite it, the president had great success because he stuck to his agenda. stuart: brad blakeman, thank you, sir. i will look at individual companies. start with johnson & johnson. it is denying a report that came from reuters late last week, that johnson & johnson knew for decades about asbestos in its baby powder. johns and johns has a strong statement. i will read you just part of it j&j attorneys provided reuters with hundreds of documents and directly responded to dozens of corrections to correct misinformation and falsehoods. reuters repeatedly refused to meet with our representatives to review the facts. keith fitz, back with us now. what is going on? how bad after problem is this

for j&j? they have come back with a very strong statement here? >> well they have and you can read it two-ways, stuart. either they're denying it, they know it is true and want to set up a lawsuit defense and they're really serious there was never any asbestos. this is their big tobacco moment for a lack of a better term. stuart: that is a terrible thing. they will be driven down? >> i tell you what? they will still have solid earnings. they're still a great company doing lots of things right. the way i look at it this could bring the market right to you, if you're a long term investor this the kind of stock i would think seriously nibbling into with every down-tick. stuart: a possible buying opportunity at this point, 129 on j&j. come way down from 150 couple days ago. good heavens. one stock i know you're buying, kimberly clark, tissues and pampers, right? >> absolutely. the world may be a tough place. they may not like the politics. we may have china, "brexit," you

name it, lots of long and distinguished things in the headlines, hardly distinguished. one in 25 of people in the world use kimberly product every day. tissues, paper products t has a great dividend. it is solid. it respects its shareholders. if you play defense, go on the offense that is how you make money in time as an investor. stuart: keith, are you the guy that brought us a story in japan, they have such a low birth rate the sale of adult diapers exceeds baby diapers. you brought us that, didn't you? >> that was me. yes i did. the world is continuing to change. here is the thing, stuart, in the united states we'll flip-flop around 2030. so we may, believe it or not have the same situation here. stuart: merry christmas, everyone. keith, thank you very much, indeed, sir. we'll bear in mind the birth rate in america and japan. thank you very much, sir. see you again sir. big hour coming up for you.

you heard my i had tomorrow at the top of the hour i say the riots in france left a message for climate warriors all over the world. voters are not key paying more for energy to fix a future problem. more on that discussion coming up. judge in texas striking down obamacare. i will ask the attorney general of indiana, what now for obamacare and health care? crisis continues in venezuela. two million fled in the past three years. they're driven even more dire predictions for next year. we continue to ask, what is the endgame for venezuela? and you are watching the second hour of "varney & company." ♪

stuart: i could say the market coming back a little and it is a little. we were down over 200. now it is down 166. look at jcpenney, any improvement there? no. foot traffic at its stores up 10% if you measure from black friday to decent the the 9th compared to last year. the stock is at $1.18. jack-in-the-box is exploring a possible sale of the company. when you say that, the stock goes up. this morning jack-in-the-box up 6.25%.

we have a federal judge in texas ruled obamacare is unconstitutional. several states joined that lawsuit, including indiana and we happen to have with us by great good fortune, the attorney general of great state of indiana, curtis hill with us this morning. mr. attorney general, welcome to the show. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: you won the suit. the affordable care act is unconstitutional. well now what? >> now what congress finally has an opportunity to do the right thing and work towards a solution not only provides adequate health care and sufficient health care that is affordable through a constitutional framework. the problem we had here was that obamacare was predicated on a tax, a tax penalty and back in 2012 we were all shocked that the supreme court found obamacare constitutional but the basis, the sole basis for that constitutional determination was it's a tax and congress has the authority to tax. well, last year, congress

repealed the tax so that zeroed down the tax penalty in obamacare for the individual mandate. stuart: yep. >> that made the individual mandate unworkable from a congressional standpoint. they said so when they enacted this back in 2009, the federal judge agreed. we filed suit last february saying look, if the constitutionality of this act is based solely on the taxing authority of congress, and they're now is no longer a tax, then the individual mandate must fail. stuart: okay. >> that is what the court decided last friday. stuart: that means that the government cannot lay down the law say you have to cover this, this, and this and you must have coverage, that's gone? >> i certainly believe that people should have insurance. i think it's a smart move. stuart: right. >> but whether the government should require it, mandate it, that is entirely different matter. once the government starts doing that, you're getting into loss of choice, loss of options, higher costs. these are all the problems we're facing. we're not addressing policy what we did, we're addressing the

rule of law. stuart: but you do have to have policy coming out of congress. what a mess you've got. >> congress has to lead. they? their opportunities in the past. first of all they gave us this the first place. when we had the opportunity to fix it within the last two years, how many folk west know campaigned on the concept they would fix obamacare. they would repeal and replace. nothing happened. >> it was a disaster. >> good news, attorney generals across the state, across the country, worked together determined there was opening here not for the purpose of trying to bump people from their coverage. that is not the objective. the objective what we need to do in the country has to be in principles of rule of law and the constitution. if we can do anything within that constitutional framework to provide sufficient coverage, and bottom line, solid care, then that is what we need to do. stuart: okay. here is my opinion. once the government gives something is, it cannot take it away. >> that -- stuart: what you got right now

is enormous number of people have heavily subsidized health care, and tens of millions who get it for free. you've given, that you can't take that back. >> you can't take it back but be forced into a position with a provision that is unconstitutional. as it works through nothing will change as everyone noted. there is going to be appeals through the fifth circuit. ultimately this may go to the supreme court f that happens, we'll get a finality with regard to the constitutional provision f it is determined to be unconstitutional, something has to change. this is congress's opportunity. don't wait until we have a decision from the supreme court one way or the other. work on it now. determine a bipartisan solution, if it is going to have preexisting conditions, i think most americans are feeling very comfortable about the concept of preexisting conditions they didn't before, put it in. put it in is constitutionally sound way. stuart: bipartisan agreement in this country. >> there is an oxymoron.

stuart: i won't go into that. mr. attorney general, thanks very much for joining us. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: much obliged. there is google, announcing, how about this, a billion dollar campus in manhattan, new york city. where is the fanfare? liz: no tax breaks about it. we're not seeing any word about tax breaks or the city to google. this is a major expansion on google's part. a billion dollars along the hudson river, the west village. double the amount of people working in google in the new york city area to 15,000. stuart: when you say campus, new structure and building in manhattan. >> they're building along the westside highway. they bought the chelsea market billion for 2.4 billion couple years ago. they have a whole city block down there. google owns it. this is the second high-tech company besides amazon investing in the new york city area. apple, all the tech companies, interesting phenomenon, they're

buying real estate in the united states. apple is doing it. amazon is doing it. google is doing it. expanding outside of silicon valley. stuart: i want to know what did they get as far as tax breaks an incentives to build in manhattan? really. a great store though. thank you, liz. liz: sure. stuart: mexico setting up job fair for the migrants stuck in mexico? one-stop shopping to file for asylum and get a job. how about that? seems to me though, that the caravan people are now mexico's problem, and they have got to take care of this. we have the story. check the big board. we're only down 176 points, .73%. more "varney" after this. ♪

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stuart: price of gold creeping back to $1245 an ounce. 1. brazil's embraer finalized the terms of the proposed deal, to sell 80% of commercial aviation business to boeing. boeing is up three bucks. embraer is up 4%. here is intriguing story. put up netflix stock please. tailor swift, bruce springsteen, huge concert this is calendar year, both shows are available on netflix. what is that all about?

>> liz: astonishing have tickets to see the springsteen show on netflix. i'm joking. basically the springsteen showing on broadway growth, already, more than $111 million. these are the two top grossing musical performances, taylor swift, $250 million. both available on netflix. stuart: they spent billions son content? this one caught my attention, "aquaman." movie made by warner brothers, subsidiary of at&t. it brought in $260 million on the foreign box office. >> this is interesting. they decided not to get end of year pack of films. transformers, coming out. they debuted in china. in early decent. already fast approaching a 300 million-dollar mark before it even opens in the u.s. it will open in north america. december 21st. so the numbers are very strong. with very a graphic now of what

the average box office stats have been like in 2016 and 2017. december 2017. average box office, 1.6 billion. average last year, 1.7 billion. we could eclipse that in 2018. moral of the story. big superhero movies, seem to draw a lot of people in, more people are doing to the movies. stuart: more people may a lot more money on videogames. ashley: more people like the big chairs with big recliners. liz: unless you have people snoring. stuart: hand gesture from ashley stuart: i go to cinemas where you can order a drink if you want to. sit back with meal and a drink. ashley: i agree. stuart: big social media companies. they have become a tool for spreading misinformation for

political gain. that is according to senate report. russia exploited networks in the past election. i want to know what that means for facebook and google. the stock is down. back in a moment.

♪ stuart: that is ashley for you. not mine. done it better for you than i have. liz: i have utter silence. i can't sing. stuart: i love this song. quiet on the set. we come back, we were down 250.

now we're down 150. we'll take it. big tech names, used to be a few minutes ago, all down. pretty much the same. facebook, amazon down. apple is up. alphabet down. microsoft down. there you have it. best buy, i believe that stock is not at the loy of its calendar year. b-of-a says, downgraded, they're saying sell it on slowing tv and iphone sales. didn't know that. but best buy is down on that downgrade. a senate report finds russia used social networks to promote then candidate donald trump in the 2016 election. come in harvard law fellow, vivek wadhwa. you respond to this report from the senate. sounds like pretty daming stuff. >> stuart, whether governments do it is not called fake news, it is called propaganda. this is what they do. not only the russians that are doing it. it is also the iranians and also

the north koreans and most of all the chinese this is what governments do against governments. the question we need to be asking, why is the tech industry doing all this surveillance and profiling and then, why are they making it available to anyone and everyone at practically no price? in other words giving this away, this information away for nothing. you can steal it from them at will. if you want to do advertising, you can buy it from them in rubles. this is what problem is over here. our own companies have weaponized social media. they're selling it to the lowest bidders. stuart: they're not going to get away with it forever, are they? >> i hope not. >> this is why it is good. government has become a a wear. this is not happening without you are being aware of it. just happened using russia in the elections as well as everyone else. they got caught. something has to be done about it for sure. stuart: i have this feeling of big brother. i said this many times on the

program. i think you're in agreement with me, vivek. i have two items i would describe as big brotherrish. a new patent shows amazon may be trying to create a database of suspicious persons using facial recognition. that is a big problem for problem. >> it's a problem. and telling the it anyone that wants to buy it from them. scary. stuart: facebook looks for a patent that predict your destination before you get there. these are two items that stink of big brother right? >> i completely agree with you, my friend this is terrifying. this is the dark side of technology. there are no checks and balances on these companies. it is all about money, money to them. they will sell their souls in return for money. very worrisome. stuart: how do you stop this? facial-recognition technology, how do you stop a company from recognizing every person in the world, knowing exactly who they are and identifying them as they walk down the street or communicate with anybody else? what do you do about that?

>> stuart, regulations are generally bad but regulations also needed in things like this. we need to basically tell these companies that they're not allowed to capture our information and store it and if they do, store it, and it gets stolen, they're going to pay heavy penalties for this. it will cost them billions of dollars. so you have to stop them by law. i mean we need protects. this is why we have the constitution. this is why we have laws to protect us. this is the basic human right we are entitled to our own privacy, that we're not, watching us everywhere we go. watching everything we do. next thing amazon wants boxes in our house they already do. alexa screens, they want to watch our conversations 24/7, predicting what we do, when they will do it, selling information to whoever wants it. this should not be allowed. this is good it is coming to the surface. it has been hag too long. there are no ways to stop this. we have to do it.

stuart: vivek, you're our social media watcher. >> thank you. stuart: we have the united nations, they expect at least two million more venezuelans will flee their country next year, extra two million. mary anastasia o'grady, opinion columnist with "the wall street journal." you specialize in latin america. >> yes. stuart: deal with the thing about the russian bombers. they appeared in venezuela for couple days. they have withdrawn. what the devil is going on? >> those same bombers, tu-160s, can carry nuclear weapons were there in 2018. they were there again in 2014. now they came again. so i think that is very much of a signaling on the part of moscow to say and the kremlin to say, you know what? you come over here and put your nose into the ukraine, or crimea, we can be there. that is one problem. but the other problem is, russia actually is getting, gaining a

foothold in the hemisphere. we're not doing anything about it. stuart: we have reports, of the continued disintegration within venezuela. i'm sure you can back this up. we have women forced to have babies on on on colombia side. when they are forced into colombia, they have to buy every kind of medical supply imaginable to take back into venezuela. these are constant stories we keep hearing. >> yeah. stuart: the regime is still in place. i come back to this every time i talk to you. >> but it's a full-blown military dictatorship. not that different from cuba. we have a lot more reporting on this than we do about the scarcities in cuba. it is very similar to the sense that the objective is not to fix the economy. the objective is not to end hyperinflation or change living standards. the objective is, look, we got a foothold here in south america. we are not giving it up. russia, iran and cuba are working together to insure that that stays.

it is a military dictatorship. they don't care how many people leave. they want to maintain that territory in south america, it allows them to do all sorts of evil things on the continent, looking north. >> what is the endgame? there are three choices. some kind of a military action from the outside or inside. some kind of military action we're pretty violent. or somebody buys off the maduro government, gives them a bunch of passports to get out of dodge, go live in switzerland? >> i don't see that happening. i don't see outside intervention either. i think the best possibility of some change would come from the inside, either, you know, some kind of a coupe, a military uprising within, says, look we don't want people to live this way. i'm not holding out very high hope for that because, they said, cuba is 60 years, military dictatorship. stuart: that's right. >> iran since 1979.

once you have this kind of mechanism set up and it is all about the military and maintaining the territory. they don't care how many people die or leave or live terrible lives, then you know, it is very hard to dislodge it. unless you have a war. i don't see the u.s. taking any action there. stuart: it goes on and on and on, doesn't it. what a dreadful thing. mary an stacia o'grady thank you very much. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: ash, welcome back, by the way. you spent a week over there. ashley: and nothing's changed. believe me. monumental political impasse no one can really predict how this is going to end. mrs. may is trying to sell a plan the eu will not change, which mps don't like and will never vote for. what are you left with? suggestions from tony blair and former prime minister john major says you have to go back to a

second referendum. david cameron who created this mess, find out indicative votes of parliament find out which way the mps are leading? do they want norway-style brex sit. managed brex sit. or a clean break? all this is dancing around the critical issue, we voted for "brexit," how the heck do we do it. this is just the divorce deal. we haven't begun negotiating future relationship will look like. prime minister says she has to vote from whatever plan she san put together by january 21st. stuart: january 21st, okay. ashley: of next year. they're leaving march 29th. if they do go to second referendum, god forbid they have to push back the "brexit" date. stuart: that is the prime minister speaking live. ashley: i can tell you right now it will be a short speech. she got nothing. stuart: ash, good stuff. good to see you back. shakeup at the white house mick mulvaney named chief of staff,

ryan zinke out. media painting this chaos in the white house. mercedes schlapp with us. what does she make of chaos in the white house? she is coming to us from the white house. you heard my editorial at white house. voters will not pay more for energy to fix a future problem, especially when countries like china can do what they like. we're on it. ♪ (indistinguishable muttering) that was awful. why are you so good at this? had a coach in high school. really helped me up my game. i had a coach. math. ooh. so, why don't traders have coaches? who says they don't? coach mcadoo! you know, at td ameritrade, we offer free access to coaches and a full education curriculum- just to help you improve your skills.

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♪ ashley: former reagan economist art laffer said state and local tax deductions may have been eliminated but they shouldn't have existed in the first place. take a listen. >> state and local tax deductions shouldn't be there at all. the rhine is very simply what it is, you get a subsidy from the federal government for your state and local taxes which subsidized the high-taxed states. that shouldn't happen. it shouldn't be democrat, republican, liberal or conservative. those deductions are inappropriate and shouldn't be there. whether they can come back, whether it appeals to people in places like connecticut and new york and california and minnesota, whether those states can pull up enough political votes to do it, i don't know, but, that's where it lies. there shouldn't be any.

we've been moving over the last 40 years to get rid of those deductions. ♪ stuart: talk about volatility, we went into the commercial break with the dow off 200. now we come back we're down 136, about a half percentage point lower, up and down all day. back to my editorial, top of the hour. my statement is, voters are not willing to pay to fix climate

change. they're certainly not willing to fix climate change while the world's largest carbon polluter, china, does nothing about it. let's bring in climate depot's mark murano. i'm making two points, mark. number one, voters won't pay more for energy to fix a problem down the road. number two, voters will not sacrifice now while china does nothing. where am i going -- are you with me on this? >> yeah, completely. from a political, economic, climate, and cost benefit analysis point of view, you are 100% correct. what's happened now is we've seen the face of climate tax failure and it is french president emannuel macron. he is the face. he made himself the poster boy of the u.n., paris climate pact. he told middle class french, who are facing skyrocketing fuel taxes from his policies, that they can wait for public transit

and carpool. they have to be in it to save the world because what they're doing is nobody. none of the french are buying it. that rebellion is spreading. stuart: my editorial at the top of the hour, i quoted from "the wall street journal" today, an editorial about climate change and the french, so the last few lines noted that nasa, north american space administration, using satellites, shows that the world is a lot greener than it used to be because, there is more carbon and that is plant food. i mean that is kind of the other side of climate change, isn't it? is that a positive side to it? >> absolutely. peer reviewed studies showing greening of planet earth including deserts. in my book the political incorrect guide to climate change, i quote nobel winning scientists that the earth is in a co2 famine. co2 historically, geologically speak something low. the idea that the united nations says we face a catastrophe 100 years ago unless we sacrifice

today, no one buys it scientifically and instinctively on a human level. we have protests in canada and brazil canceling the u.s. climate summit. a lot of credit goes to president donald trump, pulling united states out of paris agreement is causing a domino effect. after the summit i got back from in poland, u.n. climate summit, saudi arabia, kuwait, russia, all refusing to sign on the alarmist u.n. report came on in october this is major progress for people who care about energy security and sovereignty and against the u.n. agenda. stuart: now i take no position. i'm not, in my editorials i'm not arguing that yes, it, climate change exists, yes it is human, i don't take a position, but what is your position? is the, is the planet warming, and if it is warming, is it result of human activity? where do you coming from? >> very simple. humans impact the climate but any impact is indistinguishable from the past. in other words you cannot distinguish a human concept.

i have chapters in my book, quoting former united nations scientists turned against the u.n. making that point. i would go further. even if, even if you believe we face a climate crisis if we had to rely on the united nations and epas through climate taxes to save us we would all be doomed. they admit their solution was have no impacts on the climate. u.n. paris agreement was supposed to save it. the u.n. freely admits three years from that, that is completely inadequate according to their latest predictions. so, this is a this political and economic movement. has nothing to do with the actual climate. they're talking about central transformation, that is what the u.n. climate head, we seek central transformation to make the climate different. they're using a climate scare on people. as we've seen in france where they are the most advanced in terms of implementing this policy, they're utterly failing.

stuart: mark murano thank you for being with us. one day i will see your opinions and studies quoted in the mainstream media. that may be a long way away. >> thanks. i consider you mainstream, stuart. stuart: you do? i guess i'll take it. why not. there you go. thank you, sir. >> thank you. stuart: seems migrant caravan is now mexico's problem, since president trump won't let them in here, mexico has to deal with those migrants who are on the south side of our border. what are you going to do with them? it is mexico's problem. we'll have this one out for you. check the big board. come back some more. down 142. not bad. volatility first. 23,957. more "varney" a moment. ♪ ♪ there's no place like home ♪

argh! i'm trying... ♪ yippiekiyay. ♪ mom. ♪

stuart: two ex-associates of michael flynn charged with lobbying for turkey. we're monitoring it. details are coming in. we don't appear to have affected the big board or stock trading. we come back a little bit. one moment this morning, check the big board, we were down 250. now we're down 135. the news about flynn's associates did not move this market. in fact, nor has any of the political scandal that we've heard about in recent weeks. this has not been a factor on the markets. latest on on the migrant caravan is south of our border. mexico, they're holding a job fair for the migrants. they're helping them file for asylum in mexico. come on in former dhs chief of staff, chad sweet. chad, this is now mexico's

problem, right? >> it is. i give tremendous credit to the administration, secretary nielsen and secretary mattis holding the line forced the asylum seekers to stay on the mexican side of the border. what that has done, stuart, if you seek a asylum you have to have credible claim of fear, all the asylum-seekers have to claim why the credible fear could not be helped by staying in mexico than the united states. that winnowed majority of applicants to true core few. that is why we see the caravan dissipating this is early christmas present to the american people that should be greatly appreciated. stuart: but mexico played a role in this. they must be cooperating if they're doing a jobs fair, allowing people to stay, get asylum in mexico. they're playing their part as well. just as our president demanded. >> it's a huge issue. this is the chief of staff at homeland security. they don't even have their own border patrol. what they saw on their own southern border was overwhelmed,

they saw videos of that, they're taking this very seriously. it cannot be overstated how impressive what a diplomatic coupe has been secretary nielsen of dhs working with the mexican government was able to get that kind of cooperation especially from a new, incoming administration in in administration in mexico. the rhetoric was a little anti-american, to this behind the scenes, it shows u.s. and mexico are collaborating in very close way. stuart: chad, looks to me like president trump won in the sense that most of the migrants didn't get in, most of the migrant caravans are not on the way. that is north form of trump win? >> it's a huge deterrent signal. look at it, no one died. yes there was use of tear gas but again, non-lethal force to maintain and hold the line at the border. if they had not held the line at the border, we would have seen more encouragement, more waves

of these types of incidents. that is why we saw the horrible death of a, tragic death of this child, the 7-year-old, that is the kind of thing that is incented if we don't hold the line like this. so the compassionate caring thing to do is hold the line. i come from a state, it's a border state in texas where we have a saying, good fences make good neighbors. i think the mexican government appreciates that. stuart: what about the possible government shut down if president trump does not get the find billion dollars for the wall. is it worth shutting down the government for a wall. what say chad sweet? >> if you look at deterrent signal got sent, had been done much more effectively had that been in place. what the president was asking for, i was chief of staff, when i came in out of 6,000 miles of border there, were only 73 miles of fence. we built 73 miles of fence. we did it talking to border sector chiefs, boots on the ground, commanders, tell us where they needed it. the president is not asking for

sea to shining sea fence or wall. what he is asking for strategically placed infrastructure. that's why i think in the end, if it is necessary a shutdown could happen but remember, 75% of the government is already funded through september next year. we're only talking about 25% of the government that could be affected. the president's leverage is better now than it will be in a year from now. stuart: well-said, chad sweet, thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. stuart: the 2020 presidential election, really is already taking shape. i know it is very, very early days but i think the debate is taking shape. we don't know who the eventual democrat candidate is going to be, but i think it is clear where the policy debate is going, on the left. i think it is going further and further to the left. got editorial on that coming up next. smoking with chantix.

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stuart: well, like it or not, the 2020 presidential election is taking shape although we don't know the democrat candidate will be, we can tell whether policy debate is going. it is heading to the last. the current leading democrats are all pushing giveaways. your tax money given to favored favorite constituents all in the name of making us more equal. senator sherrod brown, ohio once a huge increasing tax credit for people who pay no tax. low income people would get a check from the treasury annually and would get much bigger check than they already receive. senator kemal harris, california would do the same thing only hand out the money every month. senator corey booker, new jersey, he gets an early start with the giveaway, a baby bond of $1000 per baby given

outbursts. senator sanders, vermont says that -- senator warren, massachusetts all pushing for free college and medicare for all. they are not money giveaways committee of the taxpayer would be on the boat for massive cut. this is how it's going to be for the next two years. the president tax cut which got the economy going will be called a giveaway to rich rich corporations. now that's not true. businesses earned that money and it is theirs. it is the left which will be arguing for a real giveaway in how you pay for all this? tax the rich and take back the tax cuts for businesses. we are 23 months away from the next presidential election. 23 months of political attacks on the president and the vote for me, both for free money entitlement coming at you from the left. we've seen this movie before. it's the modern form of socialism. it laid the democrats want to make america more like europe. surely we don't want to copy

their obvious failure. the third hour of "varney & company" about to begin. ♪ you heard what i have to say about giveaways. let's get reaction from steve moore, chief economist at the heritage foundation and author of the new and great book, chomping on experience what am i getting wrong? i agree with everything you said. i might disagree with your conclusion though. i don't think america sweden. we are not moved in the direction of sweden. american voters will reject that. i think if you get a candidate out of the democrat side of the aisle, stuart comment is proposing for everything from a free child care, free checks in the mail, free day care, free health care, all these things given the american people will reject that.

one other quick thing you mention are corporate tax cut, business tax cuts as you know larry kudlow and i helped devise up for the president. every time we talked about this with then candidate donald trump he wanted to make sure this will benefit the middle class. this is about helping wealthy corporations and rich people. it was about making companies better off so they would invest and hire more workers can't pay them more and that's her trump has the upper hand in this debate because as you know, wages are rising after-tax incomes are rising for workers. consumer spending this christmas season people feel better about their financial situation. so i think americans like the way this economy is going. they don't want the government taking more money away from them to give them back free things. stuart: let me talk to you about your op-ed in "the wall street journal." the headline was the trump room was no mere sugar high. that was what so many economists are saying this.

the temporary bump, a sugar high and we may get a recession next year. what is it about? >> by the way, most of those economists are saying we're going to get a recession next year are the one who's had a very high probability that donald trump if he were elected because a second great depression. i'm not sure i understand why anybody listens to those people anywhere. a lot of economists like larry summers and paul krugman and others say there is no way donald trump can get is from 3% to 4% growth. guess where we are right now. look at the latest gdp numbers over 3% for the fourth quarter we are going to end 2018 with growth of about 3.3%. that's a of a lot better than anything we had under him, and i don't see anything to slow it down. i'm looking at the market. the market is getting pessimistic view the thing that will turn out almost overnight as if trump can pull off the china deal. i think he's going to get it done and if that happens the

economy and stock market will be better than ever in 2019. stuart: just one brief shining moment. there is no trade deal. it really gets nasty. just suppose that happens. we are not going to get 3% growth in 2019 are we? >> probably not. trump is not bluffing here. he will hit them with 25% tariffs if they don't come forward with the deal. this is the battle of our lifetime and you're right this would depress gdp growth in 2019 if you can get it done. my point is low, the cost of capitulating up this point for the chinese would be much higher to the future growth rate. think about it this way. this could be short-term pain for longer-term gain. look, i think china will come to the bargaining table. i really do. they campesina 25% tariff. look at right now their warehouses are full of merchandise they can't tell.

the docs are full. the factories are full. they are stock market is already down almost 20% this year with a 10%. i'm going to bite you, stuart, i'll bet you 1 dollar to $100 that trumpets the trade deal done in early 2019 and then the economy soars. stuart: there is a challenge. you're on videotape, steve. thank you very much. we will see you again real soon. the market is well-off of its lows. we were down to 50. now we are down 73 points that day. scott martin, fox news contributor. i don't think all the political drama, the turmoil, toxic politics, about investigations and impeachment, i don't think that is hit the market at all. am i right? >> in some cases it's starting

to. here is your point but i'll agree with. it may not hit the market right in the face. namibia glancing blow kind of on the shoulder but there were times the s&p has reacted to the mall or investigation. even over the course of the midterm elections at the market did take a breather afterwards because they were worried about bipartisanship that has been lackluster in materializing. here's the thing. right now the market psychology as such or any kind of negative headline whether it's trade you were just talking about for a fed meeting this week coming up, any negative headline seems to really hit the market pretty hard because the psychology is so fragile. stuart: let's go with what steve moore was saying. but suppose we get a trade deal of sense or red china. president trump really wants it. the chinese catholic go without a trade deal. what happens to the market if we do indeed get the trade deal? >> i think the market rallies, but i've lead a somewhat

short-term because as this is drawn this is drawnout, the market has started again psychologically to find other problems. maybe a slowing economy. i know you guys pointed out the 3% gdp rate we may see for fourth quarter. the market just feels like it's starting to to concentrate on other to concentrate another weakness is the benefit of the greatness of the china deal. the point was well taken. it's a good short-term deal that plays this one for the long-term and that something as s&p 500. that's what you have to keep your eye on here. not so much the next couple months but the next couple years. stuart: most of our viewers are long-term investors and a lot of them might want to consider taking advantage. we'll see how it goes. thank you very much, sir. good stuff. as you know, there are changes at the white house admit albany will take over as that in chief of staff. he replaces john kelly. right now molding as the budget director and head of the consumer financial protection

bureau. also to interior secretary ryan zinke e.u. leaders by the end of year. president trump says his replacement will be named within the next week. what the media is calling chaos that the white house is merely turnover at the white house. it's not affected the stock market. it's come right back. we were down to 50. now we are down 50 points. there you go. the price of oil interesting. it's come down. backup $50 per barrel. i don't think the market believes opec can restrict output to the point where prices rise. backup 50 is where we are. that is why i think gas will continue to fall. obviously i'm hoping it does because i like cheap gas down 68 days in a road as of now in the average nationally is 237. $1.97 in the surrey. stuart: what a time to be alive. other stories we are watching.

about an hour ago we got the latest read on homebuilder sentiment. down again for the third straight month. next the ceo of the national association of home builders, why is the housing market in trouble? in texas district court judge ruled obamacare unconstitutional. so now what? what's the endgame for the affordable care act? were on it. looking more and more like a government shutdown could the president wants 5 billion to build a border wall. senator schumer says he will get it while in any form. the standoff. friday night is the deadline. we'll talk about all of this later this hour. ♪ (toni vo) 'twas the night before christmas,

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stuart: here's a headline. didn't get in headlines at all. google is expanding in new york city in a big way laying out details of a billion dollars plan could add 7000 jobs over the next couple of years. the new google campus no less will be in manhattan. in the west village. we don't know what tax break. maybe that's why there's no burdock of the company's announcement comes on the hills of amazon's decision for new headquarters in new york city and apple announced a second campus in austin, texas.

bottom line seems to me big tech is getting in buying and building big in the united states. check the homebuilders though. the latest read on homebuilder sentiment down for the third straight month. other words, homebuilders see such a rosy outlook in the future. look who's here. gerry howard is the ceo of the national home builders association no less. welcome, jerry. what's that smile on your face? the housing industry is in a little bit of trouble here. not quite it was a few months ago. but the basic problem? >> housing affordability. right now it's more difficult for the average american to afford and it's reflected in the senate professionals in the industry convey a monthly basis. stuart: largely because prices

have been rising in mortgage rates have been rising. those are the twin tower problem there. >> at the three-legged stool. the cost of construction has gone up right now on average 25% of the cost of a new home is in regulatory compliance. stuart: you're kidding me. >> no. that's average. in california it's more than not. stuart: the regulatory requirements are they in the name of safety are they in the name of global warming climate change in combating it? there are the name. some of them are in the name of safety. i'm in the name of environmental protection. some in the name of zoning and local regulations for people trying for certain kinds of housing in certain places and all adds up to is a longer time before you get your permits. money equals cost of the consumers. stuart: president trump said he would tackle the red tape problem in the time it takes to get anything done. but that's at the federal level.

you're telling me regulations are problem at the local level. >> the administration has done a good job of trying to make our lives easier at the federal level. we need to get the same kind of accessibility at the state-level local level and then start building housing americans can afford. the people are still out there. the people we hear from our builders people are still coming through, but we are hearing that they are not making decisions because they are having trouble understanding why is so expensive to buy a house that six months ago, yurko was more reasonably priced. stuart: give me an example of a regulation about climate change that forces the cost to. just give me one example of this. >> the cost of compliance of the clean water act at the federal level, last week for the week before they made some changes to the federal level which would make it easier. the states on their own govern what is a navigable water and in

some states a navigable water is runoff from a heavy rain for a springtime pool. when you have states protecting water that's not intended to be protected, you have builders would have to give special permits. they had to hire consultants and lawyers to come in just to get the ability to construct on the land. stuart: i was affected by the clean water regulations come in that suggestion. the president has rolled it back i think. interior department or epa rolled it back. you're telling me a local level they can still impose those? >> yes. i've got a stream running through my property in upstate new york. i was told i would have to get permission from the local authorities to move a rock 20 feet either side of mainstream. i have to lay down a plan, and environmental protection plan. how's it going to make sure the water flow is not impeded.

that's incredibly expensive and time-consuming to spam absolutely. as to the cost of housing was just an affordability crisis, which goes all the way down and increases homelessness. this is a failure and policy makers parts at every level of government. stuart: gerry howard you expose a very real problem. we appreciate that. merry christmas. stuart: president trump tweeting about the border wall. here is that tweet. anytime you hear democrats saying that you cannot order security without a wall, write them off as just another politician following the party line. time for us to save billions of dollars a year and have at the same time far greater safety and control. this had to the debate about shutting down the government wall and building it or otherwise. the president is waiting in. the price of the bitcoin is $3400 for the one anniversary of

bitcoin's peak price. a sword when yurko to well over $19,000. it is now 3400. in the last year the price has plummeted now close to $3200 as we said down 83%. just want to give you a percentage decline right there. a new congressional report says that massive data breach at equifax could have been prevented. so, who is at fault? and hasn't been corrected corrected? we've got the story for you. the most expensive zip code of 2018 is not 90210, the beverly hills is in the top five. next, we will tell you which digits took the top. ashley: that's easy to say. stuart: will be right back. ♪ introducing add on advantage,

a new way to save on travel. now when you book a flight you unlock discounts on select hotels that you can add on to your trip up until the day you leave. add on advantage. only when you book with expedia. hi.i just wanted to tell you thdependability award for its midsize car-the chevy malibu. i forgot. chevy also won a j.d. power dependability award for its light-duty truck the chevy silverado. oh, and since the chevy equinox and traverse also won chevy is the only brand to earn the j.d. power dependability award across cars, trucks and suvs-three years in a row. phew. third time's the charm...

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stuart: quicktime could read quicktime could rescue to get the most expensive zip codes. palo alto california, where the median sales price for a new home is three points $75 million. it is followed by two zip codes -- i'm sorry, one zip code in new york city 10013. los altos, california. there is too as number two on trent three and number four. and of course number five, 90210, beverly hills. check this out. i think they've got a picture. largest diamond ever discovered in north america is yellow and in canada's arctic a few weeks ago in october when it was

found. 552 carats, the size of a chicken egg cheered the company that owns the diamond mine says it's too early to find how much it's worth, but i'm thinking a lot. look at jack-in-the-box. the fast food chain considering putting itself up for sale at just 3% now. check netflix going to air for bruce springsteen and taylor swift, the ones at a party taken place. you'll see them on netflix. the stock is at $3 a 270. that's attractive. the latest on brexit printer is a printer is in a toaster predicts there will not be a second referendum. she said there will be banned for great britain. very soon we will talk to the white house about order funding and a possible government shutdown. the deadline is friday. as for the market would come all the way back down to 50, now down 48. that is a come back and we like it. back in a moment.

♪

stuart: we really have come back. we were down to 50. now we are down 50. we've got more than half the dow 30 in the red. nonetheless we are down only 50 points. look who's here. a guest who has, repeat, has been predicting a year-end rally. joel shulman has turned on a dime. and you do not now first see a year-end rally. >> i think they were not going to have a rally. right now if the markets ended the second, we would have the

worst, if it ended right now, we would have the worst december sent 1931. i don't think the markets deserve that. we've been talking all year. great interest rates are very low even though the fed is pricing them. profits are strong. we still have an opportunity for christmas rally. if we have a china announcement, dell of the market. the twin problem of china trade deal the federal reserve and interest rates. get over those you might have a real nice rally. if you don't get over than you won't have a real nice rally. >> primarily the china deal. i think that 30 been discounted on the marketplace. the china news will move things big whether it happened next week, the week after and as your listeners know it's about a one point for 9% rally between christmas and new year's. so maybe this is not the worst

we've had since 1931. right now it's about 520% down for the month and that's historically low. stuart: in my opinion, the political scandal we've seen so far has not really hurt the market. i don't know about next year when the scandal may increase. i don't know what happens then, but so far it's not hurt the market nor has circulation were shut down the government on friday night. >> i do think the scandal starting to have an effect. right after the cohen announcement. stuart: why should it? >> to the extent we don't have back in june, july, august, september when we had a leader without any political risk, we knew whenever this leader said something was going to happen, we knew in the likelihood that is going through. now it's all risk. news that before didn't bother the market is now starting to bother the market because people are sure what's going to happen

whether we will have the trade deal would not trade deal would not take out. whether there is other tax bills or other things. the risk starting with the cohen announcement is a big deal. stuart: joel shulman gummi is not turned on a dime. kind of an exaggeration. you've got problems with scandals next year and investigations. and confirmation the fed will not run away with interest rates. >> otherwise i love the interest rate. generally speaking we are still positioned for upside. if we go back to 2002, which is the last time we had something like this it was down five playmate something% in january. markets rallied for 29% the following year compounded to your return was over 19%. if we have another 2002 scenario, things are okay. if it's 1981 -- 2007 maybe not

so much. stuart: joel shulman, historian. thank you very much. let's get the latest on brexit, what there is. prime minister theresa may says parliament will vote next month. >> she's just been addressing the parliament. they all vote the week of january 14th. they will pick up the debate. the question issue says i've got new assurances from the e.u. that they were not on the irish backstop issue will keep northern ireland. good luck on this. she's going to have a real struggle to get them to vote for this deal. so then why. steve helton coming up next in david cameron has been advising the prime minister maybe she should take some indicative vote on other options whether it's no

deal for a bargain and exit or whether it's a second referendum or a norway plan. all these other options. the bottom-line initial have a hard time getting it across the line. the labor opposition party has offered nothing rather than giving jeremy corbyn and number 10 which would be a disaster. stuart: the host of the next revolution on the fox news channel. theresa may now having said there will be another vote she can't walk away from initiative last time. she's got to take the vote. futurists, isn't it? >> -- is exactly right. it doesn't seem as if anything will change between now and the next note. the fact issues cut a deal that no one really supports in parliament. there is very little prospect. giving any concessions at all because if they give any concessions the u.k. will come back for more.

the u.k. is effectively playing a game of chicken trying to close off all the other options saying there's no alternative to my deal. you can't have another referendum and she's not making any preparations for leaving the e.u. was no agreement with the e.u. she's saying this is a than stringing out the process and hope by the time the vote comes around the parliament says well, we hate this deal, but honestly it's so late now there's no alternative. that's what she's trying to do and it's terrible. stuart: i hate to ask you to speculate that here's what i'm thinking trying to carry this forward. let's suppose that there is a second referendum. i say the market goes up on not because that's what british business wants. if however their brakes crashed out of europe on march 29th, no deal, no agreement they just walk away from it, the market goes solidly south. what say you? >> i think that's exactly right.

my view is the markets would be wrong to take that judgment. the truth is this time crashing out to be the saudi deal is the only brexit that was realistically available because the e.u. and any agreement, and any deal was always going to try to punish the u.k. so why should it happen from the the beginning is to make a positive virtue of leaving us the british people voted to do without any of agreement with the e.u. you prepare for it in particular you put in place a policy agenda to make the u.k. attractive to business. that's what i've been arguing for a massive tax cut, massive deregulation announcing plans to infrastructure and so on. all of those things could have been done over the past few years about leaving. of course it's too late for any of that now. a real disaster. stuart: although president trump could make very nice sound and say we could get a real good deal going here on the same

page. i guess that's probably a slim hope but nonetheless it might work, steve. >> well, and it would degrade. under theresa may's plan, even if president trump offer that come in the u.k. couldn't take it because it's rolled out under her agreement. that's why such a bad idea. stuart: you know what you're talking about. i'm glad you're here to correct me. you'll be in great demand over the next three months and not the fact. and he'll be back. a new congressional report drama here. remember the massive data breach at equifax? could've been prevented. our next guest says congress is right it should have been prevented. the president of solar type. welcome back. good to see you again. for the layman, can you lay out

what was the fault that was not corrected? what was it? >> ensured a piece of software was out of date and they didn't realize that the software had a vulnerability in the which allowed the door to be open and that resulted in everything we know happened. stuart: just a simple thing like that. small item data software in the big mix in the got into it. >> that's right. these systems are very complicated. it's easy to say that one little thing. but there are really core measures that you can take to make sure the doors are no pin. that's why there's been so much outrage about this over the last 14 months, 18 months. this report has been known to the industry for a long period of time, which was preventable. not only the technology level, but just the ways the organization was structured in the way they thought about security wasn't going to breed

good practices. the reality is equifax is alone. over the last 18 months they've made massive changes because they recognize what needs to be happening. stuart: did they delay in telling the world what had happened because they didn't want the hackers to exploit that same fault in their system with other companies so they delay in telling the world is okay? >> well, there was a series of just like a plane crash or one of these tragedies. the whole sequence of problems in everything from the door being open at the front end to how it was handled along the way. to your point resulted in a delay and when they put out a way to help consumers, that didn't quite work out. so there were a number of problems. stuart, let me tell you. this is an industry problem. but researchers have found is that the same library that allows criminals to get into equifax is now on the rise as

far as downloads. in the last two months we've seen more downloads that reflects overall we are not thinking about security is a primary object given we have to figure out how we create the accountability model, something so we build systems we design security from the front. stuart: accountability model. i will be good. thank you for joining us. i'm sure he'll be back to you in this kind of thing in the future. as we all know, the president wants $5 billion to build a border wall as senator schumer says he won't get a wall in any form. yes it is a standout. friday night as the shutdown deadline. coming up next, mercedes shall operate from the white house. also ask about the shakeups. kelly pinky out, maldini in. we've got the story for you. ♪

>> now the judge has struck down obamacare, former house speaker newt gingrich does president trump should offer a new health care system of its own. roll tape. >> the president not to reach out certainly by the state of the union he should have a

serious or pose sold to fix the house this in terms of access, in terms of preconditions, in terms of setting the stage for what senator lamar alexander has talked about is a dramatically less expensive health system. though, i want to work with you because health is more important than partisan and play. i am not for colds. i am not for just treating my symptoms... (ah-choo) i am for shortening colds when i'm sick. with zicam. zicam is completely different. unlike most other cold medicines... ...zicam is clinically proven to shorten colds. i am a zifan for zicam. oral or nasal. for christmas because they keep getting better. there's smartouch for selfies, then there's four way stretch for flexibility. they even have smartdri. see? stays dry.

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>> even the house, majority were public and they don't have the votes for his $5 billion wall plan. in fact ryan afraid of what's going to have been sent all the house home until wednesday night, two days before the shutdown. they certainly don't have the votes in the senate. >> we will do whatever is necessary to build a border wall to stop the ongoing crisis of illegal immigration. if it comes to absolutely. stuart: clearly digging in as a partial government shutdown looks more likely. friday is the deadline. or satish lapis that desperate white house structure strategic communications. the president wants $5 billion for the wall or else. at the end of the day, is it possible to fudge this a little? a border wall, security fence

may become a different language, is that kind of fudge possible here? >> senator schumer had better stop being the grinch during this week we are facing the shutdown. what we really need to do here is find ways to get to the $5 billion for these physical barriers along the border as well as ensure we have the resources necessary to secure the border and that includes obviously technology, funds or resources such as the brave men and women of our border agents. remember, the democrats who had wanted to abolish ice. this is a moment we are negotiating with congress to get more funding and that's what we're looking at right now. stuart: hard-line president trump is no problem shutting down the government if that's what it takes. >> the president not to mention last week was shut down the government to increase funding for border security. the key here is we will see what deal the senate brings up and

looking at those details, we will basically make the determination which direction we're going to go. at the end of the day there's going to be ways in which we need to ensure we get to the over $25 billion for overall border security. that would include obviously funds for the physical barriers including the wall as well as technology and resources we need for border agents and for some time. they've been long to protect illegal immigration. president trump has been focused on protecting american communities in knots over going to look out while democrats continue to push forward and open borders a gender. stuart: at the white house there is another shakeout. ran thinking out as interior secretary. mick mulvaney replaces john kerry is chief of staff. the media has seized on this to say it is chaos in the administration. it's chaos at the white house and what is your response to the use of the word chaos?

>> is laughable. i just got out of a meeting with the president and his team and we are very focused right now increasing border security. are you focused in the upcoming year in dealing with the house of representatives controlled by democrats. obviously, like infrastructure. we will see criminal justice reform which is a bipartisan effort. here at the white house we are focused on policy result, focused on president trump's victory than his commitment to help the american people. stuart: mick mulvaney is a hard-core conservative free-market guy, less government, lower taxes. i called that flattery, mercedes. i welcome it by the way. but really, he could have an influence on the suggestion that the president is going to cut 5% from the budget of each and every department.

that could be kind is central to the next couple years with mick mulvaney as chief of staff. >> that's right. obviously, mick mulvaney is very focused in ensuring at the end of the day the president who makes the ultimate decision. we are there to provide advice and counsel to the president. i am honored to have worked with chief kelly, john kelly who has so much process in order to the white house and now i'm looking forward to working with mick mulvaney, someone who i greatly respect and has incredible experience when it comes to understanding congress. understanding the budget process and also pushing forward a strong free-market principle that as we know it had been that has been in the center of a president trump has done in terms of its economic policy. >> put them on the show for us. would love to have him. mercedes schlock from everyone.

all good stuff. see us again soon. merry christmas to you. now, the case of the texas judge is a district court judge. he rolled obamacare unconstitutional. so now what? where do we go from here? what is the endgame for obamacare? we are going to tell about that story and we will next. ♪

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tree into a long legal battle very likely after a judge in texas brought down obamacare. all rights, judge andrew napolitano is here this monday morning. spell it out for us.

what happens next legally. >> you may say how could this case be thrown out? the statue was already upheld by the supreme court on the basis that congress can't make me wear a green tie them a bit they can tax me if i don't fear the regulatory powers limited. the taxing power is unlimited. the chief justice and the four liberals to the individual mandate is not a regulation, its attacks. don't get health insurance select your taxes. when president trump and the republican congress removed the attacks on the individual mandate. it's still there, but there is no consequence from the government for your failure to purchase it. it was then challenged again and with no attacks there is constitutional like for this to stand on. in my view the judge in texas was 100% correct. will he be upheld by the supreme court? depends whether chief justice roberts is intellectually honest which i believe he is and will be. stuart: therefore if he is to the supreme court you think it struck down.

>> this gives republicans a big headache. they have to decide what to do with the parts of obamacare against which they voted and against which they campaign which are popular. stuart: for example, preexisting conditions. that's very popular. >> it absolutely is. stuart: how do you find that? if that continues have you funded? >> without the individual mandate from every human being in the country having health insurance there's not a large enough full of cash for the insurance carriers to pay for preexisting injuries. where does the cash come from? what would that be bernie sanders pretty close to medicare for all from a republican president mike donald trump a republican senate and soon-to-be democratic house. stuart: it goes back to what was always fed. one the government give something, and it cannot be taken away very easily. >> it can only be taken away

with the direst of political consequences to those who dare to take it away. they are covering preexisting conditions is very, very popular and it destroys our concept of insurance. >> they have become a public trough no matter who's running the government. stuart: look, i'm not suggesting this, but if the writing is on the wall, you creep closer and closer and closer. you just get closer and closer and it seems like there's no way to stop it. stuart: it makes their argument which you and i believe is the rankest form of socialism appear rational to the modern mind. when it appears rational it will come. stuart: health care of course is a riot. that must be provided. >> in their view it is. it's actually of course a good one should be a little purchase or not. stuart: it's a disaster anyway you slice it.

thanks for coming on the show again. more "varney" after this. ♪ . .

stuart: you know this is a called volatility, isn't it? we were down 250. now we're down 50 in the space of two hours. white house economic advisor kevin hassett just fold fox news fourth quarter growth should be about 3%. he also said there is zero chance of recession over the next 12 months. that is helping the market. now we're down 40. look at oil. is it below $50? no it is right at $50 a barrel. it did dip below 50 bucks a few

minutes ago. oil down. share price of madison square garden is up after owner james dolan said he is considering selling the new york knicks. big sigh of relief from basketball fans in the studio. a lot of people want him to sell the. >> anything is better. stuart: you were in london for a week. when i was a student in london many years ago, 50 years ago, a pint of beer would have cost me about the equivalent of 25 cents to 50 cents. liz: that was a long time ago. ashley: about five pound as pint. stuart: 7 or $8. ashley: that is on par. what shocked me, taxi from parliament to heathrow, 73-pounds. $100. i remember the days it was 25-pounds. stuart: if you took a choir from our studios here in manhattan a

car service that is well over 100 bucks. ashley: there you go. expensive world. liz: you did a version of the mic drop, the pen drop. stuart: i did. pint of beer. ashley: i love it. stuart: time's up here, neil, it is yours. >> amazing what it was like before electricity paying all of that. thank you, my friend. this is a battle about the slowdown in the economy. that is something trump intended, anything having to do with trade and fallout from the judge's decision to essentially say the health care law is unconstitutional. we'll get into all of that. a lot of this is driven by growing fierce the economy might be slowing down here a tad. stuart said we're off the worst levels of the day. combine homebuilder sentiment. lowest level in 19 months. there is "usa today" survey of