companies yielding 2 1/2, three, 3 1/2 growing their dividend. [closing bell rings] liz: good to see you so much, hank smith. we are off the highs but we're off the lows. we end in the green. that will do it for "the claman countdown." now "after the bell." melissa: dramatic final hour of trading. the dow ending the day in the green, amid government shutdown, fed uncertainty. the dow up about 84 points now as things settle out. way off session highs after being up more than 300 points earlier in the day. i'm melissa francis. connell: way off session lows too. melissa: right. connell: crazy day. i'm connell mcshane. this is "after the bell." the s&p 500 kind of fighting for gains. it is up higher. nasdaq in positive territory snapping what was a three three of 3 day down streak. much more on the big market movers. here is what else is new this hour. we're looking at washington

intense negotiations underway on capitol hill. lawmakers are still not able to reach a deal to avoid a government shutdown. now the trump administration is looking into other ways to possibly fund the president's border wall. we're live with the latest from the white house. plus new calls to boycott facebook. the tech giant is under fire once again for its response to russian interference in the 2016 election. we have the latest defense from the company. targeting your tax cut. the democrats plan to roll back the president's signature achievements. melissa: back to the markets. the dow snapping a two-day massive is losing streak. go to gerri willis on the floor of the new york stock exchange. gerri. >> let me tell you, what a day, back and forth over the break. we've been open for another 20 minutes i'm sure we would be in the red now. it was an amazing day. one of the traders telling me here santa claus left the building. everybody looking for a santa

claus rally. we have a little bit of one now but not much. tell you about leaders and laggards among the dow stocks. i will start with laggards here. caterpillar, cvs, unitedhealth. we've seen health care trade lower on news that obamacare may be history. not sure. but you see those stocks trading lower here. caterpillar, undoubtedly lower on idea that global growth is slowing that will certainly not help caterpillar sales. look at those leaders right now as well. as we come in over the finish line here. boeing is higher after that company announced another double-digit percentage raise for its dividends this is what is going on a lot right now on wall street. j&j just announced yesterday a similar move. boeing saying a new buyback program is larger and will further help share count. goldman sachs higher. 3m higher. so there you have it, the market in a nutshell. i will tell you another 20 minutes it could have all been

different. guys, back to you. melissa: very true, gerri. thank you. connell: we'll take a nice close like that. how about feel the market? that was the line the day early on. the president's latest advice for the federal reserve ahead of an interest rate decision we will all get tomorrow. feel the market. blake burman live at the white house with the latest on all of this. hey, blake. reporter: connell, we've seen and heard president trump go after the federal reserve for weeks if not months. the announcement from the fed, the president not stopping going after the fed leading into this. here was the tweet earlier this morning. he wrote the following on twitter. i hope the people on the fed will read today's "wall street journal" editorial before they make another mistake. also don't let the market become anymore illiquid than it already is. stop with the 50 bs. feel the market. don't go by meaningless numbers. good luck. i asked the press secretary sarah sanders about that tweet

earlier today. watch here. the president talks about the fed? is he just venting at this point or is he genuinely worried there is a rate hike tomorrow that the economy will slow down? >> the president is stating his opinion which he is perfectly within his right to do so. i think that is one of the reasons people like him is because he does that, he does it regularly. he has been very clear about what his position is while at the same time he understands the fed is an independent agency. that doesn't take away the president's right to state his opinion on a particular matter. reporter: watching two things here in washington, what happens tomorrow with interest rates and what happens over the up coming hours and days as it relates to this possible government shutdown that needs to be hashed out by friday. where things stand at the moment? it is all very fluid. we know this, the president wanted $5 billion for the wall and border security, now the white house says the president asked members of his open

cabinet potentially how they could get money for the border wall. the president once said he would be willing to endorse a government shut down if it got to that it appears he walking off that possibility. connell. connell: very fluid. you're right about that. blake burman on the north lawn of the white house. melissa: gary kaltbaum, kaltbaum capital management. liz peek. they're both fox news contributors. liz, i heard you laughing. what if we all ignore the tweets? there are some of them. what did you think. >> i thought it was funny wished the fed good luck. good luck in what sense? the president is concerned he will be blamed for the showdown in the economy which he -- slowdown in the economy he feels he is responsible for the acceleration of the economy because of trade tensions. there is awful lot of talk how businesses can't make plans. they're worried about what the future of those trade talks

hold, et cetera. look, if he can cast the blame on the fed, by the way, there are a lot of sort of distinguished and senior people now coming out saying yeah, maybe it isn't a good time to shrink the fed's enormous balance sheet and raise rates aggressively when we're the only country in the world doing this, i think he feels like he can score some points that way. i thought it was nice of him to wish them good luck. melissa: it is very sporting. gary, it is kind of -- that's a great point. he is saying please help me out here. these other things are going on, this isn't a good time for you to be tightening, laying a groundwork if there is a problem, i told the fed to stop it? >> let me say this, if 2 to 2.25% on fed funds rate, 10-year is 2.80%, if that ends up being a problem for the economy and market we're still in big trouble anyhow. this is still easy money. i wish the president would leave the fed alone. i have news for you the fed may have not raised rates tomorrow

if not for trump. because now they have to show their independence so they probably raise rates. connell: you never know. >> i got news for you. the bond market is telling the fed not to raise rates. the stock market is telling the fed not to raise rates. i think they will do one more and talk about we are done. connell: "wall street journal" editorial. anyway, guys, we want to talk about oil for a moment. because, boy, what a story that has been. extended the losses today. the floor session they closed down more than 7%. so oil at 46.23. it is like, boy what do you even say anymore, huh? >> oil market is telling the fed not to raise rates either. it is signaling a slowdown in demand. if you look at data we see every week when it comes to supply and demand, you know, really isn't that bearish. it is almost like the oil market is kind of ahead of the market. it is looking what they're seeing in the stock market, the

worst start since 1931. they're looking at everything on the outside, yeah, demand might be good today but it will not be good tomorrow. one the things too in shale country, midland, texas, the prices of those oil barrels fell to the lowest level we've seen since 2014. not good news for u.s. shale producers. at those levels you start to see the rig counts pull back. they can't make money at those levels. connell: that is an area driving or helping our economy. they have had a huge boom in that part of the world. thank you, phil. liz and gary with us. you know your oil, to phil's point what is the signal we're getting from the decline in oil price? >> i take a lot of exception this is commentary run on demand growth and economy growth overall. it might reflect some queasiness about china. china is huge importer, consumer of oil, i think that has to do with overproduction. the reason there is such a problem with shale prices

because they are producing like gangbusters amount of oil. it is a tremendous pipeline backup. so there is no place to put it. remember, this never comes out in these comments, people have to know there is a cost storing oil. if you don't need it today, you don't think you will need it tomorrow you will not buy it. it tends to be on the downside. this market is extremely volatile. and honestly i think it is being way overwritten and interpreted as a harbinger of economic gloom. connell: all right, gary, what about your take? is it simply an overproduction story or more than that, an economic signal of tough times to come? >> let me push back just a wee bit. oil prices dropping are no biggie. oil prices going from 75 to 46 in two months are yelling and screaming the third part of what i was going to talk about a little bit ago, it is telling you, yelling at you, that you have a global slowdown. we already have contraction in

germany, which means probably the rest of europe. got it in japan. connell: right. >> china the same. our gdp has gone from three down to 2.4 as far as estimates for this quarter. for me it's a big-time demand thing. a little bit on production side. it is big time demand. we'll get numbers going forward. connell: finish it offs liz. one more response. we've got to wrap. >> i think we'll see, the reason oil prices tanked earlier this week was, as yesterday, the inventory numbers came up. there is too much of a build. not just shale regions overproducing. it is also russia. we're waiting for opec cuts to come in and they will. connell: we'll continue the discussion. liz would love to get in on this. melissa: let me say two things on that. you could see me chomping at the bit over here. number one, very good for consumers. a big slowdown of price of oil that will be great at the pumps. number two bad for saudi arabia, bad for russia, bad for iran as

they try to sell oil on the black market getting around various sanctions. connell: that is true. melissa: it is also putting the squeeze on our global enemies. connell: don't you think we need a bit of a balance if it goes down to that point, the guys in west texas won't keep producing? melissa: it is definitely bad for them. it is squeezing our enemies when at the time their only revenue is oil. connell: good points all. melissa: white house is willing to work with congress to avoid a government shutdown to handle alternatives to fund the wall. can they get it done? the latest on the funding battle. connell: gop leaders seeking to expand the president's support heading into the next election but will the commander-in-chief go along with some of these new ideas? >> attacking from every angle, democratic leaders taking on tax reform. what it could mean for you and your hard-earned cash coming up. ♪ ♪ there's no place like home ♪

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melissa: just three days left to avoid a shutdown. president trump says it is too soon to tell if a deal can be made to keep the government open. white house press secretary sarah sanders addressing the issue earlier saying that the senate so far has been all talk and no action. shocking. >> point out the fact they have yet to actually vote on something and pass something. so when they do that we'll make a determination on whether or not we're going to sign that. meantime we'll look at every avenue available to us possible. the everyone sent out to everyone of his cabinet secretaries to look at funding that canning used to protect our borders. give the president ability to fulfill the constitutional obligation to protect the american people by having a secure border. melissa: joining me now to discuss all this is chad pergram, fox news capitol hill senior producer. what did she mean there? she said earlier that the

president would support 1.6 billion in border security and maybe they would find the money elsewhere? what does that mean? >> what she's talking about here reprograming. one of the five bills they have already approved and has been signed into law is what we call milconva, military construction and veterans affairs. under the aegis of the military construction part is army corporation of engineers. what you can do with the blessing of congress, note blessing of congress you can move one program around to another. i asked house leader nancy pelosi if she would sign off on that. if you could do it without congressional blessing. she said there is no way. chuck schumer suggested as much the majority leader. you have signoff by the chair of appropriations subcommittee, ranking democrat. that is pretty impossible. otherwise you get into something extra constitutional. mitch mcconnell, senate majority leader said he didn't

think there would be a a shutdown. he went back to the administration to see what they might accommodate. everybody is flexible. everybody is talking about a short term respending bill, re-up the outstanding seven bills early next year at current levels. mcconnell asked why nancy pelosi would want to have that fight when she gets the speaker's gavel come january? there's a lot of sources here up on capitol hill said she would love to have the fight with president trump. that plays into her corner pretty well. you know who will decide this at the end of the today i? the most important people in washington. melissa: me? i'm not in washington. >> the spouses of lawmakers. because they want them to rush home for christmas. so that is why we get up right up to the precipice we often do in december. we're three days and change from a government shutdown. that is why an interim spending bill is in the works. the question remains will president trump sign that bill. melissa: that is generous assumption of you, that all of

their spouses want them home. they obviously think a lot of those folks, maybe rest of us think less of them. interesting point. chad, let me get your take on another big story that a lot of people found interesting. the arizona governor appointing martha mcsally. we know that name real well, to fill the opening left by senator john mccain. she lost a election for senate. now she gets to go? tell us about this? >> depend how you read this. for the rest of john mccain's term. there will be a special election in 2020. then that person, martha mcsally, or somebody else fulfills the rest of john mccain's term which ends the last of january 2023. she would have to run again. she lost in kyrsten sinema in the very tight race. some of the criticism she was too close to president trump. she represented a swing district that used to be represented by two moderate democrats, gabby

giffords and ron barber who is her chief of staff. at the end of the day, that is a swing district. she was a kind of a moderate republican. then she kind of switched her politics, running hard with president trump. if she will be up on the ballot again, arizona is a swing state. it will be very interesting how she comports herself in the united states senate. do we get the old martha mcsally or the new martha mcsally? that is undetermined. melissa: very cool. chad, thank you for all the inside scoop. we appreciate it. >> anytime. melissa: the spouses decide. connell: that is funny. they don't want them home? melissa: yeah, i don't know. some of them maybe, but some of them maybe not. connell: that's true. targeted attack on social media. newly revealed effort by russia during the 2016 election, leaving many fuming with questions for facebook. so we'll have that. plus student loan debt has been absolutely skyrocketing. how these trillions of dollars could end up impacting the

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melissa: facebook under fire again. a senate intelligence committee report claiming russian agents used social media sites like facebook to target african-americans in an effort to suppress voter turnout. kristina partsinevelos is in the newsroom with the latest. >> there is always a latest with facebook. facebook sheryl sandberg saying two employees say voter suppression is a civil rights challenge. she promised that for future elections facebook will do a better job when it comes to meddling. facebook in their post, i quote, we know we need to do more like they said before, listen, look deeper, take action to respect fundamental rights. this comes like you said. reports coming out from the senate intelligence committee on monday stating that russia did meddle within social media and meddled in the election. but more specifically they targeted african-americans.

what do i mean they targeted? according to the report there were 80 facebook pages, out of those 80 facebook pages 30 were directed towards african-americans. they created gmail accounts with american sounding names to get activists to rally and protest what, their propaganda essentially. so you had the senate report stating other distinct ethnic and religious groups were the focus of one or two facebook pages or instagram accounts but black community was targeted extensively with dozens. so they don't say why they targeted the black community. you can assume it has to do with creating more racial divide in america. and to suppress the democratic vote. we don't know specifically why but we do have several civil advocacy groups saying hey, don't go on facebook today. some are saying, mark zuckerberg should step down. he is the founder of facebook. last but not least, just the effect on the elections thus far. we don't know what the effect

has been but according to pew research, the pew research center, they concluded in 2016 although it was a wonderful record year for american voters, the black voter turnout was the lowest in 20 years. back to you, melissa. melissa: interesting stuff. kristina thank you. connell: there are a lot of interesting components to talk about. gary kaltbaum is still with us. we want to bring in nationally syndicated talk show host richard fowler. both are fox news contributors. gary, to you first, to kristina's point, talk about motivation, one people are focusing on, now that we have the senate report, idea of voter suppression, that whether facebook knew what the russians were doing and whether they acted upon it. what is your view, in terms of what the company should have done and what they actually did do? >> we should demand transparency and accountability from all the tech companies that this doesn't happen again but very interesting to show what group

they chose to target. they chose to target a group of voters, more than likely not vote for the democratic ticket or vote for hillary clinton and tim kaine. doing so, suppressing those votes, russian troll farms or whatever they knew they could have a hand on the election. what happens if you could suppress 10,000 african-american votes in pennsylvania or 10,000 african-american votes in detroit, michigan and mime if i florida. that is the difference between winning and losing the election. for all americans, democrat, republican, independent, we should be insuring not only protect our democracy from any type of voter suppression. we need to assure we don't have foreign interfinesser moving forward. connell: what do you think, gary is the responsibility of the company here? from what i read it was fairly obvious what these russian accounts were up to, what their goal was. sometimes tough to tell. in these cases it was fairly obvious what they are trying to do. what facebook and other companies were asked about it, they didn't come forward they're

trying to suppress the vote. they said they're not sure. what is the responsibility? >> richard is 1000% right on everything he said. look the problem with facebook as i see it, on that their way o becoming data checking blob to make zillions of dollars off the community, they forgot something, controls of having billions of people on their platform and doing nothing about it. connell: right. >> well, guess what. wake-up call city in the last couple years. connell: that is all changing now, right, gary? >> but they have been slow doing it. not until something bubbles up to the top or some investigation comes up do they start reacting. they need to get their act together, be more proactive about this stuff. i have got news for them. ton of millenials are leaving them. their brand name is heading south. their stock price is crushed. nothing will come up until they open their eye what is is going on. melissa: leave facebook. connell: has to be quick point,

richard. >> couple point, very important to know, as congress thinks about regulating facebook remember how large of a company facebook is. it owns whatsapp, instagram, all products and millenials and african-americans, all americans use. when we think about regulating facebook, let's remember they are a large entity that has various properties users use every single day. connell: our old buddy walt mossberg, not a millenial, no offense to walt, he is leaving facebook. it was interesting to see that. gary, richard, good to see you both. melissa: on the lookout for changes in your taxes. what democratic controlled house means for you and your wallet. americans for tax reform president grover norquist sounds off. that is next. gearing up for 2020, allies are finding new strategies to promote president trump heading into the election season. will the new ideas solidify his spot in office? we're coming up with that. ♪

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melissa: the new year could mean changes for your taxes. now that democrats are taking control of the house. there could be some major adjustment coming to the tax law. republicans passed under president trump. here now is grover norquist, americans for tax reform president. all right, let's start with the big one. they're saying they may not keep those salt caps in place. i agree with the salt caps from a theoretical point of view.

they're kind of painful to me personally but what do you think? >> exactly. those are not going anywhere. the democrats like raising taxes on upper income people. getting rid of the salt caps is 600 billion-dollar tax cut for high income people. melissa: but it's a nightmare for you know, for everybody in new york and california and where all the democrats are? >> no, it is the saving grace for the people in california and illinois and new york and new jersey. because without getting rid of the salt caps, their property taxes, income taxes would go up year after year after year. and now you're starting to see blue states go and cities go, oh, oh, we can't be raising those taxes because the people of our city and our state feel 100% of the pain. melissa: i don't hear de blasio saying that. call him and saying that to him. he should be saying that? >> good news he figures it out, more and more people are leaving

those states anyway, getting rid of deductibility of salt, state and local taxes after the first 10,000 speeds that process up. eventually those states will have to treat people better. so long term, taxes will be lower in those heavily-taxed states because we got rid of the salt deduction. melissa: i have to tell you we have a ton of empty businesses spaces all over new york city. when you ask the people who are out of there, what happened, they said the landlord raised the rent because he couldn't afford the taxes. the tennant in there in a thriving business, couldn't afford the new rent that included the property taxes. there is definitely people leaving. just, it is kind of paneful for all of us. what about breaks for corporations. they said they would get rid of those? >> democrats want to do several things. they want a value-added tax but the first step is a carbon tax which is a vat on energy. they want a carbon tax as runner-up for vat.

that is the big goal. that is how you turn us into france and they will keep coming back on the carbon tax over and over again. they slowed down a little bit because of france and canada, australia having governments basically taken down by the energy tax, the carbon tax. so, carbon tax, vat. they want to take the corporate rate up. it is 21. they view anything between 21 and 35 as a huge piggybank. they can keep ratcheting it up rubio tried to do that at last minute, when he did tax reform i have spending idea, give money my friends take that rate to 22, 23. rubio is back with some other spending proposal. he wants to take that up. that is republican. imagine democrats wanting to take it up one or two or five or 10 points. spending that money on different things. defending 21, lower corporate rate which is what makes us competitive in the world.

which we haven't been for quite some sometime at 35% corporate rate. communist china at 25. we were at 35. germany is 25. melissa: you are making me cry. do you have any good news at all? >> we will win. we will stop any effort by the president democrats to raise taxes through the president and senate veto. get used to this. democrats effort is like a teenage boy on prom date they keep asking same thing again and again and again. our job is to say no, no, no, all day. melissa: i had all kinds of things to say after that. i will gracefully back away from the segment. grover norquist. thanks so much. >> no, no taxes. no. melissa: oh, my god. connell: don't look at me. melissa: is that what your prom date said? connell: no, i was trying to get through it to the commercial. melissa: not going to happen. connell: aye yi yi.

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connell: on hold until 2019. the judge delaying the sentencing for the former national security advisor michael flynn after what turned out to be a dramatic court hearing. edward lawrence live in washington with the details on that. edward? >> very odd turn of events. the judge originally spoke harshly of national security advisor michael flynn asking why he was not charged with treason? backing off those comments after a break. he asked flynn if he wanted to revisit his guilty plea or change it and offered postpone meant before he gave his sentence. there will be a march 13th

status update for flynn. the white house said the fbi ambushed flynn. tweeting out this morning again there was no collusion. >> what we do know that was inappropriate by own self-admittance of james comey that the fbi broke standard protocol the way they came in and ambushed general flynn, in the way they questioned him, in the way they encouraged him not to have white house counsel's office present. reporter: flynn pleaded guilty to lying the fbi. in his deal the prosecutors recommended the low end of the sentencing guidelines but the judge is not bound by that when he makes his judgment. all this is unfolding as chairman of the house oversight committee released transcripts of closed-door testimony with former fbi director james comey. the documents show a portion of the testimony focused on flynn, comey said he wanted flynn interviewed as quickly as possible but didn't know identity of agents sent. we know it was fired fbi employees peter strzok and

andrew mccabe. comey would not answered questions when they entered realm of what the special counsel was investigating with russia collusion. connell, back to you. connell: edward lawrence in washington. melissa: leading the potential democratic field. bernie sanders gaining steam for 2020. taking a break before stepping into office. the latest move from democratic darling alexandria ocasio-cortez and what it could mean for her future in congress. ♪ ♪

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connell: here is breaking news. not good for fedex. just cut its forecast in after-hours. the stock is down, lowering its forecast for next year. the stock is down 5%. fedex cited weakness in europe

and talked about trade. recent slowdown in global trade. could be bad news for tomorrow. fedex down 5%. melissa. melissa: inching closer to 2020. senator bernie sanders is leading the field of perspective presidential challengers with 36% support in new straw poll. democracy for america. where does this lead the democratic party? madison guess. richard fowler. most polls have joe biden have him out in front. why does this have bernie sanders? >> this group, democracy for america sits to left of joe biden. melissa: so they're cheating? >> not their cheating. the audience they're polling, people are farther to the left-leaning than joe biden would be. but i think if you look at overall race it is way too early to tell. remember -- melissa: go ahead. >> this time in 2015 donald trump wasn't even on the radar.

melissa: it was all jeb bush. we say that all the time. he was like the runaway favorite at this point in time. >> paul ryan was leading in iowa at this point in time. he didn't even run. melissa: there you go. madison, one thing consistent with all the polls i notice, elizabeth warren is way, way behind. which i fine surprising because she has been out there for a long time. seems like she has a lot of support. i guess that is only in the media? >> yeah. i don't think elizabeth warren won't be the candidate. don't find her to be relatable. or someone who represents the future of the democratic party. i don't think bernie sanders on other hand will be candidate either. i think he maintain as lot of support. a lot of people do not feel he was treated fairly back in 2016 stand still behind him in hopes he will run in 2020. melissa: so a break before she even officially takes office. congresswoman-elect alexandria ocasio-cortez tweeting quote, i'm taking a few days to take care of myself before what is sure to be an eventful term. for working people, immigrants and the poor.

self-care is political. not because we want it to be but because of the inevitable shaming of someone doing a face mask while financially stressed. richard, i don't even understand that tweet. what does that mean? >> i don't understand the latter half but i do think congresswoman-elect ocasio-cortez is right on importance of self-care. melissa: it includes face masks? she does face masks? >> taking days off to be with your family around the holiday period. this is the truth, melissa a lot of individual have to work on christmas and work on day after christmas. work on christmas eve. melissa: lots of people on fox news. >> my mom was registered nurse. worked on a lot of holidays. hard for individuals to get self-care. we can all agree everybody deserves to be a day home with their family, tend der love and affection. melissa: irony what richard

said, madison, she isn't one of those. she has one of those cushy government jobs where you don't work any holidays and barely put in any holidays, they race out of there on thursday. she is also a big whiner? >> i read her tweets over and over. i don't really know what she is exactly talking about on this one, however when it comes to self-care one of the very few things i agree. very important for each and everyone of us. many people in this country don't have enough time to take good care of themselves. when you get the opportunity to do so, always important to take few days to spend time with family and friends to take care of yourself. i don't know what she referred to in the less of the tweet, in regards to self-care i think she is absolutely on the right side. melissa: i don't know. young people are very focused on relaxing, not working hard and get off my lawn. >> one more point. >> they always have to weigh both. it is important to work hard and important to take care of yourself so you can work hard. >> let's remember, the guy she ran against he was somebody who wasn't really working hard for the people in that distribute.

the reason why alexandria ocasio-cortez beat him handily because she thought she could work harder. knocked on more doors than he did and even though she was outspent. she will could to congress, she will be a whiner for people of their district. we like congressman that whine and help out people in their district, don't we? melissa: we we go, i want to get your take. "washington post" out with an article today, said republicans seek to expand trump support for 2020 but will the president cooperate? madison, they're talking about taking the temperature and test marketing all this stuff. i just think back to the election when we had democrats on who were saying, you know, president has no ground game. everybody has done all this testing and research, had a million people there he has got nothing. it will not happen. he has done no research. he killed everyone. i don't know. they will try to rein him in, tell him what to do. should he listen or no? >> yes and no. i mean 2016 was very

unconventional. of course he did come out on top in 2016 however when it comes to 2020 we need to put together of combination what we did in 2016 in conjunction with more ground gain. we have much more time to establish that ground game heading towards to 20. i know the campaign is doing that. we're making sure we're more than prepared and ready for 2020. not only catalyzing what worked for news 2016 but looking at new innovative ways -- melissa: richard, does it make you nervous, to test things ahead of time, given what happened last time? do you think it is possible all of this polling and test marketing and stuff isn't as reliable as everybody thought before? >> i think there is some truth in that. here is what is reliable. last month when voters went to the polls, seven million more people voted democrat than voted republican of the suburban republican no longer exists. i think people in the trump campaign are saying we have to find a way to convince suburban voters to do the right thing. especially college-educated, non-married white woman who went

for the democratic party two to one in this past election. if they want to win this thing they need to win places like michigan, pennsylvania, they need this voting block to do it. test away. melissa: test away. you guys were fantastic. thanks to both of. >> you thanks, melissa. >> covered a lot of ground. a financial burden spreading across the united states. what the escalating student debt crisis -- melissa: get a facial. connell: for the booming economy. that's next.

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$1.5 trillion last month, doubling since the recession all according to new analysis that came in from bloomberg. dan mitchell is with us, center for freedom and prosperity cofounder appeared a couple things. one is big picture will talk about in a second what this means to the economy if the bible is versed in all the rest are practical implications for example stories written about how this might affect the housing market. people are less money so they can buy a home. when you make of all that? >> really bad news for individuals involved. i suppose which is set back and say maybe they should've thought about that before they took out so much debt. they actually want to make the point that most of it belongs on colleges and universities are even one step back further it belongs to the government because the tuition to sky rocket has been federal student loans. in effect the government started giving us two months. universities and colleges that book at all this money out there. let's check of our tuition.

they become very bureaucratic and and ineffective students are the ones on the treadmill and they're stuck nowadays high student loans. we wouldn't be in this mess about the government intervening in the first place. sure until i hear you, but we are in it. now it's at a point for the federal student loans i was reading a quote worth more like 90% or back to your point by the department of education. in an environment where where the economy is always falling into recession. for arguments sake the defaults on these tones start to go up. then what happens? >> it's a mess. we are to have a substantial share of the funds that are in default or at least behind. i guess to get technical definition of what's at fault or not. but if we have an economic downturn and a lot of millennia else out there who made the cut decrees that weren't that practical to begin with and then they're in a bad job market because of the national economic

downturn, it's going to be a huge mess. and now it's very obviously for the student. not just frustrating, terrible for them. but it's very frustrating for an economist to look at such a predict the ball mass. in effect the government has done the student loans what they've done with health care. third-party payer has destroyed the pricing system. >> i hate those impractical degrees especially those taken with student loan debt especially communication from florida. just asking for a friend as they say. you know, on the housing question, what's interesting about that i saw numbers from zillah today and they ran the numbers. and it's big. just on average a person with no student loans could buy a house that was well over 300 grand. but what the loans, someone buying a house worth 269 grand. if you work those are the countries and also other areas larger than not, but properly

at. you think that could have a serious impact on the housing market. >> obviously a bad impact on the housing market, especially when you combine that with the fact that many local governments have zoning ordinances that prevent the building of new housing dock. what winds up happening is the existing housing that becomes more valuable because there's not competing housing documents of the prices are going up for that reason while at the same time these young people's income is down or at least their disposable income is down. they just don't have as much to put in the housing. they're getting hit from both ends and in both cases unfortunately the federal government causing the problem and in other cases local governments causing the problem. connell: just added to our growing list of concerns out there. good to see you. thanks for coming on. connell: i did pay those back. melissa: did you? that makes you pretty much alone. no pun intended.

connell: i see, alone. transfer would talk about millennial are giving them a break they need to get to work i guess. that does it for us. connell: that's a wrap on us. we'll see you. "bulls & bears" starts right now. trying to hide from everybody. this is "bulls & bears." thanks for joining us. i am david asmna. we have kristina partisnevelos and steve moore. the day before expected to hike interest rates, president trump is keeping the pressure on by tweeting, quote, i hope the people at the fed will read today's "wall street journal" editorial before they make yet another mistake. also, don't let the market become any more liquid than the dirtiest. feel the market, don't just go by meaningless numbers. good