tweet on the stock market just into us. the president writing the dow just broke 25,000, tremendous news. >> the market up 434 today. that's what caught his attention, i guess. there you go. that does it for us. >> that does. bulls & bears starts right now. david: a huge market day, with the dow closing up 434 points as federal reserve chair powell says the economy is solid, and the fed is going to be patient with rate hikes and selling off its assets, but if you look at former starbucks ceo and potential 2020 candidate howard schultz president trump should not be getting any of the credit. >> would you give the president credit for having a 3.9% unemployment rate? is that's the lowest since 1969. wages have started to come back. would you give him credit for that? >> no, i would not give him credit for that, because i think the reduction in the corporate tax rate of 21% was wrong and irrational. he missed a massive opportunity for comprehensive tax reform.

but if you look at the facts, the facts are, 40% of the american people do not have $400 in the bank. 5 million young people in america, mostly black and latino are not in school, not in work. 1 out of 6 americans are food insecure. >> yeah. >> so no, i don't give the president credit for any of that. and i do not give him credit for saying for two years that the stock market is a proxy to the economy. he is going to fall on his sword for that because that economy is not going to last. david: and we are joined here by the panel. gang, what do you make of this? >> the problem i have with that, david, is howard wasn't really answering the question, was he? what do you think of 3.9% unemployment rate? to be fair, howard schultz was bringing up some issues that are real. people are food -- there is food insecurity in this country. there are still people falling through cracks here. we need to address that. we need to take care of our people. that's very important. we see that going on. but, you know, to not give president trump any kind of credit for the bigger picture,

it kind of rubs me the wrong way and strikes me as a little disingenuous. there's a time and a place. i don't think that was it right there. answer questions. don't grandstand. david: yeah. >> you know, i will give the president some credit. you know, the president is not an economic faith healer who showed up on the scene and suddenly created this expansion, but he inherited an economic expansion and he has kept it going. the same thing with the stock market rally and same thing with the decline in the unemployment rate. in other words, he hasn't broken anything really important on the economic front. we are going to see, however, a downshift in growth this year no matter what happens. >> what's going on with howard schultz is billionaires around this country saw donald trump who had never ran for political office, win the presidency and every billionaire said oh, i can do that. and they went into this with extreme naivety. he doesn't understand the media or the political process, on another rival network, got hammered for not knowing the

price of cheerio's, which he could have easily deflected that. someone put it out on twitter said i have a latte and a muffin. i don't need cheerios. the whole point is i have never seen someone coming out of the gate so ill-prepared. i think that's because these billionaires live in this cocoon where everyone kisses up to them. and then they get to the rough and tumble politics where the democrat party is going after him. he's not ready for prime time. >> bad preparation is a good call, morgan. he will get sharpened up as this kind of develops. but jack, trump inherited an economic expansion? i mean, what? an expansion that was growing at a percent and a half, might be 2 percent? job market that was struggling to put together 200,000 jobs added per month. a fed that was at 0 interest rates for many many years and starting to have to raise rates which the market obviously didn't like, say some months ago. so to me, trump has taken this economy and actually put it back on the rails in the sense of seeing real economic growth. we have seen the middle class

get lifted up, finally after being left behind. businesses, business owners, business people in charge, like once howard schultz was once upon a time are starting to like some of the policies he's put in place. >> the estimated growth rate for s&p 500 earnings for the first quarter, not the fourth quarter because we had tax cuts push that higher, for the first quarter, it is 0 right now. >> single digits. >> it's come down even further than that. it is about 0 right now. it remains very much -- all i'm saying is hey, look, i'm rooting for the president to get the economy going. it remains very much to be seen whether this experiment of borrowing a massive amount of money at the top to give stimulative tax cuts will work. >> the problem is, are these tax cuts really stimulative? let me jump in here and say did that really work? it got the market higher. it got numbers higher last year. we're stuck in what now? they went to fund stock buybacks, more leverage. they should have gone to help job training and get wages

higher. we will get the new number on wages on friday. the point is, now what? the right answer might be somewhere in middle for you two guys. maybe it is not 0. maybe it is not high single digits or double digits, but there's a lot of show me here. a month ago on the show we were talking about the possibility of a recession. david: there's another aspect, regulations of businesses is a huge tax. the president has done an enormous amount of work, i would say even more than ronald reagan did in his first two years in cutting regulation. that was a huge stimulus for the economy and a lot of small businesses in particular, took advantage of it; right? >> regulation rollbacks, david, have been huge. corporate america has talked about that. small businesses have talked about that. and jack, i mean, forecast, yes, forecast to be what 0% growth so far. now we're in double digits already. those earnings numbers are going to have to come down. facebook today, microsoft, even

though they are down after market, wasn't that terrible, i think if you look at what trump's put into this docket so far, yes, the the tax cuts to mike's point have probably been a little bit of a wane. they were maybe more of a t-shirt than anything but that's inspired business confidence going forward that at least it will be a better environment than the last eight years, previous to trump. >> i've got another forecast. my forecast is that republicans are going to find reasons to love him because he is the man who will split the democratic vote and put trump back in the white house. so i expect that this early negativity around schultz will give way to some positivity on the part of the republicans. david: the president has just tweeted out in the past half hour. he says dow just broke 25,000. tremendous news. so clearly, the president is taking credit for it. remember, i think scott actually did mention this fact, that the president's job -- president's

jawboning of the fed, everybody said it is terrible the president did that, but it seems to have an effect. >> the fed chair went to extreme lengths to say he's not influenced by politics, that sort of thing. david: yeah, right. >> clearly he's looking at the global indicators as well, especially slowing growth in china. we will see what sort of effect the sanctions on venezuela for example does to the oil markets there. i don't think we're in dangerous territory. >> i don't think powell was really reacting to the president. i'm going to keep saying that. david: really? >> no. i think powell was reacting to something more important. the markets. everyone said the fed is data dependent. i think his ear is getting pulled by the markets, not the president. david: it may well be. >> the market action affects the data. he saw that. you could say the markets effect the data. >> i want to point out that the average stocks have been

indistinguishable from those under obama. i'm not trying to take credit away from the president. that tweet was properly spelled and capitalized. i only got a quick look. i want to give him full credit there. >> what schultz should do here actually to not give the president any credit for the economy is disingenuous and rings hollow. what he can do is make the argument potentially about being a better ceo, better billionaire or having ways to help people that are perhaps the poorest country now benefitting from the economy. i think he would have a better selling point if he did that. it is just disingenuous to not give the president any credit. david: the one point i think everybody would agree is the president is on kind of thin ice when he takes credit for the market itself. >> why not, david? david: this is what schultz says again, i do not give him credit for saying for two years the stock market is a proximat prox economy. he's going to fall on his sword. if the market does come down, and it very well could again, doesn't that bode ill for the president and his reelection? >> there's no guarantee --

>> it does, david. then you have to find excuses. that's what he did, though. he did it really well. when the market was falling in q4, the worst december since what, 31, it was a terrible year for all asset classes really in 2018, and the president didn't really take it on the sword or take his own sword on that one, he blamed the federal reserve. actually to mike's point, that might have been the right thing to do because now that the fed has stepped back and said oh my gosh we maybe made a mistake. we aren't going to raise rates as many times as we thought in 2019. the market is back to 25 k plus. >> by the way, even though growth is slowing, the backdrop is still incredibly accommodative for stocks. rates very low. there are few good alternatives out there. i see why no reason stock returns won't be decent over the next few years. i recommend to the president he takes full credit for the stock gain. if it keeps going, he will continue to take credit. if it tanks, he can blame the democrats taking over the house. >> welcome to politics 101. >> he will blame china next time.

we didn't make the trade deal. it's all their fault. did you see facebook? i did a great job on that. david: we will be talking about all of those coming up in a moment. meanwhile, facebook did just report a record profit after hours this as the company battles yet another scandal today. the numbers you need to know are coming next. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. great news for anyone wh- uh uh - i'm the one who delivers the news around here. ♪ liberty mutual has just announced that they can customize your car insurance so that you only pay for what you need. this is phoebe buckley, on location. uh... thanks, phoebe. ♪ only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

our grandparents checked zero times a day. times change. eyes haven't. that's why there's ocuvite. screen light... sunlight... longer hours... eyes today are stressed. but ocuvite has vital nutrients... ...to help protect them. ocuvite. eye nutrition for today.

- with tripadvisor finding the right hotel at the lowest price is as easy as dates, deals, done. going on a work trip? dates, deals, done. destination wedding? dates, deals, done. because with tripadvisor all you have to do is enter the dates of your stay and we'll take care of the rest: searching over 200 booking sites to find you the best deal it's as easy dates, deals, you know the rest. (owl hoots) read reviews, check hotel prices, book things to do, tripadvisor.

who we are as people and making everybody feel welcome. ordering custom ink t-shirts has been a really smart decision for our business. - [narrator] custom ink has hundreds of products and free shipping. upload your logo or start your design today at customink.com.

david: shares of facebook are soaring after hours. look at this, up more than 8% after that social media giant posted record profits after the bell, and despite all the privacy scandals, including one just today, the daily, the quarterly, the monthly active users on average were up 9% in december from last year. we're joined now by tech expert brett larson from fox news headlines, 24/7. brett, the incredible thing is that investors are just shrugging off all these privacy concerns and the daily scandals right? >> they don't seem to be bothered by this one bit and it seems as though neither are facebook. i'm surprised as many parents as facebook says gave permission for the younger -- you know, the

13 to 15-year-olds that need a signed parental consent to do this. i'm shocked that parents allowed that to happen. despite all the news for facebook, investors love it. there's a good reason for that. if you want to reach a massive amount of eyeballs not just here in the u.s. but all over the globe, facebook is the platform where you go. >> brad, it is scott from chicago where it is really warm today. given that, we've been long admittedly from some of the early days up to the rally last year all the way down the mountainside here, do you think that given everything you just talked about, do you think all that bad news is in the stock from now on? >> i don't think it's going to be in the stock. it really doesn't seem like any of this bad news ever catches up with them. they've fallen into this trap so many times before, and it's become a pattern; right? something goes wrong -- they do whatever they want, for starters because they are gigantic and they can do that. they put out whatever kind of apps they want.

they invade your privacy anyway they want to do it. they allow other companies to invade your privacy any way they want to do it. when it comes out in public, they step back and say oh, man, we're sorry, we didn't need to do that. nobody cares. people sign on to facebook the next morning. the stock goes up the next day. they post their earnings. clearly no one cares what facebook does. it is terrifying when you really think about it. >> from a regulatory perspective, the new freshman senator from missouri said that he would actually team up with our favorite person on the show, alexandria ocasio cortez for legislation, so there does seem to be a drumbeat in both parties towards regulation. >> yes, there does seem to be discussion of regulation, but when you talk about regulation, and then you go to these congressional hearings, where you have google coming in, mark zuckerberg coming in, no offense, the congressmen have no idea what these people are talking about. do you want them legislating and

writing the legislation? we don't. >> i understand, but -- >> the problem with that is what will happen is you will get lobbyists from google, facebook, they say this ensures we remain the 800 pound gorilla. this ensures that we are too big to fail. this is the legislation we will get behind. our representatives have no idea -- >> is facebook too big to fail? >> at this point, facebook is too big to fail. google shut off the google circles -- i don't remember what it was called. it was such a nonentity. there is no competition right now for facebook. there is no other platform that has that many users. facebook has become the new cable company. they have become the cable giant. >> there's no cost on the right or the left for making a big tough stand against facebook because it has no friends politically. >> right. >> i think this is the new cigarette stock. it's going to produce tremendous returns for years to come because it makes a lot of money, and the shares are going to be kept chronically cheap because

of all the hubbub about privacy. meanwhile people are going to use it. by the way, it is free, we should repeat. that's part of the deal. >> it is -- you're not the customer. you're the thing that they are selling. you know, everybody logs in and thinks this is so great, it is so convenient. it is free. just like g-mail is free, just like all this other stuff is free. >> i still think facebook is going to beat all of this. number one, there will be legal technicalities about what they are doing and what it really constitutes and how are you going to prove anything? what does this really mean? my theory on this, and i'm not the tech guy here, you are, is that they are full of algorithms ready to go. you are not going to like that one, we will plug this one. it is even worse. but congress doesn't get the technicalities to prove it's wrong. >> so far this has been dealt with is companies say we're going to do whatever we want because every once in a while we

will get fined because when we have 2 billion users worldwide, we can't exactly monitor every little tiny thing we're supposed to do so every once in a while we will get a 5 million dollars fine. >> what's the option for legislators, you do that again, you will get a bigger fine? >> the nuclear option for legislators is to understand how technology works, get people in who understand how technology works and sit those people down and have them explain it to you. >> i'm going to defend the congress here because there are a lot of people -- >> there are a lot of congress people. >> it's not the members actually. it is the young staffers who are quite smart. they know this in detail. i agree with you holistically. david: they try to train them, but they still look like idiots when they are talking to facebook and those guys. >> there are both good and bad when it comes to understanding technology. when you have representatives asking google why does my iphone

have an ad on it? he clearly doesn't understand. david: what about instagram? >> just this week facebook said all the messaging platforms, what we will do on the back end, all that technology will be the same. whether you are messaging on facebook messenger or instagram or what's app, it is all going through the same platform. that gives facebook the ability to make one user platform. david: thank you very much for being here. we appreciate it. top u.s. and china officials resuming their high level trade talks as both sides face intense pressure to nail down some kind of deal before march 1st. the talks that started today are expected to continue into early evening. is that a good or bad sign? we debate it next. woman: my reputation was trashed online,

i felt completely helpless. my entire career and business were in jeopardy. i called reputation defender. they were able to restore my good name. if you're under attack, i recommend calling reputation defender. and consider joining their groundbreaking campaign to give every american the right to remove old, inaccurate search results by going to righttobeforgotten.org. vo: if you have search results that are wrong or unfair, call reputation defender at 1-877-492-6705.

david: top u.s. and china officials returning to the bargaining table today resuming trade talks amid growing pressure on both sides to get a deal done by march 1st, when the tariffs go up.

they are expected to continue into the early evening. all eyes are going to be on president trump tomorrow when he sits down with china's vice premier. what can we expect from these talks this week? joining us now is gordon chang author of the book "the coming collapse of china". gordon, who here has the upper hand? china or the u.s.? >> we do, david. look, if you look at china's recently released trade statistics, china's trade surplus with the u.s. last year was 91.9% of its overall merchandise trade surplus. that does not include this shipments through hong kong. when we get those numbers from the u.s. commerce department, that means the surplus with the u.s. will be more than 100% of china's overall merchandise trade surplus. chinese economy in december looks like it's contracting from all the initial numbers. they are really hurting, david. they have also got problems in their political system. i could go on, but you get the point. >> the dni, the director of

national intelligence gave testimony before the congress yesterday. one of the things that was in this report talked about more cooperation between the russians and the chinese, militarily and especially as it relates to countering us. i think that's something that's been around for a while. but for some reason, many people in the foreign policy community discounted this. what do you think about the intelligence community saying there is this newfound cooperation between these two countries? >> this is really important because you have putin and jinping for a long time have been cooperating. go back to the 2013 syrian civil war, you had chinese and russian vessels. this is important, do you remember how the cold war ended? china and the u.s. on one side. soviet union on the other. now you have russia, china on the other side with iran and north korea and then us. >> it seems like russia and china also together in

venezuela. totally different topic. the way i look at this, tariffs are one issue, it seems like everyone wants tariffs lower. the big thing to me here gordon seems to be intellectual property protection. china seems to be notorious in violating rules. if china needs to get a deal done, do you think they will blink at least verbally and finally say yes we're going to address this and will it be credible? >> it won't be credible because, you know, right now you have xi jinping's made in 2025. they can't get there in 2025 unless they steal even more u.s. ip. the most important indictment against huawei yesterday was the theft of ip. huawei was built on stolen u.s. ips starting from cisco and now through to t-mobile. >> i have a question, for you gordon or for anyone who has an answer to this. it is about the chinese

consumer. we talk all the time about the top down influence on trade in the form of these tariffs, but there's also choices that consumers can make, and i don't know of anyone here in the u.s. who looked at this tariff spat and says you know what i'm not buying those $5 shorts from wal-mart because they were made in china. i wonder in china, has there been this kind of nationalistic or prideful backlash among consumers where they say we're going to buy fewer american goods? >> there is more of that because beijing has pushed that. there have been campaigns directed by the communist party since march of 2013 against apple and seen them against japanese goods and south koreans. now of course the u.s. we will see much more of this because the jinping doesn't really have an alternative so we will be on the target. >> gordon, it is scott martin from chicago, sending you warm thoughts from the tundra. [laughter] >> really enjoyed the book, by the way. actually bought it in a store

called borders back in the day which was a love experience. given that, that was like 15 years ago. and i'm still waiting for the collapse to m co. -- to come. is this the collapse that we're talking about finally putting china's feet to the fire as they proech the u.s. as the world's biggest -- as they approach the u.s. as the world's biggest economy? >> in that book i didn't see the 2008 downturn and some other things, i'm wrong on timing. in december initial numbers showed the chinese economy started to contract. we've seen really serious problems at the top of the chinese political system with a number of important communist party meetings being skipped, a real sign of distress, this is a really bad story for beijing. i'm worried about a closing window of opportunity where these guys are just going to lash out because they don't have any other alternative. david: final question on huawei. secretary mnuchin, the treasury secretary says he's not going to let the huawei prosecutions

interfere with trade talks. i'm wondering how could you avoid it? it is like the elephant in the room; right? >> right. china's challenge against us is multifacetted. we will have to reply to all of beijing's attacks, whether it's huawei, trade, north korea, we don't have the luxury of that. our responses will bump into each other like we're seeing right now, but it is unavoidable. david: thank you for being here. the crisis in venezuela continuing to escalate. trish regan spoke with the opposition leader juan guaido in a fox business exclusive. she joins us next. what if numbers tell only half the story? at t. rowe price, hundreds of our experts go beyond the numbers to examine investment opportunities firsthand. like a biotech firm that engineers

a patient's own cells to fight cancer. this is strategic investing. because your investments deserve the full story. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. comcast business built the nation's largest gig-speed network. then went beyond. beyond chasing down network problems. to knowing when and where there's an issue. beyond network complexity. to a zero-touch, one-box world. optimizing performance and budget. beyond having questions. to getting answers. "activecore, how's my network?" "all sites are green." all of which helps you do more than your customers thought possible. comcast business. beyond fast. shouldn't mean going back to the doctoro just for a shot. with neulasta onpro patients get their day back... to be with family, or just to sleep in. strong chemo can put you at risk of serious infection.

in a key study neulasta reduced the risk of infection from 17% to 1%, a 94% decrease. neulasta onpro is designed to deliver neulasta the day after chemo and is used by most patients today. neulasta is for certain cancer patients receiving strong chemotherapy. do not take neulasta if you're allergic to it or neupogen (filgrastim). an incomplete dose could increase infection risk. ruptured spleen, sometimes fatal as well as serious lung problems, allergic reactions, kidney injuries and capillary leak syndrome have occurred. report abdominal or shoulder tip pain, trouble breathing or allergic reactions to your doctor right away. in patients with sickle cell disorders, serious, sometimes fatal crises can occur. the most common side effect is bone and muscle ache. ask your doctor about neulasta onpro. pay no more than $5 per dose with copay card.

turning to the history of your country, what happened under the maduro and chavez reigns? >> they destroyed and ruined one

of the most prosperous in the world. support an oil producing country. that's why the production -- supported by the united states is very important. we need to protect the industry, to make it prosperous again. david: juan guaido leader of the venezuelan opposition speaking yesterday to our own trish regan, the day before he spoke to president trump about venezuela's future. trish joins us now with more. great interview. thank you very much. >> thank you. david: congrats on getting it before the president did. clearly venezuela has been destroyed by this socialist regime that's been in power for so long. how can this young man upset that regime? >> well, he's certainly trying, and he's got the people on his side. that means a lot. it really does. i mean, you think about the protests in the streets, just last week, when he swore himself in as president, per their constitution because they are

saying that the last election was completely illegitimate and that maduro stole it. he's now saying i'm the president. you saw people come out by the hundredses of thousands throughout the streets of caracas and all over venezuela to support democracy, to support freedom. you know, they've had nearly 20 years of socialist rule, and it hasn't worked. it really hasn't. it's gotten so corrupted. the government steals from the people. and the people have no opportunity. they have no hope. and they're finally saying we need to take our country back. i have to tell you, it is a little bit uplifting; right? with everything going on in the world and, you know, all the squabbling in washington, you look at how people are marching there in the streets and risking their lives as this young man is. he has a wife. he has a little girl at home. he's risking his life. couple of times he tried to call into my show, he was in hiding, and it didn't work.

we're thankful that he was able to call in and do that interview. just last night. it was an important interview. it was important that the american people hear from him, and he had quite a bit to say. i hope he succeeds. i'm going to say it. i think it is the russians, iranians, the cubans, hezbollah on the side basically of maduro versus freedom. >> i think trish brings up a great point too. it is so easy in the whole discussion to get wrapped up especially me into the larger geopolitical context of what's going on between the u.s. and russia and china. why are these people protesting? because they are starving. because they can't give their little babies food. they can't feed their children. i mean this is pure desperation from this regime. and i have been hammering this for the past few days, and i don't think our european friends are going to be happy with me for this, but i think their actions, their slowness to recognize not an opposition leader, not someone who has claimed the presidency, but according to the venezuelan constitution, and to the

national assembly, the duly and rightfully interim president of venezuela, for the europeans not to recognize that and to ask maduro to make more concessions only gives maduro more time. time is on his side. and they are allowing this misery to fester, and we need the europeans to stand up. if you're going to be against the russians, and against the chinese, and against tyranny, stop getting irritated with trump and stand up for the right thing. sorry for the rant. >> hey, trish, jack hough. i enjoyed the interview and thank you. have we reached a tipping point where a change in government in venezuela is no longer possible but now likely? what kind of path forward is for maduro at this point? when i look at the map, which supports the interim president, it seems overwhelming right now. >> i'm glad you brought it up, jack. i will tell you, on december 14th, six weeks ago now, i led

my program with the news that the maduro regime would be no longer. and i knew this in part because you have only to look at the bond market. okay, if you look at the bonds, a little bit different the last couple of days, but the sovereign debt bonds, what you could see there is increasingly people were pricing in a regime change. they were pricing in a regime change. why? because on january 10th, they anticipated maduro would say okay, i have another six years. well guess what? the free world was about to say no, you don't have another six years because you stole the election. that was going to bring it to a head. and in the meantime, you had these freedom fighters in the background working the situation there on the ground. they know how desperate the people are. and you know, i want to also point out, a lot of these people -- juan guaido, 35 years old, so many of them that i'ved hah on my program -- that i've had on my program, very young guys. it is the sort of new generation. they have grown up with this despair. and they have said, you know, i

don't want this for my family. and we need to change it. >> i will ask this, it is a difficult question. this is not a matter of flipping a switch. i know you have some insight on this as well, morgan. can this be done peacefully? can there be a peaceful transition with all the parties involved and all of the danger here? >> yes. i'm going to actually say that, yes. if maduro is listening right now, this is important advice. john bolton was on the program the other night and he said it doesn't have to end badly. in other words, he can take his little payout. i mean there are some reports that he's trying to load up the russian planes with gold and take it out. but he could take a little money and go get amnesty in another country and live happily ever after on the beach in his villa. i think those were john's words. [laughter] >> so look, i mean, it could be done. but why is it that time and time again, and you know this well with your background in latin america, david, why is it that

they hang on so desperately too long? really and truly. if he doesn't actually act here -- and i would say this afternoon we got word that he's trying to potentially negotiate with the opposition leaders. we will see what that means. i did speak with some opposition leaders who said, look, there's three mandatory things, one, we need new elections. two, we need a new electoral board. and three, we need our votes to be secret. okay? because right now they are not secret. so if you don't vote for the party that maduro wants you to vote for, his, then guess what? you lose your residence, your apartment, your food, you lose the ability to take care of their family. they have a lot of work to do. david: there is a model for what you just described, and that model is cuba. the cubans as we know have been providing all sorts of support, logistical support. they cubans get oil from

venezuela, and then they load venezuela up with all these security people. the communists have been in control of cuba for 60 years. as much as we have tried to dislodge the communists, we have failed to do so. some people are saying, if the communists can last 60 years in cuba, despite all of our opposition, maybe these guys can hang on, to which you would say what? >> i would say absolutely not. i think that ship has sailed. you see it in the eyes of the people right now. you really do -- really do. you can feel it. people marching in the streets. there were many more protests. i got some video from people that were there in the protests. they want that change. you will see it tonight. think about a world, where if you dare to think differently, if you dare to cause a commotion because you think differently, you can wind up in jail. and i've spoken to many people that have wound up in jail, just like that, and, you know, what kind of way is that to live? i know you say well, it's sort

of -- it hasn't worked in cuba. they are still in power. but i don't know that they can ever pull that off in venezuela. david: the one thing in favor of a regime change is the fact that there are so many people that have been willing to come out. some people wonder if the army god forbid turns their guns on the protesters, what happens then? >> let's hope that doesn't happen. i mean, i think john bolton had scribbled on his note pad the other day 5,000 troops to columbia. david: yeah. >> you know, nobody wants to see anyone lose their life over this, but the reality is, this is a strategically important place. the oil, which is the obvious, right? i mean they have tremendous natural reserves. why should a country with all that wealth on the ground be so poor? you have the oil, which is a reality. and you have got the people which is so significant. we don't like to see people starving, like they have been

starving. and then the third big thing, do you really want the russians there? right, i mean not since 1962 have we had an enemy parked right there with the ability to do something to us. i don't think we want that. >> it's a challenge militarily because we have -- estimated about 25,000 cuban troops, you know, on the ground. we have russian intelligence of course all over the place. number of reports. you know, venezuela is i think double the size of iraq, not only in size but also in population. and i don't think anyone's calling for any sort of full scale invasion, but i think the president deserves a lot of credit, and so do you, trish, for covering this. you're the one person in all of news that's been covering this. >> i think it is a pretty important story. with everything going on here, everybody is talking about socialism and how grand that could be. >> hey, trish, it's scott martin in chicago. >> scott, hey. >> do you think with regards to getting maduro out of there, we get back to this more 80s

economic expansion that venezuela once had? >> wouldn't that be great? wouldn't that be terrific? you have some people there that would very much like to open up the markets. they know you need a little injection of capitalism in there. even with the socialism stuff, i think they still want a safety net for the people, you have to have some capitalism. david: he spoke to that eloquently on your program last night about how he would get the engineers back in to the oil company to get it producing. tonight, by the way, i want to preview the show you have coming on tonight. very special guest. >> yes, so there are five americans that have been held hostage for over a year now in venezuela. they were duped into going there. they were employees from texas and louisiana. they went down there because they were told they had to be at a conference. what do you know? they got there. they were taken by maduro. they were thrown in jail. and he hasn't let them out. their families have been terrified. i mean, really terrified,

paralyzed almost because they are afraid to come forward for fear that maduro would do something worse to their loved ones. well, two of the daughters of one of the prisoners have made a decision. they want to speak out. so they will be joining me exclusively at the top of the hour to tell me and all of us about their dad and how horrific a year it has been as they pray for his return. again, five americans being held hostage by nicolas maduro. we should care. david: 8:00 p.m. eastern on fbn right here tonight. congratulations on this work, terrific work. thanks very much, trish. democrats who once entertained social security cuts are now pushing legislation that expands the program, and they have unprecedented support. but who is on the hook to foot the bill? we'll debate that, coming next. i'm a veteran

and the army taught me a lot about commitment. which i apply to my life and my work. at comcast we're commited to delivering the best experience possible, by being on time everytime. and if we are ever late, we'll give you a automatic twenty dollar credit. my name is antonio and i'm a technician at comcast.

we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome. willy davis, who has alzheimer's. i decided to make shirts for the walk with custom ink. the shirts were so easy to design on the site. the custom ink team was super helpful and they just came out perfect. seeing my family wearing my shirts was such an amazing reminder of all the love and support that everyone has for my dad. - [narrator] check out our huge selection of custom t-shirts and more, for teams, businesses, and every occasion. you'll even get free shipping. get started today at customink.com.

david: breaking news, another look at shares of facebook. look at this. it is now up almost 12% after hours, beating wall street's fourth quarter expectations despite all the recent scandals. reporting averagely daily monthly user growth of about 9%. the company posting record profits in the quarter beaten its previous record by nearly a

billion dollars. unbelievable. house democrats introducing legislation that would expand social security benefits across the board and prolong the program for the rest of the century. the bill finances a more generous benefit and cost of living adjustment formula already has the support of more than 200 house democrats. that's just shy of the 218 vote mark it needs. who is going to pay for this? what do you think, gang? >> we're worried about bond marks and deficits and everything -- bond markets and deficits and everything. the bond market is not reflecting a lot of fear in this. the congressional budget office came out on monday and said the deficit for this year is 75 billion less than they thought it was going to be in the spring of 18. that said, let's see some numbers on this. while i'm at it, i will talk about kamala harris talking about single payer healthcare, what is that going to cost us? we can't assess this until we really know what it is. >> mike, i think the reason the bond market is not freaked out to use a word is because we have

always got the lender of last resort, which is the taxpayer. that never goes broke. the taxpayer is always there to foot the bill which is what's going to happen here, which argues again as to why we should privatize this. look at the countries around the world besides us that have done this already, they are happy with this. if this is an argument for privatization as far as personal accounts, i don't know what is. >> it's a terrible idea, anyhow. i know it would be popular, but look we're not paying for the program that we have. it is underfunded. baby steps, right, let's pay for the thing we're already doing and then let's do something about our gaping budget deficit before we talk about expanding benefits. >> that's exactly right. the republicans have lost all sort of moral high ground on being the party of fiscal responsibility here, given the massive increases in the deficit under their watch. so you know, one thing i will give the democrats credit for even though i fundamentally disagree is they are coming to

the table with a plan. the americans see a party with a plan. republicans need to get on board with finding a plan that addresses the concerns of americans that feel left behind. david: you know, the thing that's awful about social security is it's a fraud. it is a complete fraud. the returns that you get -- >> ponzi. david: it is a total ponzi scheme. the returns you get on it are less if you bought a treasury bill by about half. so i mean just give us some kind of power over our social security funds, they are supposed to be ours, it is supposed to be in a lock box and let us deal with it, at least part of it in terms of investing. otherwise the government's just stealing our money. >> i agree, david. people would care more about it too. you talk to anybody in my age range, i won't give you my birth date but a lot of people think social security is a scam. they think the money is gone. they don't want to pay into it. you get people with personal accounts, personal choice, i sound like steve forbes here, that's going to be a problem.

david: you have another 50 years before you have to worry about it. scott. thanks, gang. wage equality today, alexandria ocasio kor tez -- cortez is making a suggestion of her own. that's coming next. pain and stiffness and helps stop the progression of joint damage. for people with moderate to severe psoriasis, 90% saw significant improvement. taltz even gives you a chance .. can happen with taltz, including worsening of symptoms. serious allergic reactions can occur. for all the things that move you. ask your doctor about taltz.

our grandparents checked zero times a day. times change. eyes haven't. that's why there's ocuvite. screen light... sunlight... longer hours... eyes today are stressed. but ocuvite has vital nutrients... ...to help protect them. ocuvite. eye nutrition for today. (vo) ♪ here's a question. was it necessary to create a luxury car more teched out than silicon valley? with a cockpit fit for aspaceship. hang on. radar that senses things the human eye can't. busted. and the ability to make a thousand decisions before you even make one. was all this, really necessary? what do you think? ♪

- did you know, the exact same hotel room can have many different prices? it all depends on where you look. - wait, you paid how much? - oh, dear! - well, this is awkward. that's why tripadvisor checks over 200 booking sites (cash register ringing) to find you a great price,

and the hotel you want, so you don't end up overpaying for your room. no offense. find the right hotel room for the right price. ♪ hoo! read reviews, check hotel prices, book things to do. tripadvisor. david: house democrats pushing

for equal pay. alexandria ocasio-cortez tweeting if the wage games a myth, then workers should not have any problem disclosing our salaries with one another. >> it will make the coffee maker of conversations much more interesting if that goes through. if facebook and google haven't stolen it all, this is an era when we talk about coming together and working together and teaming up at work. this will bring a lot of jealousy and divide the workplace. >> there is so much democrat intrusion this new democrat congress is proposing. as the woman on the panel, i'm have much in favor of equal pay for equal work. but there are ways the to get

there without disclosing personal information. the last thing i want is everyone knowing my salary. >> perhaps as a method to alexandria ocasio-cortez' madness. maybe she is trying to compel enforcement. wage equality is important. there are issues in this country with it. let's see if this pushes it in the right direction. >> i'm in the running for senior word donkey. i still heart aoc. david: she has that charisma. they are putting her on all these important committees. so she might have an impact. she may be able to put this legislation into work. >> that would be frightening.

and i'm jealous because i heard senior word donkeys are paid less. david: that does it for bulls and bears. thank you for watching. we'll see you back here tomorrow night. >> what kind of country do we want to live in. do we want to live in a country that's so far to the left moving towards socialism or a country where the american people no longer trust the leaders in government. no longer have any respect for someone in the oval office. i have serious profound concerns about the country. i want to do everything i can to restore faith in our government and give people a chance at the american dream. liz: that's tar bucs former ceo, howard schultz. he's ramping up his