>> great show you guys. >> great show. always, love you. have a great day love you back. go-sees the day everybody thanks for joining us we'll sew you again. "varney & company" starts right now. take it away. >> thanks march wra, good morning everyone. get ready for yet another big week in money politics and policy, diplomacy and trade. it starts today when google releases its financial results. we'll find out if recent are scandals have effected its profits watch out here. these giant tech companies can and do move whole markets. tomorrow, a political clash with the "state of the union" message for political drama, watch the interchange between the president and speaker pelosi. he wants border wall. the speaker does not. she will be sitting right behind him. both will be on camera. [laughter] spectacular. on diplomacy watch for announcement of the second

summit with north korea kim jun you think on trade a trump xi jinping possible summit announce m that surely would be a positive why meet if there's no chance for a big deal yes it is a big we can and here's how starts on market flat slightly lower but look at that level 25,000 on the dow. it has been a great start to the new year and why not? profits are up. 19% over last year. what is very strong. how about end game in venezuela will not meet with maduro and roll out military intervention and gone over to the man we back as president and news this morning that spain, france, swrerm, and britain also back wado of course we will wrap up the super bowl for you in a moment my star of the game. gladys knight "varney & company" is about to tbin.

okay super bowl you have to do it new england patriots won their sixth title i don't think the gail was that interesting. what caught my attention was -- the national anthem. roll tape. ♪ ♪ home of the grave ♪ -- brave. ♪ >> you get a few tingles out of that one because i did. >> that was the the high point and invite back to the halftime show. >> you tngt like maroon 5? >> no bland and boring much like

the game. sorry. but gladys knight came through and she wanted it to unite everybody. others had refused to sit to sing anthem she sang it and i think she blew everybody away. >> she did and it was marvelous. 74 years old. >> wow. >> i didn't know that. if you have a voice like that -- 74 -- [laughter] wow. love you gladys thanks very much for what you did last night good stuff to the monday morning and i'll do that. white house economist larry kudlow he joined us on friday we talked. myc growth, roll tape. year own year growing pliment at 1.9% you have an economy whose potential is now moving right through 3% and annual rate. so what happens quarter by quarter i think our 3% growth rate is in tact. i think we're going it surprise

a lot of people. my advice to my friends who were pessimistic, my advice to my pessimistic friends and i have a few, take me over for a change not always under but the over it pays off. [laughter] >> come on in economist brian, all right that was a rosy forecast there. 3% growth. do you share that forecast 3% growth in 2019? >> larry and i are coauthors you bet i share that forecast. you can't grow jobs at that rate and not have economic growth if we have 300,000 job a month job numbers, i mean, of course, we grow 3%. but i don't think he expects 300,000 jobs each and every month he did say look we're expecting some up and downs but overall 3%. so is this the tax cuts? is this deregulation? that are projected to 3% growth? >> it is all five things it's tax rate cuts, it's stable

money. it's free trade and we're making some progress on that score. it is deregulation. and spending cuts remember donald trump talked about cutting spending by 5%. the market has secretly absorbed all of that information in the economy has as well. so, of course, we're growing it now historic rates in the 2000s. >> brian hold on a second i get back to you many a moment and talk trade in a second. but market watcher dennis what do you think of 3.growth i'm assuming we'll get pretty close to that. what will you say about that for the market? >> first of all, larry kudlow and i go back a long way and one of the favorite people and happiest guys in the history of man but i think he's a little optimistic on this one 3% is probably a little tough to sustain. but we're going to get close all year long and not quibble about fact to get 2.8, 3.0% growth we're clogs and doing more of the right things they've we've done in a long period of time and dismayed as you've heard me about this president attitude to

international trades and discouraged about continuous expectations or -- bringing up notion of trade tariffs. but if we can get that off the table, then perhaps 3% growth would be -- not only likely but sustainable for a period of time. however i have my doubts whether we'll do that. >> sure enough. but what we have is profits so far in this reporting period are up what, 19% compared to one year ago. dennis, that is very is strong and frankly, much better than expected. >> oh, so much better than expected to be a stunning surprise. is that -- is that sustainable? i have my doubts but can we do more than 10% for next year or two? if we don't do anything stupid if we don't do anything dumb with trade or try to raise taxes we actually try to cut spending, then we can with have 10, with 15 a% profit growth again for another year. >> 19% likely not sustainable. >> i'll ask the same question

often ask this is january, it is february, this is time of year when a lot of people make decisions about where to put their 401(k) money. would you be kivel dennis with people keeping their money in stocks? >> you should cope a great -- a good portion of your money in stocks. i'm getting close to retirement i'm 68 so i don't have as much in stocks as i would tell my daughters to have but i'm as long as the stock market for first time in a while you know me when i became quite bearish after turn of the year bullish with stocks. i won't pick any particular stock. and as you know that i'll always be -- all error on owning simple things, railroad, banks miners those sorts of things i'll leave high-tech to somebody else more courageous than i but it is a bull market. >> i've got some money in high-tech. and i'm older than you. [laughter] how about that? >> dennis, you're all right. thanks for joining us. see you again real soon. [laughter] i want to -- >> thanks for having me on.

i want to get back to trade. high level talks more with china. scheduled for this month, there is the possibility of announcement from the president with the summit meeting with xi jinping. that will bring back brian again, if there was announcement i'm just going to assume and speculate here if this was a meeting xi jinping, donald president truch trump that's sure isly a meeting and walk away with no deal at all. >> sir one with of the main things that spoofed market in 2018 was the trade protectionism that this president put on the table for the first time really in 50 years meaning -- if there were real progress towards free trade in intellectual property this week, this month, i mean stock market is going to soar and so much global confidence in the economy. you bet we'll see that 3% in the united states. >> it doesn't have to be a

comprehensive deal, does it with the fact of technology, the force takeover of technology, and trade imbalance you don't have to comprehensive agreement only all of that -- all you need for a market rally is a bufnlg of smiling faces and a nice handshake that will do it, won't it? >> the deal is a bureaucrat pick detail it is the spirit is -- we want to get past the the era of talking about about free trade but not having it into a new era of talking about free trade and a having it. market will absorb that we appreciate it and see you again soon. got it. now, check the market. where do we with open monday morning -- flat ever so slightly lower i think dow industrials maybe down 4, minor leagues loss for the other indicators. i would ask you to look at the level of the dow, though, with 25,000. okay it was 18,000 when this president was elected. venezuela opposition leader juan

gad getting big time support in germany europe, britain, with france spain they all back him. they officially recognize juan as the president of venezuela. in that country -- meanwhile still no deal on funding border security or here. president trump is not ruling out declaration of a state of emergency to get the wall built. border security sure to be a big theme in tomorrow "state of the union" speech and tension between china and canada that's growing china is not happy about arrest of the huawei executive they're holding several canadian citizens including one sentenced to death drug trafficking charges he begs question china holding canada hostage. we're on it. there will be more varney after this. i've even built my own historic trading model. and you're still not sure if you want to make the trade? exactly. sounds like a case of analysis paralysis. is there a cure?

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we have a couple of individual stocks where there are stories attached and they're moving first of all general motors, today they're expected to start cutting those 4,000 white collar jobs general motors holding at 38 dollar a share. "the wall street journal" reports that the activist fund starboard value is about to make a 200 million investment in papp pa johns that's good news for that stock up 6% pennsylvania johns to christ crisis in venezuela european leaders hold between juan. >> spain with, france, denmark lithuania, netherlands, germany

list goes on and on. sweden, all coming for fresh presidential elections in venezuela recognizing juan as the interim president. not imposed broad sanctions it is, though, much like the u.s. is taking it a step higher. however, they are putting more and more pressure with russia and china and western countries now the e.u. putting pressure on other side. >> they have money involved. 60 from china, with 10 billion from russians they want their money back. >> do you think, though, major issue is military that won't swing over. >> that is the key. wait a second air force guy top guy in the -- in the venezuelan air force came out on videotape over weekend and said i'm with juan. >> so crack in the military right there. >> a capitulation end game i think this week. look, i'm speculating i should say. two issues between canada and china. number one, the arrest of huawei

executive in canada, number two, china is holding canadian citizens. joining us now david former canadian ambassador to china this ambassador are canadians held in china hostages? >> there's no doubt about that. stuart, and the chinese officials ambassador to canada have said as much that indeed this is tit for tat because of the arrest in vancouver of huawei. >> so the arrest of the huawei executive, that is all lumped in to the trade deal and canada u.s. china relationship. it's all one big cake, right? >> it is all connected. and you know one of the points of connection is controversy in canada recently over huawei case has been politicized and whether it's a side issue but at the one point issue was the same it is whether china played by rules os bay laws and international law

same issue. >> how do canadians feel about this are they annoyed maybe to america? >> we've had a confusing couple of weeks to put it mildly. our ambassador to beijing named john who was former cabinet minister in canada a bit of a rarity to move from political side to public service. and he gave a couple of speeches which he thought he had a strong case very odd for ambassador to say and great in his words if she were return to the -- to china. this generated a lot of controversy ultimately had had to fire him so number two is run aring things in beijing but it -- really mudded waters. >> i've been speculating that if there were -- a summit meeting president trump, and xi jinping that that in itself would be with a positive. because you don't organize a summit if you think you're going to walk away with absolutely no deal at all am i okay and right on this? >> that's absolutely right.

and -- a little bit fun usual, though, this time stuart is tomorrow brings us the start of the chinese new year period when things shut down in beijing for weeks, obviously, negotiate force will be at work but it is of harder to get feedback it is kind of a dark side of the moon period. you know a lot of things that remain undone, i think, in this trade negotiation so to say, i'm going to meet with china's president you know before the end of this month because, of course, deadline is march first it puts pressure on negotiators or maybe suggest it will be a different kind of deal. >> i would suspect that the issue of canadians held in china and the huawei executive held in canada america demands her presence in america. i would imagine that those are two issues relatively easy to just get rid of. they will go away very quickly at a summit meeting. >> i -- thought a lot about that stuart and one thing that got canada

attention was the press conference last week where you have act aing attorney general and director of the fbi, commerce secretary, and others as they, you know, talked about indictments against huawei. partly involved with iran, and also the t-mobile case which is where huawei accused of stealing robotic technology from t-mobile. so this was taken this was a serious high level presentation of a case that the u.s. has made effectively to countries like canada, with australia, the u.k., now poland japan and others posed by technology if that goes away in trade negotiations a lot of good work with allies will also i think be in jeopardy because the u.s. has really made a compelling case. >> we take your point mr. ambassador always appreciate it. sir. thank you so much. >> where do we open the market

on monday morning well not much change maybe down 10 for the dow maybe 3 for the nasdaq flat to slightly lower. president trump says, he has serious concerns about letting his son barron, play football -- mr. trump says it's a dangerous sport. hear all a about that, after a this.

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all right we'll do this quickly futures point to a flat to ever so slightly lower stock market this monday morning and then we have president trump. talking about letting his son play football or not. roll tape a. would you let your son barron play football? >> it's very tough question. it is a very good question. if he wanted it to, yes would i steer him that way, about no i wouldn't i don't like the reports that i see coming out having to do request football. it's a dangerous sport. i would have a hard time with it. >> let's go beyond this for a second because -- some people want flag football to replace high school football. >> they do. would you prefer that flag football instead of full tackle game or leave if alone 25% said they prefer the flag football option. so do 7% said leave it alone it's fine. 38% largest says i'm not sure. but what was interesting when

you dig down a bit it was the older responsibilities saying flag football all of the way because helmet and padding has improved the danger for certainly for brain injury still very much there. >> that suggest to me that football is really going to change. >> because attitude towards it. >> attitude towards it will change and game itself may have to change. >> there are three trends if you see number of concussions up to 3n't 6 million and use of participants decreasing down 25,000 parpghts and in the third one too is that football players are retiring a little bit earlier. >> last night was a boring game l we agree on that. glad it was -- down what 10 points at the opening bell for dow jones industrial average and flat to lower this monday morning but watch out. google reports after the bell after the the close of trading this afternoon. that could move the market.

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♪ ♪ our new, hot, fresh breakfast will get you the readiest. (buzzer sound) holiday inn express. be the readiest. >> as we've been saying this morning we're starting very big week. not that much action so far today. but we've got a big week coming. google earnings, "state of the union" message. possible news on trade with china.

possible news out of venezuela or that's probably not going to affect the market that much but more profit reports coming out all a of the time so it is going to be a big week if a rather subdued open to the market. which is happening -- now. it is 9:30 eastern time monday morning off and run chg way are we going indetermine is the answer. down 5, down 3, town 11, i see a lot of red actually on lngd side of the screen for our radio listeners, about just a bit more than half the dow 30 are in the red. down a fractional loss the same story on the s&p? a buck says it is. yes, i'm right it is dun a fraction .03. i win that dollar back okay. nasdaq composite all a of the tech stocks right there. up -- up a fraction. 4 point that's .50%. alphabet known as google virtually no change in the stock

right now yeah unchanged right there. that was good wasn't it? very fine reporting stew. joining us jeff seeger john leifield ashley webster and christina joins us today. all right profits up 19%. now compared to a year ago. jeff, i call that real strong, is that the driver of the market which is giving us such a great january? >> it has been the driver of the market also that jerome powell folded like a -- like a cheap -- deck chair so -- [laughter] so but also you know the one thing about earnings, now, yes earnings have been great we've gotten 40% of the reports already. right now, and about 70% of those 40 have beat expectations. but we have to keep in mind we have tax cuts which were major. and we had massive share buybacks so we have two events that are not going to make this necessarily sustainable. >> however, suppose with the all

big corporations with all of that extra money that they've taken onboard they now start a capital investment period. where they spend big on capital equipment and they have -- >> they haven't yet. but wage growth the fact that we see it climb higher so that could be not necessarily a big thing for companies in but you have 159 name this is week on s&p but less hot one like retail wasn't that a concern? >> you also have now you have a lot of these expectations have scaled back a lot and information technology is the biggest sector in the s&p 500, and they are warning every single day their numbers are down 9% rolling -- eyes, i give in i absolutely give in. [laughter] are you permanently climbing the wall of worry? is >> no. but -- here's -- i have to give that side of the argument.

information is crucial and they're seeing very, or very difficult times ahead and you have to give them consideration they're not a baby sector. >> with three minutes into the section where we've opened market with three minutes in they're all i've heard it negative. so thank you. thank you, thank you welcome back by the way. >> thank you very much. google parent alphabet they report after the bell today john leifield come in please. [laughter] still hasn't recovered from last year's haircut. if they get a strong report today, do they recover like apple recovered? >> my friend yes, i have is like e-yore i'm not sure i can be more negative than jeff. i'm kidding i love jeff. [laughter] i think google will report fantastic earnings they have 60,000 miles of undersee cables i'm surprised that they have not had monopoly talks about google like about facebook and amazon because they're ones that have a monopoly here but all about ad

revenue and search an eating into profits a little bit and interesting to see what they say about that. smg scandal, though, didn't touch facebook bottom line. will it touch your google bottom line? >> no i think going forward it could be something to focus on. john did mention it to go back to google i think for investors it must be frustrating they don't break out other categories so we don't know specifically how much ho youtube is making, or wamo interesting to see comments on that. >> the call will handle that one. >> okay let's move on i have to moves on, sorry about that. but you took first three minutes of this segment you killed me. china more high level talks scheduled this month at a possible meeting between trump and president xi jinping. if there is an announcement of that meeting going back to this jeff. here's your chance to redeem yourself if there's that meeting, i say that is very positive. >> it is crucial but -- [laughter] i'm going to be -- >> it's crucial and i think one of great thingses president trump

has done is he's taking a stand against our 30-year theft of intellectual property which is -- which had is horrendous. but he also has to -- he has to take a stand that something needs to be done there just can't be talk and what the chinese tends to do is promise things not follow through. >> are you with me on this one if there's a meeting that signals that there's going to be some kind of a deal because you don't organize a summit and then walk away from it without absolutely nothing. even the announcement of a deal is good for the market, right? >> yes, i agree especially xi is one that is offering this meeting so i think president xi will will come to the table and propose something that trump can declare victory. i look i think president trump was in a great job with tax cuts with the cuts and regulations i think he's done a horrible job with the trade deal. and i don't think he understands what he's doing, and i hope that president xi is going to give him a victory where we can get this thing behind us. >> speaking of victory too is

that constitute just buying more agricultural products or what about the ip issues that just did bring up, i don't think it has been addressed. >> it doesn't matter. if you get announcement with handshake and big smile anxious photo opportunity. and yeah we buy -- >> with north korea then. >> it doesn't matter. it means that the two sides are agreeing and that they're going to agree more and -- they're going keep on going. but the market will react -- >> of course i agree with you on that. win withing but chinese do not walk away with tail between their leg but -- finesse but they have to get it done by march and if not there's a hard deadline here a line in the sand that's the problem. >> keep climbing that wall -- [laughter] with you all the way there. check the big board okay we've been open for six and a half minutes and we're down 19 points. not that big a movement this monday morning. but wall street journal is reporting that the activist fund

starboard value is going to make a 200 million investment in papa johns pizza people look at that stock up 9.5%. clorox reported better profit and they're up, 4%. today general motors is expected to start cutting those 4,000 white collar workers no impact on the stock it is actually at 38 bucks share. but he was known as bond king. bill gross he's retiring from janice. remember he cofounded giant bond fund back in 1971, no impact on the stock but down 1% and price of oil 54 dollars per barrel today. have been 55 that's getting up there price ofs gas still holding at 225 per gallon as national average now john i want to bring you back in here. you're kind of an oil guy. what do you make of this theory that as oil goes up the stock market goes up. there's a relationship between the two.

do you see it? >> i agree with that because it's no longer old prices go down and you see gas prices go down and 70% of the economy so poem say that's good for the economy we have so many jobs that tied to oil sector and energy independent of people that we don't want to buy oil from it is a good thing to have oil over 50 a barrel these guys in west texas needed about 50 dollars to be profitable. they can be profitable at that rate. it was about 60 bucks about two year ago they have more efficient i think it is a good thing for the economy. >> all right i want to see this drill, drill, drill -- more and more and more. i love it. all right did anybody else sir have this problem. the polar vortex last week arctic temperatures you know you felt it. now some tesla owners are complaining that cold weather caused battery life issues. now i know for a fact my -- little cell phone here wect from 70% charge haded to 10% charged in about 40 minutes out in cold weather. it happens to all batteries and

my report used to take a camera to shoot news and visit in montana and wisconsin you can see battery drain almost immediately well people complain they're losing 20 to 25 miles draining overnight from the cold. if he didn't protect it prop or orally by the way same story for chevy bolton it is that cold to affect the battery but also they have very smooth door handles that kind of inset into the door and you have to push on one side to click on other they froze and people couldn't get into their cars. >> so there's instructional videos on youtube how to get around that. >> so walk around with blowtorch so effect like tesla sales in midwestern part of the country in canada could it? >> sales aren't that strong because of lack of infrastructure but i think definitely because canada you have to think in cold areas you have to think of the cold an how you get in so i think it is a concern tesla, though, buying into the brand the name so -- >> 300 a share. right there. you know it is 9:40 time that

means quoit a performance -- [laughter] john you were great. [laughter] gentlemen, thank you very much indeed all good. now where are we? literally ten minutes into the session and dow down see what you did jeff down 35 point on dow industrials but still -- 25,000. attention! über customers you will be pay more for a ride next time you hail über -- >> you don't you order one up in new york city you're paying -- it's because of rising minimum wage great story, of course, we are with on it. president trump giving a "state of the union" message tomorrow. this could be contentious. the economy, trade, border security -- all likely to be the big themes. flearn the time speaker pelosi will be sitting right behind the president. watch that facial drama right there. folks. tune in you have to watch this. more varney after this. be a lot of scowling --

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we're now 13 minutes in down 27 point go nowhere monday morning thus far. facebook 15th anniversary, they've got a new post on a addressing challenges that they're facing. deirdre bolton tell me what they are saying please. ening stuart there are five key categories but i want to start with hate speech within that is very big for company as it is for all of these tech/media and with french regulators to reduce hate speech with independent body which had people can use to

appeal decision involving potentially offenseive content so facebook also talking about battling election fraud and fake news in north america in europe around the world talking about prioritizing safety and well being this is another category that they're hilting stuart. and as far as e.u. regulator they're saying you know what for most part the tone is pretty positive saying google, wry tube and twitter are pretty good about responding taking a look at and then taking town hate speech posts. stuart. >> their bottom line hasn't suffered from the scandals surrounding aspects this have. >> but stock has. it already did and came back nicely with that latest profit report. all right deirdre back to you shrtly come on in christina what's this fight between mcdonald's and a burger king about the big mac. >> it is so good. the not big mac's menu launching a menu in stockholm items are named listen, big back but big the king of like a big mac but

juicier and burger bike mac wish tfsz and anything but a big mac and big mackish but flame grilled, of course, because -- the mcdonald's no longer has trademark protection over the words big mac. >> exactly. so they lost -- >> competition could use the word any way they like. >> a lawsuit in ireland and big mac. >> give any naming of your competitor -- >> big mac sell then why not use it? >> isn't this great marketing what we're talking about it wars between both giants. love it. >> we're talking about it and advertising for them. let's stop that. [laughter] politics the "state of the union," tomorrow night, i'm expecting some serious drama. and i think i'm going to get it. look who is here i've known this man for decades -- [laughter] his name is alan murray he's now the president and the ceo of

fortune congratulations. by the way, good stuff and. >> i think we have a great opportunity in front of us so i appreciate it. i'm looking forward to tomorrow night the visual the president delivering "state of the union" sitting behind him is speaker pelosi when they start talking about wall or no wall i want to see her expression and i want to the see him turn -- >> i thought you were going to ask me about hamburgers i was all ready for the big mac. >> i don't to disappoint you it will be fun to look at the facial expressions but the "state of the union" address is the one time in the last two years where the president is actually kind of behaved and you know, he's reading from a script that's all on the tell prompghter he trying to be conciliatory to make a deal so may not be the moment of hydrama you know watch a twitter feed immediately afterwards. but he can't resist. we'll see it. we'll see. i'll tell you those economic numbers on friday were amazing so really sets him up to take a -- tell a strong story about

economic growth. >> what about this declaration of a national emergency? i think that, that is a possibility in this speech? >> look we've all learned better than try to predict what the president will do. but that would -- that would destroy, that would be real drama that would destroy any opportunity to get smoothly through the shutdown crisis that's a real in your face to congress. republicans in congress who feel strongly about that. you know it is taking power away from congress saying we're going to hold it all in the white house that would be a real nuclear option. >> what surprises me is just a couple of months ago the president and his ratings and his standing politically was way down there. especially when he had to almost cave on the wall and government shutdown. he appears to have bounced back vigorously. what do you say? >> oh, yeah i think so, and look

he needs for his base he needs to stay strong on border security. but -- but he also doesn't want to go through another shutdown crisis so has to make some effort to conciliate to try to reach an agreement i would think. >> last one with real fast. now, the president and ceo of fortune, about what do you make of all of these layoffs in some aspects of the media -- flght media business it has been a tough time in media business but you know where you've seen some good news is in the publications that are turning away from advertising where google and facebook dominate and more towards subscription so you are friends upstairs "the wall street journal" doing pretty well. "new york timeses," washington post doing pretty well in magdz sector you see some magazines like harvard business review or economist doing pretty well because they are less reliengt on advertisers and more reliant on direct relationship with their subscribers i think that's the future of --

for media. now the problem is -- that means you have to it play. >> you're cool. thank you. or for being with us. tax season yeah, of course, it is officially underway and if you live in a high tax state like new york or new jersey, you can write a big check to the government. no more deducting state and local tacks. all right well, next we're talking to republican member of the tax writer committee would he be willing to reinstate those salt deductions? we will certainly ask. 'm worried' retirement. don't worry. voya helps them to and through retirement... dealing with today's expenses... while helping plan, invest and protect for the future. so they'll be okay? i think they'll be fine. voya. helping you to and through retirement.

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all right we're almost back to dead even but look at the nasdaq please up about one-third of one percent dead flat for dow industrials. there is an exodus from high tax states like new york and new jersey and it is because of the new tax law. in particular, the e religious of those salt deductions as they are called. i want to bring in new york congressman republican, tom reid he's with us this morning. would you support reinstating those salt deductions? >> well, obviously, stuart i'm not opposed to that because we're lower in taxes under that

policy and generally i support doing that. but what we have to do is take a hard look at what's driving this issue stuart and it is high taxes based on high spending of the state capitols in high tax states that is causing this issue. to begin with we should address that as root cause of the problem. but new york and new jersey state government they will not under any circumstances lower taxes, in fact, new york and new jersey is raising taxes. so would it not be to your political advantage even though you're a republican to restore the deduction? >> i think absolutely. i think that would be a good policy in something we could support. but however, what it will also do is we keep the salt cap in place. the governor and our state capital in albany and elsewhere are hard pressed to embrace extremism as demonstrated by democratic socialist movement of 70%, 0% tax income pressureses that they're trying to impose upon our taxpayers. so at least hopefully this will

enable governor to push back and say we can't raise taxes now. we have this issue of the the salt cap that we have to deal with. >> good luck with that tom, good luck -- i don't mean to be facetious but there's one study that says new york city and new jersey have lost 5700 millionaires in 2018 because of salt. because of the tax reform bill. i would expect that exodus to -- to flow even more freely i think it would increase as tax season comes due. what do you say? >> i think that pressure is going to be there. but isn't it ironic that what -- what folks are advocating for is standing for one percent that's why this political warfare and class division where one percent are boogeyman are seeing result of this to our state budget as millionaires the 1 % leave state

because of the high tax policy and said enough is enough. >> you've got it right. tom reid as ever thank you. jour inning us sir. we'll see you again soon. >> great to be with use. >> thank you, sir. another tax hike proposal from the democrats top guy on the social security sub committee wants to raise social security taxes. especially on the rich. another example of the democrats going after your money, if you've got it, they want it. hand it over. my take on that, next. ♪ the new capital one savor card. . .

stuart: here we go again, another tax hike proposal from the democrats. congressman john larson chairs the social security subcommittee in the house. he wants to raise social security taxes. the hike is aimed at rich, or who the left defines as the rich. any kind of tax you pay the democrats want to raise it. here is a short list. senator sanders, bernie sanders, he wants a death tax hike, and a big one. try to leave a couple million for the grandkids, and bernie will take 45%. those filthy rich grandparents. alexandria ocasio-cortez, who seems to be the new democrat party leader would double tax rate on income, on income! julian castro is on board with that as well. social security taxes up, estate taxes up, income taxes up and here is a new one, senator

warren wants a wealth tax. democrats 2020 campaign is endless series of takes hikes, massive tax tykes with massive new spending. tax-and-spend on steroids. should we step back a moment? look at economy right now, after big tax cuts. the rate of growth has doubled, the job market is as strong as it has been in a generation. inflation isn't a problem. interest rates remain low. oh, wages they're rising at the best rate in a decade. the democrats just can't stand it. a, they hate trump and can't tolerate any success, even prosperity is bad if it is president trump that engineered it. b, they resent wealth. if you have got it, they want it. and they think taking it off you brings them votes. we've seen this pattern in previous elections but never have we seen such massive tax hike proposals, precisely at the time when tax cuts are working

so well. the second hour of "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ stuart: you heard what i had to rant about there? so come on in former arkansas governor mike huckabee. if you add it up, every single tax you pay now, estate taxes, income taxes, they're all going to go up. what do you say? >> well i say that the democrats have a new uniform they're all supposed to wear. it is ski masks and carrying blue steel revolvers, they all believe instead of robbing 7-elevens, robbing everybody who has a job, everybody making wages. they ought to listen to a couple great songs. one 50 years old, done about it beatles, written by george harrison, taxman, the other great song by ray stevens, my friend in nashville, who said,

even jesus only asked for 10%? why does the government want so much more? i don't get these guys. we have an economy is working because of tax cuts. almost like they can't stand it. please jump the taxes up and let's kill the economy and put people back on the welfare roles and get them off the nasty jobs they're getting. stuart: what i don't understand, why it is so popular. there is poll about senator warren as new wealth tax, it has broad approval. why is, why is this form of socialism, this grab bag of take money off the rich, why is it so popular? >> well, because the democrats have, let me say, maybe not democrats specifically but liberals have controlled academia so long they have indoctrinated people coming up through the education system that there is something really wrong with people who have been successful. that is what howard schultz is battling right now. he is a liberal but he is not stupid and it is one of those

amazing things that as these people come along, they think the tax will hit everyone but them. what they don't understand is when you tax their boss, that means he can't give you a raise. he might even cut your job. he might take inventory off-the-shelf. and so, they don't get it. they don't see a correlation between taxing the people who gave you the job, and your own ability to take home a paycheck. so we have a real economic ignorance going on in america. stuart: so how should republicans fight this new socialist movement? how should they counterit? >> the big things republicans do wrong, they make everything complicated. they talk as if they're talking to a room full of accountants and senior executives and cf offs. they have to put it in street language, they simply need to say, do you think everybody on the new england patriots should pet exactly the same salary. do you think the everybody in the nfl same salary, if so why,

if not, why not? should everybody in the entire nfl get a super bowl ring even if they didn't play in the super bowl? most people know that is nonsense. make applications people can see, not hear, but see. republicans need to speak in clear, what i would call brain-friendly language that doesn't assume that they understand details of economics. stuart: i just remember ronald reagan so well making it very clear, that taxing the rich which we have done for 10 areas beforehand was not the way to get the economy going. he put it into simple, easy to understand language. we miss him. >> yes he did. stuart: governor huckabee, thanks very much for joining us as always. as usual we're on the same page. good to see you. >> always, always. stuart: as you're looking at big board down 85, let me bring in kristina partsinevelos who doesn't look like she is on

board with me on this don't tax the rich. >> it is not that i'm not on board. i think we should be discussing the tax loopholes are given to so many people, as opposed taxing wealthy at what alexandria ocasio-cortez at 70% for those making more than 10 million. that is extremely high. i understand capitalism. you work hard to get there. stuart: what loopholes? >> i don't know them because i'm not wealthy and don't have enough money to even get there yet but maybe in the future. i think we should having the discussion so people are not jumping into the lower income tax bracket to avoid higher taxes. and to mike huckabee's comment there, the governor, he said that people, democrats need to get it straight. however if you're looking a new poll from business insider, people are starting to be on board with suggestion of possibly taxing the wealthy a little bit more. elizabeth warren proposing 2% hike on assets. it is pretty much on a wealth tax for those with 50 million or more. stuart: let me ask you this, if

you miraculously made $10 million a year starting next year, would -- >> fox business, i hope they're listening. stuart: would you be comfortable paying in new york city -- >> right. i can't afford anything. stuart: would you be comfortable paying 64%. >> the highest rate is 37, right? stuart: would you be prepared to pay 64%? >> i'm agree withing you. that is way too high. i think there is issue at hand, people are, listening and want something to change. so maybe there should be you know, as you know, loopholes. that is what i'm talking about. go after loopholes. stuart: which one? >> i don't -- i should have been more prepared to discuss these loopholes. i wasn't expecting that. my apologies. stuart: get to your story which is google. >> sure we can talk about that. >> , after the bell today. where is -- we're up 12 bucks on google at 11:30. more on this in a second. how about amazon. very interesting story here.

they reported their strong profits last week. they said of all the items that they sell on this platform, the echo dot sells more than anything else. ashley: is that right? how about that? >> you are using them, right? stuart: i don't have that i don't want to be listened to. i have to move on. sorry. netflix, listen to this one a new jpmorgan report says apple should buy netflix with all their extra cash. netflix is up seven bucks, maybe on that. tesla buying maxwell technologies, they will pay $218 million. i don't think that affected the stock price. three 10 on tesla. stuart: google of alphabet, sorry, google's parent alphabet reports after the bell. come on in, todd horowitz, bubba trading.com guy. will we get a blowout from alphabet this afternoon? >> good morning, stuart. i this earnings will be very

good. like google, apple, like rest of them have been underpromising overdeliverring. the number will be a blowout number on earnings. real question, how will the stock react to the number. stuart: tell me about facebook. reported last week, did very, very well, 2.7 billion users on a month at this basis. not affected by all the scandal. they bounced very nicely. do you think the same thing happens with google? >> google has room to go in the downside. certainly could go higher. if i would make a decision, i would own it versus being short it. obviously technology companies are great, have a lot of bright futures. i think it will probably pull back to 1000 before taking back off to the upside. i would not be surprised to see a selloff after the earnings. markets are pricing in very little movement for google which is unusual. so the market is not quite sure

what google will do either. i will look for a spike after earnings number comes out, that will be pullback, that will be opportunity i look for to buy. stuart: i know you own facebook already. i take it you're not selling, you're holding? >> i will never sell facebook, stuart. i think facebook has got, throughout all their troubles, if we remember, they took the stock down to 120 already. they have already accounted for -- how much more bad news can they find versus a company that has an unlimited supply of cash coming in from advertisers that have no place else to reach this type of audience on regular daily basis. through all their troubles i think they will work through them. at the end of the day they make nothing but money. like having your printing press in the basement. stuart: big brother makes a lot of money. todd, come back to us. always obliged. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: we have a lot to come this monday. looks like the pressure is ramping up on venezuela's

disputed president maduro. europe is coming out in support of guaido. venezuelan air force did the same thing. we'll ask the insider with the latest. democrat plan for 2020, big tax hikes, more spending, i say they resent wealth. if you have got it, they're coming after it. new headline for the journal. sorry for the good news, a bang up underlying strength. that is from the journal. we'll tackle that one for you. this is the second hour of "varney & company". you see brad, songs are really about big life moments. baby shower here. big. life. moment. what is in here? ohh! oh, i hope it's a life insurance policy. what? it's a sensible gift. protection for you and your family, nationwide has all the tools to help you find the right coverage. tiny baby shoes. so close. (peyton) makes no sense.

babies can't even walk. should have been a life insurance policy. plus it would have been a great song. think about it, the lyrics, the beneficiaries... brad, where are you going?

stuart: he was known as the bond king. bill gross, he is now retired. he founded pimco, the giant bond fund in 1971. he moved to janus. now he has retired. the stock is down 1%. how about the price of gold? i think we're still positive 1300 bucks an ounce. down five at 1316. the price of oil, back to 54, $53 a peril. oil way down today, a 3% drop in the price of oil. let's get to venezuela. a number of european countries have now recognized juan guaido as the interim president of venezuela. president trump says, he is not ruling out military intervention against the disputed president maduro. mary anastasia o'grady is back

with us, "wall street journal" columnist, very knowledgeable person about venezuela. that you are. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: seems we may be at the endgame this week. tell me the latest. >> the military is still hanging on with maduro for the most part. stuart: the air force guy isn't? >> that is one out of something like 1000 flag officers. there is a few people in the mid ranks, came out and said i'm breaking, very, very publicly. but i think the reason why we should hope is that just as you point out, the world is basically against this guy. and countries normally will say we don't intervene, we don't get involved in that, are all saying we have to have new elections in venezuela. we have to step aside. stuart: just a few minutes ago, canada announced $53 million, i guess humanitarian aid for venezuela la. won't that just keep the military and maduro in power a

bit longer? >> i don't think so. i think the idea of humanitarian aid is good. the trump administration already promised 20 million. the big problem there, how it will be delivered and they have already talked about by the colombia border there and near margarita island is another option. the problem here is that the maduro regime is saying if anybody, if any of those foreign powers come to deliver aid, that will be an act of war. now my sense is that they're, you know, kind of throwing out a lot of baloney. stuart: yes. >> butter this going to treat it as. the real test how they take in the humanitarian aid. one other point, maduro is hanging on, he still believes he has a chance to say, we need to dialogue and talk about this. i wrote about that in my column.

he has been saying that and regime in 2002, we will talk to you. as soon as everyone is gone, they start the repression. what i'm encouraging in my column, says very important europe, latin american nations, with the u.s. insist on this guy has to go. there is no dialogue. the only conversation should be where, whether he goes to cuba or whether he goes to moscow, but he has got to go. stuart: is late jet, to suspect, believe, there may be end became this week? >> something has to break this week -- stuart: this week, right. >> i would think so, although let me take that back because i do think if the military decides they will hang on, he says he is not going anywhere, the only thing that the opposition can do is keep going back to the street. and the real breaking point for the military will come when the money, which donald trump says,

we're not sending the money to the dictatorship anymore for the oil shipments, we're giving that to the government in escrow account, the government of juan guaido, and when the money dries up, maduro can't pay the military, that is -- that may be more than a week away. stuart: well-said. mary anastasia o'grady, thanks for joining us. good stuff. ashley, did we get the super bowl ratings. ashley: we did. 44.9. doesn't break that how many people that is, down 5% from last year. stuart: down 5%? ashley: down 5%. i don't think the game lit anyone on fire. that is part of the problems. halftime, show, oh. >> good disknight, right -- gladys knight, right? stuart: absolutely wonderful. super bowl liii. some watched for game, some watched for ads.

hulu unveiled an ad to tease the latest season of hand made tale. put a dark spin on president reagan's morning in america ad? was that clever or a vehicle to beat up republicans? we'll ask the question. people watched because they made bets. i talk to william hill, huge bookmaker. i want to know how much legally was bet last night. i bet it was a lot more than last year? ♪ e great news, liberty mutual customizes- uh uh - i deliver the news around here. ♪ sources say liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. over to you, logo. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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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. stuart: not much of a down day. slightly lower on the dow. 57 points lower at this point. still at 25,000.

how about mcdonald's stock? its rival, burger king trolled mcdonald's by featuring five items on its menu called, not big macs? how come they did that? mcdonald's lost a legal battle over trademarking the big mack. it competitors can say big mac this, and big mac that. >> like a big marc -- mag but not one. stuart: deirdre at exchange the stock is up. >> it is up around 12%. starboard, jeff smith, will become the chairman of papa john's. this is vote of confidence for papa johns. you know starboard and jeff smith, five years ago he successfully overhauled darden, olive garden. we were choking about whether breadsticks could be free or

not? he has a proven track record in investing in troubled restaurant stocks, companies, turning them around. investors betting this time is no different. we can certainly see right on the screen, the way that the papa john's stock is moving higher. we'll see if mr. smith can pull off at papa john's, what he did at darden. stuart, back to you. stuart: deirdre, thank you very much. see you later. google reports their profit this is afternoon. you better see the numbers come through. they will be very important "after the bell" at 4:00 on the fox business network. they will be covering it in full. we're a great place to get your info on alphabet. i have to remember to call them alphabet. parent of google. check the big board, almost an hour into the trading day. we're down around 60 points. we're right at 25,000. more "varney" after this. ♪

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♪ you say you want a revolution ♪ stuart: there were two versions of "revolution." ashley: chairman moo, right? stuart: yes, yes. interesting the language. chasing chairman mao never going to make it anyhow, et cetera, et cetera. you don't have to dance on the set. >> i like that thing. i don't know the words. stuart: we like that song. we'll give it an 8. check the big board. down 74 points on the dow industrials after one hour's worth of business. big monday morning. big check names, check them.

google reports after the bell. apple and microsoft both up nicely, thank you very much. they are two of the biggest winners and gainers for the dow jones industrial average. quick check of clorox. they reported nice profits. market reflects that. that would be 7% up for clorox. 304,000 new jobs created in january and here's the headline from the "wall street journal," sorry for the good news. a bang-up jobs report reveals underlying economic strength. bill mcgurn is with us, he is the "wall street journal" editorial board kind of guy. didn't feel like this a couple months ago. it was all gloom and doom. >> we weren't really gloom and doomers. stuart: no, you weren't. most everybody else was. >> lo and behold, cut taxes give people incentive to invest, economies grow. who would have thought. stuart: on friday after the jobs report came out, we had larry kudlow on the program.

he went to great lengths to say 3% growth this calendar year. that is optimistic. what do you say? >> not for larry. not for larry. larry is always optimistic. stuart: he said there will be ups and down, there is cycle but overall -- fundamentals are strong. lord knows a lot of things could intervene, but he has been more right than wrong predicting these things over the last year or so, right? stuart: so the tax cuts, it was not a sugar high a brief sugar high. >> i mean i never understood that argument, when you're fundamentally, especially on the corporate side. we gave people a reason to invest here, a big reason. it had an effect. i don't think there is a lot of rocket science to that. stuart: do you think we might get 3% growth this year? >> that would be terrific if we did. stuart: it is important. we're stuck in the 2% mind set from the obama years. you know, i think the average, what is it, in the 50 years before 2,000, the average growth

was 3. point something. since then it has been under two. people don't realize the difference between 2% and 3%. it is difference between having your dreams fulfilled, sending kids to college, buying house you want. these are good times. stuart: you broke out of the mold where you think the natural rate of growth. >> for working people, it is compounded interest, the gains you make every year. you almost couldn't give them the cash and have it do better than the way it comes from growth. stuart: i think, this strong economy, is the result of tax cuts and deregulation. so why do we now have so many democrats who want increases in taxes of all kinds? we have social security tax increase proposal? we have a wealth tax proposal. >> right. stuart: a higher income tax proposal. and a much higher estate tax proposal. >> right. well, look that is what democrats do. a week ago we were on here discussing alexandria

ocasio-cortez coming out for 70% tax on people. well it turns out, that is the moderate wing of the democratic party. one of her colleagues called for 90%. all these other taxes they want to pile up. stuart: explain it -- >> they don't like wealth. stuart: why is it popular? is jealousy of wealthy people the norm? >> i don't think it is the norm. i think when people are suffering, they say don't get it from me. get it from the rich guy over. there the problem we know, if you're talking about revenues, there is not a lot of revenue in rich people. if you tax them all their money, get enough to fund the government for a few days. the real money is in the middle classes, especially upper middle classes. that is where it is going to go, start saying tax the rich they're coming for everybody. stuart: if you did tax high incomes at 70% -- >> right. stuart: and you did tax largest states at 45 to 70%, and you did have a wealth tax, and you did raise social security, if you

did all of that, would you have enough to fund medicare for all, and the green new deal? >> i don't think you would because i think those things consume resources without end, and i don't think you would have that money. i think also some of the them are making the argument, it is not about revenue. it is about fairness. stuart: that's right. >> just let's cut everyone down to the same size out of fairness. that tells me they realize there isn't revenue there. they know they can't justify it on a rational basis that we need x to pay for y. it is just to punish people. stuart: drives me nuts. you can tell i'm sitting here. >> you and i lived in hong kong. one of the greatest things of hong kong, people were not jealous of the rich. if there is a barefoot guy hauling vegetables see as guy come by in rolls, he didn't say i want to take his rolls. he says my kids can do that. stuart: i lived in the hong kong

in the 1970s. you lived there, 1980s. free-market capitalism. go for it. >> it is not doing eat dog over here. it is generous, given place. stuart: hong kong with virtually no income tax financed largest public housing scheme on the planet housed more people. >> they need to fix it. bad incentives. there their hero, i have a bust upstairs of the financial secretary. i talked to him. he was fail mouse. so free market. he would not allow hong kong to keep gdp figures. i asked him why wouldn't you let the government do that? because they can only misuse them. stuart: mcgurn, you're a font of knowledge. >> thank you. stuart: see you soon. let's get to the super bowl ads. why not? a commercial for hulu's handmade tale's, uses ronald reagan's morning in america.

watch this. >> it is morning again in america, today. today more women will go to work than ever before in our country's history. it is morning again, morning again. ♪ >> wake up, america. morning's over? stuart: i kind of found that interesting and slightly absurd. joining us howard kurtz. host of media buzz. howard, was it clever or just an excuse to bash ronald reagan? >> first of all, we have to talk about the ads. because the game was so appallingly bad. not just worst super bowl, maybe the worst football game ever, until inevitable tom brady-winning drive. i did a double-take in my couch. that sounds familiar. 1984. i think it is plagiarism, tongue-in-cheek. was message anti-reagan or better times in america with twisted reality of the show. didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. you just played it of the succeeded getting us to talk

about it. stuart: i will never do it again, however, ever, ever, will i do that again. i want to talk to you about tom hanks who narrate ad ad for "the washington post" which highlighted importance of journalists that was very unusual for a newspaper to place a super bowl ad. why did they do that? >> well, jeff bezos i think, trying to celebrate journalism. you know, spending $5 million of his own money for that 60 seconds. it was uplifting. bret baier made a brief cameo appearance, talking about bravery of journalists in war zones. those are all things i would celebrate. i can't help thinking that $5 million could have paid a lot of reporters salaries and finance ad very good journalism as opposed to fleeting images with the tom hanks narration at the big game. stuart: come on, howard. hulu doesn't like reagan. and "the washington post" doesn't like donald trump that came shining through, didn't isn't. >> well you know, democracy dies in darkness i always said.

in addition to being a bit self congratulatory, is the post motto for the trump era, apparently democracy was not dying in darkness under barack obama. stuart: to the subject of the super bowl, gladys knight stole the show. what do you say. >> absolutely. in part because rest of entertainment was very mediocre and played it very safe. gladys knight and the pips, talk about big comebacks. go gladys. stuart: she didn't need the pips. >> who needed those pips. stuart: howard, see you soon. good stuff. >> thank you. stuart: big week for politics. president trump tomorrow holds the state of the union address. i want to see speaker pelosi's face when president trump talks about the border wall. i will stay up real late. last friday we spoke to a professional gambler. people pay him for his advice. he made four big bets ahead of the super bowl. didn't turn out so well.

well he's back. i will put it to him. i'm also going to talk to the people from william hill, the giant bookmaker. how much was bet legally in total last night? i will bet it was more than the previous year. ♪ my experience with usaa has been excellent. they really appreciate the military family and it really shows. with all that usaa offers why go with anybody else? we know their rates are good, we know that they're always going to take care of us. it was an instant savings and i should have changed a long time ago. it was funny because when we would call another insurance company, hey would say "oh we can't beat usaa" we're the webber family. we're the tenney's we're the hayles, and we're usaa members for life. ♪ get your usaa auto insurance quote today.

♪ ashley: david mulroney, former canadian ambassador to china says the u.s. should not dump the huawei case are still in progress. take a listen. >> one thing that got a lot of canadians attention, impressed canadians frankly, the press conference last week where you had the acting attorney general, the director of the fbi. this was a serious high-level presentation the u.s. played very effectively to countries like canada, australia, uk, poland, japan, about the potential threat posed by chinese technology. if that somehow goes away in the trade negotiations a lot of good work with allies will also, i think be in jeopardy. ♪

stuart: look at the level, please. 252. 25,002. let's move on to the super bowl. our next guest takes prop bets, oddball bets, really. they're on the screen. our guest got three out of the four wrong. steve is with us, the philly godfather. oh, steve, first of all, you bet that the national anthem, i think you bet it would be longer than 10seconds.

you got that one right, that right? or did you bet under? >> we actually went under 109. the line kept moving to fun 10, 111, 112. we went under. controversy for national anthem. a lot of sports books paid out over and under, because they said one word brave, twice. that shut down the national anthem. so the official sometime was minute 49 seconds. stuart: minute 49 seconds. did you get your money back on that one? >> we pushed on, but went under 110, 111, 112. we actually made money on that one. how did it go so wrong on number of receptions, put it up on the screen, please, i can't remember it, james white? >> they didn't use him. they used him more for chip blocking against the massive interior rush the rams have. we lost that one. we don't always win. the best professional sports gamblers in the world hit 57% of the time.

you throw that in the 43% pile. stuart: you're putting a brave face on this, steve. how about more points scored in the second half than in the first half? >> that was a winner. stuart: right. >> first half only scored, that was a winner. so we lost some money on prop bets yesterday. it was one of our worst super bowls for prop bets. we made big money on under 28 first half. i gave out summertime on fox business, gave out future on patriots, 6 to 1. i was sitting in position. pulled back rams at plus 3. we took patriots at pick'em, went under 28. we made some money on game. lost some money on props. we basically broke even on the game. stuart: i believe president trump still has not called to congratulate the patriots. you bet that he would by midnight last night. >> yeah. that was a loser. i was quite surprised. we know his relationships with tom brady and owner of the patriots. that really shocked me. we risked 140 to win 100. you have to put that in the

losing pile. it will happen. stuart: tough luck, steve. thanks very much for being with us, helping us on the super bowl thing. i personally think gladys knight, the national anthem, absolutely stole the show. you agree with me? >> absolutely. she could still sing. amazing, she held the last note forever. we got lucky we cashed under on that one. stuart: steve, you're all right. see you again soon. thank you very much, sir. i want to bring in joe asher, he is william hill usa ceo. william hill is a gigantic bookie operation, forgive the expression, that is what you are. welcome to the show, joe. good to see you again. >> good morning. stuart: how much was bet legally last night? i'm sure it was more than was bet on the previous year's super bowl because states are now allowing sports book gambling. >> exactly right. in nevada last year about $158 million was bet on the game. i would think, when the numbers come in from the state later on

today, it will be roughly the same here in nevada. there is some really big bets last year we didn't see as many of this year. but then of course, number was zero in places like new jersey, mississippi, west virginia, rhode island, delaware, and states back east. so of course it is going to be up on a national basis. stuart: on a national basis, can you tell me how much was wagered? >> you know, i really wouldn't venture to guess, stuart, in some of the new market because you just don't know. we saw robust volume. here in nevada, we were up slightly year-over-year, nothing substantial. also to be fair, i think there was a little less enthusiasm for the game out here last year. last year the eagles in the game, they have such a tremendous fan base. i didn't have the same feeling for enthusiasm this year. notwithstanding that i think we'll be up slightly year-over-year and as a resultswise, it was an okay result for us, better than last

year, when everybody and their cousin was on the eagles but nothing to write home about. it was a great day overall. i couldn't be more proud of the team and the tremendous job they did, taking care of a record number of customers. stuart: it was boring, wasn't isn't. >> effort that goes into the super bowl over a two week period certainly did not, wasn't the same as perhaps the excitement on the field of play. but you know, look, you have to hand it to bill belichick and crew, to hold the rams to three points is quite a job. stuart: certainly was. joe, thank you very much for joining us as always. see you again soon. thank you, sir. >> thank you. stuart: netflix says viewership was dune during the super bowl. that is interesting. what happened? >> some people tuned in for entire time because viewership was down 32% on super bowl sunday versus a normal sunday. netflix tweeted out apparently this super bowl is kind of a big

deal. overall, viewership, ashley mentioned was down 5%. still people turned to their tvs. that had a lot to do with parties growing on, viewership down. netflix put out advertising for a new show, "our plan net." animal-based. stuart: viewership of netflix,. >> streaming netflix down 32%. stuart: people watching television -- ashley: down 5% from last year. >> what do they do? maybe they're hanging out instead. stuart: i was surprised, ashley, i thought football this season had very successful season compared to last season. ashley: absolutely it did, but the game failed. >> fatigue, is it not, contributing factor, a little bit? stuart: it was over. gladys knight stole the show. >> >> president trump will not meet with disputed venezuelan president maduro and he is not ruling out military intervention either. multitude of european countries

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stuart: some tesla owners complaining about battery life during last week's super cold polar vortex. >> yeah, they lost, they say, complaining, you know, inundated by the polar vortex, you lose 20 to 25 miles overnight just because the battery in -- extreme cold weather saps the battery. it's not just tesla. nissan leaf and chevy bolt, every battery struggles in very cold weather. even your phone. stuart: last thursday when it was super cold, i walked out with 70% battery power. 40 minutes later it was 10% battery power. ashley: the other interesting thing, they have flat door

handles, you push one end and it pops back out. they were frozen. you couldn't get in your car. stuart: the window on my car froze so getting out of the parking lot with a ticket -- ashley: you didn't have the handle, the old-school? stuart: that's the problem with electric. give me the wind-up. i have to get this in. elon musk showed off the first launch of a new spacex rocket. what's so special? >> the actual engine. the starship raptor rocket engine. the goal for spacex is to take people around the globe with such a spaceship and eventually take them to mars. you are seeing it on the screen right now. the rocket version could potentially have a thrust of 440,000 pounds. this happened in texas and this comes after spacex has actually laid off about 10% of their work force very recently. nonetheless, he has lofty goals,

send people to space and send them around the world. stuart: that was the engine that is a success. now then, friday's job report, remember it? it gave us evidence that the u.s. is, in my opinion, the standout economy. more people working than ever, wages rising rapidly. in my opinion, this is the result of trump's growth agenda. that is my opinion. you will hear more of it at the top of the hour. here we go.

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now that you know the truth, are you in good hands? stuart: 8:30 eastern time friday morning, bang, the jobs report appeared and the doom and gloomsters took a serious hit. there is a strong body of opinion out there that actually wants our economy to fail because it is a prosperous trump-led economy. it has anything to do with trump, it's bad. there was nothing bad about that jobs report. it was all good. 300,000 new jobs, more people working than ever before and wages rising rapidly. what that jobs report also showed was the contrast between america and our leading competitors and again, the doomsters got it wrong. just as our numbers were being released, germany reported a

marked slowdown. so did france. europe is on the verge of recession. china is slowing down. japan is in or close to recession. that's not the way it was supposed to be to the left. to the left to their parrots in the media, europe can do no wrong. it's a socialist continent with open borders, paradise, not. tax cuts here were considered a giveaway to the rich, a sugar high for the economy. wrong. tax cuts gave us prosperity, extreme climate change policies in europe would help save the planet and open borders were a sign of europe's humanity. wrong. green policies have hurt europe's economy and mass migration has dramatically divided the whole continent. i'll end with this. america is the standout economy and our performance is based on the policies of donald j. trump. thank you. the third hour of "varney &

company" is about to begin. stuart: all right. you heard what i had to say. that gentleman's name is donald lufkin. he's with us now. what do you say? we have a standout economy because of trump economics. what say you? >> stuart, what i say is what i just heard from you is the greatest statement i have ever heard from a brit since winston churchill. good for you, sir. stuart: i think i'm accurate, and i think europe, japan, china, compared to them we are doing remarkably well and i say we are doing well because of tax cuts and deregulation. are you with me on that? >> yes, i am. i am with you and i want to invoke the name of winston churchill a second time in another context. the tax cuts and deregulation were the 2017 trump. that was the first trump year.

those are relatively easy things for an economy to digest. they are all gain, no pain. now, 2018 was trump 2.0, who was more churchillian, more challenging, more saying wait a second, there's a menace in the east. this isn't 1938, it's not germany, this is 2018-2019, talking about china. we don't have to have a military war with them but we need to have a trade war with them because this is a communist power that is rising in the east, threatening to take over the global economy, spread so-called state capitalism which is a fancy word for communism, all empowered by theft of intellectual property, cyberespionage and it takes a man of courage, a trump, a churchill, to stand up and say wait, we are going to -- we are going to go to war with these people early before they get too powerful. now, that's expensive, that's risky. we are winning so far, but we

had a rough 2018 because we took on the difficult duty that he saw clearly and has led us into. stuart: wow. tell me how that relates to the stock market. because we have seen -- we have seen a significant bounce for the market in january and it folded over into february. are we going to keep going up with an economy like we've got? >> i believe we are. it is all contingent, though, on china. i should say it's contingent on the u.s. doing a deal with china. if we do not do a deal with china, there is going to be a global disengagement of the united states and the rest of the west from china that will cause a global recession that will last for five years. think what would happen just with apple, if they had to spend the next five years figuring out how to move their supply chains out of china into basically anywhere else. they lived in a fool's paradise. it's a one product company with one factory in one country. oops, that country is china. that's the one we happen to be having a trade war with, right?

so we better win this trade war or apple and all companies like apple will be in big trouble. now, it's probably going to turn out fine but until it does, it's a risk. stock prices are sensitive to risk, both risk and return. 2018 was a risky year because we decided to go to trade war with china and win. when we do win, we are going to be so glad we did, those risks will evaporate like mists in the early morning and the world will be a much better place. stuart: what do you say to this. if there's an announcement of a meeting between president trump and xi jinping, i take that as very good news for the market, because you don't have a summit unless you are going to agree on something. any kind of agreement would be good for the market. what say you? >> yes. it cuts both ways. you don't have a summit unless you are going to agree and you can't agree without a summit. when that news is for sure, that's probably the all-clear signal. let's not discount the number of all-clear signals we have

already gotten. last weeshk a trade delegation s in washington negotiating with the trade, it was no longer than two months ago the chinese were saying we will not even negotiate with you because you are holding a knife to our throat. what do you know, turns out they will negotiate with us. why? because we are holding a knife to their throat. folks, this is all working, it's all great. the last meeting with trump and xi will just be the final photo opportunity to let these two great leaders come out of this thing with equal dignity and statesmanship. that's when you know you got it. don't let that distract you from the good news we have had so far, no matter how little battery mileage your tesla gets. stuart: we like the animated version. you're all right. come back and see us soon. thank you very much. appreciate it. now this. as we said throughout the program today, the democrats have moved way out there to the left with their policies. it seems like they want to tax

everything and everyone, especially the rich. here's what larry kudlow said about that on this program last week. roll tape. >> i don't know where these people, pay your fair share, what are you talking about? the most successful already pay all the taxes, for evheaven's sakes. give them an incentive to take risks. stuart: by the way, the gentleman on the screen is david webb, okay, "fox nation" host, good pal of mine, fox news contributor. welcome to the show. >> i would love to continue the discussion you just had for every socialist wanna-be out there. the difference between a managed and controlled economy versus a freer economy which lets you rise and lets you have different supply lines, supply chains, distribution systems. that discussion should actually be given to aoc and all the other wanna-be socialists. stuart: earlier on the show i was talking about number one, there's a proposal to raise social security taxes. there's a proposal to raise

income taxes, a proposal to raises state taxes, a proposal for a wealth tax, all coming from democrats, tax the rich, tax the rich, tax everything. why is that so popular? >> ignorance, number one, ignorance. you have people who didn't grow up with an understanding of what socialism is. they can never make the economic argument because the economic argument fails. so they are going to tax us. here's a question for every democrat wanna-be socialist. replenishment. how do you replenish the wealth if you have taxed it away? their answer is well, they will just make more product. well, you can't always make more product or come up with a new invention. that's a future that may or may not exist and mostly does not exist. you have to grow what you have, replenish it. they want to tax 70% over $10 million. fine. you do that. where does that money go? those people making $10 million, $15 million, that range, if you look at where they invest to, they invest in venture capital, they buy stocks in the market, they propel products that people

at all rungs of the ladder use so what are they doing? they are actually fueling the economy and now you take it away from them. well, then how do they fuel the economy? stuart: okay. so let's turn this around. what line of attack, what line of reasoning would you use if you are a republican or member of this administration to counter these massive tax hikes the democrats propose? what would you be saying? >> i would talk to people at the kitchen table level and say let's go through what this means to you. you wake up every morning, you have a certain amount of money. you come home from the office with it, whatever has not been taxed. now they will tax and fee you away. they have taxes and fees, regulatory costs. it's gone before it gets home, before your foot hits the floor in the morning, you are losing money. how do you recover that money through the day? get to people at that very level because that's where americans, that's the emotional tie. it's one thing to talk numbers. you and i talk numbers, i see ashley smiling, he talks numbers. good-looking guy, camera two.

keep him around. but what do we do? let's get to the emotional aspect because people understand that when i wake up in the morning, make decisions with wife, husband about the children, about the family, what happens when they keep taking it away piece by piece? republicans need to do better on that argument while putting the economy into it. taxes, regulations and fees matter at all levels, not just $10 million and over. stuart: speaking of reagan, why not. it was a pleasure having you. don't be a stranger. >> for you, stu, any time. stuart: got some individual stocks that are moving. there's news on them. here we go. clorox just posted really good fourth quarter profits. shares up, what, nearly 7%. now among the top percentage gainers in the s&p. that's clorox for you. check papa john's, pizza people. just got a $200 million investment from starboard, a fund. starboard's ceo jeffrey smith will take over as chairman of

papa john's and that stock has moved very nicely, up nearly 11%. president trump gives his state of the union address tomorrow night and i see a lot of potential for drama. speaker pelosi will be sitting right behind the president. she won't be happy. two democrats already said they're not even going. we'll have the full story for you. the migrant caravan grows as it heads toward our southern border. now the president is sending thousands of troops to the border as well. and uber raising fares in new york city because of main ma minimum wage in the city. that's financial pain passed on to real people. we're just getting started.

stuart: pentagon just announced more active duty troops will go to the southern border, bringing the total to 4,450. these troops will install new wire barriers and provide more comprehensive mobile security. staying on the border issue, we bring in the republican from georgia. welcome back. always good to see you. what would be your reaction if president trump declared a state of emergency to get the wall built? what would you say? >> well, i certainly hope it

doesn't come to that, but without cooperation from the democrats, i'm afraid he's not going to be left much choice. you know, in order to negotiate, you've got to have a willing partner. up to this point, the democrats have not been a willing partner at all. we saw during the shutdown that they did not negotiate at all. now, the president has reopened the government, they said they were going to negotiate. we have had three weeks or we have three weeks in order to get this done. a week has already passed. nothing was done during that week. we have two weeks left. i'm afraid they are leaving the president little choice, if any. stuart: as the president stands there delivering the state of the union tomorrow night with speaker pelosi right behind him, you think there's going to be some interchange, little interplay there if the wall is mentioned? >> well, i can assure you that i will be keeping my eyes on her body motions as the president speaks. it's really disappointing to hear the speaker right out say

no, no wall funding whatsoever. that's not what people are looking for in washington. people in america want to see some cooperation. they want to see us negotiate. they want to see us compromise. the speaker has been unwilling to do that. stuart: two georgia democrats, john lewis and hank johnson, they're not going to go to the state of the union message tomorrow night. there are some other democrats who are not going to be there as well. what's your reaction to that? they are from your state of georgia. >> well, i'm deeply disappointed. i certainly have enormous respect particularly for representative lewis and also for representative johnson, but at the same time, look, i didn't want to go to hear president obama but i did. i was attentive, i was polite. that's what we should do as members of congress. i think this is just an indication of how uncooperative and how unwilling the democrats have been to work with this administration. stuart: i don't think it goes down well, this abject no part

of trump will be -- is acceptable, we won't look at him, we won't talk to him, we won't negotiate with him, absolute resistance across the board. i don't think america likes that. >> there's no question about it. this is pure politics. this is we're not going to let the president deliver on a campaign promise. we need to focus. we need to focus on the issue at hand. the issue at hand is border security. we have got to have border security. listen, i have been to the border, i have seen it first-hand. i know what a disaster it is down there. how we need to take immediate action. stuart: what do you think about stacy abrams? she was the losing gubernatorial candidate in georgia last year. i believe she is giving the democrats' rebuttal. she's from your state. your analysis, please? >> well, i served with stacy in the state house. she is certainly a fine person. but now i think the nation as a whole will get to see what we

saw in georgia, and that is just how socialistic her views are, and i think it will be quite apparent to the whole nation as it is to us here in georgia. stuart: going to be a great night. fascinating night. i'm sure we will be watching it with you. buddy carter, thanks for joining us. we appreciate it. >> thank you. stuart: sure thing. general motors today expected to start cutting those 4,000 white collar workers. the stock's holding right at $38 per share. later this afternoon, right after 4:00 eastern, google's parent alphabet will be reporting and look at that stock go. up 20 bucks before we see the financial numbers. interesting trend. did you catch this? ronald reagan was mentioned during the super bowl by tom brady. tony romo caught it and said the use of reagan's name had to do with the play that was called. i don't understand it but we will somehow or other explain it. plus, bud light had fun with

its competitors in one ad and that made the corn lobby angry. again, not sure i understand it but we will sort it all out. details in a moment. [knocking] ♪

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stuart: here's your super bowl sfoer wrapup for you. last night in atlanta, the patriots beat the rams by ten points. the final score was 13-3. if you partied a little too hard, you might be one of the 17.2 million americans who are calling out sick today. that number comes from a survey from the work force institute. not sure i believe it. check this out, too. here's patriots quarterback tom brady calling a play named reagan during the game. roll tape. >> reagan! reagan! reagan! >> is that ronald reagan? he called it reagan. >> there's the carry by michel into the arms of johnson. obviously reagan means run to the right.

stuart: very good. he yells reagan, run to the right. very good. well done, mr. brady. check this out from bud light, making fun of its competitors for using corn syrup in their beer. roll that tape. >> that's not ours. we don't brew bud light with corn syrup. >> miller light brews with corn syrup. >> if something did happen, we need to win this first, right? >> yes. stuart: i thought it was funny. that man is jeff flock. you always have a smile on your face. the corn lobby is not happy about that ad. tell me more. reporter: everyone thought it was funny, unless you happen to grow corn, as a matter of fact. you know, bud light is trying to set itself up as the healthy beer. they are putting nutrition labels on the bottles now. but corn farmers, they are not too happy. in fact, they tweeted immediately after that ad aired, america's corn farmers are disappointed in you. our office is right down the

road. we would love to discuss with you the many benefits of corn. thanks, miller light and coors light, for supporting our industry. there are people both sides of this issue. some people think corn syrup is really bad for you. miller actually got into the game and tweeted that we actually have fewer calories and half the carbs and by the way, we don't use high fructose corn syrup and you do in some of your beer. it's a mess out there. i like the tweet that said all light beer tastes like crap, why are they fighting? stuart: thank you very much indeed. very illuminating. see you again soon. more after this. this is loma linda, a place with one of the highest life expectancies in the country. you see so many people walking around here in their hundreds. so how do you stay financially well

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as one of the largest u.s. gold coin distributors in the country, the u.s. money reserve has proudly served hundreds of thousands of clients worldwide. don't wait another minute, call now to purchase your american eagle coins at cost, for the amazing price shown on your screen. stuart: it's go nowhere monday morning. the dow down 17, 16 points with two hours into the trading session. most of the dow 30 are in the red but not by much. the price of oil this morning coming down a buck to $54 a barrel. how about walmart? making some changes to their sick time policy for hourly employees. they can now earn up to 48 hours of paid time off. if an employee has a perfect attendance record, walmart will pay the employee an additional

25% on top of to their quarterly bonuses. that's walmart. the stock is not reacting. uber, they are raising prices in new york city as a result of the rising minimum wage. they are introducing a $2.50 surcharge on rides in manhattan. betsy mccoy is with us, the former lieutenant governor of the state of new york. >> consumers are getting clobbered. they are going to be paying more for their uber rides but also more for their french fries and everything else delivered by customarily low income workers. it's happening all across the country. 20 states are raising the minimum wage as of january 1st. stuart: with uber, is this a direct pass-through? the minimum wage goes up i think to $15 an hour? >> that's right. uber has calculated what that should mean for its drivers and it's raising the prices so that the taxi and limousine commission is requiring uber to raise what it pays its drivers.

stuart: it's not like uber people, people who take an uber car, they are not the rich and powerful. >> of course not. stuart: they are ordinary new yorkers. >> what this means is somebody who works in an office in manhattan and takes an uber in the morning will pay more for the ride. then they are going to go to a fast food joint at lunchtime and pay more for burger and fries. they will pay more for so many things because of the rising minimum wage. but even worse, the very people these wage hikes are supposed to help, entry level workers, are getting clobbered. they are losing their jobs or getting their hours cut. a study in seattle showed that they were the big losers. seattle raised its minimum wage five years ago and it saw that low income workers were making less money. stuart: when are they going to understand that -- and when are we going to find out how many young people cannot get a foothold into the job market -- >> that's right. stuart: -- and therefore cannot rise up in that labor organization? >> you just made the most

important point. it used to be that half of people ages 16 to 19 worked. now only a third do. stuart: exactly. exactly. >> for that reason, they are locked out of ever becoming a productive employee because they never get that start to begin with. the other thing people should come away with from all of this is look at the jobs numbers that just came out last week. the real way to get wages up is trumponomics. wages have gone up 3.2% in the last 12 months. that's the biggest increase in a decade. stuart: the worst thing you can do is legislate wages. >> absolutely. stuart: when people say you have to pay this and vote for me. >> it's politics, not economics. and look at the businesses that go out entirely. the iconic restaurant closed its doors a couple weeks ago, announcing we can't handle another minimum wage hike.

stuart: it's never going to be repealed in new york state. it will never be repealed. absolutely never. >> politicians are cowardly and will not admit it's a mistake. stuart: anything else you want to talk about? this leftward drift of the democrat party is driving me up the wall. >> it's very serious because real people are getting hurt every day by this. stuart: you are aware, i take it, there's a move to raise the estate tax, income tax, introduce a wealth tax and also raise the social security tax. >> they want all the money. they are going to tell us how they are going to spend our money. there will be nothing left in our pockets. stuart: if you did raise all those taxes, i still don't think it would be enough coming into the treasury to pay for medicare for all and the green new deal. >> oh, absolutely. in fact, i was just looking at the congressional budget office numbers this morning. for every $905 billion you want to raise over ten years, you have to raise, you have to add a

percentage to everybody's, everybody's tax rate. so just to pay for medicare for all, you would have to take a guy who currently pays 24% marginal tax rate and move him to 60%. that is a life-changing increase. 24% marginal tax rate to 60%. that's a single guy who makes 85 grand a year or a couple earning $165,000 a year. suddenly they are paying a majority of their marginal income to uncle sam. makes you sick. stuart: why is this not on the evening news? >> that's right. it should be. because it is a killer tax increase. stuart: you are all fired up. thank you, betsy. see you soon. individual stocks, let's go through them. they are making news and they're moving. tesla have announced a $200 million deal to buy a battery maker, maxwell. not affecting the stock that much. it's down $1.47 at $310. lots of development out of

venezuela. president trump says he's not going to speak to disputed leader maduro. leaders of four european countries say they back the opponent, juan guaido, the opposition leader. we will talk to someone who worked in venezuela for the state department. is maduro all but gone? and where's he going? let's check the big board. we are now up three points on the dow industrials. okay. that's news. we moved up. we'll be right back.

stuart: william hill ceo joe asher was on the program in the last hour. they're the big sports betting operation. here's what he said about legalized betting on yesterday's game. roll tape. >> in some of the new markets, if you just don't know, i know we saw pretty robust volume. here in nevada i think we were probably up slightly year over year, nothing substantial. also, to be fair, i think there was a little bit of less enthusiasm for the game out here this year. last year, you had the eagles in the game and they have such a tremendous fan base. i didn't have that same feeling of enthusiasm this year. notwithstanding that, as i say, i think we will be up slightly year over year. results-wise, it was an okay

result for us, better than last year, when everybody and their cousin was on the eagles, but nothing to write home about.

stuart: there really isn't that much movement on the market thus far this morning. that of course can change very quickly but right now, we are down, what, just 13 points. i should point out the level here, 25,050 on the dow jones

industrial average. can we have a quick look at amazon, please? the reason i want to pull this up is because we just found out that of all the products available on the amazon platform, what do you think was the best seller, the number one seller? sold more than anything else. what do you think it was? ashley: i believe it's the echo. stuart: you knew that. ashley: yes. i heard you talking about it. stuart: were you surprised? ashley: i am, a little. i spoke to kristina who said i have one but i don't like it. i said why do you keep it? i say tell me the time. you can use that on your phone. i guess some people like the gadgets. stuart: my 3-year-old grandchildren use it. yes, yes. what's the weather like. it's cute. it really is cute. let's move on. deadly protests continued in venezuela over the weekend. really rough stuff. this as disputed president maduro refuses to give up power. just as several european

countries, germany, spain, france, italy, britain, they all threw their support behind opposition leader juan guaido. he's our guy. joining us, lindsey singleton, former state department foreign service officer. lindsey, realistically, how much longer can maduro hang on? >> hi, there. thanks so much for having me. look, no one really knows how much longer maduro can hang on, but the democratic coalition here is really hoping for a peaceful transition of power. unfortunately, there are a number of spoilers here that could derail those efforts. number one, you've got the military. they have long been a king maker in venezuela and as they go, the country goes. second, you've got illicit revenues that propped up the regime for a number of years from narco trafficking to smuggling, corruption is rampant throughout the regime. third, you have a number of external governments who are very interested in maintaining the status quo, mainly cuba, china, russia, and for a

peaceful transition of power, our coalition is really going to have to lead and take care of these external threats. stuart: would you say the vast majority of the people of venezuela support juan guaido? >> yes. it does seem that they do support him at this point. i mean, we have seen the enormous turnout in the protests and when you see protests and marches that are in support of the government, what we often don't see is the regime is bussing in people to make it appear that they have support. they are not afraid to use threatening tactics to get them to their marches. stuart: now, we heard this morning that canada is sending $53 million worth of humanitarian aid. we understand it's not going to the military in venezuela. it might go to neighboring countries for distribution to venezuelans who have fled.

is that going -- when you start humanitarian aid, does that perhaps keep maduro in power longer? >> you know, it really depends on how it's distributed. i think importantly, this coalition is going to have to work together to create an off-ramp for the regime. so while the aid is going to help and hopefully help the people that need it the most, most importantly, canada, the united states and the other over dozen countries who are supporting juan guaido are going to have to focus on creating a way for maduro to step down, encouraging defections within the military and the regime, throttling the regime's resources and neutralizing its external supporters. stuart: you know what's going on. you know the area very well. you are smiling but you know what's going on. would you put odds on it, has maduro got until the end of the

week and that's it? >> you know, i really hope so. the venezuelan people deserve to have a democratically elected government. no one really knows but i think that what the united states and our leaders, the democratic coalition and venezuela's interim government are really hoping to create a peaceful transition to power which is the goal, and what we really want to avoid is a situation like what we have in libya or in syria, so doing it quickly is really important here. the longer this drags out, the more likely external actors are going to have a chance to disrupt. stuart: could be end game this week. i don't want to push this, i don't want to put words in your mouth, but sure seems like the forces are lining up for end game this week. >> pressure is certainly mounting. but we don't know what's happening behind closed doors and we don't know how entrenched the outside forces are, cubans, russians, chinese. but negotiating an economic compromise with them, who are very interested in maintaining

the status quo, might be part of the equation we are looking at here. stuart: got it. thank you very much for joining us. difficult subject but good stuff. thanks very much for joining us. >> thanks for having me. stuart: sure thing. let's see, we have janice, yes. the guy we used to call the bond king, bill gross, he founded the biggest bond -- trillions of dollars in this thing, founded it in '71, huge success, left, went to janus, and just retired. no impact on the stock that i can see. it's down half a percentage point. but we like to bring you news about bill gross. he was the biggest name in bonds for many years. big tech, let's have a look. it is facebook's 15th anniversary today. ashley: feels like it's been around for longer. stuart: 15 years, that's all it

is. 15 years old. that's it. then this. the migrant caravan growing as it heads north through mexico. the president sending more of our troops to our southern border. i want to know, what happens if he declares an emergency? and he might. what happens? one of those home dna test kit companies says it will provide information to law enforcement but will still protect your privacy. how does that work? ♪ ♪ the new capital one savor card. earn 4% cash back on dining and 4% on entertainment.

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stuart: border security, funding, the fight therefor. blake burman with us from the white house. the president has not ruled out a declaration of the state of emergency. could he declare one tomorrow night? reporter: well, the president has at least a potential announcement tomorrow night at the state of the union but it seems he's willing at least to wait this one out until february 15th. that's when a deal has to be struck between democrats and republicans. over the weekend the president gave an interview in which the president said that you know, a national emergency still very

much on the table but he also suggested that the possibility of a government shutdown could be on the table as well. the white house, though, is trying to downplay that possibility, at least as to the effects that could potentially have on the economy and on growth. listen here to kevin hassett about that possibility earlier this morning. >> this has equal and offsetting effects on growth, lower in this quarter, higher the next quarter, that would be a wash over time. reporter: the president tomorrow night is going to lay out his vision, much of what we have heard over the last five, six, seven weeks if not longer than that, about what needs to happen along the southern border. here at the white house, they are still letting this one play out until february 15th. no doubt about it, then it's very much an option. stuart: let's be honest here. you and i both know we will both be watching for the facial expression of speaker pelosi right behind the president at the state of the union. come on. that's what we're watching,

right? reporter: camera locked in. we don't need to see the applause. we don't need to see any of that. just keep it on her. the easiest job all night. stuart: you got it right again. see you soon. thank you, sir. let's stay on this national emergency possibility. the assumption is that if he did declare a national emergency, it would just be tied up in the courts forever. here's a man who has the answer to that. all rise, judge napolitano. >> i bet he kills her with kindness tomorrow night. stuart: you think? >> i think so. i can't imagine he's going to say she's bad for the country while she's two feet behind him. stuart: that would work much better -- >> oh, absolutely. and he has the ability to do that, as we both know. stuart: brilliant tv performer. >> sorry i deviated from the topic. stuart: if he declares a national emergency, the assumption is it goes to the courts and will never happen. is that right? >> yes, that is right. it may not necessarily be a political defeat for him because he can then either blame the

courts in general, or the judge in particular, depending upon who the president was who appointed that judge, as he's done before. to lawyers, that is a frivolous blame. to his base, that resonates. now, why would the courts enjoin it immediately? because according to the congressman who represents that part of texas, 80% of the property is privately owned and is owned by people who will resist eminent domain. so in order to prosecute an eminent domain case, where the government wants to take property against your will by paying you fair market value, which it can do under the fifth amendment, you have to have a trial. trials take time. it would be a trial for each piece of property. trials take money. the money hasn't been budgeted. there's no money budgeted for eminent domain, to take the property, and there's no money budgeted for the wall. that would be the legal theory under which the court would stop ten forcement of the executive order. stuart: how long would it be in court? shortest period of time, probably the duration of his present term, about a year and a

half. stuart: we'll see if you're right about that. >> listen, i don't want him to fail. i think you know that. but the law and history is against him. stuart: okay. we will dispute this another time. i have something else for you. what is it called, family tree dna, the at-home dna kits, they say they are going to let the fbi into their data base to help solve crimes. >> that should be enjoined. when you use this kit, i have seen it, i haven't used it, but some of our colleagues have. these people have been on fox. when you use this kit, there is an implied agreement of confidentiality. for them to violate that agreement and give it to the government would cause costs to them of a great deal of money and class action lawsuit. the flipside of this is the government can't just gather information about you. it has to have articulable suspicion, a reason to want this dna. it can't just say give us the dna of all your customers. that's prohibited by the fourth amendment. stuart: they could go to this

company and say we have suspicions about this particular person, please, we would like to see that person's dna. >> they should probably do it by search warrant. if the suspicion rises to probable cause, then it would be a classic search warrant. stuart: which means a lot of people will not go to dna at-home test kits because they don't want their dna out there. >> as ashley, our colleague said so nicely during the break, giving this information to the government, what could possibly go wrong? almost anything. stuart: all right, judge. a fine performance one more time. thank you, sir. check the big board. now we are up, not much, but we're up seven points higher. more "varney" after this. this is decision tech. it's screening technology that helps you find a stock based on what's trending or an investing goal. it's real-time insights and information, in your own customized view of the market.

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stuart: keep calling it a go nowhere monday. it is still a go nowhere monday. we've turned around from the minus column to plus column. not by much. 25,075. now this, in, this is my opinion. ashley: yes. stuart: the best part of the super bowl happened before the game even started. watch this. [the home of the brave ♪ ♪ ♪ the brave stuart: gives you chills.

down that give you chills? >> literally just got chills. stuart: after that. >> it went downhill from there. stuart: it was downhill from there. the halftime thing was, let's not even talk about it. neil, that was the best of the super bowl. it is yours. neil: did you watch the whole game? >> no. neil: i was going to say, i could see you trying to make it out, what the hell is going on? thank you, that was great. she was phenomenal, amazing voice, amazing voice. we're following up on same thing you were. we're trying to make this seven weeks in a row here. it has been a couple years the nasdaq pulled off a stunt like that. we're keeping eye on it. it is still earnings season. 90 of the s&p 500 companies are reporting this week after better than 100 last week. so we're rapidly going through these. some of the big names are getting close scrutiny, particularly on the technology side. get read on all of