on, delivering the artisanal product doesn't work with the line. >> my thought would be the auto tariffs and the possible battle with europe. we don't need it. maria: have a great weekend, everybody. "varney & company" begins right now. stuart: good morning, everyone. this afternoon at 2:30 eastern time, president trump meets liu he, china's vice premier. he is china's special envoy. in rank he's right behind xi jinping. the meeting wraps up a week of talks just a few days before the march 1st tariff deadline. the two sides have an outline of a deal. they have narrowed their differences. chinese state media has turned optimistic. investors are taking all of this as positive news. looks like we'll be up close to 100 points for the dow, neatly canceling out yesterday's loss. today's market clearly driven by china trade headlines.

now, how the market closes today depends on anything that comes out of that 2:30 meeting. believe me, fox business will be glued to it. now look at this. kraft heinz, look out below. they have a subpoena from the s.e.c., never good news. two, they have cut the value of some of their biggest food brands and they've got countless brands under the kraft heinz umbrella. trouble in big food land today. have we got a show for you. just wait until you see the latest from the three young radicals, aoc, and wait until you hear the latest on zion williamson and the nike sneaker fiasco. it's friday. "varney & company" is about to begin. stuart: intrigue at under armour. a bombshell report from the

"wall street journal" says ceo kevin plank seeks advice from msnbc anchor stephanie ruehle, sometimes overstepping others in favor of her advice. ash and susan are with me. ash, first of all, should he be taking outside advise? ashley: he takes advice from a lot of people all the time. the fact he took this advice was clearly a mistake, both on the response to the mucking of the under armour steph curry basketball shoe and also her advice he should stay closer to president trump which in the end he had to distance himself from president trump. you know, this is a difficult one. should he be taking outside advice? he can take whatever advice he wants. stuart: overruling his own board members and executives in favor of an anchor? ashley: that's his prerogative. that's why he's ceo. susan: i have a problem when there's underperformance of the business and the shares. the stock has tanked in recent

years, it hit a record high of $50, last year hit $15. when you make -- i think when you make corporate missteps on the advice of other people, that's when you have a problem. stuart: there is another issue here. stephanie endorses a sneaker, an under armour sneaker without disclosing her relationship with mr. plank. susan: this goes back to the "wall street journal" article once again. her advice, her counseling for plank during the steph curry, the shoe release back in june 2016, she said hold on a second, let me explain it on my weekend show which is what she did. she defended the shoes. under armour didn't respond to the controversy for numerous days but she has disclosed the fact that she might have been -- might have had a personal relationship, some would say an intimate relationship according to this "wall street journal" article with the ceo of the company.

stuart: well, she ois on the ai right now. i have her on the monitor right over there. she's of course bashing president trump. susan: i would argue the main basis of this article is the separation of church and state, meaning kevin plank, did he misuse company funds in this relationship. i think that's probably the main thrust of it. stuart: fascinating story from the "wall street journal." ashley: it really is. stuart: switching gears. stlef three self-proclaimed radicals in congress, ocasio-cortez, omar and tlaib, embracing the word radical during an appearance on showtime. watch this. >> i think we have a beef with almost everyone here because there's a lack of courage. >> right. >> and it seems like we are all radical because we deeply care about the people that we represent and we want to throw down for them. stuart: we have to bring in larry o'connell for this, "washington times" associate editor. they have enormous influence within the democrat party yet

they are not backing off. >> no, they're not. that last argument you hear from representative omar, we are radical because we are representing the people who voted for us, can i just tell you, in the history of the united states, sadly, there have been some horrible, almost evil, frankly evil ideas represented in the capitol building by congressmen, and it was all covered up by the guys that well, i'm just representing the people who put me there. people who are pro-slavery, pro-segregation, anti-suffrage movement. those were mostly democrats who took those positions. just because you are representing people or claim you are representing people doesn't mean your position and your argument is a good one. it needs to be defeated. but the big problem here is for the democrats. the democratic leadership love the energy of these three, the fund-raising these three bring, the kind of sexy sort of -- i don't mean sexy in a male-female type, i mean in terms of trendy pop culture, they are very hot.

the problem is their aids aidea anathema to most americans. stuart: got another one for you in a moment. i want to talk about money. it looks like we are close to a triple digit rally at the opening bell today. that's largely because president trump will meet china's vice premier this afternoon, 2:30. trade optimism is in the air. michael o'keefe is with us. is this a china trade story? we will be up close to 100 points. china trade? >> absolutely, china trade. a little bit of optimism. we look at what's going on, think about it as the president basically putting his team to work to get to negotiating. they have been working hard at that. this is almost like a corporate leader saying i want to get together and sort of review where we are. the fact they are meeting is a positive signal in terms of progress. stuart: in my opinion, any kind of deal, it can be completely cosmetic, couple hundred billion dollars worth of your product, leave it at that, at that point the market goes straight up. with me? >> yeah, absolutely.

stuart: it's the nature of the deal. >> the way i would describe it is compromise. at the end of the day, these two parties, they are tough negotiators but the right answers are both sides compromise. it won't be a bad deal, maybe not as good as some would like, but ultimately the market will respond positively. stuart: about 1,000 points from the all-time closing high on the dow industrials. roughly speaking, 1,000 points. we going to cross that line? >> this year, we think. stuart: just this year? >> yes. stuart: not in the immediate future? >> no. well, even if we do, we will see some volatility but we are thinking over the next six to 12 months, but again, today, this should be an upward move for the market. stuart: so with or without a china deal, we make new highs? >> that's a good question. i mean, we have been focused on resolution. we think it's going to happen. if it doesn't happen, we will see some moves down. that's going to create a crack. stuart: yeah. michael, thank you very much on this friday morning. appreciate you being with us. thank you, sir. the stock story of the day, no question, it's kraft heinz.

you rarely see a move like this down 25% in a company this big and this well-known. susan, spell out what's the trouble? susan: so many problems. basically a fourth quarter loss after the market close and the stock has been down from 30% over the past year so another 25% down in one single session, and the problem is basically their product mix at this point. this healthy age we live in, where you are selling jello, mac and cheese and hot dogs, that's not necessarily with the health trend we are seeing around the world. they have had problems in terms of oscar meyer hot dogs and mac and cheese. sales declined in recent years. what they have had to do is spend more to market. what 3g capital, which bought into kraft heinz in 2015 along with warren buffett, who is still a majority shareholder, known for belt tightening and cutting costs throughout the years but even with cost

cutting, you need growth in sales which we haven't been seeing. stuart: buffett takes a hit. the hidden hit right there. thank you, susan. then we have, back to politics, okay? senator kamala harris reacting to the allegation that actor jussie smollett staged an attack he reported as a hate crime. i have the quote for you. like most of you, i have seen the reports about jussie smollett and i'm sad, frustrated and disappointed. back to larry. that was just an excerpt from her statement. there was no apology for rushing to judgment. look, seems to me there was a concerted effort by the media and some politicians to trash president trump and associate him with the hateful violence. >> that's right. not just him, but those who voted for him and support him. you know, all of those people who support trump and say they want to make america great again, clearly they are violent racist homophobes. there was this desire to want this story to be true, and where it hurts kamala harris here in her run for president is one of

her arguments and frankly, i think it's a powerful argument for the democrats, is unlike donald trump, we are going to be statesman-like. we are not going to say crazy things on twitter. we're not going to divide this nation, we are going to unite. well, kamala harris with her tweet saying this was a modern day lynching and this is a horrible state that our country is in because of this crime, she did exactly those things. it's incredibly divisive and i don't think there's any walking it back right now, unless you get a full-throated apology. not just to the president but those of us who support him as well. stuart: larry, thanks for being with us this friday morning. always appreciate it. checking futures, are we there yet? well, it's close. we are looking like a gain of 90 points for the dow and a similar gain in percentage terms for the nasdaq. both up across the board. more fallout from the zion williamson nike sneaker saga. there are now calls for williamson to sit out the rest of the season to avoid harming his draft status. it's become a huge money issue,

not just for nike shareholders. and new billboards, plural, billboards going up in new york city after aoc's response to the first one. it's literally a war of words. the man behind those billboards joins us later this hour. as the migrant caravan arrives at the southern border, i say we don't just have to build fencing and walls. we need major reform to our asylum rules as well, because mass migration is not going to end. we got a deal with it. we'll be back. - hi folks, i'm matt mccoy.

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stuart: well, look at this. stamps.com, the stock is down huge, down 105 points. that's 53%. why? it has ended its relationship with the united states postal service. stamps.com ending relationships with the postal service. surprise ceo change at zillow. investors kind of like it now. earlier in the day they didn't like it. now they do. the stock's up 6%. there are calls for the secretary of labor, alex acosta, to step down. the white house is responding to those calls. blake burman, what's going on? reporter: this involves the 2008 plea deal of the financier jeffrey epstein. yesterday a federal judge rebuked the florida prosecutors in that case who gave epstein his plea deal. if you step back and just look at this case, epstein was accused of -- by dozens upon

dozens of underaged girls, essentially of sexual abuse. epstein served only 13 months in prison because of that plea deal. the judge said that florida prosecutors did not alert the victims in that case that there would be a plea deal. how this relates to the trump white house, the lead florida prosecutor in that case was alex acosta, the current labor secretary. just a little while ago, i asked the press secretary sarah sanders about acosta's job status and why he should be kept in his post. watch this exchange right here. yesterday, a federal judge rebuked the current labor secretary, alex acosta, for his handling of a case involving alleged sexual crimes against then young girls. what is the white house's response and i guess the question that a lot of people have is why should alex acosta be trusted to have a job at this level? >> my understanding is that it's

a very complicated case, something we are certainly looking into, but that they made the best possible decision and deal they could have gotten at that time, but again, that's something we're looking into. we'll keep you posted. reporter: the president still has confidence in the labor secretary? >> again, we're looking into the matter. i'm not aware of any changes. reporter: bottom line, i think the white house for the moment is standing behind the current labor secretary, alex acosta. meantime, the department of justice, an independent mind over there, is looking into the handling of this case and there are calls even from some republicans up on capitol hill questioning acosta and how he handled this case a decade ago. stuart: blake burman at the white house, thank you. now this. migrants by the thousands are crossing -- are forming on our southern border, thousands of people camped out. joining us now, former homeland security official chad sweet. chad, look, we are in the era of mass migration.

i think we need asylum reform in addition to a wall. what say you? >> i would agree with you and i think one of the things that we are looking at now is not only does it need to be reformed in terms of how it's handled, but it's also important to look at what the administration's doing which is as we process them, they don't need to be necessarily at our border in our country. we need to push borders out and what secretary nielsen has done is worked with the government of mexico to process them. as you know, away from our border in mexico. that's a big first step. the second thing which hasn't gotten much attention is secretary nielsen has just done an historic joint statement agreement with the northern triangle, which is the key three states on mexico's southern border, honduras, guatemala and el salvador, and that agreement is also going to help in terms of alleviating some of the need for these types of asylum seekers. stuart: we need something, because much of central america wants to relocate to the united states and quickly. i want to ask you about this.

secretary of state mike pompeo says the woman who joined isis can't come back. okay. she's apologetic, she wants to come back with her young son, but pompeo says no. where do you stand on this? >> well, i think first of all, she didn't just go abroad to help over there. she actually spent time trying to actively radicalize americans. i went online just to check out her twitter account. i want you to know this is one example of the type of vitriol she spewed. she said go on drive-bys and spill all of their blood, meaning americans' bloods, or rent a big truck and drive all over them. veterans day, patriots memorial day, et cetera, kill them. this is not an individual that was passively participating. she was actively attempting to radicalize. as we saw with the fort hood shooting, he was radicalized the same way. the same with the san bernardino shooting. that's the first point. the second is she is not a u.s. citizen. according to the state department, not only did this

administration conclude that but also the obama administration in 2016. stuart: regardless of her status, you would say keep her out. she doesn't come back. >> that's right. stuart: i would say come back and face trial. that would be my position. we can argue all day long. we probably would. out of time but thanks very much for being with us this morning. thank you, sir. check futures again. yes, we will be up about 100 points at the opening bell today. upside move continues. we have developments from venezuela. maduro has closed off the border with brazil. no aid coming in. i want to know, do we have troops ready and there if need be to get that food to venezuelans? will it come to that? our top voice on venezuela is here in our next hour.

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stuart: breaking news coming to us from "the washington post." here's their headline. one dead, 12 injured after venezuelan soldiers opened fire in a clash over humanitarian aid delivery at the brazilian border. the story is very brief but here it is. the soldiers fired on civilians who were trying to keep open a segment of the border with brazil. they are trying to get food in

to a starving nation. venezuelan soldiers are firing on civilians who are trying to get that food in. this is a very significant development. ashley: the question becomes what is the response to this development. this is a major, major development. this is the military firing on their own citizens desperately trying to get that aid through the southern border. this was an operation led by the juan guaido party to try and get humanitarian aid in. susan: they set the deadline february 23rd. this was a showdown that was expected because this is a test of the maduro regime and the soldiers that are still loyal to him. do you turn away humanitarian aid, do you starve the people and do you turn violent on the people of venezuela. stuart: they turned violent. 12 injured, one dead. venezuelan soldiers fired on civilians. their own civilians. that's quite a development. ashley: yes. stuart: the stock market opens in precisely four and a half minutes. we will be up maybe 100 points for the dow industrials. we are going to get pretty close

to 26,000 today. stay with us, please. big day in politics. very big day in the markets. we'll be right back. state of the art technologyt makes it brilliant. the visionary lexus nx. lease the 2019 nx 300 for $359 a month for 36 months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. let's talk about thisd when we meet next week. edward jones came to manage a trillion dollars in assets under care by focusing our mind on whatever's on yours.

stuart: we are gearing up for another pretty big day. looks like we will be up about 100 points at the opening bell. that's 15 seconds away.

looks like we might get pretty close to the 26,000 level, the all-time closing high is 26,800. so we're inching up. both in january and february, keep on going higher. we are pretty close to the all-time high for the dow industrials. we're off and running, 9:30 eastern. we're off and we're off 55, up 71, 69, 81, 85, 88. okay. we're up in the early going, up over a third of one percent. i've got a sea of green on the left-hand side of the screen. that means of all the dow 30 stocks, i see most of them green. i see just five of them on the downside. the dow right now is up 90. how about the s&p. check that out real fast, please. that is also higher to the tune of, what have we got here? i'm squinting. all right. seven points. how about the nasdaq? show me that. let's get on with it. ashley: same as the s&p.

stuart: thanks. joining us, dr barton, susan li, ashley webster, on the screen with us. we have to start with kraft heinz. a gloomy forecast. they are lowering their dividend and devaluing the value of their big food brands as well. d.r., what's the problem here? >> wow. the problem is there are so many problems. i love when a stock takes a hit with some good stuff behind it and you can often play a rebound. kraft is a don't touch with a ten-foot pole no rebound chance. susan made a point earlier today about warren buffett's big involvement. he's now down about $4 billion today on this investment. bad news. stuart: $4 billion? susan: yeah. big stake in this. stuart: that's a drop and a half. susan: i would argue also, it's the type of food that kraft heinz is selling which is not in

line with the cultural health trend that we are in. not hot dogs, not jello, mac and cheese. although i love mac and cheese. stuart: all my favorites. comfort food. there's another story from big food, if i can use that expression. pepsi laying off corporate employees. its restructuring plan is just kicking in. corporate employees being downsized. it's not much of a movement on the stock, down just 20 cents, that's it. but scott, come on in, please. what's the problem with what i'm calling big food? >> well, it's processed this and processed that versus everything is fresh and healthy nowadays. i think that's really the overarching theme. another one is reading that story and kind of taking the car to the side of the road and looking under the hood, you can't cut yourself to profitability. a lot of firms tried to do that in the past. you have to be more strategic. they think by slashing this and that and having food problems,

you won't get where you need to be. this is a good classic business school example of just that. stuart: got it. i want to move on to china trade. president trump will meet china's vice premier 2:30 eastern time this afternoon. big meeting. i think, d.r., it is china trade and the optimism over this meeting that's sending the market higher. what say you? >> i think you are as spot-on and i think there's one extra subtlety. i think a lot of people are expecting this meeting to have the date pushed back on the march 1st date. that's a lot of the buzz i'm hearing from traders that i'm speaking with. so we'll have to keep an eye on that. if that happens, we could get a big pop today. stuart: overall, we have the dow industrials up, what, 103 points as we speak. the nasdaq is up 22. we've got a rally on our hands here. 25,959 is where we are. awfully close. ashley: all on trade hopes. susan: don't forget, the s&p is up 11% this year. 11%.

stuart: this calendar year. susan: best start to the calendar year in three decades. we have a lot that needs to go right including china trade. stuart: now look at stamps.com. you ever seen a loss like this? down $105, 53%. why? they have ended their partnership with the postal service. down it goes. stop laughing, scott. surprise ceo change at zillow. apparently investors like it because it's up 12%. let's get to the under armour saga. ceo kevin plank has what the journal calls an unusual relationship to an nbc anchor, stephanie ruhle. msnbc, sorry. he takes her advice over the advice of his executives. if you are a shareholder, would you be concerned at under armour and this relationship? >> if i was a shareholder, i would think this would be a new

sh show on netflix, if you read through the story. i would not be happy at all. she's like rasputen. she has so much outside influence, she's changing the way things are run inside the firm and has no actual capacity, official capacity, and apparently, apparently this is how he's been doing business for the last 20 years with a lot of outside people having an influence on the company. as a shareholder, i would not like it. personally, i'm a little upset he wasn't inviting me on the plane trips to find out what i think. stephanie beat me out on that one. stuart: careful of that word there, scott. ashley: ceos can take advice from anyone. they don't have to blindly go with what their advisers say. what they should be judged on is the outcome of those decisions. stuart: as i said earlier, ms. ruhle is still on, she is on as we speak bashing president trump. look at tesla, please. consumer reports, this is important here, consumer reports no longer recommending the model

3. the stock took a hit on that yesterday. it's back up today. $294. it's still teflon tesla, isn't it? >> yeah, it is. we haven't really seen a lot of competition here in the states for what they've got there but there are still government subsidies. at some point in time, it's going to come home to roost when we get all the other big car manufacturers really going after that market. i think they are going to struggle that way. he's enjoyed that advantage for a little while now but that's going to run out at some point in time. stuart: how about this. netflix betting big on the oscar chances for "roma." they have a campaign that cost $25 million, maybe $30 million to see if they can win an oscar with that. if they win? susan: it's bragging rights but in terms of actual profitability, no. netflix has already won the game at this point. they are way ahead of everybody

else. everyone is playing catch-up. netflix did this already with "manchester." what won the best oscar for casey affleck? they already have a statuette. stuart: d.r., what do you think? "roma" gets an oscar and netflix goes to what? >> i think it would be a bump but it's not -- we are already convinced netflix makes really good content. i think this is all about more eyeballs. every additional big award that they win, they get more people, more people will subscribe because they want that content and they are spending a ton of money on this. $25 million publicity campaign trying to get those ten oscar nominations for "roma" pushed through. stuart: lot of money. look at this. pinterest gearing up to go public. this is described as an online scrapbook. okay.

stop laughing , just because i don't do it very much. d.r., would you buy pinterest? they are trying to raise $12 billion? susan: valued it at $12 billion. >> valued at $12 billion. i like several things about pinterest. we talked about this in 2015, stuart. about pinterest. the biggest thing is their demographic. 80% of their monthly average users are women and that is a great demographic to have. i think they have not yet at all even, we have seen only the tip of the iceberg of their being able to monetize all those eyeballs. i think this will be a good one. stuart: $12 billion valuation? susan: pretty rich valuation. a lot of these tech ipos are expected to go public this year. they are looking for a lot of money. uber, 120 possibly.

stuart: ton of them. let's hope. it's that time, ladies and gentlemen. i've got to say thank you very much to scott and d.r. great stuff this friday morning. appreciate you being here. check the big board. not quite the high of the day but we are up 107 points. this news on trade talks, according to reuters. u.s. officials say talks are quote, positive but there's still no clarity from china on intellectual property and other major issues. but the talks continue and the dow is still up very close to 100 points. more anti-aoc billboards popping up in new york after the congresswoman blasted the first one on twitter. we have the man behind those billboards coming on the show next. he paid for that. also in new york, the department of housing and urban development, the feds taking over the city's public housing department. what a mess it is. ben carson is with us on the show. and we have the story of the

hour. jussie smollett's phone led police to unravel his story. they didn't even need a subpoena, to subpoena the phone. didn't have to. just looked at it. kurt the cyberguy joins us for that.

stuart: we were up 110, now we're up 88. okay. kraft heinz, not sure what's that on the screen. let's move that away. kraft heinz, that's the big loser among all stocks today. warren buffett has lost $4 billion. ashley: think you're having a bad day? susan: he'll be fine. he'll be fine. stuart: look at that, down 27%. warren buffett's got a piece. he's down $4 billion.

check ab inbev, down in sympathy with kraft heinz. 4.5%. verizon will launch 5g in 30 american cities this year. deirdre bolton at the new york exchange, what is this? here comes the future? reporter: here comes the future. the promise is internet speeds of 30 to 50 times what we already have. that's what analysts say verizon's product is going to bring and added bonus of not ripping up your walls to get it. the company did not announce its 30 cities but a lot of analysts have a lot of views. atlanta, boston, houston, los angeles, new york, sacramento, the initial likely candidates for the rollout. this is meant to be big business for verizon. also, the company not giving pricing but most people saying it should be between $50 and $70 per month. even if you pay it, it's worth noting that for the moment, it's only going to speed up what's in your home, it's not going to

really affect you as you walk around. so people will decide if it is worth the money or not. of course, this news follows one day after verizon saying it is going to be the exclusive carrier for that fancy new samsung phone which is going to set you back at least $1500. stuart? stuart: thanks, deirdre. i want to update everyone on a serious breaking news development from venezuela. i'm quoting the headline in today's "washington post." one dead, 12 injured after venezuelan soldiers opened fire in a clash over humanitarian aid delivery at the brazilian border. it was venezuelan soldiers firing on civilians, one dead, 12 injured. very serious development, as they try to bring in food for the starving nation of venezuela. well, there are new billboards which slam congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez over new york losing the amazon deal. the job creators network put them up and the organization's president joins us now.

alfredo ortiz is with us. why are you engaging in this extended billboard debate? why? >> you know what, stuart, we have to have this conversation in this country. i applaud the president's state of the union address. he drew the line, he said we will not be a socialist country and we couldn't agree more. our organization job creators network advocates and really puts out a defense for 30 million small business owners that employ 60 million hard-working americans and quite frankly, aoc represents the attack on our beliefs of free enterprise in this country. we can't let that happen. this is a growing and scary trend. we have to draw the line at some point. we thought this would be a great way, bring some attention and buzz and it has done that. stuart: it most certainly has. you are on this show, you have been all over the place, but aoc says you are just defending the interests of billionaires. we've got her latest tweet on the screen right now. essentially she's coming after you and saying all you're doing is defending billionaires.

what do you say to that? >> you know, she has come personally after me and i have a quick message back to aoc, to her team and to her supporters. we're not going to go away. we're not going to get intimidated. this is a typical democratic playbook strategy, typical washington politician strategy which is try to intimidate groups that have a voice, especially voices that defend free enterprise and our way of living in this country. they try to intimidate and keep us from actually talking about some of the truth and the truth we put on the billboard is exactly that. 25,000 lost jobs for new york state and about $4 billion in annual lost wages when it's all said and done. that's the truth. that's the fact. stuart: you can't change it, can you? >> no. stuart: you can't get amazon to come back. frankly, i think you have a hard time getting any big name, high tech company, to new york city. or anyplace else, for that matter. >> absolutely. i would say this. to aoc, go ahead, let's find some time, let's sit over coffee, let's grab govern jor

cuomo and mayor de blasio and representatives from amazon and say look, if there is still a deal possible here, because quite frankly, the residents, the citizens of new york state and new york city wanted this deal. 70% of them said they wanted it. stuart: yep. are you going to keep going with this? will we see more billboards? >> we will keep defending free enterprise until we actually win this fight. stuart: just out of interest, can you tell me how much it cost to put up one billboard and leave it there for a week? >> well, you will appreciate this, stuart. we are like small business owners. we are thrifty and this opportunity came up, it cost us just about $4,000 to put up that billboard where aoc cost the citizens of new york about $4 billion in lost wages. stuart: i want my own billboard. i will pay for it. >> you know, we will take that $4,000 donation from you. how's that? stuart: i take it back. alfredo, that was great. thanks very much for being with us. >> thanks, stuart. appreciate it. stuart: check the dow 30.

we are still up about 100 points. left-hand side of the screen. i've got about two-thirds of the dow 30 in the green. it's an up day thus far. we are going to talk about the zion williamson sneaker saga next. now there are calls for him to quit duke and save himself for the nba. should he do that? drastic, i'd say. we'll be back. this isn't just any moving day.

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stuart: holding on to a nice gain, up about a third of 1%, 89 points up. how about roku. a rosy forecast. the stock is up 13%. take that. some analysts cutting their forecasts for berkshire hathaway after kraft heinz's dismal forecast and the dismal performance of the stock. bes berkshire owns 29% of common shares. that's warren befette etbuffett. he lost $4 billion today. nike stock was down yesterday following the zion williamson injury due to that sneaker malfunction. williamson, by the way, has an $8 million insurance policy in case of injury. some people now say, though, don't go back and play for duke for the rest of the season. don't do it. joining us, jared max, fox

sports radio news guy. why shouldn't he go back and play for duke again? >> same reason the new england patriots would take tom brady out of a game they were leading by 49 points. same reason a bride to be outside of superstition wouldn't put on the white dress before the wedding. stuart: what are you talking about? >> you don't want to mess anything up. stuart: oh, that's it. >> you have something that -- you wouldn't go walking down the streets of manhattan holding up a diamond like this. this guy is a diamond. he's not going to quit playing duke. he wants to still play. he's there with his coach mike krzyzewski and the other great players but the risk that's there, patriots are up 40 points, you take brady out because you need him for the big prize, you need him for the super bowl. zion williamson, what more can he get from college? is he really there for the education or as a stepping stone to the nba which the nba now wants to lower the minimum age to get into the nba from 19 down to 18. stuart: that would put him in the nba. >> yeah. he'll be okay to get into the nba. stuart: but i think you disagree

with the rule that says if you want to get to the nba, you got to play college first. you don't agree with that, do you? >> no. i think it's kind of become a bit of a farce. this is the way people can earn money professionally. i wonder why would anybody want to hold the best in the world potentially back from being the best in the world? maybe folks who aren't as good as those who are still playing. i don't know. it doesn't make sense to me. kobe bryant, lebron james, moses malone was the first to go right from high school into the nba. some of the best players in nba history went in at a younger age. why is it fair for some, not for others? stuart: is this a new rule? >> since 2005. right before the 2006 draft is when that was amended. guys have to be at least 19 years old and one year removed from high school. on the sneaker, stuart, jury is still out. nike is doing some investigating into this shoe, because nba players generally change their sneakers about every three to five games. it appears zion williamson has

worn these sneakers all season long. so if you're riding -- stuart: that's interesting. >> -- with no treads and you blow out the tire, is it the tire's problem or do you put a lot of miles on it? they are looking into that. stuart: there's a nice detail there which i have not heard before. >> i'm always trying. i was trying with the wedding dress. stuart: that was a stretch. the diamond and the wedding dress was a stretch, okay? okay. but am i right in saying that only two sports, basketball and football, you have to go through the college system first? >> yes. stuart: before you can go into the pros? >> football, i think it's a different reason. obviously the bodies need to be developed in a different spot. basketball, different story. if you are great enough to be in the nba, you know what, go in the nba. stuart: but if i'm a genius hockey player at the age of 16, i can go straight into the nhl. >> we have seen it with hockey players. i'm going to go far out there, you know, completely out of the box. macauley calkin made between $9 million and $14 million.

imagine if "home alone" said we can wait for you, kid. stuart: good analogy. beat the wedding dress and the diamond. you're all right. thank you. >> have a great weekend. stuart: now this. high tax blue states, we talk about them all the time, and now we are learning how they nickel and dime their residents. tax after tax on everything and anything. my take on that. you know what's coming. top of the hour. ♪ ♪ the new capital one savor card. earn 4% cash back on dining . . during the fall, everyone who has medicare may be eligible to choose a new medicare health

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stuart: we spent a lot of time railing against the high taxes in democrat-run states like new jersey, new york, illinois, california, connecticut and the rest of them. we've suggested and we have shown that a mass exodus is getting underway. ah, but those states just won't quit. there's a whole new raft of taxes still to come, new taxes, nasty little charges and fees that touch just about everyone. "wall street journal" calls them nickel and diming democrats. for example, connecticut's democrat governor, ned lamont, he wants residents to pay a sales tax on car parking, haircutting, over-the-counter drugs, take your dog to the vet, pay a tax. download a newspaper, magazine, pay the tax. store your boat, go camping, pay the tax. there is the jihad against soda. there is sugary drink tax. what is it all about? paying retired government worker pensions. illinois has a crippling pension

debt. paying the state's retired workers consumers one quarter of the entire state budget. their new governor, pritzker, will tax plastic bags marijuana, sports betting. we reported they want to take money from 401(k)s, private pension money to pay for retired government workers. i jumped into new york city cab the other day, had to pay a couple bucks extra as surcharge. this is how the city pays to fix the subway now that amazon has been driven away. let's not forget rhode island. the governor raimondo wants to extend 7% sales tax to netflix, itunes, landscaping services and beach parking. it's a long list of new fees, charges, taxes, long suffering residents of already high-taxed states will have to bear or will they? will they have to grin and bear it and stay? no, they won't. as we reported so often there is

a clear trend, money and people are leaving high tax for low-taxed states. it will be a flood. second hour of "varney & company" about to begin. ♪ stuart: high of the day, we're up 120 points. that is close to a half percentage point. 25,967, on the cusp of 26,000. big tech where is it today? all of it on the upside. facebook 160. amazon 1628. apple at 172. alphabet 179 and microsoft at $110 a share. reacting to my take, fox news contributor, independent women's voice president tammy bruce. >> good morning. stuart: i say the exodus is getting underway, and it is going to get to be a flood, what do you say? >> it is true.

we know from states like new york, had largest exodus from any state in the union from july 2017 to 18. we know in the 1950s, 45 house representatives. they now have 25. this has been going on. stuart: 45? 45 to 25? >> we expect them to lose another one in 2020 for that, when the assessment, because based on population. so people are fleeing. and we know that the revenue is down. cuomo, the governor has complained about that, blaming donald trump but the fact of the matter isth moving to florida. at least now, we can flee states that fleece us and that has been the tendency in the last 50 years as, increases go up. the state has have gained the biggest number of people in the last year have been idaho and nevada. of course nevada has no state taxes. idaho does. but it also has lowest overall taxes in the country i believe. so they're getting people to

move in there. states like new york are hemorrhaging individuals. it affects number of house seats you have of course. but it also affects revenue. stuart: when are the people of these states going to say enough, enough? all these taxes and fees and charges, they're really being raised pause those state government cannot pay the pensions of its retired government workers. >> that's right. stuart: that is the nut of the problem. >> it is like check kiting. they spent money they don't have. they promised money they don't have. they're taking out a credit card loan or writing a check that can't be covered. it is like a little bit after pons see scheme. you can do that for a period of time, as margaret thatcher might say, there is point where you run out of everybody's money, it only lasts a certain point of time. new york has been in that situation. clearly the other states. americans begin to think a certain generation wealth and success is natural that we can afford to do this, because it is

natural to be doing really well economically. no it is not. it is about policy. it is about allowing people to make their own money, thrive as business owners. hands off, let people use their imagination. when government starts to boot a boot on your neck, all of that slows down. people of venezuela found that out. soviet union, cuba, new york, california. we've got to make sure that these states don't collapse. maybe they expect bailouts. stuart: i think they do. i think they're looking for a change in congress, a change in the white house, couple years down the road. >> that's right. stuart: go to the treasury for a bailout. that is what they think. >> that's correct. stuart: by the way, tax the rich, tax the 1%, tax them some more, i just got numbers from the tax policy center. the top 1% of income earners pays 43% of all federal income tax. used to be 38%. then it was 40%. now 43%. >> americans want fairness. we do want people, but there is

a point where you begin to crush jobs and people flee and that is no way to run a nation or an economy. stuart: we arrived at that point. tammy, thank you very much as always. appreciate it. now, dramatic news from the atlanta fed, atlanta federal reserve bank, they lowered their forecast on economic growth in the fourth quarter, all the way down to 1.4%. what is going on? economist john lonski is here. it's a friday. what is that all about? 1.4%? >> when the fed recently met at the end of january, that forecast was 2.7%. now down to 1.4%. why? because of lousy report on retail sales. stuart: is that it? >> manufacturing picking up new orders for capital goods. forecast for consumer spending, real consumer spending went down from 3.5%, earlier, now it is down to 2.7%. so that is a loss, 1.2 percentage points. that is --

stuart: what do you think? we'll only grow at 1.4% annual rate of growth in the fourth quarter? that's it? >> maybe a little on the low side. 1.7, 2%. that is not good. i don't think a sign of things to come. we'll have a rough first quarter in part because of the government shutdown. fingers crossed. lower interest rates, things pick up later in 2019. people are counting on it in the equity market. they have s&p 500 earnings shrinking year to year, in the first quarter of 2019. then growth resumes immediately thereafter. it better. stuart: that is what investors are banking on. today we have upside move. we're almost at 26,000. i think that is the china trade deal. you're also saying investors looking for rebound in the economy by second quarter, spring and summer. really? >> only way we get that, is if interest rates do not rise from current levels. i wouldn't be surprised, if we don't see the type of growth that we need to keep profits growing. the fed cuts rates later in

2019. forget about a rate hike. stuart: that would be good. >> at this point in time, assigns probability of 1% to a rate hike. >> that hurts sentiment, if you cut interest rates how dire do things have to be in the u.s. economy? i think impact is -- >> you know, donald trump was right. the fed made a mistake hiking rates in december of 2019. it wasn't necessary. >> how else will they keep the powder dry in case there exogenous event like 2018? what else can you do? you have full employment. isn't that the mandate of the fed. >> one of the dumbest things said, forecastwise were these people forecasting the 10-year treasury yield, 3 1/2%. 4%. there were very big names calling for 5% 10-year treasury yield. you know what i'm talking about. susan: jamie dimon. stuart: you weren't. you got it right.

>> i said 2.75 is where it settles. 3% is too high for this economy. stuart: that was a good discussion. >> tammy talking about the exodus of people from the high-taxed states. you know what is going to really pick up that fleeing from these high-taxed states, aging of the u.s. population. it is really hard to have sustained rapid price inflation as well as sustained rapid economic growth. if you're in a situation now, where you have the 65 and older crowd growing by 2 million per year, younger, generation working age generation. stuart: watch it, john. the 65 and older crowd. that's me. okay, enough. [laughter]. dow is up 111 points. i have to break in with this very important news development of venezuela. "the washington post" reports that troops, venezuelan troops have opened fire in a clash over

humanitarian aid at the border with brazil. one dead, 12 injured. our top voice on venezuela, joins us next. a very important development. facebook's zuckerberg met with the uk culture minister about regulation after the brits called facebook a digital gangster. we'll get into that shortly on this program. maybe the europeans lead the way on regulation. sure looks likes it. doesn't it? >> bernie sanders on president trump, saying the president is scared. really? we're on it. you are watching the second hour of "varney & company." ♪ now i'm thinking...i'd like to retire early.

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stuart: high of the day this friday, we're up 130 points now. real close to 26,000 on the dow. kraft-heinz is a major loser. some analysts cutting their profit forecast for berkshire hathaway because of this dismal performance by kraft heinz. berkshire owns almost 27% of kraft heinz. berkshire is warren buffett's vehicle. he has lost what we think is about $4 billion because of this. to the crisis in venezuela, serious stuff now, "the washington post" reporting a deadly clash over humanitarian aid at the border between venezuela and brazil. joining us now our resident venezuela expert, mary anastasia

o'grady with "the wall street journal." the shooting has begun, not good. >> not good, stuart, but i point out that brazilian border is very remote and when the venezuelan government announced yesterday, they were going to close the border, i thought that is probably the part of the strategy they will use, which is they will basically terrorize the population but in ways that are not easily publicized. you take the remote border where, it is about 220 kilometers between that border and the largest city which is in brazil. much bigger news attention on the colombian border. you will have richard branson sponsoring a concert on the colombian side on saturday, and venezuelans said they will put a rock concert on the other side. stuart: the issue is food. how do you get the food on the border into the starving people of venezuela? we have got troops there, but i

don't think you don't particularly want to see american troops start a shooting war to get food to venezuelans. >> here is the plan. stuart: you go. >> venezuelaians amassed on colombian side said they will carry the food over the border. if they say they are blocked from using vehicles, they will go on foot. will the military gun them down as they try to get into the border? this is not about humanitarian aid. this is about who is in charge. stuart: sure. >> if they succeed, legitimatizes even more juan guaido who is the interim president and it weakens maduro. on the other hand if he is gunning down people while holding a rock concert on venezuelan side of the border that will be tough for few allies he has in the world like bernie sanders and the mexican president lopez obrador, who are saying nobody should insphere in venezuela. it will be tough to stick with

him. he will isolate him more and more. he will choose remote locations like brazil, or attack them once they're inside. he will not use the military as he will use informal forces militia. it will turn out to be more asymmetric war against them. he is fighting for his life, right now. as i mentioned a couple days ago, this is largely cuba telling him, you're not allowed to step aside because cuba doesn't want to lose this satellite that it has in south america. stuart: what a dreadful situation. >> it is pretty scary. stuart: worried about it this weekend. >> it is very scary. stuart: thank you. mary anastasia owe grady. thank you very much for joining us. your information is very important. we have got news from the federal reserve on rate cuts. our own edward lawrence just spoke with st. louis fed president, james bullard. what is the headline, edward? reporter: stuart, he is a voting

member of the federal open market committee this year, so his word carries some weight with it. he is concerned about the flattening yield curve, about how flat it is, concerned towards the end of the year but says there will be no recession in his mind. he says the federal funds rate at 2.5% is above the neutral rate right now. he does not though advocate rate cuts. he says we should ride this out. listen. >> do you believe that a rate cut could come this year? >> yeah, i haven't penciled that in. i'm happy just to say we'll keep rates where they are an we'll see how the economy evolves going forward. i'm sure something will happen, maybe surprise to the upside or maybe to the downside. reporter: you were just talking about retail sales numbers. he pushes back against those numbers saying he really wants to look inside. he thinks that might have been a blip and not actually what it is. in fact president bullard says by the end of the year we'll be

at 2.3% growth. he is keeping with the fed's forecast. he thinks it will really pick up towards the end of the year. stu. stuart: the main point is mr. bullard said keep rates where they are. check data as it comes in. adjust policy from there. keep rates where they are. that's it. edward lawrence. good stuff. reporter: exactly. stuart: you may have moved the market there, lad. edward, good stuff. stay with fox business, for our coverage of venezuela. vice president mike pence travels to colombia on monday, pledging his support for opposition leader juan guaido. our trish regan will travel with him, host her show from bogota on monday. do not miss that one. very important stuff. check the big board. we're up 130 points. 25,980. that is where we are. more "varney" after this. ♪

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stuart: whoa, look at this. stamps.com, 2 1/2-year low. it ended the partnership with the postal service. it is down $113. that is a 57% haircut. surprise ceo change at zillow. they brought back their former ceo. investors like it. zillow is up 14%. got another number for you, this year's best picture oscar nominees made collectively over a billion dollars more than last year at the box office. tell me more. ashley: nearly 2 billion the year before. 3 plus billion this year. and you can thank "black panther" for a lot of that. that alone brought in $1.3 billion. that is staggering. the academy thought bringing out

a popular film category to get people interested in the actual telecast of oscars. if you look at 10 pictures this year, you could argue a mix of critical favorites, indy films, blockbuster films. they don't need it. ratings for the 2018 oscar telecast was the lowest in history. they even tried to put some more obscure awards in commercial breaks. there was huge uproar. susan: they're artists too. ashley: bottom line, they're desperately trying to find more ways to get people to watch. susan: how about shortening the broadcast? stuart: might want to get away from trashing mr. trump constantly. ashley: that would help. stuart: get that out. make these guys funny. can't you have some fun at these things. they're always, whoa is me. it is awful. more on the box office. netflix has bought a chinese science fiction movie that could

become china's biggest ever, box office hit. you tell me more. susan: a sci-fi film called, "wandering earth." made 110 million at the chinese box office, on pace to become the largest chinese hit in cinematic history. this is sci-fi film that move the earth because of solar system, where the sun might actually destroy the planet. you have to use imagination on that one. it is interesting that netflix, we don't know how much they paid for it. there are streaming competitors in china. alibaba owns youtube. the chinese equivalent of youtube. baidu also owns ite, equivalent of netflix. it is interesting that the makers of "wandering earth" went with netflix. they want to be more fin international. it will stream in 190 countries, 28 languages. a win-win broadening them out.

netflix is also getting into the asian market. they have created, acquired 17 -- stuart: talk about content. ashley: content is king. stuart: now this for you, actor jussie smollett is out on bail. faces three years in prison. we have details on reportedly what did him in. it was his phone. you all about that. facebook's zuckerberg met with britain culture minister. when it comes to regulation, he says the brits are doing god's work. we'll make the -- he will make his case on that one. we have it all on the show. ♪

♪ stuart: this is a new one. very old song. new one for us. susan: new one for the '60s. stuart: never heard this before, have you? you never heard this before, have you, susan? susan: i haven't. stuart: this is incredible. this is incredible. you expect to stay on this program for the next 90 minutes? unbelievable. check the big board, nice gain, ladies and gentlemen. we're up about 120 points. 25,969. getting close to 26 k. big tech names, they were all up. still up nicely so. apple, amazon, facebook, microsoft, all on the upside. some. biggest losers in the s&p 500, they are, processed food companies. kraft-heinz leading them all lower but there is also red arrows for campbell's soup and smuckers. same story for general mills, conagra, kellogg. if you're talking big food, there are stock prices, they are

way, way down today, huge declines. almost across the board. that kind of foot is out of style. ashley: apparently. stuart: two big names that will go public this year, lyft and pinterest. we have jeremy owens. market watch san francisco bureau chief. i love that gives ordinary people in on the new wave of technology. if i was running companies, i wouldn't go public. i don't want all the scrutiny on me. where do you stand on this? >> at some point you have to go public. it is really tough to stay private as they have already. we're waiting, waiting. these companies are nine, 10, 11, at that point you should be a public company. stuart: why should they have to go public? why? >> to try to use their stock for acquisition. to be out there, be able to attract attention.

this is big market opportunity to attract wall street and all eyes upon you and your name will be bigger. stuart: do you think this will be successful ipos that will raise billions of dollars that they are supposed to? >> probably. we're desperate for ipos. we're 70% down from last year because of government shut down. a a lot got stuck in the government pipeline. we need to see other tech companies, a we talked about the tech companies getting hit by slowing growth rate. you have to have other companies come on to offer the high growth to investors. stuart: okay. so we could be seeing like four, it could be lyft, pinterest, uber, airbnb, all this year. if they do go public this year, you're looking maybe a quarter of a trillion dollars raised. it looks like that, doesn't it? >> it sure does. we've been waiting for this, right? we've been watching companies get bigger and bigger and bigger as private companies. waiting for them to show up on

the public markets. we're having slack as well, planning non-ipo ipo, right? direct listing putting shares on listing for people to be able to share, be able to trade their shares. stuart: sure. jeremy, i don't know whether you're allowed to do this, i don't know whether you're allowed to invest in individual companies bearing in mind your position at "marketwatch," but if you could invest in these four big names, which ones do you like best? >> i'm not allowed to invest in individual companies but yeah i would definitely aim at ride-sharing. you have uber and lyft. i think a lot of investors will invest on both which is kind of important for lyft to get out first, so people don't blow their wad on uber before lyft can get out there. that is one especially we see autonomous cars come in, those companies are where autonomous cars go is ride-sharing to. get in on where technology is headed, the next big thing in

technology, that is a good way to play it. stuart: i think you're right, jeremy. thanks as always for joining us. we'll see you again soon. thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. stuart: a number of consumer groups are urging feds to probe facebook over violating children's privacy what exactly are they supposed to have done? ashley: tricking children into making purchases while playing games. you can get the add-ons while playing videogames. they're accused getting kids to use mom and dad's credit cards, what have you, into buying these things. also when the parents find out, making it very difficult to track down how to get refunds on these things. this came out, this was part of a lawsuit that was settled but the documents have only just been made public. now the consumers groups are saying wait a minute, this is violation of what they call the children's online privacy protection act. facebook said the since the case came to light, they have taken steps necessary to make sure this doesn't happen. this there again, this is, the

ftc is getting bombarded, the federal trade commission with all sorts of complaints, not only kids privacy being affected but they should be, facebook should be regulated like a utility or that it should be broken up, all sorts of things, much more regulation than what has been called for. stuart: we've been reporting that the ftc is possibly going to fine facebook a record breaking fine against any technology company. ashley: yes. sues sauce that is -- susan: breaking cat for using data without telling them. stuart: we have almost a story every single day. it is largely negative. the stock appears to be stalled at 160. our next guest says countries like germany, britain, india could impose strict regulations on facebook. vivek wadhwa, carnegie mellon distinguished professor.

seems like britain, the uk, india, what they propose is harsh regulation. would the regulation force them to change their business model? >> yeah. you know, you know like in the united states where facebook, where zuckerberg was able to get in front of congress, snooker our politicians, these five-minute segments they have, basically made them look like fools. the british are smarter. the brits are able to cut through bs. they essentially got an american executive visiting england and they had him give them all of the emails he had gotten in a lawsuit with facebook. those emails were damning. it showed facebook's evil intentions, malpractice wiping out competition, doing things that shouldn't be legal. the british called them digital gangsters. very likely will impose tight regulations on them. the germans are looking at different aspect. the germans are looking at the

way facebook scooping update at that about you. every website they're spying on you. using all the information without your permission. the indians are looking at a different aspect of it. whatsapp. what's app allows people to spread misinformation. all the fake news we hear about over here, we know what the source was. whatsapp, the app they have is encrypted and hidden. only people that know what is going on is facebook. india is saying you're responsible for what happens over here. the rest of the world is waking up doing things that we should have done. stuart: here in america, facebook is mounting a desperate rear guard, a huge defensive operation if you like. so far it seems to be successful, the europeans, germany, uk, india, really pressing facebook and we're not? >> yeah. for facebook this is simply a pr crisis. it is the cost of doing business. what they do, they get their

lobbyists, pr companies to spread misinformation and everything calms down. the british are, you know the british very well, they are a lot smarter than we are in being able to cut through all of this and they and the germans are going to be imposing heavy fines which will cause these companies to clean up their ways. not only facebook, but google, a lot of tech companies doing the same type of things. they will be reined in by the rest of the world. stuart: got i, vivek, as always thank you very much for being with us today. >> thank you, my friend. stuart: yes, sir. got to break in now with news on the jussie smollett situation, the actor who faked his own assault. twentieth century fox says it is removing his character from the final two episodes of this season of "empire." twentieth century fox said in a statement, these allegations are very disturbing. we're placing our trust in the legal system as the process plays out. twentieth century fox is also the parent company of fox business and fox news.

now, lyft, as we've been saying preparing to go public beating uber to the punch. i have to go repeat this, if i were uber if i were lyft i am not sure i would want to go public. the restraints on you are significant. ashley: the scrutiny. stuart: i will talk with the person who brought uber to new york city. interesting guy. that is in our next hour. first, three very progressive congresswoman, are on your screen, dragging the whole democrat party way out there to the left, and they're not backing down. we'll cover that story for you in a moment. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ what if we could turn trash into money? plastic bank is doing just that,

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♪ ashley: the group behind two billboards in new york's times square blaming congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez for scaring amazon away, says, well, it won't stop speaking out. roll tape. >> we're not going to go away. we're not going to get intimidated this is typical democratic playbook strategy, typical washington politician strategy trying to intimidate groups that have a voice, especially voices that defend free enterprise and our way of living in this country. they try to intimidate, keep from talking about the truth. the truth we put on the billboard is exactly that,

25,000 lost jobs for new york state, $4 billion in lost wages when all said and done. that is the truth and that is the fact. ♪

stuart: doing all right on the market. up nearly half a percentage point, getting close to 26,000, up 121 to be precise. way fair, an online

furniture company, largely furniture, shopping site. shares are up. they beat the profit forecast, look at that, up 31%. that's a lot. 154 on wayfair. stuart: now this, listen to what ilhan omar talked about alexandria ocasio-cortez getting things done. roll tape. >> i think we have a beef with almost everyone here because there is a lack of courage. >> right. >> it is like we're all radical because we care about the people that we represent and we want to throw down for them. >> for once, we're not just fighting over what is getting done but we're fighting over how it is getting done. stuart: we better bring in matt schlapp, american conservative union chairman. i think the three radicals are a problem for the democrat party, because they stand out so much, they're dragging them all way out, way out on the left. what say you? >> i agree with you, stuart. we have elected democrats to the presidency before. we have certainly put democrats

in charge of congress before but we really never put avowed socialists in charge of anything because socialism was always a very unpopular concept in america, it is frightening to see one of the two major parties embrace it so fully. stuart: you saw that news this morning from venezuela. they started shooting people, trying to bring in food for people across the border. 12 injured, one dead. the administration with will run with it. look at venezuela. socialist society. what they are up to. >> what did maggie thatcher say the problem with socialism, they eventually run out of other people's money to spend. this will happen in states like california. venezuela was perhaps the one of the most problem produce or the most prosperous country in south america. people are starving on the streets, there is no medicine. socialism fails every time. if we inject it into the

bloodstream of merge, america will never take it. stuart: you have to have a british accent quoting margaret thatcher. of the problem with socialism is you run out of other people's money. >> we miss her. stuart: look bernie sanders, independent vermont senator, democratic socialist, announced he is running in 2020. here is what he said, trump tweeted, emailed, text messaged his supporters terrified of our day one fund-raising and sign-up numbers. he's scared and he should be. help us send trump a message in a language he is sure to understand. make a 10-dollar donation to our campaign today. have at it, matt, american accent and all. go. >> i don't think we should take bernie sanders for granted. i think these are very impressive numbers. he he is the great-grandfather of the democratic party lurch to

the left. he is not to be trifled it. i think they will go full on with bernie sanders or some version. same. this is the first time in american history, the presidential campaign will be out is the american principles themselves. that is what we'll debate about it. is america unique and special and antisocialists or are we going to change america forever by embracing it? i still believe that the american people will reject this failed ideology. stuart: i'm waiting for the primaries, which actually are only about a year away when you think about it, i believe about a year, roughly speaking. joe biden doesn't get in, or if mike bloomberg doesn't get in, then you have no moderate, you have got nobody in the middle of the democrat party, no significant candidate that i can think of. the field is open for the socialists. >> you know why, stuart? because there are no superdelegates. there are no grownups in charge. in the end, it will be radicalized socialist base will want to pick the candidate that has the most fire and brimstone

on these socialist principles. that is why these are the people who are running. stuart: one thing i will guarranty, matt schlapp, you and i will have a lot of fun commenting on the forthcoming election. thanks, matt. >> thank you. stuart: appreciate it. now this jussie smollett, he is out on bail. could face three years in prison. we've got details what hurt him, what did him in. it was his phone. yeah, we got details on that one for you coming up. check the big board, just about the high of the day. we're up 130 points. 25,980 is where we are. ♪ okay, paint a picture for me. uh, well, this will be the kitchen. and we'd like to put a fire pit out there, and a dock with a boat, maybe. why haven't you started building? well, tyler's off to college... and mom's getting older... and eventually we would like to retire.

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stuart: still holding on to a very nice gain, precisely a half percentage point up. that is about 130 points. just a few points shy of 26,000, as i keep saying. all right the jussie smollett case, our next guest says records of his phone calls, that's what did him in. the cyber guy is with us. wait a second, he did not allow his phone to be turned over. >> remember that? chicago police said he refused to turn over his phone. they didn't needed, you know

why? stuart: why. >> cdrs, call detail report. everyone of the wireless companies keeps such extraordinary records on all of us, including potential liars. so that is how they caught him along -- stuart: so he said can't look at my phone. they said, okay, we'll go to the records. did they subpoena the wireless? >> three ways to get it, criminal warrant, subpoena for civil case or you yourself can mail a notarized letter to the wireless carrier asking to see your own cdr, if you're account holder. only three ways to get it. police got a warrant, i don't know, probably got a warrant for a couple other people involved in this case. stuart: sure. >> to just make sure that information lines up. stuart: you said it was extraordinary detail. >> we're talking about where your phone is, when it is making a phone call, getting a phone call, sending a text or participating in data of any kind. up to the second it records the time stamp.

also exactly your location and which cell phone tower geographically that phone is connecting to. so if you want to tell me a story that you and i aren't here in new york, your phone will tell us a whole other story no matter whether you opted into anything or not. stuart: any phone call i make, any text message i send, there is a record of it where i was at time of making the message, making the call -- what was in the call, is that? >> not audio recording. they may be keeping that. it doesn't come in the cdr when you get the data. what phone companies keep is the text log with the extraordinary data and then, depends on the carrier, usually under a week is how long they keep the actual full text of a text inside of their systems. so you may not get the exact message that was sent but you will get that it was sent, who it went to, when it was sent, where you were when it was sent, perhaps somebody else is willing

to show their phone on the other end of that. police and detectives and, you know, federal officers at this point have a trove of data that can tell whether somebody is telling the truth or not, and clearly the chicago police believe they have a strong case here, against smollett based on this one cdr stuart: that is fascinating. >> it is. stuart: you know how do it. have you ever gone to the phone company asked for your phone records? >> i have actually scared to look. yeah, this story in itself makes me want to put my phone in a microwave. i still think my billion dollar business would be to create a decoy for our phones and all the digital stuff in our lives, so nobody, says your phone is in five different places at once. i don't know it will succeed. i will work on idea. stuart: i like the sound of that. >> you will invest? ashley: wait a minute. stuart: thanks, curt, hold on a second. look at this. the dow, show me the dow please.

we're up, no not that. we're up 152 points. the point is we hit 26,000 on the dow jones average. susan: we're up for nine straight weeks. stuart: 26,004 it where we are. by the way, 800,000 migrants in america seeking asylum. i honestly have to sell you the asylum system is bust. it is being gamed. in the era of mass migration it must be reformed. the dow is at, 26,000. ♪ this is decision tech. it's screening technology that helps you find a stock based on what's trending or an investing goal.

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stuart: all right. it's 11:00 here in new york city. it's 8:00 in the morning out there in california. we have the dow jones industrial average on another tear. right now, we're up 149, 150 points. we are right there at 26,000. as we reported just before the top of the hour there, if we go up 100 points right now, what we've got is nine straight weeks of gains for the dow industrial average and we haven't seen that in about 20 years. much of this gain today, i think, ash, is because of some positive news out of the china

trade discussion. ashley: that was a big part of it. we are also continuing to get dovish comments from fed governors which also helps sentiment that they aren't going to go crazy and raise rates and i think that is also helping sentiment. it's remarkable how far we have come when you consider what happened in december. when we fell out of bed. stuart: absolutely. ashley: everything is slowing down, going to be a tough 2019. guess what? here we are. stuart: bouncing back very nice. okay. now we are up 147, 25,997. we've got a rally across the board in the big tech names. we've got a sharp decline across the board in big food, if i can put it like that. that's where we are. ashley: look at oil. oil is back up nearly, well, up $57.50 now. oil prices starting to go up. stuart: one quick word of caution. president trump meets china's vice premier at 2:30 this afternoon. it's all about china trade. any kind of statement comes out of that, that will move the

market. i don't know whether it's up or down. i have no idea. but anything comes out of that meeting, it will move the market. now this. ashley: up or down. stuart: the asylum system is being gamed, corrupted, deliberately. we don't just need a physical barrier, we need asylum reform as well. first the numbers. 42,000 asylum seekers in 2008. ten years later, it is 160,000. 809,000 migrants are already in america waiting for a court hearing. the wait averages 578 days. most disappear. you get the point? the system is swamped and the migrants know it. they know that president obama changed the rules so that people who fear domestic violence and gang violence may claim asylum, so migrants are coached to make that claim, which of course is hard to disprove. let's be clear. we live in the era of mass

migration. millions of mideasterners marched, i mean literally marched into europe. now it's central americans marching to america. asylum requests from honduras, guatemala and el salvador are up 900% in the last five years. americans are generous people. humanitarian. but we can't allow our asylum system to be gamed. that is not humanitarian. that's allowing cheating on a mass scale and it's wrong. third hour of "varney" continues. all right. you heard my editorial. let's get reaction from lawrence jones, who is with us now. where am i going wrong? asylum reform is an absolute must. what say you? >> no, no, you're right, stuart. i think that both political parties are to blame when it comes to this. there is an element of the left wanting open borders and they don't want us to have a tough vetting system but there is an element on the right, the business class, that are crony capitalists that want cheap

labor as well. so you have two competing interests right there and they don't want to get the problem solved. stuart: lawrence, you and i both remember the last few years in europe, when literally an army of migrants, literally marched nine abreast, marched across europe. angela merkel let them in. for humanitarian reasons, i got it. but it was a disaster for europe. do you think the same thing could happen here, mass migration, literally millions of people coming in? could that happen? >> well, i think that's the goal. but i think unlike in europe, we have a commander in chief that's not for that. i can't see him allowing just an open border policy like this even if they claim it to be asylum. you know, the reform there is what is the standard, because if it's just a matter of you fighting for your own country to get it to a place where it's reasonable for people to live in

harmony, that's really not an asylum process. people should be encouraged to fight for their own country and i don't think right now we are encouraging them to do that. stuart: look at the other side of the coin for a second. am i being too harsh? america is a generous place. we are humanitarian people. here i am saying keep them out. perhaps i'm being unduly harsh. do you think? >> i don't think you are being harsh at all, stuart. i think, look, i even disagree sometimes with the president when he says he wants a merit-based immigration system because i also believe that when we say we want other countries' best and brightest, that we are doing them a disservice from fixing their own country. so i think there's a balance. look, when people are being persecuted, i understand that america has a place being the world's leader to step in and help out sometimes. but i think we got to get away from the nation building policy and we have real issues to deal with and we can't just be a

nation that's inviting more problems into our own country. i think there's a balance but the open border policy and the business class saying they want crony capitalism by getting cheap labor is the wrong way to go. stuart: you are texas guy. i think you live there. officials from texas have been in california trying to poach companies to getting them to go from there back to texas. by the way, they have already had some success over the past couple of years. they landed mckesson and others. you have to be cheering them on. >> well, i'm cheering because we do create, you know, a business environment that is friendly to these businesses, so they realize they don't have a state tax here and it's great because more people want to move to texas. that being said, don't bring your values with you. assimilate to what we do here in texas. that's my only concern. the thing you fled from, don't

bring that to my state. stuart: i knew you were going to say that. i absolutely knew it. i chucked you a softball to see if you would say it, and he did. you're all right. come see us in new york soon. see you later. >> thanks, brother. stuart: i want to get back to stocks. first of all, look at kraft heinz. i think it's at an all-time low or pretty close to it. down 28%. in fact, big food companies, if i can call them that, all of them across the board are down in sympathy. there's a whole list of big name, big food companies down 3%, 4%, 5%. i see a winner, hormel, the spam people, and pepsi. the rest, big list of losers. now look at coca-cola, please. the stock right now is pretty flat, down 30 cents. our guest says coke's brand has really dropped in value. that was a surprise to me. i thought it had been the world's most valuable brand for decades. look who's here, this man.

coca-cola down in value, the brand? is it? >> well, in 2000 it was a top brand. in 2000 it had a brand value of $72 billion. sorry -- yeah, 2000, it was $72 billion. today it's about $66 billion. it's now the number five brand and it's well behind some of the other big players like google, amazon, microsoft. stuart: what went wrong? >> a lot of things. this is a company that's about 130, 140 years old. started in 1885. similar to kraft which is also in the news today. these big companies, whether they are dow based or not, the dow is losing jobs so coke is an example of a company, $48 billion in revenue five years ago, $48 billion. today, it's $32 billion, down a third. it's down a third. it went from -- when we talk about job growth, it's not coke. coke had 150,900 jobs in 2013.

today it's about 61,800. it's dropped. the job growth is not with big companies. i know when i come on i frequently rail against the dow and i know it's up 11% or so year to date but the job growth is small entrepreneurial companies. they are growing 20% per year, growing 20% in profits. the dow is negative in profit growth over the last three year compounded. the dow stocks generally speaking are down in terms of job growth. the s&p is flat if you take out the 20 or so entrepreneurial companies in the s&p. it's less than 1%. our job growth in our economy, we know this, it's entrepreneurial companies driving it. stuart: you run a fund. >> i run a fund. stuart: you manage a fund which invests in what you call entrepreneurial companies. >> since christmas, it's up 27%, 28%. midcaps are up 37% since christmas. stuart: is coca-cola incapable of turning around and becoming an entrepreneurial company? >> absolutely. stuart: can't do it? >> absolutely. you cannot do it. what's interesting is in that space, there's a uk company, i

won't mention it because it's a small cap, it's a specialty beverage company that's up 31% year to date in stock performance, 66% compounded growth the last three years. in this space, you have -- you have these energy drinks which is a specialty soda manufacturer that's doing very well. in that space, there's growth. coke is not finding it. coke is doing a lot of acquisitions. kraft is doing massive acquisitions. they are acquiring and firing. that's what big companies are doing. last year we had $4.5 trillion in acquisitions. this year, we are up over ten-fold on proposed deals compared to this time last year. big companies acquiring and firing. little companies, by the way, for those people who are buying stocks, little companies are benefiting because the performance is being appreciated as a result of the acquisitions. stuart: we love you because you bring us original ideas and original information. i didn't know anything about coca-cola like that. that's news to me.

that's good. thank you. appreciate it. now, we brought you this story earlier this week. it cost nearly $2,000 to change light bulbs per apartment, to change light bulbs in new york city's housing projects. the agency's being run so poorly that the feds have stepped in. come on in, hud secretary ben carson, who is with us shortly, i believe. he will tell us what's happening with the new york housing authority. on his way. lyft is going public. you will be able to buy stock in the company. uber follows suit later. up next, we will talk to the guy who helped bring uber into new york. bradley tusk. i will ask him why would uber even want to go public. this is the third hour of "varney & company." [ telephone rings ] [ client ] - hey maya. hey! you still thinking about opening your own shop? every day. i think there are some ways to help keep you on track. and closer to home.

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stuart: we have breaking news from the top guy at the fed, jerome powell. what do you have, jennifer? >> stuart, the federal reserve out with its semiannual monetary policy report to congress. fed officials reiterating that they will remain patient in assessing future adjustments to the fed funds rate in light of uncertainty about the outlook, mainly due to slowing global growth and financial conditions. for invests who think the fed is

done hiking rates, think again. while the fed will remain patient for now in watching the data, the report says they still expect quote, some further gradual hikes over the longer term even though the path for hikes has come down. now, some other take-aways, the fed thinks the unemployment rate will bottom this year or next. they see trade as a source of uncertainty and higher tariffs could lead to higher inflation. the fed chair will testify on this next week before congress. stuart? stuart: jennifer, thank you very much indeed. before we move on, take a look at the market, please. we are now up at the high of the day. we are up 164 points. we moved up even though the fed is saying some future rate hikes are not out of the question. ashley: they are just covering themselves. it's generally dovish. stuart: a cynic. generally dovish works for the market. we are at 26,015. now this. ride sharing app lyft set to go public in a few weeks.

an uber ipo could also be just around the corner. i would like to know why would uber go public and open themselves up to extraordinary scrutiny? why don't i ask bradley tusk, the guy who brought uber into new york city, and a frequent guest on this program. isn't that right? >> it is. both things are true. stuart: if i was a lyft guy, if i was the uber guy, i wouldn't touch going public with a ten-foot pole. i don't care how much you want to cash out. i don't want those lawyers over my back. >> that's how the founder felt for a very long time. one of the reasons travis was pushed out of his job was precisely because the venture capitalists invested, especially in 2009, 2010, want liquidity. the point of being a vc is to put money in and eventually get more money back. i'm an investor in uber. i kind of feel the same way. stuart: you have a small piece of uber. >> i do. i would like to see it become liquid, too. what's really interesting is,

the optimum time for uber to go public might have been a couple years ago. if you're looking at kind of the consensus number that people are talking about as the valuation, $90 billion seems to be it. it's a great number. as an investor i'm obviously happy with it. pretty confident in 2016, '17, it would have also been $9 billion or $100 billion and that money would been put to work for the last couple of years. so i think in a weird way, it's not why they want to go public now but did they make a mistake by not going public sooner. stuart: i personally think it's a wonderful thing. i think it's financial democracy. i think it's a whole new area of technology, lyft, uber, airbnb, pinterest by the way is a whole new area of technology that the little guy can actually get into. >> right now, you have to be a venture capitalist like me and have all kinds of s.e.c. registrations and outside investors and all these things to be able to get into these companies. but look, these are people, especially things like uber, airbnb or pinterest, those are everyday brands and services

people are using. it's not unreasonable to think they might want to be able to invest in them. stuart: true. one quick point before we leave you. you were mike bloomberg's campaign manager when he ran for mayor of new york very sfublg successfully. >> we won. stuart: okay. so is he running for the democrat nomination? >> it's a really good question. mike would unquestionably -- stuart: are you going to answer it? >> i will tell you what i think because i don't think he knows and i know i don't know. here's what i do know. he would like to be president. he would be a really good president. he is not your typical politician in that the means and the end aren't the same thing. if you are gillibrand or booker, for example, you are running because you want attention, you are a politician because you want attention. if you win, great. but just the act of running in and of itself makes you happy. mike doesn't like politics. he doesn't like campaigning. i don't think he would enjoy the process. i don't think he would choose to run unless there was some sort of chance he could actually win. i think he would put the work and the pain in to be able to then do the job. he's different than most.

stuart: if biden does not run -- >> it goes up. i think there's more of a path. that old centrist white guy lane opens up, if biden and mike are both in there it's pretty clogged. stuart: old white guy centrist lane. i like that line. i will use it again. okay, bradley. you're all right. thanks for joining us. what have we got now? now we are up 192 points. well above 26,000 heading for the ninth straight week of gains for the dow. that's pretty good. we'll be back after this. patients that i see that complain about dry mouth. they feel that they have to drink a lot of water. medications seem to be the number one cause for dry mouth. i like to recommend biotene. it replenishes the moisture in your mouth. biotene definitely works. [heartbeat]

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stuart: take a look at this. this is a concert put on by richard branson for aid to venezuela. the concert is under way. it's happening in colombia. this as we know there are reports of a clash on the border with brazil. venezuelan soldiers fired on civilians. one dead, 12 injured. that's in a different part of the country. which state has the longest life expectancy? hawaii. people living there can expect to live for 81 years. the aloha state has the second lowest obesity rate, third lowest smoking rate and more primary care doctors per head than any other state. ashley: that helps.

stuart: indeed it does. california's number two. rounding out the top five, minnesota, connecticut, new york and i'm afraid at the other end of the spectrum, it's mississippi has the shortest life expectancy. thinking of proposing to your partner? get ready to blow an astounding, i don't believe this, 528 hours or 22 days in planning your perfect wedding. now, that's according to minted, a wedding planning website. i think they are grinding their own axe. the study also found the average couple had four disagreements during the process. i'm here to tell you that's a little low. ashley: should elope. stuart: right. cheapest grocery store, aldi. new study finds it's number one when it comes to the most budget-friendly places to shop. why? the chain has smaller stores with low cost private label products. this is something i don't get. number two is supposed to be market basket. the market basket i know is not

cheap. followed by winco foods, food for less and costco. costco, guaranteed. remarkably low prices. the problems with new york's housing projects are so bad the feds are now stepping in. remember we brought you the story, it cost nearly 2,000 bucks just to change light bulbs in each new york city public apartment. next, hud secretary ben carson. i want to know what he's going to do to fix that mess. serious developments in venezuela. the country's military reportedly opened fire during a clash over humanitarian aid coming into the country. i want to know how we are going to get that aid to the people who need it. and a programming alert. fbn's trish regan is headed to colombia. while there, she will interview vice president mike pence. watch it on "trish regan primetime" live from bogata monday night at 8:00 eastern. nah. not gonna happen.

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stuart: we just keep going up. high of the day, up 192 points or pretty close to the high of the day, certainly. we are at 26,042. that's a gain of three quarters of 1%. the s&p 500 shows another strong gain. that's up .6%. the nasdaq composite should be up about three quarters of 1%. big tech's doing well.

yeah, we are up .85%. it's a rally all across the board. now this. new york city public housing has been a disaster for a long time. as we reported, it costs nearly $2,000 just to change the light bulbs in a single new york city public apartment. that's incredible. joining us now is hud secretary ben carson. mr. secretary, it's great to have you back on the show. what are you doing about new york housing authority? >> well, first of all, recognize that the president and his administration is not top-heavy with a bunch of career politicians who allow these situations to occur, not only in new york but across the country. and you know, we are putting in place a system that gets rid of political cronies and paves the way for professionals who actually know how to manage things. you know, we are now concentrating on the tenants and not on the unionized workers which is the reason that you

have that $1,973 cost per unit for those light bulb changes. things don't make any sense. we have put in place a monitor, bert schwartz, and he's had significant experience as a monitor and as an assistant u.s. attorney in that very same district, and has been involved in several significant monitoring cases, general motors, deutsche bank, et cetera. we are going to really be looking out for the tenant in this situation. stuart: mr. secretary, did new york invite you in, or did you say we're coming in because you are incompetent? >> no. we had to come in. once we found out about the deceptions that had been perpetrated with the lead issue, we started to find a lot of other things and that's why they were declared in substantial default. in addition to that, i'm very

concerned about the amount of money that we're spending there, close to $30 million a week. i want to know exactly what are you doing with $30 million a week. do we have more of these light bulb situations going on? we are going to straighten this out because not only do we want the tenants to be taken care of appropriately, but we want to protect taxpayers as well. stuart: i want to talk to you about the green new deal. because they envisage refitting every single building in the country, every single one. that would be incredibly expensive. that's aoc's idea here. that's unthinkable, isn't it? >> well, certainly if we utilize the same principles that they're using for these light bulb changes, it would be something that no one could possibly afford. so we're going to take the lessons that are learned from this as we deep dive into these expenditures and not only use them to be more efficient and

effective, really across the country. stuart: i want to ask you for your thoughts on the controversy involving labor secretary alex acosta. any thoughts on that, sir? >> i have, you know, recently been reading about that. i will tell you that secretary acosta is a man of integrity and caring and i think we just need to see how that all plays out. stuart: mr. secretary, thank you very much for being with us today. we are intrigued at what you can do about new york city's housing apartments having reported that it cost $2,000 to change the light bulbs. we are very glad you're on the show. i hope you will come see us again. thank you. i want a little more on the acosta story. blake burman has more for us from the white house. blake, what do you have? reporter: as we reported t white house standing by alex acosta, the labor secretary. we just received a statement from the department of labor as it relates to their defense of the labor secretary who has received an immense amount of

criticism, especially over the last 24 hours, for his handling of the jeffrey epstein plea deal in 2008, as a florida judge yesterday rebuked the prosecutors in that case for their handling of the plea deal in which they kept the alleged victims, teenaged girls, in this case, in the dark. acosta was a part of the prosecution team. here was the statement in part from the department of labor. it says quote, for more than a decade, the actions of the u.s. attorneys office for the southern district of florida in this case have been defended by the department of justice in litigation across three administrations and several attorneys general. the office's decisions were approved by departmental leadership and followed departmental procedures. so that is their defense of the labor secretary but as they mentioned, the department of justice, it is also relevant to note the department of justice office of professional responsibility has been looking into the handling of this case. stuart: got it. blake burman at the white house, thank you. now this. we do indeed have what i think is stunning news from venezuela

and it's reported by "the washington post." they say one person is dead, 12 others injured after venezuelan troops, soldiers, opened fire on civilians who were trying to bring food and humanitarian aid into venezuela at the border with brazil. former state department senior adviser christian whiten is with us now. this is a very serious development. they're firing on their own people to keep food out from their starving nation. where do we go from here? >> well, yes, it does present a crisis. unfortunately, it hasn't turned out in an optimal way which would be for the police and the troops to let this much-needed aid pass. this is one incident. it's a very depressing one but there are others. there are other reports of aid beginning to seep through in some other instances. details are a little hard to come by. this isn't a crisis that's going away for the government, for the outgoing hopefully government of maduro. you have more and more efforts by more and more people to bring

in, to stem the tide of refugees out of venezuela and you know, this is how sort of a crisis goes. incidentally, these sort of border crises are somewhat reminiscent of 1989 in central europe and what eventually led to the toppling of authoritarian governments there. stuart: there's a lot of food and humanitarian aid stacked up at the border between venezuela and colombia. the food and the humanitarian supplies are there. juan guaido, the opposition leader, says he's going to use civilians to just walk it across the border. what happens if venezuelan soldiers fire on them? what happens if they kill them? we've got troops at the border. we going to do anything? >> i doubt the united states would do anything unless specifically asked, you know. president trump and vice president pence in particular have been very strong on this issue. vice president pence is heading down to colombia to address the group designed specifically for this crisis. but on the other hand, we're not

interventionists and you know, there would be a stigma if this sort of became the gringos versus maduro compared to what it is now, the venezuelan people versus maduro. unless there were american citizens specifically harmed, i doubt you would see intervention but you will still see a lot of political pressure and we are working to dry up the various sources of funding for the venezuelan government. stuart: i just don't think this should -- i can't see this going on for months or even weeks. surely end game is in sight. isn't it? >> i think so. it's very difficult to time political revolutions, if you will, but all of the elements, the parts of the recipe are in place here, and even though some venezuelan troops made the wrong decision to shoot on their own unarmed citizens just trying to get aid into the country today, certainly many others are realizing that is not the right thing to do and the things that have kept them loyal to maduro,

mainly their paychecks, may very well be drying up in the near future. stuart: that's what we should all hope for, i do believe. christian, thank you very much for joining us this morning. always appreciate it. thank you. new york city mayor bill de blasio's administration will pay more than $5 million for trying to scam fema. the emergency people. court records show they submitted bogus claims that 132 department of transportation vehicles were ruined in superstorm sandy. they asked for $4 million. turns out the vehicles were damaged before sandy hit new york. new developments in the jussie smollett case. the fox show "empire" cutting smollett from the season's final two episodes. senator kamala harris reacting to the news that he did stage that attack. remember she called it a modern day lynching? more on her response, after this.

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ashley: high tax states like california and new york are proposing a new series of taxes and fees. it's just forcing people to leave. take a listen. >> at least now, we can fleece states that fleece us. that has been the tendency in the last 50 years, as the increases go.

the states that have gained the biggest number of people in the last year have been idaho and nevada. of course, nevada has no state taxes, idaho does but it also has the lowest overall taxes in the country, i believe. so they are getting people to move in there. states like new york are hemorrhaging individuals. it affects the number of representation, the number of house seats, you have, of course, but it also affects revenue.

stuart: not quite the high of the day but we will certainly take a gain of 180 points that puts the dow above the 26,000 level. we are on track for the ninth straight week of gains for the dow and that's not happened in 20 years. let's get to the jussie smollett case. his character will not appear in the final two episodes of this season's "empire." meanwhile, senator kamala harris who called the case a modern day lynching, that was a first, she's made a new public statement. here it is. like most of you, i have seen the reports about jussie smollett and i am sad, frustrated and disappointed. i did not hear an apology there. here's my opinion. the media made a big mistake, rushed to judgment, deliberately they did it, they simply wanted to smear our president, slime him by associating him with this attack. fake attack. come on in, founder of walk away that campaign, brandon strocker

is with us by popular demand. >> i think so. i'm not arguing. stuart: i think you will agree with me here that this was a disgraceful attempt by the media and politicians to slime our president. where am i going wrong? >> you're right. nou what's so shocking about it? it's the very first time they have ever done this, accused the president of being a racist. oh, it's not? sorry. sorry. no, it's been three years of this. and you know, watching that comment from senator kamala harris, i think -- i really think she's sad and disappointed that he got caught. i think she's sad and disappointed that it didn't work. she's one of my least favorite candidates for president this year and the reason why is because i think that a kamala harris candidacy is going to be identity politics at a level like we have never seen before. she actually recently just pushed through an anti-lynching bill acting like this is like very important legislation that needs to go through right now. the last lynching we had in the united states was in 1981.

but this is a woman who wants to keep racism in people's minds, she wants to keep division in people's minds and this jussie smollett hoax was pay dirt for her to push through this type of idea. stuart: what do you think should happen to jussie smollett? >> i think that he should be -- stuart: prosecuted, right? >> he should be prosecuted but he should also be prosecuted for hate crime, a hate crime against trump supporters. this is something we should be talking about. another thing we need to be paying attention to, any of us on the conservative side, is not to let him off the hook. we need to be steadfast. what the left is going to do, speaking as a former liberal so i know the playbook, what liberals are going to do next is say this is mental illness. they will put him back in the victim basket, in the victim category, by saying anybody who would perpetrate such a hoax and then stick with it, not even apologize but he's still saying i didn't do it, i didn't do it, obviously there's mental illness here and this person is a victim. stuart: you just put your finger on something which really annoys

me. that is victimhood. >> yes. stuart: desperately clinging to victim status constantly. i think that's really wrong. i've got a multi-racial family. i have a black grandson, an asian daughter, six kids, nine grandkids, it's the all american family from all different parts of the world, race and religions all thrown in. i vigorously object to the idea that any of my children are victims. they are not. they are young kids, young americans. come on. >> yeah. what's so funny, though, what you just said, the average i think person on the left would never even bother to ask those questions. if they got to know you they would just say you're privileged, your children are privileged, you are a privileged white man with a privileged white family in america. you would say my family is multi-cultural which is representative of most american families today. it is. but the democratic party can't exist without victimhood. liberal ideology can't exist without victimhood. this is what it's based off of.

without victimhood, they're cooked. stuart: you founded the walk away movement. i'm not familiar with it. what is it? >> you're not familiar with the campaign? i have been on your show before to talk about it. stuart: a man my age has no memory. >> yes, i'm a former liberal and former democrat party devotee. i founded it for this very reason. stuart: i remember. it comes back to me. you walk away from liberalism. >> walk away from the democratic party. the reason why is because i'm ashamed to say that i voted for hillary clinton and i thought she was exactly what our country needed. i believed the liberal media. stuart: what turned you around? >> i discovered how dishonest the liberal media was. i believed donald trump was a racist, i believed his followers were a racist. i was one of these crazy jussie smollett kind of people. what happened, somebody presented me with a piece of evidence that very clearly showed how the liberal media had completely lied about donald trump that he didn't call mexicans rapists, that he didn't mock the disabled reporter.

that was the big one for me. once my eyes were opened, it wasn't a day and night thing. it was shocking. but over the course of 2017, i did a lot of research and what i discovered was the liberal media was lying to me, the ideology of liberalism is a lie and the democratic party supports all of this. i had to walk away from all of it. i'm encouraging everyone else to do the same. stuart: how many people in the movement? >> 400,000 on all social media platforms. please. go to walkaway campaign.com. check us out. stuart: dot what? >> dot-com. stuart: stop laughing at me. a pleasure to have you on the show. >> always great to be here even if you don't remember. stuart: next time. what did you have for breakfast this morning? >> coffee. stuart: thanks. >> thank you. stuart: the retail ice age has been a story we have covered for a long time on this show. coming up, we have a guest who says brick and mortar retail is not dead. he's going to tell us which bricks and mortar stores are looking good and why. we will be back.

stuart: retail ice age we talked

about that lately. payless shoes, going it of business, 2,000 stores closing. sears hanging on barely. our next guest says bricks and mortar not dead. with the united consumers suppliers. brett, which consumer stores do you like. go through them in order. start with i think tj maxx. you like them? >> you got it. i think that is who we talked about the last time, stuart. tjx, the consumer likes them, along with it. j max, ross, five below. stuart: hold on. got to take them one at a time. tj maxx. marshall's, why do you like them? why are they so good? >> if you walk into marshall's, no two are alike. the consumer keeps coming back. they created a experience within the walls and the brand itself has become the experience. in the past, the items within the four walls brought the consumer there.

now the star within itself has to get creative. tough have a reason to bring them in than click purchase on the computer. stuart: ross stores, what is so good? >> i think ross and marshall's are a tie close for first and second. same type of experience, same type of consumer. everything from luggage to underwear, everything in between, much better value than going into the traditional malls. stuart: i don't know ross stores very well. what is their main line of business, line of product? >> very similar to that of marshall's. high-end apparel, housewares. the tie you're wearing now to the coffee cup drinking out of, could have got it at better price. stuart: that is good mix. five below, tell me more about that? >> five below is definitely one to watch. goes for the between market, 12 to 17-year-old. similar to target meets dollar tree but merchandised fabulously.

things are in wheelbarrows. a kitschy experience to bring the kid in the store. another reason to buy in the store. stuart: tj maxx, marshall's, five below, bricks and mortar. do they need a very strong online operation to survive and prosper, or can they go it alone as bricks and mortar? >> i think latter of two, tj maxx is completely evidence of that. if you go to that. it is landing page. not anything to purchase there. the website is become a 1990s sunday flyer. open the paper, see everything there. that is what the website is for. to increase the excitement, bring them in the doors. stuart: brett rose, you went through for our five different stores there, gave us valuable information on each and everyone. did it an orderly fashion, boom, boom. if you're not careful, fellow, you will be back on this program. brett rose. >> i think the fifth time ace charm. stuart: i know. i've not forgotten. brett, you're all right. see you again soon. >> take care.

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stuart: we got breaking news on patriots owner robert kraft, ashe. >> charged with solicitation in prostitution sting down in

jupiter, florida. 100 people arrested. he was one of them. they have video evidence against robert kraft. stuart: got it. thanks very much. ashe. dow industrials up close to 200 points. our time is up. neil, it is yours. neil: stuart, for the time-being looking up month on february, so far so good for the market as havinglous i. it would mark the ninth straight week of advances for dow jones industrials. pace we have not seen. we'll get into the particulars. a four hours is long way to go. a lot of this is driven by optimism, wind behind the markets are better, stable earnings, even with slowing economic numbers still better than what is happening on the rest of the planet. we're deemed to be sort of a good haven or a good place to park cash in the meantime. we're all over it the next couple hours. let's