>> he would put a golf course next door. stuart: it is tongue in cheek, tweaking the media, and tweaking the left. you can't buy greenland. what a day. my time's up, greenland or not. connell mcshane in for neil. connell: red or white with your joint? stuart: stay out of this. connell: i'm connell mcshane and this is "cavuto: coast to coast" filling in for neil. new fears of a china conflict. we're talking about more than a trade war. the warning that the u.s. may be picking the wrong fight with china. some states are looking, reportedly to keep big tech in check. we see a big breakup?

why that might be easier said than done. a growing debate over the next steps the white house may or may not take to avoid a downturn in the economy. we're getting mixed signals on the strength of the economy. so we start in this hour with jackie deangelis who is here in the studio to lay it all out for us. reporter: connell as recession fears linger, concern over the trade war keeping a lid on optimism, especially today. this is big week for retail. home depot earnings were in focus. home depot numbers beat the street. a reminder of the thorn in the market's side. home depot is worried that the trade war a new round of tariffs will cause consumer spending to slow down. it. j max, positive report was dampened by earnings guidance. numbers were under wall street expectations. headwinds to consider here, global slow down, europe, china, parts of europe, bond yields continue falling, continued

flight to safety less proannounced than last week, fundamentals pretty strong. gdp more than 2%. july retail sales are pretty strong. the consumer is hanging in there right now. despite the recent volatility the stoke market is higher for the year. now the white house blames the fed, but also taking steps to support the economy. delay of some new tariffs until mid-december. also, white house deputy secretary hogan gidley telling fox that a payroll tax cut is not being considered at this time but that they are looking at the possibility of other tax cuts. connell? connell: talking about hogan's comments in a moment. liz ann sonders from charles schwab who has not been we call it imminent recession camp. you're not residing there right now but what is your thought process and where we stand with the economy? >> i agree for the most part on the consumer side of the economy we look okay though even there some leading indicators for the consumer have started to

deteriors a bit. that is one of the first things employers do before starting to lay people off. you cited in the bullets on-screen, unemployment rate. that is one of the most lagging economic indicators that is the last thing to turn. you will not get a heads up. more important to watch the unemployment claims. manufacturing represents only 12% of the economy. there are reason why there are more manufacturing indicators in the leading index of indicators than consumer oriented indicators changes there lead to changes on the consumer side of the economy. we have to watch. if we see continued deterioration in manufacturing, trade war-related or otherwise, that is likely to morph into weaker payroll numbers and consumer side of the economy that would be a condition under which this manufacturing mall lace turns into broader economic malaise. connell: how much of that, people some are saying we could talk ourselves into recession f

there is talk of a trade war out there, there is no imminent resolution to the trade war, how much of it does become a self-fulfilling prophecy you think? >> i would argue we're already seeing a bit of that because the reality animal spirits is an important factor, an important factor as it relates to the business investment side of the economy, on the consumer spending side of the economy. obviously works through investment channels as well. which is why investor sentiment tends to be such an important indkate tore. i think trade war, direct impact on economy so far has been fairly small even if you add in pry posed tariffs that kick in september, they impact is half a percentage point off of gdp the indirect channels through things like.

that is really what has come to a halt, given the trade related uncertainty. connell: if the slow down continues how much do you expect the white house to get out ahead of it? there is monetary versus fiscal questions out there. on monetary side we know what we think we're expecting. we expect the fed to continue cutting interest rates. i don't know they. we think interest rates move lower? some sort of tax cuts. white house pushes back on payroll tax cuts. capital gains indexed. inflation is thrown out there we'll will washington try to do to get out ahead of all this? your view i don't know what happens on fiscal policy side no question on margin lower

interest rates help. problem we're dealing with in the united states not the global malaise not because interest rates too high. there are myriad problems nothing to do with interest rates too high. lower rates, elixir what ails the economy. i don't think that is the case. we're dealing with much longer term broader issue which brings fiscal policy into play. we have vicious circle taking on more debt, thinking taking on more debt, will solve ultimately a debt problem week weaker economic growth globally. throw demographics in into the mix. brings interest rates down which lowers the cost of capital but also lowers return on capital for businesses with further disincentivize business investment. there you go. connell: sounds like a long way of saying once we get a downturn, once we do get a recession i should say, we're in trouble, we're not set up for

it, we have not prepared ourselves? >> we'll get a recession. what happens after every cycle. there is muscle memory maybe he is a natural muscle memory given severity of the last recession, assume next ones, ones thereafter look severe. it is more likely, because we don't have a huge systemic bubble if it bursts it will take down the entire global financial system like the case in 2007. there is such a thing more guard ren variety recession. if i were going to bet which one it will look like, more garden variety, and shallow recession more than 07 or 09. maybe that is silver lining. connell: timing unlikely or not as likely in the next year? >> my point is right now we don't have recessionary type conditions other than in the manufacturing economy. the rub is that the bureau that dates recessions nber, when they figure out you're in one, then their first task is to go back in time to date when it began,

and they tend to date when it began close to peak of activity. the rub if we don't get a peak of activity on manufacturing side or enough lift by a consumer to offset manufacturing weakness this is not the forecast there, is risk if things deteriorate from here when the nber down the road dates the recession, it could be the peak was already behind us. i hope that is not the case, right. connell: okay. liz ann, always good to see you. thanks for the analysis, appreciate it. starting off with liz ann respond is. what the white house might do, new comments on addressing this discussion with payroll tax cuts. let's listen. >> look what i can tell you is the same thing larry kudlow said. the same thing the president of the united states has said. he is looking at tax cuts again. we think that spurs on -- >> is it payroll tax cut being considered? >> it is not being considered at this time. he is looking at all options out there to give people back so much of the hard-earned money they have made. connell: retail analyst, erin

sikes is here with us in the studio. senior correspondent charlie gasparino. you want to take that first, charlie. he didn't take a payroll tax cut off the table. sitting down talking about it right now? >> you know a couple things. liz ann made a great comment how they, date back the recession. i remember in 2007, i was covering the smoldering financial crisis, it wasn't a financial crisis. i think it was a credit crunch at that point. we still weren't in recession. when you went back, in the great recession, dated it back to the 2007 when we didn't feel it. that is it. i mean he has got no, he can beat up on the fed.

and i, the fed deserves some beating up on, let's face it. in january, or december when it was clear the economy was slowing, they were raising rates on both of the long enand short end. completely misread what was going on. it was always caused by trade there is one thing that he can do and peter navarro can do, actually two things he can do. he can fire peter navarro, just -- connell: cut a deal. >> cut a deal. let larry and mnuchin cut a deal. connell: it is interesting, erin, you look at it from the point of view from the consumer. even today, home depot came out had what are being described as good numbers, would be down more if it wasn't for home depot in the market. they said in the commentary, they are positioning themselves for the trade war. they're worried about tariffs going forward. because it hasn't hit the consumer yet it is not a problem. it is when will it hit when the new tariffs go in place in the fall it might start, right? >> exactly. there are two things the way retailers can position

themselves to manage the next six months to the year. one is distribution strategy. on the channel, online that we talk about a lot. the other is really, they really should have been doing this six months to a year ago, positioning themselves to take on these tariffs which will inevitably, most likely hit. connell: tough call though because sometimes they get canceled. sometimes they're delayed. you don't know what to expect. >> that is part of the trade war, not just him, mainly his advisors, peter navarro, it was all over the place. first it wasn't quite a trade war, then it was. it was not just china but mexico. if you're average business as you know, how do you plan for that? connell: that is the problem, but again continue on that thought. some were positioning themselves ahead of others i assume. >> you have to assume everything through christmas, holiday season is already bought and already warehoused. we're not talking about any changes in prices between now and january 1st. we're talking about going on into 2020. we also have to remember the art of a deal, how it should be

required reading for every individual in america right now because what -- >> the book he didn't write? connell: don't get charlie started. >> this is his backup plan. if you don't pass ply trade, then we're going to do it on tax cut side. connell: he will have trouble getting that through congress as charlie pointed out. >> that is actually a dumb art of the trade. connell: deal. >> deal. "art of the deal." connell: whatever. >> he has no power over the tax cuts. he can't unilaterally impose income tax cut or any sort of taxes. he needs congress. what can he do unilaterally? he can do some regulatory relief he has done a lot of that which is good. the president can stop the trade war. there is really nothing he can do. >> not just what he can do though, what fear he can instill into what might happen making other players change their policy as well. >> that is what i'm saying. there is only, if he says the words, just because hogan gidley

says words tax cut doesn't mean markets go up. everybody knows that nothing hogan gidley or his boss can do. he has to say and do stuff on trade, listen for all i know there is much to do about nothing. nobody really knows if his already imposed tax cuts and regulatory agenda could overwhelm the trade stuff. we don't know that. the markets are having debate. if you tell me realpolitiks, there is one thing he can do has control over, that is trade. connell: could cut a deal before or let it play out little longer have it timing wise come closer to the election. thank you, charlie. erin good to see you as always. big tech under the microscope. facing growing backlash. why states are reportedly getting involved, looking to break up some big companies. we'll talk about that next. don't miss us on "after the bell." melissa joins me 4:00 p.m. eastern time. latest market headlines. down a little, 30 plus points on the dow. we'll be right back.

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connell: big tech facing growing antitrust pressure from state officials. most stocks with exception of apple are down. christina part were the with the latest on the story. reporter: department of justice is confirming they're working with state attorney generals to look into the market power of a lot of big technology companies. antitrust himself delrahim, they will look at what type of markets companies work in. they will not just look at prices but quality, innovation, how are the firms growing. the next step for the state attorney general is to gather information and possibly get forced documents, means we would have to force the big technology companies to hand over

information. i reached out to of course, major players. the only two that responded back before this hit time was twitter and google. they said they won't provide any comment. according to "the wall street journal" they expect this probe to be launched within the next month or so. we know in july a lot of state attorney generals, many state attorney generals did meet with the department of justice. both texas and north carolina have confirmed they are engaging in bipartisan talks to look at big technology. so the big focus though is, are big technologies like facebook, amazon, the one you're seeing on the screen, are they acting like monopolies and stifling competition? i reached out to a legal expert. right now you're seeing on the screen coming from all categories. federal trade commission, department of justice, congress, everybody is starting to look in. there are various different layers. i reached out to a antitrust lawyer, he said reason state

actions are important, state have significant advantages over the federal forces, they are close to the market and consumers, recognize direct harm to consumers. they have the ability to secure monetary damages. states are customers and victims of anti-competitive behavior. we're showing you stock price of a lot of these players. what does it mean for the portfolio? what does it mean for investors? i reached out to j.j. to works ad td td ameritrade. wait and see. they are multiyear process and short dated volatility as news comes out sending stocks reeling higher for a day or two based on that. we're seeing stocks lower with the exception of apple. the major consensus, i talked about big tech regulation in the past with a lot of traders. it seems this could possibly take years. all the headlines will add that short term volatility. back to you. connell: good stuff, kristina. stay on that story. kind of pick up on kristina's

last point, this could take a while, the idea of breaking up big tech companies might be easier said than done. money map press chief strategist, keith fitz-gerald on that point. we hear so much about it. maybe best to let it ride for a while. because we could be looking at this for years? >> well we could. you know, many people today have forgotten that when the department of justice initial began investigating microsoft for the browser wars, you're talking about 1990. they filed on in 1998. the case was ultimately settled in 2002 many, many years later at a time microsoft already controlled 90% of the market. the other thing to think about, current laws as written do not apply here. they will have to prove harm to the consumers which is why the states are guessing involved. connell: from an investor perspective, should i buy a little piece of stock in one of these big companies, apple, google, somewhere else, something you completely ignore?

how do you weigh it versus other concerns, you know, things that are out there? >> well i think that is a very intelligent question. to me, i am practically drooling at the mouth here. chaos always creates opportunity, connell. i think markets will have series of knee-jerk reactions of the prices are driven lower with a bunch of those reactions that is the time when you buy. if you look how these companies operate, they are truly changing the world, anything at a discount means they have 10, 12, 15 businesses inside of the potentially broken up, value of any one of which may be far higher than it is today. connell: how do you look at it on the merits? as kristina said or companies have said, anytime this story comes up, we have google up on the screen or even apple, they will say something to the effect, listen, the reason we're so successful we've beaten back the competition. we're the best of the bunch. not that we don't have competition. we out maneuvered them, been better in business. what do you think is really going on here?

>> well, again i think that is accurate. you know, innovation springs from need. need springs from desire. so here's the thing. antitrust laws were created to prevent harm to the consumer. they were not created to bolster competition of companies that failed to adapt. look at streaming for example, you have netflix, google, amazon. you have more than half of the emmy nominations coming from independent folks who basically undid cable. you have the bell companies which were broken up and gotten back together again. the markets should decide this. we don't need more regulation. what we need is less. we need actually the application of existing law to determine what's happening here. connell: keith, always good to see you. keith is right. you see the stocks go down. maybe you get a chance to jim in yourself on some of these companies. how about this for politics. the argument out there you may not love me, but you have to vote for me. is that the new message 2020 coming from both sides of the aisle? we'll talk about it next.

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>> you have no choice but to vote for me because your 401(k)s down the tubes, everything is going to be down the tubes. whether you love me or hate me you have to vote for me. [cheering] >> our candidate may be better on health care than joe is, but you have to look at who will win the election, maybe you have to swallow a little bit, i frankly like so-and-so better, but you, bottom line, have to be that we have to beat trump. connell: think about that. president trump on the one hand saying basically, feel like a strong economy, you pretty much have to vote for him. dr. jill biden saying her husband joe biden is the best bet to beat president trump. if you don't love him you have to vote for him on the democratic side. "wall street journal" executive washington editor, gerry seib. i don't know if that is the best

political argument. both parties saying you may not love me, as their argument. what do you make of that? >> certainly political equivalent of ransom notes, right? same argument, different audiences. president trump saying to independent voters who haven't decided about him yet, meaningful group, if you don't vote for me, you get your worst fear realized, a economy goes down. dr. jill trump is saying if you don't vote for my husband, you get what you fear most, four more years of donald trump. basically playing not to the upside potential but to the downside potential. that is a political tool. seems a little early in the process to be pulling it out but here we are. connell: it is, i guess the economic future is all the headlines last couple weeks, whether we're heading into recession or not that brings in the arguments.

on one side, president trump, for republican there is is no alternative presumably. >> right. connell: but on the democratic side, on paper there are plenty of alternatives is there really legit one for those voters we're talking about, those in the middle that are deciding they don't want to go too far to the left? is there anyone than biden that could step up? >> first of all on president trump side, you make a good point, there is no alternative, there is no competition. that is a huge advantage for him. he doesn't have to worry about defending himself within his own party. that is a big issue, that isn't looked at often enough i don't think. on democratic side, if we're heading into difficult economic times, what do democratic primary voters want? do they want somebody tried and true a safe port in a storm, reassuring figure like joe biden, who promises to make changes that democrats like, not to be too radical about it, or somebody who will really shake things up because you see a recession, say, ah-ha, my critique of the capitalist system is vindicated here, that

is somebody like elizabeth warren. it could go either way. it is hard to to know in the current environment. connell: we have data on it. the last fox poll, the party is pretty much split down the middle on that. the ones that want to keep it going, obama legacy voters are obviously for biden. the ones that want to change, go far to the left, hold a different approach, they're increasingly for elizabeth warren but the party seems split. >> it absolutely does. you have liberal primary voting democrats move towards elizabeth warren and moderate, conservative democratic primary voters obviously attracted to joe biden. right now the liberal energy gets most of 9 attention. when voting start, moderate democrats come out of the woodwork show up than often recognized in the early primary season. connell: are they more than motivated in a downturn? in in '08 obama was put over the

top. john mccain handled that, into everything else, that motivated people we have to go a different way, the economy is in a mess. what if it is in 2020? do they want stability or something new i wonder? >> another precedent to look at 1992, democrats picked bill clinton the centrist as opposed to more liberal ones. that is time when recession was taking hoed. that is suggestion people don't want to pick as what they see as a riskier scan date even if there is higher emotional appeal and want the safer choice. 2020 is not 1992. we have much more polarized environment generally, within each other. connell: bill clinton would have a rough time in his party i would think. >> true. connell: gerry, you thanks for coming on. gerry seib. social media crack down in china what is happening over in hong kong. why it may be just beginning. that's next.

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your american eagle coins at cost for the amazing price on your screen. connell: china now trying to push back on the reports about those anti-protests accounts that were identified by twitter, facebook, suspended by those companies over what is going on in hong kong. hillary vaughn with the latest. what are we hearing, hillary? reporter: connell, facebook and twitter shut down accounts linked to the chinese government to create confusion in the protest movement in hong kong. twitter removed 936 points, facebook removed five accounts,

seven pages, three groups. here are some of the offending poses. they called hong kong protesters cockroaches. compared inside by side photos with isis. described them as violent, radical. twitter, says these accounts were deliberately and intenting to sow political discourse in hong kong including undermining legitimacy and political positions of the movement on the ground. twitter tipped off facebook to the activity. facebook says the accounts they shut down posted about the protest saying although the people behind this activity attempted to conceal their identities, our investigation found links to individuals associated with the chinese government. secretary of state mike pompeo says china is abusing social media and it is just another way that they're trying to manipulate the people in hong kong. >> what we know is this, in hong kong, these are protesters simply seeking liberty and freedom. they're asking only that china uphold its commitment, the problem is it made, there would

be one country, but two systems respecting hong kong in ways that were appropriate for the hong kong people. that is what president trump made clear. he said he is for liberty, democracy. we hope the chinese government will respect that. reporter: even though twitter is banned in china, they were created using vpn access. even though they took down these accounts, 2,000 more popped up. twitter calling this a state-backed operation. connell? connell: hillary vaughn at the white house for us. while we're talking about china, there is a new study suggesting that the china could overwhelm the u.s. military in the indo-pacific region before the night has time to respond. former assistant secretary of state under president bush 43 robert charles is with us now, whether there is anything to this. came from the university of sydney united states study center, robert. basically the idea is, if something is going on in the region, taiwan, south china sea, china could launch an attack

before we could do anything about that. a legit worry? >> well, it is always a worry. that is 104 page study. i looked at it, bottom line it suggests that the china could undertake a military operation quickly, within hours put out some of our military operations in the region. united states makes an assumption a poor assumption, which is that the united states would not respond immediately in other ways there is no question, if china got into military, even limited military attack on taiwan or islands near japan, we would immediately respond. we have forces in the region. we just last week complete ad joint operation with some of the forces in the region. should we be prepared? you bet we should. is this president calling out china? absolutely he is, economically, from a security perspective many other ways. what the chinese are realizing, south seas islands, artificial islands have limited power projection potential.

at the end of the day we're in a tense moment with china. god willing the combination of diplomacy and thoughtful security thinking will put us in a position where they will never attempt anything they shouldn't. connell: not much attention as you showed, tense moment is circled around economics with the trade fight, but how much has china's military capability gone up in recent years, in your estimation? >> china, one of things that you have to remember, things happen and they don't get talked about. someone talks about them, all of sudden they become a big issue. china has been modernizing last 25 years. they have been trying to accelerate modernization in last 10. two things are happening at once. the united states during the obama years let down their guard in some ways. they did not speak openly about some of these issues with china. the president is now doing that. even as china was modernizing, they are far behind us, even as they were modernizing we were not modernizing.

we were not working on aggressively rebuilding our navy during the obama years which we should have been doing. i think right now, first of all, i don't think a military conflict is in the cards. they have to know if they did anything we would respond aggressively. i will say, whatever the early hours of any conflict might be, nobody can go toe-to-toe with the united states military for any sustained period of time. connell: much of that in the study, they talk more about the disputed islands in the south china sea and maybe taiwan. >> yes. connell: more pressing at the moment obviously is hong kong. what if they move in in hong kong? what is the response from the united states? >> i think we, entire western world, i like to believe even those beyond the western world can give a warning sign to china, say, this is not going to be allowed to be a massacre. that the repercussions economically and perhaps in other ways would be enormous if they misstepped here. they need to accommodate these freedom seekers. these are people not asking unreasonable rights. they have both legal and moral

rights that they're entitled to. as secretary of state just said they are asserting essentially a moral right to their freedom. they have that right. china is an oppressive communist, atheistic oppressive state. we try hard not to pretend that is so because we're their biggest trading partner. the reality is that is who they are and we need to warn them off any oppression in hong kong. connell: robert charles, thanks for coming on. >> yes, sir. connell: next up, voters voicing more worries about things like free college, "medicare for all." will the push to the left push them to president trump? that is still ahead.

connell: talk of global stimulus, whether it is germany, china or central banks, the, in european union, you know, other countries talked about it, the white house weighing tax cuts we're told, to ward off a

recession although there is, you know, some uncertainty today whether that would be a payroll tax cut or some other tax cut. it es out there as a conversation. we bring in former minnesota governor tim pawlenty right now. the other thing, governor, the president is saying it all comes down to the federal reserve. they need to cut rates, catch up to the rest of the world. so where do you stand in all this? >> i think the federal reserve will cut rates and they have some room to do so but there are undeniable signs of a global economic slowdown. we would be foolish to think we're an island and ultimately immune to that. so to try to get ahead of that, to mitt fate, avoid recession or at least mitigate effects of it would be wise policy. so i hope the fed does begin to reduce rates further. connell: when you say further, are you in the president's camp? he wants a full percentage point taken off federal funds rate. not a quarter point or half-point but a full point? >> that would abroad stroke signal to the market. that would be great.

i expect they will likely do it in half-point cuts, probably get to a full point by end of calendar year or sooner. connell: the issue, a lot of guests come in, bring that up, if you do it now, get that aggressive now, when the economy is supposedly holding up okay, especially on consumer side, when you inevitably get recession, we do it, we put all the stimulus in beforehand, whether monetary we're talking about, fiscal side, spending like crazy, cutting rates down to zero, then what? how do you fight off actual recession once it inevitably comes? you could be in a pretty tough spot? >> i think we should think of stimulus broadly. we're talking about one form of it, which is rate cuts. as connell, you just suggested there are tools in the tool box, including fiscal stimulus. including quantitative easing, either slowing down, getting balance sheet smaller, perhaps getting back into it. all of which leads to your point, if you find yourself in another crisis, if you spent those, used those tools already

what do you do then? that is a more delicate, difficult decision. but i do think, again there are clear signs of global economic slow down. some rate cuts now would be more than appropriate. connell: you want to go the rate cut route. i want to get your take, governor, what was a big topic yesterday, the business roundtable. a group of chief executive officers. jamie dimon of jpmorgan chase leads that group. you have more than 180 ceos in it. it came out with quite a statement yesterday, saying that profits should not be the only priority for business. i mean for years these corporations operated on the assumption that it was all about the shareholder. now apparently all about quote, unquote, stakeholders. is this just talk? does it really matter? what did you make of it? >> i think it matters. it is an affirmation of the obvious. of course as a matter of law, corporations still have a primary duty to their shareholders. but as they think about long-term shareholder value, they can think more broadly about the value to stakeholders.

so i think it is appropriate statement. it is overdue in many respects. i don't think it is something that is plowing new ground necessarily but i do think it's a helpful signal to the fact that corporations are thinking more broadly about their stakeholders, not just only shareholders. i think -- connell: what about too broad? that is the concern, stay in your lane type of argument, make money for shareholders, leave all that other stuff to somebody else. what do you say? >> they still have a legal obligation to their shareholders this is more of a pr statement. legal obligation isn't going away. boards and executives will keep that obligation. connell: not like they're forgetting making money at any of these companies. governor pawlenty thanks for coming on. >> happy to do it. connell: football, could the nfl playoffs end up getting extended? this is money story. what that could do extend profits for the league. we'll talk about numbers behind it when we come back.

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connell: beyond meat continues to be a crazy stock to watch. big up day, what is a down day for the market more generally speaking. up by more than 6%. and, still up 514% from the offer price, 2nd of may, which is just, crazy. we'll continue to look into unconfirmed 9 reports that neil cavuto is spending much of his time off eating beyond meat burgers. anything puts it up. apple card launching for consumers. this credit card has a lot of talk, up 1% for apple. earlier we talked about pressure on other tech stocks, how apple was the exception. up $2.45. now some football.

nfl players and owners are open to cutting the preseason short, then expanding the playoffs. forbes sports money co-host is with us. said before the break, mike, this was a money story. from that perspective, more playoffs is more money, right? >> absolutely. makes a lot of sense, connell. you have higher tv ratings for the playoffs than the regular season and certainly the preseason. if they're able to add another round ever playoffs with it will be more lucrative to the league. this is tied in the collective bargaining agreement, they want to get done before 2022, when all tv deals expire. connell: this is talk between the owners and players union. we flashed on number of teams in the playoffs. instead of 12 teams, you have 14 teams. but what about taking the season making it longer?

i understand cut down the season, just have three games instead of four. the regular season, is that a sticking point for players? they want to play another regular season game? they play 16 now. what about 17 or 18? >> you're right. it is a sticking point. they don't want to play more games but have the games count more. don't forget they went through a big concussion settlement. from a pr standpoint it would be hard to the league push for more games where likelihood of injury would be even greater. connell: that is the kind of thing, that you try to put players safe and new equipment, new helmets, that kind of thing. on preseason i always wonder, four seems like way too many, right? by the last preseason game, they could throw you and i out there. none of the star players are playing. do they even need three? i don't know enough about it, to know what the players think in

terms of how much preparation they need, kind of a at game speed. or can they practice, play a game or two? some players don't even play at all during the preseason? >> most of the players, certainly starters agree with you. coaches like preseason games. i don't know if you need four. probably at least two. differs depending on the coach. what this is about, tough remember, national tv money, which gets shared equally among all teams is about $8 billion a year. 55% of the league's revenue. this is all about increasing that $8 billion without extending the regular season. playoffs are the way to go. connell: nfl profits 16 billion last year flashing up on the screen as you finish your last comment. how do you look at the nfl where we stand, august 2019? couple years ago all the stories and talk, maybe america's favorite sport is starting to decline. there is controversy with the

kaepernick stuff and all the rest but where is the nfl right now? house does it look as a business? >> it looks great. connell: yeah. >> 2/3 of all revenue from advertising of the four major sports went to the nfl last year. the last team that was sold, the panthers, sold for about $2.3 billion. compared to 1.4 billion for the prior sale, the buffalo bills. so i think it's pretty darn good for the nfl but you got to remember, there are always thinking about the new technology, the new ways to put games on. you have a lot of platforms now. the nfl is a master at selling against those platforms. we have amazon in the picture now. so when these tv deals with the networks and the current providers all expire by the end of 2022, the nfl is going to be bringing in new players. could be facebook, could be a google. could be more business with amazon what have you.

so playoff games, if they increase that, the value of those new deals are going to be helped a lot. connell: right. just shows you everybody, everybody knows this, everybody in the business entertainment or media, everybody has to adjust to a new world of streaming. for a while people thought maybe sports will be exempt. that is clearly not the case. thanks for coming on, mike. >> thank you. connell: from "forbes." how about the trump administration next step to avoid a downturn in the economy or even a recession? are we talking tax cuts 2.0? if so what type of tax cut? we'll come back to talk about that. dow is down 38. would be worse if it wasn't for home depot. quick break. back with the top stories.

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connell: good to have you with us today. i'm connell mcshane filling in for neil. big tech labeled tyrants. the bipartisan push for facebook and others to be broken up. we will get into that. meantime, trump critics are

focusing on one past backer bolting but meet the donors the president has been winning over. did the pentagon just kick off a new arms race with russia? all that and more. it's hour number two of "cavuto coast to coast" that starts right now. what i can tell you is the same thing larry kudlow said and the same thing the president of the united states has said, that he's looking at tax cuts again. we think that spurs on economic expansion. maria: is a payroll tax cut being considered? >> it's not being considered at this time but he's looking at all options out there to try to get people back so much of the hard-earned money they've made. connell: the white house says it's looking, as you heard from hogan gidley, at tax cuts again as fears of a global slowdown that could hit us here. we have from the dallas fed years ago, former adviser

danielle dimartino booth, dineen borelli and michelle mckinnon for the hour. welcome to all. good to see you. want to start on the payroll taxes, monetary versus fiscal, maybe we do something on the fiscal side? i don't know. >> there's a certain tug-of-war going on. last week's university of michigan consumer sentiment report showed that households' perception of job availability had fallen to a six-month low. connell: i will stop you there for a second. perception rather than reality. is perception turning into reality in this economy? is that why we have to act? >> as of last thursday's initial jobless claims, nationwide jobless claims were up 0.2% over the prior year. if you look inside the heartland to states like indiana, it's even worse. they are up 20% where the manufacturing, where the rust belt is -- connell: that's where the weakness is if it's there in the economy. >> it spreads very quickly to the transportation sector which is services. the transportation sector, you

remember last year with the freight and ports, everything was just wild. all of the indicators are negative year over year. we are starting to see layoffs in that sector as well. we don't want to see this bleed. i think that's probably what's got kudlow specifically worried about this and suggesting we need the try and stave off a recession. connell: even if that's the case, for argument's sake, and you want to do something like that, i feel i would be more likely to play in the nfl for the last segment than actually get a tax cut passed through congress. fun to talk about it but getting it through this congress at this time, i don't know, what do you think? >> it would be a challenge to get it through congress, because you have the democrats that are running the house, but i do think the word perception is very key, because yeah, we have seen some indicators but on the flipside, i was listening to art laffer last week, the well-known economist, former fed chair janet yellen, they said it's not likely we will see a recession. so time will tell.

but on the flipside, we are not seeing that actually pan out at the moment, especially with the booming economy that we are seeing under president trump's pro-growth policy. connell: well, we will see a recession, it's just a matter of when. we always have one. getting this right timing-wise -- >> good luck. connell: right. economists, it's just not easy. what's your sense on where we are and what we should be doing about it? that's the debate. better to go fiscal, monetary or just stand pat? >> i think we have already had a decent amount of fiscal, as well as monetary. i think jerome powell will cut most likely come the fall. but what i'm looking at is as long as the consumer stays strong, i'm not worried. to danielle's point, there has absolutely been a slowdown in manufacturing numbers but what keeps me positive is the consumer. if we can look like we did in 2015-2016, where we had that slowdown in manufacturing numbers, but the consumer pushed us through, think we will be

fine. connell: everybody agrees the consumer has held up. it's a question of whether the consumer will continue to hold up. so jpmorgan put out some numbers on the trade war and they are now estimating with the new round of tariffs that are going into effect in september, even though some were delayed, many of them are targeted or might hit the consumer more than previous tariffs did, and their estimation is it would cost the american family $1,000 a year on average which would hit consumers, would affect some of their spending. >> we don't want to see these tariffs. we don't want to see this trade war. but what i'm looking at is the fact that the president is even tackling this. how many years has china gotten away with stealing, with cheating, with stealing intellectual property, and the harmful effects that it has had on americans and our businesses as a whole. billions of dollars year over year that we are losing because of china's aggression. connell: our argument now is not whether or not that's right or wrong.

say you agree with what she said and many people do, you say give the president credit for going after china, it's a fight we have to have. all right. now what? do we buy ourselves time to get through it? rick scott's out there saying let's cut taxes with the tariff money. not sure if that makes sense or not. >> i don't know if that's going to work or not. it doesn't compute that easily, that elegantly. i think a lot of companies right now are trying to hold the line but that means they are not pushing through price increases, it means they are absorbing it. connell: look at home depot. they had a good number. the market were down a lot more. the stock is up $9 right now, a 4% plus, but even home depot is we have to watch out for these tariffs. >> exactly. in the background, because so many of the manufacturing jobs that are being lost are high-paying, we have seen pay growth decline to 2.6% as of july. that's a lot of the reason we saw credit card spending hit a 15-month high which was a huge support for that strong retail sales figure that came in. we don't want households to

begin relying on the plastic in their wallet. connell: how do we know this is all worth it? you make the argument for going after china. a lot of people do. how do we know it's worth it? >> the overall plan in my view is that it would be short term, because the pain effects you are seeing that would pan out with the continuation of the tariffs will not help businesses, will not help families and small businesses. that's a no-brainer. i get that. but again, i'm looking at the bigger picture. this would be short-term with the tariffs and taxes. yes, it would be less money for consumers, for families to spend, but over the years, no president has taken on china, and china is a huge threat. everyone knows that and sees that now. not only economically but also militarily. they are building a military as well. so they are on the radar. americans know it. and some people back this plan what the president is doing and

some people don't. connell: a lot of people who came in and were sitting in the seat similar to yours saying happy to put a strategy together for investors or managing money in this environment, a lot, a year ago, they were basically assuming this all would get worked out. now they, many of them have changed their assumptions, are you even making any assumptions at this point? >> making assumptions is hard. i still want to believe both parties want a deal and i still hope that we will get a deal. regardless of whether that happens or not, i invest for the long term. so any kind of pullback like this, any type of upset, i always see as opportunity. what i will say is you are already starting to see companies move their supply chains. that's why you saw such a large foreign and direct investment in vietnam. mexico, mexico is now our largest trading partner. connell: some of that, to be fair, takes awhile. >> it does. it does. in the interim, your guess is as good as mine. eventually companies will figure out a way to move forward. that's just how it will be. connell: i want to talk about some of those companies,

especially in the technology area. different type of story today. the justice department says it's working with the state attorneys general on antitrust investigations into some of the big tech companies. apple is its own story, up 1%, which you talked about last hour. some of the other stocks are getting hit. is this one of those situations where you also say all right, opportunity, if the stocks pull back? what do you think? >> i think of course these parties are wanting to bring this to the news. i think at the end of the day, yes, they have data violations. that is without question. whether these companies are actually monopolies, i think that's a different question. look at google, look at facebook. they are all free platforms. amazon only makes up 3.5% of all retail in the united states. so i think yes, data violations are a concern but monopolies, i don't know. connell: this fight would take, keith fitz gerald was on with us last hour. this fight could take forever. >> years. connell: right. at that point, you are kind of -- it's weird to jump in today, you know what, i'm going

to sell whatever, facebook, because they will face antitrust concerns. it could linger forever, then who knows. like microsoft, it gets settled. >> the government loses. connell: yeah. right. yeah. >> but this was cited as a long-term drag. people could start to look for other places. part of the problem is there is so much low-hanging fruit. online retail is growing at magnitudes of what retail sales are growing. amazon is 40% of online commerce in this country. connell: the president has been quite vocal about some of these companies. you think he has the appetite to go after big american technology companies on this? >> i would say all options are on the table. when you look at these companies, look at how they are censoring, they are picking and choosing winners and losers and whose voices are getting out there. that is a huge concern, not just the antitrust policy issues. connell: you think the administration will be, for lack of a better term -- >> looking into it. connell: on some of these companies. difficult environment for some

of them to operate in. >> i would agree. i think the president doesn't have any trouble making life difficult. connell: i've heard that. depends what you say about him is the key. ask some people on twitter the last few days. i will come back and talk a little more about politics, how it all fits together. with kamala harris on the democratic side facing criticism now for slamming rival bernie sanders for his medicare for all plan. some say it's hypocritical. we will talk about that when we come back. 4:00 tip, catch us "after the bell." melissa joins me to break down the market moves and more and put it all in context. we will see how we end. home depot up nine bucks. the dow is down 26. it would be worse if it weren't for home depot. we'll be right back. 900 acres. 48 bales. all before lunch, which we caught last saturday. we earn our scars.

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connell: kamala harris says she's uncomfortable with bernie sanders' medicare for all plan. the only issue with that is that, well, she co-sponsored that particular bill. democratic strategist joins us now. this is kind of an easy one for critics of senator harris to be like what's going on with the flip-flops. i will ask you, what's going on with the apparent flip-flop? >> right. what her campaign would say is that old chestnut about when i learned more and i heard from, you know, my constituents and my supporters, i heard they actually really like some aspects of the private health care industry, they don't want to get rid of it just yet, so this has changed slightly. what's interesting is that her actual position which is let's get medicare for all in ten years as opposed to four years that bernie sanders has put out there, it's totally defensible. it's absolutely fine. it's just the way sort of she puts this out there which seems to be a bit of a backtrack i find to be problematic.

connell: the position that's really changing for her is her position in the polls. she didn't look good in the fox poll. cnn put one out where she really got hammered, really went down a lot, double digits from where she was. it's almost like we talked about where is the space. if joe biden is occupying the so-called moderate space in the democratic party, everybody else that has any energy is way to the left. she was there on positions so is she just trying to make herself, you know, at least somewhat moderate joe biden alternative, if he fails or is that the strategy? >> i think it is. i think that's a great point. i think she's absolutely trying to carve out space for herself that is definitely one that is to the right of bernie sanders. i think you would call it maybe reasonable progressive or main street progressive or something like that but obviously somebody who is also to the left of joe biden. that seems to be where she sees the lane for herself. and you know, again, i'm not sure we can say that she's gone down in polls definitively.

i think there have been some that have had her, you know, just as far up as she was before, more in line with elizabeth warren. it's still a little bit all over the map. but again, the danger here is that it seems like she's trying to play a little bit both sides of the issue. connell: after miami, like some people thought she would in the first debate, if anything, the polls may be mixed but if anything she's gone down a little. quick thought. i want to go to another topic. maybe you want to jump in on this idea what's happening on the other side from your perspective of the aisle here. kamala harris, it's interesting, because elizabeth warren has plenty of momentum, whereas i said the last few days, a lot of people wrote her off a few months ago. kamala harris has not caught on. what do you make of what's going on here? >> kamala, as you mention, is a co-sponsor of that bill, first of all. everyone saw on video when she raised her hand that she wanted to get rid of the private insurance companies. so kamala harris, her message,

she's clear as mud because she is all over the place on all of the issues. she doesn't have a concise, clear message for her supporters and her numbers are dropping. connell: you can't be everything to everyone. >> it's not working. connell: it's not working which is interesting. the ones who are way to the left, they do have a lot of energy. i want to talk about that. you can jump back in, then we will go to the panel on some of these issues. medicare for all. free college. all these things that are thrown out there by some of the candidates who have had some momentum. is there an appetite among actual voters in the democratic primary and then among swing voters more importantly that would decide the election for these issues, or are you in the camp where the democrats are really risking it, going too far to the left with these issues that might get some of the base fired up? >> that is a myth that shthese issues are not popular broadly. when you talk to people about what medicare is and what it does, you get a majority of

support. you come close to a majority with republicans as well. so the danger here is not that we are going too far to the left. again, the danger is that the message is getting muddied and people aren't entirely sure what you stand for. connell: -- it will be phrased completely different in a general because among democrat, if you say it that way which is always the way democrats will say it among themselves, you know, in other words, you kind of paint it as we can help people pay for college, in a general, it's going to be president trump and his allies say this is socialism, socialism. >> socialism. yes. yeah. i know. but you know what, sure, sure, we also have a long time in theory if we are going to do their jobs well and there are good communications people to say we know what the other side is going to say, we know that regardless of what we do, we will be called socialists, so how about we actually just explain to people in real terms what it is that we are going to do and we also say look, the other side's going to call us socialists but here's what that really means. you are going to blah, blah, blah. connell: let's talk about it. jump in a little here, danielle. you go first, maybe.

>> you know, i think what there is and i think what harris is driving at is there's this rift that you start to push people into the republican camp because finally, neil is partially responsible for this, people are starting to focus on the national debt again, pushing $22.5 trillion. let's make that $24 trillion overnight with student debt and pile medicare for all on top of that. at some point you are starting to talk about real numbers with trillions and trillions. even the -- connell: especially if we end up in an economic downturn. >> exactly. even in the polling in new hampshire, you know, warren and sanders, that's their backyard, but even if the polling in new hampshire, there's been pushback against this student debt forgiveness for all and free college for all going forward, because there are so many people on both sides of the aisle in both parties who have had to pay off their student loans in the past and don't necessarily want to have their federal taxes rise to fund this. connell: want to jump in? >> just from a bystander perspective, i have a lot of friends have taken out debt and have paid off their debt, and

when you ask them about this, it's ridiculous. i had to pay off my debt. i did it on time. yes, it was an absurd amount of money but i got it done. connell: you argue that those people, to say to them their kids' college will be free, then all of a sudden they don't think about it. i'm just saying what works -- [ speaking simultaneously ] >> what's the quality of health care and the quality of the education, once you put it in the government's hands? these are relevant subjects to bring up. connell: last word on this? we really need more debt? >> no. i mean, listen, i think that it is reflectixive to say i pulled myself up by my bootstraps, you can, too, but that's missing the point. we are all better off if we don't suffer from crushing amounts of debt, we can get a head start on our careers and give back a little sooner. i think it's a silly argument. connell: all right.

christy, good to see you. our panel continues with us. we will move to hong kong in a moment with worried residents there taking their money, we are told, out of the banks amid all the protests. we'll be right back. there's a company that's talked to even more real people than me: jd power. 448,134 to be exact. they answered 410 questions in 8 categories about vehicle quality. and when they were done, chevy earned more j.d. power quality awards across cars, trucks and suvs than any other brand over the last four years. so on behalf of chevrolet, i want to say "thank you, real people." you're welcome. we're gonna need a bigger room. why accept it frompt an incompyour allergy pills?e else. flonase sensimist. nothing stronger. nothing gentler. nothing lasts longer. flonase sensimist. 24 hour non-drowsy allergy relief you're smart,eat you already knew that.

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connell: to hong kong, where there are stories we are hearing about where residents there are supposedly worried and moving money out as the protests escalate on the last few weeks. susan li is still there in hong kong with the latest. susan? susan: i'm going to get to take in just a bit. i want to give you the latest on china fighting back after facebook and twitter removed accounts they say was part of this concerted state-backed campaign on misinformation to undermine the hong kong protests. china saying we use twitter just like everybody else uses twitter. meantime, facebook and twitter saying this is a state-backed campaign to basically spread misinformation about the ongoing pro-democracy movement here in

hong kong. so they removed accounts. twitter in fact has changed their advertising sales rules, meaning no state-backed media entity can buy advertising to sell their content anymore and facebook has shut down these numerous groups and pages they say is part of this. let's quickly move on to one other story that's really concerning here in hong kong. hong kong resident that works for the british consulate was meant to go over to shenzhen for a business meeting, meant to come back the same day, but his girlfriend says he's been detained now in china for 10 straight days. the british consulate says they are working with his family, trying to get him released from china but this is sending some really concerning signs for hong kong residents about traveling across the border. finally, let's talk about money leaking out of hong kong. we do have the local currency seeing its weakest levels in awhile since the protests started. this is on concern, according to the "wall street journal" that businesses have been taking their money out of hong kong because of these ongoing

protests and i guess some concern about what china maight do, if they clamp down martial law. we caught up with hong kong individuals and residents and asked them are you really concerned about this, are you taking your money out. take a listen. >> i don't see at this stage the protest movements are going to precipitate a significant run on the currency or significant cash-out outflow. susan: transfer wise, for every $1 that's come into hong kong over the past 11 weeks, 12 weeks of protests, 2.5 dollars have actually left the city. i want to make it very clear that i guess from our vantage point, from what we see, there is no panic on the streets. no one is rushing to the atms to get their money. there is no run on banks. i guess this has to be a concern especially if you are a high net worth individual with a lot of capital in the city. connell? connell: it has to be. but your reporting is important. we shouldn't actually happens,

happens. that guy getting detained in the mainland is maybe a bigger concern in the near term. we'll see. susan, thank you. susan li in hong kong. i want to get back into the social media side of this. china, as susan reports, is coming out and slamming facebook and twitter for what they did in suspending these accounts that were said to be aimed at undermining the protesters. back with danielle, dineen, michelle, our panel for the hour. it's not a shock this would be the accusation. i would assume. >> not at all. connell: wechat, the chinese company, might very well be involved as well which we will probably never hear about. what do you make of what happened with facebook and twitter? >> i have to look at it as facebook and twitter have been really hammered the past few years, that they have not done a great job of, you know, reviewing their users, what's real, what's not real. i think this is their opportunity to show we are actually looking and trying to do the best that we can. >> i'm shocked that china is

slamming facebook and twitter. connell: of course. yeah. >> they shut down their propaganda machine and what were they doing? smearing the protesters who are protesting for freedom. connell: when you shut down those accounts, other ones will pop up or they will pop up other areas. this is the kind of world we live in now. what do you think is going on in hong kong? >> i think the bigger picture is we have to remember this is heritage ranks countries worldwide based on their economic freedom. for two years in a row now, hong kong has been ranked number one in the world. so to the gentleman's point earlier, there is no sense of panic. there shouldn't be in the freest economy in the entire world. by the same token, we know that hong kong is sliding into recession. the second quarter contraction was deeper than anticipated, tourism is down 30%. trade is getting slammed. this was occurring beforehand because of the trade war. so they really are getting buffeted on both sides.

connell: the attachment to china is important on what you're talking about there, the economic freedom. you think about it versus what happens in the mainland. >> there's a huge irony here but the economic ties are obviously critical to hong kong's economy. but this is a very wealthy -- their per capita gdp, their per capita economic output is greater than that of the united states. connell: yeah. >> so -- but these are people who are realizing we've got this great robust free economy and no democracy. so i think that the underlying sensation with these young children, with these students, college students, is they are not being heard. connell: i think the fear, this may be something like we talk about sometimes with trade, once these things start and get so much attention, that city that danielle is talking about, it never quite gets back to where it was, that maybe some of this is permanent. obviously we hope not. how do you think it plays out in hong kong? >> hopefully the people who are risking their lives and safety

and themselves personally, they will be heard and changes will be made. i think what's really important here is that this is beamed around the world. so china can't just say x, y and z because we are seeing it firsthand when this started. connell: all right, guys. we will come back, talk about some more issues here including the reason why a big gop donor is backing president trump this time around. the logic in that when we continue. market's down a little, not much, down 46 on the dow. we'll be right back.

connell: a business alert, we've looked at disney. there was this market watch story out that a whistleblower has accused disney of overstating its revenue for years. gerri willis joins us. this was out late yesterday but the stock looks all right now. what's the story? >> it's up a half percent. a former accountant for the company says that the company has overstated revenue for years. the allegations contained in a series of whistleblower tips filed with the securities and exchange commission. she is an 18-year former employee who stays disney's parks and resort business misstated results by billions of dollars. she was terminated by disney. disney did respond to our request for comment. a spokesman there saying the allegations are quote, less. we will continue to follow that. meanwhile, mixed results for retailers this mornin component reported earnings that beat on the bottom line but sales were lower than expected. the company also guided analyst

expectations lower for the year. the stock is up. meanwhile, kohl's stock down after reporting quarterly results that beat on both the top and bottom lines but same store sales missed expectations. a lot going on with retailers today as we continue to watch the strength of consumers. back to you. connell: that's the one. those are the ones everybody wants to look at. home depot's reaction today is good, even if they are concerned about the future. good to see you, gerri. back at the new york stock exchange. is the economic wind at the president's back? to the club for growth now backing president trump for re-election in 2020 after not doing so when he ran in 2016. club for growth president david mcintosh, our guest. so i guess the obvious question to start off with here is what turned things around? >> well, connell, i think it's the great economic policies that the president has had first with the tax cuts and particularly on deregulation and across the board at various agencies.

that's unleashed great economic growth. we have seen it for the last two and a half years. six million new jobs, half a million of them in manufacturing, lowest unemployment particularly for minorities and groups that typically are left out of economic expansions. so it's the result of good economic policy that lead us to support president trump. we think he's doing a great job on those and are looking forward to six more years of that. connell: any chance any of that or a good percentage of that is undone by trade policy? i would assume you guys aren't necessarily on board with everything going on in trade. >> yeah. we are very much free traders. we view tariffs as a tax. i think the president has shown that what he's doing is using the tariffs to negotiate to get a better agreement for america that will actually boost the economy. but we're in that in-between phase where the tariffs are there, they are a drag on growth, but he's using them to force the chinese in particular

to come to the table so we get a better agreement in the long run. and the club really endorses his goals of moving towards zero tariffs is the ideal, but certainly a better deal where everybody benefits. connell: interesting. i want the panel to weigh in in a moment. your basic argument is that this policy, viewed by many as protectionist is actually pro-growth. >> i wouldn't say it's pro-growth in the short term. that's right. connell: we know it's not. but long term, you are trying to argue that a policy that's kind of -- that is anti-growth in the short term, is going to hurt growth, is actually long term pro-growth? >> i think if the president gets his goal of moving towards ze zero-zero tariffs, that will put us on a footing over the long term that's very pro-growth, then you can add to that another round of tax cuts, more deregulation. i think we can see this economic boom continuing as long as we've got that good policy. connell: a few minutes left. that sets up a discussion here. all three ladies to my left are

smarter on these issues than i am. i don't know who wants to start us off. maybe it's a challenge for david's thinking on any of this. what do you make about, you can start us first, whether it's a question for david or just a comment on what he said there. it's interesting. >> i think you need to look at why the president backed off of the september 1st implementation of further round of tariffs. connell: he knew it would hurt the economy. >> he knew it would hurt the economy and the consumer. we actually saw a retailer close all the stores, avenue was the name of the retailer, just a few days ago. they announced a flat-out liquidation which is highly unusual. most retailers if they are teetering will push through the holiday season. i think president trump was aware of how fragile the situation is in retail america such that -- connell: i agree. >> -- he would have pushed the weaker link right off the edge of the cliff. connell: the issue is, david, why don't you jump on this first, then i'm sure we will have a comment, you are essentially making a choice here that you would have to go with one of the -- no one is challenging seriously

challenging as far as we know, president trump in a primary. you would have to be picking one of the democrats if you weren't backing the president this time around. it is part of your calculus is that you couldn't see yourself backing any of them, even joe biden? >> well, you look at their field, right, they go from the far left socialist up to the sort of moderately left joe biden, who is rapidly running to the left. so they would have disastrous economic policies, including joe biden, with his latest round of tax increases and the kind of mini version of the new green deal. so you're right. the choice is very clear. it's between an economic policy that's working well for a broad base in the united states, particularly in manufacturing sectors, and a lot of people who are now getting jobs who couldn't afford under the obama era versus this not only return to obama kind of managed economy but drive it off the cliff towards socialism. i think people get that. connell: is the feeling many people make the same kind of

assumption or come to the same conclusions david is coming to? in the fox poll, for now, all the caveats are out there these things can probably, will change when it's a one-on-one matchup, the president actually trailing those top tier democratic candidates, all of them, some including biden by double digits. >> when you look at the pro-growth economy, the environment that we're in, if you are someone who got a new job, if you got that bonus, you got that wage increase, not even looking at what party you support but if you are looking at that and you know that it's because of president trump's pro-growth policies, lower taxes, rollback in regulations, you are going to take another look at who you are supporting because you and your family are much better off than you were with the high taxes and regulations under the former administration. connell: i think this is the kind of conversation a lot of people are having, and david had it and his group had it and they are backing the president. david mcintosh, good to see you. thanks for coming on. talk to you again soon. now, how about this.

did this image just set off a new arms race with russia? here it is. we'll be right back.

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options and rates to fit your needs oh, and happy birthday... or retirement... in advance. connell: here's a story from the "journal." users are reportedly sneaking into facebook's marketplace and they are selling guns there on facebook marketplace by listing gun boxes or say a gun case at an inflated price, so they sell it for much more than a case should be sold for, then the private messaging starts between the buyers and it turns out it's a gun itself. they are kind of working around that. the "journal" has that story out there. something to watch. we will see if facebook cracks down or what it means for some of the gun manufacturers. then there's president trump. he is about to meet with the president of romania and it comes as russia and china are warning the united states about the latest missile test could revive an arms race. that's the backdrop as blake

burman reports from the white house. hey, blake. reporter: part of the backdrop indeed. the president is set to meet with the romanian president. we are learning a couple different items in advance of this sit-down. first off, romania is a nato ally so important for the two leaders to meet face-to-face at the white house. but the white house also notes how this continues a trend of president trump meeting with leaders from central europe here at the white house over the past year. the white house says issues for this meeting the two leaders will talk about involve energy and defense. this happening about 20 minutes from now. meantime, russia has taken notice of a new move from the pentagon as the department of defense revealed just the other day that it's recently test-fired that cruise missile right there. here's the key. the missile went more than 500 kilometers, which would have been in violation of the inf treaty that sought to limit missiles between the range of 310 and 3400 miles. the u.s. pulled out of that treaty a few weeks ago as the

u.s. said that russia was in violation of the treaty which is why the u.s. said they were pulling out. the spokesperson for the kremlin reacting today, pointing the finger right back at the u.s., saying quote, it is simply not possible to prepare for such tests in a few weeks or a few months. this shows that it was not russia but the united states with its actions that brought the breakdown of the inf. china also responded by saying the u.s. is trying to engage in an arms race. the spokesman for the foreign ministry saying quote, we advise the u.s. side to abandon outdated notions of cold war thinking and zero sum games and exercise restraint in developing arms. when you look at the broad picture here, of course you've got the u.s. and russia, the inf treaty that was broken apart by the two decades-old treaty but also the china component, because defense experts warn that china's buildup especially in the south china sea leaves the u.s. vulnerable in that part of the world.

connell: yeah. a study earlier out on that. real quick, back to the meeting with the romanian president, will we see president trump on camera today with that? reporter: we do expect to see him. one of those settings where the cameras will be brought in. we believe that he will take some questions on a host of others there. connell: we are always watching. reporter: tax cuts. what else do we have? maybe this. stuff going on on capitol hill with the democrats, the president has been tweeting about that today. you never know. we will see what happens, right? connell: you never know. you never know and we'll see what happens. reporter: the tweet speaks for itself. connell: that's another good one. blake burman, thank you, sir. apple, meantime, is racing to enter the streaming wars which we know. question is how much money are they willing to spend and is that big money investment, if it comes, worth it? that's next. this is the couple who wanted to get away who used expedia to book the vacation rental

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connell: so netflix shares taking a hit today, down 3%. you know, apple looks to take a beaut o bite out of the streaming market. certainly getting a lot of attention. there's a report claiming that apple is committed to spending $6 billion on original tv shows and movies for its streaming app. this apple tv plus. back with the panel, danielle, dineen, michelle with us for the hour. we will start michelle and work our way down. whether that would be worth it. they are rolling out this i guess it's called the morning show, this jennifer aniston show, reese witherspoon, but spending that kind of money, there was pushback in the "financial times" and they said it's not quite $6 billion. is that how you go after netflix? >> i think so. we need to keep in mind apple has how many, a hundred billion

plus or whatever in cash. like an absurd amount of money in cash. they have an insane free cash flow. i think if apple wants to do it, sure, apple can do it. i think one of the questions is can netflix survive andbscripti. i know i do. i know i'm not canceling mine. in the next ten years, what happens if netflix content goes off and they lose -- [ speaking simultaneously ] connell: i get it. >> will we be netflix subscribers? i don't know. connell: how do you look at it personally in your house? i have a netflix account. i always looked at it as it would be netflix plus whatever comes out. i already paid for netflix. do i want to take apple, is it disney. i may or may not add one or two or maybe i will stand pat. i wasn't thinking about getting rid of netflix. maybe some people are. how do you think this whole thing works out? >> personally i got rid of netflix when they put susan rice on the board. connell: you're out? it's always got to be politics with you. >> that's right. why should i pay for her being on the board?

connell: do you have any of these? would you be open to any of these? streaming services? you still have cable? >> i still have cable. connell: you haven't cut the cord on the cable. >> right. cord cutting is huge. connell: we are fine you still have cable. so that's it. no streaming. >> nope. no. but what i was going to say, they have a ton of cash, i think it's $200 billion of cash that they can spend. so clearly they are looking at competition because of all of the cord cutting, and perhaps they will have to shell out a lot of money because they want to continue to grow and get more consumers to watch their services. connell: content is king, or do you spend too much on this. i don't know. what do you think? what's the best way? >> i mean, look, obviously they've got the cash to spend. but it's a question of at the margin if you are a household, especially at an economic inflection point, whether or not you will tack on the extra monthly bill or not. it is really a question of budget. connell: yeah. >> you hear about well, there's this great show on hulu. but you're like but if i get everything in one place, am i --

connell: similarly, we are debating whether it's recession. forget that. presumably we are in a time where growth slows down a people maybe have less money to spend. maybe they start cutting some of the really expensive cable bills. th they are already doing it. if that trend picks up, do you cut it, keep everything low or if you cut down however much you spend per month on cable, maybe you will take on m some of thes streaming things. kids have to have something to watch to keep them quiet. >> that's true. there is this idea of fresh air. connell: speaking to people. you don't want to go down that road. by the way, has anybody seen the trailer for that show? the jennifer aniston thing? it's about tv. it's like anything else. cops always said they don't want to watch shows about cops because it's always, i don't know, it's hard to watch tv shows about tv. it might be decent. i was a "friends" fan. this next story we will bring up here, out of nowhere, the reaction, she doesn't have netflix but if she did, she would be looking at president

obama's first film. first one that he backed. netflix film called "american factory" and it does take aim at some of president trump's promises, i'm told. i haven't seen anything other than what i have read quickly about it. president trump comes out, says we are going to work on, you know, reinvigorating or getting the industrial heartland back and this film apparently raises some questions about whether that's really happening. are you happy you canceled that netflix subscription? >> i'm not surprised they would try to ding the president on manufacturing. first of all, you can't ignore the numbers. 500,000 manufacturing jobs since the president was elected and in the month of july alone, 16,000 manufacturing jobs were added. so of course they are going to put out this kind of information, this propaganda, anything that dings the president. don't forget, former president obama was asking what is he going to do, wave his magic wand to try to bring the jobs back. well, he brought the jobs back. something obama could not do.

connell: so to widen it beyond just this film, this goes back to kind of our earlier discussion in some ways, this has been a strength for this president. and now it is a question mark going forward because that's where the weakness is starting to show up in economic data but it hasn't trickled down quite yet to some of the workers and consumers in that area. in those areas. >> in those areas. it has not. but this is a catch-22. this is the catch-22 of the trade war. again, when we started off the hour, i said that indiana's jobless claims are up 20% year over year. it's the largest manufacturing base in the country. the president cannot afford to lose these blue states. period. connell: got to run, guys. great hour. thanks so much for hanging out with us, all three of you. good discussions on a number of different topics. and here's a question alert as we go to break. italy, the prime minister has announced today he's resigning amid the political crisis in italy. couldn' conte on his way out. we'll be right back.

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connell: vice president pence says the united states is leading in public and private investment in space from public comments from the university of virginia. we'll see you at 4:00 p.m. eastern time after the close. melissa joins me for "after the bell." home depot propping things up. here to take you through the next hour, the great charles payne. charles: thank you connell. good afternoon, everyone, i'm charles payne. this is "making money." president trump is meeting with the president of romania. he will speak shortly. we have key indicators no one else is talking about. "the squad" putting president on blast after being banned from israel. president trump is firing back with a vengance. all that and so much more on "making money." ♪