morning after the great impeachment vote. yes our president was impeached. what happened on wall street? the market went straight up. record highs for the dow, the s&p, the nasdaq. how about that? time's up for me but neil, it's yours. neil: the president was impeached? stuart: how about that? neil: glad you told me that because you wouldn't know it looking at markets. records across the board. there might be uncertainty what happens next. no uncertainty happening at corner of wall and broad. nancy pelosi and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell are arguing over something they call process. take a look. >> to impeach the president immediately everybody going to the next thing, the next thing for us will be when we see the process that is set forth in the senate. then we'll know the number of managers that we may have to go forward, and who, who we would choose. that what i said last night. that is what i'm saying now. >> when speaker pelosi suggested

that house democrats may be too afraid, too afraid to transmit their shoddy work product to the senate. mr. president, looks like the prosecutors are getting cold feet. neil: whether it is cold feet or whatever, the fact of the matter, it is unusual, not unprecedented for the house after impeaching to say, wait a minute, we'll see exactly what the senate plans to do before we pass along the articles of impeachment to the senate. "wall street journal" global economics editor jon hilsenrath, democratic strategist capri cafaro, exactly how long the markets will ignore this uncertainty. it is rather remarkable, if you think about it, jon, by and large, actually throughout this process the markets have focused on everything from trade, corporate earnings, the strength of the consumer, the market, housing, not a one, not a one on impeachment. what do you make of that? >> well i mean i think the market sees an economy that is doing pretty well.

we're going, we're in our 11th year of economic expansion and frankly headwinds are starting to disappear. the usmca deal that democrats and republicans, despite the fact that they despise each other are agreeing to pass. there was a big budget deal which will be pumping gobs of federal spending into the economy, that republicans and democrats, despite the fact they hate each other agreed to pass, and i think the market continues to see continued growth next year, economy being pumped up by washington. and, you know, it is setting up actually i think for a pretty good year. neil: capri, you could look at these developments and say both carters are keenly aware, the rap that they can't walk and chew gum at the same time. >> right. neil: in a weird way, nancy pelosi bent over backwards to prove we can move forward on usmca we can send legislation to

the senate to keep government lights on and avoid a shutdown, republicans promises quick action and then some. in a weird way it is galvanizing way we can do stuff at the same time? >> i totally agree, neil. that is one of the first reactions i had seeing some of this movement in increasingly polarized environment because of impeachment, a whole host of other issues. because i think both democrats and republicans recognize there is a lot of fingerpointing going on, this accusation and i guess rightfully so, there is fixation on impeachment and politics, not doing work of the people. now all of a sudden there is this focus on actually doing a few things at the absolute last minute right as candidates are filing for election or re-election across the country, right as, you know, the 2020 hopefuls in the presidential race are going to be entering into the first contests and in iowa and new hampshire. now everybody wants to pretend

like all this time government has been working for the people. neil: you know -- >> neil, can i say something? people have to watch what washington is saying over here and what it is doing over here. there is actually a lot going on right now that is going to happen at the end of the year. there is all kinds of noise about impeachment but it is not just usmca deal. there is a huge spending deal that is about to get passed and there are a lot of other things. they are about to raise the minimum wage for using tobacco products including vaping. they're about to create a whole new paid parental leave program for federal government workers. there's a lot happening right here which, right now, which adds up to a lot of spending frankly. >> speaker pelosi would agree with you, there has been a lot of legislative activity. every time someone has been critical of the fact that democrats have been fake eighted on impeachment she likes to say there is only certain number of

committees focused on issues of impeachment. that we have over 400 members doing a whole host of other things that are important. i think you're helping prove speaker pelosi's point there. neil: i would like to expand a little bit, guys there, is good deal of attention about three democrats who voted against impeachment. they come from districts that the president won. i'm talking about colin peterson, jeff van drew, more interested in developments that concern yet another republican, this one a big one. mark meadows announcing he will not seek re-election. jon hilsenrath, i believe he is the 25th such republican to indicate that. we do remember a lot of wave of retirements that preceded the 2018 midterms, that flipped the house from republicans to democrat. what do you make of this? >> well, i mean i've got to say, i'm better on economics than the politics of all this but you

know, i think we have seen a lot of republican retirements and, it is potentially a sign of frustration. a potentially sign of where they see the political winds moving in the next election but i mean i could talk a little bit more to the economics that are driving it than the politics that are driving it. neil: i'm just merely interested in the politics right now. i'm kidding. i do want to go back to that. capri, it is interesting, 50/50 on impeachment slightly in favor of those who say enough already. i wonder with the resignations at least retirements, i talked to many republicans who say it really stinks being in the minority, particularly in the house of representatives. it is not so much they see themselves vulnerable but they don't see the house flipping. that's why, to be in the minority in the house, it is just not a party? >> well, look, i served in the minority in the ohio senate for

decade. served as minority leader. it is what you make of it. washington in general is not a pleasant place to be if you want to make sopy, care about policy, or public service whether a democrat or republican. what is interesting about mark meadows, he is someone the base of the freedom caucus. neil: right, right. >> tea party, so many retirements we saw particularly in the midterm elections were of moderate republicans felt like they were, a man without a country, a woman without a country. saw a lot of changes within the republican party thanks to donald trump's stances on trade and a lot of spending happening. so i think that the real question now from mark meadows, what is his next move? there is a lot of speculation he may join the trump administration. he has been a big ally of the president. maybe that is his calculus, thinking he may be more effective, have a stronger voice if part of the administration or maybe the campaign, then as a

member of the minority in the house. we'll have to wait and see. neil: jon, if you can, i want to bring in gianno caldwell. fox news analyst. best-seller, take it for granted, how conservatives can bring back americans that liberalism failed. i'm looking at all the republican congressman not opting to run again, you might have to stall the book title, right? >> not at all. not at all, neil. i have to be honest as we talk about it, media narrative there are so many elected officials tired of trump. i worked for one of those, john skim discuss, congressman from illinois, a lot of individuals have been office years and decades. kevin mccarthy, had a press conference he said there was one particular lar congressman, won't mention name, been in office 34 years. with that being the case he believed that is not what the

founders intended. as people look for reasons to say republicans are leaving office somehow because of trump, maybe that is the case for some but certainly not all. i think at the end of the day when we have a president whos been productive, accomplished a great deal in the first term, that is something we have to take note of. that this isn't because of trump people are leaving. neil: on that.then, when you talk about the impeachment, how it might be boomeranging on democrats, certainly a fund-raising vehicle for republicans though a fund-raising vehicle for democrats, each are playing off their base, up doctoring up money, and support. how does this sort out? >> five million dollars for president trump yesterday. he has been saying they're impeaching us. i have to be honest with you, a lot of folks does feel as though the democrats are impeaching them, not just president trump but themselves. that is where it becomes problematic for democrats. they're really rallying the republican base, conservatism in general.

a lot of folks may not agree with the president's tweets, they believe he is a productive president for them. that is where democrats will have a problem. they haven't hit a message that resonates with the american people for economics and health care. it has been about impeachment far too long. neil: i hate to rudely interrupt you when gianno arriving, that is where you are, the economy, that is something the wind at this president's back, right? >> it certainly is. the other point i was going to make before you rudely interrupted me, one of the questions republicans are asking themselves right now, you know as we see more of them retiring is, what do they stand for? we're in this period where there is a lot of spending going on, trillion dollar budget deficit. it is a budget deal about to get passed which isn't just keeping the lights on, increasing discretionary spending by another $50 billion this year, potentially 500 billion over a

decade. the republican party, it is hard to make out, to make the case to be a small government party right now. then there is also the question of free trade. the usmca deal has been rewritten, it has been rewritten with a lot of labor-friendly provisions in it. maybe one of the things like mark meadows are feeling is just frustration that the party isn't what it used to be? neil: it is a far cry from what it used to be. eye of the beholder. final word on that. thank you all very, very much. meanwhile we're getting the word the white house is looking to help student with college debt. the question, who do you help, what line do you stop the help, what line do you stop saying you're imitating elizabeth warren? ♪.

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neil: could it be republicans are taking a page from democrats helping kids out with college loans? at least the white house is kicking it around, dealing with student loan debt, a plan in place maybe soon to deal with it, ahead of what democrats are proposing. edward lawrence with the details. reporter: white house kicking it around. having help from the department of education. the department of education working on options here for the white house to help students possibly with that crushing loan debt they get when they leave college. some 44 million americans have $1.5 trillion in student loan debt. that is second only to mortgage debt. the president has not made any decisions on this but he is looking for a way to deal with this issue. there could be changes to the higher education act that would

allow student loan debt to be refinanced or dealt with in bankruptcy possibly. in a statement, white house press secretary judd deere says this, president trump recognizes sear rugs situation many americans find themselves in with rising student loan debt. it has already taken significant administrative and regulatory action to undo the damage from previous administration. the administration hoping to have options related to this in 2020. in a statement from the department of education, their press secretary says that secretary devos is working with the white house and other stakeholders to fix an unsustainable system without unfairly burdening taxpayers with another bailout. the statement adds that the secretary of education is working on this complicated web of loan repayment options and already trying to make it a little more user-friendly for those consumers who have to take this. college debt seems to be the norm if you want higher-paying jobs going forward. a job with a student bachelor

degree or higher is average of $40,000 or more. if you do not have a bachelor's degree, that is less than that, somewhere, 25, $30,000. so this is something students are having to deal with going forward. this administration trying to 2020, to possibly take as you said a page out of democrats book. neil. neil: edward, thank you very much. edward lawrence in washington. the force is with disney, isn't it? i'm not talking about the latest stupid "star wars" film. sorry about the "star wars" devotees. i'm talking about disney plus, how it is taking a big chunk out of netflix. their the force. ♪. and when you open a new brokerage account, your cash is automatically invested at a great rate. that's why fidelity leads the industry in value while our competition continues to talk.

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(classical music playing throughout) neil: if you price it right they will come. disney plus reportedly pricing enough that millions are coming. in fact, luring about a million

customers away from netflix as part of all of this. jackie deangelis has details. reporter: hi, neil. shares of disney are lower. netflix is soaring. but that report that you referenced, it's a cowan report and it says it did a proprietary survey shows that netflix actually churned 1.1 million subscribers it lost them in november after they signed up for disney plus. analyst john black ledge say 1.6 could flee in the next quarter there is so much more commission coming online, disney plus, apple tv, amazon, hulu, hbo max. there is a lot more services here. disney library is expansive. it hasmuch for the family. people got it to keep the kids occupied. netflix at least short term is feeling that pinch. we talked a lot about

cord-cutting with all services in play. at beginning people were signing up for every streaming service because they were cheap compared to cable. now it seems people are being a little more selective. they're parsing through to find the best content for the best value for their family. interesting though, cowan's outlook for netflix, long term there is potential for subscriber growth through international, existing, new markets. the company has high incremental margins, 80 to 80%. short term the catalysts you need to watch, fourth quarter earnings and first quarter how do subscriber numbers look. year-to-date the stock is up 20%. it is underperforming the s&p which is up 27% for the same period, neil. neil: stellar decade performer, right? over 10 years. reporter: absolutely. neil: they are shaking off a lot. we'll see what happens here. great report as always, jackie. facebook, instagram, among those banning influencers promoting guns and vaping.

susan li has more on that. reporter: talking to facebook saying we're setting clear rules to better protect our community, tobacco companies be vaping companies, weapons companies have not been able to advertise on the main platform of facebook since 2018. they have given free rein to influencers, that have ton and ton of followers like the card dashians for one. facebook said if you build a large audience we shouldn't censor your voice. they rolled out new features with branded content. that rolled out in june. they take instagram sponsored posts to larger audience. new features lets the celebrities and influencers find new sponsorship on instagram. we have to introduce new rules here. starting in a few weeks, in the new year mind you, influencers being banned for promoting tobacco, vaping and weapons companies.

alcohol and diet supplements will have special restrictions. has to do with age limits. instagram asking new signups for their ages. should go hand in hand. we do have laws that restrict alcohol consumption up to certain age here in the u.s., up to 21. but more users you have, more influence you have, i will take a look at some of the most followed instagram celebrities out there. kim kardashian, according to legal filings this year, she gets paid up to $500,000 a post. half a million dollars for one instagram promotion post. but she doesn't have the most followers believe it or not amongst the celebrity group. the one has that the most, cristiano renaldo the soccer star. ariana grande has more followers than kim. the rock has more followers than kim as well. neil: are they policed or, how do you, you need algorithm for that. >> there is an algorithm for everything. in terms of oversight, speaking

to experts on this, they haven't done a very good job in oversight, whether or not celebrities and influencers have been very transparent which posts actually have been paid for by sponsorship and by companies. so that is something that facebook needs to do a better job of. neil: we'll watch it very closely. thank you, susan li, thank you very much. an influencers in her own right. we're getting word that the senate is trying to move on all of the spending issues coming up here. as nancy pelosi made it extremely difficult to sort of pass the baton to the senate on impeachment. she wants assurances she will be meeting with chuck schumer in the senate to see how exactly they will proceed from her. they said it is a rigged game over there. which is identical what the republicans said of the impeachment process in the house. it was a rigged game. they're still far apart on this. this is unprecedented impeachment. house essentially says we'll stop it before it gets to the united states senate. a california trucker who is very, very worried about some

new rules that might make everything he has been doing passe, done, fin. after this. ♪. ♪

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neil: all right. markets doing very well today. record territory, existing home sales disrupting what had been a pretty good week for housing data, down 1.7% in the latest month. gerri willis has more. that being factored in the at the corner of wall and broad. gerri. reporter: hello to you. this is the second drop in three month in that stat, existing home sales. october revised lower. run rate is 5.35 million. stocks of homebuilders are moving down as a result. homebuilders sector spdr down 1%. pulte, kb homes, all these stocks are downfalling on this news. meanwhile despite the federal reserve cutting rate three times, cutting rates a total of 3.73%, 130 basis points on 30-year mortgage rates down.

there is some interesting detail in the report from the national association of realtors. by region, where are the home sales? where are they growing? you can see right here this, is really a flip-flop. used to be the south and west were higher. now the south and west lower. midwest and northeast higher. so it is interesting. what is going on here? what is heart of existing home sales doing more poorly? really a shortage of properties that is hamstringing these builders. they don't have enough properties to put on the marketplace at a price point people want to buy. that is the issue. however, i can say existing home sales are up 2.7% from a year ago. neil, back to you. neil: gerri, thank you very, very much. as we get ready for the new year, growing debate unions will play. they are shaping tonight's democratic debate. health care. hillary vaughn with a preview what we expect. reporter: neil, we're at mcdonald's near low control lemairery mount workers will

strike for higher pay. this debate was almost canceled with a separate labor dispute from a different union, all seven candidates said they would not cross the picket line to get inside. the union reached a deal with the food service provider, saving the debate and clearing way for candidates to take the stage. senator elizabeth warren was first candidate to call for a boycott in solidarity. she celebrated the deal with the union on tuesday. >> i'm looking forward to it, are you kidding? i may just stand on my way to the debate stage. when people don't back up, they say, can't we just have a crumb, they stand up, demand wages, working conditions and real respect, then we have our power. reporter: for any candidate that wants to win the golden state they need to win over union workers. california has more union members than any state in the country, 2.4 million.

19% of the workforce here is also in a union. california is one of the first states to also pass protections for contract workers, targeted at the gig economy. about a million workers in california alone paving the way for workers at ride-hailing companies like uber and lyft to actually gather and unionize. democrats running for president, made picket lines, union strikes, union rallies a familiar backdrop on the campaign trail. today, former vice president joe biden will be here at this mcdonald's joining in with workers as the powerful sciu union striking for higher pay. neil. neil: thank you, hillary. i don't know what you are planning for the holiday, amazon is trying to get you think any amazon fights with alexa. what alexa would say i think what neil meant to say was, after this. ♪.

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neil: in california, days of so-called independent contractor may be numbered. truckers are fighting back against california's gig economy rules that among other things require you to do, well at least if you're an independent operator, things a lot differently than you did before, that directly affects the next fellow, california truck driver, danny garcia, very, very worried. could you explain how this new law would affect you? >> well, it is going to affect me pretty dramatically. at this point i haven't given it much thought what will happen. it ultimately will shut down my business. and you know, i may have to think about early retirement or taking my truck outside of california. neil: why is that, danny? a lot of people hear this, how would california allow this thing to happen?

slain would require to essentially end your freelance independent contractor days. >> it is just that. they're basically saying i can no longer be a independent contractor. so, i don't know what else i'm going to do. i'm 30 years as independent contractor. i know nothing else. i don't want to be a company guy. i want to be a independent person. do my own thing, make my own hours and be, my own responsible person. so yeah, it is going to be big changes. neil: by expanding ride share drivers, all the rest, their argument for this it would protect guys like you. you wouldn't be at the mercy after down period where you're without business or can't get customers or fill your rig, all that. you say what? >> that doesn't affect me. i work for a good company here in southern california. they give me all kinds of work. it would be the opposite for me. i really rely on this. this is my livelihood. neil: i wonder if there are carveouts considering for guys like you? one idea was bandied about, we

would have to have carveouts for lots of folks that isn't happening. what does it mean for you? >> like i said, early retirement or taking my truck outside of california. neil: nevada, where they don't have those kind of rules might be your type of place, right. >> perhaps. it might have to be. i'm hoping it doesn't. me and company i work for are very hopeful they will get this resolved. like i said, that could actually happen, yeah. neil: we'll watch closely what happens, danny. best of luck. you needed that like an anvil on your head at the last moment. hopefully they sort it out. danny garcia, a california trucker in the middle of all of this. shares of insurers are higher that after federal appeals court ruled that obamacare's individual mandate is unconstitutional. this is not the first time a court ruled this way. last possible stop could be supreme court. and how that could go. doug mckelway, has the details. reporter: all eyes on

impeachment, the fifth circuit court of appeals deliver ad ruling potential monumental impact, upheld a lower court ruling a key aspect of obamacare is unconstitutional this sets up another possible supreme court battle in a presidential election year. the divided two-1 ruling found obama care's individual mandate was legally and legitimately eliminated by congress. it invalidates the individual mandate which was obamacare's key funding mechanism, its lifeblood. a key passage from the rule, and i quote, the individual mandate is unconstitutional because it can no longer be read as a tax. there is no other constitutional provision that justifies this exercise of congressional power. the appeals panel sent back to the lower court a question whether the other aspects of the affordable care act must fall. signals from both ends of pennsylvania avenue suggests nothing will change in the interim. senate finance committee chairman chuck grassley wrote following about the court ruling. until an ultimate decision is

made by the supreme court where congress decides otherwise, the affordable care act will remain the law of the land. president also issued a statement reading in part, this decision will not alter the current health care system. my administration continues to work to provide access to high quality health care at a price you can afford while strongly protecting those were preexisting conditions. in that same statement, the president took a swipe at democratic plans to move towards single payer or "medicare for all." he said that radical health care changes proposed by far left would strip americans of their current coverage. i will not let this happen. big question remains, however, neil. whether this will reach the high court before the end of this election cycle or whether the court will take it up afterwards. all question of timing. as we know the wheels of justice move quite slowly. so we shall see. neil: there is no funding vehicle, forced funding vehicle that congress took away sometime ago to replace that? something has got to be done,

right? >> it was part of the tax law that passed in the early part of the, of the trump administration. they got rid of the individual mandate then. so the money has been drying up. neil: right. >> that is one of the reasons that insurance premiums also gone up to some extent. that has been mitigated in part by the skinny plans which the administration also offered through executive actions. so it is very complex. obamacare is again under challenge. neil: all right. we'll watch it very closely. thank you my friend as always. back with us, charlie gasparino with an update on that sprint-t-mobile trial, merger that certainly is cooling a lot of jets here i guess. >> listen, let's be real clear why we're covering this. we're covering it, it's a big merger. $26 billion, if the state ag's challenge survives, they will stop the big merger. it is more than that it is, the reason why this got through, it is trump justice department because trump, the trump administration believes if this merger doesn't happen, sprint

will probably go out of business f it does happen, the combined company will be a juggernaut in 5g and 5g is the technology of the future in terms of all things wireless. national security implications, and huge story. if this doesn't go through the trump administration is really worried about the u.s. being able to compete with the chinese. neil: is it looking like that might happen? >> i can't tell you. it is looking 50/50 the judge seems to be deciding more with the public comment with his companies. a lot of people, saying trump administration, like a public face here? why aren't they lobbying, why aren't they doing stuff overtly to help companies. from what we understand they are working behind the scenes. they are plotting strategy with the companies behind the scenes because they're worried about this of -- it will be catastrophic. neil: when saw i catastrophic. what would happen? one of the players would go out

of business? >> they would have to separate. sprint would be by itself, a very weak fourth carrier. there won't be any telecom deal-making for the near future. that is one of the big problems much the state ag saying having sprint out there as separate entity increases competition because, but they are not enough strong carrier. charlie ergen employees to be a fourth carrier to take the place of sprint. if you upend the deal, that whole framework dissolves. then there is a market implication. companies will not know, certainly you are a company, you want to merge. go to the department of justice, approve us. not only, if this thing gets upended, sets a precedent. not only get the u.s. justice department to sign off or ftc, you have to then worry about any

number of states, here these are not all the states, a coalition of over 13, led by new york's leticia james and california, and ending your deal. that question mark will destroy deal-making on wall street and i'll tell you if you think of companies getting stronger through acquisitions it will make it a mess. it will really hurt u.s. 5g. i'm telling you i don't see the rationale that sprint is a strong carrier on itself. it has spectrum. combine it with a strong company like t-mobile, which is backed up by deutch telecom it -- neil: would it delay the whole 5g thing in this country, is that what you're saying? >> it would put a huge -- listen, t-mobile, t-mobile needs to be stronger to compete in that area. one way to get stronger is get bigger. if they don't get bigger, they're a weak third player after at&t and verizon. one way to get stronger is to have this deal go through, take

sprint's assets make it work, the combined company. i don't see, if a state ag can stop something like this, i don't see how anybody will really compete on scale and size in this business. neil: wow. >> it is scary. we'll know, by the way, within, i mean the trial is set to end either this weekend or early next week. neil: there is no jury. a judge, right? >> judge, victor marrero, a clinton appointee. one other thing, there could be a settlement this weekend. don't be surprised. as things go down, people roll the dice, will i win or lose? maybe time to get half a loaf instead of the whole thing. and both sides. neil: this weekend, you can come in live doing my saturday show? >> no i will -- you know what i do on saturdays? neil: i don't want to know. >> long baths. hot baths. neil: nice to know. details that maybe we didn't have to share with an audience. >> what's wrong with that? neil: good to know. i will see you saturday. charlie gasparino, he is the

best. i don't know if i can say that about "star wars." i can't. i'm tired of it. it's over. i know they're expecting a big blockbuster, but enough already! all right, after this. >> how many -- >>ite's mine now. >> it's mine now. ♪ ♪ everything your trip needs, for everyone you love. expedia.

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>> what are you doing there, c-3po. >> taking one last look, sir. at my friends. ♪. >> what you fear is the destiny of the jedi.

♪. >> your destiny. neil: sort of like making of fox business. no. "star wars," "the rise of skywalker," lands in theaters tonight. early reviews are out. they don't all look great. headline senior editor dominic patton. you had a chance to see it. what did you think. >> i think this, neil. i was raised on the films. this is the end of a nine-chapter saga that start the over 40 decades ago. neil: wow. >> you can't bless all the jedi all the times. it is great, it is fun. j.j. abrams throws in everything you can imagine. there is big surprise. a couple of familiar faces you didn't think you were going to see. it's a "star wars" movie. is it greater than "the empire strikes back"? maybe, maybe not. better than others. it is "star wars." like mcdonald's. you know when you go, you know what you're getting. don't expect to get organic

chicken but you will get something you can enjoy. neil: comfort factor, something they love to begin with. you always hear the reports that the younger you are, the less inclined you are to be familiar with the far -- "star wars" saga or what it means. i wonder if the audience screws that way. what do you think? >> i don't think so. i'll tell you why. the future arrived. you talked about it before. disney plus streaming service. what was the big flagship of the disally plus streaming service? "the mandalorian." that is from the "star wars" cannon. that is finishing up the big run. the whole world is talking about baby yoda. you tell me the next generation doesn't care, mat tele, target, everyone wishes to god disney let them put baby yodas on the shelves to compete against amazon. neil: i think you're the expert. i find the whole thing insufferable. enough already.

obviously i'm alone. reason bob buyer wanted to spread the wealth a little bit. they want to churn out movies every other year. >> that's true. i'm amazed to hear you of all people talk about mr. iger if he was a bernie sanders wanna be, he is spreading the wealth a little bit. the fact of the matter future is here. disney plus has "the mandalorian," the first live action "star wars" tv series in four decades. they will have more movies. this is the end of the skywalker saga. this is not the end of "star wars." "star wars" will be on multiple platforms for decades. neil: i heard the same thing. it is the end of the skywalker series. good to know. where are we going now, if the skywalker thing is done, who is next to go back or forward in time. >> we've seen a little bit with the "rogue one" movie in 2016 a lot of different parts you could play to. you could successfully make

movies out of half the half the creatures in the first "star wars" movie cantina episode. neil: there we go. we lost him for no reason at all. me thinks the force was not with him. anyway the movie is out. enjoy it. my kids are enjoying it. they will have a great time. i'm telling you, enough already. let's move on but apparently i'm alone in that. stay with us. hy are you still using a laser printer? it's got expensive toner cartridges. but this... is the epson ecotank color printer. no more expensive cartridges! big ink tanks. lots of ink. if you don't think this printer's right for you, just pick up your phone... (chuckling) ...and give me a call. the epson ecotank. just fill and chill. available at... ♪ my body is truly powerful. i have the power to lower my blood sugar and a1c.

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neil: all right. i want to say i had nothing to do with seeing that feed black out on us with the "star wars" film, nothing to do with it. although i'm happy it happened. anyway, apologize for that. meantime, stocks are hitting all-time highs. democrats might be spelling things out how they continue with life here and go on with

their legislative responsibilities. speaker nancy pelosi and a lot of the leaders are expected to tout legislative progress and more to come. to house judiciary committee member, congressman kelly armstrong, on the gridlock growing over this impeachment issue. very good to have you. the obvious message here on the part of democrats, republicans have said the same, that we can walk and chew gum at the same time, we are getting stuff done on dealing with preventing a government shutdown, usmca, which i guess will be debated more today. i mean, is that true? is stuff getting done? >> well, something that's so important to north dakota like usmca, i'm really excited that we can get that off the floor today. i would say it could have probably been done about six months ago, had it not been -- i mean, there's no coincidence that it's coming up the same week that articles of impeachment are coming up. regardless -- neil: in a weird way, impeachment itself and the cynical view that it would be such an obsession and nothing would get done, stuff is getting

done and republicans are just as eager to prove the point as well. what did you make of that? >> you mean -- for usmca, i'm happy it's getting done. however it's getting done. it's just too important to my state, too important to the country. again, i think if all of this other stuff wasn't going on, we could have probably gotten it done six months ago. but it's here now, we will get it there. now it's going to be interesting to see as to where it shapes up in the senate because of the articles of impeachment that may or may not be going over there. neil: what do you think now of nancy pelosi withholding sending it to the senate? i don't know what the procedure is, congressman, but it is unprecedented. we have never seen anything like that in prior impeachments. what do you think? >> as somebody who served on both judiciary and oversight, i think their newfound interest in minority rights might be a little -- may be a little too late. but i'm not sure how they -- i mean, this is a partisan political impeachment. i'm not sure how they thought this was going to go after they were done with it. last time i checked, republicans still controlled the senate and

more importantly, they set the rules without guidance from the house. neil: not that you can offer advice to your senate colleagues here, but the rap the democrats keep pounding is that it's an inside game, they are consulting with the president and his lawyers, trying to keep them happy, each side happy, that it's a little too cozy. what do you say to that? >> well, i say a lot of their requests could have happened here on the house side. they want john bolton to testify in the senate -- on the senate side. they didn't even subpoena him on the house side. i agree with my ranking member doug collins, this is always about a clock and a calendar. this is about primary filing deadlines. they needed to have this done before christmas. so they moved forward and now they are trying to get the senate to do things that they could have done on the house side if they had chosen to. neil: if there were no witnesses allowed in the senate, or they make this quick by design, how does that play out, you think? >> you know, i'm not really sure. i can tell you this, the difference in calls in my office during the mueller hearing and

the calls in my office during the impeachment hearing have gone down significantly. i don't think anybody goes to a political thriller when they already know the ending. that's what's been going on since the day i got into congress, january 3rd. we always knew we were going to end up here in the house and so we keep moving forward. neil: all right. we will watch it closely. congressman, thank you very much for joining us. hope you have a merry christmas. >> you, too. neil: all right. the timeline is a little jarring because it might not get on the senate certainly in the time frame that was expected. then there's the issue of all the other stuff that piles up in the meantime. dow jones newswire's chief editor glen hall on that. you don't see any of that angst building within the markets. that's been the case as long as we have been discussing impeachment. it continues to be the case. what do you think? >> the markets don't care right now. the people we have talked to in the markets are basically saying we are keeping an eye on it but so far, status quo and i think when we saw the vote, it was largely straight down the party line. and you know, when you get to

the senate as you were just discussing, there's not a lot of opportunity there for this to go forward. so that means status quo and status quo is good. the other thing you guys were talking about earlier, there have been some policy victories that the markets are very happy about. if usmca goes forward and we get that trade deal out of the house today or this week, it goes to the senate and gets passed, you have the beginnings of a new deal with china, those things are looking good for all of the companies that are affected there. neil: yeah. i was wondering hopefully that on the day the impeachment was all going down, or when it looked like it was going to go down, and the president had spoken the promise of a china trade deal, then right before that, of course, nancy pelosi with the progress on the usmca, it's as if both sides are seizing on this and saying we're going to still conduct the nation's business, certainly the president has a invested interest in reminding people of that, but clearly democrats as well. nancy pelosi outlining what will be -- she calls it a very

successful legislative agenda, one that will continue to be. will it? >> i think they are going to keep having to push that because you can't go into these elections with just the impeachment as your campaign strategy. they want to be -- especially some of the districts that democrats are in that trump won handily in 2016. they've got to show they are more than a one-trick pony here in this action. and they are legislating and taking actions that will help their constituents. that's the most important thing right now. that's what they're trying to balance. neil: do you get a sense that the markets have not factored in some u-turns in the senate part of the impeachment process? not only the possibility that witnesses come to fore, you know, that might not happen, but that it's going to lengthen it out to put some republicans on the spot at least voting for people testifying. i could see a couple of them doing that, complicating the quick let's get it done consensus that's building on this. >> yeah, right now the expectations that we're hearing

in the market generally focus on this is not likely to get out of the senate and removal is not considered a very likely scenario. so then you focus on what is the president doing and is it good or bad for companies in the market and trade is the top thing there. it has been, we have been talking about this for months, but right now we are getting those positive signals and i think that is really the thing that the markets are fixated on, trade. neil: all right. speaking of trade and how it's been sort of like the wind at this market's back and optimism and all that, do you ever worry, being the contrarian, that now when bearish types are getting more bullish or bank of america talks about a melt-up in the first quarter, cowan and company saying much the same thing, morgan talking increasingly about the odds of a recession declining markedly, you normally like to keep that stuff out there for no other reason than it shows not everyone is giddy. now more and more people are giddy. how do you play that? >> it is interesting times, because this bull run has been

going for a long time, and there's always at this point that expectation that it's got to be near the end yet every time people start saying that, we see positive signals coming from somewhere else. things are starting to look up a little bit in europe. we saw good signals out of china. the global economy was considered the head wind, it's not so much anymore. at the moment, things can change. then you look at the earnings and the fundamentals. we had great numbers out of con-agra signaling the u.s. consumer is still spending so right now, i don't see the strength behind the pessimistic point of view but there is always a worry that this has run its course. neil: all right. always good chatting with you. if we don't chat again, have a merry christmas. >> happy new year to you as well. neil: all right, my friend. we've got the dow up about 83 points. it is in record territory. s&p and nasdaq slipping in and out of record territory. the consensus seems to be that all these imponderables notwithstanding, particularly in the senate on impeachment, it will continue to be as it always has been, a non-event.

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year end. neil: in other words, those who are betting on the stock to go down, they have to do something because that squeeze isn't helping them here. i'm wondering where you see things, you know, going in 2020. everyone's jumping to get into this arena of electric cars. they're sort of the standard. what do you make of it? >> look, right now, it's their sort of race to lose. they continue to sort of own ev and you see what they have done in europe and china. that's really, no doubt competitors, supply chain potential issues, underlying demand in the u.s., but it's a fork in the road year and it looks like right now, the signs are positive in terms of musk and tesla going into 2020. in terms of the stock, it's going to continue to be an emotional bull/bear story. fundamentally, if you could ev demand with tesla's model 3, the path looks higher and you got to give credit to musk and tesla because they proved many wrong, including us as well, in terms

of the dark days earlier this year, rebounding from. neil: i'm looking at a lot of the tech stocks, tesla has soared in the face of a lot of doubters, run up too far, too fast. include apple in that, google in that, amazon in that. do you still see them leading the charge in the new year? >> it's a golden age of technology, in our opinion. i think you look at a 5g super cycle. apple continues to be the best way to play that. i think that's a stock that could have a $325, $350 handle as well as qualcomm as a 5g play. neil: when you talk about apple being a $325, $350 stock, were you talking about sometime next year that's going to happen? >> yeah. in our opinion, 2020, that's a stock that's going to have a 3 in front of it in terms of the super cycle that's going on. the haters will continue to hate but that's why the stock is up 75% year to date. i think it's just halfway through. that's a leader right there.

in terms of names in all of tech, we are bullish in 2020. once the 15% tariff worry came off on friday, that was the green light to own tech not just in the year end but into early next year. neil: netflix, we forget about them but for the decade, it's one of the best performing stocks out there. will it continue to be? >> i think 2020's going to be the first year there's real competition because with iger and disney and the content library and you see what's coming on, netflix definitely has competitive threats but right now, it continues to sort of be an international story. right now it's going to be a bit more of a battle for the stock to move higher. but it's a streaming arms race. the only reason the stock doesn't move higher is because what you are seeing, you got disney, you got peacock, you got hbo, others streaming, obviously apple and cook are the variable in terms of how aggressive they get in content. first time ever, netflix has real competition.

neil: all right. always good catching up with you. thanks for taking the time, dan ives. we are telling you about how washington wants to prove we can walk and chew gum at the same time. they are taking a lot on their plate, not the least of which is shifting around retirement legislation. kristina partsinevelos has been looking at that. what are we looking at here? kristina: we are looking at the senate possibly to approve huge changes to american retirement plans, including your individual retirement account. the house passed the spending bill that includes a bipartisan secure act which stands for setting every community up for retirement enhancement. the senate now is set to pass the spending bill before law makers head home for the holidays. the thing, though, is the secure act includes a lot of new pieces of legislation. first one being easier for small businesses to band together to offer 401(k)s. you got part-time workers that could become eligible for retirement benefits. you are also increasing the age for required minimum distribution from 70 1/2 to 72

years old. there is also penalty-free withdrawals for new parents and the elimination of age caps for traditional i.r.a. contributions but there's another big change that could affect the wealthy who leave large inheritances in retirement accounts. if you say inherit a deceased parent's i.r.a. you could take the distributions over a decade. that's why it's called the stretch i.r.a. but this new act would mean you would have to withdraw all the money from the inherited retirement account over ten years. probably wreaking havoc among estate planners. according to law makers, the goal to address the issues that hold back retirees. we haven't seen changes like this in over 13 years. we will see if it passes. back to you. neil: thank you very much. in the meantime, sweden is saying good-bye to negative interest rates. now you will have to pay up to get a mortgage there. quarter of a percent. after this. there's a lot of talk about value out there.

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neil: all right. never mind the markets are a record, the economy's on fire, a lot of states are building for the day that ends or at least isn't as robust. they have rainy day funds which they typically did not have prior to the financial meltdown. maybe they learned it's a good idea to prepare for the possibility. grady trimble looking at how a lot of those governments are doing just that. reporter: overall, states are spending more, but they are also saving more than they ever had. you just put up that number, $72 billion. that's if you add up the rainy day funds for all 50 states combined. if you compare that to 2008 right before the recession, states have a lot more saved now. back then they only had about $33 billion saved when the

recession hit. this information is all according to the national association of state budget officers. they say after the recession, states are just prioritizing saving more than they ever have and on top of that, the revenue that they are generating is higher than they expected so they are putting away the surplus into the rainy day funds. now, some states are better savers than others. for example, if you take a look at california, they have the most saved in their rainy day fund at $20 billion. texas has about half that at $10 billion. still a lot of money when you compare it to states like kansas and illinois. those states have next to nothing saved. kansas actually nothing, and illinois, it should say $4 million there. so very very small amount here in illinois. this doesn't mean a recession is coming. what it means is that states are ready for it should it come. this report talked about savings but it also talked about spending. so areas where states are spending more include k through 12 education, higher education as well as medicaid. neil?

neil: always be prepared, i guess. thank you very, very much, grady trimble. well, republicans might not like the fact the president has been impeached but they are raising money hand over fist in the process. the republican national committee touting a fund-raising record of sorts, bringing in over $20 million alone last month. axios reporter elena train on what's behind all that. i guess they rallied around this and financially showed it, huh? >> yes, that's exactly right, neil. and i actually spoke with different folks at the dnc and different democratic groups in the lead-up to this week as well, just to compare and contrast really the fund-raising numbers, and from my conversations with both sides, it appears that republicans are having a much easier time at least talking about their fund-raising numbers. the rnc clearly, they broke a record this month with fund-raising and i spoke earlier this week and they said they had 600,000 new donors since the start of impeachment. they are really pouring in a ton

of money thanks to this impeachment, while on the democratic side, i spoke with some folks and they said last week in the thick of this impeachment fight, rather than having their battleground team send out all of this ammo really on impeachment, they instead were focusing their efforts on health care and what they think would do better among swing state voters. neil: there must be something to it when democrats worked very very hard to show they can do other things besides impeachment, they are talking up their legislative agenda, how much they have gotten done, the usmca thing, the push to avoid a government shutdown by sending a package of reforms to the senate, i could go on and on, but to illustrate the point, we can do this but not be so obsessed about it, we look like we're just myopic about it. how is that working for them? >> so very famous line that a lot of members on the hill like to use is we can walk and chew gum at the same time. i have heard several members, especially those democrats in

some of the more moderate districts, trump-won districts, they have been using that line a lot these past few weeks, and they have, to some extent. that's what we will see later today, the usmca bill is expected to pass in the house later this afternoon, any moment now, actually, and they have been able to pass some of those 2020 spending deals in the house so they are going into this recess next week with some of these legislative wins that go beyond impeachment, and that is helping them, a lot of moderate members said we need a vote on usmca and some of these other more substantial, at least from a policy standpoint, vote that they can use next week when they are home with their members in their districts. neil: we will watch it. always good having you on to explain this stuff. appreciate it. >> thanks, neil. neil: all right. we have been mentioning the back and forth, republicans and democrats on this. we will be hearing from the president of the united states sometime very soon to follow up on remarks he made last night at

a michigan campaign event, as he was in fact being impeached. after this. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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with the latest on how all that's going to happen. chad? reporter: in just a couple minutes, the house of representatives is going to pass the s.a.l.t. adjustment, the bill responding to the tax bill from a couple of years ago dealing with the state and local taxes. they will then pass the usmca and in the past few minutes here, the senate has approved one of the two spending bills they have to approve here, 71-23, they have to approve another one later and of course, they are dealing with impeachment. the big story here on capitol hill, neil, today, is that there might not be a senate trial. why? because house speaker nancy pelosi indicates that she might not send the articles of impeachment to the senate until she gets some clarification as to what a senate trial might look like. there's a lot of concern as to whether or not this will be a fair trial and nancy pelosi, the speaker of the house, was defensive about this in her press conference today. listen. >> i said this is it. reporter: to that end, you have criticized senator mcconnell --

>> any other questions on -- any questions on the mexico trade agreement? anyone care about that? reporter: republicans are seizing on this whole idea that pelosi might not send those articles of impeachment to the senate. here's kevin mccarthy. minority leader from california. >> now we have the speaker of the house who is so embarrassed she admits the failure in this impeachment that she will not even send it to the senate. so embarrassed that i watched in her press conference she wouldn't even take your questions. that is not a good legacy to have. she's admitting defeat by not sending it. reporter: this is important here, because the senate can't actually start a trial unless they have the pieces of paper from the house of representatives. in 1998-1999, they sent the paperwork over almost immediately. here's the interesting thing, neil. the house could hold on to these articles of impeachment in perpetuity. in other words, you move from one congress to another one from 1998-1999, the house impeached

president clinton in 1998, one congress. the senate trial was in 1999, another trial. because the senate is a continuing body, you know, you could have that senate trial at any point, whenever the house would send that to the senate. it remains alive, basically. it doesn't end at the end of this congress. that said, the senate also can't say well, we just dismiss these articles unless they have the piece of paper. they actually can't move to dismiss. the weird part here is that article i, section 3, i brought along my constitution here, article i, section 3 of the constitution says that the senate shall have the sole power of impeachment. what the founders never anticipated was a scenario where the house impeached someone and never sent those articles of impeachment to the senate. so this is a little bit of weird ground we're on here on capitol hill. back to you. neil: it just raises a cynical thought in my thick skull that maybe this is a way to push back the senate trial to give time for those democratic senators running for president not to have to deal with it, and they

can still campaign, do what they want to do and it wouldn't hurt them. reporter: that's one scenario. the other thing is maybe house speaker nancy pelosi is applying a hand brake here saying wait a minute, we pushed as far as we can with impeachment, we have seen questionable polling for democrats, let's not go further down that road, not give the president the opportunity to say the senate actually exonerated me and parade that around. there's a billion different possibilities here that you could play into. the other thing is that mitch mcconnell said he was not going to take up the usmca until a senate trial was complete. well, the house of representatives is going to pass the usmca here within the hour and this could put pressure on the senate and mcconnell to move the usmca expeditiously. that probably doesn't mean they move it right before christmas, but probably a little sooner in january, rather than later in january or february. neil: that is incredible. another reminder where sometimes some of these byzantine rules kick in and surprise everyone. but not chad pergram. thank you, my friend.

reporter: thank you. neil: meanwhile, iran's president rouhani is warning that nuclear experts are testing new advanced centrifuges. that would of course lead to an expanded nuclear program. fox news correspondent has all the details. trey? reporter: good afternoon. the iranians are continuing to violate key terms of the 2015 nuclear agreement, announcing today they are testing two new centrifuges capable of enriching uranium at ten times faster than the current rate. that announcement made today by iranian's president rouhani as iran inches closer to a nuclear weapon. the u.s. first pulled out of the iran nuclear deal last year, leading, iran to begin provocative nuclear action. this year, iran surpassed the uranium stockpile and enrichment limits laid out in the plan and they marked the 40th anniversary of the iran hostage crisis, the head of the nuclear program announcing his country is operating twice the amount of advanced centrifuges as previously known. the united states continues to pressure iran with heavy sanctions, even targeting iran's

supreme leader. the economic sanctions have not stopped iran so far from continuing nuclear development and launching attacks against western oil infrastructure in places like saudi arabia and the persian gulf. >> translator: economic sanctions have turned into the main tool of domineering hegemony and bullies. the muslim world should be designing measures to save it from the domination of the united states dollars and the american financial regime. reporter: today, u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo announced new sanctions and visa restrictions on iranians in response to some severe human rights violations. the united states and the trump administration looking to rachet up the already high pressure against the iranian regime. neil? neil: thank you very, very much. in the meantime, the days of you paying the bank for simply holding on to your money may be going at least in sweden. the central bank there raising those negative interest rates, first time in years, to.

to phil flynn on what this could mean for negative rates in general. what do you think, my friend? >> looks like they hit their waterloo when it came to negative interest rates. i think we are starting to see the diminishing effects of what happens to negative interest rates. when the economy's in trouble and you go to negative interest rates, it gives us a little bit of economic boot. it gets the banks to start lending money, get it out in the economy and it generally gives us a sugar high. but the longer that you have that situation, the risks continue to rise. what happens is people take undue risk in places where they probably shouldn't. i think the biggest concern right now for sweden is they are starting to lo ok at commercial banks and pension funds that are taking a lot of risk. the reason is they have to take more risk to try to pay off their obligations down the road. pension funds are saying hey, we are becoming underfunded mainly because the vehicles that we

used to use to assure a safe return for investors are gone with negative interest rates and this could be a warning sign to the rest of europe. i know president trump has been talking about negative interest rates to be more competitive on the dollar value, but now you got to be careful what you wish for, because now we see the negative side of that, with pension problems cross the united states right now, especially state pensions, that can be a real problem. neil: all right. phil, i notice you used the abba reference. i would have used money, money, money. kou have al you could have also used the brief reference to waterloo, take a chance on me, sos. >> i know you wake up to money, money, money every morning. neil: i see what you did there. we are the only ones who got those references but thank you, as always. you're the best. phil flynn in chicago. we have a lot more coming up. while a lot of other countries are cutting corporate rates, why the white house says you know, we could be next.

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neil: you know, all this week we have been sort of chronicling the states that are best for business in this country and they do have a common theme. idaho is coming in at number two. it echoes that theme. lauren simonetti has more. lauren: you are right. common theme indeed. idaho is number two, slightly different in that it's completely hands-off government. the least regulated state in the country. governor brad little in office just a year, cut idaho's red tape and business regulations. >> we got rid of about a third of all the pages and 75% of the rules are either gone or significantly simplified.

i was talking to the real estate commission, you know they regulate realtors, and they got rid of 85% of their rules in the last two months. lauren: wow. fewer rules, lower taxes. take a look at property tax rates in idaho. they are among the lowest in the country, 1.5%. that's a big incentive for business and for workers. newly popular industries in idaho, you might not have thought of this, health care, nuclear research and power plants, government, the fbi just opened a new data center there. you have the new technology companies and old technology companies, including semiconductor micron technology. they are headquartered in boise. all of this is helping to push down the unemployment rate, 2.9%. that's the sixth lowest in the nation. homes are affordable, energy is cheap. they have a lot of green energy. and residents can find outdoor activities from fly fishing to skiing to the national parks just a drive away. so as you said, the state able to do all of this with these low

rates and they are doing it despite an impact on their farm industry particularly from the trade war with china. neil: it is a beautiful state. they always leave that out. lauren: i have never been. it's on my list. neil: stunning. just stunning. in the meantime, you can talk about alexa, but you might not want to know what else alexa can do or maybe you would. maybe you would welcome it. i just think it's kind of like the "star wars" thing. enough, already. after this.

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neil: all right. we are still looking at records across the board here, particularly for the dow, the nasdaq and s&p, robust year that continues. if we are to believe larry kudlow at the white house, more tax cuts in a second round could be coming soon. take a look. >> he mentioned tax cuts 2.0 and i would love him to do it. he would be talking about something that's under process and wouldn't be published until we are well into the campaign later next year. neil: all right. to charles payne now on all of that. he's coming up in about 15 minutes. it would be an yuphill climb, even allowing for the president doing well in the polls right now. they got to get everyone to go along, right? charles: absolutely right. here's the thing. i think the next round tax cuts 2.0 should be more heavily tilted to households. no doubt that tax cuts 1.0 benefited everyone, in fact, you know, you could argue causal relationship but just the wage

growth in the last year or so, for blue collar workers, the job openings out there, the overall composition and way of life has worked out tremendously for everyone, but from a political point of view, you are hinting at, i think the white house certainly has to put a bigger onus on middle class tax cuts as well as maybe additional help for corporations. neil: as you know, the white house is welcoming the fact that a number of european countries are looking to cut their own corporate rate so it's having a global stimulative effect, to copy us. we are just showing the effective tax rate is closer to 11% than the 21% marquee rate and that's what's got the candidates who are going to be debating tonight on the democratic stage saying that's way too much. what do you think? charles: you are absolutely right. there's no doubt that there's going to be a big battle over this. i think we began the week with the biggest news item being how many u.s. corporations paid zero taxes last year, companies that made a lot of money. of course, you know, they get carryovers from years where they didn't make any money, and when

they don't have to get punished for that, they argue hey, we don't have to lay people off. in this environment, ironically, sometimes the better the nation does, the more resentful the pockets that aren't participating become, and it's fodder for politicians without a doubt. that's going to be a big issue tonight. neil: i did want to get your take, seems like a political development but it was not an expected development. nancy pelosi moved to delay passing along the impeachment issue to the senate, and maybe indefinitely, and since the market seems to have factored in whatever's going to happen in the senate will be quick and dirty, all of a sudden that he will be exonerated, they move on, the impeachment saga is over, what then? charles: you know, listen, president trump has called this impeachment light. certainly the buildup, duyou didn't think it would come down to two items certainly of all the litany of things democrats have complained about, and to drag it on any more, listen, nancy pelosi, everyone knows

she's northboubeen in d.c. for time, she knows her stuff, and you got to wonder this is a real hail mary. if she holds this up, she should be the main person out there hey, we got it on the record, we have been able to make these speeches all night, we will put out our tweets and press releases but let's get it out of the way because it has not helped that party politically. neil: my favorite part is stopping the applause. charles: oh, yeah. too bad she couldn't stop all the partying and the tweets and all the other stuff. i saw a lot of things where it just wasn't a good look. but if they drag it on, i think it's at their peril. neil: one of those developments, i don't think wall street saw it coming. we will see how it sorts out. thanks, my friend. charles payne. see him in about 12 minutes. meantime, we've got amazon alexa making some news. it's going to help you not only in some of the obvious ways, but prevent fights at your family table or as you are opening gifts. you could say things like alexa, change the subject. the device will respond with questions to keep the

conversation going such as why were you saying that about neil? which brings us to my colleagues and pals, jackie deangelis and connell mcshane. jackie, i think alexa is taking some leaps here. jackie: i'm with you. i have no alexa devices in my house. i think they are spying on you. i don't like having it around. that said, during the holidays, my family has a lot of different views and if i could have a little digital helper there to say change the subject, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. connell: it's clunky. it's a good way to get attention if you're amazon by having us talk about this but i have one on my desk upstairs. i asked it before coming down here, you're not going to out-research me, jackie. alexa, change the subject. she says to me something like do you want to play a game? i'm thinking i really want to have a conversation. okay, so she goes ask me about animals. i'm thinking at this point i would rather be arguing about impeachment. neil: i heard noises coming out of your office.

now i know what's going on. so bottom line, it's a little creepy, right? connell: yeah. neil: okay. all right. which brings us to the next point. a lot of people have now resorted to having conversations digitally. we text each other, e-mail each other, social media and all that, to the point where in the uk it is the dominant source of conversation. you are too young but i just worry about that. jackie: i do, too. and the 15% statistic of face-to-face conversations going down seems very low to me. my feeling is i agree with you, a lot of people are using digital smartphones to have conversations instead of talking to people at all. neil: even when they are in the same room. jackie: sitting next to each other. they will be sitting next to each other and are on their phones. i made a blanket rule unless they tell me what time we're meeting or changing a location, i really don't want to text you. i don't want to sit there, i get tired of sitting there doing that. pick up the phone.

connell: wondering why she didn't respond to my text. she never responds. neil: she hears you talking to yourself in your office. connell: i mean, it is the world we live in. i agree, we have lost something in the whole face-to-face conversation thing. i found with my own kids, if they are in their room and you go in their room, and it's like you invaded some territory. what do you want, you know. neil: i could get more of a response if i text them. dinner has been ready for an hour. connell: i have done it if my own house, i will text them something, you will get a more sane response because it's now on their terms. i found myself doing that. i have to admit. neil: i'm trying to figure out lol. what that means. anyway -- i know what it means. yeah, yeah, yeah. anyway, the technology, this is the year, for a lot of people, talk about privacy issues, talk about going too far, this is the year a lot of people said we like to convenience of all this, but cool it on interrupting our lives.

jackie: yeah. we will be talking about it and regulators will talk about it next year, too. connell: it will be big for the companies. yeah. some of these companies started to jump the shark a little bit with this kind of thing. i'm on the other end of it on some of them. with the alexa conversation as an example, she could do a better job of being an assistant. i could use an assistant and reminder. some of this technology hasn't come along enough yet. it's still a little clunky to me. neil: can you change the voice on alexa? it seems dismissive. connell: i have it set to gasparino's at the moment. neil: there's something you should bring up. exactly. just saying. just saying. wait, wait, wait. on the impeachment, i mentioned to charles, i wanted to get your thoughts on this, because the uncertainty where impeachment goes, i agree with you, you guys have reported it's been a non-event for the markets. readily agree with that. but they always worked under the assumption it won't change

minds, it won't result in the president being thrown out of office. so it's not an issue. but all of a sudden, you throw a wild card like this in where we might delay getting to the senate or it might be pushed back, it's a wild card that hangs out there. connell: i thought there's two ways it could be at issue. one obviously if the odds of the president being removed from office were to go up, and they haven't. if anything, they have gone down and it's seen as a remote possibility. the other, if it has a larger impact on the 2020 campaign, either in the democratic primary or in the general election, and you know, that's where your scenario may be comes into play. now you even have a debate as to whether impeachment is a big election issue. we know it's not a market issue but by the time we get to november 2020, if there were to have been a quick senate trial and the president as expected were acquitted, we might be on to other things, not even talking about that. if it does get extended, maybe it becomes a bigger election issue. neil: republicans still say keep it coming, then. we think this is helpful for

2020. how does that play out? jackie: they are going to punch back and say look at the stock market, dow trading over 28,000. we inherited a stock market at 18,000 change. this is a huge move. people see it when they open up their 401(k) account and ultimately i think the republicans think they will vote with -- people will vote with their wallet, they will look at the economy and say it's strong -- neil: they are opening up their wallets. jackie: yeah, absolutely. i think the market will be the counter-punch to the impeachment saga. connell: i don't know that -- yes, i don't know that, again, i think right now, the scenario for me is it's a non-issue. i understand people raise money off it, republicans maybe more so than democrats, but because of the time frame, and also because of the speed of our news cycle now. it's not -- it's more 24 minutes than 24 hours that this could still, even if it does get extended a little bit, be completely off the table and out of our conversation, say, remember when we were talking about impeachment and now we are on to something we haven't

thought of yet. neil: guys, thank you very much. i'm still thinking about alexa with charlie gasparino. you're an idiot. all right. we have a lot more coming up here, including word we are getting out of this idea that they can talk and chew gum at the same time. that's not a difficult task, by the way. i tried it. it's relatively easy to do and i'm not the most coordinated person. anyway, having said that it might be an issue, democrats are proving republicans are proving at least today they can get on to spending measures, rapidly approve to avoid a government shutdown. they want it all wrapped up by sunday. otherwise, they are going to be in washington for christmas. neither one of them really relishes it unless they are from washington. after this. (chime) (shaq) magenta? i hate cartridges! not magenta! not magenta. i'm not going back to the store. magenta! cartridges are so... (buzzer) (vo) the epson ecotank. no more cartridges. . .

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neil: forget record shopping, could we see about record returning? some numbers startle ad lot folks, consumers could be returning anywhere, 90, up to $95 billion worth of merchandise purchased over the holidays.

that would be up significantly from last year to the tune of 15%. imagine that. you never get with processed meats and cheeses. just a reminder. apple reportedly in talks to dig up more content for apple tv plus. gerri willis has a lot more on that and more from the new york stock exchange. hey, gerri. reporter: that is fascinating story this afternoon. you wondered what apple would do with the 200 billion-dollar cash cushion? maybe they have a spending list here. first off and foremost apple declining story run by dow jones news service and reuters. as you sankey the stock has been on fire here. at the con pack-12 conference that would allow apple to have live sporting events on apple tv. mg. in -- mgm known for the james

bond and hand made's tale, which was super popular. dan ives, i reached out to him, he says this could be a game-changer if they go down this route, i.e., doing a deal with the pack-12 conference and be a bidder for live sports. they have a the keys to the kingdom and have to fill it with sports content. he said they would really have to look under the covers. apple is looking under a mountain of cash, looking to expand offerings on apple plus tv. they have a total of six shows which pales in comparison to the amount of content say netflix has. a long way for that service to go, but at 4.99 a month, not too expensive, right, neil? neil: that is the big allure. you have the marriage of gadget and content. >> you're welcome. neil: house ways and means

committee is looking at 2.0. that committee under democratic control. the republican, minority leader there, kevin brady will be on "your world" to discuss all of that. meantime, charles payne, whether he can hold these records for you. you're welcome, payne. charles: thank you very much. cp effect, we'll see what happens. thanks, neil. good afternoon, everyone. i'm charles payne. this is making money. breaking at this moment, president trump made be the third president to be impeached but markets are treating it like any other day of record highs. is the motion dead in the senate or will it even get that far? we'll get insight from the white house and senator kevin cramer from north dakota. i want to get his read on the economic impact of usmca. now you're talking their language. amazon, apple, google, they all want to streamline your devices so they can get along together in your home. is this move to help you the consumer or fatten their pockets? by the way, do you even trust them? this is not