maria: big thank you to jamie freeman, have a great weekend. >> a pleasure. maria: see you tonight on wall street at 9:00 pm eastern and on sunday morning futures, "varney and company" begins right now. stuart: good morning. and good morning to everyone. employers are bringing workers back to the office. microsoft has a radical plan, 51% of time in your office and that is fine, the other 49% can be sent at home so long as you get the job done.

the world has changed and it will take a year for the workplace to settle down. a lot of people are wondering how much time they will spend in the office as the new work apps is developed. lots of people thinking about this as we go back to work. the markets end a week which is seen a series of record highs across the board. the big news this morning, the retail sent up a strong 6%. if you strip out autos where sales are restrained by short supply sales went up a strong one.3%. the dow industrials going up at "the opening bell" 70 points. the s&p up at "the opening bell," nasdaq up 50 at "the opening bell". treasury secretary yellen sees several more months of reveille rising prices. that did not hurt stocks and it didn't much affect the 10 year treasury yield either sitting around one.33% as we speak. bitcoin, a day and very little

action. the price is 31,800. not much change this morning and there is this. in 18-year-old, this guy from the netherlands will ride into space with jeff bezos next week. oliver damon takes the place of someone who paid $28 million for the seat but stepped down because of what is described as a scheduling conflict. he will be the youngest person in the space. another passenger, wally funk, is the oldest, 82 and trained as an astronaut with nasa in the 1960s. what to do about cuba? american companies restoring internet service, that would help the demonstrators. we will hear from miami's cuban community and the sacrifices brave texas democrats have to go through. congresswoman donna howard has to wash her own clothes in the

sink while she is marooned in dc. friday july 16th, 2021, "varney and company" is about to begin. ♪♪ our oh see k in the usa stuart: john mellencamp at the new york stock exchange. we've got a big show for you. it is friday after all. look at our 11:00 hour, jesse waters will be joining us, his book how i saved the world, it is top of the new york times bestseller list and jesse will grace us with his presence at 11:00 this morning. this is a very important debate.

the work from home debate is growing as we ease out of the pandemic. lots of people consider when to go back, for how long i will be in the office. >> it changed forever. james gorman doubled down, you go into the office and it is happening come labor day, he softened his tone a little bit and will make some exceptions. apple says you have to be in the office 3 days a week in september, and they are saying absolutely not, they are quitting because other tech companies are more flexible, promote work strategies. if i don't want to come use it apple, i want to work at home i quit, someone else would coach me, microsoft employees can work at home, salaries adjusted accordingly. stuart: i put that on top of the show. the conversation about going back to the office, where you

work from is the major conversation in america today. >> it's going to be fluid, a personal decision. stuart: the microsoft guy doesn't think things will still down for at least a year. what does mark tepper think of this? always has a smile on his face. what are you hearing from most people, what are you hearing? >> the hybrid approach, everyone at the office, i need to be in the office. i made a run to the pantry every 30 minutes and it is awful.

why would people benefit from going back to the office? collaboration is good, robbery is good, if you are a self-starter you may get distracted in the office and we all know people who walk around the office holding coffee, wasting people's time talking about nonsense, we want those people at home so we can be productive. stuart: we don't have anybody like that at foxbusiness. a casual conversation at foxbusiness is intense. we like it that way. janet yellen, treasury secretary says we are in for several months of rapidly rising prices and then inflation will moderate. do you think inflation will moderate as we get back to work and back to school in the fall? >> from an optimism standpoint i sure hope so but from a realism standpoint i don't think that will happen. i am talking to business owners every way. i heard lauren say the word poach three times. all these business owners

employees are being coached, competitors offering 40% premiums to get those employees to jump ship and that's not a one time payment, that is a permanent pay increase. that is how wage inflation works and with wage inflation one or both of these things happen, the company raises prices or margins offset it but they don't raise them enough so whenever you see wage inflation, you know inflation will be much longer-lasting. we will see how that happens over the next 12 months. stuart: it is a great time to be a worker, isn't it? by the way i understand you were in vegas last weekend you bet on sports, the mcgregor fight. you lost a lot of money, extreme the difference between gambling and investing? >> i can do that because i

learned i stink at sports betting. i went for all 3 at usc so never follow my advice. i learned about emotions, using a checklist, research. when it comes to emotions i flushed my money down the toilet because let emotions affect my judgment. i expected carter to lose but i wanted him to win so i put money on him and when it comes to stocks, good investors keep emotions out of the equation. i have a checklist when it comes to picking stocks. i don't have a checklist when it comes to betting. research, due diligence is important and what a fighter has a bad rate cut that the big red flag, less endurance, i bet the opposite way on both of them. when it comes to sizing your position on speculative positions you bet an amount that won't change your lifestyle. that's what i did in vegas so that means i have a roof over my head. stuart: glad to hear it.

hope you can join us in the future. have a great weekend, enjoy yourself, see you later. president biden finally denounced communism. watch this. >> communism is a failed system, universally failed system, i don't see socialism as a useful substitute but there. >> in miami, something of a center for cuban folks in florida. you are in the middle of the cuban community. what do they want to see done about cuba. >> something we've been asking people all morning long, this is a crucial time. we have never seen this many protests erupted on the island

and people in miami certainly want to be supportive and want to the american government to do as much as they can. i'm here with armando, eric and barbara. what do you think of president biden's response. was it week? is it sufficient? >> the cuban people demand concrete actions, with individual sanctions on people violating human rights in cuba. more funding for pro-democracy efforts and to break the information blockade, and words are not enough. >> reporter: word i'm feeling of sadness that donald trump wasn't in office when this thing erupted. what do you think would be the difference? >> without a doubt on the first day donald trump would have made a stronger statement, and he would have taken actions to put more sanctions to increase funding, done these things already. >> reporter: governor desantis, marco rubio all calling for the

us government to make cell phone coverage and internet coverage to help the protesters organize. what else can they do? >> it is important president biden listen to the people who are extremely hands-on with the subject. the fact that people in cuba have no idea what is going on on the ground, no idea the extent of the repression that is going on it is very sad. >> reporter: it was important to talk about that statement that this is about the embargo. the question is these people feel the cuban people are hostages. do you feed the hostages or free the hostages? we can talk about that another time but it is an interesting question about how the democrats are trying to make this about the embargo, trump and not communism. ashley: thanks to all the

people you have with you, wish you the best of luck. alexandria ocasio cortez broke her silence on cuba. she is blaming america. lauren: the us, the embargo and trump restrictions. >> it is important for us to communicate the actions, the us contribution to the suffering of cubans on the island as well. at that is directly related to the us embargo like other us policies, potentially of the us policies targeting latin americans and latinos. that is the point. lauren: she's not the only one torching the us. did you see the black lies matter organization condemning the us's inhumane treatment of cubans while praising their dictators?

this is a tweet from 2016? blm rights rest in power fidel castro. their ideology is with the communist regime completely hostile to the us and blaming the us for the lack of freedom for the cuban people. stuart: democrats have a huge problem, they can't control the following to are in favor communism. >> aoc was silent for a long time on this, crafted her response. stuart: check futures please. we are going to open the market in 17 minutes time and we will be up across the board. the white house says they are working hand in hand with facebook to police what you post. role tape. >> with increased disinformation research and tracking within the surgeon general's office, flagging problematic posts for facebook that spread disinformation. stuart: they may be a private company. in my opinion they are now

acting as an arm of the federal government. i will make that might take at the top of the hour. senator schumer wants to legalize marijuana at the federal level. that will be good news if it happens for the companies. i will talk to the ceo of canopy drove. ♪♪ off. you downloaded the td ameritrade mobile app so you can quickly check the markets? yeah, actually i'm taking one last look at my dashboard before we board. excellent. and you have thinkorswim mobile- -so i can finish analyzing the risk on this position. you two are all set. have a great flight. thanks. we'll see ya. ah, they're getting so smart. choose the app that fits your investing style. ♪♪

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stuart: that is myrtle beach, south carolina and plenty of people on the beach at 9:20 in the morning, futures point

higher, in the past couple minutes the dow is up 90 points at "the opening bell" challenging 35,000 again and disney, a growing list of companies moving operations out of california, not all operations, just in key personnel. i bet they are going to florida. lauren: these are 2000 mostly professional jobs from california going to that new florida campus over the next year and a half. disney employs 60,000 people in orlando. that is where their parks have been open, disneyland in california to a half months. stuart: closing disneyland in california did not go well even though the ceo, dick supporters of the democrats, thank you very much, 6 flags, huge themepark trying to beat the worker shortage offering cash bonuses that will range from 500 to $1,000 for season

workers. come back to work, here is some money to do it. senator schumer says the legalization of marijuana is a priority. role tape. >> i'm of the first majority leader to say it is time to end the federal prohibition on marijuana and as majority leader i will push this issue forward and make it a priority for the senate. stuart: is a problem, president biden lukewarm on the idea. with us is the ceo of canopy growth daniel klein. i'm really surprised the president is lukewarm on marijuana legalization. i thought that would be a huge vote winner for him. >> president biden has a lot of priorities and cannabis reform would address many of them like policing reform and prison reform and opportunities for people of color so we are optimistic if the senate can

reach agreement on a bill that the white house will ultimately sign off on it. stuart: you are optimistic. have you got your lobbyists out there pushing for this and will you get any votes from the republicans? >> we are one of the founding members of the us cannabis council and we've been working with the politicians on both sides of the aisle to gain enough support to get passage. the interesting thing is several republican states passed cannabis legalization and yet the federal government is still calling it illegal. we think there's a way to get support and that this initial bill as it was designed is quite broad but contains enough components that we think we will be able to get enough support to get passage. stuart: what this is about allowing the marijuana industry access to the banking system. is that your number one

priority? >> that would be in the guise of the banking apps. for us it is more important to have straight up federal permissibility, federal legalization because it is a good start but we thing a bill needs to go further than that so we are addressing many things like a light federal regulatory regime, delegating control or a majority of control to the state level. stuart: at the end of the day you think you might get it. david klein, thanks for joining us this morning, your stock took a hit when the president was lukewarm on legalization. see if it can rebound a little. thank you for being with us, we appreciate it. futures showing some green as we approach "the opening bell" on friday morning. i will tell you about retail sales, numbers out this morning, very strong in june but i want to look at

back-to-school sales. matt shea is looking at the best back to school selling season ever and he is on the show. ♪♪

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stuart: let's get straight to money and who better to bring in the greg smith just minutes before the market opens. janet yellen says there's going to be rapid inflation for several months and then it cools down. are you buying that. do you think inflation cools down when we go back to school and back to work in the fall? >> i agree with what she said. happy birthday to my two kids, wishing them all the best. we've witnessed some of the benefits of the pandemic being that consumers balance sheets are in great shape. people pay down their debt, we are seeing businesses be more productive with less but we are witnessing the effects of free money, tight labor market and inflation but i think things

will change in earnest come september. september is key for two reasons, first, kids will get back to school which will drag parents back into their office and families back to their primary residence wherever they've been hibernating during the pandemic and we will see unemployment benefits tale often taper. that will force people to come off their couches back to the labor market and that will begin to help the supply issue. we are seeing elevated demand because people have a lot of money, they are buying stuff but we are seeing constraints on the supply side. i've witnessed going into restaurants running at full steam doing what they can against the backdrop of this labor market and they are turning customers away because they don't have people to serve food. after september we will see inflation begin to subside in the coming months for these reasons. stuart: if that is the case then presumably our money in the market, the stock market is

reasonably safe. if you do get a falling level of inflation in the fall that would suggest stock prices can be maintained at these lofty levels. >> there's a lot of money around. we are witnessing a post-world war ii economic boom. companies are doing very well. but i will sound a small alarm, get a little cautious at the end of the year and early next year of the guidance from companies that have done so phenomenally well during the pandemic. you look at wayfarer or carmaxwell people shop themselves to death so these companies perform incredibly well but i question are they going to be able to beat the numbers they've been putting up in the last year. as we get later into the year and early next year it is all about the forward guidance. stocks trade off of what happens in the future, not in the past. what will be the guidance out

of these companies that did well during the pandemic and if they lower guidance and not the growth they've witnessed in the past. that will begin trouble with a few companies. stuart: we consider ourselves warned and watching out for that. we've got a very nice rally on our hands this morning, we have 10 seconds of trading on friday and we will see a lot of green. when the bell stops ringing and they start trading. it is friday, july 16th and we are off and running and i am seeing green across the board. the dow is up 100 points above the 35,000 level. almost all of them, 24 of them in the green on the upside. the dow is up a 12:45%, and that is a better game.

and headed by microsoft, 282, apple 148. amazon 3634, all of them up this morning. a nice run recently, bank earnings solid. all of them on the upside on wall street this morning. that we've got didi down again, 3.5%. is this because chinese regulators knocked on their door? >> 7 chinese entities visited for their sweeping cybersecurity review. that included state security and the police, potential outcomes, financial penalties,

business license suspension, all the way they managed personal data. straight mapping, real-time movements of people across border, when they ipos. >> lots of chinese companies because of the crackdown in beijing. moderna, there is a huge gain of 5% in the s&p. lauren: their sales tripled in the past year, valuation topping 100 billion because of the vaccines, moderna is a household name. not many of people heard of the vaccine, when you talk about pipelines. they are targeting a combined flu and covid charting two years time, this is the best addition, the most important addition since tesla. last year. stuart: they tripled and they are $213 a share but pfizer

highly efficient vaccine, they never got above $40 a share. >> pfizer was more established names and moderna. stuart: i don't know why pfizer didn't do better. look at it go, 275. show me intel on the upside, dow stock in talks to buy global foundries, one of the largest chip production companies in the world, this is valued at $30 billion, it would produce more chips for other tech companies and it would be until's largest acquisition ever. $56 a share on intel. live nation, check them out, goldman says that stock is going to $110 a share, well positions for an expected surge as restrictions these, the cruise lines, all of them up and i know why.

canada lifts restrictions. lauren: they lifted restrict into november 3rd month earlier than they said they would. it is good news if you like to cruise to alaska. there's an outdated us law that requires those cruises to stop in canada. that's big business for canada. cruising the $4 billion industry for them and they are getting the green light and that is why their stocks are in the green. stuart: respond to the money. lauren: trudeau is little assistance especially at the border. stuart: v beer people, we put them up and stock is up because they resume their quarterly dividend, suspended it last may because of the pandemic. it is back. investors like it, $51 a share, tesla, 655, not much stock price changed, car registrations in california really popped.

>> in california thanks to the crossover, 13,000 registrations, next up the earnings report card, july 20 sixth. bitcoin will pay do that. you were showing the big tech board when the market opens, tesla is no longer on that. it is decoupled from big tech and they say that is because of the crypto currency. >> i understand people buying tesla in california when you're paying $4.30 for regular gasoline. probably $6 for the fancy guest that goes in mercedes. lauren: in new jersey, they are low comparatively but they are high in jersey. lauren: they put a tax on it. the dow up 44 points, not a great gain but we have salesforce, microsoft, apple, intel, walgreen, all of them going up, all dow winners.

the s&p 500 the winners headed by live nation, goldman things they are going to 110. nasdaq winners headed by centers, the uniform people. you can read the list, you might have to squint a little on the left-hand side of the screen. the gain for the dow has moderated. we are up 40 points but we are at the 35,000 level. the 10 year treasury yield one.33%, the price of gold, $1,824 an ounce, bitcoin languishing, 31,800 and oil has come down a lot this week, down today, up a little bit, $71 a barrel, that's the number to look at. gasoline averages $3.16 per gallon, the national average for regular up $0.09 in the last month. a big show coming up for you.

a special guest included. he claims he's done a lot to save the world. role tape. >> how i saved the world. my book how i saved the world. nothing artificial about how i saved the world in case you had forgotten. stuart: who else but jesse waters. he is here and will join me on set, he will sit next to me in the 11:00 hour. it is friday. we have friday feedback, time to have questions answered. email us, varneyviewers@foxbusiness.com. ♪♪ i was born a rambling man ♪♪ try to make a living and do the best i can ♪♪ when it is time for leaving liberty mutual customizes car insurance

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stuart: jacksonville, florida,

temperature not sure what it is but is going up to 89 degrees later today. breaking earlier this morning retail sales for the month of june strong but break down the numbers. >> record annual increase of 18% from june of 2020 up 0.6% for may if you take out autos. here is your breakdown, clothing up 47%. bars and restaurants 40%, electronics and appliances 40%, ditto for gas, consumers showing resiliency despite reduced purchasing power and prices, things going up but they are spending money on all these things but the question is how long they are able to do that. stuart: enormous amount of money out there, $3 trillion in bank accounts, the money keeps

flowing until mid september, the rollout yesterday. >> 3 stimulus checks, the new child tax program, they want to push that to be permanent so you are correct believe the fed keeps rates low and continues the stimulus and the checks keep coming, the party can continue so all of a sudden it stopped. stuart: and the democrats could win in 2022 with all the money floating around out there. let's bring in match day, ceo of the national retail federation, old friend of the program. i don't want to look behind us. i want to look to the future. do you think this will be a record back to school selling system? >> it is. it will be a record. we are seeing signs we will spend, last year was $34 billion. a 10% increase, the biggest

number on record and you just alluded to why we expect to see that, the other stimulus checks, trillions of dollars in pent-up demand, as we get into the back-to-school season we will see more families replacing apparel and getting shoes, backpacks, electronics and a big push into that part of the year and the holiday season. stuart: you say some electronics. i would have thought electronics would be the major selling items this back-to-school season. >> indications we have now of the survey work we've done electronics a number one, apparel is number 2 and part of the reason is so many children were out of school last year doing things from home but because now these families have this additional money, stimulus checks and payments, that will be put to use, replace older products and that should be good and the flip side of this,

supply chain challenges, inflation creeping and in some places, worker shortages so there's a downside to this pent-up demand and fiscal stimulus we put into the economy. stuart: it seems the brick and mortar stores are coming back strong but that doesn't mean a lessening in online sales. have i got that right? >> i think you have. the big question we are all asking ourselves, when will consumers repurpose that retail spending into services and the experience economy and what retailers have done in many cases was to create new experiences for their customers

and bring them back with the best of digital and virtual, consumers are responding to that. retailers are well positioned, we increased forecast, and it is a strong year and those categories are doing well. how well apparel did in june. we see that continue the rest of the year. stuart: you are having a real good time, great time for the industry. have you got anything to complain about? >> we want to see return to normalcy and the inflation front, the spending front, what we put into the economy in terms of stimulus over the last 18 months is on 20% of gdp. we want to be supportive of bipartisan efforts, we want to keep flooding the economy with

more money and a downside as well. we need to find that balance and when we find those we want to be supportive. stuart: thank you for joining us, always a pleasure. i will put cryptos on screen, the point here is we've had two months of relatively little action, bitcoin, 31-7, for about eight weeks. the cofounder of dogecoin which i call a joke coin, that founder is callings a scam. i don't get why guy who invents a joke coin should call all the cryptos a scam? >> victim of his own success. it is jackson palmer. after years of studying it i believe crypto currency is an inherently right-wing hyper

capitalistic technology built primarily to amplify the wealth of its proponents through a combination of tax avoidance, diminished regulatory oversight and artificially enforced scarcity. in a nutshell that has evolved to incorporate institutions it set out to replace. stuart: there are elements of that tweet that are accurate. i don't believe the anti-capitalist stuff but the way cryptos were introduced, limited supply, no government regulation, tax avoidance. >> and now you have the big institutions getting in on them, regulators looking at them nobody knowing what to do with them and for two months bitcoin at 32,$000. >> that doesn't entice people in. when it is flat like that you want this. check the markets again.

18 minutes into the session, the dow up 30, the nasdaq up 30 and microsoft, i have a little of it, 283, that is another all-time high. microsoft has been on a tear. and army veteran, former patriots player, a super bowl champ to united states senator. >> too many republicans just go along to get along. stuart: he is taking on john bozeman backed by donald trump. does the silica split in the party? jake beckett joins next hour. in los angeles county, mask up indoors even if they are vaccinated. ♪♪

heir backs. (other money manager) how do your clients know that? (naj) because as a fiduciary, it's our responsibility to always put clients first. (other money manager) so you do it because you have to? (naj) no, we do it because it's the right thing to do. we help clients enjoy a comfortable retirement. (other money manager) sounds like a big responsibility. (naj) one that we don't take lightly. it's why our fees are structured so we do better when our clients do better. fisher investments is clearly different.

stuart: crowds are pretty good at o'hare airport but i've got to tell you passenger traffic is not back to the level it was in 2019. it is 20% below that level. we have american airlines telling their flight attendants you've got to come back from extended leave. sound like they are getting desperate. lauren: customers are getting annoyed when the flight is canceled or you are trying to get someone on the phone and you can't. american because demand is up are adding new routes this year, later this year so they need staff so they are canceling all extended voluntary leaves of absence and hiring new flight attendants too. they say 800 by march. stuart: they are desperate indeed. back to chicago's o'hare. grady trimble is there. chicago is adding states to their travel advisories. spell it out please.

>> reporter: two states on the travel advisory list, just recently the city announced arkansas and missouri are back on the list and monitoring other states and that is because of rising covid cases so people coming from those areas into chicago if they are in vaccinated they are required to take a test and show a negative test three days before they arrive or when they arrive, quarantine for ten days. this advisory list is updated throughout the pandemic. it is not clear whether it is being enforced at all. it is mostly advice from the city. this also comes as los angeles county is reinstating its indoor mask mandate starting saturday and it is regardless of whether you've been vaccinated or not, you've got to wear a mask in bars and restaurants, retail and grocery stores and the county health officials have said that other restrictions could be added. everything is still on the table but we have seen at

o'hare demand is back. people are flying again, not might to 2019 levels but the leisure travel boom right now. there is concern that more restrictions could set things back. stuart: that is a concern. and understandable concern especially on the part of the airlines. we will see you again later in the show. the markets have been open for 25 minutes this friday morning and up across the board. not that much but we have some green. still ahead on the show. tammy bruce, harmeet dhillon, jesse waters, rick grenell, second hour of varney is next. ♪♪

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apple pressuring up to 14903, it -- 149.03. that's a pretty high level. we did earlier have a new all-time high for microsoft. it reached the 283 level. it's backed off just a little. just the latest read on consumer sentiment. lauren: major disappointment. came in at 80.8. we were expecting 86.5. this is a window into the economic recovery. inflation, these higher prices that consumers and businesses are paying, is it starting to eat into how they feel about things moving forward in is. stuart: very good question. the dow has not responded to that report. still up about 60-odd points. lauren: a summer friday. stuart: exactly right. now, everyone, this. the white house is on the lookout for misinformation about vaccines. it's not just looking out for it, it is actively intervening. they're watching what you say, and they're stepping in when they don't like or approve of

what you say. jen psaki says the white house is, quote, flagging problematic facebook posts, and it's being done from the surgeon general's office. that means the administration's working hand in glove, directly with facebook on censorship. what does facebook get out of this? well, it is helping the president, and that makes it look good just as some democrats want to punish it for its power and wealth. when the justice department comes calling, mark zuckerberg can say i helped you when you needed it,en didn't i? we should have seen this coming. for a long time, social networks have pressed us all a into a certain line of thinking, a viewpoint that suppresses conservative opinion and pushes constantly the new woke narrative. you're not supposed to be anti-vaccine at a time when biden wants more people vaccinated. there's no room on facebook for those who want out. but the censors can get it badly wrong. remember the theory that covid

began in the wuhan lab? when president trump mentioned it, facebook banned it. when joe biden raised the issue, they reinstated the lab theory. facebook hated trump but they love joe biden. they are politically biased. they may be a private company, but right now they are acting as an arm of the federal government. in fact, they are part of the federal government. joe biden, mark zuckerberg, big brother's always watching. the second hour of "varney & co." about to begin. ♪ ♪ stuart: we should tell you that facebook has released this statement to fox business saying in part, we've partnered with government experts, health authorities and researchers to take aggressive action against misinformation about covid-19 and vaccines to protect public health. so far we have removed more than

18 million pieces of covid misinformation, removed accounts that repeatedly break these rules. still don't know who defines misinformation. tammy bruce is with us this morning. all right. i don't know how they define misinformation, and i'm, i see their statement about it and removing these posts. but what do you make of the idea in that facebook is working hand in glove with the white house on e censorship? >> yes. i think this has been going on for a while. now, it may not have been so obviously direct, but they look for guidance based on the attitude and the approach, the democrats, whether they were in the white house or not. we saw that through the last election, as you aptly noted in your monologue are. i don't know, they should have been laughing when they wrote that statement but, unfortunately, they probably weren't. they probably were just taking it seriously. this is perfectly, people say this a great deal these days,

but this is perfectly orwellian. clearly, they are now a state actor, and that's been the argument for a while. even though they're private or, you know, publicly held, that their actions have mirrored the state. they control so much of the conversation that the state has been relying on on them to do censorship that the constitution does not allow the stated to do. so -- the state to do. so it's like you've got this one kind of middleman, if you will, which is covid and emergency so that you've got a massive control of public information censoring the american public based on what the state wants. this is clearly unconstitutional. and for jen psaki and the white house to announce this just so casually as though it was normal, that's the other problem. this is one of the things they a want to do. they don't want to hide anymore. they want this to be the natural working base for communications, and all of us us should be

extremely worried about that and reject it. stuart: yes. but they still have enormous power. massive cash on hand and the ability to block any change of any kind for a long time to come. and when they work hand in glove with the biden team, that helps their position. that helps them counter any pressure that they might be under. last 30 seconds to you. do you think we will ever see serious reform of facebook and other social networks? >> yes. i think that as we move out of this pandemic and as we see more ridiculous things happen, we do have a background of seeing what they did and what was wrong whether it was hunter biden's laptop or a conversation at all about china and the virus. the fact is, is that regardless of the topic, stu, that americans -- we're americans. what makes us different from the rest of the world is that we can say what we want no matter how dumb, no matter how wrong, and people can make up their minds. america's have been very good at

it. we remain good at it, and there's a few people who want to control that conversation because the truth does set you free, and that's the last thing they want. stuart: you've got that right. tammy bruce, have a great weekend. see you next week. >> thank you, sir. stuart: let's get to the markets. this is not a huge rally by any means, but we've got the dow, s&p, nasdaq on the upside, and jonathan hoenig joins us now. all right, jonathan, i'm just reading here on the prompter what you've been saying. you say we're about to see a big drop. now, that's dramatic. make your case. >> yeah. well, looking for those canaries in the coal mine, stuart. you remember, that's a song from many years ago, and starting to see some evidence. think of breadth as underneath the hood of the car. 60% of stocks now are below their 50-day moving average. so it's one indicator. but the big one, in fact, you've

been talking about all morning long, bitcoin stuck at $30,000 a coin. look, it was 50,000 just a couple of weeks ago, and joke coin is down from 70 cents to 18 cents. all these are early warning indicators that this expansion of risk is probably coming to an end. stuart: does that extend to the stock market? i'm thinking of the tremendous gains made by big tech and other sectors of the market. a big drop coming there as well, you think? >> i mean, look, big tech has kind of come back to life as the leaders. microsoft, facebook, a lot of these names aren't too far off from all-time highs. i'm looking at tesla and even some of the recent ipos that have flopped. topping out is a process, i don't think it necessarily happens on one day, but if i had to put a baseball analogy on it, we're probably in the seventh or eighth inning, maybe even the early ninth, and that's why i'm shorting. i'm shorting tesla, ooh i'm actually shorting gold. i think it's time to lighten up

writ large, at least for my clients at capitalist pig. stuart: okay. just give me the big picture for a second. we've had a roughly 13-year bull market. we haven't exactly gone straight up, but it's been an extraordinary run. is it over? >> i always say, stuart, i don't have a prediction, but i have positions. in my mind, the dominance of these new names, the microsofts, the teslas, the names that have led the market for so long and what i envision is more a situation9 from the if earlier part of the 21st century that was under the radar screen leading the names and not so much the big indices, and we've seen it, as you said, for the last 13 years. stuart: jonathan, see you again next week. that's a promise. >> thank you. stuart: let's bring in lauren because i want to know the movers and shakers on the market this morning. lauren: honest company was upgraded to buy, they say the recent pullback in shares makes honest more attractive to

investors. stuart: lordstown motors. >> okay. so the electric truck developer is being investigated by the feds. they want to know more about those preorder numbers, also their merger with a blank check company. this is on top of an sec investigation. the stock is down 1.8%, it's been halved since march. stuart: i want to see a big winner. i think we've got one here -- lauren: all-time high, baby. moderna, the biggest and most notable addition since tesla last year, this happened before the open on wednesday. stuart: so all those money managers who follow an index, they've got to buy that stock because it's now in the index. lauren: you get more wide ownership, absolutely. stuart: certainly do. hawn lauren so many funds track the s&p 500 as well. stuart: a 10 is % gain. ain't that something? yes, it is. bitcoin hovering at -- well, it's up a little bit, 31,8 right now. google searches for cryptos down? lauren: who buys

cryptocurrencieses? who buys bitcoin? a lot of novice investors. so they're constantly googling things. their interest in it, their knowledge of it. so the fact that google searches for bitcoin price hit a seven month low might explain this unenthusiastic crypto market. yes, i spoke to a couple of people about what's going on with cryptocurrencies yesterday, and most said when china booted mining out, that really kind of killed the market. and with a lot of these novices getting in, a lot of them got burned. you know, in april when we were at 64, 65,000. stuart: you love to see it going up, always going to go to 400,000, jump in there. but when it calms down, the interest is gone. lauren: so should we buy? [laughter] stuart: i have no idea. tell me about square, that's another mover. lauren: speaking of cryptocurrencies, jack dorsey is creating a company focused on bitcoin just like the hardware wallet that they have for bitcoin.

and also paypal raised their limits for u.s. customers to $100,000 a week so more people can embrace it, and those customers have more flexibility. so people are trying to make crypto more mainstream, but i think there's a lot of resistance right now both in price and interest. stuart: it looks like it. i've got this expression. coke went woke. and now one group is calling them out. roll this tape, please. ♪ at coke, we say we're woke. ♪ china is our labor supplier -- ♪ drives our stock price even higher ♪♪ stuart: that was interesting. we're going to play the full video a little later. very interesting. the country's largest counties, let me rephrase this, one of the largest counties in the country is reimposing mask mandates even if you do have the jab. we'll tell you all a than. first though, he's a

superbole champ and a military vet -- super bowl champ. roll tape. >> what's happening in washington these days is a disgrace. some will say that a young football-playing army veteran isn't qualified to stone them. or or -- stop them. or maybe they'll say it's not my turn. here's what i say, just see if you can block. stuart: he's going after a senator who supports former president trump. jake beckett is here with his pitch to arkansas voters after this. ♪ take on me, take me on. ♪ i'll be gone in a day or two ♪♪

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♪♪ >> what's happening in washington these days is a disgrace. democrats have been taken over by radical socialists, and too many republicans just go along to get along. stuart: that's former nfl player, republican senatorial candidate for arkansas jake bequette, and he's joining me now. you're going after senator john boozman if, he has the backing of former president trump as well as other powerful republicans. why are you challenging him? it makes me think that this is a split party. >> well, first of all, no one has more respect for president trump than me. i just look at senator boozman's record, and i see it differently. i see someone who's not standing up for arkansas conservative values, i see someone who's a

career politician who's been in washington for over two decades, working on his third. i think it's time for a change. look, he supported budgets that fully funded planned parenthood, that exploded our national debt and stood for radical policies like renaming our military bases. i think that kind of thing happens to even good people who spend over two decades in washington. i'm not a career politician, okay? if i'm an outsider. i'm a soldier, i'm an athlete, i'm a leader. and i intend to lead, stand up and fight for the conservative values that millions of americans truly care about. stuart: so that's your appeal really, that you're not a professional politician. you've not spent time in d.c. you're a different kind of guy. it seems like that's what donald trump brought to the scene. i mean, he was a businessman, a total outsider. he comes on the scene and does a lot of good stuff. you want to be the same kind of person. >> absolutely. president trump galvanized conservatives all over the country because he was an

outsider. he did not come from the establishment political class. and i'm the exact same way. look, i am not a career politician. i come from a sports background, a military background. i'm going to come in there and shake up washington, help to drain the swamp. i'm going to stand up and fight. if you're a republican politician these days and you're not leading from the front, if you're not rallying others to our cause, if you're not moving the needle and being a key difference maker on serious issues, you're not doing your job. i'm always going to do my job and fight for conservative values. stuart: as a former athlete, will you comment on the black national anthem this season? look, nfl ratings are way down. do you think this is going to help 'em? >> no, this is terrible, a disgrace, and i strongly to oppose this woke ideology that's infecting so many american institutions, and particularly

professional sports. as an athlete, it was a highlight of my career in collegiate and professional football to stand on the sidelines while the national ab them play -- anthem played standing shoulder to shoulder with teammates of all different races and backgrounds. that represents the west of america. and to stand up -- the best of america. and to stand up and disrespect our flag to engage in this woke virtue signaling that the nfl is proposing this year, it's totally insane, anti-american, and it's not what sports represents. stuart: jake, come back and see us soon. we want to see how you're doing. good stuff. thank you, sir. >> thank you. stuart: you got it. remember this? in portland when leftists tore down statues of former presidents, the city put them in storage, and now they may stay there for good. dan springer is in seattle. dan, why can't they be returned? >> reporter: yeah, stuart. well, as you said, it now

appears as if these statues of some of the most iconic americans in history that were toppled during the protests last year may never go back up in the city of portland. the statues of teddy roosevelt and abraham lincoln who freed the slaves and superbed the union were pulled down nine months ago, and the statues of thomas jeff and george washington -- jefferson and george washington were knocked down four months before that. they've been hidden away from the public by a nonprofit that is the steward of the public art in portland. but instead of repairing these statues that stood for nearly a century, the arts council has rewritten guidelines for when art can be removed for good. now public art can be canceled for being, quote, significantly at odds with values of anti-racism, ec equity, inclusin or if there's overwhelming public objection. >> -- public discussions. they're the key to helping the united states heal from

centuries of racism. >> reporter: but many are angry that the presidents on mount rushmore are not being viewed in historical context. >> i was in disbelief, quite frankly, you know? it had been up for 100 years, and, you know, history doesn't change by doing something like that. >> reporter: and not a single city counsel member in portland would go on the record with us about what should happen with these statues, so we believe that while at least it looks like these statues may be canceled giving the protesters, the rioters, the anarchists that pulled them down a major victory. stuart? stuart: dan springer, that is a disgrace. thank you very much for reporting on it, we appreciate it. thanks very much. coming up, we'll change the tune. mike gunzelman if joins us. he takes to the streets to ask how inflation is affecting you. here's a little of his report. >> reporter: going to have to start budgeting differently when you want to go out with friends?

>> oh, absolutely. it's not going to happen as much because of what i'm paying at the stores and the gas pumps. i'm not being paid more, but i'm spending more. stuart: we call in gunz, and you'll have more of the responses just ahead. first though, in los angeles you've got to wear a mask even if you've been vaccinated. look, i don't get it. maybe march meet dill. loan does. she's a california lawyer, and she's on the show next. ♪ california knows how to party. ♪ knows how to party -- california knows how to party. ♪ in the city of l.a -- ♪ in the city of -- there there is sam with usaa. do you see the tow truck? yes, thank you, that was fast. sgt. houston never expected this to happen.

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♪ california dreaming on such a winter's -- ♪ california dreaming ♪♪ stuart: california dreaming as you look at oakland, california, where it is just 55 degrees right now. it'll probably warm up later. we're going to go further south, look into los angeles county. the indoor mask man has returned -- mandate has returned even if you've gotten the jab. rnc national committeewoman for california harmeet dhillon joins us now. we know the vaccines refective against the delta -- are

effective against the delta variant, so what happened to trusting the science? >> it's going to be two weeks to flatten the curve first, and then you can get your rights back. the 5 million vaccinated people in los angeles, the largest population county in the united states, are being told that they're going to be treated no differently than people who haven't been vaccinated. so what happened to following the science? this is absolutely crazy, it is a mandate being imposed by a single person, barbara ferrer, who's the commissioner of public health there, and it flies in the face of follow the science and, frankly, makes it less attractive for people to want to get vaccinated. i'm actually working with ric grenell's group on potential legal action, and so please watch the space. that may be coming very shortly. stuart: hasn't there been some kind of reaction from the people of los angeles? this has been foisted on them by just one person, as you say.

surely, there's some backlash, isn't there? >> it's only been a few hours. it's very interesting that they waited until after work hours on a thursday afternoon to announce this extremely unpopular measure. and so, yes, i can tell you that people across the political spectrum are appalled by this. there's fear in other parts of california that this virus, a lack of adherence to the science, may spread to to other cities in california. look, stuart, we are miserable in california with the totally illogical and nonscientific lockdowns that we've suffered through with no better results on covid rates than other states that were much more free like florida, texas and others. so i think people are fed up. they have had enough, and i don't know how the sheriff is going to mandate this mask wearing for 5 million vaccinated people in the county. and it's going to discourage people from greating

vaccinated -- getting vaccinated in california. the governor is always talking about vaccine hesitancy, and this is going the make it worse. i guarantee it. i hope they come to their senses. and, by the way, it isn't doing governor newsom any favors in his recall effort for suddenly millions of people to be incredibly angry with the california government. that's going to be an interesting dynamic, to see if the governor leans on l.a. to retract its position. stuart: well, filing for the california governor's race officially closes today. so you tell us, at this point does it look like a republican could actually win statewide office in california? >> well, i think certainly the chances went up with this vaccine issue and this mask issue yesterday. so the answer is, yes. we have several highly qualified, dynamic republican candidates in the race generating excitement from different participants of the spectrum -- parts of the spectrum. and importantly, many who we believe can gain democrat and

independent cross-over votes as well. there's go questions on the ballot, stu. it's, one, would you like to recall governor newsom. and the more candidates in the race who generate enthusiasm, the better. and number two, who would you like to replace him. so far we have, i think, almost 100 people on the ballot who i know of and there may be a few more straggling in. and there's at least half a dozen good republican candidates on there with with good name id and many of whom have run for office before, former members of congress, a mayor of san diego, kevin faulkner if, john cox who was our statewide nominee before, larry elder, talk show host, and many others. and so i think, you know, caitlyn jenner. so i think we have quite a few people to choose from. there's a lot of excitement not just with republicans, but also everybody who's fed if up with covid lockdowns, with their children being forced to mask even though that's not logical even if they're vaccinated. and now with millions of us

being told that your vaccination status is irrelevant to your liberties -- [laughter] we are pretty unhappy in california, ready for a change. stuart: you talked about being unhappy, you talked about misery, and i keep telling you, plenty of room in florida. i've got a house down there, and i'll rent it out to you willingly, believe me. [laughter] always good. thanks for joining us. see you again real soon. we've got several more stories on california. this one the start with. they just approved the first state-funded guaranteed income plan. oh -- who gets the money and how much. lauren: it's $35 million, and the thinking is it'll be between $500-1,000 a month. it goes for pregnant women and for foster children that have aged out of the system. so money gets loaded onto a credit card, and these people can spend it however they please. no lawmaker voted against it. so what the money's going to do,

going to lift people up. they deserve it. they've had tough lives. but what we're seeing in california now how guaranteed income will work, and washington is looking at this too. how state-funded, giving you a credit card forever if, how that really plays out. this is an example in california. stuart: my goodness. a credit card forever. until the $35 billion runs out or gets reinstated. stuart: all right. the l.a. police department will no longer charge people arrested for certain crimes. lawyer lauren they're putting them in programs run by hoping committees. nonviolent felonies gets you a coming session. this -- counseling session. this idea of redefining policing, it's popular in progressive circles. but it's another brand experiment. let's see how it plays out or or

are those criminals going to be back on the streets as people continue to leave -- stuart: that's for felonies. lauren: nonviolent ones -- stuart: but a felony, nonetheless. you go to therapy. lauren: the community will help you figure it out. stuart: there's more -- lauren: intervention from prosecution. stuart: there's more, listen to this. the university of california just mandated vaccines for all students. mandatory, all students gotta have the jab. what happens if one of them doesn't get the jab? lauren: can't go. you can't attend class in person, you can't attend campus events, and you can't live in a dorm. so for the vaccinated that can attend class, they're going to have to wear a mask. yes. so the university of california system is mandating vaccinated people, even though -- so it's mandating the vaccine even though it's not fully federally approved. see, the vaccines have that emergency use. stuart: yep. lauren: so i think when it gets

the full federal approval from the fda, you'll see other businesses, colleges come out and say now we are mandating it. a lot of people have been hesitant to do that. stuart: california, florida -- lauren: i know. stuart: -- can you get two states more different? i don't think you can. lauren: and people are voting with their feet and pocketbooks. stuart: back to florida. and a cnn contributor going on a tirade against the entire republican party. you've got to a watch this. >> look at the cpac stuff. it's like a mardi gras of lunacy and ignorance, but it's a proud, defiant ignorance. stuart: ignorance. there's bob costas for you. jesse watters is here, and he will respond to that. first though, still waiting for your tax refund? so are 35 million americans. what's behind the delay? connell mcshane reports after this.

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♪ guys like us in a big tour bus making that easy money ♪♪ stuart: that is new orleans, louisiana. a little cloudy this morning. 83 degrees right now, and i believe it's going to rain later on. and then there's this, 35 million americans still waiting for their tax returns to be processed. connell mcshane in new york, what is the problem? if why the delays? >> reporter: a number of problems, stuart. you know, it's funny, remote work is actually getting some of the blame for this, all the people working from home for so long. it's not just the irs, this has kind of turned into the summer of delay in some ways for government agencies. for example, americans starting to travel internationally again. the state department can't seem

to come up with the backlog in passport applications. it's grown to nearly 2 million. before the pandemic, a standard passport would take up to 6-8 weeks, now it's 18 weeks. the wait times, from what we understand, aren't expected to go down anytime soon, and the irs is similar to that in many ways. the irs had so many employees working from home for an extended period. there was a new watchdog report that's leading accountants and their clients to look for answers. >> basically, you can't really get through to anyone at the irs. and the reason that's happening is they simply don't have the resources. the irs was not geared to be able to go remote. >> reporter: dan geltrude says this brings up a larger point. your goal should never be, as a

taxpayer, to get a refund from the irs. >> some people out there will say, you know what? i want to have that refund there knowing i'm getting it so i won't spend it during the year. they don't have enough discipline to save the money. well, listen, with your paycheck just allocate it into a savings account instead of your checking account where presumably you're paying bills. so the key is hold on to your money. don't give it to the government. >> reporter: give it to 'em, you wouldn't have this problem, but many people do. in addition to the staffing problems, there were some changes of the tax code that came in right before tax season, that addedded to the workload. and all those stimulus checks that had to be passed out, that seemed to take priority as well over the normal returns, so they're really backed up. stuart: not to mention the difficulties of tracking bitcoin losses. connell, thank you very much. let's check the markets.

we now have the tow down -- dow down 150 points, nasdaq down 20, s&p down 12. no sudden headline to account for this -- lauren: banks are contributing to this. these are some of our big movers, goldman sachs and jpmorgan chase, they are taking 45 points from the dow jones industrial average this week. solid earnings from the banks, but the banking sector is down 1%. low rates are ahead, manage -- imagine that. frenzied trading activity just doesn't exist right now. stuart: so those two big banks helping to take the dow down. lauren: ford is recalling several hundred thousand issues for an issue with a ball joint. stuart: $13 a share on ford. what do we have on microsoft? i think it went to 283, right?

if. lauren: 284 is the new high, the third record this week, and upgrading its price target to $310. 310, stuart. stuart: please, i want the hear it right now. we'll the take 281, that's for sure. didi, i think they're down again. no. no, no, hold on, leave that on the screen. leave that -- oh, that's the -- lauren: the cyber truck. the trapezoid. stuart: tesla's guy, musk, he said it's a flop? lauren lauren he is just so blunt. remember when he was in court earlier this week because of the solar city tie-up? he said i rather hate being the ceo of tesla. i'd rather design. this is what he designed. it has no door handles, and he says it could flop and i'm fine with that because i love it. people love musk and over half a

million orders -- stuart: do you know of any other major ceo who could say i hate being the ceo of this company, and that thing i designed, it could be a flop. who else could say that in lauren lauren only elon musk, and it works almost every time for him. stuart: didi, are they down again this morning? chinese ride-hailing company, another 2% lower? lauren: seven different regulators are looking for data on how didi stores data and how it uses data. street locations, where its drivers are, where people are, and they're doing this in the name of national security. so this crackdown went into full gear just days after their ipo at $14. stuart: all right. end of the week, slow trading. summer doldrums. dow's down 140 points. not that much actually. even the seas are not safe from p.c. culture. how one organization wants to rebrand shark attacks. mike gunzelman hits the

streets of new york. he wants to know how you are coping with rising inflation. gunz is next. ♪ they call me the working man. ♪ they call me the working man. ♪ i think that's what i am ♪♪ ♪ ♪ experience, hyper performance that takes you further. at the lexus golden opportunity sales event. get 0.9% apr financing on the all 2021 lexus hybrid models. experience amazing. get 0.9% apr financing on the all 2021 lexus hybrid models. sometimes, you want speedy but reliable. state-of-the-art but dependable. in other words, you want a hybrid.

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♪ ♪ stuart: minneapolis right there. minneapolis, minnesota, i should say. that is a nice 72 degrees. kind of a nice day. we talk a lot on this program about inflation. we do it all the time. well, michael gunz gunzelman went out on the streets of new york asking people how do you cope with these rising prices. gunz is with me now. what did they tell you, gunz? if. >> it's very interesting, stuart, because the bottom line is for the last year and a half, a lot of people have been able to save money because we haven't been able to do anything. but with the country reopening, everyone's starting to spend again, but they're realizing that everything is so expensive. so i hit the streets in new york city to talk to the people on an all new gunz on the go.

♪ ♪ >> are you noticing things are more expensive everywhere when you're trying to buy things? >> i've noticed everything has at least gone up by, like, a couple dollars. even gas has skyrocketed. in california it's about $5 a gallon. >> it is definitely the biggest increase that we've been seeing. everything from the restaurants to grocery stores. everything's up. all you can do is just live, right? >> is there anything that stands out that you're just like, wow, this is a lot more expensive. >> hamburger meat. to make tacos at home, it's sort of crazy. i think meat and dairy the highest prices. we just came from a diner, and the first glimpse of the menu, like the first entree was $20. >> from texas to new york city, how was the airfare? >> like $1500. >> one way or both ways? >> both ways. >> are you going to have to

start budgeting differently when you want to go out with friends? >> oh, absolutely. it's not going to happen as much because of what i'm paying at the stores and gas pumps and everything. i'm not being paid more, i be i'm spending more -- but i'm spending more. >> i don't know how younger people actually buy houses and function. >> we've been looking to buy a house, so that that's been a big expense that we've been kind of putting off because the housing prices as well are real high. >> yeah. so there you have it, stuart. i literally talked to people all across the country, and it's one thing where it's like, oh, airfare's expensive, so maybe i'll drive. but then all of a sudden gas prices, people from california getting absolutely smoked right now, $5 a gallon. i guess we can't drive anywhere. and it is important though, stuart, to say that people did tell me that they're willing to spend the money right now because they just want to have some sort of fun, some sort of entertainment. but i truly believe that eventually it's going to catch up to people. eventually the lights are going to turn back on on that dance

floor. and instead of me going out in new york city for a nice steak dinner, i'm going to be eating hot pockets because that's all i can afford -- [laughter] because everything's so expensive. stuart: gunz, it's never going to be that a bad, believe me. [laughter] that was a very good report because that brings home to everybody how prices for everything are, in fact, going up. it is noticeable. that's inflation that you can actually notice. all right, gunz, good stuff. thanks for joining us. let me turn to lauren, have you noticed this too too? that's your graphic. we used that yesterday with the used car prices going up. but in your everyday, personal life, have you seen prices go up? lauren lauren i stopped looking at how much something things cost because when you're at the food store, you need food. you go food shopping, what are you supposed to do? if something's on sale, i'll buy it. but ooh i'm not going to say -- everything is just so darn expensive. i have cut back in certain ways

with discretionary purchases, but i think the cure for -- things can just hit a certain point and customers are going to say enough is enough. i think we're starting to see that in some pockets of the housing market. not necessarily with the home price itself or with the components that go into the house -- think lumber, for instance -- and, you know, between the wait times and the price tags, you know, people will sit on the sidelines. stuart: you have three children. lauren lauren yeah, i do. stuart: stop it. would you have paid $5 for a single scoop of vanilla ice cream with no sprinkles? lauren: not only would i have paid it, i do have a rule at the ice cream parlor, if you take one spoon or one lick or it falls out of the cone, they have to get a flavor that i also like so i can finish it instead of, like, cotton candy or those gross flavors. you have to pick what mommy

likes. stuart: we're all feeling it. all feeling it. all these rising prices. lauren, thank you very much. check that market, still on the downside. 100 points lower for the dow, 2 for the nasdaq, 5 for the s&p. what -- there's the full picture there. there's the dow 30. i'd say more than half are in the red as the dow sinks, what, 94 points. another big hour coming up for you. wait for it. look at that, jesse watt tears on the show about -- watters on this show. joe concha and the ceo of priceline, none other than brett keller. and there's this, covid cases and restrictions, they're making a comeback in many parts of the world. but in america, look, we've got our freedom from restrictions, and i don't think we're going to give it up. that's next, that's my take after this. ♪ ♪ ♪ waiting for to help our family's special needs...

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>> the hybrid approach is the solution, they work as much they want but everyone else in the office. >> and a 10% increase, and a big push into the holidays.

>> we are seeing businesses be more productive with less but we are witnessing the effects of free money, leading to tight labor markets and inflation. >> 30,$000 a coin a couple weeks ago and joke coin is down from $0.70 to $0.18. these are early warning indicators,. ♪♪ stuart: i should have known. that is the name of the song.

it is friday july 16th, momentarily a second ago, that is the man, jesse waters. >> it is not am am am bob. stuart: i don't know everything was the only reason this man is on the show is he has a great book, best-selling book we will be talking about in a moment, welcome to the show. got to check the markets, some red ink for the dow industrials down 100 points and the nasdaq down 21 as we speak. it is a mild mild selloff. the tenure treasury yields around the 130 level, one.32% as we speak, now this.

last night the yankees game against the boston red sox canceled, three pictures tested positive for covid. in tokyo one week before the other pics officials report 30 confirmed cases among olympics related personnel despite stringent precautions and cases surging in tokyo outside the olympics bubble. in europe a new surge in infections have the european union worried about that continent's economic recovery and in los angeles even if you have been vaccinated the indoor mask mandate is back, this adds up to a new virus surge, cases are indeed rising but in america apart from los angeles i don't see any panic or any enthusiasm for a return to restrictions. we've learned a great deal since covid first hit. back then we didn't know exactly what it was or how to cope with it so we rushed into full sail lockdowns but now we have vaccines, we have treatments, that makes all the

difference. we know vaccines are highly effective against the delta variance, most of the new cases have been among the nonvaccinated population, treatments work so hospitalization rates have come way down. the most important point is this. we have our individual freedom back and we are not going to give it up. a year ago we were told what risks we were allowed to take, now it is our choice. you don't think that restaurant is safe, don't eat there but don't stop others from eating there. they are not wearing masks in that store so don't go in but don't shut it down. isn't that the point here? we've got the vaccines, we've got the treatments, we have widespread immunity and we are not going to give into delta anxiety, we are not going to give up our freedom, this is after all america, isn't it? isn't it america, jesse waters. >> it is america, stuart varney and thank you for having me. i'm going to la in two weeks and now i have to wear a mask

and i'm upset because no one is going to recognize me. that is very upsetting but looks like la county, you know how many people died from, the other day? one. the day before, 0. so what is happening in my opinion, newsom has this recall coming up so he's trying to increase the fear so he can mass mail outhe balsets decrolatitcrolia to cawite twihathha th eleylike, w co t tl nted f ofom o osp chleo ca tasm t alismy lintt ettohaett t ssmthlesmst up up s cad this ith a wi tidbaidcke o e drondriaacloiadownckdo ju forst flie calie polie n' won' wawh .h ith an e'a ltre ca ltin ininheanotone. ab t abna andmphe tlihaha blicpubl pty.ar t hat tahape. rtpaor movement led by

donald trump can ever be about honesty, integrity or any sort of consistent principle or any rational understanding of patriotism. this was the guy who was willing to subvert the very pillars of democracy if it suited him. the cpac stuff is like a mardi gras of lunacy and ignorance but it is a proud, defined ignorance. stuart: he was a sports guy. >> i like kostis because he was nice to me in the green room and that goes a long way with me but he comes off as a true snob and what he doesn't understand is the american people feel they have been treated unfairly from the hoaxes to the blackouts to the strings to the lies, the leaks, everything that has gone in the last four years so there's a

lot of mistrust, they don't trust the election, they don't trust the media, they don't trust the fbi so he doesn't understand that because he's not in touch with that and to say people on the right are kooky has he seen the left? they want to give california back to mexico. not necessarily an outrageous trade but that is how crazy they are and i think he needs a little more, what we call it -- stuart: they never got past trump hatred and they never will. >> it animates them. it gives their life meaning. stuart: taking the words right out of my mouth. tell me about the book. >> one of the things that is in the book and is towards the end, stuart and i went to the white house for dinner for the president of the united states and we had one of the most amazing experiences at least speaking personally to the lincoln bedroom and didn't have to pay for anything. he shows us the gettysburg address and says jesse, some

people say my twitter account is the modern day equivalent of the gettysburg address. i said some people meaning you, mister president? but it was a great dinner and stories like that are in there and not just that but traveling the country, seeing liberals in their natural habitat, san francisco, nude beaches in martha's vineyard, ambushing bad guys, confronting veterans and talking to liberals and finding out what makes them tick, their insecurities and how that animates them. it is a fun read but also an insightful read. stuart: you know why you are popular among many things? >> is the hair? >> we are all jealous of it. stuart: you are an original thinker and you deliver some really strong political opinions with a smile. you are not nasty and audiences don't like nasty. it is very easy to be nasty but

you are not, you're never that. you've always got that smile. >> i'm a very lucky person, i get paid probably overpaid to sit on my keister and talk about how i feel, remember eric shawn come our correspondent here, many years when i used to go to the streets he said when you approach people for interviews whether it is an ambush or trying to do a man on the street quiz come at them with the biggest smile on your face, act like you're delivering them a sweepstakes check for 100,$000. it lowers the temperature, keeps it fun, keeps it loose, keeps it relaxed and people will tell you more and that is what you want, you want a conversation, we don't have relations in america, everybody just as racist, homophobic, because they don't want to debate the issues. it is a copout. stuart: i didn't i've been having with republicans and conservatives, many the administration is checking out.

i don't like it, or you like it either. it is possible to buy the 2022 elections with taxpayer money that you spread around to everyone and everyone. they could win this election. >> history says they won't but they are trying to buy their way through it. you have open borders, critical race theory, a crime wave, high gas prices, those four components are going to be very favorable to a republican red wave and put history in the mix, first midterm party always loses seats. they have to showers this country with cash, just shower it with cash. that's all i have, they don't have good policies, don't have good salesman. he has longed, then a meeting, then he calls the list. they have to buy it and listen, treasury stock, they will print

it, you know it, they will just print it they will print their way to victory, can't let it happen. stuart: that is the number one book on the new york times bestseller list. >> they hated to print my name and the number one spot. stuart: we will be watching you on the five, will there be another book promo? >> i don't think i from edited enough. i think i could do more. stuart: is that my free copy? >> it is. i will write you a nice note. give me your pen. stuart: you did not use my name in the dinner we had. >> it is already signed. stuart: do i have to pay for that? >> $29.99. stuart: you are all right, we appreciate you being with us, good luck to you. let's take a look at the markets. we are still in the red across the board, we took down 100 for the dow, that is the third of one%. show me the movers and start with starbucks. lauren: oppenheimer uping their price target to $140 ahead of earnings and sales outperform

because people are ordering increasingly on their phones and starbucks technology is letting that happen. let's look at as low. registrations for the model why crossover, up 85% in california, high gas prices, but it is down this year by 8%. we've seen a decoupling from big tech, big tech continues to outperform but not exactly today. netflix shares report on tuesday. a great stock but without the retail sales report today people are going out and about. i be going to continue to binge at home? have our habits shifted? netflix forecast 1 million net paid customers added to their subscription versus the 10 million from 2020. stuart: we got that, thank you very much. jesse waters is no longer occupying the seat next to me so he can come back into the

studio. >> i heard whispering in my ear. was that jesse? stuart: yes. he was saying goodbye to me but come on in. >> i thought it would be more gossipy than that. stuart: still to come congressman dan crenshaw says our military is prioritizing woke training over war fighting. is that putting national security at risk? i will ask risk -- record about that. major league baseball, taking a political stance of the all-star game out of georgia. why are they staying silent on the unrest in cuba, joe consciousable take that on and have you seen this new ad targeting coca-cola? role tape? ♪♪ china is our latest supplier that drives our stock price even higher ♪♪ ♪♪ don't wake me up

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stuart: the cuban regime cut off internet access and blaming social media for triggering antigovernment marches across the island. phil keating is a little have an a section of miami. will president biden help restore internet access to cuba? >> he indicates they are making that effort was liberal democratic on this woman from new york alexandria ocasio cortez breaking her silence on the unrest in cuba tweeting out a statement saying she shares solidarity with the cuban people while also criticizing

the decades long us trade embargo on the island and saying she disagrees entirely with president biden's defense of the embargo. biden says his administration is looking at ways to provide internet access to the island that is blackout proof. hundreds of miami cuban-americans marching and waving cuban flags chanting for liberty and demanding change in communist cuba. in cuba new images coming out showing the government's response to the largest antigovernment protest in decades. arrests of protesters and dissidents, some of them rough and violent. the internet and access to social media were shut down for days but appear to be gradually coming back. the cuban president continues to blame the us and american social media influence on his country's problems. on state tv this week cuba's president said we will defend the revolution until the end. it is a conviction.

florida's cuban-americans senator marco rubio introduced a resolution 303 in support of those who took to the streets across the island sunday demanding change to end chronic food, medicine and covid vaccine shortages, widespread poverty and economic misery. >> it literally started because people are fed up and took to the streets in one city, got on social media and it was in over 50 cities. that is unprecedented. stuart: florida's governor is urging cuba's communist enforcers to defend the people, not the regime. >> the best role for military is the cuban military to realize time is up. you can't keep doing the bidding of a repressive dictatorship. >> in a stunning and rare admission by the communist cuban government they acknowledged they are partly to blame for some of the problems

in the country that led to sunday's unprecedented protests across the island and for that they are now going to lift and aluminate the very expensive duty taxes they have been charging for anybody entering the island bringing food and medicine. stuart: senator tom cotton calling out major league baseball, mlb has strong feelings about ballot drop boxes in georgia but silent as cuba's murderous regime crackdown on protesters. come on in joe concha. not a word about cuba from baseball. how can this be? >> i thought they were politically active. i thought they were woke. a fairly that is not the case. many players in the league, has a big latin american influence around the new york yankees,

texas rangers outfielder, garcia, they wore hats during the all-star game today saying sos cuba, good for them but it is the woke league executives who were silent to tom cotton's point because of course they are. they only speak up when they think their bottom line might be impacted. rob manford moved the major league baseball game out of atlanta, out of georgia to go to colorado because he thought boycotts would hit the league and the wallet. had nothing to do with who is standing up for voting rights. all that ended up happening is it ended up hurting small businesses, minority owned businesses in georgia and the iron is they moved it to lily white denver. they are such phonies and hypocrites. stuart: it will not help with the tv ratings. i've not seen the ratings but i don't believe baseball is doing real well. you have seen it? >> backdooring your sophomore year of high school in 1980, 30

million people watched the all-star game and couple years ago you saw members like 12, 13 million, the new age in terms of choices and things to watch, 8.2 million people watched the all-star game on tuesday night and you think about the star power this was one of the most compelling lineups you will ever see, the angels had a 2-way player. that never happened before at the all-star game going back to 1933 in terms of pitched and batted leadoffs. a bunch of buzz going to this game and it was the second lowest rated ever. ashley: i want your comment on facebook working hand in glove with the administration to censor covid information. what do you think of this? >> if the white house can actually start to dictate with facebook what is the right speech and what is the wrong speech this is a very very dangerous thing. we can't have the biden administration and facebook working hand in hand in terms of what gets up on facebook and what doesn't.

facebook even just a month ago if you posted anything saying i think covid 19 counterman i out of the wuhan lab in china that got censored, suppressed, same with hunter biden's laptop, censored, suppressed by facebook and if the government is working with a private company like facebook with all of its millions and millions of members in terms of what should be on and shouldn't that should disturb everybody out there. stuart: joe concha, you hit it out of the park. >> i appreciate that. i broke my thumb in three places and had to get out as quickly as possible. it works out well. stuart: i played cricket in high school and i was left-handed as a batsman. that the only thing i'm left-handed in, the only thing. >> stuart varney the lefty, that is the headline.

stuart: there was no video of me playing, nonprofit research group taking aim at coca-cola. watch this. ♪♪ the day we woke ♪♪ we sell drinks out of smoke ♪♪ china is our latest supplier ♪♪ drives our stock price even higher ♪♪ stuart: that was pretty good actually. the people behind the ads talk to fox about it. what did they say? >> they said basically coca-cola should focus on consumers and not woke politicians, the campaign includes a new website called always woke:.com and mobile billboards attached to trucks driving around coke's headquarters in atlanta but the message is clear, stay out of

politics. take a listen. >> they don't lift a finger to criticize the ccp in the human rights abuses in china but want to preach to the american consumer who they should be serving about political issues that are not germane to their business. >> use our tv and accusing coke also contributing to an obesity epidemic in the us and sourcing their sugar through a chinese province synonymous with forced labor and human rights violations. coke denies it uses any forced labor but it is not the only company being targeted. consumer research has accused american airlines and nike for putting politicians before customers as well as major league baseball earlier this month which you discussed. stuart: yes we did. thanks very much indeed. let's get to this story. anything-year-old will join jeff bezos on his blue origin flight next week, he will be

the youngest person in space but that's not all. bezos will also have with him someone who will be the oldest person in space, she's 82. we've got the full story for you. new report shows 9 out of 10 of us will travel this year so where are we going? how are we getting there? we will ask those questions of none other than the ceo of priceline, he joins us shortly. ♪ limu emu & doug ♪ oh! are you using liberty mutual's coverage customizer tool? sorry? well, since you asked. it finds discounts and policy recommendations, so you only pay for what you need. limu, you're an animal! who's got the bird legs now?

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stuart: sky harbor, phoenix international airport, 90 degrees, it's going to triple digits guaranteed. 2.2 million people pastored tsa checkpoint yesterday, not quite prepended levels but getting very close. american airlines recalling all their flight attendants from voluntary leave, they need the workers to handle these growing crowds. they also plan to hire 800 more flight attendants by next

march. grady trimble joins us from o'hare international at chicago. what's this about new travel restrictions from some american states? >> two states. arkansas and missouri have been added back to the city's travel advisory list and they are monitoring several more states including nevada, utah and florida and for states that are on that was that means anybody coming from those places into the city of chicago is not vaccinated they are advised to either get a negative covid test within 3 days of the trip to chicago or quarantine for 10 days once they arrive. although there's not much teeth to that but as you said this comes as the leisure travel boom is on. people are back at the airport here and across the country with more than 1 million and have people going to tsa checkpoints every single day for the last two months basically and in los angeles county new restrictions there,

they are going back to an indoor mask mandate for all businesses including bars and restaurants, grocery stores, retail stores and even for people who are vaccinated. as americans are eager to get back to traveling and back to a normal life a lot of feel like these new restrictions or reinstated restrictions feel like a step backwards. stuart: i want to show you the price of booking holdings, they own priceline.com. more than half of booking holdings down a little bit but more than half of us, we are told will take a trip this summer. i want to bring in the priceline chief, brett killer. normally, brett, we talk about earnings-per-share and all that profit margins. i'm not interested. i'm not doing that kind of interview. you are the man who knows where we americans are going to be traveling this summer. what is the number one destination? >> believe it or not, despite

the heat, las vegas continues to be the number one destination, it is filled with entertainment and that is where people are going. people are still flocking to the beaches so destinations like miami, honolulu, cancun, san juan, that are easy to travel to that have a lot of open air and open space and people are staying longer on these trips then in 2019 so the flexed work life is playing a role in people's vacations. stuart: what about airline prices the cost of the tickets. we've seen them rise dramatically. is that putting a damper on people traveling? >> a little bit but the cost of an airline ticket is still lower than it was in 2019, unlike hotels which of largely recovered and rental cars which were significantly more expensive than they were in 2019 due to the fleet shortages

so there is a reasonably affordable way to travel but many americans are hitting the roads and traveling by car as well so there is a mix of how people are getting to destinations. stuart: we know hotel prices are skyrocketing in the last month or 6 weeks, they've gone straight up i know from my own experience. are there any good deals left in any locations that people really want to travel to? >> absolutely. if you're going to the hottest donations you will pay prices similar to 2019 if not a little more but if you are open to traveling to the bigger cities which a lot of people are starting to do like new york, nashville, denver, los angeles, those are popular markets and provide a lot of entertainment, those are markets that continue to have a significant set of deals available for consumers to travel to. stuart: how about -- go ahead, go ahead. >> las vegas is the number one destination because it provides a lot of value for consumers. there is enough hotel supply

there to offer a great stay at a very affordable price. stuart: i just want to bring this up. you still give exclusive deals for military people? >> that's right, thank you. a couple years ago we launched a website in conjunction with the permit of defense called american forces travel, purely for leisure travel and with this partnership we have offered a wide assortment of discounts across flights, hotels, vacation packages that are unique for the military community and this week we extended that, not only can folks who are serving in the active military participate in this but all veterans have now been able to access, jumped from 6 million in total to 22 million service folks can access the discounts. stuart: one last one.

how far down is business travel? i know business travel, how far down are we from 2019 levels? >> we've still got quite a ways to go on the business side, leisure has really recovered. we are probably close to if not better than where we were in 2019 largely, business is still probably down 70% or more and has a long way to go to recover, we think there's a couple years of recovery there but based on how fast things are starting to return we could see that happened really by the end of 2023. stuart: you are the ceo of priceline, you gave for valuable information that i could have gotten anywhere else and appreciate that, come back soon. and then there's this. president biden just announced a new climate partnership with germany's chancellor angela merkel, seems like biden wants to be best friends with merkel but does merkel want to be best friends with america? ric grenell will take that on next. ♪♪ why can't we be friends ♪♪ why can't we be friends ♪♪ why can't we be friends

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stuart: we've been talking about this all morning, los angeles county is bringing back the indoor mask mandate even if you are fully vaccinated. ric grenell lives in los angeles county and joined me now. harmeet dhillon mentioned that you guys are fighting against this. what specifically are you doing about this mask mandate in la county? >> we are scrambling with our lawyers, it is the entity that i started and we are trying today to put together a legal document, we will go to court and ask them to invalidate what they are trying to do. vaccines work.

we should not be messaging that vaccines don't work and getting a vaccine means that you shouldn't be somehow allowed to go about your life freely and what la county has done is they put vaccinated people and non-vaccinated people into the same category and telling everyone to mask up. this is outrageous. it is a science denying move by la county and we are hearing gavin newsom is furious with la county for doing this because it is inflaming people i can tell you across the board people saying they are not going to comply, this is outrageous for the largest county in america to be doing this. stuart: there are times we need lawyers and this is one of them, good stuff. you were america's ambassador to germany, yesterday president biden and angela merkel announced a new climate partnership. they are going to cooperate on

plans to cut emissions, collaborated on green technology and helping developing countries. it is a climate partnership. do you think it works for america? >> whether or not it works for america or works for germany is all talk. i like angela merkel but she's not getting the scrutiny she deserves. let's be honest. they got rid of nuclear energy in germany, the cleanest form of energy. that was a mistake. there's a lot of talk about doing all this clean energy policy but the reality is germany gets one fourth of its electricity from coal. it is one of the largest coal producers in the entire world and by the way the guy who was going to be the nominee from the christian democrats, angela merkel's own party, who could replace her in september, is the minister president or

equivalent of the governor of north right westphalia which is coal country. he's not going to decrease coal whatsoever. this is all talk akin to the talk they give about how nato is so important but they don't pay their nato bill. stuart: you are on the inside of this, giving interesting inside information. one last one, a tweet from dan crenshaw, won't go through the whole thing but saying woke in the military is a threat to national security. is it? >> 100%. when mark millie and i were in the same meetings in the white house i never saw anything like what he is saying now. he has completely changed his tune. being this political, to say things to keep your job is exactly what happens in washington dc and we should be rejecting it.

stuart: ric grenell, a font of information always good and appreciate you being here, press hard on southern california please because that is out of bounds, out of bounds. we will see you soon. stay right there, everybody because we have friday feedback coming up next. ♪♪ you packed a record 1.1 trillion transistors into this chip i invested in invesco qqq a fund that invests in the innovators of the nasdaq 100 like you become an agent of innovation with invesco qqq

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♪♪ feeling hot hot hot ♪♪ feeling hot hot hot ♪♪ stuart: i am catching the rhythm. that is the jersey shore, that is wildwood, new jersey with an early start to beach going today. it is sunny, might be pretty good weather. it is friday feedback time. that means come back in, ashley and lauren, greetings all. someone calling themselves

senator bull worse, stuart revealed he's giving up coffee. was this the result of a wager with susan? know. does this mean he went totally caffeine free? not quite. has he suffered from migraine headaches? know. i would like to give a little more on this. i've not given up caffeine completely. i still have a cup of tea in the morning. >> you had a latte onset the other day. stuart: but i don't drink that much caffeine and the caffeine you get from t tends to be softer. you don't get the same jag you get from coffee. >> he is nicer in case you were wondering. stuart: don't you love friday feedback. are you a coffee addict? lauren: absolutely. i have a yeti full of coffee every single day. ashley: i didn't used to be. i was a complete team man. it was in my veins but now it is coffee coffee coffee in the morning, can't go without it. stuart: the best legal drug there is. bret williams writes this, how

about talking -- you are not much of a fan. i'm not much of a fan. ashley follows all sports. i bet you follow the tour. ashley: i do. it is fascinating when they wind up those mountains. the thing that worries me is the one ofes who get up early sunday morning in your local community with spandex on the try to relive their tour de france fantasies but this is impressive. stuart: spandex bothers me. roy jenkins right this. a sympathy purchase of microsoft stock because of england at loss in soccer. i hope this makes him feel better. wait a second, i never felt bad about england at loss. i thought it was soccer's

improvement that improve their standing in the sports world. lauren: i have to say something to you. i sat next to stuart the day after england lost. you weren't around to bail me out, to help answer all the questions and it was a difficult day that day. stuart: you are being economical with the truth so i will move on. this is from gary sawyer. a few months ago, stuart, ashley and susan answered my question so lauren, now that you're back it is your turn. what was the best day of your life? lauren: the day i came back to work to sit next to you. it was october 5th, 2015, the day my first child was born. stuart: that is love at first sight.

lauren: absolutely. ashley: england won the european cup. stuart: you were mumbling. would you like to enunciate? >> it was going to be when we won the european championship but guess what happened. stuart: i know i answered the question a couple weeks ago but i can't remember what i said. i think it was love at first sight, that is what i said and that is true, you see your first child or a child, you look at them and that is love at first sight, we can all agree on this one. this one too, charles in buffalo, new york, says if stuart could go back in time and be one of the beatles, which one would he choose? george harrison. i rather like the guy, i like his music, his talent. how about you? ashley: probably mccartney. lennon was brilliant but ringo is ringo, but i think mccartney was my favorite. we want your member the

beatles? lauren: i'm going with paul mccartney. i saw him in concert at city field a few years ago and it was like he was 25 on stage. it was so awesome. i pray that i can be that energetic at his age. or talented. stuart: you simon concert, he turned 79 just a couple weeks ago and is still doing concerts? >> i don't know. this is probably 10 years ago. >> if he can do that at 79 maybe i can stay in this seat another few more years. ashley: why not? let's see who else wants to sit here? moving on, ashley, lauren, can you answer friday's trivia question, here it is, which country has the oldest continuously used national flag? does anybody know before we go to commercial? anybody know? ashley: italy.

>> i'm going with denmark. stuart: i have no answer because i know what the answer is. we will be back after this. that building you're trying to sell, - you should ten-x it. - ten-x it? ten-x is the world's largest online commercial real estate exchange. you can close with more certainty. and twice as fast. if i could, i'd ten-x everything. like a coffee run... or fedora shopping. talk to your broker. ten-x does the same thing, - but with buildings. - so no more waiting. sfx: ding! see how easy...? don't just sell it. ten-x it. ♪ ♪ ♪

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you got it right, did you cheat? lauren: i guess randomly and got it right. stuart: did you see this could teleprompter? lauren: i knew it wasn't italy or spain. stuart: what about you, ashley? ashley: about it was italy going back to the romans. i guess it goes back to the vikings. i don't know. stuart: it has been a great week. thanks for being here, see you all again next week, right now my time is up but neil, it is yours. neil: we are getting new details on the $3 trillion package the democrats are putting up, the infrastructure package that will include or try to include more money not only for kindergarten education but pre-k education and a good chunk going to free community college education. they've not ironed out the