out. thank you. kara, there's so many in particular the foreign policy impact of all of this because you've got not just russia, but the china factort. you project power in ukraine as much as humanly possible because of the taiwan sensitivities, but you avoid mission creep in ukraine and keep your eye on china. that's the existential problem the united states is going to the face for decades to come. so i think china, make sure that is the load star in terms of -- lode star in terms of foreign policy. cheryl: we do have u.s. leadership in taiwan today to the, i will say that. >> that is so much more strategically important to the entire global economy than ukraine. the bulk of semiconductors are manufactured out of there, our can china invasion of ukraine would lead to a global economic meltdown. cheryl: all right. thanks to both of you. i've got seven seconds left. i'm thinking stuart varney could use the seven seconds.

stuart: i'll take the it. thank you very much, cheryl, a fine gift. good morning to you and good morning, everyone. it was a very short -- but it made big waves. in great secrecy, president biden flew to europe a day earlier than scheduled. he walked the streets of kyiv in ukraine with president zelenskyy. air raid sirens could be heard. our president in a war zone. president biden has pledged more weapons, but he did not mention f-16 fighter jets. he said america would support ukraine, quote, for as long as it takes. those are his words. the backdrop here is what i might call a shift in the global lineup. china has warned it may provide, quote, lethal assistance to putin. a top chinese official heads to moscow tomorrow. the new world lineup seems to be russia, china, iran versus america and europe. here at home florida's governor is in new york city. ron desan a cities attending a pro- desantis the attending a pro-police rally.

california governor newsom is also considering running. bad news for him this morning. his state has gone from $100 billion surplus to a $20 billion deficit, and it's growing by the month. of he wants to tax the rich for their leaving. a stunning report on big city schools. so many youngsters are not concern the they're just not learning. 30 schools in the illinois could not raise a single student to grade-level are reading. more than 50 schools have not a single student who had achieved grade-level math. it is presidents day, february 20th, 2023. the markets are closed, but we are here. very varney -- can "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ ♪ odds are you won't live to see tomorrow. ♪ secret agent man ♪ muck. stuart: secret agent man. it was a secret visit to

ukraine, of course. [laughter] let's not get confused about a secret agent. breaking early this morning, president biden made a genuine, a big surprise visit to ukraine. this comes just ahead of the official anniversary, the start of the war. charlie hurt's with us this morning. i want your opinion. should we give zelenskyy whatever weapons he needs to kick the russians out of all the territory they've occupied so far? should we do that? >> well, you know, this is the difficult situation we're in at this point, is the fact that, you know, once you get into a fight with a bear, you can't walk away which, of course, is why a lot of us have been critical about the things that the biden administration, that i think opened the door to allow putin to do this. stuart: right. >> but it's a real question. i think the problem that the biden administration faces is that there isn't this overwhelming popular support among regular voters. obviously, there's a lot of support in some corners of,

especially sort of the, sort of elite opinion makers who think that it's a great idea to get more deeply involved here. but he's got a real problem, the administration has a real problem, and this vicinity is very interesting. i don't know that i've ever seen a president in our lifetime visit a war zone in which america did not have troops invested. so, obviously, you know, whether, you know, this is a very important part of his administration, a part of the history of his presidency, whether or not and how this gets played out over the next two years as we get closer to the 2024 the election, i think it's going to be very interesting, and i think he's going to have a hard time getting regular voters to go along with it. stuart: it's a new global order. >> right. stuart: russia, china, iran versus america and europe. the president of the united states has to be in the middle of it right now. he has to be there. >> and -- but i think the argument, certainly that donald trump would make or a mike

pompeo would make, is that you never should have given them the opening in the fist place -- in the first place. and if trump had won re-election in 2020, this never would have happened. and i think it's a powerful argument. and then you're able to go turn to we're spending $100 billion every year. would you like to spend $100 billion on something in your neighborhood? stuart: fair enough. stay there, charles. more in a second. i want to often the florida's governor, ron desantis, of course. he is in new york city today. special guest at an event focusing on promoting law and order in new york. the comes ahead of what looks likely to be a presidential run for 2024. all right. desantis, by the way with, charlie, desantis goes to to the chicago later today for another pro-police event. he's running, isn't he? >> oh -- [laughter] stuart: i've got to say that i think he's doing, desantis do is doing much better in the presidential states than, say, gavin newsom in california. >> oh, yes. and things like the economy and

crime, you can't spin hose the away. and florida right now is celebrating a 50-year low in crime rates whereas places like new york city and chicago are experiencing, to put it mildly, the opposite. but the thing that's particularly interesting about this visit to staten island, this is donald trump's stronghold. you know, obviously ron desantis has not announced. maybe he's not going to run. he's running. but he is having a lot of fun with this by going right to donald trump's hometown and and planting a flag on something that, you know, donald trump is proud about his record with crime, but desantis is going to go toe to toe -- stuart: plant that flag. it's a bit like flying migrants to martha's vineyard. it's a little bit like that. thank you, charlie. mardi gras is back in full swing in new orleans. raymond arroyo is there. raymond, new orleans is your home. it's your hometown. >> it is. this is my -- it's fully come

back, and we're celebrating today, preparing for mardi gras. this is a big time of year, as you can see. the excitement's building in town. we're at morning call, stuart. this is one of those home grown industries, you know, morning call has been doing business here since 1870, and they make these men yeas the same way. bobby hennessey's family has been running this coffee shop and restaurant all these years. tell us how to make these. >> how we do recipe, we have a little pie, we roll it out. we cut it in squares. [inaudible] shake the flour off, goes in the hot oil. >> oh, yeah. >> in the oil. >> all by hand, guys, by the way. and this is the way these have been made since the 1800s. mardi gras didn't come around

until the 1850s here. so they were right on the heels and, look, this is what you get when it's the over. and i gotta the show you this, bobby has a technique. anytime you get beignettes, you take it like this and you don't shake it, you smack it to get the powderedded sugar off. and that's the way we do it. they also serve something here called coffee and chicory in new orleans, stuart. we didn't have enough coffee beans in the city, so they split it during the civil war with chicory root. that tradition continues today. all these new orleanians only eat their cough of coffee -- coffee -- drink it, rather, with coffee beans and chicory. happy mardi gras to you, and i was a grand marshal of the big mardi gras crew last year, they give you one of these. come on down and be a grand marshal. stuart: thank you, ray monday. that was an interesting

diversion. thank you very much, good stuff, indeed. see you again soon. >> thank you, institute. stuart: this is prime ministers day, and the markets -- the this is prime minister's day -- presidents day. look who's here, sitting right next to me even though the market is closed, this man comes in to new york to work. >> i don't know what to do if i didn't work, stuart, and i think you're the same way. stuart: i don't know about that. i read your stuff, and i know something called alexandria real estate and boston properties. >> yes. stuart: why are you putting money into real estate? >> well, i know. because i'm the american ingenuity guy, right? i'm always looking at technology, biotechnology. but what these two companies do is incredibly innovative. alexandria real estate develops health care-related properties, the sophisticated laboratories that biotechnology companies need with the super duper hvac systems, right? you've got to get poisonous stuff out of the lab. they only build next to

institutions like university of san diego, mit. it's an incredible niche business, and they do something else that the i think is incredibly innovative that you also see see at boston the properties. they only build if the properties are presold or, let's say, two-thirds full. i think, for me, that ticks the box of innovative, thought-provoking, well-run business. stuart: it's a demographic play as well, baby boomers in our 70s, late 70s need this kind of facility. >> yeah. well, that's true. but here's the other thing, because interest rates are going up, the assumption is anything real estate-related is something you don't want to own. absolutely not true. these stocks are trading down near their lows, their covid lows. and not only in the case of boston properties have they resigned leases, they've signed up more people because people are going back to the offices. there's always demand for class a office space. the nicest buildings in the country are boss on the properties. it also yields 5.5% --

stuart: oh, now you got my attention. >> i buried the lead, right? [laughter] stuart: how about -- let's audiocassette for a second about president biden -- talk for a second president biden goes on this secret trip to ukraine, the chinese are rattling their weapons. what impact will this on stocks when wall street opens again tomorrow? any impact at all? defense stocks, for example, could they be -- >> oh, absolutely. and, by the way, the chinese actually put raytheon on their do not buy list because raytheon makes the missiles that the ukrainians have been using. i have a theory, and we won't know until tomorrow to see if it plays out, stuart, and that is because confidence starts from the top and percolates down, the fact that you have the american president now in ukraine sends a powerful message after the bungled departure from afghanistan. all of a sudden now we have america back on the world stage, excuse me, asserting itself. and i think that's good for confidence, and confidence is

always good for markets. so honestly, stuart, i think it's a positive. i don't think it's -- admittedly most of us, you know, these days are talking about interest rates more than we are the president going abroad, but i think it's an incremental positive. i like seeing a strong president abroad asserting america -- stuart: at at this oklahoma in time. adam, thanks very much. now this, former president jimmy carter is receiving hospice care. he's 98 years old. he is the 39th president of the united states. he had a series of short hospital stays recently, but the carter center says the former president has decided to remain at home instead of receiving additional medical intervention. god bless him. coming up, the white house continues to face criticism for its handling of the train derailment in ohio. watch this. >> pete buttigieg was a no-show this week in our committee to talk about faa problems they had in january with the travel system across the country. he's been a no-show in ohio.

and so the american people are right to be upset about this. stuart: okay. we're going to get into that. and, by the way, former president trump will be going to east palestine on wednesday of this week. school districts eliminating honors classes because they didn't enroll enough black and hispanic students. has wokism created a racial and ethnic divide in our schools? i'll boot that question next. ♪ teacher, teacher, can you teach me -- ♪ can you tell me if i'm right or wrong? ♪ teacher, teach,s concern teacher, can you reach me? ♪ i want to know what's going on ♪ buying your first car. but the things that last a lifetime like happiness, love and confidence... you can't buy those. but you can invest in them. at t. rowe price, our strategic investing approach can help you build the future you imagine. among my patients, i often see them have teeth sensitivity as well as gum issues.

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your love is -- stuart: i learned the hard way, okay. we're playing that song, that is, by the way, that is chicago. we're playing that song, we've got a new report that has a shocking revelation. schools across illinois are failing to bring many high school students to the grade-level reading and math. all right, susan. this is dramatic stuff. tell me what's happened. susan: so covid lockdowns and remote schooling, obviously, didn't help it's past three years. but out of 53 illinois high schools, 0, 0 students could comath at a grade level. now, for reading, 30 schools not even 1 single student could read at grade level. this is according to a nonprofit group, but it's pretty stark, right? the problem, they said, existed before covid but, of course, made worse over the last three years. also it's not a matter of money, apparently, according to the illinois state board of education. they spend around $35,000 per student.

clash 35,000 per student. now, there's also controversy about the curriculums, some say and argue that the illinois state board is probably left-leaning, more liberal, and some teachers don't even want to assign letter grades to some students. so is that possibly inhibiting students catching up when it comes to the math proficiency and reading. stuart: who cares? you can't read, you can't comath, you're in trouble. you're not equippedded for the marketplace, and that's the way it is. dreadful report. susan, thank you very much, indeed. some school districts are eliminating their honors classes. this is in the name of equity. big picture question, have woke policies created a racial and ethnic divide in our schools? black and hispanic students on one side, asians and white students on the other? >> oh, yeah, absolutely, stuart. there's this new racism that is being perpetuated by folks who are declaring that they are so-called equity warriors. and over the last three years, i've been investigating them as

a journalist, and i call them the woke army because they have literally laid siege on america's kids and our school crickets with their -- districts with their, quote, equity agenda which is all about activism and indoctrination. it is not about education, math, reading, science. it is about indoctrination. and that's why you have folks like this, woke baby. it's circulating in our school districts because that's exact exactly what's happening with the elimination of honors classes and all of these high-end, advanced learning classes -- stuart: they want no intellectual competition, no act demic -- academic competition. is that basically it? >> yeah. i learned about this in 2020 the when my son's high school got in the crosshairs of these equity warriors. these were the most advanced science and math kids in our county. in the state of virginia really. but what they wanted to do was

increase the demographics of black and hispanic students. and what they did was they took a hit on asian students, and that's the battle plan of the woke army. they are just out there to try to lay siege on excellence, and they are dumbing down america. stuart: how does this actually work? a school cricket the -- school district, do the they hire consultants to bring in this woke -- >> yes. stuart: that's how it's done? consultants are going around the country to instill wokism in our schools? that's how it worked? >> yeah, it's unbelievable. so this is a book that i've written called "woke army," and in it i've got the battle plan. i'm going to show you exactly how it happens in the example you cited, in culver city, california. this is the equity, social justice and inclusion plan, stuart. from when? 2020, august 2020. and when does it go through? until 2023. and what is in here, stuart?

it's the siege on the honors classes, the advanced classes. and what are they replacing it with, stuart? they are replacing it with ethnic studies. and what else? white fragility and, indeed, stuart, you're not going to believe this, critical race theory for parents and staff to learn. so it's a battle plan. and folks have to wake up to it in order for us to defeat this network that's the woke army. it's diabolical and insidious. stuart: thank you for coming on the show. >> oh, my gosh, institute, thank you for caring about america and the kids. thank you. stuart: roh also dahl, the author, he's the latest victim9 of censorship. all right, susan, what's happened? >> james and the giant peach was my favorite novel, what do you call it, piece of work, artwork, i call it. so his publisher, puff fin, has

hired sensitivity readers to update portions of the author' wording. most changes focus on making the language more gender-neutral or changing physical descriptions like cloud men becomes cloud people and small men referring to the audiotape pa if loom pas are now small people. and a jellyfish described as fat and pulpy, that description has changed. also the description has great horsey face, now just face. so more sensitivity language is being brought n. i can see you're rolling your eyes already. [laughter] so the company saying we want to share these wonderful stories and characters continue to be enjoyed by all children today. our guiding principle has been to maintain the storylines, characters and the sharp-edged spirit of the original text. and any changes made have been small and carefully considered. now, you can imagine that readers are not happy. so i was reading -- did you hear

salmon rush key and his concerns? that made headlines everywhere because he says this is absurd censorship. this is not sensitivity the language that they're introducing. stuart:s the censorship,s. they're saying you can't say men. susan: you can't say horsey face. these are classics that have been around for decades that have really inspired children like me and you, right? stuart: absolutely. i read those books when i was a youngster the, i did. they're very well written, good books. they get kids to actually read. susan: and numerous movies, some of the best selling books of all time. iconic. stuart: i find this just exasperating, you know what i mean? susan: i understand. in this case, i understand. [laughter] stuart: all right. this is for you too. a teacher who his that opposing rioting and looting is perpetuating racism. okay, you've got that one. explain. susan: we're talking about just one teacher from maryland, but she's had a history of extreme statements and being very loud on social media.

she says she doesn't oppose i rioting and looting because this country was built by african-americans and black people, so she says that black people's bodies were literally the currency that our white founding fathers used to fund for revolution. as far as i'm concerned as a white person and as a history teacherrer, if your ancestors built this country, you have the right to burn the mf to the ground. and white people, i'm going to need you to do better was your opinion at this is at best irrelevant, at worst, literally propagating white supremacy. stuart: okay. [laughter] exasperation reign ares on this program this morning. susan: yes, i can tell. stuart: i just can't handle it. thank you, or susan. i want to check bitcoin this morning. that's open, of course. getting real close to concern yeah. it's a 24 the-hour market. susan: that's right. >> stuart: and it's nearly $25,000 per coin. that's a rally. will the rally continue? we'll discuss that after this. many. ♪ i gotta stay high all the time

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good luck. td ameritrade, this is anna. hi anna, this position is all over the place, help! hey professor, subscriptions are down but that's only an estimated 15% of their valuation. do you think the market is overreacting? how'd you know that? the company profile tool, in thinkorswim®. yes, i love you!! please ignore that. td ameritrade. award-winning customer service that has your back. stuart: as you know, this is presidents day, and the stock markets are closed in america, but the crypto market rolls on. susan: always.

stuart: always. bitcoin is hovering right around $25 the ,000 a coin. now that, to me, is a rally. ing what's going on? susan: yeah, i would say that's pretty good. you have a major market like hong kong over the weekend saying they are now welcoming crypto trading. so they're allowing their citizens to buy and sell bitcoin. ether, that's a pretty positive sentiment and why we're close to 25,000 again. cryptocurrency trades like a nasdaq 100 tech stock, and it's the up 15% so far this year, highest levels that we've seen since june of last year. and i would say the same two factors apply here, just the pushing up tech stocks same thing pushing up bitcoin and short squeezes meaning that people were so negative heading into this year, now they're scrambling to buy the underlying asset. and your favorite, we talked about this, you actually taught me about tax loss harvesting. when you cap your losses for the year, you can bank that for years to come to bring down your bills ott the irs. stuart: that is correct.

that's how it works, i believe. susan, thanks. keith fitz here with us this monday morning. hey, keith, i think you owned bitcoin or some of it at one point. have you sold yet? >> i did and i did sell out. and i sold out, stuart, because i don't trust the sbf situation. i think that there's going to be some laundry that comes out as part of the deposition process that is going to shock a lot of people. so to me,st the uninvestable right now even though it's rallying. stuart: okay. let's talk about this visit of president biden to kyiv, capital of ukraine,9 and the developing situation there. do you think it will have any impact on stocks when the market ropes tomorrow? -- are reopens tomorrow? >> you know, that's an interesting question, stuart. when it reopens tomorrow the, but it's certainly having an impact on futures traders today. the buzz i'm getting from around the world where the markets are open is that it is material when it comes to defense stocks like raytheon and lockheed martin, both of which i own, by the way. stuart: okay.

what about the rest of the market? are people around the world sort of negative for stocks because of this visit? >> no, i don't think so. heir the hunting for opportunitg for opportunity. it's an interesting development. traders are keenly aware that it potentially could be positive, and that's how they're trying to view it, but there's still a long way to go, 24 hours before the bell rings. stuart: in what way could it be positive? >> it could be positive because it signals a shorter end to the conflict, it could be positive because maybe putin does have an exit route. it could be positive because maybe he's putting a line on the map. i have trouble believing all of those things, but that's what's being talked about. stuart okay. talk to me about met a the, because i think you believe meta is following in twitter's footsteps, is that right? >> it is. i, you know, as much as i dislike the ceo, mark zuckerberg, personally, he is not stupid the. he's a brilliant competitor, the he's ruthless. i think it is interesting that he's chosen to follow musk's path on this one. it's a me too move, but with it

might be worth $200 a share. stuart: what's the problem with mark zucker zuckerberg? you don't like him personally? >> i think for a long time his ethics were debatable in my book based on how they tried to censor speech, how they used advertisers, how they abused information, their users, etc. but i'm old school. a lot of people didn't have those problems that i did. to me, i looked at it at 350, went down below 100, now i'm keen to look the other way if he's having a case of the adults. stuart: so you bought into meta when it crops to $100 a share, you said so on this show, as i recall. you bought it, right? >> well, you have a good memory. i actually bought call options. so i didn't buy the stock itself, i didn't want that much risk, so i have some call options sitting there i'm present ifly losing money on. nonetheless, that's where i think it's going to go for a little while. stuart: got it. keith fitz, thanks for being with us, always appreciate it. >> thanks, stuart. stuart: o.k.. we were just discussing meta.

i want to bring susan into this. what would this subscription service do, and how much would it cost? susan: and will you understand what i'm saying. [laughter] it's $14.99 a month if you buy the subscription service on an iphone. of course, you know that the app store charges that 30% fee so, of course, those -- obviously, those prices go up. it's $11.99 anywhere else. so if if you buy it on the web and the internet, it's a bit cheaper. of. stuart: what do i get? susan well, you get perfect security authentication can, and that means people can't impersonate your accounts whether it's on instagram or facebook. i don't know if you've ever checked on facebook or instagram or any other social media sites, but there are a lot of people pretend thing to be stuart varney -- stuart: are there? susan: yes, tons. stuart: you're kidding? susan: it makes sure that you, yourself, are operating your own accounts. stuart: sign me up. susan: wow. you're going to pa pay -- stuart: are you serious?

some people impersonate me online? susan: yes, absolutely. i mean, look at the viewership that you get and the people you could drive to buy things that are not legit. there are scam artists -- stuart: how do i check this? susan: you go on the internet, instagram and facebook. and we can check for you. if you pay $14.99 on your iphone for this blue badge effect, they'll do it for you. that's what you're getting. stuart: this is something i didn't know i needed. susan: i love how fascinated stuart is. stuart: you open up a whole new world. now then, employeeses at amazon. what? the prompter says some employees at amazon could face a pay cut. what? susan: yeah. okay, so remember last week we were talking about meta, and you brought up the stock options and how because the stock has been down the past year, those that signed up with salary and stock options are underwater or less

than what your contract had said that you would be paid. same thing also, by the way, at amazon. so you're down by over a third in the stock price. amazon stock price over the past year -- sure, you're up 15%, but the journal said if you signed on for stock compensation as part of your pay package, you're down 15-50%. that's a big deal. now we know amazon has cut around 18,000 workers. they're ordering staff back into the office three days a week with, that made news on friday afternoon. but if you're not enticing your workers to stick around, that might be a problem9 if the economy picks up. stuart: it's not actually the hourly pay that's been cut -- susan: no, this is more corporate staff. stuart: it's stock options that are not worth -- susan: which is how most people in silicon valley and tech companies get paid, by the way. stuart: that was always the great attraction, you sign on with one of these companies, you get a stock option. susan: right. stuart: it's usually going to go up, and you're going to do well. susan: yes.

on average amazon's stock has gone up 30%, and a lot of these companies in silicon valley have minted the most billionaires in history because of the pay -- millionaires in history because of the compensation. stuart: we've got our supreme court hearing a landmark case, i think it's the tomorrow, that could hold google and orr tech giants liable for what users post. that's a big deal. susan: it is a big deal. we're talking about section 23 to -- 230. it goes back to that 2015 paris terrorist attack, and one american family suing after they lost their son. i think say that google's youtube haddist propaganda videos that may have instigate gated the attacks which killed 100. it was coordinated suicide bombers and gunmen in paris. no proof that the terrorists actually watched these videos, but companies like google, meta, twitter should not be protected existence blame and liabilities from the -- against blame and liability from the content the

users post. this is a tough argument, but i would throw in the caveat that this is a tough administration, the biden administration has been very voc aral, very tough on tech. look how they sued microsoft and activision blizzard on a video game combination which has surprised a lot of people. stuart: susan, good stuff, thank you. coming up, bernie sanders defended his ties to ticketmaster. roll tape. >> tickets for your tour, apparently, are selling for $95 on ticketmaster which is accused of anti-competitive behavior. >> first of all, those decisions are made totally by the publisher and the bookseller. stuart: oh, it's not my fault. but he is charging up to $95 to criticize capitalism. priceless. the ceo of norfolk southern says the railroad will, quote, do the right things to help east palestine recover and thrive, end quote. we'll hear from a resident and a small business other than about what that -- business owner about what that will take. the white house downplaying a report that says credit card

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those are up as well as delinquencies on the credit cards themselves. the report finds, again, this was a critical report, the federal reserve watches very closely because if americans can't pay off that kind of debt, that could start a wave that could ripple through the economy. now, on friday i wanted to know what the president's thoughts were about this report. is the president concernedded that we're seeing a crack in the economic foundation because of inflation? >> so just two things about, about that particular report. so the report does not juste bos credit card balances every month, is so that's important to note. and also further, credit card balances relative to take-home pay are lower than they were pre-pandemic. so those are two things that are important to take into account. and let's not forget as you know, ed, there are other indicators that we also look at which is really important, the household net worth is 23 the % above pre-pandemic levels.

>> reporter: so that's a lot of words around this. she went on to say the president sees no weakness in the economy, but already consumer spending's changing. people are looking at lower price alternatives. the congressional budget office says that president biden's policies as well as the state of the economy will add $19 trillion to the federal debt by 2033, so if you ask the president, he's in charge of a booming economy, stu. stuart: i heard it. all right, thanks so much, edward. look who's here now, the great stephen moore joins us. all right -- >> hey, by the way, stuart, where with's the boom? i don't hear any boom. what booming economy are they talking about? stuart: right. deathly silence on that front. are you seeing cracks in the economy, stephen? >> well, i have to say this economy's held up a lot better than i thought and a lot of economists is have thought. a lot of economists believed we'd be in a deep recession by now. by the way, i said remember on your show about four months ago i thought we could skate around

a recession, and you were a little skeptical as i recall, stuart. [laughter] but i think the economy is in a precare e yous financial position. -- precarious financial position. i called your attention to this issue of credit card debt a number of months ago. it gets worse and worse every month. so i am worried about the financial condition of the country. i'm very worried about the financial condition of the consumer. st the not just credit card -- it's not just credit card debt. as you know, stuart, you reported this on fox business last, a couple of weeks ago that people are now having to dig into their retirement accounts, their 401(k) plans and take money out early which, by the way, don't do that, folks. it's a really bad idea, because you pay a huge tax penalty. it shows people having a hard time paying their normal bills because their wages aren't keeping pace with the inflation rate. stuart: i want to move on to a story which i think is of profound significance, and i picked it up from you, by the way. in 23 of baltimore's public

schools, not a single student tested proficient in math last year. in 55 chicago public schools, no students were proficient in either math or reading. last year. that's extraordinary, stephen. what are the implications of this? >> it's child abuse, what's going on in the public schools in these inner cities. it's a tragedy. i mean, we're talking about thousands and thousands of kids in baltimore and the chicago area and throughout the state of illinois that can't even read or do math at proficiency level. there are, as you just said, there are some schools where none of the kids, none of the kids are reading at proficiency level. now, i would say if that happened and you talk about, you were mentioning capitalism, what would normally happen is you'd shut down those schools and say you're not working, you're out of business. we're going to find something new for these kids. the silver lining of this this story is that we're seeing just a breakout of school choice options in so many red states

right now. utah, florida, tennessee, west virginia, arizona. i think we're going to the see five or six more states, stuart, that go to school choice this year. stuart: that's the bright side of this dismal story. >> believe it. stuart: stephen moore, good stuff. okay. rents at historic highs. susan's back with me. how many people, just out of interest, how many people are spending 30% or more -- the. susan: and when did 30% become the arbitrary balance, right? stuart: it was on the prompter, what can i say? susan: talking about 15 million renters. by the way, most tenants now spend 40% of their monthly income just on rent alone, so 14.8 million here. vacancy rates at record lows, rents are near record highs. and i checked in on new york city's rental, like, rent income comparison, the most egregious i've ever seen. you spend 69% of your monthly

income on rent. so that's because a one-bedroom now costs a record $4,000 a month. and remember i told you about this survey where 51% of consumers making more than six figures, $100,000 a year, are now living paycheck to paycheck. we're talking about 9.3 million some would say high income earning consumers, right? now depending on each check that comes in every month. stuart: the other side of this story is people raiding their 401(k) balances, as steven moore just alluded to. susan: that number's still pretty low. it was still at 2.8%. those are hardship withdrawals which is a pretty low percentage. but if you look at the average 401(k) balances, they're down by a fifth over the past year because of the worst year for stock markets since 2008. now, the average account balance, i found this shocking since you can't really -- can you retire on $112,000 plus? stuart: well, it helps with chucked in. it doesn't make you actually secure and rich in retirement,

but you don't starve. susan: okay, that's interesting. so maybe you look at the median balances, this was even more shocking to me, $27,000. median. so the median is the most and the least, and that's the middle ground. retirement might be a far ways off for people. stuart: okay. not for me though. susan, thank you very much, indeed. coming up, do not forget to send in your friday feedback. e-mail your questions, comment, critiques, whatever to varneyviewersfox.com. efforts to ban tiktok on all u.s. devices, that's gaining some steam from both sides of the aisle. but little has been done so far. we've got thest concerns about tiktok and the next steps from lawmakers. that's next. ♪ it's like a time bomb set into motion. ♪ we knew that we were destined to explode. ♪ and if i had to pull you out of the wreckage -- ♪ you know i'm never gonna lett you go ♪

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attempts to ban tiktok, this time around the latest proposals is have growing bipartisan support. that bill you mentioned in the house introduced by republican congressman mike gallagher and democrat congressman would ban tiktok unless it sells to a u.s. or european company. republican senator marco rubio and independent senator angus king who caucuses with the democrats have proposed a similar bill in the senate. for years republicans have been sounding the alarm about the national security threat of tiktok owned by cheese -- chinese parent company bytedance, of course. now those on the left are joining the push. >> i think what's changed is the level of chinese activity in the united states. i just think it's downright dangerous to have a company that potentially is a pipeline to the chinese communist government that's collecting data on americans.

>> reporter: in addition to those national security concerns, law enforcement officials say tiktok is increasingly being used by adult predators to lure children according to the "wall street journal": despite both concerns the social media company has been trying to strike a deal with u.s. officials to keep operating here. the company tells us its latest proposal would allow an american third party to oversee its algorithm, but the concern from a lot of law makers, stu, is that negotiating with tiktok is similar to negotiating directly with the chinese communist e party. stuart: grady trimble, thanks very much, indeed. susan, i don't think a total ban will happen, and i'm not sure i want a total ban. it seems draconian to me. susan: okay. well, i think it's too late as well since you almost have more than a trillion hours being streamed on tiktok right now, the most downloaded app in america for the past two years. i think the genie's out of the bottle. it's too hard to put it back in.

there might be caps and limits on, say, data use, data storage, but other than that, i don't see a total ban happening. stuart: got it. susan, thanks very much, indeed. coming up, we have brian brenberg, joe concha and david webb. and a very important guest, corey deang lis, a school choice advocate. perfect timing. the 10:00 hour of "varney" is next. ♪ ♪ . .

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