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♪. stuart: good morning, everyone. it is 10:00 eastern time. we'll get straight to your money. a modest gain pretty much across the board on the stock market. 60 points up for the dow, 50 points up for the nasdaq. as for the 10-year treasury yield, backing away from the 4% level. we're close to it last week. we're down to 3.95 this morning. that is the 10-year. the price of oil, very close to 80 bucks a barrel. watch out for the modest rise in gasoline prices in the next few days. bitcoin, first time, we checked it before. we'll check it again. 22,400 bucks per coin. okay. fairly quiet this monday morning. that's the markets. now this. tomorrow fa state legislature begin as very important session. in a 60-day period the legislators will pass what amounts to governor desantis's presidential campaign agenda.

not what you might expect from a republican. it is not tax cuts, small government, maximum growth, at least not at this stage. desantis is jumping into the culture wars. he is diving into education, banning diversity and equity programs at public universities and expanding school choice. how about $8200 a year for parents to spend on private schools, religious schools, homeschooling? it is their choice. it has been a long time since a republican presidential campaign focused on education. by the way, teachers in florida are getting a handsome pay increase. on crime, he is out front. just as democrats wake up to the backlash from defund the police, the florida legislature is encouraging people to defend themselves as you might expect in a gun-owning democracy. florida will allow adults to carry concealed weapon without permit or training. talk about getting tough? desantis through the legislature would allow the death sentence, even without a unanimous jury

decision. agenda, desan tis is clear, no gender majors or minors on public colleges. they may not spend money that promote equity, diversity, inclusion. this is strong stuff. it is not what you might expect from a republican candidate. he hasn't declared yet but he is going to iowa next week, taking with him a different campaign agenda, courtesy of the florida state legislature. second hour of "varney" just getting started. ♪. stuart: good morning morning to pete hegseth, right-hand side of the screen. >> good morning. stuart: good morning, pete. now then what do you think of this culture war strategy by desantis. i know it is in the early going but that is how he is starting out what do you think? >> i love it. it is what we need. we have no time to waste. he has supermajorities in both

chambers in florida. they're doing, pursuing his agenda aggressively. for decades we've been funding public universities. then treating them like they live on their own magical land, almost like disney in florida. they can't be touched. they can't be tinkered while they are poisoning the minds of graduates and making our economy less capable but also our citizenry less capable of being free thinkers who ultimately understand the nonsense being peddled to them. yes, get rid of gender ideology stuff. get rid of diversity, equity, inclusion. we should stop calling it dei, call it, d-i--ie die. when you follow diversity inclusion, equity, divides us into two groups. whether desantis, trump, somebody else should follow at the national level, leading with education because parents are awake to the woke agenda.

they will vote, they already want to vote with their feet as they have school choice in florida. they will vote accordingly for candidates that talk and act this way like trump is as well as this point. stuart: look at mike pompeo, looks like he took a sweep, a swipe i should say at former president trump. >> grow the economy, build it back with lower taxes, build it back, grow the economy we'll get it back right. it will take a true conservative leader, shannon. >> are you saying president trump was not a true conservative leader? >> $6 trillion more in debt. that is never a right direction for the country. stuart: there you go. as trump dominated the cpac straw poll. he got 62% of the vote. desantis came in second with 20%. pete, would it say, trump he dominated cpac. does he dominate the republican party? >> yes. there has been no political movement like the trump political movement in my generation. it remains the truth. candidates are run aring on his

agenda. i like mike pompeo a lot. i think he is a credible, capable guy. that attack line is not going to work. if i think about it today, how many candidates from 2016 who took on trump likely to announce 2024? cruz, rubio, chris christie, rand paul, carly fiorina, ben carson. >> there were a ton of them. how many are announcing in 2024? as of right now, zero. you know why? they went through the trump meat grinder. they faced down what it takes to beat that guy. you don't he see any of them saying i would like to sign up to go through that. a whole group of people will try again to out trump, trump. i say good luck. pompeo, you can't wrap everything around what trump did and distance yourself for it. you have to run your own

candidacy. desantis is a disciple of trump. he endorsed him in 2008. that cpac, heart and soul of the republican party, not donors, club for growth crowd, that is for trump. as he puts on more policy decisions, shows he will fight, he think he is the prohibitive front-runner on the republican side. stuart: you got it. can't get much better than that. pete, see you soon. >> thank you. stuart: still on the election here, what is the governor of new hampshire, chris sununu what is he saying about 2024? lauren: he says trump will not be the nominee in 2024. listen. >> he is not going to be the nominee. that is just not going to happen. so i think there is a lot of opportunity to bring forward what the republican party, not what we were, not yesterday's leadership or yesterday's story or crying about what happened in november of 22, but what will happen to bring to the table to get done tomorrow. that is what america is looking for. if the election were today, ron

desantis would win in new hampshire. lauren: he said people are not on the fence with donald trump. he will not change peoples minds. one of the reasons he doesn't think trump will be the nominee in 24. that is his opinion. stuart: that is politics this monday morning. get back to the markets. you know i hate this. we have another week of fed watching. what are you expecting from the fed tomorrow and wednesday? >> well, good morning, stuart. expectations from the fed are that they will continue to raise rates like they have toll us. in fact i think there is probably like pry primariry opinions what the fed will be doing. what stock market thinks, bond market thinks, what ultimate relittle h alty will be. stock market thinks we will get a pause and pivot. we've seen three bear market

bounces over the last 12 months. bond market tells us a little bit of a story. we look at the three month treasury and 10-year treasury that is the largest divergence we actually witnessed here within the last 20 plus years in that particular area. then we've got kind of reality. so you know the reality is that consumers are just hanging on right now f we ultimately get to the pause and pivot time frame we should be concerned. that is typically followed by a negative 35% of the stock market over the following 15 months. we're not in an awesome place right now. using basic schoolyard math here. if i was picking teams i wouldn't want to be against the fed right now. stock market is making a choice to be. stuart: you would not want to go against the fed. in other words, you would want not to bet they are about to pivot and lower interest rates, you don't think they are going to do that?

>> that's correct. i think they will be higher for longer which of ultimately what the sentiment and they continue to say. the ism indicators by the way takes 15 months to ultimately infleck. we're just starting to see that right now with these higher interest rates. so i think that we're going to see an earnings recession coming up and i think the math is coming out right now. stuart: we'll put you in the negative column. david, see you soon. market is doing all right, up 143 points. 128. go to snap. it is one of the big movers today. what's with that? lauren: amazing. reporters is reporting that snapchat kicked off dozens of children, those under 13 in great britain each month versus tiktok where tens of thousands were kicked off because they were under 13. they had these i don't want to say fake accounts but illicit accounts. the translation snapchat is

doing a good job policing its site. that is the rumor i suppose boosting the stock price today. stuart: look at lordstown motors, electric truck maker. make the endurance. lauren: only made 31. >> they're down 4%, a dollar a share. lauren: they temporarily paused production and they reported earnings, a wider loss of $102 million in the quarter, and nothing positive on when endurance comes back to market. stuart: shakeout in the evs. silvergate capital, they're a crypto bank. lauren: they're up now. they are up. they were down sharply. wedbush said liquidation is a distinct possibility. they cut them to sell with a four dollar price target. that stock has reversed course. stuart: a crypto casualty. got that. tell me about senator josh hawley. he has a new bill, see if i understand it. ban stock trading for executive branch officials, white house, folks. lauren: the cabinet. stuart: barn it complete any.

lauren: ban it completely from senior executive branch and their spouses. they can't own individual stocks, they can't trade individual stocks. they have to sem or put them in a mind trust. they would have to do so six months before starting their job, before taking office. they can invest in mutual funds. "the wall street journal" took a look at this legislation, senator hawley introduce it today. this is the more upheaval, the journal did, white house officials who invest in companies they oversee, look at that 2600 and growing. remember hawley also introduced the pelosi act but that baned members of congress. this is. stuart: executive branch. lauren: executive branch. stuart: this is draconian, can't purchase individual stock that is draconian. lauren: it narrows the focus. stuart: thank you, lauren. the transportation department stonewalled requests for details on pete buttigieg's private jet

trips. they won't say how much the luxury travel cost taxpayers. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are calling on the president to hold china accountable. they're demanding answers on the spy flights and the origins of covid. when will the thank you, mr. speaker with z h h are we lining unfor war with a communist country? kt mcfarland is next. your best defense against erosion and cavities is strong enamel- nothing beats it. new pronamel active shield

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points. it has been several weeks since president biden said he would speak with president xi xinping in china over the chinese spy balloon debacle, however a call has still not been made. aishah hasnie on capitol hill with the latest. >> reporter: stuart, good morning to you. well all of washington practically is still waiting to find out when president biden will have that call with president xi. meantime as congress gets back to work both republicans and democrats are coming together with china front rand center. in fact this week democrat senator mark warner is joining forces with republican whip john thune and they are going to introduce a broad bipartisan piece of legislation to be able to ban foreign technology and that could, stuart, include, tiktok, widely popular tiktok. we're watching several china related hearings taking place on capitol hill this week as bipartisan calls for action grow across issues like the fentanyl

crisis, a possibility of china providing russia with lethal aid and the fact biden's own department of energy has now concluded that the covid virus likely originated from a lab leak. >> millions of people died around the world, shannon. we had billions of dollars economic harm inflicted on the u.s. economy. the only way to get this right for the american people that everyone connected with this is held accountable. >> reporter: secretary of state, former secretary mike pompeo there as this china issue could become a major 2024 issue. stuart? stuart: definitely. ashiah, thank you very much indeed. china is boosting defense spending by more than 7%. to me it looks like china and the u.s. may be lining up for war. kt mcfarland joins me. am i being a little extreme here, lining up for war? what do you say? >> stuart, i think you're absolutely right. look the chinese government, the chinese communist party told its

people for decades we're going to prioritize economic growth at expense of everything. we'll give you a great life but you have to give us all the power. now what they have done this year with this new big increase in defense spending they said, economic growth is no longer our first priority. our first priority now is to build up a very high-tech state of the art military, particularly to challenge anybody who is going to stand in our way to take taiwan. so i do think we're heading down this direction and tragically the united states is so focused yet again on another part of the world that we've taken our eye off of the ball in asia. stuart: we understand that there are two ukrainian pilots in the united states. looks like they're possibly learning to fly f-16s. do you think this is a precursor for america sending f-16s to ukraine, and further, i don't know how to put this, concentrating on ukraine and russia rather than china? >> yeah.

you know, for 20 years we took our eye off the ball on china while we focused on forever wars in the middle east. now we're in a war in europe. we're not in it but supporting a war in europe. there is plan how to end this. giving up scorched earth of ukraine because the russians can fight forever. their economy is doing well because of high oil and gas price thanks to president biden's war on american fossil fuels. on the other hand we're supporting zelenskyy says unconditional sure ren deck we'll send tanks to moscow. president biden is saying president putin can't remain. we're kind of stuck in the extreme position on either side with no end in sight. my concern is couple of things, number one, where are the europeans? we're spending, paying for that war in ukraine. that may be well and good but where are the europeans and where is there contribution? number two, as long as we

continue to have high oil price thanks to president biden's war on american fossil fuels the russians can fight forever and what are we now? another forever war where nobody has an idea how it ends other than escalation yet at the same time the real strategic threat to our pares and to our prosperity is from china. stuart: would you not send the f-16s? would you not send the abrams battle tank? would you not send any further aid, just say, no, no more, no mas, would you say that? >> no. i would be, much bigger policy, stuart. i would say number one, stop the war on fossil fuels, bankrupt russia. it would drive the price of oil down. russians won't be able to fight this war. number two, put us, the west, ukraine into the best position as a result of that. negotiate a peace and then let ukraine win the peace. because for five years after the fighting stops ukraine will be fully integrated into the western economy. at the same time i would look to asia and i would say asia, look

we really need to fix our defense budget. we certainly need to increase the military capabilities in the navy. we need to double the ininvestment in high technology. that is where china is trying to threaten us. we need to really go all full steam ahead on an alliance system in asia with like-minded democracy, free market capitalist countries to try to contain the chinese threat. we certainly need to stand up to china every time they poke a finger in our eye like the spy balloon. stuart: that sounds like a emerging republican foreign policy that is what it looks like to me. kt, i think you just said it. thanks for joining us, kt, i know we'll see you soon. >> thank you. stuart: international competition of artificial intelligence technology has some experts worried. what is the concern? lauren: a new cold war between the u.s. and china. we've been talking about chatgpt, for instance, how kids will use it in school and how it is biased, right?

consumer angle, battle between companies, microsoft and google. this takes it to a whole new level, national security implications, who does a.i. better the u.s. or china? u.s. officials are looking using a.i. they are in fighter jets. they piloted two f-16s using a.i. also conducting cybersecurity attacks. you don't want china haves those capabilities. you want to make sure capability with a.i. is greater than chinas. the issue, where do most of these chips come from? taiwan. which is a political story. >> very much so is. here is another one. transportation secretary pete buttigieg is apparently stonewalling the inspector general. this is about investigating his private jet trips. lauren: just answer the questions. he is not answering any. 23 flights in question by pete buttigieg and his staff, how much did they cost? department of transportation turned down repeated requests for data.

giving all sorts of excuses. the employee for that is out on vacation. look he is not the first executive to face these questions. when elaine chao was head of the transportation department same thing happened to her. seven flights in question. she gave the answers. we spent $94,000 of taxpayer money flying private. give the information. stuart: buttigieg won't come out with it. lauren: we know it will be expensive. stuart: it is indeed. lauren, thank you. lawmakers stepping up the push to ban tiktok. listen to this, senate intelligence committee chair mark warner wants to take it further, much further. he wants to ban all foreign technology in the u.s. wow, that is extreme. we have got details for you. republican presidential candidate vivek ramaswamy wants to ban most u.s. companies from doing business in china. i say that is extreme. an extreme move would have serious consequences for trade and prosperity if it came to pass. vivek ramaswamy will be here to

respond next. ♪.

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♪. stuart: one hour's worth of business, 100 points up for the dow, 100 points up for the nasdaq. modest rally, that is what i will call it. some of the movers include boeing which is down 2%, lauren. lauren: there is a report in lehman news, there is an issue with new software. it has delayed some boeing 737 max deliveries up to a year. stuart: up to a year? lauren: up to a year. big delay. big problem. stuart: what is the story on domino's pizza. lauren: ceo, russell winier bought million dollars worth of stock. first purchase in more than seven years. average price he purchased, $303. stuart: that is always a boost for the stock. lauren: confidence. stuart: dexcom. lauren: glucose monitoring systems, fda approved a rival from abbott. that is why dexcom is taking a hit. down 6 1/2%. stuart: one more, lawmakers want

to ban foreign technology. is this just about tiktok or more? lauren: it is mostly about tiktok but it is broader. it is in the senate. so the head of the senate intel committee which is democrat senator mark warner, plans to launch a bill to ban the technology this week. >> tiktok is not only, 100 million americans on tiktok, 90 minutes a day. even you guys would like that kind of return, ninety minutes a day. they are keeping data from americans, not keeping it safe. what worries me more from tiktok, this could be a propaganda tool, basically videos you would see promote idealogical issues. if you look what tiktok shows to the chinese kids, about science and engineering, versus what our kids see there, is a radical difference. lauren: in china they get the spinach version of tiktok. last week the house advance ad bill, to give president biden to ban tiktok. it got no democratic support. interesting to see what happens

in the senate where democrats have control. this bill would go broader banning all tech, not just tiktok. it might go nowhere. it is huge. stuart: next case, gop presidential candidate, vivek ramaswamy he promises to ban companies, most companies, u.s. companies from doing business in china. watch this. roll tape. >> i think it's important to be honest f we want to declare independence pro china means we got to be willing to ban most u.s. businesses from doing business in china until the ccp falls or until the ccp radically reforming itself. there is no easy way out other than taking the bandaid and ripping it right off. stuart: well, guess what? vivek ramaswamy, presidential candidate is with us this morning in new york. good to see you. >> good to see you, stuart. stuart: if you ban most u.s. businesses from doing business in china, you're just crippling world trade and, you know, we're

going to lose prosperity here. that is extreme. >> here is the thing, i will say, stuart, yes there will be short-run sacrifice in return for long-run gain. china used companies, not just tiktok, as vehicles to advance their agenda. here is the actual good news. in geopolitics any negotiation when you're most willing to make a sacrifice that is precisely you don't have to make it. you want to know why? if we ban most u.s. businesses from doing business with china it hurts them much more than us. china is a weak spot after xi xinping took the third team last october. he actually nuked the chinese economy. if we're willing to do this i believe this will be a cad lift for radical reform of the ccp, even first steps to see the fall of the ccp in the next decade. stuart: do you want did i any to withdrawal from china, apple to withdraw from china, don't sell them iphones? >> as long as the chinese government are using them as

vehicles to advance their agenda, we have to be willing to do it, yes. our willingness to do it stops china from playing the game mercantilism. stuart: china won't do it. >> my whole campaign from the premise reviving a missing national identity. you can only make a sacrifice if you know what you're sacrificing for. we need to look at time scales of history rather than the time scales of election cycles. if we know why we're doing, declaring independence from china, that would be the declaration of independence thomas jefferson would sign if he were alive today. this is the time to pull the economic rug out from under them. stuart: where are they vulnerable? >> they are vulnerable, xi xinping would hold on to power at all costs. he took unprecedented term of the ccp he lockdown policies going after business leaders like jack ma. they're now vulnerable f this is the moment we can actually use to pull the rug out economically we can defeat them economically

such that we will never have to militarily. i think what will be much more costly, a long run military struggle with china. i don't we ever have to get there if we're smart leading way chickly. stop exploitation of our companies is the first step. stuart: you were at cpac. we took a bite from it. donald trump dominated. cpac straw poll. he got 62%. ron desantis got 20%. in your opinion, you're not on the list. >> i declared about 10 days ago. stuart: now, vivek, is this trump's cpac yes? is this trump's gop? >> i think that the america first agenda, the people behind america first are really committed to putting america first, not trump first, not vivek but america first. i gave a speech. got five standing ovations in middle of a speech. little secret i learned. i'm new as a out sighter. as an outsider you see how

corrupt the system is. you know what is funny? i attended cpac before. i didn't know it works this way. consultant says we an h can get you up to number two there if you pay us $100,000 a lot of people making money not only off of me but every presidential campaign. this will not only be the most expensive presidential campaign, one people in the industry, politics is industry. people make so much money off of this. one thing i will do throughout the campaign exposing it. i didn't get to where i am just getting exploited. the american people deserve to see the sausage getting made. stuart: did you pay? >> absolutely not. that was fake. stuart: bump up to number two. >> i would take my speaking slot. people can see my speech on my website, vivek 2024.com. see crowd reaction. people judge what ask going on in the grassroots rather than astroturf of the paid politics. stuart: you are a dynamic,

compelling candidate. it is always good to have you with us. >> appreciate it. stuart: yes, sir. the irs warning about tax season scams from bogus texts to fake experts. we'll tell you everything you need to know to watch out for. fed chair powell set to address lawmakers on capitol hill tomorrow. he is expected to lay the group work groundwork for higher interest rates. edward lawrence will break it down for us. edward is next. ♪

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stuart: the irs issued a new warning as tax filing season arrives. what is the warning? lauren: we're in it, baby. the warning is, i know i need to

file my taxes. a warning to myself. the scam involves the w2 form used to report wages paid poem employees and taxes with held from them the irs is warning filers not to file false claims that inflate salaries and even make up employees in order to get pandemic era tax credits that have been expired. so don't do that. but look at this. more people filing their tax returns at this point in the filing cycle from last year but the average refund is down 11% from last year, if you expect to get money back that is the average, just under $3100. so far this year, 35 million returns filed. that is 5.4 million compared to last year, more. stuart: a lot of early filers. lauren: yep. because we need money. because of inflation. stuart: this is true. thanks, lauren. jerome powell set to address lawmakers on capitol hill tomorrow. he is the federal reserve chair. edward lawrence at the white house. you are our fed watcher of the morning amongst many others by the way, so what do you think we

can expect from the federal reserve in the next two days? >> reporter: like the others i don't know if i want that title. i also did file my taxes. more financial pain going forward what it appears. ask the president, anyone at the white house, he is in charge of a boomeconomy. >> the president's economic agenda the way we see it, and others have as well it is making progress to bring inflation down. you have inflation that is down by 30% from last summer but we always understand that there is more work to do. >> reporter: so it is important to remember inflation was at 1.4% when president biden took office. when he reversed just about every economic policy from the last administration. the federal reserve says all the spending president biden signed into law pushed inflation. the fed using their blunt instrument to basically whack the economy over the head. federal reserve chairman jerome powell testifies tomorrow in front of the senate. we'll likely hear him say we're

far from the inflation goal. meaning more interest rate hikes this month, likely in may, meaning credit card interest rates go up for everyone in the u.s. it means mortgage rates will be more expensive. 30-year fixed for a house up 7.1%, up four weeks in a row. >> he is trying to bring inflation down. that is his charter but trying to do that in the face of massive spending that joe biden and the democrats have put into the system. this has been going on for two years. they have overheated the system with all the massive spending. >> reporter: president expected to release his budge net march 9th, this week. that is again expected to have more spending, stu. stuart: edward, thank you indeed. back to markets. one hour 13 minutes of business, dow is up 143, the nasdaq is up 120 points this monday morning. now this, tennis star djokovic forced to withdraw from the tennis tournament in indian

wells, california. because he is not vaccinated. i thought the pandemic was over? chris rock hitting back at will smith for the infamous oscar slap. roll it. >> y'all know what happened to me, people like sug smith. people like, it didn't hurt. it still works. but i'm not a victim, baby. stuart: chris rock did not stop there. we'll tell you what else he had to say next. ♪. lomita feed is 101 years old this year and counting. i'm bill lockwood, current caretaker and owner.

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i ate a lot for stress. golo and release has helped me with managing that stress and allowing me to focus on losing weight. for anyone struggling with weight and stress-related weight gain, i recommend golo to you. this is a real thing. this is not a hoax. you follow the plan, you'll lose weight. ♪. stuart: you know right from the opening bell we have moved modestly higher throughout the morning. right now we're up 140 on the dow, 120 on the nasdaq. that is a 1% gain for the nasdaq composite. next case, chris rock, finally he responded to will smith's oscar slap. jeff paul in los angeles. jeff, take us through it. what did chris rock say? >> reporter: well, stuart, some of what he had to say we can't really air because of the explicit language used but nearly a year after that infamous slap from will smith chris rock seemed like he had a

lot to get off his chest. >> people like, did it hurt? it still hurts. [laughter]. i got summertime ringing in my ears. will smith practices selective outrage. [applause] practices selective outrage. because everybody knows what the [bleep] happened. i didn't have any entanglements. she hurt him way more than he hurt me. >> reporter: now comments were made during a live global streaming show on netflix this past saturday. rock was performing a comedy routine in front of an audience in baltimore. most of what he had to say about will smith hitting him last year came ten minutes into the event. rock had told a joke about will smith's wife, jada pinkett-smith at last year's oscars. that prompted smith to come up on to the stage at the oscars and hit rock in the face the

comedian said those who claim words hurt clearly have never been punched in the face. >> i'm not a victim, baby. you will never see me on oprah, gail crying. [laughter]. it is never going to happen, no. took that hit like pacaio. [bleep] i got parents. you know what my parents taught me? don't fight in front of white people. [laughter] >> reporter: mic drop right there. the show titled, chris rock selective outrage. it hit on different topics including wokeness. he has no problem with it, about what he has problem with two people do the exact same thing but only one gets canceled. stuart. stuart: thank you. joe concha, with me this morning, what do you think of chris rock's response to the slap? >> from the very beginning,

almost a year ago, stu, chris rock handles it perfectly. he stayed above the fray at this point. i like what he had to say how he was raised right by his mother and his father. doesn't play the victim as so many public figures do in these situations to gin up sympathy. what we're seeing more and more from comedians, stu, those who are politically incorrect, don't cater to a illusion after woke mob on social media, they're the ones with most staying power. chappelle, chris rock, seinfeld, they go about doing their jobs, being equal opportunity offenders. good for them. here is what stands out, chris pointed out. will smith and jade at that pinkett have a open relationship. that is open secret nobody denies. it is just hilarious he was defending her honor embracing what is essentially the open borders marriage proposal or marriage model that i have spoken to my wife about, she wants no part of, stu, for

whatever reason. stuart: i don't know how i follow that. >> i tried. stuart: i'm going to change the subject. >> i'm kidding. she is watching. stuart: this is serious stuff. tennis star, novak djokovic withdraw, has withdrawn from the indian wells tennis tournament in california after his special request for covid vaccine waiver was rejected by homeland security. i find this ridiculous, joe. why are covid vaccines still an issue when the pandemic is over? he is one of the greatest tennis players ever? >> yeah. we have data and report and study after study, stu, that says natural immunity is better than the vehicle seen and, oh by the way, novak djokovic has had covid twice. here is how it works in our country, apparently, if you cross the u.s. southern border illegally you're welcome to stay even if you have covid. but if you're the world's number one tennis player you can't pray in the u.s. open like djokovic couldn't last year or play in this particular tournament based

on old data and this ridiculous notion that somehow novak djokovic is a threat to society because he hasn't taken a vaccine laying a support where essentially you're isolated for three hours. it is maddening that this is still happening and not enough leaders are speaking up about it, stu. stuart: why do you think we should have a 9/11 style commission to look into the origins of covid? >> you know, 36 months later, after covid first, this pandemic hit our shores, stu, the death toll stands more than 1.4 million americans, 6.8 million people worldwide. and look, businesses were shut down, some never recovered. schools were shuttered. mental health issues, alcoholism, drug use, suicide skyrocketed from isolation that happened there. it only makes sense, even though we're completely divided these days for a covid commission in the bipartisan, sober spirit of the 9/11 commission to be formed. there are some questions that need to be answered, right? did covid come from a bat in a

wet market in wuhan? come from a lab that studies coronaviruses in the area? both fbi, department of energy say likely came from the latter. what was the final result of shutting down? that was the biggest question i wrote about shutting down i wrote in the column. pfizer foundtation, 11 wealthy nations sweden had no excess highest mortality rate become over 65, while the u.s. had highest mortality rate. younger people were more likely to die from the pandemic in u.s. than other countries. if this happens again, we need a honest commission with respected former lawmakers to look into this so we don't make the same disasterous mistakes we made in 2020 and beyond. stuart: it could be the biggest liability case in the history of the world if it goes through. >> yeah. good point. stuart: joe concha, see you real soon. back to the market. there are some green out there still. we have 128 up for the dow. 116 up for the nasdaq.

big tech earlier this morning, every single one was in the green. it is still that way. apple at 155, a 2.8% gain. very nice there. alphabet is up 2%. meta up almost 2%. microsoft up 1 1/2%, amazon up one 1/4%. big tech rally this morning. still ahead, steve forbes, jason riley, jason katz. wherever taxes are high there is an exodus and the exodus from blue states is speeding up. people taking their money with them. democrat governors are panicked but they simply have not learned their lesson. that is my take next. ♪.

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