premium acrylic means it lasts a lifetime. and all this together means a great value. bath fitter. it just fits. visit bathfitter.com to book your free consultation. stuart: good miles an hour, everyone, and welcome to "varney & company". here we go. make no mistake, this is a tax

the rich e presidency. we're hearing details from the budget. you make more than $400,000 a year, and you will pay a 5% medicare tax on capital gains and investment income. there's a billionaire's tax too along with a higher corporate tax. this is tax and spend joe biden. confrontation with china on several fronts. leader xi jinping takes aim at america and says we have a campaign of encirclement and suppression against beijing. speaker mccarthy backses off. he'll meet taiwan's leader in america, not taiwan. and today a measure in congress to ban china's tiktok and other foreign technology that is a danger to our circuit court. to our security. also today it's day one of jay powell's testimony. he's likely to keep raising rates, but the army of fed watchers has no clue how high he raises them or for how long. he speaks in one hour. now, in advance of that, not that much change for stock prices, as you might imagine. the dow is down all of 5 points,

s&p up 1 points, nasdaq is up 11. as for the 10-year treasury yield, well, we're down a little bit to if.9 -- 3.93. as for the 2-year, that's also down a little bit at 4.87. that may all change by the close of trading today. politics. the white house is considering a reversal on border policy. "the new york times" says biden may consider reinstating detention the of migrant families. that would mean a return to trump's policy. biden's desperate. he knows his border policy has been a disaster, and there is an election coming next year. 23 people arrested and charged with domestic terrorism in atlanta, georgia. only two of them are from georgia. a fund has been set up to bail them out. which democrats will contribute? this is a it's for bind on violent -- a test for biden on violent crime. on the show today, florida's governor desantis the again goig goes after california, and

teachers union president randi weingarten goes after desantis in florida. unfortunately, there is a spelling mistake in her tweet. use the, march 7th, 2023, "varney & company" is about to given. ♪ ♪ ♪ stuart: i know this song. i don't know tori kelly, but i've heard it -- lauren: sing, the musical. stuart: it's stevie wonder's song originally. well, the producers chose that because of this: jamie jamie dimon, america's top banker, revealed his big worry. what's he worried about? lauren: it's russia and china. they keep him up at night. the war in ukraine lasting more than a year, it has roiled the stock and commodity markets with

no end in sight, so this is what jamie dimon told bloomberg. the thing i worry the most about the ukraine, oil and gas, the leadership of the world, our relationship with china. i mean, that is much more serious than the economic vibrations we all have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. i interpreted that china, coupled with russia and decoupled with the u.s. stuart: that's a perfectly reasonable explanation going forward, for sure. i want to bring in scott shellady to this debate. there are calls to stop u.s. businesses doing business over there, banning tiktok. do you think maybe this is getting out of hand? >> well, it for sure is marching very slowly in the wrong direction, and you feel like you could make it stop. but every morning it still taxes another step in that -- takes another step in that direction. i've talked a lot about the problem of we have a food issue when it comes to what's been

happening between russia and ukraine. it's rocked our commodity markets. we've got a fuel issue, we all mow about russian gas, but lay over that an issue with when it comes to medicine. so now it's food, fuel and medicine. medicine, all of our pharmaceuticals made over in china and supply chains with china. i mean, you think ever going back to 1938 if there ever is some sort of skirmish like that, we were not as intertwined with germany and our enemies back then as we are today. how can we divest ourselves? you had vivek on your show a couple days ago, and you pressed him hard it would be for apple or say the the nba to move out of china. we are so intertwinedded now, the problems that you worry about, food, fuel and medicine are on bigger because we can't get out of them. stuart: yep. president biden is yet again calling for more taxes on the rich. listen to this, please. roll tape. >> you know what their average tax rate is?

3%. poor people. [laughter] that's why i'm proposing a billionaire people, because no billionaire should be paying a lower tax rate than a firefighter. nobody. [applause] by the way, they still have hundreds of billions, millions of dollars. it's not likest it's going to be a great sacrifice. stuart: scott, we're hearing this morning that the budget will include a tax increase for medicare. my question is, where does all this spending and all these tax increases, where does it take the economy? >> well, this is this is the time we should be lowering axes, not raising them. that's number one. number two, i think it's very disingenuous of that president to talk about wealthy people and their tax rates versus the average working person. it's always that warren buffett versus his secretary tax rate. but what they're not telling you is it's investment income versus earned income.

stuart: exactly. >> earned income you pay a much higher tax because investment income is there to help you spur on the economy. that's the difference. but he's playing the people because they know that he knows that they don't know the difference between earned income and investment income, and that is so disingenuous. it makes me sick to my stomach every time he brings it up. stuart: you're right, but he's going to raise those axes. i've got to cut it short, scott, see you again soon. we have former treasury secretary larry summers. he's sounding the alarm on the economy. what's he predicting? lawyer lawyer a recession as the fed continues to chase inflation. watch. >> my guess is that the process of bringing down inflation will bring on a recession. at some stage as it almost always has. i've used the term russ aring of a while e. coyote moment to refer to the fact that the economy could hit an air pocket in a few months.

savings, the consumers have accumulated has a few more months to run, but it doesn't have another year to run. lauren: and he says that air pocket could be painful as inflation remains high with great risk that it becomes entrenched, right? that you stay at 3, 3.5% inflation because it's too painful to mess up the job market to get to that 2% target. stuart: okay. that is the former treasury secretary. thanks so much, lauren. now in the, the governor of florida ron desantis says his policies are the reasons people flee blue states for the freedom of florida. roll it. >> when i became governor, we started for the first time in florida seeing california license plates. turns out a lot of these focus were disaffected by the bad policies. they were upset at the taxation. they were upset about how the government operated, they were upset about crime, and they were very frustrated with the covid lockdown policy. so it created a really perfect storm for people to uproot

themselves and move across the entire united states to places like florida. stuart: well, many in response to that teachers union boss randi weingarten lashed out on twitter. here's what she said: desantis should be fixated on the cost of living issues in florida. housing is unaffordable, home finance even worse. but instead he is exanding -- i believe it should be expanding -- gun access, defunding public schools and banning everything he dislikes. will cain coming on the show this morning. will, first off, why is the head of the even thers union using her time to -- teachers union using her time to blast governor desantis on social media? >> because leftist ideology, stuart, is all-encompassing. it is totalitarian, literally. totally encompassing every aspect of your life. you're also there to push forward every bit of leftist ideology that is currently

envogue in group consensus. is so she considers herself the spokesperson for everything. and then add on top of that, ron desantis is a threat to the american federation of teachers which if you're trying to identify one person, stuart, he's probably -- they've probably done the greatest damage to children in america over the past decade plus, you would probably have a hard time pointing your finger somewhere other than randi weingarten. she has done everything pre-covid, during covid and after covid, to hold our children back with. and ron desantis the represents a threat to her vision of how we run our children. tiewfort out i think that desantis on education is the future of education. he's very much in favor of school choice, opening up all kinds of systems to allow parents to choose where that money's going to be spent. and he's given a very significant raise to even thers in the -- to teachers in the state of florida. i say he's the future. i say new york and california are the past. what say you? >> you know, when you were

introducing this segment, you said something about ron desantis. you said that he represents an alternative the form of government, something like that, i'm paraphrasing what you might have said. it made me think about "batman," stuart. [laughter] do you remember in one of the batman movies, i don't know if it was dark knight rises, when that prison has an opening at the top, can and there was a staircase that's almost impossible to climb out of. but if you can reach the top the, you can reach freedom. and then he gives a speech and says the true way to torture a man is to provide him hope. hope is necessary. and florida in this analogy that i'm talking about represents the hole in the prison, the opening. if everyone were consigned to live in new york or california and had to have their children in schools like that, we would adapt. human beings would live as though that's our only alternative, but florida represents the hole in the ceiling, and people literally climbing out of that to get to texas, to get to to florida, to get to what they know is a better turn.

yes -- better alternative. yes, ron desantis gives you the model on education, and that's why he's being attacked. but it's not just education, it's on every aspect of life. it defies that that totalitarianism and provides freedom. florida, texas, that is our hope, and people have voted to climb that staircase and move with their their feet. stuart: will cain, that was a highly original analogy with the batman movies. well done, young man. hope to see you again soon. thanks very much for being here. look at futures, this is fed day number one. don't expect much movement until we have jay powell speaking. and that starts about 10:00 this morning eastern. coming up,ping senator bernie sanders had trouble explaining the difference between equity and equality. roll tape. >> how would you difference the shade between equity and equality? -- differentiate? >> well, equality, we talk aboue answer to that is. [laughter] stuart: what? isn't he the one person who

should know how to explain the difference? we'll get into that the, believe me. and there's this: china's xi jinping took direct aim at american policy. he blames western countries for recent challenges facing china. confrontation heats up, and gordon chang will be with us after this. ♪ blame it on me. ♪ blame it on the night, don't blame it on me, don't blame it on me ♪ you'll always remember 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. your best defense against erosion and cavities is strong enamel- nothing beats it. new pronamel active shield actively shields the enamel to defend against erosion and cavities. i think that this product is a

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stuart: china's government issuing a blunt warning to america about potential future conflict. edward lawrence at the white house. what's the latest, please,

edward? >> reporter: revealing some of his cards, xi jinping says that the u.s. has circled and suppressed china which has offered challenges for the development of the country. in the past, the president, the chinese president has not mentioned the u.s. specifically in his speeches. now, chinese foreign minister going farther, saying the u.s. should change its attitude or risk conflict and confrontation. general jack keane says the u.s. exposed china to the world for spy airships, for thinking about supplying military aid to rush that shah -- russia. >> we attempting to contain china? are we also attempting to deter china from conflict in the region? you betcha. >> reporter: he thinks this increased rhetoric is meant to deflect from failed domestic policies there. when it comes to china, white house officials telling me they're working with congress to give the president more authority to regulate apps like tiktok which might be backed by china. here's, though, the official

statement on that, listen. >> we know certain countries, including china, seek to leverage digital technologies and americans' day a that in ways that can -- data in ways that can present national security risks. that has been our statement, what we have said for the past several months. >> reporter: and this afternoon there'll be an announcement about a bipartisan bill to do that, give the executive branch more authority to regulate apps like tiktok. now, it seems that this president has waited for overwhelming pressure though when it comes to the china to act on china. back to you, stu. stuart: yeah, the confrontation's rising. edward, thank you very much, indeed. gordon chang with us this morning. what is can the significance of this direct challenge from xi jinping? >> question his -- he and his foreign minister are trying to justify a strike on the united states. james lily, our great ambassador to beijing in the 1980s and '90s put it best when he said the chinese always telegraph

their punches. xi jinping is telegraphing his punch. stuart: how important is the military in china at the moment? >>st t getting more and more power over the political system, and we see this. with the national people's congress which is now ongoing, they announced a 7.2% increase in the chinese military budget. we don't know exactly what it'll be, but it's certainly greater than gdp growth for this year. last year they announced a 7.1% increase for 2022, they actually had gdp growth of a reported 3.0%, but a lot of economists and analysts think it was actually negative. that shows you the chinese military's getting so much power in the system, and that means the chinese military are now thinking about what they can do, not what this should do. and one of the things they think they can do and did was to fly the spy balloon over our country. stuart: now, speaker mccarthy, he's going to the meet taiwan's president in california. he's not going to taiwan. are you disappointedded with that? >> i'm a little wit in the sense

sense that the mccarthy going to taipei was a message. i don't care if he actually goes to taipei, but if he doesn't, then the taiwan president should be met in washington d.c. that's a clever way of getting back at the chinese saying, oh, you know, mccarthy shouldn't go to taipei. okay, we'll have the taiwan president meet our president and the speaker of the house in washington d.c. that's a deterrent message, and we need more of those messages. stuart: vivek ramaswamy, who's running for the presidency, on this program said, look, we've really got to stick it to china, we've got to the say american businesses should not be doing business in china. look, i find that rather extreme. how about you? >> well, it is extreme if you're talking about peacetime. but if you think you're going to war and the chinese think they are, then it's not extreme because it is strategically and morally wrong to give your eneml us an enemy, stu -- to give the

enemy the means in order to develop their military which is configured to fight america. so, no, it's not extreme, not at this time when we are on the precipice of the third world war. stuart: if disney withdrew from china or apple or any of our technology the companies, that's huge. i mean, incredibly disruptive. >> sure. and so is the death of hundreds of millions of americans. stuart: yeah, but they -- [inaudible conversations] preemptive action. >> look, stu, the chinese political system is now mobilizing china's civilians for war. in july an entrepreneur told me that in china -- he's making medical products for the civilian sector. he told me that communist party -- went to him and demanded that he convert his production lines to make items for the chinese military. the communist party has given that order to many chinese factory owners and, in fact, the

chinese communist party is operating a lot of factories that once were privately owned because the owners did not want to stick around for what they thought was xi jinping's war. that's how close we are. stuart: it's ominous, gordon. appreciate it, thank you. "the wall street journal" says chinese cranes were used for spying at america's ports. that's an interesting story. what's china's response? lauren: stop trying to contain the us. the finance minister says there's no amount of guardrails that could prevent crashing between the who the economies, and there will certainly be a conflict. that's very ominous. they say the u.s. keeps politicizing and weaponizing trade and and economic issues. so "the wall street journal"ed had reported that pentagon officials were very concerned about the cranes, those massive machines that are used at our big ports to move the containers. they're made by a chinese state-owned company. they have these sophisticated sensors in them that the journal says could spy on what is in the con indiana theres and also -- containers and also where those

containers are going. and with that they could disrupt world trade, right? so they compare huawei, the cranes are being compared to the way huawei spies. stuart: this is a very ominous segment. ambassador con and lauren, thank you very much, indeed. you can feel it building. check futures, please, six and a half minutes to go before the market opens. going nowhere until we find out what jay powell says about interest rates. we're find out in about 40-odd minutes. we'll be back. ♪ camping my breath -- catching my breath, letting it go -- ♪ turning my cheek for the sake of the show. ♪ now that you know this is my life -- ♪ for businesses of all sizes, there are a lot of choices when it comes to your internet and technology needs. when you choose comcast business internet, you choose the largest, fastest reliable network. you choose advanced security

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stuart: all right, futures indicate a go-no nowhere market at the opening bell because we've got jay powell testifying this morn, and that could move the market. in your opinion, will the fed push us into recession, michael? >> you know, stuart, i think they have to the to the get inflation under control. i don't see any other way. financial conditions have loosened dramatically since december, and you've seen since then inflation tick back up a little bit. used cars are up 4.3% from january to february, it's the

largest increase since 2009. so as you see in the start to come back on the market, the fed is going to have to get more aggressive. the old saying is don't fight the fed? well, the market's fighting the fed, and the fed's going to have to come back stronger. stuart: okay. well, what are you buying, if anything, in the immediate future. not just today, tomorrow and this week, but over the next month geffen your outlook for the -- given your outlook for the economy, what are you buying? >> a combination of short-term treasury, some money markets paying 4.6-4.7% as well as the defensive sec odors -- sectors,. staples, utilities, health care and energy is my largest equity holdings. and i'm going to start to nibble at the long bond and maybe add some positions to that because as the market gets a little bit spooked about rates higher for longer, you're going to have a selloff on the longer end of the yield curve. and with that selloff, i think it's a good opportunity for a rally maybe this year as the

economy slows further and that rate cuts conversation starts coming back into the market sphere. stuart: i'm still big on the 6-month treasury or a municipal bond fund which pays me 4%, it's very useful 6789 that's called safety the, transferring out of the risk of stocks, putting fresh money into the safe ety of a treasury or municipal bond. it may be a losing strategy for some, but it keeps my capital intact, put it like that. mike lee, thanks for being with us this morning. i know you'll be watching the fed all day long. [laughter] see how it goes. okay. we've got 15 seconds to to go. don't expect that much price movement in stocks until we figure out what jay powell is going to the say. he speaks just after 10:00 this morning. the fed watch ors are all over it. waiting for that word that their computers will react to and have a selloff or a buying spree on wall street with. it's going to be quite fun. lauren: all the big economic

information comes after he speaks, jolts, jobs on friday -- stuart: and there isn't another data until if may. so you've got a lot of data -- susan: the first time we've heard from the fed chair since the last time they met, so this is kind of a big deal. this is the first time in 2023 we've heard from jay powell. stuart: every word will be scrutinized. susan: of course. stuart: the dow is down 18 points. there are some winners, but there's no huge gainers right there. the s&p 500 also opening at i 9:30, down a tiny fraction. i'll call that flat to lore. the nasdaq composite, dead flat, absolutely. down .02. big tech, mixed bag. meta, amazon up. alphabet, microsoft down. now, here's the big story of the morning in tech. meta planning a fresh round of layoffs. susan, are we talking thousands of job losses? susan: we have no specific numbers in these bloomberg reports, most expect roughly 7,000 or so jobs to be cut.

you want to look at movement, a 3% gain in meta. the stock is up 53% in two months this year. that's not boring to me. the journal says at least 10% of the 70,000 workers that they employ failed in these performance reviews, so roughly 7,000 are expected to be laid off as soon as possibly this week. now, they need to be ready, apparently before mark zuckerberg goes on parental leave on the arrival of his third child which is imminent. the stock has been huge so far this year on those cost cuts, $40 billion in buybacks -- stuart: zuckerberg's doing the buttigieg? susan: in terms of parental leave? well, third child. lauren: do you know how long it will be? susan: i have no idea, but i'm not sure that's actually concern i don't think that affects the stock price, guys. stuart: no, i don't think it does. fair enough. let's have a look at jetblue. that merger with spirit airlines looks like it's in trouble.

susan: the doj will likely sue to block the $3.8 billion merger, and that's the jetblue/spirit airlines merger that would have formed the fifth largest airline in the u.s., and the doj likely to say that this limits competition, hurts customers, less choice, we have to pay higher airfare. i just want to note also that we are expecting record profits for airlines. yeah, united airlines upgraded. same thing with delta as well. ual was upgraded by bnp paribas. here's your outperformance today in the a flat market. stuart: okay. show me tesla, please. i know they got the green light to build a plant in mexico, but when does production starter? susan: possibly as early as next year. so according to the mexican authority, licensing and permits are already in the final stages and final discussions. you heard tesla saying that other factories like shanghai, berlin could produce 500,000 cars a year, 10,000 a week.

so mexico could possibly do the same. also some positive news from china this morning that local sales have started this year on track to match last quarter, which was pretty good, even with price cuts. and insurance registrations were up for a second straight week for tesla in china. stuart: let's follow up on rivian, because they look like they're in deep trouble. >> they are. 1.3 billion in convertible notes, to raise cash in order to stay alive. rivian, as you know, has really disappointed this year, last year. the 50,000-car production target was 10,000 for less than expected. with 2023, they made 700 less cars last year, and lordstown yesterday said they only delivered 6 cars last year. how do you stay in business delivering just 6 cars? that's a big question. and elon musk will tell you that it's very hard to make cars and ramp production. stuart: you've got to have the volume. gotta have it. susan: and it's not easy to do. stuart, no, it isn't. i see on my prompter the words

artificial intelligence and that salesforce is getting into a.i., that's why the stock is up? susan: that's right. [laughter] so we use the office communications messaging board which juliana will show you how to use, but in the future, salesforce is going to use their new a. i. chatbot called einstein and infuse it into slack. so that'll be interesting. it'll deliver instant conversation summaries, research tools, writing assistance for you possibly. stuart: really? susan: yeah, using ion sign. they're lawn -- einstein. you see this a.i. boom continuing. yesterday we were talking about microsoft, now launching new features using a.i. in their cloud services azure. also -- yeah. stuart: look at that. artificial if intelligence, those two words and up your stuff goes. susan: this stock is up 150% this year, it's been incredible. stuart: that's right.

last week they were way under 20. susan: i think there's got to be some sort of tie with that. stuart: sooner or later there'll be a shakeout -- susan: you know how it works on wall street, it's a herd mentality. it's also trend following. so once some people pile into certain sort of themes and trends, that's where it goes. stuart: i want to talk about weight watchers -- [laughter] susan: oh, do you? stuart: i'm doing all right, but i don't concern are they getting, what are -- susan: telehealth. do you know what it is? stuart: sort of. susan: yeah. so during covid because you couldn't go to see your. >> directly, you did it online and over the internet, so they are buying telehealth platform if company sequence which offers subscriptions and prescriptions, and, for instance, this is a big keel for sequence. they offer access to the much-hyped diabetes drug, a lot of people use it to lose weight like celebrities, we're talking about ozempic and the like.

the stock is actually rallying bigtimed today on the back of that keel. i also saw a ubs target the hike to $4.50, but you're above that already are. stuart:st the up 29%, good lord. okay. paramount, i'm told they could be strike thing a deal with tyler perry. hold on a second, that name rings a bell. isn't he the godfather of meg han and harry's daughter -- meghan and harry's daughter, and didn't he give his mansion to meghan and harry? susan: that's right. stuart: i've got this right. i've got pop culture right. [laughter] susan: a billionaire, possible owner of bet entertainment in the future which paramount global is thinking of offloading. you know, paramount global, it's done well this year, but it had a terrible last year. they're losing around $2 billion in streaming over the past year. i think they predicted a projected 200 million in streaming loss to enebb last year, so the fact that they're trying to raise cash in this type of linear television,

declining type of market to somebody that that has deep pockets like tyler perry -- stuart: thank you very much, super. good stuff. see you in about an hour. coming up, you may remember actor the marlon wayans from his role in the hit movie, "white chicks." roll tape. >> are you telling me that you are not -- >> i'm not a woman. >> -- white? oh, deception. [laughter] stuart: that comedian now says our country is, quote, too damn sensitive, and we'll definitely get into that. california governor newsom says his state will no longer do business with walgreens, and filmmaker michael moore wants a nationwide boycott. we'll tell you why. president biden is a tax and spend guy, so what happens to the economy after all these tax hikes and spending increases? larry kudlow nails it down after this. ♪ ♪ he's got high hopes, he's got

high hopes. ♪ got high apple pie in the sky hopes ♪

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♪ stuart: the labor force participation rate among women remains lower than the pre-pandemic rate. lydia hu with me. lydia, this is about childcare, isn't it? >> reporter: yeah. it's very expensive. and we talked to one new jersey mom who explained this issue very well. watch this. >> puts you in a position where you're, like, you feel defeated because you're, like, i want to work, but i can't work. >> reporter: what do you think the answer is? what do you need help with more, do you need more option, more affordable options? >> definitely more affordable options. but then again, you go into the whole equation where, you know,

people need to make a good living as well. so i don't know what the answer is. >> reporter: yeah, it's very expensive. take a look at these prices, stuart. the national median price for infant care at a center in this country ranges from $8300-17,000 per year. and some densely populated regions of the country like in the bronx, new york, childcare costs can be as much as 40% of the household median income for just one child. now, these costs is have increased since 2018. part of the problem here is the industry is losing workers. there are about 58,000 fewer childcare workers now than before the pandemic. and this crisis is weighing on parents, employers and taxpayers. it costs the country an estimated $122 billion in lost earnings, productivity and revenue every year. stuart, that's double the economic impact from five years ago. and now there is agreement that

childcare's unaffordable, it's a problem, but there's little consensus here about what to do about it. the biden administration, it attempted a top-down change with a proposed $400 billion included in the failed build back better proposal. that failed, of course, but now the administration is tying childcare mandates to funding available in the chips act to boost american semiconductor manufacturing. of course, there are experts from the heritage foundation that i spoke with that say federal government should stay out of this, it's just going to make childcare more expensive, leave this to the states. roll back on regulations. stuart: i agree with that 100%. lydia, great stuff. thank you very much, indeed. don't miss thursday's town hall, "making money," the future of work. charles payne, 2 p.m. eastern here on fox business. that's thursday, march 9th. now this: president biden pushing for new taxes on the wealthy. where's larry kudlow when you need him?

there he is. you're on, larry. okay. i say president biden is a tax and spend guy. where does that take us, larry? what happens to the economy? >> well, of course he's a tax and spend guy. he's a redistributionist. that's been the story. where does it take us? it's going to take us to a bad place. i mean, last year biden's first full year the economy grew fourth over fourth by 0.9%. think about that. and inflation rate was about 6.5%. he wants to tax the upper end earners. he's got a lot of taxes on corporations. i think he's going to -- he's ending the immediate expense writeoff for r&d credits and also for plants and equipment. that's really important to the economy. that's going to phase down. he's also talking about raising the tax the for social security

and medicare on the upper end people. and, stu, they don't pay their fair share, right? the upper end doesn't pay their fair share. so let's look at some factoids for a change. the top 1% of taxpayers pays, are you ready? stuart: yes. >> hold on, 42%. the top 1% pays 42%, all right? they earn 22% of the income, and they pay 42 % of the tax revenues. now, i'd say that's pretty fair. what would you say, stu? stuart: i would say grossly unfair. under no circumstances should my government take more than 50% of any person's income, period. [laughter] that is flat out immoral. and if these tax increases go through and you live in, say, new york city or a high-tax area, you're going to be paying over 50% of your income to the feds, and i think that's flat

out immoral. what happened here is that biden reversed almost all of president trump's policies. that's why we're in this mess, in my opinion. >> that is correct. i couldn't agree more. because trump handed him an economy that was growing at 6.5%. stuart: yep. >> with 1.5% inflation. but hang on, stu, hang on, stu. we haven't spent enough money. they're going to criticize jay powell for inflation. they're going to say don't keep tightening policy. wait, you'll hear this today. throw out your 2% target, which he won't co, but they're going to say that. so the congressional budget office, the official scorecard, right? in the last two years, in the last two years, spending baseline has gone up 19 trillion while the deficit has gone up $20 trillion. you're not spending enough. yes, you are.

spending leads to inflation. inflation leads to higher rates from the fed. they've got the whole story wrong. it's going to be the most fun i've ever seen. stuart: we're not going to a good place. [laughter] larry, we're watching you closely, 4 p.m. eastern here on fox business. thanks, larry. always great. thank you. president biden unveils his budget in the week, and he's calling himself a dethe sit hawk. however -- [laughter] sidebar to this, lauren, john kerry,, he says need to spend a lot more money on climate. how much more does he want? lauren: multiple trillions with a t of collars, and i just think it's -- of dollars, and i just think it's gold that he said this at this conference in houston. listen in. >> and i said money, money, money, money, money. i swear to god, if you put money on the table, this is doable. this really can be done. and the finance reports say we need about anywhere from

$2.5-4.5 trillion a year for the next 30 years to affect the trend more. lauren: i mean, that's unbelievable -- with that much money you can fix any problem. you could fix any problem. stuart: oh, i don't think so. lauren: so is biden going to listen? stuart: we'll have more on this later. now this, the fbi's offering a $50,000 reward to help find those four americans assaulted and kidnapped in mexico. we have the latest on the search right after this. ♪ ♪ ♪ inner voice (kombucha brewer): if i just stare at these payroll forms... my business' payroll taxes will calculate themselves. right? uhh...nope. intuit quickbooks helps you manage your payroll taxes, cheers! with 100% accurate tax calculations guaranteed. who's on it with jardiance? ♪ ♪ we're the ones getting it done. we're managing type 2 diabetes and heart risk. we're on it with jardiance. join the growing number of people who are on it

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stuart: the fbi is offering a $50,000 reward to the help find the four the people kidnapped in mexico last friday. william la jeunesse has been following this. what's the latest, william? >> reporter: you know, stu, the latest is we still don't know where they are, right? and that was on friday anded today is monday. now, generally, you know, the cartels avoid doing this to americans because it's bad for business. the government shot the four americans by mistake as associate ises working with a rival cartel rather than kidnapping them because they were american. according to the family in, a mother of six had returned to mexico for a second medical

procedure accompanieded by three friends. she went for a tummy tuck the, a surgery that costs thousands less in mexico than in the u.s. but shortly after crossing the border or, their white van came urn fire. four armed men loading the americans into a white pickup. the woman is alive. she's sitting up. the other three appear dead or wounded as they're dragged across the pavement and tossed into the pickup. a mexican bystander is confirmed dead. >> these sorts of attacks are unacceptable. our thoughts are with the families of these individuals, and we stand ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance. >> reporter: president biden was briefed on the incident. the u.s. ambassador in mexico met with president own rah corps as this is one of six mexican states on the department's do not travel list. >> we're standing ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance. we do also are remind americans about the existing travel

guidance when it comes to this part of mexico, the travel advisory for the state remains at level iv, do not travel. we encourage americans to heed that advice. >> reporter: so it's a violent city. the cartels are fighting for smuggling routes, and neighboring brownsville residents say it's too dangerous to travel. >> does it surprise me? no. i hope that they find them, and i hope that they really take it seriously, you know, on their end. >> reporter: so with spring break coming up, stuart, this incident might give some americans pause while traveling to mexico. stuart? stuart: indeed, william. thank you very much, indeed. still ahead on this program today, georgia congressman buddy carter, florida congressman mike waltz, brian kilmeade, dr. marc siegel. the 10:00 hour of "varney & company" is next. ♪ ♪ hey, i heard you like the wild ones ♪

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