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more you with see of kamala harris, the less you like. >> all of the out candidates running for president are close with biden. that's why you see biden now so aggressively talking about bidenomics. bidenomics is on its way to being the biggest political blunder statement since if you liked your doctor, you can keep your doctor. >> if we ignore the laws, we're going to keep having this problem. you have to be in tune with what people actually see. voters are like armies, they march on their stomach. and i'm afraid they're not going to turn out for joe biden if things don't get better. >> the battle for inflation is far from over, and it's going to stay sticky for a while especially with energy prices staying where where they are. ♪ ♪ oh, joy when you call me ♪ ♪ stuart: what's this? e joy by bastille? is that a prince band of some sort? >> i can't help on this one.

[laughter] stuart: the guy's singing in english with an american accent, so i guess he's all right. 11:00 eastern taoism it is the wednesday, september the 13th. left-hand side of the screen, a bit with more green appearing. the dow is up 82, the nasdaq's up 50. show me big tech. it was a mixed picture beforehand, now they're all up except for apple. how about that? no bounce from yesterday 's, the new iphone 15. amazon, meta, microsoft, alphabet, they are all up. quick check on the 10-year treasury. if it's shy of 4.3%, okay, not bad, 4.28%. now this. david ignatius is a columnist at the pro-democrat washington post. in the pundit industry, he has clout. his column today is a very big deal. president biden should not run again in 2024. he is saying publicly what a countless democrats are saying in private.

he writes this: i don't think biden and vice president harris should run for are re-election, if he and harris campaign together in the 2024, i i think biden risks undoing his greatest a achievement which was stopping rump. in other words, both sides, both should step aside because they will lose are. and that's what politics and power is all about, i winning, not -- winning, not losing. ignatius says the biden-harris ticket has two big liabilities. one, the president's age -- 82 at the start of another term -- and, second, kamala harris' inability to present herself as a viable president. dropping her prosecute ticket would alienate black women. that that's a key voting bloc. but biden, oh, he could simply retire as the democrat hero who beat trump. that is now the public template for managing change at the top. time's running out. president biden should not run again in 2024, that's what ignatius wrote. that now is an urgent call to

all democrats, get him out. third hour of "varney" starts right now. ♪ ♪ if. ♪ ♪ stuart: martha maccallum is joining us here in new york city this morning. is this first move in an effort to get him out? >> it's a big deal. good morning, everybody. great to be with you. i think when david ignatius has a headline that says that it's the time for president biden to step aside -- and i love the way you put that the in that the intro, because essentially you boiled down this editorial. he says there are two problems. one is president biden and one is kamala harris. and that's a problem. constituter stuart yeah. >> okay? this -- he is putting a fine point on what everyone across the nation is talking about. whether they're republicans or democrats, everyone is discussing this issue. and no doubt it is on the mind

of president biden as well. and his family as well. they just put $25 the million into with swing state advertising with joe biden and kamala harris' face all over it. you know, the difficult thing here if he is leading the charge, and i would even raise the question about whether or not there are people on the inside who knew that that he was going to write this and and may have been okay with it, okay? stuart: probably. >> these things tend to happen in sort of a circular motion. i can't say that for sure, but i think it's a question that will be on other political observers' minds as well, whether or not there is sort of a sucker lahr move to try to -- circular move to put this in front of him and have him start thinking about it, and i do think this is a significant moment. stuart: they've got to move fast. if he's out, you've got to have some kind of primary session to get somebody else in. you've got today that quickly. >> at the lower part of the editorial, and i think that's why a lot of democrats were

incensed about a it, because he doesn't have any suggestions on that front. he's like, well, you've just got to let the democratic process see what happens. people obviously looking at gavin newsom, even looking at josh shapiro, the governor in pennsylvania whose name comes up in this circle, gina raimondo, he mentions it in this article as well. but they are going to have to move quickly. i have always felt just in a gut sense having covered a lot of elections now that at some point either, you know, one of these things was going to give, that the trump-biden matchup would not be where we end up next summer. i have no idea what's going to be the catalyst many that, but we see perhaps the beginning of that movement happening. stuart i think you're right. you moderated the first 2024 republican debate along with bret baier. i asked him yesterday for some advice ahead of the next debate because i'm one of the moderators. here's what he said. >> i know what you're in for right now. i know what you're doing, i know how tough it is to get into the weeds.

[laughter] so, listen, i say have fun, make sure the buzzer works, get ready for maybe a former vice president with a lot of coffee. [laughter] stuart: that was a reference to mike pence -- >> exactly. he had a few extra cups that day. i agree with bret 100%. i'm really looking forward this time around to sitting back and watching. it is the an intense process, it's a great process for anyone who cares about the country, politics, journalism as you deeply do, so i think it's going to be fantastic, and dana's going to be wonderful. so is my advice would be see if they can turn the that buzzer up a little bit. maybe it goes to 11, the buzzer. stuart: that is a tough deal, isn't it? keeping control. >> it is. and it'll be interesting to see how the dynamic changes because i'm betting they're saying we're not going to let that happen this time, right many we're going to make sure we don't let the former vice president sort of steam roll over us. we tried to cut them off, there are times when it gets tricky

out there. the other thing on a more subtle note is, as you always do, stuart, of you have to listen to these answers. because sometimes there's an opening there the, right? listen to what the candidates are saying, and, you know, allow them just to, you know, to challenge them on it, right? to push them a little bit further sometimes. they do tend to get rolled into, they practice too much sometimes the, right? so they start the rolling into those -- if they don't answer the question, you know, excuse me, that wasn't the question, you know? if is so i think listening to the their answers is really key, and i'm excited to watch. you're going to do wonderfully. stuart: very good ad a vice from someone who knows. thank you very much, martha maccallum. i'll watch you this afternoon, # 3 p.m. eastern, as we always do. thanks, marsha that. next -- martha. jim farley admitted electric vehicles are for wealthier customers, not for everyone. watch this. >> what's the deal with evs, and how do you see them? >> electric vehicles for certain

customers who don't travel long distances, use it for more of a commuting atmosphere that are wealthier, you know, it's a great duty cycle. stuart: okay. mark ten deer is with us. he -- mark tepper is with us. he seems to be admitting that the push towards evs has some problems. >> without a doubt. the obvious one is price. i mean, the average ev right now costs about 35% more than the average gas-powered vehicle, and that's at the same point in time where auto loan rejections are skyrocketing. in february they were 9% of applications got rejected, today it's up to 14%. so not only are they more expensive, but it's more difficult to obtain financing to get one now a days. and then you throw in the fact that the batteries aren't efficient enough to cover long distances, the charging infrastructure is minimal. i know energy secretary granholm, she tried to do a 4-day ev road trip, she was bobbing and weaving trying to fine charging stations, actually got the cops called on the entourage because there was someone who went and reserved a

charging station for her. so, look, there's a lot of challenges. and i don't think the biden administration is going to come anywhere near reaching their 50% target the of all new vehicles are exvs by 2030. -- evs by 2030. stuart: it wouldn't surprise me to see a flood of chinese-made electric vehicles, much cheaper, coming into the united states. assuming they get permits to run them around the roads here. >> especially when they have's to the rare earth minerals. stuart: you can get an ev vehicle from china for $25,000. we're going to turn to the latestest on the market this morning. i've got the dow industrials up about 80, nasdaq now up, what's that, 56 points, and the s&p is up 13. is so some green on the board. now, you say -- now, we have this cpi number this morning, 3.7 inflation over the past year. are you saying that the fed, because of that, the fed's narrative changes? to what? >> yeah. so, look, the fed and investors

have been very concerned about whether or not there's going to be another hike. so the concern has been how high are rates going to go. that narrative now needs to shift towards how long are they going to remain high. and when you start to look at the data the, the conference board last week estimate 12 months from today is 5.8%. up from 3.7% right now. 5.8. stuart ooh. >> the atlanta fed's sticky cpi number 12 the months from today is at 5.5%. is so we are, we're seeing inflation reaccelerate. surprisingly enough, the fed fund futures are pricing in less of another hike right now than they were yesterday given a hotter than expected cpi print. stuart: all right. >> but, yeah, i think we're going to have to stay higher for longer, and that's going to be the narrative investors focus on. stuart: lauren's looking at the maneuvers. show me what's happening with tesla. it's still up. lauren: the u.s. trade minister says tesla will course between

1.7-1.9 billion dollars of auto components from that country. this is not building a $24,000s tesla at its india plant yet, but he was speaking at a conference in india. he said all of you in this room, you will supply the auto companies. you did a billion dollars' worth of business with tesla last year, now we're trying to double that. stuart: inda, are recommended by eddie ghabour this morning,s it has been going up recently. very interesting. moderna, oh, they've got a flu shot? lauren: yeah. an mrna one. stage three trials very promising against all four strains of the flu, likely going to get this shot on the market for next flu season. stuart: amazon. what's the story? lauren: merchants can now use a.i. to list and describe their products on amazon.com. fanduel, the sportsbook with, is using their cloud service, aws. and then you have amazon

investing $440 million to boost beige wages -- wages to $20 an hour plus for their contracted delivery employees. i know that is, that would hit their profitability, but that tells me that business must be good that they're trying to get more -- pay workers more to deliver items. stuart: and the stock is doing can remarkably well, $144. way up there. not just today the either. lauren, thanks very much, indeed. let's get back to this, aaron rodgers officially out for the season after he suffered a torn achilles tendon. other players are now calling out the league. we have that story for you. reading proficiency continues to fall in schools across the country. nevada 16% of hispanic fourth graders are proficient in reading. we'll investigate nevada if's education problem in a moment. vladimir putin, kim jong un, they wrapped up their meeting in russia early this morning. this meeting happened with china's approval. what does general keith kellogg think about that? the yen is next.

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two flashpoints, stuart. they're looking at taiwan which is clearly something they want to have accomplished, basically the reunification as they call it it, by the end of this year. and the other is the south china sea where trillions of dollars in american trade goes through there. and there are a couple of flashpoints they're actually preparing for. and the reason why the secretary said that is that a war with china will not be a ground war with. we're not going to drop the 82nd air airborne decision into beijing. it's going to be an air and sea war as well. one of the reasons he said that as secretary of the air force, we're going to have an enormous problem getting our carrier ballot groups close to china because they've developed these sea-skimming missiles that can reach out 1600 mimes and prevent our -- miles. so we're going to have to defend on our air force as well, and we're going to have to way them -- base them in the philippines to be able to penetrate chinese air space when we need to go in. it's a real problem for us, and

it's compounded by the fact that they're building up our air force where ours are the status quo and really not building up at all. stuart: how much time do you think they need to build up sufficiently to fight a war with us? >> oh or, i think they're there, stuart. i think they can fight a war right now because there is, the issue that -- the advantage they've got is what we used to call interior lines. it's a distance issue. we have to assistance verse the entire pacific ocean -- transverse the entire pacific ocean or move from okinawa or japan. they'll fight off their own soil. that a gives them an enormous advantage, and it really does count in a fight. do i think they could fight today in absolutely, they could do, it and -- do it, and it would cause us enormous problems. they're building up an ability to have, accept losses if they need to and still be able to fight. that should be the concern that we all face. plus, when you go to the nuclear threshold, they're developing these missile fields as well. you know, something we did --

when they're building up their triad as well, we used to call it the sponge theory because you with accept the ability to accept a lot of nuclear weapons and getting your homeland is and still have an ability to react. that's what they're doing right now. they're billing up these missile fields to be able to absorb, if necessary, a first or second strike. they're ready to go if they need to right now. i think the big flashpoint is going to be the taiwan this coming year. stuart: real quickly on this, please. kim jong un met with putin in you should shah. >> yeah. stuart tooth the meeting only happened, this is my opinion, with china's approval, right? >> right. stuart: what they're doing here, again in my opinion, they're cementing the new world order. what do you say, general? >> yeah, you're right. and it's just not the new world order with china, with north korea and with russia, but it's also iran as well, and they're all coming together. you know, previously what we tried to do, we tried to keep them all separate. that's the reason why we talked with kim john up in north korea in the last -- kim jong un in north korea. there's an old saying keep your

friends close and your enemies closer. the reason you want to do that is you want to be the able to separate them. by them coming together or, it gives them synergy. and the reason why putin went to north korea, he has an e enormous problem with equipment in the war against ukraine. he's bringing out p-55 tanks. may not mean much to your listeners, but the t-55 was taken out of the inventory in 1981, but they're bringing them back because they have so many losses. and they're going to be able to the make those losses acceptable by getting equipment from north korea, both ammunition and equipment as well. so this is a synergy they're bringing together. it should concern us an awful lot when these four nations get together, because it causes enormous problems just not in the mideast, but also in the pacific and the european region as a well. it's a problem we're going to be facing, and you have to basically adjust to it -- stuart: general, it sounds like the gathering storm in the 1930s. that's what it sounds like to me. general, thanks for being here.

we'll come to see you again. putin, as in vladimir putin of russia, he's now talking about elon musk. ashley, what is he saying? ashley: well, it's interesting, putin calls musk an outstanding person and is businessman whose spacex company has become a major player in the space transportation industry. now, putin's public praise of musk comes after the entrepreneur apparently said that he refused a ukrainian request haas year to activate his starlink satellite network to help an attack on russia's fleet in crimea's port city. former russian president dmitry medvedev also jumping in, applauding musk for his decision. that's no surprise. putin also said musk plans to -- moscow plans to persevere with its own space plan despite the failure of a mission to the moon, but not sure if you want praise from vladimir putin. what does that say about you?

stuart: not much. thanks, ash. the green is still on your screen, dow's up 70 points. and the nasdaq is up 62. 13 up for the s&p is. check apple, please. still no big gain there. it's 175 this morning. do you think they're running out of tricks with the iphone 15? >> yeah. i mean, there's just minor, incremental changes nowdays, and it's really not compelling for the consumer to up upgrade unless, of course, your battery dies at lunchtime every day which i'm starting to get to that point. [laughter] over the course of the last few years, the way apple has tried to combat the rising price of the iphone is by extending credit to consumers. in 2019 they rolled out the apple card partnership with goldman sachs. why? to give someone $2500 in credit so they can buy a $1,000 iphone. when that stopped working earlier this year, they roll out buy now pay later which does not attract the best customers given that 44% of people that use that are delinquent on a payment. stuart: that's very interesting

stuff. you dug deep there. thanks, mark. we've talked a lot about youngsters vaping on the streets of new york. they take a hit, exhale, takes 5 seconds, there's no smell. you can conceal very easily what you're up up to. now high schools in the city have a problem, students vapinging in school. the full story coming up for you. classes canceled at some school districts in las vegas tuesday. they didn't have enough teachers. a senior fellow for the american federation for children is going to tell us what nevada's education problem is right after this. ♪ teacher, teacher, can you teach me? ♪ can you tell me all i need to know? ♪ teacher, teacher, can you reach me -- ♪ or will i fall and you let me go? ♪

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sleepy, unloved picks today. minor good news yesterday, yet the stock popped 5%. they came out and said net interest income was going to be to down 2-3% instead of 3-4. the stock popped 5% which means, in my opinion, that the stock is unloved, unappreciated, dying for any reason to rally. and it pays a 5% dividend. so for me to have exwe pose your to financials, i could be patient with that. stuart: now he tells us, 5% dividend. i can get behind that one. what does aramark do? >> sporting events for concerts, schools, you go and get a hot dog, that's probably aramark or one of their competitorses. they're going to spin off their uniforms business which, in my opinion, is going to unlock a lot of shareholder value, and it allows aramark to focus on concession ises for all these different events, and it's a services versus goods play. we know that's where consumer spending is going. stuart: 37 now, where to?

>> 37, i think 50 would be a reasonable target for it 12 months out. stuart: okay, not bad, not bad. that's 13 points. >> not bad. stuart: school districts battling teen vaping in high schools. not just tobacco, but marijuana as well. ashley, to come on in, please. i want about to know what measures schools are taking. ashley: well, it's the difficult because without an obvious smell, vaping is ooh easier to hide from school authorities than combustible cigarettes. it's not just a bunch of kids smoking in the bathroom. schools have tried to limit vaping, even installing, by the way, vape detectors in the bathrooms, but it's been a struggle. public health officials call it a silent epidemic. some schools have is even locked some restrooms that have become popular places to vape. the devices also kind of mimic school supplies like highlighters, pens, usb devices that make them even harder to detect. now, some cities across the country have have banned the sale of flavored tobacco

products, but gotta tell you, it's an ongoing battle and one that schools are trying to come up with new ideas to try and cut it out. stu. stuart: when there's no smell, it's very hard to detect. it's the as simple as that. all right, ash. mark tepper with me. my concern is vaping marijuana in high schools, because you can't learn if you're stoned. you have kids, you got a problem here in. >> my oldest daughter's a junior many high school. vaping is a very, very common occurrence at her high school. finish yeah, it's a big problem because, you know, these students could potentially be learning under the influence, and that means they're not learning which which leads to futuregen rah rations that are less productive, less intelligence. you're in school to learn, you should be there to learn but, yeah, the whole -- there's no smell. it's very, very tough to identify. so, yeah, it's a big problem. stuart: it's a problem. got it. thanks very much indeed, mark. now, classes were canceled at some school districts in vegas tuesday. they didn't have enough

teachers. valerie ya gerr is with us with the the american federation for children and joins me now. why does nevada if have a staffing shortage like this? >> i think we have to recognize that the system has -- teachers for the longest time, and we have to bring accountability and school choice into the system. if not, we're going to continue seeing what we've been seeing for the longest time. i don't think this is new. i think that that the teachers union lost the narrative saying that the teachers are are leaving the profession. i think this heart attack has been happening for a very, very long time. stuart: only 16% of hispanic fourth graders in nevada are proficient in reading. why is that? >> it's because of what i said. like, it's so bureaucratic. nevada doesn't have a school choice program that is robust. the teachers' union is complaining and block all the initiatives that we have during the legislative session. the governor allocated record

funding for public schools, $2 billion funding for teachers' raises, and the reality is, is that we continue doing the same things every single year since i live in this state. i have been seeing the same narrative. we need more money but fewer accountability, and we have a big monopoly. what you mention about students not being proficient, that's happened awe across the board. 24 -- 20% of the students are not proficient in this state. 14%, as you mentioned, hispanics are proficient at fourth grade and only 12010 forth -- 10% for african-american students. it's the really unacceptable, and we have to continue fighting for school chase because what it took us here is a monopoly that the same teachers union have over and over. money is not the only answer to our problem, and they need to answer the questions to the teachers, where is the monies going? there was a lot of funding allocated during covid, and it would be interesting to know how

many of the vacancy of these teachers are actually new positions that were opened because the reality is that the teacher shortage has been here for a very long time. stuart: school choice is really big in many other states, and some have gone full facility to school choice. why not nevada? what's old -- holding things up in nevada? >> the teachers union is very much against it -- stuart: wait a second. what about local politicians? if the performance of students in reading is so poor, aren't there politicianses demanding change? where are they? >> some are. some are. but the ones that are being paid by the teachers union are not. and the reality is that we have two democrat houses in this state, ask they block every initiative. the governor had a strong proposal. he proposed $50 million to be allocated on opportunity scholarship that would have served 5,000 students. instead, they cut funding this year, and we almost lost 600 students. so that that's, you know, that's the answer.

they don't want it because the teachers unions say no. stuart: your arguments are with the democrats who are holding up school choice. i take it and i listen to it -- >> education should never be a political issue. stuart: well, it is the now. >> as we mentioned, the statistics are showing -- [inaudible conversations] stuart: it is a political issue now. >> the teachers, they're all leaving. everybody's looking for options. and if we would have school choice, we would stop this monopoly. stuart: yeah, yeah, i get it, i get it. i know what you're pushing for, but you've got to do something about your politicians in that state. that's who you should be aiming at. if they're blocking the school door to progress, say it, get out there. anyway, i'm out of time. >> yeah, no, i -- [inaudible conversations] we have been saying it. stuart you're just losing a generation, and that's a disgrace. yeah, okay. thanks very much, valeria, i'm sure you'll take my hint here. >> thank you so much. stuart: you're welcome. new government data reveals more and more baby boomers are ending

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very interesting stuff. the nf all right, players, some of them, are criticizing the league following aaron rodgers' season-ending injury. ashley, why are they blaming the nfl? ashley: well, that injury has reignited the debate surrounding the turf, artificial you are the of in particular. -- you are the the of. several of rodgers' teammates pointed to the field conditions at metlife stadium, specifically the turf, which was replaced earlier this year. the players wanted the nfl to protect them with grass fields but claim the nfl is more concerned with making money. metlife stadium replaced the previous you are the the of field with a new, improved synthetic surface back in march. it's a multilair are, dual-polymer fiber version that promises to reduce you are the the-related injuries -- you are the the-related injuries. the nfl claims there's no

statistical difference in achilles injuries suffered on natural grass versus artificial turf fields. a lot of the players prefer grass to artificial turf. stuart: it's interesting, mark, does turf make that much of a difference? >> this was brought to life when odell beckham tore his acl for the sec time in less than a year in the super bowl, under the biggest spotlight in the world. but the big issue is cities and teams in general, in order for you to have a super bowl in the past, they've either been in warm weather with cities or in cities with a dome. typically if you have a dome, you have artificial turf. so it seems like the incentive for a city to bring that economic boon to their city in the form of a super bowl has caused them to lean towards artificial turf, unfortunately. stuart: that's interesting. all right, the senate is now holding a hearing into the pga

tour, saudi-backed liv golf merger. griff jenkins monitoring the hearing. what have you heard so farsome. >> reporter: hey, stu, good morning. we're learning there are major concerns surrounding that pending deal which many are have likened to sports washing, especially where the saudiss become major players in pro sports to cleanse their horrific image of an oppressive autocracy with a terrible record on human rights. this hearing just started about 20 the minutes ago. they're also diving into the saudi government's overall investments in the u.s., stu, seeing that it extends far beyond just golf or even sports. in fact, a review of the saudi cans' sovereign wealth fund known as the public investment fund, or pif, used to purchase things like the pga tour, has increased u.s.es holdings from approximately $2.5 billion in 2018 to more than $35 billion today. but don't expect to get any questions answered from the saudis over those investments because the manager of the fund

and i any representative for it were a no-show, and they rejected refeeted requests to appear before -- repeated requests to appear before this committee. chairman richard blumenthal says he intends to hold the saudi government accountable one way or another. >> if the saudi government fails to be responsive and responsible, we have tools that we can use, and we may be reluctant to use them, but we will insist on the information that we need to make good judgments about potential legislation. >> reporter: now, a review of the portfolio shows they invest in uber, ea sports, video games, live entertainment like concerts and even in amazon. at the end of the day, it seems the saudis have got this ultimate goal to change their image, stu. and what americans think about saudi arabia, they'll think about phil mickelson, not jamal khashoggi. [laughter] stuart: good one. thanks, griff. now, here's the time when we, i

always say it, give you a sense of the market. here we go. look at all 30 of the dow stocks. even split pretty much. the dow's up 65, and i'm looking at about the same -- looks like 15 winners and 15 losers. the dow is up 65 points, 34,710. got it. now take a look at this, very different, okay? this is a park in texas. austin, texas. riddled with garbage, empty needles, narcan, and it's the all from a homeless encampment that a man who took that video is going to join us right after this. ♪ ♪

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the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. stuart: seattle's only parking lot for homeless people living in rvs was supposed to be converts into, what, 300 apartments. ashley, i believe the developer has changed the plan. what's it going to be now? ashley: oh, and has it. it could eventually become a 20 the-court pickleball complex. as you say, the the original plan called for 300 low income

apartments, but concerns over the length of time to complete the project has derailed the proposal, apparently. now the developer and the property owner looking to build 20-22 courts plus bathrooms, community spaces, parking stalls, some is of the courts inside, some on a roof deck. in the meantime, the property will be used as a safe lot housing rvs and tiny houses. many people, by the way, without homes in the seattle area live in their vehicles including rvs, cars and trucks. the pickleball project could break ground in the summer of 2025. stu. stuart: that's a long way from now. thanks, ash. okay, everybody, i'm going to put some video on the screen. i want you to take a look at it. what your going to look at is the greenbelt area of austin, texas. now,s it is supposed to be pristine. it's supposed to be a lovely park. but as you can see, it's been virtually destroyed by homeless people. jamie hammond shot that video, and jamie joins me now. big picture for a second, jamie.

in the age of fentanyl, you cannot have outdoor drug markets. they'll simply wreck the city. are you with me on this? >> i am, definitely, 100%. it's, you know, but thankfully, fentanyl hasn't hit austin as hard as it has other areas, but along with fentanyl comes all the other crimes. we see it, we hear it from people in neighborhoods. these folks come out of the homeless camps into the neighborhoods, they're steel stealing, take -- stealing, taking pretty much whatever they can get. so it's causing issues not just in the camps in the greenbelts, but in the neighborhoods themselves. stuart: nancy pelosi, former speaker, she suggests that the homeless crisis can be contained. in san francisco, her district, she would contain it to the tenderloin district. is containment a viable plan for dealing with this problem? >> you know, i don't think it is. and the reason why is because these camps grow, you know? as regular citizens are scared

of these camps, they're scared of the violence that comes out of them. so as the, these camps grow, citizens stop using those area. and when the citizens are not using the area, the camps grow with, you know, they just flourish, and they continue to grow and continue to grow. stuart: so what's your program? how would you solve this problem? would you build affordable housing in or would you have treatment centers? how would you treat the problem? >> so, you know, i've been doing this for a while, talking to a lot of folks. and one of the main things that we could do is offer more services. we need more drug and alcohol and mental health services for these homeless folks. when these encampments are closed down, the city goes in, they bring them to these bridge shelters, but they're back on the street within 48 hours because they are addicted to drugs, and they have no access to services. if we had services, better access to services -- and we

have a camp here called community first village where it's the, these folks can go and camp where it's the safe. if we had more of those camps and more services, then this problem would get better pretty quickly. stuart: jamie hammonds, thank you for making us aware of this nasty problem there in austin. appreciate it. >> thank you. stuart: ashley, i want to know why more baby boomers are becoming homeless. ashley: it's a number of factors to blame, high housing costs a major contributor especially for seniors living on social security who are no longer working. there's also a lack of low cost assisted living centers. many have been closing because of a staffing shortage and financial troubles. and and there's also a trend of families being widely dispersed which means less support for older people. according to federal data, in 2018 people 55 and older were 16.3% of these sheltered homeless population. in 2021 that number has climbed

to very close to 20%. the aging population also straining shelters that just aren't equipped to accommodate things like wheelchairses or to help people unable to climb onto top bunks. and, by the way, in 2021 the median price of a room many a private nursing home in florida, more than $115,000 a year. stuart: that is a huge cost. ashley, thank you very much, indeed. ashley: yeah. stuart: all right. coming up on 11:55. the wednesday trivia question with. it's a real good one. how often do americans open their refrigerators per day? 12? that -- 25 the? 33? 41 times a today? what is it? depends on whether you have kids, i suppose. the answer when we come back. ♪ ♪

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i was willing to take the chance, and the chance turned out to be my lotto ticket. golo gave me back my life, and that's why i'm here. (announcer) change your life at golo.com. that's golo.com. stuart: we did ask how many times in american (refrigerator today. you are first. ashley: 41 is a major morning for me, but i go with 33.

stuart: i'm going with 41. on the assumption you have children, >> this isn't 33 times, this according to energy star, the energy-saving program. basically saying don't open your refrigerator door because you lose energy. thank you for being on the show today. ashley, see you again tomorrow. don't get to save your friday feedback, email your email -- questions, comments or concerns. varneyviewers. fox.com. the countdown begins. time is up for me. "varney and company". in two second, coast to coast will starts now. neil: a pain in the gas. just when we thought the inflation trend was getting to be our friend, and bumped at the pump, rise in gas prices getting in