maria welcome back. the senate confirmation hearings kickoff in about 30 minutes from now. defense secretary nominee pete hegseth will make the case before the senate arm services committee at 9:30 a.m. eastern. we've got a market rallying right now with 30 minutes before the opening bell sounds. i want to thank everybody today for being here, todd piro, chris mcmahon, and cheryl casone. stu, take it away. stuart: good morning, maria, good morning, everyone. a new fire erupted in the los angeles area. this one is called the auto fire and it broke out in ventura county. the wind is picking up again. gusts of 50-60 miles an hour forecast that has everyone worried about fires jumping quickly from one place to another. many evacuees can't return because they don't know where the fires break out next. there's also a developing

problem with looters. dozens have been arrested. that's another concern, will they go back to find their homes looted? governor newsom setup a website, california fire facts it's called and he says he is combating misinformation. donald trump says hi will visit the fire scene. we don't know where he will go or when. one last point on the l.a. disaster. speaker johnson confirms that he is in discussions to link federal aid to california with raising the debt ceiling. that's one of the strings that may be attached to the money. next, let's deal with inflation. in december the producer price index went up, 0.2% in the last 12 months it's up 3.3%. inflation a at this level moderating somewhat. here is the market reaction. investors like it the dow is up 117 points pre-market. nasdaq up about 100 points. the yield on the 10-year treasury not much change. you're at 4.79 now on the 10-year, has moved up a bit

and the yield on the two-year coming in at 4.38 also ever so slightly higher. bitcoin, we're looking now at 96, 300 and oil, we're looking at $78 a barrel, 78.35. regular gas moving up the average is 3.07 diesel is up $0.02 at 3.57. let's get to politics. in a half hour the senate hearing for defense secretary nominee pete hegseth begins. in his opening statement he says it's time to give someone a chance with dust on his boots. hegseth is not a general. he's not an academic. he's a decorated combat veteran. reportedly a hostage release deal is imminent in gaza. trump is pushing hard for this. he has said there will be hell to pay if hamas keeps the hostages beyond inauguration day. that is six days from now. on the show today reports china is considering selling tiktok to elon musk. china says that's pure fiction. tiktok says why comment on pure fiction?

carrie underwood will perform at the inauguration ceremony and the garbage truck trump drove at a rally is in the inauguration parade. remember biden called trump supporters garbage. one last one and this is hard to believe. we'll bring you the story of a lunatic climate policy. the greens held up the widening of a fire access road near the pa palisades because the war department moved plants and they are a protected species. the water department was fined $2 million to try to widen a fire access road, in the palisades. tuesday, january 14, 2025. "varney" & company is about to begin. we're going to start the morning with the latest from los angeles. max gordon joins us now in pacific palisades. max, tell me about this new fire

and the wind pick-up, please. reporter: there, stu, well here is the latest on the auto fire burning near oxnard, california in ventura county. that fire is still 0% contained as of the last update but they were able to stop forward progress at 56 acres. it currently isn't threat earning buildings and it's burning through a dry riverbed. but firefighters are going to jump on any fire that lights today. that's because we're dealing with a particularly dangerous situation, 45 to 70-mile per hour winds. we've already had one wind gust of 72 miles per hour, but the good news is that there are a lot of firefighting resources on the ground here in southern border. 15,000 firefighting personnel from across the western states, even from canada and mexico, right here, ready to battle the blazes. now, where i'm standing right now this is the aftermath of the palisades fire in pacific palisades, and you know, we've been showing you the images of the devastation, so many homes

burned to the ground. some of these images are absolutely remarkable. you see cars like this where metal melted and you see pools of aluminum and other metals on the ground showing you the heat of these fires. the palisades fire currently around 24,000 acres, 14% contained, over the weekend the fire made a run toward the community of brentwood. that's of main concern as this pds starts to kick in. well its kicked in already and then it's lasting until about noon tomorrow. these high winds. this high wind event. now, over to the east of us, we have the eaton ms. fire also burning lots of fires burning in southern border and we're keeping an eye in o the winds and folks will have to be ready to evacuate. stu? stuart: thanks very much, max. the owner of the l.a. times says the newspaper's endorsement of mayor karen bass was a mistake and the fires have been a wake-up call. mary c katharine ham joins me n.

california appears to be turning on its leaders, is that right? reporter: well it should, because this thing is far from over as we heard in that report just now and i think these kinds of leaders who have not acted before a disaster happens to mitigate it for their citizens need pressure to do the right things moving forward, so there's a reason to be mad. there's a reason for citizens to get upset with them. i liked by the way that the owner of the l.a. times is noting his mistakes from the past. that's something a lot of media could learn from and regaining trust with folks, but look. thank you first to all of the first responders on the ground doing the hard work. the hard work became more dangerous because the people in charge of the levers of all of these resources did not plan for an event that they knew could happen, right? disasters are disasters. you'll have disastrous results. however, in a place like florida, where desantis is very good at emergency planning, you have a situation where you know what assets you have. you know where to put them to mitigate things and you have three contingency plans.

these folks, newsom, bass, they are reacting. they are not proactive and that is not helping their citizens the way it should, and if any pressure can be on them during the fight, to make them act better, all the better. stuart: there could be pressure and here it is. speaker johnson has confirmed there have been discussions about tying federal aid for the wildfires to a debt limit increase. it's something trump has been pushing republicans to get done before he takes office. should the wildfire aid come with strings attached, mary katherine? >> i think this is tricky. i think there should be some strings attached because you see how california treats money that its given in the past and you can watch that track record and say we want our taxpayer dollars taken care of and not just taken care of but going to the people that we are trying to help. so i think that kind of string is fine. i think you'll get into some pr issues when you tie it to other operational things like the debt limit. however, often on the hill, you've got to package things together to get them done and

this might be one of those situations. stuart: mary katherine thank you very much indeed for joining us. i do have kevin o'leary with me. he's known as "mr. wonderful" and he's itching to get his two cents worth in on gavin newsom. give me 30 seconds. >> i think that every taxpayer in america, including those in california, would like to tie this aid to removing newsom and bass. now, gone. part of the deal be , and i know trump likes new ideas. here is one. not a dime until those two are wacked from their jobs. immediately. they are so incompetent in all of the decisions they've made led to this and still making mistakes. they are horrific managers. wack them. stuart: i want to talk tiktok with you, meanwhile, talk about inflation. we have the latest read on inflation at the producer level. >> laura: level. lauren: wholesale prices rose .2% in december that was half the increase seen in november annually 3.3%. at the core level you take out food and energy up 3.5% on

an annual basis. so, subdued, tamer than expected and the reaction on wall street is stocks up, yields down. the main event is come consumer prices. stuart: the big one is tomorrow. now this. the "wall street journal" reports that chinese officials are discussing selling tiktok to elon musk. come back in again, kevin. china calls this report pure fiction. you're laughing. what do you make of it? >> i expect to have one of these stories emerge every hour until the justices render their decision. the speculation when there's a void of information is like a wildfire. it's just all i know and frank would say the same thing, we're in a partnership, we're the only syndicate that put a real bid in front of the company, in front of the bankers, in front of the shareholders and the chinese government. we want to help them win that 90 day stay. that's what's important. people say oh, it won't turn off on midnight. if you're oracle and you see this act of congress actually say at midnight on the 19th, you'll be in breach of it. you turn those servers off in

virginia. tiktok goes dark. we don't want to see that happen. i don't want to see that happen. my businesses use it everyday. there's 6 million american businesses that depend on it. let's get them the 90 day stay and start engaging with us in this purchase. because that's their only option. stuart: the ideal situation to you is delay, make them a bid, they accept the bid, and ownership and control of tiktok passes to american hands. >> after there's a time of 90 days to negotiate the deal and see the data room but this is an option that gives them time which is what they need right now. data becomes trump's deal, this is trump's deal at the end of the day after 12:05 january 20 it's trump's deal. stuart: you just met with trump and the premier of alberta in canada. that's the canadian province, daniel smith. you met in mar-a-lago. you discussed developing the world's largest data center in canada. is that what you're talking about amongst other things? >> by the way do i not look fabulous in that don johnson, miami vice suit? stuart: i didn't notice. >> it's just beautiful.

stuart: you have a uniform. >> i know but i thought that day was so sunny and beautiful i said i'm wearing something funky chicken so i enjoyed it. the discussions we had were really about alberta being the number one trading partner in the united states. trump wants to build the pipeline. she's the queen bee of the pipeline. i wanted her to have a personal relationship with trump and the administration. the only way to do it was to go to mar-a-lago. that woman knows how to work a room. that's exactly what she did over two days, and i think she now has something no other canadian politician has right now. a personal relationship. even though it may be adversarial so it's the beginning of the negotiation. that's what occurred. data center was on the book, the pipeline was on the books, tariffs, so many things to talk about and i suggested to trump stop talking to trudeau. the guy gets wacked in the election. a red wave is going right across the united states like it did or in canada like it did in united states. let them elect a new leader and start negotiations after they have a leadership like you have, president, because you've got a four-year majority mandate.

let a canadian get one and then go to work. hold off on the tariff threat like 90-100 days. we'll see what happens. i hope it didn't land on deaf ears. stuart: kevin stay with me for the hour. coming up house republicans putting forward a bill to authorize the purchase of greenland. do the residents of greenland want to be part of america? we'll hear directly from them in our next hour. first though pete hegseth's confirmation hearing is in about 15 minutes. senate minority leader schumer says these hearings will be the democrats opening salvo against trump. >> the president-elect's nominees will testify in committee and make their case to the country. these hearings, in a very real way, are the opening salvo for holding the trump administration accountable to the public. stuart: well south dakota senator mike rounds will join us and tell us if the republicans are united behind trump's nominees. he's next.

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stuart: in about 15 minutes the confirmation hearing for defense secretary nominee pete hegseth will begin. chad pergram joins us now from capitol hill. what can we expect from the hearing today, chad? reporter: well, stuart, good morning. fast confirmations of cabinet nominees is hitting a brick wall, two confirmation hearings scheduled for today were canceled. the marquise event is the hearing for pete hegseth, but delays could impair the trump cabinet. doug burgum is up for interior secretary, doug collins is the nominee for veterans affairs

yet both hearings today were scrapped due to paperwork delays from the office of government ethics. energy committee chairman mike lee called it unacceptable. burgum is now up on thursday. senate minority leader chuck schumer says the paperwork is critical. >> getting documents is not trivial busy work. these are financial disclosures, ethics agreements and fbi background. the more senate republicans try to rush the process without the proper documentation, the more americans will ask themselves what are republicans and their nominees trying to hide? reporter: hearings are not scheduled for other controversial nominees like rfk jr. for health and human services or tulsi gabbard to be director of national intelligence. >> we're working very closely

with them, given everything that they have asked for and redirect questions about my process to the staff. reporter: meantime, some republicans are going to the matt to defend hegseth. >> he has a very tough job of leading what 1.2 or 1.3 million people in the armed services in the right direction. we've got to get away from this woke agenda, and affirmative action and start building a voluntary military that really believes in this country. reporter: other big hearings tomorrow include marco rubio for secretary of state, and kristi noem for dhs. it may be a challenge for the senate to have any nominees ready for confirmation on inauguration day. stuart? stuart: chad, thanks very much. now listen again to what senate minority leader schumer said about the hearings. roll it. >> over the next four days, over a dozen of the president-elect's nominees will testify in committee and

make their case to the country. these hearings, in a very real way, are the opening salvo for holding the trump administration accountable to the public. stuart: south dakota senator mike rounds joins me now. mr. senator, are republicans united behind all of trump's picks? will trump get them all in his cabinet? >> well we'll take them one at a time but as far as i can tell right now, i think that they will all be selected. i think they will all be approved, but once again, they are going to have to perform in front of the american public. the president will still have to support them after those public hearings, but with pete hegseth? i don't see a problem today. i think we'll be moving in the right direction. his focus is in the right direction. it's on lethality and the department of defense so the first one up, i think it'll be a good hearing today but it will be a contentious hearing. democrats will do their job and go after him but i think he's ready for it. stuart: how important is it that he gets all of his cabinet

members in place the day that he becomes the president? >> well to begin with, he's way much, he's in a lot better shape this time than what he was eight years ago. they are farther ahead in terms of getting people in and the paperwork done and the hearings established. i think his national security team will be in, what will be in force and setup within the first few days of the inauguration, which is as early as it can be done, but i think we'll be in good shape with his national security team. it'll take a few days after that for the rest, but i think he's going to be in a lot better shape than eight years ago. stuart: a new bill led by congressman andy ogles would authorize trump to begin the process of buying greenland. a couple of questions here, mr. senator. who do we buy it from? denmark or the greenlanders who live there? >> yeah, look. that's a really good question, because i think you'd have to have support from the greenlanders, but you'd also have to have the negotiations with denmark.

look i think what we have to talk about is recognizing that greenland is critical for our national defense. they are also a great location with regard to a lot of critical minerals and so forth so anything we can do to have a good relationship with them including having an ownership relationship, i think that be great. it's not a brand new idea. it's one that should not be walked away from but bottom line is either way, we have to have a good working relationship for the folks that live in greenland. we've got a big base there right now and we want to make sure we have a good relationship for an extended time period. stuart: i think mr. trump enjoys throwing the rest of the world off balance by saying oh, buy greenland. mr. senator thanks for joining us always appreciated. see you again soon. >> thank you. stuart: massachusetts senator elizabeth warren has a new op-ed that says she might be ready to work with trump. that's interesting. warren is a socialist. on what will they work together? lauren: i dropped my pen as i was reading this. she says to unrig the economy. here is part of the editorial. i'm ready to work with chairman tim scott, donald trump and

business leaders whenever they support policies that rebuilds the middle class, advanced economic and national security and fight the corruption of those who seek to use government to enrich themselves. specifically, she said let's work together, build more homes, cut the red tape when doing so, cap credit card rates at 10%, as trump has suggested. support export controls and other levers on thinking tariffs, if used responsibly. establish common sense rules for a.i. and crypto. stuart: wow. lauren: what happened to senator elizabeth warren? stuart: maybe she saw the light. kevin o'leary is with me. you've got a comment. >> she knows how to read the room, stuart, and so she's figured out whoa! i've got to start working with these guys or i will not be relevant and she, along with aoc know how to use social media to raise money. she's very good at saying outrageous things and asking for $20. i've been watching this for years. her state is one of the most uncompetitive for taxes which is why all my neighbors live with me in florida.

we started in boston. she's got a lot of work to do here but she clearly has figured out if i don't work with trump i'm not going to be part of the narrative. stuart: interesting. kevin thank you. let's check futures please with a few minutes before the market opens and i'm seeing some green, plenty of it. dow is up 170, nasdaq 131, the opening bell is next. ♪

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stuart: on the futures we're looking at some green. dow up 150, nasdaq up 130. jake on sonenshine joining me this morning. i've been worried about rising bond yields. they seem to be depressing stocks. is that the story of the next few months? >> that's exactly what's going on and i do think for the next few months or the near-term, bond yields are going to drive stock returns. right now you have the s&p 500. i know its g begun to pullback a little bit. it's pretty expensive for rates where they are which means earnings are going to have a little trouble pushing the market up in the near-term, which means, if the 10-year yield say goes to maybe 5%, then you have more downside for the s&p 500. if the 10-year yield drops at

least relieves the market a little bit. stuart: what's your forecast? does it hit 5%? >> i mean, look it might touch 5% and calling like a few basis points here and there, i don't think is the best, you know, best way for an investor to spend their energy. i think if it does hit 5% remember, that was resistance in october 2023, and the question is, are you going to get inflation above 3%? look if you do the 10-year yield can go up a lot. if you don't get inflation above 3%, the 10-year yield, people are going to buy that bond at 5%. i don't think the yield is going to go that much higher. i think the issue for the equity market valuation and slowing down of the economy with rates where they are. stuart: i keep going back to this. why should i, me, at my age, why should i not buy a two-year treasury that yields me 4.4% for a couple years? completely safe? >> you absolutely should buy that type of security, but you

need to make sure you're in other stuff as well because there's those interest payments come in you have to see where rates are when you reinvest their proceeds and by the way, when i look across this market and we're still in a bull market, there's plenty of opportunity and not only do you not want to miss out on that. you have inflation so stuart, you have to make sure you're making money somewhere. stuart: you know, you get awfully worried when you're in mid-70s about safety. >> sure you do but own stocks. stuart: i always bring up my age. >> that's fine. stuart: jake on, you're already thanks for joining us. the opening bell is approaching. >> [opening bell ringing] stuart: he presses the button the market is open and we're open to the upside. the dow is up 200 points in a very very early going. i don't know what all those banners are all about but if you look at the dow 30 there is a lot more green than red. the s&p 500 opening higher. what's the percentage gain he asks? .45% to the upside. the nasdaq composite. i think there's a tech bounce today. yes, there is.

.70% on the nasdaq. 19.2. let's have a look at big tech across-the-board here. yeah, they are gaining ground. amazon, alphabeted, microsoft, apple up but meta is down five bucks just above 600 bucks a share. look at the banks. they start their earnings report tomorrow. we're looking at them now. it's a mixed picture. no huge gains. no huge losses. i want to move to the chipmakers. i'm looking at the screen and i see a rebound today. taylor: finally because yesterday, remember, nvidia had a decent sell-off because they were saying they were increasing the export controls, which means that you can export a.i. chips nvidia makes to foreign adversaries so it looks like at least for now today we're getting a little bit of a relief rally after the news we had yesterday. stuart: may i bring kevin into this? you have an opinion on everything. you got an opinion on nvidia? >> i own it. i see no reason. i'm in the data centers business and they are a direct index to the demand for data centers because that's what goes into my

data centers and they're chips. there is a demand to keep advancing more capacity for a.i. and then natural language and inquiry and all these things and it requires a ton of power so i'm definitely long, this , but also long power generation which is going to be a big part of the story in the next decade so there's no reason for these stocks to correct materially right now. the demand is insatiable. stuart: show me another stock headlined as a wonderful investment and it has indeed gone straight up. palantir. now this morning, it's up about 3.5%. what's going on with that one, taylor? taylor: momentum because it was up 340% last year, so why not gain an additional 3% today? as we sort of are kicking off 2025. it's incredible. this comes even after analysts at jefferies yesterday said that the stock faces downside risk because of multiple compression, just think priced earnings and price goes down is the multiple compression. they maintained an under weight but the $28 price target so they

are nowhere close. this is the stock that just defied gravity. stuart: it sure has, 67 bucks a share right now. and i caught this headline. ev sales. they hit a record last year. now this is worldwide. how many ev's were sold? taylor: about 17 million cars in the quarter. stuart: how many? taylor: 17 million. stuart: 1-7? taylor: yup. look, that's global ev and also plug-in hybrid. so you're getting both there, up 25% in 2024. record sales in china and frankly the market in europe is stabilizing. it was a good year for hybrids and ev's. stuart: what about america? taylor: there was no commentary on america, so i think you know what that means. we're not leading it when it comes to global ev sales. stuart: now show me eli lilly, because that stock today will reflect the performance of their weight loss drugs zepbound in the last quarter. how did those drugs do? taylor: yeah, less than expectations is what we can say.

so we're hearing they are cutting the revenue guidance to about $13.5 billion for eli lilly, so that revenue guidance includes $3.5 billion for mounjaro, but that was below expectations of what analysts wanted which was 4.4 billion in sales. zepbound came in with a view of 1.9 billion. analysts wanted 2.14 billion for zepbound, so again, weight loss drugs, you're seeing sales, but expectations have been really high for these drugs. stuart: kevin? you're a health kind of guy. you're a nut about your personal health. >> very focused on longevity. stuart: do you use? may i ask? >> i'd tell you. i have not used these yet. however, in the last couple of weeks, those of us, i have a group that's involved in very advanced longevity studies. we're looking at data about micro dosing these drugs, not for weight loss, but for longevity attributes that haven't really been pr proven wh

clinical trials. stuart: you want to live to be 110? >> listen i'm a vampire i'm already 206, but i want to be a health it vampire. that's another leg up on these drugs if they can prove long longevity. stuart: i'm going to move on because this is very intriguing. i'd like to liveorever too. amazon ending one of its benefits for prime members, which benefit? taylor: did you ever use this? the try before you buy? so if you wanted to buy clothes or accessories or shoes from amazon, they had this program where you could try it before you buy it. basically the company came out and said they've offered this since about 2017, and it's too complicated. customers just want something simple. buy it, try it, if you don't like it, return it. the old fashion way, so they are sort of going back to the way we used to do things. stuart: amazon has a partnership with teledock. that's interesting? taylor: okay, so teledoc joined up with amazon health benefits connector for their cardiometabolic programs so if you're a customer of amazon and

you are eligible for teledoc's health diabetes, hypertension, weight management programs, you n now enroll in those benefits using amazon's health connector program. so sort of a mingling of the two companies. stuart: if i go into starbucks, i don't buy anything. i just want to use the bathroom. do i have to pay? taylor: yes you do. so it is a new policy, which to me this actually sort of feels like common sense, right? we're getting back to if you want to sit in the cafe, use the restro, starbucks is now saying you need to be a paying customer. we want to prioritize those paying to have a space in the cafe and use the restroom so they are sending out new guidance and allowing employees the tools to be able to enforce those. stuart: kb homes stock. it's up right now. they had an earnings report but i'm more interested in what the ceo had to say about rebuilding los angeles. taylor: so the chairman and the ceo said the company is based in westwood. that's part of the l.a. area, and he said basically this is going to take a really long

time. he said don't expect for all these housing starts in l.a. to be popping up in six months. obviously, still a very fluid situation but this is going to take a really long time to rebuild. so that comes on top of that orders which you said were up 41% but again the big comments were about i think how long it's going to take. fortunately what he said his company, his employees given they are based in westwood, are not yet affected by the fires. stuart: thank you, taylor. we're in the final days of the biden administration. one question lingers who is leading the democrats? >> between next monday, and 2028, whose the leader of the democrat party? >> oh, my goodness, wow. 2028? that is honestly, that is for people much smarter than i to make that assessment. stuart: oh, right now, they ap to be rudderless. as preside biden made his final foreign policy address he claims he's leaving america in a stronger position.

>> my administration is leaving the next administration with a very strong hand to play and america,nce again is leading uniting countries, setting the agenda. stuart: all right does the former u.s. ambassad to nato, kurt volker, doehe agree with the president? wel ashim. anbiden made a final push to expand his student debt bailout plan. he has more of it d its already causing chaos. economist ian wesbury is next. ♪

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you do it when you're looking for a contractor. you definitely do it with medical advice. so why not with your stock market investments? we can help you see opportunities you may be missing. at hennion & walsh it only takes a second to schedule your free second opinion. so what's there to lose? speak to hennion & walsh. the second opinion people. stuart: president biden is canceling yet more student loans for yet more borrowers. edward lawrence joins me. all right, how much debt has biden forgiven, in total,

edward? reporter: yeah, we're talking about a lot of money and the objects of this , that's what the we're really looking at is at a time when the government spent so much money we could reach the debt ceiling in march. president joe biden announcing more student loan forgiveness. this time the total amount of forgiveness, the taxpayers are shouldering is 184 billion roughly for more than 5 million borrowers. the forgiveness announced yesterday came under three programs not sued by the states because the rules were not changed. >> this announcement builds on the historic actions our administration has taken to reduce the burden of student debt. hold bad actors accountable and fight on behalf of students across the country. reporter: still, treasury secretary janet yellen says that between now and january 23rd she could announce the government implementing extraordinary measures to stretch taxpayer money so the government does not reach the debt ceiling before march 14. republicans now vowing to cut that wasteful spending.

>> gives them immediate reversals of president biden's damaging policies lake reversing the ev mandate, reversing these ridiculous bans on offshore drilling, getting some of the money back from the student loans, and it requiring work requirements for medicaid. if we do that we can do a debt ceiling increase and get this done within 45 days. reporter: so in all president biden signed $7 trillion in spending into law that's taxpayer money, under his watch, the debt, the federal debt reached more than $36 trillion. stu? stuart: edward thank you very much indeed. economist brian wesbury joining me. is the student loan situation totally chaotic? they aren't paying back their loans are they? >> no. if you look at all of the list of reasons that you can give not to pay it back, you work for a government agency, you were defrauded by your school, like there's a million different reasons that, the reason they did all of this , stuart, we all

know this , is the supreme court said you can't forgive student debt. i mean, this is an obligation of the student, and so what they do is they carve out all these little sections and now, everybody is wondering, hey, do i fit under that section? was i defrauded? am i working some way for the government, and so nobody is repaying, and then on top of all of this , this just adds to the deficit. if we're going to have a loss at the department of education, that means we have a higher deficit, and then the first three months of this year, october, november, december, of fiscal year 2025 we have $710 billion deficit. it's crazy. revenues are down 2%. spending is up over 10%, and this can't continue. it has to be fixed. stuart: when does the debt bomb explode? i mean, the debt just keeps

as you said you're adding 700 billion in three months. that's extraordinary. at what point do we get this , i guess the bond vigilantes turn around and say hey you can't do that. we're not going to lend you the money. >> yeah, i think partly, it's happening in a lot of places today, stuart. i mean, our interest rates are up almost a full percentage point from their lows. the british have higher interest rates. the german, even the germans, and french and the italians all have higher interest rates, so i think the whole market is getting nervous about not only inflation, but debt repayment but the real question for the u.s., the question you're asking is when do we become greece? and when can't we repay? and, you know, i've heard this , i mean, i remember people in the back of rooms at speeches i gave, raising their hand and just going 13 trillion. that was the question, and we all knew what that meant. that's how much debt we had. how do we repay it.

and then it was 17 trillion and then it was 23 trillion and then it was 28 trillion and now it's 36 trillion, and i would argue that we're not there yet. i mean, unfortunately, but fortunately, the u.s. is so productive and so profitable and so powerful that even this level of debt we can still finance it over time. we'll get there some day if we don't stop spending. stuart: all right, brian wesbury, thanks for joining us. kevin o'leary, can we afford $36 trillion worth of debt and rising? >> yes. it was summarized beautifully there by growing, that's the only way to do it. you've got to grow your way out of it and the only way to grow your way out of it, this may sound, um, difficult, but you need to get the economy growing around 4%, and then what you do is you start allocating some of

those tax revenues to actually go up even as you reduce corporate taxes. this is the reagan effect and so if all of a sudden we were to burden the economy with higher corporate taxes, the actual treasury receipts would reduce, so the message has to be, we're going to grow the economy. we're going to reduce taxes. we're going to really streamline corporate profits, make them bigger because we tax those at whatever rate whether it's 15 or 21 and the key to it all is productivity. innovation, not regulation. strip away regulation, let american companies innovate which they proven they can do for over 200 years and this problem, although it's so onerous, will go away stuart. stuart: kevin thank you very much. coming up president biden says that under his administration, illegal border crossings "came way down." but one look at the data shows that's just not right. sheriff thaddius cleveland takes it on and the fires in california show the idiotic lengths the climate crowd will

go to to pursue their religion and environmental extremism that borders on lunacy in my take at the top of the hour.

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stuart: the santa ana winds are intintensifying. which areas are now most at risk? reporter: well, stu, a huge swath of los angeles county is under these extreme fire warnings today. most of it north of the city of los angeles itself. also, neighboring ventura county, miles and miles of that, also under the national weather service calls a particularly dangerous situation. what everybody is concerned about is that those winds once again whip up flames and we see more destruction that we seen in so many streets, street-after-street, block-after-block here in the pacific palisades and out eiten alta dina as well and what everybody is terrified of now and prepared for , are

the flames ripping through once again, if any sparks are ignited by this new rounds of winds. we all obviously remember and so many people in l.a., it is literally burned into their memories, the flames that ripped through house after house, just one week ago and with these new wind warnings, any embers could be picked up and new fires sparked. there's also a lot of speculation, stu, about how the palisades fire, the most destructive, may have started. our colleague, anita vogel has a home in the palisades highlands where last week's fire started and she sent us this video from a week earlier. 1:00 a.m. new year's day she and her family were awakened by a neighbor banging at the door saying a fire had started. it's believed that one may have been caused by people setting off fireworks at midnight, new year's eve, so, those embers and

that fire was put out pretty quickly by firefighters. it destroyed one house but there is a lot of thought among a lot of experts that embers from that fire may have been reignited by the santa ana winds one week later. last week, and that may have been the start of a fire which turned this corner of paradise on earth, stu, into hell on earth. stu? stuart: indeed, jonathan thanks very much indeed. kevin do you think l.a. is going to look, ever look the same again in the long-term future? >> no. i even think the olympics are in jeopardy with the infrastructure. i think these homes, people have to realize, were built with pine, timber, back in the 60s. some of them expensive as $15,000 now worth 4 million. they were dry. they basically melted. that's what it looks

like hiroshima, but the infrastructure and policy is difficult in terms of building them back. stuart: thanks for being with us. always appreciate it. the u.s. ambassador to nato kurt volker on trump's bid to take control of greenland. brian kilmeade on biden's final days in the white house. border sheriff thaddeus cleveland debunking claims about illegal migrant crossings. the 10:00 hour of "varney" & company is next. [city noise] investment opportunities are everywhere you turn. do you charge forward? freeze in your tracks?

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