on back-to-school shopping this year. that's not a good sign for the economy. that is basically the bulk of retail sales. >> oh, my god, i just spent $400 for my kids' freshman yearbooks. >> oh, no. >> "cavuto on business" next. forget about the nation's capital going after walmart, this fight could be going national. hello, everyone. i'm charles payne in for neal cavuto and all eyes on the d.c. mayor who can kill the massive minimum wage hike on big box retailers, six others joining them to fight it as activists look to take this fight nationwide, but will that just have jobs taking a dive? to our guests, gary k.? >> let's hope this d.c. mayor gets it right and vetoes this stupidity. look, walmart, one of the great

business models ever, a cash-generating machine, creates jobs left and right, couldn't butts to communities and anchor for other businesses. no, let's dictate to them what they should pay people so all of a sudden they can't hire as many. this is a bad thing and would set a bad precedent if it gets through to the rest of the country. >> speaking of a precedent, ben, listen, we do have minimum wage across the country. if all of a sudden it was $12.50, would that help the job market or hurt the job market? >> it would hurt it plenty. there are an awful lot of businesses that operate on a slender margin and to increase their wages by 50% would be quite a hit to them, but i'm more concerned about the consumers, charles, in washington, d.c. there are a couple of thousand walmart employees at most, whereas there are hundreds of thousands of customers, and they get great bargains. they get great value at walmart. everything should be looked at from the standpoint of the consumer, and the consumer will suffer terribly if walmart pulls out of washington. >> it means higher -- ben, you're absolutely right.

it means higher prices for consumers who are struggling, who could use lower prices. it will mean fewer jobs in this communities. it is just a stunning attack on walmart by democrats and their union allies just going after this business because they have not been able to unionize, and luckily for the american people folks love shopping at walmart, and they love shopping at all the businesses that pop up around walmart. that's the one thing that's going to prevent this from going national. >> charlie, you kind of murmured a little bit. >> trying to figure out a way to defend this, kidding. it's a tax hike on poor people. take out the yuppies. >> the elitists. >> that work for government and the subsidiaries of government that make a lot of money, washington is a very poor community, lots of poor people. this is clearly a tax hike. i'm all for unions negotiating with business for higher wages, that's a negotiation. if you push too hard, guess what you got, you've got auto unions

negotiating with the automobile manufacturers and then you get detroit where there's no jobs and the city goes bankrupt. this is different. this is government imposition of higher wages. >> absolutely. >> at average that's the point. across the country, you know, wal-marts have opened up, they have provided jobs and have provided consumers with opportunities to buy things that they may never have been able to buy before, and it feels like the elitists just don't make that connection. >> i don't think we need to, you know, debate -- glorify walmart or attack walmart. >> who is glorifying it? >> i don't think a spot increase in the minimum wage, it doesn't strike me -- >> a 50% hike in the minimum wage? i mean, come on, you're a businessman, what business can take a 50% hike in their wages? >> as i was saying, that strikes me as not being particularly fair and maybe illegal, so this doesn't look to me like a good move. now, i don't fault the union for fighting back against walmart. walmart uses all of its power to fight unions, so it strikes me

as intelligent. >> but this is the union fighting back afight ing -- not fighting back any way they can. this is the government imposition. you know how far to push as a union. >> i'm not sure that's legal but for you to say it's a government imposition. >> it's not? >> it's sort of nonsense. >> everything is a government imposition. >> it's the law, it's the law. it's the law. >> every time you citizens go to the government and say we think you should do this. >> a law is a government imposition. >> i know, but we make the laws. >> let ben weigh in on this for a moment. >> ben? >> at am, you're a super smart guy and your recent article about apple in "fortune" is brilliant. >> thank you, very kind of you. keep going. >> you're very welcome, but with all due respect -- with all due respect, if it's a government-made law, then it's government imposing a much higher wage. >> what are you two talking about? >> we make the law.

>> we make the law? >> we are the government. >> i totally reject -- >> the union is the government. in obama land -- >> let me paraphrase what ben was saying, adam, that you're a great writer when it comes to technology, but you're a stone cold moron when it comes to subjects like this. >> don't you know i love you too much. >> this is a tactic by the leadership in one city in this country that specifically goes after walmart. there are exemptions in in law to companies like safeway and other supermarkets, so that's -- >> unionized. >> and i want to bring derrick k. back in, hold on a second. someone mention that had d.c. is a boom town. there's no doubt that it is. ward 8 where marion barry is, a councilman, has 38% poverty, the highest in 30 years. it is so nuts for places like that, by the way, there are a

million ward 8s in this country to deny people a job, to deny people access to things that would make their life more comfortable, this to me seems suicidal and mean-spirited. >> imagine just a few people deciding for people that would line up for jobs at wal-mart immediately to get those jobs, and by the way, around the country, the last i looked, i think it was like $7.50 minimum wage so they are above it, the highest is 9 at this point in time or one or two states. this is just ridiculous. you're letting a few people dictate policy. this is pure politics and it only will kill jobs going forward and set a terrible precedent. >> 12.50 is not a lot of money. >> i'd like to say one more thing. >> you brought that up. >> you brought that up, but let me bring something up. 12.50 is not necessarily a lot but it's a lot more than zero. it's a lot more than zero. >> think of it this way, charles. the big problem is not that it's 12.50. the big problem is that the government is forcing it down people's throats.

12.50 is barely a livable wage and you know who works in walmart, the poor people from that district. >> they would have worked there, but walmart is not going to open. >> the real problem -- they should get together, unionize and fight for a livable wage. >> or get together and vote people out. >> not demand -- not government demand. >> at am, what would be a good thing about this? in other words, from any point that you want to look at it, whether it's business, from a society's point of view, what would be the net positive of this? >> i'll tell you. i'll tell you because gary made an interesting point is walmart has benefited communities around the nation. a lot of communities around the nation whose main streets have been gut would beg to differ. without making a value judgment, what i'll say is they might like to have asked is this what we want our community to look like? weese ashington, d.c. is saying don't want our community to look like this to have a walmart.

a lot of communities would have 50 an hour, no doubt about that, given their size and scale. they can afford it. >> that's an entirely different story. >> they can afford it and still make high margins. >> bottom line -- >> they don't make high margins. >> ben, let's go with you on this. >> right, exactly.

they will pass it off to the consumer. >> they are going to raise prices on this. >> or higher fewer people. >> at am, i don't think you're a moron. >> wages are a big part of their cost, and they will raise prices and that makes it a tax on consumers as you earlier said. >> all i can tell you, guys, a slippery slope when we start counting other people and other company's money and telling them what they can and cannot afford. by the way, that was fantastic. get this, a government zooming in for a close-up on your next trip to the atm. think it can't happen. think again?

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... ... ... a fox news alert. hi, everybody. i'm jamie colby in new york. longtime white house journalist helen thomas has died.

she sure was a trail blazers and an industry legend. in the press briefing room for more than 50 years exasperating politicians with tough questions. she made a name for herself with united press international covering ten presidents from john f. kennedy to george w. bush. she passed away this morning after a long illness. she was 92. and police are investigating a situation where a woman tumbled to her death from a roller coaster. the deadly accident last night at a six flags amusement park in arlington, texas. witnesses say the woman tumbled from the texas giant ride after a safety bar released. the ride is the tallest steel hybrid roller coaster in the world, and six flags is denying that's how she passed. i'm jamie colby. back to "cavuto on business." watching out for you or just watching you? the senate giving the green light to this man to head up the consumer financial protection bureau, but the word protection coming into question as new reports claim the agency is

collecting data on all americans' financial transactions. ben, forget protection. is this an invasion of our privacy? >> well, what gives them the right to look into my bank statements, look into my credit card statements? what gives them the right to know every single thing i'm doing and spending money on? what gives them that right? i'm not a spy. i'm not a national security threat. how did they suddenly get the right to treat every american as a suspect and to treat every american as somebody to study and surveil? there's no reason to do this for every single american. this is just turning us into a "1984" orwellian police state. obviously we have a very long way to get there. >> i don't know. >> but it's a very scary idea. >> gary tate, we may not have that long to get there because we're moving toward it at locomotive speed. >> i think that unless you're ted kaczenski who lives in a little place in the woods you're

going to followed every thing you do. i don't know how we got to this point. something has to be rolled back, everything you do, say, whether it's internet, your credit cards, you name, it they are on you, all for the greater good, and i've got to tell you at this point in time i don't trust them one bit to take my information and do good with it, and where it stops, i don't think we know 1/100th of what they are doing. >> i don't have a problem with the nsa phone data collection but it is getting crazier. >> why is this different? >> because it's -- what reason do they have and that's to fight terror? i've said that after the 9/11 attacks i would go to certain lengths to prevent another terror attack on this country, but what are they doing with this information, but we're increasingly a digital society and we do things with our credit card information and with our activity on the internet. we really don't -- it's kind of out of sight, out of mind, unfortunately. >> charlie, this is just like every angle, everything we do, they are collecting, collecting, collecting. >> does they mean they know i went to the hustler club last night? >> now we all know.

>> they knew it before you knew it. >> if they are going to look at my credit card records. >> funny money is going to come out. >> promoting your book instead of -- >> your point is that you have nothing to hide so you don't care? >> just to clear the record because it's a violation of my contract and morality clause, i did not go to the hustler clause. in order for big government to run efficiently you have to collect this type of information. it does lead us, as ben is saying. >> what? >> to the "1984" orwellian solution. >> you're okay with it? >> no, i'm not. remember what it's all about. if you want big government and obama care they have to collect reams and reams of data to make it work. >> that's a good point. >> at am, i think you're a big government guy so this is part and parcel of the new plan, right? >> no, i'm in favor of prudent regulation. i'm against two things. one, hyperventilating over when we don't have the full facts. they are not, as i understand it, looking at every american.

>> so i'm good? >> number two, i object to something that i just did -- i said they. i hate it when we say they. i know you mean the government, our government, our elected officials, the people representing us, and they are trying to help us avoid -- >> you used the they word. >> how about the obama administration? >> no, because that's not it either. >> hold it a second, adam. here's the thing, if we wait as people, as americans with rights, if we always wait to be victimized by our government, isn't that stupid? we've seen the wright on the wall, we've seen the scandals. if we even have a sniff that's happening, shouldn't we be outraged about it right now and do something about it right now? >> we absolutely should investigate, as the press, as the congress. we should look at what the -- the federal bureaucracy is doing on our behalf, and if we don't like it, we should say so. i agree 100%, charles. i'm not convinced with what little i know about this that what the -- this new consumer

group, watchdog organization is doing is not in our best interest >> at am, don't you concede that in order for big government -- in order for obama care to work efficiently they have to increasingly do this sort of stuff? forget about whether it's good or not, you think it's good, don't they have to do this. >> i don't -- charlie, i don't think -- li >> listen, for obama care to ration medical care, they have to collect data. >> charlie, we're -- >> we're talking every single transaction financially people do. >> insurance companies ration health care. >> right. >> you know that. >> and now -- and now we have obama care that does, now we have something bigger than insurance companies. >> charlie, under your definition big government is in the new. it's been around since franklin roosevelt. >> it's bigger. >> bigger now or then? >> no, no, no, no. guys. >> i would like to say something since i've barely said anything.

if you think this is a new power, an irs agent can look at your license plate and if they think the car you're driving is teams pensive, they can look up who you are and look up your income statements and go after you. >> my point, dagan has something really lost and that's later on the business block in "cashing in." here we'll talk about the gas prices spiking and bringing them down, nothing to do with the keystone pipeline. the "forbes" gang that is that at the top of the hour but up here next. >> first it was the soda and now the stairs. why new york city's latest health craze is just crazy. here's to you, mayor. uh-oh! guess what day it is?? guess what day it is! huh...anybody? julie! hey...guess what day it is??

ah come on, i know you can hear me. mike mike mike mike mike... what day is it mike? ha ha ha ha ha ha! leslie, guess what today is? it's hump day. whoot whoot! ronny, how happy are folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico? i'd say happier than a camel on wednesday. hump day!!! yay!! get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. every day we're working to and to keep our commitments. and we've made a big commitment to america. bp supports nearly 250,000 jobs here. through all of our energy operations, we invest more in the u.s. than any other place in the world. in fact, we've invested over $55 billion here in the last five years - making bp america's largest energy investor. our commitment has never been stronger. >> first the mayor wants to get

rid. we'll report. you may want

note snow >> from salt soda, mayor bloomberg is urging people take the stairs. is that going to motivate? >> terrific. don't you love a person who tells you i will not tell you how to live and makes you do what you don't want to do. >> they are creeping in their lives everything you do and how you walk and what your hair and what you drink and eat. my worry going forward, there is no end in sight. >> suggesting it.

he's not forcing you. >> it is a strong suggestion. >> and listen, when i was in the wall street journal, there were all of the stairs, i used to run up the stairs. >> you are a health nut. >> you wanted to run because you wanted to. >> and i don't have a problem. i rather a suggestion than man date. his priorities are misplaced. the city smells and er's don't have metal detectors and people are shot in the emergency roms and he's worry about me taking the stairs. i am talking about new york city. >> and the thing, from soda and styrofoam containers. we are talking about nanny state personified. what about the government telling you what to do? >> i don't like the idea of the government telling me what to

do. the government is supposed to catch the criminals and keep the road smooth and keep the subways running and kids educated. ha, ha, ha. terrible idea to tell me to take the stairs. >> you run up the stairs. >> and give me a heart attack. i could run. >> i can't see what that is. >> is that your bock? >> i think it is dangerous. i have a very close friend in georgia, and she said it is dangerous for women to take the stairs. they could be raped in many buildings. >> adam, the final point? >> we are minimizing the fact that there is a serious obesity problem. we should give him a pat on the back. >> should have made the point. don't run up dark stairs in the

middle of the night that is an issue. >> obesity a good excuse? >> for him but not me. >> fill the pot holes in my neighborhood before you worry about what i am eating. >> glad we got them on the screen together. many thanks to charlie and dagen. what is hotter than the temps outside in what about the three funds to buy right now.

>> the very bust fund to buy right now, adam. >> van guards market traded fund, charles. i am a fan of spreading out your investments in mature economies. >> ben, what do you like? >> fidelity emerging markets. they are hit hard and poised for a come back as the general economy comes back. >> are you okay? >> if they think it is over by

the short. >> you think it is over. >> i believe so. i think rates will go higher. nfantastic. the cost of freedom continues. ♪ >> a battle erupt nothing dc over keeping america from becoming a full- blown welfare state. republicans are trying to turn back time and overhaul the food stamp program. recent reports showing that more than two and half million who get it are young, single childless and healthy adults that are not working. some say we need to scrap this cornerstone of welfare before we go down the welfareitate town. we'll go in focus with steve, rich, morgan,