jonas, what's your prediction? >> definitive research this week that 20 years of vitamins i have been taking were probably bad for me. s this is good for the merchants of fresh fruit. fresh dell mont up 20% in the year. >> that's it. another irs mess putting a health care law in a bigger mess. hello. the agency in charge of collecting taxes is paying companies behind on their taxes. a new report says the irs is doing business with nearly 1200 companies owing more than half a billion bucks. most without a plan to pay it back. this is the crew enforcing the health care law? >> it's beyond a shocking embarrassment. it shows that the irs can't do its primary basic function before you add on all of the additional responsibilities of policing obamacare, handing out

subsidies, it's doing business with entities that owe taxes. in some cases it's looking the other way. there is one entity undisclosed that owes more than half a billion dollars in taxes. >> i don't get it, charlie. this is crazy. >> right. there is a keystone cop element here. that makes it scary that they have to enforce the health care law. it says something about an indictment of our government. government is way too big. not even the main policing agency to police to make sure entities pay taxes can do it. this is scary. the tax code is actually too complicated for the irs to enforce. >> ben, we know about the incompetency factor. people wonder if we are giving this particular agency far too much power in general. >> taxes are an incredibly complicated subject. there is not going to be any perfection at the irs. but this level of mistaken

behavior is astonishing. if i may say so, it is not as astonishing to me who got a bill for $60 million in tax a couple of months ago based on something like $160 million of income i never earned or saw anything like that in my life except what you guys pay me, of course. i don't expect much of them. but this disappoints even me. >> what did they say when you called them? you're lucky they didn't lock you up first and then ask for the money. how do you protest $60 million? >> my accountant wrote to them. they just disposed of it, sent me a new bill for $200 million. that was the end of it. they never apologized. never apologized for putting me into a cardiovascular problem. >> ben said, i only made $120 million. not fair at all. >> not even remotely. >> they say, why didn't you say so?

you don't have to pay this. >> you're good. >> here's my thought on this. first of all, we should say there is absolutely nothing linking these stories. this is an opportunity to bash obamacare which i know you love doing. the fact that the irs could do its job better and of course the irs could do the job better like the rest of oh us, by the way. >> half a billion dollars, adam. >> i get it. it's terrible. they're terrible. you don't like obamacare. >> -- who should be -- to the agency? >> charles, who do you want to collect taxes? i think i know the answer. you don't want anybody to. >> adam, i hear they are good at spying on conservative groups. the irs is good at that. very good at auditing those. >> no, no. >> they do it with efficiency. they are very, very good at

auditing conservative groups. they do it efficiently and basically get anything they want from them. >> obamacare is the biggest issue in the country now. people have a right the to be afraid, nervous and bench point. the irs is a name that triggers fear already and a lot of skepticism of whether they can do the job honestly. >> i get that. >> there is not much skepticism anymore. >> you're choosing to look t at the cup half empty because you are pessimistic, charles. >> cup half empty? >> i pay my taxes every year. they collect my taxes. >> that's a lot -- >> they can put people in prison. >> adam is doing a lot of irs boot-licking because he's worried about an audit. >> he'll never get audit. >> $200 million. >> even before the scandal this was something that had a lot of

people concerned that because of of the problems the irs had in past, i don't know. it's a legitimate argument. >> it is a legitimate worry for a number of reasons. there was another report out this week questioning whether the irs has proven that it can prevent improper payments of subsidies related to obamacare. that it could be prone to fraudulent behavior. the reason the mandate on employers was delayed for a year is because the irs didn't have its act together. to raise issues about the irs's ability to do its job, handing out subsidies and handling people's income information related to obamacare is not a jump off the cliff because it can't do its current job. >> in order for obamacare to pay for itself -- forget fit's good or bad. to live up to all the rhetoric about it paying for itself and saving money, the irs has to be efficient and competent. if they are not efficient and

kom competent it will blow up. >> good luck. >> this is just one more example of why they are not efficient and comp at doing their main job. forget about audit ting tax exempt conservative groups. >> go ahead. so if the subject -- >> adam. >> if the subject is the irs and we are all agreed that the irs does its job poorly, i completely agree. let's get on the irs to do its job well. that's the point. if you say, well, what's your solution other than that, do you want to get rid of the irs? do you want them not to be involved in obamacare? >> i don't want them involved in obamacare, that's clear. i'm saying even if you take a very rational deal that the law is the law, the main body carrying out the law is incompetent and the -- by the way -- >> let's improve it. >> if they are incompetent this will blow up in our faces. >> let's get on them. >> you say the low changed. we have another change this week.

it's been four or five. i lost track. >> gigantic laws can change. racial segregation used to be the law of the land. laws can change and a law like this can change and must be changed in a big giant way. >> until that happens or could happen, ben, what do we do? do we entrust the irs to hand out cash, hand out subsidies which, by the way -- >> there is nothing we can do. as adam said it is the law of the land. we are presently living under an oppressive and unjust law called obamacare. that's the law of the t land. there is nothing to do. >> i read 20 billion to 200 billion. they lose track and tax refunds are inappropriately distributed every year. that pays for everybody's health care. that's what we can expect maybe to happen again. >> that's what happens when you turn over health care to the federal government. that was a i big mistake in the first place. now it's been done. can it be repealed? can we get a republican congress next time?

maybe yes, maybe no. i doubt it. >> give us a solution. you have the facts in front of you. >> do you know what's shocking about this? the irs with these vendors check to see if you owe back taxes when they give you the initial contract. they don't follow up. these vendors think the irs is so lousy at collecting taxes that they don't bother to pay them on time though they are doing business with them. >> there is a solution here. that's journalism. people like us going out there, talking about how lousy the irs is, how lousy the law is and let them decide in 2016 where to vote. as ben said the law can be changed dramatically. it's not that hard. >> let's improve the civil service. >> let's get rid of it. we have seen it in action. >> we theed the tax collector, charlie. you know it. >> i'm saying get rid of obamacare, not the irs.

>> okay. >> by pointing out how absurd and incompetent the main enforcement agency is. >> do you know the obamacare navigato navigators? that program is putting your information on the critical list. up next, if we celebrate this, why do we slam success is this we report, you decide. y. around here you don't make excuses. y. you make commitments. and when you can't live up to them, you own up, and make it right. so people think the kind of accountability has gone missing in e placesets where it's needemost. but i know you'll still find it when you know where to look. yep. got all the cozies. [ grandma ] with n fedex one rate, i could ll a box and ship it r one flat rate.

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a fox news alert. major developments concerning a deadly carjacking in new jersey. prosecutors say four men were with arrested overnight. all now face charges in the killing of 30-year-old dustin friedland. he was gunned down in front of his wife at an up scale mall last weekend. police arrested one of the men at a hotel. the other three at their homes. the men are being held on $2 million bail each. travelers facing a winter whallop from mother nature today. major storms dumping rain, snow

and ice across the country. freezing rain a problem now in oklahoma and elsewhere in the midwest. folks in the southeast could face tornadoes creating nightmare conditions for nearly 95 million americans planning to travel by road or air for the holidays. those are your headlines. i'm patti ann browne. for all of the headlines log onto fox news.com. >> so in a week when two winning tickets hit the lottery and the winners are celebrated for joining the 1% there is backlash against people who worked their way into the 1%. the idea that you should feel bad about the millions if you worked for them. >> you're bringing up a key question of our age which is income inequality. how are you going to fight income inequality except by oppressing the rich and the most industrious and hardworking and

stirring up jealousy and envy. income inequality stirs up the most base horrible violent human emotions. it is used to justify dictatorships and oppression around the world. i get nervous when president obama says he'll address income inequality. it is a way of jacking people up and making them angry. >> the president said this is his top priority f remainder of his term. when he talks about it i never hear a plan to help the lower part of the equation as much as punishing the upper end of the equation. >> i completely disagree. you either agree that income inequality is a situation you're fine with or it is a situation that you want to do something about. the president wants to do something about it. >> that's worse. >> there are people interested in the topic who don't talk about how to help people. we talk about education. that's not something that

punishes the rich. >> let's point out that income inequality has gotten worse under president obama. some of it he inherited from the financial crisis. he didn't do a good job with the economy. the stimulus package didn't work. he laughs about the shovel-ready -- >> what about the higher taxes, more regulations makes it worse or harder. >> i agree. >> to trade on the lad er of success. >> think about why we celebrate the lotto winner and bash people for being entrepreneurses. it fits the main stream media liberal mythology that the only way to be successful is through luck. they don't believe you should work hard. underlying every one of the lefty journalists that work t at these publications is the notion -- >> most come from upper middle class families that never had to work a day. >> you are not making sense now. >> they never pulled themselves up by the boot straps.

>> quickly -- the lottery winner -- charlie, the lottery winner is the reverse side of the guy who slips on the banana peel. we are all attracted to that story and to the lottery winner. >> why are we attracted -- aren't we attracted to entrepreneurs. >> it has everything to do with the liberal media. >> i think charlie is closer to right. >> that's always true. >> again, we celebrate somebody with great luck and win as ton of money but we never celebrate hard work. and the sweat and tears they put into building a business. instead we always highlight the ceo who made the the most money in a year. by the way, kind of how horrible it is. i think that goes right to the point of is this nation changing to the point that it's irreversible that we don't reward hard work in terms of money and in terms of a simple

pat on the back. >> most of the media has been hijacked by the left. i'm sure this will make a jon stewart segment or something, but this fits their narrative. they really believe you get luck, you make money, you do well because of some blind luck. i think president obama believes that. i want to know what his blind luck is. >> i want to go to you. >> they don't celebrate the guy -- dick russell was attacked viciously -- >> a lot of people are. >> he pulled himself up by the boot straps. >> doesn't even have a college degree. he's not the typical whatever. ben, you are successful. you are the american dream. for me, what i see -- >> me? >> you are, you are. i have been to your website. you have more ways of hustling than anybody i have seen in my life. you are the consummate american in my mind. here is one of the problems. >> okay. you know, you're exactly right.

i have a big headstart in life because i had a successful father. do you know how he got there? he washed dishes to put himself through college. i would wash dish ifs the price was right. it's a great thing to support your family by washing dishes. i couldn't do it now but i would do it if i had to, i guess. the media doesn't believe in getting rich by luck. they hate people who are rich because they think they are thieves and bandits. because they are rich themselves there is no more left than a hollywood millionaire. >> they are all silver spoon in their mouth kids. >> by the way, ben works his tootsie off now. >> you can have the last minute. >> i will point out you can say whatever you want about my politics. i work for a national magazine called "fortune" that writes all the time about successful business people. i'm not saying we celebrate -- it's not celebrating. we tell the stories.

>> i have been telling the stories for years. >> the notion that the media hates success -- look who they go after, look who they idolize? >> i want to say it one more time. ben works his tushy off. >> he does. go to the website. >> they will do anything for a buck and i'm proud. remember this? >> what do you got? >> just got a shipment -- >> got anything bigger? >> mega bulbs. >> clear ones. >> it's no joke now. turn out the lights on your lightbulb, literally. ♪ turn out the lights ♪ the party's over ♪ they say that all clients are always learning more

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coming up, lights out. another win for the green agenda. plu

♪ ♪ when the ball drops you better not drop your lightbulb. the ban or the 40 and 60-watt lightbulbs going in effect on january 1. once they're sold out, you are out of luck. ben has been stashing these away for a long time. ben, more government outreach? >> more government meddling and more government getting if your life in tiny ways that don't make any difference. be honest, make adam happy. this is a republican idea and a terrible idea no matter who it came from. the idea that government can tell you what wattage of lightbulb to own is nuts.

if they can do that, plus forget about $525 million owed by a contractor, scariest day for america. scariest of all is income inequality. be terrified of that. >> i guess it goes to the saying. absolute corruption and power. no matter who is in power, when a government is this big, they make crazy decisions. no more incandescent lightbulbs. i can't get good light from the new ones. >> i call this progress, not government overreach. there is all sorts of things. i'm not an expert on lightbulbs, neither are any of you. i believe the experts that say we are moving in the right direction. >> experts? >> we don't have carbons in the aerosol cans anymore. that is good. >> there are poison in the fluorescent bulbs.

>> they didn't have to ban something to get us to upgrade to better computers. if there is better technology we'll peeve toward it without the government intervention. >> sometimes we need help. >> we didn't need help with this. i have a stash of them in my basement. i can't wait to start selling them. >> there will be a black market. sign me up as a customer. what do you think of it? >> andrew, our wonderful producer opening his thing, i thought he was going to do a drug deal. >> guess what? after january 1, he might go to jail. >> what is in those? i want to know what is in them. really, charlie, you talk about this all the time. this is a serious issue. some say it's a lightbulb but it speaks to a larger issue. >> what is the health issue? allegedly? >> i don't know. if you break the new ones -- >> it's the same energy. >> such a joke. i mean really.

>> oil and gas that we know what to do with now. >> here is the thing, dagen, at the end of the day, at the end of the day, you know, it just doesn't make sense because if we don't -- fe let little things go by, the big things come as well. >> i can't believe we wasted any government energy, bureaucratic power on banning the lightbulbs. >> all right, guys. >> hey, you know what? >> thanks to charlie and dagen. >> i've got some in the basement. >> up next to you can afford the lightbulbs, who needs santa? we have gifts that can keep on giving.

just in time for christmas, funds that will keep on giving. adam? >> vanguard large cap select, charles. a good way to own the market. nothing more. >> ben? >> i love that. i'll say the taiwanesre the most energetic people in the world.

god bless them. >> ben, you have been spot-on with te merging growth things. guys, fantastic show. "cost of freedom" continues on the place for business: fox. ♪ ♪ don't get yourselves in trouble by declaring it now. >> exactly. >> yeah. it did happen. >> remember that? obamacare navigators caught encouraging individuals to commit tax fraud, to get government subsidiaries. now a new house committee report is bashing the program for misconduct like that, along with poor training and iffy protections for consumers' very private information. is it time to cast away the expensive taxpayer-funded navigators once and for all? hi, everybody. i'm david asman. happy holidays. welcome to "forbes on fox." go in focus with steve forbes, mike ozanian, elizabeth