>> pete: thank you for joining us or four hours of fox & friends. we will continue tomorrow. >> abby: have a good saturday, everybody. >> president trump on his way to storm ravaged areas, as harvey victims start cleaning up the mess from that monster storm. and while the water may be receding, costs are still mounting and energy prices speaking. now, some predicting harvey's wrath will hit the entire economy. how bad could it get? hi, everybody i'm daga mcdowell. this week, gary b. smith, jonas ferris, john layfield, and adrian elrod. welcome to everybody. john? you are a texan and you say this isn't just a gulf coast event. we will all fail it. >> we will, and first, i have a

lot of family and friends that are down there in the great state that are suffering right now and our thoughts and prayers certainly go out to everybody that is down there. when you try to separate though that devastation and it is horrific, you look about the economy which in houston which is a $500 billion economy and how it affects the greater economy over 20% of the nation's refinery ability has been shutdown. the colonial pipeline that goes from houston to new jersey that carries most of the gasoline is not even able to run at times because there's not enough fuel coming from lake charles into houston. that will affect gasoline prices and oil prices. the immediate loss in houston is going to be more of a regional event as far as job loss and as far as economic destruction. overall though once you start seeing fed's step in, the state step in and insurance step in, you will start seeing this slowly recover. what happened in new orleans is a bit different because you had people leave and didn't come back. it's not apples-to-apples comparison because in houston you have a much greater

diversity when you talk about the river oaks and post oaks districts, this place is going to recover at that point and will start to see a bit of an economic boost. >> we have seen an economic impact from florida to indiana up into the northeast by gasoline prices going up nationwide up about $0.17 a gallon in a week up even more in a lot of states. >> you're right dagen. it all depends on the timeframe. you've had an economy that surprisingly is bigger than the country of poland almost devastated and we've seen the pictures are seeing pictures it's horrific. now that being said all of the effects you are talking about are short-term more than anything else. we've already seen gas oleine prices go up but if any of the previous hurricanes, tropical depressions whatsoever are an

example if you lid a chart of the gdp over when those disaster s occurred you can't even tell that they happened that's how big our economy is. that's how big it recovers. look what will happen in houston the devastation aside and it's horrific is people won't obviously go to the movies or starbucks. they will take that money whether it's from them or their insurance company and instead hire contractors, roofers water displacement people. the money gets spent. it just moves into different areas and in fact after hurricane sandy the department of commerce ran a stunned it and they found almost no economic impact of that horrific event. in fact they saw a net increase in jobs because of all of the new construction people hired so yes, short-term horrible longer term even out a month or so, the economy won't feel it at all. >> as we seen with individuals and the human spirit such

incredible resiliency and that really speaks to the health of the economy long run this could be a boom for that part of the nation. >> well i don't believe in the broken window, right? the money that people are spending on rebuilding it would be better if they were spending it on movie tickets and starbucks and this is a tragedy and natural disasters are destructive but one thing that as we stand back and talk stock of the loss here, we also should take stock of the amazing philanthropy, generosity speaking volumes about the hearts of people in texas and across this nation. i wish we could measure the blood, the meals, the favors, the time, the money that people are giving to one another because we truly are fill on tropic society that goes hand in hand and we want to strive to meet the wants and needs of others paid or unpaid to do it and this event as sad as it is the hope coming out is that people are helping one another. >> jonas, most of the rebuilding

money will come from the federal government and it will be by most estimates north of what katrina got. new orleans got 120 billion north of that almost certainly for houston from the national government and if that comes in with speed, that really helps the recovery. >> yeah, and that's the problem with economic data is you capture, i mean the economic data we have that's decent captures money spent so if you spend over a hundred billion dollars in a region, it's going to boost the economy in numbers but back to the broken window thing it doesn't help. if you don't want to spend money on a broken window to replace it or spend money on a healthcare, you want to go buy another tv or see a movie or do something fun, so that part we don't measure so it is not good for anybody. you are miserable but you're spending more money that you don't want to be spending anyway to fix all of the things that are ruined now in your life so you don't see it in the economic data but it is not a net

positive. it's a net negative for the region for the whole country. we just don't measure how much satisfaction you get out of living is one of the weaknesses of economics but the long term effects of the insurance how much does it cost to live in this area going forward, are there regulation changes? building code changes so those are things that could actually have costs going to reflect into this whole economic area where oil and metal and shipping comes in and it's a very key area for the rest of our country if it's expensive to do business there long term permanent. >> but it seems as if adrian that lawmakers and you are a democrat, this is one instance where everybody can come together and they know that this is going to require north of $100 billion, 125, $150 billion from the federal government ultimately to rebuild this critical part of the nation we're now the world's largest exporter of refined product and that is houston and that's critical call to the whole economy in this country.

>> right exactly and look i am optomist being that congress will come together when they convene next week and pass an emergency spending bill that essentially funds the first round of funding for the people of houston and the greater area but moving forward i hope that we can find a bipartisan solution to this. i know that some vice president pence in particular is very focused on offsets for disaster relief. that's what he did several years ago when katrina hit, so moving forward we cannot play politics with this. the people of houston have suffered so much. it is going to be a very long treacherous rebuilding process. the american people, the entire world will stand with them as they go through this but we've got to make sure we don't play politics with this and they get all the funding they need. >> and john this does get back to the spirit of the people of texas and the spirit of the people in and around houston and eastern part of texas. that is ultimately the key getting people to stay there and rebuilding and sticking it out and making that part of the nation even better than it was before.

>> yeah, these are wonderful people down there in houston and east texas. they took in tons of refugees from the katrina and now they're hit themselves and houston has 3 million jobs so five times as many as new orleans so they have the ability because of their economy to rebuild and i believe that certain sectors are going to do quite well and this is terrible but when you are just talking about the economy a million cars have been lost in houston you'll see the car industry do quite well and home depot do quite well and most importantly you'll see the spirit of great texans do quite well in rebuilding their season. >> and gary i'll give you the final word on this but if you looked at the market reaction, i think the market reflected in the last week the resiliency of the people of houston and texas and this country when it comes to dealing with something like this. we'll get through it and be even better on the other side. >> that is reflected in our economy by the way. yes, there was some hammering and it was horrible but people say i need to get on with my life and start to do and start

to rebuild. that's why houston will survive . that's why our country is still the best country out there >> thank you, guys and gals. caveat o on business about 20 minutes from now neil what do you got? >> dagen, everyone is united on getting federal leave money to united victims but not all lawmakers are united on how to do it and is the citizen army rescuing texans watching it how to get stuff done? we'll see you at the bottom of the hour. >> neil we can't wait thank you but up here first flood victims returning to homes in ruin now some are wondering if we should continue rebuilding in flood prone areas like this. was alwar ways to manage my symptoms. i thought i had it covered. then i realized managing was all i was doing. when i finally told my doctor, he said humira was for people like me who have tried other medications,... but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. in clinical studies,

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>> fox news alert from america's news headquarters in washington good morning to you. i'm leeland vittard. president president trump a couple minutes ago departing washington with the first lady heading to texas and louisiana to meet with the victims of hurricane harvey first responders, as well as

leadership down there in texas. this as more evacuations are underway at this very moment. the floodwaters in houston and the surrounding areas continue to rise. griff jenkins live, we can tell you on the ground but more accurately on the water in west houston. griff? >> reporter: leeland, in this west houston neighborhood, residents coming back to try and get valuables out of their homes after being told they should voluntarily evacuate by mayor sylvester turner because the reservoirs in particular the addicks reservoir overflowing here in this neighborhood and they expect this to last for the next 14 to 15 days this flooding as the army corps of engineers says they have to simply release more and more water to travel downstream. we spoke with one of the residents tom richardson who came back for his valuables and he says "we need more help and we need answers on why we were sacrificed without being told to leave" this as the death toll

reaches at least 40 and expected to rise as in some areas where the water has receded we may find even grimmer news. back to you, leeland. >> well we certainly know that the searchers are there on the ground, griff jenkins live in west houston we're going to check in with griff through out the day for some of these very personal stories and boy, are we hearing so many of them from people coming back to their homes just to pick up a few things and then heading back out the only way to get to their houses is in boats. these are the same stories that president trump will hear when he lands at noon eastern. leeland vittard, now back to bulls & bears. >> david: after the cleanup, the buildup as government officials figure out how to pay for it all some are questioning whether or not we should continue rebuilding in flood prone areas. gary b. it's a tough question to ask when you see videos like this

but what do you say? >> well my answer is a little mixed. i say absolutely people should live and build wherever they want with one big if. if they are willing to bear the cost either them or the city or the local government of disaster s. look, build i live a mile from the ocean on a canal. i have flood insurance. if the house gets flooded which it might in my lifetime and everything is ruined i am prepared for that but what i am not expecting is to go to the government hat in hand and say i chose to live here now everyone else in the country bail me out. that's houston could have done a lot. they built a whole city on soil that does not absorb water. it's not sponge-like at all. they took that risk but now they have to go to everyone else in the u.s. to bail them out. it's not fair for everyone else. it's not fair for the people of houston. >> dagen: but john how do you money for a storm of such historic proportions that might

happen once every 500 years? >> it's almost impossible. a lot of these places were not flood zones. you have to understand houston is above sea live el as new orleans is below sea level. they made a mistake with addicks and barker reservoir and made a mistake in zoning because so much airable land water has nowhere to go. they need to fix that as far as where people should live people should live wherever they want to but i agree with gary b. if they are in a flood zone they need to be required to have flood insurance. >> dagen: but that's figuring out how to get people to pay for it. about 80% of the properties damaged or lost weren't covered by insurance because of the way they calculated what was the flood risk. >> you know, i think the answers to all these questions should be as local as possible and of course, local governments want to reconsider their infrastructure, reconsider using different surfaces instead of asphalt that's up for the people in the local area to decide to make the trade-off to study and consider, you know, if rebuilding is going to include

some of these innovative strategies that's not our decision to make but it should be up to the local people. >> dagen: adrian these areas will be redeveloped and they will continue to grow more than 2% of this country's jobs are now in the houston area and it's a vital cog in our growing dominant energy business. >> no of course. i mean look rebuilding houston there's no question that has to happen. millions of people have been displaced and this is where they lived for years and years, but moving forward this is a prime example of why zoning is so important, why urban planning is so important and why limiting government from doing that to some extent caused a lot of harm to these people. many of them obviously had no understanding of how zoning works and all of a sudden they realize that there's a lot of concrete in houston and it can't absorb all this water so moving forward zoning is incredibly important and this is a prime example of why it is. >> dagen: and jonas, people always live in areas that are prone to floods and it's just predicting where those floods are going to happen but this is

an issue all around the world not just unique to the united states. >> look, all of the awesome places in america are dangerous. i've been through quakes, hurricanes, california has fire, these are the most everyone by the water and it's awesome but it is not technically economic to do so and there's no local solution. there's not one city in this country that's in a dangerous zone that could handle these kind of things. there's not a hundred billion dollars in houston to fix everything, really when it falls down to it so that's not really an answer. i will say yes, economically it doesn't make sense. they shouldn't have built miami backup after the 26 hurricane. if that comes back it's $300 billion all the boats and houses and star island alabama this garbage put here but the problem is people want to live here it's great and do you know what healthcare spending is a waste of money too technically. we should all be healthy and eat right and not waste that government money so the bottom line is we'll live where we want to live. yes it's stupid but it's awesome

>> dagen: it's not stupid because it's an economic trade-off for the benefit of the whole country. think of how critical houston is to our energy independence and that is a value that we all share from coast to coast. thanks, guys and gals. lauren is just over an hour from now, lauren, what do you have coming up? >> hi, dagen, as president trump and the first lady are making another visit to the gulf coast, the media bashing them for their first trip there. is this more bias and is it doing more harm than good? plus the white house reversing an obama administration that banned the military from giving surplus gear to police forces but with military trucks being used for harvey rescues does this prove president trump made the right call? see you at 11:30. >> dagen: thank you lauren we can't wait for that. we'll be watching but up here first, as thousands flee harvey hundreds of businesses have reportedly been caught jacking up their prices. how do we crack down on that? home depot co-founder has one

idea. >> think of the devastation of the water. think about rebuilding all these homes and the problems they are going to have and these gouges? they should have their eyes cut out of their heads. mike and i are both veterans, both served in the navy. i do outrank my husband, not just being in the military, but at home. she thinks she's the boss. she only had me by one grade. we bought our first home together in 2010. his family had used another insurance product but i was like well i've had usaa for a while, why don't we call and check the rates? it was an instant savings and i should've changed a long time ago. there's no point in looking elsewhere really. we're the tenneys and we're usaa members for life. usaa. get your insurance quote today.

>> dagen: coming up authorities promising harsh punishment for price gougers after harvey. plus, big business playing good samaritan. the

hey you've gotta see this. c'mon. no. alright, see you down there. mmm, fine. okay, what do we got? okay, watch this. do the thing we talked about. what do we say? it's going to be great. watch. remember what we were just saying? go irish! see that? yes! i'm gonna just go back to doing what i was doing. find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. >> these gauchers, they should have their eyes cut out of their heads. >> yeah, they report that's going on. >> guess what? get them. look if you have a price on friday and you have a severe storm saturday and sunday and on monday you've raised your prices from what they were on friday, you gouged. you don't raise prices as a

reflection of this tragedy all right and if you do, you should be shot. >> dagen: home depot co-founder not mincing any words and texas officials say they've gotten hundreds of complaints of price gouging since hurricane harvey. john how do you stop it? >> look i agree. i just think that what he's trying to do might not be legal, so i understand the sentiment. look, these people are the anomaly. they aren't the majority. the majority of people are doing wonderful incredible work but there is fines for this $20,000 fine if you get caught $250,000 if it's a person over 65 these people need to be prosecuted? >> dagen: gary b? >> well i'll take an unpopular stance and say i'm fine with gouging. what high prices does is encourage other suppliers people that have water to drive as quickly to use it and sell it. it also then benefits the people that i if i can't get to the kroger before everyone else at the low price, i don't get any water, so at least with gouging everyone has an opportunity to

get water not just the people that happen to live closest to the supermarkets. >> dagen: adrian i'm glad i'm not near gary b, because he's going to get struck by lightning >> i'm with you, that is a very unpopular position. i mean again, these people have suffered so much can you imagine places like beaumont where you can't get any water right now, the water system is not working you go to the grocery store and try to buy a case of water and it's $90? unacceptable. >> dagen: it's called bad karma, jonas? >> well there won't be any water if it's $90. that's the point gary is trip ping to make. they do price gouging crack down s is venezuela where you can't get food or anything because they don't allow the prices to reflect shortages. look if you want to be like a soviet union and have fixed prices after a storm that's fine you'll have lines and shortages but we'll all feel good about it >> dagen: here is what happens. >> where you let the prices reflect market demand. >> dagen: final word but best western pulled the name off one hotel and they tried the triple room rates so that's what happens to your business. >> well nobody likes to see

people ic advantage of other people but i'll second gary b and say prices and economics are just information telling us about scarcity so you stop the price gouging by stopping the scarcity. price gouging laws that forbid it actually contribute to greater scarcity. >> dagen: well it's a palling behavior and i'm glad i'm not near any of the people gouging because they are going to get that. thanks guys and thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> dagen: humanity showing its best side as harvey wrecked parts of texas and louisiana, a company that's stepping up to help the victims out, next.

>> dagen: predictions gary b, go >> dagen i'm not heartless and neither is budweiser who donated millions of cans of water, stock up 20 per per in a year. >> dagen: john prediction. >> renewed interest on national infrastructure benefits general electric i own it up 20% in a year.

>> dagen: jonas? >> just in time to move the inventory piling up at u.s. auto dealers. nail? >> dagen: thanks, everybody. neil president trump heading back to texas has survivors search for hope after harvey the president ledging $1 million of his own money to disaster relief and requesting billions in recovery funding. congress is looking at tens of billions overall. now, someone here says it's time for congress to deliver on all of that. welcome everybody. i'm neil cavuto and republican governor chris christie telling me lawmakers better not mess with texas like they did with his state during sandy. >> the aid needs to be delivered and tying it to other things i think is a gross error, people' livelihoods should not be tied whether or not the united states congress can responsibly get to