brenda buttner, good to see you. >> thank you. >> harris: u.s. secretary of state john kerry says that iraq is involved with the civil war in syria. how? the secretary says that iraq has been helping prop up assad as he fights for power there. kerry making an unannounced visitor to iraq and meeting with nuri al-maliki. and stopping the flow of weapons into neighboring syria. weapons that are only making the civil war more deadly. and steve centanni is here. how are they flowing into syria? >> reporter: according to u.s. officials there are flights just about every day, from iran to syria travelling across the iraqi air space. iran says they carry humanitarian aid, but u.s. says they carry weapons to the syrian government. and secretary of state john kerry urged al-maliki to crack down on the flights requiring they land in iraq for inspection before continuing on to syria. >> we had a very spirited discussion on the subject of the overflights and i made it very clear, anything that supports president assad is problematic. >> kerry suggested the fu

hi, i'm brenda buttner, this is bulls and bears, let's get to it. the bulls and bears this week, we've got gary b smith, jonas max ferris, john lay field along with julian epstein. welcome to everybody. okay, john, boom or bust? >> unfortunately, brenda, i believe a bust. and i wish that wasn't the case. there are a few positive things going on in the economy, but with long-term structural unemployment, not cyclical unemployment and anemic growth, what gary b brought up weeks ago, the market is detached what's going on in the united states. it's on a run. i don't think that anybody would argue that the enomy is on an incredible run so an obvious detachment. i don't think that's going to change. >> brenda: julian, sometimes people consider wall street to be a leading indicator, like it's a crystal ball for the economy. do you see the economy starting to boom, too? >> john makes a good point. in some ways, it's a tale of two cities. on unemployment between 150 to 200,000 new jobs a month on a six-month average and gdp, looking at 2.3% growth in the fi

hi, everyone, i'm brenda buttner, this is bulls and bears. let's get right to it. the bulls and bears this week, gary b smith, tobin smith, jonas max ferris and welcome to everybody. scott, they're still pushing more taxes, but did we just get evidence that's the wrong way to go? >> i think we did, brenda. look, taxes are tough at anytime, but certainly, in a time like this, where gdp growth just got revised to oh, my goodness, 0.1% on the flat side for q-4. unemployment still ridiculously high. there's no way through it. we just hit the rich and the spenders and the job creators in this country, and it's showing. consumer confidence is falling. purchases of big ticket items are falling, brenda. >> it's not going to work, we're already feeling it. >> brenda: julian, do you agree, tax hikes? good or bad for the economy? >> i think the place we may all agree when you have a weak economy like we have. you don't want to see us going aftethe deficit the way we are, whether it's the tax increases on anybody or big spending. most of the economists that have looked at this

hi, everyone, i'm brenda buttner, this is bulls and bears. let's get to it. the bulls and bears, gary b smith, tobin smith, jonas max ferris. and john, is this madness? lawmakers are fighting over what to cut, they're reallocating funds for all that pork. >> yeah, this shows exactly how bad of a character our lawmakers have in d.c. look, we have no energy plan. our education system drops in world rankings, we have no jobs plan. we have no plan. we don't even have a budget and yet, these guys are still filling things with pork to get reelected. if you're in private practice and you take money supposed to go to some project and you build a fence around your house, whether that fence is good, makes your house look better and whether your neighbors like it, it's stealing and that's exactly what these guys are doing, it's called pork and it's stealing and shows the character of our congress and it shows why our country is so screwed up. >> brenda: well, gary b, what about digging private wealth for private property owners? what's going on? >> well, i tell you what

hi, everyone, i'm brenda buttner. this is bulls and bears. let's get right to it.he bulls and bears this week, gary b smith, tobin smith, jonas max ferris, along with jim la camp and stephen. welcome to everybody. jonas, is wall street soaring because d.c. is cutting? >> no question about it because this year is the year we're getting out of stimulus, the year we're tightening the budget and taxes, everybody knows we were going to cut spending with the the program and businesses know it and we saw the unemployment report they're hiring people so they're not scared that this is going to cause the next recession. that was the fear lingering in the market, the last year, when the government backs out it's going to come to an end, recession, and people on the show for years. it hasn't happened, and not happening and so the government can back out, slowly, but surely and let things go the way they go. >> brenda: okay, today is the four-year anniversary of this bull market and we sure haven't been cutting until now. >> yeah, but, i mean, given the sequester cuts, the cre

brenda buttner are is going to be here to answer some of them, next.esses to fall? then hurry, sleep train's beautyrest and posturepedic closeout sale ends sunday. save up to 40% on closeout sets from beautyrest and posturepedic. save hundreds on floor samples and closeout inventory. these prices are falling fast, but these deals won't last. sleep train's beautyrest and posturepedic closeout sale ends sunday. superior service, best selection, lowest price, guaranteed. ♪ sleep train ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪ >> shannon: another sinkhole in florida. in one just a mile and a half away from the one that claimed the life of jeff bush back in february. the hills bore are row county fire and rescue officials say it is 3 feet wide and ten feet deep. homes on either side were evacuated as a precaution. officials do not believe folks there are in any immediate danger. >>> in the past 90 days the government has posted 6,113 newly proposed federal regulations to the website regulations.gov. a bipartisan grouped joined together to try to get rid of

either tweet to @ anhqdc or @ brenda buttner and we will see you next week.annon. >> shannon: helpful information. i look forward to that. thank you. >> thank you. >> shannon: another question we have been asking you about today. if you could sit down with mit and ann romney what would you ask them? we asked you to weigh in and you answered. your twitter responses, next. >>> and you at homiest oen say the media doesn't share enough -- you at home often say the media doesn't share enough good stories. up next, a patient who thought his doctor was so good he wanted everybody to know it. you know how painful heartburn can be. for fast, long lasting relief, use doctor recommended gaviscon®. only gaviscon® forms a protective barrier that helps block stomach acid from splashing up- relieving the pain quickly. try fast, long lasting gaviscon®. >>> pretty shocked he was going to do that. >> a nasty fall off a horse left don in need of major surgery and now he is so happy to be alive he is making sure that everyone knows that his surgeon and his staff at the hospital,

fox news senior correspondent and anchor of "bulls and bears" brenda buttner with more. >> the dow setsounding like a broken record. four days last week, record finishes, but it's likely another benchmark. the s & p, we care about that broader market a big part of many 401(k)'s and close tower a record as well, just 14 points away when the opening bell rings tomorrow. a strong jobs report for february kept the buyers working and the bulls running and has small investors eager to jump on to the stock band wagon and they're flooding s&p 500 funds. so far in march nearly 2 billion into an exchange traded fund that tracks at that index. keep in mind that all of these records really just take us back to the future. we are right where we were some five years ago before the housing bubble burst and the market melted and there is plenty that could make the bulls stumble. the economy is still in trouble. the recovery tepid even though we had a good month of job gains and washington is tied in knots over tax hikes and spending cuts. many experts think we're due for a correction of some 10%. but t

senior business correspondent and anchor of bulls and bears, brenda buttner with a look ahead to the ek on wall street, brenda? >> harris, forget about lions and lambs, march was all about bulls on wall street. on the last trading day of the month, s & p which powers many of your 401(k)'s hit an all-time high. blue chips have been breaking records since early march and will main street follow wall street? the recovery is having a tough time. unemployment, while stubbornly high is falling, but more and more people aren't looking for work and many are working part-time when they would prefer a full-time job. and problems overseas could hit firms here. if the housing market is finding a foundation. corporate profits are strong and confident is up for consumers and companies. there is plenty to move the markets this week. the big number out friday, the most important read on the jobs market. the employment report for march. will the unemployment rate fall again? auto sales numbers are also out, and they can give a sense of consumer sentiment. another important measure of the economy, cons

senior business correspondent and anchor of bulls and bears, brenda buttner has more, brenda?is, the sequester is officially on, but wall street shrugging it off. a-okay for your 401(k). the dow less than 1% away from its all time high and broader market part of your retirement plan a record, too, 3% away from its highs. and the bulls have been running hard for a while. blue chips up 115% from their crash low some four years ago, why is wall street ignoring washington and its drama? in part because of the head of the fed is keeping money cheap, printing dollars to keep interest rates low. that makes investors choose stocks because bonds won't make you much, but the economy is not doing much either. we are barely in a recovery here and over there, things are worse. the euro zone and japan in on. that can't help, but hurt u.s. companies. there's plenty ahead that could make the bulls stumble a bit, too, friday's unemployment report for february is forecast to show unemployment still stubbornly near 8% and gas prices way up could put the brakes on consumer spending yet stocks are

brenda buttner is here to answer your toughest tax questions. [ male announcer ] you kn that guy whoer man. either way, he gets to fly helicopters all day. i'm talking da vinci style flying machines! he's dating kayla, the lotion girl. able bodied athleticism. here's his buddy marco, who's got the hot water for his velveeta shells & cheese. achieve your dreams. liquid gold. eat like that guy you kn. shoot. now with the share everything plan from verizon, connect your camera, along with your smartphone and tablet. all your devices connected by one simple plan on the powerful network. record video. connect more. so you can do more. the share everything plan from verizon. add additional devices like the samsung galaxy camera for $5 monthly access. >> shannon: an army veteran shot four times in afghanistan says he was kicked out of a mall for using a segue. that is one of our most clicked stories. elizabeth prann in the newsroom with more. >> reporter: he was riding the device through the mall when the security guard stopped him and told him to leave. he suffers from chronic nerve pain a

brenda buttner has answered some of your tax concerns and we will have that for you you next. the administration concerning sequestration. it the white house using scare tactics to try to sway public opinion? we will talk about that with congressman paul brown, next. n] hi, i'm ensure clear... clear, huh? i'm not juice or fancy water. i've gotine grams of protein. that's three times more than me! [ female announcer ] ensure clear. nine grams protein. zero fat. in blueberry/pomegranate and peach. i'm here in your home, having a pretty spectacular tuesday. ♪ but i don't notice the loose rug at the top of your stairs. and that's about to become an issue for me. ♪ and if you got the wrong home insurance coverage, my medical bills could get expensive. so get allstate. [ dennis ] good hands. good home. make sure you have the right home protection. talk to an allstate agent. >> shannon: the obama administration wants sequestration to hurt that is what critics are saying according to the message implied by an e-mail leaked from the department of agriculture. congressman paul brown say

here for that and a preview of what could lie ahead, brenda buttner. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> jamie: we will know tonight when the overseas markets open. do you think it will -- i guess the u.s. is a gauge for those as well? will we know as early as this evening? >> yeah, i think we almost know right now. when the cuts were going into effect on friday, pretty much wall street said, ahh, who cares? it's a small percentage of the dep deficit and the debt that we have. and also, there are other factors that are in play, which are pushing wall street higher. we are now within .5% of an all-time high for the markets. we have been up 115% from the crash low. so we have come a long way very fast, in part because the fed -- ben bernanke has been pumping trillions of dollars into the economy, keeping interest rates at all-time lows, near zero. and wall street likes that -- >> jamie: i imagine -- is that the right answer, though? >> absolutely not. there are a lot of economist who is say this is the bubble we are going to be facing this bubble at

joining me, brenda buttner, anchor of bulls & bears. >> hey, jamie. >> jamie: i have heard a lot of people say, this is so novel and people in the united states are so concerned it could happen here. i would argue that it's already happening here. think about estate taxes, what happens when you pay taxes on money you earn and you leave it to your kids and it's taxed as high as 50%. what's the difference? >> very good point. that's part of the reason why the s&p fell for the first 9/11 four weeks last week. but it only fell 3/10 of 1%. cyprus is a very small country, very different from the united states in that we print money. they cannot. so investors have been thinking, you know, i don't think this is going to happen here. however tcould have an impact, tomorrow, if there is no deal essentially met by the deadline. >> jamie: so let's talk about what could happen here when the markets open, as early as not to overseas. what do you expect? >> no deal. essentially, money would flow to assets that are less risky. so the dollar and gold would go up. treasuryies would go up and money might flo

joining us now is brenda buttner.reat to see you. >> welcome back. >> i needed a vacation, for my health. >> oh, come on. >> gregg: we're talking about health. so draw the connection for us between obamacare on one hand and companies and employers kicking spouses off their coverage? >> two things, first of all, costs are going up under obamacare. there are various fees that are going into effect next year. right now for example every life every person who is covered by an employer, there is a fee of about a dollar, that is going the up to $56 next year. premiums are going up. all those are issues. then on the other hand, next year we're going to have the federal insurance exchanges. employers not feel so compelled to keep a spouse on their plan if there is another option. two sides to it. >> gregg: next year which health exchanges kick in, then you could really see a bunch of companies kicking spouses off. >> three years ago. this was basically did not exist unemployment it's increasingly happening and next year i thi

brenda buttner, anchor of "bulls and bears", so were there flaws? >> yes. there were flaws.nt really fast and nobody has any measure, did it create jobs? they just love the name. was a great thing. first thing, it allows hedge funds basically to market email and internet, facebook to more unsophisticated investors. they haven't been able to do that up to this point. it has a thing called crowd funding which mean that people could be the target of bogus internet scams or frauds. they think as small investors buy a part of company. there is some fear that is also a problem. it also temporarily allows some smaller firms to skirt accounting or disclosure rules when they are going public. the idea is let these small companies go public and they will create jobs, but there is no empirical evidence that happens just because something goes public. >> gregg: did anything good happen out of it? >> well, it showed some bipartisan abilities in washington which is very rare. to be fair, it's -- we can't judge it at this point. if it was designed for companies to go public to be able to s

brenda buttner. >> on top of the morning. >> you kiss the blar ney stone. >> i know you have.how that every day. >> gregg: full of blar ney. catch more of "bulls and bears" ever saturday morning right here on the fox news channel. >> heather:. ♪ >> heather: tens of thousands of people packing st. peter's square in vatican city to witness history in the making. newly elected pope francis celebrating his first sunday mass. a surprising a lot of people with some spontaneous behavior let's call it. amy kellogg reporting from rome. >> reporter: yesterday, we were all moved by the easy style of pope francis as he blessed the press corps here. he stood rather than sat at the end of a select group of journalists that were chosen to greet him personally and he exhibited a similar approach at a section for people that were out and about trying to get a piece of him. he bolted off from the crowd clearly rattling his security. this team will have to get used to th new style of pope. people crowd onto st. peter's square, this pope first which he recites from the window of his apartment ble

brenda buttner, anchor of "bulls and bears." is that young people are avoiding debt and not getting sort of themselves mixed up in some of these predatory practices that young people have been the target in the past. so had a part of the story is good, right? >> absolutely. during the great recession everybody stopped using their credit cards but particularly those under 35. especially undergraduates as you brought up. in a sense that is good, whenever you hear from a personal financial expert, get some extra money, pay off your credit card debt, but having no credit and misusing credit are two different things and could have potentially difficult implications for our economy and for these young adults. >> rick: i remember my mother telling me, go and get one credit card, buy something you need but get your books and put it on the card and then pay it off in full. that is the way to start establishing a good credit? >> who is your mom. eileen -- that is good advice to your son. that is exactly what you do. you need to have a cre

the latest on the cheap tricks from senior business correspondent brenda buttner. >> reporter: the fedsc filing complaints against 29 defendants for sending nearly 200 million unwanted text messages to consumers via cell phone. >> the phone is buzzing or beeping at you to get your attention. you take it out and look at it right awa away people are mar r more likely if they get a link in the message to click on the link. >> reporter: scammers can get to you in a variety of ways not just via text message. the top scams of 2012 according to the better business bureau, number five a fishing scam saying president obama will fay your utility bills. consumers got e-mails and even in person solicitations telling people about a new government program. it is not true, though, and victims gave their information to an official looking website. number four, nonexistent loans. the ads for things like no credit checks or no interest. you pay up front for insurance purposes and they have got you. number three, mystery shopping. it is an employment scam offering a dream job for a price. number two, the

first, we're going to check in with brenda buttner for a look what's coming up on the cost of freedomck up. are investors buying because d.c. is cutting. and your tax refund may be delayed, but uncle sam is wasting no time collecting taxes from the new health care law. more hypocrisy. new airline fees coming your way. are flyers getting gouged or a great deal? cost of freedom at the top of the hour. we'll see you then. Ç@2x@x@@ there is no mass produced human. so we created the extraordinarily comfortable sleep number experience. a collection of innovations designed around a bed with dualair technology that allows you to adjust to the support your body needs - each of your bodies. you'll only find sleep number at one of our over 400 stores nationwide. where queen mattresses start at just $699. and right now enjoy the lowest prices of the season on our most popular bed sets. sleep number. comfort individualized. >> are you tired of paying top dollar for your prescription drugs? well, most americans are so today we're giving you tips how you can save some real money. joining us now