elizabeth mcdonald is on this story today. liz. >> reporter: the argument and debate down on wall street is why are gas prices zooming so much higher? yes it's a refinery issue, yes it's a switch to summer blends, but also the u.s. government is weighing in on this. the energy information administration which is part of the department of energy put out this note. of it said essentially watch this tax move on the part of oil companies. in the month of december oil inc inch ten inventory convenient torreys dropped in the gulf coast region a tremendous amount, and why? look at this statement from the eia? they've said u.s. oils inventories typically decline in the month of december as oil companies try to cut their state and local tax bills. the more inventory you have the higher your tax bill. an interesting disclosure from the energy tporp administration. what we are seeing in california, more than a dozen cities are breaking the $4 mark on gasoline. why? because california has some of the highest state taxes in the country. al

let's go in with steve forks, rick you thinker, elizabeth mcdonald, morgan brennan, rich carlguard and mike. steve, if you want to cut waste, is this the place to start? >> sure, david. green energy a great place to save green dollars. if green energy had any promise, entrepreneurs would be in on it. in terms of clean energy, we have it in our backyard with natural gas, remove obstacles to that, we'll have all the clean energy we want and need and export it. >> rick, you're against government waste. this was an incredibly wasteful program. is this the place we should start cutting? >> i actually came up with a very short quote that i think speaks to this point better than i could ever hope to. so i'm gog read it. federal investment in science and basic research has led to numerous innovations and commercial successes from laser lasers, from the internet to mri scanners. do you know who said that? mitt romney in his book "no apology, the case for american greatness." that is the point. look, government has always been involved in our greatest progress, they're always going to be involve

with the company, sandra smith and elizabeth mcdonald.allides at the new york stock exchange. you have smaller government at the state level and larger government at the federal level. liz: it is bad for the u.s. economy would it takes more manpower and brains to file the return on your income than it does to earn it. that is what the states are showing. watch out for what california did. there is nothing more permanent than a temporary tax. if they do this experiment, but the sales tax into the code permanently for the state. there is a debate about pushing consumers to do online shopping. david: if you want less of something, tax it more. the reverse is true. we want more growth. we want more jobs. the governor of kansas has the same message. he is putting hard numbers on the table saying this would be the 23,000 jobs by 2020, $2 billion added tax revenue and we should hear more republican governors going forward. they are really getting the message out there. david: bobby jindal may be pushing some of his fellow republicans. he is a li

a big welcome please for elizabeth mcdonald and joins me early this friday morning.ot so much to get through. we need liz. >> i'm ready for you. >> the extravaganzaa, more personalities driving the news and let's start with nancy pelosi. she suggested that she opposes a pay cut for congress, because it would diminish the dignity of lawmakers' jobs. >> all right, liz, go at it. >> i'm not sure about the dignity given what's going on in congress, but yes, i do have a lot of civil servants and firemen and teachers, but let hee back up. what she's talking about the cuts, spending cuts coming march first, meaning that congress would have to take a pay cut and i don't know if nancy pelosi wants to be taking like that, stuart when the congress is asking for more pay cuts from all americans and tax hikes. >> it sounds like a juxtaposition, doesn't it? don't cut my pay because it's undignified. you lost, you're going to have to take a pay cut. >> leaves you vulnerable to a lot of criticism. including issues of her taking junket trips on government planes. stuart: let's not fo

a reverse course for maker's mark and elizabeth mcdonald is here and she's next. ♪ this is $100,000.ked total strangers to watch it for us. thank you so much. i appreciate it. i'll be right back. they didn't take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money? if your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally. ally bank. your money needs an ally. all your imptant legal matters in just minutes. protect youramily... and launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. >> the people who make makers mark came to their senses. instead of watering down the whiskey and reducing the alcohol content maker's mark will go to the original formula. customers were outraged at the idea of a change. and maker's mark said they do it to keep up with demand. charles and liz are with me. i say he they came to their senses after a disastrous marketing mistake liz: a disastrous miss declaration and maker's mark saying you spoke we listened and here is proof, meaning the proof. people say don't touch our culture of drinking we like it at this level and incre

elizabeth mcdonald from the fox business network has more, all right, liz, tell us what the governmentw pointing to to try to keep the bills low. >> good to be with you, megyn. you know, the u.s. government energy administration, sent an e-mail out and they pointed out an interesting ironic twist to what oil companies are doing to basically keep their tax bills low. this is what they're saying, here is a quite from the eia a division of the department of energy. u.s. oil inventories typically drop in december as oil companies try to cut the tax they must pay on their oil holdings. so, that's basically in the gulf region and they're basically lowering their tax bills to the states like louisiana and texas and saying this is an incentive to drop the amount of oil that's in inventory. and basically, the companies lower the tax bills. the states in red are where you're going to see the gas prices really high. from 3.80 to as high as 4.30. there's about a dozen cities in california breaking through the $4 mark easily. you're going to see in the upper midwest, also new york, vermont and conn

the mcdonalds asked me this morning, they said, elizabeth, what more can we do to ensure that congress acts? and i was astounded by the question. to think that this grieving family, what more could they do? it's what more must we do. they are doing everything they can to make sure that every member of congress understands not only their loss, their loss is america's loss, because every child that was murdered, every loss on the city streets of our country is a loss that ripples throughout families and communities. lives we will never know what these people could have done, could have contributed to our society. and it is an enormous hole in the fabric of our country. the price of inaction is too high. the price of inaction is being paid every day by greefing -- grieving parents like lynn and chris mcdonald. i want to thank again the gentlelady from california for all you are doing to ensure we do the right thing here today. that we continue the discussion of this critical issue. that we do not lose our will to take action. and that we do bring about real change to save lives in our com