stu varney, isn't it ironic? >> this got my attention.general motors and chrysler. they do not have the cars on the lot that people want to buy. take a look at the top five sellers. four of the top five are foreign brands. however, with the exception of the toyota prius, all of them are made in the united states. particularly, the toyota camry is 80% made in kentucky. so the primary beneficiaries so far in cash for clunkers are non-unionized american car workers who work for non-bailed out foreign companies. there are plenty of negatives with this, but i would say that it is almost certain to be extended by the senate today. bill: i think you are right about that. the original house version of this bill, there was a clause that said you could only get a rebate if you got an american car. the final version did not have that. >> that was taken out. the idea that you had to buy an american brand, that was taken ill because congressmen who came from states where they have toyota factories, honda factories, for example, employing american work

megyn: thank you, stu varney.id not pay for the engagement ring, but you did help pay for one couple dramatic marriage proposal -- which we kind of like. how one counselor burned stimulus money. megyn: and he reported his model girlfriend missing. some are reporting that she was his wife. after her body was discovered reality tv star cannot be found. today,ç new clues as to where e man had disappeared to. bill: on capitol hill in is called the nuclear option. democrats could push the button and pass health care reform by doing so. megyn: what are we planning on our screen? [laughter] bill: the political fallout that is possible as a result. 5 ú megyn: welcome back. we are looking at live pictures of lockerbie, scotland where the man accused of the airline bombing over scotland is about to be set free. he received a life sentence. now because he has cancer and is reaching the end of his life, they are freeing him on the basis of compassion. çthose scars have not healed 40 lot of people around the world, but no

stu varney is here to put it in perspective. let's start with the good news. >> wall street is going to take this as a positive. the trend in jobs is less bad. it is a signal that the recession is winding down, however, if you look at the impact on main street, it is still grappling with what i would call a grim reality. will you -- lose a quarter million jobs in one quarter, that is tough to spin positive. by the way, there are still 5.5 million people unemployed for more than six months. in all, wall street likes this, but main street is looking at continuing job losses for the rest of the year, will not start creating jobs until next year, which means we may take three years to get back to where we were in the employment in the summer of 2007. if we return to the good old prosperous days of the quarter century, you are looking to return to 6 percent unemployment. it could be a couple of years before we see that. -- 6% unemployment. however, the u.s. is getting out of the recession better than europe and japan. megyn: thank yo

gregg: stu varney has a wonderful way of putting everything in perspective for us. >> you have not got a prayer. it is never going to happen. when was the last time a politician took $1 trillion of your money, did not spend it, and gave it back? >gregg: but if people start demanding that they are repaid -- let's take a look at this poll number. 72% say, return it to the taxpayers. that translates into the vocal demands that we are hearing across the country. could this help our recovery? >> yes, if we give this money back, it could make an improvement in american's finances. the fact is, the recession is just about over and our economy has self-corrected. we did not get much help from the stimulus plan, but you will hear from politicians that we are on the right track but there is work to be done. the idea that we should not spend and give the money back is practically out of the question, no matter what the voters say. gregg: thank you. megyn: one day after the passing of ted kennedy, nancy pelosi now mentioning his death as a rallying call around health care reform. she said -- but h

stu varney is with me now. we are going to put up two sacks. -- facts.ill, that was speaker pelosi -- bill: that was speaker pelosi. if that is the case, it is this only people making above $250,000? >> she claimed that this will be paid for by taxing the rich, households making more than $350,000. i question that. i do not think you will bring in a half trillion dollars just by bringing in these taxes. i do not think it is enough. secondly, speaker pelosi says this will be paid for by taking $500 billion out of medicare and medicaid. when have you ever seen that kind of cut in future costs in future programs in american history? i think she is saying it, but i think she is using fuzzy math. bill: the reason we are bringing this up is because it was one of president obama's campaign promises. point number two -- does that hold? >> yes, those are figures from the cbo. speaker pelosi dismisses that. she says it will be fully paid for but she does not look at the 10 years after that when this cbo says there will be a massive increase in these out years. aga

gregg: stu varney joins us to talk about this. does this look true? does this look real? >> it raises the temperature of the debate. you may think this is the dog days of summer, but you are dialing up the volume on the health-care debate. these are from the heritage foundation, a conservative group. they do not like a government health care. these are the people who say $49 billion per year extra cost. 5 million reduced hours and may be jobs threatened. 10 million stunted wages. that is what they say. that raises the temperature and it puts cost, deficits, and monday at the center stage of the health-care debate. on the other side, they're coming back at the heritage foundation. the white house says if you do not get health care reform, health care is in crisis, and this economy is in terrible shape. there's something else to have to throw into the mix. that is tort reform. why is it not on the table? gregg: you could save about a $3 billion on tort reform alone. >> again, raising the temperature. in comes howard dean titties says you cannot have tort reform because we w

stu varney has more perspective. what do you mean that they are late?rned that home owners who werender water were represented here. >> let me get this straight. the number of people who are 30 days late for more with their mortgage payment is up by one half from last year, and expanding. the number of foreclosures is double what it was last year. now this is no longer just subprime borrowers. this has now moved into prime borrowers. they are the ones defaulting. essentially, six out of 10 of new foreclosures are prime borrowers. megyn: so it has spilled over to the people who took on normal, 30-year mortgages. >> the people who are now having real trouble making payments are the people known as prime our words,ell qualified borrowers. they may have to put more money down. now they are losing those jobs as well as the ability to pay back on time. çmegyn: have we seen any relief from the obama administration? >> no. megyn: of any of that help, is it trickling down? >> no, by october of this year half a million homeowners may have been helped by the buyb

stu varney, good morning to you. >> do not be downcast, bill. bill: we have been waiting for this report for a year. fire away. >> for a long time, i have been issuing forth with the negatives. i have covered it all, but let's not forget that the recession may now be winding down. and because companies are cutting costs so aggressively, they are making some decent profits. dow jones is up 40% in the last five months. your 401k is back roughly two where it was at the beginning of november last year. bill: you are saying i can open that envelope again without fear. >> look at it. bill: we have been on such a tear. you wonder when the profit- taking will come in. we are off 73 points in trading today. the stock market is on a tear, yet gold is still rising. gold was the safe harbor for a year. people were getting out of the stock market and go into gold. why is gold continuing to go up? the logic says they worked opposite of each other. >> i think it is going up because the dollar has taken a nosedive. when the dollar goes way down, you put your mo

stu varney from the fox business network is with us now. >> the first $1 billion came out of the stimulusost all of that stimulus money was borrowed from foreigners like china. we borrowed the money from china, we took it into the u.s. treasury, we then use it to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy -- some of that goes to south korea. we are buying lots of kias and hyundais. bill: how the world turns. these dealerships -- their upper until 1:00 in the morning. they are assuming or they're hoping that the government comes through with the reimbursement check. some of these dealerships are on the hook for $500,000. are they going to get the money? >> the dealers are confident that the senate will extend the program with an additional $2 billion. if it does not go through, i would not be at all surprised that the obama administration will say, we will give you it on an emergency basis. somehow or other, they could because the $2 billion will come either from the stimulus program -- it could come from the tarp program. it is supposed to come from the stimulus program. i am an american taxpayer.

he says -- stu varney has been shopping for a deal for his wife, his 17 children.headaches in the system and from what i find out, dealers are not happy because there are on the hook for million dollars. >> the national auto dealers' association said that they have taken in the clunkers but are waiting for the cash. the washington post looked at the state of maryland and over 300 dealers are owed $36 million collectively. so far they have only received only 2% of that. the dealers have this clunker on their lot and they have to deal with it. they have to deal with all the paperwork and essentially they have passed on a new car, they have made a loan on that new car and they have not yet been paid by the government. another example of big government program not working as efficiently as it was supposed to. bill: initially they had a four- month deadline. then they go back to congress to get more money. do we know if these dealerships have sold more than $3 billion in cash for clunkers? >> we do not know for a fact. a lot of them are slowing down the program because

stu varney of the fox business network is here with us now. is there a reason that congress placed it at 12.$12.1 trillion. >> the national debt is the amount of money, the accumulated data over the years. as the outstanding national debt. this is no different from the deficit. we're talking national debt. at the moment, we owe $11.7 trillion. megyn: we are talking trillion. >> yes, and we're adding $200 billion to the outstanding debt total each month. in eight weeks, they will bump up above that ceiling. treasury secretary tim geithner is very anxious. he is desperate to extend that ceiling so that we can borrow even more money. he says this is to reassure lenders. in my opinion, it has the opposite effect. it looks like spending is out of control. we are desperate to borrow even more money. megyn: the debt is money that we owed to creditors of the united states. if we do not raise the debt limit, are we going to default? >> yes, precisely. if we do not raise the debt ceiling -- we have to. we would default. this is a factor in these town ha

stu varney has been tracking this.g out money? >> yes, $140 million given to welfare recipients for back-to- school supplies. about 2 $1 per family. george soros donated $30 million of his own money. -- about $200 per family. we had an executive telling us that she was fielding calls from wal-mart why these people were lining up trying to bite but gas station owners saying there on beer and cigarettes with welfare money. that is $140 million in one state, all cash for back-to- school supplies. bill: 1 not team up with staples? create a voucher system to make sure that the money is spent appropriately. >> the money arrived in the dead accounts on tuesday. there was an immediate rumor on when it was for. there was in line around the block western union offices around the city of people trying to lock in that money so that they could spend it. very badly administered and the massive amount of your money. bill: thank you. back-to-school we go. megyn: brand new ads are hitting the airwaves today, millions being spent to pus