stuart varney, anchor with the fox business network is here. i was amazed at that percentage, nearly half the country. >> this is not widely known. roughly half of all the households in america pay not a single dime in federal income tax. either their income is too low to cross that taxing threshold or they've got so many deductions it puts them below the taxes threshold. about half pay nothing. jon: i said federal taxes, you're saying federal income taxes, they may payroll taxes. >> if you work you obviously pay social security tax, that's a payroll tax, you pay it, regardless of income, you pay it, but when it comes to federal income taxes, 47 percent of households pay nothing at all. jon: so i was reading that it's possible that a family making $50,000, four people, nothing in federal income tax. >> that is correct. the median household income in america in 2007 was just over $50,000. it's about the same now. that family of four, given some deduction, given some circumstances, would not pay any federal income tax. jon: and the percentage of

stuart varney always makes sense.rney on taxes and what people think on a day like this. >> people look at their paycheck and look at their take home pay and the difference between the two, i'm paying too much in tax. that's where it comes from. is it fair that you go out, start a small business, you work hard, you save your money, don't spend lavishly. you succeed. and then the government takes half your income and that's what's happening these days. the government takes half your income and gives it to other people solely on the grounds that they make less than you do so it's only fair for you to share. i maintain that is not fair. >> i love how he says fair. suddenly makes it sound better, doesn't it? >> it reminds you in england, that number is not 50. it's probably all in, closer to 60, 65%. >> they have like a cast system going on. you don't move up and down the ladder there. >> isn't why they came to america to start america? hello! i mean, i think that's what some people said that they wanted to leave. maybe i

i would pay the back tax to get stuart varney on the show.ht ahead -- >> the school accused of spying on students on laptops in their own homes. can you believe that? well, a scandal that's getting even worse, folks. we'll explain. >> and too heavy to serve america? serious problem. a recruiter joins us straight ahead to tell us how fit you've got to be to join the army. >> maybe actually enlist or the b.m.i. >> or the b.m.i. >> washington, d.c. ♪ [ male announcer ] experience fast in all its forms. the is line. at your lexus dealer. ♪ ♪ express yourself ♪ ♪ express yourself ♪ ♪ ♪ oh, do it ♪ oh, do it ♪ ♪ express yourself ♪ hey [ female announcer ] coffee is like life. it's better when you add your flavor. coffee-mate. from nestle. >> fox news alert. this just out of nasa. entry flight director brian lunny and his team have decided that the shuttle will land today at 9:08 a.m. on orbit number 238. what this means is there will be a deorbit burn at 8:02. coming up in just about 15 minutes and it will land in just about an hour and 20 minutes

that's stuart varney! mpany as i walk past your shot and right to it. >> first time you've done that. >> you were asleep during this. what's it like knowing you were smiling at fenway park? >> it was the big shock when i woke up this morning. i got some e-mails. big shock. i'm really flattered. it was wonderful. >> it's great to have you, stuart joins us as many mornings as we possibly can afford him. and today, it's interesting, stuart, the president was down in charlotte a couple of days ago, a woman by the name of doris had a question. mr. president, is this really such a good time to be doing this health care thing because we need to have money in the bank and stuff like that. here's a little snippet. his answer ran 17 minutes. >> my question is, though, in the economy times that we have now, is it a wise decision to add more taxes to us with the health care because we are overtaxed as it is. >> well, let's talk about that. and the final point is that the cost of health care, setting aside anything we d

look at this, stuart varney. tell me this happens in your country.esidents called 911 to report the lights. >> it was so bright in my window. i'm like what the heck is that? and it had orange sparky type tails coming out of it. >> ok. >> so yeah, i -- i was just curious what i thought, meteor or aliens? >> all right. i think it's alien. i think we have a lot of questions here. this video, i watched this over and over again last night because i'm lonely and no one wants to talk to me. so i was able to watch this uninterrupted. i think this is alien life form or renegade rocket that's fallen into our planet. >> and i think it's friday and you're operating on fumes. >> no, where did that come from, gretchen? you don't have any good answers. >> but i do now because stu varney is in the house. president obama's ambitious agenda calls for huge increases in government spending. how is he going to pay for it? the president has promised to let the bush tax cuts expire. even with all the tax increases, it still won't cover it so liberals have been eyeing a val

let's get stuart varney's thoughts on this, anauthorize of "varney & company" on the fox business network, of course. stuart, i feel like every morning i'm waking up, finding there's another way that they're trying to add 10 cents here, 15 cents there. there's already a tax on gas, isn't there? >> there is. what they're talking about, and this is a proposal we may see formally presented next week is for a gas tax at the federal level, a new extra gas tax, of up to 15 cents a gallon. it's being propod by senators joe lieberman, lindsey graham and john kerry, that's an independent, a republican, and a democrat, bipartisan group. they're going to propose this as part of the new climate bill. a, it would raise an awful lot of money for the federal government, which is indidoo it can't pay its bills, and number two, it would finance some of the needed changes to control emissions. so it's a bipartisan group of senators, it's a proposal for up to 15 cents a gallon, and really, what it's all about is another proposed consumption tax, like the vat you've been hearing about, a tax on what you buy

joining me with reaction from the fox business network host of varney and company stuart varney and former white house press secretary dana perino. there's a lot going on here. the sec charges goldman sachs with fraud. wall street responds saying, this is not coincidental, as evidenced by durbin's remarks in terms of timing for regulatory efforts, explain. >> goldman sachs gets together a pool of mortgages slicing them up sells little parts around the world and tells investors, good investment. unbeknownst to those investors goldman sachs has asked for help in an stemling that pool from a hedge fun. the hedge fund is betting against that investment. playing two sides of the fence. investors were never told that the hedge fund was betting against those investments and made a billion dollars doing it. >> sean: if the people knew that they would say wait a minute you don't have confidence in this. >> of course. >> sean: if they did that, it would mean a major fraud was committed. >> if they did that as charged it is fraud and a very bad thing. >> i that i is in dispute the lawyers will work i

stuart varney of the fox business network joins us live. stuart, you heard what majored, he said the president is going to say look, wall street, you big, you know, big fat cats, as he called them, behind every single transaction is a real person, a real family. is this bill, stuart, as you take a look at t. is this going to protect the little guy, and who else may be -- maybe should they be protected from? prps fannie mae and freddie mac, for example. >> reporter: the day after this bill is signed, and it will be signed, the day after, do not wake up in the morning and expect that your credit card, your bank account, your mutual fund, your 401(k), your pension money, do not expect any change in the way you handle your own personal money. there will be no immediate impact on individuals. this is a big-picture reform, in which the big players of the money world are being told how they will organize their money in the future. where they can invest it. how much they can invest. the whole structure. the big picture structure of the financial wor

stuart varney. bill: in the meantime president obama gearing fun a campaign-style push that may change wall street, he hopes, according to the white house, the president hits the road this week, the president trying to win republican support for a bill that could hit the senate floor later this month, the republican critics say the legislation on finance reform could lead to more bailouts. john fund from the "wall street journal," good morning. does the proposed bill make for a better system based on what you've been able to see? >> they've been revising it but there are troubling things. it's not that it sets all $50 billion fund for bailouts but it grants the federal government unpress did power to seize any financial institution they think is failing and decide which creditors get paid off. we saw what happened in general motors. in general motors, the unions got their bonds paid off 100-cents on the dollar, other bold holder got 20 cents on the dollar so this is an enr -- an enormous grant to th

that's according to fox business network's stuart varney, fresh from the garden party himself. always good to have stuart with us. we talk about jobs, we're looking at the economy every time, everybody want it is to improve, but you say that housing is skunking around the party here. >> it is. look, it's the forgotten crisis, it is the forgotten bailout, yet it affects i believe just as many people as are jobless in america. as you said, martha, you've got 367,000 foreclosures in the first quarter of this year. we have an unlimited federal government bailout that was passed by the way on christmas eve. taxpayers are on the hook for many of those foreclosures. the administration's rescue plan for mortgages is a failure, and get this, 10 percent of america's prime home mortgage borrowers are delinquent. we're not talking subprime. we are talking prime borrowers, delinquent, 10 percent of them, never been there before, and yet, this is not on the political or even the economic front burner. it's overshadowed by health care, by jobs, by corporate profits. it's on the back burner pol