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frequent varney & company guest keith fitzgerald knows all about this, about an aging population with a slowing birthrate. listen to this. >> yes, you are, and you can see that anecdotally. they sell, for example, more adult diaper products than they do infant diaper products right now. stuart: you know, that really is extraordinary, isn't it? well, now, japan has elected a new government. the country's new prime minister vowing to pull the country out of its 20 year recession with another huge stimulus program. keith is going to join us at 10:35 this morning. we will ask him if this new print money and stimulate more, if that new plan is going to work in japan. clearly, there's been a very big drop in gas prices over here recently, and it's happened all across america. the national average for a gallon of gas is now $3.24 a gallon, according to triple a. that average has fallen 10 cents in just the past week. the lowest state average in america, missouri, $2.95 a gallon. tennessee, south carolina, oklahoma, they could fall below $3 in the next couple of days. all right, big deal. tha

it is a point well taken by everybody here on varney & company.u being a stand-up guy and coming on the show. i appreciate it. >> my pleasure. stuart: okay, sir. here's what you are saying about this on my facebook page by the way. mike sees no problem with the tattoos, quote, he isn't going to try and be a ceo of a fortune 500 company. he's a quarterback in the nfl. to each their own. jim a bit more harsh quote: >> but i think maxine may be on to something. quote: stuart: i think the best business idea that i ever had -- actually it was jake novak, our former producer had, he said why don't you start a chain of tattoo removal parlors across the country? david: i had a former rap star on my old show who said he spent a fortune removing his tattoos. that's the extraordinary thing. very easy to put them on. very difficult to get them off. stuart: anna wintour could be the next u.s. ambassador to the u.k. or france. what? my take on that next. stuart: superstorm sandy made landfall in america more than a month ago. some businesses are still seeing th

no, no, it's the time for family faith and joy and that's what "varney & company" is about.cember 14th, here we go. joe woods' first day of. and his new boss told him twongs -- cook what you love, and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll wk his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and me from the great northwest. he'll start investing eay, he'll find some good people to help guide him, nd he'll set mey aside from his first day of work to his last, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. can i still ship a gift in time r christmas? yeah, sure you can. great. where's your gift? uh... whew. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. ship fedex express by december 22nd for christmas delivery. >> when the senate gets back in session next year, 20 women will be taking their seats and maybe that signals a positive shift in washington's deadlocked and harshly divided politics. that's what the washington post is taking from it, here is the quote. some are wondering whether the recor

i have been saying that for a while on "varney and company".rhood is probably the best investment you can make right now. going out on a limb but that is my opinion. my next guest is investing in commercial real-estate and he is buying. richard. , a maine will your name once again. >> everybody will know right now. stuart: the ceo of the tritium group. >> close enough. stuart: i will get it right eventually. stuart: when you invest in commercial property. you are buying right now. you are like the arizona market in particular, you specialize in apartment buildings. tell me why you are concentrating on buying in scottsdale. >> i like scottsdale lot. the air park idea will explode in the next five years. is very important to be positioned there and i'd buy the properties. it is not the best property in the market but it is the one where upper working class can be. stuart: apartment buildings. what is the ideal size for you as an investor? >> minimum 150. stuart: that is what you like to -- okay. scottsdale is your particular market that you like

and please, we want to hear from you, e-mail us at varney@foxbusiness.com. tell us exactly what you think and what we talk about. monday morning, seven early movers, apple s rolling the iphone five out worldwide and hits china december 14th. 50 countries will get it and the stock is almost back to 600. dell, goldman sachs upgrade today a buy from a cell. $13 is the price target. it is up today. myriad genetics, the supreme court agrees to hear a case whether genes could be patented. if so, a boost for the company. if you can patent them up goes the stock, but today it's down. delta airlines is in talks to buy 49% of virgin airlines from singapore airlines. and maker of the ugg boots, they're out with positive comments on the stock, sets a $65 price target and it's at 41 and rising. and some soamazon, billions ord on-line. and disappointing results for the well in the gulf of mexico, down it goes. t dow industrials holding a 50 point gain. 11 states in a so culled de-cal spiral. and makers versus the takers. the man who wrote the article, why states are going

as "varney & company" is to begin.course, we're going to talk about this. >> you should know that axiron is here. the only underarm treatment for low t. that's right, the one you apply to the underarm. axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 1 axiron can transfer to others through direct contact. women, especially those who are or who may become pregnant, and children should avoid contact where axiron is applied as unexpected signs of puberty in children or changes in body hair or increased acnen women may occur. report these signs and symptoms to your doctor if they occur. tell your doctor about all medical conditions and medications. do not use if you have prostate or breast cancer. serious side effects could include increased risk of prostate cancer; worsening prostate symptoms; decreased sperm count; ankle, feet, or body swelling; enlarged or painful breasts; problems breathing while sleeping; and blood clots in the legs. common side effects include skin redness or irritation where applied, increased

. >> i'm stuart varney.ases the unemployment rate for november. with tax and spending changes coming for the new year, the jobless rate remains a very important number. before the election, the rate dropped below 8%. now here comes the first post-election report and many forecast the rate will pick back up again to that 8% level. bear in mine that the november number will be skewed by super storm sandy. 11 states took a hit. jobs will clearly be affected. but did beyond the storm's impact and we should get a reading on the underlying state of the economy. what shape are we in as tax increases approach come january 1? 8:30 precisely, that's when the labor department releases this report. i mean precisely. peter barns is at the labor department. the first two numbers we want to hear are what is the unemployment rate for november and how many new jobs were created in that month? all right. 8:30. peter? >> stewart, 7.7% was the unemployment rate in november. the lowest level since december 2008. nonfarm payrolls

stuart: we are in a holiday spirit on varney & company. will have menorahs on set. that will be coming up at 10:33. >>> president obama is heading right into the eye of the storm today. a big union fight in michigan. michigan the home of the powerful auto unions could become a right to work state. the governor is expected to sign a new law tomorrow, right to work, michigan, 24th state. unions have been protesting and bigger demonstrations are planned. listen to this: stuart: got pretty noisy. all right, all rise, judge andrew napolitano is here. judge, welcome back. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: now i think -- if a state becomes right to work, essentially that means that a union may not force its members to contribute dues. union membership becomes voluntary. am i right? >> well i would state it slightly differently, but we end up at the same point. in a right to work state, the state does not force people to join unions. stuart: okay. >> in a nonright to work state, it is a law that you join or contribute to the unions. so if you choose n

fox business network's stuart varney, host of "varney & company", is here with more. stu, the economists are now predicting that china will hit 8% gdp growth. ours is scant compared to that, isn't it? >> that is the basis of the story. right now china has a economy worth $11 trillion a year. america has an economy worth $15 trillion a year. with china's very, very rapid growth rate and america's lackluster growth rate, if you look at the trends china will indeed become the world's biggest, they will become number one, a few years before the year 2030. it is not just the growth rate, gregg. there are a couple other factors going on here too. europe and are drowning in debt. china has a near $3 trillion reserve surplus. you've got demographics. europe and america are aging rapidly. in europe the population is shrinking. there is no such demographic problem in china. you add it all together, debt, demographics and growth rate china is indeed on course to become number one fairly soon. gregg, hold on a second. there is a danger in just extrapolating out from current trend

varney shall be known here on after as stony. am so cheap that i would not buy the stuff? >> you would not spend any money on a joint. stuart: don't you know the benefits of being

good morning, "varney & company" viewers, we have a treat. nicole is at the stock exchange, futures are traded up a bit. and president obama is cutting his vacation short to continue talks on the fiscal cliff. joining us now is dan henninger from the wawr wall street journ. does he want to go over the fiscal cliff? some are saying he needs more than he would just get from the rich guys. >> i doubt that he wants to go over the cliff. and i must say, president obama has repeatedly referred to himself as the unique politician, he's different than everyone. there is no politician i know would want to get into a situation like this. and barack obama marchs to his own drummer and it's possible, but i kind of doubt it. >> you wrote a piece in the wall street journal, called "no guardrails", you said the old society kept the politicians in order in washington, self-order and self-restraint. all of those disappeared as a result of the "me" generation and you say that obama is the epitome of a the "me" generation president that he sees things from his

we want to hear from you e-mail us at varney@foxbusiness.com.ly movies.tibco so and pandora, bad news, down it goes. citi cutting 11,000 jobs and going to save a billion bucks a year. up a buck 30 on that one. seismic equipment supplier named mitchum, posted what's described as a surprise loss. down 17%. and a defense contractor, posted higher profits. better than expected. maker of tommy bahama and lilly pulitzer brands. and disappointing, down you go, 12% down there and then facebook, joining nasdaq 100 one week from today. it's down 13, but it's at 27 now. work hard, all your life and build up an estate and leave it to your kids, and like to. the government takes, and attorneys say what to do to avoid it. first, christmas music from mark stein, i don't know why my picture is up there. that's mark stein and he's singing, not me. ♪ male announcer ] at scottrade, you won't just find us online you'll also find us in person, with dedicated support teams at over 500 brancs nationwide. so when you call or visit, you can ask for a name you know. beca

we've been reporting this for months here on "varney & company." gun sales, they are absolutely booming. and now, smith & wesson, the gun people, they made a profit and they raised their outlook and the stock is going to be up come that opening bell. charles,you're buying gun stocks? >> i've got to it will you, i wanted to feature this on making money for charles segment and sandra smith was covering it and i didn't have a chance to hear what they had to say. hopefully-- >> you would have said this stock is going up if you had a chance yesterday. >> from ruger, which is a rival and actually had a much better run in this stock and a 17% short position, so these may be under some pressure and not a lot of room, technical resistance, and there's room for this to be-- >> based and done well. not as well as the rival. from a valuation point of view it's enticing, wall street is worried and what happened is the guys every filled. they see the man and see the fbi data and in the past produced a lot of guns and the demand went away and one of the reasons t

only on varney & company.ut they' gonna fall in love, get married, have a couple of kids, [ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a long, happy fe together where they almost never fight about money. [ dog barks ] because rightfter they get married, they'll find some retirement people who are paid on salary, not commission. they'll get straightforward guidance and be able to focus on other things, like each other, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. stuart: we are getting some reports of quote optimism and significant progress in the fiscal cliff talks. let's bring in peter barnes who is close to these talks. what do you make of it, optimism? you're looking away from me. look me in the eyes there. [laughter] peter: getting all the e-mails all of a sudden now. we have got all this optimism, all this significant progress, progress aides close to the talks between vice president biden and republican leader mitch mcconnell say there is significant progress. some senio

stuart varney is here and did you know he's also a psychic because for the last year, stuart varney hasn california. >> i did. >> gretchen: and other places. >> i did. they may well be in the line to ask for a bailout after this. >> gretchen: is it appropriate? >> no. in my opinion, this is morally wrong. it's wrong on several fronts. first of all, morally. by what right does detroit demand money from places like texas or oklahoma to bailout their own problems? that's morally wrong. second, it's politically wrong. have we reached the points in this country that you cast your vote for politicians thinking they're going to pay you off and bail you out of your problems? that's a political problem. third, wouldn't work. no matter how much money you give to detroit, as soon as that money is gone and through, they want more because they are fundamentally bankrupt. they don't have a decent source of income. they're hemorrhaging cash and now they want the feds to pay for it. wrong on all counts. >> steve: okay. so they want the bacon bailout, as we just heard from that person who sits in a seat

stu varney host of varney & company. >> that is a very big deal. if the issues of debt, debt accumulation, deaf sits and spending are not addressed then this financial mess, this wrangling on the financial front that we are in now will continue well into next year. go back a little bit, rick. go back to august of 2011, we got into this mess because we were downgraded, we couldn't agree on debt and deficits. we kept on pushing it off, pushing it off into the future. now we are right at the point where we have to make a decision on debt, dficits and spending and all we're talking about is a deal on taxes. it seems very likely that tax rates on higher income people will go up. we know for a fact that social security taxes will go up tomorrow, and some obamacare taxes they kick in as well tomorrow morning. so all we're talking about at the moment is raising taxes, we are doing nothing on deficit, debt and spending, that means this wrangling, this mess will continue. rick: child tax credits get extended according to some reports now. the earned income t

varney & company will be on air.the world will end friday. we will talk about it. the highlight reel is next. i always wait until the last minute. can i still ship a gift in time r christmas? yeah, sure you can. great. where's your gift? uh... whew. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. ship fedex express by december 22nd for christmas delivery.

"varney & company" is about to begin.best players in history to the number 1 club in the world. the potential of manchester united unlocked. nyse euronext. unlocking the world's potential. >> ♪ ♪ >> you've got to say he's still the greatest, isn't he? eric clapton performing at the 12-12-12 concert to benefit the victims of hurricane sandy. the event went on five hours and a ton of money. 36 million alone in ticket sales and does not count the donations or the money they got from sponsored like samsung which surely paid a big price to have the galaxy phones featured everywhere and the celebrities answering the calls from people who phoned in donations, galaxy phones they were using. you're seeing galaxy ads everywhere, they dominate football games on sundays as well. apple, the ipad, ipad mini, the iphone their ads have been swamped by samsung and microsoft. is apple still the king of cool? shareholders wants to know and so do i. let's bring in mark, editor in chief of laptop magazine. is apple still the king of cool? wha

the host of varney and company, stuart varney, is here.icated. what did they do? >> first of all, let me explain tax hypocrisy. here is how it works, the board of costco, which is headed by that gentleman, they vote themselves a special $7 per share dividend. he and his wife own 2 million shares of costco. so they get $14 million. after tax, that is $12 million. a nice, fat check and they'll get it this month. if they paid that dividend next month, in january, they'd only get $8 million. >> gretchen: why? >> so they've cheated the obama treasury out of $4 million. why? because next year the tax on dividends goes up. if they get the dividend this year, the tax is lower. this great supporter of tax the rich avoids the tax the rich tax by paying himself the dividend this year, not next year. >> gretchen: so if he's doing it, my question to you, is how many other ceo's will do the same thing, who may have also supported president obama? >> there are two members of the costco board who own shares in costco and who will get this special dividend

"varney & company" about to begin. i always wait until the last minute.ll ship a gift in time r christmas? yeah, sure you can. great. where's your gift? uh... whew. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. ship fedex express by december 22nd for christmas delivery. >> we have breaking news right now on the debate within the republican party about the fiscal cliff deal. rich edson has what, what is being discussed here, what is the latest, rich? >> a plan b on the fiscal cliff on taxes, stuart. this is coming from house speaker john boehner who is addressing republicans right now. we have a source in the room telling us that republicans will vote on a plan b in the house. likely this week. it will allow americans to avoid higher tax rates starting on january 1st. this deals with just the tax portion here on different rates. so, the threshold that republicans want is a million dollars. you wouldn't get a tax hike on your rates if you earned less than 1 million dollars annually. so that's a plan b that republicans vote on on the house. house speaker

stuart varney joins us now. host of "varney & company." what do you expect the reaction of the? reporter: big tax cuts, big spending cuts, the likelihood has just gone up a lot. that means that the stock market will open lower. maybe a loss of up to 200 points of the dow jones industrial average. then, if we follow through on this, it means we will have a weaker economy. certainly in the early part of next year. it will affect the job market, it might hurt the resurging housing market, and certainly affect overall economic growth. that means that your 401k will likely take a hit. at least in the early going. so will the ira and any investments that you hold in the stock market will be down as of today. how the market finishes at the end of the day, you don't know. because john boehner is holding a press conference at 10:00 o'clock eastern time this morning. whatever he says could move this market one way or the other. it will open lower. martha: people should say this is the friday before the holiday. a lot have locked in their positions. heading out of trading yesterday, i woul

stu varney is the anchor of varney and company on fox business network. hi, stu. >> how you doing?lisyn: i'm doing well. it's interesting that this group of democratic senators -- two very well known ones from minnesota, senator al franken and amy klobuchar -- are now asking for a delay on this tax. they actually want it repealed. >> yep. alisyn: where were they two years ago? >> that's a very good question. maybe they hadn't read it all in detail, because that tax was in there. three weeks to go before this tax is imposed, before costs are raised on granny's hip, before jobs are lost in the medical device industry, suddenly 17 democrats in the senate say, hold off. senator reid, please, let's delay this thing. we don't want this tax to go into effect. it's a little late for saying that there's been two years of warning for this coming up. alisyn and, of course, the reason these two senators want this repealed is because they're in minnesota which is where the medical device manufacturers are. >> yes. some in minnesota and some also in massachusetts where senator-elect elizabeth wa

stu varney, host of "varney & company" on the fox business network joins us now.tu, no deal on capitol hill, not really doing their job but we're hearing they get a pay raise. >> that incredible to some people, but nonetheless before this past weekend, president obama quietly signed a executive order that gives a small pay raise to two million federal workers and a small pay raise to all 535 members of congress. they will get an extra $900 each in the forthcoming year starting march 27th. but they get a pay raise. so the people who could not come to an agreement on cutting spending will in fact be spending more on themselves using money which we do not have. heather: speaking of all that spending we are expected to hit the debt ceiling in just hours. another blow to the economy. >> that means that we are about to run out of money and we can not borrow anymore. treasury secretary tim geithner says, well, we'll move some money around so we won't default on our obligations but nonetheless we are out of money. this means if a debt ceiling deal is not included any fisc

stuart varney with a look at this morning for us.ill: really a stunning figure when you think about number about of people, even now that are dropping out of the labor force, unaccounted for. either their unemployment benefits run out or they're still living off the government and getting that check and that might be for the moment the only source of income. martha: we passed important threshold of 99 weeks a lot of people roll off that number for the very first time sense all this began. it makes you wonder if people are just taking advantage of benefits offered in order to get by if they simply opted out which is a sad situation. bill: what he talks about is 350,000 americans in this report alone. a really staggering the state of our economy now. here's a bit more for the labor report. 12 million americans still unemployed. about 40% of them have been out of work for 27 weeks or longer. more than eight million americans only working part time due to the current state of the economy. martha: new comments about the crisis in syria co

stuart varney, the anchor of "varney & company" on the fox business network, has been thinking about this morning and for many days in fact. stuart, what do you think about this deal, does it help? >> okay, if you look at this purely economically, then this framework of a deal does not address america's two major economic problems. that would be growth and also the debt. just look at the spending side of the framework for this deal. the president is not offering any significant cut in social security benefits in the future. it's a tiny cut. if you look at medicare, the president wants to keep the age of eligibility at 65. no savings there by going to 67. the president wants a two-year debt limit debate. actually he wants a two year period, in which he can spend money freely, a blank check for spending because there will be no debt ceiling debate for two years. he also wants $50 billion worth of new spending on infrastructure. you add all of that lot up together, what you're looking at is a trillion dollar deficit for the next four years each and every year. you're also looking, if yo

stuart varney has got the bad news and it's in small print of the health care reform. >> it is.re for the fiscal. okay. we've got that. but we are definitely going to tax the rich just a little bit more come january 1 to pay for obamacare, specifically taxes on capital gains, dividends going up to just a little bit more, just a little bit more on january 1, and also a little bit more on income of those people making more than $200,000 a year. so we have defined rich down to $200,000 a year. it was a lot higher than that, but guaranteed january 1, a little bit more for obamacare. >> steve: when you say a little bit more, you mean like 3 or 4%, which adds up. >> it does. it's 3.8% extra as a capital gains tax. >> steve: that's a done deal. that's baked into the health care reform? >> that's it. there is no discussion about it. that was passed two years ago. this is going to happen. then you've got maybe a little bit more on income and other forms of income if we approach this fiscal cliff and the president gets his way. he is digging in his heels on higher tax rates on upper incom

we're joined by stuart varney, the host of "varney and company." he's got a company.ng. >> clayton: what was your reaction when you heard the sort of midnight deals were put in place to give congress raises? >> i was shocked. look, there is intense anger in america today at the frustration about what's going on in washington. we've come right down to the wire. we've got a financial crisis on our hands and you can not get the two sides and the president together to make even the most simple agreement. we've got 17 or 18 hours left. that's it. along comes the president and he signs an executive order, i believe late at night, quietly on a holiday weekend, which gives a pay raise to all members of congress. these are the people who have failed to come to any kind of an agreement and a pay raise to all federal workers who are also higher paid than private sector workers already and get much better benefits. the case of congress, 535 people, it's a very small raise, but it's the principle of the thing. why do you get a -- >> clayton: it's common sense, right? >> totally fa

charles: stuart varney is probably better than me when it comes to these smart phones.onnell: i do remember when you got away from the flip phone. charles: that is only because i left it in the green room. i heard someone from the smithsonian came up. dagen: charles, thank you so much. connell: let's go to this google graphic story. it is a very popular app. let's put it that way. we will talk about that coming up. more from washington, the house speaker ready to put through his own legislation. >> our hope continues to be to reach an agreement with the president what we have offered meets the definition of balance. the president is not there yet. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] they are a glowing example of what it means to be the best. and at this special time of year, they shineven brighter. come to the winter event and get the mercedes-benz you've always wished for, now for an exceptional price. [ santa ] ho, ho, , ho! [ male announcer ] lease a 2013 glk350 for $399 a month at your local mercedebenz dealer. [ male announcer ] how could switchgrass in argentina, change engi

stuart varney is here. why that is. >> the moral of the story is this: if you raise taxes, people adjust their financial behavior. you raise taxes on the rich, and they will either move or avoid that higher tax rate. and there is a lesson here for president obama. you look down the road, you raise taxes on the reach on a national level, and you won't bring in all the money you thought you were going to bring in. >> brian: what if it's coupled with cuts? >> that makes no difference. that makes no difference whatsoever. forget this fiscal cliff deal. the moral is, you raise tax rates and down goes tax revenue. look at what happened in britain. this raised the top tax rate to 50% and two-thirds of the millionaires disappeared in the next tax year. same things are happening in france. people are leaving. the top tax rate of 75%. same thing had in maryland a few years ago. new millionaires tax. they disappeared. exactly the same thing in california. >> brian: they went to pennsylvania and california. now texas.

stuart varney, see you at 9:20 on fbn. good deal.st four years the federal reserve pumped money into the economy three times. this last announcement marks the fourth round for that. >> there are positive signs as right now more than 5.6 million americans are collecting unemployment insurance benefits. 2.2 million americans are collecting emergency unemployment insurance benefits. >>> now to this developing tragedy, the oregon mall where a gunman opened fire and killed two perfect strangers is closed for a second day as police try to determine the motive here. police say 22-year-old jacob tyler roberts armed himself with semiautomatictic rifle and had several fully loaded magazines of the three people he shot only one survived, a 15-year-old girl. one of victims, cindy ann yule, described as everybody's friend and steven forsyth a father of two. his death leaves neighbors stunned. >> he was a great neighbor and always saying hi to the kids. alisyn: everyone says he was a very involved father who coached youth football and adored his c

stuart varney is here. >> that's exactly what richard trumka recommended. visit the president and the white house right after his reelection. he comes outside and he says, tax the rich. propose and promise spending cuts down the road and ignore the debt. you know, that's exactly the kind of deal that is shaping up right now. the republicans have accepted tax the rich. it's gonna happen. the president is not proposing any spending cuts of any significance at all. and he wants a blank check to run up the debt as much as he likes for the next two years. that is tax the rich, suggest spending cuts way down the road, and ignore the debt. trumka's idea, maybe it's going to happen right now. >> steve: you know what ronald reagan and the republicans learned the hard way back in the 1980s that essentially fell for the same deal. the democrats said look, we'll cut spending down the road. we're still down that road and spending cut never came. >> that's exactly what happened to ronald reagan. he did actually raise taxes in the late 1980s on a promise from congress, ye

i was on with varney, and there was a company, about which i don't know a lot, but had a rating, a price400. is that one of the thin

stuart varney is the anchor of "varney & company" on the fox business network. stuart, how is tall this playing out in these companies? >> martha, there is a long list of backlash developments. start with this. cheaper than dirt.com, one of the largest internet gun sellers just announced it is suspending all sales. as you noted, the company that makes the bushmaster rifle which was used in the attack, that company will be sold off. we have a california public teachers pension fund may be getting out, selling all of its gun stock holdings. smith & wesson's stock, a leading gun manufacturer, the stock was down 10% in one day. the cabela's the retail outlet that sells a lot of guns, that stock down 6%. dick's sporting goods, also a big gun seller, has suspended some sales. there is a long list of backlash developments because that event on friday turned public opinion, some action is coming. we don't know what but some action is very likely. the gun industry is in full retreat because of that. martha: obviously investors and analysts in these companies look down th

let's bring in stuart varney, the anchor of "varney & company" on the fox best network. stuart, good morning. what do you think of this number today. >> we're bumbling along. we're bumbling along, same ol' same ol'. we're repeating same pattern. economy looks okay in the middle. year and tails off toward the end of the year. we're 3 1/2 years after the end of a recession and we still have 361,000 people filing first time jobless claims. that means the layoff rate remains very high and the labor department says this one has nothing to do with hurricane sandy. they go on to say that retail this holiday period are not as strong as expected. same ol', same ol', a relatively weak economy, martha. martha: anecdotally it is not surprising. when you're out there you don't feel the same kind of rush and lots of bags. feels across the board if people are cooling back a little bit on the shopping. we'll see how numbers add that up. >> there is unusual indicator some people use, that would be shopping mall parking spaces. the shopping mall near my house you can get a parking space a

stuart varney, thank you as always. >> thank you. gregg: the debt ceiling first established in 1917. since then the debt limit has been raised 102 times, congress voted to raise the debt limit, 11 times since 2001. right now the national debt is over 16 trillion dollars and counting every second. there it is. patti ann: meanwhile hopes of a budget deal in washington and higher home prices are combining to send the price of oil back up again. heating oil rising four cents to more than $3 a gallon. wholesale gasoline rising six cents to $2.78 a gallon. current national average is $3.26. national gas up 4 cents to 3.38 for 1000 cubic feet. gregg: we are taking a dangerous winter storm blamed for nine death at this hour. that storm is slamming the northeast. this is video from worcester, massachusetts. this was actually this morning. you can see what folks are trying to deal with there. the storm hitting the middle of the country overnight. dumping more than a foot and a half of snow in some areas grounding flights up in the air, strandi

patti ann: stu varney, thank you so much.ore on how this strike would affect the economy let's take a look at this. the gulf and east coast ports in question handle 95% of all containerized shipments from maine to texas. a 10-day lockout at west coast ports 10 years ago cost the u.s. economy an estimated one billion dollars a day. the strike would include five busiest ports in the u.s. which handle 9 million containers a year. gregg: a fox news alert now as we get word of a deadly shooting this morning inside a police station. three officers wounded, when a gunman, suddenly opened fire inside the gloucester township station, that is in new jersey. details are scarcity hour. one witness describing a panicked scene as you can imagine. that seemed to unfold in moments. >> heard a bunch of police cars coming and they were coming from camden, all over. and then i noticed that there was a paramedic unit, an ambulance came quickly. whatever happened, the person was put into the ambulance very quickly with police officers getting int

stuart varney on this morning, head of "varney & company" on fox business network. good morning, stuart. good to see you. >> good morning, martha. martha: they're gobbling up our assets in many ways . what do you make of it. >> they are spending the money they have got buying american assets cheap. you mentioned aig. a chinese company is paying $4 billion for aig's plane leasing business. aig remember got $189 billion as a bailout fund that was back in september of 2008. the taxpayers still are the largest shareholder in aig. we sold the plane leasing business to china cheap. second item, a 123 batteries, americans taxpayers gave that company $249 million in grants and another 250 million in tax subsidies. the chinese are snapping it up for $247 million. item, martha. the national association of realtors reported chinese buyers paid $7 billion for american mansions, single family, upscale homes. making them the second largest group of overseas buyers and they mostly paid in cash. they have the money and spending it here buying american assets cheap. martha: there ar

no one does it better stewart varney.and beautiful children. >> clayton: teachers trainn to use handgun to protect the school. we report and you decide. julaloha, hawaii. president is heading back to washington. is it too late to avoid the fiscal cliff. you can't answer it because you are leaving now. we'll talk about this next. ♪ ♪ let's give thanks - for an idea. a grand idea called america. the idea that if you work hard, if you have a dream, if you work with your neighbors... you can do most anything. this led to other ideas like lerty and rock 'n' roll. to free markets, free enterprise, and free refills. it put a man on the moon and a phone in your pocket. our country's gone through a lot over the centuries and a half. but this idea isn't fragile. when times get tough, it rallies us as one. every day, more people believe in the american idea and when they do, the dream comes true. we're grateful to be a part of it. i need you. i feel so alone. but you're not alone. i knew you'd come. like i could stay away. you know

comfortable digging in their heels and saying we'll see what happen adam: dan henninger was on the varney show this morning. do you think we'll hit recession if we go over the cliff. probably not. we'll muddle along. do you want to counter your boss? >> he would no more than i do about this. i think whether it is january 1 or a few days later that's not the issue. it is does the united states take a turn toward fiscal sanity in terms of restraining spending while allowing the economy to grow and not having a tax policy that hurts it. so the deal could come at any time. if you want to be optimistic i think republicans are realizing how much leverage they have with the sequester. these are automatic spending cuts. the obama doesn't want them. this is leverage point for republicans. adam: you're an economist. we're journalists and we're only good for free drinks. are we going over the cliff? >> i think it is undeniable the economy falls into recession if we do go over the fiscal cliff. even chairman bernanke was very clear on this point telling everyone if the economy goes over the fiscal cl

it's not as if congress didn't know it's not coming, understandably people are frustrated as stuart varney said. >> thank you. >> and who is going to be blamed if washington doesn't make a deal on the fiscal cliff? we are going to debate that plus, france says no to high taxes on the rich. could the united states learn something from that? we'll analyze that when we come back. ♪ need not wonder why ♪ ♪ no tim ♪ ♪ you're a heartbreaker, dream maker ♪ >> welcome back to a sunday prime time edition of "the five." and as the clock ticks down and going over the so-called fiscal cliff. no deal he yet, but there is some finger pointing going on. >> i'm concerned about the lack of urgency here. i think we all know we're running out of time. this is far too much at stake for political gamesmanship. we need to protect the american families and businesses from this looming tax hike. everyone agrees that that option is necessary. >> i will say this, i think that the republican leader has shown absolutely good faith, but it's just that we're apart on some pretty big issues. >> and senator reid-- >> thi

david: that was scott rasmussen with the latest poll on gun control and don't forget to tune into varney 9:20 sharp. and nicole-- okay, we'll go back to nicole, as soon as we find her, she's wandering the floor of the nyse. and stuart may be out this christmas eve, that doesn't mean he isn't spreading holiday cheer. liston what he has to say at 10:45, a christmas message from stuart. meanwhile, we are headed towards the fiscal cliff and if congress doesn't act soon the the u.s. economy could take a nosedive right off it. all this have comes as capitol hill, could a value-added tax be in the pipeline? are we slowly turning to europe. david, good to see you. and we already see us moving in terms of spending to the european model. will we move in terms of tax policy to the european model, specifically to a value-added tax like they have in most of europe? >> personally i think we should. >> on top of what we have, on top of an income tax. >> we need to cut back and what i would cut back is replacement for the medicare tax, but also, corporate tax rates should be part of the deal, too. >> wh