Transcripts For FBC Varney Company 20141204

To sell gas for less than 2. Joining us on the phone is jim griffith. You started a price war. It is 1. 98 across the street. We thought what better way than to put some money back in their pockets. Stuart a lost leader. Are you losing money on every gallon that you sell . A lost leader . I am not losing money. No, sir. You are selling gas for 1. 99. How soon before you get rid of that more expensive gas, bring in cheaper gas and drop the price even more . We bring loads into our stores daily. We adjust a lot quicker. Stuart are you going to drop it more . We will just watch the market and see what happens. Stuart okay. Oklahoma city is the site of a gas price war. The first i can remember in decades. You started it. Yes, we did. I am very happy. Our customers love it. Stuart you are on tv all across the country. We appreciate that. , and see us again when you drop it to 1. 95. We are waiting. The big picture argument. It is the bonus wiped out by the extra cost of Everything Else . Charles payne is here. We are still ahead of the game because gas is so cheap. Here is the thing. I did a big piece on this last night. This started on a monday. The other 20 end up 50 end up going to the economy. One month later, gas is cheaper. What do you do with that 10 . You also may save some of it. Instead of 50, maybe it is 45. We must have higher wages. This is what i call backward prosperity. People think that i am against it. No. Lets stay focused on the real task at hand. That is very good. The president suggested he would not be averse to higher gas taxes. The gas taxes are fixed. Eighteen on the federal side. There are some states as high as 0. 37. Some making more money than opec is. They give more money because we fill up with more gallons. It is a disingenuous argument on the president part there. Now you know why the ratings go up. Stuart here is another reason why people are not feeling relief from lower gas prices. We have a classic example for you. The average the adoptable, the bronze plan, it is 100 higher than it was last year. Www. Boat, you have to crack. It is over 1000. This is not what we were told by the president and his administration when he was forcing obamacare down our throats. Premiums are going to go down. Deductibles are going to go down. We have seen that exact opposite. To your point about lowering gas prices. The basic necessities of life. The other two, food is going up. Everything across the board is going up at the grocery store. Those healthcare costs are also going up. What you are saving on one end, it is not translating for the average consumer. Stuart i found those numbers really shocking. Barebones coverage. The deductible has gone up 100. The average is over 1000. You pay everything yourself until you hit 11 or 1200. Exactly. There are so many complications. You break your leg and you have a 10,000 bill. That bronze plan, you will crack the deductible. Then, only 60 of that is actually paid for. The rest is yours. This is supposedly the most affordable. The impact is hurting lower income people. They think that the bronze plan is the one that they can afford. You are likely to get wiped out or really hurt. I think that people will walk away from going to the dr. As regularly. That is actually happening. People are restricting their medical visits. They will suffer with the flu and other things. Obamacare was sold to us as the magic elixir that would solve all these problems. We have gotten none of it. Stuart lets have a look at the big board. This is thursday. Lunch time. Look at it now. We are on track for the biggest drop in six weeks. That is not much of a drop. 17,800 index. That is not a big decline. Look at oil. Close to a four year low. Down 0. 89 as of right now. Look at sears. A smaller loss than investors were expecting. Got some big names for you. Really truly highfliers. Amazon, netflix, green mountains, all down today. All down 20, 30 in the last few weeks. We will talk a lot more about that with Charles Payne and david nelson later on the show. Barnes noble. Shall we queue the organ music . [laughter] stuart help me out here. I we legitimately putting them on deathwatch . I do not know. We hear the music. The stock is a winner this year. Microsoft is our best performer on the dow today. They had a weak quarterly number. They were below the estimates. They say that it provides a clearer path as they decide to spinoff band split up their business. Not a good day for the shareholders. It is the number one best performer on the Dow Jones Industrial average today. Stuart that was the headline. You buried the real news here. You have to talk to me about microsoft hitting a new high almost. Give me microsoft next time around. Then we have china. The Worlds Largest economy. Based on something called purchasing power. It means 1 trillion in china buys you a whole lot more than 1 trillion here. Therefore, china is bigger than us. Monica crowley has something to say about that. It is hard to argue with that particular statistic. I think that is the key. The key to political stability is a stable middle class. The middle class has increased purchasing power. I think what they are doing here is projecting a little bit into the future. Stuart i believe that they are catching up to america. It is a bigger market for them. You have these people. So many billionaires. You can never get them back on a bike. They have to keep this bad boy going. No competition. Japan and germany were in ruins. We had an ability to grow. You can argue since the mid 70s. This was bound to happen. The competition with the United States and the west was not to let terry, per se. That is the new front. We think cyber warfare is a huge problem coming out of china. It will force the United States to really update the game. Tax reform. Confidence in the free market. Reduce regulation. Charles you are right. Stuart to be continued. Christmas fast approaching. A lot of you are fed up. Consumerism. The urge to buy, buy, buy just for the sake of buying something. Stuart where are we now . That is not huge. A downside move as of this thursday. Kroger supermarket hitting an alltime high. Dollar general. It is still going to buy family dollar. Investors like that. Dollar general hitting another high. I want to pose the question of this one. Is consumerism going out of style . You buy, buy, buy. I say people are shifting away from buying tons of stuff for christmas. I think it has become too much. Lets bring in an expert, shall we. It may not be in your turf. I think i have a point. Bounds of presents under the Christmas Tree. It is to much. I think people are pulling back a little. Social media. Everything is kind of in your face these days. What we have gone through over the last few years. We are still seeing some of that. I am a viewer. You see lines on black friday. They are not as crazy anymore. Also, the spreading out of commerce. We had a pretty good deal. Did box staples. Stuart paper towels. What you have been talking about this week. It is about risk. People want that deal. It is a huge tank. Online, generally a price leader. Also, the gas to get to the store. We get pretty up close. You get Free Shipping over 50. Next time, i definitely will. We are all out of that age group. Stuart we had a story yesterday about a maryland shopping mall. It only has two retail outlets left in the small. You are responsible for that. I do not want the viewers to think we are just taking jobs from the economy. Third and the fourth. Fifty60 people. The warehouse. Stuart you have to give me some understanding of gross revenues. Nationwide online. Give me a rough idea. It is not enough and we are going out of business. You are closing in on 100 million gross revenues. Locally, we do not have earnings calls yet. If we ever go public, i welcome back and tell you exactly how much we were making. Stuart this is varney company. Can you take 5 million out of your company . Yes or no . No. Not at all. You are selling hamburgers. [laughter] i was at zaino when it was that intraday trading. I think what we can do, some of the funds that we do bring in now, we are investing. We could have never done this. We had a great family that world in. Threeminute commercials. I kept him over there. You will tell me how much money you took out of that company. It was a pleasure. Thank you for joining us. To pick winners that took a hit. A lot of money for a lot of people. Does charles think they are still worth buying . We will deal with it. Heres a question for you by avoiding rapid acceleration and stopandgo driving, your savings on gas could be equivalent to how much . Up to 50 cents a gallon . 75 cents . 1 . The answer is. Up to 1 a gallon. Sensible driving avoids unnecessary energy loss saving you money and reducing co2 emissions. Take the energy quiz round 2. Energy lives here and cialis for daily use helps you be Ready Anytime the moment is right. Cialis is also the only daily ed tablet approved to treat symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently. Tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. Do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. Do not drink alcohol in excess. Side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. To avoid long term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. If you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or any allergic reactions like rash, hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. Ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a free 30tablet trial. Stuart i have trouble driving at night in my age so this would be ideal for me. Dont drive. Stuart why are you laughing . All old people cant drive. Stuart we will get emails on that one. Oh yes we did. That offcamera comment from our floor director austin caught the attention of many of our viewers. You wrote in to tell us how you feel about what austin had to say. I am over 50, i am one heck of a driver. And this, kathy had this to say to austin. It old people cant drive why is our insurance cheaper than the young kidss insurance. Age range 1834. I will drive you any day. Take that, austin. Thank you for all your comments. Keep them coming. Look at green mountain, 10 in the past month, that is a drop and half. 144, by it . Yes or no. What is so good about it . Charles it has beaten all the wouldbe competitors forging major alliances and a tremendous amount of room to grow and expand margins. Stuart they are the coffee machine, single could you put in a little container, pushed down the handle, push the button and get a single cup of coffee and you think that is good for 2 and dollars a share. Charles modern day rivals like starbucks put the out of business. The be all come. Stuart how about amazon . That is down 5 roughly this past week, down to the low 300s. You buy it at that level not . Charles the wall street for a long time, too arrogant about never having to make a profit. I said earlier this year, had to make money this year and is not even that he is acting like he wants to. Weight on it. One of your cheeses, you mention netflix getting to a sweet spot where it is almost a buy. Most viewers couldnt handle the volatility but at one point fell the back to 500. Stuart netflix is on the one hundred cents a share. Stuart excuse me. President obama is going alone on immigration. 17 states are suing the administration. Not fundamentally violating a promise to the american people. We have the judge on that next. This is the most serious abdication of president ial authority in president can get away with extending his powers to do things like this, there could be no constitutional limitation on what the president could do. That is why this lawsuit is so useful. I take prilosec otc each morning for my frequent heartburn. Because it gives me. Zero heartburn prilosec otc. The number 1 doctorrecommended frequent heartburn medicine for 9 straight years. One pill each morning. 24 hours. Zero heartburn. Shyou see this right . Its 80 confidence and 64 knee brace. Thats more. Shh. I know thats more than 100 . But thats what winners give. Now bicycle kick your old 401 k into an ira. I know, i know. Listen, just get td ameritrades rollover consultants on the horn. Theyll guide you through the whole process. Its simple. Even she could do it. Whatever, janet. For all the confidence you need. Td ameritrade. You got this. Stuart this is the low for the day, down 92, 17, 820. Look at oil. Back in june it was 107 a barrel. Look at it now. 66. And gas is down 0. 02 overnight. The National Average for regular, 2. 72 a gallon. 43 states and the District Of Columbia have an average price under 3 a gallon. Of a year today we had the first gas station to break 2 a gallon. That set off a price battle. Gas but he tells us the cheapest in the u. S. Is at 44 food mart Oklahoma City but there is no one dollar 0. 98 across the street, the first station to drop below 2 in 1. 99, that is a gas price war. It is going on today. The house voting today on the vote to block obamas a reporter and immigration. Guaranteed this bill sales through the house but is not going to stop this executive order. Will not. The house will approve the preventing executive of reach and immigration act 2014 along party lines today and the bill will probably die in the senate where soontobe ex majority leader harry reid has said he will not bring it up. Is largely a symbolic vote to allow the president s critics to get on the record on this issue. Stuart so in this Lame Duck Congress no action can or will be taken which will stop the executive order on immigration, that is the bottom line as of rainout . Not as long as the democrats controlled the senate and even then if it were to pass the president would veto it. Stuart thanks very much, you dealt with the legislature and their input on the executive order on immigration, now deal with the judiciary side of the. Texas governor elect Greg Nina Pham is leading a coalition suing the obama team for taking executive action and immigration. This is a Bipartisan Group of states, mainly they share a border with canada and mexico. Judge Andrew Napolitano is here. Isis the administration, 17 states say that is illegal. You cant do that. I got it but i got to say it is meaningless. By the time you get any decision out of the courts two years of gone by the executive order is implemented and you cannot reverse it. This is pointless. Judge napolitano largely what you say is what will happen but here is the argument attorney general governor elect greg that will make. He is the countrys foremost authority on states suing the federal government. In eight years as attorney general of texas he sued the federal government 31 times. Some he wins, some he loses and some are not resolved but his theory is the federal government is unlawfully forcing the states to spend money on, and fill in the blank, hospital beds, emergency rooms, schools, police, fire. All the things government spends money on to Service People who are here unlawfully who dont produce into the system economically or by paying taxes. Believe it or not that is an argument that has worked with the court. When the state can show the federal government has taken their sovereignty away by forcing them to do something they have not voluntarily agreed to do, under those narrow circumstances the federal courts have been the date having preceded the this is a difficult road for governor elect abbott to proceed on. Stuart it started. Take me through the legal process. My premise is it will take years. Judge napolitano here is why it may not take years. It takes years litigation is a model that is often the case when there is discovery involved. Thousands of pieces of documents, lawyers are too busy and everyone is delaying everything when theres a demand for money and the court has to figure out how much money that is not the case. Governor elected albert and the others are asking a federal judge to examine the executive boards which exist in writing to examine the statutes which exists in writing, to examine the constitution, your favorite document which exists in writing and to decide whether or not these executive orders impermissibly burden this states. Theoretically a judge could do that in two or three weeks of work and governor at the manhattan and an answer on this before he is governor of texas. Stuart you know more about this than i do. Any decision will be appealed and appealed and appealed. Judge napolitano here is why it may not matter and this locks into the peace you just did with our colleague peter barnes. The president is so lawless if the legislation in the house is to pass today, were to become what over his veto and not likely mathematically but hypothetically what assurance do we have that he would obey that legislation when he doesnt of the legislation that was on the books before he became president . What assurance do we have that he would listen to a federal judge . Bernard if he didnt listen then his party and he would pay a political price. That is the important point. I know we have limited time so i will move to one other issue. A lot of talk about the decision not to indict the Police Officer who put eric garner in a chokehold in new york city. Garner was caught illegally selling cigarettes on staten island, senator rand paul says this story has a lot to do with cigarette taxes. Senator rand paul said this. Some politician put a tax of 5. 85 on a pack of cigarettes so they have driven cigarettes underground by making them so expensive. Rand paul goes on to say the police said to go arrest these people and that is why you have this happening. Judge napolitano my initial take is leave it to varney and company to find an economic angle to almost any story and my hat is off to you in your producers for having captured rand paul saying this. Here are the taxes. In new york city on a pack of cigarettes. I am not a smoker but i have researched this. The third state 1. 01 a pack. The city takes 1. 50 a pack, the state of new york as 4. 30 a pack. The taxes, federal, state and local law more than the product. Theres obviously an incentive to go underground and senator paul makes a very strong argument. Taxes are too great. Nobody should smoke but it is a lawful product, will be driven to buy cigarettes from people like this fellow gardener who probably was providing a muchneeded service for the poor in his neighborhood when the police took his life. Stuart en interesting sidebar angle if i can put it like that. Thanks, appreciate you being with us. You have ten seconds. Charles i am doing this on my show. Is a huge economic story. Beyond the cigarettes a 40yearold man with kids selling loose cigarettes for an income, this is a gigantic story about progressive policies that have crushed for people. If you smoke 10 packs of cigarettes a week in new york city over 18 years, that is 120,000 you could not send your kids to college and have of them went to state and federal governments. It is a huge economic story about how cigarette taxes, gas taxes, all these places where the bride about higher minimum wage and how we care for the poor but their policies have crushed the 4 and kept them down. Stuart fascinating. Charles i put a lot of work into is this. The future of human space flight, nasas orion space launch, a test launch scrubbed today, it is supposed to carry people to mars. Question, why go there in the first place . How much money do you have in your pocket right now . I have 40, 21. Could something that small make an impact on something as big as your retirement . I dont think so. Well if you start putting that towards your retirement every week and let it grow over time, for twenty to thirty years, that retirement challenge might not seem so big after all. Nicole i am nicole petallides, Dow Jones Industrial average down 76 points, just under 1 2 . The nasdaq composite is down 10, the s p down 8. What we have seen from dow laggers including energy names, chevron and exxon, general electric, pfizer and other names with down arrows, down 1 , exxon down 1 2 . Energy is the weak group of the day, worst performing sector down 1. 5 , names hitting a lows include halliburton, peabody and trans ocean, mobile drilling hitting new lows. In new high, kroger, the u. S. Supermarket chain is growing anomaly for acquisition but strong sales, 3. 7 . Aerospatiale down to a new low, weak sales, week forecast, 25 . More varney and Company Coming up. Stuart at apple up 160 a share, they filed a patent for new technology that could put an end to the dreaded cracked iphone screen. The patent is for a mechanism that figures out which way the phone is falling when you drop it. Netflix in midair so it doesnt plan on the street. It is like a cat i guess. Apple fires a ton of patents all the time, they do this, very few make it to the market in a finished product but this one is very interesting. Lets leave it at that. Apple at 160. Disappointment today for space enthusiasts. The launch of the nasas will ryan rocket delayed, strong wind and problems with rocket valves. The goal of the mission is to launch an unmanned test flight of a spacecraft capable of taking people, a human to mars. The first step toward a manned mission to mars. Science and Technology Writer for space. Com. Welcome to the program. How long before a human walks on mars . That is the 10 billion question. Perhaps some time towards the end of the 2020s but the most optimistic scenario according to nasa. More like 2,030. Stuart that is not that far away. That is 15 years away people walking on mars. Is not that theres no technological reason we couldnt go in the much nearer term than that others then we have done space the way we did apollo which is a government oriented program. It may be there are other approaches that could get us there sooner. Stuart that is the question, why send people when you could send a robot much cheaper, safely and quicker . Why dont we send a robot . We should and we do and for science that is what we should bernard what are you opposed to human flying to mars . We now are not we wanted the reason and the reason to go there is to settle the solar system. Once upon a time of bunch of brits colonized the United States. Imus in the morning when you really think we are going to mess up the planet earth so we need another place to live . I think we will learn how to manage the planet earth but our population will increase in inevitably we will expand to exceed the stars. Stuart in the 60s when president kennedy said we are going to them and it was a great challenge, we met that challenge mainly because we wanted to beat the russians. I dont sense the same enthusiasm for populating the universal you just described it. There was that little interstellar movie and before that that little gravity movie and you are seeing a generation growing up who have never known a time when there werent people in space. Theres a builtin enthusiasm about this stuff. Once it becomes more practical to do i think stuart you are talking your book now. I dont think theres an overwhelming sense of walking on mars, got to do it. There is not the overwhelming sense of we need to beat somebody to some place but it should not be based on that because the guarantees is once you get there you have nothing else to do. Stuart is paying for this . Has said . All of us. We the people are paying for this particular project. Stuart this is taxpayer funded the Orion Mission to mars. Ryan and the launch vehicle that will be stacked the needed. You didnt go it today, tomorrow youll see it lunch on a delta rocket which is a rocket used to launch National Reconnaissance satellites but nasas plan is to build a space launch system, the congress that you shall build this rock and build in these congressional districts taking a advantage of the production lines of the shuttle. Stuart 20 seconds left. Would you like to go and populate the universe . I am all about absolutely. Myself and my children, we would love to go. Bernard when you dream of populating a planet other than earth. Doesnt need to be a planet. Could be a free floating space settlement in near earth orbit with a gorgeous view. I would do that. I would like to be able to come home which means you need to lower the price to get to work it so you can go there and back like airline travel. It really should be that prosaic. That simple. Stuart may be you and my grandchildren will get there. That was fun, thanks for joining us. We wish you well on your trip. Jim cramer, a stock picker on the competitor channel to fox business is being called out for working two jobs at once. What does our popular stock picker Charles Payne have to say about that . You dont need to think about the energy that makes our lives possible. Because we do. Were exxonmobil and powering the world responsibly is our job. Because boiling an egg. Isnt as simple as just boiling an egg. Life takes energy. Energy lives here. Ive got a nice long life ahead. Big plans. So when i found out medicare doesnt pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. Then i got a Medicare Supplement insurance plan. 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So we found a plan that can travel with us. Anywhere in the country. [ male announcer ] join the millions of people who have already enrolled in the only Medicare Supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp, an Organization Serving the needs of people 50 and over for generations. Remember, all Medicare Supplement insurance plans help cover what medicare doesnt pay. And could save you in outofpocket medical costs. Call now to request your free decision guide. And learn more about the kinds of plans that will be here for you now and down the road. I have a lifetime of experience. So i know how important that is. Strong words from jim cramer. And the street. The shareholders name says j. Carlo cannell. How will you reflect people on their legacy, but how as a common shareholder done. All right. The criticism is that kramer is divided between the street and cnbc. He is spread too thin and in conflict with his work here. You say what . Charles this case is unfair. If he was on the fly Fishing Network can talking about something and related to what they do on the street. Com it would be legitimate. From my point of view why walk out this door and running to captains of industry. I have conversations with people who run the biggest corporations in the world, walking through the hall, from initial jobless claims. Having said that, the biggest problem with kramer, the tail wags the dog. He has been so beaten up by criticism that every day he changes his mind and whatever stock is up that day, whatever is down that day, this morning he likes it, it was up. I feel like the man crumbled under the pressure and unfortunately i dont see anyone who watches tv can make money. I say as someone who watched the show a lot from the beginning. Stuart that is your criticism of jim cramer he has not done well with stocks he recommended. Charles i feel if the stock is up today, even all of a sudden he loves it and is telling us why in the morning. Tell anybody to get out of the market and a regular person, the 40yearold couple. Is unrealistic. It is a much bigger criticism than this. Stuart more of this on your show tonight, Charles Payne making money 6 00 p. M. Eastern on the fox business network. More on the jim cramer story and Melissa Frances will have kramers former colleague Charlie Gasparino weighing in on that story at 2 00 p. M. Here on the fox business network. Big problem for president obama not from republicans. This time it is the democrats who may be turning on him. Dan henninger top of the hour on that one. Washingtons top tax crusader Grover Norquist on the president calling for dax jackass tax. What does dr. Keith ablow think of consumerism . Sick of all the junk under your tree . I am. Shes still the one for you. And cialis for daily use helps you be Ready Anytime the moment is right. Cialis is also the only daily ed tablet approved to treat symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently. Tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. Do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. Do not drink alcohol in excess. Side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. To avoid long term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. If you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or any allergic reactions like rash, hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. Ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a free 30tablet trial. Stuart president obama has a problem with Senate Democrats. You thought was the republicans who have the problem. You are paying too much tension to the establishment media. The president has a problem, defending his legacy. For the next two years mr. Obama has to fight off attacks from his own party, keep in the Senate Democrats on his side, stop them drifting away. Senator schumer has already broken from obamacare. Senator mansion has no stomach for Climate Change. Elizabeth warren wants to repeal the medical device tax that helps fund obamacare. The democrats took a pounding last month. They lost the senate and they lost because president obama and his signature policies are deeply unpopular. Why should they go into the next elections saddled with obamas policy failures. Of the republicans want to chip away the obama legacy their best allies are probably disgruntled democrats. We have more on this. Dan henninger is next. I want to get right at president obamas problem with his own party. Listen to what joe mention said this morning on fox news. People want to get something done. I am a moderate democrat. I want to work to get something done. All we have to do is find that middle and find a balance. Stuart Dan Henninger from the wall street Journal Editorial Board is right here as he usually is. Welcome to the program. You agree with my premise the president has a problem with his own party, specifically Senate Democrats. He needs them and bad and might not keep them. The question is where was he when they needed him. He is now saying after the election, after it they invited the senate wants to do business with them. We didnt hear much from president obama for the last four or five years and you wants to talk to us but think of this, industry genius, because barack obama could not find a reason to approve the Keystone Pipeline they have lost three senate seats, colorado, alaska and Mary Landrieu is going down in louisiana. They are going into the minority. Being in the minority in the senate is a terrible way to live. It is no fun. You have no authority, you dont run the committees and president obama is reaching out to the guys in the minority. A hard sell. Stuart he cant hold them. Senator schumer gave the famous speech saying obamacare was a mistake. Just this week tom harkin, the progressive also said he thought the Affordable Care act was a mistake from a different point of view, they should have gone for single payer and the obamacare is too complicated so weaken his own people are falling on each other with long eyes. Stuart in the next two years there will be bills presented by the republicans would say get rid of this part of obamacare and some democrats will go along with it. Is part of obamacare, he has got to veto it. Not sustain that veto. To get those senators. Offering them seats in the senate and the president ial box at the kennedy center. Stuart is it really . That wont make it. I dont think that will make it at all. The one issue that i think it really get interesting next year is if the republicans propose reducing the Corporate Tax rate down 25 . Stuart you think they will introduce a bill that says the Corporate Tax rate, then what . The white house may then be willing to talk to them about it. This is real politics. Real piece of Public Policy in which you negotiate with the democrats. The question is whether barack obama when the republicans criticized the wish list obama puts forward, whether obama goes out and gives a speech in public denouncing the republicans poisonings a wealth as he did with that executive order on immigration. Democrats are terrified they have gone so far left they lost a middleclass voters, the reagan democrat voter. That is probably why Chuck Schumer attacked obamacare. The are terrified of losing the middleclass voter. How do they get the middleclass voter . When you see middleclass tax cuts being talked about . You may talk things like tax credit but it is difficult for them to do a full tax reform bill. I dont see that being in the cards and check schumer argued yes we have lost the middle class, we have to convince them that government is their friend. Question is how do they do that . A lot of middleclass people say government is not my friend. Stuart i wonder which part of the obama legacy, obamacare and Climate Change, that will be to the way at, that wont be in tact in 2017. I dont see that. I think Climate Change, the pipeline is something democratic unions want that pipeline. They want those jobs and democrats have just lost the way they have in the midterm elections, we have got to give these people something or we will be just out of power for generations so this puts them in real tension with Barack Obamas politics. Stuart that is an excellent out queue. Thank you very much. Check the big board, the dow is off of its lows, down 96, now were down 54, 7850. Now there are some big names which are not high flyers now. Amazon, netflix, green mountain, tesla. I aa by add these vastly reduced levels . Netflix has lost 100 bucks a share. We will talk about that. Dave nelson comes on the show later. Smaller loss at sea years, investors still dont like it even though it is a smaller loss than expected down 2. 5 . Barnes and noble made a profit. Disappointed. There we put it back on deathwatch. Tell us what you think on facebook and twitter. Every time we have done this we played the organ music, put a stock and deathwatch and it bounces to dbacks so we wont do that this time. Pacific sun is a team retailer, not been there for quite a while. Is a winner. Tell me about it. Nicole this is cool stuff to wear, skateboarders, 17 to 24 crowd and they have done very well, stock is up 7. 5 , smaller than expected loss, upwards growth bucking the trend. A lot of these retailers, we have seen aerospatiale getting crushed today. This stock is the present today. The bad news here is that it is a loser if this year down 45 for the year but they said they had a variety of assortments that elevated their merchandise and that is one of the reasons they bucked the trend and tried to keep those teenagers shopping. Stuart thank you very much indeed. Would you believe oil is down 40 a barrel since mid summer from june down 40 bucks . Gas is down 0. 02 just over night, the National Average for regular 2. 72. 43 states and the District Of Columbia have an average price for regular under 3. In our last hour we had on the air the first gas station to break below 2 a gallon and theres a price war and Oklahoma City. Gas buddy telling us the cheapest in the u. S. Is at 44 food mart, okla. Std but it is 1. 98. Across the street is the one dollar 0. 90, this is a gas war. Come on in from chicago. It is possible we are starting to see another big leg down for the price of gas because the tumbling oil prices down 66, that is not yet fully reflected in the price of gas. Are you with me on that. Especially momandpop gas stations, a huge story to lower 2 to get publicity. They want and that hobbit triage, the price of oil lowers and not the biggest to lower with it because the longer they keep up the more money and make. More of a leg down, 60 and oil is in place and if that is the case we could see 175 or 170 in gas prices. Stuart this is the most important financial story of the last week to months. A few jim vacation, but for every consumer, do you think im going overboard on this for coming on too strong . This appears 1,100 gain for an american family. And gas prices over a years time. It is very good to Pay Attention more than it is. Stuart i can 2. 55 a gallon. Would be paid in chicago, ill. . For my nice car as you like to say, still in the low 4s, it hasnt gotten below 4. In chicago and expensive place to live. Stuart that hurt. Thanks very much. Go fill up. I want to get back to the scene we have been covering, what i am calling the decline of consumerism. The impetus is buy it when you can. Mount of junk. The piles of presents under the Christmas Tree for the kids is a bit much. Maybe it is just me, may be my age. I think we passed it. Coming, our principal millennial on the program, political prospect editorinchief, am i just being an old guy looking down from the great heights of age and saying these i wont do that anymore. How do millennial feel about consumers and . Are you still shopping till you drop . We are and is your age. One thing about my generation is 87 of millennials gave money to a charity last year, most of the over 100. We are a very giving generation. By that giving attitude is not the exclusion of Consumer Spending. Look at black fridays. Four 5 millennials were at malls. We are a Consumer Spending generation. Stuart dont have a point . Specifically about christmas and that amount of presents that takes kids hours, they are fed up and bored with it all. I really feel that americans are pulling back a little from that and the thrift is a virtue again. And enough is enough and all that plastic stuff, i am not expressing it very well but its think you get my point. You dont think that is true for millennials . It is that divided attitude. On the one hand we are the most giving generation. You see more millennials going into public service, volunteering, 50 of millennials said they volunteered for charity last month so i do see this push away from the worldliness and gravitation toward the charitable side. That being said you have young people that like their gadgets, they like new things, theres a string of consumerism but your point is accurate, young people are charitable, theres a push towards that. Stuart forgive me for asking a personal question. I will ask what you want for christmas. I assume you are a christian. I dont know if you are. I am a christian. Stuart what do you want for christmas . I ask the question because i want some indication of what you millennials one, what you want to buy and have bought for you. I want high passes on my Law School Exam is. If millennials like travel, they like adventuress things, going on 84 gadget, not so much high fashion. What they want, weighed down in the 49 and 50 range, passionate handbags, up high, travel and activities. Stuart is is an event. That is what i want to do with my kids and grandchildren, and give an event, take them somewhere other than a piece of plastic from walmart. We are in tune here. Vast differences in age we are in tune. Freezing the generational divide. Stuart the George Washington bridge of television. We will be with you soon. President obama simply out of touch, wants to raise the federal gas tax as we are seeing a dip in prices. Norquist on that. You dont need to think about the energy that makes our lives possible. Because we do. Were exxonmobil and powering the world responsibly is our job. Because boiling an egg. Isnt as simple as just boiling an egg. Life takes energy. Energy lives here. Stuart a government waste, it is pretty bad, an audit by the National Science foundation found that a group called neon, the national economical Observatory Network miss spend a lot of taxpayer money. They spent 25,000 on a christmas party. 11,000 on premium coffee services. Liz macdonald has more details. Neon is taxpayer funded. Liz they have been studying the effects of things like Climate Change. This is exactly why taxpayers should not be hit with tax increases ever. Massive amounts of fraud, waste and abuse. Until they clean it up they have to stop raising our taxes and first clean up. Stuart this group neon go to the government and say we are checking the on Climate Change, give us some money to do it and then they spend it on a christmas party. Liz 150 million on construction costs, to end of thousands on lobbying costs, they are affiliated with the National Science foundation. Stuart neon got 150 million construction. Liz the federal government went on its own realestate boom during the housing bubble and they blew hundreds of billions of dollars are now empty federal Office Buildings across the country. This is the second time since 2011 there has been waste, fraud and abuse at the National Science foundation. Tom coburn down 1. 2 billion in new spending of taxpayer money in 2011. Stuart if you get into the Climate Change group you will see a lot of taxpayer money. Thanks very much, good story. Gas down 0. 02 a gallon just overnight. National average is 2. 72. Cheap gas in the land is at 44 food mart in Oklahoma City, 1. 98. The ceo of the company that broke gas below 2 a gallon join us on the show in the last hour. Here is what he had to say. Back to our press, as this is what we just broke in and the response from the neighborhood has been great so we thought what better way to put some money back in their pockets for business. Stuart he told us that the one dollar 0. 99 a gallon he is not losing money. It does put more money into your pocket. You might not be spending it all. Keep those pictures of low gas prices coming. This is from south carolina, 2. 38, the exxon station if you pay in tax, pretty true across the country. Grover norquist joins us from washington d. C. Welcome back. It has been a long time but we thought you should be here after the president suggested a gas tax increase. I know what you are going to say but i cant believe the president wants to attack something just because the price is down and we are all doing well. The president wants to raise taxes because that is his answer to everything. In point of fact over 20 of the money we spend on roads is overspending because of the davis bacon act from the 1930s which requires the government to spend more than the market would require. 17 of your gas tax dollars gets siphoned from masstransit which should pay its own bills and the user fee from doing a subway. The gas tax is supposed to be a user fee for using highways end the money, 20 is taken off for david bacon, 20 transit, we should be cutting those wastes out and using that money to build more roads or fixed mortgages or reducing the gas tax, not increasing it. Stuart the gas tax money bike paths, and that is not what i am paying that tax for. Before you go president obama is cautiously optimistic on getting a deal done on maybe lowering the Corporate Tax rate. You think that is going to happen . Only if the president changes what has been his negotiating demand for the last six years. He has used the desire for lower corporate rate since we are not competitive with the rest of the world including canada, he said i will reduce corporate rate and to tax reform if it nets 1 to 1. 4 trillion over a decade. Every time he looked at tax reform he demanded that it actually be a trojan horse for a massive tax increase and second that it not include Small Companies who pay the individual rate. He wants to raise taxes on smaller companies. That is why it wont happen unless he completely changed his personality and what his policy goals are since the last election. Stuart look to the next congress in january of next year. That is a republican senate, very republican house. They want the Corporate Tax rate to come down. Do you think that Republican Congress can push it through even in the face of a possible president ial veto . You think they can do this . They should pass tax reform for individuals and Companies Next Year and let the president veto it, let the democrats filibuster it. America needs to know who is responsible for gridlock for the last six years and now that harry reid is no longer parade will to stop everything we will now discover it is obama and the democrats in the senate who want to filibuster. Stuart you want a hard line. Kyle korver rate, could the individual rate and let him veto it but you want to see it done next year. Is a good idea. She is likely to veto it. Doesnt have any ideas. He has been president for six years. Where is his plan . Does he do anything . I know golf takes a certain amount of time but he might write down something if he thinks he wants to bring something to the table but he hasnt done it. It has been six years. Stuart he needs a push and he will get it next year. I know you will be doing a lot of pushing and we want to hear your progress on that. We will have this wrapped up in weeks. Stuart really . No. Stuart thank you. A good out cue. Thanks very much. More proof of the middleclass squeeze. Cities becoming unaffordable and it all comes back to housing. Full story coming up next. How much money do you have in your pocket right now . I have 40, 21. Could something that small make an impact on something as big as your retirement . I dont think so. Well if you start putting that towards your retirement every week and let it grow over time, for twenty to thirty years, that retirement challenge might not seem so big after all. Stuart a quick report on housing. Outpacing affordability for middleclass people in many counties in america. Cheryl casone is our expert. 20 of counties in the United States, a big chunk of real estate, the price of homes have gone up so much that they are out of reach for middleclass americans. Cheryl if you look at the overall picture, that is what we have seen. Stuart it would seem to me that those are normal. Cheryl loss angeles county, san antonio, houston, these are all hitting new levels of affordability. This is a county by county breakdown. Stuart cell. What is wrong with that . What am i missing. Cheryl it is the way that market works. Some are arguing that prices have become inflated because of all the investment money that has gone into them. You want to have investors as to her neighbor. We got to the truth. Those investors that have driven investors of so much. [laughter] stuart it is the middleclass squeeze. Property taxes never went down during the housing crash. They were still squeezing the middle class. I will dig into it more. It is a thing we have been exploring on varney before. A huge pile of gifts under the tree. Some of which is junk for the kids. Stuart i want to. To the house vote on immigration. Welcome back to the program. I do not want to sound harsh. The bill will pass in the house today. It will go nowhere. I put it to you, sir. No legislative action will reverse the president on immigration and his executive order. I expect the vote to pass this afternoon. I think the votes are there. It is not likely that under harry reid that the senate will take the bill up. We have to deal with immigration. I do expect legislation next year with a new congress. The legislation may reverse the executive order. Stuart that would reverse the president s reaction if you get a full immigration bill. You can write those bills. I expect it to be probable. We will pass a series of pills dealing with all the issues. Chuck grassley, a new chairman said a couple weeks ago, expect this to act in the next couple of months. This is an issue we have to deal with. I think we can pass it with a bipartisan vote. At this point, there is no legislation. It is a new congress. Clearly, that can happen. Stuart how about the president calling for a gas tax hike . I did not see what the president said. The chairman of the transportation committee, they are always looking for ways to figure this out. Cars, rightly so are more fuel efficient than ever. The revenues have not kept pace with revelation. I would say, bottom line, it will be pretty tough to get a gas tax increase passed. Stuart your committee has been drilling them. Can i sum this up in a headline, they are toast. I do not know if i would put that in a headline just yet. We are asking some very big questions. We want to see what those responses are. Consumers need to know that their cars are safe. When a defect of part is at stake, that part will take work. We do not have the answers to those questions yet. It is very important that they start to begin using real baseball bats to give answers that are confirmed to our consumers. Stuart congressmen, always a pleasure to have you on the show. I know you want me to call you fred, but i just cannot do it. Come back anytime you would like. Have a good weekend. We will be covering this all through the month of december. Consumerism is declining. Here is what some of you had to say. Spending way less. Only for the grandkids and christmas dinner. Consumers are alive and well. Retail therapy is wonderful medicine. Stuart keith ablow joins us now. I am of an age where i look back over christmas past. That mound of presents under the tree was just too much. It was wrong to do it. I have had enough. I am stepping back from the side of junk. Consumerism has peaked. I think you are probably right. Gobbling up that knowledge you more than ever before. They are using their money. I would like to think they are getting more spiritually rabid. It may be that they are spending their money on different things. Stuart that might be. That feeling of eyes not to buy it. I have bought junk and it will never be used. I just want to get your take on what a mother said yesterday on fox and friends about not giving getting her children physical presence to open this christmas. Instead of giving our kids actual physical gifts, we are giving them the gift of perspective. The true meaning of christmas. That is what is so great about it. That spirit of giving rather than just, it has become so commercialized. Stuart that is nice. That is very nice. It is nice to give to causes. It promotes moral development. I think that is great. She has a blog. She has made a headline. She is canceling christmas. Is it okay to be a kid . I think it is part of childhood. Candy, two. Put candy out. I like that part of christmas. Stuart has it been overdone . No. It has not been overdone. My kids love christmas. You want to give something to people, give some gifts for under the tree when they cannot put gifts under the tree. Stuart okay. You have some opposition within the studio. Doctor ablow, you have repeatedly said we have Attention Spans that are shortened by the internet. It is undercut from what you said in the past. Lets call it reassessing. I do not think i am doing it on this occasion. If it is a scape ward, that is getting it outside. Go short on Computer Games under the tree. Bigger on the puppy, the skateboard, the pogo stick. Life is short. Enjoy. It is doctor keith. My pogo stick is waiting outside for me. Record growing year for farmers. Farmers are storing their crops instead of selling them. That is interesting. It is amazing out here. Look at what i am standing on. I am sitting on a massive pile of corn. This is just what farmers are doing right now. Everyone thought the prices would sink. They shorted corn. Take a look at what corn has done. Farmers have elected to do what they are doing right at this grain elevator. You are looking at a mound of corn. Maybe four football fields long. That is because those big grain bins are already stored and filled to the brim. It makes better sense. What that has done is driven up demand. Prices have gone up. That was excellent use of television. This is a tarp that is over this thing. It is free. I can use the pogo stick. The dow coming off another alltime high. David nelson joins us now. I hope you are telling people to get invested. We are at an alltime high. I am not having a hard time. There are a lot of names out there. I want to look at some previously highfliers. Stocks that went straight up and then came down. Taking a look at netflix and tesla. Not as an investment. Unless you have been living in a cave, media has moved to online. There is a lot of competition. Why should ipay that kind of multiple . I think media dollars are going down for a lower multiple. As simple as that. Stuart if you are an investor, walkaway. What about tesla . This is a really ugly chart. One of the things that happened just recently, investors are starting to understand the lower price of oil. It kind of changes the dynamics somewhat. It is an electric vehicle. It has to slow down somewhat. It is part of an overall theme, stuart. Investors are looking for it to be better. Stuart i am not looking for a down stock. Big since the beginning of this year. 66 a barrel. The National Average for a gallon of gas all the way down. We have 43 states and the District Of Columbia where the average price of regular is under 3 a gallon. 1. 98. You have to pay cash, i do believe. Even with the democrats in the governors mansion. Joining us now is walker stapleton. You are a test case for fracking and drilling. You said lets go to it and voters said, yes. Lets go do it. Absolutely. The longterm drive for Energy Independence and Energy Independence is synonymous with the health of the american consumer. We, not to be fooled by what is going on temporarily with oil prices. We need to drive further than we ever have in the past. In colorado, we have the ability to do what has been going on to have low property taxes. It is huge. Making 10 million plus in revenue. We have an Unemployment Rate in colorado of 5 . The Energy Industry is a major reason why. Stuart you have a 5 Unemployment Rate. Stuart he came right out and said, yes, frack. Go do it. We now live in a state that has legalized dope at the same time we were trying to ban fracking. You are talking about an industry that is a billiondollar plus industry. The Economic Cost would have been over in year one. We cannot afford that in the state. We cannot afford not to have a vibrant and sustainable energy. Stuart we appreciate you being with us. John stossel, libertarian, find out why he is wearing this uncle sam sue. Control freaks are all over government. It takes a long time to put the legislation together to control the people. The nanny state is alive and well. Such a control freak. Mmm, a perfect 177degrees. And thats why this road warrior rents from national. I can bypass the counter and go straight to my car. And i dont have to talk to any humans, unless i want to. And i dont. And national lets me choose any car in the aisle. Control. Its so, whats the word . Sexy. Go national. Go like a pro. Stuart a classic example of the government controlling your life. I like these bands. Secondhand smoke is no risk to anybody. Then it is no smoking sections in restaurants. Then come the fans and airplanes, schools, work places, entire restaurants. Cant smokers people get together here. Stuart Secondhand Smoke is not dangerous to the point where you have to ban it. They found three where they found damage. Tiny damage in a restaurant or bar. Stuart why did you dress up like a fat cat . They are given bailouts to insurance companies. They disguise it. I made a fool out of myself running down the corridor. Stuart thank you very much indeed. We will be watching. More varney next. Stuart you will get it next year, i do believe. We will have this all wrapped up in weeks. Here is deirdre bolton. Deirdre thank you so much. Apple versus consumers in a class action lawsuit. Delete it from icons. Employees it does not know the extent of what was stolen. Details of executive pay, five movies, other proprietary information all available on the internet