Note . Not really in terms of the rush shoo probe as yorussia pro. There are two filings, one from the Southern District that dealt with the main crimes that cohen agreed that he had done, tax evasion, misrepresentation to financial institutions, Campaign Finance violations. Recommending a pretty harsh sentence for him. Then there was a shorter memo from the pecial counsel that goes to russia and we didnt learn anything. It sought to detail the ways in which he cooperated with the special counsels office. The only thing new there was that there had been some contact between cohen and an unnamed russian individual in 2015. But even the special counsel document has to acknowledge that that meeting never went anywhere. This is the meeting where russia approached cohen and suggested synergy on a government level between russia and the Trump Campaign. Correct. But again the memo admits that cohen didnt take the meeting. Suggested a meeting between trump and putin and that never took place. Thats not really an earthshattering bit of information here. Well, no, especially not. Remember, we waited the whole week, all of the trump critics saying this was going to be a momentous day that were going to learn about the collusion. There certainly doesnt seem to be anything in the memos, the documents would suggest thats the case. Cohen provided information concerning certain discreet russian related matters core to the investigation from the regular contact that cohen had with Trump Campaign officials. Theres again no details. That could suggest theres more information to be revealed but again, not in this memo. No. Were going to have to continue to wait, as weve been doing now for months and months, for the special counsel to put out a report to find out what other areas if any hes been investigating. Lets turn to the manafort sentencing concerning his alleged lies after his plea deal. And there is a suggestion and these relate mainly to manaforts businesses in ukraine, the things that hes pleaded guilty to. But there is a reference to a ukrainian Business Partner of his. Anything new there . Because of course ukraine and russia are right next door and thats been suggested that they could go related. Yeah, no. Again on the manafort memo, the big speculation was what did he lie about . Did he lie to bob mueller about questions regarding his own underlying crimes or something to do with russian collusion. It looks from this document that its all about his underlying crimes, his lobbying, money laundering. Colimb nick is a longterm Business Association of manafort. He was charged in the summer with witness tampering and the suggestion that somehow he and manafort attempted to get to certain witnesses and have them cover for them. This all seems to go to those questions, what conversations he may or may not have had with him on that regard. A lot of it is redacted so we dont know the detail. But even the white house has come out and said from what it understands, all of this goes to Paul Manaforts underlying crimes. Lets move to the Southern District that Robert Mueller passed off that part of the negotiation involving Campaign Finance violation to the Southern District and that involves the payment to Stormy Daniels and another woman who alleged to have affairs with donald trump and the campaign, and cohen paid them to keep quiet. The document says that cohen acted in coordination and at the direction of donald trump. And democrats are saying thats a crime and donald trump is now involved in a conspiracy to violate Campaign Finance laws. Whats new we knew that from the plea deal didnt we . This isnt new either. Well, no, its not necessarily new. I think its startling for some people to see it in there, in a court document, naming individual one, that individual one is the president , claim in a federal document that he knew about this, had discussions about this. Now, look, the justice didnt isnt going to go after him because of long time guidelines that suggest you cannot indict a sitting president. The question is are democrats. What are they going to do with this. Right. Is this what they need to now officially start impeachment proceeding as soon as they take over in the house. And i think that is the importance of this. What theyre going to do, i think lets step back a bit. Theyre going to call up michael cohen. No question about it. Maybe witness one in the new congress and theyre going to make an issue of the Campaign Issue violation, alleged violation and will decide is it something they can get away with to impeach donald trump. So something that started with russian collusion could it end with impeachment of donald trump for paying off somebody not to talk about a sexual affair . Were going to have to watch and see if they can do that politically. Thanks for being here. When we come back, a wild week on wall street as words over china trade trigger a stock selloff. More market volatility ahead. Its time to sell or trade in your car. With truecar, you can see its value in real time. Sports package, nice. Small dent. Not so nice. Within minutes, youll have a true cash offer and you can head to a dealership and get paid, today, right now. And just like you, the further into winter we go, the heavier i get. And while your pants struggle to support the heavier you, your roof struggles to support the heavier me. Crash and your cutrate insurance might not pay for this. So get allstate, you could save money and be better protected from mayhem like me. Mayhem is everywhere. So get an allstate agent. Are you in good hands . Im ray and i quit smoking with chantix. Smoking. It dictates your day. I didnt like something having control over me. I wanted to stop. The thing is i didnt know how. Chantix, along with support, helps you quit smoking. Chantix reduced my urge to smoke to the point that i could quit. When you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Some people had changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, or suicidal thoughts or actions with chantix. Serious side effects may include seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking, or allergic and skin reactions which can be lifethreatening. Stop chantix and get help right away if you have any of these. Tell your Healthcare Provider if youve had depression or other Mental Health problems. Decrease alcohol use while taking chantix. Use caution when driving or operating machinery. The most common side effect is nausea. For me chantix worked. Boom. End of story. Talk to your doctor about chantix. A wield week own wall street where the stock fell off largely fueled by uncertainly over u. S. China relations. The market rallied on tuesday with news of a 90day truce but those gains evaporated on tuesday and continued to decline. As President Trump wade into the debate, calling himself a tariff man. So where do the china trade takes stand and can we expect more market volatility as the negotiations continue. Lets ask Deputy Editor dan henninger, and assistant editorial editor james freeman. Mary, are we going to get a trade deal with china or not . Is that the reason for the markets volatility . I think it is. Its sort of silly to think that President Trump had dinner with xi and came away with everything solved. The administration tried to put a very positive spin on it but we dont even have the framework yet. What we have a promise to work on the framework within the next 90 days. There are some other goods signals from china, a series of Government Agencies that are announced punishments for companies that steal intellectual property. It may happen. But the market understands that is a long term process. Theyre going to buy more fruits and vegetables. Theyre going to buy natural gas, too, mary. Many of the things they were already buying before as of this started. But this is a big steep hill to climb. So its going take time. Im glad to understand that the market understands that. Theres a lot to understand and get your arms around, especially the fact that all of it runs off of President Trump. And the run thing that donald trump complains about are trade deficits. We have a 376 billion trade deficit with china. He wants that smaller if not disappearing. On the other hand, its clear there are many other things going on in the this negotiation, this theft of intellectual property, the structure of the american economy, and then suddenly this week you have the arrest of the chief Financial Officer for the chinese telecome company huawei. Elevating this to a National Security issue. Its the whole National Security apparatus that is involved in this negotiation with china. How the market absorbs all of that is a good question. Theyre struggling. And how china reacts to the arrest. I was in washington this week, talked to larry kudlow, their consistent message was thaid hear in the talks a new seriousness of china, more interest in details. Putting specific proposals which they wouldnt share with us, putting those on the table. But then we get a jolt from huawei. How will the chinese react . The one nice message thats come out in the week since that dinner is the chinese are acknowledging intellectual property theft is a problem. How good will their solution be, how far will they go, well see but it seems if theyre accepting that they have to behave like a normal country following the rule of law, they would expect that we have laws that if huawei is violating them, they would be prosecuted. The more we learn about the huawei issue, the more you see a bipartisan concern, not a trump concern exclusively, a bipartisan concern that this is a bad actor or at least a threat. Its fascinating to see our friends in the Mainstream Media do the reporting of this. They seem to be cheering not trump to get a deal but for something to fail. They seem to say sellout, he hasnt really gotten anything for it. Its an odd kind of turn of events. Before they were criticizing trump for trying to work hard on china. Well, i think thats true. Theres a bias against President Trump. But hes created a lot of the problem by put all of this emphasis initially on the trade deficit which is preposterous. It doesnt matter. The main thing is the intellectual property issue. And as james says, its a bipartisan issue. Thats what we have to work on. But again, its not going to be solved anytime soon. This is going to be a very long road and in the interim we risk those higher tariffs. I think thats what the market is worried about. Tariffman. I am the tariff man. Donald trump loves tariffs. His most favorite president was william mckinley, a member of the house of representatives in the 1890s imposing the mckinley tariff. The chinese are dealing with a 19th century economic model in donald trump but the threat is real. 25 tariffs, they have 90 days to work this out and i think the markets and the economy is worried that you could get into a chronic tariff situation going into 2019 which would suppress economic activity. The chinese need to understand, may be beginning to understand that there is a consensus that the chinese predatory mai maif your is beham and its not going to go away. Thats precisely the point. One of the things that will help is inside china xi has rods roo nationalism is not popular. And there are reformers that refer the way china was going when it joined the wto. Theyll also pressure him. When we come back, the arrest of a chinese tech executive threatens to throw u. S. China relations further into turmoil. Gordagordan chang on Liberty Mutual accident forgiveness means they wont hike your rates over one mistake. See, Liberty Mutual doesnt hold grudges. For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise their rates because of their first accident. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. music throughout unstopand its strengthenedting place, the by xfi pods,gateway. Which plug in to extend the wifi even farther, past anything that stands in its way. Well almost anything. Leave no room behind with xfi pods. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Click or visit a retail store today. The arrest of a Chinese Tech Company executive threatening to throw u. S. China relations further into turmoil. Meng wanzhou, the cfo of huawei was arrested last weekend in canada at the request of the United States for allegedly violating sanctions against iran. Its a move to escalate tensions between washington and bay zing. Gordan chang, aw author of the k the coming collapse of china. Welcome. Thank you so much. Lets talk about the arrest. What signal is the United States trying to send, do you think . I dont know if its a signal. First of all, the United States has got to defend and enforce its own laws and we havent done that for a long time with regard to china, especially with regard to the iran and north korea sanctions. So theres a certain amount of this was coincidence. I dont think that they planned this for saturday night when trump and xi jinping, meeting. But we got to remember that china poses a multifaceted challenge to the United States. We dont have the luxury of dealing with just one brob a prt a time. Therefore these things are going to happen and thats because the United States has decided not to be 0 bli you olive yous to the. How are the chinese likely to react to this, take it in stride saying this is one issue in the browder relationship or will they walk away from the trade talks . I dont think theyll talk away from the trade talks. The chinese understand they need access to the u. S. Market. Last year chinas merchandise surplus against the United States was 88. 9 of their overall merchandise trade surplus. Thats extraordinary reliance on us. Theyve got to talk to us. Were going to be extremely upset and we can see that from official state media and also the national lissic global times connected to the communist party. Theyre really upset. The huawei executives when we deal with them, they say look, were a private company, nothing to do with the government. Thats the message they try to send because theyre trying to sell around the world to telecom. Can you separate huawei from the government . Its private, not a stateowned enterprise. But the connection and the coordination between huawei and the communist party is close. Also, the coordination with the Peoples Liberation army which is part of the communist party is close. You know, huawei grew extraordinarily fast. Its now the biggest tellly come equipment manufacturer in its segment. This happened for a lot of reasons, the most important because of its connection and support from beijing. Do you agree that western intelligence agencies should block its ability to operate in, say, u. S. , uk and so on in. Certainly. Especially in the five countries. Four of the five have now blocked 5g huawei equipment. Canada is the only one that has sort of not made a decision yet. But their intelligence director gave a speech this week warning about penetration by statesponsored companies in 5g. Certainly does not want huawei in canadas 5g networks. 5g will connect everything. Your toaster. So the chinese in beijing will know when your use your toaster, when you drive your car and other things. This is the internet of things. This connects everything. Lets move to the trade negotiations more broadly. How do you feel about the way things have developed so far . As i said, i talked to the u. S. Officials and they say they saw a new seriously on xi himself and the whole staff team. I think the chinese are extremely worried. Theres a since in that xi took on the u. S. Prematurely, that the chinese does not hold all of the high cards. Theres a political interest to this. Hes decentralized the cam nis party. He restored something of a cult of personality. Restored a cult of personality gotten rid of the rules. President trump facing an election every four years. Xi jinping faces an election every day because hes responsible for everything. Last year that was great because things were going well for china. He could take all of the credit. This year he gets all of the blame. Theres nobody else he can blame because hes taken responsibility and authority from everybody else. So what youre saying ask he is a real incentive to do a deal because if they dont, youre going to start to see and i would argue, this is my point, you would start to see businesses move supply chains out of china. Its already happening but its likely to accelerate if theres a trade breakdown. Yes. A lot of people were looking at the dinner to see if they could keep their supply chains in china. Walmart makes almost all of their commitments in this fist quarter for the year. And that means theyll probably stay because they might think theres a truce. I dont think though long term we can have an enduring equipment. Weve had so many deals back down with xi jinping its unlikely that they would come to terms that they would be willing to accept and we would be willing to accept. Can we get a truce for a couple of years . Yeah, we can do that. But it will break down. Thanks for coming in. Job growth slows in nevada but the u. S. Labor market continue to show signs of strength. Well take a closer look at the numbers. And new reports that the Federal Reserve could slow Interest Rate paul job growth slowing somewhat last month with the u. S. Economy adding 155,000 jobs in november. Fridays closelywatched report from the Labor Department coming amid steep swings on wall street, rising recession fears and as fed officials reportedly consider a new wait and see approach that could slow the pace of Interest Rate increases in the new year. Were back with dan henninger, Mary Anastasia ogrady and james freeman. Dan, first let me ask you a question on a separate issue. Bill barr has said hes going to nominate the former attorney general to be his next attorney general. What do you think . I think its a good choice. He was attorney general during george h. W. Bushs presidency, sort of repudiating the idea that donald trump doesnt like bush values [laughter] because bill barr represents them, integrity, sense of public duty. One of the things youve got to understand about bill barr is hes a great believer in president ial authority. He defended president bushs invasion of panama at the time, can you imagine if donald trump did something hike that . And in the coming year, donald trump, i think, is going to need an attorney general who understands president ial authority. I might add as well that while he was in the torn Generals Office the attorney Generals Office, he had someone working for him who is now white House Counsel. And he has worked for bull barr. The bill barr. Think the fact the white House Counsel knows the attorney general is going to be important for the kind of legal pressure this president is going to come under in the next 14 months. Paul fascinating. James, how worried should we be about slowing Economic Growth and the roiling markets . Im not too worried, maybe no surprise [laughter] paul mr. Complacent. Mr. Sunshine. [laughter] look, it was a solid, not great jobs report. You, maybe you would have liked, obviously, more job creation, and there were some revisions from the previous months, but still this year overall average hiring better than last year. So wages are up. A lot of good news in there. But if youre the fed and youre basically saying were going to watch the economy closely, this is not an outstanding report. Its a good one. Youve got slowing global growth. Based on their policies, i think its reasonable that they would slow down. Paul but average growth in jobs over the last three months, 170,000. Thats down from 200,000 in the first half. And now wages up 3. 1 , but still not exactly booming. I mean, i think this is a little cause for concern, mary. Well, paul, ive made a list of things to worry about. [laughter] i uhoh. Paul ive got to negotiate between these guys. [laughter] more pessimistic. Im only part irish. [laughter] you have trade which we, you know, we know all the problems on the horizon. You have labor shortages in this country and a dysfunctional immigration system. You have the fed, and you have money tightening elsewhere in the world. You have slowing global growth. You have brexit. You have the u. S. Fiscal deficit. You have paul slowing china. You have gridlock in washington, and you have the only thing that the republicans and the democrats can agree on which is spending more money on infrastructure. Now, none of those thicks are good for Business Investment, and Business Investment is going to be at the core of whether this economy keeps going. Its long in the tooth. Im not saying that theres anything terrible in the next six months, but the market looks out further than that, and i think there are reasons to paul i just want to zero in on one key point which i think mary made, Business Investment. And the trade uncertaintys impact on Business Investment. You can see it in all the reports, you hear it from the ceos in their Quarterly Earnings statements that trade is causing them to hold back. Much as Barack Obamas regulation onslaught caused them to hold back. Well, let me turn the tables here, paul, and ask you a question. You are a Federal Reserve expert. If you are the head of the Federal Reserve, jerome powell, living in the world mary has just described, what to you to with Interest Rates . Paul i do not raise in december. I put it on pause, and i say we can do it later, and you continue to withdraw the Balance Sheet and keep moving on that ground which is its own form of tightening. You dont raise Interest Rates because theres too much uncertainty right now. You can always do it again next year, but wait. Weve got the world screaming for dollars. Dollars very strong. Dont shrink the amount of dollars in the global economy. But its not sorry. Well, the analysis one reads is that the Interest Rate is baked in in december and then next year they may paul right. Thats what i think theyll do. But if i were them, i might i would really debate whether to stop in december. Well, not to get too wonky here, but, you know, the yield curve is what people are sort of freaking out about because they say that once you get a flat and then inverted yield curve, it predicts a recession. But it really was only inverted in the fiveyear because people had been, you know, loading up on the fiveyear sorry, shorting the fiveyear as a way to play the Interest Rate change, and now all of a sudden they went in the other direction, and i think thats why they had the yields go down paul yeah, the yield curve is a sign of little inflation and enough uncertainty to raise rates. All right. Still ahead to not raise rates. Still ahead, the senate and the saudis following a cia briefing on the murder of Washington Post columnist jamal khashoggi. Lawmakers say theres little doubt that the crown prince played a role, so how will they respond . Applebees bigger bolder grill combos are back. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. You ok there, kurt . Were about to move. Karate helps. Relieve some of the housebuying. Stress. At least you dont have to worry about homeowners insurance. Call geico. Geico. Helps with. Homeowners insurance . Been doing it for years. Im calling geico right now. Good idea get to know geico. And see how easy homeowners and renters insurance can be. I do believe ive read every piece of intelligence thats come in in the last few hours. I think ive read it all. There is no direct reporting connecting the crown prince to the order of the murder of jamal khashoggi. Paul that was secretary of state mike pompeo last week denying a connection between the crown prince and the murder of jamal khashoggi. But after a closed door briefing tuesday by cia director gina haspel, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are pushing back on that assertion, teeing up a debate next week over just how congress should respond to the journalists killing. Senate bob corker is chair of the Foreign Relations committee. Let me ask you before we turn to Foreign Policy about bill barr. The president says hes going to nominate bill barr, former attorney general, to be the next attorney general. What do you think of that choice . Well, first, its good to be with you. Look, i dont know much about him. What i do know is it seems hes being received fairly well and seems to have been a professional. But ill know more about him next week. [laughter] paul okay. All right, thank you, senator. [laughter] so you were in that briefing with gina haspel, and what do you think . Did mohamed bib salman know about or order the murder of khashoggi . Paul, just as sure as im talking to you here right now, he did. It was the most precise, specific presentation i have ever received from intelligence officials, and he would be convicted in 30 minutes in front of a jury. Theres no question that he ordered it, that he monitored it and that he followed up after the fact in my mind. And it could have been that i heard the clip about pompeo and mattis. It could have been that maybe, maybe Additional Information came in that they had not seen by the time we had the briefing, but listen, theres just no question. I dont think anybody left the briefing with any doubt about his direct involvement. Paul yeah, well, thats the puzzle then. Why would the administration be saying no smoking gun evidence . Its puzzling. Yeah, its and its a mistake, paul, because you know washington well, and so what you have now is you have people on both sides of the aisle trying to figure out a way to push back because its just not true. And to say that, you know, if you buy enough arms from us and if you lavish praise on me, you can go around killing journalists and its no problem. And so youve got congress now figuring out a way the push back. And as you know, id strongly prefer the Administration Just deal with this in the appropriate way. I think sometimes us legislating, its a blunt object paul right. And sometimes misses the mark. Anyway, i do think congress is going to try to address this. Paul well, and the way you do it is important, as you suggest. So the vehicle youve got there is something called lee sanders which would trigger the war powers resolution which would say in 30 days youve got to withdraw, u. S. Has to withdraw any troops that have helping the saudis with the war in yemen. But for me, i think the war powers resolution is illegal. And also wouldnt that be a measure that would undercut the president s ability to conduct Foreign Policy pretty dramatically . Yeah. So theres actually three efforts underway, paul. That is one. My guess is that we will move to that if theres at least 51 votes. As you know, its a simple majority that causes us to move that. Paul right. I will not support that. I will not support moving to it. And then its my guess is i will move to make all amendments germane. Paul right. I think that will pass, and so well probably just vote up or down on that. The actual result of that, in my opinion, paul, is its going to have zero effect, zero effect on actual policies. But it sets a precedent. And so many of us want to make sure if youre going to use this, you can only deal with germane issues. But secondly, or just concerned like you about what this sets for the future. Think about how many countries in Northern Africa we have the same kinds of operations underway. So theres a second effort. Its called menendezyoung. Its i its something i hope we will take up in the committee itself. It does not deal with war powers. Id like to see some refinement before i could support it, but it will affect policy. And then theres a third piece which is just a resolution that, hopefully, will come before the senate where we strongly push back on the crown prince and strongly con them his actions as condemn his actions as it relates to the journalist. Im working with Mitch Mcconnell to come up with something that, hopefully, can pass overwhelmingly in the senate. Paul and that would be a statement of the senates concern that we believe that mbs played a role in this and that the United States should to what . What would be the sense of the senate that we do . Yeah. So in that particular case, you know, weve already put fort the magnitsky act. Senator menendez and i sent a letter to the president. Basically now he has to determine within 120 days that was like 15 or 20 days ago, but he has to determine in 120 days whether the crown prince was responsible and then, hopefully, this would be some types of repercussions. So thats a direct issue. You know, the condemnation, honestly, paul, it does not affect policy paul right. It just condemns the action. So the one that does affect policy is youngmenendez. And, again, i hope i can get some changes there. But that one, if it actually passed which is difficult, as you know, were at the end of a year paul right. But next years going to come around, the same issues going to be here. It would affect policy. Paul would it affect it by, say, stopping arms sales . How specifically . Yeah, right now the way they have it is a twoyear ban on all arms sales paul to the saw theties. Let me just say this, theres not going to be any arms sales to saudi arabia for some time. You know, as chairman of the committee, i can block sales, but so can the ranking member, menendez. And engel will do so on the house side. So what id like to do is limit it to offensive only, shorter period of time, gives us time to assess what actions are taking place. Still give them the ability to buy those types of weaponry that protect them, okay . Protect incoming missiles. And it does a few other things that, again, affect policy. But that would be a statement that is somewhat measured. Again, as a practicality the there will be no arms sales to saudi arabia for some time because there are people that have the ability to block them that will block them not just because of what the journalist the killing of the journalist, but also peoples concerns about whats happening in yemen. So i hope this Peace Process works thats underway right now. I wish the administration would just come out and strongly condemn think about what we did with turkey. We had a pastor paul right. That was in prison, and we, rightly so, demarched the heck out of erdogan. Theyre a nato ally paul right. Why would we not do the same with somewhat of an ally, saudi arabia . Paul all right, senator, its going to be fascinating to watch. Appreciate it. Thank you. Paul when we come back, the Global Carbon tax revolt. Protests continuing in paris even after french president emanuel ma rock pull macron pulls the plug on a planned fuel tax hike. Next. Your mornings were made for better things, than psoriatic arthritis. As you and your rheumatologist consider treatments, ask if xeljanz xr is right for you. Xeljanz xr is a once daily pill for psoriatic arthritis. Taken with methotrexate or similar medicines, it can reduce joint pain. Swelling and significantly improve physical function. Xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. Dont start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. Tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests, and cholesterol levels have happened. Your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz xr, and monitor certain liver tests. Tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. Xeljanz xr can reduce the symptoms of psoriatic arthritis. Dont let another morning go by without talking to your rheumatologist about xeljanz xr. Paul in a stunning turn around, french president emanuel mack robe announced he will abandon plans for a controversial fuel tax. The move comes as widespread and sometimes violent protests continue in france, spurred in part by the price increases that were scheduled to take effect on january 1st. The tax hike was part of the french governments plan to wean french consumers off fossil fuels. So, dan, the thing thats striking to me about this is Emmanuel Macron did not run on higher fuel taxes, yet he thought the need to impose them in the name of Climate Change and this started with rural protests for people who rely on gasoline to get to work and to go buy groceries. Yeah. It is an amazing event, and i think it really is a blow to the credibility of the, shall we call it the Climate Movement . Not just in france, but everywhere. Because the press constantly runs these fearmongering stories about the future of the climate, okay . So Emmanuel Macron actually decided to do something about it. The idea is you have to pay to mitigate climate. So he imposes a tax on gasoline fuel in france, and the french people who drive their cars all the time, we know that fuel is already really expensive on europe say to themselves, wait a minute, were going to pay higher taxes to, what, prevent hurricanes or the polar icecaps or Something Like that . This strikes the average person as nuts. So that has always been the them ma at the ernlt of dilemma at the center of this Climate Change proposal. When theyre proposing economic policies on people, would there be push back. Guess what . There is pushback. Paul the violence is unacceptable, and a lot of anarchists and others are taking advantage of this. But the idea of a revolt against the carbon taxes, were seeing it in democracies all around the world. Youve watched in canada. Right. In canada trudeau was going to put a tax on 30 of your emissions, and he had to walk that back earlier this year because basically whats happened is theres been an investment strike, a capital strike. The taxes are too high, and that was one of the penalties that people didnt want to go to canada anymore because of that increase in taxes. Paul but at the provincial level, its happening too. Right. I think it explains the change in management in ontario recently. Theres an expectation that the right party will win in alberta this year. Sorry, in 2019. And also there are, for example, in saskatchewan theyre taking the federal fuel this carbon tax to the courts and saying, look, youre not allowed to collect this money, we can collect it provincially. So one of the problems is that this isnt as much about the tax itself as it is, i mean, as about fighting carbon as it is about getting more revenues for the government. Paul and, kim, in Washington State this november there was a referendum, second time in Washington State in recent years, that went down to overwhelming defeat to impose a carbon tax. I remember tony abbott, former Prime Minister of australia, repealed there, carbon tax. And yet some of our friends and even in theory if you think about it from a free market point of view, a carbon tax would be the most efficient way of trying to actually slow down Carbon Emissions and reduce the use of carbon fuels. But that seems to be something that the public really isnt buying. Why do you think that is . Well, its because, paul, yes, intellectually from a very wonky point of view it may be an efficient means of raising revenue, but no one buys that you are actually going to get rid of other taxes if you institute a carbon tax. And so they see it as an additional form of taxation on top of what we already have in terms of some tough energy taxes here, especially the gasoline tax, etc. No one wants to go there. Theres also not a belief that the money that would be raised from such a carbon tax would actually be put into any kind of Renewable Energy or Investment Strategy for a smarter climate. They know its going to get redistributed, thered be a new pot for the washington spenders to put into their own priorities. So, no, theyre not buying it. And, look, i would just point out as you mentioned at the beginning of the show, macron imposed this. If you look around the world and what mary was just talking about, to the extent that a carbon tax has ever been on a ballot or politicians who are making it their top priority have been on a ballot, its been voted down. This is just something that voters are not in favor of. Paul mary, briefly, theres a disconnect between elites on this, their obsession with Climate Change and doing something now and average voters who just dont trust the elites. Yeah. Average voters knowing that if china doesnt do anything about, you know, Global Warming paul or india or indonesia why should we have to pay . But, you know, theres another problem here which is that the elites are, i think, misreading the Economic Cost of this socalled global change. Because if you look at it going out to the end of this century, its not as high a cost as they make it seem. Paul we have to take one more break. When we come back, hits and misses of the week. Paul time now for hits and misses of the week. Kim, first to you. So, paul, a hit to the Republican Senate for confirming trumps pick to head the Consumer Financial protection bureau. 5049. The cfb has been under acting management by omb director mick mulvaney. She shares his view this is a rogue agency that needs more transparency and smarter rules for protecting consumers. This, of course, provoked an allout rebellion by progressives against her, but the republicans stood tall. This is going to be good for the economy overall. Paul james. Paul, this is a hit to Florida Governor rick scott for suspending and replacing Broward County elections supervisor brenda snipes, the serial violater of election laws. Lost ballots, miscounted ballots, destroyed ballots, deadlines. Amazingly, shes fighting to regain her job, but good for the governor for hanging tough. Paul mary. A hit for japanese Prime Minister shinzo abe who is confronting the problem of an aging population with a new Immigration Law in japan. The lower house has passed legislation that will offer lowskilled workers visas, and this is a step in the right direction for japan. Paul dan. Paul, this is a hit for the bush family. This weeks funeral, one word that stands out is graciousness. They graciously invited President Trump and melania to the funeral despite the clear rancor. President trump in turn sent the president ial plane to bring the casket from houston, spoke well of the trumps the bushes, excuse me. These are the gestures that add up to a civilized society, and we saw them on display this week in washington. Paul thank you all. And remember if you have your own hit or miss, be sure to tweet it to us at jer on fnc. Thanks to all of you for watching. Im paul gigot, hope to see you here next week