closed lower as the trump administration escalates the trade war with china. the losers are facebook and google which rely on chinese electronics. the u.s. futures are up. asian stocks closed with shanghai. companies are spending more money on stock buybacks than job creating investments. during the first half of 2018, s&p companies gave shareholders $384 billion of stock buybacks. up 48% from last year. investors can thank the economy and tax cuts. business spending is up to a lesser degree. 19%. buybacks are growing faster. in fact, goldman sachs predicts 2018 is the first year shareholders receive over $1 trillion in buybacks. elon musk announcing the
year than last year. it s going up. certainly not the coming down rapidly that larry kudlow claimed. that is going to continue. in february the white house office of management and budget estimated that the deficit will keep rising. it s expected to reach $984 billion in 2019. as for kudlow s caveat that he meant future deafficits. it s expected to rise from colon current level to 9.5%. this is a different way to measure it. my point is that there s no way you can calculate this and get to a different conclusion. even factoring in economic growth, by the way, which is what kudlow likes to do, the con
he is a secretary. he has done so it some great things at the v.a. the president wants to put the right people in the right place at the right time and that could change. steve: what i have heard in washington people close to the president is that he would like to fire him today but he doesn t have a replacement. i have not heard that but, again, when the president wants to make a change, he will make it he doesn t have to try. he doesn t have to guess. he has the power to do so and whether he has a replacement or not, he can still make a change. the president wants to put the best people around him. the v.a. has gone into disrepair. one of the successes in the omnibus was 84 billion in there to streamline and build infrastructure there so that our troops, the people who put their lives on the line every day get the healthcare they deserve. that s something he he wants to have happen. shulkin has been working to do that we will see if that continues for the future. brian: the word is
thank you so much for that. we ll see if it actually happens. we have been promised these sanctions f sanctions for a long time. all right. a deal has been reached that will take west virginia teachers off of the picket lines and put hundreds of thousands of students back in class. we ll find out the exact details f details. first, 2018th forbes billionaires. i was in audit, were you? i didn t make it. man. bezos with 112 billion. bill gates is worth about 90 billion. warren buffet down one spot to number three with a cool 84
there s good reason. there s good reason for that, anthony. 184 you know apollo capital very well. that is an unusual bridge loan, $184 billion. the guy wanted to work by the reporting on their own portfolio, that s an unusual one. that s a healthy one. the guy had interest in working in the administration. you come and meet in your capacity as a representative of the united states government and then you allow that to happen. ci c at the icorp., same difference. when you characterize it the way you just did, i understand. semblance of impropriety is the standard. i understand the point that you re making. it is way broader that even jared kushner. tons of business people work in there. you can divest. you can do different things if you want to serve the public. paulson, when he came in, took us through the entire depression. hold on a second.