don t give out your card number over the phone. call to report any suspected fraud. we re cracking down on medicare fraud. let s make medicare stronger for all of us. steve: 47.6 million, that s how many americans are collecting food stamps now, a 70% spike since 2008. but the aarp says that s not enough and is trying to recruit seniors to apply for the government handout. why would they want to encourage a welfare state? stuart varney joins us. stuart, good morning to you. it s called buying votes. ever heard of that? steve: it s happening in pennsylvania. happening in pennsylvania, georgia and a couple of other states. new york included. brian: what about pride in not getting food stamps because i don t need them. the aarp is trying to sign up seniors, sign up for food stamps.
buying votes with taxpayers money. anna: these numbers would seem to ebb and flow with the state of the economy for sure. over the years every single year we ve had an increase in these food stamps we ve gone from 28 million on food stamps in 2008. we ve now got 46, 47 million people on food stamps. the number is at that high level despite the so-called recovery in the economy that the president touts all over the place. brian: i don t know what is going to come up on varney and company, but it seems like a topic we could expect at 9:20. i think we ll get into it. brian: because you re stuart varney and the show is named after you. yes and it s a great picture, don t you think? brian: it s a torso shot that i envy. ten years old. steve: that tie he s wearing right there, i m wearing today. brian: stuart, i ll see you this weekend.
official. he crashed the party, wasn t supposed to be there. then we thought we d get one. he wasn t a real town crier either but he did a lovely job. gretchen: a convoluted way of saying even stu varney was fooled. when he comes out here, former brit, did you think think that town crier was the real one? everyone did. he wasn t the real town crier. steve: he was the town crier just not for london town. another town. brian: as a tribute to town criers everywhere, let s go visit the black smith and go totally back in time. can we? gretchen: okay. now we have to do some headlines. get out the yellow pages and look that up. live pictures in florida where at least 15 cars flipped over, three carrying highly flammable
to investing in these possibilities, imagine what it could do brian: you get the spirit of what we re discussing. look at where that has gotten us to date. over $16 trillion in debt. gretchen: stuart varney here to weigh in. what did you make of the speech? i have never seen such a big build-up to a big speech, campaign-style speech, with such a poor and negative reaction. brian: there is no plan. same old same old, more of the same, which is which has not produced growth. this morning the liberals are angry at the president. where are the job creation ideas? the left is angry. he s doing nothing about inequality. the center growing debate, where is the growth? democrats want growth. if that big speech yesterday was a prelude, a campaign-style speech moving towards the 2014 elections and it was and stamping the president s legacy on america, it was a failure.
danger is nuts. spirit getting into the spirit of weiner palooza. brian: more coming out today. expect press conferences. one of the problems weiner had is i should have told people everyone i was doing it. i think this guy has the oddest denial. gretchen: as i go back to the original point, why would you go into politics when you knew this stuff was coming up. any way, the royal crier was a fake. kind of. the duke and duchess of cambridge, the third in line to the throne. gretchen: this morning he s going to join us live to explain why he did it. steve: we need to ask questions really loud. then the president says forget the scandal. he wants to talk economy. stuart varney saw something much different in yesterday s speech. he is entering studio e to