Transcripts For FBC Countdown To The Closing Bell With Liz C

Raise for the american households. You see Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of canada, the commander in chief just wrapping up meetings at the white house right now with him. The focus not just reworking nafta but building it up. A defense alliance, fair and balanced democratic congressman joe crowley of new york is the Democratic Caucus chair and met with trudeau today and well speak with congressman kevin brady live one on one from texas. The house ways and Means Committee chair, the man writing the house tax reform bill thats in this hour. Do not miss it. And north korea really ready to pull the plug on americas antiquated power grid . We talked to the former ceo of nrg, huge, huge company in that space. David crane. About why he looked at this threat years ago and took it seriously. On wall street, markets making yet another run for record highs as the fed says its divided how quickly to raise rates. Were less than an hour to the closing bell. Lets start the countdown. Liz breaking News Facebook in the hot seat at this very moment. Want to take you to capitol hill where the chief operating officer of the company Sheryl Sandberg is expected to huddle with House Minority leader nancy pelosi and House Minority whip steny hoyer, going to question her about facebooks attempts to possibly contain political fallout from revelations that russian agents used the social media giant to influence the u. S. President ial election. By the way, were getting this, tomorrow Sheryl Sandberg will meet with the leaders of the u. S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee behind closed doors. Facebook was basically flat, it continues to be up about onethird of a percent, but at the moment right now, it is. Wed call it flat at 172. 24. On wall street, stocks are looking yes once again at another day of records after the Federal Reserve minutes showed that it was discussed during the last meeting in september that the december rate hike is all but certain despite persistently low inflation. At this hours, the dow and the nasdaq on track for a record close, the s p is right there. Watching all the levels, any gain on the dow will be a record. All the recent management shakeup moments at General Electric doing little to restore Investor Confidence in the industrial giant. Shares of General Electric right here while down 1. 5 tell a deeper uglier story. A twoyear low at 23 even after analysts at jpmorgan cut price target to 20 a share. Questioning the stability of the dividend. A fancy way of saying get ready, ge may cut the dividend. Its the biggest loser on the dow at this hour. The maker of everything from power plants to jet engines lost a quarter of its value, roughly 70, as in 70 billion this year. As the fourth round of nafta. The north American Free trade agreement trade talk take place at the white house with canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, another round of pitching is about to take place. Except this time tax reform. 2 1 2 hours away from President Trump speaking specifically about that. Right now hes gearing up to leave this hour sometime within the next 56 minutes where he will be pushing tax reform agenda in pennsylvania, barnstorming. Really trying to sell it. Reportedly only 31 legislative days remaining this year to get it done. So the question lingers. Whats holding it up. The clock is running out in 2017, and we got to find out what might be the sticking point, the red line or the open gate. Fair and balanced. We bring in democratic congressman joe crowley, the chairman of the Democratic Caucus and a member of the house ways and Means Committee. Welcome, sir . Thank you, liz, great to be with you. Liz all right. We hear that you and republicans at least on this committee are actually playing well together in the sandbox. Can you give us clarity on how well . Well, i dont want to go too far here in suggesting were in the sandbox together. We did have a meeting today, joint meeting of democrats and republicans on the house ways and Means Committee with Prime Minister trudeau. When he was laying out where he wanted to see the nafta 2 go and recognizing that as you said earlier the fourth stage of negotiation said right now in the d. C. Area here in virginia to negotiate those right now. Liz hold on, one second. Im absolutely going to talk about nafta and Justin Trudeau. My question was how long are you getting with the house ways and Means Committee and republicans and whether you see ability to cross lines and link arms on at least certain parts of this tax reform plan . This is actually the first time weve met this year quite frankly in a bipartisan way outside of the committee itself. We did have a brief meeting with kevin brady, the chair of the committee, of the Democratic Caucus to discuss tax reform. In the brief meeting, kevin let us know that they are going to use reconciliation, which is a tool to limit the power of the minority in the senate, reconciliation requires a 50 plus one vote in the senate. They dont need democratic votes to pass it, and theres been no, very little intercourse between house, democrats and republicans on the issue. There was a meeting on some members of the Democratic House ways and Means Committee, i was not one of them. With the president. Liz heres with all due respect. All i heard leading up to this going back six months was Chuck Schumer, Senate Leadership for the democrats, saying the red line, before we even sit at the table will be there are no tax cuts for the wealthy. So far, when various bipartisan economic outfits look at this, it appears that there will be a tax hike probably that many wealthy, depending what you score as wealthy, will pay more in taxes. Shouldnt that clear the runway for discussion . That was the democrats red line . It depends who you listen to. Liz Chuck Schumer, multiple times. The red line was Chuck Schumer said, many economists are saying 80 of the cuts in the tax proposal by the white house would benefit the wealthiest 1 in our country. So reducing the marginal rate from 39. 6 to 5 is a tax cut for the wealthiest in the United States. And i think it is really not distributionally sound, the white house last week could not guarantee that the middle class would not see an increase in taxes. Liz we are about to speak in i want to say, 42 minutes with house ways and means chair kevin brady. If you could say one thing, one thing to him right now across our airwaves, what would it be, about this . I would say, kevin, cant we have a tax bill that would actually reduce the tax burden to the middle class and to those who are trying to make it in this country . What were worried about here, liz, is that we have this increased pressure on our nations deficit, and folks are going to come along and say what do we do about it . And start cutting things like Social Security and medicare and medicaid, thats what democrats are vehemently opposed to. Liz to nafta quickly, i was at an event during the United Nations week about two weeks ago where Justin Trudeau did speak at the Atlantic Council dinner and talking about nafta. Heres a picture from it, it was on the intrepid, on the coast of the hudson here. I was interested when he immediately said we cant deal with our grandparents or our parents nafta. It does have to be tweeked. Whats the number one tweek you would like to see of modernization of nafta as these two discuss it . I agree. I think that nafta, as was proposed and passed prior to my coming to congress, wasnt a good bill, a good trade agreement. We need to see forcing increasing of wages in places like mexico. Mexico pays penny on the dollars when it comes to automakers in comparison to the United States. Puts the United States at a very unfair competitive disadvantage, and i think that the Prime Minister trudeau understands that. What hes talking about is increasing pressure on the United States righttowork states, on the environment and really stay within the framework of the paris accords. Thats what Prime Minister trudeau is also pushing. Liz well, we will watch and see. Congressman crowley, thank you very much. Thank you. Liz we appreciate it. As we mentioned, now its about, what would you say, brad . Half hour away from a oneonone with adam shapiro and myself and representative kevin brady, chairman of the house ways and Means Committee. So stay tuned for that very soon. Back to the markets. The dow hitting another alltime high today. The blue chip index on pace for second Straight Record close and puts the dow closer to the 23,000 milestone. It is stunning how quickly weve gotten there from 19 late last year to 20, 21, 22 and now were just within points of dow 23,000. The dow is set to close at a record 65th record close since election day. Morgan stanley declared the bull market reached epic proportions, not hyperbole and not in a negative way. According to the research note, dispersions in valuations and growth rates are among the lowest in the last 40 years and Equity Hedge Fund beta, well, that means people are not going into hedge funds too much, but its still the highest since march 2008. So is the market run as epic as Morgan Stanley saying in right to the floor show. Traders at the New York Stock Exchange and the cme group. Teddy, that sounds a little like gobbledygook, translate it for us, lots more room to run here . Unfortunately, they dont give us a crystal ball. I would remind all our viewers, perhaps some arent old enough to remember, but after reagan got elected from 1982 to 2000, the market went from dow 1,000 to dow 10,000, so it went up the crash of 87, we celebrated the 30th anniversary, but they dont tell us where the tops are, liz, and dont tell us where the bottoms are and saying this for months now, the lines of least resistance are on the upside not on the downside, and even a broken clock is going to be right twice a day, well get the big selloff, but so far we havent seen it. Liz teddy, write a book, put all of your little sayings in, well buy it, promote it, youll get on amazons list. Ira, what do you think about this . Morgan stanley is extremely bullish. Other notes from Merrill Lynch, bank of america say we are at the highest level of fullon Equity Investment meaning everybody whos got the money is invested in stocks right now. Sometimes thats a worrisome sign that there are too many bulls and were all going to get stampeded . Im not seeing what Merrill Lynch is saying, unfortunately. I keep running into people on the street and they wish they were still in the markets, they get out. We ran into clients that got frustrated because we havent had a break in the market and they cant get in. I dont know what theyre saying. I will tell you something thats scaring me, im worngd how much of the tax that youre talking about, the tax reform is in the market, and when we get, it probably sometime in 2018, if that doesnt cause a break in the market because it will be inflationary as we put more money into peoples pocket. I think now is the sweet time, and i question when we get the tax reform done, hoping it gets done, if that doesnt cause something of a tack. Liz cubbies are still in it, the yankees are still in it, but go tribe. No, no, no, no. Liz what do you mean, no . Yes no go yankees. Liz byebye yankees. And by the way, im surrounded by the enemy in new york. Go, yankees thanks, guys, great to see you. All right, closing bell, enough of that. 47 minutes away. The Dow Jones Industrials up 42 points. Thats a record. One of californias biggest exports we told you is literally turning to ashes. Wine country covered in soot. The grapes torched. Under assault from more than 20 Deadly Wildfires that are still out of control. Its posing a 65 billion threat to the region. Were going to take you live to napa for the latest. There is a new number of fatalities. We saw what happened when hurricanes knock out electricity. What happens if kim jongun flips the switch off permanently . Here in america. David crane has been warning for years of a shockingly, quote, stupid electric system and grid based on 120 million wooden poles. As in poles. What he thinks American Power producers need to do right now to protect businesses and customer safety. Were coming right back. Whether its connecting one of the worlds most innovative campuses. Or bringing wifi to 65,000 fans. Businesses count on communication, and communication counts on centurylink. Thats it. Im calling kohler about their walkin bath. Nah. Not gonna happen. My name is ken. How may i help you . Hi, im calling about kohlers walkin bath. Excellent happy to help. Huh . Hold one moment please. [ finger snaps ] mmm. The kohler walkin bath features an extrawide opening and a low stepin at three inches, which is 25 to 60 lower than some leading competitors. The bath fills and drains quickly, while the heated seat soothes your back, neck and shoulders. Kohler is an expert in bathing, so you can count on a deep soaking experience. Are you seeing this . The kohler walkin bath comes with fully adjustable hydrotherapy jets and our exclusive bubblemassage. Everything is installed in as little as a day by a kohlercertified installer. And its made by kohler americas leading plumbing brand. We need this bath. Yes. Yes you do. A kohler walkin bath provides independence with peace of mind. And ask about saving 1,000 on your walkin bath, or visit kohlerwalkinbath. Com for more info. Liz disturbing report. North koreas techno soldiers are targeting the u. S. Power grid. We can see them knocking defined entry points. CyberSecurity Firm saying hackers likely affiliated with north koreas Supreme Leader kim jongun sent these phishing emails to u. S. Electric companies for, quote, reconnaissance. Meaning they send the emails, people click on them, they try and get in. The Security Firm was able to stop them before disruptions occurred in the power supply for now. Joining us in a fox business exclusive is the former ceo of one of the largest utilities in the nation, nrg ceo, david crane, you saw this coming years ago, did you not . I was around the electric industry for a long time. I saw the switch from antlog digital. Thats going to happen. So the fact that the grid system in the United States is one of the great engineering achievements of the time but vulnerable, vulnerable to both cyberattack and physical attack as weve seen in the past, and obviously, all of modern Society Depends upon it. So it has to be protected in every way we can. Liz ive always thought about this, the complaint is that our grid, National Grid isnt really national, its a bunch of pieces strung together almost with, well, im not being obnoxious, spitting sealing wax for a term we could use here, if we linked together and modernized it, wouldnt it make it easier for any successful hacker to take us all down. Theres an argument, i dont know if its true because im not a cybersecurity expert. The Nuclear Plans are still based on analog, so by being older they are safer than if theyre cni systems were completely upgraded, but it is a quite well integrated,most people in the industry say the u. S. Is in three parts, east of the mississippi, west of the mississippi and texas. Very big footprints. If you can disable part of it, you would disable a wide swath of america. Liz is it just a matter of time before the russians or the north koreans or the chinese are able to find a way to trip the wire and shut off all the electricity . I dont mean to be a pessimist i think the industry is doing everything it can. It is a matter of time. The time has occurred in terms of physical disruption to the grid as opposed to to exposed storms, you said in the intro about me talking about the 120 million poles that we depend upon. Liz as in utility poles. Utility poles. Yes. The big implication for business is just like after 9 11, it became imprudent for any ceo to have all servers in one location. I think right now business have to realize they need a certain amount of Grid Resilience at all important places of business, and thats probably solar on the roofs, storage behind the building. Liz well, speaking of power and all of that. The power supply. Epa chief scott pruitt signed the proposed rule to basically withdraw the obama administrations socalled clean power plan. Ostensibly the business and regulations were too onerous. Were they . You having led