today. i lost count of number of record hit since trump took oval office. got to mention bitcoin. talk about volatility? up and down thousands of dollars per hour, right now the price top of the screen in the middle, $15,575,000 per bitcoin. got it. politics, you will hear the words due process a lot. two high-profile departures for alleged sexual misconduct. trent franks, arizona republican, he asked two female staffers about being surrogate mothers. he is out. harold ford, high level wall street guy. he denies harassing a woman but he has been fired. we'll update the disasterous california fires for you in just a moment. "varney & company" is just about to bin. ♪ to begin. stuart: more on the solid jobs report. look at this, the southern california wildfires. wild indeed, ashley. ashley: six large wildfires burning 140,000-acres. we had a new one break out near the san diego area. it ripped through a retirement community. these are like trailers. golf course there. dozens of homes burning. people barely getting out. couple people suffered burns. couple of firefighters injured as well. only good news in the immediate l.a. area the fire hazard or danger dropped a little bit. still north of ventura county, still very bad, the so-called thomas fire, 180 square miles. 430 buildings destroyed. strong, gusty, santa ana wind are causing problems today. maybe getting better as we head into the weekend. still flames are burning. stuart: thank you, ashley. let's get to the markets. of course that jobs report. i say it was not, it was a solid strong jobs report and the market is going up this morning. i think we'll hit a plus 100 at the opening bell. this man is john layfield. he is market watcher. lives in bermuda. he daned to come to new york. it will snow tomorrow. >> i may get back on the plane pretty quick. stuart: i think this market is rallying today. i think it will go up 100 points on opening bell. solid jobs report and better news to come on the economy next year. what say you? >> i agree completely. first jobs report didn't have anything to do with the hurricane. underlying fundamentals of the economy are exceptionally strong. tax cuts are priced into the market. now it is based on market fundamentals, economy fundamentals, those are very strong. stuart: are they pricing 3 or 4% growth rate next year. is that priced in? >> i don't think so. tax cuts are priced in. the market jumped significantly sips labor day. i think tax cuts are priced. i don't think this market is priced in. stuart: age-old question, 25-k by christmas or new year's? >> predictions are tough. i'm with ashley. next tuesday. stuart: he was a week late. ashley: i was. stuart: talk about bitcoin. it went up 40% in 40 hours. that was the headline in the journal this morning. there is the price, 14,965 bucks per bitcoin. i find it hard to say that is not a bubble. >> i don't think any doubt there is a bubble. there is value there. there was value in the dot-com bubble with companies with underlying values. that doesn't take the fact that people will lose a lot of money. i can't believe somebody is paying $16,000 for bitcoin. stuart: a sense of approval for goldman sachs. they will offer some investors getting into it. >> future markets coming up in bitcoin. i think that will add to the speculation. i still think there is value there. the price is going up because price is going up. that is a bubble. stuart: would you buy it on a big dip? >> no. i think people will lose a lot of money. anybody ahead of a bubble they look like geniuses. spring kel voss twins look like between justs. they will not look like geniuses if it goes back down to $100. stuart: that is interesting prediction. do you think it will be 100,000. >> i think it could. who thought it would go to 16,000. crip cocurrencies will work. crip cocurrencies will happen. bitcoin will be but i don't think it is worth $16,000. stuart: we're spending so much time on bitcoin. all of sudden bitcoin is the word of the day. stay there with us, john. i know you will be with us. al franken and trent franks will resign shortly. former congressman harold ford fired by morgan stanley. all because of allegations of sexual misconduct. we have lisa booth, fox news contributor and "washington examiner" columnist. >> hi, stuart. stuart: you're losing your voice. >> a little bit. stuart: trying to get through the next three minutes. >> i drank tea and honey. stuart: this is serious subject. i think the words due process are going to be raised here and very soon because i don't think some of these people have gotten due process. >> well the problem is, what is the due process? i mean you've got ethics investigation which many say lacks teeth. what is the due process here? right now we have basically have a mob mentality. that is it what is leading the charge. 24 hour news cycle. social media. there is really not an opportunity for a lot of these guys to clear their name if they are in fact innocent. stuart: two authorities which should judge them. the voters, now the voters will not be allowed to pass judgment on congressman, senator franken. >> they would have if he stayed around and ran for re-election. stuart: he is out. >> right. >> the democrats forced man out. you could go to courts to look for justification, guilty or innocent verdict. but that is not going to happen. seems like they're being judged in the court of public opinion. they can't win. >> that is absolutely what is happening. stuart, i've been saying this for a while. i worry yes, it is person to push some of these bad actors out of the work place. but i also worry about the innocent people getting caught up in it as well. if you go back to 2014, with ferguson, darren wilson, officer darren wilson's life was ruined. he was indicted before the justice process played itself out. he ended up being innocent. his life was ruined and his life is ruined for rest of his life. everybody knows who he is. he is a target. this is something we think about. what is the due process? we're moving so fast to find the next harasser is, at least social media. when do we stop to make sure we got this right. i do worry about this, as much as i worry about the woman, and i do as a woman, i also worry about innocent people whose lives are ruined didn't do anything wrong. i don't know how you balance that, this is big concern of mine. i think something we collectively should stop so think about it. stuart: president trump heads to pensacola today. that is right on the state line with alabama, where there is election on december the 12th? >> we know why he is there. let's be honest. stuart: why is he there? >> seven there to try to boost roy moorheading into tuesday's election. stuart: yet roy moore is not exactly a albatross around a gop's neck. but it is close. >> if we listen to what senator franken said on the senate floor. invoked president trump and roy moore for a reason. nancy pelosi went on "meet the press" and conyers was icon. questioned authenticity of allegations of accusers against rep conyers. all of sudden they have done about face. the reason they have done that and invoked president trump and roy moore, that is the direction the democrat party is turning. they put full focus on those two individuals. you will see the mainstream media as well. we cleaned house. you have two individuals faced allegations that is the direction the party is going. senator al franken threw himself on the sword. it wasn't about minnesota voters. wasn't about him. it was about the democrat party. stuart: interesting to see how close president trump gets to roy moore, where he makes this rallying cry speech. >> we'll be watching. stuart: we will indeed. lisa, get that voice back. >> i don't know what to do. very frustrating. stuart: good luck to you. >> thank you. stuart: check the futures market, please. we'll be up about 65 points. if you judge it on a fair value basis. that is complicated i think we'll be up about 100 points at opening bell. we shall see. we're going up. big guest coming up next hour, gary cohn. top economic guy at the white house. we'll get his take what i call a so lit jobs report. how does he feel about president obama taking some credit for president trump's economic policies and the economic boom. how does he feel about that? 10:00 he is on. whole foods customers, some of them, complaining about the quality of the produce. reports of rotten fruits and vennellables. they say it wasn't like this until amazon took over. lindsey ski irlindsey von says she is representing america, not president trump at the games. if she gets invited to the white house she won't go. we're on that story. clothing company patagonia, says that the trump administration is stealing your land. secretary of the interior ryan zinke responds to that one next. . . stuart: like to point out all the markets for you. gold down three bucks. california wildfires, ryan zinke, secretary of interior. he joins us now. welcome back. >> great to be with you as always. stuart: there is some suggestion that the montana fires earlier this year were result of poor forest management because of environmental policies in the previous administration. is there similar criticism about the california fires? >> there is. there is really three driving factors of forest fires. one we haven't done described burn. there is dead and dying timber. fuel load is abormally high. fire season are getting longer. these are perfect conditions. santa ana coming from the hot desert floor, coming from the ocean. some cases smaller valleys it is like a blowtorch. but a fundamental reason is we need to clean up our forests. get rid of dead and dying timber, go to active management. stuart: is that a policy of yours you adopt in your administration, active forest management, get back to it? >> absolutely. same with the forest service. i talk to the son any a lot. we in the country lost the way ability to use best science, best practices longer term for greater good. that is a lot what the administration is doing. monuments are the case. public land is for public use. not special interests. stuart: okay. now you're talking now about the president's plan to shrink the size of the monuments in utah, shrink quite doctor chatally -- dramatically. >> there is not one square inch, not one square inch of land removed from federal protection. so, patagonia, made in china, these companies are out there, shameless lies. should focus how to bring manufacturing back to this country, rather than lying to the public about losing federal land. stuart: mr. secretary, that was pretty sharp-edged and direct. patagonia, made in china. but do they have a point? do environmentalists have a point that you, the administration are stealing our land by taking it out of federal immediate jurisdiction and put it back to local authorities? >> no. in fact, the truth of the matter is, there is not one square inch that leaves the federal, state or leaving the federal protections. we're not transferring, selling one square inch of land. what we are doing, we're opening up land for recreation. management plan in a monument only focuses on objects. sometimes overlooks grazing, recreation opportunities, the ability to mountain bike, and so we're bringing the r back in recreation for america. stuart: what about, the theme here, what about oil drilling? if you discover ad lot of oil underneath one of these, the monuments, for example, would you let them drill for it? >> in the case of bears ears i'm a geologist. there is no oil and gas assets that we know of. science -- it is not about energy. it is about public lands belong to the public. and not special interests. we had a report last year, looking at hunting is down. why is hunting down? a lot of it is access has been taken away. it is more difficult. not everyone has five days to go in three ridgelines and not have a game card. there is a lot of america that has a weekend, and we're opening up access, hunting and fishing ability for americans to use their land. that is the argument. it is not stealing the land. that is nefarious, false, shameless and shame on patagonia made in china. stuart: i think that is a pretty good out cue, mr. secretary. thank you for joining us. it is a pleasure. thank you for being here. >> merry christmas. stuart: merry christmas. by the way i still have never been to montana. >> invitation is always out there. businesswise we're about to get a boom. tax reform is going to get done. job reports are in. we'll bring 4 there trillion dos back to this country. stand by, america. stuart: you get it all in. that is very good, sir. >> you betcha. stuart: britain and european union agreed to terms for bless it. what is that? ashley: this is only the first phase. this was the for easy bit, they guaranty no hard border between ireland and republic of northern ireland. that was thorniest issue. eu citizens in the uk, have all the rights, those from the uk living in eu will have rights to be protected. the bad news they may be restricted in movement. they're not happy. the other big story is the financial settlement. britain for the divorce will pay somewhere based on today's exchange rate, 47 and $52 billion. they also will be a transition period of up to two years is what the uk wants to get away, get out of the single market and figure out some other trade deal. liz: that is quite an alimony payment. ashley: that is alimony payment. the problem, those wanted a hard "brexit," good-bye to brussels, good bigood riddance, they're complaining it is getting softer and softer. they are concerned that brussels will have impact on uk. liz: you know how? british judges can defer to eu judges for period of eight years. they still have control. stuart: that is outrageous. this is about sovereignty. british people should be sovereign. you don't defer to the courts of germany for example, to get a deal in britain. ashley: correct. stuart: outrageous. that is just me. president obama make as speech in chicago. make as reference to nazi germ any of the 1930s talking about the trump presidency. we'll tell you all exactly what he said next. [vo] when it comes to investing, looking from a fresh perspective can make all the difference. it can provide what we call an unlock: a realization that often reveals a better path forward. at wells fargo, it's our expertise in finding this kind of insight that has lead us to become one of the largest investment and wealth management firms in the country. discover how we can help find your unlock. that's it. i'm calling kohler about their walk-in bath. nah. not gonna happen. my name is ken. how may i help you? hi, i'm calling about kohler's walk-in bath. excellent! happy to help. huh? hold one moment please... [ finger snaps ] hmm. the kohler walk-in bath features an extra-wide opening and a low step-in 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 walk-in bath comes with fully adjustable hydrotherapy jets and our exclusive bubblemassage. everything is installed in as little as a day by a kohler-certified installer. and it's made by kohler- america's leading plumbing brand. we need this bath. yes. yes you do. a kohler walk-in bath provides independence with peace of mind. call to save $500 off bath walls with your walk-in bath, or visit kohlerwalkinbath.com for more info. i used to have more hair. i used to have more color. and... i used to have cancer. i beat it. i did. not alone. i used to have no idea what the american cancer society did. research? yeah. but also free rides to chemo and free lodging near hospitals. i used to maybe give a little. then i got so much back. i used to have cancer. please give at cancer.org. retail. under pressure like never before. and it's connected technology that's moving companies forward fast. e-commerce. real time inventory. virtual changing rooms. that's why retailers rely on comcast business to deliver consistent network speed across multiple locations. every corporate office, warehouse and store near or far covered. leaving every competitor, threat and challenge outmaneuvered. comcast business outmaneuver. stuart: where's the price of oil this friday morning as stocks go up? oil goes up a little bit. 57.59 per barrel. that is the price. now this, president obama invoking the germany of the 1930s in a speech to the economic club of chicago. here is a brief quote. we have to tend to this guarden of democracy or else things could fall apart quickly. liz: ridiculous. stuart: i think he is suggesting we're on the road to naziism because president trump is in office. liz: if you want to stop donald trump, come up with a policies, not your obama policies that only created 11 million jobs on the par of jimmy carter. you know, to get your party elected. you're seeing democrat seats in the house at the levels they have not seen since 1920s. they have been disasterous across the board for the last 10 years. losing seats across the country. ashley: really also a reference to the populist movement. he was saying only way you can stop this, i.e., hillary's deplorables, not to vote for a populist candidate. sorry but he is still, that is what happened in this country. stuart: you lost. ashley: you lost. and to invoke nazi system beyond the pale. stuart: i think they're desperate. we get tax cuts. we have a strong jobs report. we have 3% growth. it is probably getting better next year just in time for elections. democrats i think are really trying to divert attention away from prosperity. ashley: from the economy. stuart: their view of this president. liz: their lack of policies are like a jerry seinfeld episode. nothing going on. stuart: have you seen their growth plan? i have not. ashley: no what is their message. liz: that's right, ashley, the message is fairness. they act like it's a boon to the middle class working families. stuart: we destroyed it. we discussed it at length. all right. look at the futures, yes in about four 1/2 minutes time we will open higher this friday morning. as i said earlier, i have lost count of the number of record highs we've hit since the election. i'm sure we hit another one today. maybe not. maybe not. we'll go up today. significantly higher. can i leave you with that? we'll be back. ♪ stuart: here is the backdrop to today's trading. it is friday morning. the backdrop is a solid jobs report. 228,000 new jobs created in november. unemployment rate, 4.1%. [opening bell rings] there is prospect of stronger growth next year after we get the tax cuts in place. here we go. 9:30 eastern time, the market has opened. i'm seeing a lot of green. i'm seeing the market go up right from the get-go. 53 points. more than half of the dow 30 are green. that means they are up. but we're holding in the first few seconds of business, we're holding with a 54-point gain. i thought we would have more. we're up 55 points. how about the s&p? now we're up 74. the s&p 500 up 1/3 of 1%. that is nine-point gain. the nasdaq composite, nice gain, big gain, 48 points up, technology is coming back. we're up .7% of the nasdaq. that is the story this morning. the return of tech. who is with me? i see, let's see, that would be mr. shellady. there big ben in the background. he is still in london. we have the bermuda rest incident otherwise known what is your name, layfield. the bermuda guy. ashley from tennessee. liz from new york. we're off and running. we're up. scott shellady, i will start with the jobs report. i say its solid. it is pretty good. what say you? >> i mean it is pretty good. the positives we all love jobs growth. we're continuing to add jobs. 4.1%. can you imagine, stuart, we'll jump off a 4. is 1 unemployment rate with tax cuts. what will that do to the economy? i wish we would see wage inflation. that is lagging. labor force participation rate could do a better. all in all, b, b-plus. i would like those things being better. who doesn't like jobs. this is a great spot to start off with the tax cut. stuart: okay. ashley: what is interesting, the trend there is jobs out there. there is lack of skilled labor for those jobs. businesses are taking people on, paying them less, train them up over first six months. bring their wages up. that is continuing problem. not enough skills in the labor force. stuart: manufacturing up 31,000. liz: that's correct. stuart: 1000 new highs in manufacturing. that is pretty good number. i have to get to bitcoin. sorry but i do. i don't particularly care it. a company called steam. perhaps the biggest online gaming site. you negative heard of it. but. ashley: 67 million monthly users. that is a huge number. stuart: this out feet, steam, no longer accepts bitcoin for payment. because, high fees, volatility. is this canary in the coal mine, john? >> i think it is. i think the biggest bubble of this generation. there is value there. cryptocurrencys may work. bitcoin may be the cryptocurrency works but i don't see it any way this is worth $16,000. stuart: i hear you rumbling, scott. what do you say? >> i have toe look from regulator's point of view. that is big selling point. seamless from person-to-person, no central bank involved. but, stuart, here is my big problem. what ultimately could be undoing, this smells like a great place for money laundering. that will be something these governments will have to take notice of. stuart: they will start regulating and that thing might take a hit. might, do, i don't know but it might. there are the dow winners at moment. there are big winners there. microsoft up 2%. boeing up over 1%. i have apple up nearly 1%. goldman sachs is up. cisco systems up. big gainers on the dow this morning. now the three biggest gainers in the s&p over the past month are surprise, surprise, retailers. macy's gap, foot locker, top performers in the s&p over the last month. scott, this is surely a signal that we're going to have a really strong and spectacular holiday shopping season. >> yeah i think that is one of the signals. number two, that also signals even in bad times these retailers can do well and benefit from a great economy. so that's another way to look at it as well. ultimately stuart, they will still struggle. the numbers don't look good going into next year. i'm happy to see them come back. maybe they are coming back being beaten up. at end of the day reflection of economy will give them a little bit of life. the fact they have been on their niece so long. stuart: what do you say, john? >> macy's was doubled two years ago. foot locker much higher. gap was much higher. this is dead-cat bounce. they are under pressure from amazon and walmart. they are in more trouble. this is bounce, because they have sunk so low. stuart: got it. look at the big board. we've stablized after five minutes worth of business. we stablized at a gain of 66 points for the dow industrials. that puts us at 24,278. general let trick, as we told you yesterday, 12,000 job cuts in the power unit. we have this coming to us this morning. one analyst firm suggests that ge could go up, the stock that is, 50%. why? because their health care and aviation businesses are worth a great deal of money, if they sell them off, their stock will go up. ashley: they say the units alone are worth 21 bucks a share. throw in ge, power, lighting, baker hughes, all the rest, value comes from individual businesses. >> if goes up 50%, back to $25. what it was before talk about dividends. stuart: a awful lot of people bottom fish at 1, 18. >> i bottom fished at 18. stuart: you have upside market across the board. ge up two cents. >> no longer the barometer of the economy unfortunately but i think it's a good buy at this level. stuart: you don't have buyers remorse? >> not yet. stuart: customers of amazon's whole foods unit, complaining, some of them about low-quality produce and they blame amazon. who is making complaints? liz: business insider sent people out to look at stores. barclays did same thing before thanksgiving. found bruised, discolored, rotten produce. missing turkeys before thanksgiving. regularly out of basic produce items. what is the business model here? is whole foods being used as distribution center and showcase for amazon fire and kindle products? are they stinting on quality? when companies lose their way it has dramatic impact. saw it happen at jcpenney, saw it happen at the gap. they have to stick to vision of whole foods is, high-quality products. are they stinting? are they cutting back on labor? those are questions being raised by whole foods right now. stuart: i want to deal with this real quickly. you're the person to deal with this chipotle is giving away free queso. liz: they're saying cheese is the way back to growth. this company lost 2/3 of their market value over last year or so. analysts are saying this 50 billion-dollar stock, crashed to 8 billion in market value. giving away free side of queso, wearing cheese sweater, holiday sweater. person at counter will make that call. stuart: i don't want to spend a lot of time on queso, free or otherwise. new poll out, that the gop tax bill is not that popular. only 35% of us approve of the plan. what do you say about this? you know, unpopular tax cut, why? that is for you, scott. >> oh, sorry. you know what? i don't think there is anything really, unpopular tax cut, you can't say that. however i just think with how the republicans were beaten up so badly throughout the way with all the other things that really didn't make it through, there was kind after disappointment about, we are we really getting this? will it really happen. finally does happen. we heard about it so much, so far. i think consumer is tired. i'm sure they will be happy about it. but right now they're just headline weary i guess would be the right thing to say. stuart: john, we have what, 3.3% growth roughly at this moment. when tax cuts kick in can we get to 4%? >> i think we can. i agree with scott on politics. more people believe in big foot than this congress for very good reason. own both sides of chamber, white house, barely got tax cuts done. this is one of the most ineffective congresses in our history. liz: goldman sachs, .8% growth. you're right, it could get back to 4% growth. here is the message, nancy pelosi, chuck schumer, president obama, john kerry, said corporate tax reform to get job growth. they make that in the past. stuart: in the past. liz: what nancy pelosi said armageddon, biblical end times of tax cuts come in. take us deeply into debt. what else can you do but raise taxes. that is what nancy pelosi said. ashley: that is what the democrats do. stuart: yes, sir. we have very strong movers, look at big tech stocks, i notice microsoft is up very close to two dollars per share. i own it. i'm not talking up my own book here. just saying, it is up nearly two bucks. big techs across the board. very strong gains. alphabet up 1%. apple is up less than 1%. it is 170. facebook is back to 182, two dollars gain. what do you say there, justin? john, would you buy any of them? i've asked this question countless times, would you buy the big tex? >> i own facebook, amazon, google. i would not be buying more but not selling. stuart: you don't own microsoft? what is wrong with microsoft? >> i missed the boat on it. i should have boatbought it when you bought it. stuart: you don't think it is going higher? >> no. stuart: you talking down my retirement fund. >> 12billion dollars will come back overseas, shores up everything they are doing -- 128 billion. stuart: see big winners on dow 30. get me the screen back up. there are significant winners among the dow. microsoft we have got there. 284 on boeing. there is stock going up very strongly this year. apple, 170. dow stocks, boeing, apple, nike see, cisco, yes, microsoft all on the upside, very nicely. we've lost some of the gain. ashley: yeah. stuart: we're only up 30 points now. i wish i knew why. is there one big dow stock that is really down a lot? i'm trying to squint here. coke's down. proctor & gamble is down. walmart is down. goldman's down. travelers is down. american express is down. but i'm not quite sure why we've got a mere 30-point gain for the dow when futures were pointing much higher than that earlier on today. what else we got to deal with. show me any stocks where there is story behind them this morning. what have we got on our plate today? show me stocks moving please. i want to keep this -- nasdaq winners, please, show me those. we have got movement here today. i want to concentrate on that. micron, applied materials, activision, blizzard, that is gaming stock, isn't it? ashley: yes it is. stuart: any of those you like, read that screen. >> applied materials. i bought intel recently because of ai going into tech cars and ai in general. i think applied materials will do well in the new ai coming forward in the economy. stuart: show me nvidia. there is stock that doubled this year. pulled back. started moving back towards $200. that is bitcoin-related company. liz: they show the graphic cards to do the brute force math to do about it coin. stuart: went straight back up with the bitcoin rally. when volatility started nvidia pulled back significantly. now they're just below $200 per share. there you go. we're up to 193 on nvidia as we speak. that is a one dollar gain. the dow industrials now up 37 points. the s&p 500 on the upside. the nasdaq composite a very nice gain there. the technology stocks are doing very well this morning. and there you have it, the dow 24,248. that time, ladies and gentlemen, we have to say good-bye to scott shellady in london and john who joined us here in new york city. thanks for joining us. we appreciate night all right. stuart: we'll take a very short break and be back in a moment? no, we're still on the air. sorry i have to do that. dow up 35 points. what have you got for me producers, come on. i want to know. all right. nicole, youtube to launch a new music subscription service in march. tell me about it, please, nicole. >> we're watching google parent alphabet. that is up 3/4 of 1%. the big deal youtube is getting ready to launch a new music subscription. why are they doing this? they want to compete against spotify and apple music. we'll see what they're putting together. apparently remix by insiders. it will be on demand streaming. may be different than what they have already with youtube red which gives you enhanced experiences for video and musicwe'll see what they will do with this. third attempt. they're working with music companies. also they want to ultimately get this going by march. back to you. stuart: got it, nick comb. thank you very much indeed. -- nicole. 35 points up for the dow jones industrial average. i thought it would be more but we're up 35. i will take it. democrat congressman, one of them, house democratic leader nancy pelosi knew last year about sex harrassment allegations against them by a former campaign worker but continued to campaign for him regardless. liz: nevada congressman, he is freshman congressman rubin kihuen. he told abc news that the democrat party knew about these allegations against him of sexual assault. the party leadership knew about it a year ago but they still funded his campaign, quote, they still continued investing millions of dollars in my campaign. they went out there and actually campaigned for me. but the representatives for the democrat national committee and pelosi saying this is false. that they only learned of allegations last week. boy, this is touching off firestorm of protest against nancy pelosi now and what the leadership knew and when they knew it. democrats circled wagons, forced out those accused of sexual harrassment. point finger at roy moore and president trump. taking high ground. liz: you have to wonder if it was minnesota republican governor if this would have happened, right? stuart: i will not speculate, i know where you're going. i have a number for you. baby boomers could end up $227,000 richer if they stop bankrolling their adult children. charlie kirk with us from turning point usa. what is going on with this? i mean, my generation, i'm a baby boomer. yes, my generation has helped out our children whereas we didn't get help from our parents. is there a cultural switch here? >> without a doubt. one of the biggest issues, really into the root of the problem, is our educational system. you do have educated millenials, 28, 30, 35 years old. they're issue not studying degrees have any sort of relevancy in the 21st century job market. studyings middle east history is a good preparation for, back risa at starbucks. we have a people going far into debt studying things that do not matter to find jobs that do not exist. that is the core of the issue. stuart: i don't think we can ignore that debt there. is trillion dollars worth of student debt outstanding. there is a lot of millenials saddled with big-time debt. they look to parents to help them out. previous generation you didn't need parental help you didn't have that kind of debt. more than that. more than you have to help your kids. it's a cultural switch. my generation wants to keep them in the middle class, wants to help them. different culture. >> totally different culture. used to be this kind of rugged individualism. you will figure it out on your own. now almost if you're subsidizing the younger generation for another 10, 15 years at postgraduation. gets to the core point. are we preparing next generation to study things that matter so they can find jobs that exist. will we allow young people to fail. they have to make credit card bills. they have to figure out their life or is that subsidy going to continue. would i argue it is better for young people it live on their own and learn how to budget and live a little bit less at younger age better for long term. i seen it happen many, many times with young people in our generation. stuart: just wait until you have young people from your family emerging college. that is long way off, i know. harvard poll, only 25% of the millenials approve of job that president trump is doing. got an explanation? >> first i take notice with poll, harvard poll, famously wrong with every single poll that came up before the election a year ago. they said donald trump can't win ohio, can't win pennsylvania, can't win wisconsin. number one i know a lot of young people refuse to answer polls honestly. they don't trust the polls and closet trump supporters. i would say a lot of young people do support the president not reflected in the poll. people more likely to answer vocally in the polls, against the president, those people in support, they will say no thanks, i won't even answer this poll in general. this president has been phenomenal for young people. you look at increase in the stock market, unemployment is going down. increased economic activity. but i will say this, republican party need to do a much better job messaginging to the next generation, this president has done so well with the next generation, versus obama kind of economic model which was total disaster for our generation. stuart: charlie kirk, turning point guy. thanks for joining us this morning. still ahead on this program today. naomi judd, big star in country music, she will join us later in the program. her daughter, ashley judd, was one of the first big names to bank silence about sexual harrassment. she joins us at 11:45 had morning. walk into apartment building in new york city, tons of amazon boxes. that means delays for shippers like ups. not sure the connection there but we'll be back. being proactive... it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. that's it. i'm calling kohler about their walk-in bath. nah. not gonna happen. my name is ken. how may i help you? hi, i'm calling about kohler's walk-in bath. excellent! happy to help. huh? hold one moment please... [ finger snaps ] hmm. the kohler walk-in bath features an extra-wide opening and a low step-in 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 walk-in bath comes with fully adjustable hydrotherapy jets and our exclusive bubblemassage. everything is installed in as little as a day by a kohler-certified installer. and it's made by kohler- america's leading plumbing brand. we need this bath. yes. yes you do. a kohler walk-in bath provides independence with peace of mind. call to save $500 off bath walls with your walk-in bath, or visit kohlerwalkinbath.com for more info. retail. under pressure like never before. and it's connected technology that's moving companies forward fast. e-commerce. real time inventory. virtual changing rooms. that's why retailers rely on comcast business to deliver consistent network speed across multiple locations. every corporate office, warehouse and store near or far covered. leaving every competitor, threat and challenge outmaneuvered. comcast business outmaneuver. stuart: bombshell from ups earlier this week. they warned of shipping delays because of what they said was an unprecedented surge of online shopping. che wong with us, the ceo of boxed. i will call that the online version of costco. good morning. >> good morning. happy friday. murray christmas, everyone. stuart: thank you. you are the online version of costco. >> certain extent. more so for millenials who don't have car to access wholesale club. stuart: what do you do when you're a shipper, i know you ship stuff by ups, what do you do? >> you take the phone and scream to the phone. overwhelmingly response to online shopping, another record cyber monday, another record black friday. just capacity isn't there amongst all shippers. everyone is delayed in their shipments. a lot of apologies to customers. luckily 94 of our customers get packages in two days or less anyway. not like a week-long delay or anything like. stuart: not like you're delivering christmas gift. >> not really. we have more and more general merchandise this season. but we specialize in eessentials, large format items. sexy items like toilet paper and paper towels, stuff like that. stuart: is this amazon's fault? they're shipping so much, demand is so strong they're crowding out upss of this world is it their fault? >> i blame everything on bitcoin. i'm kidding. i blame everything on bitcoin. esoterically amazon did drive folks to purchase online. groundswell every year you're setting records, every year for online businesses. stuart: this year in particular, add a line. >> this year has been bad for us, i think everyone. it is just, there is nothing the network can literally do, unless i get in a car drive it myself, which i have done in previous years. haven't done it this year next. maybe that is future segment i deliver a package. stuart: any way to give me numbers? i know you're not publicly-traded company so you don't have to tell me, rough terms how much is your online business, that is what you are, how much are you up compared to last year at this time? >> we've done in our business we've done, peak periods like this, done for example, over million dollars a day in revenue for us. and so that's quite good. stuart: never done that before? >> we had never done that before until some of the peaks this year so -- it is pretty crazy. i'm on the show and it is surreal for me. first year i was here we did $40,000 sales in my garage. stuart: how many -- >> that was four months, four months ago. stuart: four years ago. >> four years ago was my first appearance on the show. now i have a suit. stuart: this is fascinating. four years ago, you were working at out of your garage, shipping 40,000 bucks worth of product. >> a year. stuart: a year. four years later, how many distribution -- got one big distribution center. >> we have one big one but have multiple ones around the country. between offices and dcs and fcs we have six across the u.s. stuart: you're shipping how much? >> quite a bit these days. stuart: 200 million? >> it is nine figures. it is up there. first figure is between one and a nine. one day we'll be public. you can bust my chops every 90 days. stuart: we're waiting for that. thank you, sir. thank you very much. one year after the election what do you see? strong economic growth, hope of prosperity, in my opinion it is getting better next year. back in a moment with my opinion. ♪ see that's funny, i thought you traded options. i'm not really a wall street guy. what's the hesitation? eh, it just feels too complicated, you know? well sure, at first, but jj can help you with that. jj, will you break it down for this gentleman? hey, ian. you know, at td ameritrade, we can walk you through your options trades step by step until you're comfortable. i could be up for that. that's taking options trading from wall st. to main st. hey guys, wanna play some pool? eh, i'm not really a pool guy. what's the hesitation? it's just complicated. step-by-step options trading support from td ameritrade . . stuart: one year after the election look at the economy and what do you see? much stronger economic growth, very low unemployment, rising wages. sure looks like america is now on the road to prosperity but we are only just getting started. the immediate future holds great promise of even better things to come. now, look, this is my opinion, it's not based on economic modeling, it's based on the economic trends which we report daily. the holiday shopping season, it's in high gear and all the evidence points to a very strong performance. people are spending, doesn't matter whether they are spending in the mall or online, they are spending more than any time in a decade, that's a classic signal of growth, after the holidays, new year will get a boost from tax cuts, i'm assuming we will get a tax deal if we don't all bets are off. starting january the first, tens of millions of people will get a bigger paycheck, that's what economists call stimulus, the economy is stimulated with extra spendable money. businesses face a much lower tax bill, they get to keep more of profit, that's more stimulus, throw in heavy-duty spending on infrastructure, the plan won't be unveiled next month and we are looking at an economy that's getting a lot more juice and soon. little history from the day that ronald reagan's tax cuts took effect to the day he left office, the economy grew at a better than 4% flip, the growth agenda restored prosperity. in my opinion u we are seeing the same thing unfold right now. the economy is up and running and here comes more stimulus unless we are hit by unexpected and uncontrollable event, we are about to experience something unseen for decades, 4% growth, expansion, capitalist is bigger, prosperity. second hour of varney & company is about to begin. ♪ ♪ stuart: where are we now? 32 minutes into the session this friday morning, 54 points on the dow, 24,260. we just received consumer sentiment? >> down from november and down from october where we hit a 13-year high. having said all of that, consumers at 96.8, that still says they are optimistic but not as gang busters as the last couple of months, missing just a little bit but i like to be glass half full but still optimistic. stuart: we will take that. look who is joining us gary cohn, chief economic adviser to president trump, gary, welcome back to the program, good to see you, sir. >> thanks for having me. stuart: tax cuts, looks like they are going to be done by christmas or by new years, does that mean that your job is done and you're moving on soon? >> absolutely not. president trump has a robust economic agenda and i'm really excited to be part of it. we have a lot to do in the new year, we have to get to infrastructure, we have welfare reform, we still have a deregulation agenda going on, we've got a lot to do, stuart, we are just getting started. stuart: okay, tell me about the negotiations that are going on now about the final version of the tax cut deal, we hear there's a possibility that you'll move the top corporate tax rate to 22% and that helps you get rid of some of the deduction for state and local taxes, not get rid of deduction, but bring it back a little bit. could there be that kind of deal? >> so, stuart, you know exactly where we are. think of where we are. think of the unprecedented event that's going on in the country right now, something that hasn't happened in 31 years that president trump will deliver as you said as great christmas present to the american public. we have a bill through the senate and through the house, both have passed with a 20% corporate tax rate, right now the conference committee is working to conference the differences between the two bills, there's no difference in the two bills on the corporate tax rate, so right now we are stuck at the 20%, not stuck, we are stuck at a great level of 20% in the corporate tax rate. that makes us really competitive with the rest of the world, it's going to drive business back to the united states, it's going to drive real wage growth, when you look at the unemployment report today, the one number in there that sticks out that's not a number, it's a great number, the rest of the numbers is the wage growth number. we really need to drive wages in this country, the president has committed to the public that he's going to work to drive wage growth, the tax reform policy is going to be the tool to drive wage growth in the country. stuart: so therefore state and local tax deduction is gone and even middle class, high-income earners, middle-class people in new jersey, new york and california and illinois, they are going to be paying more, aren't they? >> well, stuart, in the conference we are open to other solutions, you know, as we have made it very clear to you, the white house layed out a broad brush outline of principles with the group of six, the president had very few bright lines and very flexible on everything else. there are fiction that -- fixest the house and senate for the salt states. stuart: forgive me to jump in. the wall street journal had editorial saying, you could fix the problem for the high-taxed states if you just lowered the top rate of income tax even more. currently you want to bring it down 1 point, if you bring it down to 35%, it's not a problem. >> the president is not opposed to that. the president is not opposed to bringing the top rate down. but we have to make sure that our businesses are equally as competitive because the businesses competitive will drive wage growth and we have to drive wage growth as well. maybe we can do both of us. maybe we can keep the corporate rate down and drop the top rate. stuart: i think you're making news there, gary, if you did that, i mean, you really would light up the sky, that would be very appealing to california, illinois, new jersey, new york city, new york state, connecticut, massachusetts, they'd love you. >> well, we are trying to do the best for american citizen and businesses small and big and make comptive and drive wages and deliver to the citizens of the country that they deserve. stuart: are you selling the plan very well, we have a poll that only 35% of the people approve of the plan, there it is, 35%, that's a very low number, are you selling it properly? >> is that the same people that polled the election? [laughter] >> what do polls tell us these days? we don't really trust these polls, when you're out talking to people, people will be excited when they see their paycheck be bigger, when they get a paycheck is bigger, they'll be very excited about that. stuart: i want you to tell us again because i want to make news, i really do, i want you to tell us again that you're at least thinking about dropping the top rate of federal income tax down to 35%, you're at least thinking about it? >> stuart, look, the conference committee in the house and senate is working on delivering fixes for the salt states, they have the ability to drop top rate, the president will be supportive of that. stuart: okay, that's a sound bite, mr. cohn and used a lot. thanks very much. now paul ryan in that radio interview two days ago has said the republicans will tackle welfare reform and maybe rein in medicare next year, it's kind of setting on the third rail of american politics, real danger there? >> i think when we get into next year we have two big items on our agenda that the president is firmly behind, he's firmly behind infrastructure and he's firmly behind welfare reform. we stand for both of them. we need to improve our infrastructure, i've talk today you many times before, deregulation, tax reform, and infrastructure and we also believe that welfare reform and making people who can work work and we training our workforce is going to be very important as we continue to grow our economy with the tax reform and the deregulation, we are going to need to bring everyone back into the workforce and we training our workforce is going to be very important and welfare reform is going to be part of that. stuart: can you give us a hint as to how big the infrastructure plan might be, i know details are coming next month, give us a hint. >> the most important thing we can do is to speed up the approval process. president trump talked about this during the summer, it takes nine to ten years to get a highway approved. we need to speed that process up to make it less than two years to get a highway approved. there's plenty of money in the system, states have money, cities have money, federal government has money, there's private sector money, we need to get that money out and we need to get it spent, we can't tie up that money for ten years while the approval process winds it's way through the government. stuart: you're a democrat, i believe, you certainly were a democrat, president obama he wants to take some of the credit for the strong economy that we got in the first year of the trump administration, as a democrat, do you think president obama has a point there? >> stuart, i'm laughing, you notice -- i don't know if i can stop laughing to answer the question. i don't even know where to start with that one. you know, look look, look at what president trump has done. we've had two consecutive quarters of 3% gdp, we will have another quarter, look at what we have done in manufacturing, we have created since president trump got elected 16,000 manufacturing jobs every month, last year in the obama administration for the year they lost 16,000 manufacturing jobs. yes, the stock market went up a little bit during the obama administration but it went up because it have a carried trade, people bought stocks because the dividend yield was higher than bond yield. right now look at the stock market up 30%, more than 30% in certain indices since president trump got elected. they are buying stocks not because it's a yield but people are bullish on the economy and excited on what's going on here. you look at employment. look at business leaders, you talk today business leaders, i talked to business leaders, nfib came up with numbers the other day on how excited business owners are to hire people, over 50% of them are hiring people and can't find people in the workforce, the numbers are just staggering. this wasn't happening a year ago. i ran a business a year ago, a year ago all we were doing spending money and time dealing with regulation and being worried about the federal government, now businesses are being -- are excited to invest capital and work with the federal government. stuart: you spent more time answering that question than any one that i asked this morning. no wonder you're laughing. next one, 4% growth next year? yes? >> yes, sir. we were supposed to be 4% if it weren't for hurricane. we are continuing to see growth and continue to go see job growth with the tax plan, we are going to easily 4% growth next year. stuart: gary cohn, we appreciate you being with us as always. >> my pleasure, stuart. thanks for having me. stuart: check the big tech stocks, please, they have been doing well, very well today as a matter of fact. they had a rough week last week. they have certainly bounced back. apple is on the upside, they have some recommendations from analyst, all of them with very solid gains as we approach what looks like a very strong holiday season. marriott raising dividend, what impact on the stock up 1 and a half percent, don't forget general electric, we have an analyst saying saying that stocd go up 50% in the very near future, that's what he or she says, i'm not sure the gender there, ge still at $17 per share. gun makers falling, smith&wisson, two and a half year low, all of them on the downside today. much more for you. another fbi official demoted over the trumps dossier contact. small business that's taking on, mench on the bench, the alternative to elf on the shelf celebrating 5-year anniversary. it's catching all around the world, apparently, we will have some fun with this one, that video from elf yourself app featuring -- i didn't see this. [laughter] >> oh, my goodness. >> look at you breaking the move there. ashley: nice. stuart: we will be back, ladies and gentlemen. [laughter] ♪ ♪ " the financial advisor was able to work with this client. he's now on track to retire when he's 65. having someone coach you through it is really the value of a financial advisor. stuart: well, seems that interview with gary cohn did not move the market despite him talking about maybe thinking about lowering the top rate for individuals, we are up 25 points. that's it. 24,235. price of oil is at $57 a barrel and the price of gold continues to fall, we are now below, i think, 12.50 per ounce on the price of gold, they have it 12.51 to be precise. president trump moments ago speaking about roy moore, here it is, last thing about making great america again agenda needs democrat in senate, the pelosi,-schumer puppet jones would vote against us 100% of the time, bad on crime, life, border, guns and military, vote roy moore, wow. joining us now is tammy, fox news contributor, that's a full-throated endorsement to roy moore which means that bearing in mind the allegations against him he is now around the gop's neck, that's what the democrats are going to say. >> i think i saw that as more of a full-throated rejection can still of the liberal agenda and how it's harmed the country. i think all of us who prefer and certainly the president endorse luther strange, this is not his first choice but in the midst of revolution and that seems to be taking precedent for the president as it should, his agenda. stuart: democrats will never let him forget it, ever. >> al franken is a good example of that, headlines are that al franken resigned and they wanted him to because of their entire history of supporting sexual like bill clinton. he said that he would in some weeks, 104 weeks, does he mean two, in the meantime he's there, he's not left and so the headlines are interesting and what that tells me is there's still no leadership in the democratic party that despite all of those calls for him to resign, he got up there and it was a sucker punch, he complained, he didn't apologize u he wined about the president and about roy moore and then he said, you know, i will eventually leaf some day and that's unfortunate because now for the democrats, they do have him there and what they wanted was to say, our hands are clean and the republicans' hands are not in the midst of the revolution the american people including alabamans want the agenda to move forward, they know their families lives matter and that's what's at stake here. stuart: tell me about due process, we have two more people forced out, resigned fired. i have trent franks, republican from arizona, spoke with two women about surrogate mothers, he's been fired, do people who are accused of being -- of sexual misconduct, do they get due prodmeses this environment? >> that's word that's used twice in the constitution and, of course, it's referring to legal process. stuart: yeah. >> it's a direction to the government to not mez with the rule of law, the today show or morgan stanley are not government entities and yet, of course, we want there to be fairness, america wants there to be fairness. in both the trent franks and everyone in the news, this has been a known situation. for trent, discussion over a period of time that there was a problem and now so much so that even paul ryan said that he should resign and for mr. ford, there was an actual investigation at morgan stanley, it was extensive and they fired him. he says he's going to sue them and the woman accusing him. we will see if he does. there's due process when there's a legal dynamic in the corporate world there's risk of -- let me put it this way, this has been a correction in the corporate world when it comes to behavior, there's been a fear about you might get fired if you're flirting with someone, that hasn't been happening, certainly not in big cases, what we do need to make sure that there's no guys who make a mistake or being jerks versus predators and i think that we are still taking that very seriously. stuart: got it, hold on for a second. we have a break-in, brand-new live images of the wild fires coming out of los angeles county. look at that. a lot of smoke right there. 100,000 people in the los angeles area have evacuated, 100,000 there and the danger of fire continues throughout the weekend we are told. the winds are starting to slow down a little. they are dying down just a little. we have an update from the ground there just moments away. president obama taking credit or trying to take credit for our robust economy, he says, thanks, obama. we are going to ask a reasonable democrat doug what he thinks of that. real-time analytics, you'll get clear, actionable alerts about potential investment opportunities in real time. fidelity. open an account today. stuart: wild fires, the video is dreadful. still right there in southern california and our own will carl in ventura county. you got very close to the fire, is that right, will? >> yeah, we did, stuart. at this point stuart, four fires in southern california, now there are six including the thomas fire behind us. we were on the front lines, take a look at what we have been seeing. raced down the hillside in just the past couple of minutes, they have being fanned by the fierce winds we've had throughout the course of the day. you can see that they are eating everything in their path. now the reason this is such a concern is because on this side of the pacific coast highway you have a number of beach homes, you can see just how close all of these flames are. there are fighters on the other side spraying these down, trying to do everything that they can to protect this community. >> we are very grateful for the fire department and all of the fire departments, state and out of state, they are all here helping us. we never dreamt it would be back here again. we thought we were safe last night. >> of course, this is all depending on the winds and there are strong winds in the forecast throughout the course of the weekend, stuart. stuart: so much, indeed, will carl right there, a potential bombshell in the house, one democrat representative says nancy pelosi knew about the sexual harassment allegations against him, but still supported him anyway. we are on it, back in a second. ♪ today we're out here to test people's knowledge about type 2 diabetes. so you have type 2 diabetes? yes i do. true or false... type 2 diabetes more than doubles your chance of dying from a cardiovascular event, like a heart attack or a stroke. that can't be true, can it? actually, it is true. and with heart disease, your risk is even higher. in fact, cardiovascular disease is the #1 cause of death for adults with type 2 diabetes and heart disease. but there is good news. jardiance is the only type 2 diabetes pill with a lifesaving cardiovascular benefit. jardiance is proven to both significantly reduce the chance of dying from a cardiovascular event in adults who have type 2 diabetes and heart disease and lower your a1c. that's good to know. jardiance can cause serious side effects including dehydration. this may cause you to feel dizzy, faint, or lightheaded, or weak upon standing. ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may be fatal. symptoms include nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, tiredness, and trouble breathing. stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of ketoacidosis or an allergic reaction. symptoms of an allergic reaction include rash, swelling, and difficulty breathing or swallowing. do not take jardiance if you are on dialysis or have severe kidney problems. other side effects are sudden kidney problems, genital yeast infections, increased bad cholesterol, and urinary tract infections, which may be serious. taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if you have any medical conditions. isn't it time to talk to your doctor about jardiance? absolutely. ask your doctor about jardiance. and get to the heart of what matters. stuart: you know, we had a pretty strong job's report today. we've got the prospect of pretty strong growth next year but we still only have a 40-point gain for the dow industrials, 24,251. if you look at the big-tech stocks, different story, they are all coming back very nicely. facebook, amazon, microsoft, apple, all of them on upside, specially microsoft, i own it, up nearly 2 bucks a share. justice official demoted this time over trump dossier contacts. congressman, i have been calling this a deep-state conspiracy going on without getting into the weeds, what do you say? >> oh, my gosh, you know what a year i would have thought that's nuts but as we look into this i completely agree with you and it should be so concerning to the american people and honestly, stuart, there's more that we are going to be able to reveal and when people learn more and more they are going to ask themselves, we need to appoint a special counsel to look at our own fbi and to look at our own department of justice. there's so much there that is disturbing. stuart: congressman, do you know something that the rest of us don't know yet because it's not yet been made public? >> yeah, we do know some things, when we are able to reveal that and we will have to be able to reveal that because the american people deserve to know, they are going to be extraordinarily frustrated and they should be angry. once again, we have the department of justice, the fbi that is supposed to be a nonpolitical organization. they're not supposed to pick and choose winners and politics, they are not suppose today prefer one party over the other and very clearly some of these very senior people in the fbi appear to be doing that. stuart: congressman, are you telling us that you have more evidence of people bureaucrats burrowing into the federal bureaucracy, obama holdovers who are antitrump and promoting an antitrump agenda from within the government, you have more evidence of this? >> we have evidence and we will be able to tell the american people that when they learn that they are going to have questions and they are going to demand answers along the lines of what you just described. stuart: can you give us any kind of hint? that is tantalizing to some degree, congressman. >> i'm a tantalizing person. stuart: you can't say anymore but that's quite a tease of future meant events. >> i don't mean it to drive attention, i mean to emphasize this fact. you know, i was one of the early advocates, one of the very first people on committee that we need a special counsel, now i look at the special counsel and i think he was the last person in the world who should have been selected for this job and then we learn about some of the actions of the director of the fbi and those closely associated with him and look in the last week, we learned that they were meeting with fusion gps, they refused to tell congress about that, you know, we learned about these ticses which i can tell you that we are anxious to read and we have been trying to get that information for months, we were stonewalled for months, we continue to be stonewalled on some of the information and you have to ask yourself why, what is it that they are trying to hide? why won't they be more forth coming with the american people? stuart: okay, i think you've told us what you possibly can so i will move onto another subject, if i may. congressman jack keane, four-star general on the show the other day, he says we have a military readiness problem, actually a crisis, roll tape. >> you know, stuart, we have got a military readiness crisis, it's been the beyond, 50, 60, 70% of the aircraft are down and not flying depending on what service we are talking about. 50% of that fleet b-1 bomber fleet is down for maintenance, we are short 2,000 pilots, we are short thousands of mechanics. stuart: i think you have some experience in the area? >> i do. i flew the b-1, these are my father's wings, our history in the military is from a long time. it truly is a crisis, unfortunately in many ways t a crisis in our own making on going on seven or eight years, we simply haven't funded military adequately. think about that, the b-1, one of the most sophisticated weapon systems in the world, intensive effort to keep them flying mission capable and you have half of them, half of them sitting in the ramps unable to fly and it's not just the b-1, you can say the same thing across the air fleet and same thing on naval forces and about our army bre gaits, the american people have to understand what precarious situation. the two just don't fit together. stuart: okay, congressman chris stewart, that was quite an interview on a variety of subjects. merry christmas, sir, we will see you again soon. thank you. earlier today on this program gary cohn national economic council director, he talked about the possibility of the top -- the corporate tax rate being lowered to 22%, well, making it 22% as opposed to 20%, that would make room for some state and local tax deduction, roll that tape. okay, i'm sorry, we don't have the sound bite for you. i want to bring in another subject about which gary kone talked about and that was, he was mentioning the possibility that the top income tax rate for individuals would come down to 35%, currently supposed to be 38 or 39%, this would be a way of allowing people in high-taxed states to mitigate the adverse effects of losing the state and local tax deduction. bring it down to 35 as oppose to keeping it at 38. that gentleman right there is dan, heritage action for america vice president and, sir, i would like your reaction to this discussion of bringing the top rate down to 35%? you'd love it, wouldn't you? >> yeah, i think one of the things that we have seen throughout the process is that republicans were put in a box, some of that was because we have members of the house and members of the senate that don't want sweeping rate reduction or others the budget rules that they have to comply with, but in the course of conference if we are getting marginal rates further down and we are not doing bad policy to cause that, that's encouraging thing and hopefully the conference makes more progrowth and letting people keep more of the money, that would be a good thing. stuart: how about corporate tax rate going to 22%, for whatever reason, how do you feel about that? >> yeah, this is one of those things, if you were raising the corporate tax rate up from the 20% where it currently is in the bills to make that go higher because you are having some sort of provers incentive, maybe state and local tax deduction coming back in some sort or fashion, that's not great policy. there's concern here by going to conference doing a lot of this stuff sort of that we get pieces of rumors on, we are making bad trade-offs, hopefully that's not the case, hopefully they are working to get rates down for everybody across the board without sacrificing policy gains that were made throughout the process. stuart: we have roughly 3% growth, we just got a pretty strong job's report, tax cuts that will kick in early next year and infrastructure plan coming, you think we can get to 4% growth next year? >> certainly gary cohn seemed optimistic about it. hopefully we can get there. i'm a little bit concerned that i didn't hear gary cohn the need to address obamacare next year. if it's one thing that's going to haul back economic prosperity and security for middle-class americans is that obamacare is going to continue to hang over their head. i think we really have to get that addressed in the early part of next year if we want to see sustained growth and economic security in the country. stuart: individual mandate is going to go, isn't it? the individual mandate is going? >> the individual mandate is going to be wiped away in tax bill and that's a very good thing the problem is that people are still going to be buying plans, the only plans left have the absurd regulation that is obamacare put on what insurance products could be that drive up costs. so you're making people, giving them the choice to buy plans that don't fit what they need because insurance are not allowed to sell plans other than that. that's the the plan we have to address. stuart: we look forward next year and hopefully 4% growth. by the way, dow industrials holding onto 46-point gain, the rest of the screen is former president obama, he is taking credit for the economic recovery. doug sean is with us, contributor, still a democrat. in all seriousness do you think that president obama deserves some credit for what we are seeing in the economy this year? >> i'm hard to give it to him given that growth was so tepid, there was no focus on job creation, the health care bill, obamacare was a job-killer and frankly his policies really were more designed to be -- redistributed than progrowth. it's tough for me to give him much credit. stuart: would you give credit to president trump? >> let's put it this way, it's early in the administration to give him as much credit as he might want but given the growth that we have seen the progrowth atmosphere that we see and the efforts of the tax cut not yet finished but certainly headed in a direction to produce progrowth policies, certainly i have to give him real credit for creating a climate for growth and if we get something close to 4%, then i will be the first one as a democrat to give him credit. stuart: as a democrat i want to talk about nancy pelosi. >> sure. stuart: because we've got a nevada democrat, he says nancy pelosi knew about the sexual harassment allegations hymn while running for office but she still supported him? she's been all over the place on the sexual harassment charges. >> here is what i would say and i want parse my words pretty carefully. i thought it was the right thing for franken to go but it was a real rush to judgment and as i listened to him and i'm no fan of al franken, i did have a degree of sympathy that the ethics process didn't have a chance to play out and he was run out but the question i would ask about nancy pelosi, what's different from covering up, tolerating in a certain sense facilitating a sexual harasser like the nevada democrat, what's different from that and what franken himself did? what franken did is pretty bad but facilitating or confiscating the behavior of a harasser arguably is just as bad. look, there have been challenges to nancy pelosi. my best recommendation to my party and, yes, stuart, still my party, that if we take over and we still have a good chance to do that that nancy pelosi not be the leader going forward. stuart: okay, we've got it. doug sean. next hour, this is,neomi judd, ashley was one of the first to speak out against harvey weinstein, we will get the full story right there. mensch on the bench like elf on the shelf. it's been a remarkable success story. they'll join us, the elf and its makers after this. ashley: secretary of the interior ryan zinke joined us in the last hour and asked him about the possibility of drilling for oil in public land in utah, roll tape. >> i'm a geologist, there's no oil and gas asset that is we know of, scientists, it's not about energy, it's about public land belong to the public and not special interests. we had a report last year looking at hunting is down and why is hunting down? a lot of it is access has been taken away, it's more difficult and not everyone has five days to go in three lines and not have a game card. there's a lot of america that has a weekend and we are opening it up access, hunting and fishing ability for americans to use their land. that's the argument, it's not stealing land, that's nefarious, false. i'm a small business, but i have... big dreams... and big plans. so how do i make the efforts of 8 employees... feel like 50? how can i share new plans virtually? how can i download an e-file? virtual tours? zip-file? really big files? in seconds, not minutes... just like that. like everything... the answer is simple. i'll do what i've always done... dream more, dream faster, and above all... now, i'll dream gig. now more businesses, in more places, can afford to dream gig. comcast, building america's largest gig-speed network. stuart: check all the markets for you, price of gold, 12.50, down 3 bucks as we speak. now that senator al franken will be leaving the senate, what happens next, minnesota congressman eric bolton joins us now. congressman u lay us out the procedure here, when senator franken leaves, then what happens? okay. i think we have an audio problem right there. doesn't look like congressman can hear me, i will try again, congressman, can you hear me now? apparently not. okay. we will try to restore audio, meanwhile i will tell everybody that the dow industrials are up 57 points, not bad, i was hoping for a lot more. ashley: you were hoping for a big rally specially on the strong solid numbers. stuart: where have i gone wrong? what's keeping the market now? liz: i think it's sausage-making in dc. ashley: we haven't seep the final version of the tax bill so they are keeping -- stuart: nice piece of tap dancing. thank you very much, indeed. congressman can now hear me, is that correct, sir? >> good to be with you. stuart: give me the procedure here, senator franken says he's going the leave the senate in coming weeks, all right, then what happens, take me through it? >> well, we've had a little bit of earthquake obviously with the resignation of senator franken, bottom line focus in washington is getting tax reform across the finish line, good bill in the house and in the senate and i don't think we are going to let any of the my cases of any seat change that but we are going to move forward to make sure we are going to keep the job's report good next month and more people online. stuart: democrat governor of minnesota, your state appoints a fill-in so to speak for senator franken, right, that's what happens as soon as he leaves the senate and then they'll be an election next november, are you running for that seat? >> i'm not planning on running right now. we have not talked about that at all. this is all new news. we have to make sure that we get tax reform across the finished line. we worked six years in the house and one two weeks away from having a final bill finished and completed. so being on the ways and means committee is a chance to get some work done. i want to make sure we see that to completion and we have other issues to work on, welfare in the future or spending priorities right with a balance budget. stuart: i know that you don't want to talk about this but i have to bring it up, president trump again endorsed very strongly roy moore today and he's going to pensacola right there on the alabama state line later on today. now, i think that roy moore is going to be around the gop's neck and the democrats will exploit that, you see it that way too? >> well, from my perspective, i think we should have a zero tolerance on this. i don't think roy moore should be on the ballot. you know, alabama will died that in the next election but i think you portray that fairly accurately and i just don't he should be on the ballot. stuart: are we going to get the tax deal done by christmas or new years, which it? >> i'm going to project we will get it done by christmas. i think you're seeing the conference committee taking two strong bills. i think it's only going to get better going forward, i think we will have a window of seven days to 10 days to have this completed. it'll be done before christmas, i feel like our coferees are having done by christmas. stuart: thanks for joining us, we do appreciate it. >> thank you. >> the mensch is here. walking down the hallway as we speak. that would be mensch on the bench. we will be right back. ♪ ♪ retail. under pressure like never before. and it's connected technology that's moving companies forward fast. e-commerce. real time inventory. virtual changing rooms. that's why retailers rely on comcast business to deliver consistent network speed across multiple locations. every corporate office, warehouse and store near or far covered. leaving every competitor, threat and challenge outmaneuvered. comcast business outmaneuver. stuart: you remember mensch on the bench, the creator neil hoffman joins us now. >> this is five years just like hanukkah was a miracle, i'm hoping eight years with you. stuart: maybe you will get that. financial program, how much business have you done in the five areas of your existence? >> when i first met you we had done $100,000 in sales, we have done over $3 million in sales. stuart: you have some product, new product with you, i'm looking at the far-right there. that's draddle dog. >> draddle, dalmation and hidden compartment that can hold your draddle, perfect to cuddle and hanukkah. stuart: that looks like a sharp-edged jewish relative that i may or may not have. >> this is ask bubbe, she gives advice, are we going to pass tax reform by christmas? don't do that. >> it's the voice of my own aunt in florida. she's not playing a character. the character is, in fact, my aunt. stuart: next one. >> the mensch on the bench. over a hundred thousand families have mensch right now. tradition to hanukkah. stuart: is it the same as the christian version, elf on the shelf? >> i love their product and family, they are doing magical traditions but it's vehicular, our is pretty religious, we are trying to go back to jewish heritage, so we talk about playing dradle jewish, you give presents instead of receive them, bring back to religion. stuart: you made it back with us five years in a row, you must be doing something right. >> i will see you next year for sure. stuart: appreciate it. they'll be more varney after this. . . . . . stuart: lindsey vonn is an american. she is a champion skier. she is headed for the winter olympics. but she says she will be representing the u.s., not specifically, not president trump. she has fon out of her way to take a shot at the president. she doesn't like him. many act these have done something similar. whether refusing to visit the white house or sharply criticizing the president during the anthem protests. and then you turn to politics, and the latest example of this dissing of the president comes from civil rights hero, and he is a hero, john lewis. he refuses to attend the opening of the civil rights museum if president trump is there. it was former president obama who delivered perhaps the nastiest barb in chicago. he likened america now to nazi germany in the 1930's. he didn't use hitler's name. it is clear he is linking to the fuhrer then to the president now. they don't have a growth plan. we're on the road to prosperity again. mr. trump who got us there, not nancy pelosi, chuck schumer, hillary clinton or barack obama. as trump forges ahead, the left gets more desperate, and therefore, more extreme. but if you want our objective view of the president and his policies look no further than the stock market. investors couldn't care less if athletes actors, hollywood and democrats think badly about our president. they just want to know if we'll return to prosperity with donald j. trump in the oval office. after the biggest rally in decades, the owns is clearly a resounding yes -- the answer. the third hour of "varney & company" is about to bin. ♪ stuart: as you heard there i believe that the left has contempt for president trump. joining us now, karl rove, fox news contributor. karl, i think it is because they are desperate. what say you? >> well, i think they are over the top and i think it is large part because they don't have a program of their own of the lack of growth agenda and your agenda is single-payer health care for america and that is it, and you don't have comprehensive agenda that speaks to the desires around businesses of middle america that is where the democrats are. their program is resistant to trump, anger against trump, it feeds on itself the more over the top the better for the republicans and president. at some point they will wake up from their stupidity but probably not for a while. stuart: that is strong word there, karl. very strong. >> it is stupid. parties that lose elections generally try to get back on their feet, examining themselves, finding out what went wrong and fixing the problems, offering a positive agenda to the american people. now, they may be okay after looking at virginia and saying, all we had to do is be angry about trump and we turned out voters, but over the course of the next 11 months between now and 2018 midterms my suspicion anger at trump is not going to be enough. stuart: okay. paul ryan in a radio interview two days ago, he says republicans next year will tackle, reining in social spending. i think the left is going to attack that vigorously, right? >> absolutely. but i think he is right. in march the cbo did a study for the next decade. they said that federal revenues would be roughly $43 trillion. the tax cut will take roughly a trillion dollars on mostly static model. they said that spending would be $52 trillion. of the so roughly nine trillion dollars more than the their estimated revenue. of that, 70% of the budget today is mandatory. within a decade it will grow to nearly 80%. 78% of the budget will be mandatory. 78% increase in, excuse me in mandatory spending over the next decade, 18% increase in discretionary spending. so the mandatory part of the budget, entitlements are on autopilot. unless we do something to moderate, not cut from current levels, moderate the future growth, that deficit will simply continue to grow and grow, be a larger percentage of our gdp than it is today. today it is about 74% of gdp. it was 40% of gdp when barack obama came into office. we're on a trajectory that is not good for our country. we can solve it by moderating the future growth of spending, not by cutting it from its absolute levels today. stuart: would you give us your comment what gary cohn told us about an hour ago? he said look, they are thinking about, they're talking about lowering the top rate of tax to 35% as a way of letting us keep at least some of the state and local tax deduction. your comment? >> i think it is important to lower the top rate. what we've done with the tax bill on the individual side is really have demand side-effects. we have taken bunch of people off the tax rolls. we kept middle class taxpayers, given them a modest tax cut. but the energy driving the economy, there will bance absolute limit to how much the government can take from any one individual f it can take 39% from the so-called 1% it, can take 39% from anybody. i'm in favor of lowering the top rate. i think it will add to economic growth. it's a question of fairness. i understand the political difficulties. when you have the president of the united states that say i don't want a tax cut benefit people like me, people like him, a lot of people who don't take near as much as him will be negatively effected. i hope they lower the top rate further than they are in the tax bill. stuart: tax bill will be done by christmas or certainly by first of the year? >> i believe by christmas. stuart: good. karl rove, thanks for joining us. >> i know that both of are you u.s. citizens, when i hear two expatriates brits talking about powder dry are you blowing up parliament or red coats on the way to concord and lexington. either way makes me nervous when you guys talk about gunpowder. stuart: be sure i will never wear a red suit on this program. >> there you go. stuart: you're all right. we're moving up little bit. stocks are up right now 82 points on the dow does -- industrials. we had a strong jobs report. 228,000 jobs created last month. jeff sica, circle square alternative investments. this looks like a pretty solid jobs report, a pretty solid market reaction. is that why the market is going up? >> the market is yet again elated. they're elated the potential we get the tax cuts before christmas or at least before new year's. this is another reason for them to celebrate but my question is, and what i believe investors have to look at, this is probably the most complacent market we've had in decades, and when you have a complacent market, if something goes wrong, if the tax cuts don't get done on time, keep in mind this congress has a way of messing things up, they have a way of dropping the ball at the one yard line. so they may very well do that. stuart: oh, ye of little faith. i have not had anybody on the show say you know i don't think the tax cuts will not get done at all. that won't happen. they will do it. it is political suicide if they don't. >> exactly but you can't underestimate their incompetence. i believe the fact we're at the goal line right now, this far is shocking this should have been done months ago. i think there is good possibility of it happening. look at jobs report and, look at the fact that we're in a low interest rate environment, this market does not want higher interest rates. higher interest rates could be result of a improving economy. stuart: you're chucking cold water over this all the time. bitcoin, it surged more than 40% in a 40-hour time frame. this morning i think it was, right now it is at $15,000 per coin. i think it's a speculative bubble. i think i asked you this before. i wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole, would you? >> i think block chain where crip cocurrency exists is the most exciting thing i know about. stuart: that is the technology that builds bitcoin. >> i mean exciting but one thing i will tell you it is not a typical bubble because it is very little leverage in it right now. but when there is leverage i believe there will be a bubble. my concern is you have a lot of people jumping on this cryptocurrency band wagon that don't have the risk tolerance they should have. this is not a safe investment. this is as volatile and speculative as you can get. i will bet on cryptocurrency. i don't necessarily think it will be bitcoin but i bet on the others. stuart: everybody asks me, bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin. >> it exists in a complacent market, i have 80-year-olds calling me should i play bitcoin. stuart: what do you say? no? >> no. stuart: thank you. >> unless you're ready to lose the money. unless you're ready to lose. stuart: jeff sica, pleasure to see you on 11:00 friday morning as opposed to 9:30. we might do it again if we're not careful. check it out, "time" magazine choosing the silence breakers as the me too movement as "person of the year." ashley judd was one of the first women to come forward about harvey weinstein. she is in the picture. later this hour, her mother, grammy award winner naomi judd, will be in the studio to talk with me about harrassment in hollywood. we're monitoring california wildfires. president trump ordering federal assistance. 100,000 people in the l.a. area evacuated with more than 100,000-acres burned. we'll head to the west coast for you with a live report. if tax cuts make their way through capitol hill i should say, only 35% of our people approve in a new poll, only 35% approve of the plan. can the gop sell it better and fix it? we'll be back. stuart: jobs report, prospects of good growth next year. the dow is up 75 points at 24,286. they gave a weak forecast. that hit all the gun and ammo makers. all of them down. a new report claims that a 20-year-old man from florida, he was the guy responsible for the massive data breach at uber-last year and that the company paid him 100,000 bucks, keep quiet please. the hack exposed data on 57 million people. the report doesn't say who gave the okay to pay off the hacker and cover up the breach, but, it claims then ceo travis kalanick was aware of both moves. more bad pr for uber. politics. a new "cbs poll" shows only 35% of the people approve of the tax plan. it is not just democrats. independents do not like the plan either. only 35% approval, how about that? andy puzder with us, policy advisor for america first policies. what is wrong here, are the republicans and president trump not selling it right? >> it may be the republicans not selling it or almost insanity with the left with democrats how they react to the bill. nancy pelosi claims it is end of the world. kurt eye connect at "newsweek" said america died. tax committee, scored this 8% will see a tax increase. tax policy institute say 12%. those are basically rich people. another thing people in this poll thought that was 69% thought that the bill would benefit rich people. it does not. it is not a sop so the rich. i don't know any rich people think they will fet a benefit, particularly people in high income tax states they will pay a greater percentage. there is a lot of misconception about the bill. it is driven by very, very effective campaign on the left to make it sound like something it is not. it is not a sop to the rich. working, middle-class americans will see tax deduction. when they see more money in the paychecks a lot of this will go away. stuart: maybe, next year, if we get 4% growth or 3 1/2 to 4% growth, i think we will, maybe that changes peoples opinions cutting taxes getting economy growing. let me ask you this, do you see like i do, 4% growth next year? >> absolutely. the council of economic advisors projected that we had 3.9% gdp growth in the third quarter if it weren't for the hurricanes. we're almost there just with regulatory reform. this tax cut bill will get us over the top, absolutely. 4% next year. get the tax bill done, get the economy rolling again. this is very, very positive bill. what president trump, just energy of his coming into office, i heard talk about how obama is trying to take credit, if you look at any of the surveys on business optimism, the day of the election, they shot up, and they stayed above recessionary levels ever since the election. so this is not, this is not the obama recovery. the only benefit we got from obama that he performed so poorly for the seven 1/2 years following the recovery that we're now able to look better because his performance looked so bad. you're rolling over bad numbers, easier to look good, than if you're rolling over good numbers. we're rolling over seven 1/2 years of bad numbers. stuart: well-said, andy puzder, thanks for joining us. we will see you real soon. >> thanks, stuart. stuart: check this out please. hilton trying to get into smart hotel rooms. the hilton honors app will have smart features, do things like change the ream temperature, at just lights, shades in your room from your phone. why on either people think that is attractive, i simply can not imagine. i have a hard time turning on the tv set in a hotel room. ashley: wait until it is voice activated. stuart: now you have stupid little gadgets, make them on a phone. will that make it easier? what real nonsense. anyway i read the script. hilton is studying connected room in one hotel right now. the company plans to expand systemwide in 2018. not sure i like it, mr. and mrs. hilton. look at this, this half christmas tree, made to mount on a wall so it can save space in the living room. you might think half the tree, half the price. that is not the case. ashley: of course not. stuart: one of these half-trees, goes for 150 bucks. liz: ridiculous. stuart: a color company revealed 2008 color of the year. guess which one it is? there is a lot to choose from. is this a phone? or a little internet machine? [ phone rings ] it makes you wonder. shouldn't we get our phones and internet from the same company? that's why xfinity mobile comes with your internet. you get up to 5 lines of talk and text at no extra cost. so all you pay for is data. choose by the gig or unlimited. and ask how to get a $200 prepaid card when you buy any new samsung device with xfinity mobile. a new kind of network designed to save you money. click, call or visit today. stuart: new report, one of many. says that the tax plan will really help some of the big tech stocks. amazon, facebook and google in particular, and those three stocks are indeed up right now. boeing's stock hit an all-time high, that added 286. that means the dow stock is up extra 26 points because of boeing. let's give a commercial, shall we, for starbucks. here we go. they want to get you into the christmas spirit. just released christmas free frappuccino. pepper mint mocha flavored drink, topped with whipped cream tree, decorated caramel and strawberry topper. ashley: that is the low-calorie one. stuart: that is commercial. why do we do this? why do we keep giving cop meshals is? ashley: are you getting commission? stuart: i ought to be. check this out. lg releasing a limited edition ceramic cell phone, claim it won't scratch ever. only available in south korea. ashley: long way to go. stuart: if you really love it. if you want one, get named on back if you want it. the cost is 1800 u.s. dollars. >> liz: that is ridiculous too. stuart: the audience heard that. florida man spotted, look at this, two pythons. picking up fast-food. happened tuesday night. the one was six feet long. the other 12 feet long. the deputies killed them. he plans to keep the carcasses to tan their skin. ashley: as you do. as you do. stuart: found in east naples by the way. liz: near you. stuart: close to where i live. a man was spotted knits on the subway, a picture of him knitting appeared on social media shared thousand of times. his name is lewis i he runs brooklyn boy nits.com. he said ever since that picture was posted, he has a surge in order, he had to hire two people. liz: i love that story. stuart: not too bad. gave him a commercial. rather give him a commercial instead of starbucks. color of the year. we tested it. liz: we have to wait, again? stuart: there is production for you. just wait everybody. i promise i will reveal it. very soon we're joined by grammy award winning singer naomi judd. she is here on set with me to talk about her daughter ashley. listen to this, new census number reveal five riches counties in in america are in d.c. suburbs. we have a guest who lives in one of them coming up next. we'll tease a little bit. ad-lib the markets it says. that is easy. up 86 points for the dow industrials. i did it. liz: yea. ashley: commercial. ♪ ♪ the moment a fish is pulled out from the water, it's a race against time. and keeping it in the right conditions is the best way to get that fish to your plate safely. bacteria can multiply to high enough levels that even cooking it will not destroy all of them. it's definitely the most important thing in my business. how fresh is the fish? where it comes from? how it gets here. the more i know, the better. sometimes the product arrives and the cold chain has been interrupted, and we need to be able to identify where in the cold chain that occurred. we took our world class network and we developed devices to track environmental conditions. this device allows people to understand what's happening not only with the location of that asset, but also if it's too hot, if it's too cold, if it's been dropped... it's completely unique. we ship fish, beef, poultry, vaccines, insulin. this is about monitoring and protecting everything we ship. i catch all this amazing, beautiful fish and then once it's out of my hands, i have no control over what happens to it. if you have a sensor that can keep track of your product, it keeps everybody kind of honest that way. it's really all about the network. you are looking at trillions of transactions a year. not too many companies in the world can even scale to that type of volume. who knew a tiny sensor could help keep the food chain safe? food has to be fresh. it's that simple. our recent online sales success seems a little... strange?nk na. ever since we switched to fedex ground business has been great. they're affordable and fast... maybe "too affordable and fast." what if... "people" aren't buying these books online, but "they" are buying them to protect their secrets?!?! hi bill. if that is your real name. it's william actually. hmph! affordable, fast fedex ground. stuart: stock market's gain is moderating i'm afraid to say. we were up 80 points couple minutes ago. now we're up 57, 24,269. look at that jobs report, 228,000 jobs added in november. would i call that pretty strong. joining us now, paul conway, former labor department chief of staff. paul, i looked across the board at this report and it looks pretty strong. the one thing that might be a little weakness was the gain in wages, up 2 1/2% year-over-year. i think a lot of people were expecting more and better. >> i agree with you. that is one of the weak areas. the interesting thing about that, if you dive into the numbers, the increasing wages for those who are low-wage workers is happening much faster pace than those who are high-waged workers. in that sense it is good. for those folks, many who turned out for president trump, you're starting to see the engine of the economy kick, you want wage growth across the board but also for those just entering the workforce but coming off the sidelines, and also in this report see continuing trend of people not in the workforce, u-6 number, coming down. at a rate three times faster than obama's last year as president. good news. stuart: sure. 3.3% growth right now. we have a strong jobs report. we have tax cuts coming down the pike, almost certainly i would say, do you think we get to 4% growth next year? okay, i think we have another audio problem. paul conway, can you hear me? ashley: can you hear me now. stuart: frozen on the screen. ashley: put more coins in the meter, feed the meter. paul, are you there? no, i think we still have the audio problem. we got a problem there. look at nasdaq winners, please. ashley: yes. stuart: the point here, we're showing you this, because one of the features on the market today is that we've got technology companies making a comeback. they had a bad week last week especially the big five. they are coming back and those nasdaq winners are technology companies and some of them are showing very significant gains. do we have paul back? , no, we don't. okay. now this, we have a top official at the justice department, he has been demoted. officials are investigating his contacts with the anti-trump dossier firm. congressman steve russell, republican from oklahoma is with us now. congressman, i can't get into the weeds on this who met what and when and why. i think there is a deep state conspiracy here to undermine the president. am i on the right track? >> well the evidence remains to be seen but i think one thing that you are on track with is that the american people have a perception that this is not a impartial investigation, and that the people that make up the investigative staff are impartial. so that certainly seems to be the case. stuart: do you have confidence in the mueller investigation? >> i have confidence in the service of mr. mueller and all that he has provided and different administrations. i think that he has the capacity to be impartial. when we see evidence of though, these underlings he has to fire or move on, it certainly damages the public trust in such an investigation. so i think mr. mueller is going to have to do something findings to be readily accepted. no to the suggest that he wouldn't put findings he didn't believe in, but at same time the public has to have trust in these special investigation. stuart: i want to talk about the house plan going through committee. gary cohn was on this morning and president trump was open to, likes idea of bringing the top individual rate down to 35%. now it is at 38, 39 in the house and senate versions. how would you feel about that bringing top rate down, 35%, so that you could restore the tax deduction, so, wouldn't get to deduct state and local taxes but get a lower top rate, what do you say to that? >> i think it needs to be discussed in the conference and deliberated back and forth to crunch numbers, see would that be advantage. but i've always said that i think our tax system ought to be fair across every socioeconomic path. why should we, like the old animal farm, all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others, we need to have a fair tax system. we don't want to punish innovation and ingenuity. we don't want to punish somebody who came from poor background and suddenly been successful. i think we ought to examine every avenue to make our tax system fairer. stuart: one more for you, congressman. senator franken, he's gone. john conyers is gone. they're both democrats. the democrats really swept clean if you like in the house and the senate but on the republican side, we have president trump tweet this morning, renewed vigorous support for roy moore. if he wins, he is going to be around the republicans neck, isn't he? >> well i think that there is certainly things we have to look at there. the claims of the victims. they certainly have right to redress to see if there is something there. but on the other hand just because somebody in figure in public he has the right to redress grieve vanses. we have to look the evidence. we can't try an individual in the press. first amendment is free press but at same time we have other amendments in the bill of rights say individuals have due course and we must make sure they have that. stuart: congressman steve russell, oklahoma republican, thanks for joining us, sir. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: yes, sir. by the way, paul conway is back. we lost the audio. we lost the shot there for a second. but i did believe, can you show? there he is. he is moving. we're okay. ashley: he is moving. stuart: new numbers from the census bureau, paul. they show the five richest counties in america are all suburbs of d.c. that is where you live, isn't it? >> it's true but i'm not part of the problem. [laughter]. stuart: wait a minute. how do you account for this? i mean, those suburbs, they're full of lobbyists and government workers. i mean, those are the people who are getting money these days? >> actually i tell you what, the federal government does drive a lot of growth in the area but if you take a look at those counties you have major medical centers there. in fairfax county alone, nine of the fortune 500 that account for 186 billion. so in virginia, maryland, you have companies that do a lot of business in washington, defense contractors, intelligence that have come in there. they have been responsible for a the who of that growth. but a lot of it is government employees, you bet. stuart: when we lost contact with you i was in the process of asking you, are we going to get 4% growth next year? because you got 3% growth now. you have a good jobs report, et cetera, et cetera, 4% next year, what do you say? >> i'm confident about it. let me tell you one thing. a lot of foals are focused on congress and what congress will do with health care. power of executive branch can not be underestimateds but president's ability to control regulation but in the counties we're talking about growth of federal employee numbers. you can do something on that aggressive office of personnel management and office of management and budget. that team is not in place. driving government drop in employment like reagan, government has opportunity to do that. that has impact. stuart: many have promised this, few have delivered it. even president reagan he didn't deliver a significant cut in federal worker personnel. >> there is some. i'm optimistic. if you take that accompany it with health care changes and with the drive on regulations, you will be able to get to 4%. i'm quite confident of that. stuart: quite confident. why the qualifier? are you confident or not? >> i'm irish so i'm always confident. stuart: paul, you're all right. thanks for joining us, paul on this friday. may i wish you a merry christmas. >> merry christmas to you. stuart: we've been teasing this for a while. a couple of stabs at it. that is the color of the year according to pantone. that color is ultraviolet. they say this color expresses originality, ingenuity, visionary thinking points us toward the future. ashley: all that out of one color. stuart: ultraviolet. they claim it is provocative and thoughtful shade. are you provocked, ashley? ashley: not at all. stuart: what is wrong with you? ashley: i see its a color. it is ultraviolet. i don't know if i see all those things in it. maybe i'm not tuned in. stuart: purple? ashley: yes. stuart: you and i would call that purple. ashley: yes. very regal color by the way. stuart: whatever you say. ashley: whatever. stuart: "time" magazine choosing the silence breakers of the me-too movement as "person of the year." ashley judd was one of the women to come forward about harvey weinstein. she is on the cover. look who is coming down the hallway, her grammy-award winning mother, naomi judd. she is sitting next to me on the program next. ♪ >> i'm nicole petallides with your fox business brief. airports want to raise ticket fees but the airlines say no. look at cost of flying, which passengers paid a record $14 billion in taxes and fees this year, including an estimated 3.4 billion in facilities charges. well the airports want to raise it by eight bucks. here is the breakdown of cost of flying on typical $300 domestic ticket, which would now raise fees for taxes and fees over 70 bucks, from the current $63. so flyers would be paying $8.50 rather than four at least for that. overall the airlines are higher today. the group is a mixed bag overall, but, certainly they haven't been raising these fees. we'll see what happens. stuart: "the new york times" suing the weinstein company. the "times" claims that company owes it more than 230,000 bucks in unpaid advertising. the suit was filed the same day that the "times" published another article detailing weinstein's alleged serial abuse of women. one of first women could tom out, come forward against weinstein was actress ashley judd. she is on the cover of "time" magazine's "person of the year" issue. she and several other women have been named the silence-breakers for speaking out against sexual harrassment. ashley judd's mom, naomi judd is with us now, grammy-award winning singer and author of the new book, river of time. good to have you with us. >> nye family doesn't believe i'm here. i'm really here. look. get it? they want you to, describe to me what annuities are. stuart: annuities? >> i have money in annuities i don't know what they are. stuart: it is locked up and you can't get at it. >> would you like me to give prognostication about the market today? stuart: absolutely. go for it. >> this is what i think. my personal informed opinion. gleeb. woka-wooka. stuart: she is very bullish. >> this is live tv. stuart: during the commercial break, you're sometimes nervous about live tv. >> i'm not nervous. everybody else is nervous. you should be nerve just. stuart: no, i do so much of it, believe me. it all happenings -- hangs out there in three hours. >> i'm the person who tells you if you need a breath mint. you should be very nervous. stuart: don't say that i want to talk to you about your daughter, ashley judd. she was one of the first to come forward in the wine -- weinstein maelstrom. take us through it. >> people can't even imagine. i knew about it when it happened. ashley and i are very close. she called me and told me showed up in bathrobe. asked for 8:00 breakfast. she was working on one of her big movies. she worked all night. asked for a 8:00 meeting very disruptive for her schedule. he is busy all days with the big deals. number one in hollywood. so she goes to the hotel, bel-air hotel. he is in the robe. let's order breakfast. she said no, i want a bowl of cereal maybe. he wants her to show him what he should wear that day. back in the bedroom. he is on to it. taking a shower. she is out of there. i wanted to go out and chop off his penis. i told you. stuart: this is live television. anything can happen. but it must have been difficult for her to say, i'm coming forward, i'm going to tell my story. >> yeah. stuart: what prompted her to do that? >> she had been hearing in the rumor mill whispers about other women and they were all saying the exactly same thing. him asking them to watch him take a shower and everything. so she lives next door in adjoining farm. she came in one night. i was having supper, just normal, all of sudden i could tell the look on her face, there was something so heavy. mama, i need your opinion. i want to go forward, i want out harvey weinstein. i can't thought of him doing this to other women. i could tell by the look on her face, that she already written the article. she said i'm going to take this to the "new york times" then. she said, so you think i should? i said doing the right thing is always the right thing to do. go get him. stuart: but that must have been difficult for you as her mom because -- >> it was terrifying. stuart: you knew what was going to happen. as i said it is maelstrom of hostility and debate. you must have known what she was facing, yet you still gave her advice to do it. >> i did. it happened to me. she remembered story about me. i think the thing at that cared me the most, there might a backlash because he is the most powerful man in hollywood. i thought, kiddo, you might not get another movie offer. but, still, i had the sense that this not only the right thing to do which i encourage both girls to do, i felt like, oh, my god, if there are as many women as i think, i think this guy is a serial offender and i just had this feeling that it was going to become a tsunami and i think, i mentioned this to ash, the fable about the little dutch boy walking through the village, he sees the dam, little spurt of water an sticks his finger in it and hollers to the villagers, get out of here the dam is about to break, to me that was ashley. and i read the article in the "new york times" and just went, whoa. ashley: yep. >> the dam is going to break now. stuart: what has it been like for you and ashley on a personal basis, i think three months since this broke with your daughter? what's it been like? >> she has been relieved, i guess would be the first word. she's actually with a bunch of very high-powered women out in l.a. as we speak. they're putting together a documentary. i hope i'm not telling stories out of school, but it is interesting with both my daughters sometimes i have to remember, what do they say at the supper table that i can tell or what can i divulge in public buts ashley is very proud of all these other women. she is very proud that maybe she had an effect on them. i just hope that this guy goes down. i hope that he, and his brother, his brother is just as infamous as he is. stuart: i have got a little time left. i want to talk about your book. the title is, "river of time." i'm reading it right here. the subtitle is, my descent into depression and how i emerged with hope. tell us how did you emerge from depression. >> first of all there are 43 million of us. you deal in numbers. isn't that shocking? there is 43 million people with depression. and i went through a terrible, actually my diagnosis was severe treatment-resistant depression and panic disorder. the good news is, spoiler alert, i'm recovering and i'm now healing but i wrote this book for anybody an everybody out there, sort of a survivor's guide, but i have a statistics for you. i know you deal in numbers, so, one trillion dollars every year is wasted on lost productivity. the world health organization who has announced that they have come up with at least a minimum of a trillion dollars is spent wasted every year on lost productivity. stuart: the book is titled, "river of time." my descent into depression and how i emerged with hope. the latter part i will read first. that is fact. naomi judd. a pleasure. >> later during the break you will tell me what an annuity is. stuart: okay. i will do my best. naomi judd, it is a pleasure and honor. thank you very much indeed, ma'am. appreciate it. check this out. unnamed hero risking his life to rescue an animal. a rabbit actually in the middle of the california wildfires. he didn't share his name or be interviewed. he is still a hero. we respect that. we'll go to california. get a live report, 100,000-acres have burned so far. check out the money. we're back up again. 82 points higher for the dow industrials. the president signed a resolution that funds the government for another two weeks. i guess that's a good sign. markets are up. we'll be back. [vo] when it comes to investing, looking from a fresh perspective can make all the difference. it can provide what we call an unlock: a realization that often reveals a better path forward. at wells fargo, it's our expertise in finding this kind of insight that has lead us to become one of the largest investment and wealth management firms in the country. discover how we can help find your unlock. that's why feeling safe is priceless. with adt, you can feel safe with an adt starter kit professionally installed for only $49.00. call today, and install an adt starter kit that includes security panel, keypad, key fob, entry and motion sensors and for a limited time, get a camera included and installed at no additional cost. that's a $449.00 value, installed, for just $49.00. adt has over 140 years of security experience, with our commitment to customer service, and round-the- clock professional monitoring, you have the comfort of knowing that adt is helping to protect what matters most. call today, or visit adt.com to get your adt starter kit installed for just $49.00. adt. we help keep you safe, so you can feel secure. call 1-888-337-safe or visit adt.com and get your adt starter kit for just $49.00. approaching medicare eligibility? you may think you can put off checking out your medicare options until you're sixty-five, but now is a good time to get the ball rolling. keep in mind, medicare only covers about eighty percent of part b medical costs. the rest is up to you. that's where aarp medicare supplement insurance plans insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company come in. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, they could help pay some of what medicare doesn't, saving you in out-of-pocket medical costs. you've learned that taking informed steps along the way really makes a difference later. that's what it means to go long™. call now and request this free decision guide. it's full of information on medicare and the range of aarp medicare supplement plans to choose from based on your needs and budget. all plans like these let you choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients, and there are no network restrictions. unitedhealthcare insurance company has over thirty years experience and the commitment to roll along with you, keeping you on course. so call now and discover how an aarp medicare supplement plan could go long™ for you. these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp, an organization serving the needs of people 50 and over for generations. plus, nine out of ten plan members surveyed say they would recommend their plan to a friend. remember, medicare doesn't cover everything. the rest is up to you. call now, request your free decision guide and start gathering the information you need to help you keep rolling with confidence. go long™. ♪ stuart: get to the california wildfires. winds are not supposed to be as strong today, but it is still a dangerous situation. will carr in ventura county with the latest. tell us please, will. reporter: and, stuart, so far we've had a real lull in the wind. fire crews are trying to take advantage right now. numerous helicopters making airdrops, trying to attack the side of the mountain while conditions are favorable. unlike yesterday, when we were on the front lines. take a look. flames are racing down the hillside past couple minutes. they're being fanned by fierce winds we have had throughout the course of the day. they are eating everything in their path. now the reason this is such a concern is because on this side of the pacific coast highway, you have a number of beach homes, you can see how close all of these flames are. there are firefighters on the other side spraying these out, trying to do everything they can to protect this community. two new fires broke out yesterday. including one in san diego county. that fire destroyed at least 65 structures. we have dramatic video at a horse training center where the horses are trying to get to safety. we learned more than a dozen horses were killed in that fire as well. as we come back out here live. you can see again, they're trying to take advantage of the conditions while they can. because the winds are supposed to pick up throughout the rest of the weekend. stuart. stuart: we'll take a lull in the high wind as item of pretty good news. will carr, thank you very much indeed. there will be more "varney" after this. : i used to have more hair. i used to have more color. and... i used to have cancer. i beat it. i did. not alone. i used to have no idea what the american cancer society did. research? yeah. but also free rides to chemo and free lodging near hospitals. i used to maybe give a little. then i got so much back. i used to have cancer. call 1-800-494-4357 today. your contributions to the american cancer society fund valuable research. but that's just the beginning. a cancer diagnosis can kick off years of challenge. and that's where your donation truly shines. you help us fund free rides to treatment. a live 24/7 help line, free lodging near treatment centers. and even efforts to expand access to insurance. so, please - donate today at cancer.org and help attack cancer from every angle. . stuart: i've just been told that the foremost authority on color throughout the globe is that company, pantone. color ultraviolet is the color of the year. we're told ultraviolet, this color, expresses originality, ingenuity and visual thinking. >> they said that about me, but you know? [laughter] >> you get that feeling? >> don't have you sunglasses that blocks uv, isn't it dangerous to look at the sun because of the uv, how can it be the color of the year? stuart: we're over the head of our skis. >> i think we are. stuart: turn it over to neil cavuto. >> i was fascinated by the back and forth, doing something about this. i was surprised there wasn't more reaction to that. probably will be when people thinking that could happen, it could cut both ways. thank you very much for very news-making few hours. we'll follow up on this, stuart, from the interview with stuart varney, an interesting investigation maybe back and forth with gary cohn that the white house would be open to lowering the top rate maybe as far down as 35%. that's just coming from a negotiating standpoint where they want to trade a lot of things back and forth where, they are going address not only what's happening with the economy firing on all cylinders, giv