What this means and the chances of success ahead . Markets looking like this. We have mixed markets, 6point loss on dow futures right now, dow notching a record close yesterday boosted by hopes of a vaccine putting the pandemic behind us. The vaccines. In december markets poised with a positive finish with nasdaq looking at best month since 2009 and for all of 2020, all 1 market gauges will end in the green despite the worst hit to the economy in decades. Bitcoins big bounce, we are watching rise of crypto currency and where it stands to go in 2021. Plus, good dog, dos really make us happier . Do we need to answer that . We will try in todays morning buzz. Mornings with maria is live right now note. Dagen and a happy new year to those in new zealand. Thats what youre watching live right now as new zealand rings in in 2021. Happy new year, you fabulous people in new zealand. Lets head over to europe, european markets looking like this right now, losses on ftse 100 in england, German Market is closed for new years holiday. In asia markets mostly to the plus side, nikkei in japan, both closed as well. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell slamming brakes for 2,000dollar relief for millions ofmericansmericans, cl casone hs cherylentucken rckublican sa sayi the pro prol hasl has realis path toh to p pas inhe senate. Mcconnellconnconn blogck secon c atteattemp to brig bill t bill e flfloostead cning c ang c a c and coin bill wher its inems inresidesdegenda that lacks slaup fromm drats. Ts. Nator bersanderscing for for ksksorcing f f t rinin n year theill. Il president tru tmprussetoet dee illl saturdaurdaurdanene day d d forefo neweses is srn s in. New grimw grorw grd f coron isis, th, eth u sta stetas reg mgor me than 3,740 deaths yesterday cdc predicts more than 80,000 deaths in 3 weeks. Patient in question also has no travel history. Well, Buffalo Bills fans are waking up happy this morning, new york Governor Cuomo allowed fans to attend playoff game. Masks will be required at all times. Contact tracing will also take place afterwards, this is the first time the bills have one the afc title since 1985. Big tech favored joe biden, dozens of House Republicans planning to object which will hold floor debate. Busy headlines, back to you. Dagen at 8 30 we have jobless claims coming out. I was looking at the report of last week, 20. 3, over 20 million americans are collecting unemployment in some way, so cheryl, thank you so much for that. Cheryl you bet. Dagen futures searching for direction on final trading day of 2020 after the dow closed with its 13th record, record close of the year, joining me now er shares ceo joel schulmann economic adviser to President Trump steve moore, good morning, steve. Real clear politics and cofounder tom bevin. Much to discuss, joel, just start where the markets are and what you see for 2021 . We are optimistic for 2021. 2020 was the year of the entrepreneur from an ambassador perspective. Investors who backed up Entrepreneurial Companies with lower risks and higher return. Whats important to remember is that twothirds of a russell 1000, 20 came from Entrepreneurial Companies. We think theres a lot of room to run for 2021. Dagen particularly what area of health care are we talking about, cancer drugs, what are you focused on in terms of the subsectors . Right, there are 5 companies, in fact, femaleled economist, these companies are very strong and they are creating new new discoveries are actually going to help cure certain diseases like anemia. Dagen we talk about new army of investors have have arrived. Wed love to see that because this is instead of buying treasuries and essentially lending money to the federal government, people are taking ownership stakes in stocks, individual investors share a total Trading Volume doubled to average of 20 that was up from 10 in 2019, how will the behavior of the new investors impact the broader markets in 2021 . Theres no question that the ten million ambassadors, 6 million came from robin hood. Many have had a tough year, these investors, some pushing valuations to the limit, we have to be careful here and maybe increasing the volatility of the markets but theres no question that this impetus, 10 million new ambassadors are driving the markets and to ignore them, do so at your own peril. We are excited of the ambassadors. Thats what this group is looking for, and they are fearless when they go in. We hope they stay for a long time. Dagen steve, jump in here. Steve multitrillion dollar stimulus spending this year. Wall street and investors are addicted from free money from washington, is wall street immune of massive increase in National Debt . Doesnt that have a negative effect in the medium term on investments . I love this question because a lot of people are ignoring whats going on right now in the Government Spending and what thats going to do with Interest Rates, the loan bonds 1. 67 . 10year,. 94 . We see the Interest Rates going higher. We see the long bond, 30year bond going through 2 . We see the 10year going 1 and we believe this is going to have traditionally when Interest Rates rise, it has negative or detrimental rise in stock markets. Many Pension Fund Investors will be leaving the bonds and looking for an alternative home. We think its going to be in stocks. We see, for example, the last 1 months, the small caps doubled, the large cap stocks, we see this continuing in 2021. We so the flow going out of fixed income into stocks. Dagen steve steve sorry, im not sure i understand the argument. If Interest Rates go up, i dont understand how thats good for stocks. Traditionally interest going up is bad for stocks, but when Interest Rates are so low we have to remember that the bond was over 2 . Over 15 to 20 years we have seen Interest Rates drop and this as been to the benefit of investors. We are seeing Pension Funds moving their money and i think its the movement out and displacement of where the money is going to go. Its not going to go to real estate, its not going to go to it could go to alternatives but we think that movement is really going to cause and while Interest Rates generally are bad for stocks, they are very low, almost 0 , we dont see the rise in Interest Rates being that significant. If they are above 5 or 10 , if you go back to 80s, 15 to 20 in some cases, then extremely significant but we dont see in the shortterm. Dagen steve, i think what joel is saying, hes betting on the behavior of people and not the actual math that goes into basically how you do a valuation on stock based on higher Interest Rates. But thats cross your fingers and your toes if Interest Rates start going higher. Thank you so much, joel, joel shulman with us this morning. Happy new year. We are Getting Started this morning, coming up former Senior Adviser for trump and bush administrations kristin talks about where we stand on more stimulus negotiations and if we need more. Then next hour, we are discussing how 2021 could be a record year for the ipo market with the word on wall street. Tennessee congressman discusses where he stands on stimulus and funding Americas Armed forces. At 8 00 a. M. We hear from california geramendi and director of the house office of trade and Manufacturing PolicyPeter Navarro on the new trade pack between china and European Union and National Security implications for the United States. Youre watching mornings with maria live on fox business. Dagen stimulus showdown, the push for 2,000dollar checks in the hands of the senate as approved 600dollar checks are on the way for qualifying americans. Joining me now former President Trump and george w. Bush state department Senior Adviser, former north korean human rights deputy special envoy kristin, where does this go from here, do you think . Well, in the track, the senate will not do anything, Mitch Mcconnell says he doesnt have a path forward. Of course, he has a path forward, hes the majority leader and democrats are more than willing to spend more money. But right now he thinks that the politics are such that he can get away with really taking no action basically all this congress is going to do on saturday as correspondent reporter to override veto and thats it. Dagen i want to bring in steve more, christian because the house bill for 2,000 would actually provide benefits to a family of 5 making up to 350,000 a year and it would in fact, add a lot more to the national the National Debt, it would add almost 464 billion in addition to the 600 checks that were passed, so the question is because, again, they are trying to paint Mitch Mcconnell as hes some grinch, because this is something that Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer are in favor of . Casey mulligan, top labor economists in the country and i have an analysis thats coming up that shows that this bill that has already passed, its not stimulus, it will end up costing the economy about 4 million jobs over the next 6 months and thats because of the big increase in Unemployment Benefits for 300 a week and increased in food stamps and these payments of 600 maybe going to 2,000 probably going to 2,000 at some point are negative for the economy because they disincentives work. I have to hand it to Mitch Mcconnell. He really twisted democrats into a press hold with putting on Liability Reform and some other things like investigation into the election. They were kind of poison pills that democrats could not live with it and they killed it for now. Dagen, i guaranty you, basically the first day that joe biden is president if not before, you will see this 600 go up to 2,000 and its helicopter money and doesnt stimulate anything. Dagen i will point out that savings rate in this country is close to 13 and on average its 8 . Steve exactly. Dagen speaking of Mitch Mcconnell, he was on the senate floor yesterday, listen to this. The senate will not let our National Security be shoved off course, certainly not by senators who have spent years, literally years trying to build americas capabilities while our adversaries continue ramping up. The senate will stay on this important bill until we complete it one way or another. Dagen this gets back to senator Bernie Sanders saying hes going to filibuster the vote if stimulus checks are not included vote, final senate vote is expected saturday, over the weekend. Christian, your reaction to the state of defense bill override . Well, its a lot like the omnibus, its a process thats been so mismanaged throughout this congress and larded up with a bunch of stuff that doesnt have a lot to do with defense spending, theres frankly very low legislation increased by massachusetts senator to rename bases named after confederate officers, i have no idea why a Republican Senate thinks we should be revising American History at the point of a gun held by leftwing revisionists, theres also provision in there that says that the president cant withdraw troops from europe, its blatantly unconstitutional, the president is commander in chief and that obviously involves whether or not dispatch troops abroad and why 75 years after they got there, do we germans pay on defense, its a shame. Overriding trump on defense and spending as he pointed out, enormous amount of money in stimulus that isnt going to work and you have to wonder if the Republican Party wants to go to battle days before 2016 where it was chambers of Commerce Party than what emerged since then. Dagen hong kongs highest court sending media tycoon jimmy lai back to jail. The court ruling that he must return to custody until february while judges consider appeal against his bail. Christian, your reaction to this and the Bigger Picture of lais treatment by basically communist china . Right, lai is the founder of apple daily which is like the New York Post of hong kong in taiwan. Its a prodemocracy and anticommunist paper thats very popular, thats why they are going after him. Its just symbolic of rule of law and china is breaking promises that are made and more broadly what youre looking at is china going to test joe biden. China has tested every new president of the century and expects a lot from biden. Biden was the chief advocate of the globalist view that trade with china would tame china and didnt work out that way, so you will have john kerry at the cabinet table, National SecurityCouncil Table arguing to go soft on china in an exchange for climate deal. Hopefully biden has the wherewithal to resist that because the chinese will certainly try to corrupt him. Dagen christian, grade to see you this morning, we can talk all morning law, appreciate the few minutes we had. Coming up all eyes on georgia, we are days away from an election with farretching political implications, we break down the race, but the benefit of having fourlegged friends, how dogs help us get through the toughest of times, its making a buzz this morning. These days, its okay to do some things halfway. But taking prescriptions shouldnt be one of them. So cvs works to make them affordable with a proprietary search tool that looks for savings. Plus we deliver, free. No wonder cvs customers are better than most at staying on prescriptions. Which tends to make you healthier. Get a free prescription savings review at cvs. Itthe new sleep numberst pric360 smart bed. On on what if i sleep hot . Or cold . No problem, with temperature balancing you can sleep better together. Can it help keep me asleep . Absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both effortlessly comfortable. Will it help me keep up with mom . You got this. So you can really promise better sleep . Not promise. Prove. Dont miss our new years special, save up to 1000 on new sleep number 360 smart beds. Plus, no interest until january 2024 on all smart beds. Ends monday. Save without even leaving your house. Just keep your phone and switch to xfinity mobile. You can get it by ordering a free sim card online. Once you activate, youll only have to pay for the data you need starting at just 15 a month. There are no term contracts, no activation fees, and no credit check on the first two lines. Get a 50 prepaid card when you switch. Nationwide 5g is now included. Switch and save hundreds. Xfinity mobile. Itthe new sleep numberst pric360 smart bed. On on what if i sleep hot . Or cold . No problem, with temperature balancing you can sleep better together. Can it help keep me asleep . Absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both effortlessly comfortable. Will it help me keep up with mom . You got this. So you can really promise better sleep . Not promise. Prove. Dont miss our new years special, save up to 1000 on new sleep number 360 smart beds. Plus, no interest until january 2024 on all smart beds. Ends monday. Dagen the georgia Runoff Election is just 5 days away, balance of power in the senate up for grabs as the incumbent gop senators david perdue and Kelly Loeffler face off with democrats john ossoff and raphael warnock, President Trump and joe biden will each hold rallies in the peach state next week before election day on tuesday. Tom, have at it, you have the floor, tell me what youre watching, im watching Raphael Warnocks negative go up, the highest of any candidate for a whole number of reasons, but what are you watching most closely . Tom watching the early vote and its big. I mean, 30 of registered voters in georgia have voted, over 2. 3 Million People, so looks like turnout is going to be very robust on both sides and republicans are quite frankly worried about the turnout that they are going to get in the rural areas. You know, thats where trump is going to go, he will go to investigator west georgia, dalton, biden to atlanta suburbs, rerun of november third and right now there was a poll that came out earlier this week who is a republican pollster, sort of trumpfriendly pollster that showed up polled 2 weeks ago perdue up 2 points and now ossoff2 points and Kelly Loeffler up 6 points and now 1 point. Hes showing movement in the democrats direction. I think they will be very close and i subscribed to the cob conventional wisdom that its a package deal. Democrats are going to win both or lose both. Same for republicans. I dont see republicans turning out voting for one candidate and not the other and essential not voting for a republican and splitting a vote and voting for democrat. Right now its going to be looks like its going to be very close. Dagen before i get on move onto steve moore, i read some analysis, guy benson had a great piece that he published yesterday that it talks about the supposed big wave of new voters is not that big and looks to be older and white voters which tend to look republican. This is based on what Eric Ericsson down in georgia has been talking about. Tom yeah, i mean, thats the question. Who are these new voters, the ones that are registered and didnt vote on november third and the group of people who are newly registered just since november third . If eric is right, eric snows georgia, thats where hes from and thats where he makes his money, i Pay Attention to what eric has to say. If this is a republicanleaning electorate in terms of new voters coming in, that obviously bodes well for candidates, but, again, you know, democrats have doing massive turn out the vote effort in the state and donald trump will go down there and try to close the deal. I thought it was interesting talking to christian, loeffler and perdue jumped on the band wagon and did not want to pick a fight with donald trump. What are they going to do on saturday with override, are they going to vote with trump on that or are they going to vote to override because the vote will happen 2 days before he goes down there and 3 days before people go to the polls . Dagen steve, i will point out that are georgia voters going to vote based not on trump personality but trump policy which does go to what the future of the country would look like if democrats take control of the senate, senator david perdue in november, one more votes than a bigger share than trump did in georgia, that kind of speaks to policy and not personality. Steve yeah, i agree with toms analysis. What has happened in the last week or so as tom was just saying where republicans fell in the polls, i think a lot of the turmoil frankly over the last week has hurt the republicans. Now i still think, you know, look, republicans have won every special election in georgia for like the last 20 years or something, tom knows those numbers better than i do. It would be a big upset if democrats won. How does that affect investors, number 1 obviously it would give democrats complete control but number 2, what worries me is if democrats were to win both of these races, it would be a validation, dagen, of the biden agenda because thats on the ballot agenda. Do you want bidenomics. I think this is huge not just because it affects who is going to control the senate, but voters for the First Time Since biden was elected will be validating that election. I think thats spooky, if you dont like what biden stands for. Dagen steve, how would the Biden Economic agenda hurt georgia specifically, just follow through on that . Steve yeah, we have identified 5 policies, look, bidens agent is war on the south. It redistributes incomes to Southern States to the northeast and includes 500 billiondollar bluestate bailout that biden wants and includes the state and local Tax Deduction which vastly benefits very, very wealthy people in new york and california. Those costs are paid by georgia. Also a big one, dagen, is that biden wants to eliminate state right to work laws. Youve talked about that on the show in recent weeks. Thats huge, thats huge for georgia, georgia has a competitive advantage of those blue states because a lot of factories move to these Southern States because it does not have forced unionism, all of the policies would be negative for the state of georgia. Dagen he also wants to force basically confiscate some of peoples weapons or force you to pay a tax on that so im not sure how that would resonate with any voter in georgia. Coming up, stimulus showdown, we will hear from both sides of the aisle how lawmakers should play latest rounds of negotiations, thats next. Plus a burger to ban scary things. Why burger king says this burger can help you battle the paranormal. The morning buzz ahead. We love the new apartment. The Natural Light is amazing. Hardwood floors. There is a bit of a clogging problem. clog dancing at least geico makes it easy to bundle our renters and car insurance. Yeah, helping us save us even more. For bundling made easy, go to geico. Com dagen welcome back, im Dagen Mcdowell in for maria bartiromo. Its thursday december 31st, new years eve. A look at markets at the bottom of the hour. Futures are looking like this, plus side, nasdaq, bigger gainer than the dow and s p futures at the moment, but the nasdaq 100 huge gainer year to date. Take a quick look, nasdaq 100 through the close was up 47 in 2020. The dow notching a record close, blue chips along with all stocks boosted by the hopes of vaccines really reopening not just the u. S. But the world. In december markets poised for a positive finish with nasdaq looking at best month since 2009. For all of 2020, all 3 major market gauges in the green, you can see the big winner there, nasdaq composite up 41 despite worst hit to our economy in decades. European markets, to the downside ever so slightly in france. Ftse 100 lower by about 1 and germany closed for new years holiday. Same story for the nikkei in japan. And also the kospi in south korea closed. Hang seng and shanghai to the plus side. Explosion rocking airport in wartorn yemen, Cheryl Casone has the details, cheryl. Cheryl yeah, dagen, it was something else. Ministers from saudibacked government were arriving from riyadh, 22 people were killed in the explosion, theres the video, more than 50 people were injured in this. None of the cabinet ministers were injured, no faction has claimed responsibility so far. Well, chinese regulators are reviewing Equity Investments by ant group and dozens of companies as it cracks down on jack mas empire and force ant to sell investments and startups curving the companys influence in the lucrative sector. Last week regulators announced antitrust investigation into sister firm alibaba and ordered ant to shake up lending and other Consumer Finance operations. Ticketmaster paying 10 million to help resolve criminal charges. The company accused of illegally accessing a competitors Computer System to get Business Intelligence as part of deferred prosecution agreement, ticketmaster will also have to report new compliance measures to the brooklyn u. S. Attorneys office for the next 3 years. Ticket master says the employees involved were fired. Tiffany shareholders approving deal with francis lvmh, ends long and bitter dispute with luxury retailers. Lbmh tried to back out to buy the iconic jewelry, tiffany fired back with a lawsuit, slightly reduced new deal expect today close early next year. Finally this, making a big difference for Small Businesses especially restaurants, the bar stool fund started by founder and president dave two weeks ago has raised more than 11 million to help businesses affected by the shutdowns. So far the fund has helped more than 30 businesses, calls the owner himself on facetime to giver them the good news. One of the owners the Restaurant Owners mama mia was on fox friends this morning and she was crying because she was grateful to him for saving her business, dagen. Dagen i love that story. And i just love the good works that people who we dont know have done across the count while country while not politicians. Tuesdays results will determine who will control the senate. Here to discuss Jonathan Madison and democratic strategist anthony nichols. Its safe to say its too close for comfort whether youre a democrat or a republican. Yeah, thats very true. It looks like early voting is favoring democrats but it is going to be raserthin in georgia as it was on november third. We cant really make any clear predictions, it looks strong right now based on early voting but we still have got a little bit of time and georgians will go out and cast their ballots so we will see on tuesday, hopefully, or wednesday, we will have the results and who pulls this thick out. Dagen jonathan, what are you watching because the runoff races are base races and its how well you get the vote out and for the republicans as it has been the case in the past, they really have to get people out on election day. Jonathan absolutely, you have to get them out on election day and, you know, as mr. Nichols said, there are some polls out there and you see the early block in voting, about third of the state has cast a ballot. People are taking that to mean that democrats some widening lead and you may have seen other polls from gamc and others, 538, the fact is that polls can be misleading. Anything that we have learned in the decade is that polls are anything but reliable. You know, so i think we have to wait, sit this one out and just rely on the real polls that matter which are the American People, the most reliable indicators. Dagen lets talk about the Senate Showdown thats going on, the fate of the 2,000dollar stimulus checks in the hands of the senate because, again, what happened was President Trump, it really put the republicans on the spot with particularly Mitch Mcconnell about this 2,000dollar stimulus check. Loeffler and perdue, jonathan, have come out and said that they would they support the 2,000dollar checks but does that impact the election down in the runoff down in georgia, you think . I dont know that at this stage it really impacts the election. I mean, it definitely has the potential but i think we are pretty late in the game at this point to see, you know, how thats going to have an effect particularly on the votes that have been cast. That being said, i dont think it hurts for them to come out and say they back the president s plan, they back 2,000dollar stimulus checks for those people who yet havent cast a ballot who are looking forward to those checks and need assistance during the pandemic so time will spell. Dagen jason, what about joe biden along with President Trump will be campaigning down in georgia. Joe bidens campaign was really for the cameras on president ial election, what kind of impact would he have on voters in the state . Honestly i dont think joe biden will make a huge difference here. I think joe biden is someone who doesnt necessarily have a passionate backing in the party or nationally, i think hes somebody who people saw as steady hand, a return to our democratic norms that weve gotten away from in the last 4 years, but i dont think hes somebody who will get people drummed up and excited. Ic thats what they have people like stacy abrams and others in georgia, Keisha Lance Bottoms and some of the actual georgians who are down there, they are exciting the Democratic Base and they are getting people out. I think that joe biden is doing what he should do as the president elect which is to support, but i dont think hes the hes the driving force for the democrats at any point. Dagen but you have to get excited for the actual candidates and thats jon ossoff and raphael warnock, right, jonathan, and warnock, i mentioned earlier that the negatives have been rising, the highest of any of the candidates at this point. Absolutely, i think that the tactics that are being used by the other side to drive a campaign speak for themselves. Perdue refer today we referred by his opponent as empty suit. Negative ads and lack of enthusiasm and turnout, i think those will speak volumes on election day. So, i mean, i really look forward to seeing what happens on january 5th. It matters at this point. Dagen my takeaway, nobody knows. [laughter] dagen we are sitting here going i know better growing up in the south that im not going to speak for other southerners despite most people who didnt grow up there seem to think that everybody down there is related, and im not going to speak for any of the fine folks in georgia. Good to see you both, gentlemen, always, its been a pleasure all year, hope to see you in 2021 very soon Jonathan Madison and Jason Anthony nichols, thank you both so much. Coming up bitcoins record levels, 2021 outlook for crypto currency. Thats next. Plus the benefits of having fourlegged friends, dogs help us get through those tough times. Its making a buzz this morning. Youre watching mornings with maria live on fox business. announcer do you want to reduce stress . Shed pounds . Do you want to flatten your stomach . Do all that and more in just 10 minutes a day with aerotrainer, the total body fitness solution that uses its revolutionary ergonomic design to help you to maintain comfortable, correct form. That means better results in less time. You can do an uncomfortable, oldfashioned crunch or an aerotrainer super crunch. Turn regular planks into turbo planks without getting down on the floor. And there are over 20 exercises to choose from. Incredible for improving flexibility and perfect for enhancing yoga and pilates. And safe for all fitness levels. Get gym results at home in just 10 minutes a day. No expensive machines, no expensive memberships. Get off the floor with aerotrainer. Go to aerotrainer. Com to get yours now. Dagen bitcoins big bounce, crypto currency on pace to finish the year at blockbuster levels, can it sustain current valuation, joining us now Bitcoin Foundation chairman former child actor. What can investors expect from bitcoin in 2021 and beyond . Good morning, brock. Good morning, happy new year. Well, this has been quite a year for bitcoin. Again record highs in the last 24 hours, over 29,000 per bitcoin. Back in march we were around 4,000dollar level so its been incredible year and 2021, i suspect will continue to be so. Anyone thats followed bitcoin for some time would know that it goes up, it comes down, we run through cycles but with each new keeling that we break, we normally find a higher and higher floor and i do anticipate prices will come down at some point but finding new highs in terms of low levels and i suspect next year will be a good year as well. 26 of all u. S. Dollars ever created were created this year, its the reason why equities, its the reason why commodities, people are seeking alternative stores of value in and crypto currencies have been the winners this year. Dagen we were talking about influx of new investors in the past year, more and more people opening brokerage accounts or begin to go own stocks, how much does that impact bitcoin and do you need them to be kind of loyal owners, if you will, or buyers . It has a very big impact. Ultimate theres a finite number of bitcoin, 21 million to be exact and so as more people highways offramps and onramps are created to make it more accessible to potential investors or participants, that drives price because of finite scarcity. Paypal has integrated it. Fidelity, we are seeing more major Financial Institutions integrate this new currency and we are seeing it in the price. I suspect we will see more and more of that in the years to follow. Thats the big thing thats happened in this cycle is bitcoin is clearly very real now and it is here to stay and governments and Financial Institutions are backing it. Dagen im sure steve moore has something to say about it. I was asking steve forbes, steve moore, about it yesterday and he thinks for it to be used as an actual currency, it needs to be fixed to Something Like the swiss frank or even gold. Steve right. Sounds like my friend steve moore. Dagen steve moore, go ahead. Steve hes a gold bug and, you know, im an investor, dagen, into crypto currency and not bitcoin. The question i have is how much of this ascend of bitcoin is as a result of whats going on in washington and the craziness of how much we are spending and how much we are borrowing . Is this a sign that investors are starting to lose some faith in the dollar . I think theyre absolutely connected. Its the same reason why the equity markets are at alltime highs and its reason why the Commodity Markets have performed this way. People are just generally uncertain about the Financial System specifically governmentissued currencies. This is not just a problem here in the United States and its uncertainty that a large part is driving this. People are seeking alternative stores of value. The digital dollar does exist. We digitized the u. S. Dollar and basically gave the u. S. Dollar all the attributes of bitcoin, meaning it can go anywhere in the world, instantaneously and efficienty, 40 trillion a year. Whatever what happens with bitcoin, its also clear that this technology is going to change our monetary system. Dagen i know paypal is beginning to accept it in the new year. What about other major not just retailers, but Commerce Networks that will be accepting it, brock . Yeah, so we are seeing the major credit card platforms are exploring and integrating and piloting. The western unions, moneygrams. Back to it being used to transactions, bitcoin is really best thought of as a Digital Store of value. Think of it as gold 2. 0. You know, very similar and the reason why Precious Metals have historically have had value and bitcoin is along those lines. Dagen brock, happy new year to you. Happy new year. Dagen time for the morning buzz. First up seeking happiness in the new year. Get a dog. How many times do i need to say that . New Research Shows what ive known for my rescue dogs, thats ramon, ramon is 16 years old, theres charlie, the psychological benefits of Dog Ownership are real, they help reduce loneliness and help people with depression and anxiety, pandemic lockdowns led to surge with dog adoptions with fewer people giving up pets to shelters. Tom, no matter what kind of day youve had, you come home, even if youve been out of your home for like 5 minutes, the dog acts like youve been gone for 5 weeks, right . Tom dogs are the best and any dog owner will tell you. They know the attributes of Dog Ownership, the positive attributes. My question, if you have more dogs does that make you happier. We have 2 and my wife was this close to adopting a golden retriever and im like, i think that might be too much. So obviously dogs are great and they do provide benefits, but, you know, if you have too many maybe theres a tipping point. Dagen i dont think so. You have two dogs. If you have to walk them in the city, thats thats the biggest problem. If you have a yard, if you have, well, a life and dont live in new york city, then it is much easier, but when you have more than 2 dogs to try and walk out in the street, really lord knows what theyll end up eating, thats the biggest problem and they get filthy outside and, so i can digress but i know i would have theres a woman in my building fostering a dog who is blind in one eye and probably deaf and elderly and his name is todo and hes not very nice but i would still adopt him if i could, but i wont, but hes in good hands, right, cherry in next up eat up to keep the evil away. Burger king in japan offering a special spicey whopper named after something that is traditionally, traditionally wards off evil spirit. Garlic chips and chilly powder and monks have been seen blessing the burger. Steve, what do you make of this . Steve if they can pull this off, dagen, greatest campaign in history, love it. We will see if whoppers can exceed big max in japan and some of the asian countries. I have to say one quick thing about dogs, you mentioned when you get home, when i get home from a hard days night, so to speak, i walk in the door, i get a much better reception from my dog than i do from my wife. [laughter] dagen well, the dog can i mean, if youre talking a hard days night, the dog can sniff out whatever you, you know, whatever is going on, like, you know, maybe im just speaking from experience, you know, one too many glasses of wine and the dog is all over it and thats when they actually behave the worst when they know youre not really you want to go to bed and they need to go out, right . Steve, good to see you and tom, more ahead. 2021s top cars, we take a look. Stay with us Liberty Mutual customizes your Home Insurance, heres one thatll really take you back. Its customized Home Insurance from Liberty Mutual only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Its time for the lowest prices of the season on the sleep number 360 smart bed. You can adjust your comfort on both sides. Your sleep number setting. Can it help me fall asleep faster . Yes, by gently warming your feet. But, can it help keep me asleep . Absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both effortlessly comfortable. Will it help me keep up with mom . You got this. So, you can really promise better sleep . Not promise. Prove. Dont miss our new years special the queen sleep number 360 c2 smart bed is only 899. Plus, no interest until january 2024 on all smart beds. Ends monday. In connemara. Right connemara it is theres one gift the whole family can share this holiday season, their story. Give the gift of discovery, with an ancestrydna kit. Five blades and a pivotingglide flexball give the gift of discovery, designed to get virtually every hair on the first stroke, while washing away dirt and oil. So youre ready for the day with a clean shave and a clean face. Dagen good morning. Im Dagen Mcdowell, in for maria bartiromo. Its thursday, december 31st. New years eve. Your top stories at 7 00 a. M. Eastern. The push for more stimulus, time running of out for congress to agree on 2,000 checks for american as they try to put the focus can on overriding President Trumps defense bill veto. Some democrats wont even go there until stimulus issues are resolved. Were on this all morning long. We hear from tennessee congressman Chuck Fleischman, california congressman john gayn garamendi. Senator holly says he will oppose. Markets looking like this. We have gains across the board, slight gains. The dow futures up 10 points, dow notching another record close yesterday, in december markets poised for a positive finish. The nasdaq looking for its best month in more than a decade and for all of 2020, all three major market gauges ending in the green and then some. Despite the worst hit to the economy in decades. The nasdaq composite gaining more than 43 . Driving into 2021, we take a look at the Auto Industry in recovery, which cars, suvs, pickups stand to be the hottest buys in the coming year. The new years eve ball drop lives on, weve got a roundup of some of the strangest midnight drops to watch tonight at midnight. Theyre making a buzz this morning. Mornings with maria live right now. Two european markets are open and theyre to th the downside. The ftse and cac both lower. Germany closed for the new years holiday. The kospi and south korea and nikkei in japan are closed. The some of the top stories this morning, time running out for the senate to approve those 2,000 relief checks. Cheryl casone has more of. Hey, cheryl. Cheryl hey, dagen. Mitch mcconnell saying that the proposal a has, quote, no realistic path had to passin ton the senate. Combining the checks in a competing bill with other items on the president s agenda that lacks support from democrats. Senator Bernie Sanders ss figt for the larger checks forcing the senate to ring in the new year on capitol hill. A vote to override President Trumps veto of the defense bill is set for saturday. The United States reporting more than 3,740 deaths yesterday, as the cdc predicts more than 80,000 deaths will happen over the next three weeks. California becoming the second state to report a case of the new and more infectious variant of the virus that original of nateed in the u. K. The patient in question also has no travel history like the first one in colorado. Republican josh holly is the first senator to say he will object to the Electoral College results. He is demanding a congressional investigation into alleged Election Fraud and interference by big tech. Dozens of House Republicans plan to object which will force congress to hold a floor debate. And caught on tape, crazy video showing a group of teens attacking a bmw in broad daylight right here in new york city. A 15yearold boy was arrested overnight. The driver says the teens randomly attacked his car as he was driving down fifth avenue with his elderly mother in the passenger seat and by the way, dagen, they had just dropped off a bunch of stuff at a nonprofit housing works in new york city and they were attacked. And this is nothing new. Nothing new. These kids on these bikes are all over the city, as you know. Back to you. Dagen i on the five yesterday, i called new york city living here hell on earth. Cheryl yeah, yeah. Dagen an open sewer in hell. Time for the word on wall street, top investors watching your money this week. Joining me now, Ubs Financial Services private wealth advisor, allie mccarthy, ken mahone and steve moore. First up, kim, were looking at whats moving the economy as we head to the new year. Were a few days away from the georgia runoff race. Tuesdays results will determine the future direction of the country, who controls the senate, this as covid vaccines are rolling out across the u. S. Theres concern about a more contagious variant of the virus that has shown up in two states here in the United States. Ken, how will just put this in perspective on how this will all impact the market in 2021. Walking into 2021, theres so many challenges and opportunities at the same time. I think if you look back at the president ial election, we saw pfizer with their vaccination, we saw moderna with vaccination and the market looks ahead and i think what theyre seeing is a rebirth of the consumer, consumer demand will start increasing once we get through the vaccination period which will take some time, no doubt and hopefully well get on the other side. We want to spend money again. If you look at Consumer Spending historically over the many years, it goes like this, expansion and contractions. You can super impose consumer demand and Consumer Spending with the stock market. I think that bodes very well. Fed has rates at 0. 25 , theyre still buying assets. Checks are going out. I think it does bode well for the market. Again, some hiccups, investing is never easy. I think at the end of the day Consumer Spending is going to be the theme of 2021. Dagen would you bet on retail, quickly, ken . No, i would not, no. I would not like retail. I want to stick mostly with technology, ill stick in the fast lane with them. Dagen allie, the ipo boom surges into 2021, companies raising 167 billion in 454 454 offerings on u. S. Exchanges this year, blows past the previous record at the height of the 1990s first dotcom boom. Working at a dotcom at the time i remember how that ended. Much of that activity in the back half of this year, 67. 3 billion raised in just the Fourth Quarter. Does it play out like 2000, when that technology that dotcom bubble went poof . Or of how does it or is it a better road ahead next year, you think . I think youre probably going to see more of the same next year. I cover a lot of entrepreneurs especially in the tech space and there are a lot of s1s about to be filed. What i would say when you start to talk about the ipo market and the liquidity, we just talked about the rise in bitcoins, the rise in the stock market, all ipos and all spacs are not created. Ill point to scott gal way, he talked about galway, he talked about the door dash and air beeairbnb ipo. He says one has done well in spite of the open di mick. Epidemic. I think when youre investing in spac, that does concern me. I dont think we see a 2000. I think if you look at the valuations and the growth thats expected for many of the companies, theyre at the high end but they have legitimate businesses and services. But when you buy into these, think about your holding period. With a spac, think about the alignment that you have with the spac, principle. Dagen just to be clear, allie. A spac is an acronym, its a special purpose acquisition corporation. Yes. You got it. Dagen explain to people the issue if you will. So when you buy an ipo of a public company, you know exactly what youre buying. You can Read Everything thats been filed. Youre buying into one company and you decide whether to hold, sell, et cetera. When you buy a special purpose acquisition vehicle, you basically are buying a steward of capitals decision in the future to make accretive acquisition thats they have not been determined yet and they have to be made over a certain period of time, giving that principlprincipal the insensitio make an acquisition, whether accretive or not in order to capture fees. I want to make sure the public is understanding what that is. Thats a very important distinction. Dagen allie, im going to put you on the spot. Do you have a cat . I have speaking of dogs. I have a portuguese water dog that is up about an hour before hes normally up and hes very curious. Dagen hes behind you, i think, in the window. [laughter] dagen i was wondering what that was. I was could it be a raccoon . Out here it could be. That is my happy pandemic dog. Dagen i love a dog in the background. Steve, lets move on to so should joe biden be inaugurated, youre expecting gold to surge and federal borrowing to hit new highs, explain that. You look at the spending thats coming, i think youll get the 2,000 checks now that donald trump has put them on the table. It may happen under biden. Youre looking at a surge in spending on everything from infrastructure to the Climate Change agenda and the thing that i wanted to ask is given that one of bidens top agendas on fiscal policy is this massive tax increase on Capital Gains, increasing the Corporate Tax rate, im just wondering why it is that the market is not taking this into account. Is it possible that the market doesnt think the tax increases will happen . Dagen ken, you want to answer that . Is it just go ayou head. Yeah. Im sorry. I think the market is kind of saying to itself, that can happen but not in the middle of a pandemic. I think the legislation, the entire Capital Gains and all the crazy taxes is not going to be good. I think the markets thinking, yes, that may happen but not in dexamethason2021 and well kickn the road. The midterm election, what happened with obama, he didnt get the legislation through. I dont think biden will get this through in a pandemic to raise tax, not a good idea. Dagen you read my mind, ken, thank you so much. Hken, allie, and steve moore sis right there. Happy new year to both of you. Cant wait to spend more time with you in 2021. We have tom bevin sitting by. Much more ahead, up next, tennessee congressman Chuck Fleischman discusses where he stands on stimulus and funding Americas Armed forces. Next hour, we hear from congressman John Garamendi. And then director of the office of trade and Manufacturing Policy, Peter Navarro, on the new trade pact between china and the European Union, the business implications for the United States. Steve moore, tom bevin, theyre here all morning long. Youre watching mornings with maria live on fox business. Dagen stimulus showdown, the push for 2,000 checks now in the hands of the senate as the approved 600 checks, that money already going out to qualified americans. Senate majority of leader Mitch Mcconnell speaking out on the proposed 2,000 payments yesterday. Its hardly clear that the federal governments top priority should be sending thousands of dollars to, for example, a childless couple making well into six figures who have been comfortably teleworking all year. Our duty is to get help to the people who actually need help. Like we did to historic he degree just four days ago. Dagen tom bevin, your reaction to this . I pointed this out last hour, the wall street journal editorial page points out that the Senate Finance committee did the math on the house bill. It would provide benefits to a family of five, making up to 350,000 a year and it will cost close to half a trillion dollars or adding that to the National Debt in addition to the money for the 600 checks. Again, its in the details. But the easy, cheap headline is oh, Mitch Mcconnells a grinch and hes not sending money to people. Tom yeah, this thing has been a real disaster from the getgo. I mean, one, it should be just a clean bill. Why didnt we do a clean bill . Why didnt we do it six months ago, five months ago, four months ago . The democrats wouldnt do it that way. Then they finally after weeks of negotiations including Steve Mnuchin who got it to 600 and trump wanders in after the fact and sort o blows it up and it comes to Mitch Mcconnell, split the republican caucus. Its been a disaster. To your point, people obviously need money. People need jobs. Businesses are what need the money to sustain themselves through this crisis, thats going to last well into first quarter. So why not be giving money to the Small Businesses that are struggling to survive . And even that program we saw, were just throwing cash out the door even for large corporations and all sorts of places that didnt necessarily need it when Small Businesses were the ones who were adverse the most adversely impacted by the lockdown. Dagen joining me now, tennessee congressman, House Appropriations committee member, Chuck Fleischman. Congressman, great to see you this morning. What is your reaction to all of this . Because i do not want to hear one peep out of nancy pelosi or senator Chuck Schumer, crying over 2,000 checks not being passed when for months they held up aid to the American People for their own political gain. Nancy pelosi literally laughed about a trillion left about a trillion dollars on the table because she refused to come down and agree to a nearly 1. 9 trillion package that was negotiated by secretary of the treasury, Steve Mnuchin. I want them to pipe down because they were standing atop the suffering of the American People for their political gain and they lost. Well, i think youre absolutely right. Were in a position right now where still the democrats are playing politics with these issues. This was a non issue until a week or so ago. Weve got hard, good, fast relief out to the American People who needed it, with stimulus checks. The 600 checks are hitting now. Aid to people with unemployment, that supplement is there, aid to Small Businesses. It should have been done months ago. Right now, its become a political football with the Georgia Senate race. So youre right. We need it to get through this. Its been a very difficult year. But it can never be a political football. The American People are hurting, and this is an expensive package. Give Congress Credit for the first time they actually cut the cost of something as opposed to increasing the cost. This came in under a trillion dollars. As opposed to adding 484 trillion more to it. Dagen steve moore, i want to get your reaction to this, though, because this 2,000 these 2,000 checks become a political issue in large part because President Trump bellyflopped into the middle of it and thats a verb that the wall street journal editorial page a has used in the past. Thats why its an issue now, is because he got in the middle of it and literally sided with chuck shy yo schumer and Bernie Sanders. Steve look, right now im going to have a tirade. Im angry everybody. I love donald trump but im angry at him. 2,000 is absurd. 10,000 per family is crazy. The only way that the government can give a dollar to you, dagen, is to take a dollar from me. Theres no free money in washington. Its all redistribution. I think the big mistake that was made was donald trump and Arthur Laffer and others argued for months and months that we should cut the payroll tax to benefit people who are working and benefit Small Businesses by cutting their costs. I just dont understand why it is that republicans caved in on that. That would have been real help and the heroes of the economy, dagen, i said this so many times on the show, the heroes of the economy are the people on the front line working, the nurses, the doctors, delivery people. Why not give them some kind of benefit . Dagen exactly. Congressman, you ant to respond to that . You want to respond to that . People who work at supermarkets, who restock the chefs and at the height of the pandemic, people were showing up to ring up folks groceries. Its just amazing. Well, what happened, and i understand everyones point here. What happened, everything got bogged down in politics. We had a divided house, a divided senate and a he very strongwilled, principled white house that wanted certain things done that was a very good idea on the payroll issue bat when it was not going to pass we have to move to things that work and ive always believed as a conservative when youre going to have federal spending you need it to go in an area thats going to get the most bang for the buck. That is helping frontline workers. We need to save Small Businesses. During the pandemic we have lost so many Small Business thats will never come back. As the dust settles and we get passed the political charades, we need to sit down as legislators in both houses with the white house and make sure that we get it right the next time and get our economy going but get growth. Growth is the best thing and how do you get growth . The Free Enterprise system, the free market, and make america businesses great again. Dagen you cut taxes and cut regulation which is what President Trump did. Congressman Chuck Fleischman, thank you so much. Great to see you. Happy new year. Well be right back. Dagen british lawmakers approving a Free Trade Agreement with the European Union, paving the way for the u. K. To finally complete the lengthy brexit journey. Queen elizabeth giving her formal acen assent to the deal. Steve, how does this impact not just the u. K. s trading relationship with with the European Union, but also the United States moving forward . Where do we go from here . Steve. Steve . Steve sorry, is that for me . Dagen yeah. Steve this is the best news of the year. I mean, finally the brits are leaving the European Union and the answer to your question, dagen, is absolutely yes, this benefits the United States. We want britain to be more like the u. S. Theyve always been tugged between whether theyre going to be more like europe or more like the u. S. Here is the outcome i want to see, dagen. I talked to maria about this. She loves this idea as well. So does trum donald trump for tt matter. Why dont we have a Free Trade Agreement, with the brits, or let them into nafta. So we really have a united front especially as we move into this new era of conflict with china. Dagen whats the possibility of that, steve, before i move on to tom, whats the possibility of that happening under a Biden Administration he though . Though . You know, i dont kn. I think the big mystery about joe biden is where he is going to stand on trade. I hope he is a free trader. I hope he moves forward with this idea. Dont you love thus idea, dagen . The u. S. And britain forming an you alliance on trade. Were both high wage countries, would benefit both nations. Dagen tom, what do you think . Tom well, look, i would say this has been finally the british people are getting what they want. It took years and it took multiple elections, change of prime ministership, theyre getting what they voted for, the expressed will of the people. In that sense i think its great. Reading the story, there were complaints they only had six weeks to review this 1200 page bill. Nancy pelosi dropped a bill twice that size with two hours for everyone to read it. So i think the brits, they know how to govern better than we are at this point anyway. Dagen steve, what does the World Economy look like to you . Much as been made of the slower than expected distribution of vaccines here in the United States. At least in the month of december. But this vaccine, these vaccines here in the United States are an unprecedented success. That people are getting these vaccines literally years before anybody expected them. And that benefits again, this is a kind of speaks to the power of private industry and when the government can help but still get out of the way. Its one of the most dynamic Public Private partnerships certainly that ive witnessed in my lifetime and i just wonder if that changes the way not just people, politicians in the United States think about private industry, the often villified drug companies, but also globally. Youre absolutely right. This is the economic stimulus. This outweighs all this talk about 600 for this person and 2,000. The stimulus of the economy is the trump vaccine and you are so right, this is a triumph of Free Enterprise and private capitalism. Operation warp speed was a program where basically what donald trump did was get the government regulators out of the way, dagen. Can you imagine that happening under joe biden . So it is a very positive for not just the u. S. But the World Economy and i think this will be Donald Trumps ultimate legacy of combating and conquering this disease in record time. Dagen meantime, tom bevin, joe biden has become hes been critical of the vaccine rollout and its very clear that hes trying to basically dismiss the vaccine so that he can take credit for it. I think. Because he had literally nothing to do with this vaccine. Zero. If anything, he was basically fomenting skepticism and fear mondamongering along with Kamala Harris two months before the election. I dont know, i dont trust donald trump. If scientists tell me to take it i will. Biden is going to try to claim victory, i hope people realize that, well, poppocock. Joe biden is trying to set himself up. Look, the rollout of this vaccine is awful and were not getting help from the Trump Administration and when he takes office were going to straighten everything out. The idea that this was called a fantasy, would never happen, to produce a vaccine in this short of time and the fact that it did come to pass it is probably one of the biggest accomplishments of the Trump Administration. You look at what the administration did with spacex. Hopefully these things will continue. Under a democratic administration, i think were likely to see more reregulation and a move in the other direction, unfortunately. Dagen because politicians think that theyre the smartest people not just in the room but on the planet and in the galaxy. Coming up, 2020s top google searches, were looking at what people were looking up in a year unlike any other. The morning buzz, ahead. Didnt i, didnt i, didnt i see you crying. Oh, didnt i, didnt i, didnt i see you crying. Next week on mornings with maria, monday, left wing governors putting the Restaurant Industry on life support. Former mcdonalds ceo is here. Tuesday, america under attack by Russian Hackers and chinese spies, general jack keane lace out an appropriate u. S. Response. Wednesday, with Senate Control hangings ihanging in the balance the Georgia Special election results. Thursday, its the word on wall street, market insiders take on how to pump up your portfolio. Friday, your ian bremmer on hoe world is prepping for a biden presidency. Thats all right here on mornings with maria were related to them . Were portuguese . I thought we were hungarian. Can you tell me that story again . Behind every question is a story waiting to be discovered. This holiday, start the journey with a dna kit from ancestry. Dagen welcome back. Im Dagen Mcdowell, in for maria bartiromo. It is thursday, december 31st. New years eve. A look at your markets this half hour. You have gains across well, they dipped into the red territory at the moment. The dow futures and the s p futures are slightly lower, nasdaq 100 to the plus side. The dow notching another record close yesterday, boosted by vaccine hopes. In december markets poised for a positive finish. The nasdaq looking for its best month in since 2009. So 11 years. And for all of 2020, all three major market gauges end in the green and then some. The nasdaq up more than 43 . This despite the worst hit to the u. S. Economy in decades. European markets the ones open are looking like this. The losses, the ftse 100 down 1 andahalf percent, germany closed for the new years holiday. Also closed for new years, the nikkei in japan and the kospi in south korea. The hang seng in shanghai to the plus side. Amazon is expanding its empire once again. In an unusual way. Cheryl casone has the details. Hey, cheryl. Cheryl good morning, dagen. We talked about this before. The tech giant has agreed to buy podcast producer wondery in a bid to bolster its business. Amazon didnt disclose the purchase price. The wall street journal is reporting it could be worth 300 million. Wondery is known for true crime shows. Well, alden global looking to buy tribune publishing, the Hedge Fund Company which owns a 32 stake in tribune expected to disclose an offer as soon as thursday. They have closed many newsrooms to save on real estate and is currently valued at 470 million. Softbank bailing out potera with another 200 million investment, that is on top of 2 billion already invested after they ran into financial problems while trying to shake up the building industry. The new funds will give softbank a majority stake in the company and help them avoid bankruptcy. Disney world operating at full capacity today. The florida theme parks reservation website showing no availability for new years eve even with limited guests allowed during the pandemic. Disney requiring face masks, temperature checks and implementing social distancing policies for anyone that wants to go to the resort. Finally, dagen, how is this for a post game fumble . Cheryl oh, no is right. That was the Wisconsin Badgers football team. They accidentally shattered their own of trophy in the locker room as you just saw after they won dukes mayo bowl in charlotte. They beat wake forest. They fixed it by taking dukes mayonnaise and putting it on the base. Dagen thats the curse of the demon deacons, when you celebrate too much, defeating my wake forest demon deacons, thats what happens. Although i encourage everyone to make sure that there is dukes mayonnaise in their cabinets for 2020 because it is the best mayonnaise. I can attest to that. Cheryl good to know. Dagen maybe you know, just ritz crackers, with dukes may a face on it. Cheryl sounds like a new years feast. Dagen disgusting but delicious. 2020 was a year like no other of, from a pandemic that gripped the globe to a hotly contested president ial election. Out of a world full of hurt, a world in pain, we saw moments of hope and recovery with the promise that good times will find us once again. Maria bartiromo has a look back at a year in business. Maria as the ball comes down on 2020, most people will be relieved to see the lights go down on a devastatingly lifechanging year. The 2020s began with promise as the economy was churning at levels not seen in a generation. [sound of bell] maria record high stock prices, record low unemployment and earnings for Everyday Americans rising. We have a lot of things, weve done i think more than anybody in three years and now you know with regulation, tax cuts and so many other things, weve rebuilt our military. Maria business too was looking forward to growth and prosperity. So far, looks like at least the first part of the year is going to be pretty good. Obviously things happen to change that but i think the economy can continue to hum along. Maria sesame street live was on tour and stopped by our set on mornings with maria on fox business. We celebrated. From wall street to sesame street and weve got cookie monster and elmo here as well. But a month later, broadway was shut down as news of a deadly virus coming to america changed everything. Across the country, a new way of living took hold as hospitalizations were rising. Tens of thousands then hundreds of thousands of americans dead. Expectations of growth turned into predictions of recession and hopes for a vaccine. Im cautiously optimistic that we will have a vaccine thats effective enough to get approved. Maria governors reacted by locking down. It turned it into the worst economy in many decades. Many restaurants could not survive the summer of lockdowns and closed shop. Airlines saw traffic drop 95 . Schools closed down. Better safe than sorry. Which not send my child to a school in a hot spot cluster that has not been tested. Maria the treasury and the Federal Reserve threw trillions of dollars in stimulus at that time problem. The added stimulus sent Interest Rates to record low levels, which sent investors piling into higher yielding stocks. All the while, the stock market soared notching record after record with technology and socalled stayathome Companies Leading the way. The nasdaq up 40 plus percent in 2020, led by amazon, zoom, netflix and tesla. America then awaited a yearend president ial election and the Campaign Season endured with the final results of the election contested by a sitting president. President trump spotlighting irregularities in the vote as joe biden was naming picks for his cabinet position. Tension in the air with big city crime up as well. As debates persist on future policy on security, business, and on china. By years end, our frontline scientists and pharmaceutical companies delivered a vaccine to hospitals and Healthcare Facilities in record time, bringing hope after a long and tough year. Happy new year and hallelujah to 2021. In new york, im maria bartiromo, fox business. Dagen steve, what struck you most about 2020 . Theres so much to talk about. Its the hardship but its the resiliency of the American People. Steve well, listening to what maria was just sarks i was struck by the fact that exactly a year ago, dagen, i was literally pinching myself saying things are too good for the economy right now. I mean, the economy was just a blowout economy, record low unemployment, record low poverty, record high wage increases, record high stock market. I was thinking somethings going to happen. I dont know if its going to be a meteor or a terrorist attack. I didnt anticipate this virus. But it was the virus that changed everything. Not just obviously with respect to the economy but theres no question donald trump would have won a huge reelection had it not been for this virus. It changed everything. But the good news is, because of the vaccine, 2021 is looking much, much better. Dagen im going to channel jon hilsenrath. Jon tends to be optimistic about the strength of the American People and the recovery that even in new york city new york city especially hardhit because in part because of the shutdowns and the kind of onerous, heavyhanded, unscientific, even at times deadly leadership of governor andy cuomo and the mayor here. But tom, it does come down to the kind of inner strength of all americans. Tom yeah, amazing resilience, amazing ingenuity. Look at the Small Business owners and the way they retooled in a lot of cases to survive through this. Pretty remarkable. Look, this was the year that changed everything, not just for this year but moving forward in ways that we may not understand for years to come. I mean, the move away from cities, the move to teleworking, what weve done to our kids in terms of the lost year and the online learning. Theres a lot that were going to find out about this year that we dont currently see and well find out in the coming years. But i agree, i mean, hopefully everyone is looking to 2021 to be better than 2020. Dagen ill share this because we were showing the video of elmo and cookie monster. Like i spontaneously burst into tears when elmo was sitting next to me here on the set. Before the lockdowns. And i just lost my mother and i just encourage people you talk about the lingering effects. I think that people are struggling psychologically, because of the isolation, because theyre suffering through loss of life, death of family members, but also the closure of businesses and just the isolation. And i started seeing a psychiatrist for the first time in the last year or so and have been struggling personally with depression. And i just encourage everybody out there. You know, i have my job. Im so deeply grateful for everyone i work with and everyone in my family but i encourage everyone to go out and find somebody to talk to and with telemedicine now, it is much easier to get psychological or psychiatric help than ever before and it is more commonplace and so i share that with you because its been a lifechanger. And im blessed that 2021 is almost here. Coming up, driving into 2021, we take a look at an automaker industry in recovery, which cars, suvs, pickup trucks stand to be the hottest buys in the coming year. And the new years eve ball drop lives on. Weve got a roundup of some of the strangest midnight drops to watch tonight at midnight. Theyre making a buzz this morning. Youre watching mornings with maria live on fox business. Come alive. Let the moment take you. Through. Did you know that geicos whole 15 minutes thing. That came from me. Really. My first idea was in one quarter of an hour, your savings will tower. Over you. Figuratively speaking. But thats not catchy, is it . Thats not going to swim about in your brain. So i thought, what about. 15 minutes. 15 percent. Serendipity. 15 minutes could save you 15 or more on car insurance. announcer do you washed pounds . Stress . Serendipity. Do you want to flatten your stomach . Do all that in just 10 minutes a day with aerotrainer, the total body fitness solution that uses its revolutionary ergonomic design to help you maintain comfortable, correct form. That means better results in less time. And there are over 20 exercises to choose from. Get gym results at home. No expensive machines, no expensive memberships. Go to aerotrainer. Com to get yours now. Dagen automakers like all of us emerging from a very strange year. The year filled with slumpingy sales. According to the bar bureau of economic analysis, 2020 car sales failed to meet 2019 by roughly 5 million vehicles. Joining us now, car coach, lauren fix. What does next year look like . Well, i think next years going to have some pretty good sales, dagen. I know we all kind of suffered throughout the year, not having vehicles available. People had tradeins off of leases. They didnt know what to do. Used car sales went crazy. I think used car sales will reduce down as far as inflated prices and well see more product coming into dealers. My guestimation will be somewhere around the high 16 million light trucks and cars versus 15. 5 for this year. And the Previous Year was 17. 1 million vehicles. So we had a real hit on the Auto Industry. Dagen yeah. With the lack of driving you might expect that turned in leases have fewer miles on them. Do you think that people should start looking youre talking about the inflated prices on previously owned vehicles or used cars. What does that look like . Are you going to be able to, as were you kind of talking about, will there be more new car, new vehicle inventory to choose from . Well, theres definitely going to be more inveinly. I mean, we had a problem with getting product from china and other countries. Covid hurt a lot of suppliers. Manufacturers now have product to produce 2021s. Theyre coming to dealerships. Theres a lot of great product, a lot of plugins and hybrids, trucks and suvs which are the popular segments. If you look at the used car market wha went up the highest s pickup trucks because people started using them and suvs and cars didnt grow as far as pricing. Were seeing that flatten out. About a million cars a month are being turned into dealers and product is there, so dont worry about finding a new car. Theyll get you one. Dagen lets talk about electric. I have a beef with that ford electric mustang because its not a mustang. I do too. Dagen its an suv. I mean, its a crossover. What are they doing . It should look like a mustang . Am i wrong. Are people ready for are more people ready for electric vehicles, do you think . Well, ford knows that well aware my feeling about the word mustang. It is an suv. Its not a muse task. An iconic mustang from 1964 which i collect and restore is absolutely not what that is. Theyre well aware of how a lot of people feel about it. But as far as what theyre building, the vehicle itself is impressive. Theyre going to sell a lot of them because there is a dealer network, there is service, there are loaner cars. I think ford has done a good job stepping into full electric. There had been electric before with the ford escape. It didnt do so well. Theyre coming back again. Theres 30 manufacturers on a global basis coming out with with electric vehicles. The sales arent there. 2 of last years sales were electric, thats 2019 and 2020. Theyre making product that people arent buying. If youre not making money, where is the profit margin. Why are you building something that has no profit. Dagen politicians will mandate that the internal Combustion Engine is destroyed, abolished and theyre mandate vehicles sold starting in california. Theres a bill in washington that will mandate every car in 15 years has an electric motor in it. So i dont believe that that will ever happen. I dont think youll see that, to be honest. Dagen i dont either. I think its overpredicted. The grid cant support it. No one wants to be restricted. You want to drive from new york to florida, you cant. You have to go by electric stations. You have to worry about the Rare Earth Minerals in the batteries. Yes, theres room for electric and gas and diesel and compressed central gas but theres not room for just one. Dagen by the way, that fake engine noise in electric vehicles is just horse manure. I hate it. Im with you. Dagen lauren, good to see you. Lauren fix, always a pleasure. Time for the morning buzz. First up, 2020s wild year reflected in top google searches. People wanted information about the coronavirus and the election, rounding out the top 10, zoom, kobe bryant, Chadwick Boseman and nya river diss a and number one searched person goes to joe biden. Any of those surprise you. No, those are the two big stories of the year, covid and the election. The most searched thing, how to cut mens hair was one. And how to make Hand Sanitizer was another one. Thats pretty indicative of where a lot of people were at home, on their computers, trying to figure out how to manage themselves through this crisis which has lasted the better part of nine months. Dagen i started cutting my own bangs and i still do it. I do. I cut my own of bangs. Not well. I dont have a problem dagen good enough. Ill dye my own hair for months. Not well. But you didnt see the gray. We all know that the times square ball drops at midnight but what about the baloney drop. Small towns are taking their new years eve traditions virtually. Some of the most unique drops include a pickle drop in north carolina, the famous peep fest in bethlehem, pennsylvania and the baloney drop in lebanon, pens raipennsylvania. Steve, are you looking forward to any of these traditions tonight. Steve what im trying to figure out, dagen, obviously the highlight of new years eve when youre watching new you years rocking eve is to see that ball drop and the millions of people crowding on the streets of new york. But thats not going to happen this year, right . Dagen so just so you he know, because i usually drive through the middle of times square when i come to work around 3 00 in the morning and more on several occasions i drive through and would see that 2020 sign where the ball had dropped a year ago, and i would make a real i would make an unkind hand gesture at just the year. It was a gesture toward 2020, because it just stunk in so many ways. Here hoping for a beautiful, fabulous 2021. Still ahead, the push for more stimulus. Stay with us. Research shows people remember commercials with nostalgia. So to help you remember that Liberty Mutual customizes your Home Insurance, heres one thatll really take you back. Wow whatd you get, ryan . Its customized Home Insurance from Liberty Mutual what does it do bud . It customizes our Home Insurance so we only pay for what we need and what did you get, mike . I got a bike. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Dagen good morning Dagen Mcdowell, new years eve top stories 8 00 a. M. Eastern to push for surplus time running out for congress to agree on 2000 dollar checks for americans, as they try to put the focus on overriding President Trumps defense bill, veto, from democrats wont even go there until the check issue is resolved. We are on this all morning long we will hear from John Garamendi california congressman, coming up next. Senator hawley will oppose during the joint session next week what this all means any chance of success being ahead. Futures meantime look like this, we have a slight loss on the dow futures the moment 14point loss the dow did notch a record close yesterday, in december markets poised for a positive finish, with the nasdaq looking best monthb since 2009, for all of 2020, all three major market gauges showing big gains, biggest on nasdaq up more than 43 24 can he expedite the worst hit to our economy in decades, plus o 2021 travel outlook the hottest spots you need to book now, to enjoy a great post pandemic vacation, mornings with maria live, right now. And there you have it sydney, australia amazing country, ringing in 2021. Can we see it . You see that little spot. Dropped the banner you can see the opera house there can you see what it a terrific site there still is something to celebrate reconciliations strength around the globe vaccines distributed to get us all around this world out of the pandemic, pandemic shutdowns horror of covid deaths, there is some reason to celebrate, sydney, australia welcome, being 2021. Here are some more other stories that we are watching this morning, time running out for the senate to approve those 2000 dollar relief checks, Cheryl Casone has more, cheryl. Cheryl ye that is right, dagen senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell saying no realistic chance to passing in the Senate Mcconnell blocked sending attempt to bring the vote to the floor yesterday afternoon, combining checks in competing bill with other item on the president the agenda that lacks support from democrats, senator Bernie Sanders fight for larger checks, forcing the senate to ring in the new year on the hill skroet to override President Trumps veto of the defense bill, now expected for saturday, one day before the new congress is sworn in. Another grim record for the coronavirus, United States reporting more than 3740 deaths yesterday. Will as cdc predicts more than 80,000 districts could occur over the next three weeks, california the second to report a case of the variant of the virus that originated in yuh uk the one in colorado has no travel history. Buffalo bills in ans happy this morning andrew cuomo announcing 6700 fans will be allowed to attend the upcoming playoff game with some restrictions, new York City Restaurants cant have Indoor Dining but anyway, fans are going to have to be tested for covid before game masks required all times Contact Tracing also going to take place afterwards, this is the first time the bills won afc title since 1959 Republican Josh Hawley first to say he will object to the Electoral Collegeing results during next weeks joint session the demanding a congressional investigation into alleged Election Fraud quote intlfrns of big tech that favor joe biden, they are forced to object forcing congress to hold a floor debate some headlines. Dagen happy new year. 2021 in australia i do love fireworks not for dogs i do love warm fireworks, congressional over sided senate inching toward over provided of the defense bill veto coming down, because the bill i did not repeal the controversial section 230 act shields Technology Companies from liability, related user posted content senator Bernie Sanders says he will filibuster if stimulus checks are not increased first, a finalizing senate vote is expected saturday, joining me now california congressman on the Armed Services committee, John Garamendi also joining the conversation, the rest of the morning, economist economic adviser to President Trump steve moore, realclearpolitics, tom bevan. What is your expenses for the senate. It will eventual get done in senate obviously, the senate is seriously strung out they need to get i dont they need to get emergency relief package done they need to get veto override done u. S. Military, our National Security, is dependent upon, that veto override, why the president vetoed it in the first place is i know i guess the answer to that is blowing in the wind, somewhere in 2020. But we really need it, cybersecurity, you name it russia, china all those issues are in that bill. It is necessary. Dagen but it will get done i think this weekend . It will get done. Dagen okay. It will get done either this weekend or maybe the morning of january 3rd before new congress is sworn in at 12 00 noon. Does stimulus showdown talk about that this push for a 2000 dollar check, 600 dollar checks that were in stimulus that was passed, and signed by President Trump, on sunday. Congressman you voted in favor of increasing the stimulus checks, tell us why you voted for the 2,000 dollars. Well, i suppose next few moments you will show lines of cars lined up to get food, all around the nation, there is a very serious crisis for american going fine upper middle class doing fine still have jobs the rest of the nation is in serious, serious harm. And hurting badly. Those people that are lined up to get food at food banks, they also need cash so that they can make other requirements from rent, to medical supplies you name it. So, people need help, it is up to the government to help them through this crisis. Dagen are i am not going to dispute that, last week we are going to get jobless claims, at the bottom of the hour. Last week, there were more than 20 million americans collecting some form of unemployment. 20 million americans i am going to move to steve forbes, steve moore i know he has a question for you the issue is, not that people need help, millions of americans need help. What is the best help to provide them . Steve the ,000 dollar checks way house bill is written would apply to family of 5 earning 350,000 dollars, based on a the wall street journal editorial writes about that today. Well, it will be Wonderful World if we could heal an economy by just having the federal government print money send checks to people not a very good economic stimulus strategy, frankly, i think sometimes, that that this was the this was not the coronavirus, but it was some kind of thing that in being affected peoples economic sensibilities my problem congressman i lover your reaction to this i dont see anything in this bill that helps the economy, or a where are tax cuts deregulation instruction in payroll tax, that we talked about earlier this year . I think this is a sham i think actually we estimate this bill will actually cost economy 4 million jobs next six months because you are paying people not to work there is a word for that on my ranch usually find it on the floor or ground around the coral you are simply wrong. People are in desperate need of monday so they can live their lives so they dont have to go to food lines dont have to receive money from food from feed banks so that they can, do the things, that are necessary, for their kids to do Virtual Learning all of those things that is the reality. That is the reality, throughout america. And beyond that, sure, there are better ways of doing it, we could have controlled this virus. It wasnt done, it was not done. Listen this economy is not going to either g up and get going until the virus gets under control that is why the bill in may was critically important then again in september,after the senate did absolutely nothing then again we finally put through the 900billiondollar program, that provides the money to get the virus under control, so the reality, sir, were not getting the economy no matter how much money to put in place to support people to stay alive until we get virus under control. Understand your upset with virus not being controlled that is across the board, and ive witnessed it here in new york that fell on the local authorities, and elected officials fell on our governor who literally signed an order that killed thousands of elderly people. The who were in our Nursing Homes it fell on mismanagement, of people in congress, it fell on mismanagement of mayors, you are still seeing that. Again, there is no to science to to justify shutting down outdoor dining, in a place like los angeles. So i understand that. But that is across government that you are talking about. Another thing. That bill that was passed in the house in the spring, it it it chut taxes for wealthy people, in blue states because it it started getting rid of capital state and local Tax Deductions there were two two half trilliondollar stimulus packages, that the Senate Democrats wouldnt even allow, to go up for debate in the senate. So i think that there is blame to go around. And i i feel like it you could be upset with President Trump but at least saw that the vaccine was the way out of this. And set it up so private industry could well, were having millions of americans who are being vaccinated this month. Yes. And theres what 12 million vaccine doses out there only the two million administered. That is not true i am going to stop you it is not. 2 data the data said 2. 1 2. 1 Million People have been vaccinated Common Knowledge that is undercounting there have been millions doses shipped. Several days ago i think the count was about 11 1 2 million doses of vaccines stipulated to the states, so, my issue is that people like everything like everything that trump the President Trump does he is just abomination . But then you will the people who literally some politicians have killed our elderly in these states, and they get a pass. That is my issue. There is so much blame to go around, and not targeted at the people who made most deadly decisions. Well yeah, lets there is a lot of the things hit the wall see what were talking about. Ive got facts to back up what i am talking about i want to have a civil conversation with you. But i want to know where we go from here. I want to know where we go from here. Do you think let me ask you this do you think that the 2000 dollar checks will get passed at some point . Do you think that happens . I would hope it does. People need help. Yes there will be you talk about 300,000 dollar income folks, there is a sliding scale they actually will not get the full amount of money they will get a very, very small portion of that. Because as a sliding scale based on income yes, it does top out at 300,000, if there is a 2000 dollar check. They dont get the full amount they get a piece of that the reality is people are hurtinged, the economy is hurting. We need to get two things done, immediately. We need to get the National Defense authorization act veto overridden so that National Security is in place i talked about that earlier. With regard to this 2000 dollar additional emergency relief money, it is necessary. Now, if they dont like the way that the formula is written write a different formula the discussion about unemployment checks, extremely important. Unfortunately, the 600 dollar dump didnt occur it three is00 dollars better than no to the bumpup at all keep in mind that it was two days three days ago, that the president finally signed 900billiondollar relief imagine aloud unemployment checks to restart weve got a lot of things going on we are going to have a new administration the new medication hoef will put the full power of the federal government behind the Vaccination Program that doesnt exist at this moment, yes, there has been distribution. But there is no National Plan for putting that vaccine into the arms of americans. That needs to be done. There is a host of other things that we will do. Dagen because, again, because some of the responsibility fell on state and local officials, weve seen particularly in blue states plrl in one that i live in, they are incompetent. Congressman John Garamendi thank you so much i hope you have a great new year please would come back. Happy new year i will. Come back often. It will be a better year 21 will be a better year, stay with us he everybody we will be right back. Finding the right words can be tough. Finding understanding doesnt have to be. Together, we can create a kinder, more inclusive world for the millions of people on the autism spectrum. Go to autismspeaks. Org dagen futures searching for direction final trading day of 2020, 25 point loss on the dow futures, but the dow hit 13th record close of the year yesterday. Extending this years santa claus rally joining me now, Research President ed, what surprised you just about this year . I think everything would it was surprising particularly in terms of the market performance. I have been extremely impressed with the recovery, of the economy has enjoyed. I mean from a mack oro economic standpoint, looking at, the economy is from 30,000 feet above, we had a twomonth recession lockdown recession, never anything like it never locked you ourselves down like that, and extraordinary thing looks like we built up a tremendous amount of cabin too far we all had cadin fever didnt all have virus once lockdown restrictions were lifted economy just went into vshaped expansion and we saw real gdp in Third Quarter up 33 , and, now, looks as though Fourth Quarter is going to be up 10 , incredible, i was thinking the economy would slow not go into a double dip but slow first half next year. But now with these checks that are going out just 600 dollar checks, that could really give another boost to the economy in the first draft once vaccines work for us we can have a boom the second half next year. What sectors are you looking at for growth in 2021 . Like i keep this list in front of me how different Asset Classes perform some of them were i mentioned yesterday lumber doubled, more than doubled but there is so like, so many parts, are of the market had run so much, where do you where are you do you feel reasonable bets here sfl if you feel like we have been sort in twilight joen future okay . Exactly where weve been i think still are some ways weve had a really compressed recession followed by remarkable recovery the stock market, market followed tradition script speed and steroids until recently cues of concerns be recession effect everybody wants a handful of Growth Stocks lots of cash, cash flow were actual benefiting from the pandemic. But then, would come november, we had an early start to santa claus rally case vaccines were, suddenly, going to be available he shortly as we know, the market had a tremendous he, one of the best ever we built on that in december, just we didnt give it back in december. Looking at the next year, i think the market continues to broaden out, small midcap stocks do well i think in large caps, the stocks are going to be, five s p 500 companies do well 495 lag behind going to catch up i think a broad bull market a bull market for stockso stock pooishgz for a change as opposed to simply momentum chasers could be a pretty good year for the market. But selectively you have you just cant i wouldnt speculate i wouldnt go with moment would i go with smart stock picking. Is it he lean hogs he have aing oil gasoline crude nynex even brent crude, good to see you happy new year sir billionaire bonanza joining bill gates, Jeff Bezos Elon musk in wealth. That is next. Its moving day. And while her friends are doing the heavy lifting, jess is busy moving her xfinity internet and tv services. It only takes about a minute. Wait, a minute . But what have you been doing for the last two hours . Delegating . Oh, good one. Move your Xfinity Services without breaking a sweat. Now thats simple, easy, awesome. Xfinity makes moving easy. Go online to transfer your services in about a minute. Get started today. Dagen stock alert tribune on news of possible sale aden owns a third stake one third stake in tribune offered to take full control in a detail values company just over 520 million dollars, transcribe europe made drastic cuts amid the pandemic including closing many of its newsrooms, to save on real estate valued 470 million dollars. 2020 called one of the worst economic crisis that weve seen the worst this my lifetime, surely the pandemic causing market collapse in march turned into incredible recovery, some on wall street seeing increase in wealth this year 56 new billionaires, added in the United States according to institute for policy study not just wall street, these are business creators, among names kanye west, tyler Perry Mckenzie scott formally bezos jeff bezoss exwife as Many Americans are stuttering struggling from job losses amid pandemic initial jobless claims in about a little less than little more than 3 minutes time, steve what do you attribute to increase in wealth. Steve great entrepreneurships in most case people criticized business created hundreds of thousands someone businessos millions of jobs, i am tired of crass welfare millions are talking about what has been said has been unfair to Small Businesses why in the world is walmart loud to be open but not joes Hardware Store . That is the real inequity ebb here we let Big Companies say home shutter Small Businesses that is not fair daying jooen not fair, that shifted a little bit, but i said early on in year, that we got bigger, because of haphazard hand handed decision made at state and local level. You cant lay this on President Trump, and people who work at election this is where rubber meets road in states,towns, cities, tom, what do you make of this you have seen a move to wealth redistribution, i want and i think there is a grave concern among people who consider themselves to be conservative, that this is that the road ahead that this is future for this country. Tom well, certainly does give fodder to as steve mentioned class warriors, there are going to be some folks certainly in Biden Administration some democrats in Congress Going to try to releverage this reality is things have changed, and Small Businesses have suffered. And suffered greatly. And we are going to see this play out in the coming years you mentioned part of this was dynamic of the pandemic people staying at home not shopping as much, using amazon adjusting Online Services real wonders like doordash some other companies that went publics at the same time, the local stores down the street, a lot have gone out of business wont make it through winter, there has been a shift, in not only habits for consumers but struggle for Small Businesses those are going to persist for a long, long time. Dagen less than a minute before jobless claims number comes out, i wonder if there isnt a new kind of conservative army of people who will emerge from last year rather then a wealthy redistribution from very top of government but people can see i always said individuals make best decisions about their lives with their money people can see what has gone on whether in californiaor new york, and los angeles, or new york city, that the people in power dont know what they are doing. They make horrible decisions when it comes to money and livelihoods, i wonder if there isnt such an incredible backlash, may be we have you know a new Republican Party a big Libertarian Party . Who knows you hold that thought i will get your reaction in a second. I know Cheryl Casone is standing by for these jobless claims. Cheryl i got it here we go, initial jobless claims, coming in 787,000 remember the estimate for 833,000. So this is not only is it betterthanexpected but below00 degreed,000 mys moving average now continuing claims fell to 5. 219, 5. 219, that is also betterthanexpected, below what we got last week, 5. 337. So again both numbers coming in better than expected i want one caveat not to be negative this morning i know it is new years he eve numbers tend he to be volatile fear initial claims data last week was the weekend going into christmas only four days this could change picture next week, dagen, but, again, coming in betterthanexpected here, so it is nice to vee it go below 800,000 hopefully that will continue at this point we are four times higher than prepandemic when it comes to initial jobless claims dagen. There you go 37. Dagen thank you so much cheryl, with that i want to get panel reaction steve i have release from doesnt labor just to put in perspective this is better news still stub bornly high the continued benefits in all programs two federal programs the state programs for the week ending december 12 a little bit delayed was 19. 4 million. So there were 19. 6 Million People collecting some sort of unemployment for week ending december 12th that is a line to almost 800,000 but, again, some of these extended benefits, people are not collecting them any longer in in some states. Because of the way the state claims work, 24 states have extended benefits available for week ending december 12 steve your reaction to this report. Steve very, very positive, really positive i was expecting much higher lets not forget, dagen, last three weeks or so a increase in the virus cases many, many states have completely locked down, illinois, new york, new jersey, california, especially those blue states with democratic governors that takes away a lot of jacks. This economy you used this word so many times during the show today, which is so appropriate, dagen kw9 resilience it is sturdy there are people hurting near a all time record 6. Million jobs openings, states like florida you cant find construction he workers so there are jobs out there, in this economy we are looking rat Fourth Quarter 10 growth i am tired of peek badmouthing this economy, biden going to inherit a very Strong Economy from donald j. Trump. In vaccines too i should add do i think people have seen such mismanagement, again politicians, andy cuomo, even, out in california gavin newsom refused to take responsibility for bad decisions, you know they write a book and then collect and collect an emmy in new york then dont know what they are doing, people see that. They dont care i dont care who you voted for in new york if you run a restaurant own a restaurant, and in california, i dont know how you will ever vote for a democrat again, truly. Coming up evaluating trade Peter Navarro here to talk new deal wren china and European Union could have farreaching implications for the u. S. That is next. Take a look at you are like unlike any other panelists weigh in with top 2020 moments. You dont want to miss it. No one likes to choose between safe or sporty. Modern or reliable. We want both we want a hybrid. So do banks. Thats why theyre going hybrid with ibm. A hybrid cloud approach helps them personalize experiences with watson ai while helping keep data secure. From banking to manufacturing, businesses are going with a smarter hybrid cloud, using the tools, platform and expertise of ibm. Dagen global trade in focus china in in European Union announcing a tried deal yesterday following skven years of negotiation. That lifts restrictions on investing operating for european, Chinese Companies could face opposition from u. S. Other european leaders before ratified over chinese Human Rights Violations and you guessed it security concerns. Joining me now White House Office of trade manufacturing director Peter Navarro peter what do you make of this trade deal . And the bumpy road ahead for it . It basically a situation where european, European Union same kind of Multinational Corporation pressure on their political system, as we do here in the United States. This is a bad deal. For europe compromises concentration champs in xinjiang whenever you enter a deal with communist china the presumption they are going to abide by it on their end. And they never do. So it is i think, that this will be controversial in europe on road to reratification, in europe you have more countries looking east and west to Chinese Markets capital addicted to that germany probably poster child for that other countries italy, greece, sold this pork, to Chinese Communist party this is going to be a real challenge geopolitically, from our point of view the geopolitical complications are the bigger problems that we may face with this as communist china tries to align with europe. Dont european nations the pechl countries see what has already gone on as peter pointed out, just ask peter, whatever you like but as peter pointed out what happened in hong kong, the threat to taiwan, again, just the abuses in just espionage activity in the United States uncovered trumper the Trump Administration. Steve peter happy new year you have done a great job. Look. I got was going to say exactly what you said. Dagen. Which is what the hell is going on in europe peter . I mean this is like, you know, peace in our time this is appeasement of the chinese at a time when they are military and economic threat to the entire world. In terms of security, in terms of Human Rights Violations that dagen mentioned what how in the world could the europeans be siding with china over the United States . Well steve you are having a long tradition of appeasement whether neville landedor france lets not forget chinese infectedto the world with pandemic nobody seems to want to hold them accountable the crazy kind of stuff highest death toll weve had in u. S. Europe struggling with same thing china is going to be around to deal with everything basically demonstrated to us is that this you are a bad authoritarian brutal regime will basically inflate people, why do we want any part of that why do we want any part of that. I i dont think we do. Dagen i will never forget joe biden referring to President Trump calling it china strier u. S. , what is . Xenophobic the word he used while democrats were trying to impeach the country that is what was going on in this country earlier this year what i dont understand the vaccines, the goal, 20 million americans being vaccinated, in the in the month of december. The cdc, is showing, and this, the assumption this is undercounted a data lag almost. 8 Million People vaccines have been 2. 8 million. Almost 12 1 2 million doses distributed to the states, i was talking to one of my colleagues, here on the set, and that the there was a delay in this vaccinating elderly people Nursing Homes in new jersey, because of a paperwork error. So, i dont understand peter, the effort by people in the media, democrats, in government, to try and like saying going on about vaccines i feel everyone on planet he everyone in this country should be rooting for the success, but, again, the narrative that whatever president touches oh automatically bad i dont understand that can you explain it . Well, lets be clear about this, one of the greatest achievements President Trump getting this vaccine done in record time, i remember sitting in my office, on event 9th. Hitting the send button on a memo at his direction basically said that if we act now, on wasnt called operation warp speed quite yet but if we react today february 9th in that memo i said clearly we could have a vaccine as early as end of november, or december. Now, that is that is about a third of the normal time. So if theres if theres supply chain issues, right now, we still need to be extremely grateful for the fact that we are in this position, to be able to deliver this. It is a very difficult task, particularly with ones that have to be delivered in really low temperature conditions, but lets Work Together on this, and acknowledge this was a great achievement that we are doing, the best we can, which is pretty darned good, to a get this vaccine out over the next several months. Dagen peter great to see you and you were very early on, you were very early on, in sounding the alarm. On this virus. Yes. Because again. 2006, by the way, dagen in my book the coming china war i said china would with cause a viral pandemic that would kill millions we are about to hit that warm be aware of the Chinese Communist party. Dagen listen i was wrong i remember sitting on this set, in early january, and maria was extremely early, early in talking about this virus. And i remember sitting here on set going oh no, it is not like sars, it is more contained they are better responding to it, and i i was dead wrong, and you were right, peter good to see you happy new year. Happy new year. Have i got vaccinated yet . Have when are you getting getting vaccinated do you know. I am not going to get vaccinated till all Senior CitizensFront Line Health Care workers gettinging vaccinated i dont understand why were not he our congressional staffers get vaccines i dont wantb to be part of that crazy i want the people who need it mosting to get vaccinated first full stop. Right on i agree with you on that, too, coming up return of the travel industry top spots for 2021 as many look for muchneeded vacation that is next you are watching mornings with maria, live, on fox business. In the end there is light french vanilla rocky road chocolate, peanut butter, cookie dough scoop there it is scoop there it is scoop there it is scoop there it is scoop shakalaka shakalaka shakalaka shaka scoop . Chocolaka chocolaka . Geico. Switch today and see all the ways you could save. Sprinkles its time for aerotrainer, with your weight and health . A more effective total body fitness solution. announcer aerotrainers ergodynamic design and four patented air chambers create maximum muscle activation for better results in less time, all while maintaining safe, correct form. Aerotrainers unique design allows for over 20 exercises for a total body workout. Plus, you can easily transition from one exercise to the next. Want tighter abs and a stronger back to help relieve pain . Do the aerotrainer super crunch. The prestretch works your abs even harder, engaging the entire core. Then its the back extension, super rock, and lower back traction stretch to take the pressure off your spine and stretch muscles. Planks are the ultimate total body exercise. Start with a wall plank and progress with maximum muscle activation with comfort. Work your lower body with the aerosquat or advanced super squat, all while in a safe, ergonomically correct position for maximum results. Build your upper body with pushups. Aerotrainer is perfect for bridges and total glute workout. host need to reduce stress . Just stretch and breathe. announcer plus, its a great platform to enhance yoga and pilates moves, even increase flexibility and reduce back pain for golfers. The aerotrainer is tested to support over 500 pounds. Train hard, because aerotrainer can take it. It inflates and deflates in less than 30 seconds using the electric pump. Aerotrainer works for families, beginners, and athletes. Use it anywhere. Even strengthen your core while watching tv. Head to aerotrainer. Com now. Aerotrainers unique design allows for over 20 exercises for a total body workout, all while maintaining safe, correct form. Now its your turn to lose weight, look great, and be healthy. Get off the floor and get on the aerotrainer. Go to aerotrainer. Com, thats aerotrainer. Com. Dagen future of travel pandemic sidelined much of the industry, many people traveling, leaving so many people eager to take off again in the new year joining me now travel lifestyle, francesca page what is travel coming back in 2021 is my question. I know the demand there is but when do you think it can really kind of get going again . Well to roll out i think we are on the horizon, you know full companies travel agencies, work with us, obviously, once assume so that was what about the travel hot spots for 2021 . So a time we are going to see one is best, that is like, for example, amelia island, parts activities to have enjoy, slower pace, activities, the and through were, sounds like 2021. Dagen please come back soon your audio is not awesome, something weve experienced most of the year but a pleasure to see you nonetheless good to see you. Who is planning to travel tom bevan you planning to travel. I have golf trip scheduled end of japan i am going golf one of those, we are going to be social distancing all that it will be my first trip since what . March 9, Something Like that. Is it. Dagen of going one of the things that you can do with relative ease as long as not crowding into clubhouse your 18. The first time we took vacation this summer we drove rented a van drove to wyoming joyed open spaces we have traveled a little bit not via air. I have been on plane once i think last year where are you going to golf out of curiosity . I have got a buddy lives in houston going about as far south as we could get. Dagen basically one of the only you can be outside that part of tornados, not oppressively hot. Getting ready to substantively . Steve i am going to florida, florida is open for business and, you know it is so different, because i have to be on both states in the last you know six weeks or so, california, and florida. And you know both kind of paradise with respect to weather you cant go to california everything shut down whereas florida is open for business i never got to answer your question about, you know, the impact of the lockdowns, i am going to make the case, that the biggest the biggest increase in if wealth inequality in america modern times has been outrageous lock doins hurt poor hurt minorities hurt Small Businesses let liberals continue to speak up and defend these policies that have really, hurt the people at the bottom of income ladder the most they have to be held accountable for these gts like any seam governors like cuomo new york without scientific business shut down businesses shut down stores shut down restaurants they are really hurting the people they say they care most about. Steve forbes i wrote down on one of many articles what happened with poor Decision Making state and local level those hurt the most are those were the least is what he said we are coming out of period from 2016 to 2019, when that net worth of people increased most most significantly among black americans, and latino americans compared to white. That the net worth increased 32 for black americans, a lot of that was equity that was built up in if smaller businesses, that was just decimated in the last year because of decisions that were not based on science coming up final floats our allstar panel as we look ahead to 2021. You are watching mornings with maria live on fox business. Next week on mornings with maria monday, left wing gsdz putting the Restaurant Industry on life support former mcdonalds ceo is here. Have tuesday america under attack by Russian Hackers chinese spies general jack keane lays out appropriate u. S. Response, wednesday with Senate Control hanging in the balance wake up with Georgia Special election results, thursday, it is the word on wall street our market insiders taker on how to pump 77 your portfolio, friday Eurasia Group president how the world is prepping for a biden presidency all right here on mornings with maria. For the millions of people on the autism spectrum. Go to autismspeaks. Org five blades and a pivotingglide flexball designed to get virtually every hair on the first stroke, while washing away dirt and oil. So youre ready for the day with a clean shave and a clean face. Dagen 2020, thankfully, coming to a close with the markets and record territory. Covid19 vaccines already approved with more on the horizon. Steve, what are your expectations for the new year . The vaccine will change everything with a big rise in the economy in the first and Second Quarter and one other thing, can you see this . There is my mans best friend appeared there he is. Hes running away from me. Dagen is he a peer in these . Hes the only one in the household who really loves me. [laughter] dagen thats not true. Tom, what are you expecting in 2021 . We will find out we will see with the january 5, Senate Runoff and also whether nancy pelosi holds onto speakership and where the direction of the Democratic Party goes and then in november we will get some governor races that will be a preview of what is to come for the midterm in a 2022, which if history is any guide could be a rough go for the democrats. Dagen im just wishing, again, in two years nancy pelosi wont be the speaker of the house anymore would be my prediction, but my blessings go out to everyone who has made it through 2020. I know what a struggle its been, and i cant pray enough for everyone and i cant wish you better feelings man i have, so heres to a better new year and to every single american who has pushed through 2020. Thank you steve moore and tom bevan took that does it for us. Varney co. Is up next with david asman in the four stuart. David thank you and good morning. Happy new year. Im david asman in four stuart varney. The big story, Mitch Mcconnell says he does not see a realistic path of the pass of the 2000 relief check. Former speaker of the house Newt Gingrich is sending a warner and hes later up in the shout, new years eve like never before with covid cases arising unknown crowds with lockdowns all over the country, but theres a lot of hope about 2021. And a quick check of the futures on the last day of trading