MARIA-03
Claimed Lives in Two Southern States; Oil Market Surging Today; A Big Beat
for the November ADP Jobs Number Up 216,000; McDonald`s Betting Big On
Fresh - Part 1>
Stuart Varney >
Eisenberg, Anthony Scaramucci; Mike Murphy, Mike Baker, Phil Flynn >
Energy; Food and Beverages; Disasters >
MARIA BARTIROMO, FBN ANCHOR: Where do you sit on this?
STEVEN MNUCHIN; TRUMP CAMPAIGN FINANCE CHAIRMAN: They are both a priority. They both are going to be part of the tax bill that we pass. We absolutely think that not only are corporate taxes important but simplifying personal taxes and cutting the number of brackets and creating a middle-income tax cut. Incorporating the childcare credits.
This is all a huge priority. And on the upper class we are going to simplify it we are not going to have a tax cut for the upper class. And any reduction in the rate will be offset with less deductions. We create a lower marginal rate for people to invest. But both the personal income tax and the corporate tax are part of the Trump plan and that is going to be what we are looking to pass in the first 90 days.
BARTIROMO: Are you ready for a change in culture? You`re both business guys you`re about to become government bureaucrats.
MNUCHIN: I think we will have to change some but the President-elect is going to bring a slightly different culture to Washington. I think they will have to get used to us and we will have to get used to them.
BARTIROMO: Maybe they won`t be government bureaucrats with the new sheriff in town.
WILBUR ROSS, TRUMP CAMPAIGN ECONOMIC ADVISER: There are more of them but we think it is a fair fight
BARTIROMO: We had Steve Forbes on the other day, and he was talking about 6 percent economic growth. Is that in the realm?
MNUCHIN: I would love to have that. We are shooting at 3 to 4 percent. We think it is sustainable. That`s what we think we can get. If we can 3 to 4 percent economic growth that is fantastic for the United States.
BARTIROMO: How significant are you expecting to move the needle as it relates to money coming back from overseas? How much money is sitting overseas right now? We are talking what 2 trillion dollars or something?
MNUCHIN: It is a staggering number. First of all, the reason why American companies don`t bring the cash back is because the differential in tax rates. So, the combination of lowering the corporate tax and a one-time ten percent repatriation tax absolutely going to get cash back here.
If you at Apple, it is kind of the classic company, they are sitting on hundreds of billions of dollars of cash. And they go out and borrow money against their over-sea`s bank accounts. This makes no sense. The reason why they are doing it is because of high corporate tax rates. It will come back and that will create infrastructure and create jobs.
BARTIROMO: It makes no sense on one level but it makes a lot of sense on another level because you got zero percent interest rates.
ROSS: You already had Apple talking about bringing the factories back. Did you hear that last year or the year before? No.
BARTIROMO: On the topic of interest rates what you want to see happen at the federal reserve?
MNUCHIN: The first thing is we do have two positions that we have to fill at the federal reserve, two governors. One of the very important jobs is a vice chair of bank supervision. That has been open for a while and that will be big priority of the administration to recommend someone to congress to pass.
And I think that interest rates are going to stay pretty low for some period of time. Eventually they are going to go up. We are going to need to look at how we extend the government debt so that when it goes up we are not exposed to a huge increase in the deficit. But these are all the things that they will look at. But the fed jobs are two of the important ones we are looking at now.
BARTIROMO: When do you expect those decisions to be made? Next year?
MNUCHIN: We`ve got a lot of jobs that we are looking at right now. We are interviewing a lot of people. We hope to make these decisions as quick as we can.
BARTIROMO: Are you hoping to fill these jobs with business people or a mix?
ROSS: The key is going to be qualified people and some may have prior government experience and some may not, but government experience is not the be all and end all. As Steve and I are going to try to prove.
BARTIROMO: Sure. You want a business person in there, right? More than not who has actually handled a P&L, who has handled jobs and creating jobs.
ROSS: And businesses have a big history of having to deal with government as well. So, it isn`t that if you have been in business you don`t have any interaction with government. You have altogether too much interaction. A lot of it involuntarily.
BARTIROMO: We have a spoken a lot on this program about Obamacare and about the cost of the Affordable Care Act. Is this something that you`re going to be tackling?
MNUCHIN: It is something that I will be working with the other parts of the administration on. Obamacare is right up there as one of the top priorities of this administration to repeal and replace.
BARTIROMO: Because the rollback of regulations you think it will be meaningful in terms of economic growth?
MNUCHIN: Absolutely.
BARTIROMO: And the EPA? What are the onerous regulations that you`re looking to change?
MNUCHIN: I can tell you I have already started interviewing people for the EPA. This is one of the top priorities of this administration. We have a team of 8 people that are interviewing. We are looking at that. We`re looking at the SEC. There`s a lot of things across the important government agencies where we need to put smart people in. And they will have relevant experience to go in and manage these agencies.
BARTIROMO: And obviously, you have experienced the EPA rules better than most people out there. Can you characterize the impact?
ROSS: The total burden of regulation on this country is around $2 trillion per year. If we could just knock down 10 percent of that. That is $200 billion a year pretax for corporations. At the 15 percent rate that is a hundred 170 billion after tax. That is huge.
BARTIROMO: The EPA has been there. And President Obama put a lot of those rules in in the last two years.
ROSS: Something like 3,000 per year each of the last two years. Do you really think the U.S. was such a wild place two years ago that we needed six or 7,000 more regulations?
BARTIROMO: It is pretty incredible. Take us behind the curtain and tell us how these picks have gone on and the meetings that you have been having in terms of putting the administration together?
MNUCHIN: Let me first comment I think this is just incredible. The President-elect himself has interviewed close to 70 people for critical jobs. That`s just him and a small group of people. We`ve other teams below him that are interviewing. We have a huge number of people that have come out and want to be a part of this administration.
With a lot of people who didn`t want to be part of the administration while he was running that all the sudden had changed their tune and want to support the President-elect. We could not be more excited with the talent that we see both from the public or private sector that want to help serve the administration.
ROSS: There are more qualified people that want to help the administration then we will be able to have jobs for.
BARTIROMO: I have to say to myself where were they during the campaign? No large corporate CEO endorsed Trump. Not one.
ROSS: You would have to ask them.
BARTIROMO: They should also be saying to themselves what am I thinking. I just impacted shareholders. Look how the market has reacted. Where were they when all of the fighting was going on?
MNUCHIN: Maria, you are right. The one thing I would comment is although we did not have large CEOs we had a lot of small and mid-size. We had over a hundred small and medium-size CEOs that signed on. I think we see this is an election about the American worker that supported this administration. And this was driven by small and medium businesses.
BARTIROMO: What about the technology sector they are saying, look, we want cheap labor.
ROSS: The technology sector is not that labor-intensive anymore. The intellectual resource is more intensive. More than it is labor intensive.
BARTIROMO: What about Mitt Romney? A lot of debate about Romney.
MNUCHIN: First of all, I just commented that during the election that he didn`t come out and support the President-elect but I think it`s terrific that he`s now come out. I think it`s incredible that this President-elect that he`s opened to reach out to the more talented people wherever they are and listen to them. I think that`s what we see.
BARTIROMO: Thoughts on the secretary of state position?
ROSS: That`s for the President to decide.
BARTIROMO: Gentlemen, thank you very much. We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back, we are recapping President-elect Donald Trump nominating Steven Mnuchin, Wilbur Ross. I talked to them both about policies that will drive economic growth in the country, want to bring in Charles Hurt a columnist for the Washington Times and Fox News contributor, and National Review Editor Rich Lowry, good to see you.
Charles, your take what you just heard. Steven Mnuchin talking about 3 to 4 percent economic growth in a short period of time.
CHARLES HURT, COLUMNIST, WASHINGTON TIMES: It was a fascinating interview and I loved what Wilbur Ross said you don`t have to have, political experience, is not the end all be all. We had 8 years a President who politicized everything he views business through lens of politics everything through lens of politics. And the idea of having a President who not only has a business background, and wants to promote business, but he is unapologetic about it that is extraordinary thing. I can`t even think of a Republican President in recent times, or many Republican politicians in recent times who are as an abashedly willing to embrace businesses and financial growth for the country.
BARTIROMO: Rich?
RICH LOWRY, EDITOR, NATIONAL REVIEW: Well, Maria first of all, hats off to you this was a really excellent informative interview. These are serious well-informed and earnest people, two, the ice is going to break in Washington, really quickly here. And administration has a chance, to create a great sense of forward momentum for country that the country moving again.
And two areas of concern that I had that somewhat reassured is one I don`t think we need to go ripping up trade agreements willy-nilly, and the approach that they suggested, was much more prudent and careful than that. And two, I would be very skeptical about an Obama style trillion-dollar infrastructure spending bill.
And they seem to indicate there are going to be different and more creative ways getting at that.
DAGEN MCDOWELL, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: When we talk infrastructure that means transportation that is going to be part of Elaine Chao`s job, but Wilbur Ross kind of got into this. We are talking about a trillion dollars in total capital not in borrowed. Major tax incentives very often the way that states do business in terms of transportation spending. But we are going to have administration where you don`t have one person ruling by fiat. And they this talked about rules and regulations.
This President in 8 years has passed through more than 600 economically significant regulations and rules that is 100 million dollars at least per rule we are talking about roughly 800 billion dollars, in rules and regulations, the cost of them is about 2300 dollars per person.
BARTIROMO: No wonder why we don`t even have 2 percent economic growth.
MCDOWELL: Exactly you start reversing a lot of this immediately.
BARTIROMO: Go ahead, Charles.
HURT: It is so terrific that the President -- this stuff about Carrier, the Ford plant in Kentucky that is great, delighted that those companies are staying here, but the real rubber hits the road with whether they are able to do that for on a more you know broadly. It goes to exactly what you are talking about right there, and the one thing I will say about Donald Trump the guy doesn`t do anything the way anybody else does things. He doesn`t do anything the way politicians do things, and his ability to kind of think outside the box and be creative and do things that -- he will screw things up but at least doing something different, and I think that that -- that is -- is grounds for great hope as well.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
LOWRY: I thought one of the most interesting things was Wilbur Ross` comments about China, he said a number of things but including, you know, this notion, that talk about the competitiveness issue that is not how it is viewed in China. You mentioned a third of state owned enterprises never turned a profit that is not the way they operate. But I think from his point of view, and also from what Anthony said earlier the idea you are bringing in a different perspective and you are not politicizing everything, everything with this administration including national security issues.
MCDOWELL: Big picture idea that government knows better and bureaucrats and people elected to office know how to spend better than companies, leaders of companies and individuals, and their earnings. And that is when Tom Price talks about he wants to get government out of health care, rather than other way around, you have a lawmaker talking about giving up power, which is quite rare.
BARTIROMO: Want to point out breaking news we got the ADP numbers just coming out up 216,000 jobs, according to ADP this is a big number, Charles and Rich, and we are seeing the markets up still although right around a little earlier maybe a little better.
Health care and leisure really the areas that we saw, the best growth in terms of jobs, do you think the jobs numbers change very much, in the next two years under Trump administration? I mean how much can they move the needle here?
HURT: I don`t see how they don`t change if you have somebody really is willing to go in, and do things like cut regulations and obviously with health care the nexus between being able to hire people, and the cost of covering health care coverage is a direct connection. So, I don`t see how you don`t see lots of jobs come back.
BARTIROMO: Anthony, estimate was 165,000 we are getting this number 216,000.
ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, HOST, "WALL STREET WEEK": There was good GDP yesterday so listen the economy is definitely doing a touch better but I am curious about wage growth, and what the mix is of jobs at the end of the day, if you really want to be honest, these jobs have been lower paying, and they are not where we need to be as a nation.
BARTIROMO: Manufacturing jobs down.
SCARAMUCCI: One hundred percent we just got done talking two guys that are explaining, what the plight is and the dilemma is globally and we have policies that you just listen to that are going to solve that problem.
LOWRY: I would be curiosity if Rich is still on the line would I would be curious to ask Rich what his takeaway his key takeaway was from this comments from Mnuchin.
HURT: The emphasis is going to be on growth and on jobs. I think what Trump really wants to do and what country needs is a tight labor market, which means, you want more growth, but you also want to limit competition for American jobs. You want to tighten up on immigration, and if they really sort of take all these shackles off the economy in terms of regulation in terms of Obamacare, cut the corporate tax, and tighten up immigration, you could see growth that actually reaches down and is felt by real workers in a way it hasn`t been for 8 years
Everyone talks about this disconnect where the numbers have been OK. But people still feel as though in a recession that is because the labor markets have not been tight enough wages have not been going up perhaps that is something that can change, in the next two years and that would be enormous deal.
BARTIROMO: All this pushback from the Democratic national committee and this statement saying, Trump is already heading into offices next corrupt conflicted unpopular President-elect. I mean it is just outrageous we are going to see the whether or not what Hillary Clinton said the Democrats always are better with economy, you know, we are going to see proof in terms of her trumped-up trickledown economics.
MCDOWELL: What did we learn from last 8 years that higher taxes and more government spending, more government control through rules and regulations, it got us an economy that had slowest recovery since 1949. And when she went on campaign trail she couldn`t hoodwink American people thinking same thing would produce a different result. Guess what Americans are not stupid they know how they feel about their personal financial situation, voted for something altogether different they voted for --
BARTIROMO: They told us what you say they think.
MURPHY, CEO, ROSECLIFF CAPITAL: I was just going to say good use of term hoodwinked. You don`t hear that every day. I don`t know where you pulled that one out from but that was a good one.
MCDOWELL: It`s my lexicon to avoid saying curse words on the air. So, hoodwinked is replacing a four-letter word.
SCARAMUCCI: I want to know how it translates at the break.
MURPHY: Millions of viewers going to dictionary.
MCDOWELL: I have an entire lexicon of words I don`t curse on national television.
BARTIROMO: Got to have fun around here. Charles, Rich good see you, see you soon. On to the other big story of the day, oil surging. Optimistic news from OPEC coming up we got the details on the deal to cut production out just within past hour.
Plus, a dangerously cheesy new addition to taco bell menu in the Philippines, back in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back, severe storms claimed lives in two southern states, Cheryl Casone with the details and the headlines.
CHERYL CASONE, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: That`s right. Tragedy in Alabama and Tennessee over night to report to you this morning. Three people died in northeastern Alabama after a suspected tornado tore through a mobile home in Rosalie.
Another person in that home critically injured. A church and a plaza were among the 15 to 20 buildings in the community that were destroyed and another possible tornado killed two people in Tennessee. Meanwhile, three people dead in the massive fires burning in Tennessee, Fire officials say people are basically running for their lives.
More than 14,000 people have been evacuated from Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge popular tourist destinations and the of Dollywood, the theme park. At least 250 buildings have been damaged or destroyed and about 12 people were taken to hospitals mostly with nonlife-threatening injuries. Authorities issued a state of emergency and the national guard has been deployed to help with evacuations, there was some rain last night but not nearly enough. Earlier Maria spoke with Pigeon Forge fire chief, Tony Watson, listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY WATSON, PIGEON FORGE FIRE CHIEF: You have a large body of fires burning the national park and I think that fire got so much steam. I don`t think the rain we got other night did anything, with it, OK. So, we`re not out of the woods yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASONE: And forecasters warn that drought conditions are likely to continue.
Well, investors are looking over earnings for American Eagle Outfitters this morning, third quarter results in line but the stock is diving premarket down 10 percent. Disappointing guidance for third quarter includes holiday sales, American Eagle it expects flat to low single digit growth in same store sales.
We are going to get around to earnings after the bell, we got Guess, La-Z- Boy, PVH and Box, all due to report after the bell today want to make sure for the numbers. And Taco Bell, testing a new menu item called Cheetos Quesadilla. Yes, that is exactly what I just said. And here it is. Available in the Philippines for a limited time. Don`t know if they are bringing it back to U.S. Yes, it is a quesadilla with a bunch of cheese in it. Why not? They`ve tried other things. I don`t know I like to bring you weird stories.
BARTIROMO: No, we like it.
MCDOWELL: Don`t they get soggy though? You got melted cheese on Cheetos. I don`t know I am just asking maybe not, got so much artificial stuff.
BARTIROMO: Bingo.
MURPHY: Whenever I eat Cheetos which is every day basically, I always have the same thought, I could use some melted cheese on these.
SCARAMUCCI: I love the guys with the 26 inch which waist.
BARTIROMO: Mr. Athlete over here, every time eating Cheetos.
Coming up, Donald Trump dream team he picked two new cabinet positions, Steven Mnuchin treasury secretary, Wilbur Ross commerce secretary. I spoke with them both earlier we are breaking down their policy proposals then GoPro making serious changes to help the bottom line, the struggling camera maker cutting jobs, details next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back. Good Wednesday morning, everybody. Thanks for being here. I`m Maria Bartiromo. And it is Wednesday, November 30. Your top stories right now, 8:30 AM on the East Coast, America new leadership takes shape, President-elect Donald Trump picking two new cabinet positions, Steve Mnuchin who chaired Trump`s campaign finance committee is nominated as treasury secretary, billionaire investor Wilbur Ross step to lead the commerce department. Earlier, I spoke with both men this hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROSS: We were very much a team during the campaign, so this is -- and we`ve known each other for quite a few years, so this is nothing new. Working together is going to be one of the hallmarks of this administration.
MNUCHIN: Absolutely, we`re going to have an integrated plan and we`re closely between commerce and treasury to make sure that we drive growth in this country. Our number one priority is sustain 3 to 4 percent GDP.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: One slot Trump has to fill, secretary of state, the president- elect dining with Mitt Romney last night in New York. The former GOP nominee is under serious consideration for that key position. The oil market is surging today up 7 percent. Take a look, crude oil prices soaring on reports that the OPEC cartel will reach a deal on cutting production.
And it is the final trading day of the month, all of the major averages posting strong gains for the month of November, investors eyeing key economic reports this morning. A big beat for the November ADP jobs number up 216,000. That was much better than expected, 165,000 was the expectation. Futures, right now indicating a higher opening for the broader averages, although the NASDAQ just flip into negative territory, the Dow Industrials expected to up better than 40 points. McDonald`s betting big on fresh, the new -- where the fast food giant is seeing if consumers will warm up to some big changes at McDonald`s.
President-elect Donald Trump, tweeting today that he will be leaving his business to focus on the presidency. Blake Burman is outside Trump Tower right now in New York City with very latest there, good morning to you, Blake.
BLAKE BURMAN, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK: Hi there, Maria. Good morning to you as well. This is one of those days of news where it`s like where do you begin but we will start with the president-elect very own words. You`re right, a major announcement that he tweeted out just a little while ago earlier this morning, regarding his businesses. Four different tweets from the president-elect, they read as follows, quoting here, he writes, I will be holding a major news conference in New York City with my children on December 15, to discuss the fact that I will be leaving my great business, in total, in order to fully focus on running the country in order to make America great again. While I am not mandates to do this under the law, I feel it is visually important, as president, to in no way have a conflict of interest with my various businesses, hence, legal documents are being crafted which takes me completely out of my business operations. The presidency is a far more important task.
Of course, there are still many outstanding questions as it relates to this one, specifically, the businesses, the major players within the Trump organization, how might they exist along with the firewall that should be in place with them and the White House. On top of that, the president- elect making several key appointments as you just had on your show this morning, Steve Mnuchin has been designated as the incoming treasury secretary, Wilbur Ross the incoming commerce secretary. And sources are now telling Fox that Todd Ricketts will be named the number two in the commerce department. On top of all of that, Maria, comes the drama surrounding who might be next secretary of state. As you know there was potentially no stancher critic of then candidate Trump during the election than Mitt Romney, he had a second meeting with the president-elect last night, and afterwards, Romney said he is now impressed with the Trump transition, listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY, FORMER GOP CANDIDATE: In the last few weeks he`s been carrying out a transition effort. And I`ve to tell you I`ve been impressed by what I have seen in the transition effort. The people he selected as members of his cabinet are solid effective people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURMAN: Other potential secretary of state candidates includes the fame wartime general, David Petraeus, Rudy Giuliani, a long-time supporter of Mr. Trump, along with Senator Bob Corker who was here at Trump Tower yesterday. More meetings today throughout the day as well, Maria, back to you.
BARTIROMO: Yeah. We`ll see about that. Blake, thank you so much. Blake Burman there. President-elect Donald Trump will nominate Wilbur Ross for commerce secretary, and Steven Mnuchin for treasury secretary. They joined me earlier in the program. Here`s what they said about their priorities in their respective roles.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROSS: We`re going to go in the scheduled way, through the trade agreements, through the ones that we do have trade agreements with, and ones that we do not. Because we`re not anti-trade agreement, just as I say we are anti-ones that don`t make sense.
MNUCHIN: Tax reform will be our number one priority. Regulations would be number two. Wilbur and I will work very closely together on trade, since trade crosses over both commerce and treasury.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: Joining us right now to weigh in is former Trump victory committee finance chairman, Lew Eisenberg. Lew, good to see you.
LEW EISENBERG, FORMER TRUMP VICTORY COMMITTEE FINANCE CHAIRMAN: Good morning. It`s great to be here
BARTIROMO: Thank you so much for joining us. You did so much during the campaign, how has your role changed? What are you doing in terms of supporting the Trump campaign now?