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Democrats Slamming President-elect Trump's Deal that Saved 1,100 Jobs in Indiana
Charles Payne: There's a pure capitalist argument, then there are crocodile tears and the hypocrisy from the Paul Krugmans and the Bernie Sanders of the world. I know it's really eating Bernie up, boy. Let's face it, Donald Trump used a combination: carrot and stick. I think in the process he's actually developing a template for how to approach this nationwide. We know lower taxes help, we know lower regulations help, but we also know understanding and nuancing these things with corporate America—by the way, he also announced this week a big-time panel of advisers; all smart people, all successful people. So it's one of those things, democrats just cannot believe he got it done.
Kennedy: You don't want to see a tighter relationship between government and business, and my hope is that President-elect Trump, regardless of some of the questionable aspects of the Carrier deal, saving 1,100 jobs in the Midwest in manufacturing before Christmas is fantastic. It's an inspiring story. It's great to think that manufacturing could come back in the Midwest. People have to be prepared to pay more for American products if that's what you're going to demand, and if that's what the President-elect is going to demand from businesses in this country. What I am heartened by is seeing Steven Mnuchin talk about lowering the corporate tax rate drastically, and fixing parts of Dodd-Frank that make it very difficult for small banks to lend money to small businesses, so they can grow and create jobs.
Charlie Gasparino: I think if you look at the numbers, keeping the jobs there cost the company something like 2 cents a share on quarterly earnings, which is not a lot. They probably think they can make it up by a combination of the good part, which is less regulations and a friendly environment where we have lower corporate taxes—and then the bad part, which is when states come in there and craft special deals for businesses. I think that is the most abhorrent way to keep businesses in the state, because what you're doing is basically telling middle class people "okay, you pitch in to keep this business in your state."
Jessica Tarlov: At base, we should all be excited that more Americans have jobs, especially going into the holiday season. There are two issues at play here; one Bernie Sanders raised, which is the idea that corporations now will pretend that they're going to offshore. They'll say to Donald Trump "we're going to move" knowing they'll get tax incentives to stay. This is something Donald Trump railed against during the campaign, these government incentives.
Lenore Hawkins: Donald Trump definitely has a lot of big talk, and he's taking credit for this, but this really wasn't so much about what Trump did—or what Trump threatened about what the state did. Carrier is going to get about $7 million in tax benefits for keeping the jobs there. I'm not a big fan of government picking its winners and losers, but I'm a much bigger fan of using the tax code as a carrot rather than using it as a stick.
Union Guy Tries to Shut Down FBN's Jeff Flock at 'Fight for $15' Strike at Chicago O'Hare
Charlie Gasparino: Journalists get beat up and spit on and pushed around all the time in these atmospheres. I think he handled it really well. He caught the guy in the act and he turned the tables on him.
Kennedy: You have to question their [the union's] motivation. Why are they trying to get so many people out there? Why are they trying to get so many people to unionize? Are they really attempting to make people's lives better? Are they really attempting to level the playing field and allow people a living wage? No, they just want that living wage to add to the union coffers. I've seen this before. I covered a huge union rally in Philadelphia for Stossel. And I was surrounded. I had a crowd close in on me. They're controlling thugs, and this is a prime example of it. You have people out there who have legitimate stories and maybe if people go to know their stories it would humanize it a little bit.
Charles Payne: On November 8th, we saw so many union workers defy their leaders—guys like that big, burly guy who shut down that woman—and vote for Donald Trump. Their membership was already declining. The public sector is holding up okay, but these guys have gotten everything wrong, and that was a prime example of it right there.
Lenore Hawkins: There's definitely ways that this can be fixed, but I think the way the union is behaving they're making it very clear that their objectives are anything but straightforward. They are not allowing people to speak their minds freely when they come to protest. If you're protesting it's because you want attention, and yet you turn away when someone gives you the attention.
Jessica Tarlov: I think that everyone should speak to the press, especially if you're out protesting, and make your case in that way. Those personal stories do a lot to humanize the cause. I personally think $15 is too high and unachievable in this climate, but talk to the press. I thought Jeff Flock handled it really well.
President-elect Trump Chooses Staunch ObamaCare Critic Rep. Tom Price as Health Secretary
Charles Payne: You're changing the tires on a moving Mack truck. Over 20 million people are being serviced by this. I think it's smart for them to say it could take 3 years, because it could take up to that long…and if you get it sooner, then you get it sooner.
Charlie Gasparino: This guy, everything I know about him shows he knows the ins and outs of this law. He knows how to get the low-hanging fruit. I think 3 years is actually fast, from what I understand. That's a quick turnaround.
Kennedy: It gets more entangled if you're trying to keep the elements of ObamaCare that are most problematic, like pre-existing conditions. How can you have that without the individual mandate? If you try to keep the pre-existing condition clause, you can make insurance prices absolutely skyrocket, which will bankrupt so many people who are already hurting from raising premium rates. I do like that Price is a policy person. I like that he's a fiscal conservative, and he's also an orthopedic surgeon. It's rare to have someone that has a hand in each world. I'm very confident with this pick in contrast to some of the others. I think this was a very smart move, as well as Seema Verma, who's going to run Medicare and Medicaid.
Jessica Tarlov: I think at the end of the day that ObamaCare isn't going to be repealed. Donald Trump has spoken favorably about a few of the aspects of it. And then also look at how Americans feel about it right now. The Kaiser Family Foundation just released a poll showing only 25 percent want repeal.
Lenore Hawkins: I think it's definitely going to be tougher than they thought to repeal, but I think they have a lot of support from the American people to fix this thing. Prices keep going up, and the quality and the coverage keeps going down. Hopefully they'll turn to the private sector and say "hey, can you guys help figure this out" because that's where innovation occurs, not in government.
Stock Picks
Charles Payne: (MPWR) Monolithic Power Systems
Lenore Hawkins: (AMZN) Amazon
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