DISCLAIMER: THE FOLLOWING "Cost of Freedom Recap" CONTAINS STRONG OPINIONS WHICH ARE NOT A REFLECTION OF THE OPINIONS OF FOX NEWS AND SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON AS INVESTMENT ADVICE WHEN MAKING PERSONAL INVESTMENT DECISIONS. IT IS FOX NEWS' POLICY THAT CONTRIBUTORS DISCLOSE POSITIONS THEY HOLD IN STOCKS THEY DISCUSS, THOUGH POSITIONS MAY CHANGE. READERS OF "Cost of Freedom Recap" MUST TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN INVESTMENT DECISIONS.
TAXPAYERS BRACING FOR MORE "SCARE AND SPEND" TACTICS IN 2012
Charles Payne: It's all about lies. But, when we find out about the lie a year later it's already gone. We just saw this replayed. We just saw it with the payroll tax cut. I'm still confused about this.
Charlie Gasparino: That commercial was a fib. But here's what the republicans do. They fight fire with fire. Come back and defend yourself. I like Paul Ryan. I admire what he did with that plan. It was bold, but he failed in this respect. He never had a comeback.
Adam Lashinsky: It's silly of us to pretend that this is a thing that one political party does and that the other party doesn't do. This isn't a matter of lies or exaggerated ads. The question is, are we going to have a debate about this or not? I think in 2012 we're not going to have a debate about this. Maybe in 2013 we will.
Amilya Antonetti: We're going to see a lot more of this because in the state of confusion is where the Democrats win. They're going to run this over and over throughout the entire campaign. The average consumer has no idea but to believe that because that's what they read all day. That little clip is all they know about the news.
VOLT SALES IN 2011 WILL MISS TARGET BY 40 percent
Charles Payne: This is actually more egregious than Solyndra. There was a report out this week that said each Volt may be costing us up to $250,000 each. If you add up all the subsidies on the local level, state levels, and national levels people are paid a quarter of a million dollars to buy one of these things. This is a legitimate crime.
Charlie Gasparino: Where are the cars? Every time I pull into Whole Foods, I never see anybody parked in those green parking lots. All this solar stuff is pretty absurd. All you have to do is think of Solyndra to know where we're going with this stuff.
Adam Lashinsky: As long as we're having fun with numbers and you're throwing out 40 percent and $250,000 each, there will be about 12 or 13 million cars sold in the United States this year. We're talking about a variance of about 6,000 or 4,000. GM had its Volt strategy in place well before the economic crisis when the government bailed it out and saved it. Use whatever verb you want to use. This is not the biggest deal in the world. It's a failure, no argument. It's a failure, but it's not a big deal.
Amilya Antonetti: This was the worst business decision I saw in the last six months.
CALLS GROWING TO PUNISH CHINA ON REPORT IT'S HACKING U.S. COMPANIES
Charles Payne: There are never any repercussions for China. By the way, it wasn't thousands. We're talking 3 million businesses. So far, the only thing we fought China on in the last three years is we put a duty on tires because we want to protect union jobs. Now, we put a duty on solar panels. We're already in a trade war with them but I'm saying the things we're focusing on, the real victims of China-the software companies-should be up in arms.
Charlie Gasparino: The problem is, you can't bite the hand that feeds you. The bottom line is this: they own our debt. They finance our deficit. You cannot get into an economic war with a country that's basically financing the welfare state here. It's impossible.
Adam Lashinsky: We need to be boring and prudent and diplomatic about this. We are fighting them, but we don't want a trade war.
Amilya Anotnetti: This is what we've already learned as small businesses. It's a catch 22. We need China in order to be able to hit the mass retail numbers and we know the minute they see it they're going to knock it off and we're going to be competing head to head with them. They will rip off and duplicate faster than anybody else.
CHARLES' 2012 STOCK PICKS
Lamar Advertising (LAMR)
CF Industries (CF)
Altera (ALTR)
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox