US drops to record low on economic freedom index

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.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: WE'RE GOING TO LOWER TAX RATES FOR VIRTUALLY EVERYBODY IN EVERY CATEGORY

Mike Ozanian: A key component of that index is tax rates. The lower the tax rates the more economic freedom it has. One of the areas that has been weak during this economic recovery if you can call it that, has been investments by businesses in new plants, new equipment. Lowering tax rates would spur those investments.

Bruce Japsen: Well, yeah, that's the thing, but he never offers any details and what we do know is that his tax cuts would raise the deficit, but he has the 77-minute press conference yesterday when he has an opportunity to provide details of how this is going to help the blue collar people who put him in office and he goes off and it's all about the leaks being real and the news being fake. He needs to keep focus.

Rich Karlgaard: Yeah, there are. In fact, there's a white paper written in September that has the Trump road map that has some of that in great detail. But Bruce is right, Trump needs to focus on this and get it done. The country needs, desperately needs a higher rate of economic growth.

John Tamny: Yeah, Kevin Brady and the Republicans are trying to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Here the Republican Party supposed to be about tax cuts wants to centrally plan how we buy, the origin where we're buying and lower amounts of efficiency and freedom, whereby we shun the global supply chains that make the u.S. The richest country in the world. Why complicate it? It's the path to failure.

Sabrina Schaeffer: This is true, look, David, I have a donor every time I go to his office the first thing he does is point to the map on the wall, economic freedom around the wormed. It's most important not only it would mean I'd get more money in my bank account and businesses have more money and resources to play with, but it means we have more money to make choices over things that are important in our lives. When government returns the resources, they're returning control over health care, over the work place and how we determine that and the energy you use. All sorts of things and allows businesses to invest their resources in a way that makes the most sense, whether that's into new employees or into research and development. So, the freedom, really, or the tax cuts really symbolize freedom and I think that's what all of us here care about.

NEW FOCUS ON USE OF TAXPAYER MONEY AS DEMOCRATS PUSH ANTI-TRUMP LEGISLATION  

Rich Karlgaard: Well, it's a stunt. Already it's relatively easy. I think it probably was inspired by the Humphrey Bogart movie, "The Cane Mutiny,"  which occurred the same time as the 25th Amendment. It's a stunt. An actual constitutional convention would take two-thirds of state legislators. Let's see the Democrats control 14 state legislators. So, you know, it's just a PR move.

Bruce Japsen: It's probably politics, but I don't think there's anything wrong with reviewing it. I mean, I'm happy that we're talking about this moment because given the press conference that he had Thursday, I think that people should be reading the constitution very closely and putting it in their pocket.

John Tamny: Yeah, it's lot of PR from the Democrats, it's a waste of time. In fairness, if you go back to President Obama's presidency, a number of Republicans, including our current president, wasted time questioning the origins of President Obama's birth. Both parties need to grow up. Rather than elevate with this they should work to restrain executive power no matter who is in office.

Sabrina Schaeffer: I think it's a rift, how to go after Donald Trump. And during the campaign, they said he was crazy and erratic and not meant for the White House. They're going to fail now. They won't let it go. If they want to be vigilant. We should be vigilant about everyone in power and the administration.

Mike Ozanian: If they agreed to test all members of Congress first, before they tested the president for their mental competence. The guys, men and women in Congress have been there for decades, why we're in this mess of economic growth and huge deficit.

REPORT: JOY VILLA'S 'MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN' DRESS YIELDS 15K IN ALBUM SALES

Mike Ozanian: Definitely. And we knew that before we saw that beautiful dress. Trump carried 30 states before he became president. He was a tremendously successful real estate developer and had a TV show.

Sabrina Schaeffer:   Absolutely does. Everybody doesn't live in Los Angeles, right? The fact is, there's a lot of people who like red baseball caps who maybe didn't have them before. 90 percent of fame has to do with shock and controversy. I don't know if she was a trump supporter or not, but got a lot of attention from it.

Rich Karlgaard: Well, I think they're being bullied by the loud mouth faction of their employees. There's always been on the Trump side a market for popular views, NASCAR, country music, college football. I could go on and on. What's the most popular cable news network.

Bruce Japsen: I suppose. I mean, it all depends on what's in the news. The Grammys will give an up-tick in sales to people who are not even well-known. What I'm going to be watching for to see if red box rentals and digital downloads from Russia with love start to pick up, given what's going on in the white house.

John Tamny: Well, I would just say that America was already great. I don't appreciate the nature of the dress, but no doubt, there is a market out there to paraphrase, the great Hall of Fame basketball player Michael Jordan, Republicans buy records, too. Why artists and musicians ever get into politics and needlessly shrink their markets, I'll never know. Their agents should be watching them like hawks.

STOCK PICKS
Mike Ozanian: ETP
Elizabeth MacDonald: QCOM