STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): Well, numbers don't lie. The economy on the rise under President Trump, but the mainstream media has a whole different story. Here's some of the headlines, The New York Times claiming “weak spots remain,” Washington Examiner citing a “roller coaster economy,” and Bloomberg going as far as calling the president's economic agenda “almost dead.”
BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): So how is the economy really doing? Here to break it all down for us, Varney & Co.'s own Stuart Varney from the Fox Business Network -- starts from 9:00 and goes until noon. Stuart, how are we doing?
STUART VARNEY: We are doing rather well, actually. Much better than the left wants to let you know about. Let me list it out for you. First of all, since the president's -- presidential inauguration nearly 600,000 new jobs created in America. Manufacturing, mining, drilling going very strong. 200,000 part-time jobs replaced with full-time jobs. The unemployment rate: 4.3 percent. The U-6 -- let's not get technical, that's the “real unemployment rate,” all the way down to 8.4 percent. Home sales up. Mortgage applications up. Home prices up. Credit scores average 700. Best in a decade. Stocks are at record highs. The Dow Industrials have gone up what 10, 15 percent since the election?
DOOCY: Why is that? Is it because Donald Trump is a red tape cutter?
STUART VARNEY: No -- yes. But it's the promise of growth in the future from tax cuts, less red tape, and an infrastructure plan.
KILMEADE: That's scary.
AINSLEY EARHARDT (CO-HOST): Why don't you hear about it?
VARNEY: Why is it scary?
KILMEADE: Because it's not done yet. Tax reform's not done yet. Health care its not done yet. Tax cuts aren't even done yet. Corporate taxes aren't done yet. Even though the president wants it, there is a whole group of people that want to stop him.
STUART VARNEY: Yes. The left wants to stop him. The left knows that if the president is successful, especially with tax cuts, the economy will start to roll and that will put the Republicans and the president in a strong position for the elections next year.
EARHARDT: So they are putting politics ahead of what's best for America?
STUART VARNEY: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely they are, yes. I think it's a disgrace, quite frankly. Here we have the media concentrating en masse, Russia, Russia, Russia. Comey, Comey, Comey, plots, investigations. All of that is front page news all the time. What's going on in peoples' lives, better jobs, wages, housing improving, the improvement in our economy, our financial way of life, that goes uncovered, and that's a crying shame.
