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.
FACEBOOK TAX FIGHT SPARKING CALLS TO OVERHAUL TAX CODE
Charles Payne: I think we know why he wants to leave, but I think anyone who gives up his U.S. citizenship is a nut. By the way, he came here from Brazil. It was sort of like ‘wam, bam, thank you ma'am.' He'll take the money and run. It doesn't make the headlines, because there's always a big poster child-a billionaire poster child-but the real people, real Americans are getting hammered. In the same legislation he's proposing if you have an average income tax liability of $148,000 over the last five years they assume you're leaving because you don't want to pay taxes. The definition of rich has been coming down all week long. All of these things that we see are just masking the real fact that there's a giant, tax money grab by people like Schumer.
Dagen McDowell: I think it says a lot about the future of taxes in this country. We should be talking about it broadly speaking, and I'm talking about our tax rates going up. At the end of the year the Bush tax cuts expire. Capital gains tax rates go up to 20 percent from 15 percent. If nothing is done about it they're all going to go up. He says it wasn't for tax reasons, but why wouldn't you try to lock in those gains at a lower rate at this point?
Charlie Gasparino: President Obama defines millionaires and billionaires as families of four or five who live in Long Island and make $250,000 a year. That's a millionaire and billionaire according to President Obama. Mario Cuomo used to send his head of the tax department to New Jersey to take down license plates of everyone who was trying to evade New York state sales tax and buy cheaper goods in New Jersey. That is the truth and it fails every time.
Adam Lashinsky: It's not a big problem of wealthy people leaving the United States. It was fewer than 2,000 last year. I think we all agree that this is sort of disgusting behavior on Saverin's part. America gave him this opportunity and now he goes. I think disgusting is really the right word. For people to earn their livelihood here and then say you know what, I don't want to contribute back to society.
SHOPPERS HOLDING BACK DESPITE GOVERNMENT SAYING INFLATION IS TAME
Charles Payne: Have you seen how the government figures this out though? Let's say you're going to Porter House. Porter House goes from $30 to $50. Well, you can move down to flank steak. If flank doesn't work you can move to Alpo's. As long as there is a replacement for it and it's at the same price inflation hasn't moved. That's their world.
Dagen McDowell: Gas prices have been coming down, but they're still north of $3 a gallon. The biggest issue is interest rates. This past week the yield on the ten year treasury fell to a record low. It was below $1.70.
Charles Gasparino: We've been debating for years whether the PPI and the CPI actually represent what inflation should be. I think one of the most undercover stories, as the media is obsessed about whether Jamie Dimon lost money or not, think about how many average people that affects. Zero. What we have here is obviously inflation involving commodity prices, which is a huge tax on working class Americans. We have economic policies that have failed for four years straight, yet you don't read that on the front page of the New York Times. This is the most under covered story-how the middle class of this country is getting shafted by a guy who came in and said he was going to support the working class.
Adam Lashinsky: I don't think there's anyone who is saying there is no inflation. They're saying that inflation isn't the biggest concern right now. Charlie said that the President has shafted the middle class. These people got shafted a long time ago. They got shafted in the housing bubble, for example.
NEW OBAMA CAMPAIGN AD DEPICTS GOVERNOR ROMNEY AS A "JOB DESTOYER"
Charles Payne: I find this campaign against Romney fascinating. His role at Bane Capital was like a surgeon. If you get a soldier who gets shot in the battle field, you may have to take a leg or an arm to save the patient. That's what they did with these businesses. They don't talk about Staples, which was an idea that ended up hiring 800,000 thousand people, allowed their families to buy homes and send their kids to college. There's just no comparison.
Dagen McDowell: It doesn't appear that the President has a problem with the business of private equity, since one of the executives at Blackstone, a major private equity firm, had a fundraiser for the President. So, it's him picking on Mitt Romney. It's fine if he's getting money from someone who made money the same way Mitt Romney did.
Charlie Gasparino: We should point out just how ludicrous this ad is. If you think about it, what was going on in the steel industry in 1994 or 1993? They were dying. U.S. steel companies were getting killed by foreign competition in such a way where those guys, whether Mitt Romney or whether federal government bailed them out, they were going to lose their jobs and pensions. At least they tried to perform triage and save them. This is another failing of the liberal media.
Adam Lashinsky: The bailout was different because Bane was making an investment to make money and the government was trying to make an investment to save the automotive industry.
"SECURITY" STOCKS
Charles Payne: McDonalds (MCD)
Adam Lashinsky: Vanguard S&P Index (VFINX)
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