harvey struck and the dramatic rescues continue. we're live with the heroes volunteering to save flood victims as waters in some areas of texas continue to rise. vice president mike pence touring the texas damage first-hand today. he will give us an update on relief efforts. we'll take you there live when he begins to speak, ash. ashley: back to the markets. the dow climbing into the close. lori rothman at new york stock exchange. lori, doesn't matter what is happening, north korea, hurricane hair very, these markets are resilient. >> you said it ashley. dow and record highs. five consecutive months of gains for the dow and s&p. nasdaq chalking up two consecutive months of gains. we had good economic news. obviously the data print taken before the devastation of hurricane harvey and gulf coast. gdp print of 3% was awesome of course. then today we had a couple of data points on initial jobless claims. that helped keep markets in the green today. let's look back at the month though. here are binners on the dow jones industrial average. apple better than 10% gains for the month of august. visa up there as well, better than 3%. on the downside, disney down almost 8%. disney saying today its abc television unit will have to have some job cuts because of problems there with the abc network coming in three behind cbs, nbc. nike of course, tough earnings recently down 10 1/2% on the month of august. we're there to set up a new month. jobs report will set the tone for sure. ashley: hard to believe september almost here. lori rothman, thank you very much. >> final trading day of the month. oil snapping a three-session losing streak. despite today's rally crude dropped 6% for the month of august. that is the largest monthly loss since march. as far as gold, it is moving in the opposite direction, soaring in august, as investors decided to flock to safety ended up nearly 4%. that is the largest monthly gain since january, closing out the month at 1316 an ounce. maybe the north korean fears played out in the gold market. ashley: sixth straight monthly gain for the dow. let's bring in today's panel. scott martin, kingsview haas set management, kevin kelly, here in stupid know nonetheless from recon capital. scott, begin with you, seems the economy is growing 3% according to the last reading. earnings are growing, where are markets going to go? they will go up, right? >> yeah, ash. tell us what is happening last couple weeks, economic data points in our research that have been weakening over the summer as kids like to say, meh, yeah, that is technical term by the way, gdp number 3%. non-farm payroll number looks north of what, 250 tomorrow? that momentum building into the economy we've been waiting for for promises from donald trump eight months now. ashley: kevin, i was just looking today, jobless claims less than expected. consumer spending picking up in july. wages growing, even when we see a not-back on the markets, the last incident involving north korea, not long before buyers jump back in? is that the pattern right now? where is the end to the pattern? do we keep moving higher? >> there is no end to the pattern given the global economy is doing very well. when you take a holistic picture of the market that is where the companies operate. technology is the largest sector. they get 41% of their -- 47% of revenues overseas. as china does better, europe does better, company's results will do better because the market is predicated on earnings and as earnings get bert they're worth more especially in low interest rate environment. look at 10-year treasury, we hovered below 2.2% on the 10-year treasury the last few weeks. there is no other alternative to get in the best names and that is the u.s. market. cheryl: you better invest, because you're sending money straight to uncle sam. the average american is spending more on taxes than food and clothes combined. according to u.s. bureau and labor statistics. many americans don't believe tax reform will pass this year according to new "fox news poll." these numbers are pretty depressing. >> it makes me sad, cheryl, it doesn't get talked about very much. this is the u.s. treasury department received record revenues last year as far as tax receipts, when we talk about the tax reform, hullabaloo, from the left and some members on the right, has to be revenue neutral, can't be permanent, blah, blah blah. this is terrible for the economy and individual business and taxpayers who totally need a break and that money goes back into the economy to create jobs and economic growth we have not seen for years. cheryl: kevin, big six, if you will, supposedly they have been working on tax reform since july, getting the devil in the details if you will. steve mnuchin said, the treasury secretary, we are going to get everything to congress in the next few weeks. >> yeah, just matters what congress does with it. think about the border adjustment tax. that came out in january and that was killed. because the tax code is 75,000 pages riddled with special interests, there will be a cadre of lawyers and lobbyists fighting tooth and nail to protect those interests. that is why tax reform will not happen. i'm one of those eight out of 10 people. cheryl: really. >> because it will take years for tax reform. tax cuts, yes. that is more likely to happen and more likely to happen this year. you can look at precursor which was reagan administration where it took years and two different types of bills to get tax reform done. so for this administration to think they can get it done this year, only a couple of months, i don't know what planet they're living on because the u.s. government will extract $3.5 trillion in taxes from u.s. businesses and citizens this year, yet they still can't balance the budget. we're 20 trillion in debt. for us to think they can get tax reform done is far fetched. >> if they can don't though, they can say bye-bye to their positions in washington because midterms are coming. scott, kevin, thank you very much. >> bye-bye. ashley: rescue efforts still underway in texas after harvey dumped more than 50 inches of rain, hard to believe, in area of houston, killing 31 people. white house homeland security advisor tom bossert saying moments ago unfortunately we'll see the death toll rise. some numbers for you. 100,000 homes were affected by the storm. 32,000 people are in shelters. 24,000 national guard members are being mobilized to help in efforts in houston and surrounding areas. texas officials say they could be activated for months. many saying recovery effort for houston could take years. cheryl: you know, ashley as texas is trying to get back on its feet, a chemical fire that ignited this morning at a plant outside of houston in crosby, texas. this happened 2:00 a.m. central time, 3:00 a.m. eastern time. executives at the plant are warning that the threat at the plant is not over. more fires likely to occur. hillary vaughn is live in crosby, texas. hillary, the bigger question is can you smell anything because that particular chemical is known to be dangerous if you inhale it? reporter: cheryl, we can't smell or really see anything from where we are here at the local crosby fire department but what i can tell you is that officials have compared this fire to kind of inhaling the fumes of a campfire but in this case this campfire prompted the mass evacuations of residents all living within a a 1.5-mile radi. 15 deputies inhaling the fumes have been hospitalized. they have since been release and all are okay but officials are insisting these toxins and chemicals are not going airborne. they say the chemicals are interacting with each other when the temperature heats up. it spark as fire and burns off. but at this point they're saying no one here is at risk. here why this happened. because the chemical plant flooded. six feet of water. the plant lost power and their backup generators failed. then they had a backup to that, liquid nitrogen. that failed. that was meant to keep the tanks with the sensitive chemicals cool because when the temperature rises, the temperatures get volatile, they interact with each other, they pop, explode and burn. that is what we saw happen at 2:00 a.m. here is the problem, more explosions, more of these bursts are coming. they just don't know when because one of the tanks is burned off but there are eight others we are still waiting to see what happens to those. definitely keeping our eye on that. residents meantime until they have the situation staibizeed are banned from their homes. they have no idea when they will be allowed to come back in. cheryl? cheryl: hillary vaughn live in crosby, texas, following that plant, those fires this morning. thank you so much, hillary. ashley: we have breaking news for you, president trump tweeting this just a moment ago. thank you to all the incredible heroes in texas. america is with you, #texasstrong. that says it all. cheryl: we have more breaking news right now. the vice president is sitting down to talk with governor abbott of texas. let's listen in for a moment. >> saying thank you, thank you, thank you, for all that you're doing. [cheers and applause] i also want to introduce somebody who is a good friend of mine. a former governor himself but now the incredible vice president of the united states of america, mike pence. [cheers and applause] >> thank you all for being here, i'm vice president mike pence. i'm joined today by my wife irkaren pence. [cheers and applause] we came by today to pay a debt of gratitude to all of you, and a debt of gratitude, to the outstanding, as president trump said the incredible leadership of governor greg abbott and state and local officials, first-responders, from victoria, all over texas. governor, thank you thank thank. [applause] thank you for being here. see you here, this church in the midst of a crisis, opened your doors monday and the convoy of hope and you come alongside neighbors an friends. i will tell you from the first-responders, from your national guard and from all the volunteers, many of whom are from here in victoria gathered here today, texas inspireing america. [cheers and applause] and i bring a message from president donald trump. [cheering] president was in texas just a few days ago. the president and first lady will be back on saturday. and as the president said, we brought with the cabinet behind me, the full resources of the national government to bear. and the president told me just a few moments ago to tell all of you, texas, we're with you. [cheers and applause] we will be with you today, we will be with you tomorrow, and as the president said yesterday in missouri, we will be with you every day until texas recovers and rebuilds stronger and better than ever before. [cheers and applause] the lastly, let me just say thank you, thank you to each one of you again for putting feet on your faith. being out here on a hot day in texas. [laughter] showing the resilience that the president spoke of just a few days ago. the spirit of texas and the people of texas is inspiring the nation. the president said many times, when, when one hurts in this country we all hurt. worry an american family. thank you for looking after your family. i can pledge to you on batch of your president, our entire administration, homeland security, coast guard, department of defense, every agency of government. i know i can say on behalf of your great governor, greg abbott, all the officials at every level from first-responders to public assistance, we are going to see our way through this crisis and the best days for victoria and the best days for texas are yet to come. thank you very much. [cheers and applause] may god bless texas. >> usa. usa! usa! abu hamza al-masri. cheryl: all right. we've been listening to vice president pence. he is on the ground in victoria texas, just outside of houston texas, along with elaine chao was there, former texas governor rick perry, now the energy secretary traveling. ashley: right. >> texas governor greg abbott. really great to see that you do now have the officials going down to texas saying we are with you, we're here to support you. as you know president trump, we her from sarah huckabee sanders, a million bucks coming from president trump. ashley: from his personal account. texas inspiring america. that is so true throughout all the devastation, the awful flooding. stories we've seen come out of this. people, neighbors helping neighbors. dunkirk flotilla if you like of people rescuing people, not only from texas but louisiana, the "cajun navy." the president telling the vice president, pass on the message. we are with you. it has been very inspiring i've got to say. cheryl: it has. we should note president trump will be back. he is going to houston on saturday. the first lady will be accompanying him. >> gas prices are going to go up. anybody that is considering raising prices above what would be considered to be appropriate need to watch out. ashley: energy secretary says there, says he is prepared for higher gas prices but we're getting some good news, some good news at least. that was rec perry making people worried with that outlook, but colonial pipeline, the mississippi of oil, the river of oil that goes from texas to new jersey, that is the country's largest fuel system, is saying its main line east of lake charles, louisiana, will remain operational, supplying gasoline and jet fuel and diesel to 11 states along the east coast. the texas part of that pipeline expected to be back online sunday. that is good news. gasoline futures still ending the day up more than 13%. $2.14. up a whopping 25% for august, the largest one-month gain by the way since may of 2009. that is having an impact at the pumps no doubt but joining me who better to talk all about this, andy lipow, from lipow oil associates. that seems like good news. there was a scare earlier today, we got the impression that the colonial pipeline was shut. this was very alarming word. that is not strictly true, was it? what exactly the pipeline was doing, we understand maybe from texas to lake charles was closed, right, but not beyond? >> that's right. i think colonial sent out a very confusing trying to indicate parts was shut down, it came out as the whole place was shut down. you have it exactly right, ashley, colonial pipeline is taking refined products of gasoline and diesel of refiners in lake charles, new orleans, mississippi, delivering them to the southeast and mid-atlantic markets. meanwhile they're waiting for refineries in the houston area to restart their operations. ashley: we understand, quote, deliveries will still be intermittent from louisiana to the eastern states. with that in mind we've seen prices go up on wholesale level, retail level, up 10 cents overnight. do you expect that to continue. how high will it go do you think? >> it will continue. i expect the national retail price will go up four cents a fallon per day over the next week to reflect increase in wholesale level and retail prices. wholesale level prices are up 50 cents a gallon since this event started. ashley: any word of shortages? that is kind of discussion that can get people running out to gas stations. we have seen long lines in dallas. is that a rare occurrence right now? >> it's a rare occurrence nationwide. dallas has been supplied by pipelines from the corpus christie area. those refiners have been down for quite some time and getting refined products from the houston market. some service is restored from the houston market to dallas. magellan reversed one of their systems from oklahoma to the dallas market. ashley: on personal note, andy, great to here to have you in person. you've been stranded here because of harvey hitting houston where you are from. you have a heck of a time getting back. what is the latest with you getting home? >> the latest with southwest airlines they're supposed to restart full operations on saturday from harvey. i have a flight on sunday. i found out more good news, my car didn't get flooded because it was parked at the airport. ashley: there is always a bright spot. andy, thank you for being here. we wish you safe travel back home. cheryl: there is worse places to be stranded than new york city. ashley: absolutely. cheryl: we have another big story we're following for you right now, general electric, the company has been on a roller coaster ride since they announced jeff immelt would be replaced by john flannery as ceo, but a investor could be gunning for a spot on the board. charlie gasparino, senior correspondent in the newsroom live with details. >> cheryl this is the activist investor that say, we were first to report helped push jeff immelt out of general electric, massive industrial conglomerate, one of the great american companies out there. we know, nelson peltz, owns .8 percent of the company's stock, that is still a lot of stock, puts him in top 15 shareholders is weighing a seat on the board. from what we understand from sources he may seek the board seat amid turmoil in the company. why is this important? nelson peltz is somebody that constructively tries to engage companies, pushing them in directions that enhance shareholder values. i'm projecting a little here, if nelson peltz does indeed ask for this board seat, if ge, i think they may be amenable to this, by the way, i think the new management in place is amenable to nelson peltz. the board obviously got rid of immelt. that was something he was behind. if they do this, what you're going to see is somewhat of a different, a much different direction of ge. i think you would see increased shedding of assets faster. now they have gotten rid of ge capital recently. they have talked about getting rid of other parts. i think with peltz in there, you will see much more drastic if this does happen, if it is an if, we should point out, trian, with we called them, activist hedge fund he runs would not deny this. ge had no comment. if they do this it would be interesting to see where peltz pushes company, if the company responds well to him. if they put him on the board if it is amicable, sometimes it is not amicable, nelson peltz launched proxy wars to get on the board. if it is amicable they would follow nelson peltz's plan for future company, my gut is, moderate call downsizing and changing of ge. that would be a pretty huge story. it is one of the biggest companies in america right now. massive conglomerate, and the stock hasn't moved in a long time. one way to make it move is change the corporate direction and peltz has ideas how to do that. cheryl: massive conglomerate for now. charlie gasparino, great story. thank you, charlie. >> okay. ashley: the trump administration vowing to get tax reform done, i mean vowing but can they get congress on board as well. that is the key question. congressman leonard lantz will join us after the break. >> i am fully committed to working with congress to get this job done and i don't want to be disappointed by congress, do you understand me? 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>> i think it will get done but might take longer than november or october. last time major tax reform in 1986 it took two years. we can get it done and should get it done. we have the highest corporate tax rate in the does realized world, 35%. we need to go back to the territorial system so profits are brought back home to create strong american jobs and lower individual rates as well. cheryl: at the same time, nancy pelosi, chuck schumer you've seen around the watercooler here in new york as well, they will not help you out. they will not reach across the aisle. they will do nothing but obstruct. can you get tax reform with zero democrats in your camp? >> i think democrats will come to the table perhaps not the leadership. i would hope the leadership look at proposals. entire leadership will meet with the president next week. democratic leadership as well as republican leadership. i would hope democrats come to the table because it is in the best interests of the american people. cheryl: okay. so the timeline, in particular is a little bit jumped around because of the emergency funding for harvey, and for harvey victims in texas and louisiana. you say that is the number one priority for you, right? >> certainly something we'll work next week when we return to washington and i favor helping friend and neighbors across the country as the nation came together on sandy. i think we should come together for our colleagues and people of texas. it is incredibly important. it is responsibility of the federal government. cheryl: what kind of number are we talking about here, do you think? >> i don't know yet. i doubt that -- cheryl: after sandy i guess i'm asking you to guess. >> it might be as much as $50 billion but i don't think we'll spend it all right away. it will probably be done in a series of votes. cheryl: by the way, you know the vice president, you say he is doing a great job, you're very proud of his work? >> i think he demonstrated again today his humanity. my wife heidi know him and his wife karen. they're wonderful people. i think the president did a good job. i'm fleeced the president and first lady are returning back to texas. cheryl: congressman leonard lance of new jersey. over to you, ashley. ashley: rescues continue in houston and beyond. emergency teams working non-stop to reach people still trapped by rising waters. plus, when those waters finally recede, homeowners likely will return to find devastation. >> it's pretty heartbreaking to come home and see all of this going through it, not have insurance. i've been here 44 years. we never experienced a flood like this. it's time to rethink what's possible. rethink the experience. rethink your allergy pills. flonase sensimist allergy relief uses unique mistpro technology and helps block 6 key inflammatory substances with a gentle mist. most allergy pills only block one. and 6 is greater than one. rethink your allergy relief. flonase sensimist. ♪ you know win control? 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(vo) go national. go like a pro. ashley: as we saw just moments ago, in high speed apparently, vice president pence on the ground in texas. he was touring storm damage there with the texas governor, speaking with flood victims. he will make marks on status of relief efforts. we'll take you there as soon as that begins. we heard comments saying spirit of texas is alive. we're with you. inspiring stuff which has been throughout the rescue and recovery period. cheryl: vice president pence giving hugs, picking up trash. i mean, the vice president of the united states picking up garbage. that is something else. ashley: there you go. cheryl: obviously in texas rescues are still underway. thousands forced out of their homes. jeff flock in katy, texas, west of houston helping with rescue efforts. i'm not sure if you're picking up trash but there is a lot to do in katie. reporter: these are dea agents from st. louis, willing to jump in the water willing to do whatever they have to do help people in combination from volunteers. you came from where, seth? >> laverne, texas. reporter: came here why? >> to see people in need and came to help. reporter: seth is here, brought the boat down. we're trying to stay out of current. there are dangerous currents because this water is so high. you see how high it is in the houses. i don't know if david is able to see. they have cars they're trying to dodge out here. and you know this is one of the things the government has done. you might not be crazy about the president, but i'll tell you, on his watch, this public/private cooperation in this, the midst of this tragedy has been extraordinary. dea agents from st. louis is it. >> i am from st. louis, missouri. reporter: how do you feel being down here. >> it's a chore. we arrived sunday evening. not only us, quite a few federal agencies, quite a few agents. reporter: this is not government coming in here is how to do it. you're cooperating with the local guys to volunteer. >> that is absolutely right. everybody knows best. we learned from experience. it has gone incredibly smooth as be expected. reporter: how is the water? >> a little cold. reporter: hot on the outside but in the water after you dunked it is chilly. this is the edge of kitty, the border between katy and houston. beautiful homes back there. talk about the hit that, the federal government as well as insurance is going to take. it will be incredible. cheryl: jeff, in that water, watch out for water moccasins and rattlesnakes. ashley: great. reporter: you're a texas girl you should know what is in the water. exactly. cheryl: be careful to all of you. thank you, jeff. reporter: i'm in the boat. ashley: in a boat. dea from st. louis down there as well. as you heard, jeff mentioned insurance. hurricane harvey is a disaster of possibly unprecedented financial scale as well, with estimated 80% of hurricane victims thought to be without insurance. the costs are only expected to rise. so what are people supposed to do? how will they manage the insurance claims, those lucky enough to have it? here to help answer some of the questions is spencer holden, president of eric insurance services. spencer, thanks for being here. a remarkable number of people don't have flood insurance. those in what they call special designated flood areas do have federal flood insurance but for the vast majority they just don't have it. so they have no one to help pay for repairs of their homes? >> we have to keep in mind that the homeowners policy excludes the peril of flood, and as you mentioned, there is a time when the insurance policy is required, the flood insurance policy is required as part of your mortgage but they're stilting that 52% of the homes flooded in the houston area actually did not have the requirement. therefore did not have a flood policy in place. complete devastation for those people. even those who did have flood insurance, it will be a long road to recovery to make sure claims are filed properly. ashley: just wanted to take up on the national flood insurance program because it is massively in debt, $23 billion. those say premiums on it don't go anywhere near covering cost of a situation like this. why, why are homes built in flood-prone areas? that is my question. story of someone in louisiana, whose home was flooded 16 times in 18 years, yet continued to get national insurance. comes a point where it is not wise to set up home in some of these areas? >> yeah. absolutely, ashley. i think we're starting to see with some reforms in washington right now, keeping in mind that the national flood insurance program is due to expire at the end of september. it needs to be reauthorized. i think members of congress are asking the same question. at what point do we charge acutarily sound rates? you mentioned it, $23 billion in debt to the treasury. this will add another five, 10 billion, who knows. it become as point where the federal government need to figure out how they will pay for this program, versus maybe private market having to step in. ashley: spencer, quickly, for those lucky enough to have insurance, what is the best advice you can give them? get in the claim as quickly as possible i assume? >> absolutely. file the claim right away. keep in mind adjusters had very few claims to handle, now they have thousands overnight. tough be patient. you have to rely on your agent. that is why you have it. call up your insurance agent. no time better than now to have a trusted choice independent agent to help you. this is when we thrive as insurance brokers. ashley: we're already out of time. spencer holden, president of erickson insurance associates. appreciate it. >> thanks, ashley. cheryl: interesting details. breaking news coming to news, fox news chief correspondent jennifer griffin, defense secretary jim mattis briefing reporters, he just signed orders for more u.s. troops to afghanistan. this will put the number of american soldiers, men and women in afghanistan well over the 11,000 mark, ashley. jennifer griffin just giving us that breaking news. ashley: interesting. stick with the flooding story out of texas, going too far. texans are struggling in deadly flooding waters, trying to keep their neighbors safe, critics say a "politico" cartoon crosses the line. we'll have the backlash to this next. en we asked some older peoe when they actually did start saving. this gap between when we should start saving and when we actually do is one of the reasons why too many of us aren't prepared for retirement. just start as early as you can. it's going to pay off in the future. if we all start saving a little more today, we'll all be better prepared tomorrow. prudential. bring your challenges. (con artists...) they'll try anything to get your medicare card number. so they can steal your identity, commit medicare fraud. what can you do? guard your card? guard your card? just like your credit card. nobody gets my number, unless i know they should have it. to protect your identity, new medicare cards without social security numbers will be mailed next year. visit medicare.gov/fraud stay sharp people! cheryl: getting more breaking news into fox business. milwaukee county sheriff david clarke has resigned. according to several local media reports. we'll bring you more details as we get them. of course there had been some talk he might an joining the trump administration. we don't know what his plans are. but again local reports say that sheriff david clarke resigning as sheriff there. well, let's move on. politicizing a tragedy. nationwide outrage over this "politico" cartoon calling texans hypocrites for being against big government spending. here is brad blakeman, former deputy assistant to president george w. bush. i'm not sure there is even a place for political cartoons anymore. what do you make of this, "politico" of all folks, decided to come out with this while people are still, by the way being rescued, having their lives saved in texas? >> this the elitist, liberal, beltway mentality where let them eat cake attitude where, they live in a bubble, and, they can throw stones until they get caught. when they get caught what do they do? they apologize profusely and they pull the cartoon. this is typical of the smugness that you see within the beltway here. they need to get down to texas, and see the devastation and see the hurt that people are facing every day. i don't think they would have the same kind of tune they have in the safety of the capital. cheryl: i would think the editors of "politico" have televisions like the rest of us. i might be mistaken, brad. >> you would think so. cheryl: let's move on. you were with president george w. bush during 9/11, of course a national tragedy. you've been watching president trump and now today vice president pence down in texas. how would you grade their handling of the tragedy what you're seeing in texas today? >> i think they have done a excellent job. well in advance of the hoover cain hitting texas they mobilized fema. they have mobilized homeland security and the military. they had a record turn around in the request for federal disaster relief. immediately done, which allowed the federal government response to be overwhelming. the governor has been a great asset to the people of texas but also to show the nation what is possible when you have competent leadership. on a state, local level of texas, they were prepared. they're helping. and federal government is augmenting that help as they should with every asset that is available. i think president, vice president, the cabinet, entire cabinet, fema especially, the president said whatever they need is what they're going to get. cheryl: brad, president trump was criticized by the liberal left media earlier this week for not appearing to be empa threattic enough to the people of texas. what can he do on saturday to even possibly silence the critics? >> i don't think it is possible to silence the critics of president trump. keep on doing what you're doing, mr. president. keep going down there. wave the flag know the calvary has arrived. when texas hurts, america hurts, every place in america is feeling texas' pain. more than that we want to help. the federal government can do a great job as they are doing assisting federal officials, local officials, state officials do everything they can do, not only recover from this, but get stronger from it. cheryl: you know, president trump is a ceo. he went down there with his business brain, how can we get money, make it work. i think he did a pretty good job. brad, thank you very much. >> my pleasure. ashley: harvey damaging about 100,000 homes. on track to be the costliest natural disaster in american history. coming up next, austan goolsbee, former economic advisor to president obama. he will weigh in on the storm's economic toll.is stay with us. ford guy. potsch: then i have a real treat for you today. michael: awesome. potsch: i'm going to show you a next generation pickup. michael: let's do this. potsch: this new truck now has a cornerstep built right into the bumper. gary: super cool. potsch: the bed is made of high-strength steel, which is less susceptible to punctures than aluminum. jim: aluminum is great for a lot of things, but maybe not the bed of a truck. potsch: and best of all, this new truck is actually- gary: (all laughing) oh my... potsch: the current chevy silverado. gary: i'm speechless. gary: this puts my ford truck to shame. james: i'll tell you, i might be a chevy guy now. (laughing) ah, my poor mouth breather. allergies? stuffy nose? can't sleep? enough. take that. a breathe right nasal strip of course. imagine just put one on and pow! it instantly opens your nose up to 38% more than allergy medicine alone. so you can breathe, and sleep. better than a catnap. shut your mouth and say goodnight, mouthbreathers. breathe right. won't replace the full value of your totaled new car. the guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, you won't have to worry about replacing your car because you'll get the full value back including depreciation. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. ashley: as the waters in houston begin to recede the devastating damage is going to be revealed, that's for sure, and accuweather estimating that the damage from harvey could end up being the most expensive in u.s. history at a whopping $190 billion. here now, austan goolsbee, former economic advisor to former president obama and university of chicago economics professor. austan, as always thanks for being with us. >> thank you for having me. ashley: as always, these are absolutely enormous numbers we're talking about and there was an economist with decision economics who accurately projected what katrina would cost. 125 billion. this individual, carey leahy, the damage from harvey, could create a hit to gdp of 1%. and, a loss of a million workers from the september payrolls. these are huge numbers. would you agree with that? >> well, you know, it is hard to say. a. there is a lot of zeros on the numbers on the damage. i wouldn't be surprised if it weren't the biggest natural disaster in our history because some people live in houston. i think two things, for sure you know there will be a massive regional impact on gdp of texas and of the houston region. the thing we don't know is for the wider aggregate economy, how much impact and how lasting impact this will have on fuel prices. that is a key component. then, two, how fast will the adjustment take place, and what share of these people have flood insurance. ashley: right. >> what is different here than in a lot of these cases is much of the, multimillions of people, fraction of them, do not have flood insurance, they are not in a flood zone. so that makes it in some way like the housing bubble popping. so if you lost your home but insurance isn't going to cover it, you could see spending go down pretty substantially on regional basis. i don't know if it is 1% of national gdp but you would definitely see it. ashley: we need to move on to tax cuts because i know you will agree with me on this one, austan, if we get comprehensive tax reform and tax cuts for everyone that will be a huge boost to the economy. i know you're already smiling. it will boost profits. it will create jobs and ultimately create more revenue and to the government, more taxes taken in. that is the beauty of growth of tax cuts, right. >> you lost me at hello on that one. i think, look, the first thing is, i would agree with you if you were saying comprehensive tax reform like 1986 could have beneficial impact on the economy. 1986 was revenue neutral. they paid for every cut they paid. they got rid of some deductions, some loopholes, they paid for it. i don't think that is what donald trump is going to propose. if they do a naked tax cut of $6 trillion, blow out the deficit, will that increase the growth rate? the growth rate is 3%. unemployment rate is knocking on 4% how much higher do you think it will grow? ashley: tremendously because we have more money in our pockets. this is consumer economy. we can spend like a drunken sailor. >> yeah. the drunken sailors are back. that is what i'm afraid of. ashley: i knew you would agree with me. i appreciate that austan goolsbee. we're out of time. that is the not indof the conversation. cheryl: we'll continue to follow what is happening down south. the damage left behind by, with vice president pence getting first-hand look today, addressing members of the media shortly. we'll bring his comments live. stay with us. ♪ ♪ it's a highly contagious disease that can be really serious... especially for my precious new grandchild. it's whooping cough. every family member, including those around new babies, should talk to their doctor or pharmacist about getting vaccinated. ... ... >> breaking news we're awaiting new comments from vice president mike pence in texas. >> yeah the vice president is spending the day touring the devastation in texas expected to answer questions from the media moments from now. >> picking up trash, leaves-- >> doing it all. he's really down on the ground. that does it for it risk & reward is starting now. >> liz: we're awaiting vice president mike pence about to speak again in corpus cristi texas. the vice president toured areas of destruction today and he listened to victims of hurricane harvey. we will bring you the vice president as soon as he arrives. this as we are monitoring a still vol auto tell situation in crosby, texas just outside houston. a flood-ravaged chemical plant a series of small explosions and fires with billowing black smoke , officials warning more explosions could come. welcome to risk & reward i'm elizabeth macdonald. vice president mike pence and texas today surveying the wreckage in the coastal town rockport where harvey first slammed ashore category 4 hurricane at tha

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