The Senate rejected the Keystone pipeline 59-41 and the last-ditch effort to save Mary Landrieu’s seat failed by a single vote. During the buildup to the vote, several voices were heard including Sen. Landrieu's, but also Barbara Boxer and Tom Harkin who expressed particular outrage at the notion of the idea saying:
"Every dollar that we spend on fossil fuel development and use is another dollar we spent digging the graves of our grandchildren."
Tom Harkin is the outgoing Senator from Iowa being replaced by Joni Ernst who will be a surefire yes vote in the next Congress. Harkin's response is a personal reflection and not the will of the people in his state. That's the rub. The American people spoke during the midterms and demanded a change in course because they know if their grandchildren needed to go to the hospital, it will be a gasoline-filled ambulance that takes them there or the next great vacation or trip to grandma's house will be powered by fossil fuels.
More and more, those fossil fuels also power American jobs, tax revenue and security.
Although the vote could be seen as political theater since President Obama vowed to veto the bill, it was a good test of Washington DC- which failed. On that note, however, Elizabeth Warren was the big winner as her nonsensical anti-business rhetoric seized the moment. We will be seeing more of her in the next year, and I still think she will run for the White House against Hilary and beat her for the Democratic nomination.
#AskPayne
Each night, I try to answer at least one viewer question on my show, and this one really caught my attention.
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| Sourav Mitra ?@Sourav___Mitra 7h7 hours ago@FoxBusiness @cvpayne isn’t business the Frankenstein that will one day destroy its creator - humanity? |
This question is part and parcel of the kind of thinking that threatens our economic future, but is expected as a consequence of our success. It is easy to be dissatisfied, but everyone must understand, in the grand scheme of history from the transition to hunters from gatherers to the formation of societies, modern man has it pretty good. Modern Americans have it great. I want it to get better, but we must take care not to take this all for granted.
My Reply to the Question:
Seems to me that modern capitalism has been a godsend to mankind, producing products and services that improved life expectancy as well as individual wealth and freedoms.
Merchant Capitalism (or mercantilism), which began in the 1600s changed the course of mankind and the ability of men to change their own destiny. It culminated with the Industrial Revolution or the Big Bang of Business. The result was higher life spans in Europe which hit 45 years by 1860 and has never had a declining period since.
Beyond increased life span, there is individual wealth from the bondage of serfdom and other systems that determined a person’s place in life from birth to death. Consider Antwerp from 1550 to 1849, a building craftsman saw his wages in grams of silver increase only 24%. With the explosion of economic activity after the Industrial revolution, those wages climbed to 53 grams by 1913 or 315%.
| Individual Wealth and Capitalism Period | Wages In grams silver |
| 1550 to 1849 | 10.3 to 12.8 |
| 1849 to 1913 | 12.8 to 53.1 |
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