Last night, 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 last night's 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.

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.

Today’s Session

Equity futures have drifted all morning long, but corporate and economic news have been largely positive. Housing starts were mostly in line with over one million annualized and has been trending higher. Permits surged 4.8%, the street was looking for 0.9% increase.

Maybe the industry senses an uptick in demand as demonstrated by the 12% spike in mortgage applications to purchase homes.

Couple industry news with corporate financial results and it feels better for housing. After Home Depot released a solid earnings result yesterday, its arch rival Lowe's posted results that beat top and bottom lines. Home Depot was upbeat on housing and Lowe's is "cautiously optimistic," which is management-speak for "bullish."

 Lazy Boy, also up on earnings, is especially intriguing for its use of cash:

• Dividend                                              $3.2 million
• Buyback                                               $13.6 million
• Capital Expenditures (cap-ex)    $21.2 million

We are looking closely at companies putting more money into cap-ex than buybacks or dividend increases.