don't forget to send your "friday feedback." send comments, videos, email if you like, varneyviewers@foxbusiness.com. post on the facebook or twitter pages. all kinds of ways to reach us. just reach us. give us the good stuff. time up for me, neil, it is yours. neil: not so fast, stuart, i have video of you at an ihop. stuart: that's good. neil: i didn't want to embarass you on air. but there. thank you, my friend. we'll wary on here the next two hours, corner of wall and broad. we're up 82 points. a lot on promise of 95% plus efficacy rate. moderna vaccine, what you heard out of pfizer and biontech that is buoying the markets. with reports others might come around the bend. j&j among prominent names mentioned. they couldn't really give you a date. but they are on the crowded runway. so all of that is good. the impact of all of this as far

as timing who gets it and when, that is all still to be decided. there is a bit of a protocal for this. we'll get into that with a prominent doctor as well. the left and right view on this battle, but first to blake burman on this latest news and this efficacy rate which was higher than both companies originally said, right? reporter: exactly, neil. we knew this pfizer vaccine candidate was effective. pfizer though reiterating that today, in fact raising the effective rate on their covid-19 vaccine candidate but just as important pfizer today also reported that they believe their vaccine candidate is safe which is why they say they are going to be applying for the eua. that is the emergency use authorization that the fda gives out. they will apply for that in the coming days. here is what pfizer said earlier today as part of their news release they put out this morning. to date the data monitoring committee for the study has not reported any serious safety concerns related to the vaccine. they go on to say a review of at

least 8,000 participants, 18 years old in the phase two, three, study demonstrates the vaccine was well-tolerated most solicited adverse events resolving shortly after vaccination. you mentioned johnson & johnson. we herd from the ceo. he was speaking with david rubenstein of the washington, d.c., economic club, the ceo of j&j he praised what we have seen out of pfizer. listen. >> per the news recently out of pfizer and moderna that is very encouraging and certainly suggestive that when we attack the coronavirus, covid-19 virus with the right kind of approach, neutralizing antibodies a produced and this virus is susceptible to the body's immune response. we still have a lot more to learn, a lot more data but we're encouraging by what we've seen

thus far. reporter: back to the process here, briefly, neil. pfizer says it will apply for the emergency use authorization in the coming days. do not though expect a vaccine to hit the marketplace immediately after that. it could potentially take weeks. let me just sort of walk you through this real quick. the man overseeing all of this is over at the fda, dr. peter marks. center of biologic evaluation and research. he gave a interview in recent days neil, that the process most likely will take weeks. the bottom line as they say at the fda they want to make sure the process isn't rushed, they want to get it right, they want it to be transparent. bottom line they want the public to trust the process. they want to be able to go through, the fda does, all of the data. neil? neil: how is the administration kind of leading this overview of all the vaccines that are coming and the political squabbling back and forth? i mean you know, i know they have been focused on the count

going on in various states and all but how have they been dealing with this? reporter: right. they're more so on the distribution side of things. obviously the scientists over at the pharmaceutical companies are doing the vaccines but the administration is really overseeing this massive "operation warp speed" project in which the distribution is taking place through, in a lot of these cases mckesson, there will be distribution facilities. the johnson & johnson ceo, neil, was asked today about how all of this will take place as it relates to who might get the first vaccines? he said it would be up to the cdc and other governmental agencies to sort of figure that out. you have got the trump administration via the white house going through "operation warp speed," you have the afda with the eua, distribution, and a whole lot of parts involved in this. they set up "operation warp speed" to get through this, when we get to that point in time there is a

plan to go about it. we'll see how exactly they implement that plan. neil: got it. my friend, thank you very, very much. blake burman in washington on all fast moving developments. good time to go to jerry baker, my friend from "the wall street journal" at large, much, much more. we don't want to put a calendar date on it like j&j but we got something down the pike a host of others do. how do you think all of this plays out? >> as you say we've had two very encouraging pieces of news from two of the main vaccine companies developing the vaccine. they're up at least probably another half a dozen major companies who were expecting probably if they have been successful with similar results in the course of the next few weeks. that is good news obviously, 95% efficacy efficiency rate, is high, much higher than most people were expecting. the question how this plays out, out getting actual approval of

vaccines, that will probably happen the next two or three weeks and the next question is developing, distributing the vaccine. we'll have to be a little patient. pfizer said they can get 10 million doses out to people before the end of the year. that will cover a significant number of emergency workers. perhaps some very vulnerable. more and more vaccines develop, more companies out with them we can expect in the first quarter of 2021 to see the doses increase. the united states, 330, 340 million people. that is a lot. most of these vaccines require two doses. it will take some time, several months but it does suggest that the main way to ending this pandemic, this crisis, is very much in sight now. neil: you know, jerry, as you're aware a lot of people are scratching the head timing certainly the pfizer news, release of it first, a week after the election. some in the white house questioned that, whether it was a politically-timed not to help

the president. you're good at researching this stuff. i haven't found any link like that but it has come up but what do you think of that? >> yeah. you know, neil, nobody trusts anybody these days, do they? of course sees political motive in in everything we see. reminds me of one european, famous european diplomat in the 19th century when he heard the death of another european diplomat, was supposed to have said, i wonder what he meant by that? people are looking for clues. like you, neil, i haven't seen any evidence about this i don't think there is any particular reason why a company like pfizer would be, you know, so eager to see president trump defeated, they would hold off on an important piece of vaccine news. timing just seems to have been coincidental that these vaccines, we know they have been all in development and trials since early summer and they have, those trials take time. we have phase one trials and phase two trials, steadily

larger and larger populations took time. it is strange, almost remarkable that these results are coming out immediately after the election. you know, inducing big increases in the stock market and big increases in confidence generally. that is very unfortunate. that president trump is probably right to say it, come out of a week earlier, given how close the election was it might have been differently. i don't think anybody thinks, with the conspiracy theories so many people in on them, somebody at pfizer, somebody at one of these company would know they were sitting on results, would get the story out there. the press are pretty, pretty inventive finding ways to get the stuff out there. there could would be so many people involved in the conspiracy i find it implausible. neil: let me ask you how the markets reacted, many months ago i was talking with you on many of our chats you said a vaccine would change the game certainly for the markets, obviously for everybody. you're quite right on both

counts. i'm wondering if people are reluctant to take it, i use my own state of new jersey as an example, may be a metaphor for the rest of the country, a growing number, depending on the survey, one out of three to half who are very reluctant to take a vaccine. maybe goes back to concerns about vaccines period. it could go all the bad-mouthing about vaccines, whether these are politically motivated, i don't know what it is. >> right. neil: i wonder would that complicate the picture and continue the spikes that we've seen? >> yeah. doesn't help when people like governor cuomo, the state where i live, comes out initially says we don't want to get the vaccine. i don't trust the president. i don't trust -- neil: right. >> that really, if you have leaders creating this mistrust that is not surprising people will say, i'm not sure i want to do that, in addition to all the other concerns they may have. i'm optimistic, neil, one, relatively high number of people are saying right now they wouldn't take it. that is because it's a brand new

thing. it has been developed in record time. you can understand people being nervous about it. as normal people, starts to be distributed, people start to get it, people see it works, if it does, i think some fear will dissipate. more people are willing to take it. the other thing we don't have to get to 100% coverage of this vaccine, 100% of the population covered for the vaccine to get on top of the virus. herd immunity it is called where so many people have immune that it is really hard for the virus to spread. herd immunity only kicking in at 50 or 60%. maybe we have 10% of people have immunity already, maybe more. you only need to get half of the population who do agree to vaccinate about this essentially get on top of the virus and see it steadily diminish. that is how wear rat indicated smallpox and other diseases. we inoculate all the people in the world. we got enough people to make

sure the virus didn't circulate. neil: that is true. we develop herd immunity. that is what happened in those cases. gerry baker, "wall street journal" "at large." i want to pursue with former wisconsin governor scott walker. in your own state you've seen spikes in hospitalizations. i'm wondering the vaccine can't come a moment too soon. do you know anything about the rollout plans, how they would be affecting your state, what would come out, who would get it, any of that? >> well, i'm hopeful. first off i think it is great news not only for wisconsin but people around the country and around the world. i think this is phenomenal. we should embrace ways to get this out problem. a commercial standpoint walgreens, cvs, others out there they're already talking about ways that once it is available getting it out to their current customers and patients. so i just think this is

something that is going it happen. as jerry talked about, if there are some people reluctant, that is a right. if we're talking about 300 million people, if we get out 10 million or so at a time it will take some time. but i will be one of the people happy to take it like a take a flu shot every year. neil: you know, governor, a lot of your former colleagues, even present colleagues, right now, governors of all stripes, particularly republicans are much more open, not mandating masks, strongly, strongly advising them. we've seen iowa governor kim reynolds, utah governor gary herbert, north dakota governor doug burnham, on and on, i'm wondering are they doing that because the spikes are addressing in their states, less afraid of fallout a president who many might view as outgoing anyway, what do you think? >> i think it is balance. i've been talking about this since march. i've been on your show number of times.

i wrote about it on facebook on march 13th, i was one of those people originally in quarantine after cpac. this is something to take very seriously but we can do more than one thing at once. we can be concerned about the health impact of this, do the things, wearing a mask, washing hands, social distance, do all the things and still be concerned about efforts to shut down and cripple parts of the economy. certainly while still being concerned about efforts by many governors and mayors trying to undo some of our civil liberties. you can do more things at once. most rational people understand you can be concerned about the economy, civil liberties and do things to protect your family, coworkers and neighbors from your health. governors saying we can do all this we got to be healthy. you asked about the rollout plan. i think in coming days every governor should figure out a way to get it out to the health care workers and how seniors and other vulnerable populations

initially reduced the risk of people who not just getting it, but people who seem to be by the data the most negatively affected by it. i think after that we can't do it at the same time while ignoring the ability of keeping a strong economy going and keeping people out, not only in the workforce but out in society. neil: we're pressed for time, governor. i want to get your take on people losing patience with restrictions and new lockdown measures or closing students earlier, my state where new jersey, they're limiting indoor gatherings to no more than 10 people and in germany it was carried to the next level. there were pretty violent protests and german troops actually attacking protesters. it went back and forth for hours. i'm just wondering whether you know people are so, i guess, restriction fatigued that in any language, in any country we're on the verge of something pretty

bad, if it were to escalate. what do you think? >> i absolutely think you're right about that concern. here is the issue i said all along for seven months now, elected officials regardless of party who talk about what and not why will always be in trouble. this is what you have to do particularly if you like the governors, new york, california, illinois where they say what you have to do but they don't do it themselves. that makes it even worse. but in this case explain why. tell people why these things are issues. how we can all be a part of it. people will make the right decision. personal responsibility is inherent in america but you have got to give people the why, not just the what. you can't crack down in ways that are unreasonable. setting a limit of 10 versus 12, eight, whatever, it is a big concern of covid. figure out ways to be safe and sound but up to you to decide how many people are at thanksgiving, not the government. neil: yeah. that is a old battle to deal with in-laws. that is a separate battle.

>> that is excuse for a lot of people [laughter] neil: i hear you, i hear you. i have a very safe healthy and thanksgiving yourself and your family. scott walker, the former wisconsin governor on all of that. we're up about 64 points on the dow here. we're also hearing about companies looking at some remedies as well. by the way they don't have to always be vaccines outright. they can deal with symptoms around it an issues that often times send you into intensive care. if you mitigate those that might not be seen as a vaccine but for people suffering it is damn close to a cure. we'll have more after this. we made usaa insurance for members like martin. an air force veteran made of doing what's right, not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. that's how you do it right.

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neil: continuing to keep an eye on the ongoing political fight and lawsuits back and forth by the trump campaign in states like wisconsin, they want a recount, partial recount. in michigan they're not satisfied what is being done in the detroit area but in the meantime that is stymieing, democrats say progress on transition talks between the incoming biden administration if that is where it is going and leading to clashes within the democratic party itself who the president-elect is selecting not only for key staff positions but down the road for cabinet

positions. it sort of compounds a mess we've got going here. i want to pursue that with john layfield, and independent women's forum senior policy analyst. inez, if if i begin with you. there is always a dustup when president is looking around for staff members, cabinet members, this is complicated by ongoing legal fights but this is unique so far within the party, fights over who gets what post and when? is it a market disruptor or what does it appear to be? >> depends what the markets and rest of us are betting on in terms of what direction a biden administration will go. if it will be as he ran on a more centrist administration or is it going to be primarily run by people far to biden's left? in two different ways, right? there are deep cracks in the

democratic coalition and not just between so-called moderates or centrists and people who are more extreme or more progressive but even within the left base you have got the bernie wing of the party is much more interested in aggressive left-wing economic agenda. you have got the other wing of the democratic base which is primarily interested in a cultural woke agenda and biden will have to show something to someone. i suspect the wokes will win this one and perhaps the biden administration will be more centrist, although certainly left of trump and left of past democratic administrations but more centrist on some of the economic issues. perhaps the markets that will play in but i think he will go hard on showing something to the woke side of his base. he will do that through executive orders. neil: you know i always wonder, if you think about it, john, so much is contingent on the runoff, the twin runoff races in georgia, if they were both to go

democrat, that is not out of the realm of possibility, they are very tightly polled both races, then what? how would the markets address that? that would be seen as a stunner. >> it would be seen as stunner. we've seen the market address it a week before the election, the market was down. not because they thought the president. it looked like biden would become president three weeks before. that is not new news. the democrats might take control of the senate. you look at historically since 1933, when you have a clean sweep on either side it is the worst thing for the market. the market returns 9.3% per year since 1933. 4% when democrats control all parts much the house. the founding fathers had a sense to realize there needs to be balance of power. much more important who appointees are if they get control of the senate. then president biden would still be known as then have to cede to the further left part of the party. if you have mitch mcconnell in

there, he has a buffer where he can be more after is tryst and blame it on mitch. it is an easy out for him. neil: you know, i'm wondering too, there is talk, guys, about trying to cobble together a stimulus measure, even in a lame-duck session. i don't know how likely you think that is in that. you could deem it too little too late or you know, it beats the alternative waiting well into a new administration. what do you think? >> well i tell you what i do think, i think it is a demonstration of how washington has failed the american people, right? it, there are a lot of people who are hurting and do need this. i say that without supporting every tenet being negotiated in this stimulus package. there are a lot of people who need this and this absolutely has been a something, a political football. there are some reports they will be able to pass it now that the election is over even though it is still being litigated. perhaps after that december 14th certification

they will be able to pass this package that a lot of americans are hurting for but that in itself is a condemnation of the system, right? if there are americans really need it, this legislation to pass and both sides agree on certain tenets of it, right? so this is pure political game or it's a marginal disagreement, that they play politics with when the american people need it. this is something added to the pile of reasons why americans are fed up with washington and fed up with both parties. neil: that is an excellent point. john, you know there are a lot of brokerage houses coming out with year-end forecasts and for the new year and they do seem to be in quasi-lockstep about this runup impressive though it has been continuing into the new year. one firm now, the name escapes me, see as 9% for the pickup of the s&p from these levels. what do you think of that? >> i think they're right. i think this runup has been

unrealistic based on market valuations. we still have 11 million people unemployed. we have a lot of businesses may not make it to the normalcy we could get in march or april of next year when that vaccine starts taking effect. we start seeing some herd immunity and some type of normalcy to come back. the whole market is trading to me what the fed is doing and liquidity. when you have zero interest rates companies can borrow money so cheap, there is so much liquidity in the system. this is really a fed driven market. i think if it wasn't a fed driven market the market would be down significantly because the valuations have gotten out of line based on historically based on the covid and pandemic until we see some type of normalcy. neil: john, final word on the subject. great catching up with you, both of you here. you must have done something here. the markets are holding on to the gains amid all of these doubts. we'll explore that in a little more detail. also how the rollout is going to

go for these various therapies that are out there. the optimism, the administration is reflecting, indeed some companies themselves to get millions of doses out. by the end of next year in the case of pfizer, better than a billion of them. is that doable? after this. interests or what's trending. get real-time insights in your customized view of the market. it's smarter trading technology for smarter trading decisions. fidelity. lexus has been celebrating driveway moments. here's to one more, the lexus december to remember sales event. get 0% financing on all new 2020 and 2021 lexus models. experience amazing at your lexus dealer.

♪. neil: technology giants still censoring thought? own the left and right it's a hot topic. democrats saying in hearings that these giants don't do enough. republicans have been arguing they do a little bit too much, thank you. we've got read on all of this with edward lawrence following the latest shenanigans. what is going on, edward. reporter: back and forth, back and forth. another bombshell. facebook on the defensive one day after ceo mark zuckerberg grilled by senator josh hawley,

a whistle-blower outlined for his office a program called centra. a program that allows people to track across the internet whether using the facebook app or not. this is how senator hawley laid it out yesterday. listen. >> centra is a tool that facebook uses to track users not just on facebook but across the entire internet. centra tracks different profiles a user visits, message recipients, pages around the web that have facebook buttons. centra uses behavioral data monitor user accounts even if the accounts are registered under a different name. reporter: facebook ceo mark zuckerberg denied knowing about the product but he did acknowledge they use tools to help with community integrity work. facebook tells fox business centra does exist, it is used to aid in complex investigations into inauthentic behavior. the company going to let that testimony stand. they will follow up with the

senator later this is not the only accusation that hawley made yesterday, adding that the whistle-blower also claims facebook, google, twitter, regularly coordinate what topics to censor and what accounts and hashings to to censor. to that facebook says that is for investigations like interference in the election from outside forces adding that we are quote, proud of the work we do together on security issues and fighting child exploitation and they are public about that. today senator mike lee says big tech lacks credibility. >> they have lied to their own customers. they have lied to the american people. they have coordinated with other people on the left in order to punish the right and make sure that the left wins. this isn't fair especially when they speak in terms that make it, make them sound like they're some sort of state sponsored media. they're speaking with an air of officialness. that is not right. reporter: he adds there will be changes to section 230, the

communications decency act which offers social media companies immunity. senator lee says those changes will be lifting some of that immunity especially when it comes to free speech. neil? neil: edward lawrence, thank you very, very much. want to go to a guy in the middle of this storm but in a good way. a lot of folks had it with twitter, had it with some other sites, facebook have you, but love parler. john matze is the guy who runs it, the ceo runs it right now. john, your business obviously soared in the wake of all of this. how do you characterize yourself? i know you had many, many interviews you try not to claim a political position but a lot of conservatives are rushing over to you? there is talk that donald trump will move over to you. how do you describe your base of users? >> well, thank you for having me on. on parler i think there is more of a center-right conservative base currently but there are people, you know, all across the

spectrum on parler. really our goal is to get everybody on board, right? we want everybody to experience the first amendment again, see free speech online. that is really what we are pushing for. and sew if you had to define what we are, we are a neutral town square. we don't want to get involved. we keep it, we stay on the sidelines and let the community discuss. we're a place for everybody. neil: do you weed out content? do you fact check content? >> no. and actually soon as you begin fact checking in any capacity you introduce bias. it is impossible to fact check without bias. so when these tech companies are pretending otherwise they are, they're just kind of kidding themselves. neil: so by not fact checking, critics will say, it is the wild, wild west. you don't know what is truth. you might have a society membership that insists the

world is flat. how do you answer that? anything goes and it might be made-up stuff? >> as opposed to what you might experience on twitter and facebook and other social media companies parler is kind of an opt-in experience. you get what you sign up for. so if you say i want to follow this person or that person, you see it chronologically in your feed as it happens in real time. so to your point people who might have these you know, fringe beliefs that facebook and twitter get in trouble all the time for promoting, we don't promote content. people promote content. that stuff gets automatically curated by you and your following who you want to talk with. that stuff doesn't take off. we're not promoting things to get a dopamine hit out of others we're solving problems they get problems and require moderation. we solve them giving everybody else the tools to create their own experience. i think it is the right way to do it. neil: john, have you had any conversations or your people

with donald trump or his people? because he is not obviously very happy with twitter and having a lot of his tweets taken down all the rest. that would be a big fish to land? >> i can see why he would be you know, kind of nervous about twitter. i can't really see any of his tweets that he has been pushing out that haven't been fact checked. i feel like more are being checked now than aren't. really if he wanted to come on parler he would be welcome on parler. everybody is welcome on parler. we want people to join. we want more information for people to talk about. we want more people involved in the conversations in general, not less. so yes, of course he would be welcome. neil: all right. john matze, we'll see what happens, the parler ceo, it has become sort of like this thriving alternative universe that now is a power in its own right. so we'll be watching that one quite closely. meanwhile watching what is happening right now in a lot of

cities and states amid these new crackdowns. if you think it is tough on the residents imagine how it is scaring potential visitors like in new york city? like our jackie deangelis is finding out. hey, jackie. reporter: hey, neil. well, new york city was on record for a record number of tourists this year coming to visit the city before the pandemic hit. this is obviously not going to happen this year and it is going to have a huge impact with respect to revenue, not just on this city but across the country with the chilling effect. we've got the story coming up. ♪

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that i think will be as successful frankly as i think the leadership team in in the 116th congress was. we had a very, very successful term in the 116th congress as leadership. the product that we produced did not pass the senate for the most part and that's to the detriment of the american people, to their health care, to their jobs, their wagers and assistance they needed in confronting covid-19, whether on the health side or on the economic side. we're not through the 116th congress yet, however. i'm very hopeful, with the speaker's leadership and hopefully with the cooperation of senator mcconnell and others that we will pass a covid-19 relief bill prior to december 11th. i am very hopeful that we will pass an omnibus that will appropriate for all of the government to stay in operation

without any kind of pause, with any kind of shutdown. so i am honored to have been reelected as majority leader. i am honored to serve with two people that i have known for a very, very long time. i mentioned in my opening speech that nancy and i -- neil: indeed what we thought it was. steny hoyer will remain the number two ranking democrat in the house. they have the majority there. nancy pelosi breezed to re-election in her bid to serve what she had said would be her last two years as democratic leader there, speaker of the house. more to the point. ii want to get the read on all ofth prove chad pergram to all this. there was no mounted all tern tougher candidates dared to enter at least for the speaker post and leadership of the house democrats. your quick thoughts, chad? >> this is just the caucus

election. the caucus, the democratic caucus and house republican conference they have internal leadership elections. it is a lot easier to get the nod to be speaker of the house inside of the caucus. you just need a simple majority of your caucus but nancy pelosi now will stand for speaker in january as kevin mccarthy. someone he also tapped re-upped, hakeem jeffries to be the chair of the democratic caucus. >> legendary speaker. one of the best who has ever done it, ever, in the history of the republic. she certainly has my strong support. reporter: now here's the problem for nancy pelosi. she only need ad simple majority in the caucus but the full house elects the speaker in january. pelosi's majority will be in the low 220s. she needs 218 votes. she lost 15 votes for speaker two years ago. republicans say it is perilous for some democrats to support pelosi for speaker.

>> they voted to defund the police. many of them got beat. some of them almost got beat and will get beat in two years. the problem they will reelect pelosi continue going down the far left path. reporter: look at those who opposed her last time. alyssa slotkin of michigan, mike sherrill of new jersey, jim cooper of tennessee. she has to get some of them to vote for her because she can only lose a handful of votes for speaker on january 3rd. the house of representatives can't do anything until it elect as house speaker. also today in washington on capitol hill there is concern for safety. they have had a couple of more coronavirus cases with members. ed perlmutter, democratic congressman, chuck grassley, the senate pro tem of the senate tested positive. he is third in line for the presidency. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell said on senate floor said if anybody can beat coronavirus it is grassley. grassley is in leadership

meetings with mitch mcconnell. they were all wearing masks. he missed his first vote on the senate floor yesterday in 27 years, neil. neil: wow. thank you for that. hope he does okay. chad pergram following those developments. we're also following other developments here comes to all of sudden cities and states cracking down what had been a dramatic spike in cases. in the new york city area it also affected tourism and could for quite a while. jackie deangelis has more on that from the big apple. hey, jackie? reporter: good afternoon, neil. we've already been talking about some of the travel restrictions in place ahead of thanksgiving and how people will have to change their plans. well the overall holiday season for tourists, cities across the country it looks grim right now. just consider new york city. you have got the shopping, hotels, dining so much of it closed. radio city behind me, no christmas spectacular. you got the tree around the

corner at rockefeller center but nobody there in traditional way people go skating and mill around. before the pandemic struck, we were on pace for this city to see a record number of tourists, 66.6 million visitors this year, according to nyc and company. that will not happen. the recovery won't be full until 2025. the tourists come from everywhere. they're domestic and international. that impact is so huge. take a listen. >> tourism is a 72 billion-dollar industry. it is about 46 billion in direct spending. for every dollar spent another dollar 1/2 is generated. so it's a critically important industry. it touches 403,000 jobs. reporter: neil, there is traffic here on sixth avenue which we haven't seen in quite some time, some cars, certainly people are walking but looks like they're trying to get to the

destination. they're not milling around. today probably one of the chilliest to start off the season certainly not helping. with the stores closed, even a lot of stores still boarded up because of expectations of violence it is hard to go get people in that holiday cheerful spirit. back to you. neil: jackie, thank you very much. jackie deangelis. when we come back, what is the man who brought down bin laden think of our troop drawdown in afghanistan and elsewhere? rob o'neill is next when i was in high school, this was the theater i came to quite often. ♪ the support we've had over the last few months has been amazing. i have a soft spot for local places. it's not just a work environment. everyone here is family.

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neil: nearly two decades, the trump administration winding downing pulling our troops out of afghanistan and iraq largely. i wanted to see what rob o'neill thought of that, the former navy seal who helped bring down osama bin laden. rob, good to see you, what do you think of this? >> you good to see you, neil. it is time to get out especially of afghanistan. we've been working in afghanistan trying to train their local forces going on two decades. if they don't individual they will never get it. they don't want american diplomacy. whether you like it or not if you're in a country for that

long you're an occupier. that is simple as it is. they don't have the infrastructure. they really don't want the infrastructure. we can be fine drawing it down keeping a base like bagram airfield. we have the air force. we have carriers that can reach it, if they come up with training sites that need to be bombed we can bomb them. we have 300 agency people in different spots they can monitor. they have the local intelligence up and sources. it doesn't take a bunch of marines and infantrymen patrolling very narrow roads trying to build schools t hasn't worked before. it won't work. iraq is one of the things we shouldn't have invaded. we shouldn't left. time for us toe leave. people own the ground will not help much. we need to concentrate on what happens with china. neil: what about isis? are you worried about reemerging cases and behead. >> isis a like trying to nail jell-o to the wall.

isis was formed because of us leaving iraq too soon. we shouldn't have been there in the first place. i will not blame anybody for that. wherever they can go they will plant the isis flag. not like a bunch of foreign fighters from egypt and jordan going to afghanistan forming isis. these are local taliban guys that decide they will be isis. part of the same radical islamic ideology. they're going to show up. you have to hit the head with a hammer and leave. don't need to stick around to negotiate especially with the taliban. a lot of arguments inside of the pentagon with national security advisor and all that stuff, these guys yelling about what we're doing, they haven't won the war in 20 years. so maybe we should do something different? neil: rob o'neill, thanks. have a safe thanksgiving, my friend. rob o'neill in the middle of all of that. seeing osama bin laden eye-to-eye, taking him out. you have to have nerves of steel for that. what happens right now with thanksgiving plans in this

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neil: all right. 95% effective. that's pretty high, and that is

the efficacy rate, in other words, this will work in dealing and eradicating the coronavirus if you have it in better than 9 out of 10 cases. as i said, 9.5 out of 10 cases. that's a similar response and efficacy of moderna. we are hearing of others coming down the pike that are going to be promising. susan li on the significance of that and what could be very very soon fda approval for at least emergency use to get things going. hey, susan. susan: good math there, neil. yes. fda approval, pfizer's coronavirus vaccine could come within days. 95% effective according to pfizer and no serious side effects. the fda authorizes the vaccine, pfizer says it could have 50 million doses available by the end of the year and up to 1.3 billion by the end of next year for the entire world. but not only 25 million doses, not only 25 million doses will be available in the u.s. this year, but that can vaccinate

around 12 and a half million americans. pfizer's vaccine needs to be kept in deep freezing temperatures and they say they have now secured around 100 million doses for the entire u.s. for nearly $2 billion. that's encouraging. meantime, the fda has approved the first at-home rapid coronavirus test, relies on a nose swab and can be run in just 30 minutes. it costs around 50 bucks, requires a prescription and has not been evaluated in asymptomatic people but you have to be over the age of 14. still, this is a game changer for rapid results. there have been other at-home sample collections made available but as cases continue to surge and stricter lockdowns means being imposed right now, it looks like this could be something good for the american public. meantime, though, at the stores, americans are stockpiling. they are stockpiling toilet papers and cleaning supplies once again. walmart executives say they are running low at some stores across america while kroger's, wegman's and publix started limiting the amount of items people can buy.

it seems like a replay at least for now until we can get everyone a vaccine, a replay of what we saw in march at the height of the lockdowns. neil: all good news. where we were just a few weeks ago. susan li following those developments. in the meantime, there's the hope that springs eternal with a vaccine, any vaccine in the meantime dealing with the uptick in cases. it's very real. doesn't my next guest know it. jersey city's mayor joins us. the new jersey governor has been cracking down on large holiday gatherings, not even large, any more than 10 you are running afoul of what the governor wants to say. thank you for taking the time. how are things looking in your neck of the woods? >> we are seeing a big uptick. we are about a mile away from new york city. we are seeing a big uptick but not the same uptick on ventilator usage and fatalities yet. the uptick is skewing younger in age so maybe that's a positive. neil: how have people been

responding in jersey city to these limited indoor thanksgiving day gatherings? >> yeah. the governor put a curfew in place last week on businesses. that was met i think with negative feedback. then the thanksgiving limitations, you don't hear a lot of chatter about it. i'm not sure that people are going to listen to it or that people even know about it widespread. neil: how are you going to try and police or can you, mayor? >> i don't think we can at the end of the day. there's a fine line there between, you know, allowing people to have thanksgiving with their family and act responsibly versus being overly intrusive. we are going to try our best to educate people on best practices, then hope that people listen but if you are asking if the police department is going to be knocking on doors, the answer is absolutely not. neil: i know in some cases, not in your town, sir, but a lot of

times in the past when this thing has been strictly kind of ordered out, not sizes of this type, it's relied on neighbors who essentially snitched on neighbors. so if you have neighbors who are saying there are a lot of cars parked outside, you know, my neighbor's apartment or unit or brownstone, what do you do? >> yeah. i mean, look, i'm not getting into the neighbor ratting out neighbor, encouraging that. i come from a family of holocaust survivors. we're not going down that road. i look at it as saying we are going to do our best to educate people and hope that they act responsibly. i think ultimately, there's enough information out there that people will do what they think best and hopefully, that's wear the mask out in public, responsible limitations on who they invite to their house for thanksgiving. neil: do you worry, though, that with the spike in cases that we have seen, even in hospitalizations in the garden state, i'm a jersey resident as

well, that this thing could be getting out of control? >> i mean, look, we were hit hard early in the pandemic and it definitely does not feel the same. we have two very large hospital systems here in jersey city. we get daily updates on them. the fatalities have not been ticking upwards. the ventilator usage has not been ticking upwards. you do see more cases, but we are also testing at a much larger scale than we were previously and the testing is more acceptable. so we are monitoring it, keeping our eye on it, but it doesn't feel like it did earlier in the year. at least not yet. neil: all right. i hope that's right. mayor, thanks for taking the time. i know you are busy. stay healthy, stay well. steve fulop, democratic mayor of jersey city. very popular guy, might point out. meantime, the fallout of all of this and how far it goes with john hillsenrath, fox news contributor, much much more. i don't know how it's going to

go spying on people on crowds and how many they have outside your house, but i am wondering about these spikes and the fact so many americans are so leery of vaccines, period. i think in new jersey, a third are dicey at being first up to try it, as many as half. what is going on with that? what do you think the impact will be? >> well, i think this leeriness is symptomatic of a bigger problem. we talk all the time on business television channels about deficits, about budget deficits and trade deficits. i think this country right now is suffering from a serious and grave trust deficit, and we see that in the realm of vaccines. we are also seeing it in the realm of the election right now. and you know, kind of all this distrust being sown about whether the election results are

true or false. frankly, this trust deficit i think is being stoked on both sides of the aisle, on television, in opinion pages, in congress, and people really are patriots and want to fix the company, they ought to be working on rebuilding our trust deficit. neil: if you think about it, i'm old enough to remember the leeriness that was building in about vaccines of any sort where quite a few americans were very very leery in the automatic you have to vaccinate your child for this or that. i'm wondering if part of that is coming into play and whether it could disrupt, you know, the curing process here. what do you think? >> well, i mean, there were concerns about vaccines generally in small parts of the population before coronavirus and then when this came up, and the timing of a vaccine for

covid-19 was being associated with the election, there were a lot of people wondering well, is this being rushed too aggressively and was it being timed to the election. frankly, when i think it comes to the covid-19 vaccine, we're going to have to experience it to kind of build trust in it. we're going to have to see people taking it and getting better and not being, you know, becoming gravely ill as a result of it. that's going to take a little bit of time. but there's a race going on right now, because as you just mentioned, you know, the virus is spreading and it's affecting hospitalizations. thankfully we're not having a surge of deaths yet, but we have got to get this vaccine out there as part of a broader strategy to get covid back under control because that's affecting not only our health, but our economy. we are seeing shutdowns again, you know, stimulus relief payments are being cut off.

there's a race going on right now to get this under control. and you know, part of that race is getting a vaccine out there that people trust. it comes back to that trust deficit i talked about. neil: you're exactly right on that. thank you very much. good catching up with you, my friend. even for just a little bit. "wall street journal" global economic editor, much much more. i want to get the doctor here, the good doctor from johns hopkins university, professor of public health, author of "the price we pay." fox news contributor. doctor, good catching up with you. what do you make of this vaccine trepidation, this concern? what do you think? >> good afternoon, neil. you know, it's a real concern, but it's a little unfair to ask people would you take a vaccine that's not out yet. that's not available. for which the safety profile has not been reported. you know, there is certain distrust out there, it's greater in certain groups, minority populations. one survey found that only 17%

of african-americans were planning to take the vaccine. but the good news is at least in the last trial that we heard about, 37% of all the subjects came from minority populations and about half had a serious co-morbidity. this is a representative sample. that should be good news to folks. neil: let me ask as well about the protocol for it. what is the established protocol for who gets it and when? >> well, to be honest, it's at the discretion of a local facility on guidance from the national authorities. now, my research team at johns hopkins put out a study last week which identifies the greatest risk factors for mortality among seniors who get the infection. those risk factors were number one, sickle cell disease followed by chronic kidney disease followed by heart disease, diabetes and leukemia lymphoma. those groups we consider to be high risk and advanced age, of course, compounding that.

neil: do you have any concern that the spike in cases we are seeing kind of gets out of control, that it's happening even in places that were doing everything they should have been doing. germany comes to mind where they were among the first countries to force the mask issue, to lock things down, to have the distancing measures, yet they are dealing with revisiting rolling lockdowns and the like, so much so that it prompted a violent clash between protesters who had had enough of it and the government. i'm wondering is that possible here? >> it's a really good point. so let me tell you something. there's a life cycle of awareness. what happens is that people react once they see the hospitals bulging or they see the case numbers really spike. but what you need to do is react three to four weeks before those things based on the early increases in the data. one problem is people read the numbers from our johns hopkins tracker, and they say, you will hear it all the time, this is the number of cases. we hear it all the time.

there were 150,000 cases on average per day last week. but that's not the real number. because we are only confirming 1 in 5 to 1 in 10 cases. so we are probably seeing about three quarters of a million to a million new infections per day. that's the number we should really be thinking about. neil: about the spike we are seeing, soon you will see hospitalizations or god forbid, intensive care or deaths, we seem to be making much more progress even leaving these vaccines out of the equation with people who, even when they get it, don't die from it, that it's changed mightily from the early days. what do you think? >> thanks for bringing that up. we had no idea what we were doing back in april and march as doctors. we are so much better. the mortality rate is down about 80% to 90%. each one of several interventions has knocked the mortality down significantly. less aggressive ventilator management, then it was anticoagulation with the

realization 40% of the deaths were vascular complications back in april. then steroids, then remdesivir which has mild activity but some, now with themonoclonal andpolyclonalantibodies. we think the mortality rate is below that of the seasonal flu. we are just taking a lot of infection into this fall wave. neil: fingers crossed. i hope you after your hard work and looking out for a lot of folks, keeping them safe and calm, myself included, i hope you have a safe and healthy thanksgiving yourself. just remember, keep it under 10 people. i don't want to have to call the police on you. very good seeing you. very calm throughout all of this. i think a lot of people appreciate that. the dow pretty calm right now, up almost 27 points. stay with us.

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neil: all right. we're getting some comments out of the health and human services secretary alex azar saying these two covid-19 vaccines could be ready for u.s. authorization and distribution within weeks. i don't know if he was talking about just emergency but that would be in and of itself a huge leap forward. he also said we could have about 40 million doses of these

vaccines for distribution by just the end of december, little more than a month from now. we'll keep you posted on all of that. meanwhile, charlie gasparino keeping you posted on a couple of interesting developments the markets are watching that have nothing to do with covid-19. or vaccines or the virus. charlie, what do you have? charlie: but they do have to do with 5g. you know that's the wireless spectrum that is going to be the next -- that's the future of wireless. it's high speed communications. here's an interesting ruling that has not been made public by the fcc that handed a huge blow to dish and charlie ergen last night. they essentially said dish and ergen in 2015 improperly bid on $3 billion worth of spectrum and that improper bid means that charlie ergen and dish could be on the hook for something like

$3 billion, have to give that back to the government depending on how all this sorts out, because charlie ergen and dish bid on that spectrum as a small company, it got a small company discount through two related entities that he controlled, when it was really owned by dish which as you know, is not a small company. we should point out, this sounds very in the weeds. it's really not. charlie ergen, dish need spectrum to be that additional carrier, 5g carrier that the government wants. the government wants more 5g. it is the future for communications, for national security. this is a big thing, if charlie ergen and dish owe a chunk of money to the government which it appears it does by this ruling. that's why after i first reported this about an hour ago, the stock dropped precipitously, something like 6%. it's come back a little now as people are trying to sort through this -- what's going on here. but this is a pretty big deal.

if charlie ergen owes $3 billion. dish, you know, we're not talking apple here in terms of cash on hand. it's a company, you know, it's doing okay but that would be a big chunk of change for its balance sheet. we should point out that ergen is likely to appeal this ruling by the fcc which has not been made public. i confirmed it through my sources. good chance he's going to lose and the reason why is because this was bipartisan. all five commissioners, i think there are two democrats on the commission right now, voted, put their numbers down on charlie ergen. big story for dish. it's a big corporate story, has a laot to do with 5g and its development. we will be following developments on this throughout the day. we have a lot on our plate with the economy and the pandemic and the potential vaccine but 5g is a huge story and charlie ergen

is in the middle of it and right now, his hopes of creating a 5g carrier, major one, hit a major roadblock. back to you. neil: thank you, my friend. he's a wily character. i have a feeling he might come out of this. we will watch it closely. charlie, keep cooking, literally and figuratively. charlie gasparino on that. well, here is the good news if you are waiting for stimulus. it looks like republicans and democrats just might be able to do something during the lame duck session. here's the bad news, if you are keeping track of deficits and debt. it's going to cost. to the guy who literally wrote the book on the subject and is worried about it big-time, after this. ♪ we made usaa insurance for veterans like martin. when a hailstorm hit, he needed his insurance to get it done right, right away. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa

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neil: all right. stimulus after all and in a lame duck session, no less? well, it's possible but not quite there yet. edward lawrence, what are you

hearing? reporter: inching closer and closer, right. top democrats sent a letter to senate majority leader mitch mcconnell asking for talks to restart this week over a covid relief package. the letter says it is essential that this bill have sufficient funding and delivers meaningful relief to many americans who are suffering. house speaker nancy pelosi and senator chuck schumer both said we need to pass the $3.4 trillion heroes act quickly. the bill has a lot of other things in it not related to the coronavirus. it gives states about $1 trillion to help bail out their deficits that they're in. that's the heart of the issue for republicans. they don't want to bail out states that have made poor financial decisions. >> but unfortunately, both speaker pelosi and the democratic leader have been equally consistent and they don't think congress should do anything at all, anything, unless they get to cash out a

far less idealogical wish list including things with zero relationship to the present crisis. reporter: mcconnell wants to see a bill that's about $500 billion with targeted money for expanded unemployment benefits, schools to reopen, health care providers, the payroll protection program and limited liability protection for businesses reopening in the pandemic. mcconnell adds that he has not heard from the house speaker, just seen her public statements. she has been very public now about givingetting a larger pac done. so is senator chuck schumer. listen. >> speaker pelosi and i have formally invited the senate leader and the senate republican colleagues to join us in bipartisan talks. our colleagues face a simple choice. they can put the election behind them and work across the aisle to get something done, or they can remain in their partisan corner. reporter: the bottom line is there's no real movement between the two sides. they are talking at each other through the media, not with each other at the moment.

neil? neil: all right. thank you, my friend, very very much. edward lawrence following all of that. david walker following all of this very very closely. working on another book on the dangers we face if we don't get a lot of this spending under control, that america is about a lot more than that, about more than what's going on with our debt, it's about where it's taking us as a superpower and it's nothing good if we keep this up. it's very good to have you. i'm sure every time you hear more stimulus, particularly around covid-19 and i know you look at the need for that in some way, shape or form, but we also have to keep track of the money we're spending here. republicans have said we spent between what the federal reserve has forked out and what congress has forked out, trillions of dollars. let's see how that works first. how do you feel about that? >> first, i think we have to recognize that we need to do what we need to in order to defeat covid-19 and try to deal

with some of those individuals and businesses that have been severely adversely affected by the effect of covid-19. but what my concern is, neil, is while i do believe that we are going to see another stimulus bill, probably $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion, what i'm concerned about is that we were already on an unsustainable fiscal path before covid-19 and now we are in a much worse situation than we were. we have already added $3 trillion, this is going to another another $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion, debt as a percentage of the economy is going to hit an all-time record this year, and before this newest bill that they are talking about, the congressional budget office was projecting we were going to go to 200% of debt to gdp by 2050. that's third world nation status. so we have to recognize that we have to do what we have to do to deal with covid-19, but we need to start putting our financials in order once we get past covid-19, because it threatens

our international standing, our national security and our domestic tranquility if we don't. neil: you know, you have been warning about this for decades. in researching and getting ready for our chat today, i was reminded of an interview you gave i think back in 2012 in which you said ultimately, the government will need to spend less than projected and tax more than it historically has. i went on to say that means we will do less than people are expecting and tax more than people are accustomed to. i imagine that's all up on steroids now, because looking at how debt has accumulated under past presidents, and you were briefly with bill clinton, then george bush so a fair and balanced background with these guys, and the only president where that debt was going down was under bill clinton. you can attribute a lot of that to the internet boom that went on, maybe some ration on tax cuts with tax increases, some spending restraint at least in

terms of washington, but very little before or since. what do you think? >> our problem is primarily a spending problem. but we are going to have to have additional revenues as well. the truth is that tax rates right now are the lowest they are ever going to be in my lifetime and probably your lifetime, too. neil: going up in your eyes? for everybody? >> for virtually everybody. okay? it's just a matter of math. the concern that i have is the longer that we wait to deal with this, the higher taxes are likely to go. why do i say that. two reasons. number one, math. it's simple math. number two, politics. the people who have the most political power from a demographic standpoint are seniors. they vote, okay? young people don't vote in the same degree. they are the ones paying the price. they are the ones bearing the burden. therefore, you know, while we're going to have to make changes to

social insurance programs, we are going to have to phase them in and the longer we wait to do it, the bigger the changes have to be, the greater the risk of a crisis, and it's not just about, you know, debt. i'm not a deficit hawk, i'm not a debt hawk. i care about debt as a percentage of the economy. if we grow the economy faster than the debt, we're making progress. but we're headed in the exact opposite direction right now. neil: you know, i was thinking of you, even when we had under ronald reagan the commission to look up ways to shore up social security, there was an understanding we would increase the retirement age, we would stagger things for younger workers further out to older workers down the road. i hate to say that can't be done today. i don't want to be jaded and all but even in my state of new jersey where there are record unfunded, you know, state and pension fund liabilities, fire and police, teachers, e talking like that about phasing

it in for younger ones, not, you know, damaging it for the older or near retirement workers, that is jufrt st rejected out of hand the liabilities go up, up, up. >> we're going to have to do it. the action forcing events are either going to be a major financial crisis or it's going to be when the trust funds, medicare and social security, go to zero. and covid-19 has had a serious adverse impact on both of those. the medicare hospital insurance trust fund is expected to go to zero in 2023, only three years from now. social security is expected to go to zero in 2031. if the medicare trust fund goes to zero, that means providers get cut across the board at least 10%. if social security goes to zero, that means people's benefits get cut at least 20% across the board. those are politically unacceptable outcomes. look, here's the key. in 2012, i did a 10,000 mile, 27 state national fiscal responsibility bus tour. it's talked about in this book

as well as many other things. we achieved 77% to 90% agreement from a representative group of voters on budget controls, tax reforms, health care reforms, social security, defense, government organization operation and political reforms. it can be done with leadership and with a new fiscal sustainability commission that is statutory where the congress and the president buy in, that engages with the american people and comes back, sets the table for a guaranteed up or down vote. that's what we need and it needs to be one of the top priorities for the new president. neil: didn't we have that with the old graham-rudman spending restraints, then they found a way around the restraints by mothballing graham-rudman? every time someone has an idea to control spending, someone else comes along to get rid of the control. >> well, as you know, in the 2019 budget deal, we got rid of the sequester and we eased the

controls, in addition the debt ceiling limit has totally failed. we are the only major industrialized nation that has a debt ceiling limit and look what's happened to the debt over the years. what we need to focus on is not balanced budgets, not deficits, not total debt. debt as a percentage of the economy. we need to change our mechanism such that we are seeking to achieve a reasonable and sustainable level of debt as a percentage of gdp by a date certain, with specific targets, triggers and automatic enforcement mechanisms and those automatic enforcement mechanisms would include reductions on the spending side and potentially some surcharges on the revenue side if the targets are not met. we're not going to get this done through the regular order. congress is totally dysfunctional right now. you're not going to be able to get it done in a piecemeal fashion unless you are running up against the trust fund exhaustion date. and the longer we wait, the more

changes, the higher the risk, the more disruption. neil: joe biden is already talking about forgiving some student debt. i don't know how much. you have to look to pay for that. obviously he wants to hike taxes on corporations, lift the corporate rate from 21% to 28%, hike it on those earning $400,000 or more. do you think it stops there or will there be more from there? >> well, if you look at the proposals of vice president biden, you will see that his spending proposals were a lot greater in aggregate number than his tax proposals. he wants to raise revenues but he also wants to spend a lot more than he's proposing to raise in revenues and we are already in a hole. when you are in a hole, you have to stop digging. we have to figure out how we are going to climb our way out. let me just touch on this, the title of the book. it's about superpower. what does it take to be a

superpower? you have to be a respected country with global economic, diplomatic, military and cultural influence. all those are at risk right now. china's already passed us on purchasing power to gdp. they already have more embassies than we do. they are committed to passing us militarily. they own the largest movie chain in the united states and they are a competitor, number one competitor is going out of business because of covid-19. we need to wake up. we also have growing gaps between the haves and have-nots on income, wealth and education, which you touched on which is critically important, and these are getting worse with the passage of time. we can, we must and i believe we will ultimately prevail on this, but it's going to take leadership and it's going to take a special mechanism like a fiscal sustainability commission in order to get it done. neil: i don't want to give away the book but you raise the

question is america in 2040 still a superpower. the way and the route we are going, if we don't change, we won't be, right? it's just obvious. >> that's correct. if we do not change course, we will tnot be. as i mentioned to you, china's already passed us on purchasing power parity to gdp. they already passed us on the number of diplomatic missions around the world. they are committed to pass us militarily. and yet we have a number of domestic challenges we need to come to grips with. look, we can solve this problem but it's going to take the two things i mentioned to get it done. and the sooner we do it, the better. neil: all right. thank you very much, my friend. david walker, america 2040, still a superpower. if you have any doubts about the stuff he's raising here, the dismissiveness we give it in this country, i want to read a line not from his book but an old line that always brings me back to the debt. this summation of a certain country some decades ago.

we had the industrial might, we have the market acumen. those who say the sun will set on our empire have very little appreciation of the permanence of our empire. that was said of the british empire, unassailable, unflappable, undeniable. no longer an unassailable world power. after this.

neil: want to tell you something live that's going on right now in delaware. it's a virtual event, a roundtable. the president-elect, joe biden, is having it with front line workers over covid-19, the spike in cases you have been hearing so much about. technically, it's not all that smooth so we are going in and out. we are monitoring certainly what's going on there and the president-elect's ideas on things he's going to do that he says will be different than this administration has done but he has complained about the transition process here and the

fact that the administration is stopping him from getting updates, working with the president's own covid-19 team. i want to raise all of this and this transition process if it ever comes to fruition with christopher nixon cox, the grandson of president richard nixon, nixon foundation board member. christopher, very good to have you back. it's easy to play politics with that. obviously your grandfather was a republican and three-time presidential candidate, but he knew and operated under guidelines of how you transition to the new administration back in 1960 when he lost to john f. kennedy, not challenging what were at the time some questionable results and numbers coming out of the chicago area but he thought better of it, didn't challenge that. i'm wondering if there are lessons for republicans now or donald trump now where he's saying there's widespread fraud and abuse. i don't mean to disparage the

president, but at what point you sort of lick your wounds and say all right, this is not going to change the outcome? what do you think? >> well, neil, it's great to be on with you as always. it's a really good question. i think that of course the president has every right and the campaign team has every right, they believe there's fraud, to challenge it in the courts. that's true. but i think there's a very good political reason for when the time comes, the president to make a gracious transition if that's what it ends up being and i think the 1960 and '68 election provide a very good comparison. as you mentioned, in 1960, my grandfather lost the election, it was a very close election, especially in the popular vote. very close. if there's rampant or allegations of rampant voter fraud in illinois, and potentially in texas which could have put my grandfather over the top. however, when it became clear that there was no path towards winning a court case to prove that, my grandfather did graciously concede and of course, that set him up to come

back in 1968 and run for president. now, i don't know what president trump's ambitions are but he certainly has a lot of energy and certainly seems to want to remain politically active and four years is not that long away, and of course, grover cleveland is an example of someone who was president, then once again, four years later. so you know, at some point, a gracious transition and concession along with his allies staying out in the public eye and saying well, maybe we were robbed but let's come back and win the next time, that could set the president up for running again in four years, if that's what he wants to do, and that could set him up very nicely to do that. i think you have to consider -- neil: history proves -- i didn't mean to jump on you but you're right, history proves that those who try that, your grandfather was very strongly urged to challenge that 1960 election. we did learn there was something to the process, he respected the process and i'm wondering, too,

when he won in 1968 and met with lyndon johnson, he hadn't challenged him, johnson decided not to run that year, he had beaten his vice president, hubert humphrey, the two of them struck up a friendship that lasted for years and had to work with one another and sort of bounce things off one another. so in the modern times, we are kind of used to seeing the outgoing administration work with the incoming administration. we're not seeing that now. i know there are times when it's tense with hoover and fdr in the same car and legend has it they never said a word to each other so i understand there's friction and that's to be totally understood. i'm wondering if it doesn't happen this time, for whatever reason, then you're right, the president has every right to pursue, you know, legal recourse an election he feels did not go well to what it should have been in so many of these battleground states but at what point should he, you know, graciously step aside? if it's not going to change the

outcome. or is he well within his rights saying i'm not going to go to the inauguration, i'm not going to ride from the white house to the capitol with the guy i think i actually beat? >> you know, i think it's such a great symbol of our democracy going back to the election of 1800 that we do have a peaceful transition of power and that the symbol of that are the incoming and outgoing presidents coming together to show that there is a peaceful transition, then i would hope and i actually expect he would do that. i think at the end of the day, president trump does care a lot about the country and that i think he could put aside that personal difficulty to do that one last great thing for the country, and i think of course, you know, once he's an ex-president, he can say what he wants, he can do what he wants and again, maintaining that symbol will be important for him. neil: you're right about that. grover cleveland stayed very much in the public eye after he

lost a second term four years later. he got the president say back. the only man to have two non-concurrent terms. very good seeing you. hope you have a safe, healthy thanksgiving. christopher nixon cox, grandson of president richard nixon. more after this. (groans) hmph... (food grunting menacingly) when the food you love doesn't love you back, stay smooth and fight heartburn fast with tums smoothies. ♪ tum tum-tum tum tums our own hopes and dreams. we'll pass many milestones. moments that define you. and drive you.

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welcome back. i'm hillary vaughn. president-elect joe biden has promised to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. that is more than double what employers are expected to pay right now on the federal level, so that would be a shock to the system, and businesses are getting busy calculating the cost. potbelly company says it could mean menu prices are going up for customers down the road but the cost could be even more for workers. the congressional budget office last year says a $15 minimum wage hike could cost 1.3 million americans their jobs. chipotle already pays their employees close to $15 an hour but even a few dollars more would have an impact on their labor costs and the cfo of pool corporation, the largest supplier of pool supplies, says it impacts their future business down the line saying quote, if you are talking five or six or

seven dollars, something like that, that will have a significant impact on our costs. that affects our plans and where we're going to invest. the world's largest organization of franchises and franchisees says a $15 hike would be devastating to small businesses, especially those in rural areas, telling this in a statement. quote, ifa sees more areas where we agree than disagree with the biden administration. i would anticipate some of those areas where we disagree may fall by the wayside given a closely divided congress. president-elect biden does need to work with congress in order to raise the federal minimum wage. the easiest way for them to do that would be to revive the wage act that the house passed last year, then convince the senate to vote on it and pass it and even so, if they were to do that next year, the legislation would not go into effect until 2022. neil? neil: thank you very very much for that, hillary vaughn following these developments.

real quick peek at what's happening, the dow falling off right now. these spikes in cases in still more states with restrictions, rolling lockdowns, a bit unnerving markets here, especially the fact that vaccines are on the way sometimes get delayed in general use. certainly starting out with emergency use, so people, you could say, looking at a gift in the hand and just dismissing it, but again, we have been at these lofty levels so a bit of comedown is to be expected. more after this. businesses today are looking to tomorrow.

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♪. neil: all right. there is usually not a single event that leads to a market falloff from highs here but there are a lot of trends many in the market don't like. the fact that a number of states are looking to reimpose restrictions. ohio, looking at least a three-week curfew. new york, new jersey, are limiting indoor crowds to no more than 10. in maryland where governor hogan is looking at virus restraints where he says the virus is winning this war. we can't let that happen. then the issue of republican governors themselves, republicans, now, saying that masks are not only a good idea, they're all but making them edicts. they're doing this in iowa, utah, north dakota and elsewhere, west virginia, where it was once deemed to be the ridiculous to even considering it. these governors are. add to that the uncertainty

about the timing of a virus release or vaccine release, they're happy that it's coming but it might be done on such a staggered basis they wonder whether benefits are delayed. they can second-guess until the cows come home or syringes come in. hey, charles. charles: good afternoon, i'm charles payne and this is making money. we had a sea of good news. the market got off to a solid start. all the major indices are drifting in the red except the russell 2000. the market is a lot stronger than you think. investors cheering the pfizer update, showing its candidate is 95% effective. the faa clears the 737 max after two years of being grounded. gdp trends point to clear skies for the economy. consequently the stock market looking ahead to a return to normal