Your daily briefing for all the top news in Energy, Technology, Finance, and Politics.
Energy
GOP energy agenda will hit Senate ‘realities’
POLITICOPRO (Subscribe)
Darren Goode and Erica Martinson
Republicans may be about to reclaim control of the Senate, but they’ll need to get creative if they want to advance their pro-drilling, pro-Keystone, anti-EPA energy agenda.
Obama’s energy past hurts Democrats in midterms
FINANCIAL TIMES (Subscribe)
Barney Jopson
President Barack Obama’s environmental policies are boosting Republicans’ chances of winning the Senate as the party attacks Democrats in battleground states that produce oil and coal.
Big Oil Feels the Need to Get Smaller
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Daniel Gilbert and Justin Scheck
Even before U.S. oil prices began their summer drop toward $80 a barrel, the three biggest Western oil companies had lower profit margins than a decade ago, when they sold oil and gas for half the price, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. Despite collectively earning $18.9 billion in the third quarter, the three companies— Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Chevron Corp. —are now shelving expansion plans and shedding operations with particularly tight profit margins.
Why OPEC is fine with falling oil prices
USA TODAY
Trish Regan
So, why would a cartel that aims to defend $100 a barrel oil and depends on high prices for the success of its economies, allow oil to slip into the $80s? Simple. America’s energy alternatives are becoming far too good. In recent years, the energy renaissance in the U.S. has emerged as a growing threat to Middle East oil production. Shale oil, or “tight oil” as it’s known, is oil secured from the ground by a process known as hydraulic fracking. U.S. drilling companies have become so adept at fracking that the U.S. is expected to become energy independent by 2020. Energy independence would diminish the importance of the Middle East. Understandably, OPEC isn’t such a fan of tight oil.
U.N. scientific group: Eliminate greenhouse gas pollution by 2100
POLITICO
Matt Daily and Erica Martinson
Global greenhouse gas emissions will need to drop to zero by the end of the century if governments hope to prevent massive and irreversible changes to the Earth’s climate, a United Nations’ scientific group warned on Sunday.
Technology
Even Silicon Valley Tilts Republican
WALL STREET JOURNAL
L. Gordon Crovitz
Silicon Valley doesn’t need much from government, but it does need reform in areas where government policy has failed. Even liberal Democrats in the tech industry have been mugged by the reality of how Washington now operates.
The FCC offers a middle-ground take on net neutrality. And everyone hates it.
WASHINGTON POST
Brian Fung
While news of the hybrid strategy has already spawned a big response, the specifics of the FCC’s plan are still unclear. Based on the lack of details, said one net neutrality proponent, the amount of consternation over the hybrid approach is somewhat exaggerated.
Communications Act update has Walden, Upton in the money
POLITICOPRO (Subscribe)
Kate Tummarello
Walden and Upton, as they work on preliminary steps to rewrite the law, are getting increased support from heavy hitters in the telecom industry. While many of the usual suspects have given steadily to Walden and Upton, some telecom giants have increased their political contributions to the pair in the 2014 election cycle by thousands of dollars.
Europe Shifts on Priorities for Telecoms
NEW YORK TIMES
Mark Scott
Less than a quarter of Europeans can connect to high-speed cellphone networks, compared with about 90 percent of Americans. And broadband connections are often painstakingly sluggish. But the prices here for these services are among the lowest in the world. Europeans spend an average of $38 for a monthly cellphone contract, about half of what Americans pay on average, according to the Groupe Speciale Mobile Association, an industry group. Now, though, the region’s top policy makers are set to change that, giving investment and costlier services higher priorities than affordability and antitrust worries.
Berlin Weighs Possible Hit to U.S. Tech Firms
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Chase Gummer
German politicians are debating a new Internet-security law that could exclude U.S. technology companies from Germany’s digital economy, a sign Berlin is beginning to press its commercial advantage after revelations of spying by the NSA.
Megan Smith: ‘You Can Affect Billions of People’
NEW YORK TIMES
Susan Dominus
The chief technology officer of the United States and former Google executive talks with Susan Dominus about why more techies should consider Washington — in spite of the BlackBerrys.
Finance
A Fed insider explains why the central bank is making a big mistake
VOX
Matthew Yglesias
Narayana Kocherlakota, President of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank, put out a statement this weekend explaining why he thinks his colleagues made a mistake by bringing an end to Quantitative Easing. He would prefer they emulate Japan by continuing to print money until inflation gets up to 2 percent.
Business vs. Economics
NEW YORK TIMES
Paul Krugman
Here in Japan, the fight against deflation is all too likely to fail if conventional notions of prudence prevail. But can unconventionality triumph over the instincts of business leaders? Stay tuned.
How will Europe’s economy escape the doldrums?
WASHINGTON POST
Robert Samuelson
Without faster growth, much of Europe risks deflation — price declines reflecting feeble demand — that would make its debt burden heavier. Chronic stagnation could give way to something worse.
Politics
Tax Hike Election Reckoning
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
All of these states have been run for years under the modern liberal Democratic political model that dances to the interests of public unions. The model requires ever-higher public spending to buy political support, which requires ever-higher taxes, which has had damaging economic consequences. Democrats dominate voter registration in all of these states, so it will be especially notable if majorities decide on Tuesday that they’ve had enough of the politics of liberal economic decline.
Tax Cuts on Trial in Governors’ Races
NEW YORK TIMES
Editorial
Mr. Brownback has actually doubled down on his mistakes, saying it is just a matter of time before prosperity kicks in and promising more tax cuts if re-elected. That is one of the reasons Standard & Poor’s has given Kansas a negative outlook on its finances. And it explains why many voters, in Kansas and elsewhere, are giving a negative outlook to ruinous policies and the politicians behind them.
Voters Favor GOP by Slim Margin for Control of Congress, WSJ/NBC News Poll Shows
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Patrick O’Connor
The survey found plentiful evidence that Election Day will draw an electorate that thinks the nation is on the wrong track and dislikes the direction in which President Barack Obama has led the country. With eight or more Senate races considered close, even a slight advantage for Republicans could produce enough victories to give the party the six seats it needs to gain control of the chamber. The final Journal/NBC News survey before Tuesday’s balloting found that 46% of likely voters favor a Congress led by Republicans, while 45% prefer Democratic control. The GOP claimed a similar, one-percentage-point lead among likely voters in the 10 states where Senate races are most competitive and where the balance of power in the chamber will be decided.
Yes, Republicans will take the Senate. But here’s a GOP reality check.
WASHINGTON POST
Glen Bolger and Neil Newhouse
But let’s be clear: Winning on Tuesday will not necessarily portend success in 2016. After all, big GOP wins in 1994 and 2010 did not lead to a President Dole or a President Romney in the subsequent elections. In fact, the Republican Party hasn’t managed to string together three successful elections since the 2000-2002-2004 political cycles. So what does a GOP win in 2014 mean for the coming presidential contest?
A Flood of Late Spending on Midterm Elections, From Murky Sources
NEW YORK TIMES
Nicholas Confessore and Derek Willis
A stealthy coterie of difficult-to-trace outside groups is slipping tens of millions of dollars of attacks ads and negative automated telephone calls into the final days of the midterm campaign, helping fuel an unprecedented surge of last-minute spending on Senate races.
A flurry of campaigning across the nation as Election Day nears
WASHINGTON POST
David A. Fahrenthold, Wesley Lowery and Elahe Izadi
Having failed to win the first 600 or so days of this sour, surly midterm campaign, Democrats and their allies are trying desperately to win the last three. The effort here was part of a furious last-minute effort by Democrats and their allies to urge their supporters to go to the polls and keep the Senate from slipping away to the Republicans.
Mainstream GOP sees tipping point vs. insurgent candidates
POLITICO
Alexander Burns
With growing confidence as Election Day approaches, Republican leaders are preparing to argue that broad GOP gains in the House and Senate would represent a top-to-bottom validation of their party’s mainline wing. Having taken a newly heavy-handed approach to the primary season this year, the top strategists of the Republican coalition say capturing the majority would set a powerful precedent for similar actions in the future — not just in Senate and congressional races, but in the presidential primary season as well.
Cruz aims to take on Obama if GOP wins Senate; won’t vow support for McConnell
WASHINGTON POST
Sebastian Payne and Robert Costa
Piggybacking on what House leaders have done, Cruz said the first order of business should be a series of hearings on President Obama, “looking at the abuse of power, the executive abuse, the regulatory abuse, the lawlessness that sadly has pervaded this administration.” Cruz also would like the Senate to be as aggressive in trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act as the House, which has voted more than 50 times to get rid of the law.
Rand Paul Loves the GOP. He Just Thinks Its Branding ‘Sucks.’
NATIONAL JOURNAL
Emma Roller
Sen. Rand Paul appeared on three talk shows Sunday to tout his party’s agenda ahead of Tuesday’s midterms. But all the hosts wanted to talk about was how much he thinks the GOP sucks. That’s because, on Thursday, Paul echoed what he’s been saying for nearly a year now, only with more gusto: The GOP is bad at branding.
Obama likely to spring major decisions on public after midterms
WASHINGTON TIMES
Dave Boyer
Regardless of the outcomes of Tuesday’s midterm elections, President Obama is preparing to spring several major decisions on the public that he has postponed because of his concern about political backlash. Although presidents often sign legislation in lame-duck sessions of Congress, it’s unusual for a president to hide his executive “to do” list from voters on so many important subjects, such as sanctions against Iran, immigration reform and nominating the next attorney general.
