Your daily briefing for all the top news in Energy, Technology, Finance, and Politics.
Energy
Obama’s Nonpolluting Fire-Fighters
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
A bipartisan group of 25 Senators led by Arizona’s John McCain last Thursday sent Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel a letter demanding an explanation for the Pentagon’s June decision to stop programs that supply federal equipment to states for fighting wildfires. DOD suspended the programs on grounds the equipment didn’t meet the latest federal emissions standards. As if real fires aren’t major air-polluting events.
Oil-Export Prospect Fuels Conference
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Christian Berthelsen and Lynn Cook
The energy industry’s eagerness to sell unrefined oil overseas was on display Monday at a conference that included excited discussion of the government’s two recent rulings relaxing the decades-old ban on exporting U.S. oil.
How Climate Change Changed Me
POLITICO
Tom Steyer
Farallon, as defined by both the returns generated for its investors and its professionalism, is a high performing investment organization, but its personnel were never focused on climate impacts. And it’s true—Farallon did make fossil fuel investments under my watch. But the more I learned about the energy and climate problems we currently face, the more I realized I had to change my life. I concluded that the best way to align my work with my beliefs was to make a real change—leaving my role managing a firm with investments across the industrial spectrum, and instead joining in the global effort to find a solution to climate change once and for all.
Technology
Comcast-Time Warner and the urge not to merge
WASHINGTON TIMES
Editorial
Government scrutiny of industry mergers is always a boon to politicians, bureaucrats and rent seekers. Both the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission must approve the Comcast merger, so the longer Congress delays approval, the more time for prominent politicians to collect swag from both proponents and opponents. Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, a Democrat, even set up a petition on his campaign website to drum up opposition to the merger. The names will be used later to prospect for campaign dollars.
Net-Neutrality Proposal Faces Public Backlash
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Gautham Nagesh
The Federal Communications Commission’s net-neutrality rules are giving Janet Jackson and her infamous “wardrobe malfunction” a run for its money. The agency has received more than 677,000 comments so far on its proposed rules for how broadband providers can treat content traveling over their networks.
This is why the government should never control the internet
WASHINGTON POST
Robert M. McDowell
Net neutrality rules have been sold for a decade as a way to keep the Internet “open and free” by keeping Internet service providers (ISPs), such as phone and cable companies, from blocking or degrading Web sites. Its advocates have argued that ISPs have an economic incentive to act anti-competitively toward consumers and competitors. In a common hypothetical they cite, ISPs would slow — or buffer — traffic for Netflix unless it unfairly pays for more access points, or “off ramps,” and better quality of service. In truth, however, market failures like these have never happened, and nothing is broken that needs fixing. If consumers were being harmed by ISPs, ample antitrust, competition and consumer protection laws already exist to fix the problem. And major broadband providers have pledged, in their terms of service, to keep the Net open and freedom-enhancing. Why? Because it is good business to do so.
Google’s back-door approach to Internet policy
WASHINGTON POST
Brian Fung
So far, though, there’s been one notable voice missing from the official debate about how to treat Internet traffic, and that’s Google’s. As Re/code’s Amy Schatz pointed out recently, Google was a major player on net neutrality years ago when the policy was first being hashed out. Now, it’s almost nowhere to be seen. Some analysts speculate that Google is wary to join the fray because of its growing interest in Google Fiber, the company’s ISP that would be subject to whatever rules the FCC comes up with. Others believe Google is fearful of the potential for regulatory overreach.
Justice Department’s New Crime Chief Targets Cyber Cases
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Andrew Grossman
International organized crime groups, lured by the prospect of thefts that can net hundreds of millions of dollars, increasingly are turning to cybercrime, said the new head of the Justice Department’s criminal division. Leslie Caldwell, who took over the position in June, said she plans to make combating online crime a priority, but acknowledged that the growing threats could be difficult to fight.
Finance
The Citigroup ATM
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
The Department of Justice isn’t known for a sense of humor. But on Monday it announced a civil settlement with Citigroup over failed mortgage investments that covers almost exactly the period when current Treasury Secretary Jack Lew oversaw divisions at Citi that presided over failed mortgage investments. Now, that’s funny.
Race to Cut Taxes Fuels Urge to Merge
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Liz Hoffman and Hester Plumridge
The race by companies to sidestep U.S. taxes reached a fever pitch as two drug firms unveiled foreign mergers that will help them slash their tax rates.
U.S. Stands to Lose Billions From Corporate Tax Inversions
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Joseph Walker
How much revenue does the U.S. Treasury stand to lose from corporate tax inversions? It is difficult to say precisely, but one estimate puts the figure at close to $20 billion.
Enabling American companies to compete at home and abroad
WASHINGTON TIMES
Kyle Pomerleau
As the long campaign for a fairer and more competitive tax system continues, lawmakers should carefully examine the manner in which our government’s treatment of American companies overseas has hampered their growth and ability to invest here at home.
How to Improve Market Structure
NEW YORK TIMES
Curt Bradbury and Kenneth E. Bentsen JR.
Bottom line: Increased transparency will increase investor confidence, which is essential to a robust equity market system that can stimulate economic growth in the United States.
Politics
A Clinton approach for angrier times
POLITICO
Ben White and Maggie Haberman
Hillary Clinton has a unique asset if she runs for president — Bill Clinton, who presided over a booming economy and an era of sunny Democratic centrism. But she also faces a singular challenge: convincing voters who are skeptical of some Wall Street-friendly policies during his tenure that she can connect with their concerns at a time when the wealth gap is massive between the very rich and everyone else.
Another swing and a miss for Obama’s foreign policy
WASHINGTON POST
Dana Milbank
Could things get any worse? Well, maybe if the president’s chief spokesman claimed that Obama was bringing “tranquility” to the globe — which is what White House press secretary Josh Earnest did at his daily briefing Monday afternoon. … Earnest, mentioning the disposal of Syria’s chemical weapons, Secretary of State John Kerry’s mediation of Afghanistan’s electoral dispute and progress in recent negotiations with China, argued that “there have been a number of situations in which you’ve seen this administration intervene in a meaningful way that has . . . substantially improved the — you know, the tranquility of the — of the global community.”
White House endorses Republican highway bill
THE HILL
Keith Liang
The White House on Monday backed a $10 billion bill in the House that would extend federal transportation funding through next spring. The surprise endorsement of the bill, which is scheduled to come up for a vote in the House on Tuesday, clears the way for a deal with Democrats in the Senate.
Back From the Brink in Afghanistan
NEW YORK TIMES
Editorial
The compromise deal over Afghanistan’s bitterly contested presidential election is a big relief and a credit to all involved, especially Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, the two candidates, and Secretary of State John Kerry, who brokered the agreement in 12 hours of intense negotiations. It pulled the country back from the risk of civil war and offers a chance for a peaceful political transition after 13 years of Hamid Karzai’s leadership.
